Tweet

Conquer your unhealthy habits

Next time:  Adding healthy habits to your daily life

Our health is, for the most part, in our hands. The choices we make each day will have an effect on our health.  Here are a few examples of daily choices that, over a period of years, will eventually result in you becoming sick and unhealthy.  Starting with the most obvious and then going into a few you may not think about.

• Smoking
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Not exercising
• Not drinking enough water 
• Drinking soda regularly
• Overeating
• Eating too much sugar
• Eating too many prepared and processed foods
• Sun – too much or too little
• Using tanning beds
• Using chemical hair, skin and dental products
• Stress
• Negativity 

Our health is not just about our body, in fact our body can reflect issues we have mentally and spiritually.  Its a proven fact that stress, for example, can cause actual physical illness.  We have to maintain ourselves as a whole person, and only then will we be able to lead lives that are as happy, healthy and fulfilling as they can be.

Slowly swapping out bad habits for good ones will be a process.  Take it in bite size chunks, one at a time.  Give yourself a realistic time period to accomplish the swap out.  Here are a few practical tips:

Smoking.  If you smoke, that should be the first thing you work on.    See below for the many health risks. Here is a good link if you are looking for ways to quit:   http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tipsforquitting/     

Alcohol is not unhealthy in moderation, unless you have alcoholism in your family.  It can be both a medicine and a poison depending on the dose.  Moderate alcohol is known to be good for the heart and the circulatory system, while overconsumption is associated with inflammation and cirrhosis of the liver as well as several types of cancer.  For more detail on the health benefits and risks of alcohol go to:  http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/alcohol-full-story/

Lack of exercise.  The most common excuse I hear from people is the lack of time to work out.  Many of my clients meet with me specifically so they have accountability, and to ensure that they work out regularly.  They know I’m going to check in with them to be  sure they are getting more than just our workout in during the week.  If a trainer is not possible for you, start by moving more, walking further, parking farther away from places.  Take the stairs and not the elevator.  Start small and increase gradually, keep a log so you can see the improvement.  Check out my workout page for some easy ideas for working out at home.

Not drinking enough water.   We each need about half our body weight in fluid oz of water daily.  This is the best visual image of why
water is so important that I found.  It’s an easy change to make, keep a bottle with you,  replace consumption of a sugary drink with a refreshing glass of water.

Drinking Soda.  Slowly replace soda with a healthier choice, could be herb tea with honey, or water  with cucumber or lemon.  Diet soda is not better as it contains harmful chemical sweeteners.  Here is some further reading on why it’s so important to avoid soda:   http://wellnessmama.com/379/reasons-to-avoid-soda/  

Overeating.  Many people overeat on a daily basis.  Treating food as an emotional comfort, or as a reward is part of the reason.  We need to take the emotion out of eating, and see it as providing fuel and nutrition for our bodies.  Try finding a different habit to comfort you when things don’t go as planned, or a different reward when things go well.  This will be a big step in the right direction.  Diets can provide a short term solution, but unless you change the way you eat long term, eventually when the diet ends you will resume old habits and gain the weight back again.  Slowly purge your pantry of ‘trigger’ foods, those you can’t stop eating, and incorporate healthier choices.  For more on this topic go to the ‘Change the way you eat’ page of this site.

Eating too much sugar  This goes with the last one.  If you can’t eat sugar in moderation, try to stay away from it.  The only safe substitute sweetener that’s low calorie is Stevia which comes from a plant.  Honey, maple syrup and molasses are marginally better nutritionally but still have lots of calories.

Eating too many prepared or processed foods  Simple answer…. cook more.  Try to carve out some time to prepare your food from scratch, see the recipes section of this site for some great ideas.

Sun – too much or too little  Obviously one has to be careful about sun exposure, especially if you have fair skin.  But too little sun can lead to a vitamin D deficiency which can lead to health issues such as osteoporosis.  Many of the sunscreens out there contain harmful carcinogenic chemicals, so I make my own.  See my beauty recipes page for some tips.  Its best to avoid summer sun from 11am-2pm when it is the strongest, and to limit exposure.

Using tanning beds Cancer, premature aging, Immune suppression and eye damage to name but a few.  For more information go to: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm186687.htm

Using chemical hair, skin and dental products  This may be something you don’t consider when assessing your choices health wise.  However, there are many harmful chemicals in the beauty products that we use daily.  Try reading the ingredients and look them up.  There are natural alternatives you can purchase or if you have the time and energy, you can make your own.  See my ‘Home made beauty products’ page for some recipes.

Stress  If you can identify stressful situations that currently exist in your life, then perhaps you can make a commitment to yourself to remove the stress.  Studies prove that too much stress can make you physically ill if not dealt with.  ie. either ‘let it go’ if it’s something you are just stressing over.  Or perhaps its stress at work, in which case adopting a different mind set could work.  For some practical tips on dealing with stress check out this link:  http://www.livestrong.com/article/19198-natural-deal-anxiety/

Negativity  Do you find yourself thinking the glass is half empty rather than half full? Negativity and a negative self image can really get in the way of your journey toward a healthier, happier life.  Turning those negative thought processes around is imperative if you are going to be successful.  I found this article interesting in strategies to deal with negativity, be it your own or those around you:  http://top7business.com/?Top-7-Strategies-To-Overcome-Negative-Attitudes-In-The-Workplace&id=561

Tweet

Article on Dehydration

This article is from http://www.watercure.com/wondersofwater.html

How to test whether a simple home remedy for dehydration can help relieve your rheumatoid arthritis pain

Before I give you the simple home remedy for dehydration that has helped relieve rheumatoid arthritis pain, let’s first review:

How water helps your normal joints work.

A joint is a place where two bones meet so your body can move. The bone surfaces are covered with cartilage which is a semi-soft tissue like that found in your nose.

In order for your two cartilage surfaces to glide easily over one another, the cartilage needs to be full of fluid—so its surfaces are smooth.

If your body or your cartilage is a little low in water, your cartilage surfaces will become dimpled, like the wrinkled skin of an old apple. Two wrinkled cartilage surfaces in your joint will not glide over each other very easily. They will rub, and stick to each other. You’ll get a mild abrasion on your cartilage, like a skin scrape from falling down and more. You’ll feel better and move more gracefully when your joints have enough water.

Dehydration may be a major trigger for the start of arthritis.

Many chronic and acute signals of dehydration were discovered in a stress filled environment in Iran by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj.

In his book, “You’re not sick, You’re thirsty!”, he describes many very painful conditions that he healed solely by having patients drink more water,

He proposed that dehydration is a major trigger for your rheumatoid arthritis.

His theory opens a new perspective on a cause and potential treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Here are additional aspects of your life that improve by drinking optimal amounts of water:

1. Promotes easy weight loss,
2. Relieves heartburn, and constipation,
3. Improves food digestion and nutrient absorption,
4. Enhances germ fighting ability of immune system,
5. Catch fewer colds, flu and other infections,
6. Improves memory and clearer thinking,
7. Restores normal sleep patterns,
8. Increases your ability to reach goals,
9. Reduces stress, anxiety, and depression,
10. Makes skin smoother,
11. Gives luster and shine to the eyes,
12. Gives higher energy,
13. 13. Washes out toxic deposits in tissues,
14. Improves flexibility,
15. Normalizes blood pressure and cholesterol,
16. Increases libido,and more.

Could your rheumatoid arthritis pain– and the rest of your body– be signaling that you’re thirsty?

A home remedy for dehydration and your pains would be to recognize and quench your thirst.

Signals of thirst

When your joints hurt, you may not feel thirsty.

Unfortunately, many of us, probably you, may not be able to tell apart the signals for thirst from hunger because we weren’t usually taught this as children.

A dry mouth is a signal of extreme thirst. Low energy, irritability, and pain are all signals of thirst.

In addition, your ability to sense thirst diminishes as we age. In fact, a clinical study showed that elder men had lost most of their recognition of thirst.

The optimal amount of water and sea salt

You, like me, can only use the water we drink today.

Each and every day, you use up approx. 56-64 oz. of water in your daily life by breathing, eating, perspiring, moving, and removing wastes. In other words, you use up 7-8 glasses (8 oz. each) of water.

In addition, some beverages –like coffee, tea, and caffeine containing soda –cause your body to excrete more fluid than the beverage that you just drank.

Other beverages like milk and juice require water to digest (just like food). Otherwise, your blood and lymph becomes fuller as it picks up the digested nutrients.

This is why you should only count the amount of water you drink.

How many 8 oz glasses of water do you drink each day? (This does not include coffee, tea, soda, juice, milk or any colored, flavored fluid.)

• a) none
• b) 1-2 glasses
• c) 3-4 glasses
• d) 5-8 glasses
• e) 9 or more

For a simple home remedy for dehydration, let’s compare how many glasses of water you drink now with how many Dr. Batmanghelidj recommends.

Simple Home Remedy for Dehydration:

To figure out how much you need to drink, Dr. Batmanghelidj recommends 1 oz of water for every 2 lbs. or 0.9 kg of body weight in his home remedy for dehydration.

So, if you weigh 125 lbs. (57 kg), Dr. Batmanghelidj recommends that you drink at least 7-8 glasses (1.75- 2 liters) of refreshing water each day with a ½ teaspoon of sea salt to replenish your lost salt in sweat, etc.

Or if you weigh 200 lbs.(91 kg), he recommends that you drink 12-13 glasses of water (3-3.1 liters ) and eat 2/3 teaspoon of sea salt in your foods each day.

If you exercise and sweat a lot, then he recommends that you drink 2-4 glasses more with a couple of extra pinches of sea salt.

However, it may be easier to remember to drink 2 glasses (8 oz each) of water approx. 30 min before each meal and drink 1 glass of water approx 1 ½ hr after each meal.

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj notes that he has even observed patients who are taking diuretics, improve with his water and sea salt regimen.

As with all changes, it is often good to begin changes gradually. For example, you could choose to begin drinking 1 extra glass of water approx 30 min before each meal in addition to your regular water for several days and then increase it.

When you are drinking optimal water, it’s also important to ingest enough minerals, like sea salt.

Sea salt is essential for your healthy life. It contains about eighty mineral elements that the body needs.

Trace minereals are vital for many essential functions. The minerals in sea salt improve brain performance, bone health, muscle tone, circulation, kidney excretion, digestion and lung functions.

One of the easiest ways to savor sea salt is to season your food with it.

How much sea salt do you eat each day on average?

• a) none
• b) less than 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• c) 1/8 – ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• d) ¼ – ½ teaspoon sea salt
• e) more than ½ teaspoon sea salt

Sea salt can be in your food or taken as a little dab placed on your tongue each time you drink 2 glasses of water. After drinking the first glass of water, put a pinch of sea salt on your tongue—it tastes salty but ok. Then drink the second glass of pure refreshing water.

Note, if you eat many salty foods, then you may be getting enough salt.

However, sea salt or salt found naturally in foods contains many other minerals essential for your healthy body.

Since I’ve been following this home remedy for dehydration, which is based on Dr. Batmanghelidj’s water cure program, my knees don’t creak. It certainly helps and combined with the additional approaches has given me more energy, more strength, more clarity, and more joy de vivre! You’d probably enjoy the same or more benefits.

When you’re drinking more water, the color of your urine will become paler. When you’re drinking the optimal amount of water and ingesting sea salt, your urine will be a very pale yellow.

For further details, you may want to purchase one of Dr. Batmanghelidj’s books, “You’re not sick, You’re thirsty! Water for Health, for Healing, for Life”, or “Your Bodies Many Cries for Water, or “How to Deal With Back Pain or Rheumatoid Joint Pain”.

If you are concerned about your water or you’d prefer a better tasting water, check out reviews of different bottled waters, water purifiers and water filters.

You can find several brands of sea salt in health food stores. Just read the label. Some contain sugar (dextrose) and other additives. My favorite sea salt is Redmond’s Sea Salt.

In addition, most sea salt is not iodized so include a source of iodine such as deep sea fish, or kelp in your diet.

Although increasing water consumption while taking small amounts of sea salt has not induced any reports of negative, side effects, it may be prudent to consult your healthcare provider, especially if you have any kidney problems.

Please note that the information on this website  ( http://www.watercure.com/wondersofwater.html) is a sharing of information and knowledge from the research and experience of Dr. Molnar-Kimber and her community. It is not intended to diagnose nor treat any disease or precondition nor replace your one on one relationship with a qualified health care professional. It also is not intended to be medical advice. However, it is often observed that patients who take a major interest in their disease and learn as much as they can about their disease and potential treatments often improve faster than those who don’t. Dr. Molnar-Kimber encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your own research and discussions with your qualified health care professional.