WE NEED MORE DOCTORS! WE NEED MORE NURSES!… No, we NEED less patients.
Author: Dr. Ashley Nelson
Chiropractic Physician and Owner at Optimal Chiropractic in Crown Point, IN 46307
If I have learned anything from my years working in the medical community, the number one conclusion I have witnessed is that as a society we are very sick people. Most everyone that you come in to contact with on the day to day is ill in some way, shape, or form. Are you in pain daily? Are you diagnosed with a disease or illness? Are you overweight? Do you suffer from depression, anxiety, or lapse in your psyche? Are you taking one or more medication daily to combat your symptoms of illness? Very few people could answer no to all these questions, because very few people are truly healthy.
No, I am not going to sit behind my computer screen and hound mankind for their poor decisions and illness forming habits which have done nothing but compromise the most important thing human beings own: Their health. However, I am going to give you Dr. Ashley’s Top Tips for swinging your life compass towards a healthier state and prolonged life. When it comes to improving your healthy practices, I truly believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure. So start small. Make little changes daily, and as days add up you will see a healthy human being that you created yourself with just making small modifications.
- Know how much sleep you need! Although 7-9 hours is the “recommended” amount of sleep needed for every American to be considered healthy, is this really how much sleep you need? Maybe? Gauge this yourself! Some of you need more. Some of you need less. My number one rule is that “if something is messing with your sleep, get rid of that something ASAP.” Nothing should ever compromise your bodies time to rest and recover. So whether that be your cell phone at the bed side, your pet waking you up multiple times, your coffee that you decided you needed at 7 pm even though you knew the caffeine would keep you awake, CUT IT AND CUT IT QUICK! Nothing produces chronic disease quicker than sleep deprivation.
- MOVE EVERY DAY! Well duh… right? Did you know that contrary to the belief of our world full of desk jobs, the body was actually made for movement? Our joints need to move to maintain lubrication. Our spines need to move to push fluids throughout out discs for optimal function. So how much should you move? Do you need to lift? How heavy? How often? Can I do 5 sets of… okay stop. Just move. Whatever you want to do, just do something. I find it funny that people that haven’t engaged in physical activity or went to a gym in 10 years all of a sudden want specifics and exact exercises and protocols to use to help them get that dream body or lose that 10 pounds. Not to be rude, but you haven’t been to a gym in 8 years. Don’t you think that any type of squat you do at this point would give you some benefit, no matter if it’s a sumo squat, or with dumbbells, or body weight, or with a bar, etc? It will. Just DO IT!
- EAT MORE PROTEIN. There, I said it. Everyone wants to know the “secret” food that they should be eating for the “body of their dreams”, and nothing will help your body heal better than protein. Protein is the building blocks of everything in your body. So what do you need? Depends on your goals. The recommended protein for a human being is .8-1.0 grams/kg of body weight (yes that is textbook, but not always correct). If you are active, then you need more protein because you are constantly breaking down your body from working out, which means it’s important to rebuild it. To make things very simple, I typically recommend 1.0-1.2 grams protein/ pound lean mass of a person. This is where it gets tricky too, because it’s lean mass! That means a person does not get 350 grams protein/day just because they weigh 350 pounds. If you are an overweight female, and your lean mass should be about about 100-110 pounds if you were the proper weight, then guess what… that’s what your calculation is, not your current “obese” weight.
- PROPERLY PICK FATS. One thing I have learned with diets is people are scared to death of fats. I used to be scared to death of fats. I’ll just say it, quit obsessing over your cholesterol number and triglycerides because it’s a complete SCAM. YOU NEED FAT. YOU NEED GOOD FAT. Do you know that cholesterol is the major component for restructuring your cell walls that break down, your sex hormones, your steroid hormones? I can’t even count how many people in America are suffering daily from diagnosed “hormonal imbalances”, and these tend to be the same people eating low fat everything, trimming the fat off their meat, and never adding a tablespoon of real butter to anything scared it may mess up their cholesterol levels or make them gain more weight. Put down the artificial hormones you are ingesting or having injected to combat your hormonal imbalances and allow your body time to fix this imbalance itself by supplying it with good fats from fatty meats, real butter, avocado, MCT oils, etc. Try it. Your body is probably starving for these things.
- QUIT IDOLIZING OBJECTS. This advice is very near and dear to me, because I have realized the number one thing that makes people sick is stress, and the number one cause of stress is chasing the dollar. I need more things. My kids need more things. I need a bigger house. I need a cooler car. I better go work more hours, get less sleep, be completely miserable slaving away so I can pay for all this stuff that I truly do not need at all, as my health and sanity continually reduce and diminish from stress. Again, say hello to the recipe for chronic disease. “Better go work more hours at this job that I completely hate so I can get my kid the new Iphone XS for Christmas.” Your kid doesn’t need the Iphone XS! Your kid needs a ball and glove and you to quit working overtime so you can play catch with them. And for that matter, my next advice is THROW THE CRAP AWAY. That’s right. I said get rid of stuff you don’t need. If you don’t use it regularly, if you are keeping clothes in your closet that you having worn in years thinking “what if I lose or gain weight again and need these clothes.” THROW THE CRAP AWAY. Nothing is more stressful than just swimming in an environment of random stuff you do not need. You will feel an immediate weight lifted off your shoulders.
- INVESTIGATE AND RESEARCH YOUR AILMENTS. No, I am not saying google.com every sign and symptom that is check marked at your last physical exam, but know what your disease state is, why it happened, and your options to heal. Did you know that you can get rid of your Type II Diabetes? Why doesn’t modern medicine tell you that when you are diagnosed? Why don’t they tell you that instead of using medications and injecting yourself with insulin for the rest of your life while your health continually diminishes every year, you could actually get rid of this with lifestyle modifications? Did they give up on you? Did they decide it’s easier to make you part of the system than to empower you to be an outlier? Take some initiative for your own health and your own choices.
- Lastly, have a support system that you trust. Nothing makes me more unhappy than when a patient tells me they “didn’t like so and so doctor” or they “got a bad vibe from this medical facility.” or their “husband is not supportive of the new non-processed foods I have been trying to feed the kids”. Making changes is hard. Being healthy is hard, because it’s not what the masses are doing. Nothing makes it harder than having people around that are truly not in it to help you. If you or someone you know wants advice on health, wellness, or just needs someone to talk about research they have done or want to know about, I am a Doctor that will listen to you and answer your questions non-biased and non-judgmental. As a Doctor, it is my sworn responsibility to represent and communicate everything health to my patients. There is no dumb questions. There are no dumb answers. I am simply a crutch to help you reach an optimal health potential that you deserve to reach.
If you would like to schedule an appointment at Optimal Chiropractic of chiropractic, massage therapy, or nutritional counseling and guidance contact us at 219-661-8680 or stop in to our location at 11400 Broadway in Crown Point, Indiana. We look forward to helping you reach your optimal health potential!
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