Core Essentials: Maximizing your Life!

Burnt Fingers - ouch!

2011-11-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

So what is it that prevents you from burning your fingers when you touch a hot surface? The school of hard knocks perhaps - you have done this before and know the consequences and so have become conditioned to avoid repeating the action. But what is the underlying control mechanism that activates that almost immediate response when we inadvertently touch something that is going to cause us harm? The Nervous System is what registers this noxious stimulus as messages are sent to the brain at lightening speed along nerve pathways. Your brain then registers this and instantly sends a reactive response out to the body which tells your muscles in your arm to contract and get your fingers out of the way. Can you imagine what would happen if there was any delay in this response - the consequences could be dire!

So what would happen if this same scenario was applied to other parts of your body? What would happen if for instance there was lack or interruption of nervous supply to your heart, or your lungs, or your bladder, or your intestine? If we take your heart as the example, the following could be possibilities: high or low blood pressure, arrhythmia's, congestive heart failure, to name but a few. With the lungs; asthma, and or bronchial spasm could be the result.

Chiropractic was founded as an art, science and philosophy which directly looks to the remove this nervous system distress. The bones, or vertebrae that make up your spine protect and wrap around your spine. However, between each one of these bones is a nerve which travels out into your body and acts as the information superhighway where messages travel back and forth from your brain. When these bones become misaligned they cause a chocking down onto these nerves and a reduction in the speed and quantity of messages that can travel along this pathway. Your whole system then slows down and responses and function decrease. By removing the misalignment it is like removing the roadblock along this pathway and then nerve energy is free to flow and your body will respond appropriately. This is exactly what the chiropractic adjustment does - it is so much more than getting your back "cracked"!

Living to a Hundred - the next step!

2011-09-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

Reduce stress and fatigue:

Nervous system stress is caused when one or more of the bones that make up your spinal column become misaligned, and it is the job of Chiropractic to remove this. These bones or vertebrae wrap around your spinal cord and protect it. However, when we experience either emotional, physical or chemical stress or a combination of these, these bones can shift out of their normal position and in so doing pinch or choke down on the nerves that exit the spinal cord between them. When this happens the brain has a hard time communicating with the rest of the body and telling it what to do. This increases stress! Also your body is required to work harder and harder leading to burn out and fatigue. The adjustment - the precise procedure used by a chiropractor to reposition the misaligned vertebra, removes the pressure on the injured nerve and so allows for restoration of brain - body communication. This then allows your body to function to its max, reducing stress and eliminating fatigue.

Want to live to One Hundred? Start with this:

2011-07-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Ignite your Fire:

Exercise, good nutrition and adequate sleep are all wonderful measures that are necessary to ensure optimal health. But unfortunately they are like putting premium gas or new oil into a car that has a damaged or non-functioning electrical system. Without the electrical system working properly the car won’t even start. We can change the oil, put in the most expensive gas, pump up the tires, and even have the car detailed but it still won’t go anywhere. The oil and gas are like good food, the pumped up tires and shiny exterior are like exercise. But what is lacking is the spark. Chiropractic is the key that turns on the ignition. Chiropractic makes sure that your electrical system is intact and firing adequately and appropriately so that there is proper functioning of your body. It makes sure that you can go when you start your engine!

Chiropractic and Kids.

2011-07-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

So the other day I had a patient ask me why I adjust my kids? "How old are they", she enquired? "Two and four", I responded. "Well they don't have any neck and back pain - they have to be too young for that, surely!", was her comment. Her retort really was a case in self-discovery. Wow, I realized just what a terrible job I had done on educating this patient on what chiropractic is and isn't and it also gave me a glimpse into what she believed true health to be.

At the outset let me point out that simply the absence of pain does not equate with optimal health. Seriously, consider this for a moment: if you were to neglect brushing your teeth for say a month, and didn't have pain - would you still have good oral health?  Or what about the guy who is 100lbs overweight - his blood pressure is elevated, blood sugar is sky high, but has no pain - is he the poster child of good health?
For far too long we have been indoctrinated by the pharmaceutical media, medical fraternity and insurance industry, to believe that no pain means I must be healthy. This is based on the old adage, that by taking this pill, or cutting something out you will rid yourself of pain, and voila you are well!

Perhaps a much more realistic equation would be that optimal health needs optimal function. If our bodies are working to their maximum potential then we are more apt to enjoy optimal health.  Health means that we need to be able to fully adapt to mental, physical and chemical stresses on a daily basis. You can't tell me that we are immune to these. So how do we get this? We achieve this by ensuring that our Nervous System - our bodies' master control system, is functioning without interference as this guides function.

So to get back to my patients' question: Knowing that she is a parent too, I asked her whether whether she wanted the best for her kids. A rhetorical question I know, but a good one to ask anyhow. Did she want to give her children an inheritance that had the potential for making them stronger, brighter, happier?  As a parent this is definitely what I want. I want to make sure that my kids are equipped with whatever it takes so that they can be their best. That they can run, jump and skip to the best of their ability, that they can heal quickly should they get hurt, that their immune system acts the most efficiently so that colds and infections are short lived, or don't even have a chance to take hold. And these are just a few examples of what can happen when the nervous system is working correctly. In short, that my children are capable of functioning to their max. This reasoning is based on the understanding that if the Nervous System can send messages out into the body that are easily interpreted and appropriately acted upon, then function is going to be optimal. However, when these messages are garbled, faint or distorted than function will proportionately decline.

I never want my kids to suffer from this, and probably neither do you! The best solution is to have them get adjusted. The chiropractic adjustment makes sure that messages transported by the nervous system out into the body reach their targets as loudly and clearly as possible. Now that's true health!

We invite you to visit our website at www.core-chiropractic.com to learn how this can be an affordable option. Or call us at (208) 664-0800 as we would love to answer your questions.

Natural defenses for the Flu Season.

2009-09-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

It seems that with each change in the season, and especially as we enter Autumn, the C.D.C. and Departments of Health issue their warnings about the potential for a flu epidemic. This year is proving to be no different, and with the incidence of the H1N1 or Swine flu everyone is encouraged and, shockingly reports are filtering through that we may be mandated, to get the latest flu vaccine.

Cause for concern for many are the constituents of this vaccine; formaldehyde, aluminium, egg protein, and especially the use of Squalene, as an adjuvant. Adjuvants are pharmacological or immunological agents that modify the effect of other agents (e.g., drugs, vaccines) while having few if any direct effects (see discussion that follows), when given by themselves. (Definition from Wikipedia). In the case of a vaccine the adjuvant is added to raise the effect of the vaccine, so that it has a quicker more potent effect. One can think of it as turbo charging the vaccine.
Squalene in and of itself is a naturally occurring substance within the body, but when introduced by the foreign route of injection provokes the immune response. The effect is that the body registers this as a foreign substance and goes after it by destroying it. Even destroying it in areas where it is vital to the health of the Nervous System resulting in inflammatory syndromes.

A link between Gulf War Syndrome and Gulf War veterans who received Squalene containing vaccines has received much attention but has been questionably debunked by both the World Health Organization and the Department of Defense.

So where do we go from here if we want to boost and aid the immune system from a natural standpoint? I have decided to break the recommendations down into two parts. In this post I will address immune strengthening through the use of natural supplements and in Part Two will talk about how chiropractic affords a superlative means of engaging the immune system.

The main thrust of any supplemental regimen is to boost the immune system so that it becomes more effective and more fortified in launching a precise response.

Echinacea: Modulates the immune response by interaction of alkylamides (functional constituent) with CB2 receptors. Boosts white blood cell count, especially natural killer cells.
Andrographis Complex: Supports and enhances immune reponse following stress, sudden weather changes or temperature. Supports healthy respiratory system function.
Euphrasia Complex: Supports healthy mucous membranes especially those of the nose and sinuses. Assists in maintaining healthy breathing passages to support free and clear breathing. Maintains normal respiratory tract function through normal mucus secretion.
Garlic: Enhances immune system response and promotes healthy lung function.
Vitamin D: helps regulate cell growth, immunity and metabolism. Vitamin D acts as a substrate for multiple gene regulated functions in the body, one of which is the ability to fight infections. It produces over 200 anti-microbial peptides through this action, one of which is cathelicidin - a naturally occuring broad-spectrum antibiotic.
Calcium Lactate: promotes the uptake of Vitamin D, and modulates the amount of tissue and blood calcium.

It is imperative that the supplements taken are from a wholefood base and are not synthectically derived. Your body no more knows what to do with these as it does with a bunch of chemicals or parts of the whole. Hence, avoid fractionated neutraceuticals. You will be able to differentiate whether the supplement is of this ilk if on the doasge chart they come in mega dosages e.g. 1000% ,or if it refers to the vitamin as something, e.g. Vitamin C as ascorbic acid.

Tired of living in Pain - what are my options?

2009-09-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Daily in my practice I hear, " I just want to get rid of the pain", and yes this is a very strong motivator, and something that obviously needs to be addressed. But my contention is that pain in and of itself is a very poor indicator of someone's health status. Pain generally is the last thing to show up, but the first thing to go. Think of the cancer patient. Did their cancer just show up because they now have pain? Generally this just isn't the case. And once the pain is gone, are they cancer free? Consider a broken bone - once it has been splinted and the pain goes away - has the bone healed? Pain is used by the body as a signal to indicate or bring to our attention that something is wrong, much like the engine light on a car dashboard warns us that something is wrong with the inner workings of our car. We would be foolish to simply remove the fuse to the light and switch off this warning sign and continue driving, assuming that all is well. Well, this is generally what we do when we reach for the bottle of Tylenol. Sure it will get rid of the pain, but won't necessarily address the cause of the pain. In our fast paced society we are driven to find a quick and immediate fix, and just don't have the patience to allow the body to heal itself. However, when we mask the pain or simply treat the symptom, what we may essentially be doing is setting ourselves up for disaster. Consider the scenario of chest pain which may be a sign of an imminent heart attack. Wouldn't it make more sense then to look for the cause of the pain, and rather deal with this. Sure, it may take longer for the results to show up but they will be much more deeper and longer lasting. Chiropractic was founded on the principle of looking to the cause of the disease, and acknowledging the healing and restorative power of the body. Under the control of the nervous sytem the body recognizes right from wrong and has the ability to heal itself. Pain in this sense reflects that the system is working correctly. It is revealing that something is wrong - and as such shouldn't be negated. Imagine if the body never registered pain! If we were to suffer interference into this system - the nervous system, then this could ultimately be the consequence. Chiropractic looks to determining whether their is indeed interference and removing this so that messages may be sent and interpreted by the brain and that the body should function as it should. If you would like to find out more about how Chiropractic can go beyond just treating pain please send me your comments. I would be delighted to respond.

Organic - so what!

2008-07-09T10:16:00.001-07:00

This is an extension to the previous discussion about the need to detoxify our bodies at least annually due to our accumulation of pesticides, herbicides, and preservatives through he foods we ingest. The Environmental Working Group has published a list of the most commonly consumed fruits and vegetables and determined their toxic load via pesticide residue. The recommendation is to purchase organic as much as possible but at least for foods with high pesticide levels. The following link will take you to the list of foods that were tested and the corresponding results. http://www.foodnews.org/fulldataset.php

How safe is your water bottle?

2008-07-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

Do you, like thousands of other Americans enjoy bottled water? Or what about using cling wrap to preserve your left overs, or when popping something into the microwave? And new moms and dads, do you like the convenience of feeding the little one from a plastic bottle?

However, are you aware that some or all of these packaging products may contain the chemical Bispherol A.

The manufacturers of these products will argue that, "the products manufactured from bispherol A (BPA) pose no know risks to human health when used for intended purposes." Recent research indicates that we cannot deny the possibility that BPA may cause serious health consequences even under "normal:" conditions.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) voiced its concern about the leaching of BPA into our food supply under "typical conditions". Stating that one cannot dismiss the possibility of altered human development by the inclusion of BPA in such items as canned foods, baby bottles and plastic beverage bottles. The NTP also concurs that " there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects on fetuses, infants and children at current exposures". BPA has also been show to have negative effects on the prostate and mammary glands and for resulting in precocious puberty in females.

A study reported in the Journal of Reproductive Toxicology has found BPA to work as a endocrine disruptor in the body effecting the mammary gland development, and causing lesions in both the prostate and mammary glands. Rodent studies point to the potential for cancer and to affect brain structure, function and ultimately behavior.

A BPA task force has recently been established by the FDA commissioner to determine the impact and safety of BPA.

As of this posting there is no requirement by food packaging manufacturers to disclose the use of chemicals in their products. However, most polycarbonates or epoxy resins - hard plastics (those lovely colored drinking cups sold at high end stores) generally contain BPA. Nalgene has started to produce water bottles free of BPA. Most canned foods contain BPA as a can liner. (Just another reason to avoid these foods - that are already over processed, filled with preservatives, etc.).

A report by Environment California in 2007, and a 2008 one by Work Group for Safe Markets showed BPA leaching in five popular brands of baby bottles at levels that caused harm to animal subjects. More BPA was leached out when the bottles were either heated or older.

How can you minimize your exposure to BPA? Here are a few suggestions:

Eat only fresh fruits and vegetables, not canned. Store any left overs in glass containers rather than plastic. Reuse pasta sauce jars.
Avoid microwaving where plastic wrap is used to contain spills. Rather utilize microwave safe glass. Although avoiding microwaving as much as possible is recommended.
Purchase foods in glass or cardboard containers - e.g tetrapak.
Place drinking ware, juice, tea, milk, etc. in a glass or a stainless steel jar. Neoprene sleeves can be purchased to protect glass from breaking.
Avoid plastics marked with #7 or PC. Instead look for #1, #2, and #4 which are BPA free.
Medela and Born Free baby bottles and products are labeled BPA free.
The Environment Working Group has a web site with further tips to avoid expose to BPA. (www.ewg.org/chemindex/chemicals/23297).

Detoxification - the Why, When and How:

2008-05-30T08:48:00.001-07:00

If you have had a chance to watch the trailer from a soon to be launched web exclusive movie titled “FoodMatters TV”, you will most probably be struck and shocked by what one wellness expert had to say. I know I was. Basically, he said that all the terrorists needed to do was to open up more and more fast food restaurants and then sit back and watch America eat itself to death. A rather flippant if not snide remark I thought, but as I pondered this I came to realize that what he was saying was based on the principle of, you are or you become, what you eat.

Daily we ingest toxins in the form of pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified and refined food, synthetic food additives, and pollutants as well as produce body waste products as a result of normal metabolic function. Purification becomes necessary when our toxic load reaches maximum levels and our body becomes overburdened and can no longer function optimally. The side effects of toxic overload are mental fog, constant fatigue, digestive problems including gas and bloating, food cravings and weight gain, and reduced libido.
Affirmative answers to questions like; do you eat or have you eaten processed foods, do you use artificial sweeteners, do you eat fast foods, or eat out regularly, do you drink soda, etc., can glean insight into your toxic load stemming from your diet. Further, external toxins in the form of household cleaners, .and pollutants, may add to your load.

Purification is the key to ridding yourself of these toxins and should be based on stimulating the organs of detoxification; the liver, kidneys, small and large intestine. Further it should be a program that helps to both nourish and maintain a healthy body and weight.
Specifically a program should include dietary modification and the use of adjunctive nutritional supplements that act as building blocks to help fulfill this task. These supplements should include those that deliver powerful antioxidant support, provide amino acids, essential fatty acids minerals and vitamins to encourage healthy organ function. They should provide dietary fiber to increase and enhance regular bowel habits and elimination, and promote a healthy gut. And they should also help combat free radical damage

Dietary modification emphasizes eating of whole “live” foods, particularly raw fruits and vegetables and eliminating high calorie refined foods and saturated fats. Unlimited quantities of green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, and Swiss chard can be eaten. Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, mushrooms, peppers, and celery, are ideas of further vegetable alternatives. Fresh or frozen fruit in the form of apples, blueberries, kiwis, pears, strawberries, and rhubarb are ideas. However, it is important that twice as many vegetables as fruit are consumed. Your body also needs to be hydrated and so the consumption of adequate water is essential. Protein sources are typically introduced mid way through the program and can include cold water wild fish, and lean meats, typically chicken, that is simply prepared.

Although challenging, a purification program that produces any significant results typically lasts for 21 days. However, one should only see this as the beginning of the process of lifelong transformation.

Before starting any diet or exercise program please consult with your health care professional.

Purify your Body, Transform your Life. The Power of Detoxification.

2008-05-19T15:24:00.001-07:00

With Spring finally here I decided that it was time to brace myself and clean out the cupboards in my garage. It was amazing all the junk I found: a set of old keys, numerous empty paint cans, a couple of burnt out light bulbs, old newspapers, and a rusted padlock. After sorting through all this junk and throwing it away it was so freeing to have dealt with it, I was almost euphoric.

Our bodies also have a junk drawer. We accumulate this “junk” from the foods we eat, the liquids we drink, and the air we breathe. Pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, chemicals, food additives, preservatives and pollution all add to this junk. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the average American consumes four pounds of pesticides annually and more than 3000 chemical additives are found in the foods that we eat. We are chronically exposed to harmful substances and it is no longer a case of if we are toxic, but rather how toxic we are

Daily our bodies produce ammonia, carbon dioxide and free radicals as the wastes of cellular metabolism. It’s the job of your liver, lymphatic system, kidneys, lungs, intestines, blood and skin to filter out these toxins. However, when overloaded, your body becomes inefficient and clogged, and instead collects and harbors these toxins.
The result of this is compromise of your well-being. Typical symptoms of toxic overload are: weight gain, fatigue, poor digestion with bloating, irritable sleep, food cravings, mental fog, and moodiness to name just a few.

Purification of your system is the key to unlocking the internal cleansing and detoxification of your body. It’s like an internal “spring” cleaning. Unlike fad diets which typically ignore the way our body works, and where the tendency is to pack on the pounds afterwards, a purification program is geared to purify, nourish and maintain a healthy body and weight. It focuses on stimulating specific organs of detoxification – the liver, kidneys, small and large intestine. When these organs are no longer under toxic overload your body is able to focus its energy on proper function. Weight loss is an added advantage of liver detoxification as fat metabolism and toxic filtration is increased. Toxins are stored in the fat and as we eliminate these, fat is mobilized and shunted out of the body.

Purification and detoxification challenges you to make healthier food choices for yourself. It teaches you to eliminate fast foods, processed convenience foods, sugar laden drinks and snacks from your diet and instead replace these with whole, unprocessed preservative free foods, and whole food supplements. There is no caloric limit to the amount of food that you can eat; just that it has to be nutrient dense and support detoxification .Ultimately it creates a different mindset and lifestyle in the participant where you will start to enjoy “live” foods, instead of “dead” nutrient poor processed foods.

If you are looking to free yourself from your junk drawer and want to enjoy increased energy, kick start your weight loss program, get rid of all those nagging aches and pains, or generally have a goal to feel better, then a purification and detoxification program is for you.

As always before starting any diet or exercise program please consult with your health care professional.

You are what you Eat.

2008-04-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

How many times have we heard this phrase, and have simply filed it away for consideration at another date, and then tucked into our Big Mac and fires, or slice of pepperoni pizza. It all tastes so good but is loaded with trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, chemical preservatives, etc. but what is it doing to our health?
In a soon to be released film, nutritionist and leaders in natural healing investigate our current food and related health crisis and demonstrate that what what we eat really is affecting us. As one person mentions - "all that the terrorists have to do is open more fast food chain restaurants in the US and just wait for all of us to die".
We constantly consume genetically modified and "enriched" foods, foods that are treated with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides and grown in toxic soils. We are told that for every ailment there is a drug that will sustain our "health", but "approximately 106 000 Americans die from pharmaceutical drugs a year, and these are people who took the medications as directed". (quote from, Foodmatters TV).
Good health makes a lot of sense, but NOT a lot of dollars!

You can view a trailer of this film at:http://www.foodmatters.tv/trailer.php

What's behind Big Pharma - do no harm or big Bucks??

2008-02-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

What is really the motivation behind the pharamceutical industry? Is it to research and manufacture the best products to afford the best results and outcomes for the recipients of the drug , or is it simply to line the pockets of their chief executives? The following investigational report conducted by 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley raises the issue with regard to Trasylol, made by Bayer, given to control bleeding in the OR. It was a huge money maker, given to one third of all cardiac bypass patients in the US. However a 2006 study showed that its use resulted in kidney failure and death. Why then did it take the Food and Drug administration and Bayer another two years after the results of this study to take it off the market? Two years in which an estimated one thousand people died per month. Click on the following link to watch this report: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3841770n

Flu Season 2007

2007-11-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

With Winter just around the corner the catch phrase has got to be, "Get the Flu Shot" - but for those of us who are weary of the effectiveness of this vaccine what can we do to raise our level of immunity? Firstly I would advocate getting regularly adjusted - elimating subluxations (misalignments of the vertebral column) that cause nerve injury to areas directly involved with the immune system will have a huge impact on how your body recognizes the flu virus and how it deals with this. Your body needs to be effective in launching the immune response and one needs clear communication between the brain - the master control organ, and the rest of the body to achieve this. We also need to make sure that we have the "fuel" available to launch the appropriate immune response. It's no good have everything ready on the launchpad, but nothing to get the rocket going, so to speak. Thus good nutritional supplemenation is vital. Echinacae has been show through numerous scientific studies to posses amazing immune building properties. However it is so important that the right form of Echnicae is taken. One needs to take a form that is manufactured mostly utilizing the root of the plant and not the leaves and flowers. it is in the root that we find the greatest concentration of alkylamides. These are the only components of the herb found in the blood after oral ingestion. And it is the alkylamides that must be used as markers of quality and activity. So if a brand of Echincae has very low levels of these, you are essentailly wasting both your time and money. In conjunction with Echincae, Andrographis is another excellent immune booster, that also supports healthy respiratory function. Garlic, too also enhances immunity and promotes healthy lung function. Further recommendations are: Wash your hands frequently with warm water and soap, Bed rest and fluids are essential in an acute infection, Steam inhalations with essential oils help bring relief to respiratory congestion, Avoid as much stress as possible.

2007-11-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the blog for Core Chiropractic! We envision this as serving as a forum where we can freely share information that has a direct impact on your health and lifetsyle. We invite you to share your thoughts, opinions, comments and concerns. We also invite you to ask questions.