Blog
Staying on Track During the Winter Months
It’s so easy to fall off track with respect to healthy routines this time of year.
The excuses come from all directions. I’m too busy. The weather is too cold. The sky is grey and they are calling for snow.
As the daylight decreases at this time of year so does the motivation to stay active.
It’s so easy to fall off track with respect to healthy routines this time of year.
The excuses come from all directions. I’m too busy. The weather is too cold. The sky is grey and they are calling for snow.
As the daylight decreases at this time of year so does the motivation to stay active.
With that said here are my top 5 tips to stay on/or get back into a good exercise routine right now.
Motivation is temporary, find your why instead - Watching an inspirational video is good but that feeling will wane. Get solid on the reason why you want to exercise. Is if for your health? To be the best at something? To run your first 10k this summer? To be able to keep up with your kids? When your purpose is clear, you won’t need motivation.
Schedule it in - The North American lifestyle doesn’t allow for much downtime, and when you do get it it’s unlikely that you will have the energy to exercise. Make sure you carve out time during your week for it. Right now, grab your phone and plan out the days and times you are going to commit. Do not compromise.
Get it out of the way - Leading in from the last point, there are distractions everywhere. Another phone call, email, housework, kids, etc. Get it done early so you can clear your mind. If not you will be telling yourself “I will work out later” which translates to not getting to it anytime soon.
Consistency is key - Commit to a schedule that is achievable. You don’t have to go 0 to 100 in a week. Build a strong foundation on a routine that you can complete and stay on track. Add on when you are following through a few weeks in a row.
Make it fun - Exercise can be fun too! Incorporate things that you like to do and look forward to. For me it’s cycling, for you it may be hiking, enrolling your dog in agility classes, or going for a skate with family or friends.
Sprout Into Better Health!
If I told you that you could grow your own superfood right in your kitchen and it took very little effort, would you do it?
The good news is you can.
Sprouting is easy, it’s low cost and can be completely organic. Not to mention it would be a great mini science experiment for your kids to be involved with.
When you sprout your are accessing nutrients that are otherwise hard to get.
If I told you that you could grow your own superfood right in your kitchen and it took very little effort, would you do it?
The good news is you can.
Sprouting is easy, it’s low cost and can be completely organic. Not to mention it would be a great mini science experiment for your kids to be involved with.
When you sprout your are accessing nutrients that are otherwise hard to get.
Most seeds and other plant resources are nutrient powerhouses however they contain anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are the plants natural defense mechanism that make it hard to digest (think beans the “magical fruit, the more you eat the more you…”). Naturally animals will not eat foods that upset their system.
It’s kind of like having a safe full of money but there is no way into the safe to get it! Not really harnessing the true potential!
To access the nutrients we have to find a way in, to open safe and break out the goods inside.
The way this can be done is by treating food before we eat it. The way we most commonly treat food is cooking with heat. But heat can also break down other compounds that would benefit us.
Although heat helps to access nutrients, there are better, easier options. These include but are not limited to soaking, sprouting and fermenting.
Sprouting involves soaking the seed and rinsing it with water for 2-5 days (depending on what your are sprouting) and let nature do the rest.
You will be left with a nutrient powerhouse that is highly bioavailable since this process decreases the anti-nutrients and other guy irritating compounds.
If you eat certain seeds, peas, beans that irritate your gut, sprouting them may be the answer to enjoy the benefits while not getting the irritations.
Personally speaking raw chickpeas can cause a lot of bloating and gut irritation for me but once sprouted they don’t.
Sprouting is so easy to do and something we should all be doing to improve our diets. Many other dietary improvements can have high barriers such as cost or accessibility. With sprouting these same barriers are very low as they are cheap, organic and easy to order online!
It's Not "Old Age"
Have you ever met someone who looks young for their age?
What if that vibrant 65 year old is what 65 is suppose to look like?
I operated a practice in Wasaga Beach (a retirement town), and it’s no secret that the demographics in Newmarket and Aurora are slightly younger.
“It’s old age” (referring to their complaint), said 80% of people over age 50 who came into the our office on the first visit.
Is it really old age?
Fact - There are people the same age that don’t have the same problems.
If old age was the cause, wouldn’t every one your age have the same conditions?
Obviously conditions can be associated with age, but let’s be clear, they are not caused by age.
Most conditions are multifactorial, with lifestyle playing a huge role. There is another major thing that most of us do, and that's delay.
When the alarm bells are ringing (pain, stiffness, sore, achey, etc.) we tend to put the ear plugs in and disregard what our body is trying to tell us.
I mean we are all guilty of the “it will get better on it’s own” or “it’s not that big of a deal” mentality now and again.
As a chiropractor I have had the opportunity to get to know many great people of all walks of life. Some treat their body like a temple and it shows. They may be in their 70’s and doing things that most people in their 40’s couldn’t fathom.
Others treat their body less than optimally, reaching for the the bottle of over the counter meds at the first onslaught of pain or stiffness. Short term this isn’t going to be an issue, but since our health is cumulative, our body will eventually have to repay it’s debt. Most of the time these people are on 10+ prescriptions, and the multiple visits to the family physician and pharmacy are the only excitement they will see all week.
With this being said there is one thing that still blows my mind, and that is how resilient the human body can be.
People that are on walkers able to walk again, people that can’t turn their neck are able to drive again, people that thought their life was over, getting their life back again. Truly these are what are called chiropractic miracles.
Too often a visit to the chiropractor is a patient's "last hope" because they have "tried everything". A lot of times it's too late to help correct the problem. Rather than choosing chiropractic because you are out of options and your back is against a wall, start thinking of seeing a chiropractor as an option at the start rather than at the end.
The thing is age is just a number. If you fall burden to your age, you will fail to take action and your health will suffer. Where you are now does not have to be where you are going. This resilience is what makes the human body so amazing.
No matter your starting point you can always better your future. A few simple changes could possibly change the trajectory that you are on.
Supercharge Your Smoothie
Let’s face it, getting quality whole food nutrition all the time consuming.
A good quality blender can be a time saver and in the long run a potential life saver if you are using it to make green drinks (not margaritas).
Here are a few additives that I like to add into my smoothies that don’t destroy the taste but help to supercharge it even more.
Collagen - Great for skin and joints collagen consists of the building blocks of your body. You can gnaw on a beef bone with tendon and ligaments attached or use the hydrolyzed version that does not affect the flavour what so ever.
Tumeric - Waking up with a headache, feeling tired and foggy or a lot of chronic joint pain throughout your body you should consider this. This is a natural anti-inflammatory and can help lower your risk of some major lifestyle conditions. Look for one with black pepper for better absorption.
Greens supplement - The more the merrier. I tend have the habit of putting it in there even if I’m using a ton spinach or kale.
turmeric, greens supplement, hydrolyzed collagen
Here’s one of my favourites that I make variations of regularly.
Handful of spinach
Handful of kale
1/2 avocado
1/2 banana
1/2 orange
4-5 strawberries
water
1 scoop of tumeric
1 scoop of greens powder
1.5 tbsp of hydrolyzed collagen.