Dr. Gerard volunteers his time with the non-profit organization, ChiroMission. In this role and through his own resources, Dr. Gerard travels to promote chiropractic care throughout the world, especially in third world countries like the Dominican Republic, Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, where resources are limited.

Congratulations Dr. Jason Gerard !!!

If you look back to the 1930’s, skin cancer was very rare. Today, skin cancer diagnoses are very common. According to the CDC, well over 1 million Americans will be diagnosed this year. Current research suggests that 1 in 5 people will develop skin cancer in their lifetime. How is this possible when we have more sunscreens available then ever before, with higher SPF’s and much more usage than ever before? Has the sun changed? Are we spending more time in the sun? The obvious answers are no. In the early 1900’s 75% of Americans worked outside in the sun for many hours every day yet skin cancer was virtually non-existent. Today, less than 10% work outdoors yet skin cancer rates continue to rise.

Unfortunately, the sun has received a bad reputation and as a result, people are not taking advantage of the tremendous benefits of the sun- namely Vitamin D production. The sun, when it hits the skin, results in Vitamin D production. Vitamin D is used by every cell in the body and adequate levels are key to preventing almost every disease. Unfortunately, many Americans don’t get enough sun and when they do, they actually block the production of Vitamin D by using sunscreens. Ultarviolet light from the sun has two types of waves: UVB – highest in mid-day and are the rays responsible for Vitamin D production. UVA – cause free-radical damage and penetrate deeper into the skin. UVA rays are more constant throughout the day. Until very recently, sunscreens only blocked the UVB rays and not UVA. This actually increases skin cancer risk! Blocking Vitamin D production is very dangerous since it plays a such a large role in cancer prevention. Low Vitamin D levels result in a much higher risk for cancer. Alarmingly, according to Dr. Juhi Kumar (a fellow in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Albert Einstein College of Medicine) “seven of every 10 U.S. children now have low levels. Those most likely to be deficient include children who are obese or who spend more than four hours daily in front of the TV, computer or video gams.” (Kumar 2009). Putting children in front of the TV instead of out in the sun can be very detrimental to their health.

There are many things to take into consideration before opening the bottle of sunscreen. . Many sunscreens contain ingredients that commonly cause skin irritations and even worse. Ingredients like paraaminobenzoic acid (PABA) and benzophenones can cause skin irritations and free radical production when exposed to sunlight, “the cell-damaging reaction occurs when sunscreen penetrates into the deeper layers of your skin”, according to Dr. Kerry Hanson (October 2006 volume of “Free Radical Biology and Medicine”) Free radicals cause damage to the cells of the body and leave people more susceptible to cancer growth and proliferation. This is certainly an unwanted effect that many people are unaware of.

Another alarming ingredient is retinyl palmitate. As stated by the Environmental Working Group, “A form of vitamin A called retinyl palmitate, found in 41% of sunscreens, could speed up skin damage and increase skin cancer risk when applied to the face, arms, legs, back, and chest.” Negative effects from ingredients like this one are not readily disclosed on labels so it is buyer beware.

Many of the ingredients in sunscreens (and many other lotions for that matter) are extremely toxic to the body. For example, oxybenzone, a common sunscreen ingredient, is a known hormone disruptor. If you look at sunscreen labels, most of them have “do not swallow” warnings. Yet, if you are rubbing it on your skin, it is still entering the body. Even more concerning is the fact that many of the most toxic ingredients are found in sunscreens marketed to babies and children. Children are some of the largest consumers of sunscreens and are at the most risk. A child’s immune system is not yet fully developed, the toxic accumulation of sunscreens and other exposures is greater over time, and a child’s skin is more sensitive and absorbs more readily. All of these factors should be considerations in deciding what to put on your child’s body.

So before you jump on the sunscreen bandwagon, read the ingredient labels and get more information if you need to. If you want to see how your favorite sunscreen fairs in the EWG’s toxic ingredient scorecard, go to www. ewg.org/skindeep.

There are natural and healthy ways to protect yourself from the damaging rays of the sun that have been used throughout the centuries. They include: coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil, and jojoba oil. Coconut oil is especially beneficial as it is a natural sunscreen, it is antiviral, antimicrobial, and highly moisturizing. When using these natural products, you should “work up” to increased sun exposure rather than extended periods all at once.

The Facts

• - Americans Take 25 million pills an hour.
• - The citizens of Canada average 14 prescriptions per person. 35 per person age 60-79 and 74 per person 80 or older.
• - As many as five out of six Americans die of heart disease and cancer.
• - 4.5 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s. This is a number that has doubled in the last two decades.
• - 118 million antidepressants are prescribed each year for some 57 million American citizens who have been told they have a mental disorder.
• - 25,000 people killed by hospital error in Canada each year.
• - One billion worldwide are overweight. The United States Congress calls this problem “as serious a threat as global warming.
• - Over 22 million children worldwide are overweight and at risk of serious cardiovascular disease. This number has doubled in the last 20 years for children and tripled for adolescents.
• - Autism impacts as many as 1 in 68 children. 1 in 35 for boys.
• - Canada is dead last for timeliness and quality of care.
• - The U.S. is dead last in health care according to Reuters in 2008.
• - 62% of all bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. More than ¾ of these people had insurance.

Clearly, conventional wisdom when it comes to health, hasn’t worked. The challenge is that people are looking for better ways to pay for or different ways to travel down the exact same road. So even if we made this road cheaper or added wellness exams, preventetive “medicine”, or early detection scans, you’re still traveling down the same road. As a result, no matter what has changed, you always end up at the same destination: crisis, disease, and early death.

Road 2: The Road Less Travelled Or The 5 Essentials Of Maximized Living

Essential 1: Maximized Mind

The first essential is Maximized Mind. This essential is about understanding the true principle of health and healing to create a mindset of success. After all, it is function and lifestyle, not genetics, that determine well-being. Half of heart disease deaths can be avoided with lifestyle changes. Almost 200,000 lives can be saved if certain heart risk factors are cut, even modestly.

Essential 2: Maximized Nerve Supply

Maximized Nerve Supply involves restoring and maintaining the proper function of the nervous system through spinal correction. George Bakris, MD, Director of the University of Chicago hypertension center found that Chiropractic adjustments reduce blood pressure better than two blood-pressure medications combined.

Vertebral misalignment is common in patients with atopic dermatitis and bronchial asthma. Adjustments caused a 70% improvement in allergic disease. In his study, Yasuhiko Takeda found that vertebral misalignment is a common characteristic found in patients with atopic dermatitis and bronchial asthma. He also found that chiropractic adjustments caused a 70% improvement in allergic disease.

Essential 3: Maximized Quality Nutrition

Maximized Quality Nutrition is nutritional science that sustains well-being, disease prevention and ideal weight management. Overweight women are up to sixty percent more likely to develop any cancer. Diets loaded with healthy fats significantly reduce your risk of prostate cancer. If we eat more naturally and avoid the processed foods of modern society, we will live healthier lives.

Essential 4: Maximized Oxygen & Lean Muscle

Maximizing oxygen intake and lean muscle mass can help reduce the damaging effects of aging. A study showed that if you learn how to exercise the right way through short bursts of maximium energy output, one can induce a “good” hormone response. Cutting edge exercise programs that work to facilitate optimum fitness in minimal time are your best bet. Just by walking 30 minutes a day, symptoms of depression can improve faster than with pharmaceutical therapy.

Essential 5: Minimized Toxins

Minimizing toxins in your body increases its ability to permanently remove toxins from cells.

The EPA reports that there are over 70,000 chemicals used commercially. These chemicals are found in household cleaners, plastics, pesticides, personal care products, foods, drugs, water, paints, fabrics, and floor and wall covering are leading causes of cancers, gland issues, and many of today’s common diseases.

Forge A New Path

The road most travelled has made people sicker, unhappier, more overweight and more out of shape than ever. The modern medical model is not health care, it’s disease care. Don’t make the mistake of waiting for a crisis to think about your health.

So where does the road less travelled take us? One five year study on Chiropractic maintenance care showed that chiropractic patients spent thirty-one percent less on health care and had fifty percent less medical visits than the national average. This calulates into:

• - 85% less pharmaceutical costs
• - 59% less days in the hospital
• - 60.2% fewer hospital admissions
• - 62% less patient surgeries

The road less travelled can save families hundreds of thousands on healthcare while avoiding disease and suffering. This is the road beyond health care and wellness. At Maximized Living, we study health, not just disease. It’s a complete system for living. We don’t simply treat symptoms, we find and correct the cause of health problems.The choice is clear.

Millions of people around the globe are beginning to learn how to take control of their health and get results they never thought were possible. Maximized Living is one of the largest group of elite Wellness Doctors in the world and the only network certified in the 5 Essentials.

You’ll be amazed at the results Maximized Living has the potential to help you achieve. People lose hundreds of pounds, reverse chronic diseases, rebuild immune systems, regain their energy and feel better than they have in decades. Most importantly, children and adults alike are on a road that will continue to give them the life and health that they truly desire

By Dr. Brandon Vinzant

For the past several years, physicians in America have been insisting that every child age 6 months to 18 years must get an annual flu shot. Making matters worse, health officials have now ramped up those recommendations, telling EVERY person over the age of 6 months get a flu shot, healthy or not, low risk or high. Everyone! Three hundred million of you, every year from the year you are born until the year you die.

But hold on a minute. There’s something fishy about this. Because human antibodies normally last a lifetime, remember? That’s why you don’t get the chicken pox over and over again; because the first time you got the chicken pox as a kid, your body created chicken pox antibodies and those antibodies last a lifetime. Your immune system provides you with lifetime immunity from chicken pox.

CDC officials believe that a year after someone gets the flu shot, antibody levels — an indicator of immunity — can fall by two-thirds or more. Some key studies indicate the resulting levels are not strong enough to be protective, said Nancy Cox, head of the CDC’s chief of the CDC’s flu division.¹ Vaccines must not help the body produce antibodies then, because if that was true, whoever had the influenza vaccine would have lifetime immunity to those specific strains. However, many times a person will get the actual condition after being vaccinated. This is one way we can see that they are ineffective overall and actually hurt the immune system.

According to the NVIC (National Vaccine Information Center), vaccines are immune suppressive, which means they suppress your immune system, which may not return to normal for weeks to months. They are also shown to have an effect on brain function, DNA/RNA, t-cell function, and the cardiovascular system being linked to chronic conditions such as autoimmune disorders, allergies, and cancer.²

One 2007 study published in the Annals of Medicine concluded that:

“Abnormalities in arterial function and LDL oxidation may persist for at least 2 weeks after a slight inflammatory reaction induced by influenza vaccination. These could explain in part the earlier reported increase in cardiovascular risk during the first weeks after an acute inflammatory disorder.”³

These vaccines are causing worse conditions that the flu typically ever is and are proving to be potentially deadly. Not that it is any fun, but the best way to protect yourself against the flu is to actually be exposed naturally to the flu virus, allowing your body to produce lifetime antibodies. By taking Vitamin D, burst training, eating according to the Maximized Living nutrition plans, avoiding toxins (which are heavily present in flu vaccines), and making sure your nervous system is functioning at it’s highest level, you are taking the proper steps to eliminate the chance of getting the flu and fighting it off the correct way – without exposing you or your family to dangerous toxins.

The flu shots are toxic to your body! What else are you exposing yourself to at home that can increase this toxicity? Do you know the hidden sources of toxicity in your house?

Most people in this country are told or believe that cholesterol is a bad thing. But when we break down what cholesterol is used for in the body it’s one of the most important biological substances to human physiology. Cholesterol is one of the basic molecules that help form our hormones in our body. Cholesterol is released by the liver and also makes up part of every single cell in the human body.

What the public usually is concerned with is the buildup of cholesterol in our arteries. The scary part about it is that we cannot feel the plaque building in our arteries the same way we do not feel heart disease or cancer developing until it is too late. There are two types of cholesterol that we are familiar with, HDL (“good”) and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. The HDL is thought of as good because it moves faster through the blood vessels to clean up plaque or damages to the vessel wall. LDL is the opposite in that it moves slowly trying to clean up whatever the HDL missed.

The problem with cholesterol in America is that everyone thinks high cholesterol causes heart attacks and that LDL is the “bad” cholesterol. A nationwide study from 2009 found that “almost seventy-five percent of heart attack patients fell within recommended targets for LDL cholesterol, demonstrating that the current guidelines may not be low enough to cut heart attack risk in most who could benefit,” said Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study’s principal investigator.

Basically the study found that people with normal LDL levels were having heart attacks as opposed to the group who had elevated levels. This is only one study but if we take a look at heart disease and cholesterol drug ratios it’s clear as day. I’m saying that if cholesterol was the cause of heart disease than we would not have the rates that we do. For example, we have more cholesterol drugs being prescribed and taken than we ever have and we have more heart disease than we have ever had in history! We cannot seem to turn on the television for five minutes, these days, without seeing a commercial for Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor or any other statin drug. There is a reason your body raises your cholesterol, usually to heal a part of your body that you have damaged. The reason that your cholesterol raises is not because you do not have enough Lipitor in your blood. If that was the cause, God would have put a Lipitor pump in your body.

The answer to this is to find what is causing the elevation. Eating an organic diet full of vegetables, proper ratio fish oils and exercising have shown to be much more effective in lowering cholesterol. This method is much safer and comes with no warning labels. Most importantly, a properly functioning liver along with associated digestive organs are designed to balance cholesterol levels in the body. The spine and nervous system control the function of these organs; therefore, a spinal correction to create neurological integrity is a foundational factor in normalizing any nutrient in the body including cholesterol.

By Dr. Ben Lerner
Four (4) Invaluable lessons I learned from great people with great things to say:

1. “You’re only young once – take care of it.”  (I’ll bet you thought he was going to say “Enjoy it.”  So did I.) -FROM A HEALTHY, WEALTHY, ULTRA-ACTIVE 80 YEAR OLD MAN
2. “People spend half their life spending all of their health to acquire wealth and the second half of their life spending MORE THEN their wealth trying to get their health back.” -FROM A WORLD-LEADING DOCTOR
3. “The #1 cause of bankruptcy and financial stress are costs related to health problems. So it’s simple – make your health your 1st investment.” -FROM A WORLD-LEADING, WEALTHY FINANCIAL ADVISOR
4. “What do you mean organic food is too expensive? Your health is not a place to save money! You’ll spend 10 times as much later at the hospital!! (On drugs and surgery)” -FROM A SUPERMOM (Single mom, successful business woman, with 4 great kids)

The Boston Herald reported a study from Fidelity Bank that showed a typical couple needs $225,000 in CASH (in addition to insurance and medicare) to cover medical expenses after retirement¹ and this number — which was $215,000 last year — is increasing at a rate of 4.7% a year! At that rate (4.7%/year in 12 years) you will need approximately $400,000 in cash at retirement to pay medical costs NOT covered by insurance or medicare. If medicare fades out, as many are predicting, you will need far more than that. In search of a quick fix, many people first will state that we just need better health care coverage; however, this plan is unattainable as our country cannot give every American an additional $200,000 – $1,000,000 in medical benefits.

THE real problem is neglecting the last place you put time and effort — your health — which is why it fails and gets so expensive later.
PROOF:

• Cheap food, cheap groceries, and cheap supplements are the #1 sellers.
• A gym industry article stated recently that only 13% of the U.S. exercises regularly
• 7% go to the Chiropractor (Even though to my knowledge 100% have a spine)
• You get the cheapest insurance you can find and then that their recommendations and the doctors on the list are going to make – the cheapest is the lowest quality.  These guidelines are designed to save the insurer money… not to get you healthy.
• Passion for the quick fix despite the huge risk.  Pharmaceutical companies make trillions even though the side-effects on every drug commercial and bottle read: “CAUTION: Your nose will fall off, you will become homicidal, get cancer, die early, commit suicide, and see aliens.”

Rising medical costs are not the issue, destructive lifestyles along with doctors that are trained in disease care and not health care are. Information to take away from this article: if you want to be wealthy, take care of yourself today to avoid poor health and, consequently, expensive medical conditions tomorrow. Not only will you save $100′s of thousands, you will save your life!

Make the right investment now, remember what my mentors said:
“….take care of your youth (health and vitality)”
“….spend time on your health”
“….spend money on your health – make health your first investment (a few thousand today will equal $400,000+ tomorrow… and you won’t be dead)”
“…don’t save (go to the cheap doctor on the insurance or buy the cheap food and vitamins) when it comes to health.”  You might save $12.50 on your grocery bill and $20 at the doctor … but you’ll be dead.

The facts are in and one thing is for certain – Americans aren’t happy.  In truth, we’re extremely depressed.

At first glance, you’d assume it was the struggling real estate market, the shrinking dollar, the war in Iraq, and the war on Wall Street.  Yet, other countries, with far more to worry about then we do, do not report anywhere near U.S. levels of mental and emotional disorders.  For example, the percentage of people with clinical levels of anxiety, depression, etc. in America is 7 times that of those in the Nigeria!

As the numbers of reported adults and children with mental disorders  skyrocketed, pharmaceutical companies and then doctors responded with bringing anti-depressant drugs (SSRIs) to market quickly.  According to a recent report, these drugs make up 6 out of the top 10 prescription drugs sold today.

In recent times, antidepressants have come under harsh scrutiny for causing suicide and they’ve been implicated as being behind many of the recent school shootings and big media deaths like Anna Nicole Smith, her son Daniel Smith, Heath Ledger, the pro-wrestler Chris Benoit, and Andrea Yate’s children.  This has resulted in SSRIs getting a “Black box” warning on them and has left thousands of people looking for alternatives to very real emotional pain.  Americans want to know, “How can we get happy again.”

Even more light was shed on the issue of depression in the London Times, Feb. 26th, 2008 on the front page in an article titled, “DEPRESSION DRUGS DON’T WORK….”

They stated, “Millions of people taking commonly prescribed antidepressants might as well be taking a placebo, according to the first study to include unpublished evidence.”

“The new generation of antidepressant drugs work no better than a placebo for the majority of patients with mild or even severe depression, comprehensive research of clinical trials has found.”

“American and British experts led by Professor Kirsch examined the clinical trials from  four commonly used SSRIs, including fluoxetine (better known as Prozac), venlafaxine (Efexor) and paroxetine (Seroxat).”

“Given these results there seems little reason to prescribe antide-pressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed,” Professor Kirsch said. “The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking antidepressants is not very great. This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments.”

Rarely, is someone simply born and destined for depression.  There are a number of known causes that leave someone that way.  Now, science is addressing that by getting to the cause of the problems people can get well without chemicals.  More importantly, people can stay well and stop this scourge of emotional disorders that have become so pervasive in the U.S. and around the world.

Like so many other conditions common to western living – cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, depression is very much a degenerative illness grown more popular by modern lifestyle.   We’re not here to prescribe drugs or take people off of them.  In fact, it’s dangerous to stop taking antidepressants cold-turky.  You should work with your doctor to reduce and slowly eliminate these drugs while doing what’s necessary to get well with both lifestyle change, natural care, and food and supplements designed to improve brain chemistry.

Multiple areas of modern lifestyle effect brain chemistry and hormones.  Toxins, processed food, nutrient deficient diets, spinal conditions, sedentary lifestyle, and emotional trauma alone and more commonly, combined, all radically affect your body’s physiology and all around mental health.  Not surprisingly, care that directly impacts the nervous system like Chiropractic has also been found to effect emotional health and depression.  You may not know this, but many studies have been done on Chiropractic and it’s impact on depression.

Studies on Chiropractic and Depression

1. Study of 2,818 patients found chiropractic care significantly improved patients’ well being: Seventy-six percent of the  patients studied reported improved combined wellness changes in all categories assessed, emotional well being improved 26 percent, negative feelings toward self improved 23 percent, depression improved 20 percent, difficulty sleeping improved 11 percent and family relations improved 21 percent.
2. A published 15 person study concluded “that a positive relationship exists between a correction of th occipitoatlantoaxial subluxation complex and a reduction in depressive symptoms in some people”.
3. Another 98 subject study published in Molecular Psychiatry found that when an addiction treatment program was supplemented with frequent chiropractic adjustments over a 30-day period, the patients displayed an unprecedented
4. 100 percent program completion rate. In addition, initially rampant depression and anxiety dropped significantly.
5. From the 1920s to 1960s, several chiropractic mental asylums existed in the Midwest of the U.S. Surviving documentation shows a North Dakota judge reporting a 65% recovery or improvement rate at one asylum, compared to 27% at a standard asylum.
6. Chiropractic Improves Brain Wave Patterns, Brain Function: 2004 study finds that Chiropractic adjustments have a positive effect on the Central Nervous System (CNS), specifically on the four primary  frequencies of brain function.  After receiving a chiropractic adjustment, post EEG scans revealed improvement in all areas of the volunteer’s brain function. Particularly, the researchers noticed an increase in the meditative Alpha brainwave patterns that are associated with a greater degree of relaxation, health and healing.
7. A related study in Journal of Neuroscience conducted at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, found that physical changes in the brain caused by chronic pain are likely to lead to depression as well as other pain- related symptoms.

While Chiropractic is not a treatment for depression, it’s an important part of overall mental and physical function.

From Maximized Living Blog

Present information on normal placement of the upright spine reveals the importance of head position in relationship to your body. It is of extreme importance that the position of the cervical spine allow for your head to sit back atop of your shoulders.Sadly, the effects of gravity, poor posture, the weight of the head, or past trauma will cause neck and skull misplacement leading to something called “Forward Head” syndrome, meaning the forward displacement of the head where your chin is out in front of your shoulders and chest that causes pathological tension on the spinal cord and brain stem.

Rene Cailliet, M.D., director of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Southern California, wrote about the effects of forward head syndrome in his book “Rejuvenation Strategy.”

1. Incorrect head positioning leads to improper spinal function.
2. The head in forward posture can add up to 30 pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine.
3. Forward head posture results in loss of vital lung capacity. In fact, lung capacity is depleted by as much as 30 percent. Loss of lung capacity leads to heart and blood vascular problems.
4. The entire gastrointestinal system is affected, particularly the large intestine. Loss of good bowel peristaltic function and evacuation is a common condition that comes with forward head posture and loss of spinal lordotic curves.
5. Forward head posture causes an increase in discomfort and pain. Freedom of motion in the first four cervical vertebrae is a major source of stimuli that causes production of endorphins in production many otherwise non-painful sensations are experienced as pain.
6. Forward head posture causes loss of healthy spine-body motion. The entire body becomes rigid as the range of motion lessens. Soon, one becomes hunched.

As the above comments by Dr. Cailliet show, it’s incredibly important to restore the skull and cervical spine back to their normal position, which can be done by focusing on four areas:

• Correcting the position of the skull
• Adjusting pertinent cervical vertebrae
• Rehabilitating the musculature in the back of the neck and upper shoulders
• Correcting any imbalances in posture i.e.: high shoulder, torso rotation, lateral head flexion or rotation

Such treatments can only be offered by highly trained chiropractors. Remember, standard manipulation and physical therapy will not resolve forward head posture, and neither will taking medications or having surgery for the resulting effects of this condition.
Seek out chiropractors who are able to measure the degree of forward head posture and provide a care plan designed to correct it. The problem and the correction of the problem can be measured through postural evaluation as well as a re-x-ray.

Dr. Jason Gerard is trained with a technique that aggressively and quickly removes forward head posture and thus plays a major role in restoring your health

By Dr. Ben Lerner