The New Human Condition

Every morning when I wake up, I generally feel pretty good. My body and mind are relaxed and refreshed from the night’s sleep. But my body has laid stationary for hours, and is sometimes quite achy. My joints pop and my muscles stretch awkwardly on my first few steps toward the bathroom.
Here’s a few quick tips that I have found to help me ease into my day:

-While still in bed, slowly open your eyes and focus on your breathing. Become aware of every inhale and exhale as your body draws in oxygen for the day.

-Still lying down on your back, face your palms up and slowly open and close your fists several times. With your legs out straight, make a motion to try pull your toes up against your shin, then push down so your feet are parallel to your mattress. Repeating these motions several times helps the blood to start pumping to your extremities.

-Still on your back, using one leg at a time, slide your heel back toward your butt. This will bend your knee upward and help to loosen up the joints (this is a big one for me, as I have had two knee surgeries and my knees are always stiff in the morning). Do one leg and then the other, rotating one at a time until you feel the joints loosen up.

-Slowly get out of bed and stand up. Bend over and try to touch your toes. Hold this position for a few seconds, stretching your hamstrings. Then slowly roll upward, feeling each vertebrae curl upward and straighten. Do this very slowly.  When upright, slowly raise both your arms to your side, then over your head. Touch your thumbs and index fingers as high as you can above your head. Slowly bring the arms back down to your sides. Repeat this motion a few times, start by touching your toes and repeat this whole motion.

-Then head to the bathroom and begin your morning routine!

Joe Health Stretching

Who knew that the taste of vegetables would start a revolution?” -Marion Nestle

The second annual Tallahassee Film Festival recently took place from April 15-19. In addition to numerous independent features and shorts, several good documentaries were shown. I had the opportunity to see a documentary about the  California Food Movement (the start of the national movement to eat local and organic food) and modern-day agribusiness.

Watch the trailer below:

Several things really stuck with me after watching the movie: At some point in the future we may get our entire food supply from a large corporate agribusiness. Now this in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but generally businesses are more concerned with profit than they are with keeping you healthy. The movie does a great job of explaining this.

The movie also highlights the fact that every individual can make a difference and a positive influence in the food system. Eating local food that is grown with care benefits everyone. It has less of an impact on the environment, supports local farmers, and is better for you and tastes better than industrial food counterparts. And as individuals, we get to make that choice  every time we sit down to eat a meal. We influence the food system with every bite we take. That really is a tremendous amount of power.

I hope everyone I know will be able to see this movie at some point. It is extremely informative, and features some famous and funny characters. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivores Dilemma and  In Defense of Food, is heavily featured. His books have really influenced me and the decisions I make when I shop for food.  

When you look outside of the industrial food system, and begin to rely on local farmers and organic produce, quality of life begins to improve as well. You feel better about where your money is going, and you feel better in a physical sense (I literally feel so much better when I consistently eat healthy).

Check out the movie, read Michael Pollan’s books, and find a farmers market near you!

Joe Food and Nutrition Farmer's Market, Organic

It’s spring here in North Florida…the temperatures are warming up and all the plants are in bloom. It’s a gorgeous time of year, but with that beauty comes what I like to call “pollen season”. There are a few weeks where the pollen in the air becomes so thick it covers the ground, cars, and pretty much everything else. This time of year, the pollen is so bad it bothers both allergy and non-allergy sufferers alike.

I never had allergies until I moved down to Florida about two years ago (I used to live in Ohio). But for a few weeks every spring I suffer with a stuffy nose, a sore throat, and headaches for most of the day.

I tend to shy away from taking medications of any kind if I can avoid it. The human body is am amazing machine that is capable of fighting it’s own battles against any outside objects and pathogens. Generally when I’m sick, I just let my body fight off whatever is bothering me. But this time of year, I am usually feeling so bad from the pollen in the air that I have to do something. Here are three easy and natural solutions that you can do to fight allergies:

1. First, clean your living space from top to bottom. Looking around my place, I noticed that I had pollen and not dust on my windowsills. Do a thorough cleaning job and dust everytying, vacuum where you have carpet, etc. Clean anywhere dust can settle, particularly in your bedroom or the area you sleep in.

2. Drink tea. Choose an organic, caffeine-free tea that works to soothe any symptoms you may be experiencing. I tend to get a really bad sore throat from my allergies, and so I tried a few different kinds of tea until I settled on one called Organic Throat Coat by Traditional Medicinals. It tastes good, and contains Licorice Root, which helps to numb throat pain. The tea is good for your body, and by adding locally-made honey it will help your body adjust to the pollen in the air.

3. Use a neti pot to clean out your sinuses regularly during allergy season. A neti pot is a useful tool for cleaning out your nostrils and face. It works by flushing warm salt water through your sinus cavity, and pulling pollen and other irritants out of your system. When you have material in your sinuses (and you probably will during allergy season), your body attempts to fight it off by producing mucous. This mucous can flow down to the back of your throat and irritate it. By regularly flushing this material out, you can give your body a break and keep your throat and sinuses in good shape.

All of these are easy and natural solutions that have worked for me. By doing one or all of these things, you should be able to avoid the over-the-counter or prescription allergy medications.

As an interesting side note, fitnessmagazine.com provided me with a fourth option as well: Apparently, kissing for 30 minutes or more can help improve allergy symptoms by reducing the amount of chemicals your body releases to try and fight airborne allergens. They don’t offer any research to back this claim up, but who am I to argue? ;)

Joe Health Allergies