We Moved!

Check Out Our New Site At:

Cohen Chiropractic Centre

Holiday Food Consumption Strategies

First and foremost, almost everyone always recommends eating in moderation and we do too. Here are some healthy eating alternatives for the holidays:

1. Keep vegetables as close to raw as possible and steamed vegetables are healthier and tastier!
2. Consider a salad.
3. Use spices and herbs on veggies instead of butter or a creamy sauce.
4. Trim as much fat as possible from meat before cooking.
5. Serve some fresh fish or seafood.
6. Use wholegrain breads for stuffing.
7. Cook stuffing separate to the meat so it doesn’t soak up fats during cooking.
8. Buy or bake some pita bread to use with dips instead of chips. Add vegetable strips for variety.
9. Salad dressings can liven up a salad without adding major amouints of fat or calories. Try lemon juice, vinegar and fresh herbs.
10. Water fills you up, has no calories or side effects, is cheap and will help you rid your body of toxins.
11. Only put out some of the available food so people don’t over stuff themselves. More can always come out as required.
12. With alcohol, moderation is the key.

Happy Holidays!!!


BOTTOM LINE: Healthy actions are not found in resolutions and healthy eating alone. Healthy actions result from a health oriented mentality and the development of healthy lifestyle habits and what better time to begin? Healthy actions include stopping bad health habits before starting new healthy ones. How about making commitments to drinking an adequate amount of water, wearing your seat belt, taking your nutritional supplements and being regular with your chiropractic care?

Polyphenols to a Longer, Healthier Life

What are polyphenols?

Polyphenols are naturally-occurring chemicals in plants and recent studies have concluded that polyphenols have antioxidant characteristics that may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and various types of cancer.
Professor Gary Williamson, Professor of Functional Foods at Leeds in Britain, lectures on the idea that foods maximize a person’s chances of living a longer life, as well as increasing the quality of life by reducing the possibilities of incurring certain diseases.
Dr. Williamson list a number of foods that are especially healthful. Some of his list include:
1. Apples
2. Berries…including blackberries, blue berries, strawberries, raspberries
3. Black and green teas
4. Oranges, peaches and plums
5. Broccoli
6. Cereal bran
7. Cherries
8. Spinach
9. Red Grapes
10. Red Onions
11. Cherry tomatoes

While, like anything else, all of these should be consumed in moderation. Williamson noted. “Epidemiology studies support the protective effects of polyphenol-rich foods. Lack of these components in the diet, because of low intake of fruit and vegetables, increases the risk of chronic disease.”

Bottom Line: The fiber and protein in nuts make you feel full longer and likely lead to eating less later. Some studies have suggested nuts may slightly increase your body’s ability to burn calories, and as much as 17% of the fat in nuts passes out of the body undigested. Again, as with the foods rich in polyphenols, moderation is always the word of the day. Is there a common denominator to these stories? Other than tea, all of the best foods for you are raw fruits, vegetables and nuts!!!

Aggressive Drug Marketing and Your Health

An article published in the December 2, 2008 edition of the British Medical Journal by David Kao, a fellow in cardio-vascular medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center entitled, “What can we learn from drug marketing efficiency?” found that: “quicker drug approvals and sophisticated marketing campaigns may be putting more patients at risk of dangerous side effects but the same techniques might be put to use to protect them.”

Kao said the 1992 Prescription Drug User Fee Act, which authorizes fees from companies to beef up the FDA and speed drug approvals, cut the time needed to review a new drug by half from 1986 to 2002. The revenue from the fees collected accounts for 43% of the FDA budget for drug oversight. There’s no way this process could be helping drug safety. Kao also stated, “the closer to deadline that a new drug is approved, the more likely it is to later need strong safety warnings or to be withdrawn.”

An example Kao cites is a relatively new drug by Merck for diabetes. "Once approved, the drug maker began a multifaceted marketing campaign…the product web site was functional within 90 minutes of approval, and within 8 days, Merck had reached 70% of target doctors and made first deliveries to pharmacies. Within 14 days, discussions were completed with managed care organizations covering 73% of the insured U.S. population."
Kao said he was not implying that the drug will endanger any patients.

Madison and Autism

This is a must-see!

What happens 1 hour after drinking soda?

Do you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can’t even state all the consequences. Here’s what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke:

Within the first 10 minutes:

10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

Within 20 minutes:

Your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes:

Caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.

Around 45 minutes:

Your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes:

You’ll start to have a sugar crash.

Sources:
Nutrition Research Center October 24, 2007

Chiropractic May Lower Your Blood Pressure