ProACTIVE Health Blog

THURD THIRSTDAYS (Feb. 18th @ 7:00pm)

Join ProACTIVE Chiropractic for happy hour every third thursday of the month.  Wine, beer, and snacks will be served.  Slightly sophisticated, but also slightly awesome.  This might be the coolest thing you could do on a Thursday night.

 

Be sure to bring a friend who's never been to ProACTIVE, and be sure to have fun.

 

Cheers!

Today we’ll be looking at Zack, the Chiropractic Assistant, a man with a love for cheap pizza, overpriced coffee, and mass-produced pastries

Wednesday 12/9:

4:45am- water

6:15am- apple fritter from Starbucks, medium black coffee

9:40am- bagel with buttery spread, water

11:00am- pretzel bits, water

12:30pm- banana, orange soda, sandwich

4:00pm- medium coffee with cream and sugar, peppermint brownie

6:00pm- water, more pretzels!

8:00pm- vodka martini, 7 olives

8:30pm- paella with chorizo chicken and shrimp, water

Friday 12/11:

4:30am- water

6:15am- coffee cake and medium coffee with cream and sugar

9:00am- piece of JB’s peppermint brownie

10:30am- chicken breast

12:00pm- two slices of pizza with jalapeños

3:00pm- orange soda, two more slices of pizza (repeat offender!)

3:15pm- medium no-whip decaf peppermint mocha with skim

3:30pm- water

7:45pm- Ethiopian food, spicy beef and two beers, water

Monday 12/14:

6:15am- medium coffee with cream and sugar, apple fritter, chocolate chip cookie

8:00am- cupcake, water

10:30am- leftover Indian food, water

12:45pm- double grande skim dirty chai

3:00pm- medium coffee with cream and sugar

4:30pm- cookie

5:00pm- water

6:00pm- sandwich

9:30pm- vodka martini, 3 olives, cheddar cheese, naan bread

Self Analysis:

I think I do pretty well in getting a variety of foods and pacing myself throughout the day. I never really feel hungry or thirsty. I do often get tired around 4-5:00pm. And I do get a sweet tooth and a coffee tooth every once in a while, plus those peppermint brownies and mochas from Starbucks are just too tempting! I eat pizza probably 3 times a week. It’s my thing, I just have a long relationship with pizza. I could probably eat some more fruit and veggies, and less of the processed carb-y things.

Dr. Jared’s analysis of Zack’s diet:

Oh Zack, where to start…For starters, I think we need to address the amount of caffeine you are consuming on a daily basis. Not only is it nearly impossible to stay hydrated, it leads to a constant feeling of anxiety and complacency in most people. Caffeine also has the unfortunate effect of depressing the immune system by overtaxing the adrenal glands. The long-term result is that you will be worn out, sick, and generally dissatisfied with life. A better solution is to fill your body with lots of water and nutrient-rich foods. This will give you a natural alertness that doesn’t leave you “crashing” mid-day. The bonus here is that you will be building your body tissues with the best materials possible without creating a bunch of waste products bogging down your system. Next, let’s talk about the carbs. It seems that most of what you eat is made of simple carbohydrates that burn quickly, flooding your bloodstream with glucose (sugar). Because your activity level does not require that much glucose to be available, weight gain will be inevitable. Currently, you are not seeing it, because you have the metabolism of someone in their early 20’s. As you age, metabolism slows, and all that glucose will be stored as fat cells…each person carries it a little differently, so take a look at your family members to see what you might look like in the not-so-distant future. Other noteworthy consequences to this type of diet include adrenal fatigue, type II diabetes, increased risk for cancer, hair loss, unhealthy skin, increased body odor, and generally being sick more than you feel well. So there is a lot to think about. Planning for your body’s future is hard to do well until you start to feel the impact of your past choices. By being ProACTIVE about your health, you stack the cards in your favor for long and productive life.

Okay, so you’re getting 8 hours of sleep, or let’s pretend you’re getting 8 hours of sleep a night. You wake up still groggy and don’t want to get out of bed… EVEN AFTER ALL THAT SLEEP. Then you go to work and have…say, two cups of coffee, and you’re still yawning. Then, even after lunch, your eyes are starting to droop. What’s the deal? Could it be that 8 hours is simply not enough? Could the National Sleep Foundation have gotten it wrong?

Well, before you start hitting the sack before sundown, consider the quality of your sleep instead of the quantity. The problem may actually be that you’re not going through enough of the restorative phases that happen when you sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) helps us consolidate our memories, fuels our creativity and helps with our problem solving ability. This is only attained in deep sleep, which also helps the body secrete human growth hormone—critical for healing and growth in our bodies.

Unfortunately deep sleep tends to decrease with age. As I wrote in the previous blog, three of the big offenders for sleep are Light, Sound, and Caffeine. Cut down the exposure to light before bed and try reading instead of watching television. Drink decaf or herbal tea in the afternoon. And try wearing earplugs to bed if you’re a light sleeper.

All of these things can help you to have a deeper, more beneficial sleep. You may also want to consider a different alarm clock…one that wakes you up slowly rather than shocking you awake with a burst of noise.

Are you one of the many overtaxed workers constantly complaining of being tired? Do you start to crash halfway through the workday? Being tired has almost become a status symbol, the hard-earned sign of a busy and productive life. Exhausted workers cling to their Venti quadruple-shots like badges of honor. Over time, people begin to accept feeling tired as a symptom of everyday life, but there are things you can do to fight the fatigue.

1. Energize your diet with healthy foods that give you a boost rather than burn you out. Heavy foods with lots of processed carbohydrates seem filling in the short term but, over time, make us hungrier and sleepier. Go for foods that are high in fiber instead. Fiber prevents carbohydrates from entering your bloodstream too quickly, keeping you from getting that burnout feeling.

2. Eat breakfast, even if you’re not hungry! Each morning, get used to having some small snack or a piece of fruit to get you started. People who skip breakfast are less alert and have a harder time making it to their lunch break. Coffee may help you feel alert in the beginning of the day, but after noon, it’s best to cut out the caffeine intake, which can have an adverse effect on your quality of sleep.

3. Eat every three to four hours. Eating frequent small meals throughout the day not only keeps your metabolism running; it keeps YOU running, too. Make sure each of these small meals still has a mix of protein, healthy fat, and carbohydrates.

4. Drink lots of water throughout the day. Generally, if you’re feeling thirsty it means you’ve been dehydrated for a day. Dehydration can make you feel groggy, as well as making your blood thicker so that your heart has to worker harder to pump it through your body.

5. Dress better than you feel. You may feel like dawning your comfy, slumpy clothes when you’re feeling down, but if you dress up, your mood is more likely to rise to meet your wardrobe.

6. Try cutting out the TV and computer time after 8:00pm. The informational and light stimuli from televisions and computers can slow the production of melatonin, which is necessary for your mind to shut down at night.

7. Cut back on the alcohol. Many people think that having some wine or a nightcap before bed makes you fall asleep faster. This is only partially true, because the effects wear off as soon as your body metabolizes the alcohol, causing you to wake up or have a troubled night of sleep.