Channing McKinley Chiropractic, Ltd.

I just came across this study showing the relationship between lack of sleep during late pregnancy, longer labors and cesarean sections.  A great, quick and important read.

The NY Times reported yesterday on a study linking 200 milligrams of caffeine a day with increased risk of miscarriage in pregnant women. This is a good reminder to cut back, or better yet eliminate caffeine during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester.

If you’re having trouble giving up the comfort of something warm in the morning, switching to tea is a great option. To reduce caffeine even further, pour a small amount of hot water over your tea bag and let it steep for 30 seconds. Then discard this water and refill your mug, letting the same tea bag steep to your desired taste level. This will remove about 80% of the caffeine in the tea and doesn’t alter the flavor.

The past week has brought some wonderful autumn weather along with sniffles, sneezes, watery eyes and dry coughs for many of my patients.  Here are a few natural tips to help get you through this allergy season.

1.  Avoid dairy - dairy is mucus producing and will increase congestion.  This is especially true if you know that you have any sesitivity (upset stomach, fatigue, mental fog…) after eating cheese, milk or yogurt.  Cut out dairy for 2-3 weeks or as long as you are congested.

2.  Pressure points - if you have sinus pain, press firmly and massage on either side of your nostrils and on your brow above your nose where your eybrows start.  Massage for 10 seconds over each area then repeat.  Use pressure points 4-5 times/day or as needed for discomfort.

3.  Get a Neti Pot - they are sold at most natural food stores or cooperatives.  It cleanses your sinuses using a warm saline solution.  Takes a bit of getting used to, but works great once you get the swing of it.  It has the added benefit of a feeling of peace and calm after each use.

4.  Get adjusted! - adjustments to the neck and cranial bones can allow the sinuses to open up and drain.  Lymph drainage technques can also be helpful.

Enjoy your autumn!

A great blog entry on thehealthycookie.com on MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) which is a common food additive. It is a neurotoxin that excites brain cells and then kills them. All this so that foods have more intense flavor (to replace flavor that is lost because they are processed and preserved). Most people associate MSG with Chinese cuisine, but it is found regularly in common processed and canned foods. Almost all potato chips and canned soups contain MSG as do crackers, instant foods, frozen meals and salad dressings. Take a minute to go through your cupboard and read the labels and I’ll bet it will surprise you.

I write this today to remind everyone to read lables on the foods you eat, and especially the foods your children eat. During childhood when there is so much brain development, keeping the nervous tissue healthy is of greatest importance. We want the foods our children eat to support that developement and provide nutrition, not kill off the cells that are the building blocks of brain activity.

Please take a moment to read the article on thehealthycookie.com and look at the hidden names for MSG so that you know what to look for on food labels. Then do a little research - even better, involve your children in reading the labels of food in your cupboard and make some choices together. Often, it will be foods that are addictive and hard to stop eating that will contain MSG. It’s a good way to begin talking about how food makes you and your child feel while eating, and then after eating it. I find that it’s also a great way to start to notice food’s relationship to some behaviors we see in our kids.

I just found a great holistic dentist who is very open to alternative/complementary medical approaches.  He is also very knowledgable about mercury and other heavy metal toxicities as they relate to amalgam (silver) fillings.  Check him out if you are in search of someone.

Dr. Ron King

www.kingtooth.com 

In chiropractic we talk a lot of balance: balance to the nervous system, balance to the spine, balance to the body in general, and my thoughts today have been around finding balance throughout our lives. As a species, we are currently trying to find a way to live in balance with the earth. In our home life we know that balancing work and play makes us happier and healthier. As individuals most of us recognize that a balance between exercise, good nutrition and relaxation will help our bodies cope with stress and fend off sickness with more ease. The more I look around, the more I see that addressing the root causes of many problems today lies in finding a way to balance the areas of our lives that for some reason or another have fallen into disproportion.

This idea of “returning balance” to our lives, can be quite overwhelming and too broad to comprehend. So, instead of trying to change the world through restoring balance, why don’t we change the world through choosing one small, incremental change, that we can realistically make in our day to day lives. Barbara Kingsolver spoke eloquently of this on MPR this weekend, take a listen if you have a chance. So, I came up with some examples. Why not pick the area that is of most concern to you right now, and make on of these or one of your own changes for the month – they are very do-able, I promise:

Environment
• Buy 10 cloth napkins and use them at mealtimes instead of paper.
• Put one of those cloth napkins in your purse/bag for restaurant use.
• Keep 3 cloth bags in your car for the grocery store or any store that would give you a bag.
• Buy one pound of food grown locally (within 100 miles) each week.
• Ride your bike or walk to anyplace within 3 miles of your house.

Exercise
• Park at the farthest spot away from the store and walk to the door.
• Take a walk each night with your family, partner, or alone – it’s beautiful outside!
• Bike or walk to anyplace within 3 miles of your house (counts for two changes!).
• Take the stairs, not the elevator.

Diet
• Have at least 2 pieces of fresh fruit each day – it’s the season for it!
• Switch to things sweetened without High Fructose Corn Syrup – regular sugar is better and honey is even better than that.
• Carry a bag of trail mix with you. Snack on the mix instead of cookies, candies or crackers.
• Add lemon, lime, or cucumber slices to water and commit to drinking more each day.

Hopefully you get the picture. Find the area in your life that is most out of balance and make one small change this month. Continue it next month, and the month after. After it becomes habit, think about another change – but not until then!

Happy balancing!

I attended a craniosacral seminar for pediatrics this past weekend with Dr. Benjamin Shield, and on of the things he said has been resonating around my mind so I thought I’d share. He said:

all healing takes place in the present

Now this may seem simplistic - of course it takes place in the present, we can’t time travel - but if we really ask ourselves how much of our day we spend in the actual present moment, I think we begin to have some insight into what he meant. Think about it, how much of our days are spent thinking, planning, preparing, anticipating or worrying about what might happen next. How often do our thoughts wander into a possible future conversation, activity or situation? Then think about how much of our time is spent reviewing and revisiting the past. Recalling and discussing an interaction, memory or occurrence. Repeatedly reliving something that happened a year, a month or a day ago.

Now think of how much time we spend in the actual present. That means that when we are walking somewhere, we are only thinking of our feet hitting the pavement and the feel of the breeze on our skin. When we are driving, we are thinking about the road and the other drivers - not the music or reliving our day in our head. When we are washing dishes or folding laundry, that is all we are thinking of and focusing on. Get the idea?

One of the wonderful benefits of craniosacral therapy is that it can bring us into the present moment. There are so many potential moments during the day that we can do this to ourselves, I propose that if we could all take a bit more time to practice being present, we would find that the healing Benjamin spoke of would follow. So, the next time you are eating lunch by yourself, why not try just eating. Feeling the food in your mouth and each of the flavors. If your mind pulls away into the future or past, just notice it and pull it back to the food. See what happens - and if you feel like it, let me know!

In the past few days I’ve received multiple emails about the FDA’s current proposal to reclassify nutritional supplements and possibly alternative therapies as “medical” and therefore limit access to them. To let this proposal pass would be a HUGE mistake and could potentially limit the availability of holistic treatments and remedies. Please check out the following website, and sign the petition. This takes 3 minutes. If you can spare 40 minutes, also watch the CODEX video - it gives a great explanation of the economic forces and ties to the WTO that are pressuring the FDA to push through these proposals.
The website is www.HealthFreedomUSA.org