On Healthy Living

I hate back pain, don’t we all? Mine is from being overweight. Hey, I am eating healthy these days and losing. But I’m still overweight and its still affecting my health. So here are some tips that can help ease back pain and sometimes help prevent it from occurring.

1. Find a comfortable chair. If you’re sitting for long hours each day, if possible, find a chair that is nice to your back. You might even need to bring in a cushion for comfort.

2. Take some Ibuprofen or Excedrin Back Pain. Muscle relaxers are nice but they are prescribed and make many sleepy. Use the reccommended dose of an over the counter medicine instead.

3. Do some stretching. Experiment lightly and see which back stretches feel the best for your back problem. Everyone is different and each location of pain on the back is different. Don’t overexurt yourself.

4. If you see yourself slouching during the day, put your shoulders back to distribute the weight of you upper body in your back.

5. Lay down with a small pillow under the arch of your back and a pillow supporting your neck and head. This does wonders in helping relieve that pressure.

6. Try a hot compress or ICY HOT. I really like StopPain, the spray, to help relieve my pain occasionally.

Plastic bottles have been condemned for some time now, ever since studies have found a link between cancer and the plastic bottles used in bottled water, juices or anything consumable that uses plastic bottles. But in the midst of this findings, a new bad chemical has again been found in plastics - Bisphenol A. Biphenol A or BPA is a chemical used in most plastics to make the plastic more durable and not easily breakable. This includes anything plastic. Polycarbonate plastics and most plastics with a marking of #7 on it usually contains this toxic chemical.

How does this concern baby feeding bottles? Since most feeding bottles for babies are made from plastic, research has shown that BPA is present in most of these bottles. What’s alarming about it is that the most popular brands of feeding bottles have BPA. This includes Avent, Dr. Brown’s and Playtex.

Does this harm our babies? Research shows that when the plastic is exposed to high temperature, the chemical in the plastic will leak. Therefore, if the plastic feeding bottle is sterilized or boiled or if it contains hot liquid, there is a tendency that BPA will leak into the milk which the baby will drink. They say BPA is linked to cancer, slow mental development and other diseases.

What can we do about it? Most parents switched to BPA-free plastic bottles like Born Free, Green to Grow and ThinkBaby. A lot of BPA-free options are now available in the market. Avent and Dr. Brown’s have also released BPA-free versions of their original feeding bottles.

 How do I know if it’s BPA-free? PES and Polypropylene are the popular BPA-free plastics used in feeding bottles. And due to growing concern over BPA, manufacturers have now classified on their packaging if an item is BPA-free.

Should I really be concerned about BPA? Most parents argue that they have been using feeding bottles with BPA for decades now, yet their babies do not show any side-effect. For me, it is always better to be safe than sorry. I would rather spend a few more bucks to make sure that I have nothing to worry about my baby’s health. Rather than scrimp over the money, worry at night, and regret it later on.

I’m an excellent breastfeeder. I didn’t even need help past the third feeding at the hospital. I’m like an expert or something. Or my baby was an expert at latching and telling me when he’s hungry. Either way, we go good together. It’s no wonder I’m extending nursing him still at 15mo.

But I hate pumping. I say that as I sit here at 4:30 am writing a research paper for graduate school. He stayed at my mom’s for the night and I haven’t nursed (or pumped) in about 11 hours. I think each breast weights 10 lbs now. I should be pumping but I hate it! Now that is something I am not a natural at.

I think of it this way. The baby is an expert. He knows how to get the milk out. He was born to do that. I don’t know how to effectively put this plastic thing on me and get the same amount of milk and especially not at the same rate.

So, if I had to choose betweeen the two? I’d throw out pumping forever and don’t mind breastfeeding one bit.

Do you want lusturious hair but don’t want to spend a lot of money on those expensive products? You don’t have to! Your hair doesn’t need a $45 shampoo that has the same ingredients as a Suave shampoo! That is really ridiculous and you can have your own homemade routine that will cost much less and deliver even better results!

First of all, what shampoo are you using? Time to switch. Your hair builds up chemicals from that shampoo that will never be washed out if you continue using the same shampoo. Switch to a new brand. Any brand, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you choose one for your hairtype: dry, permed, curly, straight, fine, or thick.

Choose a conditioner that matches, if possible. Also use a different one than you’ve been using.

Once a week, when taking a shower, ditch the conditioner. After shampooing thoroughly, use a 99cent hot oil treatment on your hair and let it penetrate for 5-10 minutes.

Rinse out and wrap in a towel.

Fill a water bottle spray with water and a drop of your conditioner. Spray into hair to remove tangles.

That’s it!

Whenever I get migraines, I am miserable and very irritable. I don’t want any loud noise, movement or anything around me. I want to be under the covers staying completely still. I especially hate when they last for a week straight (off and on). I’m going to share some tips that help me in hopes they help you when of these puppies comes around.

First of all, stay hydrated and fed! That is the number one reason/s why migraines occur.
Second, I love Excedrin for Migraines. Those puppies are so effective in eliminating migraines effictively and fast. I’ve never, and I repeat NEVER found a medicine to be as effective AND fast as Excedrin. In fact, I bought a HUGE bottle just the other day for $13.99 to last me awhile.

Next, if possible, go to a quiet and dimly lit room. If the migraine is occuring mainly on your right side, lay on your left. You don’t want to lay on the affected side as the blood will rush there and make your migraine worse and you’ll feel the increase in throbbing immediately. Not good.

Migraines are often accompanied by nausea. Along with your excedrin, drink plenty of water and eat something carby. This will help reduce the nausea and put the medicine to work even faster.

A cold compress can help as well. In fifteen minutes, the Excedrin should kick in enough that you can sit up straight and think normally again. Good luck. I hate those things!

I was reading on Your Natural Remedies a great tip for cracked lips…honey…And it is just so sweet too. The thing is that when you have honey on your lips you are just tempted to lick it off especially if you like the taste of honey. That is why if you mix it with a little olive oil - not only will it stay on better but you may not want to eat it off your mouth This is great for cracked nails too. However I really think that you have to just stay hydrated to have things like nice hair, nails and skin. You can put on a ton of stuff on the outside but you have to be eating and drinking right!

I have had carpel tunnel since high school. I remember one time in art class I wasn’t even able to paint and I wanted to so bad! My hands and fingers hurt so bad! My teacher was so nice to massage my hand and that helped while she did it, but after it went back to being SO painful! I didn’t even know what I had, either, as no one could tell me.

In my undergrad days I could hardly even get through exams. I knew all the answers to a perfect tee and if I had a healthy hand I could have finished those tests before everyone else and still get A+’s. But my carpel tunnel held me back. I’d sit there for at least half of my exam time shaking my hand fiercly to relieve some pain and massaging my poor aching hands. Ugh I hated it!

Later someone said I might have carpel tunnel. I took on this “label” but many people would say “no you don’t. Carpel tunnel is in your wrists. I don’t know what you have” just because mine was in the hands and fingers! Well their thoughts really got in my head and now as I’m writing this my hand, fingers, wrist, and forearm ALL ache!

Can something help?

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you need to eat more than someone who isn’t. Many people do not know this but breastfeeders actually require eating more food than a pregnant woman! Yes, its true. One is creating a life and one is sustaining a life through nutrition. I guess the reason is that breastfeeding women are providing nutrition for somone who is larger than the baby inside one’s belly.

Here are some ideas on how to incorporate an extra meal in your day to fulfill your nutritional requirements:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a side of apples
turkey sandwich with cheese and tomato
(use whole wheat for both of the above)

Cup of tomato soup with whole wheat crakers
bowl of iron-fortified cereal with sliced bananas or strawberries
tuna on a whole wheat pita with sliced cucumber

yogurt with granola or nuts or seeds (this is a smaller snack)

Sometimes we don’t even know the five food groups! Here’s a list of some things you can buy at the grocery store to fulfill your five food group requirements:

Whole grains:
Whole wheat bread
Whole grain pasta
Brown rice
air popped popcorn

Dairy:
1% cheese
lite yogurt
chocolate soy milk

lean meats:
chicken break
albacore steak
turkey breast
pork chop (lean)
Tbone steak
beans

fruits:
frozen berries
cantelope
watermelon
apples

veggies:
anything green
celery
cherry tomatoes
zucchini

fats:
nuts
avacado
olive oil

vegetarian proteins:
beans
legumes
nuts
cheese
tofu
soy

Carbohydrates are food composed of some combination of starches, sugar and fiber - provide the body with fuel it needs for physical activity by breaking down into glucose, a type of sugar our cells use as a universal energy source.

Bad carbs are foods that have been “stripped” or processed in order to make cooking fast and easy, like white flour, refined sugar, and white rice. They digest so quickly that they cause dramatic elevations in blood sugar, which can lead to weight gain.

Good carbs however, can’t be digested as easily. This keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels from rising and falling too quickly, helping you get full quicker and feel fuller longer. Good sources of carbs include whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, which also offer lots of additional health benefits, including heart disease and cancer prevention.

What a nice-to-know stuff!