Do you remember when the song “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen” came out in 1999? It was less of a song and more of a list of recommendations set to music that we could all live by. It was extremely popular at high school and university graduation ceremonies. Somehow, I imagine the lyrics in the song could be words of wisdom a “future you” could come back in time and tell the “present you.” Enjoy! ~Think Vitality!~...
Should you buy organic? Is it worth the extra premium you pay? If you have the option experts suggest organic produce is healthier, cleaner, and more nutrient packed. I have to say I am “healthily skeptical” of the health claims that some suggest. Something that I do clearly see is that non-organic produce have a signicantly higher amount of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that sometimes cannot be washed away. Here is a list of the dirtiest and cleanest produce. I would try to get the ‘dirtiest’ from organic sources. It surprised me that celery was on this list! (source: www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/) Until next time… ~Think...
There are many sources of stress in life now days. When I read the Chinese Medicine classics they talk about stress in a relevant way but there are many lifestyle factors that we have today then didn’t exist in 2000BC. Today I am sure it is safe to say that we have more choices than ever before. What should you eat? what car do you want? where do you want to live? what do you want to do? what kind of lifestyle you want? and on and on These choices, studies show, can cause an enormous amount of stress. In a book called The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz the author shows that having too many choices can cause serious pressure and stress. This pressure, according to the psychologist, can lead to clinical depression, overwhelm, anxiety, and the inability to make any decisions at all. The main idea is having more choice leads to less happiness and life fulfillment. This concept can easily apply to our health. A quick google search will show the multitude of diets, exercise plans, and therapies available. I get concerned thinking about the aging Baby Boomers, who have never really thought much about their health, hitting this mass of information and trying to weed through it all. How do you chose which ‘Plan’ is right for you? My advice is to chose 1 idea or plan and try it for a predetermined amount of time. Stick to it for the whole amount of time that you decided on. Don’t worry if it’s not the ‘best’ choice just pick one...
I thought I would take a moment to update you on what has been going on in the clinic and the website. As you may know I write little articles or ‘blogs’ every week or so and I have a massive list of topics that I want to eventually get to. My goal is to be able to reach and help more people with simple and highly effective health tips. I am limited by the hours in the day to be able to see people 1 on 1 but using the internet makes all that information accessible to anyone at anytime. The problem has been trying to decide which articles to focus on, as I have no shortage of ideas! I am working up the courage to post some videos of some of my ‘rants’ that I inflict upon patients in clinic but I am not used to seeing myself in video. I’m getting there! There is a tool called Google Analytics that allow a person to analyze their website to see where their visitors are coming from, what they are looking at, and what pages are looked at the most. Don’t worry, I can’t actually see who you are just general information. For example, I notice that there are a lot of visitors from Victoria, Toronto, California, and for some reason Mexico! There is a tool that shows what people search on Google that brings them to my website and this has been very interesting. Here are the top 3 searches: The 3rd most common search is “acupuncture Victoria BC.” That’s not too surprising. The second most common...
Yes, you read the title right! This is a simple tip on “how to injure yourself” that I have learned from several patients over that past few years. The situation is that it is cold outside and Ms./Mr. Not-Properly-Dressed is out and about with her hands in her pocket because of the bitter chill. All of a sudden she hits a patch of ice and in a frantic attempt to catch her balance her hands get stuck in her pockets. She is unable to regain balance and kaboom! The law of gravity proves itself correct and she lands fully on her knee, elbow, shoulder, or worst case, her face. In severe cases the injury could be quite extensive- broken bones, dislocations, and we don’t have to imagine what could happen when hitting the ground with one’s beautiful face! I can think of several times that this has happened and I’m sure if these people had their hands free they may have been able to catch themselves or at least lessen the force of a fall. So, the tip of “how to injure yourself” is to walk with your hands deep in your pockets in slippery conditions. But, if you are one of those strange “wanna be healthy” types keep your hands free to help you keep your balance! This is true on days like today when Victoria is snowy and slippery, walking on trails, walking over wet floors, or stone. Often it is the simplest, most innocent activities that we do that can cause the most harm and injury. Until next time! ~Think...
