GIVE YOUR BODY WHAT IT NEEDS!

Giving Your Body What It Needs

The human body is the most incredible machine on the planet. It is designed to heal, grow, and function if you give it what it needs. Most people understand if you do not take in enough vitamins and minerals you will get sick. Different conditions can be the result of being deficient in different nutrients. If you do not get enough sleep most people know that the body will not function properly. People also know that if you take in too much of something you can also get sick. Alcohol, nicotine, sugar, salt, and caffeine are examples of such things.

What many people do not understand is how important the nervous system is. Your brain sends signals down the spinal cord, along nerves, to every cell, tissue, and organ in your body. If you cut the nerve to an area of the body, that area will not function. It is like cutting the power cord to a lamp. If you do this the lamp will not work. Now imagine a lamp with a cord that has been frayed, but not cut in half. The light may still work, but you may end up with a light that gets dimmer and brighter or flickers on and off. No matter what you do to try to correct the problem, change the light bulb, plug it into another outlet, or shake it, the problem will remain. The only way to correct the problem is to make sure the wires are touching and the connection is solid.

Spinal misalignments cause irritation to the nerves. Your organs, tissues, and cells at the end of an irritated nerve will not function properly. If you end up with a health problem because of this, you will look for a cure. No matter how much medication you take it will not correct this problem. It may mask the symptoms for a while, but the only true solution is to remove the irritation or interference. Once this occurs, your miraculous body will function better. It is essential to give the body what it needs in order to heal. In this case, it is less interference.

Could your ongoing health problems be due to interference to your nerves? There is one way to find out.  Stop in to The Joint, We've Got Your Back!

How Healthy Are You?

HOW HEALTHY ARE YOU?
Imagine we put a pebble in your shoe.  You are not allowed to remove the pebble yourself.  How long do you think it would take before your foot began to bother you?  How about your ankle, your knee, maybe your back? Perhaps you'll even get a headache.  Is it possible that you would be irritable and unable to concentrate?  Perhaps you might snap at your spouse, child, parent, teacher or co-worker.  


Now you can obviously take some painkillers to block the pain for awhile.  You can live and deal with the pin and eventually your body will become numb to the problem and adapt as the body does.  You can go and have a hole cut in your foot for the pebble to fit better.  OR YOU CAN WORK ON THE PROBLEM AND REMOVE THE PEBBLE.  This is what CHIROPRACTIC does.


Now take that same irritation and place it on your nerves.  What effect do you think it would have on your well being?  How would that influence your attitude and state of mind?  How about the rest of your life?  Do you think you would be functioning at 100% ? What effect would this have on your heart, lungs, or body function?  


How healthy are you?

Chiropractic Adjustments Boost Immune Response

Exciting new findings show that chiropractic adjustments may up production of specific immune marker.

As part of the analysis, 74 asymptomatic subjects were divided into three groups: 1) venipuncture control, 2) chiropractic adjustment with cavitation, or 3) chiropractic adjustment without cavitation. Blood samples were obtained from the study participants before the intervention, 20 minutes after the intervention, and again 2 hours after the intervention. Antibody (immunoglobulin) synthesis was conducted in cultures, and then immunoassays were conducted. Findings showed that production of immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M was significantly increased in cultures from subjects who received chiropractic adjustments.

Specifically, after 20 minutes immunoglobulin G synthesis was significantly elevated in cultures for subjects who received adjustments with cavitation, compared with cultures from those who received adjustments without cavitaion or control subjects.

And, after 2 hours, “immunoglobulin M synthesis was significantly elevated in subjects who received adjustments with cavitation relative to the venipuncture group. There were no quantitative alterations within the population of peripheral blood B or T lymphocytes in the studied cultures.”

Chiropractic & Osteopathy – September 8, 2010;Epub.

6 Keys To Maximizing Health

6 Keys To Maximizing Health

If we had to sit down and categorize our individual lives, then we all would probably be able to break life down into six separate categories:

• Financial
• Spiritual
• Family
• Marriage
• Personal
• Health

So if I asked any of you the question, “What is the most important of the previous categories?”  What would YOUR answer be?

Health is our number one asset!

Did you know that the United Stated of America ranked an average of 12^th, out of 13 countries, in 16 available health indicators! That’s kind of sad (to say the least) isn’t it? We are supposed to be the leaders of the free world, but how can we be leaders if we aren’t healthy enough to lead?

We are programmed for health, it’s in our DNA. Each of our body’s has an innate intelligence, which is the ability to function in harmony under the proper circumstances. If you cut yourself, your body is able to heal. When you eat a big, juicy steak, your body is able to run the digestion process to break down the meal into its macro and micro nutrients.

What about our development? When a mother is impregnated, a baby doesn’t just magically appear inside her uterus. Development is a process. That process begins with a very simple cell, which then divides to 2, then 4, then 8, and 16, 32, 64 and so on to create an unbelievable, self-healing, self regulating organism, or more simply, us. Well how then, during the developmental period, does the body know what cell is to become a liver cell, which one is destined to be a big toenail, or how about which one is supposed to become heart muscle tissue cells? It all happens the correct way, because that is how we are programmed, that is how our genes are designed to work, that is our internal blueprint.

So if all of our bodies are designed to be healthy, self-regulating, and self healing, why is our country’s health in such dire times? The simple answer is laziness; the more descriptive answer involves 6 key points:

• Exercise
• Diet
• Sleep
• Mental
• Neurological
• Belief

Now let’s break each of these key points down to the basics and really get into the nuts and bolts of how each of us can help prevent disease and maximize health.

1.     Exercise

The dreaded eight letter word. Exercise is essential to living healthier and preventing disease in all of our lives. We need to start moving more to be healthier. You heart is a muscle, and just like your abdominals, if you don’t work it out, you know that deterioration is just around the corner. Anyone who has worked out hard before, only to “take some time off” knows just how hard it is to stay the course at the gym or in the park, but they also know how fast things can revert back to the way they were before working out.

Oxygen is essential, we all know that, but do you realize how essential it is for proper heart function, and for the heart tissues themselves? How about those aching knees or ankles? Joints need motion. It doesn’t have to be squatting with 500lbs on the bar, it just means that the joints need simple weight bearing motion in order to remain functional and at their best.

So how do we incorporate it into our lives. Get our and go for a walk. If you like to run, run; if you like to bike, then bike. 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, 5 days a week will not only do wonders for the waist line, but more importantly, it will do wonders for that big pumping muscle inside your chest (the one that keeps all of us going). Exercise can get monotonous, I know, so change your routine often, keep your body guessing, and try working out with a partner. Having someone to walk/run/bike with helps to keep both of you accountable, and makes it a lot easier to go out and Just Do It! (There’s my Nike plug for the year.)

2.     Healthy Eating

Now for the dreaded four letter word. When I am talking about diet, I’m not talking about the Atkins Diet, or the South Beach, or The Abs Diet. I am simply talking about eating healthier. This is about making changes to your regular everyday eating habits that will not only benefit your health in the short term, but more importantly, it will impact your health in the long term.

Simply put, you are what you eat. We all need to increase the fruits and vegetables in our everyday lives. While increasing those, we need to decrease the sugars, the salts, the caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. Just cutting pop (or soda for you folks not from Iowa), you will see an immediate impact on your overall well-being, not to mention your waist line.

Increasing organic foods doesn’t mean eating tofu or becoming a vegetarian. It means that when you go to the grocery store next time, shop the periphery of the store and avoid the aisles. By doing this, you will be increasing your intake of the healthy foods and decreasing the desire to indulge in all the fats, preservatives, and unnatural food products.  The next time you’re cruising down the road, don’t turn into McDonald’s or Burger King. If you really have to eat on the go, hit up a Subway or try and find a healthier alternative.

And finally, throw away the scale. If you change the way you eat, your body will change for the better on the inside AND the outside. Try to avoid dieting, because honestly, DIET = DIE + T, and there really isn’t anything good in there. Your body needs food and nutrients, but only you have the ability to determine which and what is going into yours. Is it going to be the right choice or the wrong? It’s your decision; it’s your health….

3.     Rest

Our bodies need rest. Sleep is the time when all of our bodies are recovering and revitalizing. So go to bed a bit earlier. It’s not going to do anything but help you because there is no such thing as catch-up sleep. So those of you out there that think pulling an all-nighter tonight can be made up for tomorrow are sadly mistaken. Our bodies need 6-8 hours of sleep per night, every night, not just when we can. With improved rest, our thinking becomes clearer, healing times improve and over-all well-being is increased.

So what are some ways to get ample rest? Try meditation or relaxation techniques. Take mini-trips every 4-8 weeks, or simply try to get away for a couple of hours. It’s going to be different for everyone, so just try and find your niche to let your body and mind rest.

4.     Positive Thinking

Attitude is everything! Seems like a simple statement, yet it is so powerful. Positive thinking has a physiological response on all of our bodies. If we think negatively, our bodies respond negatively (poor health or disease), but if we think positive, our bodies respond positively.

The first step is knowing and believing that we, as individuals, are programmed for health. We all need to believe in life and vitality. In my office, we always talk about the three T’s and how they impact health: Thoughts, Traumas and Toxins. Traumas and toxins are pretty self-explanatory, but Thoughts need to be broken down a bit more. Thoughts include stresses, whether it be family, financial, love, or work related. These stresses impact our health directly, and those stresses go to the weak areas of our body causing dis-harmony in our ability to react physically and emotionally. Reduce the stresses and you will see health improve exponentially.

5.     Optimal Nervous System

Your nervous system is the first system formed in development. It gives function to every cell, tissue, gland and organ in your body. Without a properly functioning nervous system, we will cease to exist normally and without health issues (think about Christopher Reeves). When we talk about the nervous system, most people tend to zone out because the conversations tend to include big fancy textbook words. I am going to break it down into a simpler conversation though.

Most people when asked think that their heart is the most important organ in the body. What most don’t realize though is that the heart is an electrical system, controlled by the nervous system. Your brain and spinal cord are the central processing unit of the body. All thoughts and functions begin here as signals and then travel out into the body whether it be moving an arm or controlling digestion. Signals then return to the brain via the nerves in order to show that the function was completed correctly and fully. So what happens if that signal doesn’t get to its destination or doesn’t reach its way back to the brain? Disease, sickness, or dis-harmony results. When there is interference in the systems, dysfunction is the end result. Still not getting it totally? Here is a great analogy: You are standing out in the yard watering your flowers with the hose. The water is flying out of the nozzle at full speed without any problems. Then I come up behind you and start putting a kink into the hose’s line. What happens? The water that is coming out begins to slow, and slow till eventually there is just a trickle or there isn’t anything at all. The flow of water is being interfered with at a particular point. Makes more sense now doesn’t it? So how does Chiropractic tie in? As a Chiropractic Physician, my job is to evaluate and identify those “kinks” in the systems pathways (chiropractic jargon: subluxations) and eliminate them so as to remove the interference (chiropractic jargon: adjustment).

The healthiest people and families are always going to be the ones that are free of nervous system interference.

6.     Change your Beliefs

In order to make the changes necessary to prevent disease and maximize health, you need to know that you can change. Actions are one thing, but to make a change for the better, our minds need to be on the same page and the right path. Be your own leader and take your health and your life into your own hands. Only we, as individuals, can make the necessary changes to our lifestyle and to our ways of approaching health.

So now that we’ve talked about the six main keys to preventing disease (and maximizing health), let’s put it all into a simple conclusion. What can you do to make healthy living easier? You can:

• Plan
• Ask questions/read
• Write out goals for your self
• Start simple and be realistic
• Add good choices before taking away the bad ones
• Add regular exercise, preferably interval training, into your lifestyle at least 3x/week
• Add supplementation to your daily diet to achieve proper nutrition
• Buy some positive thinking CD’s for in the car while driving to work
• Plan a simple getaway
• Stay regular with Chiropractic care and remain interference free with regular Chiropractic adjustments

Tips to Live Healthier

If we look around us at some of the healthiest older people in society, you can see some commonalties among them all. They are conscious of their prescription drug use, they maintain strong social relationships, practice good stress management, have a purpose and passion for life, welcome the challenge of learning, follow a healthy diets, exercise routinely, are spiritually active, gracefully adapt to change with optimism and regularly receive chiropractic care. They can do it…why can’t we? Better questions would be, why wouldn’t we do it?

You can sit, you can wait, and you can wonder…or you can get to work and CHOOSE to be healthier!

“Hidden away in the inner nature of the real man is the law of his life, and someday he will discover it and consciously make use of it. He will heal himself, make himself happy and prosperous, and live in an entirely different world. For he will have discovered that life is from within and not from without.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The BIG IDEA of Chiropractic

A slip on the snowy sidewalk, in winter, is a small thing. It happens to millions.
A fall from a ladder, in the summer, is a small thing. That also happens to millions.
The slip or fall produces a subluxation. The subluxation is a small thing.
The subluxation produces pressure on a nerve. That pressure is a small thing.
The pressure cuts off the flow of mental impulses. That decreased flowing is a small thing.
That decreased flowing produces a dis-eased body and brain. That is a big thing to that man.
Multiply that sick man by a thousand, and you control the physical and mental welfare of a city.
Multiply that man by a million and you shape the physical and mental destiny of a State.
Multiply that man by one hundred thirty million, and you forecast and can prophesy the physical and mental status of a nation.


Now comes a man. Any one man is a small thing.
This man gives an adjustment. The adjustment is a small thing.
The adjustment replaces the subluxation. That is a small thing.
The adjusted subluxation releases pressure upon nerves. That is a small thing.
The released pressure restores health to a man. That is a big thing to that man.
Multiply that well man by a thousand, and you step up physical and mental welfare of a city.
Multiply that well man by a million, and you increase the efficiency of a State.
Multiply that well man by one hundred thirty million, and you have produced a healthy, wealthy, and better race for posterity.
So adjustment of the subluxation, to release pressure upon nerves, to restore mental impulse flow, to restore health, is big enough to rebuild thoughts and actions of the world.

Why Take A Whole Food Supplement?

Why Take A Whole Food Supplement? 

Multi-Vitamin|Probiotics|Vitamin D3|Omega 3|Antioxidants

Many people ask why one needs to take vitamins or minerals in dosages often exceeding the recommended daily allowances?  Among the reasons are depleted soil, low-nutrient crops, food processing and the use of pesticides and herbicides on our crops.  Others include stress, special circumstances like pregnancy, and that we use nutrients for therapy, not just to avoid deficiency diseases.  Let us discuss the topic of nutritional supplements in detail.

FALLACIES OF THE RDAs AND MDRs 

Government bureaucrats meet periodically to decide the levels of the recommended daily allowances (RDA) or minimum daily allowances (MDRs) of common nutrients.  The main criterion is the amount needed to prevent deficiency diseases.  Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy, vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness, and B1 deficiency causes pellagra.

         While this approach is okay as far as it goes, these recommendations have little to with optimum health.  One of every two Americans will contract cancer and 50% of the population by age 40 have a chronic illness.  In theory, most of these people meet or exceed the RDAs for nutrients.

         The theory of the RDAs ignores more subtle aspects of nutrition such as the effect of vitamin C or zinc on tumor inhibition.  This is much harder to measure, so it is ignored.  The government requires that companies print the percentage of the RDA on each supplement bottle.  This can cause alarm until one understands why the RDAs are inappropriate and often irrelevent.

BIOCHEMICAL INDIVIDUALITY

For optimum health, one needs different concepts of nutrition.  One of these is biochemical individuality.  The term was coined by Dr. Roger Williams to describe his research finding that nutritional needs vary tremendously from person to person.  From this perspective, averages and standards mean very little. I take into account each person's age, sex, weight and health conditions including pregnancy and acute or chronic illnesses.  All these affect one's nutritional requirements.

OTHER REASONS FOR HIGH NUTRIENT DOSAGES

I also recommend higher dosages of certain nutrients for other reasons.  These include:

1) Most people today are born depleted and toxic.  Even if one eats the best food, and one’s health were perfect, most of us are born today with nutritional deficiencies, thanks to deficiencies in our parents.  Both nutrient deficiencies, and toxic metals that require extra nutrients for their removal, are passed from mother to child through the placenta.

2) Today's soil is depleted.   Many soils are low in zinc, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, calcium and magnesium.  This means that although one eats an excellent diet of organic foods, one will not obtain all the nutrients one needs. 

3) High-yield crops are deficient in certain nutrients.  Ten times the amount of wheat is grown on the same land as was grown 100 years ago.  Today's wheat contains about 6% protein whereas 100 years ago it contained 12-14%.  Trace mineral levels are similarly much lower due to high-yield farming methods.

4) Modern fertilizers do not supply enough trace elements.  One hundred years ago, manures were used extensively for fertilizer.  Today, superphosphate fertilizers have largely replaced manures. These contain mainly nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus and are deficient in the trace elements contained in manures.

Superphosphates often act more as growth stimulants.  This has contributed greatly to depletion of the soil and crop minerals.  This includes organically grown food, although it is much better.

5) Pesticides and herbicides kill soil microorganisms and affect the nutrition of the crops. Soil microorganisms are needed to make minerals and other nutrients available to plants.  The result is lower nutrient content.  Also, our bodies require extra nutrients to process pesticide residues that remain inside the foods.

         Many pesticides are deadly chemicals that severely tax the human system.  Some contain lead, arsenic and other toxic metals that slowly accumulate in the body unless and until one follows a health program designed to remove them.

         Our laws currently allow sewage and factory sludge to be sold as fertilizer that contains significant quantities of toxic metals.   These add greatly to our toxic metal burden and require extra nutrients to help remove them from the body.

6) Long-distance transportation of many foods diminishes their nutrition. Many foods are grown thousands of miles from population centers.  They may spend a week on trucks or trains to reach you. 

As soon as a food is harvested, the levels of certain nutrients begins to diminish.  This is another factor that reduces our nutrient intake and increases the need for supplements.

7) Food processing often drastically reduces nutrient content.  Refining of wheat to make white flour removes 80% of its magnesium, 70-80% of its zinc, 87% of its chromium, 88% of its manganese and 50% of its cobalt.

         Refining sugar cane to make white sugar removes 99% of its magnesium and 93% of its chromium. Polishing rice removes 75% of its zinc and chromium.  Canned food may be quite old.  Frozen foods are nutritionally better but not as good as excellent fresh vegetables, meats, dairy and other products. 

8) Food additives can further deplete nutrients.  Thousands of artificial flavors, colors, dough conditioners, stabilizers and preservatives are added to many foods.  While some are harmless and may increase the value of food, many are toxic and can deplete the body of nutrients.  For example, EDTAadded to some frozen vegetables to preserve the color of the vegetable does so by removing vital minerals from the vegetable so it does not “tarnish”.

9) Weakened digestion and resulting poor absorption of nutrients. A result of eating refined, low-quality food with hundreds of food additives is that most people's digestion is impaired.  This further impairs nutrient absorption and increases nutritional needs.  This is why in nutritional balancing programs, everyone is given a digestive aid and liver detoxification supplement.

10) Stressful lifestyles deplete many nutrients including calcium, magnesium and zinc.  Zinc begins to be eliminated from the body within minutes of a stress.  This is why many people have white spots on their fingernails, for example.

Stress causes excessive sympathetic nervous system activity, which reduces digestive strength. This, in turn, reduces nutrient absorption and utilization even further.  Thus, anyone under stress will need even more nutrients than those that live a very peaceful and quite existence.

11) Nutritional Supplements For Healing Illnesses. The use of food extracts, isolates and even synthesized vitamin and mineral supplements for healing is extremely well-documented, even if it is denied by some “health authorities”.  Literally millions of pages of research document the benefits of supplementary nutrient therapy for a wide range of illnesses.

12) Supplements For Mental And Emotional Healing. Many mental, emotional problems and neurological conditions such as depression, anxiety, epilepsy and many others also respond very well to nutrient supplementation programs.

         This is another area of nutrition that is sadly overlooked by the psychological professions as well as by modern psychiatry.  Their dependence on drugs is for one reason only.  They do not understand the connection between nutrients in the brain and behavior.  If they did, they would jump on nutritional science, as it is so powerful, safe and, in many cases, quite simple as well. 

         If they at least acknowledged the toxicity to the nervous system of common metals like copper, cadmium, mercury and others, we would all be far better off.  The drugs are a very poor substitute for fixing brain chemistry, which, as stated above, is often not so difficult if one is trained in this area. 

13) Special life situations.  Many life situations also require extra nutrition, including:

·      Babies, children, the elderly and athletes.

·      Anyone who is ill, particularly those with a chronic illness.

·      Pregnant women, and even more so, lactating mothers.

·      Anyone who is taking certain medical drugs such as blood pressure pills, anti-depressants or birth control pills, for example.

·      Anyone who eats refined foods or chemical additives.

·      Those who eat in a hurry, eat in their cars or have other eating habits that impair the absorption of nutrients.

·      Anyone using over-the-counter drugs that affect the stomach such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Aleve, Motrin, Tylenol, Excedrin, etc).

Add up the numbers in these groups and you have most of the population!  Yet few health professionals are taught that almost everyone has special nutritional needs that require extra nutrients beyond that which is available from only the highest quality food, eaten in a slow, peaceful manner.

Let us know if you want to discuss how whole food supplements can help you achieve true wellness and optimal function.  

In Todays Paper: Flu Vaccines and Lupus

I was reading todays Post and Courier, "The Souths Longest Running Newspaper", and noticed a couple things I found interesting. The main article, which I would have normally skipped any other day, is titled It's Time To Get Your Flu Shot.  This article on any other day I would have found un-ordinary yet still disturbing due to misinformation and disease mongering that is prevalent in todays medical mindset.  In skimming over the article a couple of things jumped out at me, first it used to be that the flu vaccine was only recommended for those at high risk for development of the flu: elderly, immunosuppressed (funny because vaccines suppress the immune system), HIV +, health care workers, etc.  however now the DHEC (health department and CDC) says that everyone over the age of 6 months needs the shot.  This is especially disturbing to me because I have 3 boys ages 8, 6, and 8 months and I can not comprehend shooting my 8 month old up with these chemicals. Both of the previous points normally wouldn't have prompted me to write this article but it was the "Teaser" headline found across the top that I found quite puzzling and humorous.  The title was Lupus Awareness on The Fast Track.  Now I am sure the newspaper would not have printed this headline if they knew that research shows vaccination is thought to be the leading cause of todays explosive growth in auto immune diseases.  I wanted to touch on some numbers showing that vaccines are contributing if not causing this rise in auto immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, asthma, and Type I diabetes. Vaccinated children had 120% more asthma. Vaccinated boys had 317% more ADHD. Vaccinated boys had 185% more neurologic disorders. Vaccinated boys had 146% more autism. Vaccinated children had 120% more asthma. Why don't the Amish have autistic children?  When studying the Pennsylvania Dutch research, based on the national average (1 in 115), shows that there should be as many 200 autistic children.  In actuality during the study there were 3:  The first child was adopted from china and had received immunizations before coming to America. The second child had received first wave of vaccinations, developed autism spectrum type disorder before family became Mennonite. The researchers were unable to determine any vaccination history for 3rd child. This research study was incredible in showing the link between modern vaccination/medical model and disease. Also be sure to check out my earlier post titled Beware Flu Germs Are Out To Get You Thank you and please feel free to reply with any comments or concerns.