NOT THIS YEAR!

With winter weather temperatures officially upon us and the warm coats coming out of storage, something else likes to make its presence known during this time of year;  that never convenient, knock you on your butt, stressful, take your energy, mess with your mind…..common cold!! If you haven’t already had one, or know someone who has, keep it mind…..just because you get one every winter season, don’t mean you need to get one this year!! Lets be proactive about your health and keep you feeling just fine.

I came up with a list of tips that will keep your immune system functioning, your mind (and sinuses) clear and free, and your pockets NOT filled with Kleenex.

source: http://www.medicinenet.com/

1. Practice Proper Hygiene

Do I really need to tell you to wash your hands frequently? Don’t rub your eyes? Don’t drink after people? We all know the drill by now. And with all the water you will be washing your hands with, make sure you drink plenty as well to stay hydrated!

2. Rest, Rest, Rest, Rest, and MORE Rest

Sleep is ESSENTIAL for your body. It is the only time during a normal 24 hour period where your body doesn’t need to focus on everything and everyone around it. Make it a priority.

3. Exercise Regularly

Not just because it makes you healthier, but because exercise has been proven over and over to reduce stress. And when do people get sick most often? When they are stressed! Your body can’t handle a million things at once. If you are stressed, and a little invader notices your immune system is no longer as healthy as it should be, you get sick! Exercise is a great way to sweat out all those angry feelings you have towards your work, kids, or spouse.

4. Eating Healthy & Taking Your Supplements

If you put junk in your body, you get junk out (and not just junk in your trunk). When your body isn’t getting the necessary vitamins and nutrients from your foods or through supplementation, you aren’t giving yourself a fighting chance. Along with taking a high quality multivitamin, consider adding Vitamin D (a wonderful immunity booster) and Probiotics (the good bacteria) to your regimen.

5. Flush It Out

By keeping your nasal membranes moist, you make it harder for bacterial invaders and allergens to get in. “I ward off and resolve colds by irrigating the sinuses out with salt water using a neti pot,” says Dr. Jordan S. Josephson, Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist at Lennox Hospital in New York City and author of Sinus Relief Now (Perigee Trade, 2006).

6. Add Some Sweet & Spicy to Your Life

Adding strong spices to your foods will help to keep those sinuses clear of mucus. And honey has been found to be one of nature’s best remedies. “Honey is well known for its antimicrobial action when applied to wounds and burns, and studies have also shown that it can work as well as medication for cold and flu symptoms,” states Mark Moyad, MD, Phil F. Jenkins Director of Preventive & Alternative Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

7. Preventative Medicine

Being a chiropractor and acupuncturist, I know how important it is to have energy flowing properly in your body. Energy is what keeps you alive, keeps your cells functioning, and allows your body the ability to perform all the duties that need to be done. If ever a patient feels like they might be getting sick, I always work on the sinuses, lymph nodes, qi (acupuncture word for the body’s energy) and spine. Start focusing more on your health BEFORE you get sick, instead of during  “panic-I-am-sick mode”…..and you will notice those work sick days are being used less often.

Best advice  for today……

If you don’t have time to be sick, you better make time to be healthy!

REAL vs. FAKE Ingredients?!?!

I read an interesting article yesterday that was featured while checking my yahoo email account. The focus of the article – Wendy’s is now going to be selling fries with “real ingredients.” Does this surprise anyone else? I mean, what exactly were the “fake ingredients” they were using that we didn’t know about all this time? It seems to me, and I may just be a simple girl, but shouldn’t fries just be…… potatoes, sprinkled with salt….cooked in some type of oil?? Guess they have been tricking us into believing what we were eating WAS “real.”

As mentioned in the article, “we want every ingredient to be a simple ingredient, to be one you can pronounce and one your grandmother would recognize in her pantry,” said Chief Marketing Officer Ken Calwell, who declined to say what the Dublin, Ohio, company was spending on the effort.

THANK YOU WENDY’S! Finally they are listening to the American people…..they are listening to those who are confused as to what is good for them and what isn’t, how much a serving size really is, and how much crap we really do ingest into our bodies.

HOWEVER, please don’t ever trust fast food companies. Aren’t they part of the reason we are so unhealthy anyways? Think that just because the fries will contain “real ingredients” that you should indulge in them? Think again.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wendy_s_new_fries

The new fries are slightly slimmer than the old ones, and crispier because they’re smaller. They will have more salt, a medium size fry goes from 350 milligrams to 500 milligrams, and calories add 10 to 420. The selling price will not change, ranging from 99 cents to about $2. The fries will still come to stores frozen.

I appreciate Wendy’s changing up their menu. However, my best advice to anyone who wants it….. if you MUST have fries, make your own at home! Set the oven to 450 – cut up some REAL potatoes, add your OWN seasonings (then you can control the salt content), and bake in a healthy oil.

Go to work today? NO THANK YOU!

With the weather playing an awful trick on us today in Northwest Indiana (highs in November in the upper 60′s is definitely not normal), today would have been GREAT for a “mental health day.” What is this you ask? People take a mental health day when “you have no physical ailment but you know you can’t focus on the job” and need an unplanned absence to re-energize, says David Campbell, senior vice president of quality and customers at Chicago-based ComPsych Corp. Everyone is entitled to take one of these every now and then, and what better excuse for one…. than the amazing weather!

Mental health days not only benefit the person who gets to take them, they also benefit all co-workers involved, close friends and family (because you are in a better mood), and the boss may be pleasantly surprised how much more productive you are the next day. According to the Associated Content, Mental Health Days do all of the following:

• Decreases Stress- Work related stress takes a toll on your physical health. Stress can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, gastrointestinal disorders and a host of other illness.

• Increases Productivity – If you have ever spent hours reading and re-reading a report, or staring at a computer screen and making no progress in the task at hand you know that productivity is not related to the hours you are on the clock! A break from routine and the time to focus on a completely unrelated activity often leads to increased productivity when you return to work. The report that seems so much gibberish a day or two earlier now makes absolute sense and you are able complete it in a shorter time.

• Provides Life Balance - All work and no play does nothing to strengthen family relationships or connect with friends in a meaningful way. Taking regular mental health days reminds you there is life outside of work. Mental health days provide the balance between work and personal time that is often sacrificed for the sake of a paycheck.

• Extends the benefits of a full vacation – According to a study published in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior, taking advantage of mental health days can help reduce job demands and extend the positive effects of vacation. In the study, individuals who took a full summer off from work returned with increased productivity and less burn-out. However, within a month of working a full-time schedule they reported feeling as though they had not even had a break.

source: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.musicnewsculture.com/pix/misc/bath.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.musicnewsculture.com/stress-in-the-city-how-to-get-your-zen-back/

Family and relationship issues top the list of why people typically take so-called mental health days. However, to me, it seems like these are warranted just to have a day devoted to bettering yourself. Whether that means sleeping in past your normal time, watching a movie in bed, catching a day-time movie, or just having lunch with your friends without having to be rushed back to work…..life is short.

On their dying bed, no one wishes they had worked more. It’s the simple moments in life where you took the time to really enjoy something/someone that we truly treasure.

“Order up! Another side of Type II Diabetes please!”

I can guarantee each and every one of you have someone either in your family, a family friend, or coworker that has been given the scary diagnosis of type II diabetes. Here are the alarming statistics according to the American Diabetes Association:

Data from the 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet (the most recent year for which data is available)

Total: 23.6 million children and adults in the United States—7.8% of the population—have diabetes.

Diagnosed: 17.9 million people

Undiagnosed: 5.7 million people

Pre-diabetes: 57 million people

New Cases: 1.6 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older each year.

Total prevalence of diabetes

Under 20 years of age

• 186,300, or 0.22% of all people in this age group have diabetes
• About 1 in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes
• About 2 million adolescents aged 12-19 have pre-diabetes

Age 20 years or older

• 23.5 million, or 10.7% of all people in this age group have diabetes

Age 60 years or older

• 12.2 million, or 23.1% of all people in this age group have diabetes

Men

• 12.0 million, or 11.2% of all men aged 20 years or older have diabetes

Women

• 11.5 million, or 10.2% of all women aged 20 years or older have diabetes

source: http://www.diabetes.org/

What used to be considered an “adult disease” has now surrounded itself amongst our children. Is any one else outraged by this? Don’t our children have enough to worry about while growing up? However, it was bound to happen…. unfortunately. How can we expect our children to eat healthy meals and snacks, exercise, and take care of their bodies if their parents are walking around as some of the worst role-models? The issue that makes this disease a passion for many health care providers, is the fact that it is PREVENTABLE!!

The best gift you can give yourself, your family (especially your kids), are these simple steps to combat this disease.

• Control Your Weight!

• Get Moving!

• If You Smoke, Quit!

• Tune Up Your Diet!

Four dietary changes can have a big impact on the risk of type 2 diabetes.

1. Choose whole grains and whole grain products over highly processed carbohydrates.

2. Skip the sugary drinks.

3. Choose good fats instead of bad fats.

4.  Limit red meat and avoid processed meat.

They key to preventing type 2 diabetes can be boiled down to five words: Stay lean and stay active. For more information regarding these steps, please refer to the Harvard School of Public Health.

If you know someone to whom you think may have this disease, please check the symptoms here. Knowledge is power!

Avoid Looking Like Santa Claus

I’M BACK!! I am sorry for taking such a hiatus from this blog. The clinic has been busier than I had anticipated, keeping me further away from the computer. But, I promise to make time each week to bring you health!

With the holidays QUICKLY approaching, the biggest fear on many people’s mind is either keeping their weight loss goals or just being able to maintain their current weight though the temptation of pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies, and endless amounts of eggnog. So….what is the one activity you can do that will help to guarantee your success through the holidays….. finding your favorite pair of pajamas, a high thread count in your sheets, and a great quality mattress (lets not forget I’m a chiropractor)… allowing for a successful night sleep!!

source: http://www.nydailynews.com/

Many of us know, if we don’t get the amount of sleep that our body needs – it takes days to overcome the few hours we lacked. This combination undoubtedly sets you up for failure. You no longer have the energy to work out. You crave more and more comfort foods and sugar in order to try to trick your body into having energy.  And you begin to store more fat because your body becomes stressed.

Here’s the facts -

• For each one-hour increase in sleep duration, the odds of consuming a high amount of calories from snacks decreased by an average of 21 percent.

This effects your kids as well -

• A significantly greater proportion of teens who slept less than eight hours per weeknight consumed (more) food in the early morning between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Michael Breus, PhD, a faculty member of the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and director of The Sleep Disorders Centers of Southeastern Lung Care in Atlanta states “when you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food.”

So what’s my prescription for the holidays….. get plenty of sleep.

Smoothies ARE Healthy Right?!?!

source: http://www.thatsfit.com

There is nothing more refreshing in the morning, for an afternoon snack, a late night treat, or a thirst quencher after a workout…… than a smoothie. The fruit combinations are endless and you can add protein powder, flax-seed, and natural peanut butter to keep you full for hours. SOOOOO…..who wouldn’t be excited when McDonald’s introduced their new McCafe Strawberry Banana and Wild Berry Smoothies. They have now become even more convenient than they were to make at home.

Before you jump for joy and drive your car to the closest McDonald’s…..do your research! Remember, McDonald’s is not known for their high quality, health conscious food items. And even though they advertise their smoothies are “made from real fruit” and therefore healthy for you….remember, the trick is on you!

According to the McDonald’s website, a medium (and we all know most people can’t resist getting a large) Strawberry Banana McCafe Smoothie has over 54 GRAMS OF SUGAR! With the large tapping out at 70 GRAMS with 330 calories! Think you should try the Wild Berry instead? It’s definitely not any better…..55 grams of sugar in the medium, and 69 in the large packing 320 calories!

Now, if you are going to wash your Big Mac and large fry down with one of these “healthy” drinks – you might as well unfasten your belt right now because tomorrow it is going to be feeling pretty tight. “These smoothies are very high in sugar and there are way too many calories to have as your beverage choice with a meal,” said Keri Gans, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

How are we ever going to wage a war against the rising rates of American obesity if we keep tricking the American public? If people already frequent McDonald’s due to its convenience, you really think they are going to take the time to read up on the nutritional facts? Instead, they go by the marketing that McDonald’s has employed and become tricked into believing because “they are made with real fruit”…..they must be a healthy choice.

Best alternative?!?! Once again….I know I say it over and over again, but get back to homemade! You know what is going into your food and you can control the calories and sugar content. Pick your favorite fruits and find some high quality regular greek yogurt (it packs more protein than traditional yogurt). Add ice. And blend.

You Want Me to Eat WHAT?

Probiotics, Good Bacteria, Live & Active Cultures…..we have all been hearing the commercials these days promoting this yogurt and that yogurt in regards to helping you with your digestive issues. But what if your stomach can’t handle dairy? Or you don’t want to be inhaling all of the sugar that can be found in some of the most common brands of yogurt? Should you have to suffer with your digestive issues? Of course not!

We have always been told to be afraid of the bad bacteria……e. coli, salmonella…..so what is this stuff you call good bacteria?

source: http://probiotics.mercola.com/probiotics-powder.html

The normal bacteria in the stomach is there to help digest your food, fight the bad bacteria that may find it’s way in, and actually is linked to your immune system (therefore helping you stay healthy and free of allergies and asthma). By adding probiotics and digestive enzymes to your diet (either through supplementation or yogurt containing live & active cultures), you are creating a much healthy, better functioning self!

According to the Mayo Clinic, There’s encouraging evidence that probiotics may help:

• Treat diarrhea, especially following treatment with certain antibiotics
• Prevent and treat vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections
• Treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Reduce bladder cancer recurrence
• Speed treatment of certain intestinal infections
• Prevent and treat eczema in children
• Prevent or reduce the severity of colds and flu

If you are one of those people who knows what foods upset your stomach, who always has to know where the closest bathroom is, or who find they have to give up eating their favorite foods because of stomach issues…..add this great supplement to your daily routine! Let the bacteria go to work for you and make your life much more enjoyable.

Talk to me specifically about some great products to get the best probiotics & digestive enzymes on the market! Your gut will thank you for it!