Resolution Time

Happy New Year!

It is that time of the year again when you go to workout at your gym and you can't use your favorite cardio machine because there are so many people working out. Yep, it's resolution time! As you probably know, some of the more popular resolutions for the New Year are: losing weight, start exercising, spending more time with friends and family, quit smoking, get out of debt, etc. A common theme to all of these is living a better, healthier life.

I think having a New Year's resolution is great...if you can keep it. Everybody can make a change for a month and then go back to the old habits, but making a lifestyle change and staying committed to your resolution, your health, and yourself is the ultimate challenge. The biggest problem that most people have with keeping their resolutions is that they get burnt out. Determined to get in shape, they go from being a couch potato to working out 7 days a week and go right back to the couch within a month because they can't handle the load.

As with most things in life, moderation is key. Don't just hit the ground running. Take baby steps. Instead of going on a crash diet and cutting out all junk food, maybe just start by avoiding foods with high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils or add an extra fruit and vegetable to your daily diet. Then as you get used to this change, go a step further and try to avoid sugar and white and enriched flour while adding another fruit and vegetable and some fish to your diet.

As far as exercising goes, if you haven't been to the gym for a year, don't go every day. The best way would be to get a personal trainer to start you on a good program. If a trainer is not an option for you, here are some tips. Maybe start by going 2-3 times per week and walking on the treadmill for 15 to 20 minutes and increase the time as you get comfortable with the cardio. After a couple weeks, add some weight training by doing 10 to 15 minutes with weights. Then as you get comfortable with this, add another day or some more time or a fitness class. The biggest thing to continue to exercise and stay in shape is to keep it fun. Change up the workouts and try different machines and/or classes. But most of all, HAVE FUN!

For those of you who already have a good diet and workout regularly, but may have gained the "holiday" weight, a really good way to get the push in the right direction is with a detox. I recommend a detox at my office that I really like. It is a 21 day purification program that really focuses on eating the right things, not on losing weight. (Although everyone that does it, loses weight.) The first 10 days you only eat fruits and vegetables along with drinking a whole food nutritional shake and taking whole food supplements. Then on Day 11 you can add chicken and fish for the next 11 days. It may sound very difficult, but honestly after the first 3 days you really start to realize that you don't need or crave the pasta or the sugar. Plus, you start to realize how good you feel with more energy and better digestion. Personally, I do this twice per year to "detox" myself. If you are interested in this, the cost of the detox is $250 (supplements, shakes, recipes, education). If not, I would recommend to just focus on eating fruits, vegetables, and lean meats (chicken and fish) as much as possible.

Click HERE for a small study that shows imporvement of cholesterol levels with the purification program.

Whether you have a resolution or not, try to make small changes over the course of this year that will help create a healthier lifestyle. I will do my best to continue to give you useful and practical ideas on how you can make these changes. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me here or at drmcgowan@acucarechiropractic.com. I don't use outlook, so please e-mail me through your own e-mail.

By the way, for those of you who are annoyed by crowded gym...Don't worry, you will have your favorite machine available within a month!!

Live Well.

Just Breathe

Wow. What a crazy time it has been in our economy and stock market. I just really feel bad, mad, and sad for all the people who were planning on retiring or have recently retired and are feeling the immediate effect of the financial conditions. With that being said, now is a probably a pretty good time to talk about ways to deal with stress.

Stress plays a role in all of our lives. However, how the stress affects us mentally and physically depends directly on what we do to deal with the stress mentally and physically. I could write much more than any of you would like to read on the topic of stress, so I am just going to give you a few easy ideas to help de-stress yourself.

Breathing is obviously vital to life. However, how we breathe is also very important. I'm guessing that if you stop and pay attention to your breathing right now that you will notice your chest and shoulders moving as you breathe. Well, unfortunately this means you are breathing wrong. For those of you who noticed your stomach move as you breathe, congrats! You are most likely breathing correctly!

Abdominal breathing is the key to proper breathing. It is always good to do, but it is especially good during times of stress or anxiety. Here's a basic breathing exercise...

1. Sit down and place one hand on your abdomen, so you can feel how you should be breathing.
2. Take a slow breath in for 3-4 seconds using your abdomen. You should feel your hand move as your abdomen moves out.
3. Breathe out for 3-4 seconds.
4. Repeat at least 10 times.

It sounds easy, but it might take practice to get used to breathing the right way. Proper breathing not only calms the mind, but it also helps relax your muscles.

For other ways to de-stress, go to this link...

http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=2203

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Live Well. Laugh Often. Love Much.

Weekend Warrior Syndrome

My Monday afternoon schedule tends to be one of my busiest of the week at my office due to the "Weekend Warriors". These are the people who try to do more on the weekend than their body is used to during the week (golfing, raking leaves, mowing the lawn, gardening, house work, bike rides, etc.) and forget about stretching and getting proper rest and fluids. And when their back "goes out on them", they pull a hamstring, they get a migraine, they sprain an ankle, etc., they call on Monday morning for the first available appointment.

We all are guilty of being "weekend warriors" every now and again, trying to get everything done on the weekend that we couldn't do during the week or just having too much fun! However, there is a safer approach in doing so. Especially with raking season approaching and unfortunately snow shoveling not too far behind, I want to give you some simple stretches and exercises to help you best avoid these injuries. These stretches are great to do in the morning on a daily basis, but should definitely be done before and after any acitivities that you don't do everyday. I know it sounds strange to stretch before and after raking leaves, but it really does help you to prevent injury and you'll be much happier not waking up as sore the next day! If you do have any aches or pains after activities, put cold on the area for 20 minutes at a time to help get swelling out of the area. Also, getting plenty of water is a must everyday, but you should be drinking even more water and staying properly hydrated on days that you do more activities!

Here is the link that describes and shows you the various stretches and easy exercises...
http://www.acatoday.org/pdf/BackPainExercise.pdf.

On a side note, being a life-long Cubs fan, I was really hoping that I would wake up this morning and find out that it was all just a really bad nightmare...it wasn't. I guess there's always next year.

I wish you all a happy, healthy week!!

Live well.