Tuesday, October 25, 2016

10 Unexpected Health Benefits Of Massage Therapy

Massage Therapy is primarily recognized as a method to relax and relieve tension in the body, but in fact the health benefits of massage are much more far-reaching than that. Our licensed massage therapist at the Lake of the Ozarks masterfully blends several different styles and techniques to deliver a unique massage experience that offers lasting health benefits. In honor of Massage Therapy Awareness Week, we're dedicating this week's blog to discussing some of these benefits.


10 Health Benefits Offered By Massage Therapy

1. Reduces Anxiety
Massage Therapy has been shown to be wonderfully effective at relieving chronic anxiety. By offering a safe environment and gentle touch, massage can allow the recipient to overcome anxiety attacks.

2. Improves Quality Of Sleep
By helping lessen anxiety and stress, massage therapy can significantly improve quality of sleep as well. In turn, better sleep lends itself to calmer minds and improved immune systems.

3. Speeds Surgical Recovery
Though sometimes necessary, surgery is very hard on the body. Massage Therapy can reduce adhesions in scar tissue, allowing the body to maintain the flexibility and mobility it needs to thrive.

4. Fights Headaches
Tension headaches are some of the most common forms of headaches. By relaxing muscles and helping improve their elasticity, Massage Therapy can significantly reduce tension headaches (and possibly even eliminate them altogether).

5. Alleviates Pregnancy Pain
Some women breeze through pregnancy without a single complaint, but others experience a variety of aches and pains as their bodies take on new pressures and demands. Massage Therapy can help relieve the tension caused by these new pressures.

6. Promotes Muscle Health
Considering that there are well over 600 muscles in the human body, it is easy to see why muscle health correlates so closely to overall physical health. By helping improve/alleviate muscle pain, muscle stiffness, muscle spasms, and muscle performance, Massage Therapy contributes to improved overall physical wellness.

7. Lowers Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can be responsible for several serious health problems, from heart attacks to kidney failure. Massage Therapy can be a great solution for people looking for natural ways to lower blood pressure.

8. Enhances Self-Image
Self-image is often the cumulative result of several different factors. By helping reduce anxiety, alleviate pain, and improve overall physical health, Massage Therapy can support a positive self-image.

9. Boosts The Immune System
High stress levels and poor sleep can wreak havoc on the immune system. By helping to improve both stress levels and sleep quality, Massage Therapy can indirectly boost the immune system.

10. Combats Depression
When people are stressed, their cortisol levels increase. Chronically high levels of cortisol can lead to depression. Massage Therapy can help fight depression by reducing cortisol levels and increasing dopamine and serotonin levels (two hormones that help stabilize mood).

Book Your Massage At The Lime Today!

Darin Puppel, LMT, CST-T has been practicing massage therapy at the Lake of the Ozarks for five years. He is truly committed to his clients' well-being and will do everything he can to ensure you receive the highest quality bodywork possible. Click here for more information about our massage therapy services.

Don't let Massage Therapy Awareness Week pass you by - take advantage of these amazing health benefits by booking your massage in Lake Ozark MO today!


Feel As Good On The Inside As You Do On The Outside!


111 Crossings West, Suite 6
PO Box 2145
Lake Ozark, MO 65049

(573) 964-6786 


Hours:
Monday-Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Friday, October 21, 2016

8 Ways To Strengthen Your Immune System This Flu Season

The colder weather and changing leaves make it impossible to ignore - fall is officially here. The changing temperatures (coupled with the new school year that is now in full swing) can take a serious toll on your immune system if you aren't prepared. This flu season, your friends at The Lime in the Coconut Specialty Compounding Pharmacy are here to help you stay ahead of the game with these simple but effective strategies to strengthen your immune system.


1. Avoid Sugary Foods
It can be hard to avoid sugar's enticing (and often downright addicting) lure, but consuming large quantities of sugar weakens your immune system. This can make you more susceptible to the germs that you will inevitably be exposed to this flu season. Do your immune system a favor by cutting back on sweet treats.

2. Get Plenty Of Sleep
Our body regenerates during sleep. A short night here and there may not be too problematic, but if you have several short nights in a row, you can begin to rack up sleep debt. Sleep deprivation is hard on your entire body, and your immune system is no exception.

3. Take A Vitamin D Supplement
Low vitamin D levels often correlate with greater risks of developing respiratory infections. Unfortunately, Americans as a whole suffer from a chronic vitamin D deficiency. As the days become shorter and the temperatures become colder, we'll get even less of this important vitamin. Offset this deficiency by taking a natural, high-quality supplement.

4. Drink Elderberry Juice
In the holistic health circles, elderberry juice is praised for its amazing immune-boosting qualities. A little bit goes a long way; it doesn't take much to see some fantastic benefits. Most people recommend taking 1-2 tablespoons per day.

5. Eat Raw Fruits And Vegetables
Nature's bounty offers a great resource for strengthening your immune system. Raw or home-cooked vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts offer multiple health benefits. Since they each offer different benefits, it is important to consume a variety.

6. Take A Probiotic
Probiotics have been shown to be enormously beneficial for improving gastrointestinal and respiratory health. There are types of probiotic supplements, and some are more beneficial than others. Be sure you're getting one that will be the most helpful for your body.

7. Limit Alcohol Intake And Tobacco Use
Products like alcohol and tobacco are hard on the body. If your body's systems have to work harder to process the alcohol or tobacco it is exposed to, it will have fewer resources leftover to guard against germs, bacteria, and viruses. Cutting back on alcohol and tobacco use is always beneficial, but it is especially important during flu season.

8. Get Plenty Of Exercise
The "use it or lose it" maxim applies to exercise and the physical benefits it provides. Consistent exercise offers protection against a wide array of health challenges, including osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and more. By keeping your body in good condition, it will be better prepared to fight off the germs it will inevitably be exposed to this time of year.

Get Your Immune-Boosting Agents At The Lime!
In addition to compounded medication, our pharmacy at the Lake of the Ozarks offers a wide variety of over-the-counter immune-boosting agents. We sell high-quality probiotics, vitamin D supplements, elderberry juice, and multiple herbal supplements. Stop by and see us to pick up your immune-boosting agents!

Feel As Good On The Inside As You Do On The Outside!


111 Crossings West, Suite 6
PO Box 2145
Lake Ozark, MO 65049

(573) 964-6786 


Hours:
Monday-Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

7 Tricks To Keep Your Kids Healthy This Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, and you know what that means... children will be coming into contact with more candy than they know what to do with. If left to their own devices, most kids would probably consume copious amounts of candy on Halloween night and over the next several days. However, most parents impose rules to limit the candy intake (and for good reason).


Can Your Child O.D. On Candy?

At best, eating too much candy will leave your children feeling sick to their stomachs. At worst, it could land them in the hospital.

Since candy is high in sugar and low in nutritional value, consuming large quantities of it isn't good for anyone. However, certain types of candy can be particularly problematic when consumed in vast quantities. As examples, eating an excess of black licorice (made from actual licorice root) can cause arrhythmia, and an excess of the artificial sweetener sorbitol (found in sugar-free candy) can cause diarrhea (source: popsci.com).

Sugar also has addictive qualities (just like nicotine and other drugs), and consuming lots of sugar can cause your children to crave it more. As with any addiction, feeding it is never a good solution.

Keeping Your Kids Healthy This Halloween

As the health-conscious parent you are, it's surely important to you to help your children stay healthy this Halloween, and our pharmacy at the Lake of the Ozarks is here to help. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Set limits on how much candy your kids can eat. Give your children a specific number of pieces of candy they can eat on Halloween night, and then how many pieces per day they can have after that.

2. Explain the reason for those limits. Children are smart, intellectual creatures. They are likely to be more cooperative if they know the reason behind your 10-piece rule.

3. Make homemade Halloween treats. By making yummy treats at home, you can control exactly how much sugar goes into each of them. You can also substitute certain ingredients for healthier alternatives.

4. Devise an exchange program. "The Switch Witch," for example, will leave new toys behind in exchange for pieces of candy the children set out on Halloween night.

5. Feed them before going trick-or-treating. If your kids have full bellies before beginning the night's adventures, they will be less likely to snack on candy along the way.

6. Buy extra candy from your children. This acknowledges that the candy belongs to the kids and offers them an incentive to give it up. Depending on how much candy your kids bring home, you could offer 5, 10, or 25 cents per piece.

7. Be a good role model. Actions speak louder than words. If you want your children to consume candy in moderation, it is important for you to do the same.

Help Other Kids Stay Healthy, Too!

The suggestions we just discussed are great ways to help your kids stay healthy on Halloween, but if you have trick-or-treaters coming to your door, you have a special opportunity to help other kids limit their candy intake, too. Instead of giving out candy, consider passing out these fun, non-sugary alternatives:
  • Small boxes of cereal
  • Trail mix
  • Pretzels
  • Sugar-free gum
  • Popcorn
  • Raisins

You can also give out non-food items, such as temporary tattoos, false teeth, vampire teeth, bubbles, pirate's treasure, miniature playing cards, stickers, etc. As you choose which items to give away, be sure to avoid particularly small items that may be a choking hazard to very young children.

Happy Halloween from The Lime!

By brainstorming strategies now, you'll have plenty of time to devise a master plan for keeping your children healthy this Halloween. If you have any other bright ideas for limiting kids' sugar intake this Halloween, we'd love to hear them! Please share your ideas in a comment below.

Happy Halloween from The Lime in the Coconut Specialty Compounding Pharmacy!

Feel As Good On The Inside As You Do On The Outside!


111 Crossings West, Suite 6
PO Box 2145
Lake Ozark, MO 65049

(573) 964-6786 


Hours:
Monday-Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

The Lime In The Coconut: Not Just Your Average Pharmacy

At our Lake of the Ozarks compounding pharmacy, we have one primary goal: to help our clients be healthiest (and happiest!) that they can be. We have been in business for almost ten years, and in that time we have developed several unique skills, techniques, and services that set us apart from other pharmacies in the area. This week, we thought we'd share with you some of the unique things that make the Lime in the Coconut Specialty Compounding Pharmacy your #1 resource for all your pharmaceutical needs.


We Fit Our Medications To Our Patients (Not The Other Way Around)

As the Lake's exclusive compounding-only pharmacy, each of our prescriptions are customized to each of our patients. Standardized medication is mass-produced in set dosages that may or may not be ideal for the patients taking them. By making each prescription specifically for the patient taking it, we ensure that the dosage amounts are perfectly aligned with their needs.

We Really Get To Know Our Customers

Your health is one of your top priorities - shouldn't it also be a top priority for the people making your medication? Our pharmacist and the rest of our staff makes a point to get to know our clients beyond their basic pharmaceutical needs. At The Lime, you're far more than just a prescription number; we are proud to treat our clients like the valued individuals that they are.

We Offer More Than Just Compounding

Compound medication is our primary service and it's what we are known for, but our services extend far beyond that. In addiction to prescription medication, we offer...
  • A variety of herbal supplements and vitamins
  • Massage therapy
  • CranioSacral Therapy
  • Rx Skin Therapy products
  • Young Living essential oils
  • And more!

Our Patients Feel At Home Here

Prescription drugstores and most retail pharmacies are rather uninviting; patients rush in, grab their prescriptions, and go. While we can certainly accommodate our patients' busy schedules, we want everyone to feel at home in our pharmacy in Lake Ozark MO. Everyone on our staff is warm and welcoming, and our decor matches our personality.

Come See For Yourself!

We're the best pharmacy at the Lake of the Ozarks, but you don't have to take our word for it! Check out the customer reviews on our Facebook page to see what our clients have to say about our pharmacy. You are also more than welcome to stop and see us at any time. We truly look forward to serving you!

Feel As Good On The Inside As You Do On The Outside!


111 Crossings West, Suite 6
PO Box 2145
Lake Ozark, MO 65049

(573) 964-6786 


Hours:
Monday-Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM