Too much calcium...

I was surprised to find out that you can have high calcium blood levels!!! I had never heard of it before, but I was diagnosed with it two weeks ago... and I also found out a lot about the parathyroid glands. I have also found out that my fibro issues could actually be caused by my high calcium levels. High calcium blood levels are bad, bad, bad... the calcium doesn't come from your food intake--- nope, it comes from your bones!

Your body is literally leaching the calcium from your bones! It also effects your muscles and nerves, and can cause depression, bone pain, osteoperosis, muscle aches, problems with memory and concentration, kidney stones,interfer with your sleep making it difficult to fall asleep and to stay a sleep and last, cause issues with your heart.

The bad news- most doctors don't check younger patients calcium levels. It is normal for people in their teens and twenties to have higher blood calcium levels but it is rarely normal for someone in her thirties to have levels out of the 9's.

Now onto the parathyroids- what are they? Isn't that the same as the thyroid? Well, no! Your parathyroid glands are called this because of where they are located- infront of or behind your thyroid gland- that's all. They are important though- no they don't control just about everything like your thyroid does- but they have the important job of regulating the calcium in your blood so that it doesn't go to high or two low. It also regulates your phosphorus levels, so it if you have low phosphorus levels, get your calcium levels checked because chances are the phosphorus is actually sticking to the high levels of calcium because it hitches a ride with your calcium through your blood stream.

So, if the parathyroids are suppose to regulate calcium, then how do you get high calcium levels? Well, it is usually caused by a rogue parathyroid gland that grows out of control. It gets tired of being the size of a grain of rice and for unknown reasons, it takes off. It doesn't get huge, maybe the size of a peanut to a walnut, but it causes major problems.

For more information please check out www.parathyroid.com

Getting back on track...

Ok my dear readers, it is time to get this back on track! I know I took more than a couple of days, but I was feeling a little burned out with school starting back, waking up almost every night for some unknown reason and taking care of the kids and house. I did do some productive things though while I was away. I did spring cleaning in my living room, including vacuuming spider webs out of the corner. I dusted everything, vacuumed every where but under the book shelf and entertainment center. I also moved our big, bulky, beautiful furniture around. I love the new lay out! It feels comfy and inviting and that is what I want my home to feel like.

I also took some time and did some school work. I just started my second life coaching class and this one is a little scary! lol. It involves having to do movie and book reviews, which can be a little daunting, but I am looking at it as a chance to learn even more to help my readers and future clients.

Today is full time mommy mode. My sweet baby girl (who is actually 6, lol) seems to have a sinus infection brought on by allergies and just needs mommy love, which I will gladly provide. I am going to try to get a regular blog up that is about health and wellness, but if not, that is ok since I may be needed elsewhere.

Thank you all for bearing with me as I get this going! I appreciate each and every one if you!!! Have a beautiful day inside and out!

Just to let you know...

I just want to let you all know that I am taking the next day or two to get an order to my blog. I feel as if it is going to go all over the map instead of things relating to each other, which is not what I want. I may even pull a few articles and change their order so that everything is cohesive. I want you guys to enjoy this and I want it to be the best that it can. I am also planning specials like features from others, recipes, and tips. I was excited to start this blog, and I still am, but none of us are going to get very much from it if there isn't an order:) I will be back in a couple of days with an improvement!

Thank you all for your patience as I figure this journey out!

Motivation

Today’s original topic was going to be Cardio, but after Mathew (my husband) and I got into a conversation about motivation and willpower I decided that maybe today’s blog should be over motivation and tomorrow’s should be over willpower, because let’s face it, without either, you’re not going to be lifting weights, doing cardio or eating healthy.

According to the Marriam Webster Dictionary, Motivation is 1a) the act or process of motivating, b) the condition of being motivated or 2) a motivating force, stimulus or influence: incentive, drive. For our discussion today we are going to use definition number 2.

Incentive or drive… what are the incentives to working out or eating healthy? Well, honestly there are probably hundreds, but for today’s conversation, let’s just stick to a few. For one, lifting light weight actually helps make your bones stronger! Yes, not just your muscles, but bones as well. How about being stronger and being able to pick up a child or not having to rely on your man to carry that heavy box? I love being able to do things like that for myself. How about the benefits to your heart when you do cardio? You can lower your blood pressure and your resting pulse rate. Exercising can also help lower high cholesterol and your chances of diabetes. To me that is motivation enough. And for me, staying active and eating healthy has also helped with muscle and joint pain that was diagnosed as fibromyalgia.

What about all those cute clothes that you want to wear but feel like they look ridiculous on you? How would you like to be able to wear those clothes? Guess what… you can wear those cute little dresses you covet. I used to be the same way and one day I said no more! I want to feel comfortable in clothes and I don’t want to have to try something on just to be disappointed with what I see in the mirror. Today I went shopping for some cute little dresses. I tried on 5 and ended up buying 2. Did the other 3 not look good one me? Nope, I just went with my favorite 2 because that was all I wanted to buy.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can do it! You can find what is important enough in your life to motivate you. And eventually that motivation will help you find willpower, which will give you determination, which will help you be self-disciplined and then you will see changes in your physical being, your mental being and in your spiritual being. I have faith in each and every one of you!

Building Musle to Burn Fat

I love exercise and I want you to love it too. But, I know that there are a lot of myths and truths floating around, so this week I would like to share a few things that I have learned that work. Today I want to talk to you about building lean muscle mass to burn bulky fat.

Do you run for hours a week on a treadmill with no results? Do tons of cardio, but feel like you are stuck? That’s because you need muscles to get rid of that fat! Yes, I want YOU to life weights, use resistance bands or do a workout that uses your own body as resistance!

I tried the cardio mostly approach last summer and didn’t get much results, that's because muscles help you burn up to 60% more fat than doing cardio alone. This time around, I looked at it differently. I started doing weight-lifting exercises mostly and within the first three weeks I had lost 4 pounds, but more than that, I lost a total of 8 inches off my body and 2.9% of my body fat. Now two weeks later I have lost even more and I am getting ready to change up my routine.

To build muscle you can use free weights such as dumbbells or resistance bands that you can buy at most major stores like Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart. There are also exercises that use your own body mass. For me, I have been using dumbbells because that is what works well. Resistance  bands do work well, just make sure before you buy a bunch of them that you enjoy using them.

You should find something that you love doing- I do Chalean Extreme and I LOVE it! I know others that do different programs and love those. You can also have someone show you or go on-line for how to tutorials or even get a good fitness magazines and learn good form for easy exercises that you can do in your home every day. If you want to go to the gym, that works too.

I have also found, through Chalean Extreme, that you can do minimal amount of reps and still get great results. You can do 10-12 slow, controlled reps with the highest weight you can do and build muscle. I see new muscle definition all over my body and I love it!

I know some of you ladies may also be worried about bulking up, but don’t fear, you can build beautiful muscles without looking like a man. Most women have to work really hard to ever look like a body builder, but if you are doing 30 minutes 3-4 times a week, you aren’t going to have to worry about that.

Remember, getting in shape doesn’t have to be mentally exhausting as well. It should be fun, self-rewarding through the results that you will start seeing within the first 2-3 weeks and it should help you feel better.

Having a Positive Outlook.

As I have stated in my about me, I am a Christian. On Sundays, I will be posting a verse or two and sharing what they mean to me. Sometimes they will deal with wellness, other times they may focus on character, or just whatever my heart feels led to share.

Today I want to focus on a positive mind set. Proverbs 17:22 says “A joyful heart is good for the spirit but a broken spirit dries up the bone.” Proverbs 15:15 states “All the days of the afflicted are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast” and last Proverbs 18:14 says “The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but as for a broken spirit who can bear it?”

From these verses I get that a joyful spirit helps your life. When you are negative you bring others and yourself down. Have a joyful spirit. Lift other up with your happiness. Let others see your joy.  

I do not enjoy being around negative people. I am not talking about having to vent every now and then because you are upset about something. I am talking about being emotionally stuck in a pity party for yourself  and when people that care about you try to get you to seek help or try to offer encouraging words you shut them out and shoot them down. 

I love being surrounded by positive people. When people have a positive attitude, even if they don’t directly say something positive to you about you, you still feel better because of their joy.

I had the negative attitude, but once I found my way out, thanks to a God, and I became a much better person. I try to find joy and good in others and in each of my situations. If you notice your attitude is becoming negative all the time, remind yourself to find the good. Remind yourself to see the positive.

A Personal Milestone… 30 Pounds of Fat Gone!

As most of you know from reading my couple of post that I have done, I have been working on losing weight. I had been stuck at 148 for two weeks, and it was getting a little frustrating. I really didn’t think that I would lose any this week because I was having a battle with a cyst on my right ovary and couldn’t work out at all.

Today, I got up, was hoping but not expecting a change, and boy, was I surprised when I saw 147 even. I could even say that I am down to 146 because my highest  weight of 177 was recorded at my doctor’s office and his scale said that I was a pound less than my at home scale about a week ago. 

It feels great seeing my hard work pay off. Watching my diet and forcing myself to eat a healthy snack when my brain is saying to go get a candy bar is really worth it- plus I have found a happy medium. Two pieces of dark chocolate in the evening has completely killed any cravings and it is surprisingly yummy.

This coming week I will be focusing on different weight loss strategies, the ups and downs of dieting and possibly a few other things. I want to thank you all for sharing in this milestone with me and I look forward to updating you all in a few weeks on my progress!

Soda, Pop or Coke… whichever you want to call it, the effects are still the same.

We all know the short term effects that soda has on our bodies- the sugar rush, the caffeine rush, the sugar crash followed a little bit later by the caffeine crash. It’s a vicious cycle that we put our bodies through.  But what about the bone loss, the tooth decay, and kidney stones among other things? 

One can of soda contains approximately 10 tsp. of sugar, a 20 0z soda has around 17 tsp. and a 2 liter has about 27-28 tsp. Wow! Do you realize that you aren’t supposed to consume more than 10 tsp. of sugar a day? I know what you are thinking- I’ll just have diet- WRONG! Diet soda contains artificial sweeteners that cause you to crave other sweets (not including that it can still cause other medical problems we will be discussing here in a minute).  Do you know what sugar does? Especially when mixed with acid? It causes tooth decay and can even help move along gum disease. So now your teeth are rotting out and you have crashed from a sugar high and now you are miserable emotionally. 

Oh, how does soda affect your moods? Well, we know that soda contains caffeine (except for caffeine free soda, which still isn’t good).  And we all know that caffeine is a stimulate, which means it gives you a feeling of having energy but then you crash and you feel tired which can make you cranky and feel depressed. So what do you do? You naturally reach for that second soda and repeat the cycle. Hmmmm…. Does this sound familiar? Isn’t this how addiction works? Caffeine can also affect your sleep cycle. Ever wonder why you are so tired after tossing and turning all night but can’t figure out why you can’t sleep? Put the caffeine down, especially in the late afternoon and evening and see how that works for you. 

So now you wonder how soda makes your bones weaker? Well, we have to look at what it contains- phosphoric acid. It takes calcium from the bones and even keeps your body from absorbing new calcium that you take in which results in bone loss and eventually osteoporosis.  This also affects the kidneys. When the body is being stimulated by caffeine to urinate often and that urine contains large amounts of calcium, you can get kidney stones. Kidney stones are basically calcium deposits that have to pass through your kidneys and can be very painful to eliminate from your body. 

What about the dyes in soda? The yellow number 5 dye that is found in a variety of sodas has been linked to several issues such as ADHD, asthma and allergies. Do you really want to have something in your diet that can cause your allergies to get worse (especially with Spring around the corner and all the other allergens out there)?

And last- soda makes you fat! Yes, I’m not going to be politically correct and call it obese, because no matter how you look at it, it isn’t pretty. There is nothing good that comes from soda, especially the extra fat it adds to the body- and I am not talking about on the outside. Fat can form around your organs and in your liver- and soda can add to that! It’s not healthy to have fat around and in organs! And we all know most women hate having it on the rest of their bodies! This can cause a variety of health issues all on its own anyway- we are talking heart, respiratory, metabolism problems… the list can go on.  

I hope that this helps you see how important it is to put the soda down for good and choose healthier alternatives such as water and 100% fruit juices (in moderation). Every time you take a sip, think about what it is doing to your body and ask yourself if this is really the way you want to feel?

Sugar

We’re going to jump right in with sugar and the power it holds over us. I used to never think that it was something that I was addicted to it, but it was to the point that I would pick something sweet over something healthy, even the things that I love like bananas. I loved soda and although I knew that it wasn’t very healthy for me, I would reach for it before I would water. I also loved sweet tea… sugar substitutes just weren’t the same. I liked it sweet with 2&1/4 cups of sugar per a gallon of tea. I know, I know, not good at all. 

Last summer I started out with good intentions to lose weight and get healthy but I couldn’t give up the sugar… go without soda- not on your life! But then around Thanksgiving something clicked. I knew that I had to get healthy- I was almost 31 and still eating like I hadn’t a care in the world, which we all know isn’t true. Once you hit 30, if you don’t take care of yourself, it catches up with you a lot faster than it does when you are 20.

I made a vow that on Dec. 1^st that I would put the soda down and stop with all the sugary foods.  And I did it. I have only drunk soda on two occasions, when I had stomach bugs that my kids brought home from school. I do still have a sweet every day, but it is usually something that is low cal and doesn’t have added sugars. 

I was surprised though to learn that you can be addicted to sugar just like you can with alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. Refined sugar is in a lot of the foods that we eat including some bread, snack cakes, doughnuts, mayonnaise, ice cream, crackers, canned soups and plenty of other foods.  Sodas and fruit juice drinks (not 100% juice) also contain a lot of sugar per a serving. 

The health problems are various and can include depression, diabetes, obesity and sleep disturbances.It can aggravate fibromyalgia and autoimmune diseases and if you have an immunodeficiency disease such as HIV/AIDS you should avoid it all together. 

There is good news… you can beat your addiction to sugar. The first thing you have to do is realize that you have an addiction. Then you have to decide how you want to go about giving it up- do you want to cut it out suddenly and completely or do you want to let it go gradually? I found that making sure that I ate a filling breakfast actually helped with my cravings. Make sure that you get complex carbs (such as fruits, veggies and 100% Whole Wheat or Whole Grain breads), plenty of protein and healthy fat. You can even sneak in a piece of dark chocolate to calm that craving. The most important thing is that you get this addiction under control before it cause adverse health effects. If it already is causing them, you can stop them in their tracks by taking control of your food. 

I know that you can do this- I have faith in you!

Wellness From the Inside Out

The purpose of this blog is to help everyone to be able to live a healthier, longer life. I know how hard the struggle can be to give up the bad habits you may have. I know the struggle of putting down the soda and the sugary snacks. I know the struggle of living with chronic pain. I want to be here for you all and I hope that everyone that comes across this blog can take a little something from it that may be able to help you in some way. Thank you for reading and I hope you find this helpful.


Stacy