Nutrition Made Easy

Over the past several years, many of these articles have been dedicated to nutrition and diet as it is my belief that more often than not, health is lost, and disease is promoted from our failure to practice an appropriate diet with the micronutrients that are essential for our normal physiology.  If you’ve been following these columns at all, you know that we should get most of our nutrition from organic, raw fruits and vegetables.  However, due to the nature of our soil and mass-production of food, in addition to the general lack of these foods in our diet we have become the most overfed, yet undernourished culture in history.  For this reason, I’m always looking for new solutions to get appropriate nutrition and I’ve found a product that I believe is particularly effective and simple at the same time.

The current recommendation for fruits and vegetables is 5-13 servings per day.  Five is for organic, naturally grown, and 13 is for commercial, mass-produced.  Either way, this is a challenge for most people.  This is one of the many reasons why it’s a good idea to find healthy supplementation.  Our family has been using a liquid product that is a blend of 12 vitamins and numerous plant sourced minerals.  Remember that minerals are what turn vitamins on and are one of the biggest differences between a good and bad vitamin.  This product also contains a superfruit known as mangosteen that is thought to be one of the strongest antioxidants on the planet.  And it contains aloe vera juice which is known to aid digestion and help repair the lining of the intestine.  In clinical studies, this liquid concoction has been proven to boost the immune system, reduce free radical damage associated with cancer and numerous degenerative diseases, as well as lower levels of C-reactive protein (an inflammatory marker associated with heart disease).  Dr. Oz called it one of the “healthiest fatigue fighters” he knows.  If this weren’t enough, celebrity trainer, Chris Powell from the T.V. show Extreme Makeover; Weight Loss Edition, uses this same product as the foundation of his latest weight loss challenge.

The product is known as VEMMA which is an acronym for the ingredients listed above.  My favorite aspect of the product is its simplicity.  Just a couple ounces of this tasty liquid in the morning covers all the basics for which I was taking up to three different vitamins.  The same is true for our kids.  VEMMA makes a children’s solution at a lower dose that they actually like and take voluntarily.  If any of this interests you, we will be hosting a 1-hour meeting with a couple outside speakers to explain the different products and their health benefits.  We will also provide taste samplings of the different products.  This meeting is being held on Monday June 9^th at 6:30 in the lobby of Rivertown Chiropractic.  Please call us at 812-273-4325 if you’d like to attend.

Keeping the Curve

When we look at the spine, it should be straight from the back, but from the side view we should see three distinct curves.  These curves in the spine are there to provide shock absorption like a spring to limit stress and trauma to the bones and discs of the spine.  Despite the importance of these curves, after observing literally thousands of x-rays, I’ve seen that very few adults, probably only 10-20%, actually maintain these curves.

At birth, the spine is in a C-shape from being in the fetal position.  The normal curvatures of the spine develop as an infant begins to crawl.  Gravity seems to draw the low back or lumbar spine forward toward the floor and holding the head up while moving on all fours causes a forward curvature of the neck or cervical spine.  Just like a dam or a bridge, these curvatures create strength and stability in the spine and by placing the weight on the back sides of the vertebrae where the joints are designed to carry these forces.  This, in turn, keeps pressure off the discs and helps maintain normal alignment of the individual bones.  This is how things are supposed to work, but then life happens.  Over time, the muscles will change tension and the ligaments that hold the bones together will be compromised allowing the spine to take on the position of the postures that we maintain through our daily lives.  Let’s face it, we sit at computers, we drive with our neck and shoulders forward, we use pillows that push our head forward.  Perhaps the biggest concern for the future is all the time kids (and adults) spend looking down at Ipads and phones.  This all takes a toll over time and the curvature of the neck becomes straight or sometimes even reversed.  What are the implications of this?  As the weight of the spine shifts forward this causes excessive wear and tear on the discs and the fronts of the vertebrae resulting in degeneration and permanent arthritic changes of the spine.  As the curve is lost, the muscles on the back side of the spine are stretched resulting in tension up the back of the neck to the head causing chronic neck pain and tension headaches.  If this isn’t enough, straightening of the neck causes a loss of range of motion not only in your neck but also in your shoulders.  You can try this yourself by pushing your head forward and trying to move your neck and raise your arms over your head.  Numerous studies have shown that breathing capacity is decreased as the curvature of the neck is lost.  There are even a few studies that show a straight or reversed neck creates increased tension on the spinal cord that can cause people to live 2-3 years less than those fortunate enough to maintain their cervical curves.

The good news is that the curvature can be maintained and even restored.  Of course, watching your posture to begin with is paramount.  Learning to become a back sleeper and using a contoured cervical pillow also helps.  However, if the curve is already lost or reversed, you have to do more than this.  Neck and shoulder exercises to improve posture and strengthen the muscles on the back of the neck are necessary.  And, even though it’s a process that can take 6-12 months, using some form of cervical traction unit where you let your head lie back over a fulcrum for several minutes per day will slowly reverse the changes.  Nearly any chiropractor can assess for these postural changes and make recommendations to restore the integrity to the spine.

Billy Goat Cream

Arnica Montana is a product I’ve carried and promoted for about ten years with great success and appreciation from customers.  Arnica is sold as a homeopathic remedy in the form of oral pellets or a topical cream or gel.  The story I was told is that it was discovered by European goat herders who noticed that the goats ate the arnica mountain flower when they were injured and this flower caused them to heal remarkably fast.  The herders found a way to take it themselves for bruising or traumas and enjoyed similar results.  This week I’d like to share why this product that several of my clients refer to as “billy goat cream” is a good thing to keep around the house for relief of various traumas.

Use of Arnica has been documented back to as early as 1678 when it was used to treat Typhoid Fever in Germany.  It wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that it was used as a registered drug for treatment of bruises and sprains.  Today it is commonly accepted, in its homeopathic form, as a safe and simple method of relief for sore muscles, bruises, sports injuries, joint pain and swelling, and even arthritic pain.  I first used the topical gel on a young woman who had been in a serious motorcycle accident and was suffering from a very large black eye that had persisted for months after the accident.  Her doctors told her that the black eye would fade eventually, but after several months, she was learning to live with it and had given up hope.  We carefully applied the gel under her lower eyelid and two days later, the black eye had gone from jet black to that brownish-yellow color and in two more days after a second application, the eye was completely normal.  I became a believer that week!  With two active boys, living on a farm and participating in several sports, we keep Arnica on hand and the kids know where it is kept for any muscle soreness or injuries.  When it comes to bruising, every customer that’s ever used the product is amazed with the speed and efficiency of its results.

The most common use of arnica is the gel form that can be applied to any sore joint or muscle or bruise.  However, for more severe traumas such as a sports injury or a car accident that is accompanied by multiple areas of pain, I will recommend the homeopathic pellets that dissolve under the tongue.  The arnica flower itself is actually quite toxic, but in the homeopathic remedy it has been diluted literally hundreds of times to where there is no toxicity and what’s left in the pellet is mostly a sugar pill.  Nevertheless, even in this diluted form, the healing potential is still there and when used several times per day, these pellets will provide global relief throughout the body for virtually any trauma.  Because of the toxic nature of the raw flower, it is not advised for use during pregnancy nor is it recommended to place the gel on an open wound.  Outside of this, it’s one of the safest, most effective products I know and it should be considered a staple for every medicine cabinet.