Avoid Body Drought — How to Prevent Dehydration

It’s in every living cell, tissue and organ, and it’s second only to oxygen as the thing we need most to survive—pure, clean water. 

We can’t live without it, and we can’t live well without enough of it. We are constantly in need of water as we lose water with every breath and every activity of the body. We are especially at risk for dehydration when we exercise or we are ill—this is when dehydration, even mild dehydration, can take its toll, causing you to feel tired and drained of energy. Anyone may become dehydrated, but young children, older adults and people with chronic illnesses are most at risk.

Dr. Julie Scarano, a doctor of chiropractic who is trained in prevention and wellness (in addition to providing care for neuromusculoskeletal conditions such as neck or back pain, for which chiropractors are most well known) believes it’s better to prevent dehydration than to treat it. She also reminds you that the 23 intervertebral discs in your spine have high water content and that dehydration can be associated with spinal pain.

Here are some preventative tips to help avoid dehydration:

•    Choose your beverages wisely. Avoid or limit fruit juices, sodas, alcohol and high-sugar sports drinks.

•    Drink a glass of water during and between meals, as well as before, during and after exercise.

•    Plan outdoor activities for cooler parts of the day.

•    Eat foods that are high in water content, such as fruits and vegetables.

•    Make water your go-to beverage of choice.

For more tips and information and to find a doctor of chiropractic near you, visit www.F4CP.org/findadoctor.

How you can blend Exercise into Your Everyday Routines

Many people say that they simply don't have the time to exercise. While this may be perfectly true in a fast paced world, there are certain things you can do to incorporate exercise into your daily life without allotting much time for it.

When it comes to exercise, it all starts with a good attitude and a little bit of action each day. It's a common misconception to believe that you need to engage in strict dieting or lengthy and vigorous exercise routines in order to stay in shape. It simply isn't true!

Try some of these tips in order to slip exercise into your daily routine:

1. Take the Stairs. No matter where you are, there are many times when you can opt to take the stairs instead of an elevator. Whether you're attending an important business meeting, or just going to the mall, take the stairs.

2. Go for a Walk. Walking is a great way to get extra exercise and most of the time it doesn't feel like exercise at all. If you were planning to meet with a friend, ask them if they'd like to go for a walk while you talk. Alternatively, you can go for walk when you just need to sort some of your thoughts. Besides, getting some extra blood to the brain will actually help you think clearer.

3. Play with Your Children. If you have children, it's likely that you have at least a part of your day dedicated to their care. Decide that you're going to engage in active games like outdoor sports. You can even do this with pets too. It'll be a fun and relaxing source of exercise!

4. Jog in Place. Jogging in place might seem like a boring activity, but when you combine it with something else that you're doing, it can be quite invigorating. There are bound to be short bursts of time that you can use to relieve tension and get the blood pumping.

5. Ride Your Bike. If you're traveling a short distance, it's a good idea to take your bike, instead of the car or bus. While it may add some time to your overall travel time, it's a great way to stay in shape if you can spare a few extra minutes.

6. Active Dates. Whether you'd like to schedule a date with a partner, friend, or family member, you can definitely choose an activity with exercise. Instead of going to a movie, go dancing. You could even try something like rock climbing or attending the batting cages. Get creative and have a blast!

7. Lift Weights. You can multitask while lifting weights as well. Lift while you're brainstorming, watching TV, or talking on the phone. You may also want to keep the weights at your desk as a reminder to use them.

8. Park Far Away. You don't need the stress of fighting for the closest parking spot. Instead, travel a little further and walk! There's little stress involved with this decision and it'll probably save you some time, too.

9. Try Outdoor Chores. If you don't already participate in outdoor chores, you could be helping your house and yourself by engaging in them. You might even be saving your family some money if you've previously hired the neighbor's kids. Mow your lawn, do some weeding, or take up gardening - it's a simple way to stay fit!

Keep Moving

It doesn't take long to realize that, with the proper attitude, you can still remain active while you're busy with other things. Sometimes you may end up taking a little extra time to do routine tasks, but your body will thank you for it.

Just take these simple, small actions each day and you'll soon reap the rewards! Don't forget your homemade smoothie as a lunch replacement.

10 Healthy Habits for a Balanced Life

I like to believe there are ten healthy habits one needs to follow to live a balanced life. 

No matter what I am doing – whether on vacation or going about my day-to-day work – these healthy habits are important to me. You may be wondering what these habits are. To know more keep on reading. My friends often find me saying that everything in life is about balance. Healthy living is the equilibrium of good habits, not something extreme. So how do we achieve this balance? To start with, we must focus on consistency but don’t rush because consistency takes time. Also, take a step back to disengage from negative self-talk and try to transform that into positive self-talk.

Remember that being obsessed with anything can cause the opposite outcome. Your reality is shaped by your thoughts and when you spend too much time thinking about losing calories, what food to eat, whether or not to use social media or simply compare yourself to others, you end up feeling depressed and disconnected from yourself. Changing these negative thoughts into more positive ones is a great healthy habit to try and develop. Eating healthy foods provided by Mother Nature such as fresh fruits and green vegetables is another must-do if you are trying to develop healthy habits. Cut out processed and packaged foods as much as possible. Think about how you want your day to turn out and do one or two things for your health that will benefit you in the long run.

Exercising moderately, eating some greens or drinking more water are easy ways to build good habits that you can swear by. Be mindful at all times and realize it’s not about yesterday or tomorrow; it’s about where you are today and at this moment – it’s all about now. Now that we have a basic understanding of what healthy habits seem like and how you can find that equilibrium in your life, let’s dive into a list of ten good habits that will make your well-being a priority.

1. Change your mindset. Think of your health as a lifestyle change and a daily balancing act.

2. Sleep sufficiently and in good time. Your body undergoes necessary repairs when you sleep. Physical and psychological repair takes place from 10 pm to 6 am.

3. Be patient. It takes roughly ninety days to create a new habit. So develop patience and learn to love yourself through the process of change.

4. Read voraciously. Educate yourself on spiritual practices, gain knowledge about the foods you eat, read about the lives of wellness masters – there are so many kinds of literature out there.

5. Be mindful of your energy system. Think of your body as particles of energy and ponder over what kind of fuel you want to use to keep it functioning. Do you really want coke and chips to get into your system? I hope not because they will eventually break down your system.

6. Hydrate often. Drink good quality water. If you like, you can add some lemon or other fruits to it to drink more frequently.

7. Eat healthily. Consume natural foods and stay away from processed, packaged food. At least, 80 to 90% of the time, your food intake should be healthy.

8. Don’t feel guilty. When you do eat food that is not good for your health, don’t kill yourself with guilt. Remember balance is important so once in a while, you can break away from your mundane diet and incorporate some junk in it until, of course, you’ve mastered the habit of eating well.

9. Move around. Exercise is the best medicine – even if it’s something as simple as going for a walk or as complex as working out at the gym. Your body is meant for movement. Being in nature is one of the best things you can do for your body.

10. Know yourself. Get to the root of why you’re self-sabotaging if you are and foster a more loving relationship of self-worth with yourself.

Author Bio: Hi there :) I am Nikunj Verma, write for os.me on occasion. I am passionate about helping people and am here to read different perspectives from people on life and spirituality.

Can't view the video? Watch it here.

Our family started the keto journey in 2012. After seeing the health results of close family members, the wake up call to change our ways was clear. It was a lifestyle change, and it felt daunting to figure out how to cook and what to eat. But it really isn't daunting. We felt we had to give up all the fine foods we loved: tacos, wraps, pizza, spaghetti, sandwiches. For a while, we were only eating pizza toppings and sandwich fillings. That was boring and painful.

Then we got into the Fathead life! 

Bread is so hard to skip, and definitely hard to bypass when it comes to eating pizza. 
The Fathead recipe is low carb and guilt-free! It is easy to make, and can be used in almost any food we thought we had to give up! We use this recipe for sandwich bread (salami, hotdog and Philly cheesesteak), and pizza dough (just add sauce, more cheese, and toppings of your choice). This is our MOST favorite keto recipe, and kid-approved. We bring it to family gatherings too!

Results? Well, our sugar consumption in general is low. We are feeling good and healthy, and drinking the cleanest water and biking regularly. We are able to eat almost anything we want, and not feeling guilty about it. It's so easy to prepare that it's faster and cheaper than take-out. We have not ordered pizza in a very long time, and it's just so hard to get back to that! 

All the ingredients can be found in any store you already go to. Below are our affiliate links to help you shop for the ingredients right here right now if that's your jam. Thank you for your purchase!

Almond Flour
Cream Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Eggs
Baking Powder

Try it out, and tell us how you like it! 

We promote a lot of paleo and keto food here at WHW, but it's really hard to keep this one a secret.

We snack a lot. 

We snack the good snacks, and the below-good snacks.

Grains, starch and sugar are all the ones we try to avoid, but there is one snack that we can't stop having.

POPCORN.

It's a grain! But we make ours dripped in butter and salt, because that's really why popcorn even matters. 

It's an easy and cost effective snack to have. We want to share one of our favorite appliances in the house. It's our popcorn maker. 

We have gone through two other popcorn makers but our current is our best and hopefully last one. Our first popcorn maker was a gift. It lasted for years, but it was so cheap that it melted. Yes, it melted! I can't remember the brand if it even had one.

The second one stopped working. This was a cheap popper by Dash that I snagged at a Christmas sale. For $10, it lasted a couple of years and then it just stopped turning on. But I didn't like that the appliance itself wasn't heavy enough that it moved as it popped. I had to always stand in front to hold it down. And while I was holding it down, I had to use a shield of sort from getting attacked by hot kernels. To top it off, I had to wait a long time for the butter to melt, even long after all the kernels have been popped.

It took me a while to decide on getting another one, but I was really missing popcorn. Off I went and found another Dash popper, but it was expensive at $40. I looked at every single popper on that shelf and wanted to go with a cheaper one, but I kept coming back to this. The butter drips as the kernels popped, and it was everything opposite of the cheap popper. I didn't have to stand there holding it down and shielding myself. When it was done popping, all I had to do was flip it, and I had an instant bowl of popcorn!

Here it is in action!

You can have one too! We absolutely endorse this popcorn maker!