At least I wasn't in the car

You know the commercial where Mother Nature shows up with a "gift" to ruin your plans? Happy Easter Monday, here's what happened to me:

The acupuncture clinic I work at was closed because the acupuncturist's kids were on spring break.
I overslept and missed an appointment. (Sleeping through an alarm that rings 180 minutes is probably a sign you shouldn't work anyway.)
I forgot (or rather, didn't notice) that LAVC's spring break goes through Easter Monday and hightailed it to school so I wouldn't miss the daily quiz. (No school = no class = no quiz = no need to be there)
Return to parking lot to find ENTIRE FRONT bumper hanging by 1 bolt.

Is this what's known as irony?

The kid who hit my PARKED car then had the audacity to say I "parked to close to" his truck.

I made the sheriff's and public safety officers laugh with the following:

"Excuse me? Uh, No. I saw you get out of your truck. We left our cars at the same time; I was walking right next to you.
I made a point of not hitting your car with my door when I got out.
You would have heard or felt it if I hit your truck.
You hit me. Not the other way around.
If I had parked that close, I would not have been able to get out of my car and (doing Vanna-style presentation of self) I AM NOT A SMALL PERSON."
see photo for proof

I've labeled this post "stress" and "TerribleHorribleNoGoodDay" because sometimes, that's just how it goes. We can't get up because we're sick (from illness, cycles, worry) and things don't work out how we plan.

I can cry and complain about a kid driving a truck that's too big (srsly? can't c honda sedan in daylight?) for him to make a left turn safely or that I shouldn't have scheduled an appointment on a day I thought I had a test or "OMG! Hondas are expensive to fix!" Instead, I am thankful I have an extra two days to study, my insurance (and more importantly, his insurance) will cover the repairs and the car rental while my car is in the shop, and ... at least I wasn't in the car.

Sorry I haven't posted...

Things not to do when recovering from the LA Marathon:

• have dinner with your teammates in Beverly Hills after driving home to The Valley from the Santa Monica finish line (4.5 hours walking, 5 hours in car Sunday)
• have Jury Duty downtown (Monday)
• work from 9a-9p (Tuesday)
• take Algebra (Math 115 Monday & Wednesday & Saturday)
• dogsit a very active poodle (Thursday thru Saturday)

I also have been blessed with private clients on Sunday and Monday a fun Relay For Life dinner on Thursday and today was not busy at the spa. (massage trades, yays!)

So forgive the fact that I haven't posted my marathon training tips... they will be forthcoming ... soon ... I hope.

So I was in the LA Marathon yesterday...

As some of you know, I participated in the 25th Los Angeles Marathon as a charity walker. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I only made it to mile 10. (Darn those hills!)

But my goal wasn't really to walk 26.2 miles through LA, it was to raise $500 for the Patient Services programs at Lupus LA. I raised $300 before the race and have this week to raise the rest.

Will you help me reach this goal?

Any amount will help. Please go to www.firstgiving.com/StefanieLMT and donate what you can. Your donation will provide peer mentoring/counseling for newly diagnosed patients, pediatric services for Lupus patients and their families, and emergency loans to patients who find themselves unable
to work because of a "flare" (a "flare" is when Lupus symptoms go into
overdrive and can be debillitating, even lethal).

I chose to walk for http://www.lupusla.org/ in honor of two friends with
Lupus and in memory of our friend Tara.

Thank you for your help.

Stefanie Ibanez, LMT
www.Twitter.com/StefanieLMT
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P.S. I'll post my marathon training and recovery tips tomorrow -- today I have jury duty.

Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy: Valentine Special#links

Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy: Valentine Special#links

To Reach Your Goals - One Must Stretch

Exercise is a three-step process: stretching, exercising, and abdominal strengthening. Stretching prepares you for the work of exercise, and is done first — before anything else — gently and gradually.
You may be tighter than usual on a particular day. This is not important — you should never try to stretch to where “you think you should be”. Just stretch, making sure to pay attention to what you’re doing. It’s easy to injure a muscle if you’re thinking about something else, or if you’re rushing, trying to squeeze in some stretching before dashing off to the gym.
Every day I remind my clients to stretch and spend some portion of our session demonstrating on them or for them simple Range of Motion (ROM) exercises that will release/reduce chronic muscle tension, increase their flexibility and improve circulation.
Some simple ROM moves you can do before you even get out of the bed in the morning include:

• Massage your pectoral attachments at the clavicle (collar bone) with the opposite hand and then extend the working arm out to the side and let it drop over the side of the bed; this stretches your chest muscles and allows your shoulders to drop back to their normal position -- repeat for the other side.
• Lift one knee toward the "same-side" shoulder (it does not have to touch, just till you feel the stretch) and then move the knee towards the "opposite-side" shoulder; let hip relax by returning the knee to a 90-degree angle with the foot next to the inside of the other knee which straight and laying flat; now allow the knee to fall outward; this will open your hips and stretch your inner thigh -- repeat sequence with the other leg.
• Lift both knees to you chest and gently rock your legs from side to side; this opens up your lower back where so many of us feel our tension.

Stretching helps us not only reach physical fitness and health goals, but also emotional and intellectual goals. (Go with me on this one.) Poor health can make it difficult to interact with others, create or perpetuate self-sabotaging inner dialogues, and lead to depression.[1, 2, 3]. It's hard to focus on learning something new (whether at school or work) if you are distracted by low back pain or chronic headaches. Sometimes the pain is so constant we no longer consciously acknowledge it - it registers instead as fatigue or stiffness or irritability -- and who wants to be around that?
Start your day by stretching. You can do it before you get out of bed or even in the shower [4]. If you're feeling ambitious, exercise! It will help you wake up, shake the "cobwebs" away and prepare you for the day ahead.

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Sources

1. Postnatal depression across countries and cultures: a qualitative study" The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 184: s10-S16, © 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
2. "Sustained sleep deprivation impairs host defense" C. A. Everson, Clinical Psychobiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
3. "Depression and insomnia: questions of cause and effect" L Lustberg, CF Reynolds - Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2000
   "Research and treatment approaches to depression" ML Wong, J Licinio - Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2001
4. "Quick Start For The Slow Season" Sigal Meyuhas, aplaceofwellness.blogspot.com, Jan 2010
   

Your Tax Deductions Help Someone With Lupus

If you still need to make your end-of-year charitable contributions, I can help you. I'm training for the Los Angeles Marathon to raise funds for Lupus LA's patient services programs. Lupus LA, the West Coast division of the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation, promotes lupus research, awareness, and education, and serves the needs of people with lupus and their families in Los Angeles County.

My goal is to raise $1,000 which will help fund peer mentoring and counseling, emergency grants, and children's services. The first fund raising deadline so that I can run in the marathon with Team Life Without Lupus is next week, January 4. I'm hoping my friends and clients (and you too, reader) will each donate $11-$75. Think of it as one coffee per week between now and the marathon.

Lupus targets women and minorities. Lupus is estimated to affect 1 to almost 1.5 million Americans, 90 percent of whom are women. Latino, Asian, and Native American women have an increased incidence of lupus. In fact, lupus is twice as prevalent among Asian-American and Latino women as it is among Caucasian women.

Lupus is one of America's least recognized major diseases. Nearly 1.5 million Americans have lupus. In fact, more Americans have lupus than cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis combined, making it one of this country's most prevalent medical problems. However, while lupus is widespread, awareness and accurate knowledge about it lag behind many other illnesses. Lupus is on the rise, and scientists don't know exactly why.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (S.L.E.), commonly called lupus, is a chronic autoimmune disorder that can affect virtually any organ of the body. In lupus, the body's immune system, which normally functions to protect against foreign invaders, becomes hyperactive, forming antibodies that attack normal tissues and organs, including the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, and blood. Lupus is characterized by periods of illness, called flares, and periods of wellness, or remission.

Because its symptoms come and go and mimic those of other diseases, lupus is difficult to diagnose. There is no single laboratory test that can definitively prove that a person has this complex illness.

Please use this link to make your donation and tell your friends. www.firstgiving.com/StefanieLMT

Let's go for a Run! (walk)

In honor of my 40th birthday, to honor my friends Liz and Elyse who are living with Lupus, and in memory of our friend Tara, who passed away 1 year ago from complications due to Lupus, I am training for the 2010 Los Angeles Marathon to be held Sunday, March 21, 2010.

I will donate 10% of all regular price massags to Lupus LA, the West Coast division of the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation founded by renowned physician and author, Daniel J. Wallace, MD. My goal is to raise $1,000 by December 1, 2009

As many of you know, last year I walked the NY Marathon in 9 hours 25 minutes. This year I will run/walk the complete Los Angeles "Stadium-to-the-Sea" course in 4.5 hours. I have 5 months to train and I am using the Jeff Galloway book Marathon as my guide again but instead of working out 2 days per week, I will walk 2 days per week, run one night per week, and train with the Lupus LA team on Sundays. Think of how much longer and stronger my massages will be with all that cardio!

I will post periodic training updates on my Bodywork Blog or you can follow me on Twitter @StefanieLMT.

If you would like to join Team LA Lupus as a runner or sponsor, please contact me via email at StefanieLMT@gmail.com. The team is also accepting walkers and runners for the 5k Saturday, March 20, 2010.

Stay healthy!
Stefanie Ibanez, LMT
Los Angeles, CA

http://www.lamarathon.com/charitylist.html
http://www.lupusla.org/about-us/
http://www.twitter.com/StefanieLMT

Eliminate Corn Syrup From Your Diet

This is a reprint of Sigal Meyuhas, L.Ac.'s blog posting at http://aplaceofwellness.blogspot.com. As someone who has struggled with weight issues and sees the impact nutrition has on performance (cognitive and physical abilities), I feel this is information that EVERY PERSON SHOULD HAVE. It is absolutely shameful how agribusiness compromises public health to secure profit. short term efficiencies create long-term health problems.
Read her post and please let me know what you think.
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In 1970, zero pounds of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) existed in the United States food chain. By 2008, about 68 pounds of HFCS were consumed per American per year. The cheapest ingredients in the American food chain (profit sector) are air, water, salt and HFCS. HFCS is cheaper due to a combination of corn subsidies and sugar tariffs. Corn, and usually highly processed corn, has become a staple ingredient of the American diet.

In 2006, America imported 80% less sugar than thirty years earlier. The government guarantees producers a fixed price for domestic sugar and sets strict quotas and tariffs for foreign sugar keeping sugar prices in the U.S. at least twice as high as the world average.

HFCS, which is made from cornstarch, is now used to sweeten: Soft drinks (including some sports drinks), fruit juices, baked goods, canned fruits, dairy products, cookies, gum, jams, and jellies.

So what makes corn syrup such an unhealthy fat-promoting product?

Fructose is Metabolized to Fat
Fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar. Research shows that fructose caused a general increase in both total serum cholesterol and in low density lipoproteins (LDL a.k.a "Bad cholesterol"), putting a person at risk for heart disease. Fructos raises serum triglycerides significantly.

Increases Diabetes and Obesity
Fructose is metabolized by the liver so it does not cause the pancreas to release insulin the way it normally does with glucose. Fructose reduces the affinity of insulin for it receptor, the principle characteristic of Type 2 Diabetes.

Contrary to popular belief, corn is a grain, not a vegetable, and is definitely not fit as a dietary staple and mainstay, primarily because of its high sugar content.

If you eat a diet that is high in sugar and grains, the sugar gets metabolized to fat (and is stored as fat). This releases surges in leptin, a hormone involved in appetite regulation. Over time, your body becomes resistant to leptin much the way it can become resistant to insulin.

When you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer "hear" the messages telling it to stop eating, burn fat, or maintain sensitivity to sweet tastes in your taste buds. When you lose this ability, you remain hungry, crave sweets, and your body stores MORE fat.

Fructose has NO Enzymes, Vitamins, or Minerals
In fact, fructose leeches micronutrients from the body. Unbound fructose, found in large quantities in HFCS, can interfere with the heart's use of minerals. Fructose may alter the magnesium balance in the body, accelerating bone loss. Natural fructose in fresh fruit is not a problem because fresh fruit contain enzymes, vitamins, and minerals needed to assimilate/metabolize the fructose.

Why use Poison to Process Food?
Mercury is a known carcinogen, yet mercury cell chlor-alkali products are used to produce food ingredients such as citric acid, sodium benzoate, and HFCS. A recent study recommended

"...with 45% of the HFCS samples containing mercury... it would be prudent and perhaps essential for public health that additional research be conducted by the FDA or some other public health agency... In 2004, several member states of the European Union reported finding mercury concentrations in beverages, cereals and bakery ware, and sweeteners... FDA does not currently have a mercury surveillance program for food ingredients such as added sugars or preservatives manufactured with mercury grade chlor-alkali products."

Is Your Food Grown or Engineered?
Nearly all corn used to make HFCS is genetically modified (to speed growth, resist pests, increase yield, etc.), a process with its own health concerns and documented side-effects like increasing one's risk of developing a food allergy to corn.

What You Can Do
The simplest way to reduce you HFCS intake is to eliminate sodas, sweetened drinks and bottled fruit juices, as they can easily have 8 teaspoons per serving. Switch to tap water as your beverage of choice and you will be on your way to better health.

The next step is reducing how much processed food you eat. Incorporate more whole (fresh) foods in your diet and if you must eat packaged foods, read the label. Ingredients are listed from highest concentration to lowest and if HFCS is one of the first three ingredients, you can probably find a better option just down the aisle.

Even though corn and corn-based product seem to be used in everything, Los Angeles has many farmer's markets and well stocked grocery stores to help you plan healthy meals and have nutritious snacks.

Why Two Blogs?

As someone who was literally working herself to death (hacking cough, difficulty breathing, insomnia, fatigue, aches, pains, cramps, etc.), I was getting sicker with no known causes, I had the choice of expensive medications with questionable results (increased dependency, side effects) or making some radical life changes. The decision was made for me when I could no longer afford my insurance coverage (ah, irony).

I chose monthly chiropractic care, exercise, and eliminating fast food from my diet instead of a $30/week OTC pharmaceutical option that would later[1] be shown to cause liver damage and recalled by the FDA.

The purpose of this blog is to focus on specific exercises, recipes, and modalities that will help body workers care for themselves and their clients.
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[1] post updated 2009.07.20