Supporting Your Immune System Army

A Follow-Up to Our “Reminder About Your Immune System” Discussion

As fear and uncertainty continue to grow, we need to remember that fear is a powerful force. It causes us to hide, to question, to doubt.

What would it look like for you to be able to walk in confidence today?

No matter how cloudy this time becomes, you can trust your body’s defenses, knowing that you have been designed with every good thing.

As stores and websites sell out of popular items, we need to remember this:

Our immune system is not contained in a supplement.

Although I love them, please know that things like Elderberry are not actually doing the fighting for us. Our BODIES do the fighting and these supplements simply help them do what they do best. There is no magic pill or potion that will eliminate all threats for us. But our immune system has every good defense - if we will allow it to fight.

Right now, more than ever, we need to focus on making sure our immune warriors have everything they need. If you want to help support your body from the inside-out but don’t know where to start, here are a few simple things you can do.

1) Get Adjusted

One of the least known but most powerful aspects of a chiropractic adjustment is that it enhances brain-to-body communication. Your brain is the command center for your immune army. If the orders for battle are having a hard time making it to the cells, the battle will take longer. If the status updates from the cells are having a hard time getting back to the brain, the requested help may not be sent. Supporting this brain-to-body and body-to-brain communication is critical. (Please note, an adjustment does not cure you of sickness, it simply helps your body as a whole to function better. It reduces strain and stress, which helps when we’re facing so much uncertainty!)

2) Know Exactly What Your Body Needs (Don’t Guess)

We should never guess when it comes to health. Rarely do any of us function the way the textbooks say we ought to, and rarely do we all have the same needs.

The answer is not to grab all the Vitamin C, Zinc, and Elderberry you can find, it is to know exactly what YOUR body needs.

In our office we use the Essential Vitamin Absorption Test by GX Sciences to determine this. (Learn More) This test tells you which vitamins your body needs based on your genetic blueprint. It is a powerful way to support your health in nearly every area, because it pulls us away from the misconception that we are all the same.

Cookie-cutter approaches to health do not work.

3) Stop Feeding Your Body Non-Food

Boy, this is a tough one, isn’t it? But when we are working to support our immune system, we need to know that sickness loves dead, decaying things. Viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens are like scavengers. And the more we feed our bodies non-foods (sugar, chemicals, bad fats) the less nutrients our cells get. Our cells become so deficient and weak that they are easy targets for foreign invaders.

Did you know that viruses require glucose (sugar) for survival?

If we all simply chose to lay-off the sweets right now - sodas, candies, cakes, breads - viruses would suffer and our immune warriors would have an easier time eliminating them (and we would be wildly healthier).

There is never a better time to start eating better.

4) Rest When You Need Rest

Most of our bodies’ healing work is done during times of rest. We are designed to need sleep, sabbath. Our culture, however, sends us constant reminders that the best way to move through life is to hustle. We’re always behind, never enough time, and our work is bleeding into our sleep. We take things to feel better (not heal) and then hurry-up and get back to work.

Stop the Hustle.

Sometimes, the determining factor in whether or not we get sick is simply if we stopped to sleep, or if we pushed ourselves to keep going anyways. At those first signs of fatigue, LISTEN to your body and take a break.

Further Supporting Your Immune Army

If you feel like you need individualized support in keeping yourself and your family healthy during this season (and always) please reach out to us! We have telephone and video consultations, office appointments, direct messaging through our free app, and more - all to help keep you supported during your time of need. Contact us below and we’ll help you in whatever way feels best to you!

If you would like an expanded list of things you can do to support your immune system (including supplements, testing, and more) view our Immune System Resources Page.

Now, let’s all breathe deep, release the fear, and get outside to enjoy the beautiful day around us.

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A Reminder About Your Immune System

Are you feeling the sense of fear around us right now? I sure am. In light of current events, it is becoming abundantly clear to me that we’ve lost sight of something very important - confidence in our ability to heal.

Have you been swayed into believing that what happens to you is entirely outside of your control, and that there’s nothing you can do but stay indoors, avoid the risk…hope for the best?

Let me take a moment to remind you of who you are. How you’ve been made. Because what you have inside you is powerful and brilliant.

In times like these, we need to remember that we are fully equipped for battle.

You have everything you need within you right now to fight. When there are new things to battle, we need to trust our bodies and, rather than hide, we need to equip them with the resources they need.

Have you ever thought about your immune system as an army?

That’s exactly what it is. Your immune system is a powerful, tactical army. It has scouts, defenders, front line warriors, and special cells for every type of challenge you may face.

Every battle your body has fought is hard-wired into your immune system’s memory. It is constantly learning, always watching, ready to defend long before you even know there is a threat.

Although things in this world would make it seem otherwise, you weren’t made with missing pieces. We get scared when we hear about widespread illness, but we shouldn’t live life in fear like that - not when we have such a powerful military living within us.

Widespread sickness is a sign that we’re approaching health in the wrong ways.

I have learned in my practice that the biggest obstacle to healing is lack of understanding. Most people have never been taught how their bodies actually work. We walk around for years in this body of ours but never get an owner’s manual.

If we want to overcome the fear of sickness, we are going to have to learn how our immune system works. We need to learn truth to let go of fear. Here is where we lack the most understanding when it comes to our immune system:

1) Our Immune Warriors Need Practice.

They need to learn how to fight, so they can remember and adapt. It is actually GOOD to get sick from time to time. Do you hear me here? It’s not fun to be sick, and we shouldn’t constantly be sick, but if we never, ever get sick our warriors will not have enough experience. When something new and foreign comes, we don’t want an immune army that’s been sitting on the sidelines.

2) Our Immune Warriors Need Space and Time to Act. We Need to Stop Stopping Them.

We are constantly bombarded with messages that imply sickness is something to be afraid of, and that we need to stop it at all costs. At the first sign of fever we take medication to stop it. When we’re sneezing, coughing, and snotty we stop those symptoms too.

Please hear me on this: symptoms are not the sickness.

The mucus and fever you experience while you are sick are not properties of the virus/bacteria, they are your body acting to get the virus/bacteria OUT. They are signs of health. When we keep stopping these things we are telling our immune system to stop fighting. How long can we go on doing this before our immune system gets the message that we don’t want it to fight anymore?

3) Our Immune Warriors Need Fuel - and LOTS of it.

Just like we wouldn’t send our country’s military out to battle without food and water, our immune military needs resources too. We have a major problem in America with feeding our bodies anything but real food. Our diets are made-up mostly of sugar, chemicals, and bad fats. These “foods” may give us a sense of fullness, but they leave our cells starving. We are missing vital nutrients that our bodies require for functioning well. Our immune system cells are numerous and powerful, and they are almost always working in some way. They can only go on for so long in this starved state before they can no longer fight for us.

How have you been supporting your body?

Are you stopping your defenses? Are you starving your cells? If you haven’t been supporting your body well and you’ve been living in fear, I want to encourage you that your body has not forgotten how to heal. Your immune system is hard-wired into your DNA. Even if it has been missing some key things lately, when you provide your body with what it needs it will pick back up the pieces.

Here is a short video we recorded a few years ago talking about why we may be attracting sickness, and what we can do to change our odds.

”What Mosquitoes and the Military Can Tell Us About Our Immune System”

If you would like help in knowing what to do to better support your immune system warriors, watch for our upcoming blog post or reach out to us with your questions.

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Your Stress MATTERS

Is the weight of life feeling heavy to you right now? Me too.

I seem to be trapped in a heavy season right now. Lots of cancer diagnosis. Friends struggling. People fighting comas. Job loss. Lots of heavy stuff. Our Tuesday prayer meetings at the office seem to be just a growing list of heart-breaking pleas for our patients and loved ones that are struggling. It leaves you feeling broken. Lost. Weepy. 

The weight of these things can grow into something pretty unbearable if we let it. 

But you know what? 

We aren’t meant to shoulder everything like that. We aren’t meant to carry everyone else’s burdens on top of our own. 

But that’s just the thing with stress. It’s hard to let go of what we can, and even harder to face and pray through what we can’t. 

Some stress is very real, new, and oh so raw. We lose someone we love. We get fired. We get diagnosed with a terminal illness. Our child is struggling down a scary road. THIS stress is the hardest, and not necessarily meant to be the burdens that we just push aside. These require prayer, support, community, time and patience. And this stress matters. 

The rest of the stress we carry CAN be let go of. Constant busyness. Jobs we aren’t happy at. Lack of rest. Trying to wear too many hats. Worrying about things we can’t change. 

THIS stress, chronic stress, is what is damaging our health. 

Your soul can be grieving over the big things, but it doesn’t have to rob your health while you walk through it. If we can diminish the unnecessary stresses in our life, we create room for the things that matter.

And we allow our bodies a space to heal. To rest. 

If you’re in a heavy season too, I want to remind you that some stress MATTERS.

Here Is A Quick Thought On The RIGHT Kind Of Stress.

I wish I could take that weight of stress off each and every one of you but I can’t. There’s only one person who can do that for you. But I can help you reduce your internal stress. Stress that is being caused by problems within your body. 

If you need help in this area, I encourage you to tune-in to our video series on stress. 

And please reach out if you need support, encouragement, or hugs.
We always have hugs. 

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Why You're Not Healing - Despite Your Best Efforts To

Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a pit of poor health with no way out? Felt the walls rising, saw the light and wanted to climb up out of it...but just couldn't?

I've been there too. 

Poor health can be suffocating sometimes.
Othertimes it is downright frustrating.

I have a feeling that, for a lot of you, this pit is an all-too-familiar reality. Maybe you've even settled into your pit. You tried so many times to climb out, but one failed attempt after another grew so tiring that you eventually just gave-up. 

It doesn't really matter what is plaguing you in your health - chronic depression, migraines, severe and unrelenting allergies, weight gain, chronic pain (like pain in every single joint of your body), IBS - they ALL have a pit. They ALL keep us trapped. 

There is one thing all pits have in common: 
The light at the other end. 

Without it we'd likely have no idea we were in a pit in the first place. 

What is that bright light for you?

Is it your family? Being an active, engaging parent to your children? Being there for your spouse? Maybe it's something like returning to the hobbies you once loved, but the pain in your joints has been keeping you from using your hands like you used to. Maybe you want to make a difference in the world around you, to speak life and encouragement into others but you've been so sick, so trapped, that you don't have the energy to anymore. 

Can I tell you something about your pit? There IS a way out. You don't have to stay trapped, despite the number of times it hasn't worked in the past. 

What you need is for someone to determine the best type of ropes to throw down to you. Not just any rope, the exact type of rope to reach you, and that is strong enough to help you climb out. 

THIS is what we are after at Hope Chiropractic & Wellness Center - finding those who are stuck in a pit of chronic poor health, determining the exact right rope to bring them up out of the pit, and teaching them how to stay away from future pits (and maybe to keep a rope around just in case). 

I want to share with you an example of how we do this in the video below. Although everyone's pit is very different, I believe this powerful demonstration of what causes chronic poor health will speak to you and empower you. 

Don't give up. PLEASE, don't give up. There is ALWAYS hope for you, for your kids, for your family. 

Watch My Video About Triggering Events

If you've been suffering in your health and would like some help getting to the source of it all, click the link below to contact me and let's talk about what we can do to bring you clarity. 

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Perception Changes EVERYTHING

Have you ever been two steps away from death's door? I have. 

Or... at least my teeth have.

I recently developed an intense ache in the back of my mouth, near my last few molars. I couldn't quite pinpoint where the pain was coming from, but it was spreading into my jaw and surrounding muscles. It hurt to eat, it hurt to talk. I began to worry. 

Though I've never had a root canal, I'm deathly afraid of them. I'm convinced that if I ever have one I will literally die of pain as they drill. They will write stories of me as the woman whose screams shattered nearby buildings. 

Unfortunately though, the ache in my jaw was worsening, so I knew I better take a peek before calling my dentist. 

What I found horrified me:  there was a sizeable black spot on the side of my back molar. I was devastated. I just knew what this meant: a root canal. The tooth was dying. 

But I realllly wasn't ready to face a root canal, so I began researching feverishly. What are my options? Is it really dead? How did this happen? Did my body stop absorbing minerals? Are my hormones failing me? Did my pregnancy ruin my health? How do I explain this? I was determined that I would be shamed in my practice as the doctor who couldn't take care of her own health. 

Finally, after much thought, consideration, and Googling, I knew exactly what I needed to do: have the dead tooth pulled. No root canal for me! (Because that would be horrific and "not 100% necessary.") I'll just pull the dead tooth. But I'll need to have surgery for this because I definitely can't be conscious for something so gruesome. And while they're in there I better just have them remove all three other molars that align with it so my bite will be even.

It's amazing how versed I became on dentistry after a night of Googling. 

When I got to the dentist, I was solid in my resolve. I told them exactly what was going on and my plans for how to fix it. The hygienist was so sweet to oblige me as she took my x-rays and brought them up on the screen.

Now, I'm definitely NOT a dentist, but I am familiar with x-rays, so I couldn't help but peek. But that gaping black hole of death that I expected to see in my tooth... wasn't there.

My dentist told me that my teeth were fine, and that the pain I had been feeling was from clenching and grinding my teeth at night. And as for that black spot on the side of my tooth? I was literally grinding my teeth so hard that my teeth were flexing and it was popping the enamel off the sides. The black spot was a coffee stain on the porous surface of the tooth.

I went from needing to have surgery to remove a dead tooth and three healthy teeth, to needing a night guard (and a little less coffee). 

And I laughed. 
 

We treat our health the Exact same way though, don't we?

We look up every possible cause, and determine that it must be cancer or some rare, incurable disease. Then we either get ourselves sick with worry and hide or we give up."Well, I was going to die at some point anyway..."

Friends, this is no way to live. 

We can continue to consult with Google, or we can get REAL answers. We can stay trapped in the unknown, or we can step into the light of truth. 

And TRUTH sets us FREE.

Until we know exactly what we're facing in our health we will remain trapped in our 1,000,000 made-up scenarios. When, likely, it is just a nutritional deficiency. Or an infection in your gut. Or a hormone imbalance. Or a subluxation in your spine. 

That horrific lower back pain that you're sure is either five blown discs or kidney cancer may very well just be a locked-up joint that needs some motion. 

That bloating in your belly that you think is maybe colon cancer, a bleeding ulcer, or a tapeworm (or all three??) may just be a food you're eating that your body is sensitive to.

Here's the thing, we DO need to be screened regularly for things like cancer and heart disease, and you absolutely DO need to be checked for them when you're experiencing symptoms that align with these serious conditions. But no matter what the findings are - cancer or something small - the truth will free you.

You will be able to take ACTION and move past your symptoms into better health. You'll be able to enjoy time with your family again rather than suffering and wondering and worrying. You'll be able to pursue your passion in life with renewed HOPE and freedom. 

What are you hiding from in your health today? 

A black spot on your tooth? An ache that just won't go away? Chronic fatigue? Depression? 

Whatever it is, I pray that you will seek answers, so that you, too, can be set free. 

If you've been suffering in your health and would like some help getting to the source of it all, click the link below to contact me and let's talk about what we can do to bring you clarity. 

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Why A Cookie Cutter Approach Doesn't Work

If you've been suffering in your health and haven't been able to find answers, maybe it's time to start looking at how you were designed as a UNIQUE individual. 

There's no surprise here: no two bodies are created the same. 

What works for me may not work for you. And that's totally OKAY. You were perfectly designed to be able to adapt to your own unique environment - not mine.

So why do we continue to approach healthcare as if everyone is identical...?

Imagine with me that your body is a vehicle. What type of vehicle is it? How well is is running? Maybe you feel a bit like your vehicle is a "lemon," prone to breaking-down and always having issues. Do you feel like everyone else around you got lucky and has some sort of Lamborghini? 

Regardless of the type of vehicle you were given, there is power in simply KNOWING.

When you know your vehicle type, and what it is prone to having issues with, you know what you need to do to keep your vehicle running well for a long time. You don't replace your Honda vehicle with Ford parts -- and it's not one-size-fits-all for our health either. 

Some people are designed with touchy brake pedals, and others with gas pedals that are stuck to the floorboard. If we try to treat either person as if both pedals are normal, we miss key factors in why each vehicle keeps crashing.

Are your gas pedals relentlessly ramping up your inflammation? If so, applying some breaks may help, but ultimately we need to get your foot off the gas. Are your brakes touchy? If so, a back-up brake system is a better approach for you than worrying about the gas pedal.

If you've have countless tests done but still don't have answers, watch my video below. If you feel like "doing all the right things" is getting you nowhere, you're certainly not alone. And there ARE answers out there - things to help you FINALLY gain traction in your healing. 

We now have testing available that allows us to look at how each body functions uniquely as it encounters stress and sickness. We can't keep assuming that a cookie-cutter treatment approach will work the same for everyone. 

It's truly time for a change in healthcare.

Watch My Video About Why Cookie Cutter Approaches Don't Work In Healthcare.

If you've been suffering in your health and would like some help getting to the source of it all, click the link below to contact me and let's talk about what we can do to bring you clarity. 

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