Today a lot of you will stop and give thanks for what you have. You will spend time with loved ones and relish the time you have together. You may come together over a meal, a football game, a fun run, or just around a table. However you spend Thanksgiving, it's awesome that we are able to truly focus on our blessings. 

Gratitude is extremely important for us. It is part of what makes us a healthy human. It can help attract what we want in our lives to us. And it allows us to stop and be present to all that is going well in our life, even if we are in the middle of a shit storm. But, the world we live currently doesn't always allow us to practice gratitude as much as we should. Even during the holidays it can be left at home as we rush from place to place, gathering to gathering, and stressor to stressor. Our bodies take a beating and we can no longer keep up, leaving us stressed out, sick, tired and drained. Taking the time, even just 5 minutes, to stop, breathe and name 3 things that bring you gratitude help to change your harried state to one that is more peaceful. 

So as you count your blessings today, I challenge you to take this same gratitude and practice strengthening it on a daily basis. Use a journal and write down things each day that you're thankful for. Spend time with your significant other expressing gratitude for something. From having the dishes emptied from the dishwasher to a smile you received from a driver who let you into traffic to a note given to you by someone you love. Everything is on the table for gratitude and the more you are looking for it, the more you'll find things to be grateful for. 

What are your top 3 today?

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for you who is reading this, for the snow that has been coming down all day and bringing the quiet that only snow can, and for the note that my husband gave to me out of the blue yesterday.

Peace, Love and Wellness

Dr. Liz

There are a ton of misconceptions about Chiropractic. Everyday I'm in my office I get to witness powerful stories from clients on what they are experiencing through their care. Some are just what you might think - resolution from low back and neck pain and then there are days that surprise me! Even though I intellectually know what's possible, sometimes seeing really is believing. That's why I've decided that once a month I'm going to dedicate this blog to telling stories about what has happened in my office. One of the biggest reasons for doing this is that our current health status is dismal. We are told that we are victims of our circumstances and genes and unless we get on said medication there is no hope for us. I call bullshit. This next story is about pain resolution, but the way it happened was still a surprise!

Some of you may know that my husband Ian owns a gym. One of his coaches, John, had been dealing with wrist pain for quite some time. He had hurt it while doing a heavy barbell movement called the 'clean'. Basically, you take the bar from the ground to your shoulders in an explosive movement, catching the weight with you hands in an extended position. Anytime you ask your body to do things that are hard, there is an element of risk to it. John caught the barbell in a way that 'tweaked' his wrist. Except that it wasn't just a tweak because months later he still couldn't do certain movements in the gym without pain, including pushups. 

After months of checking in with him to see how he was doing, and constantly hearing about no change, I finally told him to sit so I could check out his arm and wrist. What I found were articulations within the elbow and wrist that had been jammed into a less that optimal spot. When joints don't work as they should, they send a pain message back to the brain. A lot of the time, the body can create the change needed without any help from an outside source. But, sometimes the body needs more help. I was able to adjust the joints that needed more help, and voila! With normal functioning joints, the pain message was no longer needed and John now has full motion and function in his wrist. One adjustment. Chiropractic care can be that powerful.

When you have your spine adjusted, you are improving the flow of information to the brain allowing the nervous system to send messages to your body that will ultimately improve function. Any joints that aren't working as they should, are sending messages that will cause aberrant outcomes. Over time this will eventually lead to pain, discomfort, dis-ease and dysfunction within the body, because we can only compensate for so long. This is why myself, my family, and my staff get checked at least once per week. An optimal spine leads to greater health outcomes.

Peace, Love and Wellness,

Dr. Liz

Full disclaimer: Normally, I don't only adjust an extremity that is painful. I am doing you a disservice to only look at the spot with pain because your body is connected from top to bottom so a pain in your wrist may be originating from somewhere else. 

Enjoy these easy recipes from the Primal Team!

Stuffing is a staple at most Thanksgivings. Delicious, yes, but also made with grains that can be inflammatory for your body. Here is an alternative grain-free stuffing recipe that is just as delicious! This recipe was easy to double and has a real classic stuffing flavor with the use of sage and Marjoram. 

A great way to get a plethora of vegetables into your side dish! You can choose your favs and try something new at the same time. Roasting vegetables all together is quick, easy and delicious. This recipe has a fun and tasty twist on the normal. 

This brownie recipe is easily adaptable to almost every dietary restriction. Additionally, it is made with indigenous foods!! (I highly recommend checking out the rest of the recipes on this site!!)

Plan ahead, and stay hydrated! It may seem silly and simple, but these two steps will help you stay sane and enjoy the busy time of year. 

I recently had a young new client come into the office. She had a few aches and pains that were the catalyst for her parents scheduling her an appointment. What I want to talk about today isn't her care or why she was in the office but one of the conversations I had with her mother.

Her Mom asked me, "Are we doing a disservice to our kids by having them rely on bodywork to keep them healthy?" It was such an interesting thing to me. She was worried that by reaching out to health care practitioners regarding her daughters health, she might be actually hurting her in the long run. Health is a dynamic state. You don't reach a certain healthy point and then say "I've done it!" and stop your healthy behaviors. It's something that you have to continually work on for your whole life. The more consistent you are, the better it is for your body. This is true for all facets of your health - movement, nutrition, mindset, and connection of the brain and body. Ideally, you are working on all facets at the same time for maximum benefit. 

The goal of Chiropractic is not to help you feel better (even though that usually happens) but to help you function better; adjustments do this through improving the connection of the brain and body. To allow your body to better adapt to daily stressors so you can go about your business. When the connection of the brain and body is working harmoniously, we know that your ability to heal, adapt and create resiliency improves. This allows you to carry on with your day knowing that you're more likely going to be able to deal with whatever life throws at you. But, when you see your Chiropractor only for pain, these benefits are muted because it takes time and repetition to improve the connection. Just like it takes time to improve your capacity in the gym or change your body composition through nutrition.

So, my young client is being given the best from her parents. We are now able to help her young body create ideal connections so that she can adapt and respond to her life free from interference between the brain and the body. As she gets older, this is going to hold her in good stead to not have to rely on bodywork - whether it be a Chiro, PT, surgeon, massage - to deal with the chronic pain issues that people are facing because they've allowed minor stressors (physical, chemical and emotional) to accumulate until the body can no longer compensate and something seriously goes wrong.

Peace, Love and Wellness,

​Dr. Liz

Got questions? Reach out!