It is often debated if this quote was actually said by Thomas Edison.  The people over at Snopes tracked it down to an interview that Thomas Edison gave about what his predictions were for the future in 1902.  

This quote seems to be tailor-made for the chiropractic profession because it really hits the heart of what chiropractic should be!   Chiropractors should address the human frame and look to what might be causing the dysfunction of the spine and, to properly do this, we need to look to the diet. The interesting thing to me is that Edison was talking about diet even before Upton Sinclair wrote: “The Jungle” exposing much of the abuses in the processing of the food consumed then and today. 

And, the sad part to me, is that the modern processed food movement that has taken hold of our gastronomy is much more destructive to our health than in Sinclair’s time.  

The impressive part was that Edison knew even then that mass production and processing of food were screwing us up! C...

Have you ever wondered where the term bombastic comes from? Paracelsus (Born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) was at the very least a very interesting man! 

He was so exuberant and arrogant that his name still has meaning today even if you have never heard of him.  And, he probably had some reason to be arrogant after all he has been credited as the father of toxicology, giving Zinc its name, and the terms “gas,” “chemistry” and “alcohol.” 

Paracelsus was a renowned physician, among other things, that felt the medical practices of his time were barbaric.  He felt that all diseases were the result of an imbalance between the body and nature.

Summing up his philosophy: “Because everything in the universe was interrelated, beneficial medical substances could be found in herbs, minerals and various chemical combinations thereof.

Paracelsus viewed the universe as one coherent organism pervaded by a uniting life-giving spirit, and this in its entirety, Man include...

I am sorry to tell you that, no, there is not any safe meal replacement shake, powder, or bar out there that I have ever found.   These "meal replacements" are highly processed and fractionated “foods” - if you can really call them that.  Also, in my experience, they're usually laced with heavy metals, food allergens, and artificial sweeteners.  

In 2010 Consumer Reports noted significant levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in these powders.   In some of the powders, it was tested to be above the “safe” limits established by the pharmacopeia. 

Granted these are naturally occurring, but literally, those things will kill you, make you sick, and/or crazy! Even if you can find an absolutely pure protein that is tested to be free of heavy metals, these powders are still highly processed, fractionated proteins and during the processing, an isolated formation of MSG is produced. 

This formation of MSG causes a cascade of inflammation that most people don’t need in their lives!  I...

My morning ritual usually starts with either a 5:15 am the alarm for Erin or myself to go to the gym, or a baby monitor going off sometime around 6:30 am.

On the mornings I don’t go to the gym I first make a run for the coffeemaker, get the kids out of bed and usually turn on the Today show or a music station. With the Today Show, we at least get an idea of how the weather is going to be for the day. I’ll be honest, commercial TV, and especially the Today Show, drive me nuts! The programming, commercials, and shows all have a decidedly medical slant. This week Today Show has been mainly medical with a concentration in pain management.

I had had to turn the TV off most mornings because I seriously considered throwing the remote through it when they were talking about treatments for low back pain, neck pain, and migraines. Today I was pleasantly surprised when they were profiling “alternative” treatments, like acupuncture, in a very positive light. They were even talking about needlele...

The simplest answer is yes, and it might even be essential. When I started my practice 11 years ago one of my first patients presented with severe pain in her neck. As a flight attendant, she would only be able to take one trip or so out a month because the pain was just unmanageable.

When the pain became so severe that she was genuinely unable to work, she had a spinal fusion surgery in her neck. The back surgery took her pain down to what she considered a manageable level of 2-4, but the pain never completely went away. I was invited to give a lecture at a nearby Curves, and that's where we met! She scheduled an appointment and, after a thorough exam, I determined that I could help her.

After just a few treatments, which included adjustments to her entire spine, neck, and the segments above and below her fusion, she was pain-free. Once pain-free she returned to her globetrotting job as a flight attendant working full time. It may be essential to get adjusted after spinal surgery be...

Type 1 vs Type 2: Different Diseases, Same Problem

Diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2, reflects one fundamental problem: your body can't regulate blood glucose properly. The mechanisms differ, but the outcome is the same. Chronically elevated blood sugar damages blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, eyes, and cardiovascular tissue.

Type 1 Diabetes (Insulin-Dependent) typically develops when an environmental trigger (viral infection, gut permeability, dietary protein mimicry) combines with genetic predisposition to crea...

I get asked all the time, "...how is it those little pills that you give, that taste sweet, can make a person feel so much better that quickly and take away so much pain?" Well, those little pills are homeopathic remedies!

They can unlock amazing results in the human body, restore balance to the human condition, and help your body heal gently, rapidly and permanently. Homeopathy was founded by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).

He is called the Father of Experimental Pharmacology because he was the first physician to prepare medicines in a specific way; proving them on healthy human beings, to determine how the medicines acted to cure diseases. In a healthy person when a large dose of a substance is administered, whether it be chemical, plant, mineral, or animal, produces a set of symptoms you may then dilute the material down and treat those same symptoms in a sick person.

In the 1700's cinchona bark was used to treat malaria. Dr. Hahnemann was healthy at the time and decided to eat...

The yearly push for everyone to get the flu vaccine is on! I've had so many people tell me about receiving emails from their medical doctors announcing the availability of the flu vaccine. All the signage at grocery stores and Walgreen's remind us that it's here - as though the flu shot will be the one thing that keeps you healthy this winter.

I can't tell you to or not to take any form of prescription medication, including the flu vaccine, I would suggest you consult with your physician that prescribes them (that's my friendly disclaimer).

Let's dive into why the flu vaccine has become the "mandatory" trip to your local drug distribution establishment every year. The flu in the past could be a severe illness, in fact, the 1918-1919 flu may have caused more deaths than the plague did during the entire middle ages.

While that pandemic flu was a very aggressive strain of the flu, we probably should look at what was going on in the world at that time. There was a World War going on, a ...

If you're like me, you’ve probably spent the past two weekends glued to your TV and computer watching football and tracking your fantasy football teams. (And, if you're like me, you've watched your fantasy teams get shellacked two weeks in a row!)

You've probably heard or read about the focus at all levels of football to diminish the occurrence of concussions. The question is: Why do concussions matter so much? The actual medical name for a concussion is Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. This brain injury term is a much scarier and much more accurate way of describing what a concussion is.

The brain is three pound of fat and protein, it's encased in the rigid bony skull, and the dura attaches it to the skull. The brain is also cushioned and surrounded in the skull by cerebral spinal fluid that acts a lot like a liquid airbag around your brain. The primary proposed etiology of a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury is that the jolt to the head is hard enough that the brain will strike, or come clos...

So, it feels like someone is sticking a knife in your shin when you get done with your run or if you have to move quickly to catch the toddler before he falls? You could have shin splints, or, worst case scenario, a stress fracture of one of the bones in your lower leg. I'll discuss stress fractures another day; today let's focus on shin splints. There are a couple of potential causes for shin splints, and neither of them has much to do with overuse. In my clinical experience when a person presents with shin splints it is usually an imbalance of the joints of the foot or the muscles of the lower leg; mainly the posterior tibialis muscle.

There are two types of shin splints - anterior and posterior.  The anterior type of shin splint usually involves the anterior tibialis muscle; this is the muscle that is on the front part of your tibia (shin).  It is typically painful in running or downhill walking and can be very sharp, knife-like pain in that muscle.

The posterior type, involves th...