October Newsletter

PAIN IN THE BUTT (OR HIP OR LOW BACK)

In my business I get to be a teacher, a coach, a counselor and a detective, and it’s what makes my job fresh and interesting every day.  Case in point:  male in his late thirties, who has to drive often plus sit at a desk, comes in with a chronic pain in the side of his right hip and butt.  His hip hurts him mostly when he gets out of the car or after sitting for awhile in a chair or the couch.  I do my usually therapy and chiropractic adjusting and he is slowly improving.  Today we review his symptoms and his patterns.  GUESS WHAT?  The pain only occurs when getting out of the car because he always leans to the right with his arm on the console and drives with his left hand.  This puts constant pressure on his right hip and butt. AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  He sometimes crosses his right leg under the left when he’s sitting at home, putting more unnecessary stress on the right hip and butt.  So today is the beginning of some new habits, like not sitting on his leg and sitting evenly in the car with both hands on the wheel.  Sometimes you have to step away and look at the whole scenario to see more clearly.  By the way, if you think I was talking about you, I was.

Chiropractic care revives, invokes and restores what you already have, waiting to be released.  Getting a complete physical examination will help identify the cause of your problem, leading to an effective treatment program that will help you improve your health.

THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH

“Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.”  Mark Twain

“Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder.  Help someone’s soul to heal.  Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”  Rumi

The Four Agreements:  1. Be impeccable with your word.  Speak with integrity.  2. Don’t take anything personally.  3.  Don’t make assumptions.  Express what you truly want.     4.  Always do your best.  It will help you avoid self-judgment and regret.

Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author

INSPIRATION (take a few minutes and watch this)

http://www.leader.co.za/article.aspx?s=43&f=1&a=3090

NUTRITION

WEB MD – DRIVE THRU BREAKFASTS

McDonald’s

Take a pass on McDonald’s Big Breakfast with Hot Cakes. It’ll weigh you down with 1,090 calories, 56 g fat, and 19 g saturated fat — close to the daily limit for this unhealthy fat. Even the biscuit is loaded with saturated fat, topping even the sausage patty or eggs. The sodium hits 2,150 mg, nearly the daily limit.

The Egg McMuffin is a better choice under the golden arches at 300 calories, 12 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, and 2 g fiber. Lean Canadian bacon offers protein and a meaty taste with very little fat. In any restaurant, ask for the nutrition information. Items with some fiber and protein will keep you satisfied for hours. Sodium watchers take note: the Egg McMuffin has 820 mg.  Also, I have it on good authority that McD’s oatmeal is very tasty, with fruit and nuts in it.

Burger King 

Skip the Double Croissan’wich with Double Sausage, which comes in at 700 calories, 49 g fat, 18 g saturated fat, and 1,510 mg sodium. Burger King stacks two sausage patties, double cheese, and fried eggs on a giant buttery croissant bun. This high-calorie, high-fat sandwich contains almost a day’s worth of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

Burger King: Better Bet

The Egg and Cheese Croissan’wich offers fast-food taste at a nutritional cost that many people can afford: 320 calories, 16 g fat, and 7 g of saturated fat. The sodium content may be a tough fit for restricted diets at 690 mg. Eleven grams of protein will help keep you feeling full until lunch

Jack in the Box: Worst Choice

Steer clear of the Sirloin Steak & Egg Burrito with Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa. Jack in the Box loads a flour tortilla with scrambled eggs, steak, greasy hash browns, and cheese. It contains a whopping 821 calories, 50 g fat, and 15 g saturated fat, along with 1,616 mg of sodium. The burrito does provide 38 grams of protein, if you don’t mind eating 50 grams of fat along with it.

Jack in the Box: Better Bet

The Breakfast Jack has better nutrition numbers than many breakfast choices with 283 calories, 11 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, and 16 g of protein to fuel your day. As with most fast-food items, the sodium could be a problem for some at 789 mg. The Breakfast Jack is simply a hamburger bun with fried egg, ham, and American cheese.

Skip Carl’s Jr. for Breakfast

The Breakfast Burger leads an unhealthy parade at Carl’s Jr. It’s a tall stack of beef, egg, bacon, cheese, and hash brown nuggets — adding up to 800 calories, 42 g fat, 15 g saturated fat, and 1,440 mg of sodium. The Loaded Breakfast Burrito adds sausage to the same fatty list of ingredients for equally bad nutrition numbers. French Toast Dips have less saturated fat but too much total fat and calories to be recommended.

Dunkin’ Donuts: Worst Choices

Stay away from the high fat Sausage Egg and Cheese Croissant (690 calories, 48 g fat, 19 g saturated fat, 1,340 mg sodium), as well as the Sausage Egg and Cheese Bagel (690 calories, 35 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, and 1,650 mg sodium).

Dunkin’ Donuts: Better Bets

The Egg and Cheese on an English Muffin sandwich comes in at 320 calories, 15 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 14 g protein, 1 g fiber, and 820 mg of sodium. The protein will help will keep you going strong through the morning. Choose a wheat bagel to bump up the fiber to 5 grams.

Starbucks: Worst Choice

The Cranberry Orange Scone is one of several high-fat, sugary treats at Starbucks that probably won’t keep you full until lunch, despite a hefty calorie count. Indulgences like this icing-topped scone vary in flavorings by restaurant, but any scone is a buttery affair. This one contains 490 calories, 18 g fat, 2 g fiber, and 8 g protein. Note that the saturated fat — 9 grams — is 45% of the daily limit.

Starbucks: Better Bets

The Egg White, Spinach, and Feta Wrap caters nicely to health-conscious commuters in a hurry. It’s easy to eat out of hand and contains just 280 calories, 10 g fat, and 3.5 g of saturated fat. Ample protein (18 g) and fiber (6 g) help keep you full. Oatmeal with a Nut Medley Topping is another good choice at 240 calories. Or try the Greek Yogurt Honey Parfait with 290 calories.

Subway: Worst Choice

The 6″Sunrise Subway Breakfast Melt can be problematic on some low-calorie diets. Turkey, bacon, ham, cheese, and eggs do provide 32 grams of hunger-quenching protein. And the egg white option (seen here) trims some fat. But the total calories and fat run high. The regular version has 470 calories, 17 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat, and a whopping 1600 mg of sodium. The egg white version shaves off 40 calories, 4 g total fat, and 2 g of saturated fat.

 

Subway: Better Bets

The Egg White and Cheese Omelet Muffin Melt Sandwich is a better choice at Subway with 140 calories, 3.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 12 g protein, 490 mg sodium, and 5 g fiber. It comes on a light wheat English muffin for a healthy high-protein, high-fiber, portable meal. Add tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, or other low-cal choices from Subway’s famous spread of toppings to boost the flavor.

 

Benefits of a Healthy Morning Meal

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day — it gives you energy to start the day and is linked to many health benefits. Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast can help give you a nutritionally complete diet, higher in nutrients, vitamins, and minerals; better weight control; improved concentration and performance in the classroom or the boardroom; more strength and energy to engage in physical activity; and lower cholesterol levels.

 

Bottom Line on Breakfast

If you find yourself at a fast-food chain in the morning, always opt for the healthiest breakfast options, or eat a smaller portion and save the other half. You can eat out healthfully, but nothing compares to the numerous breakfast options at home, from an egg and whole-wheat toast to a whole-grain breakfast parfait with fruit and yogurt. Short on time? Pack it the night before and take it along with you.

 

September Health news

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO IMPROVE YOUR WELL-BEING?

You certainly know that exercise will help improve your physical fitness, but are you aware that it will also improve your mood, reduce anxiety and produce an overall sense of well-being?  A recent article in the Berkeley Wellness Letter talked about physical activity helping relieve depression, by boosting your nervous system chemicals such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin.  Creating a slight rise in body temperature from exercise could provide a calming and pleasurable effect.  Some types of exercise can help serve as a distraction or “time-out” from your daily concerns and anxieties.  Some types of exercise can give you a sense of control and accomplishment.

The key to exercising regularly and enjoying it is to 1) getting out of the house and into the company of others.  Isolation contributes to depression, but being with others generally helps to lift our spirits; 2) pick an activity that you will enjoy, or add listening to audio books or music while exercising; 3) challenge yourself just enough to start sweating and you feel your heart rate is elevated.  This can elevate those hormones (mentioned above) that give you the feeling of well-being.  Remember, muscles are meant to move, and the benefits are far-reaching.

MAY I REMIND YOU…..

You cannot expect to sit, stand, or drive for long periods of time and not end up with tight muscles, which in turn, if not stretched or relaxed, will go into spasm eventually (much to your surprise, of course).  It happened to 4 patients this week; didn’t do anything except bend over, get up out of bed, and lift her child up into her lap.  If you haven’t been in for your tune-up recently, I bet it’s time.  Call and make an appointment today, before you have to crawl in.

FOUR KEY VITAMINS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT

From the September newsletter To Your Health

Please notice that there is a variety of foods that help you meet all your daily requirements, so don’t be restrictive in your diet.

Vitamin A plays an important role in vision, bone growth, reproduction, and cell division. Adequate amounts of vitamin A help to regulate the immune system and protect against infections by producing the white blood cells that destroy harmful bacteria and viruses. Dietary sources: Carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, eggs, milk.

Vitamin C: As you probably already know, a daily dose of vitamin C is one of your easiest and most effective weapons against illness. Vitamin C’s profound ability to protect cells from free radical damage can help lower your risk of various diseases and conditions, while improving iron absorption to promote healthy blood cells. Dietary sources: Fruits and vegetables, particularly cantaloupe, citrus fruits, berries, broccoli, green and red peppers, tomatoes and winter squash.

Vitamin D is actually a hormone the body creates naturally from diet and sunlight. It is vital for maintaining a strong immune system, regulating inflammation, assisting in calcium absorption, and decreasing the risk of chronic diseases. Since vitamin D promotes calcium absorption and enables normal mineralization of bone, it is needed for healthy bone growth and remodeling. Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle or misshapen. Dietary sources: Fatty fish, cheese, egg yolks, fortified foods.

Vitamin E helps to prevent blockages in the coronary arteries. Additionally, vitamin E acts as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent to protect the liver, which can metabolize and excrete some forms of vitamin E. Antioxidants such as vitamin E effectively protect cells from free-radical damage, which contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and other serious health conditions. Dietary sources: Nuts, seeds, vegetables oils (soybean, canola, etc.), green leafy vegetables.

THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. – Peter Drucker

We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone … and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something. – Sandra Day O’Connor

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.  – Napoleon Hill

Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. – Vince Lombardi

Teamwork is neither “good” nor “desirable.” It is a fact. Wherever people work together or play together they do so as a team. Which team to use for what purpose is a crucial, difficult and risky decision that is even harder to unmake. Managements have yet to learn how to make it. – Peter F. Drucker

HUMOR

Aug/Sep Newsletter

Hi, and blessings to you all.  It’s been pretty busy the last 3 weeks, but I wanted to a least give you a short glimpse of what we did in Haiti.  This is a link to a video of the kids singing at the end of the week, plus some pictures.  I am going to assemble a short collection of pictures from the several hundred pictures taken by everyone during the trip and then share them with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R38D6NPx7WQ  I would say briefly that it was very sobering being there, a sad, oppressive, dark and hopeless country, for the most part.  There were flashes of light and laughter occasionally, however.

NUTRIENT OF THE MONTH

I’d like to revisit potassium and share with you all the reasons you must have a potassium-rich diet.  It helps lower your blood pressure and is linked to a 21% reduced risk for a stroke.  People who have a potassium-rich diet tend to eat better, overall.  According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, you want to take in around 4700 milligrams of potassium a day, and vegetables, fruits, beans, dairy products, fish and nuts are very good sources.  Specifically, this means eating baked potatoes with skin on, spinach, avocado, halibut or tuna, white beans, yogurt, sweet potato, squash, lima beans, broccoli and other vegetables.  Remember that it is better to “eat” your vitamins than to take supplements, when you can.

Costs of Falls Among Older Adults

In 2000, falls among older adults cost the U.S. health care system over $19 billion dollars. With the population aging, both the number of falls and the costs to treat fall injuries are likely to increase.

How big is the problem?

• One in three adults age 65 and older falls each year.^1,2
• Of those who fall, 20% to 30% suffer moderate to severe injuries that make it hard for them to get around or live independently, and increase their risk of early death.³
• Older adults are hospitalized for fall-related injuries five times more often than they are for injuries from other causes.³
• In 2009, emergency departments treated 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults; more than 582,000 of these patients had to be hospitalized.⁴

How are costs calculated?

The costs of fall-related injuries are often shown in terms of direct costs.

• Direct costs are what patients and insurance companies pay for treating fall-related injuries. These costs include fees for hospital and nursing home care, doctors and other professional services, rehabilitation, community-based services, use of medical equipment, prescription drugs, changes made to the home, and insurance processing.⁵
• Direct costs do not account for the long-term effects of these injuries such as disability, dependence on others, lost time from work and household duties, and reduced quality of life.

How costly are fall-related injuries among older adults?

In 2000, the total direct medical costs of all fall injuries for people 65 and older exceeded $19 billion: $0.2 billion for fatal falls, and $19 billion for nonfatal falls.⁶  

• By 2020, the annual direct and indirect cost of fall injuries is expected to reach $54.9 billion (in 2007 dollars).⁵
• Among community-dwelling older adults, fall-related injury is one of the 20 most expensive medical conditions.⁷
• In 2002, about 22% of community-dwelling seniors reported falling in the previous year.  Medicare costs per fall averaged between $9,113 and $13,507.⁸
• Among community-dwelling seniors treated for fall injuries, 65% of direct medical costs were for inpatient hospitalizations; 10% each for medical office visits and home health care, 8% for hospital outpatient visits, 7% for emergency room visits, and 1% each for prescription drugs and dental visits. About 78% of these costs were reimbursed by Medicare.⁷
• In a study of people age 72 and older, the average health care cost of a fall injury totaled $19,440, which included hospital, nursing home, emergency room, and home health care, but not doctors’ services.⁹

Age and sex

• The costs of fall injuries increase rapidly with age.⁶
• In 2000, the costs of both fatal and nonfatal falls were higher for women than for men.¹⁰
• Medical costs in 2000 for women, who comprised 58% of older adults, were two to three times higher than for men.⁶

WHAT TO DO?  Why, the exercise I always tell you to do; the 1- legged knee bends.  Stand on one leg, preferably barefoot, and slightly bend your knee and then straighten it again.  Slowly and easily, repeat this move until your leg becomes tired.  Stop and repeat with the other leg.  This is a simple exercise that will help you improve your balance and reduce your risk of falling.

THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH

 

“Real adulthood is the result of two qualities: self-discipline and self-reliance.  The process of developing them together in balance is called maturing.”   J.W. Jepson

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.  The people who get on in this world are they who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”    George Bernard Shaw

“The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.  You have to catch up with it yourself.”  Benjamin Franklin

“Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves.  For all external sources of happiness and pleasure are, by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral, and subject to chance.”     Arthur Schopenhauer

This is just mind boggling.  If there was any doubt that the world has passed me by, this clears it all up.   A 3D Printer !!!        

This printer is used in “parts, assemblies, tools, packaging & containers” designs, for example plastic water bottles, before they actually manufacture the bottles. The designers have almost unlimited possibilities to design a 3D model of practically any object, print a 3D prototype to test in real life applications before the object is manufactured! 

and, NO, it is not made by Xerox!!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw