Is Holistic Non-Christian?
By Dr. Gene Clerkin
This past weekend, my colleagues, Jennifer and Brenton, and I headed down to the Alive Expo with a box full of business cards, flyers, brochures and signs in tow. We were to spend the weekend stationed at our booth imparting information about holistic health and wellness, and, of course, sharing information about the Center for Holistic Health.
Even though the hours of the Expo were long, I felt extremely energized throughout the weekend. Teaching people simple concepts about how they can improve the quality of their lives really lights me up. It's also very interesting to hear the different perspectives, ideas and beliefs that the general public has about holistic health and wellness. I feel compelled to share a few stories to illustrate how individuals perceive the intersection of their religious views and wellness, and to ultimately illustrate how the pursuit of wellness and faith do not pose conflicts in thought or practice.
I was sharing the concept of getting more in tune with the wisdom of the body with a woman who had some health challenges. When I asked her what she thought about what I had said, she replied that she gets her healing from scripture. She felt that if she was more diligent about reading her scripture it would help her transcend her health challenges. Out of curiosity, I had to ask, “Why are you attending a health and wellness expo, if you believe that you are to get that from scripture?”
Several years ago, I had a woman walk into the office looking for a quick adjustment to get her out of pain. Apparently, she had been receiving quick fixes for years. I agreed to take a look and see what I could do. This poor woman had the most rigid spine I had ever felt. I couldn't even get her to relax enough to turn her head. When I suggested using focused breath to try and introduce some ease into her system, she became very concerned that I was teaching a “new age” concept and that it would conflict with her religious views.
Why do we think that using breath and movement is evil while putting synthetic poisons in our bodies is as natural as can be? There is something wrong with this picture.
Just the other day I had a client call to say she was going to discontinue care because she was a Christian. She had come in for a couple of visits and was actually experiencing a change in her body. Since she just couldn't understand how such a light touch could cause these changes, she became suspect of it, so I inquired as to what exactly didn't jive with her religious beliefs.
Her concern was that the healing energy used in Network Spinal Analysis might be coming from an evil force. While Network practitioners do not actually use outside healing energy, their system does assist the brain in locating tension, or energy that has been stored in the body. When this tension is released, one can experience the feeling of energy flowing through the body. It's not good energy, or evil energy, its just energy that's no longer stuck.
I was raised in a Christian faith and have had the opportunity to study teachings of Jesus. Never have I come across any Christian teachings that conflict with concepts of holistic health and wellness. In fact, the concepts are really the same. They are actually just concepts of life, and they would work no matter what your religion or belief systems are.
It seems sad to me that people would deny themselves an opportunity to experience more ease and peace in their lives because they are fearful of something with which they are unfamiliar. Each time I've encountered this type of resistance, I've asked the person where s/he perceives there is a conflict, and s/he is unable to come up with anything that's truly non-Christian or against the teachings of any other religion. In conversations, I've come to realize that people are just expressing fear based upon someone else having told them that holistic is non-Christian.
Since love is basically the opposite of fear, and God is about love, it's ironic that fear would stand in the way of people learning about methods to increase their level of wellness and enhance their experience of life. It's simply not logical that a religion would want anyone to be denied strategies to help them get out of a stressed physiology, especially when doing so would actually help them to have a more fully developed experience God.
A Guide to Mindful Living: Part Two
By Andrea Schrage, MA, LPC, CMT
This section will be dedicated to an ongoing look at simple ways to incorporate mindfulness in your everyday life. Over the course of several newsletters you will have a set of tools to pull out to create a healthier environment within you. One way to facilitate use of the exercises will be to focus on one for the next 2 months and really become fluent in it. Then you can move on in the succession of exercises that can build on each other.
What is mindfulness? Mindfulness in simplified terms is learning to be present in the current moment. Why would one want to do this? The list of benefits is very long but here are a few:
• Decreasing Anxiety
• Ability to make conscious choices
• Helps to reduce addictive patterns
• Changes your relationship with negative thoughts
• Allows you tune into answers from within
• Increases your sense of peace in the world
If you missed the first exercise on the 3 minute breathe, please feel free to go back and look at http://www.karunacounseling.com/mindfulness1.html
Exercise Two:
Mindful Eating
Benefits may include:
• Becoming more conscious of what you eat.
• More enjoyment of your food.
• Increased concentration.
• Increased ability to stay in the present moment.
• Better ability to monitor food intake.
Suggested Use:
• During meals.
• Deciding if you are hungry.
• Letting your body inform you of what it is craving (verses your mind or habit dictating).
Any combination of the above will teach your system that mindfulness is readily available. John Kabat-Zinn teaches that if you were jumping out of an airplane, you wouldn't sew the parachute on the way down. You would instead, sew it ahead of time so that it would be in good shape when you need it. The best way to have mindfulness be something that you automatically reach for is to practice it as much as possible. You may want to leave reminders for yourself to do the exercise, such as, post its or putting it in your calendar.
Part one and two below may be used together or separate depending on your goal .
Basic Instruction for Mindful Eating
Part One:
• Begin by sitting in an upright position with your feet on the ground and your spine straight.
• Take 2-3 breaths and relax into your body.
• Bring your attention to your belly and check in to see if you are physically hungry. You may find the urge to eat, but it could be an emotional hunger.
• Ask your body internally or out loud, “What am I hungry for.” You may get a response from the mind, so check it out by imagining your self eating that food. You may try a few foods to see what feels like the best fit. You will find that the more you do this, the more your body will truly guide you to eating what it needs verses what you want.
Part Two:
Follow 1 and 2 above if you are just doing part two and then continue below.
• Start by looking at your food like you have never seen it before. Look at the colors, texture, proportions, where it is on the plate and notice the smell.
• Notice any judgments that the mind makes and let them go without attaching to them as true. Almost like a child who is being introduced to it for the first time.
• Slowly take it to your mouth and stop right before it goes into your mouth. Notice the anticipation of the food.
• Now place it in your mouth and chew very slowly, holding an air of curiosity. Notice the texture and the tastes.
• Notice how you know when it is time to swallow and then swallow the food.
• Put your utensil back down and notice what it is like to be one bite fuller.
• Continue on through the meal at a slow and conscious state noticing what feelings, sensations, and judgments come up.
That is it!
Food and eating can stir up a lot of emotions, so you may want to journal about them, or if they get to intense, call your therapist for guidance. Enjoy a new way to look at food and allow a newfound choice about your eating.
If you have more questions feel free to contact me at
404-818-6114 or at
andreaschrage@karunacounseling.com
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Good Fats, Bad Fats
By Trulie Ankerberg-Nobis
Many people are wondering what to think of fat. Low fat diets were the big fad of the early 90s as many processed foods were re-made into low fat options. People assumed that since the foods were now low-fat, they could consume a much bigger serving. Unfortunately, many of these foods had a similar calorie amount as the original higher fat food since lots of sugar was added to these foods (like cookies and crackers). Therefore, eating these foods did not result in weight loss. But there is more to the story than whether a food is low or high in fat.
For weight loss and overall health, it is necessary to reduce fat intake. Why is a low-fat diet a healthy diet? First, consuming a lower fat diet will result in reducing calorie intake which will help to achieve a healthy weight. A healthy weight is crucial for preventing many chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. At 9 calories a gram, fat has more than twice the calories of carbohydrate and protein (4 calories a gram). Reduce your calorie intake by reducing fat.
Secondly, low fat foods have more nutrients than higher fat foods and a healthy diet is one high in nutrients. The lowest fat foods are whole plant foods. The following chart illustrates this:
Percentage of Fat in Foods |
|
Mozzarella cheese |
69 |
Chicken, white meat, skinless |
23 |
Broccoli |
8 |
Apple |
6 |
Lentils |
3 |
What plant foods lack in fat, they make up for with loads of nutrients especially when consumed as whole foods and not as processed foods. This is also important when consuming fewer calories. Despite consuming fewer calories, one should still aim to meet their body's high needs for nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and phytochemicals. These are needed to prevent diseases and maintain a healthy well being.
Lastly, research shows that people who consume low fat diets have better health than those who don't. These people have a reduced incidence of diseases and normal body weights and body fatness. So while nutrition research continues to determine what precise nutrient intakes are optimal for preventing diseases and overall health, we see in observational studies that the general pattern for health is a low fat diet.
Americans consume too much fat and too many bad fats. Saturated fat is the biggest problem. The biggest source of saturated fat in Americans' diet is animal foods and more specifically, cheese. Another bad fat is trans fat which is mostly consumed through fried restaurant foods, commercial baked goods, meat, and dairy products. Both of these fats wreak havoc on our health by increasing risk for heart disease and cancer.
Some plant foods are high in fat but also very high in nutrients and should be included in moderate amounts in our diet. These include nuts, seeds, avocados, and soybeans. Omega-3 fatty acids are important fatty acids that should be emphasized when choosing higher fat foods. The widely known source of these fats is fish but plant foods such as flaxseed, hempseed, walnuts, soybeans, and leafy greens also provide this fat. This is especially important information for children, pregnant and nursing women who should avoid exposure to the environmental contaminants found in fish but maintain an adequate intake of omega-3 fatty acids.
While the fat in whole plant foods is a healthier or “good fat,” it is still fat that should be minimized to maintain a low-fat diet. Remember, all fat has more than twice the calories of protein and carbohydrate whether it is good or bad fat. Therefore, too much good fat can mean a bigger waistline too.
In summary, here is a list of pointers regarding fat:
- Eat a low-fat diet by consuming a variety of whole, low fat, plant foods.
- Reduce/eliminate bad fats by reducing/eliminating meat, dairy, and fried foods.
- Consume omega-3 fatty acids from plants food sources most often, and if desired, fish less often.
- When adding fat to dishes, choose whole foods like nuts, seeds, avocado, and nut butters rather than oil as these foods have more nutrients.
Trulie is currently offering 20% discount off the initial consultation and 50% off a computerized nutrient diet analysis and you can access these coupons through the website: http://AtlantaNutrition.com