Chiropractic Therapy for Migraines

Of all the problems that our patients come to us with, headaches are the most difficult to help because there are so many causes for them and types of headaches...over one hundred!  Of these, we have found migraines to be the most complex to treat.

There are many different triggers for migraines and just as many different causes.  We have found that there are always both mechanical and emotional components that must be addressed.  If not, the typical outcome is usually less than satisfactory for the patient.

We have to understand that the central nervous system records and memorizes every mechanical, emotional, physiological, biochemical and neurological input that it experiences, daily.  If it didn't, we would never learn how to walk, run, ride a bike, speak and so on.  If the CNS didn't record all experience, we would have to re-learn everything we just learned, everyday.  On the down side, all injury and trauma is also recorded.  As such, the CNS "relearns" the corrupted input of injury and sends messages out to the peripheral nervous system (including our musculoskeletal system) that are also, corrupted or imbalanced.

Our job is to find and identify these imbalanced areas and fix them.  It is no different for the patient suffering from migraines...usually by the time someone develops migraines, many, many systems are imbalanced and need attention.

The good news is that migraines can be successfully treated or managed.  One of our patients used to have migraines 4-5 times a week.  Now, she experiences much more mild headaches once a week or less.  Others have been migraine free unless they eat the food that triggers them.  For those suffering from these incredibly painful headaches, there is relief available.

Dr. Esther & Dr. Thomas
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

Holiday-Theme GF Recipes

A post from one of my readers gave me the bright idea to ask if any of you have a particular holiday recipe that you love or make every year.  I'd been posting recipes this past week and would like to try that recipe very much.

Anyone else interested in swapping GF holiday recipes?  I'm looking forward to seeing some.

Dr. Esther

Double Chocolate Bundt Cake-GF

This recipe is one that I modified from Martha Stewart.  It uses Pamela's Baking Mix as the GF source.  I like Pamela's much better than Bob's GF flour for cakes and pie crusts because Bob's flour has a distinctive flavor while Pamela's does not (for me, at least).

You'll need a 12 cup Bundt cake pan.  Grease it liberally and dust it with unsweetened cocoa powder (instead of flour so your dark cake doesn't turn white).

This recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream; I use buttermilk powder (Bob's Red Mill), add it to the dry ingredients and then use water, adding it to the wet, instead.  The choice is yours: sour cream, buttermilk or buttermilk powder...it makes no appreciable difference.  

Preheat your oven to 325 F.

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with 1 cup of boiling water, cooled to room temperature

3 sticks room temperature unsalted organic butter
2 1/4 cups sugar (coconut palm sugar is my choice)
1 Tbsp. organic vanilla extract (GF)
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream OR  3/4 cup of room temperature water OR 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

3 cups GF flour plus    1/4 cup of buttermilk powder
3/4 tsp. pink salt
1 tsp. baking soda
Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

1 1/4 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use 60%)

Directions:

Place the butter in an electric mixer bowl, cream with the sugar at medium speed until incorporated.  Add the vanilla and the six eggs, one at a time.  Turn down the mixer speed to low and add the sour cream/water/buttermilk. Alternately with the flour mixture add the cooled cocoa mixture until all the liquid is incorporated.

Then, by hand, mix in the chocolate chips.  Spoon this mixture, carefully, into the bundt pan.

Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack and cool, completely.

Serve as is or drizzled with dark chocolate genache or even powdered sugar...your choice.

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

Why Some of Us Cannot Lose Weight...It's Our Blood Sugar Response to Food

The idea that we all could benefit from testing our blood glucose levels after eating is central to understanding why some people have such a difficult time losing weight or controlling their blood sugar response.

One of my faithful readers, BK, sent me a facebook link that clearly explains that many of us have different metabolic responses to the same diet.
 
Additionally, the researchers from the Weizman Institute touch on what I believe to be the fundamental cause of the world-wide epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease....the alteration of our microbiome environment, otherwise known as, "dysbiosis." (SP protocol specifically targets this syndrome).

I have spoken about this condition in numerous blogs.  It is caused by repeated antibiotic usage and results in the destruction of our native intestinal flora.  The overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria, causing blood sugar changes leading to metabolic syndrome, gut imbalances, intestinal dysfunction and auto-immune response disruption, is the result. 

Understanding how we as individuals respond to food is only the first step in reversing metabolic syndrome.  We must also rebalance the gut and repopulate our native intestinal flora (food, including yogurt and regular probiotics cannot rebuild the native flora) in order to restore complete blood sugar and intestinal microbiome balance.

Here is the Facebook link:  https://business.facebook.com/WeizmannInstituteOfScience/videos/942575569143312/

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

A Healthy & Yummy Easy Dessert

Many people don't love pumpkin pie, so here is an alternative for us:

A Simple Fruit Cobbler

Here's my new favorite dessert that's not only yummy, but also very nutritious.  I like blueberry cobbler, made from wild grown and not cultivated blueberries.  While the cultivated ones are delicious and contain anti-oxidants, the wild grown ones contain twice the amount.  You can buy them in the frozen food section, so they are already cleaned and stemmed...you have to love that:  convenience with a super-food!

I use a 12 inch, oven-safe, non-stick pan.

Ingredients:

20 ounces of wild-grown blueberries OR----

6 cups of sliced frozen peaches WITH 8 ounces of wild-grown blueberries, or whatever frozen fruit combination you prefer. (I like the combination of peaches/nectarines with the blueberries).

3/4 cup of coconut palm sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. non-gluten flour

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, until incorporated.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Topping:

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of Pamela's Baking Mix or Non-gluten flour with 1/2 cup coconut sugar, 1/4 tsp. pink salt, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, cut in 6 Tbsp. of cold butter and combine until the consistency of the flour is like coarse sand.  As an unusual touch, if you want, add 1/2 cup grated goat's cheddar cheese and then add about 1/4 or so cups of cold coconut milk.  Mix this just until combined, making certain that the biscuit mix isn't too moist...err on the dry side.

Place the fruit mixture into the non-stick pan and drop the biscuit mixture by spoonsfull over the fruit.  I like to try to keep the biscuit mixture about the same thickness so it bakes, evenly.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and completely done.

I suggest you place a large cookie or baking sheet under the pan in case there's a spill over.  Let the cobbler cool before serving.  This should feed at least 6 people.  This dessert is high in phytonutrients, anti-oxidants and has a low glycemic index.  It doesn't get much better than than...enjoy!

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

Antibiotic Resistance is Hurting our Children (and,the rest of us, too)

American kids are being hurt and killed by the spread of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs," pediatricians said Monday.

 "The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global crisis. It's one of the greatest threats to health today,"  WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said in a news conference Monday.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than two million people are infected by drug-resistant germs each year, and 23,000 die of their infections.

The causes are clear — people taking antibiotics for infections they cannot help; people failing to take a full course of antibiotics; natural mutation and evolution; and the widespread use of antibiotics to fatten up farm animals. 

Even though the FDA has been trying to educate farmers about the dangers of the use of antibiotics in farm animals:

"Approximately 80 percent of the overall tonnage of antimicrobial agents sold in the United States in 2012 was for animal use, and approximately 60 percent of those agents are considered important for human medicine," the committee wrote in the group's journal, Pediatrics.  When healthy animals are dosed with low levels of antibiotics, drug-resistant germs grow in their bodies.

In March, the White House released a five-year, $1.2 billion plan to fight drug-resistant germs that includes better tracking of infections, faster tests and new drugs. (That's what we all need, more drugs!)

But people need to do more as individuals, WHO's Dr. Keiji Fukuda said. WHO surveyed 10,000 people from 12 countries about antibiotic resistance and found an alarming number just don't understand what it means or what can be done about it. 

Fukuda said 76 percent of those surveyed thought the term antibiotic resistance meant people were resistant, not the germs infecting them. Nearly two thirds wrongly believe that antibiotics work to help viral infections such as colds and flu - they don't.

So, here's our choice:  continue to purchase low quality, conventionally-raised meat with lots of antibiotics in it, or wake up and demand that we want a better choice for our children (and ourselves)....it's called,  "voting with the purse."  The decision is up to all of us. You can start by purchasing a Thanksgiving turkey that doesn't contain antibiotics.

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

Some healthy recipe ideas for Thanksgiving

1.  Mashed apple sweet potatoes

According to how many people you want to feed, the amount of ingredients will vary.  This simple recipe feeds 4-6.

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 medium sized apples, if peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes

Place the potatoes and apples into a large sauce pan, cover them with water, add a little salt (1/2 tsp. pink salt) and boil on medium/low heat until tender...about 15 minutes.

Drain all the water, mash with a potato masher until it's the desired consistency (I like it "rustic").  Add a couple of tablespoons of butter, about 1/4 cup of coconut milk, one tsp. cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, coconut palm sugar, stevia or whatever sweetener you desire.  This is yummy and pretty healthy.

2.  Scalloped Vegetables

We all know the simple carbohydrate nightmare that awaits us when we eat scalloped white potatoes and cream...this is my "updated" version...still made with some white potatoes, but containing a lot of other vegetables so we don't need to feel guilty.  This recipe feeds 6-8.

Spray oil a 9 x 14 pyrex dish or other large baking dish.

3 large baking potatoes, washed but not peeled
2 small yellow squash
2 small green squash
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 small package of mushrooms (any kind you like)
2 medium fresh tomatoes or 1 small can of organic diced tomatoes
grated goat's cheddar cheese
goat's feta cheese
pink salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup of chicken or vegetable broth or, a combination of coconut milk and chicken/vegetable broth, for a creamier consistency

Sautee the onions and mushrooms in a little oil until softened...set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice the potatoes and squash into thick slices, about 1/2 inch.  Slice the fresh tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices.  Layer the potatoes, squash and tomatoes, adding a bit of salt and pepper (to taste) and then sprinkle on the feta and cheddar cheese.  Add all the onion and mushroom combination over the first layer of vegies.  Add a second layer of the vegies, ending with the cheeses that should cover all the vegetables.  Carefully pour in the broth or broth/coconut milk combination. Cover with aluminum foil (preferably recycled aluminum, but be sure to first cover the dish with parchment paper so the aluminum won't touch the vegetables).  Cook for one hour.  Uncover the dish and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Follow-up About Hypertension Medication

As this category of medication is one of the most frequently prescribed and among the medications indicated as taken by some 60% of the population, I thought a reprint of a blog I wrote two years ago was in order.  These findings need to be kept in mind in light of the "latest" study opinion that says, "the lower, the better," when it comes to systolic blood pressure.  Although, the head of the study did admit that the side effects of drastically lowering someone's blood pressure included: fainting, dizziness, tiredness, difficulty concentrating and so on.... Is it just possible that there is such a thing as too low of a blood pressure?

Here's the reprint:

Do you really need that blood pressure medication?

New guidelines have been suggested for whom should be medicated for high blood pressure.  Researchers conducted a meta-study (looking at years of data from past studies), focusing on health outcomes for people over 60 with blood pressure readings reaching 140/85.  After reviewing all the data for relationships between cardiovascular events, strokes and death rates and the efficacy of hypertensive medications, a conclusion was reached that this type of medication made little morbidity and mortality differences for those in this age group.

Researchers concluded that people over 60 years of age received no clear benefits from hypertensive medications until they showed a systolic of 150 and diastolic of 90.  Simply put, too many people are on medications that are of no proven benefit. 

As might be expected, the National Heart Association disagrees with the results of the study and wants to conduct one of its own.  Please remember, not all studies are valid and all contain biases.  However, the conclusion about the necessity for medications for hypertension was made after looking at data that were collected over more than a decade.  Any conclusions drawn by a single study by the NHA would most likely be flawed by biases, especially since the member doctors of the NHA were so quick to criticize the conclusions.  We have to remember that 75% of all doctors in this country do have some financial connection with the pharmaceutical companies whose drugs they prescribe.  No one, that I know of, has ever even hinted that this could be considered a conflict of interest.  Perhaps, it's not.

My suggestion is for those in any age group to at least consider alternatives to taking hypertensive medication, as I know of a number of studies, done over 30 years ago, concluded that 50% of all people on hypertensive medications are not helped by them....at all.  Yet, we know of the explosion of prescription meds for high blood pressure.  Is anyone else out there confused?

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

25- Year Meta-Study Proves This Exercise is Best

A newly published update to an analysis of twenty-five years of exercise studies indicates that there is only one truly effective quality and quantity-of-life-enhancing type of exercise:  WALKING! 

Actually, very brisk walking for at least 30 minutes a day, 4-5 times a week.  By definition, "brisk" means that the heart rate is increased and held at 85% of the maximum heart rate for at least 20 consecutive minutes.  There is a specific formula that takes into consideration your age and resting heart rate to determine the optimal exercising heart rate.

This type of exercise was found to be superior to swimming laps, biking, running, dancing and all other types of exercise.  For those looking to decrease the possibility of developing osteoporosis, weight-lifting stress exercise should be added to the walking, as well as taking a whole food, organic, correctly formulated calcium/mineral supplement.  (Remember, one needs sufficient hydrochloric acid in the stomach in order to break those minerals down so the body can actually utilize them.)

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com

Follow-up Information About the Dangers of Long-Term Cell Phone Usage

Here is more detailed information as to why we all need to be cautious about our EMFR-emitting device usage.

Electromagnetic field radiation is indicated as “emfr” in the literature. It's also easier to write in the abbreviated form. Basically, emfr is a low frequency magnetic radiation that is generated, constantly and continuously, by microwave and cellular technology. In nature, there are many electromagnetic fields that have no adverse affects on our bodies. That is because natural fields are either temporally constant (same frequency) or spatially constant (same shape), but never both.

 Man-made signals, by necessity for communication, are both temporally and spatially constant. These constant signals, with prolonged exposure, can cause the protein vibratory receptors located on our cell membranes to resonate (vibrate). 
 

This may seem a bit complex, but it is truly important that we understand that all communication, whether auditory or biochemical/physiological is done by vibration. All cells vibrate. The colors we see are the result of vibration just as all sounds are the result of vibrations. When any force interrupts, damages or changes these physical vibrations, our body considers itself to be under attack.

We have mechanisms that can address an attack that the body recognizes, but no mechanisms to address foreign attacks. Therein lies the problem at the core level of our cells: they do not recognize the man-made emfr signals and are unable to develop any protection for this. As is the case with all man-made signals, our cells react by going into what is called, “sympathetic lock,” in order to try to protect the cell from this perceived invasion. Sympathetic lock prevents the cell from taking in nutrition and releasing toxins. Cells will die if this sympathetic lock is not reversed.

This cell membrane reaction triggers a cascade of events that can then manifest themselves in a variety of symptoms and diseases, starting with compromising the immune system. If the exposure is prolonged, the stress-response system (our adrenals) becomes exhausted and the competency of the immune system declines to below normal. As a result, animals and humans are more susceptible to cancer and infectious diseases and conditions related to immune system compromise.

So, we can see that it isn't just our children we need to protect, it's all of us.  Don't walk around with a Bluetooth hanging on your ear; don't sleep with your smart phone/cell phone next to you on the nightstand; please turn off your phone overnight and, at the very least, use the speaker phone setting instead of holding the phone to your ear when talking.  These precautions will help to decrease the possibility of developing brain cancers.

Keeping the immune system strong is vital because of emfr exposure.  In that, at least, I can be of significant help.

Dr. Esther

drkollars@gmail.com

fixdhealthcare.com

Be Cautious When Allowing your Children to Use Cell Phones

Earlier this year 190 independent scientists representing 39 countries (including the United States) appealed to global health organization to strengthen cellphone guidelines and ensure the public be "fully informed about the potential health risks from electromagnetic energy." These scientists, who have collectively authored more than 2,000 papers on the topic, add to a growing number of prominent experts and government agencies around the world who are holding up a caution sign for consumers — particularly when it comes to kids.

"Children are not little adults," Dr. Gisela Mercada-Deane, chair of radiology at the American Academy of Pediatrics, said. "The amount of radio frequency that children will be exposed by the time they are our age [an adult] is exponential to the amount of radiation, radio frequencies that we ourselves are being exposed to in a lifetime."

Here is a reprint of a blog I wrote a couple of years ago on this very topic:

In 2007, the Bioinitiative Working Group released a 650-page report citing more than 2,000 studies detailing the toxic effects of emf's from all sources. Chronic exposure to low-level radiation (like cell phones, wi-fi, blue tooth, I-Pods, computers, etc.) can cause a variety of cancers, impair immunity and contribute to Alzheimer's disease and dementia, heart disease and other ailments.

Additionally, every single study of brain tumors that looks at 10 or more years of use shows an increased risk of brain cancer. Australia reports an increase in pediatric brain cancers of 21% (children's brains are many times more susceptible to the damages of emfr than adults) in just ONE decade. Studies across Europe and the UK show an increase in brain cancers of 40% in the last twenty years.

Brain cancer has now surpassed leukemia as the number one cancer killer of children. The BioInitiative Report also includes studies showing evidence for exposure to emfr brain tumors, acoustic neuromas (tumors on the auditory nerve which damages hearing) and childhood cancers like leukemia.

A review of 11 long-term epidemiological studies published in the Journal of Surgical Neurology two years ago revealed that using a cell phone for 10 or more years approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same side of the head where the cell phone is typically held. 

 

My next blog will go into more detail about the dangers of electromagnetic field radiation than the above-quoted article.

 

Dr. Esther

drkollars@gmail.com

fixdhealthcare.com 

More Americans Than EVER Are Taking Drugs!

And I quote:

More Americans than ever are taking prescription drugs — close to 60 percent of U.S. adults, according to new research.
And most seem to be related to obesity, with cholesterol and blood pressure drugs leading the pack, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The single most popular drug is Zocor, a cholesterol-lowering drug in a class called statins, said Elizabeth Kantor, formerly of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and now at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The drug, known generically as simvastatin, is taken by 8 percent of the U.S. population.

The other most frequently taken drugs are anti-depressants and PPIs (for acid reflux). 

I have written blogs about the side effects of all the above-mentioned categories of drugs, including liver, kidney and cardiovascular damage from statins, the same for blood pressure drugs and osteoporosis from the PPI drug category.

I do find it alarming that we are choosing the "simple" pill-way approach as opposed to the nutritional physiological re-balancing approach to our health challenges. How sad.

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com 

Warning: Xylitol can Kill Your Pets

On the CBS Evening News last night, a story about the death of a beloved dog was highlighted.  It seems that this two-year old Lab ingested some chewing gum that contained the artificial sweetener, xylitol. 

This sweetener is added to many foods and drinks and is considered "safe" by the FDA for human consumption.  However, it is deadly for pets, causing kidney failure.  Please, pet owners, read the labels on all the processed, packaged "foods" you buy, including soda.

I personally do not recommend any artificial sweeteners, mostly because they fool your body into thinking that it is getting something sweet that is purely empty calories.  It's so much better to free the body from needing to eat sweets.  My blog about diet soda and losing weight, written on August 21, 2013, addresses that issue.

Conditioning the body to want something sweet is what has this country's population at nearly catastrophic diabetic levels....we want sugar...we eat lots of sugar...we develop metabolic syndrome...we get diabetes.  Eating artificial sugars doesn't diminish the rate of diabetes, it feeds it.

April 11, 2013 I wrote a blog about splenda vs. stevia. If you haven't read it, I recommend you do so; I talk about the topic of artificial sweeteners in great detail...over three thousand people have read this blog topic, so I know many have found it interesting.

Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com