60 Day Turnaround

I know that most of you know that I am a fan of the applications that can make your health path easier.  So when Dr. Mercola reviewed his favorite apps the other day, I knew I had to write about them!  However, once I saw the list I realized that it was not a “Health” focused list, just his favorites.

Therefore, I only have a few to share from his list, then I will reiterate mine.  If you are not a smart phone user, then this won’t apply (right now), but I am a firm believer that the value of using this type of technology will draw all of you into these types of phones at some point.  My iPad is the one most useful piece of technology that I own, really because of the ease of access to information coupled with the increased size of the viewing space.

So on the diet fitness side, Mercola likes the Calorie Tracker by My Fitness Pal, and the Fitness Builder.  He comments how the Calorie Tracker helps him “record my food intake and help me keep track of my macronutrient ratios”.  I personally don’t preach daily records because of the effort, and the poor compliance by most.  However, if you find a way to make it part of your lifestyle, it is always a better choice to record than not to record!

I don’t see much use in my life for the Fitness Builder, as my workouts are programmed for me by someone else.  But if you are bored in your routine, and don’t have a certified CrossFit coach making your workouts, or an Exercise Physiologist planning your Max T3 (that’s me), then this functionality might help: “has about five thousand exercises you can choose from, and they each have videos to describe how to perform them”.

Those are the top two from his article that I wanted to share.  He also mentions Flipboard for these reasons, and I to, am a Flipboard user.  Good app, especially if you take some time to customize it.  Here is what he had to say:

Many may not realize that RSS feeds are the tool I have used for nearly 15 years to access the news. Unfortunately RSS feeds never took off and I am not sure why. But the newer version of them is Flipboard, basically RSS feeds on steroids. It is essentially a customized magazine that you create that you can read like a colorful print magazine. Like the Weather Channel, it is also a free and must have app.

Its key innovation is to make finding and subscribing to RSS feeds very easy. It has dozens of preconfigured channels that you can subscribe to, or you can find your favorite RSS feeds and use it as your RSS reader. Unlike a typical RSS feed where it is often difficult to find the subscribe button, you will never fail with Flipboard as it is simple to do. This is one of my favorite apps on the iPad.

One simple modification that you can use is to integrate Google Reader into Flipboard. You can add dozens or even hundreds of RSS feeds into Google Reader and then view Google Reader on Flipboard. The advantage of doing this is that you don’t have to keep flipping through multiple RSS feeds. Some RSS feeds or blogs only post a few times a month. when it is in Google Reader it becomes very efficient to check.

Additionally when you view the posts in Google Reader the headlines become gray after viewing them so you can see where you stopped reading. This does not happen in other Flipboard subscriptions. I have over 50 RSS feeds that I have in my Google Reader which allows me to scan well over 500 blog posts a day that I screen for this newsletter.

So before I depart, a quick reminder of the ones that I have used that I think you should all have.  First is the IF Tracker.  As I have used this more, I realize that not all of the more processed foods that I use are actually fully represented here (for example – coconut milk is calculated from canned, not in a carton).  But the point is that the Inflammation Factor Tracker, will tell you if your food is high in inflammation or not.  Trust me when I tell you that 90% of you need to worry about your inflammation.

Lastly, is the “A Low GI Diet” app.  This app actually helps you assess glycemic index and glycemic load.  The index demonstrated how rapidly a carbohydrate turns into blood sugar.  The load indicates how significant of a glycemic change will come from that food.  In our world of controlling blood sugar, this app has a fantastic application to your life.  However, it is loaded with processed foods, and really I believe you only need the fresh component to get the truth you need, because you can falsely convince yourself that the low GI, GL foods are fine, when in reality, they might be loaded with enough other garbage to warrant complete avoidance (such as a low glycemic food sweetened with aspartame).

I hope this helps you as you move through January with the intention of turning resolutions into revolutions!  Be well, Dr. E

You need to come try this next Tuesday night!  Yep, I want to spotlight a product from Beyond Organic.  Again, this is Jordan Rubin’s newest company, and it is an awesome one!  The name says it all, products that go beyond the organic label, and bring a blend of incredibly healthy compounds together.

I want to talk about the sports drink world, and discuss some of the better choices that exist out there, and discuss this new product in specific.  Our typical list of sports drinks is pretty much Gatorade and Powerade, with many different varieties of those, as well as the massive energy drink world.  My biggest problem with these is that they have more than one problem!

I could say that it is the sugar, but they also make sugar free versions, in which case it is the artificial sweetener.  The artificial color is a toxin, and the preservatives aren’t so good either.  Honestly, you should not be drinking this garbage ever.  It is pure garbage.  Enter the energy drinks… again, read the label.  Now you take all of the above and add chemical stimulants as well.

To understand what makes a sports drink/energy drink valuable, you should first consider what value you are trying to get out of these drinks.  Recovery and energy.  Recovery comes primarily from electrolyte replenishment, and B-vitamins which are also a necessary component of energy.  In addition, you will often find sugar as the source of calories.

I honestly think this stuff is pure garbage.  Enter the healthy alternatives.

Coconut Water – perhaps the fastest growing market around is the market for coconut water.  I have been loving coconut water, and it really does work incredibly for electrolyte replenishment.  It has natural sugars which provide a great source of energy, and those sugars are not too high.  So this is a great choice for your whole family when it comes to energy and electrolyte replacement.

Now we get to the SueroViv (swear-O-Veev), which is the best choice by far.  So let me give you some details on why this drink packs such a powerful health punch that you should put it in your fridge.  First off, the cultured whey is truly a super food.  Cultured dairy has been used in health beverages for hundreds of years, primarily for its incredible probiotic benefits.  And now, the cultured Whey protein used in these drinks is providing an incredible amount of probiotics on top of the other benefits.

The cultured whey is also the source of more electrolytes than a sugary drink, and the equivalent amount of coconut water.  This is also the source of all the B-Vitamins, giving this drink an ability to boost energy, and not just replenish it.  As I researched the ingredients on this product, I was shocked at how well they had been brought together.  In addition this drink has the equivalent amount of sugar as coconut water, and its source is from honey!  Top notch choice!

And lastly, as you will find in many of the drinks offered by beyond organic, the water is infused with essential oils.  These not only give a unique and satisfying flavor, they also give benefits which are unique to each oil.  And as I will write about shortly, some of them are clinically tested, and specifically designed to aid in different functions, including leptin sensitivity!  Awesome.

So as a patient, you get to come to this great event next Tuesday, and test a ton of these products for free.  Bring a friend, non-patients are $29.  And it will be well worth it in samples alone, but the information that you will gain will be great, as we continue to fill your knowledge tank with everything you need to know to raise a healthy you and a healthy family!

Enroll as a preferred customer and save, or as a business builder and receive a 20% discount.  This will allow you to buy a case of SureoViv at the equivalent price of Coconut Water, with all the added benefits of a cultured Whey beverage!  Look forward to seeing you next week Tuesday! Be Blessed!  – Dr. E

Hey and hello! I want to talk briefly about the Local food stop today, and other local organic shopping in general. I am a supporters of buying/growing organic food whenever possible, to the EWG dirty dozen/clean fifteen rules as well (this will save you money from unnecessary organic purchases).

We have encouraged use of different food drop off services in the past, and have had moderate success at best in encouraging patients to commit to the process. The most common reason for this has seemed to be the lack of control over the food items, enter local food stop.  Now here is where I need to pause and say “I get it”, you should be branching out as much as possible though, but you should also know why I say very limited root veggies, legumes really limited too, and heavy on the greens!  If this is foreign to you, hit our homepage and watch the video there about the makeovers.

Next (while I am still off on a tangent), why do I feel so committed that each of you should e supplementing Juice Plus? None of you eat enough veggies (9-13 servings daily including the fruits, but mostly veggies), so if you cannot eat enough then you need juice plus. And still most of you will fall short, so juicing and consuming the whole veggie might also be a good idea on TOP of the juice plus. But let’s get you to eat more too!

The local food stop (if you are reading this in my office, be sure to open this online to link to their site), lets you pick what you want, no waste or throwaways that you don’t know how to prepare.  So I ordered tonight, and this is what I did, I went to their web site and read the available list of foods for this week (they dropoff at our office on Thursday afternoon).  These are the items that were listed:

*Pink Grapefruit – *Red Navel Oranges – Kiwi
Pears D’Anjou – *Hamlin Oranges – Apples Braeburn

*Lettuce Greenleaf – *Lettuce Romaine – *Basil
*Tomatoes Roma – *Watercress – Green Peppers
Onions Red Jumbo – Beets – *Celery – *Kale Red
*Cauliflower – *Zucchini – *Yellow Squash – *Acorn Squash
*Swiss Chard Mixed – *Sweet Pototoes – Russet Potatoes

So I decided on some grapefruit, the two separate lettuces, tomatoes, cauliflower and sweet potatoes (yeah, I know, a root… this is very rare in my house).  That totals six items, which is a small bag, so I clicked on the BUY NOW link under CSA Produce on the main page, which took me to a page that again listed the items.  This bag of organic and locally grown foods was $21.50 plus tax.  $25.24 to be exact.

WHY is it better to buy this than organic in a store?  The nutrient density is noticeable greater in these foods over those in a store.  Whether it be time from harvest to prep (very short in this case), exceptional crop rotation (typical for smaller farms over the larger commercial farms), or simply better care of the land.  You can taste and see the nutrient difference in these foods.  And that is worth it, even though the prices are comparable if not better.

Currently they also have 30# of GA grown organic frozen blueberries for $65.  This is a great deal for these, and I will get them next week, once I clear out some of your grass fed beef currently stored in my freezer!  Not to mention the Beyond Organic Hotdogs and Cheese that I currently have stuffed in there (come sample that next week Tuesday).  So I wrote this Sprout because I really want to encourage all of you to follow these links, and at least order a small bag, if not a large bag with 12 items for $41.50.  This is a great way to shop, and pursue health.

Which is where I want to close.  Pursuing health.  I have been heard saying that the most important place to spend your time and your money is on your health.  I honestly think that all of you have a budget for more healthcare expenditure than you realize, because culture still has you doing things that are wasting your money.  Unnecessary insurance and medical expenses (I have a great insurance guy who can help you save thousands in health insurance costs), food expenses that are wasted, and for many of you, nutritional supplement expenses that are exorbitant and unnecessary.

In 2012, make a decision to pursue more health, and to do it more wisely.  Let your diet, exercise, chiropractic, sleep/rest and peace building efforts bring you health and savings.  Be well and Blessed!  – Dr. Eric

Dr. Eric is in from 9am to 9:45am tomorrow AM.  Please make up for missed appointments and get the year started right!  Max Living Perfect Protein Powder is 15% off until supplies last!

Check out this short video to hear about the upcoming makeovers.

So many of you have told me you are committed to exercising more this year, which I hear every year.  HOWEVER, this year I think more of it will stick!  And the best way to make it stick is to make sure that you find a convenient way to exercise.

Research has shown, more important than any other factor when it comes to continuing an exercise program, convenience is key.  Now I don’t want to give the impression that exercise is simply convenient, but when it comes to starting and then sticking with it, it comes down to having easy access.

So because some of you work in the daytime without flexibility, you cannot make our Max T3 classes 3 days a week, which would be a great step for you.  And because some are a bit concerned with the CrossFit classes, it leaves it all up to  my ability to program a fun workout for you to do at home.  It is up to you to do the rest!

The Workout – you will need to broad jump, you need to burpee and you need to do those together.  You also need to sit-up (remember, I am after full sit-ups, from your back on the floor to your chest at your knees), and you need to be able to run.

This will be a fun one, so get it all set up and enjoy!

Measure out ten large steps (as large as you can step), mark the start and stop so you have that full distance marked off.

30 seconds run forward and backward the distance that you measured.  Each time you cover both directions counts as one. After 30 seconds, rest ten seconds (be sure to write down your total) and get into a sit-up position while you are resting, then sit-up for 30 seconds, rest ten seconds then burpee broad jump the distance for 30 seconds then rest 10 seconds, then start over.

Each “round” takes you 2 minutes, so you will re-do this a total of 3 times, meaning your total workout is 6 minutes.  You will be dead tired, trust me.

Your Burpee broad jump movement: Start standing up, drop to your stomach as fast as you can (some will just drop, others will need to ease yourself down, then push yourself off as explosively as you can into a squat (this might also be a slow movement to standing).  Once you are standing you jump with both feet at the same time, as far as you can (broad jump).  Land on two feet and drop back into a burpee and repeat.  When you come up from the burpees you do not need to stand, so if you land in a squat, just jump from that position.

Have fun, and record your reps for sit-ups, the number of times you ran (there and back was one) for the run, and record the number of times you covered the distance one way for the burpee broad jump).

Work hard this year and stay committed, you will thank yourself later!

Be well, have a great first weekend of 2012! – Dr. E

Heading into the new year, many of you will be on a path for greater health, and that path will include cleaner eating.  Healthy eating is really comprised of two components, eating the correct foods, and then the aforementioned “clean” version of those foods.

For those of you who have some knowledge of the diets that we teach, you realize that this culture is a sugar addicted mess compared to the earlier versions of world societies.  In the last 200 years, we have deviated so far from the foods that our bodies were designed to eat, that it is truly atrocious.  Our technological advances in food processing have left us dumb.  So now we eat poorly, and with no cleanliness.

So as a sugar addicted culture, we are committed to foods that literally destroy our hormonal and metabolic systems, and leave us an absolute disaster because of it.  The solution is to avoid foods that turn to sugar for some time, heal yourself, then return to a healthy diet, but with some sugar producing foods in it.  The problem is that when most people head out into the world with a goal of healthy food, they don’t think to pick clean food as well.  We’ll be showing the film “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” very soon in our office.  It helps to push the clean food further into your brain.

If you ask the world about natural vs organic, well… you would be wasting your time.  They need to get off of lunchables before they can care about natural or organic.  But once you start looking around the grocery store looking at healthy foods, you might get caught up in natural, and not realize the difference between natural and organic.  If you have not read my post from a few weeks ago on organic overseas vs organic here, and how to look out for that… READ HERE.

The key element for you to understand is that NATURAL means nothing, whereas Organic means no chemicals from seed to harvest for 3-5 years depending on what you are harvesting.  The reason I am going through this, is not the chicken (though natural chicken still has arsenic in it – read back further in the sprouts to understand this), but it is because of the advertising on a box.  You could walk back into the “organic” section of Kroger, and think you are eating really clean because ALL NATURAL is a common marketing phrase.

So beware of slick marketing.  You might be buying all natural vs organic for cost reasons, and that is fine as you work towards a complete change, but just know that you are not there when you are eating natural.  Our grandparents primarily ate organic simply because all farming was still organic.  Our parents got caught in the bubble as they moved into their 20’s through 40’s.  And for the most part, the rest of us have been eating ugly for years.

Need help?  Yes you do.  So come check out our Beyond Organic makeover on Tuesday night Jan. 17th.  This is $29 for non-patients, but for those who have a care plan with our office or Exodus Healthcare, this event is included for you, and will be an awesome 2 hour event, loaded with food samples!

Next – sign up for the 40 days of transformation starting on Monday night Jan. 23rd at 7pm in our office.  This will be an awesome 40 day challenge, unlike any other that you have been part of in our office!  This is your year, don’t take it lightly!  God Bless – Dr. E

Living a probiotic lifestyle.  What does this mean?  It has been something that has been pressing in more and more on those who are in a health focused lifestyle, and to some extent I have felt like it has been slightly overkill, but I also think think it has its place, so lets delve into understanding this a bit first.

Probiotic = good bacteria.  The benefits of well colonized healthy bacteria in the gut, have been shown to include healthy immune function, better digestion, and increased cellular function in all gut and gut related cells (neurology is impacted as well through this process).  The waste of probiotics will directly kill bad bacteria, and they protect the intestine from absorbing molecules that should not be absorbed.  This symbiotic relationship has been described as one of the most dependent relationships between two organisms (us and them) on the entire planet.

In addition, most literature will reference a healthy average of approximately six pounds of good bacteria in the average sized male.  SIX POUNDS!  I wonder if the average American diet could even support one pound of good bacteria, and I highly doubt it.  I would guess that the average American is at less than a pound of good bacteria, and nearly the same amount of bad bacteria.  This is a case of dysbiosis, and Nobel Prizes have been won over the understanding of this condition.

I have been delving deeper and deeper into understanding what it means to live a probiotic lifestyle over a number of years.  I started with regularly consuming probiotics, and moved purposefully away from probiotics that needed refrigeration, for those that could live at room temperature (a sign that they have been conditioned to handle greater stresses).  Within a couple years, I moved away from supplementing regularly with probiotics, to eating probiotic rich foods (the RIGHT yogurt) and eating pre-biotic foods (caution is needed here to insure that in search of pre-biotics which are foods that aid probiotic development, that you don’t consume too much sugar and become unhealthy).  My primary source of pre-biotics are ripe, raw vegetables.

Now, as I continue my consumption of pre-biotics, I have considered where and how will I insure that the probiotic colonies are strong, and still supported by prebiotics, which has brought me to a greater commitment to the probiotic lifestyle.  And that has brought me closer to Beyond Organic. I have bought Kefir at very irregular intervals, but I have been concerned about sugar and processing of the milk product.  Now, I am a strong supporter of the kefir product (Amasai) that Beyond Organic is producing, primarily because of the source of that milk being a grass fed cow (see my a1 beta caseine article).

In addition, I like cultured beverages too.  Recently I had a patient tell me about someone selling cultured vegetables as well, which I immediately wondered “overkill”?  But, I am interested in pursuing that.  I’ll keep you posted on what I find. But for those of you still wondering about the efficacy or need for probiotics, I thought I would give some testimonials.

Remember, over the years we have maintained between 600-800 visits per week, meaning we have MANY people who come in every week with a new complaint.  One major one over the years has been the “sore throat”, which inevitably gets tested positive for strep.  Many have quickly jumped down the traditional path, and took the antibiotic.  However, many have followed my advice to try a natural method first, and in all but about six of those cases, the strep was killed off.  My advice is always to take increased amounts of probiotics, making sure they have a chance to coat the throat on the way down.

Reflux is a common condition in our culture, and yes it is commonly fixed by increased probiotic consumption.  Improving digestive process, improving cell signaling, and resulting in less symptoms.  My daughter Ansley was diagnosed with reflux by an MD at a month or so old.  I began adjusting her multiple times a day and giving multiple probiotic doses each day.  Her problem was completely resolved in a couple of days.  Later in life she started spitting up her food (more like burping food into her mouth), this happened when she was older than the average “spitting up” child. Probiotics and she was back to normal (after a few months of looking for other ways to impact her).

So I am committed!  Now, I would like every one of you to pencil in Tuesday night, January 17th.  We are hosting a joint effort with Exodus Healthcare, and will be hosting a Beyond Organic Makeover night.  This makeover will give you a chance to try MANY of these new cultured products, plus you will get an awesome education!  Dr. David Jockers, Dr. Levi and myself will lead you in figuring out what this REALLY means to you.  Put your name on the list today, and be sure not to miss this night.  It will impact yours and your children’s health more than you can imagine!

In the meantime, check out the Beyond Organic Store site, and order some Amasai (my family plan is to split one bottle a day of the Amasai between my girls and my wife, and one for myself).  In addition, the cultured whey Suero Viv should be used instead of gatorade or powerade as well as Coconut water (and it also is loaded with probiotics)!

Looking forward to teaching more and helping reduce more inflammatory conditions, reducing illnesses, and taking the next step with many with your sinus health!  Be well, Be blessed!  Happy New Year!!!

Dr. Eric

So here I am, writing my now annual tradition article on how the New Year is really a time of renewal.  I have been writing and telling this story for years, because there is an opportunity at the new year, to do more, better, faster, than any other time of year.  It really is a time of renewal.

For me, as I look at the coming year, I like to take stock of the prior year (usually done without too much rehearsal on my part, just glancing back); then consider what I would like to do differently for the upcoming year.  Looking forward needs to be more intentional than looking back (though for many of you with career goals, it might make sense to spend equal time assessing last year as you will spend planning this one).

If your goals are health oriented, consider why you may have failed at those goals previously, but spend the bulk of your effort figuring out how to plan appropriately for this upcoming year.  Let me throw out some memory jogging ideas for you to get you started.

• You have been to the gym less than 50% of what you said you would do; you hate working out and need something fun; you cannot control your diet for more than four weeks; you fall off your diets aggressively without maintaining any control; you find yourself doing your diet about 80% of the time (success) but then you will go completely crazy for a month at a time, destroying all semblance of control; you understand that healing comes from a healthy spine and nervous system yet you don’t do your traction, you don’t get your scheduled adjustments and you don’t pay attention to your posture.

The above sounds like an absolute recipe for disaster, and it also sounds like most of our culture.  So let’s not dwell on the bad, but let’s consider the good.  First off, God surely gives us something internal that clicks on at the start of a new year. Have you ever been on a good team?  I am thinking of sports, but it could be something else… but think, GOOD.  And this good team suffers a loss, not because the other team or the circumstances were better or greater than your team… but because your team acted uncommitted.  Think about how this good team came back in the next game, or next opportunity.  If it was good, then you won, or you achieved success.

Every one of us has that same turn-around button.  That ability to draw fuel from our failures, and to rise from them.  We just sometimes forget to initiate the process.  Whether it be that we have grown weary from our challenges, or we have been distracted by life’s simple pleasures (that don’t really reward); all we need to do, is re-focus, and in this case, use the New Year.  I have realized from the effort of leading people into this place of growth, that in order to effectively take these steps we really need to first identify the importance, then secondly understand the plan.

If you hadn’t read my short Sprout from before Christmas, take a moment to read it and think about first making sure you don’t hold yourself to goals that will burn you out, or ones that if you fall behind, will make you abandon all efforts.  Those will not yield long term success for most.  I would also recommend you be specific in your goals, and put them in a place where you can re-visit them daily.

I hope that I don’t really need to go through reasons why your health is important.  That would seem like I have been talking to the walls, however a quick refresher cannot hurt.  Everyone is dying, we get that.  Your mortality is not in question, this earthly life will be over before you know it.  There are however things that can be done to enjoy it longer, and more completely while you are here.  Cancer and heart disease kill almost 5/6 of our population, and I believe that most of you would agree that neither are the preferred disease of choice.  I have seen many people whom I have cared greatly for, die from the two, please don’t be in that stat.

For the rest of your life, well, again… this is it.  If you want the most out of your earthly life, then you had better put some effort into it.  And I appreciate author Randy Alcorn saying that “this life is just practice for the next life” in his book, Heaven.  I can get into that, and it is a good reminder of why it is so important to work hard at this life.

My conclusion to this discussion is to be rooted in the new beginning.  You can start over, not because going to sleep one night and waking up the next morning is magical.  But because making a decision to change at any given moment is magical.  And it just so happens that we are programmed to be able to do it better when the year changes over to the next.  I’ll write more about some of the things that I am going to accomplish in 2012 in a future Daily Sprout, and perhaps you can email me your goals and I could write about some of them as well.

For now, know that whatever the goal.  We’ll be working to help you starting on Monday night January 23rd at 7PM in our next 40 day makeover.  Be well and be blessed!!

Dr. E