Beef, it's what's for dinner! (cue the music)

Yesterday, when I loaded MSN as I often do, I noticed a story on the front page entitled "Too Much Red Meat May Shorten Lifespan." Then, as I'm sitting at home last night and the evening news comes on I hear the anchor say, "Up next, maybe all that red meat isn't good for you after all." Now I thought I should definitely write about this since the media seems to be freaking out about it.

I find it amusing when a "new study" is published that says exactly what wellness professionals have been saying for a long time and the media acts like it's some new revelation. I saw another article on MSN's front page a couple of days ago that said, "New Study Shows Being Overweight Shortens Lifespan." Of course, my first reaction is, "No way!" in the most sarcastic tone possible.

It is true that too much red meat is not that great for your health. Red meat is pro-inflammatory. In my opinion though, the biggest problem with red meat is all the junk they feed to the cows to bulk them up and fight infections. I'm referring to hormones and antibiotics. This could also lead me into my "We are not cows so we should not drink cows' milk" speech, but I'll save it for another day.

Now before we all denounce beef and all the deliciousness it has to offer, hear me out. Beef is very good for you, but like all things, it should be eaten in moderation. We were created as omnivores, which means we are meant to eat plants and animals. Red meat is very nutritious and contains B vitamins that are very difficult to get and absorb from other places. There are also other essential vitamins and minerals in it as well. Please exercise your googling abilities to check for all its components.

Eating a normal portion of red meat 2 or 3 days a week is moderate enough. The healthier the cow was that gave you your meat, the healthier your meat will be for you. Grass-fed beef is very good, only it has a higher price tag. I am also intrigued with why produce and meats that have cost less to produce cost more in the store. Anyways. I hope this has calmed some fears. Just take it easy and you'll be just fine. Throw in some chicken or fish from time to time (not pork).

As always I look forward to your comments...

"Dr. Rob I think I need a new mattress!"

Today is going to be short and sweet as I know most of you have shorter-than-normal attention spans on Monday mornings. I myself think the weekends are much to short and am never happy to hear the alarm go off early Monday morning.

So, this is a fairly common concern people share with me either before we start care or soon after we start care. Pain in the neck, back, and/or hips in the morning upon waking. The complaint could also be just general tightness. Although in some cases a new mattress would be very beneficial, it is usually not the culprit here.

The biggest problem here is positioning!

Most people do not consider the positions they are sleeping in at night. If you stay in a static (meaning not moving) position for as many as 8 hours, poor positioning of yourself can most definitely either cause problems or aggravate any problems that may already exist. The trick to sleeping correctly is maintaining the most normal alignment for your spine and joints as possible.

The two positions are laying flat on your back or lying on your side with a thin pillow between the knees to prevent them from crossing over and torquing. For a little more comfort on your back, adding a thin pillow behind the knees to cause a slight bend will relax the muscles in the lower back. The worst possible position to sleep in is on your stomach and 1 or both arms above your head. Another big no-no is sleeping on multiple or very thick pillows.

Usually, when my patients correct their sleeping habits, they are able to have more restful sleep and do not wake up with those little aches and pains. This is a much cheaper alternative than buying an expensive mattress. Now sometimes, you just need a new one but most of the time it's the positioning. I know it's hard for some of you to accept it is the user and not the equipment. I have added a photo illustrating proper sleeping positioning to further drive home the point.

As always I look forward to hearing your comments...

"Sorry doc. I can't come see you today. I'm sick!"

I normally hear that statement from time to time, but this year it seems as though that phrase is thrown my way much more often. 2 thoughts immediately come to mind. First, why the heck are so many people getting sick this year compared to others? Second, how ironic is it that a patient says they can't come see the doctor because they or their kids are sick?

As I sat in my chair this morning, my mind began to wander. I began to think about the first question in particular. It seems like people are getting sick left and right at a much higher rate than usual. Now, I haven't done any formal research, that is strictly an observation. Why are people, in general, getting sicker and sicker? Why has this past year seem like the worst it's been in a long time? I have a theory with a very simple explanation.

Are you ready? My answer can be given in one word...............STRESS!

I know most of us blow off stress because everyone has it, but this is some really serious stuff. This past year has been filled with nothing but stress for all of us. The economy, the stock market, layoffs, etc. Pick your poison because there's plenty to go around. All this on top of our normal every day stuff we deal with. All of this stress adds up.

Our bodies are designed to cope with stress through the use of certain hormones. Back in the day when we were cruisin' through the forest looking for food and a tiger jumps out, our body should immediately pump out stress hormones that divert blood and oxygen away from your gut and out to your muscles so you can fight off or run away from it. Once you are removed from that situation then your body is supposed to stop producing them and all goes back to normal. Your body is only designed for short term exposure to these hormones.

Fast forward to today. Now we are working 50 to 60 hours a week, paying bills non-stop, helping the kids with homework, coordinating after school activities, maintaining relationships, maintaining our houses and cars, and dealing with all the new problems the bad economy has brought on each of us. Hopefully by now you are seeing how stressed out our bodies are.

So what does that have to do with our health? A LOT!

Our bodies are chronically producing the stress hormones just so we can make it through each day. This spells bad news for several systems in the body. There is definitely too much of a good thing here.

Recently, there was a bandwagon for cortisol with respect to weight loss. Cortisol is one of the main stress hormones in the body. Over exposure to it has a looooooooong list of side effects. It can cause high blood pressure, lead to type 2 diabetes from messing with your bodies ability to regulate blood sugar, cause hormone problems as it interferes with estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, cause trunkal obesity, and depresses the immune system. Those aren't all the side effects, just some of the major ones.

It's funny because that list actually describes the general population and the problems we are seeing more often. Oh yeah, high cholesterol is in there as well.

So let's bring it home. The collective "we" have greatly increased our stress level this past year and one of the first things that most people cut out are those things we do to improve our health. I'm talking about gym memberships, vitamins, and organic fruits and vegetables. So stress levels go up and healthy things go down. Even if we don't stop the normal healthy things we do, the scales are still tipped on the stress side because of all the new stuff.

The more stressed your body is, the easier it is to get sick. Getting sick now costs you more money because you have to take time off work and pay for doctor visits, and pay for medications. Now when the company looks over their list of employees they have to lay off, will they be more inclined to keep someone who uses all their sick days and then some plus all the insurance claims leading to a higher premium to the company, or will they keep the employee who rarely uses their sick time and never goes to the doctor? I'm just trying to be real and not rain on anyone's parade.

It is very important now, more than ever, that you keep your body healthy. You have to find ways to tip the scale back in favor of health to counter balance the stress and its affects.

A lot of my patients have told me that they missed the flu while the rest of their family passed it around. Some that did get sick have told me they only felt the affects for a day or so while others were down for a week or two. It's no accident that people under regular chiropractic care get sick less often. Your immune system is a direct extension of the nervous system and there is no point where one ends and the other begins.

The theme here is if you do not incorporate changes to your lifestyle to counterbalance the stress in your life, you will begin to experience a downward spiral of health. Be sure to drink at least 1 quart of water a day for every 50 pounds of body weight, eat your fruits and vegetables, do some type of exercise continuous for at least 20 minutes, and by all means get adjusted from time to time.

As always I look forward to your comments....

We are all insane!!!

I was thinking this morning about how often I hear people complaining about how the medicine they take causes other problems in their body, or how it seems like taking medications only lead to taking more medications, or how the medicines they take don't really fix any problems but just address symptoms. Then it hit me - we are all insane.

Why do I say this? What could I possibly be talking about?

A definition of "insane" is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. This means you cannot take the same approach with a situation and expect anything other than the same end result.

So what does this have to do with medicine?

I had a patient tell me that they were tired of taking their child to the doctor every time they got sick because all they did was talk for a couple of minutes, look in their nose, look in their ear, and write a prescription for an antibiotic. So I immediately respond with "Well what did you expect him to do?" I think this kind of surprised them because they looked surprised. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I did want to raise their awareness to their approach. Even though this parent did not want more meds for their child, they still sought the advice from someone who is only trained to give more meds.

Medical doctors are trained in sickness and how to treat conditions with medications. That's it. They aren't trained in nutrition, they aren't trained in vitamins and herbs, and they aren't trained to strengthen immune systems or improve wellness. A few doctors do take the initiative to learn independently on these topics, but as a whole they are not taught this in school.
So, back to the question I asked before. Why do we expect something different when we visit the MD? If your back hurts or you have headaches, why would you go to see an MD if you really don't want to take drugs or have surgery? That is all they have to offer. If a conservative approach is what you seek, then a conservative practitioner is where you must go.

I get it all the time when someone says they have been having back problems and it's really starting to get worse. They don't want drugs or surgery but they want to go see their MD before they do anything else. Guess what I find out next time I talk to them? They were only offered the solution of drugs or surgery and occasionally physical therapy.

Now I am not telling you that your family physician is the devil and you should run away from him/her. MDs are very important when they are needed. Medicine is very important when it is used properly. For the general population however, most problems we experience can be handled conservatively. And by that, I mean without drugs and surgery.

Take my nutritional counseling program I offer for instance. I use blood tests to see exactly what is out of balance in your body nutritionally. The panel I run is more comprehensive than anything I have seen brought in by my patients that their MD ran. The reason is because, as a chiropractor, I know that everything is connected, which means problems in one area can cause problems in another or just because one area looks good doesn't mean the whole is good. I want to see pretty much the entire picture of your body. Based on the findings, we come up with a specific regimen of supplements for about 2 months, then we retest and compare. You wouldn't believe the results we see when we just give the body what it needs and see what it can do with it. I encourage you to check out some of the case studies on my website at http://www.back2healthwellness.com/.

If you live in the Dallas area, then I would love to be your portal to more conservative treatment. If not, I am willing to at least help you find someone in your area that can help you. More than likely you are going to have to take the initiative to go a conservative route because MDs aren't trained conservatively so they simply don't know how to refer you properly.

Sorry, I got off track there for a second.

I think part of the problem is that we have been brainwashed to think that most of the body's normal immune responses to sickness or infections are bad. If you get a fever, you better kill it. If you start coughing, you better stop it. If your nose starts making a bunch of snot, you better dry it up. These are all normal healthy responses to fighting, killing, and removing infections from your body. It drives me up the wall how some parents stop their child's immune system from killing an infection normally and then wonder why they are sick all the time.

For this I use the analogy of a weight lifter. When a child is born, his/her immune system is a scrawny, weak little thing. In order for it to get stronger, it has to work out (fight infections). Which leads to a very crazy thought that IT'S OK FOR YOUR KIDS TO GET SICK! That is the only way for their immune system to get stronger so they don't keep getting sick. Back to the analogy. Let's say you are going to start working out to get stronger. You start with very light weights to warm up. Now it's time to start adding more weight to build those muscles. As soon as the weight feels a little bit heavy, Mr. Universe comes running in and grabs the weight and does the reps for you. Every single time it even gets the least bit heavy, he comes running in.

Now how strong do you think you are going to get if your muscles never get stressed? If someone is always lifting the bar for you, don't you see how this does nothing for building stronger muscles. They have to be stressed and broken down in order to build more muscle and get stronger. The exact same thing is true for your immune system. If every time your immune system is stressed you start drinking NyQuil or popping pills to break fevers, then you are not allowing your immune system to complete its workout. You are preventing it from getting stronger, or at least delaying its ability to get stronger.

I say all this to raise your awareness. I am guilty of all the same things as you. I have to fight the same tendencies as you. Most of us consider ourselves "healthy" because we minimize our problems probably as a natural coping mechanism. Use a little sanity next time your health is stressed. At minimum, don't tell yourself you don't want to take medicine or have surgery and only consult a physician who can offer those solutions.

I look forward to reading your comments....

Part 4: This is the big finally!

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I know you have been eagerly awaiting my final installment on "What is Chiropractic?" and why it is so important for you. So here we are. I must admit I have really enjoyed writing on this subject. I think it's always good to refresh yourself on why you do what you do and how you are able to impact others. So without further delay, here we go!

A very quick recap on what we have already talked about:
1. We were designed to be self-healing and self-regulating organisms
2. We have an innate intelligence within our body to tell it what to do and when to do it
3. The nervous system is the master system within the body through which our life is expressed

This brings us all the way down to 4 which is there is a condition known as a subluxation, or misalignment, which puts pressure on the nerves and interferes with your nervous system diminishing your body's ability to express life. So what does that mean?

As I explained in an earlier post, every single cell, tissue, and organ within the body is hooked up to the nervous system in some form or fashion. Your brain is in constant communication with these areas or at least it should be. I like to think of the nerves as telephone lines or computer wires used to transfer information back and forth. Some of you may have heard it described as the brain/body connection. It is absolutely essential for this connection to be maintained in order for you to live a normal healthy life.

Now before I go on, I feel I need to restate that the definition of health is NOT the absence of sickness. If you are assuming you are healthy because you are not sick right now, then you are on a very slippery slope down that will lead to bigger problems later on. Not doing anything to always improve your health is like a couple who never communicates or does things to improve their marriage and assume things are OK because no one is complaining right now. How long will that relationship last, and how good do you think that marriage would be? Your health is the exact same way. The definition of health is your body functioning at its optimal level physically, nutritionally, and psychologically/emotionally and not the absence of symptoms or sickness. That means health is trying to reach as close to 100% function in all 3 of those areas.
Your health is equal to how well your body/organs/tissues/cells are functioning. Your symptoms are merely a warning sign that things have gotten so bad your body wants to bring it to your attention.

So back to the subluxation....

How do we get these subluxations? Well, there are 3 stressors that can cause a subluxation within the body. These are physical, chemical, and emotional stressors. Most people only focus on the physical aspect with regards to chiropractic but the other two are equally important as well. This falls in line with the "everything is connected" concept. Nothing in your body is in its own little box so if something bad happens to it, no other part of the body is affected. Any stress in any part of the body causes stress in another part of the body.

The most common physical stresses we think of is car accidents or major sports injuries. Yes these are very stressful to the body but I think they are less than the years of small physical stresses built up over time. Things like sitting in front of a computer all day, everyday, sleeping on your stomach, carrying a backpack full of books or a purse on one shoulder, or poor posture. It's the little things that we do everyday that we don't think about that add up over time that get most of us. Sure some people have been in major car accidents or whatever but most people have not.

I find it funny when patients come in the office because probably 70% of the time the space for previous car accidents is left blank. In my consultation, about 90% of those people have been in car accidents they just didn't think it was a big deal. According to research, a 5 mph fender bender can be enough of an impact to cause problems in the spine. Just think about two 2500 pound vehicles colliding. Your body has to absorb some of that impact because of inertia if nothing else. Research has also shown that it only takes pressure equal to the weight of a dime to impede neurological impulses, or messages being sent through the nerves. It doesn't take much.

I've also been told, "Well, I went to the hospital, they took X-rays, and they said I was fine." First off, they aren't looking for alignment at the hospital. The "you're fine" can be translated into "We didn't see any broken bones or tumors." Secondly, X-rays can only show bones and not soft tissue damage. Lastly, the rad techs and even doctors at the hospital are not trained in chiropractic and assessing alignment of the spine and its importance.

A very important physical stressor that is almost always overlooked is the birthing process. Yes being forced through the birth canal is stressful on the baby and not just the mommy. Not only is the process stressful, but you have some guy waiting to pull and twist your head and neck as soon as it's visible. This is done to an infant that doesn't even have the strength to hold up its own head. The big reason we don't think about this is because the baby doesn't come out yelling "I hate you!" or "See what you've done to me!" or "Let me pull and twist your neck around doc and see how you like it!" To help you make the connection here, yes I do suggest children get checked for misalignments regularly.

So let's move on to chemical stressors. This can mean a lot of things. How about not drinking enough water and too much of everything else. When I say drinking water, I mean only water and not tea, Propel, or whatever else you substitute for water. In Texas, you should be drinking about a quart for every 50 pounds everyday. Water is required for cells to carry out their normal functions and dehydration causes them to be sick and eventually die. Eating processed foods is another in the negative column. If you read the ingredients and can't pronounce the words, then it's probably synthetic and not good for your body.

Another poison for our body is medicine. This includes both perscription and OTC meds. Yep, that's right. None of it is good for your body. That is why they are taken in dosages and come with a very long list of side effects. There is NO such thing as safe medication. Do a little digging and you'll find out that more people die from adverse reactions to Tylenol than AIDS each year in the US. We're talking thousands of people taking Tylenol the way it is meant to be taken and end up dead. We don't get headaches because God didn't put enough aspirin in us when we were created, and we don't get acid reflux because we were born with a deficiency in the purple pill.

The last stressor I would like to talk about is psychological or emotional stressors. As you are sitting there reading this take a second and think of someone or something that ticks you off for a second. Just thinking about it you can start to feel your blood pressure rise and your muscles tense up. Now I want you to stop and think of something that makes you very happy. Almost immediately you can feel your body start to calm down and relax. This very quick exercise is a very good method to see how what you think about can affect your overall body. In fact, one of the newest areas of research is called psychoneuroimmunology. That is a fancy word that means your immune system is intertwined with your ability to function neurologically (brain & nerves) and psychologically. So that means if something negative is hurting one area, then the other areas are affected negatively as well.

Sometimes you hear chiros claiming to heal or cure everything under the sun. This simply is not true. We don't heal or cure anything. Only your body can heal itself the way God designed it to. However, chiropractic adjustments do promote healing because we improve the body's ability to function neurologically. The adjustments act as a facilitator. Again, I am not claiming to cure anything. All I'm saying is we help the body function better which allows it to take care of itself the better the way it was designed to. There are special circumstances where too much damage has been done and the body requires help. A sneeze or cough does not fall under that category by the way.

Anywho. I hope you have learned something from my 4 part series and understand a little better what we chiropractors are about. If you're wondering whether or not you and your whole family need to see a chiropractor, then the answer is "Yes!" Taking care of your spine is more important than brushing your teeth because teeth can be replaced. It's also just as important as eating healthy or exercising regularly.

This Is HUGE!!!!

I was browsing the health and fitness section of MSN this morning when I noticed this title on the front page: "Cholesterol Levels May Not Measure Cardiac Risk." When I read that, I assumed it was some article being sarcastic. Surely no one actually paid for a study that would discredit a multi-billion dollar industry like lowering cholesterol. By golly, that's exactly what someone has done.

Before I get into this, I would just like to state that I and many of my chiropractor colleagues across this nation have been making that statement for a long time. Not in those exact words, but I tell my patients that no one has ever died of high cholesterol. Many people who I treat for peripheral neuropathy are on cholesterol lowering medications because they don't fit into the box that "Mr. Pharmaceutical" has created. Obviously having very high levels of the "bad" cholesterol is not healthy and there are natural ways to lower cholesterol.

These guidelines they keep coming out with to give doctors on who should be on cholesterol meds is almost a joke. Basically, if you are over 40 and have blood they are recommending the meds. Even if you are normal and anyone in your family has suffered from heart disease, then you are likely to receive a script for it for "prevention". Taking medicine is not prevention! Do not be mistaken. All medicine is toxic to our bodies. Prevention is eating healthy, exercising, getting adjusted regularly, drinking water, anything that helps your body achieve optimal health by functioning at it's highest level physically, nutritionally, and emotionally.

If you're thinking, "But what about in emergencies or crisises?" Yes, in those emergency situations medicine is super because it prevents the alternative. That is what medicine was designed for. I'm talking about chronic conditions. If you take medicine for anything you have 2 problems instead of 1. First, you still have the problem you are taking the medication for because it doesn't fix problems, it only covers up symptoms. Second, you get a very long list of side effects to come along with it. Which by the way, will lead to more medication later on down the road.

Back to the article! This is not just some obscure article in an unknown journal. This article is appearing in the current issue of the American Heart Journal. It says that in their nationwide study (not the insurance company) they found that nearly 75% of those individuals treated for heart attacks had cholesterol levels that would suggest they were not at high risk for cardiovascular trouble. It goes on to say that this information might require doctors to reevaluate their current recommendations for prescribing statins.

I just had a scary thought. What if instead of using common sense and saying, "Hey, maybe we were wrong and cholesterol levels aren't as important as we thought," they did the complete opposite and decided that there box to fit people in is even smaller. So instead of recommending cholesterol lowering medications for those with LDL 130 and above, they change their guidelines to say now we think everyone with LDL 100 and above should take it.

I am very interested to see what comes of this. Will it get swept under the rug? Will it lower the amount of statins prescribed? Will guidelines get changed? Will nothing change? Only time will tell. Until then, I'll just keep on caring for my patients and try to make this world a little healthier one body at a time.

It's Electric! Boogie woogie, woogie!

Now, today I will teach you about the "Electric Slide." This is a super fun line dance that can be used at almost any party to break the ice and get people on the dance floor. If you aren't a good dancer, that's even better. Learning these few steps can quickly raise your dance floor cred to a higher level.

Just Kidding!!!! Haha

I'm not really going to be teaching you a dance move. I am using this title because today I will be talking about the most important system in our body, the Nervous System. Now that is one thing that chiropractors and RDs (regular doctors) can absolutely agree on. Remember we first talked about how we were designed to be self-healing, self-regulating organisms. Then I taught you that our bodies were also created with an innate intelligence so it knew what to do and when to do it without us telling it to. Now we are moving on to how we are able to express life and how this innate intelligence tells our cells, tissues, and organs what to do.

Now let's all close our eyes and go back to biology class in middle school or high school, depending on how good your memory is, and remember sex ed. class. For most of us, we start out with 1 mama cell and 1 daddy cell which come together and form the baby cell. That baby cell immediately begins to divide. The 1 becomes 2, the 2 becomes 4, the 4 becomes 8, and so on and so on. After a couple of weeks of cellular division, the body is ready to start creating it's systems. The very first system formed during the development of the baby is your central nervous system (CNS). So what's the big deal with that???

Well, it's only THE most important system within the entire however many trillions of cells that make up our body. Your CNS acts as the computer system for the body. In fact, every single cell, tissue, and organ in the body is connected to the CNS. It is estimated that our brain receives and processes about 28 billion messages a day. Now that is a lot of email! My tiny consciousness can't even begin to comprehend sending and receiving that many messages at all, let alone in a single day.

Once your CNS is formed then the rest of your ogan and tissue systems are formed under its control. It is so important that it is the only system almost entirely enclosed in bone. The skull protects the brain, and the vertebrae (spine) protect the spinal cord. I hope you are beginning to get a sense of how important your CNS is to life.

I often here about the necessities in life being food, air, water, and shelter, but we can't stop there. Your nervous system is a requirement for life as well. You can survive weeks without food, days without water, and minutes without a heart. However, the instant your brain is dead, so goes you. In coma patients, there is always hope for life until the brain is dead. Once your nervous system goes, that's it. I often wonder why biology classes and the medical community in general does not try to educate the public more on a healthy nervous system. Especially with information we now have from research.

Did you know that your immune system is now considered to be a circulating extension of your nervous sytem? About 50 years ago, doctors said there is no connection between the immune system and the nervous system. In the 70's, they came back with new research and changed their stance to say there MIGHT be a connection between the immune system and the nervous system. Again in the late 80'2 or early 90's, they changed their mind again and said that there IS a connection between the immune system and the nervous system. Finally, around the year 2000 they stated that research shows there is no distinction between where the nervous system ends and the immune system begins because the two are intertwined.

This is what chiropractors have been saying since 1895 when the first patient was adjusted because of hearing loss. Did you catch that I said hearing loss and not neck pain??? If you have a healthy nervous system, then you are giving your body the best chance at being healthy as well. Granted you need more than that as true health comes in a trinity: physical, nutritional, and emotional/psychological. We'll talk about that later.

Everything that makes you who you are is because of the nervous system. All five of your senses and the reaction you make to those senses being stimulated are governed by your CNS. Your thoughts and feelings, the ability to love and laugh, and the ability to wave a finger at someone who just cut you off on the highway is all made possible through the CNS. A poorly functioning nervous system, leads to poorly functioning tissues, which leads to sickness and disease of those tissues, which leads to symptoms.

Here's a big clue to your health and I bet most of you just read through it without even noticing. Your symptoms are always the last to show up, and they only show up after tissue(s) have become damaged or are functioning poorly. I am VERY confused why we choose to govern our health by the presence or absence of symptoms. Maybe because the multibillion dollar pharmaceutical industry only has the ability to patent and affect that. Living this way is like deciding whether or not you are wealthy because you aren't just poor. Or you are filled with joy because you are just not sad. Or you are a 10 because you are just not ugly.

The only reason we have symptoms is because we allow our bodies to lose its ability to function to the point it loses its ability to compensate and has no other choice but to send us a signal to let you know what your are doing ain't working or the stress is more than it can handle. If you stimulate the nervous system and improve its ability to function, then these tissues can start healing. The first sign of the healing process is the reduction or the resolution of the symptoms because functioning of that area is being improved. But the healing doesn't stop there, that's when it is just beginning! The more regularly you work on it, the more "in shape" it becomes, and the higher your potential for health goes up.

There was actually an MD by the name of Henry Windsor who tried to disprove our theory in chiropractic. He wanted to show the world that these crazy quacks didn't know what they were talking about. He decided to get 200 cadavers and perform autopsies on them. First, he found the diseased organ in the body. Second, he found the nerve that was innervating that organ and traced it all the way back to the spine so he could, once and for all, show that the health of the spine had no connection to the diseased organ. Much to his surprise, we were RIGHT! Not only did degeneration of the spines corrolate with the diseased organs, but he also found that the more diseased the spine was, the more the organ was as well.

The earlier you can switch your thinking from "health = # of symptoms" to "health = how well I am functioning," the better off you will be. The number of medications we consume increases each year. If medications helped us get healthy, then wouldn't we be the healthiest nation in the world??? Do some of your own research, and you will find that is very far from the truth. I often here people complain about having to spend $50 or $60 a month on basic vitamins to improve their health. Go ask senior citizens how much they spend on perscriptions every month and doctor bills total. That can easily top $400 to $500 per month.

What about quality of life? Who do you think has a higher quality of life? Someone taking 4 or 5 different vitamins everyday or someone who has to take 4 or 5 medications? Obviously there are some conditions which do require medication. But a vast majority of these chronic conditions could be prevented with attention to a healthy body.

So what's my point??? A healthy body starts with a healthy CNS that tells the cells, tissues, and organs how to work, AND directs any nutrients/vitamins you take where to go.

I realize this post was pretty long, but I have not even begun to scratch the surface on the nervous system, how important it is, what it does for us, and a wider range of other topics that could be addressed in more detail at a later date and time. Today I will leave you with the wise words of a man most people know. His name is Thomas Jefferson. One of his most famous quotes is as follows:

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."