60 Day Turnaround

Yes, you betcha!  I have a workout for the week for you.  This is for everyone in my office… at least I cannot think of anyone right now whom I should not put through this workout.

So the point of this post is that I have a bunch of people who said that they want to increase strength, and become more fit this year.  So we are going to hit some of those goals through the occasional post of a workout. 

This one, is really just to get your feet wet, and it is equally challenging for someone to do this who is elitely fit as it is for someone who has been sitting on the couch for the last five years.  The time to finish and the total reps accomplished will vary depending on that fitness level, but it will be equally valuable.

The Workout

Assuming you have stairs in your home, one flight would do.  If you do not have stairs, then stepping up and down one or two steps somewhere will suffice (do it enough to add up to 16 total steps for one way).

Start on the first floor of your house, and keep a continuous count of all the reps you accomplish in this workout:

Push-Ups – with a running clock (you can use a watch of any type) do as many push-ups as possible in 30 seconds (if you can’t do full push-ups, then do them from the knees, if that is to hard, lean against a wall and do them there). At 30 seconds, roll to your back and do as many sit-ups as possible in 30 seconds.   Then run up the stairs, then down, and back up again as fast as you can (if you are balance challenged, then do this part slowly for safety, trust me, your balance will improve over time just from doing this).

Once you are at the top of the stairs, you will need to squat  (look for air squat under CrossFit Exercises) as many times as you can in 30 seconds, then you will bounce jump (as if you were jumping rope) as many times as you can in 30 seconds.  Now run back down the stairs, back up, then back down again.  At the bottom, you will now move to 30 seconds of push-ups, 30 seconds of sit-ups, 30 seconds of squats, and 30 seconds of bounce jumps. 

Back up the stairs, down and up, and the finale is to do 30 seconds of all four of the exercises again.  Check your total time to finish, as well as your total reps.

This workout is designed to tax you.  Go as fast as you can, but if you feel like you are pushing to hard, then back off, I don’t want anyone passing out.  And if you have any cardiovascular reason to be concerned about trying such a thing, then don’t!  Consult a doc, could be me, but let’s talk first.

For the rest of you, good luck, and please, post your results to this blog post!  Thanks, be well and fit!

Carmen will NOT be walking at Hobgood on the next two Fridays (18th and 25th).  Although she will be walking on Monday March 21st and Wednesday March 23rd. Carmen will also miss the whole week of Spring Break (April 4-8).  We are encourging you to keep walking even if Carmen is not there.  Otherwise the schedule will remain the same, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday @ 12:15pm.

Dr. Levi

Do you want to know why a flu shot doesn’t work?  This is why:

Do you see that little red slice at 2 o’clock?  That is the portion (7%) of “flu related deaths” that could possibly be prevented if the shot worked 100% in preventing death. But it’s not 100% in preventing flu . Not even close. Even it were, it still wouldn’t touch 93% of death cases.

People over 65  account for over 90% of flu related deaths. 85% of those are over 75 years old.  This population is typically ones that are frail, in nursing homes, in the hospital, etc., The other <9% are typically immune compromised.  But here’s the rub. The flu shot only has 30% efficacy or less in that group. It doesn’t work very well in the group it could potentially help the most.

So what do the results of a  flu vaccine campaign look like in real life?

There are many ways to prevent the flu besides an oversold underperforming vaccine.  Being healthy in the first place is the main one. If you still aren’t sure what the definition of health is then you need to come to another doctors report. If you aren’t actively pursuing the 5 principles of health that we teach then you need to come to our advanced talks after hours.

So I went down to the basement with Brooke on Friday afternoon after I put Ansley down for her nap, and I started to search for a show on TV for her to watch.  When we turned the TV on, there was an infomercial on, which resembled a cooking show.  “Daddy, can I watch this for a little bit?”  I figured, why not, let’s see what they are up to.

The product that was being sold, was kind of like a waffle maker without the waffling pattern.  It cooked by having two heated surfaces over the food, designed to cook anything from sandwiches, to a full dinner (for one).  It looked really cool, and I could only guess what was going through Brooke’s head… well, until she shared it.  “Dad, that looks really cool, we should get one of those!”

“Brooke, what are they cooking?”
“It looks like chicken, and some vegetables.” 
“Yes – correct, which is healthy, right?” 
“Yep!” 
“So sweetheart, I can understand why you would want one, it makes cooking look really easy, and the food we are seeing is healthy for the most part.  “There is only one real question that we need to ask whenever we are looking at cooking utensils, honey.  It is HOW are we cooking the food.  In this case, we are not using a microwave, you know how I feel about that.  But we are using two surfaces that are touching the food.  What does Daddy care about?”
“What they are made of!”
“Right!  So looking at this, do you have any idea what it is made of?”
“No.”

And that is where Brooke’s investigative trail ran cold.  I tried to push her and prod her with little clues, but she didn’t get it.  I am sure many of you already know.  Simply put, 90% of everything produced for cooking purposes is made from some kind of surface that I don’t trust.

Glass, porcelain, other clay made materials from the US (I don’t trust anything from other sources, as the painted coating could very easily include some toxic metals), and of course cast iron.  Other than that, I don’t trust it.  Teflon was the obvious problem here, and if you have had a chance to review any of our information on teflon… you should have no desire to cook on that surface any more.

 Polytetrafluoroethylene is used for teflon, it is part carbon and part fluorine.  It is considered to be a “non-reactive” compound because of the affinity that these two molecules show for one another.  However, PFOA has been found in non-stick cookware (though DuPont’s own study showed no detection over 9 parts per billion).  PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) is a known toxin and carcinogen, and DuPont (the only US company that manufactures PFOA)  has agreed to eliminate the PFOA’s that esacpe their plants into the environment, but they did not agree to eliminate it from their manufacturing process.  Which is why I have no desire to use anything non-stick in my food.

Trouble is, there are minimal alternatives in certain products.  You may have noticed I left stainless steel off of the list too, primarily because steel is not an element… it is an alloy, and an alloy that shines will often contain aluminum, and in the case of Ferritic steel, it will also contain lead in some cases.  Reasons to know your steel really well (which is sadly, a near impossibility in our culture… as these details rarely accompany a stainless steel product), and to stick with high nickel content, and avoid the others.

So, thanks to Brooke’s little request to watch an infomercial, you now get to go out and spend a few hundred bucks on some great cast iron cooking products.  And please, stay away from infomercials.

Be well, God Bless.  Dr. E  

Libido in its common usage means sexual desire; however more technical definitions, such as those found in the work of Carl Jung, are more general, referring to libido as the free creative—or psychic—energy an individual has to put toward personal development or individuation. Within the category of sexual behavior, libido would fall under the appetitive phase wherein an individual will usually undergo certain behaviors in order to gain access to a mate.

– from Wikipedia

First off, this article will be fine for any age to read.  Secondly, though the definition is varied, the one I am going to be writing about, is the one that references a man’s desire to satisfy his wife.  What is funny to me, is that the difference between men and women in this arena is as different as night and day, but then it is also that different from one man to the next.  Over the years I have had many new patients come in with soemthing along these lines checked off as a health concern.

More often it is women who check the box in their 30’s, while the house is filled with little ones running around, napping, skipping naps, etc.  Often leading to the woman in the house being focused on the little ones, and spending little time thinking about anything physical with her husband.  However, I have had many cases where men in their fifties and beyond, have complained about a lack of drive or desire.

In most cases, these men are at a place in their life where there are many BIG career concerns in their path.  Opportunities for upward advancement are coming towards an end, concersn over retirement are high, and the future is often uncertain in an economy where downsizing and forced retirement are also legitimate concerns.  Stress may have the greatest impact on libido of all of the other possibilities.  In addition, the hormonal changes of reduced testosterone and growth hormone play a huge role.

What compounds this concern, is that many women, as they are entering into their mid-40’s, have shed their lack of libido, and replaced it with a vigor for a physical relationship, leaving the wife feeling under-served, and the husband feeling inadequate.  This situation is a recipe for disaster.

 

“Stress may have the greatest impact on Libido…“

So how do you combat this situation?  What can you do to insure that your marriage doesn’t struggle unnecessarily through this time, and that husband and wife can live into a place of physical enjoyment into their 60’s, 70’s and beyond?  The first thing you can do is plan.

Plan for the fact that the hormonal changes that are very common in our country, are not necessary.  Physical activity is the most important piece of action that you need to gain greater growth hormone, and testosterone.  More specifically, high intense physical activity (including resistance exercise – weight lifting) and high intenstiy body weight movements.  The increases in growth hormone and testosterone have been described as somewhat miraculous, as one man in his 50’s stated after an intense workout, “I feel like I have found the fountain of youth”.

Of course, your diet will also have a huge impact on your hormonal function.  Men who consume high levels of sugar (blood sugar) through excessive grain and sugar consumption, have been found to have significantly less testerone production, than those with low sugar levels.   Taking your diet seriously is not only important for long term blood sugar, heart and cancer health, but for marital health!

I want to leave you with a great resource as well, which is designed to help work on the emotional side of the marital equation.  I had heard of the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman for years, but I have only been reading it in the last few weeks.  This book describes five different styels of communication with your spouse, and helps identify which ones you respond to.  From words of affirmation to physical touch, it helps you identify which language your spouse responds to.  So far we are loving this book!

I hope you will consider this regardless of your age, so that you can be healthier and happier for a lifetime.  Be well, Dr. E

So there has been a recent controversy where Whole Foods was involved with possibly supporting the de-regulation of the genetically modified alfalfa crop in the US.  The plan would allow for producers and distributors of alfalfa to mix, or allow co-existance, of organic alfalfa with genetically modified alfalfa.

First, to shed some light on this situation, alfalfa is the fourth largest crop in the US, so though it might seem like something you don’t care about, it is a big deal in our country.  Also, a very interesting consideration is that the purpose of the GMO crop of alfalfa, is so that it can survive direct contact with herbicide “round-up”, thus allowing it to experience no growth competition by way of massive herbicide treatment.  Which is what would happen to this product, thus making its mix with organic to be completely misleading and unethical in my mind.

So the controversy is that Whole Foods supported this initiative when meeting with the government and representatives from food giant, Monsanto.  As found on Mercola.com the Organic Consumers Association stated:

“The main reason … why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that two-thirds of [Whole Food’s] $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called ‘natural’ processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs.”

 This is a sad situation, and it has been somewhat obvious to me for some time, as you shop through the aisles of Whole Foods, and realize that there are plenty of processed foods that have no designation of GMO or non-GMO, yet include ingredients that are very commonly GMO.  This situation does not make for a very reliable condition, knowing that it is more likely that the ingredient is GMO than not, when it is not labeled either way.

There is a great interview between Dr. Mercola and Michael Besancon, Senior Global VP Whole Foods.  In this interview, the Whole Foods executive speaks of improving labeling of all produce and products showing that they have, or do not have GMO foods.  My greatest concern is that he speaks about the hopes for the future, not an aggressive effort to make this change.  Currently, the only guarantee you have of non-GMO food, is to buy it 100% organic.

Whether or not Whole Foods was supportive of the GMO de-regulation, then changed their mind after strong industry pressures, is something that we currently do not know.  However, what I do know is that they have maintained a position of strong opposition at this time, as seen in their email response seen on the Cure Zone.  An excerpt from that email shows their passion, and ultimately the FDA’s failure to respond.

“Unfortunately, none of those protections were approved as, to our utter disappointment, the USDA decided to completely deregulate GE alfalfa without restrictions. This means farmers will now be able to plant Roundup Ready GE alfalfa beginning as soon as this spring without having to take into consideration its potential to contaminate neighboring organic and other non-GE alfalfa fields intended to be sold in markets demanding non-genetically engineered products. This is a huge loss for organic and non-GE farmers and consumers who want to have access to non-GE foods.”

(in this excerpt GE = Genetically Engineered, which is the same as genetically modified organism, GMO)

My take on this, is that the de-regulation is a sign of how well Monsanto has bought and paid for our government protection bodies.  There are an obvious number of people who WANT to have a distinction made between GMO foods and organic or conventional produce.  So to see our government de-regulate that is an outrage.

We will continue to follow this situation, and we will hopefully be able to help guide you through the waters.  Be well!

By:  Dr. Amy Haas

A few months ago a friend of mine mentioned that they had just been to the E.R. for treatment for a cut sustained by a piece of glass.  My friend said that the nurse had asked whether they were “up to date” on the tetanus vaccination; and when he said “no,” the nurse clucked her tongue and immediately insisted on giving my friend a tetanus shot, citing it as a necessary treatment for his wound.

HOW MANY THINGS DO I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HERE?

1.  Tetanus is a condition caused by infection with the bacterium Clostridium tetani, which thrives in unsterile anaerobic environments (the most common place to find it is in manure).  Read:  it does not like oxygen, and lives in filthy places.  Yes, the garage is dirty, but it’s probably not smeared in feces…  =)  C. tetani is introduced into the body by a deep puncture wound from a dirty or unsterile object, and its growth depends on two things:  (1) lack of oxygen, and (2) presence of nouirishment.  Washing a wound well not only probably removes the bacterium, but also floods an area with oxygen (which is present in water).  In fact, “proper wound management” is credited with much of the success of avoidance or treatment of tetanus (see #4).

2.  About whether someone is “up to date”:  How about asking a more relevant question, like, does the person know whether they have immunity to tetanus?  Having the vaccination and being immune are not one and the same.  Immunity is the intended RESULT of vaccination, but it is seldom if ever actually tested – it is assumed.  You can have a vaccine, and NOT be immune (no one told you that, did they?) because not all vaccines “work.”  Actually, about 20% DO NOT, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the specific vaccine.

3.  Would the tetanus vaccine actually do a person any GOOD if they had come into contact with tetanus?  Honestly, probably not.  Immunity after vaccination is not immediate (oh, no one told you that either?).  The biological process by which the body recognizes the “bug” and creates immunity to it takes time (days to weeks) and, actually, adequate immunity usually requires not one but TWO exposures to the bug.  So really, if you have a deep puncture wound and you’re worried about tetanus, the vaccine provides you only with false security, and, to boot, a load of toxins delivered directly to your bloodstream (see #5).  The tetanus vaccine is considered by many healthcare providers to be the “dirtiest” of the vaccines, in fact, due to its chemical composition.

4.  And here’s a gem:

From 1990 through 1995 there have been an average of 49.6 cases of tetanus per year in the United States. Nearly twenty — five percent (24.8%) of those who contracted acute tetanus had at least one dose of the vaccine and more than twelve percent (12.4%) of the patients were fully vaccinated, with three or more doses of tetanus.  (To be clear, this data indicates that in these cases, the vaccination failed to confer immunity). According to data from the National Vaccine Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tetanus vaccination compliance rates hover around 50%, depending on age group….  meaning that at any given time, about half the population has NOT been vaccinated against tetanus.  And yet the actual occurrance of tetanus is very, very low. According to CDC data, one in approximately 1 in 5,198,200 people contracts tetnaus. There is a 20% mortality rate for tetanus if properly treated. That means that approx 1 in 25,000,000 people will die of tetanus in any given year. About 1800 people per year are struck by lightning and there is a 25% morality rate for this event. 1 in 143,240 are struck by lightning and 1 in 573,000 die. This is a lot of numbers BUT:  You are 44 times more likely to die from lightning than from tetanus.

Incidentally, if these statistics made your head tilt a little, I’ve posted more on Path of Life Chiropractic Health Center’s Facebook Page.  Inserting a shameless plug here for you all to “like” the page.  I post all sorts of goodies up there, some health-related, some decidedly not =)

5.  OK, if the odds of contracting or dying from tetanus are very low in the States in this day and age, what about the risks of having the tetanus vaccination?  Wait, no one told you there are risks?  They just leaned in menacingly with the needle and told you to bend over, because this shot is absolutely necessary and they’re not letting you out of the room without it?  Guess what:  there is a risk ANY time you introduce chemicals or pharmaceuticals into your body.  Perhaps because…  drumroll please…  they’re not meant to BE there.  Well, here are some known possible adverse reactions to tetanus vaccination:  moderate soreness at the site of injection (75% of cases), prolonged vomiting, prolonged diarrhea, and more flu like symptoms (approximately 1 in 100), or more severe effects such as tingling of the hands/feet, hearing problems, trouble swallowing, muscle weakness, seizures, or anaphylactic shock.  Wow, shoot me up, right?

It’s your decision.  But given the odds and the information above, I know that I’d rather clean the wound properly and thoroughly and depend on my body and my immune system (which I keep running as well as possible by eating well, hydrating, sleeping, exercising, and getting adjusted) to destroy any infection than rely on a shot that could make me a LOT worse.

In the end, who do you trust, the guy with the needle who’s not giving you all of the information, or the intelligence within your own body, that knows how to protect and heal you?

Dr. Eric’s Note:  I found this appropriate as a patient of mine emailed me about a week ago, asking about my opinion on getting a tetanus shot after getting cut on a trunk being stored in an attic.  The mis-information in the world of VACCINATION is ridiculous.  For those who don’t remember Dr. Haas, she worked with me for about two years, and has a PhD in biochemistry with post doctorate work done at Harvard.  She is bright, and a very well educated bright.

There is a great new Mercola.com article titled, US Study Links Pesticides to Parkinson’s.  Before reading it, I thought, “Of course they cause Parkinson’s”, and as I read the article, I thought “there needs to be more meat here”!

So here I am, providing the meat for the argument against pesticides, and for organic farming and agriculture, so that we can all try to avoid another stupid man made disease! 

In my toxic body presentation I discuss the presence of Arsenic in many pesticides and Uranium in some fertilizers.  Uranium, as you can imagine, is not something you want to get close to, but it is useful in production; it is used in phosphate based fertilizer production, and can be leeched into the fertilizers.  Arsenic is commonly used because it is an effective poison at limiting energy production, which is why it is so great.  It literally causes organs to simply shut down because they can no longer produce energy!

So reading the article on Mercola’s web-site, it refers to Rotenone inhibiting energy production in the cells, which comes from the arsenic based pesticide.  This pesticide and another were both found to increase the likelihood of Parkinson’s because of inhibiting the ability of the brain to produce energy.  So in conclusion, we can expand the concern of increased chances of Parkinson’s to ingesting all forms of arsenic.

I have often spoke of why my children have never been to McDonald’s, and why they don’t get chicken tenders from anywhere (Kroger, Tyson, Publix, etc, etc)… because all of those sources of chicken (Chick-fil-A included) have been found to have arsenic.  The reason why the chicken has arsenic, is because the feed (pesticide treated feed) has arsenic. 

It isn’t good enough to eat fruits and vegetables that are clean (and be sure to follow the guidelines here ), but you need to consider the impact of any pesticide treated food.  Meats can be especially dangerous because of the toxic process of bio-accumulation.  If a plant is treated, and an insect eats from that plant, the insect will be heavily toxified if not killed, if a bird (chicken) eats those toxic insects, then that bird will become even more toxic.  So any surviving pests, become a great source for increaed bio-accumulation in other food sources.

So back to Parkinson’s.  In Parkinson’s, the substantia-nigra of the brain is degenerated, leading to movement patterns that break down, as well as other symptoms that relate to ones reward and addiction complexes.  It is a unique condition in that secondary symptoms beyond movemenet are very difficult to quantify across broad patient populations.  The substantia nigra has cells that bind very readily to toxic metals, aluminum, mercury and arsenic are the leading metals in this group.  As such, your exposure to anything that has these three metals, increases your risk of Parkinson’s.  Aluminum from cookware, tin cans, anti-perspirants… Mercury from medications, vaccines, and personal care products like make-up… and Arsenic in about every non-organic food you ingest.

I hope you can use this to change your life!  Dr. E

I sometimes mention to my patients that I recommend a HIGH FAT diet, and they laugh.  What shocks me, is that anyone in my office would not at this point, realize that anything that I say that poses as contrary to culture, is likely my truth!  But I am not really shocked by their response, because even though in the health world (you would be amazed if you were tuned in to the major health sites (Dr. Mercola: Mercola.com, Mike Adams: naturalnews.com, Mark Sisson: marksdailyapple.com) how many articles exist supporting a high fat diet.  It is by far, the most popular diet in the health conscious world, and will invariably be the diet that rules the next wave of consumer craze!

But right now, it is so far removed from the average American that it makes me want to cry.

Eating FAT does not make you FAT!

I am an example, but I am one of thousands.  Look at a committed CrossFitter, and you will say “not too fat”, and though you might want to jump to blaming their exercise routine for their lean body, I will point out that the ones who are truly lean, are strict with their high fat diet, more than being unique in their exercise habits.  In other words, there are thousands of people out there exercising and burning calories at equal or greater rate than the average CrossFitter, but the biggest difference is that in the CrossFit exercise movement, diet is part of the culture.  Not supplements, but diet.

Lean… I ate a whole jar of Almond Butter yesterday, and a whole lot more fat in addition to that.

So the point I want to get across to you, all of you, is that if you are at all enticed by “Low Fat” on a label, or 0% on your yogurt, or anything of that nature.  I really, really, really want you to stop.  You are hurting yourself, and you are hurting yourself significantly.  Fat is the most essential of the nutrients you consume, because EVERY cell in your body has two layers of fat around it, which is the cell membrane, which is THE BRAIN of the cell, it is the thing that directs all communication and function in your cell (if you still believe the nucleus is the brain, you better click the link).

More important than protein, is fat (though protein is necessary too, as are carbohydrate, but fat is first), as it is used to replenish brain cells, neuro-transmitters, and hormones.  It is the key to everything working in your body.  Fat is the new thin!  Well, at least consuming it is!

SO when it comes time to choose your fat, I hope you’ll choose wisely: nuts and seeds, fish, organic grass fed beef or dairy from the same, coconut and olive oil… not processed/rancid vegetable oils.  The source of your fat is just as important as the fact that you are consuming it.  So where do you get to know all of this, and have all of your questions answered?  Well in our workshops of course.  Anyone who is making the effort to attend the Body By God challenges, the Total Food Makeover or any other workshop, is getting this information first hand, and literally saving the health of their family.

We don’t show up on a Monday night at 7PM for us;  and we surely don’t do it for the $49 times 50 patients (look around you, do you think that adds up to anything significant in our budget?)  Our mission is to help you be as healthy as possible, we serve the mission, and we get ridiculous life changing testimonials because of it.  Now we just need you to BE THE MISSION, so that you can be the testimonial too!

Thanks for paying attention!

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