69 Dianne Ave Craigieburn 3064

Tel: 9308-4762 Fax: 9333-0170

sophia@thehealthexchange.com.au www.thehealthexchange.com.au

MY HEALTH FIRST
Summer 2012

Happy 12th Birthday To The Health Exchange

Twelve Years already? If my business was my human child it would be starting Secondary School this yearthat makes me feel old! Even though it sounds ridiculous, how can a business be compared to raising a human child, it is no more silly than calling my 8 year old cats my children too! Unfortunately, I do see my business as a child of mineI carried it in my head for 11 months before it was born, I named it, it kept me awake at night for most of its first 5 years and still now on occasion ... It was my creation just like a child. So Happy Birthday to my eldest child. I have plans to have you live to at least 100 years which leaves only another 88 to go, at least! When The Health Exchange opened in January 2000 it consisted of just me and my massage hands working from the Craigieburn & Lalor Chiropractic Centres as well as undertaking home visits. Within 18 months I had a student massage therapist, Anna, join me to complete her clinical hours for her Diploma. Not long after that Donna joined us for the same reason. In November 2002 I moved out of the Chiropractic Centre to go it alone with Anna & Donna and we were very successful. In 2004 we started to widen our services taking on Melissa as our Osteopath and Evelyn as our Herbalist. By the end of that same year we were too big for a residential premises and moved to Dianne Avenue with the intention of becoming a Medical Centre. Those of you who have been around with us since then may recall the 12 month long battle to secure a Medical Centre status. That did not end there with my original goal of having a 3 room clinic not approved until March 2011 with the negotiation of 2 more car parks in our front yard. ...cont page 2
members and winner of our Christmas Prize Draw. She has won a Christmas Hamper. If you would like access to any of these offers, or would simply like to subscribe to our newsletter, please see the orange board in the clinic waiting room and leave your details in the box provided.

In Brief:
Twelfth Birthday Celebrations;

Our new VIP Club details;

Staff Profile;

Artificial Sweeteners A Not So Healthy Alternative;

Stress - Are You On top Of Yours or Under It?

When you are ready Stop Smoking in 2012 with our support;

Have you Joined our VIP club?

Find us on Face Book

Opening Hours
MondayThursday

9am8:30pm
Friday

9am7:30pm
Saturdays

10am4pm

Due to the unexpected interest to our latest newsletter, we have decided to create a VIP club that will further allow us to keep in regular communication with our clients. Members of The Health Exchange VIP Club will have the option to

receive our quarterly newsletters by post, email or pick up, as well as exclusive special offers sent straight to their mobile phone, and a token every year on their birthday. We would like to congratulate Aaditie, one of our first VIP Club

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continued from page 1

Permit rules are 5 cars per consultation room and as I could only fit 10 in the back yard it took some negotiating to get it down to 4 to 1 and allow 2 extra parks to accommodate the third consultation room. It then took all year to get the plans for the car park approved!! That is the first major hurdle for 2012two new car parks and some landscaping for the front yard. The underlying philosophy for The Health Exchange has always been to serve the customer. My commitment continues into 2012 & beyond! Without you, the customer, I have no reason for a business such as this. Thank you for your support to make this possible over the last 12 years ... for us and for our community!

Happy Birthday The Health Exchange!

Staff Profile - Bill Cotter, The Silent Achiever!

You are probably wondering who Bill Cotter is, as I assume none of you have consulted with him before! Bill has been on the staff team since 2003. His daughter Anne-Marie was our first Receptionist and when we moved to Crocket Avenue there was an opening for Bill. The house in Crockett Avenue had a magnificent Vegetable Garden doing its own thing with lots of Silver beet and needed a bit of taming. Anne-Marie told me of her fathers green thumbs and love for gardens so I commissioned him to tame the estate! In a moment I will tell you about the expanding role Bill has taken on at The Health Exchange but let me first tell you a little about Bill. Bill has held numerous roles across his lifetime and most of them have been with Fords. In 1956 Bill began work at the Geelong factory as a Leading Hand Welder. His attention to detail and strong work ethic promoted him quickly and when Fords expanded to Broadmeadows in 1959 Bill was amongst the first to be appointed as a foreman. He was Superintendent in many parts of the factory and in later years was called upon to pull into line the departments falling behind in their standards of quality. After 34 years of dedicated and loyal service to Fords Bill took a package deal for an early retirement. Bills contribution to The Health Exchange expanded from gardening to include internal maintenance. This has included painting, fixing, erecting a washing line, building window pelmets & picture rails, replacing light globes, repairing massage tables, moving furniture and what ever else he sees needs doing! Having said all that, the BIGGEST contribution Bill has made to The Health Exchange involves our car park. 10 concrete wheel stoppers cut in half and 20 wheel stoppers drilled into the commercial grade thickness concrete car park with a total of 40 bolts in all! Boy was that a job! To top it off he hand painted all the white lines that divide the parking bays. They say you must try everything once - that was a job you only ever want to do once and I am proud to say it was for us! The work Bill does for The Health Exchange is invaluable. He is our silent achiever and without him our garden estate and internal clinic appearance would not be as great as it is today. Thanks Bill - I look forward to many more years working with you!

That was a job you only ever want to do once

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by Lola Berry Dec 7, 2011

Artificial Sweeteners - A not so healthy alternative!

Artificial sweeteners are used as a low calorie option to sweeten foods and beverages. Although they do make things taste sweet without the added calories (which sugar provides) they do come with a host of side effects. Aspartame is the most commonly used artificial sweetener and it has a neuro-toxic effect on the brain so its linked to a host of disease states such as Alzheimers, brain tumours, headaches and depression. Other artificial sweeteners include saccharin, cyclamate, alitame, sucralose, acesulfame-K and neotame. The interesting thing about artificial sweeteners is that most people are attracted to them because they are providing us with a lower calorie option, which means less weight gain. However, they can have a strong effect on our neuro chemistry which affects our moods. We can end up craving more carbohydrates. If we dont burn these carbohydrates off then we put weight on so its not really helping too much!

Foods to watch out for

Artificial sweeteners can be found in loads of food products so read the labels clearly: soft drinks, flavoured water, chewing gum, diet meals, ice creams, sauces, chocolate, protein bars and deserts! Healthy Options

Stevia - a South American herb which is 300 times sweeter than sugar and zero calories; Raw honey - nice and natural plus a great source of minerals and has potent antibacterial
properties;

Artificial Sweeteners have a neuro-toxic effect on the brain linking them to Alzheimers, brain tumors, headaches and depression

Coconut sugar and nectar is hot on the market right now. It has a low glycemic index and
tastes great! Give it a whirl next time youre baking as its a great sugar substitute!
Special thanks to Endeavour College of Natural Health for supplying this article. Lola Berry is an Endeavour College of Natural Health graduate & Ambassador. Reproduced from Natural Therapy Pages, ntpages.com.au, a great source of information for great health.

Stress - Are you On Top Of Yours Or Under It?

Everyone experiences stress at one time or another and most people know what kinds of things cause it. For example, stress can come from work, family, personal relationships and general changes & challenges. Although we all want it, a stress-free life would be unrealistic and unhelpful because some stress is needed for us to develop, adapt & grow emotionally and psychologically. For instance, some stress gives us energy, alertness and motivation to get things done. The problem is when we experience too much stress at one time or too much stress over a prolonged time. This can have a negative effect on our health and wellbeing. confronted by an unfamiliar or difficult situation and we have not developed the coping skills to help us at this time.

However, stress can be managed, reduced and kept at a level that is useful Stress is not all in the mind because stressful life rather than harmful. events tend to trigger If you would like to know biochemical changes in more or to have some help the body that are with your own personal experienced both physically situation, give us a call and and psychologically. The we can make an effects of stress are different appointment for you with for each person but no one our Psychologist Julia. She is immune to stress, no is available on Wednesday matter how easy going we afternoon/evenings and think we are. One day it Thursday morning/ could affect us profoundly, afternoons. especially if we are

a stress-free life would be unrealistic and unhelpful

Opening Hours
MondayThursday

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lifestyle! Each consultation with Julia is one hour for $145. Based on 4 sessions you would pay $580. 10 sessions of Acupuncture will be $68 for the first and then $25 for the following 9 which makes it $293 for 10 sessions. The Smoking Cessation Programme is $450. This price does not include herbal mixtures and it will depend upon your particular needs as to whether Evelyn prescribes it for you.

Stop Smoking in 2012 with our support

We have three different support services to help you, or someone you know, be successful in quitting smoking. We all know that when you want to break a habit it can take hitting it at different angles until you find what works best for you. The three options we have you could use separately or together. Sometimes it works to hit it with everything at the same time!! sessions you may require. At least 4 consultations would be a safe starting point. For Acupuncture, we can arrange short (15 min) appointments (following the initial 60 min consult) for those willing to attend twice a week for 5 weeks. Likewise, the Smoking Cessation Programme is a 10 session course but will be conducted at a pace that works for you and can go over 20-30 weeks. A one hour massage is included in that to help the detoxification process.

9am8:30pm
Friday

9am7:30pm
Saturdays

10am4pm
Services we offer:
Acupuncture; Counseling; Cupping; Detoxification; Ear Candling; EMDR; Herbal Medicine; Hypnosis; Neurofeedback; Osteopathy (coming); Pregnancy Massage; Reflexology (coming); Relaxation Massage; Remedial Massage; Podiatry; Psychology; Smoking Cessation Programme; Sports Medicine;

Smoking Cessation
Programme offered by our Herbalist (and Registered Nurse) Evelyn;

Acupuncture offered by
our Acupuncturists Moyez and Jennifer;

Hypnosis offered by
our Psychologist Julia; All of these are not one hit wonders. Not everybody is hypnotizable and so the first consultation with Julia will assess that and identify how many

If you have Private Health Insurance that covers Psychology, It varies between people Acupuncture and/or as to how long it can take Herbal Medicine you to quit smoking, however may end up paying less than the amounts quoted it generally takes a minimum of 8-12 weeks above. for the body to clear itself So if you are keen to quit smoking and are looking of nicotine and pass the initial stage of addiction. for some support, please feel free to call us for What most people want further information. to know is how much money will it cost? When it comes to health, this should be weighed against the cost of maintaining a smoking For Christmas we have Gift Vouchers on sale and there is a 10% discount for purchases over $500.

Hear About Our Special Offers First!

69 Dianne Ave Craigieburn. 3064
My Health First is now available for download or online viewing! Just follow the links on our website; www.thehealthexchange.com.au Or find us on facebook
www.facebook.com/TheHealthExchange

Tel: 9308-4762 Fax: 9333-0170

If you would like to subscribe to our email newsletter please send an email to sophia@thehealthexchange.com.au with a subject heading Newsletter. We will then add you to our email database and you will receive quarterly newsletters keeping you updated on our services and special offers. I promise not to bombard you with emailsfour per year will be all I can handle!