Health Fair Exhibit - Results are Here

This past weekend we participated at the Idaho Business League Health Fair and it was a pleasure seeing all the exhibitors there focused on health issues. The turnout was not was not what we expected but still it gave us good insight as to what people are talking about with their concerns, opinions and overall health care issues.
We will be moving forward and preparing for our seminar early next year and we appreciate all the feedback we have received.
Our website is getting closer to launch and I look forward to meeting new patients as well as taking my existing patients along on my journey with Health Awareness Mentoring.

Health Awareness Fair - Idaho Business League

I am pleased to announce that "Life To Your Years" will be having an exhibit at the 17th Annual Idaho Business League Health, Beauty & Fitness Fair on Saturday October 17th from 10am-5:00pm and Sunday October 18th from 10am-4:00pm. A fun Wellness Event for All Ages and held at the Idaho Expo on 5610 Glenwood, Boise, Idaho 83714.
Many people have questions about their health and all they want are clear and simple answers. Where do they turn for answers? The annual Idaho Health, Beauty and Fitness Fair.
Health Fair targets individuals, families and seniors with this free, fun-filled, educational, general public event emphasizing information, vaccinations, testing, screenings and samples.
I look forward to seeing you there and reviewing all the wonders of Health Awareness Mentoring.

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY

What is Columbus Day?
Columbus Day is a holiday celebrating the anniversary of the October 12, 1492 arrival of Europeans to the Americas. Christopher Columbus was a was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere.
What a perfect example of being your own explorer and advocate for Health Awareness Mentorning. To learn and explore all you can about your health and staying healthy.
May everyone enjoy this holiday and learn about Christopher Columbus.

"The Health Care Revolution" - The Dream and the Vehicle

The Health care system in this country should be devoted to support each one of us through our life journey.

“We need the Inspiration to take care of ourselves, to get healthy, maximize our health and live productive lives”

Health care begins and ends with a decision of whether or not our health is important to us. If we value health recognizing it is one of the most important aspects of our lives that accompanies us from birth to death, we begin to understand the importance of protecting, nurturing and improving it.

Health care reform will only truly mature toward a health care system for the people, by the people and of the people when we recognize it must be repaired from the ground-up not from the top- down. Administrators, legislators, CEOs, and even teachers or philosophers are confused and even lost in understanding the essence of health, and what it takes to get healthy and stay healthy. This is why it is so important that you value your health as a precious and unique asset. It is your privilege and responsibility to recognize that no one should ever understand it better than you. It lives inside of you and runs like an incredibly sophisticated and intuitive computer. Health care reform in its journey to restructure health care delivery should acknowledge and demand respect for that truth to be able to create a health care system that is truly dedicated to taking care of its people. This is how to develop a system from the bottom- up, from the individual upward towards bureaucracy and management, rather than the other way around.
To create a health care system that truly understands who you are, what you are about and how to take care of you is about a system that is interested in supporting you in getting healthy and staying healthy. The current health care system is more preoccupied with how to get you out of illness rather than to keep you out of illness. When we view health as an investment rather than a lottery we will not have to worry about it being inappropriately legislated, exploited by entrepreneurs or the media, or viewed as a vehicle to fame or fortune. We don’t want a health care system that benefits at someone else’s expense. Health is not a commodity, it is a gift, and like everything else in life it can be appreciated, honored and protected or it can be exploited. Health care should support a personalized lifestyle of continued understanding and practice of understanding and reaching for optimal health.
The development of such an idea, a process, a dream, and a system starts within the dormant brilliance of the heart, mind and soul. As you begin to recognize your capacity, your abilities, and your talents, a vision of possibilities will unfold. Acknowledging your health as a vehicle and an asset of incomprehensible value that accompanies you from birth to death is an awakening of a wisdom that will ignite and fuel change in your life. As your awareness expands and your eyes are fully able to comprehend your own health, you begin to understand the importance of protecting, nurturing, and improving it throughout life. The objective of health awareness mentoring is to stimulate that awakening as soon in life as possible and then nurture it throughout your life.
White House Reform Status

Something Wonderful in Technology is Coming Our Way

In my practice I get many questions and one that has been resurfacing over and over again is "Dr. Sams, why don't you have a website to share all your vast health knowledge"? Well, it's with great pleasure that I announce the development of our website "Life To Your Years" (lifetoyouryears.com).
My team and I have been working very hard to produce a great website that will ensure the best information possible for all of our patients. In the coming weeks we will have great website to have the all the resources dedicated in keeping it up to date and provide a one source information highway to guide you in all aspects of "great health".
Our site will expose you to Chiropractic care as well as Health Awareness Mentoring which I have been promoting my whole career. I'm passionate to share my vision and dedicated that everyone has the opportunity to share in this wonderful new endeavor.
The benefits of having this new form of communication will be informative health related topics, customized newsletters, a patient center for forms, the ability to request an appointment, a health and wellness library of content and articles of interest. As we move forward with this new tool we will be developing an online store, a payment center for treatments and presenting other new feature enhancements specially designed for you.
I know you will embrace this site and my team and I are happy to have this new form of technology and communication to better serve you.
I thank you for your support and I look forward to hearing your comments and please don't hesitate to make suggestions on issues you think are important.
I will keep you informed as we approach the launch of "Life To Your Years".

It Happend Again! - Has it Happend To You?

It happened again, this time over great food with a friend. During a lunch buffet at the Mai Thai restaurant in Eagle, modern Thai and Japanese Cusine, with one of the most flavorful, healthy and best priced experiences for me in the treasure valley. Lunch was with Farzine, a realtor who I consider to be a wise, gentle, kind, generous, and honest businessman.
During the course of our conversation he mentioned he didn’t eat chicken which of course caught my attention. I asked why and he said “I’m type B blood type”. Because of my interest in “Eating right 4 your blood type” I was immediately on to specific questioning. I discovered again, yet another person who read, understood, and was practicing some of the health principles found in this book. I as particularly impressed because he believed in the same approach to the philosophy that I did. It’s not about making your whole life and food experience evolve around how and what kinds of food you eat, but to certainly pay attention to how they affect your health and then make better food choices. Another one of those delicious and enlightening lunch time experiences with a friend.

How Does It Feel To Be Loved?

In those hours of self pity, self doubt and discouragement I would probably say “I don’t know” how it feels to be loved. There aren’t too many subjects, that have been written about more than this subject. I’ve heard it been said that love is more a decision than a feeling and I am beginning to believe that is true.
I had a phone discussion with a friend last night that reminded of the power of that decision...I’ll call it my “decision to love.” In reflection of memories of past feelings and my interpretation of them I believe I know what it is like to not feel loved. If you are a human being and you live on this planet you probably have “experienced or felt” similar feelings at one time another in your lifetime. It does not feel good. As a matter of fact I would call it some of the darkest hours of my existence when the loneliness and despair seem like (although I acknowledge truly brief) painfully endless periods of time.
Then somehow or other (many discussions in the future on how that is) I pull out of it, the sun shines, the emptiness disappears, and life feels full and incredibly satisfying again. Why? I believe this is a natural cycle that most of us experience and must learn to manage to truly be healthy. The absence of understanding and even appreciating the value of these kind of experiences in our lives frequently leads to the abuse of antidepressants, misguided counseling, and self perpetuated and unnecessary depression. Please do not misunderstand. I am very empathetic to those who experience legitimate (particularly chemically/physiologically induced depression. I refer now to those of us in the majority who do not fit in that category. Those of us who in the realm of living and life’s experiences must learn to accept, understand and develop healthy coping mechanisms (attitudes) about how to handle this kind of stress. Yes, I said it. I refer to yet another kind of stress (depression that comes from not feeling loved) that can destroy our health if we don’t learn to manage it well.
So what does this have to do with the decision to love? When these occasions (dark hours) show up in our lives it then becomes the time to employ some of our stress and emotional management tools. Finding the courage to open our eyes to acknowledge those in our lives who do love us is the process of making love a decision. Our struggle during those times is lightened when we chose to abandon self absorption and what feels to be missing in our lives...and consciously replace them with the positive emotions of appreciation and gratitude. I have learned to be grateful and to savor the subtleties in gestures that say I love you, appreciate you, and thank you. It brings tears to my eyes, a palpable warmth to my heart, and a renewal of the feeling that I know what it is like to feel loved.

How To Reduce the Need for Chiropractic Adjustments

I am frequently asked by my patients and others why it is that my patients seem to need more chiropractic adjustments than I do (the doctor). It is a very legitimate question and one in my opinion that deserves a response. The answer is simple and at the heart of health awareness mentoring....do it for yourself!

No, I am not being sarcastic. The essence (at the core) of physical health is movement. I am sure you all get endlessly fatigued, even annoyed at times by me asking what kind of exercise are you doing. The bad news is that this kind of questioning is not going to go away. The good news is that is worth repeating endlessly because it is a universal principle that health, energy, alertness, and a positive attitude are directly linked to the quality and consistency of movement in our life.

When you add in movement (i.e a regime of walking) into your daily routine, you are doing yourself a huge favor. You will discover that the additional tissue circulation and oxygenation will brighten your outlook on life, reduce your stress (actually give you alone time and an opportunity to decide how to better manage your stress), improve digestion and elimination and stimulate breathing capacity (just to name a few of the health benefits you’ll receive).

Now for how that applies to reducing the need for chiropractic adjustments. That is accomplished by taking the exercise commitment to the next level. The Chiropractic adjustment again is about movement of the individual segments (vertebrae) of the spine and the associated soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments). On a weekly basis I participate in a variety of physical activities that may surprise you. I understand the necessity of a varied exercise particularly as we age to accommodate our bodies’ need to maintain strength, flexibility and stamina to be able to do all that we have to do individually in a day. Other than walk, I bicycle, occasionally swim, take an energetic step aerobics class, lift weights, do resistance band exercises, take yoga and pilates, and participate in high energy dance exercise classes such as Zumba and Nia to strengthen ligaments and maintain musculoskeletal and neurological balance. These types of exercising and fitness dramatically reduce my need for chiropractic adjustments because they bring mobility to every aspect of my being. Try it yourself...I guarantee as you become familar with the concept it will not only add a wonderful new dimension to your health, but it will also reduce the frequency you will need to visit any health care practitioner.

HEALTH CARE REFORM - Continues

The battle on health care reform wages on. I believe it is not a matter of if but only a matter of when we will see congress present us with the bill. And by the bill I mean the particulars of the new system which they will begin to put into effect and the cost that inevitably will have to be absorbed by the taxpayer.

On Friday, 9/4/09 Baucus ( the Senate’s chief democratic negotiator on a health care bill) said the members of his group agree on several big-picture items, including the need to control costs, provide access to affordable coverage for all Americans and ensure that health care fixes don't add to the deficit. The negotiators have been working on a pared-back bill that would cost under $1 trillion over 10 years and drop contentious components, such as the government-sponsored insurance plan that liberals insist must be in the legislation. Since the Republican leaders are solidly opposed to Obama's approach to the health care reform, the GOP negotiators are under tremendous pressure not to cooperate.

Unfortunately I have not seen any concrete evidence that the plan will make health care more cost effective and quality conscious. The emphasis continues to be making it more universally available. This issue is not only going to get politically much bigger and increasingly more contentious but significantly more important to every American who will be accessing the health care system. Stay tuned , you are going to want to know how this will affect you!

Acetaminophen can be Poison

Acetaminophen overdoes is the leading cause of liver failure in both the United States and Great Britain. Fifty percent of all acute liver failure in the United States is attributed to acetaminophen consumption. While many of these cases result from an overdose, either intentional or unintentional, even “correct dosage” has been cited as causing liver damage, liver failure and death. In the United States, approximately 56,000 liver injuries requiring emergency treatment, 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths per year are attributed to acetaminophen consumption.

One of the main problems with this drug is how easy it is to overdoes unintentionally. As most of us know, acetaminophen is the primary ingredient in medications like Tylenol. But acetaminophen is also in almost 200 brand name and generic products, most of which are available over the counter. These products are as varied as headache and backache pills, cold, flu and sore throat medications. It is not hard to imagine a patient taking acetaminophen for pain and fever and then taking other medications for sore throat, cough, congestion, and cold symptoms. Without a thought, the patient is overdosing. Compound that with the risk of fasting, alcohol consumption or genetic predisposition to liver disease and the patient is destroying his or her liver. We know that fasting is as dangerous as alcohol consumption when taking acetaminophen.

In cost-analysis studies, chiropractic care is often seen as more costly than simply taking acetaminophen for pain. However, if this medication’s long term effects are factored into the equation including liver injuries, liver transplants and death, then chiropractic care looks much more attractive than using this popular drug.

References: William Morgan, D.C., Larson AM, et al. Acetominophen Induced Acute Liver Failure, Nourijah P. Ahmad SR Karwoski C Willy M. Estimates of acetominophen associated overdoes in the United States, Pharmacopidemiol Drug Saf. 2006 June 15; (6): 398-405

Article from the FDA on Liver Injury.

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/UCM172664.pdf

Video on the FDA tackles Acetominophen:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/cb-tvIPZCZcb2Ll5K9bwCQhfIfoqPIixKZN/fda_tackles_acetaminophen/

Laughter Yoga

Laughter is the best Medicine. Check this video out and share some of your Laughter with Someone Today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eB3ISAYE-I

Feeling Inadequate - Try a Hair Piece

Have you ever felt that you just weren’t good enough?
Years ago struggling with my identity and losing my hair quickly I did I believe what many of us do when we struggle with issues in our lives like when we feel inadequate, unloved, or somehow lost in the vastness of life...I over compensated!
Looking back I probably see it better now than I did then but is always helpful to examine the process. I call it “crisis plus time equals humor”. Not feeling good enough is a universal feeling and hits most of us sooner or later but what matters most is not that it shows up but what we do with the feeling when it does. Without recognizing it for what it is at the time we may make some poor choices to compensate for the feeling in our effort to make it go away. In my effort to make the feeling go away I looked for a quick solution. Trust me there is no quick solution that removes the feeling, but there is a process that does work. I somehow started equating my feelings of inadequacy with the ongoing loss of my hair. I made the decision to get more hair which would obviously make me feel more competent and whole, right? What was I thinking?
When we are feeling lousy about ourselves we have a tendency to be incredibly vulnerable in our judgment and decision making process. The choices we make at such times can be disastrous or they can be very healthy. I will tell you about my disaster (not an emotionally healthy choice) so that hopefully you will avoid such a mistake in your life. I came across an advertisement (the ultimate temptation when not feeling good about yourself) to have more hair and roll back the aging process (whatever that means). With an impulsive decision to solve my feeling of inadequacy I flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and had a hair piece sewn into my head. I call it my hysterical nightmare! So far away from home I found myself trapped by my own decision. I had not carefully thought through the consequences of my choice. The company which had all the appearances of being successful and legitimate existed as do many other companies to help us temporarily feel better about ourselves had me where they wanted me. I decided I had not gone all that distance not to follow through with my decision and that having more hair would make me feel better about myself. I knew even then that something inside of me was screaming ‘this is not a good decision”. My need to compensate for my feelings of inadequacy were far greater at that moment than my need to understand my feelings and make a better choice.
I completed the procedure. During the surgery I was fully awake with just an anesthetized skull. Their intentions were to not let me see myself until the entire procedure was completed but when I had a brief moment to myself I ran out of the room to find a mirror. The shock of my life ensured. I was living my own horror movie with blood running everywhere down my face and neck and now with a head of spiked hair looking shocking similar to the bride of Frankenstein. It was too late I couldn’t go back I knew at that moment I would have to live with my decision. Before I left Philadelphia I had two major hair cuts and still looked like Liberace on a bad hair day. The nightmare continued having to return to Philadelphia at a moments notice to repair the hair piece. On two occasions I accidentally cut a suture when trimming my hair and the hair piece started unraveling; I had to immediately return to Philadelphia to prevent the hair piece from slipping off on my head. That decision cost me a lot of money and followed me for twelve years until I finally realized it did absolutely nothing to help me resolve my feelings of inadequacy. That whole process from a singular decision ended up being only a bandaid placed over a wound that was having a difficult time healing.
Feelings of inadequacy exist for a reason. Like many other things in our lives they exist to teach us about ourselves. They are valuable moments in time that offer us the opportunity to look inside to see what is really happening and to make necessary changes to make our lives better. From there the fact remains that the only way to resolve the feelings is to face them honestly. Denying their existence or attempting to go around them only delays resolve and inner peace.
When feelings of inadequacy show up first of all allow yourself time to reflect on what is happening to you. If ever there is a time in your life to slow down and pay attention, this is it! You are here for a reason. One of the major reasons feelings of inadequacy show up is because we temporarily cannot see or do not acknowledge that our life has significance and that our journey has purpose. I believe in God and I know with certainty my life matters to Him like I know he watches over you as well. I know that because every time I take the time to slow down and be grateful for the blessings, talents, gifts, and relationships in my life I truly begin to understand that I am not inadequate. Brief periods of loneliness, anxiety, or incompetence are simply momentary blind spots when we are unwilling to acknowledge the goodness, “the silver linings”, or “the pots of gold at the end of our rainbows”. To be thankful for what we already have is the first step in allowing our hearts and minds to find the way out of our feelings of inadequacy. The process is real ...it is universal