San Diego Chiropractor Recommends Heart Healthy Foods

Happy Valentine’s Day!

What organ comes to mind on Valentine’s Day? …. the heart <3.   Below are my top five heart healthy foods.  Most of these I consume on a daily basis.  All of them are consumed at least once a week.  Enjoy!

“Healthy By Choice, Not Chance.”

Remember the movie ‘Star Wars’?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve heard this quote from Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no try”.  I love this quote and find myself using it frequently.  In fact, there are three words that I do not allow in my life: ‘but’, ‘try’ and ‘can’t’.  I hear people use these powerless words all the time.  Some of my practice members tell me that they will TRY to eat healthy, or TRY to go to the gym, or TRY to keep a positive attitude.  We call it the ‘T-word’…and it’s not allowed to be uttered in my office. 

Take it from Yoda!  He knew what worked and what didn’t work.  The quicker you remove the word TRY from your vocabulary the quicker you’ll accomplish your desired outcomes.  How do you try to go to the gym?  You are either commited to going, or not.  How do you try to maintain a healthy attitude?  There is no try.  Contribute to your own health and catch yourself using powerless words.  Pay attention, be aware and slowly change the conversation you have with yourself.  Soon enough you will healthy by choice, not chance.

You are what you eat. 

This cliche has been tossed around since I can remember.  It’s true!  The food you eat today will be walking and talking a few days from now.  Hopefully you are made of food…and not crap. 

Today’s message is simple.  Eat more FOOD and less CRAP.  Take an inventory on what you’ve been eating most of the time.  Utilize the 90/10 rule.  90% of the time eat super healthy.  10% of the time treat yourself to something you enjoy.  Unfortunately, most people in America live the 10/90 rule….and that’s definitely a contributing factor for our rapid decline in health.

Eating healthy is 1/3 of being healthy.  If you eat healthy, but have a negative attitude and live a sedentary lifestyle, then you are still an unhealthy person.  Start with small changes over time.  Slowly add foods that are healthy and natural, then begin removing the crap from your daily routine. 

Did you know that health is by choice, not chance?

We have been lead to believe that health is not an inside job.  The average American is subjected to thousands of hours of drug commercials by the time he/she is 18 years old.  The drug ads either directly or indirectly remind us that our health is primarily genetic.  I’ve seen the same drug commercials as you.  Big Pharma has become so powerful that we’ve reached Pharmageddon.  In fact, only the U.S. and New Zeland allow Big Pharma to market directly to the consumers.  How can it be the the U.S. consumes 50% of all the drugs (over the counter and prescription) globally, yet we rank 37 out of the top 39 industrialized countries in overall health.  If piils created health wouldn’t we be rated higher than that!?

According to literature on human genetics, there is not a shred of evidence that genetics is to blame for our poor health.  There’s not a shred of evidence that shows high cholesterol is genetic…or high blood pressure….or heart disease…or type II diabetes… or attention deficit…or most cancers.  The environment is to blame.  Here’s where this article gets inconvenient for you.  Our environment is largely determined by what we choose to put in our mouths, hold in our minds and physical movement (exercise). 

Most of you probably agree that our lifestyle is the primary cause of our poor health conditions.  Some people choose to live a lifestyle that should be referred to as a death style.  The only solution to America’s Health Care Crisis is education, motivation, inspiration and transformation.  This process will put our health back in our own hands where it belongs.  I recommend that you find a local wellness chiropractor (one who transcends pain management and specializes in family wellness) and stay tuned into the process of getting well and staying well…for life.  Living a wellness lifestyle may seem highly inconvenient at first.  Once you take your health to new levels you will find it highly inconvenient to deviate from being healthy and well.  It may hurt to cut out soda, refined sugars, fried foods, cigaretts, dairy, processed foods, etc.  It may hurt to become physically active for the first time since highschool.  It may hurt to fill your mind with information that causes constructive personal development.  The pain of being inconvenienced may hang around for a while.  Commit today, I promise you it will be worth it.  If you don’t want to do it for yourself, then do it for your family.  They deserve the best version of you there is!

The image below shows the pros and cons of maintaining a healthy subluxation-free spine:

We all know that the holidays can be a very stressful time.  There are family obligations that cause stress.  There are temptations to eat foods that we would normally avoid.  Cookies are being passed around the office every day.  Financial pressures of gift purchasing are evident.  The process of travelling has become more and more of a hassle. 

The two stressors that I want o focus on today are 1) emotional stress, and 2) sugar.

When we experience emotional stress the human body enters a state of adaptive physiology.  This is know as the ‘fight or flight’ response.  Our body’s were designed to handle emotional stress so that we could survive as a species.  The physiological changes that occur during stress allow the body to deal with the increased energy demands of the stressful environment.  Unfortunately, the human body was not designed to handle chronic stress.  Most of the illness we see today is directly linked to this stress physiology (lowered immunity, most cancers, type II diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, decreased bone density, attention deficit, etc). 

Lets go back several thousand years to the ‘cave people’.  Imagine the surprise (stress) when the sabre tooth tiger appeared from the woods.  Many systems turn off during this state of adaptive physiology.  The digestive system shuts down and so does our immune system.  You see, there is no real need to digest food or heal when the tiger is gnawing your leg off – healing comes later when the body is able to calm down.  If it weren’t for the fight or flight response we would not be here today.  Our species would have ceased!  Fast forward to today.  We no longer run from predators (just creditors).  Our stressors are less life threatening in the acute sense.  Todays stressors are significantly more life threatening in the long run.  

Sugar is the other stressor that runs rampant during the holidays.  Drinking a 12 ounce soda (14 teaspoons of sugar) will shut your immune system down for 4-6 hours.  The reason for this is that the molecular structure of glucose and vitamin C are nearly identical.  These two molecules even use the same receptor sites on our cells.  Vitamin C has obvious contributions to the immune system.  Flooding your system with sugar (soda, cookies, cake, etc) will reduce the amount of vitamin C that can be used by our cells. 

I wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season.  Remember to maintain a stress free perspective and avoid the overindulgence  of sugar! 

How does gaining weight affect our posture?

Several of my previous blog posts talked about how important posture is to your health.  Today I intend to point how how our posture will decay as we gain weight.  This is especially potent this time of year as people pack on a few extra pounds over the holidays.

The image at the bottom of this post shows exactly what happens to posture when we gain weight.  Ideal posture can be identified in people who are ‘in verticle’.  Being ‘in verticle’ is when you drop a verticle plumb line through the ear (when viewed from the side).  This imaginary plumb line will intersect the shoulder joint, hip joint, knee joint and ankle joint.  Notice how the head begins to shift forward.  Notice how the upper back protrudes posteriorly.  Notice the pendulous abdomen that literally shifts the body’s center of gravity.  All of these things wreak havoc on the spinal joints and nervous system over time.  As the posture decays more and more over time the overall health is affected dramatically.  The nervous system works extra hard to maintain this body relative to gravity. 

Remember, your health is your responsibility.  Take action today and stay healthy for life!

Do you sit at a computer all day?  Do you sit behind the steering wheel of your car every day?  Do you sit on the couch and watch TV every day?

All of these things are most likely a part of your lifestyle.  All of these things contribute to POSTURAL DECAY and have an impact on your health, quality of life and longevity.  Severe spinal damage at zero MPH is exactly what happens over many years.  Subtle structural changes develop into obvious health challenges.

Forward Head Posture (FHP) is a very common result of postural decay.  FHP causes an increase in the effective weight of the head to the tune of 10 additional pounds per every one inch.  The effects of FHP includes muscle strain, disc herniations, osteoarthritis, fatigue, headaches, and many other undesireable effects.

There are two action steps that I recommend: 1) have an ergonomic evaluation of your workstation (see image below), and 2) find a high level chiropractor in your area to provide  a detailed posture evaluation as well as a spine and nervous system check-up.

Chiropractic Adjustments Improve Brain Function

 (repost from www.YourSpine.com – not my writing) 

Approximately 100 volunteers were examined with an electroencephalogram (EEG) before and after chiropractic adjustments.

A study presented at the International Research And Philosophy Symposium held at Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic finds that Chiropractic adjustments have a positive effect on the Central Nervous System (CNS), specifically on the four primary frequencies of brain function.

Brain function is measured on four primary frequencies: Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. Alpha waves reflect the meditative, relaxing healing mode. Beta waves represent the active, busy brain. Theta waves reflect light sleep, relaxation and conceptual development. Delta waves represent the brain activity during deep sleep, repair mode and energy storage.

The study was conducted over a three year period. Approximately 100 volunteers were examined with an electroencephalogram (EEG) before and after chiropractic adjustments.

The EEG scans were examined to check the right/left balance, the amount of total activity, the primary regions of activity and the effect of the adjustment.

After receiving a chiropractic adjustment, post EEG scans revealed improvement in all areas of the volunteer’s brain function. Particularly, the researchers noticed an increase in the meditative Alpha brainwave patterns that are associated with a greater degree of relaxation, health and healing.

The researchers noted that some of the volunteers already had balanced and active brain scans and the adjustments had little effect on their post scans. They felt this was a good indicator that the adjustments had no negative effects on brain activity.

Commentary: The implications of this study are profound indeed. Over and over research is proving that chiropractic care has the ability to positively affect body function on a far greater level than simple pain relief.

Do you get the recommended 30 minutes of exercise per day? 

This does NOT say 3 times per week!  For many people this is the time of the year where New Years Resolutions begin to get consideration.  How are your resolutions from last year going?  How about the year before that?  It’s time to commit to the Law of GOYA.  What’s GOYA?…it stands for Get Off Your Ass. 

Okay, now that you’re off your ass, lets talk about how that exercise improves brain function.  There are two types of movement deficiency syndromes that exist: 1) global movement deficiency syndrome – this is simply being lazy (AKA Couch Potato Syndrome), and 2) segmental movement deficiency syndrome – this is where specific joints of the spine are fixated or lack normal intersegmental motion.

There is a simple solution to the first type of movement deficiency – exercise!  Exercise gives you energy.  Have you ever noticed that people who don’t exercise claim that they are too tired to exercise?  The reason they are too tired (and depressed) is becaus they don’t move their body.  People who stare at a computer all day are exhausted and suffer from ‘brain fog’ by the end of the day.  Their battery has not been charged.  You’ve got to expend energy to build energy.

There’s a common saying in chiropractic that the adjustment “turns the power on” inside the body so it can function optimally.  This is fun and cute, however, neurologically this is exactly what’s taking place.  There are neurological feedback pathways from the body to the brain.  This is referred to in neurology as PROPRIOCEPTION.  There exists proprioceptive nerve endings in our spine and joints.  These nerve endings, when stimulated by movement, send feedback to the brain that tells informes the brain about the movement and location of that particular joint.

The human brain is like a battery.  The brain represents the central processing unit (CPU) and is made up of electrochemical energy.  The proprioceptive feedback to the brain also serves as stimulation to the brain (charging of the battery).  The chiropractic adjustment really does turn the power on, improves brain function and enhances every system in the body.  Remember, your brain and nervous system is the master system in the body and literally controls your health.  In fact, you live your life through your nervous system.  How important is it to you that your nervous system functions optimally as often as possible between now and the rest of your life?

If attitudes were contagious would somebody want to catch yours?

For the last 11 years I have been helping people get healthy and stay healthy.  Some people become patients in my office  because they suffer from pain and symptoms.  Upon further education, most of them choose to include chiropractic wellness adjustments to STAY healthy.  The life of a ‘Chiropractic Wellness Warrior’ includes eating healthy, regular exercise, a healthy well-adjusted spine and nervous system….and a HEALTHY ATTITUDE.

In my opinion, adopting and maintaining a healthy attitude can and will impact your health in a BIG way.  This comes easy to some and is extremely difficult to others.  Regardless, just like a muscle, you can develop a healthy attitude.  You can read a previous post I made on ‘changing the channel’ in your mind and set up ‘mind guard’ for a higher quality and more successful life.  An healthy attitude included plenty of laughter (see image at bottom), high self esteem, gratitude, love, etc.

One of the biggest and most rewarding compliments I receive from my patients is that they leave my office with a better attitude.  In fact, I let them know in advance that my office is a stress-free zone and any negativity must be left outside the front door.  If they enter my office in a ngative headspace, I send them outside to ‘stomp it out’.  Attitudes, just like human spines, need regular adjustments!

How many hours per week do you sit at a computer?

Sitting at a computer is as bad for our spines as sugar is to our teeth.  It is virtually impossible to eliminate the need to sit at a computer to be a functional part of our modern society.  We can, however, implement strategies to counter the negative effects of this.  Just like your daily dental hygiene, we need to provide spinal and postural hygiene to maintain health and prevent decay. 

The most common effect of sedentary living and spending too much time in front of the computer (or driving or watching TV) is FHP (forward head posture).  Forward head posture increases the effective weight of the head compressing down on the cervical spine.  Over time this causes spinal degeneration (see x-ray image at bottom).

Human beings living in modern industrial society need regular chiropractic care and postural and core exercises.  The best thing to do is find a local chiropractor who specializes in structural correction (see Chiropractic BioPhysics or CBP).  A detailed evaluation, including x-ray, will determine the current health of your spinal hygiene.

Remember, your health is your responsibility and I urge you to be proactive today and enjoy a long, healthy life tomorrow!