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When the holidays arrive, many people forget all about their diets and healthy eating. Weight
gains of 7 - 10 pounds are common between Halloween and Christmas. To make the holidays easier, these tips will help you with healthy eating through the season and not gaining weight. Most traditional foods can be made low fat. Turkey is very lean without the skin, and gravy can be made without any fat. Potatoes that are served without butter can be very healthy. The beloved pumpkin pie is nutritious, although it can be made into a fatty dessert with the adding of whipped cream. Even though the holidays are in, don't forget about the exercise. Keeping weight off during the holiday season is burning off the extra calories. You should plan a walk after meals, park farther from stores when you shop, and take a few walks around the mall before you begin shopping. This post is thanks to Flint Rehab and the link to the original post is below. Learn why post stroke exercise is so important and how to gauge how much exercise to do.
How Much Exercise After Stroke Is Enough? Every stroke patient will benefit from a different amount/level of exercise because every stroke is different. However, for the sake of this article, here’s a quick rule of thumb: Move a little every day, and you’ll be better off than not exercising. If you struggle with post-stroke paralysis, even passive exercise or stretching counts. But beyond a little daily movement, you’ll be in the best shape if you move strategically every day. Here’s what we mean by strategic: What’s the Best Strategy for Stroke Exercise?The purpose of exercise after stroke is to rewire the brain through neuroplasticity. Since neuroplasticity is activated by repetition, your strategy should involve emphasizing repetition during your physical therapy stroke rehab exercises. The more you repeat each exercise, the better you will get at making that movement. But how much repetition is enough? It's just that simple! When you don't except "NO", 1 of 2 things things happen.
Here is an example. Yesterday, I needed to figure out why my clothes washer was not taking in hot water. Since, I can get behind my washer without to much effort, I had a YouTube video telling my DIY self to start by checking the hot water inlet. I went to turn off the hot water supply from behind the washer. As I turned the knob, it fall off it my hand. It was missing the nut. So not knowing the size of the nut, I put my phone under the stem and took a picture of the complete cold water side. With knob, washer and phone with photo, I headed to my local Ace Hardware. I love Ace because they usually have very helpful staff and 2 walls of nuts, bolts, washers and stuff I can't even explain and the best part is, I can buy just the quantity I need. This is the first installment of Sunday Self Care. This is where I give you self care tips and recipes on Sunday so you can get the ingredients during the week, to use next Sunday. So, I am going to start simple with one of my favorites... SMOOTHING BODY SCRUB. Raw sugar exfoliates to give skin a healthy glow. Less irritating than salt, this scrub is gentle enough of most all skin types. Add a citrus for a summer refresher and a mint for those bothersome allergies. YOU NEED: 1 cup of raw sugar 1/4 cup of light oil such as almond, grape seed or coconut 5-8 drops of essential oil or 1 tablespoon zest of grapefruit, orange or lemon. Place the ingredients in a glass container with a lid...mason jars work good. Mix well. This scrub is best used while seated. Use your hands or washcloth. Lightly rinse the remaining sugar off, while leaving as much oil as possible. Use caution when exiting the tub or shower. Pat dry. Enjoy your polished and moisturized skin. As a reader of YMD News you have learned that elevated fibrinogen, hsCRP, a CT heart scan and homocysteine are among the many known risk factors for progressive heart disease. It now turns out that there is a blood test that is an even a better indicator than any of these, especially if they are all normal. The test is simple and inexpensive and readily available and reliably shows the level of cardiovascular risk you are at. For one, this test can show if you need bypass surgery or an implantable defibrillator, and whether even without any symptoms, if you are headed for heart failure. What is so sad is even the most prestigious medical facilities like Cleveland, Mayo, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, etc. as well as from practitioners who claim to practice alternative, state-of-the-art or advanced medicine rarely if ever check this life-saving test. Levels over 500 of BNP can predict risk of heart attack 5-8-fold within the next four years. The test? BNP. It stands for brain natriuretic peptide, mainly because it was first discovered in the brain over 10 years ago. It is actually a hormone made in the ventricles of the heart which is the main pumping muscle of the heart. It is a well-established marker for the diagnosis of heart failure and a predictor of death in people who have stable coronary disease with no symptoms and are told that they are "doing just fine" What is most important is there are no drugs that can fix it, only nutrients. Research shows that people with a level of over 400 are eight times more likely to die in the next 1-5 years than folks with levels under 100 ng/liter. As noted above, the test is commonly used to diagnose heart failure, however, it turns out BNP can show if the heart is suffering from ischemia (not enough oxygen delivered to the heart muscle) even though the patient may not be experiencing angina or chest pain or arrhythmia or have any signs of it on EKG, echocardiogram, etc. No other test comes this close to being as useful a crystal ball since it predicts long and short-term death, independent of other conventional test. Additional studies show that having a level just over 80 pg/mL of BNP can raise the incidence of death in the next year 5-fold. And others have confirmed that levels over 500 of BNP can predict risk of heart attack 5-8-fold within the next four years. And rememer this is independent of any other studies, x-rays or blood tests. Remember, these are in people who think they are "stable" and have been told by their cardiologist that they are "doing just fine". Even though this crystal ball test has been known for quite a while, cardiologists in general do not use it because (1) first there is no drug to correct it. And the (2) second reason they don't use it is because they are not trained in the molecular biochemistry of healing/repairing what is causing the problem in the first place. by Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., D.A.C.B.N., M.S. www.FunctionalMedicineUniversity.com Meditation has gone main stream. Today, 18 million Americans practice some form of meditation. And with contemporary medical experts claiming that regular practice of this ancient activity improves well-being and health, the trend well continue. But what is meditation; why has it increased in popularity and credibility; and can it be a partner to a physical fitness program? Let’s look at the roots of meditation, some common misconceptions about its purpose, a few examples of meditation techniques, and the benefits of practice.
The Roots of Meditation East Asian philosophers have studied the science of mind, consciousness and emotions for thousands of years. Hindu texts dating back more than 4,000 years describe meditation. Buddhist monks formalized ritual meditation about 2,500 years ago. And by 200 AD, Christian monks were meditating to draw closer to God. In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate purpose of meditation is to liberate the mind from attachment to things it cannot control, such as external circumstances or strong internal emotions. The liberated, or “enlightened,” practitioner no longer needlessly follows desires or clings to experiences, but instead maintains a calmness of mind and sense of inner balance. This mental discipline is honed through years of practice and is challenged daily by life’s experiences.  It’s not as if I believe that my personal rants on the NFL or other body contact sports will change the perception of the diehard fan, but there is at least the need to give phase to the parents that get up early on Saturday mornings, to allow their young children to be tackled or repeatedly punched in the head. Traumatic Brain Injury and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy are real and not only life affecting, but potentially deadly. The conversation is again in the forefront with the autopsy finding of deceased, 27 year old, New England Patriot tight end, Aaron Hernandez.
I remember football and professional boxing on television in my home as a child, but I was never particularly interested. As an adult, now residing in Bronco Nation, I am of the rare few that just don’t give a rats’ ass about the sport, BUT as a stroke survivor, I do care about TBI and on-going conversations around CTE. Understanding that what researchers have discovered for sure is that:
 So many times when you hear talk about Preppers or see shows on the subject, the conversation is about Doomsday and bunkers. There tends to be a social stigma with some people about prepping for a disaster. As we have seen in the last few weeks and from the history of my lifetime, this should be further from the truth.
I can remember where I was and what I was doing when the news reports came on regarding 9-11. I lived in Chicago at the time and reached out to love ones as they went about their daily activities. People where going everywhere. Traffic was congested. Phone lines where busy. It was very chaotic. Then, following years later, came the reports and news of Katrina, Sandy and Ike. Fast forward to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and possibly Irma on its way toward north America. Whether you or your family members live in coastal regions or not, life is full of uncertainty, which ironically, is our only certainty. I remember being in DeKalb, IL in June of 1987, standing in the living room of a friend's apartment and experienced an earthquake. It was quick and uneventful, but yet very real. So how ready are you for the uncertainty of life? We do so many things to prepare for the "what if" of life. We buy insurance for our health and property. We buy homes to house things and provide shelter and safety from people and the elements. We educate ourselves and our children in hopes of a prosperous future. Even with all we do, there is still a magnitude of uncertainty in life. Yet, being prepared can effect the "what if". Watching the news reports of Hurricane Harvey and seeing people get fed, I was concerned about all the people with food intolerance. Having Celiac Disease, I considered what I would do if my only option was to eat whatever food was placed before me. Seventy-two hours is the time estimated it takes relief organizations to mobilize and begin to provide services when a disaster hits. Lucky for me, I have a Prepper food kit in an air tight, water tight mobile container that is gluten sensitive and will feed 4 people for 72 hours with and expiration date, well over a decade. With food intolerance, I can't rely on anyone having food that would not make me sick. Some say...if that is all you have, you will eat it. For me, that is just not true. The pain and suffering would be too unbearable to do that to myself, especially under already stressful circumstances. I came across a web post entitled, "Are You Prepared to be Gluten Free in an Emergency" by Dr. Osborn on the Gluten Free Society website. Check out his 12 tip for prepping. Many of them are good regardless of the need for gluten free or not. Make a plan for yourself and your family for communication, to shelter in place or evacuation. We never really know when the "what if" will come. .  Now that you know causes of stroke and that stroke is leading in Millennials and Generation X, lets look at the signs of stroke. If you are aware of the stroke acronyms FAST and BEFAST, you be wondering what this infographic is a about.
FAST is for;
I prefer the posted infographic, because, like me, many stroke victims did not have the FAS part of FAST. In fact, I did not have any of those signs, so I did not do the T and yet drove myself to the ER. As with many, I had numbness on one side of my body and a severe headache. I was also very anxious and my heart was racing. So, don't get stuck on FAST or BEFAST. I have heard from some people that they became unconscious, even waking up days and weeks later having been in a coma, remembering nothing or very little. The one thing that can't be agreed on is that when a stroke occurs, TIME is of the ESSENCES. There are interventions that can reduce or even reverse the outcome of stroke if treated within less than 3 hours of first onset. Since stroke signs can be from standard to obscure, most people don't realize they are having a stroke nor do they get conformation within that time frame. I always say...if in doubt, check it out. I hope you will pass this on to the people you know and those you love. There is no one whom has had a stroke whose life is not changed forever, in one way or another. Help me spread the word about stroke. This is a little question without a simple answer. With stroke being down over all but up in the age group of 18-54, causes of stroke vary greatly. We know that strokes can happen when the blood supply to the brain is reduced (Ischemic Stroke) or interrupted (Hemorrhagic Stroke). This deprives the brain of oxygen and nutrients leaving brain cells dead, within minutes. Some people have what is called a TIA/ Transient Ischemic Attack, or mini stroke, which tends to be a very short temporary blockage that resolves itself and doesn't leave permanent brain damage. TIA's can be a precursor to a full on brain attack and should be treated seriously. BUT why does this happen is the BIG question. Here are some reason known to cause stroke. It is not as if these are steadfast, sure-fire reasons for a stroke, but they can increase a person's likelihood. Keep in mind, some of these issues can be changed and some may not.
Now that you have a clearer picture of the causes of stroke, come back next time as I teach how to recognize a stroke.  |
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