An Ounce of Prevention

I've been avoiding studying for finals today by browsing the internet for preventive health strategies. I think prevention is defined and used incorrectly by the medical profession. Just plain "prevention" is defined as the action of stopping something from arising or happening. "Prevention" as it relates to medicine or the medical profession apparently means the activity which reduces the burden of mortality or morbidity from disease. This it seems indicates the practice of getting regular screening...which would ultimately result in the early diagnosis of disease....not in the actual prevention of disease.

Prevention, as the act of stopping something (disease) from arising, can only be achieved through life style. This includes the replacement of unhealthy dietary practices and the inclusion of healthy ones - replace processed foods with all their synthetic chemicals with whole natural foods; reduce the consumption of white sugar and flour, trans-fats, growth-hormone and steroid laden meats and increase the consumption of anti-oxidant-rich fruits and vegetables and omega-3 rich fish (organic would be even better!). Less time sitting in front of computers and video games or laying on the couch in front of the television and more time playing with the kids (quality time), participating in sports leagues or community clean up programs. These are preventive practices. These are the things that will lead to decreases in inflammatory diseases which include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer.

Self-Adusting

All you back crackers out there, this is for you. You need to STOP!! Getting a back to "crack" is no difficult feat, but making it through over 5 years of chiropractic school on top of 4 years of undergrad, essentially 9 years of schooling after high school is. It takes a lot of time, frustration and dedication to get here, so please allow me to do what I have been trained to do. After all, I'm not trying to be an accountant, psychologist or whatever it is you do.

Here's the deal with self adjusting. A subluxation is a motion segment that has become fixated, it has decreased motion. In an attempt to maintain global range of motion, other segments become HYPERmobile, they move too much. Studies have shown that when you self adjust by twisting your neck, what you're actually adjusting are those hypermobile segments.

Adjusting hypermobile segments sets you up for developing chronic instability. In attempt to create stability the body will build bone spurs, aka degenerative changes, aka arthritis.

Yeah yeah yeah. But when you pop it it feels so much better. This is because the quick impulse causes the musculature to relax, as well as cause mechanorecptors to override the signals from nociceptors (which detect pain) and what have I said in other posts? Just because you don't feel pain doesn't mean there's nothing wrong. And how long is it before you feel it's necessary to crack your back again? See, you didn't fix anything. Please, allow the experts (CHIROPRACTORS) to be the ONLY people who adjust you. We go through extensive training to learn this, in fact it's where our education differs from medical doctors, they focus on pharmacology and we focus on adjusting. Your long term health will thank you for it.

Structure and Function

I had a new patient today, a teenage girl with back pain. Cervical, thoracic and lumbar, but especially thoracic (right below her shoulder blades). I'm so excited, finally a BACK to work on. So far I've dealt mainly with extremities, although I shouldn't complain, people are finally realizing that chiropractic extends beyond the spine! But this situation got me thinking about the competing philosophies in chiropractic.

This girl has a scoliosis. She also has weak core musculature and weak serratus anterior musculature - muscles that keep your scapula lying flat against your rib cage. (She's also a chronic self adjuster, as well as recipient of "adjustments" from her brother. I'll write another blog on this.) Several weeks of a few treatments a week and exercises and she'll regain the strength and stability she's lost and she'll be back to life, pain-free. Fixed?

This brings us to chiropractic philosophy. There are several people at school who call themselves "function people." By this they mean they look at how the body physically functions. Can you perform this test? If not, there's a muscular imbalance for which you'll receive exercises to do and if you perform those exercises and get adjusted along the way to restore motion where it doesn't currently exist you'll reduce your current symptoms.

I don't consider myself a function person per se. When I think of body function I don't think it ends with physical movement. It includes our digestive system, allergies, asthma, colds and flus, everything that our body actually does. What does this have to do with chiropractic? Well, as I said in an earlier post, every function of your body is controlled by our nervous system. With something like a scoliosis, there stands to be a lot of nervous system interference. How does this affect her optimal health? Should her back pain be her primary concern? Am I doing this patient a disservice by not attempting to restore normal spinal curvature?

I understand how strongly what I just said differs from everything you've ever been taught about health (if it ain't broke, it don't need fixin). So I understand that hearing this for the first time, you might be a bit skeptical. This is where I really need to shine. The word "doctor" means "educator." At this point I believe I owe it to patients to explain both sides of the coin and let them decide what they want to do (how will they ever be compliant if they don't agree to the treatment as well?). If they only want to fix the scapula, I do that, but I need to constantly educate my patients on the importance of chiropractic until they finally get it and enter into a world of prevention through maintenance care.

Who, me? Couldn't be!

There's a wide spread deficiency in the world and its called personal responsibility. In today's world you can spill hot coffee on yourself and sue the people from whom your purchased it, as if you'd prefer to sip mildly warm coffee. CEOs can mismanage their companies with horrible unethical business practices and escape under the cover of a monstrous bailout plan. This could go on forever, but the point I'd like to get to is our health.

Fortunately our health is within our grasps. But we've given that up with all the other responsibilities. "It's in my genes" is the excuse. Today we believe we can't do anything about our weight because our parents were fat too. With that attitude we've freed ourselves to consume absurd amounts of nutrient-less, high calorie junk food while we sit in front of our tv's or computers. All this is guilt free because it's not my fault I have fat genes.

Unfortunately, an increased waistband is not the only perk of an activity-free lifestyle. Muscles begin to atrophy and dysfunction ensues. Eventually this becomes painful and the easy solution is a muscle relaxant and/or pain reliever pill. Many of us will reach for this cover up, but it does nothing for the actual problem. It takes exercise to build muscle strength and regain proper nervous control. This is something no one else can do for you. To obtain those results it takes personal responsibility and commitment to your health.

Today's society needs to take control of their health. Don't wait for symptoms to appear, we need to be proactive. We need to take the steps in the form of diet and activity (lifestyle) to prevent disease. This is not something anyone else is going to help us with, our government is certainly in no rush to encourage insurance companies to cover health maintenance programs to promote the prevention of disease. The results of improved lifestyle would reach far beyond our waists. Our self image and confidence would be greatly improved, rates of depression could potentially decrease, relaxing our reliance on our Prozac prescription which would ease up on our monthly budget. See where this is going? Whether we like it or not, healthcare is a business in today's world. And like so many of today's businesses it's being poorly managed and it's only a matter of time before it goes bankrupt. Unless someone starts taking some responsibility.

Polypharmacy

Polypharmacy is the use of multiple medications simultaneously. This is a common and dangerous practice. It's especially dangerous when multiple physicians are involved. Don't be naive and believe your physicians are co-managing your case. Making such an assumptions can destroy your life.

Here's an article concerning this very situation.

Fatty and Poor: Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington, W. Va is the fattest city in America. At least half of adults are obese. Succumbing to family traditions of fried foods saturated with gravy. There are over 200 pizza places in town...just pizza! Hot dogs are something else the city loves, who knows how many hog dog and other fast food joints are in town.

The town is also poor. In the 50s, it had a booming population due to coal mining, but that has long since evaporated. Today, area hospitals are the biggest employers, that and nearby Marshal University. Fortunately, the town has a low unemployment rate, however, it's supplied by the huge number of low paying, low quality restaurants in the area.

It's interesting that area hospitals are the largest employer. With "healthcare" being so prominent in the area, you would think this would be one of the healthiest cities in the US. The fact that it's not reinforces that America's health care is actually sick care. And those working in these hospitals are simply perpetuating sickness inducing ideology and habits inherent to this culture.

Citizen's believe they are too poor to eat healthy foods. However, with the rich supply of restaurants, there must be a market, telling me they have the money to eat outside the home. Something that is always more costly than more nutritious home cooked meals. How many drugs do you think each person takes in this city? How much money do you think that costs each family each month? What if these people traded in their dining out budgets for improved grocery budgets? I'm betting they'll find themselves with more money in the bank at the end of each month.

Good nutrition could have miraculous effects on this population. They'll have more energy, perhaps feeling like participating in a little physical activity. Their brains will function more efficiently, helping them see the error to their ignorant ways and from there the possibilities are endless. It's sad that a situation such as that in Huntington, WV exists in America today, but it's not surprising. This town exemplifies all that is wrong with our society in terms of health, and is exactly what will happen everywhere if people don't begin to take personal responsibility for themselves today.

Natural vs Synthetic

I've recently realized that there's a difference between natural and synthetic vitamins. Poor quality vitamins generally consist of an isolated chemical that someone deemed the active part of a whole food. Vitamin C is a great example. Ascorbate has been determined to be the nutritive chemical isolate and many supplements consist of a man-made synthetic version. Oppose to a complex that more closely resembles what would be found in natural food.

With this being said, studies [performed by pharmaceutical companies] on the effectiveness of nutritive supplements utilize synthetic [poor quality] vitamins. It's no surprise than that these studies more often than not, show that vitamins are useless, potentially even harmful.

But what's interesting, more often than not studies [performed by pharmaceutical companies] on the effectiveness of drugs show the drugs to be not only effective, but safe. Does this seem off to you? Vitamins and minerals are required by your body so that it may function adequately and you can be healthy. Nature created vitamins and minerals, yet pharmaceutical company studies show over and over again that not only is the use of vitamins bunk, it may be harmful as well. The lack a vitamins and minerals will without a doubt result in illness...and we've all been trained that illness requires pharmaceutical company produced drugs. Drugs that have been "proven by clinical trial" to be effective and safe. But all this is possible considering the difference between consuming vitamins in a synthetic inert pill versus a vitamin contained in a whole food.

On top of that, drugs are often developed based on studies of not only natural vitamins and minerals but natural herbs as well. How can it be then, that vitamins and minerals and herbs are not only ineffective but possible harmful? It can't be, not entirely anyhow. I believe that mother nature knew a thing or two. The human body is a miraculous creature and it only makes sense that nature also knew how to provide everything the body needed to be healthy and well. Modern day drugs weren't created by nature, they were created by money mongering pharmaceutical companies. Whole foods were created by nature, and the consumption of whole food is capable of preventing disease, even healing disease as well. Food was packaged with everything it needed to be fully utilized by the body. An orange does not contain only ascorbate, but millions of chemical isolates that come together and create something that man cannot reproduce.

Here's an article (again, from MSNBC) that verifies everything I just said within its first 2 paragraphs.

No risk of Heart Attack? Take Crestor!

MSNBC.com reports this week that those with a low risk of having a heart attack can prevent heart attacks by taking Crestor. What?? I just checked, I did write that correctly. This study was sponsored by AstraZeneca, who, by the way, owns Crestor. Cardiologists say this could take prevention to a whole new level because they now have reason to "treat" people they normally wouldn't have. Prevention? By taking a drug? That sounds like treatment to me, not prevention. Oh, this pill costs about $3.50 a day, which would put an estimated $9 billion in AstraZeneca's pocket each year

What I'm curious about is if these people are at low risk for heart disease, why do they need treatment? How are our doctors quantifying heart disease risk? Perhaps that's the real problem. Is it possible there is something inaccurate in the way we evaluate health risks? Surely the profession who kills a known 800,000 people a year would know how to appropriately evaluate risk...

This is also the first study that shows Crestor is effective at decreasing heart disease risk in those with high LDL cholesterol. All other statin drugs have already been shown to do such a thing, in pharmaceutical industry funded studies at least. Interestingly, Crestor has not been, not until this one, solitary study. Hmm...

Another fun fact. The study was suppose to be carried out over a period of five years. But it was stopped after only two. Why? Researchers say because Crestor was proving itself to be so wonderful that it was unethical to not provide the drug to everyone in the study. But it's still unknown what the long term side effects of being on Crestor are...

So, while Crestor was shown to be sparkly clean in multiple areas of health, it did increase the rate of diabetes in those taking it. Last I checked, diabetes was a fairly serious matter, that carried a whole bunch of potentially very serious risks along with it. Also, last I checked, there are many ways to prevent heart attacks AND diabetes AT THE SAME TIME!!! This typically includes diet and exercise and neither need to cost you any more $$ than you're currently spending.

Here's the prescription information on Crestor. I had to zoom in to at least 125% to read it, and 150% is much better, but maybe my eyesight is bad. Notice in the first column, two lines above Dosage and Administration is says the "effect of Crestor on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality has not been determined". So it won't actually save your life. All of the recommendations include adjunctive therapy i.e. diet, typically one low in saturated fats. Generally, any diet low in saturated fats will improve your lipid and cholesterol levels. Actually, no "heart health" drug has been proven to be effective without dietary modifications...has your doctor ever told you that? Side effects of Crestor include hepatitis, but this was reported after the FDA had given it's approval, so AstraZeneca doesn't think it's really related to their drug. Elevated CPK levels are also reported, which is interesting because elevated levels generally indicate to most doctors that a heart attack has occurred.

Don't be fooled by this study or by any tv commercials that will soon come. There are other ways to prevent disease, and by doing those simple things (diet and exercise) you can protect yourself from a lot more than just heart attacks.

Here's what Mike Adams from NaturalNews has to say about this study.

MD "Discovers" Nutrition Through Cancer

MSNBC produces again. Here's an article about an MD who had cancer, chemo failed...well they probably don't believe it did...but his cancer came back, so to me that's a fail. His oncologist said he could eat whatever he wanted, that it wouldn't make a difference. And the MD learned that his cancer specialist didn't know as much as he thought he did.

Some highlights:

1. It's a little known fact that nutrition is barely taught in med schools.

2. Food has healing "powers"

3. Natural cancer-fighting is not an oxymoron

4. To date there's no alternative approach that can cure cancer

5. The medical establishment is slow to embrace a natural anticancer approach despite available research

In regards to number 4, I'd like to point out that there aren't many, if any, scientific articles that support the effectiveness of an alternative approach to cancer, but that does not mean one doesn't exist. If you're religious, remember there's no scientific evidence that God exists either.

As for #5, how much money do you think there is in cancer? How much money is donated to "find a cure" for breast cancer? How much money is spent on these ribbon campaigns? How much money does Big Pharm put in its pocket from the sale of $30,000 treatments? How much money would Big Pharm lose if people spent a fraction of that money at their local farmer's market? Is there an incentive for food to be promoted or proven to be an effective cancer remedy? I've heard rumors of the FDA banning the term "anticancer" when it comes to food. That's an interesting thought isn't it?

Are You Alive or Living?

I'd like to get back to this, although I feel as though this is a good thought exercise for you to participate in yourself. So whatever I write will be my thoughts and it's up to you to think about it on during your next boring office meeting or commute.

The dictionary on my computer (Mac) define each of these words with the other, implying that there is no difference. Dictionary.com does the same thing. But I believe these words have deeper meaning.

To me, being alive is simple. It's the act of breathing, having a beating heart. But to be living requires more. It's about what you do. To differentiate between the two I can only think of the unfortunate ones on life support. They are alive, but they are not living life. They aren't able to enjoy what life has to offer.

I believe there are tons of people in the world who are only alive. They wake up each day, drag themselves to a job they hate so that they can pay the bills. Treat themselves to drive through for dinner, and return home to sit in front of the television for the night. Rinse and repeat tomorrow. Doesn't sound like much of a life does it? I wouldn't classify it as one. This person is not living.

What about sickness? So many people are sick. Obviously you can be alive and be sick, that's a no brainer. But how often does sickness interfere with living?

Or what about subluxation? I believe a healthy interference-free nervous system is crucial to living. How many of your senses are altered, even minutely, that restrict the way you experience the world? How does your attitude affect your life? And since upper cervical subluxations are related to depression, there's a potential spinal connection too.

I could probably go on with this for a while, and I don't have the answers so don't be offended by anything I said. I just thought the differences between being alive and living were an interesting thought exercise. Hopefully I've provoked some thought in you.

4800 Deaths by Medicine Reported in the First Quarter

This is a remarkable article by MSNBC.com. During the first three months of 2008, 4,800 people DIED as a direct result of the medications they were taking. This means that a reported 20,000 people die each year from something they believe will save their lives, or in some way improve it. Did you catch that? REPORTED! The watch group who tallies these deaths say that only a fraction of deaths are reported. So in reality, more than 20,000 people die each year just from taking medicine. Please refer back to my Death By Medicine article for more astounding numbers associated with allopathic medicine.

So what gets me, is all the fuss over strokes caused by chiropractic. Chiropractic does NOT cause even 100 strokes a year...and even if it did, not every stroke would result in death. Yet, chiropractors are constantly defending themselves when it comes to strokes. If chiropractic resulted in even half the number of tragedies as "traditional" medicine, we as a profession would be shut down. Why is it that allopathic providers can continue to write prescriptions for these deadly medicines? Why is it that drug companies aren't held accountable for all these deaths? WHY AREN'T THESE DRUGS BEING PULLED OFF THE MARKET??? Who's looking out for you? Is it possible that the second largest government lobbiers (drug companies, behind insurance companies) have something to do with all this? Is this why the FDA hasn't put an outright ban of these drugs or done more to protect the quality of drugs imported from China?

I'm incredibly surprised to see this story in the mainstream media, but I wish it was front page news. The American people should be outraged! After all, we're all brainwashed by these drug ads we see on TV, they're going to make our aches and pains go away...not harm us, and certainly not kill us, despite the length of side effects list. It's time people start to realize that their sickness is making someone a lot of money, and it's not in medicine's best interest to make that sickness go away. If you were healthy, why would you need the latest designer drug? How would that increase someone's bottom line? It's time to educate yourself, because who's going to protect you?

Alive vs Living

One of my clinicians mentioned this the other day. I thought it was brilliant. Unfortunately I have to study for an exam right now so I can't write about it. But I'll ask you to think about what these terms mean and how they impact your life. Hopefully I'll find myself some time later this week to jot down my thoughts.

Toxic Breastmilk???

My nutrition teacher suggested that breast milk was one of the most toxic substances you could feed an infant. This immediately rose objections from almost every student in our class...I was surprised by several things. The fact that so many people seemed to be paying attention at least as much as I was, and that they all seemed to realize the importance of breast milk and that this notion could be extremely detrimental to many kids.

She says that [the average American] bodies are exposed to TONS of chemicals. We consume steroids in our food, we sleep on mattresses and pillows soaked in fire-retardant chemicals, BPA in our milk, carcinogens in the strawberries, lead on our children's toys, paint on our walls, dyes in our clothes, oh and all the aspirin/tylenol/chemicals-we-call-medicine we pop like candy. So maybe there is something to this theory.

On the flip side, mother's milk is the ONLY food substance that is made specifically for baby. Imagine that, mom intuitively knows what it is baby needs, takes it from her own body and gives it to her child. Included in this are all sorts of protective immunity factors, called immunoglobulins, to protect baby for at least the 1st 6 months of life. Not a man made formula has ever been able to adequately duplicate breast milk, despite billions of dollars of research. Even if they could add all the vitamins and minerals, there's some debate over whether or not isolated chemical formula of these nutrients is as beneficial as the whole food. I'll leave that another blog.

I was most surprised that my teacher seemed to rank soy formulas above breast milk. The soy that's consumed in the US is not the same soy consumed in the East that does provide them with health benefits. Our soy is heavily processed, and ends up mimicking estrogen in our bodies, which aren't needed until baby girl reaches reproductive age, hopefully not for another 12 or 13 years! Besides, estrogen isn't something we should consume, rather, our bodies have the ability to make what we need. Here's a good website that covers the dangers of soy formula in detail.

Ultimately, mom has control over the quality of her milk. Mom needs to realize before she gets pregnant that what she puts into her body before, during and after pregnancy (if breast feeding), or doesn't put into her body has a tremendous effect on baby. This includes what mom surrounds herself with, however I admit, it's a bit overwhelming to think you've got to change your mattress, bedsheets, an entire new (organic) wardrobe - including shoes, carpet, paint...everything in your home to be chemical free. But you should start doing research about which items are most harmful (hint, cleaning products top that list) and work to start replacing the worst offenders. If mom can detox her body, then there will be no doubt about it, breast milk far outshines its competitors when it comes to baby's health.

Exercise Your Way to Health...In Just 2 Hours??

The Health and Human Services Department has released its "new" set of exercise guidelines. To achieve "health", you need to exercise as little as 2 hours a week. Oppose to the old guideline of 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. In my calculation, out of 7 days (in a calendar week), 4 would qualify as "most". And 4 * 30 minutes of exercise is still 2 hours. So way to go guys, you've changed nothing.

What I'd like to know is how did they come up with this number? And HOW do they figure that 2 hours a week is enough for MOST adults to get healthy? Considering 60% (that's most isn't it?) of US adults are OBESE, I think they're going to need a lot more than 2 hours a week worth of exercise...and for how many weeks do they need to exercise before health is achieved? Do you see where I'm going with this? Unfortunately, I think they failed in their attempt to clear up any confusion, because I'm actually more confused.

I'll give them credit though, their intentions are good, and if you tell people they're going to need to exercise an hour for every day, they'll feel defeated before they even start. But people should be encouraged to talk to the doctors, chiropractors would be good candidates for this since we have extensive knowledge about how the body is suppose to move to stay healthy. You and your doctor can develop a healthy exercise plan together, something that you feel is manageable.

But some tips. To loose weight, no matter how you look at it, the number of calories going into your body (via food) MUST be less than those going out (usually in the form of typical activities of daily living and extra physical activity). A deficit of 500 calories a day will create a weight loss of a pound a week. Doesn't sound like much, but losing weight slowly, 1-2lbs per week, has been shown over and over again to be more effectively kept off. And a simple 10% reduction of your current body weight can have HUGE health benefits! So that should be your goal right from the start.

REMEMBER!! Before starting an exercise program, consult your doctor! You don't want to do too much at once and cause yourself some kind of harm.

High Fructose Corn Syrup - Another Thought

So I just watched ANOTHER "high fructose corn syrup is wonderful" commercial. I was struck by the well structured comment, "...and it's nutritionally the same as sugar." Notice, they didn't say "it's healthy, just like sugar!"

Nutritionally, sugar is a nightmare. There's absolutely no actual nutritional value in terms of vitamins and minerals. It's just a carbohydrate, which does provide the energy and has some benefit...if you're starving.

Unfortunately, the American diet is loaded with sugar and without getting too far into the biochemistry of it, it's killing us. Excessive carbohydrates is leading to a myriad of health problems, such as diabetes and cancer. Never mind the omega-6 fatty acids associated with grain products (such as CORN!!) that are leading to an omega-3:omega-6 imbalance that has STRONG implications in the development of an inflammatory state of the body. This inflammatory state also leads to a myriad of health problems, such as diabetes and cancer.

Let's not be fooled by these HFCS commercials. And I'm not so naive to think you will cut sugar and/or HFCS out of your diet cold turkey, but let's remember, variety and moderation is the key when it comes to your diet.

Just a teaspoon of this grape flavored poison, and your body can stop functioning the way it was meant to!

So once again the FDA fails to protect us by refusing to place a ban on child cold medications. They recommend that parents not use these meds, but won't out right ban them??

They say there's not enough information to determine that the drugs are dangerous. The same is on the flip side. There's not enough information to prove that these drugs are safe...or beneficial because drug trials cannot be performed on children, especially those under 2 years of age. Considering the risk to benefit ratio, which is high risk: little benefit, no parent should be fooled by advertising that their child needs these drugs.

There are many reasons why children don't NEED these drugs, first of all, they have amazing immune systems. Kids can play in the dirt, crawl on the floor, put all kinds of things in their mouths and come out fine. This is because they are protected by antibodies given by mom in utero. After birth, if mom breast feeds (and she should!!), more protective antibodies are provided, giving the child the opportunity to be exposed to germs and not get sick. These germs are introduced to the body, and the body begins to build its own army of antibodies. Sterilizing everything your child touches with Lysol limits his or her exposure to germs and therefore the body doesn't get to build an army against it. Eventually, when your child is exposed, (it's bound to happen!) the body doesn't know what to do about it and the child gets REALLY sick. Especially if the germs have mutated into superbugs that are no longer resistant to all the antibiotics that are routinely given for every little sniffle (Side note, most colds are caused by a virus and antibiotics are not effective on viruses)

When a cold germ does gain access to your child's body the immune system kicks into work. I've written about this before, but it's worth repeating. Mucus is produced to trap the bacteria/virus so that it can be expelled from the body. This leads to runny noses and productive coughs. The respiratory tract also catches invaders and initiates the cough reflex to get that stuff out of there. Body temperature rises in attempt to provide an environment too hot for the germs to survive. Diarrhea might develop, in attempt to wash the germs from that end too. Whatever your symptom might be, its a defense mechanism of the body to kill or rid itself of the harmful invader.

Ask yourself:

1. Does it really make sense to take a drug to limit mucus production, cough, or reduce fever?

2. What do you think the over all effect on your child's immune system will be if you continuously provide them with drugs that suppress the immune system's protective mechanisms?

3. What will be the over all effect on your child's immune system if you continue to sterilize everything in your home?

Interesting things for you to consider today:

*The rates of asthma increased with the introduction of vacuum cleaners in our homes.

*Children who have pets in the home are less likely to develop asthma.

Wellness

After I wrote yesterday's article I started thinking about why I was so upset about this financial mess. Because I'm young I have my whole future ahead of me. Considering all the work I've put in over the last 6 years, I should have a blindingly bright successful future. I'm finishing up my last year of school, I just got married in April. I'm hoping to move back to Pittsburgh, buy a home and set down roots...and start tackling those student loans that I've been accruing. All that is so close to being within reach, and then greedy people who weren't happy with the millions they were already making screwed up the economy, and I'm not sure how I'll be able to buy a practice to make the rest of my dreams come true. But ultimately, that effects my wellness.

That might be a new concept to people. We think of health as being pain-free, of being symptom free. But health is really about how well you are. And being well is about not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well. Therefore it includes all aspects of your life.

Being financially healthy affects our mind. If we're stressing about how we're going to get this month's bills paid, it will eventually degrade our health (let's not go into not being able to afford true health care). There are lots of things that affect our minds.

Being spiritually well. What does that mean? I think it refers to your faith, your conscious, your ability to look in the mirror each night. How do you feel when you know you've done something wrong? Do you feel healthy? Sometimes guilt drives people to insanity. Is that well?

When you understand how complex the human body is, I can't see why we continue to view health in terms of symptoms. We are severely limiting our capabilities by not trying to achieve wellness in all aspects of our lives. I don't know of another profession who addresses wellness as completely as chiropractic does. We thoroughly study the physiology of the body, as well as all the organ systems individually and hands down have the best grasp of the human body as being the sum of all its parts and are best equipped to enable the body to heal itself.

P.S. Billy Mays is selling affordable health insurance now... Does anyone else find that extremely outrageous?

Soy - Not A Healthy Food

These days, who doesn't know about soy and what a wonderful healthy food it is. Unfortunately, we've all been duped by a self-serving industry once again. Soy is not the healthy, friendly food as some would like us to believe.

What truly is terrible is that loving parents believe soy is safe enough for their infants consumption and use it in their formulas. Every effort should be made to breast feed. To date, there is not a single man-made product that is as nutritious and complete as mother's milk. Mom even tailors her milk to her child which is something no pharmaceutical company - who often makes formula - is capable of doing! (For mothers who have difficulty initiating lactation, often chiropractic adjustments in the mid-thoracic spine can been of help).

Here's a very complete article detailing the harms of soy.

Bisphenol-A

Bisphenol-A is a chemical commonly used in the hardening of plastics. It is also used as a liner of many canned items. This chemical definitely leaches out of these containers and into your food and water. Even the plastic industry doesn't deny that.

Potential harmful effects of bisphenol-A are associated with estrogen and thus reproduction. Higher than average levels were associated with women who had multiple miscarriages. There are links to ovarian dysfunction. Mice have been shown to have altered mammillary glands. Most horrific, due to the powerful effects of estrogen on a developing fetus, a myriad of disturbances could occur.

With all the media coverage reporting conflicting results of the latest study, the American public has a right to be confused. However, you should be aware that ALL industry funded research (a total of 11) showed no harmful effects of BPA. However, 90% of the 104 government funded research showed that BPA did have harmful effects. Despite this, the government has (yet again) sided with industry and ruled that BPA is not dangerous enough to take action.

Recent research indicates that BPA also has implications in the development of diabetes. Those who already have a genetic predisposition to developing diabetes and who further encourage the development by leading sedentary lives could be literally pushed over the edge. In case you weren't aware, diabetes is a growing epidemic in the US. We don't really need any more help in the development of this disease.

So what's a person to do? I personally think it's best to air on the side of caution. We are constantly exposed to chemicals every second of every day, and should do our best to limit where we can. Eat fresh organic vegetables and fruits, and when that's not possible consume frozen opposed to canned - they tend to have more nutrients due to immediate flash freezing anyhow. Trade in those cool Nalgene (marked with #7 on the bottom) bottles for the ultra trendy aluminum bottles. SIGG produces these bottles, however they tend to be quite $$$, at least for my student loan budget. A glass juice bottle will work just as well, and it's easy recycling. Baby bottles also contain BPA, and when washed in the dishwasher, the plastic degrades faster and more BPA is released. Glass baby bottles can also be purchased, and because that has BAD IDEA written all over it, silicone sleeves can be used. This makes it easier to grip and virtually unbreakable. I personally used these with my son and never had a problem. Also, look for plastics marked with a #5, these have less leaching capacity.

Further, it's reported that hot liquids also hasten the breakdown of these plastics and further increase the release of BPA.

Here's a great article on plastics in general that also covers BPA.

Lastly, while the FDA continues to mull over the safety of BPA, let's remember this is the same group who said Vioxx was safe and could not cause death...a ruling that resulted in the deaths of at least 44,000 Americans.

www.thegreenguide.com/doc/114/bpa

www.webmd.com

Get up and MOVE

MSNBC.com reports today that nearly half of US adults will develop osteoarthritis in their knees. This is mostly because so many American are overweight and the increased weight adds extra stress to this already vulnerable joint. Right now, the only "cure" is knee replacement surgery.

Also reported today, the FDA is strengthening its warnings on 4, count 'em, FOUR arthritis drugs. These drugs are linked to increased fatal FUNGAL infections. I need to admit that these drugs are really for rheumatoid arthritis, not osteoarthritis, but there's really little difference in terms of the dangerous risks associated with any drug.

What's NOT in the news today is that osteoarthritis can be PREVENTED!! Therefore avoiding fungal infection-allowing drugs and dangerous surgery (see my Death By Medicine post).

Osteoarthritis can be prevented by MOVEMENT aka exercise. This is probably not what you would think, but study after study has shown that those who exercise are less likely to develop osteoarthritis. Also, exercise will help you maintain and healthy weight, decreasing the stress placed on those knees.

Furthermore, knees too can be subluxated, just like the spine. Subluxations alter the motion of joints, including knees and thus can lead to arthritis. The only profession in the world who can treat subluxations are chiropractors. Clearly, we are NOT just back doctors.

Additionally, chiropractors are experts in healthy living - which includes diet and exercise, so they can also help you improve your diet and get started on a great exercise routine. Both great ways at reducing weight and avoiding arthritis, as well as a myriad of other dis-eases.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

As I was trying to enjoy one of the few free afternoons I've had recently, and surely one of the last I'll have in the upcoming months, something outrageous caught my attention on tv.  A commercial portraying a young couple enjoying a romantic picnic together.  The girl offers the boy a popsicle or something similar and the boy answers something to the effect of "but doesn't that contain high fructose corn syrup?" and the girl says something about it's no different than sucrose.  That's probably not EXACTLY how the script went, but the message was simple.  High fructose corn syrup is not bad.  

I've not heard a bigger lie in ages!!  This is not only immoral, but should be illegal!!!  No wonder the American public is grossly obese!!  Blatant falsehoods are being advertised to the public.  The average American doesn't stand a chance.

But, we can overcome this.  We just need to use some detective work and critical thinking skills.

1.)  Go to the website - sweetsurprise.com (how pleasant and harmless) and scroll to the bottom.  Left hand corner - blink and you'll miss it: Corn Refiners Association.  Who do you think will make the most money off the increased consumption of high fructose CORN syrup?

2.) Okay, okay!  While you were at the website, I know you couldn't help yourself.  You quickly perused the links and noticed phrases like "research shows" followed by some positive comment.  Start investigating the listed sources and you'll note some interesting findings - which could be construed as conflicts of interest.  Additionally, in general, more than half of studies show favorable results for those who fund it...when the same study is repeated by a non-affiliated group, less favorable results tend to be produced...

3.)  "But the FDA is listed too!!  They say it's good!!"  An excellent book, Food Politics, written by Marion Nestle will show you how worthless an FDA endorsement is.  Too often, CEOs of big companies/organizations like the Corn Refiners Association get jobs within the FDA or vice versa.  Who are they looking out for?  Themselves or you?  Fat chance.  Additionally, the FDA is government related, and easily influenced by lobbying tactics.  Oh, and the FDA gave its stamp of approval to Vioxx.

4.)  AMA - American Medical Association.  Pshh... Where do obese sick people go for help?  Hospitals.  Medicine.  What if people didn't consume high fructose corn syrup?  Would we continue to gain weight at astounding rates?  Would we develop diabetes and need insulin?  Would we need bariatric surgery?  What would hospitals and the AMA do then?  More importantly, what would the pharmaceutical companies do???

5.) Google "high fructose corn syrup."  Nearly a million hits in 0.16 seconds.  Definitely more than half, probably at least 97% of those hits discuss the negatives.  Including the Mayo Clinic and American Diabetes Association.  

High fructose corn syrup IS bad.  Period.  Nothing containing this nasty ingredient offers much nutritional value, i.e. vitamins and minerals.  It's empty calories.  But I'll save that for another post.  What's really important here is advertising.  We're obviously not protected from companies/organizations telling us blatant lies.  So it's up to us to protect ourselves, and sift through the crap to see who really stands to benefit.

Menstruation is a Disease

PLEASE NOTE: This is coming directly from naturalnews.com  The author is Mike Adams.  He is 100% on target with this article, and it is so important that more people, particularly women, get this information.  I could not have done a better job delivering this information in my own words.

"As I was horrified to discover upon turning on the TV in a hotel room recently, drug companies are now pushing pills that promise women a significant reduction in the frequency of menstruation.  The implication, of course, is that menstruation is a disease that needs to be treated with pharmaceuticals, and that chemically interfering with your own natural hormone cycle is not merely healthy, but even hip!

These ads promise putting you "back in control" of your life, but they say nothing about the fact that these drugs are, in reality, wildly experimental.  There have been absolutely no long-term tests conducted on the use of such menstruation-blocking pills.  Thus, the women taking these pills are  unwittingly participating in a grand medical experiment with results that are entirely unknown.

Well, not entirely.  I can tell you right now what one of the results will likely be: A massive increase in endometriosis in women who take these pills.  Why?  Because menstruation is a normal, healthy biological function that results in the elimination and rebuilding of uterine tissue on a regular basis.  Chemically interfering with that process will cause significant stagnation of not only uterine tissues, but also the reproductive organs.  Tissues that aren't allowed to be expelled as they normally should will wind up deposited in areas where they shouldn't be, which is of course the very basis for endometriosis.

But you won't hear about this for several years, of course.  These pills will be pushed onto unsuspecting women with false promise of complete safety, and then one day doctors will shockingly discover that a huge percentage of these women are infertile, suffering from endometriosis or ovarian cancer.  There will be a big investigation, and a class-action lawsuit, and the government will come along and grant the drug companies blanket immunity, and the press will run stories asking, "What happened?"  Well, I can tell you what happened: Misleading ads pushed dangerous drugs onto gullible consumers, and all the journals, health authorities and community leaders just stood by and watched it happen without saying a word."

Mike's article basically ends there.  He goes on to say how awful TV is, how bad news anchors are, Nutrisystem and Slimfast are junk and some political stuff.  If you care to read the rest of it you can do so here.  If over time this link doesn't work, I apologize, but I won't be putting any effort into making sure it continues to work.  I'm only concerned with what I've included above.

I would like to add only this.  Most drugs are no different that Yaz or any other similar birth control pill.  They all work to alter processes within the body, usually processes that are working exactly as they should in response to something.  The problem is that something, not the response by the body.  Does it really make sense to alter the response?

Food Irradiation

Due to recent salmonella and E. coli outbreaks, interest in new technology to provide safer food has risen.  This new technology seems to be pointed in the direction of highly controversial irradiation. 

The CDC claims that the food is in no way damaged, except that all living parts, i.e. seeds, are killed.  They maintain that the nutritional content, vitamins and minerals, will not be changed.  Handling of the food should not change since contamination can sill occur after irradiation.

However, according to Organic Consumers Organization, what the CDC says and what is truth are two completely different things.  They say that irradiation does damage food and does so by creating free radicals.  Free radicals are known for wrecking havoc inside the human body, this is why antioxidants are so important to our health, antioxidants that are often provided by fresh, non-irradiated fruits and vegetables.  While free radicals can kill harmful bacteria on produce, they will also damage the vitamin and mineral content.

During the break down of vitamins, minerals and other food components - including pesticides - new chemicals are created called unique radiolytic products (URPs).  Some of the URPs are known toxins.  Others are 100% unknown therefore no one knows what potentially harmful effects they can have on the human body.

While the CDC says approval of food irradiation is based on animal studies which showed safety in several generation of animals, Organic Consumers points out the longest study involving human consumption was a mere 15 weeks.  There are no studies involving the long-term effects, nor are there studies involving the feeding of infants and children.  In addition, Marcia van Gemert, Ph.D and toxicologist who chaired the FDA committee that approved irradiation says the FDA based its approval on just 5 of 441 animal studies.

Food contamination is often due to fecal contamination that results from careless processing and faulty federal inspection.  Irradiation does nothing to solve those issues.  Bottom line, irradiation may reduce the nutritional content of foods, and in today's world of heavily processed foods, those nutrients could be absolutely detrimental to the health of America.

For more information visit www.organicconsumers.org

Pain

Pain is an indication that something is not right.  Period.  It's your body's alarm system.  It wants you to stop remodeling your kitchen or whatever it is you're doing and give your body time to heal.

This is most definitely not the time to reach for a pain reliever and get back to work!  Aspirin and tylenol are designed to interrupt the pain messaging system of your body.  They do absolutely nothing to ease the actual cause of the pain.  

What they do do, and quite effectively I admit, is wreak havoc on your stomach, liver and kidneys .  These are toxic chemicals, therefore your body makes it a top priority to get rid of these agents.  Since nature never intended for humans to consume such items, the liver isn't well equipped for the job and sustains a bit of damage with each dose.  This damage accumulates over time and eventually leads to liver failure.

Further, the body builds a tolerance to the use of these medications.  Requiring higher doses or stronger, more sinister formulations.

The way these drugs are marketed, it's hard to imagine they could do much harm.  But the fact is, the risks are not appropriately acknowledged, especially in relation to the meager benefits they provide.  All medications can become very dangerous, and should never be mindlessly taken.  The risk-benefit ratio must always be considered.

So when pain arrives, listen to it and stop what your doing.  Make an appointment with your chiropractor.  Together, you can figure out what you were doing that provoked the pain and develop logical steps for prevention.  Chiropractors are THE musculoskeletal doctor!  On a daily basis they treat and beat pain of various causes without the use of potentially harmful medications.  It only makes sense to talk to the experts.

Wake Up People!

We as a society are addicted to quick fixes.  When something needs done, it needs done NOW!  In the hustle and bustle of every day life, we've lost our patience and are becoming more dependent on drugs.

With even the slightest headache, we reach for an aspirin or tylenol - which by the way are the #1 cause of liver damage.  We've got a stuffy nose, pass the sudafed.  Can't sleep at night?  Here's the nyquil.  But have we ever stopped to think about why we have these symptoms?

Are runny noses and fevers really the problem?  I hope you're not too surprised when I tell you they aren't.  These are just symptoms caused by the body in response to the real problem - typically a viral infection.  The nose runs in attempt to rid the body of more invaders trapped in mucous.  The body warms up to create an environment that's too warm for the virus to survive.  These are HEALTHY immune responses.  Does it make sense to take a pill to stop these processes?  Now that you think about it, doesn't it make sense why over the counter cold meds don't work?  Even the national news has recently caught on to this!

Okay, so let's help our body eradicate the infection!  Great idea, but antibiotics aren't the answer, especially if the infection is viral, as most cold are.  There's not an antibiotic available anywhere that can tame a viral infection, and your doctor knows this.  By prescribing one, he's just trying to make you happy and shut you up - and this should be malpractice.  If the infection is bacterial, then an antibiotic will help, but it should at least be selective for the causative organism rather than broad spectrum.  Thanks to these miracle drugs, we've got killer bacterial strains like MRSA.

The fact is, your body is, or at least was, well equipped to deal with infections on its own.  Remember that innate intelligence we talked about a few blogs ago?  The human body is quite amazing and has many strategies for dealing with invaders, especially when supported with a good diet, proper rest and a well functioning nervous system.  Not giving your body a chance to stand up against infection weakens it over time.  So the next time you feel yourself coming down with something, take a day off, toughen up and DEAL WITH IT!!  Try giving your body what it really needs for a fighting chance - rest, healthy food and a nervous system-enhancing chiropractic adjustment.

Ask Your Doctor If Death Is Right For You!

Fun fact of the day: Medicine is the number one killer of US citizens!  Between adverse reactions, nosocomial infections, botched surgeries and run of the mill errors, 783,936  people are killed each year.  I don't know about you but this makes me absolutely sick!  You are literally putting your life in danger just by stepping foot in a hospital!

Unfortunately it's not easy to come across these numbers.  A google search of  "#1 killer" is likely to come up with something like heart disease rather than allopathic murder.  This is because hospitals rarely classify their mistakes in the "oops my bad" category.  Rather, hospital acquired infections (nosocomial) is lumped in with those infections caught outside.  Botched surgeries is just another person who couldn't make it. 

This makes America one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to health care.  How could this be?  Because we've allowed politics to infiltrate our health system.  Many people who serve on the FDA (that government agency that "protects" us) have held high positions in pharmaceutical companies and vice versa.  Pharmaceutical companies sponsor research on their own drugs, which over 80% of the time has favorable results (compared to just a bit over 50% if an unbiased party sponsors).  

Everything just mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg.  The current health care system is an atrocity.  It's completely hypocritical to me that chiropractic is deemed quackery and unsafe, when considering in our entire history, we've not harmed as many people who DIE in a single year at the hands of allopathy.  It's time we demand the truth be told, as it is the only way our system be corrected and the health of our country be restored!

A Road Less Traveled

Chiropractic is really a system of health care.  This is a completely new idea to a lot of people unfortunately.  But I hope you'll keep an open mind as you continue to read this article (and future posts).  I'm not here to tell you you're wrong, you've just been misled.  And you're not alone.  Our society is not programmed to maintain health and prevent disease, instead we're taught to live in the now and take a pill when it hurts.

The first body system to develop is the nervous system.  That's right, it is NOT the cardiovascular system.  This makes sense because the nervous system - comprised of the brain, spinal cord and nerves - controls every aspect of our body, including the beating of our heart.  Even days after conception, the nervous system is regulating the development of the rest of the body.

This makes the brain the central controller of our body.  It sends its messages down through the spinal cord and out to every organ, tissue and cell in the body.  Because of this vital role, mother nature made sure the brain and spinal cord were protected by bone - the skull and vertebra.  There's are 24 individual vertebra surrounding the spinal cord.  Some people refer to this as your back bone, but it is in fact 24 individual bones.

Occasionally, these vertebrae can become misaligned.  Chiropractors call this a subluxation.  Subluxations interfere with the nerves that exit the spinal cord and travel between each of the vertebrae.  This interference has many manifestations.  Commonly there's some stiffness of the back musculature, but much more sinister is the potential effect this interference has on the tissue it supplies.  Digestive issues, asthma, depression, bed wetting, even angina can all be caused by spinal subluxations because there is a nervous system connection with the stomach, lungs, brain (obviously!), bladder and heart!  

A lot of people think chiropractic primarily deals with back pain, but hopefully you've just realized how it can help with so much more.  Pain is really just the tip of the iceberg.  Underneath that pain is a much bigger problem.  Most people reach for something like aspirin to "get rid of the pain," but does that aspirin do anything to fix the underlying problem - the subluxation?  Of course not.  It's like turning off the fire alarm so you can ignore the fire.  Pain is present to tell you something is wrong, that your body needs to heal.  Does it make sense to mask the pain so you can continue the tasks that will damage you further?  Does the absence of pain make you less damaged?  Pain is often the last symptoms to appear.

Your body has a self-healing intelligence, chiropractors call this innate.  Again, this innate healing ability is carried out by the nervous system and without proper communication, the message gets distorted.  This is where chiropractors come in.  We adjust the vertebrae, to put them back into proper position and restore proper motion so that the nerves can once again carry their messages uninterrupted.  This allows the digestive system to get the most nutrients from the foods we eat without experiencing unpleasant episodes of reflux, bloating and gas.  By improving motion, exercise is made easier and muscles are less tight, helping us to sleep better at night.  All these things help the immune system fight off invading viruses and bacteria.  Chiropractic patients experience fewer colds each season and often don't get the flu, but these are hardly the best of the benefits provided by chiropractic care.

Chiropractic can open the door to a life full of potential.  When teamed with good nutrition and exercise, a solid foundation is made on which true health can be achieved.  

Welcome

This is my second attempt at blogging.  My first succumbed to the extreme lack of "free" time I have as a student of Chiropractic.  I'm going to try so hard to stay dedicated to this blog because I really think it could turn into something valuable for someone.

My goal is to provide loads of useful health information that my future patients can refer to.  Topics will relate to "alternative" health, i.e. how to avoid medicine as much as possible and the benefits of a chiropractic life.

As I said above, I'm a student, attending Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, MO.  It's a myth that we're not real doctors who don't undergo the same rigorous studies as our allopathic counterparts.  We just focus on healing naturally and maintaining health and our primary tool is the chiropractic adjustment rather than potentially toxic chemicals created in a lab and called medicine.  I think it's clear why I didn't go to med school.  

Most people are surprised to learn that chiropractors spend many more hours studying anatomy and physiology than medical doctors.  We have classes in cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, as well as classes focused on diseases of all body systems.  We're also required to take a class on pharmacology.  Our medical friends spend much more time studying pharmacology, while we're focusing on critiquing our manual adjusting and learning specialized adjusting techniques.  We too spend time performing clinic rounds, more than 15 months worth.  Overall, we match the number of credit hours of most medical schools, at Logan we actually have a few hundred more hours.

So that's a very quick overview, it hardly does us justice, but it's a beginning I hope.  My next blog should cover what chiropractic really is and why everyone can benefit, even if you've never had back pain.