Work out your personal vitality rating

Every few months a new super food seems to emerge into the public domain.  Avocado seems to have caught the british public's imagination as sales soar.  With Avocado the hype seems to be justified. The fruit slows down and even reverses metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions -

• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• high blood pressure
• high body mass index (i.e. overweight)

Metabolic syndrome can lead to diabetes and heart disease. Avocado's bignest impact is on lipids, or fats, as it can alter levels of HDL and LDL cholesterol, trigylcerides and phospholipids. Researches who reviewed studies of Avocado say there is strong evidence that the fruit has all the ingredients to counter symtoms of metabolic syndrome.   It should be noted that the whole fruit that was studied including the peel, stone, flesh and leaves. Research J Tabeshpour, BM Razavi, H Husseingzadeh, 2017, Effects of Avacado (Persea americana) on Metabolic Syndrome: A comprehensive Systemic Review, Phytotherapy Research, Vol 31, Issue 6, pg 819-837  

Here are some top tips on how to live to 100.  These tips are from Dr Claudia Kawas at the University of California, on of the world's leading scientific researchers into longevity and scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and the scientists working on the Blue Zone project. Scientists studying lonevity are tyring to answer the question why doesn one person live until they are 94 while another dies at 75.  Dr Claudia Kawas has spent 15 years studying "super-agers" - those who live until into their nineties and beyond while keeping their minds sharp.  By studying the lifestyles of these "super-agers" scientists have discovered some common lifestyle habits and traits including:

1. Drinking two cups of coffee a day
2. Don't over eat
3. Get out and socialise including talking to strangers
4. Drink two glases of wine a day
5. 15 mins of light exercise a day
6. Positive thinking or optimistic outlook in life
7. Resilience when bad things happen
8. Having a purpose/ belief in life
9. Put others including family first
10. Be with the "right" people for you
11. Healthy eating i.e. more plant based diets

References Nature, 2017; 546 (7660); E8; doi: 10.1038/nature22786

One of the most frequent questions I am asked by clients, is "will reflexology help my foot pain/tension or plantart fasciitis"? Reflexology is a whole body treatment, where the therapists stimulates reflex points on the feet to effect healing in the corresponding parts of the body. Reflexology allows the body to rebalance, which assists you to:

• De-stress
• Improve your sleeping patterns
• Reduce anxiety
• Calm an over active mind
• Relax the body to aid digestion

Reflexology does not work on the muscles of the feet. So the short answer is no, reflexology does not help with foot pain/tension or Plantar Fasciitis. (For more information on Plantar Fasciitis see previous blog post >> http://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/blog/heel-pain-part-1) If you have any aches, pains or tension in either of your feet then a deep tissue leg massage is the best treatment for you. The reason for treating the whole leg, rather than just the foot is that some of the muscles that control the foot i.e. flex or extend it start just under the knee and the same is true for the some of the muscles that control the toes. This is why if a client comes to Vitality Therapy with a foot issue we always massage the leg as well as the foot. So if you have problem with your feet why not book in for a deep tissue leg massage.