Category Archives: Health and Wellness

How to Reduce Chronic Pain: Improve Your Health, Wellness, and Quality of Life

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Guest-Blog by Sheila Olson

There’s no denying it: Americans are in pain. According to the latest estimates, more than 25 million Americans are living with chronic pain.

Photo courtesy of Pexels

Many things can result in chronic pain—everything from bad posture and too much time in front of the computer, to health conditions like fibromyalgia or migraines. Pain symptoms interfere with our daily lives, dampen our moods, and make us feel hopeless and helpless in our own bodies

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who are living with chronic pain and its related conditions, don’t despair. Luckily, there are many things you can do to boost your health and wellness and minimize your pain.

Reduce the Causes
Chronic pain can be a mysterious condition. Sometimes, the causes are not apparent. However, if you’re living with chronic pain, there’s a good chance you’ll start to notice certain things which either trigger your pain or make it worse. Do bright lights, and loud noises cause you to feel a migraine coming on? Does sitting in front of a computer screen for hours at a time trigger radiating pain through your neck, shoulders, and back? If these scenarios sound familiar, the good news is you’ve pinpointed a pain trigger. Now let’s explore a few things you can do about it.

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Health and Fitness Tips for Any Schedule or Budget

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by Guest-Blogger, Sheila Olson

Staying healthy and active are high priorities for many people. However, when life takes over, it’s easy to let these goals slowly drift away. The same can happen if these priorities cost money.

Either way, whether it’s time or money holding us back, it’s important to find ways to embrace wellness. Below are some health and fitness tips which can work for most anyone’s schedule, without breaking the bank.

Buy In-Season
Being healthy means taking care of your body and eating nutritious foods. According to one of CookingLight magazine’s dieticians, Sidney Fry, MS, RD, depending on your age, gender, and activity levels, you should get anywhere from four and a half cups to six and a half cups of vegetables and fruits each day. Keep in mind, grocery stores usually have specials on produce when it’s in-season. Make it a practice to stock up on these items when you see the sales.

Grow Your Own Food
Another way to save money on fruits and veggies is to grow them yourself. Take lettuce, for example. A head of lettuce at (more…)

How a Smart Fitness Routine is the Key to Wise Self-Care

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Smart Fitness and Self-Care, It’s No Accident

It's important to include a smart, balanced approach to your Fitness routine-- to achieve wise Self-Care.

As I rebuild my health, I appreciate balance so much.

As I told you a few days ago, a smart, holistic-minded fitness trainer recently entered my life, through email. She requested a guest-blogging opportunity here at Taking Back Wellness. “Cool!”

As you know, it’s been hard for me to juggle this blog while I build my new site (about writing and editing). I wish she lived near me. I could use her help as I regain my own health. I think you’ll like her too.

Her name is Sheila Olson.
As I learn more about her, I like her even more. She has a very intelligent and balanced view of fitness. She had told me in the beginning that she’s pretty much all about, “…a balance between ‘holistic fitness’ and the obsessed and guilt-driven ‘fitness lifestyle.'” As a Holistic Health Coach, I appreciate her balanced, whole-person approach very much. And you’re going to hear from her in just a minute.

So here is the scoop on Shiela.
“Sheila Olson has been a personal trainer for five years. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals.

Learn why it's important to carefully select the right work out for your own personal style. Don't fall prey to burn-out or injury, do movement right.

Photo credit: skeeze at Pixabay

She encourages her clients to stay positive, and she incorporates mindfulness practices into her sessions. She finds this helps clients reduce the internal, negative self-talk.
She created FitSheila.com to spread the word about her fitness philosophy.”

And. . .

With no further ado, please join me in welcoming to Sheila Olson to our Taking Back Wellness community.

How to Build a Smart Fitness Routine into Your Self-Care

By Guest-Blogger, Sheila Olson of FitSheila.com

Balancing Your Self-Care with a Smart Fitness Routine Requires Intention
Successful self-care can be a balancing act. You must maintain both mind and body to be healthy, but the demands of a busy life can get in the way. A good exercise program can help you care for both at the same time.

How Exercise Helps Your Body and Mind

Exercise does more than just help you lose weight or build strength. Studies show that from the moment you begin working out, the activity has a positive impact on your health. Some of the benefits of a healthy workout routine include: (more…)

Balanced Fitness Expertise, Coming Soon

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A Guest Blogger is Coming, Soon, to Taking Back Wellness

Taking care of Business, writing, editing, personal life, and checking off the to-do list. But somewhere in there, you've got to find time for Self-Care, Balance, and Smart Fitness Goals.

A Few Tools from My Writer/Editor Biz.

A couple of weeks ago, I was plugging away at my sizable list of weekly tasks for running my business. I was checking off my various “to-do’s:” addressing my goals, taking care of client work, building and putting business strategies in place, connecting with people, writing a couple of blogs for my other site, paying the bills, taking care of my personal and family life–Oh yeah, and checking e-mail and other correspondence. I get tired just reading the list!

Taking care of Business, writing, editing, personal life, and checking off the to-do list. But somewhere in there, you've got to find time for Self-Care, Balance, and Smart Fitness Goals.

Part of my Office in it’s more pristine days.

Low-and-behold, in my email, was a message from this nice gal whom I’d never met. She seemed to be a fitness trainer. As I read it, I thought, “Hey, she seems friendly, pleasant, and very ‘together.’ She comes across as knowledgeable, sensible, and interesting. She seems pretty cool.”
AND… she was inquiring about doing some guest-blogging here.

“Well, how cool is that?”
I asked a few more questions and told her to go ahead and submit an article for my review. She agreed.
The more I get to know her, the more I like her and her smart, balanced approach to fitness. Her name is Sheila Olson and you’ll “meet” her early next week. I think you’ll like her and her savvy outlook. I wish she lived near me. I believe I’d like working with her as I move toward my own fitness goals, and I regain my health.

Anyway, I’m in the editing process with her article right now. It sounds like she will be submitting more articles in the future too. So this could be the beginning of a fabulous working relationship. And you get the benefits of hearing from a fitness expert–and so do I. Gotta Love it! You’ll be hearing from her in the next couple of days. So. . . Stay tuned!
In the meantime,
Be Well,
~Paula

 

…Oh, Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding…

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~The Story Behind My Figgy Pudding Recipe~

My Christmas Figgy Pudding Adventure
Ok, I’ll start with this admission– I know this post is not exactly healthy–nor was the last one. In fact, it’s downright decadent. . .  maybe even dietarily evil. But, it’s Christmas, Ok? So in the Spirit of Christmas and dancing sugar-plums–Please allow me this small Holiday infraction.

So, what’s all this about Figgy Pudding? It all started one evening, as I was watching a Christmas movie on TV. A couple of characters encountered a group of carolers singing, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” As the carolers finished, one of the characters proudly proclaimed to the other, “Did you know figgy pudding does not contain figs nor is it pudding. It’s more like cake.”

As an American, I didn’t know much about some of the gloriously English traditions like figgy pudding. I wondered if this information was true, or not.

Search for the Real Story
Since I’m curious by nature, I started investigating. It turns out the movie character was only partially right. Figgy pudding is frequently known as Christmas pudding, especially when it doesn’t contain figs. But it does have plenty of dried fruit in it—and can have (and frequently does have) figs in it. But it is more like a cake, than a pudding. The descriptions I read reminded me a little of bread pudding.

Wikipedia (which cites several sources, including the Oxford dictionary) has this to say about figgy pudding.

Figgy pudding is a type of Christmas pudding which was originally made with figs.[1] It may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried.[2]

Figgy pudding dates back to 16th century England.[1] Its possible ancestors include savory puddings, such as crustades, fygeye or figge (a potage of mashed figs thickened with bread), creme boiled (a kind of stirred custard), and sippets (croutons).[3] In any case, its methods and ingredients appear in diverse older recipes, for instance in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.[1]

Today, the term figgy pudding is popularised mainly by the Christmas carol “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” which includes the line, “Now bring us some figgy pudding”.[4] A variety of nineteenth-century sources state, in the West Country of England (from which the carol comes), “figgy pudding” referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not necessarily one containing figs.[5][6][7]

How interesting? Since it can be steamed, an idea came to me. I wonder if I could make figgy pudding in my new Instant Pot?
I LOVE my new Instant Pot!

Finding the Right Recipe with the Right Method
More research ensued. I found several recipes—specifically (more…)

I Bring You Some Figgy Pudding…

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Instant Pot Figgy Pudding Recipe

What follows, is my adaptation (for high-altitude of about 5,300’ where notated) and other adjustments I found necessary after my trial run with Jo’s wonderful Christmas Pudding recipe at EveryNookAndCranny. You might find you need to make further adjustments. Just Have Fun!

~Something to consider ahead of time—You’ll need some sort of “oven-proof” bowl (or “pudding basin” as the British call it) that fits into your Instant Pot—for cooking the pudding in (see step 5). I used a simple, stainless steel mixing-bowl that measured just under 7 inches across. I tested ahead of time, to make sure it fits into my Instant Pot and on to the trivet. It’s a 1½ quart bowl—perfect for this.
You will also need parchment paper and aluminum foil, and some string or a large rubber band.

If you use a ceramic bowl, you’ll probably need to add another 5-10 minutes to your cooking time. Jo says it’s hard to “overcook” a Christmas pudding—so good to know!

Ingredients:

~First step:
AHEAD OF TIME–Decide which dried fruits you’d like to include. Measure them out dry.

1 1/3 cups dried fruit* Combine a few like figs, cranberries, raisins, pineapple, blueberries…
1/3 cup dried dates (about 1.8 ounces)
3-4 Tbsp. candied ginger

And soak them… (in liqueur or strong tea—at least overnight, but a week or two would be great.)

~Next step:
1/3 cup softened butter (I messed-up & I used a bit more, one stick. But it was great!) (more…)

Holy Clock Towers, Batman!

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How is it possible? Christmas has come and gone already! It seems like it was just Easter. Time seems to slip by so quickly. I know I’ve said it a few times before, but holy time-warps… Obviously, I need to improve my time-management skills!

“Time-Crunched”

I guess I’ve been spending SO much time working on business-building, that I forgot to come here and update you on all things… happening. I ask your forgiveness.

I’m actually juggling 2 businesses now, but they are related. Taking Back Wellness is my… I guess you could call it my “umbrella” company. No, I’m not selling umbrellas– I mean umbrella in that it “houses” my other business.

I started Taking Back Wellness in… the spring of 2013. But as of April 2017, I created Taking Back Wellness, LLC and under this, is my “DBA” (Doing Business As) company, Holistic Wellness Writers. While I am still a certified holistic health coach, I’m also a writer and a terrific editor. My niche is helping Holistic Health Practitioners write more professionally and credibly, so they shine their brilliance out into the world. In this way, their clients can find them.

I’ve spent the last year working within a Business Mastermind, sharpening business skills, laying the foundation to grow my business, and learning different ways to offer my services. I’ve been working on building my Holistic Wellness Writers site, but apparently, overlooked updating you over here. (Sheepish grin) Sorry about that.

From this moment forward, I promise to become better at more consistent posting–on BOTH sites. Six to twelve times a year (or better) for each site. Ok? Ok.  Alright. I need to go fix dinner for my husband now. It’ll probably be something in my new Instant Pot. I love that thing! I’ll post later.

Be Well,
~Paula

Office Reclamation Progress… Show-n-Tell

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How Goes the Ol’ Office Progress?
I thought you might be curious about my office reclamation process. As it turns out, I had started this post about my progress with my office. But as things sometimes happen, the post fell through the cracks and got stuck on the back burner. It’s been a “draft” for ages! I think I was probably waiting to upload photos and got distracted.

I believe the last photos I showed you were of the extreme, overwhelming disarray–stacks of… stuff from my April 2016 post, you can see to the right (->).
Uggh! Talk about stressing me out!?

So up there ^ (to the left) is May 12, 2016, when I decided to move things around, create space and add some color–to make this reclamation process more fun. I really needed to get moving on it. The longer I waited, the more stressed I became. I figured adding the color might inspire me. Please enjoy my story in photos (22 of them), as I walk you through the process.
(more…)

A Little Book Brag

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I wanted to brag just a little– Ok, maybe a lot. My dear friend and fellow Health Coach Karen Thomas has written and published her first book. It’s called, Overwhelmed & Undernourished: Use Food as Medicine and Turn Your Life Around. It’s available at Amazon.

But for me, it’s actually kind of a double brag– on one hand, it’s a brag on my friend Karen, yes. But on the other hand, it’s also my brag because I was the Chief Editor. Not only did I do all the substantive, developmental edits, and help her whip it into shape for publishing, but I also formatted it for submission and co-wrote the introduction.

It was a labor of love. Her book started out as a first draft in rough shape. She told me she was a “crappy writer” and she had no idea how to write something like this. I told her I was pretty sure I could help her.

She got started writing her book in the Launch Your Dream Book® course through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition®, where we both graduated in 2015. There were a few hundred students in this book writing course. They all had the option to enter their books into a Top 10 Author Contest (by a deadline). It became a prime motivation for all the students to shine their best work possible.

Although I never knew the exact number of submissions, it’s estimated there were over a hundred submissions into the contest. The prize was reimbursed tuition, a book blurb from the esteemed school founder, and a special listing of their winning book on the Institute’s website.

After I’d begun helping Karen work on her book, she told fellow students how happy she was with my work. Karen recommended (more…)

Adding to the Mix

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Health Reassembled

Healthy RecipesAnother quick check-in today. I’ll gradually get things put back together. . . although in a somewhat different form than before. The reclaiming of my scary-cluttered, extra room– into my Home Office space, is also coming along.

Rebuilding a website is. . . interesting. So many things to do!  Soon, I’ll be re-posting some First Steps. Those can help get you started on your Taking Back Wellness Journey. For now, I’ve rounded up a few videos in the “Video” tab (appropriately enough). A few in the “Like-Minded People” tab. . . of my Heros of Health & Wellness, and one in the “Recipe Videos” tab, of David Wolfe showing how he makes one of his many blended vegetable drinks. I’ve also grabbed a juice recipe for you, under the Recipes tab. There will be lots more to come.

I expect things might get shuffled around a bit, as I re-establish a nicer “theme” for the site, and settle on a different “look.” Things may need to be re-organized, so please bear with me.  It’s coming along!  And that’s kind of how it’s been working with the taming of my office too.
I’ll be back soon with another post for you. In the meantime . . .
Thanks for your patience,
Be Well,
~Paula