Obesity: What You Eat or Lack of Exercise? Choose Wisely?

I read many articles, studies, blogs, posts and other sources of information on health, humanity, physiology and on and on.  I an interesting article a few weeks ago in the Huffington Post that stated precidence from three similar studies.  In all three, participants had their body mass index or BMI measured as well as recording the answer to the question "which do think is the cause of obesity, diet or exercise?"  It was pretty apparent to researchers there is a link or association between the different groups.  The higher BMI group (bigger people} felt that lack of exercise was the cause for obesity while the lower BMI group (smaller people) thought the cause for obesity was from what people ate.

 They really cannot scientifically go into why this is so with this type of study but we can all speculate.  The easiest hypothesis is that if someone has the belief that what you eat has an impact on being obese than there is a greater likelyhood they will make different choices.  Similarly if someone feels eating is not the culprit as opposed to lack of exercise, they may not make any choices related to their weight with relation to food.  Thinking perhaps their weight is lack of exercise and they know they should do that more and if they did they would weigh less?  Again, this cannot be correlated directly to thinking something causes one to be heavier however more than likely it is a window to a fundemental non awareness or a dis connect to the impact of food and our weight.  Interesting study to say the least and perhaps something to get us to start thinking!!

Here is the Huffington Post article again if you missed the link above.

http://goo.gl/uB2OJ

It Sounds a Bit Fishy To Me! Fish Oil vs Krill Oil

As a person who loves to scour the internet in search of as much health information as possible both for entertainment purposes but mostly in search of trying to get to the bottom of what is real and truthful, I find there to be a tremendous amount of information out there. I understand that even with my background and education in biology and human science just how challenging it must be for a person without advanced education and learning to figure out what is hype and what is truth.

I have several people and sources that I have found throughout the years whom I hold in high esteem and whose opinions and information I value greatly. This is from my repeated time-tested experience of finding high grade, no B.S. tell it like it is information from these sources over and over again. The first one I could ever remember was Dr. Joseph Mercola who started a truth about health information site almost 15 years ago. At that time he was a maverick and bucked the conventional approach to healthcare and the medical system in this county. But, as he grew in popularity so did his site and the costs that were involved in running it.

What happened next was a natural progression, he received so many inquiries about where people could find the products that he mentioned as superior or alternatives to what was being marketed from other sources that he chose to become a supplier. This primarily served as a means to pay for the rising costs he faced himself which ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Along the way something else happened, his business of selling products grew and grew and grew. To the point where most of the effort and energy was being put into creating what you see now when you go to mercola's website. Dr. Mercola has spent a lot of time and money investing in seminars and consultants who are the top internet marketers and in business. People like Jay Abraham, Yanik Silver, Dan Kennedy and Joe Polish that rely on many different approaches towards increasing sales most often marketed as "tips, tricks and tactics."

In my opinion Mercola's website has changed significantly, from an incredible source of independent and objective data to one seemingly about bottom line sales. Don't get me wrong, there is still a tremendous amount of useful information on the site but it has become harder and harder to distinguish what is truly a factual piece of objective data and what is a small fact distorted to look to be a much larger truth. I find it hard pressed to think that it is not mostly about the money or the numbers for him. The general idea of what Mercola does is find what is called in the business a "unique selling proposition" and then market the crap out of it because nobody else has it or is doing it. Case in point Krill Oil.

For years holistic, natural healthcare providers have been touting the health benefits of cod liver and fish oil. I mean, for a really long time. For centuries it has been used for its health benefits firstly for animals and then with humans. A quick search on Google will give you lots of history about cod live and/or fish oil, maybe more than you care to know. I find that sort of thing quite interesting myself but the thing to take away is that we have been knowingly consuming fish oils for health benefits for several hundred years with large success even if at first anecdotal.

Earlier today I received a link from a friend that was about whether or not krill oil is better than fish oil for its health impact. This source was from one of my favorite people Dr James Chestnut. The first time I heard him speak I thought "where have you been all my chiropractic life?" James' salient and clear cut common sense information just plain ole' makes sense. The bottom line with most of James' articles and talks is that we ignore our natural selves our natural origins and our natural makeup. To a point our genes have not changed in 40,000 years and if we can honor our makeup as close as possible to what we ate, how we moved and the mental/emotional health we enjoyed then we can approach our optimal health. The more a person's lifestyle is incongruent with how the body works then the more we push our physiology towards working harder, getting out of balance and become unhealthy. That leads to ugly, early death which affects most people in our country.

James in his article clearly points out that there is no documented fact that that we have ever consumed krill in any way until present day. What does that mean you might ask, well simply put, I am a firm believer that our body works best in its most basic and natural state, the way it always has since the day we showed up on the planet. To me it doesnt matter how you believe humans showed up, by evolution or by design, it matters only that you understand that we have a genetic code and physiology that has operated the same way based upon our lifestyle for over 40,000 with very little change. To reach optimal health we have to get as close a lifestyle as possible to the ones that our ancestors had and in Dr. Chestnut's words "Eat well, Move well, Think well and be toxic free." This does not mean you have to chase gazelles and pick berries but it does mean you have to move regularly and it does mean you have to be aware of what you put in your mouth. This is much easier than what we have been lead to believe, but that is another story.

The scientific facts Dr Chestnut brings to life are great based upon clear cut evidence and also points that question some of the science behind Krill oil. The most powerful part of the evidence is that a normal healthy human requires EPA/DHA which is abundantly found in fish oil and not in krill. The case for Krill oil to me has a lot of sales, a lot of hype and some misdirected "evidence" which to me seems a little fishy. If you are like me and like great sources for health information you should become a friend of Dr Chestnut on Facebook and learn how to live a simple and healthy lifestyle. You can also come to hear one of our talks if you live in the Hinsdale, IL area.

Please read his article when you have a chance if not right now, it is in a word, "delicious."

Dr Lloyd Fielder DC

www.hinsdalechiropractor.com

www.schaumburgchiropractor.com

Healing Myths

If you are not familiar with Mercola.com I would suggest you go there and sign up for their newsletters. They are frequent but they provide amazing content. You will have to put up with some of the overselling of their products and opinionated stances on some subject matter but overall it is a great resource for natural health. Here is a link to a recent article about the myths of health that even medical doctors are misinformed about.

Dr Mercola Health Myths

Hope you enjoy some of the information and as always I recommend not that you blindly believe everything you read but explore things further and then choose for yourself.

Pain Pain Go Away, Come Back Another Day!

As a child there is nothing more freeing and fun than to run around outside doing whatever you wanted to do with not a care in the world. Some kids ride around on their bikes and some love digging int the dirt, whatever you wanted to do it was all yours anytime, unless....it was raining! Nothing could thwart a day of fun like pouring rain and while it seemed that we had no control a loving parent or teacher might have introduced you to the only thing you could try. The wonderful song of "Rain, rain, go away, come back another day!" It made sense to us and we would gladly sacrifice a future moment just for the chance to run outside and play today.

Well, a lot of us adults today carry a similar sentiment as we did back then but more often than not it has to do with all too common aches and pains. Anyone who has ever experienced neck pain, back pain, headaches, muscle aches and the like knows all too well how it can impact your quality of life. The apparent freedom to go outside and play, to engage in your active lifestyle or even to get on the floor and play with your children seems to be stripped away. Most people take over the counter drugs and medication, if bad enough prescription strength from your family physician. Time passes, and more things taken, tried and as the person in pain you are left to reduce your normal activities of daily living and the things and experiences you enjoy to almost nothing. Along the way you might even try pleading with your maker, that conversation you might not have had since you were at the bathroom floor in college where you say "if you make me feel better then I will never (insert discretion of choice here) again!" If you have a more light hearted nature to being reduced to asking for help you might have even changed your favorite childhood rain request to an adult pain request and sang "pain, pain, go away, come back another day!"

Whether or not your pain recedes on its own, with the help of over the counter drugs, prescribed medications or even with ice or heat it seems that a majority of people get their wish. The Pain that has gone away has certainly returned another day. But why!? Simply put it is due to the fact that the cause of their problem was never addresses the first time. In my office I put it this way, "if you have a boulder on your foot we could numb you with ice or with drugs and you would stop feeling your pain. However don't you think it would be better to remove the boulder from your foot?" This oversimplified example always makes sense and then we usually get to the job of finding out what is going on to cause a person to have pain and discomfort.

More often than not what goes on with people are levels of compensation and accommodation. Meaning that the body goes into emergency mode to correct for some basic dysfunction and tries to make up for the loss of function. This is great in the short term but stinks for a strategy in the long term. Lets use another analogy. If you put 10 extra pounds of pressure in the right front tire of your car you could barely notice it and it would not have much effect at all. Not over the next 10 miles or 1,000 miles but over 10 or 20 thousand miles you start to wear down unevenly on joints and cause premature wear and tear from only a small amount of difference from side to side. Our bodies work similarly and the small amounts of compensation and accommodation from minor spills, slips, falls, poor posture, crossing the same leg over the other, standing and favoring the same side or leg constantly, carrying children and so on. They can all lead to bio-mechanical unevenness and premature wear and tear that ultimately can lead to discomfort and pain.

Without someone who is a professional to assess you properly, to look at your bio-mechanical compensations, accommodations and faulty patterns you might end up going through a vicious cycle of pain, pain relief, relief and then reoccurance. My suggestion is that the next time you feel like you aren't working right, not feeling like you should even before you have to resort to singing, find a person who specializes in the way the body actually functions, you know, like your chiropractor!

Yours in Health as always

Lloyd

Chiropractic Validated by Medical Research

Since chiropractic’s inception in 1895 there has been an understanding of the crucial relationship between the integrity of the spinal column and the function of the nerve system as a whole and specifically the tissues and organs that they supply. The interrelatedness of the spine and nerve system--even way back then--was evident in its simplest of understandings.

It was this basic observation that led to the profession of chiropractic focusing on the function of the nerve system and how it is the main source for transmitting the inborn intelligence and information one requires to express their fullest health potential. In essence, to the degree one maintained a healthy nerve system, one free of interference and aberrant communication in relation to the spine, is to the degree one was able to express the fullest potential for life and health.

Chiropractors influence the function of the nerve system through the spine and spinal subsystems thereby allowing the body to increase its own inborn ability to self-regulate and self-heal.

Why Don’t M.D.s Recognize the Importance of Nerve Function?

Fast forward 110 years later. I can’t tell you how many times I have a person in front of me to whom I explain these simple workings of the importance of nerve function in the role of their health. I know I am not the only chiropractor who hears this next line all too frequently, "Why didn’t my M.D. tell me that?"

My answer is usually something along the lines of, "Maybe they just simply don’t know and you should explain it to them." In truth I do not know the answer, but my best guess would be that these understandings were firstly and continue to be associated with chiropractic and chiropractors. Their biasness professionally is that chiropractic ideas have not come from any medical research or any allopathic physician and therefore are not valid.

Well fret no longer; thanks to a wonderful M.D. who spent many long hours in the lab we have results that support the basics of the chiropractic view of a life and death relationship between the nerves and the function of the organs as they relate to the spine.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:

The Winsor Autopsies

Henry Winsor, a medical doctor in Haverford, Pennsylvania, asked the question:

"Chiropractors claim that by adjusting one vertebra, they can relieve stomach troubles and ulcers; by adjusting another, menstrual cramps; and by adjusting others conditions such as kidney diseases, constipation, heart disease, thyroid conditions, and lung disease may resolve--but how?"

Dr. Winsor decided to investigate this new science and art of healing--chiropractic.

Dissections

After graduating from medical school, Dr. Winsor was inspired by chiropractic and osteopathic literature to experiment. He planned to dissect human and animal cadavers to see if there was a relationship between any diseased internal organ discovered on autopsy and the vertebrae associated with the nerves that went to the organ. As he wrote:

"The object of these necropsies (dissections) was to determine whether any connection existed between minor curvatures of the spine, on the one hand, and diseased organs on the other; or whether the two were entirely independent of each other."

University Permission

The University of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Winsor permission to carry out his experiments. In a series of three studies he dissected a total of 75 human and 22 cat cadavers. The following are Dr. Winsor’s results:

"Two hundred twenty-one structures other than the spine were found diseased. Of these, 212 were observed to belong to the same sympathetic (nerve) segments as the vertebrae in curvature. Nine diseased organs belonged to different sympathetic segments from the vertebrae out of line.

These figures cannot be expected to exactly coincide ... for an organ may receive sympathetic filaments from several spinal segments and several organs may be supplied with sympathetic (nerve) filaments from the same spinal segments. In other words, there was nearly a 100 percent correlation between minor curvatures of the spine and diseases of the internal organs."

Diseases examined:

• Stomach Diseases
  All nine cases of spinal misalignment in the mid-thoracic area (T5-T9) had stomach disease.

• Lung Disease
  All 26 cases of lung disease had spinal misalignments in the upper thoracic spine.

• Liver Disease
  All 13 cases of liver disease had misalignments in the mid thoracic (T5-T9)

• Gallstones
  All five cases with gallstone disease had spinal misalignments in the mid thoracic.

• Pancreas
  All three cases with pancreas disease had spinal misalignments in the mid thoracics.

• Spleen
  All 11 cases with spleen diseases had spinal misalignments in the mid thoracics.

• Kidney
  All 17 cases with kidney disease were out of alignment in the lower thoracics.

• Prostate and Bladder Disease
  All eight cases with kidney, prostate and bladder disease had the lumbar (L2-L3) vertebrae misaligned

• Uterus
  The two cases with the uterine conditions had the second lumbar misaligned.

• Heart Disease
  All 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions had the upper five thoracic vertebrae (T1-T5) misaligned.

Dr. Winsor’s results are published in The Medical Times, November 1921, and are found in any medical library.

That’s right, folks: 1921.

Modern Research Also Shows Benefits of Chiropractic

What is incredible is that there is much more research, a majority of it done in recent years, that shows the benefit of chiropractic care in many aspects of health such as the immune system. Wouldn’t you want to know that chiropractic care could allow your family’s immune systems to be as healthy as they are meant to be?

The latest research shows people without any symptoms at all who receive chiropractic care IMPROVE their health.

That means there is valid scientific documentation that as you incorporate chiropractic care into your lifestyle you continue to get healthier even if you don't have any current symptoms!

Now let me just acknowledge that many in our profession of chiropractic educate people to know that judging their health based upon symptoms is not wise and that even in the absence of symptoms someone can be quite sick. I am not disagreeing with that at all.

However, I am simply shifting the focus onto creating health, wellness and wholeness. We have no choice in that life is a continuous process that goes on with or without us. We do have a choice in either taking a passive and unaware role in the processes of creating a downward spiral of sickness and disease, or an informed and active one in creating an upward spiral of health and vitality. Which would you choose for yourself? How about for your child?

How Many of us Receive Chiropractic Care?

Our profession has been educating, talking about, asking, and sometimes pleading with people to get checked for nerve interference by a chiropractor for over 100 years. Over 85 years ago the medical community itself validated chiropractic’s reasoning with science.

Sadly to this day only 10 percent to18 percent of our country’s population has gotten under some type of chiropractic care according to various statistics.

We continue to get sicker as a country that encompasses something like 5 percent of the world’s population--who consume around 60 percent of the world’s pharmaceuticals. This concept of better health through better drugs is not working and, more importantly, it is killing us. Conservatively speaking, the third leading cause of death in this country is the medical profession.

So whether you have a disease, an illness or symptoms, are without a symptom and want to create more health, or want to find out more about your body, the state of your spine, if you have nerve interference and more importantly how much or little you are expressing your health potential, you could benefit from a chiropractor.

Many of my colleagues across the country and world give health care classes, new patient orientations and speak to all sorts of groups. Please see the wonderful chiropractor locator and schedule yourself an appointment--or at the very least find out when the chiropractor nearest you is giving a talk about health, wellness and chiropractic as it relates to you and your family’s lives.

I promise you it is the greatest gift you can give yourself and your family, now that you have started to understand how the body actually works!

Dr. Lloyd Fielder is the chiropractor who regularly adjusts me to optimize my nervous system. He was born in Brooklyn, NY and lived most of his life in the town of Oceanside on Long Island. He completed his undergraduate studies at the State University of New York at Albany before receiving his Doctor of Chiropractic degree at The National College of Chiropractic in Lombard, Illinois. He also has Bachelor of Science degrees in both biology and human biology. He has successfully owned and operated Schaumburg Chiropractic Wellness Center in Schaumburg, IL for the last seven years. Dr. Fielder commonly refers to his office as "one that is driven by possibilities to improve a person's life and health." For seven years Dr. Fielder has transformed the practice into one that is focused on the inborn innate ability of each person to achieve and express their full health potential.

Reference:

Much of this article was modified from an original article from Tedd Koren, D.C.

All quotes from: Winsor, H. Sympathetic segmental disturbances -- II. The evidences of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease with vertebral deformities of the same sympathetic segments, The Medical Times, November 1921, pp./ 267-271

Thanks for reading!

Dr Lloyd Fielder DC

www.hinsdalechiropractor.com

www.schaumburgchiropractor.com

www.oasiscenterforhealth.com

Hinsdale Chiropractor

So, it has been almost a full year without a post. I know back then I had great intentions but I never thought much of being a regular "writer." Well, I realized finally through the gentle suggestions of those around me and especially from the people I take care of everyday that there is in fact a need for clarity of information. So, the plan is for me to start posting regularly, writing articles and most of all answering questions. So, if you or anyone you know has a health related question please ask and I will do my best to answer in the most open minded and comprehensive way. Stay tuned people and also check out my website www.hinsdalechiropractor.com !!!

Most people know chiropractic has to do with their spine and the alignment of their spine, and they are correct. However, the primary importance that chiropractic is really about is their nerves and the impact they play in having overall good health. My concern is not just for all of the people dealing with health issues by taking drugs that might only be masking a symptom. More importantly, my concern rests with all the people who may be having a health problem and simply don't know it yet.

The basic premise of chiropractic is that there is a Universal Intelligence in all matter giving to everything all its properties and actions, thus maintaining it in existence. In all living things, especially in humans there is a subset of this intelligence called your Innate Intelligence. This innate intelligence runs, regulates, coordinates, heals and controls all aspects of every function in your body.

You see, we used to think it was genes but modern science has revealed our genes to be nothing more than blueprints or recipes that are turned off and on by our innate intelligence. Our innate intelligence is carried by our nerve system that gets the information from our brains to every cell in our bodies and back. When this intelligence is completely free to express itself over our nerves to our bodies, then we work at or as close to 100 percent as possible and call that being normal. Normal is healthy and healthy is awesome.

In a nutshell, the purpose of our nerve system is to integrate us appropriately to our environment. We are constantly being bombarded by destructive forces (like poor diets, prolonged poor postures, work and family stress, etc) all day long and it is up to our nerve system to adapt us appropriately to them. If this happens, our innate intelligence continues to flourish and all is well.

However, if not, and there is interference to the transmission of our innate intelligence, we slowly break down if left over time. Nerve interference is perpetuated from a segment or segments of the spine that alter their normal position and/or function and is called a Subluxation. A Subluxation Process is one or more subluxations that goes undetected and contributes to a person's downward spiral of their health and life.

Due to it being a process, subluxations are referred to as a silent killer. This is because by the time you do have a symptom the subluxation (which reduces the expression of your innate intelligence) has been affecting the quality of your health for some time. Knowing now that subluxations mostly occur without incident and that they do not produce initial outward symptoms, if someone were to ask whether you had any….
How would you know?

Many of us understand this silent process of ill health and this is why we get our heart checked, our blood checked, our teeth checked and the list goes on. Let me ask you when was the last time you had your spine and nerves checked? You need to get checked! Your nerve system is the master controller of the body; everything is controlled by our brain and nerve system. If something is not functioning properly with your nerves, doesn't it make sense then that the area being supplied by that nerve is going to work a little less properly too?

Chiropractors are the only ones who check for subluxations! It's such an easy concept, please come get checked, bring your spouse, your child or even a friend. With a nerve system free from interference you are well on your way to good health and a great life.

Thanks for reading my first blog!

Lloyd Fielder, DC
Hinsdale, IL