In 2002, the American Medical Association (AMA) warned that the majority of the estimated 50 million Americans with hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, were failing to keep it “under control.” A year later, few people seem to have heeded that warning, a point emphasized by this study published in the association’s main journal.

Researchers surveyed a random sampling of the U.S. population as part of the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), gathering data on prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of high blood pressure. Results were compared with data from the two phases of NHANES III (1988-91 and 1991-94).

As of 1999-2000, 28.7 percent of NHANES participants suffered from high blood pressure – a 3.7 percent increase from 1988-91. Moreover, the condition was controlled in only 31 percent of patients – albeit a 6.4 percent increase from 1988-91. Increasing age, female gender and high body mass index (BMI) were associated with a higher risk of hypertension.

So, now you know all about high blood pressure. The question is, “What are you going to do about it?” If you’re one of the millions who suffer, talk to your doctor about the best way to keep it under control.

Reference: Hajjar I, Kotchen TA. Trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in the United States, 1988-2000. Journal of the American Medical Association, July 9, 2003:290(2), pp199-206.

Written by Dr. James Bogash

Winter squash and pumpkins (both members of the gourd family) come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. They are becoming increasingly popular because of their versatile use in both sweet and savory recipes, and they are good sources of complex carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Pumpkins are especially good sources of alpha- and beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin (an antioxidant), vitamin C, riboflavin, and iron. Cooking pumpkins (also known as sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins) are delicious in pies, cookies, custards, and soups. Their seeds are easily toasted for a crunchy high-fiber snack. The seeds are great eaten by the handful or added to fruit and vegetable salads. Pumpkin and squash seeds contain phytosterols; vitamins, including folate, tocopherols, and carotenoids; and minerals, including phosphorus, selenium, and zinc. (Pumpkin seed is approved as an herb by the German Commission E.)

Bright orange and yellow squash contain significant amounts of carotenes, as well as some lutein and zeaxanthin (antioxidants). Butternut squash is good sliced, stewed, boiled, or baked in a pie. It is a particularly good source of calcium, magnesium, and carotenes. Spaghetti squash makes a wonderful casserole or side dish. Try it with tomato sauce in place of traditional spaghetti. Acorn and Hubbard squash are particularly good sources of potassium and fiber. Acorn squash also is high in thiamine.

Apples come in countless varieties, each with its own color, flavor, and texture. While some types of apples such as Golden or Red Delicious are best for eating fresh and crisp, other varieties such as Crab, Bramley, and Jonathan apples are best for cooking in pies, cakes, crisps, and chutneys. Look for sauce, butter, pickle, and relish recipes that include apples. Apples are powerhouses of flavonoids, such as quercetin, as well as a great source of cholesterol-lowering phytosterols. Apples also are a good source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin. In addition, apples with their skins are one of the best known sources of pectin?a type of soluble fiber shown to help reduce cholesterol. Try making tea by steeping oven-roasted and dried apple slices for an old-fashioned hot beverage.

Fruit and vegetable tips

▪ Thoroughly wash all vegetables and fruit, as you would any produce, before eating or cooking to destroy any bacteria and to remove any pesticides or herbicides from their surfaces.
▪ Select produce without soft spots, blemishes, or cuts.
▪ Eat fruits and vegetables fresh or lightly cooked to obtain the most nutrient value. Avoid boiling when possible.
▪ Experiment with a variety of spices, herbs, and cooking methods.
Enjoy the outdoors

Autumn’s cool weather and beautiful foliage is a call from nature to get outside, enjoy the scenery, and get physically active. One great event for fun family fitness is visiting a pumpkin patch and picking your own pumpkins and gourds. In addition, many pumpkin patch locations feature other activities, such as corn mazes and hayrides. The following link can help you find a pumpkin patch near you: www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org.

If you like this type of outdoor activity, you may wish to also visit this link: www.pickyourown.org to find farm locations in your area that allow visitors to pick their own fruits or vegetables. Whether picking apples, pears, squash, peppers, or sweet potatoes, this is great way to connect with nature, burn some calories, and come home with healthy, nutritious foods. Try canning to preserve your favorite varieties for the rest of the year, or grow your own harvest fruits and vegetables and enjoy eating them even more.

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“Sometimes you hear that expression and it can frighten someone who has never had a spinal adjustment.”

In fact, there is sometimes a “popping” noise associated with an adjustment.

“The noise comes from the joint itself, not the bones,” Dr. Traitses says. “It is caused by the sudden separation of the joint surfaces, followed by a release of gas pressure, largely carbon dioxide, in the joint fluid.

“That’s rather like what happens when you open a bottle of pop. Carbon dioxide gas is released and you hear a fizzing sound.”

In some cases, when muscles are particularly tight, an adjustment may produce a snapping sort of noise that results when tendons move over bone ridges. People whose joints are arthritic may experience a slight grinding sound, due to wear and tear.

Says Dr. Traitses, “Chiropractic treatment focuses on adjusting joints that are not moving properly. This usually involves applying a light, quick pressure to a joint in the spine (or hand, foot, etc.). From this comes the sound and sensation of an audible release — called cavitation — much like what you feel if you pull on a finger.

“The adjustment process, however, is safe and painless. It restores proper motion in the joint and decreases pain and inflamation.

Chiropractors are licensed as doctors, authorized to diagnose and treat conditions concerning the spine, muscle and nervous systems. Chiropractors work to promote optimal health and wellness through positive lifestyle changes. The OCA is a voluntary membership organization representing some 1,800 Ontario chiropractors. The objectives of the association include public education and research devoted to improving the quality of health care for the citizens of Ontario.

Written by Dr. George Traitses

Not everyone needs the same kind of preventative visits. Some people are very physically active, and may require more visits than those who are only mildly active. Your chiropractor is the person to talk to about how often you need to be seen to receive preventative care.

Chiropractors can also help you determine the types of preventative care that would work best for your situation. Perhaps acupuncture would help you best, not only in the short term, but in the long term as well. Your chiropractor is the person who can help you in planning your health goals.

Chiropractic care works well in conjunction with physical therapy to get you to the activity and health level you want to be at. Many chiropractors specialize in sports injury therapy, and work at keeping the bones and joints adjusted as the physical therapist works with the muscles and muscle memory training.

When your body is working at its peak performance, it can better protect itself from injury, as well as having an increased capacity to heal itself. Anything that interferes with this performance, whether it is chronic stress or a traumatic injury, keeps the body from working at its best. Spinal adjustments and physical therapy helps your body stay at its best and enable your body to draw on its own natural healing abilities.

While your primary focus may be on fixing the pain that you may be currently experiencing, a chiropractor would help you through that and then focus on the underlying problem that allowed your original pain to happen.

Take your car as an example. You know that to keep it running well it needs routine maintenance. Oil changes, tire rotation and tune-ups are just a sampling of what it takes to keep your car in great shape, and keep you from worrying about being stranded somewhere. Your body is not much different than your car in that respect. The exercise you do keeps your muscles healthy. Combine that with the food you use as fuel, and your body stays healthier. Combine the exercise and fuel with preventative chiropractic care to keep everything in alignment, and you have an almost unstoppable mix.

Injuries can still happen if you receive preventative care, but the way your body’s reaction to the injury will be different. It may not be as severe an injury – the way it could have been if you were not taking steps to maintain your physical health. Chiropractic care is one of the things you can do for yourself to ensure you are as healthy and as active for as long as you can be.

Written by Nick Messe

While there have been many advances made in the mental health field over the last quarter century, with mental health professionals acknowledging more and more mental illnesses and how they develop, one aspect of mental health is still not widely discussed. This is the actual impact that physical illness has on one’s mental health.

In fact, few people who are not in the mental health field even consider the part that physical illness plays when it comes to mental health. For example, when you get a cold, you may be a little irritable, and most of us would attribute the fact that we don’t feel good to that irritability.

However, it goes a little deeper than that. When we don’t feel good even if feeling bad comes from a simple cold we also tend to feel a little “blue.” Things that would not otherwise be a big deal in our lives become a little larger. We do not respond or react as we normally would.

Fortunately, the cold does not last long, and we get back to being “normal.” But what if that cold turned into a long term illness, or even a fatal illness? How does that affect our mental health? It affects every area of your life, including personal relationships, social interactions, work, and even religious beliefs and spirituality. With such illnesses, it isn?t even so much a question of not feeling good, in the physical sense. It is a question of not feeling good in the mental sense.

Naturally, when confronted with long-term illnesses, no matter how mild or serious they are, we experience a range of emotions, such as anger, worry, and sadness. We feel that our bodies let us down. We feel that we have no control. We may feel lonely or feel that people don’t understand what we are going through.

The biggest concerns, from a mental health standpoint, when it comes to long-term illness, are depression and anxiety. It is not at all uncommon for someone who is suffering from a long-term physical ailment to experience either of these conditions. It is, however, often overlooked and left untreated. This, of course, can be very dangerous, and as research has shown, even have a negative impact on the physical recovery process.

These days, doctors are more aware of how physical ailments affect our mental health, and they are on the lookout for signs of anxiety or depression in their patients. However, for the most part, your doctor will not be aware that a problem exists if you are not open and honest with them about your feelings and what is going on in your life.

Overall, it is perfectly fine and perfectly normal to feel a little blue when you are under the weather. But when it comes to long term illnesses, you need to be able to recognize the signs of depression and anxiety. When you see those signs, let your doctor know immediately, and seek treatment. Don’t try to “go it alone” and do not assume that “it will pass.”

In the U.S., sinus problems are the #1 reason people see a doctor. With increasing pollution and chemicals in our environment, there is an enormous rise in the number of people who suffer various forms of nasal congestion and respiratory illnesses. If you suffer from sinus symptoms, then you know how the ongoing pain, swelling, congestion and postnasal drip can keep you from fully enjoying life.

Alternative health practitioners throughout the world recommend the regular practice of nasal cleansing using a saline solution as part of a regular regimen of health and wellness, a basic health-maintenance activity equal to flossing your teeth. Neti is a gentle, safe, efficient way to deliver a good cleansing dose of saline to the nose. This method of cleansing or clearing debris and bacteria from the nose, nasal passages, and sinuses can trace its roots back to ancient India.

As a self-care strategy, it is relatively new in the United States, but is gaining in popularity. It is both a prevention and treatment measure.

Basically, nasal irrigation is just that: cleaning your sinuses out with mild saltwater, or saline, solution. Although it may sound complicated, this easy-to-use and all-natural sinus cleansing method has many healing benefits. Nasal irrigation depends on saline solution to restore moisture to your sinuses and to lessen the inflammation of nasal membranes. A host of scientific studies show that if the saline irrigation is used regularly, it can help to thin mucus, decrease post nasal drip, and cleanse your passages of bacteria.

A nasal irrigation device called a Neti Pot is easy to use and available in natural food markets and natural home-care catalogs and websites. It looks like Aladdin’s lamp or a small flat teapot. It is available in a variety of materials, such as ceramic, stainless steel and plastic.

You can purchase saline solutions specially designed for nasal irrigation. These are called “isotonic” if they are formulated to mimic the same concentrations of salt as in the body. Most over-the-counter saline solutions are isotonic. If your nose is stuffy, you might want to try a “hyper-tonic” saline solution, which has a higher salt concentration than that of bodily tissue.

Some researchers suggest that using a hyper-tonic solution may pull more liquid out of the swollen tissue of the nose, thus improving breathing. While many sinus sufferers have tried hyper-tonic solutions, most prefer using isotonic. Whichever solution you use, keeping the nose moist is beneficial for almost every nasal or sinus problem.

Bear in mind, always, that your sinus condition may change from season to season. You may have to keep trying different variations of the saline solution each season until you get the perfect mixture that allows your sinuses to stay clear without infection.

The Neti pot has a small spout that fits into the nostril. Simply rotate and tip you head over the sink and pour the solution into your nostril. The fluid rinses through your nasal cavity. After it drains through the other nostril, you spit out the fluid and repeat the process on the other side.

Your doctor may recommend using nasal irrigation once daily for prevention and two to four times a day at the first sign of a cold or sinus infection.

Beyond these benefits, nasal irrigation just feels good. If you have ever had a stuffy, congested nose for days on end, you know how wonderful it feels when you get relief and can breathe freely again. Nasal irrigation will let you do exactly that.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to radiographs (X-rays) for the purpose of diagnosing low back pain. Three hundred eighty patients who had been ordered by a physician to have their low-back pain evaluated received either an MRI or an X-ray; outcomes for all participants were nearly identical, regardless of which type of diagnostic evaluation they recieved. The study also indicated that, on average, an MRI cost $321 more than an X-ray, and suggested that the use of MRI may offer little added benefit, and could even increase the number of unnecessary surgical interventions.

For chiropractors, X-rays are a standard method of imaging the spine and evaluating and diagnosing a variety of health problems, not the least of which is back pain. For those who think new always means better (particularly when it comes to health care), take heed of the results of this study – in this case, X-ray imaging is just as effective as (and less expensive than) MRI in finding out what’s causing your back pain and getting you on the road to recovery.

Written by Dr. James Bogash

Reference: Jarvik JG, Hollingworth W, Martin B, et al. Rapid magnetic resonance imaging vs. radiographs for patients with low back pain. Journal of the American Medical Association, June 4, 2003: Volume 289, Number 21, p.2810-18.

If your spine misaligns in the middle of your back (between your shoulder blades), then the bones can pinch the nerves that exit between them, causing sharp pain. The sharp pain comes from the nerve being pinched, but the pain can travel around your rib cage or pierce straight through your rib cage and out your breastbone. When the nerves are pinched on the left side of your spine, they can simulate a heart attack because the pain travels around the ribs or through the chest on the left side. Sometimes the pain can last for days if the nerve is being pinched hard enough.

Other symptoms associated with pinched nerves in your mid back are: shortness of breath, increased heart rate, sweating, heart palpitations, and numbness. All of these symptoms are similar to those of a heart attack. It is always wise to check with your family doctor or get your heart checked if you are experiencing chest pain. Just remember that if all tests come back negative, the pain is most likely being caused by the misalignment of your spine. Chiropractors realign the spine, taking pressure off the nerve that is being pinched. When the nerve isn’t being pinched then it doesn’t send sharp pain signals through your chest wall.

So, next time you have chest pain…think of your Chiropractor and feel better, naturally.

Written by Dr. Heather McCarter

Pain is a symptom that something is wrong but it is often the final symptom, only present in the very late stages of a health problem. For example, a cavity may be present for years before a toothache develops. Or, a heart attack may be the first symptom that a cardiovascular problem exists.

Says Dr. Traitses, “The spinal situation is much the same: nerve impulses may be blocked by dysfunctional vertebrae (bones) in the spine — called subluxation by chiropractors — without causing pain. That’s possible because some 85 per cent of nerve fibres do not transmit pain signals. So, although the messages normally transmitted throughout the body by nerve impulses are being interrupted, there are no apparent symptoms.”

The nervous system acts as the body’s master controller, much like a computer or telephone system. Our brains are constantly receiving information from and transmitting messages to all the tissues and organs in the body, although we are not aware of the process. Through this feedback loop, the nervous system’s job is to ensure that the entire body is functioning optimally.

“Chiropractic treatment corrects the subluxations and allows the nervous system to perform at its best, therefore allowing the body to be as healthy as possible,” says Dr. Traitses.

Chiropractors are licensed as doctors, authorized to diagnose and treat conditions concerning the spine, muscle and nervous systems. Chiropractors work to promote optimal health and wellness through positive lifestyle changes.
The OCA is a voluntary membership organization representing more than 1,800 Ontario chiropractors. The objectives of the Association include public education and research devoted to improving the quality of health care for the citizens of Ontario.

Written by Dr George Traitses

Human bodies are exposed to various environmental toxins from birth. A toxin is described as a poison produced by an organism that causes disease. Environmental toxins also consist of the toxins from alcohol, cigarette smoke, medicinal and recreational drugs, caffeine, heavy metals, exhaust fumes, pollution, pesticides, and preservatives.

Sometimes, bodies become congested with these toxins due to various causes like short-term heavy exposure, lifestyle, or even a poor diet and alcohol or drug excesses. Some other causes of this exposure are food poisoning and accidental drug intake.

Detoxification, popularly known as detox, is the general term for removal of toxic substances from the body. Though the removal of these substances is one of the natural functions of the kidney, liver, intestines, lymph and blood, it can also be achieved by dialysis.

The primary path is the liver, where this waste is transformed into bile. Bile contains a vast majority of the body’s waste matter like dead blood cells and the body’s metabolic waste and breaks down fats and lubricates bowel movements.

In some cases, the body cannot dispose of the toxins as quickly as they are generated or injected. The result of this combined with various other factors such as unsolved emotional issues, strain, or another disease can seriously affect the immune system of the human body. .

Some of the symptoms are dizziness, tiredness, fatigue, nausea, lack of appetite, headaches, hives, rashes, increased body odor, mild skin outbreaks, and presence or worsening of allergies.

This exposure to toxins combined with various other factors affects the heart and cause strokes or heart attacks, in extreme cases, and may also lead to cancer and diabetes. Some other illnesses caused are Osteoarthritis, Emphysema, and Cirrhosis.

Though detox is a simple way to cleanse the body of the various toxins, it is not a way to overcome any serious addictions like drugs or alcohol dependence.

The elderly, small children, or people addicted to drugs or alcohol should undergo the process of detoxification only under the care of a qualified health care professional. Nursing and pregnant women should avoid detoxification unless under the care of a qualified health care professional.

Some general symptoms of detoxification are mild headaches, fatigue and discomfort in the first few days.

Written by Jimmy Sturo