Note To A Friend: TAM Micro-Adjustments For Better Health
- Paul Rooney
- May 4
- 9 min read
Updated: May 5
I was asked by a patient I have seen for over 20 years, if I had some health advice they could give to their son who was not doing well, something to help at least one part of their struggle. This is what I wrote for her to give to her son. The following is my synthesis of Traditional Asian Medicine lifestyle adjustments and personal insights from decades of patient care. Think of this as a best practices for a person to have the speediest recovery from dysfunction and to build health resilience. I hope you find value from it.
Good health is about retaining agency for as long as possible. We start out in life helpless and end it in a similar state but it is the large middle part of our life’s arc that we are able to have some control. In Traditional Asian Medicine there is a 2,500 year old grouping of health advice for patients to do at home and can account for upwards of 75% of success in overcoming health issues. They are translated as the Three Free Therapies (it sounds better in Mandarin) and are a kind of DIY for healthcare.
They are broadly broken down as;
· Correct Diet – for gut and metabolic health
· Correct Exercise – for musculoskeletal health
· Correct Relaxation – for mental and nervous system health
Since beginning my clinical practice in 1997, I have found the guidelines to have, by far, the best reward to effort ratio in healthcare and are something that I teach to patients on a daily basis.
Correct Diet:
1. Keep all sugars to <20 grams per day. If it has a label, it counts. This is the #1 way to improve all aspects of your health. Decrease sugar to decrease inflammation via the Vagus nerve. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2020.1747046
2. No red dye 40 (RD40), especially for kids. It has negative effects on ADHD, migraines, inflammation, immune function, and inflammatory bowel disorders. https://brieflands.com/articles/mejrh-130751
3. Avoid chocolate. You don’t need a cardiac stimulant (theobromine) or the noradrenaline spike and it may be a hormone disruptor. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235236462300010X
4. Eat a cup of fresh or frozen blueberries every day. Unbelievable nutrient profile and crosses the blood-brain barrier. Strong antioxidant.
5. Eat modified Paleo diet – Avoid grains of all kinds. Eat mainly protein and veggies. Starches, when wanted, are in small amounts and come from root vegetables and squashes. https://www.noom.com/blog/paleo-diet-food-list/
6. Eat locally sourced, home cooked meals. Get a crockpot/instant pot/pressure cooker and use it. https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/most-shared-slow-cooker-recipes/
7. Eat seasonally. Cooling foods and spices in summer and warming foods and spices when it is cold.
8. Minimize raw veggies, they are hard to digest properly. Steam/cook veggies until their color becomes vibrant. They will still be crunchy but because the heat has broken down the cellulose wall, the nutrients will be easier for the body to absorb. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nbu.12584
9. Use and eat free range/organic animal and nut fats. The body depends on these as healthy hormone building blocks and do not cause adverse health effects. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0146280622003826
10. Get rid of your non-stick pans, the coating is toxic. C8, a compound in PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substance – a ‘forever chemical’) coating is linked to several types of cancers, birth defects, decreased immune system, and lower testosterone in men when heated above 464℉. Scratches to the surface also increase PFAS toxin and micro plastic release. The fumes are also deadly to birds. No canaries in the kitchen. It’s simple, warm up your steel pan, when warm add your tallow/oil and heat that up while swirling the pan, then after the oil is heated up to temp, add your ingredients. Voila, a non-toxic, non-stick surface.
Correct Exercise:
1. Walk 15-60 minutes every day. Humans need to walk like sharks need to swim. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-evolved-to-exercise/ Walking in different weather builds physical and mental resiliency. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-023-05112-z Add a walking group to your daily rotation and get added benefits to your Vagus nerve. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938403001562
2. Stretch twice a day. Light stretches morning and evening helps both the body and the mind with the rest-work and work-rest transitions. Dr. A. Huberman’s protocol is 3 sets of 30 to 60 second static hold per muscle group. https://www.hubermanlab.com/newsletter/stretching-protocols-to-increase-flexibility-and-support-general-health Learning which stretches are most beneficial for you and their correct form from an experienced physical therapist is money well spent.
3. Exercises which move the whole body through space is more effective. In the gym this means swimming, rowing, any olympic lifts, squats, deadlifts, bench press, burpees, push-ups and chin-ups give you the best effort to reward ratio. In sports, the more major muscle groups involved, the better. https://pccblog.dragondoor.com/how-bodyweight-exercises-use-your-brain-to-create-strength/
4. The blue light of early morning and red light of an evening fire are import triggers for melatonin release and other functions related to the body’s circadian rhythm. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/what-color-light-helps-you-sleep#:~:text=Warm%20hues%20of%20red%2C%20orange,the%20body%20in%20unique%20ways.
5. Exercise your brain by switching things up. Making your brain create new synaptic pathways (synaptogenesis) to adapt to new stimuli is one of the most powerful ways to increase neuroplasticity and avoid cognitive/memory disorders.
From learning a new language to giving juggling a try, studies show a range of skills which increase plasticity. https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(11)00918-4.pdf I practice Pekiti Tirsia Kali, a Filipino martial art which wields a weapon in each hand. It’s a complex version of walking and chewing gum but with blades and after an hour my brain feels like it’s had a hard workout. An easier implementation would be to use your off hand to brush your teeth every day. It will be slower but that is because the change is making the brain create new pathways in order to complete the task. Another easy way is to change your travel route to and from work every couple of days. Rotate the routes when you find yourself zoning out. Make your brain work.
Correct Relaxation:
1. Commit to 10 minutes, twice per day, of meditation/prayer tied to the breath. One method I was taught in my monastery in Thailand: After getting comfortable, take three slow, deep breaths. Once the mind has settled, let the breath become normalized. Letting the breath do what it wants to do, count to yourself, “one” on the first in-breath and “two” on the out-breath. With every breath in you continue the count, “three” and next outbreath, “four”. Keeping your attention only on counting the in and out-breaths, try to get up to “ten”. While you are counting the breaths and focusing on the count, if your mind wanders (and it will very easily) to any other sensation or subject, make note of it and start over at “one” on the next in-breath. Don’t worry, in the beginning it’s very common for the mind to wander within the first breath or two.
I tell patients that meditation is like yoga, it’s about the work not the goal. Even if for the entire 10 minutes you never get past “3”, it is a success. There is no failure because doing is success. Proficiency comes later. Calming and focusing the mind is a skill and like any skill, needs practice to get better. When I was taught this method, I was told that whether you feel like the meditation session was a constant battle to focus or you felt amazingly calm and centered, it was a success. You put in the time and results will follow when they follow.
Another breathing meditation was taught to me by a friend of mine who is a catholic priest. It is very similar to the counting meditation only in this version you say to yourself a part of scripture (Mathew) on the in and out-breath. As you breathe in, “Here I am Lord” and on the out-breath, “I come to do thy will”. Do this for ten minutes, refocusing the attention back onto the breath and words when the mind wanders.
2. Do your vagal exercises daily. They take less than 90 seconds, twice a day and their benefits far outweigh the time invested. It works to increase vagal tone which benefits your physical and mental wellness. It signals to the body to de-stress and acts as a brake of the sympathetic (stress responder) nervous system. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-does-the-vagus-nerve-do/
3. Hum throughout the day and especially when you are stressed. Humming signals to your Vagus nerve that everything is ok and puts a brake on sympatric (flight, fight, or freeze) responses. Humming increases vagal tone which decreases resting heart rate, decreases cortisol release, and improves mood. Change up the song hummed every now and then. Any kind of stimulus to the nervous system needs to be changed up in some way to be effective. When stimulation becomes rote, it loses its effect. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4160179/#:~:text=The%20vagus%20nerve%20is%20also,tone%20to%20low%20cortisol%20level.
4. Learn a new skill every year. This strengthens neuroplasticity which means a healthy a brain. You don’t have a goal of mastery, simply shoot for advanced beginner. Learning those stretches counts. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eleonora-Guglielman/publication/255180453_The_Ageing_Brain_Neuroplasticity_and_Lifelong_Learning/links/004635200d0a4c7553000000/The-Ageing-Brain-Neuroplasticity-and-Lifelong-Learning.pdf
5. Practice moving short term memories to long-term using a few simple techniques. This dovetails nicely with the daily vagal exercises as the Vagus forms, transmits, and strengthens long term memories which are stored in the cerebral cortex. These techniques are a form of meditation as we are shutting out the jabbering mind while shifting consciously chosen short term memories into long term ones. Ever say “I wish I could remember this forever”? Studies show that you can both consciously pick which short term memories to move over to long term and there is no found limit to the number of memories which we store. You can think of this as a type of visualization meditation where concentration makes this easier since the more of your senses you can involve in the recalling techniques, the richer the long-term memory. This is why the more you practice the breath counting meditation, the easier this process becomes. https://www.usa.edu/blog/science-backed-memory-tips/
6. Learn three different breathing techniques (btw, this also counts for a new skill learned) so you can control a situation, not a situation control you. Learn one to rev up the sympathetic nervous system when energy, focus and increased reaction time is needed. In general, this type will emphasize the inhale. An example of this is the ‘breath of fire’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv8kBuoQPOA&t=82s
The next type of breathing technique would be one that puts your nervous system into a neutral state. This type will have an even emphasis on the in breath as the out breath. Its benefits are; calming the mind, lowering heart rate, and increasing concentration. A well researched type of neutral breathing is ‘box breathing’ https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-box-breathing
The third type of breathing you should learn is one that activates your Vagus nerve to put you in a deep state of relaxation. By slowing, extending, and/or holding the exhale, you give your body the signal that there are no active external threats and can focus on your internal environment. Among the benefits, digestive disorders are helped the most (vagal gut-brain connection) out of all three of the breathing types It also slows heart rate, decreases anxiety, and promotes sounder sleep. An example is ‘belly breathing’, also called ‘diaphragmatic breathing’. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/9445-diaphragmatic-breathing#:~:text=as%20you%20breathe.-,Breathe%20in%20slowly%20through%20your%20nose%20so%20that%20your%20stomach,remain%20as%20still%20as%20possible. Lastly, here is a link to a great, evidence based podcast on breathing from a neurobiology professor at Stanford School of Medicine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4m_PdFbu-s
7. Lastly, and just as the very first change (<20gr sugar/day) gives you the best improvement for your body and mind, this last one is the best thing you can do for your spirit.
Practice listening to your subconscious, it is the data output, the voice of your Vagus nerve. Unlike your sympathetic nervous system’s voice, your subconscious has a very low failure rate. Think of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) as the rather shrill, day-to-day chatter going on all the time in the foreground of our minds. The Vagus nerve’s voice has quite a different tone. Running in the background, it is deep, soft, and wise. It speaks in images, sensations, and a form of knowing. It is easily drowned out by the short-term blathering of the SNS so we need to bring the voice forward by giving it our attention and acknowledgement.
I have found the following to be a successful way to practice: At the end of each meditation/relaxation session, ask yourself a question pertaining to your life. The biological quantum computer that is your Vagus will give you an answer. The tone of the answer will be different from your day-to-day internal dialogue, and it will be unambiguous. Since your subconscious does not speak, it will show you in images, sensations, or simply a knowing. Once you experience this, outwardly verbalize the answer as a way to make your consciousness pay more attention.
The more you pay attention to your own inner advisor, the clearer the advisor becomes. By making it a priority to the conscious mind, neural pathways and connections grow. Think of it like you are expanding the bandwidth so more information can reach the forward part of your consciousness faster. Whenever you feel your subconscious speak, whether you follow it or not, say what it is out loud. This helps signal importance and will increase your ability to ‘hear’ it.
As a personal example, the other day I was setting up my BBQ and needed to chop some chips off a cherry log for smoking. I went inside, and when I opened the knife drawer, my attention immediately went to the cut resistant glove. My Vagus nerve run subconscious said, ‘glove’ by making me stare at it for a few seconds. My sympathetic chatter said, ‘hmm, oh well, what about the tongs you need?’ and off I went, tongs in hand, back outside to use my hatchet to get some cherry chips. Not 60 seconds later I was inside, wrapping my bleeding finger in paper towels while I looked for some butterfly bandages to close the wound.
Listening to your subconscious is a process of practice. Luckily, this part of your mind is patient and nonjudgmental, always there to help us maneuver through this world. Listen to it and it will pay dividends far beyond the effort given.
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