Are You Getting Enough of the Sunshine Vitamin?

Often referred to as the “sunshine vitamin,” vitamin D has made headlines in recent years for its possible health benefits. According to some reports, a deficiency of this vitamin is implicated in numerous serious health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s and more.

When your vitamin D level is optimized, you may be able to reduce your risk for certain conditions as well as:

• Improve immune function
• Build strong bones and teeth
• Absorb Calcium

How Do You Get Sufficient Vitamin D?

According to the Vitamin D Council, exposing your bare skin to sunlight and taking vitamin D supplements are the two primary ways to get the vitamin D your body needs.

Although it’s difficult to get the optimal amount of Vitamin D from your diet, this vitamin can be found in healthy foods such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, egg yolks, and cheese. Eating these and other healthy foods will also supply your body with other valuable vitamins and minerals necessary for optimal health.

The Chiropractic Connection

Chiropractic care doesn’t treat Vitamin D deficiencies, but a person often can better receive Vitamin D by having a healthy nervous system. The nervous system is the master system of your body. This system controls every organ, muscle, and tissue, including your skin—the largest organ of your body!

With a healthy nervous system, your skin is better able to send sensory information to the brain to help the body know how to properly function. When your skin is able to do its job, your body is then able to properly access and use Vitamin D for your overall health.

Visit us today to discuss how you can receive the benefits of vitamin D and chiropractic care.

Sticky, sweet and nutritionally bankrupt, sugar is making people sick, tired and fat. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans consume an astounding 156 pounds of sugar each year! Global sugar consumption is approximately 173 million tons.

While the obvious sugary culprits are sweet snacks, soda and ice cream, sugar also sneakily lurks in pasta sauces, salad dressings and other foods.

Why Sugar Is Making Us Sick

According to a study by JAMA Internal Medicine, “Epidemiologic studies have suggested that higher intake of added sugar is associated with cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors.” The conclusion of the study revealed, “Most US adults consume more added sugar than is recommended for a healthy diet. We observed a significant relationship between added sugar consumption and increased risk of CVD mortality.”

Another study led Dr. Custodia Garcia-Jimenez at the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, found that high sugar levels represent a crucial mechanism that connects obesity and diabetes with cancer. According to this study, the high sugar levels increase the activity of a gene widely implicated in the progression of cancer. ¹

Eating too much sugar can also lower your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness. It can also contribute to increased arthritis and joint pain.

Cutting Back on the Sweet Stuff

Being a scrupulous label reader is a good way to know how much sugar is in the foods you buy. Choose foods that have little to no added sugar, limit fruit consumption and opt for more vegetables. Berries are your best bet when it comes to fruit. Do you like to sweeten your coffee or cereal? Consider using Stevia, a natural, plant-based sweetener.

We’d be happy to help you break the sugar habit and show you how chiropractic care may help boost your immune system and overall health!

Reference
1. Chocarro-Calvo A, García-Martínez J M, Ardila-González S, De la Vieja A, García-Jimenez C. Glucose-induced ?-catenin acetylation enhances Wnt signaling in cancer. Mol Cell 2012; doi:doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2012.11.022 [Epub ahead of print]. | Article |

Did you know you need bacteria to be healthy? While harmful bacteria do exist and can cause pain and sickness, there are large quantities of healthy bacteria inside your body. In fact, your body is filled with trillions of bacterial cells, outnumbering your human cells by 10 to 1.

These more than 400 different types of natural bacteria exist to help maintain your health. For example, intestinal bacteria produce enzymes, which allow your body to metabolize vitamins and digest fats and carbohydrates. Healthy bacteria in the gut (gastrointestinal system) also aid in proper hormone regulation and work to keep harmful bacteria at bay.

Probiotic-packed Foods

Want to add a nutritional punch to your diet? Eat more probiotic-packed foods to increase the healthy bacteria in your body. These foods might include authentic sauerkraut, sourdough bread, kefir, kombucha, miso soup, kimchi and yogurt. Remember that yogurt contains sugar so opt for plain. The probiotics in these foods are real bacteria that are healthy and ready to boost your body’s health.

The Chiropractic Connection

How can chiropractic care help support your health?

The chiropractic adjustments you receive not only help your spine stay healthy but also maintain the health of your nervous system. When your nervous system is healthy, your immune system is healthy, which defends your body against harmful bacteria. Since 80% of your immune system is in your gut, the overall health of your digestive system is very important.

The central nervous system is responsible for coordinating and controlling every system and organ in the body. Subluxations (or misalignments), pinched nerves and herniated discs in the spine may hinder the communication between your brain and your gut, so we work with you to restore that communication to normal.

Through healthy probiotic foods and regular chiropractic care you could have a stronger immune system, which may just translate to better health and a better life!

It sometimes happens when we sit down to watch a movie at home. It’s that noisy burst of static that impairs our ability to enjoy a clear picture, uninterrupted by interference. Sometimes we experience similar static or interference in our bodies.

Clear Interference from Your Body

As a sophisticated and intricate system that regulates and coordinates the activities of our body, the nervous system helps our body to stay healthy. When we have interference, or subluxation, that’s like having static in our body. That interference can prevent our bodies from working as they should.

With a TV, we aim to clear the static to get a crisp picture and enhance our viewing enjoyment. If we rid our bodies of interference, we may enjoy better health and an enhanced overall quality of life.

So how do we do that?

With chiropractic, of course! We’re trained to safely and noninvasively reduce any subluxation or interference so your body can function at its peak, and your immune system can fight illness and disease.

According to the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA), there is a growing body of scientific research to support the notion that spinal adjustments help boost the overall health of a person.

Stop in today and let us help you reduce the static in your system to enjoy clearer, more vibrant health.

Whether we’re watching TV, driving to work or on the computer at our workplace, we’re doing it. The “it” is sitting, and it’s becoming a big problem, according to health experts. We may not consider sitting to be as detrimental to one’s health as puffing on a cigarette but the harmful effects of sitting can wreak havoc on the body just as smoking can.

According to Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Dr. James Levine, the majority of people spend a whopping 10-15 hours a day sitting. From sun up to sun down many activities that are part of our daily routine involve this sedentary action.

Just how bad is sitting?

Dr. Levine explains that a recent analysis suggests, “there are 34 chronic diseases and conditions associated with excess sitting.” Those who sit for prolonged periods of time may be at greater risk of obesity, Type-2 diabetes, heart disease or even cancer.

Time to Turn off the TV

As TV watching is one of the more popular activities we engage in while sitting, it might be time to turn it off. In a study of 8,800 adults, reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, Australian researchers discovered that each hour spent watching TV daily “is associated with an 18% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.”

Keep Your Body Moving

You don’t have to succumb to sitting disease. Here are some easy ways to get moving:

• For 10 minutes of every hour get up and move around
• Stretch your legs
• Stand up during meetings or conduct walking meetings
• Walk to see your co-workers instead of emailing them
• Use a standing desk or a treadmill desk
• Always choose the stairs

Consider Chiropractic Care

Because prolonged sitting can cause or worsen back or neck pain and contribute to poor posture, we encourage you to visit us for care. Chiropractic may be just what you need to improve posture and reduce neck and back pains.

We’d also be happy to discuss additional ways to incorporate more movement into your day. Small changes in your daily routine can pay off in the form of better health!

Just as planting a garden requires fertile soil, quality seeds, plenty of sunshine and water, planting seeds to grow healthy kids requires specific actions.

With a dizzying amount of advice dispensed over the Internet, through the TV and by well-meaning friends and family members, it’s not always easy to know what advice to follow. Consider the following for growing healthy kids — naturally, of course!

Make Smart Dietary Decisions

From frozen foods filled with chemical ingredients to fast food dietary disasters, it’s not always easy fueling kids with healthy edibles. Here are some foods to consider including in your child’s diet:

• Low-fat dairy products
• Poultry
• Fish (choose fish that’s low in mercury)
• Whole grain breads and cereals
• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Healthy monosaturated fats (in moderation) such as extra virgin olive oil

As childhood obesity is a growing problem, remember to control portions and offer healthy snacks to fight hunger between meals. Another way to curb the calories is by opting for water versus juice or soda. Flavor it with lemons or limes.

The Sleep Your Child Needs

The amount of sleep your child needs varies depending on age. Too little sleep can affect mood, school performance and overall health. Chronic sleep deprivation may even result in depression. It’s a good idea to set a regular bedtime routine for your child. These can include bath time and story reading.

Encourage older kids to turn off electronics well in advance of bedtime and read instead. Those high-tech gizmos and gadgets, from notebooks to smart phones, can wreak havoc on your teen’s sleep. Many studies link the use of electronics to later bedtimes and less shut-eye.

Why Exercise Is Essential

Though high-tech temptations abound, sidelining kids from outdoor activity, regular, brisk exercise helps kids to have healthier bodies and minds, too. Exercise also helps children get better sleep and fight stress easier. Though participation in a team sport is a great way for kids to get regular exercise, they can also get fit by walking the family dog, playing an outdoor game, or taking a bike ride.

Boost Health Naturally

Just as your kids brush their teeth to enjoy better oral health and a brighter smile, regular chiropractic care may help your child enjoy better health. Why? Because kids who have a healthier nervous system that’s free from interference may also benefit from a stronger immune system.

Schedule a wellness checkup for your child today!

While the birth process can be an exciting time for the mom-to-be, it can be a traumatic event for the baby.

Why? Squeezing through the cramped birth canal puts pressure on the baby’s spine and cranium — even under normal, natural circumstances. This trauma may adversely affect the function of the baby’s nervous system.

Add in procedures such as inducing labor, forceps and vacuum extractions and it’s easy to see how the birth experience can be punishing for any newborn.

A c-section can also cause trauma for your baby. According to an article from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) website, “Most moms who have had a c-section describe a pulling and tugging sensation as the baby was being taken out of the belly.”

Promoting a Healthy Nervous System

Getting your baby adjusted soon after birth is a safe and natural way to promote a healthy nervous system. As chiropractors, we check for spinal subluxations or disturbances in the nervous system. When those disturbances are removed, your baby can experience healthier growth and development.

You may also notice that your baby sleeps better too!

Safe and Gentle Care

Chiropractic care has an excellent track record, particularly when it comes to children. It’s estimated that unfavorable events connected to pediatric chiropractic care are estimated to be 1 in 250 million. When we adjust infants, we only use gentle pressure, the amount of pressure it would take to determine if a tomato is ripe or that you would use to press comfortably on your eye.

After your baby’s long journey into the world, we invite you to bring your child in to experience the many benefits of chiropractic care.

It’s implicated in a range of health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. You may not even know you’re living with it.

What is it? It’s inflammation, and in its chronic form, it can wreak havoc on the body.

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation has been defined as “A localized reaction that produces redness, warmth, swelling, and pain as a result of infection, irritation, or injury. Inflammation can be external or internal.”

According to nutritionist and dermatologist Nicholas Perricone, MD, temporary inflammation is our body’s way of fending off sudden injury or infection. When inflammation becomes a chronic issue, however, “the immune system mistakenly attacks normal cells, and the process that ordinarily heals becomes destructive.”

Foods That Cause and Reduce Inflammation

Do you have inflammation-causing foods lurking in your pantry or fridge? Culprits include white sugar and flour, dairy, alcohol and foods fried in trans-fats. Along with reducing or removing these damaging foods from your diet, consider adding inflammation-fighting foods to help stave off illness.

• Fatty fish
• Nuts including walnuts, cashews and almonds
• Berries
• Orange and yellow fruits
• Dark leafy greens
• Avocados in small amounts
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Ginger, saffron, garlic and turmeric

Natural Chiropractic Care for Better Health

In addition to making smart dietary decisions to reduce inflammation, we encourage you to visit us for regular chiropractic care. Keeping your spine aligned and your nervous system in check may help reduce dangerous, disease-causing inflammation.

“A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.”
~ Spanish Proverb

Trust us, we’ve heard it all.

Everyone has their reasons why they do or do not visit their doctor, dentist, optometrist and of course, chiropractor.

Here’s a compilation of some common excuses we hear and something to think about before you decide if chiropractic care is right for you.

If there’s a way we can help, let us!

We’ve dedicated our lives to helping people. Give us a call today and let’s set up a time to work through your personal concerns. We want to answer any questions about chiropractic care that you might have.

Some chiropractors and other natural healing disciplines suggest fasting from time to time as a means to cleanse the body and rid it of toxins, so it functions better.

Critics of fasting say that it starves the body and that regular sleeping and periods in between eating are enough to give the digestive system the rest it needs.

So…whom do we believe?

Fasting has been practiced for centuries, for both religious and therapeutic reasons and is well documented in biblical accounts. It involves the voluntary abstinence from all substances, except pure water, for a certain period. While most healthy individuals can tolerate a one to three day fast on their own, fasts of a longer duration should take place with the supervision of a trained health care professional to coach you through the process.

What Are the Benefits?

Benefits associated with fasting may include

• Provides the digestive system with a rest from its daily activities, just as we need to take a vacation from our jobs.
• Cleanses the body by eliminating harmful toxins.
• Allows the body a period of rest for meditation and spiritual development.
• Introduces a period of transition (i.e., weight loss, overcoming addictions, shift from meat eating to a vegetarian diet, etc.) to the body to gear up for it.

Of course, fasting is not advised for pregnant or nursing women, those with a life-threatening illness (cancer, AIDS), and those with diabetes or liver disease. Individuals on prescription medications should check with their doctors prior to initiating a fast.

What About Research?

Studies conducted by Mark P. Mattson at the National Institute on Aging on mice concluded that fasting has beneficial effects on the aging process as well. Mattson said an earlier study found that mice that fasted every other day had extended life spans. A new experiment found the mice also did better in factors involved in diabetes and nerve damage in the brain similar to Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers presented information at the 2014 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions that fasting reduced cholesterol levels in prediabetic people over extended periods of time. Although more in-depth study is needed, these findings lay the groundwork for future study.

Fasting may not be for everyone, but if you’re interested in discussing this or other options for cleansing your body, give us a call.