Miss Slik Recommends: Boiron Arnicare Arnica Gel for the Accident Prone Like Me

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Several months ago my mom turned me on to this stuff called Arnicare Arnica Gel by Boiron for my neck. I have 2 ruptured discs in my neck and was having frequent pain. The pharmacist at Broad Street Pharmacy in Falls Church, VA (awesome place I also recommend) is always recommending stuff to her for her various ailments. This was one of the products he suggested to help with her joint pain from her arthritis and my mom now swears by it. 

Here is some info about Arnicare Arnica Gel from http://www.arnicare.com/

Arnica montana is the Latin name for a perennial that grows 1 to 2 feet tall with bright, yellow daisy-like flowers that appear in July and August. It is found on the moist, grassy upland meadows in the hills and mountains of northern and central Europe and Siberia. It is also found sparsely in the northwestern United States. More common names for Arnica are Mountain daisy, Leopard’s bane and Mountain tobacco. Arnica is toxic when ingested at full strength, but it can be used as an ointment, gel or cream on unbroken skin or taken internally when it is diluted homeopathically.

St. Hildegard, a nun known for her keen observation of nature and physiology, among other things, wrote about the healing properties of the Arnica montana plant in the 12^th century. Since at least the 16^th century, mountain people in the Alpine area have used it to relieve muscle aches and bruises.

Today, Arnica has grown to be one of the most popular homeopathic medicines throughout the world. It is trusted by professional athletes to soothe sore muscles, by prominent cosmetic surgeons to relieve post-procedure pain, and by savvy moms to treat playground bumps and bruises.

Arnica can also be used to relieve stiffness from flying or long-distance driving. And anyone who bruises easily will appreciate Arnica’s ability to reduce bruise discoloration.

Well, I tried it and it definitely helped a bit with my neck pain. I've also discovered it helps with my achy knee pains the day after I do a crucial workout. Best of all though, it a miracle worker for bruises. I bruise like a freaking peach and always find new bruises in the oddest places every day that I got from bumping into the air I guess. The arnica gel fades them out within a couple days and they just magically disappear. 

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. The website is http://www.arnicare.com/ and there is a section for Arnicare Special Offers where you can get a $1.00 off coupon.

Post Workout Life Saver: The Incredible, Edible F-ing Egg

So ever since I quit smoking 7 weeks ago, I've been really kicking some serious ass in the gym doing mad cardio and weight training (which I could never do before because I'd get winded in 5 minutes and have asthma attacks). Now I'm not a morning person so there is no fucking way I'd get up at 4am to go jogging. I do my working out in the evenings after work and dinner during the weekdays. The problem is I get done and I'm like a fucking honey badger.. I don't give a shit. I just keep eating and eating and eating until I've eaten the entire contents of my fridge and I'm still hungry for more. So I did some research because this shit needed to stop. I'm trying to cut the 5 lbs I gained this year not add on 50 lbs more. Thanks to Google yesterday I learned all about this concept called "Recovery Foods" for post workouts. 

According to all the stuff I read, during a workout you tear your muscle tissue down so when you're done it starts rebuilding and repairing itself and goes into this anabolic state. You have to eat something high in protein with a little bit of carbs so your muscles can do what they need to do. If you don't eat anything or you eat the wrong things you basically fuck yourself up. Well turns out I was eating the wrong things and fucking myself up which is why I wasn't seeing the results I wanted. There are lists of the best recovery foods and one of the best, believe it or not, is the egg. It is a "perfect protein" because it basically has everything it needs contained in itself to fully digest in your body. It also has tons of vitamins, minerals, and a host of other good things you need. I'm not going to list all that shit out though because you are perfectly capable of Googling the health benefits of eggs on your own.

So last night after work I came home and hard boiled some eggs while I was making dinner and then put them in the fridge to cool. After dinner, I went and worked out for an hour and then came back up to my apartment to test out this egg situation. I took one of my hard-boiled eggs out, peeled it, cut it in half, then put a little fresh ground pepper and paprika on it, and then ate it. No lie, it fucking worked like a miracle! I could feel it sitting in my stomach and it stopped me from going balls out on my fridge. After my shower I ate a half cup of greek yogurt with some strawberries and raw honey and was good for the rest of the night. I got super tired really fast and fell right to sleep. It was awesome. Who'd have thought a little egg could stop my inner fat kid from clawing its way out and screwing up my entire caloric intake for the day?

Anyway, it seems this is a common issue people have, especially women because our bodies feel the need to store crap tons of food for our reproductive systems. I figured I'd share in the hopes this helps you.. Try it and let me know how it goes.