Celebrity Moms Making a Difference
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It seems our culture can’t avoid obsessing about celebrities, especially when they are falling to pieces. I wonder about our need to analyze, judge and criticize every action of public figures. Even Angelina Jolie, for all the good she tries to do, is subject to regular scrutiny. While it may be fun to criticize and condemn the Britney Spears of the world, I believe those reactions are attempts to avoid looking inwards at our own challenges and inadequacies and avoid improving ourselves. I thought it might be novel for just a minute to look at the considerable contributions of my favorite celeb mom without over-analyzing them, and to take stock of the good being done by people with celebrity status.
Angelina Jolie, acknowledged by the UN for work in many struggling areas of the world, is a self-admitted work in progress. She is not only a mom to recently born baby Shiloh but has completed three international adoptions. I have heard a great deal of criticism of celebs adopting children with the view that a high profile contribution would have been better spent on rehabilitating impoverished and at risk areas. They argue that the biological parents of these children can and would care for them - when the problems in their communities are solved. While I agree this is the ideal solution, many children are suffering now. The amount of time required to “turn things around” means that many children will simply be forgotten. Angelina Jolie has dramatically changed the life of three children who were not born to her. She made this choice because she could and she cared enough to do so. While some people say all actions of celebs is promotional, I say, “Who cares?” If doing good in the world gains her a few fans and her movies make more money, then so be it.
Cheers,
Andrea Page
Myths of Motherhood
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At my FITMOM classes, I provide a handout to all moms that focuses on the myths of motherhood. Most moms get a good laugh out of these including, “Having a child brings a couple closer together”, or “Breastfeeding is easy.” One that isn’t a laughing matter to me right now is “parenting gets easier.”
My oldest son is 8 years old and I can attest to the fact that nothing is easy about parenting him. In fact, it’s downright complicated. Perhaps some people have “easy” children or perhaps I’m just not a natural, but I have found with each of my children that parenting gets harder as they get older. My husband and I have signed up for a parenting course. Because I’m ever the skeptic, I’m preparing a list of questions, such as “How do you know YOUR methods work with every child?” and “How do our parenting techniques speak to the cultural differences between me and my partner?”
I feel the “THEYS” of the world (you know, the so-called experts we refer to in the general “they” term) all claim their way is best. To be honest, I can’t stand it. Parenting is more complicated than ever before, and in my opinion, children seem to be going off the rails at an unprecedented rate. In fact, much of my research shows that boys in particular are falling behind in performance due to a variety of reasons.
North American children today have a stronger sense of justice. While in theory this is good, I wonder how this will impact children down the road. I believe that in our desire to empower children, particularly in the school setting, we often end up sending them mixed messages about when they should stand up for themselves versus when they need to respect authority. In my family, we are focusing on getting back to basics, such as teaching our children not to overindulge, to respect everyone (especially your elders), and to understand that we are the parents and decision-makers, not them.
Some of you may have seen the YouTube clip of the woman who created a two-minute song out of all the phrases moms use in a 24-hour period. My favourite of all these phrases is, “BECAUSE I SAID SO.” I think this is a perfectly acceptable answer to a child who keeps asking, “But why, Mommy?” In my opinion, children need to learn that not all topics are up for discussion and that they must follow their parents’ directions. While I’m far from an expert, I’ve worked with enough moms and have read enough to know that doing what “the experts” say is “right” doesn’t always work for every mom. To me this means it’s time to find a new expert!
Cheers,
Andrea Page
Dangerous Drinks for Tooth Enamel
Filed Under Wellness Based Dentistry® | Leave a Comment
While energy drinks help our performance, our teeth suffer excessive wear due to the pH level. Most cola drinks contain acids, but energy and sport drinks also contain other organic acids that can speed up damage to the enamel. If you are going to drink sports drinks or colas, drink them quickly and then try to rinse your mouth with water. Or use a straw; it gets past your teeth. Also, resist the urge to brush afterwords, as toothpaste can be abrasive and will work the acids in.
Dr. Dana Colson
Tips for Teeth-Whitening
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When whitening your teeth, the solution’s total effect time is 90 minutes. The maximum effect takes place in the first 30 minutes of application; therefore, overnight wear is not necessary. Consider applying whitening product while watching television or when checking your emails!
Dr. Dana Colson
What Is Breast Thermography?
Filed Under Breast Health | 1 Comment
Thermography measures the infrared radiation (heat) that is constantly radiating (emitting) away from the surface of the human skin. Skin is an organ, and it breathes, exchanges gases with the environment, cools us as well and keeps us warm by letting heat out or keeping it in by controlling the amount of circulation, or blood flow, in the skin. This automatic regulation is done without conscious thought and is controlled by the autonomic nervous system via the sympathetics. The whole process is called thermoregulation.
The thermography procedure is based on the principle that chemical and blood vessel activity in both pre-cancerous tissue and the area surrounding a developing breast cancer is almost always higher than in the normal breast. Since pre-cancerous and cancerous masses are highly metabolic tissues, they need an abundant supply of nutrients to maintain their growth. In order to do this they increase circulation to their cells by sending out chemicals to keep existing blood vessels open, recruit dormant vessels, and create new ones (neo-angiogenesis). This process results in an increase in regional surface temperatures of the breast.
Abnormal thermographic scans of the breast clearly demonstrate abnormal areas of heat. This gives the clinician an alert that something might be wrong with physiology of the breast. It could be an infection, inflammatory disease, trauma or cancer.
Thermography uses no painful breast compression, no radiation and is non-invasive. It is an ideal tool for mass screening not only for women over 40, but younger women as well. Breast pathologies have been found in women as young as 18 utilizing thermal imaging equipment. It would be a grave error to deny the efficacy of thermal imaging of the breast as an adjunctive diagnostic procedure in the overall management of the patient.
The procedure is both comfortable and safe, using no radiation or compression. By carefully examining changes in the temperature and blood vessels of the breasts, signs of possible cancer or pre-cancerous cell growth may be detected up to 10 years prior to being discovered using any other procedure. This provides for the earliest possible detection of cancer. Because of breast thermography’s extreme sensitivity, these temperature variations and vascular changes may be among the earliest signs of breast cancer and/or a pre-cancerous state of the breast.
Dr. Alex Mostovoy
How Effective Is Thermography in Detecting Breast Cancer?
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Breast thermography has been researched for over 30 years, and over 800 peer-reviewed breast thermography studies exist in the index-medicus. In this database well over 250,000 women have been included as study participants. Some of these studies have followed patients up to 12 years. Breast thermography has an average sensitivity and specificity of 90%.
Studies show that:
· An abnormal infrared image is the single-most important marker of high risk for developing breast cancer.
· A persistent abnormal thermogram carries with it a 22 times higher risk of future breast cancer.
· When thermography is added to a woman’s regular breast health checkup, a 61% increase in survival rate has been realized.
· When used as part of a multimodal approach (clinical examination + mammography + thermography), 95% of early-stage cancers will be detected.
Breast thermography is not a stand-alone tool in the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. It is adjunctive. We can’t ignore the tremendous role of thermography as an early risk indicator or as a monitor of treatment. When a thermogram is positive, a closer look at the patient’s diet, exposure to environmental pollution, toxins and lifestyle is in order. Clinical blood work in addition to ultrasound and mammography is essential. When mammography and blood work are negative or equivocal, thermographic monitoring on a quarterly to semi-annual basis should be performed in those patients with suspicious thermograms.
Changes in tumor angiogenesis can be evaluated and other procedures can be ordered to aid in the earliest possible diagnosis. Thermography is non-ionizing and safe. There is no reason to simply “wait and see” any longer. We must become proactive rather than passive with our health. It is no longer acceptable to “wait and see” just because a mammogram is negative or equivocal. With a more universal approach, thermal imaging can become a valuable early detection tool that is indispensable in patient’s health care.
Since it has been determined that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer, we must use every means possible to detect cancers when there is the greatest chance for survival. Proper use of breast self-exams, physician exams, thermography, and mammography together provide the earliest detection system available to date. If treated in the earliest stages, cure rates greater than 95% are possible.
Dr. Alex Mostovoy
What Is Chiropractic?
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Chiropractic is a complementary medicine in which the doctor is an expert in the structure and function of the spine and nervous system. The doctor looks to misalignments of joints in the body, especially in the spine, as a cause of other disorders affecting the nerves, muscles and organs. The nervous system is responsible for the control and coordination of every tissue, organ, system, muscle and cell in the body.
One of the places where the nervous system is particularly vulnerable is where the nerves exit the spinal cord between the spinal bones, called vertebrae. Misalignments, fixations, or what chiropractors refer to as subluxations can irritate or inflame the nerves interfering with the body’s ability to adapt and heal itself properly.
In addition to making “adjustments” to the spine and other joints, many chiropractors use nutrition and supplementation, orthotic supports and other modalities such as acupuncture, soft tissue work, electrical muscle stimulation and laser, as well as others.
Dr. Sidenberg
Feeling Low? Turn It Around!
Filed Under Law of Attraction | Leave a Comment
One of the least effective things you can do when you are feeling low is beat yourself up for being there. One of the most effective things you can do is be grateful for your power to think your own thoughts.
I was feeling a little off today. Now, I was going to also say “for some reason”, but that would indicate that I am unconscious of the reason why I felt “off”. Not so, though, because I know I am the one who thinks my thoughts and creates my beliefs, so the only person who could have caused that response in my body is me (based on Law of Attraction).
Did you know that every cell in your body follows your thoughts? There is quite a large biological explanation for this, but I won’t go into that right now. I wanted to tell you about a thought I had today. I was thinking how tired I was from the weekend, which involved lots of organizing and follow-up for an event, blah blah blah. That’s just based on a belief that working a lot, spending a lot of time doing something means we must necessarily be tired at the end. Well, that is just a belief. There are many times when I have not slept, yet still had loads of energy. There are many times I have gone to sleep at 3 a.m. and gotten up at 8 a.m. and been fully ready for life.
So I decided to buy into a new belief: “No matter how much I do, I love it. The more I do, the more energy I receive. The more busy I am, the more joy and energy I experience.” I like that belief much more.
Since you are the one who thinks your thoughts, which create your life… when you want to feel good, just look at the thought you are thinking that doesn’t feel good, or the belief system you are buying into that doesn’t feel good, and think a new thought that rocks your world. Watch the cells in your body, and your life, respond accordingly.
Jennifer Hough
Want to Know the Purpose of Your Life?
Filed Under Law of Attraction | Leave a Comment
The purpose of life is to stop figuring out what your purpose is and follow your bliss!!! To put it another way:
If you have held a baby, and smiled… you were on purpose.
If you have walked in a forest and stood in awe… you were on purpose.
If you have cracked a joke and laughed, even when no one else did… you were on purpose.
Your purpose is to experience joy, ease and expansion. How do you find the things that will bring you joy, ease and expansion? Start by not analyzing what doesn’t bring them to you, and start focusing on what does. It will become clear very quickly.
The more you follow your bliss, the more clear will become the things that will give you more bliss. As long as you are acknowledging that you are “not there” yet, the more “not there” you will be. You have many moments of feeling “there” every day; start giving them all of your energy, and life will unfold in the most miraculous way. According to the Law of Attraction, it’s the only way it can be.
Think about more good, not less bad. When you focus on joy (which is the overriding purpose of life) and on what brings you peace and joy, you will only find more ways to find peace and joy. That is how you find your purpose! Feel how it would feel first, and it will become clear to you very quickly. Oh, and it will also change over your life. So there is not “THE Purpose” of my life, there is only “A purpose for my life right now”.
To say you are searching for purpose is to ignore every joyful thing you have done - every walk in the park, every holding of a baby. You don’t have to be Gandhi, you just have to appreciate your blessings.
Jennifer Hough
Seasons of Joy
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Going through different seasons means sometimes we are celebrating, sometimes we are planting seeds, and sometimes we are clarifying what we want through contrast. Each season is as important – and can be as joyful – as the others. Unfortunately, North Americans mostly value the harvest.
Every season of your journey is worth experiencing. Here’s why it is so important to understand this:
· You must be able to imagine, dream and be inspired to be able to plant the seed… and that is truly a joyful thing. Take as long as you like. The more you imagine, the more you will be able to realize which dreams are most inspiring. Planting the seed is called spring.
· You must be able to fine tune your desires, see them more clearly, and bump up against some issues and problems so you can create more clarity about what you want. This makes the results become even more miraculous. The more contrast you see, the more clearly you know what you want. Take as long as you need here. This is called summer.
· You must be able to see results, accomplish the goal. This will be fleeting, but it is a fun “pinnacle” experience. Enjoy it! Harvest your joy in the fall.
· You must be able to enjoy the fruits of your creative talents, of your fine tuning, of your accomplishments… so relish, savor, wallow, enjoy, coast, snuggle in your accomplishment. Take as long as you like to “self-appreciate” in winter.
Then the spring comes again. The journey is so much fun, isn’t it?
Jennifer Hough
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