Plant Food

Casey and I have been trying this for about 2 months now. With the exception of 1 week when I visited my grandmother. We have been eating mostly fruits and veggies. We eat small amounts of meat and cheese. My main reason for doing this, is to see if my menstrual cycle cramps would resolve. Obviously, Casey has other motivation ;) Let me give you a little bit of history on these cramps. I am sure it will sound  all to familiar for most of you female readers. Since I was 16, I had cramps every month, to every other month. I would be bed ridden for 2-6 days while I was on my cycle. I experienced cramps in my lower abdomen which felt like someone was stabbing me over and over (about ever 5-30 seconds) with crying, vomiting and uncontrollable shaking. This could last from hours to days. There were days where I couldn't work, go to school or play volleyball. This year, in particular was very bad. They came every month. So I tried this diet change that Casey and I had seen on "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead", and "Forks over Knives". This past month I didn't have ANY cramps.

How did this happen? Certain foods can cause your body to be acidic. This is called metabolic acidosis. These foods include meats, dairy and refined sugars. Some foods cause your body to be alkaline. These include fruits and vegetables (grains are still in debate!). Too much acidic foods and not enough alkaline foods may cause metabolic acidosis. Also, different people have different susceptible tissues. This means that some people susceptible tissue may be their breasts (breast cancer), uterus (cancer), heart (heart disease, aneurysms…), prostate (cancer), brain (MS, cancer, Parkinson's...). Basically whatever disease you fall victim to is your susceptible tissue. Mine were my reproductive organs. These are particularly sensitive in most people because it takes such a small change in your hormones to make such a large change in your chemistry and physiology.

Casey and I aren't dieting. We are changing our habits so we don’t fall victim to diseases that are preventable. After knowing what we know now, there is no going back. I encourage you to research how diet affects your body in order to make informed decisions about your health. What you are told is often not the truth. I encourage everyone to look deeper how what you put in your mouth affects your body. It may change your life and the lives of your loved ones. 

Common Chiropractic Myths

I can crack my back on my own.  You may be causing more problems. The most important part of adjustments is proper positioning, which is not feasible on your own. Any joint is capable of the “pop” sound. Along with the release of nitrous oxide (popping sound) comes the release of endorphins. Endorphins will give you a brief sense of pain relief, making you think you’re cured. The pain will likely return 20-25 minutes later. Over adjusting joints will create instability and predispose the joint to degeneration.

Once I start seeing a chiropractor, I will have to continue seeing one for the rest of my life. It is not necessary to continue seeing a chiropractor once they have taken care of your main complaint. You are never obligated to continue treatment. Many chiropractors recommend occasional visits to maintain optimal health ranging from 2x/ month to biannually depending your lifestyle and the condition of your body. People often find that chiropractors can help with more than just their main complaint and wish to continue treatment. 

 

You only have to see a chiropractor when you are in pain. Chiropractors take preventative measures to ensure that problems do not occur in the future. Some people see a chiropractor simply for a check-up, to make sure joints and muscles are functioning properly.

My Philosophy on Health

My philosophy on health is to start with the least invasive procedure for a particular condition, then to proceed to more drastic treatments. This makes sense right? Start with procedures that do the least damage to surrounding tissues, first. Unfortunately this is not the philosophy of most people today. Doctors will start with drugs that have numerous side affects without even considering natural or herbal remedies. Patients are just as guilty. They often seek drugs and surgery first and try natural remedies as a last ditch effort.  People seem to want to do the most drastic and heroic method first. If the drastic method works, the doctors looks like a hero. The natural method would have worked just as well (often times better), but as you can see, that route was never given a chance. Confucius once said, "Never use a cannon to kill a fly".

It is a common belief that because something is natural or comes from a plant, that it doesn’t work as well as a manufactured drug. This is not true on so many levels. First of all, many natural treatments ARE supported by recent research studies. One example is the use of ginger for osteoarthritis treatment (1). Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn defeated heart disease in one of his studies (2). Not only did the test subjects defeat heart disease, they reversed their already advances stages of arterial compromise. This is more than can be said for coronary transplants, bypass surgeries, vasodialtors, ect. However, these do save lives if the patient is in the middle of a heart attack.

Also remember, most drugs start as a plant. Advil is made from white willow bark. Here is some information on willow bark taken from the University of Maryland Medical Center (3):

"Medicinal Uses and Indications:

Willow bark is used to ease pain and reduce inflammation. Researchers believe that the chemical salicin, found in willow bark, is responsible for these effects. However, studies have identified several other components of willow bark that have antioxidant, fever reducing, antiseptic, and immune boosting properties. Some studies show willow is as effective as aspirin for reducing pain and inflammation (but not fever), and at a much lower dose."

Why would we take advil if willow bark works better? Both Advil and Willow bark have been shown to aggravate stomach conditions. Plants and herbs, such as willow bark, have thousands of active compounds that cure, heal and promote health. Ginger referenced above also helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Taking natural things often helps alleviate other conditions, where as pharmaceutical drugs often CAUSE other issues. I'm not saying that all pharmaceutical drugs are evil. There are some cases where they are necessary and life saving! I am saying they are overused and often prescribed without giving patients proper informed consent on other available treatments.

Another mistake commonly made is we try to look at these natural healing agents one chemical at a time. What I mean is, we look at how vitamin E helps neurological disorder or vitamin D helps  heart disease and depression. I often tell patients to eat a fruit or vegetable that has a lot of one vitamin or mineral in it (4). I know that the thousands of other bioavailable compounds in the plant that will help the patient too. There are thousands of biochemical processes going on in your body right now. It is completely out of context to pick one and focus on curing that one thing. It would take years to pinpoint each necessary element, and by the time you fix one pathway, the previous will be deficient again!  I'm trying to say, you cant think of health and nutrition one pathway at a time. It is a symphony of biomechanical processes that plant food and herbs are the most suited to treat effectively.

Think of chiropractors as natural doctors. If you have a non-emergency condition, I encourage everyone to try a natural or non-invasive treatment first.

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984544/?tool=pubmed

2. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1520-037X.2001.00538.x/abstract;jsessionid=41B881FA13202E1E952F70FEBC36CAE5.d01t03
3. http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/willow-bark-000281.htm

4. http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9673

What exactly do Chiropractors do?

The basis of chiropractic is built around structure and function. Structure affects function, meaning how something is built will affect what that object does in motion.The human body thinks of motion globally. When you bend over to tie your shoe, your spine doesn't think, move the 5th lumbar segment, then the fourth, etc. The move all at once in a coupled motion pattern. If one segment doesn't move enough (hypomobililty), the adjacent segments have to compensate (creating hypermobility). Over time, the segments that move too much (hypermobile) are prone to degeneration. This is where Chiropractic adjustments come in. We move joints that aren't moving enough.  This allows your segments to move freely throughout your entire spine, as it was naturally intended.

Chiropractors aren't limited to spinal adjusting. We work on extremities (arms and legs) as well. Many chiropractors have different specialties, such as pediatrics, geriatrics, acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, herbal medicine and so on. No two chiropractors are exactly alike because everyone has a combination of different specialties and adjusting techniques. I encourage you to try different chiropractors if you are not satisfied with your current one, because every doctor can help with different conditions.  If you aren't sure if chiropractic can help you, just ask! Try chiropractic, its more than you think.