In the 50′s women (young ladies?) were instructed not to swim or ride horseback during their periods. The reasons given for these restrictions were primarily household myths. Today yoga students and Pilates practitioners are often advised against performing inversions (positions in which the heart is higher than the head). These recommendations are based in part on some of the same myths.

Reversing the flow, blood pooling, and dizziness are common reasons given for skipping inversions during ‘that time of the month’. But the truth is that both inversions and menstruation require a good deal of energy. Inversions are heat-building exercises that can be very intense. They defy gravity, after all. During mensuration, your body cleans your reproductive system from the inside out. It can be exhausting. The combination can tax your system overall.

But there is no need to sit around, watch soap operas and eat cookies during your period. You should exercise. Exercise releases endorphins into the body. Endorphins, known as the happy hormone, are associated by the brain with pain relief. By releasing and increasing the amount of endorphins in your system, exercise can relieve menstrual cramp pain. Pilates and yoga are the perfect antidote to menstrual cramps because they inspire mindful movement focused on centering and the breath. Adept practitioners (and even beginners who pay attention) are less likely to indulge in postures that might make them feel worse than when they started.

Know yourself and find a good balance. If you’re are tired, your energy should probably be focused on your internal process. But if you’re up for it, go upside down. You can still enjoy the healthful benefits of inversions during your period.

Here’s a humorous aside for the next time Aunt Dot visits. I did an Internet search of euphemisms and found some that made me laugh out loud. The only ones that weren’t too off color for publication include:
Arts and Crafts week at Panty Camp
Executive week
Checking in to the Red Roof Inn
Lining the drawers
Communist in the Summer House
My cup of joy is overflowing

What are your euphemisms for ‘That Time of the Month’?

image credit: www.periodpaper.com

One newsletter I subscribe to emphasizes the mind-body connection and invites readers to subscribe to a “Thanksgiving Edition Teleseminar” that promises to help you celebrate your dream body instead of potatoes and pie this Thanksgiving. The email invitation asks readers: “Are you nervous about being on a ‘diet’ over the holidays?” The above image accompanied the invitation.

In fairness, the teleseminar suggests we tap into choosing our dreams rather than just resisting dessert. I think this is terrific advice actually, but this kind of imagery feeds eating disorders rather than dreams.

Thanksgiving and eating disorders often sit side-by-each at the table. These stats from the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders regarding eating disorders and the media made me think:

• 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight within 5 years
• 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders
• The body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females
• 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures
• 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape
• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
• 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat

This is where Mindfulness and Pilates come into play. Pilates teaches us about purposeful, conscious movement. It brings awareness to alignment and breath.  In order to receive the greatest benefit from the Pilates practice, you need to be present. You need to breathe. You need to listen your body.

These subtle practices can help us in our daily lives and at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Take a Pilates private and you’ll learn mindfulness techniques that will empower you to make better decisions about your diet and your actions. You may even find that this Thanksgiving, you are thankful for the skin you’re in.

A recent flurry of Facebook sharing brought ‘Ruby’ to my attention. I care little for fashion and makeup, so I would not have seen her otherwise. Ruby is The Body Shop’s rubenesque version of Barbie. She was debuted 15 years ago as part of a short-lived self-esteem campaign, “Know Your Mind, Love Your Body.”

Ruby made me wonder if I have been sending the wrong message to All Wellness blog readers. Posts like “One in Three Americans is Obese: You can Beat obesity, work out with a friend,” “Trying to Lose Weight? Size Matters. Try a Bigger Fork,” “Comfort Food: Why Fatty Foods are so Comfortable,” and “Let’s Move: Would you like fries with that?” might lead you to believe that I have been reading too many skinny girl fashion magazines.

Really, the opposite it true. But like many of you, I am not immune to the incredible pressure the media places on women, especially young women. I feel the same way about beauty and the fashion industry as Anita Roddick, the late founder of Body Shop, did:

“It makes me angry, not only because it is a male-dominated industry built on creating needs that don’t exist, but because it seems to have decided that it needs to make women unhappy about their appearances. It plays on self-doubt and insecurity about image and aging by projecting impossible ideals of youth and beauty.”

I find it appalling that our ideas of ourselves are still so often defined by attractiveness to sexual partners whose idea of beauty is defined by the media. This is why I so much appreciate my association with All Wellness and my nascent practice of Pilates.

The mission at All Wellness is empowerment. Their mindful fitness classes, physical therapy programs and Pilates classes are all designed to help you take control of your health and how you feel about yourself. Pilates, for example, does not necessarily change your looks as much as it changes your attitude. Pilates makes you feel better in the body you’re in.

The welcome message on the All Wellness home page makes it pretty clear: We invite you to take time for yourself, to develop a deeper awareness of your body and mind, and to foster an optimistic outlook on life, whatever your age, body type, or physical ability.

If you have not yet accepted their invitation, there is not time like the present.

image credit: doom-magazine.com

This is my grandmother getting ready to go for a drive at age 94.

Many Vermont women think of dairy as part of their cultural history. Cabot cheddar and apple pie are as Vermont as Bean boots and deer camp. Some of us, though, are starting to fall out of love with our state food. Blame it on decreased intestinal fortitude or increased self-awareness, but you have to admit that as we age many of us are more cognizant of the effects our diets have on our bodies. And eating tons of cheese just doesn’t feel that great any more.

This feeling is not just physical. There’s some science behind it. We (The Western World) once believed that milk, because it contains calcium – around 300 mg per cup, was the superhero of good bone health. This milk myth has been busted time and again. Sure, it contains calcium, but not only do we barely absorb the calcium in cow’s milk (especially if pasteurized), it actually increases calcium loss from the bones. And bone density is paramount for perimenopausal women.

So what do we eat to make it through menopause and into our healthy dotage? Atkins, the Paleo Diet, Weight Watchers, South Beach? Should I be a vegan, a vegetarian, an ovo-lacto vegetarian, a Pescetarian, a Localvore? Remember the diet that recommended eating only pineapples? Didn’t Oprah have her own diet plan?

My money is on the Blue Zone Diet. The Blue Zones are four locations worldwide where people statistically enjoy increased lifespans. One is in the United States, a Seventh Day Adventist enclave in California. Three others are in Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia and an area of Costa Rica. (They should probably have included Grandma’s house on the Jersey Shore.) The diets in these regions are remarkably similar. They are simple and primarily plant-based (heavy on beans, nuts and green plants). They include meat (usually fish) only in very small portions and less often than twice weekly.

Here’s why I like it:

• It combines aspects of the Clean Program (a food plan that made me feel the healthiest I have ever felt in my adult life) with an occasional glass of wine
• Japanese women who consume large amounts of seafood and soy rarely suffer from hot flashes
• It is backed by National Institute on Aging
• It is endorsed by the National Geographic
• It is the way my grandmother lived into her mid-90s – active and healthy until her very last day

Here is how the Blue Zone websites describes the diet – it’s really more of a lifestyle:

1.  Move Naturally

Americans burn fewer than 100 calories a day engaged in “exercise”.  We can get more physical activity naturally if we live in walkable communities, de-convenience our  homes by getting rid of power tools and grow gardens. Walking is the best activity for longevity.

2.  Know your Purpose

People who know why they wake up in the morning live up to seven years longer than those who don’t. Know your values, passions and talents–and how to share them on a regular basis.

3. Down Shift

Chronic inflammation caused by stress is related to every major, age-related disease.  To reverse inflammation, find time each day to meditate, nap, pray or enjoy a happy hour.

4. 80% Rule

Cut 20% of your calories with evidence based practices: eat a big breakfast, eat with your family, remove the TV from your dining area and say pre-meal expressions of appreciation.

5. Plant Slant

Eat mostly a plant-based diet heavy on beans, nuts and green plants. Eat meat in small portions (the size of a deck of cards) fewer than twice weekly.

6. Wine at 5

Drinkers out-live non-drinkers. Two glasses of wine daily will add years to your life, especially when consumed during a plant-based meal.

7. Family First

Living in a thriving family is worth a half a dozen extra years of life expectancy. Invest time in your kids, nurture a monogamous relationship and keep your aging parents nearby.

8. Belong

Recommit, reconnect or explore a new faith-based community. It doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist.  People who show up to their faith community four times a week live an extra 4-14 years.

9. Right Tribe

Your friends have a long-term and measure impact on your health and longevity.  Taking stock in who your friends are and expanding your social circle to include   healthy-minded, supportive people might be the most powerful thing you can do to add years to your life.

It was not so much the number of ‘bikini’ bodies that impressed me at the coast as the number of people with the ‘bikini’ mindset. Zen Mind, Bikini Mind (or maybe Buddha Body, Bikini mind is more appropriate?). I noticed a certain prevailing confident body image among the many different shapes of salty bathers that made me feel good about my own physique.

This is one of the great side benefits of having a regular physical practice. Pilates, Zumba, and yoga are all terrific candidates for improving your waistline, but even more importantly, they are great at making you feel good about the body you have. Pilates, Zumba, and yoga not only help you take care of your body, they also help you appreciate it.

This kind of self-care results from the classes and programs at All Wellness. At All Wellness, you will learn to love the skin you are in! Really. Here are a few examples:

• Zumba helps you shed pounds and increase your overall cardio-vascular health, as it helps you build a confident body image
• Pilates helps you keep a trim waist and a fluid spine, as it helps you move mindfully and even makes you feel elegant
• Nutritional counseling and nutritional cleanses can empower you to nurture yourself eating well – you will feel amazing

So much of marketing (especially women’s magazines) strives to make you feel bad about yourself so you’ll make that self-improvement purchase that will somehow change your life, it is indeed a relief to be empowered to feel good.

If you have never taken a class or enjoyed a program at All Wellness, it’s a good time to start. There is still time to feel great this summer.

image credit: epier.com

• Bones are living organisms that thrive in mineral-rich, alkaline environments
• Toxins, animal protein, grains and refined carbs make the body more acidic
• Too much acidity in your blood is lethal
• When acid levels rise (due to poor diet) our bodies recruit alkaline minerals like calcium from our bones
• Bones become weak and porous

Whenever possible, our bodies opt for the lesser of two evils and the bones release some of their naturally alkaline calcium and phosphorous into the bloodstream to reduce acidity. By cleansing the toxins from your body and adopting a more alkaline diet, we give our bones a fighting chance – our bodies no longer have to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Even the United States Department of Agriculture agrees that “a diet rich in animal proteins can cause an increase in body acidity which upsets the natural pH. In order to buffer against the increase in acidity in the bloodstream, the body will borrow calcium from the bones. The USDA states that loss of calcium from the bones due to diet is a cause of osteoporosis.” (www.ehow.com)

May is the month you can do something about it: CLEANSE. Restore your body to a healthy, alkaline state. This is essential to the regeneration of bone health.

A recent study done by Amy Lanou, Ph.D., an assistant professor of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina Asheville, and medical writer Michael Castleman finds that eating fruits and vegetables improved bone density. Their book Building Bone Vitality: a Revolutionary Diet Plan to Prevent Bone Loss and Reverse Osteoporosis underscores the key to preventing osteoporosis: eating a low-acid diet.

The Clean Program addresses the body’s need for alkalinity perfectly. Processed foods, dairy, wheat, beef, soy, alcohol, and caffeine top the list of exclusions during the cleanse. Here is a peek:  Clean Program: Elimination Diet Snap Shot (download PDF). By removing acidic foods and those that are known allergens, the Clean Program gives the body a chance to heal naturally.

According to an ancient Ayurvedic proverb, “When diet is wrong medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need.” By eliminating toxins and thoughtfully reconsidering your diet, you will realize better overall health – including healthier bones.

Recommended Reading:

Clean, by Dr. Alejandro Junger “Clean is a manual for readers to learn how to turn our detoxification systems on full speed while supporting our bodies to maximize their effectiveness.” (Required reading for the Group Cleanse at All Wellness)

Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, by Christiane Northrup, MD

A Diet That Protects Against Osteoporosis, by Christiane Northrup, MD

Building Bone Vitality: a Revolutionary Diet Plan to Prevent Bone Loss and Reverse Osteoporosis – Without Dairy Foods, Calcium, Estrogen, or Drugs, by Amy Lanou and Michael Castleman

Natural Solutions Magazine

image credits: hisvorpal.wordpress.com,

After age 35, bones start to lose their strength; bone loss starts to sprint after menopause. But there is some good news here: you can build your bones at any age. To prevent the debilitating effects of osteoporosis, you must make nutrition and exercise your health priorities. Even if you have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis, you can turn things around.

• Pilates equipment (reformer, trapeze table, chair) offers both support and challenge—clients can be positioned comfortably and fully supported as they move through the exercises.
• Every exercise in Pilates, whether it focuses on movement of the legs, arms or spine, emanates from core strength (a balance of the transverse abdominals, oblique abdominals, multifidus, transversospinalis, and pelvic floor).  Engaging the “core” results in less spinal compression and more spinal length, support, and increased range of motion.
• Pilates equipment and proper execution of exercises increases strength of back extensors and facilitates lengthened spinal extension (or at least a movement of the thoracic spine toward extension if client is kyphotic), both important components in protecting against spinal fracture.
• Many of the Pilates exercises are weight bearing (both upper and lower extremity) and utilize resistance from the equipment, key parts of maintaining or increasing bone density.
• We offer both Pilates based Physical Therapy as well as group classes, one of which will be specifically for women with low bone density–all exercises will be functionally appropriate and clients can feel a sense of solidarity with other women.

Osteoporosis is the most common type of bone disease. More than 10 million Americans already have osteoporosis. 80% of these people are women. The medical community predicts that one out of every two women over the age of 50 will suffer from an osteoporosis-related fracture. But you can change your odds! Physical Therapy and Pilates can make a big difference in the future of your bones.

After age 35, bones start to lose their strength; bone loss starts to sprint after menopause. But there is some good news here: you can build your bones at any age. To prevent the debilitating effects of osteoporosis, you must make nutrition and exercise your health priorities. Even if you have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis, you can turn things around.

Physical Therapy is an excellent treatment for those already diagnosed with osteoporosis, ask your doctor for a recommendation. PT includes strengthening and resistance exercises to increase bone mass and boost muscle strength (the stronger your bone-supporting muscles, the lower your risk of a fracture). At  All Wellness, your Physical Therapist will recommend the most appropriate action plan for you. It may include yoga to improve your balance, but it will most likely include gentle weight-bearing exercises.

Of course our favorite weight-bearing exercises are Pilates exercises. Pilates focuses on improving body alignment and strengthening the stabilizer muscles (those in the core and the back). Pilates exercises can be modified to suit the needs of any body: Seniors, elite athletes, dancers, pregnant women, and people in rehabilitation all find relief in the Pilates method.

The six fundamental principles of the Pilates method are: Centering, Concentration, Control, Precision, Breath, and Flow. While they might sound like some kind of Vulcan mind meld to the initiated, when integrated into your exercise regime, the results are balance, grace, tone, and strength. These results are essential for our well-being especially as we age.

Of course Pilates builds bones and muscle. At All Wellness, it also builds community. Exercise and rehab alone just isn’t as much fun!

Read more about Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis image credits: www.iposture.com, www.osteofoundation.org
Pilates image credit: www.pilatesforum.org

It is easy to become discouraged or even angry when we fall off the wagon of our healthy New Year’s Resolutions. But we can get back on the wagon with a little bit of patience and self-compassion.

I subscribe to a daily Twitter feed from the Dalia Lama.  No matter what religion or spiritual practice you hold, a daily note from someone who spends all of his time thinking about peace and compassion can be very uplifting – especially if you are in the process of making a difficult change in your life.

Today’s Tweet from the Dalia Lama is no exception: “We cannot overcome anger and hatred simply by suppressing them. We need to actively cultivate the antidotes: patience and tolerance.” Patience and tolerance are essential to making positive change in your life. Without them, we fall back on the comfort we once found in old habits, even bad ones. Self-compassion is not about being soft on yourself, but about looking at the reasons why you seek solace in bad habits in the first place.

Kristn Neff, Ph.D. (Self-compassion Expert, Associate Professor in the Educational Psychology Department at University of Texas) describes the three aspects of self-compassion as self kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. If you view the change you are trying to make as an act of self-compassion rather than an act of anger or disapproval (ie: “I am taking care of myself and my family” rather than “I am such a flat slob”) the likelihood of your success will be much greater.

Group exercise sessions multiply your chances for success: you can learn self-compassion by showing compassion to peers and you can work towards meeting your fitness goals simultaneously. At All Wellness, Pilates Mat Classes, Group Reformer Classes: http://allwellnessvt.com/get-me-started/ Yoga classes, and Group Cleanses can all contribute to the your success and help you make the healthy changes you seek in 2011.

image credits: nuovatradizione.wordpress.com

There is more to health and nutrition than just garlic. Learn the essentials this weekend at the Vermont Women's Expo.

Yes! It’s simple and not even too risqué. It’s the Vermont Women’s Expo at the Sheraton. Health Counselor Laura M. Savard, of All Wellness in Burlington, presents “The Seven Essentials of Health And Nutrition” at Noon, April 10th at the Sheraton in Burlington.

Good nutrition is a key to good health. Learn more at the VT Women's Expo.

Laura Savard a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City is a certified holistic health counselor. Her focus is whole foods nutrition.

In her seminar, you’ll learn that health involves discovering what nourishes us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Topics will include: learning what it means to eat a whole foods diet, the importance of learning to eat intuitively and listening to your body, getting rid of that sense of restriction and guilt, and giving attention to the other aspects of your life that impact your health.

Walk away with tools, new recipes, and inspiration!