Archive | Health News

Going Meatless…why? Aren’t we supposed to eat meat?

Because going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like:

cancer
cardiovascular
disease
diabetes
obesity

And going meatless once a week can also help reduce our carbon footprint and save precious resources like fossil fuels and fresh water.

Recipe for Stacked Vegetable Enchiladas

FOR YOUR HEALTH

Reduce Heart Disease and Stroke

Vegetables, fruit, and whole grains have been shown to protect against cardiovascular disease. One study found that each daily serving of fruits or vegetables was associated with a 4% decline in coronary heart disease, and a 5% lower risk of stroke. Another study found that a diet of 2.5 or more servings of whole grain per day was associated with a 21% lower risk of cardiovascular disease (heart disease, stroke, fatal cardiovascular disease)

Limit Cancer Risk

There is convincing evidence that red meat and processed meat consumption increases the risk of colorectal cancer. There is also limited but suggestive evidence that red meat increases the risk of esophagus, lung, pancreas, and endometrium cancer and that processed meat consumption increases the risk of esophagus, lung, stomach, and prostate cancer.

In contrast, a diet rich in fruit and vegetables decreases the risk of several types of cancers, including mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and stomach, evidence suggests.

Fight Diabetes

Research suggests that plant-based diets, particularly those low in processed meat, can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. Eating a plant-based diet can decrease total calorie consumption which helps you obtain and maintain a healthy weight, a key component to preventing and treating diabetes.

Curb Obesity

Several large studies in Europe and the United States have demonstrated that people on plant-based, vegetarian diets tend to have a significantly lower body weight and body mass index (BMI). This may be in part because plant-based diets are rich in fiber (which is not found in animal products). Fiber contributes to fullness, resulting in lower calorie intake and less overeating.

Recipe for 30-Minute Quinoa Enchilada Skillet

Live Longer

Evidence suggests that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and a limited amount of red meat can increase longevity, whereas red and processed meat consumption is associated with increases in deaths due to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Improve The Nutritional Quality of Your Diet

Going meatless encourages consumption of plant-based sources of protein, like beans and peas. Consuming beans and peas results in a higher intake of fiber, protein, folate, zinc, iron, and magnesium. Also, diets high in beans and peas are associated with lower intakes of saturated fat and total fat.

FOR YOUR WALLET

Curb Healthcare Spending

Each year in the United States, chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes cause 7 in 10 deaths, and account for 75% of the $2 trillion spent on medical care. In 2008, the estimated health care costs related to obesity were $147 billion. By reducing our risk for these conditions, we can curtail healthcare spending nationwide.

Cut Weekly Budget

Many people save money by adding meatless meals to their weekly menus. Meatless meals are built around vegetables, beans and grains—instead of meat, which tends to be more expensive. This is partly because producing meat requires extra expenses like feed and transportation. Though it can be challenging to serve healthy meals on a budget, going meatless once a week can help conserve money for more fruits and vegetables.

FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Minimize Water Usage

The water needs of livestock are much greater than those of vegetables and grains.

– Approximately 1,850 gallons of water are needed to produce a single pound of beef.
– Approximately 39 gallons of water are needed to produce a pound of vegetables.

Americans consume nearly four times the amount of animal protein than the global average. When compared with current food intake in the US, a vegetarian diet could reduce water consumption by up to 58% per person.

Reduce Greenhouse Gases

Studies show that meat production produces significantly more greenhouse gases than vegetables, including carbon dioxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide – the three main contributing sources of greenhouse gas. Beef was found to produce a total of 30 kg of greenhouse gas (GHG) per kg of food, while carrots, potatoes and rice produce .42, .45 and 1.3 kg GHG per kg of food, respectively.

Reduce Fuel Dependence

About 25 kilocalories of fossil fuel energy is used to produce 1 kilocalorie of all meat based protein, as compared with 2.2 kilocalories of fossil fuel input per 1 kilocalorie of grain based protein produced. The meat industry uses so much energy to produce grain for livestock that if instead we used the grain to feed people following a vegetarian diet, it would be enough to feed about 840 million people.

We want to hear from you

What motivates you to cut back on your meat consumption? We want to know.

You are the world’s greatest drug store!

You create your own drugs (No, I don’t mean illegally!)

The greatest drug store in the world is your own marvelous body, as long as your body is functioning properly.

Your body manufactures:

antibiotics
insulin
painkillers
blood pressure and heart drugs

Your body also creates hormones and chemicals that regulate:

brain chemistry and mood
digestion
elimination
growth
blood chemistry
hundreds of other drugs, many still undiscovered

That’s where chiropractic care helps

Chiropractors help keep your internal drug store functioning optimally by locating and correcting a very common condition that causes your body to malfunction. That condition is called a subluxation. A subluxation is usually found in your spine and although it often causes pain, it may also be painless.

Want to keep your internal drug store (the World’s Greatest) making and delivering all the drugs you need for your whole life? In addition to a nutrient-rich diet, make sure your body is free of subluxations – that’s the specialty of your chiropractor. Come in for a chiropractic checkup. Your internal drug store will thank you for it.

The Germ or the Terrain?

The Germ Theory vs. the Terrain Theory

Everyone has heard of Louis Pasteur who popularized the Germ Theory of Medicine and invented pasteurization. The practice of vaccination is based on Pasteur’s germ theory.

But there is another Frenchman, the scientist Claude Bechamp, who was constantly finding fault with Pasteur’s work. For instance, Pasteur’s experiments that “proved” his germ theory did nothing of the sort because Pasteur had injected healthy animals with the blood of a sick animal. The healthy animals got sick.

Injecting a sick animal’s blood did not prove anything. Béchamp said that Pasteur poisoned the experimental animals and that was what got them sick, not germs. Béchamp said Pasteur poisoned the terrain of the animal and the germs attacked the already diseased tissues.

According to Bechamp, it was the terrain, the overall health of the person’s tissues, that determined whether germs would or would not grow. In one dramatic event, Claude Bernard considered one of the greatest men of science, performed a fascinating exhibition before a professional audience of scientists and medical doctors. Bernard said, “The terrain is everything; the germ is nothing,” and he then drank a glass of water filled with cholera. He didn’t get sick! (1)

Germs seek their natural habitat

Rudolph Virchow, the Father of Pathology, agreed with Bechamp. He believed that epidemics were social in origin and were caused by poor diet, poor waste disposal, bad water, toxins, and other unsanitary conditions. He considered the germ theory as a hindrance to true prevention and cure. As he said:

If I could live my life over again, I would devote it to proving that germs seek their natural habitat-diseased tissue-rather than being the cause of the diseased tissue; e.g., mosquitoes seek the stagnant water but do not cause the pool to become stagnant. (2)

Michio Kushi, the founder of modern macrobiotics had strong words for Pasteur and his legacy:

Pasteur originally conceived the idea of germs and destroying them … it has mushroomed into DDT, killing beetles and worms, resulting in food contamination, much sickness, and trouble. Although he is regarded as a hero by modern medicine, Pasteur will be treated in much the same way as a warmonger when he is judged in the spiritual world. (3)

The study of epidemics tells us that Bechamp, Virchow, Bernard, and Kushi were correct. Germs can’t bother a healthy person. Deaths from measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, and many other diseases had dramatically fallen decades before antibiotics and vaccines. As our living conditions improved, our terrain became stronger. We are poisoning our world with our obsession to destroy germs.

Don’t fear germs. Germs don’t make you sick. Sickness occurs first, and then the germs feed on weak tissues (terrain or land). The key to health and healing is proper function, detoxification, and rejuvenation.

Ancient wisdom

This understanding is ancient. The Empirical or Vitalistic school of healing has always emphasized that to avoid sickness, and to recover from sickness, we need proper nutrition, elimination, avoidance of toxins, and detoxification. To that, we’d add chiropractic spinal care.

Spinal care is ancient and is absolutely necessary for the proper function of the body organs to keep germs in their place (eating diseased tissues) and keep your body strong and in balance.

Claude Bernard quotes. https://www.azquotes.com/author/1304-Claude_Bernard
Cayleff SE. Nature’s Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2016:59.
Michio Kushi quotes. https://www.azquotes.com/author/22254-Michio_Kushi

Researching Chiropractic: Hypothyroidism, Constipation, Trigeminal Neuralgia

Chiropractic clinical case histories have been a regular feature of our patient newsletter since its inception. There seems to be no limit to the health problems that respond to chiropractic care. How many people suffering, on drugs, facing a life of limitation could be helped by chiropractic care? Probably most of them.

Hypothyroidism reduction under chiropractic care.

After a motor vehicle accident a 44-year-old woman suffered from upper trapezius (upper shoulder) and inter-scapular pain (pain between the shoulder blades) for 23 years! In addition, she had been prescribed Armour® Thyroid in order to treat symptoms of low thyroid function (hypothyroidism).
X-rays of her neck revealed a 80.7% loss of normal neck curve (hypo-lordosis) in addition to vertebral subluxations. The patient received spinal adjustments to reduce her subluxations and to improve her spinal and postural alignment over a seven-month period. Thirty days into care the patient began exhibiting signs/symptoms of an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). After serum lab evaluation, the patient’s endocrinologist instructed the patient to significantly reduce her thyroid medication. In addition, her shoulder and scapular pains gradually disappeared. (1)

Constipation in a three-year old.

A three-year-old suffered from constipation for one year, needing laxatives in order to have a bowel movement. She would have no bowel movements on her own. After 4-5 days her parents would give her laxatives. Chiropractic examination included spinal thermography, postural analysis, supine leg length comparison, range of motion, static and motion palpation of her spine. She was diagnosed with vertebral subluxations of the cervical region with related dysautonomia.

Chiropractic adjustments were utilized to correct the cervical subluxations. After two office visits, the toddler started having daily bowel movements. Within a three-month period of weekly chiropractic visits and adjustments, her constipation resolved completely. (2)

Trigeminal neuralgia (Tic douloureux).

A 77-year-old woman suffering from severe right-sided trigeminal neuralgia (TN) for seven years started chiropractic care. Her TN pain was only initially helped by medication and was made worse by chewing, talking and smiling. When her symptoms were their worst, she was unable to eat or talk well for 4 days.

When she began chiropractic care she rated her pain 10 out of 10; describing it as a constant hot, throbbing, burning sensation that progressively got worse. Subluxations at C1 and other segments were located and adjusted. After six visits the patient saw significant reduction in pain; after four months she went off her medication and at 6 months was pain free. (3)

Do you know anyone with the above issues?

Please refer them to us. We can help! 517.627.4547

1. Bak AD, Engelhardt PR. Improvement in cervical curve and hypothyroidism following reduction of
subluxation utilizing Chiropractic Biophysics: a case study & selective review of the literature. Annals of
Vertebral Subluxation Research. December 10, 2015:226-237.
2. Merkovich AP. Resolution of chronic constipation & dysautonomia in a three-year-old female following
chiropractic care: a case report & review of the literature. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health,
Chiropractic. August 23, 2019:100-104.
3. Zielinski E, Mankal K, Pirini J. Resolution of trigeminal neuralgia following chiropractic care utilizing
Chiropractic Biophysics and diversified techniques: a case study. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation
Research. November 6, 2014:177-183.

Headaches and Chiropractic

What Puts the Ache in Headache?

The ache in headache does not come from your brain-your brain cannot feel pain. For example, during brain surgery a patient may be wide awake, talking to the surgeons while his brain is being operated on (a local anesthetic numbs the scalp). What puts the “ache” in headache? Stretched, compressed, irritated, inflamed or infected blood vessels, membranes and cranial nerves.

The Chiropractic Approach

Millions of headache sufferers turn to the natural, drug-free chiropractic approach to health. (1)

Why?

Because chiropractic has a unique approach-chiropractors are the only health professionals trained to analyze your body for a serious and often ignored condition that can damage your nerves, inflame your tissues, cause muscles to tighten and knot, weaken your body, cause fatigue and set the stage for sickness and disease: the subluxation. A subluxation is a tiny distortion or misalignment in your spine that stresses your nervous system, the system that controls your body.

Patients who received chiropractic showed significant improvement, on a par with those given a powerful prescription drugs and without the side effects. (2)

Anyone suffering from headaches (and any other condition) should make sure they are free from subluxations-for the health of their whole body, not just certain parts.

The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. Nikola Tesla

Nilsson N, Christensen HW, Hartvigsen J. The effect of spinal manipulation in the treatment of cervicogenic headache. JMPT. 1997;20:326-330.
Nelson CF, Bronfort G, Evans R et al. The efficacy of spinal manipulation, amitriptyline and the combination of both therapies for prophylaxis of migraine headache. JMPT. 1998;21(8):511-519.

Nourishing Traditions: Get lots of sunlight!

Nourishing Traditions: Get lots of sunlight!!!

Sunlight is good for you. It is an essential nutrient.

Sunlight protects you from high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and many cancers. Richard Weller, MD discovered one mechanism – the skin uses sunlight to make nitric oxide (NO). NO lowers blood pressure and lessens heart disease and strokes.

Sunlight is good for your brain; it stimulates production of serotonin and endorphins so you’re in a better mood at the beach. Epidemiological studies show that sunlight reduces the risk of prostate, breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Sunlight also improves circadian rhythms, reduces inflammation, dampens autoimmune responses and improves virtually every mental condition. Most important, it’s free.

What about skin cancer and melanoma?

Skin cancer kills very few people: for every person who dies of skin cancer, more than 100 die from cardiovascular diseases. The deadly type of skin cancer, melanoma, accounts for only 1 to 3% of skin cancers. Studies show that long-term sun exposure is associated with less melanoma. Outdoor workers have half the melanoma rate of indoor workers and tanned people have lower rates too.

An interesting comment was made by Dr. Weller who works in a skin hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that is near the equator and above 7,500 feet, so it receives massive UV radiation. Despite that, says Weller, “I have not seen a skin cancer. And yet Africans in Britain and America are told to avoid the sun.” (5)

Read the entire article, Sunscreen the New Margarine? by Rowen Jacobsen.

What About Sunscreen?
Sunscreen may cause skin cancer. Sunscreen shields from the UVB rays that cause sunburn but not the UVA rays that cause skin cancer.

SPF ratings refer only to UVB rays, so many users may be absorbing far more UVA radiation than they realize. Meanwhile, many common sunscreen ingredients have been found to be hormone disruptors that can be detected in users’ blood and breast milk.

The worst offender, oxybenzone, also mutates the DNA of corals and is believed to be killing coral reefs. Hawaii and the western Pacific nation of Palau have already banned it, to take effect in 2021 and 2020 respectively, and other governments are expected to follow.

Chiropractic and Disc Problems

You have discs – spongy pads found between most of your vertebrae (spinal bones), in your jaw joint (TMJ) and between your pubic bones (in women, they separate a little during the birth process).

The discs help give your spine its curves and flexibility and make it better able to withstand stress. Discs also prevent your vertebrae from crashing into each other (that would hurt a lot!). And they also help create spaces (foramina) through which your nerves travel on their way to your internal organs.

But there are times your discs can cause you pain. If your discs flatten out, are twisted or bulge or are otherwise distorted, you can suffer from a lot of neck, back, leg and other pain.

Do You Have a “Slipped” Disc?

A disc cannot “slip” since it is knitted into the vertebrae from both above and below. What sometimes do slip are the vertebrae, which may stress the disc and contribute to its damage. Many “slipped discs” would be more accurately called slipped vertebrae or subluxations.

Disc damage may be due to an accident or fall (called macro-trauma) or from doing the same thing over and over (called micro-trauma). In addition, long-standing subluxations (tiny spinal distortions) can cause disc damage.

Disc damage may cause pain. The pain can get so bad people have resorted to surgery. But there’s another approach to disc problems – chiropractic!

Chiropractic has been a blessing to millions of people with spine and disc problems, often saving them from neck or back surgery (which has a very high failure rate, meaning the patient is as bad or worse after the surgery). (1)

Chiropractors have various techniques to restore the natural curve to your spine, take pressure off of discs and begin a process of healing. Before anyone you know considers back surgery, please tell them about chiropractic care. (2-3)

Amirdelfan K, Webster L, Poree L et al. Treatment options for failed back surgery syndrome patients with refractory chronic pain: an evidence based approach. Spine. July 15, 2017;42:S41-S52.
Robinson GK. Reabsorption of a herniated cervical disc following chiropractic treatment utilizing the Atlas Orthogonal Technique: a case report. Abstracts from the 14th Annual Upper Cervical Spine Conference, Nov. 22-23, 1997. Life University, Marietta, GA. Chiropractic Research Journal. 1998;5(1).
Ben Eliyahu DJ. Magnetic resonance imaging and clinical follow-up: study of 27 patients receiving chiropractic care for cervical and lumbar disc herniations. JMPT. 1996;19(19):597-606.

What Is the World’s Greatest Drugstore?

What would the world’s greatest drugstore be like? Well, it’ll have every drug and chemical you need to live a long, healthy life, free of disease, pain and disability. The drugs from this drugstore would never have a side-effect. This drugstore would be open 24 hours a day, never close and be at your beck and call – delivery would be instantaneous. Also, all the drugs would be free.

Well, such a drugstore does exist! It’s your own body!

Yes, every drug and chemical you need to live a long and healthy life is made by your body, in the exact right amount, just when you need it, 24 hours a day.

Your body makes drugs (chemicals) to raise your blood pressure and lower your blood pressure, relax you and make you hyper-vigilant (for example, when you are in danger); drugs to create inflammation and drugs to dissolve inflammation, painkillers and pleasure creators as powerful as heroin. Further, your body manufactures chemicals that create tumors and chemicals that dissolve tumors; chemicals to raise and lower your blood sugar; raise and lower your cholesterol and even … drugs to make you hungry, to make you feel satiated, drugs to build up bone, drugs to break down bone, drugs to build muscle, drugs to break down muscle, drugs to stimulate you as well as drugs to depress you.

These drugs are perfectly designed for your unique needs, your unique genetic expression – and they have no side-effects or adverse reactions.

Further, these drugs are made in the exact right amount and delivered to the exact part of your body that needs them at the exact moment it needs them. Some of these drugs are unique to you – no one else has them. No man-made pharmacy can do that.

Yes, get your body working at its full potential and it’ll provide you with all the drugs you need, in the right amount and tailored to your unique body – and all these drugs are natural and organic!

Americans and Canadians spend millions of dollars on tons of synthetic (unnatural) drugs each year. Every prescription and OTC (over-the-counter) drug has the potential to cause a bad reaction. In fact, tens of thousands of people die from reactions to properly prescribed medications every year. They are taking unnatural drugs because their internal pharmacy is not working to its fullest potential.

Chiropractic care, by correcting subluxations, helps to “wake up” your internal pharmacy so it will function closer to its potential. Subluxations are misalignments of your body structure that interfere with the energy and communication that travels over your brain, spinal cord and spinal nerves. Without proper communications your internal pharmacy may not get the right information to give you everything you need at a moment’s notice in the exact amount.

For your internal pharmacy to be working at 100% (or as close to it as possible) you need a body free from subluxations. For that reason, regular chiropractic care is needed by everyone!

Is your world’s greatest drugstore working at peak efficiency? Make and appointment today and find out! 517.627.4547

Diet Sodas and Juices Are Linked to Higher Stroke Risk, Study Says

Researchers found that older women who drank more diet drinks had a higher risk of stroke and heart disease, as well as a higher risk of dying early from any cause, compared to women who drank fewer of the drinks.

Researchers studied data from more than 81,000 post-menopausal women. After an average follow-up of nearly 12 years, the scientists found that women who drank two or more artificially sweetened drinks a day had a 23% higher risk of having any type of stroke, and a 31% increased risk of having a stroke due to clotting in brain blood vessels, compared to women who reported drinking fewer than one beverage a week (or none at all). (1)

A Daily Diet Soda Habit May Be Linked to Dementia – Both Sugar- and Artificially Sweetened Drinks Might Have Negative Effects On The Brain

MRI scans and cognitive exams of about 4,000 people ages 30 and up found that people who consumed more than three sodas per week – or more than two sugary drinks of any type (soda, fruit juice, and other soft drinks) per day – were more likely to have memory problems, a smaller brain volume and a smaller hippocampus (an area of the brain used in learning and memory. Drinking at least one diet soda a day was associated with smaller brain volume, as well. (2)

Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Kamensky V, Manson JE. artificially sweetened beverages and stroke, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality in the women’s health initiative. Stroke. 2019;50:555-562.
Paseabc MP, Himalidbd JJ, Jacquesbe PF et al. Sugary beverage intake and preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in the community. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2017;13(9):955-964.

Why do chiropractors encourage breastfeeding?

Questions and Answers About Chiropractic: Why do chiropractors encourage breastfeeding?

Chiropractic is a natural healing art that recognizes the wisdom of nature. Nature makes a perfect food for baby for optimal brain and body development. It’s called breast milk and the advantages over anything else are many.

Benefits to baby:

Breastfeeding protects against infections including meningitis, bacteremia, diarrhea, respiratory tract infection, necrotizing enterocolitis, otitis media, urinary tract infection and sepsis in pre-term infants.
Breastfed babies have less Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (CRIB death).
Breastfeeding is associated with better grades in high school.
Breastfed babies have less diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, Hodgkin disease, obesity and asthma.
Breastfed babies show enhanced cognitive development.

Benefits to mother:

Decreased postpartum bleeding
Faster return to pre-pregnancy weight
Natural child spacing/family planning
Decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer
Decreased risk of hip fractures and osteoporosis after menopause
Women in their 60s who breastfed were 10% less likely to develop heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.

https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/nursing-basics#1