We like to eat well around here.  In our house we try to meet several criteria with each meal.  It should be healthy.  It shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg – we are budgeting and reasonable people.  It should keep us full until the next meal – we don’t like to be running to the pantry an hour later, desperate for a bowl of cereal or something.  And it should TASTE GOOD!  Fulfilling these criteria is a tall order.  It’s a job I mostly leave up to my wife and I know she spends many hours of her week trying to accomplish this for our family.  Planning, purchasing ingredients for, and preparing lunches and dinners for 7 days a week is enough work, that we like to keep our breakfasts simple.  We eat the same thing for breakfast 90% of the time.  (We rarely repeat things we have for dinner.  Except for bean burritos.  Our kids demand those weekly.  Weird schedule, but it works for us.)

This is what’s for breakfast.  It literally takes 90 seconds to make.  And it tastes good, is filling, and economical.

Microwave Oatmeal

Scoop one cup of old fashioned oats into a cereal bowl.  Add 2/3 cup water.  Microwave for 1 minute.   Add a pinch of salt.  Pile on some toppings.  Sweeten to taste with brown sugar, honey, or agave.  Add milk to cover – any kind.  Make sure you add enough, or it will turn into wallpaper paste.  Done and Done!

Topping Ideas:

Frozen, fresh, or dried fruit.  We LOVE frozen blueberries.  Cinnamon.  Coconut oil.  Nut butter.  Dark chocolate chips.  Vanilla.  Shredded coconut.  Slivered almonds.  Jam.  Any combination.

In my free time, or just to relax, I like to read.  I especially like to read books that I think will help me to be a better person and lead a more rewarding life.  Lately I’ve been reading a book called, The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace by Pedram Shojai.

In the book, the author teaches a relaxation technique that I’ve been trying to implement.  You set a timer for 5 minutes.  Lay down on a bed or couch with a pillow.  Breathe in through your nose slowly while counting to five.  Hold it for two seconds.  Breathe out slowly while counting to five, then again hold for two seconds.  While you do this, focus on the present.  Don’t think about the fear of the future or the regret of the past.  This exercise can help clear your mind and invigorate your body.  It can also help with anxiety.  I’ve noticed that I’ve been sleeping better at night since I’ve been doing this activity, and I find I have more energy during the day.  I do the exercise once or twice a day.

Most of us are trying to do too many things at the same time.  We live in a multitasking culture.  Focusing on one thing, or keeping your mind in the present, can actually help us be more productive because we aren’t sidetracked with distractions.  Having more focus can decrease our stress.  If you feel things in your life building up, or feel overwhelmed, try this simple five minute breathing exercise.

As the weather warms up and the sun shines, a lot of us make renewed efforts to be healthy.  Here are some of my top ideas:

1. Get adjusted.  Remove the nerve interference from your body so it can receive messages from your brain and function at a higher level.
2. Plant a garden.  Plant healthy foods like tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers, cucumbers, and fresh herbs.  Gardening is a great way to exercise and relieve stress.  In a few months you’ll have an abundance of healthy foods to fill your dinner plate with.
3. Start an exercise routine.  The weather is warmer and the days are longer.  Take advantage.  Go for a run, ride your bike, go on a hike, throw a ball around with your kids.
4. Drink more water.  Cut out the soda pop.  Water hydrates your joints, along with the rest of your body.  Water will be it’s own blog post one of these days.  It is so important.
5. Revive your relationships.  Get out of the house.  Visit the people you care about.  Strong relationships bring happiness and fulfillment to our lives.
6. Try a new healthy recipe.  Finding healthy food that you love to eat, and substituting it for unhealthy foods you used to eat is one of the best ways to change your eating lifestyle.  Tear a recipe out of a magazine or pin one on pinterest, then actually buy the ingredients and try it!
7. Spring clean your home.  Get rid of your dust and clutter.  Open the windows and air out your life!  Make your home an oasis; a place of calm and refuge.

I want to talk about health insurance today.  Health insurance can be really great.  I always carry a health insurance policy for my family.  Most years we pay more for the policy than we benefit (often much, much more), but it helps protect us against being unable to pay for a catastrophic health problem.  It is important to have.

BUT, and this is a big but, health insurance is imperfect.  It doesn’t always pay for what you need it to pay for.  I see this daily in my practice.  Some insurance policies cover chiropractic care, some don’t, and some only cover it after you’ve met your deductible for the year.  My piece of advice is to not let your insurance company dictate your health care.  You won’t be any healthier if you do.   One of the great benefits of chiropractic care is that it is relatively inexpensive compared to visits to other types of practitioners.  Often times the difference between using your health insurance and paying out of pocket for visits is only $10-$15.

Who is in charge of your health?  Your insurance company?  No way – don’t let them be.  The best thing to do is be proactive about your health instead of reactive.  Insurance doesn’t always cover proactive measures.  Think about things like eating nutritious food and exercising.  These aren’t covered by your insurance, but are essential to good health.  Chiropractic care is often the same.  Just because the cost isn’t always fully covered, it doesn’t mean it isn’t essential for your health and the proper functioning of your body.

You do your part by being proactive about your health, and I will do my part to help you get better quickly.

The product that patients buy from my office more than any other product is krill oil.  Krill oil can make a huge impact on your health.  It contains essential omega 3 fatty acids, which means we can’t make them in our own body, yet they are necessary for proper body functioning.  Fish oil is another way to take omega 3 fatty acids into your body.  Here’s a little infographic that shows the difference between these two sources:

Krill oil is really the better choice.  Some of the benefits it provides to your health include decreased inflammation, healthier cholesterol levels, decrease in premenstrual syndrome, more radient skin, and lower chances of blood clots.  My favorite use for krill oil is for joint health.  It can reduce pain and joint stiffness as well as increasing mobility.  Omega 3 fatty acids are also really important for brain function.  Krill oil can improve your memory, concentration and learning.

I take krill oil every night before bed.  I recommend it to many of my patients for their joint pain alone, but there are so many more benefits to supplementing your diet with it regularly.

This is one of my very favorite products!  Spry gum is only sweetened with xylitol, a naturally occurring sugar alcohol.  Xylitol helps prevent cavities.  It works a couple of different ways.  Xylitol  helps you secrete more saliva, which moisturizes your mouth and buffers it’s acidity.  When you have more saliva flow in your mouth, you are better able to repair damaged tooth enamel.  Xylitol also inhibits bacterial growth on your teeth.  All of this works together to keep your mouth healthier.  I carry Spry xylitol gum in my office, made by XClear out of American Fork, Utah.  The first ingredient listed on the tub is xylitol, and they don’t use anything else to sweeten the gum.  You could pick up some Trident in the checkout isle at the grocery store, but it is mostly sweetened by sorbitol.  Xylitol is down a ways in the ingredient list.  Spry comes in several flavors.  I like cinnamon the best.

My family could be in a Spry commercial – we’ve had that great of a success story!  I’ve had cavities my whole life.  As I got older, I made concerted efforts to keep the cavities at bay.  I have brushed and flossed after every single meal of the day for years.  I rarely eat sweets.  I don’t drink soda or juice.  Unfortunately, all of that wasn’t ever enough.  I still had cavities at every 6 month dental check-up.  Five years ago I started chewing Spry gum, as well as using their toothpaste and mouthwash.  I haven’t had a single cavity since.  My family just chews the gum, and not one of them has had a cavity in the last 5 years.  So we’ll keep on chewing!

How many of you readers have electric heating pads or rice pads at home?  As far as I’m concerned, the only use for electric heating pads is to make Alton Brown’s  homemade yogurt.  Rice pads and electric heating pads put off dry heat, which can dehydrate your tissue and joints.  In some cases, it can actually do more damage than good.

The best kind of heat to use for sore and achy muscles and joints is moist heat.  Moist heat penetrates deeper than dry heat and changes the temperature of your tissue more quickly.  Many people feel greater relief of their symptoms when using moist heat.  It can also be used before an adjustment to relax your muscles, making it easier to move your bones into the correct alignment.

You can use steamed towels, a hot bath/shower, or a moist heating  pad to apply moist heat to your body.  I carry microwaveable moist heating pads in my office, and it’s one of my very favorite things.  We have one at home, and my wife and I have used it again and again to soothe stiff muscles.  It works just like a rice pad, but is filled with tiny moisture beads instead.  I can’t recommend them enough!

After my post last week, I thought I would do a short series on the few products I sell in my office and why I sell them.  Remember I only carry things that I and/or my family use on a regular basis.

A couple of weeks ago our school district was on spring break.  My family was really, really looking forward to it.  My wife has a new job working in the schools and she couldn’t wait for a little break from it all.  We had several fun things planned to do together as a family.  Unfortunately, my wife brought home  a nasty virus from school.  She and the kids all took turns being bedridden by fevers, headaches, and coughs.  I very religiously take a few vitamins each day.  One of those is liposomal vitamin C.  Everyone else in my family had gotten a little slack with their vitamin consumption.  I’m the only one that didn’t fall victim to that virus.

Vitamin C is necessary for normal growth and development.  It is used to make skin, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bones, teeth, and blood vessels.  It helps our immune system function better.  It helps our wounds to heal.  It helps our bodies absorb iron.  It is also a powerful antioxidant.   Our bodies aren’t able to make vitamin C, and they also aren’t able to store it.  So, it’s important to take vitamin C into our bodies daily through our diet and/or supplementation.

Foods that are high in vitamin C include (in descending order): red bell pepper, broccoli, oranges, strawberries, pineapple, brussel sprouts, cantaloupe, cabbage, cauliflower, and spinach, among many others.  Foods high in vitamin C are better eaten raw because the vitamin content is reduced by cooking.

I like to eat a diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables.  In the winter I like to supplement my diet with liposomal vitamin C.  It is more easily absorbed by the body than other forms of supplemental vitamin C.  I’ve only had one mild illness this year.  For me, liposomal vitamin C, along with a healthy diet,  seems to be effective.

Many of us have an unknown vitamin D deficiency, especially in the cold months of the year.  Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb calcium, which lead to strong bones and teeth.  Vitamin D may also protect against osteoporosis, cancer, high blood pressure, and depression.  It supports our immune system, brain, and nervous system.

Our bodies can get vitamin D from the sun, from a few foods, and from supplementation.  Foods that have vitamin D in them include eggs, fish, fortified milk, and cod liver oil.  It is thought that vitamin D deficiency can be prevented with as little as 10 minutes in the sun 2-3 times a week, but sunscreen, clothing, and even the angle of the sun can negatively affect vitamin D absorption.

I have been supplementing my family’s vitamin D this winter.  The supplement we use is in the form of a spray, so that my young children can take it as well.  They don’t do very well with swallowing pills.  As the weather warms up, we will spend more time in the sun, so we will discontinue the supplement until next winter.  The positive health benefits of vitamin D are hard to ignore.  It is such a simple way to improve our health.

How do you know if you are deficient in vitamin D?  A simple blood test can be ordered by your family practice physician.  If you are interested in supplementing your vitamin D, especially during the cold months of the year, I am now selling the spray form in my office.  I carry very few products in my office, but what I do carry are things that my family and I use regularly at home.

As the weather warms up – GET OUTSIDE!  You’ll see the Serr family out there, getting our vitamin D on!!!!

In an attempt to eat better and encourage my children to eat better, I’ve been making smoothies for the family some mornings.  They are full of fruit and vegetable and healthy fat goodness.  The best part is that my kids actually drink it!  Some days that’s all the vegetables we get into my son all day.  It’s certainly better than nothing.  I wanted to share my basic recipe.  Try it!  Change it up!  Help your family come one step closer to better health.

The Scott Serr Smoothie

• A handful of oranges, peeled
• A handful of fresh/frozen berries
• A banana, peeled
• A handful of kale (much more mild tasting than spinach or other greens)
• 1 Tbsp flax or chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• Liquid of choice – water, coconut milk, almond milk, juice, milk, etc.
• Honey to taste