Total Health Chiropractic

Taking Action

totalhealth — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:39:00 GMT

Over the last few years I've compiled a list of my favorite thoughts, ideas, and quotes on personal development topics:

Adversity, Confidence, Success, Teamwork, Accountability, Character, Integrity, Strength, Leadership.....

Today, I'm going to give you some thoughts to help you take ACTION!

Action Questions

Who loses weight? The one who knows all about the benefits of exercise or the one who walks three miles a day?

Who retires early? The one who dreams of a house on the beach, or the one who invests $300 a month?

Who writes books? The one who desires to become a best-selling author, or the one who gets up early and writes for half an hour a day?

Who has the best marital relationship? The one who knows how much spending time with their spouse can improve their relationship, or the one who sits down and talks with their spouse every night?

Who makes the most sales? The one who believes they can become a great salesperson, or the one who makes 10 sales calls a day?

I think you get the point. When it all comes down to it, we must act upon our vision, beliefs, and ideals or we won't see them come to fruition. I see too many people who know what is right, but don't ever do anything about it. Imagine what a difference we could make in our own lives and the lives of others if we would simply begin to act upon on our beliefs!

Action Quotes

“Knowledge fueled by emotion equals action. Action is the ingredient that ensures results. Only action can cause reaction. Further, only positive action can cause positive reaction.” Jim Rohn

"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great." Les Brown

"The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers." Brian Tracy

"The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move." John Wooden

"Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly." Robert Schuller

What most exercise programs miss

totalhealth — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:40:00 GMT

I have seen a lot of exercise programs over the years.

Most of them address the common areas of exercise....

Cardio, Strength, Endurance, Flexibility, etc

Those are all essential to health and fitness.

But there is a huge component they are missing.

This particular area is not missing from our Total Health Body Balance program.

Click on the link below to watch what I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX4bgBUGo_w

Body Balance preview (video)

totalhealth — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:58:00 GMT

As promised, here is a preview of the Total Health Body Balance exercise program.

This video provides a great overvew of the program.

....And why it is so unique.

Just click below to get the answers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeK2CRlvFHY

Doc

It's getting closer...

totalhealth — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:09:00 GMT

I'm excited to say that The Total Health Body Balance exercise program is almost ready!

I had a seminar in my office going over the program and it went great!

I recorded it so all I have to do now is put it all on DVD in an easy to use format.

Plus I'm going to do some testing on it with a select group of people so they can give me even more feedback on this very specific exercise program.

Over the next few weeks I'll show you some preview videos so you can get a better understanding of why this program is different than many other exercise programs.

Thanks for your patience throughout this process.

Your patience will be rewarded shortly!

Doc

P.S. In the meantime, you could always pick up a copy of my book, Get Healthy Now for Life: The Practical, Easy-to-Follow Guide to a Healthy Life. Everyone wants to be healthy, but not everyone will do what's necessary to be healthy. Will you?

Why crunches are bad

totalhealth — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:14:00 GMT

One of the comments I hear all to often from my patients and out in the community is that they don't do sit ups because they heard that sit ups are bad for the low back.

Instead, they do crunches.

The truth is, crunches can be (and usually are) just as bad for the low back as sit ups.

When I tell them that, they respond with, "well what am I supposed to do for my stomach!?"

I'll answer that in a minute, but first I want to explain why crunches can be bad for the low back.

Anytime you induce repetitive flexion movements to your low back, you put it in danger (especially the discs) of wearing out and spraining, tearing, and/or spasming causing low back or leg pain.

Even worse, you could herniate or "blow out" a disc!

Just like your heart has a certain number of beats it can perform before it wears out, you discs have a certain number of repetitive flexion movements they can go through before they start tearing.

So if you do crunches improperly, which from what I see most people do, you will wear our your discs prematurely.

So now that you know why crunches and any other repetitive flexion/bending movement is not beneficial, what are you supposed to do?

Check out the links to the videos below for the answer:

Elbow Bridge

Bent Knee Side Bridge

Straight Knee Side Bridge

Stability Ball Supine Russian Twists

Medicine Ball Alternating Front Twist Throws

So there are 5 great core and stomach exercises.

To see more, make sure to register and become a Total Health Member by clicking on the link below:

Have a great weekend!

Doc

Father's Day Celebration TODAY!

totalhealth — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:53:00 GMT

Our Father's Day Celebration has officially started!

Come on in for some breakfast this morning and Jimmy John's this afternoon!

Plus, while you're here, you can help us determine the ugliest tie in our Ugliest Tie Contest.

And there are some ugly ties on our bulletin board!

Whoever wins gets a $100 gift card to Home Depot!

Hope to see you TODAY!

Doc

Ugly Tie Contest!

totalhealth — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:24:00 GMT

I hope that one day my girls will love me enough to get me an ugly tie for Father's Day.

When you think of Father's Day, I bet one of the things you think of is an ugly tie.

It's just the quintessential, stereotypical Father's Day gift.

So in honor of that, we are having an Ugly Tie Contest in our Lansing office!

Here's how you can enter your ugly tie...

Bring in your (or your husband's, brother's, grandpa's, etc) ungliest tie to Total Health Chiropractic in Lansing between now and Thursday June 17th to enter the contest.

Even if you are not a patient, you are still eligible to enter and win!

Voting will take place at our Father's Day Celebration in the office on Friday June 18th.

Patients and everyone else who comes in that day will vote for the ugliest tie!

So the winner is in your hands.

I don't want to forget the best part....

If yours is voted "Ugliest Tie," you will win $100 gift card to Home Depot!

I'm sure you could use that!

I'm not a handy guy but I still buy a lot of stuff at Home Depot.

Plus, we are having food and refreshments on June 18th from 7:30-11am and 3-6pm to celebrate Father's Day!

You know how Total Health can throw a party so don't miss it!

Keep getting healthy,

Doc

Is organic food more expensive?

totalhealth — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:19:00 GMT

We are devoted to educating our patients on how to get healthy.

Little health "quizzes," e-newsletters, Get Healthy Now for Life, our Total Health Lifestyle Nutrition manual.

We also give pieces of health information during their visits.

Over the last few weeks we have been sharing a great article in Runner's World that our office manager Amy found.

It's about organic food - what it is, why it's so much better for you than non-organic food, the 12 foods you need to eat organically, etc.

A really great overview about organics.

It was a little disheartening when some patients response was, "I don't know much about organic food but I do know it's expensive."

Is it more expensive? Probably in the short term but definitely not in the long term.

One of my favorite phrases is, "Pay Now...or Pay Later."

You can save money now by not eating healthy, not eating organically, eating cheap processed foods, eating foods loaded with antibiotics and pesticides. But then you'll have to pay 10 fold with your time and money in the future trying to get rid of all the maladies created by this diet.

Things like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, depression, ADHD, and chronic pain to name only a few.

Study after study shows how poor nutrition (as well as other physcial and mental stresses) are a huge contributor to disease.

You cannot hide behind genetics or age as reasons for your health, or lack thereof.

So it's up to you as it always is. It's always your choice. You can't blame anyone else for what you put into your mouth.

You don't have to change everything you eat overnight and buy everything organic.

Start slow. Pick a few things here and there.

See how easy it can be and how good it makes you feel.

"Some things you just have to do everyday. You can't make up for not eating any apples during the week by eating 7 apples on Sunday."

Thanks for reading,

Doc

P.S. If you're looking for a great place for organic food and you don't even need to leave your house, check out http://www.doortodoororganics.com/. We get a box of organic produce from them every week and in the last 2 years, we've only had one bad piece of produce.

Excerpt from Get Healthy Now for Life

totalhealth — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:53:00 GMT

When one of my patients tells me they didn't do anything to cause the pain that they have, I have them go to page 152 of my book.

Here is what page 152 says:

“I don’t know what I did to make it hurt.” That’s a statement I hear almost every day. The following list consists of various physical, chemical, and emotional/mental stresses you potentially put onto your body, currently or in the past. Repeated abuse of these stressors causes your body to get out of balance, making it more susceptible to symptoms and disease.

To give you an idea of how these affect your health, imagine your body as an empty glass underneath a leaky faucet. Every drop that goes in the glass is a stressor you are putting on or in your body. Some drops are bigger than others. Not until the water overflows will you get any symptoms or diseases. The goal is to fix the leak and dump the water out of the glass by doing healthy activities that, of course, are the opposite of these stressors.

Go through this list and make note of all of the ones you are guilty of. The more you check off, the unhealthier you will be.

In case you're wondering what are some of these stresses, here are the Physical Stresses which cause poor health and disease:

· Not exercising at a moderate intensity for 20-30 minutes three to five times per week. (Moderate intensity means “slightly out of breath” to “can’t hold conversation”: running, walking briskly, jogging, strength/circuit training, swimming, yoga, Pilates, biking, skiing, aerobics, elliptical, treadmill, Stairmaster, exercise videos/DVDs).

· Not performing stretching or flexibility exercises, including massage or chiropractic adjustments.

· Not getting at least six hours of sleep at night.

· Not taking naps.

· Performing repetitive movements like painting, gardening, shoveling, landscaping, throwing, overhead activities.

· Sitting down most of the day, especially at a computer.

· Talking with the phone between your shoulder and ear.

· Sitting on a wallet.

· Standing in one position most of the day.

· Using improper bending techniques repetitively or when lifting something heavy.

· Holding or carrying objects repetitively, like children, boxes, equipment, laundry, groceries, or luggage

· Having trouble falling asleep.

· Sleeping on your stomach.

· Sleeping in an unsupportive bed, couch, or chair.

· Having poor posture including:

Head out in front of your shoulders

One shoulder higher than the other

Shoulders rolled forward

Flat feet

Knees rotated inward or outward (knock-knees or bow legs)

One leg shorter than the other

· Past serious medical ailments, accidents, or injuries (heart attack, cancer, car accident, or injury requiring surgery, etc).

· Being pregnant.

· Delivery process for mom and baby.

· Falling down, especially when learning to walk.

· Carrying a backpack.

· Wearing unsupportive shoes, especially while exercising, walking, or standing.

· Wearing high heels.

· Not wearing foot orthotics to support your foot arches.

· Having an eating disorder.

· Being overweight or obese.

· Sports injuries. Performing repetitive movements required in sports.

Remember, that doesn't include the Chemical or Emotional/Mental Stresses!

If you tell me, you are not guilty of anything on those lists, then I will say, "I have no idea why you have pain."

More than likely, you will check off multiple stresses and that's the reason for your pain, fatigue, frequent colds, sinus infections, hight blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and on and on.

Hope that helps to shed some light on why doing "nothing" can be so painful.

Do Something

totalhealth — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:59:00 GMT

I don't always feel like exercising.

Many people think I do every single time, but I honestly don't.

Sometimes I'm tired, don't have the motivation, would rather watch

TV, don't feel good.

And I'm sure you have had those same excuses too.

Jerry West, Hall of Fame NBA basketball player, has a great line:

"You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days you

feel good."

So true.

We don't always feel like doing fill in the blank.

And too much of the time that blank is filled in with the word

'exercise.'

But if we don't, what will happen?

You have to suffer the consequences.

And what are those consequences?

Heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, arthritis,

obesity, pain.......

These are all preventable (contrary to what you may hear, these

are not genetic!).

My message to you today is....Do Something everyday.

It doesn't have to be an hour of exercise everyday.

It could be a 10 minute walk one day.

10 minutes of stretching the next.

15 minutes of strength building exercises.

5 minutes on the foam roll to massage your tight muscles.

Just something.

Once you feel how what this 'something' does for your body

(and mind), you will create an amazing habit.

In times where you don't feel like doing anything, remember how

you felt when you actually did something, and that will help provide

some motivation in those tough times.

I'm diligently working on our Total Health Body Balance DVD program

to actually show you how easy and little time you need to improve your

body and health...so you won't have to suffer those consequences.

Until next time,

Doc

One more nutrition tip...

totalhealth — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:47:00 GMT

There are so many nutrition tips out there and just when you think you know all of them, one hits you in the face.

In Get Healthy Now for Life I cover numerous tips like:

- Eat a healthier version of a food instead of the unhealthy version (i.e. eat natural peanut butter, or almond butter, instead of regular peanut butter).

- Rainbow shop, meaning try to get all the colors of the rainbow in your cart.

- Eat organic food as much as you can.

- Supplement your diet with a multivitamin, antioxidants, Omega 3 fish oil, and probiotic everyday.

And a lot more.

But when my wife and I were eating lunch today, I thought of another one.

For lunch, I had a leftover piece of baked chicken breast.

After I was done eating I told my wife I knew I wasn’t full (but I wasn’t hungry either).

But, and here’s the new tip, I got bored eating.

I don’t know if that ever happens to you but it does to me.

The reason “get bored with eating” is such a good tip is that it can control your portion size.

It will push you away from the table.

Similarly, if you have to prepare food that takes longer than just nuking it in the microwave, that might help you get bored with eating too.

It will make you eat less.

It will make you eat better, meaning more nutritiously.

The point is, if you have a problem with eating too much at one sitting, find a way to stop.

And this week, that way is to make it boring.

Doc

P.S. I'm working on getting my online store on www.TotalHealth-Fitness.com but until then, you can Get Healthy Now for Life on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Healthy-Life-Easy-Follow/dp/0615351034/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270583789&sr=1-4

Balance your Body

totalhealth — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:11:00 GMT

It’s been a pretty exciting week with my book coming out.

If you haven’t had a chance to take a look, click here.

But I’m not stopping there to help you get healthy….

Where you feel pain is not necessarily where the cause of the pain is.

A great example is a heart attack.

Where do most people who have heart attacks feel pain?

Many times they get left arm pain.

If you went to your doctor and told him you had left arm pain, and he or she thought it was a heart attack, would you say, “But Doc, my arm hurts, not my chest. Look at my arm!”

I hope not.

My patients may hurt in a certain area but I have to determine where the actual cause of the pain is.

It may be that specific spot or it could be caused by a close or distant area.

Did you know that gradual knee pain does not come from the knee as much as you would think?

You may have knee pain and tried to ice, stretch, physical therapy, electric stimulation, or something else focusing on the knee.

Your knee may feel better for a little while but then it comes back.

Why?

With joints and joint pain, you have to look at the joints above and below that joint you’re feeling the pain.

So for the knee, I have to make sure your ankle and hip have the mobility they need.

For low back pain, I have to look at your hip and mid back.

For upper back pain, I have address neck and mid back mobility.

And so on for the rest of your body.

You have areas of you body that need mobility, and if they don’t, you increase your chances of pain.

These areas include your ankles, hips, mid back, neck, and shoulders.

However, other areas require stability, and if that’s lost, you could have or get pain in these areas which include your knees, low back, and neck.

Because I know this is how the body works, I know that when your body is out of balance, is not mobile, or is not stable, you greatly increase your chances of pain and dis-ease.

So along with adjustments and chiropractic care to fix your postural imbalances, you will also want to do mobility and stability exercises to fully balance your body.

Therefore, I am creating the Total Health Body Balance program.

It will:

Correct your structure

Loosen up knots in your muscles

Improve your mobility and flexibility

Stabilize and strengthen weak muscles

These exercises will balance your posture and body so you will feel better, get stronger, be flexible, and have more energy.

So that’s my next big project to help you and your family get healthy!

And I can’t wait for you to do it!

Doc

The Book is Done!!

totalhealth — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:22:00 GMT

If you've read our blog over the last couple months, you know that I've been working on my first book.

I even asked you to ask any health questions you would like answered so I could address them in the book.

So I took those questions and other health information that I've learned over the years and wrote a book.

I'm excited to say that it's finally done!

It's called Get Healthy Now for Life: A Practical and Easy-to-Follow Guide to a Healthy Life.

The whole premise of the book is that YOU control your health, YOU can be healthy. That is, if you do the things that make you healthy.

If you choose not to do healthy things, YOU will not be healthy.

It's designed for the Average Joe and Jane explaining health in a logical and sensical way without all the medical jargon.

I never thought I'd write a book and now that I've written my first, I'm going to write more.

But for right now, I'll just be happy that I accomplished this goal.

You can check out the book by clicking the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Healthy-Life-Easy-Follow/dp/0615351034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270607027&sr=8-1-catcorr

And if you want to get your copy, you can go ahead and do that too.

Until next time,

Doc

Baby Boomers and Health

totalhealth — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:09:00 GMT

I don't get the paper anymore.

There's just way too much pessimism and gloom and doom.

If something is bad enough, sure enough someone will tell me so why read the newspaper or watch the news for that matter.

I do like to read the sports section though. That section's pretty safe to read.

And so is the Life section. That is until I read it a week ago.

There was an article talking about baby boomers and exercise. It talked about how exercising was a cause of baby boomers' hips, knees, and spines wearing out because they want to do what they did 20 years ago.

Hopefully you see where I'm going with this.

If not, I'll spell it out for you:

In general, we have too many people who look for excuses not to exercise, and to give them one more is absolutely RIDICULOUS!

I agree that sometimes we have to tone down the exercises we used to do. But to say that exercising is the cause of the breakdown is very shortsighted.

Much of the problem is that these same individuals needing hip or knee replacements in their 50's or 60's are the result of not taking care of themselves while they were in their teens, 20's and 30's.

A huge part of taking care of yourself is staying physically balanced, or in other words, having good posture.

Think about this for a minute: If your body is not balanced, causing more wear and tear on your joints, muscles, and nerves, do you think your body will breakdown quicker?

Plus, if your body isn't balanced, and then you walk, jog, run, jump, bike, or lift weights (which puts more stress on an imbalanced structure), that will cause your body to wear out quicker. Just like if you had four different sized tires on your car, the engine will have to work harder and breakdown faster than if the entire car was balanced.

Exercise can have a detrimental effect on your body and health if you are not physically balanced.

If the article in the paper had said that, I would've whole heartedly agreed.

I explain this topic and many others in my new book, Get Healthy Now for Life: A Practical and Easy to Follow Guide to a Healthy Life.

I just ordered my proof copy and I'll get it next week!

If everything looks good, I'll release it within the next few weeks.

In the next few posts, I'll give you more information about Get Healthy Now for Life so you can see how it can help you and your family get healthy!

Doc

Children's Health & Wellness Expo a HUGE Success!

totalhealth — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:05:00 GMT

We had our 3rd Annual Children's Health & Wellness Expo a little over a week ago.

And I must say it was even better than we expected!

Last year, about 300 people came through the door.

This year, there were well over 700 people coming to see what all the talk was about!

And here's what had them talking:

- Free goody bag for the first 200

- Pictures with Big Lug

- Miniature horses to pet

- Potter Park Zoo animals

- Free Health Screenings

- Making slime with Impression 5

- Fingerprinting

- A Bounce House

- Informative presentations

- And a lot more!

We pride ourselves at being a leader in community health care and education.

The Children's Health & Wellness Expo furthered our mission the be that leader!

It is one of our signature events and if you want to keep up to date with all the great things we do in the community, sign up for our Total Health Insider at the top of the screen.

Or you could become a subscriber to the Total Health Blog.

Or both!

We just don't want you to miss out on all the fun, exciting, and healthy activities we plan throughout the year.

If you missed the Expo, click on the link below to see for yourself.

I will warn you, although it looks amazing on the video, it still doesn't do it justice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRSXdS1DFeQ

Get Healthy Now,

Doc

I am writing a book and need your help

totalhealth — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:41:00 GMT

As you can see from the subject line, I am writing a book.

I never thought I would write a but I found something I'm

passionate about, have a lot of experience with, and want to

share it with you.

It's something that everyone wants but many don't know how

to go about getting it.

I see and hear it everyday and I just had to do something about it.

This might even be you and that's why I need your help.

The topic I'm talking about is getting and staying healthy.

There is so much information out there but a lot of it is confusing.

You hear something is good for you one day and the next day, it's

bad for you.

I want to give you a practical and easy to follow guide to improve

you and your family's health.

To do that, I would like to hear (and read) any questions you have

about health.

Or how to get healthy.

Or how to stay healthy.

By healthy I mean: pain free, active, your body working at its top level,

fighting off infections, not having to take drugs, etc.

I set up a website where you can ask your question.

Plus, you'll get something in return for submitting a question.

I did an interview I did with a former Chief of Staff at Sparrow Hospital

right here in Lansing, MI and I want you to have it for helping me out.

It's absolutely FREE (right now).

Trust me when I say it is a must listen.

He lets you in on the "State of Health in America."

And right now, as I'm sure you're aware, America's health is not

anywhere it should be.

And he tells you why.

All you have to do is go to this website listed below:

============================

http://www.thetotalhealthlifestyle.com/

============================

Once you get there, you'll see exactly how to submit your question

and listen to the interview.

I really want this book to answer the questions you have about health.

I am writing it for you so I definitely want to have the information you

want to learn.

Thank you so much for helping me with this project.

I can't wait to see your questions!

Thanks again!

============================

http://www.thetotalhealthlifestyle.com/

============================

Doc

Take time to relax...everyday

totalhealth — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:52:00 GMT

I haven't made a video in awhile so I thought this particular topic would be a good one for that.

All you have to do is sit back and listen.

Unfortunately there's a little bit of feedback on the video (guess I had the microphone turned up too high).

But it's not enough to prevent you from this week's health tip:

Click here to see video

Getting old doesn't have to suck

totalhealth — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:21:00 GMT

I apologize if any of you are offended by my choice of words in the title. I don't like using the word "suck" but that's the word patients use when describing getting old.

Plus, I also wanted to get your attention.

I hear it almost everyday..."getting old sucks."

They also may tell me, "don't get old, you'll feel like I do."

I am 34 years old and if you're reading this and in your 40's, 50's, or 60's, you may be thinking what do I know about getting old since I'm only 34 years old.

Well I know this: If I go through life telling myself that I'm going to feel like crap, that my body is going to breakdown when I get to 40 or 50 or whenever, then I probably will feel like crap when I get older.

Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I'm not going to tell myself I am.

I'm going to do the things now to take care of myself so getting old doesn't suck for me.

Those things are what I'm always talking about:

Keeping my body and spine physically balanced so the pressure is off my nervous system and my body won't breakdown as quickly;

Keeping my mind mentally balanced and not filling it with negativity (like that getting old sucks);

Eating nutirtious unprocessed foods and taking my vitamins and supplements everyday;

Exercising 3 to 5 days a week, focusing on strength, balance, and mobililty;

Getting adequate rest.

If you do those things, then aging may not be so bad for you.

So implore you to encourage yourself, your kids, grandkids and everyone else you encounter who you deem to be "not old" to do healthy activities NOW so life and aging isn't so stressful.

Isn't "take care of yourself now so you don't feel like I do" better advice than "don't get old because it sucks?"

As always, I'd love to hear your comments.

Just post them below.

Until next time....Get Healthy Now!

Doc

My Top 10 Favorite Quotes

totalhealth — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:51:00 GMT

I love personal development. I love talking about responsibility, character, integrity.

I subscribe to newsletters and blogs that help me develop as a person.

My hope is that this blog helps you become a better person, not just your physical health but overall well-being.

I have over 30 pages of quotes that I've accumulated over the last few years separated into categories like Action, Adversity, Discpline, Attitude, Character, Success, Leadership and many more.

I think quotes can provide you with some extra motivation when it may be down.

They help to give perspective and put good thoughts into your head...as long as you're reading uplifting messages and not negative ones.

So without further ado, here are my favorite quotes:

10. The best motivation is self-motivation. The guy says, "I wish someone would come by and turn me on." What if they don't show up? You've got to have a better plan for your life. Jim Rohn

9. I am responsible for teaching you good leadership, I am responsible for sharing things that can help add value to your life; but you are the only one who can take responsibility to change yourself. John Maxwell

8. Why do we complain but remain the same? Why do so many of us curse the effect but nourish the cause?

7. We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.

6. If you keep doing what you've always done, you're always going to get what you've already got.

5. You are not happy because you are well. You are well because you are happy. You are not depressed because trouble has come to you, but trouble has come because you were depressed. You can change your thoughts and feelings, and then the outer things will change to correspond, and indeed there is no other way of working. Emmet Fox

4. The biggest challenge you have is your own self-doubt and your laziness. It is your self-doubt and your laziness that define and limit who you are. It is your self-doubt and laziness that deny you the life you want.

3. Why do we dread adversity when it is only through it that we grow stronger. John Wooden

2. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

1. Health is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while disease is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either health or disease.

There you have it.

I'm always on the hunt for new, inspiring quotes.

What are your favorite quotes? I'd love to hear some...just post them below.

Doc

I am thankful for getting sick

totalhealth — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:32:00 GMT

Seems like an odd title for an article doesn't it?

Thanksgiving just past but I am still thankful for many things including getting sick.

Let me explain.

The week of Thanksgiving was extra hectic and stressful this year.

My wife's grandpa passed away early in the week so we drove to the Chicago area for the wake and funeral Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Thursday morning we drove back to Michigan for Thanksgiving at my family's house.

That in and of itself is stressful but when you get out of your normal routine, putting extra stress on your body, you're asking for trouble.

The extra stress I'm talking about is not getting regular sleep, not taking my vitamins, not eating the healthiest of food, not getting adjusted, not exercising, and all of the emotional stress during the week.

So the Saturday after Thanksgiving, because of all the unhealthy things I was doing, I got the worst migraine headache I have ever had. My body just couldn't take the punishment anymore.

To give you a quick past history, I started seeing a chiropractor in the 8th grade for migraines. I remember him saying my head was on crooked which can cause the headaches. Long story short, now I get maybe one migraine a year...maybe. And when I do, it's because I have worn my body down by partaking in unhealthy activities. So it's my own fault if I get one.

When I got the migraine, I wasn't too thankful.

But after, I realized it was a good reminder that I better take care of myself, even during the holidays. And so should you.

Plus, after a short bout of being sick, it makes you appreciate how good it feels to be healthy.

So this is your reminder to do healthy things for your body during your holidays like getting enough sleep, taking your vitamins, exercising, getting adjusted to take the stress off your nervous system, eating nutritious foods and not just the awesome food the holidays bring.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GET SICK!

But if you do, be thankful when you get healthy.

Doc

Solving the Food Mystery

totalhealth — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:50:00 GMT

It has been way too long since my last post and I apologize for that.

Hopefully the information you're about to see makes up for it.

As part of our Total Health Fitness Challenge I made a video in a grocery store showing you what's healthy and what's not when you go shopping.

This video shows you:

My top 3 "bad food" list
What the order of the ingredients means on the label
Healthy substitutes for your favorite foods
Why fresh is better than canned...and is frozen better than canned?
Which alcohol is healthier than others
And much more...

Just click on this link to see for yourself:

http://www.totalhealth-fitness.com/SolvingtheFoodMystery.aspx

Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Keep getting healthy!

Doc

Halloween Blowout Pictures

totalhealth — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:40:00 GMT

What a great Halloween!

The one comment we heard the most at our Halloween

Blowout Extravaganza yesterday was, "You guys sure go all out!"

And I have to agree.

Almost 200 people came by to see what we did this year!

And what we did was.............."Grease"

Each room was decorated as a different scene from the

movie like the Pep Rally, the Sleepover with the Pink Ladies,

the Frosty Palace, the Drive In (with a 1/4 of a car in the room!),

the Carnival, and the National Bandstand dance scene.

We even had a '55 and '57 Chevy parked outside our office!

Plus our entire staff dressed up as the various characters. (I was

Danny complete with jet black hair. Fortunately for everyone

there, I did not sing.)

It was truly an awesome and inspired day!

If you were able to make it, thank you for coming...and I'm

sure you weren't disappointed.

Now we just have to come up with something for next year.

Click here to see pictures of our Grease Halloween!

Halloween Hints

totalhealth — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:20:00 GMT

Our Halloween Blowout Extravaganza is fast approaching.

We are getting everything ready for the big event on Wednesday.

Our office is stuffed with all of the decorations, banners, signs, props, and on and on.

I wanted to give you a few more hints, though, to see if you can figure it out.

1. There will be a mini Carnival with popcorn

2. One of our rooms will have a bonfire (may or may not be lit)

3. Maybe you could catch a movie while you are here

4. Or you could take a walk on the beach

I hope I haven't given too much away.

I'd love to hear your guesses on what movie we are doing this year.</p> <p>Just post your comments below.

Can't wait to see you on Wednesday!

A Great Race to Run

totalhealth — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:12:00 GMT

It was a pretty busy weekend for me and my family.

We went to Chicago where I ran in the Men's Health Urbanathlon.

It was an 11.5 mile run that me and two friends split up into a relay. Overall there were over 5,000 racers!

The unique part of this particular race was that there were obstacles like a tire run, monkey bars, high hurdles.

For my leg of the relay, I ran 2 miles, then went into Soldier Field where we had to run up and down the stairs four times (that's a leg burner) which equalled another mile, then finished off with another 1 mile run. At the end of the run was a taxi jump and then a climb over and eight foot high wall!

It was a pretty cold day and as I was waiting for about an hour for my leg to start, I thought there was no way I'd do it again next year.

But now that I'm done, I know I can do better and I will do it again next year.

My wife is strongly thinking about doing it too!

We did pretty well...finished 167th out of about 400 relay teams. So in the top half!

That's the first race I've run in about 10 years. It's definitely nice to have some extra motivation to train.

We all need motivation; that's the premise behind our Total Health Fitness Challenge.

The Urbanathlon is motivating me to do something similar in Lansing, too.

Another goal I have is to organize a race in Lansing and I love this format so be on the lookout in the next couple years.

I shared some pictures below of our experience.

Enjoy!

Brian, Jason, and me before the race. (Even wore my Total Health shirt so everyone knows about us now!)

Dr. Monica and I trying to stay warm before I run.

This is where I waited until it was my turn to dominate!

These are the hurdles Jason had to climb over to hand off to me.

This is the end...after the 2 mile run, the run up and down Soldier Field four times, then another mile. This is pretty cool!

As promised...

totalhealth — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:58:00 GMT

Last week I told you I'd show you a video of our huge Halloween blowout extravaganza last year.

We had patients who came in the morning, went to work, and brought their co-workers in to see it.

We had patients who called TV stations to tell them to get their butts (and cameras) to Total Health Chiropractic.

We had patients who went to their other appointments, saw what they did for Halloween, and our patients said, "You need to go to Total Health....THEY went all out!"

The video below was done by yours truly so don't expect anything cinematic.

I didn't even know I was zoomed in too much for half of the video.

But it does show how much work was put into it for everyone to enjoy.

This year will be just as fun....actually, even more fun!

To give you a little hint of the movie we are doing this year...we are having a Carnival and a bonfire IN the office!

Remember, it's on WEDNESDAY October 28 from 7:30 to 11:00 and 3:00 to 6:30pm.

And the first 24 kids will receive special treats!

Click here to check out the video.