Healthy Living Blog

Do you notice cravings for certain flavors or spices that comes and goes? If you do , you are listening to your body. I highly encourage you to pay attention to your body’s call for spices. They are powerful agents of health.

For example, you headache sufferers may like ginger. It can stave off a migraine in the early stages of onset. Grind up a few teaspoons in hot water, steep and drain for easy ingestion.

Cinnamon has been popular lately for its powerful help with blood sugar trouble. Roughly 500 mg at a dose! You may want to take this much in capsule form. It may also speed up visual processing of information- take note of  that for your next test!

Saffron was studied at the university of Tehran and found to have potent anti-depressant properties. Cook with rice, flavor to taste.  

Garlic has incredible anti-cancer properties( Cancer, 2007).  If your making tomato sauce, add it in powder or crushed clove form. If your making bruschetta, call me!

Finally, turmeric appears to remove the “plaques” that we see on the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. WOW. India suffers 1/4th the rate of  this disease. The major ingredient is curcumin. It interupts new vessel formation and growth in tumors.  Try to remember to cook with curry powder(turmeric) occasionally.

Spice it up at home!

For more information about nutrients and health, call (630)322-9522

Dr. Todd Bowers

If you are training for an endurance event( anything longer than 10k),  you need to become an expert on hydration. It is all about a balance between input and output. What you pee and sweat is the output. What you drink is the input. We measure the difference in weight. If you could measure your weight before and after exercise you could safely assume it was water loss. You should attempt to maintain your weight during exercise by fluid intake.

 Keeping hydrated does several things for us:

It is the primary cooling agent we have. 80% of our effort goes into cooling.Chilling!

Second,  it is the limiting factor in distance and performance. You can run all day without food. Not water!

How do you know if you are not drinking enough in an event? The first sign of dehydration is mental- Irritability. Later, muscle cramps from electrolyte loss can occur. Next,your performance can decrease or a slow rise in pulse for the same pace means your heart is working harder with less blood. Where did my blood go?- Fluids for sweat are pulled from your blood. Salting up on your clothes or face means your in trouble too. Start drinking right away. The latter signs are worse: Nausea and feeling hot means your close to heat exhaustion. Now your red-lining!

 Consider these facts:

An athlete can sweat  off 1 to 1.5 liters per hour. A mere one percent weight loss could impede performance.

 Two hours of sweating could be a 25 % reduction in cardiovascular performance.

Convinced yet?

The challenge  is replacing it. So, here are the basics.

                                             1. Find a fluid that  you like. Gatorade, Performax, Infinite,… the list is enormous.

                                             2. Try to intake 70-80 grams of carbs per hour in your fluid. You will get better at drinking with effort.

                                             3. Protein, chromium, and vanadium inprove insulin action during performance. So, if these are in your drink, it is even better. Protein in a one to four ratio with carbs is ideal but it has to go down easily. Modify one element at a time.

                                            4. Weigh before and after exercise keeping a log of the other factors: temp, humidity, wind, effort…This will help you adjust your intake.

                                            5. Plan your hydration: look at your log and compare this exercise / race with previous similar ones that have similar temperatures.  Come up with a plan. ” I need to drink two bottles in 90 min.” or “I can get three bottles down on the bike.”

When you get it right, you’ll feel good, recover well, and race great!

Obviously this is not easy. Give it some distinct effort. If you still have trouble, come on in and we’ll problem solve together.

I remember getting so mad at a Tums commercial one time because it said that it would reduce acid and “supply calcium- something your body needs anyway.” The only reason we can absorb the rock-like mineral is because we have an acidic stomach!  As soon as you use an acid reducer, you are no longer able to absorb calcium efficiently. If you think you could absorb the calcium that they are supplying, your mistaken. It is a low quality , low absorbing calcium carbonate.  Avoid the highly over-prescribed and misunderstood acid blockers until you have no other choice.

There are many ways to help yourself reduce the throat burning and bad taste in the mouth. As long as it is an acid over production and not an improper enzyme production, these will help:

• Eliminate water or fluids during a meal. This is the number one issue. If a chunk of food shows up in your stomach and needs to be broken down, water dilutes your stomach acid floats enzymes off the food.
• Chew each bite extensively. Aim at twenty to twenty-five times per mouthful. This gives the stomach a huge assist by breaking food down mechanically, and using saliva enzymes, thus reducing the stomach acid needed.
• Don’t lie down after a meal for at least one hour.
• Reduce your simple carbohydrate intake. Try to cut it by 20%.
• Avoid spices. They  make it worse.

We have herbal digestive aids that are outstanding at helping your gut process foods properly. Call us if you would like to get advice:630-322-9522

I just received a concerned letter from a patient who has a chronic low back problem. She was concerned about the impending long drive with her family this summer. Good preventative thinking! Let’s let everyone in on this advice.

Here are the tips for all you road warriors to keep your back out of trouble while you are driving:

• Keep your backrest upright. It should be close to a 90 degree angle  with the seat. It keeps you from “turtle-ing” your head forward.
• Keep the curve! Put a water bottle or a rolled towel behind your low back just about at belt height. This will keep your low back curve that protects your disks and muscles.  And,”No” , your fancy lumbar support mechanism in the car seat is not enough.
• Lift ‘em high! Adjust your seat to have your seat higher than your knees. This is more difficult in a sport coupe, easy in an SUV. It will improve your dispersal of pressure across your fanny.
• Keep the change! Modify your position often to keep blood flow from pooling.
• Give it a break! Stop and get out to do your stretches every 90 minutes or so. For example: Put one straight leg up on a stair or the bumper and lean forward (hamstring).  Then, try a heel to butt pull on your quad muscle. Also, try a lunge on one leg at a time to stretch out the hip flexors .

You will be much happier when you get there. So, have a great time and a healthier trip! Call if you need some personal instruction on these stretches. 630-322-9522

Its Spring! If you are like me, you are getting out into the garden and enjoying our beautiful weather in Chicagoland. Our goal at Bowers Chiropractic Center is to help you avoid injury and recover quickly if you happen to get injured. Please consider these preventative steps to healthier spring gardening:

Think of gardening as a sport.

• Prepare for your “event” by planning your gardening: don’t get into four hours of gardening on your first outing. You need to build up your endurance! Plan for 45 minutes to start.  Rotate jobs – don’t do one thing in high repetition. I know there’s a lot to be done. I am trying to make sure you enjoy it tomorrow.
• Stretching your muscles will really help minimize the stress. Especially the muscles around your low back and hips. (There are great ones under the stretching section of this website).
• Don’t lift those forty pound bags of dirt, mulch, chips …Use a shovel and cut them open. Shovel them into a wheel barrow. Break it into small loads. Bending is where most of the damage occurs. Carry a load to the garden then disperse it before going and reloading. It will give you more recovery time. This will disperse the stress through other areas and avoid one muscle getting overdone.
• Proper tool use is important. Use the tool as it is meant to be used. Only use a tool that is in good working order.  Keep yourself close to your work. Don’t reach far away to lift, dig, pull or pry. If you can make a work surface to pot or mix on, you will save so much effort. A workbench or old door across fence corners will do nicely.

Now, if you do get hurt, don’t avoid the issue. Get ice on the area quickly to stop swelling and reduce pain. Rest. Chiropractic adjusting will promote the body’s natural healing as well. Enjoy!

Hi Dr. Bowers,
I am Laurie’s sister and I came to you for an appt. a few weeks back. You made my neck feel soo much better! I just wanted to say thank you!
Have a great day,
Jenny

Linda: “I am doing great. Thanks! I am going to refer my friends to you.”

Stanley:” I don’t know how people can get along without Chiropractic care. It’s a lifesaver!”

Mary: “ I love coming to the office. It is so peaceful.”

Celiac disease is the body allergically reacting to wheat. It is a portion of the wheat kernel that the body responds against. A crazy little molecule called zonulin normally responds to immune challenges by opening up the gut wall and pulling in irritating chemicals or molecules. Unfortunately when it pulls in the gluten particles there is a rush of lymphocytes to the area. This causes a significant cascade of  chemical responses which, when maintained,  severely damage the surrounding tissue. Commonly diarrhea or constipation result. If that was not enough the lymphocyte(white blood cell) response can occur anywhere in the body! -Especially in the brain and liver. Biopsies of the brain, liver and gut show damage occurring due to the in-rush of lymphocytes. I have witnessed MRI changes to the white matter in the brain from gluten exposure. Do you see the implications? ALS (lou gherigs disease), multiple sclerosis and Ahlzeimer’s can be brought on by celiac disease. In fact, gluten sensitivity, not just gluten allergy has been implicated in ADHD , ADD, and autism. Journal articles support this very clearly. How do you find out if you are gluten sensitive or have celiac disease? Come in for a simple blood draw. There are new tests coming out for saliva and stool sample testing . We look for antibodies and tissue breakdown in your system. We will walk you through the process of eliminating wheat. It is a permanent life change. It can permanently improve your life!

There are some great websites for help with getting gluten free.

theglutensyndrome.net looks very helpful.

celiacdisease.org is good too.

There is an incredible prevalence of gluten sensitivity. It has been implicated in the most obscure, previously misunderstood diseases. Mayo Clinic came out with a list of the diseases potentially associated with the exposure to gluten. In  Heptology , Vol. 46, No. 5

They list:

 cryptogenic cirrhosis,

 autoimmune liver disorders such as primary biliary cirrhosis, auto immune hepatitis type 1 & 2, autoimmune cholangitis

primary sclerosing cholangistis

chronic hepatitis C

hemochromotosis

non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

acute liver failure

and hepatocellular carcinoma

regenerative nodular hyperplasia

all these are associated with Celiac disease!

Also well known associations are migraine headaches,fibromyalgia, and autoimmune reactions of many kinds!

Roughly 30% of patients do not respond to becoming gluten free. They need additional help: Such as lymphocyte calming and repair of the damaged tissue before feeling better. We have the right stuff to help you repair!

If you have been suffering with a problem that seems dietary sensitive but you have been unable to diagnose it or find relief… come in and let us test you for sensitivities or gluten allergy.  630-322-9522.