 Self love. How do you take care of yourself? No really, HOW do you take of YOU?
Self love happens on a daily basis. What are you feeding yourself both physically and mentally? We all have insecurities. But do you allow yourself to look beyond what you think to be your flaws? Do you accept them? Do you appreciate the different parts of you - personality, body, life? Just like if you love and appreciate someone else and they reciprocate it, if you love and appreciate yourself, you will find that your relationship with you improves. You have one mind and one body. Why wouldn't you treasure it? Why wouldn't you appreciate it? Why wouldn't you love it? Take care of yourself. LOVE yourself. Sit down and determine what are your needs and work to fulfill them. Because YOU are worth it. In love, health, and wellness, Dr. Morgan
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 Resonance. Vibration. Frequency. Energy.
You are a human being made up of tiny cells that are made up of even tinier atoms. These atoms are vibrating at a speed beyond our comprehension. Your body is a vibrational being. This vibration sends out a certain frequency. Did you know that your decision making, your thoughts, your actions determine your vibration? So poor decision making and negative, victim thinking leads to a decrease in frequency. Conscious decision making, joy, gratitude, growth mindset all raise your vibration. Have you been feeling like life is just happening to you lately, in a negative way? Check your daily thoughts and actions. What vibration are you putting out? The vibration you are at and send out is the vibration at which things will be sent back to you. It’s not magic, it’s actually quantum physics! Dr. Liz LOVES all things mindset. Meditating is a great way to improve your mind and body awareness, and will help increase your frequency. I personally love to journal (I enjoy writing, if you haven’t noticed!) and this helps me work through sticky areas in my life so that they don’t hold me back. Questions about what you can do to raise your vibration? Let us know! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  If you look hard enough on the internet you can find enough information on anything to support your opinion on the topic. So here’s my opinion on a few of the trending diets and ways of eating!
Whole30 is a way of eating that limits grains & dairy, and pushes fruits & veggies. Whole30 allows for potatoes and homemade fries, but wants you to avoid fast food fries. The concept being you’re eating whole foods rather than processed junk. This is a fairly easy reset back onto the healthy food wagon if you’ve been gone for a while. There are plenty of recipes out there and the foods are things you are familiar with. Breaking the simple carb cycle can be hard! The one thing I am not a fan of with Whole30 is that you are not allowed grains like quinoa unless you are vegetarian. To me it just seems arbitrary as to what is “allowed” and what isn’t. Whole30 is meant to be a thirty day reset to help you step away from the grab and go deli sandwiches and making your meals. Paleo is a way of eating that focuses on meats, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds, while avoiding foods that became popular with the advent of commercial farming like grains, legumes, and dairy. And of course, all the other junk you find in the middle aisles of the grocery store. Paleo is very similar to the Whole30 concept, you just do it longer than a thirty day reset. This is still a fairly restrictive way of eating, although easy to comply with if eating out. Just know you won’t be getting a pastry when you stop to grab your morning coffee. Is this sustainable? Possibly! It would be an awesome foundation for how to shop and what to eat. Just know that you might be missing out on foods at social gatherings and potlucks. Keto started as a medical diet to treat children with epilepsy. There are also a few studies that have been done on patients with brain cancer/tumor diagnoses. (Aimee has done A LOT of research on this and is happy to share if you’re interested!) Keto is basically a paleo diet, with strict macros of where your calories are coming from. As a way of life, many people eat keto to lose weight. When you restrict the amount of carbs going into your body, your body uses fat for energy. Keto is fairly easy to follow if you’re eating out, too. Burgers without a bun and a side salad instead of fries is easy to get almost anywhere. A downside is that companies are making “keto” foods and selling them under the guise of health, but they don’t fit the strict macros of keto, or have cane syrup in them. Women can stand to have more carbs, and their bodies will often require more during certain stages of their cycle. As a long term diet, keto is very restrictive and doesn’t leave room for watermelon or birthday cakes. Carnivore is just what it sounds like. No veggies or carbs, just locally raised grass fed free range meat and eggs. This can be an expensive way to eat. But it really takes a lot of thinking out of the equation, all you have to do is eat meat! I don’t know much about the feasibility of a long term carnivore lifestyle. Most proponents I’m familiar with are eating this way for short periods of time like 30 days or so. Again, no fresh summer fruits on this diet! Veganism is gaining popularity. There are many options for fake meats! But do you really want to eat them? People usually start eating vegan because they either want to eat better for the environment, or because they want to stop animal cruelty. It’s still possible to eat meat and be against feed lots and cruel practices! Local beef is absolutely better for the environment than fake meat made in a factory across the country. To make these processed products, the grains are grown and trucked in, then processed, and made into a product that is again shipped across the country to your grocery store. The environmental impact of packaging the foods and shipping them is far greater than getting locally raised meat that is processed, packaged, and sold in the same county it was raised in. The concept of veganism and eating more whole vegetables is great! I love using vegan cookbooks for meal inspiration. Take it for what you will - if you are jumping on an eating trend, make sure you have done your research. Some ideas are fads, just as some are sustainable long term. The point of changing up your eating habits is to create a healthier relationship with your food. The food you eat should be serving you, not drawing you back from being your healthiest self. Let us know what your thoughts are, or if there is another eating fad/lifestyle out there that you have knowledge on! We would love to hear it! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  It's the new year! You've maybe made resolutions or new goals for yourself regarding your health. Once again in our office, we are focusing on the chemical stressors in our lives. More specifically, we are focusing on the importance of food that supports good gut health. How does this relate to your goals? Well, I challenge you to assess the foods in your diet and see where you can add in more gut friendly foods - think fermented foods with probiotics. This is sauerkraut, beet kvass, kombucha, water kefir, miso, kimchi, yogurt, the list goes on.
(Note: I said add, not take away. It is easier to make diet changes when we tell ourselves we are "adding" things in) The healthy probiotics in these foods add to the good bacteria in your gut. There is a direct correlation between gut health and brain health. Feeding your gut is really feeding your brain. Ever eat a really heavy pasta meal or a lot of grains or breads, and then end up feeling like you have brain fog? The quality of your food impacts the quality of your brain health. Taking a prebiotic (check out our blog from a few weeks ago for more on this!) or a probiotic can be beneficial for your body. Ideally, you would be getting probiotics from your food instead of a capsule. Did you know one course of antibiotics can have a lasting negative impact on your gut for up to a year?! What you eat is a chemical stressor on your body. When we talk about mitigating the stressors in your lives, we do mean assessing your diet and making changes accordingly. If you are struggling in this area and either want guidance or accountability, let us know! We are on this journey with you :) In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  Let's talk about something controversial.
There has been a push in our society to move towards a meat-less diet, the idea being that red meat isn't healthy for us and we're making a positive impact on the environment by decreasing the output from the mass feedlots that contribute to the carbon dioxide in the air. I am for moving away from feedlot animals for a few reasons: they are grown in unsanitary, unhealthy conditions, they are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones, and the animals live generally miserable lives. What I am also for is not eating the synthetic meat that has now exploded onto the shelves in our grocery stores, and here's why: this "meat" is full of chemicals, additives, and preservatives (soy and genetically engineered yeast, to name a couple) to make this lab-grown product taste like a genuine burger, sausage, bacon, whatever. But have we really made a healthier choice when we choose this? We are really only trading one chemical for another. Here is my opinion: if you're going to eat meat, eat the real stuff. But source it from a small, local ranch or farm, where they are raising the animals in an organic way. The meat tends to be grass-fed, and may be grass-finished. The quality of this meat is leaps and bounds away from the feedlot meat or the synthetic stuff. When we talk about chemical stressors and mitigating what our bodies deal with on a daily basis, the quality of your food absolutely has an impact on this. The old adage "you are what you eat" really is true. Choosing locally sourced, organic, grass-fed meat is going to be the healthiest option. Triple L Ranch is a favorite in the office, but there is also others like Mannix and Oxbow here in the Missoula area. If you have any questions, let us know! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  The month of January we are focusing on gut health! What you eat on a daily basis absolutely plays a role in your health. Specifically what I want to talk about is something called prebiotics. These are foods that induce the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut. These are different from probiotics. Think of probiotics as the healthy bacteria, and prebiotics as the food for the healthy bacteria.
Prebiotics come mostly from carbohydrates, mostly as fiber, that we can't digest but the gut-healthy bacteria do. Foods high in prebiotics include: legumes, beans, peas, oats, bananas, berries, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, dandelion greens, garlic, leeks, and onions. Including these foods in your diet will ensure that you are keeping the good guys in your gut happy and fed. Probiotics are a buzzword right now in the health community, but it is also important we are covering all of our bases when it comes to our gut, meaning that we are supporting our digestive health by eating prebiotic foods too. In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan Information from: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/probiotics-and-prebiotics#bottom-line  Welcome to 2021!!
Let's talk about new year's resolutions real quick. Typically set to start on Jan 1st, beginning of the new year, we have high hopes that between 11:59 pm and 12:00 am we become a new person who has more motivation to exercise, lose weight, hit our goals. Here's the debbie downer moment though: If you wouldn't have done it on a random Tuesday in December, you won't magically be motivated to keep up with your resolution now. You aren't a new person. You are still you. But remember that what most matters is to get back on the bandwagon after you fall off, because you will inevitably fall off. You are human. Goals keep us moving and growing. The key with goals though is that your WHY has to be strong enough to keep you going when life gets tough. Take some time to dig into why you are setting a particular goal and you will be on your way to crushing your goals! And as always, we are here to support you on your health journey! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  Wishing all of you a happy holiday season from all of us here at Primal Practice!
2020 has had quite the highs and lows and it is our hope that you are able to shed whatever is holding you back and bring your good into the new year. Your health is one of your greatest gifts. We want to celebrate YOU for being committed to your health and wellbeing. Thank you for continuing to choosing us to be on your health team! We are so grateful for each and every one of our clients! Cheers to 2021! Peace, Love, and Wellness, Dr. Liz, Dr. Morgan, and Aimee  Physical stressors - let’s talk about exercise. Caveat here, I am NOT an expert on exercise science. I am sharing my opinions on what I have learned. Why is it so important to make sure we are moving our bodies? We all know that we should do some form of exercise. But why?
When we exercise we are actually putting stress - good stress - on our bodies. This is what causes our bones to grow and remain strong, as your body lays down bony tissue in response to the pull of gravity and stress. This is why muscles improve in strength and tone, because your body is increasing the size of the fibers in your muscle to better resist the stress. Increasing your heart rate improves your cardiovascular health as your heart improves its ability to pump blood with more efficiency. Increased white blood cell count has been found after exercise, which improves your immune response. Here’s where my opinion comes in. I recently heard from a medical doctor, Dr. Ben Lynch, on true cellular physical fitness. He gave the example of a young well-muscled biker versus a 70 year old who walks their dog daily. The point he made was aesthetically we think the biker is more fit than the walker. However, if you were to take an inflammatory profile of each person, the hardcore athlete will have higher levels of inflammation than the walker. Exercise is stressful on the body. Like I said it’s a good stress, but if we don’t allow our body to have recuperation from stress, this leads to inflammation in the body as the state of the body stays in a fight-or-flight response. Think about it - our ancestors generations ago didn’t run for fun. They ran because they were in danger. So if we constantly run, our primitive mind thinks we are in a stressful situation. The point here is that moving your body should be the end goal. The physical aesthetics are not a true measure of fitness. Movement keeps life in your body. Have a daily movement practice. And make sure you are honoring where your body is at. In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  Most of us have some sort of day job, where we spend a number of hours each week working. How we treat our bodies while at work contributes to the physical stressors we experience.
Are you sitting? Are you standing? What is your chair like? How is your desk arranged? Do you talk on the phone? Are you typing a lot? Is your computer screen at face height? Do you sit most of your day? Are you staring at a blue computer screen most of your day? Are you lifting items? Do you do repetitive motions? Take an assessment of your workspace. It is worth your while to ensure that your work area is setting you up for success. You likely spend enough hours there during the week that the microtraumas are adding up. Low back issues are the number one reason people call in sick to work. Think of the wear and tear on your spine from sitting, standing, or lifting in poor posture. These things may seem small or insignificant but that is why they are called microtraumas. They are little things that add up over time. But these are the important things that matter! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan |
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