Winter Fun Without Frostbite

It’s good to get outdoors into the sunlight for some fresh air and natural Vitamin D production, but frostbite is one winter wellness challenge you and your entire family can’t afford to ignore.

 

What is Frostbite?

 

Frostbite occurs when the skin literally freezes. Spending too much time outdoors in the cold and wind without being protected sufficiently from the elements is the main cause. Children are more prone than adults because of their more sensitive skin. 

 

Frostbite can be dangerous if not treated quickly, leading to permanent tissue damage and even loss.  Due to the skin freezing, blood is no longer able to flow to, for example, the tips of the fingers of someone who isn’t wearing gloves or mittens. The loss of blood flow results in a loss of circulation and the skin and underlying tissue will start to die. 

 

If the skin is not re-warmed in a timely manner, it can turn black and might even develop gangrene and need to be removed surgically.

 

Hypothermia

 

Hypothermia, that is, low body temperature, might also result as well as frostbite. It is a particular risk if someone ends up falling into a cold body of water, such as a river or lake, while they are ice skating.  Hypothermia is a medical emergency as well.

 

Getting Treatment

 

In the case of both frostbite and hypothermia, the most important thing is to rewarm the skin or body. Avoid rubbing, as this can cause tissue damage. Blowing gently can help. In the case of mild frostbite, known as frost nip, going inside and warming up near a heat source (but not touching it) should be enough to help things thaw out.

 

For severe frostbite, the area should be soaked in warm water until the temperature adjusts and the skin has thawed.

 

In the case of hypothermia, blankets and getting them to the hospital will help. There they will get a warming blanket and perhaps even an intravenous drip of warm saline to restore normal body temperature.

 

Prevention

 

Pay attention to the weather reports. Use common sense. It may look sunny outside, but if it is very windy, don’t stay out too long. Wind chill can make temperatures feel much colder than they actually are.

 

Bundle up as warmly as possible.  A hat and/or hood will help protect your head and reduce the loss of body heat from the cold. A scarf will protect your throat and chest and also your face if needed.

 

Gloves or mittens will keep fingers frost-bite free. Be careful playing with wet snow, as your fingers can start to freeze through wet woolly gloves if you are out for a long time.

 

If it is a really cold day, a face mask or balaclava can help.

 

Go inside when you feel chilled.  Avoid smoking tobacco, which is bad for your circulation. Steer clear of alcohol. People may think that it has a warming effect, but the truth is it actually makes it more difficult for your body to regulate its own temperature and decreases circulation, boosting the risk of frostbite.

The Winter Wellness Challenge is about to begin. Come join us in our Brand New You Facebook Group!

The Winter Wellness Challenge Is On!

 

Winter can be a wonderful time of year, but for many people it can mean several months of misery if they live in a part of the world which experiences severe cold weather during the winter months. 

 On the one hand, there are all sorts of exciting winter activities:

 

·         downhill skiing

·         cross-country skiing

·         snowboarding

·         snowshoeing

·         snowmobiling

·         and other outdoor winter activities.

 

On the other hand, there is the temptation to pretend we are a bear and just hibernate until the spring thaw comes.

 

The truth is, becoming inactive during winter can be one of the worst things you can do for your health. It might seem tough to enjoy the short days and long nights of winter, but spending time outside during each winter’s day offers several health benefits.

 

Fresh Air

 

Being cooped up indoors leaves you more prone to colds and flu, since you will be surrounded by other people coughing and sneezing.  

 

Exercise

 

Exercise boosts energy levels and mood.  It also helps you burn calories, which is very useful if you tend to gain weight around the end of year holidays in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

More Vitamin D

 

Vitamin D is a hormone our body produces as a result of exposure to the sun. We can take supplements, but 30 minutes of sunshine per day (wearing sunscreen, of course) can give us all the D we need.

 

Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder

 

Winter can cause many to feel the blues. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, affects millions of people around the world. It is caused by the lack of daylight during the short winter days, especially when there is bad weather.  

 

SAD can trigger depression, illness and weight gain. Colds and flu can make people (and their immune systems) even more depressed. Getting out in the sun is the best way to combat SAD and live life to the full each winter.

 

Eating Issues

 

Many people pack on the pounds in the winter. They crave hot “comfort foods” to warm up on a cold day. The holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas in the US can be a diet disaster. Eating more and working out less, if at all, because of the cold weather, is a recipe for weight gain and getting out of shape.  By the time spring rolls around, you’ll be a couch potato, and look like a spud in your swimsuit if you’re not careful.

 

Skin and Hair Issues in Winter

 

Winter weather is a lot colder and drier than summer weather, which means it takes its toll on your skin. Your hair might start to look dry and brittle like straw. Your skin might become chapped, red and flaky. If you already have dry skin, winter can make it much worst. Paying attention to moisturizing your hair, face and skin can keep you looking and feeling great.

 

Dressing for Safety in Winter

 

Last, but not least, you need to dress for safety in winter. Cold kills. A hat, scarf, gloves and proper footwear to match the weather conditions are all essential.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to be taking a look at winter wellness and what we can do to stay fit and healthy despite the weather! Come join the Winter Wellness Challenge in our Brand New You Facebook Group!

Have You Added Microgreens To Your Diet?

You may have heard of microgreens already, especially if you are into current health trends. You may even have spotted them for sale in your local grocery or health food store. You may also have spotted their hefty price tag compared to their small size! 

So what exactly are they? Microgreens are the very young seedlings of vegetables and herbs. They are different from sprouts. Microgreens are harvested later than sprouts, after the first leaves have appeared. This is not to confuse them with baby greens, which are harvested later. .Microgreens are extremely nutrient-dense. And two, because they are a cash cow at the moment.

Let's talk about the nutritional value. Microgreens have all of the same vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients as their fully-grown versions but in a much smaller package. That means you can get much of the nutrition you need from just a modest amount of food.

And since almost any fully edible plant can be grown as a microgreen, a variety of microgreens can provide a wide range of required nutrients. Some of the more popular include basil, beets, broccoli, swiss chard, parsley, kale, pea, sunflower, and watercress.

Microgreens offer a year-round source of fresh food. And you don't even need to buy them at a store where they can be pretty expensive. They can be grown easily and with very simple equipment. You don't even need a garden! If you have a sunny windowsill, you can grow microgreens. Which means when other fresh produce is scarce, you can have a supply of fresh, nutritionally-dense greens - even in the depths of winter!

I'll be sharing more about how to grow and harvest microgreens. But for now, I just wanted to acquaint you with these little green gems.

If you want to try some microgreens right now, check out this Window Garden Microgreens Starter Kit! It's how I started growing mine. I'll be sharing a video later showing just how this kit works.

Take Time To Review Your Morning Routine Regularly

Creating routines and habits for your mornings are a great thing. They allow you to do what you need to do to move ahead without having to spend a lot of energy and time thinking about it. That’s a good thing. It’s can also be a dangerous thing when you’ve focused on the wrong things and are in the habit of doing things that don’t help you reach your goals. 

When we get into a routine, it’s hard to stop and ask ourselves if it’s working as well as it could be. Even more importantly, with a routine and a set of habits firmly established, it’s easy to keep going even when the circumstances changes. That’s why it’s important to take some time every now and again to review your routine and habits, including the new morning routine.

Set aside a little time every few months to review your routine. Put it on the calendar and make sure you do it. It won’t take long and it will be a very valuable exercise in the long run. Our lives and circumstances change. Our routines should change with it. Just because something has served us well in the past, doesn’t mean it will continue to do so. Which brings up a good point…

When you sit down to review your morning routine (or any routine or habit you’ve been working on for that matter), ask yourself this:

Is it working? Is it working really well?

If it is, simply carry on. If it isn’t, it may be time to make some changes and tweak it until you find something that works well for you at that particular point in time.

Another way to look at it is to find what you love and what you hate about the new morning routine. Change it accordingly until you get as close as possible to loving everything about it and still getting the results you want.

Remember, this morning routine will change and evolve over time as you, your circumstances, and the people in your life change and evolve. Embrace the changes and look at them as an indication that you’re making progress.

Keep tweaking and improving your morning routine and don’t be afraid to change your goals for it. Maybe you started out by making exercise a priority first thing in the day. As time goes by and you become more fit and make time for it later in the day, your focus may shift to meditation, or catching up on some reading. Keep evolving, keep changing, and keep using those precious first few hours of each day to establish some positive change in yourself and those around you.

Habits and Routines Are Important

My husband says I am a creature of habit. Actually he says I'm borderline OCD. But that can be a good thing. I need my routine. And with your new morning game plan figured out, it’s time to not only put it into action, but make it your new morning routine. Why is this important? Because you want to make sure your new plan happens every morning without fail and turning into a routine is the best way to make sure that happens.

Before something becomes a habit or a routine, it takes a lot of willpower to make things happen. That’s energy that you will need for other things throughout your morning and busy rest of the day. Yes, it will take some willpower, mental energy, and drive at first to create the new morning habits, but once they are set, it will become automatic like brushing your teeth before bed.

Once you come up with a good morning routine, stick to it for a few weeks. That’s the best way to turn it into a strong habit. Before long, it will feel like the new normal and you won't have to remind yourself to do each thing along the way. It will have become a habit and a routine you’ll follow automatically. It will take a lot less effort and mental pep-talk to get things done… even if your new routine includes a 30 minute run, or getting up a bit earlier to meal-prep for the day.

Watch out for moments when you slip back into your old habits and routines. It’s going to happen. The key is to catch it early and get back on track as quickly as possible. For example, let’s say you’ve been doing well with waking up 30 minutes earlier and going for a run before you start your day. Then one day you oversleep and can’t make it out there. Or the weather turns too bad, you get sick or hurt, or something else pops up that keeps you from going on that run. That’s life. It happens. What’s important is what you decide to do the next morning.

Your most important job whenever life gets in the way of your new morning routine is to get back on track as quickly as possible. Do what you can as soon as you notice the disruption. If the weather is bad, do a quick workout at home, or head to the gym to run on the treadmill. If you overslept, try to squeeze in a few minutes of meditation or a short cardio workout before you get back to the rest of your day. Most importantly get back on track with your regular morning routine as soon as possible. Get back into your new habits the next morning if at all possible. Actively remind yourself to get back on track for a few days until your routine is firmly back in place. You’ll be glad you did when you start to see the results you’ve been hoping for.

How To Create A New Morning Game Plan

Now that you have a pretty good idea of what you want to do in the morning, what you don’t want to or need to do, and where to find the extra time needed, it’s time to put it all together in a new morning game plan.
 
The best place to start is with the new set of tasks that are most important to you. Figure out when you want to get them accomplished. If your goal is to go for a run in the morning, you may decide to do that first thing before getting a shower and having breakfast. If your goal is to meditate each morning, you may decide it would work best after you’ve had a cup of coffee. If your goal is to find some time for reading in the morning, you could carve out some time before everyone else gets up and while you enjoy that first cup of coffee.

Then work the rest of your morning chores around these new plans. It may take some shuffling around and mixing up of your current routine, but with a little creative thinking and a bit of flexibility, I’m sure you can come up with a working plan.

Making over your morning and turning it into a new routine isn’t something that comes natural to most of us. It takes a little while to get into a new habit. We’ll look at this in a little more detail in future posts. For right now, my suggestion is that you write your new morning game plan down. It’s easy to forget what you’re planning to do. Writing it down will not only give you a reference to refer back to, but also solidify your new plan in your mind.

Put the note, or notebook where you jotted down your new plan on your night table or somewhere else where you’ll see it first thing in the morning. It will serve as a reminder of what you’re intending to do and do differently in the morning now.

Even though you’ve written your plan down, it’s important to realize it’s not written in stone. The well-laid out plans don’t always work when put into action. Adjust it and make changes as needed until you come up with a new morning game plan that works well for you and the rest of your family. Once you have that, it’s time to make it the new routine… something we’ll talk more about.

What Should You Be Doing In The Morning?

We have talked about finding the time in your busy morning to do the things that are important to you. Today I want you to think about what you should and what you shouldn’t be doing in those first few hours of the day. That’s an important idea to ponder. So often we get stuck in a rut or a routine and do things because that’s what we’ve always done. We do it without really thinking about whether or not it’s the best use of our time. 



It’s Not About Cramming More Things Into Less Time 



Making over your morning isn’t about figuring out how to cram more tasks into fewer hours. When you read books and articles on productivity and time management, that’s often the main message. While it can help in the short term, it isn’t a good long-term strategy for meaningful change. Very soon you’ll hit the limit of how much faster and how much more efficient you can get. 



Shift your thinking and don’t try to add to what you do in the morning. If you want 15 minutes for meal prep, meditation, or exercise, don’t just think about getting up 15 minutes earlier, or shaving 15 minutes off your morning routine by showering faster, getting dressed in record time, and rushing through breakfast. In other words, don’t add to your already lengthy list of things that need to get done. You’ll only feel more rushed and stressed if you do. 



It’s About Making Smart Choices About Using Your Time 



Instead, what you should be thinking about is the best use of your time in the morning. Compare your perfect morning with your current morning routine. What aren’t you doing on your ideal morning? If you can start by cutting things out, finding time to do what’s important to you becomes much easier. 



There are two great ways to find things you can stop doing. The first is to look for busy work. This is something you do out of habit that doesn’t necessarily need doing every day. Maybe it’s checking your email first thing in the morning or playing around on Facebook for half an hour while you drink your coffee. If that’s how you choose to spend your time, that’s perfectly fine, but if you’re doing it out of habit it may be time to rethink it. 



The second way to quickly earn back time is to see if you’re doing things for others that they can do themselves. Kids are the perfect example. We start out fixing their breakfast, making their lunch, cleaning up after them, picking out their clothes, and making sure their backpack is packed and ready to do. When they are very small, we have to do these things, but all too often we continue to do them long after they’re capable of doing things on their own. The same goes for things we do for our spouse. Maybe there was a time when you had less to do in the morning and it made sense to take on the majority of morning chores. Did things change and if so, is it time to lighten your load and get help from your partner? A few small changes may be all it takes to make the time in your busy morning for what’s important to you.