The intent of this message is not to bash on Big Pharma, but shed some light on the current trends in America.  Obviously there is a time and place for certain medications.  I do believe that 90%+ are not necessary because they are taken to lifestyle related diseases.  Lifestyle diseases include hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, type II diabetes, etc. 

Consider this:  the United States consumes 50% of the world’s OTC and prescription drugs while representing 5% of the global population.  If we take so many drugs how is it that the U.S. ranks virtually dead last in overall health statistics for industrialized countries?  More drugs does not equal more health.  In fact, it may be just the opposite.

The image below shows the trend of taking medications  to offset the side effects of other medications.  It can become a viscious cycle.  If you are taking medications I suggest you consult your medical doctor on how to get on a weaning program…even it if requires that you start exercising, controlling stress and eating real food.  Remember, a healthy lifestyle may seem a bit inconvenient at first, but being unhealthy and sick will be even more inconvenient.

Correct answer is …..C) YOU.  This question may not be so easy to answer for many people (especially in the U.S.).  Read the following quote from our government driven Medicare system.  ” Care that seeks to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance the quality of life, is not considered medically necessary”.

Wow!  I must question the very term, “health care”.  Our ‘health care system’ should be referred to as ‘sick care system’, right?  What do you need to BE to use your health insurance?…..sick!  Wouldn’t a health care system promote health, disease prevention, prolong and enhance the quality of life, and be proactive in nature?

Obviously your health is your responsibility.  Our culture suggests that ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’.  This is a crisis-management paradigm for putting out fires with our health.  I believe that an ounce of prevention does equal a pound of cure.  If our culture could paradigm shift into this level of thinking we would see statistical improvements.  Unfortunately the current statistics are depressing.  The U.S. rates 37 out of the top 39 industrialized countries in overall health.  We consume more OTC and prescription drugs that anyone else.  We spend more money on health care than anyone else. 

Lets hope that SHIFT HAPPENS!  Start by setting a good example for your community by taking responsibility for your health.  The rest will follow.

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.”

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.

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. 

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:

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! 

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!

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.

 (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.