By Dr. Ben Lerner and Megan Rall

One of the most POWERFUL aspects of Maximized Living is that it helps you totally transform how you view and understand your health.  Let me give you an example:

Think about your car.  Imagine if all you were ever told about your car were things like “it does not matter what kind of gas you use”  or “oil changes are a waste of money”  and “don’t pay attention to any of those WARNING lights!”  Are you getting the idea?  You would then end up DESTROYING your car LONG before it was intended.  Some basic Prevention and WELLNESS would have saved you thousands of dollars and maybe even your life, depending where the car DIED!

So how does this relate to you, your life, your health and Maximized Living?  Well, you have a very similar choice. Many of us have been raised in a culture that has said “eat whatever you want” or “exercise is hard” or “just take a pill for that!”  This type of advice has lead to many, many bad and deadly decisions and lifestyles.

Maximized Living and Maximized Living Doctors strive to provide you the absolute best, cutting edge, effective and usable information regarding health, wellness and recovery from disease.

So let’s look at a real life example: A “typical American family”  has 2 parents that are obese, over half of them are on at least 1 medication, 1 of their 3 children is obese, many have been diagnosed with learning or behavioral “diseases” and many of them are even medicated.  They are eating the typical American diet of bad fats, LOADS of SUGAR and tons of chemicals, colorings, and preservatives.  And this are just the “typical families.”  They have been sold a lie.  They are not INVESTING in health.  They are waiting to PAY FOR DISEASE.

Sometimes people look at “wellness” or even Maximized Living as a COST.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It is a choice on how you are going to care for your “car” or HEALTH.  As all of you know our “sick care” costs are rising every year and many times by double digit percentages.  You literally cannot afford to go on like this.  So what are the options?  Well in the USA the leading cause of bankruptcy is MEDICAL COSTS.   AND MOST OF THEM WERE INSURED!

The only solution that makes any sense is INVESTING in health.  Maximized Living offices across North America have countless examples of families literally saving tens of thousands of dollars a year and countless pain and suffering by understanding exactly what has been explained here.  They invest a couple of thousand a year in health now and will save tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands later.  And then, there is the added bonus of NOT DYING!

“The era of antibiotics is coming to a close. In just a couple of generations, what once appeared to be miracle medicines have been beaten into ineffectiveness by the bacteria they were designed to knock out.”

The effectiveness of antibiotics depends on how antibiotics are used — how well drug use is managed in clinical practice and outside of it. But some 70 percent of American antibiotics — tens of millions of pounds of drugs each year — is used in animal feed.

According to Time Magazine:

“The European Union banned routine use of antibiotics in animal feed years ago because of evidence about its drug-resistance consequences for humans. Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is recommending the same for the U.S. as well, for the same reason. But for now the practice continues.”

Source: Mercola.Com

Strains

Back pain most often occurs:

• From strained muscles and ligaments
• From improper or heavy lifting
• After a sudden awkward movement
• Sometimes a muscle spasm can cause or be associated with back pain.

Structural problems

In some cases, back pain may be caused by structural problems, such as:

• Bulging or ruptured disks. Disks act as cushions between the vertebrae in your spine. Sometimes, the soft material inside a disk may bulge out of place or rupture and press on a nerve. But even so, many people who have bulging or herniated disks experience no pain from the condition.
• Sciatica. If a bulging or herniated disk presses on the main nerve that travels down your leg, it can cause sciatica — sharp, shooting pain through the buttock and back of the leg.
• Arthritis. The joints most commonly affected by osteoarthritis are the hips, hands, knees and lower back. In some cases arthritis in the spine can lead to a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord, a condition called spinal stenosis.
• Skeletal irregularities. Back pain can occur if your spine curves in an abnormal way. If the natural curves in your spine become exaggerated, your upper back may look abnormally rounded or your lower back may arch excessively. Scoliosis, a condition in which your spine curves to the side, also may lead to back pain.
• Osteoporosis. Compression fractures of your spine’s vertebrae can occur if your bones become porous and brittle.

Rare but serious conditions

In rare cases, back pain may be related to:

• Cauda equina syndrome. This is a serious neurological problem affecting a bundle of nerve roots that serve your lower back and legs. It can cause weakness in the legs, numbness in the “saddle” or groin area, and loss of bowel or bladder control.
• Cancer in the spine. A tumor on the spine can press on a nerve, causing back pain.
• Infection of the spine. If a fever and a tender, warm area accompany back pain, the cause could be an infection.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Linda Bacon, Ph.D, dreads swimsuit season, but not because she has anything against the beach.

Instead, the California-based nutritionist fears what the season brings: scores of otherwise health-conscious citizens who subject themselves to deprivation diets (like the Master Cleanse) or intense exercise regimens, often in blazing hot weather, to look slimmer in revealing clothes.

Many unwittingly end up harming their health — and possibly even their hearts.

“Early June and January are the two times of year people do crazy, desperate things to get thin fast,” says Bacon, a nutrition professor at the City College of San Francisco, California, and the author of “Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.”

“They go on fasts, yo-yo diets, detox programs, and ‘cleanses’ without realizing that there are serious consequences to weight loss and nutrient restriction.”

That crash dieting doesn’t work and can be dangerous is a message that gets lost in the national clamor over rising rates of overweight and obesity.

Thinking of trying a lemonade fast or cabbage soup diet? Here’s what to keep in mind if fitting into your skinny jeans or your Speedo is high on your summer agenda.

Crash diets may harm your heart

Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City, and author of the forthcoming “Doctor of the Heart: A Life in Medicine,” opposes crash diets (less than 1,200 calories a day) and detox plans like the Master Cleanse.

The Master Cleanse involves consuming a mixture of water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper — and nothing else — for several days.

Health.com: America’s healthiest superfoods for women

He says these very low-calorie regimens are based on the false theory that the body needs help eliminating waste.

Research suggests rapid weight loss can slow your metabolism, leading to future weight gain, and deprive your body of essential nutrients. What’s more, crash diets can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of dehydration, heart palpitations, and cardiac stress.

“A crash diet once won’t hurt your heart,” Dr. Rosenfeld says. “But crash dieting repeatedly increases the risk of heart attacks.”

Bacon adds that long-term calorie-cutting can eventually lead to heart muscle loss. “Yo-yo dieting can also damage your blood vessels. All that shrinking and growing causes micro tears that create a setup for atherosclerosis and other types of heart disease,” she says.

Chip Stinchfield, a 55-year-old shop owner in New Canaan, Connecticut, has experienced the cardiac effects of dieting firsthand. On the advice of friends, he went on a Master Cleanse for days and exercised vigorously. Another time he ate nothing but cottage cheese, beets, and peanut butter. Both were “quick, easy fixes” that helped him drop up to 10 pounds fast.

But both diets also gave him shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and “the feeling like I was going to have a heart attack.”

Under pressure from his family, who thought his dieting might disable or kill him — like many extreme dieters, Stinchfield kept his doctor in the dark about his radical habits — he eventually went back to sensible eating.

Beware of fad diets

Experts have known for decades that extended crash diets can be dangerous — especially when the diets become a fad.

In the late 1970s, an osteopath named Robert Linn published “The Last Chance Diet,” a best seller that advocated a miraculous “liquid protein diet.” Following the lead of their favorite celebrities, millions of people bought quarts of Dr. Linn’s liquid formula and embraced the diet (or one of many copycat versions), averaging just 300 to 400 calories a day.

The diet seemed to work wonders — some people reported losing as many as 10 pounds a week on the formula. But then the news of sudden deaths began to trickle in.

Health.com: 6 diet trends you should never try

An investigation led by the Food and Drug Administration turned up nearly 60 deaths among liquid dieters. Although some of the deaths occurred in people with underlying diseases such as atherosclerosis (and therefore could have been coincidental), government researchers who examined otherwise healthy dieters who died of ventricular arrhythmias found that the pattern of deaths suggested “the effects of protein-calorie malnutrition on the heart,” including atrophy of the heart muscle.

Experts have since tried to pinpoint the dangers of crash diets (technically known as “very low calorie” diets). Shortages of potassium, magnesium, and copper have been suggested as possible causes of the arrhythmias seen in crash dieters, and studies have also found that the diets can cause a drop in blood pressure and sodium depletion.

The true extent of the risk posed by crash diets is unclear, however. Much of the research has been conducted in obese people — a population that can actually benefit from these extreme diets — and in most studies the health of the participants is carefully monitored.

Experts stress that very-low-calorie diets should only be followed with a doctor’s supervision. But crash dieters are more likely to consult their friends than a doctor — which can get them into trouble.

Brooke Robertson, 23, learned these lessons the hard way. Last spring the Auckland, New Zealand, mom reportedly suffered a minor heart attack after she lost 100 pounds on a diet of Red Bull and the occasional fistful of dry cereal.

Despite the international publicity, Bacon doesn’t think desperate dieters will consider Robertson a cautionary tale. “There’s absolutely no benefit to fasting or detoxing,” she says. “Extreme diets are simply bad for you and they don’t work. But every year people engage in magical thinking.”

How to lose weight — safely

If you’re overweight, slimming down is critical for your overall health. Even moderate weight loss can lower your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

But it’s important to lose weight safely, which usually means slowly: Most experts recommend dropping just 1 to 2 pounds a week. And despite what some brand-name diets claim, the best way to do so is to exercise regularly and stick to a diet that limits saturated fat and sugars and emphasizes fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, and whole grains.

“The key to losing weight is a combination of diet and exercise,” says Dr. Rosenfeld. “One alone will not do it.”

There are three types of exercise:

• Strength/Resistance Training
• Cardio/Aerobic Training
• Flexibility/Stability

Strength/Resistance Training

The primary hormone response invoked by strength and resistance training is elevated levels of Human Growth Hormone. This hormone is essential for fat mobilization. It also signals fat burning enzymes and aids in muscle mass development. HGH levels are raised most during sleep, in direct proportion to exercise intensity during your workout.

Strength training will improve your glucose tolerance and increase insulin receptor sensitivity. This will help your body become a fat burner, rather than a sugar burner. This type of exercise also creates a bigger metabolic after burn than aerobic training, while also increasing fat free muscle, bone density and metabolism.

Cardio/Aerobic Training

There are many benefits associated with cardio and aerobic training, but also many negatives. Cardio training will lower your resting heart rate, lower blood pressure, keep your brain young by increasing circulation to the brain and aids in detoxification by stimulating the lymphatic system.

But long distance cardio training decreases testosterone levels, decreases the immune system post exercise, and raises stress hormone levels (cortisol). Increased levels of cortisol stimulate the appetite, will increase fat storing and slow down or inhibit exercise recovery.

So how do we get the benefits without the negatives? Burst train to burn fat.

What is Surge Training?

Surge training involves exercising at 90%-100% of your maximum effort for 30-60 seconds in order to burn your body’s stored sugar (glycogen), followed by 30-60 seconds of low impact for recovery. This causes your body to burn fat for the next 36 hours to replace your body’s vital energy (glycogen) stores.

You only need to do 4-6 sets of 30-60 second bursts 3 times a week to see marked changes and improvements. More is not always better–make sure you have days of rest.

I went to the Maximized Living Class with my daughter Kristina and my friend, Jenn. The class was about four hours and we got a book that gives you the details of what foods are doing to us.

In May 2009 my scrap booking group meets the third weekend of the month and consists of 8 women all decided to do the Biggest Looser for a year. We are putting $5 a month into a pot to see who will win the challenge! To date no one has lost more than 3 pounds and then puts it back on.

During Lakewood’s Chiropractic Biggest Looser challenge being offered I decided to go for it. I have been watching what I eat, and following it strictly. I have been eating brown rice, sweet potatoes, and a spinach salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, a few croutons, chicken and salmon with salsa and avocado. Snacks would consist of almonds and apples. Drinking 8-8oz glasses of water a day. I would have a cup of coffee on the weekends and the rest of the time I drank an organic green tea from Sam’s Club that was full of antioxidants. I cut out breads, sugar and pop and fast foods. I gave myself permission to eat pizza once a week or a sub from subway. I have surged trained a few times. I need to improve on the exercising. I cleansed 4 times during that month.

During the 30 days I felt really good and had lots of energy. I suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and found that it was more under control eating the same foods. I always gain weight because my body wasn’t absorbing nutrition. There was nothing processed in my diet. Since Thanksgiving I haven’t felt as good. I ate sugary foods again and I am tired all the time! I am jumping back into my good habits like yesterday!

During the Thanksgiving holiday I guess it was a noticeable amount of weight lost. My daughter Kristina asked, ‘How much have you lost now?’ My friend Jenn noticed the change when we went shopping with me and I went down a size in my jeans. My brother-in-law asked, ‘You losing weight Lisa?’ I need new PJ’s because they look like big bags! I lost 20 pounds and I lost 11.5 inches in 15 days and on the 30 day mark, I lost a total of 20.5 inches total. It is a great start to being a healthy person!

A meat-heavy diet itself has no bearing on the prevalence of asthma, according to the scientists who conducted the study. Yet, frequent burger eating could be a signal for other lifestyle factors which raise asthma risk.

“This is a sign that the link is not strongly related to the food itself, but that burgers are a proxy for other lifestyle and environmental factors like obesity and lack of exercise,” said Gabriele Nagel of the Institute of Epidemiology at Ulm University, Germany, who led the study.

She added, however, that there were “biologically plausible” links for the positive effects of a healthier diet, which could be down to the antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables, and the omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish, which have anti-inflammatory properties.

“Fruit and vegetables contain antioxidants and other biologically active factors which may contribute to the favorable effect…in asthma,” Nagel said.

In particular, she added, foods rich in vitamin C have been linked to better lung function and fewer asthma symptoms.

Around 1.1 million children currently receive treatment for asthma in Britain, while in the United States it is the most common chronic childhood disease, with around 10 million children diagnosed with it.

Nagel’s team looked at data on 50,000 children aged between 8 and 12 years from 20 rich and poor countries around the world.

While diet was not linked to children being more prone to allergies in general, it did seem to influence the prevalence of asthma and wheezing, they found.

“Overall, more frequent consumption of fruit, vegetables and fish was associated with a lower lifetime prevalence of asthma, whereas high burger consumption was associated with higher lifetime asthma prevalence,” they wrote in the study, which was published in Thorax, a British Medical Journal title.

This study adds to an existing body of evidence showing the health benefits of a so-called Mediterranean diet — rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fish — including reduced risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and depression.

Source

Here are ten little gestures, all of them easily within our grasp, that can spread goodwill in our own communities, as well as increase our own sense of mindfulness about the people around us and our relationship to them.

Tip generously: When you have great service in a restaurant, leave a tip greater than the usual 15% to 20%. Leaving a larger than usual tip for great service not only puts a little extra money in your servers’ pocket, it tells them that they’re appreciated, a message that often slips our minds in our demanding, service-now society.

Compliment someone: Tell someone how much you like the job they’re doing, their outfit or new haircut, whatever. Be honest and sincere. Don’t expect anything in return, just let someone know that something they’re doing is great and move on.

Be totally open with someone: Let someone know exactly how you feel about something on your mind.  We often keep too much to ourselves; letting someone into your thoughts can be a great way to show your trust and appreciation of them.

Give someone a book you’ve read: Making a gift of something you’ve read and enjoyed is more than just a nice gesture, it’s a way of showing someone that a) you think of them, b) you understand them, and c) you want to share something with them. The moment doesn’t end when they take the book – once they’ve read it, you can talk about your reactions together.

Make something for someone: Bake an extra batch of cookies, draw a picture, decorate an extra Christmas ornament, and give it to someone for no good reason. Like giving someone a book, it tells them that you were thinking about them and wanted to do something nice for them, and that it’s something you made adds a nice touch. Give without expectations – whether they return the favor or not, whether they like it or not, whether they’re nice to you or not, these are all irrelevant.

Send a letter, email, tweet, or text message out of the blue: Email someone you haven’t spoken with for a while, or text someone you see every day just to be nice. Maybe they’ll respond, maybe not – it’s beside the point. They just need to know that they’re important to you.

Commend an employee to their manager: It’s one thing to tip or compliment someone for their service, it’s another to contact their manager and tell them what a great job they’ve done. If you don’t have time at the time of service, note the employees name and call, email, or write a letter later.

Teach someone how to do something: Share your skill or talent with someone by showing them how to do something. Not so they won’t bother you with it, but so they can move a little bit towards improved mastery of the world around them. Have patience and respect for the person you’re helping – you’re giving them a gift, not compensating for some lack in their character.

Let someone shine: Put a spotlight on someone else’s talents by letting them take over a presentation, deferring to their wisdom, asking them advice, or otherwise flex their “talent muscles”. Especially if they are junior to you, giving them a chance to strut their stuff shows that you trust them and appreciate them, as well as allowing them to get the attention they deserve (and which might often be obscured by your own shadow).

Connect like minds: Introduce two friends or colleagues who you feel have something to gain from each other. You’ll be letting them know you value them – and maybe creating a partnership that will make everyone better off.

You’ve probably heard the saying “Practice random acts of kindness”, and that’s basically what I’m talking about here. Anything that shows people you care about them has the potential to make the world, or your small corner of it, a better place.

Have a great day!

Dr. Jason Gerard DC

Source: Lifehack.org

Here’s a way to target the neck and shoulders: dumbbells.

Strength training using dumbbells not only reduces pain, but also improves the function of your neck and shoulder area.  Here are 5 exercises that you can do with dumbbells to reduce pain and improve function in the neck and shoulders.

1. The one-arm row

2. Shoulder abduction

3. Shoulder shrug

4. Reverse fly

5. Upright row

Start with light hand weights and increase the weight of your dumbbells only after you are comfortable with the lighter weights.  The starting weight should be 6 to 12 pounds.

Perform these exercises 3 times per week.  Mix up your workouts.  Do exercises 1, 2, and 5 one day, and then the next day do exercises 1, 3, and4.  Switch back and forth each time you exercise.

When starting out, do 2 sets of each exercise 8 to 12 times.  As you get stronger, add a third set.  Once you can do an exercise comfortably for 3 sets, then increase the weight slightly.

These exercises are a great compliment to your chiropractic adjustments.  Try them out and see how it goes!  If you have any questions about the exercises, email me or ask me at your next appointment.

Have a great day!

Dr. Jason Gerard DC

Sources:

Science Daily December 28, 2009

Journal of Applied Physiology November 2009; 107(5):1413-9

The information comes from the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In one study, researchers found that people may be exposed to up to four times as much radiation as previously estimated by earlier studies.  They determined that a patient could get as much radiation as 74 mammograms, or 442 chest x-ray.  (That’s a lot of radiation).

Young people have the highest risk from excess radiation, partly because they have many years ahead of them in which cancers can develop.

However, not all doctors agree about the risks of CT scans. Scientists have not yet determined whether low doses of radiation actually increase cancer risk or whether the risk rises only after exposure levels reach a certain threshold, says James Thrall, chairman of the American College of Radiology.

He says it’s also tricky to compare cancer rates between people who have had CT scans with those who haven’t. People undergoing scans may have underlying health problems that predispose them to cancer, he says.

In many cases, CT scans can be lifesaving. In other cases, there’s no evidence a CT scan is really better than other approaches. It is estimated that up to one-third of all CT scans are unnecessary.

So what should you do if you or someone you know is considering a CT scan?

First, ask your doctor about alternative options that may be available to you.

Second, make sure you keep all of your medical records handy should you need to consult with another doctor.

Third, ask your doctor if the CT scan facility has been accredited by the American College of Radiology.

Have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon,

Dr. Jason Gerard DC