Northside Family Care Mission - Working hard for your physical, nutritional, and emotional health!

www.excellforlife.com birthDAY! Elevate Your Passionate Monogamy-Sex Drive Help, Slow Down!, Holiday Fitness Tips& Killer Abs Video,Thanksgiving Tips

2010-11-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

Dr. Lisa wants very special terrific YOU!... to be a member of my new website, http://www.excellforlife.com/. "Excell" is spelled with two l's to accentuate excellence. I strive for excellence in empowering you to be your healthiest physically, nutritionally, mentally, and spiritually.

"...You are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2Cor. 5:17

With inspiration and direction from our Father God, I am so excited to birth an advanced website to host my bimonthly newsletter blog and many more innovations! This blogger site will just hold short outlines, so please add excellforlife.com to one of your favorites.

My Excell website will have some content for free, and some for members only. My Excell team includes myself, Nurse Anne, Eric the Fitness Guy, and Jeannie H.

Be one of the first 200 members, and get a free Excell for Life package!

I, Dr. Lisa, and my great team want to excell your health to a new creation - stronger and better each day, no matter what your age! We are honored to serve you and really look forward to teaming with you - always looking to innovate and develop better ways to empower and excell you physically, nutritionally, mentally, and spiritually... We are excited to Excell for Life!

In our first excellforlife.com newsletter blog, I discuss how to "Elevate Your Passionate Monogamy - Sex Drive (Libido) Help." It is a common question from many patients, female and male from 20s on. My article gives you more insight and discusses how to help yourself and your marriage. Nurse Anne and Eric the Fitness Guy give us timely great articles on how to "Slow Down" and "Holiday Fitness Tips." Eric and I demonstrate Killer Abs - a strong abdominal workout to progress to firm hard abs. For Family & Faith I discuss "Tips for Thanksgiving Thanks & Memories."'

Elevate Your Passionate Monogamy - Sex Drive (Libido) Help!

"Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his mouth - for your love is more delightful than wine!" Song of Solomon 1:2

A healthy sex drive depends upon all around well being - physical and emotional healthiness. This quote from Song of Solomon makes us want this passion for our marriages AND it is possible for us to have this forever in our marriages! In this aricle I discuss suggestions, tips, and resources to achieve this passion and intimacy, and Excell your libido. One of my goals for my patients who want it is to have a wonderful sex life until you die!

Go to my new website, http://www.excellforlife.com/, and read and print off for you and your wonderful lifelong bride or groom!

Tips for Thanksgiving Thanks & Family Traditions

"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th of November next to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country..."
-----Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day, President George Washington, October 3,1789

I am so thankful & proud of our founding Fathers and their sacrifices and faith!

Go to my http://www.excellforlife.com/ website to read and print off for your Thanksgiving preparations and celebration my whole free article - including a paragraph on the first Thanksgiving, preparation & celebration tips, and thanksgiving Bible verses.

Eric the Fitness Guy

Killer Abs

Go to http://www.excellforlife.com/ to watch Dr. Lisa doing Erc's killer ab routine with 10 great ab exercises!

Holiday Fitnes Tips - read the whole article on http://www.excellforlife.com/!

Do the "push-a-way" - push yourself away from the table or dinner line or after dinner desserts!

Plan - Plan - Plan!!! - for healthier foods & snacks, do our body weight routines (on video at excellforlife) if you can't get to the gym, tell your family ahead of time you want to exercise after you eat

Slow Down with Nurse Anne - read her insights on excellforlife.com on how to...

Relax - Give Thanks - Enjoy - Slow Down!

Nurse Anne’s Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili

Pumpkin makes for an unexpected creamy chili base, which creates an especially delicious dish!! You could also add 1 lb. of cooked ground turkey if you like, instead of or in addition to the beans.
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 green pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 15 oz. can black or kidney beans
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 lg. can diced or crushed tomatoes, undrained
¼ cup chili powder, more or less to taste
3 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. ground black pepper, more or less to taste
good pinch of salt

Chop peppers and onions. Mince the garlic.
In a sauté pan, add the oil and peppers, onions, and garlic and cook over medium heat until almost translucent.
Transfer vegetables to a crock pot.
To the crock pot, add the tomatoes, beans, and pumpkin, and stir.
Add spices, salt, and pepper.
Let simmer on low for 4-6 hrs.

Happy Thanksgiving & all my prayers, hugs, thanks, and love for very special YOU!
Dr. Lisa

Excell!, Money Saving Medical Tips & Tips for Benefit Sign-up, Eric's Tips, Recipe-Beans&Rice, Parenting Advice on Risk Taking, Beautiful God

2010-11-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

I hope and pray you are enjoying the beautiful long Fall, exercising daily, and drinking water - half your body weight in ounces per day!!! (I drink 2 big glasses like this at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after exercise.)

I thank God for you and the ability to write a blog & newsletter - to motivate, educate, and excel you each month to better physical & nutritional & emotional health!

With that purpose, I'm really excited about designing an advanced new website to publish my newsletter blog. It will have all my past articles and blogs entered with an advanced index and search by topic option, a forum to post comments and questions for me and our team (Nurse Anne and Fitness Eric), notice of my posts emailed to you with a list of content and direct link, our vitamins available on-line, and more exercise specific videos and future additions on the way, such as topical webinars with me. You will have the option to be a member of our Excell team, because some content will be exclusive.

I look forward to serving you even better, and right now you can follow me, Dr. Lisa Miller, on Twitter to motivate and educate!

This newsletter blog I want to remind you now of the need to exercise and drink water (see the above pictures!), give you Money Saving Medical Tips & Tips for Your Benefit Sign-up, a few exercise tips from Eric our Fitness Guy, help you understand risk taking in your children better, and enjoy our beautiful God!

My next newsletter blog on my Excell website ("Excell" with two l's to accentuate and motivate to excellence!) will include:

an article I have been wanting to author because of the many patients who monthly ask me for advice on libido and sex issues - "Elevate Your Passionate Monogamy - Sex Drive Help!"
advice on how to "Slow Down with Nurse Anne"
Eric the fitness guy - "Holiday Fitness Tips & Killer Abs" ( an abdominal strengthening exercise video with your Dr. Lisa - I challenge you to get strong abs!)
"Tips for Family Thanksgiving Thanks & Memories", and more!

Money Saving Medical Tips & Benefit Sign-up Tips

Medicines

check out different pharmacy discount programs and don't just keep buying from the closest or easiest pharmacy - they are usually the most expensive!
remember you don't have to be a member of Costco or Sams to get your prescriptions filled there (just tell the door greeter that you have a prescription to fill), and they generally have the least expensive prices in the area
Meijer offers certain free antibiotics (like Amoxicillin, Bactrim, Cipro, Doxycycline, Kelfex) - so ask me or your doctor if one of the free antibiotics at Meijer will work for your condition AND resist the temptation to overspend at while in the Meijer store!
with expensive prescritions, check into the Canadian pharmacy http://www.medisave.ca/ - many of my patients find this site very easy to use with quality medicines (you can get brand name medicine for less expensive, and many generics that are not available yet here like Singulair and Cialis and more)

Vitamins & Alternative Therapies

if you have a medical savings account with your employer, I or your doctor can write on a prescription that a certain vitamin or therapy (like massage, acupuncture, chiropractic care) is medically necessary to treat a particular condition, and then you can use your account money for reimbursement
check out our high quality well absorbed vitamins which are less than health food store prices

Lab Charges

each year check your insurance coverage and deductable amount and whether labs are included in your deductable
know what lab is best covered by your insurance
if your insurance does not pay well for your labs, LET ME OR YOUR DOCTOR KNOW TO BE VERY CAREFUL TO ONLY ORDER THE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY LABS, and look into LabCorp's discount for paying at the time of service (http://www.labcorp.com/)
remember that free labs are offered at many health fairs, when you give blood, and MANY labs are available for free at the Indiana Black Expo held downtown in the Summer
call Community Heart Hospital to check when they offer free cholesterol labs

?No Insurance Right Now

our office offers a 20% discount on our fees when you pay at the time of service (and many offices offer some type of discount)
make sure I (or your treating physician) know you do not have insurance when we first start your office visit, because we do not want to order extra testing in the office unless absolutely necessary
follow my Excell for Life Health Sheet guidelines to be in your best physical, nutritional, and emotional health - you can get healthier and stronger each day and thereby avoid extra health bills!

Benefit Sign-up Period

get your health screening labs and measurements to qualify for your employer discounts for your good health
if you closely missed some health screen marks, get retested if your employer will let you update this after open enrollment
sign up for a medical savings account because it lets you pay in pretax dollars for things like vitamins (used to treat a condition or problem), therapeutic massages, acupuncture, co-pays, certain non covered dental and vision items and more (try to get a list from your employer or the benefit management company) - you must be sure that you will use all the money you put in for the year, because you usually will not be able to carry the money over until the next year
closely compare any options you have in medical coverage to see which one is the best for you and your family's situation (doctors in the network, prescription coverage, deductibles, etc.)

Eric the Fitness Guy! -

Going into the Holidays is a very difficult time of year for many people. This time of year most people put on weight because they over eat and stop exercising due to traveling. Life can get the best of you during this time, so plan ahead of time before traveling to the in-laws. Also plan ahead for what food you are going to prepare. If you are seeing a theme to this year’s tips it is to PLAN! I can’t stress enough to think a head of what you are going to eat or when you are going to exercise.

One of the best exercises I can tell you to do is one that can be done year around but is more important this time of year. It is the push-a-way. Push yourself away from the table or the dinner line. This one is vital and the one I have the hardest time with. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Remember to plan ahead on what food from your favorite aunt or grandma you want to eat. Limit yourself to just one dessert, not one of each.

A way to still skip the gym and workout is to watch some of the previous workout videos that we have posted. Most of the routines require little to no extra equipment or weights. It can be done with just your own body weight. A way to help motivate yourself is by talking to your family members and getting them to do a routine with you. Call them in advance and tell them “Let’s plan on exercising after we eat”. That way it is planed and expected and harder to forget or just not do. This helps keep you accountable to your routine and may also inspire a family member who doesn’t work out to start workout and taking better care of themselves.

I hope you use these simple tips to help get you through the Holiday season without adding on those extra pounds or getting totally derailed from your exercise routine.

If you have questions please call me at 765-404-7343 or email me at eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com. Now is the time to start working out to keep the Holiday weight off!!!

Great Recipe - thanks Sheila!

Beans & Rice

2 cans red beans 1 c. onion chopped

1 8oz can tomatoe sauce 1 c. celery chopped

1/3 c. olive oil 1 tsp thyme

1 c. green pepper chopped 1/3 c. fresh parsely

Saute green pepper, onion, and celery in olive oil until transparent. Add garlic. Then add tomatoe sauce, thyme, and beans. Simmer 10 - 15 minutes. Just before serving add parsely.

Serve over cooked rice. If desired, Polish sausage or smoked sausage may be added to the bean mixture.

Family & Faith

Parenting Tips - On Risk Taking

- for even more insights read "Why Gender Matters" by Leonard Sax

Most boys enjoy risk taking more than girls, and are much more likely to take extreme or stupid risks when in a group of boys. Risk seems to give a tingle or charge of excitement. Being too careful and avoiding risks can lead to passivity (or learned helplessness), which is common in women worldwide. We need to encourage our children and especially girls to explore their world and new situations, take risks, face their fears and master them, so they can adjust and adapt to new challenges and conquer them as well. Recognize and remember the wisdom in, "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" (by Nietzsche), and "Rejoice in your trials" (by Jesus).

Mr. Sax suggestions for decreasing risk of severe injury

shift risk - sons and children want thrills so do adventurous things as a family but anticipate the risks and teach before they are encountered (like go skiing, but have a lesson for your kids to show why they cannot go on the expert slopes at first!)
supervised is better than unsupervised - remember that boys especially do stupid things in groups!
assert your authority - don't argue or negotiate, but just do what you need to do (like a boy who rode his bike when he wasn't allowed, then put on a heavy duty lock!)

Beautiful God! Please get and read "The Good and Beautiful God" by James Bryan Smith.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him..." Romans 8:28

Remember always in your soul that our God is trustworthy because Jesus trusted God - He is always reliable, has our best interests in mind, and will protect us and save us.

Remember always in your soul that God is all giving, generous and goodness, delights in us, and He freely gives us His love, forgiveness, and acceptance - we can never do anything to earn this... Each day work to remove the feeling you need to perform or earn His love and favor. Just relax in His grace and love, and your good works and following Jesus will flow.

This week train your heart by counting your blessings (a good followup to work on gratitude from Nurse Anne). Write a list of your blessings and keep adding to it... I want to get the book Mr. Smith suggests, "10,000 Things to Praise God For" and read it to my 10 year old daughter Annika, who tends to view things as "half empty" (rather than "half full"!).

God, please fill our hearts with a desire to know and love you more each day - and know our cup is not only "half full" but always full. Help us really see and feel the God Jesus shows us you are - all good, trustworthy, self-sacrificing, generous, loving, holy, and transforming!

My love and prayers and hugs,

Dr. Lisa

Celebrate Fall & Changes! Nurse Anne,Hot Flash Help, Eric's Great Routine, Male & Female Brains, A Beautiful God

2010-10-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Fall and Exciting Changes!

I love you all & writing to empower you to your healthiest! God is awesome always, and each day He leads me to love Him more and grow stronger... Remember, at every age we can grow stronger and healthier! (And above are my 2 daughters and puppies with 2 of Annika's good friends today before trick or treating.)

2Corinthians 5:17 "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

With inspiration from this verse, I formed a new website to write and publish my blog/motivational and educational resource and newsletter - "Excell for Life!" This will be my last blog like this on blogger.com, and by 2 weeks from now I will announce here my new website and tremendous exciting "new creation"!

This blog I am introducing a few of the coming additions. In every upcoming blog will be an article from my great RN, Nurse Anne, a healthy recipe (the next blogs will be focused on legumes - we all need to eat more!), and more fun and interesting writing (my deepest thanks to Rob for his review and teaching - his company "Techs - the Lone Writer" 845-6903).

Please read and implement Anne's "attitude of gratitude", do Eric's great body weight routine (I did, and am a little sore in the legs!), and read my hot flash tips for yourself or friends and Family & Faith section.

Joke: What do ghosts ride at amusement parks??? (think on it & the answer is after Anne's article!)

Introducing our terrific Nurse Anne!

An Attitude of Gratitude—What’s in it for Me?

Hello, everyone! My name is Anne, and I am an RN who has worked with Dr. Lisa Miller for over 13 years (yes, it’s true, and sometimes hard for me to believe!). I am a mom, step mom, daughter, sister, and last but certainly not least, the wife of a pastor. I am not by any means superhuman, but I do wear lots of hats!

Dr. Lisa and I have learned a great deal from each other, and I must say that I think we also have learned a great deal from our patients as well! Lisa has asked me to write articles for our new website. And SO, it is my privilege to write for you!

I will be most happy to know what YOU would like to hear about in our blogs. So, please don’t hesitate to let me and Dr. Lisa know what you think and where your interests lie!

Tonight as I sit at my computer, having just come from listening to a wonderful and thought-provoking sermon, I feel compelled to write about the practice of gratitude. In this world where we all have so much, we take much of it for granted, and it is so easy to forget about the good in our lives and focus on the bad.

I have a friend who is constantly negative. Nothing is ever right or good in her life. She has health problems. I know that is what is driving part of the negativity. But I see many patients every week who have serious health issues, and they remain positive. They are always looking at the blessings in their lives instead of focusing on the difficult aspects of their physical or mental health. This is not an easy discipline. And, I am sure they have times when their problems do get them down.

On the whole, the patients and all of us who practice being positive about our lives, have the best quality of life. We are actually able to take better care of ourselves, because we value the goodness in our lives, no matter now small. We are determined not to focus on illness or misfortune.

Many patients who are hurting still really want to know how I and my family are doing. That humbles me, because I know they are suffering much more than I am! What sets them apart from others who are not doing as well seems to be their faith.

On my hardest days, I try to be aware of everything that is good in my life. I am so blessed to have a husband who loves me, good friends, wonderful children, and a bed to sleep in at night, not to mention a job that I love! I try to give a smile to someone who has none, and most of the time I actually get a smile back!

The author Anne LaMott has said that she has at least two prayers every day: the first is when she wakes in the morning, and it is “Help me, help me, help me”, and the last is before she goes to sleep at night, “Thank you, thank you, thank you”.
A good mantra, don’t you think?

Try to think of at least one thing you are grateful for every day, and I promise you, it will change your life!!!

Till next time,
Nurse Anne, RN

Answer: Rollerghosters!

Hot Flash Help! - Best Non-hormonal Options for Menopause Symptoms

Menopause is a natural transition in life and celebrated in many cultures. Decreasing hormones begin in the early 30's, with actual menopause averaging at age 52 (menopause is defined as no period for 12 months). 75% of women suffer hot flashes & night sweats, and these start to occur and usually progressively worsen 2-4 years before menopause (or premenopause). Some other possible symptoms of menopause are vaginal dryness, decreased concentration, disturbed sleep, reduced libido, changes in urination, and emotional changes.

The Best Non-hormonal Treatments

Aerobic Exercise - 3 hours per week has shown significant improvement in menopause symptoms in many randomized studies

Natural Vitamin E (d-alphatocopheryl) - 400iu per each 40 lb of weight all at one time (for 120 lb woman, 3 per day)

Soy foods (and ground flax seed, rye, and red clover legume extract) 1 - 3 servings/day (for example soy milk, tofu, edaname)

Black Cohosh herb (our Selestro is a very effective combination of soy and black cohosh)

Siberian Rhubarb Root herb

Vitamin B complex (like our B complex 2/day or Cardio B 1/day)

Vitamin C - 1-5000mg/day

Yoga/meditation 1 hour/day

DHEA (an adrenal basic hormone which can be used by our bodies to make sex hormones) - 10-50mg/day (our sublingual DHEA 5mg small tablets can be taken under the tongue or vaginally to help vaginal dryness)

Other Suggestions

dress lightly in layers

take slow deep breaths whenever a hot flash starts

decrease caffeine and alcohol intake

acupuncture (Dr. Amy Yang is excellent, 317-876-1054)

consume adequate amounts of calcium (1000-1500mg/day of calcium citrate) and Vitamin D (1-5000iu/day)

perform Kegel exercises daily (to help strengthen and tone the muscles you use to control urination and stools)

stay sexually active

use water-based lubricants during intercourse

If you or a family member you know continue to suffer significant menopause symptoms even after trying some of the things above, then see me or your Family Physician to discuss Natural (Bioidentical) Hormones in low natural doses. I myself am on these with significant relief of my menopause symptoms and for osteoporosis prevention. (I get mine from the excellent Custom Med Apothecary, http://www.custommed.net/.) I believe they are safe in low doses when needed in most women. They are VERY different from the synthetic Prempro (studied in trials showing mild increased risk of breast cancer and heart attacks and strokes with this drug). I have discussed "Natural Hormones in Men and Women" and "Hormonal Symptoms" in previous blogs. In my new website I will have an easy to use index!

Joke: "Why do children yell "Trick or Treat" on Halloween? (answer after Family & Faith - Gender Matters)

Eric the Fitness Guy - Great Body Weight Routine!

Family & Faith

"Why Gender Matters" by Leonard Sax, MD and psychologist

Recent research shows that boys and girls see the world in most ways very differently, and we need to understand these for effective parenting and life! Dr. Sax shows how to understand and address these differences to help every girl and boy reach their fullest potential. Today I will discuss highlights of his chapter on female and male brains. In upcoming blogs I discuss more from this book. I encourage you to buy and read this book so you can get all the details and information!

Male & Female Brains

brain tissue in males and females are different from conception

newborn baby girls hear better and differently than baby boys and are helped more by music therapy (and hearing differences continue for life, with girls/women being bothered by loud noises more than boys/men, and girls being more distracted by noise and learn less well in a noisy classroom)

the eyes and visual system are organized and processed by the brain differently in boys and girls eyes (males have more M cells and females more P cells) - baby girls are more interested in faces and boys more interested in moving objects, and most girls/women are better at interpreting facial expressions than boys/men

if asked to draw anything, boys more often draw verbs (action based things) and girls more often draw nouns (and people-centered pictures), and even this difference can make a large impact in school where most teachers are females

"Girls and boys play differently, learn differently, fight differently, see the world differently, and hear differently. Girls and boys behave differently because their brains are wired from conception/birth differently."

Emotions - in adolescence girls brains develop to be able to understand and explain feelings, however in boys and men the part of the brain where emotions happen are not well connected to the part of the brain where verbal processing and speech happen

the brain is organized differently in females and males, and the differences between what girls and boys can do are not large, but the difference in HOW they do it can be very large (so one way to teach math can be very appealing to girls, and another way very appealing to boys)

a recent study on brain development showed that differences in the brain associated with the biological sex (male or female) are substantially more significant than the differences associated with age!

Answer: "It's too early to say Merry Christmas!"

Soul Training - from "The Good and Beautiful God" by James Bryan Smith

Always remember God is good!

Many people are raised in their churches to feel God is an angry God. However the God Jesus knows and reveals is good - there is nothing bad about God! God gives blessings to all without regard to their behavior. We all will go through heartache and suffering, and this will spur our development. We need to trust God in the midst of the trials. With His Spirit giving us all God's power in us, we can always have love, peace, joy, and all the fruit of His Spirit regardless of our circumstances!

Training Mr. Smith suggest

silence - take 5 minutes each day to be quiet and still (to slow down and focus on God and His goodness

take a walk outside and pay close attention to all of creation, and notice things you usually do not notice

I thank God for His goodness always, and look forward to my new and great website - my "new creation."

I pray that we all grow to know Him better and experience and pay attention to His goodness more each day!

My hugs and love,

Dr. Lisa

Healthy Recipes - from Nurse Anne

Spinach-Lentil Soup
Serves 10-12

1 lb. lentils, washed
10 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 lbs. fresh spinach, chopped (may substitute 2 (10 oz) pkgs. frozen chopped spinach, unthawed)
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Combine lentils and broth in large kettle. Simmer for 3-4 hrs.
Heat oil and butter in medium-size skillet. Add onion, garlic, and celery; saute over medium heat until tender.
Add to cooked lentils. Add spinach, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook gently for 30 min. or more to blend flavors.
Even better the next day!

AND

Quinoa Salad

1 cup Quinoa, rinsed and cooked according to box instructions. Cool.
1 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed
1 can black beans, drained
1 12-15 oz. jar of fresh chunky salsa
Add red wine vinegar and olive oil to taste.

Mix all and chill.

Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa) is the only grain that provides complete protein. It contains no gluten. I have found it at Whole Foods and several health food shops. You have to rinse it before cooking to get the bitter outer coating off. The kind I buy (Ancient Harvest) is pre-rinsed.

Allergy Tips & Common Colds & Sinusitis, Eric's Tips - Soda Pop Dangers, Marriage Tips - Financial Harmony & Schedule Sex, Soul Training

2010-10-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

God's creation and His love are amazing! Bruce and I just got back from Denver and Colorado Springs' Garden of the God's, and were very blessed to go back to our wedding site (see above picture). We were there for me to attend a 3 day seminar at the American Academy of Family Physicians Annual Conference. We had a wonderful marital get-a-way together, AND I learned so so much great information attending good talks on many important and applicable things to our lives and health. I look forward to sharing these things in my upcoming blogs as I get my notes together. This blog I will review allergies and common colds/sinus infections and Eric wrote a great article on the dangers of soda pop. In Family & Faith, I am starting to write about tremendous soul training which I am learning from reading James Bryan Smith's, "The Good and Beautiful God", and marriage tips about finances and great reasons to schedule sex in your marriage!

Allergies, Common Colds, and Sinusitis

Allergy Tips - prevention and treatment!
Work to identify and avoid your allergens (like not having your window open at night if you have seasonal outdoor allergies).
Water!!! - if you are even a little dehydrated, then your body produces histamines which make your allergies worse, so you need to drink preferably filtered water 1/2 your body weight in ounces a day plus extra after exercise (with no sweetener additives and no other drink hydrates) - doing this has made me (Dr. Lisa) not have to take my daily Singulair for mild asthma!
Use saline irrigation with a nettipot or squirt bottle. This is what I use daily to irrigate my sinuses (made by Neil Med), and at any sign of increased congestion or infection I use it two or more times a day.

Antihistamines: -help with the sneezing, itching, runny nose (& can add Sudafed to make the "D" to any of these - but use Sudafed with careful caution if you have high blood pressure or prostate problems)
Usually non sedating
-Claritin (Alavert) & Zyrtec - available over the counter
-Allegra - available generic - only by prescription
-Clarinex - by prescription
-XYZall - by prescription
Sedating-Benadryl (best used at night)

Decongestants
-Sudafed (see above)
-Mucinex

Rx Nosesprays
Cortisone-take several days and need to continue to see best effect
-Flonase - available generic
-Nasacort
-Nasonex
-Veramyst
-Omnaris
-Rhinocort
Antihistamine/Other-quick acting, and can use as needed
-Astelin & Astepro
-Atrovent
OTC Nosespray
-types like Afrin you can only use for short periods of time (no more than 1 week)

Eye drops
OTC - Naphcon A or generic brand (my husband Bruce's favorite) or Visine A
RX - Patenol, Optivar

Singulair - can help especially for congestion symptoms and asthma

If significant symptoms despite medicines - see us to discuss possibility or allergy testing and immune therapy (weekly to every other week injections)If recurrent infections - see us to consider other causes and a sinus CT scan

Common Cold and Sinusitis Evaluation and Treatment Summary
The average occurrence of the common cold in preschool children is 5-7 episodes/year and decreases to 2-3/year in adulthood and last about 7-10 days. They are caused by viruses transmitted mostly by hand contact (and can live on hands for up to 2 hours) – we all need to be very cautious to wash our hands frequently (or apply antibacterial hand gel), especially if we have any symptoms of a cold (and persistently train our children)!

Antibiotics are not used to treat the common cold, because they cannot kill viruses and taken early do not prevent bacterial infections which occasionally result from the common cold. They are occasionally needed after about 10 days if persistent signs of yellow or green drainage, if symptoms worsen within 10 days of initial improvement, or develop into painful ear infections. (Certainly strep throat is bacterial and requires antibiotics right away. Strep throats usually present with only a sore throat and fever, and often fatigue and gland swelling. Rarely is it accompanied by any nasal or chest symptoms.)

Treatment - symptomatic treatment is the mainstay for common colds !

Nasal Saline Irrigations (such as Neil Med products which I use daily, and available in our office and at drugstores) – Washing the nasal cavities with saline often gives immediate great relief and reduces nasal drainage/congestion/pressure, removes secretions, and rinses away allergens and irritants and can be used daily (as I do because of recurrent sinus infections in the past and allergies) or as needed and multiple times daily. They can be used immediately prior to using other nasal medicines so the nose is freshly cleaned before using the medicines. I feel the bottle washes give the best pressure to relieve symptoms, followed by the nettipots and lastly sprays. Even my 8 year old requests this first line for significant nasal cold symptoms!

Antihistamines – These can alleviate runny nose and sneezing, but also can cause dryness and sometimes sedation. OTC medicines are Claritin (non sedating), Zyrtec (occasionally sedating), and Benedryl (always sedating but good at bedtime!). Rx ones are Allegra (available generic), Clarinex, and XYZall.

Decongestants – pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and phenyephrine can decrease nasal congestion. Topical nasal spray Afrin can be very effectively used for several days (but not longer than 1 week at a time or nasal dependence can happen).

Expectorants – Mucinex (guafenesin) can in some people thin secretions and decrease cough. Antitussives - Cough suppressants with dextromethorphan (Delsym, Robitussin DM) or codeine/hydrocodone are of variable help for coughs.

Nasal Sprays
Intal – can improve cold symptoms
Atrovent - can help runny nose and sneezing
Steroid nose sprays (generic Flonase, brands Nasacort, Nasonex, Veramyst, Omnaris, Rhinocort) – these have more proven benefit for allergic rhinitis
Zinc sprays or lozenges – have minor benefits for cold symptoms, and rarely the nose sprays can make a person lose their sense of smell.
Echinacea – has minor benefits in treating common colds in most people.

Prevention of Common Colds

Exercise – moderate intensity exercise over one year has been shown to decrease colds, so as I say “Just do it!”

Vitamin C – 500 – 1000mg daily can help in preventing colds for some people.

Vitamin D – 1000-2000iu/day or doubling your usual dose can boost your immune system to help prevent colds for 1-2 weeks around exposures, and more studies will likely come out soon showing maybe even higher doses for about a week around cold exposure can help.

Vitamin E – 200iu/day has been shown to help in some people.

Echinacea and Elderberry Tonic – may help in decreasing colds.

Antibiotics for Sinusitis and Ear Infections
Amoxicillin
Bactrim – trimethoprim/sulfamethoxisole
Macrolides – zpac, e-mycin, biaxin
Cephalosporins – Keflex, Ceftin, Omnicef and others
Doxycycline
Augmentin – amoxicillin and clavulinic acid
Avelox or Levaquin

Eric's Tips - Soda Pop Dangers -

Fitness Tips

Eric Walden

Affects of Soda Pop

Is soda pop okay to drink?

I have been getting this question a lot lately. My gut response is “NO!” Sometimes too adamantly to whomever I am talking to. To me there are some things that I wish that we as a culture could dis-invent and soda pop is one of them. It makes me cringe to watch people come into a gym or personal training session carrying their preferred soda pop and drinking it during the workout. DON’T YOU REALIZE YOU ARE HURTING YOUR BODY??? But its diet or it has no calories are the typical responses I get. Okay so why are you drinking it? Why are you wasting your money and your time drinking something that can’t help you achieve your fitness goal? So to back up my soap box I went hunting to back up my theory. Before I totally tick to many people off let me put some rational on this. It is okay every once and while to drink a soda pop and by every once and while I mean once every two weeks. I take this approach to ice cream or cookies. Moderation is key, BUT PLEASE DO NOT WALK INTO YOUR GYM WITH IT OR A TRAINING SESSION WITH ME! I’ll give you the “Are you kidding me look”. Okay so here is what I’ve found when searching for “Affects of soda pop on your body”.

First I’m going to break down what is in most soda pops:

Phosphoric Acid: May interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, which can lead to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones. Phosphoric acid also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients.

Sugar: Soft drink manufacturers are the largest single user of refined sugar in the United States. It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar.

Aspartame: This chemical is used as a sugar substitute in diet soda. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilepsy/seizures. Further, when aspartame is stored for long periods of time or kept in warm areas it changes to methanol, an alcohol that converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, which are known carcinogens.

Caffeine: Caffeinated drinks can cause jitters, insomnia, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects, and perhaps some forms of cancer.

Soda is one of the main reasons, nutritionally speaking, why many people suffer health problems. Aside from the negative effects of the soda itself, drinking a lot of soda is likely to leave you with little appetite for vegetables, protein and other food that your body needs.

How many sodas have you had today? How about your kids? The average American drinks an estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year, but before you grab that next can of soda, consider this: one can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites (www.oleda.com/products.asp?dept=48).

Now like I said before; what is in most sodas. Here are some more quotes I’ve found from doctors who have studied the affects of soda on the body.

Michael Murray ND and Joseph Pizzorno ND
Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition

"The allergenicity of penicillin in the general population is thought to be at least ten percent. Nearly 25 percent of these individuals will display hives, angioedema, or anaphylaxis upon ingestion of penicillin…. hives and anaphylactic symptoms have been traced to penicillin in milk, soft drinks, and frozen dinners."

"Many general dietary factors have been suggested as a cause of osteoporosis, including: low calcium-high phosphorus intake, high-protein diet, high-acid-ash diet, high salt intake, and trace mineral deficiencies. It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis. A deficiency of vitamin K leads to impaired mineralization of bone. Boron deficiency may contribute greatly to osteoporosis as well as to menopausal symptoms."

"Soft drinks have long been suspected of leading to lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the blood. When phosphate levels are high and calcium levels are low, calcium is pulled out of the bones. The phosphate content of soft drinks like Coca -Cola and Pepsi is very high, and they contain virtually no calcium."

"The United States ranks first among countries in soft drink consumption. The per-capita consumption of soft drinks is in excess of 150 quarts per year, or about three quarts per week."

"Soft drink consumption in children poses a significant risk factor for impaired calcification of growing bones."

"Of the fifty-seven children who had low blood calcium levels, thirty-eight (66.7 percent) drank more than four bottles (12 to 16 ounces per bottle) of soft drinks per week, but only forty-eight (28 percent) of the 171 children with normal serum calcium levels consumed as much soft drink … These results more than support the contention that soft drink consumption leads to lower calcium levels in children. This situation that ultimately leads to poor bone mineralization, which explains the greater risk of broken bones in children who consume soft drinks."

"Soft drink consumption may be a major factor for osteoporosis as they are high in phosphates but contain virtually no calcium. This leads to lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the blood. The United States ranks first among countries for soft drink consumption with a per capita consumption of approximately 15 ounces a day." (http://www.naturalnews.com/004416.html)

Dr. Maoshing Ni

Most soft drinks contain a high amount of simple sugars. The USDA recommendation of sugar consumption for a 2,000-calorie diet is a daily allotment of 10 teaspoons of added sugars. Many soft drinks contain more than this amount!

Just why is too much sugar so unhealthy? Well, to start, let's talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease.

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk for heart disease and cancer. One study found that when subjects were given refined sugar, their white blood cell count decreased significantly for several hours afterwards. Another study discovered that rats fed a high-sugar diet had a substantially elevated rate of breast cancer when compared to rats on a regular diet. (See: Hoehn, SK et al: "Complex versus simple carbohydrates and mammary tumors in mice." Nutr Cancer 1979; 1: 27.)

You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly.

Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats.

Aspartame, commonly known as nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into acpartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading. (http://health.yahoo.net/experts/drmao/what-soft-drinks-are-doing-your-body)

So I think I can safely say that I win this debate about soda pop. There is enough proof that it is not good for your body. Soda pop is a not a product that anyone should be putting in their bodies let alone while trying to work out and lose weight. Heck even consuming while trying to gain weight isn’t a good idea either. Either way you look at it soda pop is not good for you body.

Come find out your Fitness Score at Snap Fitness of Fishers. Call 317-594-1200 to set your appointment. Or send us an email at fishers@snapfitness.com to set up your appointment.

Family & Faith

Marriage Tips

Financial Harmony - Talk and Save!

Many couples are raised in families with very different approaches to money - some have never learned to save, and others raised to follow strict budgets. These differences make the most common fights between couples and lead to significant stress that can erode a marriage.

The root of the problem is miscommunication, and a key to financial harmony is to regularly discuss finances at calm times - NOT when you are already fighting or stressed or in bed (and the best is to discuss financial goals, spending and expectations even before you marry)! Many financial counselors recommend going for a walk to discuss financial problems, and plan a monthly time to review your money and accounts (maybe a Sunday after church). Talk about your family and personal financial history and discuss short and long term goals (if you inherited $25,000 right now what would you do with it?, when and what kind of lifestyle do you want at retirement?). Be humble, try not to blame each other , and give suggestions and focus on solutions. Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace classes are very beneficial in achieving financial happiness and balance. The general rule of tithing 10 % (giving to your church and other charities), saving 10%, and living on 80% is a great long term plan.

Many couples have problems when they have a "my" (rather than "our")approach about money, and when they have debts that accrued before marriage. Some couples choose separate accounts (create a budget of their incomes and joint expenses, decide what to save for retirement and long-term expenses, and any remaining money split into separate accounts to spend as they each wish) and some couples choose joint accounts (mix their money completely - works best when one is in charge of the usual bill paying tasks and updates the other, have an agreed upon budget and spending cap for fun items, and any purchase above this needs to be discussed first). Marital finances work best with a "team" approach. Talk regularly and find your common goals, create a concrete common mission, and respect your joint pool of spending and savings money. This will put yourself in control of your finances (rather than letting it control your marriage and relationship) and lead to a happier and healthier marriage!

Schedule sex with your spouse AT LEAST one night or time per week!

This will develop a high sexual comfort level since you know you will have sex at least once a week.
-scheduling sex eliminates "The Ask" (and potential rejection from the spouse with the higher desire)
-scheduling sex increases desire (it engages the brain because it is the largest sex organ in the human body)
-scheduling sex increases anticipation (can anticipate and prepare for your marital recreation!)
-scheduling sex allows for prime time planning (put it in the best time for each of you)
-scheduling sex helps couples prepare physically (hot bath or shower or freshly shaved body)
-scheduling sex builds trust and intimacy in a marriage (if we commit to this, we must honor our word and agreement)
Spontaneous sex can have its place in life, but scheduling sex always has its place on our calendar!

Adapted from "Red-Hot Monogamy" by Bill and Pam Farrel
Upcoming blog - traits of a red-hot lover, from "Red-Hot Monogamy"!

Soul Training - discover a new and better way to experience life and discover the God Jesus reveals, from "The Good and Beautiful God", by James Bryan Smith

This is the first in a series of 3 great and life changing books by Mr. Smith, which we are reading in my weekly small group. I will start to highlight some of his biblical based insights and teaching from the first chapter of his first book in this blog, and continue it over the next several blogs. With each chapter, James includes a soul training exercise to help train our souls.

"The only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6) in our hearts, our homes, our work, our community, and our planet, and "it all starts with knowing the God Jesus knows, and loving God with every fiber of your being." Mr. Smith states that most people want to change but fail - not because they are not trying, but they are not training properly and relying upon the Holy Spirit (God and Jesus in us!).

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!", 2Corinthians 5:17.

Our lifelong transformation into all God has planned for us is accomplished by changing our own and worldly narratives into Jesus' and God's narratives, soul training exercises, being in Christian fellowship and community, and the Holy Spirit.

Exercise 1 - At least one day this week sleep until you cannot sleep anymore, and go to bed at a consistent time each night... The greatest enemy of Christian spiritual formation is exhaustion. Most studies show that people need at least 8 hours of sleep a night to maintain good health (so God designed us to spend at least 1/3 of our lives sleeping) - this leads us to be happier, less tired, and more creative, energetic, and productive. God designed us to be stewards of our lives - or body, mind, and soul. We cannot neglect our body and be effective in our spiritual growth and transformation!

From one of my wonderful and so special patients, Amber: "I found a great new medicine for fatigue... it's called SLEEP!!! My husband and I feel so much better and sleep so much better by going to bed at the same time each night!"

I will discuss the next several chapters in my next blog. Until then, I pray that you and I will allow the Holy Spirit to work in and with us to make a regular bedtime and sleep at least 8 hours a night. I pray that we (and our families, friends, and world) all grow each day more and more in love with God with every fiber of our being!
Hugs and love,
Dr. Lisa

Eric's new Snap Fitness Gym in Fishers, Alzheimer's Prevention, Fast Listening for Kids (and us!), Kindness

2010-09-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Fall! A terrific time to work on getting in your best shape. This is Eric and me at his great new 24 hour gym, just before a good training workout with him! I so appreciate his expert training and fitness knowledge and skills. This blog he will give you information on his new gym and his fitness article, and I am writing about Alzheimer's prevention and brain health - so important our entire life. In Family & Faith, I will write about kindness, from attending Beth Moore's live simulcast last weekend, and how to teach your children fast listening.

Snap Fitness of Fishers

I want to update everyone on what has been going on with me. I have recently purchased the Snap Fitness in Fishers. It is located at 116 and Allisonville Rd in the Kroger Plaza. It is going to be a major undertaking for me and my family, but it was one that we obviously wanted to take on. The address is 7266 Fishers Crossing Dr, Fishers, IN 46038 and the website is www.snapfitness.com/fishers. The gym is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is wonderful for all types of individual gym goers. This allows no excuses for not showing up to the gym. We’re always open! Another great aspect of Snap Fitness is our website and the ability for each member to build their own web-page that will help track nutrition, workouts and reward points. The website is designed to help you achieve your results and help you maintain them once you’ve achieved them.

Please stay tuned for more information on the club and more collaboration with Dr. Miller. We are working on rolling out some programs that will help you stay healthier and feel better. If you are interested in Snap Fitness, you can look up more information at www.snapfitness.com/fishers.

If you have questions or need help getting started on a workout routine please give me a call at 317-594-1200 or shoot me an email at fishers@snapfitness.com. Have a great day.

Fitness Tips

Eric Walden

As fall blows in I see more people start flocking to the gym. For a “new” gym owner that is great news. I like the cold weather because it means business is going to be picking up. But with the increase in business comes the increase in customers not knowing what they should be doing to either maintain what they have or lose some of the over indulging of the summer cook outs and tailgating now that football season has started. If you taken the summer off of working out because now you have all the kids at home and can’t get a way or the summer time is “play” time then here is a great way to ease your body back into the gym and lifting weights. This routine is the Basic Eight or a Fast Start program. It is quick easy and simple to do. Here it is:

Basic Eight or Fast Start:

1) Chest Press- 3 sets of 12 repetitions

2) Lat Pull-down- 3 sets of 12 repetitions

3) Leg Extension- 3 sets of 12 repetitions

4) Leg Curl- 3 sets of 12 repetitions

5) Shoulder Press- 3 sets of 12 repetitions

6) Bicep Curl- 3 sets of 12 repetitions

7) Triceps Extension- 3 sets of 12 Repetitions

8) Ab Crunch- 3 sets of 12 repetition

20 minutes of cardio to get your body back into is okay. Don't try to come in and run for an hour if you haven't been running for a while. You'll regret it. Use baby steps when you start back up into a new routine.

3 sets of 12 repetitions is a great place to start if you haven’t been lifting for a while. Even if you have been doing the same routine all summer now is time to change it up. I talked to a member of Snap Fitness last night and he is wanting to bulk up. He has been running and lifting higher reps all summer so I counseled him on changing up his routine. I told him to back off on the running and lowering the number of repetitions he was doing. I told him not to stop doing cardio but to just not do it as much. There are different ways to train for everyone. That is one of the best aspects of exercise in my opinion. That no one way fits everyone and you have to do it that way. Making your exercise program your own (as long as you see results).

Now is the time to start planning for the New Year. It is a short 3 months away. So many people wait until the New Year to start their exercise program when they should be starting it NOW!!! If you start it now you help keep off all the holiday weight gain. Wouldn’t it be nice to start the New Year at a lower weight than you are now instead of 10 lbs heavier than what you are now? Use this time to get yourself in a routine that will help you succeed.

I hope you enjoy the Basic 8 program. If you have questions please contact me or stop by Snap Fitness. I would love to sit down and talk with you about how you can start a program and succeed at the program through the holiday season.

Eric Walden

Waldo’s Personal Training dba Snap Fitness

7266 Fishers Crossing Dr

Fishers, IN 46038

317-594-1200

www.snapfitness.com/fishers

fishers@snapfitness.com

Alzheimer's Prevention

No one wants their brain to decline, and getting Alzheimer's is something we pray never occurs. As we age, the risks of Alzheimer's progressively increases, and at the age of 70-80, over 50% of people have this progressive dementia. What can we all do now to delay or stop this? New evidence continues to show more ways through a combination of healthful habits. Today and every day you can stimulate your mind better, sharpen your memory, and reduce your Alzheimer's risks.

Risks to control & reduce

*Diabetes *Hypertension *High Cholesterol *Heart Disease *Obesity *Chronic stress *Head injury

*Poor quality/insufficient sleep *Sedentary lifestyle *Liver & kidney disease *Toxic insults to your brain

*Smoking, Alcohol, Drug use

-genetics accounts for only 25% of Alzheimer's cases

-chronic stress may increase your risk by 4 times! (so let's work on our boundaries, margin, and faith!)

-obesity in midlife makes you over 3 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's

-diabetes makes you twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's

-smoking over the age of 65 increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's by 79%

Strategies to Prevent and Delay Alzheimer's - start today to create your own personal anti-Alzheimer's action plan!

1. Exercise - Get Moving!

-exercise at a moderate aerobic pace at least 30 minutes 5 days/week (can decrease risk by 35%)

-weight and resistance training/strength work builds muscle mass, bones, and brain health - adding 2-3 sessions/week along with the aerobic exercise cuts your risk of Alzheimer's in half-stretch daily to improve balance, avoid muscle/ligament injury, and reduce risk of falls/head injuries

-stretch daily to improve balance, avoid muscle/ligament injury, and reduce risk of falls/head injuries

-move as much as possible and in different ways to boost your brain health - look for opportunities to walk, bend, stretch, and lift (like gardening, taking the stairs, cleaning house, playing with children)

2. Eat a Brain-healthy Diet

-follow a Mediterranean diet (lots of omega 3 fatty acids/fish, fresh produce, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, and some red wine & dark chocolate, and avoid full fat dairy products and red meat - see my blog on this diet this year)

-maintain consistent blood sugar and insulin levels (eat several small meals/day, avoid packaged refined processed foods especially high in sugars)

-eat a rainbow each day (veggies and fruits across the color spectrum maximize antioxidants and vitamins, especially berries and green leafy veggies)

-drink tea daily and even moderate coffee (green, white, and oolong teas are especially brain healthy)

-Daily Supplements - Vitamin D (see my article about the vital importance of Vitamin D), quality fish oil (tested for heavy metals), folic acid, B12, possibly natural vitamin E, ibuprofen & aspirin (and even the blood pressure medicines in the ACE and ARB category, like lisinopril and cozaar)

3. Build Your Brain!

-set aside time each day to learn something new, and the greater the challenge then the larger deposit in your brain reserves (play a musical instrument, study a foreign language, read)

-practice memorization (like Bible verses, poems, U.S. capitols or parks), and create rhymes and patterns to strengthen your memory connections

-solve riddles and work puzzles - these brain teasers and strategy games give great mental exercise and build your capacity to form and retain mental associations (especially look for activities that use both sides of your brain...logic and language vs artistic and creative)

-practice the 5 W's - Who, What, Where, When, and Why - observe and list your daily experiences like a crime detective (capturing visual details keeps your brain cells firing)

-follow the road less traveled! - vary your habits frequently to create new brain pathways (take a new route, eat with your other hand, rearrange your computer desktop, eat in a different spot or table, go camping, shop at a farmer's market rather than the supermarket, use your senses differently like taking a shower with your eyes closed or eating a family meal in silence using just visual clues or going into your home with your eyes closed)

4. Sleep to Restore Your Memory (see my "Sleep Well" article)

-your brain needs regular restful sleep to process store and recall information (and sleep deprivation can damage your brain and central nervous system)

-establish a regular sleep schedule, set the mood (brisk evening exercise, cool temperatures, hot bath, dim light, and white noise can help), stop snoring, and quiet inner chatter (if this is keeping you awake then get up and read a book in another room for 20 minutes then get back in bed)

5. Learn to Relax and Manage Stress (lifelong stress can double or quadruple your risk)

-turn off a stress response by deep abdominal breathing (inhale, hold, and exhale sequences)

-schedule daily relaxation activities (take a walk, pray, sit quietly and observe nature, read, pet your pet, Tai-Chi, yoga, stretching, guided imagery)

-stay connected - developing a strong support system through family, friends, church, exercise groups, clubs, and volunteer activities improves mood and slows mental decline

-nourish inner peace with a strong mind-body connection - regular prayer, reflection, meditation, and religious practice can decrease and immunize you against the damaging effects of stress

6. Protect Your Brain

-avoid toxins (smoking, heavy drinking, drugs)

-wear a well fitting helmet, your seatbelt, and trip-proofing your environment (head trauma at any point in life significantly increases your risk of Alzheimers)

-create a brain-safe environment (decrease exposure to mold, pesticides, pollution, lead, and other environmental toxins)

Act now to create and implement your own personal anti-Alzheimer's action plan!... Your Dr. Lisa is!

New Health-care Law Changes - the ones starting now (or when your plan renews on Jan. 1) for most plans

1. Keeping coverage for young adults until age 26 (even if they are married and financially independant), unless they have coverage from their own employer

2. Free preventative care with no co-payments or deductibles for certain preventative services - such as immunizations, mammograms, and colonoscopies

3. Coverage for sick children - insurers can no longer deny coverage for sick children younger than 19 with pre-existing medical conditions

4. Protection against cancelled coverage - insurers can no longer use a mistake or technical error in an application to cut off coverage after they get sick

5. No lifetime coverage limits, and all insurers must cover at least $2 million/year by 2012

6. Greater appeal rights - consumers have the right to appeal insurers' decisions through their plans' internal review process as well as an independent third-party reviewer

Family & Faith

Parenting Tip -teach your kids (and yourself!) Fast Listening, from "Respectful Kids - Bringing Out the Best in Your Child", by Dr. Cartmell

Fast Listening

This refers to an appropriate response to a parental request (how you want your child to respond when you ask him to do something). It is very simple, and just involves something you say ("Okay Mom/Dad, or ask a question in a respectful way) and something you do (do exactly what you've asked).

The author states, "Obeying parents and and communicating respectfully are two valuable lessons your child needs to learn, and they are the essence of fast listening. In most cases fast listening simply means that your child will verbally agree to what you've asked and then do it fast. However, at times your child can respectfully respond with an appropriate question (like, "My game is almost over, may I finish it first?" in a friendly not whiny voice). We can't expect our children to demonstrate fast listening in real life without practicing first - it takes memorization the easy two steps and understanding how to follow and apply to real life. Introduce fast listening during a neutral time (when you are not frustrated or angry) and cover four main points."

1. There are two types of listening: fast listening and slow listening.

2. Slow and disrespectful listening (whining, arguing) always brings negative/bad consequences, such as time out, loss of privileges, and arguments (and being sad and mad).

3. Fast listening brings positive/very good results, such as closer relationships, pleasing God, less fighting, and more privileges.

4. Fast listening is easy and requires only two steps - say ("Okay Mom/Dad or occasionally and only in a friendly voice can ask a question) and do (the request fast).

First, just practice where you are talking. Have them say and practice several times "Okay Mom or Okay Dad" in a nice friendly voice (and also demonstrate just once the whiny, complaining or ignoring method). Discuss doing the task fast/quickly, and NOT slowly. Then take a real life scenario in a neutral relaxed time to practice, like putting toys away, getting ready for bed, starting homework, cleaning his room, helping with the dishes, coming inside from playing outside, and turning off a video game. Keep the practices short to hold their attention and interest, and practice daily at first. Like any motivational coach, fill your practices with plenty of positive encouraging comments. Then you can start on the spot and in the situation training, and if/when he doesn't get it just right, give him a verbal clue or reminder ("Nathan, this is a time for fast listening, pal." or "Nathan, are you choosing fast listening?" or "You can choose fast listening or slow listening, Nathan. It's up to you."). You can coach him when he doesn't do it well or has slow listening - review what happened and ask how he could have done it fast/better. Remember, the more effort and repetition you put into it, the better it will be and become second nature and permeate your child's thinking!

8 Points on Kindness - from Beth Moore's live simulcast, 9-18-2010, based upon Proverbs 31:26

"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."

Why do we need this teaching? We need it because we live in a mean world and because we open our mouths! We want a transformation of our hearts and tongue, and to think about what comes out of our mouths because we cannot take it back. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks!

1. Kindness is not a weakness.

It is not sitting back passively, but is divine empowerment. We need to get out in the world and show kindness. Nice is fine but kindness is divine!

2. Kindness is not an action... but a disposition.

It is about grace that pervades a whole nature (and is a fruit of the Spirit). It can't be faked and it comes from a disposition that only the Holy Spirit can give.

3. Kindness wears down when we do.

When we get worn down, kindness does too. The enemy tries to wear us down and so does resentment, jealousy, hatred, and certain difficult relationships or bad habits. We need the Holy Spirit in us to plan and have healthy boundaries and margin to keep from getting worn down. But when we do get worn down, we need other believers in our life to help us get back on our feet again and hold us accountable to kindness. Pray that God breaks the habit of unkindness in us!

4. Kindness look pain in the face.

We need to look at people who are suffering and in pain and be willing to open ourselves to the Spirit's work of speaking and doing kindness and philanthropy. No one gave more than God through the death of His son to save us, and we walk by faith in Jesus and what He has done for us to lead us to do and serve others.

5. Kindness is a Savior.

Kindness (Jesus) took on flesh to live among us, and He saves us from the pit of Hell and from ourselves. May this hit us afresh again and always... to be excited about Jesus! As we put our faith in our Savior Jesus, then we become a benefit (or profit) to others. We must always remember that we have a savior and we are not called ourselves to be anyone's savior - we just need to point them to Jesus.

6. Kindness has good memory.

If we forget how good God is to us, we can become rebellious. We must always remember all the gifts we have from God, all His kindness, and His steadfast love for us. Hang onto Jesus, because He leads me with love and kindness and never lets go! Let God take the yokes of bondage off of us an dand let us live by yokes of freedom in Him. The "yoke" of Christ Jesus is kind = easy.

7. Kindness craves an outlet.

We want to show/share and should be bursting to pass on His kindness. Have the "taste" on our mouth, bring it up from our soul, and always look for people to give kindness to!

8. Kindness leaves a legacy.

It takes just one generation to drop on their knees and follow Jesus, and then to show and lead their families and others in kindness. (Beth talked about Malta in biblical times had a history of giving, and still to this day 83% of their people give regularly to charity.) Don't give up on yourself or your loved ones. It is our choice to cry out and be intentional with wisdom and kindness in the power of Christ.

I pray we are all "kind today" and each day to whomever the Lord brings across our paths. I pray I and you open our mouths with wisdom, and have the law of kindness always on our tongue!

Dr. Lisa

Vegetarian Diets, Beat 5 Exercise Excuses, Romance Killers

2010-09-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Beautiful blessed Fall! This is a picture of our family in Indiana with our 2 "adopted" (sponsored) Kenyan children, Cynthia and Consolata. We began sponsoring them in early 2009 through CMF International (Christian Mission Fellowship International, http://www.cmfhopepartnership.org/). Our church, Trader's Point Christian Church, partners with other churches and CMF food, shelter, education, and God's teaching to the Bondini slum in Nairobi, Kenya. We sponsor them monthly financially and pray for them continually (and may get to meet them someday on a mission trip to Kenya). With Christmas quickly approaching, please plan and teach your children to give as Christ teaches us to give - consider sponsoring one of God's so needy and special children, along with gifting your time and talents to your church and local helping organizations (like Wheeler Mission, Salvation Army, Lebanon's Caring Center, and so many more). My nine year old Annika started thinking about her Christmas list in the car today on the way home from her soccer game. I discussed with her that we first need to think and plan about how we will serve and give back as our Christmas gift!

This blog I will discuss vegetarian diets, how to beat 5 common exercise excuses, and romance killers in your marriage. Next blog I look forward to seeing and hearing about Eric's new Snap Fitness gym!*** Also, please fax to me at my office any good legume recipes you have so I can include in an upcoming blog (fax 621-1680)-Thanks!!!

Vegetarian Diets - for Adults and Children

Vegetarian diets vary according to the degree of avoidance of foods of animal origin. In the strictest definition, a vegetarian diet (or vegan diet) would only consist of grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. The less restrictive vegetarian diets are: semivegetarian (just do not eat red meat but occasionally eat chicken and fish), lactoovovegetarian (eggs=ovo and dairy=lacto are consumed, but no meat), lactovegetarian (milk and milk products are consumed, but no eggs or meat), and macrobiotic (whole grains are emphasized and animal foods are limited to white meat or white-meat fish once or twice a week). A vegetarian diet is associated with lower risks of obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and high blood pressure.

***I have been doing a lot of reading and research into diet and nutrition. I feel the most reasonably accomplished diet is semivegetarian - focusing on healthy vegetables and fruits (AT LEAST 5 servings/day made the priority), healthy whole grains (much less wheat/gluten), much more legumes and less meat (organic if at all possible), some organic dairy products, and 1/2 body weight in ounces of water/day. Dr. Neal Barnard has 2 excellent books, "Foods For Life" and "Foods That Fight Pain".

Growth in Vegetarian Children

With adequate meal planning and dietary variety, vegetarian children grow in the normal range and are generally leaner. However attention to the mentioned nutritional considerations below are a must, especially during periods of growth. Also, if an adolescent suddenly decides to become vegetarian, they need to be watched for development of an eating disorder (like anorexia or bulimia).

Nutritional Considerations

Energy - A plant-based diet has a high fiber and low caloric content which can provide a sense of fullness before an adequate amount of energy is ingested. This is very good for needed weight loss, but in growing children needs to be addressed with meals and snacks.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Vegetarian diets have plenty omega-6 fatty acids, but not omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), which are important for cardiovascular and joint health and brain development. If a vegetarian does not eat oily fish, then they need more foods with extra omega-3 fatty acids, like flaxseed, walnuts, canola oil, and soy.

Protein - Protein quality is determined by its amino acid composition. Animal food has all 9 essential amino acids, but plant-based foods are incomplete and don't have all 9. The addition of milk or eggs or soy can make up for this in a vegetarian diet, or eating complementary foods (like grains and legumes).

Iron - Iron from meat is better absorbed than iron in vegetables. Coffee and tea decrease iron absorption, and vitamin C increases it. Good sources of iron are fortified breads and cereals, legumes, green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, and soy products. Children who have rapid growth rates need increased iron, and if vegetarian should take an iron supplement.

Zinc - The zinc in plants is not as well absorbed as the zinc in meat and dairy. The best plant based sources are whole grains, legumes, wheat germ, and nuts. Children should take a well absorbed multivitamin with zinc, and children and adults can take a free zinc taste test in my office to assess their zinc needs.

Calcium - Adequate calcium throughout our lives is important to maintain healthy strong bones. Children over age 8 and adults (especially women) should consume 1300mg of calcium/day. Milk and dairy have the most calcium, along with fortified foods (soy milk and cheese and tofu, and fortified cereals and drinks), kale, mustard and turnip greens, broccoli, and dried figs. The best absorbed calcium supplement is calcium citrate (Citracal w D is one).

Vitamin D - We are increasingly aware of the vital need of our bones and immune system and bodies for adequate Vitamin D. Few foods contain vitamin D, except those fortified with it and fatty fish (salmon, sardines, tuna, mackerel). Sun exposure (without sunblock) to our hands, arms and face helps us manufacture and maintain our Vitamin D (fair-skinned need 15 minutes at least twice a week and dark-skinned 30 minutes at least 3 times/week). Most children and adults require a Vitamin D supplement, especially in our Indiana winters.

Vitamin B12 - Vitamin B12 is only found in animal based foods (meat, fish, eggs, dairy). Some foods are supplemented with B12, but vegen vegetarians should take a Vitamin B 12 supplement containing 6-9mcg/day (a well absorbed B12 supplement has cyanocobalamin as the active form).

Eric's Tips - will be back next blog!

Beat 5 Exercise Excuses - adapted from sparkpeople.com

Everyone has the same 24 hours each day, and you get the choice in what you prioritize. Exercise has to be one of your top priorities to get it done, just like taking a shower or brushing your teeth.

Excuse #1 - Too Tired

Actually even just a 10 minute walk boosts your energy for two hours, and a morning workout (not coffee!) can make you more awake and energized all day. Regular exercise helps you sleep better and helps regulate your sleep/wake cycles.

Excuse #2 - No Time

There are many things that waste your time during the day - like watching TV, surfing the Internet, and accepting phone calls from people you really don't want to talk to. Eliminate some of these and EXERCISE! You also can take your gym shoes and walk fast at lunchtime, or do the stairs at work for 10 - 15 minutes, or get up an hour earlier and work out, or tape your favorite TV show and watch while you do your treadmill or exercise bike.

Excuse #3 - No $ for gym membership or home equipment

Many gyms have a bare bones membership, or use Eric's Tips and sparkpeople.com, or borrow DVDs from your library. Jumping jacks, running in place, push ups, sit ups/crunches, lunges, and dancing can all be done in your home for no money!

Excuse #4 - Embarrassed by appearance

Buy a well fitting pair of yoga pants and T-shirt and sign up for a class designed for overweight people. Chances are that no one is really paying attention to you, and everyone has to start somewhere!

Excuse #5 - Too Down and Depressed

Exercise actually improves your mood by boosting your brain serotonin levels, and a Harvard study found that after 12 weeks of weight training, almost 90% of seriously depressed people no longer met the criteria for clinical depression. Being down can result from stress, and exercise is a proven way to relax and lower your stress cortisol (which also leads to the accumulation of abdominal fat).

We are all busy, and this makes us especially need to examine and properly choose how we want to spend our time each day. Avoiding exercise is telling ourselves and our children that our physical and mental health is not as important as TV, talking on the phone, or excessive out of control over-commitments... Stop making excuses - you can do it!

Family & Faith

Marriage - Romance Killers, from "The Book of Romance" by Tommy Nelson

1. Sin - Sin and harsh actions makes romance die.

2. Age - We must always focus on the inner beauty of our spouse, ourselves, and others. Outer beauty always ages. Focusing and reminding ourselves to gaze into the depths of our beloveds soul will make us more attracted and romantic. My husband Bruce repeatedly tells me he loves my wrinkles and the real me and beauty without any makeup. This gives me great inner freedom and tremendous feelings of love and value.

3. Forgetfulness - Romance dies when we forget how valuable and precious our spouse is to us and take each other for granted.

4. Laziness - Couple get too busy and over committed to spend the time to "love, honor, and cherish" and keep the romance alive. By design, intention, and discipline, love must be shown, honor expressed, and cherish displayed in attitude. Take the time and effort and thought continue to date each other and do things like write each other love notes, plan a special date, sit and hold hands, bring home flowers or a special gift, fix a special meal or dish, and so much more!

Don't let these 4 things descend upon and ruin your romance and marriage. "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness." 1 Tim. 4:7 Choose to be absolutely faithful to your spouse, choose to focus on inner beauty, choose to admire your spouse, and choose to make the daily effort to show your spouse how much you love, honor, and cherish them!.. You can do it, because as Christians we must always each day and moment remember that Christ dwells in us, and "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!" Phil.4:13

With my prayers and love and hugs,

Dr. Lisa

Eric's New Gym!, Dizziness, Cardio at home for Knee/Feet Pain, Teaching Your Kids Sexual Values

2010-08-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I am so excited to announce that our expert trainer Eric Walden has just purchased his own gym this week - Snap Fitness, 11013 Allisonville Rd. Fishers, 594-1200! He is going to offer to my and Northside Family Care patients a 45 minute free fitness and exercise assessment with him and giving his recommendations. I will give you more details in my next blog - he and I are so excited to further continue our work together to get you your healthiest! I and my family have trained with him for the past three years, and have always been so impressed with his knowledge, skill, and results, and with him as a highly valued man with the utmost integrity and responsibility and personality. He has made my 16 year old Brendan into an extremely strong and talented football player, my son Nathan and daughter Christina much stronger and taught them how to weight train, and made my husband Bruce into a "ripped" 50 year old, and myself so strong and balanced at 50 - it is so much fun to be getting in better shape than ever!

The above pictures are of Brendan (far left #13, plays cornerback) at the first game in Zionsville's new stadium, and myself in our home gym. This blog I will discuss the diagnosis and approach to dizziness, finish my review of the book on teaching your children sexual values, and give great lessons learned from wonderful Christian counselor Jim Craig (317-471-0500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 317-471-0500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 317-471-0500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, or 317-769-5557) last week when we had a meeting with him after a significant disagreement this month between my senior at IUPUI daughter Christina and myself and Bruce.

Dizziness

Dizziness is a very common problem, and can be divided into four groups: lightheadedness (vague symptoms, can be feeling disconnected from environment), vertigo (false sense of motion, spinning sensation), disequilibrium (off-balance or wobbly), and presyncope (feeling of losing consciousness or blacking out). Below I will discuss the common reasons and treatments for each of the four types of dizziness, but studies show that a final reason is not found in 20% or cases.

Lightheadedness

-anxiety and depression are the most common causes, and treatment needs to be directed to help this

-medicine side effects and medicine overuse or substance abuse (alcohol or illicit drugs) can give this sensation, and treatment is by stopping or adjusting medicines and treatment for substance abuse

-hyperventilation is a cause (breathing in excess of need, and people often sigh, and can have associated chest pain, numbness, and bloating), and can be treated by breathing control exercises (and occasionally rebreathing into a paper bag) and anxiety control/medicines

-sometimes fever and sinus and ear infections can cause this symptom

Vertigo - problems with the inner ear are the most common causes of this and the most common causes of dizziness, about 30-40% of adults have some problem with this

-benign positional vertigo (usually no hearing loss, episodic, and can have spells of recurrent eye movements)-treated during episode with anti-dizziness drug Antivert (or can Valium) and if recurrent needs referral to otolaryngologist for physical therapy exercises and/or canalith repositioning (can view these head and neck exercises at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqokxZRbJfw&NR=1)

-vestibular neuritis (usually no hearing loss, persistent)-viral infection of the vestibular nerve and treated with oral prednisone over 3 weeks

-labrynthitis (usually hearing loss, persistent)-infection of the labyrinthine inner ear organs and treated with oral prednisone

-Meniere disease (usually hearing loss, episodic)- increased endolymphatic fluid in the inner ear and treated with salft restriction and/or diuretic water pills, and can be treated by injection or surgery by an otolaryngologist

-migrainous vertigo (usually episodic vertigo with a migraine and often more pain/discomfort with full light)-treated by migraine prevention and medicines

Disequilibrium - there are many causes of this

-medicine side effects are the most common cause of this, especially in the elderly (especially cardiac/blood pressure medicines, anti-depressants, muscle relaxants, anxiety and pain medicines, urinary and erectile medicines)

-stroke or TIA are the most life-threatening causes and are almost always associated with other neurological problems such as weakness/paralysis of one side of the body, problems speaking, and others

-sometimes ear infections can cause this symptom

-poor vision can give this feeling and can lead to falls

-Parkinson disease (along with rigidity and slow movements and tremor)

-lower extremity numbness (especially in diabetics)

-any musculoskeletal disease that can affect walking

Presyncope - usually a cardiovascular cause

-arrhythmias (heart rate abnormalities)

-heart attacks

-carotid artery extreme narrowing

-low blood pressure with change of position - if not caused by medicine or significant dehydration or anemia, may be treated first with non drug therapy (increasing water and salt intake, regular exercise, rising slowly from lying or sitting positions, sleeping with the head of bed elevated) and then if needed with medicines midodrine, fludrocortisone, pseudoephedrine, paxil, or desmopressin

-medicine side effects as above - especially cardiovascular medicines in elderly

Eric's Tips - Cardio at home for those with painful knees and feet! -
The feet are the base of operation for all movement. If you have pain in the feet then everything else will start having problems as well, eventually. Knee pain is what about 75% of all exercisers and even non exercise complain about the most. There are ways to do cardio that don't involve the loading the feet and the knees with your body weight. A pool is the best option for you or even a recumbent bike. But not all of us have a pool at home or have access to one. But since we are covering in home cardio we get to be a little more creative. I wanted to address an quick issue with a definition of cardio training. Most people when asked are you doing cardio? They immediately think of running, biking, or walking. But cardio is training of the heart and lungs. We can train the heart and lungs without doing the "traditional" forms of cardio. I like to use weights to train the heart. I don't need a treadmill or a bike to get a client winded. Just ask Dr. Lisa. :) Since our goal is low impact on the feet and knees here's what I suggest. Again like all my workouts that I give anything can be modified or adjusted to meet your needs. Please do not think that my way is the best for you. I don't know all your needs, issues, pains, and medical problems. So don't take these workouts as blanket statements of facts when it comes to your body. Make sure you are listening to your bodies needs, but also be willing to try new exercises and push yourself a little more than normal. Keep moving from exercise to exercise without stopping. That is the key to doing a "cardio" style weight lifting session. Set up your exercises before you begin that way there is less down time in between each exercise. Here are a few strengthening exercises first.

Warm-up by walking around your house or up and down stairs.3-5 mins.
Wall Squats with medicine ball (3 sets, 10–12 reps): Place 4- to 8-pound medicine ball between inner thighs and squeeze ball while extending (standing up) knees.
Isometric hip adduction (3 sets, 12–15 reps): Sit on one side, propped up on elbow, with top leg crossing over bottom leg and top foot planted in front of body. Flex bottom foot, tighten quadriceps, and lift bottom leg off floor 12–18 inches. Hold 7 seconds before lowering. An ankle weight can be added when more resistance can be tolerated while maintaining proper form.
Lateral step-downs (3 sets, 10–12 reps): Stand on one leg on 6- to 10-inch step. Keeping hips level, lower unsupported leg just short of floor surface by bending support leg’s knee. Push through heel of support leg to rise back to starting position.
Side Steps (3 sets, 60 seconds each leg): Standing on one leg reach out to the side (12-16 inches) with the other foot, keep your moving foot straight ahead, use quick movements. Your body should be slightly leaned forward for balance.
Step ups- (3 sets, 60 seconds each leg): Using the same step as the lateral step downs, step up using one leg to step up. The movement should be quick. This shouldn't put your knee in pain because the step isn't very high.
This should be a good start. Throw in any upper body movements as well. The exercises that are listed are going to help strengthen the upper legs to help relieve some of the knee pain. Here are some upper body movements that I would include in this workout.

Push-ups (3 sets, 15 reps)

Reverse pull-ups (3 sets, 15 reps) Get two chairs and place them about 4 feet apart and put a broom across them. Lay flat on the floor underneath the stick and with an overhand grip pull yourself up. Aim for the middle of your chest to touch the broom.

Shoulder Press (3 sets, 15 reps) Don't let your hands drop below your ears, this will help keep constant contraction on the muscles.
If you need help understanding the exercise please contact me. My contact info is eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com or 765-404-7343.

Family & Faith

Parenting - from "Sex - More Than a Plumbing Lesson" by Amy Scheuring

Marriage is a Covenant and Forever

Teach and remind your children that marriage is a permanent promise and covenant with each other and God, and God takes covenants very seriously! The marriage knot is tied in all circumstances-for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, and their is lifelong joy in knowing there is someone always beside you. Give your children a vision of the Godly marriage that is a love growing ever better and lasting a lifetime, like Coach Wooden. The author suggests encouraging your child to think and talk about the type of person he wants to marry someday, write a short vision statement about marriage, talk about couples you know who have gone through the good and the difficult (richer and poorer, in sickness and in health), and pray together for the person they will marry and their future marriage and families.

Relationships with Your Children

Spend as much time as possible with your teenage children, and make sure you are not on the phone or not actively ready to listen. Strive to have family mealtimes most days, meet your children at the bus, be available to chat later at night with your teens, and think of you unique children and how you can enter and be a part of their world for them. "Spending time does not always mean there will be conversation, but it does mean you are creating a place for it to happen" (and for my boys, it can mean occasionally watching a TV program with them that they like, even though I do not like TV at all). Praise and hug your children often (they need affection even though they may seem not interested), and as Tony Dungy says, "Hug them ever chance you get!".

Entertainment Choices

Studies show that the typical American child age 8 and up spends 38 hours/week consuming media, , and most report that TV is the primary source of information about sex!.. "So turn off the TV and pick up a hobby that interests your children - biking, training your pets, cooking dinner, playing ball, taking walks, making crafts, or even washing the car." Make a list of active entertainment choices for your family and do them, and schedule creative "dates" with your children on a regular basis and keep them.

Setting Rules and Guidelines

Healthy good boundaries and rules do not punish but actually protect our children. Studies show that 91% of girls who start dating at the age of twelve have sex before high school graduation, and the number drops to only 20% when girls do not date until age 16. The author' guidelines...

1. Determine some rules for dating far in advance - like no dating until age 16, and then they can never be alone together in a house

2. Be reasonable - make sure your standards are attainable

3. Be sure of definitions - make sure you and your child have the same meaning to dating or hanging out or getting friendly, etc.

4. Be in agreement with your spouse and/or other parents

5. Find things to say yes to - such as well-chaperoned social events/dances, extending a curfew for a special concert, and open your home to be a place their friends want to com

6. Don't apologize for the rules - setting rules is your job - you are the parent! and be confident and upbeat about them

7. Insist on and teach and model good manners - listening well when in conversation, opening doors for girls and women, leaving cell phone off or in a designated place when at home, doing chores and looking for opportunities to help each other, answering the telephone politely, shaking hands and looking in eyes of new acquaintances, no calling after 9 pm (and no calling boys unless specific purpose), appropriate clothing and appearance, etc.

8. Find others who share your family's rules and don't let other parenting styles get you down - seek others who set high standards for their kids

"Give your children our B.E.S.T."

-Build Boundaries ---have your children list 3 things they will never do and 3 places they will never go, have them always think: Where am I? What time is it? Who's in control? What is the plan?, and challenge you children to show affection without touch (but especially for boys not to say "I love you" because the power these words have on a young lady and if he truly mean it his next words should be "Will you marry me?)

-Establish Emergency Exits --- plan for unexpected emergencies (most date rapes occur because kids don't have an escape route, and need to plan to avoid alcohol, drugs, speeding, sex), a ride home, a cell phone, or a strong group of friends can provide ways of escape from potentially harmful situations- families can agree on a coded message that means they need picked up, like telling the people they are with they have to check in with their parents and then saying "What? I have to come home now?! Well. OK, let me tell you where I am."

-Set Standards --- setting high standards tells the world how you feel about yourself, and encourage your children to make a list of qualities they are looking for in a girl or boy

-teach your son that a man's strength and power are shown not when he acts on urges but when he resists those urges

-integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching, and leadership is grown through the testing of our values

-Take your Time --- postpone dating as long as possible, and "as the wisdom of His plan unfolds over the teen years, fill the place in your child's heart that longs for acceptance, intimacy, and unconditional love"

Great websites, information, programs and help for parents and teens:

True Love Waits - a national program with built-in support - http://www.lifeway.com/tlw/

The Silver Ring Thing - shows abstinence in such a positive way that teens jump at the chance to wear the silver ring - http://www.silverringthing.com/

Counseling Tip from Christian counselor Jim Craig (471-0500, or 769-5557)

God says we have to "hate our parents and brothers" to follow Jesus, because we need to always be aware that we are ADOPTED... We are all adopted, and our real Dad and Mom are not our biological parents. Our real Dad (and Mom) is God! So we, and especially our children who are from divorced parents, need to always ask ourselves what does our real Dad/Mom want us to do in any given situation or decision or action. Jim also talked about the meaning of " Honor" - it is a weigh and measure term. So "Honoring your Father and Mother" as God directs means to look at their character and attributes, and accept and keep what is gold (good), and set aside those things that are not the best.

Marriage Tips - from "The Book of Romance" by Tommy Nelson

Keeping Romance in Your Marriage

"Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms are open, and the pomegranites are in bloom. Then I will give you my love."

Song of Solomon 7:11-12

From this you can tell Solomon and his wife practiced the secret of lifelong romance - they continued to court and date!

Men - God calls you to lead in the area of romance and desires you to be romantic - you are capable of romance! You can express charm, romance, and affection - start with what you know and then work hard with God and the Spirit's help to learn and grow and continually be creative.

Men and Women - with the Spirit work hard to be spontaneous and unexpected! Romance is largely rooted in the degree of spontaneity you as a couple forever cultivate. Flirt with each other, do different things, and your youth and passion will be rekindled. (Words of wisdom to especially women and men - if your mate is being spontaneous with a date or activity try your hardest not to turn them down! ***Tip for this weekend - take your spouse out to Symphony on the Prairie this weekend - my husband Bruce and I are going to Buddy Holly and Friends tomorrow night!

Continue to date each other throughout your marriage - Set aside specific times to be together, and do not let anything take priority. Be a good listener, attentive, and well dressed for your special times together.

Reflect upon and remind yourself often to really appreciate the manliness or womanliness of your mate on the outside and their beauty inside!

*Next blog - factors that kill romance

My hugs and thanks and prayers for all of you so very special people!

Dr. Lisa

PS. I just purchased a small prayer journal that I take into all my office visits with me to write down your prayer requests so I can pray over them. Please let me know if you have special prayer requests!

Making Your Healthy Plans Stick, Cardio for For Bad Knees, Teaching Your Children Sexual Values

2010-08-15T13:43:00.001-07:00

I so hope and pray you are enjoying the end of your Summer, and all our children are enjoying a great start to school! I was so blessed to pick up my 9 year old Annika from a Spirit-filled week at Camp Allendale last week, visit my parents in Fort Wayne, and attend a wonderful Cavalier dog party at the Warsaw home of the breeder of our Penny (the black and tan Cavalier shown in the picture seeing her ruby mother again).

This blog I am going to write tips for all of us to make our healthy goals and plans stick, and finish my suggestions on teaching children sexual values. Eric gives great teaching on doing cardio exercise for people with bad knees.

Making Your Healthy Plans STICK!

Do you wonder why you a make a definite plan to exercise more, eat better, sleep more, pray more, stop smoking, lose weight, or take your vitamins and then don't do it? The American Heart Association (AHA) recently researched this topic and found specific habits and strategies that helped people make their healthy plans stick. They also found that developing a healthier lifestyle (healthy diet, regular physical activity, and losing weight/getting to a better weight) can increase an average Americans' life expectancy by SEVEN YEARS!

Set Smart Specific Goals

People who set definite goals are much more likely to adhere to them. Just deciding to lose weight or lower your cholesterol are too general, but deciding to lose 1 pound per week or eating more healthy fruits and vegetables are much more realistic and attainable. Goals that focus on specific behaviors (such as exercising 30 minutes three times a week or setting out your daily vitamins for the upcoming week or eating a healthy fruit or vegetable with each meal or drinking 2 glasses of water with each meal, or praying every am for 3-5 minutes before you get out of bed) are even better because you are more in control of them and can see your progress.

How Dr. Lisa/Northside Family Care/Eric can help? See us to identify your own needs and specific goals. We work together with you to set smart goals and focus on what you can do.

Monitor Your Progress

After you have your specific goals, you need to know how well you are doing. Monitoring yourself increases your awareness and progress toward your goals. This can be as easy as writing down your foods or workouts in a journal or electronically. Your frequency in doing this really matters - you need to track often. Monitoring is very important and a proven key to healthy lifestyle behavior change. The AHA states that studies show when people track their food, they lose TWICE as much weight as those who don't self-monitor their food intake.

How Dr. Lisa and Eric can help? We can review your journals and tracking, and help give you ideas on any adjustments you need to make. We are also working to develop some trackers for your use.

Find Support

The AHA found that people who had more frequent and longer contact with others (doctors, trainers, support groups) had more success in changing and maintaining their healthy lifestyle habits. This contact can be in person, telephone, or email/Internet and helps the person to be accountable and adhere to their program.

How Dr. Lisa and Eric can help? We can see you in person to discuss and support your efforts, and help you identify other areas of best support for you. We are working on some ideas to support you by telephone or electronically.

Get Feedback

Feedback is very important to help you understand your current level of performance and set further realistic goals to improve. People who receive feedback more often are reinforced and more successful in adopting their habits.

How Dr. Lisa and Eric can help? When you see and consult us with your trackers, we can give you feedback to congratulate what you are doing and help make suggestions on what to improve or change.

Believe in Yourself

Confidence in yourself and your own ability to reach your goals, will help you achieve your healthy lifestyle habits. Programs that help your confidence and belief in yourself and in your abilities achieve much more lasting benefits and results. How can you boost your confidence? By far the most effective way is by achieving a short and simple goal.

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? We will help you set your at first short and simple goals and tracking to help you build confidence and momentum to continue for the long term. The first goals can be very short and simple - like exercising each day for 10 minutes, drink 1 glass of water each morning, eat a healthy vegetable each dinner, or thank God each morning before you get out of bed.

Learn From Others

When you watch or observe someone performing a healthy behavior that relates to your own goals, they are modeling to you that these things work and that you can do them too (like exercising, choosing/cooking healthy foods, drinking water before each meal, moving past a slip-up). Programs that include modeling have higher success rates of long term healthy lifestyle behavior change. This modeling can be done in person, via videos, or even through discussions.

How Dr. Lisa and Eric can help? We can do this in person by meeting with us, and we do it in our blogs here - in videos and discussions. We will continue to do even more!

Accept Setbacks

It is normal to occasionally miss or deviate episodically from doing the goal behavior, like miss some exercise times, or meals with a healthy fruit or vegetable, or a week with a pound weight loss, or tracking. A person being aware that this is normal and expected can actually help prevent relapse or episodes of not doing the goal or giving up a goal. Instead of expecting perfection all the time, programs that teach people that setbacks are normal and can be overcome will result in greater success!

How Dr. Lisa and Eric can help? No one can be perfect. We recommend working to at least an 80/20 rule, where you follow your outlined goals most of the time, but allow for occasional indulgences and rest days too. We can give you resources, tips, and tactics to help you plan for possible setbacks and recover from them.

Family & Faith - Parenting Tips continued from the great book "Sex - More Than a Plumbing Lesson", by Amy Scheuring (teaching your children sexual values)

Sex teaching and your younger children -

Proper timing is crucial. Saying too much too early can introduce ideas prematurely, but waiting too long can leave your child ill-prepared for the battles they will face in our culture (ignorance is not the same as purity). While you are spending time with your children, opportunities will arise for healthy discussion. When children ask questions about sex, be sure to answer them as accurately as you can. A pregnancy or even baby animals can give you the chance to say "I want to answer any questions you may have about babies, love, and marriage."

Make sure to protect the wonderful innocent years of childhood by being a gatekeeper and set reasonable boundaries for your children. Take the TV out of your child's room, closely monitor his access to Internet, be very careful what friends' homes they spend time at and the rules of those homes, and load up your home with classic children's books and videos.

Your child's changing bodies are opportunities to teach and assure them, and explain that our bodies are designed for holy purposes. 1Corinthians 6:19 "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit."Teach them about proper respectful dress and good and bad touch - the area our bathing suit covers is private and personal and they need to reject any kind of touch that feels "wrong" or "mixed up."

Teach about your body as a gift from God. Remind them how they would feel if their one big birthday gift was already opened and used. Their body is a gift from God, and inside it is their sexual purity or also called virginity. It is a wonderful gift, and there will be times you are curious and tempted, but don't open the gift! It is a gift you can only give one person, and that is your husband or wife after you get married. That moment is part of the wonderful plan God has for your future and is certainly worth waiting for!

Road maps of Relationships -

Ask your children what they are looking for in a relationship, and you will likely get things like trust, honesty, acceptance, love, commitment, fun, good communication, and respect. Then ask them what attracts them to notice or want to date a girl or boy - likely things like body, popularity, clothes, hair, and teeth. Teach them that they must understand that attraction and relationship are not the same thing. Attraction takes 3 or 4 seconds, but relationship takes months and even years. Sex does not help reach the goal of a good relationship, but in fact actually puts things so out of proper order that they may never reach the joy that a healthy relationship will bring.

Show your teen a quarter you can find in your dryer and one in mint condition in a sealed plastic case whose value increases each year. "Advise them that many teens treat their virginity like that of a quarter they can find in their dryer. They let people touch it, spend it, and use it. Rather than gaining in value, it becomes worn, common, and cheap. The sealed coin is beautiful, valuable, and rare, just like sexual virginity."

When your teens ask how far can you go, teach them to think about the goal of a good relationship and ask themselves: Is this activity increasing communication? Are we building trust? Are we having fun or is this getting too serious? How much can I save for marriage and to please and honor God?

Teach your children the basic rules about proper social behavior - good manners and etiquette rules - like looking adults in the eyes and shaking hands, men acting honorably - opening doors, being the first to ask the girl out on a date, and calling and meeting her parents. These basic rule about social behavior give kids much needed self confidence in tough situations.

Fulfilling Your Destiny -

"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a royal nation, a people belonging to God." Romans 8:14-17. Teach your children they have a royal identity and God has wonderful plans and adventures that only they can fulfill by training with and following God. Instilling our teens with that sense of purpose, identity, and destiny gives them a reason to hold themselves to a higher standard. Encourage your children to be the people they want to become. He who is faithful in they little things will be given responsibility for much more (Matthew 25:21). Teach your children that in our culture often you cannot avoid the first look at a scantily dressed person or bad Internet pop up, but you can avoid the second look!

http://www.truelovewaits.com/ - purity pledge commitment information

http://www.silverringting.com/ - purity pledge programs

Great author C.S. Lewis said it this way: "Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of."

Next blog I will cover suggestions for relationship building and entertainment, setting reasonable rules, and as the author suggests - giving our B.E.S.T!

Eric's Tips

Cardio for People with Bad Knees

Eric Walden

Having bad knees is an excuse for some, while others finds ways around the pain in their knees. I’ve said numerous times that I love exercise and fitness because it’s not a one size fits all. Each individual can tailor their workout to themselves. What is unique about cardio machines is that they will help you target different areas on your body or help you achieve goals in different ways. Everyone has different problems when it comes to knee pain. Each person has to figure out what works best for them. But there are a few things that one must consider when choosing the proper cardio machine.

The first question you ask is, Will this hurt my knees. The answer could be yes or no depending if you have ever used the machine before. If you have used (fill in machine name) and your knees have hurt afterwards then I’d avoid that machine. No sense in keep on doing what you already know will hurt. Next ask yourself does the impact hurt or just standing on them for long periods of time. Knowing the answer to these 3 questions will help you determine which machine(s) you will use.

Weight bearing machines are best for burning more calories. But at the same time if standing for 30 minutes or longer hurts your knees then don’t do it. Use a machine that you sit down. Use a progression to help keep your knees from hurting. Start out on a weight bearing machine for 10 minutes then move to a seated machine for the rest of your cardio session. Each week try to increase the time on the weight bearing machine. Always do the weight bearing machine first. Your muscles and joints are stronger in the beginning and won’t get sore or hurt as fast. The recumbent bike and upright bike are good for bad knees. Make sure you have the seat set right or it can make the problem worse in your knees. I know for me I have to be careful on an Arc trainer not to take the incline up past 7 or my knees hurt after. You have to use the machines a couple of times and keep switching up the settings until you find a range that doesn’t hurt. I loved the workout that the Arc trainer gave me to I kept working out on it trying to figure out how to utilize it without being in pain every time. You may have to come to the conclusion that you can’t use certain machines.

Cardio possibilities & routine for home - coming soon!

I always tell beginners or people recovering from injury to take it slow. There is no need to conquer the mountain in one day. Even if you only do 10 minutes and then rest for 10 and start up another session of 10 minutes. You are doing something which is better than nothing. You are building endurance and muscle strength by doing this, so eventually your body will be able to sustain a a longer workout. But don’t rush yourself to do something you’re not ready for. Listen to your body and plan ahead to succeed and not get hurt worse.

The minimum recommendations for cardio are 30 minutes 3 times a week. It is okay to start out with 3 ten minute sessions. Gradually work yourself up to a full 30 minute session without stopping. Sometimes adjusting the intensity will help you achieve your goal of a harder workout rather than increasing your time. Here is a link to an article that talks about most exercise machines that you will find in homes or regular fitness clubs. http://askthetrainer.com/best-cardio-machines.html

Have a great week. If you have questions or need help designing your workouts please email me at eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com or call me at 765-404-7343.

Remember the healing power of God! I pray that you can imagine your physical body filled with the healing, loving light of God, and give over to God all your concerns and envision each cell renewed - every cell of our being is alive with the energy of God. I pray by shifting your thoughts to God's higher power, you feel instantly connected, and envision radiant health in your body this very moment - you feel stronger and more alive, renewed and energized!

Thank you so much for caring about and working on being your healthiest with your special and amazing God-given body. I am so proud of you! I wish I could give you all hugs right now, so I will in my mind and heart and prayers!... I pray you just got my hug!

Dr. Lisa

Back pain, Eric's Tips on Designing a Home Gym, Teaching Your Kids Sexual Values, 15 Love Rules For Men

2010-07-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings, and I want to take the time to thank all of you - you are so very special! You and God teach me and open my mind and eyes to so many things on a daily basis. Without you, I would not have learned and been able to share so much to others. You and God teaming with me have dramatically intensified my desire and knowledge to work my hardest for your physical, nutritional, and emotional health. I want to tell you how much I love and appreciate you and the privilege of being your Family Physician!

Above is a picture of us enjoying family time at Symphony on the Prairie last week. We love to go there and picnic together - as a family or just as a date night with my husband. They still have half of their season left with many great concerts (you can get tickets for about $5 less per ticket by purchasing them at Marsh). TIP - surprise your love with a date night at Symphony on the Prairie!

Back Pain

Back pain is the second most common reason for doctor visits in the U.S., and up to 84% of adults have back pain at some time in their lives. Most episodes of back pain are self limited and resolve without specific therapy (usually muscle/ligament sprain/strain). Patients who do not improve within four weeks of onset of back symptoms should be re-evaluated and may require further diagnostic testing (first plain x-rays, and then may need MRI's). Some people have chronic back pain that interferes with employment and quality of life, and rarely back pain can be from a serious medical illness (infection, cancer, fracture, or systemic disease). RISK FACTORS of back pain are - smoking, obesity, older age, female gender, physically strenuous work, sedentary work, low education, anxiety/depression, vibration exposure (even from certain automobiles), and now evidence that certain foods may contribute.

The book "Foods That Fight Pain" by Dr. Neal Barnard gives excellent information on especially dietary treatment for back pain, and other causes of pain and medical problems (and many excellent recipes). His recommendations are included under the Dr. Barnard recommendations below.

Self Care - very important for all to remain active, get proper sleep/rest (at least 7-9 hours/night), and maintain good muscle tone/physical fitness and posture (especially important when working at a computer to keep your neck and back properly aligned)

--a medium firm back conforming mattress may help, and there is no compelling evidence lumbar supports help

--cool/ice after injury for first 48 hours, then heat or cool (Thermacare wraps are effective), certain OTC creams like Bengay or Tiger Balm can help

Medicine Options

--pain medicine (Tylenol/acetominophen, non steroidals like Advil/ibuprofen or Aleve/naproxen and available in patches like Flector Patch, Ultram/tramedol, and narcotic pain medicines such as Darvocet/Tylenol w Codeine/Vicodin=hydrocodone, Lidoderm/lidocaine patches)

--antidepressant/anti-anxiety medicines (Elavil/amitriptyline, trazedone, Prozac/Zoloft/Celexa/Lexapro)

--skeletal muscle relaxants (Flexeril/cyclobenzaprine, Skelaxin, Soma/carisoprodol)

--benzodiazepines (Valium/diazepam)

--anti-seizure medicines (Neurontin/gabepentin)

Activity & Physical Treatments-in addition to self care, all patients need regular physical activity

--exercise therapy (stretching exercises, core strengthening, general physical fitness, yoga and Pilate's)

--physical therapy/back schools - to direct back rehabilitation

--spinal manipulation - usually from a good chiropractor (Dr. Ed Zimmer and Abigail Eaton are excellent chiropractors and nutritionists in our office complex, 813-1998, and I see Dr. Zimmer about monthly to keep from having neck/back pain)

--acupuncture (Amy Yang is excellent, 876-1054)

--massage (excellent masseuse is Josh at 872-3380 - I see him for a 1 hour Swedish massage about monthly to keep from having neck/back pain)

Psychological Interventions

--cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback - from trained therapists

Physical Modalities - used by some physical therapists or chiropractors or osteopaths

--low laser therapy

--ultrasound

--short wave diathermy

--traction

--trans cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

Medical/Physician Treatments (Commuity Spine Center and Dr. Foley and his associates are great back and spine specialists for consultation, 621-9292)

--epidural steroid injections

--facet joint steroid injections

--trigger point steroid injections

--sacroiliac steroid injections

--surgery - discectomy, fusion surgery, laminectomy

--thermal/laser/radiofrequency treatments

Dr. Barnard recommendations - he feels that back pain starts not in the muscles or spine but in the arteries supplying them/the lumbar arteries - Japanese-American women eating the traditional Japanese diet (rich in the first 4 food groups listed last blog and very low in animal products) have half the risk of back pain as Caucasian women - an optimal diet helps keep arteries open and helps prevent weight problems, arthritis, and osteoporosis which are all linked to back problems

--See your doctor (to make sure not a more serious condition and for help on the things listed here)

--Follow an artery opening diet (low fat mostly vegetarian as in his book and following the first 4 food groups in my previous blog-drawing your nutrition from plant sources helps clear arteries and keep calcium in your bones), regular exercise, no smoking, and manage stress

--No more than 2 cups of coffee/day (or switch to decaf) and limit salt use

--Follow a regular exercise program - exercise reduces pain, strengthens back muscles, helps open arteries, and protects your bones and more!

--Vitamin B6 (50-150mg/day) and powdered Ginger (1/2-1 tsp/day) may help with pain

--Chiropractic adjustments can help

--Be cautious about surgery and get a second opinion

--Simple pain killers (like Tylenol or ibuprofen) can be helpful, but it is best to avoid narcotics to avoid the chance of addiction

Eric's Tips - Designing Your Own Home Gym
Designing your own home gym can be a complicated process. The first thing in my mind that you need a good set of dumbbells. I recommend powerblock dumbbells (pictured below). I purchased these at Bob Block Fitness in Castleton. There are 3 different locations of Bob Block located in Carmel and Greenwood. These are a very cost effective way of getting dumbbells. Pictured below is the Sport 9.0 stage 1 and stage 2. It is 5-90 lbs. The total cost of this unit is $598. If you purchased regular dumbbells in 5 pound increments you would spend over $750 for the same amount of weight. The price per pound is calculated at $1.35 per pound. The nice thing about the powerblock dumbbells is that they can be adjusted in 2 1/2 pound increments. This is very effective when training and trying to increase weight in small increments.

Another important part of the home gym is a stability ball. Most people have these so I won't talk to much about them. A big plus in my book is having a Bosu ball. These run a little more expensive, $100-150 depending on where you go. They are a great addition to the home gym because of their versatility with training and balance.
Medicine balls are also a great addition too. These vary in style and cost. They are great for adding variety to sit ups and one handed push-ups.
An ab mat is also a great addition for comfort when doing any movement on the floor. A yoga mat is okay too instead of an ab mat.
Cardio is also important part of a home gym. The cardio machine in my mind should be something you don't mind doing in the winter months when you can't be outside as much. I purchased my upright bike and elliptical from Bicycle Garage of Indy. They have a great variety of cardio equipment at decent price. There is a huge variety in price when it comes to home cardio it all depends on where you go to purchase one. I would recommend not spending bottom dollar on cardio.

Plate weights are also a great addition to the home gym. There are 2 different types of plate weights, Standard and Olympic. Standard weights are smaller in size than the Olympic weights. They have 1 inch hole and use a smaller bar that weighs about 15-20 pounds. Olympic weights have a 3 inch hole and use a 45 pound bar. Either is fine and you will pay about the same for the plates. The bars vary in price. Depending on the type of lifting you want to get in. If you are a more serious lifter you want to get the Olympic style.
You may also want to consider a multi-position bench. The cost of these vary greatly too. I would purchase a little nicer one to make sure it sturdy.
Bands are also good to have around. A lot of people have these around as well. They are good have around to switch things up.

Keep in mind that purchasing equipment for a home gym is going to be expensive in the beginning, but in the long run it will save you money. Just make sure that it doesn't become a cloths hanger. If you go to Bob Block tell them that I referred you and should get a discount on whatever you purchase. If you need help setting up your home gym and have more questions please feel free to ask. If you do have questions please email me at eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com or call me at 765-404-7343.

Family & Faith

Parenting Tips - from the book "Sex - More Than A Plumbing Lesson" by Amy Scheuring, about teaching your kids sexual values

Sex education is values education and teens need to hear about values and abstinence from the most effective source - their parents! Teaching sexual values is a life-long experience. Family connectedness, parental disapproval of their child being sexually active, and parental disapproval of birth control were the top 3 deterrents to teenage sexual activity in a recent national study. Good parenting means hours of listening, asking open-ended questions, setting reasonable limits, and actively leading your child to a pure lifestyle. Talking to your kids about sex is 90% listening and 10% talking. Some good questions are: What does it mean for a couple to be serious? What is your opinion about birth control for teens? How does a person know he is ready to start dating? What do your friend think about oral sex? How do you feel about sex before marriage? If you hear an idea or assumption that needs corrected, let it go for the moment, pray about it, then in a later discussion bring that topic back up.

Seven great things to teach your kids about sex: 1. The sex drive is natural 2. The sex drive is powerful (sex is a drive and not a need, and must be careful what you feed it) 3. The sex drive is controllable (temptation will come into our lives-tell boys sometimes you can't control the first look but you can control the second) 4. Sex has a context (creates a bond akin to duct tape between man and woman, and if outside of marriage then the next sexual relationship is more difficult to bond) 5. Sex has a purpose (to bond man and woman and have children, and no birth control is foolproof) 6. Sexual abstinence is possible (go very slow in the physical aspect when dating, and when sex is saved and virginity cherished this is a priceless gift to be given to their spouse - she tells boys to remember that they may not take anything that doesn't belong to them - and foremost that is a girls virginity!) 7. Sexual sin is forgivable (sexually active teens often feel like a used piece of duct tape-worthless, and they need to be reminded that our Lord forgives them and purifies them and they can learn from and move beyond their mistake - and if they ask if you had sex before marriage-avoid discussing yourself but apologize for our society failures and say our family is raising a higher standard).

The word of God gives a standard that is above us and places God as the authority on how to live our lives. Our reliance on God's standards and biblical authority make it possible for us to confidently set limits for our children's sexual behavior and help teach them to stay in God's circle of blessing (remind them that there are always consequences of sin). We are to live by God's standards, not the ones tossed by the winds of our culture. Christianity elevates women to equal ground with men. Below are the top twelve scriptures to keep you pure:

1. Genesis 1:26-31 God invented sex and considered it "very good"! Genesis 2:20-24 tells us that sex has a context; it is marriage.

2. Exodus 20:14 In the Ten Commandments, the Lord clearly says "Don't have sex with someone you are not married to." This command is expanded in Leviticus 18.

3. Psalm 101:1-3 "I will set before my eyes no vile thing" (101:3). What are your eyes looking at? Guard your eyes. Guard your heart.

4. Psalm 119:9-11 How can you remain pure in an impure world? Guard your heard with the Word of God the Bible.

5. John 8:1-11 Sexual sin is forgivable. Jesus tells the woman to go and sin no more. Secondary virginity is available to those who have fallen and who truly leave their sin behind. Also look at Psalm 51 for a new start.

6. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Paul tells us to run away from immorality. You (and your body)were bought with the high price of Jesus' blood. Does your sexual behavior show others how you feel about God?

7. 1 Corinthians 7:1-11 Paul sets high standards. He also says that some may remain single and abstinent for life. Marriage is better than premarital sex. Once you are married, marriage is for life.

8. 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Choose to date and marry people who share your beliefs.

9. Ephesians 5:1-3 and 5:25-33 Imitate God. Do not practice sexual immorality. Jesus compares the marriage commitment to His Relationship with the Church. He is the bridegroom; His people are the bride of Christ.

10. Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."

11. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 Want to know what God's plan for your life looks like? Read these verses.

12. Hebrews 4:14-16 Jesus was tempted, but did not sin. He is able to sympathize with our weakness but give us His strength to overcome.

Next blog I will finish my review of this book's great lessons.

Marriage Tip - from guyspeak.com, 15 Love Rules For Married Men, edited by my husband, Bruce Miller

1. Treat her right - put her above ALL others (except God) - that includes your children, your parents, and especially above yourself!

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy..." Ephesians 5:25

2. Lend a hand - nothing can get a woman more interested in you physically than helping with house cleaning or child care!

3. Hand Holding - hold her hand often - & if you lose your hands hold elbows!

4. Work at your marriage - marriage is not a noun, it is a verb! "It is not something you get, but it's something you do. It's the way you love your partner every day." Ann Landers

5. Confide cheerfully

6. Don't write off counseling - some smart couples do it preventatively (once a month or once a quarter)

7. Make time for sex (and it starts in the am by treating her right the whole day) - never underestimate the importance if sex to marriage

8. Surprise her! (with your help, with a note or card, with a text, with a suprise date, with a gift or something you made for her, etc. - plan a day of the week you will take a little time and dream/think about her and what she may like to be surprised with - and decide try to suprise her even with something very little once a week, and at least once a month!)

9. Apologize - be the first to say "I'm sorry" or better yet "Please forgive me" or "I was wrong" - even when you're not sorry and you weren't wrong

10. Give her a hug often - hug her every time you come home or she comes home - she loves it!

11. Don't try to change her - better yet change and grow yourself (and pray for God's will and direction for her and you)

12. RESPECT - be respectful to your in-laws (they may not deserve it but your wife does - do it for her!)

13. Be open to changes - people change as years go by an dso do marriages - be flexible!

14. Fight fair!

15. Remind yourself why you love her (and the so many things she means to you, and you could read and memorize some of the Song of Solomon)

You are ALL so very special and loved unconditionally and forever by Jesus! He and his image is are stamped on our hearts - we are God's children ("God" is stamped on us just like "Andy" on the toys in Toy Story)! My thanks and hugs and love and prayers forever for you!

Dr. Lisa

Excel For Life, Eric's Body Weight Exercise Routine, Parenting Tips-The Big Rocks, Prodigal God

2010-07-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Blessings! My family and I were so blessed to have a large Wolf family reunion last weekend! My wonderful Dad is Don Wolf, and his extended family enjoy a reunion the first Saturday in December every year. This year we added another reunion for the 160th anniversary of the Wolf farm and homestead in Fort Wayne, IN. The picture on the left is in front of the house today, and is Ned Wolf (age 79), Maxine Wolf VanHorn (age 88), and Don Wolf (age 81). The picture on the right is their brother George Wolf in front of the house in 1918 (George died 10 years ago at age 82). The top picture shows the whole reunion last weekend, including the house's original tin roof on the very top (160 years old!).

This blog I updated my "For Your Health" sheet to be more concise. If you are feeling bad or having problems in any way, you need to review these aspects of your life and make any needed additions (and if assistance is necessary, seek help from me, family/friends, and especially God). Eric has a great 30 minute aerobic strength training exercise routine (the video is a shortened version performed by your ever thankful doctor - for her outstanding trainer, patients, family, and Lord!). In Family and Faith I reviewed a great hour talk about parenting from last week's North American Christian Conference here in Indy, and my church sermon series on the prodigal son, "Prodigal God".

Excel For Life!

If you are feeling bad or having problems in any way, you need to review these aspects of your life and work hard to make the needed changes or additions! Read my blogs or articles about these topics listed under the Dr. Miller tab on our practice website.

Water - drink 1/2 or your body weight in ounces every day, and extra after exercise

-no other liquid is particularly good for you except green tea (and this only in addition to the water above)

-clears your body of toxins, and helps significantly with pain, fatigue, allergies, sleep, and much more!

Food/Diet - the first four are the healthiest!

Vegetables (rich in vitamins, fiber, and low in fat)- eat a wide variety and at least 3 or more servings/day

Fruits (rich in vitamins, fiber, low in fat)- eat a wide variety and at least 3 or more servings/day

Whole-Grains (rich in fiber, vitamins, and some protein, and low in fat) - rice, oats, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat are the best (gluten in wheat, rye, and barley can cause and worsen many problems in many people) - 3-6 servings/day

Legumes (rich in protein, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, and low in fat)- beans, lentils (seeds from pods, like chickpeas), and peas - eat 2-3 servings/day

Meat & Dairy - best to be organic and range-free (to avoid added hormones and antibiotics and toxins) & Nuts & Seeds (high in fat, rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids)

Common food triggers for migraines, arthritis,allergies, & others = dairy products, wheat, citrus fruits, corn, caffeine, meat, nuts, tomatoes, eggs, great book "Foods That Fight Pain", by Barnard

Exercise - at least 30 minutes aerobic exercise 5 days/week, and weight training 30 minutes twice/week, make sure to plan at least this much in each week - making it a priority like a shower and brushing your teeth, and no TV until you exercise!!!

Quality Supplements - required for our health - our food is often not the healthiest and comes from over-farmed nutrient deplete soil, remember by putting out your weeks worth of vitamins each Sunday (maybe just in a coffee mug in your kitchen)

Vitamin D3 for everyone - at least 1000iu/day in summer and 2000iu/day in winter (and is fat soluble weekly dose can be taken once a week) - for our bones, brain, immune system, cancer prevention, hormones, and more, those with conditions at risk need blood blood test to determine required supplement (may need up to 10,000iu/day)

Omega 3 Fatty Acid for everyone - 700-1000mg/day of EPA/DHA (and up to 4000mg for high cholesterol/triglycerides)- to decrease inflammation and for brain, joint, and cardiovascular health

Quality Multivitamin for everyone - helps give a boost to all vitamins and minerals and helps for energy and cancer prevention - take with iron if pregnant, anemia from iron deficiency, or heavy periods

Calcium especially for all girls and women - a well absorbed common calcium is Citracal w D (calcium citrate) - at least 1/day, and for women at risk and most all smokers 1 in am and 2 in pm (and a better calcium for bone building in those at risk is our Calapatite w MCHC which has more bone specific minerals)

Aspirin 81mg coated - best for everyone over age 60 unless contraindications, and for smokers over age 40

Other Common Vitamins - Vitamin C (1000mg, and doses up to 5000mg/day for short periods) can be added during colds, allergies, antioxidant; Zinc can help the immune system and especially men as they age with their testosterone; Iodine can help thyroid and metabolism

-certain vitamins can be tested in the blood, and I can perform a zinc taste test and Iodine spot test free in our office

Sleep & Balance & Boundaries - at least 7-9 hours sleep/night, and strive for balance in your life and keep your priorities in line each day and even moment (for me mine are God and husband/children first) - our life is like a boat and if you fill it too full of even good things you will sink!

Faith - can give you identity, direction, guidance, power, and all the fruit of the spirit for each day (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control - my prayer for you each day!) - I read a little daily and pray am, meals, and pm, go to church Sunday am, small group Thursday pm w my family, and woman's Bible study Friday am to keep me directed and centered (and often pray and memorize Bible verses during my jogging!)

Maintain your best weight - this helps your blood pressure, cholesterol, mood, endurance, joints, asthma, heart attack and stroke and diabetes and cancer prevention and more!

Tips for weight loss - 2/3 of your plate should be the healthy veggies and fruits (and change your diet to include lots of the first 4 food groups without any added fat), exercise aerobically at least 1/2 hour EVERY day, eat on a smaller plate, eat at least 3 small meals a day and especially don't skip breakfast, do not drink calories (juices have a lot!), don't eat a big meal late and try not to eat after 7pm (can brush your teeth after dinner), eat fruit as a dessert or small amount of dessert/dark chocolate right after meals, drink at least 2 large glasses of water before eating ad eat slowly chewing each bite 20-30 times, journal your food and calories on a good free website or application like http://www.sparkpeople.com/ (and people who journal lose 2x as much weight as those who do not - explains the success of Weight Watchers), 8 calories/lb body weight/day should make you lose a pound a week (and even more with exercise), get a buddy to team with you in your efforts, and strongly consider a gluten free diet (I have a patient Keelan who has lost 50 pounds over the past year on this - she could not lose weight with near perfect adherence to the above directives until eliminating gluten and has so much more energy)

-consider and get help for psychological problems hindering your weight loss (often a history of abuse gives one a fear and avoidance of looking better

-see me or your doctor if you do not have much success after a month of good effort, because you may need thyroid blood tests, a general physical and review of your diet, the above supplements and iodine test, a good trial of a gluten free diet, and some can have extra help by a weight loss medicine Adipex

Body Weight Exercise Routine
By
Eric Walden
This week's workout is another body weight routine. It can be done a couple of different ways. In the video we just stuck to 12 repetitions of every exercise. Twelve repetitions were done on both legs on all single leg movements. The other way is to time yourself and do each exercise for 30 seconds. I like this way better sometimes, because your mind is not stuck on a number and you can just go. Some exercise you may complete more than on others and that is okay. The key is to push yourself.
Jump Squats with a 1/4 turn:
Perform a basic squat touching your finger tips to the ground. This insures that you are going down far enough. The key is to bend the knees and not the just the hips. When you get tired on this exercise most people will just bend over and forget to bend their knees. If you can't perform the jump that is okay too, go ahead and do the 1/4 turn. This helps break up the monotony of the exercise.
Reverse Pull-ups:
I know you all probably think I love this exercise and well...I do! I also like regular pull-ups but most people don't have a pull-up station at home or they can't even do a single repetition. So this is a great alternative to a regular pull-up. This exercise is tough, so use your legs to assist. As you progress and get stronger you can straighten your legs using more of your body weight to perform the exercise. You can even go as far as placing your legs on a bench to get the full effect.
Single Leg Squat:
Use a broom stick or something to help you with balance if you need it. Using a dining room chair is a great gauge for how low you should go. You will have one leg that is a lot stronger than the other. I tell my clients to start with the weaker leg then end with the stronger one. This is more for mental aspect because when you're tired and want to quit the stronger leg will help push you through.
Side Crunches:
A great exercise to work on the "Love Handle" area. To simplify the exercise just use your upper body to crunch. Using the upper and lower body is a harder way of completing the exercise.
Side Lunge to Back Lunge:
On this exercise make sure when performing the side lunge to keep the back leg straight and let the foot fall on its edge. This helps with the transfer of weight to the lunging leg. If you can don't touch your foot when transferring from the side lunge to the back lunge. This helps work on the balance aspect of lunging.
Leg Raises:
Place you hands underneath the small of your back if you have back problems or need some assistance with this exercise. Having your hands out to the side increases the difficulty.
Push-up to side Plank:
Make sure when rolling into the plank that you look at the ceiling. This shifts your body weight to the obliques. If you don't you won't get as much out of the exercise. Ladies you can perform a modified push-up if you want (i.e knees down) then move up to a regular push-up position to perform the side plank.

Keep up the hard work!!! These exercises routines are not easy. So don't stop doing them because they are hard. The more you do them the easier they get and when that happens it means you are getting in better shape.

Also starting August 2nd I am running a Biggest Loser Challenge. I will be running it out of the Cardinal Fitness on 146 and St. Rd. 37. It is 8 weeks long and the cost is $600 per person. It is 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 6 am to 7 am. You do not have to be a member to join the Challenge. Two people may join as one and split the cost and the sessions. Prize to be determined for the greatest percentage lost.

If you have questions please email at eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com or call me at 765-404-7343. I would love to sit down talk with you and help you reach your fitness goals.

Family & Faith

Parenting Tips - from lead minister Randy Garis, from North American Christian Conference

Parenting is made up of hundreds of thousands of interchanges with your children (like sand), but he says if he could do it all over again he would focus & get distracted less on the grains of sand and hang on much tighter to the 2 big rocks... What does your child believe about their own identity? Do you and they know their identity? In Genesis 1, man is made in God's own image - we are made after His (God's) kind and made in His nature, both male and female. I am the shadow of God. Randy related about the toys in Toy Story with the word Andy on them - they were so proud that they were Andy's and knew their identity... We have God stamped on and in us - we are God's! This is the number one thing we need to pass on to our children - the truth about their identity.

Big Rock #1 - You are deeply and unconditionally loved from newborn and forever. You have worth and value just because you exist. You are made in the image of God and are the only thing on this earth that will be eternal. There is nothing you can do or not do to make me love you more or less. You have worth and value just because who you are. You cannot fail and be loved or valued less, and you cannot achieve anything that will make you be loved or valued more. There is nothing you can do to increase or decrease your value and worth. You have value and worth because you are the shadow of God. Repeatedly establishing this in your child makes your child's (and ours) heart so peaceful. Pray over and say to your children this blessing every day.

Big Rock #2 - Because you are deeply loved, you will have grand adventures, great ideas, and live out big dreams. Lift your child's eyes up repeatedly to give them idea of great plans God has for them. There are great adventures and dreams from God to live out and dragons to slay!

No matter what happens or what someone says, then your child's heart and soul are content and solid with these core values. They know to their deepest being that nothing cannot change the value of who they are (example of taking a $100 bill and wad and spit and soil it and it is still worth $100 - because the people who gave it its value still give it its value). Our value was established by someone else, the creator of our universe. Do you now your worth and value? Or do you keep wanting something else and more from the outside world? God tells us you are not bits of plastic or of this world - My name is written on and in you and you are my shadow. Then I give you great dreams and plans to live out!

Our children (and we) all leak, so our children need to be constantly reminded about their identity and God's unconditional love and these 2 big rocks. We and our children need to be around people and church who remind and show us this.

Randy asks these questions...

1. Do you believe these things of the two big rocks about yourself? Do you have unfinished business in your own life you need to work on? Don't use your kids to fill the own whole in your chest-drug user

2. Is your message consistent? He wishes this weren't so - but it takes 20,000 steps to climb a mountain but just 1 step to fall off... Consequences of one bad conversation are profound and can undo a zillion great conversations. Children believe what they feel comes from your deepest emotion - so when you lose your temper or yell or cut them down, they will believe and hold much more from that interaction. We do not have the luxury of bad conversations... We need to many times each day be saying things like - I so love you, You are great kid, I am so happy God honored me by putting you in our house, You are the only child I wanted and couldn't wait to take home from that band performance., I love you forever and no matter what.. Randy states that if these conversations are not common and daily in your house, you are carrying around a lot of your own baggage that you need to work on yourself! Proverbs 12:18 "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

3. Do you believe in their worth and value even though they are very different in temperament and interests than you? Do you really want to get to know them, spend time with them, and value and praise their differences and uniqueness?

4. Do your children believe that you speak more about their worth and value than you do about their failure? And when did you stop saying good boy or bad boy, and instead say good choices or bad choices? (Son, you made a really bad choice AND you mean the world to me and God and we believe in you always)... Say a blessing over your child each day in person or on phone reminding them that they are loved by you and God no matter what, and that they can live out their dreams. This makes sure the big rock always stays big rock, since we continually leak.

5. Have you learned how to really listen? (Draw me the picture of your life today or what happened.) If Randy could do his parenting over again, he would teach less and listen more.

6. Are you emotionally available? If your work, house, hobbies, or TV has kidnapped your emotional availability consistently, you have robbed your children.

Randy encourages us to have people praying for our parenting and have wise experienced parents around to help us. And that we must constantly know ourselves and teach our children about the truth of our identity!

Faith - Prodigal God! - lessons from the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:25-32) about God's amazing grace!, from a 3 part sermon series at my church in June, http://www.tpcc.org/

"prodigal" - means extravagant; reckless; radical

Younger son - radical arrogance - interested only in what he can get, and then is broken and repentant, didn't deserve grace but is model of us all with God's prodigal grace

Older son - radical religious moralism, and felt since he worked he was deserving, impressive on outside but unfinished on inside

The sons father - extravagant and recless grace and is the model and representation of our awesome God, runs to meet his lost son, humbles himself, forgives and restores

Our prodigal God - He wants to be our father, He always forgives and wipes away our sin, He makes us clean and holy and restores us, He will always receive us back, He wants relationship and to wolk with Him, He sees into our hearts, He humbled himself for us

We are saved by grace. Are we prodigal with our grace, and is our default set to grace?..

With my prayers and hugs for you and your family!

Dr. Lisa

Summer Camps for Kids, Asthma, Eric's Dumbbell Complex Routine, Faith

2010-06-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all of you who care for and love our precious children, our treasures from God! I want to lead off with this blog's Parenting Tip - please look into and work your hardest to send your children to a great faith and value-filled summer camp. Their experiences at camp can instill in them such faith and love and values that they will remember and grow from it the rest of their lives (many of our friends in our Life Group with church recall their camp experiences as the closest they have ever felt God). The above picture is from my daughter Annika's 2009 week long camp at Camp Allendale (http://www.camp-allendale.org/) in Trafalgar, IN, and my son Brendan went to the 2010 High School Wilderness Camp with Rainbow Christian Camp (http://www.rainbowcamp.org/) in Converse, IN.

Annika heard about the camp at church, had not stayed away from family before, and did not know anyone going to her camp last year. She had a terrific time, learned so many invaluable life lessons, and this year wants to go to 2 camps - she will attend a camp at Rainbow in July, and Camp Allendale again in August.

Brendan, age 15, did not at all want to go to a camp, but Bruce and I and my former husband Jim were a team together and told him he had to go to the Rainbow High School Wilderness Camp (our trainer Eric had gone to that camp when he was in high school and loved it). After a week in Arkansas with 12 other kids his age (and leader and 2 adult chaperons) canoeing, hiking, and climbing/repelling and with absolutely no electronics (no phones, watches, devices, or books except the Bible), he came home last week telling us of his great times and thanking us for the experience and making him go!...

Asthma

Asthma may develop at any age, although the majority of people are diagnosed in childhood. There is often a strong family history of asthma or allergies. Asthma can be very mild in some people, and vary to the extreme of severe and life-threatening (and even death) in some people.

Definition - a reversible inflammatory disorder of the airways, often triggered by allergen exposure, exercise, and cold air

Diagnosis - is based on 2 key elements

1. History or presence of respiratory symptoms consistent with asthma - wheeze, cough (typically worse at night), and/or shortness of breath (that are better with a bronchodilator like albuterol)

2. The demonstration of variable airflow obstruction (by formal pulmonary function testing or in office or at home peak expiratory flow measurement=peak flow).

Other conditions which may simulate asthma - post nasal drip syndrome (can cause upper airway wheeze-like sounds), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), post-viral cough, habitual/psychological cough, vocal cord dysfunction, panic disorder, cough from ACE inhibitor blood pressure medicines, COPD (emphysema), and congestive heart failure

Treatment & Management

1. Monitoring of patients with asthma - symptom assessment and office/home monitoring with peak flow meters

2. Patient Education - learn how to monitor their symptoms and pulmonary function, and use their medicines

3. Controlling triggers - this can help decrease need for medications, and patients need to be aware and decrease trigger exposure - like allergens at home, workplace, daycare, or school, indoor allergens (dust mites, animal dander, molds, cockroaches) and respiratory irritants (tobacco smoke, wood smoke, cleaning products, perfumes, air pollutants) - consider formal allergy testing

--be aware of conditions that can worsen asthma - like sleep apnea, GERD, obesity, rhinitis/sinusitis, vocal cord dysfunction, and depression/chronic stress, and medicines that can worsen asthma (like blood pressure beta blockers and aspirin in some people)

4. Medicine Treatment - the goal is to minimize symptoms, reduce the chance of bad outcomes (hospitalizations or loss of lung function), and minimize adverse effects from medicines

-inhaled medicines can be taken in metered dose inhalers (some can be used with a spacer for younger children) and in aerosolized nebulizer breathing treatments

Treatment depends upon the asthma severity- from intermittent asthma (symptoms less than 2 days/week, and usually just needing a rescue inhaler=short acting bronchodilator as needed), mild persistent asthma (symptoms greater than 2 days/week-usually treated with a low dose inhaled cortisone or Singulair), moderate persistent asthma (symptoms daily-usually treated with a medium dose inhaled cortisone and long acting bronchodilator or Singulair), and severe persistent asthma (symptoms throughout the day - usually treated with a high dose inhaled cortisone with long acting bronchodilator and Singulair, and often additional medicines)

Rescue Inahlers - short acting bronchodilators

- all asthma patients need to have one available when/if needed for cough/wheeze/shortness of breath flares, and can be used a maximum of 4x/day for not longer than 1 week, and if needed 4x/day for more than 1 day you must see your physician

- only brand name metered dose inhalers are now available in the U.S. because of regulations that they need to be ozone friendly - Proventil HFA, Ventolin HFA, ProAir HFA, and Xopenex HFA, the least expensive available is a small size Ventolin HFA which you can get only at Walmart and Target pharmacies, and if needed due to cost, you can get generic ones at www.medisave.ca

- generic albuterol solution is available for nebulizers (and brand name Xopenex is also available for nebulizers)

Daily Controller Medicines

Inhaled Glucocorticoid (cortisone)-the most potent anti-inflammatory agents available for asthma treatment, and rinsing the mouth is required after using to avoid developing thrush/yeast infections

-Flovent

-Pulmicort

-Qvar

-Asmanex

-Azmacort and AeroBid

Inhaled Glucocorticoids with Long Acting Bronchodilators

-Advair (available in a powder round inhaler, or HFA inhaler)

-Symbicort

Long Acting Bronchodilators-must be used only along with a cortisone inhaler

-Serevent

-Foradil

Leukotriene Receptor Antagonists-these decrease infammation and bronchoconstriction

-Singulair

-Accolate

Chromones-decrease the early stages of asthmatic response/infammation

-Cromolyn (availabe in inhaler and nebulizer)

Theophylline-has both bronchodilatory and antiinflammatory properties, but can have irritating and serious side effects, and requires blood tests to keep the blood level adequate (want 5-15mcg/ml)

Oral Glucocorticoids(cortisone) - a short 7-10 day course can be required for asthma flares, or rarely for long term asthma control

Eric's Fitness - Dumbbell Complex Routine

by Eric Walden

eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com

http://www.waldospersonaltraining.com/

Family & Faith

Marriage Tips - from "Red Hot Monogamy" - Couples need T.I.M.E. together. Below if what the authors feel you need as a minimum time commitment you should have with your spouse just to maintain your relationship:

Ten to Twenty minutes to talk together ALONE every day.

Invest in a weekly date night (or date lunch or breakfast) together for at least 4 hours (takes a couple hours to emotionally connect and leave some time for love making).

Make a Monthly "day away" policy. At least once a month spend 8-12 uninterrupted hours together to reconnect. You can spend time doing things you BOTH enjoy (exercising, relaxing, errands, etc.) and be sure to have the house or your bedroom alone for some red-hot monogamy during this special time together.

Escape quarterly (or at least biannually) for a 48 hour weekend, and you can keep a special marriage treasure box to save up money for your special times together.

Faith

Lessons so far from my woman's Bible study - we are doing Beth Moore's "Esther - It's Tough Being a Woman"

+It's tough being a woman in another woman's shadow... Esther trusted in God's providence and followed Him and worked to fulfill her God-given destiny.

+It's tough being a woman in a world where beauty is a treatment... We must understand and believe in God's teaching that true beauty is incorruptible - it is the beauty of our heart dedicated to God. Beth keeps an index card on her nightstand with 3 verses that she reads almost daily to remember and claim this beauty from God - Col. 2:10, Song of Solomon 7:10, and Psalm 90:17.

+It's tough being a woman in a mean world... Beth discusses that meanness always has a history, always perceives a threat, catches like a virus, but is curable through our Lord -Romans 12:17-21 - do not repay evil with evil, but do what is right and live in peace, do not take revenge but leave this to God's wrath, and "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Prodigal God - understanding our reckless extravagant God of grace and the core of the gospel, based on the teaching in Luke 15. My church, Trader's Point Christian Church, just finished a 3 week sermon series on this, and I will review in my next blog.

My prayer - God please give me zero tolerance for meanness, and quit competition. Thank you that we never have to measure up, since Christ took this for us all on the cross. Thank you that I am already accepted by God with all my brokenness, and am inspired to follow Jesus!

Hugs, Dr. Lisa

Healthy Gluten-Free & Organic Food Tips, Dr. Lisa in Eric's Max Workout, Sons

2010-06-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

Happy 80th Birthday Mom!

My wonderful Mom, Virginia Wolf celebrates her 80th birthday this summer! Most of the women in our family got together last weekend to celebrate by eating and shopping well, and staying overnight together at a downtown hotel (my Mom and most of my family live in Fort Wayne, IN). We thank God for an awesome time together, and I cried at the end of the weekend - we will just have to do again soon! The top picture is a photoshop pic my daughter Christina made for the party including the immediate women in our family (daughters, granddaughters, and 2 great-granddaughters), and the bottom one is after dinner last Saturday night. (And I am so happy that I was able to take my thumb splint off last week!)

This article I will write about tips from my patients Shelly and Karen and my husband Bruce on how to switch to gluten-free and organic (Shelly switched 2 months ago and feels so much better and finally can lose weight - has lost 10 pounds with the same amount of exercise and no more irritable bowel/stomach/colon issues that she had for years; and Karen just switched a month ago and has lost 6 pounds and has less fibromyalgia/migraine pain). Eric made a video of me doing the Maximum Effort workout. Please call him if you need an excellent personal trainer (and Purdue grad like me) - he has some openings now (eric_walden@waldopersonaltraining.com, 765-404-7343). He and my son Brendan are gone this coming week at Rainbow Christian Camp - their high school out of state trip - canoeing and caving and hiking (Eric as an adult chaperone!).

Healthy Gluten-Free & Organic Food Tips

From my patient Shelly

"First I would like to share a website http://www.gnowfglins.com/, which stands for God's Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season. And I have found a great book by Alicia Silverstone; "The Kind Diet", which is a vegetarian diet but also a wonderful source of information. This book explains how food is processed and where it comes from. Through my journey I have learned a great deal regarding the sources of our food. Which is why I have chosen to try to buy organically and locally. I have not taken the plunge to become a vegetarian, and in the book it talks about the superhero diet--which is pretty extreme. I have cut out all red meat and pork but I still eat chicken and turkey. I also suggest watching "Food, Inc" (you can borrow it from the library or watch it on youtube). The documentary goes behind the scenes into our countries farms and processing plants. I was horrified at what I learned. I will only buy meat that is cage free, hormone free and no antibiotics. My local Farmers Market has a variety of local meats and also Trader Joe's is a great place too.

So Here is a typical day for me:

Morning--Atkins shake and take all my vitamins & supplements

2hrs later--piece of fruit & a small amount of nuts (almonds are best)

Lunch--Cup of Greek Yogurt with fresh blackberries and blueberries

afternoon snack--fruit and vegetable smoothie

Supper--grilled tilapia with steamed zucchini and wild rice and mushrooms

dessert--a small piece of 70% dark chocolate. (I use the darkest chocolate I can find for my sweet cravings)

When I am on the go I always have with me nuts, dried fruit, strips from Trader Joe's (no sugar added) and plenty of water. I Never eat at Fast Food Restaurants!!!!!!! Brown rice noodles and corn noodles are good pasta, but need to be made al dente (otherwise they get mushy faster than those made with wheat).

When planning to go out to eat, I look up on the web for restaurants have gluten free menus. I also have an Iphone which helps with planning while I'm out. Also for Grocery shopping I have a Gluten App that is full of ingredient of info. I have cut out all high fructose corn syrup, processed sweeteners, artificial flavorings and preservatives. It takes longer at the grocery store but it is worth it. A great cookbook is "1000 Gluten-Free Recipes" by Carol Fenster, and she also has several other books about how to go gluten-free.

This journey has been a wonderful experience with guidance from our Lord. I have never felt this good about taking care of my body and family!! My health has improved by leaps and bounds!!!!! and I no longer suffer everyday with stomach pain. My girls are now more aware of the kinds of food they are eating and making great choices independently!!!!!! I can't thank you enough for opening this door for me. I do believe that God surrounds us with his love through relationships. He can take care of our needs if we surrender!!! Thank you!!!!

Shelly"

Tips From Karen - these are gluten free foods she has liked - Edward & Sons (Brown Rice Snaps), Gen Soy (Soy Crisps), Annie Chun's (Black Pearle Rice, Sprouted Brown Rice, Multigrain Rice - are good with chicken, veggies, and a little toasted sesame oil), Cream of Rice, Blue Diamond Natural (Almond Breeze Vanilla Unsweetened), Moody Meats (http://www.moodymeat.com/)

Tips from Bruce, my husband

-we all love the great food delivered weekly by Farm Fresh Delivery, and you can easily choose each week online what you want with even added things like meat and milk/cheese from Trader's Point Creamery, coffee, and many gluten free products (http://www.farmfreshdelivery.com/)

-from Costco, Crunchmaster Multigrain Crackers - gluten free

-plant your own garden, and we even have strawberries in our front flower bed

-a local woman from Labanon, Victoria Wessler writes a blog about growing and buying local organic foods, http://www.goinglocal-info.com/, and a couple other links, http://www.localharvest.org/, and http://www.indychef.blogspot.com/ (and from Costco magazine, http://www.celiacdiseasecenter.org/, and www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319, http://www.rockli.com/ )

Eric's Fitness Tips: Max Cardio Workout with Dr. Miller!

Family & Faith

Marriage Tips - from "Simple Secrets Couples Should Know", by Bob & Emilie Barnes

Secrets to Romancing Your Wife

*Help your wife wash her hair.

*Cuddle up in front of a roaring fireplace (no TV, no children, and no phone)

*Bring home and watch her favorite movie.

*Write "I love you" on the bathroom mirror with a piece of soap.

*Take your wife's car to be serviced.

*Call your wife from work just to tell her you love her.

*Give your wife a kiss and thank her for all she does to make home so warm and fun.

*Write down five things you love and appreciate about your wife. Sign and date it, and then give it to her. She'll love it.

Secrets to Romancing Your Husband

*Write your husband a thank-you note just for being him-self. Place it under his pillow.

*Fly a kite together.

*Wash and vacuum his car until it sparkles like new.

*Recognize his sock and underwear drawer.

*Wash and iron his dress shirts that need attention.

*Give him a shoulder, neck, and back rub.

*Shine his dress shoes.

*Run an errand for him today.

*Take his clothes to the cleaners.

*Surprise him with tickets to a game or a movie that he'll enjoy.

Parenting Tips for Boys - from "Bringing Up Boys", by Dobson

Father & Sons - pray diligently for your sons and daughters; read the first 5 chapters of Proverbs, where King Solomon gives fatherly advice to his son

Modeling- "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one." Boys watch their dad intently, noting every minor detail of behavior and values. If a dad is honest, trustworthy,caring, loving, self-disciplined, and God-fearing, then his boys will be influenced by those traits as they age. He needs to be an oak tree - a man of strength and integrity. Your boys and girls need to see you doing what is right, especially when it is inconvenient to do so.

Specific Instructions - dads need to transmit to their sons, especially about girls and women - Tell your son he may never hit a girl under any circumstance; he must protect girls if they are threatened; he should walk on the outside of the sidewalk near the car; he must open doors for girls and women and help them with their coat; teach him to stand in formal situations when a woman leaves the room or table and when she returns; on a date he must knock on the front door and introduce himself and shake hands with eye contact-be the initiators of dates-pay for her food; and stress sexual abstinence and a very very slow progression of physical touch-tell your son not to take anything that doesn't belong to him ESPECIALLY the moral purity of a woman - sexual morality is not just right and proper: it is one of the keys to a healthy marriage and family life. If a man treats a woman like a lady, she will respect him and treat him like a man.

"I strongly urge fathers to tell their teenage and college age boys that girls are incurable romantics, and that it will not be enough for them as husbands to be successful in their professional pursuits. If they are going to have strong marriages and families, they must reserve time and energy for the marital relationship, talking together and treating each other as sweethearts."

Mothers and Sons

Moms need to reach out and physically touch their boys if they want to get their attention, and give messages in short bursts. Boys, just like most men, are not listening much of the time! The quality of early relationships between boys and their mothers is a powerful predictor of lifelong psychological and physical health. Spend time developing the bond between mother and child in the preschool years. Then in the school age years the presence of parents is very beneficial at four key times during the day - early morning, after school, dinnertime, and bedtime. When that regular contact is combined with other shared activities between parents and kids, the most positive outcome is achieved. Adolescents whose parents ate dinner with them 5 times per week or more are the least likely to be on drugs, depressed, or in trouble with the law. Parental involvement is key, and family mealtimes continue to be great settings in which to impart the truths of our faith. As the blessings of the day are recounted, children see evidence of God's loving faithful care and then importance of honoring Him with times of thanks.

Dr. Dobson also encourages us moms to facilitate the access of children to their father, and for us to talk regularly with our sons. Work hard at keeping the lines of communication open. Explore what your children and spouse are thinking and feeling. Especially seek out and target your boys, because they can often be concealing a cauldron of emotion.

Faith

Psalm 63:6

"I think about you before I go to sleep, and my thoughts turn to you during the night." (- and I will rest more peacefully!)

Remember to go to bed praising God for His goodness. This lays the groundwork for gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise in the morning. Recalling His goodness motivates you to trust Him for the future, to be honest and admit your need for Him, and gives you hope for the day to come, and helps you turn to Him quickly no matter what may arise.

With my hugs and prayers for all you so very special wonderful gifts from our Lord and for your families,

Dr. Lisa

Eric's Max Effort Workout, Adrenal DHEA Hormone, Raising Sons & Daughters

2010-05-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!

This is my daughter Annika and my nephew Sheriff Bryce Wolf in Annika's third grade class last week. My deepest thanks to him for teaching her class about his profession and answering all their many questions on his day off! (And my deepest thanks to Annika's terrific teacher Mrs. Hunter and to all our wonderful dedicated teachers. Please help them out and help in school as much as you can!) Annika was the student of the week last week in her class and was allowed to invite a guest speaker. Bryce was her 1st choice, and she feels his job is much more interesting than any of her parent's jobs!

Are you aerobically exercising at least a half hour 5 days a week? Are you watching any TV or non work related activities on your computer? Then you have plenty of time to do the aerobic exercise. God gave you a wonderful body and you need to exercise and care well for it! Do not turn on the TV or computer until you have exercised. You must make exercise a priority and plan each week ahead to accomplish it... You and your health will thank you! Eric gives a great workout routine below that he planned and had me and my husband and son do last week when he trained us (and there is another great routine that he filmed me doing on my blog last month that you can alternate between). I recommend you calling Eric to hire him (or another excellent trainer like him) to get you started well and keep you going!

Eric's Fitness Tips

Max Effort Work out
By
Eric Walden

Here is a great workout that takes only about 20 minutes. It is a max effort workout. Meaning you only do each exercise once, but you leave nothing left in the tank after each one. Make sure to record the number of reps you do for each exercise. This way you can keep track of your progress. At the bottom I will put some alternative exercises. The only equipment you may need is a pull up bar. These are easily purchased at Wal-Mart or Target for $20, the kind that goes in the doorway. Keep a water bottle handy during this one, I told Lisa to keep the cap off too for easy access. This one is just as much about the heart muscle as it is about the muscles you are working.
I have room for new clients over the summer. So please email me or call to set up an appointment. eric_walden@waldospersonaltraining.com or 765-404-7343

Each exercise is to be done for 50 seconds. All out effort is required. You get 10-15 seconds rest in between each exercise.

Max Effort Workout
Date & Reps - journal the date and # of reps to chart your and even your family progress!
1. Pull ups
2. Prisoner Squat with Jump
3. Mountain Climber
4. Jump Lunges
5. Clap Push-ups
6. Bicycle crunches
7. Dips
8. Lunge Front to Back
9. Side Crunch with leg raise
10. Burpees

1. Pull-ups – self explanatory, but there is a way to this without a pull-up bar. Using a broom stick place the broom on two chairs leaving a gap in between the chairs. Lying flat on the ground line your chest up with the broom. Then using an overhand grip grab the broom. Keep your body tight pull yourself up so your chest touches the broom. The key here is keep your abs engaged to keep your body straight.
2. Stand with feet shoulder width apart and clasp hands behind the head, squat down and upon rising jump. It doesn’t have to be an all out jump, just jump.
3. In a push-up position jump feet in and out keep your hands in place. The key here is keeping your hips down. If the hips rise it takes away from the exercise.
4. Basically doing a normal lunge but upon standing back up you are jumping and while in the air move feet from front to back and vice versa. For first time clients I let them hold onto a bar for additional help.
5. Do a normal push up but thrust your body in the air and clap and return hands to position be for you fall. If you can’t do clap push-ups do regular push-ups. I had Lisa’s husband us a bosu ball and as he came up he pulled the bosu off the ground. Still getting the impact of a clap push up but less dangerous.
6. Bicycle crunches- everyone has done these. Make sure the breath on this one. I tend to hold my breath when doing this particular exercise.
7. Dips- You can use a bench or even a chair to perform this exercise.
8. Lunge front to back- this is a stationary lunge, but instead of just going forward, use the same foot and do a front lunge as you stand up swing you leg behind you and do a backward lunge. Use the same leg for 50 seconds then switch legs.
9. Side Crunch- staying on your side crunch up and bring your knees up to your elbow. It takes a little coordination to perform this exercise.
10. Burpee- From a standing position squat down placing hands in a push-up position and jump both legs back into a full push- up position then jump both legs back to the front then stand up. Repeat.

Adrenal Hormone Natural Supplement DHEA

DHEA is secreted by the adrenal glands (small glands above the kidneys which secrete many of our hormones). It is the precursor for the synthesis of more than 50 hormones, including estrogen and testosterone. DHEA has also been shown to stimulate the production of insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a hormone which stimulates anabolic metabolism, accerates muscle growth, inmproves insulin sensitivity, and enhances energy production.

Production of DHEA peaks during the mid-20s, and then begins a progresive steady decline with age, and declines with increased stress. Low levels have been in some reports associated with common diseases of aging (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis), loss of muscle mass, memory/mood/energy problems, vaginal dryness, and decreased libido/sexual dysfunction,\ among other things.

I consider checking DHEA blood levels in patients with hormone problems/issues or patients with chronic nonspecific problems (especially chronic fatigue). When cost of the test is an issue, I often recomend a trial of this inexpensive supplement. The most common dose is 5-10 mg dissolved under the tongue or vaginally. The uses I especially consider DHEA for are decreased libido, decreased energy/mood, and vaginal dryness.

Family and Faith

Parenting

Daughters -"MOM'S Everything Book for Daughters" by Becky Freeman

Chapter "Beauty at What Price?"

We need to constantly remind ourselves and especially our daughters that God made us each uniquely beautiful exactly the way we are and there is not another girl exactly like us! The right guy when we are dating will be attracted to our inner and outer beauty at the right time without any premeditated sexy moves. Hollywood and our culture images of beauty in women are not real and are psychologically dangerous to girls, so limit as much as possible those TV, computer, or magazine images. What can you do to help your daughter feel good about herself physically?

-focus on what is important - values, character, and behaviour - much more than looks

-don't communicate your own weight concerns with your daughter

-let her know weight gai during puberty is not only natural but important for healthy development (and regular periods)

-keep your coments positive and realistic

-stress health and fitness as a family (don't single just one child out) - eat regular healthy meals, have healthy foods and snacks, eat (slowly) when hungray and stop when you are full, and exercise daily

-have no tolerance for teasing

-appropriately touch and hug our daughters as we verbally approve of their iner and outer beauty

-remember even our very pretty girls are insecure

"Tell your daughter that, "You are lovely and, truly , your beauty is a pleasure to behold. But I want you to read this line from Marmie and know that what I most cherish in you is the beauty you carry inside your heart. And these are the things God cherishes most in you as well.""

One of the most profound statements mother can make to her daughter comes from the movie "Little Women" when Marmie is combing her daughter's lovely hair, "I only care what you think of yourself. If you feel your value lies in bing merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that's all you really are. Time erodes all such beauty. But what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind - your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are the things I cherish so in you."

Write this quote out for your daughter on a pretty piece of paper in very nice handwriting or nice font from your computer, and suggest she keep it somewhere where she can read it often or at least occasionally!

Memory verse to have her w

rite out or type as a reminder of her truest, innermost beauty, 1Peter 3:3-4, "Don't be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on jewelry, or beautiful clothes, or hair arrangement. Be beautiful inside, in your hearts, with the lasting charm of a gentle and quiet spirit which is so precious to God."

Sons - next blog!

Faith

Remember His greatest comandment is to LOVE - the joys in our lives as well as the testy's, foes, and fars. If I (or you) harbor any resentment or hatred toward just one individul in the world, by that much I am separated from God... Phillip Yancy says in his book "What's so Amazing About Grace", that we only love Jesus as much as we love the person we like the least...

With my hugs and prayers,

Dr. Lisa

Constipation, Eric's Tips for Exercise with Bad Knees, A Weekend to Remember, Faith and Parenting Daughters and Sons

2010-05-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day and May and Indy 500 Month!

I was so very blessed last Sunday to have 4 of my children (missed you Easton and your 2 Frenchies!) and Bruce and I in a park with a terrific photographer Liz Kaye. I love enjoying God's beauty, family, and taking pictures, so it was a perfect Mother's Day for me - thank your family and Liz! Liz has such great talent and specializes in dog and puppy photography, and families along with them! She is always looking for dogs and puppies to photograph (and with the owners permission submits them to calendar, magazine, and greeting card companies) and owners/families if desired. If you, too, are interested in having your special pet photographed, contact Liz at 317-357-5785, http://www.lizkaye.com/. We all had a wonderful afternoon in the park together!

I want to thank all my so very special patients for giving me the honor of caring for you and learning and sharing from you! I will summarize the frequent problem of constipation and "A Weekend to Remember" for marriage, and begin to share insights from 2 good books on parenting boys and girls. I love to learn and read, and await my patient Shelly's tips on a gluten free diet to share with you soon (she feels so much better and has lost 15# in not quite 2 months). My thumb is still bothering me with swelling and pain and a splint, so I am sorry my blogs are a little late (I know it will heal in time, and now I know what a broken bone is like)!

Lab tip from my patient Andrea (for people with a large deductible or no insurance)- LabCorp at 75th and Shadeland has many less expensive/cheap lab tests available even without an order, like a 14 panel test including blood sugar, cholesterol, liver enzymes for $27 plus a $10 draw fee (needs to be paid at the time of draw). The website is http://www.labcorp.com/, and phone # is 317-577-5820.

Constipation

Constipation refers to a change in bowel habits - stools may be too hard or too small, difficult to pass or infrequent (less than 3 times/week), and people may notice a frequent need to strain and a sense bowels are not completely empty. The prevalence of constipation in the U.S. varies between 2 – 27%, and is more common in women, people with less physical activity, and those over 60 (with 26% of men and 34% of women reporting constipation). I will first discuss constipation in adults and then in children.

Adults
Many factors can contribute to constipation, although in most people no single cause can be found. The most common contributing cause is poor dietary fiber and water and magnesium intake and lack of physical activity. Other causes can be systemic disorders (such as hypothyroidism and diabetes), neurologic or obstructive intestinal disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or commonly as a side effect of medicines (especially pain medicines). You can usually treat constipation at home, but come to see me if the problem is new and lasts longer than 2-3 weeks, is severe, or is associated with concerning things such as blood on the toilet paper, weight loss, fevers, or weakness.

Treatment includes changing some behaviors, eating foods high in fiber (lots of healthy vegetables, fruits, and beans), taking magnesium, drinking plenty of water, and natural supplements or laxatives/enemas if needed.

Behavior changes – The bowels are most active following meals. This is the time when stools pass more readily, so pay close attention and go to the bathroom when you get the signal (and a small amount like a cup of coffee can be helpful). Ignoring your body’s signals to have a bowel movement can make the signals weaker over time.

Increase fiber (at least 25-30 grams/day) and water (at least ½ of your body weight in ounces/day) – Eating at least 5-10 servings of healthy fruits and vegetables/day and legumes/beans is very helpful for constipation and required for the best health. Often grains, especially wheat, are not the best because gluten intolerance is an alarmingly increasing problem and grains can interfere with your body’s magnesium absorption.

Magnesium as a nutrient not a laxative (anyone with kidney disease should not take magnesium supplements without consulting your kidney specialist) – Adequate magnesium levels in the body cause water to be drawn into the colon, where it softens the stool for easy passage, and magnesium acts as a natural stimulant on bowel muscles (magnesium is beneficial to the body in many other ways for energy production, proper insulin use, heart rhythm and blood pressure, and overall feeling of calm). Magnesium is in high concentration in green plants, and are best eaten properly cooked (not overcooked!) or raw. Also, if we were eating our meats from animals grazing on open pastures of grasses and herbage, these meats would have substantial amounts of magnesium.

For adults to determine your effective magnesium dose, start with 150-200mg after dinner, and can increase it by 150-200mg every 2-3 days until your stools are regular (most people find their effective dose between 400-1200mg/day). If you start having loose stools, then gradually decrease your dose. Remember that during stress your body uses up more magnesium, so you may require more during those times. Also, you may need more magnesium when eating dairy foods from cow milk (contains the sticky protein casein).

Magnesium aspirate (the one we carry at our office) or citrate in capsular forms are the most absorbable forms of magnesium, and very good when in combination with vitamin B6 in a well absorbed multivitamin in capsular form (like our Orthomolecular Alpha Base) or B complex vitamin. The best most well absorbed vitamins are almost always in capsular forms, and you need also to check the contents (see “How to Pick Out Vitamins and Supplements” on the 2nd page of my “For Your Health” article accessed under “Resources” on our home page). Be very wary of drugstore or discount store vitamins and supplements which are often very poorly absorbed and poor quality, and get your vitamins and supplements from a trusted informed place like our office or quality health food store (and still check the contents or bring in at your next visit with me to check).

Aloe Lite (supplement at our office) – take one daily (and can take up to two) containing 150mg/capsule aloe vera (anti-inflammatory for the digestive tract helping constipation and even diarrhea/irritable bowel), slippery elm (soothes digestive tract mucosa), and stone root (can help shrink and decrease inflammation of hemorrhoids)

Laxatives – You usually will not need any of these by following the above, but if you do, here are the categories.

Bulk forming Laxatives – Psyllium (Metamucil, Perdiem), Methycellulose (Citrucel), Calcium Polycarbophil (FibeCon, Fiber-Lax), Wheat Dextrin (Benefiber) – Increase these slowly to prevent gas and bloating, and always take with at least 16 ounces of water.

Hyperosmolar Laxatives – Polyethylene Glycol(MiriLax, GlycoLax), Lactulose prescription generic medicine and Sorbitol (these produce more gas and bloating than polyethylene glycol).
Saline Laxatives – these act similar to the hyperosmolar laxatives and include Milk of Magnesia and Evac-Q-Mag.

Stimulant Laxatives – include senna (Ex-Lax, Senokot, Flether’s Castoria) and bisacodyl (Correctol, Dulcolax) – overuse can cause side effects such as low potassium

Stool softeners – less side effects but less effective than laxatives – docusate (Colace)

Enemas – sodium phoasphate/biphosphate (Fleet) can be used and work quickly but are not recommended for people with kidney or heart problems, and hydrogen peroxide enemas should be avoided due to extreme colon lining irritation

Others – mineral oil (prolonged use can decrease absorption of nutrients or hurt the lungs if vomited), a prescription medicine Amitiza, or other natural products

Children
Complaints of constipation from children should not be ignored. If the opportunity for early intervention is missed, complications can quickly occur such as worsening constipation, stool withholding and fecal soiling, anal fissures, and even fecal impaction. The times when constipation are most likely to occur include: introduction of solid foods or cow’s milk/dairy, toilet training, and school entry.

Transition to solid diet – Ensure adequate fiber in fruits and vegetables (about 20grams/day in toddlers and young children) and adequate water (about 1 ounce per pound body weight in toddlers and children). Limit cow’s milk to less than 24 ounces/day.

Toilet training – Ensure the potty seat provides appropriate foot support and leverage for elimination, and that your child’s diet has adequate fiber and water and not too much cow’s milk/dairy. Once stool withholding behavior has begun, it can only be reversed by making the stools soft and passage pain-free. If your child just does not like having a bowel movement on a potty after your best encouragement and instruction, you may need to use a glycerin small child suppository to encourage them. (I had to do this with one of my children, and it only took one suppository to then encourage that child to regularly use the potty!)

School entry – Some children do not want to have a stool at school or do not have enough time, so they withhold their stools. Make sure to occasionally ask about their bowel movements, especially in young school age children. The best time to have a bowel movement as discussed above is usually following meals and paying attention to your body signals.

Treatment
In infants less than 1 year – Addition of indigestible osmotically active carbohydrates to the formula – increasing the dose as needed to induce a daily bowel movement. This includes sorbitol-containing juices or purees (for babies who have started solids) – apple, prune or pear. Barley cereal may e substituted for rice cereal, and soy formulas may be tried. Glycerin suppositories or rectal stimulation with a lubricated rectal thermometer can be used occasionally if there is very hard stool in the rectum (but not used frequently).

Older children – Ensure adequate fiber and water and you may need to eliminate cow’s milk/dairy. Children unwilling to consume adequate dietary fiber may need daily fiber supplement (as described under adults, but 20 grams/day for early childhood and 30 grams/day for adolescent girls and 40 for boys). An occasional does of laxative may be needed, or an enema if a child has not had a bowel movement for several days and cannot pass a stool.

Eric's Fitness Tips

By:Eric Walden

Older Adults Continued - pictures to come soon

In February we started a series for older adults and I want to continue that series for a little while longer. I want to go over a couple of exercise routines for bad or achy knees. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to with bad knees. It doesn’t matter the age or gender. It seems that everyone has achy joints. So I want give you some solid solutions to working around and strengthening the knee joints.

When addressing a client with knee problems I always ask if they have had any surgeries. Most people tell me no, but they follow it up with my doctor tells me it is going to be replaced. I say okay what have you done since then to strengthen the muscles around the knee. The answer is almost always nothing. Sometimes the answer is I have tried different stuff but my knees just ache so I quit. I honestly love both of these answers, because this opens the door for me to be able to try a variety of different exercise routines with them. When a client has tried but given up on exercises I usually find that they only tried it once or twice. Now there are always exceptions. Another reason I love working with clients with “problems” is because I enjoy figuring out how to help with work around the pain. By “working around” the pain I mean working different ranges of motion (ROM). Most leg machines have a ROM adjustment. Typically this adjustment isn’t shown in an orientation; mainly it gets very confusing to the new member. But look for one. I’ll give some examples here and hopefully paint a good picture for you. Plus I will post a couple of pictures as well to help. Not all machines are the same, so there will be some varying adjustments depending on the type of machine that is being used.

Leg Extension Machine:

Toning Strengthening

Sets: 3 3

Reps: 12-15 6-8 add more weight

Adjustments:

The pad should be just above the tongue of your shoe. A ROM adjustment would be that you feet are starting out underneath you. This can usually be adjusted to start out farther so your feet don’t go behind you so much in the down position. Typically the user straightens their legs straight out raising the pad up. The top part can sometimes be adjusted as well to stop the user from going all the way up.

I will start a client off with the full ROM and adjust it to a shorter ROM depending on how they are feeling (ie. Pain level). I let the client tell me how they are feeling then I adjust the ROM to keep them out of a ROM of pain. For example say the client bends their legs and their feet are underneath them, but that position hurts. I will adjust the ROM so the legs don’t bend so far back in the down position. Then I will have them do a few more reps to see if this ROM hurts. I will do this until I find a pain free ROM. The same holds true for the top position. If pain is present at the top I adjust so they client doesn’t raise

the pad to the top position.

Leg Curl Machine: seated or lying

Toning Strengthening

Sets: 3 3

Reps: 12-15 6-8 add more weight

Adjustments:

The same holds true here as well as the leg extension. It doesn’t matter if it the seated or lying machine. If at any point of a full ROM there is pain adjust the machine so there is none. On this machine it is usually the start position that hurts most people. This machine tends to “hyperextend” the knee when starting. I personally love the stretch it gives my tendons when I start this machine. I don’t leave my legs there more than 10 seconds though. Typically you can adjust this so you start with your knees slightly bent. I personally prefer the lying leg curl machine. I feel like my hamstrings getting a workout. Plus I can do single leg sets easier from this position as well.

Leg Press:

Toning Strengthening

Sets: 3 3

Reps: 12-15 6-8 add more weight

Adjustments:

This one is the easiest to adjust. The ideal starting point for a leg press is the knees bent to 90 degrees. Now some people can’t get down to 90 degrees because of how big their bellies are or because of bad knees. Go down as far as possible to start. Use a full ROM for a few reps and see how your knees feel. If there is pain stop above or below where the pain is located.

Lunge:

Toning Strengthening

Sets: 3 3

Reps: 12-15 6-8 add more weight- ie. dumbbells

Adjustments:

You don’t have to go all the way down for this exercise to be effective. I like to put first timers or my “knee” pain clients in a squat rack with the bar set at waist level. The bar is to hold onto while performing the lunge. This is an aide to the lunge. As you go down hold onto the bar and if the movement becomes difficult use your arms to help pull you up. I have a current client that needs a ton of help doing this exercise but it is so effective in strengthening the quadriceps muscles. It has helped improve her stair climbing ability and walking distance.

Adductor/Abductor:

Toning Strengthening

Sets: 3 3

Reps: 12-15 6-8 add more weight

Adjustments:

There aren’t any adjustments that will help the knees are these two exercises. They are however two great exercises for strengthening the out and inner legs. Any exercise that helps with strengthening of the upper leg is going to be key in keeping the knees from aching.

This routine is a very simple straight forward leg routine. If you get anything out of this article I hope it is that you can still do a variety of exercises and work around the pain.

As summer gets closer I know a lot of people will be hitting the walking trails and getting out more. Remember to keep lifting weights even through the summer. You don’t want to lose what you have gained in the winter months (muscle that is). I currently have some openings for anyone who would want to do some personal training as well. This is a good time as any to use a trainer to help get you going on the right foot. Check out my website for more information and my email. http://www.waldospersonaltraining.com/

Family and Faith

"A Weekend to Remember", from Family Life - this June 4-6th downtown at the Indianapolis Marriott-sign up at www.familylife.com to spend needed time and continuing education for your marriage! Below is my summary from the seminar last June 2009...

Family and Faith “A Weekend to Remember” Marriage Retreat (http://www.familylife.com/) This is a marriage, life, and family changing terrific Christian marriage retreat. My husband Bruce and I so learned, discovered, enjoyed, and were renewed by attending this conference! It is tremendous and life/marriage changing to take the time to focus on each other and learn to love your spouse better the way they want to be loved.
I strongly encourage you to spend the time and effort on each your marriage and family legacy to attend this or a similar marriage enrichment conference. Your spouse is your gift from God!

The topics covered were:

Why Marriages Fail - due to difficult adjustments (differing backgrounds, motivations, expectations), culture's pattern of 50/50 (vs God's encouraging oneness, giving 100%, looking at self), inevitable difficulties (need plan so will not drive apart), extramarital "affairs" (work, kids, activities/business, materialism, fantasy/porn, infidelity, isolation), and selfishness
Can We Talk – helping communication w a project - how can we understand our spouse (and NOT how we can get them to do what we want), LISTEN/repeat back/ask more questions
Unlocking the Mystery of Marriage - Our spouse is our gift from God
God's purpose for oneness -- to mirror God's image, mutually complete one another, multiply a Godly legacy with your children, keep away Satan (no secrets, work on yourself /struggles and be willing to hear feedback about yourself, be more dependent upon God)
From How to Wow - God's plan for oneness and a project (writing each other a love letter) -- Leave (establish independence from parents), Cleave (establish commitment to one another), Become one flesh (establish intimacy with one another) - this can be very difficult due to our differences, weaknesses, and self-centeredness
-we need to celebrate differences and help in each other's weaknesses
What Every Marriage Needs - God's power for oneness -- establish a relationship with God, experience an ongoing relationship with God together (read bible, pray together and individually, church home, time w other Christians/small group)
We Fight Too – with a project -- Conflict (and opportunity to know each other better) and to avoid conflict is to avoid reality
--resolving conflict requires loving confrontation (slow down and check your role, motives and heart, and choose your words carefully)
--resolving conflict requires choosing forgiveness (admit you are wrong, humbly seek forgiveness, release your spouse free from seeking revenge, build trust by consistent behavior over time)
--we minimize conflict when we choose to actively bless one another in marriage - refrain your tongue from speaking evil, turn away fro evil, do good, bee a peacemaker (anger shows that I care more about how we look than God) - I love you and your are not my enemy!
Marriage After Dark (with a project) - sex was created by God and designed for our good (the freedom to enjoy each other's body), sex is a thermometer that can measure your individual well-being, sex can be enhanced by understanding the differences between man and woman, and a great sex life is built on - Companionship (communication, tenderness, spending time together), Commitment (faithfulness, respect, forgiveness), Passion (planning and creativity), and Spiritual Intimacy (prayer and the Bible)

Woman to Woman - Priorities (#1 grow in her relationship w God, #2 respect and support her husband, #3 teach/train her children w wisdom from the Bible, #4 everything else ordered after the 1st 3!), God's design (equals w different roles/responsibilities/purposes - husband as leader and each other complete through marriage and mutual submission/selflessness), Respect and support her husband (unconditional respect which empowers her husband, thankfulness, praise, listening, sexuality, encouraging words/attitude/actions, never criticize husband in public or in front of children), Depend on God
Man to Man - Follow and obey Christ and his leader, Role as leader in marriage - sacrificially loving his wife (cherishes, trustworthy, listening, helping, praying, putting her needs ahead of his own, nourishes her gifts/dreams/love/romance), courageously leading his wife (finances, 1st taking care if wife and children, protecting his family emotionally/spiritually/physically), Responsibility as father (each child a unique gift from God, loves and cares willingly/eagerly/consistently/not domineering, spends time listening/hugging/things they enjoy/praying, leads by example and with God/loves their mother/teaches biblical wisdom)
How Marriages Thrive for Oneness in Marriage and a revolutionary relationship
-the habit of extravagant love is a choice and leads to genuine intimacy (Exclusive- one person having your heart for a lifetime, Expressed by repeating often through words and actions, Extraordinary-placing spouse's needs above your own)
-the habit of generous forgiveness leads to true security (with humility and without bitterness)
-the habit of enthusiastic encouragement leads to unity and team together for life (believe in and motivate your spouse, openly affirm/praise, maintain positive attitude, avoid critical words)
Leaving a Legacy - for our the next generations
-by doing the constant work of strengthening our marriage and family and relationship with God, and always looking to serve God and others
Lisa's things to remember from the conference
-work hard to love God and Bruce - to mirror God and complete each other
-work hard to avoid "extramarital affairs" such as work or business or selfishness
-celebrate each other's differences and help each other in our weaknesses
-take the time to raise Godly children - teach, train, talk
Lisa's top 3 priorities from the conference experience
-be my husband Bruce's cheerleader
-listen, repeat back, ask more questions
-work together to avoid "extramarital affairs" for each other and our

Parenting

I read 4 great parenting books while on my spring break vacation. Over the next several blogs, I will summarize parts of "MOM'S Everything Book for Daughter's" by Becky Freeman, and "Bringing up Boys" by James Dobson.

Daughters: Build your mother-daughter connections by making her feel loved by,

1. Give her the gift of your presence - listen with focused attention, sit and slow down, look her in the eyes, touch her in motherly ways (stroke her hair, rub her arm, hug her).

2. Speak to her with respect and kindness

3. Encourage her efforts with enthusiast.

4. Seek first to understand your daughter's point of view.

5 Answer her honest questions with your honest answers.

6. Say yes whenever you possibly can (reserve no for when necessary).

7. Ask her opinion.

8. Allow your daughter to feel any feelings she may have.

9. Let her cry, and don't be afraid to cry with her (you could have or make a family teddy bear that is passed to the person most in need of some extra love and cuddling on a particularly trying day).

Ideas to do together - plan a time to look over baby or girlhood pictures, watch a great mom-daughter movie (like Princess Diaries, Mary Poppins, Father of the Bride, Singing in the Rain, etc.-get the book for a long great list and many great ideas), read Proverbs 31:10-31 together (about the virtuous woman)

Sons

The hormone testosterone in largely responsible for maleness. It shows up in the 6-7 week embryo and begins transforming them into boys (it is a hormonal bath that changes the make-up and even color of the brain).

Boys are men in training, and often value change, risk, speculation, and adventure, and need to be shaped, molded, and "civilized". Watch out for wounded spirits in your boys from other children being mean/taunting, schools, and society (closely monitor any TV watched and computers). Be available and listen without judging or belittling.

A good summary of raising healthy boys in our shock-wave wounded world is from columnist Kathleen Parker... "We need to be reasonable, smart, and fully awake. Reduce boys' exposure to violence, be there when they return from school, help them with homework, ask them about their day, let them cry if need be, support them when they're down, help them to see options, teach them to handle guns safely if you have them, reward good behavior, provide meaningful consequences for unacceptable behavior, make reasonable demands, express moral expectations, talk to their teachers, and hug those boys every chance you get. Don't ask them to be men when they're just little boys, but show them how to be real men by demonstrating the thing we as a society seem to have lost: self-control. It's the greatest gift, and it isn't even rocket science. It's just good parenting."

Next blog I will write Dr. Dobson's comments about Father and sons and Mother and son's relationships. He starts out with the statement that we as parents need to have our sons (and daughters) see a sermon, NOT hear a sermon... see us doing what is right even though it is inconvenient or difficult!

Faith

I my Bible study the past two weeks, a couple things really stood out to me:

1. As the 5th pledge of believing God from Beth Moore covers, I need to remember and believe that God's word is alive and active in me (and in YOU!) and when I speak it out loud it is even more alive and powerful! Proverbs 18:21 "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." For reasons ultimately known to God alone, He has ordained that spoken words carry a power, authority, and effectiveness that exceed words we simply think. Therefore, I (and you) need to speak out loud more and daily of God's words, promises, our prayers, and for satan to stay away. When reading the Bible, make sure to read out loud at least some of what you read.

2. Do not let life's disappointments hinder our pursuit of God and reaching out to others in love. Remember that the Holy Spirit is always in us with God's all surpassing power, and putting our favorite Bible verses on 3x5 cards and memorizing them is great to do (I often memorize while jogging or exercising). Then we have God's words set in our hearts and ready to be remembered, utilized, and spoken - having our shield of faith and armor of God, and remember the power of praying God's words and promises in your prayers...

Psalm 91:14-15 "Because I have set my love upon You, You will deliver me. You will set me on high, because I have known Your name. I will call upon You, and You will answer me. You will be with me in trouble; You will deliver me and honor me."

Psalm 37:5 "Delight yourself also in Me, your Lord, and I will give you the desires of your heart."

Prayer - God forgive me that I so often allow disappointments in life deter me from moving toward You. Help me put everything I am and have in your hands - with nothing held back!

Hugs and prayers for you to be filled to overflowing with the fruit of His Spirit! Gal.5:22

Dr. Lisa

Plastic Hazzards/Safe Water Bottles, Lisa in Eric's Body Weight Cardio Workout, Veggie Steam Guide

2010-04-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Greetings and blessings to you all! My thanks to so many of you for your prayers, cards, offers to help with my broken thumb (and loved Les' card with the chicken noodle soup!)! I am starting to heal after 3 weeks in a splint and hope I do not need a pin. I see my orthopedist Dr. Frank Wilson (who gave me the idea of the Pass It On cards in our office) again in 3 weeks. I certainly have a MUCH deeper appreciation of the many needs of my thumbs now!

Our family so appreciated my Mom staying with us last weekend - I certainly look nothing like her?...! If you want to know where I am very often when not at my practice site, think of me sitting here in my sunny computer room, with the puppies, my great husband Bruce and my children around.

I wanted to share a picture of one of God's creations that I had never seen before - the Luna Moth. It flew in front of us on our deck last week and we were able to get a picture of it. They are about 4-5 inches in wingspan, found only in Eastern North America, are on the endangered species list, and only live for one week as an adult.

Plastics Hazards and Safe Water Bottles - Please do not drink out of warm plastic bottles, especially with the warm weather here!

Many scientific reports over the past several years are starting to show the potential hazards and danger of toxic chemicals from the plastics we use. Biphenal-A (BPA) is one such toxin that is still in some plastic bottles and mimics estrogen in the body. BPA and other toxins in plastics are linked to reproductive problems, breast cancer and other cancers, and even behavioral problems. Check the recycle number on your plastics. The recycle numbers 3, 6, and 7 are being associated with increased toxin risk.

When you cannot drink out of your real glass at home, stainless steel bottles are the best for cold beverages and water. They are guaranteed not to leach any chemicals, are durable, and water tastes great in them. (Aluminum is not as safe, because aluminum has been associated development of Alzheimer's.) If you do drink out of a thin plastic bottle, please only do so once (and then recycle), and never drink from a plastic bottle that is warm.

Eric's Tips - Lisa and Eric demonstrate his body weight cardio workout

Proper Steaming Guide for Vegetables - from my great over age 80 patient David!

The following vegetables steam perfectly in 8 minutes: asparagus, beet greens, broccoli, broccolini, cauliflower, zucchini, summer squash, kale, mushrooms, spinach, red Swiss chard, mustard greens, and Brussels sprouts

Carrots (sliced 1/4 in. or 7mm thick)-12 minutes
String beans (green, yellow, or mottled)-12 minutes
Corn on the cob-5 minutes (when cooked perfectly like this it does not require butter and salt-it'll be tasty plain)
Potato (sliced 1/4 in. or 7mm thick)-10 minutes
Sweet potato, Yams (sliced 1/4 in. or 7mm thick)-12 minutes
Onion (sweet Vidalia type)-no need to peel; cut in half through stem; cut half into 4 servings; steam 7 minutes, peel slips off easily
Green peppers slices, cherry tomatoes-3minutes
Red pepper slices-12 minutes (for best digestibility)
Buttercup, butternut, and acorn squash-24 minutes
Parsnips-6minutes
Beets (sliced 1/4 in. or 7mm thick)-12 minutes
Turnip-30 minutes (may be a bit firm after cooking, but this retains flavor)
Eggplant (sliced 1/4 in. or 7mm thick)-10 minutes

Family and Faith

Parenting Tip
One of my so many wonderful patients, Kendel, gave me a quick help with parenting boys at a well child visit last week. She said that boys do not respond to "don't"s very well. Rather than saying "don't hit your baby sister," tell them instead "that hurts so let's give kisses or tickle her feet." Kendall says she has learned a lot of good parenting tips for parenting each gender specifically by the book "Gender Matters" by Leonard Sax.

Marriage Tip
Last week my minister Aaron asked how much training and continuing we had for our jobs. Then he asked how much training and education we are doing for our marriages? I am really proud of you because by reading this you are furthering your marriage education :) To continue working on you marriage education and enrichment here are some more things you can do:

1. Sign up for a great marriage seminar in downtown Indianapolis June 4-6 weekend called "A Weekend to Remember." They are offering a buy one person get your spouse free right now online at www.familylife.com. My husband Bruce and I attended last year and loved it. It continued to deepen our love and relationship. We are going to the same conference in St. Louis this fall because I will be celebrating my Mom's 80th birthday when the conference is in Indianapolis. We also wanted to experience a different city as something fun and new to do as a couple. You can read my review and summary of last year's summary in my June 2009 blog (click on June 2009 on the left side of this page).

2. You can also do your own marriage seminar at home by listening to the 5 part marriage sermon series "The Knot" online from my church website at www.tpcc.org. I gave a quick summary of it in my last blog.

From "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby

"One of the most exciting things you can do is to look to see where god is working in your spouse's life and join Him! You can do this in several ways:"

1. Regularly pray for and with your spouse
2. Regularly ask your spouse spiritual questions-such as what has God been showing you in your quiet times lately? or Where have you seen God's activity?
3. Review your spiritual markers as a couple-key moments when God clearly has spoken and you have seen God's activity in your lives.
4. Minister together as a couple-there are many ways God wants to work uniquely through you.
5. Give together-jointly determine where God leads you to invest the money He has given you, storing up treasures in heaven.

With my prayers for you and healing of my thumb!

Dr. Lisa

Water & How to Start Eating Healthy/Organic, Eric's Tips to Cut 500 Cal/day, Strengthening Marriage Knot, Parenting Tips

2010-04-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

I thank and praise God for each one of you reading this and for our gorgeous Spring weather! I pray for Him to fill all of you and your family and friends to overflowing with His love and power and blessings!

Please forgive me for not writing! I have so much to share that I recently learned while reading 6 books on vacation, from my experience with my patients, and foremost God's leading. I am so excited about it all, but sadly I broke my thumb last weekend in a fall on water on a slick floor! I am healing over a 4-8 week period and being a good "patient". I am starting my blog tonight, and I will finish Tuesday (and then write another before the end of the month - I am committed to writing 2 a month to educate and motivate!). See the above pic of my 4 gifts from God after their Easter basket hunt and our puppies.

This blog I will write about our need for more and healthy water intake, suggestions to start eating healthier and more organic (taken from my current attempts after learning so much), Eric's tips for cutting calories, and excellent marriage tips (my church, Trader's Point Christian Church is in the middle of a series on "Tying the Knot") and parenting tips.
After a continually wonderful church experience, I want to encourage you all to find a great church AND small group in that church for you to attend (and I also suggest finding a good men's or woman's Bible study to attend and read your Bible daily - God's book of love to us). They make SUCH a difference in your knowledge and experience of God and life. They are our true family, along with our biological family. Just today Jay sent me an email of how he is praying for my thumb to heal, Larry and Beth brought over a macaroni casserole for me and my family (cooking is not easy for me right now-my beloved husband is so awesome to be cooking all the time right now and more importantly happily and wanting to do anything I need anytime!), and Larry asked how my patient Tammy is doing with her new diagnosis of breast cancer (I asked for prayer for her in all our groups 2 weeks ago). You can know I often ask for prayers for specific patients of mine from my husband, our small group, and my woman's Bible study group (but of course only by first name), and I daily pray for all of you! The more you read God's word and are around good people, the more active and powerful God is in your life and the more you are filled with His fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

WATER & Tips to Start Eating Healthier and Organic

Water (excerpts taken from "Overcoming Arthritis" by David Brownstein)
Water is an essential nutrient for everyone. Our body is composed of 70-80% water, with the brain being 85%, blood 83%, and muscles 75%. Adequate water intake (and salt along with it) is essential to promote good health and functioning of all our cells and to flush out the many toxins we ingest or make in our bodies.
My experience is that most people are at least mildly dehydrated and most chronically ill patients are very dehydrated. You cannot rely on your thirst to make you drink enough water, and your urine should always be almost clear when you are drinking enough water. One of the first signs of dehydration can be pain anywhere in the body, including the joint pain of arthritis, joint stiffness and early morning stiffness, and back spasms or other muscle spasms. If your body is dehydrated your joints and muscles will be also, and they will be more painful. Fatigue, dry tongue, coated tongue, vertical ridges on nails, dry skin, and poor skin elasticity are common signs of dehydration. Water loss can be accelerated by many things, including inadequate water intake, excess caffeine intake (caffeine is a potent diuretic), excess soda consumption (a government study in the 1990s showed the average person consumed 49 gallons per year!), alcoholic beverages, and diuretic medicine.

Many people assume that by drinking beverages other than water, they are supplying the body with an adequate amount of water. This is absolutely not the case, and these other liquids actually cause water loss in the body to accelerate. Chronic caffeine use can over-stimulate the adrenal glands and ultimately result in a depletion of the adrenal hormones. This can exacerbate other hormonal irregularities and weaken the immune system. When a person is in a dehydrated state, histamine levels are elevated throughout the body and this can worsen allergies, asthma, and the immune system.

Since water is such a nourishing agent for the body, it is important to drink water in its purest form and without additives and chemicals. Bottled water contains toxins leached from the plastic and tap water often contains chemicals harmful to your hormonal system and health (including fluoride and chlorine). Therefore it is important to drink filtered or distilled water, preferably from glass or stainless steel. Since a filter system removes many minerals and toxic agents from tap water, it is important that you take a well absorbed daily multiple vitamin-mineral supplement.

Doctor Brownstein's recommendation is that you ensure adequate water intake every day. It is impossible to achieve optimum health or recover from a chronic illness without adequate water intake. He recommends that you take your weight in pounds, divide it in two and use this figure as the amount of water in ounces to ingest on a daily basis. People who are more active will need to further increase their daily intake of water. (Since I weigh 130 pounds I need to intake at least 65 ounces a day.) I have found it helpful to intentionally drink at least 20 ounces of water at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I then drink at least 20 more ounces after exercise or exertion.

THE BENEFITS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SALT

We have been taught that salt is bad. Well too much salt can be bad when we do not drink enough water (in a dehydrated state) and if kidney problems/failure. Salt dose have good properties of helping in healing, attracting water for lubrication, can improve allergies by acting as a natural antihistamine, clears excess acidity from the body, produces energy in the body, and thins out mucous secretions.

Unfortunately, the most common salt is refined salt, and it has the healthy minerals removed and has a high content of aluminum. Unrefined sea salt (Celtic may be the best) contains trace amounts of over 80 minerals and is the best salt to eat. Dr. Brownstein recommends a pinch of sea salt each day followed by a large glass of water, and doing this in addition before strenous exercise.

Tips to Star Eating Healthier and Organic

There is a lot of information about excessive toxic exposures in our foods - especially hormones and antibiotics in milk and dairy and meat products (and animals horribly treated to produce more and cheaper product as my patient Karen told me about recently published video), pesticides on foods, toxins released from plastics, and GMO's (genetically modified organisms which change the chemical make-up of the plants we eat). We do have to live, and cannot eliminate all exposures. What are we to do 1st? My husband and I are working on this, and I will continue to inform you of our progress. Below are my initial tips.

1. Drink organic milk, or soy or almond or rice milk. Let your children know why.

2. Drink water and beverages out of stainless steel or glass containers, and work to avoid plastic. Especially with the warm weather, do not drink any beverages out of plastic containers that have been out in the sun and heat (especially in your car, and I will write more about plastic in a later article). DRINK 1/2 OF YOUR BODY WEIGHT IN OUNCES PER DAY AT LEAST TO CLEAR TOXINS!

3. Eat organic range-free non-cloned meats as much as possible, and add some protein sources like tofu.

4. If you do not eat fish, work to make yourself and children eat fish at least once a week (and best grown in the U.S. which has more controls on toxin exposure).

5. Try to buy certified organic vegetables and fruits, and avoid the ones I wrote about in my recent blog on pesticides in foods. We just started ordering from www.farmfreshdelivery.com, so I will let you know how this goes (many of my patients love this).

ERIC'S TIPS

Fitness Tips
By
Eric Walden

Cut 500 Calories a Day
By Health Magazine Dec 2009

Dance- 2 hours of dancing burns 500 calories
Get Enough Sleep- lack of sleep can make you snack
Don’t eat in front of the TV. Trade TV time for a walk
Get in tune with your stomach- listen when it tells you it’s full
Limit Dinner Guest- More people = more food = more snacking
Fill up on less- cup of soup before dinner
Limit salad toppings- ie. Cheese, croutons, bacon bits
Don’t clean your plate- leave some on your plate
Use smaller plates
Serve and Sit- serve food in the kitchen and leave the food there
Make a swap- 1 cup plain fat free yogurt for heavy cream
Make mine a mini
Ditch that buttered movie popcorn
Count your chips and crackers- don’t eat from the bag
Step away from the nuts-
Skip the whip- or at least size it down
Kick the soda habit
Drink Sugar Free
Skinny up Cocktails
Eat less pasta or switch to a whole grain pasta
Knitting- at a rate of 100 an hour
Cleaning the house- up to 2 ½ hours
Check the number of servings in a dish
Beware the healthy-food trap
Build a lean burrito- order a naked one- no cheese, beef, black beans, and salsa
Think small at the ice cream shop
Think thin when it comes to pizza
Beware of hidden oils
Order spaghetti with meat sauce-instead of with Italian sausage
Nix that Smoothie a day
Help a friend move
Shovel snow
Ice skate
Tap your foot
Be the hostess with the mostest- grocery shop, cooking and setting the table
Go Window Shopping
Hit the pool
Stroll you way slim- push the stroller with the kids
Head to a county fair or amusement park
Play a game
Head for the nearest hill- sledding or just walking up and down it
Do an hour of Circuit Training
Tackle the garage- clear out that junk
Rake the leaves- minimum 1 hour 45 minutes
Kick-box
Go cross-country skiing
Exercise at home- 1 dvd with 20 minutes of yoga
Walk or run a 10K
Go hiking
Cut down your own Christmas Tree- hike out, cut it, and haul it back

Family & Faith

Marriage - "The Knot"

My church has just started a 5 sermon series on marriage called "The Knot". You can access the sermons free at www.tpcc.org through an itunes link there. I strongly encourage you (and your spouse if you are married) to do this. You could make a marriage seminar/enhancement or date night out of this. I also recommend memorizing a few verses of the Song of Solomon for yourself and your spouse - to intentionally remind you how desirable your spouse is and you are!

Jake, our high school minister, stared the series April 11, talking about our marriage "knot", and how we need to continually work to strengthen it. God created us as His most importnt creations - for and to compliment each other. This last thing God created, Satan went right after. Sin separates us from God, and Man from Woman.

Last Sunday, our lead minister Aaron talked about the primary purpose of marriage - to make us more holy (not to always make us happy!). He talked about the initial hormone and chemical "falling" in love phase, but that staying and growing in love requires intentional work, but then is SO much better than the hormone/chemical start! Many people feel that actions follow feelings, but this is wrong. FEELING FOLLOW DELIBERATE AND INTENTIONAL ACTIONS. Aaron started to interpret God's wonderful and sensual blueprint of a healthy marriage in the Song of Solomon. Solomon and his beloved were intentional in their actions with each other. She knew how very powerful the words "I respect you!" are to a man. He knew how needed and powerful repeating to her how beautiful and special she is. We must continually pursue our spouses like we did when we first dated. We put a lot of time into our degrees/schooling and work. We need to put even more time in to our marriages - strengthening our "knots"!

Parenting Tips - from my womans's Bible study book, "Experiencing God", by Blackaby

Learn to ask your children God-centered questions. Instead of asking what they want to be when they grow up, ask "What do you sense God wants you to do?". When your children come to you with a question, ask them "What do you think God wants you to do?". If you just give them your opinion, you do not teach them to put their trust in God. As your children get older, regularly ask them "What has God taught you lately?". This provides many opportunities to discuss important issues with them... These are also great questions for you and your spouse to ask each other!

Hugs and prayers,

Dr. Lisa

Happy Spring & Easter! Halitosis (Bad Breath), Eric's Tips-Mindset, Communication for Couples, Proverbs for Parenting

2010-03-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring and Easter to all of you very very special and loved people! We were decorating eggs today, and have enjoyed the recent beautiful weather - hope you all have too (and hope you are exercising your very special bodies really daily)!

I am writing about bad breath because Julia asked me about it last week, and I often have patients with this complaint. Please fax me at my office if you have a topic you would like me to cover in an upcoming blog article (621-1680, fax).

Halitosis = Bad Breath!

Bad breath is any offensive odor on the breath, and is present in 15-30% of people (can be as young as age 2, but usually is a problem more of adults, and increases with age). 80-90% of bad breath originates in the mouth - largely the result of bacterial breakdown releasing gasses from stagnant saliva, food debris, mouth cells coming off in normal cell turnover, blood, and postnasal drip in the oral cavity. The odor can be much worse with oral pathology such as gingivitis, periodontitis, cavities, imperfect dental restorations, and unclean dentures. 5-8% of bad breath is from the nasal passages - due to infections, thick mucous or polyps, oral or nasal cancers, and foreign bodies in children. 3% of bad breath originates from tonsils - due to recurrent infection or tonsillolliths (stones). 1-2% can arise from other sources - such as lung infections, kidney or liver failure, cancers, and biochemical disorders. Bad breath almost never arises from the esophagus, stomach, or intestines, and there is no higher incidence in people with dry mouth.

Approximately 25% of people seeking professional help for bad breath are halitophobics = exaggerated concern of bad breath when they actually have little or none.

Treatment (part from "Bad Breath" by Mel Rosenberg, PhD)

People with an identifiable cause of bad breath need to treat those conditions - such as dental problems, postnasal drip, infections. Many cases of bad breath can be alleviated by

*Proper dental care and oral hygiene (thoroughly brushing and flossing your teeth at least twice a day)

*Gentle cleansing of the posterior tongue with a tongue cleaner or toothbrush (often need to get very far back-can hold tongue out with a washcloth and make sure to be gentle)

*Rinsing and deep gargling with an effective mouthwash after brushing and flossing - this is most effective when done at bedtime, since bacterial activity leading to bad breath is greatest during the nighttime

----the most effective mouthwashes contain chlorhexidine gluconate, like Peridex, at 0.12-0.2 percent (only 0.12percent is readily available in the US)

*Eating fibrous foods

*Chewing sugar free gum briefly if the mouth is dry or after meals, especially with high protein intake

*Sufficient daily water intake - 1/2-1 gallon/day

*Decreasing alcohol and coffee intake

*Gargling with saline and or saline nasal irrigations in people with allergy or mucous problems

Information is available at http://www.smellwell.com/, or http://www.youtube.com/ "Bad breath - a human condition". Consulting a good dentist is advisable for most people with bad breath, but be very careful of some "bad breath experts/dentists" who are involved in pyramid marketing operations selling particular and overpriced products.

Factors which can exacerbate bad breath - accumulation of postnasal drip on the back of the tongue, poor oral hygiene (esp. failure to floss), improper dental care (faulty bridgework, crowns, abscesses), mouth breathing, unclean dentures and those left in mouth unnecessarily at night, alcohol consumption, being overweight, menstrual cycle, proteinaceous foods stuck between the teeth, onions and garlic.

Eric's Fitness Tips

By
Eric Walden

Hard Work or Exercise?
IDEA Fitness Journal- Jan 2010

In one of our Harvard studies, we looked at exercise and the mind. We started by asking chambermaids how much exercise they got in the course of a week. Our subjects were women who were exercising all day long at work, but because exercise is generally thought of a s something we do outside of work, they actually saw themselves as not getting any exercise. Despite their beliefs, since exercise is so good for one’s health, we expected them to be healthy. Actually, at the start of the study, they weren’t.
We divided the women into two groups and explained to one group that their work was exercise. We told them, “You’re getting more exercise than the surgeon general recommends.” They were shown how various tasks they did were equivalent to working on different machines at the gym, when we returned a month later, we asked as many questions as we could think of regarding exercise. Were they exercising outside of work now? Were they working harder? And so on. We asked if they were eating more, or differently. There were no changes, they only difference was that now they saw their work as exercise.
In that month, this group had lost weight and reduced their body mass, waist –to-hip ratios, and blood pressure levels. All of this happened because of the change in mindset.

I loved this article when I read it. It reminded me of so many people that I have talked to over the past few years. Those of you who do more of a manual labor type job can count that as exercise. The key to a weight loss is to possibly change the way you eat or maybe add in a couple of bouts of moderate cardio sessions. Or on the flip side if you want to add some strength your work is more like your cardio so going to a gym and lifting some weights may be needed to achieve your goal.

Changing your mindset is sometime what is needed to get your body going in the right direction. It can also be the hardest thing to accomplish. The mind is a powerful tool, but sometimes it is hard to tap into. Self talk is great way to help get the mind on the right path. Telling yourself what you are going achieve each day is a great way to get your mind going.

Hopefully this helps you to be able to change they way you think about exercise and help motivate you.

Family and Faith

"A fool thinks he needs no advice, but a wise man listens to others."

Proverbs 12:15

Communication (from "Simple Secrets Couples Should Know", by Bob and Emilie Barnes)

Communication is sharing information with another person so he understands what you are saying, and it involves talking, listening, and understanding. Honor your mate by selecting the best times to talk, listen, and understand, and it is best to avoid difficult topics right after coming home and at mealtimes (want pleasant, edifying, uplifting conversation).

Talking Tips

* maintain a calm relational voice

* be mindful of proper timing to bring up certain topics

Listening Tips

* Realize everyone has a basic need to be listened to and heard - TAKE THE TIME TO LISTEN

* Listen intently when your partner is talking with you - turn off the TV or stop other things and look in your partner's eyes - even better to touch or hold hands!

* Listen objectively - don't just think about your answers or politely wait or presume or judge while listening

* Reach out and care about what's being said - active participation with our heart and soul and not just ears (and not passive)

* Move past the surface message and get to the heart of what is being said

* Discipline yourself to listen - it doesn't come naturally or easily to any of us, since most are more comfortable being in control and speaking

* Receive and process and understand the message sent - even though the message may be painful, continue to listen

Understanding Tips

* Lack of understanding can occur when there is a difference between what we mean to say and what we really say, and when there is a difference between what we hear and what we think we hear

* Ask clarifying questions to keep the channels of understanding wide open and flowing - repeat to your mate what you heard and then ask, "Is that what you said?"

* Don't get caught up on minor details (like if something happened at 5 or 6 pm) - major on the majors, not the minors

Be sensitive of your mate's general needs.

Men - generally want #1 Sincerity (to know the topic is important to you) #2 Simplicity (hear the simple facts and get to the point) #3 Sensitivity (open up better at the right time and place) #4 Stability (keep their composure during conversation)

Women - generally want #1 Attention (want their mate's full attention when they speak) #2 Agreement (no arguments to break down the communication with their mates) #3 Appreciation (want their mates to value them and their role) #4 Appointments (want their mates to honor the time and place for communication)

General Tips

* Be willing to grow and change - learn from your mistakes and tomorrow is a new day!

* It's ok to disagree but NOT to disrespect or dishonor - never belittle, slander, or attack your partner even in a heated exchange

* It takes effort to communicate well - deciding to communicate better is a matter of will and work

* Don't second guess your partner - keep your mouth shut and hear out your partner

* When you have a communication breakdown, have an prior agreed upon method to ask to stop for right now and restart at a later time

--you must identify problem areas and plan a program to overcome them (at a good nonheated time), and you may need a trained counselor to help

* Remember that the closer you get to God, the closer you will get to each other (the triangle with God at the top and each partner at the bases that I discussed last blog) - perhaps you are not communicating well as a couple because you have not been communicating well yourself with God - through prayer, Bible reading, Church, Christian friend/groups/Bible studies

Secrets to Romancing Your Marriage (great tips at the end of each of the 22 chapters in this very good book)

* Never vacuum during the 4th quarter of a football game

* Laugh at his jokes

* Listen to her stories of the past

* Allow her to grieve over her losses

* Be accountable to each other

* Choose to love your spouse today

* Don't expect to understand each other completely

"Proverbs for Parenting" by Barbara Decker

This is a very good resource for Proverbs useful in parenting. The book "Shepherding A Child's Heart" suggests reading a Proverb every AM with your children, because it is the book of wisdom and teaching. Bruce and I have worked to put this in our routine most days, and we also have Annika memorize verses. When she had problems last week with obeying, I had her memorize Proverbs 4:3 "Hold onto (and obey) instruction, do not let it go, guard it well for it is your life.", and Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life."

Proverbs for Obedience - 1:5, 1:8-9, 2:1-9, 3:1-4, 3:21-24, 4:1-5, 4:10, 4:13, 4:20-22, 5:1-2, 6:20-23, 7:1-3, 8:32-36, 9:9, 10:8, 10:17, 12:1, 12:15, 13:1, 13:18, 15:5, 15:32, 19:16, 19:20, 21:11, 22:17-18, 23:19, 23:22, 28:7, 29:18, 30:17

We need to always remember, that before we can teach our children something (especially about values), we must be modeling it ourselves and living it in our lives. To teach our children obedience, we must first be obedient ourselves - with God and each other... We all are on a constant journey to grow and become better more valued, faithful, and trustworthy people!

With my hugs and prayers for God to fill you and your family to overflowing with the fruit of His Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control!

Gal 5:22

Dr. Lisa

Pesticides in Foods, Eric's Tips-Exercise Routine for Older Adults, Obeying the 1st Time, Keep Listening and Talking

2010-03-06T14:20:00.001-08:00

Welcome springlike weather! My son Brendan is enjoying the sunshine to take a nap by our Cavelier puppies, and Annika thinks it is Summer with her shorts and popsicle (on top of the snow pile)!.. With the change in temperature, allergy symptoms will begin to cause major symptoms for many children and adults. If you or a family member or friend are having problems, you can review my May 26th article on "Allergy Treatments and Medicine" (also can access it under "Resources" tab on our main website), and see us in our office to review your individual symptoms and needs. Remember the Neil Med saline irrigation by nettipot or my favorite squeeze bottle is a great natural treatment for allergies in adults and children (my 9 year old and 21 year old often request and use it!).

To follow along with my current healthy diet theme, I decided to research pesticides in foods because the amount ingested in our and our children's lifetimes can dramatically affect our health and cancer risks. Eric's tips will return with his emphasis over his past several articles to help older adults with their exercise and fitness. I then discuss in my "Family and Faith" section suggestions and God's direction for our children to obey without challenge without excuse and without delay, and relationship tips.

Pesticides/Chemicals in Foods

We all need to focus on foods with the least burden of pesticides, additives, and hormones. Generally we can avoid pesticide exposure by 80% when we avoid the most contaminated vegetables and fruits, and even less exposure when we use a natural cleansing spray. A government study showed that if you have 5 servings (the least amount recommended/day in a healthy diet) from the most contaminated foods, you will consume 10 pesticides/day. If you consume 5 servings from the least contaminated foods, you will consume 2 pesticides/day. Below are the current worst and cleanest foods.

Current Worst Foods (should buy organic if at all possible)
peach
apple
bell peppers
celery
nectarine
strawberries
cherries
kale
lettuce (can have some of the most potent pesticides)
grapes (imported are much worse)
carrots (better if you scrub and peel)
pears
white potatoes (have pesticides and fungicides)

15 Cleanest (currently) - still best to wash well and with veggie spray
onion
avacado
sweet corn
pineapple
mango
asparagus
sweet peas
kiwi
cabbage
eggplant
papaya
watermelon
broccoli
tomatoes (used to be on the worst list)
sweet potatoes

Milk-contains pesticides and hormones, best to buy organic or almond, soy, or rice milk

Meat- buy organic to avoid hormones (not much pesticides)

Coffee (often grown in countries without pesticide regulation) - look for USDA Organic label and a step further with Fair Trade Certified label (supports farmers being paid and treated fairly)

http://www.farmfreshdelivery.com/ is a great source of excellent well priced organic local vegetables and fruits which are delivered to you door

"Shopper's Guide to Pesticides" is an iphone application

Tips to Prevent Bacterial Illness from Food
We and our children can get serious and life-threatening bacterial infections from infected or improperly handled food. The Indianapolis Star in their Healthy Living section last Thursday had a very informative article about this, "Focusing on Food Safety" by Shari Rudavsky. Below are their tips to prevent illness.
1. Make sure cold food stays cold and hot food stays hot - refrigerators should be 40 degrees or below (if not it will be a breeding ground for bacteria and illness), and when your refrigerator is full the temperature goes up!
2. Use different cutting boards and different knives to cut raw meat and produce.
3. Wipe down counter tops thoroughly.
4. In the grocery buy a whole head of lettuce or spinach and remove the outer leaves and wash well - a ready to eat product does carry a slightly higher risk.
5. Wash your hands with soapy water before and after handling food.
6. Avoid unpasteurized milk and food made from it, raw eggs, an draw meat.
7. You can sign up for alerts about food safety recalls at the website of Safe Tables Our Priority - http://www.safetables.org/.

Eric's Tips
By
Eric Walden

Physical Activity Guidelines for Older Adults:

Today I want to go over some actual exercises and put together a routine. I want to focus on some problems that may occur for an older population. Some key problem areas for some older adults are their feet and knees. Hopefully if you do have some problems with either of theses area’s you have had them looked at by your doctor. I am a strong proponent of body symmetry. I see so many people that have imbalances that cause so many problems. I feel that a lot of people can reduce some of the knee problems or even feet problems through exercise.
First I want to deal with the feet. Many problems can be caused by the wrong type of shoes. It even can be caused by a lack of flexibility. Flexibility is so important in any walk of life. Make sure to stretch the calf muscles out before you go for a run or walk. The easiest way to do this is by using a step and standing with the balls of your feet on the on the step and let your heels drop down. This will stretch the calf muscle. It will also stretch the Achilles tendon. Having a very tight Achilles can cause pain the heel of your foot and even in the arch of your foot. Sometimes these symptoms may feel like a bruise. Also chances are if your Achilles and calf muscle are tight then so are your hamstrings. This is a first indication that you need to be stretching more than what you are now. Even using no shoes or a flat sole shoe may help stretch out the arch of your foot as well and relieve some pain.

Using different types of machines will help get around some initial pain. Get off your feet by using a recumbent bike or even a rower. Most lifting can be done sitting, so long periods of standing can be avoided. Most people that I have talked to complain of foot pain during long periods of cardio sessions and not weight lifting. It is okay to take a break during cardio sessions. Evening just walking to the water fountain will help relieve some pain.

Knee pain is a totally different problem. Pain in the knee can be caused by a variety of different ailments and imbalances. Most in the older population complain of knee pain from arthritis or lack of cushioning in the knee joint. Again like foot pain getting off your knees can help. Most exercises can be done without standing. There are a few key exercises that can be done to help strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee. Two key ones that come to mind are leg extension and leg press. The bad thing about these two exercises they also may cause some of the most pain as well. But there are ways around the pain. I have any of my clients that are experiences pain to work above or below the pain. Meaning if they are experiencing pain during a leg press movement, I ask them to tell me where the pain begins. Once we are able to figure that out I instruct them to not go down as far. The same goes with the leg extension machine. Working above or below the pain will still help strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee and can help reduce pain to that joint. Another way to strengthen the quadriceps muscles is by static strengthening. An example of this is lying on your back and flexing your leg muscles. Hold this flexion for 10 seconds then relax. Do this 10 times. This will help strengthen those muscles just above the knee. For some more serious cases this may be the best place to start. Do these exercises 2-3 times a day.

Exercise Routine:
Get a good warm up in. This is key for warming up the knees. Here are a few different exercises to strengthen the upper legs.

Leg Press- if any knee pain- work above or below it.
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Body weight squat
Chair Stand- sit down and stand up out of a chair without using your hands
Step up- stepping up on to a step or small stool.
Adductor- inner thighs
Abductor- outer thighs
Calf raises

Family and Faith

Parenting Tip
I have been having more trouble lately with my nine year old listening well and obeying - are any of you having this same trouble?.. I remembered the book I read last summer "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tripp saying you need to parent your child to obey "without challenge, without excuse, and without delay", and NOT after something like counting to three! Does this sound like a dream? Mr. Tripp encourages that it is not a dream and is something we need to teach and often reteach our children. He gives very good God centered instruction for us to achieve this in our children.

After Thursday night when Annika again did not listen and obey (she ignored her dad Bruce's instruction to go to bed after we got home from our small group, while I was on an important patient call), Bruce and I decided we needed to review Mr. Tripp's teaching from his book. Last summer after reading the book, Bruce and I taken the time to discuss some of the teaching from the book with Annika and even her older teenage siblings, especially the main Biblical concept that she and we need to obey God to be in His circle of blessing and protection, and we need to constantly work on and "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life", Proverbs 4:23. I also several times had to give her a spanking in the Biblical instructional manner Mr. Tripp outlines. This teaching and instruction grew much fruit in her heart and helped her in obeying God and us. But of course she (and we!) often slip back into our own selfish old patterns, and need refresher instructions.

Since it was late last Thursday night, I told her to get back into God's circle of protection and blessing and work on her heart she would either have a spanking in the AM or memorize 2 Bible passages from Proverbs based on instruction. Memorizing verses really helps our children and us hold God's love and teaching in our hearts and minds (I often memorize verses during my almost daily exercise). Annika chose to learn the Bible verses and even enlisted the aid of her best friend Kristen to help her on the bus ride to and from school (you can see the Holy Spirit working all the time for God's kingdom- helping Kristen too!). When she walked in our front door she perfectly knew both verses - the above Proverbs 4:23, and Proverbs 4:3 "Hold on to (and obey) instruction, do not let it go, guard it well for it is your life"... Thank you God and Holy Spirit!

You can read my chapter by chapter review of Mr. Tripp's book in my July 19th blog or under the "Resources" tab on our main website. I will retype here the review of the chapter "Infancy to Childhood: Training Objectives".

A child must learn that he is an individual under authority. He has been made by and for God and has responsibility to honor and obey God in all things. Ephesians 6:1 "Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth." Children must be taught that they can stay within God's circle of blessing and safety by honoring and obeying and submitting to their parents, and the function of communication and the rod is to rescue them from their disobedience back into God's blessing. Obedience is willing submission of one person to the authority of another (and often means doing something that we do not want to do). A child must be taught to do what he is told--without challenge, without excuse, and without delay. You can teach them to make an appeal, but only when they--begin to obey immediately (not after an appeal), be prepared to obey either way, appeal in a respectful manner, and accept the result of the appeal with a gracious spirit. Knowing our native resistance to authority (selfishness) and inablility to always do what God has commanded, we are confronted with our need for the grace and power of Jesus Christ. Training our children to do what they ought, regardless of how they fee, prepares them to be a person who lives by principle rather than mood or impulse. Genuine submission to Godly authority bears good fruit.

Marriage Tip

Keep Listening and Talking - taken from the book "Simple Secrets Couples Should Know" by Bob and Emilie Barnes
"Dear brothers, don't ever forget that it is best to listen much, speak little, and not become angry." James 1:19

There are 3 partners in a Christian marriage - husband, wife, and Jesus Christ. For healthy communication to exist, there must be communication between all 3 partners. If there is a breakdown in dialog between any 2 members, the breakdown will automatically affect the third member of the partnership. Dwight Small says, "Lines open to God invariable open to one another, for a person cannot be genuinely open to God and closed to his mate... God fulfills His design for Christian marriage when lines of communication are first open to Him." If you and your mate are having difficulty communicating, the first are to check is your individual devotional life with God.

The Barnes' state that whenever they suffer a breakdown in relating with each other, it is because one of them has failed to talk with God on a regular basis. When both are communicating with God regularly, they generally enjoy excellent communication with each other. They show the diagram of a triangle with God at the top and each mate at the other corners. As the diagram suggests, the closer they both are to God, the closer they are together. The inverse is also true - the farther we move away from God by not communicating with Him, the farther apart we will be from our mates.

My next blog I will outline suggestions on how to communicate better.

Suggestions for Romance
*Take complete charge of the children for an AM or PM and tell your mate to do what they would like.
*Learn to delegate at work more, so you can come home at a good hour to be with your mate and family.
*Both husband and wife try being totally positive, accepting, supportive, and nonjudgmental for one entire week. no complaining, nagging, or preaching.
*Take a risk--be romantic.
*Rent a convertible on a sunny day and cruise around just the two of you.
*Serve your spouse breakfast on Saturday morning.
*While on the road, send your spouse a postcard every day you're away.
*Write your spouse a love letter and mail it to your home.
*Record your favorite love songs from the time you were dating and play them in the car as you travel.

My Bible study class this week - still doing "Experiencing God" by Blackaby
My memory verse for the week (and I usually learn during my exercise time), Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him.", and next week is Luke 14:33, "Any of you who does not give up everything cannot be my disciple."
Mr. Blackaby writes that adjusting your life to God is the second critical turning point in your knowing and doing the will of God. The first turning point was the crises of belief: you must believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do. Without faith in God, you will make the wrong decision at this first turning point. Adjusting your life to what God wants to do through you is another turning point. If you choose to make the adjustment, you can move on to obedience. If you refuse to make the adjustment, you will miss what God has in store for you. The Spirit's job is to guide you according to the Father's will. Then He enables you to do God's will. Mr. Blackaby notes three statements about adjustments and obedience:
1. I cannot stay where I am and go with God at the same time.
2. Obedience is costly to me and those around me (and I can trust God to care for me and my family).
3. Obedience requires total dependence on God to work through me.
A method is never the key to accomplishing God's work. The key is our relationship with a Person - God wants you to know Him, not a method or formula. If we follow someone else's plan, use a method, or emphasize a program, we tend to forget about our dependence on God. We leave the relationship with God and go after a method or program, which Mr. Blackaby calls spiritual adultery. He notes that only God has the right to tell you what to do. Wait before God until He tells you what His will and plans are for you, and then trust Him to enable you. We need to die harder to self and not try harder, and lean into the Holy Spirit's guidance and power.

With hugs and all my praise to our Lord for his word, sacrifice, and guidance and inspiration!
Dr. Lisa

Our New Office!, More on Elimination Diet, Faith

2010-02-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Greetings from our new office right next door! We just moved into more space right next door in building 6B - remember at your next office visit, stop by anytime, and we always welcome your suggestions on how to continually better serve you! We are accepting new patients, and our best compliment is for you to recommend us to your friends and family! We want to always continue to work our hardest for your physical, emotional, and nutritional health, and care for all ages from newborn starting in the hospital to our wonderful grandparents and greatgrandparents!!!

Nutritional Update

During a small break from our office move last week, us doctors had a nutritional update from Dr. Ed Zimmer - our expert chiropractor and nutritionist - in Suite 8E of our office complex, 317-813-1998, www.zimmerchiropractic.com. He and his partner Dr. Abby Eaton and their office are available for chiropractic care, physical therapy, massage, and nutritional consults (and many insurances pay for chiropractic care and physical and massage therapy through his office). I will discuss more in later blogs, but below are some highlights.

Weight loss - Many people with problems losing weight after good efforts (lower calorie diet and exercise) have gluten sensitivity or other food allergies and will lose significant weight with a gluten free diet and elimination diet.

ADD (attention defict disorder) - Many children and adults show significant improvement in their ADD with a gluten free diet and elimination diet (to determine food sensitivities).

Acne problems and Allergy problems - Many children and adults benefit from the anti-inflammatory benefits from an elimination diet which discovers food sensitivities that fuel inflammation. Dr. Zimmer recommends all people with significant acne eliminate dairy products and often corn and gluten - need to do the elimination diet.

Many chronic diseases including fibromyalgia, immune disorders and others significantly benefit from the anti-inflammatory elimination diet.

Foods with greatest pesticide risks - dairy products, peanuts and peanut butter, and soft skinned fruits and veggies which are difficult to wash (like strawberries). The fruit/veggie wash sprays work well with most fruits and veggies, but not strawberries. Dr. Zimmer recommends organic milk or rice/soy/or almond milk, and organic peanuts and peanutbutter.

Elimination Diet (and Dr. Zimmer has detailed booklets for this and his treatment and detox protocols)

Basics - NO wheat/gluten, dairy, corn, red meat, excessive sugar, or foods with preservatives, food colorings, or added chemicals for 3 weeks

-learn to eat for hunger not pleasure and eat only until full

-need to carefully read labels to fully avoid gluten/wheat, corn, dairy

-good idea to have food allergy blood test before starting

Fruits - all fresh or frozen fruits (NOT large quantities of high sugar fruiits like dried fruits, pineapple, grapes, bananas and at most 4-6 oz of 100% fruit juice/day)

Vegetables - all Fresh raw, steamed, sauteed, juiced or roasted (NOT corn)

Starch rarely - rice, oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth, tapioca, buckwheat, potatoes (NOT wheat, corn, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, anything with gluten)

Bread/cereal rarely - anything made from the grains listed above (not the ones in the NOT)

Legumes (beans) - all including peas and lentils (no restrictions unless allergic to any)

Nuts/seeds - almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, peanuts, hazel nuts (no restrictions unless allergic to some)

Meat/fish - all fresh organic fish, lamb, chicken, turkey, wild game, eggs, shellfish (if not allergic) - NOT beef/pork/cold cuts/hot dogs/sausage

Milk products - rice/soy/almond/coconut milks, goat milk (NOT any cow products like milk, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream)

Fats - oils like extra virgin olive, flaxseed, canola, safflower, sunflower, sesame (NOT margarine, butter, shortening, mayonnaise, spreads, trans fats)

Beverages - filtered/distilled water-best to drink at least 1/2-1 gallon/day (Dr. Miller drinks at least a 13oz bottle of water before each meal and mid afternoon), herbal teas, mineral water (NOT soda pop, alcohol, coffee, tea, caffeinated beverages - but can drink a small amount of coffee or tea each day - 1 cup)

Spices/condiments - vinegar, all spices including salt, pepper, cinnamon, dill, cumin, garlic, ginger, turmeric, oregano, parsely, thyrme, mustard, etc. (NOT chocolate, ketsup, relish, BBQ sauce)

Sweeteners - brown rice syrup, stevia, blackstrao molasses, xylitol, honey, real maple syrup, rapadura sugar (NOT corn syrup, processed maple syrup, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners)

Gluten-free diet helpful resources

-http://gfkitchen.server101.com and http://www.csaceliacs.org/

Glycemic foods - want an index number below 50 for a low glycemic food - http://www.glycemicindex.com/

I will write more about this later!!!

Faith

In my woman's Bible study group we are doing a great life and faith bulding study "Experiencing God" by Blackaby. Mr. Blackaby teaches from the Bible and scripture that...

1. God is always at work around you (and we need to open our eyes and hearts to God).

2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal (and EVERYTHING in your life depends upon the quality of your love relationship with God).

3. God invites you to become involved with Him and His work.

4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways (and these are actual encounters with our living God!).

5. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crises of belief that requires faith and action (the way I live my life is a testimony of what I believe about God and has eternal dimensions for God's kingdom and my descendants).

6. You must make major adjustmen ts in your life to join God in what He is doing (God does not adjust to me, and I must make sure as I pray and live that I really want "Thy will be done" and NOT MY will be done).

7. You come to know God by experience as you trust and obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you (and "He rewards those who earnestly seek Him" and fills us with the fruit of His Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control, and gives us total victory!).

Hebrews 11:6

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

With my hugs, prayers, and thanks!

Dr. Lisa

Mediterranean Diet, Erics Tips for Older Adult Exercise, Are You Spent?

2010-02-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine’s Day! It is a good reminder of the greatest commandment – to LOVE! We are called not only to love the “joys” in our life (those easy to love), but also our “testys” (those that are irritating to us), “foes” (those we do not like), and “fars” (those we do not know – like the Haitiens). Phillip Yancy in his terrific book “What’s so Amazing About Grace” states, “You only love God as much as you love the person you like the least.”…

I hope and pray you all have stayed safe and warm and healthy with all our snow and cold weather! Please remember to take your vitamins (most important daily fish oil 1 gram and daily vitamin D), get at least 7 hours sleep, eat healthy (5-10 servings veggies and fruits/day), and drink plenty of water (1/2-1 gallon/day).

Mediterranean Diet – Basics of the World’s Healthiest Diet

A Mediterranean Diet is the eating habits traditionally followed by people living in the 16 counties surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The common thread is a diet that is plant-based and low in meat and moderate in fat – with most of the fat coming from olive oil. This diet is a healthy way to reduce weight and maintain excellent health and body weight throughout a longer life (and decreased risks of diabetes, inflammatory conditions, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, macular eye degeneration, and digestive ailments).

Key components of the Mediterranean diet include:

Near daily exercise and eating your meals with your family and friends

Eating a generous amount of vegetables and fruits (about 3 cups of veggies and 2 cups of fruit per day)

Consuming healthy fats like olive oil and canola oil (or sesame, peanut, walnut or grapeseed) – 1-2 tablespoons daily (sprinkle over salads or veggies or pasta sparingly because 1 tablespoon has 120 calories)

Flavoring foods with herbs and spices instead of salt – like oregano, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, anise, garlic and pepper (1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano has as many antioxidants as 3 cups of spinach)

Eating small portions of nuts (high in antioxidants and heart healthy fats, 1 – 1 ½ ounces daily, especially walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans, peanuts, and natural peanut butter)

Drinking wine in moderation (for women one glass of red wine with meals, more than that raises you risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and breast cancer) or if you do not drink then a small amount of grape juice may be beneficial

Consuming whole grains (2 - 4 ½ cup servings per day – 1 slice of bread is one serving) and beans (1/2-2/3cup cooked beans at least 3 times per week) – any type of bean is an excellent source of low fat protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber – including kidney, black, red, fava, garbanzo, cannellini, edaname, lima, lentils, soy nuts, split peas

Eat fish and poultry as your main sources of protein – eat fish at least twice a week, and chicken, turkey, or eggs every other day (less than 4 eggs/week)

Limit red meat (and only lean red meat at most one serving per week) and sweets (just a few times a week, and eat fruit as your sweet instead, such as apple slices sprinkled sparingly with sugar and cinnamon) and avoid highly processed foods, and whenever possible eat seasonally fresh and locally grown foods

Eat only a low to moderate amount of low fat cheese and yogert (2-3 servings per day) and limit butter

Know the percentages – 50% carbohydrates (from vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains), 35% fat (from healthy oils, nuts, seeds, and fish), and 15% protein (from beans, fish, nuts, dairy, poultry, and eggs)

When eating out – choose items with plenty of veggies but not much cream sauces or cheese, such as vegetarian pasta tossed in olive oil and sprinkled lightly with Parmesan cheese, or baked chicken with a salad (only dip your fork in the dressing on the side) or steamed vegetables

Count Calories – to lose weight, a 150 lb. woman should eat 1200-1400 calories a day to lose about 1 lb. per week, and for the same woman to maintain her weight about 1800 calories per day

Sample Mediterranean Diet
Breakfast:
-1/3 cantaloupe
-1 slice whole grain toast
-2 tsp natural peanut butter
-1/2-1 apple

Lunch:
-2c. fresh spinach salad
-2 oz grilled chicken
-1 tbs. olive oil
-1 tbs. vinaigrette
-1 small whole wheat pita
-1/2-1 apple

Dinner:
-5 oz. fish
-1 small sweet potatoe
-2-3 c. broccoli, carrots, peppers, onions sautéed in garlic and olive oil
-1 c. fresh fruit

Snack:
-1 small handful of nuts to be eaten midmorning or mid-afternoon

Fitness Tips
By
Eric Walden
Published by IDEA Fitness Journal: Feb 2010

Exercise and Physical Activity Guidelines for Older Adults:

Exercise for Health
- Do a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity per week
- For greater health benefits, increase the duration, frequency and intensity of exercise

Endurance Exercise

Frequency and Duration
With moderate-intensity activities, accumulate a total of 150-300 minutes a week in bouts of 10 minutes or more (up to 60 for greater benefits) per day. With vigorous-intensity activities, complete total of 75-150 minutes per week in 20-30 minutes work bouts.

Intensity
Using a subjective assessment range of 0-10, let 506 represent moderate-intensity exertion and 7-8 signify vigorous-intensity effort.

Type
Use any exercise mode that does not trigger orthopedic stress to the body, for clients with lower-extremity limitations, water exercise, walking elliptical training and stationary cycling may be more advantageous, owing to the minimal-impact stresses.

Resistance Training

Frequency and Intensity
Complete resistance training at least twice per week at a moderate (5-6 intensity on a 10- point scale) or vigorous (7-8) intensity.

Type
Do 8-10 progressive weight training exercises involving the major muscles of the body. Weight-bearing calisthenics and stair climbing are also beneficial.

Flexibility Exercise

Frequency and Intensity
Do stretching exercises at least 2 days per week at moderate (5-6) intensity on the 0-10 scale.

Type
Perform static stretches that maintain and/or increase the desired range of motion for the selected joint or group of joints.

Balance Exercise for Frequent Fallers and Older Adults with Mobility Problems

At this time, the research does not specify an optimal dose (frequency, intensity, time, duration) for balance exercises. That said, the ACSM guidelines for balance include gradually more challenging exercises that reduce the base of balance support (e.g., two-legged stationary stand with legs different widths apart, weight shifting from one leg to the other, one-legged stand); dynamic movements that challenge the center of gravity (e.g., walking in the circle or figure eight and changing direction and speed); exercise that challenged the posture muscles (e.g., heal stands and toe stands); and movements that challenge sensory input (e.g., standing movements with eyes closed).

Family and Faith

Sermon Series on the theme “Spent” from my church, TPCC with minister Aaron Brockett and based on 1Kings 17:12-14
The Bible talks most about money because where our treasure goes there our heart goes also. Aaron reminded us that we come into the world with nothing and go out with nothing. What we fill our hands with can rob us of life. Our money is a temporary gift from God that just passes through our hands and needs to be spent wisely. Actually, everything we have is on rent from God. In Proverbs chapter 3, God states we need to give our FIRST fruits (first 10 percent to tithe to God for His kingdom and heaven work) and then the Lord will bless us. Aaron says that one of the most frequent questions he gets asked is “do I tithe on gross or net?” – his answer is which do you want God to bless – your gross or net? In Matthew 6:19, “Store your treasures in heaven, where they will not be destroyed.” God does not need our money (He is all powerful!), but He wants our heart and love and knows that where our treasure goes so our heart goes also. Tithing is our training and proof that we are trusting and believing God. Aaron talked about the trust needed in the trapeze artists – the flier needs to keep his arms outstretched to be caught by the catcher and trust that the strong arms of the catcher will catch him. If the flier tries to grab the catcher, really bad things happen. We are the fliers with our arms outstretched to God, and with our faith we trust Him to always catch us as He promises in the Bible. “Fear not” is the most common command from God to us in the Bible.
Last Sunday Aaron talked about when we are “spent up”. When we are stressed and feeling spent up at so many different times and in so many different ways, there is almost always too much of ME (and trying to do things on our own power) and not enough of God. The only remedy for being “spent” is to trust and allow God to fill you up in the face of difficult circumstances. Contentment and happiness is something that we learn if we are willing and something we can have and choose with God’s Spirit in us regardless of our circumstances and even in our worst trials. To be fulfilled and get full, we need less of me and more of God.

Parenting Tip: We as parents need to first learn and model and practice, and then teach and explain these truths from God about money and possessions to our children!

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Thank you for reading and considering - you all are so very special!.. My prayers for you and your family and our country and world, that there is so much more of God and His power and Spirit, and less of me (and my self centered will). May we actively trust and believe, and then all will be so powerfully magnified in His will!
Hugs,
Dr. Lisa

Go Colts!, Family Update, Hair Loss, Eric's Tips-Exercise Guidelines for Older Adults, Valentine's Day Ideas

2010-01-31T15:28:00.001-08:00

Go Colts!!! We are very lucky to have such a great football team and quarterback and to be going to the Superbowl again. It certainly makes these 2 winter weeks more interesting. I and my family were very blessed to be at the AFC championship game, but we will not be going to the Superbowl. We will be warm and dry at home watching the game this time.

Many people have asked how my family is doing. I want to thank God for my so many blessings, especially a wonderful loving husband and great kids who are very hard working. I am so thankful and proud of them. My husband Bruce is a stay at home Dad for now and really letting God direct him in several men’s Bible studies and taking a college class in the Old Testament. My stepson Easton is making a good living in Chicago selling his artwork and will likely go to grad school in the Fall to get his Masters of Fine Art (http://www.eastonawesome.com/). Christina is a junior at IUPUI majoring in Sports Marketing and Spanish, and is vice-president of campus events for their student organization SOAR (many of you saw her interviewed on TV this Fall in their first annual IUPUI Rigatta). Nathan really likes Purdue (his mother’s alma mater!) and is a freshman majoring in Physics and Pre-med. Brendan is a freshman at Zionsville High School, and has done a great job of being a student athlete with straight A’s (plays second string wide receiver and cornerback on the freshman football team and continues to intensively work out at least twice a week in the offseason). Annika is a third grader at Union Elementary playing travel soccer, in the school play this spring, and takes guitar lessons with her Dad Bruce. The picture above is our new addition just this weekend, Penny, for a playmate for our puppy Ally! (We purchased her from another great breeder in Warsaw, Cindy Koehring , 574-269-9454. She still has 3 sibling Cavelliers from Penny’s litter for sale – all 3 are the ruby color and beautiful with great personalities – a hallmark of Caveliers.)

Hair Loss
Hair loss is a very common concern and affects up to 50% of people in their lives. It can occur anywhere on the body, but is the most cosmetic problem on the scalp. Hair loss is divided into the major categories of focal or diffuse hair loss.

Focal Hair Loss
This type of hair loss is due to an underlying problem that may cause scarring or nonscarring patches of hair loss. Scarring alopecia (lack of hair) causes permanent hair loss from destruction of hair follicles from severe immune diseases like lupus.

Nonscarring
Alopecia Areata: This is single to multiple patches of hair loss which an occur equally in men and women at any age (the most common age is young adult) and it can be from genetic predisposition in 20 – 40 percent of cases or from an autoimmune cause(such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, vitiligo, or thyroid disease). The classic finding is a smooth hairless patch surrounded by small broken hairs. Treatment is usually topical cortisone, and 30-50% of people recover within 1 year.

Tinea Capitus: Children are most likely to be affected by this fungal infection, usually presenting with a round patch of hair loss with some scaling and surrounding redness. Treatment is usually with an oral fungal medicine, though topical lamisil cream can be tried at first.

Traction Alopecia: Hair loss from pulling on hair from tight braids, curlers, bleaching/coloring, and wigs. Treatment involves eliminating the source of stress.

Trichotillomania: This is a psychiatric hair loss from repeated hair plucking.

Diffuse Hair Loss

Female Pattern Hair Loss
About 50% of women will experience this during their lifetime, and it is characterized by hair thinning over the top of the scalp but with preservation of the front hairline. Women should be evaluated for excess testosterone, anemia, or thyroid problems. Topical minoxidil 2% twice daily is the only approved treatment, but some women with a high level of testosterone can be treated with a water pill spironolactone. Treatment of any anemia and thyroid problems can improve this hair loss.

Male Pattern Hair Loss
This affects up to 50% of all white men by age 50, and a little less percentage of African American men. Hair loss starts in the temporal regions and then spreads to thinning in the vertex and frontal regions in a classic M pattern. Treatments include topical minoxidil 2% (the 5% is no better and can cause more side effects, it is applied twice daily to the scalp), oral Propecia once daily (less side effects in men younger than 40 – can cause decreased libido and impotence and erection disorders), and in some men Nizoral shampoo and Head and Shoulders shampoo 2 to 4 times per week can help. Some studes have shown increased efficacy with combined treatments.

Telogen Effluvium
This type of hair loss results when an increased number of hair cells enter the resting phase rather than the growing phase. Usually an average of 100 hairs are lost each day, but in this type of hair loss 30 to 50 percent of body hair can be rapidly lost. This can be precipitated by severe illness, injury, infection, surgery, crash diets, psychological stress, giving birth, thyroid disorders, iron deficiency, anemia, or drugs (especially can be seen with hormones, antithyroid drugs, anticoagulants, seizure medicines, blood pressure medicines - b-blockers and ACE inhibitors like lisinopril, and lithium). No cause is found in about 1/3 of cases. A hair pull test can help diagnose this (positive if greater than 10 percent of 40-60 hairs being pulled come out with steady traction). Treatment involves removing the underlying stressor and correction of any underlying medical problem.

Anagen Effluvium
This is abrupt loss of 80 – 90 percent of body hair. The main cause is chemotherapy.

Alopecia Totalis
Total hair loss on the scalp and or body presumed from autoimmune disorders or family history.

Natural Treatment:

Generally a balanced life and diet with adequate sleep, manageable stress, healthy diet, plenty of water intake (1/2-1 gallon per day), regular exercise, and general supplements (fish oil, vitamin D, multivitamin, calcium for women) will help avoid excessive hair loss. Biotin supplement has been shown to help some people with hair loss, and in some can help grow longer and thicker hair. Biotin is vitamin B7 and is water soluable, so your body will eliminate any unneeded amount. Adults require 30mg/day in their diet (found in grain, peas, nuts, vegetables), and supplements range from 1000 – 2000mg/day.

Eric’s Fitness Tips
By
Eric Walden

To start of this New Year and I want to a series for older Adults. I want to start out by going over some basic guidelines. In this mini-series I hope to help our older population to get started working out and hopefully stay healthier.

Guidelines for older Adults

American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association published the following Activity Guidelines from adults over the age of 65 (adults 50-64 with chronic conditions, such as arthritis):

- Do moderately intense aerobic exercise for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week
- Do vigorously intense exercise 20 minutes a day, 2 days a week
- Do 8-10 strength training exercises, performing 10-15 repetitions of exercises 2-3 times a week.
- If you are at risk for falls, perform balance exercises
- Have a physical activity plan

Key Points in the Guidelines for Older Adults

Although the guidelines for older adults and adults with chronic conditions are similar to those for younger adults, there are a few key differences and points to consider.
- It’s important to get started-and seek help if necessary. The general recommendation is that older adults should meet or exceed 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week; however, it is also recognized that goals below this threshold may be necessary for older adults with physical impairments or functional limits.
- Functional health is an important benefit of physical activity for older adults. Physical activity contributes to the ease of doing everyday activities, such as gardening, walking or cleaning the house.
- Strength training is extremely important for all adults, but especially so for older adults as it prevents loss of muscle mass and bone and is beneficial for functional health
- If older adults can exceed the minimum recommendations, they should do it!
- Flexibility is also important. Each day older adults perform aerobic or strength training activities, they should take an extra 10 minutes to stretch the major muscle and tendon groups, spending 10-30 seconds on each stretch and repeating stretches 3-4 times.

Family and Faith

Valentine’s Day – is coming soon, and think about planning some special things!

Valentine’s Day is a special time for expressing love and affection to those special to us – spouses, children, family, friends. The following are some suggestions.

Scripture – Song of Solomon (has great scripture to include in a Valentine to your very special love!), Deut. 6:5, Psalm 18:1, Psalm 116:1, Psalm 145:20, Proverbs 8:17, Romans, 8:28, and my memory verse for this week in my woman’s Bible study, Matthew 22:37-37 “Jesus replied, “Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest Commandment.”

Decorate for Valentine’s Day – get out any saved decorations, red candles, a heart wreath of paper or fabric

Lend a helping hand – make red hearts with the words in the middle “I did it because I love you” and place it next to something you did to show your love for that person – a bed that has been made, dishes washed and put away, clothes washed and folded, carpet vacuumed, meal or snack made for a family member, bills paid, coffee or dinner made, etc!

How Mom and Dad met, dated, proposed, wedding photos – at a family dinner or time together discuss and bring out photos

Love Messages – write notes to each member of your family to tell them why you love/respect them and appreciate them (be specific) – tuck them in lunchboxes, briefcases, purses, backpacks, or on pillows, and write with red lipstick or soap on your spouse’s bathroom mirror – “I love you!”

Dinner by Candlelight – make a special family and then maybe different dinner for your spouse by candlelight with heart name cards or valentines, special dinnerware you may have or silverware, and maybe even send a special invitation a few days before (even on their pillows), then at dinner discuss how much you love/respect and appreciate each family member

Valentine treasure hunt – buy a package of children’s valentines and make a treasure hunt for your spouse and or your children, with a small love gift with the last valentine

Make a heart shaped cake or cookies

Chinese fortune cookies – take out the fortunes inside with tweezers and replace with your own love/respect or appreciation notes

Pink pancakes – on Valentine’s Day add red food coloring to pancake mix and surprise your family!

Heart sandwiches and chocolate kisses

Homemade Valentines – be creative and make for your spouse, children, and others – decorate with hearts, lace, ribbons, pictures – create a poem or use a Bible verse and write specific reasons as to why your love, respect, and appreciate them

Faith
My spring woman’s Bible study is “Experiencing God” by Blackaby. This week I was struck by the teaching about our love relationship with God. He continually pursues us, and EVERYTHING in our life depends upon the quality of our love relationship with God. Also, we need to not tell God what we are going to do for Him, but ask Him what he wants us to do for Him, and watch, listen, seek and join Him in what He is doing.

My church, Trader’s Point Christian Church just finished a sermon series on Matthew 23, entitled “The Pretenders”in us. Our minister Aaron’s messages delved deeply into the quality of our relationship and heart with God - are we truly following God to reflect His glory in our lives through guidance and learning from the Holy Spirit, or are we hypocrites and “woe to us” if we are more concerned with men’s applause, rules, and pretenses. What are my motivations, and am I more concerned about my image or my character and who I am becoming in my daily decisions and time?

My prayers and blessings for you and your families – and may we continue to see any pretending in ourselves, and help us to be what we already are in You – give us the courage to let You in!
Hugs, Dr. Lisa

Elimination&Gluten-free Diets, Eric's Four D's, Family Traditions&Memories

2010-01-16T22:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and new decade!!! I am so happy and blessed to be back to the work I love and writing to you after a very nice family vacation visiting my parents and Aunt Rita in Florida and Disneyworld for two days. We had very treasured family times together, and my favorite was playing the game “Apples to Apples” all together on New Year’s Eve (ages 9 to 83 all had terrific times and many laughs). We will all remember that forever. I hope you all, too, enjoyed many treasured times. It is great to awaken each day with thanks and gratefulness, and as Tony Dungy (and I!) would say, hug your spouse and your kids (and each other) every chance you get!

Elimination Diet & Gluten Free Diet

Spurred on by my thirty-something patient Keelan and listening to my patients, I decided to research elimination and gluten free diets. Keelan suffered from weight gain and mild irritable bowel starting in her twenties despite efforts at healthier eating and exercise. She did an elimination diet and found she had sensitivity to gluten (protein found in wheat, barley, and rye). After eating a gluten free diet this past year she feels so much better and has lost 30 pounds (and now at a good weight for her size/build). If she eats even a little guten (or pasta), she says she can just feel the quick weight increase.

I feel many people are similar to Keelan. Some estimates say about 95% of our population have at least some sensitivity to gluten. I recommend any of you not feeling well or at your best weight to try an elimination diet and then see what you find out to continue a better healthier diet for you. Along with a good diet, it is essential to drink plenty of water (at least ½ - 1 gallon/day – I drink at least a 13oz bottle of water at 3 meals and on my way home from work), and take a few appropriate daily supplements for your best health (for most people extra vitamin D, fish oil, multivitamin, probiotic, and calcium for women – see us for your yearly physicals to go over the best for you), along with exercise and proper rest/sleep. I have found many people are unsuspectingly vitamin deficient (like vitamin D/zinc/iodine/and more, causing fatigue, hair loss/skin problems, decreased libido, and much more), so please see us for your yearly physical to check what you need and consider some vitamin tests (several at no charge in our office and some blood).

BASIC ELIMINATION PLAN
Elimination or allergy diets are used to isolate food allergies or sensitivities. There are a number of medical symptoms that can be related to food, including recurrent yeast infections, rashes and eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, asthma, migraines, lactose intolerance (deficiency in the enzyme needed to digest milk or milk products) and more.

You can eat: preferably organic meats-chicken-turkey-fish (Moody Meats or even Target are good places), vegetables & fruits (best organic or well washed, good to get at Fresh Market or http://www.farmfreshdelivery.com/), beans, and rice for at least 14-21 days, then gradually add groups as instructed below every 4-7 days and monitor how you feel/symptoms.

Water - most everyone is dehydrated and this can cause many chronic symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, problems sleeping, joint aches - you need to drink at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces/day (#150 lb person needs at least 75 ounces) - filtered or distilled water (no other fluids count and really only other healthy fluids are herbal or green teas)

Eliminate the following foods from the diet for a period of 14-21days to a month:
--Dairy products, including cheese (instead use soy milk and soy cheese; rice milk, rice-based ice cream)
--Egg and egg-containing products
--Food containing gluten, such as wheat and wheat-based products (including pasta), and barley, oat, or rye grains (alternative grains could be brown rice, buckwheat, spelt, millet, potatoes or sweet potatoes)
--Citrus fruits
--Corn and corn-containing products
--All processed foods including caffeine

Note that suddenly stopping some foods (such as caffeine) can result in withdrawal symptoms (typically headaches) – however this usually lasts only a few days.

Next, reintroduce one food group to your diet about every 5 days.

The reintroduction period allows enough time to determine any intolerances.

Celiac Disease (or also called celiac sprue) is allergic reactions to the protein gluten found in wheat, rye, and barley, and can be very mild or severe leading to malnutrition. Gluten sensitivity is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms can be related to other causes. Some of the many possible symptoms are weight gain, abdominal pain and bloating, fatigue or weakness, cold sores, lactose intolerance, headaches or migraines, gas, diarrhea or constipation, irregular stools, depression, respiratory problems, more frequent infections, swelling and rashes, hair loss, acne, infertility, miscarriage, lupus, autoimmune disease, acid reflux, vitamin D deficiency, joint pain, muscle cramping, and allergies. With gluten allergy one’s immune system attacks its own intestinal lining cells which damages them and allows toxins to enter the blood stream, malnutrition, and inflammation.

Below are recommendations from the Celiac Sprue Association. Their website has a tremendous amount of information at www.csaceliacs.org.

Gluten-free Diet: Basics

Generally allowed foods – meats, poultry, most dairy products (except if lactose intolerant which is common in people with celiac disease), fruits, vegetables, rice, and potatoes.

Alcholic Beverages – gluten-free beer, wine and brandy without preservatives and additives, potatoe vodka, rum, tequila

Breads – commercial gluten-free breads and mixes made from ingredients such as white or brown rice flours and starches such as arrowroot, potatoe, or tapioca.

Cereals – gluten-free cereal grains and sources without malt, hot cereals made from corn meal, cream of rice, hominy, and rice

Cheeses – all aged hard cheeses as cheddar, Swiss, Edam, and Parmesan, and check ingredients on cottage cheese, cream cheese, and pasteurized processed cheese (avoid cheeses with vegetable gum, food starch and preservatives not defined by a gluten-free source)

Crackers and Snack Foods – rice wafers, potatoes or cornstarch based, pure cornmeal chips and tortillas, popcorn, vegetable and gluten-free nut based chips

Desserts – gelatin desserts, certain pudding mixes and ice cream and sherbet or yogurt (without suspect additives, wheat flour, or gluten stabilizers), custard, junket, homemade or commercial desserts from gluten-free ingredients

Drinks and Juices – fresh brewed coffee, tea, chocolate made with cocoa, fruit juices, carbonated drinks and some nut and rice drinks, and a few root beers (and instant or processed drinks without malt, additives, stabilizers, or emulsifiers)

Fats and Oils – olive oils, soy, safflower, grape seed, sunflower, corn oils, canola, margarines, butter, lard, cream, cottonseed, pure mayonnaise, peanut butters, and hydrogenated soy oils (and evaluate low fat combinations)

Flours – use gluten-free flours and starches from food already common in one’s diet (many commercial blends are available)

Fruits – fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruit (evaluate thickeners, additives, or preservatives)

Grains and Grain Substitutes – any gluten-free grains such as rice, brown rice, corn and popcorn, tapioca, sorghum, flax and wild rice, yams, potatoes, sweet potatoes, soy

Meats or Meat Substitutes and Eggs – meats, meat substitutes, fish, minimally processed poultry and eggs prepared with the allowed grains (evaluate all marinades and coatings, hot dogs and sausages)

Miscellaneous – herbs, spices, nuts, coconut, chocolate, pure cocoa

Potatoes-Pasta-Starches – potatoes and sweet potatoes, yams, hominy, rice and wild rice and gluten-free pastas (in the U.S. the word “starch” is made from cornstarch)

Soups-Soy Sauce-Teriyaki Sauces – read all the label of ingredients

Sweets – sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, most jellies and jams, plain hard candy, marshmallows, gumdrops, and homemade or commercial candies made with allowed ingredients

Vegetables – fresh, frozen, dried, or canned unless they contain thickening agents to evaluate (canned vegetables may contain emulsifiers, preservatives, stabilizers, and food starch not defined by source)

Vinegars – balsalmic, apple cider and wine vinegars

Eric’s Fitness Tips
By Eric Walden

I used the four D’s during my training for my first bodybuilding competition. This helped me day in and day out to remember why I was torturing my body. Use this as template for your success. Each person has to find what makes them tick and put stepping stones in place to help them succeed. Everyone is different and will take their own path to success, but these are the basics that everyone must have to succeed.

Each of these components in of themselves can not lead you to success, but when combined together they will almost guarantee success. A person must have each of these components to be successful. A person must first have the desire to accomplish a task. Then they must have the discipline to put together a plan of attack. Third, they must have the drive to keep going when the going gets tough. Last, a person has to have the dedication to complete the task.

The four D’s don’t have to be applied strictly to fitness. It can be applied to daily life. But putting together a plan and acknowledging that the road to success isn’t going to be easy.

The Four D’s to Success

Desire- to long or hope for: exhibit or feel desire for a: to express a wish for

Discipline- a: training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character; b: control gained by enforcing obedience or order c: orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior

Drive- to impart a forward motion to by physical force; a: to exert inescapable or coercive pressure on b: to compel to undergo or suffer a change (as in situation or emotional state) c: to urge relentlessly to continuous exertion d: to press or force into an activity, course, or direction e: to project, inject, or impress incisively

Dedication- a devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose

Family and Faith

Parenting Tip:
Thinking about our New Years Eve playing “Apples to Apples” reminds me of the importance of special family traditions and memories. I recently read a helpful book on this topic, “Fifteen Minute Family Traditions and Memories”, by Emilie Barnes. Emilie says that a memory-builder does not have to be limited to one season of the year or a certain holiday. It can be any event that later becomes a happy memory – a family ritual, a season, a tradition, or the creation of a memorable event out of an ordinary day. Emilie reminds us that we need to plan our lives to create treasured memories, and that “successful people do what unsuccessful people aren’t willing to do”.

Special family traditions can be making family dinners and prayers a priority with no TV (and maybe one evening a week planning a longer family dinner with special conversation and often asking “What was the best thing that happened to you today?” or have a jar of canned questions to pull out one or several to ask), a special family handshake, making favorite cookies, having pet names, at least once a day telling your children you love them and often tell them how much you enjoy being their parents, having a “You Are Special Today” plate to honor a family member or guest, make a big deal and honor a child on success, designate one night a week as a family night, and special occasion things like a birthday plate or glass, making special secret valentines for family members, coloring East eggs together, reading the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke before Christmas meal just to name a few. Work to identify your special family traditions, keep them up, and plan others that you want!

Marriage Tip (from “Fifteen Minute Family Traditions”) - Prescriptions For Romance
-compliment your mate and repeat every 4 – 6 hours
-say “I love you or respect and appreciate you” at least 3 times today and every day
-the unasked-for gift is most appreciated – the surprise gift most cherished
-run your hands and feet under warm water before coming to bed
-hug at least ten time today – watch out and it can be habit-forming!
-kidnap your mate – blindfold and drive around a little to confuse then take on a surrpise date
-hide 25 little “I love and or respect you because…” cards (on index cards, post-it notes, heart paper…) all over the house (even car, briefcase, freezer, sock drawer, books, etc) – some may stay hidden for months!
Make God and each other your priority!

Faith
In November and December at my church, Trader’s Point Christian Church, or lead minister Aaron Brocket gave a sermon series “Calling Out the Gods”. “You shall have no other Gods before me and you shall not worship idols.” Aaron talked about how we may at first think following the First Commandment is relatively easy, but actually is the one that always trips us up. There is a false God under every sin – idolatry is the tree and sin is the fruit (replacing God with a god substitute). We must daily look at who or what is sitting on the throne of our heart, or is the object of our worship, or what we sacrifice our time and money for? We must daily choose who we serve. God is not interested in being one among many, but being our one Lord.

Aaron discussed that idolatry is the number one threat to our walk with God, and our marriages and families. Our hearts and thoughts are idol factories, and we must discern our idols in the things we want or find happiness or pleasure in, the way we spend our money or our emotions. What are the idols of our hearts and thoughts - ?work, ?money, ?sexual sin, ?busyness, ?sports, ?alcohol/drugs, ?success. Idolatry is killing us and our sanctification (God’s plan for our lives to become more like Him). What we want drives what we do which reveals who we are. As Christians, we must discern our false gods, and dethrone them by daily remembering that who I am and what I do is based upon the glory of God and Him alone. We cannot remove a false god but must replace it with a new affection and pleasure in God and the Gospel. Then we must continue to choose on a daily and even each moment basis who we serve – a false little “g” god or the one true God…

I thank God first for Him and then for all of you – He so loves and knows and cares for each one of us, and the Bible is His book of love for me and you!
Happy New Year for eternity!
Hugs,
Dr. Lisa

Quick Workout

2009-12-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and got to spend lots of time with family and friends. I had a great time with my family. It is the first time my wife and I hosted a Christmas party. It was a lot of work but fun at the same time. I definitely over indulged in food. I came up with this short work out to help burn off those extra calories that we put on. The video is about 7 minutes long but it takes you through step by step of each exercise and how to do it. I hope you enjoy.

Eric Walden

PS. I want to let you all know that I am running a special for the New Year. If you purchase 12 sessions you will receive 3 free sessions. Check out my website for pricing details. www.waldospersonaltraining.com

"Mistaken Identity", Eric's Tips, OCD, Respectful Kids-starts with us!

2009-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!! This time of year I want to make sure to take the time to ponder and revel in the eternal gift God gave to us in Jesus. I do not want to let myself get caught in the trap and character assassin of business and frenzy. I constantly seek with the Holy Spirit's help to make certain I do the important and not the urgent.

"Mistaken Identity", by the VanRyn's and Cerak's

Annika and I and many of my woman's bible study group were honored last Saturday to hear Colleen and Newell Cerak speak in my friend Shelly's home for over 90 minutes. They are the co-authors of the book "Mistaken Identity", about the tragic Taylor University accident over 3 years ago, where 5 people were killed in an auto accident on I69, and their daughter Whitney was one of the 5 declared dead. Then 5 weeks later they discovered actually Whitney was alive, and had been mistaken for Laura VanRyn... The following is my notes and lessons from their testimony, which was so moving that even my 9 year old Annika was totally attentive the entire time (and she has been sharing what she learned with many, and is learning more as she reads their book). Matt Lauer of the Today Show has emotionally said that the Cerak's and the VanRyn's are the most impressive people he has ever interviewed. The Cerak's live in Gaylord, MI and were here to speak at a church, and stayed with Shelly, who has been their long time friend (and they are happy to share their testimony and faith with any group or church, and just ask travel expenses).

After being told their daughter had died in the crash (and Newell has out of town at the time helping with Hurricane Katrina aftermath)...
Christians do not grieve as the world grieves, and they made Whitney's funeral a God-centered celebration. They were given the energy and strength for the funeral with their older daughter Carly's insistence they had to spend 2 hours alone together in prayer beforehand. They had Whitney's bible, and discovered she had been underlining meaningful passages to her months before the crash. Some that really spoke to them were Ps 105:4, 63:3, 62:5-8, 84:1-2, and they spent their 2 hours of prayer spent around Whitney's bible and some worship music. Then on Mother's Day which closely followed her funeral, Carly gave Colleen a card signed, "Your favorite daughter here on earth".
Newell was out of town on a youth Christian conference, and Colleen received a phone call at 5am to bring Whitney's dental records to a Grand Rapids rehab hospital. The Cerak's overwhelming joy at having their daughter alive became the VanRyn's pain, however the VanRyn's were so gracious and happy for them. Even though the world would think that theirs was not a happy ending, the VanRyn's knew that they and their daughter Laura who had died had the most happy ending - Heaven! Through all this and the following rehab for Whitney, God perfectly placed and timed so very many people to help and support the Cerak's.

Whitney's remarkable rehab and recovery...
A neuropsychologist said trauma to the brain is like a hurricane ripping through a forest of trees (the brain's connections being like the trees) - some are broken and some totally uprooted. When they first met Whitney again 5 weeks after the crash, her neuropsych testing did not even register her being in late preschool development. With rehab all summer with her sister and family, Whitney tested at the 8th grade level in August. She then wanted to return to Taylor for her sophmore year, and they modified classes for her. Whitney had a very difficult time that semester with being different and not funny any longer, and really missed her old self. Carly told her, "I miss the old Whitney too, but I love the new Whitney". On Thanksgiving, Whitney's neuropsych testing showed she was at a junior level in college!

Colleen's Lesson's
1. God is in control and His strength will carry you through, and He knows the big picture from the very beginning. She says she is a type A personality and likes to control/do, but she learned dramatically with the 2 hours of prayer before funeral preparations the power of time with God and letting Him control. Nothing is better than time alone with God and preparing ourselves with God's word. He is the foundation and strength underneath and within us. Remember to note and underline in your Bible.
2. Miracles do happen all the time, and stop whining and complaining and forgetting. Satan wants to disrupt, but God can use all for HIs glory. Colleen encourages us to break routines and desire God in the way He deserves to be desired.

Newell's Lessons
1. All Christians have their safety in Jesus and eternal Heaven, and through this Newell had his perspective totally change in regards to his family's safety. He no longer worries about their safety, but prays for safety of loved ones and others who do not know or accept Jesus.
2. God loves us just the way we are, and releases us to be who He wants. Our identity and value is in God and Jesus Christ, and He never changes. Our identity is not in our work or life here or our humor - that would be mistaken identity.
3. Crises will come and go, but God is still God no matter what the crises. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we can always depend upon God. We will never be the same - our lives are in constant transition. We are not called to be normal, but to be bold and not afraid to share our faith and our source of strength. (The VanRyn's and Cerak's twice refused to appear on Oprah because she did not let her guests talk about the one true God. Only until Oprah agreed to let them share this and all their story and faith did they appear on Oprah to talk about their story and book.)

I asked about how they kept their marriage strong through the crises. They said that they focused and were attentive to their bond of at first of grieving together and then working together with God at their focus and center. They rely on God's strength and pray together daily. I then shared trainer Eric's visual of a triangle with God at the top and each partner/spouse at the bottoms of the triangle - the closer you each get to God, the closer you are together...

Where is Whitney now? (And she does not want her story as a movie.) She is a missionary in Africa with her sister Carly, and totally has her humor and personality back. Her longtime boyfriend since high school just asked her to marry him, and they will be getting married in the spring or early summer (and then he will be deployed in the summer).

Eric's Fitness Tips
By
Eric Walden

The holidays can be a joyous time of year shared with family and friends, but they can also bring stress and anxiety as we struggle to keep up with often-unrealistic demands and expectations. That's why it is so important for all of us to relax and take good care of ourselves.

ACE's (www.acefitness.org) top tips for surviving the holidays are great for increasing your energy and reducing your stress, this season and all year long.

Take time for yourself. Although spending time with friends and family is essential, it's also important to have at least five minutes to yourself to relax. Try practicing deep breathing exercise when you feel stressed out.

Don't set unrealistic exercise goals. Aim to exercise 20 minutes a day instead of an hour. You'll be sure to get at least 20 minutes of exercise per day without feeling disappointed if you do not complete an hour.

Enlist a friend or family member to exercise with you. Walking and talking with a friend can be a great way to burn extra calories and reduce your stress level.

Create new, more active traditions. Instead of throwing a dessert or cocktail party, try snowshoeing or ice-skating as an alternate holiday event. Play powder puff football or build a snowman.

Don't try to lose weight or stick to a restrictive diet this holiday season. If you enjoy your favorite foods in small portions, you'll feel more satisfied. Trying to stay away from certain foods may leave you feeling deprived, which may cause you to eat more than you intended to.

Drink plenty of water. Although the cold weather may make you less inclined to grab a glass of water, it is just as important in the winter as it is during the summer. Water helps counter the dehydrating effects of travel or drinking alcoholic beverages, and it may also help satiate your appetite since thirst is often mistaken for hunger.

Spread out meals. Don't feel like you have to eat everything at once. Try eating dinner early and then taking a walk before sitting down for dessert.

Don't overdo it with alcohol or caffeine. These stimulants will only cause you more grief in the end by adding to your feelings of stress. Try drinking hot herbal tea instead of coffee, and keep the number of alcoholic drinks to a minimum.

Don't aim for perfection, and enjoy the imperfections. There is no such thing as the perfect party or the perfect decorations or the perfect way to spend the holidays. Don't set yourself up for disappointment by placing unrealistic demands on yourself.

Laugh. Laughing is a great tension reliever. It burns calories, reduces stress and usually means that you're enjoying yourself.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Family and Faith - from Eric
This week I am writing of one of Eric's tips for spiritual/mental and relationship fitness. He shared this with my daughter Christina who was talking with him about how she and her boyfriend were lately were not as in sync. Eric asked about how their relationship and time spent with God was lately. He then taught (and drew out) the lesson about the triangle with God at the top, and she and her boyfriend at each bottom. Eric drew arrows on each side of the triangle going from the bottom to the top and the top to the bottom. Then he explains that as you can see with that triangle, the closer each of you get to God, the closer you are together (and the farther you get away from God, the farther you are apart)... Thanks Eric!!!

(PS When he trains clients, he does not bring up spiritual and faith issues unless his clients bring it up and ask him, but he has such a wealth and depth of it!)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD
OCD has a lifetime incidence of about 2%, with symptom usually beginning in adolescence, and can cause marked distress and disability (and can be associated with depression, panic disorders, and substance abuse). OCD interferes with family and social relationships and work performance and is likely to persist without effective treatment. People are often embarrassed and reluctant to report OCD symptoms. If the diagnosis of OCD is suspected, these two screening questions can help decide - Do you have thoughts that are hard for you to get out of your mind? Do you feel the need to perform certain tasks that you really don't want to do or don't make sense over and over?
Obessions are recurrent intrusive thoughts or images which cause significant distress. Compulsions are repetitive activities to try to counteract the anxiety caused by the obsessions. Common obsessions are need for order (intense distress when things are disordered or asymmetric), repeated doubts (eg. wondering if an alarm was set), contamination (dirty from shaking hands, etc.), sexual imagery (recurrent porn images of thoughts), religious (excessive concern about unknowingly sinning or bad thoughts), and aggressive impulses (images of hurting a relative or person). Common compulsions are checking (repeated checking doors, alarms, appliances), cleaning (handwashing, housecleaning), ordering (reordering things to achieve symmetry), mental acts (counting, repeating words, praying), repetitive actions (like walking in/out of doorway multiple times), hoarding (saving rash/unnecessary things), and reassurance seeking (asking others continually for reassurance).
Treatment for OCD is through education, support, behavioral therapies, and medicine, though if usually takes weeks and months for the best effects/results of these treatments. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been proven effective for OCD, and is done under the direction of a trained counselor. They teach people with OCD to confront their obsessions and to avoid performing the compulsive behaviors. The best medicine for treating OCD is an SSRI like Prozac, Paxil, or Zoloft. For effectiveness in OCD, they are often needed in their maximal dosages and may take longer than usual to notice their effectiveness (even 10 - 12 weeks). Medical therapy then should be continued at least 2 years, and often for a lifetime. If an SSRI is not effective, another medicine can be added or switched to like clomipramine (Anafranil), or Effexor, or an anti-psychotic mood stabilizing medicine (like Risperdal, Seroquel, Haldol, or Abilify). Natural medicine therapies include the CBT and moderate intensity aerobic exercise (but St. John's wort has not been shown to help OCD).

Family and Faith

Parenting Tip - from the book "Respectful Kids - The Complete Guide to Bringing Out the Best in Your Child", by Dr. Todd Cartmell

I am just starting to read this book, and Dr. Cartmell suggests as we work to teach our children respect, that us parents need to first look in the mirror - are we a picture of compassion and understanding or of unreasonable expectations?, a picture of unshakeable honesty or of shading the truth when it's more convenient?, a picture of taking personal responsibility or of making excuses?, a picture that encourages others or that tears them down?, a picture of self control or of abusive anger?, and a picture that can be flexible or that becomes unyielding?.
Dr, Cartmell gives the illustration of how you vitally need the picture on the cover of a jigsaw puzzle to put the puzzle together. We as parents are the picture God has placed in our children's lives. We are the picture on the top that they cannot do without, and are constantly studying to figure out the jigsaw of their lives. So as always with parenting, we must start with studying and working upon ourselves.
How can we be the pictures God intends us to be? Dr. Cartmell teaches four steps we need to work with God upon - first to identify those aspects of our behavior that need to change, surrender that area to God, take it out of the closet, and get specific about how to move toward change. "Through these four steps, God can begin to shape our lives into the picture our children need to look at every day, and then our children will find it easier to become everything God has made them to be."

He identifies aspects that may need to change are -
-How we talk to our spouse
-The amount of time we spend with our kids

-How we express frustration
-The tone and volume of our voice when we correct our children
-The way we work through family problems
-The reasonableness of our expectations in relation to the age and understanding of our children
-How we joke with our kids
-The consistency of our devotional times.

Some specific steps to take to address issues we want to focus on are -
-Make a list of hurtful words you will no longer use
-Commit yourself to apologizing and asking forgiveness from your child every time you lose your temper with her
-Limit Internet and TV time to free up more time to be with your family
-Say one positive thing to each child every day
-Compliment your spouse in front of your kids
-Physically touch each child in a caring, appropriate way every day
-Spend a couple minutes at each bedtime asking your child about her day
-Take each child out to breakfast once a month, Lead a short family devotion each morning
-Prepare a family-time discussion once a week
-Read 5 chapters from the Bible each week
-Have a date night with your spouse at least once a month (see me last blog about time with your spouse)
-Pray with your spouse each night before going to bed
-and even Make an appointment with a marriage or family counselor.

I am so grateful for all of you and my many blessings, but primarily and especially eternally grateful to God and our savior Jesus! Remember to keep training our and our children's hearts in gratefulness and values, and very importantly to always want what we have (not have what we want)!
With my Hugs and Prayers for you and your families,
Dr. Lisa