Month: November 2015

As winter starts to grab ahold on the world, Coughs, Colds, and the Flu seem to take reign as well.  Anyone with children knows that tis the season for runny noses, missed school days, and Passing the Flu around with the gravy.  Some simple ways to keep the kids healthy as we move into the holiday season and break the tradition of getting grandma sick during family gatherings.

Avoid Sugar

1.)  Sugar is abundant and it makes us susceptible to catching something we don’t want.  Eating plain sugar lowers our immune system, increases stress on our bodies, and creates phlegm in our systems.  Finding ways to still treat the kids while not overwhelming their bodies with sugar is a must.  Candy exchanges for halloween. (Toys for treats).  Limiting amounts of candy. (only one piece from the bowl)  Eating candy after meals as a treat which will lower the absorption of sugar due to other foods needing to be digested.  Cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar, so using that as an additive to sweet meals.  Get creative with fruit not ice cream.  Warm is better than cold, cook your fruits.  Use stevia to sweeten or Truvia(brand name) like products(alcohol sugars)  These are sweet with no calories.  Sweeten dishes with fruit, apple sauce peanut butter cookies with agave nectar and fruit juice, etc.

Wash Hands Frequently

2.)  Hand washing habits.  As we move indoors the hands look cleaner and often don’t get washed as much.  The problem is that everyone is inside, touching the same door knob, the same table, and it is easy to pass bugs to one another.  Wash with soap and water, do hydrotherapy as you are, start hot end with short blast of cold.

Dietary Practices

3) Eat more soups.  Cold foods damage our digestion and cause phlegm production.  avoid ice water etc.

Build Your Immune System

4) Ask us about immune building tinctures and teas and foods.  Certain herbs can help increase immune function.  Echinacea is well know yet there are many others that can benefit the immune system.  Some mushrooms and foods also have immune stimulating properties.  Some vitamins, nutrients, and minerals also boost immune function.

5) Remember it is always easier to prevent sickness than treat it.  The best way to stay healthy is to be healthy.

Dr Bradford Lester

Alpine Holistic Medicine

Its finally snowing in Park City.  Are you ready to Ski?  Let Alpine Holistic Medicine guide you to a balance point, remove those aches and pains that may hinder your performance, fine tune your diet for bulking up or toning down, and optimize your health.

Tips on staying healthy as the winter months and skiing arrive.

1. Dryness seems to always show its face as the days get cold.  Remember to be eating heathy oils to keep the skin happy.  Adding oils to the skin may also help.  Olive, coconut, grape seed are some of my favorites.  Getting good bioflavinoids (colorful fruits and veggies) with vit c, keep the small capillaries in the skin healthy and able to get blood to the surface.  Foods that help replenish the bodies fluids keeping the dry away should be eaten regularly; Squashes, apples, pears, root veggies.  Nature provides what we need to be eating.  What is left in the garden?  Thats what we should be eating.
2. Its time to get those squatting muscles working again so we can ski all day.  Qi gong has some great poses that help strengthen the core, the thighs and work on balance.  Try the horse stance or universal stance for 5-10 min a day working up to 30 minutes.  Feet are more than shoulder width apart, parallel.  Squat down slightly with knees over feet.  Feels like you are riding a horse.  Hands can be holding an imaginary ball (like hugging a tree)in front of you or placed over lower abdomen in a triangle like position with thumbs at navel level and finger tips just above pubis bone palms inward.  Keep back straight and everything relaxed.  The farther your feet are apart the harder it gets.  Remember to have good posture and keep knees over toes.
3. Keep your fingers and toes warm.  Using simple hydrotherapy (hot and cold applications) to feet and hands will lead to increased circulation and warmer hands.  Try washing hands in hot water for 1 min then just before finishing give them a short blast of cold.  This will create a peripheral pump in the micro-vasculature moving blood in and out better.  It also creates a small vaso-dialation in those blood vessels warming them up.  I know, end on cold, thats crazy but it works. Also using cinnamon twigs in your tea or shaved onto an apple or pear helps warm the hands and feet.  Fresh ginger helps as well.  These last two can be to warming for some so use with caution and or add to the fruits and veggies listed above to balance them out.

Hope to see you up on the mountain soon.

Let it snow

Alpine Holistic Medicine, Park City Utah