San Diego Chiropractor

As a San Diego Chiropractor, I counsel many individuals who come to my clinic who want to lose weight. I know how hard it can be, and I also know how important it is to lose those extra pounds. Before you let out all the seams in your current wardrobe, there’s something important that you need to know regarding those few seemingly benign extra pounds you may have gained. As we age, they can add up to a large number of health challenges from heart and pulmonary diseases and diabetes to back problems and joint degeneration. Extra pounds put excessive stress on organs, like the heart, not to mention on joints in the low back, hips, and knees. A whopping 62% of men and women in the U.S. are overweight or obese, according to recent studies. That is a very significant number and a truly gigantic national health issue (no pun intended).

Though we try to pretend otherwise, most of us know that the human body has not evolved to carry around surplus weight in the form of body fat. Just an additional 20 or 30 pounds can literally overload and encumber the musculoskeletal system. Excess weight in the abdominal region, for example, requires that the body compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. The tilt puts pressure on the joints of the low back. Painful inflammation results as this joint compression restricts nerve activity. A larger percentage of men and women that have a heavy midsectionsuffer from low back pain as the result of  an impingement of the sciatic nerve or spinal misalignments that constrict nerves as a consequence of weight-bearing stresses. If left untreated, misaligned vertebra in most cases produce new arthritic changes in the spine over time, as well as continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have already taken place.

Here are the ways in which chiropractic treatment can help. Perhaps, it should go without saying that a moderate body weight is essential in order for the musculoskeletal system to act and respond in the way it is built to. Chiropractic treatment can not only ease the pain caused by excess weight compensation, but it can aid in weight reduction. Here’s how. Chiropractic adjustments relieve nerve restrictions in the vertebral column and help to get movement back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, particularly in the low back, hips, and knees. And, certainly exercise and physical activity will be a lot easier, and more beneficial for the body, when the spine is in alignment and the joints have good movement. Not only will exercise help with weight reduction, but it can actually slow the potential for degenerative changes as the body ages.

Healthcare professionals, like your chiropractor, can talk to you about your diet and exercise alternatives. In addition to caring for people suffering from back pain and joint inflammation, chiropractors can provide proficient suggestions on the particular lifestyle modifications that can help you to stay healthier, more vital, and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility due to aging don’t have to be compulsory. The human body was created for a lifetime of pain-free movement.

So, if those extra pounds have been sneaking up on you, and they’ve turned into a surprising load of pain, as your San Diego chiropractor and someone who understands, I can help. Make an appointment today!

Technorati Tags: arthritis, back pain, chiropractic, chiropractor, excess weight, joint inflammation, weight loss

A new genetic test may explain why “one diet fits all” is a myth. The study involved 140 overweight or obese women. The results indicated that those on “genetically appropriate,” i.e.,  diets that corresponded to their genetic makeup, lost more weight than those on less appropriate diets.

“The potential of using genetic information to achieve this magnitude of weight loss without pharmaceutical intervention would be important in helping to solve the pervasive problem of excessive weight in our society,” said Christopher Gardner who worked on the study at Stanford University in California.

Massachusetts-based Interleukin’s $149 test looks for mutations in three specific genes, known as FABP2, PPARG and ADRB2. The company says 39 percent of white Americans have the low-fat genotype, 45 percent have the type that responds best to a diet low in processed carbohydrates, and 16 percent have gene mutations that mean they have to watch both fat and processed carbohydrates.

The researchers randomly assigned around 140 women to one of four diets — the low-carb Atkins diet, the ultra low-fat Ornish diet, the very low-fat LEARN diet, or the more balanced Zone diet.

According to the Stanford researchers, who carried out the study for one year, results indicated that the women that were on diets appropriate to their genetic makeup, as determined by a saliva test, lost 5.3 percent of body weight. Plus, cholesterol levels improved in line with weight loss, they said.

“One of the gene variations affects absorption of fats from the intestine,” Ken Kornman, chief scientific officer at Interleukin, said in a telephone interview. He said people with that particular mutation absorb more fat from their food and thus should avoid fat if they want to lose weight.

he company planned broader studies to ask these questions.

Interleukin, who markets the test under the brand name Inherent Health, plans broader studies to determine if a genetically appropriate affects satiety or feeling full.

In my chiropractic clinic I always recommend some sort of routine exercise for my patients as part of a healthy lifestyle–from young adults to baby boomers and beyond–and not as a weight loss because exercise, though extremely beneficial for every body, doesn’t necessarily generate weight loss in some people. So, I’m hoping that the Interleukin test, which can also determine who might best lose weight in response to exercise, won’t discourage anyone from exercising nevertheless.

The mice in the study that were fed when they would normally be asleep put on more weight than others given the same meals during their normal waking hours. However, the mice that were given a high-fat diet during the time they would typically eat gained only 20 percent in weight over six weeks.  In contrast, the mice fed the same high-fat diet during hours they should have been sleeping packed on 48 percent more during the same time period.

The research team discovered that altering the feeding time, by itself, changed the animal’s body weight. Mice fed during their regular sleeping hours gained more weight than mice that ate during their normal awake hours. “I think sleep has a very important role in metabolism,” says Deanna Arble, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University’s Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology and the lead study author. She thinks the research may have implications for humans as well as mice: “For someone not consuming excess calories each day, and they’re doing everything by the book but still gain weight, maybe look into the time of day you’re eating. It could be a factor,” she advises.

Full study published in the journal, Obesity

Technorati Tags: chiropractor, metabolism, obesity, sleep