Author name: rieschirofortbragg

Healthy Through the Holidays

Health and Wellness, HealthNews, Nutrition, wellness / /

There’s no doubt about it – the holiday season is the most challenging on our health. All the family get-togethers, the mall-hopping and hustle and bustle of shopping decreases our workouts and distracts us from the things that keep us healthy. Increasing the chances that we’ll make poorer choices for ourselves and our families.

At Your Home

“There’s just too much to do to without worrying about eating healthy, too!” Is that what you’re thinking? Well, if it is you’ll be surprised to learn that with just a few simple modifications in your busy schedule eating healthy can be the least of your concerns.

Turn your Sunday afternoon into “Preparation Day” and prepare your menu for the week. o Pre-cut vegetables o Bake or BBQ chicken for lunch. Wash, cut and bag your lettuce

  • Prepare baked meals and store them in the refrigerator or freezer
  • Make homemade soups, giving your children healthier snack options
  • Go to your local grocery store and get a fresh roasted Rotisserie chicken and a bag of pre-cut salad and have a healthy meal.

No matter what your schedule looks like, with a few healthier options you and your family can beeating healthier and feeling better.

At a Party

If you’re going to attend holiday parties, here are some healthy ideas.

  • Before you leave for the party eat a small amount of protein. A piece of baked chicken or a small portion of cheese will help decrease cravings for the carbohydrate appetizers sure to be offered
  • Offer to bring a veggie platter with hummus or a soy based dip
  • Alternate every alcoholic drink with a glass of water before and after; this will help to eliminate a majority of the empty calories found in most alcoholic beverages.

At the Office

Do you work in an office where the holiday treats just Through the Holidays keep pouring in? It’s difficult to resist what’s so readily available. Here are some ideas for the workplace:

  • By keeping slices of cheese, a piece of chicken, hardboiled eggs or celery sticks and a jar of peanut butter in the employee refrigerator; the protein will fight off the carb cravings while the snack takes the edge off the hunger.
  • Keep a bowl of apples next to the treats, providing you with a healthier option

If vendors annually gift you with sweets then post a sign at the front desk: that while you are grateful for the boxes of goodies and the recognition, you are considering the health of your employees and would ask that instead they:

  • Bring a coat for the local homeless shelter or the Salvation Army,
  • Bring a new unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots
  • Or bring a gift card from the local grocery store for Meals on Wheels or your local shelter

Also, consider that this time of year is the cold and flu season, and eating healthy is not the only thing to consider in the office. Avoid weakening your immune system by:

  • Washing your hands with soap and warm water,
  • If you are not the only one using the headset and receiver at your desk, keep it clean with Windex or rubbing-alcohol and a soft cloth.

Out and About

There are several things you can do to keep this time of year from becoming a trial on your health, and one of the most important things is eliminating stress. More often than not, holiday stress is caused by the things that we haven’t accomplished weighing on our minds. Help to avoid this by making the most of your downtime.

In Summary

Dr. Ries cares for more than just your spine. Your Doctor of Chiropractic is dedicated to your overall health and wellness and wants you and your family to enjoy a peaceful, joyful and healthful holiday season.

Don’t forget to take a moment today to schedule for your regular Chiropractic check up. This will usually be the time when a list of “a million other things you could be doing” enters your mind. Instead of letting it ruin your mood, make the most of these few minutes.

Carry a note pad and jot down that list of things you “could be doing”; this will help to ensure you don’t forget to do them later:

  • Work on your Christmas list; write down one or two items for each person and then be sure to stick to it
  • If you find yourself standing around waiting at a store or in the mall, look for items nearby that are on your Christmas list. Make a note of the cost and the name of the store then, when you’re ready to do your Christmas shopping, you’ll have your own price comparison list
  • Carry a box of Christmas cards with a pen inside and jot thoughtful notes to loved ones
  • Take advantage of gift-wrap services being offered by local schools and churches. The cost is usually only a dollar or two per package and the time saved is certainly worth the expense.

Remember that the busier you get the more likely that something will get missed. Stress during the holidays can wear you down and ruin the joy of Christmas, so be sure to make lists and help to eliminate a lot of that added stress.

Most importantly, don’t forget your regular Chiropractic visits and keep you and your family healthy for the holidays.

Healthy Through the Holidays Read More »

Chiropractic Care and Ear Infections

Health and Wellness, HealthNews / /

Does your child suffer from chronic ear infections? 

Ear infections are one of the leading reasons parents bring their child to a doctor, with 5 out of 6 children having at least one ear infection by the age of 3.

Research supports improvement of ear infection symptoms in young children with chiropractic care.

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A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that the symptoms of ear infection in young children under chiropractic care resulted in 93% of all episodes improved, 75% in 10 days or fewer, and 43% with only one or two treatments. 

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Burning Incense Effects Your Health

Chiropractic, HealthNews, wellness / / / , ,

What do you associate with incense burning? Meditation? Spirituality? Religion? Room freshening? Whatever you associate with incense, the only thing you probably never associate with incense is respiratory disease. Watch this video now because once you do, you may never burn incense again. Just click on the Red More Button in your email or the image below if you are on our website.

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Burning Incense Effects Your Health Read More »

You Don’t Have to Suffer

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Why do you suffer? Don’t you know that you don’t have to? I have discovered that there are three primary reasons why people suffer: First, they don’t know any better. Second, they are doing everything they know but it’s not helping, or it’s just temporary. And last, it’s not a priority to change it.

Let’s elaborate: If you don’t know any better it’s because no one has told you that your body can heal itself. Your body has the capacity to heal ANYTHING that’s wrong with it. Anything that is, which would be considered an acquired infirmity. That rules out for instance the loss of a limb due to an accident. Also, any organs that have been removed will limit what the body can do to restore itself to
its original state.

If in fact your body can indeed heal itself, then instead of asking “why am I sick?” ask “why am I not healing?” There lies the resolution of your condition. The first two questions to follow that are “what am I doing that is prohibiting my body from healing?” and “what am I NOT doing that is preventing my body from healing?”

Every organ, every gland, every cell in the body has a mineral upon which it is dependent for function. If it doesn’t get it, it will fail to do all that it is supposed to do, and disease results. If you want to build a wood frame house, and you have no wood, can you build the house? Yes, you can. However, structurally it will not be sound. It will not withstand the stresses of nature. You will also have to borrow from other areas to make it work, further weakening the building. The body is no different. The body not only needs minerals, but protein, essential fats, water, carbohydrates and enzymes to function. If these are not present, how can we expect it to function, much less heal itself?

Let’s take an example. Sugar. Sugar STOPS your immune system, in its tracks for 4-5 hours and it takes the body a full 3 days to recover completely. So what do we do when we’re sick? We feed our body Jell-O, 7-Up or popsicles! That’s an example of one simple way we prevent the body from doing its job.

The second reason why people suffer is because you think you’re doing “everything possible” to resolve your condition. More than likely you have been to your medical doctor and have had recommendations of therapy, medications or surgery. That’s such a finite approach to getting well. Have you tried a great nutritionist, an acupuncturist a chiropractor or a naturopath? They are schooled in managing the health of your body from where it should be managed – from the causative factor! You need to understand that medical doctors, in addition to being unparalleled when it comes to emergency medicine, manage health from an outcome standpoint. In other words, if you have a symptom and you come in to see your doctor, he will most likely prescribe something to enable you to live with your symptom or your condition easier. Rarely will he treat the REASON you are ill in the first place. There are many other options you can use to get well in addition to those mentioned above, such as herbal medicine, homeopathy, massage, etc. There are many ways to promote healing, and there is usually more than just one causative factor.

The third reason why people suffer is because good health just isn’t a priority. We think it is a priority, until another want or desire screams louder. When it comes to a decision for instance, between buying a new sofa, a new outfit or even going out to a restaurant for dinner, we opt for the later and say we can’t afford treatment. A 10 year study was done recently to try to prove that “health fanatics” were just that – fanatical. The health fanatics group spent copious amounts of money on health foods, organic foods, chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists. The control group ate the standard American diet, went the traditional medical route when ill and used the recommended medications. The outcome of the study was surprising. When they factored in not only the amount of money spent, but also the time loss from work for illness and doctor’s appointments, they found that not only were the so-called health fanatics healthier, by far, but the financial outlay was significantly less! There is a saying “pay now or pay later”.

The pay later option is much more expensive. I prefer to pay now, not only because overall it will save me money, but also because I don’t want to SUFFER 2 and you don’t have to suffer either. Neither do your friends, or your family. You are at choice.

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Cannabis Use Linked to Post-Surgery Pain

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Hearing that cannabis is a common treatment for chronic pain is nothing new and everyone accepts it as true. So what happens when it is put to the test? Does cannabis really lower pain? Watch this video now and find out why cannabis may not have any value in lowering pain and may have the opposite effect. Just click on the Red More Button in your email or the image below if you are on our website.

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Cannabis Use Linked to Post-Surgery Pain Read More »

Stress kills

Chiropractic, exercise, HealthNews, wellness / /

Stress kills. But not all the time, just most of the time. Stress, applied in a healthy way can be beneficial to health. But that’s only when you’re out in the wilderness and a saber tooth tiger wants you for lunchmeat. Then, when your fight or flight instinct kicks in, stress is appropriate. Or when your child runs out in front of a car and that fight or flight kicks in to save the child’s life, it’s okay then too.
Stress is interpreted by the body as a fight or flight instinct. Any function not needed to fight or flee from danger shuts down. This is okay once in awhile. The body is designed for that. But if this mechanism kicks in day in and day out in what we commonly refer to as “stress”, now we’ve got a problem. Now we have the foundation for disease.

It can be argued that everyone has stress. This is true, or at least I’ve rarely encountered someone who says they have no stress (but it happens). It is how you cope with stress that makes the difference. It is also how your body adapts that determines disease. When you enter a fight or flight response, your body releases stress hormones that long time unless you actively use some technique to lower them. These stress hormones cause increased retention of body fat, poor blood sugar control and changes in mood – especially depression, anxiety and feeling stressed. High stress hormone levels also impair memory and learning, and impairs cognitive performance.

Although cortisol (the main stress hormone) gives a quick burst of energy in a survival situation, it squelches your energy when there is chronic stress. If being attacked, it heightens your memory functions, but when chronic worsens it. As part of your anti-inflammatory response, during a fight or flight response cortisol lessens your sensitivity to pain; in chronic stress it interferes with the inflammatory response, resulting in more pain.

Cortisol is one of those hormones that we love it and hate it. If we keep our stress levels healthy, we enjoy homeostasis in the body. We have proper glucose metabolism and insulin regulation. Our blood pressure is perfect and our immune system is highly functioning. When we get ourselves into a
“prolonged stress response” our immune system weakens, we have sugar regulating disease such as hypoglycemia and diabetes and we suffer chronically high blood pressure.

Stress interferes with maintaining a healthy weight. Cortisol tells the body to store more fat. So the more cortisol release due to chronic stress, the more weight we gain and the more difficult to lose it. We see this mostly in the increase in abdominal fat. There have now been drawn some associations between abdominal fat and heart attacks, strokes, a rise in the so-called “bad” cholesterol and a diminishing of the “good” cholesterol. In addition, cortisol suppresses thyroid function which lowers the metabolism and… you guessed it, makes you gain more weight!

Stress, through the release of cortisol, decreases bone density and muscle tissue. This leaves you feeling weak and more prone to associated diseases. When we have a prolonged stress response it has an adverse effect on the entire endocrine system. The endocrine system comprises all the organs/glands that regulate hormones. The adrenal gland is one of the most effected glands. It is a small walnut-sized gland that sits above each kidney and is a part of the renal system. The adrenals secrete a number of hormones that are critical to health.

When continually called on to secrete epinephrine/adrenaline in the fight or flight response, they get a little tired out. So do you. The adrenals help give you sustained energy throughout the day, along with the thyroid. While in a prolonged stress response, the energy gets redirected and you get short-changed. Most fatigue is attributed to “adrenal fatigue”. Although adrenal fatigue is not a medically recognized disease except in its extreme state, most natural health practitioners have found that when they support the adrenals, energy is restored and the negative effects of the fight or flight response are mitigated.

Since we are all under stress, what we have to learn is how to counteract the effect of stress on our body in order to circumvent some of the awful diseases associated with it. To do that we need to eat a super healthy, nutritionally dense diet of whole, unadulterated produce, grains and meats. We need to exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep and relaxation. We need to have fun in life and not take life so seriously. We can manage stress by using some of the great techniques available today such as meditation, yoga, tai chi or qi gong. We can also take some quality herbs and whole food supplements designed to reduce anxiety and support adrenal function. Finally, we need to remember how to laugh- after all, according to several psychology journals.

Laughter is the best medicine of all!

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Treating Adult ADHD

Chiropractic, HealthNews, wellness / / / , ,

When you hear the term ADHD the first thing everyone thinks about is children not being able to pay attention in school. That certainly is true but did you know that children with ADHD grow up to be adults with ADHD and you may be one of them? Watch this video now and see if you have the symptoms of adult ADHD and what to do about it. Just click on the Red More Button in your email or the image below if you are on our website.

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Treating Adult ADHD Read More »

Your Delicate Immune System

Chiropractic, HealthNews, wellness / /

I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating. If you understand this one story, you’ll understand the power of your own immune system. The new mother was told that her twin babies had died after birth. The truth was they were sent to an institute to be studied. This was to be the fate of the twins called “Masha” & “Dasha”, conjoined at birth.

Conjoined or Siamese twins are formed in the same way as identical twins but the eggs, for some reason, don’t completely separate; instead, they remain partially attached. Their circulatory systems are interconnected, so the twins share each other’s blood.

A germ that enters one twin’s bloodstream will soon be seen in the blood of her sister because of this. Surprisingly, illness affects them differently. Dasha was near-sighted, prone to colds and righthanded. Masha had a healthier constitution, higher blood pressure than her sister, good eyesight and was left-handed. Now the twins differing health pattern presented a mystery. Why did one become ill with a childhood disease while the other did not? The measles “bug” was in both of their bodies, in their collective bloodstream; so why didn’t both get the measles?

This phenomenon was seen over and over again with the girls (flu, colds, other diseases were all experienced separately). If germs alone had the power to cause infectious diseases, why would one of the twins be disease-free while the other was ill? What was it in their makeup that differentiated one from the other.

The answer was their nervous system. Although the twins had the same common circulatory (blood), digestive, excretory, lymphatic, endocrine and skeletal systems (they were joined at the hips), they had separate spinal columns and spinal cords. This was a very important difference between the girls.

In these extraordinary twins, nature’s “laboratory” devised an experiment that no researcher could ever duplicate. The twins are an invaluable example confirming that there is much more to “catching” a disease than simply breathing in germs; germs can make you sick IF, and ONLY IF, your body provides them fertile ground in which to grow and multiply.

The state or health of your nervous system can determine whether or not (and how quickly) you will recover from a disease. By keeping your spinal column and nervous system FREE from (pinched nerves) subluxation stress, chiropractic care keeps you in a higher state of health and therefore healthier, with or without symptoms.

There is no shortage of theories to explain the role of the subluxation in disease and the effect of the adjustment in relieving your symptoms. Your autonomic nervous system (that part of your nervous system which controls vital function) will be effected by spinal dysfunction or misalignment causing a compromise in your nervous function. Immunity is one such function which can be adversely affected by a nervous system imbalance.

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Music Effects Your Sleep

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If you listen to music before you go to sleep you must watch this video. You may be developing ear worms. Just click on the Red More Button in your email or the image below if you are on our website.

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Chiropractor Fort Bragg – Music Effects Your Sleep Read More »

One Cause, One Cure

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Sublux-WHAT????

Subluxation… it kind of sounds like Subway-Station. I know, I know, BIG WORD…WEIRD WORD. …so what the heck is it? In simplest terms, a Subluxation (a.k.a. Vertebral Subluxation) is when one or more Spinal Bones
(vertebrae) move out of position and put pressure on, or irritate your Spinal Nerves.

Spinal Nerves are the Nerves that come out from between each of the bones in your spine. This pressure or irritation on the Nerves then causes those Nerves to malfunction and ultimately interfere with the signals traveling over those Nerves.

How does this affect you?
Your Nervous System controls and coordinates ALL the functions of your body. If YOUR Nerves don’t work right, then YOU don’t work right.and when YOU don’t work right, YOU will more than likely end up in Pain, or even worse, some sort of Sickness or Disease.

It’s that simple.

So How Does A Person Get Subluxation?
The Answer: Many Ways! …but Primarily, the Three Major Causes of Subluxation are:
#1. Physical Stress: Things like the birth process (both for the mother and child) slips and falls, automobile accidents, childhood injuries and so on.
#2. Emotional Stress: Death of a loved one, fear of losing your job, divorce/separation, someone cutting you off in traffic, the list goes on!
#3. Chemical Stress: Poor nutrition, pesticides, antibiotics and growth hormones in our foods, cigarette smoking, too much alcohol consumption, etc.

According to a University of Colorado study, it only takes 10 mm Hg (mercury) – this is approximately the weight of a dime – on a Nerve Root to decrease the function of the Nerve by 60%.” (Source: Sharpless SK: “Susceptibility of spinal roots to compression block.” The Research Status of Spinal Manipulative Therapy. NINCDS monograph 15, HEW publication (NIH) 76- 998:155. 1975.)

If Nerves control the body, then what kind of health problems might effect you if your Nerves Supply is only at 40% of it’s 100% potential. That’s a lot to think about, isn’t it? …but you really need to take a minute and seriously think about it’s implications.

Subluxations can be devastating to your health…..no question.

However, the question you do need to ask is, “Will I let my loved ones go unchecked for Subluxation, or will I schedule them for a Subluxation Check-up today?”

…it’s your choice. It’s always your choice.

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