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Vitamins?

Posted on by kristinamarieblack

I have wondered if vitamins were a worthwhile expense throughout my adult life (and they are expensive!). I’ve heard things ranging from you must take vitamins to your body can’t absorb them/you have to take them with the right minerals/you pay for vitamins your body can’t use, so you just pee them out.
Who knows, I’m not a scientist. I certainly don’t take urine samples and analyze them.
Plus, I’ve had dietary hubris in the past, thinking, ‘I eat an organic diet, plenty of produce, I eat healthy meats and fats.’ But I guess there is enough research piling up that swayed me (don’t worry, things may be looking up).
I see now, that while I should continue eating these foods, it was naive for me to think I could get enough nutrients from food.

I am spending a lot more time looking at dōTERRA’s product line, as I am working to be a knowledgable consultant for them, and I have now learned that though they are an essential oil company their #1 selling product is their vitamin pack. (That’s kind of crazy. It’s akin to the spa I work at having their #1 selling product be cold pressed juice).
They report having put in the science into it that these vitamins have optimal levels of bioavailable nutrients in them, as well as utilize the help available in essential oils. If you take half a dose at breakfast and half a dose at lunch, they claim you will feel better, younger, longer.

Going from not buying vitamins to buying a pack of theirs was somewhat a significant expense for me, but if its the difference between getting enough nutrients or not, I figure it’s worth the experiment. Plus they have a full refund for a month guarantee, so it’s actually  no risk at all. I either feel like it works, or I get refunded.

I trust dōTERRA’s product line too. If they say there are no fillers or unhelpful/harmful ingredients in their vitamins, I really believe them. There’s a lot of trust they’ve gained from me by their 3rd party lab testing.

So, here we go! I’m on day 1, we will see…

Day 1: Definitetly felt steady energy

Day 2: Didn’t want or use coffee

Day 3: Wasn’t ravenously hungry (weird for me) and didn’t have coffee or want coffee all day. I average 2 cups/day.

Day 8: Wednesday’s are VERY long for me, but here I am 12 hours in and I feel like I have fresh afternoon energy, instead of being tired and dreading the next 4 hours.  I have been eating average portions for meals instead of large meals. I haven’t had coffee other than as a weekend treat. I wake up and immediately think of my vitamins.

Paleo Diet

Posted on by kristinamarieblack

I had heard of Paleo diet around 2012, or so, from my mom and sister, who did cross fit at the time.
“Try it!” they said, “You will feel so good!” I liked healthy things so it wouldn’t be a stretch. It’s eating whole foods, with an emphasis on veggies, meat, and some fruit. Not too bad, right? But saying NO to dairy, grains, legumes, and sugar. NO WAY! That would be so hard! How on earth could I do that?

Well, at the beginning of 2014 I hadn’t quite lost all that baby fat and it had been about 9 months. I wasn’t stressing about it, but it was a goal to get rid of it. As I looked around at all my friends who “dieted” I saw a few friends who were lean and had energy. I asked them each what diet they were doing…sure enough, they were all doing the Paleo diet.

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Taken December 2013

I had already had to give up dairy because it hurt my daughter’s tummy when she had my milk. It kind of primed me, really. As much as I loved dairy, it was easier than I thought to give up. So I could always try to give up those other things, at least until I lost the weight, right?

So I went online and bought a copy of Practical Paleo after my friend demanded her copy back (haha, Catherine).  The recipes were so, so good and in the meanwhile I perused the information or the “why” in the front as I went on.

I didn’t start the diet by purging my pantry, but cooked through the no-no foods as I read and lived life, which ended up being a really good thing. I read info like ‘Grains cause indigestion’ and sure enough I’d eat oatmeal not too long after and have acid up my throat all day, or wouldn’t, ahem, have a movement for a couple days and other things like that. So when I went back to the grocery store, I didn’t pick up the no-no foods again.

As I saw the evidence that what I ate and how I felt stacked up with the information in the book, I couldn’t help but just keep believing. The fat started falling off of my body at a quick rate, that I’d never seen before. I felt so strong! I wasn’t tired mid afternoon anymore, I didn’t have trouble breathing anymore (allergies), I slept better, my face was less puffy (water retention), I had WAY better digestion. Here was a big proof for me: I had developed an allergy to avocado at some point and it got way, way worse when I turned 21. As a teen, it used to make my mouth itchy but at 21 I started getting blisters in my mouth and throat after eating it, then I’d have asthma for a week. After 6 months of gut healing Paleo, I was able to eat avocados anytime now and I cook with avocado oil everyday.

Plus for the first time in my life, I could eat AS MUCH AS I WANTED! as long as I ate the Paleo approved things. (I really, really, really, really like to eat large meals.) It was liberating knowing I could lose weight and NOT BE HUNGRY! I usually go for more veggies when going for thirds of anything else, but even when I grabbed more nuts, meat or fruit I wouldn’t feel stunted. (Thirds is an exaggeration but Seconds for sure is not!)

Here was in January (left) and February (right) of 2015

I remember the time my husband and I ordered lettuce wrapped hamburgers to go, when we reached our destination and pulled out our burgers we were sad that they had made a mistake, they had buns. “Let’s not make a big deal out of it. Let’s just eat them.” We couldn’t find a bathroom fast enough. Our bodies outright rejected the white bread we used to eat all the time!

I began preaching Paleo to anyone who had ears. I was that annoying person who found a diet that worked. “Everyone! Come feel as good as I do!!! Stop eating bad foods!” And while everyone was incredibly gracious toward me, they certainly had palpable relief when I calmed down.
I was getting too hardcore. On some level, I would judge people who ate grains or I would complain to Bret that the sugar in a breath mint hurt my stomach (insert crying/laughing emoji), true story. I’m so thankful for Bret, he levels me out. He also helped me not be a pansy that couldn’t handle a breath mint.

Also it began to twist my brain. I shouldn’t have just outright said, ‘Wheat is bad,’ because Jesus uses wheat in reference to his believers (sifting wheat from chaff) and even says the loaf of bread represented his body, in the Last Supper and Jesus would not use those examples, if wheat was bad.

I am able to justify that our food is not our great-grandma’s (and everyone before her) food. Between GMO’s and pesticides the modern grain is too rough on us.
So I just softened my views, stuck to my organic veggie and grass fed/pasture raised meat csa (community supported agriculture) subscriptions and even found a good source for raw dairy.

And had to come to the important fact:

The food I eat is not more important than the people I eat it with.

When its my turn to make something or bring something, I will always opt for the Paleo option but if someone serves me food over rice and pasta at their house, I eat it. If there are beans in the dish or gravy on the thing, I eat it. If it is a build your own plate, I will try to make the most Paleo combination I can. At restaurants I order Paleo 85% of the time.

In another post I’ll write about how I did one pregnancy not eating Paleo and one eating Paleo. Guess which one went better?  (Spoiler: Paleo)

Food is never worth raising to such a level that it causes a wall of division between yourself and others. I didn’t know that when I was too excited about food, but I know it now. It’s definitely not worth getting self righteous over or not eating with others because of. (People with true food restrictions, I’m not accusing you of these things.)

I’m glad, in a quieter way, to share Paleo with others. I think it totally works as a weight loss way of eating but also as a way to equip your body well and be healthy. I look forward to sharing some recipes and tricks that I have picked up or invented on the way. I hope they bless you!

 

 

Massage Cupping

Posted on by kristinamarieblack

TLDR (To Long Didn’t Read)?: If you hurt in your fascia, muscles, bones or with headaches, consider massage cupping.
Find someone here, Ace Massage Cupping Trained Therapists are the only recognized safe choice for this therapy.

Practitioner List

In Bakersfield? See me, Kristina at Pure Essentials Day Spa.

I have done massage cupping since 2014 and I can tell you it’s opened up a whole new level of therapy for me. When something sticks around for 6,000 years and is still used in modern day, there’s got to be true benefit to it.  While Massage Cupping has only been established in 2001, as opposed to Traditional Chinese Cupping, we use the same tool just in different ways.

Massage Cupping offers a good feeling alternative to a manual massage, it still stretches and pushes your muscle like a classic massage but the suction pulls your tissue OUT, this accomplishes a more full stretch of fascia, muscle tissue/chronic tension (even on the deepest layer of muscle) healing, scar tissue can be healed, a larger opening for the fluid pathways (think blood and lymph) to push out old blood and lymph and can call for more serious backup from new blood and lymph. It can detox soft tissues and I’ve seen it detox joints! You’ll know someone has received much needed healing when you see their Mark.

The Mark is what makes someone look like they’ve been attacked by an octopus or vacuum cleaner (my capitol M is tongue in cheek, here). The Mark is what makes, in my experience, the average person potentially shy away from this therapy.
But here is what you need to know about the marks, they are NOT, I repeat NOT a bruise. Bruises come from blunt force to an area. What they are is your old blood or lymph being given over by the tissue.
Old blood and lymph is not doing the area any good and is keeping new blood from reaching those areas with life giving oxygen, and nutrients and new lymph from taking all the toxins and byproduct/natural waste out of the area.
The marks allow your body to process and eliminate waste from your body.
The more you do massage cupping the less you will mark, the shorter they will last, until you don’t mark at all.
When you mark its like your body saying, ‘Thank you, I needed that!’
That why olympians do it!

I don’t dress to cover mine, a quick google search will tell you I am not alone. In fact, I rather embrace them. When people ask me about it: 1) I appreciate sincere concern from my fellow man. 2) I see it as a chance to share a modality that could help them or someone they know. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing.

My response is simple, something like, “Thank you for your concern, it’s actually  a muscle therapy I use to help my ______ feel better.” Sometimes if I’m feeling sparky I first say, “You should see the other guy.”

I digress, if you ever experienced a part of your body that just seems so weak and barely anything, if anything at all, seems to make it much better? Find a local massage cupping Massage Therapist, here.  An ACE Massage Cupping trained Massage Therapist is the only one to go with.

On average I have seen 4x the amount of therapy done in a single session in contrast to my other massage modalities. My regulars that do it, do it once every two or three visits.

It was the final thing I needed to kick tension headaches out of my normal life and my go to when they creep up (they only creep up when I don’t work out, stick to a moderate massage schedule and see my Chiropractor)

It’s also wonderful for lymphatic drainage, fibromyalgia, sports therapy, cellulite, scar healing, pre- and post-operative sites, and I even have special cups to do what I call a face lifter- with the face lifter, a client was later asked by people if she had a little botox done, ha!

It’s not ever going to fully replace classic massage as there is something truly wonderful about a good Swedish or Deep Tissue (ensue drool) but Massage Cupping (ensue more drool) holds its own, even as the new kid, in a world of massage, as a good therapeutic answer.

If you are concerned about your health, go see a doctor.

Tension Headaches

Posted on by kristinamarieblack

I remember since 4th grade getting what turned out to be tension headaches and was sick every night. I think it was the result of a playground injury in my neck that inflamed, I didn’t tell my parents about, so they never knew to help me fix it. It rendered me its shaky, weak, nauseous victim until I did two of three things; throw up, sleep for hours, or take medicine before it progressed too long. But I could pretty much guarantee it would likely happen the next day.
Those were the days I turned to the Ibuprofen bottle and didn’t look back.

It wasn’t until enrolling in Massage Therapy training that I realized I could do anything preventative about my headaches, as a student my classmates and I worked on each other for practice and suddenly I was getting less headaches. I was only getting headaches every few days instead of most of the week.

My first job after school was at a Chiropractic Office, where I realized, again, there was MORE preventative action I could take! I reduced my headaches to one a month or less that year. That was phenomenal for me and so life giving.

Since then I have realized that I can improve things even more with massage cupping and working out. I get a headache threat every so often but when I do, its because I haven’t gotten a massage, been working out as regularly as I should, but can still nip it in the bud with a couple tricks.

If you get headaches too try this.

As a quick fix use dōTERRA’a Deep Blue blend or Deep Blue Rub on  neck, shoulders, pecs and shoulder blades.
Swipe a drop of Lavender Essential Oil across the forehead. I’ll even drink a drop of dōTERRA’S in 4 oz. of water because its food grade and my doctor gave clearance.

And when nursing a baby sub out Deep Blue Rub for Clary Sage Essential Oil.

These are some great choices that will start to alleviate the tension that is responsible for the pain!

If headaches are a common problem for you, don’t just deal with them. They are stealing days of your life that you will never get back!

I would suggest massage, exercise, chiropractic as a preventative measure and keep some natural powerhouses (essential oils) in your medicine cabinet. And of course contact your doctor if you are concerned about the issue.

Always talk to your doctor before ingesting oils and don’t even consider it unless they have a “supplements fax” on the bottle.
Children under 6 should not ingest oils.

The Pursuit of Healthiness

Posted on by kristinamarieblack

As a mission statement, I, Kristina Black, intend to blog, share and learn more about health. There are so many ways to pursue it, physically, mentally and spiritually.

I am a Christian so much of my mind meditates on matters that contribute to spiritual health.
While I have been a massage therapist for a decade, much of my work life has to do with the physical side of it.
I’m a self induced Paleo-cook and have so enjoyed the improvements to my body since 2013.
I am an essential oil junkie, and love what even a single drop can do for us.
And I’m also a mom so concerns about mental health have arisen, hah!

I’ll touch on all of these things, but my thrust here will be physical health. We’ll never get it perfectly, but on this side of heaven we aren’t meant to, so we hold it loosely and do what we can to improve what is within our reach, and help each other along the way.