Instant Method For Knee Pain Relief

Newport Beach Knee Pain Relief

Knee pain can be one of the most painful and humbling experiences that any runner can have. I remember the first time I experienced excruciating knee pain was right when I started learning and had just bought a new pair of custom fitted (and expensive) orthopedically correcting shoes. After that day (the first time I ran in them), I put the shoes on the shelf for about 3 years before I tried running again.

The knee pain had me completely convinced that I was not a runner and should, under no circumstances, attempt running again…but, see, I had convinced myself. 3 years later, I took up triathlon and had an incentive to learn how to run pain free. I am here to tell you the secret that I, along with many, many runners have discovered, that allows us to run pain free- even from chronic knee pain.

So, the number one problem that I found with my own running, and with the running of my running clients, is…running form. Believe it or not, there is a proper way to run efficiently, and painlessly and it has everything to do with your posture, how you are landing on your foot, whether you reach with your feet, etc. 

Consider that the shoes on your feet may, in fact, be part of the problem and a barrier to your quest to run pain free. Feet that are covered up and protected in a cushion deprive a runner of the immediate feedback (read pain) that would cause them to change to a soft mid/forefoot landing, a shorter stride, and less push off.

Now, what I have found to be successful for myself and my clients is to take the shoes off. I am not suggesting that you do all of your running without shoes, merely a small portion of it to train your body quickly. I am talking about short distances with bare feet, like half of a block to start. Try this:

Take your shoes and socks off and keep them in your hands. Run at normal speed down the block barefoot and notice how much more lightly you are stepping. Pay attention to your cadence (should be about 180 spm). When you get half way down the block, put your shoes and socks back on and run the remainder of the way around the block keeping aware to maintain your barefoot running form.

You should now be landing on the outer mid/forefoot and rolling across to the big toe which is the last to leave the ground. Heal rises directly toward the buttock and gravity takes over to swing your knee forward. You should be landing with your foot directly below your hip.

Try this drill out and let me know how it works for you. Call directly for a customized treatment plan. (949) 375-7278

 

How To Stop The Cravings And Lose Weight

How To Stop Cravings And Lose Weight

 

One of the most common questions I get from people with a desk job is: “ I’m constantly hungry throughout the day and it causes me to want to snack pretty much all day. I know the snacking is causing me to put on weight but I just can’t seem to stop. Is there anything I can do to stop the cravings?” 

In a word, “Yes.” There are actually two simple things that you can change to stop the cravings; diet and exercise.

Lets start with the diet. A very simple and straightforward way to address this problem with diet is as follows: 1) Stop or minimize your intake of simple carbohydrates and grain based processed foods such as sugar, anything with flour or grain, sweetened drinks, artificial sweeteners, sauces, salad dressings etc. 2) Eat whole food based meals. Here’s a tip, your meals should consist of some sort of protein and fat (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, raw nuts) and slow absorbing carbohydrates (vegetables- not potatoes as these are a simple carbohydrate).

Why Eat Organic?

 

Tired? Overweight? Here’s how to lose weight and boost your energy simultaneously

Eat the right foods. We hear this mantra all of the time, like a television blaring in the background, the media, the government, friends, family, and health care pracititoners going on and on about eating good foods instead of bad foods.

Well, what exactly are good foods and what are bad foods?

Understand this, there are no good and bad foods. Each food has a function to it and the body will respond in a particular way to that food. So, lets examine a few of these myths perpetrated by generally good intentioned but misinformed people:

MYTH #1:

Fat is bad: We need fats in our diet to perform some of the most basic functions.
According to food journalist Sally Fallon:

“Fats from animal and vegetable sources provide a concentrated source of energy in the diet; they also provide the building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormonelike substances. Fats as part of a meal slow down absorption so that we can go longer without feeling hungry. In addition, they act as carriers for important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Dietary fats are needed for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral absorption and for a host of other processes.”

That said, animal protein consumption should be in moderation for the benefits to outweigh the risks. Trans fats are disruptive to digestion, metabolism, and to the cell membrane (which is made up of fat substrates) and should be avoided. Other processed fats (like in pasteurized dairy products) should also be avoided as they are inflammatory.

Myth #2:

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie: Ummmm. OK. This sounds like a pitch from the processed food industry to me. If a calorie is a calorie is a calorie in the context of the effect of food ingested by the body, why then, in groups of people with similar body types and lifestyles, do some get fat while others stay thin? The problem is, its not that simple.

The foods that we eat have an enormous effect on our internal environment. Take for example, our beloved bread. Wives tales have it that bread is fattening. Well, there is some truth to that. So, lets take a look at what happens when you ingest, digest, and absorb a slice of, say, delicious SF sourdough bread.

The bread is broken down into simple carbohydrates, is absorbed by your intestine and enters the bloodstream. Digested simple carbohydrates are otherwise known as….sugar. The blood sugar rises quickly as the white bread is easily digested and absorbed, the pancreas pumps insulin out to lower the blood sugar level to one that won’t send you into a coma, but since the sugar spike was not a gradual one, rather, a steep, quick , injection, your pancreas misjudges and over shoots its secretion of insulin.

As a result, too much insulin is secreted and most of the sugar is stored…as …FAT. Not only that but now our blood sugar has fallen considerably and we experience 2 things in sequence: FOOD COMA as we have diminished our blood sugar supply (and stored it as FAT) and then HUNGER because we now need energy. So, we eat another piece and the cycle continues…

What is the moral of the story? Well, if we don’t want to get fat, we need to minimize our intake of simple carbohydrates and replace them with an alternative that causes the following scenario:

We eat a piece of sprouted whole grain bread with a similar caloric content to the piece of sourdough used in the previous example. Our body digests and absorbs this bread more slowly as it is made up of complex carbohydrates and fiber. The sugar enters the bloodstream more slowly, the blood sugar stays within the range of normal body function and the pancreas secretes little insulin resulting in…..are you ready….MORE ENERGY and LESS FAT. Its really that simple.

If we subscribe to the myth that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, we then have disconnected ourselves from scientific and medical understanding of the fundamental processes of digestion and absorption. Belief in this myth is the primary reason why temporary “dieting” fails. One gains weight by eating foods that have a tendency to be stored. One loses weight by either burning more energy than one takes in and/or by eating foods that are burned by the body more than they are stored by the body. In general, refined, processed foods get stored and whole foods not so much..


MYTH #3:

Grains should make up the bulk of our diet: Grains have inflammatory properties and cause bloating, gas, and disrupt proper gut floral balance. Limit grains to whole grains, pre soaked to pre digest them and slow their conversion to sugar. Eat up to the amount you can hold in one hand at one sitting.

Complex carbohydrates that have a high fiber, nutrient, and vitamin content (like fresh fruits and vegetables) should make up the bulk of our diet for maximum energy levels and overall health. A balanced, health conscious diet consists of mainly organic fresh fruit and vegetables and some sort of animal protein: the things that pre agricultural humans would have hunted and foraged for. Ditch the processed foods. When pondering the current state of chronic disease in the world today (diabetes, etc) one should also consider the fact that the average American today eats f 276 lb of sugar per year while pre agricultural man ate less than 1lb annually. Refined carbohydrates and grains are easily and quickly converted into sugar in our bloodstream. This is one of many reasons that they are not the optimal choice to make up the bulk of our diet.

So, to restate, there are no good foods or bad foods. Each food has its own effect on the body, given our body type, activity level, and overall food choices. Healthy living is ultimately a lifestyle choice and, for most of us, requires a process to change our lifestyle. When we decide to change our lives, our wants and needs change to reflect our new direction.

When we want to learn a new skill, like skiing for example, we take a class. Then we go try what we learned on our own and come to the next class with questions. In essence, we work with a coach to create rapid and lasting change. The same is true about changing ones diet and lifestyle. If you want to get fit for life, hire a coach or a trainer. If you want to change your eating habits, your weight, and your health for the rest of your life, develop your skill set with an expert.

Manny Aragon is an internationally recognized Body Performance Breakthrough Expert. He has helped thousands of individuals literally take years off of their bodies over the past 11 years. If you would like to find out more about how Manny could help you transform your body, from fragile to agile, CLICK HERE to apply for a personalized, complimentary strategy session (limited to first 10 respondents).

A "Depressed" Body Opens

Changing Ones Posture Can Change The Psyche

When "John" came to my office his request was to "improve his posture". His physical appearance suggested that he wasn't fully alert; his eyes were barely open, his voice and the cadence of his speech was slow and dull, his word choices were very general, and his movement was quite restricted. He stated his general, physical, and mental states at present were "mediocre" suggesting an unhappiness, yet he had trouble finding the words to describe his feelings. It was as if he was living in a world where he could think, feel, and express no specifics and numbness substituted for feeling.

His walk was somewhat like one world expect frankenstein to walk (without the raised arms of course); a rocking from side to side, with little leg movement, no arm movement, and minimal spinal movement. His build was stocky and powerful, but he was unable to access this strength due to lack of movement. He was "locked" inside of his body with no way out.

During the fires session, I worked to free up his spinal movement and get his legs and arms moving as well, His tissue was hard and thick. I wasn't sure that I was going to have much of an impact as I felt unable to access much more than even the most superficial layer of tissue. However, when he got up from the table I saw a more alert individual with much greater spinal movement, and what I noticed most of all was his ability to articulate what he now felt in his body.

During the second session I worked to free the tissue in his feet and legs, Specifically to align the body segments relative to one another and smooth out his still somewhat jerky movements. By the end of the second session, he was walking very smoothly, commenting specifically on his posture, level of alertness, and internal feeling. he was clearly experiencing the world in color, with a fuller, more precise, and wholesome existence.

By directly addressing John's posture and building a foundation in his feet and legs to support his massive upper structure, he was able to find a new sense of stability, a more differentiated sense of his internal feelings, and ultimately, a more satisfying and greater sense of well being.

Purify Your Body For Maximum Vitality

Do you feel sluggish, live in a fog, crave sweets, constantly tired but can't sleep, overweight, have elevated cholesterol levels, or just want to have a little more energy? What about a lot more energy?

Most of the problems listed above have their root cause in dietary deficiencies and excesses that, over time, have a dramatic effect on the body. Additionally, exposure to environmental toxins from pollution in the air to personal care products, to the off gassing from the vinyl in your car, burdens your system, causing it to lose efficiency.

The organs for digestion and assimilation of nutrients are the gastro intestinal tract, the pancreas, the liver, gallbladder, and spleen. These organs are designed to process whole balanced foods the way they are found in nature. As we ingest processed foods, the system slowly becomes bogged down with the extra effort required to obtain a balanced nutrient load from an unbalanced diet.

The primary organs of detoxification and excretion are the liver, lymph system, the skin, the kidneys, and the intestine. When the body is healthy, these organs work in concert to identify and excrete cellular wastes and any other substance that is not useful or beneficial to the body. As the liver function becomes sluggish from the dietary load, it can no longer do as good of a job at detoxification, lipid balance, and hormonal regulation for example. The metabolism slows, the cholesterol rises, and the hormones start to stray from their delicate balance.

Thus, in order to address the issues above, we need to not only cleanse the body, but also to nourish it as well. When the body is cleansed, as well as nouished properly, it can come back to balance relatively quickly. With the addition of lean muscle mass, one can really start to affect not only ones muscle tone and energy level, but, over time, ones weight as well.

Rolfing measurably improves running performance

I came across this interesting article the other day. Essentially, by aligning the body segments in relation to one another, releasing the muscular adhesions that make us less efficient, and getting the segments to work together as a unit rather than as a collection of discrete collection of parts (other wise known as integrating the function of the parts of the body), one becomes more efficient, more flexible, less prone to injury, able to heal more quickly, and best of all, faster.

Think about it. If you had an old Italian sports car, it was fun to drive, noisy, spunky and all but when tuned, the car runs more smoothly with less drama. That about captures the essence of it.

Good article on Ultrarunning and Structural Integration