Breakthrough Thinking About Children’s Mental Development: A Look Into a Kanata Chiropractor’s Experiences

 

Just the other day I had the luxury to speak to a group of parents about the health and development of our children, which proved to be an extremely beneficial experience for both myself and the party in which I was addressing.  As a Kanata Chiropractor it has been a long time philosophy of mine to grow healthy children, rather than wait and try to repair damaged adults.  With that being said, I have come to realize that the best way to make an impact on our community starts with addressing those individuals that control the fate of the future, our children.  

As a parent, I also realize that we are most responsible for being a positive role model in our children’s upbringing.  Many factors come into play when promoting children’s health including, but not limited to:  proper nutrition, adequate sleep, the understanding that the body was born to be healthy rather than needing medication to stay afloat, daily exercise, and last, but definitely not least, establishing a healthy self esteem.  

Studies show that our emotions and self perceptions create the environment which we live in.  In other words, emotional stressors can be equated to a large majority of health related illness’s today. We truly are what we think. In fact, it is my opinion that self esteem should be practiced from the very day that a child is able to roll over.  Children develop thoughts and establish feelings about themselves at a very early age.  Filling our children’s mind with positive affirmations at a young age can help enforce healthy perceptions of themselves as they mature.  It also creates a support system of reassurance for them to fall back on when things don’t quite go according to plan.  One thing is for certain; our children are a direct reflection of us.  

As parents, we are solely responsible for creating an environment where these types of positive behaviours can develop.  Unfortunately, this takes a little more than a pat on the back and the good ol’ “we’ll get’em next time champ”.  Our words are much more powerful than we think.  The old saying “watch what you say because there is always someone listening” rings true in this particular situation.  Our children are listening and they are mimicking our every move and adapting to our every behaviour.

I will leave it to the experts to further elaborate on this matter. Follow this link to read a very well written article on building our children’s self esteem.  I encourage you to take this article literally and practice it in its entirety.  Remember that you are the educators of our future society!  I will leave you with a quote from Ghandi: “Be the change you want to see in your children."

 

Dr. Ryan Pope is a Kanata chiropractor at The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility in Ontario, Canada. He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to harness the innate intelligence of the body to heal itself through the chiropractic lifestyle.

Kanata Chiropractor Recommends "Food Rules"

 

I recently finished reading Michael Pollan's Food Rules and although it took me all of 30 minutes to read, it is packed with a lot of very valuable, common sense recommendations when it comes to food and eating.  

I think it says it best in the description on the back of the book: "Eating doesn't have to be so complicated.  In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food."

Pollan provides a very, very easy to read compilation of Food Rules, that are short and simple enough that you don't require a degree in human anatomy or physiology to understand.  Although I don't agree with all 64 of his rules (I don't agree with parts of Rules 22, 23, 24, 37 & 38, 40 ) I think there is a lot of good information that makes this book worth a read.

Some of my favourites include Rule 21: It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos or Pringles) and Rule 19: If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't and Rule 20: It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car.

 

Dr. Michael Gibson is a Kanata chiropractor and the clinic director of The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility and the creator of Lifetime Wellness. He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to achieve abundant health and maximum quality of life. 

Kanata Chiropractor Recommends Probiotics

You have all heard of ANTI-biotics, but how about PRO-biotics?  The term “probiotic” stems from Greek, and it means “for-life”.   Studies show that these friendly creatures are indeed essential contributors to everyday well-being.

These microrganisms not only aid in the digestion process, but they have been found to affect numerous gene activities, assisting them in expressing health and fighting disease.  Interestingly enough, it has also been illustrated that probiotics boost your immune system and assist in lowering blood pressure.  

Several studies have highlighted the fact that probiotics stimulated changes similar to those desired by the pharmaceutical industry, but naturally and therefore without negative side –effects. In fact, probiotics offer NO negative side effects at all!  Researchers also revealed that drinking a probiotic rich drink influenced the activity of hundreds of genes in a favourable manner.

Probitics are readily available and quite easy to find, and choosing a high quality version will help rebalance your intestinal tract with good, healthy bacteria.  There are probiotics available for all ages!

This beneficial bacteria has a long lasting, and potent effect on your gut’s immune system, as well as your overall immune system.  

These micro-organisms play a vital part in the mucosal immune system in the digestive tract aiding in antibody production to unwanted invading bacteria, in other words: the one’s that “make you sick”.

These friendly little guys actually train your immune system to distinguish friend from foe, and help in the delivery of an appropriate immune response.  This is so important since an over-reaction to non harmful antigens is what gives rise to allergies and most frequent colds and flu’s.

As if this weren’t enough, probiotics can also help stabilize and normalize your weight.  In fact, studies have linked a 5% reduction in abdominal fat, and 3% reduction in subcutaneaous fat, simply by drinking a quality probiotic fermented milk beverage for approx. 12 weeks!

It is quite apparent that probiotics perform a wide variety of useful and beneficial functions, and some of which have yet to be discovered.  It is such an easy addition to one’s lifestyle, that it should be strongly encouraged to all ages.

It is also note worthy to suggest the use of probiotics following the use of antibiotics for any illness’s that one may incur.  

Antibiotics are designed to kill all the bacteria within the gut flora, including the gram positive bacteria (good bacteria), to eliminate all the toxic bacteria that causes use to suffer.  It is a must that the gram positive bacteria be replenished because it is this that allows us to absorb and digest all the nutrients that our body needs from the foods that we eat.  Unfortunately, this is likely not something that you are going to hear about from your family physician.

 

Dr. Ryan Pope is a Kanata chiropractor at The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility in Ontario, Canada. He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to harness the innate intelligence of the body to heal itself through the chiropractic lifestyle.

 

Caution! Put down that bottle of Tylenol!

 

One of the hardest things to face for a parent is dealing with a sick child.  Many make the assumption that our children are more vulnerable than the average adult, and unfortunately this means many tend to turn to potentially dangerous medications to suppress their symptoms.  

What if there was a reason for these symptoms?  Let’s look a bit deeper and explore the natural ability of the body to heal itself.  

First and foremost, our body has an innate intelligence that is designed to not only control every single cell, organ, and tissue of the body, but it also has the amazing ability to heal itself.  In an optimal environment the body will always tend toward health!  In fact, the fear that most parents have on the vulnerability of their child is often unfounded because children have the ability to heal quicker than we do as adults.  Think about this for a minute: our children have not been exposed to all the garbage that we have, not to mention the amount of physical, chemical, and emotional stress; therefore they have higher thresholds for dealing with simple pathogens that may entertain their host.  

Secondly, the intention of a symptom is to let the body know that something is wrong.  It tells the body that it can no longer adapt to its internal or its external environment. In the case of a fever, it is a way of telling the body that it is currently adapting.  Fevers are actually designed to raise the body temperature to designated levels in order to kill the viral and/or bacterial pathogen, thus; eliminate it from our system.  

Click here to read a great article, written by Susan Markel, MD discussing fevers in adolescents in more detail.  It is definitely worth the read for any parent.  

Enjoy!

 

Dr. Ryan Pope is a Kanata chiropractor at The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility in Ontario, Canada. He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to harness the innate intelligence of the body to heal itself through the chiropractic lifestyle.

Are You Neglecting Your Master Control System?

 

Most adults have had the following examination procedures at least one time in their lives:

1. Weight
2. Height
3. Blood pressure
4. Blood chemistry
5. Blood sugar
6. Urinalysis
7. Eyes
8. Ears
9. Nose
10. Throat
11. Abdomen
12. Pelvic
13. Skin
14. Heart
15. Lungs
16. Feet
17. Intestines
18. Dental
19. Vision
20. Hearing

Which body parts and systems are conspicuous in their absence from this list?

1. Nervous system (Your master control system!)
2. Spine
3. Muscles

Is it any wonder we feel that the majority of problems new Practice Members present to their Kanata Chiropractor are a result of neglect?  And, why wait until adulthood to look at this?  Shouldn’t our children have these vital body systems evaluated early?

 

Dr. Michael Gibson is a Kanata chiropractor and the clinic director of The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility and the creator of Lifetime Wellness. He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to achieve abundant health and maximum quality of life.