There are lots of food tips out there to control food cravings – my all time favorite was one that was supposed to address the craving for crunchy, salty snacks. This was during my Potato Chip phase. I read somewhere that that particular desire was driven by the need for crunch. So all I had to do was to replace those salty, crunchy, chippy things with something that satisfied the crunch – like celery or carrots.

Really?

I was skeptical but I tried it. I’ve always been one to initially concede authority to someone who’s done more work on a particular issue than I have. But right away I could see a flaw in the theory: without a doubt carrots were absolutely out. When the mouth wants salt, giving it sweet – like unknowingly biting into a handful of warm buttery Kettle Korn – causes a momentary break between the autobiographical memory chip in your brain and the perception of reality you’ve been used to up to that point in your life. It’s like seeing turquoise rain.

So that left celery. I thought I would be smart about it and adapt the solution by appeasing the other part of the craving. So I sprinkled it with salt. I’m not saying it wasn’t a nice enough snack. But all in all the experiment was a failure. The watery, salty crunch of celery does not begin to approximate the salty, crunch of oily potato chips. It didn’t stop the desire for chips and I never developed the craving for celery.

So here’s a tip for real people. This addresses the possible psychological drive to a particular snack. What do we want? Think about it. From the time we’re pre-teens on the playground starting to notice the opposite sex, or the fact that our older brother gets to stay out till midnight or that the two comfy chairs in the living room are reserved for mom and dad, isn’t there always an allure to what we cannot have? Whether it’s a fact of life or a rule we’ve imposed on ourselves.

So, Tip #1 for real people says: Take the mystique out of the snack. Give in sometimes. If you’re compulsive, plan it into your day – that way you can shelve the craving till you get home at 4:00. You can plan how much you’ll have and perform whatever ritual will honor the fulfillment of a human need. Sit in the chair that’s reserved for you, lower the lights, focus on the food and enjoy something you enjoy. If you can have it occasionally, it might dispel some of the desire.

I’ve had my share. There was a time beginning when I was a teenager when the Potato Chip Girl inside ran my world more often than I like to admit. When I was in my twenties I surmised that heaven was a room filled with Lay’s potato chips and me in the corner munching my way, guilt free, fat free and never full, towards the door.

Recently I had a small bag of plain Lay’s – my long-ago favorites – to which I can honestly say “Meh.” Is it possible I’ve gotten enough calcium or chloride in my system that I don’t crave them anymore? Or did my taste buds age moving on to more refined and flavorful needs?

When I was very young I craved sour. Dill pickles and their juice. I was young during the time when dad’s came home from work, loosened their ties and mixed a martini. More times than not, my father would find the tall, thin jar of olives that was full only yesterday now empty but for the two I would save him. That’s what he used in his daily martini. I would drink the juice and leave the olives and no one knew how those two called to me from their spot on the door of the refrigerator.

When I was twelve a girl moved in across the street who shared the same strange taste for sour. Having a quarter between us didn’t mean we’d cash in on candy but we’d buy two enormous dill pickles and sit on the short concrete wall between the plaza and the park and munch and suck and chew the dilly afternoon away. She and I used to drink vinegar. We imagined that’s what whiskey tasted like and we’d throw a shot down, slam the glass on the table and wince like the toughest guy on TV.

That need for sour lasted about thirty years and was followed by five years or so where I was repulsed by the thought of sour. The last jar of pickles I bought before the craving left me stayed in the back of my fridge for years where it didn’t spoil but just radiated its intrinsic green-ness. The pickles didn’t make my mouth water and I couldn’t reach for the jar without something inside turning green a little bit on its own. In a cleaning frenzy I finally threw them away.

Now I occasionally eat pickles or use dill relish. I have found that green olives from the olive bar at the health food store add a nice touch to a salad. But my mouth doesn’t salivate at the thought of sour, I don’t find myself digging a forefinger into that tall, thin jar or raiding the apple cider vinegar. What’s up with that? What do people have food cravings? Where do they go? Can you control them? Or do they control you?

What do you crave? Stay tuned while I try to answer some of these questions in the next few blogs about Food for Real People – Food Cravings.

Every seven seconds.

This meeting is a sign of hope for the millions of people who suffer from diabetes. Yet it’s a sign of despair too. Peliminary reports indicate that heavy lobbying by tobacco, alcohol, food and drug companies may slow or skew the adoption of action.

Let’s face it diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are big money. Managing chronic conditions are growth markets for drug companies. Tobacco, food and alcohol have a stake in keeping their global market growing, too. A marriage between drugs and consumables virtually guarantees their businesses will boom in years to come while people in developing countries and people right here in our own country continue to die.

Praise belongs to the UN for tackling the issue. This is only the second UN meeting on health in history. The first one was in 2001 on Aids. Talks are starting. The problem will be acknowledged as a problem. Solutions will be proposed.  Solutions that revolve around increasing healthcare, tracking statistics to compile better data, monitoring outcomes, strengthening communication etc are all necessary and welcome changes.

Education and research for alternative methods to control and reverse diabetes are paramount. Realistic guidelines need to be adopted. At Whole Health we see patients whose doctors have told them that a blood glucose reading of 140 is what they should shoot for. Some say 180. In reality anything above a 100 still leaves the patient at risk for complications due to diabetes.

We are having success with patients lowering their glucose levels to a safe number (under 100). Studies are surfacing that show products that have beneficial effects in lowering blood glucose and cholesterol. PHatea is one of them.

With a world focus on noncommunicable disease, those of us in the US who have been involved in this issue need to advise: We can’t just do what we’ve been doing and expect that anything will change. Adopting the action items listed in the meeting brochure is a start, but the epidemic requires more than that. Stop the big money from controlling the disease. Look for alternatives. Educate everyone. Fund studies for alternative sources and above all, acknowledge that it is possible to reverse the condition.

Tension headaches are the most common headaches, and generally cause infrequent mild to moderate pain, but in a considerable number of patients, tension headaches are so frequent that they require treatment. Migraine headaches, on the other hand, can be disabling and severe. Accompanying symptoms can include nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light.

Treatment for tension-type and migraine headaches typically consists of over-the-counter or prescription medications, respectively. The aim of the systematic reviews was to determine whether acupuncture is also an effective treatment option for these conditions.

The reviews appear in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of health care. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing trials on a topic.

Acupuncture involves penetrating the skin with thin, metallic needles at specific points. It is one of the main medical treatments in traditional Chinese medicine, where it came into being more than 2,000 years ago.

Lead reviewer Klaus Linde of the Center for Complementary Medicine Research at the Technical University of Munich said the therapy is popular in his country.

“In Germany, acupuncture is frequently used for headache,” he said. “Most private health insurances, in fact, reimburse for acupuncture, although they cover only about 10 percent of the population.”

The practice has also gained popularity in the United States. A 2002 National Health Interview Survey of complementary and alternative medicine use found that about 8.2 million U.S. adults had ever used acupuncture in their lives, and an estimated 2.1 million had used acupuncture the previous year.

Brian Berman, M.D., director of the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine in Baltimore, confirmed that acupuncture is definitely becoming a more popular treatment option for Americans.

“There is more evidence coming out showing acupuncture is safe and often effective and should be considered as part of a multidisciplinary approach for chronic pain,” he said.

The first Cochrane review by Linde and his colleagues focused on acupuncture for tension headaches. The researchers evaluated 11 studies that investigated 2,317 participants. The studies compared participants who had undergone acupuncture therapy with those who had no treatment except painkillers for acute headaches, or had a sham therapy, which mimicked “true” acupuncture. Researchers followed the patients for at least eight weeks.

Two large studies that investigated whether adding acupuncture to treatment with painkillers found that those patients who received acupuncture had fewer headaches. Forty-seven percent of patients who received acupuncture reported a decrease in the number of headache days by at least half, compared with 16 percent of patients in the control groups.

Six studies compared true acupuncture to “fake’ acupuncture in which needles were either inserted at incorrect points or did not penetrate the skin. Overall, these studies found slightly better effects in the patients receiving the true acupuncture intervention.

“The response to acupuncture in general seems to be large and clinically relevant,” Linde said.

Berman agreed with the review findings and said patients at his clinic seek acupuncture for the relief from tension headaches and some experience good outcomes.

“I have seen some patients do very well, but not everyone,” he said. “Often, the intensity of the headaches and number of headaches are reduced.”

In a second review, Linde and colleagues examined acupuncture for migraine treatment and reviewed 22 trials with 4,419 total participants who had received a migraine pain diagnosis with or without aura.

Six studies compared acupuncture to no treatment or routine care (with painkillers) only. After three to four months, patients who received acupuncture had fewer headaches.

“The effect over no prophylactic [preventive] treatment and also compared to prophylactic drug treatment proven to be superior to placebo is clearly clinically important,” said Linde.

The Cochrane reviewers concluded that there is consistent evidence that acupuncture provides additional benefit to treatment of acute migraine attacks only or to routine care. They also concluded that for migraine patients, placing the needles in the correct points did not seem as relevant, which is contrary to what most acupuncturists believe.

“On average, the studies do not show an effect of acupuncture at correct points over acupuncture at incorrect points,” Linde said. There appeared to be some benefit of pain relief regardless of the insertion points.

The reviews disclose that Linde has received travel reimbursement and twice received fees from acupuncture societies for speaking about research at conferences. Other review authors reported a variety of honoraria and reimbursements related to acupuncture lectures and speaking engagements.

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. Visit http://www.cochrane.org for more information.

Linde K, et al. Acupuncture for tension-type headaches. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 1.

Linde K, et al. Acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 1.

From www.medicalnewstoday.com

(Health.com) — Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive.

A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found.

Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers “crash,” and achieving the same pleasure–or even just feeling normal–requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.

“People know intuitively that there’s more to [overeating] than just willpower,” he says. “There’s a system in the brain that’s been turned on or over-activated, and that’s driving [overeating] at some subconscious level.”

In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Kenny and his co-author studied three groups of lab rats for 40 days. One of the groups was fed regular rat food. A second was fed bacon, sausage, cheesecake, frosting, and other fattening, high-calorie foods–but only for one hour each day. The third group was allowed to pig out on the unhealthy foods for up to 23 hours a day.

Not surprisingly, the rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese. But their brains also changed. By monitoring implanted brain electrodes, the researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more to experience a high.They began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so in the face of pain. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats’ feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating. But the obese rats were not. “Their attention was solely focused on consuming food,” says Kenny.

In previous studies, rats have exhibited similar brain changes when given unlimited access to cocaine or heroin. And rats have similarly ignored punishment to continue consuming cocaine, the researchers note.

The fact that junk food could provoke this response isn’t entirely surprising, says Dr.Gene-Jack Wang, M.D., the chair of the medical department at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York.

“We make our food very similar to cocaine now,” he says.

Coca leaves have been used since ancient times, he points out, but people learned to purify or alter cocaine to deliver it more efficiently to their brains (by injecting or smoking it, for instance). This made the drug more addictive.

According to Wang, food has evolved in a similar way. “We purify our food,” he says. “Our ancestors ate whole grains, but we’re eating white bread. American Indians ate corn; we eat corn syrup.”

The ingredients in purified modern food cause people to “eat unconsciously and unnecessarily,” and will also prompt an animal to “eat like a drug abuser [uses drugs],” says Wang.

The neurotransmitter dopamine appears to be responsible for the behavior of the overeating rats, according to the study. Dopamine is involved in the brain’s pleasure (or reward) centers, and it also plays a role in reinforcing behavior. “It tells the brain something has happened and you should learn from what just happened,” says Kenny.

Overeating caused the levels of a certain dopamine receptor in the brains of the obese rats to drop, the study found. In humans, low levels of the same receptors have been associated with drug addiction and obesity, and may be genetic, Kenny says.

However, that doesn’t mean that everyone born with lower dopamine receptor levels is destined to become an addict or to overeat. As Wang points out, environmental factors, and not just genes, are involved in both behaviors.

Wang also cautions that applying the results of animal studies to humans can be tricky. For instance, he says, in studies of weight-loss drugs, rats have lost as much as 30 percent of their weight, but humans on the same drug have lost less than 5 percent of their weight. “You can’t mimic completely human behavior, but [animal studies] can give you a clue about what can happen in humans,” Wang says.

Although he acknowledges that his research may not directly translate to humans, Kenny says the findings shed light on the brain mechanisms that drive overeating and could even lead to new treatments for obesity.

“If we could develop therapeutics for drug addiction, those same drugs may be good for obesity as well,” he says.

WASHINGTON Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:35pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The use of acupuncture before and during surgery reduces patients’ post-operative pain as well as the need for pain-killing medication, researchers said on Tuesday.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina analyzed the results of 15 clinical trials on the effectiveness of acupuncture — a practice that originated in China of inserting thin needles into specific body points. They concluded that it is valuable for pain control in surgery patients. The 15 trials showed that patients getting acupuncture before or during various types of operations had significantly less pain afterward than patients who did not get acupuncture. These patients also required less morphine or other opioid pain medication after surgery, which reduced the side effects like nausea and vomiting from these types of drugs, the researchers said. In terms of pain-drug side effects, the acupuncture patients experienced 1.5 times lower rates of nausea, 1.6 times fewer reports of dizziness and 3.5 times fewer cases of urinary retention compared to the other patients, the study found. These findings augment a growing body of evidence on the value of acupuncture in improving the surgical experience for patients, the researchers said. For instance, the National Institutes of Health says that acupuncture has also been shown to reduce nausea after chemotherapy and surgery. “The use of acupuncture is still very under-appreciated,” Dr. Tong-Joo Gan, vice chairman of Duke’s anesthesiology department, said in a telephone interview. “Western doctors are typically not trained (in acupuncture) and they really are not familiar with how it works,” Gan said. “I think practitioners such as surgeons and anesthesiologists need to have an open mind.” He said numerous studies have looked at acupuncture to reduce post-operative pain, but many of them were not very well done. Gan said his team identified a group of well-controlled studies to judge how well acupuncture worked. “I do it all the time,” Gan said. “You give patients the acupuncture about half an hour before surgery and continue during surgery. It can reduce post-operative pain.” According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, scientists do not fully understand how acupuncture works, believing it might help the activity of the body’s pain-killing chemicals or affect the regulation of blood pressure and flow. “I think it is generally applicable to a number of different procedures,” Gan said. “In the studies, we looked at abdominal procedures, orthopedic procedures, gynecological procedures.” The research was presented at a conference of the American Society for Anesthesiology in San Francisco.

A child’s functioning is the product of many contributing factors.  At any given time, a child’s experience and behavior is affected by family composition and functioning, adjustment to life changes, genetics, physiology, and past experiences.  Many times, it is the parents’ perspective and belief system that is the most influential force on the child’s behavior.  Every child has a phenomenal ability to adapt and overcome adversity and stress.  A parent can unknowingly impede their child’s psychological development and growth.  Taking an objective look at the ways we affect our children is not always easy or comfortable.  Our concern and love for our children make it uncomfortable to consider how we could be supporting our children better. 

Managing a child’s behavior can be overwhelming and emotionally draining. This experience can lead to decisions that are drastic.  Medication is an important way to address behavior and emotions, but they are never the only option.  When an emotional or behavioral difficulty is addressed through changes in individual or family functioning, the result is positive development and adaptation.  This is an approach that targets the problem by encouraging emotional growth, rather than by addressing symptoms.  Medication need to be considered as a piece of the larger treatment picture.

Many times, the best way to address such a problem is not clear.  There are many options to consider, including individual therapy for the child or parent, family therapy, and parental consultation.  Talking about new perspectives and solutions is a great way to empower yourself as a parent.  Sam Dwyer offers a brief consultation free of charge.  Call (303) 470 1995 to schedule your consultation.

It’s an issue that has been increasingly attracting attention from many quarters. One very important sector that has begun to vocalize their concerns is the medical community.

While many physicians may have only recently jumped on the sustainable-food bandwagon, Dr. Preston Maring, Associate Physician-in-Chief for the Kaiser Permanente East Bay Medical Center in Oakland, California, has been patiently working throughout the last seven years to help bring a healthy diet to society at large.

Dr. Maring fully understands the impact of non-nutritious food on the cost of healthcare. “I think if you look at the healthcare of the nation, it is sort of a pyramid,” Dr. Maring told Organic Connections. “At the base of the pyramid you have primary care, and at the top of the pyramid you’ve got the complicated care. Our healthcare system struggles to find enough money to pay for all of the care throughout that pyramid, but there doesn’t seem to be enough money to cover it all. I believe that if good food were solidly under the base of the pyramid as a foundation, and if our people were able to eat healthier food throughout their lives, there would be enough money to pay for healthcare, because we would reduce the disease burden of those at the base of the pyramid who otherwise wouldn’t get as sick and require as much complicated care at the top.”

For food quality to be attracting attention from the medical community, something must be very wrong-and it is. As the quality of our diets has deteriorated over the last 50 years, certain diseases have become rampant. “Directly related to food, you hear a lot of talk about obesity-related problems in terms of diabetes, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure, and those happen in both men and women,” Dr. Maring said. “Those are the general categories of ailments; there are also many specific diet-related disorders.”

“Conventional” Food

The health risks of our food system are not simply the result of lower nutritional values. We also have many chemical compounds used in food production today that have become part of our bodily environment.

Dr. David Wallinga, Food and Health Program Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, sat down recently with Organic Connections to discuss this.

“Given that we’ve created a society with around 80,000 industrial chemicals, there’s  a lot to talk about with regard to food-borne pollutants,” Wallinga said. “Many of those chemicals end up in the food chain one way or another, through drinking water or because they are intentionally put into food packaging or because they are pollutants that accumulate up the food chain. Being at the top of the food chain, we often get the most exposure to these pollutants.”
Dr. Wallinga is a medical doctor who has, for the last nine years, been involved in examining the health impact of consumed food and how it is grown and produced.

“Most of the ‘conventional’ produce that we eat now is contaminated with residues of at least one and often many different pesticides,” he continued. “There are also many issues with meat and poultry. We did a study years ago showing that perhaps as much as 70 percent of the chickens grown in this country are routinely given a form of arsenic in their feed-not because they need it but just because it makes them grow faster. That’s a practice that was never approved as safe in Europe.

“Antibiotics are used heavily in the raising of farm animals. Anytime bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, it tends to make them more resistant to these drugs, which is true whether the antibiotics are used in hospitals, in communities or on farms. The problem is that the bacteria don’t really respect the boundaries between those places, so they travel from farms to people to hospitals. And so the scientific consensus now is that with the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in the farm setting, we’re helping to create drug-resistant superbugs that affect humans.”

Do We Need More Technology?

“There seems to be a big focus on how we need more technology to help fix some of the problems in agriculture, and I don’t think that’s true,” Rebecca Spector, West Coast Director of the Center for Food Safety, told Organic Connections. “We don’t need genetically engineered crops. We don’t need food irradiation to get rid of E. coli. We need to clean up our farms and clean up the way our food is processed to get rid of E. coli. We want to fix the real problem; we don’t want to look to band-aid solutions, such as irradiation, to try and fix some of the problems in our food system.”

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is a national non-profit environmental organization with a goal to ensure that the US has a healthy and safe food supply.

A Better Food Future

With all that has gone on with our food system in the last 50 years, all three of these experts believe there is indeed a bright future ahead and see numerous ways to bring it about.

“I definitely think one of the key parts of the solution is that we need to focus on education,” Rebecca Spector remarked. “We need to help people make the distinction between real food and processed food so that they understand what actually makes healthy food, and to show them how to prepare real meals and incorporate cooking and family mealtimes back into their busy lives.”

CFS has a program through which they are not only educating people on the choice of sustainable food but also increasing their awareness of food processes and what can be done about the harmful ones. “We have a membership of about 85,000, and we send them regular information on new food technologies that are being proposed, opportunities to comment on food legislation, and opportunities to write to both federal and state agencies,” said Spector. “We’re really trying to empower people to express their concern about these issues.”

Dr. David Wallinga sees a good amount of positive change occurring in agricultural methods. “The one thing that you can’t really get away from is that agriculture is inherently ecological. To pretend that in the long term you can grow food without really thinking about its impact on soil erosion or on the quality of ground water and its pollution with heavy metals is just folly. I think that the people in public health and medicine and other health sciences are waking up to this fact. For example, the American Medical Association recently passed a new policy concerning sustainable food. It’s pretty good. It talks about finding ways to produce food without squandering antibiotics, as well as ways that contribute less to climate change.

“They’re not the only organization; both the American Dietetic Association and the American Public Health Association have something very similar.”

With a view much like Rebecca Spector’s, Dr. Preston Maring sees the problem as primarily an educational one. He first considered it a problem of getting out nutritional, sustainably grown food so that people would know it was there-a problem he began solving by opening a farmers’ market right next to the very medical center where he worked. The program has become an integral part of Kaiser Permanente’s operation, and there are now 37 farmers’ markets at Kaiser locations around the country. The food is purchased by staff, visitors and patients and taken back to neighborhoods and kitchens throughout their communities.

Dr. Maring also believes in simply teaching people to cook. “I think the first priority is to just help and encourage people to get started cooking fresh foods, even if they’re grown using conventional agriculture,” he said. “You then encourage people to eat sustainably grown local produce. I’m getting more and more convinced, as time goes by and I talk to people in various groups, that probably the best thing we could do for public health is to teach people how to sharpen a chef’s knife and how to use it, and have a couple of cutting boards and salad spinners. That could transform the whole experience for people of preparing good food at home.”

In conducting this education, Dr. Maring takes time to demonstrate the economy of making your own meals-such things as replacing a three- or four-dollar jar of salad dressing with 25 cents’ worth of garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and chopped parsley; the remainder of the money can then be spent on some good fresh fruit or fresh vegetables. “A little bit of simple instruction about how to mince garlic, how to dice onions, how to pan-sauté some foods, and it would be easy to show people how to put together a meal for 4 to 15 bucks instead of spending 30 or 40 or 50 out at a local family restaurant,” Dr. Maring said.

It even comes down to competing with fast food. Not long ago, Dr. Maring was talking to a group of 30 or so high school students at his local farmers’ market and asked them how much they spent, for example, on a bag of potato chips. One student was able to answer immediately: $1.29. Based on the actual potato content of the chips, Dr. Maring calculated the cost of potatoes for the bag to be about $16 a pound, and he took the students over to one of the stands where he found red potatoes for $1.50 per pound. He then advised the students on how to roast potatoes. Pointing out the $10 to $12 price for a pizza, he next talked them through how to make a pizza for half that cost-with wholesome ingredients.

Dr. Maring concluded with a story that truly brought home the point. Recently he spent the day at the Kaiser Permanente Center in Watts, Los Angeles-one of the most economically depressed neighborhoods in the nation. “While I was there, a little boy came up to me and asked, ‘Sir, what’s healthier, white or green asparagus?’ I said, ‘You know, I think they are both really healthy, and it’s just important every day to eat multiple different colors.’ Then I said, ‘Listen, I’m going to do a cooking demo; would you help me?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ This boy was probably 10 and had never used a chef’s knife before. I taught him how to mince garlic and how to mince a shallot, how to make a vinaigrette and how to chop some parsley. He made a red wine vinaigrette and put it on a little tiny salad he’d prepared and served it to the various people coming to the market. He was thrilled, and at the end he said, ‘Thank you very much. You’ve opened a new door for me.’ It’s a day I’ll never forget.”

In the end, it’s our healthcare system and our country, and while a growing number of us are shopping for fresh, local and organic food, the majority of Americans who end up in our healthcare system are not. Thus there is always a need for constant outreach and education.

 from Organic Connections

Jeff has been receiving Chiropractic treatment from Dr. Ted Forcum, D.C. of Tigard, Oregon. Dr. Forcum is one of 4 chiropractors that were members of a 62-person healthcare group who treated over 400 U.S. Olympic athletes in Beijing. “Without Chiropractic care, I doubt that I would ever have been able to reach these levels or been able to train at such an intense level,” said Hartwig.

Following his first Olympic experience, Jeff went on to set the American pole vault record in 1998 when he cleared the bar at 19 feet, 9 inches. Fortunately, he didn’t have to jump quite this high to qualify for Beijing, when his vault of 18 feet, 8 inches made him the oldest member of this year’s team.

Jeff credits some amazing results from Chiropractic as the reason he is able to continue competing: “The first time I was treated by a chiropractor was akin to a miracle. It was a much better option than simply using conventional medicine because my injuries healed faster and my whole body felt better.”

The history of Chiropractic being available to help athletes like Jeff goes back to the year 1980 and the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. Since then, chiropractors have joined with medical doctors, massage therapists and certified athletic trainers to provide health care services to America’s gathering of elite athletes.

“Chiropractic fulfills a niche need, not only by treating injuries but also by aiding in recovery and positively impacting athletic performance,” said Dr. Forcum. “Chiropractors promote active care and treatment with a commitment to healthy progression and rehabilitation.”

Jeff had to be pleased, at the age of almost 41, to be a member of the U.S. team and to participate

in Beijing. However, being a competitive athlete, his performance in the Olympic pole vault qualifying round that left him only 4 inches short of making it into the finals had to be somewhat disappointing. His best vault in Beijing was 18 feet, 2 inches and it took 18 feet, 6 inches for 12 of the 38 competitors in the field to make the final round of jumping.

Now, with the 2012 Olympic Games planned for London looming just 4 years away, it will be inter­esting to see if Jeff might have one more appearance left in him. With Chiropractic services available to him and an elite athlete’s desire to keep on competing, only time will tell.

Source: The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. “Jeff Hartwig, Oldest American to Qualify for the Olympic Team in Pole Vaulting, Attributes Success to Chi­ropractic Care.” August 2008. http://www.f4cp.com/press_releases/PoleVaulter.htm

Michael Bloomberg, the current mayor of New York City, and Bill Gates of Microsoft fame have announced a joint effort to reduce the ill effects of tobacco. Their concern stems from the fact that unless major measures are taken to re­duce the amount of tobacco usage by the earths populace, some 1 billion people will die from tobacco related illness in the 21st century.

The mayor’s involvement in this area dates back to 2005 with the establishment of the Bloomberg Initiative to Re­duce Tobacco Use to the tune of $125 million. Now a new 4-year commitment brings his total funding to $375 million. Bill and Melinda Gates added $125 million to the effort for a total of $500 million for tobacco curbs. Much of this fund­ing will go to help governments in lower income and developing countries make progress in educating their population away from smoking and by protecting non-smokers from damage through second-hand smoke.

Here is some interesting background on the ravages of tobacco:

• 1 billion people worldwide currently smoke (1 in 4 adults).
• Tobacco kills more people than any other agent.
• Smokers lose an average of 10-15 years from their life expectancy.
• 5 million people are killed by tobacco each year, more than AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria combined.
• 80% of tobacco deaths will be in low- to middle-income countries by 2030.
• 1 billion people may die of smoking in this century.

Both men want to encourage government and business leaders to join them in the fight to run hard-hitting public in­formation campaigns, increase tobacco control programs, ban cigarette advertising and create smoke-free public places. This, however, may be a bit of a hard sell in lower income countries with a high level of smokers where less than $20 mil­lion a year is spent on tobacco controls and over $66 billion is collected in taxes on tobacco.

However, just like in the United States, smoking controls needed to start somewhere. For instance, when New York City went smoke free in 2002, only one state and no countries were smoke-free. Now, 24 states including New York and the District of Columbia have 100% smoke-free restaurants and bars. Countries that have joined in the smoke-free ac­tion include Uruguay, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy and Ireland.

“Tobacco-caused diseases have emerged as one of the greatest health challenges facing developing countries,” said Gates. “The good news is we know what it takes to save millions of lives, and where efforts exist, they are working. We are pleased to join with Mayor Bloomberg, who has made the fight against tobacco a priority in New York City and around the world.”

Source: The Bloomberg Initiative. “Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates Join to Combat Global Tobacco Epidemic.” July 2008. http://www.smartbrief.cominews/aaaa/industryPR-detail.jsp?id=65B48830-3866-4202-9B36-038C730AECD7

Certainly the biggest athletic stage that involved chiropractors in 2008 was the Olympic Games re­cently completed in Beijing. Four U.S. based chiropractors played a major role in the 62-person health and fitness contingent that helped the US achieve the most Olympic medals of any country competing in the games.

Chiropractic care is particularly important to athletes on the world stage where fractions of a second determine the difference between a place on the medal stand and going home empty-handed. Also vital is the Chiropractic approach to drug-free care in a world where every Olympic athlete is subject to drug testing. “Chiropractic takes a non-invasive, drug-free approach to healthcare, a position that is now highly regarded among Olympic athletes and their trainers,” said Ted Forcum, DC, of Tigard, Oregon. “Chiropractic care is particularly valuable for pain management and offers athletes highly effective solu­tions for achieving optimal performance without the use of prescription drugs.” Chiropractors Amor Adams of Oakland, Ernie Ferrel of Santa Barbara, and Michael Reed of Colorado Springs made up the Olympic Chiropractic team.

At another venue, a group of chiropractors have been involved in helping a highly competitive team of disabled veterans compete to the maximum level in such grueling events as triathlons, marathons and 10K runs. Team Semper Fi, a triathlon team made up of disabled war veterans, recently completed in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon Series where they performed alongside able-bodied athletes. The events included swimming from Alcatraz Island to the city of San Francisco, biking 18 miles and finishing off with an 8 mile run.

One brave competitor, Eric Frazier, whose spine was paralyzed in combat and now propels his bicycle with his hands and arms said, “After any race, my upper body is in pain because I do it all with my hands and arms. Following Chiropractic care, I find that I perform better.” Another athlete, Dan Lasko, who lost his left leg below his knee in Afghanistan. said, “When it comes to triathlons, Chiropractic has helped out tremendously. I see my chiropractor before the event and a few days later. It just makes me a better athlete overall.”

Bill Morgan, DC, is the staff chiropractor for the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Mary­land, and is also the leader in providing care to the veteran’s group of athletes. “I salute the brave fighters who have overcome so much to compete in these athletic events,” said Dr. Morgan. “I can think of no greater honor than to provide care for those injured while in the service of their country.”

Sources: The World Chiropractic Alliance. “Chiropractors Play Important Role in Olympics.” September 2008. http://www.worldchiropracticalliance.orecj/2008/seph.htm and The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. Press Release. “Chiropractic Care Helping Heroes Realize Their Potential in Triathlon Series.” September 2008. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080904/20080904005998.html?.v=1

The question of where to turn for a healthier lifestyle, one which is based on sound practices, together with the elimi­nation of pain and reduced sickness eludes many, many people. Yet, the solution is staring Americans right in the face daily.

The answer lies in Chiropractic.

A chiropractor, by training and experience, offers a great deal more to the public than merely skeletal system adjust­ments and increased function of the nervous system of the body. This alone is a tremendous service, but it is only part of a chiropractor’s many skills which could help to put an entire nation back on the track to better health and fitness.

There was a time in the United States, not long ago, that the call went out from President John F. Kennedy to in­crease the fitness level of America. This occurred in the early 1960s when the President’s Council on Physical Fitness helped to set standards for both the youth and the adults of America to achieve a better state of well-being. Strides were nicely being made in this direction, but that was over 40 years ago, and now the nation has lapsed back into a state of physical apathy and decline.

Chiropractors, by training, know a great deal about physical fitness, in addition to a lifestyle enhanced by wellness and a more healthful living that is free of drugs. A personal visit to a chiropractor may not put an entire nation back on the track to better health, but it would help one person, you, and that is a great start!

Here are just a few of the benefits of getting more fit under the guidance of a chiropractor: A chiropractor will act as a personal counselor on health and wellness. An overall exercise program that fits a person’s lifestyle and interest will be discovered and encouraged. By the way, overall fitness is known to increase a person’s well-being and do wonders for a person’s back, which is often the source of pain for many people. Finally, improving fitness can help to impact a person’s life and society as well through reduced healthcare costs, visits to physicians, dependency on pharmaceutical drugs and even lost time from work.

There is a study that points to how this individual effort on a small scale could impact and entire area. It is reported that if one sedentary person out of 20 in the state of Michigan were to get on a regular exercise program, the filter down cost savings in the state would total over $575 million annually.

How do you turn the fitness of a nation around you ask? The answer is one person at a time. The solution starts with a low-cost Chiropractic consultation. It’s a visit that could add years to your life, increase your productivity, make living more fun and help out the physical fitness level of a declining nation – all at the same time.

Source: Dynamic Chiropractic. ‘The High Cost of Inactivity.” August 2008. http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=53375

The effects on the population regarding this increased soft drink consumption and the health of individual drinkers was the research topic of a recent study at the Boston University School of Medicine through the Farmingham Heart Study. Researchers found that persons consuming more than one soft drink per day had an increased risk of the factors that are associated with heart disease. Interestingly, both regular and diet soft drinks were seen as equal contributors to these threats to heart health.

These factors of heart disease risk have been clustered into a group of symptoms know as “Metabolic Syndrome.” This grouping includes excess waist circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides (fats), elevated glucose lev­els, and a lower level of the good HDL cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein). According to the researchers, three or more of these factors present in the body indicates a higher risk for heart disease and for diabetes as well.

“We were struck by the fact that it didn’t matter whether it was a diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with increased risk was present,” said Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., and professor at Boston University School of Medicine. “In those who drink one or more soft drinks daily, there was an association of an increased risk of develop­ing the metabolic syndrome.”

The Farmingham Study involved some 9,000 personal observations made in middle-aged men and women at 3 differ­ent times over a 4 year period. When this study began, researchers immediately observed that persons consuming more than one soft drink per day had a 48 percent higher presence of metabolic syndrome than those consuming one drink or less a day.

Also interesting was the increased risk noted over the course of the study for persons who had no evidence of a meta­bolic risk at the start, but who consumed one or more soft drinks per day. At the end of 4 years, those who consumed this amount of soft drink had a 44 percent higher risk of developing new-onset metabolic syndrome. Also noted for this group was a 31 percent greater risk of developing new on-set obesity, a 30 percent increase in developing increased waist size, a 25 percent increase in triglycerides and glucose levels, and a 32 percent risk of having lower HDL levels. These results were published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

With obesity statistics for American adults and children rising each year and with the onset of diabetes also rising, a return to some of the more healthy dining practices of yesteryear may be something to consider. A glass of milk along with a meal for children and a few sips of water, milk or coffee for adults might be worth a new look in modern day United States. It would certainly present a different picture at a local fast food restaurant with everyone drinking more healthy beverages from a 12 ounce glass rather than soft drinks from a 44 oz. super-sized refillable plastic cup.

Source: The Boston University School of Medicine. “Diet and Regular Soft Drinks Linked to Increase in Risk Factors for Heart Disease.” July 2007. http://www.bu.eduiphpbininews/releases/display.php?id=1376

Basically, dry mouth is a painful condition that results when the salivary glands do not function properly. While saliva is an important agent that helps in the swallowing of food, it is also a natural defense against tooth decay. Saliva plays a major role in rinsing away food particles and in neutralizing harmful acids that might attack the teeth. It helps prevent gum disease and infections of the mouth tissues. A person may have difficulty in speaking, and their sense of taste can be hindered when a lack of saliva exists.

A dry mouth condition can develop from a number of sources. Radiation administered to the head and neck region is one known cause. However, with increased uses of medications such as antidepressants, diuret­ics, antihistamines and even decongestants in society today, increasing numbers of dry mouth cases are being reported.

The results of two separate studies indicate that Acupuncture can offer help to people who suffer from this condition. Prior to trying Acupuncture, most sufferers relied on more short-term substitutes and gland stimu­lants like sucking on lozenges or chewing gum, for example.

One study reported in General Dentistry, the journal of the Academy of General Dentistry, indicated posi­tively that Acupuncture provided help for 7 radiation therapy patients with dry mouth. Each of the patients was seen once a week for 4 or 5 weeks and biweekly for several more sessions. Follow-ups done on these pa­tients up to 8 months later found reduction in dry mouth symptoms, increased saliva flow and having an im­proved ability to eat and speak.

In a separate study, this one conducted on cancer patients in Sweden and reported in the journal Oral Dis­eases, 70 cancer patients with dry mouth conditions were treated with Acupuncture. Their treatment involved 24 individual Acupuncture sessions given twice a week over a four-month period. The results of this study were very encouraging as well with researchers pointing to “significantly higher saliva flow rates” for each of their groupings of patients following Acupuncture.

Hopefully, this is not a condition that will develop for you or a member of your family or circle of friends. However, with radiation being increasingly used for cancer treatments and greater amounts of antidepressant drugs being administered in society, the possibility does exist that someone you come into contact with will complain of this condition. Wouldn’t it be nice if a suggestion to that person to try Acupuncture helped to bring relief?

Source: Acupuncture.com. “New Report Indicates Acupuncture Provides Relief for Suffers of Dry Mouth.” June 2005. http://acupuncture.com/news/drymouth.htm and Acupuncture Today. “Acupuncture for Dry Mouth.” http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=27653

The order they are disputing is one that many raw and natural food experts agree is greatly reducing the food and nutritional value of almonds. It is now law that all California almonds be steam heated or treated with the agent propylene oxide – a product the Environmental Protection Agency recognizes as a carcinogenic – before being sold to American consumers. Interestingly, these treated almonds can still legally be sold as “raw” even though they have been subjected to one of these nutrition altering measures.

The reason for the fumigation has to do with two known outbreaks of salmonella poisoning in the past decade that appear to be traceable to almonds. As a result, the USDA in conjunction with the California Almond Board invoked a plan that began on Sept. 1, 2007, to treat almonds as a necessary food safety requirement. This was done even though the USDA investigators were never able to pinpoint how salmonella bacteria somehow con­taminated raw almonds. Their investigation did center around one large “factory farm” almond and pistachio grower who raised over 9,000 acres of product.

This order by the USDA virtually wiped out much of the business for the 15 smaller almond growers and han­dlers as much of their product was destined for the health food market where people value the nutritional quali­ties of raw or organically grown almonds. Now the market for raw almonds is being filled by product coming into the U.S. from outside the country where the same treatment laws do not apply to imported almonds.

According to the suit, tens of thousands of angry consumers have contacted the USDA to protest this new regulation. Many have expressed outrage that almonds that have been fumigated or heated can still be sold as “raw.” While this consumer voice has been heard in Washington, it does not appear likely the USDA is much concerned. The following comment is from Bruce Knight, Under Secretary of the USDA for Marketing and Reg­ulatory Programs while speaking at an Almond Industry Conference in California in December 2007: “I want you to know that the USDA is continuing to receive letters from raw food advocates and their Congressional repre­sentatives opposing the salmonella treatment rule. However, we are not planning to reconsider this rule.”

Regardless of this deaf ear presented by an official of the USDA, persons interested in preserving the natural quality of their food would be well-advised to continue to write to their elected representatives to get these regu­lations changed. In the meantime, a health conscious person who wants “raw” almonds will have to be very cer­tain of the source before making a purchase. Remember, the word “raw” on the label is no guarantee of a non-pasteurized or fumigated product.

Source: The Cornucopia Institute. “Almond Growers and Handlers File Federal Lawsuit Seeking to End ‘Adulteration’ of Raw Nuts.” September 2008.
http://www.comucopia.org/index.php/almond-growers-and-handlers-file-federal-lawsuit-seeking-to-end-adulteration-of-raw-nuts/frmore-494 and the USDA. “A
Strong Outlook for US Agriculture.” December 2007. http://www.aphis.usda.govinewsroom/speeches/content/2007/12/Almonds%20final%2012-6-07.doc

Payment to doctors was an important part of the Act to Promote Cost Containment, Transparency and Ef­ficiency in the Delivery of Quality Health Care. The bill contains a section that requires pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies to report any gifts to healthcare professionals of $50 or more. The state Department of Public Health will record such payments and make them publicly available on the state’s website: http://www.mass.gov.

State Senator Mark Montigny was one of the first to compliment the governor on signing this bill into law. He had been the author of earlier legislation aimed at banning all such gifts. The legislation that did pass at the $50 mark represented a compromise between members of the state’s House of Representatives and the Senate.

“Biased marketing and financial inducements are destructive to the sacred doctor-patient relationship,” Senator Montigny said. “Cost controls, disclosure and transparency are imperative as we demand universal ac­cess to quality healthcare. I commend the governor for standing firmly on the side of the patient and the tax­payer.”

Many states are getting more involved in working to control the rising costs of healthcare and it is likely that more restrictions will be forthcoming on the doctor and pharmaceutical industry relationships in the fu­ture. Massachusetts has taken the lead in implementing such reforms according to Senate President Therese Murray. “Massachusetts is known around the world for cutting-edge, top notch healthcare and medical re­search. We are leading the way, and this legislation allows us to continue that leadership, while proving the best healthcare possible for the people of the Commonwealth.”

Governor Patrick added his thoughts on the expectations he has for doctors and suppliers as a result of this bill. “This measure will set a marketing code of conduct to help ensure healthcare providers make choices about prescription drugs and medical devices for their patients based on therapeutic benefits and cost-effective­ness.”

Also included in this bill along with the transparency measures were an adoption of uniform billing and electronic health records, incentives for medical students and nurses to continue their education, and awards to hospitals who wish to upgrade their computer technology. It also gives the state more influence over curtail­ing the rising cost of health insurance.

Source: The State of Massachusetts Office of the Governor.
“Governor Patrick Signs Bill Enhancing Quality, Cost-Effectiveness and Transparency of Health Care.” August 2008.
http://www.mass.govfipageID=gov3pressreleasediL=18t1.0=Homedtsid=Agov3dtb=pressreleasedtf=080811_dr_gifts&csid=Ag

According to the most recent first-of-its kind study, Acupuncture was incorporated into a treatment plan and its effectiveness compared against anti-depressant drugs, which are now commonly used in ther­apy. The aim was to see how these two treatment programs compared in bringing relief from the side effects of breast cancer surgery including hot flashes, night sweats and excessive sweating. The results were pre­sented in September at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston, Mass.

The anti-depressant Effexor^® (venlafaxine) produced by the drug company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has become part of the normal drug therapy treatment plan for women suffering from hot flashes. Usu­ally, hot flashes are treated with hormone therapy, however, breast cancer victims can’t receive hormone therapy as it increases the chance the disease will return.

There are many good reasons, including weight gain, nausea, constipation and fatigue, not to use the powerful anti-depressant drugs. Many women prefer not to use the drug because of additional problems it is known to present such as insomnia, decreased libido and dizziness. And, some women simply don’t want to take drugs.

The study conducted at Henry Ford Hospital’s Department of Radiation Oncology in Detroit, much, in­volved 47 breast cancer patients. Following their surgery, each was experiencing at least 14 hot flashes per week. What was discovered was that Acupuncture was equally effective in reducing the hot flashes as the anti-depressant drug, but it also provided additional health benefits.

The researchers noted that the women who received Acupuncture had an increased sense of well-being about them. They also had more energy and, in some cases, a higher sex drive than those who underwent drug treatment for their symptoms.

“Our study shows that physicians and patients have an additional therapy for something that affects the majority of breast cancer survivors and actually has benefits, as opposed to more side effects,” said Eleanor Walker, M.D. who was the lead author of the study. “The effect is more durable than a drug commonly used to treat these vasomotor* symptoms and, ultimately, is more cost-effective for insurance companies.”

Source: The Henry Ford Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology. “Acupuncture Reduces Side Effects of Breast Cancer Treatment.” September 2008.
http://www.henryford.com/body.cfm?id=463358taction=detaildtref=864

* Vasomotor: Relating to the nerves and muscles that cause the blood vessels to constrict or dilate.

Investigators at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine recently took a close look at the effect of massage on a very specific group of people who might be most in need of pampering: cancer patients. In a study of 380 adults with advanced-stage cancer and at least moderate pain, the researchers found that those who received massage therapy had greater improvement in pain and mood than patients who were touched in a manner similar to massage but without the precise motion and pressure a trained therapist uses.

For these patients, even a little relief can mean a lot. Generally, about a third of cancer patients experience significant pain. As for mood, according to the National Cancer Institute, 15% to 25% of cancer patients become clinically depressed at some point during their illness. And the very nature of treatment for a serious illness often makes things worse.

“When you’re ill, you don’t necessarily get the kind of human contact we do in our daily lives,” says end-of-life-care physician Dr. Jean Kutner, who was the lead author of the study. “Most of the touch you receive is related to procedures, such as getting chemo or having blood drawn.”

David Mejia is a 39-year-old former systems engineer in Colorado who was found to have multiple myeloma. He recalls falling into a deep depression during treatments. “I didn’t want to talk to anybody,” he says. “The phone would ring, but I didn’t want to pick it up.” Mejia describes the massage therapy he received to relieve tightness in his joints as also a form of treatment for his depression. “It doesn’t just make my body feel good —it makes my spirit feel good,” he says.

The overlap of mental and physical boosts makes sense, given the biochemistry that’s in play when your body is massaged. Levels of feel-good neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine spike, while measures of the stress hormone cortisol drop. This is the same phenomenon that’s at work when you feel the fabled runner’s or exerciser’s high, and it’s also one of the things that makes a post-workout massage particularly satisfying. For people whose workouts lead to neck and back pain — or whose existing neck and back pain prevent them from exercising at all — massage has answers too.

It has been fairly well documented that massage therapy provided by a licensed or certified professional produces real relief that may last even months. Several studies have shown that a rubdown works well at the other end of the age spectrum too: babies and infants who are massaged tend to cry less, appear more relaxed and interact better with their mothers.

As my homework for this column, I gave in and had a massage. I am not sure if it was the boost in neuro-transmitters or just the relief of some pretty sore muscles, but I suspect I’ll be coming back for more.

With reporting by Shahreen Abedin / New York

From Time.com, Fit Nation

In Chinese Medicine, chi is known to travel on pathways in the body called meridians or energy channels. Acupuncture can be used to stimulate various points along these meridians to keep the energy flowing or to unblock the flow when something occurs to reduce its flow. The unblocking of a meridian can go a long way to restore good health to a person suffering from some malady.

In conjunction with Acupuncture, or at times when Acupuncture is either not readily available or used, there are some excellent lifestyle considerations and actions that can help to promote the healthy flow of chi. A good, solid energy foundation can be enhanced and life energy boosted by following these good lifestyle practices.

m A healthy, balanced diet is very good for promoting the proper flow of chi. Vegetables, fruits and nuts will be an important component, but meats, fish and fowl are also encouraged. Some excellent chi-fortifying foods include brown rice, carrots, onions, chicken, fish, lamb, potatoes and eggs. Herbs are also important includ­ing ginseng, nutmeg and china root. Mainly, it’s important to choose natural foods with no chemical addi­tives. Consistency in food intake is also considered important with the warning to avoid both over- and under-eating.

• Breath is an vital part of life and breathing deeply brings in more oxygen and activates chi.
• Believe it or not, bright colors in a person’s life are also excellent for chi enhancement. This includes the wearing of bright colored clothing and having colorful flowers in the environment.
• Items and activities known to be “chi robbers” should be avoided. These would include spending too much time in crowed areas, watching an excessive amount of television, talking too much or having too many negative emotions. On the other hand, pleasant and spontaneous activities that a person enjoys are known to enhance the flow of chi.

Keep the energy flowing with Acupuncture together with a healthy lifestyle that enhances chi. And, just as an acupuncturist will tailor an Acupuncture program specific to a person’s needs, so can the acupuncturist be a source of lifestyle, diet and herb suggestions specific to good health and the proper flow of chi energy through the meridi­ans of your body.

Source: Acupuncture.com. “Boost Your Chi Naturally.”
September 2008 http://www.acupuncture.cominewsletters/m_sept08/boost%20chi.htm
and “Secrets of Longevity.” http://acupuncture.cominewsletters/m_aug03/mainl.htm

The story of Michael Phelps and his eight gold medal performance continues to rocket around the globe faster than a 50 meter “splash and dash” race in an Olympic pool. Following immediately on the heels of this record shattering effort is one of even more Herculean significance. Michael Phelps and his family – together -beat the symptoms of ADHD and gave him a drug-free handling.

This does not mean that teachers, psychologists and doctors did not push the drugging choice into Michael’s life. This highly energetic child who could not sit still or be quiet in school did get huge pressure to accept the drugging solution that is almost immediately pushed in our society today. Michael’s mom Debbie, an educator herself, was not happy with this solution and worked to pursue alternatives.

Yes, there was a period of time in Michael’s life where he and his family agreed to give the drugs a try. It ac­tually went on for almost two years prior to Michael’s teenage years. After awhile, Michael decided to say no to the drugs. He decided he could handle the situation without the medication and he did. Swimming provided a major outlet for his energy and certainly a focus for his attention that doctors and teachers, especially, said he’d never be able to achieve without drugs.

Michael’s performance in the Olympics and the way he and his family dealt with his problems is highly laudable and has drawn praise from many. This comment from the board president of the national organization Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) basically says it all.

“It’s important for people living with ADHD to pursue interests they enjoy and at which they excel,” said Marie Paxson, board president. “Phelps’ success demonstrates that being a part of a supportive family, setting goals, engaging in enjoyable activities and receiving positive feedback are all important in the building of self-esteem. Phelps is clearly an exceptionally talented athlete and a source of pride for millions of people affected by ADHD.”

Michael Phelps and his mom Debbie Phelps are to be commended for standing up against the pressures of the drugging industry and beating his symptoms of ADHD with family involvement, athletic activity (in his case) and lots of support. It is hoped that this one person’s ability to embrace a drug-free solution will be an in­spiration to many more youngsters and their families in handling their own ADHD solutions without drugs.

Eight gold medals in one Olympic Games is a truly magnificent performance. If this feat serves to enlighten a world that there are solutions to ADHD that reach beyond drugs, it will be the Olympic story for all times.

Source: Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Press Release. August 2008.
http://www.chadd.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releasesi&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=7437

Sales of Lipitor account for over $12 billion in annual revenues worldwide. It is widely prescribed by doc­tors for both men and women as a way to lower cholesterol levels in the body. People who take it believe they are able to reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke. Pharmacuetical giant, Pfizer Inc., markets Lipitor as being beneficial for those adults with a risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers at Cornell University recently assembled and evaluated all of the scientific data and test results available on Lipitor. It may come as a surprise to a lot of people that they were able to find no statistically sig­nificant supporting scientific evidence to show that women who take Lipitor were getting any protection from cardiovascular problems. The results of the study were published in the September issue of the university’s Jour­nal of Empirical Legal Studies.

“Our findings indicate that each year reasonably healthy women spend billions of dollars on drugs in the hope of preventing heart attacks, but that scientific evidence supporting their hope does not exist,” the study’s authors said.

Pfizer widely advertises Lipitor as a means to reduce the probability of heart attack for people who have a mixture of risk factors for heart attack, such as age, high blood pressure, low HDL levels (high-density lipopro­tein, the good cholesterol), family history or smoking. It appears from the research that study findings of bene­fits for the male population have simply been extrapolated to include women as well. Of course, Pfizer makes no mention of this in its advertising or product labeling regarding use by women.

It is most interesting to note that none of the studies that included women with a mixture of risk factors provided any statistically significant support for prescribing Lipitor or other statins to protect against cardiovas­cular disease, researchers said. Pfizer’s claims of clinical proof that Lipitor reduces the risk of heart disease in women appear to be unfounded and aimed more at marketing billions of dollars worth of the product than pro­viding any real help.

This research gives credence to looking at methods beyond drugs to achieve cholesterol reduction and overall heart health. A combination of a healthy diet with reduced intake of meats and dairy products, in con­junction with exercise, has been shown to improve cholesterol levels. A wellness consultation with a natural healthcare professional would be a good place to start to arrive at a diet and exercise program which promotes healthy living for both women and men.

Source: Science Daily. “Top-selling Cholesterol Drug Does Little for Women, Study Suggests.”
September 2008. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080917145147.htm

In the case of this older person, it is likely that this condition began to develop many years before. For whatever reason, maybe simply due to bad posture, the person’s head began to move forward from the perfect balance posi­tion directly in the center of the shoulders. Somewhere along the way, any number of problems can begin to de­velop as a result.

For every inch forward from center the head moves, it adds an additional 10 pounds of weight that must be dealt with by the muscles of the upper back and the neck. These muscles now must work harder to keep the head and the chin from dropping forward on the person’s chest. Consequently, these muscles must remain in constant contrac­tion which puts additional pressure on the nerves at the back of the neck. The result can be the development of headaches at the base of the skull. For some, these can even mimic a sinus headache.

A chiropractor is the person to see in order to get this condition corrected. It is important to do this long before a person gets into their later years and the condition becomes difficult to deal with. A chiropractor will assess and deal with any subluxations (minor dislocations of the vertebrae) in the area. Additionally, work will be done to re­invigorate muscles the body uses to retract the head.

A new patient visiting a chiropractor may have a 2 inch forward (anterior) head placement. This forward head posture may or may not be very noticeable to the patient. This person probably has gotten rather accustomed to carrying the equivalent of a 20 pound watermelon around his neck. If this FHP is not handled in a series of visits to a chiropractor, the patient’s condition will continue to decline over the years.

One study points out how important it is to get this condition handled before old-age sets in. The Rancho Bernard Study was done with 1,353 participants who suffered from osteoporosis. The amount of FHP was measured in each participant. First off, it was noted that a higher percentage of men than women suffered from the condition. Of them, 44 percent of the men and only 22 percent of the women had FHP. It was also noted during the study that persons with FHP had a 1.44 times greater rate of mortality than those who did not suffer from this condition.

A person who suffers from frequent headaches, back of neck pain or tightness in the upper back area would be wise to have their posture checked to see where they carry their head in relation to their torso. If it seems like an FHP condition might exist, a trip to a chiropractor’s office would be a wise decision. A chiropractor can put the pa­tient on the road to better posture, pain free living, and in the case of FHP, possibly a longer life.

Source: Chiro.org. “What is Forward Head Posture?” http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/Forward_Head_Posture.shtml and “Hyperkyphotic Posture Predicts Mortality in
Older Community-dwelling Men and Woman: A Prospective Study.” October 2004.
http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/ABSTRACTS/Hyperkyphotic_Posture_Predicts_Mortality.shtml

Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) has been a troubled commodity for Monsanto with flat sales and a host of discontented consumers rejecting milk produced by cows injected with this product. As a result of declining sales, the company has sold this element of its business to a willing buyer for $300 million. The hormone will now come under the auspices of Eli Lilly through its agricultural division Elanco of Greenfield, Indiana.

Posilac^® is the trade name of rBGH, a product that is increasingly being rejected by consumers around the country for two reasons. One is the concern that drinking rBGH milk can contribute to some forms of cancer. The other simply has to do with concern for the health of animals that are treated with it. Use of the product is allowed in 49 U.S. states with Michigan being the only exception. The countries of Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia prohibit its use as well.

The synthetic hormone rBGH is used by farmers to increase milk production during the later stages of the lactation period in cows. The manufacturer’s recommendations call for it to be injected into the milk-producing cow at approxi­mately day 50 of lactation. Doing so is supposed to enhance the poundage of milk production over the remainder of the period the cow gives milk by as much as 7 or 8 pounds per day.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, Posilac^® is actually declining in use by U.S. milk producers. Figures show that it was used in about 22 percent of U.S. dairy cows in 2002, but that use had dropped to 17 percent by 2007. This decline has been fueled by consumer concern and the associated reaction by many food marketing chains. Companies like Kroger, Wal-Mart, Safeway and Publix have all switched their store brand of products to certified rBGH­free milk. Starbucks is among the latest national marketing groups to go rBGH-free. This was accomplished at the begin­ning of 2008.

Elanco, in purchasing Posilac^® and planning to increase marketing efforts, certainly has a different view of the prod­uct than members of the concerned public. “With our rich history and experience in the dairy industry, Elanco is the ideal steward of this vital technology,” said Jeff Simmons, company president. “Elanco remains committed to using sci­ence to address the growing need for safe, affordable food; and choices for consumers, retailers and producers.”

An alternate point of view is provided by Wenonah Hauter, the executive director of the consumer’s group Food & Water Watch. “Eli Lilly is not helping its shareholders by buying a product that the marketplace is already abandoning. Consumers don’t want milk produced with artificial hormones, retailers don’t want to sell it and fewer and fewer dairy farmers are using it.”

Food & Water Watch also called on Eli Lilly to discontinue Monsanto’s earlier practices of fighting vehemently to disallow milk labeling which made it clear to consumers that they were purchasing an rBGH-free product. Monsanto has worked very hard on the lobbing and the legal levels to prevent labeling that designate milk products as rBGH-free.

Source: Food and Water Watch. “Eli Lilly Buys Troubled Monsanto Dairy Product.” August 2008.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/eli-lilly-buys-troubled-monsanto-dairy-product-article08202008 and Elanco.
“Elanco Announces Acquisition of Posilac Dairy Business.” August 2008. http://www.elanco.com/images/Posilac_Acquisition_Press_Release_08-20-08.pdf

RLS is considered to be a neurological disorder which causes unpleasant sensations in the legs. These include feelings of burning, creeping, tugging or even like insects crawling on the legs. Sensations can range from irritating to painful. People with RLS often have a strong urge to move about when at rest to help relieve the discomfort. Lying down acti­vates the symptoms making restful sleep difficult.

The study was conducted at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. Here, 3,433 men and women were enrolled in the Sleep Heart Health Study. Participants were asked to fill out detailed questionnaires regarding their RLS. Additionally, they were asked to provide information about any previous diagnosis of cardiovascular disease or stroke. The average age of the participants was 68. Of the participants, approximately 7 percent of the women and 3 percent of the men had RLS.

What the study found was that people with RLS were more than twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease. Other physical ailments or lifestyle choic­es did not change the results. The findings stayed the same regardless of body mass index, diabetes, high blood pressure, medication for blood pressure, cholesterol levels or whether or not a person smoked.

“The association of RLS with heart disease and stroke was strongest in those people who had RLS symptoms at least 16 times per month,” said the study author John W. Winkelman, M.D., of Harvard Medical School. “There was also an increased risk among people who said their RLS symptoms were severe compared to those with less bothersome symptoms.”

Dr. Winkelman wanted it made clear that this study does not show that RLS causes heart attack or stroke, just that a number of potential causes for such an occurrence exist. “In particular, most people with RLS have as many as 200 to 300 periodic leg movements per night of sleep and these leg movements are associated with substantial acute increases in both blood pressure and heart rate, which may, over the long term, produce cardiovas­cular or cerebrovascular disease.”

This study was reported to be the largest of its kind ever assembled. It has been found in numerous other studies that this condition has been helped through nutrition, exercise, as well as Chiropractic and Acupuncture treatments.

Source: The American Academy of Neurology. “Restless Legs Syndrome Doubles Risk of Stroke and Hear Disease.” Press Release. January 2008. http://www.aan.com/press/index.cfm?fuseaction=release.view&release=571