Healing Journeys with Suzie Daggett
Suzie interviewed healing arts practitioners, asking them about teen girls and their long-term health issues. Teenage girls are subject to many pressures from the media, friends and family as they find the best way to look good, fit in, and find what they want in life and who they are. The following practitioners answered the question: What are the three most important things teenage girls can do to remain healthy for the rest of their lives:
Jennifer Nelson, DC, Ayurvedic Specialist
1- Listen to your inner guidance - cultivate a relationship with your inner self to hear, listen and follow your inner voice.
2- Understand what is important about physical beauty. Beauty involves the whole person - not just what you looks like on the outside. Learn the difference between kapha, pitta and vata body types. So many girls think that just because they are not pencil thin, tall and lanky - they are not beautiful. Kapha body types will never look like Vata body types (thin, long and lanky). Pitta body types (more muscular, with fine, straight light colored hair) will never look like Kapha types (beautiful round faces with curly hair).
3 - Know the value of your girlfriends. Know how important they are to you. You may marry, and go on to your careers, but the friends you have in childhood are very special. They will be with you throughout your life, marking your life transitions with you and helping you through some very difficult ones. Be a good friend as well. Give back to you friends, to family and to your community. 478-9592
Dr. Lisa Hosbein, Functional Medicine
1. Eat adequate amounts of high quality protein! For a teenage girl this would be 40 to 50 grams daily. An egg or a half a hamburger contains 7 to 8 grams of protein. Why should teenage girls eat "high quality" protein? All protein containing foods are not created equal. For example, turkey and other types of meat and fish contain a healthy balance of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). While tofu is quite low in the very important amino acid tryptophan,
turkey is very high. If anyone needs tryptophan, it is teenage girls. The neurotransmitter serotonin is made from tryptophan. Adequate levels of serotonin can prevent depression and moodiness. This is why high quality proteins such as chicken, beef, fish and eggs are good mood foods. Besides keeping us happy, high quality proteins are the tools used by our livers to process and remove toxins from the body.
2. Eat breakfast and include some protein!
3. Spend at least 30 minutes a day moving around (eg walking, running) outside in the fresh air. 916-498-0405
Stephen Linsteadt, N.H.D. Doctor of Natural Health
Of particular concern for teenage girls is bone density. Girls gain almost half of their total bone mineral content during adolescence. The amount of exercise and bone building minerals females get during these years is important in providing strength and density to the ball and socket structure of the hip joint – crucial factors in the prevention of hip fractures due to osteoporosis in post menopausal women. Female hormones play an important role in bone density and strength. Excess hormones from the pill and environmental estrogen mimickers can cause hormone-producing organs to atrophy contributing to hormone crashes and osteoporosis often experienced during and after menopause. This is why I believe the three most important things girls can do while they are young is:
1. to get plenty of exercise;
2. make sure you are taking a bone building supplement that contains all of the synergistic micronutrients necessary for proper calcium absorption;
3. reduce, as far as possible, the exposure to external sources of estrogen (the pill, animal protein, pesticides, plastics, etc.). Dr. Linsteadt is giving an in-depth presentation on this subject at the Madelyn Helling Library room, April 7th at 7pm. 477-6956.
Sarah Woerner, MD
VALUE YOUR HEALTH -- Recognize that feeling good in a healthy body is one of life's biggest gifts. If one values physical health, then good habits naturally follow -- eating healthy foods, exercising, getting enough SLEEP, and avoiding self-mutilation and toxic drugs.
TREASURE RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS - Realize that these are infinitely more important than material goods--they provide the support and safety net that get women through life’s many trials. There will be times when it is important to recognize that sacrificing personal wants for the benefit of a loved one will always pay off in the future.
KEEP THAT SENSE OF HUMOR! - No matter how bad things seem, stepping back and smiling after getting through a crisis will help to get you through the darkest times. Ultimately, we are all transients on this earth, and humor is a powerful remedy for fear of the future "unknown". Children often laugh and play when the adults around them are emotionally distraught - remember the child within you, and do not forget to play! 272-9780
Healing Journeys is a column written by Suzie Daggett for the Grass Valley Union newspaper. Suzie interviews a variety of health practitioners most Fridays in the Wellness section. Click here to read past articles prior to 2005. Enter "Suzie Daggett" in the search box to get listing of all articles. |
