I just finished a 12-hour seminar focusing on whole-body adjusting. It was held in the heart of Philadelphia, just 2 blocks from city hall. The seminar was taught by a veteran chiropractor, Dr. Mark Charrette. He always has excellent and practical information to share, and delivers it with lots of energy and a “spicy” sense of humor. I have been a student of Dr. Mark Charrette since attending one of his seminars nearly a decade ago.

Over the weekend, we covered treatment strategies and extremity adjusting protocols for the whole body. During the lectures, I learned some amazingly simple, yet powerful strategies for patient care. I even had several opportunities during the hands-on sessions to practice and fine-tune my techniques.

Dr. Charrette detailed the ASR strategy for patient care. This stands for ADJUST - SUPPORT - REHAB. Over the years, I’ve learned that by following this simple strategy for patient care, I can help my patients achieve superior health faster and with fewer setbacks. The following example may help to illustrate this…

Sally, a 45-year old woman, comes in to see me with lower back pain and hip-area pain. I would start with a detailed case history and exam. I gather a great deal of helpful information here and can then determine if care is appropriate and safe, and what course we should take. I typically start with ADJUSTments of the spine and then the extremities. In Sally’s case we would focus on her lower extremity - the feet, ankles, knees, and hips. We may do other therapies such as ice, electrical stimulation or massage therapy. To SUPPORT Sally’s body, I may wrap the area (foot, ankle or knee) and determine the need for arch supports (orthotics). I would then design a program (for office and home) of targeted REHAB exercises for Sally, that would help provide long-lasting relief and improved body function.

I hope that example gives you a better idea of how I “give life” to the ASR strategy in my practice. By hitting all three components and focusing on whole-body balance, I provide the best care possible. You can see that if one of the components is neglected, you have a reduced likelihood of a good outcome.

As you may know, I have been doing whole-body adjustments (foot, ankle, knee, hip, wrist, elbow, shoulder and jaw) for many years now. Many chiropractors don’t address whole body balance. Perhaps due to lack of training, or different philosophies, or not wanting to spend the time with each patient. But when I first started focusing on whole body balance, I began to get great results. Now the research keeps coming in and continues to validate this “style” of chiropractic wellness care.  I’m hooked!

I can’t wait to share some of the incredible things I learned at the seminar. If you have any questions about my whole-body adjusting technique, feel free to call me or email any time.

Should you care about pesticides and other harmful toxins in your food? In one sense, yes and in another sense, no.

There are small amounts of many naturally occurring toxins that you’re exposed to regularly. They’re even found in healthy and organically grown foods. But because your body is wonderfully made, it is capable of handling the toxins. Your liver, kidneys and lymphatic system all play important roles in body cleansing. Your body is able to break down internal metabolic wastes and other naturally occurring toxins and carcinogens.

But what about all those dangerous pesticides and herbicides used in modern agriculture?  The latest research seems to say that to avoid the greatest levels of toxins in food, you have to minimize your intake of animal products, not fruits and vegetables. Begin by making foods like milk, cheese, beef, chicken, fish, etc. a small part of your diet. High concentrations of carcinogenic chemicals, like dioxin, are found in animal feed.  Also, the animals raised in farms (factory farms are especially bad) eat large amounts of this chemically tainted feed.

According to data in The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, some of the most dangerous chemicals are the natural proteins from animal foods. The research has showed that proteins like casein (cow milk protein), leads to a change in the body environment, which in turn allows for the easy formation and growth of cancer.

So what about all the pesticide residue on your produce? Logically, there still must be some risks in consuming produce with pesticides, herbicides, and other toxins present. To say otherwise would seem to violate basic natural laws. To be safe, you should wash all produce thoroughly regardless if it’s organic. Our family does our best to avoid eating non-organically grown foods with the highest toxicity. Washing and peeling can reduce your exposure to some toxins but doesn’t eliminate them altogether.

According to the Environmental Working Group:

“An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to about 14 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated will expose a person to less than 2 pesticides per day. Less dramatic comparisons will produce less dramatic reductions, but without doubt using the Guide provides people with a way to make choices that lower pesticide exposure in the diet.”

Here is a handy chart you can print and keep handy for quick reference:

For those who want a more extensive chart of produce, check out this one (also from the Environmental Working Group):

Pesticide Levels in Produce (ranking from worst to best)

Remember that superior health starts with a foundation of a whole-food plant-based diet. By simply doing this you will greatly reduce your exposure to high concentrations of carcinogenic chemicals.

We are now offering a new line of all-in-one supplements for our clients. They are powerful vitamin, mineral and super food supplements formulated by a company called Drucker Labs. The premier supplement is called intraMAX and is made for adults. Because intraMAX is so comprehensive it can replace many of your existing supplements.

But remember, I recommend supplements only in addition to an already healthy diet. That’s why they’re called supplements! Adding a great supplement to a poor diet won’t do you much good. As always, for superior health I recommend a whole food plant-based diet.

Here’s a brief overview of IntraMAX from Drucker Labs:

• 100% Natural
• Over 415 Nutrients
• 100% Carbon-Bond Organic
• Ultra Hypoallergenic
• Great-Tasting
• ALL-IN-ONE

IntraMAX is a 100% carbon-bond liquid microcomplexed trace mineral supplement, plus an all-in-one multivitamin and much more. It contains 70+ trace minerals along with other health promoting “super foods” which totals more than 415 essential carbon-bond organic microcomplexed nutrients in each bottle.

• 70+, 100% organic microcomplexed™ trace minerals (full spectrum)
• proprietary organic “carbon-bond” intraCELL™ V Technology
• 124 antioxidants (”free radical” scavengers / anti-aging)
• 40 amino acids (”building blocks” of protein)
• carbon (living), 100% organic (144,500 mg/l)
• 7 essential fatty acids (EFA)-omega 3, 6 & 9
• oxygen - 427 mg/l (dissolved & stabilized)
• 14 digestive enzymes (pure plant derived)
• 43 super green foods & phytonutrients
• 54 herbs (adaptogenic & supportive)
• 38 essential oils (organically bound)
• 64 vitamins and nutrients (essential)
• 19 macro minerals (100% organic)
• 23 vegetables (antioxidant rich)
• 65 electrolytes (100% organic)
• aloe vera (organically bound)
• 8 protein mineral nutrients
• 30 fruits (antioxidant rich)
• silver (organically bound)
• 13 probiotics (non-dairy)
• noni (organically bound)
• 11 carotenoids (mixed)
• 25 fibers (all natural)
• ultra hypoallergenic
• 11 optimum seeds
• 110 bioflavonoids
• fulvic acid (9.2%)
• 100% drug free
• NO additives
• 100% natural
• 100% vegetarian
• intraMAX® does NOT contain: preservatives, colloids, fat, cholesterol, wheat, gluten, caffeine, corn, yeast, rice flour, peanuts, nuts, soy, dairy, fish or fish oil, animal products, artificial additives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, fillers, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics (drugs), chemicals, starch, binders, coatings, excipients, or flow agents

We offer another product by Drucker Labs called intraKID. It is the finest and most comprehensive nutritional supplement available for children. This formula utilizes a proprietary intraCELL V technology by Drucker Labs and a perfectly balanced set of nutrients for the needs of our younger patients

Because intraMAX is a comprehensive supplement and takes the place of many other products, you may be able to eliminate several other nutritional supplements you’re currently taking. In addition to the normal 34 FL oz. bottles, we offer tiny 2 FL oz. bottles for sampling or for travel.

If you want to learn more or desire to purchase these supplements you can do any of the following:

1. Stop by or call our office at 215-938-8500
2. Call Drucker Labs directly TOLL FREE at 1888-881-2344 (use this number: HCP5108)
3. Go to the Drucker Labs website - http://store.druckerlabs.com (use this number: HCP5108)

Many of our clients have begun using intraMAX and are very pleased.  Some of the positive changes that our clients noticed has been in energy levels, skin condition, monthly cycles, digestion and more.

Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed!

You can learn more at the Drucker Labs web site by clicking here.

Veggie Juice (Simple Gazpacho)

• 1 C water, spring or filtered
• 1 large tomato, quartered
• 1/2 C baby spinach or frozen chopped spinach, organic
• 1 medium cucumber, skinned and chunked
• 1 T lemon or lime juice
• 1/2 raw garlic clove
• salt to taste
• hot pepper to taste
• 4-6 ice cubes

Put all ingredients in order into Vitamix or blender. Blend on high until smooth. This makes a delicious, healthy and refreshing way to get a couple servings of veggies.

This makes a simple and delicious drink similar to Gazpacho. Just add onions and bell pepper (organic) and you have a classic Gazpacho. You can experiment with different kinds and combinations of veggies and spices. Try celery, parsley or vinegar. For variety, you can eliminate the water and ice and use a food processor to dice the ingredients and make a delicious cold salad or salsa. Be creative and enjoy!

Sleep has a huge impact on your health and wellness. Getting enough good sleep is essential for the refreshment of the body and mind. During sleep the body heals, boosts the immune system, rebuilds and recharges. Everyone is different, but most adults need around 7-8 hours of good sleep per night. To have superior health, you should strive to improve the quantity and quality of your sleep.

Your pillow is probably one of the most important parts of restful sleep. Your pillow should do a good job cradling your head and neck for many hours. When looking at your cervical spine (your neck) from the side, it should have a “c”-shaped curve (like a banana). Your pillow should support this natural curve of your neck. Your pillow is the least expensive and most immediate solution to a bad night’s sleep, and can help reduce headaches, tension and neck pain.

Quick tests to see if you need a new pillow:

• Does your pillow support your head and neck?
• Do you need to use more than one pillow or fold your pillow to get comfortable
• Are you in discomfort when trying to sleep?
• When you awake, are you in discomfort?

If you answered “yes” to any of the following questions, you could use a new pillow. We recommend a pillow called the Chiroflow. It is suitable for almost all of our clients.

This same pillow is also sold in the medical community and is called the “Mediflow”. It’s water-filled pillow that’s well-designed, durable and very affordable. It’s quick and easy to fill with water. Because you’re the one who fills the pillow with water, you determine the level of support.

Many of our patients report an immediate improvement of the quality of their sleep when switching to the Chiroflow pillow. I’ve found that it provides better support and a more restful sleep than even the top of the line memory foam pillows. I’ve seen memory foam pillows start packing down in just a few months and lose their supportive qualities. But unlike foam, the supportive nature of the Chiroflow doesn’t change because water doesn’t compress over time. I’ve been personally using and prescribing the Chiroflow water-filled pillow now for years and have been extremely satisfied.

Please call me or stop by for more information about the Chiroflow pillow and how you can improve the quality of your sleep.

Mediterranean Beans

• 2 cans low sodium garbanzo beans
• 1 T cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T wine vinegar (try red or white)
• 1/2 onion (finely chopped)
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• seasoning to taste (try oregano, basil, thyme, and black pepper)

Rinse beans. Put all ingredients in large bowl and mix well. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

For Southwest Beans make these substitutions: black and pinto beans, coconut oil, and season with cilantro and hot spices (chili, cayenne, or jalepeno).

For Far East Beans make these substitutions: soy beans, sesame oil, and season with garlic, ginger, black pepper and Bragg Liquid Aminos (lower sodium soy sauce).

Our family loves these recipes because they are simple to prepare, are healthy, and taste great. We typically serve them as a side dish or as a salad topper. You can use the base recipe as a starting point and experiment with different beans, oils and seasonings. Be creative and enjoy!

Superior health depends on our environment too. We may not have that much control over the global environment, but what about locally? Have you done anything to help the environment of your township? What about your neighborhood? What about your home?

Have you ever thought about poisons found in your own home? Some very toxic ingredients are found in everyday products. Things like sprays, fingernail solutions, hair care products, mouthwash, perfumes, cosmetics, powders, medicines, polishes, drain cleaners, insecticides, antifreeze, and other household and garage products can be very dangerous.

One change our family made was to commit to using natural cleaning supplies in our home. We did this for several reasons:

1. We wanted to help reduce the risk of our own children accidentally becoming poisoned
2. To allow our children to participate in household cleaning chores without fear of poisoning
3. To reduce introducing more toxins to our environment
4. To keep our home clean, fresh, natural and non-toxic

We use natural dish cleaning products by a company called Seventh Generation. We purchase these at Wholefoods. But for everyday cleaning, we primarily use two different homemade products…

Natural All-Purpose Spray Cleaner

• 50% water
• 50% distilled white vinegar
• 15-20 drops of 100% pure essential oil

Just put in a spray bottle and use. The essential oils we usually use are lemon or peppermint.

Natural Scrub

• 1 2/3 C baking soda
• 1/2 C natural liquid soap
• 1/2 C water
• 15-20 drops of 100% pure essential oil
• 2 T distilled white vinegar

Mix in a large bowl. Add the vinegar last and then stir to eliminate the lumps. This is similar to “Soft-Scrub”, and can be used for tile, tubs, toilets and sinks. We re-use empty shampoo bottles and use a funnel to fill them up with this natural scrub. Our kids actually love to scrub away when we use peppermint oil because they think it’s like using toothpaste!

I hope you really give it a go and make these natural cleaning product recipes. I think you’ll really enjoy them. They’re simple to make, work well, and they can help keep your environment clean, fresh, natural and non-toxic.

If your child is a picky eater, don’t lose hope! It can be extremely frustrating when your child only wants to eat junk foods. Don’t worry. There are ways you can help make healthy foods your kid’s top choices. Here are some simple strategies that you can use to overcome the picky eater:

• Involve your kids in food-related activities. Get them involved in shopping, gardening, food preparation, menu planning and cooking.
• Be patient and persistent. Understand that it’s normal for most kids to react unfavorably (maybe even disgust) when they’re offered new foods. If our kids reject a food we serve, we make them take a “No thank you bite”. Many times they realize that they enjoy the food after taking the one bite. Don’t give up. Many kids won’t come around to accepting a food until they taste it 8 or more times.
• Be prepared. When kids get hungry, have healthy snacks ready. Cut up fruit or vegetables and make them easily accessible in the fridge. Our kids love our homemade salsas for dipping veggies. Make your own trail mixes with various combinations of nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Keep them out for easy snacking.
• Starve the appetite for junk food and it will diminish. The best way to stop cravings for junk foods is to cut them out completely. The more healthy food you eat, the more you’ll enjoy it. And junk foods will begin to taste strange and be less desireable.
• Be flexible and creative. We go with the flow. Our youngest daughter, Gabrielle, is our pickiest eater. She bucks against almost everything. She struggles with salads, which is one of our main staples. So we add her green leafy vegetables to other things she loves. We make her fruit smoothies with the Vitamix, and add in generous portions of raw baby spinach. It blends in nicely and results in a smooth and creamy shake. She loves them and ends up eating more than she would have eating a regular salad.
• Avoid hypocrisy. Be a positive role model for healthy eating. Live a healthy lifestyle. Your kids will probably learn more by watching you than by what you say.

If you’re just getting started on the pursuit of superior health, you may need to start by cleaning house. Please let me know if you have any other strategies that may be helpful… I’d love to hear them and share them.

Our center’s mission is to promote superior health through natural therapy. And it’s amazing how powerful natural therapies can be… with the right knowledge backing it up.

Many of my clients have serious complaints that can be corrected rather quickly. In many cases our clients need to rely on our professional expertise to solve the problem. Sometimes it’s a matter of a series of adjustments or trigger point massage therapy. Sometimes it involves a course of laser therapy.

In other cases it’s just a matter of making changes to their lifestyle. This could involve tweaking an exercise program and eliminating harmful exercises. It could mean getting more sleep. It could mean learning how to activate the core muscles (which we teach in our center). It may involve learning how to better manage stress.

In the cases involving complaints in the lower extremities (the feet, ankles, knees, and/or hips), many times the solution can be found in proper support and balance.

I’ve found that excessive pronation is one of the most common problems that’s at the core of many lower extremity complaints. Excessive pronation is a condition where the medial arch of the foot is not doing it’s job in supporting the foot. It begins to drop too far upon weight bearing.

This means that every time you step down, the medial arch drops too far. This causes a cascade of problems working their way up the chain of joints. Foot problems have been shown to cause problems all the way into the spine and up even to the jaw.

Excessive pronation, poor support, and disturbed balance can cause these common problems:

• foot pain
• plantar fasciitis
• bunions
• hammer toes
• ankle pain or instability
• shin splints
• sciatica and piriformis syndrome
• knee pain
• hip or sacroiliac pain
• poor posture
• back pain

If you have any of the previous problems, please schedule an evaluation to have your feet checked by me or someone at our office. It only takes about 5 minutes to do a thorough evaluation, which could possibly uncover a problem that has an easy fix.

This small investment of your time could save you incredible amounts of pain and suffering. And if your lower extremity problem is interfering with your activities, we may be able to help you get back to enjoying an active lifestyle again.

In cases of excessive pronation or instability, I will almost always recommend these two things:

1. Start using custom-fit arch support

The ones you can buy at the neighborhood pharmacy, can add a little padding but don’t support the arches properly. We fit people for the custom-fit arch supports right in the office. I use a specific balance test during the fitting process to make sure it’s the perfect fit for your specific arch size. The arch support I prescribe is an excellent product by a company called Symmetry. It provides support for all three of the arches of the foot, while remaining flexible to allow the foot to move normally. The style of arch support is determined by the use. For example, athletic shoes and dress shoes require different styles. They even make a style that accommodates sensitive feet. I’ve been using Symmetry arch supports for around 7 years now. I’ve found them to be inexpensive, very durable and comfortable… and they do the job very well.

2. Start wearing a good motion control shoe

The motion control shoe I recommend is the 1123 by New Balance. You can check them out online. It’s an excellent shoe that provides motion control, stability and cushioning. It’s a bit expensive, but it is very durable. I’ve heard that it can last twice as long as the typical running shoe. I just bought my first pair this week, so I don’t know first hand yet.

Focusing on body support and balance is a wise investment of your time and money and could save you a great deal of pain and suffering. Taking care of your problem now may enable you to get back to enjoying an active lifestyle again. Even if you don’t have any substantial pain, you may have a significant problem developing. If you suspect that you have a problem with support or body balance, give us a call today.

It is always easier to stay well than to get well.

Healthy Sports Drink

• 3 C spring water or filtered water
• 1 C orange Juice
• Juice from 1 lemon or lime
• 1/8 tsp Himalayan salt or sea salt
• 1 T organic apple cider vinegar (optional)
• 1 tsp agave nectar or raw organic honey (optional)

1. Mix well and chill

This drink provides a great way to beat the heat and stay hydrated especially while exercising. I’ve been using this recipe for years. It’s simple and tastes great. One 8 oz serving has around 40 calories and 75 mg of sodium, as well as a variety of other nutrients.

This drink provides a well-balanced and all-natural alternative to the typical sports drink. By using this recipe you can avoid refined sugars and artificial colors found in most marketed sports drinks. The optional apple cider vinegar and agave nectar or honey give additional health benefits and adds a nice sweet and tangy flavor. Try different kinds and combinations of juice. I like grape and apple juices mixed. For a fresh twist, try mango and passion juices.

Be creative and enjoy!