This article was written by Brooke Toftoy, who is Dr. Jon’s wife and an incredible mom of four.
As a recovering hypochondriac, one would assume that having kids would throw me down a deep hole of anxiety. BUT GOD had me on a 10-year journey of changing my worldview, from when I met Jon, to when we had kids. He introduced me to chiropractic and the way God made our body to heal.
When I first started dating Jon, he had not yet decided to become a chiropractor. Once he did, and started sharing what he was learning in chiropractic school, my trust in God’s design of our bodies grew. We dismantled our former lifestyle one thing at a time, and learned how to live more in line with how God created us. We changed our medicine cabinet from Advil and Benadryl to homeopathy and CBD, swapped out our body and beauty products to clean ones, chucked bleach and Windex for Thieves and vinegar, tried to sleep more and reduce stress and add in regular adjustments… and saw our well being improve in a myriad of ways.
Preparing to be Parents
When we got pregnant with our first, the entire pregnancy grew my sense of wonder for the miracles of our bodies. I began to research like crazy about how to naturally support birth, newborns, attachment parenting, chest sleeping, breastfeeding, what kinds of appointments were necessary for infants, floor beds… which was all new information to me
I hadn’t known that chiropractors could be a primary care physician, but love that our chiropractor (who happens to be daddy), sees kiddos monthly (or even more often) rather than yearly, and that our kids’ health is a lifestyle. We have a great pediatric practice we go to for sick care, but our first stop is Valeo, even when we are having problems (that aren’t emergencies).
There are several things that have been such a gift that I’ve learned about and utilized over the last 12 years since having my children that have allowed us to be healthy in all the important ways, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and relationally:
- Being plugged into a faith community that places an emphasis on children’s ministry, with tons of opportunities for parents to serve.
- Chiropractic. This one’s obvious since I’m married to a chiropractor, but we have been so blessed by this kind of care. Whether we’re seeing daddy, a.k.a. Dr. Jon, for adjustments that help boost our immune system, help us perform athletically at higher level, or helping us with an injury; or seeing Dr. Rob for something acute like a bee sting, rash, or inflammation; or coming to use the hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber to help with healing and brain health… it’s been life changing.
- Clean Beauty. I LOVE good skincare and makeup and didn’t want to sacrifice results, and coconut oil as lotion wasn’t cutting it after age 30! I love Oliveda and Counter products, and they work BETTER than any dirty products. I am passionate about helping people clean up their cleaning products, food, medicine cabinet and more!
- Clean Hemp. As a mama who has dealt with anxiety, I love CBD for helping with anxiety, and CBN for sleep. I take Green Compass jellies every day, and we have used them for my kids as well when needed. They are available through Valeo’s Green Compass page linked above!
- Homeopathy. We’ve dealt with anxiety, OCD, night terrors, and more. We see a practitioner, and a beautiful thing about homeopathy is that it’s pretty risk free, so you can own a basic remedies kit and a book to help you know what to use and when.
- Taking long cuts instead of shortcuts. Riding out a fever instead of giving Advil, learning to mill our own flour to make sourdough because of the incredible nutritional benefits of the wheatberry, homeschooling my oldest for middle school, letting my kids take one million years to get through a nature walk because they’re stopping and looking at every little thing, learning natural remedies for things that may not work instantaneously but provide gentle healing.
- Partaking in all the healing gifts that God has given us: earthing/grounding, early morning sunlight in our eyes, noticing nature and the beauty of creation, spending time outside as much as we can doing family walks in the sunlight or under the moonlight, connecting with where our food comes from, and eating nourishing, clean foods!
It has been such a gift to have my eyes opened to a new way of healing, allowing me to look beyond the beliefs and assumptions I have always held, to dig deeper, and find appreciation and gratitude for all of it.
