Gainsborough Family Chiropractic

A awesome day despite the weather

Thank you to everyone who attended the Gainsborough family chiropractic picnic on Saturday. The weather was terrible but that didn't stop families from having a good time. The Terpstras did not let a "little rain" ruin a game of bocce. It was fun sitting down and spending more time with all of you, especially since your regular check ups take only a couple of minutes. A very special thank you goes to Cheri from Cheri's custom creative cakes who designed and made the amazing LIFE BY DESIGN cake. It looked beautiful and tasted amazing! Thank you all again Rachelle and myself love and appreciate all of you very much!

Blog posted here.

This weekend we decided to head to Toronto to spend some quality family time with Rachelle's brother and sister inlaw. It is always a pleasure to be with Shawn and Georgia because we share the same views and they both live BY DESIGN. Shawn and Jo have both been strong influencers and motivators for Rachelle and myself. We went touring around Toronto and stopped at one of Shawn's community projects. Shawn decided that he wanted to have access to BY DESIGN food and herbs. Living downtown Toronto you might think that would be difficult, or near impossible. But Shawn and Jo joined a group, petioned the government and constructed a green house at Trinity Bellwoods Park on Queen St. West. All it "cost" them was time and effort to get city approval. As an added bonus to the project, local schools have been bringing their children to show them how to grow and cultivate crops. The point is Shawn and Jo could have made excuses about not having the space in a big city to grow your own food but they didn't. They took action and made the world better. To quote Ghandi: you must BE the change you want to see in the world.

MOVE BY DESIGN

It's a perfect night for moving BY DESIGN. We just finished running up the sand dunes at Port Franks, and everyone feels pumped and energized! Anyone interested in interval training should come and join myself, Rachelle, and Alicia from BMS fit every Tuesday night at 6:30. Just follow highway 22 west until you reach Port Franks road then turn right. See you next week.

Blog posted here.

My Story Part 2

       

Two weeks ago I wrote about how chiropractic changed my life. I discussed the physiological changes that my body went through as a started having my spine checked and adjusted. If you need a refresher please read “My story part 1.”

 

Chiropractic has meant much more to me then just symptomatic changes. The greatest gift chiropractic has given me is its philosophy. Before we begin to discuss chiropractic we need to explore why accepting a philosophy is important in the first place.

 

Every human being on the planet whether they know it or not (most don’t) has accepted a philosophy on life. This philosophy guides our thoughts, actions, and emotions. For example Allopathic medicine’s fundamental universal truth is that the human body is weak, and without human intervention it will suffer and perish. Now whether they know it or not M.D’s have accepted this philosophy. That is why they attempt to artificially change the biochemical composition of the human body via prescription medication or want to remove so-called malfunctioning body parts via surgery.

 

I will save the discussion of the chiropractic philosophy for another day. It is very simple and beautiful but there is far too much information to digest in one simple blog post. All you need to know for now is that the underlying truth of chiropractic is that the human body and nature are intelligent.

 

The single most important change that I have underwent since accepting the chiropractic philosophy is moving from a fear mind set to a mind set of trust. I can’t begin to explain how paramount that was for me.  I no longer worried about when I was going to “get sick” during the winter. I didn’t worry anymore about my cancer “coming back.”

 

I started to trust my body, and I started to feel empowered!

 

I began to trust my body’s natural genetic ability to heal and to be healthy. My body would begin expressing symptoms and my first action would be to avoid medication. I began to think, “If my body is intelligent why is it causing this symptom to happen.” I let my intelligent body follow its course of action. This would mean resting when I had a fever, coughing when my body needed to cough, and vomiting when my body needed to vomit. I began healing quicker, and more completely. I started “getting sick” less often, until I was barely “getting sick” at all. It was awesome!

 

The idea of being in control of my health started to translate into other parts of my life. I began to think that if I could control my own health, maybe I could control my happiness as well. A simple idea (my body is intelligent) started to permeate all aspects of my life.

 

 I would love to see more people step out from under the shadow of fear and doubt and bask in the sunshine of trust. It is a process that takes a lot of patience and courage, but the journey is well worth it.

 

 
 
 

What I'm listening to..

The Grateful Dead Album: Aoxomoxoa What a great album. Special credit to track 2; Dupree's diamond blues for telling a great story and track 3: Rosemary for being so beautiful. Nor too mention some awesome album cover art. Music is very BY DESIGN!

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The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser 

I try to steer clear of popular media.  I do not listen to the radio, I do not watch the news or read the newspaper. I don’t care what is being said on CNN, nor care about the latest gossip on celebrities or politicians. If I do watch TV I try to plan what shows I am going to watch. There are some quality programs (Lost, curb your enthusiasm). Most television in my opinion is not worth my time. Especially the largest waste of time “reality TV”.

With that being said there is one reality program that I do happen to love and that is the show The Biggest Loser. It is a show that I go out of my way every week to watch. As much as I love this show it has many glaring contradictions all of which I do not care much about. I don’t like being told that Subway is a healthy alternative; it’s not! I don’t like the pharmaceutical commercials telling me that health is one chemical away; it’s not! I don’t like being told that milk is a great source of calcium or protein because it is not. I do not like the obvious product placement, especially since these products claim to be things that they are not. Storing food is plastic freezer bags is not healthy. But even with all these numerous annoyances there is one positive thing about The Biggest Loser that eclipses all the negatives by a long shot, and that is the triumph of the human spirit.

It is inspiring to watch a defeated, overweight, self loathing, depressed, crushed human spirit earn back its hope and self-esteem. It is incredible to watch someone lose 120+ pounds by simply changing their diet and exercise. It is amazing to witness the moment when someone realizes that THEY are responsible for their LIFE, and fully own up to that responsibility with confidence. 

It’s even more amazing to discover the contestants “secret” to success: hard work and determination. Amazing isn’t it?  In a world where we are being taught that nothing is within our control, that luck dictates whether we are successful or not, happy or not. We are seeing people win back the most important part of their being (their spirit) by working hard and not giving up. To quote the great Bruce Cockburn “seems like nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight”. I wonder why some of us give up so easily. 

Healthy Nutrition for Pregnant Women.

Wow what a great weekend. The only thing better than being together with loved ones is learning that babies are on the way and your family is going to grow and become bigger. My brother and sister in law Shawn and Georgia are expecting their first child and we couldn’t be happier for them both.  

The great thing about Shawn and Jo is they both live a LIFE BY DESIGN and are fully committed to living a life of complete sustainability (growing their own organic produce, using their bicycles as their means of transportation, and reducing their carbon footprint).  Getting to spend time with them over the weekend was fantastic and they filled us in on a recent nutritional program for expecting mothers that they attended in the city that is hosted by the Ontario government.  

I was completely shocked and disgusted to learn what is being recommended by our very own government to our expecting mothers. 

I will share a few of the points with you:

-3 cans of pop per day

-2 cups of coffee per day

-No limits on the amount of bad sugar consumed (high fructose corn syrup)

-Over the counter medication is acceptable like Tylenol, Advil, Cold medications but narcotics were not acceptable

-Alcohol should be kept to under 3 oz. per week

I hope this strikes you as shocking and absurd. There is a law of life that is being butchered by the above health advice and that law states: TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE. Let us apply this law to health. Health is another absolute. When I say this what I mean is when an act is healthy it is always healthy for everyone. For example can you ever think of an example when eating raw organic vegetables would be harmful to someone? The answer is no. Can you think of a time when drinking pure water would be harmful to one’s health? The answer again is no.

Let us do the opposite. Can you think of an example when taking heroine is good for you? The answer is an absolute NO! The answer is not “well if you take just a small dose of heroine that’s fine, but a big enough dose is bad”.  It is an absolute. Taking heroine is always bad just like eating candy is always bad, just like drinking pop is always bad, and etc.  Whether a man, women, child, pregnant women or senior is using heroine also matters little IT IS BAD FOR ALL OF THEM. Just like eating vegetables is good for all of them.

There is no such thing as “Healthy Nutrition for Pregnant Women” there is just health and healthy nutrition. Whether you are pregnant or not your body still needs the same things to be healthy. LIFE BY DESIGN is true for every man women and child because the same rules apply to every man, women and child.  

Gainsborough Family Chiropractic: What is LIFE BY DESIGN? Why do you care?

Our greatest individual and societal asset without question is our health.

Everything we wish to achieve, create or impact is significantly dependent

on our well being. From serving our country, caring for our family, earning aliving, expressing an emotion, contributing to global change, worshipping, or enjoying life; any lessening of our health also lessens the quality of our life.

Why then has this asset been so poorly protected and invested in? 1 out of 2people in the western world will die with heart disease (700,000 U.S. only), 1out of 3 with cancer (550,000 U.S. only) and most of the remaining from diabetes related illness or the medications (200,000 U.S. only) they take to suppress the symptoms of their disease processes.

I think the answer is actually quite simple...We have forgotten that we are

part of nature. We have been taught to believe that somehow the laws of

nature do not apply to us. We have stopped living our LIFE BY DESIGNTM.

One of the core principles in the chiropractic philosophy and a concept thathas been widely accepted in science, is the idea that living things function intelligently. That there is an ongoing and dynamic organization and reorganization (adaptation) allowing all living things to best survive in their current environment.

The concept behind BY DESIGN is two fold. One, to truly experience health, we must live congruently with our design. We must address ALL the requirements for health on a regular basis for an extended period of time (ideally for a lifetime). Specifically with EAT BY DESIGNTM, that means fueling the body with BY DESIGN foods most of the time and limiting those that are not BY DESIGN.

The second component of the BY DESIGN principle is that each one of us has the freedom to choose or “DESIGN” our own life. It’s important to ask “what do I want for myself, my family and my life?” The answers to that question will lead to a purpose that strengthens your choices and ultimately your legacy. The advent of LIFE BY DESIGNTM seminars and books (HEALTH BY DESIGNTM, EAT BY DESIGNTM, MOVEMENT BY DESIGNTM, HAPPINESS BY DESIGNTM and BIRTH BY DESIGNTM) is to teach these life enhancing principles and practices to as many as possible.