As a parent, business owner, doctor, and lecturer I understand what it's like to be truly sleep deprived. When my kids were still feeding through the night, I remember that tiredness that is just in your bones. The red, burning eyes that feel like they need a fire hose to put out the fire, and the need for bottomless cups of coffee. The worst part of those few weeks was the brain fog!

Even when I would lie down, my mind would start racing and be wide awake but too tired to do any productive work. I know that I am not alone in the lack of sleep department, so it's not surprising that a recent research paper said 60 million Americans take prescription sleep aids. One of the more popular sleep aids on the market is Ambien, which increases the action of an inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.

This inhibition is what causes you to "fall asleep" because it turns off your brain. I don't know about you, but that sounds terrifying to me! My brain has been by far my biggest investment in life, an...

Question: I have debilitating migraine headaches and hate taking medication, is there anything that Chiropractic can do to help?

Yes, Chiropractic has been shown to help tremendously. In the past two weeks, I had two patients come in with active migraines that would have sent them home to lay in a dark room for the rest of the day, and they left the office without any a headache at all.

Let's talk just a bit about what a migraine is, it is a throbbing pain that is usually one-sided, usually over the eye or near the temples or forehead. It frequently alters the activities of daily living and can last several hours to several days. Migraines tend to have sensory and emotional changes before a migraine. These can include changes in mood, becoming irritable or depressed. Some may have “aura” an hour or two before a migraine, which can include flashing lights, blurry vision or blind spots. Some can even have distinct smells or tastes as an indication that they are about to have a migraine...

"No illness which can be treated by the diet should by treated by any other means."
-Moses Maimonides

Moses Maimonides was a 12th-century rabbi, physician, and philosopher. This quote is one of the more brilliant things I've read. Modern physicians could learn a lot from what Moses Maimonides was teaching when he said these words. A recurring theme amongst drug companies is "when diet and exercise fail to try this drug or that surgery." The simple fact is - diet and exercise don't fail when properly taught and properly followed. Eating a diet that we were designed to eat, and moderate exercise with intermittent high intensity is the key to health!

It's that wonderful time of year again!  Across the country parents are letting out a giant sigh of relief as they send their children back to school and structure once again fills their home.  It's also the time of year that I get asked how to best keep kid's healthy and focused the entire academic year.  There are three surefire ways to keep health and focus on your side.

Diet Drop breakfast cereals and oatmeal, even the whole grain cereals are as bad as the sugary, chocolate puffs.  All cereals, even fruit, put your star students on a blood sugar roller coaster.  This will impede the brains ability to learn and focus because of the spikes and crashes in their blood sugar.  It also leads to moodiness, obesity, and overall crabbiness.  As I know with my own children, most kids don't need help with crabbiness! So start and end their day with heavier protein and fat based meals.  This will help balance their blood sugar, give them sustained energy throughout the day, and let them sleep...

I get asked this question a lot, and the simple answer is, yes!  Babies and children respond amazingly well to Chiropractic care.  I even adjusted my daughter, Lilly, within the first hour of her birth. In my opinion, it is essential to adjust newborns at birth because, quite simply, birth is by far the most traumatic event you will go through your entire life.  It makes sense considering the baby, which is roughly the size of a watermelon, is squeezed through a hole about the size of a lemon during birth.  That has to be traumatic!  The beautiful part?  We are designed to do just that, but it does create problems with the cranium and spine.   In my perfect world, every baby would be adjusted shortly after birth. There are so many reasons to adjust a child.  First, it helps the immune system.  My son, T.J., was sick a few weeks ago and was running what I considered to be a highish fever, around 101 degrees.  We didn't freak out, though.  Instead, I gave him a few Homeopathic remedies a...

Well it’s hot as hell outside, and pretty much miserable.  Summer is in full swing! I can’t help but wonder how people ever managed to live without air conditioning.  With temperatures well over 100 this week, make sure you’re drinking a ton of water, even if you’re not outside a lot.  It’s this time of year that we have to really be careful about not overdoing it.  In addition to water try some zucchini, (it’s great for the adrenal glands, which help keep you hydrated), and make sure you’re resting as much as possible.  Also, don't forget to salt your veggies and meats with a good sea salt, this will go a long way in keeping you hydrated as well. Signs of dehydration:

• Dry sticky mouth, thirst
• Lack of energy or fussiness (usually in children)
• Hunger
• Dark yellow urine
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Rapid heart rate for no good reason
• Symptoms are worse first thing in the morning but get better throughout the day

How much water should you drink?  At least 1L per 50lbs of body weight and...

Medical Care for Your Back Pain is Possibly Doing More Harm Than Good

There was an interesting article published last Monday that claimed current medical interventions for back pain are wrong.  It went on to say that doctor's are over prescribing painkillers, MRI’s, CT scans, and providing needless surgeries.  I have to say, none of this is news to me at all.

The Emperor has no clothes!

This reminds me of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale , “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” where a  vain Emperor cares for nothing except wearing the finest clothes. He hires two swindlers who promise him the finest suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for their position.  The "tailors" making clothes for the Emperor convince him that if he cannot see the clothing being made he must be unfit or stupid. All of his ministers fearing to look as if they are incompetent pretend that they can see the clothes along with the Emperor.  Once the “suit” is finished the tailor’s mime dressing the...

The Proteins We Should Eat: A list of High Protein Foods

Most health problems we have today can be traced back to the foods we eat and choose not to eat. Honestly, most of those problems are linked to not balancing blood sugar.  When I tell patients they need to clean up their diet and stop eating bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, candy, rice, potatoes, soda, brownies and doughnuts, they respond with one of two choices:  They cry, or, say there's nothing left to eat. It really isn't the end of the world!  There is, in fact, plenty to eat. If it grew out of the ground or used to walk on the ground, fly in the sky or swim in the sea, you are pretty safe eating it. Most people are still overwhelmed by this, so here's a list of high protein foods you should be eating.

Mammals 

Most of our American diet comes from this group.  Personally, I'm a huge fan of beef, bacon, and lamb.  We still have to be somewhat careful with what we choose to eat off this list.  Concentrate on eathing these thin...

 This is a basic guide that will assist you in determining what foods to eat that will be most beneficial in supplementing the vitamins your body needs.  With so many choices it won’t be difficult to maintain a healthy diet and make it much easier to avoid the foods that are causing you problems. Foods that contain Vitamin A, include:

Foods that contain Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), include:

Foods that contain Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), include:

Foods that contain Vitamin B3 (Niacin), include:

I hear it almost every day in practice, "I was helping a friend move, and now my back is killing me!"  With more than 1/3 of all moves happening during the summer, I've heard it a lot!  If you're anticipating a move this summer or even if you just got suckered into helping a buddy move, you will be lifting, bending, packing, reaching, climbing.  You need to ensure you don’t hurt yourself by lifting correctly. 

Lifting correctly Can HELP but it's not all!

Most of us already have some abnormal body function taking place.  If we lift and something ‘snaps,' the damage was most likely already there, just brought to the surface by the effort.  Your back doesn't slip while trying to pick up a pencil; it's simply not a sudden injury that occurs.  There has been a tremendous amount of research done over the past few years about why these seemingly random injuries take place, particularly during innocuous tasks. Chiropractic and Applied Kinesiology uses muscles to determine different movement ...