Foods To Avoid Eating If You’re Prone To Headaches

Headaches are often brushed off since we tend to just power through them. But frequent headaches may not only be a slight discomfort but can also be completely a nuisance. So the less you experience them, the better not just for you but for everyone else. The problem is, people hardly ever seek medical attention for headaches unless they become incapacitated with it. As a result it can be hard to manage at time because we basically don’t know what to do about it aside from taking painkillers. But did you know that you may be able to manage it by avoiding certain foods?

Chocolate

A lot of people, not just women, find chocolate a comforting food. But did you know that if you tend to get headaches a lot, chocolate may have a different effect? It’s said to be due to tyramine or phenylethylamine, two amino acids found in chocolate that is triggering the headache.

Alcoholic Drinks

Whether you’re a habitual drinker or not, you’re probably aware of how much of a pain hungover can be.  But you don’t even have to be that drunk or have a hungover to experience the headache from alcoholic drinks. Since alcohol in any drink causes increased blood flow to your brain and can also result in dehydration, both of which might be headache triggers.

Coffee

The high or energy boost that coffee can give you can also cause headaches, especially after the effect of the caffeine has worn off. But this depends on how often you drink it. Moderate consumption may help relieve pain since it gives that sense of alertness. But daily intake, especially if you have more than a cup in a day, makes your brain develop a tolerance for it. So the effectiveness becomes weaker and your body expect an additional dose right away which when unmet the withdrawal syndrome which includes headaches kicks in.

Cheese

Substance called tyramine that forms as the proteins in cheese break down over time. And the longer the cheese ages, the more tyramine it contains which is a known headache causing element. So if you’re a fan of cheese and you add it in anything that you eat, you may wanna start cutting back on that and see if your headache improves.

Foods Containing Soy Sauce And MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is found in soy sauce and as a food additive in many other foods, has been found to cause cramps, diarrhea, and a horrible headache in 10 to 15 percent of people who get migraine headaches. This is possibly due to the saltiness which can lead to dehydration that we know leads to headaches too.

Ice Cream

Drinking or eating something cold very quickly can cause what we call brain freeze which basically is headache due to the cold. Therefore, it’s actually not the ice cream itself that’s causing the pain. You can still enjoy it, just eat it slowly no matter how much you love it or have been craving for it for days!

Banana

Shocker, I know. Banana is hardly found in any not-to-eat-food list because of how nutritious it is. But apparently, headache or migraine sufferers have found that banana triggers the pain for them. This is because banana also contain tyramine which if you’re sensitive to it, headache takes over!

Processed Meat

Nitrites used as preservatives in hot dogs, bacon, and lunch meats may dilate blood vessels and trigger headaches after eating in some people. There may not be a solid study that can back this up but we know that too much processed foods in your body is not good because of all the preservatives added in them. If you can’t eliminate them in your diet altogether, you should at least limit your consumption of them.

Eliminating or even just limiting these food items from your diet may help, but probably the safest, surest way to headache relief is to seek chiropractic care. Because it’s a great alternative treatment that doesn’t involve drugs or surgery to eliminate the pain but is effective in improving your overall health. Aside from that, it’s best to work with your primary care physician, neurologist, or headache specialist too. With some trial and error, you may find a treatment that finally relieves your pain.

Pointers That Will Make Your Boss Agree To Provide Height Adjustable Desks In The Office

When you spend majority of your time sitting, chances are back pain, shoulder pain, and neck pain have become your constant companion. This isn’t good. Not only that this can make your entire day uncomfortable, but it can also lead to spinal injuries and affect your performance at work in general.

But don’t worry because utilizing height adjustable desks in your workplace is a good way to alternate sitting down and standing up throughout the day and avoid back pain and stiffness. The question is, how do you get your boss onboard with this? Well, you suggest this idea in your next meeting and to convince him or her, here are the pointers you definitely want to highlight!

Return On Investment

Businesses don’t like spending money on something that they won’t profit from, that’s why it’s called business. So if you’re going to present this idea of investing on new desks, you have to explain how the management would gain from it. So you explain that while the cost of such desks may be off-putting at the beginning, it actually benefits them as time goes because of how it helps employee perform better.

Improved Employee Health

Did you know that back pain is a leading cause of missed work days as well as work limitations? That is not good for businesses as their employees’ health affects performance which affects business’s revenue in the long run. So if they invest in a desk that prevents back pain, the company enjoys increased productivity, reduced sick days and lower health insurance cost.

Improved Mood Means Increase In Productivity

Being allowed to move more by alternating sitting and standing not only lessens chances of back pain but also improves a worker’s mood. We all know that once a person starts feeling stressed out or starts getting into a bad mood, a tasks starts feeling more difficult or they get mental blocked that they can’t figure out how to do something at all. But the simple act of getting up from the desk and moving your body refreshes the brain more than staring at the computer for hours. So for a company, a happy worker is a more productive worker and if a height adjustable desk can help with that, your boss will be more willing to give it a go.

No Assembly Required

The company won’t have to hold a tutorial seminar just to teach employee to assemble these kind of desks. So it’s not like they also have to worry about wasting precious working hours because sit-stand desks nowadays require no assembly at all. You simply have to take it out of the box, place it on the existing desk and then it’s done!

No Risk

When it comes to risks, you simply have to recommend a supplier that offers return and exchange within 30 days, which most suppliers nowadays do, and it should be fine.

People say that stress is all in the mindset, but you should know that your body condition play a big role in it too. So if your symptoms persist even after improving your work setup with the help of sit-stand desks, it’s time you seek a professional. Receiving adjustments from a chiropractor here in Singapore can make a significant difference in your stress level by relieving pain or discomfort caused by misalignment, helping you sleep better at night, and even treat other health condition like constant headache and digestive problems which are without a doubt stressful. Aside from that, you’ll find that when your body is in tip-top condition, your performance at work improves as well and you’re less likely to feel sick and tired of going to work every day.

Things That Can Improve Your Overall Health That You Just Don’t Realize

A lot of people assume that they have to make drastic changes in their life to be healthier. However, what many don’t realize is that the tiniest shift in their daily habits makes the biggest impact in their health. While going vegan or adapting a workout regime can certainly be a great change, you don’t have to force yourself into such strict habits to see results. Here are some simple changes that you can do to be a healthier version of yourself.

Choose Activities That Help You Manage Stress And Feel Balanced

Everybody are busy with work, socializing and running errands that it almost feel like 24 hours isn’t enough. However, it is important that you prioritize your health and make a conscious effort to balance your activities every day in a way that it won’t feel like you didn’t get a chance to breathe before the day ended. After all, being healthy is necessary for you to be able to perform your daily task.

Avoid Things That Could Make Your Health Deteriorate

If you know what’s causing your asthma attacks, stress, never-ending cold, vices, or things that’s harming your health, step away from those. Stop making excuses for them. If you don’t find it in you to put an end to bad habits even if you religiously take vitamins, you’ll just seesaw between repairing and damaging your health. That’s not going anywhere near improving your well-being.

Exercise Some Relaxation Techniques

We could try really hard but we can’t avoid stress altogether. But we can do some relaxation tricks to keep our stress level at a minimum. Diaphragmatic breathing, yoga, or music therapy help calm the nervous system so we don’t get consumed with tension.

Aim For A Quality Sleep

A lot of people underestimate the benefits of getting a quality sleep. The thing is, it’s not enough that you’re sleeping every night if you’re not getting the most out of it. If you want to reap the benefits of sleeping, you have to do it right. That means investing on a mattress that really supports your back, don’t workout, eat, or drink coffee at least 2 hours prior to bedtime, sleep at the same time every night to wake up at the same time each morning, and try to hit at least 7 hours every night.

Adapt Some Positive Coping Strategies

When we say self-care for good health, we’re not just talking about physical, it also involve mental and emotional aspect of your health. So to help you stay sane it would be good if you can develop healthy perception about potentially stressful situations. In short, try to look at the bright side of every circumstance. Or better yet, find an outlet, like journal writing, pottery, or dancing so you can release the feelings of overwhelm and confusion and find peace and clarity.

See A Chiropractor

Sometimes, feeling stressed is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. People who complain with neck, back, shoulder pain, headaches usually suffers to more than just being overworked. It could be that there’s a deeper cause like spinal misalignments. When this is present, you’ll feel all sorts of pain and it’ll manifest mentally, physically, and emotionally. To make sure, why not visit a chiropractic clinic in Singapore and see how chiropractic sessions can make a huge difference in your overall health.

If you want to be a happier and healthier person, you will have to work for it. There’s no shortcut that you can go through. You have to make changes in the lifestyle that you’re used to in order to arrive at the one that you want and know is better for you in all aspects of your life. Start with small changes so that you don’t end up overwhelming yourself. With these small changes, you’re more likely to maintain them and move to a better place than where you were before.

Gift Ideas For Your Special Someone This Love Month

Chocolate, flowers, candle light dinner or couple items are great, but sometimes it’s even better to gift your special person with something that is beneficial for his or her health. It may not be a common option but thinking about your partner’s health condition is showing love too, on a grander scale even, because you’re looking after his or her well-being.

So, on that note, here are some gift ideas that are guaranteed to be highly appreciated.

Massage

If you and your partner’s days recently have been stressful, going for a massage is a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than watching a movie or going to typical lover’s destination. It will allow you both to relax but it’s still just as romantic. Professional massages can be an excellent and relaxing way to ease back pain. Since it’s for Valentine’s Day, consider getting a gift certificate for a couple’s massage. Massages can help with back pain by relieving the tension that often contributes to muscle spasms.

Ergonomic Chair

Most people who have an office job have a common complain—back pain, being uncomfortable all day, and being more and more tired by the day. Those complain boils down to the fact that they spend a great deal of time in an office chair. Moreover, most often than not, the chair they’re using do not have proper support for the lower back nor promote good posture. Sitting all day is already detrimental to one’s health and using a poorly designed chair for prolonged sitting is adding more stress to the structures in the spine. So if you’re feeling a bit more generous consider an ergonomic chair as your valentine day gift.  Just remember to look for features that maintain his posture without restricting his movement.

Lumbar Cushion

Sitting for extended period of time is not good for your back and your health; however, it has become unavoidable nowadays due to desk jobs, sedentary lifestyle, and even prolonged driving. If you know your special someone tend to spend a lot of time sitting for whatever reason, how about give him or her a lumbar cushion this coming hearts day? Designed to be used anywhere, lumbar cushions minimize stress on spine-supporting muscles and help the user maintain correct posture. Consider cushions made from memory foam, which is designed to naturally adjust to the user’s curves for added support.

Neck Support Products

Does your special someone complain about neck pain a lot? Do you notice him or her always massaging his or her neck area? Then take this coming Valentine’s Day to get him or her, a neck wedge. Neck wedges is a great tool that can help restore the neck curve, reduce pain, develop better posture and improved health. Neck wedges is a simple foam wedge that you can use like a pillow but unlike the typical pillow, this neck cushion focuses on the curve of your neck instead of your head. It is a comfortable orthotic device that is lightweight and easy to use. Skip the tradition Valentine’s gifts and consider this one because this could be the best gift for your loved one.

Chiropractic Care Appointment

Even if you have never heard your partner complain about back pain or the like, book him or her, an appointment with a chiropractor you know and go together. The modern lifestyle nowadays takes a toll on the body especially if your partner sits all day at work. An appointment to a chiropractor can help with a lot of different health issues, especially when it comes to musculoskeletal system in which area chiropractors specializes in.

Top 5 Midnight Snacks You Can Eat Without The Guilt

Now that the holidays are over, you’re back to work and your fitness activities but you’re left with the food hungover and incessant desire to snack around midnight. However, since you’re probably trying to lose the pounds you gained over the holidays, snacking is probably one thing that you’re trying to avoid altogether.

Aside from that, when you’re trying to lose weight, it is believed that eating after 7 or 8pm can undermine weight loss efforts. The problem is if you had an early dinner, getting hungry around midnight is inevitable and sleeping with a grumbling stomach is never a good idea. If this is the case for you, here are some snack ideas that will curb your hunger without doing any harm provided that you don’t eat a whole bunch of them in one sitting.

1.      Greek Yogurt

There are a lot of different yogurts available but in this case you better stick with greek yogurt. Regular and sweetened yogurts usually contain artificial color and sweetener not to mention excess water and lactose. But with this, you’re getting your yogurt fix plus protein without too much sugar and calories.

2.      Dark Chocolate

If it’s chocolate that you always crave for when you want a snack, opting for dark ones is the way to go. They aren’t as loaded with sugar and calories but they’re just as good. Plus they’re rich in antioxidants, so it’s a win-win, though moderation is still key.

3.      Banana

When it comes to healthy snacks, bananas are truly a bargain. They're great sources of dietary fiber, minerals like potassium and magnesium, and a good source of other vitamins like vitamins A and C. aside from that, they lower blood pressure and reduces risk of cancer and asthma.

4.      Hummus

Hummus is a dip made up of chickpeas, olive oil, garlic and other ingredients. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It is an excellent source of fiber and helps in better functioning of the digestive system. One feels full and satisfied after having it.

5.      Cheese And Crackers

Now don’t get too excited, when we say cheese and crackers we mean the whole wheat crackers and low fat cheese. This way you still get to enjoy the taste of this delicious pair without the guilt that comes with the regular option of these two.

Working out is surely important to shed some extra kilos that you’ve accumulated from the holiday feast but try not to overwhelm yourself by restricting your diet too much. Don’t be afraid to eat when you’re hungry; just make sure you choose what you eat well. There are always healthier options of the foods you like to indulge in.

Why Boyfriend Jeans Should Be Included In Your Staple Wardrobe Items

Some people like to go on a shopping haul at the beginning of the year to freshen up their wardrobe. If your staple bottoms are skinny jeans, you should consider adding some boyfriend jeans in there.  Why? Well, here are the reasons why you’d be glad you gave boyfriend jeans a chance in your wardrobe.

It’s Comfortable And Yet Still Fashionable

Skinny jeans make your legs look great. However, the snug feeling that they give you and, admittedly, some  people like when it comes to their jeans, is also compressing the nerves that run along the outside of your thigh. This can cause Tingling Thigh Syndrome. Not to mention that this also changes the way you walk because of it being restrictive. As a result, you’re putting undue pressure on your joints and ligaments, especially the hips and knees, decrease their ‘shock absorption’ capabilities as you walk and easily lead to unintentional injury.

Though chiropractic care can help you with these issues, it’s still best that you don’t wear skinny jeans all the time to prevent injuries from happening. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to compromise comfort to look good all the time. Boyfriend jeans can make you look chic, casual, or edgy without restricting your movement.

It’s The Only Distressed Thing That Looks Good

Most of the time, distressed things is a pain to look at but distressed boyfriend jeans seems to be an exemption to that. When it comes to this article of clothing, a few more holes makes it look even better. No wonder some people try to rip their jeans intentionally.

You Can Dress It Up Or Down Depending On Your Mood

Just because it’s a loose fitting jeans doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the laid-back look. You can easily dress it up just by opting for a dressier top layered with a structured blazer and finished off with killer heels.

The More You Wear It, The More It Grows On You

At first, boyfriend jeans may feel off especially if you’re used to wearing skinny jeans. But as you wear it again and again you’ll see how it feels way better. It’s easy to fall in love with it since it’s not squeezing your legs and constantly making you feel stiff.

It Won’t Suck You In Like A Skinny Jeans But It’s Still A Great Fit

Skinny jeans may be the way to go if you want to achieve a sharp look, but apart from that boyfriend jeans rocks just as good.

It Won’t Go Out Of Style

It’s been here for a long time and is not likely to go anywhere. Not when more and more women are becoming obsessed with it.

It’s Hard To Find One That Fits Well But When You Do, You’ll Be The Envy Of Many

Looking for a pair that won’t make you look sloppy is hard. Sometimes it’s way too loose, has too much holes, or the wash looks too worn out. But when you do come across a pair that’s just look good on you, you’d want to wear it every day and your friends would want to steal it from you.

7 Benefits Of Jojoba Oil Which You Probably Didn’t Know

You probably know by now that ayurvedic oils are great for nourishing and maintaining healthy skin and hair. Jojoba oil, for that matter, is one of the popular oils that are often used for hair care. Jojoba oil being the closest in construction to the human sebum is a natural replacement for it. When the body is unable to produce enough sebum to protect against harsh external elements, jojoba oil can be the perfect skincare solution.

1.      Retains Moisture

Jojoba oil helps moisturize the skin, without clogging the pores, allowing for a healthy skin type. Aside from that, it also fights off bacteria build up in your pores which tends to develop into blackheads and acne.

2.      For Soft Lips

Instead of buying lip balms or chapsticks, why not use jojoba oil to moisturize your lips? It’s a natural way to keep your lips from being dry and from cracking.

3.      A Natural Sunscreen

It has always been drilled to us that we must splatter sunscreen all over our body if we want to prevent the damaging effects of sunlight. However, did you know that chemical sunscreens that have the potential to greatly increase skin cancer risk and reduce Vitamin D production in the name of avoiding skin cancer, and increase our risk of more widespread diseases related to Vitamin D deficiency? A good natural alternative for that would be jojoba oil.

4.      Treats Skin Burns

There are times that despite your efforts to prevent getting burned while enjoying the beach, it still happens. When that happens, you wouldn’t want to apply lotion or any other chemical cream for that since your skin is already sensitive from the burn. But Jojoba soothes any burnt skin by going deeper into the tissues and healing them. It can even reduce skin burn that often happens after shaving.

5.      Good For Your Hair

Jojoba oil helps strengthen hair follicles on the scalp causing hair to grow stronger and healthier. The presence of Vitamin E & B conditions the hair shaft making the hair shinier, adding volume and density. The stronger hair shaft prevents hair breakage due to drying wet hair everyday. Head massages with jojoba oil help to also condition the scalp which removes scalp dryness. Thus avoiding dandruff and itching.

6.      Great Makeup Remover

Makeup is great, but we gotta admit that removing it after a long day can be pain especially since most makeup remover in the market stings which is especially true around the eye area. Since giving up makeup would be completely unrealistic, why not look for a makeup remover that is just as effective minus the burning effect that often comes with chemical ones? Jojoba oil is a great alternative! Even the most stubborn eye makeup glides right off with this.

7.      Pain Relief

Did you know that essential oils can help relieve different kinds of pain naturally? Well, jojoba oil is one of the carrier oils that are often used for therapeutic purposes. To blend your essential oils into a synergy, you only need to use a few drops of essential oil. The dosage varies, but the standard practice is to add 4 to 10 drops of essential oil to every tablespoon of your carrier oil.

Essential oils whether they are purchased as pure oil and prepared at home or in therapeutic products are particularly useful in the management of chronic pain as in the case of arthritis and sciatica. Essential oils have been proven to be a great addition to any pain management program. So don’t knock it until you try it!

Isn’t amazing how much jojoba oil can do for you? Sometimes, all you really need is take a moment to assess the hair and skin issues you’re dealing with and think that maybe you have to reconsider what you apply to them. With that said, start looking for an alternative. It may not be jojoba oil for you but you’d be surprised that there are a lot of natural ingredients that can actually replace all your chemical ones. And when you find a natural alternative that works for you, stick to it!