Health Chat

In order to understand the importance of why posture is so important one must understand what your spine is protecting. According to Gray’s anatomy the nervous system controls every cell, tissue and organ in the body. Nothing can happen without the nerves telling your body what to do. The normal spine is quite flexible, structurally strong and reflects the dynamic movement of the human body. It not only supports the body and all its organs, it also protects the spinal cord and nerves that carry messages between your brain and the rest of the body. Every activity, even breathing, demands movement of the spine, ribs and attachments. A healthy spine can continue to support your weight and protect your nerves, while letting innate messages travel freely from your brain to your body and allowing you to move easily throughout your day. The human body, like a machine, is subject to balance, rhythm, timing and coordinated actions of all its components. For this reason, correct posture enables the body to function more efficiently, allowing for proper development. Your body must adapt to the constant stress of gravity in order to maintain its balance, and poor posture is a common result. For every inch that the head moves forward in posture, it increases the weight of the head on the neck by 10 pounds! Imagine carrying an additional ten pounds or more around all day long!

In 1976, when I just started in my medical practice, one of the great experiments in “modern” medicine took place.  The Center for Disease Control predicted a devastating flu epidemic, the “Swine Flu” epidemic.  They predicted that thousands of people would die from this strain of flu just as in the flu epidemic of 1918 which caused the deaths of millions of Americans.  In order to “protect” the American people from this “certain death” the government made the Swine Flu vaccine available free of charge to the public and began administering it at “government vaccine centers”.  I asked my professor, the late Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, “what should I recommend to my patients, if the government makes this vaccine mandatory?”  His response was, “Tell your patients to line up at the back of the line and pray that they run out of vaccine material before your patients reach the front of the line.”  After just a few weeks, almost 100 people died shortly after being injected with the Swine Flu vaccine and more than 500 people developed Guillain-Barré syndrome  (GBS) (see explanation following).  The government immediately abandoned the Swine Flu vaccine program.  As for the prediction that thousands of people would die from the flu, the total number of cases of Swine Flu was less than 10.  This is not the first time that the government and our medical establishment have tried to scare the public into accepting unproven medical treatments. The argument is always the same, the medical establishment says, “If you do not follow my advice, very bad things will happen to you.  Trust me, I am your doctor.”  The time has come to say, “show me the evidence, show me that the treatment is safer than the disease.”

When you get right down to it, PMS is just a symptomatic response to a pretty ordinary event in a woman’s life: menstruation.  What causes PMS?  Medical science has identified numerous possible causes from endometriosis to fibroids and cysts; and from pelvic inflammatory disease to chronic yeast infections and emotional stress.   

All of the above can be responses to slight imbalances within a woman’s delicate endocrine system.  Oftentimes the imbalance can be so minute that it is difficult even for modern science to detect.  These sub-clinical imbalances can throw off the entire endocrine system so that it no longer functions properly, thus creating a dysfunction in the way a woman’s body metabolizes hormones.   

  Infertility means not being able to become pregnant after a year of trying. If a woman keeps have miscarriages, it is also called infertility. Lots of couples have infertility problems. About a third of the time, infertility can be traced to the woman. In another third cases, it is because of the man. The rest of the time, it is because of both partners or no cause found. Female causes of infertility:

 The management of pain is turning into a big business in the America and across the globe. In the United States, acute and chronic pain syndrome rank right behind disease and cancer as the third most common healthcare problem. The cost of lost work days, hospital stays, pain reducing drugs and disability payments total over $100 billion annually. Pain is the body’s warning alarm according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Nothing in the human body can function independently. The pain alerts the person to the fact that something is wrong somewhere. Long lasting pain often creates a chronic pain cycle. The pain leads to reduced excersise, limited physical activity, fatigue, stress, muscle tension, tightness, cramping, and nerve sensitivity. Patients who suffer the symptoms of this cycle often feel that the quality of their entire life changes completely due to their chronic pain condition.The alternatives of pain are narrow down to little as one Nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs for pain such as Tylenol, advil, ibuprofen, among other drugs that can cost adverse reactions chiefly involved the GI tract, particular erosion to the gastric mucosa. The most common symptom are abdominal pain, dyspnea, epigastric distress, heartburn, and nausea. CNS and skin reaction also occur may occur. Flank pain with other evidence of nephrootoxicity occurs occasionally. Fluid retention may aggravate hypertension or heart failure.Clinical studies have shown that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for all types of pain conditions. Conditions like migraines, neck/back pain, herniated disk, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel, tendonitis, arthritis, and even cancer pain have been helped with acupuncture. Researchers have increase endorphin production, which help to reduce pain.                                                                                                                                                                                          

The ancient Chinese discover acupuncture a ancient modality that is been around for around 3500 years, according to TCM all human body functions are dependent of the life force known as Qi (energy). Both Qi and blood flow through the body to nourish and protect tissues and help them to maintain functions. If Qi and blood are blocked  in some fashion, areas affected by the reduced flow will not get the needed oxygen, nutrition and energy and will begin to break down with the body functioning and less well. An acupuncturist recognize pain in a join or organ as the warning that helps to locate the cause in a particular area of the body. He will not usually focus so much on the local pain as much as working to re-balance and harmonize the whole body. Generally speaking, by relieved blood and Qi stagnation, the acupuncturist works to nourish tissues, increase circulation, increase oxygen and rebuild deficiencies in the organs. There is a saying in TCM there are blockages, there is pain. Otherwise, there is no pain.

Weight Lost Facts. . .

Low Fat Foods DON'T WORK.  

You cannot lose weight using Low Fat Diets.  Low fat foods have been popular for more than 15 years, but yet our society is getting more overweight as each year passes.  This fact alone should tell you that eating a purely low fat menu is not the answer to losing weight.

Low Calorie Diets DON'T WORK.

You won't lose weight using a Low Calorie Dieting Plan either.   In fact, eating low calories is the worst thing that you can do to your body, since that will only slow down your body's fat burning engine and ruin all chances of losing weight (low calorie diets may allow a few pounds of weight loss for the first few days, but then after that all weight loss comes to a halt --- known as a dieting plateau).   You can never get slim by starving yourself.

Low Carb-Plans DON'T WORK.

You'll probably find it extremely difficult to get slim using a Low Carb Dieting Plan.  Low carb diets have recently become popular over the last couple years, but the problem with low carb menus is that they are too strict and TOO HARD TO FOLLOW for average people.   Low carb menus tend to rob your body of too much energy (carbohydrates) and make it nearly impossible to remain on the program for very long.  This is why so many dieters find it difficult to follow a strict low carbohydrate menu.

Overweight and obesity risk factors:

 Protein is made up of amino acids.  Amino acids support your blood sugar and your brain chemistry.  There is a lot of sagging blood sugar and brain chemistry, which then pulls people to eat sugar, other carbs, chocolate, baked goods, junk.  Eating these foods may feel good for a few minutes, but then people feel down, low energy, nervous, hungry, obsessed with thinking about food, then start munching and many gain weight.   

Healthy Foods for the Winter Months by Dr. Hugh A. Jenkins, N.D., D.C. 

In Chinese medicine, the yin principle is emphasized this time of year causing us to become more receptive, introspective, and storage-minded.  People who practice this ancient form of healing believe it is important to cool the surface of the body and warm the body’s core during the winter months.  Salty and bitter foods are seen as appropriate now, since they promote a sinking, centering quality that increases the capacity for storage.  Foods should be cooked longer, at lower temperatures and with less water.   

 With the public smoking ban taking effect in all of Illinois on January 2008 – there are even more reasons to really quit this time!  Below are a myriad of reasons to quit, tips to help you quit from a holistic perspective (how to integrate being a non-smoker into your systems, and replace the smoking habit!), and where to find support during this process.   

Dr. Tom Bayne, D.C

Pure Balance Natural Family Health Care

During the holiday season there are certain foods that need to be avoided for the person who suffers from irritable bowel syndrome.   Any food that is high in fat should be avoided.  Fat is simply the single greatest digestive tract stimulant. When food enters your stomach, it triggers the gastrocolic reflex, which cues your colon to start contracting.  Fat will trigger this reflex more powerfully than any other category of food. While this is normally something that would simply result in a bowel movement, it is paradoxically likely to cause people with IBS to have either constipation OR diarrhea. This is because people with IBS do not have a normal gastrocolic reflex response, and their colons tend to spasm irregularly and often violently. In people prone to constipation, if those spasms are too strong they'll actually "seize up" the colon like a muscle cramp and motility can completely stop. This will cause severe pain from the ongoing cramping of the colon, and it will also result in or worsen constipation, because motility has shut down and fecal matter is not moving through. Foods that are categorized as insoluble fibers (wheat, nuts, beans, and granola) should be avoided as they too are strong GI stimulants.  Caffeine, carbonation, and alcohol are also GI stimulants and therefore IBS triggers.  IBS is a functional disorder.  This means that it affects the way the bowel works.  Most standard medical tests are negative.  Food intolerance is a consistent clinical finding for the practitioner who uses food intolerance testing with IBS patients.  Dairy and wheat intolerances are found very frequently in IBS patients, and so if you have had these types of tests or if you are aware that symptoms worsen if you eat certain foods then those foods also need to be avoided during the holiday season.  IBS does sometimes develop after an infection or food poisoning leaving some practitioners to use products to balance the colonic environment with probiotic organisms.  Many IBS sufferers have bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine upon lab testing.