Health is when every cell in your body is bouncing with joy.
Implementing regular habits to maintain good health and well-being goes hand-in-hand with boosting your immune system to build up resistance to, and fight off, a virus or infection.
Here are a few tips.
One of the most common reasons people come to me is back pain. After immediate treatment, it is my experience that it is important to follow up with regular, gentle exercises and stretches to keep your back mobile.
These exercises can enhance your recovery and help avoid recurrence of pain. If you have suffered with long term back pain you will know that it requires constant maintenance.
Book here if it’s time for a kinesiology treatment.
Download your PDF copy of Exercises for back care
During the holiday season you’re out of your normal routine and it’s easy to put your self-care on the back-burner while you prioritise commitments to family and friends. Then when you go back to work, you are so busy catching up on the work that has mounted up while you were away, you still neglect your self-care and it can be a while before you start to carve out time for things that benefit your well-being.
Why is self-care so important? Read More…
For the past couple of weeks I have been away, and even though I ate a reasonably ‘healthy’ diet, it wasn’t as high in vegetables and fruit as I’m used to. Plus, I ate more bread and sugary items than is good for me. The result: I felt sluggish and bloated, unmotivated to exercise and my mind felt foggy.
After a few days of eating whole plant foods almost exclusively, my mind feels much clearer and my energy has improved.
As I prepared dinner last night I was reminded of a dietary principle from my Kinesiology training: “eat a rainbow” – aim to have a rainbow on your plate at each meal. Foods that are red, yellow/orange, green, blue/purple and white.
An easy way to achieve this is to include a variety of whole plant foods,
By focusing on eating whole foods in a variety of colours you are consuming a broad range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other plant-based nutrients.
Our western diet has become very high in ‘white’ foods. We love our white potato and refined carbohydrates, consequently we have the health issues associated with consuming a diet with such a limited nutritional range.
Below are some of the benefits of “eating a rainbow”. Read More…
I often have discussions with clients and friends about the challenges of staying active. Injuries, work and family commitments get in the way of establishing a regular exercise regime for most of us.
I rarely feel like exercising when I wake up in the morning, but I generally feel happier and more energised afterwards. The tips I’m sharing below is how I stay in the habit of exercising, whether I feel motivated or not.
These are some of the tips I use to stay active, I encourage you to choose the ones that help you, and create some of your own. I believe each person needs to find an activity and schedule that suits them, their physical shape, ability and their lifestyle.
A few years ago, I was having a tough time with some confronting personal issues. My mother asked who could help and support me. I told her that I had some great friends, but they had their own issues and I didn’t want to trouble them.
Mum went on to give me a new perspective…
“When you help someone, do you feel good?”
“Yes I do”
“Have you ever thought that when you don’t allow someone help you, you are denying them that good feeling,”
I now have a new attitude towards accepting help when it’s offered. I gratefully accept!
I have shared this story with many friends and clients over the years, because accepting help can be challenging for all.
If you have difficulty asking for or accepting help, it can be worthwhile to explore your beliefs about receiving help.
Is it a feeling of being unworthy? The person offering help has already decided you are worthy and deserving in their eyes.
Are you a perfectionist that sees yourself as a failure if you ask for help? Read More…
Get your butt into gear with Kinesiology!
… over the years I have worked with many people suffering with lower back and hip pain, frequently associated with weak gluteal (“butt”) muscles and tight or over-working hip flexors (the muscles that lift your thigh to move your leg forward).
This syndrome has been dubbed “dead butt syndrome” or gluteal amnesia by mainstream medicine and if these issues aren’t addressed, the chances of long-term relief from pain is unlikely.
Dead butt syndrome commonly occurs in people who sit for extended periods. The glutes aren’t designed to bear weight for long periods of time and blood flow is restricted when tissues are compressed in a seated position. The glute muscles then start to shut down or ‘fall asleep’ and lose the ability to work when needed.
These muscles should be incredibly powerful but when they aren’t working properly other smaller, weaker muscles are called on to do the job. This causes strain on those smaller muscles and associated joints.
The constant flexed position of sitting can also cause the muscles at the front of the hip to become tight. The glute muscles are then unable to move through a full range of motion, causing them to become weaker.
You may be surprised to know ‘dead butt syndrome’ is not exclusive to sedentary people. Read More…
A few weeks ago, I watched an interview with Gweneth Paltrow, where she was talking about how being a success at a young age meant that many people came into her life to help smooth the way and make life easy. It wasn’t until her father sat her down and suggested that she was in danger of becoming an A-hole, that she realised that a bit of “friction” in life is a good thing.
She expressed perfectly something I have been thinking about and working on myself. I noticed that when someone achieves success, they sometimes slide backwards (often dramatically) soon after. I wonder if, without the ‘friction’ created by striving for success, these people step back and stop challenging themselves to become better people and to improve and enhance their skills.
The ongoing challenges we face every day can be good for us! Needing to earn an income to pay bills and mortgages means we Read More…
Sitting is the “new smoking”
A couple of weeks ago as I was cycling along Dick Ward Drive I was pleased to see how many people were commuting on bicycles. I remember my granddad cycled to and from work for most of his life. In those days it was common for people to walk or cycle as their primary mode of transport. In fact, a normal day 50 years ago incorporated much more incidental activity than these days.
The growing use of computers, television, appliances and service industries, has led to a sedentary population and an increase in the dis-ease associated with inactivity.
How did you spend your last 24 hours? Was most of it spent sitting? Studies show that many adults spend more than 8 hours sitting each day and almost 50% of the population do no physical activity at all!
Sitting has been called the “new smoking’ because of the associated negative health effects, such as:
Even if you go to the gym and work out regularly, 7 hours spent sitting can undo all that good work. It’s not just less calories burnt, it’s the actual sitting. Many offices have introduced standing desks, but what about the time you spend commuting, watching TV or on electronic devices?
Hours spent sitting alone with a screen-based activity, can disrupt sleep and often causes you to avoid socialising, withdraw from family and friends, potentially leading to social anxieties and depression.
Even just short bursts of activity throughout the day accumulates to provide numerous benefits and an increased level of activity going a long way towards avoiding the health risks above. Read More…
Fannie Bay Swim, Darwin, NT 2019
A year ago, I remember standing at the end of a triathlon chatting to a friend who, like me, finishes among the last ten competitors.
We discussed the “top guns” and how in awe we were of their ability and fitness. She said “Have you ever thought that the reason they’re so good is that they push themselves harder than we do? I notice that when they lap me on the run they’re breathing much more heavily than I am”
This conversation popped into my thoughts many times since and I now use it as motivation to go a little faster, harder and/or further in training sessions and events.
I have achieved some new ‘personal bests’ as my reward for the extra effort, not to mention better self-esteem.
In my life outside triathlon training and events, I know that when I feel frustrated, it is often the result of giving in to fear, making excuses and allowing myself to sit in a comfort zone rather than pushing to my potential. Like a racehorse at the start of a race, itching to get out and run, but being held back by the gate Read More…
