Listen to Your Body!

Do you listen to your body? I mean really listen to it. When it tells you that you are exhausted, do you try to go to bed early and get a little more sleep? How about when it tells you that it is stressed- do you take a few minutes out to breathe and relax? How about when you are happy or excited- do you take a few extra minutes to savor the elation that you feel?

A lot of us don’t listen to what are bodies are telling us. We keep going and going and going until we crash and our bodies tell us that they have had enough. We stress over everything but rarely take the time to relax and breathe. We are happy or excited for a few minutes but then we let everything crash back down on our shoulders.

You have to be the one to put a stop to this! You need to get at least 6-9 hours of sleep every night- If you get 6 hours but still feel tired the next day, then you aren’t getting enough. Try to go for a little more. Not sleeping causes your stress levels to rise, can keep you from being able to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight and when you don’t get enough sleep your body has a tendency to want to eat more. Sleep is used to reset your body and without getting into deep sleep your body can’t and won’t function correctly. If you are having trouble with sleeping try relaxing before heading to bed.

With stress you need to take a few minutes out to do whatever helps you. For me, it is vegging out watching a favorite show, reading an enjoyable book and the best for me is spending time in prayer and reading my Bible. Reconnecting with God really helps me to put things in perspective and it also reminds me that He has my back and is taking care of whatever problems have come up. For others it may be doing yoga at the end of the day or meditating. For my husband it is playing video games, writing his novel or learning a new language. It varies for everyone, but you have to do something or eventually you are going to crash from all the stress. Bad stress leads to excess body fat, heart problems including heart attack or stroke, depression, anxiety and panic attacks.

When you feel happy, excited, loved or any other feel good feelings- savor them. Take them with you for as long as possible. These feelings release good chemicals into your brain and body that help lower stress! That’s why laughter is the best medicine- you are helping your body in a way that no anti-depressant or any other medicine can. Another way to help reduce stress- hug someone that you love such as your spouse or your child for about 15 seconds. It releases oxytocin into your blood stream and helps you feel relaxed (this is the same hormone that is released during and after having some fun in the bed with your spouse and it is why you and your hunny feel so wonderful and relaxed after, so if you want to really feel relaxed, skip the hug and head to the bedroom).

Taking care of yourself isn’t just exercise and eating right- its making sure that you listen to your body and doing what it needs you to do!

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.