Connecting With More Ease In Summer: Lyme, Fibromyalgia And Digestive Health Tips
Summer!
The season of the fire element in Chinese medicine. The positive attributes of this phase of the year are Joy, Connection, and Love. Who doesn't want more of that?! Always.
BUT — there's always a counterpoint. So, the less desirable qualities of this season include: inflammation, impatience, extreme anger, and disconnection and difficulty sleeping. So how do we clear the path for the more positive aspects of this season? I'm here to give you some simple approaches to bring more joy and ease into your daily life, no matter where you are on your health journey.
INFLAMMATION:
Such a catch-all phrase, and there's a reason for it! One can experience JOINT INFLAMMATION, GUT INFLAMMATION, EMOTIONAL INFLAMMATION...the list goes on. The root of inflammation is heat, or fire (get it, FLAME?). What's the fastest way to put out a fire? WATER.
You got it. Plain old. Plain old. WATER. Pick your favorite--distilled, filtered, bubbly, electrolyte-enhanced, coconut, alkaline, reverse osmosis, or tap water. Just drink it. With the increase in heat over the past week, I've been seeing a lot of sleep issues. One of the most simple remedies for disturbed sleep is to DRINK PLENTY OF WATER! How much? Seriously, go for a ballpark of 80 oz a day. At least 60. You're sweating more, which means losing water. WATER IS NATURE'S ANTI-INFLAMMATORY! It literally cools inflammation of all sorts. Try this for three days and notice how your body feels. Calmer? Less pain? Better sleep? It's a step in that direction! When you start getting more of these things in your life, it leads to more ease, more joy. AND IT'S FREE!!!! (unless you like to splurge on the fancy stuff :))
LYME and TICKS: Nature's Inflammation Vectors
Unfortunately there are also some nasty little critters in our neck of the woods that cause serious inflammation and pain in the body, along with fatigue and all kinds of other issues. TICKS. At the risk of causing some discomfort, I want to talk about LYME and TICK-BORNE illnesses. I see this a lot in my clinic, and I LOVE helping people regain a better quality of life after they have lived with this unique constellation of symptoms, sometimes for years. Note: I don't claim to cure Lyme disease, but I am deeply committed to helping people have more ease, less pain, and many more good days with Lyme. For those of you who enjoy the great outdoors (and who doesn't want to in this perfect weather?!), the NY Times published an article last week about ow to do just that in the face of nature's answer to inflammation (ticks). Here's are a couple of links to help you have it both ways: enjoying nature without the potentially negative side effects of living in prairie country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/health/ticks-mosquitoes-diseases.html
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/faq-tick-borne-diseases
Ok, that's a little intense, but one of the antidotes to fear in Chinese Medicine is to have knowledge. And I post these links so that there is a little more awareness about being in nature, enjoying it, and taking proper precautions appropriate to the season, weather and environment. This is informed ease!
FIBROMYALGIA
Let's talk another kind of inflammation — PAIN. Fibromyalgia is a disease of chronic pain, and it has been posited that the pain can be attributed to emotional inflammation. Here's an interesting article about the relationship between chronic pain - in this case, Fibromyalgia - and emotional events.
https://fibromyalgiaresources.com/emotional-causes-fibromyalgia/
Did you know that Chinese medicine specializes in bringing the body, mind, and spirit into balance, which helps to reduce pain sensation and inflammation? It is the original integrative medicine model. By addressing all three of these areas, healing happens at the deepest level.
I wanted to share two meditations that help the body to heal and bring it into a greater state of balance. These are Qi Gong exercises, which is are physical meditations that focus on clearing the organs of emotional and physical stress. You can do these whether or not you have fibromyalgia--anyone can benefit from these practices! Please feel free to forward this along to anyone you think might benefit.
Inner Smile Qi Gong:
(cultivates joy and self-compassion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLu7X7flE5U
Six Healing Sounds Qi Gong:
(supports organ function and releases toxins from the organs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMHHhxwlt4
The Six Healing Sounds Qi Gong is also a great way to support metabolism and digestion! Speaking of which, summer is also a great time to look at inflammation in the GUT!
HEALTHY DIGESTION: WHAT DOES YOUR GUT SAY?
One of the funnest questions I get to ask my patients is "how are your bowel movements?" (My second grade daughter LOVES that this is part of my work!!). Why do I want to know THIS? Because it is a reflection of how your gut is WORKING! Bowels stopped up, causing hemmorrhoids, bloating, discomfort? Houston, we've got a problem. Bowels too loose, too frequent, too smelly, undigested food in them? Houston, we've got a problem! A different problem, but still a problem. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are PARTICULARLY good at addressing gut health issues. So good, as a matter of fact, that a patient of mine wrote this review of how I helped him overcome many food intolerances and heal his gut. Here's a snippet of his Google review:
About two years ago, I was diagnosed with a ton of food sensitivities. To the point it was easier to list the things I could eat rather than list those I should avoid. And I mean avoid as in my body would evacuate itself if I ate any of them. Enough said. I have now been seeing Julie for a little over a year, and after her treatment I was able to eat my first slice of pizza in over two years! I cannot say enough how great it has been working with her, through the ups and downs as we worked to get my digestion under control. Still a long way to go but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Gut inflammation is at the root of SO MANY other issues--including allergies, dermatology issues, and mood regulation (anxiety, depression). It is not a magic bullet, but by cleaning up YOUR gut (and not all guts are created equal!), so many other health issues tend to dissipate.
Here are my SIMPLE gut health tips if you are suffering from bowel issues, bloating, or reflux.
Cut the cheese (and yogurt, milk, whipped cream, ice cream...) aka get rid of dairy in your diet. Give it a try for a week. It may not sound that exciting, but the difference can be DRAMATIC. If there's no difference, go have an ice cream cone. But if there is, appreciate the wisdom your body has and LISTEN to it. I'm not saying no dairy forever, but by avoiding it if it's a problem, you take the burden off your body. And when you choose to have dairy, it's a conscious choice to live with the consequences once in awhile.
If you're having constipation, choose juicy, cooling fruits and foods. Think watermelon, pineapple, pears, melons. Drink plenty of water (always). You can also eat a spoonful of sesame or good quality extra virgin olive oil at night before bed.
If you're having loose stools (aka diarrhea, but not always), eat more dry foods. Rice, rice crackers, toast, barley, oatmeal--good quality fiber that is somewhat bland will help slow your digestive system down. If the smell is terrible, drink peppermint tea. If it's more of a situation with undigested food in the stool and just regular smell, drink ginger tea.
Give yourself a little abdominal massage throughout the day, in a clockwise circular motion around your belly button. Down to the left, up on the right. Do 9 circles, or 18, 27. And think happy gut thoughts!
For bloating, avoid iced drinks and cold foods. Apply heat to the bloating. Hot tip: raw onions are magic for creating a bloated belly--enjoy with that knowledge!
YUM
Finally, what is Summer without some lovely change of scenery food? Here are a few great gut-friendly summer dishes to try in these suddenly-hot days!
Warm Barley and Caramelized Mushroom Salad:
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/warm-barley-and-caramelized-mushroom-salad
(try using Asian barley, which is gluten free, in place of traditional barley:
https://www.amazon.com/Manitou-Trading-Company-Barley-14-Ounce/dp/B00KTNHO8O/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1525924296&sr=8-3&keywords=jobs+tears+barley
Celery salad (great for when you have water retention — aka swollen hands and feet — in this hot weather!
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/celery-walnut-parmesan-salad
Salad rolls:
https://www.recipetineats.com/vietnamese-rice-paper-rolls-spring-rolls/
Avocado Soup, Nice and Cool:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chilled-avocado-soup-0
Vietnamese Beef (can be turned into a salad!)
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014031-shaking-beef-bo-luc-lac
Easy cool non-alcoholic summer drinks:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-phelps/5-non-alcoholic-lazy-summ_b_7137394.html
I hope you've enjoyed these simple tweaks for a more joyful, easy welcome to summer. Please pass this information along to anyone you think may benefit — the better people feel, the better our families feel, the better our community feels. Thanks so much for reading, and as always, give yourself an extra helping of loving kindness and compassion.
In joy and humanity,
Julie