Tag: Diet

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Is Gluten Really That Bad?

Gluten

By now, we’ve all seen the countless articles on the dangers of gluten and the ever increasing shelves of gluten-free items at every store. You have probably asked yourself – is gluten really that bad for you?

Lets start at the beginning. What is gluten? Gluten, latin for “glue,” is the group of proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, triticale, malt, brewer’s yeast, wheat starch, and wheat derivatives like wheat berries, durum, semolina, spelt, and farina.

Why Is It Bad?

We know that the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine of those who suffer from celiac disease. However, gluten is capable of causing illness even in people who do not have celiac disease.

Gluten causes gut inflammation in the majority of the population. This inflammation can cause the pores in the small intestine to expand – causing leaky gut syndrome. These expanded pores allow bacterial proteins and other toxic compounds to get in the blood stream, which can also lead to autoimmune attacks on the body. Another problem which may occur is that food may not be digested properly and nutrients are not absorbed fully, which can lead to nutrient deficiencies.

There is also evidence that links gluten sensitivity to a variety of health problems that include type 1 diabetes, allergies, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorders.

So, now you may be thinking – “I get it, I’ll just look for ‘gluten-free’ items in the grocery store.” – NOT so fast. Read on.

“Gluten Free” Does NOT Equal Healthy

While it’s true that many people will notice a significant improvement in their health by going “gluten-free”, it’s wise to point out that just because something is labeled as gluten free doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy.

Gluten-free eating is an extremely healthy way to eat when you rely on fruits, vegetables, pasture raised proteins and gluten-free whole grains AND avoid the overly processed gluten-free snack foods, pastas, breads and desserts. This is because the majority of gluten-free versions of traditional wheat-based foods are actually just junk food without gluten.

The Bottom Line

There is no denying the risk of gluten causing damage, regardless of the research or your personal feelings. There is also no risk to removing it from your diet –  BUT there may be a large reward from doing so. So why not aim to eat as little gluten as possible? After all, most foods that contain gluten are not very nutrient dense and should not be eaten on a regular basis anyway.

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Do’s & Don’ts

Spinal Care Do's & Don'ts

When it comes to maintaining your structural alignment, what you do outside our office can have a huge impact. Here are some of the ways you can help get the best results in the shortest amount of time AND ensure that you’re not undoing your progress.

Sleep: Your bed and pillow should both help keep your body in natural alignment. Aim to sleep on your side or back. Choose a pillow that supports the head so that the neck vertebrae are neutral (level with the rest of your spine) and use a good mattress that comfortably prevents your spine from dipping or sagging while you sleep.

Work: The spine is architecturally designed for walking. Sitting in a chair is a very unnatural position for the spine. Plan to break up your sitting every 45 minutes.  Make sure you have a high quality chair that has adjustable arms, height, lumbar support and ample padding.

Movement: Ideally we should be spending a good portion of our days walking, standing and moving in general. Support your newly straightened spine by engaging in an exercise routine that encourages strengthening the core and back muscles. Be consistent with your WebExercises custom stretches/exercises.

Diet: When the body has the right nutrients it is better able to heal itself. A nutrient-rich diet with a diversity of plants, healthy proteins and high quality, healthy fats actually feed and nourish your genes, slowing the degenerative process.

Automobile Ergonomics: Bring the steering wheel down and towards you to minimize reach. Increase the lumbar support until it fits your back with no gaps. If your vehicle doesn’t have one, you can purchase a lumbar cushion or use a rolled up towel to give you more lower back support. Keep your head against the headrest on long drives to avoid anterior head syndrome.

Sleep: Avoid stomach sleeping. Having your head and neck turned to one side while sleeping can significantly strain the muscles and ligaments of the spine. This results in negating the work of the adjustments and adding pressure to the joints and nerves. Avoid using more than one pillow – which can push the neck too far forward.

Work: Sitting for long periods of time. The fascia (which connects muscles) begins to set when you stay in one position for too long. If you’re hunched over a keyboard all day with rounded shoulders, this eventually becomes your normal posture.

Movement: Having a sedentary lifestyle. If you spend the majority of the day sitting and not active, you are setting yourself up for muscle stiffness, poor balance and mobility, and lower-back, neck, and hip pain.

Diet: Bad dietary habits are often a contributing factor to delayed recovery from an injury. Diets high in processed vegetable oils, sugar, and flour, ALL promote inflammation in the body. Not drinking enough water – keeping the body well hydrated is important to nourish the spinal discs and help keep them healthy.

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Why Your Injury Isn’t Healing

heal

In our office, we see many patients who are not injured – they’re simply looking to make their bodies work more efficiently. After all, normal structure allows your body to operate smoothly and function at its best. But, for those who find their way into our office with an injury and those who may be contemplating a visit, this post is for you.

There are many reasons why an injury would not improve, here’s 5 that you may not thought of:

1. Not Enough Sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the cornerstones of health. Sleep is when your body is able to heal and repair. Aim for at least 7 hours of real sleep – as in not using any sleeping “aids” (they actually impair the ability to reach the deeper stages of sleep). So what can you do: try limiting caffeine and alcohol consumption during the day, keeping your bedroom cool, avoiding foods we may be sensitive to (sugar, grains, dairy), and getting some form of exercise daily (even walking as little as 30 minutes a day).

2. You’re Not Moving

I know, you’re injured – you think you should rest. The truth is that too much rest will actually delay your recovery. Most tissues recover more quickly from injury or trauma if they’re gently used. This means staying active after an injury – it does NOT mean doing things that will likely aggravate your condition.

3. Your Diet Stinks

Harsh yes, but often times bad dietary habits are a contributing factor to delayed recovery from an injury. Studies show that as the body heals it uses more energy to aid recovery (potentially increasing energy needs by 15%). This can mean that the calorific requirement may be more than anticipated, so think twice before cutting back – just make sure that all your calories come from nutrient-dense foods: fruit and vegetables, good fats and pasture raised protein. You should also increase your intake of wild caught fish (or supplement with a high quality fish oil) which are rich in omega-3 and have an anti-inflammatory effect.

4. Attitude Adjustment

Research has found that having a positive attitude and strong mental awareness is essential in an individual’s recovery, whether it be from a physical or mental injury. This is because stress and depression have been shown to compromise every system in the body. The mind is a powerful thing – you have to want to get better. So take part in your care, be committed to your exercises,and ensure you are eating well, sleeping, and doing lots of recovery work.

5. You’re Only Addressing Symptoms

Most chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists focus on relieving your symptoms. You can go to any one of these professionals – and there is no doubt that any one of them will make you feel better. However, if your injury is related to a structural shift of the spine, then you may require our care – Structural Chiropractic Care. Injuries are often a Secondary Condition of a Structural Shift. When the Structural Alignment is restored, problems related to abnormalities in the spine and nervous system resolve.

The body has an incredible ability to heal itself. When the body has the right nutrients, regular movement through exercise, a great mindset, and full function of the nervous system, it has a recipe for long lasting health.

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Infantile Colic? What You Can Do

child colic

Infantile colic can be very stressful for parents whose baby is inconsolable during crying episodes. Colic is often defined by the “rule of three”: crying for more than three hours per day, for more than three days per week, and for longer than three weeks in an infant who is well-fed and otherwise healthy.

Medications available in the United States have not been proved effective in the treatment of colic, and most behavior interventions have not been proved to be more effective than placebo.  So what options do parents have?

Pediatric Chiropractic

A recent systemic review published in the Cochrane Library, evaluated the results of studies designed to address the efficacy of hands on therapies (specifically, chiropractic, osteopathy and cranial manipulation) for infantile colic in infants less than six months of age.

The authors concluded that majority of clinical trials seemed to indicate parents of infants using this type of care for colic reported fewer hours of crying per day and was statistically significant. The trials also indicate that a greater proportion of those parents reported improvements that were clinically significant.

George Lewith, MA, DM, FRCP, MRCGP, professor of health research at the University of Southampton commented “the majority of the included trials indicate that the parents of infants receiving manipulative therapies reported fewer hours crying per day than parents whose infants did not. This difference is statistically significant and important for those families who experience this condition. These studies show that in this small sample there were no adverse effects from using these treatments.”

Few parents understand the importance of the brain’s control over the digestive system in their child. The brain controls digestion, along with many other functions, through the Autonomic Nervous System. However, the messages have to travel unimpeded from the head to the body. As a Structural Chiropractor, I know that stressful births (even C-sections) can strain the head and neck (a typical birth can place 60-90 lbs of force onto an infant’s head and neck), causing subtle shifts in the spine leading to interference in the nerve signals between the brain and the digestive system. Early check ups can help prevent structural shifts from becoming a chronic problem. Continue reading “Infantile Colic? What You Can Do”

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You Are As Old As Your Spine

aging spine

Aging is not just the number of years you’ve inhabited planet Earth, but rather the degree of wear and tear your body, brain, and vital organs are expressing at a given point in time. – Ronesh Sinha, MD

A spine with too much, too little, or improper movement directly affects the wiring and firing of nerves that come from your brain and travel down your spinal cord. Your brain and spinal cord act like the world’s most powerful computer chip which requires a proper information and power supply to work properly. Movement of the spine dictates how information is received in the brain through tiny little nerve ending’s called mechanoreceptors. The spine also houses critical nerves, arteries, and veins that carry food and waste in and out of the brain and spinal cord.

This is why – regardless of disease or symptoms – a healthy, properly moving, aligned spine is so essential to our health. By restoring motion to the spine (via the chiropractic adjustment), changes will begin to occur, such as: decrease in stress signals and stress hormones, decrease inflammation, and pain (if present) will subside. Most important of all, it results in a healthy body-brain neurological communication which is essential for overall health.

When it comes to your spine – the things we do on a daily basis are either moving us towards a healthy spine or away from health and towards a degenerating spine. Research shows that a joint (aka your spine) that has lost a degree of its normal movement will begin degenerating at a rate measurable within one week of onset. It’s important to realize that this degenerative process will continue, often painlessly, until significant degeneration has occurred. This is a big reason why you don’t need to be in pain to have chiropractic care in our office.

The following are the good and bad in keeping your spine as young as possible:

The Good

  • Periodic chiropractic checkups – Regardless of symptoms, the research shows we are much healthier with a properly moving spine than without.
  • Stretch regularly – Consider how inflexible most people are – how do you think they got that way? Muscles abide by the “use it or lose it” principle. Avoid this fate by isolating key muscle groups and giving them a good daily stretch (Patients in our office receive customized stretches based on their individual needs).
  • Proper hydration – Your spine and its supportive structures work best when they’re hydrated. Most people will not drink enough water to replace their original fluid deficit, and this problem is exacerbated with age.
  • Daily exercise – Ideally we should be spending a good portion of our days walking, standing and moving in general. If we don’t our bodies rebel and health declines. Do some form of exercise that significantly raises your heart rate for 30 minutes at least four times a week.
  • Supportive sleep environment – Your bed and pillow should both help keep your body in natural alignment. Dated and flimsy mattresses stress your hips, pelvis, and back, which inevitably lead to chronic pain. Buy a quality pillow that keeps your head level, and use a good mattress that firmly (yet comfortably) prevents your spine from dipping or sagging while you sleep.
  • Be mindful of your posture – This applies to whatever you’re doing, whether you’re at work, home, in the car, at the gym, or simply standing up. Good posture has benefits; poor posture has consequences.
  • Proper nutrition –  A nutrient-rich diet with a diversity of plants, healthy proteins and high quality, healthy fats actually feed and nourish your genes, slowing the degenerative process.

The Bad

  • Poor general posture (slouching) – With proper postural awareness, you can save years of wear and tear on the spine, and maintain full function of the delicate nervous system.
  • Sedentary lifestyle – A study done in over 2,000 identical twins who carry the same genetic material showed that the more active twins had longer, healthier telomeres than their genetically identical siblings.  The most active twins had genes that appeared 9 years younger than their inactive siblings. Spend less time on your computer/phone and move daily.
  • Stress – Chronic stress promotes inflammation and oxidative damage that is inflicted upon DNA, which increases disease risk and accelerates aging.
  • Sleeping on your stomach – Having your head and neck turned to one side while sleeping can significantly strain the muscles and ligaments of the spine. Repeatedly doing so every night for years slowly adds pressure to the joints and nerves, contributing to spinal degeneration and allowing for the development of a variety of health problems.
  • Neglecting your spine by not getting periodic chiropractic checkups – By restoring motion and removing nerve interference – you can begin to function how you were designed to.