Category — Wellness Strategies

Looking at my life, I try to live balanced (maybe seen as moderate). I balance time with my wife, my kids, my family and my friends. Balanced doesn’t mean even. At this time in my life, our kids need (and demand) more attention and time. So I give them more time to them than to others. I try to balance exercise and recreation. I try to balance the use of my money, my investments and my giving.

In some ways moderation may be seen to work well. But does it really? In the examples I gave above, I am balancing things that are all good. I try to carefully consider the things that are beneficial, helpful, and healthy for me and for others. What if I decide to “balance” the things in my life with other things that are bad. Would that be wise?

Let’s say I decide to balance my time spent with family, and begin hanging out with drug-dealing terrorists? Is that good use of my time? By no means. What if I choose to use some of my money to support a organization that preaches hate and violence. That would be horrible! Some things are not good in moderation… Is cocaine okay in moderation? How about smoking cigarettes? What about coffee? How about doughnuts? Would you allow your own child even a small bit of something you know would harm him?

As you can see, the concept of “everything in moderation” can fail miserably. It fails if you don’t understand what is good and what is bad. This can be especially true in regard to foods. And on the flip side of the coin, you can even overindulge in things that are good if you’re not careful. So what can you do?

The strategy I use and recommend is fairly simple. It’s called Temperance… abstain from the things you know are bad, and use moderation in the things that are good.

A good, consistent, and balanced life can come about as you learn what things are good and what are bad. In regard to health, you need to learn what things promote superior health. Superior health can only be achieved when superior ideas are applied… and they become superior behaviors.

The wellness strategy of Temperance may seem extreme in our society, but it works.

Following an injury, exercise therapy is almost always required if you want to have an optimal recovery. To achieve superior health, the condition of your muscles, tendons, and ligaments can’t be overlooked. Without some form of exercise therapy, recovery from an injury or long-standing physical problem takes longer to achieve.

Your body will heal regardless of whether a program of exercise therapy is completed or not. However, if you don’t complete a properly designed exercise therapy program, your healing will most likely be less than perfect. When your healing is less than perfect, you increase the likelihood of a relapse - with your original health problem returning again and again.

In our practice, we’ve found that long-lasting pain relief can be achieved only when:

• complete healing occurs
• your body returns to optimal function

When muscles, tendons, or ligaments of the spine are damaged through work injuries, car accidents, overexertion, repetitive motion or even weakened by inactivity, your overall health is negatively affected.

In our practice, we integrate chiropractic, massage therapy, nutrition and exercise therapy to achieve a powerful holistic approach to wellness. As a client, we will skillfully and patiently help you overcome obstacles that are interfering with your return to full function. Through one-on-one coaching, we can improve your:

• core strength
• overall body strength
• energy
• flexibility
• endurance
• balance

Because consistency and diligence are critical in exercise therapy, clients are usually given a set of simple exercises they can do at home. We’ve found that clients who play an active role in their own program, get better quicker and achieve better results.

A lot of patients ask me what foods they should avoid to be healthy. They ask me which are the really bad ones? They want me to tell them they’re doing fine because they avoid red meat and eat only poultry and fish. But there’s an inherent problem with this way of thinking.

If you’ve heard the news lately, there’s been reports listing America’s worst foods. Of course everyone wants to know the #1 worst food. It happens to be a side dish that may have well been served by the Grim Reaper himself…

Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing

2,900 calories
182 g fat
240 g carbs

This weapon of mass construction is the caloric equivalent of eating 14 Krispy Kreme doughnuts, before your dinner arrives. Even if you split this “starter” with 3 friends, you’ll have downed a meal’s worth of calories.

(If interested: do a search on Google for “America’s worst foods“.)

Oh how we love to point the finger at people doing things worse than us. Don’t we? We love to compare. It makes us feel good. We think somehow that people indulging in Aussie Fries justifies my eating fried chicken, because the chicken isn’t rated as bad as the fries. The problem is, you can always find something worse.

Take the Aussie Fries for instance. I could make them even less healthy by coating them with an extra layer of lard just for kicks. That would probably make them the equivalent of 16-17 Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Does that make the original version of the Aussie Fries okay now?

Isn’t it better to just focus on the good stuff? You can spend a little time reading and quickly learn what foods truly promote superior health. Then clean house.

Cleaning House Action Step for Promoting Superior Health

• Learn what “junk” food is and get all of it out of your house.
• Stock your refrigerator with a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Go for different colors and flavors.
• Keep your freezer filled with frozen fruits, vegetables, ground flax seed, whole grain pita bread and whole grain wraps. These are handy to have for quick meal preparation.
• Keep your cabinets filled with a variety of beans, nuts, seeds and dried fruits. You can make different varieties of “snacks” with different combinations of nuts, seeds and dried fruits. Be creative and experiment.
• Keep a supply of fresh and clean water for drinking.
• Supplement with a natural, safe and powerful product like Intra-Max.

From time to time our family has to repeat this action step because we accumulate “junk foods” in our house. It’s best to simply get it out of your home.

So it’s not a good strategy to just avoid eating the “bad” foods because this doesn’t ensure that you’ll be eating the best foods for promoting superior health. But if you follow the simple plan I’ve outlined above, you’ll be far more successful in your health journey.

Returning to the office on Monday, I was asked by my staff how my weekend was. I responded, “It stunk”. I’m usually pretty active, especially with my kids on the weekends. But not this weekend.

It began last Friday, with tiredness, fever, periodic hacking cough, and chills. It continued and worsened a little throughout the weekend, although It never got as bad as I thought. When I arrived Monday morning at the office I still wasn’t 100%, but felt well enough to manage okay.

I was asked if I took any medication to help. Did I consult a medical doctor? Did I take my temperature? Was it the flu?… A cold?… A virus?

I didn’t take any medicine, I didn’t visit a doctor, and I didn’t take my temperature. I don’t even know what I had! So how did I recover?… My body healed, naturally.

No medicine needed. No special chiropractic adjustments. No special nutritional supplements. Just the God-given power of natural healing working.

Let me explain a few simple strategies I use when I don’t feel my best.

#1) I remind myself that symptoms have a purpose. Things like fever, chills, coughing, lack of hunger are signs of a healthy body that’s fighting and needs to put it’s focus on a priority situation. I reasonably assess my situation. If it’s an emergency, I seek medical attention… if not, then I give my body the opportunity to heal naturally.

#2) I don’t try to suppress the symptoms with medications (i.e. Tylenol to lower fever). Studies show that suppressing natural body symptoms just prolongs the illness.

#3) I listen very carefully to my body. If I’m thirsty I drink water. If I’m hungry I eat… if not, then I fast. True hunger feelings will be in the throat, not in the belly or gut.

#4) If I’m truly hungry, I’ll eat and choose my foods carefully. I stick with steamed veggies, soups and fresh fruit mostly. It may be better to stick with all raw vegetarian foods, but I usually do better with them lightly cooked and in soups.

So to sum up my weekend: I rested, fasted, drank water, rested some more, and finally ate a little. By Monday night I felt nearly 100%. These strategies have been working for me since the 1987. And my wife and 4 children have been thriving on these strategies as well.

When your body is healthy, it’s quite capable of handling these seasonal-type illnesses without any outside interference. People are way too quick to grab a quick-fix pill. But health isn’t found in a bottle.

Why do people have such a hard time trusting the wonderful healing potential that’s already in each of us?

If you are actively pursuing superior health it won’t be easy. If you think maintaining a healthy lifestyle is easy… think again. You will face adversity. Never mind the media, the government, special interest groups and pharmaceutical companies… some of your strongest adversity will come from family, friends and co-workers.

Your goal should be to enter into a positive and friendly dialog with people. To do this we need humility… which is a modest (or accurate) view of one’s own importance.

With this in mind, it’s helpful to remember that the pursuit of superior health is a journey. We may say that we’re living a healthy lifestyle, but then we discover new things. I know that I’m constantly learning new things and making changes to my lifestyle based on the new knowledge. Just remember that different people are at different places in the journey.

I advise all of my patients to read Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman. And if you’ve read it, you most likely know more about healthy eating than 99% of the people (and doctors) you know. However, when communicating our health choices with others, we need to remember the importance of humility!

When associating with others who have unhealthy life habits (especially food), your choices will most likely irritate them. They may just be ignorant. They probably have very strong opinions. They may even become antagonistic (because they want to defend their beliefs).

If they try to get you to change or go off your health plan (i.e. “here try a little”, “I made it just for you”, or “a little won’t kill you”), simply thank them and kindly let them know that you don’t have great self-control (true of all of us!) and that if you went off your plan you would have difficulty getting back on track. Gently let them know that you have been on a healthy groove and let them know that your doctor recommended the health choice (food, exercise, chiropractic, massage or whatever), and that it seems to be working for you now – but you’re always open for change & improvement.

This strategy is detailed in the book, The Pleasure Trap, by Lisle and Goldhamer, and helps position you as a humble student open to learning (not a food guru or an extremist). You’ll find that an attitude of humility goes a long way to keeping a friendly dialog open. And who knows… maybe next time they’ll even agree to try that sprout & bean patty you made!

- First remember that superior health is not a destination… it’s a journey. Take that first step!

- Physical health & wellness is more than just feeling good. Your body is truly healthy when the whole body is working together at full capacity.

- Our physical health & wellness is impacted by: nutrition, rest, exercise, maintaining healthy body structure & alignment (chiropractic care and massage) and management of stress. Other areas of wellness include: mental health, spiritual health and social health.

- A lifestyle of healthy eating can greatly impact your health. By pursuing a whole-food plant-based diet, you will be healthier, have more balanced energy, have improved digestion and be more resistant to the onset of disease.

- By prioritizing healthy living, you will be going against the mainstream in our society. Get support from family and friends, you’ll need it!