By Sheila and Michael Shea
Headlines! 88% of Americans (of clients) have metabolic syndrome. We know this metabolic condition. I, Michael, was morbidly obese in my 20s and have a 100% military service-related PTSD disability. I, Sheila, spent my youth constipated and struggling with a serious eating disorder. This started us on a lifelong quest for answers. We started the Shea Metabolic Health Seminars (SMHS) in Phoenix and Tucson Arizona in 2015 to share our lifelong exploration.
Metabolism: We know metabolism best when we think of digestion, absorption and elimination in our gastrointestinal tract. Metabolism is a transformation of food to energy, a set of life sustaining chemical transformations within every cell in the body. With successful transformations, we grow, reproduce, stay strong, eliminate waste and respond appropriately to what is going on around us. Metabolism is the sum of all the chemical reactions in the body, including all our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and experiences.
The adventure of life has new rules. We have been led down the road to continuous processed food feedings every 2-3 hours and wonder why we have a pandemic of obesity and diabetes. No one is going to follow a diet when they are hungry! How do you quell hunger and craving? For starters, eat quality protein and fat that do not stimulate hunger and appetite. They satisfy it. Whatever you make in the kitchen, it’s real food not synthetic, processed and genetically modified.
Markers of metabolic syndrome: Metabolic Syndrome is a set of biological markers within us indicating deep metabolic ongoing damage to our bodies. The gut is the initial target with microbial infection from the stress of processed food and other environmental stressors. That damage is the gateway to the major degenerative worldwide pandemics: diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The markers:
Abdominal visceral fat.
High blood pressure.
Unregulated sugars and fats.
Fatty liver.
Acne.
Hyperinsulinemia
Mood disorders (depression, panic, anxiety, anger)
Causation: Sugar, seed oils, and processed foods.
Microbiome: Our microbiome includes a whole world of the microorganisms such as virus, fungi and bacteria existing in our intestines and our whole body. Pathogenic intestinal microbes have their own metabolism and give off acids, gasses and metabolites of the immune and endocrine systems. The microbiome of the gut must be transformed to a healthy one in the recovery from metabolic syndrome.
Shea Metabolic Health Seminars: The intention is to help people understand principles of metabolism that allow them to make better choices and thereby improve their health. Our metabolic mission has several goals: We help students connect their metabolism to their gut and how to create a healthy metabolism. We teach students how to develop individual and compassion treatment plans for each person. Shea Metabolic Health Seminars is focused on new manual therapy systems to effect body metabolism in the gut, the source. The bodywork encompasses abdominal massage, Chi Nei Tsang and visceral manipulation.
SMHS has 6 courses spread out over three years. They may be taken in any sequence that fits the student’s schedule. In 2020, our two seminars focus first on visceral internal organ detoxification and then, the second, is on pelvic health. We tackle Inflammatory Bowel Disease with the hypothesis that one has to heal the gut wall to heal their whole system first. Water therapies such colon hydrotherapy, hydration, detoxification baths, use of mineral springs and coffee enemas are covered in detail. Included in these two 2020 seminars are the review of the macronutrients, sugar and fat and then introducing protein, DNA and enzymes. The stuff of life!
SMHS graduates of our entire curriculum of 6 seminars learn:
Getting back in the kitchen is a priority.
Learning essential kitchen and cooking skills.
Making nutritional choices based on metabolic principles.
The gut is the core of our metabolism and healing.
Carbohydrates are biochemically unnecessary.
Fasting is our natural state.
Degenerative diseases are reversible.
New metabolic manual therapy is essential practice.
Conclusion: SMHS teaches the regeneration of the body through detoxification and regeneration of essential organs involved in Metabolic Syndrome.
Our hope with Shea Metabolic Health Seminars is that people can recognize the condition and feel the interrelationship between all of their body systems.
Our goal is to impart knowledge to the public and health care practitioners that supports the beneficial transformation of their metabolic health and that of their patients. We have entered the age of metabolic syndrome. Connecting and feeling the dots in our body and mind between the physical, emotional, mental, systems and symptoms is critical healing
