Nutritional Pathway to Health

Several posts ago I did an article on my nutritional state. I am doing this for several reasons.
First of all, I want to get healthier and I want to set a good example for the patients' of my San Diego Chiropractic practice. While I had a fantastic educational experience in nutrition 18 years ago in chiropractic college, my implementation of my nutritional education has been absent from my San Diego chiropractic office. I take some responsibility for this as my focus has been on helping patients with specific complaints of neck pain, low back pain, headaches and the like.


Secondly, before I implement anything into my patients' care I like to be on board with it so I can have first hand experience with its benefits. Nutrition is no different. I have been hit and miss with my diet and supplements for years - it is time for a change.


To recap my first post on this topic, I had a hair mineral analysis performed approximately on e month ago. The results revealed deficiencies in many nutrient minerals. Some of the minerals that I was deficient in have the ability to cause anxiety and may affect my ability to sleep soundly. Both anxiety and insomnia are conditions that I have struggled with for years.


The lab that I used for my hair analysis not only provided a report regarding my deficiencies, but they also gave me a supplement recommendation list that I could use to restore proper mineral balance in my system.


As of the date of this post, I have been taking my supplements as advised by the lab for about ten days. At this point I feel a bit more clear headed and I have slept soundly for over 7 hours per night over the last three nights. I know that three nights good sleep is not a fix, but it is unusual. In a typical month I usually only get two or three good nights sleep.


Three good nights sleep in a row is a record for me and enough evidence to justify continuing with my nutritional supplements.


I will post again on this topic in a few weeks to let you all know how I am progressing.

Better Health through Diet and Chiropractic Care

The lack of obvious sickness does not make you well. We all want to be healthy. The question is, however, what is health? And, how do we “get” healthy?  In my San Diego chiropractic office, I always try to encourage health betterment beyond the obvious treatment for neck pain, back pain and headaches that represent the bulk of my patients concerns. Most of my patients at least entertain the idea of making lifestyle changes for the sake of better health while some want nothing to do with it, in their mindset, being out of pain is good enough for them.

I always explain to my patients that in the absence of some catastrophic injury, most cases of neck pain and back pain begin as a slight irritation that we are totally unaware of. With time and additional stresses, these slight irritations can become magnified to the point where they become symptomatic.

Our diets act the same way. A few poor meal choices won’t destroy your health by themselves, but frequent poor meal choices over longer periods of time can have a significant negative impact on your health. You only have to look at a McDonald's or Burger King drive-through to see the long lines of people making poor food choices. These people who make frequent poor food choices (fast foods in this example) probably won’t suffer anything more than a little indigestion as a result of each meal. However, the accumulation of the effects of all of these poor food choices will do damage down the road.

Unfortunately, this all becomes more apparent as we age. We pay for our poor eating habits as we age for a couple of reasons. First of all, poor eating choices become habitual. Like any bad habit, changing bad eating habits is difficult. Secondly, with normal aging, our metabolism slows making our poor eating habits more detrimental than they were when we were younger and more active.

Regaining your health takes work on several fronts. Some of these things you can accomplish yourself and other things you need help with.

Patients that come to my chiropractic office for treatment for their neck pain or back pain often find this task one of the easy parts of getting healthy. In order to get help with pain, all the patients have to do is come to the office for their treatment.

The difficult part of restoring health is dealing with the bad habits that result in unhealthy diets, smoking, drinking and the like. Overcoming bad habits takes an exceptionally motivated person. Focus and you can overcome them and have a healthier body to show for it.

The Pursuit of Better Health

Like many of the patients in my San Diego Chiropractic practice, I desire to be healthier than I am. Chiropractors spend much of our time helping our patients relieve their neck pain, back pain, headaches, etc.

This year I am doing all I can to regain some of the health that I have lost along the way. As I have aged, I notice changes in my energy levels, my anxiety levels, my ability to get a good nights sleep, etc.

I eat reasonably well avoiding fast food and soda. I never have candy or chocolate in my house and I try to watch my fat intake. While this diet plan has kept me in decent shape in regards to my weight, my blood pressure and cholesterol level, I still feel like age is creeping up on me.

You guys remember fitness guru Jack Lalanne don't you? He is 93 years old, maybe older. That guy looks like he is 60 and can probably beat me and most of you in every test of physical strength and aerobic conditioning. If I keep going in my current direction, I will be in a wheel chair at 93 - if I am alive at all!

I think that most of us want the same things from a health standpoint. We want to not only look healthy but we want to be healthy. Health improvement can only be accomplished through proper nutrition and exercise.

For the last 20 years or so I have been a vitamin / supplement consumer. Truthfully, I am hit and miss with taking my supplements. The reason for my departures is the fact that I have no real guide for what I should be taking. At least until now!

In our pursuit of a healthier body, both Linda and I recently had our hair tested for mineral content (Hair Mineral Analysis). The results of my tests were what I would expect for a guy (me) that is forty something and has no real basis for taking the supplements that I have been taking over the last 20 years.

The lab that we used provides a full breakdown of the content of nutrient minerals, toxic minerals (including lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and aluminum) and a ratio of significant minerals. They also provided detailed explanations of the findings as well as supplement recommendations including the type and the time of day that they should be taken.

I like this type of nutritional assessment. Not only does it give me a starting point for taking nutritional supplements, but I can retest in 12 weeks and check my progress.

I recently read an interesting quote from a respected nutritionist. He said "It is a mistake to think that you can loose weight and get healthy, the real path to losing weight is by regaining your health".

I think I will run with this and see where it takes me.

If you want the tools to take your general health up a few notches a Hair Mineral Analysis is an excellent (and encouraged) place to start.

Chiropractic Care For Auto Accidents

My San Diego Chiropractic Office treats many individuals for neck pain, back pain and headaches. In many cases, the causes of these symptoms are related to auto accidents or other types of personal injury. More often than not, the auto accidents in question occurred years earlier and the initial symptoms were not taken seriously by the patient.

Most people don't take the time to seek treatment for themselves yet they scramble to get their cars fixed. This thought process extends into other scenarios as well. I ounce had an acquaintance who smoked but proudly proclaimed that she didn't smoke inside her car because she didn't want to ruin it!

I don't know why so many of us carry these kinds of thought processes. In the case of auto accident injuries, the little bit of neck pain or the headaches or the low back pain is often overlooked or dismissed and minimized as being un-important. This is flawed thinking. Imagine if we treated other health conditions with such disregard.

The injury mechanisms in whiplash type accidents are complex. Muscles are stretched and torn, ligaments can sometimes partially tear or rupture, discs can become herniated and spinal fractures can occur. These injuries can lead to a vast number of symptoms that can cause neck pain or back pain that ranges in intensity from a slight irritation all the way to severe disability. Back pain and neck pain are bad enough in the short term and much worse in a long term chronic situation.

While the mechanism of injury in whiplash cases is complex, the typical resulting spinal injuries follow a well established path. Initially, the muscles and ligaments in the injured area are irritated. This irritation leads to inflammation. Inflammation is not only responsible for many of the initial symptoms that you experience but it is also responsible for scar tissue formation which can make your symptoms permanent or chronic.

Statistically, approximately 25% of auto injury victims will suffer from some ongoing symptom related to their accident. I see this statistic come to life in my San Diego chiropractic office. Chiropractors are experts in dealing with the types of neck pain, back pain and headaches that occur as a result of auto accidents. The best way to insure that you are not a member of this group of 25% that never fully recover from their auto accident injuries is to get an examination and possibly treatment, if recommended by your chiropractor.

The Role of Exercise in Building a Healthy Spine

As a San Diego Chiropractor, I see many types of injuries because people in San Diego are more active because of the nice weather. Common injuries result in neck pain, back pain, chronic headaches, sciatica etc.


The causes of these injuries range from auto accidents and work related injuries to injuries caused by domestic chores that involve around the house work and sometimes things as simple as sleeping in an awkward position.


Of these injured patients, I would say that at least 50% of them, for the moment, while they are in pain they ask "what can I do for myself to make sure that this doesn't happen again?" This question served as the inspiration for this article and I will address in this post.


To begin with, pain is a great motivator.


When people are in pain they take a proactive approach to their health. People often inquire about what kind of stretch or exercising that they can start right away. Unfortunately, the best thing that you can do while your injury is new is to apply ice packs to the injured area and rest.


Over my 15 plus years in practice I have seen a large percentage of enthusiastic patients ignore this advice and end up giving their conditions a major set back. The time to start exercising and stretching your back for most of us is when it is out of its acute stage of pain.


My biggest struggles in practice have been dealing with my patients exercise and diet habits. Exercise is one of the few things that a patient can do at home, outside of chiropractic care, to help prevent or diminish the chances of developing back pain.


After an injury, you should approach exercise cautiously - almost to a point where the exercise that you are performing feels like it is doing nothing. If you can get through a few low intensity exercise sessions like this without aggravating your condition, you should slowly add resistance which allows you to build confidence and strength at the same time.


You have to remember to incorporate a sensible approach to exercising after a back injury. Be sure to exercise and stretch under the advise of a health care professional. Strong and flexible muscles add strength and support to your spine and will provide much needed stability.

Building a Healthy Spine

Being a Chiropractor in San Diego, I see many types of injuries. These injuries result in neck pain, back pain, chronic headaches, etc. The cause of these injuries ranges from car accidents and work injuries to injuries caused by more domestic duties that involve around the house chores and sometimes things as simple as sleeping in an awkward position.

Of these injured patients, I would say that at least for the moment, while they are in pain, they ask "what can I do for myself to make sure that this doesn't happen again?" This question served as the inspiration for this article and I will address in this post.

To begin with, pain is a great motivator. When people are in pain they take a proactive approach to their health. People often inquire about what kind of stretch or exercising that they can start right away. Unfortunately, the best thing that you can do while your injury is new is to apply ice packs to the injured area and rest. More often than not, over my 15 plus years in practice I have seen enthusiastic patients ignore this advice and end up giving their conditions major set backs. The time to start exercising and stretching your back for most of us is when it is out of its acute stage of pain.

My biggest struggles in practice have been dealing with my patients exercise and diet habits. Exercise is one of the few things that a patient can do at home, outside of chiropractic care, to help prevent or diminish the chances of developing back pain.

After an injury, you should approach exercise cautiously - almost to a point where the exercise that you are performing feels like it is doing nothing. If you can get through a few low intensity exercise sessions like this without aggravating your condition, you should slowly add resistance which allows you to build confidence and strength at the same time.

This is a sensible approach to exercising after a back injury. Slow and cautious - and under the advise of a health care professional. Strong muscles add strength and support to your spine and can only serve you in a beneficial way.

Slimming For a Healthy Spine

For the most part, San Diego is a city of fairly fit and active people. Since I am a chiropractor in San Diego, I can't help but notice that a fairly large portion of my patients are trying to lose weight.

Losing weight is not only a noble endeavor but a difficult one.

Losing weight is not only good for your cardiovascular health but also for your health in general. Losing extra weight is very important to your skeletal health as well. Every extra pound that you carry puts a little more stress through your spinal joints causing excessive wear and tear.

Excessive wear and tear results in arthritis, neck pain, back pain, headaches, sciatic pain, hip pain, knee pain etc. I am of the opinion that less pain is better.

Chiropractic care is an important part of your efforts to maintain your spinal health. That being said, you should not dismiss the importance of keeping fit as it directly relates to your spines' ability to withstand the stresses of a long life.

Since I am sure that at least some of my patients' problems are due to the fact that they carry excess weight, I thought I would give a few suggestions for successful weight loss.

1) Remember that weight control is your responsibility. Having a weight loss partner who agrees to "watch out for you" will only inspire you to cheat while they are not watching.
2) Don't let a single failure in your diet degrade into a whole day of poor diet choices. If you blow a part of your diet, don't view your entire day of eating as a failure and consume junk all day. Pick up your good diet choices the next time you have a meal.
3) Don't start dieting prior to holidays or vacations where you will be tempted by overindulging making it difficult to lose weight.
4) Don't weigh your self more than a few times each month. Losing weight takes time which isn't compatible with Americans desire for instant results.
5) Cut back on salts, caffeinated drinks and soda. Even diet soda!
6) Drink plenty of water and try eating soup before meals to help reduce the number of calories you consume.

These are just a few simple ways to start trimming those extra pounds.

Both you and your spine will be better for it.