Three years ago I started suffering from low back pain. I did my daily yoga in the evening, my frequent laps at the pool 3-4 times a day, I saw osteopaths, but the pain persisted. For the first time in my life I could not bend forward without the help of my hands on my legs. I thought this was getting serious and decided I was too young to get this stiff. I have always had a pretty flexible body, this could not be the end of it yet!
I needed to better the condition, thus I needed to find the cause. Stress, fatigue, overwork: many reasons like these were suggested to me. But what was the most obvious was that I had radically changed my life, going back to study 6-8 hours a day, glued to my desk, books and computer to get my new degree. And I was not 18 like during my first degree! I finally graduated, and hop!, as by magic, my back pain disappeared. I stopped sitting insanely for those long hours with no interruption and I went back to a more healthy life. Further, I could now offer help to others!, in this and other health issues thanks to that degree.
That the human body was not designed for a sitting position is obvious to everyone: after all, we do not have a number 4 shape. What happens to the body when one sits for long hours is deep.
The body is composed of 206 bones that articulate through many joints that allow us to move and produce very complicated actions, thanks to the coordination of our muscles that insert on these bones. Such body has evolved for a very active life, for movement and not for stillness. If one keeps a position for a long time, muscular tensions appear. So sitting and being static for long hours create contractions and tensions that appear as pain: back, neck, shoulders, buttocks, wrist pain… The lack of movement slows and blocks the flow of blood and body lymph which are necessary for hydrating and nourishing all tissues, including muscles, tendons and ligaments. Keeping a fixed position for a long time creates a progressive lack of oxygen to the tissues, and this repeats the cycle of pain.
A sustained sitting position produces:
- A long-term restriction of the hip joint
- A softening of the abdominal belt, especially at the level of the transverse muscle, and a weakening of the paravertebral muscles that keep our vertebral column erect.
- Modification and limitation of our breathing action.
- Removal of our natural lumbar curve which place the vertebral disks under a huge strain and cause lumbar pain.
- Inhibition of the large gluteus muscles that are not stimulated to extend the hip, their normal action, used in walking, running, etc. Such extension is supplied by the paravertebral muscles which can cause overcharging of the back.
- Creation of a bending of shoulders and head towards the front, weakening the shoulder-blade muscles and shortening the neck and pectoral muscles.
- Change of our center of gravity due to these muscular tensions.
When it is necessary to sit for long hours, it is important to move every 15-20 minutes, to get up, stretch, walk and breath at full capacity. Small, short by frequent pauses allow the circulatory movements and the relaxation of unconscious tensions.
So, set up an alarm system on your computer, and get up. Stretch your arms to the ceiling extending your whole body vertically. Rotate your waist left and right with the help of your arms, by keeping your hips fixed. Take a few long steps. Rotate your legs around the hips. Breath deeply for 5 minutes. And go back to work well oxygenated and with well lubricated joints!
Avoiding
eggs, to supposedly keep the blood cholestrol in control, is not
recommendable: eggs are the richest source of the full complex of
amino-acids (components of proteins) that Nature delivers. Not only
this, but they are also fantastic concentrates of minerals and vitamins:
egg yolks are rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6,
folate, pantothenic acid and B12.
The yolk also contains vitamins A, D and E, as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Egg yolks are also a rich source of choline (essential for brain function and CV function), and the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin that protect the eyes and lower the risk of macular degeneration. These elements make the egg the perfect complete food.
Several research publications now state that eating one or two eggs a day does not impact your Cho levels, in normal conditions (this does not apply for example to people with diabetes or people on a high carbohydrate diet or people with history of a heart attack).
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For more information on cholesterol levels, how to control them and, especially, why and ..is this necessary? check the history on 'Cholesterol, fats and cardiovascular health' on this website: http://leelawadee-silviap.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/cholesterol-control-right-fats-in-your.html
or buy it for 5 $ (4 euors) each chapter (total of 6 chapters) to receive it in your email.
....What is finally the right food to enjoy a long healthy life, i.e. to protect you from atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, thrombosis, infarction, heart failure and others?
The increasing rate of cardiovascular diseases of the past few decades has given a strong incentive to research in biomedicine, biochemistry, epidemiology to try to find the culprit of such a devastating raise of coronary heart diseases, strokes, heart attacks… However what is the ‘right food’ to avoid such medical conditions has been and is still a maze of different and often opposing recommendations.
Association of saturated fats to increase of serum cholesterol and this one, in turn, to cardiovascular disease has been the accepted picture, that led to dietary recommendations supporting “safe” consumption of unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and carbohydrates, at the expenses of cholesterol-rich food and saturated fats which would be avoided like the pest!
However, now we can state that saturated fat can actually improve – and not damage - our health: saturated fats are now saved from the trash because needed by the brain and to protect us from dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Likewise we now know better about PUFAs: of the once acclaimed health-protecting unsaturated fatty acids, the omega 6 are now feared because known to promote inflammation (including the one responsible for atherosclerosis and heart diseases) and increase many illnesses, while the omega 3 appear to be the winners, countering negative effects of other fats.
Now most (although not all) of the molecular mechanisms are better understood and the adverse effects of refined carbohydrates and PUFAs clarified. We now understand why, after saturated fats were declared demons to be avoided, in the 60s and 70s, and were replaced with PUFAs and carbohydrates in diets, we now observe an increased level of global obesity and other health complications like inflammatory diseases, and at the same time a lack of the expected decrease of cardiovascular diseases.
These confusing recommendations drove and drive many attentive eaters mad while trying to convince them every other decade that what they eat is wrong and that the new fad diet of the moment is the ‘real’ health-promoting and long-life assuring diet.
In this whole history of dietary inconsistencies and wars between good fats, bad fats, high carbohydrates versus high protein diets, the present focus on cholesterol control is another giant system of contradictory statements and misunderstood explanations.
I’ve been bathing for the past few years in studies of anatomy, physiology, physiopathology and researches or reviews of researches designed to explain the importance (necessity?) of lowering cholesterol (Cho) levels in the blood for preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD). I’ve found many things being illogic, unexplained and harmful. I’ve seen a lot of discrepancies, contradictory research and inconclusive analysis on the matter Cho-heart.
At the same time I’ve watched people being prescribed drugs without a real knowledge of the cause of their condition, if there even is one. I’ve been following healthy people being prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs almost automatically with appearance of menopause or at later age, often without need.
Thus I’ve been feeling more and more compelled to share with people what I learned by the reading of research and reviews on the connection between Cho and CVDs and on the real need and effects (expected and collateral) of the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, as well as on the real need to avoid saturated fats.
I will try to trace what is known by biochemistry at the present day and what seems to be the logical application of such understanding to our feeding behavior, in order to help avoid the most serious and common – old and new - diseases of the 21st century society and the need to use expensive and heavily-impacting drugs.
I am a strong believer of the need of educating ourselves to understand what health is and to accept our individual responsibility to our own health, to avoid to unconsciously fall into acceptance of drugs prescriptions without understanding what they are for and how they function and what secondary effects they might cause. I hope that this story on fats will help in this process of understanding of the human body.
This reading will be presented in chapters, delivered to your e-mailbox when ordered through the web site in What we do/Lectures.
Thank you.
