To Fast or Not to Fast?

There are so many diets out there and intermittent fasting is really popular now. On the contrary, for some people it’s best to consume protein within one hour of waking, otherwise your blood sugar will be a roller coaster the rest of the day.

If the blood is too low, then you may feel fatigued, lack of concentration, “hangry”, or even lightheaded. But if Photo Credit Marco Verch your blood sugar is too high, extra sugar gets turned into FAT by your liver. So having a properly managed blood sugar is important not only for your waistline but may be key if you are having problems losing weight.

What’s wrong with insulin resistance, or borderline hypoglycemia? When the blood sugar dips low, it triggers your body to secrete cortisol (a stress hormone). Low blood sugar is a stress to the body. But that does not mean to keep eating carbs or sugar to prevent the hypoglycemic dip because doing so will cause a rebound effect of triggering the low blood sugar dip. Generally eating proteins and healthy fats keep your blood sugar steady, which is good.

Cortisol imbalance can create feelings of anxiety, stress, lack of focus, increased inflammation, immune suppression, hormone imbalances, fatigue, and cause your body to gain more weight especially in your belly area. So eating in a way that works with your body’s physiology is very important when it comes to your health, living longer, mood and if you are wanting to lose weight. What about fasting?

After 12 hours of Fasting the body secretes growth hormone. What does GH do?

• Stimulates fat loss in a process called lipolysis. “lysis” means bursting of cells. So essentially it explodes your fat cells and kills them.
• GH prevents aging and keeps you looking young. GH stimulates your body to secrete IGF-1 which stimulates new healthy cell growth. If you have more breakdown of cells and tissues (catabolism) you age. If you have more regeneration (anabolism) it is anti-aging and anti-inflammatory.
• GH involved in healing which fasting will trigger

You can simply achieve this by eating an earlier dinner, sleeping for 8 hrs and then having a breakfast after 12 hours of your last meal.

After 18 hours of fasting autophagy is induced.

 “Auto” means self and “Phagy” means eat. What does Autophagy do and what is good about it?

• Gets rid of Advanced Glycated End Products (AGE) which are bad. You get AGEs from burnt foods, charred foods, fried foods, smoking etc. AGEs are carcinogenic (cancer causing) but after 18 hours of fasting, Augophagy is triggered allowing your body to get rid of AGEs.
• Gets rid of Amyloids. Amyloids are bad molecules found in aging or chronically inflamed people’s brains. They are associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.
• Starts to eat away at abnormal cells or cancer cells.
• Augophagy of bad microbes such as molds, yeasts, bad bacteria, viruses etc.

You can simply achieve this by skipping 1 meal.

After 24 Hours of fasting

• Inflammation starts to decrease. Many autoimmune, allergic or other inflammatory conditions get a chance to heal.
• You may start to switch to Ketosis, a state the Ketogenic diet aims to induce. Ketosis allows you to burn fat as fuel rather than glucose (sugar). This helps with burning fat, weight loss.
• BDNF is stimulated to start repairing brain cells. Thinking may start becoming more clear. And this may have long term effects of preventing age related memory loss.

You can simply achieve this by skipping 2 meals.

Most people can easily prolong all the benefits listed above by extending the fast to 36 hours, which is basically skipping 3 meals plus the time of a night of sleep. Never fast without drinking water. Sometimes it is beneficial to supplements with certain nutrients or protein during a fast, sometimes not. If you suffer from medical conditions, are very depleted, fasting may not be the best for you initially without supervision. But fasting may be one of the keys to support healing. Some people do well on a weekly fast, intermittent fasting, ketogenic diet, FODMAPS diet, anti-inflammatory diet, blood type diet and many other methods. If you are confused as to what is best for you and your health goals, please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you.

How to Get Rid of the Quarantine Weight

Are you looking at your scale after a few months of the stay at home orders and not liking the number on the scale? It may feel hard to lose the weight, but if this is something you desire, the way is there. And maybe there is a better way than what you’ve done before. Photo Credit TipsTimesAdmin

So you want to lose weight and you want it to work. You may have lost weight before but it felt like so much work. Then gained it all back. So you don’t feel like trying again if your efforts are so high for it not to last right?

Let’s talk about what works. If you were told about a method that sounds a bit unconventional, are you willing to try it if it worked? Are you someone who tends to reject ideas and miss out? Are you someone who likes to consider new and better ideas? Imagine if you were living in the early 1900s and made your travels by horse and buggy, and someone told you, you can get from California to New York in 6 hrs, would you believe it then? Sounded impossible back in the 1900s then but we now fly this route all the time without thinking it is impossible.

Back to losing weight, most patients ask me to help them with a “diet” to lose weight. The problem most people have is difficulty sticking to a diet, not that they absolutely do not know what to eat. I would say most people have some idea of what foods to eat to lose weight but the hard part is sticking to it, or that it is too much work, or they gain the weight all back.

Here’s the part that most people do not think of when wanting to lose weight but is key to getting more lasting results. In my practice, a few sessions to remove unconscious sabotaging beliefs have made a huge difference in successful weight loss. Doing it this way also makes losing weight feel easier, because what causes you to fight yourself is removed. I dropped 8 pounds myself during the quarantine in 4 weeks time, without feeling like a did much. You can as well!

For example here are some un-helpful beliefs some patients had that after they were released allowed them to lose weight and keep it off:

• I’ve worked hard today, food is my reward (So why would you take your reward away?)
• today was stressful food makes me feel better (If food is mostly your way to cope with stress, it will be hard to fight your body’s desire for comfort)
• I feel empty: food fills the void (Do you keep eating even when you are not hungry? It’s more an emotional void than hunger)
• People who looked good when I was growing up got it easy. I felt judged by my looks when growing up. I need people to love me no matter how I look. (Need to prove value of self not based on looks, so with this belief, it sabotages one’s desire to achieve a desired body.)
• I have been violated in the past. This trauma makes me self-conscious of my body. (Until the trauma is healed, the extra weight can subconsciously feel “safer”)
• I feel like people are looking at me, or judging me. I feel vulnerable. (Sometimes weight is a protection from being seen).
• I’ve been stressed (people often hold burdens as extra weight, and stress increases cortisol which increases belly fat)

There are numerous healing techniques I use to help patients identify and release their unique unconscious beliefs that block them from successfully losing weight. I want to give back, and make a video to walk you through getting rid of a belief that gets in the way of losing weight. I’d love to hear from you. Please respond to this email, with what mental/emotional/belief system is hindering you from losing weight. I will select one of your responses (no name will be mentioned), and do a healing video next time. Email me and we could be working on yours.

How to Let Go of Self Judgment and Feeling Stuck

I made this video for you. It's a short meditation you can follow along with some powerful NET techniques. These techniques help your body let go of ingrained belief patterns that do not benefit you. It's not enough to just know in your brain to not judge yourself. Sometimes you know in your brain the "good" affirmations, but can't help but feel strong emotions that bother you anyhow. That is why we need to reprogram your nervous system and body cell memory. This way your body/emotions will agree with your mind. Then you won't feel torn between how you want to feel, and not being able to get there.

In this video, you'll get to:
-release self judgement
-break the cycle of feeling stressed, stuck and unaccomplished
-release feelings of being paralyzed by too much on your plate
-release anger at yourself
-start getting un-stuck and gain momentum in your life
-feel lighter and happier at yourself

Watch the video here:

Click on Image to Watch Video

Did you know that your emotions affect the proportions of hormones and chemicals your body makes? Did you know that when you feel calm, confident, and good that your immune system works more optimally? If your goal is healing from a physical health condition, addressing your "internal self" brings your body in an improved position for faster healing.  The more we can energetically "clean house" like wiping a corrupt hard drive and replace it with beneficial programs, the better you would be both physically and emotionally. If you need some additional support or considering working with Dr. Emily Chan ND, please feel free to reach out and see if this would be something that would be a good fit for you. 

What to do if you’re frustrated with the people you are "sheltered in place" with?

Let’s be real here. It’s been 3-4 weeks we’ve been sheltered in place. Many of us have not spent this much time with our family in a while and maybe they can be a bit much at times! Add to it, you may see your friends social media posts all happy, homeschooling their kids, doing some creative family fun thing, or saying some nice philosophical gratefulness post. That’s not the case for you, you’re struggling or your family is struggling…comparing with others just makes you more discouraged or angry.

What do you do if you’re frustrated with your family members and need to be at home with them all day?

Be Clear with what you want

-when you are feeling upset, ask yourself what is it that you actually want? For example if you are getting another demanding email from work after hours, your kid is asking you for food, and your significant other is watching TV, you may realize all of a sudden that you are frustrated at everybody. Check in with yourself, what do you need or want? Is it some alone time? Is it some help from your significant other? Is it people treating you with respect and honoring your boundaries? Is it needing some quality time with your partner?

How to effectively ask for what you want

When we are upset, it is easy for a conversation to turn into an argument. That’s not what you want right? There is a formula of talking I’ll share with you. This formula gets people on the same page as you rather than fight you. Before talking to them, remember to be clear on what you want. Choose one thing you want to discuss for starters, most people can handle one thing at a time. You will be much more successful to stick with the one thing rather than going off tangents (like all the zillion things they’ve done wrong). Remember to ask for what you want, not what you don’t want. Not “you never do anything around here”. Instead “Would you please load up the dishwasher. Thank you”.

Do not accuse them

It is human nature that when people feel like they did something wrong, or not good enough that they start to be on the defensive. Then instead of your partner working with you, they feel attacked and the conversation turns into an argument.

Here’s an example of how NOT to have a conversation:

“You’re so negative all the time. All I hear from you is complaining. You’re too worried about everything. And then you watch too much TV and are in such a bad mood it’s not fun to be around you anymore.”

Here’s how to approach this:

“I feel frustrated when you complain a lot. When we dated you made such cute jokes and I really liked that about you. Your jokes made me feel happy. Would you make some jokes more often here and help us lighten the mood?”

The Formula

1.     “I feel ____________ when you_______________”

2.     Complement them. Think of a time they did what you want, and reinforce how great that was and how good it made you feel (a positive feeling).

3.     Ask directly for what you want (not what you don’t want).

When you say “I feel______when you do_________” you are expressing your feelings. That cannot be denied. It’s your feelings. It is different than accusing them “You did_______it’s so________” which is not as well received.

When you complement someone, they feel good. They feel they did something right. Most people will be happy they are able to please you and want to do it more. They feel successful and are much more willing to accommodate you. When you accuse them, self-preservation kicks in, defensiveness kicks in, and an argument often starts. So remind them of a time they did what you wanted and compliment them. I understand if they haven’t in a long time, this may be very difficult to say and may be a jab to your ego to complement them. Do your best, it will give you a much better outcome.

Then ask for what you want. Ask for one thing at a time is usually most helpful. Save another thing for a different conversation. Make it short and sweet.

Have Compassion

During these unprecedented times our usual stability in our world is shifted. Most humans thrive on what is safe. So many of us may not feel safe now. The unknown scares most people. Your deep-down fears may be brought up now. Your family members subconscious issues may also be brought up, but theirs can be different than yours. See if you can have compassion for where they are coming from, love them and at the same time get your needs met.

It’s natural and you’re not alone to perhaps feel more anger, fear, or other emotions during this time. It may be a gift that these emotions have come up for you to process and release certain patterns that don’t serve you. During this time especially, you may be picking up on other people’s emotions (there’s global emotional instability), so it’s likely some emotions you are feeling may not even be yours. If you need some help please reach out. I’ve been doing emotional balance sessions with patients and they have felt much more themselves again, and like a weight lifted off.

Blessings and love to you. Be safe and healthy.

The Root Cause of Physical Pain

I was at a meditation retreat this weekend and was reminded again of how the body is programed to work, if we give it the chance to. So many people live with pain. All pain has something in common, whether it is a headache, back pain, neck pain, abdominal pain, PMS/pelvic cramps, interstitial cystitis, nerve pain etc. If your pain is severe, it can be debilitating. But many people live in tolerable pain, and just go on with life. They may have forgotten how it feels to feel good. Let me remind you to dream high in regards to your health and Photo Credit Esther Max allow yourself to live pain free.

Pain is actually a signal, a sensory alert that something is wrong in your life. If you touch a burning stove, it hurts. The pain tells you to quickly pull your hand away, so you don’t keep hurting yourself. If there was no pain, and you left your hand there, your skin would be burned away.

With chronic pain conditions be it a headache, backache or abdominal pain, the pain is also a signal that something is wrong in your life. What happens physiologically is that our nervous system communicates with our body when we encounter life situations. Have you ever felt nervous and your stomach tightened up? The situation that created the nervousness created a sensation in your body (for example a tight stomach). This tight stomach sensation is generally interpreted as a negative sensation and we often don’t like it. But the more we don’t like it, and stress about feeling sick to our stomach, the worse it gets. Why? Because the more we dislike something, the more chemicals our bodies release (stress chemicals), that make create more of these sensations such as pain or tension etc.

Actually it does not matter what the sensation is. Whether it is pain, tension, itching, an energetically blocked off area, cold or hot, it’s just the body’s somatic feedback, giving you a sensation in reaction to what is going on in the world around you. What’s going around may be bad diet, physical trauma or lack of sleep that gives rise to these sensations such as pain. But more often it is the adding up of our emotional reactions to our world on a very constant level that builds up and builds up that is the root cause of physical pain. We are often unaware of how unacceptable to our body these life situations are until our bodies are screaming in physical pain.

Sometimes there are patterns of where the “stress” is stored in the body. I’ve seen unhealed sexual trauma, tumultuous relationships, loneliness, or self judgement often show up as reproductive pain, or reproductive conditions. I’ve seen stress, especially financial stress show up as lower back pain. I’ve seen people with difficulties saying no, difficulties communicating, or feeling trapped in their circumstances experience frequent sore throats. We are often unaware that something is not OK. In our culture we may feel something is wrong intuitively but it slips away so quickly as we then continue to go about our day. But our body does not forget and then pain builds up to alert us to change our life.

So how do you get out of pain? We need to reverse the process. We need to allow the body itself to let go of the added up “stuff” that is stored in a particular part of the body that resulted in pain. It is like a detox. I am so excited about this, because it is so easy. But yet it takes some effort, or may seem “stupid” that many people are not willing to give it a chance. See our culture wants to pop pills, whether it’s medication or natural. But that only skims the surface. If you really want to get out of pain, would you do what it takes even if it is not the method you are programed to believe to be the solution? Most solutions are simpler than we make them to be. I really want to share this with you because for the patients who are willing, I have seen patients who feel like they have tried everything for months or years heal. Patients who are trapped at home with bladder pain from interstitial cystitis, patients with frequent debilitating migraines can all be pain free no matter how long they’ve suffered from these conditions.

To start the process of reversing pain one must realize that pain is a sensation, that is no different in a profound sense to a pleasant sensation. Both of these sensations change. Everything in our world changes, nothing is permanent. If you feel energetic, you may later feel tired. If you feel pain, it will go away. If you have an itch, it goes away. Nothing is permanent. The first step is to observe it. Do not judge it as good or bad. When you judge, you create emotions that secrete chemicals that are inflammatory and create more pain. When you start to observe the parts of your body, your body is alerted, awareness is brought to the area. The body has wisdom. It will start to release the stored up “stuff” automatically, and you have started the process of reversing pain. There are techniques you can learn and various healing modalities you can receive that make the healing process faster. To gauge if a technique of healing is good and can get to the root of releasing pain make sure the sensations of the body are addressed. We need to get back to the physical body, the somatic programming and unprogramming to work. If you are ready to let go of your physical pain and let go of some aspect of your life that is unsatisfactory, I would be honored to assist you in the process.