 There’s been a lot of talk about taking personal responsibility for your own health for the benefit of others around you. If you are a healthy individual, you are less likely to pass on an illness to someone else, possible a more vulnerable person. If the majority of the community is comprised of resilient people, the effect that a particular illness will have on it will be minor.
So what can you do to keep yourself progressing on the healthy spectrum? Eat well. Move well. Think well. Sleep well. Get adjusted. Here are a few tips for you:
In health and wellness, The Primal Team
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 Who is on your health team? You have a choice.
What health recommendations are being made for your? You have a choice. Can you get a second or third opinion? You have a choice. Can you seek out a different healthcare provider? You have a choice. Is the treatment, care, or medication in align with your values? You have a choice. Is something mandated but not a law? You have a choice. Always. Question things. Be curious. Be a student in your own health and KNOW that you always have a choice, no matter how the information is presented to you. In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  The purpose of chiropractic care is to remove interference from your nervous system. Your brain and body communicate to each other via the spinal nerves that exit from your spinal cord. If there is a distortion in the signals that are being sent between your brain and body, dysfunction occurs in your body. The human body is incredibly intelligent and will compensate for this but the dysfunction eventually leads to symptoms.
The interference is the result of a subluxation in your spine. The purpose of the adjustment is find the subluxated areas and release that tension, and allow for greater ease in your body. Did you know that your nervous system and immune systems are closely tied together? A well functioning nervous system means a well functioning immune system. All of your immune organs are innervated and if there is distortion in the signals, that is going to have an impact on the ability of your immune system to fend off foreign invaders. Research studies have shown a positive change in immune cells following chiropractic adjustments - how amazing is that?! Your body is amazing. It has great capabilities for healing. It just needs no interference. Chiropractic care is the avenue to take for greater health and healing. We are here to support and empower you on your health journey! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  As people start to get healthier, naturally their diet improves. They choose more nutrient dense options and fill up on local, in season produce. As this progression continues to take place and people feel better and better, they may realize that their body doesn't actually tolerate certain foods. Things such as dairy, wheat and nightshades may turn their stomach or trigger a headache or migraine. This can be frustrating! It may feel like there is one more thing that has to be eliminated from your diet. But, in the end it's a great thing, because it means how your body is actually functioning is present to your conscious mind. This is much better than the alternative of being in such a fog surrounding what is happening to the physical self.
So, what can you eat? We are so lucky right now to have many options at our fingertips when it comes to making food substitutes. Instead of having to feel deprived during special occasions, with a little bit of effort, we can stick with all the foods that make us feel great. Before I get into the list, I do want to share that unless you have a full blown allergy, I don't believe it's imperative to never eat an amazing gluten filled, dairy laden cupcake again. But, to truly feel and function at your best, it is necessary to eat in a way that supports your body for the majority. **I'm not being paid or endorsed to write about any of these products. They are just ones that I love and use on a regular basis. Wheat/Gluten Substitutes
Dairy including butter substitutes
Eggs
This list is pretty basic. I'm so thankful that I don't deal with any severe restrictions in my diet, so if you need something that goes a little deeper then utilize websites that have recipes following the AIP or autoimmune protocol. These will have great options for recipes that don't include the most common inflammatory foods. Peace, Love, and Wellness, Dr. Liz  The old theory of immunity was that germs - bacteria, viruses, fungi - made you sick. This is outdated though, because we come into contact with millions of microbes daily, and if germs make you sick, we should be sick constantly. The updated theory is terrain theory. This theory says that your internal environment provides the terrain for a germ to thrive. If you are taking care of your body, moving and eating well, positive mindset, sleeping, and getting adjusted, your immune system will be robust and resilient. You will either adequately fend off an illness or if you do get sick, the duration will be short.
However, if your diet is poor, you don’t move your body, your sleep habits aren’t great, you aren’t getting adjusted, your body is lacking in essential nutrients, and you have a negative mindset, you are creating a more optimal environment for that bacteria or virus to thrive and make you sick. Germs don’t make you sick. Your internal environment is what determines if you get sick or not. Someone else cannot “make” you be sick. Your health is your personal responsibility. Create a robust and resilient internal environment. Note: there are immunocompromised individuals who are more vulnerable to becoming sick, and so all the more reason to take responsibility for your health if you are not one of those individuals. Your ability to fend off an illness decreases the likelihood that you will pass it on to a vulnerable person. We are here to assist you on your health journey of being a resilient, healthier, happier human! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  Informed consent is defined as being permission granted in the knowledge of the possible consequences, typically that which is given by a patient to a doctor for treatment with full knowledge of the possible risks and benefits. How often are we actually given all of the information when it comes to making an informed and empowered health decision? There are risks and benefits to everything we do to and for our physical, mental, and emotional health.
There is a term coined “implied consent”, meaning if you don’t explicitly tell your health provider “no”, they have been given permission by you to go ahead with their care, procedure, etc. You are in charge of your health. You are allowed to say no if you are feeling uneasy or hesitant and want to get more information and do more research. Know your options. If you don’t know your options, then you don’t have any. YOU are in charge of your healthcare. YOU are allowed to dictate what you do with your body. Your healthcare provider is going to give you their best recommendations but remember at the end of the day, you are the one to decide. This goes for chiropractic care, perinatal care, general health, surgery, prescribed medications, your child’s care, everything health related. Do not be a passive part of your own health experience. Request knowledge. If your healthcare provider isn’t on your team, you have every right to fire them and hire someone else. In our office, we pride ourselves in empowering our clients in making the best healthcare decisions. Sometimes that does mean doing something other than chiropractic care, depending on where they are at. We are here to support you in whatever way you need.  I was having a conversation with a client about meditation earlier this week. She had recently meditated for 7 days straight and was really enjoying it. When I asked what she liked about it and what benefits she had seen, she couldn't tell me. This isn't uncommon with meditation.
I have been meditating pretty regularly for at least 3 years now, so I shared a secret with her. The benefits I see from meditation are only apparent when I stop. During the times that I am super consistent, it's hard to put my finger on why I keep going back to it. But, when I stop, the clutter in my brain becomes overwhelming, I have a much faster fuse especially towards Coen, less tolerance in general, apathy to doing the things that have me sleeping soundly at night and feeling successful, and in general poorer choices when it comes to my health. It got me thinking about how we approach our health in general. Often we don't notice how good we feel, until we don't anymore. Our consistent habits that have us firing on all cylinders go by the wayside for many reasons, but our body is able to adapt and allows us to still feel good. Until we don't. This is when you hear of the 'healthy' guy who died out of the blue from a heart attack or a virus that has a 99% survival rate. Or less severe, you throw your back out bending over, or 'sleep wrong' waking up to a neck that won't turn. So when is the answer to stop our healthy behaviors? When should we stop exercising, stop eating well, stop nourishing our mind, stop chiropractic care? Should this be when we are feeling good? Our health is not a destination to be reached. Behaviors that have us feeling, and most importantly, functioning at our optimum potential should be ongoing for our lifetime. I'm not talking about perfection, or even striving for perfection in taking care of ourselves. This in and of itself is unhealthy in my view. If, for the majority of the time, we are able to give our body what it needs to flourish, then we will thrive. For some people this will be easier, for others much harder. We are all starting from different expressions of health. But, each day we have the opportunity to make healthy choices for ourselves, regardless of our circumstances. What are you going to choose today? Peace, Love and Wellness Dr. Liz  Your thoughts affect your physiology. Positive thoughts, neutral thoughts, negative thoughts, all of it, impacts the chemistry in your body every single day. Feeling grateful? Feeling scared? You can measure your heart rate, your blood pressure, cortisol levels, pupil dilation to give an idea of the state of your body. Feeling stressed out? Your heart rate increases, blood pressure goes up, digestion slows, breathing becomes more rapid and shallow.
I don’t think we give enough credit to the impact of our thoughts on our life. Truly what you believe is your reality. If you believe you are struggling, you are. If you believe you are in a great place, you are. We give each of our clients an affirmation when they begin care in our office. Louise Hay, an author, has written a book with affirmations for every area of your body and different health conditions. Depending on your health goals and what your body is presenting with, we pick an affirmation for you. These affirmations are designed to help influence the healing process in your body. I always tell my clients you can take this or leave this, but I want to add more tools to their healing tool box. If you continually tell yourself something every day, it will become a part of your mindset. Why not tell yourself something that will help you heal and grow and reach a higher level of being? We are here to support and empower you on your health journey, and want to help you reach a higher level of being. Please reach out if we can help you in any way! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  What is a subluxation? Let’s break this chiropractic term down: sub = less than, lux = measure of light, tion = noun of condition or action. So, a subluxation is a condition of decreased light expression. How does this apply to you, chiropractic, and your health?
Your body is innately intelligent. Your brain and body communicate with each other via the many miles of nerves that travel through your body. When this intelligent communication is interfered with, it causes a decrease in your ability to function. A decrease in function is a decrease in your ability to express health. Ever heard of the expression “they glowed with health?” When you are living a vital, authentic, healthy life, you literally glow. Living in a subluxated state, a state of decreased light and health expression, causes a person to have subpar health and, a decreased glow if you will. Stick with me, I know this is can be woo-woo for some. Chiropractic care though, is about assessing and correcting areas of subluxations in your spine. In less woo-woo terms, a subluxation is an area of tension in your spine, interfering with the flow of communication between your brain and body. Tension occurs in your spinal cord when the body is attempting to adapt to stress. We all experience stress on a daily basis, whether physical, chemical, mental, environmental, etc. When the body has a decreased ability to adapt, stress gets poorly integrated into your system. Subluxations are your body’s response to this stress. Your brain is the organ responsible for adapting and integrating stressors. Getting adjusted increases the brain’s ability to adapt to stress. Brain imaging studies show positive changes in the brain following an adjustment, specifically in the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for executive function, planning, and personality. Your ability to recognize and manage stress is increased following an adjustment. How amazing is that? Heart rate variability studies also back up this increased ability to adapt to stress. As out there as this blog may have begun, there is true scientific evidence to back it up. Get adjusted for health of your nervous system, and for the sake of the light inside of you! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan  There is a lot of stress floating around in our world these days. That’s the thing with stress, no one is immune to it. However, you can be more resilient to it. Ever notice how one event can be no big deal to one person and devastating to another? Resiliency. The ability to recover quickly from difficulties.
Want to know a way to improve your resiliency? Chiropractic care. No, really. Care isn’t just about pain or symptoms. If you’ve been in our office, you have likely been scanned on our Insight station and had your heart rate variability checked. Your HRV score is a measure of your body’s ability to adapt to stress. In a healthy individual, the heart beats will fluctuate slightly. Your heart should not have a rhythm that you can set a metronome by. A heart that responds to the environment around you can increase or decrease your heart rhythm as needed, and hopefully quickly. Should a lion charge into the room, you want your cardiovascular system to respond instantaneously so that you can get blood pumped to your muscles and lungs so that you can get up and run away as fast as you can (or fight the lion, if that’s your thing). However, if your heart isn’t responding as quickly to the environment, your chances of surviving that stressor go down. So, heart rate variability is a measure of your body’s ability to respond to stress. How capable you are at responding to stress is a measure of your body’s ability to heal. Your ability to heal is a measure of your resilience. Studies show that chiropractic care has a positive effect on heart rate variability. So, connecting the bread crumbs here: chiropractic care increases your HRV score, better HRV means a better, more efficient response to stress, ability to respond to stress determines healing capabilities, healing capabilities measure your resiliency. See? Our tagline at our office is “healthier, happier humans”. We are striving to create a community of empowered and resilient people so that our society can continue to grow to a better place. We are happy to be here to assist you on your health journey! In health and wellness, Dr. Morgan |
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