Patient Journey: Graves’ Disease

  1.  What health issues were you struggling with when you began to work with Dr. Angela?

I had just gotten diagnosed with Graves’ disease, and I also just had an open surgery to remove a benign tumor the size of a cantaloupe, as well as one of my ovaries.  My symptoms were fatigue, racing heart, high blood pressure, hand tremors, excessive sweating, and more!

2.  What treatment methods had you tried prior to Dr. Angela’s program?

I had just started on an anti-thyroid drug after seeing an endocrinologist.

3. What health benefits did you gain from working with Dr. Angela?

I feel like a completely different person than I did before starting this program.  I feel so much better when I ate real whole foods compared to processed foods I was eating before. (Also, got pregnant of first try even when the medical doctors told me it would be a problem for us. ;) )

4. What did you find most beneficial to you in the program?

Dr. Angela does a really good job of educating her patients.  It’s easier for me to follow through with something when I know the “why” and not just instructed to do it.

5. What was your biggest struggle during the transition to a healthier lifestyle?

Wanting to have cheat meals!!

6. Did you food options taste good?

Yes! There are so many good meals we could make and most were more satisfying than our previous meals.

7. Did you have an ah-ha moment that helped you commit to the change?  If so, what was it?

I know that if I didn’t try this, I would have to most likely have my thyroid removed or destroyed, and I did not want to have to do that.

8. If you were going to give a piece of advice to someone on the fence of following a program like Dr. Angela’s, what would you say to them in order to help them decide?

Anything is worth a try, especially before taking medications with harmful side effects, or having a definitive surgery.  Dr. Angela really cares about her patients and devotes everything to help them heal naturally.  I would recommend her to anyone!

Dr. Angela side comments:

Graves’ disease is a very serious condition, and this patient speaks about food and natural healing, but there were also components of medications and supplementation that played a role, too.  These patient journeys are for me to help anyone trying to make decisions about their health get answers to the questions from a patient perspective.  I have every patient do this voluntarily, and I do not alter any of their words.  I couldn’t be more honored to be a part of this person’s health journey, and wish her all the abundance moving into motherhood!


Cancer, Chemo…Now What?

I want to start this post by saying there are thousands of people who have been touched by cancer, and I can’t imagine the decisions that have to be made under such circumstances.  Regardless of your stance on standard cancer treatments, there is a huge population of people, our people, that have been through it and deserve to know there are things they can afterwards that will help restore some of the health lost in collateral damage while going through treatment to save their life.  This post is for those people who have been there, done it, can’t change the past, but want to set up the best future possible for their health moving forward.  This is not a recommendation for cancer therapy, treatment, or anything of that nature.  This is the plan moving forward.

Are you with me? 

What is chemo and what does it affect?

Chemotherapy is just the name of drug therapy aimed at killing cancer cells under the premise that they multiply quickly and we don’t want them to spread.  However, it is not selective to cancer cells.  It has a major impact on ALL cells that grow quickly like certain blood cells and especially the cells of the intestines. Chemotherapy drugs and their byproducts are also toxic to these little organelles in our cells called mitochondria.  Mitochondria are responsible for producing cellular energy called ATP.  Now, that’s great, but what does this have to do with me!?  If you have been through chemo, you know these things are happening because the bowel issues that arise, and the fatigue that takes over.  And that’s ok.  You were fighting for your life!  But now we need to nurse those two things back to health if we don’t want recurrence, formation of neuropathy, autoimmune diseases, etc.  There is a chance you will never have 100% function in these areas again, but we can try our best!

How can I start healing my gut?

It’s not really a secret to health professionals that chemo changes the gut, but what I was surprised to find out while researching journals for specific measures of damage is that just one single day of chemotherapy increases the permeability of the intestines by 7 fold.  ONE DAY!  We are concerned about that permeability because damaging the cells in the intestines allows things that should stay in the intestines to get into the blood.  When they end up in the blood, your immune system freaks out and produces antibodies against them…rightfully so.  However, this is how we end up with certain systemic infections, allergies, and autoimmunity that has the potential to damage any organ’s tissue.  If the organ with the most depleted nutrients in reserve is your thyroid, then we may see Hashimoto’s.  If the organ is joint tissue, then maybe Rheumatoid arthritis.  This is an incredibly important issue to address.  Some very basic guidelines as to HOW to address this permeability are:

  • eat gluten-free
  • eat dairy-free
  • eat bone broth daily
  • eat fermented foods or take probiotics
  • consider supplements with growth factors like that signal cell repair like colostrum
  • don’t exercise too intensely
  • reduce stress
  • avoid alcohol and caffeine
  • get in the sun or supplement with vitamin D3
  • sleep 8 hours a night
  • consider periods of intermittent fasting to allow the GI tract to rest from digestion
  • juice fresh vegetables daily

How can I restore my energy?

We have almost all heard that we have 10 times the amount of bacteria in our body than we do cells.  A statistic you may not have heard is that we exponentially more mitochondria than bacteria!  Without these little guys in our cells, they don’t function.  It’s amazing to me that you can pluck the nucleus out of a cell, which contains the DNA, and the cell can still function because of the presence of mitochondria!  However, if you pluck out the mitochondria, it ends in certain, quick cell death.  So, these things are super important and are often the missing link behind conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, migraines, fibromyalgia, etc.  Today though, we are talking about how chemo negatively impacts your mitochondria.  Side note that certain antibiotics also have a negative impact on mitochondria…. Ok, back to what to do about it:

  • do burst exercise (it not only improves their function, but causes them to multiply)
  • intermittent fast
  • eat balanced macros (protein, fat, carbs) but try to slowly transition to lower carb for a while
  • eat some grassfed red meat
  • eat lots of organic, colorful vegetables and their juices
  • reconsider the use of statins or supplement with COQ10
  • use saunas
  • consider laser therapy

These are two areas that need your support in order to restore function to the best of your body’s ability.  It is ALWAYS essential to have a plant-based, whole food diet, good sleep, adequate exercise, and successful stress management.  However, those things are hard to implement sometimes without tools and a little direction.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Remember that may mean looking to a different provider.  When we have fires, we call firemen.  When we need the building restored after the fire, we call contractors and carpenters.  Alternative care providers are not experts at putting out the fire necessarily, but they are the expert at RESTORING AND MAINTAINING HEALTH.  There are always additional things that can increase healing beyond basic lifestyle, and don’t be afraid to explore those things either.  Things such as massage, chiropractic, supplementation, infrared saunas, detoxification baths, etc.  They all have a place, and it’s your job to explore and find what feels right and works for you.  I hope this was helpful, although somewhat basic, it gets the basics across. ;)

*This is not intended to diagnose, treat, or direct care for any patient.  Consult your physician for information that would be right for your case.


Patient Journey: Hormone Imbalance

  1. What health issues were you struggling with when you began to work with Dr. Angela?

I had/have been really working through a few different issues. Mainly, trying to have a menstrual cycle without the use of drugs along with my mental well-being. I have struggled a great deal with self-image, self-worth, depression and anxiety for many years and am exhausted from the strain of these mental issues.

  1. What treatment methods had you tried prior to Dr. Angela’s program?

My main treatment for these issues was medicine – a pill for my period, a pill for my depression & anxiety, and yet another pill for my distracted and “busy” brain.

I had also been to see a few different therapists who were helpful at the time but never seemed to permanently resolve my issues.

  1. What health benefits did you gain from working with Dr. Angela?
  • Natural weight loss
  • More energy
  • Better sleep
  • Confidence in my state of mind
  • How to improve my self-worth

4. What was your biggest struggle during the transition to a healthier lifestyle?

The biggest struggle was learning/knowing what to eat and planning ahead in order to prepare meals.

I also struggled with not letting the very anxiety I was trying to get rid of, hold me back from getting better. It was scary to learn the truth about the meds and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to give them up. I had no idea how to act or who I was supposed to be without my meds.

5. What did you find most beneficial to you in the program?

My favorite and most helpful parts of the program were the face to face meetings and the homework given.

Dr. A. gave me so much perspective and really helped me work on my frame of mind. The transition to a healthier lifestyle was less confusing and less frustrating knowing that she was there to help us!

6. Did your food options taste good?

The food took some getting used too but once my mind and taste buds got used to the change, the natural foods tasted delicious. I love eating fruits and veggies along with other clean food options and find myself seeking out those foods more – even at gatherings where other dishes are in abundance.

7. Did you have an ah-ha moment that helped you commit to the change? If so, what was it?

This has been such a huge transition in my life and because of that there was not been just one single “ah-ha” moment, there were several. A few of those being…

  • watching my husband become himself again with his improved mental and physical health
  • On a random day discovering that I feel strong and healthy mentally and knowing that it isn’t just a phase but who I really am ;)
  • Stepping on the scale after several months only to discover, without even paying attention, I had lost weight!
  • Really feeling and understanding what sleeping well does for me

8. If you were going to give a piece of advice to someone on the fence of following a program like Dr. Angela’s, what would you say to them in order to help them decide?

Please give the program a chance and just try it!!!

Be honest with yourself about who you are (or who you think you are) and where you REALLY want to go. Love Ok, at least try to “like” yourself enough to sit and just listen to what Dr. A. has to say – you just might be amazed what you can learn about yourself…

Dr. Angela’s perspective:

There were a lot of moving parts to this case including anxiety, hormone imbalance, low self-esteem, and many medications.   This case happened to have issues with low progesterone.  It took some tweaking with her supplementation to balance that, restore her period, and maintain normal cycles.  Along with her hormone balance came symptoms of weight gain, hair distribution issues, skin issues, mood disturbance, and blood pressure concerns. It was definitely more than supplementing to get hormones in balance; it was lifestyle work AND HEAD WORK.  What you tell yourself on a daily basis creates your reality.  It was such a pleasure to watch this entire family transform before my eyes.  I often did these appointments on Friday nights, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  It capped my week off with a full feeling because of their ability to be honest, vulnerable, and willing to examine all the aspects of life we brought to light.  Although many medication paths will lead women to believe there are quick pill fixes, or that it’s just your biology, I am here to tell you otherwise.  Your hormones decide so much about how you feel and look, and they should not be relegated to a mere band-aid solution.


Patient Journey: Eczema

  1. What health issues were you struggling with when you began to work with Dr. Angela?

I had food sensitivities like getting a headache within minutes after eating something sweet.  If I ate a mainly pasta meal, I would go into what I call a “Food Coma.”  This felt like I had been majorly drugged with plummeting energy levels and brain fog.  This would last about 15-20 minutes and my heartbeat would pound really hard.  After 20 minutes I would start to come out of it and about 20 minutes later feel completely normal, but sometimes I would have like a numb tingling all over my body for about a half hour afterwards.  I also would get terrible hemorrhoids.  My digestion was an issue.  Some foods I wouldn’t digest at all.  My energy levels were way down and it was awful to get up in the morning.  I would have to drink an energy drink just to get through the morning.  I was also slowly gaining weight.  And I had Eczema which is a horrible itchy skin problem.   If I didn’t put on my medicated steroid prescription cream for a week my skin would start breaking out.  Felt like someone was stabbing me from the inside of my skin, and the only thing that provided even a minute of relief was to scratch and scratch to the point of ripping my skin open.   I had Cystic Acne around my neck and ears and had Psoriasis on my scalp from time to time.

 

  1. What treatment methods had you tried prior to Dr. Angela’s program?                                                      When I was a kid a dermatologist prescribed a steroid cream to control my skin problem and it worked as long as I kept putting it on.   I had also learned a few principles of healthy eating and was taking vitamins and fish oil but nothing really worked that great.

 

  1. What health benefits did you gain from working with Dr. Angela?

My Eczema is gone!!!  My energy levels are up, and I lost 20-25 pounds with very little exercise.  I am not bloated anymore.  Didn’t realize I was continuously bloated until about 3 weeks into the program when the bloating left. My physical stamina has gone up and I can run farther and longer than I ever have in my life without getting side aches.  I am a professional juggler, and it used to take about an hour of practice to warm up before a show, now I only need about 10-20 minutes tops.

4. What was your biggest struggle during the transition to a healthier lifestyle?                                    Friends and family who didn’t believe this program would help me.   But as long as I had support from Dr. A who promised to stick with me for a full year and answer any questions I had through text messages, then it didn’t matter what my friends and family said.

5. What did you find most beneficial to you in the program?

The scientific physiological explanations as to why my body is doing what it is doing like leaky gut syndrome, and how that leads to an autoimmune response.   Also understanding how stress and not enough sleep plays a huge big role in physical health breakdown.  Understanding “WHY?” is what most helped me get onto the path of healing. The documentaries and books where helpful to fill in the gaps of the food industry.

6. Did your food options taste good?                                                                                                                                       Yes!!  Very much so. I eat waaaayyyy better tasting food now then I used too!

7. Did you have an ah-ha moment that helped you commit to the change? If so, what was it?           Yes 2 of them.    When Dr. A explained why the steroid cream worked to control my Eczema, and what it was doing in my body I was so upset that I was literally in tears the next day because of the realization of how I had been unknowingly abusing my body!!   2.  After I cut out processed sugar and then later restricted the amount of fruit I was eating and then cut out fruit all together for a little while, I was astounded at how the excess weight just fell off.

8. If you were going to give a piece of advice to someone on the fence of following a program like Dr. Angela’s, what would you say to them in order to help them decide?                                                                         If you are skeptical about Angela’s program I understand and totally relate.  It took me a long time to think it over and decide to do it.  There is a lot of medical quackery in the natural health world and lots of people in it who don’t know what they are talking about.   After taking Dr. A’s program I was able to see that I had learned a distorted version of the truth in the past when I first started studying natural health.  A has first hand experience helping many people overcome physical conditions.  She has all of the training any medical doctor has as well as an understanding of how the body works and how nutrition affects all parts of the body.  She doesn’t treat symptoms like my family doctor did to me.  She treats the underlying causes and takes time to get to understand you and your situation and your needs so that she can give you the care you need. When you talk to Dr. A, you’re not talking to an uneducated inexperienced novice.   With all of that said, it can be scary to make changes.  Food can be emotional for some people.  But I want to encourage you that it’s worth it!!  Dr. A gave me a quality of life I will enjoy the rest of my life.

 

 


Candida: Brain Fog, Fatigue, Sugar Cravings, Hypothyroidism

I have been thinking about Candida a lot lately because it tends to be one organism, that left unchecked, can cause persistent issues in a patients.  I always say that every patient is different, and it’s so true.  I recently started treating an existing patient for Candida overgrowth (and I won’t give too much other background to maintain anonymity) but this is NOT what the patient originally came to me for.  What is interesting about this case is that along the way, the patient has done an amazing job listening to their body and was noticing certain foods causing issues.  We navigated through that and after realizing Candida could be a real issue, all the pieces fell into place in my mind.  I can’t emphasize enough how much of a puzzle complex cases are and it requires not only the doctor to be thoughtful throughout the journey, but it requires tremendous awareness and communication on the patient’s part, too.  Often times, the patient knows the experience better than the physician, but the physician often has the knowledge to help piece things together into a picture that makes sense and can be TREATED.  Without either person’s contribution, progress is often non-existent.

What is Candida?

Candida is a yeast known as Candida albicans. While everyone has Candida living in/on/around them, not everyone has an overgrowth.  The most common condition people are aware of including Candida overgrowth is a vaginal yeast infection.  However, you can have this infection in many other places including the gut, the ears, the mouth (thrush), sinuses etc.  It tends to love dark, warm, moist environments within a susceptible host.

Who gets yeast overgrowth?

This is often a condition we will see in people that have suppressed immune systems.  Immune suppression could be from AIDS, where seeing thrush is very common.  It could be immunosuppressants as in the case with Autoimmune patients.  Or, it could be a perfect window after antibiotic use, which is common.  Last, but not least, your primed for take over during pregnancy, too.  Why? Because your immune system is naturally dampened during pregnancy because of the mechanisms that don’t want you to attack too much foreign tissue that would include your baby.  (This is also often why an autoimmune condition will go into remission during pregnancy)

What are the symptoms of overgrowth?

Just wait.  These symptoms are common and often can be associated with other conditions, especially thyroid dysfunction.  That is often why this goes misdiagnosed and the patient doesn’t seem to improve. Patients can have just a few of these or all of the below.

  • Brain fog
  • Fatigue
  • Itchy ears, vagina, anus
  • Thrush
  • Joint pain
  • Sugar cravings
  • Allergies
  • Hormone issues
  • Anxiety

What’s the treatment?

Conventional treatment of recurrent yeast infections is Diflucan.  However, this tends to enter a patient into a vicious cycle and never eradicates the problem.  They may go on cycles of this medication multiple times a year.  Alternative treatment focuses on starving the food sources of the yeast, rebalancing the microbial environment within the body (after all, healthy people have Candida, too…it’s just balanced), and addressing the tricks Candida has to hide from the immune system.

Alternative Foundations:

  • low sugar/low carb diet
  • probiotics
  • antimicrobials (many are herbs like oregano)
  • coconut oil consumption and application

Alternative Foundations are what most alternative care providers will prescribe; however, I have found there to be some critical additions to protocols if someone isn’t responding to traditional alternative recommendations.  These could be things to consider if you are treating Candida naturally but still seeing reoccurrence.

  • biofilm disrupters via herbs or enzymes
  • refrain from sex with your partner for a period of time and have them undergo treatment, as well.
    • I often see women get better and have another infection following intercourse.  Your partner is passing it back to you, and just doesn’t have the same symptoms
  • enemas to reduce something known as a Herx reaction.
    •  As Candida begin to die, they release toxins that make people feel very ill.  This will often result in discontinuation, but can be drastically improved by backing down dosing or introducing enemas
  • consider a low oxalate diet

Why would you worry about oxalates in the diet?

Admittedly, this is a new concept to me, but as I continue to learn, evolve, and treat more patients, I think it’s worth sharing information!  I have not toyed with this clinically, so take it for what it is, but I was listening to a very seasoned physician talk about this topic, and some very interesting patient puzzle pieces fell into place.  Foods high in oxalates are things like nuts, berries, spinach, and chocolate.  Candida impairs your ability to break down this component of these foods and produces a precursor to oxalates itself.  It can also take collagen and transform it into oxalates.   Oxalates are the very thing that cause painful kidney stones, and you need to be able to break these things down.  When people change their diet, often times they are making smoothies with spinach and nut milk, they are eating more greens, they use nuts as a snack, and they are increasing bone broth in their diet.  HELLO OXALATES!  This was interesting to me because my patient kept saying they had more itchy orifices when they ate cashews.  Everyone is different, so I just cut them out and moved on.  Looking back, this could’ve been a queue because in addition to using bone broth in the face of autoimmunity (what they originally came to me for), we could have been pushing the limits with oxalates.  Without addressing the Candida, we were noticing those symptoms!

What was so weird about your patient?

Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back, it sort of made sense all of a sudden.  A person presents with an autoimmune disease that can absolutely account for fatigue, brain fog, poor exercise recovery, mood imbalance and hormone issues.  However, the person has taken antibiotics which wipe out any balance that exists with your microbiome, then had a baby, which suppresses the immune system, and then gets an autoimmune disease.  This can be a common scenario, but what I did not take into account is that trigger of the autoimmune disease could very well have been the Candida overgrowth.  This person came to me not being completely open initially about the yeast symptoms (understandably so!), but brought them up when they were feeling better but those symptoms were persisting.  Maybe I missed the mark?  I don’t know.  The person then started to notice issues with cashews….(oxalates.) The patient would then notice symptoms improving and then they would reoccur after intercourse. This patient also had some strange depressive patterns, and Candida makes estrogen.  That how it puts a wrench in the hormone system.  HOW DID I NOT PUT THIS TOGETHER?!  After introducing a biofilm disruptor, treating the sexual partner, and addressing the Candida, now this person can officially say they are improved from autoimmunity (what they came to me for), and don’t have weird symptoms persistently because of a yeast overgrowth.

If I did not have constant communication with this person, I would never have tied all the dots.  People are complex and a case is like an onion.  It’s layers upon layers to get to the bottom and hopefully reaching recovery.  This takes time.  So, don’t give up! How much of the symptoms from my patient were from the Hashimoto’s and how much were from the Candida, I will never know.  But I don’t need to know.  I will carry this case (and tidbits like this from every case) into the next set of patients.  It’s part of the art of medicine and what I love about being a doctor.

 

 


Carb Challenge Part 3: White Rice

Catch up with what this is all about. How may your body respond differently to the same amount of net carbs, but from different sources? Would it effect your blood sugar the same? The answer is “probably not.” I set out to experiment on myself, so you guys can see a personal experience of the differences! Having said that, unless you test yourself, you won’t know if you fit the same profile as myself.

First test: 50g net carbs from Oats
Second test: 50g net carbs from banana

Third test: 50g net carbs from white rice

Why white rice?
Rice is a gluten free grain that I consume on occasion, especially with sushi. Consuming white rice vs. brown rice means there is no bran present, which means it’s not high in nutrients or fiber, but it also doesn’t need to be soaked for safe consumption. That makes it a quick, easy, and safe starch for those that handle it well. Since it wasn’t a high fiber carb source, I only had to consume 1.14cups to get 50g net carbs. This made me happy because if you read my experience with oats, eating over 2 cups was hard and unpleasant. I did prepare the rice with bone broth as opposed to water because I would normally prepare it as such.

How did I feel with white rice?

It was super easy to eat this amount of rice! I may even say easier than banana. I didn’t feel full and wanted to eat more. I didn’t feel shaky or nauseous or any other reason to call it a negative reaction. I was ready to eat again fairy shortly though, and found myself staring at the clock waiting for the 2 hours until I could take my blood sugar.

What were the results?
My 2 hour post-prandial reading was 99. If you recall, oats was 122, and banana was 84. The one major difference in my opinion was I decided to do it on a Sunday as opposed to a work day. That means that I didn’t do it quite as early in the morning, and therefore my blood sugar prior to eating it was higher than the other challenges. For oats, my blood sugar prior to eating was 74. Banana fasted blood sugar was 69. This time, I started at 90. So, to have 99 means even though it wasn’t as low as the banana, it came much closer to the fasting level prior to consuming the carbs within that 2 hour window.
Oats: pre# 74- post# 122= 48
banana: pre#69- post# 84= 15
Rice: pre# 90- post# 99= 9

So, oats have still had by far the worst response in my body, but I can’t really determine which was ‘better” between rice and banana because while the blood sugar value was better with banana, the ability to come close to my fasting number was better with rice.

What does this mean for me?

I will honestly probably start incorporating more white rice in my days that I have intense workouts. I like rice. I can use it as an amazing way to get bone broth into my diet, and I know that my body responds nicely to it.

What’s next?
I will likely do a vegetable next. Maybe a potato or sweet potato. Potatoes are probably one of my go-to carb sources, so I’ll be interested to see how they stack up to rice. The one downfall to choosing sweet potato is the volume I have to consume on that one. ;( This is also a testament to which carbs are easiest to ingest in certain quantities. If you are a sedentary person that wants to feel full but not consume too many carbs, then go with those that are less refined. However, if you are trying to build mass or recover and have the need or double or triple the amount of carbs as an average person, then choosing those easy to consume without as much volume may be much better options to comfortably fit your macros.


The Key to Long Term Health

Many of us have busy lives that require our time to be spent in so many different places that we barely have enough time to fully dedicate ourselves in one area.  I have been seeing a lot of patients lately that feel as though they are doing everything right but not reaching their optimal level of health.  When they express this to me, I ask them what things they are doing right.  I have been getting a lot of answers that sound something like this “I’ve been trying to exercise everyday and drink more water.  Dr. Angela, I’ve also been trying to eat better.”  You all know what my next question is, right?  What specifically are you eating?  However, that is not the point of this post.  Many of you know that if you tell me whole grains, you will get a polite invitation to my next nutrition class.  The point of this post is to evaluate priorities to reach your health goals, and I am going to start with an analogy I use often:

If you went home tonight and saw that one of your house plants was wilting, what would you do?

Most people will tell me that they will give it WATER!

Great answer.  What if I told you that it had been watered adequately.  The plant just happened to be placed in the basement where there are no windows.

Then people say “Well duh, it needs sunlight.”

Another great answer.  What if I told you I was mistaken; the plant was in the window and was watered regularly, but there was no soil in the pot.

Now you are getting annoyed because who doesn’t know that the plant needs soil for nutrients?!

So, what you are telling me is that a plant can have adequate water and sunlight and still be a wilting plant?  Yup.  Your body is no different.  We require ALL aspects of health to truly be healthy.  Not only does that mean appropriate dietary nutrients and adequate water, but that means movement, as well.  You can exercise every single day, but if you are picking up McDonald’s on the way home or eating pasta every night, then you probably still have health concerns.  The same is true for reducing stress and removing toxins.  Our bodies are built to be able to keep up with stress and remove toxins, but if you aren’t getting enough sleep and stressing out everyday at work, guess what, despite your efforts at the gym and in the kitchen, you are still a wilting plant.

This can seem like a tall order.  However, it is our current lifestyle that makes it impossible for many people to “do it all.”  Therefore, they either focus on eating healthy and don’t carve out time for exercise.  OR, they are a gym rat that doesn’t have time to cook healthy meals.  OR, they are a gym rat that eats healthy to maintain their physique but gets up at 4:30am to go to the gym, doesn’t get out of work until 6pm, has to run the kids around, cook dinner, start laundry, and might get to bed around 11:30pm.  Hate to tell you….still a wilting plant.  This balance is a tricky one in today’s society but it is essential for our vitality.

You need:

nutrients

movement

sleep

removal of toxins (no one wants to grow a plant next to the sewer!)

sunlight

appropriate doses of stress

If one of these components is off track, think about making a shift in your life in order to create balance.  If you are eating correctly, you are probably cutting out a lot of toxins that would be coming from food at the same time as providing your body with nutrients.  If you have movement within your job, then consider yourself lucky.  Otherwise, you need to make it an effort of move daily, and exercising outside gets you both movement and sunlight.  If you give yourself a bedtime, then you are probably much more able to handle stress throughout the day. Chiropractic adjustments also have impact on the nervous system, which is essential for stress adaptation.  If you structure your day around making sure you hit all the things you need to be healthy, then it’s easy to evaluate whether or not you have time to add another task onto your schedule.  This is probably the hardest thing for parents to do these days and it may just be the missing link to your vitality.