“Life’s Rules”

Most patients end up in my office because they have broken one or more rules.

Every sport has rules. Break them and you are penalized. God has created rules for our universe. Break them and there are consequences, ie: the Law of Gravity. Falling off a ladder is breaking this rule that says we should keep our feet on the ground or else it can lead to a hospital visit.

There are also rules for Life and health. Break these rules and you will find yourself in my office more frequently. Obey these rules and you will enjoy better health and fewer doctors’ visits.

Symptoms such as pain, stiffness, and fatigue are merely signs or signals that we are breaking the rules. They are a gentle reminder that if we continue to break the rules we may face a stiff penalty. How often have you had a minor ache that you put off because it was “small” and could wait a few days only to find yourself hunched over and barely able to walk? The red light on your dash isn’t your car telling you to speed up! It means, “pull over and check me out, there is a problem.” Same for your body.

The rules…

Thou shall breathe. The intake of oxygen fuels our entire body. Quality is more important than quantity. Take deep breaths through your nose and exhale slowly. Most people breathe too shallowly, failing to get enough oxygen into the lungs and blood stream. Avoid airborne pollutants as much as possible. Use the little “recycle” button on your car air conditioning unit and roll up your windows while driving. Nobody needs more carbon monoxide.

Thou shall ingest nutrition. Your body needs adequate vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber to operate, repair itself and grow. Quality foods and supplementation are necessary to fuel our bodies properly. Avoidance of foods that “feel” or taste good, but provide no positive benefits should be avoided.

Thou shall expel wastes. Touchy subject. Here are the medical facts, regardless of what Aunt Dolores tells you. What goes in must go out. Elimination takes two routes; liquid and solid. The more you eat the more is eliminated. A normally functioning gastrointestinal system should expel solid waste at least twice each day. If you are once a day or less, you are breaking the rules!

Thou shall have adequate hydration. Feel thirsty? You’re already dehydrated! Drink up my friend! Every one should carry a water bottle or cup and drink at least 8 cups of water a day. Without water nothing works right. Want to lose weight? Drink more water. Have headaches? Drink more water. Have wrinkles? Drink more water. Want to be rich? Drink more water and then open up a water store!

Thou shall move. “…Baby, we were born to run!” Movement of all of our joints and muscle is crucial to preventing premature degeneration (arthritis). Movement also increases blood and lymph flow, which is essential for proper health. Staying in one place more than an hour causes muscles and joints to tighten up and circulation to slow down.

Thou shall rest. All this running around, drinking water, eating and eliminating can make a body tired. Your body needs time to re-charge itself and to repair tissues that are constantly breaking down due to use. If you fall asleep in less than 15 minutes or are yawning during the day you are sleep deprived. Go to bed a little earlier and when you can, take a nap.

Thou shall love. We are communal people who need and crave contact and love of others. Don’t be selfish, give your love to others and receive love from others to keep in balance. Hermits are rarely healthy or happy. That’s why they are called “crabs!” Sorry.

Thou shall forgive. “Unforgiveness” is a sin. Everyone blows it now and then. When we do, we may hurt others. When that happens, don’t we want forgiveness? Of course, so why not begin by forgiving others.

Thou shall serve others. True value in life comes from helping others. Centering our lives on selfish pursuits will only isolate us and prevent us from health and happiness. If you are not in a service industry, find a way to help others. The more you give of yourself the more you are rewarded.

Thou shall see life as a journey. Carry a light load and smell the flowers along the way. Don’t get too caught up in accumulating things. You will eventually leave this world with what you started with. Nothing.

Thou shall perish. It’s inevitable. Modern medicine has miraculous ways of extending the date, but it is a date certain. Rather than thinking of it as a disease, embrace it as a natural process of our life. We are here, we give to others, we enjoy life and then we are gone, at least from this life.

Your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being depend on adhering to these rules. Break them and there is a price to pay. Break some rules and the penalty is swift and severe. Others are less swift, but over time they will exact their penalty.

There is one last rule. I have saved it for last because it is the most important and also the most controversial. If I put it in earlier, you may not have read this entire message because I offended you.

Thou shall take responsibility for following the rules and paying the consequences. Don’t blame me when I show you your x-rays and your neck is severely degenerated. I didn’t do that. Only breaking the rules over a long period of time can do that. It is up to you to adhere to these rules.

Yes, I want to help you. That’s why I have identified the rules for you. That’s why I show you video after video, take the time to show you your x-rays and use high-tech computer equipment to monitor your health. I am showing you a scorecard on how well you have been flowing the rules. Or in some cases how badly you have broken them!

No one can do anything about time past and health lost due to breaking the rules previously. What can be changed though, is how you play the game starting right now. Are you going to continue breaking the rules and suffering? Or are you going to play it clean and follow the rules and be the best you can be tomorrow and the next day?

I hope I have made you think. Read more here

Warmest regards,

Dr. Barry L. Marks, DC

info@drmarks.com

“Feeling Depressed, Overweight, Difficulty Sleeping…Take a Pill!…”

That’s right I said go take a pill. Before you get upset with me let me explain…

If you watch any TV at all or listen to the radio or read a magazine you’ve been bombarded with ads regarding these conditions. And the tag line is usually “see your physician.” They have even become so bold as to tell you to ask for your prescription by name!

So if you’re depressed…see you doctor and ask for our antidepressant medication.

 

Overweight? See you doctor and ask for “the name of our latest and greatest anti-obesity pill.”

Suffering from insomnia? Our little sleepy time fairies and butterflies remind you to ask your physician for our name brand sleep aid.

What you may not have noticed is there is a link between all 3 of these conditions and the drugs that are peddled to “cure” them.

Each of these conditions involve low levels of serotonin in the brain. Lowered serotonin levels have been directly linked to depression, obesity and insomnia. This is particularly true for the aging population. Researchers have found significant drops in serotonin levels in people over the age of 50.

But why do we have less serotonin? Our stores of serotonin come from the diet in the form of tryptophan. Our bodies break tryptophan, an amino acid, down to make serotonin. If our diets are lacking in tryptophan, which many are, then we will have less serotonin produced.

The other factor leading to lowered serotonin levels is the fact that other biochemicals in the body degrade or destroy tryptophan and prevent us from creating serotonin. These chemicals are the same chemicals produced by the immuno-nervous system in response to trauma or infection. They produce inflammation. As we age, many people overproduce these pro-inflammatory chemicals and have too many of them circulating in our blood, which causes us to have lowered serotonin levels.

Seems like an easy fix. Take tryptophan supplements right? Not so fast. Until recently you couldn’t buy pharmacy grade tryptophan. Why? Because the FDA banned it’s sale in 1989 citing safety dangers.

There probably were some safety issues because of certain labs employing inferior standards that allowed tainted products into the supply chain, but the wholesale ban on importation of tryptophan made it difficult to come by. Coincidentally (nor not) pharmaceutical companies started pumping out all kinds of prescription drugs that increased serotonin levels.

And since that time conditions like depression, obesity and insomnia have become endemic in this country. Am I saying the drug companies blocked inexpensive over the counter tryptophan so they could make billions off of serotonin enhancing drugs? No. At least there’s no direct proof. But sure makes you wonder.

But now that the FDA has finally decided to reverse themselves and allow this naturally occurring amino acid back into the marketplace, we’ll see the results.

Hopefully word will spread throughout the natural and alternative medicine worlds that there is an alternative to expensive and dangerous drugs for depression, obesity and insomnia.

Caution: if you are taking an MAO inhibitor antidepressant such as Nardil®, Parnate® or Marplan® you probably should not take tryptophan. Although incidences are rare, the combination of tryptophan and an MAO inhibitor medication could lead to serotonin syndrome marked by agitation, restlessness, shivering, shaking, mental confusion, muscle cramps, increased reflexes, racing heart and alteration of blood pressure. The symptoms are reversible after discontinuing the tryptophan and there are no cited cases of death or permanent injury. If you are taking other antidepressants that are selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors or SSRI’s such as Prozac®, Lexapro®, Zoloft® or Paxil®, there is a concern that serotonin syndrome could result. 

If you are considering getting off of an antidepressant to try a more natural approach, you should consult a physician who is willing to consider alternative methods and have them guide you in slowly weaning off of the prescription drug first. You cannot simply stop taking these drugs “cold turkey.” It could lead to severe health complications. Once off of them, try implementing a pure tryptophan supplement to your daily vitamin regime.

Dosages:
For better sleep: Loading dose of 3,000 mg per day split into 3-1,000 mg doses for 1 week. Then maintain with about 1,000mg per day. If needed you can increase to 3,000 mg per day in split doses, but try lower levels first.

For mood enhancement: Loading dose of  3,000 mg per day split into 3-1,000 mg doses for 1 week. Then maintain with about 3,000mg per day in split doses. If needed you can increase to 4,000 mg per day in split doses, but again try lower levels first.

For maintaining body weight: Loading dose of 3,000 mg per day split into 3-1,000 mg doses for 1 week. Then maintain with about 2,000-3,000 mg per day in split doses. If needed you can increase to 4,000 mg per day in split doses, but try lower levels first.

Enhance the effects of tryptophan by also supplementing with Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3’s prevent tryptophan degradation by pro-inflammatory chemicals.

If you are suffering from depression, obesity or insomnia and would like to consider a natural alternative to expensive and dangerous drugs, give tryptophan supplementation serious consideration.

Here’s an exceptional product: pure tryptophan  plus a patent-pending formula that protects tryptophan from excessive degradation.

To your abundant health,

P.S. As part of a comprehensive approach to natural health, consider EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique to unblock hidden negative scripts inside your brain that prevent you from achieving optimal health and that keep you depressed, sluggish, sick or overweight.  

“Eat, Drink and Be Thin…While Lowering Your Risk for Heart Disease?!”

Those are the claims by proponents of a Mediterranean style diet.

But is this all hype or can this diet approach really improve health?

Let’s take a closer look…

First, what is a Mediterranean diet? A Mediterranean dietary lifestyle includes fairly high amounts of protein mostly from fish, poultry, beans and nuts. It is low in red meat. This eating style also includes a fairly low percentage of carbohydrate (compared to a typical American diet), most of which is derived from fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Fat consumption is higher than some people may be used to, but it is mostly from “healthy” fats from fish, olives and nuts.

So how does this diet compare with other diets? If you’re familiar with my previous article “Let’s Keep the Debate Going Over Diets,” you’ll know that I and many other health experts are proposing a realignment of the American diet to increase the proportion of quality protein and good fats consumed and drastically reduce the amount of carbohydrates taken in.

The typical American diet is so heavily weighted towards carbs that it is making us a fat nation. Worse, it is causing a tremendous rise in cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. This type of diet is also very inflammatory. It causes the body to over-react with inflammation resulting in arthritis and other inflammatory ailments such as PMS, fibromyalgia, etc.

The Mediterranean style diet closely resembles the ideal eating habits I propose to my patients and that I have included in my diet for years. I must admit that my Mediterranean heritage steered me towards this type of eating long before I knew of any health benefits. I grew up eating like this. And as an aside my cholesterol has never gone over 160, my blood pressure is low-normal and my skin is still quite elastic and heals quickly–a testament to this lifestyle.

Good sources of protein such as fish, shellfish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds play an important role. Red meat is minimized and can be taken out all together if desired with no loss of protein.

Carbohydrates are mostly fruits and vegetables which are not only good sources of healthy carbs but are high in fiber and antioxidants. Other sources of carbohydrate are whole grain products such as long grain rice, whole wheat pasta and pita bread.

Foods such as berries, prunes, pomegranate and red wine add lots of antioxidants, which is crucial to prevent cancer, premature aging and arthritis.

Is this dietary lifestyle right for you?

If you like fish, shellfish, fruits and vegetables, olives, nuts and red wine, you’ll love this way of life. Many people may not know if this is right for them because they have no idea what Mediterranean food is like or don’t know how to prepare it.

For these folks, I have found an outstanding resource on the web that has a complete Mediterranean Diet plan that can be used to lose unwanted pounds and inches or you can tailor it to maintain your weight and help your fight against heart disease, cancer, arthritis and diabetes. Mediterranean Diet Plan details can be found here.

And for those that just don’t enjoy this type of food, but want the health benefits, a fairly new product called Med-Forte is now available. This daily diet supplement gives you all the essential elements of a Mediterranean diet in capsule form. It’s made by a pharmaceutical grade manufacturer that I have done business with for over 20 years. So you can trust the purity and quality. More details about Med-Forte can be found here.

The Mediterranean style diet is more than a fad. It’s an eating lifestyle that has stood the test of time. The fare from this scenic region is not only colorful and delicious, but is healthy. Whether you are interested in losing weight or just maintaining your optimum weight this is a diet plan that can work for you. The bonus is that you will also be helping your heart stay healthy and can stave off many inflammatory diseases.

All this talk has made me hungry! I can smell the seafood risotto from here…ciao!

To your abundant health,

Dr. Barry L Marks, DC

“Back Pain and Emotions…”

This article discusses how anger and emotional expression may affect your back pain. For years many medical doctors thought back pain was more of an issue in the brain than the spine. Research has shown this to be the case in many who are disabled from work. But mechanical sprain injuries of the spine are also critical to body function and how much pain you may experience. You just cannot separate the brain from the body and expect to tackle a difficult problem like low back pain.

 Researchers at Duke University looked at this complex problem by measuring the amount of emotional expression, anger, and back pain in patients. The studies included 61 persons with chronic low back pain. The results were quite interesting. Patients who reported greater conflict with regard to expressing emotions may be experiencing higher pain and anger.

 Have you ever considered that how you express your emotions could affect how much the back hurts? Do you hold on to angry thoughts and feelings? Ignoring these issues does not make the problem go away. And covering-up your emotions with a cocktail of medications doesn’t seem like a good long-term solution, especially with the unhealthy side effects that can sometimes occur.

Of course there is a difference between “blowing up” at someone and expressing emotions appropriately. Have you tried opening up to someone? A friend, or counselor can help show how your emotions can be dealt with constructively. Some patients have severe emotional conflicts and may require psychological support. Others can become more “in tune” with the emotional side of life through simple awareness. Does your back flare up around emotional periods of your life? We can help with the mechanical stresses of the spine, but to maximize your potential you have to consider emotions and the brain. By integrating a mind-body approach to health, the complexity of back pain is addressed more fully. This may get you more engaged with life, more active, and with a healthy outgoing attitude.

Being in chronic pain is no fun, for us, as well as our friends and family. So if you think your emotions (or lack of emotions) may have something to do with your back pain, consult a competent health care provider who addresses the whole person. When patients can confront these issues in a calm and supportive environment, the need for medications if often reduced.

Because emotional stress can play a role in physical pain and can certainly prevent you from getting over pain, there are non-pharmacological, non-psychiatric methods or releasing the negative emotional blocks to return your health.

One such technique is called EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique. This is a method of balancing the body’s energy patterns that have been altered by negative emotions. The technique involves stimulating meridian points while you say affirmations. Sounds kind of out there and mystical, but it is based on sound science. Believe me, I’m no New-Age mystic, but I have seen what it can do for people with various types of issues and have even used it on myself with great results.

Numerous cases have been shown to resolve deep seated emotional problems that prevent people from achieving true health, happiness, good relationships even wealth–even when the problems have existed subconsciously for many years.

The remarkable thing is, it is a technique designed to be taught to the patient and done at home. Best of all it works quickly and has absolutely no side-effects!

Just think about it, emotional freedom without drugs, without spending years in therapy and even without drudging up old memories and pain.

This just might be something that can help you achieve the level of health, vitality and happiness you’ve only been dreaming of.

Learn more at www.myeasyeft.com

“How Much Health is Reasonable?…”

     There really is no limit. Your rational brain believes in lack or scarcity. It truly believes there is only so much to go around. This site is dedicated to the concept that you can experience health beyond what your brain currently believes is reasonable.

     We are all predestined to enjoy abundant health, wellness and vitality.  

     We are only limited by our beliefs. If you believe health is a scarce commodity, it will be. If on the other hand, you believe that health is all around you, it will be.

     One of the keys to unlocking the universe to attract more health into your life is to remove negativity and blockages. Negative attitudes and beliefs serve to stifle our ability to attract and manifest what we want.

     In the case of abundant health, a negative belief system will prevent us from acting in a manner consistent with being well.

     For example, we say we want to lose weight, but our deep-seated belief that we cannot lose weight, causes us to act in a counterproductive way. Instead of making healthy food choices, we gravitate towards high calorie, low nutrient foods that only make us heavier—and even more negative.

     Removing the negative obstacle(s) is crucial to unlock our ability to make progress. People will spend yeas and hundreds of dollars for the answer outside themselves, when they actually hold the key already.

     Once the proper key is fitted to the lock, health will begin to flow naturally.

     An abundance of health means your body is working in harmony with it’s environment and is efficiently utilizing fuel and expending energy. In time, your body weight normalizes, your cravings cease to nag at you and exercise is more appealing. 

     With the channels open to abundant health, there are no reasonable limits to health. Your ability to achieve more and more health is limitless.

     I invite you to read on and utilize our featured resources to learn how to remove blockages and open the floodgates to the universe. Go ahead claim your right to abundant health, wellness and vitality—it’s yours to take!

   To Your Abundant Health, 

   Dr. Barry L. Marks, DC