Good morning! It's a beautiful January morning even though it is snowing here in Colorado Springs. But as promised a fun blog this week. Back at the beginning of January most of us made some sort of resolution. If you are in the 50-60% of Americans who made a resolution in the genre of losing weight/healthy living/successful dieting are you still going strong? If you are that's great! keep up the good work, but if you are in the group of us that started out strong, and now a month into it are losing resolve to keep that resolution I have compiled some information and tips to boost that motivation again. I found this article on MSN that I really enjoyed so i will share it with all of you. http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/52-ways-to-lose-a-pound-a-week.html. It is a list of 52 ways to lose a pound a week. Feel free to click on the article and read the whole thing, but i will list my ten favorite ideas.
1) make a dream book (or poster) include pictures of things you want to accomplish, a healthy bikini body, pictures of plates of salad, people exercising, the finish line of a 10K. Whatever your motivation is, put a picture of it on a poster or in a book and place it in a prominent place where you can look at it and renew your resolve every day!
2)Be flexible. If you don't have time for a 30 minute work out find ways to raise your heart rate and sweat even if its only for 5 minutes. take the dog for a quick jog around the block, park at the back end of the parking lot and power walk to the front door, jump rope in your living room during commercial breaks. just get moving!
3) Use a symbol. Hang a LBD (for all you guys reading this LBD stands for little black dress, the staple in every woman's closet) on your door. Try it on every 4 weeks. each week that it gets a little closer to fitting congratulate yourself, and keep working until it fits!
4) Get it fresh. trade your highly processed, sodium loaded, artificially sweet food choices for fresh, local produce and meat. The more your cook your own food, the more control you have over what you are putting in your body.
5)Check your fluids. trade your sugary beverages and alcohol for water and tea. that will save you (possibly) hundreds of calories a day!
6)Feel whats gone. when you get the urge to splurge pick up a 5-pound bag of sugar (or 2 bags of 5-pound sugar) to feel what that extra weight actually feels like.
7) Announce your intentions. When people know you are trying to lose weight or eat healthier they will support you, and encourage you, and stop tempting you with bowls of candy on their desks, or freshly baked cookies.
8)do 10 then switch. If you get bored at the gym (or at home) do one exercise for 10 minutes then switch to something else. 3 machines later you are already 30 minutes in!
9) celebrate victory, even the small ones. Have you lost a pound? by a new jump rope. lost 10? buy a workout dvd or a new cd that gets you in the mood to move.
10) this of course is MY favorite! please your dentist. Brush your teeth immediately after eating dinner. This signals that your eating is over for the night.
of course there are many more good tips in the article, these were just a few of my favorites! check them all out and tell me which ones you like, or add some that work for you that aren't on the list!
here is some other fun info. I always wonder how many calories I am burning doing things around my house, so I compiled this list of fun activities and how many calories they burn.
you can burn:
125 calories in 15 minutes of Wii boxing
133 calories shooting baskets for 30 minutes
207 calories burned during an hour of child care
266 calories burned during an hour of (vigorous) house cleaning
133 burned during 1/2 an hour of general dancing
295 in a hour of gardening
152 in half an hour of shoveling snow
148 in an hour of walking (slow pace)
236 in an hour of walking (fast pace)
325 in an hour of mowing the lawn
235 in half an our of light effort jump roping.
hopefully some of these helped you. If you are looking for other activities I found these numbers at http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist2.htm
See you again next week!
love your friendly dental assistant
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Is your jaw bone dissolving?
If you brushed your hair and you scalp started bleeding you would rush to the doctor to see what was wrong, and if you clipped your fingernails and they starting bleeding you would know it wasn't normal, yet somehow there is a wide held belief that if you brush your teeth and your gums bleed you don't need to panic, or at the very least you don;t need to worry. I don't know where this misconception came from but its time to clear it up! Your mouth is literally the gate to the rest of your body so it would only make sense that if it is unhealthy it will negatively affect the rest of your body. Periodontal disease (more commonly known as gum disease) doesn't usually get a lot of press, but it should! It has been linked to all kinds of systemic diseases including: diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, pregnancy complications, Alzheimer's pancreatic cancer (among others), respiratory diseases, tooth loss, and a dissolving jawbone! Yes people! It is very serious!
OK, so let's go through some symptoms together so you can identify if you have a problem.
The mildest form of gum disease is gingivitis. You will often experience little or no discomfort with this level but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. If your gums are puffy, red, and bleed easily please take action. Talk to your hygienist. Get an action plan to get it under control. Don't let it get worse!
Next, if you start to feel a change in your bite, if your teeth start to feel loose, you have persistent bad breath, or your gums are very tender, run--don't walk--to your dental office. Most likely you are in need of a deep cleaning.
Now, of course some ways to prevent gum disease. FLOSS. I can not stress this enough. It is so important, to not only the health of your mouth, but the overall health of your body. FLOSS, FLOSS, FLOSS! regular hygiene maintenance appointments, and good home care are also important aspects in preventing gum disease.
Look closely at your gums in the mirror, they should be a soft pink color. Think of the inside of a seashell, and they should not bleed when you brush or floss. Next time you visit your dentist of hygienist, ask about the state of your gums. Take control of your health.
This was a bit of a scary post, visit again next week for a much funner topic!
love, your friendly dental assistant
OK, so let's go through some symptoms together so you can identify if you have a problem.
The mildest form of gum disease is gingivitis. You will often experience little or no discomfort with this level but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. If your gums are puffy, red, and bleed easily please take action. Talk to your hygienist. Get an action plan to get it under control. Don't let it get worse!
Next, if you start to feel a change in your bite, if your teeth start to feel loose, you have persistent bad breath, or your gums are very tender, run--don't walk--to your dental office. Most likely you are in need of a deep cleaning.
Now, of course some ways to prevent gum disease. FLOSS. I can not stress this enough. It is so important, to not only the health of your mouth, but the overall health of your body. FLOSS, FLOSS, FLOSS! regular hygiene maintenance appointments, and good home care are also important aspects in preventing gum disease.
Look closely at your gums in the mirror, they should be a soft pink color. Think of the inside of a seashell, and they should not bleed when you brush or floss. Next time you visit your dentist of hygienist, ask about the state of your gums. Take control of your health.
This was a bit of a scary post, visit again next week for a much funner topic!
love, your friendly dental assistant
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Brace Face
Welcome to 2010 all my blog buddies. We haven’t spoken in some time, but don’t worry, now that all the excitement of Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Year has passed I finally have time to blog again! You should be hearing from me about once a week.
I hope that your new year is bringing health and happiness prosperity to you and your family. It has brought changes for me. In my mouth that is. Yes boys and girls—I am wearing braces.
Now for some people the idea of wearing braces conjures up images of middle school, and acne, and years of being teased for being a “brace face” or metal mouth” but let me assuage those fears for you.
At our office we do adult ortho which is different from traditional ortho. For most adults you are in and out of braces in 6 months! Thats quick, by the time you are tired of having them, it's time to take them off! I was wondering how it is possible to do it this quickly as an adult, when for lots of kids it takes years to get out of braces. So of course I asked Dr. Parkin—the expert. Here is the answer.
With adult ortho you aren’t moving back teeth. You are moving just front teeth, which move more quickly than molars do. Another great thing about adult ortho is that it is cheaper than traditional ortho. Let me explain why this is. Our goal with 6 month braces is not to place each patient in a perfect bite relationship which can take several years and many thousands of dollars. We will maintain the relationship you have and perhaps improve it, what we will do is work to correct crowded teeth, spaced teeth, rotated teeth, tipped teeth, open bites and bites that are over closed. We will change anything that will affect the appearance of front teeth. We do not move molars around, the goal of 6 month braces is not skeletal or bite perfection, it is to give you a great smile in a reasonable amount of time.
I am excited to be in braces, and having a gorgeous smile 6 months from now! I would love to talk about it with you if you are interested in improving your smile.
Please give me a call at the office so we can talk about if you would benefit from adult ortho. 719-576-1730.
I hope that your new year is bringing health and happiness prosperity to you and your family. It has brought changes for me. In my mouth that is. Yes boys and girls—I am wearing braces.
Now for some people the idea of wearing braces conjures up images of middle school, and acne, and years of being teased for being a “brace face” or metal mouth” but let me assuage those fears for you.
At our office we do adult ortho which is different from traditional ortho. For most adults you are in and out of braces in 6 months! Thats quick, by the time you are tired of having them, it's time to take them off! I was wondering how it is possible to do it this quickly as an adult, when for lots of kids it takes years to get out of braces. So of course I asked Dr. Parkin—the expert. Here is the answer.
With adult ortho you aren’t moving back teeth. You are moving just front teeth, which move more quickly than molars do. Another great thing about adult ortho is that it is cheaper than traditional ortho. Let me explain why this is. Our goal with 6 month braces is not to place each patient in a perfect bite relationship which can take several years and many thousands of dollars. We will maintain the relationship you have and perhaps improve it, what we will do is work to correct crowded teeth, spaced teeth, rotated teeth, tipped teeth, open bites and bites that are over closed. We will change anything that will affect the appearance of front teeth. We do not move molars around, the goal of 6 month braces is not skeletal or bite perfection, it is to give you a great smile in a reasonable amount of time.
I am excited to be in braces, and having a gorgeous smile 6 months from now! I would love to talk about it with you if you are interested in improving your smile.
Please give me a call at the office so we can talk about if you would benefit from adult ortho. 719-576-1730.
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