Archive for November, 2006

Want To Lower Your High Blood Pressure? Get Yourself A Dog!

November 30th, 2006 / Herb Remedies, High Blood Pressure, Exercise, Dogs, Pets, Walks / Comments Off

By Stephen Morgan

Pssst, want to positively do something about your High Blood Pressure? Get yourself a pooch and walk it!

Seriously, this is not a wind up nor is it a reverse promotion for the Canine Defence League (or whatever). It is genuine recommendation for those who suffer with High Blood Pressure and want to do something positive about it in a natural manner.

I suffer from High Blood Pressure. I keep banging on about it in a number of articles because in a great many ways (mine probably included if I am brutally honest), something can be done about and it may (note MAY, not DEFINITELY) have been avoidable.

But I digress; this article is about what can be done about High Blood Pressure (HBP or Hypertension) not about how I managed to get it.

There are two options to consider when you are diagnosed with High Blood Pressure.

Firstly you can sit there and go Woe is me, how many tablets do I have to take and at what part in the proceedings will impotence hit me? Us guys like to get our priorities right:-)

Secondly you can sit up, re evaluate how you got into that position in the first place and then try and see if you can do something about it. The latter path is the one yours truly decided upon and hence we find ourselves discussing the merits and relative advantages of getting a mutt!

In my case the BP readings were fairly high (try 216 over 160! 120 over 80, god how I used to fantasise about that) and as such Drug therapy was the immediate no brainer in the first instance but once that came under control and the levels dropped it was possible to look at other complimentary measures to run alongside the tablets.

One year down the line from my initial diagnosis and the BP levels were manageable, I had managed to lose some weight. I could have lost the weight sooner but my self discipline for diets has always been awful but again, I digress.

Increased exercise was the next part of the rehabilitation plan and though I had always been keen on walking and getting outside for exercise, again my lousy self discipline always managed to get in the way of any constructive resolution.

This whole narrative might sound like the immediate problem was my own lack of self will and discipline and in many ways that is true. I admire those fanatical enthusiasts who can be seen pounding the streets at 6.30 am every day before they go off to work. My own view on this has always been to try and incorporate some form of longer lasting therapy that in my case was more self sustainable allowing for my own weaknesses.

Now the question may be asked at this point is how serious was I about getting my HBP down and under manageable levels? I have never been more serious about anything else in my life as to be totally honest I am not too wild about departing this mortal coil well before my anointed time.

My own view on this whole exercise was that my anti HBP regime had to be able to be sustainable AND scaleable therefore meaning that the lifestyle / approach would still be on track if I found myself laid up with any form of illness and /or accident.

So, increased exercise as well as change of diet, eating, work habits etc was the order of the day.

Hence we find our self with the situation with a dog. Having lived with dogs all throughout my childhood, I was aware of the companionship that my son would feel if we had one for our family but also I was keenly aware of the responsibility that comes along with having a dog!

They need feeding, looking after and plenty of exercise.

Now we are the proud owners of a Black Labrador / Border collie first cross 50 lbs of fun, fur and mayhem called Elmo. He specialises in all of the things that dogs do best. He eats as much as he can get his paws on, he then makes sure that as much as possible is then manufactured out the other end as often as possible and in the most inconsiderate of places! He chews anything and everything he can get his jaws round, nothing is safe, nothing is sacred and one of these days my eight year old son will get the message not to leave toys lying around the place unattended.

Lastly he is demanding about being taken out and this is where we find the missing link in my Anti HBP Therapy! As the day goes by his whole demeanour and attitude becomes more intense until finally if you have not got the hint by evening time he enters into what can only be described by US Sports Commentators as his Hurry up Offence. He comes and sits in front of you, rests his head on your legs and does not move. He just looks at you with that expression that makes it perfectly clear that either it is exercise time or he is going to leave large amounts of canine saliva all over your trousers, shorts, anything in fact that you happen to be wearing at the time!

With a persuasive argument like that it is difficult to refuse and hence I find my High Blood Pressure reducing to manageable proportions, my weight dropping and I am also now in the position of being able to review and reduce (in certain cases) the level of medication that I need to help control my blood pressure.

All by and large down to getting a pooch!

Now if I could do something about the chewin.Next time he destroys the Satellite remote (again), he gets it.

About The Author

Stephen Morgan launched
High Blood Pressure and is also the founder of
Living with High Blood
Pressure . More information on the above article can be found at

http://www.livingwithhighbloodpressure.net/features/need_exercise_then_get_yourself_a_dog.html

Jane Brody on Holiday Season Eating

November 27th, 2006 / Main Page / Comments Off

 

Jane Brody always writes articulate and sensible columns on health and fitness that connect to our daily lives.  You should bookmark her and read her regularly.

In this column, she discusses how to avoid losing fitness and gaining weight during the holiday season and winter in general.

 

Some of the key points from the column:

 

  1. We tend to eat foods that are more calorically dense in the winter.  (Obviously a bad thing for weight gain.)
  2. Many people cut back on physical activity during winter as it becomes more difficult to exercise outside.   Stress is higher during the holidays and we’re busy with less time to exercise.
  3. Holiday parties bring on greater than normal temptation to overeat.
  4. We gain pounds during the winter and if we don’t have a conscious strategy, we may not lose those extra pounds during the rest of the year.
  5. We may be biologically programmed to put on some extra fat in winter to keep warm and eating itself generates heat.

 

The key to success, according to Ms. Brody is to develop a sensible eating strategy and factoring exercise in your daily routine.  Feel hungry? Take a brisk 30 minute walk instead of eating.  Avoid red meat to the maximum extent possible and focus on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and sea food, and avoid processed foods (the so called “Mediterranean diet.”)   Never go to a dinner party hungry and in all eating, focus on portion control.  Keeping track of everything you eat is a key factor is losing weight.

 

All great stuff.  Read the full article here.

 

Many of the suggestions in the article are tried and true health and diet advice that we simply can’t repeat often enough.

 

Here are getfitsource.com’s top ten weight loss rules repeated from an earlier post.

 

 

Getfitsource.com:  Top ten weight loss rules.

 

 

1.      Weigh yourself every morning, always.

A daily morning weigh in is essential to losing weight.  It will serve as definite measurement of your progress as well as a subtle psychological incentive not to over eat.  Your weight on any one morning may be affected by factors such as exact time of weigh in, time of your last meal, water retention, etc. that do not affect your long term weight loss plans.  However, over time you will understand how these factors affect your morning weigh in.  Also, importantly, the morning weigh in “puts you in touch with your body” so that you can see the immediate effect of your prior day’s eating habits.  Our forthcoming health book devotes an entire chapter to the morning weigh in, so it’s a complex subject, but you get the idea.

 

2.      Educate yourself about food and keep track of calories.

If you do not understand the caloric content of what you are eating, you will never be able to lose weight effectively.  There is simply no way around this.  You must educate yourself with respect to the caloric content of the foods you are eating.  The internet has hundreds of sites that provide the caloric content of basic foods. You have to learn about caloric content and portion size.  You’ll need a small scale in the kitchen to determine what 4 ounces of hamburger meat means.  You will likely have to write down the foods you eat and their calories initially but over time you can easily keep it in your mind. Take a few minutes twice a day to add up your calories so far and do a final tabulation before going to bed.

 

3.      Set a daily calorie goal and visualize an eating plan for each day.

In order to lose weight you have to consume fewer calories than you burn.  A good rule of thumb for a calorie goal is to take your target weight times 10 to 12 for the number of calories you can consume and lose weight.  So, if your target is 150 lbs, you should be in the 1500 to 1800 caloric range.  Once you have your target, visualize your eating plan every day.  It’s similar to a credit card with a credit limit.  Your credit limit is, for example, 1500 calories and once you consume them, you’ve reached your limit: no more charges.  The good news?  You get a new allotment each and every day.

 

4.      Avoid refined carbs whenever possible.

Refined carbs are anything with refined sugars and processed starches; for example, soft drinks, donuts, cakes, bagels, muffins, and candy bars.  Complex carbs (good carbs) such as whole wheat bread are fine.  Also, while some fruits and vegetables tend to cross over into the “bad carb” area such as pineapple and watermelon, generally feel free to eat any vegetable or fruit as long as you control calories.  Refined carbs per se are the enemy and to be avoided, because, besides containing excess calories, they raise your glycemic index and will cause you to be much hungrier later in the day.  Do avoid orange juice and similar juices.

 

5.      Healthful eating is a plus, but calories consumed are more important.

Don’t let “healthful” eating get in the way of losing weight.  Although calories from different sources can and will impact other areas of your health, they are all created equal as to their impact on your weight.  Walnuts are healthful foods, containing omega 3 fatty acids, manganese, copper, and tryptophan.  But a cup of walnuts, an amount which is quite easily consumed as a snack, contains a whopping 652 calories.  Don’t even think about the faux healthful foods that are refined carbs masquerading under the “low fat” label.  Yes, all things being equal eat the healthful foods, particularly fruits and vegetables.  But, when losing weight, it’s all about the calories.

 

6.      Exercise is crucial (but not as important as calories consumed.)

A person weighing 150 pounds who walks three miles in an hour will burn approximately 250 calories.   A standard two ounce candy bar contains around 280 calories.  As to losing weight, you can either walk over three miles or not eat that candy bar—the effect on your weight loss program will be approximately the same (the candy bar is somewhat worse.)  However, there is no contradiction in establishing up front that you need to exercise to lose weight; it’s just that calorie control will trump exercise and you can’t lose weight effectively simply by exercising.  Exercise confers a litany of health benefits to which we devote several chapters in our forthcoming book and is essential to your well being.

 

7.      Develop a plan to burn extra calories each day.

At the weight loss margin, every calorie counts.  Everything that you can do to burn extra calories is helpful.  We’ve blogged many of these in the past but they include:  taking the stairs whenever possible, parking as far as you can at work and at the supermarket, vigorous play with the kids or the dog, gardening, yard work, isometrics at work, standing while talking on the phone instead of being seated, moving around when you watch TV, and so forth.  Depending on your schedule, take a few minutes each morning to plan these activities.  If you can burn an extra 100 calories per day, that equates to a ten pound weight loss over the period of a year.  Your formal exercise plan is a separate issue.  Plan to exercise vigorously at least 4 times a week, for at least 30 minutes and preferably an hour.  Learn about functional training and cross training to maximize the benefits of exercise for weight loss and overall health.

 

8.      Don’t expect to feel full after eating.

If you eat to satiety, if you have to have that feeling of fullness before you stop eating, you will not lose weight.  It’s the elephant in the room of all dieting:  losing weight means sacrifices and one of those sacrifices is that you can’t have that same feeling of satiety that you may wish.  However, with good planning and careful eating of lots of fruits and vegetables, you can minimize the feeling of hunger, but you may not be able to totally banish it.   Try to recognize that being slightly below complete satiation is a far better than feeling bloated and stuffed from overeating and perhaps having acid reflux.

 

9.      Buy a pair of jeans in your target weight size and try them on twice a week.

This rule relates to both measurement of your progress and motivation for the future.  Putting on those jeans, or trying to put on those jeans, depending on where you are in your plan, is a stark reminder of your need to control your weight.  It will also serve as a complement to the daily weigh in to understand your progress.  The time will come when you get to the point of being proud to wear those jeans in public.

 

10.  Never reward yourself or deal with stress with any product that contains calories.

Food is for sustenance not for rewards or reducing stress.  If you have a personal psychology where you are in the habit of eating a high calorie meal when you are frustrated or to reward yourself for some accomplishment, you must change your psychology.  Banish the words, “comfort foods” from your vocabulary.  If you find yourself eating from either of these two factors, stop and reassess.  Over time and with conscious effort you can wean yourself from destructive eating patterns.  The first step is recognition, then control.  Taking pleasure in eating is, of course, fine, and can be a great source of personal enjoyment, as long as it meets your calorie guidelines.  Actually, as you learn more about food and its caloric content, your satisfaction in eating will improve.  It’s great fun to be smart enough to eat well and not gain weight.

 

Affordable Acupuncture - Charge Less, Earn More?

November 27th, 2006 / practice growth, strategy and philosophy, acupuncture / Comments Off

John Weeks' The Integrator Blog featured an interesting article on Working Class Acupuncture, a Portland, Oregon clinic built on the concept of making acupuncture more affordable.
As Lisa Rohleder, LAc, began trying to make sense of the business of professional acupuncture, she witnessed two distinct phenomena. First, she observed that a huge percentage of the working poor and even the middle class of people in the United States cannot afford to pay for acupuncture treatment when individual appointments cost $65-$200. Second, Rohleder observed that over 50% of graduates of acupuncture schools abandon practice without ever figuring out how to make a living at it.

What's wrong with these pictures? The price-point for an acupuncture treatment seemed to her to be related to both problems.
I highly recommend you read John's piece regardless of your modality. His interview with Lisa Rohleder is quite interesting, and also contains the basic financials for the business model she's using and actively promoting. The fact that it makes a great service more affordable and can help practitioners earn more at the same time makes it doubly compelling.

Related Links:

Integrator Blog Article
Working Class Acupuncture site

PS - You might also want to check out Rohleder's book The Remedy: Integrating Acupuncture into American Health Care, as well as her free ebook love your microbusiness: marketing for a community-based acupuncture practice a short, but very sweet manifesto on practice growth.

Study: Exercise cuts snoring

November 23rd, 2006 / Main Page / Comments Off

This Reuters Health article by Anne Harding reporting on a study in the November edition of Obesity, states that exercise may reduce snoring in overweight children, even if no weight loss results.

 

Besides annoying others, according to the article, snoring is linked to poor sleep quality “which can lead to learning and behavioral problems that are often mistaken for disorders such as ADHD, Dr. Catherine L. Davis of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta noted in an interview with Reuters Health.”

 

 

Dr Davis indicated that prescribing stimulant ADHD drugs like Ritalin only makes things worse.

 

Previous studies have indicated that lack of sleep may be linked to obesity.  So it may be a vicious circle.  Overweight kids snore and get poor sleep quality and poor sleep quality leads to obesity.

 

The message here is clear for parents.  If your kids are poor sleepers and if they snore, an exercise program is in order.  And let’s face it, even if your children don’t have sleep or weight issues, exercise confers so many other benefits that you should be encouraging an active exercise program for your children in any event.

 

5 Things To Do In Your Practice From Day One

November 22nd, 2006 / startup, practice growth, strategy and philosophy / Comments Off

There are a million conceivable things to do when you start your practice, but what's really important in the big picture? What's going to lead to increased referrals and practice growth? Here's a few seemingly innocent but critical things to do from day one. And if you're already well past day one, fear not - it's never too late to start.

Track Your Referrals
Discovering where your referrals come from is the single best way to get more of them. You can use my "five P's" or something of your own, but make sure you track them from day one. Before you know it, it's going to be day one of year two and having referral source data is going to be incredibly helpful in figuring out how to spend your marketing dollars.

Accept Debit and Credit Cards
Just do it. I know it's expensive. I know it's a hassle. Just do it.

Still not convinced? Follow the link.

Make Sure the Phone Is Answered
You might not be able to afford a receptionist right away (although I think you should take the risk). But if you miss those calls, you're going to lose business. Consider an answering service at the least - one that can book appointments on your behalf.

Act Like You're Busy
Whether you want to treat this as metaphysics or practical behaviour, acting as if you're a busy CAM practitioner from day one is going to get you there faster. It's particularly helpful in how you manage your appointments.

Pay Yourself
Get in the habit of paying yourself consistently. It's far too easy for your practice to consume all the cash flow, and for you to find yourself five years down the road still breaking even. Just look at how easy it is to spend all the money in your personal bank account. Your expenses have a habit of rising to meet the available cash, and your practice is no different.

It doesn't matter how much. Ten bucks a month is fine - what's important is to start the habit. Just set up an automated system and forget about it (except for regular raises!). Everyone in practice can afford ten bucks, and believe me, it will make a difference.

And don't forget those raises. Stretch yourself. Pay a tiny bit past what you can afford, and you'll find your practice will grow to accommodate the increased expense.
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