You worked hard to look and feel good during the summer months, you watched your diet to get healthy and slim down and now the days are shorter, colder and the holidays loom on horizon with threats of parties, family stress, large meals, fattening deserts, increased alcohol consumption and more. What to do? Sticking to the mission of good health and positive outlook are vital, and Jesse Cannone, Master Trainer and co-founder of The Healthy Back Institute, have a series of tips which can help survive a difficult time of the year under the best of conditions.

Reduce Holiday Stress & Negative Emotions: In numerous interviews, speeches and articles, Jesse Cannone notes that stress is a major cause of chronic physical and joint pain while contributing to injuries and exacerbating back conditions. It is one of the those trigger points that, in short bursts and building up over time, can usher in a range of disorders and major diseases. Having a set of strategies when confronted with stress will lessen the load and then allow one to retreat for meditation or prayer sessions after the fact. In an article on the HBI website Jesse Cannone suggests using scents like Lavender, Sweet Orange, Mandarin Oil or Geranium to reduce tension and anxiety. Having one of these handy, perhaps in a scented hankerchief, might help one get through family gatherings or other stressful proceedings unscathed.   

Don't Stop Exercising & Look for Muscle Imbalance: If you're on a steady exercise regimen, don't stop during the holidays as it will reduce stress, burn calories and decrease the likelihood of depression or anxiety. Even more important, and emphasized by Jesse Cannone no matter one's level of fitness, is to look for a muscle imbalance problem that might be holding one back from achieving fitness goals or causing unexplained injuries. At the age of 22, when Cannone was a busy fitness trainer, he was unaware of this and suffered a horrible knee injury that refused to heal. His research led him to discover muscle imbalance and took his life and career in a whole new direction. Muscle imbalance is a key factor as it can throw the whole body out of kilter and effect the spinal column, causing back pain and disrupt key messaging points from the brain through the spinal cord and on to major organs.  

Avoid Inflammatory Foods: Holiday festivities make it practically impossible to steer clear of inflammatory foods, but one must try and more info is better than less. While there are certain classes of food products that can be classified as inflammatory and best to be avoided, one must experiment to find out which particular foods produce pain and suffering. For example, Dr. Mark Wiley, who suffers from migraine headaches, noticed that Italian food was a big trigger that produced horrible migraine episodes and he now avoids those types of foods. The main groups of inflammatory food products are as follows: Processed and prepared foods—including fast food and convenience foods. White sugar that is commonly found in candy, baked goods, soft drinks and unfortunately many juices. Add to this that artificial sweeteners are a non-answer as they are also linked to serious health conditions. Avoiding sweets and limiting alcohol intake, with high sugar content while being bad for the liver, is the best strategy. Iodized salt is found everywhere, so during the holidays it is tough to avoid but in everyday life finding more natural forms will cut down inflammatory responses. Dairy products carry a double threat by being inflammatory and laced with antibiotics and hormones. Margarine, shortening and lard are like land mines lurking throughout the supermarket shelves, using  high-quality grass-fed butter, olive oil, or coconut oil is a winning tactic for reducing inflammation.  

Get Enough Sleep & Beware the Shadow Warriors: The first is necessary to keep the mind and body fresh and on top-of-the-game, the second is more difficult because family and friends have a knack for pushing our emotional buttons which elicit the most stressful reactions. In Zen philosophy, they warn about not letting the Shadow Warriors undermine progress or plans in a manner that damages or destroys lives. They might be well-meaning with bad advice or just looking to make themselves feel better by tearing others apart, either way they must be discounted, ignored or rejected outright in the interest of keeping positive energy in motion. Keep your guard up, come up with strategies that deflect psychological damage that may cascade into physical harm in the form of chronic pain or disease. In other words, don't let them win by either playing their game or letting it get under your skin!    

Here are three podcasts on stress reduction from an interview by Jesse Cannone of Dr. Greg Fors, an expert Chronic Pain Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and author of Why We Hurt: 

Life Triggers for Chronic Pain, Accident, Tragedy, Emotional Stress, Tests for Danger Signs in Body

Emotional & Spiritual Outlook & Chronic Pain, Dr. Greg Fors Gives Technical & Practical Explanation

Dr. Greg Fors says Get Warrior Spirit to Conquer Fibromyalgia & Widespread Chronic Pain Syndrome

About Dr. Jesse Cannone:

Jesse is the co-founder and visionary CEO of The Healthy Back Institute®, the world-leading source of natural back pain solutions. His mission as a former back pain sufferer is to help others live pain free without surgery and pharmaceuticals.

As a personal trainer and post-rehabilitation specialist, Jesse's hands-on work helped hundreds of clients with special conditions including stroke recovery, Parkinson's and back pain. His success at helping his clients avoid back surgery led him to collaborate with massage therapist Steve Hefferon and a hand-selected board of medical advisors to create the world's first self-assessment and self-treatment program for back pain and sciatica, the Lose the Back Pain® System.

Jesse's earned certifications include Post-Rehabilitation Specialist, Specialist in Performance Nutrition, Advanced Level Fitness Trainer and Master Fitness Trainer. Yet that was only the start of his ongoing journey of discovery. Jesse's passion for helping others find relief and improve their lives has led him to travel the world and interview dozens of world-renowned health experts in search of natural solutions for pain and improved health.

About Dr. David Hanscom:

Dr. Hanscom is a board certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in complex spine problems in all areas of the spine and author of Back in Control: A Spine Surgeon's Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain.  He has expertise in adult and pediatric spinal deformities such as scoliosis and kyphosis. A significant part of his practice is devoted to performing surgery on patients who have had multiple prior spine surgeries. He works for Swedish Neuroscience Specialists in Seattle, WA with eight neurosurgeons and a physiatrist.

DOCC Project:

He is the founder of the "DOCC" project. It stands for "Defined, Organized, Comprehensive, Care." This is a structured rehabilitation protocol for chronic pain, which involves:

Improving sleep

Managing stress

Engaging in long-term conditioning

Obtaining adequate pain control with aggressive medication management

Re-setting goals

Educating the patient so as to regain control of their decision making.

Learn more about the DOCC Project

Surgery?

Surgery is considered in the overall context of the rehabilition effort and is only performed on specific structural problems. He is working with Swedish Hospital in Seattle, WA to improve access to structured non-operative care.