An All Natural Way to Beat Body Aches

By Rustina

Does your body ache all the time?

Do you feel about 20 years older than you are?

Your body works hard, and stress is always lurking around the corner. You need something that is fighting for you on the inside.

That is where antioxidants can help.

Step 1: Antioxidants

Antioxidants are these amazing little protectors that we can consume and make in our bodies. They protect the cells against damage from “free radicals” – the unstable molecules – that are always forming when food is broken down or from other conversions in the body. Think of all that converting vitamin D, folate, and any process that takes a cell and breaks it apart to create or merge it with another. This all will leave behind debris.

These debris or free radicals can cause heart disease, cancer, premature aging, break down in joints, muscle loss, delayed healing, and many other conditions. (source) When there are not enough antioxidants to clear away the free radicals, guess who gets the job? Your immune system. It sees the debris floating around and comes charging in with inflammation to do the hauling away.

If too many free radicals are left to collect in your body, then it becomes a condition known as oxidative stress. You know how when you peel an apple and it starts turning brown? Yes – that’s oxidative stress at work. The oxygen began breaking down the fruit’s cells and leaving so many free radicals behind it alters the flesh of the apple. Similarly, it happens inside us too. To prevent an apple from turning, we apply lemon juice right?

Why? It’s an antioxidant.

That may be oversimplifying a very interesting topic, but that is the gist of it. Now, let’s talk about antioxidants.

Unfortunately, our master antioxidant, glutathione, is often a target of many toxins that we consume. You heard about the big name pain reliever that depletes it? You probably have, but if not, read more here about that. Many drugs and other chemicals deplete this great resource by not just using it up but also suppressing it.

Glutathione and other antioxidants protect cells from the debris and clear away the free radicals. This helps keep our cells healthy and reproducing appropriately thus reducing cancer risks and those lovely signs of premature aging – wrinkles. It also protects our mitochondria (que the Star Wars theme music). Mitochondria can certainly make one feel like a Jedi since this is the cell where the biochemical side of energy production occurs. (source)

Now, the question is, where can you get more antioxidants from?

There are a lot of foods that offer antioxidants, nearly all fruits and vegetables have a good supply of antioxidants.

Raspberries, blueberries, spinach (paired with strawberries for extra Vitamin C and potential weight loss), cranberries (great for UTI health), tart cherries (naturally increases melatonin levels), turmeric, milk thistle, green tea, pumpkins (eat the seeds to for help with intestinal parasites), and beets are great.

You can read about my 20 favorite super foods here. They are easy to get at your local store or yard, and are all antioxidants.

My favorite go-to’s with healthy antioxidant sources are: Super Food Powder, Turmeric Capsules, and Greens Capsules.

Step 2 : Start Moving

After you have the antioxidants "picking up the garbage," it's time to take out the trash! Get moving around -- jumping, walking, yoga, whatever you're comfortable with doing. The lymphatic system is like the drain pipes of our body. It collects all the excess fluids, hormones, debris, inflammation, fat cells, toxins -- pretty much everything. If something is clogging it from delivering to your veins for disposal out, then all that waste is building up until it overflows.

The lymphatic system doesn't have a pump of its own so needs movement and deep breathing from us to help it keep the flow going. Rebounding, jumping, or bouncing on one of those big exercise balls works great. Another option is lymphatic massage or dry brushing.

How do I give myself a lymphatic massage?

I like to start at the neck, slide your hands down the sides of your neck to the soft, kind of squishy spot below your collarbone and gently pat it ten times with your palm. Then, use your palms to gently rub from the top, underside of your arms to down below the sides of your chest. Do this several times as well. These areas can get "clogged up" easily so generating flow through them first is very helpful.

Now that those areas are moving well, gently rub from the middle of your face towards your ears starting at the forehead and working down to the chin. Then, place your two fingers on each side of your lower earlobes down to the spot below your collarbone. If you have jaw pain, pressing firmly but gently into the top jawline up into the corners towards your earlobes while lowering your bottom jaw. After that, gently bring rub down the back of your neck and around each side to below your collarbone.

Next, rub the palms of your hands together then go up the palm side of your fingers and down the back side of your fingers (the lymph vessels are on the back side of your hands). Follow from the back side of your hand down following a natural curve to the inside of your elbow to the top, underside of your arm going down below the side of your chest.

Reaching as comfortably as you can from the middle of your back - while still being gentle, rub around to the front below your chest. Repeat a few times.

Then, there is the lower half. All the fluid from your legs comes up through the inside of the thighs into your groin. We want to open the flow in this area just like we did around the neck and arms. Comfortably spreading your legs, gently rub from your inner, upper thigh up towards your groin and then towards your middle abdomen. Repeat several times.

Rub your hands from the ankles and top of your foot up towards your upper thigh. I start at the inside and go around each leg paying extra attention to the knees. Then, reach towards your lower back and rub around to below your chest.

If somewhere on your body begins to feel fuller or warmer, then you may have a fluid backup in this area. That is often associated with scar tissue especially from surgery. Try and gently rub it in a different direction and around towards the center of your abdomen below the chest.

These 2 steps require some dedication, but the pay off will come when you can move easier and ache less! There isn't a pill that will make every thing better. We have to take our time, dedication, and love to help us learn, heal, and grow!