Back to School lunches

Packing lunches for your kids every day may be a daunting task. Thank you to Sara Snow who shares how to help parents pack lunches that are both healthy and delicious!

1. Scratch the Sandwich:If your child isn't a sandwich fan (as I wasn't as a kid) you might have to get creative. Pack hummus and vegetables, cheese and crackers, cold veggie pizza or soup.

2. Keep it Simple:
Don't try to get fancy or pretty with every lunch. A simple apple is better than individually packaged apple slices with fruit dip.

3. Remember Left-overs:
Last night's dinner often makes the best and most nutritious lunch. Pack up leftover pasta, pizza, salad, soup, or casserole. Add a little fruit or veggies and call it good. If your child doesn't have a way to heat food, try heating in the morning and packing in an insulated container, or pack leftovers that serve up well cold like pizza and salad.

5. Employ the Littlest Helpers:
Let you kids help you pack up their own lunch. They'll be more likely to eat it when they hit the cafeteria tables that way.

6. And of course...
Pack a Rainbow. Pack a red apple, some purple grape juice, some brown wheat bread and some green lettuce, to create a rainbow in your child's lunchbox. Have your kids help you pick the foods that will create their very own rainbow each day.

Changing Others

What do you do when those you love are engaged in self-destructive behavior? The common self-help doctrine of the day says to focus on yourself! You can’t change them anyway. You have to wait until they are ready. You can’t make them happy. For that matter, you can’t make them sad either! You can’t use your personal will to make them angry, get a job, stop smoking or wiggle their big toe. So stop trying to change other people. Change yourself instead. That is all you can do.

After having said that, I would like to say that a big chunk of this ideology might be right, but the other half is absolutely wrong. In some cases, even dangerously wrong. While it is true that those you love must make individual choices for their own well being that you or anyone else cannot make for them, their best, most powerful hope for change…Is YOU. In reality, the people you love who need to make major changes in their life are unlikely to do it on their own. But they can and will make changes with the loving support and encouragement of people who genuinely care about them. And if their life is in danger in some way by the choices they are making you cannot afford to ‘wait until they are ready’.
Amazingly, study after study shows that we often reflect those we hang out with the most. You hang with people who spend money recklessly; you may be prone to similar behavior. You hang with people who drink and smoke, your chances of drinking and smoking go up. You hang with people who are angry or have destructive habits and it is likely that you will feel angry much of the time or take on those habits yourself. Of course if the people we hang with are happy, health-conscious and wealthy, our propensity towards those things increases as well. Our best chance for change is with each other!

It is not about not being with negative people. It is about filling your life with so many good people and relationships that we become the positive force for change for the person we love so much. So, in a way, we can change them! Their change is in our relationship. Don’t give up. Change may take time, but it can also happen in an instant.

Peace,

Michael

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Growing up my mom was adamant about having us eat a good breakfast. She would say "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." She was right.

Studies show that children who eat breakfast do better in school. It doesn't take much further thought to realize adults will feel better and perform better at work as well. Whether you work at home, at the office, at school, or on the road, it is not a good idea to skip breakfast. Eating a good breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Here's a Breakfast recipe from Andrea, our Nutrition Coach here at our Wellness Center.

Veggie Frittata
1 cup sautéed vegetables (spinach, broccoli, onions)
1 egg yolk
3 to 4 egg whites
pepper
dash of hot sauce
1 tbs crumbled feta
reheat oven to 350°.
Over medium heat, sauté veggies.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites, egg yolks, hot sauce, and pepper.
Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir with a spatula.
Bake until almost firm to touch sprinkle with the feta.

You have a choice!

If you have a health problem, how do you decide to address it? Is your decision of treatment based on fixing the symptom or on finding the cause? Is it based on doing what insurance will cover or what you learned from the internet?

My view of health care is very tainted. I believe that you are responsible for yourself. I believe that you should be in control of how you handle your health. In my opinion our current "health care” model is not about health care, it is more about disease care. It doesn’t seem right that in order for us to be treated, we have to be sick. So even when you or someone you love is not feeling well and the testing is ‘normal’ - just know you are just not “sick enough” to receive care yet. Health is not the absence of symptoms.

In order to be and stay healthy we must find the cause of the problem, whether it is physical, emotional, chemical, toxin, electro-magetic, or allergy based! Ultimately your health is your choice. Right now you have a choice! If you or someone in your family had a problem what would you do? Who would you see?

If I were sick or did not feel well I would choose to go to the Brimhall Wellness Center or one that works like we do so I could get healthy and stay healthy!

Take back your health! Be in control of your health! After all, you are in charge of you!


Sincerely,

Dr. Brett Brimhall

NeuroIntegration Thearpy

What is NeuroIntegration Therapy?

Clear Mind Center has created the unique NeuroIntegration System, a ground breaking approach in multi-sensory brainwave therapy. Our unique photic technology informs the brain of the frequency it needs to learn and guides the brain into producing new efficient brainwave states through EEG driven auditory and visual feedback. Our state-of-the-art system combines these technologies to achieve rapid improvement in mental and physical states, yielding powerful long lasting results.

This multi-sensory approach interrupts ineffective mental patterns, lifting us out of habitual, non-productive thoughts. By balancing the brain and regulating the nervous system, new thought patterns are allowed to break through old filters responsible for causing a wide variety of disorders. NeuroIntegration Therapy has been proven to be a very powerful technique for improving brain functions.

Clear Mind Center’s NeuroIntegration system works through a mechanism known as operant conditioning. When a part of the brain is operating at an abnormal frequency (too fast or too slow), the brain can learn to normalize the activity of that area.



How NeuroIntegration Therapy Works

THE BRAIN IS A LEARNING MACHINE
If you signal the brain through Photic stim lights, the brain will learn to make normal brainwave patterns through guided feedback. Continuous feedback retrains the brain to reduce abnormal activity and stay within normal ranges. Eventually, the brain learns how to stay within normal ranges without NeuroIntegration training, and is able to sustain normal activity independently. The mechanism is through reorganization of functional pathways in the brain.

Many breakdowns in health start with subtle changes in brain chemistry, which alter brainwaves in very specific ways. Brainwaves can be measured using electrodes similar to the ones used for an EKG. Research has found that a Quantitative EEG has high reliability, equal to such routine tests a MRI and Cat scans.


How are Brain Waves Meaured?
Clear Mind Center offers Neuro-Mapping to evaluate brain function. The Neuro-Map is able to record your patients brainwaves in real time and offer a detailed visual report in minutes. In addition, a comprehensive neurological assessment plan with NeuroIntegration training protocols is provided to correct abnormal brainwave patterns found in the Neuro-Map.

Research and clinical studies show that many cognitive conditions unresponsive to medication or psychotherapy can be resolved within 20-40 therapy sessions. At the other end of the spectrum, chronic disorders such as anxiety, even if present over many years, can show improvement after just one treatment.


What causes the brain’s dominant frequencies to get stuck?
While genetics and birth complications can be contributing factors, research studies show that unresolved post-traumatic stress pushes the brain into patterns of chronic over-stimulation, gradually losing its ability to recover. Eventually, the traumatized brain must shut down for its own survival via depression, memory loss and other “protective” changes in brain function.

By normalizing brainwave patterns, your central nervous system learns how to self-regulate, directing you away from debilitating, painful, destructive disorders, into reclaiming your well being.

Typically clients experience a significant shift in awareness during their first session. Balancing the brain and calming the nervous system allows new neural patterns to form. Properly balanced rhythms result in optimal brainwave patterns. Our emotions are a reflection of the rhythms in our brains: excess beta can produce anxiety; too much frontal alpha could result in depression or ADD. Training brainwaves into efficient patterns allows the central nervous system to learn how to self-regulate, directing it away from debilitating, painful, destructive disorders into effortless processing and optimal functionality.
The above is from Clear Mind Center where we have received our training through.
www.clearmindcenter.com

Blood Pressure

The follow is from Mayo Clinic Staff and very informative as to why it is important to monitor blood pressure. There are many factors to consider in improving your health and many ways to determine what to do. Blood pressure is a single factor and you must consider the total body systems to determine what can be done. The follow link is an example of the type of test and care that we have available to help you reach your health goals. This is a case study of high blood pressure and changes in a short 3 month period of time. As you will notice mayo recommends a change in diet and lifestyle. This system lets us help you make those changes.

http://www.sciencebasednutrition.com/case_studies/High_Blood_Pressure_Diabetes-JR01-07.pdf

Blood pressure chart: What your reading means
By Mayo Clinic staff

If you've just had your blood pressure taken at your doctor's office, you may wonder what your numbers mean. This blood pressure chart can help you figure out if your blood pressure is at a healthy level, or if you'll need to take some steps to improve your numbers.
Blood pressure readings fall into four general categories, ranging from normal to stage 2 hypertension (high blood pressure). The level of your blood pressure determines what kind of treatment you may need. The blood pressure chart lists the ranges that make up each category.

To get an accurate blood pressure reading, your doctor should evaluate your readings based on the average of two or more blood pressure readings taken while you are seated.

Here's a look at the four blood pressure categories and what they mean for you. If your readings fall into two different categories, your correct blood pressure category is the higher category. For example, if your blood pressure reading is 125/95 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), you have stage 1 hypertension.
Top number (systolic) in mm Hg
Bottom number (diastolic) in mm Hg
Your category* What to do**

Below 120 and Below 80 Normal blood pressure Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle.

120-139 or 80-89 Prehypertension Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle.

140-159 or 90-99 Stage 1 hypertension Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle. If blood pressure goal isn't reached in about six months, talk to your doctor about taking one or more medications.

160 or more or 100 or more Stage 2 hypertension Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle. Talk to your doctor about taking more than one medication.

*Ranges may be lower for children and teenagers. Talk to your child's doctor if you're concerned your child has high blood pressure.
**Note: These recommendations address high blood pressure as a single health condition. If you also have heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or certain other conditions, you'll need to treat your blood pressure more aggressively.

If your blood pressure is normal, maintaining or adopting a healthy lifestyle can prevent or delay the onset of high blood pressure or other health problems. If your blood pressure isn't normal, a healthy lifestyle — oftentimes along with medication — can help bring it under control and reduce your risk of life-threatening complications.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-pressure/hi00043

Brain Training! Neurofeedback. New hope for improving anxiety, depression, ADD, ADHD, memory and other brain related symptoms.

What is Brain Mapping ?

Physical injury to the brain, such as concussion, disrupts normal flow of electrical impulses in the brain tissue. Similarly, toxic injury, seizure disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, anoxia and brain infection (e.g., chronic Lyme encephalitis) alter brainwave activity. ADD, OCD, anxiety, depression and Learning Disability have distinct brainwave “signatures.”

EEG (or electroencephalogram) is a recording of brainwave activity. QEEG (Quantitative EEG), popularly known as brain mapping, refers to a comprehensive analysis of brainwave frequency bandwidths that make up the raw EEG. QEEG is recorded the same way as EEG, but the data acquired in the recording are used to create topographic color-coded maps that show electrical activity of the cerebral cortex.

While other brain imaging techniques (e.g., CT, MRI, PET, SPECT) measure such properties as cerebral blood flow, metabolism or structural integrity, QEEG measures electrical activity of the brain. It provides complex analysis of such brainwave characteristics as symmetry, phase, coherence, amplitude, power and dominant frequency. In fact, subtle disruptions of electrical connectivity and flow in the brain sometimes may be the only or the early signs of a problem.

The QEEG findings are then compared to a normative database. This database consists of brain map recordings of several hundred healthy individuals. Comparisons are displayed as Z scores, which represent standard deviations from the norm.

The primary use of QEEG is to examine patterns of brainwaves and help determine whether a person is an appropriate candidate for Neurofeedback, a treatment that normalizes brainwaves. QEEG does not render a diagnosis, but is designed to help the clinician to make a diagnosis. QEEG is not a substitute for EEG; it is a different process than that carried out by the neurologist when he or she performs an EEG assessment. Medical illness of the brain, such as seizure disorder, dementia, encephalopathy, brain tumor, lesion, haematoma and aneurysm should be diagnosed by a physician.

http://www.northeastcenter.com/information_bulletin_what_is_brain_mapping.htm