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6 “hidden” sources of stress

July 21, 2015 by drchrista Leave a Comment

Stress. It is ubiquitous in this modern age, so much so that most of us consider it inevitable. However, our relationship with stress over the last hundred years or so is vastly different from our relationship with it for the vast majority of our evolution as a species.

For most of our time on this Earth, stress was a punctuated, limited experience. The saber-tooth tiger chased us, we ran away and once safe in our cave, we could rest, relax and repair wounds, tissue damage and even metabolic damaged incurred on our getaway.

Unfortunately, nowadays that ‘rest, relax and repair’ phase never comes and so the damage builds and builds. Even if we don’t feel ‘stressed,’ our bodies may be experiencing stress. Though most of us associate ‘stress’ with psychoemotional stressors, we can experience ill effects from physical stressors too- and the body does not distinguish between physical and mental stresses.

So what are some ‘hidden’ sources of physical stress that might be contributing to your overall stress and slowly eroding away your health?

1. Food intolerances. Intolerances are different immunologically than a true food ‘allergy’ so the symptoms can be a lot more subtle. Headaches, fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes, and other chronic conditions can be symptoms of a gut being assaulted regularly by foods it doesn’t tolerate. Since the majority of the your immune system resides in your gut, this can create imbalances that can set the stage for autoimmune disease.

2. Poor sleep. Not just a lack of sleep, which most of us have experienced as a stress, but a lack of quality, restorative sleep. Sleep apnea is an all-to-common manifestations of this. If your body is not getting enough oxygen and alarms are constantly going off in your brain to wake up and breathe, you can be in bed ‘sleeping’ for 8-10 hours and still be tired and fatigued throughout the day. Another thing that can negatively impact your sleep quality is electromagnetic radiation from any electronics. Current evidence suggests that EMR disrupts the circadian rhythms that govern our sleep-wake cycles deep in a part of the brain called the pineal gland. Set your phone to ‘airplane mode,’ turn off the wireless router and unplug whatever electronics you can at night. They draw a small current even if plugged, but ‘off.’ Put all bedroom electronics on a power strip so you only have to unplug one thing to kill the electricity to them all at night.

3. Nutrient deficiencies. Most of us have moved away from eating nutrient-dense whole foods for most of our calorie intake. Modern farming practices can often deplete the soil of important minerals like magnesium and selenium and because of this, even organic produce may not be as nutrient dense as the food our grandparents ate. Additionally, in trying to digest process foods, our bodies are often depleted of more vitamins and minerals that we receive from the food itself. In dealing with increased stress, we use up our stores of B vitamins, Vitamin C and magnesium.

4. Blood sugar imbalances. Have you ever experienced the feeling of being ‘hangry,’ when you are so hungry your mood tanks and you get mad at everyone and everything until you get something to eat? Or have you ever had that afternoon ‘food coma’ where all you want to do about an hour after lunch is take a nap? These are symptoms that your blood sugar is unbalanced. One way that your body deals with low blood sugar is to secrete cortisol, our stress hormone, which mobilizes stored glucose from the liver in order to make it available to brain cells. Though this is a key survival adaptation, particularly in times where food is scarce, when this leads to elevated cortisol levels on a daily basis, it can suppress the immune system and lead to problems regulating our inflammatory response.

5. Sex hormone imbalances. Cortisol is made primarily from progesterone, but can be made from estrogen, testosterone and DHEA as well. Poor libido, changes in menstrual cycles, changes in PMS, infertility and erectile dysfunction may all have their route cause in stress that robs of us of our sex hormone balance.

6. Exercise. Bet you didn’t see that one coming? Exercise is a stress, usually a good one. But too much, too frequently, especially ‘cardio,’ can overtax the adrenals and result in overproduction of cortisol. In a healthy person, this is not problematic, in fact, it helps the body be better prepared for future stresses, but if you have a chronic health condition, or any one of the hidden sources of stress listed above, it may useful to reevaluate what kind of exercise you are doing and for how long. Strength training workouts are less ‘stressful’ to the adrenal glands then long steady-state cardio workouts. Additionally, short, high-intensity interval workouts appear to be less taxing on the adrenals glands than a steady-state cardio workout as well. If a patient is suffering from stress from too much of the wrong kind of exercise, I will also recommend moving more and exercising less. Focus on things like walking, playing outdoors, standing instead of sitting, gardening, etc.- activities that are fun, can be fit into your daily routine (as opposed to having to carve out extra time in an already hectic schedule to go to the gym) and move your body in new and novels ways, instead of the repetitive motion of most cardio exercises.

 

Filed Under: Functional Medicine Tagged With: autoimmune, B vitamin deficiency, B vitamins, better sleep, blood sugar imbalances, cortisol, energy, fatigue, food intolerances, hormones, inflammation, mineral absorption, nutrient deficiencies, poor sleep, sex hormone imbalances, sleep apnea, stress

Free Your Feet- and the rest will follow!

July 15, 2015 by drchrista 1 Comment

In my last post, I talked about how excited I was after reading Katy Bowman’s book Move Your DNA. She likens the understanding about the role of movement in health to an example of nutrition: we can understand that though an orange is healthy and contains important nutrients like Vitamin C, if you only ever ate oranges, you would become deficient in other important nutrient- things like protein, healthy fats  and fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, & K to name a few.

The same is true for the relationship of exercise and movement. Exercise is like the orange. Yes, its good for you, but if the only time you move is when you exercise, you are most likely missing out on all sorts of other movement ‘nutrients.’

I know, I know, it can get overwhelming. You’re already trying very hard to adjust your diet, to get your exercise in and then here I go telling you need all this daily movement to be healthy too!

Fear not, there are simple solutions! For one, please realize that you don’t have to carve out a separate time in your already busy schedule to get your ‘movement nutrients.’ That’s the best thing- they are optimal when you build them into your daily routine.

“Make movement a part of your every living.”

Walking more is a simple way. Are there errands you could run on foot instead of in the car? Can you walk to the post office instead of driving there? What about work? Can you park in the furthest spot from the door to your office and then walk from there? Can you send a print job to a printer on another floor so you have an excuse to take a flight of stairs and go for a little walk? I bet with a little creativity, you can come up with more ways to include movement in your regular daily schedule.

Another thing I have been doing more of lately is going barefoot!!! Did you know that there are over 33 joints in your foot alone??? And each of those joints has multiple ways in which it can move- provided its allowed to do so. And unfortunately, shoes block most of that motion- even the most supportive, orthopedic shoes. In fact, those are some of the worst offenders! They ‘outsource’ the work of supporting your foot to the shoes instead of letting the muscles of your foot do that job. When that happens, the muscles become weakened and then your foot increasingly relies on the shoe in order to support it. This can lead to pain anywhere between the foot and low back (and in some cases, even higher!)

By going barefoot more often, you get these joints working again while strengthen the muscles of your foot. It’s an easy way to get more movement in your day and all you had to do was take your shoes off! If you are new to going barefoot, its best to start out by doing this in your yard on the ground. The floors in our homes can be unnaturally hard with very little ‘give.’ These unnaturally hard surfaces can make foot pain worse, or cause pain when there was none before. The soft earth is a great, forgiving surface to get started on. There’s an added bonus too. Just like your shoes vastly limit the number of movement that the joints of your foot can do, walking all the time on flat, level surfaces does the same. When you walk on an uneven surface like the ground, your foot has to move in lots of novel ways. The provides tons more movement nutrient-density to the joints and muscles of your foot.

What if you live somewhere where you can’t easily go barefoot on the earth? (I highly doubt this- almost everyone has a near by park, but if this is really the case…) Or what if you love going barefoot so much that you don’t want to ever again put on ‘foot coffins’ and yet, you have to in order to go grocery shopping, or to the bank, or into most any reputable establishment or place of business (you can always come to my office barefoot though!)?

This summer my favorite ‘unshoe’ is hands-down the line from Earth Runners. These are my one ‘unshoe’ to do it- walk, trail run, work, wear anywhere my feet are taking me really. They are based on the design of the foot coverings the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico wear and run long distances over rugged terrain in. Even more than that, they have a copper insert that can conduct to the Earth’s energy through the laces to your foot. (Full disclosure- I have not done the research on the health positive and negatives of this conductive phenomenon known as ‘earthing’, though I have seen where the change in conductance was measured with a voltmeter. Currently it appears to me to be one of those things that is benign at worst, so you can only benefit from this. I primarily chose the Earth Runners because I have studied the benefits of improved biomechanics from going barefoot. The ‘earthing’ is just an added bonus!) Earth RunnersI wore them on a recent local hike and I enjoyed them quite a lot. They provided enough protection from rocks and hard surfaces, yet didn’t mute the feeling of the ground underneath of my feet. And I think they look at least as cute as most strappy sandals you can get now a days.

If you’d like to start your own transition to more natural, minimal footwear, remember to go slow. You’ve been wearing shoes for decades of your life and your feet have adapted to that. It will take them more than overnight to adapt to the increased loads of a minimalist shoes. Start off walking before you try to run and of course, walk short distances in them at first and then work your way up to longer ones- slowly! Get out and walk on softer surfaces in nature as much as you can. It’s not only good for your body, but the spirit as well. (and you’ll get some Vitamin D from the sunshine!)

For more information, or to get your own Earth Runners, see their website at www.earthrunners.com. 

Filed Under: Functional Movement Tagged With: alignment, arch support, barefoot, bones, bunions, feet, foot pain, hip pain, knee pain, low back pain, minimalist shoes, musculoskeletal pain

Sitting is the new smoking and walking is the new superfood

June 27, 2015 by drchrista 4 Comments

I’ve been geeking out lately on all things natural movement. It started when I picked up Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman. Actually, I had ordered the book when it first came out, but just now got around to reading it. I’m sorry I’ve waited this long!!!

As a chiropractor trained extensively in the function and disorders of the musculoskeletal system, I’ve always taken a keen interest in Katy’s work. What I love most about it is that what Katy talks and writes about is functional movement. It’s to chiropractic what functional medicine is to the western medicine/sickcare model.

I help fix my patient’s musculoskeletal complaints in the short-term, but the reality is that most of those symptoms came to be because of long-standing patterns in how a person uses (or doesn’t use) their body. Take for instance, someone who has developed arthritis in their lumbar spine. They probably have lost disc height and maybe have begun to grow osteophytes off of their vertebrae. Osteophytes are bone spurs that begin to grow in areas where a tendon attaches to a bone. They don’t develop simply because you get older. They develop in response to abnormal forces/loads placed on that muscles/tendon/joint every minute of every day, day in and day out, for years.

With this in mind, the only way to truly ‘fix’ the problem is to begin to undo those patterns of movement that place the abnormal loads on the tissue in the first place. This involves diligence and commitment to maintain awareness about problematic movement patterns as well as consistency in executing restorative stretching and strengthening exercises (Note that I did not say that it involves getting adjusted three times a week for the next six months). The payoff for that hard work and consistency is similar to that to be gained from consistent commitment to eating a whole foods diet: significantly improved health and longevity!

Regaining functional movement and natural movement patterns isn’t just about being pain free; it’s also about health. Through a process known as mechnotransduction, the loads placed upon an individual cell can affect how the DNA of the cell is expressed. Whoa! Movement is another epigenetic factor!

One of my favorite points Katy makes in her book is about atherosclerosis. We’ve been indoctrinated to believe that this disease develops because your cholesterol is too high (because you’ve been eating those evil animal foods and saturated fats that humans have been eating since their evolutionary beginnings) and that statins will save you. This indoctrination is so complete, we in the alternative health movement are guilty of assuming that if our patients & clients simply eat better, they can reverse the disease and no longer need a statin drug. What Katy points out however, is that if atherosclerosis is primarily a biochemical problem, then we should see it develop in any and all arteries with equal frequency.

But that’s not what we see.

Atherosclerosis is most likely to develop in the abdominal aorta, iliac, femoral, popliteal, carotid and cerebral arteries. Basically, in areas where the arteries have to change angles. This changes the hemodynamics, or the way the blood flows through those arteries. Picture two rivers- one flowing fairly straight and another with lots of twists and bends. The one with all the twists and bends while have more eddies and rapids. When a similar change happens within a blood vessel though, we get localized areas of higher force, or loads on the cells of the artery wall. Over time, this may damage the arterial wall, leading to a need for cholesterol to act as the spackle to patch the ‘hole.’ Can you see now why taking a statin drug may lower your total cholesterol level but not actually protect you from cardiovascular disease or a heart attack???

Here’s what more- most of those arteries named above where atherosclerosis is most common are in the area of the hip and the knee. Which for most modern humans who are accustomed to sitting in chairs for hours a day for YEARS of their life, increases the loads on the arterial walls even more, because if the joints are constantly stuck in 90 degrees of flexion from chair sitting- so are the arteries. So what is really leading to the atherosclerosis- eating healthy animal foods in your diet or being stuck sitting in a chair all day? Can you see now why sitting is the new smoking?

At this point, you are hopefully itchy to get out of your seat and move somehow. So here’s a few practical tips to get you started moving more functionally.

1.) Stretch your calves. Get a towel, roll it up and place it on the floor. Put the toes & ball of one foot on it so that they are higher than the heel. Now stand with your feet hip width apart, toes even with each other. You should feel the stretch in the calf muscle on of the leg that is on the towel. Now notice the rest of your posture. Do you have to learn forward at the waist to maintain this position? Is your pelvis tucked under as you hold this position? With the foot not on the towel, try stepping forward a few inches. Do you have to break at the waist to accomplish this? Does you pelvis tuck to allow your foot to come forward? This is a great stretch to do through the day, every day. Since most of us have worn positive-heeled shoes for our entire lives, this stretch begins to combat the muscle length (& mass) changes most of us have in the lower leg that have developed as adaptations to shoe-wearing.

2.) Do anything but sit in a chair. It’s not that chairs and sitting are evil in and of themselves. It’s that we spend so much time in this one position that over a lifetime of chair sitting, our muscles adapt to chair sitting. So much so, that even when you stand up, your muscles maintain some of the length adaptations they have made to sitting. The fact is that there are many, many ways to sit that don’t involve sitting in a chair with the hips and knees flexed and the pelvis tucked under. The solution isn’t just to stand all day either. The key is to try lots of new and novel positions so your muscles & joints can experience loading in all different directions.  Forget apples, kick your chair habit if you really want to keep the doctor away.

3.) Go barefoot. Of course, please be sensible here. If you’ve been wearing shoes all of your life, your foot muscles have atrophied, just like when you broke your arm as a kid and your arm was all little and wimpy when the cast came off. Start with walking around your house barefoot. Try taking it outside in your yard. If you want go next level, get a pair of super minimalist shoes and starting taking walks in them. Start slow and small with your barefoot walks and slowly work your way up.

4.) Speaking of walking… go walk!! Walking is one of the best things you can do for your musculoskeletal system. Think of walking as being on the same level as kale in your diet. You don’t have to go super fast; this isn’t about burning up the calories. Even better, make walking a useful, integrated part of your day. Walk to the post office or the mailbox. Walk to visit a neighbor or friend. Give your walking a purpose other than ‘exercise.’ And just as note here, walking indoors on a treadmill is not the same thing as walking outside. First of all, the biomechanics are totally different. In walking over ground, forward motion is created by hip extension (pushing backwards). On a treadmill, the backwards motion of the tread does that part for you, so all you have to do is flex the hip to swing the leg forward to met the tread in front of you. Especially if you are trying to counteract the musculoskeletal adaptations of chronic sitting, treadmill walking is not the way to go. Also, its messes with your optic flow. Ever notice how when you get off the treadmill you have those few seconds of feeling disoriented and maybe even dizzy? That’s because your brain was getting information that the body was moving, but the eyes were telling the brain ‘nope, same scenery. We’re not moving past or by anything.’ This information mismatch is what gives you that disoriented/dizzy feeling and the science indicates that this only gets worse as you get older. So, do me a favor and just walk outside, mmm’kay?

5.) And speaking of eyes and optic flow- LOOK UP. Look out a window. Focus on something really far away. Or go outside and focus on something far away. We are having an epidemic of near-sightedness because of all the screen time we log. The shape of your eye- and therefore, what you can focus on- is determined by the length and contraction of 6 different muscles around your eyes. And just like any of the other muscles of your body, they will adapt over time to the length at which they are used the most. So if you use them all the time to focus on things 12″-24″ in front of your face, that’s what they are going to be best at. Take ‘eye breaks’ throughout the day to train these muscles to retain their ability to see distances. You can also download a handy Time Out program for your computer to remind you take a screen break, get up and stretch or whatever.

Stay tuned for some more posts about functional movement. And on that note, I’m going to go take a short walk and get away from this computer screen for a bit!

Filed Under: Functional Movement Tagged With: barefoot, bones, cholesterol, eye breaks, functional movement, heart disease, muscle spasm, natural movement, osteoporosis, Paleo movements, statin drugs, stretching, walking, whole body movement

Glutathione: What it is and why you need (more of) it!

September 29, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

The short answer here is that glutathione is your body’s main antioxidant. As with any antioxidant, its main function is to reduce free radicals within the body. The damage caused by free radicals accelerates the aging process, as the free radicals destroy essential compounds and tissues, like the lining of your arteries or even your DNA itself.

Inflammation can also increase the production of free radicals and therefore the need for glutathione. In fact, almost any inflammatory condition can be helped by ensuring the body is adequately synthesizing glutathione.

Outside of inflammatory conditions that might call for more glutathione synthesis, we may become deficient in glutathione because of insufficient dietary intake of the necessary building blocks of glutathione. In particular, the amino acid cysteine, which is rare in food, is often a limiting factor in glutathione synthesis.

Magnesium and selenium are two minerals also necessary for the production and function of glutathione. Due to modern farming practices, both of these minerals can be hard to come by in adequate amounts through just diet alone. Vitamin D3 has also been shown to augment glutathione synthesis.

So how can you insure that you have adequate amounts of this very important antioxidant on hand?

  1. Whey protein has been shown to increase glutathione synthesis.
  2. Supplementation with N-acetyl cysteine has been shown to be useful. SAMe has also shown to be beneficial
  3. Optimize your Vitamin D levels by making sure you get 15-20 minutes of sun (or more if you have darker skin) on unprotected skin daily, year around. Consider supplementation if this is difficult.
  4. Make sure you get adequate magnesium and selenium. Magnesium is a safe & effective supplement that almost everyone should be on. Three Brazil nuts eaten daily can help insure adequate selenium levels.

Filed Under: Inflammation Tagged With: autoimmune, inflammation, mineral absorption, supplementation

Heal your gut with this simple (and simply amazing) food

September 25, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

As the air turns crisper, we naturally start to crave warmer, moist foods. It’s a perfect time to make simple, nourishing bone broth.

Why bone broth?

For one, its a nutrient dense food. The minerals in the bones dissolve into the broth and are easily digested and absorbed. Bone broth is also rich in the amino acid glycine, which helps nourish and heal the gut. It’s also an extremely economical food. Grassfed beef bones can be bought for mere cents per pound and leftover veggies can be used to fill out the flavor profile. And if that’s not enough to convince you, bone broth will make you a rock star in the kitchen. Add it to soups and stews to make them more flavorful or braise meats in it. My homemade beef broth is what makes my pot roast a perennial crowd favorite. Don’t be surprised if people start asking where you got your mad skills in the kitchen!

You can make bone broth from both beef bones or chicken bones. I’ve found that you can buy the beef bones by themselves, but the best way to get chicken bones is to buy a whole, pastured chicken. Roast the whole chicken and serve it for dinner one evening. Pick the carcass clean and use those bits to make a chicken salad for lunch the next day. Then place the bones into the stockpot and cover with water (3 meals from one chicken makes the investment in a pastured chicken worth it! Also the broth will be more nourishing if you use a pastured chicken). Add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar (1/2 cup for beef bones) to the water and let it sit for 30 minutes. For beef bones, I like to use a combinations of marrow bones and knuckle bones. The knuckles have more collagen in them, which will add more good nutrients and amino acids to your broth.

After the broth sits for 30 minutes, add some peeled cloves of garlic, a pinch or two of sea salt and some pepper if you’d like. Bring the water to a boil and skim off the foam that rises to the top, then turn the heat down and let it simmer, 24-36 hours for chicken bones, up to 48 hours for beef bones. This is a simple broth, but you can get fancier and add more flavor by adding onions, celery and carrots. Once your broth is done cooking, let it cool. You can skim off the fat that rises to the top, or not. Strain out the bones and vegetables, if used.

Once you have made your nourishing bone broth, enjoy it straight up for a super-nourishing meal or freeze the rest and use it as needed for a soup base, to make stews or to braise meats in. Drink daily for optimal gut health.

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: bones, calcium, mineral absorption, Paleo diet

Why going ‘gluten-free’ is not enough

September 22, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

Gluten-free is all the rage now with major restaurant chains offering gluten-free menus and even the smallest grocery stores having aisles dedicated to gluten-free products. With the proliferation of gluten-free offerings, one might be tempted to think we are making healthier choices.

This is not the case.

I remember when I first started working with Hashimoto’s patients. After delivering the news that their thyroid condition was in fact an autoimmune condition, I informed them that they needed to go gluten-free in order to prevent their bodies from making antibodies that attacked and destroyed their thyroid gland. Knowing that this can be quite a drastic change for some people, I tried to encourage them by reminding them that this was an opportunity to eat healthier by filling out their diets with vegetables instead of processed wheat products. What quickly became apparent though, is that people simply started swapping their processed wheat products for processed gluten-free products.

Let me be plain: Gluten-free foods are NOT health foods.

  1. Gluten-free products are highly processed. It takes the marvels of modern machinery to make something made of rice flour to not taste gritty and chalky.
  2. Gluten-free foods are high in sugar. What’s the best way to cover-up that chalky taste? Sugar. Lots of it!
  3. Gluten-free foods are terrible for blood sugar regulation. Another way to improve the taste & texture of a gluten-free food, besides adding a lot of sugar, is to using highly refined starches like cornstarch, potato starch & tapioca starch. These are very fine powders that are often a solution to that ‘gritty’ texture of rice flour. The problem is that they are so refined, there is nothing to digest and their carbohydrate content hits the bloodstream very quickly, provoking an insulin spike. This is very hard on the pancreas and is the same mechanism that leads to the development of Type II diabetes.
  4. Gluten-free foods use refined vegetable oils. Fats are another way to cover up the chalky taste & texture. This wouldn’t be so problematic if we were using heat-stable, traditional fats like coconut oil or butter. However, most refined foods have refined fats in them like canola and soybean oil. These oils are not stable at high temperatures and have gone through a complex treatment process to deodorize and clean them before they are even sold to you. Why would they have to go through this process? Because they are so delicate, they become rancid just going through the extraction process. They have to be cleansed and deodorized or they would be too disgusting to eat. While the smell may be gone, the artery-destroying free radicals and inflammation-promoting omega 6 fats are not. Avoid these.
  5. Gluten-free foods are not a good source of nutrients. This is a problem with any processed food. Processing removes and/or destroys the nutrient content. The more highly processed, the more of the nutrients that have been destroyed. Compared to vegetables, grains aren’t that great a source of nutrients to begin with. Refining them further into flours and even starches, removes what little there was to begin with. If health is really your goal, its best to swap out gluten-free wanna-be foods for real, whole foods that are naturally gluten-free. Like vegetables 🙂

It’s for the above reasons that I started recommending a Paleo-type diet when I need my patients to go gluten-free. Paleo is about whole, real foods. It’s also about healing the gut. Because here’s the other thing I began to notice when my patients just started swapping their processed wheat products for gluten-free processed products: they started developing sensitivities to other grain products- particularly the ones that they started consuming more often in the processed gluten-free foods. In the scientific literature this is known as ‘cross-reactivity.’ This occurred because the underlying problem- often a leaky gut- was not fully healed by simply switching to a ‘gluten-free’ diet.

I also noticed this pattern in my Celiac patients. Their symptoms greatly improved on a gluten-free diet, but they still didn’t feel fully well or healthy until they started eating more whole foods and less processed food. Again, years and years of irritation and inflammation in the gut could not be fixed simply by going gluten-free. All grains needed to be eliminated and more nutrient-dense foods like vegetables and bone broth needed to be added.

If a product has to be labeled ‘gluten-free,’ its probably not healthy for you. If health is truly your goal, you would be better off investing in naturally gluten-free foods like animal products, vegetables, fruits and nuts.

Filed Under: Functional Medicine, Gluten-free, Nutrition, Paleo diet Tagged With: autoimmune, carbohydrates, gluten-free, Hashimoto's, hypothyroidism, inflammation, Paleo diet

Health Coaching

September 10, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

Making healthy changes can be hard. Often we know what we need to do or should do, but implementing it can be another story. Having a coach to support and encourage, back you up, or help you strategize more effective strategies can make the difference in whether or not you realize your health goals.

Unlike conventional doctors who may simply say, “eat healthy and lose a few pounds,” before they walk out the door, I’ll help you strategize how to implement a healthier way of eating, in a way that works for you! I am a big believer in setting you up for success, so I’ll challenge you, but in a way that is ‘handle-able’ for you.

Let me help you build vibrant and sustainable health through tasting and health foods, in a way the helps you feel fulfilled, not deprived.

Filed Under: Learn More Tagged With: health coaching

Applied Kinesiology

September 10, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

Applied kinesiology (AK) is a system of using manual muscle testing to correct muscular imbalances. It incorporates elements of Sacro-occipital technique (SOT), craniosacral, nutrition-response as well as meridian therapy (acupressure).

I use AK primarily to help support the adjustments, so that you get more relief, faster. Muscles attach to bone. If muscle imbalances persist, they may cause the underlying skeletal structure to continued to be pulled out of alignment. Instead of adjusting the same joints over and over, I use AK to correct the muscle imbalances, so that you ‘hold’ the adjustment better.

Filed Under: Learn More Tagged With: applied kinesiology

Chiropractic Care

September 10, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

Manipulations of the vertebrae of the spine and other joints have been used for pain relief and increased function for over 5,000 years. It is a safe and effective method for treating and addressing sports injuries, overuse & repetitive strain injuries, and muscle imbalances, as well as back pain, neck pain, and headaches.

Your spine is the bony armor for your spinal cord as well as a support structure to keep your body upright. Restrictions of the movement of the vertebrae not only cause pain or limit range of motion, but also interfere with the effective communication between your body and your brain. Manipulations of the spine not only increase range of motion but also normalize and optimize nervous system communication with your brain. For this reason, it can be a good idea to have regular ‘tune-ups’ to realign your spine and prevent small problems from developing into bigger ones.

The following are a few frequently asked questions about chiropractic care.

Does it hurt?

Most patients report relief of their pain with manipulation.

I really don’t like to be ‘cracked.’ Can you still help me?

Yes! I have many techniques at my disposable to use in the case that a patient prefers not to be manipulated. I use a combination of soft tissue work and gentle pressure on the vertebrae to correct their alignment. I also use kinesiology techniques to address the muscle imbalances that may be pulling the vertebrae out of alignment in the first place.

How soon will I feel relief from my symptoms?

Unfortunately, the answer here is that it depends on your conditions and what is causing it, as well as some lifestyle factors. However, many of my patients have experienced significant relief in just 1-3 visits.

If I start, won’t I have to keep going for the rest of my life?

No. While I will recommend a treatment schedule, it’s ultimately up to you to decide. I do have many loyal patients who value my work, and the benefit they receive from it, enough that they choose to schedule ‘maintenance’ visits on regular basis. For some, this might be once every two weeks, for other it may be once every six weeks.

Will I have to go three times a week to start out?

No! I understand that you have a life and more to do then go to the chiropractor’s office three times a week! Most follow sessions are 20-30 minutes. I am with you and working with you that entire time. In this time, I do soft tissue work, muscle testing and we may even talk about your diet, stress, or other things in your life that may be affecting your health. Because I accomplish so much in this one session, I find that most people do well with 1-2 visits per week maximum.

Filed Under: Learn More Tagged With: chiropractic care

Ancestral Health

August 20, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

We have more access to more information about health and disease than at any other period of human history and yet, we are arguably the most unhealthy we have ever been.

Here in the U.S., the sky-rocketing rates of obesity are a daily news story. Rates of chronic illness like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and autoimmune disease are increasing at alarming rates. Diseases we thought only happened in aging adults are occurring in younger children.

Ironic isn’t?

If you’re old enough, you may remember a time when obesity was rare; when cancer was rare and only your rapidly aging grandpa has developed ‘diabeetus.’ So what happened? What has caused such a profound change in our health?

There are many answers to that question and as of yet, no proven smoking gun. Searching through the myriad of possibilities would take time we don’t have. What we need is a framework for understanding what effects health and gives us a blueprint to search for the place where we seem to have gone off the map.

The concept of ancestral health is that framework.

We think that cavemen lived ‘short, brutish’ lives, but archeology says that is not really the whole story. Sure, life expectancy was low, but that was a population average, mostly skewed because childbirth was such a dicey proposition. There were plenty of early humans who survived well into old age if they managed to survive disease epidemics, broken bones or becoming a meal for another creature. The point is, even if they made it to past all those hurdles, obesity heart disease and poor health weren’t destined for them simply by virtue of having reached that age.

From what archeology studies tell us, hunter-gatherers were lean, well-built with little tooth decay and no need for orthodontics. By studying modern hunter-gatherer tribes, we have inferred that they spent an average of 20 hours a week engaged in activities necessary for survival, spending the rest of their free time visiting relatives, creating art, or engaged in other leisure activities.

Can you imagine? All your needs met in the space of a part-time job? Very little stress and plenty of time to kick back, relax and enjoy life. No running yourself ragged, running in literal circles, going to gym to keep fit. No having to watch every last piece of food you ate in order to stay trim. No smartphone constantly ringing with requests from people who need something from you…right now! Growing old gracefully, with a strong, supple body. Getting plenty of restful sleep each and every night. Unburdened joy. Not sounding so bad, eh?

So how do this relate to health?

Well I’m glad you asked because you see, we have those same bodies. Bodies that want to be lean and fit and healthy and strong. It is our genetic potential and can be our genetic reality under the right circumstances. The problem is that we have changed the rules of the game much faster than our ancient bodies can keep up with and adapt sufficiently to. Since World War II, we have introduced 50,000 novel chemicals into our environment. We haven’t studied the long-term safety of most of these, let alone the combinations of them that we are exposed to daily. GMOs in our food supply, animals raised on grain instead of grass, pharmaceutical drugs, indoor lighting, smartphones, tablets and laptops, constant stress, automobiles- all are things that are completely new to humans beings in the last 100 or so years. All are interacting in ways that eroding our health.

The sad fact is that many of us don’t eat real food anymore. Many of us spend hours a day only exercising the tiny muscles in our hands while sitting on the biggest muscles of our hips and thighs. This is not how our bodies were designed to function and it is slowly killing us.

Using this framework, I make recommendations to my patients to get their current reality to be more congruent with their ancient genetics. Why? Because when these two are aligned, improved health is often the outcome. I may encourage patients to eat a more whole food diet, or to sleep in pattern that aligned with their brain’s ingrained circadian rhythms or to move and exercise in way that builds so-called ‘functional movement’ patterns. In doing so, we honor the innate wisdom of our bodies and their desire to be healthy.

Filed Under: Learn More Tagged With: better sleep, bones, fat loss, fatigue, heart disease, inflammation, obesity, Paleo diet

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Dr. Christa

I am a Chiropractor helping patients to have less pain, move with more freedom and ease, and have more energy for the things they love. More…

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