Willpower -- Not So Powerful.

"This time I'm going to lose the weight." "I have had it! I'm going to start exercising and eating right!"

Living a healthful lifestyle is not rocket science. In fact, you know what you should be doing right now. (Put down the donut). Why is it that we so often fail in making good choices in our health? One possibility it we set ourselves up for failure.

Here's the typical scenario. Billy wants to start exercising. He starts going to the gym 6 days a week for 45 minutes. This lasts 2 weeks then he misses a day. He feels bad about it but tries harder. After a month he is back to his couch potato ways, never to darken the door of a gym again. He failed.
Billy set himself up for failure. He was unrealistic about his abilities and most of all his willpower.

Psychologist and lead researcher Loran Nordgren, PhD, of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management says "The key is simply to avoid any situation where vices and other weaknesses thrive and, most importantly, for individuals to keep a humble view of their willpower."

Keeping a humble view of willpower is key. Make realistic goals. Maybe plan to exercise twice a week for 12 weeks, then increase. Set yourself up for success then build on it. When it comes to diet, try to focus on one thing first. Maybe you need to cut soda, or eat 1 extra serving of fruit a day. Give yourself a time frame and celebrate when you make your goal. Then set another one.

Keep it real and you will succeed.

Slides for “Why Move” Workshop

Introducing the Fall Makeover

By: Dr. Anderson

Welcome to a new season – Fall.  I love when the seasons change.   This change of season brings about an opportunity for other changes, in your habits.  It’s a great time to to assess where you are in life, set goals and make improvement where needed.

Fall is also a time to gain weight.  It’s well know that people gain weight in the Fall.  I think there are several reasons. 

1. More clothes to cover your body so a few extra pounds wont hurt.
2. Animals store more fat just before Winter.  Humans may have similar wiring that encourages eating.
3. More social eating.  Halloween parties, football tailgating, and eating in groups for any reason promote grazing and consuming large amounts of calories.
4. More couch-potato-ing.  Less sun means less activity.

To help combat this trend, I am happy to announce my Fall Makeover.  This post is the first of 8 weeks of posts and workshops aimed to support you in your health goals. 

We will cover it all. 

• Diet and exercise, how and what to eat. 
• What stress does to the body
• How the body works
• and some good ole’ fashioned anatomy.

Each week (or more) I’ll post an article on the blog with links and recourses for you to read and use.

Every other week we will have an in-office workshop.  I have a series of 5 free workshops planned, the first on is October 6th.  They are scheduled for every other Tuesday, register here. 

We are also going to do some tracking for you.  If you like, we will take your weight and blood pressure starting the first week of October.  Then as you progress through the season you can see your progress while you implement what you are learning during our Fall Makeover.

Attending the workshops are not needed but highly recommended.  Let me know if you want to join the process by registering.

Have a healthy day!

No Excuse Not to Exercise, Run In the Water

If you can stand up or walk, or move your arm, or breath, you are a candidate for an exercise program.  I believe that anyone can exercise.  In my 12 years of patient care I have never heard an acceptable excuse.  Don't tell me you are too tired.  I don't want to hear about how it hurts.  Whatever your problem save it.  (Cue little violins…)

You can exercise.  If you can contract any muscle, you can exercise.  If you are bed ridden and can only move your eyes, you can exercise.  You see, exercise is simply taking the function that you do have and using it.  Then pushing the limits to improve that function.

If it is painful for you to walk because you have been carrying a lot of extra weight.  There’s good news…fat floats.  You can walk in a pool. 

A nice little study came out this week about exercise.  Researchers studied fifty-seven physically inactive, overweight, and obese men with an average age of 44.  These guys were randomly assigned to exercise three times per week for 12 weeks on either a treadmill or in a pool.  Body composition was measured and there was absolutely no difference between the two groups.

So throw off the excuses and move your body.

You may also like to read:

• Even modest fitness may extend lifespan
• Runners World: How to Run in a Pool

Source: Comparative Efficacy of Water and Land Treadmill

Couch to 5K Registration

I would like to invite you to be with us on July 29th at 6pm for "Couch to 5K". We will discuss how to begin a program of walking/running to complete a 5K run in November. Register for this free program here.A exercise plan will be provided and an optional group run/walk event November 8th in St. Charles. It's a flat 5 kilometer (3.1 miles) route, a great first run/walk. If you are experienced in running or want to pick up a healthy hobby sign-up today. The class by Dr. Anderson is free, the race is $19.

• Reserve your Spot at: Dr. Anderson's free workshop
• Sign up for race at: Race to Cure Lymphoma Registration Page

Participants, find the info packet at www.mybackexperts.com

Considering Exercise? Start running.

I had the opportunity to run my first 1/2 Marathon a few weeks ago. The thing about that...I'm not a runner. I always played around with the idea of running but was never able to incorporate exercise into my life.

A year ago this month, after climbing a single flight of stairs from my basement, it hit me. The 13 steps from my basement to my first floor challenged my cardiovascular system so much that I felt out of breath, winded and woefully out of shape.

Being healthy is not about how you look, it about how you work.

Should you seek out doctors who are physically active?

Dr. Ronald Davis, president of the American Medical Association, thinks that may be wise. He cites a study by Dr. Erica Frank, which seemed to show that doctors who are physically active are also more likely to provide meaningful advice on exercise.

Doctors who are athletes are less likely to give untoward advice, such as saying that running destroys the knees or that you need an electrocardiogram before you can exercise. Athletic doctors are also less likely to tell an active person who is injured or ill to stop exercising.

Read More...

Exercise Helps Make Insulin

Our bodies were made to move. Here is another story about the benefits of exercise, this time with sugar regulation, the great thing is the effects were seen after one week. Diabetics (or those who are on their way) have take note. - Dr. A
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sedentary older people at risk of developing diabetes showed significant improvement in the function of their insulin-making beta cells after just one week of exercise, University of Michigan researchers found.

Beta cell function is known to decline with age, although it is not clear why, Drs. Cathie J. Bloem and Annette M. Chang explain in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

As people age, they may also become less sensitive to the blood sugar-regulating effects of insulin and develop impaired insulin secretion, the researchers add. And while short-term exercise boosts insulin sensitivity, it has not been clear how it might affect beta cell function.

To investigate, Bloem and Chang had 12 sedentary individuals aged 60 and older perform an hour-long workout every day for a week. The exercise sessions, consisting of stints on a treadmill, exercise bike and cross-training machine, required study participants to work out at 60 percent to 70 percent of their maximum heart rate capacity.

After the exercise period, study participants' sensitivity to insulin had increased by 53 percent, on average, while a measure of beta cell function called the disposition index had risen by 28 percent. However there were no changes in their fat mass, levels of fat in the blood, or other factors that might explain the effect of exercise on beta cells.

"Longer-term exercise training studies are required and are currently in progress to evaluate further exercise training effects on beta cell function in age-related glucose intolerance," the researchers note.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, February 2008.

Would You Like 20% More Energy? Exercise.

It seems too good to be true.

Our bodies were made to move. Today we call it exercise; 150 years ago they called it living. Today we can spend hours sitting, fixed in a chair; 150 years ago they were working the land or building a railroad.

If you don't move you will eventually have to deal with aches, pains, arthritis, weight gain, fatigue, sluggish bowel function, lower test scores, depression, osteoporosis, loss of focus, back pain, fibromyalgia, bad attitude, bounced checks, hangnails, yellow teeth, loss of friends, foreclosure on your house, restless legs syndrome, restless arm syndrome, buck teeth, excessive nose hair, you name it!

Ok, I may have exaggerated a bit but you get the point. If you don’t use it you lose it. Last week a nice research study came out of the Journal, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics and reported by Web MD the benefits of low-intensity exercise.

"Too often we believe that a quick workout will leave us worn out -- especially when we are already feeling fatigued," researcher Timothy Puetz, PhD, says in a news release. "However, we have shown that regular exercise can actually go a long way in increasing feelings of energy, particularly in sedentary individuals."

The study had participants ride a stationary bike for 20 minutes three times a week at a low intensity. After 6 week their energy was up 20%. Not bad.

If you haven’t incorporated exercise into your life yet, start today.

Exercise: The First Step toward Lifelong Health

When someone mentions the word "exercise," what's the first thought that jumps into your head? For many, exercise means discomfort -- hours spent at the gym, fighting through the tan, lean bodies to lift weights or pedal away on an uncomfortable exercycle. Fortunately, exercise comes in many forms, and almost all of them help us stay healthy. Physical activity reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease and many other serious health problems, and evidence suggests that something as simple as walking may be just as effective as vigorous exercise. Researchers compared walking, vigorous exercise and total physical activity with the incidence of coronary artery events (heart attack or death from heart disease) in 72,488 healthy female nurses. Data collected over the eight-year study revealed that three hours of brisk walking per week comparable to 1.5 hours of jogging, cycling, heavy gardening or heavy housework) in reducing the risk of coronary events. So don't get overwhelmed by exercise, embrace it! You don't need to slave away in the gym to stay healthy. A brisk walk might be all it takes to get you started on the road to lifelong health. For a complete evaluation of exercise and nutritional guidelines specific to your needs, talk to your chiropractor. Manson JE, Hu FB, Rich-Edwards JW, et al. A prospective study of walking as compared with vigorous exercise in the prevention of coronary heart disease in women. The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 341, No. 9, pp650-58.