So it’s the New Year.  Hope you have a happy one.

Every year, I sit down and spend some time reflecting over the previous year and setting out some goals for the new year. It’s a great exercise and chance to practice thankfulness, to realize that I am blessed, and to lay out a framework for the things that I want to improve or change.   In the health department, I’ve had one big goal over the past few years – to live clean.  In 2012 I cleaned up my diet.  In 2013, I worked on changing up the products I put on my skin and hair.  2014 was all about replacing toxic cleaning products for natural ones.  And this year, I will create a natural medicine cabinet and explore the wonderful world of essential oils for health.

I find that making huge changes to health all at once can be overwhelming, confusing, and discouraging.  That’s why I encourage you to focus all your energies on changing just one thing.  Health is created (or destroyed) in the little day to day decisions that we make.  It’s all about taking baby steps.  Consistently and persistently.

What we eat, what we put on our bodies, what we inhale in the air….these all factors work together to create an internal environment that is either stressed or healthy.   When it comes to pelvic health, did you know that a number of conditions can be triggered by chemicals circulating in our system?  These chemicals disrupt the balance of our hormones and can lead or contribute to painful pelvic conditions.

As a physio working in pelvic health, I am aware that the pelvis and its contents make up just one part of the body.   It shouldn’t be viewed independently because it works synergistically with everything else.  If the problem is an unhealthy, burdened, out-of-balance system, then no amount of pelvic floor exercises will fix it!

If you’re dealing with endometriosis, painful periods, interstitial cystitis, pelvic pain with sex, vaginal dryness, burning, itching, infertility, recurrent UTIs, yeast infections, constipation, IBS….there is a lot of evidence to suggest that an inflammatory diet, unbalanced hormones, and chemical triggers play a huge role in your pelvic health or lack there-of.

Jessica Drummond is a pelvic health physio who has some great resources for women to heal from pelvic pain through lifestyle and diet change.  http://integrativepelvichealthinstitute.com

Also check out http://www.lifebydesignapproved.com/ for a holistic approach to health – how we move, what we consume, how we think….it all impacts our health.

Last link: http://www.womensvoices.org/avoid-toxic-chemicals/

Here is to a happy and healthy new year!!!