Des Moines Chiropractic September, 2018 Newsletter

Hopefully you had a great, active summer.  I hope you went on some amazing trips like I did.  I hope you DIDN’T have to deal with a traumatic experience like having your house or business flooded like I did.  Now, the kids are back in school and routines are stabilizing.

Has pain crept in to your life this summer?  Maybe it started with a jolt while you were on the riding lawnmower.  Maybe it was that 13 hours in the car on the family vacation.  Maybe it was that time you glamorously flung your wet hair back over your head at the pool and you felt that tweak in your neck.  Regardless of how it started, it’s time to make a resolution to feel great and have your body work like it’s supposed to.  We’d love to help you get back to feeling great and have your brain and nerves controlling your body optimally!

If you’ve never been to see us, give us a call and mention the offer below and we’ll figure out what’s going on and how to get it back to normal.  If you’ve already been a patient, reach out to us and we’ll check out what’s going on now 🙂

Relationships

If your romantic relationship has grown stale or could use a tune-up, resolve to read the Five Love Languages with your significant other.  This book will empower you to love and be loved effectively.  If you’ve never read it, you’ll be amazed as you look back at past arguments and realize that a misunderstanding of each other’s love languages was the problem.

Money

If money is stressing you out, I can’t recommend Dave Ramsey’s teachings highly enough as a starting place to get your life in order.  Start listening to his podcast or YouTube channel, buy his book, or join one of the many Financial Peace University classes offered around the community.  Personally, his teachings empowered my wife and me to pay off about $310,000 in student loan and business startup debt and reach 100% debt freedom last September.  I’ll share one of my favorite “debt free screams” below.

Read the book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie.  This book is filled with powerful action steps and mental exercises that can set people free from anxiety, panic, and depression.  If you deal with any of those, commit to reading this book by the end of September!

Fitness

Get a bike.  Kyle’s Bikes in Ankeny is one of the sponsors of the Sakari Cycling Team that I race for and I highly recommend them if you need a new or tuned-up ride.  The paved trails in our area are our greatest natural resource and they will be most beautiful as the leaves change.  If you haven’t been an active cyclist and would like to lose some weight, follow the Des Moines Cycle Club on Facebook and make sure you are getting their newsletters!  That way you’ll receive information about their Pedal off the Pounds program which will start late next spring.  This program has gone on for a few years and combines education on cycling and losing weight with a Biggest Loser style team challenge.  The program has helped people lose up to 20 percent of their body weight during the summer as well as make lasting friendships with other active people.

If you want to lose weight right away, the current version of Weight Watchers seems to be working great for people.

You’ve probably heard of Habitat for Humanity, a global nonprofit housing organization that seeks to help provide decent and affordable housing for those in need. 

In support of this goal, the Habitat for Humanity ReStores serve multiple functions.  They are home improvement stores and (tax deductible) donation centers that sell new and gently used furniture, appliances, home accessories, building materials, tools and much more to the public.  These items are sold at a fraction of the retail price.  Proceeds from the sales of these items are used to help build homes and shelters in local communities, all 50 states and in approximately 70 countries throughout the world.
Rather than dump unwanted items or excess from a building or home improvement project, please give consideration to donating to one of the two local ReStores located in central Iowa.  For example, during a kitchen remodel a couple of years ago, we replaced all of the hardware on our cabinets and doors and rather than toss it, we bundled it up and donated it to the ReStore.  And we did the same thing for light fixtures and extra drywall and wallpaper and paint — donated them as they were in good condition and could easily be reused by someone (other than the local landfill.)  Looking for inexpensive cabinets for a basement storage project?  You’ll find a variety to choose from at the ReStore for a fraction of the cost of purchasing new.

For those of you do-it-yourselfers — this is a great resource.  They also have a tool lending library so you don’t have to purchase a special tool for a one-time use.

The Greater Des Moines Area has two Habitat for Humanity ReStores.  One is located at 4033 NW Urbandale Drive in Urbandale, IA.  A second store is located at 2200 E. Euclid, Des Moines, IA.   Proceeds from the support of these two stores, as well as cash donations made directly to Habitat for Humanity, is allowing the above two stores to provide support to people and neighborhoods in Polk, Dallas and Jasper counties where they are aiming to serve 300 families in 2018.

They also support a variety of programs that employ volunteers to help with the many building and restoration projects they accomplish each year.  For more information about donating items, purchasing from the ReStores or volunteering to help with a local project, contact the local Habitat for Humanity office at 515-309-0224.

Sheri  Recommends  Imperial  Beach, CA

I took a vacation with a couple of friends to Imperial Beach in California early August and loved it.  Imperial Beach is south of San Diego, an area that is not a huge tourist trap.  It was very local and not crazy busy.  We got a condo through AirBnB about a block and a half from the ocean and a fantastic beach area.  To the “locals” the weather was a bit hot and humid… 95 with 60% humidity.  They kept apologizing for it, but we just laughed and said, “Are you kidding?  This would be a great summer day in Iowa!”  They agreed once we told them the typical temp, humidity, and feels like temp here.

Every day we got up and thought about going to a more popular tourist attraction area.  But everything we needed was within walking distance and it was so peaceful.   We had great food & drink at every local joint we tried.  The pizza at Pizzeria Luigi (Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives spot), street tacos at IB Street Tacos, fish on the Pier at Tin Fish, Pad Thai at Aroma Thai, and on our last night, more upscale dinner at SEA180 Coastal Tavern  overlooking the ocean.  Our breakfast was split between Katy’s Café and The Wave Café.  Katy’s had awesome breakfast sandwiches and smoothies, while The Wave Café had omelet’s to die for.

Most of our day was spent relaxing on the beach watching the waves, ships and people.  And the sunsets were fabulous!  Different look & color every night we were there.  We have already talked about returning to the area in a couple years.  So if you are looking to see the San Diego area but avoid all the crazy tourist areas I highly recommend Imperial Beach.

In mid August, my college buddy, Danny, and I headed north to enjoy one of the great wilderness experiences of the Midwest, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  This large region straddles the border between Minnesota and Canada and is made up of over 1,000 lakes which are connected by portage trails and rivers that canoes can navigate through.  Designated campsites are spaced out along the shores of the lakes so that you are not close to other people.  There are specified entry points and only a small number of permits are issued at each entry point per day to avoid a “Disney-crowded” experience.

On the morning of our departure, we met with the owner of Voyageur North, who took our waterproof map of the area we’d be headed and highlighted the best areas for fishing.  He also circled the best campsites that we could try for.  My ears perked up as he pointed out a campsite that had an island all to itself.  He said it was known to have some of the best photograph opportunities in the Boundary Waters.

We headed off to our entry point on Burntside Lake.  We had been warned that we might want a tow-in across large Burntside because if the winds were high the waves could be large enough to sink a canoe.  However, we got extremely light winds and made a quick passage across Burntside.  We quickly experienced the magic of the region as a loon let us come within 15 feet of it before moving away.  It was beautiful!