A Few of My Favorite Things
We don’t do a lot of “lifestyle’' type advice at the clinic. We respect that fact that you are here, getting treated, and that’s enough! Keep up your regular treatments, acupuncture works that deeply, we can shift your pain, your digestive issues, sleep patterns, depression and mood. AND it can be profound how big of a difference some simple shifts in your daily routine can make. Easier said than done, but if you start small, I think you can do it. Here are my favorite things that you can do regularly to make a big difference in your health.
Wake up your digestion with some lemon in your water when you wake up in the morning, hydrate! You haven’t drank anything since you went to bed.
Eat Breakfast, when you wake up. Protein (chicken soup, eggs, yogurt, anything!) and veggies (get that fiber in). Starting your day with nourishing food helps regulate your blood sugar and sets you up for success, in your energy levels, all day. I’ve been amazing at how many people, when I suggest this to them, they’re like, nope, don’t eat breakfast. Please eat! You’ll feel better.
Move your body. Like, I don’t care what you do, get your heart rate up, get sweaty, pick up some heavy things with good form, encourage range of motion with strength. Do you like to walk? Walk as fast as you can for ten seconds. Stationary bike? do it hard for a few seconds. At a trauma stewardship talk at Chico State in the wake of the Camp Fire, the speaker, and expert on community healing after trauma, her number one recommendation for helping yourself was to get sweaty every day. Need some suggestions? Check out Jenny LaBAw’s you tube channel. She’s a local training hitting all the marks, backed by research and what feels good in your body.: https://www.youtube.com/user/jenlabaw
Be ASLEEP by 10 pm, ideally more like 9. Our internal organs need us to be deeply asleep in order to repair and replenish. Critically, 1-3 am is Liver time. Our Liver governs our drive, creativity and vision. If you’re awake around 12 am, as we enter the Liver time, that creative drive may drive us to be even more awake. But that awakens will deprtele our Liver energy, causing blood deficiency (in Chinese medicine this can lead to headaches, fatigue, menstrual irregularity, pain in tendons and joints), irritability, depression and more. Being asleep at this critical liver time replenishes our Liver Blood, and can lead to deep restful and even rejuvenating spirit dreams (think being deeply anchored so that you can soar in Spirit in your dream life). The Liver and being home to our Hun, as part of our Spirit and Soul body is a whole other topic, that I can’t do justice to right now in this blog. But suffice to say, it’s good for us to sleep and replenish at night.
Eat real food. Eat food you would fine in your own garden or back yard, your neighbors, or that someone, or yourself raised and slaughtered or hunted. All the added tings in packaged foods tend not to be good for us. Eat your veggies, eat your green leafy vegetables. Regulating your blood sugar, starting with that good breakfast is so critical to not putting yourself on the high energy low energy, inflammation roller coaster. You may be suprised at the energy you didn’t realize you didn’t have when you start eating to manage a good steady blood glucose level. You may be surprised how much better you sleep when your body has been deeply nourished all day long. Sugar is poison. No one needs it. The American heart association suggests no more than 25g. a day for women. Try counting your added sugar intake for a day. It adds up quick. Just get some perspective and mindfulness. Talking here as a total sugar addict myself….it’s hard to stop. But so worth it. Diabetes is no joke.
I could go on and on about all the different ways to incorporate daily habits that make a big impact (hello walking or doing some squats and pushups after we eat, especially if it was a carb heavy —pizza, burritos hello my dearest friends— or a sweet treat). But it does all get back to Eat good food, especially breakfast, be asleep by 10 (and you know, like get sleep), and move your body every day.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that acupuncture can help rewire our brains as we try to adopt new habits. That Acupuncture can address pain that may be keeping you from moving the way you want to be. Acupuncture stimulates those same endogenous opioids to bind to the same receptor sites as sugar to help over come your sugar addiction or other food cravings. Acupuncture reduces circulating stress hormones, and helps you sleep better. It helps! And we love helping you and seeing you leave the clinic more clear, more energized, with a brighter take on life.
All of these things are the daily medicine we give to ourselves. Those daily habits profoundly impact our health for better or for worse over our lifetime.
