Hands On Health

by Lee Stanford RN, LMBT #8020

Golden Rule #1 - Drink ample fluid

Golden Rule #2 Avoid alcohol, sugar and tobacco

You can create a 5 star health retreat for your innards by making the right choices in your intake before a massage.
These very basic suggestions may be great guidelines for daily life, but it is especially helpful the day before and the day of receiving bodywork of any kind. One physical effect massage has on the body is that it gently compresses the muscles,organs, bones, blood and lymphatic vessels, fat (adipose tissue) and other soft tissue that make up your insides and everything all the way to the surface of the skin. As this repeated compression and release of the tissues occurs, your body-parts, down to the cellular level, are being bathed in fresh blood and lymphatic fluid which carries fresh nutrients and fluids to every cell, and carries away wastes. Naturally you want the best ingredients to get infused into your tissues for maximum healing and tissue recovery, which is in your power.

Drink ample fluids. Take the fluids steadily through the waking hours, rather than realizing you haven’t had any fluids for the last 4 hours and try to make up for it by glugging a jug of water down in 5 minutes flat. 2 Liters per day is a general safe guideline for healthy individuals. There is no simple formula for calculating how much fluids will flush your system. Your best bet is to judge by the color of your urine; the goal being pale yellow to clear, which indicates that you are properly hydrated.
Purified water, organic vegetables, homemade organic soup, herbal teas are all fantastic choices and will ensure the best absorption into your entire system. Imagine that what you take into your body is the foundation of your massage treatment and deeper, more prolonged benefits from receiving massage will be your immediate reward.

Avoid alcohol, sugar, and tobacco is advised, “because they ‘re bad for you!” Well, Mom may be right, but consider the theory that these items are acid-forming inside our body which means they create a change in your bodies pH. A litany of research is supporting the concept that many illnesses and degenerative conditions thrive in an acidic environment. Some examples are cancer, diabetes, arthritis, fibromyalgia, gout, and systemic yeast Infections to mention only a few.
Yes, you guessed correctly, alcohol, sugar, and tobacco are some of the most extreme factors in producing an acidic environment inside your body. This does not directly correlate to foods that are acidic such as an orange, but to foods that are acid-forming inside your body. This concept can be complicated, and requires some patient reading to get the basics clear. If you are interested in pursuing the subject in depth, I have a link at the bottom of the page under “Fantastic Links”.
I try to seek out sites which are fascinating, helpful and evidence based. (I’m kind of a geek about stuff like this.)

I would like to acknowledge that there is some debate regarding whether what you eat can effect your pH systemically, or in your blood and tissues. While the scientific data continues to be tallied, it is safe to follow what respected authorities in Eastern and Western medical communities regard as good, common sense nutrition for optimal health.
“Let your food be your medicine, and medicine be your food” -Hippocrates, nicknamed the Father of Western medicine.

You can give your massage a luxury spa upgrade by following these simple guidelines at home before, and after receiving massage/bodywork
and beyond!

To schedule a massage with Lee Stanford RN, LMBT call 828-505-2899
Hands On Health Massage Therapy Center
830 Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
or make an appointment online at
www.hohasheville.com

Fantastic links

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=63
www.whfoods.org
www.mayoclinic.com