Happy Birthday to me. Just turned 41 today, and since many of my clients ask me how my health is, I thought I’d keep you all up on my year in health.

As you know if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, I started the year off with a little health dilemma–cracked tooth, which got infected and led to a root canal and new crown. Real bummer, but I’d say it really gave me a dose of perspective to start the new year off. Throw in a bout of stomach flu and 2008 was looking real promising.

Aside from those two maladies, I had a fairly stable year physically. I didn’t work out as much as I generally like to due to an influx of work, a new office, an increase in writing assignments, training new staff, a new daughter and a change in residence. However, I did still manage about two days a week at the gym, on average. I still did yoga faithfully every week, and some cobweb stretching pretty much every day. I also picked up my hiking regimen at Runyon Canyon as it found itself on my yearly to-do list–I ran it often with my Boston Terrier, Jake, and I spent many hot summer mornings trudging up the hill “the hard way” with my daughter Delilah on my back, sweating and laughing all the way down to the oration of my pal, Melrose Larry Green.

I did have a couple of bouts of low back pain, and one incidence where my neck was jacked for about three days. We all go through it, people–believe that. I just kept getting adjusted chiropractically once every week. Couldn’t live without it.

A very big thing I did this year was cut wheat out from my diet in response to some digestive issues I was having. Incredible! Now, if you’d read my health update last year, you know I cut out sugar in 2007. Removing wheat in 2008 had my energy soaring. I’m not suggesting this as something everyone, or anyone, should do. But because of the severe symptoms I was experiencing, my acupuncturist astutely recommended the wheat restriction, and my body responded favorably.

I also lost 15 pounds. Many of my West Hollywood chiropractic clients questioned my shrinking shape, fearing I may be ill; but I really have just regained my ideal fighting weight. Worry not, my friends–I’ve plateaued. But I have had to purchase new shirts. If you catch one looking big on me, it’s simply because I’m not ready to let that one go yet.

My biggest challenges this year have been the same as last year: I don’t get as much sleep as I should for tip-top function, and I enjoy coffee way more than I probably should. I did give it up for a month in October. It was tough, especially while in New Orleans celebrating a good friend’s wedding; but I eased the pain with a couple of good cigars…ah, life is good!

So here we stand about to enter a new year, and I am prepared to write my yearly goals, which will include my physical expectations and drives. I’ll try to get more sleep and I’ll challenge myself with something tough. But more than likely, I’ll just maintain, because that’s where I am in my life right now. My main focus is my intellectual pursuits, but I never let my physical upkeep fall by the wayside. I know that everything I do is dependent on my health–so I nurture it accordingly.