food

Encore Rehabilitation Food Drive to benefit The Neighborhood Christian Center

Encore Rehabilitation, Inc. Corporate and Central Billing Offices recently held their annual food drive for the Decatur community. This year’s food drive was to benefit the Neighborhood Christian Center of Alabama, Inc.

We LOVE serving in our communities!

#EncoreRehab


Pink Out Day for Breast Cancer Awareness at Encore Rehabilitation Corporate Office

Mrs. Moore and others contribute to food drives at Encore Rehabilitation clinics

Thank you to Mrs. Moore and everyone who are supporting Food Drives at many of our Encore Rehabilitation locations! Thank you for giving from the heart!

We LOVE our communities!

Mrs. Moore is donating at Encore Rehabilitation – Enterprise, Alabama!

Encore Rehabilitation-Enterprise
404 North Main Street
Enterprise, Alabama 36330
334-393-7465
Find Encore Rehabilitation on Facebook by clicking here

encorerehab.com

Pike Road Crawfish Boil 2019

Stephanie Reybitz, ATC, and Lauren Luke, PT enjoyed the 2019 Crawfish Boil Saturday! We love calling Pike Road our home! #EncoreRehab #mypikeroad
Stephanie Reybitz, ATC, and Lauren Luke, PT enjoyed the 2019 Pike Road Crawfish Boil Saturday! We love calling Pike Road our home!
Encore Rehabilitation-Pike Road
9427 Vaughn Road, Suite A
Pike Road, Alabama 36064
334-523-8999
Find Encore Rehabilitation-Pike Road on Facebook by clicking here
#mypikeroad
#townofpikeroad

Grill Time with the Oak Grove Warriors!

End of Summer Workouts Meal for the Oak Grove (Ms.) Warriors showing Asst. Football Coach Mitchell, Athletic Trainer Sam Morris, and Head Football Coach Drew Causey.

End of Summer Workouts Meal for the Oak Grove (Ms.) Warriors showing Asst. Football Coach Mitchell, Athletic Trainer Sam Morris, and Head Football Coach Drew Causey.

The Oak Grove Warriors (Mississippi) enjoyed a great End of Summer Workouts Meal as Athletic Trainer Sam Morris grilled out for the team! What a wonderful tradition!

Encore Rehabilitation-Oak Grove would like to wish the Warriors the best of success in the upcoming 2018 football season!

Encore Rehabilitation-Oak Grove
5266 Old Highway 11, Suite 130
Hattiesburg, Mississippi  39402
601-268-0208
Find Encore Rehabilitation-Oak Grove on Facebook by clicking here

encorerehab.com

The ultimate guide to keeping your diet during the holidays.

We know what you’re all thinking, keeping your diet during the most wonderful time of the year is not as easy as eating pumpkin pie. But we’ve done our research! The CDC and American Heart Association have come out with two awesome guidelines to help you keep up your diet through the holidays– And they are more simple than you think.

Let us start with a few pointers from the CDC shall we…

1. Holiday-Proof Your Plan by Planning Ahead

  • If your meal is served later than normal, eat a small snack at your usual mealtime and eat a little less when dinner is served.
  • Invited to a party? Bring a healthy dish along. Plenty of people will bring the sweets. (Be the change).
  • Don’t skip meals to save up for a feast. You’ll be really hungry and more likely to overeat (we’ve all done it, but you’ll be sorry about it later).

2. Outsmart the Buffet

When you face a spread of delicious holiday food, make healthy choices easier:

  • Make a small plate of the foods you like best. Portion control is everything.
  • Start with vegetables to take the edge off your appetite.
  • Eat slowly. It takes at least 20 minutes for your brain to realize you’re full.
  • Avoid or limit alcohol. If you do have an alcoholic drink, have it with food.

3. Fit in Favorites

Choose the dishes you really love and can’t get any other time of year, like Aunt Edna’s pumpkin pie (which has a lot less calories than pecan pie). Slow down and savor a small serving, and make sure to count it in your meal plan.

4. Gotta Keep Moving

You’ve got a lot on your plate this time of year (literally), and physical activity can get crowded out. But being active is your secret holiday weapon; it can help make up for eating more than usual and reduce stress during this most stressful time of year. Get moving with friends and family, such as taking a walk after a holiday meal. 

5. Get Your Zzz’s In

Going out more and staying out later often means cutting back on sleep. Sleep loss can make it harder to control your blood sugar, and when you’re sleep deprived you’ll tend to eat more and prefer high-fat, high-sugar food.  Aim for 7 hours per night to guard against mindless eating.

“Most of all, remember what the season is about—celebrating and connecting with the people you care about. When you focus more on the fun, it’s easier to focus less on the food.” 

See that wasn’t so bad! Now lets move along to what the American Heart Association has to say…

“This guide includes great tips and recipes to help you navigate the holiday season in a healthy way. Here are some simple ways you and your family can eat healthy. Visit heart.org/healthyeating to learn more.”

Include

• Fruits and vegetables • Whole grains • Beans and legumes • Nuts and seeds • Fish & skinless poultry, or plant-based alternatives • Fat-free and low-fat dairy products • Healthier fats and nontropical oils.

Limit

• Sodium and salt • Saturated fat • Sweets and added sugars, including sugar-sweetened beverages • Red meats — if you choose to eat red meat, select the leanest cuts.

Avoid

• Trans fat and partially hydrogenated oils

Tips

  • Choose wisely, even with healthier foods. Ingredients and nutrient content can vary by brand and preparation.
  • Compare nutrition information on package labels and select products with the lowest amounts of sodium, added sugars, saturated fat and trans fat, and no partially hydrogenated oils.
  • Watch your calorie intake. To maintain weight, consume only as many calories as you use up through physical activity. If you want to lose weight, consume fewer calories or burn more calories.
  • Eat reasonable portions. Often this is less than you are served.
  • Eat a wide variety of foods to get all the nutrients your body needs.
  • Prepare and eat healthier meals at home. You’ll have more control over ingredients.
  • Look for the Heart-Check mark to easily identify foods that can be part of an overall healthy diet. Learn more at heartcheck.org 

    **You can find delicious alternative recipes for family meals from the A.H.A. here.

 

“The Link Between Nutrition and Pain Is too Strong to Ignore” via APTA.

By Joe Tatta, PT, DPT, via APTA

Here’s a situation I bet you see all too often in your practice: a patient or client comes to you to overcome pain and increase mobility, and you see almost immediately that working on the mechanics of motion won’t be enough—they could really benefit from some lifestyle changes as well. Frequently, one of those changes involves thinking more carefully about the food they’re putting into their bodies.

Despite Hippocrates’ oft-quoted “Let food be thy medicine,” most physicians receive only a few hours of instruction about nutrition and coaching to help patients change their eating habits. Yet studies like this one from the National Institutes of Health show nutritional education becomes an incredibly useful tool to improve overall health outcomes for patients and specifically reduce inflammation.

As PTs, we are presented with a real opportunity here. Research shows that PTs can play an active role in lifestyle-related interventions such as nutrition. Providing information on nutrition will put you ahead of the curve with your peers while improving your patients’ results.

Early in my practice, I saw how obesity often contributed to my patients’ pain. Once I began providing information on some simple diet and lifestyle strategies with my patients, many lost weight, felt better, and dramatically reduced their pain. Nutrition became the missing link to help my patients manage and relieve pain.

Over time, I’ve found that nutritional screening and informational strategies can make a difference in 5 conditions associated with pain that we often see in our practices:

  1. Inflammation. Copious inflammatory foods, including vegetable oils, populate the Western diet. Most observational and interventional studies show a traditional Mediterranean diet, rich in healthy fatty acids, fruits, vegetables and fiber, provides anti-inflammatory benefits. Among specific conditions, studies show a Mediterranean diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants provide anti-inflammatory effects that benefit individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. Epidemiologic and clinical evidence likewise shows an optimal diet can reduce inflammation that, among other things, contributes to metabolic syndrome.
  2. Obesity. As we all know, a vicious cycle ensues as obesity contributes to numerous chronic pain conditions, and the pain in turn can lead to sedentary behavior that increases obesity. Studies prove what I’ve seen countless times in my own practice: weight loss must become a crucial aspect of overall pain rehabilitation.
  3. Osteoarthritis (OA). Studies have shown a relationship between pain and food intake among overweight and obese patients with OA. Fortunately, obesity is the most modifiable risk factor for knee OA. Of course, pain management is crucial to reducing OA symptoms. But even that may have a nutrition connection: one systematic review found scientific evidence to support some specific nutritional interventions–including omega 3 fatty acids–to relieve symptoms among patients with OA. Studies also show various nutrient deficiencies, including vitamins C and D as well as selenium, contribute to OA.
  4. Autoimmune disease. NIH estimates that 23.5 million Americans have an autoimmune disease (compare that with cancer, which affects 13 million Americans). Over 80 autoimmune disorders exist, including Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes. Of course, genetic predisposition, environmental factors (including infections), and gut dysbiosis play major roles in autoimmune disease development. But increasingly, researchers believe adverse dietary changes over the past 50 years–including gluten intolerances, altered gut bacteria, and vitamin D deficiencies–also contribute to that increased rate of autoimmune diseases. Chief among those changes is our prevalent high-sugar, high-salt, processed-food heavy diet that paves the pathway for autoimmune diseases. Nutrient-poor diets only exacerbate that problem: evidence shows vitamin D, vitamin A, selenium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, and flavanol deficiencies contribute to autoimmune diseases.
  5. Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes affects 29.1 million Americans (that’s over 9% of the population) and paves the way for serious complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetic neuropathic pain, a common diabetes complication and the most common form of neuropathic pain, affects over 90% of people with diabetes. Studies show increased musculoskeletal pain in patients with type 2 diabetes adversely impacts body mass index, quality of life, physical function, and physical activity abilities. The link between diabetes and nutrition is a fundamental one that should never be set aside.

Working with patients suffering these and other conditions, I’m often impressed how optimal nutrition becomes the needle-mover to alleviate pain and help people heal. So how can a PT incorporate these considerations into practice? Here are a few simple tactics you can use right now:

  1. Ask nutrition-related questions during your initial consultation. Simple things like “do you take a multivitamin” or “about how many vegetable servings do you eat a week” can help lead to gradual dietary tweaks that yield impressive results.
  2. Have your patients keep a 24-hour food diary. Beyond establishing adherence and accountability, asking patients to write down everything they eat for 24 hours provides insight to their daily eating habits. Once you have that insight, you can help them gradually improve those habits.
  3. Offer some simple information. Rather than impose a major dietary overhaul, ask patients to do things that don’t seem so overwhelming; for example, to increase their water intake, or eliminate processed foods and sugar.
  4. Create simple, attainable goals. Begin by allowing your patients to experience success in some way. You might ask a patient to lose 5 pounds over 3 weeks, or provide information about incorporating more omega-3 fats into their diet combined with their exercise program. These goals are doable, and they can provide your patient with the confidence to take on more challenging targets.
  5. Offer your patients other ways to access information on better nutrition. Providing your patients with collateral sources of information—a helpful blog post, or an engaging book on nutrition—helps to reinforce the idea that the benefits of what they’re doing are well-established, and that they’re not alone in their journey toward healthier living. During a subsequent visit, ask patients if they got anything out of what you shared. The more reliable, readable information they receive, the better the chances that they’ll begin to become genuinely interested in the topic themselves, and for the long run. Over time, I’ve even had a few patients recommend books and blogs to me. Refer patients to nutrition and dietary professionals when their needs exceed the professional scope and your personal scope of practice.

If you’ve incorporated nutritional screening and information into your practice, what did you find was the most challenging aspect? Did you see results when patients made those changes? Share your thoughts below.

Joe Tatta, PT, DPT, is a board-certified nutrition specialist and functional medicine practitioner who specializes in treating lifestyle-related musculoskeletal, metabolic, and autoimmune health issues. He is the creator of the Healing Pain Online Summit and The Healing Pain Podcast, and is the author of Heal Your Pain Now: A revolutionary program to reset your brain and body for a pain-free life by Da Capo Press. Learn more by visiting www.drjoetatta.com/apta.

How to Eat Well and Fit in Exercise During the Holidays.

As a part of our business, we also encourage our patients to eat and exercise well. This article advice is a guideline to help you be able to continue a healthy diet during the stress and the never ending line of food over the holidays.

What causes our eating habits to deteriorate during the Holidays?

  • Stress.
  • Exhaustion. When people are tired, they are more likely to overeat.
  • Emotional eating. Some people use food to soothe sadness, anxiety, dissatisfaction, or loss.
  • Some simply use any celebration as an excuse to overindulge. Comfort and nostalgia play roles, as well.

Let’s Focus on what you can do.

Look for solutions instead of obstacles. Plan ahead; be smart and creative, so that you can enjoy the holidays without wrecking your health. Understand your strengths and weaknesses so that you can determine the triggers that cause you to skip your exercise sessions. Everyone talks about the holiday weight gain.  Try not to think like that. Think about being with family and friends while eating in a healthy manner and maintaining a fitness routine.

Use your time management skills.

  • You do not have to attend every party.  Pick and choose the parties that are important to you.
  •  It is important to learn how to say no. The pressure to give in can be great; we don’t want to put a damper on the merrymaking or disappoint loved ones.
  •  You also do not have to cook every single dish for a dinner that you are hosting.  Have each guest bring something-a side dish or a dessert.
  •  Adults do not need to exchange gifts-pick a name out of a hat and buy one gift.

How will you handle all the food at the parties?

  •  Plan in advance.  Drink a couple glasses of water and have a light snack before you go to a party so that you will not be ravenous which leads to poor food selection. Hunger can undo the best intentions.
  •  If you’re traveling for the holidays, pick up some healthy, portable snacks at the grocery store before you leave so you’re less likely to be tempted by unhealthy options.
  •  Be aware. Be conscious of what you eat and how much. Avoid sources of temptation whenever you can. Try to focus in on some healthier options when you are at that office holiday party.
  •  Bring a veggie platter so that you know there will be something healthy to eat.
  • Small portion sizes and no seconds
  •  Alternate your alcohol with a glass of water. Drink a lot of water before the party. The alcohol served at many social events can also destroy our resolve to eat in moderation.
  • Walk around the buffet table first.  Be a food snob.  A large percentage of the food on the buffet table is really not that delicious.

How can I fit in fitness?

  •  Schedule fitness into your day.  Don’t let a busy schedule get in the way of your exercise program. You need to exercise over the next few months more than ever. There is always an excuse not to exercise.
  •  Exercise first thing in the morning when you have more energy.  It will also reduce stress, which will help you to control your food intake.
  •  You can break up exercise into several 10-minute exercise sessions.
  •  Walk at lunchtime.
  •  Save time by using HIIT.
  •  Think about which exercises you like to do and you will be more likely to do them.
  •  Book a trip for January or February, which will motivate you to exercise in order to look good at the beach.
  •  Find an exercise buddy for companionship.

Hire a Personal Trainer for accountability, varied routines, safety, result, and fun.

Source: http://www.recoveryfitness.net/how-to-eat-well-and-fit-in-exercise-during-the-holidays

“What should I eat for pre-game fuel?” We’ve got the solution.

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“So you’ve practiced hard all week.  You’ve hydrated and ate your pre-game meal 3-4 hours before kickoff.  But right before you go out for pregame warm-ups, your stomach is telling you it needs more fuel.  Keep it small and light.  1 hour prior to kickoff, eat 1-2 granola bars or a sports bar along with 1-2 cups of water or sports drink.  Find a bar high in carbohydrates (at least 20-30 grams) and light to moderate in protein (2-10 grams).  The carbs will give you the energy you need while the protein will satisfy your hunger but without giving you that full feeling.”

– Eric Oehms, Encore ATC