Category: Health

Categories
Health Nutrition

The Secret of Maintaining a Slim Figure

I think in the US we’re led to believe that some women across the world naturally stay slim and it’s genetic. Unfortunately, to those of us born in the states, our genes must have mutated and now we all carry the fat gene. Can that really be true, even if our ancestors hailed from these magical lands of effortlessly slim people?

Of course it’s not true.

No one’s genes mutated. What changed are our daily habits and what’s considered normal here in the states versus abroad.

1) Walking- people in places who walk more stay healthier

2) fruits/vegetables/meat/fish – yes people in France and Italy love bread and desserts but it’s quality over quantity.

I read “French Women Don’t Get Fat” in college and it really changed the way I view food. It’s not our enemy but our life long love affair. We must eat to survive and we can choose to love the food we make.

3) We don’t eat enough soup- many cultures value eating soup for a meal or for a weekend to slim down after a particularly voracious week of eating.

4) Less soda, beer, and empty calories

5) Movement beyond Walking- walking is a part of daily life to get from point A to point B. On Google maps, you can choose a car, bus, or walk! That’s right, even Google maps considers walking a mode of transportation.

Therefore to maintain an ideal shape you must walk and put in some effort a couple of days a week with either light resistance weights, yoga, pilates, etc….

That’s it, it’s not a big secret. Unfortunately, we don’t want to give up our bad habits and we would rather take a short cut. Short cuts don’t last and on and on yo yo dieting goes.

The fitness industry has to be a 10 billion dollar industry these days, maybe more ?

If it worked so well then why are there new methods every day? Doesn’t make sense to me.

Categories
Fitness Health Mindset Personal Growth

Consistency: Why I love and loathe consistency

There are so many things that I love to be consistent…my morning coffee, my work schedule, my employees always showing up on time, my fiance making me quinoa or rice for dinner.

I don’t want to sound hypocritical right off the bat so let me say that I am very consistent at certain things like work. I rarely take a sick day, I keep to my hours and try to be the best leader.

However, there are dream projects that I’ve started and stopped over the years, like this blog and of course it’s gone nowhere. Am I surprised? Of course not but do I know where other people who started around the same time as me have taken theirs, yes I am painfully aware.

It’s not even the satisfaction of success, I feel satisfied in other areas and this didn’t need to be one of them. I’m not trying to escape my practice, I love it. But I do love the idea of consistently putting forth an effort on a hobby that I believe benefits others.

I was reading something my uncle, Sam Crowley at www.everydayissaturday.com posted and he said that John Lee Dumas did a podcast every day for 10-15 years and now he’s selling it for probably around 10 million dollars.

Of course it naturally evolved as things do, and he had paid guests to come on his show to pitch their ideas. He also has a website and sells courses.

But it really got me thinking what is the version of me doing that continued her blog 10 years ago and did it every day?

Of course, what is the version of me like who has stuck to everything that I said I’d do or never do again?

I think that version of me would be insanely fit and healthy, happy, joyful and grateful that I stuck to my commitments to myself.

I don’t know if I’m lying to myself to say I’m going to do better but I think I’ll try to keep my integrity to myself and give a little more effort.

Categories
Health

Top Ten Ways to Maintain Immune System

Greece- soaking up vitamin D, de-stressing, walking on the beach

People often ask me how I remain so healthy during cold and flu season when I see so many sick people.

The first reason is that I see so many sick people so I have built up a natural immunity. You know that thing they tried to convince us doesn’t work but now say does work.

Overtime I’ve built up a great immune system but the key is to maintain it and support it.

Top 10 Best Ways to support my immune system:

1) get adjusted using upper Cervical chiropractic technique- Atlas orthogonal

2) eating fresh organic fruits and vegetables from local farms

3) eat local honey because it has the pollen from local trees, flowers, etc… That are present during allergy season

4) don’t overuse anti biotic sprays, cleaning products, wipes, hand sanitizer. I use it when appropriate not to wipe up every little thing.

5) use Thieves cleaning products or other products that use clove, cinnamon, lemon, orange essential oils that have natural antibacterial, antiviral properties.

6) Reduce stress whenever possible. Stress will weaken the neuroimmune system and you are likely to get sick.

7) Exercise using low impact activities like swimming, walking, jogging, etc… 3 times a week. Exercise is a stress but it can be beneficial to stress your body in a healthy way a few times a week.

8) Get outside for sunshine 10 minutes a day. If you live in a cold climate you need to get outside at least 10 minutes a day to stimulate the hormone vitamin D.

9) Keep your skin healthy by drinking plenty of water, using lotion made without harmful chemicals .

10) Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per day. Your body needs to sleep to regulate the repairing processes of the body. When you sleep your body heals and gets ready to protect you when you’re awake.

Okay, that’s it! 10 ways to improve your immune system. These are simple and effective because remember, it should be easy to stay healthy!

Categories
Fitness Health

Yoga for Back Pain

I wanted to write a quick post for people who are interested in using yoga for back pain.

Yoga in and of itself a great practice and one in which I regularly participate.

I find the breathing exercises, synchronizing my movement to the breath and the overall toning/stretching benefits to be very helpful.

One movement that we often do in yoga is the baby cobra or up-dog. When most people have back pain they are experiencing a disc issue, a spinal misalignment causing pressure on a nerve, tight muscles pressing on nerves, or possible spinal stenosis.

Often I find, that people have the mindset of ‘no pain no gain’, STOP! This might be true for high schoolers in football practice who would rather play video games than run a mile but this not true when it comes to spinal pain. In fact, this mindset can actually lead to real problems.

As a chiropractor, I would be remiss to not tell you that you need a spinal check and that includes x-rays. You need to know exactly what the problem is before you can start forcing your way to health.

One reason, I love yoga is that from my first class a good instructor will always tell you, if it hurts then slow down, modify or take a child’s pose. This means that you should not just push through the pain.

For my weekend warriors this might be disappointing but I’m here to tell you that too much of a good thing is still too much.

Or if you already have back pain and you think now is a good time to try something totally new like yoga, think again.

You need to get to the root cause of the problem and then you can heal it in the most effective way possible.

Throwing yoga at it, as if that is going to make up for all your years of not exercising and not stretching is not necessarily going to be good for you.

Back to baby cobra versus up-dog. Many people who try yoga for the first time in the hopes of fixing their back pain jump right into up-dog but this is way too much lumbar extension if you have a back issue.

Instead, baby cobra is a widely used physical therapy exercise for back issues. I use this as an example, not medical advice to show you that while you may have good intentions for yourself, you simply don’t know which exercises are safe and which could lead to more problems.

I highly encourage you to go to someone who is trained in yoga therapy or have a one on one with a certified yoga instructor and tell them you are in pain!

They need to help you to find out what is appropriate for you in the muscle, tendon and ligament scene before you just pop in a DVD or join a class.

Blocks and straps are also helpful tools to help you to get into and out of poses safely so you don’t hurt yourself. Again, a good teacher can help you to avoid falling or injuring yourself by teaching you how to use these aids.

Everyone wants you to enjoy yoga for it’s lifelong benefits and you can’t do that if you get hurt at your first class and then swear it off because it didn’t work for you.

Morgan

Resources:

If you’re going to use a yoga DVD, at least look for one that is for people with issues like the one below. As an Amazon affiliate I earn a small commission from any purchase made through these links.

Categories
Health Mindset

Failing Forward

So many people say that failing is growing but who actually believes that?

I’ve been reading “Mindset” by Dr. Carol Dweck and it has completely connected the dots on why people with a “fixed mindset” rail against the idea of failing.

I’m a millennial and we were brought up to believe we were special and talented, which in of itself sounds like a great idea. It was an improvement over the ideas of past parenting that said “you’ll never be good enough” or worse.

I think those of us who were raised in the late 80s, 90s and early 2000’s can all relate that it did feel good to know we were, okay, even if we didn’t excel at something.

The problem lies in the use of language. It’s amazing to me, how using certain phrases can completely change our psychology and impact the trajectory of our whole lives.

The idea of being special or talented means that you don’t have to try as hard to be good at something and you feel bad for those who do have to work hard.

While I was in high school, I could read something one time, regurgitate it and sometimes apply it better than my classmates who had spent hours on the material. Why? Because I was special. I have a fantastic memory and I enjoy using it.

I’ll never forget the many times my dad said to me that his wish for me was to be a great critical thinker not just a great regurgitator. I was so busy with sports, extracurriculars, volunteering and course work, that to be honest, I really didn’t care about becoming a great critical thinker because good regurgitators got good grades.

When I went to college, I found the first semester hard. My fantastic memory was not enough anymore, I needed to become a good critical thinker. Unfortunately for me that meant that I needed to apply myself. I thought back on what my friends did who needed to work hard and starting applying that method to my studies. My boyfriend at the time, was incredibly brilliant and he never needed to study or work very hard and I found myself feeling less than special because I now needed to work.

Thankfully, I put my pride on the shelf and my goals in front of me and realized that I needed to apply hard work to whatever natural ability I had to make a go of education.

The result? Success. To be honest, this was the first time when I realized how good it felt to work hard for something and be rewarded. Before, I felt like I had cheated, that I somehow hadn’t earned it because I didn’t need to struggle.

Looking back, I was cheating, cheating myself of the opportunity to push myself farther and learn more thanks to my natural ability. If I could go so far with my natural talents, then how much further could I have gone with some elbow grease?

I will always carry a little regret with me that I didn’t push myself farther in those early years, but I intend to make up for it now.

Back to Dr. Dweck and her mindset hypothesis. She makes the case for a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Fixed mindsets are the ones where people feel they are special or talented and afraid to fail or be seen as less than special. Growth mindset people are people who want to learn and become better in whatever they are passionate about.

Inadvertently, I had gone from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset in college in order to succeed and then throughout my career in healthcare I have stayed mostly in a growth mindset.

It’s only been recently in the online space, that I have found myself reverting back to the fixed mindset, “what will people think”, “what if I’m not good enough, or as good at it, as I am as a chiropractor?”, “what if I fail?”.

Using the knowledge that I am reading in this book, which in of itself speaks to a growth mindset, I feel like I have good understanding of how these two mindsets interplay.

It’s okay to fail, it’s okay to be mediocre at first. I may not be the best blog writer or the best course instructor when I first start but through hard work I can become very good, maybe even great.

Become the best version of you through hard work

Morgan

For those interested you can pick up a copy of Dr. Dweck’s book below through Amazon, and I do earn a small commission if you buy through this link

Categories
Health Uncategorized

How to Change Your Life with Gratitude and Love

Are you feeling anxious, overwhelmed and worrying constantly? Try practicing this simple technique everyday and you will learn how to change your life and attract more of what you want into your life.

Everyday we walk around with our brains playing non-stop. We are constantly listening to the little voice inside our head that tells us what is wrong with the world. Is this abnormal? Absolutely not! This is totally normal because our brain wants to protect us from danger. It goes over what might have hurt us in the past, in order to protect us in the future, but unfortunately that keeps us from living in the present.

When you find yourself checking out from conversations or not remembering the travel into the office or what the world around you looked like when you went for a walk then you are trapped in this cycle.

How do you stop it?

The answer is surprisingly simple, gratitude. If you live in the west or in a country with abundance then you really do not have many urgent dangers in your life today.

We live in a world of luxury, where we have running water, roofs over our heads, a car to drive, clothes on our backs, food in our bellies. Our basic needs are met and this is great but it takes it further away from the basic concept of gratitude.

You can start by saying thank you for the roads you drive on, the water in your faucet, the electricity in your home, your office, your job, your family, your health.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t have problems, we know that everyone has problems.

If you start saying thank you for the basic necessities that you have then you can start to imagine what life would look like if you wanted it bad enough. Those things that you think are far away from you.

Step 2: Stop the negative thoughts

The negative loop that your ego is playing to keep you safe is also holding you back from reaching your dream life.

If you recognize and replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts full of love then you will train your brain to look for love.

Love is the greatest force in the universe and it empowers all of us to attract into our life everything that we desire.

Start practicing gratitude everyday.

Start quieting the negative thoughts that we play over and over again.

Replace the negative thoughts with thoughts of love.

Categories
Health Uncategorized

Morning Gratitude

Gratitude is the practice of thinking about all the people, opportunities and material wealth that you have been blessed with. It’s not always easy when there is much negativity surrounding you to keep a positive mental attitude. If you start a simple practice of morning gratitude it will transform your life from the inside out.

What To Do:

When you wake up each day, start by keeping your eyes closed and mentally go through all the people who help you every day, your parents, your kids, coworkers, staff members and thank each person individually and be specific about why they are important to you.

Next go through your material possessions like house, apartment, clothes, food, and be sure to be thankful all of the extras that you don’t need to survive but you have anyways.

Finally, go through all of the opportunities you’ve had recently. Maybe you were able to continue working or you took a trip. Sometimes it’s the small opportunities we can be most grateful for.

Gratitude is the quickest way to success fast. If you are at home googling how to make money fast from home or how to be more successful in 2021 then try adding this free and easy method to your morning practice. It will take you about 10 minutes at the most and you will feel so much better.

Not to mention, it helps to start hard wiring your brain body connection to look for these opportunities. You’ll start seeing more good people to connect with, more business opportunities, more ways to make more money.

It’s a skill that we develop when we want to move ahead and succeed, when we want to make money online or make more money for 2021 we need to begin within by creating the environment.

If this all sounds a little far fetched for you then you have nothing to lose but pride. We could all benefit from a little less pride. Work on first being open to making these changes and committing a few days a week for the rest of the month to morning gratitude.

Trust me it’s better than spending the morning reading the news or worrying about something that will probably never happen.

Categories
Health Uncategorized

DIY: Homemade Bug Spray

It’s that time of the year again where the mosquitos are the uninvited guest to our BBQs and we’re the main course.

Most people are very conscientious about using harmful chemicals on their bodies and stay away from products that are linked to endotoxins such as DDT and DEET.  Essential oils have taken center stage as a great product to use for keeping our flying foe at bay.

Here’s a tip for those of you who like to garden, some plants are natural repellants to mosquitos and that includes lemongrass and citronella plant.  If you have a patio that has great sunlight, you can take advantage of this fact and plant some lemongrass and citronella plants around your area.

Homemade Bug Spray

½ cup Distilled water

Natural Witch Hazel

30-50 drops total Essential Oil: Eucalyptus, Lemongrass, Cinnamon, Clove, Rosemary, Lavender

  • For this mixture: I recommend using lemongrass as the base and then adding the other oils as you like. 

Spray all over!

Be careful to avoid sensitive areas like eyes, nose and mouth.

Some people are allergic to lavender and therefore you should advise your guests as to what essential oils you used in your mixture.

I also recommend using a glass bottle for storage when using any essential oils

Categories
Health Uncategorized

DIY: Homemade Muscle Rub

If you are a weekend warrior or feeling the aches and pains of growing older then you may be using a lot of muscle creams. These rubs work great to help decrease the muscle pain associated with aging, exercise, or both.

The environmental working group is always on watch for which products can be toxic to our health and if you are choosing which chemicals to put on your body then you should know what’s in these creams.

Most creams use some sort of chemical combination that is similar to aspirin with the idea being that they will decrease inflammation in the area.

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is caused by an increase in temperature, red color, and swelling.  These changes to the muscle tissue will cause irritation of the nerve which leads to pain.  When the brain receives the signal from the tissues that they are irritated then the brain will stop whatever activity is causing the problem.

The blood and fluid rush to the area to help provide new materials to repair whatever is broken, whether it is tendons, ligaments, or muscle.

Inflammation that stays too long can become problematic.  Usually this is caused by other issues and I suggest you read up on dietary changes, and supplements to help relieve chronic inflammation.

If you have short term, normal inflammation then applying a gentle muscle cream will alleviate just enough inflammation to help you get on with your day.

DIY: Muscle Cream

1 cup carrier oil

4 drops Ylang ylang oil

4 drops peppermint oil

3 drops spearmint oil

2 drops frankincense oil

Mix together and store in a glass container

Apply to sore area, be sure to stay away from sensitive reproductive tissue, eyes, mouth, and nose.

Categories
Health Uncategorized

DIY: Essential Oil Mouthwash

The Story Behind Essential Oils

Essential oils are quite simply the oil that comes from a plant when you press it extremely hard.  You can extract this oil from herbs, flowers, and roots.  There may be others but these are the most common.  Using plant essential oils has been around as long as there have been plant and human interaction. 

Before the most recent craze of using essential oils for everything from toe fungus to hair serums, we were using essential oils and not even realizing it.  Chewing gum for instance was originally flavored with peppermint or spearmint essential oil. 

Many shamans, natural medicine healers, and early doctors used essential oils quite often to help heal their patients. You might think that we have come a long way since then and why should we go back?

Using Plants in Modern Medicine

Today many great discoveries in medicine are still found using natural plants. There are many botanists, pharmaceutical botanists, medical doctors, and researchers who are looking all over the world for natural cures to diseases and infections.  If nature made it, then surely nature can kill it?

Once a plant, flower or herb is discovered then they bring it back for testing and to learn about its chemical composition.  Let’s say for instance that a plant or herb is very good at curing disease Z, but this plant only grows for 1 month each year on a high up rock in one deserted part of a far away country.  Well then, it only seems natural that we would figure out what makes it so helpful and try to recreate it in a lab.  This would save the natural environment from unnecessary exposure to trucking, development and other unpleasantries.

Since the advent of “modern medicine” this has been the standard practice.  Find something useful and recreate it in a lab for mass production to help as many people as possible.

The Problem with This Solution

There’s always a problem, isn’t there? When we mimic plants and herbs that we find naturally occurring we end up making mirror images of their chemical composition and this doesn’t always mesh the same with our systems.

As the saying goes “nothing like the real thing”. So while, for some very expensive, hard to grow plants and herbs it makes sense to do our best with the chemical copy, when we have the opportunity to grow the ‘real thing’ then we should of course take advantage of this.

The reason this wasn’t always so popular was due to the fact, that making the artificial version has always been more ‘cost effective’ shall we say?

Due to this fact, the corporations making these products decided to go with the artificial version instead and they have been putting some other less desirable additives into these products that we’re consuming as well.

There are so many great website that track this information.  My personal favorite is www.ewg.org .  The environmental working group is committed to providing the general public with the information what is in the products that we are consuming. I think this a great resource for anyone who is concerned. 

Natural DIY Mouthwash with Essential Oils

½ cup distilled water

½ cup 3 % hydrogen peroxide

¼ cup aloe vera juice

10 drops peppermint oil

10 drops spearmint oil

Mix together, store in a glass jar

*do not swallow

Swish in mouth and spit into sink