The Hypertension Dilemma

High Blood Pressure, or Hypertension, is one of the more common diagnosed conditions that results in a prescription medication or two to manage it. The problem is that while the medication does artificially lower the blood pressure, it does not address the cause - the reason the body decided that an elevated blood pressure was essential to survival. Hypertension is often the first sign of cardiac distress. It foretells of heart disease and potentially deadly consequences. I get why the MD's are so concerned about it, but addressing it with medications as the sole solution is misguided and should be malpractice.

One thing I tell patients when I recommend supplements is that there are few supplements that you should be on for life. Herbs, Glandulars, Vitamins, Minerals - anything that comes in a pill or powder should be used to support a healing process in the body, not as a natural substitution for medication otherwise the only difference is less side effects. Both Medications and Supplements have their time and place in management of Hypertension, but a study done at the University of Chicago Hypertension study reveals that a Chiropractic Exam could uncover a treatment with permanent results that are more effective than two blood pressure medications combined.

The study concluded that when misalignments of the Atlas bone (C1 - or the first cervical bone in the spine) existed, and chiropractic adjustments were given to correct the misalignment, patients saw decreases in blood pressure greater than that of those on two blood pressure lower medications combined. The study was made popular by its appearance on WebMD and has been promoted by pro-chiropractic groups worldwide.

Not everyone with high blood pressure has it because of a C1 misalignment. It is important to understand why the body increases blood pressure in order to track down the cause of the hypertension. Under acute (short-term) stress, the body increases cardiac output to support key organ systems involved in the "fight or flight" stress response. This is why blood pressure increases when we are upset, nervous, scared, disoriented. It's also why our blood pressure increases in higher altitudes, when we engage in vigorous exercise, or when we experience a trauma (whether it be physical, mental , or emotional). This is an intelligent response by the body because the increased cardiac output is required to get us through that stressful environment.

It's when the stress becomes chronic (long-term) that high blood pressure is dangerous. Chronic stress can exist for the body if you are overweight, lacking certain nutrients, have a heavy toxic load, or suffer from mental and emotional issues for a prolonged period of time. It is still intelligent for the body to elevate the blood pressure in order to cope with the effects of long-term stress. So what do you think happens when we artificially cover that up with medications or supplements? The body is going to find another way to adapt to the chronic stress. It might stop converting DHEA to sex hormones so it can make more cortisol (your primary stress hormone), ultimately leading to high cholesterol because the liver has to make more to convert it to cortisol. Increased cortisol levels lead to insulin resistance (Type II Diabetes)  and constriction of blood vessels which leads to ---- yep ---- high blood pressure. So if you have high blood pressure and you suppress it through medication, you could end up with.....high blood pressure and additional problems which I'm sure the drug companies have "answers" for.

That's why addressing the cause is so important. If chronic stress at work is causing your high blood pressure, learn coping mechanisms or find a new job if it's impossible to fix the current situation you are in. If being overweight, or some other medical condition is the cause of your high blood pressure, you may need some sort of medicinal solution while you combat the cause of the other condition. I've always said that medication has it's time and place, but the goal of any good doctor should be to get you on as few medications and the smallest doses possible for the shortest time possible.

And that brings me back to the misalignment of C1. When C1 is misaligned, interference of the regulatory messages between the brain and heart can cause blood pressure to remain elevated when no the body is not under a stressful stimulus. Removing this interference by adjusting C1 back into its optimal orientation in the spine allows the heart and brain to communicate efficiently and properly regulate blood pressure.

If you are not sure what the cause of your blood pressure is, see your chiropractor. If you don't have one, find one. And if you live near me, come to my office (details in the youtube video above) and I'll get down to the cause of your Hypertension. If it's something that chiropractic care can help whether that be through correcting misalignments of C1 or addressing nutrition, exercise, and detox, we are equipped to determine if medical referral or co-management is necessary.

http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20070316/chiropractic-cuts-blood-pressure

Is Chiropractic Care Effective for Back Pain?

I'm taking a break from posting about my personal journey of healing from Ankylosing Spondylitis to talk about several common conditions that people around the world suffer from needlessly. By the time you reach 40 - unless you have been adjusted since birth and never engage in potentially harmful activities - you have had at least one episode of low back pain. So what is the best way of dealing with this?

You are reading a blog written by a Chiropractor, so I know you think I'm going to be biased here. I can provide a bit more input from my personal experiences with an autoimmune disease that specifically causes low back pain. I know what it's like to wake up in the morning and be unable to move from excruciating back pain. I know what it's like to crawl on your hands and knees because walking is either too painful, or because you can't get your back to extend enough to be upright. I know what it's like to take pain killers, muscle relaxers, steroids, cortisone injections, NSAIDs, and immune suppressors to get out of pain. I also know the only thing that has ever provided me with long term relief with no side effects. Let's be real - it's why I became a Chiropractor. Chiropractic works! But don't take my word for it, or my experiences.


The Ontario Ministry of Health hired a renowned heath care economist to make a recommendation on the best approach for Low Back Pain (LBP) due to increasing health care costs for this condition. The first “Manga Report” was published in 1993. This comprehensive study reviewed all the scientific literature on low back pain and made what many in the medical community found to be astonishing recommendations. It concluded that: chiropractic should be the treatment of choice for low back pain – excluding traditional medical care altogether!

Let's look at some of the specific Findings of the report:

"Chiropractic management of low-back pain is more cost-effective than medical management"

Many Insurance companies have done their own studies to arrive at the same conclusion. This is the sole reason why Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain is a covered service by Medicare.

"Many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate"

Where many insurance companies could cut premiums is right here. By eliminating questionable therapies and surgeries, health care costs for low back pain would drop significantly. The frustrating thing of the new Health Care Act is that while Chiropractic Care is supposed to be included as an essential service in the same way it is covered by Medicare, States are beginning to enact local exchanges that are excluding Chiropractic Care altogether. I imagine this will end up in the court system sooner or later, but it will be extremely frustrating for some as these "kinks" in the system are worked out.

"There is no valid study that demonstrates or even implies that chiropractic is unsafe in the treatment of low-back pain."

This is where people have somehow missed the boat. I regularly encounter people who are under the impression that Chiropractic Care is not safe. There is clearly no valid research to suggest this, and the Magna Report concurred.

"Some medical treatments are equally safe, but others are unsafe and generate further complications for LBP patients." 

Most of these claims are of no surprise to Chiropractors. We routinely talk to people who are worse off after their surgery, nerve block, or cortisone injection. The reason is that none of these address the cause of the problem - lack of motion integrity in the joints of the lower back. There is only one way to restore this integrity - Chiropractic Care. What the report did not address is that the procedures that are considered equally safe may reduce pain, but rarely improve function. Function is what allows you to pick up your grandson. It's what allows you to play golf, make dinner, clean the house, exercise, and enjoy life. "Safe" surgeries and medications may dull the pain, but they do not restore function which sets up further damage down the road. Pain is there for a reason. Your body is telling you to stop or else you will permanently damage your spine. When we dull the pain instead of addressing the loss of function, we further injure damaged tissues and potentially create a problem that is beyond the help of Chiropractic Care.

"Chiropractic is more cost-effective. There would be highly significant cost savings if more management of LBP was transferred from medical physicians to chiropractors."

I do not know a single Chiropractor that would not refer a true surgical issue to an MD. There are just some spines that you can't fix. That being said, more often than not we can help people with their low back pain. It just makes sense if Chiropractic is the safest and most cost effective treatment that delivers results that Chiropractic be tried first in all scenarios..

"Patients are very satisfied with chiropractic management of LBP and considerably less satisfied with physician management"

This definitely embodies my personal experience with the management of my LBP. Those who are generally not satisfied with Chiropractic Care usually do not complete their recommended number of visits, do not engage in rehab therapy to strengthen deconditioned muscles (either by choice or because their Chiropractor did not recommend it), or their poor experience is unrelated to their treatment (billing, personality conflict, issue with office staff, etc...)

"They were even so bold to recommend that chiropractors should act as the gatekeepers for all musculoskeletal complaints."

I've come across several journals that imply this, but this is the first non-chiropractic organization to make this claim that I know of. It is a sign that the grasp the medical community has on the insurance companies is loosening slightly. My wish is that all doctors could freely practice in their area of specialty and recognize the value that each other brings without being worried about who gets a "piece of the pie" when it comes to insurance dollars. The most emphasized topic in Chiropractic School, believe it or not, is properly identifying when a patient needs to be referred to another office for their condition, including musculoskeletal complaints.

The one thing the Report did not address, nor does it even seek to investigate, is the effect Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain has on the function of organ systems supplied by the nerves in the lower back. The number of patients is too many to list that report improved digestion, lessened severity of menstrual cramps, resolution of irregular cycles, ability to get pregnant after years of unsuccessful infertility treatments, improved immune function, reduction in prostate swelling, resolved numbness and tingling in the legs, and many other issues we know Chiropractic Care impacts but we don't claim to treat because of law won't allow it. Chiropractic Care is the most effective treatment for Low Back Pain for the following reasons:

1. It addresses the cause of the pain.
2. It restores function and motion to the spine
3. It removes interference in nerve transmissions from the brain to the organ systems supplied by the nerves that exit the spine in the lower back.

If you have back pain, go see your Chiropractor. If you don't have a Chiropractor, get one. If you do not know what to look for in a Chiropractor, ask around, check their reviews online. If you are near Bloomington, IL...call my office and I'll be happy to let you know if your issue is something Chiropractic can effectively treat. (Office information is included in the Youtube video description above)

Back to "Normal" Eating

It's only been 2 days since I stopped Intermittent Fasting and I already miss it. I can definitely tell that the increased energy used for digestion of solid foods throughout the day has left me with less energy overall. I notice it mostly about 30 minutes to 2 hours after a meal. I do feel that overall energy levels now compared to before I did the 7 days of Intermittent Fasting have dramatically improved. I just don't feel as energized as I did while doing the Intermittent Fast.

I should be getting more Beyond Organic products this Wednesday so I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I encourage you to get a copy of Jordan Rubin's book, "Living Beyond Organic". He uses very simple to understand methods of teaching nutrition that most of America desperately needs to learn. Even with the extensive Nutritional Training I have as a Chiropractor, I even learned a few new things. The biggest eye opener was the role that Cultured Whey/Dairy plays in Glutathione production. If you don't know what Glutathione is, consider it the body's garbage collector in the cell. When your cells make waste products, are exposed to toxins, or experience oxidative stress, Glutathione comes to the rescue and cleans the mess up. But if you can't make enough Glutathione to account for the amount of toxins/waste present, you end up with sickness and disease. You make most of your Glutathione in the Liver, but it needs supplies of essential precursors to keep up with the body's demands. This is where Cultured Whey and Dairy come in. They provide a bounty of precursors for Glutathione.

With Autoimmune conditions of any kind, the body is under constant oxidative stress. Very few people with Autoimmune diseases consume enough nutrients to make enough Glutathione to clean up that mess. This is why I felt great while doing the Intermittent Fast, but feel worse now even though I'm eating very healthy food (I haven't touched a single grain in over two weeks). My Glutathione levels were at an all-time high while doing the fast, but have dropped significantly since. Because my body still needs insanely high Glutathione levels to clean up the mess, the benefits of the Fast do not completely carry over to the normal diet.

People with Autoimmune conditions have to attack it from 3 perspectives: Remove the sources of toxicity in their life (Food, Mold, Heavy Metals, etc...), heal their gut (most have leaky gut), and decrease cellular inflammation. Glutathione plays a major role in all three. Cultured Whey and Dairy plays a huge role in all three as well, but I'll save that for a future post.

Intermittent Fasting done...do I have to stop?

Yesterday was Day 6 and it was by far the easiest day - not because it was the last day and I knew it was ending, but because I had the most energy and fewest cravings of any day. I really enjoy intermittent fasting and only wish I had stocked up on more SueroGold and Amasai to continue. I have enough for Day 7, but I'm out of the Plain Amasai which is really what you want to use when intermittent fasting as the flavored Amasai have more sugar than you want in them regardless of whether or not it is just the natural occurring sugar in the fruits. Biggest benefits I noticed while intermittent fasting:

• Decreased sugar and salt cravings after day 3
• I was enjoying dinner more than ever before eating with little variety, but all organic and healthy
• In the past, we've done "cheat meals" from time to time and when my wife asked for one last night, I had no desire to partake in it. That's never happened before.
• Maybe it's just me, but I see muscular changes, however subtle, in my body. Looks like I'm either retaining more muscle mass than before, or possibly gaining. 
• Despite the extreme drop in caloric intake over a 6 day period, I did not lose any weight and may have even put on a pound or two.

That last bullet point deserves further attention. I have always had a problem gaining weight. Prior to becoming a Chiropractor or even learning about healthy eating, I did some crazy things to gain weight. In undergrad, I went on the Big Mac/Whopper diet where I would have 1-2 of the toxic sandwiches per meal along with fries and a shake. I did that for almost a month and gained a whopping 2 pounds. Most people would expect a 10-15 pound gain if not more. In my early twenties, I went on the most successful weight gain campaign ever. I would consume 30-40 grams of protein per meal and do high intensity weight training 3-4 days per week. After 30 days, I put on a grand total of about 7 pounds. 

The problem was I never addressed the root cause: hormone resistance. My body was so effective at burning sugar, that I rarely stored it as fat, But because it became so efficient at burning sugar, it could not burn fat. My leptin receptors became blunted and my brain would never get the messages to burn fat for energy. As a result, my body would catabolize my muscle for sugar to make energy. The 30 day fast food diet I did made things worse as I look back on it because it increased my overall cellular inflammation and the little weight I did gain was due to fat stores increasing while muscle mass was rapidly decreasing. When I finally took on the weight training and high protein intake diet, I was finally able to burn that fat off and build muscle at a slightly faster rate than my body was breaking it down. 

The missing piece was addressing cellular inflammation, which I have done throughout the years through chiropractic care, the cellular healing diet, exercise, and detox. Intermittent fasting has been so successful for me in only 6 days because it addresses two of the above four items: cellular inflammation and detox. Detox pathways are supported by intermittent fasting, especially when consuming large quantities of cultured whey and dairy along with fermented vegetables and purely grass fed beef like the kinds you can get from Beyond Organic. Since discovering Chiropractic and its benefits to promoting optimal function of the entire body, I have regularly been adjusted. Exercise is one of the areas I still need to improve dramatically on, but I am making huge leaps there. I'm getting 2 burst training sessions in per week which incorporate resistance training. I should be getting in 3 cardio focused burst training sessions per week with a 15-30 minutes resistance session prior to each. I'm working my way up. 

If you'd like to experience the above benefits of Intermittent Fasting, read my previous blogs that explain the process, and go to Beyond Organic and stockup on the Amasai and SueroGold. Indulge in some GreenFinished Beef and Grass-fed cheese while you are at it. The more you enjoy the process, the easier it is.

Beyond Organic products can be purchased at http://joeramirezdc.mybeyondorganic.com

Renewed Energy - Less Cravings: Day 3 Update

It's the end of Day 3 of Intermittent Fasting using Beyond Organic's amazing Cultured Whey and Dairy products (SueroGold and Amasai Plain). Had an awesome dinner tonight of taco seasoned Beyond Organic GreenFinished Ground Beef with some more sauerkraut and steamed broccoli. Today was by far the least cravings I've had. It could have been getting back into the work week that kept my mind more preoccupied with things other than food cravings, but the increased energy I've had today can only be attributed to the Intermittent Fasting. I'm kind of bummed I only have enough product to continue for 3 more days.

Life has gotten much simpler in the food department not worrying about what to eat for breakfast or lunch. The only part that got a bit more confusing is how it has affected my workout routine - which you can't really call a routine as much as a "find 15 minutes and get in a session of Burst Training" when I can. Ideally, a workout would take place in the morning or early afternoon followed by a SueroGold with a scoop of Grass-fed Whey protein or Vitol (egg protein powder). I got in a session last night right before dinner, so I just made sure to get plenty of protein in the meal to aid in recovery. Perhaps with this increase in energy, I'll be able to drag myself out of bed before 6am to get into an actual workout routine.

I know I've mentioned Burst Training before, but have yet to explain it. I'm planning on putting together a video explanation for my patients that have not been able to get to any of my Burst Training workshops, so when I get that done, I'll be sure to add the link in a blog devoted to Burst Training. If you can't wait, you can search YouTube and find a few other docs that have already done something similar. Dr. Pompa's is probably the best demonstration of it.

Go Beyond Organic!

Day 2 of Intermittent Fasting

Just providing a quick update on how intermittent fasting is progressing. In retrospect, starting any kind of fast 2 days after Thanksgiving probably wasn't the best idea in terms of dealing with cravings. Even those of us on the healthier side of the spectrum indulge on Thanksgiving. Needless to say, the sugar cravings have hit already. It's not so much hunger, although on occasions I have been hungry. It's more the desire to consume something savory. Last night's dinner was simple - steamed broccoli and some turkey and sauerkraut. I was mostly thirsty after dinner - cured by a couple glasses of water.

My energy levels today are very low, but I attribute that to my toddler deciding that 3am was a good time to wake up today, so needless to say, I did not get much sleep. On a tangent, tried giving my son (who has had a quick and aggressive allergic reaction to organic yogurt in the past) a sip of the SueroGold. He didn't care for the taste, as I expected since he eats mostly sweeter baby foods and breast milk, but he had absolutely no reaction so far. This is consistent with many of the people I have encountered that have a "dairy allergy" when they take the leap of faith and try Beyond Organic dairy. I have no doubts that my son has massive reactions to the Alpha 1 Beta Casein in most dairy. The next test is something a bit more substantial for him - the Peach-Mango Amasai. Essentially a drinkable yogurt, containing some of his favorite flavors, I'm hopeful he'll like it first. Second, I expect no bad reaction either. I'll keep you all update on that front as soon as we take the leap with him.

I am looking forward to dinner more with this fast. Going to finish off the turkey and sauerkraut for dinner tonight with some more steamed broccoli...then tomorrow I break open the Beyond Organic Ground Beef, I can't wait! I'm thinking of either doing burgers, a taco seasoning blend stuffed in lettuce, or meatballs with sauerkraut in a red pepper sauce. There's an Amasai with my name on it in the fridge.

Remember, Beyond Organic products can be purchased here:

http://joeramirezdc.mybeyondorganic.com

Intermittent Fasting

I'm planning to do some intermittent fasting for the next week. Dr. Mercola and others have posted reviews of research recently on this topic and before I started recommending it to patients, I figured it would be good to try it myself since there is no harm in doing it and I stand to benefit from it as well. I'll explain what intermittent fasting is, the benefits of doing it, and how I'm implementing it.

Intermittent fasting is simply going 16-18 hours without eating food. At first, it sounds miserable: low blood sugar most of the day, being hungry, irritable, tired, etc...and wouldn't that make me more prone to overeat when I break the fast? After hearing several well respected colleagues promoting intermittent fasting, I decided to check it out in further detail and discovered it is not that bad if done properly. Essentially you are restricting calories to somewhere between 500-800 every 24 hours with 16-18 of those hours resulting in consumption of negligible calories to maintain nutritional requirements. The goal is to restrict the energy expended by the digestive, immune, and endocrine system in response to food so that the energy typically expended on food can be redirected to healing. So consuming extremely low calorie and high nutritional content liquids like grass-fed organic beef broth or cultured Whey Water is done every few hours to keep blood sugar normalized, energy levels from crashing, and prevent the body from going into "starvation" mode.

Why do this? The benefits are truly amazing when you understand the body's hierarchy of needs. The immune system is one of the most metabolically expensive functions of the body. Healing and repair is often put on the back-burner while the body deals with more immediate stressors like creating enough cortisol to deal with that work deadline while you worry about how you are going to pick the kids up from school on-time and still find the time to drop of the rent check to avoid late charges. Other more immediate stressors could be breaking down that BigMac you scarfed down without chewing sufficiently because you didn't have time to make yourself something for lunch and you definitely didn't have time to chew properly (not that it would really help that much with a BigMac). Even if you chose a healthy salad for lunch, your body still prioritizes digestion over healing and repair. This is very important to understand because our digestive system along with our endocrine system (responsible for most of the hormones in our body) are typically in the mode of constantly working. The only real time they get to heal and repair is when we sleep. I'm sure it's starting to make perfect sense now why you seem to get sick after several days of insufficient sleep. There comes a time when the body says, "Enough is enough! You need to rest so I can heal." 

Intermittent fasting is great, because you give the body 16-18 hours to heal/repair your gut and endocrine organs. Most of the cellular inflammation we have comes from the foods we eat unfortunately. Intermittent fasting allows that to be resolved quicker as well. With reduced cellular inflammation comes increased hormone sensitivity. With increased cellular inflammation, hormone receptors are damaged and become resistant to the hormones trying to bind to them. The scenario most people are familiar with is Type II Diabetes, where the body's insulin receptors are damaged and the body is unable to get glucose into the cell efficiently, causing increased blood sugar. Hormone sensitivity is the exact opposite of hormone resistance. Intermittent fasting helps repair the hormone receptors by both reducing cellular inflammation and allowing the body to dedicate energy stores to healing receptor sites.

So now that the benefits are known, how do you go about doing this without the miserable side effects of fasting I talked about in the introduction to this post? Beef Broth and Cultured Whey Water are both nutritionally dense liquids that are extremely low in calories. Consuming 8-16 ounces of either of these liquids every 2 hours or so is never enough calories to officially "break" the fast, yet it keeps the hunger urges satisfied (some people, especially diabetics will have a harder time with this - Suero Green can help with this as the sprouted Wheat Grass provides some extra nutrients to regulate blood sugar better), keeps energy levels normal, and provides key fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals to support the body through the fast. If you do this with Cultured Whey Water, you will find yourself not even needing to drink extra water as the Whey Water contains enough to meet your daily intake requirements of water, but you can drink extra water if you feel the need to. The dinner you consume should be a Healing Diet dinner (for more information on the Cellular Healing Diet, you can search amazon for the Cellular Healing Diet Book) - meaning no grains, no sugar, no high carbohydrate/high glycemic/starchy veggies. It's even best to do fermented veggies and quality grass fed beef/cheeses (Beyond Organic is the only source I know of that does not contain A1 Beta Casein which is highly inflammatory to the human digestive system). 

So basically, I get up in the morning and around 10am, I have a Suero Gold (Cultured Whey Water from Beyond Organic). I will have a Suero Gold every 2 hours - up to 6 per day as needed. Around 7pm-8pm, I have a healing diet dinner consisting of either soft/steamed veggies (peas, carrots, green beans, broccoli) and a quality protein (Beyond Organic Beef/Cheese, Eggs, Free Range Chicken/Turkey) and when it's available, some fermented veggies like sauerkraut (still need to increase my range of options here). So it is essentially 14-15 hours before I'm taking in any calories, and when I do, it's 50-100 calories which is hardly enough to break the fast. If I'm having a particularly rough day, I can add in an Amasai (Beyond Organic Cultured Dairy Beverage - similar to drinkable yogurt). Or if it's a workout day, I can put some Vitol (powdered Egg protein with digestive enzymes) or Grass Fed Whey Protein (Designs for Health makes a great product called Whey Cool and another called PaleoMeal that work perfectly) in the Suero Gold to give the extra protein needed for repair and recovery from exercise. Another great benefit of using the Suero Gold product is that it contains the perfect ratio of sodium to potassium, helping to keep vital electrolyte stores in proper balance (most people are sodium dominant due to the Standard American Diet).

Generally, you can do this for 3-4 days at a time to give your body a much needed rest to focus its attention more on healing and repair. Those who need more than an occasional boost or are looking to repair faster can extend this type of an intermittent fast as long as they can tolerate it. I have a friend who pretty much does the routine I described above day in and day out because it makes him feel great, reduces the stress of finding quality foods throughout the day, and the increased hormone sensitivity improves many aspects of his life. I hope to be able to implement that one day, but for now, I'm starting with 6 days. I'll try to keep the blog updated with my progress.

Again, you can learn about and purchase Beyond Organic products at:

http://joeramirezdc.mybeyondorganic.com

Finally found food I can get excited about again!

I've known about Beyond Organic for a while now. I was apprehensive about participating in and promoting such a project because I was concerned about sustainability using old world methods of processing dairy and beef. There is a reason farmers switched to ultra-pasteurization and grain-feeding cattle - increased profit margins. 

Unfortunately, it was at the expense of the consumer. Denatured proteins from high heat pasteurization, astronomically high Omega 6:Omega 3 ratios from feeding cows grain, and the toxins stored in their tissues from liberal usage of antibiotics, medication, hormones, and vaccines are the bulk of the problem. Factor in GMO grains being used and conventional dairy/beef products could possibly be one of the unhealthiest foods to consume. I know it tastes good, but there comes a time in your life when you look at your wife and children and start thinking about what you need to do to be the best dad and husband possible; to be around for as long as possible and pass on what wisdom you've gained in life to your grandchildren.   

If you do not know my health history, take the time to review the previous posts and you'll begin to understand why I'm so picky about what I put in my body. I don't like being in pain. I especially don't like being limited in the things I can do with my 20 month old son when he wants to climb all over me, chase me around, or walk around while holding him for extended periods of time. My 14 year old daughter understands that there are certain things I can't do physically anymore due to the permanent damage in my spine. It doesn't make it any easier for me knowing she's disappointed. Now add in that my son has a 50% chance of developing the same condition as me if I don't raise him up on healthy foods and exercise habits, and you've got the ingredients for inspiration.

Getting back into doing all of the things that got me on the road to healing in the first place is a lot tougher now that my job is so demanding time-wise. There's no such thing as a 40-hour work week for me, so maximizing my spare time (I laugh using that term) is critical. I've implemented a combination of burst training and resistance training over the last three weeks and I have noticed a difference in my lean muscle mass already. I'll talk more about burst training in a future entry...it's time to get back to food.

The genesis of every autoimmune condition is a leaky gut. More and more research is confirming this to be true. Without healing the gut, you can do all the things I was doing in the past and you'll feel better while you are doing them, but as soon as you stop/slack off - the vicious cycle begins again and the disease strikes back with a vengeance. 

This is where Beyond Organic comes in. In cases of autoimmune diseases, many of the good bacteria in the gut are so diminished (or wiped out completely) that supplementation with probiotics in a pill or powder will never give you enough live organisms to repopulate your gut. Bacteria outnumber the cells in our body 10:1 and much of what current research in genetics is showing is that the bacterias in your gut trigger your body's DNA. Geneticists believe the makeup of the bacteria in your gut could be the largest determining factor in your genetic expression. Most probiotics are lucky to give you bacterias in the billions per serving - and typically are limited to an average of 5-7 different types. Consuming fermented foods can provide trillions of bacteria per serving and include species of bacteria you can't get in a pill or powder. Ancient cultures would consume fermented dairy beverages and whey water on a regular basis. They would calls these beverages "healing water". Science is catching up finally and confirming that these fermented beverages can indeed repopulate the gut with essential bacterias that cannot currently be found in a supplement.

So where can you get these beverages? Beyond Organic has a line of cultured whey water and cultured dairy beverages called SueroViv and Amasai, respectively. The biggest difference in these products from other items you could buy in the health food store is the source of dairy. These cows graze on grass and other greens all the time. They are never fed grains. They are not vaccinated, and any cow that cannot be treated with natural methods is removed from the herd so that they are all free from antibiotics, hormones, or other meds. The dairy is low-heat pasteurized - where the dairy is never taken above 102° which is normal cow body temperature - so the proteins are never denatured. These cows have also been bred so they do not produce Alpha 1 Beta Casein - a protein shown to be 23x more toxic to the human gut than gluten and responsible for most people's dairy intolerance. The downside? The process takes a lot longer than current methods, so it's not cost effective compared to current methods.

In addition to these "healing" beverages, their cheese products are loaded with great probiotics and the beef has the perfect ratio of Omega6:Omega 3. The SueroViv products also have the perfect ratio of potassium:sodium which adds to its "healing" properties. When compared to the prices of "grass-fed" beef in the health food stores (which are traditionally grain-finished the month leading up to slaughter), these products are competitive and often cheaper (depending on where you live). The prices are able to be competitive because they use network marketing methods of distribution (which turns some people off) and 100% of Beyond Organic's profits are donated to charities.

I've been watching this company for a year now. With less than a handful of times I have seen notices about products being unavailable, I am impressed with their ability to grow and keep up with demand. I am eagerly awaiting my first order which includes 3 cases of SueroGold, 3 cases of Amasai, and 3lbs of the ground beef. Next post, I'll share how I plan to use these products to heal my gut.

If you want to learn more about Beyond Organic, are interested in purchasing their products, or just want to browse what's available, go to:

http://joeramirezdc.mybeyondorganic.com

Or you can always post in the comment section if you have questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

Detox Update

So craziness is probably too tame of a word to describe what goes on when you are in the process of building a practice in a new town where you don't really know anyone. Add to that the mounting stress of trying to sell your house in another state, raising a high maintenance teen and a higher maintenance toddler, and the daily tasks that come with life and keeping up with a blog sometimes falls by the wayside. I'll try to be better at updating this.

The Detox was more intense than I expected. My goal was to go 30 days. I figured I didn't have a ton of cellular detoxing to do before picking back up with the mercury detox protocols. I was very wrong. At day 5, I was reminded of the draining feeling I had when I originally started detoxing from the high levels of biotoxins (mostly mold) that had built up in my body over the years. It makes sense when you consider a recent mold exposure I had in Florida. I still have no idea how long that mold was there. I discovered it when I was breaking down our Sleep Number bed to put on the moving truck. I unzipped the air chamber cover to find both air chambers covered in black mold. It was so bad we didn't even bring it with us...it could not be salvaged. There is no telling how long my wife and I (our newborn slept with us too) were sleeping on that toxic bed. I now know that I'm pretty much back at square one with my detox. As such, I was able to make it 10 days before I had to give my body a break.

True cellular detox should be done in cycles for several reasons:

1) The detox pathways main organ systems (kidney, liver, gall bladder and intestines) need rest. At day 9, my kidneys were actually sore. Intense detox should really be done in 4-7 day cycles with 7-10 days of rest between cycles.

2) Toxins work on concentration gradients. This means we pull the toxins out of the tissues closest to the lymph system/blood stream first. Then the body allows the toxins in the deeper tissues to work its way to the outer tissues. The off cycles allow this to take place.

3) It is metabolically expensive to detox. ATP stores need to be replenished for effective detox to take place in subsequent cycles.

With the holidays coming up, my plan is to get a few cycles in between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I tend to get more irritable when I detox (which is common for most people while they detox) so it's probably a good idea not to be detoxing when I am celebrating with family.

I don't tweet often yet, but you can follow me @joeramirezdc

You can also keep up to date with various workshops and seminars I'm doing in the office at my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/freeyourhealth

Detox Day 2

Just thought I'd post a quick update on how things are going so far, especially for those who wander by this blog and have had no experience with a cellular detox program. Usually when you start a program like this, the first couple of days are simple because you are excited about making changes in your life. You can't wait to see the results and that excitement helps you stay compliant in the initial few days or first week. When things start to get tough vary from person to person.

Day 1 went pretty good. Stayed fully compliant with the supplements and maintained my diet. Have continued to do so today. As expected, I woke up this morning sore in my neck (will see my chiro for that today), with a mild headache and some digestive inconveniences (I'll spare the details). All of this was expected for me because I've done a cellular detox several times in the past. My body is familiar with the process, and it tends to start eliminating toxins very quickly and efficiently (with the exception of heavy metal toxins, but that's a whole different protocol I'll begin after the cellular detox).

The biggest change I've had to make is drinking more water. When I was in chiropractic school, I would carry around a gallon of water and on most days I would finish it. Lately I didn't realize how much less water I was drinking until I started the detox. My body craves water while on the detox because it is essential for flushing out the toxins. When all was said and done yesterday, I counted seven 14 ounce glasses of water that I drank.  I felt like I was constantly drinking water, but 98 ounces of water is only 23 ounces more than I should be drinking on a daily basis for my weight. I have probably only been drinking about 50-60 ounces a day before yesterday, which is 15-25 ounces shy of my daily need. While on a detox, I will always drink more than I should, because urine, sweat, and bowel elimination are the body's primary detox pathways - all which rely on sufficient water intake.

So my challenge to you is to keep a log of how much water you are drinking each day. You want to be drinking half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 150 lbs, that's 75 ounces of water per day. You'll be amazed at how much your body begins to crave water once you are giving it what it needs. For those who do not drink enough water, often times our sensation of hunger is the body telling you that it needs water. The part of the brain that controls hunger and thirst are so close together that when chronic dehydration sets in, the signals can often get crossed leading to overeating and weight gain. If you find you are not drinking enough water, set a goal to add 8 more ounces of filtered water each day. Unfiltered water, unfortunately brings with it many toxins (chlorine, flouride, traces of medications recycled through the system [for city water], lead or copper [depending on the plumbing in your home]). I'm making a note to blog about water quality in the future.

I'm back!

It's been almost two years since my last blog entry. So much has happened and I am excited to get back to writing again. Between finishing up Chiropractic School, having a baby (well, my wife did most of the work there), making the move to Illinois, and building a patient-base from scratch in an area where I had no friends or business connections to start out with, things have been a little crazy to say the least. One of the things I mentioned in my last entry was discussing the challenges to making lifestyle changes that facilitate healing. Talk about having almost every challenge in the book thrown at you all at once! But as I have had a nice swift kick in the rear over the last two days regarding how I have fallen back into so many unhealthy habits, I decided today to start over. What better way to restart my healing journey than to attempt to blog it and have as many as will listen, hold me accountable.

So where does my health stand now? I still eat so much better than I did before my first healing journey. I am not exercising, very rarely use my sauna, and have not completed my detox (haven't detoxed in almost 2 years now). I still get adjusted - probably should get adjusted more often, but have not been doing my home rehab to facilitate structural correction. All of these things need to be addressed, and they will be - in chunks.

Before I started going to the chiropractor, my diet consisted of mostly pasta, pizza, potatoes, ramen noodles, soda, milk, Gatorade, cereal, beef, poultry, and occasionally veggies. Ironically, I did eat out often and enjoyed eating vegetables when I did, but I never liked preparing them for myself. If I did, it was usually corn. None of it was organic, free range, or even grass fed. I also ate a lot of fast food - Taco Bell, Subway, Quiznos, McDonalds, Burger King, and I'm sure there were others. Those were just the go-to places when I was hungry and didn't feel like making anything. I rarely ever drank water and easily consumed 2 liters of soda a day. No, I amazingly never got fat...in fact, I have always been underweight. I've always struggled with putting on weight, but that is another topic altogether.

Today, my diet consists of mostly vegetarian-fed poultry (organic when on sale), eggs (again, organic when on sale), yogurt*, plenty of veggies (peas, carrots, spinach*, broccoli, green beans, brussel sprouts, onions, sweet potatoes, salad, mushrooms*, and cucumbers), gluten-free waffles, strawberry jam*, brown rice*, quinoa*, water and almond milk. I probably stray from that diet once a week, but try to make healthier choices when I splurge. One example would be pizza with a gluten free crust and veggie toppings instead of a meat lovers from Pizza Hut. The starred items above are ones I always buy organic. You can get away with buying some foods non-organic if money is tight. With a toddler and a teenager, and all the recent expenses of moving and building a practice, money is very tight right now, so we are very selective in the foods we buy organic. You'll notice that beef is not listed. It's just simply something I won't buy non-organic. Even when it's organic, half the time it is grain fed instead of grass-fed. Beef must be grass-fed and organic if you are trying to overcome any health challenges. Gain-fed beef is just too inflammatory.

You might look at my list and say, "that's a super healthy diet!", but for me it is not. I shouldn't be doing any grains, even organic whole grains like brown rice and quinoa. My body has inflammatory responses to them. It just slows down the healing process. I also consume way you much sugar, even if it is organic sources or naturally occurring. Part of my problem on many fronts is finding the time to prepare healthy foods, so it is easier to do gluten-free waffles with strawberry jam, sweetened yogurt, and sweetened almond milk for breakfast than it is to make an omelet. I just found an awesome solution for the almond milk. Unsweetened almond milk with a few drops of English Toffee Liquid Stevia lets me still enjoy the taste without causing any insulin problems.

Insulin? But you never said you were diabetic! I'm not, never have been. But insulin's role in chronic diseases is a topic for another day. Here's some homework...google some articles on insulin's role in inflammation and the stress response. By the time I get around to my insulin blog, you will probably be an expert on it.

Diet is only one of the things I have gotten away from doing. I've also halted my detox program (still loads of mercury and probably a good bit of mold toxins to flush out), and rarely keep up with my supplements. All of these were key nutritional components in my healing process. I always start with nutrition, though. Aside from getting your spine adjusted regularly so you have an uninhibited nervous system functioning at its optimal potential, diet is by far your biggest "bang for your buck" in terms of health. Since my diet is currently decent, my focus is going to be on implementing my supplementation program with includes anti-inflammatories and detox. The anti-inflammatories include combinations of turmeric, boswelia, quercetin, circumin, enzymes, vitamin c, nettle and fish oil. Sounds like a lot, but I get all of that in 3 supplements. They are all natural and do not have the side effects of your standard NSAID line of drugs. On a tangent - it boggles my mind why doctors tell people to take a daily aspirin (even if it is baby aspirin) to "prevent" heart attacks. Aspirin has serious side effects from long-term use, and fish oil is just as effective with none of the side effects. Off tangent - in addition to the above supplements, I take phosphatidylcholine for cell wall repair/healing. I also take an adrenal support blend because my adrenals are massively exhausted from years of chronic stress.

Then there is my detox blend. The detox is a cellular detox program I learned from Dr. Dan Pompa, one of the top chiropractors when it comes to detoxification of the human body. His proprietary blend of CytoClear and CytoCatch essentially stimulate the body's detox pathways and facilitate safe elimination of the toxins while preventing them from being reabsorbed in the gut. I'll do 30 days of the intensive detox where my goal is to filter out mold toxins, pesticides (plenty of farm land where I live, so the toxins are in the air no matter how clean I eat), and clear out metabolic waste products that create a toxic sludge inside your cells if they are unable to eliminate them properly (common in those with chronic diseases). I take 4 CytoClear in the morning and afternoon, followed by 8 CytoCatch before bed. With any detox program I expect to feel fatigued, irritable, get headaches, and possibly be more achey than normal. Those are good signs. It means the detox is working and necessary. The feeling great part with renewed energy levels comes after the detox is over. Then your body can go back to normal levels of toxin filtration and spend more energy elsewhere. Detox is an insanely metabolically expensive process. I will try to fit in a few sauna sessions while I detox because it stimulates lymphatic drainage and helps flush toxins out through alternative pathways - sweat.

So that leaves exercise, sauna, heavy metal detox and improving my diet as action items to implement. I've chosen not to implement them now because going all-in on a healthy lifestyle can be very difficult to sustain. It's best to make a change in smaller sustainable steps than to get overwhelmed and quit when you cannot keep up. Every small change we make moves us closer to health. For some, exercise may be the best start, others may have to start with something as simple as drinking enough water. Consult your chiropractor tomorrow on a sustainable program that will most benefit you on your journey to healing. What? You don't have a chiropractor? There's your first step...go get one! Make sure they will take the time to teach you how to get well - from exercise to nutrition and including detox if needed. If you are in the Bloomington/Normal area, feel free to contact me. I would be honored to take this healing journey with you.

Next entry I will provide a quick update on how the detox is progressing as well as share some inspiration I received in a most unexpected place - at a Drum Clinic!

***Disclaimer - Always conduct a detox program under the supervision of a licensed physician***