A Modern Misconception

A new client in our office expressed his relief when I shared his recommended treatment plan.  I simply told him I expected a full recovery and that he should expect these results in the next few weeks.  He breathed a sigh of relief and said that he’d been very worried as he’d always heard that chiropractors try to keep you coming back in forever.  Personally, I don’t believe this is a reality any more than it is that dentists are scheming to keep people on the books by recommending they get there teeth checked and cleaned.

The misunderstanding lies in the belief that chiropractic is about relieving pain and symptoms.  The reality is that chiropractic or any other qualified practice of health and wellness is about reducing the stresses on the body that are causing pain and symptoms in the first place.  Done properly, chiropractic always works to reduce stress from the spine and the nervous system that serves to coordinate all body function including how effectively the body heals.  More often than not, reducing this stress will result in relief of pain and symptoms as well as an improved state of health.  The problem is that stresses that cause the body to move away from balance or homeostasis are the result of lifestyle habits and choices – specifically the accumulation of physical, chemical, and emotional stresses.  We cannot escape this.  What we eat, drink, and breathe, and how we exercise, sleep, and think are the determining factors of health over disease.

So why do people get “hooked” or feel the need to continue their visits to the chiropractor?  I can think of only two reasons.  First, just like with the dentist, it makes sense to them to get a check-up to insure proper spinal and nerve function so that they may avoid problems in the future.  And secondly, people return for relief of aches and pains that are the direct result of improper lifestyle choices and habits.  This could be diet, this could be emotional stress, and it could be a general lack of exercise.  Most often, it’s all of the above.  Unless you identify and address the source of the stress on the body causing you to become “out of tune,” symptoms will continue to return and you will never maintain a state of homeostasis or wellness.

Breakthrough Treatment

Medical researchers have identified a treatment that provides unprecedented benefits!  This breakthrough procedure can provide all of the following: prevent 91% of cases of type II diabetes, prevent 50% of strokes and 50% of heart disease, reduce risk of congestive heart failure by 63%, reduce the risk of breast cancer by 60%, pancreatic and colon cancer by 50%, lung cancer and melanomas both by 72%.  In fact, this procedure reduces the risk of all mortality by 67% in the general population and by 50% of those 61-81 years of age.

How does this work?  The researchers believe the treatment is so effective due to its ability to increase the function of the immune and digestive systems and improve bowel function along with increasing antioxidants in the body.  Likewise, this treatment increases serotonin levels (the “feel-good” hormone) and also increases growth hormone while simultaneously decreasing blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides.  Of course like with any powerful treatment, there are some side-effects.  This therapy seems to decrease symptoms and risk of rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and enhance greater strength and balance.  There also is a link to memory.  This treatment seems to prevent Alzheimer’s by 62% and dementia by 52%.

What is this breakthrough treatment identified by the Journal of Applied Physiology?  All these benefits and “side-effects” are the direct result of regular exercise.  That’s right…plain, simple exercise.  If all the benefits listed above came in the form of a pill, we would all be lined up around the block and willing to pay whatever cost necessary to get our hands on the precious capsules.  However, exercise is generally free and is available to all of us all the time.  When we choose not to exercise, we are in effect choosing to increase our risk of all the diseases listed above.  Begin to think of exercise as a vital nutrient that your body requires.  Get outside, join a gym, or take a class.  If you simply don’t know how to get started or want some support, give us a call to learn about our gym, our personal trainers, or our classes.  Whatever you do, just get started.

Why Weight

Most of you have heard how important it is to include weight lifting as a part of your exercise routine.  Obviously any exercise is better than none at all, but if you’re not doing some form of weight or resistance training at least a couple times per week you are likely missing out on some important benefits.

For instance, in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, they found that lifting weights two times a week can decrease back pain by 18% in just 16 weeks and by 42% if you are strength training four times per week.  Other research has shown that 30 minutes of strength training two to three times per week can improve cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and improve bone density, in addition to reducing fat.  You might remember the Harvard study covered in this very column that showed exercise to be the most important factor in increasing bone density and reducing the risk of osteoporosis.  Weight lifting also boosts your metabolism.  All exercise will burn calories, but the muscle building that is going on with just one good strength training session has been shown to burn 100 extra calories per day for up to three days after the workout.  This is why weight lifting helps keep any weight off that you may have lost with diet and exercise.  A big misconception is that you must do exercises such as yoga to increase flexibility.  While yoga is indeed great for this, a study from the University of North Dakota showed that doing strength training properly through a full range of motion was every bit as effective as stretching and yoga for increasing motion and flexibility in all joints.

Through our wellness program, we have definitely found that lifting weights intimidates many people.  But most of this seems to stem from fear of the unknown or fear of getting hurt.  Once people learn to strength train the right way and are placed on a program, they become very comfortable and even enjoy “pumping iron.”  However, there is a right way and a wrong way to strength train.  The wrong way could not only result in injury, but it will also prevent you from enjoying all the benefits listed above.  For this reason, we do recommend that you consult a trainer when getting started to teach you the right way and also to put you on a program to meet your goals.  A couple of the gyms in town offer this service as do we in our office.  Whatever you choose, don’t miss out on this important aspect of exercise and general wellness!

Fighting Free Radicals

In the past, I’ve discussed free radicals.  In the chemistry world these are molecules in the body with unpaired electrons that will attack nearby cells hoping to steal an electron thereby damaging healthy cells.  In your body, the damage of free radicals can be related to numerous diseases from arthritis to cardiovascular disease to cancer or any other form of degeneration.  Antioxidants are molecules that will neutralize free radicals by giving them the extra electron they so desperately desire. 

A new laboratory test known as ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is one of the most accurate ways to measure the ability of antioxidant to absorb free radicals. The higher the ORAC score, the better the food is for the body.  Researchers have found that consuming a combination of foods that provide a daily ORAC score of 50,000 or greater will provide the antioxidants necessary to prevent disease and reduce aging.  But what foods will deliver the most bang for your buck?  I thought it might be helpful to give you a list of the most powerful antioxidant foods based on this ORAC score.

Oddly enough, 60 grams or unprocessed and unsweetened Cacao (for dark chocolate) yields a score of 16,800.  A cup of blueberries provides 9700.  A half cup of black beans, kidney beans, lentils or pinto beans all yield an average of around 7500.  Broccoli, artichokes, or a Granny Smith apple are around the 7000 mark as well.  A cup of raspberries or strawberries both score around 6000.  And pomegranate juice is near 3000.  Obviously the key is various raw fruits and vegetables and plenty of them to get 50,000 ORAC points each day.  This is one of the many reasons why I’ve always stressed the importance of committing to 5-8 serving of raw fruits and vegetables as a staple of your daily diet.

Inflammation Part 2

Last week we began the discussion of how to reduce inflammation in the body in order to help prevent all forms of disease.  In our diets, with every bite we eat or sip we take, we are either deflaming or inflaming.  Since the diseases that result from chronic inflammation develop very slowly until it’s too late, learning to make the right choices can be the biggest factor for better health.

Last week we discussed that all grains, even whole wheat, will increase inflammation in the body.  This week, it should not come as a surprise that all oils dramatically increase this same inflammation.  In the 70’s and 80’s, we were sold the lie that margarines, corn oils and vegetable oils were good for us.  The truth is that when we use these trans fats, it is like drinking arthritis and disease.  In fact, all oils, all fried foods, and all foods made from oils such as salad dressing and most pre-packaged foods will increase inflammation in the body.  Corn oil specifically will cause a 70:1 ratio of inflammation.  This means it would take nearly 70 servings of broccoli to balance the inflammatory effect of one tablespoon of corn oil!

The lesson here is the same as with grains – moderation and good choices.  When using oils we should gravitate toward products such as extra virgin olive oil (11:1 ratio) or better yet, coconut oil.  When using olive oil, be careful not to cook at high heat as olive oil will degrade into a trans fat (hydrogenated oil) at extreme temperature – try not to let it smoke.

Inflammation...

If there were one thing that every person could do to promote health and prevent all forms of disease it would be to “deflame”.  Nearly all experts agree that the common denominator of every disease is inflammation in the body.  Chronic inflammation will cause everything from pain and arthritis to cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.  In the next few weeks, I will be discussing how to decrease inflammation in the body.

Most of the process of reducing and avoiding inflammation in the body will start with diet.  Stated simply, we need to increase the foods that decrease inflammation and decrease the foods that promote inflammation.  One food that promotes inflammation may surprise you is grains.  But whole grains are supposed to be good for us, right?  The nutrients and fiber in whole grains certainly are beneficial and whole grains are much better than white bread and products made from white flour.  However, all grains are inflammatory.

Most grains contain two ingredients that are the source of the problem.  You’ve likely heard of gluten.  This protein will often cause a type of allergic reaction in the body that begins in the bowel.  Grains also contain a substance called phytic acid that will reduce the absorption of calcium, magnesium and zinc.  Likewise, all grains will cause the pH of our body to become more acidic which is known to cause inflammation.

Limiting the intake of grains is a great solution for reducing inflammation.  In the next few weeks I’ll discuss other strategies.

The Pain Problem

According to an article in The Back Letter, from 1996 to 2006, the total amount spent on prescription pain killers has more than tripled.  We now spend $13.2 billion on these medications every year.  The researchers are not certain, but they believe that the trend is due to increased utilization as a result of higher rates of obesity, higher perceived stress levels, and a generally poorer American lifestyle.  I’m certain all this is true, but as someone who deals in peoples’ pain every day, I find it important to understand what pain really is in order to better deal with it.

Regardless of a person’s condition, understand that the pain is not really the problem.  Pain is merely a symptom of a problem.  Think of pain as your own personal smoke alarm or check engine light.  We are hard wired through our nervous system to feel pain at a brain level most every time that we have dysfunction or some kind of imbalance in our body.  In other words, pain is there to alert us that something is not right and to keep us from doing even more damage to that injured area.  So again I say that the pain is not the problem.  And any time you are taking a pain reliever, you are merely covering up the symptom of the real problem.  It is exactly like shutting off the smoke alarm and going back to bed.

So what should you do if you are in pain?  Find the problem.  Often times the pain can be the result of something you are doing repeatedly or a problem in your lifestyle (diet, exercise, stress).  It could be something from work, the way you sit, or the way you sleep.  If you can’t find the problem, make certain you find a doctor, chiropractor, therapist, etc. who does.  Do not settle for pain pills as a solution.  Pain is often the result of inflammation (swelling) in the body.  People who are in chronic pain need to deal with the chronic inflammation.  This is where changes in diet, beginning light exercise, reducing stress, improving sleep are all critical.  Drinking more water and reducing sugars, grains, and corn/vegetable oils can be effective as well.  As I’ve said so many times, the omega 3 fatty acids that are found in fish and krill oils are essential and necessary for reducing any inflammatory process in the body.  One thing is for certain; continuing to take increased amounts of pain pills is not solving the problem.