Weekly Newsletter September 15, 2019
Chronic pain is a prevalent issue for Canadians, with the CDC reporting that 18.9% of adults over 18 years of age experience some form of ongoing pain. About half of those people reporting CP have had this pain for 10 years or more!
There are a few things that can be done to help with CP that are outside the norm. Read on.
COACHING
Before experiencing CP, it's important to look at prevention of course. That means living a healthy lifestyle, managing stress levels, maintaining social supports, using the headrest while driving and not ignoring acute pain when it occurs. This isn't a complete list, but it's a great start.
But what do you do once you have chronic pain? It's important to know that chronic pain occurs when the nerve impulses send a message to the brain that there is injury. The normal pain response is for the nerves to stop firing that message when the injury heals. However, in CP, the nerves continue to fire for months, even years. So continued treatment of some kind is very important in dealing with these symptoms. That could take the form of exercise, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic work - any sort of body work that helps you (we are all individuals after all).
But there's another side to chronic pain, and that's the mental piece. This is where mindfulness comes in. I'm not suggesting that this is going to take away all your pain, it won't. Neither am I saying that the pain is in your head, it's not. It's real. What I am saying, is that how we cope with the pain matters. We can increase or decrease the experience of pain in our minds. When we are suffering it's easy to suffer over your suffering, to resist the pain. Resistance is not helpful, of course, and can prevent you from seeing the spaces when the pain eases. Pain comes in waves typically. It peaks and recedes over and over. We sure notice the peaks, don't we? I know I do! Often times, though, e don't notice when the level decreases.
Try meditating by feeling into your body one part at a time, scanning each area and building awareness about any and all sensations without judgement or resistance. Use the breath to ease the mind as much as possible. You can imagine that you have gills like a fish for breathing and settle these gills over any areas that are particularly painful. Breath into the area and notice the sensation of pain. Allow yourself to take the role of a third party, impartial observer. Notice the waves. Allow your mind to keep easing with the pain, not resisting it.
Notice how it feels to experience pain as an impartial observer. Does it help? When we make this a practice, we get better and better at becoming the observer and resisting less and less. I've recorded a meditation for this that you can listen to when needed.
RECIPE
This recipe is from my 28 day low sugar challenge. I include it today because sugar is an inflammatory food, which contributes greatly to pain. Getting sugar under control is another way to both prevent and treat chronic pain.
Squash Burrito Bowl
Ingredients
Roasted spaghetti squash:
1 medium spaghetti squash, halved and seeds removed
2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Slaw:
1 cup (100g) purple cabbage, roughly chopped
1 BPA- free can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper (capsicum), chopped
1/3 cup (50g) green onions (Spring onions), chopped
1/3 cup (15g) fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped
2-3 tablespoons (60-75ml) fresh lime juice, to taste
1 teaspoon (5ml) olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Avocado salsa verde
1 ripe avocado, diced
1/3 cup (15g) fresh cilantro (coriander), roughly chopped
1 tablespoon (15ml) fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
Optional: Diced jalapeno pepper and tomatoes
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Brush the inside of each half of the spaghetti with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Place cut sides down on a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until the squash shell is fork tender.
Remove from oven and let cool, and then scrape out insides using a fork (consistency should be spaghetti-like).
While the squash is cooking, make the slaw. Add black beans, cabbage, bell pepper, green onion, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil and salt to a large bowl. Mix well and set aside.
To make the salsa verde, blend the avocado, cilantro, lime juice and garlic in a blender until creamy (about 60 seconds).
Divide spaghetti squash into bowls, top with slaw and a heaping spoonful of salsa verde to each bowl. Optional garnish: cilantro, diced avocado and tomatoes.
This weeks recipes come from my 28 day Low Sugar Challenge Protocol