Mind Body Spine
308-771 Vernon Avenue V8X 5A7 Victoria, BC, Canada

14 WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN #14: Watch Your Alcohol Intake and Opt for Lower Sugar/Carb Options There’s a huge variety of lower sugar and lower carb drink options, which can help to keep those empty calories away from your waistline while letting you enjoy a drink. For a non-alcoholic option, pair seltzer water with cranberry juice. Garnish with a lime wedge and fresh cranberries.

14 WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN #13: Keep Your Fridge Stocked Be prepared for meals, so you don’t have to resort to take-out and restaurant eating on busy days. A good trick is to keep a divided platter fully stocked with fresh cut fruits and veggies. It also helps to keep quick snacks like boiled eggs, nuts and seeds on hand.

I am hearing from a lot of patients that they are experiencing a stiff and sore back, but they are stuck at home and don't know what to do to relieve their symptoms. So I thought it would be a great idea to create a short video to help you mobilize your spine at home! Let me know in the comments if you gave it a try

How to Not Gain Weight Over Christmas The holiday season brings a lot of joy, and a lot of food. Rich, sugary, fatty food. It’s so delicious in the moment, but by January 2nd, regret can set in. When we overindulge on the wrong foods, we can wind up feeling moody, bloated and sluggish. Of course, we should enjoy some treats without too much guiltbut what can we do to avoid a holiday treat hangover? This is a tough time of year to stick with a healthy lifestyle there’s lot...s of sweets and alcohol, says Victoria Chiropractor Dr. Stephanie Louie. I don’t advise anyone not to indulge, but to do it in moderation, so that they don’t later regret over-indulging. Dr. Louie often advises her patients on nutrition and offers the following 14 tips for keeping holiday weight off while still getting to indulge in the flavours of the season. https://mindbodyspine.ca/14-ways-to-avoid-holiday-weight-g/ Emotional stress can be as harmful as physical stress on the body, bringing about physiological changes in the gut, muscles and joints, says Dr. Louie. Outside of these holiday parties, try to eat clean and be self-disciplined and then allow yourself a cheat day to enjoy what you want to eat.

14 WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN #12: Have a Good Breakfast A filling breakfast can power you for the day, making you less likely to reach for empty-calorie snacks.

Burst Training To Relieve Stress Have you tried Burst Training Yet? This is also known as High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT for short. Cutting edge research is now telling us that this is the type of exercise that we should do to maximize our results!... See previous blog post: A Home Exercise Program That Only Takes 12 Minutes where I explain how to do this. Not only can many of you get better results than spending hours on the treadmill or elliptical, but it can really help decrease our stress levels too. When we do burst training, we stress our bodies for a short duration and then give our bodies just enough time to recover in order for us to complete the next short burst of exercise. This type of stress-recover-stress-recover cycle can actually help our bodies to better adapt to the stressors that we perceive on a daily basis. Think about it, you will be able to handle situations such as traffic snares, crying children, and work deadlines a whole lot easier than before! Read more about High Intensity Interval Training on our blog: https://mindbodyspine.ca/burst-training-to-relieve-stress/ Stay Safe and Healthy Out There!

14 WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN #11: Drink Plenty of Water When you feel hungry, have a glass of water first. You may just be thirsty.

Lower Back Pain from Gardening? These Tips Will Help! Fun and rewarding, gardening is a great activity for relieving stress, getting exercise and feeling a real sense of accomplishment. The Victory Garden is a concept that has been growing in popularity through 2020. It’s prompted many first-time gardeners to create their own food garden as a hobby and in some cases, as emergency preparation. Gardening is also a common source of back pain and neck pain and one of the main re...asons why patients come to see Dr. Stephanie Louie during spring and summer. If you have spent the day bent over sowing seeds and weeding weeds, you might find that you have an aching back or tight shoulders at the end of the day. Gardening doesn’t have to hurt, and there is a correct way to go about preventing stress and strain on your muscles, joints, and spine. Check out our latest blog post for our top tips for pain free gardening => https://mindbodyspine.ca/back-care-for-gardeners/

14 WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN #10: Drink Warm Lemon Water Warm water with lemon helps to flush toxins out of the body and keep your immune system at its peak. It can also help reduce inflammation and aid in digestion. If you have overindulged, warm lemon water will help you feel better.

Television is Impacting Your Child’s Developing Brain Researchers have found that by the time a child reaches the age of two, 90% of them are regularly watching TV, DVD’s and videos. Because a child’s brain develops at an exponential pace during the first few years of life, The American Pediatric Association recommends that TV and other entertainment media such as computers, tablets and smart phones should be avoided for infants and children under two. The Canadian Pediatric ...Society also warns that too much time spent watching various media is linked to problems with attention, learning and aggressive behaviour. While other studies show that media can also cause problems with sleeping, obesity and eating disorders and also elicit risky behaviours. You may be asking yourself why excess exposure to media is bad. Well, between the ages of zero and two an infant’s brain is rapidly developing and will triple in size and will continue to develop until a person reaches their early 20’s. Too much stimulation during these crucial times of brain development can actually have serious adverse side effects including problems with functioning, attention deficit, cognitive delays, impaired learning, increased impulsivity, and delayed development. Check out our blog to see a chart detailing how many hours per day your child should be watching TV and other media: https://mindbodyspine.ca/television-is-impacting-your-chil/ Stay Safe and Healthy Out There!

14 WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN #9: Add Fun Accessories to your Gift List Resistance bands, running socks, fitness journal, sporty headbands, an awesome new water bottle or even a Fitbit can all help make it that much easier to stay on track.

How to Fight Pain and Inflammation Your body is an amazing machine that allows you to perform activities that enrich your life. Think about it, what would life be without the ability to work, play, dance and move? For many of us, unfortunately, we are unable to do these activities due to pain. One of the reasons you may feel pain is due to inflammation in your body.... Inflammation has not only been linked to back pain and neck pain, but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis, fibromyalgia, type II diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancer and many other chronic conditions and diseases. One of the best things you can do to decrease the side effects of inflammation is to make sure your nervous system is working properly. The best way to do this is to get a chiropractic adjustment. You can are also decrease inflammation by making modifications to your diet. Carbohydrates including grains, sugars and most fruits should be eliminated out of your diet because these foods rapidly convert to sugar. Sugar can cause inflammation to increase in the body and therefore, pain can follow. This may be very difficult to do for some of you because sugars can be very addictive! Usually it only takes a few weeks for cravings to start to diminish. Get more tips and healthy advice on our blog: https://mindbodyspine.ca/how-to-fight-pain-and-inflammation/ Stay Safe and Healthy Out There!

Pregnant? Don't Stress It! What Stress Does to Your Baby During Pregnancy Did you know that being stressed out during your pregnancy could affect your children and even your grandchildren’s pregnancies!... An article in the Journal of BioMed Central Medicine suggests that stress can affect pregnancies over generations. The study followed two groups of rats. The first group of rats had a non-stressful pregnancy. The second group of rats were subjected to stress late into their pregnancy. Researchers found that the daughters of the rats in the stressed group had shorter pregnancies than the daughters of rats that had no stress during gestation. Interestingly, the granddaughters of the rats who were stressed during pregnancy also had shorter pregnancies even if their own mothers had not been stressed. The take home message says Gerlinde Metz, senior author of the article, is that stress across generations becomes powerful enough to shorten pregnancy length in rats and induce hallmark features of human preterm birth. A surprising finding was that mild to moderate stress during pregnancy had a compounding effect across generations. Thus, the effects of stress grew larger with each generation. Read more on our blog: https://mindbodyspine.ca/what-stress-does-to-your-baby-dur/ Stay Safe and Healthy Out There!