Proper stretching for maximum results

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 Proper stretching keeps us feeling young, vital and injury free. Yet so many of us struggle with making it a priority and obtaining the results we desire. Improper stretching can be frustrating and is usually based on improper technique.

When we stretch we are not actually pulling a muscle longer.

 So many approach stretching the way we approach exercise, as if they put more effort in and they pull harder they will get more out of the stretch… the opposite is actually true.

The key is to approach stretching with the opposite energy to which you would approach building muscle, jogging or any similar activities When we get into position to stretch we are telling the body which muscle we are focusing on, and then your calm breathe releases tension and unlocks it.

We don’t want to build tension we want to release tension.

If you are pulling hard enough that you have changed your breathing, you are scrunching up your face or your shoulders are starting to rise just note that the body then isn’t able to release the area that you want it to. Focus on your breath and relax.

When you stretch take the muscle to the point of tension, hold it and just breath. Picture your face relaxing, your jaw relaxing your shoulders relaxing and hold it for a minimum of 20 -30 seconds, then repeat.

Ask your chiropractor for some stretches specific to your body. When it comes to feeling your best, proper stretching is definitely a game-changer!

 

4 Myths of Weight Loss

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For so many years we have been told that issues with weight should be solved by a calculation… eat less and move more. This mantra has left millions of people wondering why this simple equation eludes them. Why can’t they just get this one area under control?

Many of society’s core beliefs about weight are out of date and disempowering. Before we can create a new foundation of truths lets dispel the myths many of us are carrying around.

4 myths of weightloss:

1. Weight loss is a calories in-calories out issue. Actually, the quality of the food we eat, the time of day, the combination of foods, and our body’s sensitivities all have an enormous effect on how we process and store the foods we eat.

2. Our bodies are working against us and aren’t to be trusted…we need a complex system in order to control ourselves and lose weight. In fact, the opposite is true. Somewhere along the line we stopped listening to our bodies and forgot that they are working for us, not against us. Often we have trouble recognizing when we are truly hungry.

3. Weight comes off in a consistent straight line. May of us want our weight loss journey to be a consistent”2 pounds per week”. This is a great average to aim for but keep in mind that countless variables can cause small weight fluctuations. Very often a small blip on the scale is “false weight” caused by factors such as water retention. Setting unrealistic expectations sets us up for disappointment and feelings of failure.

4. It is all about the food. We eat for many reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. Our emotions have a great impact on the meaning we give to food, and our stress levels impact our metabolism and ability to shed weight.

Our bodies are far more complex and amazing than machines. Machines do not grow or heal…they do not breathe, think or hug. Lets begin to tap into what our bodies need and focus on a new set of beliefs that empower our weightloss journey.

If You Want to Take the Island You Have to Burn The Boats

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I recently came across a quote by Tony Robbins: “If you want to take the island you have to burn the boats.”

Our “island” is the goal we write on our resolution list year after year. It may be losing weight, achieving success at work or even building strong relationships with loved ones. It is the goal that we believe will change our lives…and yet it eludes us. This quote made me wonder why we leave so many escape boats lying around.

Most of our boats come in the form of common excuses such as “life is too busy”, “something unexpected came up”, or “clearly it isn’t meant to be”.

I am not suggesting that reaching these goals is easy or a direct path. In fact, it takes courage and determination to continue when yesterday didn’t go as planned. As we become aware of the subconscious reasons we continually use these “boats” we can more easily eliminate them.

-Some of us have decided that we will allow ourselves to shine once we reach this goal. We plan to follow our dreams, we just need to cross this off of our to do list first. While that sounds exciting it can also be intimidating. Beginning to live our best life now is a sure-fire way to burn this boat.

-We may have been locked in our struggle for so long that we begin to identify with it. We don’t know what challenges we will encounter on the other side. The devil we know often scares us less. Visualizing what life will be like once you achieve this goal allows us to overcome this fear.

-Perhaps we aren’t clear that this goal feels like our measure of success…yet we tell ourselves it should. While it is lovely to have someone tell us we look wonderful or congratulate us on a job well done, if our results don’t make us feel fulfilled they will be short lived. Ensure that your goals stem from your heart.

When we want our island badly enough we let go of all excuses and declare that we don’t know how, and we don’t know when but we are taking the island… so bring your marshmallows because we are burning the boats.

Yoga or Pilates-What is right for me?

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Yoga, of course, has been popular in North America for many decades. Pilates, however, is a newer trend whose benefits are expressed by many celebrities. Many people would like to try one of these gentler forms of exercise but are confused as to which would better meet their needs. The correct choice for you depends on your goals. Simply put, the difference between yoga and Pilates reflects the difference between Eastern and Western cultures. Both systems build strength and flexibility; the difference between them is not only physical, but also philosophical.

Let’s take yoga first. Yoga is based on the Eastern idea of moving energy through your body. The more freely the energy flows, the more energetic and centered you feel. Physical tension hinders this flow and may result in areas becoming tight, more rigid, and even painful. The physical goal of yoga is to keep the body supple and strong through controlled strengthening and stretching. There is a far more powerful dimension to yoga that is often overlooked. Yoga began as a spiritual discipline with its roots in Eastern forms of meditation. The physical postures do condition the body but, combined with proper breathing, are aimed at calming the mind. Yoga participants learn to stay calm and control their breathing while holding challenging physical postures. When these principles of yoga are incorporated into your lifestyle, they lead to an overall awareness of your body and a tool to achieve inner and outer balance.

Pilates, on the other hand, is physical conditioning first and foremost — and there’s nothing quite like it. Its creator, Joseph Pilates, created this type of exercise as a way to rehabilitate injured soldiers after World War I. Pilates can be done on specific Pilates exercise equipment or as a series of mat exercises.

Pilates’ uniqueness lies in the fact that all movements originate from the commonly overlooked “core muscles” that lie deep in the abdomen and surround the spine. A beginner Pilates class often focuses on isolating these muscles in order to engage them effectively.

Pilates is a highly effective way to improve body awareness, posture and promote graceful, fluid motion. Machine-based Pilates actually has more in common with weight training than with yoga as it involves moving against resistance, provided by springs.  However, pilates focuses on strengthening without the constant shortening of muscles that occurs with most weight lifting sessions. This results in the development of long, lean muscles without added bulk.

Generally speaking, although both yoga and pilates provide many benefits, yoga’s focus is about how it makes you feel, with the added benefit of stretching and strengthening muscles. Pilates’ main goal is to tone muscles effectively, affecting the way you look, carry yourself and move. If you are looking for a limbering, rejuvenating workout that will provide as much of a lift for your brain as your body, I’d recommend yoga. If you’re interested in a more dynamic system of muscle conditioning, and want to improve your core strength, Pilates may be the answer.

In fact, it doesn’t have to be an either-or choice. After all, no single training system can give your body all the types of conditioning it requires. That is why experts suggest a variety of activities, from Pilates to hiking, biking, yoga and more. My best recommendation is to try everything. Experience it all — and see what works best for you. East or West, the important thing is to explore!

And then the Cupcake Spoke

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I was working with a woman who mentioned that the cupcake in the next room was talking to her last night. I suspect that the cupcake was saying something like: “Don’t resist me, I will give you a moment’s pleasure …you deserve it. “ Of course this sets up an inner dialogue as if we have those “angels and devils” on our shoulders. “Don’t do it, you’ve been so good today!”. “What’s the harm in one cupcake?”

Clearly the cupcake isn’t actually calling to us, something inside of us is and we are projecting it on that lump of flour and sugar in the kitchen. Food has come to represent many things to many people. Some of the most common include:

Freedom from boredom
I deserve it
Comfort and relaxation
Celebration

If the occasional cupcake gives us pleasure I say go for it! But…if this is an ongoing dialogue it’s time to make that cupcake pipe down.

Of course the cupcake isn’t really speaking to us, we are. What we are really craving isn’t really the cupcake, we want to feel differently. We want engagement, pleasure, relaxation and fulfillment.

In some ways, it may be a key as to what is missing from our lives. Many have heard it said that our lives speak to us…who knows, maybe we are using that cupcake as a conduit.

The first step to “quieting the cupcake” is to listen to it. Tell yourself that you can eat that cupcake in a few moments but for the next minute you are going to listen and feel. See if you can get a sense of what that cupcake has come to mean to you.

Once we become conscious of what we desire we can begin to ask ourselves what else provides us with that feeling. Have we gotten so busy that we have forgotten to find joy and that cupcake is just trying to remind us?

Be patient with yourself. Unraveling the inner dialogue we have with food is the first step to creating a new relationship with it. A relationship where we get to do most of the talking.

London Shulman Weightloss Cleanse Feb 13-17

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London Shulman Weightloss Cleanse- Feb 13-17th


1. Upon waking, drink 1 cup of hot water with fresh squeezed lemon (1⁄2 prior to eating)

2. No dairy is permitted aside from 1⁄2 cup of plain yogurt once per day (i.e. breakfast)

3. 1⁄2 cup serving of a non gluten grain such as brown rice or quinoa , permitted at breakfast or lunch

4. 1 fruit per day is allowed (ideal fruits are apples, blueberries or Clementine oranges)

5. Vegetables are free aside from all potatoes, corn or squash which are not permitted

6. Eliminate all red meat 7. Protein should be consumed at each meal (tuna, salmon, tofu, chicken, turkey, tilapia, sole). If you are a vegetarian, lentils, black beans, chick peas, etc. 8. Coffee or alcohol is not permitted (please note: Green tea and herbal teas can be
consumed)

9. 8 glasses of water per day – add chlorophyll to water 2x per day (mint flavored chlorophyll is available if desired)

Tips:
*** If you should become constipated – please add 1⁄2 cup of a high fiber, low sugar cereal to your breakfast
*** Do not exceed 15 nuts per day

Supplements:
1) Ground flaxseeds – Add 1 heaping tablespoon of ground flaxseed to breakfast meal
2) Acidophilus – Purchase acidophilus with >3 billion organisms per capsule. Supplement with 4 capsules per day
3) Chlorophyll – Available at health food stores – add 1 teaspoon to water 2x daily
Sample:

Breakfast:

• 1⁄2 cup of plain yogurt • 1⁄2 cup of blueberries • 10-12 walnuts • 1 tbsp. of ground flaxseeds
• 2eggs • 1 apple
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder • 1 cup of water + crushed ice • 1⁄2 cup of mixed berries • 1 tsp of flaxseed oil
Lunch and dinner – have your grain with lunch
• Salad with at least 3 ounces of protein , 1⁄2 cup of gluten free grain • Vegetable or chicken soup broth with at least 3 ounces of protein • Steamed vegetables with at least 3 ounces of protein
Snacks (maximum 2 snacks per day):
• 1 cup of chicken or vegetable broth or, • 1 hard boiled egg or, • Sliced red pepper, cucumber or baby carrots or, • 1 apple • 10 walnuts or almonds
Recommended grocery items
• Omega 3 eggs (hard boiled and kept in fridge) • Tetley cinnamon tea for cravings • Raw almonds, walnuts, pistachios • Green or red apples
• Red peppers • Cucumbers • Baby carrots • Lemon
• Imagine soup broth (vegetable or chicken – drink as much or as often as you like)
• Plain Low Fat Greek Yogurt – such as Liberte or Okinos
NO!
• Mayonnaise • White sugar (i.e. added to tea) • Bread, pasta, potatoes • Red meat • Coffee • Wine • Beer • Hard alcohol • Dates • Raisins • Cheese (including cottage cheese, cream cheese or hard cheeses)

Meet Your Goals as you Follow Your Bliss

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Oh yeah…my New Year’s resolutions. Rats, I forgot them again.

If you’re like me you have judged yourself for not trying harder and wonder how to put MORE pressure on yourself next time. There must be a better way! Thankfully, new research shows that the more pressure we put on ourselves, the less likely it is that we will achieve our goals.

Change is never as simple as it sounds. Our lives are made up of many interconnected parts and curve balls. Maintaining our new healthy eating plan in the midst of the breakfast meeting that ran over lunch, the unexpected family stress or a last minute hockey practice requires deep motivation.

Studies now show that “outside rewards” (such as a number on a scale or money) don’t actually work well as motivators in a complex process such as change. In fact, the pressure they put on us shuts down our ability to “think outside the box” when life doesn’t quite go as planned… causing us to feel frustrated and give up.

It is the “inside rewards” that are harder to measure such as meaning, joy and fulfillment that have turned out to be the glue that makes resolutions stick.

It sounds simple enough. Here is the kicker…most of us haven’t taken the time to discover what is truly meaningful to us. What brings us joy? What makes us excited to get out of bed? When I ask many of the people I work with these questions they tear up because they realize that life has gotten so busy that they can’t remember.

Our answers don’t need to be complex or even complete in order to begin to use them as a catalyst to create lasting change. We know that we are on the right track when our answer feels like play. They aren’t things we should do, but something we do just because we love to. When we begin to discover our unique answers and notice how our new habits fuel these areas…now we are cooking with gas.

The most amazing difference is that now our resolutions themselves have new meaning. We don’t simply want to “be thinner”, we want to feel more comfortable when we dance, have more energy to play with our kids, feel more focused at work, or even just enjoy shopping more. Suddenly eating right isn’t something we have to MAKE ourselves do, it is something we choose to do.

The Acid/Alkaline balance for weight loss and health.

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When it comes to nutritious eating and weight loss there are so many things to consider. Am I balancing my blood sugars? Am I getting enough healthy fats? How can I be certain that I am getting the nutrients my body needs?

The good news is that all of these answers point towards similar healthy choices. In fact, the latest research provides further evidence that what we eat has an enormous effect on our everyday health and our susceptibility to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, obesity and arthritis.

One important area to consider is how our health is related to the pH of our blood. A neutral pH is 7, anything above that is alkaline and anything below is considered acidic.

In short, alkaline environments promote health and drive weight loss while many diseases thrive in acidic systems. Unfortunately, today’s busy lifestyle choices tend to lead us towards more acidic choices. Emotional stresses, medications, artificial sweeteners, diet high in meat, dairy, white flour, sugar, coffee and soft drinks all increase the acidity of our bodies. Fresh fruits and vegetables create a more vibrant alkaline environment.

5 Tips to ensure you are maximizing your alkaline:

1.Eliminate all artificial sweeteners, they are extremely acidic.
2.When you eat a meal be certain that over 50% of your plate is covered with fruits and vegetables, particularly dark green vegetables.
3.Include Chlorophyll or a green drink such as Greens+ in your diet.
4.Choose sprouted whole grain bread such as Stonemill bread. The more a grain sprouts before it is eaten, the more alkaline it becomes.
5. Too much cortisol (the stress hormone) will make you acidic. Take steps to eliminate toxic stress. Meditation, journaling and time outdoors have all been shown to decrease cortisol levels (the “stress hormone”).

Some current research points to a 50/50 diet of alkaline/acidic foods to promote health while others encourage an 80/20 diet in order to restore health. Keep in mind that whether a food is considered alkaline or acidic has to do with what is left in your body once a food is digested. For example, lemons are clearly acidic when they are sitting on your counter but leave a very alkaline residue in the body once they are digested.

If your health is not where you would like it to be, or if you are struggling with weight loss consider the acidity of your lifestyle and diet…it can male a world of difference.

Make 2012 the year you promise yourself not to diet!

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Honestly, who ever really wants to diet anyway? Dieting brings up thoughts of hunger, restriction and struggle. It reminds some of us of past attempts that didn’t go so well. The diet industry has left so many of us feeling confused and beat up, yet still holding onto extra weight. We are left wondering: Does losing weight really have to be that much of a struggle?

At the same time, the desire to look and feel our best is natural, and making healthy choices definitely plays a crucial part. Empowering ourselves with knowledge about nutritiously balanced food choices is always wise. Yet how do we know who to turn to for help and support?

Before beginning any type of new weightloss program ask the following questions:

1.Could you see yourself following a version of this program for 5-10 years?

If not, please don’t start it. Many programs are impossible to follow long term leading to eventual weight gain and harming our metabolism in the process, making it harder to lose weight next time.

2.Does the program make you feel supported, as if you have a “Buddy” who is always there for you? Ensure that there is a willpower or emotional eating portion to the program for those times when knowledge just isn’t enough.

3.Are you learning information about food that you can use for your entire life…even to feed your children? Knowledge is power, it is the key to life-long weight loss.  Are you gaining “food wisdom” that you can use at the grocery store, restaurants, on the go, and especially at the family dinner table? You should begin to notice that the entire family is benefitting from your new habits and knowledge.

I once heard Oprah say that if there was a shortcut…a product to buy or pill to take that could magically help her lose weight, by now she would own the company. Lets make 2012 the year we learn to make simple healthy choices that support our bodies while we watch the pounds melt away for life. Lets develop a new relationship with food that allows us to focus on it less, but enjoy it more.

 

Can Stress Make it Harder to Lose Weight?

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There is undeniable evidence that the mind body connection is powerful. We have all felt the effects of stress in our body. Muscles tighten, breathing becomes shallower, and often we feel a knot in our stomach. There are many symptoms that are associated with stress. In fact, not paying attention to ongoing stress can thwart even the most consistent weight loss attempts.

One of the main hormones we release when under stress is cortisol. Cortisolʼs effects on our body were clearly designed to keep us safe when under immediate threats such as running from a saber-tooth tiger. However, when cortisol is released over long periods of time those effects that kept us safe begin to undermine our health. Unfortunately, in todayʼs society of long to do lists, stressful workplaces, ongoing relationship issues and fast paced schedules many of us experience ongoing stress resulting in long term cortisol release.

Some of the many effects of long-term cortisol release include:

• An increase in the bodyʼs desire for sugar resulting in increased abdominal fat storage and sugar cravings. 
• A decrease in the bodyʼs immune response. 
• An increase in insulin spikes and crashes resulting in less stable insulin reactions, weight gain, a decreased metabolism and increased Type 2 Diabetes. 
• A leaching of calcium from the bones into the bloodstream increasing the risk of osteoporosis.
• Eventual exhaustion, lack of motivation, burn out and fatigue.

In fact, this is one reason why it is imperative that any system we implement to lose weight will not cause us stress in the long term. A moderate amount of stress when changing eating patterns is normal. However, any system that requires long term energy draining techniques that are hard to implement into daily life such as counting or measuring all of the food you eat, severe calorie restriction or ongoing judgements of whether you were “good” or “bad” eventually create stress and cortisol release, severely effecting weight loss results. That is why long term weight loss is so rare with these systems and it is essential thatany weight loss strategy you choose fits easily into your life for the long term. Ask yourself..”Can I do this for the next 5-10 years?”

There is very good news though. Oxytocin is a hormone that has many of the opposite effects of cortisol and can therefore brings us back to balance. Oxytocin relaxes the body and promotes immune function, healing, and weight loss. There are many ways to increase oxytocin on a daily basis and many people find that when they implement them into their lives they are not only healthier and thinner but they having more fun!

Some of the ways to increase oxytocin release include:

• meditation, or any activity that quiets the mind -dancing, singing, or any anything that feels like carefree play to you.
• journalling, yoga, or time in nature
• connecting with others, especially those you love
• hugging, touch, massage
• chiropractic adjustments
• Healthy sleep patterns
• Low glycemic index food, alkaline food choices

Committing to healthy eating is certainly important when it comes to losing weight. But the next time you are worried about the extra french fry you had at lunch take the time to ask yourself:

Have you hugged someone you love today? When was the last time you bopped along to your favorite music just for fun? Did you get those extra few minutes of sleep you so desperately need? Are there things on your “to do” list you can eliminate? Do you know what fills you up and have you made it a priority? Did you play and laugh today? Do you have techniques that you can use to eliminate recurrent, ongoing stress?

There is great truth in the statement “we are what we eat”. But keep in mind that there is just as much truth to the statement “we are how we feel”.