Just this week our office saw two beautiful babies and their families get their lives back. The first one had colic so bad that she cried relentlessly day and night. Her dad would come home to both his wife and daughter balling and exhausted. Not the kind of warm welcome home he had hoped for. The second child had been having severe constipation problems and was miserable and always fighting colds. Both were seen by specialists and told “No one can help”. Well, I guess I’ m Dr “No One”. Even after her first visit the first child napped for four hours and slept through the night.  This child will avoid the “Perfect Storm”.

In my 13 years as a practicing chiropractor and having checked and adjusted thousands of kids, I’ve found that over 90% of the kids have had injury or damage to the cranium or spinal column from in-utero constraint or a traumatic birth injury that was never addressed and corrected. Research from Germany and many more have also shown that the first subluxation occurs either during the birth process or even before. This means these kids are starting off with compromised neurological and immune systems.

What is it and what causes the Perfect Storm?

The Perfect Storm is the collective result of numerous physical, chemical and mental/emotional insults to the integrity of the nervous system.  The accumulation of stress causes the body to be forced into a fight or flight state.  In this state, the body operates in survival mode.  In survival mode, some of the hallmark physiological responses are: higher inflammation levels, hyper-vigilance, decreased immune function, and sleep disturbances.

Subluxation, simply put, is when any of the bones in the vertebral column shift or gets stuck in an improper position and alignment (structure).  This leads to abnormal motion and movement…these two factors then lead to a change in the nerve signals and into the central nerve system (for those that are nerdy like me: spinal cord-brainstem-cerebellum-thalamus-higher brain centers and cortex).  This loss of positioning and movement leads to a loss of regular proper healthy signals, and increases stress in the nerve system forcing the adaptive fight or flight state.

Let’s walk through it in detail…

This subluxation is often caused by the positioning required for even normal, natural, vaginal deliveries… and is greatly magnified in its effect from breech positioning, long labor, suction/vacuum extraction, forceps, and cesarean deliveries. All of these situations put an excessive amount of physical force on the head, neck, and spine and lead to subluxation (by altering structure and movement/kinesiology)… that in turn causes neurological sequelae.Both of these two kids were born via forceps.

Many kids have troubles with their ears in the early years. This subluxation complex also causes imbalances in the musculature of the upper cervical spine and surrounding tissues, greatly affecting the function and movement of the eustachian tubes, sinuses, adenoids, etc.  Not only does it alter neurological function, it alters the flow of lymph, mucus, and other fluids in and “out of” the head and ENT-type structures. This fluid is then allowed to “sit” for too long in these areas, thus harboring opportunistic ‘ bugs’ that can then take hold and replicate… then in turn causing infection, inflammation, and irritation. It is not that the eustachian tubes are horizontal at that age… that does not “help” the situation, but it is not the primary cause of ear infections at all.

These children are then continually challenged when the antibiotic prescribed for the ear infection, eliminates and lessens the beneficial bacteria of the gut and colon, thus causing poor regulation of the immune system and leaving them susceptible to recurrent infection. Not only does this affect their immune system, but also their digestive system as well. Now they cannot process and eliminate food stuffs and toxins near as well, and this leads to a further “spilling over” effect of these into the bloodstream… which causes further immune reaction and inflammation and can begin the autoimmune cascade that may be linked to things such as allergies, asthma, eczema, and even ADHD later in life.

What is more, the upper cervical subluxation greatly effects the neurological control of the central nervous system, especially brainstem and other centers that are important for neurological “info relay” and autonomic control of tissues, organs, and glands. The subluxation, along with other factors, leaves their autonomic system in a highly sustained stressed sympathetic state (fight/flight) which as you know is associated with lowered immunity, hyperactivity, anxiety, social challenges, decreased GI function (reflux, dyspepsia, constipation), and more.In the case of these two kids, their upper cervical areas were subluxated causing both of them to be unable to calm their nerve systems down.

The result? They can’ t poop and can’t calm.

There is help and there is hope

Pediatric chiropractors such as myself are also highly trained in nutrition and supplementation. I won’ t go into the details here, but another major contributor to things such as otitis media, ADD/ADHD, colic, allergies, eczema, and asthma is a diet high in grains and dairy. The proteins and sugars in these foods are very difficult to digest and again lead to a strained and inflamed GI system, which spills into the bloodstream and causes and autoimmune reaction. Cleaning up a kids diet and getting him on the right supplements goes a long way to treating, and most importantly, preventing these issues.

Left un-aided, these kids end up on the merry-go-round and eventually develop a lifetime of health challenges. While medications may treat the symptoms, the child is left subluxated only to continue have challenges that remained masked. The Perfect Storm is the result – the build up to significant ‘ unexplained’ health issues.Through safe, gentle, low-force scientific and specific chiropractic adjustments, we were able to help these little ones just BE. For that, I am honored.

To learn more about the Perfect Storm and the effects on today’s children with respect wait ADHD and Sensory Integration Challenges, join me for a webinar August 22, 2017 at 7pm called “FOCUS; ADHD”

To register: Go HERE!

Seems like Spring has taken forever to get here, but it has arrived and that means lawn maintenance.

On any given Saturday morning, you can hear the buzz of a lawnmower outside.  People are planting their gardens and busy landscaping their yards.  It’s great to see all the kids playing out on the street and in the fields.  After a long winter it’s certainly a welcomed change.

I’m busy trying to get my lawn in shape for the summer.  The grubs took their toll on it last

year and now I’ve got dead spots scattered all over.  So I’m doing the top soil and grass seed thing.  I’ve become “that guy” who has neon pink ribbons around his lawn to keep the kids off.  Actually, I’m a harbinger of sorts it seems…three others on the street have followed suit.

The whole process got me thinking about the similarities of getting a healthy lawn and one’s personal health.  It seems that most anything I look at reminds of health in some way, shape or form.  Have you ever thought about health in terms of your lawn?

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Weight-loss is the number one ‘resolution’ every new year.  If you are like most people in January, you maybe decided not to set any resolutions, but perhaps this is your year to:

“Lose some weight.”

“Shed some pounds.”

“Get ripped!”

I know that in my practice, I’ve had numerous patients tell me that their goal is weight-loss this year.  I then ask them “what’s your plan to make that happen?”.  Invariably their responses are “eat better and exercise”.

Aside – I was a highly respected and sought after personal trainer before I went to Chiropractic college. In January, our membership sales would skyrocket.  As cliche as it is, within 3 weeks most people quit coming to the gym.  All of them had the same goals – “weight-loss by eating better and exercise’

Let’s take a hard look at why people fail and how YOU can succeed!

The Weight-loss Epidemic – A look at the facts:

Weight gain after eating

It is well know that 95% of all dieters who lose weight will gain it back within 5 years.   Of those that diet, 40% of people will gain even more weight than they lost.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, over 1/3 of adults are obese.  When it comes to weight-loss, we often think of adults.  But it is a hot topic amongst today’s youth and has lasting negative effects.  Girls who diet in their early teenage years are three times more likely to become overweight within five years, even if they started at a normal weight.

Poor self-image

For most people who struggle with their weight, there is a strong association of poor self-image.  According to data from the Keep it Real Campaign, 78% of 17-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies.  As any one knows, this age group is highly influenced by their peers and weight is often a target to bullying.

It seems that body image challenges are starting at an even younger age.  Staggeringly, 80% of all 10 year-old-girls have already been on a diet.  As the parent of a 10 year old daughter, I can see challenges in discerning the difference between ‘healthy’ and ‘skinny’.  As parents, it is important to keep lines of communication open and be sure to properly define terms with your kids.

Finally, in a survey of female college students, 44% who dieted were of normal weight!  As university and college student struggle to move into adulthood, it seems that a large number of them are concerned with their weight.

Dieting can be dangerous

When it comes to dieting methods, many elect for the ‘starvation’ mode.  In one particular study it was determined that 50% of teenage girls and one third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control methods.  This may include but not limited to vomiting, taking laxatives, fat-burning pills and improper fasting.

Eating disorders

It is estimated that up to three million people have an eating disorder in Canada alone.  This statistic is regardless of age or gender.  Men who have eating disorders are less likely to get help because of the connotation that it’s a “women’s problem.”  Eating disorders come in different forms.  Anorexia refers to when an irrational fear and the individual avoids food intake and psychologically sees themselves as being overweight or ‘fat’ when they are actually underweight or quite lean.  Bulimia consists of high levels of guilt after binge eating or even consuming a proper amount of food and then purged usually through vomiting

Unsustainable

This is by far the largest reason why most people fail at weight-loss.  Many people choose diets that are not sustainable lifestyle choices.  They attempt to deprive themselves all at once.  They force themselves to eat in a way that is radical for them.  The results is usually a temporary improvement in their dietary habits only to succumb to the challenge of the ‘all or nothing’ principle.

The biggest problem with an unsustainable weight-loss regime is that is doesn’t treat the underlying cause.  Overeating and unhealthy choices are often not about the food – but are triggered by emotional or mental causes, including trauma.  It is our psychological understanding and philosophical premise of what food is and what health is that determines one’s success or failure at weight-loss.

The metabolism

By reducing caloric intake, we cause the body to decrease body temperature and reduce activity levels – thus decreasing energy burned and metabolic rate.  This is the anti-thesis of what we want!  Interestingly, someone who lost weight quickly will generally have a slower metabolism than someone who was at the same weight without diet.  It is well documented that hormonal changes occur in dieters.  Hormones that tell the brain when you’re full are decreased with weight loss.  The hormone that stimulates hunger, ghrelin, is increased with weight loss.  So we need ways to keep our metabolisms high, stay satiated and get all of our nutritional requirements.

The brain tells your body what it “should” weigh, within a 10 or 15 pound range.  In the brain, the hypothalamus pushes the body back to “normal,” even if that normal weight is overweight, even seven years after original weight-loss.

“Diet” foods

Most marketed “diet” foods are made out of artificial ingredients.  The truth about “Fat Free” products is that they are especially unhealthy.  Mayonnaise, for example, is made out of a cup of oil, an egg yolk, vinegar, and mustard and is 98% fat – so “fat-free mayonnaise” is as fake as you can get!   Manufactturers will often use sugar or starch fillers to thicken their ‘fat-free’ products.  This in turn drives your insulin up, and increases your insulin resistance.  Your body stops responding to insulin and you convert and store more fat!

But…but…but it’s fat-free!!

Non-sense.

Eat the full fat product. Butter, bacon, avocados.  Eat it all.

Artificial sweeteners

Diet soda contains artificial sweeteners, which can confuse the body.  The body is tasting sweetness, but not getting the expected energy from it, so it may promote overeating.  Artificial sweeteners interfere with hormones in the body that regulates blood sugar and satiety.  This causes you constantly disrupts your blood sugar levels making you always feel hungry.

So let’s dive into how we reframe our minds, change our habits and ultimately make sustainable changes that will help you stop the YO-YO!

The Anti-Diet Diet

First, let’s look for things in your body to be appreciative about! It can be anything…

• Your beautiful hair.
• Your strong legs.
• Your nice hands.
• Your ability to see.
• That you have skin.
• Your cheekbones.
• Get focused.

The more you focus on the things you like about yourself, the more things you will find to like about yourself.  By showing your body love (no matter what it looks like now), you’re programming your subconscious to create more opportunity for you to love yourself (which may result in it decreasing your appetite and losing weight).   You MUST change how you view yourself and your health.

Ask yourself:

Who do you want to be? Not what the magazines, your mother, your friends, your favorite instagram celebrity etc wants you to be.  Think of yourself as how you want to be.  I highly recommend writing out “What do I want?”.  List ALL of the things YOU want.

Next – spend time everyday and visualize yourself looking how you want to.  Even just a couple of minutes trains your brain to see and feel your body differently.  The important thing is that you feel good during the visualization. Avoid negativity!  Avoid the ‘haters’!   Don’t partake in body bashing talks, and don’t read magazines/look at social media memes or photos that make you feel bad about yourself!  Appreciate qualities in other people without comparison.  Celebrate them for their accomplishments.  By celebrating others you focus on abundance and attract compliments.  If you notice negative qualities in others – realize you’re projecting thoughts about yourself onto them. Choose to think positive thoughts instead.  Write down your thoughts in a journal and focus on what little step you took that day to move forward.

Please please please – Don’t weigh yourself.  It is a terrible indicator of how healthy you are.

Your weight is NOT a reflection of WHO YOU ARE!

Intuitive eating

Eat when you’re hungry!  Don’t “save your hunger” for certain times of the day – you’re more prone to overeating and missing your body’s signals when it’s hungry.  Your body intuitively knows what it needs to be strong and healthy – listen to it.  It might be scary to eat real foods with full fat, or without artificial sweeteners, but trust yourself!  You might end up eating more calories at first, but your body will adjust!

Trust yourself!

Eat what you want, but pay attention to what foods give you energy, and which foods make you feel sick or tired. Focus on the foods that make you feel good!  If you do eat “bad” food, don’t beat yourself up, or you’ll train your subconscious to make more poor choices – love yourself, and focus on eating healthy food again.

Stop eating when you are no longer hungry!  Before starting your meal, think – if I get full before I finish everything on my plate, how can I store the food and eat it later?  You should never feel like you have to clean your plate.

Sorry but your parents were wrong to enforce that habit.

Some people are scared of wasting food because “there are starving children in the world” – but how does your eating food that your body doesn’t need help them?  If portion control is an issue, use smaller plates – you’re more likely to eat less!  You can also drink a full glass of water prior to eating.  The volume of water will fill you up and help you overcome the feelings of fullness.

Another thought on water – If you’re not sure if you’re hungry… Drink water: your body‘s signals for hunger and thirst are sometimes hard to distinguish.

Ask yourself how you’re feeling emotionally, and get to the root of it. If you’ve had a hard day at work or school, ask yourself  “Are you eating because you have an emotional issue that needs to be addressed?”

Make eating enjoyable.  Lots of fresh vegetables with a great lean protein is a energizing meal that feels great for hours.  I always recommend and strive to have at least one fresh vegetable at every meal.  The fibre and nutrients pack a punch.

Exercise

Find exercise that you enjoy doing – it can be anything.  Don’t force it.  Don’t force yourself to exercise at first. If you make exercise a punishment for your body, you won’t get positive results.  See exercise as a way to love your body and make it feel energized!  Exercise will always improve your mood.  It is consistently the number one way to  improve mood and decrease signs of depression.  If you’re an emotional eater, exercise can help!  Consider going for a walk and de-stressing before dinner.  It will help you burn calories, build muscle and burn fat from your body.

Chiropractic Care.

I can’t even count the number of patients in my practice who have told me that they’ve lost weight since starting chiropractic care despite NOT changing any thing else.  Chiropractic helps put the spine into proper alignment, so that the nervous system can function properly.

The nervous system is the master controller of the entire body.  The nervous system sends signals to the brain that tells you when you’re full.   A healthy nervous system can mean a healthy digestive system!

Chiropractic & the metabolic system

Chiropractic can help the metabolism by correcting underlying issues.  Imbalances in the nervous system can affect hormone production such as blood sugar regulation.

The message behind chiropractic is that the body is an amazing, self-healing organism.  At Synergy Chiropractic we’re here to support you – going to receive regular chiropractic care can be your reminder to love your body!

 

About this time last year I set out to get healthy!   I know a lot of you are thinking it right now.  “Time to make changes.”  I set out  on the usual path with goals in mind, but boy did the plan change!  I’ll tell you one thing right off the bat, I haven’t been sick in a year!  Yep, Jan 15th 2016, I was suffering with my second round of bronchitis, weight gain, limited physical abilities, and STILL in menopause! Brutal.  I had numbness and tingling in my hands, prone to breaking out in hives, insomnia, and somewhat depressed.  Who wouldn’t be!  I was on a puffer for my lungs, sleeping pills to get some rest and the ususal handful of Advil for all the aches and pains.

It turns out the one constant place, person and treatment where I felt strong and motivated was here!  Synergy Chiropractic.  Their ever abundnant positivity and gentle pushing (and sometimes I needed a healthy shove!) slowly helped me get my act together.  Nothing is as easy as getting on a treadmill, eating a salad and putting a smile on your face.  Everyone’s reality is different.  And the one step forward, two steps back reality can be VERY discouraging.

Slowly but surely I’ve been chipping away at many of my issues and how I got there:

• frequent colds, turning into bronchitis
• hives, from what?
• sleep? what sleep?
• weight, fitness
• over use of medications

Where to start? I think the big picture scared me.  That’s a big list of changes.  But I was sick and tired of being sick and tired!  My immune system was tired.  Worn out.  I had nothing left, so I started there.  Replacing the medical pill popping with vitamin pill popping.  Staying away from people and situations that could compromise my recovery.  Pretty sure the hives were stress related. But I couldn’t tackle it all at once so I gave myself permission to be succesful at just one thing at a time.  And it’s been slow!  I really thought by the end of 2016 I would have achieved all my healthy goals.

What have I achieved?  It started with learning more about vitamins and which ones are important to me.  And sticking with it.  I actually have a gigantic pill box on the kitchen counter to help me stay on track.  There’s a great website http://www.drweil.com/ that I follow.  He also has a health survey you can take and it will provide you with a vitamin protocol.  I don’t do all of it but I certainly do the obvious ones! Multi’s, C, Cal-Mag, Probiotics and more!  (You do have to give your email but I actually like the daily emails – they’re short and relevant and I’ve learned tons!)

Sleep is still an elusive creature.  But I have made changes and it has certainly improved.  And I always sleep better on a day that I’ve had my chiropractic adjustment!  Menopause *sigh*  Well it happens to the best of us lol! But there are also steps I’ve learned that have helped and most importantly not to be angry and frustrated with something that is a healthy part of life.  And also not to use it as an excuse!  “oh the weight gain… well it’s menopause, can’t do anything about that!”  Yes I can!

As most of you know I have a horse and I ride several times a week.  I am not however in great physical shape and that really was one of my goals for 2016.  So now that I have many of the other things under control I have set myself fitness goals that are related ONLY to my riding.  I’m hoping by narrowing the focus a little that I will have better luck sticking with new changes.  For the record… I hate the gym!  I could spend a day at the barn no problem!

I also went back to work this year!  And boy did I get lucky!  What a great place.  I’m learning tons, meeting great people and being supported and pushed along my journey.  Synergy Chiropractic is so much more than a place to get a physical adjustment.  They’ve adjusted my outlook on life and I am excited for 2017!  Round Two!  Another Healthy Year!