Sprouting to Improve Your Health

One of the easiest and healthiest ways to improve your diet involves something you can do in your own home – sprouting!

Sprouts are a 'living' food, with incredible nutritional value.

Sprouts, also called “living food,” are one of the most nutritionally complete foods you can eat. The Chinese became aware of their nutritional value many centuries ago, and for good reason – sprouts are rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and proteins that are essential to your diet:

• Broccoli sprouts contain a high percentage of cancer-fighting agents – in fact researchers have discovered that 3-day sprouts contain 20-30% more of cancer-fighting antioxidants than the broccoli you buy in the supermarket
• Sprouts are easily digested and aid in the digestive process
• Sprouts are fresh, easy to grow and harvest and are inexpensive
• Growing your own sprouts provides you with organically grown salad greens – no pesticides or toxic chemicals to worry about!
• Sprouts you can grow yourself can help keep your immune system functioning in tip-top condition

The best types of sprouts to grow include alfalfa, wheat grass, barley grass, buckwheat, garlic, chives, baby sunflower, Chinese cabbage, purple turnip, and curly kale.

There are on-line resources you can visit to help you get started. Do a search on “sprouting seeds.” You can also visit a health food store to obtain sprouting seeds and a wealth of information and advice on how to grow your own sprouts. Make sure the sprouting seeds are certified organic. Also, be sure to refrigerate your sprouts after picking them – although they are best eaten the day you pick them!

Exercise & Shoulder Pain

Exercise can help ease shoulder pain and increase range of motion (how far you can move your arm). To start, try the pendulum exercise.

If you have pain in your back, do not do this exercise.

• While holding onto a table or the back of a chair with your good arm, bend forward a little and let your injured arm hang straight down.
• This exercise does not use the arm muscles. Rather, use your legs and your hips to create movement that makes your arm swing freely.
• Using the momentum from your hips and legs, guide the slightly swinging arm back and forth like a pendulum (or elephant trunk), then in circles that start small (about the size of a dinner plate) and gradually grow larger each day as pain allows.
• Do this exercise for 5 minutes, 5 to 7 times each day even while your shoulder is still tender from an injury or surgery.
• As you have less pain, try bending over a little farther to do this exercise. This will increase the amount of movement at your shoulder.

Do You Know How To Sit?

Your posture when seated can have a significant impact on your overall health.

We have become a society of “sitters.” We sit in front of our computers, in front of our televisions, at our desks, in cars and planes, in chairs reading… we sit and sit some more, day in and day out. Believe it or not, the way you sit can have a great impact on your health and well-being.

What can sitters do to avoid some of the health issues linked with sitting?

• Adjust your chair and computer monitor, so that you are sitting as straight as you can. Ergonomic chairs are available to help maintain better posture
• Make sure your back, neck, head and eyes are all facing forward in a straight line
• Sitting in the same position for any length of time causes fatigue; shift your body weight from time to time and monitor your posture; make sure your chair is adjusted to the proper height.
• Use a footrest to relieve pressure on your legs and thighs.
• Get up periodically to walk, stretch your legs, and give yourself a break!

Many jobs require long periods of sitting. If you have one, and you experience frequent back pain, be sure to mention it the next time you’re in our practice. Getting up and moving around every so often, even for two minutes, or doing some “desk” exercises may help alleviate the strain on your neck and back. We can help!

Reminder: Start the Year Healthy

New Year, New You!

Want to ring in a healthier 2012?

Start the year healthy by scheduling an appointment for a complete physical exam.

This year you mean it – you’re going to commit to making lifestyle changes to improve your well-being. With good health at the top of your priority list, now is the time to schedule a physical exam so that you know what to work on in 2012.

Your full physical by a Board Certified Primary Care M.D. will include:
- Blood pressure screening
- EKG test
- ABI test (blood pressure in your legs)
- Hormone profile
- Cholesterol, glucose and other tests as determined by your exam
- Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement
- Body fat measurement with goals for ideal weight range

Physical exams can identify risk factors and help ward off the development of a possible chronic illness. Don’t forget: prevention occurs before you have signs or symptoms.

Did you know most insurance plans cover a yearly physical exam without a co-pay? Call us today and we’ll verify this for you.

Headaches: A Pain in the Neck

Headache Remedies & Natural Relief

Eliminating the cause of your headaches, not just masking the pain, is the goal to keep your headaches from coming back.

Consider the cost of traditional medical treatment, time lost from work, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, alternative therapies (i.e., biofeedback, hypnosis), pain management and countless other remedies people seek to rid themselves of headache pain. The financial impact is in the billions each year.

• Tension-type headaches, usually brought on by emotional factors such as depression, grief, job and family stress, and anxiety.
• Migraines, usually accompanied by sensitivity to light and nausea/vomiting. These may result from diet (caffeine, chocolate, processed foods), hormonal changes, changes in altitude (flying), tiredness or stress.
• Cluster headaches, usually occurring on one side of the head, are often triggered by alcohol, heavy smoking or histamines produced by the body.
• Hormonal headaches may occur along with other PMS symptoms or during and after a woman’s monthly period. This type of headache may also occur more frequently in birth control pill users and during pregnancy and menopause.

Many people run to the store to purchase any type of pain-reliever that promises a “quick fix” for the relief of the symptoms of the pain. But often, these types of drugs produce a “rebound effect” which actually contributes to still more headaches, with more pain medication needed, and so it goes…

Alternatives to drug-therapy include aerobic exercise, to relieve stress and tension, herbal therapy, acupuncture and you guessed it… chiropractic adjustments.

If you know someone who numbs their body with drugs, urge them to consult our practice so we can determine the underlying cause of their headaches. Headaches may be common, but they’re not normal. Today’s chiropractic care can be helpful at reducing and/or eliminating the frequency and duration of headaches, without the undesired side effects of medications.

10 Reasons to Avoid Eating Sugar

Sugar, in its many forms, is an increasingly common ingredient in processed foods.Look at the nutrition labels on your foods/drinks and try to calculate how much sugar you consume on a daily basis. Many of us eat the equivalent of 53 teaspoons of white sugar every day!

People often eat sweets instead of other foods that are more nutritious and, as a result, their overall nutrition suffers.

Here are ten reasons to avoid refined (white) sugar:

1. Sugar contributes to tooth decay because it decreases the effectiveness of a particular type of white blood cell that “eats”  harmful bacteria.

2. Sugar causes the body to release more adrenalin, which may explain hyperactivity in young children.

3. Calcium loss in urine occurs when a person consumes a soft drink containing sugar.

4. Ingesting sugar makes the pancreas work harder to produce insulin. Diabetes results when the overworked pancreas can no longer eliminate sugar from the blood stream.

5. Bleached with chlorine, when white refined sugar is exposed to certain organic compounds it converts to dioxin, which is a lethal compound.

6. Sugar can hinder weight loss because high insulin levels (see number 4 above) cause the body to retain any excess carbohydrates as fat.

7. Sugar increases the likelihood of chronic fatigue.

8. Sugar increases mood swings, irritability and anxiety.

9. Sugar compromises the immune system because it lowers the efficiency of white blood cells for a minimum of five hours after ingesting the sugar.

10. Eating sugar can decrease helpful high-density cholesterol (HDLs) and result in an increase in harmful cholesterol (LDLs).

Need to sweeten your food? Raisins, dates or honey are safe and simple alternatives. They’re easily available in many forms and can be the perfectly natural way to satisfy any sweet tooth!

Holiday Office Hours

Happy Holidays from all of us at Champion Medical Services! 

Please note our holiday office hours, beginning next week:

Both Midtown & Downtown offices
Open: Tues. Wed. Thurs. (12/27, 12/28,12/29) from 11am-5pm
Closed: Mon. 12/26, Fri. 12/30 & Mon. 1/2

Regular hours will resume starting January 3rd, 2012.  Click here to see our normal office hours.

We wish you a wonderful holiday and a healthy, successful New Year.  

Yours In Health,
Champion Medical Services Team

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