A Little Indulgence Goes a Long Way
December 22, 2011
Photo Credit: e_calamar
Between office parties, neighborhood open houses and big family dinners, the holiday season can feel like a diet disaster just waiting to happen. It’s tempting to just give up on healthy habits until January rolls around – or to hide out at home where we won’t have to deal with temptation at all! But with just a little bit of discipline it is possible to indulge and enjoy the holiday festivities without going overboard. Here are a few tips to help you stay on track:
- Drink lots of water throughout the day. Staying well-hydrated helps to give you a full feeling before meals.
- Load up on vegetables. Look for appetizers with lots of vegetables and fill your dinner plate with vegetable dishes. Volunteer to bring a vegetable dish so that you’re sure to find something you enjoy.
- For every glass of wine or cocktail you have, alternate with a big glass of water in between.
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule. It may be hard, with late nights the norm at this time of year, but try to get adequate rest as often as you can.
- Go easy on yourself! I practice the 95 percent – 5 percent rule. If I am eating well 95 percent of the time, I allow myself to eat what I choose the other 5 percent of the time. The stress that results from worrying about everything that goes into your mouth is worse than eating the food.
- Stay active. An active lifestyle can make up for a multitude of diet mishaps. Remember to keep up with (or increase) your usual activity level. Exercise is even more important during this busy, stressful time of year.
Don’t forget that regular chiropractic care will keep you feeling your best this holiday season and beyond. To inquire about Lifestyle care at Rozenhart Family Chiropractic, call Kristina at 408-979-9999.
Healthier Holiday Cookies
December 15, 2011
Photo Credit: ozmafan
For many of us, the holiday season means time spent in the kitchen, baking goodies to share with our friends and neighbors. While it’s a joy to bake and decorate, the sweet treats can add up – and add inches to our waistlines! This year, try incorporating a few healthier recipes into your cookie repertoire. Here are two that we like from Bastyr University.
Blackstrap Molasses Cookies
Chewy and delicious, these cookies use nutrient-rich blackstrap molasses for flavor and a bit of sweetness. Recipe makes about 2 ½ dozen cookies.
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
dash of salt
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine flours, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
2. If coconut oil is solid, warm the jar in a warm water bath until liquefied. Combine oil and sugar in a large bowl and mix with whisk or electric mixer. Add in egg, water and blackstrap molasses. Mix together.
3. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until the dough takes in all the flour. It will be sticky compared to the typical chocolate chip cookie dough, but proceed with delicately rolling out tablespoon sized balls by hand. If it sticks to your hands try chilling the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes.
4. Roll the balls in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Gently flatten and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.
Recipe reprinted from Bastyr Student Nutrition Association.
Chocolate-Covered Coconut Macaroons
These are a tasty alternative for those who are avoiding wheat in their diets but still want to indulge in a holiday treat. You can watch a video on how to make them on Cookus Interruptus. Makes about a dozen cookies.
2 1/2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup honey or brown rice syrup
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz. semisweet or dark chocolate (baking chocolate)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Lightly oil a glass measuring cup to measure honey or rice syrup. Place sweetener in a pan over low heat until it begins to loosen. The brown rice syrup will yield a slightly less sweet macaroon. Add coconut and egg white. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it begins to collect (about 2-3 minutes). Remove from heat, stir in extracts. Let mixture rest until cool enough to touch.
3. With moist hands, make small rounded mounds and place them side by side on the cookie sheet (they will not spread). Bake about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Allow to cool to room temperature on cookie sheet.
4. Chop up the chocolate into small pieces. Put 3/4 of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler and heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is at about 110 degrees F (just barely too hot to touch). Remove from heat. Stir in remaining chocolate. This will temper the chocolate. Pour chocolate over the top of each macaroon. Let chocolate set until firm before serving. This will take about 1 hour at room temperature. Refrigeration will hasten this process.
Recipe reprinted from Cynthia Lair’s cookbook Feeding the Whole Family.
Give Good Health: Holiday Gift Ideas
December 8, 2011
Photo Credit: asenat29
This year, instead of fighting traffic or jostling through the crowds at the mall, get creative with your gift-giving! Choosing gifts that encourage a healthy lifestyle is a wonderful way to show you truly care. And you never know – your gift might just be the one that kicks off a fresh start for someone who has been struggling with their health! Here are a few suggestions for healthy gifts your loved ones are sure to appreciate this year:
- Gym membership – buy a 3-month, 6-month or even a full year pass to the local fitness center.
- Good walking shoes – or a gift certificate to the local athletic shoe store.
- Heart monitor – a great way to keep track of exertion!
- Yoga classes – you can find yoga classes for all fitness levels. Sign yourself up for a class as well, and you can enjoy getting fit together.
- Organic food – try a gift card to an organic grocery store or a 3-month CSA share.
- Cookbooks – inspire healthy eating with new, delicious recipes.
- Massage certificate – everyone can benefit from regular massage. Give one, or a series.
- Chiropractic services – show your loved ones how beneficial chiropractic care is by giving a gift certificate.
Don’t give a gift that will end up sitting on a shelf or be relegated to the back of the closet. The gift of good health is always just the right size!
To inquire about gift certificates for massage or chiropractic care at Rozenhart Family Chiropractic, call Kristina at 408-979-9999.
The Healing Power Within You
December 6, 2011
If you are in pain or suffering from a health problem this holiday season, then the greatest gift you can receive is to discover and release the healing power within you. This healing power is the same vitalistic energy that grew you from one cell at the moment of conception to over 80 quadrillion cells that are perfectly placed, organized and orchestrated in you as an adult.
Chiropractic works with this innate healing power, your Innate Intelligence, to help you recover quickly from injuries and enjoy the quality lifestyle you deserve throughout your life.
How does this happen?
Your nervous system is the master control system of your body and healing energy flows over this network. With over 45 miles of nerves delivering over 3 million messages per second between your brain and every one of your cells, this pathway between your brain and body must be healthy for you to function properly. This pathway must also be clear for you to heal if you have been injured or you are sick.
Unfortunately, this communication pathway can experience interference. Nerve Interference that occurs in the spine is called a vertebral subluxation. Research out of the University of Colorado has shown that the weight of a dime can reduce nerve transmission. “Only five to ten millimeters of pressure can interfere with the nutrition of a nerve, starving it of nutrients,” reports the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. “Deterioration can occur within two weeks,” according to Dr. Videman’s research out of Finland.
Lifestyle Interference results from poor health habits such as overeating, poor nutrition, excessive drinking, taking prescription or non-prescription drugs, or sitting too much. Environmental Interference can be caused by toxicity from air, food, water, or chemicals, as well as accidents or natural disasters. All three types of interference can cause pressure in your spine and nervous system and affect your health on every level.
Rather than releasing the healing power within them, too many people treat their symptoms with over the counter and prescription drugs while the underlying cause, the interference, remains in their system and accumulates damage for decades. This has short and long term consequences.
The great thing is that as long as you are alive and breathing, and there is life flowing over your nervous system, this healing power stays within you, just waiting for you to get the interference out of the way. When you do, it goes to work and does its job! With consistency, not only can your body heal to the point where you feel better, your health can stabilize and your body can also regenerate.
How many holidays have you or your loved ones spent where you are waiting, hoping and praying for health problems to go away. Rather than receive another superficial gift and continue to suffer, why not ask your family and friends to deliver a gift that releases the healing power within you? Better yet, take responsibility and give that healthy gift to yourself.
Everyone deserves to be healthy and express their full potential from the time they are born through their last breath of life. This includes you. Release the healing power within you and make this holiday season the one you remember for a lifetime.
Reprinted with permission from The Family Practice
Enjoy the Healthiest Holidays Ever
December 6, 2011
If you, your family and friends are healthy, consider it a blessing. The opportunity to gather and enjoy each other’s company without the worry or burden of suffering loved ones contributes greatly to a healthier holiday season.
If you and your loved ones fall into this category, consider taking your health to new levels. When faced with choices between healthy foods and unhealthy foods, choose the healthy ones. Make exercise your first priority by exercising first thing in the morning so that you do not get swept away by holiday activities and miss out on your workout. Schedule your chiropractic adjustments in advance so your nervous system stays healthy and your body is more resistant to stress.
When you are making plans to gather with family and friends, do not just make appointments to gather around food and drink. Gather around going for walks in the woods or hikes in the mountains or on the trails. Gather around fresh air and sunshine. If the sun is not out or the weather is bad in your area, take a fitness class together. If you have young children, this will help them to build healthy habits and values that can last a lifetime. Encourage house guests to pack clothing and shoes for these kinds of activities.
When planning your holiday meals, experiment with healthier recipes. Look for dishes that call for fresh ingredients. Download five or six recipes from your favorite cooking website and have the people you will be gathering with do the same. Talk about them and decide which ones would be fun to experiment with. Mix in a new, fresh, healthy recipe with the other foods that you like to eat and bring balance to your holiday meals, making them less destructive to your body. Each year you can experiment with new recipes. Before you know it, your holiday meals will become both delicious and healthy while helping you get off the weight loss, weight gain rollercoaster ride that has been a plague for so many people. You will leave your holiday table guilt-free and empowered.
Healthy gift giving can change a life. Many people are turning to healthy gift giving as a way to say, “I love you, I care about you, your health is important to me.” Your willingness to invest in the well-being of those that you love can go a long way to inspiring them to choose to invest in it. This action on your part can even act as an intervention to someone who is really in trouble and in denial about their health.
Healthy gifts can include a gym membership, exercise shoes, a heart monitor, a chiropractic examination or a series of chiropractic adjustments. While so many gifts are forgotten within 30 days, healthy gifts can be life changing and may be remembered for a lifetime.
If you or any of your friends or family members are experiencing pain or ill health of any kind this holiday season, this is all the more reason to make healthy choices a priority. By following these guidelines and removing pressure from the spine and nervous system with chiropractic care, this holiday season can become an opportunity to embrace a healing path and a healthier New Year.
Everyone deserves to be healthy and express their full potential from the time they are born through their last breath of life. This includes you and your loved ones. We hope that you enjoy the healthiest, happiest holiday season ever.
Reprinted with permission from The Family Practice
Six Tips for Healthy Holiday Travel
December 1, 2011
Photo Credit: Vox Efx
The holidays are stressful enough – but you can double that stress when you throw holiday travel into the mix! Add that stress to the usual challenges to your immune system at this time of year and you have a recipe for illness. Luckily, we have a few tried-and-true tips to keep you feeling strong and well when you’re on the road this year so you can enjoy your holiday gatherings in good health!
- Stay well hydrated. Every cell in your body needs water to function at its best, but airports, planes and hotel rooms dry us out, so drink up! An added bonus: if you’re drinking enough water you’ll be up and going to the bathroom regularly, and our bodies love motion!
- Visualize positive family encounters! Stress about family time can have a negative impact on our health. Visualize things going well with family members and prepare yourself as best you can for those encounters.
- Get moving. Build in exercise whenever and wherever you can. Take a stroll through the airport on layovers, do some triceps dips while waiting to board or do some calf raises while waiting in line. And don’t forget to stretch!
- Bring healthy snacks. You know the food choices on the airplane will be limited at best (and full of fat and sodium), so pack your carry-on bag with fruit, nuts and veggies. They are all easy to pack and full of nutrients.
- Relieve neck strain. Try this easy stretch: bring one ear over to one shoulder, hold for 20 seconds. For a deeper stretch, bring that ear over and provide resistance from the opposite hand while bringing your head back to original position. Repeat 3 times on each side.
- Relieve back irritation. To avoid and relieve back stress, get up from your seat frequently and move around. There are no magical stretches to relieve hours of sitting, we must get up and move for our spines to be happy and healthy!
All of us at Rozenhart Family Chiropractic wish you safe, happy and healthy travels this holiday season!
Thank You Silicon Valley
