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I want to be Deprived Of…

A lot of people wonder why I am even trying to be healthier.  People will actually wonder why I am making a conscious effort to change some bad eating habits of mine. Hey, I am not perfect with my eating and exercising habits.  I am not claiming to be perfect, but I DO want to try my hardest to improve my overall Health.  My question to those who question my motives is “Why not?” There really isn’t anything to lose by improving your health, except for maybe a couple of things you just don’t want anyways.

“Living a healthy lifestyle will only deprive you of poor health, lethargy, and fat.”

-Jill Johnson

I want to be deprived of Poor Health, Lethargy, and excess Fat!

♥Twinkie

Tags: beneficial, deprived, eat healhy, eating habits, exercise, fat, healthier, Healthy, healthy habits, lethargy, Lose Weight, Organic, Perfect, poor health, quote, Skinny Tips & Quotes

Skinny Tip #3

Skinny Tip #3

Drinking enough water helps curb cravings, hydrates your body, and helps you with your weight loss. Water is SO good for you!

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DRX9000 Spinal Decompression

Here is my personal story and Review on the DRX9000. If you have any sort of back or neck pain, or know someone who does, I promise you that it will be worth your time to continue reading on.

How it all happened

At 23 years old, I was working 10-12 hour days trying to save up for my “dream home”. When my Husband and I crunched the numbers and looked at what we needed to have for our down payment the following month, stress built up faster than I realized. At this point in time, I wasn’t exercising like I should have, and I didn’t have a way to release the stress I was causing myself by overworking and buying a home that was a little out of reach for us at the time.

My body came to the point where I just snapped. All I did was reach for my Organic Rice Milk (half empty, by the way) and something felt weird in my lower back. No pain. Just a weird feeling. I went to pour my milk and went to sit down, and I felt sharp daggers of pain in my lower back. All I could think of is “What happened to my back!?”. I have never felt so much pain in my life. I called for my husband, who helped me lie down on my bed, since sitting obviously wasn’t working out, and standing was almost just as painful.

The following day was Sunday, and I was in bed all day. I couldn’t handle sitting or standing still. All I could think is, “this much pain just can’t be good”

Monday finally came. At that point, after being in so much pain for 2 days straight, I lost it. I just started bawling, which hurt my back even more. My husband made an appointment with my Chiropractor for as early as possible that morning. My husband helped me get up and then help me walk and get into our car.

After my Doctor adjusted my back, I still was experiencing extreme pain, but at least know I could get in and out of bed, which is something I wasn’t able to do on my own before. I ended up seeing my Doctor for several days in a row and not experiencing the kind of improvement I should have seen by then, and then my Doctor had me get an MRI done.

MRI Results

Turns out, I had several bulged and herniated discs in my lower back. Ouch.

Good news: I wasn’t making all this pain all up.

Bad news: Since I wasn’t able to hardly move, lift, sit, walk, or anything…I was 23 years old and my only option right now was going on Short Term Disability.

What are my options?

I could hardly move without being in extreme pain. I knew I couldn’t live like this. I could go under the knife and have back surgery. Not only do I have a horrible fear of surgery and knives, but with much research I realized that surgery wasn’t really going to fix my problem. Yes, maybe help alleviate some pain, but it would be an ongoing battle for the rest of my life. At 23 years old, I was hoping to have a long and healthy life, and Surgery wasn’t feeling like a very positive option for me.

I was introduced to Spinal Decompression by my Chiropractor.  I ultimately chose Spinal Decompression as the best solution to heal my back.

Spinal Decompression

The DRX9000 machine basically slowly and carefully pulls my spine, then releases it, then pulls it again. During my regular treatments,I am laying down being stretched for about 20 minutes. After I was done being stretched, I would go home and put ice on my back (wearing my wonderful back brace) and have ice on for 20 minutes on and off again- for the next 2 hours. I wasn’t allowed (or able) to lift anything at all, I had to do my homework (back stretches), take my daily walk to strengthen my back, and drink lots of water and eat extremely healthy.

After 3 months of regular treatment, I was able to lift light objects, go back to the gym,  go back to work and get on with my life.

Spinal Decompression works – you just need to give your body time, follow the guidelines (don’t lift heavy objects!), and it all will be worth it when your back pain is gone and a thing of the past. Of course, I will never forget the lessons I learned from my experience.

Lessons learned

Don’t allow yourself to get so stressed, since it does have a physical impact on your body. I learned that I keep my emotions to myself, and I need to release my stress somehow. I discovered exercise was a wonderful way to relieve stress.

There is hope, and there are options. Surgery is not the only option. If you go to a Surgeon, you will probably be told that Surgery is your only option. You should do some research for yourself and come up with an educated choice that is right for you. Do what is in the best interest of your health, not your surgeons wallet.

It’s not the end of the world. 2 years later, I rarely experience any sort of back pain at all. This is huge when you consider how I would have felt if I would have went for the back surgery. Health is the only thing you can’t buy. I’m glad I was able to get my body back on track. I believe you can too!

Where you can go

Interested to see if  Spinal Decompression can help you?

Check out the Doctor that helped me: Dr. Morgan

Tags: bones, bulged, bulged discs, discs, DRX9000, herniated, herniated disc, lower back, neck, Spinal Decompression, stretch

Why you should buy Organic

Twinkie’s Challenge: July – September

There are a lot of people still debating on whether they should buy Organic or not. Let’s set the record straight once and for all when it comes to Organic.

Definition

Organic food is grown, processed, and packaged without the use of agricultural chemicals, artificial colors or flavors, genetic modification, irradiation, or other synthetic ingredients.

Per the National Organic Program, here are some definitions that should help clear up their labeling:

“‘100 Percent Organic’ must contain (excluding water and salt) only organically produced ingredients and processing aids.

Products labeled ‘Organic’ must consist of at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt). Any remaining product ingredients must consist of nonagricultural substances approved on the National List including specific non-organically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form.”

Later, the National Organic Program addressed the term “made with organic ingredients”. They wrote:

“Processed products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients can use the phrase “made with organic ingredients” and list up to three of the organic ingredients or food groups on the principal display panel.”

Something good to know: If you use the USDA Organic seal on your products that are not produced or handled within the National Organic Program’s regulations, you can have a civil penalty of up to $11,000 US Dollars. Ouch!

Just so you know, products labeled as “Naturally Grown” are not regulated. Some smaller farms who can’t afford to join the National Organic Program to be labeled as “USDA Organic”, can label their products as “Naturally Grown”. Since it isn’t regulated though, there are no guarantees on what you are really getting with this label.

Organic Farms

Having an Organic Farm is a strict business, and as you now know, you can’t just mark up your products as “USDA Organic” just for the fun of it. Organic farms do not use synthetic chemicals or drugs. They instead treat their soil, plants, and animals with natural products, which are a much safer alternative. They have surprise inspections by Inspectors who test the water, soil, plants (or animals) to make sure that everything is within USDA Organic standards. Once they do this, they review receipts from anything from feed to other records of reports and tests. This takes time and money, done twice a year, and the organic farmer pays for the fees involved to be able to label their products as “USDA Organic”.

Nutrition

The debate on whether Organic is really worth the usual additional costs seems to boil down to the common question, “Is Organic healthier for you?” or “Is Organic more nutritious?”. The answer to both of the questions is a simple “Yes”.

According to Virginia Worthington MS, ScD, CNS, in her article “Nutritional Quality of Organic versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains” in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, she found in her studies:

“…the vitamin C content of an organic fruit or vegetable is 27% more, on average, than a comparable conventionally grown fruit or vegetable.”

She also found from the various produce she studied, that  you can, on average, find about 21% more Iron, 29% more Magnesium, and 13% more Phosphorus. You will find about 15% less Nitrates. This is all very good news for your body, and more reason to stick to Organic produce.

The Nutrients come from the soil, which then in turns feeds the plant what it needs to produce healthy good-for-you produce which we get to enrich our own bodies with. If the soil is infested with pesticides and harmful chemicals, it will be lacking in nutrients, and the produce will in turn be depleted of nutrients.

Keep in Mind

When you do see “Organic” Chocolate bars, for example, it doesn’t mean it is all of a sudden it will be considered “healthy” or even “low calorie”. It still is sugar, candy, and not to be considered as food. Organic Candy is still Candy! Keep that in mind while you are in the grocery store, and try to stick with foods in its natural form. For example, choose fresh Organic Pears versus Canned Pears.

Your body deserves the best, and it deserves Organic.

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