CELLULITE AND SHIATSU
Shiatsu is a Japanese word meaning ‘finger pressure’ – healing with hands. It grew from earlier forms of massage, called Anma in Japan (Anmo or Tuina in China). This involved rubbing, stroking, squeezing, tapping, pushing and pulling to influence the muscles and circulatory systems of the body. To the observer it would appear that little is happening, merely a still, relaxed pressure at various points on the body with the hand or thumb.
The role of Shiatsu therapists is to diagnose and then treat according to the principles of Oriental medicine. It is a holistic philosophy, involving an understanding of Yin (where energy is expanding) and Yang (where energy is contracting). For readers, I recommend The Book of Shiatsu by Paul Lundberg.
Although my book is not written from the perspective of traditional Oriental medicine, we agree on many things. For example,
Shiatsu teaches that there are seven main chakras (energy centres) found in the mid-line down the body. Energy is channeled from both ends. Each chakra has a component of each aura and it comprises a centre of consciousness, as follows:
• The crown chakra – concerned with the pineal gland which controls right eyeand upper brain
• The brow chakra – linked to the pituitary gland which controls the left eye, lower brain, nose and nervous system • The throat chakra – concerned with the thyroid gland and governs the lymphatic system, hands, arms, shoulders, mouth, vocal chords, lungs and throats
• The heart chakra – concerned with the thymus gland and controls the heart, breasts, vagus nerve and circulation system
• The solar plexus – concerned with the pancreas and controls the spleen, gallbladder, liver, digestive system and stomach
• The base chakra – concerned with tfte adrenal glands. It controls the skeleton,
parasympathic and sympathetic nervous systems, bladder and kidneys
food can be divided into three main types: those that are ‘balanced’, and some that are Yin and some that are Yang.
For another perspective on my chapter on diet consider:
• Yin foods are – milk, alcohol, oil, honey, sugar, fruit juices, stimulants, spices, tropical vegetables and fruit, refined foods and most chemical additives.
• Yang foods are – poultry, eggs, seafood, salt, fish, meat, miso and cheese.
• Balanced foods are – seeds, nuts, cereal, grains, vegetables, beans, sea vegetables and temperate fruits.
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CELLULITE AND ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
Avoid alcohol most of the time. All alcohol is bad for your weight-loss program. All beer, wine and spirits will send your calorie counter through the roof. Cocktails are worse – being mixed with two types of strong liquor, plus flavourings and whatever else tricks up the drink.
Furthermore, not even alcohol is free from preservatives. Most red wine contains preservatives (including 220) which gives some people allergies.
Nevertheless, people enjoy a drink. In fact, a drink can change your level of consciousness, which can sometimes be fun.
But if you’re a bit of a drinker, I’m sorry to say you can’t afford to ‘break out’ any more – not if you’re serious about losing cellulite. They say alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions – and it’s true. Alcohol also helps break your resolutions.
Balance this advice with what we said in chapter three about ‘not being too radical’ and follow this rule when you’re at a party: drink half as many alcoholic drinks as usual. You can count them, but it’s easier to simply drink a glass of pure water ever) second drink.
Some people say that an occasional drink is good for the system, but if you drink every day, that’s bad for your cellulite-loss program. The effects of alcohol stay in your system for about four days.
Watch out though – being a ‘tolerance drug’, once you start cutting your intake of alcohol, it starts to affect you much quicker. We’ve all heard of people who can drink a whole bottle of whisky, or a couple of bottles of wine, and still walk home. That’s only because they’re used to it. They have developed a tolerance, even though their livers never will.
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CELLULITE: SHAPE UP!
I believe that an exercise program that does not include weight training is incomplete. Weights are good for you, both physically and mentally.
Weight training does not result in conspicuous muscles, like a female wrestler. Lifting weights will make you shape up, not take on a male body shape. Weight training is for every adult, including men and women in their 60s and 70s. It is necessary in order for the body to perform tasks it was designed, and needs to do. And it will help shift cellulite. I work out with weights at least three hours a week and I have not got big shoulders because I train in a particular way. If I wanted muscles I would have trained heavier.
I lift weights. I do it to maintain my bone density, and also to keep cellulite under control.
When you do weight bearing exercise you’re also giving yourself good bone density to battle osteoporosis and other degenerative bone diseases that may hit you later in life.
Advice: Have someone design a proper exercise routine before you attempt weights. It’s easy to get it wrong – or worse, to hurt yourself.
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CELLULITE SOLLUTION: SUMMARY
• Think: I’m doing something positive now. How am I going to handle it?
• Think: I’m definitely going to walk. Morning if I can, because my metabolism is going to start working, so whatever I eat for
the rest of the day is going to burn up a lot faster.
• So get up early.
• Go for your walk.
• Get ready and go off to work, (or get the kids ready, or whatever you’ve got to do).
• Start running up stairs at work instead of catching the lift, especially when it’s only a couple of flights.
• Make your legs work a little harder – start toning them because as you start losing cellulite you’ll want nice shapely legs underneath. (You need to do weight-bearing exercises to get that effect.)
• If you’re not a sporty person – walk. A lot of people who are not prepared to play sport will walk.
• And while you’re doing all that, remember that the fastest way to lose cellulite is through interval framing. Keep that at the back of your mind. You might like to consider interval training later on as you get fitter, prouder and more ambitious.
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USEFUL FACTS ABOUT CELLULITE
• The ‘only’ cure
We hear claims by the various marketing departments that herbal medication or liposuction or electrotherapy is the only treatment needed for getting rid of cellulite. That’s not true, even though in some instances those treatments have certainly been helpful.
If you were to use one, and only one, treatment program, exercise and correct diet is without a doubt the most effective.
• Swimming does little to shift cellulite
Swimming is very good for heart and lung exercises, but not specifically for shifting cellulite.
In fact, people with cellulite (and excess fat) can be fantastic swimmers – for example, the people who cross the English Channel. Those swimmers need that fat to insulate their bodies and – of course – being swimmers, they would have fantastic heart and lung condition.
• The Elvis Syndrome
Even though celebrities have more time on their hands to manage the problem, even the Beautiful People get cellulite. In fact, a lot of celebrities have appeared on front covers, sometimes not on very good cellulite days.
Even Demi Moore had cellulite. She had it in her thighs. However, Moore is a great example of someone who handled the problem quickly and efficiently. She went on a strict exercise routine and I take my hat off to her because she looked fantastic after she did that.
Cellulite is one of the most misunderstood beauty problems plaguing modern women, even though throughout time women have always been portrayed with a fuller figure depicting cellulite quite clearly.
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