Immune System

A recent study shows that tai chi boosts immunity to shingles. Shingles is a nasty condition that causes pain, usually in the rib cage area. It is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. Anyone who has had chicken pox has the dormant virus in their body, and it could flare up into shingles at any time.

In a randomized controlled trial, researchers found that after a 16 week program of tai chi practice, that participants had greatly increased their immunity to the virus. In fact their immunity was double that of the control group. In addition, they reported significant improvements in physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality and mental health.

See other posts on the benefits of tai chi here.

It is important when starting to learn tai chi that you find a good teacher. If they are not teaching according to the principles, you may not be getting all of the benefits. Watch a class and pay attention to what the teacher focuses on. They should talk a lot about relaxation and being centered and grounded. They should be adjusting the students postures to ensure their bodies are properly aligned. If the teacher is not focusing on the principles and correcting the students’ form, I would keep looking. Once you’ve studied with a good teacher for a year or so, you’ll have a foundation for good health for the rest of your life.

Health, like wealth, is not much use without happiness. And happiness gives us a stronger immune system and less stress.

What do you enjoy eating? If it is only junk food, then you might be in trouble. If you enjoy eating a fairly reasonable diet, yet you stress out trying to eat a totally healthy diet you are being counter productive. One study a few years back compared two groups of people, one could eat what they want, the other was given a specific healthy diet. The healthy diet people actually did more poorly in that particular study. After some research, they decided it was because the people on the diet were more stressed and felt more out of control of their own lives.

Here’s another downer: If you want to lose weight and you are stressing out about your diet all the time, you may be increasing your production of cortisol, which will cause you to gain weight.

How to be happy

• Don’t take your thoughts so seriously. If you have a thought like “I screwed up”, “I’m not good enough”, or “How come I never get it right”, just let the thought go. It’s just a thought. Everyone does good things and dumb things, that’s just the way we are. You are still a lovable human being that deserves to be happy.

• Make other people’s happiness a priority. When we focus outside of ourselves we tend to be happier. Generally, unhappy people spend most of their time thinking about themselves.

• Don’t become a slave to others desires. There are needy people out there who stick themselves to people who are always willing to help. Those people will soon burn you out. So, help others, but recognize your own limits and stick to them.

• Don’t try to change others. People do that to their spouses, and it is a losing battle. Let each other be who they are. If you really can’t stand them, leave them. However, our lives become richer by enjoying the company of people not like ourselves. That’s probably what attracted you to that person you can’t stand in the first place.

• Pamper yourself regularly. What do you love to do? Every day spend some time doing things you love to do, and every week take time out to really pamper yourself.

• Recognize that your moods are always changing. Sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down. Don’t dwell on the down times, let them pass. Those can be good opportunities for pampering yourself. Sometimes when I am in a down mood I like to listen to sad music or watch a sad movie. That allows me to enjoy the mood, without dwelling on myself or making my mood about me. Sometimes I’ll do the opposite, listen to happy music or watch a comedy. If I’m lucky it brings me up again.

• Have purpose in your life. Figure out what you want to achieve or discover or learn or create. Go out and start working towards those goals. And keep coming up with new ones. Some people set a fairly lofty goal, then if they actually reach it, they get depressed because they lived their whole life for that one goal. There are limitless possible goals on this earth.

When you peel your fruits and vegetables you are removing some of the most nutritious part of your food. Many of the vitamins, minerals, and cancer fighting phytonutrients are most concentrated in the skins of fruits and vegetables. Skins and peels are also high in fiber. Eating your peels improves your immune system, helps control allergy symptoms, and helps protect your body against cancer and heart disease.

• Apple peels are a good source of pectin, a fiber that helps control cholesterol and blood sugar. They are also much more concentrated in antioxidants than the rest of the apple, and research has found that they have anti-cancer effects.

• Potato peels are richer in iron and B vitamins than the flesh of the potato. The peel is also rich in antioxidants, fiber, and potassium.

• Citrus peels are high in several antioxidant chemicals. The white part of the peel is high in bioflavonoids, which have anti-inflammatory and antihistamine actions. They alsostrengthen the blood vessels and improve the effectiveness of vitamin C. According to Chinese medicine, citrus peels improve digestion.

• Tomato peels enhance the ability of the body to use the lycopene in the rest of the tomatoes. Lycopene is a well known anti-oxidant that helps to prevent cancer and heart disease.

If you are eating the peels, it is even more important to buy only organic fruits and vegetables. The pesticide residues are not easily washed off.

For more on the benefits of organic produce, see this post.

We need to drink to stay alive. It’s even more important than eating, at least in terms of how often we need to drink to survive. What you drink really matters though, if you want to be healthy. North Americans are drinking more calories than ever before, which is adding to our weight problem. In general, drinking does not make us less hungry, so when we drink a sugary soft drink, we are just adding calories to our diet, not to mention the negative impact on our blood sugar.

What are the healthful fluids we can be drinking? Here are my top Five:

1. Water. By far the winner. Water is what our body needs, so why not drink it straight? Filtered tap water is the best. In Many communities, water coming out of the tap is not that good for you, but simple carbon filtration is usually good enough. Bottled water is a bad idea for two reasons. One is that you don’t really know where it came from, and the other is that toxic chemicals leach out of the plastic bottles water comes in. For more on plastic bottles, see this post. For most people, six to eight glasses of water a day is optimal.

2. Ginger tea. It is warming and it stimulates digestion. It can ease allergic reactions.

3. Chamomile tea. It is very soothing to the nervous system and stomach.

4. Green tea. In moderation, green tea is very beneficial for its antioxidants. People who are sensitive to caffeine, should avoid it. Be careful of its tendency dehydrate you.

5. Freshly made fruit and vegetable juices. These are a magnificent source of antioxidants and other health promoting phytochemicals. Drink them within a few minutes of juicing them, as they lose their goodness very quickly. These are rather high in calories, but most people don’t have time to overdue them. Besides, the health benefits far outweigh the problems, unless you have serious blood sugar issues.