Grub
The anti-inflammatory diet is a common diet prescription from fringe nutritionists. Sadly, the diet is misleading and in truth, only describes a healthy diet. Chronic inflammation is a bad thing but would an anti-inflammatory diet slow wound healing and the bodies ability to mount a defence during infection? I hope not:) Fortunately, other than misleading claims the diet suggests you eat fruits and vegetables, whole grains, good fats, less meat and limited amounts of processed food. Just good common sense eating! Check out the links at the bottom for more information.
Exercise
There was a nice RCT done in Canada looking at the impact of yoga and strength exercise on women with knee pain (OA). The results showed yoga was better at reducing pain scores more than strength exercise. This result challenges my bias towards strength and highlights why exercise choice is so important. Each person requires will need something different, but it is still important for us to keep a few principles in mind when designing an OA exercise program.
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Pick activities or exercise you enjoy
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Make it load bearing
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Work up to the edge of pain
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Learn new ways to move - if you love yoga go for it but consider different forms or even something totally new.
Sleep
It is cold and flu season meaning our immune system is working a little harder these days! When you are under the weather you need extra sleep. Sleep helps your body fight the infection that's causing you to feel ill. Your body has an incredible medicine cabinet - good sleeps help you access all those drugs! The link at the bottom has some helpful tips during cold season.
Mental health
At my old job we would plan for the following year in November. It was a great strategy to hit January rolling. Building on our idea of the stop doing list, how can you plan your year while proactively avoiding the busy trap? When you step back and look at your year ahead what can you take out? What can you live without? We all flourish under different levels of stress and activities but make 2019 the year you tell people how much time you have;)
Resources
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The busy trap article NYT
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A nice reivew on what to do when you have a cold
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Fruits and Veggies
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The messy facts of the anti-inflammatory diet
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