Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 8-18-17

Health
Learn deep breathing or meditation to help you relax. Deep breathing and meditation are techniques that help your body relax, which may ease pain. Tension and tightness seep from muscles as they receive a quiet message to relax.
Reduce stress in your life.
Stress intensifies chronic pain. Several techniques can help reduce stress and promote relaxation. Listening to sooth- ing, calming music can lift your mood. Mental imagery relaxation (also called guided imagery) is a form of mental es- cape that can help you feel peaceful.
Boost chronic pain relief with the natural endorphins from ex- ercise. Endorphins are brain chemi- cals that help improve your mood while also blocking pain signals. Exercise has another pain-reducing effect -- it strengthens muscles. Plus, exercise can help keep your weight down, reduce heart disease risk, and control blood sugar levels -- especially important if you have diabetes.
Protein is one of the nutrition essentials needed to maintain a healthy diet. It is used to build and repair body tissue and keep your hair, nails, and skin healthy. It also helps to boost your im- mune system.
Beyond those benefits, research indicates eating lean, high-quality protein can help people with type 2 diabetes lose or maintain weight and manage blood glucose.
Maintaining a healthy body weight is important to help prevent and manage type 2 diabetes. Spreading protein equally throughout the day is best.
Choose Your Protein Wisely
- Choose protein sources that are low in sat- urated fat and cholesterol.
- These include chicken, fish, legumes, and beans. If you like and can eat pork, choose low-
sodium ham, chops and lean ground pork.
- Stay away from fatty cuts of beef, pork, and lamb; regular (75% to 85% lean) ground beef; regular sausages, hot dogs, and bacon; some luncheon meats such as bologna and
salami; and some poultry such as duck. These choices are high in saturated fat and can increase your cholesterol.
- Diets high in cholesterol can raise LDL “bad” cholesterol levels in the blood. Cholesterol is only found in foods from ani- mal sources.
- Foods high in cholesterol include egg yolks (egg whites are cholesterol-free) and organ meats such as liver and giblets.
Track your pain level and activities every day. To effec- tively treat your pain, your doctor needs to know how you've been feeling between visits. Keeping a log or journal of your daily "pain score" will help you track your pain.
Eat a healthy diet if you're living with chronic pain. To eat a low- fat, low-sodium diet, choose from these: fresh fruits and vegetables; cooked dried beans and peas; gluten-free breads and cereals and lean meats.
Cut back on alcohol, which can worsen sleep problems. Pain makes sleep difficult, and alcohol can make sleep problems worse.
Get a
chronic pain relief. Massage can help reduce stress and re- lieve tension -- and is being used by people living with all sorts of chronic pain, including back and neck pain.
Don't smoke. It can worsen chronic pain. Smok- ing can worsen painful circula- tion problems and increase risk of heart disease and cancer.
massage for
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 9-B