You may not realize it, but food affects your mood. When you don't eat or when you don't eat healthy - your mood changes drastically. That's your body trying desperately to tell you something - and your loved ones and coworkers get brunt of it! Your mood isn’t only area that will improve - digestive system works better, too. Our digestive systems aren't designed to work on overload. As a matter of fact, overeating/under eating is unhealthy for all of internal organs. By eating only a few times a day, our natural reflex is to stuff ourselves. Give your body food in small amounts and your insides will appreciate it much more.

Let's face it, eating more often takes time and thought. But it's very possible and when you put a little thought into what you're doing you tend to do it better. You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll begin to learn about nutrition when you focus on it a little bit. Once you begin eating frequently, your body will respond quickly. Pretty soon you won't be able to go more than 3 hours without something to eat - that's a good thing. Your body will tell you what it needs and when.

Eating in this way will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone. What have you got to loose - except weight and bad habits! Challenge yourself to this method and see what happens. It'll also make a great topic for conversation.

© By Monique Rider 2001

With so many people working for hours on computer, we are seeing more and more people with wrist and hand pain. Using information just mentioned above, examine muscles that move hand. The muscles of forearm originate at, or near, elbow. They then insert in hand and wrist. The muscles on top of arm are called "extensors", and muscles on underside of arm are called "flexors". When flexors contract hand is pulled into a fist, &/or hand moves down. When extensors contract hand &/or finger are pulled up. If you grip your forearm with your opposite hand, then wiggle your fingers, and open & close your hand, you will feel flexors & extensors contracting. Also, if you move your hand side to side you will also feel muscles that are responsible for that motion.

These are very powerful muscles, and they are being used repetitively for many hours daily. After work if you go home and play tennis, or piano, crochet or play computer games, you are again contracting these muscles over and over. Eventually you have pain at your wrist, and you are told you have carpal tunnel syndrome. In reality you have repetitive strain injury (RSI) of forearm muscles.

At Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center we use an analogy that helps our patients understand why pain is felt so far from spasm. If you pulled your hair at end you wouldn¹t feel it there, you would feel it at scalp where it inserts. If you pulled it for a very long time you would eventually get an inflammation, swelling, and pain would radiate away from point of insertion. Exactly same thing is happening in your wrist.

When muscles of forearm contract, and stay in contracted position due to spasms, strain is put on insertion point at wrist. Eventually you end up with an inflammation and swelling. Since all flexor tendons travel through carpal tunnel, they cause pain and swelling in that area. You are diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, but quickest and easiest therapy is to release muscle. Surgery will open bridge to carpal tunnel, but muscles will still be putting strain on insertion points.

Another muscle that has a serious impact on carpal tunnel is muscle of thumb. This is meaty muscle that is felt at base of thumb, called Opponens Pollicis. The Opponens Pollicis originates at ligament that forms bridge of carpal tunnel, and it inserts at base of your thumb. When this muscle contracts you draw your thumb in toward your palm. You use this muscle many thousands of times a day and you never stretch it. It is extremely common for this muscle to contract, and stay in shortened position. When that happens it is pulling hard on bridge to carpal tunnel and is pressing down on median nerve. You now experience numbness in your thumb and first two fingers. Releasing tension in this muscle will also release pressure on median nerve.

It is vital to work on muscles of forearm. Each individual muscle spasms needs to be worked out. These are deep muscles, a light massage won¹t be as effective as deep muscle therapy. Proper therapy, and stretching all of muscles, has proven to completely heal this condition without surgery.