Mindful Eating to break those unhealthy habits

Sometimes it is hard to break old habits. Especially if your daily routine is full on busy. Often, we just grab a bite on the run without thinking of the health ramifications. If you’re looking to lose weight and get healthy you may need to change your eating habits. Here are a few tips to help.

Plan your food ahead

Firstly, make a plan and prep your meals. These days we are living in a high-speed, grab-and-go society, where you’re running around and just grab anything to eat along the way. This is where we start to make unhealthier choices as they are often the easiest choice. However, having no focus on how and what you eat leads to unhealthy habits. If you plan and prep your meals, they will be ready to go when you are. This will help you eat healthier.

When to eat

You need to stop and think about what you are eating, and also when you are eating. Are you actually hungry or not? Also, recognising if you are full or not is important. Don’t keep eating just because it is there. Once you are half full stop eating. Healthy eating is half food, quarter liquid and the rest air for digestion. Keep your portions smaller to stop overeating. We also need to try and slow eating down and focus on chewing properly. If you rush through your meals, it will make you feel less satiated. When you rush and have no focus your body is consuming the food with your sympathetic nervous system switched on. This makes it more likely for your body to store most of it as fat and it creates the potential for indigestion. Your stress hormones raise your blood sugar making it likely that you will want to eat a sugary snack later on.

Eating mindfully

Eating mindfully is one way to help you with good eating habits. Eating mindfully is when you engage all your senses and pay attention to your food. This attention needs to start not just when you start eating but through the whole process. Start from buying the food to preparing and then your eating. It will help you recognise triggers for being hungry for both emotional and physical hunger. This means you can then curb your eating and only eat when you are actually physically hungry.

Shopping mindfully

Shopping mindfully happens easier when you write a shopping list to help you avoid buying things you don’t need. You need to identify and acknowledge your cravings when shopping. Make a conscious decision not to buy the foods you simply crave as usually these are not very nutritious.

Eating mindfully

Sit at a table or away from your desk at work and stop doing what you were doing beforehand. Don’t eat on the run. Clear a space, free of mess, and lay down some cutlery. Make time to eat and enjoy it. It’s best if you’re relaxed before you eat. This is so that your body can shift your nervous system and allow it to work better. This will help your body extract maximum nutrition from your meal. Posture is also important, so sit up tall as bad posture can send stress signals to your nervous system.

You also need to remove all distractions. Put down the phone, and turn off the TV. Be fully present while eating, and focus on enjoying the food. Eat slowly and savour your meal. This will help you maintain a healthy digestive system. Chew your food until it loses all texture before you swallow it and let your mouth rest before taking another bite. You need to listen to your body and know when to stop eating.

How to take action now

If you need help to get started with changing your eating habits, need to lose weight or have allergies, sensitivities, inflammation or other issues eating certain foods check out our website at  www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com as we can set you on the right track. Our trained naturopaths, hypnotherapists, nutritionists and sensitivity testers can help with inflammation tests, menus, hypnotherapy for weight loss and to manage your allergies and much more. Call or message now. (Pic thanks to Brodie from Burst)

How can Energy Healing help me?

Energy healing is a non-invasive technique that helps to restore harmony, energy and balance in your energy system. It does this by channelling the universal life force. Some energy healing modalities use touch during a treatment session to clear, balance and energise your energy fields. However, some don’t use touch at all.

An energy healer can transfer energy remotely to heal you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually no matter the distance. You can use energy healing alongside the conventional healthcare services or with other natural approaches to help with all your healing.

Energy healing works by opening your energy centres, clearing them out and channelling new energy into you. This helps to facilitate your natural healing mechanisms. By using energy healing you are unblocking your energy fields and helping to prevent future problems. It can also help to identify the issues before they manifest as pain in your body.

The benefits

Energy healing works on your mind, emotions, body and spirit. It is a process of transferring pure, positive energy to you. This then brings about numerous benefits for your physical, mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual self.

It helps your physical self by treating ailments, using energy to repair skeletal or muscular injuries, restoring balance to your basic body systems and it promotes overall wellness and improved immunity. For your mental health it helps to release internal negative thoughts and become more positive. It also helps you let go of old feelings such as regret and guilt that have been holding you back, helps you conquer fears, build confidence and develop a positive mindset. When it comes to your emotional self it can help to ease pain brought on by depression and start to bring joy into your everyday life. It can help to release anxiety and gives you a sense of calmness and confidence, sooth your anger and relieve sadness. On a spiritual level it can give you a sense of purpose and meaning in life, encourage your natural intuition to unfold and guide you in the right direction. It can help you gain new insight and harness better connection to all the people in your life.

Types of energy healing

There are quite a few different types of energy healing modalities. Each one follows its own process, but they all have the same outcome as the goal. This is to make some lasting changes in your energy field and improve your overall health. Some of the energy healing modalities that you may come across are polarity therapy, reflexology, reiki, touch for health, Pranic healing, emotional freedom technique or EFT, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, or PEMF or Theta healing.

This clinic specialises in clearing out your energies and teaching you how to keep them balanced in order to heal. We also hold classes for those interested in reiki and other forms of energy healing. If you would like to give energy healing a go give us a call and book a session to try.

As a special for Mother’s Day which is fast approaching, we are offering here at our natural health clinic in Greystanes, Sydney 20% discount on vouchers for your mum, grandma or special person in your life. Mention this blog to take advantage of the offer. Contact us at www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com, Facebook or give us a call. #naturalmedicineweek2025

Is it Ulcerative Colitis, Leaky Gut or inflammation?

 

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. This disease causes inflammation and ulcers in the lining of your large intestine. Symptoms that you may experience can be diarrhea, abdominal pain, and blood in your stool. It is an autoimmune condition, meaning that it's caused by a problem with your immune system. There are things you can do to help reduce the inflammation and treat your symptoms.  

The link to Leaky Gut issues

Another problem that can come from this disease is leaky gut. Your epithelial lining of your intestines only let small molecules get through to your bloodstream. Leaky gut is when this lining starts to let larger molecules such as food proteins, toxins, and bacteria get through. This triggers an inflammatory immune response and it creates antibodies.

By eating foods that your body cannot digest properly you are creating more inflammation. This includes food sensitivities. All this in turn reduces your good bacteria in your gut and allows for the growth of bad bacteria.

When the flora in your gut is imbalanced it’s called dysbiosis. These bacterial changes in your gut cause your body to start to ferment your food in the intestines without being digested. This leads to undesirable digestive symptoms. Your immune system will also recognize the new bacteria and yeast as another offending invader. This will cause you more inflammation, more intestinal permeability, and more immune responses in the bloodstream. When you have an excess of the bacteria Klebsiella and Prevotella it can also trigger more inflammation causing ulcerative colitis.

Triggers to cause Ulcerative Colitis

There are different things that may trigger ulcerative colitis. One of these things is food sensitivities. These are different to food allergies as a food sensitivity can have a delayed reaction. Your body may not respond to the certain food for up to 72 hours after it’s consumed. Some sensitivities can include wheat, yeast, gluten, dairy, and sugar. Notice that gluten sensitivity is not the same as wheat and yeast. Gluten free is of no consequence hardly even though it is being sold as a ‘health food’ by the supermarkets. The reason these sensitivities can trigger ulcerative colitis is because they cause inflammation. There are many other foods that can do this and the best way to find out which is to have a test.

Another trigger can be pesticides. Exposure to pesticides can contribute to autoimmunity issues as pesticides can disrupt the endocrine system.

Food additives and preservatives can also be triggering for some people. Industrial food additives can cause big problems with your gut barrier function, and increase the leakages. This can lead to the entry of foreign antigens, causing an immune response and activate the inflammatory, autoimmune response.

Another trigger is heavy metals. These can influence your immune response by altering how you respond to disease. The metals to pay the most attention to include mercury, lead, cadmium, and aluminium.

Infections can also influence your gut health issues. A single organism may be able to trigger even more than one autoimmune disease.

If you are struggling with symptoms that are unexplainable it could indicate ulcerative colitis. Give us a call, message or text to www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com to see how we can help you find the cause of your unexplained illnesses.

Yoga poses are great for seniors too - here's why!

 

Yoga is a great exercise to take up if you are wanting to stretch, balance your energy, reduce your stress, lose weight, breathe easier and have more flexibility. So, whether you are 18 or 80 your age is irrelevant because there are yoga exercises every age can do.

Yoga is a low impact, slow workout and is also a physical, mental and spiritual discipline. It originates in ancient India and is one of the main Hindu philosophical traditions. Yoga can increase your cognitive awareness and decrease physical diseases.

Benefits for seniors

It is important that seniors still get regular exercise throughout the day. As you get older you may find that you are having trouble doing the same sports you used to when you were younger, but you still need to keep active so yoga and walking are both great ways to do this.

Age often brings with it aches and pains, muscle weakness, malnutrition, depression, and muscle and joint weaknesses. Yoga and gentle exercise will help boost immunity and keep fit.

Easiest poses for seniors

The butterfly pose is a good pose for seniors. It is a good idea to practise on an empty stomach in the mornings as it can help with bladder and bowel movements. It can also help with mild depression and anxiety. The stimulation of the stomach organs and the heart improves general circulation, and stretches the inner thighs and knees. It can also help with high blood pressure, asthma and flat feet.

Our second pose is the mountain pose and try to hold it for about 10 to 30 seconds. It will improve posture, strengthen weak thighs and ankles, improves digestion, and also increases blood circulation as well as relieve some aches and pains.

Cobra pose also helps bowel movement. It will loosen stiff lower back and stretches the muscles in your chest, shoulders and abdomen as well as lift your mood.

Child pose practised away from mealtimes held for 1-3 minutes helps release tension, keeps you alert, helps steady breathing, and calms you.

Corpse pose will need you to have a calm mind and to relax your body without fidgeting. Stay in this pose for about 10 minutes or more, but don’t fall asleep. It helps with insomnia, to improve concentration, mental health, constipation and diabetes.

Downward facing dog is good for your bowels when practised early in the morning on an empty stomach. Hold for a few seconds building up to a minute. It helps boost confidence, keeps you active and because it is an inverted pose it allows more blood to flow to your brain. This improves your cognitive abilities.

Triangle pose is done with your eyes open for 20 to 30 seconds. It helps reduce blood pressure, decreases fat from your waist and thighs and can give you better stability and balance.

How to get fitter and healthier

If you join a group, you can also have the added advantage of using your yoga sessions to meet more people and make more friends. Alternatively, if you are already busy you can jump online and use your loungeroom floor as your yoga studio. Either way your body will get a good workout if you can do this a few times a week and alternate with one time walking for about 40 minutes or more.

Being a senior does not mean you need to compromise any of the things you have been doing all of your life. You just need to tweak things a bit. Your body can be just as healthy if you look after it and your mind just as cognitively sharp. You just need to give it the right food, sleep and exercise. Give us a call or text for help with a plan to get you fit and keep you healthy with proper nutrition, great cognitive ability, handling those aches and pains, overcoming sensitivities to food or pollution and keeping you mentally and emotionally motivated to continue having a great lifestyle. www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com

(Pics thanks to Matthew Henry Burst Shopify)

How diet can impact joint pain

Everyone knows that eating healthy and having a balanced diet is great for health and wellbeing. However, it is less known how your diet can have an impact on your joints and aches and pains.

There have been many studies done on this topic. They found that having a diet that’s packed with anti-inflammatory foods, can have a positive effect on your pain levels even if you are suffering with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. One diet that they studied was the Mediterranean diet. This diet is rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are known to reduce eicosanoids. These are involved in causing inflammation.  

Foods or diets that can help reduce your pain

When it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, you need to focus on reducing inflammation. You do this by altering the balance of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids and increase antioxidants. This is because omega-6 fatty acid, which is found in animal foods is a precursor for eicosanoids. In the studies, the people following an anti-inflammatory diet experienced lower levels of pain when compared to people on ordinary diets.

Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet is packed full with fresh fruits, vegetables, antioxidants, olive oil and a healthy dose of fish. Fish is full of omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids act as natural anti-inflammatory agents. This then leads to reduced joint pain and swelling. This is why choosing fish over red meat can help your body to fight inflammation, making your pain less and keeping your joints comfortable.

Vegetarian and vegan diets

These diets are low or completely devoid of arachidonic acid. This acid causes inflammation. By choosing a plant-based diet, you're steering clear of arachidonic acid and reducing your inflammation. Your joints will feel better and you will be able to move more freely and without pain.

Omega 6 fatty acids

People are sometimes using processed seed oils which, although high in omega 6 have unhealthy ratios of omega 6 to omega 3. Some sources of refined, bad vegetable oils used for cooking are soybean, safflower, grapeseed, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, sesame, peanut and walnut oils. Give them a miss.

Gluten, Nightshades, and Your Joints

Gluten is in grains including wheat, rye, barley, spelt and sometimes oats. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease where your immune system reacts abnormally to gluten. Studies show that people with coeliac disease can get joint pain. So, if this is you, try avoiding wheat and gluten to reduce your joint pain. Many people can be sensitive to these products, even if they don’t have coeliac disease. You will have certain symptoms arise after eating gluten and wheat, these can include foggy mind, headache, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and leg or arm numbness. However, many people have no apparent symptoms and are still sensitive. If you suspect sensitivity, call us at the clinic and book in a test. It’s non-invasive and will let you know for sure and will be part of the reason you have joint pain. We also test for many other things in this test so let’s discuss it so you know once and for all what is making you ill. Check us out on this link www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com

Vegetables

A group of vegetables that belong to the Solanaceae family, such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and bell peppers can exacerbate joint pain. This is even more so for people with certain autoimmune conditions like arthritis. This is because they contain chemical compounds called alkaloids, which contribute to inflammation and joint discomfort in sensitive individuals.

Why not call us today to find out what you are sensitive to and let us design a health plan you can get healthy with and stay healthy?