Weight Loss Tips to Help Shed Pounds.

If you are like me you tend to gain a little weight around the holidays. Too many exceptions are usually made at parties or for traditional holiday foods that bring back good memories.

The danger is that these exceptions carry on longer than the holidays and lead to making more exceptions and can gradually turn into habits. We tend to develop a taste for high fat and sugar foods that have very little nutritional value but are loaded with calories and can rack up the pounds very quickly.

I have developed some basic strategies and tips to help you turn around any bad eating habits that may have developed over the holidays.

1. Weigh yourself every day. This will help you be committed to losing the weight.
2. Drink 6-8 glasses of water per day. Sometimes we think we are hungry but it may be because you are thirsty and really craving water.
3. Increase physical activity. A good goal would be 10,000 steps per day. Not only will this burn more calories but you will also feel better and have more energy
4. Be very choosey with any late night snacking. Since you have minimal energy requirement while sleeping your body stores those extra calories as fat.
5. Sleep at least 7 hours per night. Lack of sleep leads to daytime drowsiness and poor eating for quick energy.
6. Cut out bread rice, pasta and processed foods. These are all high carbohydrate. Lean toward high protein foods which tend to be much more satisfying.
7. Eat more frequently. Try eating every 2-3 hours. Eat some fruit or a vegetable snack. This can help stave off the hunger pains.
8. Tell your family that you are going to lose weight. This will help keep you accountable.
9. Think ahead and plan meals. The battle begins at the grocery store.
10. Limit fast food. Most fast foods are very high in fat. Try bringing leftovers from home for lunch.

Remember this is not a diet plan. This is a lifestyle modification. I f you can make these healthy habits part of your usual routine you do not need to "diet" to lose weight.

Spinal decompression therapy is used on patients that have spinal disc problems such as a herniated, bulging, ruptured, prolapsed, protruding or “slipped disc.”

Spinal decompression is a non surgical treatment for spinal disc disease that works on the affected disc by significantly reducing the pressure inside the disc. This negative pressure in the disc helps remove any pressure from the affected nerves and allows nutrients, water, and blood to flow into the degenerated or herniated disc and facilitates the normal process of healing.

A recent study evaluating the effectiveness of non surgical intervention on patients with herniated and degenerative discs showed that 86 percent of patients who completed the therapy reported immediate resolution of symptoms, while 84 percent remained pain free ninety days post treatment.

This study showed that this disease, the most common cause of back pain which cost the American Health System more than 50 billion annually can be cost effectively treated using spinal decompression. The cost for successful non surgical therapy is less than a tenth of that for surgery.

A recent study was released by Mercer health and benefits, a San Francisco Bay resource and financial advisor. The report was titled “Do Chiropractic Physician services for treatment of low back and neck pain improve the value of health benefit plans?” concludes Chiropractic care is likely to achieve equal or better health outcomes at a cost that compares very favorably to most therapies that are routinely covered in US health benefit plans. Covering chiropractic services for neck and low back pain will likely increase, value for dollar, by improving clinical outcomes and reducing total spending. 

Highlights: 

• Chiropractic care is more effective than other modalities for treating low back and neck pain.  
• Chiropractic care for the treatment of low back and neck pain is highly cost effective, representing a good value in comparison to medical physician care into widely accepted cost effectiveness thresholds. 
• The authors suggest insurance coverage for Chiropractic physician care is likely to drive improved cost effectiveness of US care.  
• These findings support the value of health insurance coverage of Chiropractic care for low back and neck pain.

A new study from Italy published in the March issue of The Spine Journal, showed that chiropractic care was effective in helping patients with acute back pain and sciatica with disc protrusion. This randomized double-blind clinical trial involved 102 ambulatory patients with at least moderate pain or radiating pain, who had an MRI study showing disc protrusion.

The patients were divided into two groups. One group received chiropractic adjustments 5 days per week by experienced chiropractors, with a maximum of 20 visits. The second group received what the study termed, "simulated manipulations" in order to have a group for comparison to those receiving real chiropractic care.

The results showed that those who got the real chiropractic care improved significantly over the group that received the simulated manipulations. In the group that received the chiropractic care, 55% were free of radiating pain in the follow ups compared to 20% of patients who got the simulated manipulations. Additionally, when measuring local pain, 28% of those who received real chiropractic were free of local pain, versus only 6% of those who got the simulated manipulation.

The results also showed improvements in days of pain with the group that received the real care reporting 6 less days of pain than those in the simulated care group. In addition to these benefits the group with the real care reported using less medications to help with the pain as a result of the chiropractic care.

In this study none of the patients in either group had any adverse effects, and one from each group did report no results at all and were listed as "treatment failures". The researchers conclusions were, "Active manipulations have more effect than simulated manipulations on pain relief for acute back pain and sciatica with disc protrusion."