WE WON!

I haven't won any contests in a long time but my luck has finally turned around today when we won the Chamber of Commerce's Scarecrow Contest. As I was putting this one together, I thought I was being pretty clever and it turns out a few other people thought so as well!!! So I just have to share a picture with you. Have a Safe & Happy Halloween!

"IF YOUR MOMMY LOVED YOU..."

This is an actual statement that I heard from one of the practice members here at the Cafe of LIFE. This woman came in the other day and said her daughter told her that her teacher said "If your Mommy loved you, she would take you to go and get your flu shot". Now, I am not a psychologist, however I can imagine the ramifications of a statement like this. This particular family has been under regular chiropractic care here at the Cafe of LIFE for a couple years now and they understand that the body has a miraculous and wonderful way of taking care of itself. Here are some examples of the miracles that happen in our bodies every day. Actually they are not miracles at all, they are the body simply doing what it is supposed to do when it is supposed to do it.

Fever is created when there is an organism, bacteria or virus, in the body that is not supposed to be there. These micro-organisms live at temperatures around 98.6, the "normal" body temperature. The body is so intelligent that it knows that if it raises the internal temperature it will kill off the invader and we will return to health. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO LOWER THE TEMPERATURE???

Diarrhea is when there is an organism that has invaded the body that is not supposed to be there. The body sends an excess amount of fluid to the stomach, small intestines and large intestines to create a quicker flowing rate to rid the body of whatever is invading it. Now if the intruder is not supposed to be there and the body is doing its absolute best to flush it out, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO SLOW OR STOP THAT PROCESS?

Inflammation happens to injured tissue in order to create a healing cascade which has to do with sending excess blood and fluid with repairing cells to the injured area. If the body is doing its best to send in the repair crew and creating discomfort so you will stay off that area, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO STOP THAT NATURAL HEALING PROCESS?

We walk around in one of the most amazing pieces of equipment, in one of the greatest designed vehicles, with an intelligence inside that is NOT MAKING MISTAKES. Our bodies have the ability to heal that is much more powerful than anyone has ever led you to believe. So LET THE BODY DO WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO and not inject, expose it, and poke and prod it with all kinds of extra stuff. Under most circumstances, the body will fight off the flu with flying colors! It is amazing!!! So let's let the pharmaceutical companies keep their pills and elixirs that they claim will make you healthy. HEALTH COMES FROM WITHIN and the brain/body connection needs to be free of interference (come get your chiropractic adjustment). Let's get back to trusting our bodies to take care of themselves. It is all part of the design. Nature needs no help, just no interference!

THE AFTERMATH

The Detroit Half-Marathon happened this past Sunday and I was a participant. It was a wonderful race though many of you may not think of it that way if you heard the news reports on what happened. 3 men died during the race, ages 26, 36, and 65. WOW! That is tragic for those families. Statistically speaking, 1 of 100,000 die during long road races. 3 in 20,000 is a much higher than that, a lot higher! It has been a topic of conversation here at the Cafe of LIFE all week because many people knew that I was running on Sunday. Now that I am in this "running world" I have noticed an overwhelming amount of caffeine raging through these runners. Now I do not know if caffeine or heart conditions were the cause of the deaths, I am just speculating and it is the only thing that makes much sense. A typical race looks something like this (by the way, not MY typical race, but a typical) wake up and have a cup of coffee with breakfast, then a shot of caffeine in their packets of "Goo" that energize them during the race, sometimes twice or more, as well as caffeinated jelly beans. That might be just a little too much. To add to that, many runners take Tylenol, aspirin or Motrin prior to running because to be frank with you all...it is painful to run long distances, I don't care who you are (just for the record, I do not ever have caffeine and I do not take any over the the counter drugs or otherwise). So potentially this (and as stated before I am just speculating), combined with 30 degree temps outside, led to some tragic deaths. My prayers are with their families as they try to understand their losses.

Please remember, caffeine is a stimulant. It alters how our bodies function, how our brain processes information, decreases our immune system, leaches calcium from our bones, and the list goes on and on. The only safe amount of caffeine is none at all. Be conscious of what you are doing and look towards other alternatives of increasing energy; eating raw, nutrient-rich foods, drinking lots of water and alkalizing your body. Health is a daily choice and every decision effects every day in the future.

DETROIT HALF MARATHON

If you are downtown Detroit this Sunday morning, be prepared to run into some intense traffic and people as it is the running of the Detroit Free Press Marathon and Half-Marathon...and its going to be a good time! I have been training this year to run the Half-Marathon so look for me in the thousands of runners:) The challenge I am running into is that I am also heading down to Atlanta, GA on Thursday morning to finish my continuing education credits which means flying back really late on Saturday night to make the race the next morning. The race route is unique to Detroit as the only route that runs in two different countries. In fact, in order to even pick up race packets, it requires a passport and Homeland Security will be monitoring the race expo. We begin on Fort Street right downtown and run over the Ambassador Bridge, do a couple miles in Windsor and run back through the tunnel. I ran Chicago Marathon (yes the entire 26.2 miles) back in 2006 so this should be a piece of cake, YEAH RIGHT!!! Wish me luck. I am very excited!!!

GREAT FUN FOR $25

I had the most fun over this past weekend. There is not much you can do in this life for just $25, however you can take a Beginning Motorcycle Safety course for that kind of money. It was a long weekend course but so super fun. I had never ridden a motorcycle prior to the class and really haven't been on any 4-wheelers, snowmobiles or much of anything else that is motorized so I wanted to start from square one. Which for safety purposes, that is the very best place to start. There were 45 people in the class and it was offered on the campus of Washtenaw Community College in Ypsilanti. We had 4 hours of in-class instruction followed by 10 hours of riding broken up into 2 hour segments over 2 days. And it was solid riding time. Then they give a knowledge test and a riding skills test (which I proudly say I aced) which then allows you to go into the Secretary of State office and take a law test for your motorcycle endorced drivers license. I cannot say I am completely road safe yet as a rider yet but I will be soon. I am looking at getting a bike, hopefully before winter rolls in. In fact, I am more looking into a Piaggio bike, it is a super-scooter pretty much. My step father is going to help me find the bike that is right for me as he has been riding motorcycles for many, many years. Should be fun!!!

What fun have you had for $25 lately?

"TOUR DE TROIT"

What an amazing and wonderful weekend! It was filled with friends and fun and of course, went by too fast!!! One of the super fun things I did over the weekend is a bike ride called "Tour De Troit". It is a 30 mile bike ride through the city of Detroit. Naturally 30 miles would take us winding around in the streets, exploring all the little nooks and crannies of the city. It was amazing as I had never even explored the city by car. So you may think, what is it like to tour Detroit on a bike? Well ask any one of the 2,000 participants and they will say they enjoyed themselves immensely. It was police escorted and 2,000 people stopped a lot of traffic. In fact, at some points, I felt bad for those people in cars as the group took quite a few minutes to pass at any point during the ride. It was a perfectly sunny day and the trip took about 4.5 hours, which included a 30 minute stop for snacks. All ages, all levels of bikers, everyone just having fun. It is definitely an event to return to every year. Join me next year, maybe we can put together a Cafe of LIFE group!!!

(the picture is me hydrating before the ride:)

BABIES

There seems to be an unusually large number of babies being born right now. It makes me wonder what was happening 9 months ago that is leading to all of them being born in the past couple of weeks. I don't know...maybe the start of the brutally cold winter:) One of the most wonderful parts of my work is seeing pregnant women and children. I work with women throughout their pregnancy and often see many of the children once they are born. In fact, there have been quite a few times that I have gone up to the hospital and checked and adjusted the infants just following birth. Many people ask what I am doing checking and adjusting infants and what would make them need an adjustment if they were just born. Last week I had the privilege of going to the hospital to check baby Sheila. If you were in the room for the adjustment, you would be able to confirm the need for the adjustment as well. The little body of the almost 24 hour old baby was beautiful though you could tell she was contorted in utero and had been in one position for a long time which led to misalignment in the neck and pelvis. Sometimes misalignment's like this will lead to inability to breastfeed on both sides comfortably, digestive challenges and who knows what else. Also the birth process, no matter how natural and uncomplicated it is, is very traumatic for the spine of the newborn. The parents of this little one were so ready for her to come into the world, however they also wanted to allow her to have the best chance of expressing life to the fullest, and that is why I was invited. When I left the room, I could tell that little one was started off on the right track. She was balanced and at ease and about to get her next meal. Happy babies lead to happy parents and happy and healthy families. If you would like more information about checking and adjusting newborns or children, please feel free to ask at anytime. So many parents are realizing that the health of their children largely depends on the health of their children's spine and nerve system. At this Cafe...we serve LIFE!

LET THE SUN SHINE!!!

I do not ever remember having such a perfectly sunny and beautiful week here in Michigan in a long time, or maybe even ever. The evenings have been chilly with super brisk and crisp mornings and the afternoons open up to such beautiful blue skies, the kind of skies that one sees while out west. The temperatures are ideal and the sunshine is so wonderful for keeping attitudes and ultimately spirits lifted. Because so many people come to be served at the Cafe of LIFE daily, their moods infiltrate this space and even if we didn't have any windows, I could tell you what it was like outside by the energy people bring in. Soak up the sun and let this week be a wonderful reminder of the reason we live here in Michigan. This state has so much to offer, so many beautiful sights to see and fun things to do. We often lose sight of the many ways we are blessed by being Michiganders. Get outside and take advantage of the sun shining over these next few days and into your long holiday weekend! We will too and we will all meet back here on Tuesday, September 8th, the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

(The picture is a sunrise over Lake Huron from a vacation I took a few weekends ago. Beautiful!)

RUNNING WITH GRATITUDE

There are quite a few of you that ran the Crim over this past weekend. What an amazing race. 16,000 runners in all the races combined and what a party!!! There are some wonderful programs and ways in order to get the "non-runners" through this 10 mile race and a huge Crim Training Program that helps so many people reach goals they set. So the crowd is amazing and diverse and wonderful and what a trip!!! Anyways what I discovered 3 years ago when I ran the Chicago Marathon (yes the full 26.2 miles), is that it is better to dedicate the miles to something or someone. Otherwise, you find yourself dedicating your mind to focusing on the pain and the results are very painful. So I do not dedicate all 10 miles of the Crim to something different, I spend the entire race in deep gratitude: gratitude for having the ability to get up that morning and eat what I need to eat; gratitude to have a nice roof over my head and clothes to put on; gratitude to be able to have a car to get me to the race; gratitude for being able to share the race experience with my mom and a number of friends and practice members; gratitude for my life, my work, my family, my friends, and the list goes on and on. There is a moment in each of the long distance runs that I am welling up with tears of gratitude. Gratitude is an amazing and powerful attraction force in life and I am so grateful to have discovered that early so that I may use it everyday.
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." -Cicero