Dr. Weil on Exercise

[Guest guest]

When we had a few posts recently on the whole exercise thing (and how

sometimes too much can set us back), I wanted to point out that Dr.

Weil makes a statement in his book Natural Health, Natural Medicine (a

GREAT book by the way) that doing regular aerobic exercise is most

important. He says to be sure to do it regularly.

In fact, I will share his recommendations section on autoimmunity:

" Autoimmune reactions may be set off by infection, tissue injury, or

emotional trauma in people with a genetic predisposition to them.

Conventional medicine does not do a very good job with these

diseases. It can manage patients through the worst crises, but its

treatments are suppressive, not curative, and often fuel the

autoimmune process. In addition, most of the drugs used in these

disorders, especially steroids and immunosuppressives, cause terrible

toxicity when they are used for more than a few weeks. (Doctors

frequently put patients on them for months and years.) I have seen

dramatic improvements in some autoimmune patients who stopped taking

all allopathic medication and worked to improve their health in other

ways.

Here are some general recommnedations for autoimmunity:

**Eat a low-protein, high carbohydrate diet of the sort recommended in

Chapters 1 and 2. (Patty's note: Sorry, I guess you'll have to get

the book for that!) Eliminate milk and milk products, including

commercial foods made with milk. Minimize consumption of foods of

animal origin.

**Avoid polyunsaturated vegetable oils of all kinds

Be sure to do regular aerobic exercise. This is most important. See

Chapter 5.

**Practice relaxation techniques like those described in Chapter 6.

Visualization can be very effective at moderating autoimmune

responses. Psychotherapy can be valuable as an aid to changing

emotional states that keep the immune system off balance.

Hypnotherapy is also useful if you can find a hypnotherapist willing

to take on autoimmune disease.

**Protect your immune system. (See Chapters 11 and 12 in book. Sorry!)

**Do not stay in treatment with any practitioners who make you feel

pessimistic about your condition. All autoimmune diseases tend to

follow patterns of exacerbation and remission, and the potential for

remission is always there. Suppressive therapies reduce the

probability of lasting remission. The ups and downs of these

conditions often mirror the ups and downs of emotional life, so it is

worth cultivating positive mental states and working with

practitioners who encourage you to experiment and try to manage your

own health.

Sounds like GREAT advice to me!

Patty

>

> Hang in there Sis! I as still feeling pretty poorly at 3 onths with

> all the detoxing etc. It was at about 3.5 months that I started to

> dance again and that has REALLY helped me out a lot! The dancing is

> very slow and controlled, so it is a great workout, but not aerobics

> like, more like yoga. Try doing some yoga stretching everyday and

> maybe that will help you too.

>

> Big hugs!

>

>

[Guest guest]

Just to clarify... aerobic means " with air " and what Dr. Weil is

referring to is deep breathing exercises, which do not have to be

fast or harsh. Yoga is the perfect example. " Aerobics " as we think

of them, are the fast paced harder exercises that require fast

breathing, these are NOT the kind of exercises that someone with a

suppressed immune system should be doing.

I have read his books also, LOVE HIM! Thanks for sharing that Patty!

> >

> > Hang in there Sis! I as still feeling pretty poorly at 3 onths

with

> > all the detoxing etc. It was at about 3.5 months that I started

to

> > dance again and that has REALLY helped me out a lot! The dancing

is

> > very slow and controlled, so it is a great workout, but not

aerobics

> > like, more like yoga. Try doing some yoga stretching everyday

and

> > maybe that will help you too.

> >

> > Big hugs!

> >

> >

>