One of the best things you can do to lift your own mood is brighten someone else’s day.
❤️ One of my favorite ways to do that is to tell somebody the first nice thing that comes to my mind when I am speaking with them. Do I notice they got a new haircut, do I love their earrings, are there eyes really sparkly, do they have a friendly voice? Something that pops out. I do this Even to strangers as long as you don’t sound like a creeper! I frequently will ask people about a tattoo or ask where they got a pair shoes. ❤️ Why? So they feel noticed. That they added value to my life. That I SEE them. That I HEAR them. I appreciate human connection and deep conversation. It fuels me on a level I can’t describe. ❤️ So my #wellnessmonth tips continue with this tip that I find invaluable. Find good in others and SHARE that with them.
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Do you have an Exercise routine? You have to break the same old pattern. Our muscles adapt to movement so if you always do the SAME darn moves, um, can you say boring!!!
:: Exercise is supposed to be both challenging and fun. If you told me I had to do kickboxing for exercise I would hardly ever do it. I don’t want to kick and punch the sh*t out of things. Maybe you do, so try it. I would rather dance, ballet, stretch and move my core. After a great workout I feel exhausted yet refueled all at the same time. :: I challenge you to set a back-to-school exercise goal. Try something new, find a class or friend to do it with. Make no excuses :: And remember, goals don't have to be miserable! Have fun – don't try to be perfect. Think of it this way. If you equate exercise with being miserable do you think you're going to struggle with wanting to move your body? How about food? If you are always on a diet and you consider being on a diet suffering then your goal will be harder to reach and not very fun along the way. Pick a goal that you find fun. It doesn't have to suck for it to count!
As I continue to dig into my top 10 wellness tips we cannot exclude hormones. Next up, hug it out! Our happy love hormone, AKA oxytocin, is released with prolonged hugging over 20 seconds in duration. The pituitary gland in our brain dumps out this glorious cuddle hormone making ya feel all warm and fuzzy.
:: This has a trickle-down effect throughout the body, causing a decrease in heart rate and a drop in the stress hormones. So grab someone you love and press your hearts together❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ :: 20 seconds might be too long for the average friend so grab a family member, your kids, your bestie or your partner and squeeze them tightly to feel the love. We all could use some Seratonin and Dopamine so get to hugging! :: We actually know that it is released with social bonding. That’s why we feel so darn happy to have a night out with our besties! Actually research has shown that oxytocin has a huge effect on social bonding. This article was fascinating. How it could affect social behavior for autism and Aspergers. ::www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ I think Americans are a little too uptight. I don’t exactly wanna hug a stranger for 20 sec but I see other cultures huh and kiss with WAY more comfort than us stiffies. What’s with that?! I Love my personal space so I get it but wonder if other cultures are happier cause they touch so much more. What do you think?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17888410/
Nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water 💧 but only 2.5% of it is fresh. The rest is salt water and NOT fit for consumption. And of that 2.5% guess how much is actually easily accessible? A mere 1%!!! Much of it is trapped in glaciers and snowfields.
:: Now guess how much of our human body is made up of water? More than 50%. It depends on how much muscle you have. That equates to us needing To drink ALOT of water. :: A quick calculation of how much YOU need is to do this formula. Take the number of your body weight and divide in half. That new number is how many ounces YOU need daily. Fresh, unsweetened, good old plain delicious water. Every living cell in your body needs it to keep functioning. You can only live for an average of 4 days with zero water. I would say it is essential to life! Drink up buttercup. Eat the rainbow....and I’m NOT talking a bag of skittles! 🌈🌈🌈Look down at your next plate of food and see how many colors are represented. Too often it is heavy on the beige color. It’s better to shoot for eating foods a color of the rainbow at every meal. Different colors supply different nutrients.
We are counting down my TOP 10 activities to kickstart National #wellnessmonth. Plants soak up nutrients in the soil they grow in. They absorb happy sunshine! ☀️Plants give us oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide so we cannot love without them. Some say eat more meat, others claim vegan or die. No matter what food philosophy you subscribe to no one ever argues that plants are bad for you. According to the food and agriculture association we humans eat only about 200 of the over 300,000 safe edible plants available on earth. Only three - rice, maize and wheat - contribute nearly 60 percent of calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants. Think about this too. We grow a lot of grain just to feed animals. We would actually use less water if we ate the grain ourselves. Today, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species. Holy lack of variety! Check out the book Knives over Forks! What’s with this whole non toxic, go green fad?! Surprise, it’s not a fad at all. Smart consumers are demanding clean and healthy products and NOT tolerating greenwashing. That’s when a big name company pretends to be healthy by designing their marketing and branding to fake you out. But really they sneak in all kinds of crap into the product. That’s Not ok!!
. What’s the downside? The chemicals you put in and on your body add up. Our body is designed to expertly filter out the crud. But what happens when your filter is full? ALERT....SYSTEM OVERLOAD...ALERT. Endocrine disruption, through the roof toxicity levels, horrible moods, stubborn thyroid issues and a generalized sense of just not feeling well. . I always tell my patients “control you can because there’s a lot we don’t have control over.” You can choose to buy organic and locally grown produce. At least avoiding the dirty dozen. You can choose to seek out body products without parabens, phthalates, toluene, formadelhyde, fragerences, SLS and colorants. You can limit your use of bleach cleaning supplies and switch to plant-based cleaners for every day use. Not only are the bleach fumes bad for your lungs but over-use is contributing to the proliferation of mutant super bugs and strange Staph infections that are unresponsive to antibiotics. And you can avoid burning toxic candles, spraying laboratory created room fragrances and supporting companies that are clearly greenwashing. I repeat, Be a smart consumer. I think everyone in the world can benefit from the healing touch of a bodywork provider. As a chiropractor I have touched thousands of spines, heard just as many stories and felt the pain that runs deep. Trust me, everyone has crud in their life they are holding in their body. Set it free. It will serve you well. Let someone skilled take care of you. Release the physical tension and emotional burdens. I got adjusted a few times a month. It’s one of my #1 most important wellness tips ever and my secret to happiness! Pssst....get your head put on straight. It does a body good! Check out my other tips to living a better life! Just be kind....to yourself!! #wellnessmonth discussion continues as I break down my personal top 10 ways to kickstart being a healthier person physically, emotionally and spiritually . We women can be incredibly hard on ourselves! I swear you would have ZERO friends if you spoke to them the way you speak to yourself. Cut yourself some slack, girl! Change your mindset and speak positively to yourself and about yourself. I find if I compliment others more then I feel Better about myself. It puts you in a better mood. Try it!
Sometimes I hear complaints a lot of the day. Kids are notorious for this. So all day long they bicker and complain. You get sucked into that and start to feel like nothing you do is good enough. That’s why girlfriend time is soooooooo important. Don’t you always feel rejuvenated after a great night out with gal pals? There are so many fantastic motivation self help books. Some of my favorites right now are Girl wash your face by Rachel Hollis, You are a Badass by Jen Sincero and anything by Brene Brown. What are YOUR favorite pick-me-up books? Let’s dig into each of my top 10 tips for living well since it is national #wellnessmonth in August. First up, Quality Zzzzzzzzzz’s.
For some weird reason it’s become a badge of honor for people to claim they exist on 4 hours of sleep. Getting enough *quality* sleep is essential to your life! I sure figured that one out a few years back when I would stay up till 2 AM just to have alone time. Serious adrenal fatigue set in and I practically ruined my health. Do you know what else interferes with your circadian cycle? Caffeine, other stimulants like energy drinks or drugs, lights from screens and alarms clocks, temperature fluctuations and poor pillow/mattress selection. It’s imperative you establish a consistent sleep and wake schedule 7 days a week. Predictability and rhythm is best for our body. Block any light coming in the room or wear a sleep mask. Limit screen use before bed so your brain has time to shut down. If you can’t then wear blue light blocking glasses. You see, your brain knows when it’s dark and that’s when it starts dumping out melatonin. But if you skip over the natural winding down process your body does not dump out as much melatonin and YOU are the one who suffers! Perhaps you would do best with a soak in a warm Bath before bed if at all possible. Toss in some Epsom salts (I love magnesium flakes) and soak for at least 20 minutes. Then massage some oil or lotion into your legs and feet before you lie down in bed so your muscles are completely relaxed. I always tell my patients to stretch before bed. Take those few minutes to breathe deeply and loosen up your muscles while you tell yourself what you are grateful for that day. Then I put essential oils in my diffuser (lavender, cedarwood and stress away) and drift off to la la land. Don’t ignore the possibility that your sense of smell can also contribute to relaxation and help communicate to your brain that it’s time for sleep. Make sleep a priority! Tell me I’m not the only one who can’t drink coffee! I see all those yummy looking drinks people slurp around the 3 PM slump and am like “YUMMY I want one”. Yeah but that sort of sludge in a cup gives me major headaches and the shakes. My body is so darn smart it gives me warning signs that I choose not to ignore. Pssst, your body gives YOU warning signs too, are you paying attention? Since I want a pretty drink too I’ve taken to mixing up my own creation that treats me right. vital proteins makes this yummy matcha collagen that I can add my traderjoes ricemilk and #lcoconut milk to plus some local maple syrup to sweeten to my liking then top off with ice.
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Hi, I'm Dr. Heidi!A mom of 3, pediatric chiropractor, natural remedy guru and wellness educator. Archives
August 2024
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