I’ve got lots for you this week. Let’s dive in!
If you asked me whether or not I had good mobility in my thoracic spine (basically the part from the bottom of your neck down to the lower back) I would tell you it was just fine. But when I tried the first rotation from the exercises in this blog post, I realized I have some work to do. What concerns me the most is that I am less mobile turning to the right than I am to the left. Try these and let me know how your body responds.
Some of my clients asked me this week why I go on (and on and on and on) about not tucking the pelvis under. “Sit on your sit bones!” I say. I explained that it related to pelvic floor health. I am going to throw lots and lots of information about the correlation between alignment and pelvic floor health your way, but here is one blog piece from May of this year that addresses it outright and well.
Wondering why I am always promoting animal (i.e., saturated) fats on here? Aren’t they “bad” for you? Folks in the ancestral eating camp have been saying for a long time that the research does not back up the “saturated fat kills” hypothesis. This is another issue I am going to be exploring a lot so look to see more on this topic in the weeks to come. Also be aware in the things you read for examples where this conversation is becoming more mainstream.
My friend Jessica Covington at Click-A-Class posted this piece on yoga this week, shattering some misperceptions some people have about the eons-old practice.
Another theme I am going to continually hit is this: Are we sacrificing wellness for fitness?
There is a lot of evidence emerging that “chronic cardio” or extended bouts of high-effort “exercise” may be the cause (and not the solution) of some health problems.
The Paleo Mom welcomed a guest blogger this week. She’s an MD who talks about how to discuss the Paleo lifestyle with your family physician. But, what I love about this piece is the list of citations at the end. It offers some good data to consider when weighing making the change to Paleo.
Are you CPR certified? Wonder what you would do if presented with the opportunity to provide CPR? I carry a mouthpiece with my fitness instruction gear, but if I didn’t have it, I don’t know that I would risk mouth-to-mouth on a stranger. This research suggests that it might actually be more beneficial to deliver the hand compressions plus defibrillator only.
Last week I pointed to hidden sources of MSG. This week, I found some homemade options for seasonings that are often MSG-laden.
I sure wish someone had explained the concept of adrenal fatigue to me, oh, say, fifteen years ago. My poor adrenal glands have definitely taken a beating! Notably, I wish someone had explained to me that the stress hormone cortisol and our sex hormones share a precursor and that it originates in the adrenals. Thus, when you are stressed and pumping out the cortisol, your body may not have sufficient stores to also pump out sex hormones. It’s the link between stress and fertility that I heard about all the time, but would have definitely resonated for me had I gotten a fuller explanation. I love the plain-spoken way that this piece breaks down the issues behind adrenal fatigue.
Finally, here’s a piece from the American Journal of Gastroenterology entitled: “Non-celiac wheat sensitivity diagnosed by double-blind placebo-controlled challenge: exploring a new clinical entity” with the following conclusion:
Our data confirm the existence of non-celiac WS as a distinct clinical condition. We also suggest the existence of two distinct populations of subjects with WS: one with characteristics more similar to CD and the other with characteristics pointing to food allergy.
(WS = “wheat sensitivity” & CD = “celiac disease”)
This is more great news for those of us who got a negative celiac test but experienced relief from symptoms upon cessation of gluten consumption.
I think that’s enough for one week! I’d love to hear your feedback on any and all of these in the comments.