Health and wellness

Being Fit and Healthy

Exercise is so important for our overall health. When I was younger, I thought exercise was just to keep my weight down. But after my fall injuring my back, the doctors told me I had to walk every day or I would be paralyzed. Then as I began my recovery from heavy metal poisoning and thyroid issues (Hashimotos), I quickly learned that exercise has to be a way of life, to be able to function the way I need and want to.

Having an autoimmune disease requires a different kind of exercise though. It can be hard on your body if you’re trying to do extreme, aggressive forms of exercise. Gentle exercise programs are suggested for healing from these issues. Walking, swimming, biking and a form of yoga are all forms of a gentler work-out. The most important thing is that you find something you like and enjoy doing. That way you’ll keep going, and that’s so important to continue your exercise and make it a life habit you do every day. I really enjoy biking, and enjoy that during the summer months. But, I needed make sure I had a solid routine I could do every day know matter the weather or how I felt.

The first time I went to an endocrinologist for my thyroid, she asked me if I was exercising. I was walking every day about 30+ minutes, so I felt really good about what I was doing. But she explained that wasn’t enough. She explained that I needed to also be doing a weight bearing exercise to strengthen my bones. She suggested the Bar Method. I had never heard of it, so went home and started researching to learn more.

Burr Leonard created the Bar Method in 1991. The Bar Method is a combination of ballet, yoga, and gentle pilates. This form of weight bearing exercise helps with stronger bones, strengthens core, and helps with bone density. It’s an exercise program that focuses on elongating muscles and burning fat. The movements in the Bar Method also helps strengthen your bones, flatten abdominals, elongate and tone muscles in the legs, lift your buttocks, and provide well-stretched muscles throughout the body.

The benefits of the Bar Method include increased life span and endurance. The Bar Method has benefits equal to aerobic exercise – increased muscle mass which can help in the fight against cancer, diabetes as well as heart disease. Added benefits are improved posture, reduced back pain and muscle stabilization.

I began my exercise program of the Bar Method by ordering a beginners DVD on www.barmethod.com. Other equipment needed: ballet bar or chair, stretching strap, exercise mat (or carpet if you have that), dumb-bells and a 7” playground ball. There are Bar Method classes taught in person, so look for local classes being taught in your area. Classes are available online. Another website I use is www.barreamped.com. Suzanne Bowen is another skilled teacher and I’ve enjoyed her programs too.

My regular daily routine is alternating days of walking and the Bar Method. On days that I walk, I do a few minutes of some stretches and core exercises to help my back. Because we have several months of really cold weather which bothers me a lot, I invested in a treadmill so I could walk inside when needed. This was the best option for me. Maybe you live in an area where the weather is usually nice for outside walking, or else the cold doesn’t bother you. Just find what works best for you.

Happy Exercising!

Xocai healthy chocolate is now Well-Beyond

Xocai healthy chocolate has changed names/owners, and is now called Well-Beyond. It is still the same healthy chocolate with all the health benefits as before. Here’s an exert from Well-Beyond about healthy chocolate and why this is the best chocolate to consume for good health:

Cacao: Nature’s Supreme Antioxidant Source

ICT ORAC6: A Seal of Superior Quality

“The ICT Certification Program ensures that Beyond Healthy Chocolate products are tested and meet specific criteria several times each year. This seal will appear on all Beyond Healthy Chocolate product packaging for complete customer confidence.”

Can chocolate truly be healthy?

YES! Let’s explain why:

Everyone has heard of free radicals. It’s well known that these rogue molecules damage healthy cells, which in turn results in unhealthy tissues, organs and eventually, an unhealthy body.

Fortunately, cacao, the nutritional source of Dark Chocolate, is nature’s top source of antioxidants. Antioxidants are nutrients that neutralize free radicals and slow their damage.

-Among the most important observations in the history of medicine “How important does that make [cacao antioxidants]? I would say very important.”

-Harvard physician and researcher Norman Hollenberg, MD, regarding the benefits of cacao’s antioxidants. Among cacao’s most impressive phytonutrients are several types of polyphenols, largely recognized as some of the most powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds known today. The most powerful and prominent polyphenols in cacao are flavanols.

Hundreds of studies have found that flavanols possess distinct and powerful properties, including the ability to:

Minimize inflammation throughout the body
Slow free radicals
Protect the heart and blood vessels
Support the immune system
Promote antibacterial/antiviral activity in the body
Relax and dilate blood vessels
Modify blood sugar levels
Protect the brain
Preserve cellular integrity
Protect and repair the liver
Positively modify hormone activity
…and much more!

Did you know if you’re like the average person, you eat about 12 pounds of chocolate per year? The problem with that is that most people are eating the “regular” unhealthy chocolate that has been stripped of its antioxidants and other vital nutrients.

That’s what makes Well-Beyond Healthy Chocolate so different and so healthy!

So why are most chocolate products not really “healthy”? Primarily because of the way their content is processed. Traditional processing means that the chocolate is heated, alkalized and combined with artificial and unhealthy ingredients, all of which destroys the cacao’s powerful antioxidants and degrades it’s nutritional content.

What’s Wrong With “Normal” Chocolate?

Alkalizing (also called “dutching”) neutralizes its antioxidants
Heating further destroys its antioxidants and other vital nutrients
Addition of waxes, milk solids, hydrogenated oils and sugar further degrade the antioxidant firepower of cacao

Why is Beyond, Healthy Chocolate® Different?

Proprietary cold-processing preserves antioxidants and other crucial nutrients
Does not alkalize its chocolate
Uses only natural cacao butter, sweeteners and other natural ingredients
Contains no artificial ingredients
Category creator and leader of healthy chocolate industry

Well-Beyond is still my chocolate of choice! (www.ExcitedAboutHealthyChocolate.Well-Beyond.com)

When Learning About Health and Wellness Really Began for me

In my health class in college, we learned that if you ate a well-balanced meal (the old food pyramid) that you didn’t need any supplements and should be healthy. So when I prepared meals for my family, I made sure we ate this way. We did eat processed foods, ate fast foods and just like everyone else, we loved treats. So we’d eat healthy balanced meals, but enjoyed our treats too.

Fast forward a few years later. Our little 2 1/2 month old son went into anaphylactic shock and we almost lost him. I was nursing him, but this was the second time I had given him formula because we were at a public pool and it was just easier at the time. As he was drinking the bottle, his lips started going purple, then his face. He started swelling and became lifeless. It was so scary and I panicked. We immediately took him to the small town hospital. The nurse in the emergency room casually said, “he must be having a reaction to something”. “Really, you think so!!!,” was our response. Duh! But unfortunately the doctor wouldn’t be there for several hours. So as she took him to lay him on a bed for observation, he violently began throwing up all over her. We picked him up and told her we were going somewhere else. Luckily, after throwing up, his color began returning and he became alert again. At our family doctors office, our pediatrician said our baby had an allergic reaction to the formula and had gone into anaphylactic shock. He said that it was a miracle that he threw up and got it out of his system. He said he’d never seen a baby come through anything like that without medical help. This little boy had a purpose for being here. After that, the doctor always called him ‘our miracle child’. We had him tested, and sure enough he was severely allergic to all milk proteins.

The road ahead looked and seemed overwhelming to me. He was so severe, that we could drink milk and kiss his forehead, and he would almost instantly have a hive that would welt up and spread across his face. The doctors didn’t have all the knowledge or time to tell me what to do for him for food nutrition. I went to the library and checked out every book I could find on allergies, anaphylactic shock and nutrition/recipes. At the time, anaphylactic shock and milk allergies were pretty new, so there wasn’t a lot of resources. Luckily, I was able to continue just strictly nurse him for several more months before we needed to start introducing foods to him. So that gave me a little time to research and learn more.

I learned about all the proteins in milk and made a long list of them. At the store, we’d spend hours shopping trying to find foods for him that didn’t have any type of milk in them. Even rootbeer has a caramel flavoring that is a milk derivative. The list became longer. Things you would never even think of would have a milk protein in them. It basically came down to eating whole foods; nothing processed. Our family started a new journey eating this way. It seemed like I lived in the kitchen, making everything from scratch. I also made bread every week and all of our treats.

My thoughts often went to how he was able to go to school, dates, pizza parties, birthday parties, etc. At the time, I would make up a batch of homemade cupcakes and put in the freezer to grab for birthday parties and other outings where I knew there’d be dessert. He was my buddy and went everywhere with me. He went on dates with my husband and I. Even our parents were nervous to watch him with all the foods we had to watch for, and make sure he was food safe. I had to be so careful with all the food he had or came in contact with. It was a matter of life or death.

Our pediatrician recommended a group called The Food Allergy Network. We joined them and they would send out monthly newsletters about food allergies. The network was all of us as parents of children with food allergies, and we would notify the network of new food additives, allergic reactions, etc. We also ordered a special medical alert bracelet for him to wear to notify every one of his allergies.

Interestingly, we had found that our son could have Bugles (little cornucopia shaped chips). He loved them and it was one of the few store bought things he could have. One day, when he was about 3 years old, he put a Bugle in his mouth and immediately spit it out, saying that it made his tongue feel weird. We called the manufacture to see if they knew if there was something different in the ingredients. Sure enough, they had added whey (a milk protein) to the Bugle ingredients, but hadn’t changed the information on the boxes yet, because they wanted to use the old boxes they had. So we told them of the problem with that, and they immediately changed. We called The Food Allergy Network and let them know so they could notify everyone else of the change. Now there is email, facebook, and other social media that gets the information out to everyone quicker. (Note: While writing this post, I looked up The Food Allergy Network online. It looks like they joined with another organization and are now found at www.FoodAllergy.org)

At the time, I would often say how I wish it was me going through this, not him. Now all these years later, it is me having to watch what kinds of foods I eat. Not necessarily for an allergic reaction like anaphylactic shock, but food sensitivities and foods that are toxic for autoimmune disease. Having to be so diligent with our son to keep him alive, started me on a journey of learning more about food and nutrition. Through the years, my husband has even mentioned that maybe I should become a nutritionist or find a way to help others. That is what got me thinking about starting this blog. I don’t know everything, and the things I share are only what I’m learning and trying myself. Please remember that you need to do research and do what you feel best about.

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Green Smoothie Girl Special Group Buy now thru November 30, 2016

Looking for an awesome deal on healthy foods? Green Smoothie Girl annual group buy is going on now!

We’ve been using Green Smoothie Girl products for a few years now. We use the protein powder every day. My husband likes to mix the chocolate flavor with water and fruit. I use a scoop of vanilla or chocolate in my smoothie that I make for lunch. We feel good about using this protein powder. There’s no dairy (whey), soy or fillers. It has organic pea protein, organic hemp seed protein, and organic maca. All super good for you! Right now through the end of November, if you use this link: http://greensmoothiegirl.com/shop/?affiliate=659 you’ll get the special Group Buy where the Protein Powder is ‘Buy 2 Get 1 Free!’ While you’re there, check out the other great deals!https://bd272.isrefer.com/go/gsg/a659/

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Three Quick and Easy Ways to Calm Anxiety and Stress

I don’t know about you, but Election Day brought on major anxiety for me! I really don’t like to get involved in political stuff, and kept telling myself that all my worrying wouldn’t change anything. But I could just feel it building…. anxiety, big time. So here’s a couple quick ideas I have found to take the edge off my anxiety and stress.

Take a deep breath through your nose counting to 10, then hold for 8-10 counts and then slowly release through your mouth (try for 10 counts). Repeat about 3 times. You can wait a couple minutes and do it again.

Next is lavender. Over the last couple years, I have found that lavender essential oil helps calm me. I put a drop on the bottom of each of my feet and put the bottle by my nose take a deep long breath. I also do this at night to help me sleep better.

Recently, my doctor recommended I take L-Theanine when I’m extremely stressed. L-Theanine may help relieve stress by inducing a relaxing effect without causing drowsiness. It helps to calm me down, and there are no known side effects.

After doing these three quick and easy things, I was feeling somewhat better and calmer. If you have more time, a nice long warm bath with some Epsom salts and lavender essential oil is heavenly. Oh, and of course a piece of healthy Xocai chocolate can never hurt.

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Is there really such a thing as Healthy Chocolate? – YES, there is!

This is how I found out about it and why it was such a great product for me.

Several years ago, I injured my back sliding down three steps on black ice and landing on cement. The pain it caused in my lower back was excruciating. I had never experienced chronic pain like that in my life, and couldn’t believe that someone could live through that kind of pain.

I had compressed (bulged) two discs in my lower back, with arthritis in the three vertebras around those discs. I had fractures all over in the sacrum and sacroiliac joints. There was tremendous nerve damage, so much that to even touch the skin on my lower back, it felt like thousands of hot burning needles.

Surgery was not an option, so we spent over thousands of dollars trying all kinds of therapies, treatments, alternative therapies, decompression, sacral cranial therapy, etc. with no relief. When I would go to therapy, the tears would just flow continuously from the pain and I couldn’t even get through five minutes of the simplest moves. I felt like my life was over. We have five boys, and it was a struggle to make it through the day to be there for them. I was pretty much living in bed because the pain was increased immensely the longer I stood, and I couldn’t sit without feeling like I was going to die.

After 2 1/2 years of living life like this, a close family friend introduced me to Xocai healthy chocolate. My first response was that I couldn’t eat chocolate because I’m allergic to caffeine and the sugars that are in chocolate. I would get migraines if I ate chocolate. She said I could eat this kind of chocolate because there is no caffeine in it and no add sugars. Pure unprocessed cacao is an anti-inflammatory, and it would most likely help my back pain. So I decided to try it for a while.

After about 2-3 weeks of eating Xocai, the inflammation in my back decrease significantly and I was finally able to start moving around easier. I went back to physical therapy and learned how to strengthen my back. The nerves began to repair and heal, and I started feeling better.

I’m so excited to finally be able to eat chocolate again! I can eat several pieces and day, and know that it is helping my body. No allergic reaction. I’m a firm believer that it helps with so many of our health problems.

You can learn more about Xocai healthy chocolate here: www.MyDailyChoice.com/shop?selected_brands=8&rep=excitedabouthealthyc

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