Kenwood Chiropractic

Kenwood Chiropractic Spinal Health Care for all ages. Dr. Timothy Zakrajsek and Dr. Gayle Garness are chiropractors serving Duluth and the surrounding communities.

Spinal treatments offered by your chiropractor, eases the vertebrae back into alignment, relieving pain, loosening tight muscles, and improving mobility and range of motion. Our chiropractors and the rest of the friendly team at Kenwood Chiropractic are dedicated to chiropractic solutions to target your unique needs, whether you are suffering from back pain, neck pain, headaches, or even just plain old muscular tightness and tension. You may need pain relief after suffering an accident, experiencing an injury, or if you have a specific condition such as chronic back pain or a spinal condition; even if you just want to improve your overall health, our chiropractors can help you achieve your wellness goals! Please visit the testimonials page to see what our patients are saying about our Duluth chiropractors and getting regular chiropractic treatments.

Does Chiropractic Care Help Relieve Stress?kenwoodchiro.comStruggling with stress? In addition to causing headaches and ...
05/06/2025

Does Chiropractic Care Help Relieve Stress?
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Struggling with stress? In addition to causing headaches and an upset stomach, chronic stress increases your risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, heart disease, and other ailments. Chiropractic care could help you lower your stress level and avoid unpleasant health consequences.

7 Stress-Related Benefits of Chiropractic Treatment

Wondering how chiropractic care can reduce stress? Visiting the chiropractor offers these stress relief benefits:

Looser Muscles. Muscles in your neck, shoulders, and upper back tighten when you feel stressed, causing pain and headaches. Massage, one of the treatments used by most chiropractors, relaxes muscles, easing pain and tension. During massage treatments, your body releases endorphins and serotonin. These hormones decrease pain and help you feel calm and relaxed. According to research from the University of Konstantz, as little as 10 minutes of massage can lower stress.
Less Pain. It's hard to relax when your muscles and joints hurt. Muscle and joint pain can be caused or worsened by subluxations, or misalignments of the vertebrae in your spine. Misaligned vertebrae may press on nerves, causing pain. Subluxations also increase tension in muscles and soft tissues, worsening pain and stiffness. Your chiropractor uses spinal manipulation therapy to adjust and realign the vertebrae. Quick movements with the hands or a handheld activator reposition vertebrae, relieving pain and soft tissue tension.
Better Nervous System Function. Managing stress is difficult when your nervous system isn't working efficiently. Pressure from tight tissues or subluxations can compress nerves that help your body control stress. Chiropractic treatments improve nervous system function, allowing your body's natural stress control system to work more effectively.
Improved Breathing. Stress can temporarily narrow the airway between the lungs and nose, causing shortness of breath or rapid breathing, according to the American Psychological Association. Tight muscles aren't just a problem in your neck and back. Stress may also tighten the muscles around your lungs, making it difficult to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, your stress level may increase if you can't breathe easily. Regular chiropractic treatments offer a simple way to keep chest muscles loose while enhancing the function of nerves responsible for breathing.
Fewer Gastrointestinal Symptoms. Do you experience upset stomach, diarrhea, heartburn, cramping, bloating, or nausea when you feel stressed? Urgent dashes to the restroom can be embarrassing and may only worsen stress. The calming hormones released during spinal manipulation, massage, and other chiropractic treatments reduce stress, helping you avoid gastrointestinal symptoms. Treatments also enhance the brain/gut connection by improving nervous system function.
Better Sleep. Does your brain refuse to calm down when you want to sleep? Poor sleep duration or quality can cause or worsen stress.
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The relaxing effects of chiropractic treatments help you get the sleep you need. If your sleep issues are due to chronic pain, regular visits to the chiropractor could keep your symptoms under control. Have you ever had a sleepless night due to back pain? Spinal manipulation therapy can be as effective as physical therapy and standard medical care in treating spine pain, according to a systematic review published in Frontiers in Pain Research in 2021.
Lifestyle Recommendations. An unhealthy diet may affect the way your brain and body react to stress. Making better food choices ensures that your brain and body receive nutrients that help your brain manage stress. Although exercise naturally lowers stress, it's important to choose a form of exercise that won't aggravate chronic conditions, like arthritis or spinal stenosis. Your chiropractor can recommend dietary and exercise changes that help lower your stress level while nourishing and strengthening your body.
Don't let stress take over your life. Lower your stress level naturally with chiropractic care. Contact our office to schedule a convenient appointment.

How Chiropractic Care Decreases Muscle Tensionkenwoodchiro.comAre your muscles painfully tight? Although over-the-counte...
05/01/2025

How Chiropractic Care Decreases Muscle Tension
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Are your muscles painfully tight? Although over-the-counter pain relievers and creams can offer temporary pain relief, your symptoms will continue as long as your muscles and soft tissues remain tight. Chiropractic care relieves muscle tension naturally without any uncomfortable side effects.

What Causes Muscle Tension?

Muscles react by contracting, or becoming tighter, after receiving a signal from the brain. Muscle contractions move the bone attached to a muscle, allowing you to lift your arm, take a step, or bend. After you complete the movement, the muscles relax.

Sometimes muscles contract partially even when you aren't using them. Muscle tension can cause stiffness and pain, which may increase when you move the affected muscles. As a result, you may notice reduced flexibility and range of motion in your joints. Muscle tension in your shoulders or neck can be a factor in painful tension headaches, the most common type of headache, according to JAMA Network. Tight muscles may also trigger migraines.

Sleeping becomes difficult when muscle tension causes pain and headaches. Unfortunately, lack of sleep may worsen tension, causing a seemingly never-ending cycle of pain and tightness.

Your muscles may become too tight for several reasons, including:

Injuries. Muscle tension may increase after an injury that strains or stresses your muscles.
Posture. Poor posture is a common cause of muscle tension. Slouching stresses muscles, pulling them tighter.
Stress. Have you noticed your shoulder and neck muscles feel tight when you're stressed? Muscle tension is a common reaction to stress, particularly if you often feel overwhelmed or stressed.
Overuse. Muscles can also become tense if you overuse them by exercising too long or too hard.
Relieving Muscle Tension with Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic treatments offer the ideal way to loosen tight muscles and relieve pain. Researchers who conducted a clinical trial published in the Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics in 2024 reported that chiropractic adjustments were more helpful in reducing low back pain than placebos or muscle relaxants.

During a visit to the chiropractor, your doctor performs an examination to determine the cause of muscle tension. Based on the results of the examination and a review of your symptoms, you'll begin a treatment program that may involve one or more of these therapies:

Adjustments. Subluxations, misalignments of the vertebrae in your spine, pull on muscles and soft tissues, increasing muscle tension. Realigning the vertebrae with an adjustment decreases pressure on tissues and allows muscles to relax. Muscle tension in other parts of your body can occur due to a misalignment of a joint. Your chiropractor can realign joints with gentle adjustments that improve your range of motion while decreasing muscle pain and tension.
Soft Tissue Therapies. Massage, soft tissue mobilization, and other therapies gently stretch tight tissues, releasing tension, and decreasing muscle spasms. The treatments improve blood flow and decrease inflammation.
Posture Improvement. Tight muscles can become a chronic problem without posture improvement. Chiropractic care eliminates misalignments and balances your body, making it easier to maintain good posture. Your chiropractor can also offer posture tips and suggest ergonomic modifications that will help you maintain good posture while you work or play on a digital device.
Exercises. Exercises that stretch and strengthen your muscles extend the positive effects of your chiropractic treatments. Your chiropractor may teach you a few exercises and stretches designed to counteract the effects of stress and poor posture on your muscles.
Ease your muscle tension with chiropractic care. Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the chiropractor. kenwoodchiro.com

This workout supplement isn’t just for muscles—it might boost your brain tooCreatine has long been a workout staple, but...
04/16/2025

This workout supplement isn’t just for muscles—it might boost your brain too
Creatine has long been a workout staple, but scientists say its benefits go beyond fitness.
Nat Geo Image Collection
ByAshley Mateo
February 13, 2025

Long prized by athletes for its muscle-boosting effects, creatine is now gaining attention for its potential benefits beyond the gym—supporting brain function, improving sleep, and even aiding mental health.

What is creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that your body makes from three amino acids. Your liver, kidneys, and pancreas produce about one to two grams per day, and you get about the same amount from protein-rich foods like red meat and dairy (a pound of beef contains about two grams). If you eat a balanced diet, you likely get enough—but for those lacking animal protein, a three- to five-gram supplement may help

This one muscle could be the key to fixing your back painByRae WitteApril 15, 2025Tight hip flexors, especially a deep m...
04/16/2025

This one muscle could be the key to fixing your back pain

ByRae Witte
April 15, 2025

Tight hip flexors, especially a deep muscle called the psoas, can silently stress your spine. Here's why this muscle deserves more attention—and how to strengthen it.

Lower back pain is often blamed on posture or pulled muscles—but the real cause may be deeper. Experts point to a deep, hidden muscle that connects the spine to the legs.

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Lower back pain can stab, throb, or ache without warning. But what if the problem wasn’t actually coming from your back?

It’s easy to blame posture or a pulled muscle. But an overlooked culprit may be buried deeper: your hip flexors—specifically, the psoas (pronounced so-EZZ).

This ribbon-like muscle curls from the top of your femur, over the front of the pelvis, and up to your lumbar spine and lower ribs. It’s part of the iliopsoas complex, says Richard Lau, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine—the muscle group often cited when athletes suffer “hip flexor strains.”

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How Your Chiropractor Can Help with Personal InjuriesKenwood Chiropractic    kenwoodchiro.comWhether you're suffering wh...
04/08/2025

How Your Chiropractor Can Help with Personal Injuries
Kenwood Chiropractic kenwoodchiro.com

Whether you're suffering whiplash following a car accident or experiencing joint and tissue pain after a fall, your chiropractor offers treatments that relieve pain and help you heal faster. Chiropractic care is an excellent option for many types of personal injuries and offers a drug-free approach to healing.

Chiropractic Care for Personal Injuries

Wondering if chiropractic care is right for you? Chiropractic care treats the source of your injury and can be a good choice for sprained ligaments, strained muscles and soft tissues, tendinitis, pinched nerves, misaligned joints, back and neck pain, and other painful conditions caused by personal injuries.

Adjustments Are a Key Component of Chiropractic Treatment

Vertebrae, the tiny bones that make up your spinal column, help you bend and twist. Falls and other types of personal injuries can disrupt the normal alignment of one or more vertebrae. Misalignments, or "subluxations" as chiropractors call them, can cause pain, inflammation, stiffness, and reduced range of motion. Subluxations may also press on nerves and soft tissues, increasing pain.

Chiropractors realign vertebrae by adjusting the bones with a handheld activator or a quick thrusting motion of the hands. Adjustments relieve pain and muscle tension while improving mobility. A research study published in Frontiers in Pain Research in 2021 noted that spinal manipulation is as helpful as physical therapy and medical care in relieving back pain.

Your pain may be due in part to pressure on a nerve. Nerve pressure can happen due to a subluxation or overly tight soft tissue. Correcting the subluxation removes pressure on the nerve, eliminating or reducing pain.

Treatments Target Inflammation and Stiffness

As soon as your body realizes you've been hurt, white blood cells flood your bloodstream and race to the site of your injury. The cells help repair and heal damaged tissues, although the increased blood flow causes inflammation. Swelling due to inflammation triggers stiffness that may make movements painful. Chiropractic care improves your symptoms by decreasing pressure on nerves responsible for inflammation.

Once your spine is properly aligned, treatments like massage or ultrasound therapy soothe sore, tight tissues. Massage stretches and loosens muscles and tissues, while ultrasound waves pe*****te deep tissues. The warming waves reduce pain and stiffness.

Chiropractic Care Improves Blood Flow

Your body's self-healing system relies on oxygen and nutrients circulated through your bloodstream. Unfortunately, blood flow is often restricted after an injury. Chiropractic treatment restores normal blood flow, speeding healing.

Chiropractic Eases Pain Holistically

Chiropractic treatments also spur the production of endorphins, dopamine, and seratonin. These hormones naturally ease pain, enhance your mood, and help you relax.

Prescription or over-the-counter pain medication decreases pain, but can cause side effects, like nausea and dizziness. When you use chiropractic therapies to treat your personal injury, you may be able to avoid pain medication completely or might be able to manage your pain with a lower dosage. Chiropractic care could also help you avoid opioid addiction.

Patients who received care initially from a chiropractor or physical therapist were less likely to use opioids in the short- or long-term compared to patients who first saw a primary care doctor, according to an observational retrospective study published in BMJ Open in 2020.

Chiropractic Can Shorten Recovery Time

Chiropractic treatments jumpstart healing, helping your body repair itself naturally. Since treatments target the source of your pain, you'll be less likely to experience lingering pain. During your visits to the chiropractic office, your chiropractor may also teach you exercises that reduce stiffness and strengthen muscles that support your joints.

Are you in pain due to a personal injury? Chiropractic treatment offers the ideal way to treat your injury. Contact our office to schedule your appointment. kenwoodchiro.com

How Chiropractic Care Helps with Lifting Injuries   kenwoodchiro.comFeeling sore and stiff due to a lifting injury? Inju...
04/07/2025

How Chiropractic Care Helps with Lifting Injuries kenwoodchiro.com

Feeling sore and stiff due to a lifting injury? Injuries that strain your muscles, joints, and vertebrae can happen whether you're lifting weights at the gym or moving a heavy box at home or work. Chiropractic treatment offers targeted therapies designed to reduce pain from lifting injuries, restore movement, and decrease the risk of future injuries.

Types of Lifting Injuries

Lifting injuries range from mild to severe depending on the type of injury. Although any part of the body can be affected, injuries typically affect the back, neck, or shoulders. Common lifting injuries include:

Back Sprain or Strain. Back injuries will affect about 80 percent of Americans at some point in their lives, according to Washington State University. Did you feel an uncomfortable tug in your back after lifting something heavy? You might have strained, stretched, or torn muscles and ligaments in your back or a subluxation. Subluxations happen when a vertebra in your back becomes misaligned.
Neck Strain. Strained or torn soft tissues and subluxations in the neck can lead to pain, stiffness, and headaches.
Shoulder Injuries. Holding your arm in an awkward position when lifting objects overhead can strain your rotator cuff and other shoulder muscles and cause bursitis, a painful inflammation in the fluid-filled sacs that cushion your shoulder joint. Pain and stiffness may interfere with normal movement of your shoulder and arm.
Herniated Disc. Flexible rubber discs between each vertebra cushion your spine and keep it flexible. Heavy lifting increases pressure on discs, which can lead to a herniated disc. Herniated discs occur when the soft inner core of the disc protrudes through the tough outer covering. Symptoms vary depending on the location of the herniated disc. If you have a herniated disc in your neck, you may notice pain, numbness, or weakness in your shoulder or arm. If the herniated disc occurs in the back, you may notice sciatica symptoms, like pain, numbness, and weakness in the lower back, buttocks, legs, or feet.
Easing Your Pain with Chiropractic Care

Pain relievers dull pain, but only provide a temporary solution. Chiropractic treatments address the source of your pain and promote healing. After a thorough examination, your chiropractor will prepare a treatment plan that may include a few of these treatments:

Spinal Manipulation. Spinal manipulation realigns the vertebrae in your spine. Once the vertebrae are realigned, tension on nerves, muscles, joints, and soft tissue decreases, improving range of motion in the back and neck and reduces pain, stiffness, and inflammation. Worried about taking too much time off of work due to your injury? Injured employees who received chiropractic treatment for low back injuries returned to work sooner and had less costly treatment than those who received medical treatment, according to an Insurance Journal article about a Workers' Compensation Research Institute study.
Soft Tissue Therapy. Soft tissue treatments, which include massage, soft tissue mobilization, trigger point therapy, and myofascial release, decrease muscle tension and inflammation, boost circulation, and break up scar tissue that could limit flexibility and mobility.
Flexion Distraction. Flexion distraction therapy can pull a herniated disc back into position by gently decompressing and stretching the spine. As the spine stretches, space between the vertebrae increases and painful pressure on nerves decreases.
Electrical Stimulation. Electrical stimulation therapy uses mild electrical pulses to prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. The mild electrical current travels through electrodes attached to your skin.
Ultrasound Therapy. Ultrasound waves warm these tissues, decrease pain, improving circulation, promoting, and reducing swelling and stiffness in your deep tissues.
Stretches and exercises may also be part of your treatment plan. Exercise strengthens the muscles that keep your joints and muscles strong and flexible, which may decrease your risk of future lifting injuries. Your chiropractor can also provide posture tips and demonstrate proper lifting techniques.

Struggling with a painful lifting injury? Relieve your pain and stiffness with chiropractic care. Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the chiropractor. kenwoodchiro.com

Happy Spring !It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the l...
03/19/2025

Happy Spring !
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade."

– Charles Dickens

Got Neck and Upper Back Pain? You Might Have Upper Cross SyndromeYour job or hobbies could increase your risk of develop...
03/19/2025

Got Neck and Upper Back Pain? You Might Have Upper Cross Syndrome

Your job or hobbies could increase your risk of developing upper cross syndrome (UCS), a postural imbalance that affects people of all ages. Fortunately, chiropractic care can improve your posture and your symptoms. kenwoodchiro.com

What Is Upper Cross Syndrome?

Upper cross syndrome, also called "upper crossed syndrome," affects muscle balance in your upper body, including your chest, neck, and back. Some muscles become too tight and others too weak. The syndrome gets its name from the "X" shape the muscles form when you look at them from the side. People with UCS have hunched backs, rounded shoulders, and heads held farther forward than normal.

What Causes UCS?

Poor posture is the top cause of UCS, according to WebMD. You may be more likely to develop UCS if any of these risk factors apply to you:

You use a computer or laptop for work or gaming
You spend long periods on your phone or other digital devices
You're a professional driver or you regularly drive long distances
Your job or hobby requires looking downward (sewing, hairstyling, etc.)
You participate in a sport, like swimming or weightlifting, that requires extensive use of the muscles in the shoulders, neck, and upper back
You sleep on your stomach
Do You Have Upper Cross Syndrome?

If you have UCS, you may notice one or more of these symptoms:

Frequent Neck Pain
Upper and Mid-Back Pain
Tight Neck and Upper Back Muscles
Decreased Range of Motion Due to Tight Muscles
Headaches, Particularly at the Base of the Skull
Dizziness
Numbness or Tingling in the Arms
Discomfort When Sitting for Long Periods
Without treatment, UCS can lead to:

Joint Damage
Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ)
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (A condition that causes numbness and tingling in the arms by pressing on the nerves and blood vessels between the collarbone and first rib.)
Reduced Lung Capacity Due to Reduced Movement of the Ribs
How Chiropractic Care Can Help You

Chiropractors treat many conditions that affect the muscles and joints including UCS. During your first visit to the chiropractic office, your doctor will take a look at your posture and evaluate muscle strength and range of motion. Based on the results of the examination, your treatment plan may include some of these therapies:

Adjustments. Adjustments, also called spinal manipulation, realign the vertebrae. These small bones make up the spine and can become misaligned due to poor posture. Chiropractors use quick movements and controlled force to restore the normal alignment of your spine. Treatments ease pain, improve mobility, and reduce pressure on nerves.
Soft Tissue Therapy. Your treatment plan may include massage, soft tissue mobilization, trigger point therapy, myofascial release, or other soft tissue therapies. These therapies loosen and stretch tight muscles and tissues and eliminate painful knots. In a research study published in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, researchers noted that soft tissue mobilization and stretching were more effective in relieving neck pain than routine physical therapy.
Posture Improvement. Improving your posture is a must if you have UCS. Chiropractic treatments restore muscle balance, making it easier to maintain good posture. Your chiropractor can offer a few tips that will help you maintain good posture throughout the day.
Exercises. During your visits, you'll also learn a few exercises designed to strengthen weak muscles while stretching and loosening tight muscles and tissues. Performing these exercises daily, in addition to sleeping on your back and holding your cellphone higher, may improve your symptoms.
Are you dealing with pain and stiffness due to upper cross syndrome? Chiropractic care will relieve your symptoms and help you avoid long-term health consequences. Give us a call to schedule your appointment with the chiropractor.
kenwoodchiro.com

Stretching can be very time-consuming. After all, even if you focus on just the major muscles, a full-body stretch can t...
05/10/2024

Stretching can be very time-consuming. After all, even if you focus on just the major muscles, a full-body stretch can take 10-15 minutes to complete. Needless to say, this is much longer than most people want to spend on their flexibility.

However, there is no need to stretch all your muscles equally. In fact, several muscles don’t really need stretching at all. Subsequently, it’s possible to reduce your flexibility training down to just a handful of stretches, making working on your flexibility more convenient.

The muscles that tend to be the tightest and, therefore, need the most attention are:

Hamstrings
Hip flexors
Quadriceps
Pectoralis major
Latissimus dorsi
Stretching these muscles will fix many of the most common flexibility issues and should only take a few minutes to complete. As such, you can work on these muscles several times per day, which will produce noticeable results in a few short weeks.

Stretching Too AggressivelyNo pain, no gain is a common fitness mantra. This makes a certain amount of sense, given how ...
05/10/2024

Stretching Too Aggressively

No pain, no gain is a common fitness mantra. This makes a
certain amount of sense, given how effective intense, uncomfortable workouts usually are. However, stretching too intensely can cause severe muscle, tendon, and joint injuries, so it’s best to dial things back and stretch more gently.

When stretching, you should take your muscles to the so-called point of bind, or POB. This is where you feel mild tension in the target muscle. Hold this position for 10-30 seconds and, as your muscles relax, move to a new, deeper POB (3). Repeat this sequence several times before switching to another body part.

Stretching too far too fast could cause muscle fiber tears and also triggers a contraction, essentially shortening the muscle you are trying to extend. Needless to say, this is the opposite of what a good flexibility program should achieve.

You’ve probably stretched too far if you experience:

Pain in the target muscle
Muscle shaking
Tingling in your extremities
Burning down the limb being stretched

kenwoodchiro.comCollagen protein is the most abundant type of protein in the human body. But once we reach our 30s and 4...
03/12/2024

kenwoodchiro.com

Collagen protein is the most abundant type of protein in the human body. But once we reach our 30s and 40s, nearly all women and men produce less collagen. In fact, sometime after the age of 20, collagen production naturally begins to diminish (sometimes by up to 1 percent each year). That shortfall can really add up over the years.

We can thank this process and lower levels of collagen for contributing to “normal signs of aging,” such as fine lines, wrinkles, sagging skin, as well as impacts to the hair, joints and the gut.

Meanwhile, many people, without being aware, are so-called “collagen bankrupt,” meaning their diets included hardly any of this valuable protein — and thus missing a significant way to support their joint, digestion and skin health.

A “collagen loading protocol” can help people get back on track for collagen intake and boost those declining collagen levels.

What is collagen loading? As explained in more detail below, it’s when you consume up to three servings of collagen per day, most often from collagen powder or capsule supplements.

This approach can help people benefit from improved joint comfort and mobility, enhanced exercise recovery, healthy gut function, skin improvement and much more.

Of course, you should always consult your healthcare professional prior to beginning any new dietary or lifestyle regimen, including collagen loading.

What Is Collagen Loading? Does It Work?
Collagen loading is a supplement plan that involves consuming collagen protein daily, usually about three servings of collagen powder or capsules, for a designated period of time.

Does collagen loading really work? Like any supplement or diet plan, it depends on the individual and their overall lifestyle. However, the addition of collagen to many people’s diets can go a long way in promoting joint, digestive and skin health.

Collagen is a unique protein because it’s brimming with certain amino acids that are not very abundant in proteins like meat or dairy, including glycine, proline and arginine.

The average person today doesn’t consume much collagen from their diet, if any at all. That’s because collagen is only available in very few foods, most notably bone broth (made with collagen-filled animal bones, connective tissues and skin), which is no longer a mainstay in the modern diet like it used to be centuries ago.

This helps you to obtain an array of amino acids that your body requires for maintenance of healthy tissues that help form your gut lining, joints, cartilage, ligaments, skin, hair and nails.

Health Benefits
By now you’re starting to understand why collagen is so valuable. Here are other benefits associated with collagen supplements, particularly Ancient Nutrition’s Multi Collagen Protein powders or capsules, taken as part of a collagen loading protocol:

Provides support for healthy hair, skin, nails, joints, and gut

Reduces joint discomfort and helps joints recover faster

Supports exercise recovery

Promotes healthy hair thickness and growth, and reduces hair breakage

Improves the appearance of crow’s feet after 4 weeks of use

Reduces knee stiffness at 7 days of use
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Intermittent Fasting Benefits and Schedule By Rachel Link, RD, MSkenwoodchiro.comUnlike other diet plans, an intermitten...
02/28/2024

Intermittent Fasting Benefits and Schedule

By Rachel Link, RD, MS

kenwoodchiro.com
Unlike other diet plans, an intermittent fasting diet doesn’t set any strict standards, rules or restrictions on which foods are permitted or how much you can eat, although eating a healthy diet is always wise. Instead, it requires you to revise your eating pattern and abstain from eating altogether during specific windows of time.

While many choose to adopt an intermittent fasting diet for weight management, there are plenty of other reasons to consider it as well. Interestingly enough, research suggests that fasting may also help support healthy blood sugar levels, support a healthy response to inflammation and keep your heart healthy and strong.

From fasting for a few days every week to simply switching up your eating schedule, intermittent fasting (IMF) is a simple strategy that can help you make major strides in your health.

Is intermittent fasting suitable for women? Generally speaking, yes, but women tend to be more sensitive to the effects of fasting compared to men. Certain women may encounter hormone issues if they fast for days on end — therefore, they may benefit from doing intermittent fasting only a few days a week rather than every day, for example.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Also known as cyclic fasting, intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that has risen in popularity in recent years. With new research constantly emerging on new potential intermittent fasting benefits, dieters have turned to this popular plan looking to manage their weight, maintain healthy blood sugar levels and boost their overall health.

Although it’s only recently started popping up in mainstream media, intermittent fasting is hardly a new concept. In fact, fasting has been used for centuries during times when food was scarce and it even plays a central role in many major religions. Once a year during Ramadan, for example, Muslims around the globe observe a month-long period of fasting from dawn until sunset.

So how does intermittent fasting work exactly? Cutting-edge intermittent fasting science suggests that it could positively impact cells by helping to fight free radicals. Practicing intermittent fasting can also help your body’s ability to deal with stress at a cellular level, which could help with healthy aging as well as overall health.

Because there are so many different variations and styles, there are no exact guidelines or rules for how to do intermittent fasting. However, most types involve abstaining from food altogether for a period of 16–24 hours at a time.

Types
There are several different variations of fasting, making it easy to find an intermittent fasting plan that can work for you.

Here are a few of the most popular types:

16/8 Fasting:This method requires you to fast for 16 hours every day and limit your eating to an eight-hour window. Typically, this involves not eating anything after dinner and skipping breakfast the next morning. This is the most popular form of intermittent fasting.

Alternate-Day Fasting: This involves eating every other day. On fasting days, some eat no food at all and others eat a very small amount, usually around 500 calories. On non-fasting days, you should follow your usual, healthy diet.

The Warrior Diet: This diet entails eating only specific foods (such as fruits, vegetables, clear broth and hard-boiled eggs) during the day and eating one large meal at night.

Eat-Stop-Eat: This variation involves picking one or two days out of the week in which you fast for 24 hours, then eat nothing from dinner one day until dinner the next day. On the remaining days, you should follow a regular diet.

5:2 Diet: For five days of the week, you eat normally. During the remaining two days, you should restrict your caloric intake to between 500–600 calories daily.

Benefits
Here are a few of the top benefits of intermittent fasting.

1. Boosts Weight Management
Many people turn to intermittent fasting for how to lose weight or weight management, and for good reason. Not only does it help reduce your overall caloric intake by restricting your eating window, but it can also rev up fat-burning by pushing your body into ketosis.

Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body uses fat for fuel instead of sugar. Similar to the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting works by depriving your body of its main source of energy, forcing it to start breaking down fat cells instead.

2. Maintains Heart Health
Much of the emerging intermittent fasting research has focused on its ability to help with heart health. In fact, studies show that intermittent fasting can positively influence heart health factors, including supporting healthy cholesterol levels and triglycerides.

It may also support a healthy response to inflammation, another major factor that can benefit a healthy heart.

3. Supports Healthy Brain Function
Although current research is mostly limited to animal models, some studies have found that intermittent fasting could support brain health. It can also support a healthy response to inflammation, which can support healthy aging and healthy neurological function.

4. Supports Already-Healthy Blood Sugar
Intermittent fasting is a great tool for supporting already-healthy blood sugar levels. Plus, it can also help support healthy insulin levels, which can benefit the body’s ability to use this important hormone efficiently in its normal function of transporting sugar from the bloodstream to the cells.

5. Supports a Healthy Response to Inflammation
Inflammation is a normal immune response designed to protect the body against injury and more. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, can lead to chronic issues.

Promising research suggests that fasting may help support a healthy response to inflammation. Plus, it can also support a healthy response to reduce oxidative stress throughout the body.
kenwoodchiro.com

Address

1410 Kenwood Avenue
Duluth, MN
55811

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 4pm

Telephone

+12187246008

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