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COLUMN MAY 2018
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Angie Happy Mother’s Day
How My Wife Built a Lasting Relationship With My Son
W ith Mother’s Day right around the corner, this seems like the perfect opportunity to extol the virtues of the most important woman in my life. I know, I know— I talked about my wonderful wife, Angie, in February’s issue. But honestly, I can’t say enough about her. Ever since my son Dillon entered her life when he was 6 years old, Angie has been the greatest stepmother anyone could ever ask for. Whenever you’re considering blending a family, it’s a difficult proposition. In high school, you often hear complaints from your peers about their overbearing stepparents. These are the adults who try and fail to be present in their stepchildren’s lives, attempting to discipline them without ever really being invested in their interests or well-being. It’s a tough situation for sure, and both children and adults struggle with forming a connection. But when Angie hit the scene, she made it a practically seamless transition. Immediately, Angie took Dillon under her wing and began to love him as her own. She shouldered the entire responsibility of motherhood without hesitation, chauffeuring Dillon to sports practices, supporting him at every turn, and making delicious dinners. Now, 12 years later, Dillon is 18 and still maintains a great respect and love for Angie. It’s awesome to see how close they’ve become. He’s unafraid to talk to her about almost anything, and she’s skilled at teasing out whatever is on his mind and giving sound advice. The other day, Dillon was out with a few of his buddies, and the conversation turned toward politics. The discussion quickly became a little too heated. To gain another perspective, Dillon stepped aside and called Angie to hear her take. “Don’t say anything!” she told him. “There’s no point stirring the pot with your friends!” It’s definitely some advice that I could have used at Dillon’s age, let me tell you. Angie is an especially big help to Dillon as he makes preparations to head off to college. As a finance manager for a car dealership in town, she’s skilled with money and nitty-gritty logistics — talents that come in handy when applying to and planning for college.
It’s a delicate process to find a balance between Angie and Dillon’s mother, but Angie has done a fantastic job every step of the way. She genuinely cares about him and provides him with whatever he might need. But Angie never wastes time beating around the bush, and she puts her foot down where hard-and-fast rules are concerned. Basically, in my eyes, she’s the perfect mom — stern when she needs to be and warm and loving in every other circumstance.
Though Dillon always spends time with his biological mother on Mother’s Day, I make a point to do something nice for Angie on the holiday. This year, I’ll be taking her out somewhere nice for dinner. It’s a small gesture, but I hope it can convey a fraction of the gratitude I feel toward Angie for being there for my son through thick and thin. She and Dillon have an uncommonly close relationship, and I know that it’s all thanks to her dedication and compassion. –Dr. Chris Colby
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W e’ve all walked into our kitchens, looked at the dishes stacked high in the sink, and asked, “Is it better to throw those in the dishwasher or wash them by hand?”The dishwasher would certainly save you some time, but many people believe that washing dishes by hand uses less water and electricity. In reality, however, washing your dishes by hand is one of the worst things you can do for both the planet and your wallet. Dishwashers use less water than washing by hand. A study conducted in Europe found that individuals who wash dishes by hand tend to use 27 gallons of water to clean just 12 place settings. Meanwhile, modern dishwashers only use 6 gallons of water, and Energy Star appliances use as little as 4 gallons during their wash cycle. The Environmental Protection Agency determined that using a dishwasher instead of washing by hand can save 5,000 gallons of water and $40 in utility costs a year. It’s not just about water! Unless you have incredibly thick dishwashing gloves, you can’t properly clean your dishes by hand. Dishwashers heat water to around 145 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure your dishes are disinfected. Even if the water from your sink could get that hot, you wouldn’t want to stick your hand in it. SUCCESS STORY Hand-Washing Dishwasher Are You Wasting Water, Time, and Money? vs. old because I had lower back pain from sitting in cold, damp, wet rinks watching my brothers play hockey. I was also in a car accident when I was 18, which just made matters worse. By the time I was ready to have a child, Chris had already become a chiropractor and had been practicing for over a decade. I never could have imagined or known how important chiropractic would be to me until I was pregnant with Samantha. I knew being pregnant after having been diagnosed with spondylolisthesis was going to be very painful on my lower back. The added weight of the baby was going to worsen my condition. Spondylolisthesis is a condition where my tailbone would slip out of alignment with my spine, causing me great pain. It was hard to believe when halfway through my pregnancy, I was also diagnosed with symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD). This exacerbated my lower back pain and made it difficult to do many everyday things while working and at home. I had no idea that SPD can occur in women Check out what one of our wonderful clients has to say! Dr. Colby will always be my big brother Chris to me. I started going to the chiropractor when I was just 16 years
Which brings us to the science experiment that is your kitchen sponge. Dr. Philip Tierno, a clinical professor in the microbiology and pathology departments at NYU Langone, determined that your kitchen sponge is the single dirtiest item in your house. Soap and water aren’t enough to sanitize your sponge, which is left damp next to your sink after each use. Have you ever noticed that stagnant sponge smell? That’s bacteria growing. And when you wash your dishes by hand, you rub that bacteria all over your plates and silverware. Yum. If you have just a single plate or cup, you obviously don’t want to run them through the dishwasher alone; that would be incredibly wasteful. But the drawbacks of washing by hand are too great to ignore. The best option is to wait until your dishwasher is full, then start up the washing cycle. All your dishes will be clean and disinfected, and you’ll use less water in the process.
toward the end of their first trimester or after the baby is born. Chris was right there from the start. He adjusted me regularly during the pregnancy, keeping me out of pain. He also started adjusting Samantha on the day she was born. Samantha was a C-section baby, which meant that during her
extraction, there could be some necessary twisting of her little body, therefore causing misalignments to her spine. Chiropractic was key to keeping my back in good working order and making a difficult time more tolerable for me. Early adjustments for Samantha also ensured a healthy start for my daughter.
–Heather Opielowski
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Pain-Free as Possible
Pregnancy CHIROPRACTIC AND
How Treatment Can Make the Process as
No matter how amazing the miracle of childbirth may be, there’s no getting around the fact that pregnancy is one of the most difficult processes any woman can go through. It’s a nine-month slog through constant exhaustion, nausea, aches, and discomfort, followed by a wave of pain greater than most men will ever experience. We may not be able to eliminate the unfortunate side effects of pregnancy altogether, but luckily, we can certainly help with them. According to the American Pregnancy Association and numerous studies, chiropractic is one of the best tools for maintaining a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Here’s how: Medication-Free Pain and Nausea Relief As your baby grows, it will likely begin to affect the alignment of your spine. Inflammation may rear its ugly head, leading to pinched nerves within the spinal column, muscle tightness, and pain radiating throughout the lower back and hips. What’s more, these misaligned vertebrae and compressed nerves can result in nausea and vomiting. Regular chiropractic adjustments can help reduce and relieve these symptoms throughout the process. We can work with you to adjust your posture and realign the structure of your spine. This will relieve
any pressure on your spinal column, free up your nerves, and allow you to stand tall without hunching over in discomfort. Optimize Your Immune System Chiropractic removes obstructions within your body, allowing the brain’s signals to travel unabated and maximize the functions of different components. Chief among these is the immune system, which is as vital for you as it is for the development of your baby. You can expect diminished negative symptoms of all kinds, as well as fewer chances of getting sick. Shorter, Less Painful Labor By ensuring your spine and hips are in proper alignment, your nerves are firing just as they should, and your body is perfectly in tune, we can help the delivery process go as smoothly as possible. While we can’t eliminate pain altogether, we can help reduce the need for painkillers and lower the chances of breech positioning and cesarean delivery. If you are pregnant and plagued with aches, pains, and discomfort, there’s no reason to suffer in silence. Give South Windsor Neck & Back a call at 860.644.2437 to make your pregnancy as comfortable as possible! TAKE A Break
Colby’s Kitchen
Tasty P.F. Chang’s-Style Lettuce Wraps
If you’ve ever been to P.F. Chang’s, you’ve probably tasted their sweet and tangy chicken lettucewraps; it’s the kind of appetizer youwishwas your entire entree. Luckily, you can replicate these healthy and flavorful wraps at homewithmuch less fuss than youmight imagine. Angie Colby can vouch that this recipemakes the perfect addition to basically anymeal. But bewarned: The sweet, spicy, and tangy saucemakes it difficult to stop chowing down once you begin!
Ingredients
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1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons sesame oil
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1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar 3 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
1 pound ground chicken 1 large onion, chopped
1 can sliced water chestnuts (8-ounce), drained and finely chopped
8 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, chopped small
2 tablespoons garlic, minced or pressed
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1 small bunch green onions, sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
Iceberg, bibb, or butter lettuce leaves, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
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Spicy mustard to taste
Directions
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Fold in water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil. Salt to taste. To serve, scoopmixture onto lettuce leaves and top with hoisin, soy, or spicy mustard sauce to taste. Enjoy!
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Inmedium skillet, heat sesame oil over mediumheat. Add ground chicken and saute until cooked through, break it up with a spatula during the process until it resembles ground beef. Remove fromheat. Stir in onion, mushrooms, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, rice wine vinegar, and Sriracha sauce until chicken is completely coated.
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Inside This Issue
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Angie Colby: World’s Best Stepmom
Kitchen Cleaning Secrets Success Story Relieve Pregnancy Symptoms With Chiropractic Colby’s Kitchen: Lettuce Wraps
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3 of History’s Bravest Moms
Moms make the world go round. After running the gauntlet of childbirth, they raise and guide us throughout our lives, shouldering the tremendous burden and responsibility of motherhood. Mothers are in turn formidable, kind, powerful, gentle, wise, fierce, patient, supportive, empathetic, driven, and full of love. In honor of Mother’s Day, here are three historic moms who never stopped fighting for what they believed in. Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) Before she escaped from New York slaveholder John Dumont, Sojourner Truth had at least three of her children sold away from her. When Dumont went back on his promise to emancipate Truth and her infant daughter in 1826, she took the girl and fled to an abolitionist Quaker family, but she was forced to leave her other daughter and her 5-year-old son, Peter, behind. Soon after, she learned that Peter had been illegally sold by Dumont to a slaveholder in Alabama, so she went to court and secured his safe return. It was the first successful case brought by a black woman against a white man in American history. Truth went on to become a prominent abolitionist and a speaker for women’s rights, delivering her famous impromptu speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” in May of 1851. SHAPE THE WORLD Mothers 3 of History’s Bravest Moms
Irena Sendler
Sojourner Truth
Emmeline Pankhurst
Irena Sendler (1910–2008) When the Nazis invadedWarsaw in September of 1939, Irena Sendler, a 29-year-old social worker and mother of two, hatched a scheme to rescue Jewish children from the brutal ghettos. Along with many friends and colleagues, she smuggled out nearly 2,500 Jewish orphans, hiding infants on trams and garbage wagons and guiding kids through a labyrinth of secret passageways beneath the city. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928) Despite being a wife and the mother of five children — two of whom died tragically young — Emmeline Pankhurst became one of the fiercest advocates for women’s suffrage in the late 19th century. After founding the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903, she and her cohorts adopted an aggressive strategy to raise awareness for the issue; they began by buttonholing politicians and staging rallies, then progressed to vandalism, window smashing, and arson. She was instrumental in the movement. Pankhurst lived to see women gain the right to vote in 1928.
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