Slimkicker: The Health And Fitness App Like No Other

(Editors Note:  Today's post is about a health and fitness app that I came across that approaches the subject in a very unique way...hope you enjoy.  Check it out in more detail at SlimKicker.com)

Turn your weight loss and fitness goals into a level-up game

Gamification of weight loss

SlimKicker was formed to solve a huge problem when it comes to losing weight, or living healthier: sustaining motivation. Many people makes resolutions to stop eating junk, or start going to the gym every New Year. But once March or April hits, we forget about our goals, and return back to our old ways.
That's why we created SlimKicker, a level-up game and point-based program. You start by tracking your diet, where whole foods are worth more points than processed foods. It's similar to Weight Watchers, but in reverse.

But diet, and fitness are half of the battle. Most people regain weight because they never learn long-term habits. We solve this by taking habits as quitting soda, and turning them into 7-30 day challenges. Like a regular game, the challenges start out easy, and gradually become harder, with more points. We encourage you to check-in daily with others doing the same challenge for accountability and social support.

Does SlimKicker replace a diet program?

SlimKicker can be used alongside any existing diet program, or can replace other diets such as Weight Watchers. We think short-term diets are not effective because people return back to bad habits after they're over. SlimKicker, on the other hand is all about learning proper nutrition, portion control, and acquiring important habits. In addition to challenges, SlimKicker also offer tools such as a calorie counter, a fitness tracker, and resources.

Fun and Games are not Enough

Making things fun and motivating is cool, but it's useless without actionable, personalized advice. That's why we're working on using all your data to give you advice on how to reach your diet and fitness goals. So for instance, if we find you're eating a lot of junk food, we'll tell you ways to cut back, and healthier alternatives.

Our Team

SlimKicker, the idea was born in April 2012, and was officially launched out of beta in March 2012. We're a bootstrapped team based in NYC. If you wish to contact us, we're on Twitter, Facebook, or you can email us at team (at) slimkicker.com.

Reducing Health Care Costs With Upper Cervical Care

(Editor's note: This is from a blog that I came across the other day and I really enjoyed a recent post on it. There is an excerpt below but you can read the full article here.)

Top 5 Ways to Reduce Health Care Costs

By healthbymom

1. Lose Weight. 5 lbs. Can you start with losing 5 lbs? Just taking 5 lbs. of body weight off of your frame will improve your health. It is no surprise to read literature stating that obesity doubles or even triples health care costs. This is why companies are always encouraging weight loss! It is cheaper for them to insure people of a healthy weight. Why? Because people of a healthy weight are….generally…HEALTHIER! Reducing your weight will reduce your health care costs. Let me give you one example why. In just ONE POUND of fat, there are approximately 0.3 miles of blood vessels. This is why overweight people have high blood pressure. The heart has to work overtime and overpressure to get the blood pumped through all of that extra mileage. (It only takes 3.5 extra pounds of fat to have an entire MILE of blood vessels! – WOW!)

2. Move More! (Exercise). Clearly, this goes with the above. But most of us live relatively sedentary lives and without a conscious effort, we wouldn’t move more than just our fingers on a keyboard all day. Research (Medica and Life Time Fitness 2007) shows that people who received a financial incentive to exercise regularly saw an average claim cost decrease of more than 33% per member, per month. This research was based on those people exercising only an average of EIGHT days per month! Just EIGHT days! Moving their bodies on 8 out of 30 days resulted in 64.3% decrease in facility claims. They were healthier! And they were paying LESS to health care because of it.

3. Drink More Water! The body is composed of 55-75% water. And we are in need of CONSTANT water replenishment. Your health depends on water. Those energy cycles you were forced to learn in chemistry class are dependent on water. Water is needed to move the blood, to flush the liver toxins, to digest foods, to move the bowel, to sweat, to breathe…the list goes on and on. Water loss of only 1 – 2% can make you feel tired and zap you of your energy. Any more than that and you will start losing normal body functions. Perhaps your blood pressure will go up because your blood is thicker than it should be. Or you will be constipated because you don’t have enough hydration to move the bowels appropriately. So how much water should you drink a day? There are many different “rules”. Some people like the 8oz. of water 8 times a day rule. That one is just fine if you stick to it. I try to drink half my body weight in oz. per day. So, hypothetically, I weigh 120lbs (which I don’t). I would have to drink 60 oz of water in a day. It works. Sure, your bladder will have to get used to it. But once you stop worrying about those trips to the bathroom – you will notice that your energy is better, your attitude is better, and you just feel better all around.

4. Stop eating foods you cannot pronounce. Here’s a task for you. The next time you sit down with a bag or a package of some “food”, get on your favorite search engine (bing, google, yahoo…) and type in the ingredients one by one. I can almost guarantee that those long names you see on that package will have reported detrimental effects. They are cancer-causing, tumor-forming, and DNA-mutilating. Check out this article. It is a little dated, but not much has changed I promise you that.

So what should you do? Shop on the OUTSIDE aisles of the grocery store. Stick to fresh produce and meats whenever possible. Don’t go through that drive-through. Make changes for you, for your health, and for your family’s health. This type of change will pay you back in large dividends.

5. Last but certainly not least, seek out alternatives in health care. My personal #1 choice is upper cervical care. Insurance does not always cover it, that is true. But paying cash, out of pocket, is completely worthwhile to many families. Why? They get well from a wide variety of illnesses that they are no longer paying co-pays for repeat visits to the pediatrician or family physician; they are no longer paying for prescription medications or even over the counter medications; they aren’t missing work days to stay home with sick kids. They just aren’t! We see this over and over and over again. If you haven’t heard of upper cervical care, check out these two sites:

drjerrykennedy.com and uppercervicalcare.com

What Can Upper Cervical Care Do For _______?

I don't know about you but I often get questions similar to the ones below and I thought Dr. O'Shea does a great job of answering them. While this post is not written from an Upper Cervical Care perspective directly it illustrates, hopefully, the mindset that many patients start at and where we hope to take them. He has a focus on nutrition which, while not being my focus, I feel is as equally important to a good nerve supply. I like his no nonsense approach and putting the responsibility directly where it should be, with the patient. Not saying we do not have a responsibility but each individual person is ultimately and totally responsible for their own health. Anyway, here is what Dr. O'Shea has to say, enjoy.

From THE LAST RESORT
by Tim O'Shea

(Read the whole article here)

People keep asking me - what can you do for diabetes? What can you give me for arthritis? What do you got for high blood pressure, weight loss, thyroid, hot flashes, cancer, reflux, chronic fatigue... What they're really saying is - what magic bullet can you give me that will allow me to continue my current lifestyle of self abuse? I know where this idea came from. It's how we're raised: solving health problems is not our responsibility. See the doctor. He'll know what to give us.

When it comes to health, we try the easiest stuff first. Doctor appointments, tests, MRI, procedures, drugs, and more drugs - sometimes even surgery. All the things that THEY do - anything that doesn't require our participation. The comforting illusion that we're doing something about our problem by letting somebody else do it.

After a while, when all this has failed, a little light goes on - for some. And that's the idea that these guys really don't know what they're doing. And that if you're going to stop this downward spiral, it'll be totally 100% up to you.

Blind luck may suddenly reveal that the cause of most of your health problems is what you're putting in your mouth, both food and drugs.

And now you've come to that point of self-loathing or desperation or confusion or being fed up or whatever where you really want to make a change because you know you have to. Maybe it's a chronic digestive problem. Or a "weak heart." Or diabetes. Or chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, or MS. Or arthritis, or allergies, or asthma. Or a cross reaction from those combinations of medications that all those guys are giving you, without much consideration or concern, after that 5 minute office visit. With a nurse.

Lotta people jumping ship here. And many of you are washing up on my beach. After we start getting the spine in order, you want to know what else you can do. That's when we start looking at detox - cleaning out poisons that are stuck in the colon, the blood, the tract, the arteries. Rotting food, experimental medications, years of over the counter stuff, all those party drugs - it's stuck inside you. Time to clean house. Time to try something - anything, because whatever you've been doing so far just isn't working. You know you're dying, and that's not just an expression.

So here's your last resort - participation . Do-it-yourself health care. Many people find out, some too late, that this is the only thing that was ever going to work in the first place. What particular disease you have doesn't really matter that much. So much of it is just a name game anyway - they're usually just guessing. If your body's going to survive, the same rules of cell nutrition apply in every case. No matter how advanced your particular problem, you're still just flesh and blood like every one else. Your body follows the same physical laws. Every day you're alive, certain fundamental problems occur for your cells. Either these problems get solved or they don't.

It's really very simple once you realize that you're only going to be putting stuff in your mouth that will do one of two things:

cleanse and/or nourish

Couldn't be simpler. No matter what ideas you may have or what physical condition you're trying to solve, or what you've been through, if some of your cells are still alive, this is the basic program, the starting line for everyone.

So give yourself one last break. Whatever you need to do to get the self confidence to win this battle, do it. If this is the hardest thing you've ever had to do, seems like life's been pretty easy so far.

Quoting Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right”.