Lloydminster Laser & Vein Clinic

Lloydminster Laser & Vein Clinic Our goal is to give our clients the very best experience and care with highly trained, friendly doctors, nurses and medical technicians.

We are the only accredited Non-Hospital Surgical Facility in Lloydminster that offers medically based treatments to help improve your appearance and well-being with non-invasive therapies and cosmetic surgical treatments. We strive to make our clients feel welcome, safe and comfortable in our relaxing, clean, spa like atmosphere. Together with Naude Medi Spa, which is located within the same facility, we are focused on bringing our clients the ultimate experience, and care.

12/23/2021

INTERMITTENT FASTING: THE BASICS AND BENEFITS
If you’re immersed into the weight loss/health world (and if you’re reading this, chances are that you are), you’ve probably heard a little bit (or a lot) about a movement that’s been making its rounds: intermittent fasting.

While it’s typically done in conjunction with a keto diet (more on that later), anyone can incorporate intermittent fasting at any time. We know the name makes it sound complicated and a little bit intimidating, but when you break it down, it’s actually quite straightforward.

What is Intermittent Fasting?
Put simply, intermittent fasting is a term for an eating strategy that alternates between set periods of fasting and eating. There are no guidelines as to what you eat, just when you eat; but even those guidelines are loose, as it’s typically up to you to determine your fasting and eating windows. There are different types of intermittent fasting, but these are two of the most popular patterns:

The Leangains Method (also called the 16/8 Method): When following a Leangains intermittent fasting protocol, you fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8 hour window. This means that you pick a time, typically in the afternoon, when you will consume all of your calories for the day. Outside of that time, you eat nothing for the rest of the day. For example, you may eat between 12 pm and 8 pm and then fast for the other 16 hours.
Eat-Stop-Eat: The Eat-Stop-Eat method involves fasting for 24 hours once or twice per week; then eating normally for the rest of the week. For the fasting day, you would typically eat dinner and then fast until dinner the next day.
Benefits of Fasting
Most people venture into intermittent fasting for its weight loss benefits, but the eating method has several benefits that reach beyond weight loss.

Hormone balance: When you fast, your body adjusts levels of several different hormones to make it easier for your body to use fat as energy. Your levels of human growth hormone (or HGH), which is associated with fat loss and muscle gain, increases as much as five times; while insulin levels drop significantly, helping to lower body fat.
Reduced inflammation: In some studies, intermittent fasting has been shown to reduce chronic inflammation, which is associated with many health issues, including asthma, arthritis, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Heart health: Fasting may reduce several risk factors for heart disease, including LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and insulin levels.
Brain health: Some studies have shown that intermittent fasting may increase levels of a hormone in the brain called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Higher levels of BDNF are linked to better long-term memory.
Although the scientific studies are fairly recent, the research is promising. We think the trend is definitely worth looking into.

What do you think? Have you tried intermittent fasting? Tell us your thoughts!

12/23/2021

HOW SLEEP HELPS YOU LOSE WEIGHT
Seriously, how much sleep you get each night impacts your body weight
If you’re looking for ways to lose weight without having to step on a treadmill, you aren’t alone.

And while I can’t advise avoiding exercise, there is one activity that requires zero movement and has a shocking impact on your weight:

Sleep. Glorious sleep.

The recommended amount of sleep each night is 7-9 hours for adults and 8-10 for adolescents.

But the unfortunate truth is that ⅓ of Americans don’t get enough sleep every night. And 70% of Americans report that they don’t get enough sleep at least one night a month.

Sleep issues affect around 50-70 million Americans every year and this impacts health in a variety of ways: increased risk of injury, depression, and high blood pressure (just to list a few).

Those might be expected results of not sleeping enough. But lack of sleep affects your weight too.

1. Poor sleep increases your calorie intake
There are so many factors that can lead to increasing your calorie intake each day.

First, sleep helps you lose weight by regulating hunger hormones: ghrelin and leptin.

When you don’t get enough sleep, your body doesn’t produce enough leptin which suppresses hunger.

And it produces too much ghrelin which tells your brain that you’re full.

As a result of that, you may perceive an increased appetite. But it doesn’t stop there.

When you don’t sleep enough, you don’t just want more food — you want more high-calorie foods. Specifically high-carb and high-fat foods.

These foods are difficult enough to resist on their own under ideal conditions.

But choosing healthful foods over junk food becomes a titanic struggle when you take into account how sleep affects decision-making.

When you are low on sleep you have a harder time making good decisions.

Lack of sleep is associated with lower performance in the frontal lobe of your brain. This is where decisions are made and you decide how to exhibit self-control.

So when you don’t get enough sleep, your self-control and smart decision-making suffer. And you’re more likely to eat foods that you’d rather avoid as you try to lose weight.

2. Sleep improves your physical activity
Exercise is one of the most important things you can do to help you lose weight.

But when you’re tired every day you won’t want to exercise. It’s as simple as that.

If exercise isn’t part of your regular routine yet, it’s hard to get motivated. And you make it even harder to get motivated when you aren’t well-rested.

Poor sleep has also been shown to decrease performance outcomes. While getting enough sleep every night has proven to improve athletic performance.

And then there’s the matter of recovery. Sleep is essential for your body to properly recover after exercise. If you want to get better at exercise and see all the weight loss outcomes possible from your workouts, you need to get enough sleep each night.

3. Sleep improves your resting metabolism
Resting metabolism is how many calories your body burns while at rest.

There are some ways of increasing (or decreasing) your resting metabolic rate. And it should come as no surprise now that sleep is one of them.

Sleep helps you lose weight by increasing your resting metabolism.

One reason this may be the case is that inadequate sleep can cause muscle loss. And muscle burns more calories at rest than fat.

Tips for getting enough sleep
It’s one thing to know how important sleep is for losing weight. But if you struggle to get to sleep at a good hour, you might need some help making the adjustment.

So if you’re like many who have trouble getting to sleep early, here are some pointers to get to more sleep.

Turn all screens off an hour before bed
Put your phone on the charger, close your laptop, and shut the TV off.

The blue light from screens reduces your melatonin production at night. Melatonin is the hormone that controls your sleep cycle. If you aren’t producing enough melatonin, you won’t fall asleep easily.

So turn the screens off and find something to do without a screen for the hour before you sleep.

Read in bed instead
Reading helps you fall asleep as long as you read from a classic bound book, not an e-reader.

It works because reading relaxes you. It takes your mind off your worries of the day. So if you have a hard time falling asleep because of racing thoughts, this is a useful tool to get out of your own head before bed.

Sleep meditation
Another tool to overcome any anxiety that keeps you up at night is meditation.

There are meditations made specifically to help you fall asleep. So you can lie in bed, get all cozy, turn on your sleep meditation, and easily relax into sleep. Programs like the Calm app provide plenty of anxiety-reducing and sleep meditations to help you get a full night’s rest.

Create total darkness in your bedroom at night
Depending on where you live, you might have a lot of city light coming in through your window at night.

If the brightness at night is keeping you up, getting better blinds, heavy curtains, or an eye sleep mask to keep out the light will help you sleep better at night.

Create a consistent sleeping rhythm
If you like going out for late nights on the weekend, this can be a frustrating suggestion.

But if you want to lose weight, then having a consistent sleep pattern is just as important as following a steady diet and meal plan.

Having a regular sleep schedule makes it more likely you’ll get tired at an early enough time to get your full 7-9 hours of sleep.

12/23/2021

DON’T BELIEVE THESE COMMON WEIGHT LOSS MYTHS
Breaking down 5 of the most common and unhelpful weight loss myths. Plus what you should do instead.
There’s a lot of misinformation about there about health. We see it all the time, but especially when it comes to losing weight. There are weight loss myths of all kinds that get spread like wildfire.

The reason is that people know how hard it is to lose weight. They know it’s one of the toughest things to do and there are millions of Americans who are somewhere along their weight loss journey, just looking to make it easier.

So naturally, myths about how to do it best are everywhere. And it’s easy to get caught up in some of these myths, especially if you feel like you’ve been trying and failing over and over again.

So let’s get into some of those most common weight loss myths and what actually works instead based on the best research around right now.

Myth 1: You must have an intense exercise plan to lose weight
You’ll find any number of trainers and health gurus suggesting the most extreme measures when it comes to exercise.

But the truth is, you can lose weight through diet alone, but not through exercise alone. If you exercise and just keep up with the same eating habits, or even add food because now you’re hungrier after adding intense exercise, you’re actually undermining your weight loss efforts.

For most people, losing weight depends on eating fewer calories than you burn each day. But how you go about doing that will depend on your unique circumstances. And it isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are tough physical and psychological challenges that come along with changing lifestyle habits to lose weight. Weight loss is hard. No matter how anyone tries to boil it down to a simple equation of calories in vs calories out.

With all that being said, it’s still important to do exercise. There are countless other benefits from exercising regularly, from preventing cancers, improving heart health and blood pressure, to reducing stress, and improving sleep, energy, and mood. And the kind of exercise you do has an impact on your physique as you lose weight through dieting efforts. Your physique outcomes will be different if you spend most of your time exercising by lifting weights instead of running.

But the important thing to know about exercise and weight loss is that you don’t have to do a crazy intense workout program. The minimum recommended amount of exercise for optimal health benefits is 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week.

How to exercise for weight loss:
The important thing to know about exercise and weight loss is that you don’t have to do a crazy intense workout program. The minimum recommended amount of exercise for optimal health benefits is 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week.

What’s most important is to find the kind of exercise you like most and pair it with a healthy diet and ideal calorie intake for your weight loss goals. You also want to make sure your program is something sustainable—something you can actually stick with for long enough to see results.

You also want to train in progressions. Start with 30-minute sessions and build to 60-minute sessions if you have the time for that. It’s ideal to get a mix of training styles. Two days of cardio and three days with strength training, all for 30 minutes, is a great place to start.

Myth 2: Healthier foods are more expensive
We hear this one all the time, don’t we? We hear about how all the healthy food is just so out of reach for many Americans.

But the opposite is actually true.

Let’s think first about what we mean by “healthy”.

Healthy doesn’t mean organic. By healthy foods, we mean whole foods—fruits, vegetables, legumes, complex grains, and depending on your dietary restrictions, certain dairy (like yogurt and low-fat cheese) and lean meat as well.

So how expensive is it to eat healthy whole foods compared to lower quality foods and fast-food? Well it depends on how you calculate the price of food. According to USDA, we often hear that unhealthy foods are cheaper than healthy foods because the conversation centers on one way of calculating cost: price per calorie. It’s true that unhealthy foods are cheaper than healthy foods when talking about calorie density. But it’s a misleading way of talking about food cost alone.

Calories aren’t the only way to think about food. You can also think about the overall nutritional value. And how filling the food is. The same report from the USDA found that when calculating the cost of food by edible weight or by average amount eaten, the healthy foods are cheaper than unhealthy foods.

The one caveat is that you do end up spending more time preparing meals when you opt to buy the fresh whole and healthy foods over other options. And that time can seem like a huge downside.

But in the long run, for your health, that time spent is worth it. And cooking, once you get used to doing it and learn some tricks, can be not only fun, but relaxing.

Myth 3: Losing weight is impossible if you have snacks
Okay, there’s a lot of hate for snacking out there. But there’s nothing inherently evil about snacks. It’s all about moderation and smart choices in your diet plan.

How to snack smart
First off, make sure any snacks you add don’t put your over your daily calorie amount. Then you want to make sure your snacks are still nutritionally balanced. If all of your snacks are a serving of chips, sweets, and other high calorie foods, then your snacks aren’t serving you well.

The point of a snack is to have something to tide you over until you get to your next meal if you need it. Or for an energy boost in the afternoon when you start feeling sluggish.

So to make it impactful, you want to have a snack that is filling and full of essential vitamins and nutrients.

Good options would be a high-protein, low-fat yogurt. Greek yogurt or skyr are great choices. An apple with 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter, depending on your calorie allotments. Both of these are tasty snacks that are filling enough to get you through to your next meal. Plus you get important nutritional requirements from them.

Myth 4: Losing weight is all about willpower
This is very likely the most harmful weight loss myth on this list. And one of the most damaging of all the myths around weight loss.

Now I won’t deny that losing weight takes a certain amount of discipline. But it’s about so much more than that.

There are ingrained patterns to overcome. There are eating habits that you’ve been living by for years and it will take time to undo and recover from that damage. A lot of times, these are habits or thoughts about food you don’t even realize you have. This is true of everyone.

How to think about your weight loss journey instead?
Will power isn’t something you can rely on forever. The key is to find a weight loss plan that works for you and that you’re happy to do.

And equally as important is to be patient with your progress and trust it will come. And in the meantime practice gratitude.

Be grateful for what your body does for you and be patient while waiting for the outcomes that you want.

Take it all one day at a time. Don’t judge yourself for what you did last year, last week, or even yesterday. Know what you need to do each day and give it your best effort to reach it. And if you fail one day, it doesn’t mean you’ll fail the next. With continued effort, changes will come about over time.

12/23/2021

HEALTHY GUT BACTERIA CAN HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT
Healthy gut bacteria is an often overlooked key to improving health and losing weight
Did you know that when you eat a piece of pizza, you aren’t the only one consuming all of those calories? There are trillions of bacteria in your gut you share that pizza, and all the rest of your food with.

This sounds pretty great because you aren’t actually absorbing all the calories of the food you eat. There are more bacteria living in and on your body than you have cells, and those bacteria need plenty to eat.

But it also means there’s a lot more going on inside our bodies when it comes to our health and weight. We have to be aware of the role our gut bacteria plays in our health.

The importance of healthy gut bacteria has become more clear in recent years with more studies finding that your microbiome impacts your health in unexpected ways. The bacteria in your body help your immune system work better and supply essential nutrients vitamins to the rest of your body.

Researchers are also finding that gut bacteria play a role in weight gain and weight loss.

The connection between healthy gut bacteria and weight
Some of the earliest research into the gut microbiome and weight loss showed the connection between certain types of bacteria and weight.

There are a lot of different bacteria in your body. You have Prevotella that helps you digest carbohydrates and fiber. Then there’s Bacteroidetes for processing meat and fats. You also have Bifidobacteria and Akkermansia which are important for your gut barrier. They line your intestines and prevent inflammation by limiting inflammatory chemicals from entering your bloodstream. And this isn’t even scratching the surface of all the bacteria in your body.

What’s fascinating is that the types of bacteria you have drastically influence your weight. So much so that scientists discovered that when they put the gut flora from overweight humans into lean mice, the mice gained weight weight.

Other studies showed that scientists could predict whether a person would be overweight or lean based on their gut microbes. Even in twin studies, researchers could predict which twin was lean or overweight based on the flora in their gut. They found that the lean twin and the overweight twin have different types of gut flora, and bacteria in different quantities. Individuals who are lean have bacteria in greater quantities and with more diversity compared with those who are overweight.

So what can you do to improve your gut health?
Eat more fermented foods
One of the best things you can do for your gut health is to eat fermented foods. What are those exactly?

Fermented foods have gone through the process of fermentation—which is when yeast and bacteria break down food components into something new. So when the yeast and bacteria break down sugars into other molecules that change the taste, texture, and flavor of the food or drink.

Some common examples of healthy fermented foods are sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, skyr, tempeh, miso, and kombucha.

Eating more of all of these foods have been associated with improved gut health and weight loss. Especially yogurt. One weight loss study looked into the impact of dietary factors on weight and found that people who introduced yogurt into their diet and ate it regularly lost weight over the course of the year.

Eat more fiber
We often talk about how eating fiber is great for curbing your appetite. High fiber foods are known to be low-calorie, high-satiety. They keep you feeling full longer than other foods like simple carbohydrates and processed foods.

But fiber is also helpful for losing weight by promoting a healthy gut microbiome. Fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breakfast cereals provide the type of fiber and nutrients that your gut bacteria likes to feed on.

Aim to get the recommended amount of fiber every day. You should have 25–30 grams of fiber from food, not from supplements. Most American adults don’t get enough fiber and it wreaks havoc on the gut flora.

Eat less processed sugar
All the highly processed foods packed with sugar and unhealthy fats aren’t just bad for your own cells. They’re bad for your gut bacteria too.

Part of the reason that so many people lack a healthy quantity of the gut bacteria that help them break down food properly is that many of the bacteria that rely on fiber and complex carbohydrates from legumes and whole grains have been starved.

Your bacteria can’t live on sugars alone. So when they’re only fed unhealthy foods, they become so hungry that they die or adapt and eat what’s available: the mucus inside your intestines. Sounds gross, I know. But experts believe that this could contribute to inflammation, which is linked to obesity.

So just like your cells require the variety of nutrients found in whole foods like fruits, veggies, nuts, and complex carbohydrates, the bacteria in your body need a healthy diet too. And the healthier they are, the healthier you can be too.

12/22/2021

5 HEALTH BENEFITS OF VITAMIN B12
Whether it’s through your diet or injections, you need to make sure you have enough vitamin B12 each day.
Did you know that your body can’t produce all the essential nutrients it needs on its own? There are molecules that aren’t created by processes in the body, but instead, have to be ingested or injected in some way so we can get these essential nutrients. It’s why what we eat in our diet every day is so important.

B12 is one of these essential nutrients. Vitamin B12—or cobalamin—is a nutrient we can’t produce on our own and we rely on certain foods to get it.

The only foods B12 naturally occurs in are animal products. But it’s now added to foods that many Americans eat each day to ensure everyone gets enough of the essential vitamin. This is why you’ll see many types of cereal are “fortified with vitamin B12”. That means it doesn’t occur naturally in the cereal ingredients. Instead, it’s added to ensure more people get B12 and other fortified nutrients that many people would otherwise lack in their diet.

But why is B12 so important that cereals are fortified with it, and now injections are available to ensure you get enough of it every day?

Health Benefits of Vitamin B12
As an essential vitamin, B12 does quite a lot to keep you healthy. Below are 5 of the biggest health benefits of vitamin B12:

Healthy red blood cell formation
Vitamin B12 is essential for red blood cell formation, and red blood cells are important for carrying oxygen to all the organs of your body.

But when you are vitamin B12 deficient, your body can’t produce as many red blood cells, and they become larger and oblong. This makes it difficult for the red blood cells to move from your bone marrow and into your bloodstream. Ultimately, this means your organs don’t get as much oxygen as they need.

Prevent osteoporosis
Studies find that people with vitamin B deficiencies have lower than normal bone mineral density. And it’s been linked to osteoporosis and poor bone health, particularly for women.

This is especially important for anyone though as you age. Because bones become frail and more likely to experience breaks and sprains as you get older.

Reduce the risk of memory loss
The link between B12, memory, and neuron health continues to grow. A deficiency in B12 has been linked to memory loss for older adults.

Plus, Vitamin B12, when combined with other nutrients, can slow the progress of early-stage dementia. And B12 deficiency is associated with memory difficulties unrelated to dementia.

Improve your mood
It turns out that B12 is important for creating and regulating serotonin—the molecule that regulates your mood.

Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause depression, or depression-like symptoms, as a result of inadequate serotonin production. In fact, the findings in one study suggest that a B12 deficiency can cause twice the risk of developing severe depression.

Promotes healthy hair, skin, and nails
Vitamin B12 gives a boost to our vanity too—it’s essential for healthy hair, skin, and nails.

It’s an important nutrient for cell production, which means it’s essential for all of our cells to look healthy and operate properly.

Studies have found that a B12 deficiency is associated with a range of skin conditions that can be overcome with an increase in vitamin B12 through supplementation or diet.

Signs of B12 Deficiency
So how do you know if you aren’t getting enough B12?

It can be difficult to figure out, but first, you can start tracking how much B12 you get every day (you’ll first want to learn the minimum amount of B12 you should aim for every day).

And you can consider if you regularly experience any of the following symptoms because they’re all associated with vitamin B12 deficiency:

Signs of a short term B12 deficiency:

Feeling weak and tired
Pale skin
Dizziness
Bleeding gums
Diarrhea or constipation
Signs of a long term deficiency:

Frequent numbness or tingling in fingers or toes
Depression
A decrease in cognitive abilities
Difficulty balancing
The thing about vitamin B12 deficiency is that it builds slowly over time and can easily be mistaken for other health concerns.

But it’s always important to remember: this isn’t something you want to self-diagnose. Talk to your doctor or one of our medical professionals to see a B12 deficiency is actually something you’re experiencing before making any drastic changes to your diet or lifestyle in an attempt to ameliorate certain health concerns or symptoms.

How to ensure you get enough?
One way to make sure you have enough vitamin B12 is to make sure you have a diet rich in B12.

Some of the top foods for vitamin B12 include fish, liver, milk, eggs, and beef.

However, that’s not always the easiest way, and there are still widespread vitamin B12 deficiencies across the US.

Some people simply don’t eat enough of these animal products in their diet. Also, diseases like Crohn’s, celiac disease, or pernicious anemia, prevent typical absorption of nutrients in the body.

So how can you ensure you have enough B12 and reap all the health benefits?

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Lloydminster, SK
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