Welcome to another Thoughtful Thursday! This week’s features some wonderful shameless plugs and a little Italian flair from Team Tooting’s Michael Lezuo. But first…

Clinic Updates

Hope you are all having a fab week! We do have some practitioners away at the moment:

• Sammy from Fulham is back on Monday but is nearly fully booked next week. Do give us a call if asap if you would like to get in.

• Craig from Putney is back off again to Cornwall. We would definitely like to run a satellite clinic, so let us know if you are down there and we will see what we can do!

• Massage at The Berkeley Clinic will recommence in the next week or two. Please email us if you would like to pop in to soothe those muscles and we can pass on more details as we have them.

• Practice Manager Tom will be back remotely next week answering the Marylebone phones and you will see him in clinic again soon after spending 16 weeks shredding during furlough.

• The Berkeley Clinic has had a major refresh downstairs, including the addition of an x-ray facility to the clinic! We hope that this will help enhance your experience with us.

​Podcast(s) of the Week

Just the one podcast for Craig this week, and it’s another special guest – Mike Hutchinson, Craig’s accountant and financial mentor. This episode was recorded on the back of a boat on Falmouth Harbour (yep, livin’ the life) and they chat about what they’ve both learned over the past 20 years, what he has discovered from both the chiro and dental professions, and round it off with a discussion about what is success. One not just for chiros, but really anyone in business.

As always, you can have a listen on our website here. Take it away, Doc Michael!

Shameless Plug(s) of the Week by Michael Lezuo DC

Plenty of us have gone through many ups and downs in the past few months and life feels a little lighter the more freedom we get. In many of those moods, people sought comfort in baking (which unfortunately made flour a bit of a sought-after product!).

I’m a little late to the party myself (or never joined), but I do bake quite frequently and am known to do a cake drop in our clinics now and again. A gem of a cake that even stunned me in taste, visual experience and texture was the purple ube cake, which is guaranteed to bring joy and lift your spirits. It is stunning in any way, shape or form and will be the showstopper at any party. Go bake it and make sure to drop a piece in at our Tooting clinic – you know, 'for inspection'.

But some have taken to baking for more than just comfort. One little hero of mine is Phoebe, a little girl that has decided to bake and sell brownies to raise awareness and money to help people in Yemen. Drop them a message to order some and they’ll be posted out to you. I bet she will soon give brownie champion Drew run for his money!

With cake, we have coffee, right? Coffee is great to enjoy as not only does it contain caffeine, but also nutrients which can help our health (as Erana mentioned in her Thoughtful Thursday email) and the health of plants. Yes, plants!

Not all plants can cope with the acidity of coffee, but many do quite well and thrive on the nitrogen-rich, slow-release fertiliser. Added in small amounts, it can boost your plants' health, especially during growing season (which is right now).

On that note, London is becoming greener. Plants are cool and many of us want to start and have an urban jungle. It is not luck though that makes them grow and survive. I used to buy plants with the thought, “Let's see how long you survive.” Though these days I find myself amongst 41 thriving exotic houseplants and I will give you all the tips on how you can start your jungle life too!

Plants need air, water, light and maybe a little conversation on the side... easy. But here are a few hacks that no one tells you about…

1. Air - find out what climate your plant usually grows in. Is it tropical? How humid is it in its original climate? This humidity meter will make things a lot easier when buying your next plant. Place it where the plant will go and leave it there for a day. Most plants (even exotics) will do great anywhere from 40-60% humidity though ideally, we want it closer to the 60% else you will see leaves start to become crisp. Underfloor heating can also be a silent killer, so be wary of this.

Tip: temperature is also important, and you want to try and keep it above 15°C (especially in winter). But the trick is if you group plants together, they create their own microclimate that will sustain a stable humidity and temperature, making them more resilient.

2. The killer and nurturer - water. Most plants die due to overwatering. Yes, I did kill a few that way. Not anymore! What I use is this battery-less moisture meter. Stick it in and you know if you need to water or not and your plant will thank you. Only water when the plant is dry, i.e. the meter goes to the red zone or if you stick a finger about 2” in and the soil is dry. Overwatering will cause the leaves to yellow and underwatering will cause them to wilt.

Tip: I found most of my house plants developed yellow and brown spots on their leaves. This is because the water here contains fluorides and microplastics, so use either distilled or filtered water for your plants. I use the water I filter for myself with  a Brita filter but any filtration system will do.

3. Light - most plants will do well in indirect and bright rooms. If not, the leaves will droop or become crisp as the sunlight burns them, so just move them to a darker area of the room or a different room. This was a long intermezzo as I do like to talk (you’ll know if we’ve met!)… but I hope this helps everyone to have a happier, sweeter and greener week. If you need any more tips and tricks, do hit me up any time. Same as if you do want to fling any rare plants my way (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), Monstera albo and aurea are on the Christmas list...

Ask the Team

Michael Lezuo DC also answers your question…

Can chiropractic help me with knee, ankle, elbow or shoulder issues?

Yes, it can, as your nerves do ‘talk’ to your whole body. We would initially look at the spine, as we want to find out what is not functioning. It might be that although the shoulder is painful, it is not the source of the problem – rather, a response to a compensation. But most certainly if it is your ankle, your shoulder or your elbow that are not functioning and causing you to compensate, we will address that and help you to recover.​

What an absolutely delicious and interesting Thoughtful Thursday – thanks for getting involved, Michael! How much of a little legend is little Phoebe, making those brownies for Yemen?! There may be some samples in clinic over the next week so keep your eyes peeled.

Who to next week... I think getting Sammy to write some pregnancy-related content may be of interest, or I may go completely rogue and ask lovely Laura, our ex-Marylebone Practice Manager and current Virtual Assistant/Mumpreneur​ to take over the shameless plug and ask her thoughts on chiropractic for kids as a non-chiropractor mother? Any preferences, let me know.

Look after yourselves and if you have made too much cake after today's edition, feel free to walk here and drop it off for me!

Cheers,

Drew