Our body is an integrated system of 120 joints and  400 pairs of muscles working together, and these joints and muscles are controlled by our nervous system, and organs and glands.

This can be explained by our evolution from a single cell, both historically and our journey from conception to birth and on through life.

As a single cell, the goal is to integrate with other cells to avoid bacteria fungus and parasites  as they eat them, and to feed those cells by finding food. In nature successful animals/humans increase no of cells (integration) – to increase safety and survival.  Our torso is an exact model of the single cell organism and on a foundational level, with the same goal to get to food more effectively and avoid predators.

Our muscles and joints (muscular skeletal system) are the artwork of the organs. Therefore our diet, lifestyle, organ and glands are vital for our survival and will communicate with the musculoskeletal system if the food we are consuming is not right for us, if we are not getting enough rest, if we are not moving enough to help the heart and the digestive system to work, or if we are stressed.

If our diet is not right for us then we might feel bloated, tired or sleepy after a meal, which affects our posture, the position of our joints, our breathing, our core stabilizing muscles are switched off, and this is the most common cause of back pain that I see in my clinic.

If we sit most of the day, to the degree that our chair and computer is not supporting us in good posture our body will contort to fit into that position, our organs and glands get compressed, our intestines don’t pump to help digestion and elimination, and our veins find it hard to pump blood back to the heart, our nervous system transmits this pain to our musculoskeletal system, and one day we are in pain.

These are just two of many examples of how our amazing body, works together as a physical mental emotional and spiritual entity, and whilst ensuring your spinal alignment and muscles are working correctly are vital, understanding of what your organs, glands, mental and emotional or spiritual elements are communicating to you, are just as important to beat pain for good!

Helping yourself to life without pain is as simple and as complicated as tuning into what your body is trying to tell you from the food you eat, the rest and sleep you take, the movement and exercise you do, and your thoughts.

For more information about how to help yourself to beat pain for good, sign up today for the Beat back and joint pain for good workshop – running  lunchtimes and weekends.

FREE for 2010 – Beat pain for good introductory workshops in January 2010, at The Therapy Room in Cambridge.

Phone 01223 315400, pick up a leaflet, or ask at reception for more details.

It can cause our head to protrude forward, shoulders to slump, making our neck and shoulders and lower back sore and painful.

It also causes crowding of our organs, adversely affecting digestion, elimination and the health of our organs.

 To reset your breathing, you must start by training yourself to breath with the diaphragm.

The best place to start is lying on your back, knees bent, focusing on slow, smooth breaths, the same length in and out. Put one hand on your abdomen, and the other on your chest, make sure your chest hand stays still. Start with just 5 minutes, and 1 inch tummy movement (up and down), and build up slowly towards 15 minutes and 5 inches (up and down).

This will help improve your posture, your energy levels, rest, repair and digest – improving your overall well being.

Tune in to part 5 next week to find out how sleep can help to supercharge your health!

1. Say no to CRAP – Carbohydrate/ Refined foods/ Additives/ Preservatives. The human body hasn’t changed much in the last 10000 years, but the food we eat has! Choose whole fresh foods, that would have been around 10000 years ago.

2.  The type, quantity and nutrients we require from our food is dependant on many factors, but chiefly on what our ancestors ate, and our current health. By avoiding CRAP and eating whole foods, you can tune into what kind of foods your body runs best on. It may do better with a light breakfast, but the rest of the day with heavier meals including meat and fat, or it may do better with fruit and vegetables. Try to eat a maximum of 3 foods per meal and record how you feel 2 hours later, don’t repeat any food that gives any adverse symptoms (eg. lethargy, bloating).  If you want to know more about how to accurately determine what foods are right for you (Metabolic Type), contact me.

3. Blocking factors – These are the things that stop you from making the right food choices or stop the food from digested.

a. Poor blood sugar control – Avoid CRAP, eat small regular meals, eat slowly, increase intake of protein from nuts, meat, cheese, vegetables, and fruit.

b. Food intolerances and allergies- By recording the foods you eat (as described in part 2) you will be able to determine what foods you may be intolerant to. Sometimes it is difficult to eliminate all the foods you are intolerant to. An alternative is to rotate the foods you eat on a 3 day cycle – do not eat what you ate on monday until thursday, this will help to stop the adverse affects of any food, as you are not exposed to them daily.

c. Dehydration- This can often manifest itself as cravings or hunger for food, ensure that you drink mineral water sipped throughout the day. The optimum amount is 0.033 x body weight in kg per day, plus any sweat loss.

d. Parasite and fungal gut infections- These invaders can live in your gut, feeding on your food especially CRAP, and emitting waste and toxins. If you try all the advice I have provided in this post and it doesn’t work, contact me for further advice.

Tune into part 3 – when we look at how breathing can supercharge your health…

Thoughts -

Everything we think, feel,do and say, believe, value, impact on our overall state of health. This will have an influence over all the other life principles, and can cause a stress response within the body,  triggering the release of a hormone called Cortisol, limiting our ability to recover and repair.

Hydration -

Drinking high quality water with the right mineral content, and in adequate volumes is vital to health. Dehydration can cause chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, toxicity, headaches, aching muscles and joints…

 Breathing –

Good breathing helps to deliver oxygen and remove waste products and toxins from your cells, it massages your organs and helps your digestion and elimination. Shallow breathing with your accessory respiratory muscles can cause neck, and shoulder pain, headaches and many more dysfunctions within the body.

Nutrition –

We are what we digest, absorb, assimilate (use in our cells), and don’t eliminate (get rid of as waste).  Eating the right quantity and balance of whole food for our individual requirements can make us healthy and vital. Food is the most powerful ‘drug’ we take on daily basis, so poor quality food (or foods that don’t suit you) and eating habits, can cause many health problems.

Exercise –

Getting the right amount and kind of exercise on a daily basis can improve your energy levels, help your heart, and digestive system pump more efficiently, and help in the delivery of nutrition, and the removal of waste in the body. Exercise of the wrong amount or type (including no exercise) can result in heart disease, digestive problems, back pain, RSI and many other dysfunctions.

 Sleep –

This is when we repair and recover from daily stress, and manage the energy we have taken from our food. Lack of good quality sleep during the hours 10pm – 6am can cause many dysfunctions in the body, including obesity, inablity to recover from illness or injury, muscular and joint pain.

Which one of these principles needs your attention?

Tune into part 3 to find out what you can do, to make the changes in one or more of your life principles you need to supercharge your health!

If you have any specific questions about your health, fitness or well being – physical, mental or emotional, please send us your questions, by leaving a comment (below) or email us on damien@dcintegratedhealth.com

We have a team of professional health professionals from multiple disciplines ready to give you answers and advice anonomously on this blog.

We look forward to receiving your questions.  

The results have been quite remarkable, so I’d like to share with you how it works. In order to supercharge your health will take commitment, and hard work.

Take the following survey to see if you are ready to Supercharge your Health.

1. What things would you like to change/improve about your health? This might involve writing a list of all the big or little niggles that you experience (eg. back pain, indigestion, dry skin…)

2. How long do you feel this will take?

3. Do you feel more strongly that:

a. given the right advice, you  can work your way back to optimal health?

b. you hope you can find the right person or treatment that will provide the answer to your problems?

(if you answered b. then this may not be the right advice for you)

4. What is a higher priority for you at this moment in time:

a. to improve/manage symptoms?

b. to identify and work on causative factors?

(if you answered a. then this may not be the right advice for you)

5. Would you be prepared to invest in an on-going health and lifestyle program, if your health would be significantly improved?

6. How much would you be willing to adapt your current lifestyle based on what you discover about the causes of your health problem(s)?

Please underline one of the following: Not at all /slighty/ moderately/ significantly/ completely.

(if you answered ‘not at all’ then this may not be the right advice for you)

7. What is the present level of commitment to change the underlying causes of problem(s) which relate to your lifestyle?

Rate from 1-10, with 10 being 100% committed

8. Who would be willing to support you in your health goals?

Now, you have completed the survey and if you are still positive and serious about supercharging your health then -

Tune into part 2 next week to discover what six things that you already do on daily basis, can help supercharge your health.

If you have any specific questions about your health, fitness or well being – physical, mental or emotional, please send us your questions, by leaving a comment (below) or email us on damien@dcintegratedhealth.com

We have a team of professional health professionals from multiple disciplines ready to give you answers and advice anonomously on this blog.

We look forward to receiving your questions.