The holidays, it is the greatest time of the year. We look forward to them all year, and then we pay for them the rest of the year.  Now I don’t want to seem a scrooge, however; I would like to talk about the crazy binge of calories and the effects it has on our bodies, and some strategies to allow us to enjoy the season and not kill ourselves. Have you ever wondered why so many people start new exercise programs after new years? Well, I don’t believe it is all spurred on by new years resolutions, it is more likely do to the guilt for the weight gained from holiday food binging.

Has anyone ever told you something that was so shocking that your eyes almost popped out of your head. Well how about another shocker about the amount of calories we consume during one thanksgiving meal. The average American ingests about 4500 calories for their turkey deluxe dinner. That is enough calories to last most of us 2 to 3 days. The scary thing about this is after consuming  around 1000 calories in one setting, our bodies try to tell us that it has had enough by making us feel nauseous. Most people have learned to ignore this and continue to eat. So our bodies have a second line of defense. It will start changing all that food into fat, and store it in the fat cells. This starts almost immediately and can cause you to to gain 2-5 pounds in less than 48 hours. Do you know how long and how much it takes to lose that. That is the equivalent of running two marathons in one week. That’s insane.

The second problem with this is that it causes your body to go into a state of shock and increases your chance of heart attack or stroke with in the next 48 hrs by 80%. I’m not sure I want to die tomorrow, Do you? This state of shock will cause headaches, muscle spasms and joint pain that can last for months. So tell me, do you still think that all this great food is such a great thing? Why don’t we discus some ways to make it a great thing and enjoy the pie too.

The first thing that will help you, is to come up with a game plan before hand. You know the saying,”fail to plan and you plan to fail”. It is better to eat small portions throughout the day than it is to starve yourself in anticipation for that gargantuan meal. Plan on eating 200-300 calories for breakfast and one or two snacks before the meal. This will keep your body from going into starvation mode and storing it all to fat. Then during the meal take only two or three smaller portions instead of trying to get some of everything and heaping your plate to the point of breaking.  Take your time eating and in an hour or so go back for more. This way you can have more of what you want without killing yourself. Try chewing on gum and drinking water to help keep from eating as much. It’s a feast, it should be enjoyed not engulfed.

These simple forms of self discipline will help you feel better, avoid gaining weight and possible save your life. So, don’t stress about the holidays, Just plan ahead and enjoy knowing that you won’t have to run a marathon next week to burn off that unwanted fat from this holiday season.

Payson, Utah — Last weekend, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was the keynote speaker at a chiropractic health care fitness event in Columbus, Ohio. Did you know that the Governor has personally endorsed the chiropractic profession for at least 40 years and has been speaking at the International Chiropractors Association symposium since 1993?

Here are a few quotes from this year’s symposium: “What I love about chiropractors, is that you say, OK, we can fix you up when you have an injury and we can help you when you’re sick, we can help you with all kinds of different things. But what you are really saying is in your profession is, look, why don’t you come to us before you get sick, before you have a problem with your back, before you have a problem with your shoulders or elbows.” He continued, “Prevention, it’s all about prevention.”

The California Governor noted, “If you don’t have prevention as a big-big part of the health care reform, you have nothing, you have absolutely nothing!” He continued by pointing out that incentives for healthy living and preventative health care must be included in health care reform, “This is why I say that prevention is the answer.”

He once again linked the chiropractic profession to health and preventative care when he concluded remarks by saying, “We know it (prevention) works. And we know that you (chiropractors) are in the right profession. Because you are really in a profession that saves people money, and it brings the health care costs down. This is what I love about your profession. You are the most incredible profession, you always help people.”

Many in the chiropractic profession personally oppose legislation because there is little in the way of adding preventative services-especially the type of prevention that chiropractic patients KNOW and LOVE. How about you? Have you experienced the fantastic benefits of chiropractic health care? Thank you for reading this blog, and I certainly appreciate all of those that would take the time to comment and add their own thoughts.

Payson, Utah — In consultation with new patients, I will quite often hear the phrase, “Oh doc, I’ve learned to live with….” And my response is almost always the same, “I’m sorry to hear that!”

Such was the case several weeks ago in the office. A sprightly young 80 year old lady in consultation asked me, “Is this pain do to old age, I had an MRI and it showed nothing, I’m I going to have to learn to live with it?” The thought of gardening in the spring and continuing to be active seemed impossible.

Well, it turned out that she had one knee replaced a few years back, and her spine had suffered damage as a result and she had severe degenerative arthritis. This was a straight forward chiropractic problem, and within 1 month, her concern of continued disability has turned to bright hope of future health. YES. Her spine was majorly imbalanced, and the result was that she had severe headache and hip pain and could no longer stand for more than a few minutes. However, after a few weeks of corrective care, she is indeed walking/standing 80% better with no headaches ALREADY.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of well-meaning doctors still advise that a certain amount of pain is just a “normal” part of life, and that the best approach is to mask the symptoms with medications or attempt to surgically alter the symptoms. When those approaches fail, it’s back to the wastebasket diagnosis and advice of, “You’ve got arthritis. This is due to your age. Here’s your narcotic refill, and it’d be best if you would just learn to live with it.”

Well, folks there’s a better way. Many of you, as patients reading my blog, can attest to this fact. So, I welcome your comments and suggestions for your blog entries