For most of us, the importance of stretching is a severely underappreciated concept. That is until the time when we get out of bed multiple days in a row and our joints are stiff and creaky. At that point, you may find yourself pledging that if you can only walk like a normal person that you’ll do yoga and stretch every day and that you’ll never, ever take your muscles and flexibility for granted again. 

The fact is though, that most of us do take our flexibility and range of motion for granted, but we shouldn’t. They are what help us to be safe when we’re moving, to move in the way that we want to and to feel good as we’re doing it. That’s why I went to Jennifer Bunn, PhD who is a Kinesiology Professor and Associate Dean for the College of Health Sciences at Sam Houston State University. In this Q&A, she explains why stretching is so important and should be a part of our daily routine. 

Peppermint Tea & Me: What is stretching? 

Jennifer Bunn: A lot of people think of stretching just with flexibility, but really, it’s taking a joint through its full range of motion. When you do that, you actually end up pulling and elongating on the muscles that are attached within that joint. And that’s where you feel that stretch. 

PTM: Why is stretching important?

JB: The importance of stretching can’t be underestimated. If you don’t move and take your joints through their full range of motion, then you will lose that range of motion. Especially as you get older, your muscles will tighten up a little bit more than when you were younger. As that happens, your joints actually reduce how much motion they can have if you don’t stretch those muscles regularly and allow movement through that full range.

It’s also important to talk about balance – both from right to left and making sure that the right side of your back has a similar range of motion as the left side of your back. There’s also balance from front to back or anterior to posterior. We don’t want to find ourselves hunching forward all the time and reducing the range of motion that we have on the front side of the muscles compared to the back. 

PTM: Who should stretch?

JB: That one’s easy. It’s everybody. Everybody needs to move their joints and take their joints through a variety of ranges of motion and preferably through the full range of motion. That’s especially true through COVID where we’ve found ourselves working from home and in front of computers more. People who sit a lot need to stretch. 

PTM: Is there anyone who shouldn’t have a regular stretching routine?

JB: Anyone with degenerative joint disease should consult a medical professional before incorporating stretching into their routine. 

PTM: How often should we stretch?

JB: Daily. Even a couple of times a day. Just to kind of move things around. Even going from sit to stand will actually stretch the front side of the muscles that are in your hip to lengthen them back out after they’ve been shortened for a long time. So, people are probably doing it more frequently than they’re giving themselves credit for. 

PTM: When are the best times to stretch?

JB: If you are doing purposeful stretching and trying to really increase range of motion, you want to try and make sure that your muscles are warm, and your joints have become a little bit looser. When there’s increased temperature in the muscles, they move better. To give an example of this, when people do hot yoga and are able to move in ways that they aren’t usually able to, it’s because really warm muscles can really move. They can go into positions that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to when they’re colder. 

PTM: How long does it take to warm the muscles up and is there anything specific that we should be doing to do that?

JB: Not long. It takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes. You can walk about. You can go on a little baby jog. Whatever it is. Hop on an elliptical. Any of those kinds of things would be good before you really stretch. You can also do a complete workout. Do your workout in full and then stretch at the end. Most of the time at least some of your workout will get you into that range of motion and then you could do your full stretching routine if you wanted to at the end to really kind of push your muscles a little bit further as far as flexibility goes. 

PTM: What are the different forms of stretches?

JB: There are two forms that we typically use with stretching. There’s dynamic and static stretching. Dynamic stretching is when you move the joint through its range of motion. Things I think of for dynamic stretching are when you do like monster kicks where you kick your leg out in front of you and try to touch your fingertips with your toes. Or where you do knee hug walks where you take a step, you bring your knee up to your chest, you hug it, take a step, do the next one, and come up and hug it. So that’s kind of dynamic flexibility. 

Static stretching is when you go into a stretch and you hold it for 10 seconds, 30 seconds, or whatever it is. The goal of that is to try and progress the range of motion even further. 

PTM: What do you consider to be the top areas that people should pay attention to when they stretch?

JB: The ones that I think of, especially now, as we find ourselves in Zoom Rooms constantly, or if your job usually requires a lot of sitting, you want to stretch your hips, your back and probably your neck. The reason I bring up the neck is that whenever we’re on a computer or even on our phones, we end up drawing our heads forward and that creates a misalignment of the spine. The same kind of thing goes if we’re seated a lot over a keyboard or something similar. Everything crunches forward, and we make kind of like this C shape with our head, our back and even our hips moving forward. So, stretching all of those back out is a good idea.

PTM: What should we not do when we’re stretching?

JB: Don’t take a joint or a muscle past a point it doesn’t want to go. Listen to your body. If you’ve got an area of your body that’s saying, “Yes please stretch me,” pay attention to where it says, “Stretch me only to this point.” Do your best to kind of relax as you move. Don’t stretch an area that’s really tightened and fussy with you. If your body starts to talk to you a little bit, or even yell at you, as you’re trying to stretch that area, don’t ignore that. The best thing is to just listen and draw back a little bit and put it back into a place where it’s not going to be so fussy. Then maybe the next time you can try to push it a little further. 

When you’re working on stretching and flexibility, you do want to be able to feel the muscles pull a little bit. It should be that “hurts so good” kind of idea and not an “Oh no, I’ve just pulled something and now I can’t move.” That’s where your body is telling you, stop, reverse, go back and start over. 

Stretching Resources

If you’re now convinced about the importance of stretching, Jennifer has some suggestions for incorporating it into your day in a manageable way. Among those is seated or desk yoga. Here are some sequences that she recommends.

• Yoga at Your Desk with Adriene ***Jennifer’s favorite
• Yoga at Your Desk – 10-Minute Office Yoga Stretches
• Office Break Yoga
• 5-Minute Desk Yoga for Neck & Shoulders
• 5-Minute Break – Office Yoga
• Yoga at Your Desk | Yoga with Tim

Jennifer also recommends stretches similar to the ones demonstrated at the following resources as being good for overall flexibility:

• Spinal Rotation Stretch
• Seated Twist
• Pigeon Pose

The post The Importance of Stretching appeared first on Peppermint Tea.

I am a firm believer in the power of a morning routine. How we start the day has a huge impact on how the rest of the day will go. If we keep hitting the snooze button, wake up at the last possible second, rush to get dressed and get the kids off to school, skip breakfast, gulp down a cup of coffee and barely get to work on time, the chances that we’re going to be our best for the day are slim. On the other hand, waking up early enough to start the day in an intentional way stands a much better chance of setting us up for success as well as boosting our overall health and wellness. In this article, I’m looking at what a morning routine is, why it’s important and some of my tried-and-true morning routine ideas for getting the day started off right. 

What is a Morning Routine?

By definition, a routine is regularly doing things in a fixed order, usually at a particular time. A morning routine is any type of routine that happens as you’re starting your day – whether that day begins at 8am or 11pm for shift workers. According to Northwestern Medicine, “routines offer a way to promote health and wellness through structure and organization.” While we don’t want to have every minute of our day scheduled, it is beneficial to have some structure, otherwise it’s easy to be unorganized, distracted and not accomplish the things that we want to. 

While there can be many different views on what a morning routine is, I look at it as what I do before my workday starts. It is what helps to get me in the right place physically and mentally for the day ahead. Depending on your stage in life and whether you work from home or have a commute, a morning routine can take 30 minutes or two hours. It’s whatever works best for you. Some days, you may have to adjust it a bit, but for the most part, your morning routine is how you regularly start the day. 

Morning Routine Ideas

If you listen to interviews with some of the world’s most successful people, you’ll find that most rely on a morning routine of some type. Even before I learned this, it was simply something that came naturally to me. I knew that I felt better when I started my day in a more structured way and that I felt worse when I didn’t. It wasn’t too hard to figure out which I preferred. Here are some morning routine ideas that I can highly recommend. 

Set your alarm

If you have to be somewhere at a set time, get kids off to school or have any other morning obligations, you’re probably going to need to set an alarm in order to get your morning routine in. This may mean moving your bedtime forward a bit so that you get the sleep you need, but I can promise that this habit will be worth it. After you’ve conditioned your body to your new routine, setting an alarm may not even be necessary. 

Write in a gratitude journal

This doesn’t have to take long. Just list 5-10 things, people or experiences that you’re grateful for. An article in Greater Good Magazine cites gratitude expert Robert Emmons as saying that gratitude affirms “that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.” This can be powerful if we’re struggling to see past our own problems or are feeling down or stressed. 

Write in a free writing journal or do a brain dump

A free writing journal gives us a chance to reflect on our experiences or anything that we’re feeling. A brain dump offers the opportunity to clear mental space by getting all the thoughts running through our mind onto a piece of paper. Both exercises help to acknowledge and process extraneous thoughts and feelings that may be causing us anxiety or taking up mental energy. 

Do some kind of exercise or movement

While at least 150 minutes a week is what the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends, any amount is going to give you some health benefits. Even if you usually get your main exercise in during the afternoon, stretching or moving your body in some way in the morning will help to wake you up and get your body going after a night of sleeping. 

Read

If finding time to read is tough, carving out a few minutes in the morning can be a relaxing way to ease into the day. 

Get dressed for the day

While this may be a bit obvious, I include it as part of a morning routine because that makes it an intentional activity that I have to set aside time to do as part of my preparation for the day. If I don’t look at it in that way, I rush through the process, already feeling frazzled and as if I should be doing something else.

Fix breakfast

If you don’t take the time to fix breakfast for yourself because you simply don’t need it, then skip this. If you don’t fix breakfast for yourself because you don’t think you have time, then making it part of your morning routine will do wonders for your health and your pocketbook. Even if you don’t have time to eat it before you leave the house, take something with you to eat on the way or when you arrive at work.

Update your budget

What?? You might ask if you haven’t read my post on Creating a Budget for a Healthier You. As I mention there, taking 5 minutes to update your budget (what used to be known as balancing your checkbook) every day makes it so that it’s not an overwhelming task at one time. It also helps to guide your decisions throughout the day. 

Read or watch local news

Keeping on top of what’s happening in your local community is just as important as keeping up with national and international news. With all of the online resources available these days, it’s fairly easy to stay on top of national news. Local news, on the other hand, is easy to lose sight of. Setting aside a few minutes each morning to do this will keep you on top of what is happening in your own backyard.

Reattach to work

I love this one! If we’re successfully detaching from work at the end of the day, it only stands to reason that reattaching at the beginning of the day would make sense. Researchers found that reattaching, or rebuilding a mental connection to work, is important for staying engaged and focused during the day. 

This article in Greater Good Magazine suggests that in preparation for your workday, you ask yourself the following questions.

1. Why does the work I do matter to me? How does my work impact the lives of others?
2. Who are the people—both at work and in my personal life—who support me and my professional success?
3. What would I like to focus on today?

While you won’t be able to fit all of the above ideas into your morning routine, I recommend picking 2-4 that resonate with you and see how they work. 

The Morning Routine That Has Served Me Best

Depending on what phase of life you’re in, you’ll probably need to switch up your morning routine to accommodate your other obligations. You may also need to adjust the time that you wake up. When my boys were younger, having a little quiet time to myself was so important to me that I woke up at 5am just to fit it in. While that was definitely early, it would have been much harder on me not to fit it in at all. Now that I don’t have to do everything for my one son still at home, I get to sleep until 5:45am or 6am. 

Here’s a look at the most recent version of my morning routine that has served me best. 

5:45am = wake-up and get dressed in workout clothes

6 – 6:15am = meditation

6:15 – 6:30am = journaling

6:30 – 7:15am = exercise/stretching and listen to local and national news

7:15 – 7:45am = get dressed/fix breakfast

7:45 – 8am = eat breakfast, update budget, reattach for work

8am = start work

** This has been my best pandemic routine. In “normal” times, I would allow for the five-minute drive to and from the gym.

Clearly, life happens. If I need to go for a stretch of letting myself sleep a little later, I do. But if I let myself go for long periods of time without making room for my morning routine, I definitely start feeling off and know that I need to get back on track.

Bottom Line on Morning Routines

The point in all of this has been to give you plenty of morning routine ideas to choose from that might work for you. The key is being realistic about the kind of time that you have or are willing to make in the mornings to fit it in. Even if you can only sit quietly and then exercise for a few minutes, those are things that will help you start the day feeling better than if you had slept late and rushed out the door.

Do you have a morning routine? If so, let us know in the comments what it is so that we can all get ideas.

The post Morning Routine Ideas for Getting the Day Started Right appeared first on Peppermint Tea.

I am a power napper. There, I said it, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. In fact, I’ll scream it from the rooftop if I need to. The world needs more power nappers!! It’s long been one of my survival tools, but since I started living a healthier lifestyle, I consider it as much a part of my wellness routine as exercise and what I eat. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to power nap but thought you couldn’t, I’m going to fill you in on how long a power nap really is and how to do it.  

What is a Power Nap?

In order to understand what a power nap is, it may first be easier to look at what it isn’t. A power nap is not an hours-long deep sleep that you occasionally take in the afternoon when you’ve stayed up too late the night before. It also doesn’t leave you feeling groggy or discombobulated. Far from it. 

A power nap lasts less than 30 minutes and leaves you feeling energized and rested. Multiple studies back this up^1,2,3 and even show that getting in a few minutes of stage 2 sleep is the most beneficial in improving alertness and performance¹. According to this article published by the University of Michigan Health System, stage 1 sleep involves light sleep and usually lasts less than 10 minutes. In stage 2 sleep, your muscles become more relaxed and you may begin to have slow-wave brain activity⁴. For me, between 15-20 minutes is ideal for giving my brain, body and eyes a much-needed break.

How to Power Nap

If sleeping for a short period of time seems impossible to you, you may be right. Power napping isn’t for everyone. Some people do get into too deep of a sleep or take too long to go to sleep in the first place. If that’s you, and you’ve tried power napping before, don’t force it. Accept the fact that you’re simply not a power napper and move on. 

On the other hand, if you consistently find yourself reaching for mid-afternoon caffeine or something sweet just to give you energy, I highly recommend trying the more natural approach of learning how to power nap. You’ll notice that I said, “learn how to power nap.” Yes, power napping is a routine or habit that usually has to be learned. The following steps will show you how. 

Find the right time

If you work on an 8-5pm or 9-5pm schedule, you’re probably familiar with the afternoon energy slump or the “post-lunch dip¹.” If you’re a shift worker, you have the equivalent, it’s just at a different time. For the purposes of this post, we’re going to focus on those who work 8-5pm. 

Assuming that you’ll usually need to attach your nap to your lunch break, I suggest shooting for some time between 12:30-3pm for your nap. If you take it after 3pm, it could disrupt your regular sleep at night. 

12:30-3pm is also when the physical cues that I need a nap kick in. These cues aren’t easy to miss. They’re as obvious as my eyelids starting to droop or me getting really grouchy. There are also more subtle cues such as staring at my computer and not really registering what I’m reading or writing. If I’m interacting with others, I find it hard to concentrate on what they’re saying or to remember what was said. 

If I push through and wait until after 3pm to try to nap, I’m usually past the point where I can. My mind simply won’t shut down. If I can catch a window around 1pm when I begin noticing these things starting to happen, my brain is more than ready to stop for a while, and sleep comes quickly. 

The main thing when determining when the right time is to nap is that it should be about the same every day. It can certainly change if needed, but for the most part, you’ll need to teach your body that this is the time to shut down for a bit. 

Find the right location

Finding the right location is just as important to learning how to power nap as finding the right time. While it doesn’t have to be completely dark, you don’t want to have a light shining in your face. I usually find that having the blinds open on the windows is fine and allows enough light in to signal to my body that it isn’t night and that I don’t need to go into a deep sleep.  

You’ll also want to be in a fairly quiet place if possible. If you work outside the home, that means closing the door to your office if you have one or being in your car. Trust me, a car is a perfectly fine place to nap. 

Get comfortable

Getting comfortable is key when it comes to power napping. Once you get to be a pro, comfort takes a back seat to simply making sure that you get it in, but when you’re beginning, there are a couple of elements to have in place. These include something soft(ish) to lie on and a pillow or something soft for your head. 

If you’re working from home, lying on your bed may be an option. If you find that you tend to sleep too deeply there, just lie on your couch. Going to your car is also an option if you don’t have a soft surface to lie on at work. You can easily lay the seat back and be perfectly fine. Having a pillow, scarf, coat or something soft for your head makes it easier to get comfortable and elevates it to a more natural sleeping position.

If I’m at home, I like to have a blanket to put over me, even if it’s in the summer. It simply feels more comfortable. 

Eliminate interruptions

The whole point in a power nap is to take a few minutes for yourself in the middle of the day to recharge. It’s hard to do that if your phone is ringing, buzzing or in any way letting you know that the rest of the world needs your attention during that time. That’s why I always turn on the “Do Not Disturb” function on my phone just before I’m lying down. While my family’s calls can get through during that time if it’s urgent, they also know that it had better be urgent. 

That leads us to the second step in eliminating interruptions. Letting people who really need to know generally when you will be out of touch for a few minutes. That doesn’t mean that you have to announce it to the world that you’re taking a nap, but if you have a usual time that you’re shooting for, just let those who absolutely need to know that you won’t be available during that time. With most of my family doing school and working from home right now, I time when I lie down with when my son is in class. I also text my husband to let him know so that he doesn’t come downstairs while I’m lying on the couch. 

Set an alarm

Setting an alarm is crucial for conditioning your body to the power nap. As you’re just starting out, I suggest setting it for five minutes before you need to be back on task or for no longer than 30 minutes – whichever is sooner. That gives you time to wake up and get back to wherever you need to be. After you’ve become a power napping expert, you’ll probably find that you don’t need to set your alarm. Your body will simply know when it’s been 15-30 minutes. 

Focus on breathing

If you’re finding it hard to shut off your thoughts after about 30 seconds, focus on your breathing. Count to four as you breathe in, hold it for a second and then count to four as you breathe out. That should take the focus off your thoughts and put you in a good place for sleep to find you quickly. 

Practice

Like many of the other things that we do, learning how to power nap takes practice. You are not going to be successful at it if you only do it once or twice a month. It needs to become part of your regular routine. Yes, your body may become reliant on your nap, but you can always fall back on caffeine if you can’t get it in and you’re needing a quick pick me up. In this case though, the caffeine will be a mid-day rarity as opposed to something that you have to have to get through every day. 

It’s also important to note that once you’ve practiced enough and conditioned your body to power nap, you’ll be able to do it pretty much anywhere at anytime if needed. Now that’s a useful skill to have!

Bottom Line on Learning How to Power Nap

The bottom line on learning how to power nap is that it’s a free tool that you can use to be as productive and sharp as possible in a natural way. Take it from a power napping pro, it’s a skill that is possible to learn and could make the difference between feeling like you’re just getting through the day and being the best that you can be. I know which of the two that I highly recommend. 

Sources

1. Hayashi M, Motoyoshi N, Hori T. Recuperative power of a short daytime nap with or without stage 2 sleep. Sleep. 2005 Jul;28(7):829-36. PMID: 16124661. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16124661/
2. McDevitt EA, Sattari N, Duggan KA, Cellini N, Whitehurst LN, Perera C, Reihanabad N, Granados S, Hernandez L, Mednick SC. The impact of frequent napping and nap practice on sleep-dependent memory in humans. Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 10;8(1):15053. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33209-0. PMID: 30305652; PMCID: PMC6180010. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30305652/
3. Dhand R, Sohal H. Good sleep, bad sleep! The role of daytime naps in healthy adults. Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2006 Nov;12(6):379-82. doi: 10.1097/01.mcp.0000245703.92311.d0. PMID: 17053484. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17053484/
4. University of Michigan Health System. Stages of Sleep. https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hw48331

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There are a lot of very strong opinions and messages out there when it comes to body image these days. So much so that it’s enough to make our heads spin. Is it okay to want to change if we’re physically not feeling healthy or is it not? If we really don’t want that piece of chocolate cake, is it okay to say no or is that giving in to diet culture? What does the term “positive body image” really even mean? The questions, the doubts and the polarizing messaging can be deafening. So, who are we women supposed to listen to? It turns out that our body has many of the answers; we just have to know how to hear them. 

That’s what Certified Holistic Nutritional Consultant and Precision Nutrition Level One Coach Jenna Lessner from over at Simply Nurtured teaches from a place of first-hand experience. Through a journey to what she calls self-love and food freedom, she was able to lose 132 pounds after nearly hitting 295 pounds on the scale. Now, she’s helping other women learn about the role of nutrition in positive body image as they come to their own place of body acceptance. She was kind enough to share her thoughts and expertise on this in a Q&A with me. 

Peppermint Tea & Me: What is your story and how did you decide that this was the profession for you?

Jenna Lessner: For as long as I can remember, I’d used food for comfort. When I graduated university with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2010, my weight had climbed to 295 pounds. The day that I stepped on the scale and saw that number staring back at me, I think that was a big turning point in my life. I vowed that I wouldn’t reach 300 pounds. 

That vow came at the price of a vicious cycle of deprivation and binge eating. Three years later, I was still in that same perpetuating cycle. I was extremely unhealthy physically and mentally. I was full of self-loathing, and I hated myself. In 2013, something shifted in me, and I knew that I could no longer live like that.

I began to heal the relationship that I had with food by allowing myself to actually feel the emotions instead of numbing them with food, and I began moving my body and connecting with my body like I never had before. I also realized how the foods that I was choosing to eat on a regular basis were impacting my energy levels, my sleep, my mental health and my emotional health. That was really the aha! moment that lead me to a 132-pound weight loss and to study nutrition at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition in Calgary.

PTM: What do you consider to be a positive body image?

JL: I think body image refers to how an individual sees their body. It’s your own perception of your body and what you believe about your appearance. It’s also how you feel and move in your body. So, I think a positive body image is more than tolerating what you look like. It means to truly accept yourself and appreciate your body. It means that you aren’t trying to fit your body into this box of what you think it should look like. 

PTM: What is meant by “diet culture?”

JL: I think that it’s this belief that thinness or being skinny equates to our worth or is tied to our health. It prioritizes weight, shape and size over wellness. I think that there is a distinct difference between those things. I feel that there is this very large misconception in the diet industry that if you just lose that 20 pounds, you’ll be happy, and you’ll love yourself. That’s not even close to being true. Happiness is a feeling or showing of pleasure, and it’s a sense of confidence or satisfaction. The definition of happiness does not mention one’s weight or body size, no matter where you look that up. 

PTM: What role does diet culture play in body image?

JL: I think that diet culture promotes this idea that restricting food or punishing ourselves with maybe exercise will result in weight loss and in turn will provide you with those feelings of worthiness, acceptance and being enough. It distracts people from really connecting to their bodies and tuning into how specific foods will make their body feel. Diet culture replaces that with a regimented prescription for a smaller body. It also invites in food shaming and body shaming with questions and statements such as, “Are you really going to eat that?” or “I thought you were on a diet.” That type of culture is damaging to our mental and emotional health. 

PTM: What is the difference between healthy eating habits and diet culture?

JL: I believe that it comes down to intention. When we look at the purpose and objective behind our actions, it changes how we view the situation or how we even view food. If you choose to eat a salad, the intention could be, “Oh, I need to lose weight in order to accept my body. This salad is really low calorie, and it’s going to help me get there.” Or, “I’m choosing to eat this nutritious salad because I love my body and I want to provide it nourishing foods so that it feels really good.” The intention behind any action, I think is the key. 

PTM: How do healthy eating habits, a positive body image and a healthy lifestyle all fit together?

JL: I think that when you intend to take care of your body, live a healthy lifestyle, and choose healthy eating habits, it comes from a place of love and appreciation. You choose to eat foods that energize you and make you feel good and that support your wellbeing physically and mentally. You choose to exercise frequently and rest when you need it. I also think that when you provide your body with nourishing foods that it needs for optimal function and vitality, your body feels really freakin’ good. When you love yourself, you provide your body with nourishing foods that it needs for optimal health and vitality. 

PTM: In this day and time, when there is so much emphasis on calling out fat shaming and recognizing the role that negative body image plays in eating disorders, women are being told to accept themselves just the way they are. While that’s a good thing, in many cases, women of all sizes are being made to feel like they shouldn’t want to change their weight or body size and if they do, they’re giving in to diet culture. What are your thoughts on a woman recognizing that she doesn’t feel good or healthy in her body and that she wants to make changes, including losing weight and how she eats? 

JL: I think Rachel Hollis said that “Someone else’s opinion of you is none of your business.” It’s a beautiful statement but can be hard in reality when you are dealing with that. I also believe that people project their own insecurities onto others. If someone is shaming you for your weight or desire to get healthier so you feel more comfortable in your body, is it possible that they’re struggling with their own body issues and struggle with food? I don’t think people should be shamed for the size of their body, and I don’t think people should be shamed for choosing to eat a healthier way so that they feel good in their body. 

As someone who has formerly been almost 300 pounds, I know what it’s like to receive those judgmental stares or comments or be the brunt of someone’s cruel joke. I also know how physically hard it is to carry that much weight. Walking up a single flight of stairs to me felt like I was out of breath, and I needed to take a little break before I could proceed. There were times when tying my shoe was a chore, my knees always hurt and dropping something on the floor left me wondering if I really need that anyway. It was uncomfortable. So, I understand that desire to shed weight so you do feel healthier and can actually move in your body and do the things that you want to do. 

Where I struggle with some of the positive body image messages is that we’ve taken this 180-degree turn in the opposite direction because some of them are promoting being overweight and living an unhealthy lifestyle and then shaming weight loss. You can’t call that body positivity if you’re shaming someone for something else. 

PTM: If you do have that desire to lose weight, does that mean that you no longer have a positive body image?

JL: I don’t think so. I think that you can love yourself and still want to change because that’s called growth. I work with people every day that desire to live in a smaller body, and I really ask them to define their why. Often people tell me that they want to be able to move better, that they want to be able to feel good in their bodies, to have a healthy lifestyle and to be around when their children start having grandchildren or doing things with their children right now instead of watching them from the sidelines. I think that why you want to change is really a key indicator and motivator in any change.

PTM: What are the first questions that you ask a woman who comes to you and says that she’s not happy with the way that she feels and/or she’s not happy with her body and she wants to make changes in how she eats?

JL: One of the first questions I ask any client is why. Why do they want to make this change now?  I think that intrinsic motivation is huge. When you can make an emotional connection to why you want to make any change, it empowers you in your choices. 

That’s basically what I did in 2013. I got super clear on why I wanted to lose weight. It wasn’t just an arbitrary number or a goal to be healthier. I realized the life that I wanted to live and with that, something needed to change. I had this vision of being 70 and climbing mountains, running marathons well into my 60s and then chasing my grandchildren around a playground instead of watching them from a park bench. None of that would be possible if I didn’t make some changes. So, I also ask clients, “How do you want to feel in your body? What is that feeling that you’re really seeking through weight loss, and can you tap into that right now?”

PTM: What are the first steps that you would advise a woman in that situation to take in changing how she eats?

JL: To bring awareness of how the food that she’s currently eating is making her feel in her body. Getting curious as to which foods make her feel alive and energized and which foods are leaving her feeling lethargic or bloated. A symptom from a food could be pretty much anything. Fatigue is a number one symptom that I see but even digestive issues, bloating or elimination issues. Also, just getting curious and asking your body, ‘What am I feeling after I eat this? What am I noticing?’ and creating that awareness. If you can become aware of how different foods affect your body and become aware of the thoughts that you’re having about your body that are on repeat, you are well on your way without even changing anything. 

My Thoughts on Positive Body Image

I love Jenna’s message so much because it’s all about nurturing, caring for and appreciating our bodies whatever our shape or size. Positive body image is about loving ourselves. It’s our foundation as we work toward and achieve our own version of real health. I have learned and am still learning with each new phase of life what that feels like for me, and I strongly believe that each of us deserves the space to do the same. I hope you find at least some of that space and support here at Peppermint Tea & Me. All are welcome!

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I’m going to share with you a very personal, intimate decision. After 26 years of being on birth control pills, I’ve finally decided to transition off them. I’m sharing this with you because it’s a big decision that many of you are also making. My situation is a little more complicated than most, but at the end of the day, I’m a strong believer in that if this is something that we’re going to do, we need to set our bodies up in the best possible way. 

My Birth Control Pill Story

I started on “the pill,” when I was 22 because PMS had always been a huge issue for me. We’re talking both physical and emotional misery. My doctor assured me that birth control pills were the answer and would help to “balance” my hormones. I now know from “In the Flo” author and women’s hormone expert Alisa Vitti over at Flo Living that if I was experiencing PMS that badly, my hormones were definitely out of whack. I also know now that I could have addressed the issue in a more natural way¹. 

Two kids and 16 years later, I started having debilitating migraine headaches. They were so bad, the doctors at first thought they were a type of seizure that ultimately ended up happening an average of 28 days out of the month. Suspecting that there may be a hormonal component to it, my neurologist told me to start taking the pill continuously. It wasn’t until we found the right medication though 6 months later that the migraines stopped. It’s unclear what role, if any, taking the pill continuously had to do with that. 

Where I Am Now

Flash forward 11 years to today. I’m 49 years old, well into perimenopause and still taking birth control pills continuously. I changed to a healthier diet long ago (including giving up caffeine). I strongly believe that because of my diet changes, I was able to stop taking the headache medication that I was told I would be on for the rest of my life.

I’ve been wanting to quit birth control pills for several years but have been hesitant because of fears that the migraines will come back. It’s been more than evident though lately that my hormones are running “amok,” and my body is telling me it’s time to do this. My gynecologist is fully behind it. She does have some concerns about the migraines returning, but that’s why I’m going into it as carefully as possible. 

Transitioning Off Birth Control Pills

While I’ve always been a believer in getting all of the vitamins and minerals I need from food as opposed to supplements, I fully recognize that I’m probably going to need an extra boost in getting my hormones balanced while I make this transition. That’s why I’ve started taking these supplements as suggested by Alisa Viti for the following reasons. No, she doesn’t have an exact formula for women in my situation, but this is what I’ve pieced together as a good place to start.

1. B-Complex vitamins – Low levels of B vitamins can cause low energy and fatigue. B6 also helps to boost progesterone production and works with the liver to remove extra estrogen from the body. 
2. Evening Primrose Oil – This is a source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which helps with prostaglandin production. Prostaglandins are hormones that control inflammation and blood flow². It’s also a popular natural therapy for helping to ease PMS symptoms and hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause. 
3. Vitamin D3 – Foundational for hormone balance and overall health. 
4. Alpha Lipoic Acid – Promotes optimal liver function for getting rid of excess estrogen. It also reinforces healthy weight maintenance by supporting healthy blood sugar and insulin balance. 
5. Probiotic – Supports healthy gut function, which is essential for managing hormones. 
6. Tulsi (Holy Basil) Peppermint Tea and a nighttime Tulsi Sleep Tea – Holy Basil supports a healthy adrenal response, helps to stabilize blood sugar and supports liver function. 
7. Ashwagandha – An herb that helps to reduce oxidative stress and supports a healthy stress response. Alisa also says it’s been shown to safely improve sexual function and low libido for some women. 

Bottom Line for Transitioning Off Birth Control Pills

Hormones at this stage of life are no joke, but we don’t have to resign ourselves to “just waiting it out.” We can be proactive in trying to help our bodies and our minds feel as good as possible. Transitioning off birth control pills, taking supplements to help with that, regular exercise and maintaining my healthy diet are just some of the ways that I’m doing that. 

If you’re transitioning off birth control pills or are considering it, tell us about your experience in the comments below. We don’t need to do this alone!

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If you think of herbs as something that you only use in your kitchen and not in your medicine cabinet, then the idea of using them for healing may seem a little “out there.” The fact is though that using plants for healing was the original form of medicine. In fact, many conventional drugs have their origins in plant sources¹. So, the idea that herbalism, or the “science of using herbs for promoting health and preventing and treating illness,²” is now considered a form of “alternative” medicine is fairly ironic. 

In order for us all to have a better understanding of what modern herbalism really is, I went to clinical herbalist Katja Swift with the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism. As we continue our series on exploring alternative medical care options, my Q&A and with her sheds light on why this is such a critical field to at least be aware of if not to consider as a possibility for yourself.

Please Note: I earn from qualifying purchases made through some of the links included in this post. You can read my disclosure policy here.

Peppermint Tea & Me: What is herbalism?

Katja Swift: The simplest answer is that herbalism is working with plants to make your body healthy. For some people, it kind of stops there. They may say, ‘Oh, if I drink Marshmallow Tea then my heartburn doesn’t feel so bad, and if I drink chamomile, it helps me sleep at night.” And that’s literally the end. Well that is herbalism. And it’s legitimate. If that’s all you ever did, you’d feel better.

But it doesn’t stop there. We have revived the tradition enough now that herbalism in this country is a much more complete system that is completely independent of or parallel to conventional medicine. We have an entire system of assessment and don’t depend on medical diagnoses to determine what’s going on and what an appropriate approach would be. Since the world is dominated by conventional medicine, we can work with a diagnosis, of course. We have to study it, and we have to understand it, but it’s also not required. If somebody came and had not seen a doctor at all and didn’t know what was going on with their body and didn’t have any lab tests or anything else, we can work with that. 

The last part there would be that the comprehensive system of herbalism also includes not just the plants themselves but also the dietary changes, the lifestyle changes and movement. 

PTM: What do lifestyle changes really have to do with herbalism?

KS: While not everybody agrees exactly on diet, everybody is in a very whole foods, get rid of processed food, get rid of sugar place. What we’re trying to do is bring back to baseline or repair the damage that our culture has done to our bodies. If you’re going to stick your hand in bleach for an hour, it’s going to hurt. It’s going to cause irritation. We can put an herb on it, but if you’re immediately going to put your hand back in the bleach, we can only do so much with a plant. So, herbalism is also really recognizing that we need to look at how we resolve those baseline challenges that we as human bodies face living in this very sedentary, productivity-oriented culture. That work really is an essential part of herbalism, even though there might not be plants involved in that part. 

PTM: Do herbalists promote an entirely plant-based diet?

KS: Not at all. In fact, we find that harmful as a long-term lifestyle because we believe that animal protein is critical for humans. That does not mean that we think everybody needs to eat beef. If you’re more comfortable with fish, if you’re more comfortable with chicken or whatever, we’ll work with where a person is. It’s also not like we won’t work with someone who is committed to being vegetarian or vegan. Of course we will. But it’s just very difficult to maintain that in a healthy way long-term. 

We do though promote a lot of plants in the diet. At least 50 percent of your plate should be plants. Frozen is fine because fresh vegetables aren’t necessarily accessible to all people, so frozen vegetables are great. Whatever vegetables you can get on your plant. Just lots of them. 

We do also think that it’s critically important to be conscious of animal welfare and to not take life unnecessarily and to not cause suffering. That’s not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because unhealthy, disrespected animals create food that will hurt humans. If you raise a cow or a fish in a feeding operation, and it’s not able to live its life and eat its normal food and roam around the way that it wants to, that meat is actually not healthy and causes a lot of inflammation in the body. 

PTM: How is herbalism used in alternative or complementary medicine?

KS: That depends a lot on the person seeking help and also on the skill level of the person who is providing care. I work with cancer and terminally ill clients regularly. I also work with clients with very complicated autoimmune conditions, and I work as an integrated member of their care team in many cases. Not everybody feels comfortable doing that kind of work because it can be intimidating to work with medical practitioners. We are also adjunct faculty for the pharmacy schools here in Boston. We’re very comfortable going back and forth between a medical environment and an herbal environment. But a lot of people aren’t, and it isn’t necessary. 

It could also be as simple as a child who gets recurring ear infections, and the doctor keeps giving antibiotics. Since most ear infections aren’t actually bacterial, and that doesn’t necessarily take care of the problem, maybe Mom is looking for something else to try to support that child’s health and deal with those recurring ear infections. Or maybe someone who gets UTIs very frequently recognizes that this has become a pattern that they want to stop. Any of those types of models are completely reasonable and very common. Maybe not every single practitioner works in every single way, but they are common in this country right now I would say. 

PTM: What forms do herbal remedies come in?

KS: About the whole rainbow. My favorite thing to work with actually is tea. Part of the reason that I like working with tea so much is that the time it takes you to make the tea is also part of the medicine. In our culture, a lot of our health problems come because we don’t really have support for downtime or self-care. So, just the act of making a pot of tea is actually pretty radical. If I can get somebody to make tea several times a day, that means that they stopped and thought about their health and thought about their body and thought about the fact that they want to do things to help themselves be stronger and feel better. So, I prefer tea when I can get people to do it, but it’s not always convenient. 

You can also make tinctures which are a little bit stronger or more concentrated because they’re the alcohol extract of an herb. You can put them in your bag because they’re more portable. I also really like elixirs, which is part alcohol, part honey. You blend it together and get a full spectrum extraction from the plant that way. 

In addition, there are salves, and there’s lotions, and you can make lozenges or old-fashioned pills, which are little balls of powdered herbs. You can also put herbs in your food. That’s a completely legitimate way to take your medicine. A good example for that is cinnamon. Cinnamon is a really effective herb for helping to manage blood sugar levels. When you start looking, you realize that the spices that you have in your kitchen, as long as they’re fresh and potent, they’re much more than just a flavor. There’s a lot more going on there. 

PTM: How is each type of herbal remedy used?

KS: They’re not interchangeable. The challenge with herbalism is that you have to get the herb to the problem. This is a little bit less of a challenge with pharmaceutical medicine. We’re very accustomed to pharmaceutical medicine being a pill that you swallow, then it just sort of magically goes to where it’s needed, and herbs don’t necessarily do that. 

So, the big challenge is how do I get the herb to where it needs to be? Not all herbs actually pass through the intestinal lining very well, so turmeric is a great example. We talk about turmeric being an anti-inflammatory herb, and it does have amazing anti-inflammatory properties, but it doesn’t get to the blood stream very well. While it’s not great as a systemic anti-inflammatory, it’s amazing for inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. And so, that’s where we would work with it. 

People are also sometimes familiar with an herb called Goldenseal, and maybe they learn that it’s an herbal antibiotic. The catch is that it doesn’t get into the bloodstream at all. It doesn’t pass through the intestinal lining. So, it’s only an herbal antibiotic if you have a GI bacteria that you need to deal with or if you put it topically on a wound. Otherwise, it’s not getting into your bloodstream. 

I think one of my favorite examples of this is an herbal steam. This is where you get a pot of boiling water and put a towel over your head and breathe in the steam and toss some herbs in there. They’re great because they get that antimicrobial action and also the immune support right into the respiratory tract.

PTM: You’ve touched on some types of conditions that could be effectively managed with herbs, what are some of the others?

KS: There’s nothing that couldn’t be improved with herbalism. The reason that I say that is because everything that people are dealing with, whether it’s a splinter or whether it’s Alzheimer’s, there still a component of we as humans are living outside of what our bodies expect. Our bodies do not expect to sit at desks all day. Our bodies don’t expect to have climate control. That wasn’t part of the deal. Our bodies don’t expect to have sugar so widely available. So, something very simple can become so much more difficult to manage because we all live with this sort of constant elevated baseline inflammatory state. Because of that, I really don’t think there’s anything that can’t be approached herbally. 

Maybe herbalism isn’t going to 100 percent be the answer to everything. If someone needs open heart surgery than they need that. You can’t have an herb instead of open heart surgery. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not a place for herbs there as part of the preparatory and recovery process in terms of making the body stronger to be able to withstand the surgery itself. 

Then of course, it can help make sure that you only have one open heart surgery. We want to say, “Oh, that’s a wakeup call. Let’s make a bunch of changes in your life, so that you’re not going to have to do that again.” I don’t think that herbalism has to be the only answer for a person’s health issues for it to be a legitimate answer. I’m sort of very agnostic about the collection of approaches that anybody takes to finding comfort and better health. I think that every approach that helps you is a good approach.

PTM: What is the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism?

KS: We are a school and a clinic. Right now, everything is online because of COVID. We even run our free clinic online now, and we have online courses. When we started to put our program online, one thing that was important to us was that a lot of people really want to learn herbalism but our culture is so productivity-based. Everybody is working ridiculous hours, and they get home and they’re tired. They grab some food and sit in front of the television and turn on Netflix. We wanted to create an herbal curriculum that was very high quality and that would take somebody from their very beginning place all the way through to clinical herbalism if that was their goal. We wanted to put it online so that it would be just as easy as watching Netflix. 

PTM: What should someone look for if they’re thinking about working with an herbalist?

KS: It’s important to find someone who will match your requirements and will meet you where you are. I also strongly recommend working with a qualified Registered Herbalist.  A Registered Herbalist is a person who has been recognized for their work by the American Herbalists’ Guild, which is a national professional organization. Since herbalists are unlicensed, registration with the national professional organization is the highest and most rigorous recognition that herbalists in the U.S. can attain.

If you don’t have a Registered Herbalist in your area, then be sure to read things that the herbalist you’re considering has published. They should at the very least have material on their website that gives a good idea of their philosophy towards the work, to make sure that it resonates with you. Then of course, when you go to your session, use your critical thinking skills. An herbalist should be explaining to you the “why” behind their suggestions, and you should feel engaged in collaborating on the types of things that will work best in your life. 

Important Note About Insurance and Herbalism

Because herbalists are unlicensed in the United States, insurance does not cover their services. however, registered herbalists are now allowed to take health savings account funds. If paying out of pocket isn’t an option for you or you don’t have a health savings account, Katja says that most herbalists do offer a sliding scale or free clinic time as well. If you can’t find someone who does that in your area, look online. Many, such as the free clinic offered by the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism, will continue to operate online even after concerns over COVID-19 subside. 

Resources

Here are some helpful resources offered by the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism. 

• The Holistic Herbalism Podcast
• Family Herbalist program – In this program, you’ll learn how to work with herbs to keep you and your family healthy. Enter the code pepperminttea to get 20% off the cost of the program. 
• Because of the economic impacts of COVID-19, CommonWealth Herbs is also offering support for people whose income has been impacted and who would like to study herbalism. Contact them at info@commonwealthherbs.com for more information.

Sources

1. Vickers, A et al. “Herbal medicine.” The Western journal of medicine vol. 175,2 (2001): 125-8. doi:10.1136/ewjm.175.2.125 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071505/
2. American Herbalists Guild. https://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/herbal-medicine-fundamentals

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What is functional medicine, and is it right for you? If you’re exploring alternative medical care options, functional medicine is one system of care that you’ll at least want to look into. Monique Class, MS, APRN, BC is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist in holistic health at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine. In this Q&A, she helps to shed light on what functional medicine is and why it’s been growing in popularity over the past nearly 20 years. 

Peppermint Tea & Me: What is functional medicine?

Monique Class: Functional medicine is root cause medicine. I’m always looking for the cause to the symptomatology or to the diagnosis of the person sitting in front of me. In western medicine, ( I’m trained in both medicines), we’re trained to look for “What’s the diagnosis?” Give me this collection of symptoms and give me the diagnosis. in functional medicine, the training is, “What’s the root cause of these symptoms and this diagnosis?” What caused the dysfunction in the physiology? 

Another key thing is understanding that the body is made up of systems that communicate with each other. One system affects the other system. It’s understanding how different parts of the body influence other parts of the body and that it’s a network. Hormones influence the digestive system, and stress impacts the nervous system which impacts the digestive system and can be a root cause of many things. And long-term chronic stress turns on inflammation in the body that could turn on any inflammatory disease. So, it’s understanding how things are linked together and need to be unraveled. 

The third piece is that it’s patient-centered. It’s not protocol-driven. It’s individualized based on the patient. What is their belief system and what are they looking for? It’s looking at their story and their timeline in a useful way to see patterns and connections. We’re not trained to do that in western medicine. We’re trained to ask very specific questions to get very specific answers so we can get a diagnosis. We then give a protocol that everybody else with that diagnosis gets, so there’s no personalization of the medicine or deeper understanding of the human being. Functional medicine is understanding what gives our patients meaning and purpose and helping them make the right choices for their particular situation.

PTM: You can do all of that and still do all of the things that a conventional practitioner can do?

MC: Yes, and we do. Functional medicine includes conventional medicine. It’s not like you’re doing one or the other. Functional medicine expands on our knowledge base. It’s not throwing out conventional medicine. It’s embracing conventional medicine and then expanding it to look at other influences. We identify root causes and work with collaborative care teams to help change behavior. If you want to look at it this way, functional medicine is a panoramic view. What’s happening with traditional medicine is they’re looking at just that one snapshot, and they’re not looking at a panoramic view of things. 

PTM: You have certifications in imagery and meditation and mind- body medicine and yoga. What is imagery, and what is mind-body medicine?

MC: Mind-body medicine is really engaging the mind in the healing process and understanding how the mind influences the body and how the body influences the mind and getting people to understand that it’s all connected. it’s one big system. If you come in through the body, you’re influencing the mind. If you come in from the mind, you’re influencing the body. They’re intimately connected. It’s working with all of those dimensions and not just working with the body but engaging people’s mind.

Imaging is a way to get people in touch with the unconscious thoughts and images that are in their mind that drive choices one way or the other. It’s understanding what’s going through the mind stream and what the pictures are that people have attached to their thoughts. A lot of times, the images are all around negative things that are going to happen or past regrets that have happened, and people get stuck. You work with their images to help them create healing images that then drive the physiology. 

The research is there. One study had surgeons practice a specific surgery in their heads. They saw themselves doing it well with no complications. When you do that, you’re actually on a physical level. You’re priming those pathways and stimulating that neural plasticity for what you want to happen. For the surgeons who did that, their heart rate variability was more in coherence. They had less cortisol and were more focused. So that’s the end state imagery. It’s working with people to understand what their images are that they’re not even conscious of that are driving their fear and anxiety and then having them create new images. These new images begin to change thought patterns at the level of the mind and the unconscious mind.

 PTM: What is your general approach to using medication to treat illnesses or symptoms?

MC: I use it when I need to. It’s the wise use of medication in the right dose as a bridge, while you’re working on the lifestyle stuff. I’m looking to take them off medication once we get the rest of it, but I’m not afraid to use meds when I need to use meds. The conversation is, “We’re using this, we’re going to work on all this stuff and then we’re going to try to back down off of it.” If I don’t need it, I don’t go there first. Medication is a bridge. It’s not a permanent player if at all possible. 

PTM: Why did you decide to go into functional medicine?

MC: Functional Medicine was for me part of my larger vision of health. When I was looking at the way we were treating people in conventional medicine – both in the hospital and in the doctor’s office that I was working in – I felt like they weren’t getting better. We were just perpetuating a disease model. I wanted a model that worked higher upstream. A model that saw people as individuals and understood that the mind and the choices people make have a great influence on the body. If you work at the level of the mind and change the choices, you can reverse engineer complex chronic diseases. It’s very different than an attitude of “You’ve got this diagnosis, take this medication and see you later.” I wanted something more than that for myself and for my patients.

PTM: Do you ever find that patients or even other practitioners are skeptical of what you do?

MC: Not anymore. In the beginning, they didn’t understand what we were doing. Now, people are seeking us out. Functional medicine has really caught on among the lay public. People are finding us. We don’t have to advertise anymore. They’re coming to us because they want a functional medicine approach. We’re addressing them as human beings and finding out what’s meaningful to them and what they’re looking to achieve. We’re trying to help them with that in the gentlest way possible. 

PTM: Everything you’re describing sounds like it takes more than the 15 minutes allotted for conventional medicine. How does that work?

MC: We’re not in insurance anymore, but we did it for years. When we were in insurance, I would have people come back every two weeks for half an hour as we made needed lifestyle and behavior changes. Now, we are out of insurance, and we’re a fee for service. My first visit is about an hour and 15 minutes. Then we have follow-ups, and we work with coaches in our office to help coach people on behavior change. 

The model of utilizing collaborative care teams with coaches is used a lot. It’s focused on the care plan that the patient helps co-create with us as doctors based on their lab results, their symptoms, their individual stories and what their goals are. They then work with a team on these things and then loop back to me. It truly is a team approach. 

Important note about insurance and functional medicine

If you decide to work with a functional medicine provider, be sure and check with them on whether they accept insurance. If they don’t, and you’re planning to file your insurance yourself, check with your health insurance company about whether it covers the facility and type of program that you are considering. In addition, if you have a healthcare reimbursement account, you can also check to see if the services that you’re considering are covered by your plan. 

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Have you found yourself increasingly frustrated by conventional or Western medicine, but you don’t know whether you want to completely turn to alternative options either? If that’s the case, you may want to explore integrative medicine. Julie McGregor, MD is a board-certified internist and nephrologist trained in integrative medicine who works with the Integrative Medical Clinic of North Carolina. She explains in this Q&A what integrative medicine is and offers information that may help you decide whether it might or might not be right for you. 

Peppermint Tea & Me: What is integrative medicine?

Julie McGregor: It’s really about trying to blend any component of wellness or healing or disease treatment or prevention into an individualized approach for any given person. So, it’s trying to use the best of all the different worlds that are out there with healing and wellness to approach optimizing somebody’s health in an individualized plan. 

PTM: How do you feel like that’s different from conventional medicine?

Julie McGregor: It’s really about trying to blend any component of wellness or healing or disease treatment or prevention into an individualized approach for any given person. So, it’s trying to use the best of all the different worlds that are out there with healing and wellness to approach optimizing somebody’s health in an individualized plan. 

Sometimes, there may be healing that is achieved from a lot of different modalities that are traditional – like Chinese medicine, or yogic tradition, or nutritional healing and that kind of thing. Integrative Medicine tries to hold space for those types of modalities in addition to pharmaceuticals or surgery. It’s not just doing alternative, and it’s also not just doing Western conventional medicine. It’s trying to use what’s best from all of that in helping a person achieve wellness or avoid disease through whatever means makes the most sense for that person. 

PTM: Your practice’s website says that you focus on the integration of complementary medicine with gold-standard medicine and specialty training. What exactly does that mean?

JM: It’s basically honoring that trying to avoid side effects or pharmaceuticals may be the best course for any patient. But, if a person has the need for pharmaceuticals or has an illness that is requiring of a specialized intervention, our clinic has the training to take care of illnesses in the Western or conventional approach. We’ve really focused our whole careers on how to use medicines and how to appropriately care for people in a medical setting, but we also have a focus on trying to be as holistic and non-pharmaceutical and open to all kinds of healing. 

What we’re saying is that if somebody came in and needed an approach to a serious medical condition, we feel completely comfortable doing that. At the same time, if a person came in and said, “I absolutely don’t want to be on a medicine, and I want to stay well without pharmaceuticals,” we feel completely comfortable aligning with that person and trying to help them on their wellness path. 

For most of the rest of us, who are kind of in between, who want to avoid medicines when possible but are open to using the best of pharmaceuticals or Western medicine if necessary, we feel comfortable in that journey with them as well. All of this feels really comfortable to us because of doing a broad range of training. All of our providers have been in the western medicine, conventional medicine tertiary medical centers for most of our training, so we don’t feel like we’re alternative providers but at the same time, we’re very open to a holistic or alternative approach for people who want to do it that way.

PTM: Do you ever find that people are skeptical about your approach?

JM: I think a lot of the people who come to us are looking for that kind of blend. I do have a number of patients who want to turn to the pharmaceutical route first, and that’s fine. Then I do have some people who absolutely really don’t want to be on medicine. They want to have me there telling them whether they’re making safe choices with their herbs. I’m fine with that too. 

For the most part, I think people are really open to combining all the different types of health and wellness ideals and a lot of my folks in our clinic have a multiple provider team. They may have a chiropractor, an acupuncturist, a physician, a wellness coach, and a nutritionist. That’s a lot of people weighing in. Our goal is to have mutual respect among all the different providers so that patients don’t feel like there’s a conflict between what one person is suggesting and what another person is suggesting. Unless we really see there’s a danger, and of course, we would speak up about that.

PTM: Is a team approach to healing and wellness part of the integrative medicine model?

JM: We do try in integrative medicine to have a connection with a lot of different types of providers. I will communicate with chiropractors, naturopaths, Chinese medicine providers, and shamans. All different types of healers. I’ll do that as much as I will with a hematologist or a gastroenterologist or a cardiologist or a neurologist. So, I think, integrative medicine is very much about a team approach. 

I don’t know how to do acupuncture, I am definitely not an herbalist, and I haven’t had formal nutritional training. I rely a lot on the expertise of people who are holistic providers and would definitely say that integrative medicine is about connection and about teams and about honoring a lot of healing modalities.

PTM: Your foundational training was very much in conventional medicine. Why did you decide to go in this direction?

JM: I was raised by a registered nurse who was involved with an obstetrician who worked under the focus of Dr. Christiane Northrup. Dr. Northrup wrote a book called Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. That’s how my mom sort of approached health and wellness with me. 

When I went to medical school, I had the idea that spirituality, emotional health and wellness, alignment and balance and nutrition would be how my career would progress. In western medicine training though, wellness, and nutrition and spirituality and emotion aren’t really the focus. It’s very comfortable actually. It’s hard, hard work to be in medicine, but at the same time, there’s a comfort that comes from doing this protocolized research-proven approach. I personally had a lot of interest in health, wellness, alternative medicine, spirituality and all of these things. But mentally, I had a lot of comfort with approaching medicine through conventional medicine and that scientific sort of western mentality. 

By my early 40s, I realized that I was approaching medicine in a way that I probably wouldn’t do for myself and wouldn’t suggest for my family. I was in dialysis care and prescribing a lot of chemotherapy for patients that had vasculitis and autoimmune disease. I loved what I was doing, but I didn’t have a lot of authenticity about what I was recommending to my patients because I probably wouldn’t have been making a lot of those choices if I was in their position. So, I came to this realization that I wanted the rest of my career to be in alignment with how I would approach health and wellness if I was the person that I was talking to. 

PTM: Was that a difficult shift to make?

JM: It required me making a big shift in my career trajectory. Not that I was neglecting everything that I had learned. I was actually happy to have been trained the way I was. incorporating more of the holistic and wellness that I honored in my own life and through my own family with my patient care was a shift away from conventional tried and true approaches. It was more of a vulnerable space of let’s partner together and find what works for you as an individual using all that we know about all of these different modalities. 

PTM: When might someone want to consider seeing an integrative medicine practitioner?

JM: There are some people who come to integrative medicine just because they’re looking for a primary care provider, and they like the idea of sort of being more natural or holistic as a first line. Some people come to integrative medicine because they actually really prefer naturopaths or Chinese medicine or chiropractic care but want to have an MD involved for just making sure that they have a doctor on record as part of their team. 

And then for other people, integrative medicine is just sort of how they have been living. They’ve been holistic, or Mind-Body connected or nutritionally focused or found through their own just trial and error that using food as medicine really resonated with them. When they go to their doctor, they don’t feel like those choices for their health are as respected or as honored as they want them to be. They will come to integrative medicine because they’ve sort of found that path for themselves and they’re looking for resonance.

Important Note About Insurance and Integrative Medicine

If you decide to work with an integrative medicine practitioner, check with your health insurance provider about whether it covers specific recommended therapies. Some therapies are covered by some providers, others are not. In addition, if you have a healthcare reimbursement account, you can check to see if the therapies that you’re considering are covered by that plan. 

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If you’re into high-intensity interval or intermittent training (HIIT), then you may be familiar with Tabata training. While originally developed (and still primarily intended) for elite athletes, this crazy intense type of workout has hit the mainstream fitness community. It’s being lumped in with the overall idea that you can get the same fitness results with faster workouts than you do with longer ones. Sounds good, right? In reality, it’s not quite that simple. It depends on what your starting fitness level is and what your fitness goals are.

Because there does seem to be so much conflicting information out there about what Tabata training is and who it’s for, I went straight to Tabata training founder and professor at Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Sport and Health Science Dr. Izumi Tabata, PhD. He graciously answered my questions and helped to shed light on why Tabata training may or may not be right for recreational exercisers.

What is Tabata Training?

Before we go any further, let’s define what Tabata training is. In Dr. Tabata’s April 2019 article, Tabata Training: One of the Most Energetically Effective High-Intensity Intermittent Training Methods¹, Tabata training is described as 8 sets of 20 seconds of high-intensity exercise with 10 seconds of rest between the sets. Dr. Tabata specifies that it should exhaust subjects during the 7^th or 8^th set and that the “Exercise intensity is constant from the first to the last session of the exercise¹.”

That makes Tabata training a HIIT method. According to Walter Thompson, PhD, FACSM in his Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2018 ², “HIIT typically involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a short period of rest or recovery and typically takes less than 30 minutes to perform³.” What Tabata isn’t though is interval training. That’s where you exercise at low intensity between bouts of high-intensity exercise. Tabata is intermittent training, which, as Dr. Tabata says, is where “Exercisers completely stop the exercise and rest for a while¹.”

How Tabata Training is Done

Tabata training takes four minutes to complete and, like other high-intensity interval training, can achieve results when performed at least 2 days a week¹. That’s it. Eight sets of intense exercise for 20 seconds each with 10 seconds of rest between each set. This is something that Dr. Tabata was adamant about when I asked him about programs that tout eight-minute, 20-minute or 30-minute Tabata workouts. If it’s more than four minutes, it’s not truly Tabata training – at least as it was originally intended.

What Tabata Training is and Is Not Good For

Dr. Tabata says that Tabata is effective for athletes that need both an aerobic and anaerobic energy supply. Since aerobic means “with air” or oxygen³, aerobic exercises include walking, swimming, running or cycling and involve steady cardiovascular conditioning⁴. Anaerobic means without oxygen³ and includes activities such as sprinting, high-intensity training or weightlifting.

Some sports, like speed skating, combine both of these energy needs. That’s why Dr. Tabata developed his training – to help these types of elite athletes take their training to the next level and to increase their overall performance. While he fully admits that he does “not know why and how Tabata training attracted recreational users,” he does now believe that his training could be beneficial for a more “normal” exerciser as well as elite athletes. He says that’s because “maximal aerobic power is also a preventive factor for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and so on.”

One thing that seems fairly clear though is that Tabata is probably not suitable for beginning exercisers. And no matter what the exercise tolerance level, Dr. Tabata strongly encourages anyone over the age of 40 to undergo a medical check before beginning his training method.

Another group that Dr. Tabata does not believe will benefit from Tabata training includes those who are trying to lose weight. He says that none of his subjects lost weight and there have been no scientific articles that reported weight loss through Tabata. He attributes any weight loss that has supposedly been seen as a result of Tabata to the extensive warming up and cooling down exercises that are usually done before and after the training itself. In short, if you’re trying to lose weight, Dr. Tabata says that 60 minutes of running will be far better than his training.

Bottom line

If you’re already in moderately good shape and are used to exercising, Dr.Tabata believes that any type of high-intensity exercise could be used for his training. The key is that the exercise intensity has to be constant throughout the four minutes.

Resources

There are free Tabata timers available online and through apps. The one I like best is the Tabata Timer and HIIT Timer that is available through the App Store.

Sources

1. Tabata, I. Tabata training: one of the most energetically effective high-intensity intermittent training methods. J Physiol Sci 69, 559–572 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12576-019-00676-7https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12576-019-00676-7
2. Thompson, Walter. (2017). WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF FITNESS TRENDS FOR 2018 The CREP Edition Apply It. ACSM s Health & Fitness Journal. 21. 10-19. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322129087_WORLDWIDE_SURVEY_OF_FITNESS_TRENDS_FOR_2018_The_CREP_Edition_Apply_It
3. Andrew Hamilton. The Aerobic and Anaerobic Energy Systems. https://www.peakendurancesport.com/endurance-training/base-endurance-training/aerobic-anaerobic-energy-systems/
4. 10 Aerobic Exercise Examples: How To, Benefits, and More. https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/aerobic-exercise-examples

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Have you ever had periods of time where you simply feel right? We’re talking both mentally and physically. You feel in balance, you feel strong, you feel… well. That’s what I call Real Health.

If you have felt that or you still do, this website is geared toward helping you maintain that incredible state of being. If you haven’t felt that in a long time or maybe ever or when you did, it was fleeting, helping you achieve your version of Real Health is what Peppermint Tea & Me is all about. That’s why we need to define what Real Health is as well as lay out some actionable first steps that you can take to achieve it.

Please Note that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through some of the links included on this page. 

What is Real Health?

As you’ll be reminded frequently if you hang out in this space regularly, I believe that Real Health is achieved by recognizing that every part of us – mind, body and nutrition – is connected. Monique Class, MS, APRN, BC agrees. She’s a board-certified family nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist in holistic health at The Institute for Functional Medicine.

In a conversation about holistic health, Monique told me that “the mind, body and spirit (if you want to use that word), are all connected and are a unified whole. There’s bi-directional communication, meaning what happens to the body influences the mind and the emotions and what happens in the mind influences the body.”

This is understanding that when it comes to our health and overall wellbeing, causes and effects are not simply either physical or “mental.” Most of the time, they’re both. Melissa Grabau, PhD reminds us in her book, The Yoga of Food: Wellness From the Inside Out (affiliate link) that “How we feel day to day, our general health and energy levels, and our overall sense of safety and peace in our own flesh have an enormous impact on how we feel about ourselves and our capacity to function effectively in the world.”

Role of Nutrition

So, what does all of this have to do with nutrition? Everything! Julie McGregor, MD works with the Integrative Medical Clinic of North Carolina and is a board-certified internist and nephrologist trained in integrative medicine. She told me that, “Nutrition is a part of building up our physical cells, but it’s also an emotional choice and has a lot of overtones. What we choose to eat has to do with where we are emotionally and also then leads to an emotional response in our body.”

This connection can lead to a healthy, well-oiled machine when it comes to our body and our mind. Failure to recognize this relationship though can lead to us living a life that is less than our best or even worse, spiraling through physical or mental issues that we have more control over than we may think.

Common Barriers to Real Health

According to our experts, the most common barriers that many women run into when it comes to achieving Real Health can really be narrowed down to two primary areas.

1. Unhealthy relationship with food.

Both Monique and Julie say this is one of the primary issues they see when women especially don’t recognize how connected everything really is. Some of the primary reasons for this unhealthy relationship can include emotions, social or community expectations, or programming.

Monique gives the example of coming home at 8:00 p.m., going straight to the freezer, pulling out the ice cream and eating it until the whole container is gone. If you do that every night, it becomes a pattern. “We know physiologically that every time you do that pattern, you create wiring in the brain. It’s called neuroplasticity. So, neurons that fire together wire together. Every time you do something over and over again or choose a particular food over and over again, you get hardwired into the brain where that choice becomes automatic and not conscious.”

The same concept is true of emotions. If you reach for chocolate or something sweet every time you feel anxious or stressed or alcohol every time you feel angry, you’re hardwiring your brain to react to those emotions with food.

2. Lack of self-care.

Julie says this is a huge issue for women because we put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect in every aspect of our lives. To have perfect careers, to keep a perfect home, to be a perfect mom, to be perfect daughters and to be perfect friends.

“There’s a lot of pressure that we put on ourselves, and the one who ends up coming last is ourselves. So many of my female patients who are in their 50s or 60s come to me fatigued, worn out, completely depleted, having not concentrated on wellness for themselves. They were out trying to achieve perfection in every component of their lives for, you know, 50 or 60 years. Then, they just can’t keep going because there isn’t that attention of self-care or focus on wellness for oneself.”

She’s found that this often leads to obesity, depression, thyroid disorders and general physical unwellness that plagues us around the time of menopause. “This, coincidentally, is a lot of times when we’re retiring or when we’re empty nesters, or during these transitions when the adrenaline stops and the body is just feeling the effects of decades of neglect.”

First Steps Toward Achieving Real Health

To shift away from these barriers, there are several first steps that you can take to achieve Real Health.

1. Love yourself and be happy with yourself just as you are.

There may be things that you want to change, but Monique says that accepting and loving where you are right now has to come first. Then you can identify and become aware of the areas that you want to change in a healthy, realistic way.

2. Carve out time for self-care.

We may not be able to exercise for an hour every day, get a massage once a week or meditate for 30 minutes every morning, but there are plenty of things that we can do. It’s all part of making sure that we’re the best versions of ourselves now and that we don’t end up tired and depleted when we finally do feel like we have the time.

3. Become aware of the choices that you’re making.

According to Monique, this is critical for making any kind of change in your life. She suggests that as you reach for that ice cream every night, that you notice the behavior and check in with yourself and think about what you’re feeling, what you’re eating for, or what you’re hungry for. More times than not, you’ll find that you’re not hungry for the food, you’re looking for something else.

The first step, she says, isn’t taking that food or behavior away. You have to first recognize the behavior and then begin to figure out what you’re really hungry for or what you really need in that moment. At that point, you can substitute the behaviors that truly address those needs for the ones that aren’t serving you well.

4. Drink more water

You may think that you don’t like water, but your body does. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey says our bodies are made up of up to 60% water, so we have to have it to survive. Since we want to do more than just survive, we want to thrive, Julie puts this step toward the top of the list for achieving Real Health and adopting an attitude of overall wellness.

5. Get better sleep.

Julie says this has to be a priority. I’m the first to acknowledge that this isn’t always as easy to do as it sounds, but there are things you can do to not only make sure that you’re getting the amount of sleep you need but that it’s quality sleep as well.

6. Move as much as you can.

Here are some ways that you can work movement into your day, whether you have 30 minutes at a time or 5-10 minutes here and there.

Real Health on a Budget

“That all sounds great, but even if I can find the time to take care of myself and to eat more healthy, nutritious food, I can’t afford it.” If that’s what you’re thinking, I’m here to ask you to be willing to think differently. Gym memberships are not a requirement for achieving Real Health and neither is having someone else to watch your kids while you focus on yourself.

Yes, whole, nutritious food is going to be more expensive than a 99-cent fast food burger, but in the long run, it evens out. Without health issues that could have been prevented with different lifestyle choices, you’ll likely save money in a number of ways. These include doctor’s visits and prescriptions as well as not missing work or losing opportunities among many others.

Real Health on a budget isn’t about an attitude of lack, it’s about an attitude of abundance. It’s being grateful for what you have and recognizing that healthy can be affordable. It’s also allocating your dollars in a way that supports your priorities rather than automatically spending money in ways that don’t serve you well. 

Mind + Body + Nutrition + On a Budget = Real Health

Julie sums it all up in a beautiful way. “How we exercise and what we choose for our physical wellbeing as far as movement and environment and choices about stretching or meditation, and our choices with our nutrition all affect how we think and our emotions. In turn, all of our emotions affect how we move, where we put our bodies and the choices we make for our physicality and our diet.”

Because of how entwined these factors are, Real Health looks different for everyone. Yes, the general steps outlined here are good places to start in achieving it, but Real Health is very individual. What it looks like for me probably won’t be the same for you. The goal for all of us though is to live in that place of personal wellness as much as possible and to draw on the strength and power that brings to live our best life possible.

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