Our very own Naturopath, Dr. Allison Willette speaks at The Pilates Studio

Our first Mat Chat was a great success!!!  The community at The Pilates Studio only gets better as we strive to learn new information and to think outside of the box or the bucket as Dr. Willette would say. This Mat Chat was a wonderful introduction to Dr. Willette's practice which she will be building at the Pilates Studio.  For those that missed it the energy and questions around the Mat Chat have been filling the pilates sessions at the studio.   How was the Mat Chat?  What did she say?  What does she think about soy milk?  There have been so many questions that we are developing an Ask Allison section of our newsletter.  Simply email your questions to the studio, and we will pass the questions on to Dr. Allison Willette! 

In case you didn’t make it to the chat, I wanted to post as much as I could remember…The information was so plentiful!  It was fabulous to learn about another model with which to learn about the body.  Dr. Willette even extended a little challenge for all of us…Don’t worry you won’t be left out I’ll outline the challenge below and so that everyone can participate!

The first note I took was a quote.  Dr. Willette was speaking about her background in nursing and then she spoke of her desire for something else.  She said, “I just thought there has got to be something between medication and surgery.”  I love this quote.  It speaks about wellness, about preventative non-invasive care that we are so fond of here at The Pilates Studio!

She went on to explain a metaphor to us.  The bucket metaphor:  The bucket metaphor speaks to the body’s intake of stresses (whether they are bacterial, viral, emotional, or physical), and when the bucket is full it overflows into illness.  Thus we have to make sure our body’s bucket has healthy release of these stresses through the emunctory organs (kidneys, liver, lungs, colon, and skin) Thus to prevent the bucket from overflowing, we need to make sure our body’s pathways of release are clear. 

Emunctories

First the kidneys – hydrate! hydrate! hydrate!  The kidneys remove toxins from the body, and it is much easier for them to do this if we are hydrated.  Of course I’m typing this as I drink my coffee, but moderation is everything right?  Well the rule of thumb is drink half your body weight in ounces of water. So if you weight 160 pounds you would drink 80 ounces of water.  The kicker is that if you drink a cup of coffee or a glass of wine (both diuretics) then you would also need to replace that in water. 

Next the Lungs – Lungs move the air, they aid in circulation, which is the body’s way of cleaning the cells.  The breath is an indicator of emotional and physical stress.   Dr. Willette gave us a tip on those days when you just need to calm down.  Inhale for six counts and exhale for seven counts.  If you’ve taken class with me you may have heard the term stuck on the inhale, and this little tip is a great way to get all of the air out!!!

Now the Skin – Dr. Willette said, “The skin is the first to complain and the last to heal.”  Cleanliness is important but so is exfoliating.  The skin is constantly clearing itself of toxins and the more you exfoliate the faster they are cleared.

COLON – Need I say more?  We all know the colon is eliminating and that regular movement is necessary but Dr. Willette added something that was new information to me.  I knew that the small intestine was absorbing nutrients from the food, but the colon is also absorbing…But if you think of what is in the colon, you will want regular movement to prevent too much absorption…Now there’s something to think about!

Liver – We often hear of the liver when speaking about Alcohol but we also need to consider other toxins that the liver is charged with clearing.  Pesticides on produce is one of the other sources.  I appreciated Dr. Willette’s acknowledgement that organic food is important yet more expensive.   She mentioned www.EWG.org which lists the “dirty dozen”  The produce that it is most important to buy organic, as opposed to the produce in which the pesticides are not as worrisome.

Dr. Willette was full of other tips to!

·      Eat Sitting Down

·      Vinegar before meals

·      Veggies at breakfast

·      Eat fermented food: Kefir, kiminchee, kambucha, sauerkraut (if my mom is reading this she will just shake her head in memory of the many times she tried to get me to eat sauerkraut in my childhood…)

Now here is our challenge!  

·      Eat 6 fruits and vegetables a day

·      Drink water – keep track of how much

·      Stop eating bread for two weeks

·      Think of 4 non-food rewards

·      Take a fifteen minute walk outside no matter what the weather – Dr. Willette said “Walk the dog everyday even if you don’t have a dog!”

It’s tricky.  I’m trying it and doing pretty well, and the feedback I’ve heard from others that attended is that everybody has their challenge.  For instance, I drink a lot of water and I love my veggies so those two parts of the challenge do not seem like much of a stretch, yet I do not like to walk in the rain and it rained for three days after the talk so I’m behind on that one.   Then again, today is a lovely day so I am going to consider my health and walk outside, and maybe I’ll look into investing in a raincoat!!!

Remember ASK ALLISON!  Send us your questions!  

And if you want more information about Dr. Willette's practice, please call The Pilates Studio 413-586-3504.