Osteoarthritis Obesity - Good and Bad
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The Good & The Bad; Osteoarthritis & Obesity

Osteoarthritis Obesity - Good and Bad

Many people who come to our office who have lived a typical American lifestyle usually have osteoarthritis in their spine and are overweight by the time they are 50 years old. The question I want to bring to the table is whether osteoarthritis and obesity is a good thing or a bad thing?

The common excuses why people think they have arthritis or obesity are age and genetics. Are there people in their 50’s with no osteoarthritis in their spine who are fit? Yes! Is it due to age? No. Is this related to genetics? No. When it comes to arthritis the only way it can be considered related to genetics is if is a rheumatoid arthritis. So when it comes to osteoarthritis the only way it can happen is due to poor biomechanics and according to the Mayo Clinic is the wear and tear arthritis.

The Question Remains, Is This Bad?

Osteoarthritis is not a bad thing, but it is not good to have arthritis in the spine. In fact, the reason osteoarthritis happens is because the body thinks it is under a physical stress, and it is so smart that it starts to adapt by building more bone. This reaction is the body’s protective mechanism against improper posture, so while arthritis shows the body is working properly, it is not healthy to have.

For example, if the Hoover Dam was built with the wrong curve, then it would not be able to support the water and would break. If the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was built with the wrong degree angles, then it would fall. The difference between humans and those architectural structures is the body has a power inside of it called innate intelligence, so instead of the neck or low back collapsing when it loses its normal angles, it builds bone, which is called osteoarthritis.

This is similar to the person who eats an inflammatory diet filled with grains, processed foods, and sugars and then becomes obese. Is the process of building fat cells a bad thing? No. However, is it good to be obese? No. The body detects a stress, which is a harmful diet filled with toxins, so it creates fat cells to put around the gut and organs as a protective mechanism.

What Next and How to Think of Your Health?

Looking at innate intelligence and the protective mechanisms of the body, we notice that symptoms are signs of stress. Unfortunately our healthcare system looks at the body wrongly and has a goal to treat symptoms rather than correct the cause.

If your front left tire is worn out, yet you put all the tires on the car at the same time, then would just replacing the front left tire be the solution to prevent it from wearing out faster the second time? Of course not. You would think “Why did this tire wear out faster then the other tires?” most likely the answer is in the alignment of the car, so the problem is not the front left tire but the alignment of the car.

Similarly with osteoarthritis, the problem is not the bone spurs and degeneration but the improper biomechanics in your spine. My article “What is Corrective Chiropractic?“” shows what an abnormal spinal structure looks like and what can be done to correct its alignment. Walking against gravity all day and having poor posture will wear out the spine much faster.

In the obesity example, the problem is not the fat cells but what causes the fat cells is usually a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. Unfortunately, many people want to treat the symptom and remove the fat either through drugs, liposuction, tummy tucks, and gastric bypass; instead of going to the cause of weight gain. Unfortunately now people will take drugs to reduce fat cells instead of going to the cause which will usually be their diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Look at the following list of the most common symptoms people experience, and think about what causes them. Our country is addicted to taking pills, and most of those pills are designed to remove the symptom but NOT address the cause. Drugs are not necessarily bad, but we need to really think about our health and what is the underlying CAUSE of these symptoms.

  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
  • High blood sugar (diabetes)
  • Low serotonin (depression)
  • Low melatonin (sleep trouble)
  • Acid reflux
  • Digestive disorders

Are You Treating Symptoms or Chasing the Cause?

To close, if your car’s engine light appears would you put black tape over the light and keep driving, or would you get the car checked? Most people would get their cars checked, as the engine light is a symptom to an underlying problem. Sometimes when any of the above symptoms occur most people put black tape over it and ignore the problem. We need to look at the causes to eliminate our symptoms.

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Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
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How to Avoid Gaining Holiday Weight

Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

The holiday season is here, and it seems there is a party every night that condones drinking and eating hors dorves that are typically fried or breaded. The trend I commonly see in my practice is that during this time of year people begin neglecting their workouts, stressing more about deadlines, missing their adjustments, and doing other activities that lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. However, now is the time to be committed to working out, eating healthfully, getting adjusted, and working on being your best self so you do not get sick or pack on the winter weight. Here are some key steps on how to avoid gaining holiday weight:

1. Warm lemon water in the morning

Drink a warm glass of alkaline water with a freshly squeezed organic lemon. There are many reasons for this; including balancing your pH levels, aiding digestion, and boosting your immunity due to the high levels of potassium and Vitamin C in the lemons.

[title size=”2″]2. Get your tabata on![/title]

Back in January I wrote an article on this, and I would like to stress the importance of it right now (read the article Let The Games Begin to learn more about tabata). Those of you who are going for walks at night or in the morning are creating great movement patterns for your body and increasing circulation. However, walking alone will not get you fit or in shape; because it is considered a movement, not exercise. While walking is important to maintaining health, we do not burn enough calories to lose weight doing these movements. My favorite workout for people to do at this time of season is a double tabata. Tabata was created by medical professional, Dr. Tabata; he found that short bursts of training with short rest times increases oxygen output in the body and burns fat. To perform this workout, go at 100% of a movement for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this cycle 8 times for a 4 minute workout. Some great movements that can be done are:

  • stationary bike
  • sprints on treadmill
  • jumping jacks
  • air squats
  • sit-ups
  • push-ups
  • pull-ups

There are even smartphone apps that have Tabata timers to download for free.

[title size=”2″]3. Stick to the tequila.[/title]

This is a topic you may have never guessed I would discuss because it condones alcohol. I will preface that, I am not encouraging you to drink tequila, but I do not want to be the Debbie Downer who tells you to only drink bottled water at your company holiday parties. If however, I could choose a drink for all of you, it would be a paleo margarita which consists of: tequila, lime juice, and club soda. By staying away from wine and beer, you will be saving yourself massive amounts of unnecessary sugars, as well as other toxins, that can store fat.

[title size=”2″]4. Load Up on Fats![/title]

You read that correctly! In order to lose fat you will want to pump up your body with good fats to help speed metabolism. The main fats I would like many of you to consume are MCT’s, or medium chain triglycerides, which are found in coconuts (coconut oil, coconut flakes, coconut water, coconut flour, and coconut sugar), avocodos, and raw almonds, which should be soaked in alkaline water before consuming. This soaking process helps the nut bring out all of its enzymes, so it become more easily digestible and healthier for your body.

[title size=”2″]Conclusion[/title]

Following these suggestions will help avoid the holiday weight gain. As always, I love to hear from my patients and blog reader. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question, it may just be featured as the topic of one of my future blog posts!

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How to beat the winter flu
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How Can I Beat The Winter Flu? My Top 3 Tricks

How to beat the winter flu

Today’s article is centered around a hot question in the office over the past few weeks,”How Can I Beat The Winter Flu?” Before I provide insight on the topic I’d like to first start by sharing a quote.

“The pathogen is nothing; the terrain is everything.” — Louis Pasteur’s deathbed words. These were Louis Pasteur’s, father of the germ theory, final words before his death in 1895.

I love his concepts and philosophy because in today’s germophobic world, people are scared of everything related to germs. Everywhere I turn I see people bathing themselves in Purell or some other toxic cleaner to remove bacteria. If germs were so evil, then nobody would be alive, and we would all be constantly sick.

Instead of always focusing on ways to improve the external environments such as our hands, skin, face, etc, it is more important to concentrate on our internal environments. I have not had the flu in 13 years, and it is not because I live in a bubble but because I focus on building a titanium internal environment. The stronger I build my internal environment, the less likely the external environment will affect me.

Because of the nature of our practice, I am surrounded by “germs” and “bacteria” all day. Nevertheless, how can someone like myself stay healthy and never get sick, while people who lather in hand sanitizers and shower five times a day get sick often?

I want to share 3 extra secrets beyond chiropractic that can help you beat the flu and create a titanium internal environment this holiday season.

1. Increase Happiness

Instead of using the term “manage stress” we want to be proactive and excel in life so I used the term “increase happiness”. The goal of each day should not be to keep stress at bay. Rather, we should focus on increasing our happiness, so stress begins to go away.

This is similar to never wanting to manage a disease but increase health within the body to eliminate it. Language is everything, and thoughts become things, so this first step is critical.

As the holiday season begins to unfold many people with fall under increased stress with deadlines, travel plans, financial burdens, family coming in town, holiday parties, and other life events.

Anytime the body is under a state of stress the immune system shuts down, and disease prevails.

My favorite way to increase happiness in my life is by looking at my value system and implementing it into my life. One of my highest values is health, so when I workout, get adjusted or get acupuncture, for instance, I am happier. Family is another top value for me, so when I am going on date nights with my wife, spending time with family, or playing with my nieces, my happiness increases.

Figure out the top 3 values in your life, and let us look at steps you can take to increase your levels of happiness. Most of the time happiness costs nothing!

2. Maximize Vitamin D

Have you noticed that most people do not get sick in the summer? During these months people are outside much more and absorbing massive amounts of vitamin D. Vitamin D plays a key role in our heath when it comes to maintaining a healthy immune system and decreasing risk of disease. Affecting 2,000 of the 30,000 genes in our bodies, increased vitamin D levels can truly build up our internal environment. Spend 10 – 20 minutes in the sun on a daily basis to get optimal vitamin D levels, as your body stops producing after 20 minutes.

3. Go Paleo!

When it comes to de-inflaming the body and increasing your internal health the best way to eat is like our hunter-gather ancestors or paleo (lithic). Paleo eating stays away from grains, dairy, legumes, and white sugar to decrease internal inflammation. I have been eating paleo for the past 4 years and am in the best shape of my life with great numbers from my most recent bloodwork. Great resources are the NomNom app for your iPad or smartphone, or as well as the website PaleoPlan.Com, which has great recipes. The key is making sure you are eating a lot of good fats and good sugars, which will ultimately keep your hormones and cells functioning optimally.

Conclusion

I hope you find my 3 tricks to beat the winter flu helpful this season. Please leave a message below if you have any questions or comments!

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Truth or Myth: Do I Have to Visit the Chiropractor Forver
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Do You Need to Go to the Chiropractor Forever?

Truth or Myth: Do I Have to Visit the Chiropractor Forever

When I am out in public meeting people for the first time, one of the common responses to my profession is “Well, I don’t go to a chiropractor because once I go I have to go the rest of my life,” or “I don’t want to get addicted”. Will you get addicted or have to visit a chiropractor forever? I’ll dive deeper into the topic for this blog post.

Before we get started, it’s important to step back from the context of what people are saying and really dissect these aforementioned comments. I would agree that before I began to really value my life and truly live healthily I thought these same thoughts. However, I have shifted my mindset to living more proactively, so comments like these don’t make any sense to me.

For example, people say they do not want to get addicted to chiropractic but if we look at the rest of their life we will find other addictions or things they do regularly. The goal of chiropractic is to empower individuals to make the healthiest decisions for their bodies and minds. This proactive way of living leads to a higher quality of life, so inevitably, many people desire for the best weakness, which includes chiropractic care. Therefore, these individuals are taking a strong interest in their health rather than developing an “addiction”.

Should we wait until we have problems before caring for things, which is the common U.S. American way of thinking, or should we be proactive and continually take measures to live proactively?

Some people associate chiropractic with medical doctors thinking that we need to go when there is a problem. Chiropractic is about living proactively to eating healthy, working out, and getting massages. These actions are positive for a persons life where taking medicine to treat or mask symptoms is a negative. This is because, in fact, medicine ends up making people’s body sicker as years progress while chiropractic makes the body healthier and stronger as years move along.

Look at your life, and note the positive and negative things you spend time doing. Make two columns, and begin to figure out ways to convert the negatives into positives.

As an example, here is what my list looks like:

Positive

  • Workout
  • Get adjusted
  • Take supplements
  • Acupuncture checkups
  • Take restful vacations
  • Meditate

Negative

  • Not enough time with friends
  • Too much time wasted on internet on weekends

Reflecting on my list, I want to change those negatives into positives by hanging out with friends and having valuable relationships. Further, I want to read and write more blog posts instead of wasting my time on the internet. I wrote an article in 2012 called “I am an addict”, which I encourage you to read.

So What’s the Goal?

The goal in our office is not to see you three times a week or even twice a week for the rest of your life but instead:

  1. Correct your spine
  2. Maintain the spine with whatever frequency you need based on your age, lifestyle, and spinal structure

Remember one key point, when God created you, he created only one of you. You have one life in this amazing body with friends, family, and other people who love you. Do you want to do everything possible to maximize this life and make it your greatest while feeling and looking your best possible self? We are here to help you accomplish this goal. Please feel free to contact our office or comment below, we always love hearing from those in our community!

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Do Chiropractors Take Insurance?

Do Chiropractors Take Insurance

When it comes to dealing with insurance companies, many people have misconceptions about what they cover. A common misunderstanding is that insurance cards can be used like credit cards to pay for all health related expenses. This, unfortunately, is not true. In this article I will dig deeper into one of the top 3 questions that all chiropractors hear from patients…”Do Chiropractors Take Insurance?”

Proactive vs. Reactive Coverage

I wish I could say that insurance paid for proactive living, such as gym memberships, supplements, mobile thermography, organic food, massage therapy, acupuncture, or any other procedure that would be deemed proactive. I honestly believe our country would be a wealthier place not only from the financial side but as well as the happier side if insurance covered those procedures.

Currently, insurance will pay for medical procedures including drugs, early detection tests, shots, or surgery. However, most of the time, these courses of action can be prevented by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is not coincidental that people who eat paleolithic diet, workout in short bursts of 15 minutes, get adjusted as part of a lifestyle, regularly get 6-8 hours of sleep each night, and are passionate about their lives rarely get sick or see medical doctors. People who take these healthy measures are actually utilizing “healthcare”, whereas insurance companies cover what I call “sick-care”. It is not because they do not believe in the medical doctor, but they have the similar viewpoint as me and understand we live in a sick-care world.

I am concerned about the motivations behind the astronomical spending on “sick care”. There is big money in these procedures, and many big businesses will not thrive by paying for preventive care or TRUE healthcare.

So, Do Chiropractors Take Insurance?

By now you are wondering when I’ll cover your question, here it comes. If someone is coming to a chiropractic office for maintenance care, or preventative care, then they must pay out of pocket. Insurance will only cover chiropractic if the person is experiencing pain or limited functioning (i.e for medical necessity). Too often, many insurance companies will constantly review chiropractors’ notes to see if clients are going for preventative or reactive care. From my experience, they are more likely to cover reactive care versus preventative.

If you have been to a corrective chiropractor then you know pain is only a small percentage of the issue, and the PROBLEM is where we want to focus. For example, if front view of the spine is twisted, and the curves on the side view are lost then, we know there is a structural problem. Unfortunately, many insurance companies will only cover care once there is PAIN but NOT necessarily when there is a problem, which is why they limit the number of visits a person can utilize per year at a chiropractic office. At my office in Atlanta we specialize in corrective chiropractic care, 10-20 visits in a years period will simply scratch the surface of the work we need to achieve optimal results for our patients.

In a future blog post I will discuss the different phases of care to help explain why it takes time with proactive care.

Become Proactive, Stop Waiting For Reactive Care

A person who is overweight and pre-diabetic wants to live a healthier lifestyle. The insurance company will not pay for functional nutrition counseling, healthy food, gym memberships, or other resources to lose weight before becoming diabetic. However, once this individual becomes diabetic, insurance kicks in to gear and pays for all medicine and other garbage techniques used to keep Type II diabetes which ironically is almost 100% reversible. Further, if this person has heart problems the insurance company will not pay for fish oil, personal trainers, or other supplements, but they will be happy to pay for statin or blood pressure drugs, which run in the hundreds of dollars for people without insurance.

If we want to get serious about our health, then we must become proactive and realize ALL the possible things we can do to maintain a healthy life; they are investments in our futures. Insurance may not cover these procedures, BUT they are the tools that will keep us from using those plastic insurance cards with poor benefits. As deductibles continually skyrocket, co-pays increase, and premiums grow at exponential rates, the best advice I can give anyone is to look at proactive care as deposits in one’s health bank account. A person’s goal should be to NOT use the insurance card, as it is only good for when procedures are medically necessary.

Final Thoughts

I hope this article helps you better understand insurance companies relationship towards proactive care and why chiropractors do take insurance, but only when reactive. I tell all my patients that we need to begin working with the body rather than against it to ensure it is functioning at its optimum level. If you believe the same, please feel free to share this article and/or post a comment with your story below.

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Best Way to Pay for Chiropractic Care
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What is the Best Way to Pay for Chiropractic Care?

When most people seek chiropractic care they are usually expecting one adjustment to immediately correct their bodies. This reactive thinking has gotten our culture into a lot of trouble. In order for us to create massive change and make an impact, chiropractic care, like anything, takes time for lasting results. Whether it is building a business, getting more musculature, losing weight, reducing inflammation in the body, getting into a relationship, or becoming a master of an art, all processes require time.

With that said, it is everyone’s goal to maximize their hard earned money. It’s no coincidence that some of the more common questions we receive in the office are relating to saving money and the best way to pay for chiropractic care.

Best Payment Method

You can apply for a tax free program called a Health Savings Account (HSA). The people who qualify for these accounts have a minimum deductible of $1,250 and a maximum out of pocket of $6,250. If you do not know these two numbers for your insurance plan, then be sure to know them before applying for this tax savings account.

If qualify for care then your next step is to find a bank that has an HSA program.

The maximum amount in 2013 an individual can contribute to the account is $3,250, and $6,450 for a family. If you put $3,000 in the account and only use $2,000 that year, then the $1,000 difference stays in the account for following years because it never expires unlike, Flexible Spending Accounts. Another benefit to creating an account is you own the HSA, so if you find a new job or switch companies, the HSA will always be there.

If your company does not have HSA’s, I strongly recommend setting up an account and using it for your chiropractic services and other healthcare expenses. Whether you are paying monthly or up front for services, the most cost effective decision is to use an HSA card.

Best Way to Pay For Chiropractic Care

The chart to the right is taken from Wells Fargo’s HSA page and demonstrates how much money you could potentially save if you contributed $3,000 year to your account and used $500 in qualified medical expenses; your savings per year would be $2,500. With an annual return of 6%, this is what the account would look like after 5, 10, 15, and 20 years assuming a 28% federal tax bracket.

Final Thoughts

I hope that you find this suggestion for, what I believe to be, the best payment method for chiropractic care helpful. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions or if you’re already using an HSA account to pay for your care!

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What is Corrective Chiropractic

If you ask a random person on the street what a chiropractor does the most common response you will hear is “they help with back or neck pain”. Unfortunately, many people have become accustomed to using this response, which has pigeonholed my profession to focusing solely on the back and neck. Removing pain from a persons life is the smallest outcome a chiropractor produces based on the grand scale of how many physiological changes that are happening as the spine is corrected.

By the time someone feels pain usually a problem has been underlying for many years and has now begun to manifest as symptoms. This mentality is far from the typical thought process of the average American as we only think there is a problem when we are symptomatic. If this was true, then people would feel their heart hurting years before their heart attack or feel cancer cells replicating in their body once the cancer hits phase 1. Unfortunately for both those examples most people do not feel the problem until it is too late whether it is at the heart attack or in phase 4 cancer.

The focus of a corrective chiropractor is to find the problem early and get the problem corrected before it becomes painful. Sadly some people are in pain by the time they come to a corrective chiropractor but this only means the timing of care may be longer. The first phase of correction is eliminating the pain, and the second phase is correcting the problem, which is why getting checked by a corrective chiropractor is crucial as soon as possible. Therefore, you can see if the spine has lost its natural curves before it is too late.

The picture on the right represents a normal neck and shows a beautiful C-shaped curve. Most healthcare providers call this curve the ‘arc of life’ as it sends down millions of impulses and signals through the spine every day to communicate with the rest of the body. When kept in this position, this curve can function at 100% and clearly communicate with the body. From hours in front of the computer, old sports injuries, car accidents over 8 mph, poor postural patterns at work, sleeping improperly, and many other normalbiomechanical issues, we lose these natural curves and let them go through the phases of degeneration. The chart below represents the different phases and what would happen to someone if he/she did not see a corrective chiropractor. What most people think of as ‘due to old age’ or ‘genetics’ can be corrected or prevented based on taking proactive measures towards your health.

The first step is to call a corrective chiropractor and schedule a structural examination. If you live in Atlanta, we would be happy to evaluate you. During our time together, our team will determine how we can help and get you the best results.

The second step is scheduling your Report of Findings. At this time, you will review your x-rays with Dr. Cohen and see if you qualify for our care. If so, we will determine the length, time commitment, and costs of your personalized careplan. There are no hidden expenses and you would know all the numbers before beginning any care at our facility.

The third step is to enjoy the process. Our Community Wellness Advisor, Jessica, and Dr. Cohen are on a mission to change lives through living a proactive life, so please use them as resources to maximizing your care and health.

Below are examples of how we can correct the spine using the tools we have in our practice Atlanta:

                                PRE                                                                            POST

MegPre          MegPost

                                PRE                                                                            POST

lcleepre          lcleepost 

 

                                PRE                                                                            POST

 

HeinPre            HeinScoli

 

 

                                PRE                                                                            POST

 JessPre JessPost

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Best Vitamin Supplements For Winter Months
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What Are The Best Supplements To Take During Winter: Atlanta Edition

Needless to say, the amount of rainfall this summer has been higher than normal, and because of this there will be a lot of repercussions. (At the office we’ve already noticed more patients coming in with cold and flu like symptoms, many have been asking us “What are the best supplements to take during the winter months?”. This is a great question! In this article we will dive into the question and offer advice on the topic.

Rain, rain go away! This seems to have been the jingle this summer as the amount of precipitation in Atlanta has been hitting record highs. In June, we had 9.57 inches of rain compared to the average of 3.95 inches, and in July, we had 8.48 inches compared to the 5.27 inches. Needless to say, the amount of rainfall this summer has been higher than normal, and because of this there will be a lot of repercussions.

Sun

Summertime is our opportunity to be outside, work out and store up vitamin D to protect us from the fall/winter months (aka flu season). Unfortunately, due to all the rain this summer, most people are deficient in vitamin D and have not been outside as much loading up vitamin D for the fall. I have a bad feeling that if people do not build up their vitamin D levels soon then this fall could be a very bad flu season. It will not be a bad season because the flu is bad, but because people’s bodies are not strong enough to fight off bacteria with suppressed immune systems.

Once September begins, people tend to drink more and cook out more with football season then, October brings Halloween, which includes massive amounts of sugar; November has thanksgiving, which is a gluten bomb to the body, and then the holidays hit us in December with emotional stress. All of this to say, the next 3 months make or break whether you give bacteria a chance to thrive and develop into the flu. Your goal should be to build a titanium immune system over the next 3 months, so you are not laid out and miserable from the flu or other problems going around this time of year.

A 2010 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed dramatic improvement on the immune system with the use of vitamin D and its effect on preventing the flu. Children who were taking 1200 IU (see back label) daily showed a 42% reduction in contracting the flu. There was no correlation to how much a person was taking a day, but the key was making sure her/his serum levels were between 50 – 70 ng/ml. The average adult would need to take 8000 IUs daily to achieve levels greater than 40 ng/ml, which is why the sun is the best and easiest way to get vitamin D, as we absorb it much faster and do not need as much time. Testing your vitamin D levels can be done through your medical doctor and would be a great action step to complete before October starts.

Choosing a vitamin brand that is whole food based is essential; taking vitamins made of synthetic or artificial materials is damaging to your health. We do not want a healthy action turning into a destructive one, so we have made the process easier for you. Come into the office this week and pick up your bottle of a whole food based source of vitamins D for only $10.

We thank you for taking the time to read our article about the best supplements for the winter months. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or call our office at 404-382-9280.

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What are 3 powerful strategies to anti-aging?

powerful-strategies-to-anti-aging

As someone in the healthcare industry that sees a lot of people from all walks of life everyday I find it fascinating the people who come to the office looking aged and the people who come to the office looking healthy. With roughly 100 trillion cells in our body that are constantly regenerating and replacing themselves it is vital that the blueprint in which these cells replace are from a healthier model. The number 1 factor I see when I look at people who look older than their age comes down to one common factor: stress. Stress from work, poor nutrition, over-training, relationships, and other factors that are rapidly aging their body.

Since we will all age and anti-aging is impossible (until Big Pharma finds a drug for that) then for now we will discuss 3 powerful strategies to aging prematurely.

Strategy 1 – Maximize Sulfur Intake

If you have ever studied “anti-aging” and looked into the research then most of it shows how beneficial sulfur intake will be to the body. Behind calcium and phosphorous, sulfur is the 3rd most abundant mineral in the body which has been overlooked.  Sulfur is found in our muscles, skin, and bones and is also beneficial in keeping protein bonds strong. Within connective tissue and cartilage are proteins that have flexible sulfur bonds. As we age our connective tissue and cartilage lose its elasticity and people will notice their arms and legs becoming sagged, wrinkled skin, and tight joint muscles. People who eat food high in sulfur are increasing the likelihood of maintaining tough protein bonds to decrease their tissue from becoming sagged, wrinkles within the skin, as well as reduced pain from tight joints.

Doctor’s Point – In every meal I am always looking for ways to increase sulfur as my goal is to maintain the bonds with proteins and keep my skin tight. Here are the foods  I eat regularly that are high in sulfur: Kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, garlic, onion, organic pastured eggs, brussel sprouts, , raw cheese, raw grass-fed milk (Amasai). 

Strategy 2 – Get Adjusted

In the reactive World we live in most people tend to only seek chiropractic care when they have neck or back pain. Those who are forward thinkers and live a progressive and proactive life tend to understand the true value of chiropractic and maintaining a healthy nervous system. The brain and spine regulate and coordinate all function in the body and by ruining it with physical workouts, poor posture, sleeping improperly, and lack of maintenance can decrease the communication in the body. I have seen people who eat paleo or primal and work out regularly but they still have significant digestive problems because they had a scoliosis blocking the communication to the digestive tract. I am not saying chiropractic would cure their digestive problem however it would allow their body to function more properly and aid in the digestive process.

When it comes to premature aging the hallmark study for chiropractic came in 2005 with the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation (JVSR). The researchers looked at the level of antioxidants within the body for people who had long term chiropractic care (2 years +), short term chiropractic care, and people who have no chiropractic background. The antioxidant focus was on serum thiols which act to destroy free radicals within the body that speed up aging and show up due to stress. A 2003 study published by the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine showed people with low serum thiol levels had increased sickness and disease. The study in JVSR studying chiropractic and serum thiols demonstrated that people who follow through with long term chiropractic have an increase in serum thiol levels. Chiropractor Dr. Christopher Kent explained: ‘Oxidative stress, metabolically generating free radicals, is now a broadly accepted theory of how we age and develop disease.’

‘Going through life,’ he adds, ‘we experience physical, chemical and emotional stress. These stresses affect the function of the nervous system. We hypothesized that these disturbances in nerve function could affect oxidative stress and DNA repair on a cellular level.’

‘Chiropractic care appears to improve the ability of the body to adapt to stress,’ concluded Kent.

Doctor’s Point – I have been regularly seeing a chiropractor for the past 8 years on a weekly basis. Our office in Atlanta focuses on structural correction meaning it finds where there is abnormal structure in the body and corrects it through specific and unique techniques. I went through this process my first 6 months under chiropractic care to correct the curves within my spine and now I show up for weekly maintenance check-ups which only take 5 minutes. If you are looking for a chiropractor that focuses on structural correction please place your zipcode in the comments section below.

Strategy 3 – Become a MVP

M – Meditate
V – Visualize
P – Purpose

As the technology era keeps progressing and more people sit in front of computers for hours upon hours at a time it is crucial to take time away and relax the body and mind. Some of us keep our body in a state of fight or flight and we wonder why we have difficult sleeping, anxiety, digestive problems, high blood pressure, and other symptoms associated with high levels of stress. A common piece I notice from many successful people that seem very relaxed is how they care for themselves and focus on MVP.

The first step would be meditating and actually calming the body and bringing it’s wave frequency down. This step is difficult for many people as they cannot sit still for more than 5 minutes nor clear their head for 5 seconds. My favorite technique is called Guided Meditation where I sit somewhere quiet, open up YouTube on my phone, put headphones in, and listen to a guided mediation for 5-10 minutes. There are many different ones on YouTube but type in exactly what you want and there is sure to be the right fit for you: guided meditation sleep, guided meditation prosperity, guided meditation relax, and guided meditation awake are a few examples you could use. 

The second step in the MVP process is visualizing. If you ask someone what they DO NOT want for their life they can usually give you a laundry list of things they are not looking for. However, when you ask what they do want very few can be crystal clear. Since the brain is great at seeing and attracting pictures I like to sit for a couple minutes after my meditation and visualize my day and exactly how I want it to show up. I want to see happy and healthy people coming to my office and referring friends and family, my staff excited and pumped to be there to change lives, heading to meals with my wife and discussing our day, building networks within my community of healthy and happy individuals, and powerful workout sessions of constant personal records (PR). Following the meditation I listen to an instrumental song that gets me fired up and allows me to visualize the amazingness that is going to happen in my day.

The final step of MVP is becoming crystal clear on your purpose and analyze your life to see if you are living it. Sit down for a couple hours and write out exactly what your purpose is and see how congruent you are in your daily life with this purpose. It can be difficult to write this out the first time so once you complete this step I would be happy to read it and make any comments. Also, if you would like to see mine as an example then I must first see yours to see how serious you are and then we can go from there. My e-mail is ACohenDC@gmail.com and I can be reached at any time. If you have already written yours it would be great if you can share it in the comments section below for others to have as a reference.

Doctor’s Point – Every morning I spend roughly 10 – 15 minutes getting my day started on the right foot and making sure I am in the right state of mind. If you have trouble remembering there are apps for the phone you can download that remind you of tasks you need to do before going to bed. My favorite is “Way of Life”

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Eating Healthy on a Budget

eating-healthy-on-a-budget

When it comes to discussing nutrition with a client, one of the largest misconceptions I run across as a healthcare provider is the excuse of “eating healthy is too expensive”. This statement is purely false and I would like to show you how eating healthy can be very inexpensive.

The first issue I have when it comes to eating healthy is many people are obsessed with the word “organic”. They feel if the product says organic then it must be healthy. This is completely false and one of the reasons why eating healthy can be expensive. For example, when I go to the grocery stores I will see people with a bill of $400 but they are buying organic oreos, organic animal crackers, organic pizza, organic donuts, etc. They think that by buying these products is healthy because it says organic. Anytime you are buying processed organic food it is going to be much more expensive than the non-organic but still creates a negative impact and drops a bomb of inflammation into your body. Would you feed organic oreos, donuts, or organic pizza to your dog? Why not? If your answer was because it will get sick then think about what that garbage does to the human body. Fortunately for dogs they feel it much faster but for humans we can adapt to those toxins for longer until they build up into some chronic disease.

In order to shop healthy at the grocery store on a budget there are certain steps that must be taken first so we can rule out certain foods.

Step 1: Ingredient List Understanding

One of the areas where I feel grateful to have learned at a young age is how to read ingredient labels and determine what is bad and good.  If the food is not a fruit or vegetable then I am going to look at the ingredient list no matter what the marketing on the front says. Here are items in food that you must stay away from and rule out of your grocery list. If you have some you would like to add please comment on this post so we can work together for a healthier community.

* High fructose corn syrup
* Corn syrup
* Fructose
* Modified corn starch
* Refined wheat flour
* Soy lecithin
* Soy protein isolate
* Aspartame
* Sucralose
* Glucose
* Canola oil

 

Step 2: What To Eat Organic and Non-Organic

When it comes to the food I choose to eat organic vs non-organic I primarily stick to the dirty dozen, meat, fish, and poultry. There are many foods that do not need to be eaten organic but if cost is irrelevant to you then feel free to buy everything organic. For those where cost is important then stick to the following foods being organic no if, and, or but’s.
1) Apples
2) Kale
3) Beef (100% grassfed: USDA organic)
4) Celery
5) Peaches
6) Strawberries
7) Blueberries
8) Nectarines
9) Bell peppers
10) Grapes
11) Lettuce
12) Cherries
13) Fish
14) Chicken (Cage free)

Now that we have our list of organic foods down and what foods to avoid we can go in to the grocery store with an educated mind. Here is an example of what our shopping experience looks like with some of the food we buy and where we buy it from:

Cohen Shopping List

Trader Joes
Boneless chicken breast – Comes in a 4 pack of freeze wrapped chicken
Grassfed Beef Patties – Comes in a 4 pack and still needs to be cooked
Raw Creamy Almond Butter – Great to dip celery or apples for a cheap breakfast
Premade beets – Comes in 4 beets premade and is great to add on a salad
Arugula – Great lettuce for the salad base
Shredded brussel sprouts
Raw blue cheese – Throw this into the salad with brussel sprouts, beets, chicken, and avocado
Himalayan sea salt

Whole Foods
Apples
Bananas
Blueberries
Red bell pepper
Avocado
Kale
Coconut water
Coconut oil
Eggs

I want to give you 3 recipes of easy food to make that is very cost effective and super healthy.

Kale Avocado Salad
3 Avocado
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Red Onion
1 Stalk Kale

Cut up all ingredients and put into a bowl and mash up together.

Paleo Pancakes
4 Eggs
1 scoop flax meal
1 ripe banana
1 scoop raw creamy almond butter (Trader Joes)
Blueberries (optional)

Put all ingredients into a bowl and stir up as this will become your batter. Heat up a pan with coconut oil. Place the batter onto it and let it cook to your liking. If you like blueberries then feel free to add into the mix.

Quinoa Bowl
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
Any veggies you want (jalapeno peppers, onions, mushrooms, squash, and zuchini)

Stir fry vegetables in pan with coconut oil. In pot put quinoa and water. Cover and wait for water to evaporate. Once the water has left the pot than throw all vegetables into a big bowl with quinoa. To season it use Bragg-Apple Cider Vinegar, olive oil, himalayan sea salt, and oregano.

Eating healthy can be easy, inexpensive, and taste great as long as you follow many of the protocols outlined above. Please feel free to share any recipes you have that are cost effective and very healthy.

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