Just Breathe...

Deep breathing has a profound impact on your health. Most people only use a small portion of their lungs which robs them of many functions. Proper deep breathing techniques can...

• Lower blood pressure
• Lower cholesterol
• Shift you from chronic stress to relaxed alertness
• Affect synthesis of protein, fat, and carbohydrates
  
• Increase production of immune cells
• Promote bone growth
• Enhance cellular function
• Enhance hormonal regulation
• Regulate burning of fat for weight loss
• Enhance practically every other physiological process in the body
  

So how does the health of your spine and respiratory health relate?

• The loss of your normal cervical lordosis (curve) decreases your lung capacity by up to 30%!
• The diaphragm (responsible for deep abdominal breathing) is attached to the upper three lumbar vertebrae. The pumping motion of deep breathing is responsible for disc nutrition delivery, waste elimination, and CSF flow to the entire lumbar spine!

If you or someone you know has respiratory problems from Asthma to allergies, they need to be adjusted! By correcting posture, many of these problems can be improved or resolved.

"Why"

I got the inspiration for this piece watching the movie "The Notebook" while in St. Louis for a wedding. At first I wondered what this had to do with health, but then it struck me with force that this has more profound, perpetual meaning to our mental/emotional health and wellbeing than practically any other topic.
Why do we do the things we do? What drives us? And most importantly, why is it so difficult to achieve the things we want?
You see, Tony Robbins teaches that our minds are wired so that we only have 2 motivations for everything we do. Whether it's losing weight, breaking an addiction, becoming a World-Class athlete, holding together a marriage, becoming wealthy, or achieving our goals and dreams, this principle is the driving force behind our decisive action (or inaction). As the avoidance of pain is the dominating force, it is easy to do these things if you can figure out a way to associate enough pain with not doing them. But what about the other side?
The reason most of us go through life and never achieve the little, and big things that we want is because we fail to find the "why". "Why" is what is important, the driving force, the inspiration and motivation that burns with passion inside of you, the incredible pleasure that could move you to and through anything. We are all anointed with this ability, we just need to uncover the key to opening it. For me, the reason I work with vivacity is my wife, Jen. She is everything to me, my gift from God, and all I need to do is think about what kind of life I want to give her and it pulls an energy and enthusiasm out of me that is clearly supernatural.
Maybe it's your family, your spouse, your children, your parents, your best friend, maybe it's God's will, or maybe even the dream itself. Whatever it is I encourage you, find your "Why" and ride that wave all the way in.

Following Anatomy - A Guide to Infant Nutrition

There is great confusion on how exactly babies should be fed. From formula companies telling us that their products are as good as breast milk to being told that we should feed 3-4 servings a day of cows milk to our 1 year olds, disaster is sneaking in and childhood diabetes is on the rise. If we simply step back and look at the body and it's development we can understand when the body is ready to move to the next step. First let's jump on a few issues.
1. Yes sugar "tastes" good, but it is NOT good for your children and they WILL eat things that don't have sugar in them if that's all you give them.
2. Cows milk is for cows, human milk is for humans. This is a "hormonal delivery system" and cows hormones do not belong in a babies body (neither does pus, mucus, dioxins, salmonella, e coli, mycobacterium paratuberculosis, red blood cells, white blood cells, growth hormones, antibiotics, and a host of other things found in cows milk). In fact, most other nations pediatric associations say that babies should NOT consume dairy until they are at least 2 years old because the majority of children are allergic to dairy.
3. A child should have a balanced diet. Fruits, vegetables, grains, fats, and protein. Breast milk gives the perfect balance.

Now, here's how to "Follow Anatomy"
1. From the day the baby is born until teeth break through, breastmilk should be the only thing the baby consumes and is more than sufficient for proper balanced nutrition IF mom is eating all the things that baby should eat and does not eat the things baby should not eat.
2. The first teeth to break through are typically the "cutters" or incisors. These are the teeth used for cutting through foods like fruits and vegetables. That means it is ok to start moving into these with some grains as well but make sure they are puried to start as baby is not able to grind the food without molars. Let them start to experiment with small pieces of whole soft foods like fruits.
3. A sign most moms understand that it is time to wean off breastmilk is when baby starts to bite! But keep in mind protein will be more difficult to come by so you will need to make sure protein is being added (puried fish, beans, and nuts are a few options).
4. Typically the molars will start to come in next which are used to grind food. It is now ok to start moving into increasingly more solid foods as baby learns to chew. Again, stick to the same fundamental diet that we should stay with our entire lives.
5. When the canines come in, these are used for tearing meat so you can start to add meats into the diet such as fish and chicken (natural/organic of course). Our bodies are designed to consume meat so a vegetarian diet, though it has it's benefits, is not anatomically based.

This guide does not address all food allergies/sensitivities. You will have to find what these sensitivities are and then it is possible to work on reducing these sensitivities.

Freedom

We should not celebrate this day as the 4th of July, but as it's true name "Independance Day". This day represents EVERY freedom we enjoy, including;

• Freedom to Worship
• Freedom to Assemble
• Freedom to Speak Out
• Freedom to Object
• Freedom to be Different
• Freedom to Choose
• etc...

These freedoms were won with blood, yet some of these rights are getting stolen from us while we sleep. Did you know:

• The school systems take away YOUR CHOICE to vaccinate your children because they get money for each child that is?
• The FDA is trying to take away YOUR RIGHT to purchase nutritional supplements by classifying them as drugs because they threaten the pharmaceutical companies?
• The Feds take away Doctors RIGHT TO SPEAK truth by making it law that "Only Drugs Can Cure Disease" therefore making it illegal to claim anything nutritional or therapeutic can do the same?
• The USDA takes away your RIGHT TO KNOW what you are buying by allowing food producers to cheat on food labels?
• The FDA takes away YOUR RIGHT to compete for better prices on medications by controlling the purchase of drugs from Canada?

As long as the FDA, USDA, Organized Medicine, Pharmaceutical Industry, Dairy Industry, and other profit driven organizations are allowed to STEAL OUR RIGHTS and go unnoticed we will see our FREEDOM continue to vanish. If you have other examples of how our rights are being stolen and what you can do about it please post them to The Blog. Your voice matters!