May 2009

Dear Kim,

     I was set up this month at our local Y's 5K run. I have supported and participated (as a displayer, not a runner) since its inception. Along with me this year was Kerry, my right hand person in the Center. I consider her, as we often joke, "the daughter that I never had". She wears many different hats in both practices. Kerry is our "Patient Advocate" at the Center and also a Licensed Massage Therapist, with her own practice at the Center. She also performs multiple different tasks in the Upper Perkiomen Chiropractic Center, ranging from patient care to insurance processing. Also with me were the newest additions to our practices, Ashley and April (I like to call them "The A Team".) These young ladies had an opportunity to see how much fun it can be to serve at a community event like this one.
      As a result of my participation in this event over the years I have become more passionate about the mission of the Y to the point that I now serve as the Chairman of our Board (or Advisory Committee as we are now referred to since we have merged with another Y). I have come to realize over the years how crucial it is in your quest for a long, healthy, active and productive life to develop a passionate and giving philosophy. It is imperative for you to truly realize that there are purposes and goals in this life that are immensely larger than we are. This sentiment is best summed up in a devotional statement that I say every day. "Involvement is the only indulgence that truly satisfies."
     So get involved in something that will positively affect someone else's life. Become "indulgent" in this passion. Start locally, in part because you can see the affect first hand that you are having. Who knows how your giving and sharing will affect someone else, but I can guarantee that it always will, and it will always be in a positive way!

EAT RIGHT

"To Eat is Human, To Digest Divine."

Mark Twain

      There is wisdom in that statement by Sam Clemens. Perhaps he like many came to appreciate this fact later in life when poor digestion becomes more apparent to us due in part to the negative impact that it has on our overall health and wellbeing. Each month in our Family Health and Wellness Program™ Click here to register for this free program, I say to the audience that the old adage "you are what you eat" is only partially true. "You are what you can digest and absorb."
     Every day I treat patients who suffer from gross dysbiosis, causing a host of progressive degenerative digestive disorders including, but not limited to, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, and Crohn's disease. This dysbiosis is often brought on by the abuse of antibiotic therapy. When you have insufficient intestinal flora (good bacteria) your health is absolutely compromised. After all, the bowel bacteria, or intestinal flora is the healthy body's first line of defense against any invading "bug".
     So how do you compensate for this potentially devastating breach in your body's immune defense system? I recommend that every one of you in the Inner Health Circle™, whether you know that you suffer from this deficiency or not, begin taking a high quality probiotic supplement. Notice that the key phrase in that sentence is high quality. The hype about poor sources of probiotics such as "Activa" is just that, "hype". There is no point in taking in a source of nutritional supplementation to compensate for a deficiency if it simply does not have the capacity to do so. Rule number one is that the best probiotics must be refrigerated. The probiotics I use in the Center are shipped in refrigerant containers and are then stored in our refrigerator. Rule number two, as with all other nutritional supplements, "you get what you pay for". The probiotics we use have 15 billion active cultures per capsule and contain 9 different forms of probiotic bacteria. I use and recommend Innate Choice Probiotic Sufficiency or a high quality equivalent.

     In a future Health Hints I will be putting together a list of the 3 things that I do every day. I guarantee that if you do all three things your overall level of Health and Wellness will improve. One of these is taking Innate Choice Probiotic Sufficiency. When I make the recommendation I will look forward to hearing from those of you who take me up on the challenge. I will want to celebrate your victories with you!

THINK RIGHT

Dave's Note:

     I received the following note from a very dear and long time friend of mine. In fact Dave and I have been best Buds since age 4. Dave shared this brief comment about how his life has changed as a result of taking the personal responsibility and action steps to improve his overall Health and Wellness.
 
  "Your website has helped me cut back on my Coke consumption. I was cold turkey for a week, and now I allow myself one Coke every other day or so. There were days when that was all I drank - sometimes up to six glasses. I still need to increase my water intake, but it's a start."
    
     Well it is much more than a start. My very dear and close friend has just embarked on a new path towards vitality, strength, increased immune function, and he has reduced his potential to develop all of the components of "metabolic syndrome" (high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity). Each of these components is caused by poor lifestyle choices. Therefore they can be corrected by proper, genetically congruent lifestyle choices, similar to those that Dave is now understanding and applying.
      The real neat thing about Dave's note is that it's an indication to me that his belief system is changing. The old beliefs are shattering and the new "true" ones are taking their place.
      Kudos to my Buddy Dave and to all of you who are breaking the chains of your old wrong beliefs, and embarking on a new path towards Health and Wellness! Please email your success story to us. Top

CANCER CORNER

Tea Reduces the Risk of Breast Cancer
    
     For those of you who have been Inner Health Circle™ Members for a while now, you already know that Dr. P. hasn't had a cup of coffee touch his lips for over a quarter of a century. I do however drink organic green tea every morning. I will be sharing my morning ritual and diet diaries with you in a future issue of Health Hints™. That is why when I read about this research study I had to share it with all of you.
    The study was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. The study found that the incidence of developing a breast tumor decreased 37% in those women who drank 3 cups of tea per day. This effect however only appeared to occur in women under the age of 50. Don't be distraught if you are over 50, like yours truly, you should continue to drink your "organic" green tea since there are numerous other health benefits to this "phytonutrient" rich beverage. For example four cups of tea per day will reduce your risk of having a heart attack. These health benefits also apply to our many male Health Hints™ subscribers as well. Other recent studies have found health benefits in consuming tea every day to include; protection against skin cancer, ovarian cancer, and even weak bones. These researchers found that the benefits of tea drinking were even greater depending on the type of breast cancer that the patient had. For those patients who had "lobular" breast cancer the reduction in the incidence reduced by 66%.
     So what will you have with your breakfast tomorrow? Let's see if the belief system can just be tweaked a little, perhaps just enough to allow you to begin to take in just 3 cups of good wholesome organic green tea every day. If you don't care for the taste try jasmine, or mint flavor. Top

BE "UNSWEETENED"

Mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup
    
    As a society we are being overloaded with "sweet stuff", this is why we suffer from the high incidence of diabetes (one of the most preventable disorders in Western society), cancer, heart disease, and of course "good ol" obesity.
     Since sucrose or table sugar can be expensive, our faithful and hard working food scientists came up with a cheaper "synthetic" alternative in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). This cheap highly sweet substitute for "sugar" can be found in everything from infant formula (an extremely poor substitute for "Mom's Milk") to chips and crackers. The average unsuspecting American consumer will take in 12 teaspoons per day. If that isn't bad enough a real "junkie" or a teen-ager will consume 80% more.
     Not only is this "diabetes stimulant" bad for you, but two new studies show Mercury being found in a significantly high percentage of food products containing HFCS, and in the samples of commercial grade HFCS being used in food processing.
     The first of these two studies was the January issue of Environmental Health and showed detectable levels of Mercury in 9 of 20 samples of commercial grade HFCS. As I am sure all of you in the Inner Health Circle™ already know, Mercury is a highly toxic element and can cause a variety of different health issues ranging from birth defects to chronic disorders and death.
      In the second study, which was performed by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a non-profit consumer watch-dog group, it was found that nearly one in three of 55 brand name foods contained Mercury. This toxic substance was found most commonly in HFCS containing dairy products, dressings, and condiments.
     The moral of this story is "Don't Eat Products, Eat Food". What is a product you might ask? A product can most easily be described as anything that is contained in a package or vacuum sealed container. It is generally found in the center of the super-market. If you want to avoid "products" you should shop the perimeter of the store. This is where the "fresh, raw" foods are located. Top

Parting Thought

"Use what talent you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best".
Henry Van Dyke