Duluth Superior Magazine / February 2012 / Feel Better Today

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Feel Better Today

Tips from the Pros

Quick—try to feel great. It’s a nice goal, but a little vague. To help you on your way, we asked three health professionals with different areas of expertise to give their best tips, tactics and strategies for feeling great. Dr. David Worley is a family practice physician and our Dr. Dad columnist, Sandra Nelson is a holistic medicine specialist and our Holistic Life columnist, and Doug Plagemann is a nurse. Here’s their best advice for feeling great and getting (or keeping) yourself healthy. Try a few today and let us know how you feel!

FOOD
1. Eat well. Start by doing a diet diary for at least three days, and write down what you eat or drink, when you eat or drink it, and how much. Be honest. It will show you the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to your diet.
2. Enjoy the foods or desserts that you love, but keep it in moderation. What would life be without pie?
3. Try pumpkin. It’s a very good source of vitamin A and vitamin E, it’s low-calorie, and it’s something that will fill you up.
4. Change up your typical snack foods. Try munching on broccoli, spinach, blueberries, and blackberries throughout the day.
5. For protein, go lean. Eat turkey, chicken, bison and fish, and stay away from too much red meat.
6. Drink more water and less coffee, soda, tea, alcohol and other beverages.
7. Try incorporating some power foods into your diet, including:
• Cinnamon: It offers manganese, iron, calcium, and dietary fiber and is known to boost brain function.
• Barley: This historic grain is packed with both soluble fiber, which helps lower blood cholesterol, and insoluble fiber, which helps bowel function.
• Ashwagandha: This herb has been used to reduce inflammation and fevers, protect against illness, and boost the immune system. Now it’s used to reduce stress and increase mental clarity.
• Yogurt: It’s a great source of iodine, calcium, phosphorous, vitamin B2, protein, vitamin B12, potassium, zinc, and vitamin B5—not to mention a good base for smoothies.
• Fennel: This spice reduces bloating and flatulence.
SLEEP
8. Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep as many nights as possible. Sleep is so important to our overall health. Most Americans are sleep deprived and this has an impact on our energy, mental sharpness, focus and mood.
9. Try a glass of tart cherry juice before bed. It’s a source of naturally-occurring melatonin, which can help you sleep.
EXERCISE
10. Establish a regular exercise program with a goal in mind such as losing 20 lbs, running a 10km race, having the energy and endurance to play with your children. A goal gives you something to shoot for and a reason to keep going. When you reach your goal, set a new one.
11. Exercise with someone else. Working with a trainer or exercising in a group setting or with a friend adds to your motivation, makes it more fun, and gives you someone to be accountable to.
12. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of exercise if you haven’t been active in awhile. Walking is a great way to begin.
13. Add strength training to your routine. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism is. It can also help with day-to-day tasks and stability, especially as you get older.
MIND AND SPIRIT
14. Create and maintain social connections in your life. Isolation leads to an overall decline in our health, both physically and emotionally.
15. Keep the right perspective about things that happen to you and around you. In other words, don’t sweat the small stuff. Perspective is a huge factor in how you feel.
16. Communicate effectively and honestly with everyone in your life and maintain the capacity to understand and forgive. Carrying around the emotional baggage of anger, resentment and jealousy leads to dysfunctional relationships and can lead to internal dysfunction as well.
17. Take 30 to 60 minutes every day to do something that is stress relieving for you. Exercise is a good bet, though reading a book, cooking a delicious, healthy meal, or listening to music are great alternatives, too.
18. Unplug from the electronic world from time to time. Turn off the cell phone, the computer, the tablets. Reconnect with nature, a good book or refresh your memory on how to play a board game.
19. Spend quality time with your friends and family—make it a priority in your life.
PREVENTATIVE CARE
20. Be aware of your family history for medical conditions and see your health care provider regularly to address health concerns from a preventive standpoint, especially as they relate to your family history.
21. Get a flu shot every year. Also consider the pneumonia shot, which is good for five years. And, while we’re talking about it, when’s the last time you got a tetanus shot?
22. If you smoke, think about quitting and see a health care provider to help you do so. This is a difficult process and support is needed to finally quit.
23. Talk with your doctor about whether a Vitamin D supplement during the fall and winter is appropriate. In northern climates like Duluth, Vitamin D deficiency can be quite common and can cause symptoms of fatigue and low mood and can also make you more susceptible to colds and flu.
24. See your doctor once a year, and don’t be afraid to talk about any symptoms you’re having, even ones you think are “nothing.”
25. Schedule a mammogram, pap smear, colonoscopy, or prostate check today if you haven’t had one in awhile and keep on track with these important tools that can catch serious illnesses early enough to be treatable.