5 factors of health

It's November and flu/ebola/crud season is upon us!  What a great time to talk about our health! If you want to know how to get your health back and keep it, then you are in the right place.

So, let's get started by briefly discussing 5 health promoting lifestyle habits. I will go into more detail about each one in the coming weeks.

1. Mindset
Our mindset is basically how we view the world.  Everything gets processed through your perspective on life. That perspective can change based upon how stressed you are, how much sleep you get, or your relationship with others.  A negative perspective will leave you feeling out of sync with yourself and others. 

2. Nerve flow
 Life flows through your nervous system.  Without proper nerve flow, your body will not be able to function at 100%.  Chiropractors are nerve flow specialists. 

3. Nutrition
What we eat is the only fuel our bodies get.  Dietary imbalances such as high carb diets or nutrient deficient diets can cause many health problems, from psychological to physical.

4. Exercise
We all know that exercise is important but do we understand why? Movement is life.  Without movement, we age and die more rapidly. Find an exercise program that both challenges and encourages you.

5. Toxins
In our modern world, it is difficult to avoid exposure to toxins.  They are in the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat.  This daily exposure makes our bodies have to work hard to clean the gunk out and can make us feel run down and tired without even doing anything!  Finding ways to eliminate exposure will great decrease the toxic burden of your body and mind.

How do you maintain a heathy lifestyle? 

How does a skeleton know when it is raining?

It can feel it in it's bones!! Hahaha!

I love corny jokes.  I love laughing in general.  It's so much more productive to laugh than to cry.  Both laughing and crying use the same physiological mechanism to release tension.  It's just more fun to laugh!  Plus, crying makes your face look all blotchy and not too pretty.

I found an article that gives good details about how laughing helps the body regulate itself.  Be sure to check it out here. 

Here are 10 Reasons why laughing is good for you:


1.  Boosts the immune system
2.  Energizes organs
3.  Reduces aggression
4.  Boost your social skills
5.  Manages Pain
6.  Impacts blood sugar levels
7.   Provides a boost of exercise
8.  Improves blood pressure and blood flow
9.  Helps coping skills
10.  Decreases stress


So whatever makes you laugh that deep, gut-busting, tears-in-your-eyes, can't catch your breath laugh, find it and do it everyday!

What's your favorite corny joke?

What is a Chiropractic Lifestyle?

For me, a Chiropractic Lifestyle is made up of the following components:

1.  Getting my spine checked for subluxations 1 time a week.  Not everyone will need to see their chiropractor once a week.  Many, if not most, of my patients come back once a month or once every 2 months.





2.  Eating a balanced diet.
 I try to follow the nutritional advice in books such as Nourishing Traditions and Deep Nutrition.









3.  Drinking plenty of water.  Take your body weight and divide it by 2.  That will give you how many ounces of water you need to drink each day.  Remember, water has no color or flavor!

4.  Getting good sleep each night.  For me 7-9 hours of sleep are best.  I'm still trying to find the perfect pillow that doesn't leave my neck sore and tight in the morning.

5.  Exercise.  I like to do interval training 2-3 times a week.  I try to fit yoga in at least once a week to soothe my body and mind.

6.  De-stress!!  This is a tough one.  Exercise is one way to de-stress but I need to do more to address my spiritual health.   I do that by going to church, singing my praise to God, praying.  I'm trying to fit in some meditation and deep breathing everyday to keep my mind from running a mile a minute.




7.  Be as free of chemicals as possible.  This includes avoiding unnecessary pharmaceutical intervention whether it be over the counter prescription.  Most medications simply mask the symptom instead of addressing the cause of the problem.  Look deeper to find the cause.  It usually takes more work to fix the cause than to cover the symptom.  Also avoid exposure to harmful chemicals found in many of the products we use every day.  For example, I use coconut oil as my moisturizer, a mixture of Baking soda and water as shampoo, I make my own laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, bug spray and deodorant.  There are so many DIY sites that give you instructions to make just about any household product. One of my favorites is diynatural.com.  This was the first site to show me how simple it is to make your own products.


It will be different for every person.  To avoid every harmful thing is unrealistic.  Start by picking something you can do.  For some people the most they can handle is going to the Chiropractor and that is okay!  Once you've gotten a handle on one thing, begin to work on another.  It would be very difficult if not impossible to try to make every change at once.  Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle.  You will always be discouraged.  Simply do the best you can with what you've got.

Getting my spine checked is a no brainer for me.  The rest of the stuff on the list takes some extra work on my part.  I am on this journey of health right along with you and I am not perfect! 


What are the steps you've taken to regain or maintain your health?