Upstream or Downstream?

When you are the owner of one of Greater Vancouver’s Largest Alternative Healing Centres, there are many opportunities thrown your way to divert you from your high-priority activities.

My favorite, high priority things to do:  To adjust and consult my patients, to teach educational classes, workshops, and courses, to research natural thought and lifestyle strategies on getting and staying well in the mind and body, to exercise and to spend time with my wife, my dog Lucy, family and friends.

For the most part, I try to do ONLY those things.  I run a busy chiropractic practice seeing patients, I sign around 20 paychecks, I have coaching clients, I teach classes every month in posture, Exercise, Nutrition, Stress, Law of Attraction, and teach a course 3 times a year on Personal Transformation.   I research, write,  dance (not as much anymore ), and on top of all those responsibilities, I’m renovating my office.  These are all things I love to do–but each day, I have more lower priority stuff I gotta take care of to make sure all that stuff above gets done.  Luckily, my amazing staff takes care of most of it, but there are always decisions to be made and fires to be put out.  I could easily get stressed every moment of every day– somedays I even do– you can’t help it sometimes, with computer crashes, phone lines down, equipment issues, etc…

Luckily, I have learned some amazing tools that enable me to step back from my life and take account of my thoughts each day for the type of day I’m having.  With these tools, I can make mid-course corrections and end my day the way I am inspired to live…

But I can see how not having this awareness can cause some serious trouble.  You can turn a temporary sad situation worse, and allow it to escalate into weeks, months, sometimes years of hopelessness and self-neglect.  Anger, frustration, anxiety, and depression could result from not coming to terms with the accumulation of these stresses and upstream battles.

When these repressions compound and overlap one another, it’s easy to see how we can get illnesses of the mind leading to the body, and vice versa.  Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, to name a few, can be reversed if the desire is there.  You can only do so by first turning downstream.  It can be the result of the study of healthy thinking, healthy eating, healthy balance of movement and rest.  And it helps to have a clear neurological connection between your brain and the 100 trillion cells of your body.  Without that, successful, happy living is impossible.  And you’re at the mercy of a pill to make you calm, content, and peaceful.

Here’s a little something to try today.  Watch this video and just try to keep in mind the simple analogy.  It’s by Esther Hicks.  You may have a problem with how she refers to herself as “We” in the third person, or how she believes that the Prophet Abraham speaks through her.  I agree with you—it’s a pretty weird and tough one to put aside.  Just give it a chance… This chick is right on the money with this analogy.  This stuff actually works.

Enjoy.

I had a patient who started coming in a few weeks ago for headaches, neck pain, and low back pain.  Also, as a side note (that is not really a side note), he is taking anti-depressant medication.  His symptoms originate in the neck, move upwards into the jaw and head, and also downwards into his shoulder blade.  When the stress gets severe, he also notices it going down his arm.

I can’t tell you how common this is.  I see it almost every single day I am working in the clinic as a Chiropractor in Maple Ridge, BC.  With a good regimen of chiropractic care, the aches resolve quickly, and given the appropriate exercises, stretches, and regular checkups and adjustments, the symptoms can pretty much dissolve into nothing and stay there, but the adjustments unfortunately don’t address an underlying daily conflict:  He hates his job, doesn’t feel that he is paid enough, and the stress of it all is consuming him.

Anti-depressants are quickly becoming the most prescribed drug in North America.  According to Reuters, Since 1996 the use of psychotropic drugs like anti-anxiety and anti-depressants have gone up 73% in adults and 50% in children.  More and more I am hearing from my patients that their doctor has told them there is a “chemical imbalance” in their brains so they “have to take these drugs for life”.

My dear friends.  This is a lie.  Plain and simple.  I’m sure that if I stayed in the same work conditions, I’d have to take those drugs for life as well.  While many have allowed their frustrations/resentments/fears to slowly accumulate to the point where they are unable to function without these medications, it’s important to know something:  Our genes have not changed since our pre-historic hunter/gatherer days.  Our LIFESTYLES have.  We have been led to believe that an appropriate lifestyle is: Go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids, get a mortgage and continue to work 9-5 for someone else and get paid for your time between 50-75K/year if you’re lucky, keep going until you’ve gathered enough pension and retire at 65.  Then just sit back and wait to die while playing with your grandkids.  If this is the idea of  the “American Dream”, I think I need an anti-depressant MYSELF.

Heart attacks occur most often in the morning (probably monday morning) for that reason… too often we wake up with high anxiety about the day we are about to embark upon.  Our minds have the ability to convince our bodies that we are in “Survival Mode” and it reacts accordingly with a cascade of events that take us away from balance and homeostasis.  The body then can change it’s chemistry based on our thoughts!  This is now well documented in medical literature.  It seems that the drug companies are quite embarrassed at the fact that placebo’s work just as well as anti-depressants.

More and more research is coming out demonstrating the fact that there are pro-active things we can do to help “cure” our physical and mental disorders.  If we rely on our “health care” system (which basically means “treatment of symptoms by drugs and surgery”), we are totally missing the boat on what our bodies are trying to tell us.

The majority of my patients view their work as a major stressor in their life not just because it’s hectic and demanding, but because it’s so unfulfilling and doesn’t pay what they think they are worth.

I have been working on developing myself, my mission, my voice, and my vision intensively for the past 20 years.  I can see that it is unfolding beautifully even though I’ve overcome some serious fears, anxieties, and stresses.  Do I have bad days?  Absolutely, just like everyone else.  Do I experience moments of sadness?  Yes, I do.  But luckily because I’ve been working on mastering my own emotional state despite my environment, I’m able to take a difficult event, a conflict, or a stressful encounter and change the way I think about it within a moment’s notice.  I can feel that when I make that shift, my physiology changes from “stress response—fight or flight” to “rest and relaxation, and balance”.

After working on these tools and skills for so long, I get a huge satisfaction when I share those tools with my patients and my clients.

I started incorporating them into my practice because of their amazing value in lowering people’s stress response and allowing their minds and bodies a proper environment for healing and wellness.

The first, and most challenging task is to awaken people to the fact that their “diagnosis” or “label” they’ve been given by their doctor is not necessarily true, nor does it have to be their reality.  Too often, these labels hold us back from taking responsibility to make changes.  I see how some use the label to sit back and allow their lives to be governed by others.

Only by empowering ourselves can we open the doors to changing our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical state.  This can not be done by sitting back and waiting for change.

What can we do about some of the feedback our body is giving our mind? (otherwise known as symptoms)

Well, if you are having aches and pains… chances are that your body is telling you that you have nerve interference.  Like my patient mentioned above, get checked and adjusted right away and maintain it (shameless plug) with your Chiropractor.

What can we do about negative feedback our mind is giving our body?

If you are feeling sad, angry, resentful, depressed, anxious… then START WORKING ON YOU.  You heard me.  You’re not a label.  You have some challenges that you have to face and walk into.  Welcome to life.  And when you have overcome this particular challenge…. You’ll be happy to know that you will run into another one.  I have yet to meet a living thing that doesn’t go through this same situation.  Here’s where you begin:

• EXERCISE.  I can’t “stress” this enough.  Exercise at least 3 days a week.  Get your heart rate going.  Exercise stimulates the reward centers in you lower brain and increases blood flow to your higher brain centers.  Exercise has been shown to lower stress hormones and anxiety, reduce cravings for the substances you’re addicted to, increase mental alertness and memory, sex drive, feelings of control of environment, and ease muscle tension.  If you are depressed, take it as feedback that you probably haven’t been moving nearly enough.  Depression and anxiety are great feedback tools to wake you up to the fact that you need to be moving more.

• Start working on YOU.  Depression, fear, resentment can’t be eliminated by focusing on them.  Trust me, I’ve tried it… it doesn’t work.  Depression is not something you “catch”.  You don’t go somewhere and acquire it.  Depression creeps in when you lose touch with who you are, and you compare your current reality to someone else’s reality—someone you’ve given authority to, and you beat yourself up.  Depression can not exist in an individual who has acquired a high value of himself/herself, is clear on their values, have found themselves to be part of a cause that’s greater than themselves, feel they are contributing to society, to the economy and are getting rewarded in some meaningful way to them (financial reward, reward by recognition and appreciation).  Where can you start to build that?  Simple.  By taking the time to focus on you, your goals, your aspirations, reading, taking classes, seminars. You need to work on YOU, to “bring value to the marketplace.”  One of my hero’s Jim Rohn puts it beautifully, and I recommended this youtube video to my patient as part of his wellness plan.  He’s on the road to improving himself, and attending some classes to learn how.  I share this video with you.  To help yourself grow more value in the marketplace and in your health– a great place to learn some tips are during our upcoming “Health and Wealth” summit coming up in Downtown Vancouver on October 18th.

Our system in crisis can be broken down to the choices we make every single day as individuals

President Obama has one heck of an uphill battle to fight.  I really wouldn’t want to be in his situation.  Everyone has their own vested interests in the “health care reform” debate.

Doctors don’t want to get paid any less, heck I don’t blame them, I wouldn’t either.

Insurance companies don’t want their profits cut by generic drugs coming across international borders…I don’t blame them either.

People who are faced with life threatening illness don’t want to be turned away from the BEST POSSIBLE CARE because of a lack of funds.  I don’t blame them either.

As a Chiropractor in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, who’s services are not covered by any governmental assistance (except for those low income who get a small $230/year to go towards their choice of Chiro, Massage, Optometry, Podiatry, or Physical Therapy, Acupuncture, or Naturopathic Care), I see too often how people who are in need of my care can’t afford to have their families come in and get checked on a regular basis for wellness (some call it preventative) care, and opt to go to a medical doctor instead and take pills, or even elect for surgery, because it’s “free”.  These patients don’t end up getting to the root cause of their problems:  Poor lifestyle choices.

It hurts for me to see all this around me, because I see all to often that it’s a lack of understanding of who they are, what their bodies and minds genetically REQUIRE to perform at optimum levels.  And this lack of understanding and ignorance of their lifestyle choices in how they eat, move, think, along with a poorly functioning nervous system over a period of decades leads to major health problems, which become a burden on society.  Of course these sick people need the best care available to them, but look at what these lifestyle choices are costing us.

Our “health care” system is far from “free”.  42% of all provincial taxes goes to fund our system under crisis.  The British Columbia Government’s website says that the spending in this province has gone up to 15.72 billion this year, up from 9.36 Billion back in 2001– which is an increase of 70% in less than ten years.  They’re projecting it should go up to $17.51 billion in 2010/11.  We’re spending more on “health care” and we’re getting sicker.  And what are the main conditions people are seeking medical treatment for?  Obesity, Heart Disease, and Diabetes, Cancers, digestive disorders, mental disorders, and a handful of other chronic illnesses that are becoming more and more common.  And now that our Government is proposing to raise taxes by implementing a new “Harmonized Sales Tax” totaling 12% for all purchases, restaurants and many services, people are getting extremely angry.  My question to those people:  What the heck do you expect?  How are we going to pay for the declining health of our society and the increasing costs?  Do YOU have a better solution?

Deepak Chopra, who is a Harvard-graduated physician, writes a lot about this dilemma that’s happening as we speak to our neighbors in the US.  While he applauds Obama’s desire for change, he’s quite skeptical about how raising taxes and throwing more money into a system that isn’t working won’t really change the state of health of nation who’s health is already on the decline.  While it’s much better to take money that the Bush Administration threw into war and put it back into the well being of the country, his article tells us why Obama’s system won’t reform our health unless Americans take responsibility.

The best, most “funny cuz-it’s true” article in response to all the people demanding the government pay for healthcare is from Bill Maher.  Not very politically correct at all, but you really can’t deny the validity of his sarcastic take on the debate.  Michael Moore should really pay attention to this one.  It’s called “New Rule:  You can’t complain about Health Care Reform if you’re not willing to reform your own Health”.  It’s a gem.

With all the debate, I present you with 3 simple videos that, if properly understood and embraced, and taught to young children in schools, we could raise a new generation of people who take responsibility for their own health, reduce the burden of the tax payer, and take our health and health care system to the next level.

The first is quite an inspiring story of what proper lifestyle choices can do to add a higher quality of life.

It breaks my heart to watch that video, because I see that my grandmother is only a few years older than this woman, but because she didn’t have the same lifestyle choices, she looks and feels much older, is at the doctor’s office every two weeks, has had surgeries and I painfully watch her health decline.

This next story I suggest you take the time to watch was inspired by a book by Dr. John Ratey, MD– who happens to be a psychiatry professor at Harvard.  I’m right in the middle of his fascinating book called “Spark–The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain”.

A teacher in Saskatchewan with students who had “oppositional defiant behavior”, who half the class was labelled “Attention Deficit Disorder” and put on Ritalin, read this book and decided that before class she was going to put these kids on a treadmill for 45 minutes.  The results were miraculous.  These kids started learning, behaving, became happier, and went off the Ritalin.  Everyone knows exercise is good for you and helps your mental alertness, but when a Harvard Psychiatric professor publishes research on it– now the implications are HUGE, especially now when we are faced with a health-care crisis, which also includes medical treatment of mental disorders.

Click Here to watch Brain Gains

And this documentary is a must watch.  It’s called “Food Matters”. Here’s the trailer.

So it’s pretty clear.  I know.  The debate will continue.  People will get sick, the pharmaceutical industry continues to rake in massive amounts of money hoping that you don’t catch on to what I’m trying to tell you:  You are responsible for your own health– not your doctor.  It is not his job description to teach you how to be healthy.  His concern is more about what he has been trained to do:  To take your symptoms, and categorize them, label them and to come up with a diagnosis.  Often, to help him/her, expensive tests are performed, all to determine which drug/surgery to administer.  This is the nature of our “sick care” system, and as long as you are in that system, you will never result in a higher level of health.

As my mentor, Dr. James Chestnut states, Eat Well, Move Well, Think Well.  I would add that you must make sure you have a clear neurological connection between your brain and body.  If we all just put our focus on these simple solutions, our country would not be under the crisis that it’s in.  I’ve spent countless hours researching ways to help the body not only stay youthful, energized, balanced in mind and body, but to actually “cure itself” of many mental and physical ailments that most people think are only managed through drugs and surgery.  I’ve dedicated my life to helping to educate the world on these methods that the drug companies don’t want you to know about.  Stay tuned for more.

In my case fear of chronic illness, getting obese and unattractive, and fear of early aging all serve to drive my mission and purpose:  To research and find ways of getting healthier, stronger, happier, more balanced, more fit, and more youthful.

In my own quest of running away from my fears, I serve others and make a living by teaching, treating, adjusting, coaching, and speaking to others about how to avoid the things I fear.

THANK GOD FOR MY FEARS.

But fear has it’s downside–I’m sure you’re well aware.

Fear, in it’s extreme cases, can cause such a level of anxiety that instead of pushing you forward, it holds you back.

It holds you back from being the best you can be with all the talents you’ve been given.

There is something you know you really want to be doing—would LOVE to be doing with your life RIGHT NOW.  I know because there isn’t a person who I have met or coached that doesn’t have an inner voice that propels them to do something very cool with their lives, whether they’re aware of it or not.

Not only that, but add on the daily fears— fears that are so constant, and so part of who you are that you walk through your life in a constant state of panic, as though your life is in continuous danger.

The problem with this high level of anxiety is that if left unchecked and unresolved, it could build up to the point that you have a panic “attack” where you suddenly feel like you’re at the end of your rope.

If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone.  Everyone feels varying degrees of fear, anxiety, and depressive states.  It’s all part of the human experience.

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

If you’re like most people in North America, you could end up in a medical doctor’s office, who has training in recognizing signs, symptoms and labeling states of disorders and different states of adaptive physiology.  But be aware…. the only treatments they are trained to offer in medical school are MEDICAL ones.

My biggest challenge in my chiropractic practice is seeing patients in chronic pain, who also happen to be on anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication.

Though they come to me to “relieve their pain”, I find myself wanting to delve into their underlying emotional root causes in addition to their symptoms because I’m seeing more and more how the two are intimately linked together.

Luckily there is help for those seeking to start their inward–bound journey to awakening their own inner healer.

We have a “Law of Attraction for the Advanced Manifestor” seminar that will make you go inward like you’ve never gone before.  Please do not attend if you expect a “here’s the secret to happiness” seminar.  There’s no such thing.

But if you are one of those seeking an awareness and a path to overcome whatever fear that stands in your way to fulfilling your relationships, your career, you mind and body health, and your finances–that’s basically our target audience.

I was lucky enough to discover at a young age that our coping mechanisms for our fears, anxieties and stresses aren’t skills that ever get taught in school.  In school, I learned how to type, but I didn’t learn how to handle relationship conflicts with friends and family, and most importantly, myself.

What happens when we allow our fears to take control of our lives.

My mission is to teach these skills to children and adults around the world in one-on-one and one-on-many form to empower people to realize that their thoughts, perceptions, lifestyle choices, actions, and foods that they eat play a more significant role in shaping their health than anything else in the world.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep using my fears to my (and your) advantage.

So what can YOU do about it?

Aside from going inward and learning more about yourself in courses and seminars, it would be wise for everyone to take the time and ponder on some empowering questions:

1—What is my greatest fear?

2—What are the benefits of me living with this fear? (They wouldn’t be there unless there were some benefit you’re getting out of it)

3—What is this fear costing me in my relationships, career, in my physical, emotional, and financial health?

The problem is, we seldom take the time to ask ourselves these important questions.  And our mind/body health can deteriorate because of it.

Click here to see date and location of “Law of Attraction for the Advanced Manifestor” class (scroll to bottom)

It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

The word itself is enough to make me cringe.  Although people have a natural fear and public display of respect for whoever is the boss, you can’t help but resent anyone who holds the title.  As my career has developed into manifesting the ownership of one of Greater Vancouver’s largest Multi-disciplinary Alternative Wellness Clinics, I look back on the past 2 years of being “the boss” and I realize something:

No matter what books you read, or seminars you attend, you can never be REALLY ready for the challenges you face in that position.  Here’s what I have learned.

1)   Everyone is going to try to “get away” with whatever they can.  You can’t blame them, because we all are the same.  All you can do is to be clear on your boundaries and make your expectations clear.

2) Speak up when those boundaries have been crossed, or suffer the consequences later.

3) Become aware of your weaknesses, and delegate those tasks to others who are good at them.

4)  If you don’t prioritize your day with productive activities, then non-productive, energy draining tasks will take over your day.  Guaranteed.

5)  Become extremely comfortable not being liked.  No matter what you do… I repeat… NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO… people will like you and dislike you.  So embrace it and do what you love to do.  Side note:  Most people can’t handle not being liked, and thats why being the boss is not for the faint of heart.

6)  If you pay peanuts, you end up with monkeys.

7)  Humans require inspiration to take massive action.  People have blown themselves up and crashed airplanes into buildings because they they had something they believed in.  Become inspired, share your vision, and you’ll be surprised at how others will catch that inspiration and jump on board with your vision.

8-  Life is a struggle to stay in the present moment.  Every day, you will be bombarded with 30-50 opportunities to take you into past remembered guilts, or future imagined fears.  Learn the art of recognizing they are just illusions and all that matters is what is in front of you NOW.  Once you have mastered this art, write a book about it and make millions.  And please send me royalties for giving you the idea.

9)  The most successful people in the world are those that have understood how to combine their spiritual nature with their material nature, and kept both in harmonic balance.  Fall out of equilibrium, that is– try to give something for nothing or try to get something for nothing, and the universe will let you know by giving you a few gifts to make you aware of the disequilibrium.  Those gifts are: Stress, resentment, frustration, anxiety, and depression, fear, and guilt.  What better way to remind you to balance your give and take with the world than to make you extremely uncomfortable?

10)  Everyone is replaceable in your company except YOU.  Appreciate your co-workers, but never infatuate with them or make them feel that you are worthless without them.  Give anyone that power and they will eat you alive.  Put the needs of the company FIRST.  Nobody has a job without the company being healthy FIRST.  I used to think the opposite.  The school of hard knocks taught me otherwise.

11)  Being the boss is not as easy as you think it is.  My respect for successful entrepeneurs has skyrocketed because I KNOW how difficult it is.  The higher up you climb up that ladder, the more people can see your butt.  And it’s so easy to take shots at the one who’s at the top.

I know these are specific to “bosses” but when you look carefully at each of these and they can relate to us being the “boss” of our own lives.  These principles are universal, and they all address how important it is to respect and honor ourselves when we relate to others.  Failed businesses, failed relationships, and deteriorating health all result from people who don’t love themselves enough to put themselves on equal ground with others and speak up when they have needed to.

Any other pearls of wisdom, feel free to comment.

Inspired some dude to start stretching one day. Now we have a big industry to help teach you how to live to your potential. Thanks sparky!

Dogs and other animals intuitively know that when they wake up, they need to stretch the muscles which haven’t been in motion for several hours.  Quite intelligent little critters.  Are you that smart?

Even though I’ve caught my little Lucy doing some profound stretches,  I want you to watch some pretty smart dogs.

What inspired this blog is a string of patients that have come through my door recently… men and women in their 40’s to 60’s who have very limited range of movement, who are chronically stiff and sore, never been to a chiropractor, never maintained their spine, and are hoping for me to pull off a miracle overnight to fix their problems created by toxic and deficient movement lifestyles.  Good luck!

Chiropractic care is about one thing, and it’s really quite simple:  Creating sufficiency of movement in the spine to allow for a clear neurological connection so the brain and body work in harmony.

When the spine doesn’t move, chaos will ensue.  Compound that each day, each week, each year, each decade.  Congrats! You now have a “bad back” that’s “a genetic problem” because your mom and dad had the same problem, and so do all your siblings.  ”There’s nothing anyone can do about it.  You might need surgery, or you’ll end up in a wheelchair,” is what one of my patients were told by their GP.

Those are the people who have completely ignored the symptoms all their lives, and treated it by taking medications and not listening to their bodies.  I feel sorry for them.  My heart bleeds, because now they are having surgeries, and spending a great deal of money at my office (which is worth every penny by the way and all of this was preventable by stretches, exercise, and regular maintenance chiropractic adjustments.

Don’t let anyone convince you it’s out of your control and it’s genetic, nothing will work and take drugs and surgery.  Get moving, and get assistance with a chiropractor that you trust.  AND GET YOURSELF MOVING.  Here’s where you begin.

One of the things I teach my patients is to take an active role in their recovery, rather than be a passive recipient.  Stretching is the most important way to help us both on the road to recovery, and for maintaining the health of your brain/body connection.

What stretches can I do to help keep my spine moving correctly?

First of all, get started on yoga.  Check with your chiropractor to see if you are clear to go.  Your joints might be so stiff you’ll need a few weeks of movement-corrective care before you’re ready.

If you insist on not doing yoga, and you want to continue to be sedentary, at least you can get started with these few stretches to help you.  Go at your own pace (and at your own risk!)  Remember to listen to your body.  Go easy.  Start slow.

The Downward Dog

Try it… but keep in mind a couple things:  Be relaxed in your arms and between the shoulder blades.  Let your neck hang. Lift your hips skyward until you feel the achy goodness in your lower lumbar spine.  Heaven and hell, all packed into one beautiful pose.

The Cobra

One of my favourite yoga instructors, Islena Faircrest of Newport Yoga, gave a great description in one of her classes of what you should be imagining and emulating:  ”Imagine your body as a curved cylinder, and your intention is to elongate that cylinder.”  Poetic.  You have no idea what this stretch, when done on a regular basis, can do to slow down the aging process in the spine.  ”Osteoarthritis” and “Degenerative Disc Disease”is a reality for everyone… you can’t escape it.  But you can sure keep it at bay for a lot longer than your average middle aged guy.  Just make sure you watch out for the “turtlehead”.  Keep your shoulders back, and your neck sticking out.

The QL stretch

Another great one. Work on expanding to that feeling of feeling it from your fingers to your toes.

Perform this one, and develop it slowly.  Let go, and go to your limit.  Work on expanding that limit.  P.S.  You can always improve on this stretch.  You never “really” get there.  You can always be more calm, more extended, more present and aware of every muscle.  That’s the cool part of yoga.  It’s like golf if done properly.  You can always improve in those ways.  You can have an off day, too when your mind isn’t clear.

There’s a whole bunch more, but I hope you’re getting the point.  You don’t have to be a yogi to learn to appreciate the art, science, and spiritual aspects of stretching.

Make it a part of your life.  Don’t think you can live a near normal, healthy, and active life if you don’t make stretching a part of it.  Don’t let my little Lucy make you look dumb!

The results of this study should get you excited enough to get out and start moving!home or neighborhood. It's so amazingly simple, and so under-utilized. This "Cure" is so profoundly effective that there is no other remedy or therapy that can rival it. Here's what it can do:

• Prevents up to 91% of cases of obesity and type 2 diabetes (obesity and diabetes costs $519 MILLION DOLLARS per DAY in the U.S)
• Prevents up to 50% of all cases of Heart Disease (Heart disease kills 950,000 people per year, and accounts for 41% of all deaths, and costs 501 MILLION DOLLARS per DAY in the U.S)
• Reduces the risk of stroke by 25-30%
• Prevents up to 50% of all stroke deaths
• Reduces Congestive Heart Disease deaths by 63%
• Reduces hospital readmission for heart failure patients by 71%
• Normalizes blood pressure
• Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure
• Restores and maintains heart and blood vessel health
• Restores and maintains normal cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Reduces risk of breast cancer by up to 60%
• Reduces pancreatic cancer in overweight people by 50%
• Reduces lung cancer in smokers by up to 72%
• Reduces melanoma cases by up to 72%
• Prevents up to 50% of colon cancer
• Reduces risk of and improves rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• Prevents osteoporosis (just the fractures from osteoporosis costs $38 million per DAY in the U.S)
• Increases strength, flexibility, balance
• Decreases gall bladder removal by 20%
• Decreases gallstone formation
• Improves digestion and decreases indigestion
• Improves bowel function and elimination
• Increases immune system function
• Increases macrophage (anti-tumor) activity and anti -oxidant levels
• Decreases all cause mortality by 67% in general population
• Decreases all cause mortality by 50% in 61-81 year-olds
• Prevents up to 47% of cognitive impairment
• Prevents up to 62% Alzheimer’s and 52% of dementia
• Provides better physical function in older adults
• Decreases chance of ever being in a nursing home
• Decreases rate of aging
• Enhances learning capacity up to 12 times
• Increases Serotonin levels (”feel-good” hormone) many are taking prescription pills to enhance
• Decreases Depression by 20% (including relapses)
• Decreases stress and stress hormones (that break down the body)
• Increases Growth and Healing Hormones
• Decreases Risk of weight gain and obesity

You might be asking what can do all these things, and where the heck can I get it?

(Ref: Booth et. al.  Waging war on physical inactivity.  Using modern molecular ammunition against an ancient enemy.  Journal of Applied Physiology 93:3-30.)

This amazing “Cure” is Physical Activity and Exercise. Most of the studies that were referenced in this Journal article were referring to studies looking at WALKING FOR 30 MINUTES, 5 DAYS PER WEEK!

The saddest part of what I see every single day in my office is when

Who would have thought this miracle cure is so simple?

people are coming to me with all sorts of chronic conditions, and I see on their case histories illnesses and disorders created because they don’t get out and exercise.  They’re fat, on all sorts of prescription pills, diabetic, and don’t get any exercise, and always seem to be needing to go to the doctor.   I’m not even talking about going to the gym either.  I’m talking about a simple walk each day.  It’s getting increasingly difficult for me to be politically correct and keep my mouth shut with certain people.  I started blogging as my own therapy for dealing with those types of patients, so I don’t p__ off too many people and drive them away from my office.  It isn’t working.  People are still looking for that Miracle cure/quick fix for their mind and body disorders created because they don’t eat, move and think well.

Good for the Brain, too?

Pleasure Centers of the brain that are stimulated during exercise and movement of the spine (also stimulated during chiropractic adjustment)

We all know why exercise is good for the heart and lungs.  But why does it affect your mood, your brain, and mental health?  Because in your Spine and Nervous system, there are receptors involved in movement and pleasure pathways, and they are connected to your brain.  When movement in your spine is stimulated, the brain receives stimulation which acts as nutrients that are needed to function in a normal healthy manner.  Without this “nutrient”, an optimum state of health is not  possible.  That’s also patients feel a sudden mood change when receiving chiropractic care.  Chiropractic adjustments help to restore that connection between brain and body and to stimulate those pathways (through mechano-receptors).

I want to make a correction:  Walking is not a “cure” for any medical condition.  We’re so immersed in an allopathic, treatment-based medical society that we get ourselves sick and dis-eased, then we look for answers on the outside.  What I’m trying to tell you is that we get sick in the first place because we haven’t done what’s necessary for our cells to express health and wellness.  ”Medical conditions” (what really does that mean anyway?) occur because of a deficiency in movement.

Healing can be defined as any movement towards balance and homeostasis– and this movement can begin with a simple half hour walk per day.  It costs you nothing, and it will save your life.  That’s why you won’t hear about it on any advertisement.

Show me a pill that can do all that.

Are you going through a difficult time?  A transition?  Change in relationship status, death of a loved one?  Maybe you’re just lost, or just plain angry and frustrated.  You’re not alone.  We are the most depressed society in the world.  The use of anti-depressant medication is on the rise, especially in North America.  We have the majority of wealth, and among the highest quality of life on the entire planet, yet we’re the most depressed and the most medicated.  Why?

Please tell me if I’m way off base here:  My observation of people over the past 10 years of being in practice, is that our problems exist because we’re looking in the wrong direction and asking ourselves the wrong questions.   Allow me to explain.

Any time you turn on a reflective consciousness, that is, you turn and observe yourself in the moment, you have awakened to a spiritual awareness. It happens every time you look in a mirror.  Observe yourself reading these words.  Who is it that is looking at you?  Answer:  You have reached a present state of “soul awareness”.  You were in the “now” looking from the perspective of your higher self.   The cool part is, that no matter what your faith or religion is, or even if you don’t believe in God, we all have this one thing in common:  Our ability connect, disconnect, and re-connect with our higher self—the part of you that transcends any labels one may put on it.  Titles like “Buddhist” “Christian” or “Atheist” don’t change the awareness.

Misery occurs when we lose the ability to become our own observers and wander aimlessly without awareness of our purpose, comparing our lives to others

I have spoken to many people while coaching or in my seminars, or in my office and they share with me their frustrations about their lives, their health, and their relationships.  I go through similar frustrations as well in my own personal life.  But I’ve noticed something…. Each and every single time we are frustrated it’s because we have stopped looking from the right perspective.  We are disconnected because we aren’t being reflective.  We are immersed in our own values and beliefs, and projecting them onto a universe that really couldn’t care less what our beliefs and priorities are.  Or conversely, we’re injecting other peoples’ beliefs onto ours and beating ourselves up for not living up to them.  When we do either (projecting our values or injecting other’s values), we are giving our power away to outside voices and opinions.  We are being run by fear and guilt and only looking from the self(ego) perspective.  We’re tuned out to who we really are and lose control over our thoughts, emotions, and our lives.

From an enlightened, awakened, aware, soul conscious view, there exists no problem, and nothing is taken personally, because you see yourself as connected to a larger consciousness.   When you are in that moment, getting rejected by your peers for not thinking like them doesn’t matter.  Your family’s or friends’ disappointment of you is deafened by a stronger inner knowing of what you want to be, do, and have.  You recognize your own genius and you’re not seeking approval.

Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it.”  How true.  The moment you turn your awareness to the level of your soul or spirit through reflective consciousness, the problem changes, because your perspective, or perception changed.  It is only through “becoming the observer to the problem” that we can begin the process of finding a true solution.

The essence of true wisdom is the ability of seeing both sides of an event.  It gets easier with practice.  I’m starting to get good at it, although I falter quite often.  I’m now teaching others to do the same.  The results are amazing when you be come aware that from a “higher-self” perspective, you get both pleasures and pains simultaneously.  This awareness helps us understand rather than react to the events of life.  With poise, we create our lives rather than being victims under the control of our environment.  When you have a spiritual perspective, you are not seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, but embracing both in the pursuit of your mission.  I’ve seen people who are labeled “chemical imbalance” (as if there was a way to test this imbalance!) come to such a profound realization that it was their perception creating their condition, they were moved to tears of gratitude and were set free from their emotional states.

Traditionally, the questions we ask ourselves when we are going through challenges have been these ones (let me know if it sounds familiar to you):

“Why does this happen to me all the time?”

“Why do I always get the short end of the stick?”

“Why can’t I just be happy?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Why am I such a loser?”

“Why doesn’t he/she just change?”

“Why can’t I be normal like everyone else?”

Great questions to ask, if you want your answer to be a disempowering one—and keep you in victim mentality, putting your life in the hands of others to create, shape, and mold.  The answers you or someone else might come up with (and I’ve heard so many):

“It’s because I was abused”

“It’s because your/my husband is a jerk”

“It’s because I/you have a chemical imbalance”

“It’s because my parents did a horrible job”.

All these come with great stories….and limiting belief systems.  Whether it’s true or not, if you believe it, then it becomes your reality.  Your mind is capable of making it so.

If you’re going through a challenge in your life right now, or are still living in the past from events you can’t seem to get over… Here’s a more empowering way to begin.  Start by asking yourself these questions:

What is the most important thing in my life right now?  What is my purpose?

How does my current life challenge (or past event) serve me in the pursuit of my values and purpose?

These questions force you to change your focus into a spiritual one, and take your conscious awareness to the next level—the only level that can solve your problem.

I have the misfortune of seeing too many people who have unresolved inner and outer conflicts going which have a tendency to manifest as mental and physical health problems.  They’ve been labeled “chemical imbalanced” or “hormone imbalanced”… as if their physiology has made a mistake, or they have some genetic flaw.  They’re prescribed pills to make the problem go away.  The symptoms may resolve, but the underlying conflict remains buried.  Luckily, with a little digging, with questions such as these, there is hope.  And it all comes back to a shift in perception and beliefs.  Without it, the problem remains.

The first place to begin: Gratitude for what you have in your life RIGHT NOW. Why would the universe give you more if you are not already grateful for what you have?

And the purpose of the problem?  Look carefully, and you’ll see that it is the universe’s way to get you to love yourself more so you can turn your attention off yourself and serve others… no matter what your story is.  You instantly free yourself from the “Prison of Self” by doing this.  Ironically, in order to forget yourself, you have to become yourself.  And when you become yourself, your inner drive comes out, and people can feel it pouring from every cell of your body.  And the cells of your body start to work in harmony again. 

We just have to learn to ask the right questions.  Questions that bring us to gratitude for our problems.  Not easy to do, but I guarantee, it’s the answer to all of your problems.  Then we can be grateful for what we have.  No matter what you’re going through.  

For those who STILL have troubles finding gratitude in their current life situation, who still want to run their great story as to why they shouldn’t be grateful, I’ve added a video clip that will cure you.  

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a junk food company wanting to make a profit.  That’s the nature of the capitalist, free-market system.  But buyer beware.  If you are living unconsciously, like over half the North American population, you can understand why we are the sickest species on the planet, obesity, cancer, chronic illness are all on the rise, and our health care system is under crisis.  But when you first become aware, you then have the foundation to change.  Without this awareness, you have no chance.

Sugar is more addictive than Cocaine

According to a recent study from the University of Bordeaux, An astonishing 94 percent of rats who were allowed to choose mutually-exclusively between sugar water and cocaine, chose sugar. Even rats who were addicted to cocaine quickly switched their preference to sugar, once it was offered as a choice. The rats were also more willing to work for sugar than for cocaine.  The authors also suggest that the reason why is because our taste buds have not adapted from ancestral times when refined sugars were not available.  

Another study from Princeton observed that when they removed the refined sugar from the diets of lab rats, these poor little animals experienced teeth chattering and increased anxiety levels– kinda like a junkie coming off heroin.  Make no mistake, this stuff is addictive, and it all starts with the formulas and processed stuff we feed our infants.  

Sugar stimulates reward centers in the brain, much like hard addictive drugs, alcohol, and nicotine.  My personal opinion is that we are a society that is addicted to sugar.  Not just refined sugar.  I’m talking about other forms of sugar as well that are just as harmful…white flour, carbs, grains, like rice and potatoes… These are also full of sugar, and our ancestors didn’t use them!   If you don’t believe me that you could be possibly addicted to sugar… try going off sugar, carbohydrates, and white flours/pastas for 10 days.  Bet you can’t do it.  It’s so difficult to find food without it as well– they’re even salad dressings, canned beans, mayo, pickles and ketchups.  

I recently went to a theme park in California on a holiday.  As I looked around and saw obese people all around me, I realized why–there was nothing available to eat that wasn’t full of grease, carbs, and sugar.  The entire family was obese, and all were walking around with huge soda containers.  (They probably blame it on genes, so choices don’t matter).  Even though it’s not politically correct to say, I felt so bad, because I couldn’t find anything to eat that was actually REAL food– fruits, veggies, salads… stuff that our bodies were designed to digest.  These poor people don’t have too many choices and they don’t even know it.  (The average North American eats in excess of 10 pounds of sugar each month.)

Why is that?  Because the theme park owners are geniuses… They know everyone’s addicted, so what’s the best way to keep them happy, spending money, and coming back for more, all the while making sure their costs stay low?  Easy… sugars, fats, and grease.  All processed foods that store well, that are the cheapest to buy, and keep people temporarily happy (while we die slowly).

I’ve found some neat ways to moderate my sugar cravings, and I would love to share them with you.  It’s not easy– nothing worthwhile ever is.  But the more you know, the more you research, the easier it gets.  You can get started with a few of these tips:

1) DO NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF.  This may sound counter-intuitive, but think about your last attempt to stop eating those foods.  Didn’t last too long, did it?  That’s because your guilt feeds your cravings.  Guilt in general is caused by a negative memory of the past–  That in itself is a stressor, which lowers dopamine and serotonin levels, which causes us to panic and look for a quick fix… So you binge, which leads to another guilt, and the cycle repeats.  Don’t deprive.  Give yourself permission by having one day a week that is a “cheat day”.

2) Before you consume your guilty pleasure, eat something/do something that moves you in the direction of balance.  Have an apple, fruit salad, tossed salad, pushups, crunches, 30 minute walk.  Anything that is a healthy activity.  Do it FIRST.  I recommend this to all my patients who are trying to transform their food intake.  This helps to lower stress hormone levels, which is one of the underlying cause of you going after those foods in the first place.

3) Exercise.  Exercise has been shown to lower levels of Leptin, a hormone which has been found in excess in obese people, and shown in studies to cause appetite gain.  Sorry guys. You gotta get out exercise.  If you are sedentary, start by walking at least a half hour a day.  Exercise also lowers stress hormone levels, which are another reason why you crave fat and sugar.

4) Start adding in more raw stuff and healthy snacks. Believe it or not, there’s some amazing tasting stuff that is healthy.  You just have to look.  Buy a high powered blender and snack on smoothies, full of fiber and natural sugars.  Here’s just one of many websites which give you great recipes that actually taste good.  When you are at the supermarket, go one week without buying any of the junk.  Don’t have it in the house, and stock up and snack on healthy snacks, dehydrated fruit, and smoothies.  Increase the content of your raw, whole foods, and eat them first.  You’ll notice your waistline start to trim down within 4-6 weeks.  I now eat 50% raw as opposed to 10% a few months ago.

5) Cut out your soda.  Seriously.  After a month of going off it, you realize you didn’t need it in the first place.  A can of soda contains 8-10 teaspoons of sugar.  Would you put all that in your mouth in a single sitting?  Well we do it every day, and we’re getting sicker because of it.  Imagine feeding that to your dog.  You wouldn’t do that, would you?  Why?  Because the dog will get sick.  Well so are you… you’re slowly getting sick on that stuff.  Check this out.  Here’s a young lady who’s helping people change their eating habits.  I’m on her side.

 

And by the way… side note.  Artificial sweeteners like splenda and other products containing aspartame are worse.  There’s enough research out there to show unequivocally that they are toxic and should be avoided at all costs.  It’s actually better to have sugar than those products.  Stevia is a great alternative… but after you’ve gone off, you’ll see that you don’t really NEED it.

Good luck, and happy healthy eating.  Any other ways that have worked for you to overcome your cravings?  Please don’t hesitate to share.  I recently saw a bunch of people who I haven’t seen in months… They all asked me how I got so much trimmer.  I was sharing with them all this information, so I decided to blog about it.  Hope it helps you become healthier and live longer.