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Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Making foot pain go away

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Gentle Reader,

How many of you have suffered from chronic foot pain? You’ve been to the doctor, the chiropractor, the massage therapist – and nothing seems to help for very long.  Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. In today’s GrandmaBetsyBell/blog post Julie tells you a very simple technique you can use at home to experience dramatic pain relief.  Thanks for Dr. Steve Chaney for this information.
If you find value here, please forward this email to a friend.

You Can Make Your Foot Pain Go Away       —    Heal Your Plantar Fasciitis Naturally

Author: Julie Donnelly

Just a couple of weeks ago I taught you how to make your hip pain go away. Today’s topic is foot pain. And, yes, you can make your foot pain go away as well. But, let’s start at the beginning.

How Does Foot Pain Get Started?

You feel it coming on gradually. Maybe your lower leg aches a bit, but you’re busy so you ignore it. After a while every time you take a step you feel a burning that spreads along the entire lower leg and into your arch. Still you ignore it.  But it doesn’t go away, in fact, it gets worse.

You Can Make Your Foot Pain Go Away
Oh, my aching feet. Make the pain go away!

 

[I’ve had foot pain many times over my life time of hiking and walking several miles at a time on the city streets.  The most recent was a few weeks before setting off for Switzerland to hike 50 miles in the Engadine Valley.  At the first slight twinge, I went to my podiatrist for an adjustment to my orthotics and avoided misery on the 6 day hike, or worse, cancellation.]

Now your arch just doesn’t feel “right.”  Then it starts to hurt, but not every time you put pressure on your foot. Again, you ignore it until finally you are experiencing foot pain all the time.   Then eventually you can’t ignore it any more, it’s like a knife being jabbed into your arch. Now it’s not just hurting when you run or drive your car, your foot hurts with every step.

Almost every day you do something that causes you to lift the front of your foot while your heel is still resting on the floor. For most people it comes from straining your lower leg muscles when you are driving a car, especially if you drive often. It is even more evident if you are doing any type of city driving because you are off and on the gas and break constantly, repetitively straining all of your lower leg muscles. You just know that your foot hurts and it’s affecting your life.  You must find a solution!

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

You’ve been told you have plantar fasciitis, and you may have been told you need expensive orthotics.  Perhaps you’ve even tried them and while they worked for a short time, eventually the pain returned and then it started to hurt worse.  Now you’re told you need to replace the orthotics, but you’ve come to realize that isn’t the answer.  And it’s not the answer. The orthotics are focusing on the symptom, but totally ignoring the source of the problem.

[Julie has some great advice in this article, and, in my experience, orthotics can make a difference.  It depends on the doctor.  Mine is an auto mechanic with his attention and expertise directed to the foot. If you are the Seattle area, I suggest you see him http://www.footankle.com/ Drs. Huppin and Hale.  Dr. Huppin has terrible bedside manner, but I got his full attention and he worked with my plantar fasciitis and a metatarsal swelling over time to get the orthotics adjusted to address the root problem.  Find a doctor who is not just putting an band aid under your sore feet.]

The good news is that you can heal your plantar fasciitis naturally. Most people, including too many medical professionals, don’t realize that foot pain is frequently coming from outside the foot. The muscles of your lower leg actually are there to move your ankle and foot, not to move your lower leg (that comes from your upper leg).

The reason is simple. First let’s use an analogy that I use all the time because it’s so perfect to explain how muscles work to move a joint.  If you pull your hair at the end, it hurts at your scalp. You don’t need to massage your scalp, you don’t need to take pain medications to stop the tension in your head, and you certainly don’t need brain surgery, you just need to stop pulling your hair!  Now substitute the muscle for your hand, the tendon for your hair, and the joint for your scalp.

Muscles originate in one place, they merge into a tendon that crosses over a joint, and then the tendon inserts into a point on the other side of the joint.  When the muscle pulls, the tendon tightens and the joint moves, but if the muscle is tight it will continue pulling on the joint even when you don’t want it to move.  In the case of the lower leg muscles and the foot, the muscles are pulling your foot up from the ground, but you are pressing it down and causing the tendons to put a strain on the insertion points, which in this case are all in your arch.

How the Muscles Get Strained

Every time you take a step you are using all of the muscles of your lower leg. As you work you contract these muscles every time you step on the pedal. Lifting the front of your foot up you are using your tibialis anterior and then you press down on the pedal you are using your calf muscles. If you walk a lot, or you are a runner, you are causing a repetitive strain on the same muscle fibers. Also, while driving your car your foot is picked up in the front to go from the gas to the brake, again straining the same muscles. You do this over and over until you have strained the muscle fibers.  Eventually the fibers shorten due to a phenomenon called muscle memory.

Muscle memory will hold your muscles in the shortened position even when you don’t need them contracted. This puts pressure on the insertion point, in this case, the arch.

The Result is Arch Pain

The two primary muscles that cause arch pain are the tibialis anterior and the peroneals.  They originate at the top of the lower leg, merge into tendons where your ankle begins to slim, and then insert into the bottom of your foot.

The tibialis anterior goes along the outside of your shin bone, crosses over the front of your ankle and then inserts into your arch.  When it contracts normally you lift up the inside of your foot so you are resting on the outside of your foot.

The peroneals originate at the top/outside of your lower leg, run down the leg and merge into a tendon that goes behind  the outside of your ankle and inserts in two places; the outside of your foot, and under your arch to the inside of your foot. When it contracts normally you pull up the outside of your foot so you are resting on your big toe.

An Easy Treatment that Works

The goal with this Julstro self-treatment is to force the toxins out of the muscle fibers, drawing in blood to nourish the muscles.  As the blood fills the muscle, the fibers lengthen and the strain is removed from the arch.

Begin by treating the tibialis anterior on the front of your leg.

Foot_Pain_1
natural healing for plantar fasciitis

#1 – kneel on the floor and put a ball just outside of your shin bone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foot_Pain_2
using a tennis ball to relieve the foot pain of plantar fasciitis

#2 – Move your leg forward so the ball rolls along the outside of your shin bone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then treat the peroneals on the outside of your lower leg, sit on the floor with the leg you are treating bent and resting on the floor. Put the ball on the outside of your leg (so it is actually on the floor and your leg is on top of it) and then press the outside of your leg into the ball.  Move your leg so the ball starts to roll down the outside of your lower leg.  Your intention is to do the same as you did for the tibialis anterior (above)
Or, sit on the floor or a bed and position your leg as shown in picture #3. While using either a dowel or a length of PVC pipe, slide the pipe from just above your ankle bone to just below your knee joint.

Foot_Pain_3
Use a dowel to relieve foot pain caused by plantar fasciitis

#3 – Using a dowel or piece of PVC pipe, put pressure on the outside of your leg and slide along the peroneals muscle from your knee to above your ankle bone.

The treatments will feel sore but that’s because you’re forcing H+ ions through the muscle fibers, and acid burns. But, it’s better to have the toxins out of the muscles and fill the fibers with blood, plus the lymphatic system will pick up the toxins and eliminate them from your body.

 

 

[Supplements that help are Alfalfa and Lecithin.  Alfalfa tablets—eat them like peas, a teaspoonful at a time—moves blood, infusing the hard-to-reach area with nourishment and acting as a diuretic, flushing the region.  Lecithin is nature’s emulsifier.  You find soy lecithin in many tablets and other products.  The task lecithin performs is liquefying sticky material so it can flush through the lymph system.]

There are several other treatments that work to eliminate arch pain and plantar fasciitis, but I’ve found these to be the most productive, and they may be all that is necessary to eliminate the problem completely.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

You Might Also Like

Blog post : Making Hip Pain Go Away

Again, my thanks to Dr. Steven Chaney for his research and leadership in the field of alternative approaches to health issues.  If you would like to be on Dr. Chaney’s mailing list, go here to sign up for his weekly Health Tips from the Professor.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Leave a comment or email me!  I love to hear your solution to the problems presented in this blog.

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Medicinal herbs and herbal supplements and weight loss

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Gentle Reader,

Can an arthritis sufferer who is also over weight benefit from Medicinal Herbs & Herbal Supplements?  Perhaps you are one of those people like a friend of mine.  She’s in her late 40s and has been unable to get to her ideal weight for her entire life.  She was a fat baby.  She has eaten the perfect diet:  low carbs, lean protein, plenty of fruits and vegetables and hardly any snack foods that most of us would consider OK for once-in-a-while treats.  She has developed aches and pains, those joint issues that come when a person exercises a lot (trying to get that weight down) and fears arthritis is creeping in.  She already takes medicinal herbs and herbal supplements made by Shaklee which help with pain relief.  I have described the benefit of Pain Relieve Complex in several previous posts.

In desperation, she consulted a physician who suggested the Atkins diet.  For the beginning months she ate nothing but protein and then slowed added carbohydrates in the form of raw vegetables, 25 grams a day, no more.  (One protein source she loves is Shaklee’s Instant Protein Soy Mix, a pure, non-GMO protein source with no carbohydrates at all.)  She began using the medicinal herbs and herbal supplement Glucose Regulation Complex.

Taken in the middle of a meal, the herbs in this Glucose Regulation Complex unlock the doors of the stubborn cells and allow the sugars to enter!  Voila!  And Halleluiah!  At last her body is using the glucose to energize her and the pounds are coming off.

Medicinal herbs and herbal supplements abound on the market today.  How do you decide where to buy them and from whom?  Let me suggest the following bench marks to consider.  If your product does not meet all these requirements, look further, or shop for the Shaklee product.  (If the Shaklee corporation makes the medicinal herb or herbal supplement you are looking for, you are in luck.  If not, ask these questions of the manufacturer before you buy.)

  • Does the company control the source material from which the medicinal herb or herbal supplement is created?
  • If not, does it inspect with a plant chromatography methods?  In other words, does the batch of raw material pass through a thorough inspection of all the properties to determine if there are contaminants, and if the plant material is what it supposed to be?
  • Has the company conducted double blind scientific testing to see if the medicinal herbs and herbal supplements manufactured by the company itself reached the blood stream in the human body and performed as predicted?  Was the study conducted well enough for a peer-review journal to publish the results?
  • Does the company provide a money back guarantee on the medicinal herb or herbal supplement so that if the customer does not get the results they are looking for, they get their money back?

If all these points cannot be answered in the affirmative, I would not recommend buying that medicinal herb or herbal supplement.

OK, then.  Are you one of those people who are ready to try a medicinal herb or herbal supplement to see if you can get your body to accept glucose into the cells?  If so, please take a look at Glucose Regulation Complex.  The active ingredients include

  • Chromium (as chromium polynicotinate)
  • Taurine
  • Alpha Lipoic Acid
  • Banaba Leaf Extract (Lagerstroemia speciosa) Standardized to contain 18% colosolic acid
  • Vanadium (as vanadium amino acid chelate)

Other ingredients include Magnesium (as magnesium oxide) and Zinc (as zinc gluconate)

These ingredients help the sugars you eat get into the cells where they belong.  End of sugar cravings!

With the loss of extra pounds, arthritis pain goes down and maybe even away.  Of course, I can’t predict your individual outcome, but what if Glucose Regulation Complex worked for you the way it has for my friend?  Why not give it a try?

The side benefits of Glucose Regulation Complex include lowering cholesterol.  The scientific information you will want to study is in this pdf.  I have put the document on the resources page of my blog www.grandmabetsybell.com/resources/.

Feel free to pass this post along to friends and family who struggle with weight loss.  This may provide the missing ingredient.

I’d love your comments so others can benefit from your wisdom.

Be well, Do well and keep moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

 

 

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

How important is organic?

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Gentle Reader,

A new customer is determined to make changes in her habits so she is supporting better health for the future.  She worries about the high cost of eating organic.  Not every fruit and vegetable is equally laden with pesticides and herbicides.  When you are working toward an organic diet, you can expect your food bill to go up.  You expect that.  But is there a way to move gradually to organic.  

Why bother  going organic?  For the arthritis sufferer, the joints are susceptible to toxins that come into our body in processed and fresh non-organic foods.  The joints have poor blood flow so it is harder to flush these toxins.  If your arthritis is crippling, painful and keeps you from exercising, the build up of toxins in the joints can cause inflammation and be difficult to alleviate.  By all means, keep walking, keep moving those joints if at all possible to get a flow into them which will flush toxins out.

For the rest of us, pesticides are not a good thing.  They create stress on the immune system and could even cause cancer.  The toxic chemicals coming along for the ride on our fresh fruits and vegetables are especially harmful to children whose bodies are small and can not handle the stress.

I share this web site which includes two videos for your consideration.

  • Not all fruits and vegetables are bad for us.
  • The harmful effect is greater on children and adults with compromised health.
  • Stick to foods that can be peeled:  watermelon, cantelope, pinapple, corn, and peel the non-organic apples, potatoes, peaches.
  • Avoid the dirty dozen.   You’ll find them on the web site above where you can down load the infomation and carry it in your purse when you shop.  

Here is more good information for you http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/dirty-dozen-foods-list-2013_n_3132788.html

Another way to get past the cost (and check carefully, sometimes the price difference isn’t that great.) is to prepare half an apple for the kids.  Quarter them and that way they will have the great benefit of the organic fruit without the pesticides.  Serve less.  Make the organic item go farther.

Good luck with this change.  You will be amazed at how wonderful the organic produce tastes.  Treat yourself.  Have fruit for dessert and forget the ice cream.  Yummy.

Be well, Do well, and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Moving and Shaking

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Gentle Reader,

These beautiful fall days have many of us moving and shaking.  Great time for working in the garden, chasing our soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, football, field hockey playing school children and perhaps you are among the older adults who play geezer basketball and master’s tennis.   My favorite thing to do in the fall is hunt chanterelles.  Eight of us hikers recently had a successful day.  We were lifting legs, stooping, reaching, climbing steeply through giant sword fern, around old stumps, over huge fallen fir and cedar trees.  This is exercise.  Well rewarded.

So many chanterelles!
So many chanterelles!

I am having such a consuming time writing the story of my courtship with my first husband that I haven’t been taking time to workout at home.  Perhaps some of you over 65 have found Silver Sneakers, the Medicare Program that encourages Active Older Adults (AOA) to remain flexible and independent.  I tried my first class this last week. When I saw all the chairs set out, I thought this class would be way too easy.  Not at all.  The chairs were for balance when standing behind them on one foot.  They also gave us a platform for 80 repetitions of getting up and down out, standing—sitting, standing—sitting.  We used weights and bands for increasing upper body strength.  What fun to be in a room full of smiling  gray haired men and women having a great time.

On Friday mornings I go to an AOA salsa dancing class, led by a gorgeous, slim older woman who can lead the rumba, salsa, cha-cha-cha, and mambo to Cuban and Brazilian music.  We trill our tongues, clap the flamenco and sweat.  Fabulous.

I brought 3 new hens home from my grandson’s birthday celebration on his family’s farm an hour north of Seattle and these young ladies are not being welcomed into the established coop of 3 Rhode Island Reds.  They flew over my 6 foot fencing and scattered into the neighborhood.  Picture this old lady trying to corner a frightened chicken and having to climb a rockery with a blanket in my hand.  We did lose one little black hen, which broke my heart.  They are not settled yet.  I’m pleased that I have the energy and stamina and flexibility to chase chickens.  Take those classes.  Life in the suburbs! You may have to use all that strength moving and shaking in some unexpected ways.

A little Araucana is not accepted by the Rhode Island Reds.
A little Araucana is not accepted by the Rhode Island Reds.

How about you?  What classes are you taking to keep fit?  Let us know.  While you are responding, “like” my fan page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/betsybellshealth4u

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving (and Shaking)

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.grandmabetsybell.com/blog/

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

4 ways to get a sore back fuctional

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Gentle Reader,

Sore back?  Been traveling, sitting in an airplane for hours?  Did you enjoy a vigorous hiking holiday slogging miles over boulders, roots and bogs for days in a row?  Maybe you had back surgery, successful but still stiff and cranky.  Or perhaps, you joined a new salsa dance class (that would be my recent experience) for the first time and the instructor had you swinging your hips in directions they hadn’t gone in 50 years.

There’s nothing that slows you down more than a sore back, whether it is caused by over-exersion, chronic arthritis, or a sudden move that sets everything zinging.  Here are four tips to get you moving comfortably again.

1. A muscle relaxant for a few days won’t kill you and will give those spasms a chance to quiet down.  There are a lot of over the counter medications to chose from.  My personal favorite is Aleve.  I can usually manage flare ups with frequent doses of Shaklee’s Pain Relief Complex, a herbal COX 2, 5 LOX inhibitor that will not damage your stomach.  99% of the time I can manage a sore back with Pain Relief Complex.  It gives me peace of mind to know I am not hurting my stomach or creating any bad side effects.

2.  To relieve a sore back my friend alternated between hot compresses and ice, getting the blood to move through the low back.  The joints are not easy to flush with blood flow so this is an excellent therapy, especially if you have the leisure to work on the problem.  The hottub is excellent for the heat.  I use mine every night sending the jets on any sore muscles.  In the case of acute sore back, more frequent cold/hot changes will speed the healing along.

3. For immediate relief for a sore back, rub Joint and Muscle Pain Cream or other menthol analgesic into the area.  For years I relied on Arnica Montana or Icy Hot cream, but I have found that the pain-relieving effect seems to penetrate more deeply and last longer.

4.  I use the Back2Life machine daily and when my back is more sore than normal, I will relief the sore back by getting on the floor with my knees over the top of this contraption several times a day.  It’s gentle motion is like a Feldenkrais manipulation.  The small, steady lifting and lowering motion of the Back2Life machine, relaxes and opens up the sacrum, allowing blood to flow into the irritated and inflammed area.  The machine is set to do its work for about 13 minutes which is just about as long as a busy person can stand to be still, lying on the floor.  Past posts about the Back2Life Machine.BAck2Life machine

In addition to these excellent sore back relieveing strategies, I like to put Peggy Cappy‘s soothing voice on before I go to sleep every night.  In fact, her voice usually puts me to sleep.  She takes you through a muscle relaxing meditation for about 20 minutes beginning with the eyes and facial muscles.  By the time she has progressed through the entire body, you are so still and relaxed, you couldn’t move an arm or a leg.  The last part of the CD takes you even deeper and she talks to your “inner mind” about the way sore and damaged joints restore through rebuilding healthy new cells using the nutrients offered by the blood stream.  I am convinced that if I were to get an MRI of my lower back and spine today, the deforming and pain-causing spinal stenosis and osteoarthritis would be less evident, just because of her CD.  Sound to woo-woo for you?  Never mind.  Listen to her relaxing CD anyway for relief from the SORE BACK that has you moaning.  To read a past post about Peggy Cappy, click here.

Probably the most effective strategy of all is moving.  As soon as you can tolerate even a little movement, get up and walk.  It is only by getting blood flow back into the disturbed joint that healing can be accelerated.

I wish you well in your journey to a healthy back, and the end of the sore back experience.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Be Well health tips, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Does a Blood Type Diet Work?

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Gentle Reader,

How do we know if a blood type diet works?  How do we know if vitamins work?  How do we evaluate health claims?I recently checked in on a new customer to see how her vitamin regimen was going.  We had talked at length about the value of the Shaklee supplements and the ease of the Vita strip in Vitalizer.  She had not reordered.

Her husband decided Vitalizer was too expensive and she should stick with the many bottles of individual supplements recommended by the local health food store.   My friend suffers from aches and pains as well as other health issues and is taking a goodly number of vitamins and herbs.

I thought of them when I read about a recent publication in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A group of Belgian scientists did a systematic search of the literature to see if there was any evidence to support the basic premise behind Eat Right 4 Your Type, published in 1997 by Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo.  This book has sold in the millions.   Perhaps you are among those who have bought, read and followed his recommendation based on your blood type.

Have you found it makes a difference?  Do you stick to it?

blood type diet

Dr Steve Chaney, Dr. Richard Brouse, Dr. Frank Painter, Dr. Bruce Miller are all students of the latest claims about diet and eating that promise life-changing results.  What each of these men study is the research behind the claims.  The question to ask of a blood type diet is whether it could be that simple, given that there is tremendous variation in the human genetic makeup?  Is a blood type related to the health outcomes of different diets?

Where is the evidence?  

Out of 1415 articles with blood type diet in the title, only one matched their criteria

  • Did the study start with human subjects grouped according to blood type?
  • Did the study have an intervention in which the subjects were required to adhere to a particular type of diet?
  • Did the study measure a health outcome of the dietary intervention?

You can read the study here, and the newsletter about it from Dr. Chaney here.  The one study that met the criteria was based on an entirely different way of typing blood.

The take-away from this discussion is the question of evidence.  Why follow a diet based on blood type without doing the same research you would do before buying a new car or paint for your house?  If you truly purchase and consume products based only on price, evidence may not sway you to search further.  If you purchase your products based on the recommendation of a trusted friend or professional, you may or may not be getting the best value.

I have not followed the blood type diet.  I started a Shaklee nutritional program and felt better in many surprising ways.  Then I called the company and asked for 2 clinical studies published in peer-review scientific journals.  My body told me I had taken a positive step with vitamins and a protein smoothie.  Now I wanted scientific evidence.  A thick packet arrived with the articles.  I knew how to read the studies and evaluate whether their set up, process and conclusions were valid.  Their studies follow the above criteria.

  • Group the subjects according to the criteria
  • Track the intervention
  • Measure the results

Whether it’s a blood type study, a pain relief study, a vitamin delivery system study, it must follow clean scientific protocal and the results must be accepted for what they are.  All of Shaklee’s products are tested in this way.  I trust them.  Don’t take my word for it.  Google Shaklee science yourself.

Finally, if your body doesn’t give you strong signals that a new regimen or product is effective for you, ask yourself if you have given it enough time and if you have been consistent in following the program.

There are a lot of fads in the health and wellness world.  Some of them may be harmless.  Others may harm.  If you are working to increase your mobility, lessen your pain level, or just want to prevent illness and have more energy, check the quality of the product.  Do your research.

Let me know what your criteria are when deciding what to eat and what vitamins to take?

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Vitamin D may prevent Diabetes II

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Gentle Reader,

Vitamin D, seems to be the miracle supplement as research turns up more benefits. In my recent travels, along the Inside Passage in Alaska, I worried about the many “round” people from the cruise ships.  They may not have gotten a diagnosis of diabetes from their doctor.  But they may, like many of us, walk around leading what seems like normal lives with pre-diabetes.

Dr. Steve Chaney describes the condition in his recent newsletter.  [To read the whole letter, go to Resources: Diabetes is a deadly scourge.]  He says that when we become overweight our tissues become insulin resistant. Initially our pancreas responds by pumping out more insulin to keep our blood sugar levels near normal. It also starts releasing fatty acids into the bloodstream.

At this stage our blood sugar levels are pretty well under control, but our blood levels of insulin and fatty acids are higher than normal. We are asymptomatic for the most part, so many of us never realize that we have a problem.

And lots of us are pre-diabetic!

When the normal range goes to pre-diabetic and beyond.

My grandfather on my mother’s side was diabetic.  He was a Swede-Finn, emigrating to New York City in around 1900 and joining the dock builders union.  He worked hard, driving piles, helping construct the Brooklyn Bridge and the piers along New York’s maritime harbor.  Then he sat down.  His knees hurt.  His hands hurt. His back hurt.  He had arthritis and moving his body hurt.  Then he developed diabetes.

My mother was never diagnosed with diabetes.  I suspected her of being very close to slipping from pre-diabetic to diabetes in the last 10 years of her life.  Her shoulders hurt.  Her hands hurt.  She had old age arthritis at 55 and began taking Motrin.  I remember her and my father both taking drugs for their aches and pains when I was in high school. They both slowed down, walking less and less.  She was never diagnosed with diabetes.  She died of pancreatic cancer.

This family history is a major driver for me to stay slim and active in spite of major arthritis.

Dr. Chaney points out that there are several published clinical studies showing that lifestyle changes (weight loss, exercise and a healthy diet supplying all of the essential nutrients) can significantly reduce the progression of
pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes.

Excercise

Supplement with Vitamin D3 by Shaklee

This is a blog about managing arthritis.  See how stiff joints, slowing down, mild and more severe osteo-arthritis, the kind that comes with aging, can be part of the pre-diabetic cluster of conditions?  The primary focus of Dr. Chaney’s article is the research about the benefit of Vitamin D on keeping the pancreas healthy.  Make no mistake, however, Vitamin D by itself will not prevent diabetes.  

Do not let your aches and pains keep you from moving.  Keep those joints active to the maximum extent of their flexibility.

Take Vitamin D if you are over weight and suspect you are pre-diabetic.  But there is no magic bullet.

I was talking with a young woman today who says she doesn’t want to take pills.  I’m all for avoiding medicines if possible.  It was a major challenge for me to understand vitamins are food supplements, foodlets, if you will.  Yes, they are in pill form.  I seldom refer to my vitamins as pills.  They are my supplements.  I take them to fill in the gaps and to compensate for the sluggish utilization of nutrients that comes with age.  We do not make Vitamin D from the sun the way we did when we were 10.

We are going into the winter months when those of us in the north will get less and less sun exposure.  Why not supplement with Vitamin D3?  Especially if you are little round in the middle.  Then, by all means, consider the 180 Turnaround program for losing those extra pounds.  You’ll be thrilled with how much easier it is to move with even 10 pounds less to carry around.

To your good health,

Be well, Do well and Keep moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

PS If you would like to comment or ask a question, please email me at betsy@hihohealth.com.  I’ve had too many spammy comments and have limited access to the comment section, but I would still love to hear from you.

 

 

 

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

5 Surprising Signs of Dementia

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Gentle Reader,

Are we showing signs of demenita?  Traveling with my sister-in-law for a month on ferries, in rental cars and my car; staying in new rooms night after night has resulted in a few missing things, left here and there.

“Our life style is not compatible with our memory issues,” Joan said and we both burst out laughing.  We had to make a stop in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to buy the plug for our cell phones.  She is taking pictures with my camera because she didn’t bring her charger for this round of sites.  And then there is the misplaced earring.

It wasn’t enough to spend 3 weeks poking around five towns in the Inside Passage of Alaska.  We decided to extend our ferry-boat travel to Lopez, San Juan and Victoria with a full afternoon at the Butchard Gardens.

The Sunken gardens at Butchard in Victoria BC
The Sunken gardens at Butchard in Victoria BC

Tonight we are in our beds in the James Bay Hotel, Government St. in Victoria.  A half-moon hangs over head.  The lights on the government buildings glittered like Christmas time.  The street musicians entertained enthusiastic passers-by and the little harbor taxi spun like a wind-up version of the bumper cars.  At Butchard the gardens are transitioning from summer to fall with beds full of chrysanthemums, tight-buds hint lavender, gold, yellow and orange .  The zinnia patch is a clown-riot of color. The tuberous begonias and impatience vibrate their more nuanced color palate.

Butchard Gardens, Victoria,BC
Butchard Gardens, Victoria,BC

The visit to the gardens began with high panic:  I couldn’t find my wallet.  I put it in a different place in my purse, changing a fixed habit.  Dashing nervously back to the car (if you have been to Butchard Gardens you know how far everything is), I was relieved to find it on the floor of the car just inside the door. All was well.

Do we have the early signs of dementia?  A few years back, my daughter Grace, who was working with a University of Washington hospice project, asked me to subject myself to a base line test of memory.  I did.  I passed.  Somewhere in my medical records there is an account of my memory capabilities at 70.

This recent report may interest you. We can watch for early signs of dementia and take steps to avoid the full-blown condition.

By Alysha Reid, Everyday Health Staff Writer

There’s growing evidence that small changes in the way you walk, chew, sleep, and feel may be subtle early indicators of dementia.

Dementia is characterized by the progressive loss of cognitive functioning as brain cells are destroyed.

But long before you show obvious signs of dementia, certain changes in your behavior could signal that you may have the condition.

One: Trouble Chewing Hard Foods

The act of biting an into apple may predict your odds of developing dementia, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS). Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karlstad University in Sweden studied a sample of 577 people aged 77 or older and found that those who had trouble chewing hard food such as apples had a much higher risk of mental decline. The Swedish researchers offered one possible explanation: Since chewing is difficult when you have few or no teeth — which may be the case for some older people — they chew less, which reduces blood flow to the brain and therefore may put you at higher risk for dementia.

Two: Slow Walking

Your walking style could predict your dementia risk, according to a report presented at the 2012 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. Several studies presented there found a correlation between walking abnormalities and signs of cognitive decline on neuropsychological tests. Another study presented at the conference analyzed the at-home walking behaviors of 19 older subjects using motion-sensor technology. They found those with a slow pace had smaller brain volumes, which is often true of people with dementia.

Three: Trouble Sleeping

More bad news for night owls: Your sleep cycle now may lead to dementia later. In a December 2011 study published in Annals of Neurology, 1,300 healthy women over the age of 75 were followed over the course of five years. By the end of that time, 39 percent had developed some form of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Researchers found that women with weaker circadian rhythms(those who performed less physical activity early in the day) were 80 percent more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia than women who were active early in the day.

Four: Carrying Extra Pounds

Being overweight is linked to many health dangers — including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. But one study, published in May 2011 in Neurology, linked a high BMI to a higher dementia risk. In an analysis of 8,534 twins aged 65 and older, it was noted that 350 were officially diagnosed with dementia and 114 with possible dementia. When researchers tracked their BMIs from 30 years earlier, they found that those with dementia or possible dementia now were 70 percent more likely to have been overweight or obese back then.

Worried that your extra weight could lead to cognitive decline later on? The answer may be tostart a workout program. A July study presented in the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference concluded that exercise may protect the aging brain.

Five: Being Depressed

Feeling blue isn’t only bad for your emotional well-being — depression can take a toll on your brain health, too. A study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry evaluated the medical records of more than 13,000 California residents over the course of six years. Those with late-life depression had double the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease, while those with both mid-and late-life depression had more than triple the risk of developing vascular dementia.

Dear friends, I hope this can be a little wake-up call for.  Not an alarm bell necessarily, but a cautionary suggestion to take a look at some of the creeping behaviors that might be addressed sooner than later.

By all means, to avoid early signs of dementia, keep moving!  Email me or comment here with your stories about dementia.

For supplements that can help, see resources.

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.EmpoweredGrandma.com

 

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

No Magic Pill to end Arthritis Pain

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Gentle Reader,

In the end, and in the beginning, there is only one thing we –you and I– can do to bring lasting health to our aching bodies.  Life style change.  As I travel the Alaska Marine Highway, eat in the cafeteria on board, snack along the wharf in the various Inside Passage towns, I struggle with how to maintain my eating habits with poor choices everywhere.  Some people go on vacation and throw their healthy life-style to the winds for those 7 – 21 days.  Unfortunately the stomach doesn’t know you are on vacation and when the deep fried foods, extra sour dough bread with butter come rolling down the intestinal track, the joints react.

I’ve been having a few digestive and joint issues until yesterday when I found an IGA in Skagway with a ripe peach, some snap peas, and carrots.  Amazing how getting back to the healthy routine will quickly restore one to their mobile less-pained body.  Did I mention I also found a 4 mile round trip hike up to Dewey Lake right out of Skagway on 2nd Ave?

hiking in Skagway
hiking in Skagway, Dewey Lakes

So good to move after strolling.  What a difference.

This article about the new weight loss drug Dexaprine came across my desk.  Dr. Chaney talks about the hazards of relying on a magic pill to take care of the pounds that weigh our joints down.  It simply doesn’t work. Read his whole article here.

Want to really make a difference in your health?  Lose 10 pounds.  Safely.  Let the fat go, keep the lean muscle.  Have the energy to work out, or a least begin a walking program.  Change the way you eat, permanently.  That’s what the 180 Turnaround kit and the Lean and Healthy Kit are all about.  Consider these Shaklee products as a way to launch yourself into a permanent life-style change.  Personally, I’ll be drinking –or pouring over my breakfast cereal–a Shaklee 180 smoothee for the rest of my life, just as I have been doing ever since I achieved my goal weight 25 years ago with the Shaklee shakes and vitamins.  Why not?  Excellent science behind the product.  Delicious. Sustains energy all day. Convenient to use (I have packets with me on this trip.)  Cheaper than the fast food items at Starbuck’s or McDonalds.  Begin today.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

PS to catch the latest on the Alaska expedition, click here

PPS Leave me your diet success/struggle stories in the comment section.

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Alaska, here we come

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Gentle Reader,

My sister-in-law, Joan Bell, arrived last Wed. just as I was cleaning the paint residue from the back garden and deck. We were Alaska-bound and she had the excited energy that quivered, “Alaska, here we come.”  Of course, I had a few more things to do to be ready for our Friday morning departure. We got away by 9:30 on the 16th, heading north in the Shaklee car, my 2002 Prius.  Two stops along the way included the return of an air purifier to a customer after getting it fully functional once again, and a lovely lunch stop with the Schleh family in Mt. Vernon.  All three grandchildren were there, a rare opportunity.  Young adults are hard to gather in a clump.  They were between fairs.  Daniel and Ian proudly showed me their belt buckles, winnings for showmanship in the Skagit County Fair.  By now they have hauled into the Monroe Washington State Fair with Boar goats, Saanen goats and Highlander cows.  This will be the first year in many that I will not watch them parade their animals around the ring.

Tents on the stern of the Columbia
Young travelers to Alaska bring their own state-rooms.

Over tuna salad, Joan Schleh, my step-daughter, regaled us with her tales of jumping on a ferry for Ketchikan, fresh out of high-school, back-pack laden and ready for work in the canneries.  She had heard the call:  Alaska, here we come, figuring she could make money as well as the Filipino women who were working the line.  Without a map or a number to call, she got off the boat after 36 hours of sleeping on the deck and sharing pot luck with other campers.  Unable to locate the friend-of-a-friend, she boldly caught a ride to where there was work and signed on.  Two weeks later, she’d called home and discovered there was a job waiting for her in Washington, DC and she caught the next ferry home to try her luck on the other side of the country.  It was just as well.  No place to stay at the cannery, the foreman had cleared a shelf and indicated the space was her’s for the sleeping.  Joan’s children listened to their mother’s adventure, rapt with attention.

Columbia ferry lifebouy with Bellingham in the distance
Bellingham, WA from deck of the Columbia

We departed from Bellingham, the starting point of the Alaska Marine Highway.  My great friend and sponsor in Shaklee lives in B’ham where she has become a well-known ceramic artist. We stopped by a gallery featuring her work on our way to the ferry.  The Columbia is the biggest boat in the 11 boat fleet.  About half the crew got off with us in Ketchikan having worked a week, traveling up to Juneau and then back down to Bellingham, thence home.

In stark contrast to Joan Schleh, Joan Bell and I enjoyed a cabin with bunk beds and a bathroom with shower, money enough to eat in the dining room after drinks in the luxurious bar.  The inside passage proved to be as intimate an encounter with wild shoreline, leaping Orca whales, porpoise, harbor seals and eagles as advertised.  While we are disappointed that the uncharacteristic cloudless days of July are gone in this early Fall, the mist and fog drape the low-rise islands with seductive vails, layering green on green, reaching higher and higher into the cloud cover.  Armed with rain pants and umbrellas, we are loving the cloud-play and ever-changing weather.

View from the cabin Joan and I rented for4 nights.
Intimate harbor in front of Christmas House B&B in Ketchikan AK

Here in Ketchikan, we are tucked into an old 1940s cabin on stilts with high-tide water under the floor boards, an old propane burner in the center of the patterned linoleum floor.  Our windows look out onto an intimate harbor complete with eagle, heron and king-fisher.  Both of us have slipped into memories of cabins in Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire and Oklahoma from our childhood family vacation days.  We have 4 nights here and will not run out of things to do or places to visit.  Just today we spent several hours at the end of the road going north where its turnaround is just beyond a well-kept state park.  Various civic groups helped construct one of the safest, most extravagantly beautiful stair-filled hiking trails I have walked.  The deep sun-dappled rain forest floor covering is a Bigalow carpet of moss and tiny golden mushrooms.  Moss drips from the prickly branches of the Sitka spruce.  Brilliant red berries hang from elderberry shrubs and light the path from the centers of bunch-berry dogwood.  Salmon swell the swollen river plummeting down from the steep hill that characterizes these Inside Passage islands.

We spent the late afternoon at the fish hatchery at the extreme south end of the Tongass highway watching black bears feed on salmon, along side flocks of argumentative seagulls.  Even though three enormous and grotesquely out-of-place cruise ships dock in Ketchikan every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the streets and coffee houses are not overly crowded.  I’m not sure where all the people go.  Perhaps they are swallowed up in the various tours offered by entrepreneurial guiding services.

My step-son, who fished further north during his high school and college days, scoffed that Ketchikan was worth 4 hours at most.  Certainly not 4 days.  We are content to gaze out our window, sleep late, cook local sea food, read and read some more in between long wandering visits to the magnificent parks and trails our rental car takes us to.  Four days will be perfect.

In spite of old bones, creaky knees and complaining hips, we are both moving comfortably  helped by Pain Relief Complex and, in my case, a long session on the cabin floor to get things oiled up and moving.  That is the main remedy after all, moving.

Let me know if you have ever answered the call, Alaska, here we come.

Be well, Do well and Keep moving yourself.  And pass this along to your friends.

Betsy

206 933 1889