A Dose of Health

Isn’t that a common question? Every year tons of folks make resolutions to get fit, eat better, lose weight, stop eating junk and so on and so on.

Try something new this year. Don’t make a New Year’s resolution, make a New Month resolution. A year is a long time. Often times 2 months down the line (if not 2 weeks), folks forget their resolutions. Why not take all of your “New Year” resolutions and break them into New Month resolutions. Here’s a typical example:

New Year Resolution

Start exercising
Lose weight
Quit smoking
Stop drinking

Change it to:
January:
Begin an exercise program
I will exercise x amount of minutes x days each week. On days 1, 3 and 5, I will do weight training and toning and on days 2, 4 and 6, I will do aerobics for x minutes each day. On day 7, I will rest.

The more specific your goals, the better. Resolutions should be spelled out in such a fashion that your 8 year old child could read them and tell you if you’re honoring your resolutions.

Once you’ve mastered your first month’s resolution, go onto the next month. For example:

February
Goal: Lose weight.
I will drink at least 8 eight-ounce glasses of water daily, eat fresh fruits and vegetables 3 to 5 times a day, cut out fried and highly processed foods (no more fast foods), eat more whole grains, lean meat and fish, eliminate soda, sugar, white flour, excess salts (you get the idea).

Again, you want to make your goals specific. If your 8 year old has your February resolutions in her hand and she walks in as you’re about to eat a meal, she can check your list, look at your plate and determine if you are sticking with your goals.

Once you have managed January and February then move onto the next.

Chart Your Progress

An important part of honoring goals and resolutions is to chart progress. You need to know your starting point to get a better idea as to whether or not you’ve made improvements. Setting the baseline is the most painful (and embarrassing) part of the process.

For instance, if you want to lose weight/get in shape, strip down to your skivvies and take photos of yourself, front back and side views (what a sobering thought). Then get on the scale (even more sobering). Once you get off of the scale, take your measurements (brutal).

Next, take some vital stats such as your resting heart rate, blood pressure (you can go to the local drug store and use their blood pressure machines), blood sugar level if you have a glucometer.

Finally, set a base fitness level. See how many push ups, sit ups, leg lifts, knee bends (if your knees allow) you can do in your current state. Throw in any exercise you wish to chart on your journey.

Take all of your baseline information and put it away. You don’t want to look at it too often because it can be depressing (I’m speaking from experience here).

Get Started

Now its time to put your goals into action. Put a copy of your goals on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, your computer screen or anywhere you need to to remind yourself of what you’re trying to accomplish. You’ve got to focus on the goal, because change is not easy (at first).

After 30 days, pull out your dreaded stats. Go through the whole measuring process again. If you stuck with your goals, you will notice an improvement. Now all you need to do is wash, rinse and repeat.

Deeper Resolutions

Once you’ve mastered these goals, you’ll be able to make serious resolutions the following year. All of the superficial stuff such as getting in shape, losing weight, quit smoking and drinking will all be taken care of. Next year you’ll be able to spend time exploring your inner self and becoming a better person.

I know this is a blog about health, so I thought I should come clean. I, Felicia, am a crack addict. I must get my “crack on” at least once a week or else I’m no good to the world.

The crack I’m talking about is my chiropractic adjustment. There’s nothing like the sound of a good crack, the release of muscle tension and the ability to touch my toes again. Sometimes it’s all about touching my toes and other times its about being able to look at objects placed to the right of my shoulder and other times I get my crack on because it’s the right thing to do for my body.

Chiropractic visits are like brushing my teeth. I’m not too pleasant to be around if I don’t do both of those things regularly.

The Crack Controversy

People who are either new to the idea of chiropractology (there’s really no such word as chiropractology, but it sounds nice) or folks who are cynical say things like, “They (the chiropractors) are just after your money. They keep making you come back even when you’re feeling better.” Or, “Don’t go to a chiropractor, you’ll be going forever and never get better.” Or, better yet, “I can do it myself. Watch…” followed by the person turning their head from side to side in such a way to invoke the sound of popping Jiffy Pop popcorn (for the young folks, that’s how we made popcorn before the microwave).

Here’s My Chiropractic Story (and Theory)

After the birth of my second child, I experienced tingling and numbness down my right leg. My hip felt like it wanted to live three states away from the rest of my body. My hubby (wise man that he is), recommended that I see a chiropractor instead of going to the family physician.

From past experience, I found the family physician (who we affectionately call Dr. Prescription) would listen to my ailments with his prescription pad in hand. He would dutifully nod his head, hand me a few prescriptions and send me on my merry way. The prescriptions, muscle relaxants and pain relievers, were great if I wanted relaxed muscles and masked pain, but what I really wanted was to get rid of the source of the pain.

It’s kind of like having old broccoli in the trash and forgetting to take the trash out during a heat wave. I could spray all types of sweet smelling aerosols to mask the smell, but nothing will get rid of the stench until someone takes the trash out.

Finding the Source of the Problem

My chiropractor not only found the source of my problems, but my problems didn’t happen overnight. Many years of living has its way of moving bones around in such a fashion to accommodate the lifestyle of the day. If the lifestyle is pregnancy, the spine adjusts itself to accommodate it. When the lifestyle changes from pregnancy to carrying the bundle of joy on one hip while cooking meals and doing household chores, the spine, hips, shoulders all adjust to accommodate walking around with a bundle of joy on the hip.

Once a mom always a mom, after placing the baby on the ground to walk, mom has to carry a duffel bag (which doubles as a pocketbook) on the preferred shoulder. Usually the duffle bag is thrown on the shoulder of the same side that used to carry the child on the hip while cooking and doing household chores, further forcing the hip, back and shoulder to accommodate the current lifestyle. See a pattern?

Life Before and After Children

There were similar patterns before having children (you remember those dreaded school back packs) and even more spine altering patterns after having children. When you walk your dog on a leash, which arm does he pull most? Do you switch up or is Fido always on your right?

Pop a Pill and Call Me in the Morning

This type of wear and tear on the skeletal structure isn’t going to be resolved by a couple of pills. Pills can hide the pain, but it won’t get to the source of the problem. That’s why I became a crack addict. Initially I had to take a large dose of my chiropractic crack in an attempt to undo the poor skeletal alignment that resulted from years of living. One adjustment a week wasn’t enough to fix years of abuse.

After getting back on track, the number of weekly visits diminished. Now, I go once a week and I look forward to getting my crack on. I think of my adjustments as part of my maintenance routine. It fits right in there with brushing my teeth, drinking water, getting exercise, eating dark chocolate and getting my crack on.

There are more benefits to getting properly adjusted, but I’ll save that for another post.

This is really a rhetorical question. Gyms are a great place to workout, socialize, get motivated, increase physical fitness and, if you’re not careful waste a ton of money.

I’ve probably done all of the above when it comes to joining a gym. I get suckered in by all of the great equipment, the fun aerobic classes, the Olympic sized swimming pool and the loud pulsating music of the spinning classes. I’m all gung ho for a few weeks, even a month and a half and then something happens. Whether it’s a cold/flue, an injury, an out of state wedding, vacation or a child’s stubbed toe, something always happens and I stop going. Once I stop, it’s hard to get back into the rhythm again.

Unfortunately, the monthly membership fee doesn’t stop when I do. Each month I look at the monthly fee vowing to return to the gym and I never do.

Gym Precursor

I think I’ve finally found the solution to the wasted gym membership. The answer is a gym precursor. A gym precursor is all about engaging in a fun activity that requires some sort of physical movement. For example, join a learn to roller blade class or take a belly dancing class. In my case it’s a learn to row class.

By doing something you truly love to do, you’ll take the time to develop the muscles and gain the flexibility necessary to become proficient at the activity. Personally, I find that rowing requires endurance, so as a result of rowing, I started running again on my non rowing days. I don’t like running, but if it makes me a better rower, so be it.

My Gym Epiphany

My mistake, I now realize, when it comes to gym membership is that the gym is not my be all and end all. When I thought about physical fitness and getting in shape I thought of spending time at the gym whipping my body into shape. Instead, I now understand that the gym is a necessary means to an end. It helps me to be better at what I’m passionate about.

I now think of going to the gym and using the necessary equipment as a means to improve my rowing. Let’s face it football players play football but utilize the gym to become better football players. The same goes for swimmers, dancers, ice skaters, baseball players and so on.

Back to the Beginning

Are gyms really necessary? No, they’re not absolutely necessary. However, their equipment sure comes in handy when it comes to developing the necessary skills to perform well at a particular sport.