Words of Wisdom for March 2016

words of wisdomWords to make your day make a little more sense

A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he is finished. – Zsa Zsa Gabor

Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fashions are induced epidemics. – George Bernard Shaw

The quieter you become the more you can hear. – Richard Alpert

Please share your favorite words of wisdom in the comments below. We are always looking for new ways to become wiser.

Latest News from Charmaine: March 2016

Greetings all,

Spring is playing coy with her deliciously warm, “springy” days and smells ( let’s pretend we didn’t see the mud, shall we?).

Avoid being a Weekend Warrior

Garden dreams will slowly begin to take shape and it is always important that you don’t dive head first (literally and figuratively, LOL) into you projects. Plan them out so the right tools are handy and remember- that while the temptation is there to kill the project …..ROME was not built in a day and weekend warriors pay a heavy price for wayyyyy too much enthusiasm!!

class on growing sproutsClass on Sprouts

As the first buds of spring make their presence known, fresh garden greenery is a ways off and so I am thinking of having a class April 11 (post school vacation break) on growing micro greens and sprouts for your health and for a jump start on the garden. Class will be at 7pm in the office and run for about 1.5hours and will cost $5.00. You will walk away with a tray of started greens, some seeds and the wherewithal to keep yourself and your family with a steady supply of fresh greens. Class size will be limited to 8 people and pre-booking and payment is essential. Please contact me personally or call our office at 517-627-4547.

Enjoy Spring

Meanwhile, enjoy the arrival of spring in all her wonderment.

Make sure you get checked and adjusted so that you can enjoy spring and see you in the office, on the mat or under the barbells!

 A little P.S.

charmaine at tournamentI placed first in my age group at the State Powerlifting Meet March 13th squat (80kg Bench 50kg- a personal best) and dead lift (100kg).

Researching Chiropractic: Case Studies

drawing of spinal column and nervesChiropractic clinical case histories have been a regular feature of our patient newsletter since its inception. There seems to be no limit to the health problems that respond to chiropractic care. How many people suffering, on drugs, facing a life of limitation could be helped by chiropractic care?

Probably most of them.

Morton’s neuroma.

Morton’s neuroma is a nerve tumor in the foot. It is a painful condition that people describe as “walking on a marble.” It usually affects the ball of the foot, often between the 3rdand 4th toes and may cause a sharp, burning pain or numbness. The medical or podiatry approach is to give corticosteroid (cortisone) injections or surgically to cut out the tumor.

This is the case of a 63-year-old woman who suffered with Morton’s neuroma in her right foot for ten years. She sought chiropractic care for a variety of health complaints.

For one month her vertebral subluxations were addressed and reduced using specific chiropractic care. During this period her Morton’s neuroma symptoms completely disappeared and in addition she reported improvement in her digestion, sleep and ability to move without pain.

Source: Lanoue B, Treahy-Geofreda T, Russell D.Resolution of Morton’s Neuroma in an elderly patient receiving Activator Methods Chiropractic Technique to correct subluxation: a case study. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. January 4, 2016:1-5.

Failure To Thrive

Oral thrush and inconsolable crying in a 4-month-old. This is the case of a baby medically diagnosed with “failure to thrive” (FTT). FTT is determined when a baby’s weight or size is significantly below that of other children of similar age and same gender. The infant was reported to have had birth trauma from a nuchal cord – the umbilical cord was completely wrapped around the fetal neck (360 degrees).

The child was 4-months-old when she was brought to the chiropractor. She was suffering from inconsolable crying, oral thrush (an overgrowth of the fungus candida albicans in the mouth and throat), chronic diarrhea and was dangerously underweight.

Chiropractic examination detected vertebral subluxations at C1-C4 (upper neck) and T3-T4 (upper back).

She received chiropractic adjustments from the first visit and afterwards was checked for vertebral subluxations that were corrected when indicated for seven weeks. Her FTT symptoms began to resolve after the first visit and completely resolved by the seventh week of care. 

Source: Neally R, Alcantara J. Resolution of failure to thrive in a 4-month-old infant following adjustment of subluxation: case study & selective review of the literature. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2015;4:149-153. 

Hypothyroidism reduction under chiropractic care.

A 44-year-old woman presented herself to the chiropractor with complaints of upper shoulder and pain between the shoulder blades that occurred after a motor vehicle accident 23 years earlier!

In addition, she had been prescribed ArmourThyroid® in order to treat symptoms of low thyroid function (hypothyroidism).

Cervical or neck x-rays revealed that she had an 80.7% loss of normal neck curve (hypo-lordosis) in addition to vertebral subluxations.

The patient received spinal adjustments to reduce her vertebral subluxation complexes (VSC), and to improve her spinal and postural alignment over a seven-month period.

Thirty days into care the patient began exhibiting signs/symptoms of an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). Her chiropractor suggested that she have her thyroid function checked by her endocrinologist to see if her prescribed thyroid medication should be re-evaluated. After serum lab evaluation, the patient’s endocrinologist instructed the patient to significantly reduce her thyroid medication.

Source: Bak AD, Engelhardt PR. Improvement in cervical curve and hypothyroidism following reduction of subluxation utilizing chiropractic Biophysics: a case study & selective review of the literature. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. December 10, 2015:226-237

We’d like to hear about your experiences with chiropractic care.

Interesting Facts for February 2016

Did you know?

  1. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.
  2. When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, and they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
  3. Your thumb is the same length as your nose.
  4. The liver is the largest of the body’s internal organs.
  5. The skin is the body’s largest organ.

eyes

Let us know your favorite fun facts!

Are Energy Drinks Safe?

cans of enefgy drinksDon’t use Energy Drinks to improve your performance

The energy drinks you see on store shelves – especially the tiny “shots” at the convenience store that promise to get rid of your “2:30 feeling” – are pumped full of synthetic caffeine. 

This “fake” caffeine does not come from any of Mother Nature’s sources. It comes from a chemistry lab. The fake stuff is potent and much cheaper than the real thing. But the synthetic chemicals are often a highly toxic brew you don’t want in your body including:

  • Trichloroethylene (TCE) – a chlorinated hydrocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It’s so powerful, the Air Force uses it to clean jet engines. Banned in Europe as a known cancer-causing chemical, it is perfectly legal to use in the United States.
  • Sodium cyanide – a highly toxic, colorless salt used in gold mining to strip gold from rock.
  • Sulfuric acid – a strong mineral acid used in car batteries, ore processing, fertilizer manufacturing and oil refining.
  • Benzene – a known cancer-causing chemical used as an industrial solvent and in the production of drugs, plastics, synthetic rubber and dyes.

Please read labels. Be careful. Stick with natural substances as much as possible and come in for a chiropractic “tune up” for a real energy boost.

CHIROPRACTIC AND VALENTINE’S DAY –WHAT IS THE CONNECTION?

two hands holdingIn this month of love and romance the key word that connects Chiropractic and Valentines Day is CONNECTION.

People and relationships are what nourishes and keeps everyone alive. Connections, which may be keeping a plant growing, a goldfish, a child or a spouse. That’s why women live longer than men and married men with cancer live longer than single men with the same cancers. If you have connections, you keep going. (Bernie Siegel MD)

There are so many ways we can be disconnected from physical, mental and spiritual wholeness:

  • Unnatural childbirth
  • trauma
  • lack of bonding
  • poor nutrition
  • lack of love
  • comfort and security

Lack of stimulation will interfere with our optimal physical/emotional/spiritual development and growth. Our genes will partially sleep, our life will be clouded, our heart will be contracted, our vision will be limited. To the degree that our connection is interfered with –we are less alive. We have dis-ease, we are out of sync to our inner potential and cannot adapt as well to life’s stresses. 

When a chiropractor locates and corrects your subluxations that cause blockages, interference and imbalances… you are more connected and more alive.

Call us to make an appointment and get reconnected with yourself.

Latest News from Charmaine: February 2016

Greetings all,

Much as we want to deny it, time marches on and we may complain about it’s speed.

A simple remedy we use in yoga is to practice mindfulness….be aware of the moment and breathe.

Try not to live in the past or future…shorts visits are ok but dwelling there means you are missing out on what is happening right now. Wishing for things to be different is a waste of energy and even more important, given that we are not getting out of here alive, why would you want to do anything else but enjoy each moment?

Just recently we appointed a new administrator to help us with our Facebook page and website and I would ask you to look at the webpage lanjochiro.com (check out our new blog) and also to like both our Lanjopoulos Family Chiropractic Center page and our Yoga and Tai Chi page: The Center for Yoga. New trends in technology are happening so fast that if you are not actively involved in the IT business, you need to get a specialist to help you out. Amy Zander is just that person…Thank you Amy.!!!!  And shortly I believe, we will have our own Pinterest page too!

Do note our daughter’s page is very similar to ours on Facebook – Lanjopoulos Familiekiropraktikk…..The big giggle is a local company drew our daughter’s logo off the Internet and posted it as our logo for an event here last year until we had to explain the difference!

As this newsletter hits the press we will be close to 30 days to SPRING! Do make a point to get out and enjoy this great winter we are having.

See you in the office, on the mat or under the barbells.

Get to Know Your Spinal Column

drawing of spinal column and nervesThe illustration might look like a strange collection of wires and body parts but it shows how your body communicates and connects so that all your parts work together to make you healthy and whole.

Your internal organs send messages to your brain and your brain sends messages back to your internal organs. This back and forth goes through a vast communications cable made up of hundreds of millions of nerves: your spinal cord. This is how your parts are connected.

The Information Highway: Your Spinal Column

This incredible “cable” of nerves or spinal cord goes down your back. You can’t see your spinal cord because it’s encased in a protective bony canal called the spinal column made up of 23 bones called vertebrae.

Your spinal column includes

  • 7 neck or cervical vertebrae
  • 12 mid-back or thoracic vertebrae
  • 5 low back or lumbar vertebrae

Under the lumbars is a fused triangular bone called the sacrum and below that is your tiny tail bone or coccyx.

Also let’s not forget that between your vertebrae are discs – little shock absorbers to prevent your bones from crashing into one another every time you walk.

Get Adjusted after any Accident

Watch out! Injuries, accidents and stress of all kinds can misalign your vertebrae so they won’t move properly. If that happens you might have nerve irritation that can interfere with the function of many nerves, glands, muscles and organs. The result is a subluxation causing lowered immunity and detoxification, pain, and less balance, strength and energy. With subluxations your body parts are less connected to each other.

Your chiropractor’s job is to make sure your vertebrae are in the right place and are moving properly so that there is no nerve stress.

Using various tools (and years of specialized training) doctors of chiropractic can locate spinal nerve stress or subluxations and, using their hands or various instruments, realign the vertebrae and reduce spinal nerve pressure. This is called an adjustment. The adjustment reconnects you to … you.

Reconnect with yourself

Millions of people are disconnected from themselves. They are carrying spinal nerve stress in their bodies and don’t even know it. Do you or your loved ones have this condition? Your chiropractor can find out with a simple analysis. It could make the difference between a life of health and vitality and one of dis-ease and weakness.

Stop by for a chiropractic connection adjustment. Make 2016 a more connected year.

Latest News from Charmaine: January 2016

Greetings all this chilly January,

Well, Winter finally arrived which means one of two things…you get out and enjoy this weather, or you sit inside and hibernate.

In my last newsletter I talked about 12 changes we could make towards a healthier you and #1 Exercise.

Now know that this is the time of the year that gym memberships usually explode and then the bloom is off the rose by the end of the month.

walking down stairsHowever, really think about simple stuff you can do at home that can help too. Walking up and down the steps just to get the heart going drives my cat nuts but I feel good for it…..maybe throw in some push-ups on the steps too. Or throwing (not literally LOL) a kettle ball around is a good start too. I must admit I am a huge fan of my Barbell and yoga practices and see changes in my life for the good, proving that you can make a difference after 60!

A happy note here…Miss Sophia who helps us in the afternoons has been awarded a great scholarship to Northwestern which means come June we lose her…but yay Sophia!!!

DOCTORS WITH HEART will be Feb 11th…send anybody you know who could benefit from a little TLC at no cost …appointments are essential.

Stay warm, get active and let’s see you in the office, under the barbells or on the mat!

Sweet Potato Lentil Chili

sweet potatoes

    Makes one large pot (5 quarts) — serves about 8 to 10

Ingredients

  • 1 32oz container veggie broth
  • 1.5 C water
  •  3 (14.5oz) cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 16oz package dried lentils, rinsed
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  •  2 sweet potatoes, cubed
  • 3 stalks celery, sliced
  • 1 green pepper, sliced
  • 1 to 2 cloves garlic, diced
  • Huge handful kale/spinach
  • 2 Tbsp cumin
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • Hot sauce (optional — to taste

Directions

  1. Place the veggie broth, water, diced tomatoes, and rinsed lentils into a large pot Bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes (to soften the lentils) while you’re chopping the garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, and green pepper.
  2. Throw the garlic, kale, carrots, and sweet potato into the simmering pot, followed about 5 minutes later by the celery and green pepper and your spices. The room will now proceed to smell awesome.
  3. Let the mixture continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until it reaches the level of cooked consistency you prefer. This shouldn’t take long (maybe 10 to 15 minutes more) — just make sure the carrots, sweet potatoes, and lentils are soft.

Do you have a favorite lentil soup recipe? Share it below!