Where to look if your health is stuck

It’s not unusual for one’s perspective on their personal health to change at different points in his or her life. For some there is indifference, frustration, and reactivity. For others there is clarity, deep involvement, proactivity, and even identity.

Each person has their own “health documentary.” Typically it’s a blend of factors that include your health history, family’s eating habits, psychological health, environmental factors, financial pressures, value systems, and other lifestyle habits.

I want you to pause and think about how you engage with your own health and possibly your family’s health. Do you think about the future of your health? Is it your responsibility or is it a transaction to be had with a doctor at a perfunctory check up? Are you competent enough to embrace your own inner doctor barring some critical situations?

You may be familiar with the term functional medicine. Functional medicine was born out of necessity. It is a systems-based approach that looks to reverse disease by identifying the drivers and causes. This form of personalized medicine is practiced by M.D.’s, D.C’s, D.O’s, Naturopathic doctors and a host of adjunct practitioners. Allopathic or conventional healthcare accels in acute situations and provides disease management. Where it is lacking is disease prevention and health optimization. If you only treat symptoms, people want pills. Show people the root cause and they will demand a fix.

For the most part you do not catch disease. You build it through life exposure, sometimes referred to as the exposome. The exposome is a collection of environmental factors, such as stress and diet, to which an individual is exposed and which can have an effect on health.

Let’s get back to your health. Imagine that you just landed in your body. Time for an appraisal. Can you move well? How do you feel? What’s your emotional and mental state? Is it a fixer-upper or does it require just some basic maintenance?

Perhaps you want to take a closer look at your physiology and chemistry by running predictive lab work. But before you even seek out a doctor, what is in your immediate control? Your lifestyle choices! Let’s touch on a few.

I. Manage stress wisely

Stress is a ubiquitous part of life that affects us all. Stress can have a profound effect on your gut. There is ample evidence that many chronic metabolic diseases start in the gut. Exposure to prolonged stress alters brain-gut interactions, ultimately leading to the development of a broad array of psychological and GI disorders.

II. Focus on nutrition

Food is one of the most effective tools for bringing balance to your body. When we optimize our diets we see improvements in detoxification, energy and metabolic health. We are a society in a chronically fed state. Too much processed foods derail our metabolism. Eating low-carb and the occasional keto cycle can retrain your metabolism and provide a necessary reboot.

III. Intermittent fasting

Our high school biology teachers failed to mention that fasting is not only a evolutionary skill , but also the best way to activate your body’s own “house cleaning” systems. It’s referred to as autophagy and it promotes healthy cell cycles and deep cellular detoxification. When paired with a proper diet it can help balance blood sugar, prune the microbiome, and build metabolic flexibility. Metabolic flexibility means your body can use protein, fats and carbohydrates efficiently.

VI. Exercise

Physical activity has endless possibilities. Research shows that we get the best results when we mix up our routines and change how we stress our bodies.

Fasted- cardio in the morning can help support healthy blood sugar and utilize body fat for fuel. (2-3 times per week)

Post-meal activity can put circulating blood sugar to work. This is 20-40 minute walks a few times a week after lunch or dinner.

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a great way to work your metabolic machinery and increase insulin sensitivity (2 hours per week total)

Strength training you can’t go wrong having a higher proportion of muscle to fat mass ratio. Free weights, body weight, resistance bands all work well. (3 X per week 20-30 mins)

This article does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Behavior Change - Rocket Powered Healing

We live in a fast-paced demanding world. It’s not unusual for us to create habits and even routines that help with the decision fatigue and a constant barrage of responsibilities. Some of these habits are by design and others just a default pattern. In some ways we are in “self preservation” mode.

Let me ask you – How many minutes per year do you spend on “habit change,” or “decision making.” It’s not really something we ponder, but maybe we should. Why? I’d argue that if we don’t we are more likely to go on cruise control and allow subconscious programming to guide our current behaviors. That inner pilot light that’s helping us close the gap on our goals, assess our progress, and change our behaviors grows silent.

So what do we have to do to enhance that inner voice and position ourselves to choose better behaviors? Dan Ariely, is a psychologist that uses a rocket analogy. It’s simple yet profound. Dan’s point is that we must change our environment in a way that reduces friction to make a desired behavior more attainable. Just as a rocket is designed with aerodynamics in mind people can minimize different types of resistance. Once friction has been reduced the rocket needs as much fuel as possible. Fuel in behavioral change is the motivation/energy or incentivizing factors.

Discover & share this Toy Story 4 GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

How do we apply this analogy to actually making better choices. Providing information alone or education is not a good recipe to change a behavioral or a pattern. Changing a person’s mind with information is tough whereas changing someone’s behavior with information is a true test.

Instead we need to take it a step further and reduce friction by changing our internal environment and external environment. If that's true we already have a leg up on the rocket because we have more control over our external environment. Last I checked gravity does not fluctuate therefore it's a constant variable for the rocket scientists to overcome.

However, we have control over the people we choose to be with, the food that we eat, the relationships we foster, our attitudes, the dreams we pursue, and how we respond to our circumstances. And because our behaviors are often irrational it’s imperative we attempt to harness health related irrationality.

Similar to the mind our physical body responds to friction and fuel (here fuel is food, sleep, stress, social determinants, and mental attitudes).

Let’s look at 3 conditions people struggle with and then engineer ways to reduce the friction and fuel a sustained change.

LEAKY GUT

What creates friction?

• Processed foods

• Industrial seed oils

• Multiple courses of antibiotics

• Extended use of Antacids, histamine blockers and PPI’s

• Unknown food intolerances

• Bacterial overgrowth

• Overtraining

• Lack of sleep

How to reduce friction?

• Create weekly meal plans

• Allocate time to create a recipe list

• Limit eating out

• Test your gut

• Look to natural remedies

• Try an elimination diet

• Intermittent fasting

• Utilize a prebiotics and probiotic

Fatty Liver

What creates friction?

• Overeating Leaky gut

• Food intolerance

• Poor bile production

• Poor food choice

• Endotoxins from GI tract

• Alcohol in excess

• Nutrient deficiencies

• High blood sugar Medications

• Bad Oils (seeds oils)

How to reduce friction?

• Portion control

• Eat for gut health

• Liver support

• Eat protein fats and some carbs

• Liver blood work

• Use time-restricted eating Intermittent fasting

• Check thyroid health

Blood sugar and cholesterol problems

What creates friction?

• Processed food consumption

• Calorie surplus and high carb diet

• Excess body weight

• Insulin resistance

• Elevated inflammatory markers

• Genetic predisposition

• Lack of activity

• Emotional eating

• Nutrient deficiencies

How to reduce friction?

• Increase insulin sensitivity

• Liver support

• Eat protein fats and some carbs (Nutritional balance)

• Use time-restricted eating

• Check blood glucose with a glucometer after food (1hr & 2hr)

• Check thyroid health

• Get adequate sleep

What fuels these examples of friction?

• Eating out (especially fast food)

• Lack basic cooking skills

• Poor time management

• Not enough social connection

• Poor sleep hygiene

• Inability to cope with stress

• Inadequate amount of downtime

Fuel to minimize friction?

• An unhealthy gut creates problems elsewhere in the body

• Gut problems may weaken your immune tolerance (autoimmune)

• Gut problems may shift hormonal balance (i.e. PCOS, Cancer)

• A dysfunctional gut suppresses our detox pathways

• Leaky gut may interfere with your metabolism

What fuels these example of friction?

• Disconnection from food choice and disease

• Hyper-palatable foods (i.e. potato chips, pizza)

• Ignoring constipation

• Alcohol addiction

• Not enough social connection

• Lack of plants and animal products

• Pill for every ill mentality

• Oblivious to your lipid levels

Fuel to minimize friction?

• We tend underestimate our dietary calories

• Comprised liver leads to inflammation in the joints as well as the brain

• Inflammation is linked to poor liver function

• Liver health is directly connected to disease risk

• A dysfunctional liver impairs our detox pathways

• Liver can be compromised by 90% without a warning signs

What fuels these examples of friction?

• Hyper-palatable foods (i.e. potato chips, pizza)

• Giving in to cravings

• Disregarding weight gain

• Sugary drinks

• Excessive snacking

• Limited information from your doctor

• Relying on basic lipid panels and subpar labs from a annual physical
  
  Fuel to minimize friction?

• Diseases associated with insulin resistance includes obesity, cardiovascular disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS)

• Gradual increase of physical activity and energy expenditure

• Liver can be compromised by 90% without a warning signs

• A dysfunctional liver impairs our detox pathways.

• Sleep is necessary appropriate metabolic function

You may have noticed some of the overlap and redundancies, but that’s because there is an interplay going on in all these conditions. What’s going on in the gut directly affects the liver and both organs affect the cardiovascular system all the way down to each individual cell.

Leaky gut, fatty liver and blood sugar/cholesterol problems put a tremendous burden on the healthcare system and can subtract years of good health from just about anyone. Don’t fret because lifestyle modification should be the primary focus for treating any of these conditions.

The body is interconnected, complex, but also self healing. For example the The Diabetes Prevention Program and its Outcomes Study (DPP & DPPOS) demonstrated A 7% weight loss reduced the onset of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) by 58%. The best treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver is weight reduction and correcting leaky gut and restoring immune tolerance can be done through shifts in diet, diagnostic testing, and targeted supplement protocols.

Given the importance of patient participation in healthcare decisions you deserve sufficient time and treatment solutions that require some self-management other than guzzling down a pill. It’s time to move away from the old “ diagnose and adiós” mentality. Never underestimate the changes you can make by learning about your health and assessing your habits. This exciting shift puts you in the driver’s seat of your life.

I’ll leave you with this, we don’t always do what’s in our own best long-term interest. With that in mind what will you do differently? Can you identify areas of friction and find your source of fuel?

Emptying the Dishwasher. Exposing a Lost Art.

When, how often and how we move has a profound impact on our health. The frequency and duration of movement affects our metabolism and how much fat we burn. It’s literally silencing hundreds of genes and activating others. Motion through the spine in tandem with a healthy cardiovascular system ensures that cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) moves through the ventricles in your brain and supplies the spinal cord with nutrients while removing waste.

Motion promotes joint and muscle health, which in return may keep pain at bay. Moving activates stabilizer muscles and helps balance overall muscle tone. Paying attention to our body mechanics promotes brain plasticity and strengthens new movement/motor circuits.

Movement can be used to help us regulate emotional states. It can help us regulate the autonomic nervous system (flight or flight vs rest and digest). The large majority of Americans are bombarded with stress and experience a hyperactive sympathetic response - exercise and motion is a great way to put the adrenaline and cortisol to good use.

So where does emptying the dishwasher come in? I have caught myself thinking about this a handful of times while emptying my own dishwasher. I’ve experienced that my own conditioned movements inadvertently put me in a less than ideal posture. We create “default neural networks” which means that the brain gets good at using certain pathways. This is especially true with our movement patterns.

A task as mundane as emptying the dishwasher seems like it would serve very little value. However, like most of our daily movements they have become automatic or predetermined if you will. Whenever we move we are either “ gaining ground or loosing it.” In other words, we are training healthy engaged movement patterns or causing harm.

I’ll be the first to admit that unloading the dishwasher is not Thai Chi or yoga for matter. These forms of exercise require precise “conscious movement.” However, I would encourage you to take a more mindful approach next time you fill or empty the dishwasher. Go through the whole process with awareness. This way you will witness how the whole body works together while gaining a better sense of structure and posture. From start to finish you will bend, flex, reach, push, pull, lift, rotate, look up, look down and hopefully get a few breaths in.

Think about a few things:

1. Are you bending your knees and hinging at the hips or straining your low back?

2. Is your weight evenly distributed or do you dump weight into one leg and or even a specific spot on the sole of your foot?

3. Are your upper trap muscles and neck tight with your head jutting out over your chest?

4. Is your upper body squared off or are you cockeyed?

5. When you reach to put away dishes is your core limp or activated. Does your arm elevate or does your whole shoulder move with it?

6. Are you tuned in to what muscles are activated? Do you know what your posture looks like as you transition between sorting the cutlery and sliding the racks back into place?

7. Are you moving in a conscious matter or allowing for poor body mechanics due to muscle imbalances, prolonged static postural stress, lack of movement variety and overall sedentary lifestyle.

Are you familiar with the statement “where the mind goes the body follows?” This simple concept of body awareness and our power to create and change is an active process. Today it’s not part of our normal routine to set aside some energy to restore healthy movement patterns. At any moment we are presented with an opportunity to cultivate more engagement and check-in with how we move.

A little bit of extra effort and examination on how we move may be the very thing that negates the need to pop some ibuprofen, saves you a trip to your ortho, keeps you in the gym, or even allows you to hold your grandchild without aches and pains. I’d gently implore you to pay a little more attention.

Emotional Vulnerability: Take care of your body to take care of your mind

Unmitigated stress can hurt your health

Our mind, body, and soul are all interconnected. How we treat our bodies has a major impact on our minds and our soul, and vice versa. It’s important to know how we are contributing to our emotional vulnerability. Life is hard. Emotions are raw and real. It’s important to understand how you may be contributing to your emotional vulnerability.

What is vulnerability?

Vulnerability is the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. In other words, when we leave a vulnerability unattended, we are opening the door to being physically and emotionally harmed.

Often when we feel emotionally vulnerable, we are in a state of mind called “Emotion Mind”. Emotion Mind is when our emotions run rampant, we engage in mood-dependent behavior and our “emotions get the best of us.” Emotional distress can be reduced by decreasing factors that make us more vulnerable to negative emotions and moods.

To increase your emotional resilience to negative or undesired emotions, think PLEASE.

PL: Treat PhysicaL Illness- Being sick lowers your resistance to negative emotions. The healthier you are, the more likely you’ll be able to regulate your emotions. When you are injured, observe the urge to “just wait it out.” Often times we may think, “I should be able to power through this,” or “it’ll get better on it’s own.” See a doctor, chiropractor, dermatologist, or a specialist when needed. Reflect on what interferes with you attending to your physical illness and work toward problem solving the barriers.

E: Balanced Eating- Focus on eating balanced meals that make you feel good and avoid eating foods that upset your stomach or make you feel lethargic. Be mindful about urges to engage in emotional eating or eating out of boredom. Both eating too much and excessive dieting can increase your vulnerability to Emotion Mind. Research indicates that “self-imposed diets” show negative effects of eating too little. In other words, the more you restrict your food intake, the more likely you are to binge eat or having psychological problems (preoccupation with food/eating, increased emotionality and dysphoria, and distractibility). When you eat balanced and nutritional foods, you are less likely to have emotional control.

A: Avoid Mood Altering Substances: Alcohol and other substances, like certain foods, can lower resistance to negative emotions. Stay off illicit drugs and use alcohol in moderation. All substances, including caffeine and nicotine, increases our emotional vulnerability. Some of us may not feel an increase in emotional vulnerability while under the influence, rather experience Emotion Mind the days after.

S: Balanced Sleep: An increasing amount of research indicates that lack of sleep is related to a wide variety of emotional difficulties. Sleep is often undervalued in our culture. As a society, we are busy and constantly getting things done that we tend to slack on getting to bed at a decent hour. For people who work long hours, are single parents, are taking care of their loved ones, we tend to put sleep on the backburner. Maybe 11pm at night is the only “me” time you have, and you really want to catch up on the show. The thing about sleep is, we can’t “catch up” on it. There is no “making up for lost sleep.” Making sure you get the amount of sleep that feels right for you and your body is one of the most important variables to overall emotional well-being. Some people need 7 hours and other people know 10 hours. It’s also important to maintain a sleep routine, especially if you have difficulty sleeping. How much sleep do you need?

E: Get Exercise: Aerobic exercise, done consistently, is an antidepressant. Not only is exercise great for our our physical health, it’s great for our emotional well-being. Try and get some type of exercise every day. 20-30 minutes of cardio a day can increase emotional resilience. When your body is strong and healthy, you are less likely to slip into Emotion Mind and will feel less vulnerability overall. If you are new to exercising, build mastery. Start with 10 minutes and slowly increase the amount of time. Find a workout that is FUN that you WANT to get up and attend. You are more likely going to engage in physical activity if you are doing something that you look forward to. For some of us, that won’t be going to the gym for 1 hour. It may be running outdoors, spin class, yoga, dance classes, and other group classes (group classes are great for meeting people!)

Today’s guest blogger is Marissa Colangelo. Marissa Colangelo is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with Compass Behavioral Health, specializing in treating adolescents and adults with emotion dysregulation, primarily personality disorders, anger, depression, impulsivity, substance abuse, and anxiety.

Are you the CEO of Your Health and how does Chiropractic care fit

Running a results-driven chiropractic office is less about gadgets and more about providing potent corrective care. It’s more about clinical diagnosis and less concerned with e-stim, massage guns, and pulsed compression sleeves for leg recovery. Through my lens we deal with people and their multi-dimensional struggles. 

If you have suffered an injury we can look at it on three levels. The external level, which equates to the pain, soreness, and the physical extension of the issue. The second part is the internal component. How has this injury manifested from an emotional standpoint? Are you scared, frustrated, anxious, or even apathetic? Lastly philosophically speaking what does it mean to you? Are you dumbfounded that this has happened to you? Do you think you deserve to be aligned and healthy? Are you in a position to look after yourself?

Patients often look to their D.C.s as a primary source of healthcare when helping their children with sports-related injuries. Equally pertinent, are the high number of patients that look to chiropractic treatments after all other avenues have proved ineffective. It’s why taking a thorough history on every new patient and performing an in-depth evaluation is a critical component for any clinician working on neuromuscular issues.

Patient’s present across a spectrum from simple injuries to complex polygenic illness.

At a time where:

2/3 of American adults are overweight,

7/10 Americans take at least one prescription drug,

45 % of the population have at least 1 chronic disease

35 % of Americans are inactive (no regular physical activity),

44% admit to feelings of increased stress over the last 5 years

4/5 Americans are  undiagnosed pre-diabetic or diabetic (insulin resistant)

The large majority has no idea how to tailor eating to optimize their health

The bodies natural ability to function and  heal is being suppressed. Chiropractic is grounded in this idea of lifestyle based medicine. As a clinician it’s my goal to help boost a patient’s wherewithal to look after themselves. In addition to adjusting the joints we act as guides providing accountability when it comes to exercise, reexamining a patient’s eating habits, or informing them on the efficacy of cryotherapy, use of CBD, or other relevant research

Speaking of research, here are two interesting  summaries on new literature that provide additional insights into the nervous system

SCIATICA

• More than 5 million cases of sciatica are seen annually in the US
• Animal studies have uncovered activation of the immune system linking it to neuro-inflammation beyond the brain
• A combination of diagnostic imaging (MR and PET) in a human study shows increased inflammation in the brain, spinal cord, and nerve roots that correspond with the effected leg.
• One of the first human studies to demonstrate evidence of an inflammatory process happening at the nerve root.
  (Journal reference #1)

LEG EXERCISE

• Groundbreaking research shows that neurological health depends as much on signals sent by the body's large, leg muscles to the brain as it does on signals from the brain to the muscle. The brain is receiving direct input from the muscles throughout the body.
• In animal studies, it was demonstrated that limiting the physical activity, specifically the hind legs, led to a 70% decrease in neural stem cells compared to a control group in mice.
• Cutting back on exercise makes it difficult for the body to produce new nerve cells -- some of the very building blocks that allow us to handle stress and adapt to challenge in our lives.

• Quote from Lead researcher
  "It is no accident that we are meant to be active: to walk, run, crouch to sit, and use our leg muscles to lift things," says Adami. "Neurological health is not a one-way street with the brain telling the muscles 'lift,' 'walk,' and so on." -Dr. Raffaella Adami 

(Journal Reference # 2)

REFERENCES

1. Daniel S. Albrecht, Shihab U. Ahmed, Norman W. Kettner, Ronald J.H. Borra, Julien Cohen-Adad, Hao Deng, Timothy T. Houle, Arissa Opalacz, Sarah A. Roth, Marcos F. Vidal Melo, Lucy Chen, Jianren Mao, Jacob M. Hooker, Marco L. Loggia, Yi Zhang. Neuroinflammation of the spinal cord and nerve roots in chronic radicular pain patients. PAIN, 2018; 159 (5): 968 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001171

2. Raffaella Adami, Jessica Pagano, Michela Colombo, Natalia Platonova, Deborah Recchia, Raffaella Chiaramonte, Roberto Bottinelli, Monica Canepari, Daniele Bottai. Reduction of Movement in Neurological Diseases: Effects on Neural Stem Cells Characteristics. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2018; 12 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00336