Stressful times

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are joyous times to spend with friends and family, but many  of us get lost in the hustle and bustle of buying gifts, attending parties, overeating, and dealing with stress from finances and other sources.  The big 3 sources of stress that are evident during the holidays are emotional stress, dietary stress, and pain and inflammatory stress.  When we are under stress, our adrenal glands produce massive amounts of the hormone cortisol and over time this burns out the adrenal glands.  The longer we are under stress, our cortisol becomes depleted and we become exhausted. Prolonged stress causes adrenal burn out or exhaustion and cortisol’s role in our fat burning metabolism fails.  Once this happens we store body fat, especially around our waist line.  This the body’s way of protecting us, since high stress times throughout human history has been linked to lack of food (i.e. famine or war). By storing fat, we are better equipped to survive during those high stress times.  When our adrenals burnout, we damage our metabolism.  Even in the absence of stress, our metabolism stays in disarray and we are unable to burn fat despite exercising and eating well.  We can test and correct your cortisol so that your energy returns to normal and help you achieve proper fat burning metabolism.  To test your cortisol is simple and cost $140.00.  From these results, I can design a nutritional program with dietary and lifestyle changes to help you lose weight, feel great, and have plenty of energy.  Call our office today to get started!  (919) 662-0520

Flu and Cold Season is Here!

It is that time of year again, FLU Season!  Before you rush out to have a flu shot, you should consider taking a natural approach to supporting your immune system.  Flu vaccines are considered the best way to prevent the flu, but are in fact weakening the immune system.  Furthermore, the flu vaccine does contain thimerasol, a component of mercury (this vaccine and a handful of others still contains thimerasol).  If you are looking to support the immune system this cold and flu season, I recommend the following products:

Total Virx

Total Multimume

Total Flu/Cld Nasal Spray

Vitamin D

Total Probiotics

Zinc

Vitamin C

Total Bac-T if necessary

Dietary and lifestyle considerations should include a low glycemic index diet (sugar weakens your immune system), quality vegetables, 2 fruits per day, quality meats and oils.   Detoxification foot baths are important to reduce your immune systems demands and remove heavy metals.  Chiropractic care is a must to help boost your immune system and keep your nervous system firing optimally.  If you are concerned about the flu or want to improve your overall health/immune system, please call our office to set up an appointment.  You have the power to be healthy!  Don’t wait till its too late to make a change!

Have You Considered Chiropractic?

I am amazed by the number of people that are reluctant to try chiropractic!  I know we only treat about 11% of the population and part of  that problem has been the profession.  We have not educated people as to what chiropractic is and why you should seek treatment.  I overhear conversations of people at the gym, grocery store, and restaurants of the countless ailments they or a close friend or family member has and have found no relief.  Many people believe that health only comes in the form of pill or surgery.  I understand, I grew up medically minded.  If you have pain or a headache, you take a pill.  Simple fix, right?  However, with the education in which I was exposed, I was able to see the downside of popping a pill for what ails me.  I began on a journey to wellness through the use of chiropractic, nutritional supplements, proper diet, and beneficial exercise.  I know chiropractic is not a panacea for everything or everyone, but why not try it out for yourself!  What do you have to lose?  So, you are probably asking yourself what is chiropractic all about.  In one word, WELLNESS.  Not disease care or pain relief. We are talking whole body wellness, or at least my version of chiropractic.  Chiropractic aims to restore joint motion to the spine through manipulation either by hand, table, or instrument.  So what does that have to do with wellness?  Your spinal joints have receptors located within them call propioreceptors and mechanoreceptors that detect changes in pressure.  When gravity pushes down on us, these receptors constantly send information to the brain and provide constant stimulation that the brain must have.  The brain also must have oxygen and glucose to survive.  When we have trauma, stress, poor nutrition, toxin exposure (everyone in the U.S.), poor posture, infective organisms, etc.., our spinal joints fixate or don’t move as well.  What this does to the brain is to limit stimulation and decrease function to the brain.  Consider placing a cast on your left elbow to restrict motion.  While wearing the cast you would not have a lot of pain other than doing daily activities.  At the end of 8 weeks, you have the cast removed and boy, what a difference the left is from the right!  You would notice muscle atrophy and poor motion in the joint.  As important as your elbow is to the brain, your spinal joints are even more important because gravity causes them to fire at all times.  Your brain can detect one micrometer (10-6) change in the ability of that joint to fire information back to the brain!  When one of the vital components of the brain decreases, function decreases as well.  Your brain controls and coordinates every organ, gland, system, and cell in the body!  By increasing stimulation to the brain, you feel better, have increase range of motion, fewer illnesses, better digestion and elimination, and better overall function throughout the body!  I could continue on into oxygen and glucose utilization but that will be for another day.  I hope you see the benefit of a chiropractic adjustment and why you and your whole family needs it!

Oxidative Stress

Have you ever wondered if why your windshield wipers stop working as well as they did the day you installed a brand new pair.  Because they are exposed to sunlight, they undergo oxidative stress and start to crack and lose their ability to clear water out-of-the-way.  Just like your windshield wipers, your body undergoes oxidative stress on a daily basis.  If this oxidative stress builds up, it can really strain your system.  Oxidative stress can influence the liver, pancreas, adrenals, and kidneys.  This in turn can lead to digestive and blood sugar irregularity, premature aging, stress at the cellular and lymphatic level, decrease utilization of ATP by the mitochondria, and xenotoxins being produced in the body.  This whole cascade can greatly influence the disease process and increase your likelihood for cancer.  But have no fear, there is a way to check your oxidative stress levels.  We are happy to announce we will be introducing the Oxidata Test by Apex Energetics.  This test is a urinalysis that can detect oxidative stress.  Your exact level of oxidative stress can allow us to see what treatment will be necessary to bring down your oxidative stress.  Products such as grape seed extract, glutathione, superoxide dismutase, vitamin C, vitamin E, and compounds from fruits and vegetables can be helpful to bring down your body’s oxidative stress.  If you would like to have the Oxidata Test performed, please call us at (919) 662-0520.

Immune Health

It’s getting that time of year again when the leaves change, the weather cools off, and family draws near (as does colds and flu’s).  Some of these things are welcomed and some of them are not (colds and flu).  Nonetheless, how are you going to equip yourself and your family to stay healthy this fall and winter?  Well, I’ve got some ideas for you!

1. Get enough sleep each night.
2. Check your vitamin D levels and increase them either through sunlight or supplementation.
3. Eat whole balanced foods with plenty of vegetables.  A good rule of thumb is 30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carbohydrates.
4. Decrease your stress levels through meditation, relaxation, and breathing.  DSF glandular and herbal are great adjuncts to reducing your bodies response to stress.
5. Immune system support through supplementation.  Total Virx, Total Bac-T, Total Multimune, Total Para, Total Yeast Redux, Immugen, Children’s Xantham Formula are excellent ways to keep your immune system healthy.
6. Detoxify the body regularly.  Detox footbaths are an excellent way to help reduce the toxic load with which your immune system is dealing.
7. Balance your energy field.  Multipolar magnets are an easy way to keep your north and south balanced.
8. Reduce or remove any allergy or sensitivity to which the immune system is responding.
9. Restore proper bowel flora through the use of probiotics.  Total Probiotics is a full spectrum of beneficial bacteria that keep bad bacteria out of your intestines.
10. GET ADJUSTED!!

For any of the products listed, just call the office and we can get you what you need!

New Additions

We are excited to announce some new additions to our supplement arsenal!  We are now carrying NanoGreens, NanoReds, NanoOmega 3, & NanoPro from BioPharma.  These are great tasting fruit, vegetable, protein, and omega 3 from flax seeds.  For more information or to order online please log onto: http://www.mybiopharmacy.com/a/2435/ or just stop by the office to purchase or sample some!  Additionally, we have added a liquid all in one for children and adults.  IntraMax is a great tasting multivitamin that contains enzymes, probiotics, fruits, vegetables, trace minerals, and much more!  IntraKid is a great multivitamin with the same great ingredients but formulated for children.  IntraMin is an awesome full spectrum trace mineral formula that tastes great!  These full organic products are awesome for those who want an all in one in liquid form.  Plus, Nutri-West has just released some new products as well!  Total Fiber is an amazing fiber supplement to help you regulate your bowel movements.  This great tasting chewable supplement will provide you with multiple sources of fiber.  Complete Hi D3 is a 5,000 IU tablet that will help you to bring your vitamin D levels to where they should be!  Stop by the office to learn more or sample some of these great products.

Why Vitamin D is so important

Vitamin D is a vital nutrient that is so readily available (especially during summer months), yet many people are deficient.  Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin because our bodies manufacture vitamin D on the surface of the skin from UVB rays.  Vitamin D plays an important role in our immune system function, bone growth and formation, and now new research is finding more implications to disease prevention.  Researchers are looking at vitamin D’s role for cancer prevention, high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, and falls in the elderly.  Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be lower back pain, musculoskeletal pain, cancer, & autoimmune diseases (such as MS & rheumatoid arthritis). Unfortunately, majority of the population (children included) is deficient in vitamin D.    The best way to know if you are deficient is to have a vitamin D blood test.  If your numbers are less than 50 ng/ml, you are deficient.  Optimal values fall between 50-70 ng/ml.  Values from 70-110 ng/ml can be used to treat heart disease and cancer.  Current research is also stating that most people need 35 IU’s per pound of body weight.  So, if you weigh 170 pounds, you would need almost 6,000 IU’s a day!  Nonetheless, you best source of exposure is going to be the sun or a safe tanning bed.  Your body will make 20,000 IU’s at once from the sun.  Once you skin turns pink, that is the most vitamin D your body will make for the day.  Also!!  You will not want to lather/wash with soap over the large areas that were exposed to sun.  You still need to wash in areas that need it for hygienic purposes (armpits, groin, etc…) but refrain from the areas exposed to sun for 24-48 hours.  Current research is demonstrating it takes the body 24-48 hours to absorb vitamin D from the surface of the skin.  Soaps are washing the synthesis off.  Rinsing with water will not wash it off!  Be mindful of SPF’s as well.  Most SPF’s will completely block UVB sunlight and not allow you to absorb vitamin D.  In addition, most SPF’s contain extremely harmful chemicals that can be absorbed into your body!  Use a natural SPF instead! If you are not able to get adequate sun exposure, you need to supplement to keep your levels up.  You will want to supplement with D3 since that is the natural and far superior version of vitamin D.  Vitamin D is fat soluble (fat is need to absorb the vitamin) so most supplements will contain a fat with the vitamin.  If you do supplement with vitamin D, you will need to monitor your blood values as not to go too high.

If you need to have your blood test done on vitamin D or need a quality vitamin D supplement, please call our office and we can get you on the right path toward bringing your vitamin D levels to optimum!

Joint Degeneration

Millions of people through the world suffer with joint degeneration.  Degenerative joint and disc disease was once known as osteoarthritis.  Degeneration is characterized by loss of cartilage around the joint (and other joint changes) as well as bone formation (bone spurring called osteophytes).  Most people experience stiffness upon arising from sleep or rest, joint pain with activity, and occasional joint swelling.  Most people tend to use NSAIDS (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibruprofen and aspirin) to treat the symptoms of degeneration.  However, by using these drugs one may be speeding up the degenerative process.  NSAIDS will help to reduce inflammation which causes pain when the joint is damaged or hurting.  NSAIDS will deplete the body of sulfates which are necessary for joint lubrication and for liver detoxification.  When the body is depleted of sulfates, the liver is stressed and the body cannot manufacture the lubrication for the joint.  In addition, most people are antioxidant depleted which further stress the liver.  The body prioritizes certain functions that occur in the body.  In this instance, the body must detoxify or we will not live for long at all.  If the body is depleted in sulfates, the body will pull sulfates from our joints to help the liver detoxify.  Over time, our joints will degenerate.

One way of the best ways we can stop or slow the progression of joint degeneration is to assist the liver with detoxification by providing our body with antioxidants, sulfates (such as glucosamine sulfate), and other nutrients necessary for joint function and liver detoxification.  Detoxification foot baths are excellent way to help the liver and your joints stay healthy. Structural care is a must to help the joint realign, reduce pain, and improve mobility.  Nutritional products such as Total Liver D-tox, Super Ox, Total Joint Support, and DSF can be very beneficial to help degeneration.  For pain relief, Total Inflam, Omega 3 Fatty Acids, and Liga PN can be very helpful without depleting sulfates in the body.

New Blog!

I am glad to reveal a new blog!  I believe this blog will provide a valuable adjunct to seaywellness.com.  Please feel free to follow my blog.  We will be discussing health and wellness topics with a natural prospective.  The Seay Chiropractic & Wellness blog will also be updating from my Twitter so stay tuned for some exciting information!