Does your refrigerator light stay on when you close the frig door? No? Well, new research is suggesting that perhaps it should! As a chiropractor, I’m all about “total wellness,” which means that I believe in routine chiropractic care along with a healthy lifestyle that includes good nutrition, regular exercise, drinking plenty of water, and dealing effectively with life stresses. Getting the nutrition we need from fruits and vegetables used to be a “no brainer,” i.e., just buy them fresh. But, with the current trend towards big farm over-planting that has lead to soil depletion in many areas, sadly the fruits and vegetables grown in, and pulled from, soil lacking in nutrients lack much of the health benefits they once offered. We generally need to search for fruit and veggie stands and farmers’ markets to get anything close to the natural nutrition that was once “a given” when we were children because, let’s face it, it’s hard to find healthy produce in our supermarkets anymore. So, I was pleasantly surprised and very interested in a new study that the harsh, unnatural lighting in most supermarkets — the kind of lighting that seems to have no environmental upside — apparently has a bright side: healthier fruits and vegetables.

That’s right! A recent study found that spinach actually gained nutritional value as it sat for days under fluorescent lights! And, not just “minor” value gains. Some vitamins doubled their concentrations. Apparently, fluorescent supermarket lights mimic the spectrum of natural sunlight, and some supermarkets keep them on all the time, 24-hours a day. Continuous light exposure allows plants to maintain photosynthesis and, of course, photosynthesis produces nutrients.

The study’s author, Gene Lester, is a research plant physiologist at the United States Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, MD. He and his colleagues chose to study spinach because it is one of the most nutritionally complete vegetables commonly available, with significant concentrations of vitamins C, A, K, E and folate.

You can read about how the research was done in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry or by going to discovery.com

Bottom line: To boost the nutritional content of spinach and other produce, researchers suggest (counter-intuitively) that consumers select packages from the front of display cases that are kept under continuous light.

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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.

Wichita Chiropractor

As a Wichita Chiropractor for more than twenty years, I have helped hundreds of people suffering from sciatic pain, I’m truly aware from experience just how debilitating sciatic pain can be. Sciatica sufferers are regrettably all too familiar with the deep radiating pain that accompanies their waking hours each day and restricts almost all of their daily activities.

Could your low back pain be caused by sciatica? You are probably experiencing sciatica if your pain travels from your low back, through your buttock(s), down the large sciatic nerve in the back of your leg(s), and possibly radiates into your knee(s). In addition, not only motion, but even sitting can be painful. Commonly lying down will lessen, or occasionally even temporarily eliminate the pain. But, you should be warned that sciatica will not go away without appropriate treatment.

Radiculopathy

One of the clinical diagnoses of sciatica is referred to as a “radiculopathy”, a medical term that means simply that a disc has protruded from its normal position in the vertebral column and is putting pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) in the lower back, which forms part of the sciatic nerve. This type of pressure is extremely painful.

Increased pressure on the intervertebral discs, as well as imbalances in the muscles surrounding the spine, can occur during and after prolonged sitting, especially in an awkward position. A particular event or injury isn’t usually the cause of sciatica, but rather sciatica has a tendency to develop over time as a consequence of ordinary wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine. Eventually the lower spine can lose its ability to function normally during common stresses.

When this happens, the intervertebral disc incurs small fissures or cracks that then allow the soft nucleus to protrude the disc outward. Pain is generated as the disc pushes on sensitive tissues. This condition is commonly referred to as a ruptured, or slipped, disc. Sciatica is the result of the disc pressing on the spinal nerve. Fortunately, most disc challenges, including sciatica, can be totally alleviated with chiropractic manipulation and therapy that frequently includes postural exercises.

Periformis Syndrome

Another cause of sciatic pain is periformis syndrome. Periformis syndrome develops when the periformis muscle, for any reason, goes into spasm and irritates the sciatic nerve, is superficial to the nerve In combination with chiropractic adjustments, this kind of sciatica can be significantly relieved by sciatica stretches that your chiropractor will advise you on.

It is essential for you to seek chiropractic attention if you are experiencing sciatic pain. If you are in the Wichita area, as your Wichita Chiropractor, I look forward to helping you to get out of pain and get your life back!

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, sciatic pain, sciatic stretches, sciatica

You probably know that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” but did you know that “A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories”? As a chiropractor who believes that a healthy lifestyle includes a healthy weight, I believe that the latter equation is just as important as the former when it comes to your health. So does First Lady, Michelle Obama. In announcing a national plan to counter childhood obesity, she indicated that weight loss doesn’t have include an unnatural “minus” intake of food, but slight lifestyle changes, such as replacing soda pop with water or walking to school, are “small changes that add up.” The formula seems simple enough: reducing calorie intake by just 100 calories a day, or burning up that amount, would equal losing a pound every 35 days, or as much as 10 pounds or more a year. And, though individual losses might vary and educating children (and their parents) about nutrition is still very necessary, in my opinion making “small changes” is a healthy place to start for many kids.

Unfortunately, there are those who find such equations “misleading,” like the health blog at NYTimes.com . In it Tara Parker-Pope states that “numerous scientific studies show that small caloric changes have almost no long-term effect on weight. When we skip a cookie or exercise a little more, the body’s biological and behavioral adaptations kick in, significantly reducing the caloric benefits of our effort.”

The question the article poses is “Can small changes in diet and exercise at least keep children from gaining weight?”  And it goes on to say that “While some obesity experts think so, mathematical models suggest otherwise.”

To read the blog in its entirety, click the link above. Then you can reach your own conclusions.

Posted via email from healthandfitnessnews’s posterous

Let's face it, if you like beer, you're going to look for a good reason to drink it, whether it's a tailgate party, as a pizza accompaniment, or to help built strong and healthy bones. Say what? Up until I heard the recent news reports and read an article that appeared recently on the HealthDay News blog, I wouldn't have listed that last reason on the "pro" side of any health list I was making. But according to a new study published in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture beer, or at least some beer high in barley and hops contain dietary silicon,contributes to bone mineral density. I'm a chiropractor, so naturally anything that helps to build bone density is good in my book. And, though there are foods, such as bananas, that also contain dietary silicon, if you like beer, this study is good news!

Beer for the Bones?

(HealthDay News) — Beer may help keep bones strong because it's a rich source of dietary silicon, which contributes to bone mineral density, a new study reports.

But the amount of silicon apparently varies by the type of beer.

"The factors in brewing that influence silicon levels in beer have not been extensively studied," study author Charles Bamforth, a professor in the food science and technology department at the University of California, Davis, said in a news release from the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. The study is published in the journal's February issue.

"We have examined a wide range of beer styles for their silicon content and have also studied the impact of raw materials and the brewing process on the quantities of silicon that enter wort and beer," Bamforth said. Wort is liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer.

The researchers tested 100 commercial beers and found that their silicon content ranged from 6.4 to 56.5 milligrams per liter.

"Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon," Bamforth said. "Wheat contains less silicon than barley because it is the husk of the barley that is rich in this element. While most of the silicon remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon nonetheless are extracted into wort, and much of this survives into beer."

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more about bone health.

SOURCE: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, news release, Feb. 7, 2010

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Your Chiropractor in Oxnard, Dr. Donald Bolt, understands that allergy symptoms can make your everyday existence unpleasant. A walk in the park, a yarn ball toss with Pussy, a shrimp entree, or merely something as small as a nut will sometimes bring about such irritating symptoms as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash.

On the other hand, occasionally a sufferer’s allergic reactions can increase from simply uncomfortable to serious and even life-threatening as the air passageway begins to tighten and breathing gets difficult. Such progression of difficulties can typically bring about a state of panic as well as a trip to the emergency room.

Allergies can, indeed, end up as an alarmingly significant matter and cause you to feel unable to take part in everyday living. Actually, if you are one of the many folks who have hypersensitivity, it might even appear to you that, on occasion, the surroundings are a pretty antagonistic place and that the planet around you is, virtually, out to get you!

You may ponder as to why it is that other human beings tend to be so unaffected by the identical environmental challenges that send your body into overwhelm. Others appear both unaware and/or unresponsive to the potential irritants that lurk at just about every turn, while your body reacts, or rather overreacts, to them. Why you? It is a logical question. The fact is that a lot of folks, not unlike yourself, have a hyperactive immune system that literally “freaks out” when you come across routine substances most notably pollen, dander, shellfish, or nut products.

Can your Oxnard Chiropractor assist you in gaining a significant decrease in your allergy symptoms? The answer is a definite “Yes,” and the solution will possibly surprise you. Countless chiropractic patients have realized that they enjoy freedom from their allergy symptoms following a chiropractic adjustment, although chiropractic care does not necessarily treat allergies, per se. The explanation for the disappearance of allergy symptoms is because of the fact that chiropractic adjustment affects your complete nervous system, including your autoimmune system, and that is the at the root of your allergic responses. In cases where there’s a hindrance in the nervous system, together with other problems, the autoimmune system, whose duty it is to enable you to adapt and react in a healthy way to your environment, has the potential to become under-active or overactive. Where your allergies are concerned, the dysfunction is the latter (it becomes overactive).

In view of the fact that chiropractic adjustments are intended to lessen or even entirely do away with hindrances within the nervous system and bring back equilibrium and relaxation to the whole body, coupled with a number of other corrections, the adjustments provide homeostasis to the autoimmune system also. A balanced immune system responds normal to so-called allergens in the environment.

So, as stated previously, your Chiropractor in Oxnard doesn’t essentially treat any particular allergy, but then that doesn’t suggest your allergies won’t get better or vanish entirely. On the other hand, you could point out, instead, that relief from your allergies is solely the consequence of your well-adjusted nervous system. If you want to get back into harmony with your surroundings as soon as possible, call Dr. Bolt, your Oxnard Chiropractor. He will help you to enjoy your environment again!

Technorati Tags: allergic reactions, allergies, allergy relief, autoimmune system, chiropractic, chiropractor

For many pregnant women, back pain seems to be unavoidable, especially the “more pregnant” a woman becomes! Chiropractic adjustments are safe and highly beneficial in relieving back pain due to pregnancy, and they are also helpful in relieving other pregnancy “complaints” such as heartburn, nausea, and swelling. “As a woman and a chiropractor, I understand the many subtle, and not so subtle, changes that a woman’s body experiences during pregnancy,” said Melody Shubert, D.C., of Shubert Natural Health and Chiropractic in Wichita, Kansas.  And, if needed, a well-trained chiropractor can also help with a breached baby. This is done by using the Webster Technique, a low force technique to manipulate the uterus and get the baby into the proper position for delivery. (A simple Google search on the Webster Technique can give you much more information.) Check with your local chiropractor for more information on how chiropractic adjustments can help during pregnancy.

Osteopathic manipulation is another alternative for back pain relief due to pregnancy. “Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a viable option for improving function related to the low back and reducing back pain in the third trimester of pregnancy because its does not appear to have any negative side effects,” said John C. Licciardone, D.O., M.S., M.B.A., the lead author of a study on OMT in the third trimester of pregnancy that was recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Results from this study showed that osteopathic manipulative treatment slows or halts the deterioration of back-specific function in the third trimester of pregnancy. To read more about this study, click here.

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Seeing a  chiropractor in San Jose is genuinely one of the finest things that you can do to assist your arthritis and lumbar pain. Chiropractors are doctors who concentrate solely on working on the musculoskeletal system, and arthritis is a joint malady. Chiropractic care has aided many persons in decreasing the process of arthritis by getting their joints moving. Motion is necessary for joint health. A good chiropractor is extremely qualified in caring for lumbar pain, even when it is the result of arthritis

If you have never gone to a chiropractor previously, you could be somewhat concerned about what is going to take place once you are in the office. It might help to present a quick summary of what you can expect. You’ll be asked about your medical background, that will often include a family background of arthritis. The chiropractor will probably inquire about your day-to-day diet and lifestyle and may suggest explicit changes that will be beneficial in decreasing the irritation attributable to arthritis. And, lastly, you will receive a scrupulous examination. After the assessment is done, the chiropractor will let you know if chiropractic treatment will help your back pain, and also relieve your hurtful arthritic difficulties. Then you will be told about the exact course of action you will require.

A chiropractic adjustment relieves pain safely and organically, and it is a painless approach. And, the most wonderful factor of going to a chiropractor for your lumbar pain and arthritis is that you can feel certain that the root of your pain is being addressed, and that the ease you experience doesn’t involve masking the manifestation of pain, but genuinely taking care of the source of your malady.

Technorati Tags: arthritis, chiropractic, chiropractor, joint inflammation

80 Ways To Use Twitter As A SMB Owner

It’s pretty common. A small business owner comes to us looking for help promoting his or her business. We suggest using Twitter as a way to find new leads, build relationships and as an overall way to cost effectively market their business. The small business owner then turns around, tilts their head and responds, “Twitter? What can Twitter do for me?”

Well, I’ll tell you. Below are 80 ways a small business owner can use Twitter to build and market their business.

Just like last time, hit print.

Build Credibility

1. Answer common customer questions
2. Share insight and opinion
3. Pass on interesting links/posts
4. Tweet links showing your company featured on other Web sites or mainstream media
5. Tweet often to keep your brand in customer’s top of mind
6. Share high quality content that is relevant to your customers needs
7. Share information about your organization that customers, colleagues and others may be interested to know
8. Promote competitors when they deserve it
9. Tweet links to Slideshare presentations or videos of speaking engagements.
10. Promote upcoming speaking engagements
11. Mention awards you’ve won or accreditations you’ve earned
12. Be the one to break the news in your industry
13. Livetweet events

Market Your Business

1. Talk about company culture and values
2. Let people know the events your company will be attending this year
3. Offer discounts, coupons or special offers to customers who find you via social media
4. Offer discounts on conferences for folks who come to hear you speak
5. Show your human face
6. Talk about what you’re doing
7. Talk about who you are
8. Talk about why you do what you do
9. To get blog subscribers
10. Direct traffic to your site
11. Find referrals
12. Offer referrals
13. Connect vendors to one another
14. Hold contests
15. Highlight employees
16. Publish your Twitter handle on all direct mailings, email newsletters, on your Web site and all other marketing channels. Put it everywhere
17. Promote your latest blog posts and newsletters
18. Share reviews people have left about your site that made you laugh. Or smile
19. Tweet when you do something cool
20. Admit and apologize for flubs to help neutralize the impact
21. Be excited about your week
22. Ask for votes on social media sites (use sparingly)

Grow Ears

1. Track conversations about your brand for online reputation management
2. Track your most important keywords and subscribe to an RSS feed
3. Listen in on conversations about your general industry
4. Do free market research to see what people want/don’t want
5. Conduct Twitter polls to quiz consumer opinion
6. Learn about what’s working/not working for your competitors
7. See how your competitors are interacting with customers
8. Find out who your competitors are talking to and do some competitive intelligence
9. Track conversation patterns for your industry to determine when people are most active online
10. Identify Twitter trends or hot topics related to your industry
11. Find ways to connect what you do with what’s already trending on Twitter
12. Ask people for their opinions. Listen to them
13. Notify customers of any holdups, mishaps or things that may affect business

(Read more…)

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It’s time that we start paying attention to a real problem that has been around for a few years now and will only get worse. Let’s face it, kids who are overweight suffer physically and emotionally. And, statistics have consistently shown that unless there is affective intervention obese kids turn into unhealthy obese adults. Read on…

Experts urge screening for obesity in kids

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Doctors should screen children and teens between 6 and 18 years for extra pounds, a federal task force recommends.

For children who are found to be obese based on their body mass index (BMI), a standard measure of the relationship between height and weight, the task force also calls for referrals to a comprehensive program that includes dietary advice, physical activity, and behavioral counseling to promote weight loss.

The new recommendations update earlier ones from 2005. Skyrocketing rates of obesity have reached between 12 and 18 percent in 2- to 19-year-olds, increasing up to 6-fold since the 1970s, members of the United States Preventive Services Task Force report in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics. Obesity is linked to the early development of diabetes and high blood pressure.

For their update, the task force reviewed 13 studies of behavioral intervention in 1258 obese children and adolescents.

Moderate- to high-intensity programs, involving more than 25 hours of contact with the child and/or the family over a six-month period, resulted in a decrease in BMI 12 months after the beginning of the intervention.

In addition to dietary and physical activity counseling, effective programs included behavioral-management techniques such as self-monitoring and eating management. However, the programs only worked in children who followed through on treatment. (Read more at Reuters.com)

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