Tips To Make Yourself Stop Wanting Junk Foods

Convenient and delicious not to mention addictive but with little to no nutritional value—that’s what junk foods are. Now, if all you eat it is that, don’t be surprised if you’re sick or feel tired all the time, gaining weight, or your hair is getting thinner or looks dull. This is why you have to make your diet 70% fruits and veggies, 25% meat and dairy, and 5% of anything you like.

But it’s no secret that it’s very challenging to do that, if it’s up to you, you’d probably just eat what you like all the time, may it be fast food, chips or sweets. But the thing is, if you don’t want your body to give out before your appetite does, you’d want to feed it with nutritious foods majority of the time. So for you to do that and avoid cheating on the healthy diet you’re trying to maintain, here are some tips for you to train your brain into rejecting junk foods.

Drink Water First

A lot of times, you’re not really craving food but just thirsty. Every time you feel an urge to snack, drink water first. After a few minutes the craving will usually fade if your body is actually just thirsty.

Drinking water has a lot of health benefits for our body. It doesn’t just keep you hydrated but it also helps improve your digestion, clear the skin a bit, as well as keeps you from drinking sodas. But aside from that, if you make it a habit to drink a glass of water before every meal, it will fill you up you that you don’t overeat.

Don’t Make Them Easily Accessible For You

You’re more likely to munch on junk foods if they’re lying around your house and can easily grab them. You can solve this by not including them in your grocery shopping. This way, you’ll have to go out and buy it in the nearest convenience store whenever you crave them. However, you may not even bother buying them because most of the time it feels bothersome to go out just to buy snack.

Distance Yourself From Junk Food

You can do this either physically distancing yourself from the food item or mentally. If you crave for something all of a sudden, you can try taking a walk outside especially if that food is just in your fridge or pantry. You can also avoid routes where the store you usually grab your junk food is located. Another way to distance yourself from the craving is to think of something else. You can plan your day tomorrow or watch those cat or dog videos that you like so much. You’ll find that once you get distracted from the thought of the food, the craving fades too.

Don’t Wait Until You’re Extremely Hungry Before Eating

If you’re the type who doesn’t really follow the typical meal intervals and only eats when really hungry or when you feel like it, there’s a good chance you end up eating midnight snacks all the time. Eating meals at regular intervals is healthy for the body and its metabolism. It can maintain the blood sugar levels throughout the day and can also put a halt to those midnight hunger pangs.

Fight Stress

Deadlines, bills, relationship troubles, and other family issues have a way to mess with your appetite. You either have no appetite at all or find yourself stress eating all the time which is bad because when this happens junk foods are usually what people go for. This then can spike the level of cortisol in the body and make you gain weight in your midsection. Not only that, there are people who resort to food or vices like alcohol drinking when they’re stressed which contributes to weight gain as well.

People under a lot of stress or feel down tend to avoid eye-contact and their shoulders are rounded and stoop. People say that stress is all in the mindset, but you should know that your body condition play a big role in it too. 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, have better control with your appetite and even treat other health condition like constant headache and digestive problems which are without a doubt stressful.

Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is about practicing mindfulness, a type of meditation, in relation to foods and eating. It teaches you to develop awareness of your eating habits, emotions, hunger, cravings and physical sensations. Mindful eating teaches you to distinguish between cravings and actual physical hunger. It helps you choose your response, instead of acting thoughtlessly or impulsively. Eating mindfully involves being present while you eat, slowing down and chewing thoroughly. It is also important to avoid distractions, like the TV or your smartphone.

Get Enough Sleep

Notice how cranky you get when you lack sleep? Coffee can’t compensate for that. Try to sleep at least 7 hours daily and you’ll surely gain more energy, maintain sharper mind, and lower risk of getting sick as well as prevent cravings from showing up.

Eat Proper Meals

Our body thrives not from the quantity of your meal but from the quality. So even if you ate a lot of food, you’ll find yourself wanting to eat something after a while because your body didn’t get the nutrients that it needs from your previous meal. Consumption of essential fibers can provide sugar stability which can keep you full for a longer period of time.

Remember that snacking a lot, even if you’re consuming healthy snacks, can still lead to weight gain which causes a lot of other health problems, especially if you do not do it in moderation. While being healthy doesn’t mean you have to be thin, weight gain should still be monitored. So instead of constantly trying to depriving your body of foods, try focusing on providing necessary nutrients for your body. Aside from that, you also have to adapt a healthy and regular eating pattern to avoid messing up with your metabolism. This is why chiropractic care aims to treat the body on a holistic level, meaning its goal is to not only provide immediate relief from issues such as back pain, but to help the body heal and manage itself from the inside out, so it's less likely to face other health issues such as weight gain.

Ways To Set Weight Loss Goals Efficiently

There’s a lot of reason why it’s a good idea to lose weight. But if you need one that isn’t about looks, then how about pain management? Keeping your weight under control is actually helpful when it comes to back pain prevention which has been rising and becoming more common nowadays. You're more likely to suffer from low back pain if you are overweight or obese, or quickly gain a significant amount of weight. Being overweight, especially in the mid-section, shifts your entire center of gravity forward and puts additional strain on your back muscles. Try to stay within 10 pounds of your ideal weight to avoid experiencing unnecessary back pain. To help you lose weight successfully, here are some tips to plan better on how to do it because it all starts on the goal setting.

Be Specific

Don’t just say you’re gonna lose weight. Determine why you want it for, how much you want to lose and how exactly are you planning to do it. Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight to reduce your back pain, then don’t just kill yourself at the gym or start starving yourself because while you may see results doing those, it’s also very likely that you’ll develop other problems along the way.  

So first, you should look into where you’re at weight-wise. Keep a record by writing it down or making a note on your phone (whatever works for you) so that you can stay on track. And then know how much you want to shed since having that figure whether it’s 10 lbs or 50 lbs allows you to see if you’re progressing or not. Lastly, you should really get into the details on the steps you’re thinking to go about it. Like you should plan your meals, know the foods that you can and cannot eat. It also helps to schedule your workouts so you’re more likely to stick to it.

Set Short And Long Term Goals

It’s important that you have both short and long term goals when you’re trying to shed pounds. Why? Because while the long term goal, which let's say losing a total of 40 pounds, is the finished product that you want to achieve. The short term ones, like losing 5 pounds every month, allows you to stay motivated and focused on reaching your ultimate goal. If you only think of the 40 pounds that you wanna lose, it’s easy to be discouraged or get lazy along the way since it’s gonna take some time before it happens. But if you have mini goals every week or month of the journey, the whole thing won’t feel much of a struggle because you can see that you’re getting close to what you want in the long run.

Examples of short term goals that can help you reach your long term ones are:

·         Switching into healthier alternatives of your usual meals or snacks.

·         Limiting alcohol/soda/fast-food to once a week only.

·         Cooking your own food at least for one meal a day.

·         Drinking a glass of water every hour.

There are a lot more that you can make adjustments to in your daily life depending on your routine and lifestyle but setting even those tiny goals keeps you more accountable to your plans.

Stay Realistic

Biting more than you can chew is a surefire way to failure. Understand that you didn’t gain the excess weight that you have overnight. So do not assume that the transformation will happen overnight too.

Set goals that you know is within your capability and probability. Now, what does that mean? It means the goals that you should set, both short and long term, should be realistic and achievable. If you normally eat out due to your busy schedule and have never exercised before, then don’t plan on home cooking 3 meals a day 7 days a week and/or going to the gym every single day on top of that. Chances are, you wouldn’t last a week and you’ll drop the whole weight-loss goal.

Cooking your own food is the best way to limit things and be more in control on what you feed your body. But if you’re really busy, then just commit to cooking at least your own dinner and packing your own snacks at work. Once you’ve gradually worked out your schedule to that and have gotten used to it, then you can slowly try to wake up a little earlier and make your own breakfast. This way you have two main meals and snacks that are healthy and then accept that packing your own lunch may not just be feasible since you don’t have more time to cook in the morning and allow yourself to grab whatever’s convenient in your cafeteria. Planning it this way makes it easier to accomplish thing more often than forcing yourself into unrealistic goals and then beating yourself up when you can’t do them. That just defeats the purpose of the whole thing.

When it comes to exercising, especially if you have an office job where you sit a lot, admit to yourself that you may not be able to do it as consistently as you would like to. So don’t be disappointed with yourself if you can’t go to the gym every day. Just find ways to move more wherever you are. They say sitting is the new smoking. Not only can sitting for an extended period of time cause health issues, it also a reason why you might be struggling to shed pounds since insufficient physical activity leads to that. So if you have a deskbound job, even find ways to interrupt sitting or squeeze more exercise in your routine like taking the stairs to your office instead of the elevator counts as a workout. Sedentary lifestyle causes some people not only gain weight but also develop musculoskeletal conditions which can make losing weight even more difficult. If this is your case, better consult a chiropractor right away to address your condition accordingly which when treated can help you lose weight in the process.

Establish Your State Of Mind

Remember that weight-loss goals can also be behavior goals, or “state of mind” goals. These types of goals include:

·         Eat slower

·         Pay more attention to the Nutrition Facts labels and ingredient lists on food products

·         Stop negative “self-talk,” such as telling yourself you’re fat or incapable of change

·         Change the direction in which you walk or drive to avoid food temptations

A behavioral change could include meditation classes to help alleviate stress, which in turn could help you eliminate stress-related behaviors such as eating junk food for comfort. It could also be staying abreast of new research that relates to diet, pain, and the connection between the two. And, of course, when it comes to weight control and overall health, any physical activity you can safely do, including walking, is much better than no exercise at all, can help boost your spirits, and could give you a little more leeway in your diet.

Stay Open Minded

If you want to successfully change your lifestyle to achieve your goal, know that you have to be flexible. Even if you've started to adapt healthy habits, always keep in mind that things may not work according to your plans every single day. Let’s say you’ve been making your own breakfast and dinner for weeks now but due to events or hectic work schedule, you couldn’t do breakfast. That’s okay. Use that opportunity to find a place to grab breakfast that’s still healthy. Or if you couldn’t go to the gym as planned, then just find 5-minutes within the day to do simple but compound workouts at home or during breaks at work to maximize the time.  You don’t have to actually follow your weight loss plan to a T. Improvise if you must or take alternative routes that still leads to the same direction of your plan. Try new things or different ways to achieve your goal and you might just learn that you have a lot of options to choose from when time or circumstances are working against you. They may not be what you’ve set out to do but if they’re healthy habits and changes then you’re basically still on track.

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 8 Things That You Should Know In Order To Do Push Up More Effectively

Push up is one of the most difficult forms of exercises out there. In fact, some people still struggle with it even if they’ve been doing it for some time. While others just don’t do it because for some reason they’re arms gives easily or they can’t push themselves up at all. However, it is also a great full body workout that can really train your muscles to work together and become stronger. If you’re still determined to reap the benefits of this work out, but like many others still find it difficult, here are some tips that may make it easier and effective for you.  

1.      Tighten Your Core

One of the reasons why it’s so hard for people to do it is because they rely on their arms alone to do all the work. In this case, you’ll naturally feel like your back is dragging you down. What you can do is engage your core fully so that your body is perfectly still. With this posture, this movement becomes easier to execute.

2.      Turn Your Hands Out

Your hands are crucial for support as well as how your arms, shoulders, and elbows will move. If they’re not coherent when it comes to their movement, it can put a lot of strain on your wrist. Try rotating your hands outward until your index finger is pointing forward and you’ll notice the difference.

3.      Dig Your Fingers Into The Ground

Instead of letting your finger lay flat on the ground, how about you dig your fingers as if you’re grabbing onto it for support. This will engage your forearm muscles more for added support and reduce the strain on your wrist.

4.      Focus On Your Butt

Always remember that your back should always be neutral, not arching up or dragging down. To be able to achieve this posture, focus on your butt. Adjust your butt to engage your hips and core for better posture. This way you engage your core better and shift the weight correctly.

5.      Keep Your Head Up

Beginners often feel like they have to look down while doing push-ups. However, when it comes to push up, it’s important that you keep your spine straight, which includes your neck. So, keep your neck muscles relaxed but your head firmly in place to reduce risk of strain.

6.      Less May Be More

When working out, it’s crucial not to be cocky. Instead of forcing a lot of counts, it’s always best to focus on perfect posture first. In this case it’s better to do 3 perfect push-ups instead of 10 push-ups with bad posture.  Once you’ve mastered the posture, then you can add reps as you go. It’s also important that you visit your chiropractor regularly for injury prevention and treatment which often happens when working out.

7.      Spread Your Hands

Most instructors will tell you to put your hands directly beneath your shoulders to perform a push-up. But that could actually strain your wrists and reduce your range of motion. Although chiropractic care is a great treatment for musculoskeletal injuries like this, it’s still best to avoid it as much as possible. Instead, spread your hands just slightly wider than shoulder width. You'll find the muscle engagement and ease of motion will improve with a wider hand placement.

8.      Do It Daily

You can’t expect yourself to be good at push-ups at one try. Like anything else, you become better by doing it frequently. This way you also build the strength necessary to be able to pull off perfect push-ups. Do a 30-day challenge, starting with 1 push-up on Day 1 and adding one more for each day. By the end of those 30 days, you'll be much stronger!

These seemingly simple tricks can make a huge difference in your push-up performance. It also helps that you keep your body in check for possible underlying issues that may be making push up harder for you like spinal subluxation or shoulder/elbow problem. If you happen to get a little sore, that’s obviously normal especially if you’re a beginner in doing push-ups chiropractic adjustment can help you with pain relief as well as treating spinal subluxation.

7 Exercises That Can Help Relieve Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction Pain

Your sacroiliac joint is located in your pelvis area. These are the joints that connect the large bones that form your pelvis, which are the iliac bones, to the scrotum of your spine. Wear and tear of aging, injury due to fall or severe impact, an abnormal gait certain medical conditions, or loosening ligaments due to hormone changes during pregnancy are some of the possible reasons why this area get irritated and become painful. Aside from a visit to a spine specialist like chiropractor, here are some exercises that can help ease the pain so that you don’t have to reach for a pill every time.

1.      Knee-to-Chest Stretch

This stretch may be gentle but when done regularly can be very effective relieving pain since this targets both your back and your hips.

Step 1: Begin by lying on your back with your legs extended.

Step 2: Exhale as you draw one knee to your chest and hold that position for 5-10 seconds with the help of your hands.

Step 3:  Let go of that leg and inhale as you lower it back to that mat and repeat with the other leg.

Step 4: Do this for 8-10 repetitions for each leg.

Step 5: If you have severe back pain, it would be better to do this stretch with the unengaged leg in a bent position with the foot flat on the ground as this can make the exercise less painful.

2.      Knee Rotation

This is another sacroiliac joint pain exercise that is gentle yet effective. You shouldn’t have trouble performing this since it’s a very easy stretch.

Step 1: Start by lying on your back with both your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.  

Step 2:  To make this exercise effective, try to keep your upper back parallel to the ground as much as possible.

Step 3: Now, keep your lower spine still as you use both your knees to sway to the left. Hold your knees to the floor for a couple of second before returning them to the center.

Step 4: Repeat the same process to your right side.

Step 5: Do this for 8-10 repetition for each side.

3.      Bridge

This one is a favorite among women who likes to build their glutes. But aside from that it’s also a great way to ease sacroiliac joint pain since it strengthens your glutes and lower back.

Step 1:  Begin by lying on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor.

Step 2: Your arms should be against your body and palms facing the floor for support.

Step 3: Now, squeeze your glutes all the way as you raise your hips off the ground so that your torso is in a straight diagonal line.

Step 4: Hold for 5-10 second before you slowly lower your hips back to the ground.

Step 5: Do this for 8-10 times.

4.      Cobra

This is a famous yoga pose that most people recognize. This pose is especially effective for those with overly mobile SI joints.

Step 1: To do this, you have to lie on your stomach.

Step 2:  Slide your hands beneath your shoulders and extend your arms to lift your upper body, but make sure your pelvis and legs stays on the ground.

Step 3: Focus on pulling your shoulders down and away from your ears as well as on relaxing your lower back and buttocks.

Step 4: Hold for 15-30 seconds before you slowly lower yourself back to the floor.

Step 5: Do this for 3 times.

5.      Triangle Pose

This is another yoga pose that help strengthen the Si joint which reduces pain in that area.

Step 1: To this pose correctly, stand in a wider-than-shoulder-width stance.

Step 2: Point the toes of your right foot to the right and extend your arms out from the body so that they are parallel to the floor.

Step 3: Next, slowly bend so that your right hand touches the floor along the outside of your right foot and stretch your left arm up toward the sky.

Step 4: Turn your head and gaze up at your extended left arm.

Step 5: Hold this pose for 10 to 20 seconds and then repeat the process on the opposite side.

Step 6: Remember that you should only be doing this pose if your joint is stable and you’re not in pain because this pose involve twists.

6.      Child’s Pose Stretch

If you’ve started taking up yoga, you’d be doing this pose a lot because it helps your stretch your hips and thighs and relax your muscles by focusing on breathing.

Step 1:  To begin, be on all your fours.

Step 2: Your knees should be spread apart but your feet touching each other as you slowly rest your buttocks on your heels with your arms still extended and hands not leaving the floor.

Step 3: Now, try to reach as far as you can forward.

Step 4: Hold this up to a minute and repeat in between stretches as needed.

7.      Bird Dog

This is a classic core exercise that emphasizes lower back strength and balance.

Step 1: For this exercise, you will start on your hands and knees. Look at the ground to make sure your spine and neck is in neutral position.

Step 2: Try to simultaneously extend your right leg behind and left arm forward.

Step 3: Prevent your back from arching by keeping your shoulders and hips straight.

Step 4: Hold the position for at least 5 seconds, despite difficulty to balance at the first few reps.

Step 5: Do 6-10 repetition per side.