Category Archives: Health & Wellness

You’d have to be living under a rock to have not witnessed some aspect of the public campaign against cigarettes. Whether it’s the cleverly covert messages in various truth ads or the in your face images of amputees or throat cancer victims, the underlying deterrent message is clear and the threat is real. Unfortunately, for various reasons, people continue to partake in the act of igniting a toxic chemical stick and inhaling poison into their lungs, providing a gateway to the rest of the ENTIRE body. This is despite that the fact smoking is recognized by multiple factions as the most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.

This post will not get into the deceitful and corrupt sequence of events that led to cigarettes rise and hopefully progressive fall. A sequence of events that lasted long enough to allow an industry to double and triple its prices while also being the target of an increasingly aggressive awareness campaign, YET still retain chemically and emotionally addicted consumers. This post is designed to once again explain the “why” for doing or not doing something. Hopefully this will serve as a reminder, re-enforcer and maybe an introducer of new to you information that can help serve as your own or someone you love’s motivating factors to make an essential lifestyle change.

If you’re a smoker or know someone who is, I encourage to not just mindlessly skim over the facts listed below. Take the time to read and re-read. Understand what you just read and how utterly ridiculous and sad it is to willingly expose yourself to the proven dangers listed below. In these posts we always talk about doing things to stack the deck in our favor. Smoking cigarettes, my friends, is the exact opposite.

To start, cigarettes contain anywhere from 4,000 – 7,000 chemicals, with at least 250 being proven as harmful to human health and approximately 70 being carcinogenic. These include:

o Formaldehyde: used to embalm dead bodies

o Benzene: found in gasoline

o Arsenic: used in pesticides

o Lead: used in paint

o Ammonia: used in cleaning products

o Hydrogen Cyanide: used in chemical weapons

o Carbon Monoxide:

Oh, you know; car exhaust. When you inhale cigarette smoke this works the same way as it does when someone attempts suicide by way of a running car in a closed garage. The carbon monoxide has a high affinity to bond with the hemoglobin of our red blood cells. This is particularly troublesome because oxygen is also transported to every cell in your body via hemoglobin. However, when competing for the hemoglobin transport, carbon monoxide wins the battle. What this boils down to is that ALL the cells and ORGANS in the body are now becoming oxygen deprived and are subject to dysfunction. As if that weren’t enough; instead of simply being low on oxygen and thus function, a poisonous gas (carbon monoxide) is being delivered instead.

So that should do it, right? What I just listed should be more than enough to deter someone from smoking. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Unfortunately, the damage goes deeper than this.

The introduction of all these toxic chemicals into your system forces your immune system into constant overdrive. This leads to a couple of crucial issues:

o First, your body is now using a large majority of its fuel to provide energy to the immune system.
Fuel is already on the low end due to the decreased oxygen consumption that we spoke of above. This
leaves less fuel for every other bodily function. We are talking about sub-par function at best.

o The second issue with the immune reaction is that of a key player that’s associated with almost every
disease. We are talking about the immune system’s first line of attack; inflammation. So now we
have foreign chemicals entering through the lungs and transported by the blood to EVERY inch of your
body, and thus creating an across the board irritated and inflamed state.

o In treating someone holistically, there is no way to even consider achieving optimal results if the
patient is a smoker. Systemic inflammation equals body wide damage and an immune system that is
using all of the body’s fuel. So not only has the patient lowered their chances to stave off any
other illness, but any other condition will now be amplified from arthritis to thyrotoxicosis to
infertility.
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If both of the above described mechanisms still don’t motivate quitting, we can re-iterate the traditional heavy hitters.

o How about CANCER?!?! For some reason the exponentially increased risk of a mutilating and deadly
disease still doesn’t cut it for people. Common culprits include esophageal, laryngeal, lung, mouth,
throat, cervical, kidney, stomach, and pancreatic cancer. Some motivation: the CDC reports that
within 5 years of quitting smoking, your chances of mouth, throat, esophagus and bladder cancer is
cut in half.

o The other obvious target is the lungs. Outside of cancer, we’re referring to COPD (Chronic Pulmonary
Obstructive Disease) which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

o We must also consider substantially increased chances of cardiovascular disease, stroke and aneurysm
all caused by nicotine and the other toxic substances in that heater. These substances damage the
artery walls, leading to cholesterol deposition (plaques) as a band aid for the damage. Damage and
subsequent narrowing of the arteries leads to diminished blood supply to everywhere. With this you
see slower wound healing, peripheral vascular diseases that can culminate in amputation, as well as
further reduction of fuel delivery to all organs and tissues, which again contributes to dysfunction.
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If this still doesn’t get you there, how about just flat out death? As reported by the CDC, smoking related illnesses claim the lives of almost half a million Americans each year. On average smokers live approximately 14 years less than non-smokers. Is that extra decade plus worth enough to you?

I realize that quitting this habit is harder than it sounds. If you’ve tried and failed, don’t get down on yourself. These masterminds at friendly corporations have launched their chemical attack on your internal chemistry. They know that just like cocaine or heroin, nicotine changes the way the brain works and causes you to crave more nicotine. Today’s cigarettes pack more nicotine and deliver it quicker than before. Couple all that with marketing to teens who don’t realize the addictive nature, and naturally don’t care about adverse future consequences, and the stage is set for addiction prior to entering your 20s. Brilliant.

If someone is tired of being a slave to and donating their hard earned cash and years to crooked corporations, there is always a way out. If pure will power isn’t cutting it, don’t feel bad. As we described above, you’ve been intentionally, chemically manipulated by big business. Statistics show it generally takes multiple attempts to finally kick the habit.

First, find your reason for quitting. What’s important enough to serve as a motivator and goal? Long life and health seems like a start, but make it your own. Obviously, the natural path is always preferred, but in this case exploring the options of various nicotine replacement therapies or medications as a temporary solution to wean off the habit is definitely a reasonable consideration.

Hopefully information like this will play a part in shedding more light on the voluntary blind eye so many choose to utilize. In this case, ignorance may indeed be bliss; if bliss is constant sickness and eventual death. Remember, choosing to ignore the facts doesn’t make them any less true.

REFERENCES

http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/facts-figures/general-smoking-facts.html

Click to access consumer.pdf

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/QuitSmoking/QuittingSmoking/Smoking-Do-you-really-know-the-risks_UCM_322718_Article.jsp

There’s an old saying that goes, “couldn’t have said any better myself,” so I won’t. The bulk of this week’s post will be paraphrased from a seminar manual courtesy of Apex Energetics. This company offers intense seminars equipped with extensive education and protocols, as well as supplements which can be used to assist in attaining and sustaining wellness. Outside of the traditional chiropractic and functional neurology training, this application of functional medicine covers another important angle of health that should be addressed.

When speaking of a basic assessment of one’s well-being (or lack thereof) another aspect that should be checked on patients are their various levels through blood chemistry analysis. What we are talking about here are things like a CBC (complete blood count), lipid panel, thyroid panel, chemistry panel, etc. Many of these tests can be done through drawing blood and can identify potential imbalances that if not addressed could impede or prevent recovery.

It makes sense, at least to me that the option of utilizing the technology to measure these levels should be taken advantage of in order to get the full picture and maximize results. Rather than chase symptoms with drugs and shots in the dark, blood chemistry analysis can paint a picture of what’s going on internally. Once a deficit is discovered, (or confidently ruled out), it can be addressed directly while further investigation is done into the actual cause of the deficit. It also provides a baseline if done when the practitioner-patient relationship begins. If and when something does go wrong, the levels can be rechecked and potentially negative changes identified and addressed.

The following excerpt sums up the what, the why, and a unique perspective to this concept:

“There are two main types of ranges in the field of blood chemistry analysis: a pathological range and a functional range. The pathological range is used to diagnosis disease. The functional range is used to assess the risk for disease before the disease develops. The references that are provided with laboratory tests results are referred to as “the pathological range,” because if the test results are out of range, it usually indicates potential for pathology or disease. The main difference between functional range and pathological range is the degree of deviation allowed within their normal ranges. For example, the functional range for glucose may be 85-100 mg/dl, but the pathological range may be 65-127 mg/dl. Levels above the pathological range may indicate diabetes. Levels above the functional range but before they reach the extremes of the pathological range may indicate insulin resistance and future risk for developing diabetes.” (This would be nice to know, wouldn’t it? Like we said last week, checking and addressing the loose wheels before they fall off.)

“Conventional medical training is concerned with diagnosis of disease and rarely preventative medicine; therefore clients are usually not consulted regarding the parameters of the functional range. Healthcare professionals that practice preventative medicine are those most inclined to incorporate consulting with clients when their levels present outside of the functional range. If biomarkers can be managed before they fall within pathological range, preventative medicine can be practiced.” (This can prevent the messy and expensive clean-up usually involved once it’s too late. The ability to apply and take advantage of this concept should excite patient and practitioner alike.)

“When lab results fall within patterns of a functional imbalance, strategies such as lifestyle, diet, nutrition, and other noninvasive therapies may be recommended. Many traditional healthcare professionals do not embrace the concept of a functional range. They believe that care should only be provided when disease is present. This view is generally formed from conventional medical training, which ignores philosophies of preventative medicine and nutrition. Tradition medical training teaches healthcare professionals to evaluate blood chemistry in comparison to ranges that determine pathology. If pathology is not present, the client is considered “healthy.”

The main difference between healthcare professionals who embrace or reject functional ranges boils down to the definition of “health.” Some healthcare professionals define “health” as the absence of disease, and therefore, if you are not diseased, then you must be “healthy.” Other healthcare professionals define health as being free of disease, but also having adequate energy levels, healthy digestion, ideal physiological function, etc. It is obvious that those in society who feel that prevention and “health” are more than just being disease free will embrace the importance of the functional range, and those who view “health” as only being free of disease will only accept the validity of the pathological range.”

This form of medicine stresses the same philosophy and can be intertwined with the application of chiropractic and functional neurology. While all can be used to address and rectify problems, their potential can truly be maximized in a preventative role. Being routinely checked by a functional practitioner can leave you feeling confident that you are doing all you can to stack the deck in your favor.

For whatever reason, we have all been fortunate enough to be granted the gift of life and our body serves as the vessel that we have been afforded to navigate this treacherous terrain. It is our responsibility to respect and take care of that vessel so that it may serve as that vehicle that allows us to make the most out of our limited time. Take that next step towards striving and start collaborating with a functional practitioner today.

As a follow up to last week’s attention paid to the events that transpired in Boston, I have a link I’d like to invite you to check out. With the frequency at which these events seem to be occurring recently, it’s only matter of time before it touches us each personally. A close childhood friend of mine from the Sparta, New Jersey days was actually at the finish line with his wife and sister in-law at the time of the blast, and are amongst those 200 plus seriously wounded.

Click the link. Read the story. And if you can, do a good deed for the day.

http://www.bestrongstaystrong.net/