60 Day Turnaround

Making good decisions is a hard way to live.  Well, the consequences are sure easy to endure, but it is difficult to make sure that you are making those wise decisions… hard to live that way.  In everything that we teach, there is one simple idea that makes the most sense, and that is preparation.

If you read my Monday Daily Sprout, you know that my recent trip to Hartford was a pretty miserable one, and in that there was one major problem.  A lack of preparation.  Had I not taken some things for granted, and trusted when I should have been questioning, I would have taken care of all of the mishaps of the week before and the weekend of, up front.  But I was very busy leading up to this, and let many things slide, thus a lack of preparation.

It impacted my health, it was bad in so many ways.  And just like the stress of that situation impacted my health negatively, so will any situation that you put yourselves in that is stressful.  But more obvious than that are the situations where you have a lack of preparation in your obvious health choices.  Getting adjusted, eating correctly and exercising.

These areas are so preparation intensive that without daily consideration, one will lapse for sure, if not all of them.  We recently found ourselves out with the kids, with no ability to return home, with no food, and hungry kids.  In my world, that is typically a time to rush off to the grocery store, but in this case, we had no time to stop at the grocery store.   I would think that this is the situation that most people use as a reason to stop at McDonald’s.  Personally, I think that it is unacceptable, if you ever want to learn something, then ask me why, and you will pick up a lot.  I would rather feed my kids ice cream every day for one of their meals, than eat at McDonald’s.

So instead of being completely destroyed by a lack of preparation, we were only partially destroyed.  We ended up grabbing a hamburger at the soccer field (soccer barn in alpharetta), and then added a bunch of water on top to try to completely satiate.  Of course, the burger is not at all what I would recommend… not grass fed, not free of additives, hormones, and chemicals, but ok relative to other choices.  But the story isn’t about the cover up to the problem, the story is about the solution.

Preparation is time, but not much.  Had we realized what our day would most likely look like, we would have prepared excessively for lunch.  I mean, we would have packed, and done it quickly, more food than we could have needed.  Cucumbers, bell peppers, apples, possibly a turkey wrap, and perhaps an organic bar to snack on.  Nuts… well of course.  So, the cure to our problem, would have been ten minutes of preparation, and it would have saved us an unhealthy lunch as well as the extra cash on the non-healthy food.

Most of you know I will be out of town on the second weekend of November (the Thursday through Sunday).  I am heading to the Appalachian Trail, to knock out 80 miles in 3 days.  This is a great example of where preparation comes in.  I have purchased a lot of additional gear beyond the basics that I always plan for in adventure races.  I am preparing foods, and buying ways to transport it.  I have been training for the hike, and I have considered alterations to the plan.  Preparation always success when an environment has turned hostile.

I hope this simple discussion will give you strength to win!

Be well and Blessed – Dr. E

There are so many causes of stress within our lives, and sadly, stress kills.  There is really no other way to call it, than deadly.  So I wanted to write a bit about my last weekend, and give you a page from my book in the process.  As some of you know, I was in Hartford CT, which is a beautiful area, but I was heading into what I knew would be pure hell.

Many of you know that I was up there to organize and host a Firebreather Challenge (the obstacle course race that we had hosted here in Woodstock in July).  Heading into the event, I knew it would be difficult, as we had so few volunteers signed up.  I was heading up to meet up with someone who works for our CrossFit event company (The Garage Games), with hopes that she would be able to round up more help for me (you might be wondering right now how I am involved with so many different areas – busy, more than I recommend, but not for long, this will reduce soon).

Anyways, as I was saying, the total help was low.  In addition, the week prior, I was told by the venue, that they were reversing their approval for me to run my participants along a 3 mile route including woods, creek and field.  But I would now be limited to a 4 acre field on a hill.  This was really bad news, as I had promised a 6.5 mile total distance race.

Flying out on Wednesday night, I felt despair.  I felt like I was heading into a lose-lose situation.  Then my flight was delayed, and ultimately the items that I needed to get done Wednesday night in Durham CT, took me until 2am.  I was up at 6am, buying mountains of wood from Home Depot, and arranging for pickup by my crew… (two people, my employee and her husband).  Meanwhile, I went out to see my field, and figure out how to make this thing decent.

The best way to summarize is simply that I spend all day Thursday until midnight, and all day Friday until the first heat of racers at 6pm, setting up the course.  We barely got it done in time, as there were only myself and two others for almost that entire time.  Saturday morning as the race was ready to being, there was myself and Kathy Jo to run the entire event.  Registration, starting, volunteer help on the course, directing, scoring, etc.  This is a fifteen volunteer race course (minimum), and there were only two of us.

It was at this moment, that I felt like things couldn’t possibly get worse.  I had already weathered complaints about the race, as I had informed participants that they would be re-doing obstacles, and running a loop.  So as I sat there preparing the last bit of morning setup before that first heat, I was at a point of simple surrender.  There was nothing left for me to do, no help was there, people were showing up by the droves to get into their heats, so if we didn’t start, we would simply fall further and further behind.

At this moment, I gave it up to God.  And simply trusted that whatever happened would be what happened, and we would go from there.  I am a Christian, I believe the guy who died on the cross 2,000+ years ago, was the son of God.  So I really have no limitation on what could or could not come from Him in an instant… but this instant was great.  In the moment of despair, when there was no hope for success, and the only expectation I had was sheer disappointment from every participant… I was given peace.

Later that night, as I reviewed the event with two of the volunteers (they showed up later), they recapped the day as awesome.  They thought it was all smooth (the one ran in our first heat – and saw the whole day), and described the finishers comments as all being very positive.  It was miraculous, and the miracle gave me great strength as I wrapped up the weekend and prepared for the flight back.

Of course, the vocal minority took it to us for the problems that we had with the event, and that is hard to handle, especially knowing that they are right in many respects.  But in the fifteen minutes before the event started on Saturday morning, I saw no other solution but refunding money to hundreds of people, and losing thousands of dollars in the process (the event was barely over break event, an expectation the first time you run an event in a region, due to obstacle costs).  So to go from that place, to 80-90% satisfied, is fantastic, and nothing less than miraculous with only two people running the event.

In your moments of despair, regardless of what they are, I would tell you to surrender, hopefully to God, but if not Him, then to the idea that it is out of your control.  Start there and see what happens. Some of you have stood in my stress workshop in the last five years, so you know that I have dealt with closing 7 offices… well 6 of 7, you come to the 1.  And that during that time, the IRS decided to do an inquisition into both my personal and business life.  It was a rough time, but quickly became so rough that the only choice I had, was surrender.  It works, because reality is that there are so many things beyond your control.

I advise you to take control of what you can (health decisions), and then release those things that you don’t control.  Be well, be still and at peace, and be blessed.  – Dr. E

He will be leaving promptly at 9:15am to get to his daughters soccer game. Please do not wait until the last minute to arrive. Thanks.

My wife found this article, and she read some of it to me, and it got me fired up.  I was just getting ready to introduce all of you to The Food Babe, and it got back burnered for this one (I’ll get you to her resources later).  But this, oh man, genetic profiling is kicking a kid out of school!  Brought to you by an interesting web site to say the least.

The background.  The disease cystic fibrosis (CF), involves fibrotic changes to the lungs, that reduce their capacity to breather, increase mucous production, and ultimately are the cause of death for most of those people with the disease (I say most, as I will say without wavering, that every disease that has seen this earth, has been healed on this earth, with no intervention by man).  The disease is pretty bad, and I have had a few patients over the years with it, and one who is in Florida awaiting a lung transplant.

So now here is the kicker, IF you have this disease, there is some concern about cross contamination of bacteria that might reside in the lungs, by coming into contact with other people with CF.  Now let me make this part clear.  CF does not effect the immune system, so the potential to be infected from another CF individual, or to infect another, is no different than walking into a room with some other sick individual.  Psuedomonas bacteria tends to develop in these patients over time, but that is because pseudomonas is in you and I, and all it takes is weakness for the overgrowth.

Lets fast forward to Palo Alto CA where 11 year old Colman Chadam is kicked out of school because he puts another child at risk.  Why?  Because the other child has CF, and because Colman has a gene that causes him to be likely to develop CF.  Yep, the kid has a risk factor, and he cannot go to school because of it.  Genetic profiling has caused him to be discriminated against.

 “I was sad but at the same time I was mad because I understood that I hadn’t done anything wrong. It feels like I’m being bullied in a way that is not right.”

If you have learned one thing from me, or will learn one thing from me throughout your time under our guidance… genetics are simply the loading of the gun, and lifestyle, environmental factors and other outside in efforts are the finger pulling the trigger.  Certain diseases, the gun is a little more volatile, and there is definitely a greater risk of the disease coming to fruition when it is CF versus cancer.  But what if it held off for another five years?  Why wasn’t he allowed to attend his school then high school?  How about ten years or fifteen… does it make sense to utilize DNA against him right now?

Outrage, that is my feeling, outrage and a desire to support this child and his family.  I have a policy in my office, no matter how sick you are, come get adjusted, and I will adjust you, without a mask.  If you are really bad, I’ll wash my hands before the next person and wipe off the table, so don’t fall into fear.  Why am I willing to adjust, because I take care of my immune system.  Even worn out and tired like I am right now from all the work and no sleep this past weekend, I know I have a capable immune system.  Yet here we have a child being profiled, discriminated against and segregated over his DNA.

It almost sounds like something from a year 2100 based movie.  DNA isn’t your destiny, read the article in the TIME magazine sitting out in our office, google Epiginetics… see for yourself!  Be well and blessed, Dr. E

Darwin spoke of adaptation being the means of survival of a species.  His work was twisted a bit from what he theorized, but in the end, it was specifically about adaptation.

You are an adaptation machine.  You ever notice how this time of year so many of you start feeling sick, getting coughs, head colds, and even fevers.  The problem isn’t that there is a ton of new bacteria and viruses in the world, they tend to actually produce better in hot moist environments, like our summer.  Not the fall.  So what is it?  Have you given much thought to how hard it is to adapt to ANYTHING when the temperature changes 37 degrees in one day?  Yep, you are guessing it… really hard!

I received this simple paragraph from Dr. Amy Haas, some of you know her, she worked for us for a couple of years in the past.  Post doctorate work at Harvard in biochem, then turned her back on the belly of the beast, gave up six figure incomes of ease, with fully funded 401k’s and even old school pension plans.  She left that for Chiropractic.  Kind of cool (can you imagine what her parents thought)?

Adapt or Die

Your brain and nervous system sense your environment (both external, and internal) and direct the body to adapt appropriately to change. If your nervous system’s function is dampened by subluxation, your ability to adapt is decreased. Regular chiropractic care ensures that you are keeping your nervous system clear of interference and subluxation, so that your body can function at its best and adapt to the challenges we see every day. If you were ever wondering why it’s important to see a chiropractor regularly, ask yourself this: How important is it to make sure my body can adapt to its environment?

The question is not do you see the importance of adaptation, the question is can you see the method in which it occurs.  And the reality is that none of us can.  Your immune system adapts, and the more we learn, the more we understand it happens in ways more complex than we can understand.  Your nervous system of course, is the very thing that is adapting that immune system, that we cannot understand, so how could we understand the nervous system.

Theories abound in every nook and cranny of your body.  150,000 pathways of information running up and down your spine.  But wait, that information just might be outdated, maybe its 190,000 pathways.  And what about the scientists who received much attention a few years back from hypothesizing that a major component of neurological messaging up and down your spine involved SOUND WAVES?  What?  I haven’t heard any noises coming from any of my patients spines, but it doesn’t mean that they are not correct.

You might be asking what the point of todays Daily Sprout is… what is the education we are trying to pass along with this information?  In the end, it is all about understanding that your nervous system is beyond you.  Beyond me and everyone else.  It is awesome and beautiful, and you are dependent on it, and it won’t fail you if you take care of it.

Be well and blessed!  – Dr. E

It is a wise choice for your primary healthcare provider to be a chiropractor.  Pretty self serving advice… but I have some pretty valid reasons why.  And they make so much sense when you go out into the world and see it happening.  Its pretty sad.

The average American has no idea that cancer is not a genetic program, and you would likely never find out if all of your education came from the medical model.  Granted, you could simply steer clear of the medical model, and pursue alternatives, and you would be more likely to have confidence in your decisions first, before trusting chance and genetics.  But it is clear, that engaging in a chiropractic lifestyle that is rich with lifestyle leadership, will bring you greater understanding, and in most cases, ACTION to put positive lifestyle efforts into effect.

Next, the study on Serum levels of Thiol in chiropractic patients.  This is one of those “I better have it at some level” studies.  Basically, the study showed that patients under chiropractic care had higher levels of a DNA repairing hormone, that is an anti aging hormone.  It improves your ability to heal and repair DNA.  Pretty awesome, and you are improving those levels by being here.  Is all chiropractic created equal?  No, corrective focused care has repeatedly shown better results in neurological balance.

How about the study from the University of Tokyo doctors on Demyelination and Neuronal loss due to kyphotic deformity of the cervical spine?  Basically, what I just said was loss of the outer covering of the spinal cord, followed by atrophy and death of nerves occurs when the curve in your neck is gone.  This study creates the suggestion that ALS, or Lou Gherig’s Syndrome might just be due to spinal cord compression more than anything else.

Check out this part of the abstract:

There was a significant correlation between the kyphotic angle and the degree of spinal cord flattening. The spinal cord was compressed most intensely at the apex of the kyphosis, where demyelination of the anterior funiculus as well as neuronal loss and atrophy of the anterior horn were observed. Demyelination progressed as the kyphotic deformity became more severe, initially affecting the anterior funiculus and later extending to the lateral and then the posterior funiculus.

If I tell you that anterior is front… and if you remember your doctors report, you would start to put two and two together.  The front of the cord controls your…. yep, organs.  So by causing anterior, or front demyelination and neuronal loss, you are killing your organs.

So then I ask, who would argue against corrective chiropractic care as the primary model which you live by?  Someone who chooses to live by the chemical I would guess.  So what about that chemicals?  The EPA has some unique considerations when it comes to chemical exposures.  As they have developed guidelines for mutagenic risk for adults and children.  It appears as though the risks are significantly multiplied when children are involved.  Did you know cancer is the leading cause of death for children over 1 year of age?

Can chiropractic adjustments save you from toxicity?  Well, according to some studies, yes.  There have been no landmark studies, but there have been many decent ones.  The general consensus has been that detoxification improves during spinal care.  Period.  And of course we have so much empirical data, that there is nothing but pure belief that chiropractic helps everyone with their detoxification potential.

Take it for what its worth, which is a lot.  Regular corrective chiropractic care is a life saver and game changer.  I hope we can keep you from ever having to know.  Be well, be blessed, Dr. E

For those of you who came, or those of you who missed it!

Dr. Eric has to catch a flight to Connecticut and will be out the rest of the week.

I wasn’t sure what I expected before reading “Cancer Killers” by Charlie Majors and Ben Lerner (both DC’s who are leaders in Maximized Living.  I know I wasn’t expecting to be entertained, or enlightened.  I figured I was going to be reading the same old story, re-written a different way.

Now mind you, this did not take away my recommendation to have others read it, nor was my desire to read it lessened.  I just assumed I would be familiar with all from within, but it would be wise for me to be able to help someone else understand its value.  But now, after reading it… I want every single one of you to read it, and I want all of my surviving cancer patients from the past to read it (I thought of about 2 dozen while reading it today).

Dr. Majors has been a leader in the Maximized Living movement for a decade.  When he first grew his Chicago area practice to 1,500 visits, then eventually towards 2,000, he caught all of our attention.  He is a passionate guy, confident and inspired to do well by way of man, but more by way of God.  When we first heard of his brain tumor, it was an incredible shock.  Of course, we always say “you never know”, but we also always say “this is the best way to safeguard”.  So we assume one of our chiropractors, would almost be immune… almost.

Dr. Charlie’s story is a fantastic one.  I won’t give you the complete details, because you need to read it to appreciate it.  But I will tell you this, the middle of the book is everything we teach to all of you, and they label it the “Don’t Get It Plan”.  But it outlines it so well, that if you read it, you will be five times more likely to be on the “plan”, than if you just listen to what we spout once and awhile.  On the outside of the book, you have more of the “this is how we cure it once you have it” information.

I thought I knew his story… but as soon as I realized that his operation was nothing but a realization that he couldn’t be operated on, then I knew it was good.  Instead he turned to an alternative path, that is much more aggressive than any I have ever seen, or put a patient on.  It went far beyond the level that I have prescribed, and his results are borderline as miraculous as any we have ever heard about.

It was about five years ago, when I told a patient, “you need to not miss your visits, if you were diagnosed with cancer, you would need to be here”… and she replied “ha, If I was diagnosed with cancer I’d be at the medical doctor just like you”.  And I remember my reply was so calm and committed… “I would not be, as odd as it might seem to you, I would not be”.  She didn’t buy it, and her commitment to the other side bothered me.  “How could she not realize that there is more to be offered in what we do, than what they do?”

Of course I understand that, but it is important that you know I don’t agree with it.  If anyone in my immediate family, including my siblings and parents, are diagnosed with cancer… I will not let them follow conventional treatment without a fight.  I have seen it fail so many, and I understand why.  If you read this book, it will become clear to you as well.  Not because of one mans opinion, but because this book is the outline of thousands of opinions, research and reality, telling a perfect truth that you need to know.

I am going to be giving this as a workshop, tonight, Monday night October 8th.  It is time to save some lives before they need saving.  Won’t you line up to be one of those people?  This is potentially the most important workshop we have ever taught.  Get off your butt and make a commitment.  It is way too important to sit there.

Be well and Blessed, and don’t let this be you.  You are in control… but by being in control, you will create it by not doing.  It is up to you to do.  I love you.  God Bless!  – Dr. E