January/February 2019
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Contents
Happy New Year! Winter Wonderland
5
Why Don't Bird Feet Freeze in Winter? Flakey Factoids
7
9 10
2019 Resolution: Go with Your Gut Rethinking the Shape of Dieting
Relationship Between Cold Weather and Stroke 12
Nonjudgmental Mindfulness Practice in the New Year 13 Add a Bounce to Your Step this New Year 15
7
Also Inside:
February Fitness Frenzy - 14 Arwen Rasmussen, 715.831.0325 editor@secondopinionmagazine.com www.secondopinionmagazine.com Graphic Design: Brigit Olson Editor: Becky Streeter All articles are the sole property of the writers. Opinions expressed in Second Opinion are those of the writers or advertisers themselves, not the publication or its editors. Second Opinion is not liable for use of any artwork provided by advertisers. Please direct concerns to the advertisers. ©2006-2018
Why we do what we do.
Our goal is to connect Chippewa Valley consumers with alternative health and wellness resources and products that will help them lead healthier, happier lives. The idea of keeping it local and helping people discover how many incredible services and offerings our little backyard may offer has been a major driving force in everything we do in the magazine.
Why read us?
Second Opinion’s mission is to help educate and empower folks in the region to live healthier and more fulfilling lives. We are THE region’s health and wellness resource and have helped to shape and grow the wellness movement in the area—that includes helping to educate people about the value of massage therapy, chiropractics, organic foods, buying local, and much more! We’d love to help support your mission to thrive and grow in the area, and we’d love YOUR support to help us continue being the awesome resource that we are. Together we can help create a healthier, more aware community.
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Winter Wonderland By Margaret Meier Jones, Animal Wellness of Buffalo Valley
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hile the days are gradually getting longer, the winter wonderland of Wisconsin is in full swing. This winter weather can, at times, be too frightful to spend any time outdoors, causing us, and our pets, to feel the full effects of cabin fever. While we might curl up with a good book, binge on Netflix, or pursue other indoor hobbies, how can we help our pets deal with their pent up energy? Fortunately, we have several solutions for you to consider! Join a class. Now is a great time to explore a new activity with your pet by taking a class with them. Basic obedience class is usually a given for every dog, but have you considered trying an advanced class? Refreshing those basic skills and expanding on them can not only provide some good physical exercise, it can also provide good mental exercise. Been there and done that you say? What about agility or fly ball classes? These can be particularly rewarding for your athletic, ball-obsessed retrievers and herding dogs. Check out the American Kennel Club website at: www.akc.org/sports/agility/ getting-started to see if these classes are right for you. Make playtime into game time. Does your dog like to bury its treats or toys? Instead of leaving the toys in one spot in the house, consider playing hide and seek with them and your dog. Start out easy with the hiding spots while your pet learns the game and then gradually increase the level of difficulty. When I first did this with my dog, Quinn, he kept going back
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to the last place he found something. It didn't take him long, however, to learn that as we raised the stakes of the game, we also raised the reward. Now he initiates the game by bringing us toys to hide! Turn mealtime into prey time. Cats and dogs are historically predators, and have evolved hunting for much, if not all, of their food. There are many options available today that help us recreate this behavior and provide much needed mental exercise when physical activities are limited by weather. Food puzzles such as the Kong® Wobbler, Quest, or Pawzzles are great way to feed your dog all, or part, of their meal. Outward Hound® and PAW5® also make several options to help your pet explore their primal side during mealtime. Consider the slimcat™ feeder ball from PetSafe to promote your cat's hunting instinct while increasing their activity level. We particularly like this feeder ball because you set the level of difficulty for your cat, and increase it as they learn to use it. Finally, if your pet just HAS to get out of the house, consider having them spend a day at one of our great local doggy daycare providers. These facilities offer convenient drop off and pick up times that coordinate with your workday. While you're busy at work, your pet gets to enjoy some much needed play and social time with other pets while being supervised by the caring staff. Barks and Recreation, EmBark, and Paws and Claws are just a few of the great area options available to you and your pet!
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Why Don't Bird Feet Freeze in Winter? By Jim Schwiebert, Naturalist Ever wonder why a bird's feet don't freeze in the wintertime? It’s not like they’re exactly well-insulated. Bird feet are mostly sinew, bone, skin, and not much else—meaning there’s not a whole lot there that needs to be kept warm, so very little blood flows into the feet in the first place. A fine network of interlaced veins and arteries helps protect their feet from freezing in sub-zero temperatures in the winter. The chilled blood is carried from the feet and goes through the veins and adjoining arteries. This process warms the blood before it even reaches the heart, and then it goes back out to the body again. This helps keep the feet just warm enough so as not to freeze, and very little heat is lost.
So why don't their little feet freeze to the metal, ice, and snow-covered perches they sit on? Answer: Bird feet have no sweat glands, so they don’t create any moisture and there is no danger of feet freezing to a perch! Photo credit: Hanging In There, Norma Larabee Gabriel
you know that, just like diamonds and rubies, snow is actually a Did mineral? According to the National Snow and Ice Center, a mineral is a
naturally occurring solid that is inorganically formed and has a definite chemical composition (i.e. snow!).
are 6-sided crystals. The water vapor in a cloud joins a tiny Snowflakes dust particle from volcanic ash, pollen, or meteorites. As the water vapor freezes, the water molecules bond together in a specific way leading to the hexagonal shape.
difficult statistic to narrow down, but most research estimates that Abetween ½ to 2/3 of the world’s population has never seen snow. are colorless. The snow crystals are translucent and reflect Snowflakes all color waves equally which produces the white color that we see. Deep snow can appear blue because as light is reflected over and over again by all the snow crystals, some of the red waves are absorbed thus allowing blue waves to reflect back to our eye.
1988, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in InBoulder, CO found two identical snowflakes from a snow sample taken right here in Wisconsin.
Photo credit: Cold Steel, Erik Hueblerwww.secondopinionmagazine.com | 7
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2019 Resolution: Go with Your Gut by Heidi Toy and Becky Streeter
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e’ve all heard the phrase “New year, new you!” Most of us have tried it. The diets that stick for a few weeks, or if you’re lucky, a couple months. The lofty exercising resolutions that we all love to hate, but never seem to last. But what if this year you choose to focus on something a little more basic? Let’s fix your gut from the inside out. Cue the microbiome. Never heard of it? An article in The Nutrition Source from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health puts it this way: “Picture a bustling city on a weekday morning, the sidewalks flooded with people rushing to get to work or to appointments. Now imagine this at a microscopic level and you have an idea of what the microbiome looks like inside our bodies, consisting of trillions of microorganisms (also called microbiota or microbes) of thousands of different species” [1]. Though measurably tiny, the health of your microbiome is huge! The microbiome in your gut affects the body from birth and throughout life by controlling many different processes. If your resolution is to lose weight, a healthy microbiome can aid in the digestion of food. If your resolution is to be happier, the microbiome directly relates to the central nervous system and can regulate anxiety, mood, cognition and pain [2]. January is not just a time for resolutions, it also tends to be one of the peak months for flu season. Improve the health of your microbiome, and your immune system and
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central nervous system will get a boost. When all your body’s systems can talk to each other with ease, you will be more resistant to disease and inflammation. A healthy microbiome can also aid in regulating sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen). Now it might not be quite as helpful if your resolution was to liven things up behind closed doors, but normalizing sex hormones does help prevent against autoimmune diseases for those with high genetic risk [3]. Microbiome is a bit of a buzzword in Functional Medicine right now. More and more studies are compiling fascinating information about the connection between the gut and the rest of the body. If you’ve tried all the typical resolutions, stuck to them, and still haven’t seen results, contact Heidi Toy, NTP to find out if you have a healthy microbiome. A true DNA/PCR based stool test called GI-MAP™ will provide answers and a good start to your better health. Contact Heidi today to set up an appointment and kick-start your 2019 New Year’s resolution by listening to your gut. Heidi Toy is a functional nutritionist and can be contacted via phone (715-869-3793) or email (hello@ educatednutrition.com). 1. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/ microbiome/ 2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22968153 3. http://science.sciencemag.org/ content/339/6123/1084
heidi toy FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
Autoimmune Disorders | Weight Gain/Loss Depression | Fatigue | Acne | Rashes | Anxiety Digestive Issues | Sleep Disturbances Hormone Imbalance Issues Heidi Toy, NTP
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715.869.3793 | www.educatednutrition.com www.secondopinionmagazine.com | 9
Rethinking the Shape of Dieting (or I Will NEVER Go on Another Diet!) by Anna Martinson, Certified Life Coach and Licensed Massage Therapist
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even years ago, I promised myself that I would never go on another diet. I was done with the lose/gain cycle, frustrated with the amount of time, money and energy I had put into unsuccessful lasting weight loss. I was done being angry and upset with myself. No more New Year's resolutions to lose 20 pounds in 20 days! It was time to rethink the shape of dieting. If you or someone you know struggles with weight loss and/ or emotional eating, see if this pattern is familiar. The Weight Loss Cycle: • Start a prescribed diet plan for guaranteed weight loss. • Experience initial weight loss accompanied by the feelings of success, pride, being in control. • Enthusiasm wanes, weight loss rules harder to follow, start to crave restricted foods. • Regain lost weight. • Feel emotional distress of guilt and shame. • Start a different diet, and repeat. Here is an important truth: for every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge. Most of us rebel against restriction after a period of time, so it is important to let yourself off the hook! It's not your fault! The media diet culture has fed us the lie that there is only one body type that is
right, good, acceptable. If you don't have that perfect (nearly impossible) body type, you're a failure, weak, and unattractive. Not true! Almost all diets fail and yet we try, again and again, each time hoping that "this time dieting will be different!" We just haven't discovered the "right" diet. We blame ourselves instead of realizing that there are numerous flawed approaches to dieting. The diet culture sets unrealistic standards and we chastise ourselves for not meeting those standards. The dieting industry's survival depends on dieters repeatedly coming back for more. We've been taught to trust external "experts" instead of being in-tune with our own bodies and trusting our own wise inner counsel. People who are overweight often feel shamed by the media, family, friends, doctors and self. Deprivation, fear, shame and guilt never will lead to long-lasting change. Body shaming inherently compels the person to do more of what they're shamed for. Long-lasting change can only succeed through loving kindness towards self, curiosity about the underlying issues that lead one to unhealthy eating habits and a willingness to act on your own behalf. Instead of trying to adhere to diets that encourage various methods of starving (restricting and external control), kinder and more gentle approaches to weight and food are available. Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch and Women Food and God by Geneen Roth emphasize creating a healthy relationship with food by listening to our bodies, eating mindfully, and treating ourselves with kindness and compassion. Geneen's guidelines for making peace with food and our bodies is my favorite! She emphasizes these loving guidelines: 1. Eat when you're hungry - Eat when your body is truly hungry. Nutritional hunger is the only genuine hunger, the other hungers we experience are for something else (i.e. comfort, reward, numbing, distraction, love, peace... to name a few.) 2. Eat sitting down in a calm environment - Be fully aware of the food in front of you and your body sensations. Relax. Take a
10 | www.secondopinionmagazine.com
few deep breaths. Give yourself your own attention, just that much is a way to love yourself. 3. Eat without distractions - Distractions include radio, television, newspapers, technology, books, intense or anxiety producing conversations. Have you had the experience of eating a meal while distracted then hardly remembering that you had just eaten? When you miss the experience and joy of eating, you'll often go back for more. Do you eat mindfully or mindlessly? 4. Eat what your body actually wants - What does your BODY (not your mind) really want? It probably isn't a donut or chips. Check in periodically with your body to know what it truly wants. That said, allow yourself to have what you love. One piece of it or a handful of chips. Sit down and savor the taste, the smell, the texture of the food you are eating. It may take some time and practice to tune into your body's messages and sensations, but you are worth the effort! Most of us tend to live in our mind instead of our body. 5. Stop when you've had enough, when you're satisfied - Stop half way through your meal, breathe, check in to notice your satisfaction level. There's a difference between satisfaction and fullness. Being tuned into your body's satiety cues requires presence and awareness. It's impossible to give yourself your full attention while watching TV or looking at your cell phone. Also, try to identify any potential unhealthy rules that you may have grown up with as child. For example, some of us grew up with the Clean Plate Club. This wellmeaning, yet sometimes harmful rule to prevent the wasting of food, taught children to rely on external sources (adults, clean plate) instead of internal sensations of fullness and satiety. It taught children to eat, often past fullness, to please others instead of self-regulating their food intake. 6. Eat with the intention of being in full view of other people - No sneaking food. Instead allow your precious self to be seen. 7. Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure! - I've attended two of Geneen Roth's week-long "Women Food and God" retreats in the majestic redwood forests of California. One of my significant takeaways from the retreats was learning to be truly present with food. To intentionally eat slowly, savoring each bite, taking in the pleasure while also noticing my fullness level. Eating good food that we love is pleasurable. Enjoy it! When you eat when truly hungry, an apple can be satisfying. When you eat when not hungry, nothing brings true satisfaction and worse, we typically choose carbohydrates or sugary foods.
We know that diets rarely work so what can we do? Paying attention to the WHY, HOW and WHAT of eating can be a positive start. WHY - We eat for a myriad of reasons other than true hunger: boredom, celebration, stress, coping, tiredness or because it’s there (office food) or because it’s free or on sale. We eat when we are not hungry for important reasons in an attempt to take care of a need(s). When I was young, food was my comfort and a way to tune out and cope in my alcoholic family. For many of us, the WHYs originated in childhood pain, thus the underlying issues need to be uncovered and healed. HOW - How do you eat? What eating guidelines do you currently follow? Do you eat with mental and body awareness without distractions? I love watching my young grandchildren eat. They eat what their body wants, they are fully present with their food and when they have reached satiety, they will push their plate or bowl away with a "Done." WHAT - Are you eating foods that give you energy and aliveness, foods you enjoy, foods that support your body’s nutritional needs? With curiosity, you could notice how you feel after a meal. Tired? Energized? Satisfied? Bloated? Light? What are you feeling thirty minutes after eating? It has been my experience that we need to rethink the shape of dieting — the WHY of eating when not hungry needs to be addressed first. The Diet Culture has it backwards. They try to make consumers believe that calories in/exercise out is the only solution. Almost all dieters know this isn't true! Unless the WHY is addressed first, we are doomed to repeated failure. Once the deep work of WHY and HOW have been healed, then we're ready to move on to the WHAT (specific foods, exercise). It’s a journey of self discovery. The practices found in Intuitive Eating and Women, Food and God re-teach you how to attune to your body's cues of hunger, dullness and satisfaction. Be lovingly curious. Being aware of the triggers to eat when not hungry is a good start as well. When you want to eat when not truly hungry, ask yourself "What do I REALLY want in this moment? What am I REALLY hungry for?" You might find the answer is rest, connection, water, movement. Be gentle and oh so kind to yourself and your unique, beautiful body. If you're curious about the ways the media, culture and biology have shaped the way we view bodies and dieting, I highly recommend Harriet Brown's book Body of Truth. She addresses the cultural obsession with weight and unpacks current myths about weight and health. www.secondopinionmagazine.com | 11
Relationship Between Cold Weather and Stroke By Alyssa Van Duyse, HSHS Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s hospitals
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old weather seems to make our noses run. It may weaken our immune systems. But does it increase the risk of stroke? Many medical experts say yes. “Although our numbers don’t necessarily support the theory, it’s widely accepted – especially in cold-weather climates like Wisconsin – that there is a correlation between cold weather and ischemic stroke,” said Jeannie Pittenger, HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital stroke program coordinator. “Our goal is to educate people so those at risk of a stroke can make necessary changes.” According to a 2015 study in the World Journal of Emergency Medicine, researchers found wind speed and a change in atmospheric pressure increased the cases of ischemic stroke – usually caused by a blood clot that clogs a blood vessel and keeps blood from flowing to the brain.
to the brain, the brain becomes starved of oxygen and the brain tissue can die very quickly,” he said. “Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and the fourth leading cause of death,” Tham said. “What used to be a hopeless condition we can now give hope and new life to our patients.” Tham has the extensive training and skilled ability to unclog that vessel. “When somebody comes through imaging and they determine we can do clot retrieval, a small tube is inserted into the groin and it is threaded up through the larger arteries into the brain,” Pittenger said. “Clot retrieval is used when other treatments aren’t effective or right for the patient.” Dr. Tham retrieves the clot, which can bring patients instant relief.
The North American Journal of Medical Sciences supports the theory, stating there is a seasonal increase of stroke events during the cold winter season. Data cited in the article indicates that low temperatures and barometric pressure changes can trigger adjustments in blood viscosity, blood pressure and hormones. In turn, those changes can lead to stroke. That’s where the stroke team at HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital comes in. Dr. Jacques Tham, interventional radiologist on staff at HSHS Sacred Heart, said every minute counts. “In the case of a stroke, time is brain, and we say that because we know that when there’s a blood clot blocking the blood vessels 12 | www.secondopinionmagazine.com
region for stroke care.”
“It’s incredible how quickly patients can recover after the procedure. The second the clot comes out we see them move the hand or leg that previously was nonfunctioning,” Tham said. “Clot retrieval is a game changer in the treatment of stroke. It allows us to treat the patients who did not have hope previously. We’re excited to be the leading center in the
Tyler Bowe, an HSHS Sacred Heart emergency department registered nurse who works stroke protocol, said he’s proud to tell people that his hospital is the only one in the region able to perform this important clot removal. “I’m still kind of blown away that we have this – that I can say to a patient I have more than just a medication to give you. There’s actually a possibility of a procedure that we can go in and get this,” he said. “We are the only people in the area that have it and that is something to be proud of. Our team is something to be proud of.”
Nonjudgmental Mindfulness Practice in the New Year J
By Ann Brand, PhD
anuary is that time of year we embark on our radical plans for self-improvement. We look at ourselves with dismay, berate ourselves for mistakes and poor choices made in the past year, and come up with a long list of the ways we are going to eat healthier, be more fit, get organized, and improve our flaws. We charge ahead with this ideal in mind, ready to take on the new year. And then by the end of January, we are right back where we started, failing to meet our lofty expectations and kicking ourselves for blowing our New Year’s resolutions once again. It is an all-too-familiar cycle. Mindfulness practice is one way to interrupt this painful cycle. Mindful awareness can support us in making wise, healthy changes that we can sustain throughout the new year. Change begins with awareness. We must first pay attention to our present experience, so we can see clearly what needs to change. That means seeing our experience as it is right now, not how we would like it to be. It is difficult to look at the unskillful patterns getting the way of well-being. We might see the ways we are not taking care of ourselves and the wellworn patterns behind our unhealthy habits. Perhaps we drink too much when we are anxious, or eat when we are lonely, or consistently put others’ needs before our own, leading to emotional burnout and poor health. Mindfulness practice supports us in staying present to our experience without judgment. We can see our unskillful patterns with kindness and gentleness instead of the harsh critic of self-improvement. With this clarity, we can make wiser changes that will support us in meeting our goals in sustainable ways.
Change is difficult. Our habits and patterns are engrained, and we are likely to slip up along the way. Maybe we are seeing our goals for the new year as a way of punishing ourselves for past failings. When we make a mistake in meeting those goals, it reinforces this self-punishment, sabotaging our efforts. “See,” our inner critic says, “you will never stop smoking, lose weight, run that marathon,” and then we give up. Mindfulness practice cultivates the awareness needed to keep us out of our judging, reactive mind, allowing us to stay present to our experience with kindness. We can then make a wiser choice to move forward in the face of an obstacle. Maybe the initial goal we set was too big to start with, and instead of giving up, we can see clearly how to readjust to support our long-term well-being. Mindfulness practice fosters the willpower we need to compassionately begin again when we make a mistake. Maybe your first intention for the new year is to cultivate nonjudgmental present moment awareness through the practice of mindfulness. Try reading a book like Real Happiness by Sharon Salzburg or take a mindfulness class, all in support of changes that lead to sustainable, healthy habits for the year ahead. Ann Brand, PhD, is a mindfulness meditation teacher and lecturer at UW–Stout in the School of Education. She teaches mindfulness classes in Eau Claire at The Center and can be reached at annbrand365@gmail.com.
"Mindfulness practice cultivates the awareness needed to keep us out of our judging, reactive mind, allowing us to stay present to our experience with kindness."
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Bounce to Your Step this New Year
By Brenda Crass, Owner, Pure Fitness 4 You
I
s exercise part of your 2019 New Year’s resolution? For most of us it is, and even if it’s not, you should still come on over and check out the NEW class for rebounding at Pure Fitness 4 You in Eau Claire: Bounce FIT. Rebounding utilizes a mini rebounder (small trampoline) as a fun and an effective tool to execute a variety of exercises. It uses both acceleration and deceleration to work on every muscle in your body. Several actions occur as you rebound. First, you accelerate as you bounce up. Then there is an instant of a weightless pause at the top before you decelerate at an increased G-force back to the rebounder. Aerobic Bouncing, Strength Bouncing and Health Bouncing are all used in rebounding to create an effective workout experience and create benefits which no other exercise can provide. A study completed by NASA in 1980 discovered rebounding to be twice as effective as running [1]. It can enhance digestion, stimulate metabolism, lower elevated cholesterol levels, reduce joint pain, reduce cellulite, keep pounds off, help promote weight loss, and increase stamina. Going even deeper to a cellular level, rebounding also has anti-inflammatory effects, strengthens the heart, and helps circulate oxygen to tissues leading to better circulation. It can also aid in the effectiveness of other exercises and improves sleep quality. This is just naming a few of the obvious benefits!
Let’s talk immune system. We know that one of the most important things we can do for our health is to move rapidly. Most of us immediately think of running, which is a good form of lymphatic circulation. Joggers tend to be healthy people, but this high impact sport is traumatic to parts of the body such as ankles, legs, the back and knees. This is where rebounding comes in. You can get all the aerobic exercise you need, and get all the lymphatic circulation, without the shock and trauma of hitting a hard surface. Adding rebounding into your existing workout routine can improve muscular development, physical strength, and proprioception, which is the ability to sense the position, location, orientation and movement of the body and its parts [1]. Rebounding doesn’t necessarily have to be done on a trampoline (although that does tend to make exercising pretty enjoyable), it can be incorporated into cross-fit, lifting, boot camp, and even yoga. No matter how you choose to exercise, rebounding is a great tool to add to your toolbox. Over all, rebounding is a great way to work major muscles groups through their full range of motion, and it can burn more calories then jogging. The best part is it’s just downright FUN! So come on in and try a 30 or 50 minute rebounding Bounce FIT class at Pure Fitness 4 You. Class schedules and other services offered can be found at purefitness4you.com 1. https://www.cancertutor.com/rebounding/
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