While these are all great reasons to schedule your visit with a Chiropractor, there are also many other reasons we should be considering chiropractic care.  Every Chiropractor is different and specializes in different types of treatment options.

There are many reasons to visit a Chiropractor aside from spinal related items; however I want to share just a few of them with you.

1.       Fertility- That’s right. Fertility. When trying to conceive a child there are many things you need to focus on to allow your body. If you prefer a more natural, holistic way to help your body become pregnant, than ask around and find out if your local Chiropractor specializes in Fertility. If he/she doesn’t they would be happy to refer to you to a Chiropractor who does.
 
2.       Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes. We should remember that issues with shoulders, knees, hips and basically all moveable joints can be treated by your Chiropractor. If you are living with pain or numbness in any of your joints, please discuss them with your Chiropractor.
 
3.       Weight loss- Many Chiropractors have received training on weight loss programs and can assist you with meeting your weight loss goals. By developing a custom training program and discussing nutrition, your Chiropractor can help you with safe weight loss and help you learn better habits.
 
4.       Quit smoking- Ready to give up the ghost and stop smoking? You can visit your primary care doctor and receive a nicotine patch or prescription drugs, however have you thought about asking how your Chiropractor might be able to help and help you stay away from the prescriptions? When you are ready to stop smoking, please talk with your Chiropractor.
 
5.       Sports Performance or general well being. If you are an athlete or just want to feel your best while running, biking or playing with your children or grand children, then a routine schedule of Chiropractic care should be part of your schedule. Keeping your spine in proper alignment not only reduces your chance of injury, but keeps your body operating at its full potential.

Remember, Chiropractors can help with many of your needs. They work hard to resolve these issues in a variety of natural methods.

Is sleep your friend or your foe?

If it’s your friend, you sleep easily and well, and feel refreshed and rejuvenated after a good sleep. If it is your enemy you may have problems falling asleep, staying asleep, or you may not feel rested after an appropriate length of sleep. What can you do about it? Here are some easy things to try, including lifestyle adjustments, foods, and supplements.

1)    Have an unwind time before going to bed. Avoid bright lights shining in your face (overhead lights, computer screens, TV screens) for 2 hour before turning in for the night. This allows your natural melatonin production to begin ramping up. Melatonin is required for a healthy, sound sleep.

2)    Have a small protein snack at bed time. A small piece (2 –  4 oz) of chicken or turkey can be very helpful. Poultry contains the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, which is the relaxing neurotransmitter.

3)    Avoid caffeine, alcohol, stimulants late in the day. Caffeine and stimulants can make it hard for the body to slow down for the night. Alcohol, a nervous system depressant, forces the body to wind down too quickly which often means sleep cycles are disrupted and may become irregular with frequent evening alcohol consumption.

4)    Avoid strenuous exercise or activity late in the evening to prevent  revving the metabolism and interfering with melatonin production.

5)    Avoid heavy meals within 2 hours of going to bed. You may feel drowsy with a full stomach, but the resulting ‘pizza dreams’ often disrupt restful sleep.

6)    Make sure your bed is comfortable. Many a recurring backache and sore neck has been cured with a new, well-chosen mattress.
7)    Avoid drinking lots of fluids in the evening unless you want to be up for the toilet at least once during the night.
8)    Extra Vitamin B6, when taken with Stress Formula during the day, enhances serotonin production and may enhance sleep quality.
9)   CalMag Plus D taken in the evening on a relatively empty stomach can also enhance sleep. If the Calcium causes constipation, add extra Magnesium Complex. Magnesium is the relaxing mineral according to Dr. Bernard Jensen.
10) Herbal blends like HVP, STR-J, and STR-C can also enhance sleep. Try them one a time, throughout the day. They often help with preventing the build-up of stress throughout the day as well and promoting relaxation at night.

The spine is the protective housing for the nervous system, a system so powerful that it controls every function in the human body. The nervous system tells your body to breath, tells your heart to beat, tells your arms and legs to move, tells your body when and how to produce new cells, and it even has the power to control healing. A damaged or misaligned spine can dramatically interfere with the signals constantly being sent through the nervous system, eventually resulting in bodily pain, internal deteoration and loss of many of the everyday functions we take for granted.

Spinal hygiene is extremely important, yet 89 percent of the world’s population does not realize the importance of maintaining proper alignment of the vertebrae through chiropractic adjustment, as well as protecting the spine from injury through healhty living practices.

Instead we neglect our spines. As children we start our lives with tumbles and trips that jar our spines, we grow into adults with poor posture, we lift things that are too heavy, carry overloaded back packs, and we suffer injury through car accidents, sports impacts and stress.

Get in on the health trend of the future—today. Join the growing percentage of the population that enjoys greater health and wellness through regular care of their spines. Talk to your chiropractor today about ways you can improve your spinal hygiene.

The human body is an amazing creation, powerful, a bit mysterious, and fully capable of healing itself. Yet many of us forget this fact, and at the first sign of sickness, turn to medicine for a cure. Studies show that medicine works by masking symptoms, never really eradicating the root problem itself. It’s interesting that so much faith is placed in a science that all too often fails to produce steady, safe, healing results.

At the entire end of the spectrum is chiropractic care. Doctors of Chiropractic believe the human body is born with an innate ability to heal itself from disease. The body always knows what to do, how to function, how to act and react, unless something interferes with its internal communication process. One of the most common causes of internal communication interference is a misalignment of the spine. For example, a symptom of a spinal misalignment may be back pain and headache. Taking a pill may temporarily relieve the headache or backache, but it has done nothing to correct the spinal misalignment. Worse still, when the medication wears off, the symptom will return. Even worse than that, is a spinal misalignment is left uncorrected, over time it will grow from a small problem to a larger problem with more serious health consequences.

That’s why chiropractic works to resolve the root of the problem, not just treat the symptom. And that’s why it’s important to place your faith in the body’s ability to heal itself—not a pill.

The study was comprised of 115 people diagnosed with chronic spinal pain. Patients were equally divided into three treatment groups consisting of chiropractic adjustments, needle acupuncture or medication.

Prior to the study, each person assessed his or her pain and discomfort level, using several scales of measurement. These same assessments were taken again at two-, five- and nine-week intervals throughout the study.

According to assessment results, 27.3% of the patients under chiropractic care experienced early pain relief. Only 9.4% of the acupuncture patients and 5% of the medication patients experienced early pain relief. Chiropractic patients also experienced the most overall improvement.

If you or a loved one are experiencing pain or health problems, don’t wait, visit your chiropractor today. Chiropractic care improves overall wellness and lessens the negative effects of disease.

Mercury can be toxic when it is inhaled, taken orally or when placed on the skin. Its harmful effects have been scientifically linked to several diseases, including autism, learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, depression, and bipolar disorder.

The reality of mercury use is alarming, yet the FDA—the government agency established to ensure the safety of Americans by weeding out all the harmful components of food products and drugs before they hit the market — could care less if we’re exposed to this life-threatening substance.

Instead, they continue to allow mercury to be administered in at least 45 different over the counter drugs, including eye ointments, nasal sprays, and vaccines—including the Flu vaccine which is administered to children and pregnant women.

This careless behavior is the driving force behind the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD), who is now asking the U.S. federal court to force the FDA to comply with existing law and regulations by providing proof that mercury is safe for human consumption. Until mercury is proven safe, CoMeD asks that mercury-containing products be removed from the market. The law suit was filed because the FDA failed to answer issues raised in a citizen petition filed on August 24, 2004, by CoMeD representatives.

By failing to provide any kind of proof that mercury testing has indeed been done, the FDA is admitting that they have not taken any action at all to test the safety or harm caused by consuming mercury.

Adding fuel to the fire is a 1999 email, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, where an FDA official wrote that agency’s failure to evaluation the amount of mercury in medicine “…will raise questions about FDA being ‘asleep at the switch’ for decades by allowing a potentially hazardous compound to remain…and not forcing manufactures to exclude it from new products.”

Knowledge is power and it could save your life. Get all the information on the dangers of mercury, and make a conscious effort to keep your body functioning at a high level of health. Eat smart. Receive regularly scheduled chiropractic appointments. Exercise. And keep reading!

[Source: http://www.thimerosal-autism-symptoms.com/html/mercury.html and http://www.aapsonline.org/nod/newsofday357.php ]

This sounds more like “sick care” rather than “health care.” That’s why health experts are now agreeing that a massive and on-going “healthy living” campaign must be launched in every neighborhood and city in the U.S.

Sure, a person can have angioplasty to unclog fatty arteries, receive radiation to kill a tumor, and take a multitude of medications to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, but these haphazard “solutions” come with a heavy penalty that often includes uncomfortable—and sometimes dangerous—side effects and a less enjoyable, lower quality of life. What American’s need is a real solution—a lifestyle of prevention.

“We need to do a better job of making people realize that chronic conditions are preventable,” says Janet Collins, director of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “You can have an angioplasty, but it doesn’t equate to the same quality [as preventing heart disease].”

On a community level, part of the solution could be to provide preventive testing and assign a health worker to follow up with patients who tested poorly for things like blood pressure and cholesterol screenings. By educating people on how to naturally improve their health through simple diet and exercise choices, we’ll start to see a smaller amount of people suffering with chronic and often deadly diseases.

What can YOU do to prevent disease in your own body? Start by monitoring the foods you eat. Avoid trans fats and other fatty, processed foods. Everyday, eat fresh vegetables and fruits. Make time to exercise—even if it’s taking the stairs instead of the elevator, every bit of exercise counts. And empower your body to fight off disease by maintaining a healthy spine through regularly scheduled chiropractic adjustments.

[Source: The Commonwealth Fund, “Prevention Key to Nation’s Health Care Future, Experts Say” 11-30-07]

Beer is a Rich Source of the Dietary Mineral Silicon and May Help Prevent Osteoporosis

A new study suggests that beer is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for increasing bone mineral density.

Researchers from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis studied commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the resulting silicon content, concluding that beer is a rich source of dietary silicon.

Details of this study are available in the February issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society of Chemical Industry.

The study examined a wide range of beer styles for their silicon content and have also studied the impact of raw materials and the brewing process on the quantities of silicon that enter wort and beer.

Silicon is present in beer in the soluble form of orthosilicic acid (OSA), which yields 50% bioavailability, making beer a major contributor to silicon intake in the Western diet. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), dietary silicon (Si), as soluble OSA, may be important for the growth and development of bone and connective tissue, and beer appears to be a major contributor to silicon intake. Based on these findings, some studies suggest moderate beer consumption may help fight osteoporosis, a disease of the skeletal system characterized by low bone mass
and deterioration of bone tissue.

The researchers examined a variety of raw material samples and found little change in the silicon content of barley during the malting process. The majority of the silicon in barley is in the husk, which is not affected greatly during malting. The malts with the higher silicon contents are pale colored which have less heat stress during the
malting process. The darker products, such as the chocolate, roasted barley and black malt, all have substantial roasting and much lower silicon contents than the other malts for reasons that are not yet known. The hop samples analyzed showed surprisingly high levels of silicon with as much as four times more silicon than is found in malt. However, hops are invariably used in a much smaller quantity than is grain. Highly hopped beers, however, would be
expected to contain higher silicon levels.

The study also tested 100 commercial beers for silicon content and categorized the data according to beer style and source. The average silicon content of the beers sampled was 6.4 to 56.5 mg per liter.

“Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon,” concludes the study. “Wheat contains less silicon than barley because it is the husk of the barley that is rich in this element. While most of the silicon remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon nonetheless survives into the beer.”

Specifically, Selenium-based supplements may prevent the development of new polyps in people with a history of colon polyp formation, says a new study.

400 people participated in the study, in which they received either placebo or an antioxidant-rich supplement containing selenomethionnine, zinc, and vitamins A, C, and E. At the end of the study people in the antioxidant group experienced a 40 per cent reduction in the incidence of new polyps of the large bowel.

“Our study is the first intervention trial specifically designed to evaluate the efficacy of the selenium-based antioxidant compound on the risk of developing metachronous adenomas,” said researchers from the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa, Italy.

The study represents another important step on the ladder of supporting the potential anti-cancer effects of the mineral. The research findings are being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held in Houston.

Adenomatous polyps (or adenoma) are benign lesions of the large bowel that, in time, could progress to cancer, explain the researchers. Even though only a small proportion of adenomas will develop into
cancer, it is said that almost 70 to 80 per cent of colorectal cancer stems from an adenoma.

The research team randomly assigned the 411 participants aged between 25 and 75 to receive either placebo or an antioxidant supplement. The supplement provided daily doses of 200 micrograms of selenomethionnine, 30 milligrams of zinc, 6,000 IU of vitamin A, 180 milligrams of vitamin C, and 30 milligrams of vitamin E. All the participants had already undergone surgery to remove one or more colorectal adenomas.

“Our results indicated that individuals who consumed antioxidants had a 40 per cent reduction in the incidence of metachronous adenomas of the large bowel,” said the researchers “It is particularly
noteworthy that the benefit observed after the conclusion of the trial persisted through 13 years of follow up.”

Selenium and Prostate Health…

A greater body of science exists for Selenium and prostate health. A number of studies, most notably the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer study and the Alpha-tocopherol, Beta-carotene Cancer Prevention study, have reported that the nutrients, alone or in combination, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

With over half a million new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed every year, and the cancer directly causing over 200,000 deaths, potential preventive measures are highly desirable.

2. DON’T SCARE YOURSELF. Stop terrorizing yourself with your thoughts. Its’ a dreadful way to live. Find a mental image that gives you pleasure and immediately switch your scary thought to a pleasure thought.

3. BE GENTLE AND KIND AND PATIENT. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. Be patient with yourself as you learn the new ways of thinking. Treat yourself as you would someone you really love.

4. BE KIND TO YOUR MIND. Self hatred is only hating your own thoughts. Don’t hate yourself for having the thoughts. Gently change your thoughts.

5. PRAISE YOURSELF. Criticism breaks down the inner spirit. Praise builds it up. Praise yourself as much as you can. Tell yourself how well you are doing with every little thing.

6. SUPPORT YOURSELF. Find ways to support yourself. Reach out to friends and allow them to help you. Asking for help when you need it is a sign of strength.

7. BE LOVING TO YOUR NEGATIVES. Acknowledge that you created them to fulfill a need. Now you are finding new, positive ways to fulfill those needs. So lovingly release the old negative patterns.

8. TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY. Learn about nutrition. What kind of fuel does your body need to have optimum energy and vitality? Learn about exercise. What kind of exercise can you enjoy? Cherish and revere the temple you live in.

9. MIRROR WORK. Look into your eyes often. Express this growing sense of love you have for yourself. Forgive yourself looking into the mirror. Talk to your parents looking into the mirror. Forgive them, too. At least once a day say, “I love you, I really love you” to yourself.

10. LOVE YOURSELF. Begin it now. Do the best you can.