We've moved!

It's official!

Brilliant Life Chiropractic is now located at its new home on Broadway, on Antique row.  The address is:

708 Broadway Suite 170,
Tacoma, WA 98402

All phone numbers and email addresses are the same.  I apologize for being a little quiet lately, but there is a lot to do when it comes to moving, and now that things are finally settling down, I can get myself back onto the blogging scene.

Many thanks to the folks at 6th Ave for making our 5 year stay there an awesome one as we got introduced to our community and starting to help people live a brilliant life.  And now it's time to make an even bigger difference!

In a recent interaction, I spoke with someone who was in a lot of pain.  My encouragement is always to avoid taking any pain relieving drugs unless you absolutely have to. Everyone has a different threshold for when that is.  Mine is constantly being refined.  This particular person had broken a bone, and it was painful to walk, so they were taking ibuprofen.  Most people consider ibuprofen to be a relatively benign drug, one that reduces inflammation and pain, and generally makes life more bearable.

But ibuprofen is not without its risks.  In fact, 16,000 people die each year from appropriate use of ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.  Also, regular use of ibuprofen has been linked to kidney cancer.  It has also been shown to be protective in some cases, so the jury is out on that one.

But let's look at it from another perspective.  The Chiropractic one.  From this viewpoint, the body knows how to heal itself.  It has an intelligence inside of it that has been evolving for thousands of years to deal with these kinds of things.  From that viewpoint, the pain that people experience is there for a reason, to tell us when something isn't working, or that we need to change our patterns or position.

In the example I presented, the person took ibuprofen after walking around with their broken bone, and the pain had become unbearable for them.  Understandably, they wanted to alleviate it.  But, when you take ibuprofen and the pain levels become reduced, one might have a tendency to then be more active than might be appropriate to allow for proper healing to take place.  I encouraged this person to rest and relax, since their body had been giving them clear signals that they shouldn't walking around any more.

That is the reason I would choose not to take ibuprofen.  I prefer to let my body tell me exactly what is going on, and what is the best course of action for true healing to take place.  Experiencing pain tells me that I need to rest.  And sometimes even a lack of sleep because I'm uncomfortable and need to keep shifting is the way that soft tissue mends itself.  Is it possible that in cases like that, the movement is more helpful than the sleep that we're losing?

Something to consider, I think.

Moving, and injuries

So, as it happened, I hurt myself on Friday last week doing one of my workouts.  People know I like to workout using the CrossFit paradigm.  I find it to be the best workout protocol I've ever encountered, with high intensity and highly functional exercises.

The most common question I get after telling people I got hurt was if I got hurt "doing CrossFit."  I want to take some time to address this.  Did I get hurt doing CrossFit?  No.  Was I doing a CrossFit workout at the time?  Yes.  But was it something to do with the nature of the CrossFit workout?  Not at all.  I hurt myself.  I was doing a complex movement known as a squat clean which requires a complicated set of timing, coordination, strength, and agility.  Perhaps I got a bit careless.  Or maybe I was tired because I'd been sick not long before.  I really don't know exactly.  But it had nothing to do with the nature of CrossFit itself.  I hurt myself.

Now, the awesome thing about all of this is that I am now almost 100% better after only a few days.  I'm already back to performing my warmup, and I'm very excited about that.  My wife, Laelle, adjusted me a few times each day over the past 4 days, and now I'm almost 100%.  Yay to Chiropractic!  But more than that, Yay to the power of the body to heal when there is no interference!

708 Broadway, our new location!

I definitely hope that I am completely at 100% by the time our move comes up.  Yes, that's right, Brilliant Life Chiropractic is moving to another location.  We're headed to 708 Broadway, suite 170, in the passages building.  Parking is the first question on people's minds, and every time I have driven by the new building, there has been plenty of parking, both paid and free.  And the paid parking is not very expensive, only $0.75 an hour.  We'll have plenty of quarters in our new office to help those out who forget.

The move takes place over the first weekend of November, and so our first day at the new office will be Monday, November 5th.  It was initiated because of the noise level coming from our neighbors at Studio 6 Ballroom.  They started a Zumba class during the adjusting hours at Brilliant Life which seriously disturbed my adjusting.  Despite repeated attempts to come to a compromise that would work for both of us, we were unable to do so.  Dropping the class would have represented a significant decrease in their income, and I was losing money keeping it where it was.

So, I'm taking this as an opportunity to upgrade Brilliant Life Chiropractice.  The new office will be quieter, move private, and more professional, without losing that feel you've all come to know and love about Brilliant Life.  We're the same, only at a new location.

Remember, we're at 708 Broadway, ste 170 starting on November 5th.  See you there!

Upcoming Events and Some News!

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, because things have been busy in Brilliant Life!  First off, I have a bunch of events coming up in the next couple of weeks that I would love to share with you.

Open Healing Night - Wednesday, October 3rd, 7:00 pm

This event is for all of you who have been thinking of giving me a try, or know someone who you would like to introduce to my unique and gentle style of Chiropractic, but weren't sure for whatever reason.  Now is your chance to receive an adjustment for no charge.  Come and discover what your friends and family have been raving about.  See how gentle and honoring Chiropractic care really can be.  And realize just how healthy you can be too!  See you there.

Introduction to the Landmark Forum - Saturday, October 6th, 2:00 pm

Landmark Education has been in the field of education for decades, and they deal with what really matters to people, in all areas of life.  Do you want to become more powerful and at the same time, discover more self expression and peace of mind?  It sounds amazing and transformative because it really is.  At this event, you will work on a real problem that you are dealing with and bring new possibility to it in a way you'd never imagined possible.

Healing from Within - Wednesday, October 13th, 7:00 pm

Where does healing really come from?  How does it work?  How does Chiropractic fit into that, and what is Dr. Paul doing with those light touches?  These questions and more will be answered at this informal gathering and talk.  There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and answers, so come prepared.  And if you have friends or family that you have tried to explain this work to, this is another great option to educate them and perhaps introduce them to this amazing work.

More news to come, but that's enough for now!  Take care everyone.  Health and happiness!

Icing Injuries? Not me!

I have an unconventional view of icing injuries.  The traditional medical view says that if you sprain your ankle, you absolutely should put ice on it to control the inflammation and keep swelling and pain down.  The rationale is that this will make you more comfortable and keep the rest of the tissues healthy by preventing any sort of edema and pressure from inflicting further harm than the original insult.

I think that's crazy.

Let me say that again.  I think that's crazy, IF your goal is healing.  If, for example, you are an athlete, and you want to get yourself back out on the field as quickly as possible, and you don't care that you've just damaged tendons or ligaments or whatever, then great!  Ice away that pain and inflammation, let the body throw scar tissue down later and then do a bunch of rehab to treat an injury that will likely trouble you for years afterwards.  But at least you'll get to perform!

Okay, that sounds harsh, and I know it.  It's a perfectly valid choice if the goal is performance.  In the athlete's case, that's how they earn a living!  I get that they need to sacrifice their body for that.

But what about the rest of us?

Consider: What if, there were an intelligence at work in the body?  What if the body already knew how to deal with an injury because it had thousands, if not tens of thousands of years practice perfecting a system that works?  Do you really think it's making inflammation because it's wrong?  No.  Here's what inflammation (acute inflammation, that is) does with an injury.  Pain and Swelling!

Ouch!

Pain: By making it hurt, you are less likely to step on it.  That means you aren't as likely to continue to injure it.  Great plan!  When you dull the pain with ice (or an analgesic or muscle relaxant or ibuprofen) you are no longer in communication with your body and don't know your real capacity.  The risk for further injury is higher that way.

Swelling: Not only does this bring fluid to the area, but it splints the affected limb as well.  The fluid brings in all kinds of white blood cells to clean up the damage, prevent and heal any infection that might have occurred, and generally clean up and start the healing process.  It also allows for more fluid to clear out, thus removing toxins.  Stopping this process will halt all of that.  And what do we do without the swelling to splint it?  Of course we wrap it another splint.

Both of these further the case for healing.  Putting up your foot is a great idea, and in fact, I've found that when I injure myself like that, it simply feels better to elevate it.  No drugs necessary!  And it's likely a good thing to do so because of the increased fluid flow back to the heart, speeding the toxin clear out.  When the foot stops feeling pain, maybe you're ready to walk on it again!

But don't take my word for it.  Just try it next time you're hurt.  See if it helps.  The last time I did, I healed an injury site that I had been chronically injuring repeatedly for almost 20 years.  Haven't hurt it since.

Primal Challenge 2012

Due to the enormous success of the first challenge back in October of last year, I have decided to run another one!  The 30 Day Primal Challenge is an attempt to change eating habits to a more paleo style of eating, following some of the guidelines of the Whole30 and the Primal Blueprint.  (For those books, order from the links or see my lending library)  For those of you who don't know what that is, its looking at what our paleolithic ancestors might have eaten and extrapolating out to today what foods might we eat that would be similar to that.  The premise is that our genes have evolved over thousands of years eating those kinds of foods, and certain more modern processed foods have only been around for a few hundred, or at most a thousand years.  A thousand years is just a blink of an eye in evolutionary time.  So, we are effectively taking advantage of what our genes are already adapted to, and this results in greater health and wellness.

What it looks like is this:

1. Eat lots of plants
2. Eat meat
3. Avoid grains of all kinds (wheat, rice, oats, corn, etc.)
4. Avoid legumes of all kinds (beans, soy, peanuts, etc.)
5. Supplement as needed with nuts, seeds, and fruits

That's about it!  There are some fine details that I will go over in a special presentation on Monday, September 17th at 6:30, once adjusting hours are all done.  Please attend if you are interested in the process to freshen up on the rules of the program and make sure you know how to do it!

There will be a sign up sheet at the front desk. Feel free to bring questions to the presentation.  I know for many of you this will mean a major shift in your eating, but the best way to get over it is just to jump in and do the best you can.  There will be mistakes and cheats, I imagine, but all there is to do is get back on the horse and try again for the rest of the challenge.

The challenge will last for 30 days, from the 24th of September to the 24th of October.  (Yes, the 24th of October counts as the 30th day.) That should be plenty of time for people to get back on the candy at Halloween if you so desire, but I'm hoping that you will lose your taste for sweets during this process, and won't even be tempted!

Please join us!

Chiropractic is Unique

People tell me sometimes that they don't need Chiropractic because they exercise or do yoga, or some other kind of physical activity that does the same thing.  Here's the deal: nothing does the same thing as Chiropractic.  In fact, Chiropractic works with all of those other disciplines to help them work even better!

Exercise is not Chiropractic.  Exercise is immensely valuable, don't get me wrong.  I workout very hard five days a week because I love exercise, but it's not the same thing, and I still choose to get adjusted every single week.  Do you know why?  Because exercise works to help the tissues of the body adapt, in ways that we think are physiologically beneficial.  It does this by adding stress on the system, which is sufficient to create a breakdown in the body that is perceived by the body as a weakness, requiring adaptation.  If you do strength training, the resulting adaptation is increased muscle mass, contractility, perhaps size, and vascularization. If the training is more cardiovascular in nature, then the adaptations focus more on lung size, the transfer of oxygen, VO2 max, heart contractility and size, and endurance.  No where in there does that correct the subluxation.  In point of fact, the stress of exercise can create subluxation if it is too much, or not the right type for that day, or for some other reason.

Yoga is a wonderful practice that many people benefit from, and not just from the physical adaptations, but from the spiritual standpoint of being present in your body and seeing each posture as a reflection of your inner self.  But it's not Chiropractic.  The movements in yoga are better than most exercise at helping the body to integrate some stress, but it too can add stress into a system.  And if you're attempting yoga while subluxated, then you run the risk of injuring yourself or creating more interference in your system.

Subluxations are adaptations the body creates to manage stresses that it cannot fully integrate at the time.  Storing the energy of the stress, the body distorts under the load which can result in tension in soft tissue, misalignment of bony structures and interference with nerves.  Adding stress to that system in the form of exercise usually does not correct subluxation.  Subluxation can interfere with the body's ability to adapt to future stresses, including exercise! Seen in another way, getting adjusted regularly can help you make the most of your fitness regimen by ensuring that your body is coordinated as well as possible and all of your system's functions are at their peak.  Then you can perform your best, reducing your risk of injury and enhancing the adaptations that the body creates to make you healthier.

Chiropractic reduces or removes the subluxation with the adjustment.  A small added force into the system that the body can then use for its own purposes.  Combined with proper exercise and yoga, you have the potential to create a truly tremendous level of wellness for yourself.

There is a reason that most athletes have chiropractors in their tool box.  They use them for the increased performance available by optimizing their system.  If exercise did the same thing, surely elite athletes would never need an adjustment!  And yet they do, to be their best, they rely on Chiropractic.

Basic Core Exercise - The Pushup

It's time for everyone's favorite exercise.  The old military stand by, the pushup!  The pushup is really a fantastic exercise that works your entire body in one motion.  It's also a great standard of exercise to be able to accomplish.  Think about how easily you want to be able to push yourself off the ground.  You end up using your legs, your hips, your core, your shoulders, arms, and back just to keep your body straight as you push yourself up.

There are many ways to scale the pushup so that it can be done at higher volumes and so you can work your way up to the full pushup.  One of the easiest ways to get started is to do a wall push.  You simply stand about arm's distance from the wall, lean into it with your hands on the wall until your chest touches and then push back to standing.  From that movement, the next one would be to do an "incline" pushup, which involves getting a bench or a couch or table and placing your hands on that and lowering your chest to the edge with a flat back and then pressing back up.

Once fully on the ground you have a few options.  You can be on your knees rather than your toes, decreasing the torque on your upper body.  You can do full pushups, lowering the chest all the way to the ground and then extending all the way as well.  Be careful that you do not simply use your head and neck to move.  If you cannot do the full movement, move to an easier scaled version and do the full movement.

If you get those down pretty well, you can move to the "decline" pushup which involves putting your feet on the same couch or table that you had your hands on for the "incline" movement.  Then perform the movement the same way.  From that one there is really only one step left: Handstand Pushups.  Try these with caution.  :)

Family Update

Life is about to get extremely busy!  Not only do I have a wonderful practice, but I'm writing a book, have a very active 3 year old, and just enrolled in a very exciting program from Landmark education that will have me running around like a crazy person!  I'm actually very excited about this program, and to any of you are serious about being your absolute best self, check out Landmark Education.  If you want more information, please let me know, and I will get you hooked up.

Ari and I had a wonderful morning, where we went to the Children's Museum of Tacoma on Pacific Ave.  It was my first time there, and we had a blast.  They have wonderfully interactive toys and exhibits for the kids to play with.  Ari had a lot of fun with some magnetic blocks that fit together to form towers.  They also have a large pirate ship that kids can basically climb all over and interact with stuff.  I was very impressed.  After that, we went to Wright's Park and hung out on the swing and jumped all over each other.

Ari working on the water exhibit

Laelle is practicing her chiropractic skills (she's awesome, btw) at Dr. Hochstadt's office, Inner Brilliance Chiropractic, while she gets ready for her wedding!  I know Laelle enjoys getting back into the swing of adjusting, and is eager to get back to work.  She's an amazing practitioner, and I'm so lucky that she is one of my two chiros.

I watch with continued amazement as my little guy becomes more and more a little man.  His mannerisms are becoming more complicated, and so are his thought processes.  His movements are getting more precise, and he just astounds me with his memory and his recall.  I think we are on the right track here!  I'm so excited to see what kind of person he is becoming.  And I am so unreasonably proud of him!  Love him.  Of course, he has benefited from continued chiropractic care since he was just one hour old, and I like to think that that has had a profound influence on his development, ensuring that he is growing in just the right ways, at just the right times.

Chiropractic Lifestyle

I sometimes get asked the question why it is that Chiropractors are often so concerned with things like exercise and nutrition, when what we do is adjust to get people out of pain?

Well, first off, I do NOT adjust people to remove pain.  That is a side effect of having a more fully functioning nerve system capable of expressing more of the body's inherent intelligence to all of its tissues.  Naturally, as that connection is established, enhanced, and maintained, the pain you experience will lessen because your body will be able to carry out healing more efficiently and effectively.

Secondly, when you understand the basic chiropractic principle that there is an innate intelligence within us that is constantly working to establish health, and correlate that with the idea that subluxation (interference) exists only when we encounter stress that we're unable to adapt to, it makes sense to work with the body as naturally as possible to both lessen the effects of subluxation, and reduce the stress on the body that can cause subluxation in the first place.

Bruce Lipton has been a pioneer in the field of epigenetics, the science of looking at what activates, or turns on, some genes while inhibiting others.  Cells are very malleable, and they are always working with their environment, receiving cues about which genes to activate, and which to turn off.  If we can provide an environment to support health, then we are less likely to become subluxated, and our time with a chiropractor can be even more effective, because they can work on the older patterns that are holding us back that we formed in our childhood, as opposed to the ones we created just last week when somebody cut us off in traffic.

Exercise is a stress, and can be done improperly.  When done properly, exercise should support the body, work within its natural function, but at the same time, push limits to encourage greater adaptation.  Everybody has different limits and abilities, and we must work within those to achieve the greatest benefit.  CrossFit, something I love dearly, is not for everyone!  For most, it is far too intense.  But it is highly functional, and can get you into great shape if it does work for you.

What we eat can also be a huge source of stress.  If you are someone who tends to eat from the middle of the grocery store, buying lots of processed and frozen foods, then you are adding stress to your body.  It is coming either in the form of chemically manufactured ingredients that the body must work to detoxify, as well as improper nutrition that activates genes for diabetes and obesity.  Proper nutrition works with the body to limit stress, effortless absorb nutrients, and support the body in the desired activity levels.

Additionally, do you listen to the cues from your body regarding rest, relaxation, activity, sickness, pain, meditation, quiet time, getting out into nature, or closing the computer?  All of these things can help us be our best, but how many of us actually listen?  In this day and age of artificial everything, we fool ourselves into thinking we can stay up just a bit longer, or get up just a bit earlier.  Coffee will help me solve that problem.  Except that coffee is a stressor!  It can create subluxation, especially if over consumed.

Living life tuned in is what Chiropractic is about.  Subluxation gets in the way of living a completely free and authentic life.  Get adjusted, and follow a Chiropractic lifestyle to see just how great life can be.

Basic Core Exercise - Pullups

The pullup is one of the best exercises using body weight.  When done correctly, it is not a muscle specific movement, like a lat pull down, or a biceps curl, or some combination of those.  It involves the entire body, from the arms, through the core and abdominal muscles, and can even include the legs.  The great thing about them is that they can be done anywhere you can find a bar or tree limb that can support your weight.  The advantages to being able to do a pullup with ease and comfort is the functional capability inherent to the movement.

If you can do a pullup, it's a good idea to simply start doing them.  To build up to a pullup, there are a lot of variations that one can do.  Placing a bench under the bar will allow you to use your legs to support the movement.  As you become stronger, your legs will be needed less and less.  Another way to build up to a full pullup is by jumping and and holding yourself up and then slowly lowering down.  This is called training the negative of the movement.  It builds strength and prepares you for the full normal pullup.

Eventually you will be able to start doing regular pullups.  There are two distinct types of pullups.  Strict, which is what most people do, involves no swinging or "cheating" in the movement.  A "kipping" pullup involves swinging the legs and generating momentum to swing the chin or chest up to the bar.  These can be done repetitively, doing many in a row.  These pullups require a greater coordination of the whole body than a strict pullup, and are more functional in the sense that if you had to do a pullup, this is the way you'd likely do it, especially if being chased by an animal and trying to hide up a tree or climb a wall!

It's one of my favorite exercises, and it comes up often in my CrossFit workouts.  Since incorporating the kipping version, the strength in my upper body, grip, core, and legs have all improved.  Aim to do these at least once a week, maybe twice, and you'll be adding a great body weight upper body 

The Dangers of Headlines

As a student of Chiropractic philosophy, I am always seeking to expand my understanding and awareness of natural principles and science in order to treat my body in a way that allows me to experience life optimally.  What does that mean?  It means that I choose to exercise in a way that supports me and allows me to do the activities I enjoy, while adding strength, flexibility, and stability to my physical being.  It also means that I am constantly striving to eat in a way that supports my body rather than adding stress to it.

When I was in high school, I allowed my weight to get up to around 240 lbs.  I wasn't particularly athletic, though I played soccer and studied martial arts, so that weight didn't represent a great proportion of fat and muscle.  By simply restricting my calories (i.e. eating one bowl of cereal in the morning instead of three!) I was able to drop weight.  I also got strict with a running program and weight training routine, and my health improved dramatically.  As that journey has continued, I've managed to refine my eating choices over time until finally discovering the diet that has worked the best for me.  I now effortlessly maintain a weight of between 205 and 210, while staying around 8% body fat (if you trust calipers).

A word about that.  I do not believe in one diet for everyone.  People are different, and thus they have different needs when it comes to food.  Some people tolerate dairy very well, while others do not, for example.  For me, I have found that by adopting the eating plan most similar to the Primal Blueprint, by Mark Sisson, (check him out at marksdailyapple.com) I stay lean, with lots of energy, and increasing strength.  I am also almost never hungry, and when I am, I eat some veggies and meat, and it goes away, and I'm not just hungry again a few minutes later, as I used to be.

I do believe that almost everyone will benefit by eating a lot of vegetables.  I also believe that most people require animal products to be optimally healthy.  There are likely a few people out there who do just fine on a pure vegan or vegetarian diet, but I don't believe it's the healthiest choice for most.  As always, experiment and see what works for you.

So how does this relate to the headline and the dangers of them?  Simply put, the standard diet proposed by our government is NOT the right diet for most people.  The reliance on whole grains and legumes as staples tends to increase overall carbohydrate loads while decreasing fat and protein, leading to increased insulin production and resistance, and a host of other diseases that result from that.  A recent study that supports a lower carb type diet was lambasted in the press, but not for study flaws or poor design.  Rather, it was simply lied about.  Here are some examples (note these aren't actually headlines, but you get the point, I hope): (borrowed from The Eating Academy)

USA Today

…the authors note a downside to the low-carb diet: it appears to raise some risk factors for heart disease.

The New York Times

…the low-carb diet “also had marked problems. It raised levels of CRP (c-reactive protein), which is a measure of chronic inflammation, and cortisol, a hormone that mediates stress.”

The Wall Street Journal

…the low-carb diet had the biggest boost in total energy expenditure, burning about 300 calories more per day than those on the low-fat diet — about the same as an hour of moderate exercise. But that bump came at a cost: increases in cortisol, a stress hormone, and a measure of inflammation called CRP, which can raise the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

Unfortunately, if you actually read and interpret the study, these statements are mostly completely false.  The Wall Street Journal came the closest to being true, but then they blew it by reporting on the measure of inflammation.  If you're interested in the whole study interpretation, check out the Eating Academy blog by following the link above.

The truth is, the lower carbohydrate diets improved overall energy expenditure, which can result in more weight loss.  While a calorie is a calorie, and calories in vs. calories out can determine weight loss, the source of those calories in can change how many we burn (calories out), so it's not quite that simple!

And the point of the whole thing is, don't simply believe headlines.  Journalists write what they write to attract readers, not necessarily to tell the truth.  And a story that warns people about a potentially dangerous diet gets a lot more play for some reason.

If you have any questions about the diet I'm following now, don't hesitate to ask!

Traditional Weight Training's Limitations

I was a personal trainer for many years before becoming a Chiropractor.  I have seen trends come and go, and they all seemed like fads.  Resistance training has always been an important component to workout patterns, and research shows that this training is essential for people to be optimally healthy.  But is traditional weight training the best way to go about it?  Or is it really just another fad?  For that matter, are newer models of exercise like CrossFit or P90X fads?

The form of weight training that is the standard these days is a muscle isolation type which has been made popular by body builders from the 70s.  They perform strict movements which isolate different muscle groups like the pectoralis major in the chest, or the biceps brachii in the arms in order to gain strength and size.  This kind of training is effective at gaining strength and improving health to a point.  It was my standard of exercise for many years and I received a lot of benefit and a great deal of strength from it.  There was also a lot of crossover to other activities as well.  These exercises aren't bad, but as I will demonstrate, they are somewhat limited.

First and foremost, the muscles of the body are not meant to work in isolation.  Strength gain is more than simple cross sectional force that can be applied through a muscle.  What matters more is the ability of the body to coordinate all of the muscles in the body to produce force in a given movement.  The weight training I am suggesting relies on functional body movements more than isolation to improve the ability of the body to work as a coordinated whole.

Think about when you lift something with your hand.  This would be a biceps curl in a traditional movement, but is the biceps really working independently?  Of course it's not!  Not only are there quite a few other muscles that support the arm directly like those in the chest, shoulder, and upper back, but the muscles of the spine and legs must operate in order to balance all of the other forces.  When you lift your arm, your center of gravity changes, and other muscles must compensate for that.

The exercises of the body builders are very sport specific.  They are attempting to generate as much size and strength as they can, with an emphasis on size rather than on function.  Are they strong?  Sure, but they aren't as functionally adept as someone who practices CrossFit, for example.  CrossFit is an example of a workout type that emphasizes function and form over sheer strength.  It makes no sense to be able to curl 100 lbs in the gym, if you can't bend down to tie your shoelaces, or reach behind your back.

A common exercise done in CrossFit is the thruster.  This movement requires a weight of some kind that is propped up at the shoulder.  You perform a full squat where your thighs go beyond parallel and then come back up.  At the top of the squat, you press the weight overhead.  What muscles get worked in this exercise?  A better question might be: What muscles aren't?  This exercise uses legs, arms, core, and everything in between to do it well.  I have never been so functionally capable since I started training with CrossFit.

Some caveats: I don't believe CrossFit is for everyone.  It is very intense, and there are other forms that also apply this functional concept, but without the intensity.  I would encourage people to check out Mark Sisson's Primal Fitness Blueprint at his website.

Family Update June 2012

Hi everyone!

The biggest news around my family is of course my little guy, Ari.  Many of you have seen him around the practice, and know he's just getting bigger and bigger all the time.  He's talking a lot now, and it's getting to be really fun to have conversations with him.  We're back into swimming at our local YMCA on Pearl St, and then we do the family gym afterwards.

Today he sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" completely from memory and in tune.  I was so impressed!

In this picture he's hiding in our "jungle" in the front yard.  We have got to do some weeding!

In my world, I ran a sprint triathlon at the YMCA downtown a couple of weeks ago.  It was a different kind of workout for me.  I have been doing CrossFit for some time, and really enjoying the functional movements and intensity of it, but a triathlon is a whole different thing.  This was a 750 m swim, a 20 k ride, and a 5 k run, and I completed it in one hour and 35 minutes.  I swam in the pool, used an expresso bike for the ride, and the treadmill for the run.  I was sore for a while afterwards, but I thought I held up pretty well, especially since endurance type events are generally harder to complete on a Paleo type diet that limits carbohydrates so much.  I did load up a bit two days before by adding some potatoes and fruit, but other than that, kept my diet the same, and I did great!

Laelle has been exploring more about fitness, trying to incorporate the Primal Blueprint fitness program into her life.  It involves body weight exercises that are scaled to different difficulty levels so you always have somewhere to progress to!  It's a great program, especially for people who aren't into the intensity of the CrossFit program that I love so much.

I read some interesting books recently, including Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food".  In it, he talks about the history of nutritionism, as it relates to picking foods to eat based solely on nutritional micro factors, like Vitamin C, or beta carotene, rather than eating whole foods, a variety of them, and trusting that.  It was a great read, and his basic recommendation is one that I can whole heartedly get behind, except for a few caveats.  His message is "Eat food, not a lot, mostly plants."  Awesome stuff.

Another book I read was "The Vegetarian Myth" by Lierre Keith.  She is a former vegan who suffered severe health problems due to her vegetarian and vegan diet lifestyle.  Her insistence to not take an animal life led to a series of discoveries about food, and how even if you only eat plants, the death of animals is actually required in order to pass certain nutrients back into the soil to create healthy plants.  She writes starkly and viciously at times, and for some reason includes a fair number of feminism rants that I didn't feel quite fit in with the overall tone of the book, but it was an interesting read anyway.  For the record, I don't believe a vegetarian, or especially vegan, diet is healthy for most people as it can create some nutritional deficiencies, though I do think some people are better suited for it than others.  I am definitely not one of those.

Love and light!

What is Health?

If we are going to discuss health, we first have to decide what we mean by the word health.  In our society, people seem to think that health is simply not expressing any symptoms.  Is this really healthy?  If we aren't in any pain at all, does that mean we've gone as far as we can into the realm of health?

I would say no.

First of all, the dead express no symptoms.  They do not have a vital life force in their bodies.  They have no capacity to create a symptom because they are not alive.  Is that healthy?  Of course not.

So, the absence of symptoms is no guarantee of health.  What if we are still alive?  Can we be symptom free and unhealthy?  How about if someone develops an infection?  Traditionally (though this is changing) the course of action is to combat the fever with a drug.  Take the drug, no fever, so that means no problem, right?  Not so.  Fever serves a very important function in the body, slowing viruses and allowing white blood cells to take them out, killing cancer cells before they get to prevalent, and also destroying enemy bacteria.  Fever is a symptom that means we ARE healthy.  We are vigorously defending our system from an imbalance of cells, whether bacterial or carcinogenic.  In this case, the presence of a symptom means you are healthy.

What creates these symptoms and pain is a functioning connection to the innate intelligence of the body.  They are messages designed to restore balance and flow, to allow us to return to optimal health, which would generally mean that you have symptoms less and less as that balance is restored.  With a strong connection through the body, ease and freedom are the norm.  Pain and tightness are rare.  No one pays attention to the check engine light in a car that's been on for years.  But if it doesn't show as a rule, but suddenly does, we know there is a problem, and we can react swiftly.

The innate intelligence of the body requires clear communication throughout the body to coordinate all of the tissues and cells of the body for maximum adaptability and optimal expression of health.  Crises will still happen from time to time.  They are inevitable.  Having a clear connection with your innate intelligence ensures that the response from the body will be appropriate, timely, and measured to the stress experienced.

What provides that connection for the innate intelligence?  The nerve system is a major component, and it is one that chiropractic has focused on for over a hundred years, since its inception.  With a fully functioning nerve system, the connection is clearer, and the innate intelligence of the body can coordinate the body perfectly, allowing for an optimal expression of health.  There are others, such as the neuroendocrine system, and the electromagnetic field, and all are affected by subluxation.

The Importance of Vegetables

This is a box from Terra Organics - probably 1/3 of our veggies for a week.

I like to tell my practice members that there are lots of different ways to eat.  There is no one diet for everyone.  My own current choice of diet is a hybrid of paleo and primal, the latter being a paleo derivative designed by Mark Sisson, and made popular by his website, and his book, The Primal Blueprint.  I will cover this eating style more in future posts.

What I'd like to discuss now is the importance of vegetables in our diet.  When I design a meal for myself, or look at what I'm about to eat, I have two questions of about equal importance for me.

1) Where is my protein coming from?

2) What veggies are we having?

Vegetables are the bulk of my diet.  I eat nearly all vegetables.  They have the highest proportion of nutrients to calorie, making them what we call, a nutrient dense food.  This makes them far superior to almost anything else in terms of giving us the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that we need.  We also get, by eating the whole food, all of the other things within vegetables that we don't know yet are good for us but will probably discover somewhere along the line.  I say this because I don't have a recommendation on which vegetables to eat.  I usually just suggest that people a lot of them, and vary it up.  Don't stick with one or two, but experiment with a plethora of different types.  You don't really need to make sure you have your bases covered every single day. Have you ever noticed how a child could love a particular food one day, but not stand it the next?  They are likely (until they get older and develop a sweet/carb tooth) choosing foods based on nutritional needs.

You don't need to know that eating blueberries has been shown to decrease the fat around the midsection to know that they are a whole food, and a berry, and in moderation, can be a part of a healthy diet.  I don't try to keep track of which veggies stave off which cancers, and just try to eat with variety.

Now, some rules for vegetables.  In general, you want to buy organic and local.  The advantages are numerous, but studies have shown an improvement in nutrient composition in organic veggies by as much as 40% over conventionally grown.  And by avoiding pesticides and other harsh chemicals, you really are making a better choice for yourself and the environment.  The other thing you avoid when you eat organic is the possibility of genetically engineered foods.  These foods are dangerous, and have been banned in several countries.  Just say no!

Again, buy a variety of vegetables and learn how to cook them.  Get them fresh preferably to frozen.  As for cooking them, you can eat them raw, and some are probably better that way, but some studies have suggested that we can extract more of the nutrients through gently cooking them, which will also eliminate some of the anti-nutrients that are present in just about all foods.

If you have any questions, make sure you drop them in the comments box below, and as I'm still figuring this blogging thing out, I'll try to get to them as best I can.  Thanks!

Chiropractic Wellness and Crisis

What is Chiropractic wellness?  What does it mean to be in wellness care?  And why can't I just wait until a crisis happens, and then try to take care of myself?

These are great questions.  Not everyone understands the concept behind wellness.  Most people respond very well to pain, and for very good reason.  Pain is a wonderful motivator.  It's designed to be so, and provides great messages to you about what needs to be taken care of.  But taking care of your body only when you have a symptom is a bit like only exercising and watching what you eat when you feel that you are overweight or too weak.  Wellness is the consistent action steps we take in order to maintain our health, or even to continually improve it over time.

We exercise to keep ourselves fit.  How come fit people are fit?  Because they exercise consistently.  (I didn't say constantly!)  And to take it to the somewhat ridiculous, do you get to stop eating once you've eaten once and you're full?  No!  You have to eat every day to maintain your health (except for some fasting programs, which do have some health benefits - more later!).  If you get a good night's sleep, are you done sleeping for the rest of your life?  Of course not!

Chiropractic works like that.  It's fantastic at helping the body to heal itself from injury or disease that causes pain and other symptoms, but where it really shines is in keeping the body health so that it can heal faster and more readily in the face of any crisis.  Crisis happens.  We don't know how or when, but it happens.  The fitter you are when that crisis happens, the easier you will heal, the less it will cost, and the faster your life will return to normal.  If you are getting regularly adjusted now, you will not need as much care when a crisis happens as if you hadn't been.

Cars require maintenance.  Constant use has a wear and tear effect on them which requires cleaning, oil changes, tire changes, tune-ups, and a myriad of other little things.  All of these things help to keep the car running better than it would otherwise.  Regular maintenance also helps to delay the onset of major problems to the vehicle.  If you don't get tire changes, eventually you will blow a tire or run off the road when it rains.  If you don't get oil changes, eventually the engine will seize.  This same outlook follows us around with a special caveat.  We are living beings that can adapt to the world around us.  This gives us a much better longevity and ability to learn, grow and evolve from every experience we have.  Cars only get worse over time, even with regular maintenance.  With regular chiropractic care, you can get better and better and better.