De-Stress for the New Year

Stress is rampant in today's society, from work to finances to relationships. We all have stress in our lives, but why do some people seem to be overwhelmed with stress much easier? Learning how to deal with stress properly can be a large determining factor to your overall health. Here are some steps to de-stress this holiday season.

1. Nutrition
Eating a well balanced diet and a healthy amount of water. It sounds simple to say eat your fruits and vegetables, but how many of us are actually following that advice? Research I have read recently says up to 80% of our diet should be made up of fruits and vegetables, a far cry from the food pyramid we grew up with. As always, my recommendation for water is half your body weight in ounces every day. Get a water bottle and carry it with you everywhere, water is such an easy but profound way to improve your health.

2. Sleep
Get to bed before midnight and be consistent with when you go to bed and when you wake. Having a routine is the key to waking up rested and relaxed.

3. Exercise
30-40 minutes 3x/week. Calculate your Max Heart rate by taking 220 and subtract your age. While we work out you should be getting your heart rate to AT LEAST 65% of that number for cardiovascular benefits.

4. Breathing
When we are stressed one of the first things we do is we start taking short shallow breaths and our body becomes less oxygenated leading to health problems. Make it a point to focus on deep breathing a few times a day to alleviate this problem.

5. Proper nervous system function-
Getting your spine adjusted regularly decreases the body's stress response and will decrease your body's physiological response to stress.

Take these steps to de-stress as soon as possible, because as we all know stress is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases that we deal with in our country. Live the wellness life and be proactive. START TODAY so you will have a jumpstart on your health by the time 2011 rolls around.

Merry Christmas!!!

Triangle of Health

My first video blog, enjoy everybody!

Exercise!

What's so good about regular exercise? Apart from the well-known and significant cardiovascular benefits, regular exercise helps you maintain, strengthen, and continually upgrade your store and supply of connective tissue - muscle and bone.

Weight-bearing exercise is the key. One of the primary structural purposes of bone is load-bearing. Your long bones are designed to support the weight of your body and carry that weight around in three-dimensional space. Your skeletal muscles (voluntary muscle) support the functions of bone. Muscles are the tissues that move bones and joints. The bones passively bear the loads and the muscles actively move around those weight-bearing loads.

But your body is very smart. If you're not doing enough physical work your body will begin to break down muscle and bone tissue and use those biochemical components elsewhere, where the need is greater. In order to maintain the optimal health of your muscles and bones, you need to do sufficient exercise - regularly and ongoingly.

Does No Vehicle Damage Mean No Injury?

A common misconception about car accidents is that the amount of damage to the vehicle is directly related to the severity of the injury to the individuals involved in the accident. In fact, very minimal vehicle damage can lead to severe inury. For all of you math whizzes out there here is a nice formula.

a=acceleration
V=velocity
s=crush distance

a=V(squared)/2s

Crush distance is the distance in inches your car "crumples" before you come to a complete stop. Some cars have safety features that allow for a larger crush distance which allows you to come to a more gradual stop in a motor vehicle accident. In these cases the car would actually be more damaged due to this safety feature, but the occupants would likely suffer less injury due to the car being able to stop gradually instead of suddenly.

Let's take two examples to better understand the mechanics here:

A car hits a brick wall at 10 mph and the front of the car crushes 5 inches. In this case acceleration would be 78.3m/sec(squared) or 8 G's of force.

In the second example the car hits the wall at the exact same speed 10 mph, but because of a different car design the car crushes only 2 inches. In this case the acceleration is 196 m/sec(squared)and the Gs sustained by the body are 20. That's more than twice the amount of force on the body simply due to the design of the car. Additionally, since this car has less crushing on the front bumper it would actually have less damage to the car than the first example.

Have I lost you yet? It's too early on a Saturday morning for all these number I know.

The bottom line here is that you are safer in a car that has a higher crush distance because it allows your car to come to a gradual stop.

Anyone involved in even the most minor traffic collision should be evaluated by a professional who understands your specific needs. Injuries following these accidents may not show up for weeks or even months and by then some of the damage sustained may be permanent. Take the time to give your body what it needs following an accident to prevent long-term problems and disability.







Source:Robbins MC. Lack of relationship between vehicle damage and occupant injury. SAE 970494

5 Steps to De-Stress

Stress affects our overall well-being in both positive and negatives ways. Sometimes stress is what energizes us and stimulates our creative thinking. Sometimes stress becomes overwhelming and frustrating, tiring our minds and bodies and deteriorating our health.
The reality is that stress levels are growing higher and study after study shows that there is a connection between unmanaged stress and illness and disease.
It makes good sense to take steps to better manage stress levels. The following are some preliminary steps you can put into action today:
Nutrition: Eating a well-balanced diet and drinking a healthy amount of water is essential to looking and feeling your best.
Low carb, low fat, the information on what constitutes a proper diet is vast and conflicting. When it comes to nutrition one thing is true—variety is the spice of life. That’s not a green light to eat whatever you want whenever you want but merely to eat a variety of food including whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low fat protein while keeping the consumption of refined sugars and processed foods to a minimum.
One easy way to instantly improve your health is to drink more water. How much water is the right amount? A good rule of thumb is to take your weight, in pounds, divided by 2 (i.e.: A person weighing 150 pounds needs to drink 75 ounces of water per day.). High levels of physical activity, medications and drinks high in caffeine may increase your need for water even more.
Sleep: Getting enough rest at night is essential for your body to recharge and heal from each day. Everybody requires a different amount of sleep. On average, the range is between 6-10 hours per night.
Exercise: The body needs a good amount of cardiovascular exercise each week to maintain health...but not as much as most people think. All you need is 3-4 thirty-minute intervals of exercise per week to stay healthy. Also, stretching should be performed daily to release the tension that builds up in our muscles.
Breathing: Have you ever paid attention to your breathing habits? Be sure that you are taking nice deep breathes while expanding your chest. Short, rapid, shallow breathing deprives the body and brain of important oxygen.
Proper Nervous System Function: The health of your nervous system is often overlooked when assessing wellness levels. When was the last time you had your nervous system checked?
The nervous system is the most important system of the body—I like to call it the master system of the body.
With the nervous system being so critical to body function it only stands to reason that to operate at peak performance the messages from your brain must be sent through the nerves without interference. That is why doctors of chiropractic check for vertebral subluxations. Subluxations, when left uncorrected, will not only slow and skew communication from the brain to the body but may lead to numbing, pain, or illness.
Regular chiropractic care is essential to ensuring proper nerve system function. Chiropractic adjustments remove nervous system interference; this enables the body to better manage stress and maintain health.

Treatment for Depression

Summer in Minnesota, who can imagine anything better? The sun is out, the birds are chirping, the lakes are warm, how could anyone not be enjoying this time of year? The truth is many people suffer from the symptoms of depression year round and need proper treatment to function correctly. But what is the best treatment for depression? Obviously determining why you may be feeling depressed would be a great start, but the answer to that is not alway apparent. Whether you know why you are depressed or not the research is clear, aerobic exercise is the best treatment for depression. Exercise not only relieves depressive symptoms but also appears to prevent them from recurring. Feeling down? Hit the gym!

ADHD

The rate of children being diagnosed with ADHD has been rising at an alarming rate over the last decade. To a certain extent I believe that the disorder is overly diagnosed, but there is no arguing that some children do have behavior issues. A recent article pointed to pesticides found in our food as a likely cause of many children's behavioral problems. Please read the article below and follow the steps pointed out to minimize your risk of exposure to harmful chemicals found in our foods. Even with a proper diet it is important to detoxify our systems on a regular basis. There are many cleansing products on the market to accomplish detoxifying our liver, I recommend doing this once every 6 months or so, to rid the body of all of the harmful chemicals. Something we can do daily to help detox the system is drink enough water. You should be consuming half of your body weight in ounces of water each day. Try it, I promise you your body will thank you.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37156010/ns/health-kids_and_parenting

GRAND OPENING!!!

We're Celebrating!!!

Midwest Chiropractic and Wellness invites you to join us as we celebrate our Grand Opening.


The event will be held Thursday, June 3rd from 5-7 PM. There will be drinks, snacks and don't forget to sign up for our drawings that will be held later on in the evening for an Ipod, a few massages with our wonderful massage therapist Barb and other prizes.

Barb will also be doing free chair massages for anyone interested, if that doesn't get your attention I don't know what will.

We hope to see you that evening and bring your friends it will be a great celebration.

Vitamin D

I have read a lot lately about the great health benefits we can all enjoy from getting the proper amount of Vitamin D in our diets, decreased incidence of influenza, treatment of influenza once if you do acquire the disease, bone health the list goes on and on. This article by Dr. Mercola outlines the difference between getting nutrients in whole food form vs. in fortified foods and which is the better way to go.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/16/Dont-Rely-on-Fortified-Foods.aspx

Sciatica

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body. It runs from your pelvis, through your hip area and buttocks and down each leg. The sciatic nerve branches into smaller nerves as it travels down the legs providing feeling to your thighs, legs, and feet as well as controlling many of the muscles in your lower legs. The term sciatica refers to pain that radiates along the path of this nerve.

What causes Sciatica?
Sciatica is actually a sign that you have an underlying problem putting pressure on a nerve in your lower back. The most common cause of this nerve compression is a bulging or herniated lumbar disc. Piriformis syndrome is another common cause of sciatica. The piriformis is a muscle that lies directly over the sciatic nerve. If this muscle becomes tight or if you have a spasm in this muscle, it puts pressure directly on the sciatic nerve. Occasionally, sciatic pain in men is caused by sitting on a wallet.

How do I know if I have sciatica?
Pain that radiates from your lower (lumbar) spine to your buttock and down the back of your leg is the hallmark of sciatica. Sciatica may be accompanied by numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness in the affected leg. This pain can vary widely, from a mild ache to a sharp, burning sensation or excruciating discomfort. Sometimes it may feel like a jolt or electric shock. Sciatic pain often starts gradually and intensifies over time. It's likely to be worse when you sit, cough or sneeze.

How is Sciatica Treated?
The vast majority of the time, sciatic pain can be relieved through a combination of stretches, deep tissue massage of the piriformis muscle and chiropractic care.

What to do in the Gym?

We are all extremely busy, we have work, families, children and pets to think about. So finding the time to work out and take care of ourselves can be difficult. When you do get to the gym you want to make sure that you are getting the most "bang for your buck", you want to be sure that your time is well spent.
So, what is the most effective way to burn the largest amount of calories in the shortest amount of time? The answer is interval training. A new study in the Journal of Physiology found that about 20 minutes of high intensity interval training provided the same benefits of longer exercise sessions that focused on endurance training. As CNN reported, “The study suggested that quick, high intensity interval training may represent an alternative to endurance training to improve metabolic health and reduce the risk for chronic diseases.”
So, if your training for a race or you just love running on a treadmill, GREAT keep doing it. But, if you are looking to lose weight in the shortest amount of time, interval training is the way to go.

April Newsletter

Starting each day with a healthy breakfast is important for getting your internal motor up and running. When you wake up in the morning, your body has gone without fuel for hours. Foods like cereal, low-fat milk, fruit, and whole-grain bread can be high in protein or carbohydrates and low in fat. What better way to shift your brain out of neutral?
Eating breakfast can also keep you on the road to healthy eating habits throughout the day. Skipping breakfast could leave you hungry and reaching for high-fat snacks or overeating at lunch and dinner.
A morning jump-start is especially important for kids. Studies show that kids who have breakfast are more alert, more relaxed, and have an easier time concentrating at school.
Making sure you eat breakfast doesn't have to mean a major morning schedule overhaul. Think of it this way: It can take less time to eat breakfast than it can to shower and dress. Try these quick and healthy breakfast ideas.
Grab for fruit on the go.
Oranges, bananas, apples, and grapefruit are high in vitamins and easy to carry.
Try instant success.
Instant oatmeal is warm, quick, and filling. Stir in some blueberries or grated apple for extra taste, vitamins, and fiber.
How about a sandwich for breakfast?
Bagels, English muffins, and whole-grain toast with low-fat peanut butter or low-sugar fruit spread can make great morning sandwiches. It takes only a minute to scramble an egg substitute for an egg sandwich.
Shake up your routine.
Blend a ripe banana with 3/4 cup pineapple juice, 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt, and 1/2 cup strawberries for a breakfast shake.
Anyway you cut it breakfast is the most important meal of your day. Make sure you and your family enjoy this meal and start your day of the right way!

Great Recipe for Spring

This makes a nice side dish with barbequed chicken. If you do not have lime juice on hand, you can use lemon juice, rice vinegar, or white vinegar.

2 cups cooked rice, cooled(about 2/3 cup when uncooked)
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large tomato, chopped
3 ounces low-fat cheddar cheese, diced into small 1/4" cubes

Dressing:
1 tablespoon, oil preferably olive oil
2 tablespoons lime jice, lemon juice, or vinegar
1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix(or 1 teaspoon cumin and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Optional:
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro; 1/4 cup diced onion; salt and pepper

1. In a large bowl, combine the cooked rice, beans, tomato, and cheese(and cilantro and onion).
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lime juice, and taco seasonings. Pour over the rice mixture and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to the desired taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield:4 servings (as a side dish)

Nutritional information:
Total Calories: 960
Calories per serving: 240

Nutrients Grams
Carbs 27
Protein 15
Fat 8

"I'm dying of thirst"!

Water is all around us. It is in our lakes, our rivers and our swimming pools. But without enough of it in our body, we could quite literally die of thirst.
It is estimated that a person can go a few weeks without food, but only a few days without water before some adverse health effects start to take hold. Signs of dehydration include: short-term memory loss, trouble focusing your vision, difficulty with basic problem solving skills and ultimately, dehydration can lead to death. Now, these are extreme signs and symptoms that might show up after a long summer's day in the sun without much to drink, but our body also goes through negative changes if we are not properly hydrated on a daily basis.
By not properly hydrating yourself you could be sabotaging your diet. Without proper hydration, the body enters a state of starvation and will not allow your body to burn those extra calories you have consumed.
Drinking an adequate amount of water each day can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50% and it can potentially even reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Water can also play a major role in back pain. When we do not get enough water, our intervertebral discs that act as cushions between our vertebrae lose some of their height, which reduces the amount of space the spinal nerves have to exit the spine. When these nerves are impinged upon it can cause back pain.

So the question then becomes, how much water should I be drinking each day? The recommendation that I give to my patients is half of your body weight in ounces per day. It seems like a lot, but get a Nalgene bottle and fill it up a few times and you will be at your goal in no time. Water is an amazing substance and getting enough in your diet is a great step towards a healthier you.

We are what we eat...literally!

We have all heard the old saying "you are what you eat". Normally it is told to us by our parents at an early age to encourage proper diet, but have you ever stopped to actually think about this? Every day cells die in our body and they need to be replaced with new cells. When we eat, the food is broken down into its most basic forms or "building blocks" and absorbed into our bloodstream. The body then re-assembles these "building blocks" into whatever type of cell the body needs at the time. If you need a blood cell or a muscle cell or a brain cell the body makes it. It isn't too far of a leap then to understand that what we put into our body as food, eventually becomes the actual cells of the body. So, eating a poor diet and making cells in your body out of those inferior "building blocks" is the equivalent of building a house with rotting wood or rusted steel, it will wear out much sooner. So the next time you reach for that junk food, ask yourself, do I really want this twinkie becomeing a part of my body?