Ok, so maybe you’re not going to drop dead right here in front of me if you’re toxic at all, otherwise we’d all be goners.  But not handling toxins in the body over a long period of time leads to decreased immune function, organ malfunction, joint destruction, and a host of other sickness.  So what do we do?? Let’s talk about it….

You don’t have to build yourself a bubble world to live in to help protect yourself from all the toxins around you, there are some practical steps you can take to help reduce your toxic burden.

1. Drink more water!! Water is one of the body’s ways of flushing toxins out of your system.  The lymph nodes become congested and have a hard time carrying harmful products out of the body when you are dehydrated.  See my post on Water to see what types of water are the best and how to figure up how much water you really need in a day.

2. Stay away from fast food.  The fast food industry has made it a business creating toxic people.  In order to make a cheap, easily re-created, storable food product, they have to fill their food with preservatives and additives so that it can sit on a shelf for months before use and it is still ok.  Our bodies are not created to eat this garbage.  If you have to eat out, eat the least processed food you possibly can to help keep from overburdening your liver and kidneys with all the chemicals.  If you still don’t believe me and think that the fast food industry is just as healthy as your home-cooked meal, you need to pick up and read “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schloesser.  He is an investigative journalist that exposes the truth behind how the fast food industry creates and produces their food.  Disgusting is the word I would use for it.

3. Get rid of the carpet in your house. Carpet in your house is like a sponge and that sponge continually picks up anything you’ve stepped in all day long.  Then you come home and walk all over the carpet and then roll around on it with the kids and lay on it to watch TV.  GROSS!!! We took out all the carpet in our house and went to hardwood and we’ve been really happy we did.  If this isn’t an option for you, then buy a good quality air purifier to help reduce the amount of pollutants floating around in the air of your home and have the carpets routinely cleaned.

4. Learn to read a label. I will give most people the benefit of the doubt and say that many times the reason they eat some of the junk they do and feed this same junk to their kids is that they honestly don’t know the difference and don’t see anything wrong with it because they can’t understand the label to even see harmful ingredients.  This is no accident though.  Companies have been changing the names of certain chemical compounds on the label so that it is harder for average consumers to find them in the food they are eating.  Take Splenda for example.  Most of the time I’ll have patients come into the office with a drink like Fuze thinking it is really a healthy alternative to cokes and other drinks but upon investigation on the back of the bottle I show them there is Splenda in it.  Surprised they look again and say “No there isn’t! I don’t see Splenda on there anywhere.”  So I show them that in Fuze, they change “Splenda” to it’s chemical name “Sucralose” so that you don’t really even think anything about it.  Sucrose and Sucralose sound so close to each other, but one (sucrose) is normal everyday sugar, and sucralose is Splenda, a chlorinated sugar molecule.  MSG is another compound they frequently change the name on.  ”Artificial Flavors”, “Autolyzed Yeast Extract”, “Glutamic Acid”; the list of alternate names goes on and on.  Check out some of them here. The point is that you need to know what you’re eating to even try and prevent some of the toxins from getting into your family’s diet.

5. Buy Organic! It really is a much better option.  In my post, “Organic: Is it really worth the money??” I talk about the labels of organic foods and what they mean and why buying organic is absolutely worth the extra money.  Buying inorganic (regular) produce at the supermarket ensures that you and your family will consume many different types of pesticides and herbicides used by farmers.  Take coffee for example.  Did you know that coffee is one of the most sprayed crops that are harvested?? More chemicals go into coffee than almost any other crop.  Go to this site to see some of the many pesticides used on regular coffee.  So just changing this alone will help to reduce your toxic load dramatically.

6.  Buy an air filter.  Many people don’t realize that the air in their home is a major source of toxins and particles that you breathe in on a regular basis and never even know it.  So buying a good air filter is a good idea.  Another really good idea is getting your air-conditioning ducts inspected and cleaned a few times a year to prevent dirt and mold and other particle build-up from occurring in the very pipes that are transporting the air you will breathe.  There are many good air filters out there, I won’t go into them here, but really be careful with the filters using ozonation to reduce particulate in the air.  Many people have a hard time with it and it gives them pretty serious headaches so go easy on that.

7. Get a filter for your shower head. Many of our patients filter their drinking water or drink R.O. or some other highly filtered water already, but they forget that showering in tap water is essentially the same as drinking it.  Think about it, you’re standing in a really hot shower, opening up every pore in your body and running toxic water over your body!! Doesn’t really make sense to filter the water you drink and then shower in the exact same stuff.

8. Check the ingredients on your make-up. Did you know the FDA doesn’t regulate the production of cosmetics at all?!?  There are so many toxic chemicals and products in your cosmetics that it’s despicable.  I will cover this in another post to give you recommendations, but suffice to say, there are better options.

9.  Don’t drink commercial beer. Sounds funny I know, but if you’re going to drink beer (some guys/girls are going to do it regardless) pick a beer from Germany that is under the “beer law” there and is only made with 4 ingredients: 1. Barley, 2. Hops, 3. Yeast, 4. Water.  Many beer manufacturers add artificial sweeteners and other toxic elements to their beer to make it more addictive and more pleasing to the palate.  Stay away from these!!

10.  STOP Microwaving your food!! This is the worst thing you could do to your food.  It denatures all the enzymes and useful proteins and createschanges to the foods that are carcinogenic. Microwaves were outlawed in Russia years ago…scary huh?? One of the most nuclear countries on the planet outlawed them, but you and I can buy them at any store around!!  Go here for a great post on microwave ovens and the negative effects that have been proven to happen because of their use.

So there are 10 practical steps and tips you can use with your family to drastically reduce your toxic burden.  Now it is ridiculous to think you won’t get any toxins at all if you do all of these things because that’s just not realistic.  So one of the best things to do with your family several times a year is to go on a detoxification cleanse.  I will cover one that we use and like in a later post so keep checking the site!!

Dr. JB

Continue Reading

So little Johnny and little Susie have started back to school!! Especially if this is their first year this is a huge milestone for them and a lot of change to undergo.  You took them to Wal-Mart and got all their school supplies: pencils, eraser, ruler, protractor, notebook paper.  But what’s this?!? Little Susie brought home home more than a report card after the first few weeks…..  The rates of sickness for school children when they go back to school are mind blowing.  We’re getting close to starting into “flu season” again.  I see all of the CVS Pharmacies advertising “Flu Shots Here” on their billboards.  Every blog or info page you get on for places like the Mayo Clinic have instructions on how to help prevent your child from contracting illnesses from their fellow students.  But all the hand washing, antimicrobial wash, and “hands to yourself” in the world aren’t going to save your kids from the different sicknesses floating around at school.  The best way to help your children is to boost their immunity and allow their bodies to naturally fight off infection and sickness.

So what supplements should I give them??

There are some key supplements and vitamins that we carry and recommend for your children to help boost their immunity.

1. Colloidal Silver:  I just finished writing the post about this yesterday so you can read about that here.  This is your natural antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and anti yeast product.  You can use this topically, orally, or in their ears and nose to help fight off and kill different bacteria that they will inevitably come into contact with.   I would start them on a teaspoon 2x/day just as maintenance, but if they start showing signs of any type of illness, up that drastically to at least a teaspoon every other hour or so (if they’re with you).

2. Thymex:  This is an overall immune booster.  It supplies the thymus gland with the nutrients it needs to produce the helper T cells like it needs to to help your child fight on foreign invaders.  This is a great product that really jump starts your child’s immune system and gives it the boost it needs to fight back.  A maintenance dose for this product would be 1-2 tablets with each meal.  When ill or feeling under the weather, give them 1 every hour.

3. Congaplex:  We use this product for kids in the office almost more than any other!! It is another immune booster that focuses on assisting the respiratory tract and helping with cold, flu, and congestion.  This is a great way to keep your child’s air pathways clear during this part of their school year and help them breathe easier.  For maintenance, give them 1 with each meal.  During times of congestion and respiratory irritation, give them at least 3 per meal with another in between meals if needed.

4. Probiotic Sufficiency:  This is our probiotic we carry from Innate Choice.  This is the best probiotic we’ve found on the market.  It has over 15 Billion (that’s right, with a “B”!!) units of helpful bacteria per capsule!!  It is also non-dairy based so it is the best one for your child.  This one is an adult probiotic in capsule form so with this product, give your kids 1/4 capsule for every 40 lbs of body weight.  This product is even more important if your child has had to go on an antibiotic for any reason recently or is currently on one.  This will help to keep them from becoming deficient in their normal flora (good bacteria) that are so important for immune function.

5.  Omega Sufficiency:  An essential part of your child’s daily supplements should include omega-3 fats.  You can get them in a variety of ways, we use this particular omega 3 fat from Innate Choice.  This company cleans their product very well, distills it the best, uses the best product, and doesn’t use temperatures too high that denature the enzymes in the oil.  Omega-3 fats are essential for production of optimal levels of cholesterol in their little bodies.   This cholesterol is used to heal damaged areas in the body.

6. Organic Sufficiency:  So I get asked all the time what I like the best for a multivitamin for kids.  This is a new product we’ve really fell in love with because it is SOOOO GOOD!!!  It has incredible ingredients and is again made my Innate Choice.  Their goal is all whole-food based supplements so you get the best quality nutrients you possibly can out of your supplements.  This one is in tablet form so your kids can either swallow it (if they’re old enough) or chew it, or you can crush it up and put it in their food.  Maintenance on this one is 2-3/day for the kiddos.

7. Essential Oils:  Since respiratory infections are pretty much the number one reason why kids get sick going back to school in the fall, essential oils are a great choice to help open up the breathing pathways.  You can use Eukalyptus on their chest (works like Vicks) and that will open their lungs up to help them breathe more.  Lavender oil on the bottoms of their feet at night also helps to open the breathing pathways and get them to taking in more oxygen.

There are many other immune boosters out there, like: echinacea (immunity), fenugreek (decongestant), grape seed extract (immunity), Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Zinc, and Elderberry.   The list is pretty long.

Ok, blah blah blah, what’s the bottom line….what do they NEED?

What I recommend for parents in the office for everyday supplementation for the kids is: 1. Fish Oil (I prefer ours because of the purity, but anything is better than nothing)  2: Probiotics (again, I like the Innate Choice ones the best here)  3. Multivitamin (Organic Sufficiency is great, but you can also do a greens drink like “Greens First”. )

If your kids start to exhibit signs of getting sick, then I’d add in the following: 1. Thymex: 1 every hour or so until symptoms go away  2. Congaplex: 2-3 with every meal to help ease pressure in sinuses and help with congestion  3. Colloidal Silver: 1 teaspoon every other hour to help kill bad bacteria and viruses.  If this doesn’t seem to make a dent on them, then start adding in some extras.  Start with Echinacea and Zinc to help support the immune system and if they’re really congested, add in Fenugreek to assist the body in getting rid of congestion.

The great thing about children is that they respond so quickly to supplementation and treatment.  Now, if your child’s immune system has been down for a long time due to repetitive infection/medication cycle, then you might keep them on this for at least 3 months.  You’ll be amazed at how well their immune system will do and how much better they will feel overall by giving their body what it needs to fight off these different bugs.

Does my child’s diet have anything to do with all of this??

Aside from the supplements to help give them a boost, you need to make some dietary changes with your kids to prevent sickness and to treat it if it does happen.  Here are some tips for their diet:

1. Take out as much sugar as you can! A teaspoon of sugar will cause the immune system to go down for over a half hour.  This is really hard because during the “back to school craze” there is usually more sugar available!!  I’m not saying you have to be the mean bad parent and not let them have anything, but it will help them fight off sickness easier if they don’t have all the sugar in their system.  So this means limiting breads, candy and cokes (for sure!!), and pastas.  If you can at least try to take out candy and cokes, they’ll do much better.

2. Encourage more water.  Water is responsible for flushing the toxins out of your child’s kidneys and lymphatic system.  If they become dehydrated, these toxins will remain in their system and won’t be cleared by the body, causing more insult to their immune system.  Your child needs to be drinking at least half their body weight in ounces of water a day to stay hydrated and probably double that if they aren’t feeling good.  And NO, cokes, teas, lemonade, and juices do not count in this measurement!!  Add lemon or lime into the water to help balance their pH and give them some flavor if you want.

3. More fruits and veggies! This one is a no-brainer and is a little redundant, but they need more fruits and vegetables to give them the fiber to clear their intestines of toxic waste and enzymes to help with immune function.  Add in more berries like blueberries and raspberries to get more antioxidants in their system.  Organic is much better here due to the pesticides on the produce, but again, anything is better than nothing. If you’re having problems getting the right amount of fruits and vegetables into your child, there are products you can add in to boost it up.  These are not replacements for good food, but they are a bonus.  Greens First (we have this in the office) is a greens drink that actually tastes good!! It has 10 servings of vegetables per scoop and you can just put it in water and let them drink it.  Aloe Xtra is an aloe drink that has goji berry, acai berry, blue berries and on and on in it for a major antioxidant kick.  Tastes great and gives them a ton of nutrients in it at the same time.  We carry both of those at the office so if you’re interested, just call the office for pricing.

Other things to give your child the best head start: a good nights sleep, chiropractic adjustments (boost the immune system and increase circulation), cold laser treatments (to help with lymphatic circulation and congestion), Ionic Foot Baths (increase detox) and less TV time.

So not an all inclusive list of everything to do for your child, but this will get you started.  Contact me if you have specific questions about your kids and I can help you figure out what to do.  The bottom line is this, your child is created with everything they need physically to fight off sickness and disease, you just have to feed their body with what it needs to help them fight to the best of their ability.  Every time you give them a medication to stop a symptom, it stops what the body was trying to naturally do to fight sickness.  This delays the worst of it until later, but it will eventually surface.

Hopefully this gave you some tips to help start off the school year right and keep your kids as healthy as possible.

Dr. JB

Continue Reading

In our office nutritional therapy and supplement recommendations are a large part of what we do.  We believe that there are 3 things that effect the bodies ability to properly function and heal itself: 1. Traumas 2. Toxins 3. Thoughts.  So a large part of what we do is to take the patients that come to us and formulate a nutritional program for them to boost the body’s ability to properly heal and remove toxins and deficiencies from their system that is limiting their body’s ultimate potential.  We’re constantly looking for the best products on the market and for products that have multiple functions so as to help keep the cost of protocols down since you would not have to take as much.  We’ve caught flak in the past for things we recommend, but NOTHING like the flak and the questions we get for recommending a product that has been in production for hundreds of years…..Colloidal Silver.

Antibiotic-resistant germs are now considered an epidemic in the United States.  The drug companies are having to create more and more drugs because the diseases they had made them for years ago, have changed and now the same drugs don’t work like they used to.  Did you know that each antibiotic is created to kill off around 6-8 different bacteria?  Not that many really.  Guess how many silver has been shown to kill??? 650!!  That’s right, that’s not a typo.  Colloidal Silver has been shown to kill off over 650 different germs that we come into contact with on a daily basis.

The History….

Some of the first recorded uses of silver were as far back as 4000 B.C.  The Eastern Persians used to put all their water in silver lined vessels to prevent disease.  The Romans, Babylonians, and Greeks all write of using silver in their culture as well.  The first settlers to America were said to place silver dollars in milk to prolong its freshness at room temperature as the silver killed off harmful bacteria.  In the 1930s, hospitals routinely used silver nitrate in the eyes of infants to protect against blindness in the chance that the mother had a venereal disease.  This is still being employed in many different countries today.   Interesting that it was used for so many years isn’t it?? Antibiotics weren’t introduced until the early 1940s.  Penicillin was the very first antibiotic widely used.

So what’s the big issue??  Why is it supposed to be bad??

Recently there was an article published on Consumer Reports “Health” section on their website touting the top 12 supplements to stay away from and guess who was on the list??? Colloidal Silver!  So what is the big argument against silver?  Well, a couple years ago, a man named Paul Karason got on the Today Show and was dubbed “Papa Smurf” because of his blue skin he said was the result of taking colloidal silver for the past 14 years.  On the same article, “doctors” claim that it can be harmful to the kidneys and the liver.  Interestingly enough, there are no studies on the page associated with the article and no names of these mysterious “doctors”.  So what about this “blue man” skin color issue?? Is it really a problem?? Yes, if you don’t make the colloidal silver correctly and you actually absorb it!  There is a very intricate, specific way to use purified water to make the colloidal silver and to use an electric charge to create the colloidal effect, neither of these Papa Smurf did in his home-made concoction.  When not suspended in solution correctly, the cells of the body can absorb the silver, tinting the skin blue.  That is why you should never make your own and you should buy from a reputable company.

All of the attacks on silver are unfounded and not backed up by any scientific evidence.  Actually it is quite the opposite.  Silver is shown to kill disease-causing organisms within 6 minutes of exposure.  In the medical journal the Lancet, they examined the many uses and successes with colloidal silver.  Brigham Young University tested colloidal silver against a host of different bacteria and found it effective against: Lyme, Herpes, Legionnaire, Staphylococcus, Aureus, Samonella, Choleraesuis, Streptococci, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Neisseria, Gonorrhea, Gardnerella Vaginalis, Gangrene and Candida.   And unlike antibiotics, bacteria do NOT become resistant to silver.  Why?? Well, it’s really in the way that the silver actually kills the bacteria.  Silver is a catalyst that disables the enzyme that all one-celled bacteria, fungus, and viruses use for their oxygen supply.  So in effect, it suffocates them!  But it doesn’t harm any of the body’s normal enzymes or any of your good bacteria because of the charge put on the silver when put into solution.

Keep your hands to yourself!! Geez!!

I get so sick of the medical profession selling people their bag of goods using fear as the main motivator.  But if they want to freak people out and get them to go buy their drugs, then so be it.  But they can’t stop with that, they have to create lies and fear around supplements people are successfully using because it competes with the drugs they are producing!

In our office we’ve seen amazing results with the colloidal silver.  I’ve seen many patients who were diagnosed with MRSA (Staph Infection) be totally cured of the infection after going on a regiment of the silver.  Various other infections (eyes, toes, bladder, lung, skin) virtually disappear.  One mom I was helping in the office had been very resistant to the silver we were recommending for a long long time because she had a family member who had made it in his garageand she was really afraid of it and thought it was a hoax.  So at one point when her son became ill enough that nothing else was working she asked me what she should do and I begged her to try the silver and he was over his illness in less than a day!!  Trust me, it’s not a scam, it really works.

We carry it in the office in 3 different sizes.  A 16 oz re-fill bottle.  A 4 oz spray bottle and a 2 oz nasal spray bottle.  This is one supplement that we recommend to everyone, especially if you have children because not only does it wipe out bacteria and other contaminants, but it prevents their contact to begin with!

In the office, aside from use with patients, we use colloidal silver as a disinfectant and surface cleaner.  We clean all of the equipment and the toys in the office with the silver to make sure there’s no bacteria left on any surface.

So there are multitudes of uses for this particular supplement.  I definitely thing it is one of the best kept secrets of the natural health industry.   Now, I can’t vouch for every brand out there because I’m not sure how they are producing theirs.  I can vouch for ours that we buy out of Plano from a very reputable company there.  I know how he makes the solutions, and it is only 10ppm as opposed to 100 ppm like I’ve seen in the store.  The least amount you need to get the job done the better.

I wouldn’t be without my colloidal silver.  I travel with it and we keep it in practically every room in our house!  It has definitely become, like on “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” our “Windex”!!  Because it fixes everything!!

Dr. JB

Continue Reading

So probably the hardest type of stress to prevent/fix is stress that is emotional in nature.  This comes in many forms: emotional (relationships, work, parents, etc), mental (pressure, friends,), or spiritual (conviction, peers).  It’s hard to effectively correct this type of stress for many reasons but it all boils down to the fact that most of us like to hold on to our emotions and not share them because it is too painful and because we don’t want other people to figure out that we’re not quite as perfect as they originally thought.  Emotions are easier to hide than physical or chemical stressors because you can’t see them on the outside.  They don’t cause bruises or bleeding (normally, ).  But stress from emotional, mental, or spiritual issues has just as much negative impact on the physiology of the body and the function of the nervous system as any other type of stressor.  See a pattern?? I hope you’re getting by now through all of my posts that the body is all connected.  There isn’t one system that if effected doesn’t cause problems with the other systems around it.  Medicine tries to separate every system and treat the symptoms of that system as if it doesn’t affect every other system around it.  Case in point, Cindy’s grandmother just had heart surgery and they were baffled afterwards when she began having kidney problems post-surgery.  You’d think after all these hundreds of years of medicine that they would be finally getting it.  And they are actually, there’s a big movement toward “Mind-Body” science and study.  Larry Dossey is a medical doctor that specializes and has spent years studying the effects of thought and emotion on the body.  What they’re finding is what alternative and natural medicine has been saying all this time: your thoughts and your emotions have a direct and profound effect on the function and health of your body.

So just like with physical stressors or chemical stressors, there are really 2 different types of emotional stress that can effect the body:

Get out of my head!!!!

1. Toxic Emotions: Wow, this one is a topic we could write an entire series on but I’ll try to be shorter with it here.  Toxicity when it comes to your emotions is rooted and begins with your thought life.  What kind of self-talk to you have with yourself.  Do you boost yourself up on a daily basis and reaffirm to yourself that you are an incredible creation of the King?? Or do you tear yourself down and beat yourself up over trivial things and let Satan hammer you with lies and accusations.  But this isn’t all on you, toxic emotions can come from the outside (friends, family, acquaintances) as well.  Hanging around with people who are always negative and running you down will create a toxic emotional build-up that will eventually lead to breakdown in the body and “sickness”.  The crazy thing about the way your mind works is that the people you hang around don’t even have to say negative things TO you for it to effect you.

I’ve talked about this in other posts, but even if you’re standing around them and they start being really negative and mean, your subconscious doesn’t know the difference in what they’re saying for themselves and what you are thinking so it actually begins to thing they are talking about you!! So the whole “pick your friends carefully” is sooooo true because however they act, you will begin to act like them….just a fact.  Another avenue of toxic emotional and mental stressors comes from the things you watch (TV) and listen (radio) to.  This is never more true than with kids.  You have to be diligent about regulating what goes into their bodies via the TV and Ipod/Radio.  Nowadays there’s really nothing holding them back on TV so they put whatever they want on there.  Fifteen years ago we would have freaked out if half of the stuff that is on TV now was in some of our shows (Wow, I sound old saying that!!).  One person said it this way, “The eyes are like windows into the soul of a person”.  I totally agree with that.  And your TV is just a portal to allow anything and everything you want and don’t want into your home and into the minds of your children.  Really watch out for what is on the TV when your kids are around.  Their little brains are still developing so fast that harmful, harsh words or graphic scenes could really effect them negatively.

Some of the biggest toxic emotions I think plaguing us today are: 1. Unforgiveness, 2. Bitterness, 3. Anger, 4. Selfishness.  Don’t these really sum up most of what’s wrong with our emotional state??  Selfishness to me is probably one of the biggest ones because everyone is always out for themselves.  We have created this entire fast food, it’s all about me, giveme giveme giveme society.  I see it more than I like with parents in the office dealing with their kids.  I’ll tell them things that they can do to help their children and I hear, “Well, I would, but that’s the night I play racquetball so that’s not going to happen” or “Yeah, but that would mean getting up a half hour earlier and I just like my sleep”.  I don’t think there are many things that showcase your selfishness to the world quite like being a parent!!  Anger, unforgiveness and then bitterness really go together.  Getting angry with someone and not forgiving them and then allowing yourself to become bitter is devastating to your cardiovascular system and to your adrenal glands.

So what do we do about it?!?

Solution: GET IT OUT!! You have to get these emotions out on the table to allow your body a chance to heal the wounds they have created.  I’m not a big fan of counseling, but that’s an option.  Have someone you can call and vent on instead of your spouse when you are really upset.  If you don’t have anyone, then finding a church you can plug into and having their staff to go to when you need prayer and support is bigger than you know!  Another thing that is probably one of the biggest ways to reduce stress and work through your emotions is journaling.  I try to prayer journal whenever I have something that is emotionally stressing me out.  This helps for several reasons. 1. You get your emotions out on paper.  And don’t be proper about this, just GET IT OUT!!  It’s amazing what kind of clarity comes from working through your thoughts on a piece of paper.  2. You get to read it back to yourself.  Reading is left brain activity which is the side of the brain that reduces stress and anxiety. 3. You get to write it out, which also de-stresses your system neurologically. So I’m a big proponent of journaling.  Blogging is similar, but isn’t private so only blog what you want others to read and share with you.  If you’re afraid what you write might offend someone you love, then either start an anonymous blog no one knows about or stick to journaling.  Regardless of what you do, you need to get your emotions out somehow.

I think one of the most tragic things our culture has taught my generation and the generation or two before me is that is is not ok to cry.  I still see parents do this in the office and I cringe every time they do because it is so detrimental…..one of their children will get upset and start to cry and the instant they start to tear up, the parent gets in their face and very sternly tells them “Stop crying. Big girls/boys don’t cry. If you don’t stop crying we won’t go do XYZ.”  Did you know that crying is what the body uses as a sort of “pressure relief” valve to reduce pressure and tension on the nervous system and to do a “reboot” on your nervous system?? When you stress out and get all worked up, you are using the right side of your brain.  This is the creative side, the anxiety side, the big picture side of the brain.   If your stress levels create enough of an imbalance in the nervous system, your body needs to do something to create balance again.  Crying is LEFT brain activity!! It is a part of the nervous system called the Parasympathetic Nervous System that is responsible for lowering your stress levels in the body.  Hmmm, it’s like God totally knew what he was doing when he created this body!  So please don’t be embarrassed to cry.  It is actually unhealthy not to cry.  So I tell patients every day that if they feel like they need to cry and they are afraid someone will see them, then go in a closet, close the door and cry as long as your body needs to to be able to handle the stress that they are under.  It makes an enormous difference.

So besides toxicity…what else is there?

2. Deficiency Emotional Stressors: So how the heck can you be deficient in emotions and it cause stress and symptoms in the body??? This isn’t so much about what all you’re receiving from the world around you that isn’t good for your system, rather it’s more about what you should be getting from the people in your life that you aren’t getting.  Things like Respect, appreciation, and ultimately LOVE.  It’s amazing the stories I hear of the way some people were raised the the things God has brought them through.  I was very fortunate and blessed to be adopted into a christian home as a baby and be raised by christian parents who loved each other and loved my sister and me.  My mom and dad told us all the time they loved us and that they were proud of us.  I never take for granted the emotional stability I received from my parents, especially my dad.  He always pushed me to be better at everything I ever did and always told me how proud of me he was, even if I didn’t end up in first place at the end of the day.  I say especially my dad because now that I’m a dad myself and have witnessed so many family dynamics over the years, I firmly believe that the emotional strength of the family lies in the hands of the father.  If the father is filling the role he is called to as the head of his family, (not that there are never issues) the emotional health of the family is night and day difference.  It’s like the kids find their identity from their father.  So I am always so careful to constantly affirm Harper and tell him how amazing he is and how much I love him and am proud of him.  I know how much that meant to me when my dad did that for me and I want to pass that on to my son.

But what if you’re situation isn’t that bright?? What if you don’t have the best family situation or are in a really bad place?? Let’s face it, people will always let us down.  They’re only human.  The place I always go back to to comfort me on my tough days and to refuel myself when I’m feeling dry is the knowledge that I serve a God who is always there for me and never leaves me.  Hebrews 13:5 God says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  He will always love me and build me up exactly how I need.  All I have to do is ask.  Do you have that same assurance?

I could go on and on about different facets of this topic.  I hope you see how critical emotions and your thoughts are to your overall health.  Everything begins with a thought.  Thought becomes action.  Action becomes habit and then shapes our very being.

Be careful what goes into that brain of yours.  Whatever gets in there….doesn’t come out.

Dr. JB

Continue Reading

So we covered the physical stressors that happen to us and start us down the road of degeneration and accelerated aging.  Now we need to cover the next type of stressor that will veer us off of our path to health and wellness.  The second type of stressor we have to deal with are Chemical Stressors.  Chemical stresses are stresses that deal with our diet and nutrition.  Anything going into the body either nourishes us or tears us down.  The old adage, “Garbage in Garbage Out” is never more true than when talking about our chemical physiology and it’s effect on our entire body.  Again, just like Physical Stressors, there’s only 2 options: toxicity, and deficiency.  So here we go….

1. Toxic Chemical Stressors: Detoxification and cleansing has been a hot topic and become more popular over the past 3-5 years.  You never used to hear anyone talking about doing a “liver cleanse” or wanting to “flush their gallbladder” but most people nowadays have done some kind of cleanse or are aware that they are a necessary part of your health routine.  But where do you get toxins from???  EVERYWHERE!! Someone accused me the other day on a post I put on FB about fluoride of trying to scare everyone.  If that’s how you feel too, I sincerely apologize because that’s not my heart and that’s not my intention.  My goal with this website and blog and the posts I put on FB is to educate you and give you information for your family you can use to keep them as healthy as possible.  Having education and information allows you to be able to make decisions for your family NOT based on fear, but on knowledge.  So with that being said, toxins come from a variety of places in our culuture today: The air we breathe, tap water, cosmetics, air fresheners, fast food, packaged food, candy, soft drinks, smoking, alcohol, cooking in plastics, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and on and on and on.  With cosmetics and other products, one site says you can expose yourself to over 515 chemicals per day!!  Suffice to say, if it has a label, chances are it’s not as healthy for you as it could be.  We need to be more deliberate about trying to avoid toxic substances so that are body isn’t overloaded with this burden it needs to take care of.  I have a toxicity post written on this subject I’ll post for you soon to show you common sense ways to prevent and avoid toxicity.  The number one thing you can do though is to learn to read a label so you can catch many of the harmful substances before you end up putting them into your body or the body of your family.  Children are especially susceptible to environmental toxins because their little systems are developing and growing so fast.

Enough already!! What do we do about it?!?

Solution: DETOX!!  It has never been as important as it is right now to do a detoxification program at the very least once a year.  Cindy and I try to do the Standard Process 21 Day Purification Program at least 3 times a year.  This is no different than changing the oil in your car or getting the air filter cleaned out every 3,000 miles.  It’s just a maintenance thing you should do for yourself.  I’ll do a more specific blog post on different detox cleanses later, but know that there are many different detoxes out there.  Specific organ detoxes like gallbladder/liver flushes, kidney cleanses, whole body cleanses and many others.  Not all are healthy or good for you so stay tuned for a review of the most popular cleanses.

What if I’m squeaky clean?? How can I have stress then??

2. Deficiency Chemical Stressors: So even if you never ingest, breathe in, or come in contact with a toxic chemical substance (not possible), you can still have chemical stress because you are deficient in a particular nutrient or mineral.  The scary thing is, many of the things people have in their diet on a daily basis that they think are “just fine” (i.e. soft drinks) actually create a deficiency because they leach minerals out of the body.  Taking soft drinks for example, the phosphoric acid in the coke needs to bind with something in the body to make it stable….so what does it pick??? The calcium in your bones!! So every time you’re drinking that soft drink, your body has to leach calcium out of your bones to help neutralize the phosphorous. When you drink or eat packages foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils, it robs your body of essential omega 3 fats that your body desperately needs for healing and for optimal neurological function.  So you’ll be in a constant state of deficiency leading to malfunction and symptoms later on.

Solution: Cut out the food causing deficiency and replace nutrients you’ve lost…creating sufficiency!!!  Choose to eat high quality, organic produce in your diet.  Supplementation shouldn’t be necessary, but these days it is almost a have to.  Even if you’re eating 100% organic for every single meal and cooking everything yourself at home, you can’t get all the nutrients you need for optimal function.  So getting a really good multivitamin is really important.  One that we carry in the office we really really like is called “Organic Sufficiency” from Innate Choice.   This product is concentrated nutrients from total organic sources to help replenish the nutrients you have lost.  Another way to get what you need is to find a greens drink that you like.  The one I like the best for the contents and the taste is “Greens First“.  But other companies like Garden of Life, Natures Sunshine, and Designs for Health all carry a green powder.  Standard Process also makes one we carry called “SP Greenfood” in a capsule form that is a really good product.  These products are designed to get you the most nutrition in the least amount of space.

Not taking care of the chemical make-up of your body is like putting diesel into a gasoline engine.  The car can be brand new, and be the prettiest car on the road, but with the wrong “fuel” it won’t even get out of the driveway! So we have to be diligent daily to try and prevent as many toxins from getting into our systems as we can, while at the same time periodically cleaning out what does happen to get in.  Then we have the responsibility to take in plenty of nutrients to help prevent our bodies from becoming deficient.

In our next stress post, we’ll talk about one of the hardest stressors to help, mental/emotional stress.

Until then, what cleanses have you tried to help you detoxify your body??

Dr. JB

Continue Reading

Ok, so the easiest type of stress to start with in the triangle is Physical Stress.  This post won’t be long because it’s very simple…when we don’t take care of our physical body, it breaks down!!  It’s that simple.  The hard thing is, making it important enough for us to actually do something about.

In my first Stress Post, I talked about the fact that stressors effect the body by either creating a toxicity (too much of something) or a deficiency (not giving the body what it needs to function).  In regards to physical stress lets look at how this occurs.

Toxic Physical Stress

These are your physical injuries or things we do to our bodies on a daily basis that either slowly or violently attack the function of our perfectly created bodies.  Things like sports injuries because of improper warm up, postural weakness due to sitting in front of a computer all day long, whip-lash from car accidents or going to the theme park, damage to the arches of our feet because of improper shoe wear, and on and on and on.   [...]

Continue Reading