5/31/2016 0 Comments Healthy BoundariesBe true to what you want and what is best for you. Don't put others wishes ahead of your own well-being. Knowing what you want sounds easy, but it's not always so clear. You have to listen honestly to your heart. No one else knows what is best for you, no matter how certain they feel about what you should do. All of their "shoulds" are a reflection of things THEY need to learn, not you. If someone is trying to change you, you can politely take it under advisement, but you always make your own choice. We all choose based on what we are ready to learn next. There are no wrong choices.
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5/26/2015 4 Comments Proteins and DietAmericans generally eat more protein that they require to repair tissue support metabolism. Excess protein is uses as an energy source and if not needed will be stored as fat. The building blocks of proteins are amino acids. Your body can make most amino acids, but it cannot manufacture a few, so it is essential to get them from your diet. These are called the "essential amino acids" (AAs), You should eat all of the essential (AAs) each day, but it is not necessary to have them all at one meal. You can easily get most of the essential AAs even if you are vegetarian or vegan. However, there are two AA's that are more challenging to obtain from vegetable sources; L-Lysine and L-methionine. These two amino acids are abundant in meat, but not in veggies/fruits. L-Lysine increases the intestinal absorption of calcium and eliminates its excretion by the kidney, suggesting that it might be helpful in osteoporosis. L-Lysine plays a major role in building muscle protein and tissue repair. It is essential in the production of hormones, enzymes and antibodies. L-Lysine has been investigated for its effects on lowering glucose, and improving anxiety. L-Methionine is responsible for supplying sulfur and other elements used for metabolism and growth. Existing conditions, including allergies, liver conditions or urinary tract infections, can lead to a higher rate of use of L-methionine by the body, which is why it is necessary to consume more foods which contain this amino acid. Deficiency of L-methionine can cause or exacerbate depression and allergies and lead to an excess of toxins. Low intakes of L-methionine during pregnancy have been associated with neural tube defects in newborn children. Excessive amounts of methionine in the diet may increase blood cholesterol levels, which could lead to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. This effect appears to be present especially if there is an inadequate intake of folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. As L-methionine is fairly soluble, foods containing L-methionine shouldn’t be boiled or soaked for too long, as this can result in significant amounts being washed out, leaving only a small amount for the body to absorb. PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS: Babies need about 10 grams a day School-age kids need 19-34 grams a day Teenage boys need up to 52 grams a day Teenage girls need 46 grams a day Adult women 46 grams a day Adult men 56 grams a day PROTEINS PER SERVING: Meat (any animal) - 85 grams (3 oz serving, size of a deck of cards) Egg - 6 grams (50g per large egg) Rice and beans - 21grams (16 oz serving, 1 cup) Quinoa - 24 grams (6 oz servin, 1 cup) L-LYSINE REQUIREMENTS: About 2.5 grams / 100 lb / day METHIONINE Requirements About 1 gram / 100 lb / day GOOD SOURCES OF BOTH L-Lysine and L-Methionine Eggs Dairy Legumes GOOD VEGETABLE SOURCES OF L-Lysine Pistachios Amaranth Quinoa GOOD SOURCES OF L-Methionine: Meat, fish and dairy products Nuts, especially Brazil nuts Sesame seeds Soya beans Some Vegetables can also CONTRIBUTE to an adequate supply of L-methionine: Potatoes Broccoli Spinach Oranges Avocados Sprouts References:
4/20/2015 4 Comments Foot PainHeel Pain / Plantar Fascitis / Plantar FasciosisThe most common cause of foot pain in the heel and foot pain in the arch. Plantar fasciitis occurs when the thick fibrous band of tissue that connects from your heel to your toes (plantar facsia) becomes weak, irritated or swollen. Foot muscle imbalance can also cut off the blood supply to tendons causing cell death or plantar fasciosis. It has been reported that plantar fasciitis occurs in two million Americans a year and 10% of the population over a lifetime. Cause: Foot muscle weakness and imbalance. Several causes including wearing shoes that don’t fit well or are worn out. BunionsA pathological bump on the side of the big toe caused by an enlargement of bone or tissue around the joint. With a bunion, you may experience irritated skin around the bunion, pain when walking, joint redness and pain, and possible shift of the big toe toward the other toes. Blisters may form more easily around the site of the bunion as well. Cause: Weak abductor and adductor muscles on the inside and outside of the foot. Depending on factors such as duration of wearing constraining footwear, skeletal maturity, and individual factors, the toes can become adapted to the new position and lead to the deformity we know as a bunion. Genetics can also play a role in developing bunions. Hammer toes
MetatarsalgiaAn imbalance in the long bones of the foot that can cause extreme foot pain in the ball of feet. Cause: Sports that place tremendous pounding on the ball of the foot; shoes with small toe boxes that cramp your toes. Most, if not all, of the above foot pain issues can arise by not wearing proper shoes and not using preventative steps in foot care. Corns & Callouses
Ingrown ToenailThe sides or corners of the toenail usually curve down and put pressure on the skin. Sometimes the toenail pierces the skin and then continues to grow into the skin. This may cause redness, swelling, pain and sometimes infection.
Cause: Many factors can cause ingrown toenails, one being tight or narrow shoes (poorly fitted shoes) 2/19/2015 1 Comment Four Types of StressFour Types of Stress - Most people think of stress as emotional. But there are four types of stress: Emotional, Physical, Chemical and Thermal. To your body, all stress goes on the same pile. The higher the pile, the more likely your chance of becoming ill. The body's response to stress will not necessarily be where you expect it. It will hit you in your Achilles's heel - wherever you are weakest. You may have tight shoulders or low back pain. You may catch the flu or even get cancer. Understanding the source of stress is the first step in reducing the size of the stress pile.
1.) Emotional Stress - Emotional anxiety is most harmful to the body when it is unrelenting. If there is no outlet for the tension, the stress builds like steam in a pressure cooker. A difficult work environment, financial worries or the loss of a loved one can push your body into "Fight or Flight" mode. The more stressful the situation the more it will add to the stress pile. Emotional stress may be difficult to reduce because of life circumstances. But look for ways to "simplify, simplify, simplify" as Thoreau said. 2.) Physical stress - Examples of physical stress include lack of sleep, poor posture, falls, car accidents or lack of exercise. Physical stress most often effects muscles, tendons, and bones. But a physical stress can also effect organ systems. For example, if a "pinched nerve" in the spine interferes with the brain signal sent to the stomach saying "YOU ARE FULL!" then you might overeat! Physical stress is relatively easy to detect and can be corrected with adequate rest, exercise, massage therapy and chiropractic care. 3.) Chemical Stress - Toxins are all around us. Pollution, food additives, pesticides, cleaning supplies, personal products and even medication may contain chemicals that poison your body to one degree or another. Poor diet is also a chemical stress because you don't have the building blocks your body needs. If we can identify toxins then we can often avoid them. Eating a healthy diet will also help your body eliminate toxins. See the blog posts for "Hormone Disruptors" and "Green Smoothies". 4.) Thermal Stress - A less common stress occurs when the body becomes overheated or chilled. Usually, thermal stress is short-term, since the body has a built-in thermostat to help adapt to the environment. However, thermal stress can cause life-threatening overheating, dehydration and exposure. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to the effects of thermal stress. Thermal stress is often hard to detect unless you are aware of the signs. One sign everyone should know: If someone ever says ”This the worst headache I've ever had” on a hot day think heat stroke and call 911. De-Stress - Once you become aware of the sources of stress, you can create a plan to reduce the size of your stress pile.
© 2012 Kelley Chiropractic and Wellness 1/6/2015 1 Comment Cancer and SpiritA patient with lung cancer recently asked my advice about alternative cancer treatment. The following is a summary of what I shared with her. It includes research-based advice on diet and prayer. Reference links are highlighted.
One important point: To me, if you have cancer, it's an indication that you are ready to learn deep life lessons: What is the meaning of my life? What is most important to me? Why am I here? People on a spiritual path are often drawn to making healthy choices in terms of diet, exercise and creating balance in their lives. So, if you have been diagnosed with cancer, it is an opportunity to focus on what's important and a chance to make healthy physical and spiritual changes. Congratulations! I will be saying prayers for you. Research: Maintaining a slightly alkaline body pH creates an inhospitable environment for cancer cells. Controlling pH in your body is extremely important to healthy homeostasis (balance). A poor diet produces an acidic environment (pH <7) in your body. The best way increase the alkalinity (>7) of your body is to eat a plant-based diet, with loads of greens and very low sugar including fruit sugar. Drinking fresh lemon water also increases the alkalinity of your body. After a diagnosis of cancer, you may be motivated to get very serious about eating healthy. In order to maximize the amount of nutrition you are able to consume you can remove most of the fiber through juicing fruits and vegetables. You can also make greens and fruit smoothies which makes the beneficial fiber very available to the good bacteria in your intestines. See my earlier blog post on smooties for a recipe. Research - Vegetable and fruit consumption and reduced lung cancer risk. very high quality, nutrient dense organic fruits and vegetables. In addition to the known vitamins, foods contain micronutrients that facilitate the action of vitamins. Manufactured supplements do not contain micronutrients. Specifically, look at the Gerson Therapy. If I personally was diagnosed with cancer, this is the what I would do to detox the heck out of my body. Research - Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) seems to show promising results in treating some types of cancer. This treatment has shown promising results and, importantly, HBO shows no harm or increased cancer. Research - Psychological Stress and Disease - Stress from any source - emotional, physical, chemical - underlies ALL disease processes. Reduce stress, wherever you can; diet, relationships, self-love, physical exercise. If you undergo chemo, that's a huge stress, so you have to reduce all other stresses as much as you can. Counteract stress with actively seeking out things that help you relax and be happy. Strive to make your life about more than cancer, which is difficult, but critical. Research - Emotions and cancer - Cancer has a way of putting things in perspective. Life is short - for all of us. Love and compassion for yourself and others is the ultimate goal, no matter what the outcome. Work toward completion. Resolve the deep wounds. It can only help. Research - Can prayer heal? Believe it or not, there is research that shows that prayer does heal. Ask everyone you know, to ask everyone they know, to say a prayer for you. Social media is great for this. If you aren't on Facebook, I would join. Energy work - I have some experience with this, giving and receiving as well as working on myself internally. We all have this power and I think it can work miracles. It's not unlike prayer. Angels - I am more spiritual that religious, but I do believe there are beings on another plane that offer us help. Let's call them Angels. I often ask the Angels for guidance using Angel Oracle Cards. You can look at this as a way of Angels offering you a message, or your own inner wisdom speaking to you. The bottom line - it's the same source, right? The important thing is to seek and trust in a higher power. The Amazon link has several different types of Angel Oracle Cards, use your intuition to choose the one that's right for you. With Love, Dr. Kelley 11/6/2014 0 Comments How is Ebola Spread?According to the CDC, to get Ebola, your mucous membranes have to come in direct contact with body fluids (blood, diarrhea, sweat, vomit, urine, semen, breast milk) from someone who is sick with Ebola. Infection can occur at your mouth, nose, eyes or through a break in your skin or through sexual contact. That can happen by being splashed with droplets, or through other direct contact, like touching infectious body fluids.
Precautions you can take include avoiding contact with surfaces that might be contaminated, keeping your hands away from your face and washing your hands frequently. Always good rules anyway, but especially important now. Another strategy is to keep your immune system healthy, by getting moderate regular exercise, eating more vegetables and fruits (note the order), getting plenty of rest and avoiding stress. When stressed, do you become upset; crying or angry? Do you "hold" stress in your shoulders or back muscles? Do you get "tension" headaches? Almost everyone's immune system is weakened by stress, causing us to be susceptible to getting sick. Your body puts all stress, emotional stress, chemical stress and physical stress on the same pile. Even good stress such as a wedding or buying a house will go into the same "stress" bucket. Your body can adapt to a certain amount of stress, but once you reach a certain threshold, the stress will show in whatever areas you are most weak. 8/11/2014 0 Comments Diet and the Autoimmune ResponsePatients who have been diagnosed with an autoimmune diseases such as rhuematoid arthritis often present with joint pain. Xray findings might not indicate any significant bone changes, but may show some sclerosis (arthritis) in the sacroiliac, hand or other joints. This is most likely an indication of systemic inflammation, part of the autoimmune response. My recommendation for patients who have an autoimmune response is to do everything they can to decreases systemic inflammation. Specifically: 1.) Remove toxins from your diet and environment, especially alcohol, which damages the liver's detox ability. 2.) A diet that supports the body's natural detox pathways: lots of whole vegetables especially cruciferous vegetables. Adding fresh lemon to your water helps your liver function and makes your system less acidic. 3.) Exercise that makes you sweat. Your skin is the largest detox organ. 4.) Eat a low or very low glycemic index diet. High or fluctuating blood sugar causes systemic inflammation which has been linked to heart disease and diabetes. 5.) I am not a big proponent of nutritional supplements. They often lack the cofactors that work with vitamins. These micronutrient cofactors are only available in food or whole food supplements. The exception for autoimmune patients is to supplement Omega 3 fatty acid, which is anti-inflammatory. Carlson's Fish Oil is a reliable brand. 6.) Possibly add herbs which decrease inflammation, such as tumeric and ginger. I consider herbs to be close to pharmaceuticals. Use with caution and get advice from a professional herbalist. Greens and Fruit smoothies (see previous blog) are good not only for detoxification but boost overall nutrition because raw nutrients are not destroyed by cooking and are very easily absorbable. Grinding the fiber as in a smoothie, makes the fiber very available to "feed" beneficial gut bacteria. Healthy gut bacteria has been linked to the prevention or treatment of several diseases and the list of diseases is growing. All of these effects are good for your system as a whole, but especially good for your immune system. 5/19/2014 0 Comments Degenerative Disc DiseaseDiscs are KeySpinal discs act as spacers between vertebra. If discs degenerate, the vertebra rub together causing arthritis. Eventually this leads to spinal stenosis or spondylolithesis, which put direct pressure on the spinal cord. This causes pain, weakness and loss of function. Many old people need wheel chairs and lose their bowel and bladder function for this reason. Water, Nutrition, MovementSpinal discs don't have a blood supply. They rely on movement to pull in nutrition and fluid. When a spinal joint becomes stuck, the disc starts to degenerate. We focus on the DiscActivator chiropractic mobilizes and aligns spinal joints restoring normal movement. Cox chiropractic stretches each disc pulling in fluid and nutrition. If the disc isn't too far gone, it can heal. In other words, the degeneration process can be reversed. Kelley Chiropractic is DifferentThe techniques Dr. Kelley uses do not involve spinal twisting or popping and are safe for everyone. Dr. Kelley partners with her patients to reduce the need for repeated visits by recommending exercises to stabilize the spine and lifestyle changes to improve nutrition, hydration and movement.
4/29/2014 0 Comments Green Smoothies I often recommend Greens and Fruit Smoothies as a way to replace empty calories with great nutrition and lots of fiber. Blending raw greens and fruit makes the nutrition very easily absorbable, because it is basically chewing more than you ever could. Since the fruits and vegetables are raw, you maximize the availability of vitamins and micronutrients. Micronutrients are cofactors that work with vitamins. Micronutrients are not usually available in nutritional supplements. You can think of fiber as fertilizer for good gut bacteria (probiotics). Research has shown that people with healthy gut microflora have an easier time maintaining a healthy weight. Those with a lot of “bad” gut bacteria and yeast have trouble with weight gain. Taking probiotic supplements is fine, but growing your own is much better. If you have ever taken a course of antibiotics, or if you routinely eat a lot of sugar or sugary drinks, you probably have too much “bad” bacteria and yeast. Note: Avoid spikes in blood sugar. It is associated with not only diabetes, but heart disease and systemic inflammation. Greens and fruit smoothies (recipe below) also help the liver detoxify chemicals. If a toxin is water soluble it is just flushed from your system. But because many toxins are fat soluble, your body sequesters them away in fat cells to get them out of your blood stream. When you lose fat without detoxifying, your body will object, because you are actually exposing yourself to the effects of toxins. So the last 5 pounds or so is often difficult to lose because the fat is needed to sequester toxins. Another effect of toxins is that it throws off your hormone balance, which will also affect weight. See below for a list of hormone disrupting chemicals “endocrine disruptors”. Endocrine disruptors are preservatives and other chemicals and are often used in personal care products like skin cream and shampoo. For detoxification, I recommend doing a greens and fruit smoothie for breakfast daily for a month. Feel free to have more. Ongoing have a smoothie 2 or 3 times a week to boost nutrition and manage exposure to toxins. Greens and Fruit Smoothie Recipe: In high quality blender or “Nutri Bullet” add:
Ideas for variety in smoothy:
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Top Chemicals to Avoid:
3/26/2014 0 Comments Stand-up DesksHave you heard about the standing desk craze?-- What do you think about it?
I think it’s a fantastic idea. It’s less pressure on the discs of the low back and encourages core strength. Humans are not meant to sit for long periods. Also, standing naturally encourages more movement. I do think that it presents some challenges, especially if one is standing in one spot for a long period, the blood and lymph will tend to pool in the legs, causing swelling and discomfort. The feet are of course going to feel more tired. So in addition to the ergonomics outlined below for the head, shoulders, elbows and wrists; standing ergonomics should also include a softer standing surface that eases foot pain. Standing on a slightly unstable surface such a balance mat will make your back feel great. Why not sit at a desk? Sitting at a desk for hours in a poor chair is asking for back pain. I would say that back muscle spasm due to extended sitting either at a desk or in a car is the root of back pain in about 20-30 of my acute low back patients. The psoas (silent “p”) muscle is often the culprit. It attaches to the front of the low back spine, the front of the pelvis and the medial femur. A psoas spasm usually causes severe low back pain or groin pain. If, say, only the left psoas is in spasm it can wrench the spine, pelvis and hip to that side, exacerbating the problem. Sitting for extended periods with poor posture will also cause increased pressure on spinal discs. Under prolonged or intense pressure the tough exterior of the disc can weaken and bulge like balloon that is being pushed from one side. A weakened disc can also rupture, spilling its internal contents into the surrounding tissue. A disc bulge or ruptured disc tissue can press on nerves causing extreme pain and loss of function. Although these injuries are quite severe, surgery should not be the first choice. Discs can heal with proper care. A disc bulge takes about 6 weeks to heal using the Cox chiropractic technique. For a ruptured disc, the body will eventually eliminate the ruptured tissue, however this may take years. Those with one disc injury are likely to have more. To avoid disc problems, sit properly or avoid sitting if possible, drink plenty of water, get good nutrition, and move and stretch for 5 minutes out of every hour and get the spine aligned regularly via chiropractic care. General Ergonomic Guidelines:
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