Wellness Center
Tucson Nutrition & Wellness Center
Welcome to our Nutrition and Wellness Center. We’ve designed this section to provide you with valuable, practical information and tools designed to enhance the quality of your life and the lives of those close to you. We also provide wellness counseling for our valued clients.
More and more stress is being placed on how well you perform in society. To reach your highest potential, all of your body systems must be perfectly tuned. Nothing is more important to your well-being and ability to perform than good nutrition. Eating the right foods helps you maintain desirable body weight, stay physically fit, and establish optimum nerve-muscle reflexes. Without the right foods, even physical conditioning and expert coaching aren’t enough to push you to your best.
Tucson Chiropractic & Your Lifestyle
Making Chiropractic Part of Your Lifestyle
There are three possible strategies in health care:
- Treat disease
- Prevent disease
- Promote health
The body is a self-healing organism. The power that made the body heals the body. By reconnecting the brain and the body, miraculous healing energy strengthens your immune system, and increases your power.
The nervous system controls and coordinates all bodily functions. Dr. Roger Sperry, the 1988 Nobel Prize winner for brain research, said, “the more mechanically distorted a person is, the less energy is available for thinking, metabolism, and healing.” Dr.Sperry also aid that 90% of our nervous system energy is utilized to maintain your posture in relation to gravity.
The most common and epidemic interference to the body’s ability to self heal is the Vertebral Subluxation Complex. The causes of subluxation are physical, mental and chemical stress.
Doctors of Chiropractic are the only health care specialists that focus their attention on the location, correction and prevention of vertebral subluxations. Take care of your life by taking care of your lifeline. You don’t have to spend a fortune to feel like a million.
Chiropractic is not a treatment, it is a lifestyle. The concept of better health through better chemistry has not worked. In fact, in America, we make up 5% of the world’s population and consume 60% of all drugs. The chiropractic concept is better health through better living.
We are accustomed to “Relief Care” and what we really need is “Release Care.” Release care releases the perfection and power within you.
We need to recognize, honor and work with the body’s INNATE WISDOM. By adjusting your subluxations, we release your body’s innate wisdom to self regulate.
Scatica
Why suffer with pain? Whether it be periodic or constant, pain in the buttocks or pain going into the leg or foot are signs that a chiropractor can help you or someone you know.
The Cause: Nerves coming from the spine become damaged as both small and large traumas accumulate in the body. Large traumas such as falls and car accidents can cause our spines to shift out of place. What most of us don’t realize is that even small traumas can do damage without us knowing it until we are presented with PAIN! Driving for long periods of time or sitting with a wallet in your back pocket can shift the pelvis and irritate lower spinal nerves. Once the spine has shifted, even the simple act of walking becomes traumatic. Friction builds up over years and can wear down the discs of the spine. The discs are our shock absorbents, they protect our nerves which is important for every function of a healthy body.
Chiropractors Are Specialists In Caring For The Nervous System.
Great success has been achieved in caring for patients with nerve damage that has resulted in sciatica
MSG – Is it Safe?
By Dr. Erik J. Rosseland, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic)
I want to share with you some of the things I have found while researching Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). Many of us came to first know of MSG because it was being added to Chinese food and people were having various reactions to it including headaches, stomach disorders, fatigue, depression, increased heart rate ….
MSG is found in crackers, soda, vitamins, toothpaste, soup, salad dressings, processed meats, frozen entrees, ice cream and frozen yogurt; in some breads, canned tuna; and often in “low‑ fat” foods (to make them seem tastier to make up for flavor lost when fat is reduced or eliminated). MSG stimulates brain cell activity and “tricks” your brain into thinking the food you eat tastes good. Manufacturers can use inferior ingredients and thus make the product seem tastier. (Source ‑ NoMSG ‑ National Organization Mobilized to Stop Glutamate).
Now, let’s clarify some terms: L‑ glutamic acid, monosodium glutamate, D glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is one of the amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins. It occurs naturally in many foods, for example, tomatoes, milk and mushrooms. It is involved in a number of brain functions as it functions as a neurotransmitter. This natural glutamate in plants and animals is known as L glutamic acid.
Our digestive process breaks down this natural or “bound” glutamic acid and it is then delivered to glutamate receptors in our body and brain. Broken down this way is harmless. In a factory, however, the bound glutamic acid in certain foods (corn, molasses, wheat) is broken down or made “free” by various processes (hydrolyzed, autolyzed, modified or fermented with strong chemicals, bacteria, or enzymes) and refined to a white crystal that looks like sugar. This substance is known as monosodium glutamate or MSG. It is 78.2% glutamate, 12.2% sodium, and 9.6% water. Its chemical formulation has been modified and is D‑ glutamic acid, a very different structure (remember my article on true vitamin C vs. a synthetic mirror image ascorbic acid which is detrimental ‑ same concept). It also contains some L‑ glutamic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and other contaminants. Keep in mind that there is no D‑ glutamic acid, pyroglutamic acid, or other contaminants in the protein found in plants and animals, only L‑ glutamic acid (from the book, Battling the MSG Myth).
MSG sensitivity is a sensitivity to free glutamic acid that occurs in food as a consequence of manufacture. All protein contains glutamic acid bound in it, but only when glutamic acid had been freed from protein before it is eaten do people have MSG sensitivity reactions.
With some exceptions, the FDA requires that ingredients ‑ MSG containing ingredients included ‑ must be called by their common or usual names. The name “monosodium glutamate” is reserved for the ingredient that is a 99% combination of glutamic acid and sodium. The names of most other MSG containing ingredients won’t give consumers a due to the fact that the ingredients contain MSG ‑ “monopotassium glutamate,” “autolyzed yeast,” “hydrolyzed soy protein,” “sodium casienate,” “calcium casienate,” “gelatin” are examples of ingredients that contain MSG (Truth in Labeling Campaign, PO Box 2532, Darien, IL 60561). Other possible sources of MSG include textured protein, carrageenan or vegetable gum, flavorings or natural flavorings; chicken, beef, pork, smoke flavorings, bouillon broth or stock; barley malt, malt extract, malt flavoring, whey protein, whey protein isolate or concentrate, soy sauce or extract (“No MSG” 1‑ 800‑ 232‑ 8674 (800‑ BEAT‑ MSG).
Also, when MSG is added as an ingredient of another substance it need not be listed on the label. For example, you buy a frozen dinner with soy sauce in it and that soy sauce has MSG in it; all that is required is that soy sauce be listed on the ingredients list. So it can be very difficult to avoid MSG in foods as labeling can be deceptive.
Dr. Rosseland can be reached at Soul Purpose Chiropractic Center, 3670 N. First Ave, Tucson, 85719; 520‑444‑1937 or info@SoulPurposeChiropractic.com for any questions or comments or to schedule an appointment.
Alpha Tocopherol is not Vitamin E?
By Dr. Erik J. Rosseland, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic)
There are seven tocopherols in all, alpha being one of them. The government has decided to rate any vitamin E product according to the amount of alpha tocopherol it contains (just as it rates vitamin C according to the amount of ascorbic acid it contains). The tocopherols are antioxidants, just like ascorbic acid. The tocopherols are part of the E complex but they are not the active ingredient; their function is to preserve the active ingredients.
Kids who have acne have it at a time when their sex organs are beginning to develop and require vitamin E. If they’re not getting enough vitamin E in their diet, the gonads begin to take the vitamin E that would otherwise be used in the maintenance of the health of the skin. So there begins to be abnormal skin growth.
The entire E complex contains the polyunsaturated fatty acids. The traditional source for vitamin E is vegetable oils but the best quality vitamin E comes from whole vegetables. Green lettuce is one of the best sources as is the pea plant. If you take any high potency laboratory‑chelated product (“chelated” means “combined”), your body has to do some combining in order to make them work. But if you take minerals the way nature provides them, combined with protein and vitamins through the growing process of plants, they are bound to work. For example, we could take vitamin E and separate the tocopherols, from say, manganese and put them back together in a lab, chelating them artificially, and we would find that they wouldn’t work. But they worked before you took them apart. One doctor uses the analogy of giving a watch to a chemist to analyze it for content. Then hit it with a hammer and give it back to him. Although it is the same watch and all the parts (ingredients) are still there, it has lost its function. A nutritional concentrate is an organized mechanism that has a function. If you break the function by separating the parts, the body can no longer use the mechanism. High potency vitamin E products are made this way. Tocopherols are broken down and separated from oils (the natural tocopherols are separated from vegetable oil). Then they are packed into a gelatin perle and you have a high potency vitamin E product, a 200 or 500 International Unit vitamin E product. That means 200 or 500 I.U.’s of alpha tocopherol because as we said the government insists that the potency of the product is measured by the amount of alpha tocopherol it contains. Of course the reason for doing this is to give the public a “high potency” product. Although the label of such a product will say “all natural” or “organic” as it was taken from oil, a natural source, it is still not food. It’s an incomplete product. You are getting lots of tocopherols, but none of the active ingredients of the E complex. The vitamin E that I use is a two I. U. Product. Two I.U.’s of alpha tocopherol. Can you believe that? The remainder of the tablet is composed of all the other vitamin E components. If this product was on a shelf in a health food store it wouldn’t sell because people read labels and don’t understand them. Instead of reading the ingredients most people look at how many units it has and that throws them off. Even the ingredients could throw us off because the parts may all be there but have no function. Our product must have function.
How do the high potency vitamin E products work? They work by preserving the active components of the E complex which still remain in our tissues. As we said, the tocopherols are an antioxidant, so the person’s symptoms, such as angina, will disappear, but often only temporarily. The body is designed to utilize food in its whole form. If you eat or take something incomplete, such as refined tocopherols, all the missing factors are borrowed from the tissue reserves in order to make the partial “food” usable. Sooner or later, depending on the person’s past eating habits, there will be a deficiency of those nutrients, causing what’s referred to as a “reversal of symptoms.” This means that there is a recurrence of the same symptoms which were causing the problem in the first place, often to a more serious degree. So high potency vitamins are similar to drugs in their effect ‑ they cause a masking of symptoms which eventually create additional problems.
Thank you to those who have called me, thanked me, and told me how useful this information has been, even though you are now frustrated, along with me, as to the vast amounts of garbage that is being sold out there, that you yourselves have bought with your hard earned money and have had sitting on your shelves and in your bodies. Until next month.
Dr. Rosseland can be reached at Soul Purpose Chiropractic Center at 520‑4441937 or info@SoulPurposeChiropractic.com.
Ascorbic Acid is not Vitamin C
By Dr. Erik J. Rosseland, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic)
Vitamin C is a very misunderstood vitamin. Most of you may find this hard to believe but ascorbic acid is not vitamin C. The government is largely responsible for this misconception because they have decided that you rate any vitamin C product according to the amount of ascorbic acid it contains. The real vitamin C complex contains the vitamin P factors (bioflavinoids, rutin) which maintain vascular integrity. These are deficient in people who bruise easily or have what is referred to as “pink toothbrush.” Their blood vessels break or rupture too easily and bleed. The P factors strengthen the vascular system making the vessels tougher and more durable. Vitamin K is also part of this complex; it helps in coagulation. The J factor increases the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. If you have a cold you want to get oxygen to your tissues where it oxidizes the toxins and carries them off. The complex also contains enzymes, the major one being tyrosinase which is organic copper, an adrenal activator. If you want to rate vitamin C according to one factor, it would be more logical the rate the tyrosinase as products containing the most tyrosinase produce the best clinical results. The tyrosinase in vitamin C converts tyrosine to thyroid and adrenal hormones. In addition to all these factors, the vitamin C complex also contains ascorbic acid. It is an antioxidant, it is the preservative part of the complex that prevents the others from spoiling. To refine out or to synthesize the preservative is a mistake. To say that ascorbic acid is vitamin C is like looking at a wheel and saying that it is a car ‑ it is only a small part of a car. It is the presence of all the synergistic factors which give a true vitamin C its potency.
So now you may ask, “what about the high potency vitamin C products?” These are made by the addition of synthetic ascorbic acid to a food base, usually rose hips or ascerola berries. Manufacturers of these products know that the public demand is for so‑called natural or organic products, so food is used as a base. They also know that people think that if a little is good, then more must be better, so synthetic ascorbic acid is added to the food base in order to increase the label data potency. In such a product you might have, for example, 500 milligrams of synthetic ascorbic acid (the preservative) and only 25 milligrams of the food base, which would contain the other C complex factors. These high potency products often have labels which say “natural” or “organic.” This is because synthetic ascorbic acid, a derivative of petroleum, contains carbon, and is therefore organic, but hardly a food (remember organic chemistry, the study of carbon based substances?). It is actually a drug. In order to put 500 milligrams of naturally occurring ascorbic acid into a tablet, the tablet would have to be as big as a ping pong ball.
In an effort to make products quickly, cheaply and in mass quantities companies isolate what they think is the active ingredient of nutritional complexes, copy them in mirror images of crystalline pure chemicals, and mass produce them as “foods” or “vitamins.” That is why taking too much ascorbic acid can actually weaken your immune system; it needs to hook up with vitamin P, tyrosinase and the other components of the complex. If you are a little short on tyrosinase too much ascorbic acid can induce a copper deficiency which is very detrimental to the immune system.
Now you may say that you know you have felt better or gotten better after taking mega‑doses of ascorbic acid. Most people who are sick are too alkaline, as is a person with a cold so taking the ascorbic acid does help that pH problem. You probably won’t get a toxic response from taking moderate amounts of ascorbic acid but remember we are interested in more than just ascorbic acid.
I would like to also write a little more about what I alluded to above about synthetic vitamins. A Finish study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Agnes Faye Morgan experiments at UC Berkeley in the 1940’s showed that taking synthetic vitamins is worse than starvation. The synthetic vitamins will kill you faster.
The synthetic vitamin producers and sellers claim that synthetic vitamins have the same molecular structure as the natural, and are therefore the same or at least have the same effect. Though synthetic vitamins have the same molecular structure, they are a mirror image of the natural. A mirror image? This suggests they are identical in every detail, EXCEPT IT IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE of the real thing. Try to shake hands with yourself in the mirror. Everything is opposite. A mirror image is not an exact duplication. You may have read certain articles that said that certain vitamins were of no benefit, well you can be assured that they used synthetic vitamins in those studies. It is next to impossible for mirror image synthetic nutrients to hook up with the other nutrients they need to combine with in order to be utilized by your body.
Our vitamins need to be whole food, natural biological complexes. They should not be isolated complexes, either natural or chemical. Whole food complexes are true food supplements that support health.
I would like to thank and credit the Clinical Reference Guide 3 / 95; Dr. Bruce West and his Health Alert letter, and The Bob Livingston letter as sources for this article.
Dr. Rosseland can be reached at Soul Purpose Chiropractic Center at 520‑4441937, or info@SoulPurposeChiropractic.com if you have any questions or comments.
Supplements
By Dr. Erik J. Rosseland, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic)
Potency is an important concept to understand when choosing a nutritional supplement. Potency or strength is now equated with Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) that measures the quantity of a substance rather than the quality of the nutrient. Clinical effectiveness is also related to nutrient quality and nutrient quality depends heavily upon the completeness of the product. When nutrients remain intact and are not split from their natural associated synergists ‑ known and unknown, bioactivity is markedly enhanced. Following this hypothesis then, even a small amount of a whole food concentrate will offer superior nutritional support than a synthetic or fractionated vitamin, whose physiological activity may be reduced (The Vitamins in Medicine, 3rd Ed. p. 627. 1953).
When nutrients are processed to remain in their complete form, they are not isolated from their natural synergists. For example, vitamin C contains ascorbic acid, but ascorbic acid is only one part of vitamin C. Furthermore, it was known over a half‑century ago that attempting to separate nutrients greatly decreases their strength. “Natural forms of vitamins may lose up to ninety‑nine percent of their potency when separated from their natural synergists” (Annual Review of Biochemistry, p. 381. 1943).
These principles are utilized in this practice to give to those interested, supplements that will benefit the individual.
BY: Soul Purpose Chiropractic