diet

Simple Pain Relief Tip – Raw Foods Reduce Inflammation and Pain

Inflammation causes pain and by changing your eating habits you can start reducing your pain. Julie Hoffenberg and Sarah Woodward are the authors of the Healing Patch Cookbook and I had the pleasure of interviewing them today on Pain Relief Radio.

Your body is trying to protect you with the inflammatory response.

Your diet, however, can cause more inflammation and that creates more pain. Pain (which causes inflammation) plus diet (which causes inflammation) equals too much inflammation! And THAT causes more pain.

Sarah and Julie explained that Continue reading “Simple Pain Relief Tip – Raw Foods Reduce Inflammation and Pain”

April 21November 7

Muscle Pain & Nutrition: Will Organic Food Stop Your Pain?

Pain in your muscles and soft tissues can be caused by many things. One of them is most surely the additives and unwanted additions to the food we eat.

When your muscles are happy–getting what they need from your diet–they are able to function better.

Humans used to eat “natural.”

We ate what grew on trees, bushes in or on the ground. We ate “wild caught” fish and meat. Your body was designed to eat real food.

And now?

A lot of the things we eat come out of factories. Yum.

Our bodies just don’t know how to process the chemicals, petroleum products and other additives that are added for shelf life and flavor. (Did you know there is a whole chemical industry devoted to developing new flavors and scents so we will buy more processed “food” products?)

There are lots of reasons you should consider organic food for pain relief but here’s my wrap-up:

Yes, organic food WILL help you feel better! It WILL help your body heal and function better!

Eating organic, fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, and whatever else you like to eat WILL help you get rid of your muscle pain because you won’t be pumped full of chemicals.

You are worth it!

April 20November 7

We Need Organic Food – Let’s Not Kill Organic Farms

Organic farmers need you!

Note: This is an old article, originally published in 2009. However, you’ll see that organic farmers still need us to speak up for them!

Big farm money wins in Washington DC. Factory farms do produce a lot of, well, produce, but it’s laced with pesticides, herbicides and chemicals. And those things end up inside of us! 🙁

So, I wrote to my legislators. The responses I got were not even related to my letters to them. I’ve attached them at the end of this post. ~~~~~~~

We need organic farmers, too. Chemical companies are poisoning us and our children.

This bill, HR 875, will prevent organic farmers from doing what they need to do to get organic food to us.

I hope you can take the time to read, and please pass this along. If you have never written to your legislator before, this would be such a good time to start. Below is my letter to my legislator. Below that, is his response to my previous email to him.

Re: Organic Seed Harvesting & Use HR 875

Monday, April 20, 2009 11:21 PM
From:
“Kathryn Merrow”

To:
“Congressman John D. Dingell”

Dear Congressman Dingell,

I have been puzzling over your response to my email.

I believe it is in the best interests of ALL Americans that organic farmers be able to harvest and use their own organic seeds.

How else will we, Americans, be able to get organic produce?

Why are you willing to put the growing business of organic farms out of business?

Of course! That’s it, isn’t it!

If organic farmers are not able Continue reading “We Need Organic Food – Let’s Not Kill Organic Farms”

January 19November 7

Got Pain? Sick? Is What You Eat Causing Problems For You?

Ever wondered whether food could cause your headaches, diabetes, overweight, body pain or other problems?

Years ago, when I suffered seriously from migraines, I became aware of the cause and effect that food can have. After I eliminated trigger foods, my migraine headaches became much less severe and frequent.

My brother recently gave me some packets of honey from a well-known fast-chicken place. (That’s like fast food, but it’s chicken.)

I was going to put some honey in my tea, until…

I noticed that the label said “Honey” in large letters and “sauce” in little letters.

So I flipped it over to read the ingredients. Now, wouldn’t you think that something that says “honey” would actually be honey?

But, nooo…

Ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, sugar, corn syrup, honey, caramel color. (Pssst–caramel color isn’t the caramel you make on your own stove with sugar and butter. Nooo.)

Not just honey.

Honey in the ingredients list was #4, after 3 sweeteners. 🙁

Bad.

I don’t know whether anyone has told you yet, but high fructose corn syrup is a killer. A slow killer.

Honey is a natural product. Sugar is a natural product. Sure, too much can cause problems, but a bit is fine.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is made by splitting corn syrup into parts. It is the sweetest part. It is extremely sweet. It is no longer a natural food.

Many, many manufacturers of “food products” use HFCS instead of honey, sugar or even whole corn syrup because it is cheaper to use.

It’s one of the franken-foods.

Sounds scary, doesn’t it? It is.

Because it is not real, and because it’s so hyper-sweet, it messes with your pancreas and insulin level. HFCS is a primary cause of diabetes and obesity.

Don’t think so?

How come we Americans are the ones with the most sugar diabetes and the fattest kids?

You know it’s not “genetics” because we come from a huge gene pool from all over the world. Are the people where we came from fat and sick?

Only the ones who are starting to eat “Americanized” food are getting sick and fat.

Read the label on your bread, on your hotdogs, lunch meat, catsup…you’re gonna find it all over the place.

You’ll find it in places you’d never expect. Check out your ice cream, your kids’ lunch foods, puddings, fruit roll ups, cereals, chocolate milk and syrup…

Some companies have their own product lines and are putting good and real ingredients into many of their branded foods. Meijers has a Gold and an Organic line, both of which have pretty nice ingredients.

There are a few cereals with some real sugar in them, and a few with no sweeteners (hey, add your own if you need a little bit.)

Want to stop being a sucker for the food industry to make a profit from, at the expense of your health?

Read labels.

Buy food that is as close to real as you can. (Hint: Check out the fruit and vegetable aisles, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains.)

Eventually, the food industry (it is a huge industry) will get the message.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

October 22November 7

Migraines, Headaches, Pain & Diet: Are You Taking Care of Yourself?

I recently went to a birthday celebration.

It gave me the opportunity to observe how some people take care of themselves…or don’t.

The party was for a sixteen-year old boy. He has chronic headaches.

He has been treated by a neuromuscular massage therapist (not me,) which helped, but did not cure him. He is being treated by a headache pain clinic. The various treatments he receives (some of which are not very pleasant, involving shots in his head, and medicine with side effects) also help only temporarily.

Because I specialize in relieving head pain and correcting posture, I watched him “in motion.”

He has been told about the connection between posture and his headaches. Someone told me that when his mother would say, “Sit up straight,” he would respond, “You don’t.” (And she doesn’t, but that’s another story. And, she doesn’t have constant headaches, either.)

So, over the course of several hours I watched the birthday boy. He slouched, he leaned back in his chair with his head pressed forward, he stood with a forward head/casual posture.

The thing is, when we do those things, those of us who are prone to headaches or migraines will get a headache or migraine. And, he does!

Those types of movements aggravate the muscles at the base of our skull and the front and sides of our neck. When those muscles get aggravated, they react by tightening up. They develop trigger points. The trigger points “trigger” pain in our head.

Another thing I noticed was that he was drinking an artificially sweetened drink. Can’t be positive, but I’m pretty sure that the headache clinic would have told him that artificial sweetners cause headaches.

So I wonder: why isn’t he being proactive – taking an active role – in helping himself to get rid of his headaches? He already knows the reasons for his head pain.

Right now I am speculating that he doesn’t know how to keep his head and body in neutral positions. Perhaps his back muscles and the muscles in back of his neck are too weak to hold him upright in neutral positions. Or, perhaps he thinks it wouldn’t be cool to be straight. He is not a tall, lanky boy, so it’s not concern that he is “too tall.”

People who get headaches and migraines have no choice except to fix their posture. The best way to do that is to get a strong backside, from the base of your skull to the back of your thighs.

The second opportunity I had was to talk with a man who has been seeing various nutritionists and naturopaths. He is looking for advice and products to cure his various health issues, and is going to see a new doctor shortly.

He wants herbal remedies or supplements, or some type of magic, to cure his problems, a lot of which are caused by his diet. He wants a doctor to cure him.

He also wants to continue to eat cookies and goodies and big meals and two servings of birthday cake!

Hmmmph! I guess we can’t have our cake and eat it, too, after all.

But, we can take care of ourselves. We can seek out the knowledge that will help us. We can take action. We can change old habits that are not good for us.

Because you deserve to feel better.