Most of you have read this blog for many years. I usually write about health and every few months I throw some lifestyle things in here, because they indirectly relate to your health. Health is really physical, mental, and spiritual.

You probably have noticed that sometimes epiphany messages come right at the right time and you have those ahh ha moments at unusual times.

I had that moment today. I was laying in bed thinking, jeez, I’m tired and pondering not going to church. I was out late last night, working

I felt compelled to go, not out of guilt, but out of just a plain thought I was going to miss something today.

It was so good I felt the need to pass it along to you.

Why is it that “we” never have any extra money?

The $75,000 were asked the same question and they answered $150,000.

The $150,000 were asked the same thing and they responded half- million.

Unless you follow a few simple rules, you’ll never have enough.

Are you ready?

Step 1: Admit that you are rich. You may not feel that way, but compared to most of the rest of the world we have a ton of stuff, advantages, freedoms, choices, and opportunities. If you feel guilty, you can change that emotion to that of gratitude. Sometime every day be thankful for what you have.

Step 2: Don’t be arrogant. This doesn’t apply to most of you. But, you all know the kid driving the convertible BMW that daddy bought for him, waving his hands around like the world should bow to him.

Step 3: Don’t put your hope in what you have will make you invincible. Life can and often will throw you curve balls, earthquakes, tornadoes, cancer, heart attacks, etc. So follow up with the next step.

Step 4: Do “good” with what you have and the time you have.

Step 5: Be “generous” with the extra money you have. To do this you have to do one thing. “Cap” your lifestyle. If you don’t do this you’ll never ever have enough. ie. How many yachts can you water ski behind?

We are all commanded to give. Life fulfillment reaches a wonderful feeling when you help others. That can be helping clean up a tornado’s destruction, or helping a lost child find their parent, or anonymously donating a bunch of money.

I know my gift is helping people move towards a more natural lifestyle and healthier habits. I try and serve others every day. So think about how you can reach out and “give” a little more this week. Time, Talents, Money?

I’m going to do something I’m not sure I’ve done before.

This week I am giving more than I have in the past, and I was trying to figure out how to give more to you.

Since most of you order Standard Process Supplements from me. If you order supplements this week, ending June 10th, there is an extra 5% off my usual sale prices. You can get a total of 25% off any order, any size. All orders over $100 also get free shipping. That’s worth $13 alone.

Just call my order line (612-BE-GREAT) or send me a quick email (docaltman@gmail (dot) com)

Thanks for being a great reader and there will be more health articles to come.

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This isn’t a lecture on not doing your make-up or texting while driving.  Those are obvious no-no’s but ironically I see people doing it.  After I thought about it for a bit, driving is an excellent example of health care.

We all drive almost everyday.  Nothing bad ever really happens, but there is always a potential for something to happen.  So what do we have… insurance, right.  You almost never need it, but if you do, you’re glad you have it.

I’ve hit 2 deer in my life.  One demolished my front windshield and almost killed me and the other was nothing more than a big bump in the road that just rocked the truck.  We kept going and nothing happened.  Both were instantaneous and unavoidable.  Boom…there it is.

Next time you hop in your car you can get a health lesson.

1.  The primary thing you probably think about when owning a car is how much fuel does it take, and you might even ponder what kind.  Over all thou, your choices are pretty limited.  If you put diesel fuel in an unleaded vehicle, you have problems.  Now, it is the wrong fuel.

Your body needs the right fuel.   Veggies, fruit, fats, meat.  Things like processed cereal, bread or many of the sugar items are the wrong fuel.  Would a Ferrari owner ever put bad fuel in their car?  You can’t expect your body to perform at a peak level running on processed food, soda, and anything nuked in a microwave.

One more fuel thought.  A year ago gas was $2.26, today it is $2.89.
Two years ago, it was $4.11, the highest recorded price in America.

Did you buy gas at $4/gallon?  I did.  My car needed the right fuel.  I wasn’t happy about it, but I did it, but I also used less.  You body needs the best fuel you can buy.  Did you know? There is more nutrients in organic food and no chemicals.  If you eat better quality food, your body will need less.  Processed food will taste great on the lips, but because the real nutrients have been stripped out of it, your body is constantly hungry for the missing nutrients.  Did you know?  Oreo’s are graded on 90 different characteristics, taste, texture, color, blah, blah, blah.  Manufacturers go to amazing lengths to hook you on their crappy food.

Fight back by buying from your local farmers, then organic food.  Put the best fuel in your body and start running like a Ferrari.

    2.  Oil changes... Why do you do that?  Prevention, right?  You want your car to keep running smoothly.  I like to think of prevention a little differently than  most doctors.  The only real recommendation you’ll hear is to get your early screenings.  To “prevent” bigger problems.  That’s not really prevention.

Does an oil change guarantee you’ll never breakdown…no.  Does eating organic food and exercising guarantee you’ll never get cancer…no.  Does getting an oil change hedge you bets that you’ll keep cruising down the road?  Sure, otherwise you wouldn’t do it.  Do I eat organic food because I believe it will help prevent problems in the future.  Absolutely!  The list of problems pesticides have been shown to cause is longer than I care to write today.  Eating pesticides is like driving every day.  You can do it for years and years, but some time those deer jump out in the middle of the night.  Stop taking a known risk with pesticides, go organic.   For the women, pesticides contribute to hormone problems.  This is one of the single largest health problems for women that is preventable.

  3.  Dash lights…most of the time they aren’t on.  But if a little light does pop on, it gets your attention right away.  These are early warning signs, like pain or any other symptom, for example:  can’t sleep, diabetes, heart disease, fatigue, acid indigestion, and over 600 other things.  I have this handy dandy little book listing all these early warning signs and how to potentially fix them with Standard Process supplements and herbs.  Take those warnings seriously and remember medications only put tape over your dash board lights.

4.  Fix the little stuff…if your car starts to smoke you don’t let it keep smoking.  Smoking leads to more serious problems, right.

5.  Ever leave your headlights on? …There is only so long that you can leave the lights on without the engine running.  If you do, your battery will be dead in the morning.  Ever have a hard time getting out of bed?  Your battery is dead.  It is a dead give-away that you are leaving the lights on and too stressed or working too hard or staying up too late or just plain have too many irons in the fire.   I’ve been there and speak from experience.  Take it seriously and change your lifestyle.   It is called adrenal fatigue.  It plays a significant role in heart health.  We’ll talk more about that later this summer.

6.  Use it…or lose it.   If you park your car and never use it, it will slowly become worthless.  It will rust or the gas will go bad or mice will make a nice home inside.  If you don’t exercise your body, you will lose it.  You know what I mean.  Cars need some highway time to clean out the gunk from city driving.  Your body needs the same.  A good sweat will go a long way.  If you are really out of shape don’t start doing a lot of exercise, ease into it.

7.   Insurance... You don’t dare drive without it.  To me health insurance isn’t from a company. Yeah, I have it in case a really bad accident happens, but health itself is determined by your habits.   Eating good organic food, getting sleep, taking Standard Process whole food supplements, exercise, chiropractic adjustments, thinking good, and not polluting  body with chemicals or even negative people.  God forbid something really bad happens, do you think you have better chance of survival if you are strong, energetic, and wildly healthy going in to it or tired, over-weight, crabby, and out-of-shape?  You need to work for health insurance, you can’t buy it.  You buy accident insurance.  Real health comes from within.

Women’s health week is coming to a close.  The governments site has some good info and reminders.

•     Eat well

•     Get your exercise

•     Get your sleep

•     Reduce your stress

•     Don’t smoke

•     Get some preventative screenings, just be careful with this one.  Read Bruce West.

That sounds a lot like my car story.  I’d like to add one more piece.  In my opinion, one of the single greatest health problems facing women today is hormone imbalances.  They are getting worse and harder to deal with.  That will take another whole article, watch for it soon.

-Dr. Altman

-To order Standard Process  Call 612-Be-Great or email docaltman [at] gmail [dot] com

-To order probiotics.  Now this is new!  You can set-up your own account using our office.  Just create a patient account here.  This is the 90 count probiotic that we order, Pro-flora concentrate  (PR123).  You also get a 5% discount doing it this way.  Any problems let me know.  Just put in Dr. David Altman and 507-359-3123 for the phone number.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart
the whispering of the hours turns to music.  To love
life through labor is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
All work is empty save when there is love, for work is
love made visible.
-Kahlil Gibran

Can you get up and smile about what you are doing tomorrow?

Are you loving what you do?  Can you feel the music of your work?

Kahlil calls this “life’s inmost secret”.  This is often hard to do and sometimes impossible at some moments.  I think if you work in Haiti right now this would challenge you.  Through out my life I haven’t always had the jobs I long for, but I have always worked towards that.

Life is too short to hate what you do for work.  Just think about spending 8 hours with mental negativity and mayhem going on in your brain everyday.  That is tough on the body.  Remember health comes from a good mind, body, and spirit.  So what do you do?

You only have two choices:

#1 Get going and do what you love to do.  The money will follow.  Your mind “health” craves this.

#2 If you can’t change your job right now, you must change how you “think” about it.  Don’t waste another minute hating it.

If you don’t do one of those two things you are sacrificing 1/3 of your health.  Would you throw 1/3 of your money away.  Get the matches and strike them up and start burning your dollar bills.  What if you’re stuck?  Can’t find a direction?  Can’t find your purpose?

A few tips for you:

#1 Change your routine.  Get off the treadmill of life and just sit still and be quite and keep your environment quite for just 5 minutes.  That’s it.  Let your brain run wild and let it go.  Don’t stop it, don’t control it, just let it wander.  Give it time and you’ll be surprised.

#2 Prepare for rain.  If you want to be a weather man, you need to study clouds.  If you want to be an artist, you need to spend some time drawing.  Spend some time everyday on what you want.  Watching T.V. doesn’t count unless you want to be a potato or a an actor.

When you are inspired by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project,
all your thoughts break their bonds;
Your mind transcends limitations,

….You discover yourself to be a greater person
than you ever dreamed yourself to be.
-Patanjali

Love what you do one way or another.  Your health depends on it.