Foods for Healing Broken Bones

The body’s healing capabilities are amazing. Within a week my face went from completely swollen and bruised to almost normal. The body is designed to heal. Sometimes we just get in it’s way. This week, I’ve found my body naturally craving the foods that heal. 

Nutritionally I’ve focused on getting a large amount of uncooked fruits and vegetables for their cleansing properties. My main fruits have been papaya and pineapple as they both contain enzymes that heal skin and bruising. 

Pineapple contains Bromelain, an enzyme used to treat inflammation associated with infection and injuries. It tastes great when mixed in a shake with wheatgrass. 

Wheatgrass has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. It can significantly enhance the healing process of fractures by reducing swelling and ceasing subcutaneous bleeding.

Adding green leafy vegetables purify and oxygenate the blood as well as promote circulation. Greens are also known to promote a subtle, light and flexible energy that helps lift the spirit and aid with depression. I’m finding light foods to be helpful, allowing me not to feel heavy while I physically limited in movement. 

Spirulina is another helpful super-green that I’ve been mixing with some juice or adding to a delicious chocolate shake. 

Proteins are important for the healing process and spirulina provides both the power of greens as well as the protein. Red meat is not recommended for bone healing due to its congesting density and its negative effects on calcium absorption. (other calcium “robbers” are processed sugars, caffeine, alcohol, and processed salts.)

Apples are helpful in healing bones as they contain Boron which reduces urinary excretion of calcium and magnesium and significantly increases blood levels of both estrogen and testosterone, both of which play a role in the healing of bones. 

I’ve been finding myself craving cheese and ice cream this week and am guessing that the sudden strong interest in dairy is due to the body’s need of calcium. 

While enjoying some of what I desire, I am also making sure to incorporate other calcium rich foods so that I don’t over indulge in the less healthy calcium providers. Many green, leafy vegetables — including broccoli, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens and bok choy or Chinese cabbage — are excellent sources of calcium. Salmon and sardines (can be canned), almonds, figs, tofu, dates, oranges and dried beans (especially pinto beans) are also good dietary sources of calcium. 

Omega3 oils are important so adding flax meal or oil to my meals has been essential.  

The last booster I’ll mention is bee pollen, a full-spectrum blood building and rejuvenating food, especially beneficial in the healing of broken bones and new cell growth.  

Topically using homeopathic arnica gel has been amazingly noticeable in it’s effects on reduce the bruising and healing the skin. 

I’m on the mend!

Yoga In 'Limited' Motion

A week after a car accident, still limited in movement, my stretching routine currently consists of laying flat on the floor with my feet on a chair. As I lay flat, the muscles of my ribs are elongated and consequently begin to spasm. I stay in the position, breathing deeply until the spasms subside. Each small movement in the direction of stretching my arms over my head invites more tension. Laying on my back, waiting for a few breaths until the muscles relax and then moving a little further in to the stretch; this is my current yoga practice. 

Whether stretching in my current range of motion or going deep into a pose when I’m not injured, the benefits of the practice remain the same. Taking the body to its edge, learning to stay and breathe into discomfort, allowing the discomfort to consequently subside, and going deeper into a new range of possibility. 

I am often told by others “I’m not flexible enough for yoga.” Spending half an hour working to comfortably stretch my hand over my head has provided me with the same feeling of freedom that my usual vigorous practice does. To breathe into limitation, to work with whats currently there and to move forward from a place of ease. Yoga is not a pose, its a feeling, and it is accessible to all. 

The Yoga of Car Accidents

The ‘attack’ of the shopping bag occurred while driving on the highway with open windows. The wind carried a bag that flew into my face, blocked my vision and lead me to swerve off the road. I crashed into the median and flipped the car over taking (what I think was) a couple of rolls.

Once the car went from spinning to flipping there was nothing I could do to control it. I closed my eyes, stayed clam and waited for the movement to come to an end. I felt the body release its tension as it took its last few tumbles. Once coming to a halt, I unbuckled my seat belt and crawled out through the window of my upside down vehicle.

As the airbag had never inflated, (thanks Toyota) I had hit my head badly on the steering wheel and was bleeding heavily. The medics had covered my nose and eyes with bandages and I was taken to the ER.

For the next 4 hours of care my eyes remained shut from swelling and bandages. Without the stimulation of sight, I stayed fully focused on my internal experience of thoughts, emotions and patterns of breath. Each time a thought would bring a sense of panic, I’d return to my deep rhythm of breathing and the anxiety would subside.

As I was being stitched up, I could hear a woman in the other room screaming, more from fear than pain. It is so easy for us all to get trapped in the fear if we don’t access the tools to bring us back to center.

I am so grateful for my yoga training that had enabled to release my muscles at a time of extreme tension, minimizing the impact of the crash, and has taught me ‘breath awareness’ to transform my experience to a lesson in healing rather than pain.

Is Alfalfa Really Healthy?

When I was a kid and my mother started adding alfalfa to our salads I was resistant to be eating what I called, horse food. Unknown to me then was that when the Arabs first discovered this food, they would feed it to their horses to provide them with its strengthening qualities. It was so highly thought of; al-fal-fa means “father of all foods.” Soon enough I too became accustomed to loving this sprout and grew up to be big and strong. 

The mighty alfalfa sprout is helpful in cleaning the intestinal tract and removing harmful acids out of the blood. Alfalfa can also help us assimilate proteins, fats and carbohydrates and is helpful in producing more milk in nursing mothers.

However, alfalfa does have its down side. In "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, the author mentions that alfalfa has been shown to "inhibit the immune system and contribute to inflammatory arthritis and lupus". This is caused by an amino acid called canavanine.

As a sprout lover myself, I tend to have alfalfa in moderation. If buying alfalfa in the store, I tend to buy the kind that is mixed with other sprouts as well. For the most part, I eat broccoli and radish sprouts as they do not contain the canavanine. Some studies are saying that red clover sprouts contain canavanine as well and should be eaten in moderation. 

Click here for more information about sprouts. 
Click here to find out more about Sally Fallon's approach to health.

Enhancing Your Metabolism Through The Power of Breath

Did you know that you could control your stress levels as well as achieve your ideal weight by simply learning to breathe deeply? 

We all have stress which we need to address. What we may not have realized is that breathing is a major factor in controlling stress: it can either relieve it or create it.

When stressed, one tends to take a shallow breath using the upper chest muscles rather than the diaphragm. For many, this breathing pattern becomes habitual, even when stress is not present. By paying closer attention, we can learn to control the depth and pace of each breath, enabling us to control our reactions to the stresses of life.

A Natural Shallow Breath: 
Shallow breathing using the upper chest muscles occurs naturally when we hyperventilate. It is meant only for moments of severe stress when we need to increase the supply of oxygen to the body.

Imagine you are in the woods and are confronted by a bear. As you spot the bear you gasp. Gasping is a shallow breath into the upper part of the lungs. This gasp stimulates the lobes of the upper lungs which activate the part of your nervous system telling you there is a state of emergency. In the case of the bear, the body receives the message to RUN!

Although we now live in urban environments and bears are not the norm, our body continues to operate in a similar fashion, where a shallow breath signals the body to stay in survival mode.

A Shallow Breath’s Effect On Weight: 
When the body believes itself in danger, it looks for an immediate source of energy to fuel its escape. The carbohydrates we eat are the primary energy source in times of danger and stress because they are most easily converted into fuel by the body. As long as the body thinks there is a state of emergency it will crave emergency fuel in the form of simple carbohydrates and sugar (these include processed foods such as cookies, chips, breads, soda, etc). Unfortunately, even though carbohydrates give a quick boost of energy, it is short lived with energy levels dropping once we digest the food. We then crave another dose of sugar and carbohydrates to lift up the energy levels once more, leading to overeating, overweight, and a number of other serious ailments.  

Besides creating cravings for carbohydrates, as long as the body is in a “survival mode mentality” it will store as much fat as possible for later use. Fat has more energy stored in it and burns more slowly than carbohydrates, supplying longer lasting energy.  The body does not know how long this “state of emergency” will last so it stores as much energy as it can.

While in “survival mode”, the digestive system is weakened. The body will prioritize survival rather than digest its food, therefore it will take the energy from the digestive system and supply it to the muscles for a “fight or flight” response.

As we learn to relax and breathe deeply, our digestive system maintains the energy to assimilate foods and nutrients correctly. Difficulty burning fat as well as difficulty gaining weight can both be symptoms of a weak digestive system.

Breathing’s Effect On Weight Through Exercise:
While exercising we might find ourselves out of breath. It is important to pay attention to breathing as deeply as possible to fully oxygenate the body. If we gasp for air while running on a treadmill, the body perceives this no differently than if we are being chased by a bear. To the body, a stressful situation is a stressful situation. Similarly, if we are huffing and puffing about being stuck in traffic, the body will perceive this as a state of emergency.  

Practicing "Three Part" Breathing:

Be sure to practice breathing only through the nose both on the in and out exhalation.
 
1) Belly (diaphragm): Lying down on your back, rest your palms on your belly and begin breathing into the area underneath you palms, feeling the rise and fall of the belly with each breath.
2) Mid-chest: After several breaths move your palms up to the side ribs and breathe into the hands to expand the mid-chest. Notice that your belly just below the breastbone, after initially expanding, draws slightly in and up as your mid-chest expands. Take several breaths here before moving to the next part.
3) Upper Chest: Place your hands just beneath the collarbone. Breathe into your hands, filling up until you feel the collarbone lift. Notice that breathing into this part requires the most effort, while drawing in less volume.

Putting It Together Into A Full Breath:
Inhale: From bottom to top, breathing into each of the three parts progressively. Breathing into the lower belly, rising into the mid-chest, and from there all the way up to the collarbone.
Exhale: Relax the diaphragm first and continue from there, relaxing from your belly, to mid-chest, to upper chest. Do not strenuously “push” the air out. Calmly release each breath so that you finish the exhalation softly and relaxed, leaving the body receptive to the next breath.