When most people think of chiropractors, they think of the back and neck, or spine. And that's true. Chiropractors specialize in treatment of the nervous system. And a great deal of the nervous system is protected by the spinal column. And it is essential to have your spine checked by a chiropractor, especially if you are experiencing any symptoms. However, most chiropractors also have a great deal of training in what are called the extremities.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term extremities, it basically means your arms and legs. When chiropractors are adjusting the spine, we are making sure that the joints of the spine are moving correctly. And we all know that we don't only have joints in our spine. You have joints in your shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, fingers, hips, knees, ankles, feet, toes, jaw, and skull. And yes, most chiropractors have the knowledge to treat and adjust any misaligned joints of the extremities.
Before going to chiropractic school, I didn't even realize that some of the joints in your extremities can affect nerves that travel into those extremities. For instance, part of the nervous system that travels from your neck down to your fingertips runs right behind the collarbone close to your shoulder. If your collarbone or shoulder are out of alignment, it can cause symptoms and even mimic carpal tunnel syndrome. Another problem that plagues many people is what is known as TMJ. Many times, a simple misalignment of the jaw can cause excruciating pain when talking, chewing, or yawning. And at the school that I attended, we had a pretty extensive course on adjusting the jaw.
So, if you are having arm or leg pain, tweak your ankle, or have carpal tunnel syndrome, it wouldn't be a bad idea for your chiropractor to take a look. A lot of times it's cheaper than seeing an MD or you could even avoid surgery.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Your Gut is Leaking!
So, I fully intended to write about this topic during our Healthy Eating Month in June, but didn't get around to it. That's OK, because every month should really be healthy eating month anyway.
Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS). I know, it sounds made up, but you can look it up, it's a real syndrome. Now the official, medical version of LGS is a very serious and possibly life-threatening state. However, I argue that most Americans have some sort of LGS going on. It all begins with our diet.
The foods that we are constantly surrounded with in our society (starches, sugar, lab made fats and chemicals) are constantly trying to be digested by our digestive system. The problem is that most of this junk is very difficult to digest, if not impossible to digest. It does help if you get the natural enzymes and bacteria to aid in the digestive process, but most of us are lacking in those as well. So what happens when you can't digest those foods?
It turns into sludge. That undigested, rotting "food" just sits and sits in your large intestine waiting to get passed out. But it takes too long to pass through because it is sludge. Sludge doesn't move very well, so it kind of just sits there. And when it sits in one position for too long, it can irritate and even perforate, or bore holes, through your digestive tract. No too bad of a thing right?
Wrong. That sludge is essentially toxic to your blood stream and right on the opposite side of your intestinal wall, is your blood stream. The smaller particles of the sludge leak (LGS) out of your gut into your blood stream and wreak all kinds of havoc. It has been proven to lead to plaque build up in arteries, chronic general inflammation, and acidosis among other things. So essentially, LGS can lead to almost any disease that plagues your body (Diabetes, fibromyalgia, hyperlipidemia, heart disease,etc.). In my opinion, it is one of the main causes of the exponential increase in the chronic diseases that we see these days.
So, how do you prevent LGS? It's as simple as eating healthier. More whole fruits and veggies, fewer simple carbohydrates (cookies, breads, potatoes), healthier fats (fish oil, lean, grass fed red meat and poultry), and more water help promote a healthy gut and better movement of food through our gut so we don't get that rotting sludge building up and infecting our blood.
Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS). I know, it sounds made up, but you can look it up, it's a real syndrome. Now the official, medical version of LGS is a very serious and possibly life-threatening state. However, I argue that most Americans have some sort of LGS going on. It all begins with our diet.
The foods that we are constantly surrounded with in our society (starches, sugar, lab made fats and chemicals) are constantly trying to be digested by our digestive system. The problem is that most of this junk is very difficult to digest, if not impossible to digest. It does help if you get the natural enzymes and bacteria to aid in the digestive process, but most of us are lacking in those as well. So what happens when you can't digest those foods?
It turns into sludge. That undigested, rotting "food" just sits and sits in your large intestine waiting to get passed out. But it takes too long to pass through because it is sludge. Sludge doesn't move very well, so it kind of just sits there. And when it sits in one position for too long, it can irritate and even perforate, or bore holes, through your digestive tract. No too bad of a thing right?
Wrong. That sludge is essentially toxic to your blood stream and right on the opposite side of your intestinal wall, is your blood stream. The smaller particles of the sludge leak (LGS) out of your gut into your blood stream and wreak all kinds of havoc. It has been proven to lead to plaque build up in arteries, chronic general inflammation, and acidosis among other things. So essentially, LGS can lead to almost any disease that plagues your body (Diabetes, fibromyalgia, hyperlipidemia, heart disease,etc.). In my opinion, it is one of the main causes of the exponential increase in the chronic diseases that we see these days.
So, how do you prevent LGS? It's as simple as eating healthier. More whole fruits and veggies, fewer simple carbohydrates (cookies, breads, potatoes), healthier fats (fish oil, lean, grass fed red meat and poultry), and more water help promote a healthy gut and better movement of food through our gut so we don't get that rotting sludge building up and infecting our blood.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Our Plastic Society
This week's Healthy Eating Month post isn't going to focus so much on food, but what we keep our food in. The Tupperware, Rubbermaid, and plastic food container business makes millions each year. They are cheap to make, affordable, reusable, and do their job. The only problem is that they are not good for your health.
Plastic containers of all sorts contain cancer-causing chemicals. It's actually been proven since 1987 that some plastics have cancer causing agents when breast cancer cells were being cultured in plastic test tubes. The researchers noticed that the cells grew like gangbusters and finally found the cause; chemicals being leached from the test tubes were "feeding" the cancer cells.
Since 1987, there have been numerous studies showing the link between plastics and cancer. The sad thing is that the word hasn't really gotten out until recently. If you recall, over the past few years, there has been an insurgence in the effort to remove the chemical BPA from plastics. If you especially look at baby food storage containers, if they are plastic, most will say "BPA Free". However, that doesn't mean that all plastics are BPA free and free of other cancer causing chemicals. One good way to tell is to look at the recycling number on the bottom.
BPA containers (avoid at all costs): #3, 6, or 7
"Generally safe" containers: #4 or 5
"Safest": #1 or 2
With that said, you should never heat anything up, or put something hot, in a plastic container. Anytime you add heat to plastic, it WILL leach some chemicals out of the plastic into the food or drink. It doesn't matter if that chemical has been linked to cancer or not. Any lab produced chemical is a foreign substance to your body and should be avoided.
So what should you use?
Glass and ceramic containers are a far better option as opposed to plastic containers. So if you need to use the microwave to heat up your left over frittata, take it out of the Rubbermaid, put it on a glass or ceramic plate, then nuke it.
Plastic containers of all sorts contain cancer-causing chemicals. It's actually been proven since 1987 that some plastics have cancer causing agents when breast cancer cells were being cultured in plastic test tubes. The researchers noticed that the cells grew like gangbusters and finally found the cause; chemicals being leached from the test tubes were "feeding" the cancer cells.
Since 1987, there have been numerous studies showing the link between plastics and cancer. The sad thing is that the word hasn't really gotten out until recently. If you recall, over the past few years, there has been an insurgence in the effort to remove the chemical BPA from plastics. If you especially look at baby food storage containers, if they are plastic, most will say "BPA Free". However, that doesn't mean that all plastics are BPA free and free of other cancer causing chemicals. One good way to tell is to look at the recycling number on the bottom.
BPA containers (avoid at all costs): #3, 6, or 7
"Generally safe" containers: #4 or 5
"Safest": #1 or 2
With that said, you should never heat anything up, or put something hot, in a plastic container. Anytime you add heat to plastic, it WILL leach some chemicals out of the plastic into the food or drink. It doesn't matter if that chemical has been linked to cancer or not. Any lab produced chemical is a foreign substance to your body and should be avoided.
So what should you use?
Glass and ceramic containers are a far better option as opposed to plastic containers. So if you need to use the microwave to heat up your left over frittata, take it out of the Rubbermaid, put it on a glass or ceramic plate, then nuke it.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Food Substitutions
At Cascade Chiropractic and Massage, we are celebrating Healthy Eating Month all throughout the month of June. To go along with that, all of my blog topics for the month will deal with healthy eating of some sort. This week, I'll be focusing on some easy, healthier food substitutions that you can do to cut down on the junk and increase the healthy factor.
Over the past fifty years or so, Americans have gotten used to eating traditional foods such as mashed potatoes, white bread, milk, and other "staples". The problem is that most of these traditional foods aren't that great for you, especially when you consider the fact that most nutritional value has been processed out of the food. So, here are some suggestions for substitutions for those foods that offer a higher nutrient load.
Mashed Potatoes:
White mashed potatoes have little nutritional value and usually get high calorie fillers added to them. Instead of using potatoes, try blanched pureed cauliflower with greek yogurt and some seasoning. Or, you can use sweet potatoes / yams instead of the traditional Russet or Yukon Gold. Both substitutions pack more vitamins and minerals into them.
Flour:
Bleached all-purpose flour has arguably no nutritional value whatsoever. So when baking, try substituting ground millet, spelt, or almonds for the flour. You may need to do a few test runs before you get the ratio correct. Or, if that's just a little too crazy for you, stay away from the bleached junk. Use unbleached all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour.
Cheese:
If you're making an omelet, frittata, or quiche, there's almost always cheese involved. Cheese does have some nutritional value, but its hard to digest. Try using cubed extra firm tofu. It won't melt like the other stuff but has a similar texture to a softer cheese and is much easier to digest.
Rice:
Rice is another one of those foods that has some nutritional value (ie: calories and few vitamins) but it's typically eaten as a filler. If you want to bulk up on protein especially, try using quinoa. It's a superfood grain that is chuck full of protein and other essential nutrients.
Milk:
The milk that you buy in today's grocery store is a far cry from the stuff from the milk man or straight from the udder. The process of pasteurization does kill off any potentially harmful microbes, but it also kills the good ones and completely changes the enzymes within the milk. That's one of the reasons so many people these days are either lactose intolerant or lactose sensitive. So here are some dairy-free alternatives (listed in order of my favorite to least favorite): Almond milk, hazelnut milk, oat milk, rice milk, hemp milk, and soy milk.
Feel free to add any other substitutions in the comments area!
Over the past fifty years or so, Americans have gotten used to eating traditional foods such as mashed potatoes, white bread, milk, and other "staples". The problem is that most of these traditional foods aren't that great for you, especially when you consider the fact that most nutritional value has been processed out of the food. So, here are some suggestions for substitutions for those foods that offer a higher nutrient load.
Mashed Potatoes:
White mashed potatoes have little nutritional value and usually get high calorie fillers added to them. Instead of using potatoes, try blanched pureed cauliflower with greek yogurt and some seasoning. Or, you can use sweet potatoes / yams instead of the traditional Russet or Yukon Gold. Both substitutions pack more vitamins and minerals into them.
Flour:
Bleached all-purpose flour has arguably no nutritional value whatsoever. So when baking, try substituting ground millet, spelt, or almonds for the flour. You may need to do a few test runs before you get the ratio correct. Or, if that's just a little too crazy for you, stay away from the bleached junk. Use unbleached all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour.
Cheese:
If you're making an omelet, frittata, or quiche, there's almost always cheese involved. Cheese does have some nutritional value, but its hard to digest. Try using cubed extra firm tofu. It won't melt like the other stuff but has a similar texture to a softer cheese and is much easier to digest.
Rice:
Rice is another one of those foods that has some nutritional value (ie: calories and few vitamins) but it's typically eaten as a filler. If you want to bulk up on protein especially, try using quinoa. It's a superfood grain that is chuck full of protein and other essential nutrients.
Milk:
The milk that you buy in today's grocery store is a far cry from the stuff from the milk man or straight from the udder. The process of pasteurization does kill off any potentially harmful microbes, but it also kills the good ones and completely changes the enzymes within the milk. That's one of the reasons so many people these days are either lactose intolerant or lactose sensitive. So here are some dairy-free alternatives (listed in order of my favorite to least favorite): Almond milk, hazelnut milk, oat milk, rice milk, hemp milk, and soy milk.
Feel free to add any other substitutions in the comments area!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
My Beef with BMI
I was reading an article yesterday about overweight America that was talking about the issues that Americans face and the poor food choices that we are surrounded with. It was a really good article until I got to the section that explained how to tell if you, or someone you love, is overweight. They suggested using the BMI calculation, or Body Mass Index calculation, to tell if you are overweight. And, as you can tell by the title of this post, I have some issues with that. But first, I should probably explain what BMI is and how you calculate BMI.
BMI, as I said earlier, stands for Body Mass Index and is a standard way of coming up with a number that tells you if you are underweight, overweight, obese, or at your ideal weight. BMI takes two factors into account; height and weight. What happens is that your take your weight (in pounds) and divide it by your height (in inches) squared then multiply that number by 703. Here's the standard rundown for BMI for a Male and female adult:
Male and Female Adult
0 - 18.5: Underweight
18.5 - 24.9: Normal
25 - 30: Overweight
> 30: Obese
If you're interested in your own BMI you can go to calculate-bmi.com to see where you come out instead of doing the calculation on your own.
But why do I have a beef with BMI?
One reason. It's far too generic. Taking into account only the two factors of height and weight is borderline irresponsible. For example, I had a classmate in chiropractic school who was "ripped" for lack of a better term. And since muscle weighs quite a bit, he was a little heavier, but by no means unhealthy or overweight. In fact, he was probably one of the healthiest in our class. However, according to the BMI calculation, he was almost obese!
If you also don't take into account what your gender is, you're making a big mistake. Science tells us that women are supposed to have more fat in their bodies than men. The reason is that women go through much more stress than men in everyday life. Constant hormonal changes due to menstrual cycles needs slightly more fat stores and it's vital to have more fat stores for pregnancy.
So what's a better way to tell if you are overweight or in your ideal range?
One slightly better method is called the Waist-to-Hip Ratio. It is slightly better able to take into account body shape and distribution of weight, which are much better indicators of health. Click here to calculate your Waist-to-Hip Ratio.
However, possibly the best calculation is to determine your percent of body fat. Now to get a very good estimation of your percent, it can take quite a few tests and money. Therefore, it's not the most feasible method.
But, probably the best way to determine if you are of a healthy weight, is to look in the mirror and also to examine your lifestyle. By leading a life that focuses on healthy eating and regular exercise, you will be hard pressed to get into that obese range.
BMI, as I said earlier, stands for Body Mass Index and is a standard way of coming up with a number that tells you if you are underweight, overweight, obese, or at your ideal weight. BMI takes two factors into account; height and weight. What happens is that your take your weight (in pounds) and divide it by your height (in inches) squared then multiply that number by 703. Here's the standard rundown for BMI for a Male and female adult:
Male and Female Adult
0 - 18.5: Underweight
18.5 - 24.9: Normal
25 - 30: Overweight
> 30: Obese
If you're interested in your own BMI you can go to calculate-bmi.com to see where you come out instead of doing the calculation on your own.
But why do I have a beef with BMI?
One reason. It's far too generic. Taking into account only the two factors of height and weight is borderline irresponsible. For example, I had a classmate in chiropractic school who was "ripped" for lack of a better term. And since muscle weighs quite a bit, he was a little heavier, but by no means unhealthy or overweight. In fact, he was probably one of the healthiest in our class. However, according to the BMI calculation, he was almost obese!
If you also don't take into account what your gender is, you're making a big mistake. Science tells us that women are supposed to have more fat in their bodies than men. The reason is that women go through much more stress than men in everyday life. Constant hormonal changes due to menstrual cycles needs slightly more fat stores and it's vital to have more fat stores for pregnancy.
So what's a better way to tell if you are overweight or in your ideal range?
One slightly better method is called the Waist-to-Hip Ratio. It is slightly better able to take into account body shape and distribution of weight, which are much better indicators of health. Click here to calculate your Waist-to-Hip Ratio.
However, possibly the best calculation is to determine your percent of body fat. Now to get a very good estimation of your percent, it can take quite a few tests and money. Therefore, it's not the most feasible method.
But, probably the best way to determine if you are of a healthy weight, is to look in the mirror and also to examine your lifestyle. By leading a life that focuses on healthy eating and regular exercise, you will be hard pressed to get into that obese range.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
What's that Noise?
One of the most frequent questions that I get as a chiropractor is what the popping sound is when we do an adjustment. No, it's not actually "popcorn" like we tell many kids. There is a physiological explanation to the "pop" or "crack" of a chiropractic adjustment.
First of all, when I explained what a subluxation is in "What is a Subluxation Anyway?", you may recall that, with a chiropractic adjustment, we are basically moving a misaligned bone back into place. When bones are misaligned like that and "stuck" out of position, they need a little coaxing to get back in place. And that takes years of training and continual learning to get down pat. That's called the chiropractic adjustment.
With a chiropractic adjustment, in order to move the bone back in place, the joint that joins the two bones needs to slightly gap apart. When that happens, little air/gas bubbles rush into the space that has just been opened a little bit and that is when you get the "pop" or "crack" sound. It's a lot less scary than most people think. The bones aren't crunching together or grinding against each other. There isn't any breaking or fracturing happening. It's simply air rushing into a newly opened space. When that happens, the bone is more easily able to get back into alignment.
As you can see, it's a pretty simple and gentle occurrence. The sound is usually what catches people off guard and gives that bit of a fear factor. And, if you were wondering, why a neck adjustment is so much louder than one in your midback or low back, it's simply an issue of proximity. Your neck is just simply much closer to your ears. So it's not that the "pop" in your neck is louder, it's just perceived as louder because your neck vertebrae are right by your ears.
So if you've ever been a little apprehensive about that sound, it's just air/gas bubbles moving around. Simple as that.
First of all, when I explained what a subluxation is in "What is a Subluxation Anyway?", you may recall that, with a chiropractic adjustment, we are basically moving a misaligned bone back into place. When bones are misaligned like that and "stuck" out of position, they need a little coaxing to get back in place. And that takes years of training and continual learning to get down pat. That's called the chiropractic adjustment.
With a chiropractic adjustment, in order to move the bone back in place, the joint that joins the two bones needs to slightly gap apart. When that happens, little air/gas bubbles rush into the space that has just been opened a little bit and that is when you get the "pop" or "crack" sound. It's a lot less scary than most people think. The bones aren't crunching together or grinding against each other. There isn't any breaking or fracturing happening. It's simply air rushing into a newly opened space. When that happens, the bone is more easily able to get back into alignment.
As you can see, it's a pretty simple and gentle occurrence. The sound is usually what catches people off guard and gives that bit of a fear factor. And, if you were wondering, why a neck adjustment is so much louder than one in your midback or low back, it's simply an issue of proximity. Your neck is just simply much closer to your ears. So it's not that the "pop" in your neck is louder, it's just perceived as louder because your neck vertebrae are right by your ears.
So if you've ever been a little apprehensive about that sound, it's just air/gas bubbles moving around. Simple as that.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
One Key to Perfect Posture
So my topic for this month's Blog Talk at the clinic (on Wednesday the 18th at 6pm) is "The Power of Perfect Posture". And I thought it would be the ideal time to talk about a much overlooked and essential anatomical feature that has a great deal to do with our posture. Our feet.
Even though our society as a whole is getting more and more sedentary, we still spend a great deal of time on our feet. And, our feet play a very vital role in our posture. I especially think this is an appropriate topic given the fact that it is now flip-flop season in much of the country. First, a little anatomy.
Did you know that there are not one, not two, but actually three arches in your feet? It's true. We not only have the main arch along the inside of the foot, but also one along the outside, and one along the ball of the foot.
The bad part is that most shoes do NOT provide support of any kind to the former two arches. Some are very good at giving ample inside arch support but there are few flip-flops that do so.
Since we typically do not get enough support for our multiple arches, most people will have decreased or even collapsed arches. When this happens, we typically get pronated feet. It basically means that your flat feet cause your foot to lean toward the middle of your gait. When this happens, it can have other ramifications.
Anytime that you are on your feet, your body's weight is being supported by your feet and the arches in your feet, or at least the arches that should be there. So if your feet are pronated, for example, it can put more stress on your ankles, knees, hips, and spine all the way up to the base of your skull. It's a lot like a building. It could be perfectly level in the beginning but then ground settling and changes in the earth may cause the building to sit crookedly and over time, even the smallest beams can become warped and cracked. Therefore, if the base of your body is out of alignment, your spine is more susceptible to imbalances such as subluxations.
So, the moral of the story is, if you have chronic knee, hip, low back, or even neck pain and nothing seems to be helping, it's worth getting your feet looked at. Because a sturdy foundation can only be good for the weight it supports.
Even though our society as a whole is getting more and more sedentary, we still spend a great deal of time on our feet. And, our feet play a very vital role in our posture. I especially think this is an appropriate topic given the fact that it is now flip-flop season in much of the country. First, a little anatomy.
Did you know that there are not one, not two, but actually three arches in your feet? It's true. We not only have the main arch along the inside of the foot, but also one along the outside, and one along the ball of the foot.
The bad part is that most shoes do NOT provide support of any kind to the former two arches. Some are very good at giving ample inside arch support but there are few flip-flops that do so.Since we typically do not get enough support for our multiple arches, most people will have decreased or even collapsed arches. When this happens, we typically get pronated feet. It basically means that your flat feet cause your foot to lean toward the middle of your gait. When this happens, it can have other ramifications.
Anytime that you are on your feet, your body's weight is being supported by your feet and the arches in your feet, or at least the arches that should be there. So if your feet are pronated, for example, it can put more stress on your ankles, knees, hips, and spine all the way up to the base of your skull. It's a lot like a building. It could be perfectly level in the beginning but then ground settling and changes in the earth may cause the building to sit crookedly and over time, even the smallest beams can become warped and cracked. Therefore, if the base of your body is out of alignment, your spine is more susceptible to imbalances such as subluxations.
So, the moral of the story is, if you have chronic knee, hip, low back, or even neck pain and nothing seems to be helping, it's worth getting your feet looked at. Because a sturdy foundation can only be good for the weight it supports.
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