Pain Relief Chiropractic

Our basic premise is that your body is amazing. You get a do over. It doesn’t take that long, and it isn’t that hard if you know what to do. In these notes, we give you a short course in what to do so it becomes easy for you, and for you to teach others. We want you to know how much control you have over both the quality and length of your life.

Since this series started, we’ve given you several easy-to-adopt tips to Staying Young. This month, we want to talk to you about recovering from cancer and the importance of keeping your telomeres from fraying.

With cancer or any structural damage — like a heart attack or even arthritis — your body sends in stem cells to repair the damage and regenerate your tissues. Even seven years ago, we didn’t know that stem cell replenishment was true for most organs, but now we know that every one of your organs seems to recruit backup stem cells from your bone marrow to resuscitate itself, when needed. These emergency relief worker cells lay the groundwork for re-creating your organs. But, if the telomeres of your stem cells get a little too short, then you may have a problem making more stem cells…

Which begs the question, how do you maintain the telomeres of your stem cells so you can make more stem cells? A little background… Your chromosomes, the little rascals, have small substances on the ends called telomeres. Think of them as being like those little plastic tips of shoelaces (which are called aglets, in case you want to show off in your next Scrabble competition). Every time a cell reproduces, that telomere gets a little shorter, just as the shoelace tip wears off with time. Once the protective covering on the tip is gone, your DNA and shoelace begin to fray and are much harder to use. That’s what causes your stem cells to stop dividing to repair your injuries. But your body also has a protein—called telomerase—that automatically replenishes and rebuilds the ends of the chromosomes to keep your stem cells able to reproduce.

The amount of telomerase you have depends on your genetics, but we’re now starting to see that you can influence the size of those little tips, the telomeres. For example, researchers have found that mothers with chronically ill children have shortened telomeres, indicating that chronic stress can have a huge influence on how cells divide—or fail to. The telomeres of people who feel more stressed are almost 50 percent shorter than people who say they’re less stressed. Since scientists have a rough idea what the average telomere length is for a specific age, they can estimate how much older the higher-stress group is biologically: a whopping nine to seventeen years! In fact, in our studies of RealAge, stress is the greatest ager, increasing your risk of heart disease, memory loss, cancer, infections, accidents, and broken hips. Bottom line: stress is a substantial cause of stem cell telomere shortening.

In a study reported this month from University of California Medical School at San Francisco, among middle-aged and older women, those who did a little regular exercise, ate healthfully (avoided the five food felons of added sugar, syrups, any non-100% whole grain, trans fats, and saturated fats), and slept well, increased their telomerase production substantially, and had longer telomeres. In a study reported last year, daily meditation to prevent or ameliorate stressful responses was associated with lengthening of telomeres. By our calculations, daily walking, healthy eating, sleep, and meditation can make your telomeres’ (and your) RealAge more than 12, and maybe as many as 27, years younger.

Those lifestyle effects trump the effect of almost any drug ever reported. It’s not that statins or insulin or blood pressure meds aren’t healthful—they are. It’s just that the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle (diet, exercise, stress management, your environment, sleep) are so powerful that you may not need the other drugs. You get a Do-Over—no matter how old you are. Until you are six feet under, you get to change the quality of your life. But you have to take the opportunity. That’s the real point: the daily lifestyle choices you can adopt easily are the most important for keeping your stem cell repair mechanisms functioning as well as possible.

And that might just get you to get to that magic year of 2024 (we’ll talk next month about why that year may be so magic).

Thanks for reading. And feel free to send more questions, you can always send us questions at youdocs@gmail.com, and some of them we may know enough to answer (we’ll try to get answers for you if we do not know).

Young Dr. Mike Roizen (aka, The Enforcer)

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.

You can follow Dr Roizen (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week) on twitter @YoungDrMike.

Feel free to continue to send questions to youdocs@gmail.com. You can follow Dr Roizen on twitter @YoungDrMike (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week). The YOU docs have a new web site: YOUBeauty.com and its companion BeautySage.com the only site we know of where you can find skin products proven to meet the claims (opened for business on June 1st, 2012), and a new book: YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens.

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. His radio show streams live on http://www.healthradio.net Saturdays from 5-7 p.m . E-mail him questions at YouDocs@gmail.com. He is the co-author of 4 #1 NY Times Best Sellers including : YOU Staying Young and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. He is Chief Medical Consultant to the two year running Emmy award winning Dr Oz show– The Dr Oz show is #2 nationally in daytime TV. See what all the fun is about, and what he, The Enforcer, is up to. Check local listings or log onto DoctorOz.com for channel and time. And for more health info, log onto youbeauty.com anytime.

Our basic premise is that your body is amazing. You get a do over. It doesn’t take that long, and it isn’t that hard if you know what to do. In these notes, we give you a short course in what to do so it becomes easy for you, and for you to teach others. We want you to know how much control you have over both the quality and length of your life.

It is easy to postulate that if you are optimistic, then you’ll do more things to improve your health. For example, optimism can help you stay on track with exercise and lower your odds for dying within five years after a cardiac event by a whopping 40%! But there are many additional benefits that come from practicing optimism. They include:

Improved decision-making. Optimism enhances your ability to make good decisions under stress, a skill that can help you say “no thanks” to a coffee-break doughnut during a tough day at work, and “yes” to exercise (rather than chips, the couch and the TV remote) when you’re tense. And that means you’ll be better at solving whatever challenges life throws your way.

Stronger immunity. A bright outlook boosts an important defense against disease called “cell-mediated immunity.” How important is it? Very! It controls your body’s ability to fight invading bacteria and virus and helps battle some cancer cells.

A healthier ticker. Even if you’re at high risk for heart disease because of a genetic predisposition, family history, high LDL (bad) cholesterol, or elevated blood pressure and blood sugar, living with a sense of hope and well-being can lower your odds for heart disease by 30-50%.

Stroke protection. A hopeful outlook can cut your risk for a life-threatening, mind-damaging ‘brain attack’ by 10% or more. Why? Because positive people are more likely to eat a healthy diet, sleep better, and feel less stressed. But it may be something more than that. Optimism all by itself bolsters health in ways that remain mysterious.

PLEASE TURN OVER…

A younger RealAge. A healthy old age isn’t just a result of good genes. New data shows that North America’s longest-living citizens share a zest for life. They’re easy-going, upbeat, and social. So if you’re ready to gain those benefits of optimism, here are a few easy-going steps that can help you over to the sunny side.

Keep it real. Having unrealistically positive expectations or glossing over problems instead of solving them can backfire, triggering low moods.

See positive challenges instead of threats. Resilient people attack problems in everyday life, like a plumber who knows she’s got a well-stocked toolbox and plenty of experience dealing with similar problems when she’s called on to fix a leaky pipe. The job may be wet and dirty, but she has the confidence to meet the challenge and leave things dry and clean. Try to consciously make this positive mind shift when you feel defensive, threatened, or worried about failure. Just reminding yourself to think more positively is often all it takes, or so the science says.

Think loving thoughts. A short “loving kindness” meditation (focusing on feelings of love and compassion for yourself and others) increases optimism and makes you feel more connected to others. Spending time with friends is another important mood-booster.

Feeling good? Go deeper. People who pay attention to and enhance into their positive emotions are more able to overcome tough times. Perhaps turning up the volume on good feelings builds a reservoir of joy to see you through. Try noticing when you feel playful, serene, or spiritually uplifted and then ask yourself how you can heighten that feeling. It’s fun!

Thanks for reading. And feel free to send more questions, you can always send us questions at youdocs@gmail.com, and some of them we may know enough to answer (we’ll try to get answers for you if we do not know).

Young Dr. Mike Roizen (aka, The Enforcer)

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.

You can follow Dr Roizen (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week) on twitter @YoungDrMike.

Feel free to continue to send questions to youdocs@gmail.com. You can follow Dr Roizen on twitter @YoungDrMike (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week). The YOU docs have a new web site: YOUBeauty.com and its companion BeautySage.com the only site we know of where you can find skin products proven to meet the claims (opened for business on June 1st, 2012), and a new book: YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens.

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. His radio show streams live on http://www.healthradio.net Saturdays from 5-7 p.m . E-mail him questions at YouDocs@gmail.com. He is the co-author of 4 #1 NY Times Best Sellers including : YOU Staying Young and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. He is Chief Medical Consultant to the two year running Emmy award winning Dr Oz show– The Dr Oz show is #2 nationally in daytime TV. See what all the fun is about, and what he, The Enforcer, is up to. Check local listings or log onto DoctorOz.com for channel and time. And for more health info, log onto youbeauty.com anytime.

This month we are answering a question from Dr. Joe in Ann Arbor. He wrote, “My patients ask me if it is worth it to buy organic fruit. What should I tell them?”

Well Joe, let’s start with the story about how strawberries were created. It seems the Greek goddess Aphrodite was broken-hearted when she heard Adonis had perished. Myth has it her tears fell to earth as red hearts—and strawberries were created! Ironic, no? This oh-so-good-for-you fruit delivers a phytonutrient called anthocyanins that can help slash your risk of a broken heart because eating berries three times a week helps prevent heart attack! But wait, shouldn’t you buy organic, and isn’t that expensive? How do I eat these inexpensively?

So, tell your patients to reserve their money for organic produce that lets them dodge the fruits and veggies that come with the highest pesticide levels. (That’s apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, imported nectarines, grapes, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, domestic blueberries, lettuce, and kale according to the Environmental Working Group.) For females, the most important time to buy organic produce is when you are about to be or are pregnant.

Local, in-season produce is riper, tastier, and costs less than buying fruit out of season that’s shipped in. But often, buying frozen organically grown fruits is great choice, both financially (because they cost less) and nutrition-wise (frozen gives you just as many nutrients as fresh, more in some cases). Truth be told, organic blueberries dot my plate almost every Sunday.

Regardless if you buy fresh organic fruits and veggies or the frozen organic kind, you need to read the next two paragraphs.

You see, we want you to get the berry-benefits without risking a tummy ache, diarrhea, or worse. Berries, along with leafy greens, potatoes, tomatoes, and sprouts, are the produce most likely to trigger food-borne illness. That’s because they can harbor salmonella, norovirus, E. coli and other trouble-makers that climb on board when produce is exposed to contaminated water or mishandled during processing or shipping. Fruits and veggies can also pick up these bugs in your kitchen if you don’t store or cook them correctly or if they come in contact with raw meat or seafood. So…

Wash your hands for 20 seconds before and after handling produce, every time.

Cut away discolored or soft spots and outside or wilted leaves.

Wash all produce in running water, no soap or disinfectant, even if you’re going to peel or cook it. Dry to further remove contaminants. Scrub firm produce like melons, potatoes, or cucumbers with a vegetable brush. Dry well.

Store all produce in the fridge at 40 degrees Fahrenheit (~4 degrees Celsius).

Thanks for reading. And feel free to send more questions, you can always send us questions at youdocs@gmail.com, and some of them we may know enough to answer (we’ll try to get answers for you if we do not know).

Young Dr. Mike Roizen (aka, The Enforcer)

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.

You can follow Dr Roizen (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week) on twitter @YoungDrMike.

Feel free to continue to send questions to youdocs@gmail.com. You can follow Dr Roizen on twitter @YoungDrMike (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week). The YOU docs have a new web site: YOUBeauty.com and its companion BeautySage.com the only site we know of where you can find skin products proven to meet the claims (opened for business on June 1st, 2012), and a new book: YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens.

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. His radio show streams live on http://www.healthradio.net Saturdays from 5-7 p.m . E-mail him questions at YouDocs@gmail.com. He is the co-author of 4 #1 NY Times Best Sellers including : YOU Staying Young and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. He is Chief Medical Consultant to the two year running Emmy award winning Dr Oz show– The Dr Oz show is #2 nationally in daytime TV. See what all the fun is about, and what he, The Enforcer, is up to. Check local listings or log onto DoctorOz.com for channel and time. And for more health info, log onto youbeauty.com anytime.

This month, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked all processed food manufacturers to add an “Added Sugars” category to food labels. Food manufacturers are fighting the FDA on this request. We hope (for the sake of your longevity and health) that the FDA wins because added sugars and syrups (as well as simple carbs) are three of the Five Food Felons™.

Two other members of the Five Food Felons™ are saturated and trans fats. The FDA has proposed banning trans fats (we hope the FDA wins here as well). But the big news for your health is a study published this past month showing that the type of fat you eat—saturated versus unsaturated—makes a bigger difference than we thought. Saturated fat include palm and coconut oil (despite what Dr. Oz used to say), as well as two-legged animal skin (birds) and fat from four-legged animals.

In this brilliant study conducted at Uppsala University, subjects were given 750 extra calories a day for seven weeks in muffins that were made largely with saturated fat (one group) or unsaturated fat (the other group).

While both groups ate more fat and gained weight, those who consumed saturated fat gained fat in their bellies that we know turns on genes that cause inflammation (which causes things like arthritis). The participants who ate the muffins with unsaturated fat showed an increase of fat in their muscles and they also gained muscle mass and there were no apparent signs of inflammation. The health admonition is not to “avoid fat”, but avoid these specific fats (saturated fats).

Are avoiding heart disease, wrinkles, and arthritis not enough to make you change the way you cook and how you order when you eat out? In two other recent studies, avoiding higher blood sugar levels and avoiding saturated fat was associated with much less cognitive decline in animal models and in humans (read, avoiding memory loss and dementia).

If you want to live long and healthfully, with less disability, you just can’t exercise the calories away and stay healthy. You need to choose the right foods. Avoid added sugars and syrups, and any grain that isn’t 100% whole grain, plus all trans-fat, and as much saturated fat (including coconut and palm oil) as you can.

These five food felons cause damage to your proteins or turn on genes that cause you to suffer.

Now, almost no one can totally avoid saturated fat and added sugars, but if you stay at less than 4 grams of either in any hour and less than 20 grams of either in a day, you will place yourself in among the healthiest eaters, and that will help keep you well and vigorous for longer…and YES YOU GET A DO-OVER. So, change now. In five years, it will be as though you never consumed saturated fat or added sugars. And let’s hope the FDA wins its labeling battles so it becomes easy for you to live long and with fewer disabilities along the way.

Thanks for reading. And feel free to send more questions–you can always send us questions at youdocs@gmail.com, and some of them we may know enough to answer (we’ll try to get answers for you if we do not know).

Young Dr. Mike Roizen (aka, The Enforcer)

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.

You can follow Dr Roizen (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week) on twitter @YoungDrMike.

Feel free to continue to send questions to youdocs@gmail.com. You can follow Dr Roizen on twitter @YoungDrMike (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week). The YOU docs have a new web site: YOUBeauty.com and its companion BeautySage.com the only site we know of where you can find skin products proven to meet the claims (opened for business on June 1st, 2012), and a new book: YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens.

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. His radio show streams live on http://www.healthradio.net Saturdays from 5-7 p.m . E-mail him questions at YouDocs@gmail.com. He is the co-author of 4 #1 NY Times Best Sellers including : YOU Staying Young and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. He is Chief Medical Consultant to the two year running Emmy award winning Dr Oz show– The Dr Oz show is #2 nationally in daytime TV. See what all the fun is about, and what he, The Enforcer, is up to. Check local listings or log onto DoctorOz.com for channel and time. And for more health info, log onto youbeauty.com anytime.

You have 20,000 to 26,000 genes that, left to their own devices, would determine how long and well you lived. But they are never left to their own devices. As we have related in a past column or two, most of your DNA consists of switches that control -turn on or off – your genes and your food choices, activities, even how often you meditate control which of your genes are turned on or off. That’s why we say you have lots of control over how long and well you live. Now, three headlines that make me think America has hit a tipping point for better health:

1. “Healthcare costs the same in 2012 as in 2011 (as a percent of GDP)”,
2. “CVS to discontinue selling tobacco products in October 2014”
3. “Americans’ Eating Habits Take a Healthier Turn (Study Finds)”

Why the tipping point? The third headline, from the USDA, was followed by a story on calorie consumption, saturated fat consumption, and vegetable consumption. Americans ate more calories every year between 1983 and 2005 (a whopping 900 calories more per day per person in the USA in 2005 versus 1983). No wonder we got overweight! But from 2005-6 to 2009-10, we ate 118 fewer calories per day! Saturated fat consumption declined 5.9%, and vegetable intake increased over that five-year period. WOW!

The second headline also implies Americans are making healthier choices. If CVS is saying “good bye” versus “good buy” to Tobacco sales ($2.5 billion dollars a year for them and related items purchased by smokers) and its profits, they must have found from focus groups that America is willing to invest in preventing chronic disease.

Since chronic disease from tobacco, physical inactivity, food choices, portion size, and unmanaged stress accounts for over 70% of our health costs, this tipping point for
tobacco is huge for us as a society (assuming we don’t replace this vice with something just as bad or worse).

And America is going to be more competitive (the first headline) because we’re spending less on health (17.3% of GDP is enough). Whether due to cost transparency, better outpatient management (a decline in over 5% in hospital admissions also occurred, WOW), or to less chronic disease, America will be more vibrant for jobs.

Maybe we’ve reached a tipping point. Maybe all this discussion about Healthcare reform and the dollars each of us will be spending on illness care has motivated us to make healthier choices.

Thanks for reading,

Young Dr. Mike Roizen (aka, The Enforcer)

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.

You can follow Dr Roizen (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week) on twitter @YoungDrMike.

Feel free to continue to send questions to youdocs@gmail.com. You can follow Dr Roizen on twitter @YoungDrMike (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week). The YOU docs have a new web site: YOUBeauty.com and its companion BeautySage.com the only site we know of where you can find skin products proven to meet the claims (opened for business on June 1st, 2012), and a new book: YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens.

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. His radio show streams live on http://www.healthradio.net Saturdays from 5-7 p.m . E-mail him questions at YouDocs@gmail.com. He is the co-author of 4 #1 NY Times Best Sellers including : YOU Staying Young and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. He is Chief Medical Consultant to the two year running Emmy award winning Dr Oz show– The Dr Oz show is #2 nationally in daytime TV. See what all the fun is about, and what he, The Enforcer, is up to. Check local listings or log onto DoctorOz.com for channel and time. And for more health info, log onto youbeauty.com anytime.

Our basic premise is that your body is amazing. You get a do over. It doesn’t take that long, and it isn’t that hard if you know what to do. In these notes, we give you a short course in what to do so it becomes easy for you, and for you to teach others. We want you to know how much control you have over both the quality and length of your life.

This month we want you to Go Nuts. Yes, GO NUTS every day. Another key study—it is HUGE—looked at 3 million years of men and women’s lives– and indicates that eating an ounce of nuts a night (walnuts are our favorite for health benefits, as they are the only nuts with those omega-3) can reduce your risk of dying from any cause by 20%–that’s as great as your benefit from walking an extra 6,000 steps a day or quitting a ¼ pack per day cigarette habit. That’s a HUGE effect from an ounce of nuts… and the people who did it were thinner too!

Yes, we already had nine studies including three randomized controlled trials (the “gold standard” of studies) indicating nuts reduced risk of major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and one on cancer of the breast and prostate with walnuts… so what’s so big here?

What’s so important is this data covered “all causes of death” —heart disease, stroke, cancer of all types, respiratory disease—and it involved many people followed for many years. Let’s get specific about this study, and then we’ll describe some of the others that support an ounce of GOING NUTS EVERY NIGHT as a way to stay younger.

This study examined nut consumption and subsequent total and cause-specific mortality among 76,464 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (1980–2010) and 42,498 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986–2010). Nut consumption was assessed at baseline and updated every two to four years. Now, here’s a HUGE part—they followed these people for nearly three decades, during which time 16,200 women and 11,229 men died. Nut consumption was inversely associated with total mortality among both women and men, after adjustment for all other known or suspected risk factors. The ratio for death among participants who ate nuts, as compared with those who did not, was 0.80 for seven or more times per week—in our terms that means your RealAge is 2.6 years younger from just eating an ounce of nuts every day. WOW. Who knew getting younger could be so easy—and I love nuts!

Now for some other data: Walnuts and Pistachios are the Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz of nuts – cause like us, they’ve got a hard shell covering a center of pure goodness (stop that laughing!)…

Walnuts: In a large Spanish study comparing a Mediterranean-style diet with 1.5 ounces of nuts and/or olive oil a day versus the usual Spanish diet, the walnuts-olive oil groups enjoyed a 30% reduced heart attack and stroke rate, not too shabby from just enjoying walnuts. And, eating two ounces of shelled walnuts a day made blood vessels more flexible (a sign of heart health) and improved cholesterol levels, reduced high blood pressure, and made glucose control, and insulin regulation better.

Please turn over…

But these walnuts aren’t the only nuts that have turned out to help you achieve a younger RealAge! A very interesting study about pistachios looked at the amount of healthy bacteria in stool samples of people who ate pistachios compared to those who ate no pistachios at all. It turns out that pistachios came out the winner for promoting the growth of beneficial microbes in the digestive tract; another choice, almonds, ranked number two (no pun intended).

So any nut, even peanuts (a legume), reduced all cause mortality in that large recent study. But we have our own favorite ways of eating them. It seems nuts have their own hierarchy (and we’re not talking about who gets voted off the island first). You want them to be raw, fresh, and unsalted. That’s because nuts lose up to 15 percent of their healthy oils when they’re roasted (roasting at high temperatures may even cause the formation of chemicals that promote aging). Here’s our pecking order for processing nuts, from best to worst:

• Fresh
• Freshly toasted or dry roasted (in your oven: roast at 350F for 9 minutes)
• Roasted in their own fat and salted (packaged)

We don’t eat any nuts roasted in partially hydrogenated fat or nuts that are sugared.

Tony Soprano’s sidekick Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri was always frantically worried about his health. He could have found it in eating an ounce of his nickname a day. That would have made him and will make you healthier, happier, and protect your heart, brain, lungs, sex life, kidneys, and that youthful glow on your skin! So enjoy GOING NUTS EVERY DAY!!

Thanks for reading. And feel free to send more questions–you can always send us questions at youdocs@gmail.com, and some of them we may know enough to answer (we’ll try to get answers for you if we do not know).

Young Dr Mike Roizen (aka, The Enforcer)

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.