Pregnancy and Chiropractic -

I have just recently read an article from Empowher.com - Pregnancy and Chiropractic - It caught my attention first because it mentions one of my teachers - Dr. Lederman, a prenatal chiropractor.  But it brings up a great topic that not many people know about.  Like the article states - most women go through pain and discomfort thinking that is just a part of normal pregnancy - unaware that it doesn't have to be that way.  In addition, several women, too many women, think of and have experienced a long, difficult and painful delivery.  This too does not have to be, but it has so commonly become the norm, leading many to believe it is simply the traditional passage of child birth.  Articles as this one and many others need to be shared to help educate and provide better options.  The article makes the statement that "There are no contraindications for using chiropractics during a pregnancy." - but I feel it should have made a stronger stance in prenatal health and state that every pregnant women should not be without a chiropractor.  It is a bold statement, but one I stand by - using some statements from this article and a few others,  I will explain why prenatal chiropractic care is so vital.

1. Nausea control - Nausea is one of the first symptoms of pregnancy and often experienced by a majority of women during pregnancy, ranging from mild morning sickness to months of bed ridden sickness.  Usually there is very little a medical doctor can do to provide relief.  However, sometimes an adjustment can help with the symptoms.  But even beyond the adjustment, prenatal specialized chiropractors are aware of natural ways to help.  Taking some notes myself - I have recorded a few helpful tips.  One is to make sure to eat first thing in the morning something light, usually a smoothie that is easy on the stomach.  Often things with ginger or papaya can help.  We've tried several things with our third child, my wife experiences terrible sickness, and the only thing that brought relief for her was natural papaya juice.  It wasn't her favorite, but it just shows how uncomfortable nausea can be for several women and how much they will do to find relief.

2. The ability of laying on stomach - This is such a simple thing, but for a pregnant woman it is so relieving.  Through special tables or pregnancy pillows, a woman in pregnancy can lay face down.  These tables are used for the adjustment which is more comfortable for the woman, but just laying face down for several minutes can be just as therapeutic for a pregnant woman.

3. Reduce back, joint and neck pain -  Whether you like it our not, your body is going to change during pregnancy.  Weight gain, abdominal protrusion, and postural imbalance can bring about uncomfortable pain.  With muscle tightness, ligament laxity, and the body's adaption to the extra weight, the lower back increases in it's curve creating jamming, irritation, and muscle soreness.  These imbalances often result in neck tightness and pain.  As much of a miracle the body can be during pregnancy - it often can allow for dysfunction in the body and joints. I know for my wife, on our third child (the third wasn't easy) she began to feel incredible hip pain.  Within months of finding out she was pregnant - her ligaments had already adapted and prepared for pregnancy become relaxed and loose.  Unfortunately this allowed for instability of the hip joints causing recurring pain.  The question is - What would the medical field could have done?  Nothing - there was nothing a medical doctor beyond pain killers could have done.  But with chiropractic care, with adjustments of the hip and back, she was able to experience pregnancy with mild pain every once in a while.  This is simply just an example of Dr. Lederman's statement on women being so uncomfortable in pregancy, stating it's “sad people think that’s how pregnancy has to be."

4. Reduces delivery time - The article states that women under chiropractic care experienced a 24% shorter delivery time on their first pregnancy than women who did not receive chiropractic care.  Also a 39% shorter delivery time for women under chiropractic care for their second and third pregnancies.  The key is to allow the process to occur natural is it was intended to be.  Too often, women are not in perfect balance, are not in perfect position creating a more difficult and painful process.  The epidural is given to help relieve the pain, but it relaxes the muscles in result - which is contradictory to what is needed to naturally push the baby, creating a more prolonged birth than what is necessary.  A 24% and 39% shorter time -  I'm sure every woman in pregnancy would enjoy that.

5. Prevents ceasarian deliveries -  As great as how much the medical field has advanced, to create the ability of a medical emergency delivery, this is a prime example of the unnecessary medical intervention.  It may be more my opinion, but with legalities and lawsuits these days - doctors don't take any chances.  As great as it is to provide a medical delivery in a complication - it is my opinion that 90% of ceaserians are unnecessary.  I've experienced one myself with my first child.  Uneducated in things, I was just happy to hold my beautiful, healthy child.  I don't really know if there was something that could have been done in that situation - but knowing what I know now - I wish I had that opportunity to find out. I have no complaints from that experience, but it is not a situation I would want to put my wife in again. There are thousands of delivery complications that occur.  However, in my opinion, most of these complications are induced.  The position a woman is put in to deliver a baby may be the most anatomically incorrect position.  It is easy for the doctor, but it narrows the pelvic region and creates a narrowed, unnecessary path for the baby to come through.  Often caesarians are done due to stress on the baby.  A narrow pelvic region, pressure on a baby, and creating induced labor when the baby is not ready all can create stress - And if there is any abnormal position of the baby - the doctor is unlikely to proceed.  Through chiropractic care - these complications are limited.  The pelvic is balanced, creating an optimum pathway for the child.  Allowing for the baby to proceed when ready reduces stress and complications.  Being in balance provides necessary muscle contractions to bring a safe and uncomplicated delivery.  And if a baby is mal positioned - chiropractic care can provide help, using a technique that provides optimal room in the uterus, allowing the baby to turn in the necessary position.  According to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics - using the webster technique in chiropractic care - they had an 82% success rate at turning breeched babies.  It's as simple as providing the necessary room to turn - 82% success - How is chiropractic care not utilized?

6. Allows for a more healthy, uncomplicated delivery - I think I have already covered the benefits of limited complications, but chiropractic provides great benefits to provide a healthy outcome.  I had heard one time a mother say she was worried about how she was eating, eating out all the time, and so she asked her doctor in which her doctor replied - you don't need to change anything, your diet doesn't really matter.  Seriously? I know that's just one bad moment, but I can only imagine the other ignorant statements that are made out of lack of knowledge - but yet these doctors are suppose to be our health care providers.  My wife was told before that taking Vit. C only does so much and there's no need to take it, and also told that most multi-vitamins out there aren't great and she might as well just take flintstones.  I'm not tearing down doctors - I am only showing that they just aren't taught the importance of true health.  Unfortunately, they just don't know.  But we need to be aware of that - Nutrition and exercise is so vital in pregnancy.  With conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure that can so easily occur and create issues, we need to do better to make sure people are aware.  Proper nutrition not only keeps the mother healthy and in good balance - but also provides the important nutrients for the growing baby.  It is just in recent years that we have understood the importance of proper vitamins that play a key role in the development of a human child.  It is important to find proper care, chiropractic or wherever, that will provide the necessary information to begin a healthy pregnancy from the start

7. Allows for a more healthy, well born baby -  Again, proper nutrition plays a key role in the development of a healthy child.  Folic acid is needed for nerve development.  Vit. B12 is necessary for nerve function and blood cell count.  Iron, Calcium, and several other minerals are essential along with Vit C, D, E and all the Vit. B's which are all recommended in a good prenatal multi-vitamin.  Keeping balanced will also provide a healthy birth.  Birth is traumatic - for the mother and for the baby.  Stress and complications can occur if risks are not limited.  Also understanding the nature of the mother-child natural bond plays a significant role.  One thing I wish I had known and wish we had requested was for the new born child, before anything, to be placed skin on skin with the mother.  That bond is necessary to be placed as soon as possible - creating a social-emotional healthy relationship of the mother with her new born child.  There is no replacement for such thing.

I have tried to provide helpful information for whoever is willing to listen and take the time to read - which I hope you will look further into the option of a natural prenatal care.  With all this information provided, I hope one can agree with me that any woman either pregnant or have any desire to one day be pregnant should not be without chiropractic care.  How vital it is - not only for the mother - but for the expected child.  I understand the tradition in this country - the medical system has set up convenient hospitals.  However, the only convenience is for the doctors.  They put you in an uncomfortable bed ridden position, poke and prod, monitor you only to make you think and worry if everything is okay, send in fifteen different people doing different things so you don't know what is going on - only to have the doctor realize he needs to be home for dinner and you aren't close to delivery so he orders for you to be induced to speed up the process creating distress to the baby finally resulting in a caesarian surgery neglecting your wishes of a natural, healthy birth.  I know there are several care providers who truly care for the patient.  I admire those nurses and doctors truly doing their job.  But the system has failed.  With all the technology and so called education - The United States lacks far behind. In 2011 - it is tied for 38th in Infant Mortality Rate recording 6 infant deaths per 1,000 births.  Also, the United States finds itself 50th in the world on Maternal Mortality Rate recording 24 maternal deaths per 1,000 births recorded in 2008.  These are just deaths, but we are seeing a growing population with child mental issues, neurological issues, and social-emotional health issues.  I reiterate Lederman's words - It doesn't have to be that way!   This is your birth, your child, your moment.  You should have every right and choice to have your wishes of a healthy and natural childbirth.  There are other options out there, either having a home birth or going to a birthing center.  Either way, whether you choose a hospital birth for comfort of mind or to do a home birth  - chiropractic care should be utilized - a part of every pregnancy

Coconut - The New Sweetener On The Market

It may look like brown sugar, it may have a caramel taste, and it may be used in similar ways as regular table sugar.  This new sweetener on the market has made big waves lately - and for good reason.  Coconut Palm Sugar is the new natural sweetener recently discovered to have the lowest glycemic index - even lower than agave or stevia which are both considered diabetic safe.  Dr. Oz just recently presented a segment introducing this new sugar - Doctor Oz - and there are several articles online, but all sharing the same information.  I have searched and the only negative feedback provided is from one website claiming that if we use all our coconuts for sweeteners then there won't be enough coconuts used for coconut oil - tropicaltraditions - which I'm sure is a very minimal concern.

I've made mention before the harms of sugar.  I've heard one physician call it the "root of all evil".  As much as I enjoy a good dessert, or a sweet snack every now and again . . . it is obvious how sugar has infiltrated our society and has caused havoc on our health.  The United States obesity levels continues to rise - even in the midst of a nation-wide concern and countless efforts to reverse it.  An article was just posted by the CDC stating that the daily intake of excess sugars has decreased but remains dangerously high - kids eating about 16% of their total calorie intake - Too much sugar -   It remains unstoppable.

Efforts have been made to create better options.  Unfortunately, a majority of these efforts have made issues worse.  Products such as sucrolose, aspartame, and high fructose corn syrup are not only just as dangerous as regular sugar, but can be even worse.  They are synthetic, refined, and cheap products.  Certainly they have provided a better option - not for consumers - but for companies who use them in their products for a fraction of the cost.  They promote health only to be a facade - a gimick - only in effort to profit off an uneducated health scared nation.

In promotion for natural sweeteners - some have rose above the rest.  Honey, agave, cane sugar, and stevia have created healthier options.  However, each one seems to have limits to their use and fall short either in taste or in practical use.  Honey and cane sugar are unrefined, natural products with some health benefits, but they are still a little high on the glycemic levels.  Agave and stevia have been classed as diabetic safe, but agave use is limited and stevia has lacked in taste.

But now there stands alone a sweetener above all - Coconut Palm Sugar.  Each site I've checked has listed the same health benefits, with no negative effects.  Here are their claims found at ibtimes.com

1. Coconut Palm Sugar is 100% organic, unrefined, and unbleached - Unlike regular sugar, Palm Sugar is natural and unrefined. Regular sugar comes from a natural source, but then is processed and refined becoming a nutrition-less, empty, foreign object to our body.  And in the process it become bleached giving that white color we know so well.  Palm Sugar is a brown color naturally - unprocessed and unbleached

2. It contains no preservatives - This may be the downfall when it comes to companies using natural sugars.  It contains no preservatives so it doesn't have a long storage life.  Refined products, or synthesized products like aspartame has a long storage life making it easier for companies to maintain and keep without worrying about it going bad - which also allows their products to have a longer shelf life - not good.

3. Palm Sugar has a very low glycemic index -  The glycemic index level measures how much your body is aware and reacts to certain levels of sugar in the body.  Having a low glycemic index - it is nearly undetectable in the body.  This is fantastic for diabetics who worry about their blood sugar levels. 

4. Palm Sugar has a slow energy release - I don't know how this happens, but it has been shown that Palm Sugar has a steady release that maintains throughout the day.  This is mainly due to the low glycemic index.  The body hardly detects the sugar levels and so it remains steady and low for longer periods.  With table sugar - the glycemic index is high in which the body reacts quickly to react to the glycemic levels.  Insulin is released to reduce the blood sugar levels and can last for hours afterward, turning high blood sugar into a quick low blood sugar level, thus creating those well known sugar crashes.  The result of table sugar are periods of highs and lows throughout the day, creating havoc on our physiology, cognition, and appetite.

5. Palm Sugar contains several beneficial vitamins - These days almost everything promotes being nutritionally beneficial, trying to get a sale.  You kind of have to take it with a grain of salt.  Cereals claim to be fortified with vitamins and minerals when in reality they have very little which have no real benefit. And just as I was typing this up, I just found an article stating that Splenda - an artificial sweetener using sucrolose - has come out with a new product called Splenda Essentials.  Just the name alone claims that Splenda is a necessary and vital product to sustain life which is quite false in of itself - but even more so - it now claims to be an essential form of vitamins, antioxidants and fiber - Yes, those vitamins and amino acids will come in handy when the sucrolose wipes out your digestive tract.  How essential is that -
I have tried to look into this for Palm Sugar but I have not yet found anything on how much nutritional value it truly contains and how beneficial it can be.  However, the claim is that it is richer in vitamins and minerals than any other commercial sweetener, containing zinc, iron, potassium, magnesium, B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6) and vitamin C.  However - one shouldn't look to sugars as a vitamin supplement - It's a little gimmicky - but that's what we got to deal with.

If the reports remain to be accurate - Coconut Palm Sugar may be the superhero we've all been waiting for to save as from the grasp of the evil sweeteners.  A product that is diabetic safe, has a sweet caramel taste, and comes in a crystallized form which can be used in similar fashion as regular sugar.  I believe sugar has finally met its match.  I don't like to promote things without trying it first, but this seems almost too good to be true.  I still plan on trying it - if I can find it - in which I will share.  But if the claims are accurate - there should be a complete shift in how we view and use sweeteners.  Not that we should consume it by the pound like we do with other sweeteners.  We still have a responsibility as consumers to know what we are putting into our body and make wise decisions. But maybe, once and for all, we have found a way to conquer this sugar crisis.

Medical Care Is Not Health Care

For all my awesome blog readers (Yes, all 5 of you) I am back - and hopefully with bigger and better things. It has been a while, but things are well. I am done with all my class work and have been so patiently waiting to enter into the clinics. After a month of loopholes known as CSA testing, I have now become INTERN Devereux. Not being in the class room, as awesome as it sounds, has left me with limited ideas of what to post. Due to several pleas, I have attempted to keep this blog going. I definitely need to keep my eyes and ears more open to things, but there are some great things out there to share. I will be more diligent in doing so. So . . . on with the show!

I don't think I will write much this time - simply due to the fact this is my first time using my iPad to write this and typing on here is not so easy. I have spent some time looking for ideas, and I literally stumbled upon an article the other day. It is from another blog at kevinmd.com  -  It is a social media site for health care providers to post their blogs. This article was from an MD with an interesting perspective. However, he is not this holistic doctor like Dr. Mercola or Dr. Oz. I spent some time looking through his other posts, and found myself in constant disagreement. Which makes this particular article even more interesting. His post is titled "America has a medical system not a health system"

This title, from an MD himself, is very interesting. This statement alone creates a barrier between medical care and health. He introduces this right from the beginning, stating that even though we have the latest technology, the latest research, the best trained doctors and the most money available in this system - the health in this country is below average. How so? He states that the profession does not focus on Health, but rather disease and trauma. If I broke my leg and needed serious attention, I sure hope there's a good doctor on hand to provide care - but if I get sick, feel depressed, or my blood pressure is high - the last place I want to go to is a medical doctor, because HEALTH is not their focus. I have made the case that it iscommonly known that heart disease, cancer and stroke are the most common factors of death and disease in this country. But very little, the medical profession included, know what the causes are for these issues, and more importantly what to do about it. He cited the CDC listing major factors in failing health, I will list the top 5 -
1. Tobacco
2. Poor nutrition
3. Lack of exercise
4. Alcohol
5. Infections

It is my opinion that 90% if diseases are derived from a nutrition deficiency. We are a nutritionally deprived nation. Even the FDA recommended nutritional allowance is just the bare minimum and a majority of this population can't even meet those standards. This also includes, in my opinion, tobacco and alcohol. These two uses have their own health issues alone, but they also play a big part in nutritional deficiency. And addressing the last on the list, infections, is directly related to nutrition as well. The most proven way of fighting off infections and preventing diseases is to boost the immune system. Three major ways to improve your immunity is to eat right! Exercise! And get adjusted to allow the nervous system to communicate to the immune system properly to create necessary function and protection!

Amazing, isn't it. The part that I enjoyed the most is his suggestion of working as a group of medical care providers. See, I could read this article and start blowing smoke, getting mad and saying he has no right to start declaring things that the chiropractic profession has known for over a century. I could ridicule and scoff - but how many patients will that help? I think it is vital that we do work together, to find a common ground, but more importantly use our individual, strengths to provide better care to our patients. What we need is a HEALTH care - not medical care