Instrumentalists, dancers and athletes depend on muscle and tendon flexibility for top performance. If you need to do yoga just to function–this is not optimal. If muscles and tendons are overly stiff, it may be due to a nutrient-poor diet and poor digestion.
In my 30’s, I had a lot of trouble with muscle and tendon stiffness. Without a daily yoga regime, I felt like my arms, back and fingers were stuck. In my 40’s when I became deathly ill with a digestive disorder resulting from years of eating a high-fiber/low-fat “healthy diet” and turned to easy-to-digest, traditional, nutrient-dense foods to heal, I noticed that eventually all of my stiffness melted away. So–in my 50’s I am more flexible than ever before!
Weston A. Price’s research on healthy cultures worldwide determined the nutritional elements that are necessary for optimal health. Most people today are following a high-fiber/low-fat diet thinking that this is healthy. However, this kind of diet was not even close to the kind of diets that Price found in optimally healthy populations. To the contrary, all 14 healthy cultures, though their diets were all different, consumed ample traditional fats and nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods that provided over 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D and 30 times the amount of other vitamins compared to diets in the US. Price found that without adequate traditional fat (butter, cream, lard, coconut oil) and Vitamin A and D from natural sources in the diet, you could not absorb the nutrients in your foods–no matter how good the diet.
Below are some of the basic elements of a good diet:
- Nutrient-dense foods such as meats, poultry, eggs and dairy from animals eating their natural diets and traditionally made bone broth soups
- Foods that help the digestive system function properly and promote good intestinal flora for optimal nutrient absorption. Examples of these are old fashioned probiotic, high-enzyme foods include cultured dairy–whole fat kefir and yogurt; lacto-fermented vegetables–homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets and cultured drinks like kombucha and beet kvass.
- Third, traditional fats like butter, cream and coconut oil which help with nutrient absorption, cell integrity and hormone function.
- Fourth, adequate vitamin A and D from natural sources like cod liver oil, egg yolks and liver also for nutrient absorption
For more information on traditional, nutrient-dense foods for optimal health and a healing diet see www.performancewithoutpain.com.
Best in health,
Kathryne Pirtle