• Drink half your body weight in ounces per day (no surprise here), drink filtered, room temperature water.
• Eat fruits alone and on an empty stomach so that it does not get a chance to mess with your blood sugar and you can digest it better.
• Vegetables are the only food that are safe to eat in nearly unlimited amounts.
• Try to eat six different vegetables each day–preferably of different colors.
• Simple carbohydrates like white flour and sugar are fast releasing cause your energy to spike, then drop dramatically.  Complex carbs like whole grains, yams, and squash are slow releasing, provide sustained energy.
• Limit meat to 1-3 servings per week (I am not sure how I feel about this one).  Cook meat at low temperatures to preserve the nutritional value.
• The best oil is virgin coconut oil. Flaxseed oil is good, but you can’t cook with it.
• Allow 2-3 hours between meals or snacks, and don’t eat for 2-3 hours before bed.
• Don’t drink beverages with food, instead drink 15-30 minutes before a meal, and 30-60 minutes after.  This may aid in digestion because saliva and enzymes can be diluted, which can impede proper digestion.
• “Chew your juices and drink your food” meaning slosh juices around so that they mix with saliva, and chew solids until they are completely indistinguishable.  This will make the nutrients more available to your body.
• Eat protiens and starches at separate meals to aid in digestion.
• Eat light in the morning, biggest at noon, and nothing after 7PM.
• Eating certain fresh vegetables twice a day, instead of twice a week, can cut the risk of lung cancer by 75%, even in smokers.
• Some studies now show that eggs do not in fact raise LDL (aka ‘bad’) cholesterol.
• Soak nuts overnight (beans too) for easier digestion.
• Eating the same foods over and over can tax the system and deplete enzyme stores, which is how food intolerances can develop
• The most common food intolerances are wheat, dairy, soy, and (darn it) sugar.
• The gluten in wheat makes it sticky, which makes it hard for the body to digest.
• Dairy products are not that great a source of calcium.  It is just clever advertising by the “dark side”.
• Soy contains a protein enzyme inhibitor which prevents many nutrients from being properly digested.  (The last nutrition book I read talked about how soy is nature’s perfect food, with nearly all of the essential nutrients, in the right proportions.  If you look long enough I believe you can find an expert on any view you like.)
• Fermented soy (miso, tempeh, soy sauce) is less likely to cause an allergic response than soy isolates, soybean oil, and pretty much every form of soy that we like to eat.

One of my younger patients

At the ripe old age of two months McKenna (name changed to protect her from the paparazzi) was a colicky baby.  She cried from 6PM to 10PM every night.  And this was not just ordinary crying, it was screaming bloody murder.  Needless to say, this caused a lot of stress for her parents and three older siblings.  In fact, her mother was at a party and a guest came up to her amidst all the screams and asked a simple question:  “Have you considered chiropractic?”  This one question changed her life.

Per the pediatrician’s instruction, McKenna’s parents had given her mylicon drops and gripe water.  They tried to sit her up when she ate, they walked and comforted her, but nothing seemed to help.  McKenna’s parents had followed all the advice typically given for babies in her situation.  It was time for something different.  Why not?  Who says chiropractic is just for back and neck pain?  Maybe it was time to think outside the box.  Maybe health can be accomplished by working with the body, rather than fighting it’s natural processes with things like medication.

McKenna came in to see me (actually she was carried in), and after a few minutes of testing, it was clear that some joints in her neck and lower back were not moving properly.  In other words, her problems stemmed from the fact that her brain was not getting the messages it needed from her body.  The vertebra of her spine were misaligned and pinching the nerves.  With gentle adjustments and a few other simple procedures the subluxations were fixed.

McKenna’s mom was looking for a miracle.  Within a few visits she became the “perfect baby”.  She no longer cries and she is much more pleasant to be around.  Friends and family now comment on the cute little girl, rather than hiding in the next room to avoid the shrieks.

What else might respond to chiropractic care?

• Nursing problems
• constipation
• abnormal crawl or gait
• ear infections (more on this one in another post later)
• bed wetting
• ADHD
• growing pains
• headache
• chronic coughs
• neck pain
• scoliosis

If you have a question about something not listed above, just call me or click here.  The office number is 360-834-3434.

The bottom line is this:  How long should your child have to wait to get healthy?  No one wants their child to suffer.  By the way, kids usually respond much faster than adults because they have not picked up all the bad habits we have.  The adjustments are gentle and 95% painless.

One more important question:

Is it safe?

In 2008 the prestigious medical journal, Pediatrics, published an article that found only nine adverse events (a.k.a. injuries) related to spinal adjustments to children worldwide over the past 100 years.  No vaccine can match that safety record.

I’ll even check your child for FREE.

Here’s the deal:  I like to reward those who read my posts.  I put a lot of thought into these, and I appreciate those who take a few minutes to learn how to help their families get healthier.  Just call the office (360-834-3434) or drop me a message to schedule, tell us the code word: “BABINSKI” (which proves that you read this post), and I will waive the exam fee, which can range from $50-$85.  If I can help, we’ll put together a plan.  If I can’t, I’ll tell you AND help you find another solution.  There is also a kid’s discount for regular visits.  What do you have to lose?

I went to school to become a doctor. I became a doctor because I want to help people enjoy walking, sleeping, and working. I have dedicated my life to finding answers to how to get the most out of these activities. As a patient (by the way, ‘patient’ literally means ‘one who suffers’, so maybe we ought to call you something else) in my office you need to know that I am genuinely interested in your health. That means that I won’t use gimmicks or sell you things or services that you don’t need. I will use every means available to me to find solutions for your specific case. If I can’t help you, I will help you find someone who can. I have worked hard to get to know providers from many health disciplines with many levels of expertise. I will treat you the way that I would want someone to treat my own spouse or child. After your first day in my office I hope you can recognize the great lengths I have taken in order to deliver on this promise. That is what the genuine in genuinely health living means.

The world of health care is a mess. In this time and place it has evolved to focus far more on what I call ’sick care’. ‘Sick care’ is all about managing problems and dysfunctions. While these are much needed services, being healthy means so much more. You don’t have to wait for the fire to flare up before you seek help. You can implement a few simple measures and habits that can prevent the fire from occurring in the first place. Health not just about lack of sickness. It is about allowing your body to do what it innately knows how to do already. You are capable of sleeping well, managing your weight, living without pain, and so on. You body was designed with that potential. Health is about working with the solutions you have built in, not manipulating your body with an influx of medications and cutting away parts that are not doing their jobs.

Living is something that goes far beyond the health care box many of us use as our paradigm for the role of our doctor. Many people first seek out the services of a chiropractor for back or neck pain. I have a great many tools and skills at my disposal that can help many people with these kinds of problems. And I get great results. As your doctor, I will give teach you methods to improve your posture and strengthen your back–not just because it will keep you out of pain, but because it is essential to ensuring that your nervous system can get your body truly well, and not just un-sick.

The foundation of your body is your feet. We interact with the earth first thing every day through our feet. I will help you make sure that you can walk and move and live in a way that allows your feet to work the way nature intended. Obesity is a major crisis in this country and cause for concern for 2/3 of my ‘patients’. Did you know that eating six small meals a day can make dramatic changes to your appetite and keep your blood sugars more constant? I can help you implement a nutrition program that will allow you to shed excess fat, and then provide your body with all the fuel and building blocks it needs to maintain (and even enjoy) a new lifestyle. I have searched long and hard for the right pillow–we all need to sleep. I think I have found the one that provides the right amount of comfort while simultaneously giving the right amount of support (for the right price). Lots of people peddle nutritional supplements. I can put together a plan for you basedon a functional blood chemistry analysis. This gives a clear, measurable way to improve your body’s function, from the inside. The list goes on and on.

My job as you doctor is to outline the best course of care for your problem. I define the best course of care as one that gets you out of pain/symptoms as quickly as possible, then keeps you that way for as long as possible. Your job as the ‘new patient’ is to work with me, like a team. I only ask that you work as hard as I do. As we work together and you begin to enjoy genuinely healthy living I hope you will share this with your family. These principles apply to your children and spouse as well as you. Bring them in, not just because they hurt or sick, but because you truly want them to be healthy. This road is better travelled with those you care about.

This web site is specifically designed to provide you with answers. (now for a disclaimer) However, please do not implement any of the suggestions or exercises without first consulting with your physician (which should be me). This site is not a place to just find out about me, it is an information center for you to begin to enjoy genuine healthy living.

Western society has groomed us to believe that healthcare is found in the next drug. We are told to get a piece cut out of us if part of our body isn’t working right. Health is not found in the medicine cabinet or under the surgeon’s knife. The person with the most perscriptions is certainly not the healthiest. But many of us still look for the next pill as soon as we get “sick”. We don’t get headaches from low ibuprofen in our blood stream. That is just ridiculous.

Your nervous system controls all that happens in your body, much like the conductor of an orchestra. If every musician (i.e. body part) follows the direction of the conductor, beautiful music (i.e. health) is the result. Chiropractic care is not just about back and neck pain (although it works wonderfully well with these conditions). It is the best way to remove interference to the nervous system, allowing the human body to fix itself.