What Are Your Excuses?

There are times in my office where I will be confronted with a patient that states, "I just can't do that!" They may be referring to daily exercise, they may be referring to the First Line Therapy program with lifestyle and dietary changes. Whatever the reason they feel they can't make these changes. For example, a diabetic ordering a piece of dessert after their meal needs to realize how detrimental that is to their health. But they may say, "I can't eat healthy like that!" If I countered with this question, "What if I gave you 1 million dollars to go sugar-free for one month, could you do it then?" Their answer would invariably be a resounding yes! But what is your health worth to you? What is it worth to you to live life to the fullest? What is it worth to you to remain productive, happy, clear-minded, and strong? I recently read a quote from Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker, that stated, "Nothing tastes as good as being strong and healthy feels." I like that.

The problem today is that so many people have felt so sick for so long they don't even remember what it's like to feel revived, refreshed, and renewed. They have been fatigued and dragging for so long they have nothing to compare to how it feels when you "eat right, drink right, move right, sleep right, talk right, think right and poop right" (The Magnificent Seven, thanks Dr. Rakowski! :))

What are some of the reasons people feel they "can't" do it? Perhaps it seems too overwhelming. We have to understand that lifestyle changes take time! It takes 45 days to break an old habit and develop a new one, and during that 45 days it's not all smooth sailing! You will face ups and downs, discouragement and disappointment. The important thing is to recognize your focus...what is your purpose? Then, keep your eyes on that goal!

Samuel Johnson, an English poet stated, "The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." What habits are you propagating? What chains are you placing on your health and well-being? I like to think that any chains can be broken. It will take more discipline, more work and more dedication...but the fact is this...it can be done!

Start today to make small changes. It's the small daily "habits" that lead to profound health changes down the road. Not eating enough fruits and vegetables? Take your family down to a farmer's market and pick out a new fruit or vegetable and experiment with different recipes as a family. Go into your yard, or even on your porch, and dig out a little garden where you can grow your own vegetables. I know my two boys love to garden with my wife. It's a learning experience for them to go out every day and check the progress of their work, and then when the harvest comes they know that it means homemade salsa and great organic fresh veggies for lunch and supper! We are helping them to make good habits now.

So your exercise for today. Grab a piece of paper and draw a line right down the middle. On the left half of the page write down all your excuses that are holding you back from fulfilling your dreams. Then on the right side have a counter response to that negative excuse. Save that list and pick one excuse each week that you are going to cross off and develop the right side positive response. You may have 50 excuses, so this may take you an entire year, but you know what? Your health is worth more than a million dollars.

Make today a great day!

Think Twice About Those 'Tater Chips!

Daily Consumption of Potato Chips Encourages Inflammation, Atherosclerosis

According to the results of a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, chronic consumption of fried foods, such as potato chips, sharply increases inflammation. Foods exposed to high heat during cooking contain acrylamides: toxic chemicals linked to the proinflammatory state. Increased inflammation is a risk factor for atherosclerosis, the root cause of most cardiovascular disease.

Investigators recruited 14 healthy subjects who consumed approximately six ounces of potato chips daily for one month. Potato chips have a relatively high acrylamide content. At the end of study period, various markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, including oxidized, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-sensitivity interleukin-6, and plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), were significantly increased in all subjects. Four weeks after the end of the study, inflammation markers “decreased to some extent,” researchers noted.

“These novel findings seem to indicate that chronic ingestion of acrylamide-containing products induces a proinflammatory state, a risk factor for progression of atherosclerosis,” investigators concluded.

-Dale Kiefer

*Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Mar; 89(3):773-7.

Affected by hypertension?

Hypertension has been called the silent killer. There are many natural diet, lifestyle and nutrient options for treating, or more importantly, preventing hypertension. Keep an eye on our website at www.leclinic.com for our June webinar on hypertension.

Have a safe holiday weekend. Go find a veteran, shake their hand and thank them for their service. God bless America!

Celebrate Any Progress

I ran across a great quote from Ann McGee Cooper. She stated, "Celebrate any progress. Don't wait to get perfect." even small choices add up to make big changes. Get motivated to make progress today. Go buy a stainless steel water bottle and commit to yourself to drink more water. Make small progress and celebrate when you do it. Go buy a pedometer and set your goal at 10,000 steps. Start small and celebrate the progress. Wanting to buy that new pair of shoes? Reward yourself after a month of accomplishing your short term goals. Whether it be drinking that water (half your weight in ounces), walking those steps (10,000), spending more quality time with the family, etc. Celebrate the progress. Perfection doesn't happen overnight. But you can look back over your life in one month or six months and be better or remain stagnant. The choice is yours. You only get one life. Choose wisely!

Blogging from BlackBerry

With all the methods of posting, I'm going to try and make updates on my blog utilizing my constant companion...my blackberry.

Why? Define Your Purpose

We all experiencing the waxing and waning of motivation in our endeavors. One important question to keep on the forefront as you make health changes it consider "Why?". Defining what your purpose is. Why are you wanting to lower your cholesterol? Why are you wanting to prevent diabetes? Why are you making lifestyle changes, committing to regular exercise and saying no to that piece of cake? Perhaps you are driven by being "sick and tired of feeling sick and tired." Maybe you have watched a loved one with a chronic disease and their suffering. You reason why may be so you can play with your kids, feel alert when you're reading that new novel, work in the garden and enjoy that round of golf. Whatever the reason it helps to define your purpose, write it down and keep it on the forefront! You will face obstacles along the way and without a clearly defined purpose it will be easy to become discouraged and throw in the towel.

Asking "Why?" and defining your purpose serves many benefits.

It defines your success. You've heard it said before if you aim at nothing, you're sure to hit it. Define your purpose and your chances of succeeding greatly improve. Want to lose that twenty pounds and keep it off...defining your purpose will define your success.

It creates decision-making criteria. Every project or large goal requires small steps to reach the larger goal. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Make small attainable goals, with your clearly defined purpose, and make sure that the small changes you are making are in alignment with your larger purpose.

It motivates. Motivation is a huge factor! Structure serves as something you can fall back on in times that motivation is low. Set up a system of time management, goal management and resource management so you can stay motivated, or at least when you aren't feeling the "most motivated" you can not fall off the wagon.

It clarifies focus. Can you see yourself healthier? Can you see yourself without daily body aches and constantly tired? Can you see yourself getting more accomplished during your typical day? Defining your purpose, asking why, helps to clarify your focus and brings things into perspective.

It expands options. People are often afraid of change, so they stay in their box. They eat the same foods, go to the same places, have the same daily routine. When your purpose is clearly defined the path to reach it can take a variety of routes. You can make each day exciting and fulfilling. There are many options. Eating healthier opens up many new foods and recipes. Exercising opens up many options to become active with friends and family. Look for options and take advantages of those open doors.

People love to win. If you're not totally clear about the purpose of what you're doing, you have no chance of winning. Be clear about your purpose!

Exciting new changes at LEC!

We are excited about all the new changes happening right now at LEC. We are in the process of turning our practice into a "paperless" practice. We have completed the hardware and software installations for Future Health software which will allow us to keep electronic health records. We will soon be going through a staff training for a number of weeks and we are looking forward to going "live" shortly after that. Electronic health records will allows us to better serve you and provide better access to your entire medical record, as well as send those records to your providers at your request.

We are also incorporating webinars for patient education. Check out the webinar link on our site to register for upcoming webinars and to review archived webinars. We will be hosting a weekly First Line Therapy webinar on Wednesdays from 1:00PM to 1:30PM for all those patients involved in the FLT program.

We want to do our best to CONNECT. EDUCATE. MOTIVATE. and we are excited about the use of the blog and webinars to do so. We're even looking into Twitter and FaceBook for you really advanced users. :)

We are looking for ways to allow for questions to be posted online, answered by myself or other practitioners and then archived and searchable...so a lot is going on!

Keep an eye on our site and we appreciate your trust!