Everything You Need to Know About Vitamin D

vit d guide

It’s the end of February and most of us are spending more time indoors and getting less daily sun exposure. When we don’t get enough sun, or supplement right, it’s very easy to become deficient in this essential nutrient. When that happens, our health suffers. This is why it is one of The Core Four supplements that I recommend.

There’s a lot of research out there talking about the importance of vitamin D, and it can be very confusing. The following will help you to make sense of it all, so let’s start at the beginning.

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient that is closer to a hormone, like cortisol or testosterone. This is important to note because it means vitamin D has a deeper functionality than a simple vitamin compound. Vitamin D is used by our bodies to absorb calcium and, along with exercise, to make strong bones. Vitamin D also has cell-normalizing (anti-proliferation) properties, and because cancer is cell proliferation gone mad, it protects against many cancers. It also plays a vital role in our immune system and its ability to fight off pathogens. There are tons of studies showing the importance of vitamin D. Continue reading “Everything You Need to Know About Vitamin D”

What is True Health?

Have you ever thought about what True Health means to you and your family? What is your definition of True Health? Dorland’s Medical Dictionary states that True Health is a state of optimal physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. In other words, health is not limited to how you feel, but rather refers to your level of function and performance as a whole individual.

In simple terms, the premise of chiropractic is that, if the body’s frame is in alignment, then the nervous system – the brain, spinal cord and the millions of nerves extending throughout the body – can function at its best. And the nervous system, medical science now readily admits, is the master controller of all other bodily organs and systems. Having known that since 1895, chiropractors have always had a holistic approach to health care.

As Peter Senge, the leading exponent of systems thinking, says about the “crisis state” of today’s health care: “The need in health care is very simple. We need to think about health. Health is a systemic phenomenon. What makes you or me healthy is not just what diseases pop up. We need to think about the totality of health – how we live, how we work, what we eat, it’s our exercise – the totality of how we live.”

Chiropractic care views all areas of life as equal contributors to promoting or detracting from optimal health. So, we incorporate practical help and education about “how we live, how we work, what we eat” and how we exercise. Spinal alignment coupled with a healthy lifestyle means that body is the best it can be to throw off potential illness. That’s prevention, pure and simple. But that optimum condition of the body also means the best chance for optimum development – in the mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of our lives. The chiropractic perspective even heightens a person’s awareness of the critical importance of environmental health because if the environment is sick – we will be too.

In short, chiropractic offers the systemic, holistic, broad-view approach that facilitates getting better, staying well and realizing one’s full potential in life. Now that’s True Health.

What Stress is Doing to Your Health

A stress is any stimulus that requires your body to respond or adapt. Although in certain situations stress can be good (resulting in improved focus and performance) living with chronic stress can lead to a multitude of health problems ranging from anxiety and depression to cancer and  heart disease. Today we are succumbing to stress at an accelerated rate- not just because we have more of it- but also because we can handle so much less.

There are three types of stresses:  environmental, physical and  emotional. When your body perceives a stress, your nervous system responds. Known as the“fight or flight” response, the sympathetic nervous system becomes stimulated-resulting in increased heart rate, increased blood flow to the extremities, increased blood pressure and better vision. Stress hormones, such as adrenalin and cortisol are released by the adrenal glands, all of which prepare the body to fight or flee the danger by increasing muscle strength, stamina and heightening the senses. Continue reading “What Stress is Doing to Your Health”

How to Maintain Your Adjustment

The end goal of chiropractic care (at least in our office) is to retrain the spine to maintain its proper position so that the body can naturally heal and adapt to any problems that may occur in everyday life. This is why when you first begin chiropractic care, you will likely have to visit on a fairly frequent basis, but over time, your visits should occur less often and adjustments will likely be quite minor. This is a good thing. It means that your spine is, in fact, learning to retain its proper shape and position.

However, like any healthcare initiatives, caring for your adjustment is not just your chiropractor’s job. The patient needs to take responsibility and do what they can to maintain the adjustments they receive. Doing so will help expedite the spine’s retraining process, but it’s also just good practice for your body. After all, a backbone and spinal cord that are in the proper position provide optimal performance for your entire body, enabling you to live a healthy, happy, pain-free and productive lifestyle.

So what can you do to help maintain a chiropractic adjustment? Continue reading “How to Maintain Your Adjustment”

Why It’s More Than a Back “Crack”

I must admit I cringe a bit every time I introduce myself as a Chiropractor and someone says “I love getting my back cracked”. The reason it is so disappointing is that “joint mobilization” (aka cracking) is the most insignificant part of what we do. In fact the only reason that anyone should receive a chiropractic adjustment is if there is pressure on their nerve system. Why? Because the nervous system controls and coordinates every aspect of your body. The millions of messages are transported from your brain down your spine, out to your organs, tissues and cells. The purpose of a chiropractic adjustment is to clear any interference in that pathway.

Just this month, we have had reports of an infertile couple conceiving, depression lifting, pain killers being thrown out, better sleep, numbness and tingling gone, sinus infections eliminated, improved digestion and better breathing. This doesn’t happen by “cracking a back”. This only happens when pressure comes off the central nervous system and the body begins to heal itself. Continue reading “Why It’s More Than a Back “Crack””