Prairie Health & Wellness Newsletter — December 2024, Edition 12
Transform Training Open House
Please join us for our Transform Training Open House on Thursday, January 16th from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. Dr. Davis is excited to introduce our new female trainers and showcase the unique collaboration between PHW and Transform Training. Movement is an essential Pillar of Health and we're excited to help clients jumpstart their 2025 routines with individualized coaching on strength training, nutrition, and mindset for the new year.
Acute Care Availability
As the cold and flu season sets in, please remember that we are here for you and maintain priority scheduling for acute patient needs. Please call the office to speak with your nurse if you are facing an illness, injury, or other acute care need. Our nurses strive to find solutions to get patients taken care of in a timely fashion when acute needs arise and have an arsenal of resources for managing viral illnesses.
Pillar of the Month: Detox
“Reduce exposures to toxic chemicals & support the body's natural detoxification processes”
A Word from Dr. Marvin
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE
As 2024 comes to an end, it is a good time to reflect on the year. Things that went well, things that could have gone better, and to look ahead to 2025. What goals can we set for ourselves and for our family?
The end of the year can be a difficult time for many of us. I often see people feeling overwhelmed, sick, and cranky. On top of the holidays, we see less sunlight, more illness (likely due to more time indoors, less sunlight, and higher sugar intake), and let's face it - between traveling to see family and buying gifts, our pocketbooks are feeling a little stressed too! Oh, and let's not forget the cherry on top - 2024 just happened to be a major election year. Anyone else starting to sweat just reading this paragraph?
When I find myself stressed and having a pity party for myself, I'm often humbled by opportunities that reveal perspective. In these moments I might find myself thinking, “I can't do XYZ because it's too hard right now.” We can apply this to many basic needs. We might say things like, “It's too hard to exercise because...” or “It's too hard to make a healthy meal, or go to bed at a reasonable hour because...”. You know the saying, “It could always be worse”? I suppose it could apply here, but that's not really what I mean. I'm not saying we should minimize our problems or ignore them because, well, “It could always be worse.”. What I'm saying is we often get caught up in our own heads, viewing problems or difficulties tenfold what they actually are.
What I want to do is encourage you to ask yourself the question, “Is this really hard?”. For example, when I'm REALLY NOT motivated to exercise, I remind myself of a few things. One, I'm thankful for being physically able to exercise. If I wasn't, man, that would be REALLY HARD. I also think about my future self as a grandmother. Do I want to be physically dependent on others in my old age? Not really, that would also be REALLY HARD. In reality, it is NOT hard to exercise, eat well, or go to bed at a reasonable hour. We THINK it's hard because we are over-scheduled and need to shift our priorities. It is actually a privilege most of us have, to be ABLE to exercise, eat well, and sleep cozily in our beds. What is really HARD, not knowing where your next meal might come from or not having a warm, cozy bed to crawl into at night. You know what else is really hard? Managing a chronic illness, dealing with the effects of obesity or diabetes, and feeling miserable all of the time. That's hard. And for a lot of us, it's “a hard” that can be avoided.
Unfortunately for some of us, we may already be in the throes of a chronic disease. Once we reach this stage, it can be extremely difficult to reverse. For example, as we age, it can be increasingly difficult to add and maintain lean muscle mass. This puts us at an increased risk for all kinds of things one doesn't want to be faced with. Fall and break your hip because you didn't prioritize weight-bearing exercise and muscle strength? Shockingly, statistics have shown that up to 22% of people over the age of 65 who break a hip, die within the first year.¹ Choosing not to exercise can also increase your risk for heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, depression, and anxiety. Instead of thinking about how exercise can help these conditions, we should shift our mindset to how exercise may help with prevention.
There is interesting research that shows when we CHOOSE to do hard things, we're happier and healthier for it. I highly recommend the book, “The Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter. It helps us understand how the many comforts we have in today's world may actually be the reason why we are not well in our physical and emotional health. We used to have to hunt or grow our own food, we had to build shelters from our own two hands. Today, we rarely have to do anything that is really hard. Essentially we may be “too comfortable”.
I bet you can think of a few personal examples where you chose to do something hard, and once you did it, you felt really good about yourself! One hard thing I did this year with my family was raise chickens for meat. My husband and I built a brooder box, fed and watered 100 chicks 2-3+ times a day, eventually moving them out to pasture and rotating the electric fence and shelter every few days for about 11 weeks. Then with the help of Dr. Davis and his family, we hand-butchered 100+ chickens! Two long days on our feet, in the elements, procuring our own food for the next several months to come. Though I needed an extra day or two to physically recover (okay, maybe mentally recover too), we all felt strong and accomplished, ready to take on the next tough farming task.
Let's finish 2024 strong and look ahead to 2025. Set goals. Be intentional. CHOOSE to do something (hopefully more than once) HARD.
Supplement Highlight: Silvercillin
Silvercillin is a powerful, non-toxic form of nano-particle silver in purified water that doesn't accumulate in the body when used over time. Silvercillin has been shown to provide a whole host of health benefits, from killing drug-resistant bacterial strains to inhibiting viral replication as well as boosting the immune system. Silvercillin can be taken orally to help fight things like the flu, urinary tract infections and stomach bugs. It can also be nebulized to help treat lung infections, and can be added to a nasal spray bottle to help treat sinus infections. It can even be used topically on the skin as a natural alternative to antibiotic ointment. Silvercillin is a supplement we recommend keeping in your natural home medicine cabinet year round! Make sure you discuss more specific dosing and instructions with your health care provider.
Checkout our Holiday Appetizers Cookbook!
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