Tag Archives: snacking

IC and the Perfect Snack: 4 Ways to Use Fresh Fruit

cherriesA perfect snack should be nutritious and digest easily even in those with poor digestive strength(agni)  This can be really important for those with the IC bladder pain syndrome(interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia, chronic prostatitis, IBS, GERD, and fibromyalgia) because poor agni is always the case

Fresh fruit fits this category and is the primo snack food, hands down  It beats anything in the middle of the grocery store

The Universal Fruits

Energetically we are not created equally  Some are PV others PK while others VK(unusual) so we don’t resonate the same to foods and fruits are no exception  Perhaps some of you already know that a granny Smith apple due to its sourness can provoke your IC

But there are some fruits that can be used all the time….the universal fruits  Notice that they are all sweet because the sour taste will provoke Pitta

Fruit that can be used all the time:  Sweet apples(apple a day keeps…), applesauce, sweet berries, sweet apricots, sweet cherries, soaked prunes, soaked raisins

Particularly during the summer when central agni is low, fruits make an excellent way to protect an already compromised agni  Try to use locally grown fruits when you can and support the organic growers

Remember the general rule to not mix other foods with fruit  If you eat fruit before or after a meal allow 30minutes as a separating time interval  Fruits and yogurt is a particularly nauseating combination

Fruits and Improving Digestive Fire(Agni)

Consider using fresh fruit for the below to charge up your agni                                                                                                                              berries

Fruit fast (PittaVata every 2w…PittaKapha every week)

Fruit juice fast…using juices as a way to fast and improve agni is a great way to improve your chances of recovering from IC

Fruit as meal subsititutes…especially during the summer months when appetite is always low, fruit becomes a great meal substitute

Fruit as snacks…possibly 20% of the supermarket is snack foods, typically salty and fat(sour taste)laden….fruits are wholesome, fresh, and simple to digest

IC and 9 Ways to Get More Energy

Headlights onIC(interstitial cystitis) bladder pain like any chronic disease produces a described “drain on the body”  Symptoms such as those of muscle and joint aches(aka fibromyalgia), vulvodynia, depression,chronic fatigue all begin to show up as the chronicity wears on the mindbody

This observation shows our intuitive connection with the energy body which acts like a car battery   When the car lights are left on overnight, the battery is drained of its stored energy  To see the mindbody as an energy field opens us up to a wide variety of tools that are not currently available from the matter science approach

Let’s take a look at some of these tools and how you can get renewable biological energy

9 Ways to Get More Energy

Reduce mental turbulence   Perhaps a surprise to some is that the mind is the biggest drain of them all!  Often the mind is running in the background even though you think it’s quiet   This incessant turbulence shows up as fear, anxiety, depression, worry, and of course fatigue because the body gets beat up with this kind of mental activity      Solution  Spend 5-10 minutes twice a day(morning and evening) closing your eyes and watching the breath

Remove nutritional stressors   There are foods that drain the body’s energy such as refined sugar, coffee, chocolate(what the heck?) carbonated drinks

Improve food choices  Foods that bring about balance for you according to the nutritional formats at foodsheal.com after you take the mindbody questionnaire will help you sort this out

Improve digestive strength  Eating your biggest meal at noon, drinking room temperature fluids(ice is not nice!), using spice mixtures(churans), simply paying attention to what you’re doing when eating(few meals a week in silence), or not eating when busy helps replenish your body’s energy

Using proper food combining  stops the depletion of energy expended due to difficult to digest food combinations

Avoid snacking   Eating before you have digested the last food that you’ve ingested requires the mindbody to use more energy so this habit is depleting   At least 4 to 6 hours between meals or better yet wait until your hungry since appetite is the best gauge of the body’s readiness for food

Lack of exercise/Too much exercise  Excercise improves digestion but too much is overdone and will then begin to drain the mindbody’s battery

Lack of adequate rest  Surprisingly when under the stress of pain or low energy the mindbody should be rested more than usual  What happens often with people with IC is that you tend to be more active than normal   It establishes the “can’t sit still” syndrome which causes a drain on the battery

Toxicity  If you have poor digestion, chances toxic formation will occur leading to the qualities in the bladder being held there and unable to be released   But this toxicity is everywhere and it reduces the mindbody’s efficiency in functioning   The mindbody can no longer function with “ease” but now functions with “dis-ease”   So improving digestion with ginger pickle or the above churans is a fundamental step toward improving your energy

Baby Steps

When you do energy work it requires a shift in our lifestyle choices that is not easy but with baby steps, small incremental changes in how you do things, day after day, month after month, year after year, will pay dividends in your healing IC

Best of luck  DB

Improving Digestion Helps Heal IC and Chronic prostatitis Part 2

Nutrition is different than diet   Diet is about food choices but nutrition encompasses the entire process of nourishment

From an energy science view improving digestion by the enzyme and bacterial systems of the gut requires some changes in lifestyle behaviors around eating   So here are some helpful tips of do’s and dont’s around the nutrition

Some of the supporting information as mentioned in the video can be found at foodsheal.com

All my best for a great 2013  It’s going to be an awesome year                   To Health as a Skill     Love DrBill