ARGH! STRESS!!

According to the study done in 2005 by the American Psychological Association almost two-thirds of all visits to the family physician were stress related.  That results matches the global statistic which states 3 out of 5 doctor visits are from stress related illness. Stress is also linked to six leading causes of death- heart disease, cancers, lung illness, liver ailments and suicide. 

Stress is also linked to over eating, alcohol and drug abuse  and sleep disturbances. Increased levels of cortisol and adrenalin from stress can result in a slower thyroid function and decreased immune system function. Simultaneously increasing your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. In short, stress is as unhealthy as a triple layer cheeseburger and super size fries. We can avoid the fast food but how do we , in this fast paced high demand society avoid stress? 

It is easy for me as a health professional to tell a client to eat correctly, whole foods as close to their natural state is possible and to avoid alcohol and junk foods. It is also easy, where I sit, to advise regular vigorous physical activity at least 3x a week. However, some people cannot set enough time aside to exercise at the gym and have little energy after a long stressful day at work to come home and run on a treadmill. You yourself may not have time to cook healthy whole foods and find it mush easier to stop at the fast food place on the way to and from your high paced daily routine.  So lets map out some short and realistic tips for releasing daily stress in our life. 

Clear Your Mind

At night when you lay your head on your pillow refuse to go over the day events which you have ended. Do not allow your mind to go onto the next days worth of work, bills and stresses. Instead, focus on your breath and your body. Concentrate on inhaling and exhaling and allowing your body to slow down. With each inhale picture the much needed oxygen filling the cells of your body. With each exhale picture the negative emotions in the day leaving you as you exhale. Take care not to picture the negative events themselves but just the negative feelings of anxiety, stress, fear and anger. Picture yourself comfortable and happy as you breath in and out. You have time to do this simple activity because you DO go to bed and night and you DO breath. 

Count to Ten

How often have we heard this advise? Count to ten before you react, or over react. Think clearly about what you have to do and how you will do it or say it. Allow clear logical thought to enter your mind versus the immediate emotional response you want to release upon the world.  Consider if you may be over reacting and if there is a calmer way to handle things.  Traffic jams and other seemingly irritating events do not need to cause stress in our life. A 5 minute traffic hold up or a 5 minute wait in a market line will not cause the stock market to crash or a loved one to run away because they just could not wait any longer. Often times we allow our emotional response dictate how we should feel in an event that if we stopped and took 10 tiny seconds to think about we would see it was not as alarming as we originally EMOTIONALLY reacted to. 

Eat something healthy

Something IS better than nothing. Grab a handful of almonds, some "orange smiles" or even just an apple. Give your body some of the nutrients back that you took away from it when you could not find your car keys and ran around in a panic looking for them. Picture your engine on full speed when you were panicking and acknowledge the greater force of fuel needed in that moment of the day and the fact you did use vitamins and nutrients just to alleviate the physical response to the emotional stress. Give something back.

Walk for 5 minutes

Physical activity, move your body, even a little. Park 10 spaces further down from where you would normally park. Take the stairs if you normally take the elevator. Take 2 steps at a time if you normally take the stairs. Get up from your office chair and walk down a hall and back. Move, somehow find 5 minutes to move. 

Do something nice for someone else 

Get coffee for a co-worker, hug your friend, make a call to a relative to cheer them up. Smile at a stranger. Offer a moment of kindness to someone else and you will also reap the benefits of that act of kindness. 

These are simple steps that you can do to help release some stress and allow your body a moment of reprieve. Your body is not meant to run at full emotional speed and it does not like it. Keep these things in mind, begin to practice them and create healthy habits to let stress go. 

 

What defines healthy to you?

Everyone has a different perspective of personal health. You may see someone eating fast food and think "Wow, I make healthier choices" while again other people may view your own food choices as unhealthy. So, what defines health to you? Do you watch your saturated fat intake? Are you vigilant in making sure you don't eat too many carbohydrates? Does the word "antioxidant" get your mind ready for salad greens and a health shake?
I remember when I was studying at ACHS and I had to define the symptoms of vitamin deficiencies and I was reminded just how complex but unified our body really is. Our body really is the ultimate in machine design! I mean sure, what they are doing over there at Google is impressive but your body is even more impressive in it's complexity.
In today's world we often run to the pharmacy or the doctor to treat common ailments such as dry skin, or trouble sleeping, headaches and digestive troubles to name some common ones. Did you know that all of these can be symptoms of a B deficiency? How often does someone think "Oh I have a cold starting and my hands seem dry, I need to up my vitamin intake!" Or suggest the family eat a better assortment of veggies now as winter is getting closer and immune systems need the extra boost.
I am suggest that you take time to make sure you are offering the key nuts and bolts to your machine now before you need the doctors repair bill. Don't wait for more symptoms of the problem to develop, be more proactive in your own diet. You may just find out those symptoms of PMS or IBS or other ailments you are worried are developing may just be deficiencies in the exact nutrients we need to run a well "oiled" machine!

For a list of food sources of vitamins and the symptoms of deficiencies you may have please check out this link: Vitamin Deficiency Solutions

ACHS Welcomes Herbalists Susan Belsinger & Tina Marie Wilcox's Creative Herbal Home Workshop to the ACHS Campus

The Creative Herbal Home Workshop featuring Susan Belsinger & Tina Marie Wilcox

Wednesday, September 10, 11 am to 3 pm.

So, you know about using essential oils for aromatherapy. Wouldn’t you like to learn many other ways to use herbs and essential oils in your everyday life? Then this fun and inspiring class is just what you need!

Join authors Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox, authors of The Creative Herbal Home, while they discuss using herbs and essential oils to create “green” household cleaning products, insect repellents, care for the gardener, first aid preparations and how to make herbal spa products.

This workshop is divided into two parts:

• The use of herbs in everyday life, where Susan and Tina will show you some of their favorite herbs and demo how to make a variety of products. Includes hands-on experience of making an herbal sugar scrub, preparing an herb-infused oil (featuring Herb of the Year Calendula) , and blending your own herbal bath bag.

• Demo and lecture about using essential oils to create herbal spa products as well as how to use essential oils for household uses. You'll create your own blends for an aromatic spritzer, an apple cider vinegar for cleaning house or toning skin and also therapeutic bath salts.
  

This enthusiastic, entertaining and exciting workshop will give you confidence and know-how to lead a healthier, happier, and greener lifestyle! Recipes and handouts are included with the workshop. A book signing will follow the workshop and the Apothecary Shoppe will be open offering herbs, essential oils, equipment and supplies that we used in class.

Don't miss the opportunity to learn in-person with Susan Belsinger & Tina Marie Wilcox.

Class cost: $50, includes supplies. Space is limited. Be sure to register by calling 503-244-0726 or register securely online here to reserve your place today!

Note: This is a non-credit workshop.

Carbon Footprint

The ACHS Green Challenge is coming soon...
To get ready, calculate your carbon footprint at the Environmental Protection Agency here

Knowing your footprint is the first step to minimizing your impact on the planet!

AHHA Article of the Week: The Ten Tenets of Wellness

Wellness is the key to a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. This article is a short and sweet reminder of things we can do to enhance our wellness. Well worth reading!


FEATURED ARTICLE OF THIS WEEK
"The Ten Tenets of Wellness"
by Michael Arloski, Ph.D., PCC
Click on article title OR copy and paste http://ahha.org/articles.asp?Id=14

Recycle your TV

Ok, what does recycling your tv have to do with a holistic tip blog? Everything! Our environment supports our health, and looking after the planet ultimately is self serving as well as giving you a feel good buzz that rivals caffeine.

So before you send your old TV to a landfill, check out http://takebackmytv.com where you can urge manufacturers to take back old sets and find out about recycling options in your area. Since many people are thinking about replacing tvs to receive the new digital signals in Feb 2009, its a good idea to find out now what you could do with your old set if you do replace it. (Of course, remember you dont need a new set if you currently have a cable box, sattelite box, or get a converter box for your old set).

And yes, its better to get outside or talk to each other than watch TV, but TV does have some good shows on - if you get it, check out the new Planet Green channel (my five year olds favorite show is Wasted, where they go through a family's trash!) and Veria, which has lots of great holistic health shows.

Is your thyroid slowing you down?

The thyroid is controlled by the pituitary gland, a small peanut sized gland found at the base of the brain. When the levels of T3 and T4 drop to low in our blood stream the pituitary gland releases thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH), turn when the thyroid receives this single the levels of T3 and T4 are increased in the blood, then the pituitary receives that the levels have increased and stops sending out TSH. You can think of the pituitary glad as a furnace stoker, seeing that the fire (T3 and T4) is getting lower he adds more coal to the fire, in turn the fire increases. The pituitary glad itself is controlled by a glad in the brain called the hypothalamus. This glad produces TSH releasing hormones to let the pituitary know at what level to keep that fire burning. The hypothalamus can be thought of at the train conductor telling the fire stoker how much fire is needed to keep the train, our body, at the speed it needs to be at in order to run smoothly (metabolism).

The thyroid can be subject to several problems, some being extremely common. Some problems are concerning production of hormones, whether it be too much or too little. Another problem can increased growth of the thyroid causing swelling in the neck compressing the trachea and other part of the neck, also appearing as a large growth on the neck, called a goiter. And lastly nodules or bumps that develop on the thyroid and can become cancerous.

For the purpose of time as well as keeping with the topic of the article I want to only explore the problems of too little hormonal production from the thyroid. Hypothyroidism is the condition where not enough T3 and T4 hormones are being produced so the metabolism slows down in the body. This condition can go years before it is properly diagnosed. Symptoms of hypothyroidism include fatigue, dry hair and skin, depression, weight gain, constipation, and poor memory as well as lack of energy. Women who suffer from this condition will also notice extreme PMS symptoms; tender breasts, irregular cycles, and pelvic pain during ovulation as well as excessive body hair growth including facial hair.

Studies indicate that approximately one in fifty women and one in one thousand men will develop an under-active thyroid at some point in their lives. [1] The simplest cause of this affliction is too little iodine in the body. We now have iodine added to table salt in helps to prevent this condition; however, it has not halted even here in the USA. It is important to remember too much iodine can also cause poor thyroid function. Also during pregnancy a mother’s immune system decreases to allow the growth of the fetus, occasionally the thyroid does not pick up where it left off after delivery. Other causes can be an autoimmune disease.

Antibodies are proteins designed to defend the body from foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. In autoimmune diseases, antibodies attack the body itself. In autoimmune hypothyroidism, antibodies destroy thyroid gland cells preventing the gland from being able to release normal amounts of thyroid hormones. Diabetes type one is considered an autoimmune disease as well as Hashimoto or Grave’s disease. These diseases named here are also contributing factors in weight gain. See, the circle goes on for the fight against obesity. If you look closely enough you can find all the strands to the web of this affliction and one by one define treatment.

If you suspect you suffer from an under active thyroid you can perform simple tests to back up your suspicions. Checking body reflexes is a good way to start. Slower thyroids tend to give a person a slower reaction time. Recording body basal body temperatures is a great indication as well. For women testing basal body temp should begin 5 days after the cessation of menstruation. Recording the temperature for a week, with a result lower than 97.8 degrees could indicate a slower than normal thyroid. Consult your doctor or a full thyroid panel to be completed; be sure it includes free T3 and free T4 levels in the screening.

Treatment for thyroid should be monitored by your doctor; herbal remedies as well as dietary solutions should improve the clients over all feeling of well being as well as result in a healthier metabolism. Diets should be high in natural sources of iodine. Egg yolks, garlic, pears, seafood and turnip greens are easily found in a local market place and can be added easily to a client’s daily diet. Calcium and Zinc as well as a good source of vitamin B are important to add, greens such as dandelion are very good for these needs.

Herbal support can be found in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) which is also an excellent diuretic[2] which helps with weight factors. Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) is high in organically bound iodine, also present as diiothyrosine. Parsley is high in vitamin C and is useful in returning the immune system to proper function while treating a client with a slow thyroid and should be added to the use of Alfalfa and Bladderwrack. Contact a certified herbalist for a full thyroid supplement.