Monday, March 23, 2009

21 Pounds in 21 Days: 21 Days to Better Health

Well, it was actually 19.75 pounds, but I just couldn’t resist the 21 pounds in 21 days. It sounded much better. Although 19.75 pounds in 21 days doesn't have the nice ear catching ring to it, 19.75 pounds "aint" nothing to sneeze at either!

There seems to be so many of these “cleanse” programs out there. I get email filling up my in-box (and spam folder)several times per day from companies wanting to sell you their products with their amazing new discovery from the Amazon or from the Mountain tops of Brazil.

Well, I’m here to tell you it isn’t something new that is going to help you lose weight, reduce your cholesterol, your triglycerides or your blood pressure. In fact, it’s something old. Very, very old…about 50,000 to 100,000 or more years old.

I just completed a 21 day purification program from Standard Process. My goal wasn’t to lose weight, but rather to lower my blood pressure. For me, it has been a pesky issue I've been battling. Even with my 2-4 exercise sessions per week for the past 3 years & my eating healthfully. Nothing seemed to give me the results with my blood pressure. Until now.


Standard Process; a nutrition company founded during the Great Depression, was a nutritional company I use to just brush off and never give a second thought. However the more I began study nutrition over the past several years, the more I realized what a fool I’ve been. The more I learned, the more I've come to appreciate what Standard Process has done and created over the last century. You can read about the history of Standard Process by clicking here.

(1) All their products are “Whole Foods” and not just vitamins or minerals in a bottle. (2) All the nutrients that go into their whole food supplements are grown on Standard Process’ own 1000 acre certified Organic Farm. Their animal based enzyme producs are from organically grown and natural pasture fed animals. They don’t go to a pharmaceutical company and purchase a lot of chemical substances from which to encapsulate into their vitamins pills. Their nutrition has been carefully and organically grown and cultivated by them. They use only the parts of the plants that have been shows by research to be the most clinically effective. To me, that carries A LOT of weight. You see, you can use an echannacia leaf or root or stem and called it echannacia. Not all parts are effective or have any nutritional value.

Now, about the purification program.....
To keep this relatively short and simple, the SP 21 Day purification program is extremely simple. You have a few supplements you will take in between meals, an SP Complete Shake you will take with and in between meals and you will eat real food. Days 1-10 consist of Raw Vegetables & Fruit. You can steam or lightly stir-fry your veggies for up to 3-4 minutes. You can use select oils such as Organic Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You should make the extra effort to eat as organic as you can. You can use a little Balsamic and red or white vinegars. You can eat as many veggies as you can stuff in(provided they're on the list). You can only have about 50% of that amount in fruit. In other words, it you have 1 pound of veggies per day, you can only eat ½-pound of fruit. You can also have some lentils to help provide you with a good source of protein during that 1st 10 day period. You’ll need the protein if you enjoy your brain functioning normally. I got a little foggy towards day 6 so I had to up the protein and it normalized everything. Wheew! This is pretty much a synopsis of what I did for the first 10 days.

On days 11-21 you can add some clean poultry and fish. We’re talking WILD CAUGHT FISH ONLY and your chicken or other poultry should be free range, organic and without antibiotics or hormones.

My results were astonishing (at least I thought so). Lost 19 pounds, 3 belt loops and a dramatic drop in my blood pressure. My blood pressure, basically went from high and needing medication to a textbook normal. Do I feel better, oh yeah!

And, the best thing…..this is such a simple plan. You’re eating the basics of what humans are meant to eat (I'm a firm believer in evolutionary eating....i.e. eating like a caveman but with better mannors)...Fruits & Veggies and (eventually some) lean-clean meats. Some supplemental nutrition is given to help support various body systems, help your system ‘detox’, some extra fiber to help “push things through (I know I know…T.M.I.) and ultimately for added protein which is essential for proper brain function.

Evolutionarily speaking, the reason we grew big brains is because an ape-man named “Lucy” 4 million years ago decided to eat a bug (probably termites) and thus started us down the road of a diet with increased protein, then the entire evolution thing happened over the next 4 million years, yada yada yada...and now we eat hamburgers and sushi. Bottom line, now we need protein and the SP Complete shake provides it.

The most difficult part of this is it takes some decent will power (and a little support from your family). But you can do it. If I did it, you can too. Your body deserves it, or better yet, you owe it to your body.

I have just made a new year’s resolution. From now on, beginning January 1st of every new year, I will do something for my body. I will spend the first 21 days of the year on the purification program. Most people gain weight throughout the year and after all of the chemical additives in our foods, pollutants in our air and water, medicines taken for other conditions and so on… building up in your body, I think spending 21 days at the beginning of the year detoxifying and purifying your system is a prescription for a better quality of life.

My ultimate goal is to remain active, vibrant, energetic and healthy. Keep up with my kids when they want to go out and play, run, bike, surf, play ball or whatever... As I age, I don’t want to be a old decrepit "seasoned citizen". I see a lot of people in my practice who just hate the process of getting older and complain about it every step of the way. But then, every so often, I get an elderly married couple who just came back from climbing some mountain in South America or trekking across Africa or biking through some quaint little towns in Europe. That’s how I want to be. Active, vibrant, healthy and feeling great.


It's been 1 month since I finished the SP Cleanse. The beauty of the program is the last 11 days really teaches you how to eat correctly. I spend 1 day per week eating some of my vice foods, basically whatever the heck I want (including desserts). Even though I eat whatever I want, I still stay away from Hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils and High Fructose Corn Syrup. But saturday was my "food party day" and Sunday I'm back on track. I've maintained my weight loss and even dropped to my 6th belt loop (that's a total of 4 belt loops). For me, learning the lessons of the last 11 days is going to help me continue to maintain the benefits and continue to reap the rewards of the program. And that's coming from someone who thought he knew a thing or two about nutrition. Hey, no matter how much you know, you can always learn more...



If you have any questions about the purification program, call me at my office. You can find my contact info here: http://www.naturalsportsmedicine.com/ You can only get it through a healthcare provider as Standard Process does not sell to consumers, only physicians.


Again, call me if you have any questions. I also have some pretty good recipes that I developed for for salad dressings, chimmichurri and others to give things a little flavor. I'll be happy to share them with you.

‘nuff said

A thinner, healthier -- DocT


Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

#chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #ToddNarson #Narson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #SportsChiropractor #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame  #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc #FunctionalNutrition #Chirooractor #Chiropractic #ChiropracticPhysician #DoctorOfChiropractic #USATriathlon #USAT #TeamUSA #CorporateWellness #HappyEmployeedProfitableBusiness #HeadacheRelief #MigraineHeadacheRelief #Migraine #SportsSpecificExam #SportSpecificTreatment #WorkCompDoc #WorkersCompensation

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Heart Attack & Exercise: If You Stop, So Do The Benefits

Researchers in Switzerland found that doing exercise helped to improve the function of blood vessels in people who've suffered a heart attack. HOWEVER the benefits of exercise disappeared within 30 days of stopping the exercise!!!

Bottom line, the benefits of exercise only benefit you if you keep up the exercise.

Bottom Bottom Line... Exercise needs to be an integral part of your life. No time to exercise you say? Make time before time runs out. Remember, it's not only about living a longer healthier life, it's about the quality of the life you live...

Click here to read more about the study

Yesterday after I got out of the office I went for a bike ride with my wife and kids. Yes, it can be that simple.

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Head Injuries, Concussions and Your Kids ... Are They Really Ready To Get Back In The Game???

Most kids, most athletes in fact can take a good knocking around, brush themselves off and keep on going. But when it comes to a head injury, a concussion, well you'd better be careful.
Just yesterday, actress Natasha Richardson, wife of actor Liam Neeson had a serious head injury from a minor trauma while skiing. Now she's in the hospital, reportedly brain dead and fighting for her life. I wish her all the best in her fight for life.
But what about that blow to the head your son or daughter took at their city league or high school game? Are they still complaining of a headache? difficulty concentrating? ringing in their ears? visual disturbances? nausea??? Well there are many signs of a concussion and you'd better know if they still have one. I know you want them to shake it off and jump right back in the game, after all, next week is "The Big Game". But there are specific guidelines set up to know if they can or should get back in the game, or sit out another week or 2 or 4. Following up with a good sports physician or neurologist is critical and can be the difference between normal life or death, or a very abnormal life as you'll see in this You Tube video.
From a professional standpoint (and as a parent), 1-head trauma is enough and can be very serious by itself. But couple that with a second concussion and you're in a totally new ball game. Ever heard of "Second Impact Syndrome"??? If not, you should. It’s a medical emergency and is a life & death situation. Pay close attention to this video and think twice when sending you kid back into the game before the symptoms of their first blow to the head are gone....and no, this isn't an isolated case. It has been written about in sports medicine, internal medicine and neurology journals for years.
'nuff said,
DocT
__________________
Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Stop Tripping Over Your Laces - Learn To Tie Them The Right Way

Ever wonder why you keep having to stop and re-tie your shoe laces? Well, you, like me may have been making a simple and easily correctible error.

Improve your times and don't worry about triping over your laces again, just sit back and watch this video from runner's world. Enjoy...

DocT

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Organic Scam

I know, all of you convention food folks trying to justify your existence are happy to see the title. Sorry to disappoint you, but Organic Food is healthier than conventionally grown food for several reasons. Most of what I eat is organic and I wouldn't waste my money if it truly wasn't worth it. But this isn't the focus of my current frustrations. Today I want to discuss something different...a little more in-depth into the organic food industry. You see, there’s a scam within the organic food industry that needs to be uncovered and I’m in the mood to stir it up today.

Yesterday I’m in Whole Foods here in South Beach. I’m looking through the dairy section for some raw milk and some good healthy eggs. I found the milk, but the eggs…. We’ll, herein lies the scam…

So, there are several different brands of “organic eggs” on the shelf at Whole Foods. All of which proudly advertise their hens are cage free (note it didn’t say pastured or free roaming) and they eat a 100% vegetarian diet.

I bet that sounds wonderful doesn’t it? 100% vegetarian diet. Some of them advertise 100% organic corn, or organic feed, or roasted organic feed. Some even advertise organic flax meal to enhance Omega-3 content of the yolk.

Ready for the scam?

What is a hens natural, evolutionary diet? Is it corn? Is it soy? Is it roasted corn? Is it 100% organic corn or flax seed? If you said yes, you’d be 100%.....wrong.

Naturally, chickens/hens roam grassy fields pecking away on bugs, worms, larvae and seeds. Chickens are NOT vegetarians, they are omnivore and protein is an important part of their diet. Of course, I'm only using evolution as my reference, not something more valid like the opinion of someone at whole foods or someone that sells multilevel vitamins (sarcasm intended).

Just because you give an animal (or a human) something grown with organic principles, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Did you know that modern day corn is genetically engineered? Yep. Corn use to have a 12C molecular structure (that’s 12 carbon atoms). Modern day corn has 13 carbon atoms. But, you can take that genetically altered corn and grow the seeds in organic soils, use organic compost materials to fertilize it and end of with an organically grown genetically modified corn plant. Organic or not, it's still not healthy for you to consume.

Nor is it healthy for a cow (whose natural evolutionary diet is the flowering tops of grass) or for the hens making the eggs for your breakfast.

If you want a truly healthy egg from a truly healthy hen, you need to get eggs directly from a farm that allows their hens to run around the fields (typically after the cows have chewed up the grasses then poop it out, flies sworm and lay eggs, then larvae hatch), peck their natural evolutionary diet and extract the nutrients to live a full, healthy chicken life and produce truly healthful and nutritious eggs. 

It is E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y rare for these healthy hens and their eggs to have salmonella. However salmonella is significantly more common in eggs from hens grown in a conventional manor. Why? Their given food they were never meant to eat, now allowed to exercise and they live in an artificial & stressful environment. This produces stressed out – very unhealthy hens and eggs that are nutritionally poorer and susceptible to disease.

So, therein lies the organic scam. You can feed any animal or any human anything organic. If that food, organic or not isn't the native evolutionary food for that species, then they will be organically sick and eventually organically diseased!

Next time you’re in Whole Foods or some other “Natural Food Store” and are about to buy eggs or some type of meat…when it says organic, ask yourself (and maybe the dairy or meat manager) if these animals were fed “their” natural organic evolutionary diet?? Or simply “An” organic diet, on foods not native to the animal???



***Healthy foods are only healthy if they (the animal that produced the food) ate foods they were meant to eat. Organic or not.

***Cows are supposed to eat grasses, not corn, not soy, not hormones, not dead diseased cow waste, not antibiotics.


***Chickens are supposed to peck bugs, worms and whatever else they want to while running around (aka: exercising) in fields. Not corn, not soy, not flaxmeal, not hormones, not farm waste, not antibiotics


***To all those expensive fancy steak houses that advertise "100% corn fed beef"...your beef is crap. It's unhealthy and I wouldn't touch it with your fork. Why don't you advertise that your 100% corn fed cows can't live past 150 days on their 100% corn diet.


***Next time you go out for dinner or to the grocery store, ask yourself if your food also ate healthfully? If yes, then buy it and enjoy it.

I also want you to be careful of the terms "cage free" & "humanely treated" as they infer something other than what they may actually represent.  Remember, question everything until you get a specific answer and use your purchase power to influence your local retailers.

Anyone know of a good healthy local farm? I need some eggs!

nuff said

Dr. T



Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

#chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #ToddNarson #Narson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #SportsChiropractor #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame  #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc #FunctionalNutrition #Chirooractor #Chiropractic #ChiropracticPhysician #DoctorOfChiropractic #USATriathlon #USAT #TeamUSA #CorporateWellness #HappyEmployeedProfitableBusiness #HeadacheRelief #MigraineHeadacheRelief #Migraine #SportsSpecificExam #SportSpecificTreatment #WorkCompDoc #WorkersCompensation