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Food for Thought….Tips for a Healthier (and Happier) Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season, and, for many, the beginning of several weeks of over-eating, over-doing, over-spending, and overwhelming their bodies chemically, physically and emotionally. At Overland Chiropractic, we are committed to bringing wellness to our patients and community by being experts in the identification and treatment of stress. Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, traditions, and making good memories. With a little planning, you can have the healthy and happy holiday you deserve.
Since stress can affect your body in many different ways, here are some tips for reducing stress and staying healthier this season:
Chemical Stress:
- Decide ahead of time that you will only eat until you are satisfied, NOT until you are “stuffed”. Eat slowly, and enjoy the meal and the company.
- Drink plenty of water. It will help you feel fuller and will aid in the digestion of food. Limit your intake of sweetened, carbonated beverages, alcohol, and caffeine.
- Consider enzymes to help with digestive issues and the absorption of nutrients. We would be happy to discuss enzyme therapy with you.
Physical Stress:
- Take a walk after your Thanksgiving meal. If you have planned for a walk, you probably won’t be as apt to overeat, and the exercise will help fend off that post-turkey fatigue!
- Get plenty of rest. Listen to your body. Schedule a chiropractic treatment if needed.
- Make sure to delegate the cleaning, cooking and entertaining responsibilities – you don’t need to do it all by yourself.
Emotional Stress:
- Have grace for yourself and others. Family events may be marred by an undercurrent of past experiences or by expectations that are too high. Remember that no one is perfect, including you, and appreciate your time together.
- Choose just a few meaningful activities, and don’t be afraid to say “no” to everything else.
- Make room in your schedule for personal prayer or quiet time.
We are here to serve you and to meet you on the path to wellness. We wish you the best of health and a wonderful Thanksgiving.
ABC News Medical Unit Shares Health Tips For the 2011 New Year!
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
Posted By: Dr. Robert Patterson
Here is an article from ABC News, written by Katie Moisse, about how to maintain your New Year’s resolution goals. Moisse provides five health goals for the new year. The first health goal is about losing weight.
Five Health Goals for 2011 and How to Meet Them
Nothing gets you thinking about health quite like a month of excess. As the holiday haze clears, New Year’s resolutions come into focus. But for many, January’s motivation dwindles by March – if not sooner.
Because the start of a new year is a great time to think about breaking bad habits and starting fresh, ABCNews.com asked health experts to share some healthy resolutions and tips on how to see them through.
Lose Weight
Many of us start the year with ambitious plans to shed the holiday pounds and then some. But without signs of success in the first few weeks, motivation can fizzle.
The key to losing weight, and not January’s enthusiasm, is to set realistic short-term goals, according to Lisa Cimperman, a registered dietician at University Hospitals Case Medical Center.
“There’s a lot that goes on between losing that first pound and losing that 100, 50 or even 20 pounds,” Cimperman said. Aiming to lose 1-to-2 pounds per week can help you stay on track and power through the inevitable weight loss lulls.
“There’s a lot that goes on between losing that first pound and losing that 100, 50 or even 20 pounds,” Cimperman said. Aiming to lose 1-to-2 pounds per week can help you stay on track and power through the inevitable weight loss lulls.
But don’t let the numbers on the scale be the be-all end-all, Cimperman warns. Strength training can boost muscle mass, masking successful fat loss. Measuring your waist and thighs over time and paying attention to how your clothes fit can help you track how your body’s changing.
And if you do get stuck in a rut, don’t be afraid to ask for some help.
“Studies have shown that support groups or just having someone else encouraging you will help make you successful,” Cimperman said.
How to Reach your Personal Goals for the 2011 New Year!
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Posted By: Dr. Robert Patterson
Another year has begun. Have you taken time to reflect back on last year? What things did you accomplish? What do you want to achieve this year?
If you have not done it yet, begin making a list of the things that you would like to achieve this year. Personally, I like to write down categories such as family life, spiritual life, health, and finances. I then list the various things that I would like to accomplish in each category this year. Lastly, I ask myself what has to happen in order for each of those things to happen, and I put a time frame on it.
It takes some time and effort, but it is the only way you are ever going to realistically achieve your goals. As Zig Ziglar once said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”
A few tips to help you achieve your
- Make your goals concrete and specific.
- Visualize the goal and what it is going to take to achieve it, in as much detail as possible.
- Set specific time frames to achieve each of the steps along the way
Have a great year, and good luck in achieving your goals!
USATODAY.COM POSTS OVERLAND CHIROPRACTIC’S PRESS RELEASE: DR. ROBERT PATTERSON OF OVERLAND CHIROPRACTIC REVIEWS HOW TO MANAGE STRESS DURING THE HOLIDAY
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Posted By: Dr. Robert Patterson
USATODAY.com recently posted Overland Chiropractic’s press release: Dr. Robert Patterson of Overland Chiropractic Reviews How to Manage Stress During the Holidays.
Altering expectations or tightening your budget can help alleviate additional financial stress. Maintain a normal exercise and sleep routine. Plenty of rest and exercise are great stress relievers. Finally, prioritizing is important during the holidays. Do not tire yourself out trying to attend every holiday party. Make a list of the most meaningful gatherings and graciously decline the rest.
Dr. Robert Patterson of Overland Chiropractic Reviews How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays
Monday, November 29th, 2010
By: Dr. Robert Patterson
The delicious food and drinks that surround the holidays can make it difficult to stay in shape. This article from MSN.com offers tips about how to be healthier during the holidays.
Mmm, holiday carbs! Eat, drink and not fatten up
During the holiday season, most people attend tons of festive events—and nearly all of them center around fattening food. Add seasonal stress and zero time to cook or hit the gym, and you have a recipe for holiday weight gain. Well, not this year! We came up with 10 tips to help you survive the hectic holiday season.
HOLIDAY PARTIES
It’s inevitable that you’ll be going to at least a few soirees this holiday season, whether it’s the office holiday party or your neighbor’s annual bash. Here are a few tactics you can employ.
1. Sip smartly
With alcohol, the goal is to keep both your calories and your buzz under control.
A single shot of vodka, gin, or rum mixed with club or diet soda and a squeeze of lime will set you back only about 100 calories. Other standard low-cal options include light beer or wine, most of which have fewer than 150 calories per serving. That’s perfect if you can sip one all night; if you’re the type to make several trips to the bar (no judgments!), try asking the bartender to fill your glass only halfway each time to keep your total intake down.
Champagne or pink Prosecco are both great options. Not only are they low on the calorie chart—around 80 to 120 per glass—but they’re also more likely to be sipped rather than guzzled.
2. Work the room
If you’re planted next to the food table, you’ll shovel chips and dip into your mouth all night long. So stay far, far away. You won’t eat mindlessly if you have to cross the room to get to the food or if you’re chatting someone up.
You should also be picky. Passed hors d’oeuvres, which hover at every turn, are small, but they add up—fast. To avoid eating 2,000 calories worth of cheese puffs, limit yourself to three that you love. Been waiting all year for bacon-wrapped scallops? Go for it. But pass on the crab cakes and other fried fare.
AT THE MALL
Another inevitability during the holidays is the mall food court, unless you’ve perfected the art of online shopping! Having to make decisions diminishes people’s willpower. So all the gift decisions you face at the mall will make you that much more vulnerable to temptation at the food court.
3. Pack snacks
Malls are filled with kiosks hawking softball-size cinnamon buns and soft pretzels on steroids. Keeping portion-controlled goodies in your bag will make other snacks easier to resist. Stick 30 pistachios or 24 almonds in a ziplock bag with two dried plums or apricots, or even some turkey jerky or a snack bar with less than 200 calories and at least 5 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. The carb/protein/fat combo in these foods will keep you full.
4. Sidestep seasonal sirens
An economic theory called the scarcity principle explains why we’re such suckers for holiday treats. Decades of research show that items we perceive as being in limited supply seem more desirable to us than non-scarce items. Holiday-themed coffee drinks and sweets are often more caloric than regular ones, so it’s safer to stick to the basics. Add your own cinnamon to your every day coffee or drizzle your own vanilla or peppermint extract.
Dr. Robert Patterson Reflects on Meaning of Continual Thanksgiving
Friday, November 19th, 2010
By: Dr. Robert Patterson 
Thanksgiving is probably our family’s favorite time of the year. We have many traditions, which were started when our children were very small and that we have continued to keep for the past 20 years. For both my wife and I, the holiday holds wonderful memories of extended family, delicious food and sweet fellowship.
But thankfulness should not be relegated to only one grand Thursday in November. Gratitude is “an indispensable manifestation of virtue, and an integral component of health, wholeness, and well-being.”
So, how does thankfulness play a part in your wellness? And how can one go about attaining an attitude of gratitude?
One way to focus on thankfulness is to keep a gratitude journal. A gratitude journal does not have to take too much time out of your day, and could be done in a simple notebook beside your bed, or in a list kept in your computer. Research has shown that people who kept a gratitude journal on a weekly basis “exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events”.
Another interesting result of the gratitude journal is that research participants were also more likely to progress toward important goals involving academic achievements, inter-personal relationships and physical well being
Further research showed that “grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism, and lower levels of depression and stress. Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others’ success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of others; and are more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.”
Practice gratefulness every day of the year, and not just in November. Your mind and your body will be healthier for it.
(Quoted items are from “Highlights from the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness Dimensions and Perspectives of Gratitude” Co-Investigators: Robert A. Emmons, University of California, Davis, and Michael E. McCullough, University of Miami)
Overland Park Chiropractor Dr. Robert Patterson Reviews Healthy Aging Month
Friday, September 10th, 2010
By: Dr. Patterson
When you think of aging, what comes to mind? When I discussed this with my staff this week, we had to admit that the first thing we thought about was what we will be doing for our health 10-15 years from now. Our first thought was not “What we are doing today in order to live life the way we want in the future?”
It seems to me that aging is somewhat of an abstract concept to most people. We see it happen to other people, but for some reason we do not see it happening to ourselves in the same way. I believe this is due, in part, to feeling that our minds are not aging. I was talking with my dad one day about aging, and he stated that when he is just sitting, he feels just as if he were 20 years old. I know exactly what he is talking about. Mentally, I feel the same as if I was 20, but now when I push my body, I feel much older.
This gives us a false sense of security and lulls us into believing that we have time. Every day, I have one or two patients come into my office who can’t understand why a particular activity now hurts them, because they have done it a million times before without a problem. They have a hard time grasping that their bodies are older, they are overweight, don’t eat right, don’t exercise, are on two or three medications, and they have abused their bodies. Their time has run out. A certain amount of damage has been done, and we have now moved into a mode of managing their condition versus curing them.
My point to all this is that we have to realize we are aging right now. Now is the time to make better choices – physically, nutritionally and emotionally. How you live today will determine how well you live tomorrow.
Overland Chiropractor Reviews: Are Your Kids Stressed Out?
Friday, August 27th, 2010
By: Dr. Robert Patterson
As our kids return to school, we need to be aware that they face stress everyday just as we do. As adults, we are too often caught up in our own financial, job, and relational stresses that we forget about the stressors that our kids face. Have you ever faced a stressful situation and thought to yourself, “I wish I were a kid again?” You look back to a time when you had less responsibility, and maybe mom and dad were there to help you. If you are honest with yourself, are you looking at the past through rose-colored glasses? Are you forgetting the things that caused fear and hurt and that still hold you back today?
When the new school year begins, many kids will feel anxious about a number of things. There are new teachers, homework, tests, new rules, and maybe new processes to be learned, like how lunch works. Riding the bus sounds simple to us, but to a child it may be stressful. They may worry about being on time, finding the right bus number, where they are going to sit, someone teasing them, and getting off at the right stop.
Our kids are expected to perform at high levels academically, as well as athletically. I believe participation in sports is a great thing and teaches many life lessons. Unfortunately, I have seen too many parents push their kids past a reasonable point of achievement. When sports or other activities cease to be fun for your child, it is time to re-evaluate the importance placed on extra-curricular activities.
As kids get older, peer pressure increases, and self-esteem issues become more prevalent. They are exposed to commercials, “reality shows” (which I hope are not so real), television shows, and internet sites that glorify unacceptable behavior and a false sense of body image.
Let’s not forget the stress that day-to-day “drama” brings on, particularly with girls. As the father of two girls, I have heard stories that shock me. When I read things that kids have written on Facebook, I wonder if their parents have a clue as to what is going on in their kids’ lives. While I love technology, it has made it easier for kids and adults alike to be cruel to one another.
The more I think about it, the happier I am that I am not a kid anymore. I don’t want to leave you depressed. There are things that you can do to help your children deal with the stresses of life. The things you teach them now will help them later in life.
Tips for helping your kids deal with stress:
1. Talk with your kids. Don’t expect that they will tell you everything that is bothering them. It may take some coaxing on your part. Ask your child specifically if she is having difficulty finding the right bus or whom she sits with.
2. Educate yourself about Learning Styles. If you have a child struggling in school, he may learn and organize differently than you do. With our children, I learned this the hard way. You and the teachers may have to come up with different strategies to help your child.
3. Be an advocate for your child. Work with the school counselor and teachers if your child is getting behind. It puts tremendous stress on your child when she feels she has gotten in so deep that she can’t get out. As your children get older, teach them to advocate for themselves first, but never be afraid to get involved. You, not the teacher or school, are ultimately responsible for your child
4. Encourage kids to be the best they can be. Realize we all have limitations. It is okay to set the bar high in academics or sports. People often need to be pushed to reach their full potential. You want to push your child but not break him. Only 3% of high school basketball players continue to play in college. Only .02-.03% of high school basketball players ever make it to the professional level.
5. Monitor what your kids watch. Discuss the problems with behavior you see on television or elsewhere. Make teachable moments out of daily life and behaviors you observe.
6. Monitor your kids’ Facebook if they have one. While kids are able to use technology, they are often not very smart about what they put out there for the world to see. If you let your kids have a Facebook, you are foolish to not keep up with what they are posting, as well as their friends or other peers. Your child could be getting bullied or be involved in dangerous behavior that you are not aware of. Burying your head in the sand will only create problems for you and your child.
Overland Park Chiropractor Discusses Muscle Imbalance
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
By: Dr. Patterson
Have you ever noticed that one leg stretches easier than the other or that one arm goes farther behind your back? If so, you may be experiencing muscle imbalance. Muscle imbalances can occur almost anywhere in our bodies. We can be imbalanced from side to side or from front to back.
You might ask, what is the big deal about one leg stretching more than the other? In this example, the problem lies in the increased stress that this puts on your pelvis, hips and spine. A tight hamstring creates torque in the pelvis and may lead to pain and early arthritis in your joints. Muscle imbalance impedes your performance and can eventually interfere with your daily and recreational activities. Similar problems occur in the neck and shoulders.
Muscle imbalances develop for a number of reasons. Right or left handiness cause us to use one side more than the other. Work postures or sporting activities may force us to perform one-sided activities over and over. One set of muscles will naturally become tighter than the others. Stuck or dysfunctional joints themselves also lead to imbalances and increased stress. Poor digestion and stress to our organs create muscle contraction. Left untreated, this will cause muscle imbalances such as leg length discrepancies and shoulder contractions.
Stretching some muscles and strengthening others can treat many muscle imbalances. Other times it requires manipulation of the joints or nutritional approaches to relieve muscle contraction. The keys to correction are proper evaluation as to the cause of the imbalance as well as the identification of the muscles to retrain.
Overland Park Chiropractor Reviews Tips to Prevent Lower Back Pain
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
By: Dr. Patterson
We are nearing the month of August, and for many of us, that means back-to-school shopping with our kids. Usually, these shopping trips include the purchase of a new backpack.
Children and adolescents often carry backpacks that are too heavy or are worn improperly. To help prevent injury, please consider the following suggestions from the ACA (American Chiropractic Association) when shopping for a backpack:
1. Make sure your child’s backpack weighs no more than 5 to 10 percent of his or her body weight. A heavier backpack will cause your child to bend forward in an attempt to support the weight on his or her back, rather than on the shoulders, by the straps.
2. The backpack should never hang more than four inches below the waistline. A backpack that hangs too low increases the weight on the shoulders, causing your child to lean forward when walking.
3. A backpack with individualized compartments helps in positioning the contents most effectively. Make sure that pointy or bulky objects are packed away from the area that will rest on your child’s back.
4. Bigger is not necessarily better. The more room there is in a backpack, the more your child will carry, and the heavier the backpack will be.
5. Urge your child to wear both shoulder straps. Lugging the backpack around by one strap can cause the disproportionate shift of weight to one side, leading to neck and muscle spasms, as well as low-back pain.
6. Wide, padded straps are very important. Non-padded straps are uncomfortable, and can dig into your child’s shoulders.
7. The shoulder straps should be adjustable so the backpack can be fitted to your child’s body. Straps that are too loose can cause the backpack to dangle uncomfortably and cause spinal misalignment and pain.
8. If the backpack is still too heavy, talk to your child’s teacher. Ask if your child could leave the heaviest books at school, and bring home only lighter hand-out materials or workbooks.
9. Although the use of rollerpacks – or backpacks on wheels – has become popular in recent years, the ACA is now recommending that they be used cautiously and on a limited basis by only those students who are not physically able to carry a backpack. Some school districts have begun banning the use of rollerpacks because they clutter hallways, resulting in dangerous trips and falls.
If your child experiences pain from his or her backpack use, please do not hesitate to call our office for an evaluation.