Health Tips Newsletter

November 11, 2008

Health Tips Newsletter Archives

I have learned that with creatures one loves, suffering is not the only thing for which one may pity them. [Someone] who does not know when a gift has made him safe is poorer than a slug, even though he may think otherwise himself.
- El-ahrairah in Watership Down

Veterans' Day

CemeteryTuesday, November 11th is Veteran’s Day. On the 11th hour of November 11th, 1918, a cessation of hostilities was declared between German and American forces. The following year, president Wilson commemorated Armistice Day saying, “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

So, make sure to thank the very people who have fought to make this country safe, even if you had not realized that their service did make you safer. And to all the veterans reading this, THANK YOU.

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Greetings!

Let's get some Ice Cream at Jones!Aimee, my secretary and database wizard, decided that she couldn’t survive on 3 hours a week and took a job in Israel teaching, hence, the delay in newsletters.

We had a wonderful time in July at the cabin for a four-day weekend. The weather was warm enough to let the kids swim in the day time, comfortable enough to make runs into town for Jones ice cream for dessert and cool enough in the evening to have a nice fire in the fireplace. Sunday we had a great turnout of extended family and it was simply fun. With the Michigan economy in its current state, my joke was rather coolly accepted, though (see Humor).

Now we are in my favorite time of year. Sweaters have been brought out, the leaves are falling, and I have a pile of firewood next to the fireplace. We’ll head to Iowa for a 4-day Thanksgiving weekend, so come in before then!

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Back to School

Christopher started kindergarten this year, but since it’s half day, we haven’t dealt with school lunch yet. With Halloween just past, we have dealt with plenty of junk food, though (we took a family day up to an apple orchard so we wound up with more apples than candy – not a bad problem.)

Back in April we started talking about nutrition and the benefits to your health that can be gained by making better dietary choices. Choices like eating fish to increase omega 3 fatty acid intake and switching cooking oils to olive oil to decrease omega 6 fatty acid intake.1 Choices like loading up on colorful fruits and vegetables in order to get the whole spectrum of nutrients needed. Choices like decreasing grains and making sure all of the grains are whole grain in order to get all of the minerals and fiber available.2 Last month I introduced the idea of eating grass fed beef and wild game.3 (I’m not perfect, but I try to practice what I preach: a few weeks I had some caribou burgers on the grill and we been working our way through some marvelous steaks from Tall Grass Beef.)4

Making good choices for the dinner table or for yourself is important and easy; making good choices for your children at school is hard. But, oh, how important.

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Don't Do This

Christopher Eating a DonutWell, sometimes you can do this. The problem is that we are wired to want to eat whenever there is food and we want what tastes good. My fontal lobe is fully developed and I still want all junk food all the time, imagine what my kids would do if that were actually a choice.

And, too often, it seems that is reality in the school lunchroom. One study looked at several factors to determine some of the most important issues in childhood obesity. The researchers found that buying lunch at school made the child 47% more likely to be overweight, while eating supper as a family with the TV off 5 times a week made the child 31% less likely to be overweight.5

One interesting note was that children who attended a school where soft drinks were served drank and average of 4 cans a day, while children who attended a school where soft drinks were banned still managed to drink 3.6 cans per day.

Obesity has become epidemic in America and all over the world. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index greater than 30. Yes, that means the pro wrestlerChildren at Play with 6% body fat is still considered obese because he’s 6’3” and 299 pounds of steroid fueled muscle, but the BMI is the best we’ve got. In 1990 10 to 12% of the country was “obese”, in 2000 that went up to 18 to 20% and in 2005 it was almost 25%.6

Take in more calories than you burn, and weight goes up. But a few things have happened over the years. The price of fresh fruits and vegetables has gone up in real dollars 74.6% between 1989 and 2005, while in the same time period the price of fats has dropped 26.5%.7 Physical Education used to be a daily activity all over the country; now only 25% of kids attend PE daily.8 Lunches have become over-processed profit centers, computer games aren’t for rainy days anymore, and we as parents need to do something about it.

If we petition the schools to make PE a daily requirement and only serve super-healthy lunches, but we don’t set an example of healthy choices, the example we’ve set is to pass the buck.

So review some of the dietary choices we’ve been talking about over the last several months, including this next one, and make the whole family healthy!

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Fructose: Turning Us to Mush

There’s an awful lot of hype over high fructose corn syrup (hfcs). Some say it is calories that don’t make you feel full. Not true.9 There’s no difference between hfcs and table sugar (sucrose) as far as satiety. Some say that the rise in consumption of hfcs has directly driven the rise in obesity. Not true.10 The journal of the American dietetic association says: “Obesity is a complex problem and its cause cannot be simply attributed to any one component of the food supply such as sweeteners.”

But it is something to be avoided.

We used to get our sugar as sucrose from sugar beets or sugar cane. In the 1970s corn syrup began to replace sucrose and manufacturers discovered that adding fructose made a sweeter and more stable product. Now it does double duty as a sweetener and a preservative for shelf life. Unfortunately, it also does double duty as extra calories and a copper metabolism blocker. Studies have shown diets high in fructose contribute to copper deficiency, which is very important for the formation of collagen and elastin – the soft tissues that hold the body together.11 High intakes of fructose have also been linked to higher blood triglyceride levels, a precursor to heart disease and diabetes.12

The easiest way to cut down high fructose corn syrup intake is to check labels on breads and cereals and avoid soft drinks. Breads with cane sugar or honey instead help you avoid those problems, and concerns over hfcs is one of many reasons to quit drinking pop.

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Chiropractic and Fertility

No kids to worry about? We can help with that!

Joining the list of “Huh? I never would have thought of going to the chiropractor for that” is infertility. There can be many factors involved but usually the obstetricians don’t know why. Assuming there isn’t an anatomical defect that can be diagnosed, sometimes the problem never is understood and a couple is caught in a stressful and depressing situation.

It’s nothing magical, nor is it some special technique. Nutrition needs to be considered, which we do here. Specifically, coq10 helps male fertility by increasing number and motility.13 Of course, stress is one of the biggest issues and we’ve talked briefly about how chiropractic helps stress.14 And simply adjusting the spine to allow full function to every part of you body has been shown to have remarkable results. One study got mainstream media attention a couple years ago after being published. In it, 15 women who had been diagnosed with infertility presented to the chiropractors for varying reasons (low back pain, neck pain, etc.) and received adjustments to treat their specific conditions for a periods ranging from 1 month to 2 years. In that time, 14 got pregnant.15

So, make an appointment today. You never know what might improve!

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Humor

A Japanese doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him out looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor says, "That is nothing. We can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him out looking for work in four weeks."

A British doctor says, "In my country medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have both of them out looking for work in two weeks."

The Canadian doctor, not to be outdone, interjected, "You guys are way behind. We took a woman with no brains, sent her to Michigan where she became Governor, and now half the state is out looking for work!”

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Thanks for reading. Call me for an appointment today; your body (and your blood presssure) will thank you!

Dr. Matt Waln

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References

  1. Waln M < http://www.pcchiropractic.com/health_tips/04_08_08.html>
  2. Waln M < http://www.pcchiropractic.com/health_tips/05_14_08.html>
  3. Waln M < http://www.pcchiropractic.com/health_tips/07_01_08.html>
  4. www.tallgrassbeef.com
  5. Veugelers PJ, Fitzgerald AL. “Prevalence of and risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity.” CMAJ. 2005 September 13; 173(6): 607–613
  6. Pitt HA, “Hepato-pancreato-biliary fat: the good, the bad and the ugly.” HPB (Oxford). 2007; 9(2): 92–97.
  7. Walsh B, “It’s not just genetics.” Time. 171(25) June 23, 2008 pg 70
  8. Kluger J, “How America’s children packed on the pounds.” Time. 171(25) June 23, 2008 pg 66
  9. Monsivais P, Perrique MM, Drewnowski A, “Sugars and satiety: does the type of sweetener make a difference?” Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jul;86(1):116-23
  10. American Dietetic Association. 2004. “Use of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners.” J Am Diet Assoc 104:255-275.
  11. Fields M, Ferretti RJ, Reiser S, Smith JC, “The severity of copper deficiency in rats is determined by the type of dietary carbohydrate.” Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 175: 530-537.
  12. H. Hallfrisch, et al., “The Effects of Fructose on Blood Lipid Levels.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 37: 5, 1983, 740-748.
  13. Mancini A, et al, “An update of Coenzyme Q10 implications in male infertility: biochemical and therapeutic aspects.” Biofactors. 2005;25(1-4):165-74
  14. Waln M < http://www.pcchiropractic.com/health_tips/11_21_07.html>
  15. Behrendt M, “Insult, Interference and Infertility: An Overview of Chiropractic Research.” JVSR May 2, 2003, p 1
  16. Cartoon courtesy of Tom Dickson. Montana Outdoors.