Debbie Baumgarten

New Fibromyalgia Book

March 23, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

For several years I have been working on writing a book about recovering from Fibromyalgia. Based on 15 years of research and study about what might be causing it and how to recover my health. After reading a ton of books, visiting numerous clinics, following many different treatment protocols with different drugs, diets, supplements and exercises, I have composed a summary of findings of what improved my health and eased the symptoms.

Unfortunately the drug companies, with their big budgets and huge profits, spend much more on advertising than on research to find the cause and cure. Most of the promoted drugs to treat Fibromyalgia have side-effects that I just couldn’t tolerate. And at best they only serve to mask the problem rather than fix it.

There are however solutions that do improve symptoms and ways you can recover your health. There isn’t a one shot cure, at least not that I have found. It takes some real determination and persistence. It also takes an intelligent assessment of what’s important and the best sequence with which to address the complexities of this illness.

My hope is that I can help ease the suffering that so many people with Fibromyalgia go through. If I can help ease the pain for my fibro-friends by providing helpful information, then I will have accomplished something truly worthwhile.

The book will be coming soon, a few weeks from now and will be pushing on Kindle. I am doing a final editing to make sure it is streamlined, easy to read and full of pearls of wisdom gleaned over my 15 year battle with this chronic illness.

Meanwhile, some information is available on my website: https://fibro-free.com/

Shopping Healthy on a Budget

March 21, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

You don’t need to buy everything from Whole Foods to get high quality organic foods and products. I do occasionally go to Whole Foods, but it is usually to only pick up a few choice items. There are much more economical means of shopping healthy to stock your fridge and pantry on a tight budget.

Local Farmer’s Markets can be a good option for shopping healthy while supporting your local farmers. Find out if you have one in your town or a nearby town and try to frequent it each week. Look for any organic produce or for those items on the clean 15 list that aren’t vital to get organically grown.

Amazon Pantry is a great option to buy some products. There are more and more organic and healthy products being offered through this service. You order and try to fill a box for one low shipping rate and it is delivered right to your door. It’s really convenient and mostly low prices. You can read about it and use it through this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/pantry/info/

Walmart now offers numerous organic options at low prices. I can get chicken and turkey meats that are hormone and antibiotic-free, organic olive oil, broccoli, cauliflower, baby spinach, carrots, celery, almond milk, onions, apples and more at the local Walmart in a small Texas town.

Costco is offering more and more organic items, including organic chicken, eggs, beef, numerous fruits and veggies in the produce section as well as in the frozen foods section, making this another great option for shopping healthy.

Trader Joe’s, Sprouts and other health-food-oriented stores often offer lower prices on many of the healthier natural and organic products and produce.

Local grocery stores vary as to how much organic and all natural products they sell. But overall things are improving with many local grocery stores offering such choices. In Texas we have HEB Grocery Stores and they offer quite a large selection of organic produce and other products at decent prices.

Once you scope out what is available in your local area, it isn’t hard to get into a routine where you know what to get from where to get the best prices. I don’t spend any more money grocery shopping now (getting much healthier choices) than I did when I was oblivious to these health issues. I just learned the how-to of shopping healthy in my own area.

Is Sugar Killing Us?

March 16, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

It has been estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture that the average American consumes between 130 and 170 pounds of sugar per year. At the turn of the 20th century the average consumption was recorded at 40 pounds per year. Now this begs the question whether the increase in diabetes, obesity and several other health problems over the last couple of decades is merely a coincidence? I don’t think so. The inconvenient truth is that something as innocent as a grain of sugar has been scientifically proven to be just as addictive as cocaine and food manufacturers are exploiting this legal drug.

The biggest culprits are soft drinks, which make up about 33% of overall sugar intake for the average American. People who argue that switching to energy drinks are healthier would be wrong, because energy drinks pretty much consist of water, sugar and artificial flavors. In fact, manufacturers are hiding sugar in products we never even thought contained sugar in the first place, such as almond milk, ketchup, barbecue sauce, salad dressings, packaged meats and too many more to list here.

In order to save money, food industries started to replace sugar with fructose corn syrup. Corn syrup, which looks like honey, is 24% water and 76% sugar. To make matters worse, 83% of teenagers go to a school where soft drinks, energy drinks and candy are actively promoted. The constant advertising on television, radio and the internet is astonishing. It shouldn’t be difficult to understand why so many people are struggling to lose weight. It’s in their faces constantly, they are tricked into thinking some things are healthy and they are consuming sugar without even knowing it.

There is no pretty way to say that a high intake can lead to death. According to a 15 year long Harvard study, the current levels of sugar intake doesn’t just add 10% of calories per day, but it also doubles your chances of dying from heart disease. As well, more than 10 million Americans suffer from some form of diabetes and about 4 million more are unaware they even have it. If it wasn’t for Mexico, America would be on top of the list for the country with the highest obesity rates, and everyone knows the consequences of being obese. Sugar ultimately creates an imbalance in the body that can lead to organ failure and several other pathological conditions.

And don’t get me started on artificial sweeteners as they are even worse!! I’ll cover more of that in another post.

But there are solutions. Ways you can have your cake and eat it without the health risks. Check out the section of this website called Sugars and Sweeteners for some great solutions.

Build a Strong Immune System

March 13, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

Here is a summary of what I have gleaned from various studies as some of the most important steps to take in building a robust and strong immune system:

1. Probiotics are vital for a strong immune system. I have found that raw probiotics are far more effective than the kind you buy off the shelf that are not live. In most health food stores you can find a refrigerated section of probiotics. You want one that has numerous strains and are in the billions. I like Garden of Life.

If you just completed a round of antibiotics or you have been a frequent user of antibiotics, I would recommend that you do something intense for a short period to repopulate your gut with good bacteria as fast as possible to avoid an overgrowth of bad bacteria. Something like Garden of Life Raw Probiotics 5-Day Max Care. After that you should go onto a regular daily dose that you always take just like daily vitamins.

Even better, you can make your own kefir using raw goat or cow’s milk. The strains of good bacteria that you get from this are in the trillions with as many as 30 different strains. There are numerous videos on YouTube that show you how to make it. It’s quite easy and very healthy to drink a glass of it each morning. It’s one of the best things you can do to build a strong immune system. Here is a website with more information: https://www.naturehaditfirst.com/products/health-wellness/kefir-grains/ There is also a website that will help you find where you can get raw milk – www.realmilk.com

2. Decrease toxic load into your body – that means no smoking, no pollution, no toxic chemicals ingested, inhaled or absorbed through your skin (cleaning agents, hair dye, etc.).

3. Cut out all junk food, sugar, processed foods. Eat organic produce, meats, etc. Minimally follow the points laid out in my book entitled “HealthKick, Extraordinarily Easy Healthy Living Hacks for Ordinary People”.

4. Drink a lot of water daily as well as green tea. Green tea (Camellia sinensis) has been considered a medicinal remedy in Chinese tradition for over 4000 years and its many health benefits have recently been validated by scientific methods. Green tea contains a group of flavonoids which appear to inhibit viral infections.

5. Get good sleep.

6. Testing for environmental and food allergies and sensitivities can also help. Allergies and sensitivities can overwork the immune system and weaken it.

Building a strong immune system can have many health benefits including getting sick less, keeping viruses at bay, improved digestion and even improved energy levels.

Sleep Quality

March 5, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

Improve Sleep Quality

Getting a good night sleep is how your body recovers from stress and activity during the day. Sleep quality makes a world of difference on your energy level and performance the next day. It’s vital to having a strong immune system. Being tired can also encourage unhealthy “solutions” due to sugar cravings, caffeine cravings and other unhealthy desires, just because you are trying to give your body an extra jolt to compensate for being tired.

There are some things that can help your sleep quality. Melatonin is one. This is a hormone that you can get in most Health Food stores or areas where vitamins are sold. I use the kind that is time released as I use to have a problem of waking up during the night and not being able to get back to sleep. You need to find the right dose that works best for you. I use 5 mg time released. My brother takes twice that amount. My husband, when he uses it takes a much smaller dose.

Sleep schedule: Having a stable sleep schedule helps a lot too. You need to find your sweet spot as to your best schedule. I tend to wake up early, so I have found it is best for me to go to sleep around 10 or 10:30 at night. I wake up at 6 or 6:30 with a good night’s sleep. If I stay up much later than that I usually find I get a crappy night of sleep. If you want to sleep later in the morning past sunrise, then I recommend black out curtains or shades to keep the room dark.

There are also things that can put a real damper on sleep quality. Consuming a lot of MSG in your food is one. Another is alcohol. And of course caffeine or dark chocolate late in the day or evening as stimulants can keep you from going to sleep or sleeping restfully.

If none of the above easy remedies help you sleep, please don’t resort to taking OTC sleeping meds. A new study has found a definite link between high use of anticholinergic drugs (including popular non-prescription sleep aids and antihistamines such as diphenhydramine) – and increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Here’s a link to one of many articles on the subject: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/288546.php

There is another solution that may be applicable to many women with consistent sleep quality issues. It completely handled my sleep problems (which started just as I was headed toward menopause). Progesterone in capsules or caplets, which must be prescribed by a doctor, that you can take each night at bedtime. You can also use a cream, but I found that taking it orally was much better for sleep. Of course this would require proper hormone testing and a doctor’s prescription. But it is well worth the trouble if you aren’t sleeping well and usual supplements don’t help. And it is much better than OTC sleep meds.

How much sugar is in fruit juice?

March 1, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

There is one major point about fruit juice that I would like to make. Many people think that drinking fruit juices is a healthy option to sodas and things. Drinking fruit juices is not the same as eating fruit. These juices have been strained of their fiber and just the fruit juice alone is very high in sugar content. With no fiber, this fruit juice sugar goes directly into your bloodstream.

Here’s a short excerpt from the website: https://www.hookedonjuice.com/

12 ounces of >>>>>>>	Coca-Cola	Orange Juice	Apple Juice	Cherry Juice	Grape Juice
Total carbohydrates	40 g	39 g	42 g	49.5 g	60 g
Carbs from sugar	40 g	33 g	39 g	37.5 g	58.5 g
Sugar (teaspoons)	10 tsp	8 tsp	10 tsp	9 tsp	15 tsp
Calories	145	165	165	210	240

“WHAT DOES THE CHART TELL US? It tells us that no matter which fruit juice you choose, they all have more calories than the same amount of Coke. It tells us that juice — 100 percent juice, no sugar added — contains about the same amount of sugar (or even more — 50 percent more for grape juice) as the same volume of Coke. For this comparison we used: Classic Coke, Tropicana HomeStyle Orange Juice, Walnut Acres Organic 100 Percent Apple Juice, Eden Organic Montmorency Cherry Juice (no sweetener added) and R.W. Knudsen Unsweetened Concord Grape Juice. The numbers in the chart were calculated from the nutrition labels on the containers.”

Eating fruit is not the same as just drinking the juice. When you eat the fruit, you get much less juice and you get all of the fiber. So while you are getting some sugar, it is a much lower dose and it is absorbed much more slowly. I do recommend eating more of the low glycemic impact fruits such as berries and melons.

Easy ways to eat more raw veggies

February 27, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

Here are some ways I have worked more raw veggies into my daily routine that made it easy to eat them more often:

Veggie smoothies – I make these in my blender so as to still get all of the fiber (as opposed to juicing). I use spinach, kale, avocado and 4-5 cups of water as a base. Then I add different fruit combinations such as strawberries or a berry medley, mango, pineapple/coconut, kiwi fruit and green apples, etc. I add some stevia and blend really well. They taste great and I love them. My husband slurps them down too and that’s saying a lot. The fruit and stevia sweeten the drink up and you would be surprised how good it tastes. There are literally tons of recipes for these if you do a Google search, not to mention books on Amazon.

Veggie snack plates – There are easy. Just get a bag of those baby carrots, some celery, cucumbers and some broccoli. Chop up the celery, cucumbers and broccoli. Arrange them on a plate and put some reduced fat cream cheese in the center. Have them in the fridge or put them out on the counter at snack time. Chomp on these when you get those mid afternoon and evening hunger pangs.

Salads – if you make a great tasting salad (that is creative and tasty), make enough to last you (and anyone else that you are feeding) for 2 days of lunch and dinner. Then you can eat salad as part of lunch and dinner as the first course. You get your raw veggies in and you help curb your appetite to be able to eat smaller portions of the rest of the meal.

Snack packs to take to work or on the go – baby carrots and other chopped veggies (celery, cucumber, etc.) and fruits – make a bunch of packs at once in ziplock bags so they are easy to grab and take with you when you are rushing to get to work or whatever. Or you can use a jar and put some humus or dip in the bottom of the jar and put some chopped veggies in.

Juicing – once a week I will usually do a big batch of juice. It is so rich in nutrients and very alkalizing for the body. The mean green juice recipe is usually what I use.

I found the more veggies I work into my diet, the less I eat other not-so-heathy things and the better I feel.

The worst culprits in declining health

February 19, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

What are some of the worst culprits that are wreaking the most havoc and causing the most damage and declining health? Here they are in my estimation:

#1 – Sugar and other sweeteners commonly used as sugar substitutes. And included in this is a big category of sodas.

#2 – Flour/wheat and simple carbs.

#3 – Heavily processed foods.

#4 – Bad fats.

#5 – Additives to our food, water and air – includes hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, MSG, preservatives, chemicals used in cans and water bottles, fluoride or other chemicals in water, as well as genetic modification of produce and other unnatural “natural flavors”, numerous pollutants in our air.

#6 – Inadequate or wrong exercise.

#7 – Stress, resulting in over-production of cortisol that tells the body to store fat rather than burn it and can also exhaust your adrenals.

#8 – Smoking – although this habit is becoming more unaccepted and less prevalent, there are some die-hards out there that still close their eyes on the fact that they are doing something that weakens their immune system and can cause serious physical conditions, diseases and cancer.

Now maybe this list isn’t a huge revelation to you. It probably isn’t. But all manner of health issues have arisen in the last few decades. Declining health is a problem for many Americans. With so many temptations of fast and unhealthy foods and sugar in so many things, these health dangers are more and more prevalent.

The revelation is in the very practical and realistic ways to get rid of the worst of these factors that are contributing the most to your declining health – without suffering, without sacrificing and without having to spend a lot of time or money,

You can make small, subtle changes in your lifestyle that will have BIG benefits on a long-term basis. That’s what HealthKick is all about.

The Horrible Trap

February 13, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten Leave a Comment

There is a trap that I fell into numerous times and that I see many others afflicted with illnesses (such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Lupus, Lyme Disease and other similar illnesses) fall prey to because it is so easy to do.

What I am talking about here when I say horrible trap is the vicious cycle where you feel bad, you are in pain, you are tired, you have to go to work or you have children that need to be cared for or you are just trying to get yourself going and so you do something to get yourself enough pick-me-up to be able to get through the day – coffee, a coke, a souped-up Starbucks latte, some sweets, a Red Bull, some carbs, maybe even a cigarette or some combination of the above. This might buck you up for a bit and help you to get through some short term period, but in the longer run you have made matters worse. With all of the extra insulin your body just pumped in response to what you put in it, you will worsen the fatigue and pain and get poor sleep to boot.

Now you are even more desperate for some form of pick-me up because now you feel even worse.

Of course you don’t feel like exercising, as you just don’t have the energy and/or you are in a lot of pain already.

Continuing on in this vein will cause more and more despair and depression as you feel terrible, you are desperate to get some energy and the quick energy sources are making matters worse and worse. Or you are so depressed about the situation or the continuous pain that you comfort yourself with things that you think will make you feel good – comfort food or alcohol or cigarettes or some form of drugs (OTC or otherwise).

This is a vicious cycle, what I call the horrible trap, that you can get into when you have chronic pain or chronic illness. It’s bad, and quick and available fixes just make it worse. If you are in such a situation, there IS a way out. It isn’t instant. It takes some time. It isn’t horrifically slow either. But it will take some dedication and discipline. First is understanding of what is happening and what you need to do to escape the hell and get yourself improving and getting better.

I have a new book that is available on Amazon called, “Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndromes: The hard road to recovery made easier“. It contains all of the answers that I have found over the last 15 years of research and trials of numerous treatments and protocols. This is available on Kindle and paperback.

And please utilize all of the information in this website which is all here to help you recover from illness and body problems through easy healthy living habits.

The Damaging Effects of Stress

February 11, 2015 By Debbie Baumgarten 1 Comment

Stress can come from many things. One doesn’t have to be the VP Sales for some huge corporation to be stressed out. You might work for a small company and simply have a mean, grumpy boss, or worse a somewhat sadistic boss or co-worker and be under a lot of pressure as a result of repeated antagonism toward you.

Maybe your commute to and from work is treacherous or stressful due to traffic or other conditions. Or maybe you have some relationship at home that is stressful.

It could be that home is fine and you love work but you aren’t making enough financially to cover your expenses and so you are stressed about your own or your business finances.

These and countless other scenarios can be causing you extra stress.

Also, one’s reaction to stress varies from person to person. For example, some people don’t mind speaking in front of an audience, whereas some people find it incredibly stressful. So your attitude or reaction to potentially stressful situations plays a part in it as well.

It can also be that you aren’t fully aware of how much pressure you are experiencing. Some people consider it part of life or “normal” to be under stress. But the truth is that it isn’t healthy to be living stressfully for any length of time.

Stress, particularly when it is prolonged for weeks, months or even years, can be very taxing on your body and can cause quite some damage.

When you are stressed your adrenal glands are forced to produce more cortisol and adrenaline (the main stress hormones) than usual. These hormones rouse the body for emergency action.

Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus—preparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.

Stress that continues over long periods of time and is left unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Stress can also trigger FMS or CFS or re-trigger it.

Because of the widespread damage stress can cause, it’s important to know your own limit.

And it is vital that you work to reduce stress in your life in every way you can. There are several approaches to this that can help.

Part of reducing stress can come from your attitude toward the stressful situations. Talking about it with someone can often help. Meditation and other self-help techniques can also go a long way in reducing stress.

Sometimes it is a matter of certain people in your environment that cause you stress. This can be a rough relationship with your spouse or another family member, a neighbor, a co-worker or boss, someone from a group that you frequent, etc. If it is a neighbor or co-worker and you can somehow reduce or even cut off contact with that person, then this might help in relieving that tension.

If it’s your boss or spouse or other family member, talking about the situation with someone else can sometimes help. Talking about it with the person directly, where this is possible, can also often help. Or one can get professional help to address the matter. Or maybe it’s time to get a new job or lay down some new ground rules in the house.

Sometimes particular situations can cause stress, such as debt load resulting from not making enough money to adequately cover expenses. This might require confronting the details of the situation and coming up with a real handling such as budgeting your expenditures to fit within available funds and then honestly enforcing this budget be followed by all concerned. In other words, maybe there is a real situation that you are facing that needs confronting and real solutions worked out.

Just isolating where your stress is coming from can be very enlightening and relieving in itself. Once you really nail down where your stress is coming from, it isn’t hard to work out immediate, medium and long range handlings for it.

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