Monday, January 21, 2019

Health Goals


I ran across a debate involving Einstein where he argued there was no such thing as darkness, but that darkness was merely an absence of light.  I like to think of health and wellness in the same way – illness is merely an absence of health.  As you add health to our system, you simultaneously reduce illness.  I suppose this view could be a bit too holistic for some to swallow.  However, I firmly believe that too often, we adopt a victim mentality that we are destined to age poorly and succumb to illness – a mentality that we are inherently broken.  I choose to believe that health is our genetic design and when illness should occur it is merely because we have not practiced an appropriate and healthy lifestyle congruent with this genetic design.  I believe you have to ask yourself, “Where does health come from?”  We all start from just two individual cells and the information held in those two cells is enough to build all our tissues and organs until we naturally grow into an integrated and sophisticated organism of around 70 trillion cells.  There has to be an inborn intelligence in those two cells for this to occur and that same intelligence must be passed onto all the other cells that develop.  It only makes common sense to me that this intelligence that made the body is good enough to maintain the body and promote health naturally.

If this view resonates with you at all, then I ask you, how can you support this inborn intelligence and add more health to your own body over the next year?  Even if you are dealing with an illness or disease, do you really believe that you are going to find health with a surgery or in a bottle of prescription drugs?  This may be necessary to deal with the implications of the sickness.  But even with chronic illness, you can always improve by adding health.  With this in mind, I would like to challenge you to consider your health goals for 2019.  Whether you are someone who intentionally and routinely sets goals or not, I believe we all reflect on things we would like to happen for the New Year.  You may already have a goal of a promotion at work.  Or it may be the goal of a new house or car.  It may be a family vacation or just a big screen T.V.  But if your health is not there, how well can you achieve or even enjoy any of these other goals?  Try not to look at just symptoms of illness – these will improve as you add health.  Rather, think of something you can start doing physically, chemically, and/or emotionally to promote health.  Consider how you will measure these goals to know when you’ve achieved them.  You may be looking at a dietary change or an exercise goal or starting a program of chiropractic, massage or yoga.  It doesn’t matter; just make certain you commit to something that you can do over a period of several months and see what changes can occur when you add health!  

Monday, January 14, 2019

Diet and Mood

Last week, I discussed sugar and its insulin response in the body.  While the focus then was on weight gain and compulsive eating habits, this week I found more related to the same subject.  In an article titled, “Can Your Diet Prevent Mood Disorders,” I learned that the sugars, grains, and starches that raise insulin levels and lead to insulin resistance, are linked to depression and aggression.  This chemical response can happen long before any symptoms of diabetes or pre-diabetes.

As discussed last week, excessive insulin release in response to a high sugar diet leads to low blood sugar levels also known as hypoglycemia.  This causes your brain to release the hormone glutamate.  High levels of glutamate can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety, and panic attacks.  While the standard approach for these conditions is to prescribe a medication to suppress the brain chemicals, please remember that the ultimate cause is from diet and lifestyle.

Research shows a strong connection to brain health and a healthy gut.  In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved with mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain.  This is one of the many reasons why diet is so important for mental health.  In addition to reducing sugar, there are numerous other dietary strategies that can improve mood.  Hopefully you recall from other articles how vitamin D is critical as a precursor for many other hormones.  Likewise, Omega-3 fats such as those found in fish oil have been found to work just as well as antidepressants without any side effects.  Low levels of Omega-3 fats are associated with low amount of brain serotonin and dopamine and even blood flow to the brain.  All three of these factors are associated with depression and even suicide.

Given this information, the advice seems clear: reduce the sugars and starches and make sure you get proper supplementation of vitamin D and omega 3 fats to enjoy optimal mental health.

Monday, January 7, 2019

The Glycemic Index


Whatever healthy eating or diet program you’ve taken an interest in, if it works, it has one common denominator – low glycemic food.  In other words, sugar is the enemy here.  More specifically, the enemy is any food that raises your insulin levels.  This, by definition is the glycemic index.  While I may discuss this in terms of diet and weight gain, please understand that weight gain is merely a symptom or side effect of poor health as a result of poor lifestyle!  Understanding the glycemic index and maintaining your insulin levels is a fundamental component of health.

How does this work?  High glycemic foods are foods that are high in carbohydrate or sugar and also low in fiber.  These sugars and chains of sugars a.k.a. starches (breads, chips, pastas, cereals, potatoes) cause a spike of sugar in your blood.  This sugar has to be removed from the blood so that it doesn’t overload the glucose to the brain and other tissues.  Insulin is released to move this sugar from the blood and into your muscles.  If you are physically active or exercising enough, your muscles will use this sugar for energy and life is good.  If you are inactive and the muscles do not need this fuel, the insulin will pass the sugar to the liver where it will be converted to cholesterol and fat.  Over time, this storage system ultimately results in heart disease and weight gain.  And it doesn’t end there!  When you take in a dose of high sugar and the resulting high blood sugar causes a spike of high insulin to be released, the blood sugar is moved from the blood and into the tissue.  This drop in blood sugar will make you feel hungry.  What do you usually crave when you’re hungry from a drop in blood sugar?  More carbs and sugar!  Thus the insulin roller-coaster keeps on keeping on.  Regardless of your weight, you need to understand this process and how it is quintessential to health.  Please get yourself a chart of high/low glycemic foods and eat primarily off the low glycemic chart.  If you need this chart, email me at rivertownchiro@gmail.net and we will be happy to provide one for you!