A worldwide movement is taking off locally that encourages people to adopt a new lifestyle that will lead to a healthier life through diet, physical fitness and thought.
Life By Design is a concept being shared locally by husband-wife chiropractor duo Drs. Ed and Karen Osburn from the Synergy Family Wellness Centre in Tudor Glen.
The principles of Life By Design target the way someone thinks, moves and eats. If an individual follows the principles, she will be healthier, with decreased risk of chronic illness, said Karen.
"This is just the next evolution to reach people and let them know that they have a chance to direct their life however they see fit," she said. "You have the chance to be extraordinary and if we can help people really understand that message that we're supposed to have an awesome life and so are your kids … that's [the goal] for us really."
Life By Design is practiced in 15 chiropractic clinics worldwide, the bulk of which are in Canada. Synergy Family Wellness Centre is one of two such clinics in Alberta, with the second in Calgary.
The chiropractic clinic became Life By Design certified nearly three months ago, but the pair has been practicing the principles for roughly three years in their own lives, Karen said.
"When for us, we learned about it, everything just clicked. We were like, this is what we do now, but it's a way that we can actually explain to people," she said.
Typically, the certification process can take between six and nine months, but since the pair was so well-acquainted with the principles and didn't have to transition their own lives, it took them just six weeks.
Osburn said people in the community are embracing the concept, with roughly 15 people already transitioning to the Life By Design principles, with many more expected.
Personal impact
The Osburns are not only busy chiropractors, but they are also busy parents to their 18-month-old son.
Karen said one of the benefits of adopting the Life By Design principles is being able to see her son grow up with them.
"To have a little boy and to make sure we're teaching him these principles as well is a huge thing," she said. "To see our little boy grow up with this way of seeing life, seeing health, this way of trusting his body, this way of really respecting how his body is made to eat, move and think, that's exciting to me."
Spreading the message
The duo hosts monthly seminars focusing on one of the three Life By Design components: Eat By Design, Move By Design and Think By Design.
Eat By Design was the most recent seminar held on May 1. It attracted the largest crowd to date with 100 people. Although the seminar dealt with one's diet, the pair stresses it is not a diet but a way of life.
"You've got to take responsibility for your own health and well-being," Ed said. "Drugs and surgery will never rebuild your health. Healthy eating and healthy living will."
Eat By Design stresses the importance of eating organic wherever possible and consuming healthier alternatives to the standard grocery-shelf items, like omega 3-enriched eggs, wild fish and grass-fed cattle. It advocates avoiding grains, dairy and most sugar.
The increased cost often associated with eating organic may be a turn-off to some people, but Karen Osburn said it shouldn't stand in someone's way.
"If you want to invest in your health now or wait and have lots of money that you'll have to invest to try to save your health when it's now drifting away," she said. "This is an investment. Eating good food is an investment."
Move By Design is the next seminar being held Tuesday, June 5 – one of the three seminars is held once a month with a cost of $10 to attend.
For more information, visit www.synergychiropractors.com or call 780-418-4331.
