The Ghost of Christmas Diets Past

By Dr. Steven Warfield

We’ve all tried them at one time or another.  Sometimes they work in the short term only to come back with a vengeance a month or so down the road.  And sometimes they don’t seem to work at all.  What I am referring to are Christmas diets.  These are begun with the best of intentions around Thanksgiving only to be tossed out as most people’s first New Year’s resolution.  The reasons that Christmas diets are almost always doomed to failure has more to do with the essence of the diet plan than it has to do with the myriad of holiday treats that abound during this time of the year. 

Forget Fad Diets

Doing a quick sweep of the web I found a number of fad diets being touted in 2013.  Everything from juice fasts and Baby Food Diets to Hot Yoga Workouts, body wraps and Alkaline Diets are making the rounds trying to entice you to give them a whirl.  The problem with most of these regimens is that they are just that: Regimented.  Unless you can strictly adhere to their many rules chances are that the only thing you are likely to shed with these diets is up to $75 per day in fees. 

Worst of all is the fact that while some fad diets will help you lose a few pounds in the short run, their long term prognosis is that you will put the weight back on once you stop dieting.  Some of these diets can be downright dangerous since they tend to adversely influence blood chemistry.  (People with diabetes, compromised livers or those taking heart or cholesterol medications should consult their physician before starting a diet.)  Restricting food intake also disrupts your metabolism, which convinces the body that famine conditions have been encountered.  This means that once you cease dieting your body has now calibrated the digestive tract to squeeze every ounce of nutrition out of the food that you eat.  This is the prime reason that most diets are doomed to failure.

If your diet urges you to forego certain kinds of food, then this can also result in nutritional deficits that can have a negative impact on your overall health.  Typical low carb or low fat diets can cause lethargy and/or mood swings that can take a toll on you as well as those around you.  Immune response can also be adversely affected by poor nutrition resulting in an increased risk of catching a seasonal cold or the flu.  Everything from reduced muscle tone to hair loss can be attributed to less than optimal nutrition.

Besides, not all fats are bad for you.  Beneficial fats such as omega-3fatty acids that are contained in Salmon, flax seeds, walnuts and shrimp are vital to your health.  They are known to reduce inflammation, fight cancer, maintain cell vitality, decrease the risk of blood clots and fight hardening of the arteries.  People suffering from medical conditions such as depression, Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease or joint pain need to consume foods rich in omega-3 as part of their treatment. 

A blog entitled The World’s Healthiest Foods states that, “Research indicates that omega-3s may be better absorbed from food than supplements. Norwegian researchers compared 71 volunteers' absorption of omega-3s (EPA and DHA) from salmon, smoked salmon, cod (14 ounces of fish per week) or cod liver oil (3 teaspoons per day). Cooked salmon provided 1.2 grams of omega-3s daily, while cod liver oil provided more than twice as much: 3 grams of omega-3s per day.”

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=84

Other nutrients found in food such as Vitamin C and D are also vital to your health and well being.  Even those who do not diet find it hard to maintain a sufficient level of Vitamin D during the winter months.  It is a fact that health care professionals such see a significant uptick in the incidence of health-related problems during the fall and winter months.  This includes everything from colds to higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, autoimmune issues, depression and even heart attacks.  Since the Sun is responsible for the production of Vitamin D, during the times of year when people’s exposure to sunlight is reduced this is the prime reason for Vitamin D deficiency.  The other is due to avoiding food that contains Vitamin D.

Foods Highest in Vitamin D

1.      Fish Oil and Cod Liver Oil

2.      Salmon, Catfish, Mackerel, Sardines, Halibut, Tuna and Herring

3.      Oysters and Shrimp

4.      Milk, Soy Milk

5.      Orange Juice

6.      Cereal and Oatmeal

What’s the Correct Way to Diet?

The reason that most diets fail has to do with the feast and famine repertoire to which dieters subject themselves.  Particularly during this time of year when everything from Christmas cookies to pumpkin pie beckons, the urge to splurge is nearly as irresistible as gravity.  So if you are looking for a way to avoid the roller coaster effects of dieting, here are a few items to stick in your Christmas stocking.

·         Eat More Often – While this tip sounds counterintuitive, the reason you put on weight is due to the fact that when you burn less calories than that contained in the food you consume then weight gain is inevitable.  Therefore the secret to shedding pounds is to divide your calorie intake into smaller and more frequent packets.  This way you will avoid the risk of having hunger pains that can lead to binging.  Studies have shown that people who eat four to five small meals per day are better able to control both their appetite and their weight.

·         Keep Treats at Arm’s Length – Trying to go cold turkey is one of the worst ways to curb any habit. (Ask any smoker who’s tried to quit this way.)  The problem with total denial is that it leads to binging.  Instead of a complete ban on goodies, allow yourself an occasional treat.  Better yet, have a treat when you are out and about.  For instance when you are shopping at the mall you could buy a cookie then go about your shopping, which will enable you to walk off some of those calories.  Portion control and exercise are the keys to handling holiday treats.

·         Protein is Your Friend – Diets high in protein and moderate in carbs not only 

      help you shed pounds, it can also help you preserve muscle mass and encourage the body to burn fat.  So the next time you need a snack, reach for nuts, cheese or yogurt instead of chips or cookies.  Your bathroom scale will thank you.

·         Exercise is Key to Weight Loss – Exercise can spell the difference between taking the weight off and keeping the weight off.  Now I realized that a lot of people have an aversion to exercise.  Just remember that exercise is not a four-letter word.  It also doesn’t necessarily equate with a visit to the gym or the hiring of a personal fitness trainer.  Everything from daily walks to bike rides around the neighborhood can help burn calories and fat.  The trick is to find an activity that you enjoy.  This way you won’t throw in the towel after a couple of days.

The single most important piece of advice I can give to anyone who really wants to lose weight is not to go it alone.   Also don’t fall for the next magazine article or TV spot touting the latest, greatest diet ever.  What you need in order to formulate a diet that really works is to speak to people who truly understand the big picture when it comes to dieting.  What you don’t need is to listen to a pitchman or someone trying to sell more magazine subscriptions.

If you are looking to lose weight over the long haul then your local chiropractor can help steer you in the right direction.  Not only does he or she have years of training and experience in nutrition and exercise, but they can also tailor a plan to your individual wants and needs.  This way when the season of giving rolls around in years to come you won’t be forced to wrestle with the Ghost of Christmas Diets Past.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

Full of Hot Air

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Today I would like to share with you some information regarding airbags.  While airbags without a doubt save lives in auto accidents, they can also be a hazard if they are not used properly.  Statistics show us that airbags prevent hundreds of fatalities year in and year out in the US.  However, what most people do not realize is that they are also responsible for a number of injuries and  deaths every year, due to passengers either riding with their seat belt unfastened, or people (particularly women and children) who are seated incorrectly.

Airbags can deploy at speeds of 100-200 mph.  (The sound of a deploying air bag is like that of a gunshot.) They are designed to spring into action at the speed necessary to keep those in the vehicle from impacting with fixed objects such as the steering wheel or dashboard, as well as from being bodily ejected.  While the main airbags are located in the steering wheel and dashboard, most vehicles have a number of supplemental airbags which may be located above the doors (side curtain airbags), in or next to both the front and back seats (side air bags) and even below the dashboard (knee airbags). 

Designed to protect the occupants of a vehicle, due to the lightning fast inflation of these devices, airbags have been known to cause injuries to the head, neck, chest or arms when they have deployed to drivers and/or passengers who sat too close to the deploying device.    Drivers are advised to sit at least ten inches from the steering wheel.  Drivers that are below five foot four inches tall are advised to tilt the steering wheel down and raise the seat up.  Children are particularly vulnerable to being injured by airbags, particularly if they are not properly seated and secured.  When in doubt consult the vehicle’s owner’s manual to determine how to safely seat children.

Even adults who are seated correctly with their seat belts fastened can be injured by airbags, particularly drivers.  When we were taught how to drive most of us were told to keep our hands on the steering wheel at the ten o’clock and two o’clock positions.  The problem was that many of us went through driver’s ed before the advent of the air bag. Since then this concept has been altered, since it was discovered that people who drove this way had a high risk of having their wrists broken when the air bags deployed.  Many experts today advise drivers to place their hands at the nine o’clock and three o’clock position to avoid the risk of air bag injury.

A study conducted by the The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated, “When we look at the random sample of all accidents, we find that airbags are associated with increased risk of death in low-speed crashes where air bags were deployed and seatbelts were not fastened. However, if we limit the dataset to include only collisions in which a fatality occurred, we get a significantly reduced risk of death due to airbags.”

Injuries to the face and eyes are also a real possibility in accidents where air bags are deployed.  Everything from facial laceration to fractured cheekbones have been known to occur, along with corneal abrasion or detached retina injuries.  Since air bags also disburse sodium hydroxide upon deployment, this can result in chemical burns to the face and/or eyes. People who have undergone LASIK surgery or radial keratotomy are at risk for corneal rupture should they be involved in an accident that causes the air bags to deploy. 

When researchers from the Helsinki University Eye Hospital studied 300 eye-injury cases resulting from air-bag deployment, they concluded that drivers and passengers have a 2.5 percent chance of having an eye injury if an air bag deploys. The study also revealed that wearing glasses didn’t increase injury and actually helped protect the eyes from airbag chemicals. (Optician).

If you or any of your family is involved in a motor-vehicle accident where the air bags deploy, you should schedule an appointment with your chiropractor right away.  The trauma associated with a crash even if not immediately evident can result in a number of subtle injuries that can later manifest themselves in a variety of symptoms.  These can include headaches, backaches, loss of mobility to the neck and even ear infections.  If not diagnosed and treated early these conditions can lead to complications down the road that may or may not be covered after the fact by your insurance.

Preflight Checklist

Driver - Sit no closer than 10 inches away from the steering wheel.

             Position hands at “nine o’clock” and “three o’clock”

Everyone - Wear their seat belts at all times.

Kids - Never allow children less than four feet tall to ride in the front seat.

           Don’t place rear-facing infant or child seats in the front passenger seat.

            Consult the owner’s manual to determine the best way to seat children.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

I'm Feeling Much Better Now

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

When it comes to chiropractic care, most people wait until they are walking wounded to seek help.  But what I would like to point out is that this isn’t the only or indeed best time to work with a chiropractor.  Instead of looking at your friendly, local chiropractor as an ends to a means of dealing with pain or injury, I would like to recommend that you continue treatment once the pain is gone. 

Why?  Let me put it this way.  Do you take your car to an auto mechanic only after it breaks  down or is involved in an accident?  I hope not.  You also take the car in for routine and preventative maintenance, such as changing the oil, rotating the tires and inspections of various moving parts every 10,000 miles.  The reason you do this is to keep your car running better over the long haul.  A well-maintained car costs far less to operate than a poorly maintained one. 

In essence, the human body is a machine.  It has a lot of moving parts that can wear out over time.  Just like your car, it performs better if it is well-maintained.  Many people spend a lot of money on nutritional supplements, work out routines, organic vegetables and diet plans that are designed to improve the body’s overall performance and increase their longevity.  However, what most people do not take into consideration is the fact that every part of the body is ultimately controlled and regulated by the central nervous system. 

In a nutshell this is what chiropractic medicine is all about: repairing and maintaining a healthy central nervous system.  What patients see is that their chiropractor performs spinal adjustments along with muscle and tissue treatments that make the pain go away.  What they don’t realize is that by restoring better spinal health, their chiropractor has also made it possible for the nerves that carry signals to the entire body to perform their duties better.  This in turn assures that everything from chemical and hormone delivery, to cardiovascular regulation, blood sugar levels and immune response is also improved. 

This isn’t a mere medical opinion.  It has also been proven in a number of scientific studies.  In one study published in 2011 in the journal Spine, a placebo controlled, double blind study tracked the treatments of three groups of 60 patients for ten months.  All of the members of the group reported nonspecific low-back pain lasting at least 6 months prior to treatment. 

According to the article, patients “were randomized to receive either (1)12 treatments of sham SMT over a 1-month period, (2) 12 treatments, consisting of SMT over a 1-month period, but no treatments for the subsequent 9 months, or (3) 12 treatments over a 1-month period, along with “maintenance spinal manipulation”

Results revealed that “patients in second and third groups experienced significantly lower pain and disability scores than first group at the end of 1-month period.  However, only the third group that was given spinal manipulations (SM) during the follow-up period showed more improvement in pain and disability scores at the 10 month evaluation.”

The study’s authors conclude: “SMT is effective for the treatment of non-specific lower back pain, To obtain long term benefits the study suggest maintenance SM Therapy, after the initial intensive manipulation Therapy.”

Best of all, a preventative maintenance checkup by a chiropractor is a great way to nip potential 

problems in the bud.  A checkup will include everything from a spinal examination to a posture analysis that will identify any spinal irregularities that can restrict movement and nerve impulses.  While correctable, spinal misalignments can inevitably lead to everything from impaired motion to pain and other health problems.  Far from being expensive, having periodic preventative maintenance checkups can actually save you money, since ignoring potential health problems can result in loss of income due to time missed at work.

Plus, if you are into leading a healthy lifestyle, consulting a chiropractor can also have added benefits since chiropractors are also trained in nutrition and exercise. Who better to consult on lifestyle changes or nutritional supplements than a trained medical professional?    

So, if you are looking to improve your quality of life and are already investing time and money in creating an environment that helps you live healthier, call your local chiropractor to schedule a maintenance checkup today.  You’ll feel much better once you do.

Dr. Dave Edenfield  and Dr. Steven Warfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com and http://endyourpain.orgwho are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.  

Nothing to Lose Sleep Over

By Dr. Steven Warfield

You toss, you turn and suddenly you lie there wide awake in the middle of the night.  Unable to get back to sleep you try counting sheep.  Or worse, you reach for the bottle of pills by the side of 

the bed.  Anything to get a few hours of shut eye before the alarm goes off and you are forced to head back to work.  For some people, the underlying cause of the condition could be the stresses of everyday life or something that didn’t agree with them after dinner last night.  For others, insomnia is an all-too-familiar way of life.

What many people don’t realize is that insomnia affects more than half of all adults.  While the underlying triggers for this condition can include everything from stress and depression to alcohol or coffee, many people’s lack of sleep can be traced back to spinal misalignments that can block nerve impulses.  That’s right, insomnia can be caused by subluxations which are ultimately treatable.

Along with many other factors, the central nervous system controls the hormones and brain chemicals that regulate sleep.  Therefore anything that interferes with the sending or receiving of nerve signals can cause malfunctions in the body that may not only trigger insomnia but many other underlying problems including stress, depression and indigestion.  (Restless Leg Syndrome which can also keep sufferers up at night can in many cases also be attributed to subluxations.)

Far from dealing with these symptoms, many medications actually amplify the underlying causes.  Anti-depressants (like Zoloft and Prozac) and anti-anxiety medications (such as Valium and Xanax) have been known to cause such things as heartburn, constipation, headache among other side effects.

Not only can insomnia be caused by many different factors, but there are actually three different types of insomnia: Acute, Chronic and Transient.

1.      Acute Insomnia: This type of insomnia is classified as lasting for more than one week but less than one month. It is indicated by difficulty in going to sleep or staying asleep. When sleep does occur, it is characterized as fitful.

2.      Chronic Insomnia: This type of insomnia persists for more than one month. The effects of chronic insomnia can include mental fatigue, muscle fatigue and hallucinations. Sufferers of chronic insomnia may feel like everything is moving in slow motion.

            3.      Transient Insomnia: This type of insomnia lasts             for less than one week. It can be caused by                       other health conditions, alterations in your sleep               environment or changes to the timing of your                     sleep. This condition routinely occurs twice per               year when we reset our clocks.

The worst thing about insomnia is that it can have a profound effect on everything else in our lives, including performance at work or how we relate to friends and family.  By ailing to get a good night’s sleep, many sufferers find themselves dozing on the job or behind the wheel, neither of which is conducive to a healthy lifestyle.

In a study conducted by the Division of Health Sciences at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia  221 patients who suffered from insomnia were given chiropractic treatment.  Of those, 154 patients reported their sleep pattern was immediately improved and all but one patient reported some improvement during the course of treatment.

The Journal of the American Chiropractic Association states, “Many patients do not tell their doctors that they suffer from sleep disorders, but it is very common for patients to advise their chiropractors that they sleep much better after being treated for a variety of conditions not usually associated with sleep deprivation. Chiropractic treatment in general is a good alternative for those individuals who do not feel rested and who do not wish to take prescription drugs to assist them in obtaining quality sleep.”

While sleeping pills may provide a short term solution to insomniacs, these medications produce a number of side effects including the suppression of breathing, which can be dangerous to asthmatics.  While many of the latest advances in sleeping pills claim to be less habit forming, common side effects of prescription sleeping pills such as Lunesta, Sonata, Ambien, Rozerem, and Halcion may include:

·         Burning or tingling in the hands, arms, feet, or legs

·         Changes in appetite

·         Constipation

·         Diarrhea

·         Difficulty keeping balance

·         Dizziness

·         Drowsiness

·         Dry mouth or throat

·         Headache

·         Heartburn

·         Stomach pain or tenderness

·         Unusual dreams

Chiropractic treatment on the other hand produces no discernible side effect since it uses no drugs.  It is safe for children and the elderly.  More importantly, it is designed to correct the underlying conditions that are known to interfere with the optimal operation of the central nervous system.  So if you or anyone you know suffers from insomnia make an appointment to see a chiropractor right away.  After all, this is one condition that’s nothing to lose sleep over.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

Fall Back to Perfect Health

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

Ah yes, Autumn, that time of the year when the leaves start to change color in North Florida.  A time when we detect a snap to the air as the endless summer at long last reaches its inevitable conclusion.  However, it is also the time of year when we are forced by edict to fall back one hour as we change our clocks from Daylight Saving Time to Eastern Standard Time.  While many people are grateful to have an extra hour to enjoy the weekend when we change our clocks in the Fall there are a number of clinicians that think that the damage done to our body’s internal clock by this semi-annual tradition does more harm than good.  Add to this the fact that the Autumnal change coincides with the fact that every day we see less and less of the Sun and this can lead to much more than a simple time differential.

Whose Idea Was DST Anyway?

English: Text: "You can't stop time... but you can turn it back one hour at 2 a.m. Oct. 28 when daylight-saving time ends and standard time begins." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While Ben Franklin has been credited with the creation of Daylight Saving Time, this is not historically correct.  While Franklin did pen an essay which claimed that if Parisians awoke at dawn  they would save their country $200 million per year in candles alone, it was actually an Englishman, William Willett who published a brochure in 1907 entitled “The Waste of Daylight.” He proposed that the British should set their clocks ahead eighty minutes between April and October.  However, the British Parliament did not agree with the idea and it wasn’t until the outbreak of WWI that Germany became the first to adopt DST on April 30, 1916 in order to save electricity.  Weeks later the UK followed suit.  The US didn’t actually adopt it until two years later.

While there are approximately 70 countries around the world that currently observe Daylight Saving Time, it isn’t as universal as most people believe.  In fact, there are two states in the US, Hawaii and Arizona that do not alter their clocks away from Standard Time, along with several US territories, including Guam, Puerto Rico, America Samoa, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.  Far from conserving electricity, studies have indicated that increased recreational activities that necessitate driving a motor vehicle and air conditioning actually account for a net energy loss during DST.

No Time Like the Present

But still we fall back every year.  Scientists are still trying to determine if the changes to our clocks also affect the body’s circadian rhythms.  It seems that time change can be linked to everything from cluster headaches to sleep disorders to bouts of depression labeled as Seasonal Affective Disorder. 

According to a recent article in the New York Daily News, Dr. Shelby Harris, Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx stated that, "Any time you (change) the body's clock even by an hour it really throws off all the hormones in your body. Our biological clocks are so well set that even an hour's difference in light exposure" can create changes in the body.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/daylight-saving-time-ends-fall-back-healthy-article-1.1503957#ixzz2kSRs8uU6

Even if you don’t suffer from tension headaches, DST can mess with your head.  Just like jet lag, any alteration in a person’s normal routine has proven ultimately disruptive to sleep schedules.  Everything from a difficulty in falling or staying asleep to sleep apnea has been attributed to changes in people’s daily routine.  Other symptoms including daytime drowsiness, lack of attention and irritability can also be brought on by time disruptions.  While springing forward seems to trigger the most mayhem, including an uptick in auto accidents and heart attacks, falling back comes with its own laundry list of calamities, including a decrease in worker productivity and depression.

To accelerate the rate at which your body adjusts to time change, there are a number of things that you can do, including:

1.      Consuming more fruit, vegetables and whole grains

2.      Taking Omega 3 and vitamin C

3.      Including evening activities such as walking or biking

4.      Drink more fluid

5.      Take a hot bath before bedtime

Just like death and taxes, most citizens have to inevitably deal with the twice yearly shift to their clocks and their routines.  The question comes down to whether you are prepared to spring forward to increased stress or fall back to perfect health.

Dr. Dave Edenfield  and Dr. Steven Warfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com and http://endyourpain.orgwho are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.  

Don't be a Turkey this Thanksgiving

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Now that Halloween is behind us we are rapidly approaching the holiday season.  This means getting together with friends and family for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.  It also means all too many situations in which it is all too easy to overindulge.  Since one of the biggest problems that Americans face today is obesity, I thought I’d start the season off by providing some insights into the good, the bad and the ugly truth about fat. 

In the first place, not all fat is bad for you.  From a nutritional standpoint there are four kinds of fat:  Trans fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat.  The first two are bad for you and the second two are actually good for you.  So the first thing you need to do is be able to distinguish one from the other.

Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) may sound ugly, but these fats are actually good for you.  They are found in such things as olives, avocados, all-natural peanut butter and a host of plant-based oils such as canola, sunflower, olive, sesame, palm, soybean and safflower.  Research has proven that people who eat foods rich in MUFAs have much lower odds of developing cancer and heart disease.

The problem is that when vegetable oils are either hardened in the process known as hydrogenation, or used to deep fry food, this can convert MUFA’s into trans fatty acids (TFAs) that are definitely not good for you.  Considered by experts to block the absorption of good fats, TFAs are devilishly difficult for the body to break down.  Worst still, they are found in everything from crackers and baked goods to dairy products and even microwave popcorn.  They are known to increase the likelihood of everything from cancer and heart disease to diabetes and even asthma.

If you are trying to weed TFAs out of your diet, you won’t find the words Trans Fatty Acids on the ingredients in the food displayed at the local supermarket.  The terms you want to be on the lookout for are “hydrogenated,” partially-hydrogenated,” or “shortening.”  Foods high in TFAs include everything from French fries and pie crust, to many brands of margarine, ice cream, Crisco, cake icing, snack cakes, snack crackers, frozen dinners, canned chili, packaged pudding, and breakfast sandwiches, just to name a few.  If you are like me, then you will carefully consider any ingredient that doesn’t come from the produce section before putting it in your grocery basket.

Unfortunately TFAs are not the only kind of fat that is deleterious to your health.  TFAs partner in crime is saturated fat, such as that found in red meat.  National Cancer Institute studies have pointed out that there is an elevated risk of prostate cancer that has been linked to consumption of too much saturated fat.  It has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and atherosclerosis, more commonly known as hardening of the arteries.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that all animal fat is bad for you.  In fact one kind of fat found in fish is positively good for you.  Known as Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (or PUFAs),  these beneficial fats are located in such things as salmon, cod, tuna, and trout as well as many raw nuts, leafy greens and flax seeds.  Not only has it been proven that a diet high in PUFAs can be beneficial in fighting heart disease, but it may also benefit those with such debilitating conditions as rheumatoid arthritis and adult onset asthma.

Current thinking is that keeping your intake of saturated fat and trans fat as low as possible is important to warding off disease, while increasing your intake of mono and polyunsaturated fat is just what the doctor ordered.  As for the good, the bad and the ugly side of the All-American Thanksgiving dinner, below is the lineup of suspects.

The Good: When it comes to turkey, which is healthier, dark or white meat?  Opting for white meat saves you 50 calories and four grams of fat.  (115 calories for white as opposed to 160 calories for dark meat)

Cranberry sauce & Gravy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cranberry Sauce – What would Thanksgiving dinner be without cranberry sauce?  Good question.  The answer as to whether this dish is healthy or not depends upon two things: 1. Store bought or homemade 2. How much sugar.  Cranberries are naturally rich in fiber and vitamin C.  If you buy the berries fresh and cook them with apple sauce this will not only help to sweeten them but it will also provide the moisture they need to cook.

Vegetable Side Dishes are what you want to load up on, unless they are loaded with such things as cheese, sugar or marshmallows.

The Bad: Biscuits– Talk about adding insult to injury, you already have mashed potatoes and stuffing, now you want to add even more carbs?  And unless those biscuits are made from scratch you can rest assured that they are loaded with hydrogenated fat.

Pumpkin Pie – It isn’t necessarily the pie filling that’ll get you, it’s the crust, especially if it is made with shortening.

The Ugly: Deep Fried Turkey – Why would anyone do this to such a noble bird?

Candied Sweet Potatoes – This is just another way to take a healthy dish and turn it on its head.  Load these tubers up with brown sugar, butter and marshmallows and you have created a calorie bomb that’s just waiting to go off.

So if you are health conscious you don’t need to wire your mouth shut this holiday season. Just learn to differentiate what food to consume and which to avoid so that you don’t become a turkey this Thanksgiving.  (Those of you that don’t heed this warning will have to read my upcoming blog entitled, “The Ghost of Christmas Diets Past.”)

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

  

Take Care of those Bones this Halloween.

By Dr Dave Edenfield

When it comes to your musculoskeletal system, the years can create tricks that come as no treats.  Through either occupational hazards such as lifting heavy objects incorrectly, or sports-related stresses (yes, playing golf counts in this category), normal wear and tear take their toll on those bones that can add up to pain.  The problem is that most people don’t realize how much damage is done until pain is already present.  But is there a better way to detect any looming problems before pain rears its ugly head?

How Scary is Your Posture?

One way is to stand sideways in front of a mirror and look to see how others see you.  (You can also use a camera with an auto-timer to take a profile snapshot.)  When you look at yourself in profile, does your back and neck have a graceful curve?  Is your head on a level plain with your shoulders, or is it hanging down?  Can you draw a straight line that bisects your hips, shoulders and head? And is the line perpendicular to the floor or at an angle?  It always amazes patients when I show them their x-rays that prove how out of whack their posture has become. 

Poor posture not only affects the spine, it can also adversely affect the entire body.  Since everything from movement to our immune systems are regulated by the central nervous system, any structural anomaly has a tendency to disrupt the spinal nerves that transmit signals to the body.  This can lead to a number of maladies including everything from headaches, to sleep disorders, to digestive imbalances, to nervous disorders.

Areas of distribution of the cutaneous branches of the posterior divisions of the spinal nerves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another exercise you can try to test your frame is to stand upright and turn your head to 

the left as far as it will go and then to the right. Then tilt your head forward and back as far as it will go.  Does it move smoothly, or does it start and stop? Do you hear popping noises as you turn or tilt your head?  Does it turn farther one way than the other?  These can all be signs of spinal sublaxations that beg to be corrected.

Structural imbalances such as these not only alter the natural curvature of the spine, they also lead to degeneration of the discs and other problems such as sciatica and arthritis. They can also make sufferers more prone to injury.  Believe it or not, many people who are deemed “accident prone” may in fact have postural anomalies to blame for this condition.

One last exercise that can help you get a bead on structural issues is to do a squat thrust.  When you lower yourself down to the floor and then stand back up again, do you hear any creaking or groaning sounds emanating from your joints?  Is the motion smooth or does it tend to start and stop?  Do you have any difficulty in either the downward or the upward portion of the exercise?  If any of the above happens to you, these are also signs that your body is under inordinate stress and may have been for some time.

The bad news is that once begun, postural abnormalities create a kind of domino effect that causes the brain to try to compensate by telling the muscles and other soft tissues to alter their tension in order to compensate.  This causes yet more stress and imbalance which if left unchecked can result in tingling in the extremities, loss of motion and pain.  The good news is that by visiting your local chiropractor, he or she can diagnose the problem and begin treatment that can correct the anomalies, eliminate the pain and ultimately return you to health.

So when it comes to taking care of your bones this Halloween, if you detect anything amiss, treat yourself to a chiropractic exam that can start you on the road to recovery. 

Dr. Dave Edenfield  and Dr. Steven Warfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com and http://endyourpain.orgwho are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.