Life can be such a joy! Don’t spend another week or month or
year of it feeling less than the best version of yourself. I am writing this for
you today because I’ve been in your shoes, I know what you are capable of doing
(‘cuz I’ve been there too!) and because I truly want to help.
Me above, about seven years on the arthritis eating plan. I still struggle with discipline. I made peach pie recently and ate half of it. Yesterday I bought pizza. I ate half of that too. But as you can see, most of the time I keep agreements with myself and stick to the A-eating plan.
In 2012 I embarked on a journey that would take seven years,
some one hundred health related books, and years of studying and experimenting
to discover the right paths for me and my health issues. My goal was to
overcome six different degenerative bone and joint conditions and avoid
dangerous drugs like bone builders and pain killers but along the way to better
bone and cartilage health, I made a pleasant discovery. Everything that
positively affects the bones also affects energy, your skin, hair, teeth, gums,
overall weight, health and even sense of well-being. In fact your mood and
outward appearance are excellent indicators of what’s going on inside your
body.
The Cold Hard Facts
The body has an amazing ability to heal itself. Did you know it
has its own reset button? It’s the ancient practice of fasting. Yet most
doctors are unaware of its power because they’ve been trained to diagnose
symptoms and treat them with drugs.
Most docs are well intentioned. They are a godsend in
emergencies. One saved my life several years ago from another one’s near fatal
mistake. But most haven’t a clue how to help you overcome chronic health issues
and attain vibrant good health other than prescribing drugs. My own western
trained doc wanted to put me on the highly dangerous bone builder Boniva! He
also tried numerous times to prescribe indefinite courses of pain killers. It
became obvious that if drugs weren’t my first choice as they were his, I was on
my own. Plus I had to consider what kind of health he was and still is in…not
good! I became proactive. Knowing what I know now, I made the right choice and
I could not be more pleased.
If you have serious medical conditions or are on prescription
drugs, find a great holistic doctor and a nutritionist immediately to help you develop
an eating plan; and to help you minimize the prescriptions or gradually wean
you off them altogether. The reason I say this is because cutting edge arthritis
doctors now know that arthritis is best treated without drugs. They now
recommend lifestyle changes instead. Please don’t take my word for it. I’m a
patient, not a nutritionist or doctor. Find a doctor who specializes in this
and be willing to make the changes she or he prescribes.
Drugs are meant to help us in crisis. They are not part of a
lifetime wellness plan as most people have come to believe! This information is
something I’m so passionate about sharing.
Educate yourself. Be proactive. Don’t be afraid to ask your
doctor lots of questions. Don’t be afraid to say hey Doc, instead of that
prescription drug you’re recommending what kind of lifestyle changes can I make
instead? Or how can I minimize these medications?
If you take nothing else away today than this: you owe it to
yourself to start reading the right books and start watching the right
documentaries. Information is power.
If you’ve read any recent books or articles on holistic health
and wellness you’re probably somewhat familiar with some of the following
terms. What do these things have in common? They are cleansing to your system. Added
up on a daily or weekly basis and they’ll really help you move the needle on
your health initiatives.
Terms
Rebounding- bounce/dancing bare footed on a rebounder or mini
trampoline elevates your mood and moves lymph fluid around. It’s cleansing
and energizing and great for the tendons in the lower legs and feet. It’s
highly recommended by many health experts. I like to bounce and dance around by
bouncing once and then kicking one foot and pulling one knee up towards my
chest, right then left. Start slow by bouncing with two feet and use the hand
bar for stability.
Dry skin brushing- using a semi- soft dry brush labeled for skin
brushing, start at the soles of your feet and work your way up the legs,
stomach, palms of the hands, arms etc. avoiding your breasts, up the
neck/throat area. Be gentle with the chest and throat. Use long, through
strokes. This is a great way to exfoliate away dead skin cells which is good
for cellular turnover and since the skin is one of your main detoxifiers, it’s another
great way to assist your body in its job of “cleansing” itself.
Lemon water- though lemons are acidic outside the body, they are
alkalizing in the body and lemon water is also another great cleansing tool. Many
experts say to start your morning with a warm (not hot) cup of water with lemon
juice. Some people like to add cayenne and a little raw honey for additional
cleansing.
Raw foods- you may have heard that cooking in temperatures over
118 degrees depletes the nutrients and enzymes in vegetables and fruit. Raw
foodists are easy to spot…they are gorgeous! Beautiful skin tone and coloring,
thin limber bodies. That’s because they get tons of nutrients and because they’re
so nourished they have few if any food cravings. Now, this is a fairly
difficult lifestyle especially if you have family around the house but I’ve
come up with a fantastic solution! Eat raw till dinner. Yep. That’s all it
takes! Skip breakfast, I’ll share why you another time why you don’t need it;
have a big raw salad for lunch; then pretty much have what you want for dinner.
No, not pizza! Real, unprocessed food.
Green juicing- this is really important if you have arthritis.
Nothing (except fasting) will help you move the needle on your health like
green juices. They’re loaded with micronutrients. People always ask me, why
juices rather than smoothies. The main reason is you can get way more juice,
and thus, micronutrients in your system via juices. Smoothies have all the plant’s
fiber, which is great too. So if you want, do a smoothie as well! But don’t
skip the green juice. I’ve put my green juice recipe on Instagram several
times. It’s so delicious; you won’t consider it a chore to drink. In fact, it’s
so delicious that it’s totally addictive.
Hot/cold showers- not only is this a great way to move lymph
fluid and detoxify your body, it’s also an amazing pain reliever. I personally
love hot/cold showers though admittedly they take some practice. Start with
only what you can tolerate and slowly, while the water is running, increase the
intensity. Give yourself a few weeks, even a month or two to perfect this.
Start with hot water, if possible drench your scalp too. Count
to thirty slowly, then switch to cold. Keep making it colder, till you get as
cold as you can stand. Count to thirty slowly. Repeat three times total. I’ve been doing these for three or four years
and still screech with the cold rinse, but the feeling afterward is so worth
it. It elevates your mood too!
Fasting- according to Dr. Eugene Zamperion, arthritis specialist
and author of The Alternative Guide to Arthritis the number one way to manage
your symptoms is with a doctor supervised fasting every spring and fall. From
what I could gather from his book and others on fasting is that two to three
days is the general duration. This is beyond the scope of my article but I will
suffice to say that it’s the most effective thing I’ve used in managing my own
symptoms. I’m 5’5, weigh 117 lbs. and I love to eat. Though I know first-hand
how effective fasting is, giving up food for one to three days is still a
struggle for me. But I can do it and you can too. Again, doctor’s supervision
is recommended.
These holistic health practices have enabled me to control my
osteoarthritis symptoms, and slow down the degenerative effects of my various bone
conditions without pain killers and medication. Don’t try and integrate
them all at once! With detoxification, it’s important to start slowly and work
your way into cleansing. If you detox too fast, your system will release too
many toxins, so detox slow.
Again, find a great holistic doctor and nutritionist and build
your own A-Team.
Live beautifully. Eat beautifully, Shiree’
And if you want more arthritis related design and wellness guidance, click here… “Pain Free Design and Wellness” and you’ll get a free chapter of my powerful new book that helps women with arthritis create beautiful, functional homes and take better care of themselves every day!
And if you want more arthritis related design and wellness guidance, click here… “Pain Free Design and Wellness” and you’ll get a free chapter of my powerful new book that helps women with arthritis create beautiful, functional homes and take better care of themselves every day!
