Driving past Taco Bell yesterday, I noticed that they were selling plates of nachos for $0.99.  And that was the biggest option!  They also had options for $0.79 and $0.89.  I thought about how cheap that food was, and how stressed people can be with their wallets right about now.  It's easy to look at that food and think that you are saving money by not buying good healthy products like whole organic and local foods.  Why pay extra for organic and then take the time to cook it and prepare it yourself, when you could just as easily eat nachos prepared for you?

Aside from the disgust I feel when thinking about eating stuff like that, I asked myself the question of why not eat like that?  Why not try to save money now?  Well, it really comes down to the question of cost and benefit and long term vs. short term gratification.  If I eat crap food now, then I will likely be damaging my health in ways that won't truly manifest until later on in life.  Then I will pay for them with expensive medical bills and surgeries to correct damaged organs that I mistreated throughout my life.  So either pay now or pay later.  It's all about choice.

It's not wrong to eat like that and then pay for it later.  It's just a different choice.  My own choice is to pay a bit more for food that I know nourishes me and supports me, with the added long term benefit of a decreased likelihood to need expensive treatment later.  That's not to say it won't happen.  We all know the totally fit person who has a heart attack, and the smoker who never gets lung cancer, but it's not only about that for me.  I'm not really eating this way to try to prevent malady down the road.  That's just a bonus.  I eat like I do for the benefits now.  Increased vitality, energy, enthusiasm and excitment for life, and for eating!

I can't force peope to make those choices, but I hope I can educate people to make an informed choice about their lives.  If that includes Taco Bell, go for it!  But don't just choose it because you don't know any better.

I'm really glad that the scientific community, and the consumers at large have recognized that trans-fats, also known as "partially hydrogenated oils" can be hazardous to their health.  (I will point out, though, that even if something says it has 0 grams of it, it might still have up to 499 mg per serving.  They round down!)  Trans fats are linked to increased blood sugars, auto-immune diseases, cancer, heart disease, and fertility problems.  They also decrease good cholesterol levels.

But there is another fat on the market, that has actually been around since the 20's in the UK and the 50's in the US, that is now being used more often, because it's not technically a trans-fat.  It's called an inter-ester-ified fat.  It's made via another chemical process that is different than hydrogenation, the process that creates trans fats, but that still makes oils more stable on the shelves.  Be warned!  Early testing of this fat has shown that it can have an even more deleterious effect on blood sugar than trans fats ever did.  In addition, it is chock full of dangerous free radicals from the intense processing that goes into creating it.  All of the dangers of trans fats are present in these, because of the nature of the oil.

Other names for this are: high stearate, stearic rich, fully hydrogenated vegetable, palm, or palm kernel oil.  Basically if you're eating a processed food that lists a vegetable oil in the ingredient list, you can be almost absolutely sure that it's either a trans fat or an interesterified fat.  The scary thing is that 90% of the food bought on the market today is processed food.  And we have almost no idea when we eat out.

The bottom line is to reduce consumption of processed foods, since this is where most of these chemically and artifically created fats are located.  Eat whole, natural, local, organic foods, preferably fruits and vegetables for the most part.

Yesterday I watched as Obama became the 44th president, and I remembered a time 16 years ago when I was able to attend the inauguration of Clinton.  It was a different world.  There was less security, no checkpoints, it was 40 something, instead of in the teens, I was in high school, and I was beyond ignorant of the significance of what I was witnessing.  (I just liked running up all the long stair cases!)

Watching it on the internet yesterday gave me the feeling that I was watching history unfold.  I got the impression that it was a momentous, astounding day, and I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.  Is it because I have more experience, and know that every change over of a president is a significant event?  Or is it more because I really feel that this was a necessary and profound change this time?  I tend to think the latter, even if only because I like to think that my feelings have some bearing on reality.

I really hope that we are turning a corner.  I hope that this man that we elected makes good on the promises that we elected him for.  I don't necessarily mean the specifics, but the vision of his dream.  I think he has the potential.   I think, given the options, that he was the best man for the job.  I have high hopes.  I'm trying to be positive about it, because in general, I am rather cynical when it comes to politics.  Maybe I totally fell for the best politician, and he's really a con man, but I don't believe it.  And that's what important.

Good luck in there, Obama!  Make us all proud!

At least, that's what my cousin Heather said after I told her that my car had been stolen!  It was not a great way to exit a yoga class in the morning.  I'd parked my car outside where I always do at 5:45 am.  Between then and 7:20, when the class ended, they had taken it.  I was at peace, feeling blissed out and very flexible, and then, "wait a minute, I could have sworn...  oh geez."  That last word was in place of something much worse, believe me.

Well, the car is back, minus one ignition, and one stereo, but otherwise not too bad.  My wallet was in the car, which caused a ruckus of sorts, but I think it's mostly figured out now.  I just have to work things out with Wells Fargo some more.

The most interesting part of the whole thing was the absolute, uninhibited rage that I felt at the violation of the theft.  It was too strong for me to yell and scream, and I felt like all I could do was weep.  Silly, I know, to weep about a car, but it wasn't really about the car.  It was about the helplessness, and the victimization, and the why me, and all of that.  Ultimately, I let a lot of that rage go.  But before I did that, I went through this introspective process of thinking about who would do such a thing, and why.  I came up with a lot of theories.  Many of them involved professional thievery, but others were more desperate.  People fallen on hard times, wondering how to get by, that sort of thing.  Regardless of who it was, I was able to reach a point where I was able to forgive them.  Which is not to say that I wouldn't have pressed charges and sent them to jail if they had been caught by the police.  But I forgave them.  They were doing the best they could, where they were at.  That's all anyone can do.

Sure have learned my lesson though.

I had the incredible privilege last week of witnessing baby turtles on the beaches of Mexico being born.  It was a wonderful sight.  These turtles are laid as eggs two feet below the surface of the sand, approximately fifty feet from the water.  (That's a very broad approximation.  I'm not good at distances.)  The turtles are signaled to hatch after about 30 days, and when the temperature of the sand is warm enough.  They make their way up through 2 feet of sand struggling and digging their way out before orienting themselves to where the ocean is.  Then they have to scurry over the sand to find the ocean.  If they make it to the ocean before getting picked off by birds, they have to contend with the waves that sometimes throw them back up the beach, and sometimes helps them out to the ocean.  Once out in the ocean, they may have to avoid fish so they can survive.  I heard someone say that less than 2% actually survive to lay eggs.

It was also said that those turtles who are aided by people to the ocean have a lower probability of survival than those that go through the struggle.  The turtles had to develop themselves neurologically so they could handle the stresses that awaited them later.  Taking away that stress made them less fit!  I was immediately struck by the truth and profundity of that statement, not just for turtles but for us as well!

The most valuable experiences in most people's lives, I think, are not the easy ones, but the ones that we struggled for.  I know for myself that is true.  School didn't mean much to me because it was always easy, but getting my black belt was hard!  Which do you think I value more?

People talk about avoiding stress, but I think it's important to change our perspective on stress.  Stress is what shapes us, allows us to grow, evolve, and become who we were meant to become.  Stress is simply another word for a life experience.  We either integrate that experience and it becomes a part of us, nurturing that process, or we don't, and it stores as tension in the body.  Our perspective on that process can influence which path it takes, and how we integrate that experience.

For the last few years, I have believed the subject line to be true.  Cancer is one of those things that the body can deal with on its own, by spiking a fever every now and then, and using other methods to destroy it before it gets to an unreasonable size.  (Just another reason not to kill a fever!)  If its working correctly, we need never know that there was a cancerous cell there.

Despite my absolute faith in the body to heal from anything on its own, given enough time and energy, cancer has been one of those things that seems particularly malicious and difficult to deal with.  And the treatment options are not much fun either!  But, there's hope, according to this study:

"Dr. Per-Henrik Zahl and his colleagues examined invasive breast cancer rates among nearly 120,000 women age 50 to 64 who had a mammogram over a six-year period. They compared the number of breast cancers detected with another group of about 110,000 women of the same age who were screened just once at the end of the six-year period.

The researchers said they expected to find no differences in breast cancer rates -- but instead, they found 22 percent more invasive breast tumors in the group who had mammograms every two years. This raises the possibility that some cancers somehow disappear naturally."

Study comes from:
Archives of Internal Medicine November 24, 2008;168(21):2311-2316.

Now I'm not suggesting that people just don't get checked and hope they never get cancer.  I think what this shows is that the body does have an amazing ability to heal, and not to lose sight of that.  Have faith in your body's inborn wisdom.  And do the things that help your body be the best that it can be.  Proper nutrition, exercise, mental focus, clear neurological connection, and lots of pure water, to name a few.

How you eat has a profound influence on how you feel.

I had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend with my parents and brother in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  And before you ask, no, I didn't grow up there.  I grew up with them in California, but then they abandoned me (sniff) and fled to Jackson in 2000.  (Which is very convenient, btw, since that makes it easy to count how long they've been there.  "What year is it?  Oh, eight years.")  It's a nice place to visit, though it's a bit small for me, and can get kind of cold.

While there, our eating habits changed significantly.  My parents don't scrutinize their food like Laelle and I do.  We make sure not to eat any high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and we eat many fruits, vegetables, and as organically as possible.  We put some of this on hold while there, since we knew my parents didn't tend to follow that, and hey, it was only 4 days!

I got back from that vacation and found that all my joints were hurting, to the point that when I went back to my exercise routine, my knees were quite sore, in a way they hadn't been since I was in my early 20's.  I thought maybe I'd hurt them, or sat for too long in the plane.  After the weekend back, I worked out again, and my pain had completely gone away.

The main difference I could come up with was how I was eating!  We had gone back to our normal habits, as mentioned above, and the pain just disappeared.  I think the culprit was my nutrition.  I think my eating habits (and drinking habits) were so poor in WY that it increased the level of inflammation in my body to the point where my joints hurt.  Once I got back, I was able to lower the inflammation back down just by changing back to those habits.

I told Laelle this, and she said she doubted most people would have made that connection, so I had to share.

How you eat has a profound influence on how you feel.  In every way.  Obviously, if my body is in less pain, that's a good thing, but imagine all the other benefits that I must be experiencing because of these eating habits.  And it's FAR better than taking medication to manage inflammation, or God forbid, *gasp* high cholesterol because of that inflammation destroying my arterial walls.

I was going through morning yoga at Source Yoga here in Tacoma, and I was thinking about the movements and the postures and how they might be affecting my body.  I wondered about people who hated their bodies and were trying to force them or mold them into something else.  It isn't enough to be healthy and fit, but you have to look like it too.  Many people do undertake yoga practice in order to get long lean bodies.

What I realized was that my view on yoga practice, or any exercise for that matter, was different.  I saw that I was using yoga as a way of presenting my body with stresses that I hoped it would incorporate and adapt to, and whatever that looked like would be fine.  I looked at it more from a performance aspect, I guess.  It's a different way of looking at exercise.

Then I thought, "that's a different way of looking at stress!"

Stress is decried as a bad thing by many people.  The truth is that without stress, we wouldn't long survive.  Stress is essential for stimulating growth in us.  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.  Literally.  Have you seen people who have no stress in their lives?  They are bored and/or depressed!  They then create more stress for themselves internally, either through poor diet, drugs, or by seeking drama externally.  No stress means no growth.  We would simply become flabby, physically, mentally, spiritually, with no ability to deal with our emotions.  We would learn nothing.

We need stress to grow.  In the form of exercise, unexpected emotional turmoil, philosophical challenges, falls, arguments, etc.  It is true that if we experience more stress than we can integrate at the time, our bodies do a "brilliant" job of storing it for us so we can integrate it later.  But that stored stress, if not dealt with, will seriously hinder the body's ability to function, which is why stress integration, not necessarily reduction, is an essential component for healthy living and continued evolution.

Medicine has coined the terms eustress for good stress and distress for bad stress, but they are both relative to the individual.  What is eustress to one person is distress to another, and vice versa.  We can increase our ability to perceive more stress as eustress by meditation, exercise, chiropractic, qigong, yoga, and a healthy nutrition plan.

Integrate your stress, grow to new heights, and enjoy the process.

Laelle sent me a link to this article and I had to share, especially since it seems as though 20-30% of our practice members are getting sick here and there.

There is a sort of obsessive thing with germs in our culture, and it has potentially led to many of the ailments that continue to plague us.  Please read the article.

I've had a couple of conversations with people lately about chiropractic.  Usually when people talk me about chiropractic, they approach it from the standpoint of, "what can you do for me?"  This is a completely valid stance.  People have issues that they would like resolved, and are wondering how chiropractic can help them with their particular issue.  I get some blank looks sometimes when I tell them what I would do.

"I would adjust you."

It is an easy answer.  That part of the action doesn't change no matter who walks into our office, and no matter what they walk in with.  That's the beauty of wellness care.  That's the great thing about what we do.  Wellness care works the way it does because it improves the body's ability to function.  In every way.

When people get adjusted, they have better communication throughout their entire system, between body, mind, and spirit.  That helps the body in any way you can think of.  As communication improves coordination and balance likewise improve.  The efficiency of the body improves as it can handle and deal with any stress (i.e. experience) that the body has.  It does so with less waste, with a correct, apportioned response that is appropriate to the situation, whatever that is!  If that situation is a chronic condition, then your body will become better at managing it and healing you.  If it is an acute sprain or injury, then the body will be able to provide the right amount of swelling, the right amount of pain, and provide the right healing for you.  If everything is going very well for you, then it will go even better.

This is true for any level of wellness care.  It is not about fixing your disease or condition.  Obviously, that would be great.  The best way for us to do that, is to help the best doctor in the world treat your condition.  That doctor is you, or more specifically, the intelligence within you.  Wellness care is much more powerful than crisis care at helping people be well and live to their optimal potential.

As a greatly respected chiropractor, Arno Burnier, once said, "You don't have to be sick to get well!"

How amazing!  I was able to go on a short run yesterday and today my hamstring is a little sore.  I didn't feel any pain while I was working out at all.  The other great thing that I am now experiencing is that I can do little snap kicks (most martial arts call them front kicks, kenpo liked calling them snap kicks.  The round house is actually called a wheel kick in kenpo.  go figure...) without any pain in my leg!

I think I'm ready for yoga!  I can't wait to see what I'm capable of.  I think I healed my hamstring in record time.  Thanks for the support and well wishes.

So here we are, Tuesday, and it's been nine days since I probably tore my semi-membranosus muscle in half.  I swear I felt it bunch up near my knee and my hip when it happened, but I could have imagined it.

In any event.  I was just telling kathrynt that my mobility had come back to about 95% since then, and my strength to about 30%.  Which to me is a pretty remarkable achievement.  I'd like to thank my chi, my life force, the innate intelligence inside of me that built my hamstring in the first place, and keeps it functioning correctly.  I'd like to thank my own stick-to-it-ivenss that kept me from using ice or any other analgesic remedy while my body did its work.

This is what I am passionate about.  This is the mission of Brilliant Life Chiropractic.  To empower and inspire others to recognize their incredible potential for healing.  I am awestruck by my own recovery.  Also, lest some say I am overly optimistic or unrealistic, I don't think I misdiagnosed the injury.  Based on the lack of movement I had, the pain I was in, and the feeling when it snapped (yes, snapped) it was a serious strain.  I will keep you all informed of my progress!  I'm a little behind schedule, I guess, since I gave myself a week, but hey, going from almost unable to walk to walking with no pain in 9 days is awesome.

Also, wish me luck tonight as I talk at Marlene's Market and Deli about BGI and Chiropractic principles such as this.

So, my father in law had his 60th Birthday Party last Saturday, and it was a blast.  I had a great time, even with Laelle away in Brazil serving with an open heart and a brilliant hand to bring the gift of chiropractic to the 4000 or so people she saw during that week.  She has returned with a huge amount of energy, and I am trying very hard not to suck her back down to my level which is admittedly operating at a lower vibration than hers.

Anyway, my point.  I was dancing, having a wonderful time, and dropping into the splits from time to time, as I have a wont to do, given that I'd trained in the martial arts for 12 years, and am pretty flexible and quite strong.  Apparently four times was one time too many.  On that fourth crazy attempt I felt and heard something go "pop" in my leg, somewhere near my hip, in the general vicinity of my hamstring.

Many of you may know, a "pop" is not good when it comes to soft tissue.  At least not in this case.  I now cannot raise my leg while straightened without sending bolts of stabbing pain down into my knee.  There is also some soreness in my hamstring.  I've checked my knee out.  The ligaments are sound.  It is totally related to my hamstring.  Specifically, I think, the one most medial to my body.

I am using this as an opportunity to demonstrate the amazing healing powers of the body.  I have already recovered at least 50% of my mobility in the few days since the injury.  I am not icing it or doing anything other than getting adjusted and moving it to the limits of where I feel pain that tells me to stop.  Oh, I am also directing chi to the area every chance I get.  My goal is to be able to exercise again next week.  I'll have to let you know how it goes.  I am writing all of this down to motivate myself to be able to achieve this goal, and for you guys to keep me accountable.

Still, I find I hate being a gimp, which is probably all part of the process for me, as I was just discussing how little I think I would enjoy life if I couldn't move around anymore!  Thanks universe!!

So, according to Mercola.com, my most trusted source for the worst of the worst when it comes to pharmaceuticals, they are about to unveil the latest vaccine, Zostavax, which is to help prevent the incidence of shingles.  Shingles can be pretty severe, and can even result in pain that can last years after the virus has done it's work.  It is basically present in anyone who has had chickenpox, and is caused by the same virus.  What's interesting here is that they had recently come out with a vaccine for chickenpox.

There are a couple of problems with this.  One: "Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), said that although vaccination would save thousands of young lives over time (which may also be a total lie, which I’ll explain below), thousands of elderly people could also die from the complications of shingles."  Hence the idea, hey, lets make a vaccine for it!  Two: "Being close to children means that adults are exposed to the virus, which acts like a natural booster vaccine against shingles, they believe. But if all children are vaccinated, adults who have had chickenpox are no longer protected against developing shingles."

Chickenpox is a relatively mild disease that is typically caught during childhood.  "The deaths from chickenpox complications that they scare you with are not caused by the virus itself, but rather by overly aggressive medical “care” in treating the symptoms. Some misguided physicians treat the children with more and more antibiotics, analgesics, or steroidal medications as their condition grows progressively worse. Each new symptom getting another drug until the child dies."

So what is the answer?  Boost your own immune system.  That's what it is there for!  Eat right, exercise regularly, get plenty of sunshine, get adjusted, and take care of yourself.  Try tai chi!

"By itself, the practice of tai-chi alone was responsible for increasing a patient's immunity to that comparable of a 30-40-year-old adult.

And the tai-chi patients doubled their immunity to shingles as compared to the control group during the entire 25-week study, and reported great improvements in mental health, vitality, overall pain and physical functioning -- all benefits one can expect from regular exercise."

 

As a chiropractor, I get almost religious about the idea that the body can heal itself and all it needs is no interference.  This is the reason that I don't take any drugs unless absolutely necessary to save my life () and while sometimes I feel like the only one who feels that way, Dr. Mercola obviously does as well.

"The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that drug overdoses killed 33,000 people in 2005, second only to car accidents in the category of accidental deaths. In 1999, the number was 20,000, and in 1990, 10,000 died."  Bear in mind that these are prescription drug numbers, not illegal ones.  What's more, 106,000 die each year from properly prescribed drugs.  Cocaine and heroin kill about 20,000.  I would assume that many more people are taking prescription drugs than elicit ones, but you never know, I guess.

Dr. Mercola responds to this article with the following:

"There are times when drugs are necessary, but the bottom line is that most of the time they aren’t. And when you get into that mindset that you need a drug to cure what ails you, two things happen.

First, and most obviously, you subject your body to another potentially toxic substance.

Second, and this is more on a subconscious level, it reinforces in your mind that your body cannot heal itself. No, you’re telling yourself each time you pop a pill, only these drugs can do that. Which, of course, is a lie. But the more you tell yourself that you need drugs to feel good, the more your body will follow suit. Soon you really will need those pills just to feel normal.

And this is an insult to the immense healing power of your body."

I'm not trying to say that there isn't a time and a place for drugs.  But when 46% of the population is taking at least one medication, we need to start looking at just what it means to be healthy, and to live in a healthy way.  The power that made the body heals the body.

I saw this article on mercola.com, and thought I would share it.  If you took any one of these principles and applied it to your life today, it could revolutionize your interactions with the people you see.  It illustrates just how profound these teachings are.  They come from Gandhi.



Take care everyone, and have a brilliant day!

I was just reading an article on mercola.com, a great website about health, about the NNT.  This statistic is often hidden by the pharmaceutical companies, and it means the number needed to treat in order to have a particular response.  For example, if the NNT were 10, and the drug was supposed to prevent a heart attack, then 10 people would have to take the drug for 1 person to be saved from a heart attack.

The article quotes Dr. Nortin M. Hadler, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in Business Week:

"Anything over an NNT of 50 is worse than a lottery ticket; there may be no winners."

Cholesterol drug hallmark Lipitor has an NNT of 100, based on their own statistics.  But they claim that it is 36% more effective than a placebo.  How they came by that statistic is that 3% of people taking Lipitor in their clinical trial might have been saved from a heart attack, compared with 2% with a placebo.  Giving it an NNT of 100, since the difference is only 1%, or 1 person out of a 100.  So 100 people need to spend 1000's of dollars in order for 1 person to gain this benefit.  And some of these drugs have an NNT of 250, even after taking them for up to 5 years!  That's a lot of money.

So ask your doctor next time they suggest a prescription for you what the NNT is.  It's important to know to gauge it on a cost benefit type analysis.

I'm quite excited right now.  A friend of mine got published in a real, honest to god, scientific, peer reviewed journal!

His topic is about chiropractic, and it's a case study of how a man suffering from extreme depression, and the whole constellation of a symptoms that tends to accompany it (anxiety, fatigue, back pain, neck pain, and decreased appetite).  In addition, he was suffering from a bunch of other symptoms that were related to his medication, such as decreased libido, dizziness, and others.

Chiropractic basically increased his self reported levels of health and quality of life as well as decreased many of his symptoms.  I love hearing these stories, as they help to spread the message that health comes from within, and that chiropractic can turn your potential into actual and real potency!

http://www.jvsr.com/abstracts/index.asp?id=350

As some of you know, I'm a chiropractor and I have been adjusting people for a couple of years now.  I am constantly hearing stories of the amazing powers of the adjustment and have had few stories to share with others.

Lately around here there has been a bad flu going around which most people are kicking in anywhere between 1 week and a month.  It's been pretty bad.  I've noticed that the practice members that I've seen who have started to get the flu, after they get adjusted, find their symptoms decrease, and their recovery time improved upon considerably!  Most of these people are getting better in a few days rather than a few weeks.

It makes sense to me since back in the early part of last century, during World War I, the flu epidemics were killing far more people than the war itself.  Chiropractic actually made a name for itself by treating those people that medicine thought were goners, and actually saved most of them!

My message is to go get adjusted.  The adjustment is about releasing your innate power to heal.  It helps boost the immune system so you can do just that.  I have now witnessed it, and I stand in awe at the amazing recoveries our people are starting to typify.

I will get off my soap box now.

Go get adjusted, please.

Check this out, it's an 18 minute video on a neuroscientist who has a stroke, and is aware of her brain bleeding.  But along the way, she makes a remarkable discovery.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/when-a-brain-scientist-suffers-a-stroke/?scp=1-b&sq=when+a+brain+scientist&st=nyt