So I went out the other night with the missus to celebrate our 16 year anniversary! Wow, she’s been with me through all sorts of stuff…

We started with a dog, now we’ve got 4 kids, I don’t remember half their birthdays, life is super hectic, but it’s pretty awesome.

For our 15 year celebration last year, we went to Costa Rica and had probably the best trip we’ve ever had- no kids, cruising around and seeing volcanoes, rain forests, amazing beaches, zip lining, white water rafting, monkeys, sloths, bungee jumping (well, she went bungee jumping, but I chickened out- so embarrassing!).

Oh, and horse back riding- this has GOT to be the most miserable activity of all time. I’ve gone twice, and never again. It’s seriously the most uncomfortable thing on the planet. I figured the first time was bad but just a fluke, but the 2nd time was no better. It really is just awful.

So anyway, this year we stayed local and just went to a nice little dinner the other night. We went to this place Trevor’s On The Tracks- it’s a new place with really great personality. It’s close by the San Juan Capistrano Mission and has gorgeous architecture- think old building with really neat designs in the walls of brick, old clay, something built with peoples’ hands…

So we go there, we decide to split a salad, an appetizer, and a main dish. Well, the waitress takes our order, kind of abandons us, and then comes out with the food and lays it all down in front of us all at once!

Really? Did we really need to specify that we wanted the appetizer before the entree?

And we were at a really small table, too. Between the 3 plates she put down, plus the extras because we were sharing, it was really cramped. And then eventually the entree got cold.

Needless to say, even though it was a really nice night, the wifey wasn’t all that impressed…

But as we sat there, eyeing all this food in one place, practically having to be stacked on top of each other, I just started thinking: “Wow. That’s a lot of food, and we’re really gonna pay for this tomorrow…”

You see, so many of the foods we eat (especially when we eat out or eat processed foods), cause bloating, inflammation, intestinal irritation, etc. And they really slow you down and make you feel pretty crummy.

I like to think of my food as fuel, rather than just craving certain things and going with those cravings. I do admit that I’ll splurge on occasion like we did the other night, but it doesn’t come without a price.

The occasional bad meal is ok, but you just need to understand that there may be consequences that go with it, and you may not have your body in tip top shape the few hours afterwards, and usually it even carries over into the next day or 2.

To check out a list of some of the more common foods that really affect your mood and add inflammation in your body, check out my post “Avoid These Foods To Avoid Those Pains.”

You’ll see some great guidelines on what types of foods you really want to avoid and only have in moderation.

And there ARE ways you can make these foods not quite so damaging on your system. I always take digestive enzymes with a big meal, so I’ll be having them handy in a couple weeks at Thanksgiving.

 

Anyway, we did have a good night together after all- just a couple hours out, no kids, no screaming, and actually talking without being interrupted!

Here’s a pic of Deanne with our salad that came out with everything else. Sorry the pic is a bit dark- that was the atmosphere, you know, to really give that romantic vibe…

The good news is- because the food was cold, she felt jipped and now wants to go out with me again! So, we’ll have to hit up a new place soon. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

 

You’re out in the woods, and all of a sudden you see a mama bear and her 3 cubs. Right as you see them, mama bear sees you. She immediately gets up on her 2 hind legs, props herself up, and lets out a fierce, deep growl that’s the loudest sound you’ve ever heard in your life.

What do you do???

Well, you’re absolutely terrified and your pupils dilate, your blood pressure goes up, your heart races, your ears perk up… Oh, and you probably run away faster than you ever have in your life. Basically, every sense you have is heightened.

This heightened awareness is your “adrenal response.” Your adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys and secrete adrenaline and epinephrine to keep up with periods of elevated stress.

Picture another example- you’re driving down the freeway in your car, rockin’ out to your favorite music, and then you look up in your rear view mirror and see red and blue flashing lights. That pit you get in your stomach- do you know what I’m talking about? THAT’S your adrenal glands reacting to the stress of getting pulled over!

So whether you have stress at work, stress at home, kids driving you nuts, an adult child with a drug or alcohol problem, death of a loved one, consuming too much sugar or caffeine… The list goes on and on, but all these things take a toll on your body and require excess work from your adrenal glands.

 

And these little glands constantly secrete their hormones over, and over, and over again. But eventually, if there’s just too much to keep up with, they get overwhelmed (just like you), and they give up. This is the point of Adrenal Fatigue…

Now you’ve reached your tipping point. Things have become too much, and you’re no longer able to cope. You experience symptoms like:

• chronic fatigue
• waking up at 2 in the morning to go to the bathroom
• feeling dizzy or lightheaded after standing up from a crouched position
• coffee and energy drinks don’t even help anymore
• sensitivity to bright light
• crave salty foods
• experience chronic pain
• general feelings of stress

When all of these things are going on, you also have excess inflammation in your body, excess pain- in the joints of your elbows, knees, hips, and spine. And things aren’t getting better- you’re just spiraling downward. You’ve got to get out of this mode and get a handle on things before they get worse.

Well, as awful as things sound, there IS actually hope. While you may not be able to control some of these stressors (you still need to pay the bills, so you can’t always quit your job!), you CAN take action to get out of this phase of Adrenal Fatigue and improve the quality of your life.

Check out my “5 Fixes for the Adrenal Downward Spiral”– I call them my 5 FADS.

Doing these 5 things help keep that stress under control so you can enjoy life again, get the sleep you need, and do the things that make you happy.

Okay, is anyone else watching this World Series?!! These games have been absolutely fantastic.

I’m not even that into baseball, but I am absolutely hooked on this…

If you didn’t see it, the game the other night was just unbelievable- Dodgers were up on the Astros 4-0, then 4-4, then 7-4, 7-7, 12-8, 12-12, and then the Astros won in extra innings 13-12 to bring the series back to L.A. Holy cow!

And now I’m pretty sure Halloween is canceled tonight because of this game…

The excitement during the game and the nerves were just so intense. There was even a point where the 3rd base coach told the runner on 3rd “Go go go!” but the runner thought he said “No no no!” OMG- we use “Yes yes yes” and “back back back!” as coaches of 9 and 10 year olds.

And this is supposed to be the major leagues?!!

As nerve racking as it was, there was actually one pitcher on Houston (I don’t even know his name- like I said, I’m really not that into baseball), who seemed to really be embracing the moment.

He would look up into the crowd before every pitch, then take a deep breath and throw every pitch as if his life depended on it.

My kids kept asking about this- both my girls are softball pitchers. “Why is he breathing like that on every pitch, dad?” They were kind of making fun of it.

But I told them how he has a routine that he goes through- the same thing on every pitch. And there is so much pressure that he needs to deal with right now- the biggest stage of his life- and he needs to somehow deal with this stress.

And then I kind of wandered off in my own head (because that’s what I do…), and I started thinking about adrenal glands- these are your stress glands. They sit on top of your kidneys, and they secrete adrenaline and epinephrine to help you cope with stress.

This includes stress at work, stress at home, poor diet, drinking lots of coffee, etc. All these things pile on top of each other and your adrenal glands secrete hormones to keep up with all this. At some point, if you are having too much stress, your adrenal glands just aren’t able to keep up anymore and you go into Adrenal Fatigue.

The picture above shows a bunch of causes of Adrenal Stress. At this point your body starts to break down- you oftentimes will experience chronic fatigue, episodes of dizziness or feeling light headed when you get up from crouching down, waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and then not being able to go back to sleep- this is a big one here.
When you are in a state of Adrenal Fatigue, your body can have a lot of inflammation which also leads to more aches and pains. Joint pain, muscle stiffness, etc. And basically you feel overwhelmed and unable to keep up with life.

Sometimes we cannot control some of the stress we experience at home or at work, or with those darn kids! But we CAN control the refined sugars and junk food we ingest, or the amount of caffeine we drink. So it’s really important to be aware of this so we don’t experience this downward spiral. Trust me, I’ve been there!

I actually go into the adrenal glands in more detail in my ebook and in my 6 week program “Eliminate Your Back Pain For Good!” To learn more, check out this video.

In the meantime, relax, meditate, do whatever you need to do that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol, and keep that adrenal stress under control!

First of all, the world is not coming to an end. But wow, this whole NFL thing and the National Anthem standing, kneeling- it sure has thrown the world for a spin!

I hate politics, but I watch this, and no matter what your position is on the anthem, we can actually learn a lot from Colin Kaepernick- whether you’re on his side and want to kneel, or you’re against him and outraged that he’s disrespecting the flag and our country, we can all know this- Kaepernick and everyone needs to stand with one thing- their glutes!

 

If you’re a long time follower of mine, you know how much I love the gluteus maximus. It truly is SO important, and when it is underused or underdeveloped, it leads to a whole slew of problems that could have been avoided in the first place.

Let’s use this picture of Kaepernick as an example…

In this picture, the green arrow is pointing to Colin’s gluteus maximus. This muscle really needs to fire to get him to stand upright. When this works properly, you can take pressure off the low back and use this big, powerful muscle the way it was intended.

In fact, to strengthen it, we can learn from Colin also! Start standing, and then go down into this lunge position with your knees and hips at a 90 degree angle. Be sure not to turn your knees inward or put your knee too far over your toes. Then go right from this position to a standing position. This is a great exercise for your quads, glutes, and hamstrings!

To learn more about this all important muscle and how to strengthen it, click here where I explain how important hip extension is.

Thanks, Colin…

You have most likely heard about enzymes, and you know that they are important in the process of food digestion.
What you may not know, however, is just how important enzymes are when it comes

to reducing inflammation.

Enzymes are also responsible for producing energy in your body, absorbing oxygen, fighting infection and
boosting your immune system, removing toxic waste in your lymphatic system, and regulating your hormones.

There are 3 basic types of enzymes:

1) Digestive
2) Metabolic
3) Food-based

Most of the digestive and metabolic enzymes are produced by the pancreas. In addition, you are able to get a
large portion of enzymes from the foods you eat. Unfortunately, however, you may not be consuming enough of
the proper foods to get you a good supply of enzymes.

How can you get a good supply of these important nutrients? You should be eating lots of raw foods. These will
directly help to aid digestion, and they will lower the amount of enzymes that are required to be made by your
pancreas. When we heat our food through cooking (or heat milk through pasteurization), we change the molecular
structure of the food, and most of the enzymes become inactive. This is why eating raw foods is so important- by
“going raw,” you keep and benefit from the naturally-occurring enzymes in food!

The reason we talk about proteolytic enzymes (protein digesting enzymes) in particular is that they play such a
vital role in breaking down foreign proteins and decreasing chronic inflammation that can lead to autoimmune
disease, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain like neck and back pain.

How else can we ensure we have enough proteolytic enzymes?

1) Avoid chewing gum- by chewing, you send a signal to your digestive tract that tells your body to start the
digestion process and start breaking down food. Because of this, your body will secrete its natural enzymes,
like increasing saliva, and you will begin to deplete your body’s reserves of these important digestive enzymes.

2) Consume foods high in enzymes like seeds, avocado, raw honey, papaya, kiwi, pineapple, mango, grapes,
extra virgin olive oil, and coconut oil.

3) While you are much better off eating a diet with more enzyme-rich foods, one way to ensure you have
enough enzymes is to take them in supplement form. As you age, your enzyme production slows down, so
it may be necessary to supplement. This does not mean that you can just eat a diet of junk food and take a
magic supplement that will compensate for all your poor food choices!

But supplementing CAN give you a boost when you are eating raw, enzyme-rich foods. Just make sure that when you choose an enzyme supplement, as with choosing all supplements, you choose one from a reputable company, and that it doesn’t contain excess fillers and additives. If you are interested in getting a good enzyme supplement from a trusted manufacturer, ask me and we can get a good one for you.