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Don’t you hate it when you go on a diet and suddenly all you see is junk food everywhere? It seems that no matter how hard we try, when we want to lose weight…we find ourselves surrounded by tasty treats! You may even be really motivated like me and go the extra mile to make a list of the foods you are going to avoid:

• Pizza
• Chocolate
• Sweets
• Fast Food
• Soda

But still, you fail to lose weight and you get frustrated…maybe even pig out to show your body who’s boss! What Gives? It reminds me of the saying: “What you focus on - gets bigger!” Let me explain, when most of us go on a diet, we make a list of what we are NOT going to eat anymore. We ‘give up’ sweets, pizza, fast food.What we DON’T do is make a similar list of what we WILL eat (to replace the images of what we WON’T eat). What we DON’T do is plan what will fill the void of those things we are cutting out of our life. I’ll prove it to you.

Try this Exercise:

Take five seconds and NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO; DON’T think of a pink polka dotted elephant!

1, 2, 3, 4, … Ok…TIME!

How’d that work out for you? Were you able to think of something else right from the start and NOT get a visual of a pink polka dotted elephant? … Of course not.

It’s not your fault. Your brain isn’t wired that way. When we focus on what we don’t want, our mind only sees those things. Your brain omits the word “don’t” – it only sees “Pink Polka Dotted Elephant.” Man this is tough!

But the really cool thing is that you can harness this power to bring GOOD into your life.

Think about how this relates to all other areas of your life:

• I don’t want a relationship that is unhealthy
• I don’t want to eat fast food anymore
• I don’t want to have back pain or headaches
• I don’t want to take prescription meds anymore
• I don’t want to end up spending the last 15 years of my life debilitated

Stop!

The REAL Question is: “What DO you want?”

If that’s more joy, more peace, more laughter, more health…MORE LIFE! Then go and get it – by choosing what WILL give you these things! Try this:

• I choose to start eating a healthy breakfast each day
• I choose to slow down and make space for quite time in my life
• I choose to exercise, doing something I look forward to enjoy
• I choose natural before artificial in all areas of my life (from foods, to personal products, to health care)
• I will find a way to laugh a little each day

I guarantee you (100 percent money back) – that if you just do this ONE thing…you will notice HUGE changes in your life!

Until next time: Here’s to a vibrant, joy filled 100 year life style!

Yours in Living,
Dr. Jennifer Rada, DC

PS: tell me what you think…how does this apply to you and your life?

By Dr. William Seder

Wellness is an interesting concept and is misinterpreted in many settings. Many may look at the idea of turning back the clock (anti-aging), living to the biblical age of 120 or just not being or getting sick.  Now there is a big difference between not being sick and being well. Wellness should be looked at as adding years to your life and life to your years. In my opinion there are several basic categories to consider in helping people enjoy the wellness lifestyle and these are not particularly in order of importance.

Lifestyle Modification:  Knowledge is power. It is impossible to have simple lifetime health if you don't know how. Stress management coupled with postural strains need to be addressed if you ever hope to achieve lifetime health.  Many do not realize the effects that emotional stress can have on our overall health. We need to manage our stress and maintain good posture. Simply striving to drink more water in place of multiple sodas or coffees is a step in the right direction. Sleep deprivation is also an underrated attributer to ill health.

Neuromusculoskeletal Health:  What difference does it make if you live longer, but you can't move? You must take care of your spine, joints and range of motion so you can still play and enjoy life no matter what your age. Lifetime health means increasing and maintaining mobility and flexibility. We are taught at very young ages to have our eyes, ears, teeth, blood, etc. checked... but, not our spines. Is our nervous system sending the right messages to our body?  Our spines often times have a great story to tell. Additionally, I suggest you go out and enjoy a therapeutic massage.

Foundational Nutrition:  Your body reproduces itself every year. What you feed your body is important to replacing your body parts with younger and stronger ones. Eating the wrong foods, the wrong balance of foods or amounts of food rebuilds a weaker and older body. To age proof your body you must give it the proper BALANCE. The rule of thumb is to eat foods in moderation and stay balanced by making healthy choices.  After all, you are what you eat, and garbage in equals garbage out.

Supplemental Nutrition:  It is very difficult to know if the foods that you eat maintained their nutritional value by the time they've reached your plate. Vitamins, minerals and supplements are your source of insurance for supplying the nutrients you need to age-proof your body.

Exercise:  A sedentary life is more harmful than smoking. Studies show that 30 minutes of aerobic activity three days a week will build your heart. You also must concern yourself with retaining the muscle mass you had in your youth through the lifestyle of weight resistance. The motivation for weight loss isn't to look like a body builder, but to maintain a metabolism that enables you to live and maintain proper weight. A healthy heart is essential since you need a good heart to be healthy for life. Get outside and go for walks multiple times per week. Your body will thank you for it!

Healthy Work Lifestyle:  Are the demands of your career killing you? Employee training in proper lifting techniques and ergonomics can reduce the aches and pains of every day life preventing the loss of wages, future earnings, and complications with disability. Injury prevention is one of the foundations of wellness and lifetime health. Do you do all the right things?

This is by no means an all inclusive list, but definitely some things to consider.  The problem is that many people don't do the right things long enough to enjoy the benefits. They do what is right for a day or week and sometimes even a month. But, what would happen if you could "get it all together" for an entire year? EVERYBODY would see the results. You would look better, feel better, and live longer. You would never go back.

By: Dr. Carrie Brazzle

In today's society most people are living a fast paced life and surround themselves with things to accommodate it. Often times people will consume fast food, bottled drinks, and use shakes/bars as a supplemental meal. 

Did you ever stop to think about what may be in some of the products we use to satisfy our quick paced life? Bottled water: safe, natural and convenient... right? But is it really a safe, natural and healthy choice? 

Bottled water can pose dangerous effects toward our body, as well as our environment. I stumbled upon this video article called 'Tapped' (see the link below), and found it to be both insightful and truthful. I encourage all of our Apple Natural Health members to take a look. 

Take it for what it is worth... my hopes are that it will stimulate some thinking and pause the next time we go to grab a bottled water.

Video article: TAPPED, http://articles.mercolaaspx

By: Dr. Daniel Richter DC

I am a big proponent of taking vitamins and supplements. The foods that we eat are so void of proper nutrition these days that its actually NECESSARY now. We keep growing crops in the same fields over and over again without replacing any of the important minerals.

Farmers have learned that spraying the crops with Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (the three ingredients in fertilizer) will yield great looking produce so they can sell it, but all the micro-minerals are missing. So big, nice looking produce is actually lacking important nutrition. For example: Broccoli from 1951 compared to broccoli in 1999 – there is a decrease in calcium of 63 percent and a decrease in iron of 34 percent per same weight(1).

On top of over-farming, many of our foods are processed by taking the live nutrition out of them. Processing helps to increase shelf life and/or changes the consistency of the food (e.g. trans-fats). Because the live nutrition is removed, these food companies add back synthetic vitamins and supplements and then call it 'enriched'. However our bodies process the synthetics differently than whole food based nutrients. This is a topic I intend to cover in the near future.

I recommend eating organic foods as much as possible. Find a good farmer who rotates the crops and uses good farming practices to buy food from. Stay away from fast foods, processed foods, and synthetic foods. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store and avoid the insides where all the boxed and processed foods are featured.

When looking for supplements, you get what you pay for. Read the ingredients list...if it sounds like a chemistry lab, it likely is all synthetic. Look for organic, whole-foods based vitamins and supplements. They are usually found at health food stores and are more expensive, however they actually will do something good for your body. Don't waste your money on cheap synthetic supplements. Along with a good vitamin and mineral supplement, I also recommend a good omega 3 fish oil. Look for fish oils taken from cold water fishes only. Also read that the fish oil is purified to removed mercury and other toxins.

1. (http://www.truehealth.org/ahealn31.html)