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Health Care Frustrations – How You Can Help
So you’re sick. You’re feeling miserable, and your body is in so much pain that you think you might be dying. What do you do? If you’re like me, you’re thinking the ER might be your last hope. Of course, nobody ever wants to resort to going to the hospital, but when you’ve tried everything, and nothing is working, what choice do you have? Except, say you get there, and there’s nothing they can do. Let’s say you wait for hours in the ER, go through the hoops of IV’s and questions only to be told nothing is wrong with you – only to go home in the same exact…
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What’s the Deal with Protein?
What is protein? To put simply, protein is pretty much the composition of life itself. From the basis of your DNA, protein can be found in every single cell of your body, creating and repairing everything that makes you exist. For you science nerds out there, protein is composed of various amino acids such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. Some amino acids however can not be produced by the body and must be consumed through food. Examples you may have heard mentioned before would be tryptophan, lysine, and phenylalanine. Thought it was all about the muscles? Try your bones, your blood, your skin, cartilage, tissue, hormones, everything! Protein is…
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The Perfect Kitchen
When people tell me they want to lose weight or get healthy or even simply eat better, the first thought that comes to mind is, “What’s in their pantry?” I have a bit of an obsession with sorting through pantries and refrigerators and pruning them until they are beautiful in my sight. It is my idea of interior decorating. So if you are interested in making some healthier choices for your life, I’m here to help. Designing Your Dream Kitchen The first thing to understand about cleaning out your pantry is that you never go in and throw everything away. Frankly, that’s just wasteful. Instead, understand the method behind it.…
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The Chronic Illness Game Plan – How to Stay Prepared
Here in Louisiana, we’re all gearing up for hurricane season. After having been through some of the worst storms, the people around here have learned how to prepare. Even though it’s only for a season, you don’t take any chances. Living with a chronic illness, however, is like living through hurricane season all year round. It’s unpredictable. It’s destructive. Episodes can come out of nowhere, and you never know which direction they will take. But like with a storm, you can only learn to be prepared. Having a plan in place will make everything go a lot smoother not only for you, but for everyone involved in the path of…
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A Pinch of Salt
Salt is crucial for survival. In fact, sodium is actually an electrolyte the body needs for muscles and nerves to function properly. It helps regulate how much fluid is in the body. Unfortunately however, many people consume too much salt. This means your body is retaining too much water. Your blood pressure can increase, and your heart has to work harder. This can all cause cardiovascular diseases, stroke, hypertension, and kidney disease. While we do need sodium for our bodies to function properly, it’s important not to overdo it. So how much salt can we have? The American Heart Association recommends less than 2,300 mg a day, ideally aiming for…
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Six Tips for a Healthy Grocery Trip
In order to develop a healthier diet, you must first learn what your diet is actually composed of versus what you want it to be composed of. So today, my friends, we will take the first and most important step of learning how to read labels. Now, I do understand we all might have different dietary restrictions or needs, but most of these are general guidelines. From these guidelines, you can begin to learn what you’re looking for and adjust accordingly. Get your grocery lists ready because I have six tips for a healthier shopping cart! 1.) Keep it Simple Think about the layout of most grocery stores. Outside Isles:…
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Learning & Loving Your Body
Diet and exercise isn’t one size fits all. We’ve all heard it, but do you believe it? Or are you still trying to copy what the latest fads and trends are saying? Stop being pulled in all directions. Learn what works for you and your body! You have to stop hating your body and using that as the motivation to get healthy. It is never a good idea to have any sort of negative outlook on yourself. Love Your Body Love your body so much that you want what’s best for it. Appreciate the fact that you were created so intricately, with each muscle, organ, and system wanting to function…
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Inactivity & Idleness
Do you know what one of the biggest causes of weight gain is? Inactivity! But why is it that when people want to lose weight, they seem to only focus on the diet aspect? We SIT here and watch the world become more and more overweight and obese, and we all want to blame the food industry. Fast food, processed foods, growth hormones, excess sugar – yeah, those are the culprits. But if we give those up, why are we still seeming to have trouble losing weight? Because we are becoming more and more lazy! Everything has become so convenient. We don’t even have to physically move our bodies to…
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Are You Feeding Your Problems?
Are you afraid of your food? How many of us have tried “diets” time and time again only to end up going back to binging on junk? Ignorance is bliss right? Sure, we know we shouldn’t eat junk, but if we don’t know the real reason why we shouldn’t, what’s really stopping us? If someone in the 1950’s said don’t smoke, nobody would listen. If someone said don’t smoke because smoking has been proven to kill you. Big change right? How It Affected Me When the doctors first told me weight loss helps keep IH under control, I didn’t pay it much mind because I wasn’t overweight. When the doctors…
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The Broken Body
Do you remember when your body broke? I do. Thursday, January 26, 2017. 9:30 am. It was the day I had my first child. It was the moment I had the epidural that went too far. Sure, that’s a common occurrence. Countless women experience it. The needle penetrates too far into the dura that surrounds the spinal cord and causes spinal fluid to leak out from around your brain. Excruciating headaches ensue. Sometimes the body heals itself before the new mother even notices. Other times, the skull crushing pain lingers for weeks or even months afterwards. The good news is doctors can fix this. All they have to do is…
