"Step into your own personal power" How To: Listen To Your Body

A wonderful Article from Louise Androliahttp://livetheprocess.com
We are in a glorious, openhearted world for wellness. Around every corner, there is a juice bar and a yoga center. There are endless classes, podcasts and therapies to experience; bookshelves and blogs are filled with recipes and plans to follow.

The time really is now, but it’s also, for a lot of people, totally overwhelming. My clients often arrive in a state of total disconnect from their mind, body and spirit, especially when it comes to their own physical health. In regards to eating habits, they are either in a state of confusion about what the “correct” way to eat is or they perceive themselves as failing if they have trouble sticking to a diet that was chosen, for example, because it’s on trend.

In order to make the most of the incredible time in which we live, we all need to take a few steps back and reconnect to ourselves.

It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing; it doesn’t matter how great the latest health trend may be. If it doesn’t align with you, then it’s not for you. So, before you get confused by the holistic banquet, here’s how to reel yourself back in. After all, feeling good is more important than fitting in.

1. Be Positively Selfish

This is a term I use often to teach clients to put their own wellness at the top of their list. When you value your health, everything else can function a lot better underneath that one golden rule. To be selfish about your wellbeing means to remember that your experience is unique. Yes, our body systems are alike, but it makes no sense to try to copy and paste someone else’s individual body code onto your different make-up. For instance, I look after myself with my autoimmune condition in mind. That’s of course going to be different for someone who has a different set of symptoms.

Step into your own personal power and choose to conduct your life with one goal: that you feel good. With this in mind, you can start to work with your body.

2. Tune into your body

A great first step is to acknowledge all your physical, mental and emotional conditions and symptoms, both longterm and those that are new. When you choose to tune into your physical body, it’s amazing how powerfully it speaks to you. You can ask yourself all sorts of questions, such as:

1. How do I feel right now?

2. What aches and pains have become regular to me?

3. How do I sleep and how do I feel when I wake up?

4. How do my energy levels and mood change throughout the day?

5. Am I aware of my own stress levels?

6. How often do I pretend to be fine?

You can also practice a moving meditation with eating. When you have breakfast, sit without electrics or distractions and only the meal in front of you. As you take each mouthful, feel the food, its temperature, its texture and how it feels going into your body. This connects you not only to your body, but also to the present moment.

3. Listen to your body

You may now be more present and aware of the ways in which you feel off-balance. To combine these steps together, start a wellness diary for a few weeks. Write down everything you eat, the exercise you do and a brief description of your day. Alongside, note down your stressors and your physical, mental and emotional symptoms, including hormonal cycles.

4. Take Action and Nurture Your Journey

Now you can make the most of this bright time we are in! Armed with the knowledge of what it feels like to be you, it’s much easier to see which books, therapists and blogs you relate to and also to know whether they work for you or not. You also have a diary that you can take to a doctor or nutritionist. Instead of just feeling “unwell” or “tired,” you might be able to pinpoint what lead to that specific feeling.

Finally, be compassionate to yourself and your journey. A common block I see is when we devalue what we are feeling or experiencing. It’s so easy to say that we are “fine” or tell ourselves that we are probably just being silly. If you are having a feeling in your mind, body or spirit, then it is valid and it is yours to nurture.

Learn about your own body, then embrace the empowerment that comes from utilizing the wealth of tools and information that surrounds you.

Is Chocolate a Health Food??

Happy Halloween!

I know that most of you are going to overdo it in the candy department this next week and perhaps some of you all the way to Valentine's Day?? 

Chocolate candy is going to be everywhere, at home, the office, events,  parties etc etc.. Before you or your kids indulge in way too much of the yummy stuff know that consumption comes with a price.  It is loaded with extra calories, it is hard to stop at just one and worst of all it a depresses the  immune system.  It is no wonder kids come home from school with the sniffles right after Halloween. 

  

Here is the skinny so you can make good for you choices for yourself and your kids: 

The cocoa bean, actually a seed, grows in pods on trees. It contains compounds called flavanols, which have been shown to lower blood pressure, improve blood flow and reduce overall risk of heart disease. Three scientific analyses published in the past six months pooled results of smaller studies to conclude that cocoa is good for the heart. Scientists believe flavanols work, at least in part, by stimulating production of nitric oxide, which relaxes vessels and improves blood flow.

Most chocolate isn't labeled with milligrams of flavanols and there's no industry or scientific standard yet for measuring flavanols in chocolate. One objective measure is the cocoa percentage on the label. Milk chocolate can be as little as 10% cocoa paste by weight, with the rest in sugar, milk and other ingredients.

Dark-chocolate bars typically contain 50% to 85% cocoa by weight, scientists say. "The higher the percentage of cocoa, the higher the flavanol content, the higher the antioxidant content and thus we believe the greater positive health benefit," says Washington, D.C., nutritionist Joy Dubost, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

My take on the above information is that a little goes a long way. If you have a chocolate craving and are trying to lose weight one or two squares of the 70-80% Dark Chocolate  after dinner or as a healthy snack should  satisfy. If you crave Chocolate all the time you might be deficient in Magnesium! 

Take it easy on yourself this holiday season.... and make good for you choices.  You are in charge of your health and wellness... Now that is Scary!!

Happy Halloween

6 Exercises to Reverse Bad Posture

Did you know that for every inch the head moves forward in posture, its weight on your neck and upper back muscles increases by 10 pounds?

For example, a human head weighing 12 pounds held forward only 3 inches from the shoulders results in 42 pounds of pressure on the neck and upper back muscles. That's the equivalent of almost three watermelons resting on your neck and back!

When you neglect your posture, you invite chronic back pain. Rounding your low back while sitting for extended periods of time in front of a computer, standing for hours stooped over, sleeping improperly and lifting poorly can all lead to debilitating aches.

Maintaining the natural lumbar curve in your low back is essential to preventing posture-related back pain. This natural curve works as a shock absorber, helping to distribute weight along the length of your spine. Adjusting postural distortions can help stop back pain.

A basic remedy to sitting all day is to simply get up! Frequently getting up from a seated position and doing these six quick and easy realignment exercises can help you reeducate your muscles from getting stuck in a hunched over cave man position.

1. Chin Tuck

The Chin Tuck can help reverse forward-head posture by strengthening the neck muscles.

This exercise can be done sitting or standing. Start with your shoulders rolled back and down. While looking straight ahead, place two fingers on your chin, slightly tuck your chin and move your head back (image at left). Hold for 3-5 seconds and then release. Repeat 10 times.

Tip: The more of a double chin you create, the better the results. If you’re in a parked car, try doing the Chin Tuck pressing

the back of your head into the headrest for 3-5 seconds. Do 15-20 repetitions.

2. Wall Angel

Stand with your back against a flat wall with your feet about four inches from the base. Maintain a slight bend in your knees. Your glutes, spine and head should all be against the wall. Bring your arms up with elbows bent so your upper arms are parallel to the floor and squeeze your shoulder blades together, forming a letter "W" (image at left). Hold for 3 seconds.

Next, straighten your elbows to raise your arms up to form the letter “Y.” Make sure not to shrug your shoulders to your ears. Repeat this 10 times, starting at “W,” holding for 3 seconds and then raising your arms into a “Y.” Do 2-3 sets.

3. Doorway Stretch

This exercise loosens those tight chest muscles!

Standing in a doorway, lift your arm so it's parallel to the floor and bend at the elbow so your fingers point toward the ceiling. Place your hand on the doorjamb.

Slowly lean into your raised arm and push against the doorjamb for 7-10 seconds. Relax the pressure and then press your arm against the doorjamb again, this time coming into a slight lunge with your legs so your chest moves forward past the doorjamb for 7-10 seconds (image at left). Repeat this stretch two to three times on each side.

4. Hip Flexor Stretch

Kneel onto your right knee with toes down, and place your left foot flat on the floor in front of you.

Place both hands on your left thigh and press your hips forward until you feel a good stretch in the hip flexors.

Contract your abdominals and slightly tilt your pelvis back while keeping your chin parallel to the floor (image at left). Hold this pose for 20-30 seconds, and then switch sides.

The next two exercises require a resistance band:

5. The X-Move

This exercise helps strengthen your upper back muscles, especially the ones between your shoulder blades (the rhomboids).

Sit on the floor with your legs extended forward. Place the middle of the resistance band around the bottom of your feet and cross one side over the other to form an "X".

Grasp the ends of the band with your arms extended in front of you.

Pull the ends of the band toward your hips, bending your elbows so they point backward (image at left). Hold and slowly return. Do 8-12 repetitions for three sets.

6. The V-Move

According to a 2013 study by the Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, performing this simple resistance band exercise 2 minutes a day, five times a week, will significantly decrease your neck and shoulder pain and improve your posture.

While standing, stagger your feet so one is slightly behind the other. Grasp the handles, or the ends, of the resistance band and lift your arms upward and slightly outward away from your body about 30 degrees.

Keep a slight bend in your elbows. Stop at shoulder level; hold and return.

Make sure to keep your shoulder blades down and back straight. Repeat this exercise for 2 minutes each day, five days a week.

Good work!

THE ULTIMATE HEALTH FOOD

VEGGING OUT

One of the questions on my patient intake forms asks the question  " How many servings of Vegetables do you eat per day?" Often the answer is 1-2.  When pressed the 1-2 includes a lettuce leave on a burger or a slice of tomato.

 Some folks do however include a small salad at lunch or dinner, however it is often iceberg lettuce with croutons and cheese (Caesar Salad) with no other vegetables in the salad. 

I know that a diet filled with mostly plants is medicine for the body and that incorporating more veggies in your daily diet can have a big effect on how you look and feel.  Life is so much better when you FEEL GOOD. 

To encourage and inspire you to add more veggies to your daily meals I have included a list of Vegetable Cookbooks, that have mouth watering recipes, beautiful photos and the main focus is plants.

1. Plenty - Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi. The photos in this book are beautiful and the recipes are simple. This get's a A plus!

2. Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop.  This book is arranged in an A-Z guide

3. River Cottage Vegetables.  There are 200 recipes in this book

4. Tender: A cook and his Vegetable Patch by Nigel Slater

This book was an instant hit in the UK

5. 50 Best Plants on the Planet: By Cathy Thomas

Last but not least :  Experiment with roasting, grilling, steaming and raw.  It is amazing how a little olive oil, lemon juice  and sea salt can bring out the best in so many veggies.

Enjoy and do this for yourself, your family and have fun with it.

Dr Pia 

10 THINGS PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHIROPRACTIC CARE

1. Pain is the last symptom of dysfunction.
A patient’s back is often restricted or unstable for months or years before it presents as a problem and they show up in a chiropractor’s office. In addition, the absence of pain is not health. While medication may be needed, if you take a pill and the pain goes away, the dysfunction that caused it still persists. Muscle, ligament and joint injuries often occur as a result of long-term biomechanical dysfunction, sometimes from past injuries, making the area more susceptible to future injury.

2. Athletes use chiropractors to stay well and perform better, not just for the occasional injury.

Athletes choose chiropractors because we are movement specialists. Chiropractors were spotted all over the Olympic coverage last year, and top athletes such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Tom Brady, Evander Holyfield, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have all been proud patients of chiropractors. These days it’s far more common than not for major athletes and sports teams to keep chiropractors nearby to help prevent injuries, speed injury recovery, improve balance and coordination, and give them a greater competitive edge.

3. The body does not perform as a cluster of separate mechanisms, but rather a cascade of events that all starts with proper control by the nervous system.

The nerves that travel through and control every function of your body originate at the spinal cord and their transmission may be disrupted if the joints of the surrounding spinal column are not moving properly. This disruption in biomechanical integrity combined with altered physiological function is what chiropractors call a subluxation. Below is a chart that illustrates the relationship of the spinal nerves exiting the vertebra branching off to the various organ systems. You can see why it is not uncommon for a chiropractor to treat a patient with mid-back pain who also suffers from irritable bowel system, a patient with a subluxated sacrum who has been unsuccessfully trying to become pregnant, or a patient with an upper back fixation and acid reflux.



4. Doctors don’t do the healing.

Sorry to disappoint you, but a chiropractor will never fix your back. What we are able to do is restore proper motion in the joints, which relieves tension on the nerves and muscles and allows your body to do the healing that it is inherently made to do. As chiropractors, we believe that the body is a perfect organism in its natural state, and all disease comes from a disruption in the body’s proper transmission of signals by the nerves which affects its ability to heal and to defend against disease-causing agents. We never treat disease. We assess to find which spinal levels are causing the disfunction, and we adjust it to restore proper nerve flow so the nervous system may work as efficiently and effectively as possible.

5. Chiropractic is for all ages.
Many seniors aren’t aware of the benefits of chiropractic care which can help them not only with pain relief, but also increase range of motion, balance and coordination, and decrease joint degeneration. There’s no patient too young for chiropractic either! Chiropractors check infants moments after birth for misalignments of the upper vertebrae that may occur as a result of the birth process. In addition to supporting overall health and well-being, parents also take their children to chiropractors to encourage healthy brain and nervous system development, to assist with colic, asthma, allergies, bed-wetting and sleeping problems, and to assist with behavioral disorders.

6. We know about more than your backbone!
This surprises many people who had no idea that chiropractors give advice on nutrition, fitness, ergonomics and lifestyle, screen for conditions unrelated to the musculoskeletal system and refer out to other practitioners when necessary. Chiropractors are also able to complete specialties in other areas such as pediatrics, sports rehabilitation, neurology, clinical nutrition, and addictions and compulsive disorders.

Other than particular specialties and the differences in learning to adjust and learning to prescribe medication, our training hours are not dissimilar from that of medical doctor. The following are the classroom hours for basic science requirements compiled and averaged following a review of curricula of 18 chiropractic schools and 22 medical schools.

7. Successful chiropractic patients accept responsibility.
When somebody says that they tried chiropractic and it didn’t help, I cringe and get the feeling that they really missed the boat. Of course, there are cases with complicating factors, but I have heard this from people with straightforward chiropractic problems when it is very clear what has happened here. In most cases, one doesn’t acquire back pain over night, and it’s not going to go away over night. If a weak core from years of sitting at your desk is to blame for the additional stress on your joints, I would expect an adjustment to provide relief, but once the condition is no longer exacerbated, I would most definitely prescribe some exercises for you to do at home. I might also suggest we evaluate your nutrition if I suspect an inflammatory diet may be wiring you for pain. Sure, I’m always happy to adjust someone and make a living, but if you’ve been given homework and you don’t do it, I better not hear you say chiropractic didn’t work when you’re hurting again!

8. Chiropractic may help you get sick less.
Studies have indicated that adjustments consistently reduce the production of pro-inflammatory mediators associated with tissue damage and pain, and may also enhance the production of immunoregulatory complexes important for healthy immune system defense. As far back as the deadly flu pandemic of 1917-1918, chiropractors noticed that their patients seemed to have fewer fatalities than among the general population and were able to publish their work in an osteopathic journal since no scholarly journals were accepting chiropractic data. The estimated death rate among patients of conventional medical care in the U.S. was estimated at 5 to 6 percent while the fatality rate among influenza cases receiving spinal adjustments was estimated at 0.25%.

9. “I heard I’ll have to go forever” is a myth.
You may want to go to your chiropractor forever once you’ve started because you didn’t realize how great getting adjusted is, but your doctor won’t expect you to come for continuous care without symptoms. Generally, if you come in with pain, once you’ve been treated for your initial complaint, you’ll be scheduled for a few more appointments to make sure proper motion is being maintained, then it will be recommended you return occasionally to be checked just like you would go to the dentist to get checked for tartar buildup and cavities. Of course, many people still choose to see their chiropractor weekly or monthly for wellness or maintenance care.

10. Adjustments don’t hurt.
There is no bone snapping or warrior-style pulling heads off spinal columns! The neck adjustment some chiropractors use causes anticipation for many new patients, but is actually much more gentle than they imagined, and involves a quick, direct thrust to a specific spinal bone. The sound an adjustment makes is called a cavitation and is only space being created within the joint causing gasses to be released from the joint capsule, which creates the popping or cracking noise. Also, chiropractic adjustments will not wear out your joints, as some imagine because they have been warned not to “crack their knuckles” for this reason in the past. Adjustments, unlike “knuckle cracking” or having your friend stomp on you while you lay on the carpet, are applied specifically to improve the motion of your joints and limit the small dysfunctions that over time can lead to arthritis. Most people after an adjustment describe the feeling as being “lighter”, having greater ease in moving the body, and being able to stand up taller.

Resources:

http://www.yourmedicaldetective.com/drgrisanti/mddc.htm

http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=948
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OUR NEW CORPORATE WELLNESS PROGRAM

We are so excited to be Introducing our New Corporate Wellness Program! 

This is what our first client had to say: 

"I was referred to Dr. Pia Martin almost a year ago after I sustained a back injury and was unsuccessfully treated by other chiropractors who seemed to make my injury worse. Initially I was a little skeptical because of my previous experience however that was quickly changed on my first consult. Dr. Pia purposely took the time to fully understand what was going on and took a ‘whole person’ approach to treating me. She addressed my symptoms but also got to the root of the problem. We discovered that not only was the chiropractic treatment working but more importantly her diet and nutrition recommendations eliminated many underlying problems I was having. More than two years ago my medical Dr. diagnosed me with high blood pressure which was causing heart palpitations, he put me on a regiment of blood pressure medication which I quickly discarded because I was not willing to take medication like that at the age of 29. Through Dr. Pia we discovered I was gluten intolerant which was causing my heart palpitations, since cutting gluten from my diet I have no symptoms and blood pressure has dropped. 

Thanks to my personal experience and success with Dr. Pia, we are now very excited to have implemented a wellness program in our company, offering our employees the opportunity work with Dr Pia, promoting a happy, healthy work environment. 

I highly recommend not only working with Dr. Pia personally but, if you are a business owner or executive, seriously considering working with Dr. Pia to implement a similar wellness program in your company." 

To learn how you can offer this program to your employees: Call us 214 8696404 or Email drpiamartin@gmail.com

Happy Mother's Day

By Christian Northrope MD

The mother-daughter relationship is at the headwaters of every woman’s health. Our bodies and our beliefs about them were formed in the soil of our mother’s emotions, beliefs, and behaviors. Even before birth, our mother provides us with our first experience of nurturing. She is our first and most powerful female role model. 

It is from her that we learn what it is to be a woman and care for our bodies. Our cells divided and grew to the beat of her heart. Our skin, hair, heart, lungs, and bones were nourished by her blood, blood that was awash with the neurochemicals formed in response to her thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. If she was fearful, anxious, and deeply unhappy about her pregnancy, our bodies knew it. If she felt safe, happy, and fulfilled, we felt that, too.

Our bodies and those of our daughters were created by a seamless web of nature and nurture, of biology informed by consciousness that we can trace back to the beginning of time. Thus, every daughter contains her mother and all the women who came before her. The unrealized dreams of our maternal ancestors are part of our heritage. To become optimally healthy and happy, each of us must get clear about the ways in which our mother’s history both influenced and continues to inform our state of health, our beliefs, and how we live our lives. Every woman who heals herself helps heal all the women who came before her and all those who will come after her.

A Mother's Unconscious Influence

A mother’s often unconscious influence on her daughter’s health is so profound that years ago I had to accept that my medical skills were only a drop in the bucket compared to the unexamined and ongoing influence of her mother. If a woman’s relationship with her mother was supportive and healthy, and if her mother had given her positive messages about her female body and how to care for it, my job as a physician was easy. Her body, mind, and spirit were already programmed for optimal health and healing. 

If, on the other hand, her mother’s influence was problematic, or if there was a history of neglect, abuse, alcoholism, or mental illness, then I knew that my best efforts would likely fall short. Real long-term health solutions would become possible only when my patient realized the impact of her background and then took steps to change this influence. Though healthcare modalities such as dietary improvement, exercise, drugs, surgery, breast exams, and Pap smears all have their place, not one of them can get to the part of a woman’s consciousness that’s creating her state of health in the first place.

Before birth, consciousness literally directs the creation of our bodies. It’s also constantly being shaped by our life’s experiences, most especially those of childhood. No other childhood experience is as compelling as a young girl’s relationship with her mother. Each of us takes in at the cellular level how our mother feels about being female, what she believes about her body, how she takes care of her health, and what she believes is possible in life. Her beliefs and behaviors set the tone for how well we learn to care for ourselves as adults. We then pass this information either consciously or unconsciously on to the next generation.

Though I acknowledge that the culture at large plays a significant role in our views of ourselves as women, ultimately the beliefs and behavior of our individual mothers exert a far stronger influence. In most cases, she’s the first to teach us the dictates of the larger culture. And if her beliefs are at odds with the dominant culture, our mother’s influence almost always wins.

Source Link: http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/.

HOW TO GET BACK INTO EXERCISE AFTER A LAPSE

A good reminder for all of us:  Honor your entry ramp and slow and steady is best. Enjoy this article from the WSJ.

Pregnancy, injury, sickness or a hectic month at work can cause lapses in workout routines. Motivation and patience are key to getting back on track in a safe and healthy way. "When unavoidable situations arise, realize they are just short-term holdups to your exercise program, not permanent derailments," says Barbara Bushman, a professor at Missouri State University's Department of Kinesiology. "Have a return plan in action."

Dr. Bushman wrote a chapter called "Dealing with Setbacks" for the American College of Sports Medicine's "Complete Guide to Fitness and Health." She says motivation is half the battle. "Mentally identify what you want to accomplish," she says. "I encourage people to set both short-term as well as long term goals."

Jim Pivarnik, a professor of kinesiology at Michigan State, says setting a comeback schedule helps ease back into a workout routine safely. "A schedule helps monitor your progress and ensures that you don't go back too fast and crash in the process," he says.

Pain and undue fatigue are often signs that a person is doing too much too soon, says Dr. Pivarnik. Muscle soreness, on the other hand, isn't always a sign to take a day off. "Be mindful of it and if the soreness doesn't go away in a day or two, then take time off," he says.

He says how quickly you ease back into a routine largely depends on the intensity of what you had been doing. "If you were doing a more passive version of yoga, it would not take as long to get back into that as if you were doing a more active, cardio-intense yoga," he says. "I often tell runners who are getting back into a routine to increase their mileage no more than 10% per week."

—Jen Murphy

A Little Chemicals with your Sandwich?

Is a Subway Sandwich a Healthy Choice? 

Just the other day someone said to me... well a Subway sandwich is a not so bad choice for lunch?  Think again! 

An portion of an article By Melaine Warner

"Consider the popular Subway sandwich, an icon of wholesome weight loss ever since Jared Fogle shed copious pounds on what became known as the "Subway diet." Ms. Warner reveals the 105 ingredients of Subway's Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich. The chicken alone contains such chemicals as potassium chloride (salt), maltodextrin (a starchy thickener), autolyzed yeast extract (a cheap substitute for MSG), gum arabic (tree sap used as a stabilizer), soy protein concentrate (cheap protein additive), and sodium phosphates (more salt!). The Italian white bread, meanwhile, comes equipped with ammonium sulfate (inorganic salt often used in fertilizer), azodicarbonamide (a flour bleaching agent), potassium iodate (a maturing agent for increasing the speed of baking dough), sodium stearoyl lactylate (a fat and sugar replacement for dough conditioning) and natural flavor (natural!). Some of these ingredients provide flavor (autolyzed yeast extract); some extend shelf life (ammonium sulfate); others are simply cheaper than alternatives (soy protein concentrate).

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If you were to make this sandwich at home, Ms. Warner admits, you might be able to avoid these substances, but then again, where did you get the chicken and the bread?

4 Best Ways to Boost Immunity and Why!

 4 Best Ways to Boost Immunity and Why!

In order to be “well” the body, like all of nature, exists by maintaining a state of balance.  It is dependent upon the environment it nourishes and with the interconnectivity and cooperation between whole systems and a respect for natural processes and order.

In June 2011, a coordinated research between the Microbiome project consortium and NIH was released. 200 scientists worked on the project and found that instead of the one germ – one disease theory that has dominated western medicine for centuries they found that there were entire ecosystems of bacteria in the body that work together symbiotically.  It supports the idea that even though you got a flu shot you still got the flu, cough or cold that recently made the rounds in great numbers.  The idea is that instead of killing the bad germs to fight disease, which by the way also wipes out the good bacteria, doctors need to shift their thinking to providing support for the good bacteria and improving the terrain or environment to create a sense of balance. Simply put …given the right stuff the body can heal itself.

What is that stuff?

1    After decades of propaganda leading us to believe that commercially produced foods are OK we are now coming to the rude awaking that we have deviated far from the natural whole foods that truly nourish our bodies.  We know that whole organically grown foods are best for our families and to source and prepare those foods is not always the most convenient but it is hands down worth the effort.

2     Newer to science is the interconnectivity between the nervous system and the immune system.  Our stress handling glands the adrenal glands are one common link.  We know that if we experience sustained periods of stress, whether it is physical, chemical, or emotional we get sick.  Maintaining your nervous system through regular chiropractic care helps improve communication between these two systems.

3  You may eat a perfect diet of raw organic foods, drink purified water, workout everyday and get adjusted regularly, but if your overcome with negative emotions and stinking thinking you will not be in a state of balance and therefore it will impact your immune system.  I can personally attest to this as I recently lost my voice because I didn’t speak up when I should have done so.  A good reminder and lesson for me to learn.

4   Exercise often.  A strong body along with good nutrition goes a long way to support the mind, which is the most difficult area to keep in balance.

Hippocrates (The father of modern medicine said centuries ago)

“ Humans are created to be healthy as long as they are whole, body, mind and spirit” The principles are vitalistic and fluid and need to be nurtured everyday.

Why the 49ers Love to Stretch

San Francisco's Players Believe Their Fixation With Stretching Has Given the Team an Edge

By KEVIN CLARK

Getty Images

Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith warm up.

The San Francisco 49ers' two-year rise from the depths of mediocrity is widely attributed to ferocious defense and the dazzling running ability of quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

But as the 49ers head to Atlanta favored to beat the Falcons this weekend and advance to their first Super Bowl in 18 years, here's another possibility: Maybe it's that they stretch a lot.

That's not a proposition you'd want to state too loudly in the 49ers' locker room. The San Francisco stretching program is something team officials refuse to talk about, ostensibly for competitive reasons. But let's face it: The same 300-pound linemen who quickly brag about how much weight they can bench aren't likely to admit that they can do the splits. That's the province of cheerleaders, isn't it?

Privately, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh has made it clear that stretching isn't for sissies, for good reason. Stretching, research shows, can dramatically reduce the risk of injury, and nothing about the 49ers is more remarkable than their bill of health. Since Harbaugh took over the team two years ago, Niners players have missed 159 games due to injury. (A missed game is one player missing one game.) According to Stats LLC, the three other teams left in the playoffs have had dramatically higher injury rates. Over the past two years, the Falcons have missed 29% more games and the Baltimore Ravens 94% more than the 49ers. The New England Patriots' number is 440, an injury rate 176% higher than the 49ers.