“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” ~ Thomas Edison

Although he was speaking of the future, Thomas Edison knew something that those of the past knew well: good health comes from a good diet. Our 4 basic rules of a healthy diet are all very common sense; but you might be surprised at the reasons why, or you might find that, although they are common sense, they are not so commonly followed.

Drink Water for Thirst

“Water is the most neglected nutrient in your diet, but one of the most vital” ~ Julia Child

Water is vital to our body’s ability to flush out toxins and run efficiently. Water makes up more than two thirds of human body weight, and without water, we would die in a few days. The human brain is made up of 95% water, blood is 82% and lungs 90%. A mere 2% drop in our body's water supply can trigger signs of dehydration: fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on smaller print, such as a computer screen. Mild dehydration is also one of the most common causes of daytime fatigue.

Water serves as a lubricant to our bodies internal systems, allowing us to run at our most peak levels. It also forms the fluids that surround the joints. It is the single most effective detoxifying agent. And it regulates body temperature and metabolism.

Eat When Hungry

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” ~ Proverb

Listen to your body and respond with kind and smart choices. Food is fuel and should be viewed as such. Just as a vehicle needs fuel to run its engine, so does the human body.

The human body is designed to use whole, real food as fuel, taking what it needs from what is consumed and releasing what is left over.

Whole foods are grown in orchards, gardens, or greenhouses, are unprocessed and unrefined, and have a shorter shelf life. They are full of the micronutrient vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and fiber that are readily accepted and assimilated into the body to help it work efficiently, effectively, and at peak performance.

Only Eat Food

“If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it” ~Common sense

Again, this is common sense, but when you do eat, make sure you are eating FOOD. If you cannot read the ingredients, most likely it is not good for you. Eat whole foods – foods that are as close to their natural, whole state as possible. Instead of those potato chips, cut up a potato, skin on, lightly season it with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and pop it in the oven to roast. Voila – real food!

“Processed foods not only extend the shelf life, but they extend the waistline as well.” ~ Karen Sessions

Processed foods are produced using manufacturing methods to transform raw ingredients into neatly packaged goods, which have a longer shelf life. Processed foods are high in preservatives, toxins, and synthetically added vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. This synthetically added nutrition is harder on the body to process and absorb. Add that to a body burdened with flushing out toxins and preservatives and we have a body running at sub-par levels, both in energy/fitness and in over-all health.

Salt Your Food To Taste

“The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen

This one might surprise you. If you are eating processed foods, you probably don’t need to add more salt to the food as most processed foods are already high in sodium… but, if you are eating whole foods, and making your own meals from foods in their whole, natural states, be sure to remember to salt your food to taste.

Sodium Chloride (aka salt) is key to

• enabling the transmission of nerve impulses around the body, regulating the electrical charges moving in and out of the cells
• controlling our taste, smell and tactile processes
• helping our muscles - including the heart - to contract
• the operation of signals to and from the brain.
• the digestion process
• preserving the acid-base balance in the body
• absorbing potassium
• helping the blood to carry carbon dioxide from respiring tissues to the lungs.

Beyond these 4 basic rules, be sure to consult with your chiropractor on how to optimize health, wellness, and weight loss through proper nutrition and diet.

“Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical exercise.”  ~Mike Adams

(re-posted with permission from Bellies and Babies)

Acupuncture - a word that conjures up images of deep-set needles, pin cushions, and witch doctors.

In reality, acupuncture is an ancient art that has earned modern medical notoriety. Acupuncturists identify more than 2,000 acupuncture points that are interconnected with pathways that conduct (transmit) vital energy throughout the body and from organ to organ, regulating body functions, and affecting mental and emotional health.

Modern medicine now recognizes that we, as living, organic beings, do, indeed, transmit and create energy, and that many transmissions that are askew result in feelings of unrest or illness. This mirrors Chinese medical beliefs that illnesses and symptoms are associated with an imbalance of this vital energy that they refer to as qi (pronounced chee).

Acupuncture can either use hair-thin, disposable needles, or laser, electro, or auricular acupuncture (no needles) to stimulate specific areas associated with organ functions in order to help the body maintain its own health by balancing its energy and pathway's effectiveness. The treatment usually does not hurt, does not sting, in fact, it doesn't feel like a pin prick at all (you can trust me; this is coming from a trypanophobic). At most, it feels relaxing, heavy, and rather sedating even, like a warm bath or dark room.

Midwives, doulas, and, recently, even obstetricians, routinely recommend acupuncture to their pregnant clients for various issues, circumstances, or ailments that they might be encountering.

Pre-Pregnancy
One of the largest benefits of acupuncture before pregnancy even begins is the probable increase in fertility from regular acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture has been known to help increase sperm count, increase healthy/regular ovulation, and even balance a woman's body to mimic a younger cycle - hence, increasing her chances of conception later in life.

During Pregnancy
Some women find that they experience morning sickness, or worse, hyperemesis gravidarum, in early pregnancy and sometimes throughout. The good news is that acupuncture has been found to be a very reliable treatment for both regular morning sickness nausea and the more dangerous hyperemesis gravidarum A recent study from Australia, the largest of it's kind, shows that pregnancy related nausea was no match against the skilled hands of an acupuncturist.

Acupuncture is also a reliable form of relief for fatigue, stress, heartburn, migraines, hemorrhoids, and bleeding.

Late Pregnancy & Labor
Later in pregnancy, women often encounter a whole new set of aches and pains. Surprise, surprise, acupuncture can help with the majority of these. In the third trimester, acupuncture can help relieve sciatica, lower backache, pubic pain, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and can even help alleviate the symptoms of edema and high blood pressure - although this is only as successful as proper diet and attention to one's overall health is given.

Moxibustion (long sticks of the herb, moxa, that produce heat and are held close to the acupuncture point of the little toe) has a very good success rate for turning breech babies. This treatment works best between 32-36 weeks, Although there are many success stories of women who were able to have their baby turn as late as 39 weeks.

This treatment has also been found to be another viable option for encouraging labor. A new study states that it is NOT effective, although the treatment given to bring about this conclusion was not adequate. For induction acupuncture to even have the possibility of being successful, it must occur consecutively over 3 days. This study only gave women two treatments on the same day. Earlier, larger studies have shown that there is a small increase in women who choose acupuncture who go into labor spontaneously.

Postpartum
After birth, a woman can continue to reap the benefits of regular acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture has recently been proven to reduce the incidence of depression, as well as treat depression that has already manifested. This means that there is a very viable alternative to medication for women who would like to avoid medication postpartum.

Likewise, it has also been shown to decrease the incidence of heavy lochia, which, as a result, means that the body has less stress that is normally brought on by blood loss, and thus, has a faster and easier time healing and recuperating.

A final way in which acupuncture can help a woman who has just given birth is that it has been shown to have high success rates at assisting women to increase milk supply who might otherwise be experiencing insufficient lactation.

So, if you are at any stage during your childbearing years: trying to conceive, pregnant, or a new mom, acupuncture may very well be the treatment you have been waiting for!

For additional reading:

Acupuncture for post operative nausea and vomiting
Acupuncture for lower back pain
Acupuncture for Acute and Chronic Lower Back pain
Acupuncture for Induction of labor - inconclusive, per summary
Acupuncture and In-Vitro Fertilization

In the Summer of 1937, a group of chiropractors held the "Most Perfect Back" competition in Galveston, TX. During this competition, a group of women selected from across the U.S. were scored on overall health, correct posture, body balance, skeletal structure, vitality, and muscular tone.

Among the contestants that year was Ms. Florine Gonzales, a resident of Galveston. As a friend of HealthMatters Chiropractic, her daughter shared with us a beautiful photo of her mother during the competition that was held 75 years prior. 

"I just love the picture," her daughter says. "She is so vibrant and full of youth!" 

This gave us an idea... and now we are happy to announce that we are bringing back the most "Perfect Back" competition as a new category in the time-honored Bathing Beauties Contest of the Island Beach Revue that will occur later this month. Islander By Choice and HealthMatters are excited to be breathing new life into two historical Galveston events! The "Most Beautiful Back" competition will be a new category of competition on May 19th, during the Bathing Beauty competition on the beach. 

For more information, to RSVP, or to enter the competition, see Islander By Choice - Island Beach Revue. 

“Spring is in full bloom!”

“Spring is in the air!”

For some people, these sentiments are quite literal and disconcerting. Anyone who has every suffered from springtime allergies can tell you that those kind words bring an itch to the throat and a tear to the eye.

Spring allergies occur when plants release their pollen during the spring months. What makes it worse is that some plants don’t rely upon insects to pollinate; instead they release large amounts of pollen into the wind.

To see what your area’s pollen index is, see here.

While there are many medications out there specifically targeted to relieving the symptoms of spring allergies, they can often times have unwanted side effects to your overall health, and emotional and mental well-being.

Instead, we would like to share with you some of the many natural remedies for spring allergies, some of which are just as effective as medications.

Herbals*

Herbal supplements are plant-derived. Some plants, such as butterbur, garlic, Echinacea, and stinging nettle, can help relieve allergies.

Butterbur can decrease the amount of histamine produced by the body, thus decreasing the amount of allergy symptoms felt.

Garlic contains antiviral properties that have been well examined for many years. In Russia, the herb is known as "Russian penicillin" where it was once used to treat respiratory disorders in hospitals. Recent Japanese studies have found that aged garlic extract stimulates NK activity and a potent antimicrobial action against bacteria and yeasts. Garlic owes its efficacy to allicin, a byproduct derived from the amino acid alliin reacting with the enzyme alliinase.

Echinacea is a Native American herb that is considered one of the best immune enhancing supplements you can take. Echinacea has been the subject of more than 50 years worth of study and has clearly demonstrated an ability to increase the production of a number of T-cells and their distribution in the blood.

Stinging Nettle is very effective in alleviating itching and sneezing, but it must be taken consistently. A popular way of supplementing is with tea.

Eat to Your Health

Whereas herbal supplements help to minimize symptoms, consuming certain foods with certain properties can help protect you from the inside out. Foods such as flavonoid-rich foods and honey are known to do just that!

Flavonoids can be found in brightly colored fruits and veggies, such as oranges, raspberries, strawberries, apples, blueberries, green tea, black tea, Parsley, thyme, oregano, celery, green chili peppers, dark chocolate, red grapes, purple cabbage, red wine, grapefruit, kale, broccoli, onions, and leeks. Flavonoids have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions in the body by stabilizing mast cells that secrete histamine and cause allergic reactions.

Honey is a way to actually immunize yourself against allergic reactions to seasonal pollinations. The idea behind eating honey is kind of like gradually vaccinating the body against allergens, a process called immunotherapy. The key is to purchase local honey to make it effective. The reason why is that honey contains a variety of pollen spores that are common to a community or region – the same pollen spores that give allergy sufferers so much trouble when flowers and grasses are in bloom. Introducing these spores into the body in small amounts by eating local honey familiarizes the body to their presence, building up a tolerance. This, over time, decreases the chance an immunal-response will occur, like the release of histamine.

So here’s to your health through inner, natural defense! Stop by HealthMatters Chiropractic and HerbalQuest to see a variety of these same products offered in our store. We have local honey, nutritional counseling, and teas to help you on your way to better health!

Anecdotal reports describe situations where chiropractic adjustment reduced inflammation and compression of intercostal nerves that connect the nipple, areola and breast with the pituitary gland. The result is an increase in milk supply.

Craniosacral therapy (CST) is helpful to breastfeeding in cases where the baby has torticollis, where baby pulls off the breast often during nursing, where breastfeeding is painful, or where the mother feels distant to her baby. Birthing practices in most hospitals are so brutal and technologically driven that mothers and babies don’t get to fall in love before they are discharged to home. Craniosacral therapy is particularly effective in such situations.

For additional reading, see Breastfeeding Difficulties – ICPA