Lift Weights!

Most people know about Jack LaLanne, world-famous fitness guru and nutritional expert. Did you know that he was a chiropractor? It is true. His passion for natural health led him to study human anatomy and to get his degree in the best holistic health philosophy that he knew of: chiropractic. He was a pioneer for many things in natural health, including weight lifting for the regular person. Jack LaLanne advocated for seniors practicing weight lifting. Considering that he lived to be 96 years old and was still in great shape, I would say one could do worse than follow his ideas.

Basic weight lifting is an excellent idea for everyone. Here are just a few reasons to start weight lifting. Gently stressing the bones with weight triggers a natural mechanism inside your body that strengthens them, actually laying down more calcium. Weight lifting builds healthy muscle mass that burns fat even when you are not exercising. Weight lifting in conjunction with chiropractic care helps posture and spinal alignment, which leads to better bodily function and less pain.

You do not have to spend much money on a weight lifting routine; in fact, you can spend zero money to get started. Find some cans of food at home and do some basic curls and butterfly exercises with them. Use your own body weight to do push-ups, pull-ups, and squats. If you decide you need someone to help you get used to lifting weights, go ahead and spend a little money on a gym membership or home DVD and hand weights. Investing in this preventative and maintenance health care will save you thousands down the road in catch-up health care. 

Whatever you do, get a routine going. Your body thrives on schedules. You will notice that you sleep better, have better metabolism and happier moods, and get sick less often if you keep a regular exercise schedule. Do you have pain between the shoulder blades? Bend at the waist, “chicken wing” your arms with your elbows out to the sides, and pinch your shoulder blades together while holding 3 to 5 pound weights. Do you have stress headaches? Stand straight and shrug your shoulders up and down while holding light weights. Come up with a routine that works opposing muscles like low back and abdominal muscles, or biceps and triceps in your arms. 

Lifting weights is a relatively cheap, simple lifestyle change that can make you healthier and happier. Make 2012 the year that you decide to take your health into your own hands by picking up some weights.

Cholesterol is Healthy!

There is much hoopla in the media today about the terrible effects of cholesterol in your body, and how even previously considered “normal” levels of cholesterol can cause arterial and heart disease. As a doctor who has studied the human nervous system in great detail, I think it is necessary to put out a logical perspective on the cholesterol discussion. Here is the big shocker: cholesterol is good. Cholesterol is fantastic, even. You need cholesterol for everything that you do. How can I make this sweeping claim? I have two compelling reasons. Reason number one: hormones, such as testosterone, androgens, and estrogen. These are important chemicals that your body makes…out of cholesterol. Reason number two: your brain. This organ is so important that if your body loses connection with it, you die. Your brain cannot function without cholesterol. Your nervous system is bathed in cholesterol, enabling it to relay messages from the brain to the body, and enabling thoughts and memories to form through synapse connection. In addition, cholesterol is the building block for many tissues throughout your body.

Even a cursory internet search on the helpful effects of cholesterol in the human body will yield solid, scientific facts in support of cholesterol. In July of 2005, Chris Masterjohn wrote an article, published at www.cholesterol-and-health.com, about the effects of cholesterol on the brain. What’s more, this article shows that drugs which destroy cholesterol in your body have the effect of disorientation, memory loss, and aches and pains in the body. I ask new patients who present in my office with back pain whether they are on cholesterol medication. Cholesterol-lowering drugs are often a contributing factor to joint and muscle pain.

Then why is it that cholesterol levels are so high when someone has a heart attack? Let me put it into perspective: do umbrellas cause rain? Think about cause and effect for one moment. If cholesterol is the building block for nervous system function, as well as skin and membrane creation, then of course it will be high after the body experiences a traumatic event. Your body knows how to fix itself innately, and it will send in the reinforcements when there is a problem. Your body does indeed concentrate plaques of cholesterol in damaged arteries, because it is trying to fix the artery. 

Cholesterol is made by your body, in the amount that your body needs. Excess cholesterol is removed by fiber, naturally, through feces. And blood cholesterol levels are lowered when you eat well and exercise in a healthy lifestyle—because you are healthy, and need less internal repair. Having too little cholesterol mimics the disease Multiple Sclerosis. M.S. is caused by de-myelination—the loss of the insulating layer which enables the nervous system to function. Myelin is made of at least one-fifth cholesterol. I am not asking you to take my word for it; go to www.cholesterol-and-health.com. Read the evidence for yourself.