Health Tips

Raise your arms out to the side to stabilize your spine. Bend one knee and cross that leg over the other leg letting it drop towards the bed or floor. Counter rotate your head in the opposite direction. Hold for a count of fifteen and repeat to the opposite side. Do three sets alternating the sides.

Lie on your stomach, with your forearms under you. Press down and raise your upper back without letting your pelvis rise. Relax your stomach muscles by taking a deep breath and let your back to arch. Do not contract your back muscles. Hold this position with your breath out and slowly return to the floor. Inhale and repeat 5 times.

Stand with your hands on your hips. Take a deep breath and slowly lean back while keeping your neck straight. Try not to bend your knees. Hold for 5 seconds and return to a standing position. Repeat this 5 times.

Get on your hands and knees on the floor. Tighten your stomach muscles by blowing all of your air out. Bring one leg up straight behind you and hold it in this position. Be careful not to rotate your pelvis. Start by holding this position for 5 seconds and as you gain strength, lengthen the time. Repeat this position with the opposite leg. As you further gain strength, raise the opposite arm in front of you and hold while raising your leg.

Medical doctors try to test the acidity or alkalinity of the body tissues and cells by analyzing the blood. Harold Hawkins, developed methods to measure urine pH and other factors such as saliva pH. Modern proponents of the alkaline diet look at the pH of blood, saliva, and urine, in addition to health symptoms and other factors. What are the guidelines of this diet? An alkaline diet is composed of approximately 75% alkaline foods and 25% acid foods. The foods listed below are in descending order of alkalinity and acidity.

• Alkaline Foods — 75% of diet
  • Vegetables — Sea vegetables, burdock, lentils, onion, taro, sweet potato, kohlrabi, parsnip, garlic, kale, endive, mustard greens, ginger root, broccoli, potato, bell pepper, mushrooms, cauliflower, eggplant, pumpkin, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, chives, cilantro, okra, squash, lettuce
  • Fruit — Limes, nectarines, persimmons, raspberries, watermelon, tangerines, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew, citrus, olives, loganberries, mango, lemons, pears, avocado, pineapple, apples, blackberries, cherries, peaches, papaya, oranges, apricots, bananas, blueberries, currants, raisins, grapes, strawberries
  • Nuts, seeds, oils — Pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, chestnuts, pepper, primrose oil, sesame seeds, almonds, sprouts, avocado oil, flaxseed oil, coconut oil, olive oil, other seeds
  • Grains — Oats, grain coffee, quinoa, wild rice
  • Condiments — Baking soda, sea salt, mineral water, spices, cinnamon, molasses, soy sauce, herbs, green tea, rice syrup, apple cider vinegar, ginger tea, ghee
  • Dairy — Buttermilk, cheeses and yoghurt.
• Acidifying Foods — 25% of diet
  • Dairy — Processed cheese, ice cream, soymilk, cow’s milk, aged cheese, soy cheese, cream
  • Animal meat — All meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood. Beef, pheasant, pork, veal, squid, lobster, chicken, lamb, boar, shellfish, goose, turkey, eggs, gelatin, organs, venison, duck
  • Grains — All foods made from cereal grains including breads, breakfast cereals, crackers, pasta and rice. Barley, barley, corn, rye, oat bran, buckwheat, wheat, spelt, semolina, white rice, millet, kasha, amaranth, brown rice. Avoid all refined flour products such as white bread, pasta, cakes, pies, cookies.
  • Legumes — Legumes including beans, peas, lentils and peanuts.
  • Nuts, seeds — All nuts. Hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio seeds, pecans, palm kernel oil, almond oil, sesame oil, safflower oil, pumpkinseed oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, pine nuts, canola oil
  • Vegetables — Soybeans, carob, green peas, peanuts, snow peas, carrots, chickpeas, tofu, pinto beans, white or red beans, azuki beans, lima beans, kidney beans, string beans, rhubarb
  • Fruit — Fruits containing benzoic or oxalic acid including prunes, plums, cranberries, rhubarb and sour cherries.
  • Condiments — Jam, jelly, table salt, yeast, sugar, chocolate, cocoa, white vinegar, nutmeg, coffee, saccharin, vanilla, black tea, alcohol, balsamic vinegar, curry, honey, maple syrup, rice vinegar. Also avoid chocolate milk, sodas, wine, alcohol.

Sleep requirements change as we age. When we are infants, we spend most of time asleep. We eat, sleep, fill our diapers, look around and then fall back to sleep.

We need more sleep between puberty and age 25 than any other time of our lives except when we are infants. Experts, at Cornell University, say we need about 9 hours of sleep during these years. The average is 6 hours and 54 minutes – two hours short of what we really need.

During your 20’s, try and get to bed by 9:30. An alternative that is better than nothing is to skip nights. Stay up later one night and then go to bed earlier the next. This stops the sleep depravation from adding up day after day.

Our internal clock goes into sleep mode around 11 PM. This is when melatonin production is elevated. If you have difficulty falling asleep, take very small dose of melatonin may help you fall asleep faster. Don’t try and make up for the lack of sleep on the weekends. Get up at your normal time, and if you need to, take a power nap around noon.

In your thirties, stress becomes one of the culprits of too little sleep. One of the main reasons is elevated cortisol levels that are a result of stress in your life. Ron Klatz, M.D. recommends taking B5 – pantothenic acid, before going to bed to help reduce the levels of cortisol. Ironically, aspirin may also reduce cortisol levels. Elevated levels of cortisol prevent you from reaching the deep sleep that you really need. An alternative technique is to go for a brisk short walk late in the afternoon. Researchers at the university of Arizona found that this causes your body temperature to drop in the evening and helps you get into a deep sleep pattern.

By the time you reach your 50’s sleep problems are rampant. Cortisol levels, due to stress in our lives, are up to 12 times higher than when we are in our thirties. Approximately 1 out of 25 people have sleep apnea.

Again, pantothenic acid taken before bed with fruit juice for its sugar, fructose, will help reduce that elevated cortisol. Many medications, especially beta-blockers cause a reduction in melatonin levels. A study published in the European journal of Pharmacology, showed that the reduction was in the order of 80 – 90 percent. Prozac is another medication that will reduce melatonin levels.

The following exercises have been shown to increase muscle coordination. They are helpful in programming the muscles of the extremities to fire in their normal pattern. Each should be done ten times. All exercises start with you standing evenly on both feet.

Call your local AK office and we will examine the injured structures to see the extent of the injury. Depending on what is found, we may suggest nutritionally supporting your own production of anti-inflammatories, or taking enzymes to speed the healing process. If they are indicated, studies have shown that healing times can be reduced up to 50% with similar reductions in pain and swelling when enzymes are taken after an injury. The only problem is that they must be started as soon as possible. This is not a time to wait and see if you feel better in a few days, as the window for starting the treatment is very short.

After the Reaction stage, there are two other stages that traumatic injures go through. These are called regeneration and remodeling.

In the regeneration stage, your body builds new capillaries to replace the damaged ones. This process is known as angiogenesis. At the same time, your body starts to rebuild the damaged connective tissue. It does this by making collagen strands. Collagen is made up of amino acids. Amino acids are the small subunits of protein. Consequently, your diet must contain enough protein to help you make these collagen strands.

If you look at a forest, all of the trees are parallel with each other. Once in a while you will see a tree that has fallen down and caught in another tree. Collagen fibers are similar to this. Collagen is supposed to be in parallel lines. After an injury, your body makes a mesh with collagen fibers going in all directions. Another example is the kids game Pick up Sticks. All of the collagen fibers should be parallel, but after an injury they look like the sticks when they are dropped. The fibers are running in all directions. In order to make a strong bond at the site of the injury, this crossing of fibers – or cross-links – are necessary. One problem is that these cross-links limit the range of motion of the structures that have been injured. You may not be able to move your arm or ankle as freely as you once did. In the last stage of healing, remodeling, the cross-links are slowly reduced and range of motion is increased.

In the regeneration stage, we want to continue to minimize any swelling and inflammation and stimulate protein production of the collagen bonds. Controlled motion helps to unsure that most of the collagen will be laid down in the lines of the normal joint action. Dietary modification to insure adequate protein intake is very important as is limiting foods and substances that encourage the inflammatory process. This would include an excess of animal fats, alcohol and partially hydrogenated fats. Increasing omega 3 oils like EPA or eating deep-water fish will help to limit any inflammation. To insure adequate protein intake, small servings of protein should be consumed throughout the day. In the office, our goal is to make sure that the muscles that have been damaged are treated and made functional. Ligaments that have been damaged may need support both structurally and nutritionally. Keeping the joints aligned properly will allow the damaged structures to heal back to their normal lengths. This stage of the healing goes from 48 hours after the injury in a mild case to over 8 weeks in a more severe injury.

In the remodeling stage, the cross links that were formed in the regeneration stage are slowly reduced and the range of motion is increased. In this phase, care is taken to reestablish the motion of the joint. This may require massage type work or stretching. Much of this is done in normal daily living, but the problem is that we tend to protect the injured part by not using it and thereby limit the return to full function. The other major goal in this phase of the healing is to reestablish normal proprioception. This involves muscle coordination. Muscles react to each other. The contraction of one muscle causes an opposing muscle to relax. When a muscle contracts it should not cause another muscle to weaken when it should be helping the contracting muscle. When this ballet of muscle coordination is not functioning properly, ache and pain will be caused when you use the injured part or you will have a decreased range of motion. In the office, we need to test the muscles doing various tasks to determine that the coordination is working properly. In simple injuries, this remodeling stage will begin as early as the fourteenth day after the injury. In severe injuries, the stage may last well over 1 year.

Only when full range of motion and coordinated muscle function has been attained have you recovered from an injury. If these goals are not attained, permanent decreased function and compensations by your body will lead to other problems.

An example is someone who has injured his or her ankle and it doesn’t fully recover. They will walk with a slight limp that will cause knee and hip problems. Year’s later, arthritis in the ankle, knee and hip joints may result due to the changes that have occurred.

Restoration of normal function depends on successfully completing the three stages of healing. Each one has its own goals and requirements.

These values are just guides to help you make choices between foods. Talk to your local AK doctor or a nutritionist about how to apply these guides to your daily life.

Low GI = 55 or less      Medium GI = 56-69      High GI = 70 or more

The following stretches should be done morning and night. These are designed to reduce tension in the upper back. Do not force any of these.

Back Side To Side

Place your hands on your hips with your feet about as wide as your shoulders. Bend to each side while moving your eyes to the side that you are bending. Let the arm on the side that you are bending over slide down along your leg. Hold for a count of fifteen and repeat to the opposite side. Repeat this three times.

Side Bend Reaching

For this exercise, stand with your feet apart and your arms straight to the side. Bend over and twist reaching towards the opposite knee or foot. Hold for a count of fifteen and repeat to the opposite side. Repeat this three times.

Sitting Stretches

Sit and cross your arms holing on to the opposite shoulder. First twist as far as you are comfortable. Hold this for a count of 15 and then repeat to the opposite side. Repeat this three times each. Next, bend and twist while you exhale. Hold this for a count of 15 and repeat to the opposite side. Repeat this 3 times to each side. Finally, bend forward as far as you can while blowing your breath all the way out. Let your arms hang between your legs. Hold this for a count of 15 and repeat 3 times.

Upper Chest Stretch

Lie on your back and place a pillow under the middle of your abdomen Take both arms and raise them so that your hands are above your head. As your chest loosens, you can hold a light object in your hands and this will increae the stretch. This is best done lying on a bed and letting your arms hang over the side. Inhale as much air as you can and hold it for a count of 5 and then let your breath out as far as you can and again hold this for a count of 5. Repeat this 10 times.

In order to increase the range of motion in your neck, you need to stretch your neck through a full range of motion. These stretches will help to normalize the lengths of the muscles and potentially help to increase the fluid in the discs. In order to achieve good results, do the following exercises at least twice a day.

1. Flexion. Sit nice and straight, take a deep breath in and bring your chin towards your chest as you inhale. Inhale as deeply as possible and bring your head as far forward as you can, then slowly exhale and come back to the neutral position.

2. Extension. Inhale deeply and tilt your head backwards as far as you can comfortably while you are inhaling as deeply as possible, then slowly exhale and bring your head back to the full upright position.

3. Series of Four. The next four steps will bring your head through an X range of motion. Imagine yourself looking at the top of your head from above, and the figure you will create is an X shape. The first range of motion will have you stretch the muscles in the back left side of your neck, and this will be done by having you inhale and bend your head forward and to the right at a 45 degree angle. This is done precisely as the previous exercises, having you inhale while you go through the range of motion to the full extent and then exhale when you go back to neutral.
   1. For the first series of four you will inhale and bend as far forward to the right as possible at a 45-degree angle, and then exhale and come up to neutral.
   2. For the second step you will inhale and extend your head back and to the left at a 45-degree angle, inhaling down, exhaling up.

1. 3. For the third step you will inhale and breathe, bending your head forward and to the left at a 45-degree angle, coming back to neutral as you exhale.
   4. For the final step you will inhale and bend backwards and to the right at a 45-degree angle.

4. Lateral Bending. Sitting nice and straight inhale and bring your right ear towards your right shoulder, exhale and relax your shoulders, return to neutral, repeat on the left side.

5. Rotation. Inhale and look as far as you can to your left over your left shoulder, exhale and come back to center. Then inhale and repeat on the right.