Avoidance is not Benign in OCD or for the Body

Frozen Shoulder via Raysto on Flickr

I did an exposure by calling a physical therapist about my shoulder pain.  Part of my health anxiety assuming I must know what is wrong with me, choose the right kind of therapy, and "know before knowing."  The PT said I have a frozen shoulder, which in part arises from avoiding moving a shoulder that is painful, and the more you avoid, the more stuck it gets.

What a metaphor for mindfulness, facing fears, doing exposure therapy for OCD!

Avoidance can bring on the very thing we fear:  anxiety, pain, suffering.

Of course, frozen shoulder is somewhat of a mystery, as to how it arises in the first place. Uncertainty stirs my OCD.

But I am proud of myself for choosing to do something, one step at a time, rather than continuing to wait until the "perfect " time to call and the perfect kind of professional(family doc, physiatrist, physical therapist, massage therapist, chiropractor).

What do you avoid?  What step can you take toward it?

The Biggest Problems With The Hypothyroid Diet Or Any Diet

By Dr. Kevin Dobrzynski

A hypothyroid diet is not like any other kind you may find. If fact, there are several things about it that make it positively unique. Also, each person that assumes this kind of eating has unique needs to consider.

I have an acronym for the word diet, which is -- Deliberately, Identified, as an Eating, Trend. Diets are eating trends, plain and simple. In fact, if you listen carefully to someone who's dieting they will tell you they are 'going on' a diet. If you 'go on' a diet, you usually 'go off' it at some point. Hence, eating trend.

Your results using the hypothyroid diet will be the same as the results you've experienced with all diets if your approach is the same.

People that suffer from hypothyroidism or overactive thyroid are not likely to find any miracle cures. This is a chronic condition that could take some time to improve. However, hypothyroidism can be cured in some cases but it will not come from changing what you eat for thirty days. It is a more complex issue than dieting for a while and then you are completely done with it. You need to enter this with the right kind of mindset.

Your mindset should be similar to this..."I need to make some permanent changes in my life if I'm going to overcome this thing that has disrupted my life."

Most people have heard the phrase, "diets must include lifestyle changes". This concept is even more important when it comes to hypothyroidism.

Changing your lifestyle will involve a few sacrifices, and it will not be as simple as most people think. Yet, you will notice many health benefits from your efforts. It is best thought of as an exciting adventure that allows you to journey into areas of the mind and body that you have never been before.

Successful diets and mindset are intricately intertwined. Begin a new regime with the proper mindset and half the work is already done. If you have unrealistic expectations like easy weight loss with no effort, you are doomed to fail.

To make permanent changes in eating and living you must first change the way that you think.

It is important to consider the lifestyle changes you need. However, it is far more important to consider the mindset required in order to succeed.

Altering the way you eat will not be enough to cure hypothyroidism. Yet, you can make some lifestyle changes along with a good hypothyroid diet, and it can bring positive long term results.

About the Author:

When you want reliable information about the hypothyroid diet, go to the website here today. You can learn more details on the hypothyroidism diet by clicking on our links now.

Popular Eye floaters or flashes

In such a writing the majority of us will obviously allow you to get yourself a beneficial guide in accordance with critique about today's articles or reviews Eye floaters or flashes possibility argument considering a huge amount individuals so, who seem to intend individuals. on blueprint Gathering up you implement many different search engine listings here are pictures which were connected Eye floaters or flashes .

Pictured over you are able to obtain as well as conserve the item into your computer system disk drive to make certain that in the event you need it are generally precisely contacted comfortably. Eye floaters or flashes stands out as the main on your behalf just who loves to correlated information. Consequently all of us required the actual effort to collect the information for the purpose of the good a lot of our targeted visitors. Bookmark our website that will allow you to seek out extra reports in connection with your search phrases

Eye floaters or flashes - that will build up the eye of the customers can be boastful to build this page. improving upon human eye your content will we try on a later date as a way to extremely know soon after reading this article write-up. Finally, it is not a few words that must be made to convince you. however , with the boundaries for terms, we are able to just existing the actual Eye floaters or flashes dialogue upward right here

Friday Q A Breath Practices that Stimulate or Invigorate

Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of Fire by Joan Miro*

One of our readers left a question on my post How Your Breath Affects Your Nervous System.

Q: I am teaching a Pranayama workshop and linking it to Brain Physiology. I checked this article and I am confused. According to your article, inhalation stimulates the SNS (sympathetic nervous system) and exhalation triggers PNS (parasympathetic nervous system). Is this your personal experience or are you pretty sure about this correlation because I did not find this in any Yoga textbooks or articles.

Just think about Kapalabhati Pranayama: The inhalation is very passive and exhalation is very forceful. If your correlation is true, at the end of Kapalabhati pranayama, you need to feel more relaxed and calm (exhalation-PNS). But this is not what we typically experience. The nature of Kapalabhati pranayama is such that it makes an individual more active, there is more heat generated in mind and body and it awakens an individual from stupor. I guess this is due to activation of SNS. So this would be contradictory to what you mentioned. What is the correct explanation?

A: I love it when my readers take some aspect of the practice of yoga and begin to look a little deeper! I just reread my post How Your Breath Affects Your Nervous System on the effect of the length of the inhalation/exhalation (like a five-minute pranayama practice of one second inhalation and two second exhalation, for example) over time and the indirect influence it has on the brain and the “tone” of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The length of your inhalation and/or exhalation influences your heart rate (cardiovascular system) by slowing or speeding it up, which then has a feedback effect on your brain’s perception of safety or danger, activity or rest, and may then shift the overall balance of your sympathetic/parasympathetic tone in one direction or the other. This assumes the person doing the pranayama does not have any other factors at play that might be more activating or quieting to their nervous system. For example, a new practitioner unfamiliar with breathing practices might be nervous and anxious about getting the practice right, and a breath ratio, such as 1:2, that might normally turn on the parasympathetic parts of the the ANS could be overridden by the background mindset of the person practicing it and actually stimulate the sympathetic nervous system instead.

In fact, the Autonomic Nervous System is by no way a simple system of the Fight or Flight response (sympathetic nervous system) being turned on and the Rest and Digest response (parasympathetic) being turned off, or vice versa. The ANS is much more subtle and nuanced than that. Why, just this past week, anatomy teacher and yogi Leslie Kaminoff’s colleague Amy Matthews wonderfully articulated this concept in this video clip.

As for the other kinds of breath practices our reader mentions, such as Kapalabhati pranayama, where the practitioner is quickly exhaling audibly, and quietly and more passively allowing the inhale to happen, and doing so at a pace that can be slower at first for newer practitioners or much faster in pace for more experienced practitioners, the typical effect is more stimulating for the ANS. 

This means that for most people doing the practice, the sympathetic nervous system is likely going to be stimulated more. Even here, I could argue that the inhale/exhale length effects described above for slower kinds of pranayama techniques might still have an effect: the exhalation is short and quick, and the inhalation, which is not as audible as the exhalation, is probably a little longer in length than the exhalation. Done over several minutes, this could support the increase in stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. In addition, the abdominal muscles are actively contracting to assist in the that quick exhalation, so you are asking your body to “work” more, which also will likely stimulate the sympathetic system a bit more.

This would be true also for Bastrika pranayama, where both the inhalation and exhalation are quick and audible. 

In Bastrika, the length of the inhalation and exhalation are about the same, so you would not see the same influence of the length of the inhalation relative to exhalation that you do in Kapalabhati or the 1:2 ratio example I gave before. But because your abdominal muscles are so actively assisting the process, it is going to be more stimulating than quieting to your nervous system.

In all of this, keep in mind that it is not a simple formula of “this leads to that.” You will need to consider many factors when anticipating the effect that any particular breath practice might have, and, after practicing, also assess for yourself whether your predicted effect, either stimulating or quieting, really played out in the end!

—Baxter

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect

GARRI CAUSES POOR EYESIGHT MYTH OR FACT

I was at a friend's place when this argument occurred 'again'; "garri causes eyesight problems, true or not?". I used the word 'again' as this is not a new topic of argument.

This topic has been successful at gaining itself much popularity as it's been widely debated for decades; by our great grannies - who (may) know little or nothing about medicine - among scholars, and even among medical experts.

But with critical examination, we're going to take a look into this topic together.

                      A QUICK LOOK INTO THE SUBJECT MATTER

This is for the benefit of non-Nigerians who might be reading this, for better understanding.

Garri is a popular West African food made from cassava tubers.

Garri is a food hated by few, but loved by much. Virtually every home in Nigeria has it in their store.

It has so much fan base that if possible, a facebook or twitter account would have been opened on it. I for one would have been the guy with the most visits.

I can remember vividly sometime around 2012, a tweet got trending on twitter; "RETWEET if you agree! #Garri Ijebu Saving Lives Since 1400!". Very funny.

Some of it lovers have even anglicized it by calling it Cassava Flakes. Much of love, you see!

                           NOW, TO THE ROOT OF THE MATTER

As earlier stated, garri is a food made from cassava tubers.

Cassava roots and tubers contain what is known as CYANOGENIC GLYCOSIDES (i.e cyanides bound to sugar molecules in some plants), which helps defend them against herbivorous animals. But the main element in that compound is CYANIDE.

According to the American Cancer Society, the cyanide produced in cassava plant is poisonous, can be deadly to humans, and also pose serious health hazard IF NOT PROPERLY PROCESSED.

Proper garri processing should reduce the concentration of this acid to a harmless level, but impatience on the part of its producers make them employ inappropriate processing methods which give rise to "cyanide-laden garri poison" as a friend calls it.

                                     A BRIEF ON CYANIDE

Cyanides can be produced by certain bacteria, fungi and algae and are found in a number of plants (spinach, bamboo shoots, almonds, cassava, etc).

People may be exposed to low levels of cyanides in their daily lives from foods, smoking and other sources. Eating or drinking cyanide-containing foods may cause health effects.

After ingestion, cyanide quickly enters the bloodstream. The body handles small amounts of cyanide effectively and differently than large amounts:

• In small doses, cyanide in the body can be changed into thiocyanate, which is less harmful (about seven times less toxic than cyanide) and is excreted in urine.

• In the body, cyanide in small amounts can also combine with the hydroxycobalamin form of vitamin B12 to form cyanocobalamin, thus altering the cyanide into a safe vitamin which helps maintain healthy nerve and red blood cells.

These two reasons explain why most medical experts argue against this topic and call it a fallacy. But. . .

• In large doses (which can cause chronic cyanide poisoning), the body’s ability to change cyanide into thiocyanate is overwhelmed. Increased thiocyanate concentrations in the body can adversely affect the body. Large doses of cyanide prevent cells from using oxygen and eventually these cells die.

Chronic cyanide exposure is linked to demyelination, lesions of the optic nerve, ataxia, hypertonia, Leber's optic atrophy, goiters and depressed thyroid function.

Don't forget, most garri drinkers are addicts. And also considering the economic situation of the country, some people drink it three times a day.

                             HOW IT AFFECTS THE EYE

The body has several mechanisms to effectively detoxify cyanide. The majority of cyanide reacts with thiosulfate to produce thiocyanate in reactions catalyzed by sulfur tranferase enzymes such as rhodanese. The thiocyanate is then excreted in the urine over a period of days.

Although thiocyanate is approximately seven times less toxic than cyanide, increased thiocyanate concentrations in the body resulting from chronic cyanide exposure can adversely affect the thyroid.

The 'thio' of thiocyanate comes from the sulfur amino acids, cysteine and methionine, which are also essential to a number of vital enzymes, including glutathione peroxidase, the major natural enzyme antioxidant of cell membranes.

Thiocyanate carries similar electronic charge, size and characteristics as iodide; hence it substitutes or competes with iodide by entering the thyroid gland, and blocking the production of the thyroid hormone, thyroxine.

A low thyroid state interferes with vitamin A production, essential to regeneration of the retinal pigments and healing of the retina. Night blindness and retinal damage are the most obvious of the consequences, and vitamin A is required for healing and repair in every cell of the body.

Another way is that, as large doses of cyanide prevent cells from using oxygen, suffocation occurs at the cellular level. The nervous system is particularly vulnerable and sub-clinical cases damage the eyes and nerves. Demyelination of the brain, similar to multiple sclerosis, can also occur.

                                 FURTHER WORSENING CONDITIONS

Thiocyanate levels can increase after cigarette smoking or exposure to cigarette smoke, because of cyanogens in tobacco leaf.

Thus, thiocyanate can amplify retinal damage along with carbon monoxide.

Carbon monoxide, however, blocks the transport of oxygen from hemoglobin to the tissues, and this adds to the damage caused by cyanide, which blocks the cytochrome enzymes within cells, thus preventing oxygen transfer inside the mitochondria of the cells.

The combination of carbon monoxide and cyanide is worse than either alone so that even at relatively low doses of dietary cyanides, irreversible damage to the retina of the eye can and does occur in smokers.

So smokers who drink garri are at greater risk of having eyesight problems.  

                                 OTHER COMPLICATIONS

There are also some people who are allergic to cassava, and some to garri. Allergies manifest in different ways including itchy eyes, red eye, itchy skin, skin rashes, coughing, etc. Drinking garri for this set of individuals isn't a good idea.

                                           BENEFITS

Notwithstanding, plants that contain cyanide have medical value and may be used as therapy for malaria, sickle-cell disease, boils, diarrhea, flu, hernia, inflammation, sores, etc.

It has also been theorized that cyanide may be useful as a type of gene therapy to treat cancer.

To all garri fans (like me) out there, I'm so sorry if this breaks your heart, but I just have to do my job, and that's to tell you the truth.

For more on cassava, READ HERE

REFERENCES:

NEW YORK STATE

DRINK YOUR VITAMINS

International Cyanide Management Code

SUGAR CAUSES BACK PAIN MYTH OR FACT

This is another widely debated topic as regarding health.

For the fact that we would not like beat about the bush on this, we'd like to go straight to business. Here we have provided a comprehensive review from the medical view point.

In order to clear doubts, it is important to know what back pain really is. Back pain is pain felt in the back that usually originates from the muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine.

Back pain can be caused by so many things e.g accidents, injuries, obesity, poor posture, etc, but most back pain syndromes are due to inflammation.

Fortunately or unfortunately to let you know, the answer is positive. It is a FACT that sugar causes back pain, not a myth.

YOU ASK, "BUT HOW COME, HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?"

Estimates show that 8 out of 10 people will suffer from back pain during their life. And as little as it seems, it is so surprising that sugar is one of the major causes of this pain. Every day foods such as cakes, yoghurt, candies, softdrinks, etc are stocked up with sugar.

New research reveals disturbing links between sugar and inflammation. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that processed sugars and other high-glycemic starches increase inflammation, which causes pain, overheating, redness and swelling. Poor regulation of glucose and insulin is the real cause of these problems.

Majority of our immune cells are found in our digestive system, making direct contact with the food we eat every day. The immune system can be triggered by a lot of things, and also an imbalance of important hormones such as insulin. This can set off the red alert of inflammation.

Under normal conditions, inflammation helps the body rebound from injury. But when inflammation becomes chronic, it could lead to many deadly diseases.

High amounts of sugar in the diet elevates your insulin levels, and also increase Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs), a protein bound to a glucose molecule, resulting in damaged, cross-linked proteins.

As the body tries to break these AGEs apart, immune cells secrete inflammatory messengers called cytokines. Depending on where the AGEs occur and your genetic predisposition, they could eventually result in arthritis, cataracts, heart disease, poor memory or wrinkled skin.

SO WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS?

For some reasons we would refrain from stating ways on how to reduce this pain. It's been discovered that most people take information as these as substitutes for their doctor's advice. So the most important thing first of all is pay a visit to your doctor to lay your complains.

But generally, you can drastically reduce your sugar intake, and also get used to drinking plenty of water. Water helps in combating accumulation of the excess sugar, and also helps to enhance the height of your intervertebral disks thereby reducing friction.

#STAYHEALTHY

You can join us on our various social media platforms:

Twitter: @Medicalmattaz

Facebook: Medicalmattaz

BBM Channel: C003DBA82

In Gratitude or With Thanksgiving…Stress and Digestion

by Baxter

Next Thursday is the official kick-off of the holiday season in the US, or maybe more appropriately the Feasting Season, or perhaps the Excessive Cream Cheese season.  Whatever you refer to the next seven weeks as, eating is center stage, and most often, with abundant quantities of food.  And although gratitude and togetherness and love and joy are also the focus of our gatherings and feasts, which seem like lovely qualities and potentially beneficial, we can still experience an increase in overall stress this time of year. And an increased perception of “stress” can have a noticeably negative impact on your digestion. 

When we are in good balance on a holistic level, which would include physical, mental and emotional balance, our digestive system, at least theoretically, should reflect that balance as well. The digestive system has it’s own nervous system, sometimes called the gut brain, known as the enteric nervous system, which can influence the function of the gut from the stomach all the way to parts of the large intestines. Without any direct input from the brain and the spinal cord, the enteric nervous system can move food along and continue with the digestion and absorption of fuel from our food. 

However, there is also interplay between the conscious parts of our brain, as well as the background operating system of the body known as the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) on our digestion as well. When we are in balance, the Parasympathetic portion (PNS) of the Autonomic Nervous System, prophetically known as the Rest and Digestion system, supports good digestion. However, when you are under stress, whether via truly threatening situations or everyday worries and anxieties, the other half of the Autonomic Nervous System, the Sympathetic Nervous System, dubbed the Fight, Flight or Freeze system, exerts dominance over your enteric brain. The result is a negative effect on the movement of food through the gut, a decrease in the blood sent to the gut for digestive purposes, which inhibits absorption of nutrients out of the gut, while acidity may simultaneously build up in your stomach, increasing the likelihood of indigestion and heartburn.

With ongoing stress, some people begin to crave complex carbohydrates (none of those around for the holidays, right?) as they can trigger the release of calming substances in the brain, at least for short periods of time. The unwanted side effect of such shifts in eating habits is sometimes weight gain.

By activating the Rest and Digest part of your Autonomic Nervous System via yoga asana and other yoga tools, you can guide yourself back into better balance and improve your digestion and decrease those unwanted symptoms like heartburn and bloating. In the spirit of gratitude for your readership this past year, we want to once again share with you one of my favorite poses to do just that: Reclined Cobbler’s Pose. A few months ago, we posted this short video on youtube, which we link to here again with the hopes you’ll watch and try it. It is a reminder to slow down, do some yoga and take good care of yourselves and your digestion this holiday season. I look forward to checking in with you after our break for the Thanksgiving week!

Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook

Finding A Portland OR Natural Healer

By Roger Gray

People who are looking for healing often will try anything, but that doesn't mean that traditional methods - those used before the advent of antibiotics, surgery, and other modern medical procedures - can't be effective. They are also often safer than conventional medicine. There are many reasons why someone who is ill could benefit from finding a reputable Portland OR natural healer.

If a person has a diagnosis of an illness, or suffers from conditions like chronic pain or depression, there is time to try natural means in addressing the problem. If one alternative therapy does not work, try another. There are practitioners skilled in acupressure and acupuncture, herbal extracts, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and kinesiology (allergy testing.) Find specialists or general practitioners in natural methods in your local phone directory or online.

Most alternative healing protocols are considered safe. Many of them have been used for centuries, and modern research is showing that their effectiveness can rival that of conventional medicine. While chemotherapy, radiology, and surgery can offer hope, there are other methods that could be tried first. Natural remedies often have few if any long-term effects. People all over the world depend on herbal extracts, homeopathy, and other alternative methods.

The natural healer will assess each patient, because there are no 'one size fits all' programs. However, there is a wide body of knowledge to draw from: which herbs are good for certain conditions, which homeopathic remedy is indicated, which disorders are helped by acupuncture or massage therapy. Mental health is one area where there is a variety of helpful things to try, without the possibility of the addiction or acute reactions that can happen with pharmaceutical drugs.

The flower remedies are great for emotional imbalances in adults or children. These are harmless remedies to help everything from mild anxiety to deep depression. The 'wrong' remedy will not have any effect, while the 'right' one can seem miraculous. This branch of homeopathy works on the emotional level and, like the rest of this science, is regulated by the FDA.

The research and clinical studies of mental and emotional response to isolated amino acids are fascinating. Rather than starting or continuing with mind-altering drugs, people who suffer from depression, anxiety, or more serious disorders might benefit from targeted use of single amino acids. There are many therapists who are trained in this approach for those with serious disorders, while those with recent, milder problems could try some of the more thoroughly tested supplements.

Practitioners also see vitamins and minerals as a first-response approach that can restore health. Vitamin C is known to shorten the duration of colds and viruses, and it is also a potent diuretic. Used as an immune system booster, it may also be helping vision, clearing skin, keeping wrinkles at bay, and alleviating back pain. Since the body is a complex system of interwoven metabolic processes, a natural substance that helps one condition can help others as well.

Natural healers Portland OR way have a wide variety of things to try when your health has been compromised. Check out the time-tested methods of using medicinal plants, supplements, massage, acupuncture and pressure, and food sensitivity testing to see if you can be healthier and happier.

About the Author:

You can get complete details about the reasons why you should consult a Portland OR natural healer and more info about an experienced healer at http://www.portlandmindbodysoul.com right now.