There Are No Wrong Choices In Birth

I love working with women in pregnancy. Supporting a woman’s pregnancy with chiropractic care offers tremendous benefits, both for mom’s overall health and comfort, but also for the health of the baby. It’s a pleasure to serve their quickly changing needs through the unpredictable 9 months. But taking care of their physical health is not the best part of working closely with women during their childbearing years.

The best part is that I get to hear and be a part of each woman’s story. What is the story about this pregnancy? Was it planned or a surprise? Did they struggle for years and now they’re ecstatic to be overcoming infertility? What has her pregnancy brought her - both good and not so good? Where is she birthing? What led her to that decision? What does she want for her birth? What are her fears, her expectations, her joys about this pregnancy?

Those who work with women during pregnancy and during the postpartum period love to hear these stories because no two stories are the same. No two births happen the same. Each family, woman, and baby is unique. Their stories are unique. Their births are unique. Their personalities are unique.

Which is why there is no one “type” of birth that is right for every woman and baby. Some women want to birth via cesarean. Some prefer to be home in a pool set up in their living rooms. Some fall in between those in terms of their medical preferences.

And that is ok.

The last several years has seen a growth in the number of home births here in the US. There are many who live and practice in a holistic way who tend to demonize hospital births and OB’s because they practice medicine on a natural process that doesn’t usually need to be interfered with. They seem to think home birth is what every woman should choose, on the basis that “medicine is bad.”

I think home birth is great, but not because I think every woman should have a home birth. I think it’s great because it gives a woman one more option, and one more safe approach to consider as she prepares for birth. I agree that home birth offers many advantages and is safe for the majority of birthing women when they are attended by a midwife. Home birth can be wonderful.

But I believe that home birth is not for everybody. Then again, neither is hospital birth. What IS for everyone is options, choices, and the ability to choose what fits a woman and her pregnancy the best. What a woman chooses for her birth is acceptable, period. If it matters to her, it matters.

There are no wrong choices in birth. There are only uniformed ones. Know all of your options and choose what is best for you because your birthing situation is totally unique to you. Happy birthing!

Why Should I Go To The Chiropractor?

If you were to ask the average person today why someone would see a chiropractor, you’d likely hear something about going after a car accident or when trying to alleviate back pain. Rarely would you hear about chiropractic care for joint health, immune support, digestive system regulation or pregnancy care. Have you ever heard of someone going to the chiropractor to have their ear adjusted for an earache? What about “I’m going in for a shoulder adjustment”? Most don’t realize it, but chiropractic care encompases far more than simply back pain and car accidents.

How can a chiropractor claim to help someone with their digestion or arthritis when they primarily work on the spine? Everything is connected, and what most don’t realize is that the spine is the key for absolutely everything in the body. Everything.

The brain is the body’s master computer. It communicates miraculously to every part of the body within fractions of a second. The ability to communicate messages to the body is essential. Without proper communication within the body, systems cannot be managed and they begin to cease to operate. So the goal of chiropractic care is to increase the body’s communication with itself.

To illustrate this, say you were talking on the phone and you had an important message to communicate to the person on the other end of the line. But something is wrong with the signal. The person on the other side of the line only hears static, silence, or bits and pieces of the message you are trying to convey. Is the other person on the end of the line receiving the message in full? Of course not.

The same thing happens within the body.

Breaks in communication within the body are called subluxation. A chiropractor is specially trained to relieve subluxation through skeletal manipulation to restore effective communication.

Once communication lines are open, the body’s ability to facilitate its own healing increases. Certainly it is not the only factor in healing a human body, but it is an essential part of the process.

Many times patients will come to a chiropractor as a last resort, saying that their regular doctor’s methods are not helping, and in many cases they seem to be only causing more problems. Most doctors rather dismiss any sort of holistic care. Patients often times find that they don’t want to be taking a dozen medications, especially when none of them seem to be helping anything. They come to a chiropractor looking for a solution - any solution - to many of the health problems they are facing. Most of the time, they are pleasantly surprised, and relieved, by the results they experience.

The body can manage itself. It can heal itself. But it must be given the proper tools to do so. In addition, it must be able to communicate effectively within itself to its various systems.

That is why, as a part of holistic wellness, everyone that seeks to be healthy should be adjusted regularly by a chiropractor.

Make Habit Changes, Not New Year’s Resolutions

It’s the new year, and as usual our culture is all abuzz discussing “New Year’s Resolutions.” Year after year, our resolutions never seem to change. We always need to make the same “resolutions” every year because we didn’t fulfill our resolutions the previous year. We always vow to take better care of ourselves, lose weight, budget better, and spend more time with loved ones, etc. It seems as though we think that a small handful of new year’s resolutions will somehow bring balance to our crazy lives with nothing more than single statement of intention to “do better.”

History repeats itself, and happens to be a wonderful teacher. The truth is, if you want to bring about change in your life, relying a single new year’s resolution seems a sure fire way to feel overwhelmed.

Remember that metaphorical question: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Trying to plan a full 365 days of life change in a single go is like trying to eat the whole elephant in one bite. The end goal is too big, too vague, and it lacks a plan. So year after year, what happens? We return to the same unaccomplished New Year’s resolutions.

On the one hand, it’s good that we all recognize that we have areas of potential growth. However, if true personal growth were as straightforward as a handful of resolutions to change, the world’s problems would be solved. In real life, change comes about slower than that.

However, though change comes about slowly, it doesn’t take as long as you may think.

Instead of making a “New Year’s resolution,” identify a few things that you want to change. Then, make a commitment to change your habits. Changing habits is a much smaller, more attainable goal that comes with a formula for success. Want to know it? Here it is:

21 days. That’s it.

It takes 21 days to create a habit. That’s all. You don’t need a full year.

The things in your life that you want to change are usually the result of learned habits. In order to change those things, you simply need to create new habits to replace the old ones.  

For instance, if you want to spend more time with family, try this. Write down days 1-21. Write down at the top of the page: 5 minutes with family. That’s it. Every day, be intentional about spending that extra 5 minutes with your family. After you did it, check it off the day list. After that 21 days is over, you will have created a new habit. At that point, your subconscious will take over. You’ll begin to notice that what started as 5 minutes will begin to expand and the habit of deliberately planned family time will become the new normal for you.

Let’s do another one. Do you want to lose weight? Here’s what NOT to do: start a workout regimen at the same time that you are learning clean eating, while you’re trying to do a sugar detox. Are all those things good for you? Sure! If you’re able to pull it off simultaneously will you lose weight? Absolutely! But for most people in real life, they will succeed when they tackle one thing at a time. For instance, spend the first 21 days doing a sugar detox. Write out days 1-21. Check off each day!

Then for the next 21 days, add in a workout regimen. This can start small as well - you don’t need to start on day 1 with two hours at the gym. Write out days 1-21. Do a small workout in your living room if you need to. Jog around the block. Go to the gym if you’d like, but remember that during this time you’re training your subconscious to form a habit. So you don’t need to do anything over the top. Results will come from a habit change, not just the intensity of a few workouts.

Then, for the NEXT 21 days, focus on diet. Find and experiment with new recipes, be extra deliberate about your grocery purchases, and modify your favorite meals.

There! You created 3 new habits that will produce the results you want. But if you look back, you’ll notice that forming those habits took you a full 63 days. That’s a little more than 2 months! But that foundation of forming healthy habits will carry you over through the rest of the year and help you produce the results you want.

So that’s 63 days of forming habits vs a single new year’s resolution. Which one do you think will produce results? Personal growth takes time - it doesn’t happen overnight. But once habits are formed, they become more automatic and our desired results become less difficult to achieve.

Here’s the other good news. If in your attempts to change habits fall short, you didn’t fail at the entire year’s goal! You can start your 21 day habit change at any point. If you get to day 8 and realize you missed the mark simply start the 21 days over! You didn’t fail at the entire year because you missed a few days of changing habits. You just need to reset the 21 days!

If you want to be better at this thing called life, good for you! Make it happen! But if you want to be successful, do it in a way that will actually help you achieve the results you want.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2017!

A Theory About Flu Season

We’re well immersed in winter now, so that means we are in the thick of “flu season” here in North America. Pharmacies and doctor offices are pushing patients and customers to make sure they get a flu shot so as to be protected, and they have been encouraging this for a couple months. The flu season runs from fall through winter and begins to dissipate at the beginning of spring. Every year. And I have a theory as to why that is the case. It goes like this:

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

New Years

Valentine’s Day

Yes. The holidays. They are a big part of it.

What do all of these things have in common? Treats, candy, holiday sweets, and lots and lots and lots of sugar. Cookie exchanges, pumpkin pies, chocolate covered cherries, oh my! The holidays all involve a great deal of sugar consumption in some form.

The problem is, our bodies don’t take a break from their regularly scheduled operations for the holidays just because we want sweets. Sugar, as we know, wreaks havoc on the immune system. (Sugar is even known now to cause cancer. Not just feed it - it causes it.) For four to six hours after you consume sugar, your immune system is operating at only 25%. Sugar takes a serious toll on our bodies in every system. A compromised immune system is much more prone to viruses and infections than one that is adequately supported and functioning properly.

In addition, it is no coincidence that in North America our flu season is during the fall and winter because we have now discovered that the best defense against the flu is Vitamin D. Vitamin D is otherwise known as the sunshine vitamin. This makes perfect sense because during the winter, our vitamin D stores are quite low since we are not exposing our skin to the sun.

According to the World Health Organization, at the equator, there are no reported seasonal peaks in flu activity. In areas just north and south of the equator, the flu incidence rises a bit during the rainy season, again suggesting that vitamin D plays a key role. In areas that have access to warm sunshine year round, there is no reported flu season. Populations in this area have regular access to vitamin D, so their immune systems have the proper support.

Between the body’s prodigious sugar consumption and lack of adequate vitamin D, it’s no wonder that we are extra susceptible to disease and viruses in the wintertime. While the flu shot is rife with risks, dangerous chemicals, and effectiveness inconsistencies, many people opt every year not to get vaccinated against the flu. And that’s ok - because the best defense against the flu is not the shot.

So, here’s this chiropractor’s the best advice for avoiding the flu.

1. Get adjusted. Without access to the sun, your body needs all the immune support it can get. A single chiropractic adjustment increases the immune response by 200%. Weekly adjustments can do a world of good for your preventative health.
   
2. Cut back on the sugar. I know the holidays are full of sweets. But that doesn’t mean your house needs to be full of them for months and months. An occasional treat is acceptable, provided you are eating well in between those times.
   
3. Supplement your vitamin D. Now, it’s important to note that vitamin D supplementation is not near as effective as the real deal. But it can go a long way towards keeping your immune system supported during these frigid winter months when the only part of your body that sees sunlight is the tip of your nose.

Stay healthy, stay warm, and enjoy the holidays!

Read Food Labels

Eating healthy is a real trick today. One person’s definition of “healthy” oftentimes doesn’t match another’s, even though their biology is the same. Furthermore, what one “expert” defines as healthy can vary greatly from the next “expert.” So who is right? So what do you need to eat in order to be healthy?

First, let’s define healthy. Check out my blog post about what defines health. Health isn’t merely the absence of disease. Health occurs when all body systems are functioning at optimum capacity. It makes sense that each of these systems need the proper fuel, right? Of course - and that fuel is your food.

The body needs micro nutrients, proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and other essentials to have a balanced and supported system. Whole foods - as close to their natural state as possible - are going to give you the biggest nutritional bang for your buck. At the grocery store, however, finding these foods may not seem as easy as you think. Labels like “all-natural,” “cage-free,” “organic,” “non-GMO,” “gluten free,” and others can make the savviest shopper’s head spin. So how can you know what is actually healthy and what is not? Here are a few general guidelines to take with you along to the grocery store:

1. Read labels. I don’t mean reading the front of the packaging, and I don’t mean the nutrition facts. I mean pick up the box and read the ingredients list. Can you read those ingredients? Are they even food? If yes, you’re on the right track.
   
2. While reading those labels, avoid several ingredients. Sugar is a big one, and it comes in many forms. Sugar is in everything from sushi to bread to ketchup, so be sure to read those labels with a skeptical eye. Furthermore, sugar is listed in several names.  For instance, “cane sugar” is the same thing as sugar. High Fructose corn Syrup is another big no no - it’s not at all natural and it causes insulin spikes.
   
3. Don’t buy sugar free. While you should be avoiding sugar, choosing “sugar free” doesn’t fix the problem - it creates a new one. Anything labeled as “sugar free” that is also marketed as sweet will be full of artificial sweeteners which we know cause a whole host of diseases within the body, including cancer and neurological diseases. If given no choice other than artificial sugar or regular sugar, go for the regular sugar every time.
   
4. Don’t buy fat free. If you’re purchasing a food that has fat in it, buy the full fat version. Fat free products have added sugar to enhance flavor, so if you’re buying them hoping to slim your waistline, you’ll be sorely disappointed with the results. Sugar causes insulin spikes, and insulin is the fat producing hormone. So the fat free trend is essentially a hoax that should be avoided.
   
5. Stick to the produce section. There is little wonder what is in those foods! Of course organic is best, but even if you can’t do organic you can at least buy whole foods.
   
6. Buy your meat locally. The commercial meat industry is rife with problems. The conditions in which the animals are raised, the cleanliness of the meat, and even the quality of the meat are all severely compromised. When you purchase cheap meat, you’re taking a serious gamble with your health. Generally speaking, if it’s in the regular meat section of the grocery store, it’s not going to be good for you.
   

As your chiropractor, I care about all aspects of your health - not just how well adjusted you are. Of course getting adjusted is important, but I would be doing you a disservice if all I did was give you an adjustment, knowing that other aspects of your health may be compromised. Please do your best with your diet - it’s worth it.