Good Evening Everyone,
Cholesterol lowering drugs (statin drugs) have made for big business in 2010 with a total U.S. spending of $19 billion. It's not a secret that these cholesterol drugs have been known to cause many side effects. One side effect is not only possible, but now has proven to be a definite harmful effect of cholesterol drugs! That side effect is peripheral nerve damage (damage to nerves outside of the spine and brain). To quote a recent study; statin/cholesterol drugs will cause "definite damage to peripheral nerves," when using them for over two years!
If you're taking these drugs because of what your total cholesterol number is, please realize that this number means very little in regards to your risk for heart disease (unless it is 330 or more). Closer attention should be paid to your HDL (good cholesterol) / Total Cholesterol ratio: it should be 24% or more. Your Triglyceride/HDL ratio should also get more attention: it should be below 2.
*Next blog, we'll go over the best way to reduce your chance of having heart disease naturally (notice I didn't say we'll go over how to reduce your cholesterol naturally)
Reminder: I'll be on vacation next week and having Dr. Bruce fill in for me. For those of you who don't know him, he has over 50 years experience and is from whom I prefer to get my adjustments.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
Source:
Treatment with statins and peripheral neuropathy: results of 36-months a prospective clinical and neurophysiological follow-up. Neuro Endocrinol Lett, 2011 Sep 3;32(5):688-690.
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Calorie/Pound Equation
Good Evening Everyone!
I hope that everyone is off to a great start with their New Year's health resolutions! For those that have joined the gym and begun to exercise again, I have some tips to remember. First, is to make sure that you work on improving the foods that you eat and decreasing your caloric intake. Try to limit/eliminate snacks, sweets, beverages and fast foods that are all loaded with added fats, sugars, and refined grains. This is easier done by just trying to eat foods that are low in sugar and have minimal ingredients. If you're able to improve the quality of food you eat, reducing calories should be easier. Remember that many of the bad foods are not only high in calories, but they're also addictive (and actually make you want to eat more often).
Here's an equation (for extra motivation) to remember if you are having difficulty making these changes:
*an extra 3500 calories is converted into 1 pound of fat!
Here's a statistic that may help drive the point home even further:
*Since 1970, the average daily calorie intake has increased by 600 calories per day!
*Lets do the math -- 600calories per day multiplied by 365 days is 219,000 extra calories per year!
-- if we plug that into the equation above, that is 219,000 divided by 3500 = 62 pounds of extra fat onto a person per year!
So the point here is... Exercise without improving diet is not very effective in reaching health goals. If you do both, you will be truly amazed at the results you get!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
I hope that everyone is off to a great start with their New Year's health resolutions! For those that have joined the gym and begun to exercise again, I have some tips to remember. First, is to make sure that you work on improving the foods that you eat and decreasing your caloric intake. Try to limit/eliminate snacks, sweets, beverages and fast foods that are all loaded with added fats, sugars, and refined grains. This is easier done by just trying to eat foods that are low in sugar and have minimal ingredients. If you're able to improve the quality of food you eat, reducing calories should be easier. Remember that many of the bad foods are not only high in calories, but they're also addictive (and actually make you want to eat more often).
Here's an equation (for extra motivation) to remember if you are having difficulty making these changes:
*an extra 3500 calories is converted into 1 pound of fat!
Here's a statistic that may help drive the point home even further:
*Since 1970, the average daily calorie intake has increased by 600 calories per day!
*Lets do the math -- 600calories per day multiplied by 365 days is 219,000 extra calories per year!
-- if we plug that into the equation above, that is 219,000 divided by 3500 = 62 pounds of extra fat onto a person per year!
So the point here is... Exercise without improving diet is not very effective in reaching health goals. If you do both, you will be truly amazed at the results you get!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Forgetting Things... May Be a Sign of...
Good Evening Everyone,
Does Alzheimer's Disease (Dementia) and Parkinson's Disease run in your family? If it does and even if it doesn't you may want to read further. In an article that I just reviewed, researchers have compared Alzheimer's & Parkinson's patients with people of similar age/sex that do not have the diseases. All patients were over 50 years of age. For those patients with these diseases, they found significantly low zinc levels when compared to the patients without the diseases.
Zinc is extremely important in brain function. More specifically, zinc is needed at the highest level in the hippocampus of the brain. The hippocampus is mainly involved in short-term memory and is found to be severely affected in Alzheimer's disease. Zinc deficiency negatively affects other areas of the brain and nerves which can contribute to Parkinson's symptoms.
This study also reported that people who don't eat much meat have an increased a risk for zinc deficiency (especially elderly patients). So increasing meat intake (if less than normal) can help with deficient zinc levels in the body. Using zinc supplements can also help and has been found to be the most consistent way to bring up & keep zinc levels at a normal level.
If supplementing with Zinc, the recommended dosage is 15-25mg per day. Taking too much zinc can make you deficient in copper (so don't over do it).
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Source:
Subclinical Zinc Deficiency in Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, September 14, 2010; Vol. 25; No. 7; pp. 572-575
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Does Alzheimer's Disease (Dementia) and Parkinson's Disease run in your family? If it does and even if it doesn't you may want to read further. In an article that I just reviewed, researchers have compared Alzheimer's & Parkinson's patients with people of similar age/sex that do not have the diseases. All patients were over 50 years of age. For those patients with these diseases, they found significantly low zinc levels when compared to the patients without the diseases.
Zinc is extremely important in brain function. More specifically, zinc is needed at the highest level in the hippocampus of the brain. The hippocampus is mainly involved in short-term memory and is found to be severely affected in Alzheimer's disease. Zinc deficiency negatively affects other areas of the brain and nerves which can contribute to Parkinson's symptoms.
This study also reported that people who don't eat much meat have an increased a risk for zinc deficiency (especially elderly patients). So increasing meat intake (if less than normal) can help with deficient zinc levels in the body. Using zinc supplements can also help and has been found to be the most consistent way to bring up & keep zinc levels at a normal level.
If supplementing with Zinc, the recommended dosage is 15-25mg per day. Taking too much zinc can make you deficient in copper (so don't over do it).
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Source:
Subclinical Zinc Deficiency in Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, September 14, 2010; Vol. 25; No. 7; pp. 572-575
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Here We Go Again...
Happy 2012 Everyone!
I hope that everyone had the best holiday season possible! I also hope that in looking back over 2011 that everyone accomplished all or a least one of the goals that they set in the beginning of the year. For those that didn't and want a try again; now is your chance.
Lets start with probably the most common goal set at New Years.....Weight-loss. I know many people are setting that goal as you read this and I also know that many people will give up on it before the spring time. The reason for this is that many people go about it all wrong. Weight-loss can be broken down into two main components: DIET and EXERCISE. Those that fail at weight-loss usually set goals in diet and exercise that are very difficult to maintain. They do well for the first few weeks, but then begin to fall back into old habits soon after. Then as soon as the old habits begin they tend to give up with the excuse of it just being too hard.
I'm here to help you this year by letting you know there's a better way: In two words.... START SLOW! Here are some suggestions:
1) Work on your diet first
- don't make too many changes
- start by reducing sugar in your diet (cut-out/reduce soda, juice, desserts and sugar in your coffee/tea)
- increase water intake (especially a half hour before your meals as it will help to satisfy some of the hunger that you have) This will help decrease your portion sizes.
- try and decrease your total bread intake by half
2) Work on exercise second
- exercising without an established, healthier diet can be very frustrating
- don't begin or increase your exercise until you have been keeping a better diet for at least 6 weeks.
- start by only exercising 2 days per week
- if you can exercise 2 days a week consistently for 8 weeks, then you can try to add a third day
- 3-4 days per week of exercise should be all you ever need
Good Luck!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
P.S. This is all I did over the past year and I lost 27 lbs (which was most of what I needed to lose). You also didn't hear me say that you had to stop eating hoagies, pizza, hamburgers or french fries.... You can still eat those things (in moderation). You just have to increase your water intake & decrease your sweets, so you will find it much easier to reduce the portion sizes of those things.
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
I hope that everyone had the best holiday season possible! I also hope that in looking back over 2011 that everyone accomplished all or a least one of the goals that they set in the beginning of the year. For those that didn't and want a try again; now is your chance.
Lets start with probably the most common goal set at New Years.....Weight-loss. I know many people are setting that goal as you read this and I also know that many people will give up on it before the spring time. The reason for this is that many people go about it all wrong. Weight-loss can be broken down into two main components: DIET and EXERCISE. Those that fail at weight-loss usually set goals in diet and exercise that are very difficult to maintain. They do well for the first few weeks, but then begin to fall back into old habits soon after. Then as soon as the old habits begin they tend to give up with the excuse of it just being too hard.
I'm here to help you this year by letting you know there's a better way: In two words.... START SLOW! Here are some suggestions:
1) Work on your diet first
- don't make too many changes
- start by reducing sugar in your diet (cut-out/reduce soda, juice, desserts and sugar in your coffee/tea)
- increase water intake (especially a half hour before your meals as it will help to satisfy some of the hunger that you have) This will help decrease your portion sizes.
- try and decrease your total bread intake by half
2) Work on exercise second
- exercising without an established, healthier diet can be very frustrating
- don't begin or increase your exercise until you have been keeping a better diet for at least 6 weeks.
- start by only exercising 2 days per week
- if you can exercise 2 days a week consistently for 8 weeks, then you can try to add a third day
- 3-4 days per week of exercise should be all you ever need
Good Luck!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
P.S. This is all I did over the past year and I lost 27 lbs (which was most of what I needed to lose). You also didn't hear me say that you had to stop eating hoagies, pizza, hamburgers or french fries.... You can still eat those things (in moderation). You just have to increase your water intake & decrease your sweets, so you will find it much easier to reduce the portion sizes of those things.
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
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