Getting Healthier: Chiropractor Update

This picture is from my happy place. It's a real place where I love to go and I thought I'd share it today because I'm in a happier place than I was before I started seeing my chiropractor. We're 4 weeks into treatment. The first 6 weeks we were told would be for taking care of the pain we had been in. Then we do a few weeks at spinal correction, then we move to maintenance.

We've been going three times a week. That is a lot of face time with our chiropractor and his staff (who are all wonderful). Three times a week means a lot of mileage on our car, a lot of gas and even a lot of time. But I don't care about all of those things because I am feeling so much better than I was. The investment of time and money is paying off in better health. I am now able to get through my day without having to have a nap (although I still sneak them in from time to time). Prior to treatment, I was coming home from work, having a nap, getting up to eat dinner and going to bed before my kids. I was in that much pain--not all of it was physical either. I was having a lot of trouble with my moods and anxiety too.

Four weeks down and I've noticed a huge difference. It started with one of my daughters asking me a question in the car and I turned to look at her over my shoulder. I was amazed because I couldn't do that before! I have had less headaches in general, but I've still gotten hit with a couple of migraines. One morning last week, I went in with a migraine and I let him know before he started treating me. It's pretty bad when he can touch my shoulder and feel the lump that is essentially pinching the nerve and causing the migraine. The migraine didn't get better right away, but it eased off significantly and I was able to function somewhat normally.

I'm hoping that as I continue to feel better my energy will come back and I will be able to exercise more. I'm pleased with the changes that 4 weeks have already made. :)

Health Movie Review: Super Size Me

Wow. I'm watching "Super Size Me" and I'm blown away. I'm so glad that I have started to eat healthier than I was. This movie should be mandatory viewing before you graduate from high school.

Synopsis: Morgan, a healthy, active man experiments by eating nothing but food from McDonalds for 30 days and walking less than 5000 steps a day.

Crazy thing? His girlfriend is a vegan chef! It must have killed her to watch him go through this experiment.

Why do I think that you need to watch this movie? It's really eye-opening to see what living on McDonald's food does to you--physically, mentally. Not only does it destroy your health and increase your weight, it also addicts you to it. When you see what happens to Morgan, you realize what is happening to you every time you eat this food. You also see what goes on in schools and learn about the way that the restaurant and food industry is keeping us down. Did you know how much advertising we see for unhealthy food options every day? Made me glad that we don't watch "traditional" television with commercials so my kids don't see them. But then I remembered when my daughter came up to tell me all about a commercial she heard on her radio. She was so insistent that the information she was giving me was important, and of course it wasn't. What are we teaching our kids?

My ultimate goal in eating better is to show my daughters how to be a healthy weight. I don't want them to struggle with obesity like I have. I think my next step will be cutting out the Diet Coke. I don't drink coffee, so I've convinced myself that this is the way I get my caffeine. I almost stopped drinking cola entirely a couple of years ago, then my work changed and I was struggling to stay awake, so I started drinking Coke. I eventually changed to Diet Coke because I didn't want all the sugar in my system. So, now I have Aspertame in my system instead. Yeah, I think it's time for the Diet Coke to go. I have kept myself at 1 can most days and lots of water. Think I'll up the water and pitch the cola now.