Monday, December 29, 2008

Thank You!!!!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a nice holiday! Now that 2008 is coming to an end, it is a good time for us all to look back and reflect on the last year. Personally, I had an eventful year.

I spent the beginning part of the year organizing a walk in Geneva to help support Cystic Fibrosis after finding out last year that my sister, Kate, has Cystic Fibrosis. The turn out and support for the walk was incredible as friends, family, and many, many others came together to celebrate life and raise over $55,000 for Cystic Fibrosis. However, a week before the walk, I lost my mentor and close friend, Dr. Gary Boyd, to prostate cancer. His funeral was the same day as the walk, so it was a very humbling day for me. Not only was I humbled by the amazing support of so many for the walk, but I was also humbled by the loss of life by such a great man at the early age of 54. It was truly a day to appreciate life!

In June, I lost another role model when my 95 year old grandfather passed away. The best lessons I learned from him was to always be myself and to enjoy life! Dawn and I have also spent the last year continuing to wait to start our family through adoption. Although we didn't think it would take this long, we are so grateful to have the support of our family and friends throughout the entire process.

The reason I am telling you all of this is because we all have our ups and downs during the course of a year. Looking back on the year, some of us may say it was a good year while others may say it was a bad year. I'm sure many of you would say it has been a stressful year with the economy, loss of a job, etc. But good or bad, it is how we choose to deal with those experiences and the life lessons we take away that matter. The healthier approach is to be thankful, grateful and appreciative of the different people, experiences, and opportunities we are fortunate enough to have in our lives.

I am so thankful, grateful, and appreciative for my wonderful wife, my family, my friends, my patients, the people who supported the walk for Cystic Fibrosis, the daily people I encounter, the countless lessons of Dr. Gary Boyd and my grandpa, my health, all of you reading this blog, future children, God, and life!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Have a happy, healthy, and safe New Year!!

Live Well. Laugh Often. Love Much.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Healthy Home Tips for Parents...or anyone!

I found a list that was put together by the Environmental Working Group (a non-profit organization that focuses on protecting public health and environment) that I wanted to share with you. Although it says it is for parents, it really is a useful guide for anyone! I have already talked about many of the things on the list in previous posts, but it is a good guide to print out and hang on your fridge. If you have questions about any of the tips, refer back to my previous posts for more information on the topic or just post a response with your question.

Click HERE for the guide!

Have a great week!

Live Well.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Prevent It!!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying this holiday season! Sorry it has been so long since I have done a post, but I'll try to make it up to you with this one! As you know, I use this blog to try to give you practical tips and general information you can use to be as healthy as you and your loved ones can be.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Dawn and I flew out to Denver to spend time with my sisters and their families. While we were at the airport waiting for our flight, a title of a magazine at a stand caught my eye entitled, "The Sorry State of American Health." I read a lot about health and alternative health, so at my office I probably would have just put this in my "to be read" stack. However, when I realized it was a TIME magazine, I was caught off guard and immediately purchased it.

The reason I was surprised is because rarely do we see a main stream publication talking about the problems of our health care system. We read, hear, and see so much about the pharmaceutical industry with the newest drug on the market or the latest drug study and are lead to believe that we, as a nation, are healthy. We are inundated with drug ads on tv and in magazines. However, according to an article in this Time magazine, although the U.S. spends the most on health care out of any other nation in the world and has superior medical resources, we rank only 34th in the world in life expectancy and 29th in infant mortality rate. A couple more alarming statistics is 40% of Americans NEVER exercise, two-thirds of adults are over-weight with one-third being obese, and 17% of children are overweight! With all the money we spend and resources we have, I know I would expect these numbers to be much better.

I think what this shows is that we focus too much on sick care and not enough on preventative care. People tend to take their health for granted and rely on the latest medical advances once they do get sick instead of relying on themselves to keep from getting sick. They would rather continue to eat McDonald's and avoid exercise and just take medications for their worsening blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar while probably becoming overweight than to eat a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats and getting the right exercise to live a longer and healthier life. I am not talking about those of you who are on medications for high cholesterol, etc. because of hereditary reasons. My whole point is that we try to prevent problems with our cars by getting oil changes and we try to prevent cavities by getting dental cleanings and we try to prevent weeds on our lawn by using fertilizers, so why shouldn't we do everything we can to try to prevent disease, illness, and injury with ourselves?!!!

As you can probably tell, I am very passionate about the subject of preventative health care. I just hope that I can continue to effectively give you a few things that you can easily do to improve your health and to best PREVENT problems from happening in the future.

In my next post, I will be giving a list of healthy home tips for parents!

Live Well.