Soldier On This Winter?

When you have a cold or flu (a real flu where you have aches and pains and fever, and you have trouble lifting yourself out of bed) – what is the best way to treat this?:

A) soldier on, and take cold and flu “medicine” and go to work.
B)
drink a glass of Harden Up and go to work.
C) call in sick to work, take 1 drop of  *On Guard* essential oil by doTerra in a shot glass of water, have a warm shower, eat small nutrient rich meals like Chicken soup, cover yourself in a doona and retreat to the bed or lounge for a couple days to allow yourself rest and recuperation, and don’t feel “bad” that you aren’t at work doing something “really” important (whilst you expose others to your germs).

If you chose (c) then not only would you be putting yourself FIRST, but you would be honouring those around you by keeping them away from your germs.

In my opinion, the trouble with the Codral “soldier on” campaign is that it is asking people to reject the warning signs their body is showing, and to keep on living as if your body is healthy and well. I admit it – I have taken Codral cold and flu over the course of my adult life. And sometimes I have felt relieved that my symptoms have abated for a few hours. Usually, if I am really unwell, I will be watching the clock 3.5hrs after the first dose, ready with glass of water in hand to down the next dose. Some days I have known that I just “have to” keep going.

But what about the days when I know I can actually call in sick – or I know that it is better for me to cancel clients so I can protect them from my germs? I don’t take any cold & flu tablets on these days, and I try to look after my body the way nature intended.

For many people they haven’t learned natural health care, nor do they know how to read the signs of the body, so this blog is a small introduction to that.

Health Care vs Sick Care?medicine is not care

Dr Bradley Nelson – the creator of The Emotion Code and The Body Code (of which I am certified and currently undergoing certification, respectively) talks about how the American (and obviously Australia is following) Health Care system is actually based in “symptom chasing” rather than “making well”.

For example: “Katie goes to her doctor about a persistent cough she has had for 4 weeks now. Her doctor says “Take some Amoxicillan (penicillan) that should help you.” As a result, the cough goes, however she develops thrush which is a known side effect of antibiotics. So she goes back to her doctor and he/she says “Take some Diflucan. That should help you.” So she gets rid of the thrush symptoms, but now has depression, as thrush infections can often cause low grade depression and do can Diflucan treatment. So her doctor says “Take some Anti-depressents. That should help with your low mood.” So she starts to feel more like her herself, except her blood pressure rises, which is a known side effect of some anti-depressants. So her doctor says “Take some blood pressure medication. That should help you.” So Katie now has her blood pressure under control. However she has developed a persistent cough, which is a side effect of her blood pressure medication”. So her doctor says “Here, take some penicillin. That should help you”……. and around the cycle goes.”

You see, the doctors are chasing the symptoms, and yes the medicines are working on fixing he symptoms, but sometimes they create more symptoms. Rather than boosting the immune system and helping the person get well, increase vitality and energy and ultimately help them feel better, they can cause all manner of other symptoms that the untrained/uneducated person will not know how to put 2 + 2 together and come up with “Hang on a minute! This isn’t Health Care – this is SICK CARE!”

I believe it is imperative that lay people (that is – YOU and ME) begin to learn how to take control of their health by learning simple methods to “check in” with their body and see how they are doing. Meditation is a good place to start, but so often it is considered “too hard” and so people often won’t continue to try. So what else can you do if you want to start learning how to read your body’s signs that there may be disharmony or imbalance in your body?

Give yourself a little Health Quiz and Check In with yourself:

1. You can note how you are sleeping. Are you getting less than 7 hours sleep each night? Do you constantly yawn and find it hard to get going without a coffee? Do you remember your dreams? Do you have nightmares? Do you wake after 10 hours sleep and still feel tired? Do you fall asleep easy but wake at the same approximate time each night? o you have insomnia? Do you have sleep apnoea?  All the answers to these questions give you an indication of what is going on for you.

2. Do you eat a balanced diet? By balances I do not meal 3 squares and then some cheeky “treats” that you won’t mention to me if I asked you. But by balanced I mean do you eat carbs and proteins and veggies and fruits and have a wide selection from each food group? Do you pick all day long? Do you crash around 3-4pm and binge on sweet things to make it through to “home time”? Do you drink your calories with flavoured drinks and milks and soft drinks? Do you eat late at night in front of the telly? Do you skip breakfast? Do you drink water? (or do you not like the taste of it?)

3. Do you have random aches and pains in your knees? Shoulders? Neck? Hips? Do you have chronic lower back pain that was once from a disc injury that never really got better? Are you always complaining about something hurting?

4. Do you have a vast medicine cabinet?

5. Do you have low energy and nothing seems to make it better? Do you drink lots of coffee? Energy drinks? Chocolate?

6. Are you overweight and if someone asked you about it, you would say “I just can’t seem to lose weight” ? Do you feel like your body doesn’t actually represent the way you feel about yourself?

7. Do you suffer from regular colds, runny nose, random cough, catch everything the kids have? Do you always get headaches or PMS, or bad menstrual cramps?

8. Do you exercise regularly? Do you get enough sex that you want/need or is your sex drive low and you could care less?

9. Do you enjoy doing things on your own? Do you indulge yourself in hobbies or recreations that you always wanted to do?

10. Do you drink more than 3 times per week or take the odd spliff or other recreational drugs? (no judgement, just a question. God knows I recreationally assaulted my body with more sugar than is necessary for years – but that is the topic of another blog).

GO ON, go back and honestly answer the questions above and start to put together a story about how your life / body actually IS. Not how you want it to be, but how it is today. From there you will be armed with areas you want to change and improve, or seek help and guidance from people who know more than you. But how do you know who to ask or what to work on if you never take a moment to actually put pen to paper and write it down. When you can actually look at yourself on paper (rather than all up in your head) you will be able to see things more clearly.

WHY is a real “sickie” not taken, but we “chuck sickies” when we aren’t sick when we really need to?

In this day and age people tend to put others first and leave themselves last. This means when we “soldier on” through a heavy cold or flu we are actually draining our body’s reserves of vital energy needed for healing. WHY do we do this?

Change begins with YOU. And ME. This winter, if you feel crappy, listen to your body and take yourself to bed/lounge when you have to. If you have kids this is hard to do. But a couple days letting the kids watch telly and make mess is better than keeping on going doing your usual routine out of feeling like you “have to”.
Be courageous this winter, and take a stand – FOR YOURSELF – and see how you feel.

After answering these questions you many have many more you want to ask!

If you feel you would benefit from a FREE 15min Wellness chat to see how we can help you with the
Emotion Code technique then email belle@thebelleflowersclinic.com.au to schedule a Skype chat or appointment in the clinic. Break free from the constant merry-go-round of sick care and take back control of your life.

How to use *On Guard*: 1 drop daily in water to boost immune system. Gargle 1 drop in water at first sign of throat pain. Rub on soles of feet daily to boost immune system (dilute for kids).
Available in Clinic for $55 (approx 250 drops).

The Stress – Body Pain – Sugar Connection

In my clinic I have observed that the majority of my clients:

  • Suffer from daily/ weekly / monthly bouts of sore neck, shoulders and headache pain.
  • Report their unstoppable “addiction” to sugar, (or chocolate more specifically) in times of stress.
  • Detail their constant feeling of being overwhelmed, stressed, or just plain exhausted in their daily life.

This got me thinking…….is there a connection?

As a massage therapist, I see the results of not breathing correctly and the effect it has on one’s posture, mind and emotions. When we shallow breathe, we engage the muscles of the front of our neck, and over use the upper chest / pectoral muscles. This inevitably leads to tension in these muscles from chronic overuse. This then affects the upper back and shoulders muscles (rhomboids and trapezius muscles) and we feel intense pain in between our shoulder blades, and across the top of the shoulders. You may even end up looking like your shoulders are always up around your ears. You may even feel like you have “the weight of the world on your shoulders”.

Take a moment to press gently into the space just above your collarbone. Is it tight and resistant? Does it hurt if you press deeply (go easy!)? This could be a sign that you are not breathing deeply, and are in a constant state of stress (even if you don’t “feel stressed”.) Deep Tissue Massage helps to gently but firmly assist in releasing stressed and tight muscles, to allow them to become more pliable.

Those that have experienced Deep Tissue Massage may remember being coached to breathe deeply while the massage is taking place. This helps to give these muscles a rest from their normal “shallow breathing job” and give the muscles of the diaphragm their proper time and space to do their work! This massage technique encourages deep relaxation as your mind is focused simply on breathing deeply through the tight muscles.

Stress is known to cause headaches, light-headedness, shallow breathing, feelings of tiredness, cold hands and feet, jaw grinding, general body pain, increased thoughts of worry and anxiety. Not to mention tummy pain and IBS, reflux and heartburn.

Sugar, specifically Fructose is connected to both stress and shallow breathing, (Sweet Poison Gillespie D, 2007 Penguin Group).

Fructose is found primarily in ripe fruits, which is why it is called “fruit sugar”. It is present in honey, maple syrup and agave syrup. Look at any packaged cereal, or muesli bar or yoghurt in your kitchen and you are sure to find it on the label somewhere. It is literally in almost everything these days!

Fructose has been linked with heart disease, stroke, PCOS, infertility, depression and anxiety, IBS, general body pain plus more.

When you eat foods that contain Fructose, it literally elevates the Cortisol levels in your bloodstream. The “stress-hormone” – Cortisol- is released by the body in periods of threat, whether they are physical or mental. Our body is meant to cycle through periods of calm, then high stress, then recovery, then peace, and then high stress and so on. The high stress state is meant to be fleeting. However for most, it is almost constant, which creates a state of imbalance in the body, resulting in general pain, headaches, muscle tension plus heaps more.

Most people I know spend the majority of their waking moments in the high stress phase, and almost never recover. Most of the people I know feel hurried, stressed, overwhelmed and “just coping” most of the time.

It is important to learn how to recover after a period of high stress, whether it is daily or weekly, that is separate from reaching for the chocolate or something else that is sweet, in order to move beyond your frustrations.

Learning to breathe deeply can be of immense help. Getting stuck in traffic may put you over the edge – why not count your deep inhalations until the traffic moves again? A colleague may push your buttons at the morning meeting, but instead of having another coffee with two sugars, make yourself practice “belly breathing” when you get a moment to yourself.

This seemingly simple plan helps you to recover from the initial stress of the situation, and then move beyond it for the rest of the day.


A daily or weekly meditation session could help you to finally release all that pent up anger / aggression / hostility / bitterness in a deeper way.

So if you breathe shallowly, have sore muscles, tummy issues, heart problems, weight issues, and a racing mind, sugar and stress could be said to be partly (or wholly) to blame for it!

An integrated approach to healing your body and mind is the best way to better health.
Here are my tips:

  • Learn how to relax. From here you can better listen to your body and respond when you feel pain, or just “off”.
  • Treat yourself with things you like doing, (not with food, which is usually a sweet item that will further exacerbate the problem). This is where deep tissue massage and relaxation and meditation classes all come into play. A walk on the beach, or lying in a hammock with a good book is also an option!
  • And finally, stop reaching for sweet things when you are happy, tired, sad, bored, worried or sick! Give your body some time to rest, repair and heal itself from the constant demands of your busy lifestyle.

Of course, if you are suffering with health problems it is always a good idea not to self-diagnose, but see your naturopath or GP. Don’t talk to Dr Google, because you may get the wrong advice!