Archive for the 'Cincinnati Chiropractors' Category

Becoming Fit, Firm & Fabulous

Published
by
Dr. Edward Gould
on February 7, 2012
in Baby Boomer Issues, Cincinnati Chiropractors and Fitness
. 0 Comments

Why is it that so many people struggle with the same challenges year after year? Most of us have experienced this phenomenon in ourselves or witnessed it in others. A great example of this type of challenge would be our bodies. Did you know that a large percentage of people that go to the gym on a regular basis are frustrated by the fact that they see very little change in their physique?

Why does this happen?

There are a variety of reasons why people fail. Some are physical, most however, are psychological. Most people actually fail before they begin. What do I mean by that? It’s quite simple; they have very little understanding of the p-r-o-c-e-s-s of changing their body. Consequently, they quickly become frustrated and give up. I have written this post specifically for those of you who consistently “hit-the-wall” when it comes to changing the dimensions of your body.

The human Body is an amazing machine. If properly cared for it will function at a high level creating a strong, healthy and lean physique. If improperly cared for it will become weak, sickly and obese.

So let’s begin the story of how you are going to get your body back. The first thing I would like you to know is that your body works with the laws of nature. Like gravity, these laws work 24 hours a day 365 days a year and are predictable.

Changing the shape of your body does not require fancy equipment, a trainer or a $200 DVD program bought on a late night infomercial. However, it does require 3 things:

  1. A Solid Plan
  2. Realistic expectations
  3. A willingness to do certain things over and over again until you get the desired result.

A Picture is worth a 1000 words.

Have you ever looked at pictures that were taken of you through the years and wondered what happened? Those pictures are a historical representation, a visual diary of sorts, of how you have cared for your body up to this point. Are you pleased with how you look or displeased? Most people are displeased.

Understand this… Your body has adapted to your daily thoughts and habits. To change your body you have to change your daily thoughts and habits. The majority of people work on changing one but not both, that is why they fail.

What You Resist… Will Persist!

True change always begins by making a decision and then committing to that decision. Commitment is critical to any worthwhile endeavor. When was the last time you made a commitment to yourself that you kept? Has it been a while? Now is your chance. You are worth it!

“True Commitment is doing that in which you said you were going to do, even though the mood in which you said it has left you.”

Okay so you are now committed to begin the process of changing your body. You know that inspiration and motivation tend to diminish in short period of time. Because of this, in the past you gave up. So why is this time going to be different? Because I’m going to teach you what to expect when using this plan.

A great analogy for making changes in your body is rehabbing an old house. First of all, if you purchased the house you obviously saw potential. You had a vision of what the house will ultimately look like. The same goes for your body. The first thing I want you to do is get a vision of what you will look like when you have reached your goal. I want you to create a very Precise Vision. At night before you fall asleep with your eyes closed, imagine you are sitting in a theater by yourself watching the “you” that “you” are becoming on the screen. It’s important that you create and notice details about the new you that you are becoming. How you eat. How you move. How people look at you differently. Your energy level. Again, the more detail the better. Clarity is power. Have fun with it! By doing this nightly you are creating a mental target or blueprint for your mind and body to follow. This step is critical.

Let time be your friend

Like any process in nature, time is required for change to occur. Choosing a time frame correctly will help keep your expectations in check. You probably know the saying, “A watched pot never boils.” I always tell my clients to allow themselves a minimum time frame of 18 months. Trust me… 18 months goes by quickly if you stay focused on the process of becoming a better version of you. In a span of 18 months, many transforming things occur both physically and psychologically. These gradual changes will not only change the way you feel but also dramatically change your habits.

Take out the garbage

Okay back to the analogy of rehabbing the house. Typically, the first step of rehabbing a house is tearing out all of the old out-dated materials so that new more functional materials can be put in their place. Your old habits and behaviors are to be looked at in the same way. They function but they are no longer useful in helping you to attaining your goal. In fact, they are counterproductive. So from now on, I want you to look at any thought, habit or behavior that is not drawing you closer to your goal as Garbage. Begin the process of eliminating them. Know that in the beginning your mind and body will argue with you. This is great news. Welcome it! This lets you know you are the right track.

Thoughts are things!

I cannot possibly emphasize how important your internal dialogue is when it comes to achieving your goal. The thoughts that you accept are very powerful because they drive your daily behavior. It’s your daily behavior that either moves you towards or away from your goal. When confronted with a decision always ask this question… Is this moving me towards or away from my goal? Then choose accordingly.

Fats & Sugars

Did you know that your body has the amazing ability to burn two types of fuel? Fats and sugars. If you are overweight and have a lot of body fat, you burn mainly sugar. Did you know your body can be coaxed to burn fat by simply changing the way you eat?

It’s a proven fact that the over abundance of carbohydrates in one’s diet causes a variety of problems. For our discussion however, the main problem it causes is weight gain and obesity. To make serious changes in your body you need to begin eliminating carbohydrates from your diet. As you remove carbohydrates begin adding more high quality proteins and vegetables. As your intake of sugar/carbohydrates drop off your body will begin “choosing” fat as a source of fuel. This can take a while but the results will make you very happy.

Are you retaining water?

Did you know your body holds on to water if you are not properly hydrated? Drinking more water is a must. The rule of thumb is half your body weight in fluid ounces per day. Example: If you weigh 100 pounds you should drink 50 fluid ounces of water per day.

Time to get moving

Many people despise exercise. In fact, they equate it with pain. In reality, it is a wonderful tool if properly used and understood. I want you to look at exercise as a tool. Exercise is a very efficient way of putting a specific demand on your body. There are two forms of exercise both will help you to sculpt out a new body. Exercise five days a week.

(Remember: This is an 18 month process start out slow)

Aerobic Exercise

I’d like to teach you the secret of burning fat. To burn fat you have to get your heart rate into a range that is specific for YOU! Ones size does not fit all. Everybody is different!

So how do you figure this out? There are several ways, this I have found to be the easiest. 220 – (your age) X 70%= Your Target Heart Rate. Let’s say you are 30 years old. Here is how the calculation would go 220 – 30 X 70%= 133. So if you were 30 years old, your target rate would be 133 beats per minute. This is basically 70% of your maximum heart rate for your age. When your heart is beating in this zone your body’s chooses fat as a fuel. When your heart rate exceeds this your body chooses sugar as a fuel. We do not want this!

Ideally, you would slowly bring (over a period of 5 to 10 minutes) your heart rate up to your target rate. Once you achieve your target rate, the longer you stay there the better. Start out slow maybe 12 minutes. Over time work up to 15 minutes. Soon you will be doing 45 minutes to an hour.

I always advise my Wellness Clients to buy a Heart Rate Monitor. This is not necessary but it makes monitoring your heart rate much easier. In my opinion Polar Heart Monitors are the best. The heart monitor becomes an invaluable tool. I call it my coach. It will let you know when you are above or below your target rate. It also helps you to create a target zone. Bottom line, it makes doing this EASY!

Anaerobic Exercise

Strength training or weight training typically involves lifting weights or using weight machines. Doing push-ups, pull-ups and squats also can be used to do strength training. The procedure is straight forward try to incorporate several exercises that hit all the main areas of your body. As mentioned above you could do push-ups for your chest. Pull-ups for your arms and back and squats for your lower body. Work your way up to where you can do 3 sets of 12 reps. Over time you will get stronger.

Exercise 5 days a week.

Do aerobic exercises one day and anaerobic exercises the next day. Start out slowly until you develop a good base and then expand on that base.

Discipline is not an end in itself, only a means to an end.

Remember that the past does not equal the future. You failed in the past because you simply did not understanding the process. You now understand that your body works with the laws of nature and by following the above plan, you will be partnering with these laws. I wish you success. If you have questions please leave a comment.

Yours in Health!

Dr. Gould

Is this Important?

Published
by
Dr. Edward Gould
on February 4, 2012
in Aging, Cincinnati Chiropractors and Wellness 101
. 0 Comments

Questions are Great Things.

Let me rephrase that,  Great Questions are Great Things. You see most of us go through our lives asking ourselves the same questions everyday. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, as long as we are asking ourselves quality questions or empowering questions. Unfortunately in the majority of cases, this is not the case.

I’d like to make a very bold statement.

Here it is… The quality of your life comes down to the quality of questions you ask yourself on a daily basis. So as you go through your day, start monitoring your questions. As you go through all your daily activities,  ask yourself the question… Is this Important? If it isn’t, I’d say you should delete it from your activities list.

When life confronts us with a tragedy, its funny how quickly our priorities change and how clearly we see what is truly important in our lives.

Yours in Health, Naturally!

Dr. Edward Gould

Hormone Boosts Effects of Exercise

Published
by
Dr. Edward Gould
on January 15, 2012
in Aging, Cincinnati Chiropractors, Common Sense Strategies and Wellness 101
. 0 Comments

Hormones aren’t just for sex—they help control everything from the times when we feel hungry to the timing of our heart beats. Dozens have been described, but there is now a new one on the scene. It might help explain some of the health benefits of exercise and point the way to preventing obesity and diabetes. The find was described online Wednesday in Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group).

Exercise has myriad benefits for the body and brain, but many of the triggers for these improvements have so far been somewhat of a mystery.

“There has been a feeling in the field that exercise ‘talks to’ various tissues in the body,” Bruce Spiegelman, a cell biologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and co-author of the new study, said in a prepared statement. “But the question has been, how?”

Speigelman and his colleagues found that exercise—in both mice and humans—starts a cascade of signaling changes, including the production of a never-before-described hormone. They dubbed the new hormone irisin, as a nod to the Greek messenger goddess Iris for its ability to send information to surrounding body tissue.

And the messages irisin carries are not trivial—they seem to effect positive changes in the body. An increase in irisin helps turn white fat into the more beneficial and metabolically active brown fat, which burns more calories. It also seems to make the body more sensitive to glucose, an important capability for keeping diabetes at bay.

In the study, the researchers discovered that exercise increases the body’s production of a metabolism-regulating protein, which in turn stimulates expression of a protein that can produce the new hormone, found to reside in the outer membranes of muscle cells.

The effects of exercise on the hormone’s production seem to be long-lived. Even after 12 hours of rest, mice that had been on a three-week jogging regimen had 65 percent more irisin in their blood than unexercised mice. And people who had gotten 10 weeks of endurance exercise training had double the amount of irisin in their blood than those who had not.

But could this hormone, the scientists wondered, mimic some of the effects of exercise—without subjects having to hit the treadmill? To find out, they injected a batch of obese, pre-diabetic mice that had been fed a high-fat diet with just about as much of an irisin boost as they would get from a workout. After 10 days of injections, the irisin-boosted mice had shed a little weight and become more sensitive to glucose—all without exercise. And a later dissection showed that the hormone spike didn’t seem to have any negative biological effects.

“It is likely that irisin is responsible for at least some of the beneficial effects of exercise on the browning of adipose tissues and increase in energy expenditure,” Speigelman and his colleagues noted in their paper. This find might help explain some of the “afterburn” of extra calories after vigorous activity.

Even if the hormone proves safe for humans to take as a supplement, it won’t replace all the benefits of going to the gym. But it might help people fight obesity and remain more sensitive to glucose, thus fighting off diabetes.

“It’s exciting to find a natural substance connected to exercise that has such clear therapeutic potential,” Pontus Bostrom, a postdoctoral researcher at Dana Farber and co-author on the new paper, said in a prepared statement. The researchers are now also investigating possible effects of the exercise-based hormone on other diseases, including neurodegenerative conditions, and have licensed the finding to Ember Therapeutics (a company co-founded by Spiegelman) for drug development.

via Newly Discovered Hormone Boosts Effects of Exercise, Could Help Fend Off Diabetes | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network.

10 Great Life Lessons ~ John Wooden

Published
by
Dr. Edward Gould
on January 14, 2012
in Aging, Cincinnati Chiropractors and Wellness 101
. 0 Comments

1. Ask questions and focus upon what you want to master.

He elected to ask questions and focus on success and therefore came to know success. If you become what you think about most of the time — what better concept to focus upon, contemplate and learn about then success? He spent 14 years. YES, 14 YEARS developing a success pyramid. How many DAYS have you thought about your definition of success and its component parts?

2. Life is a TEAM Sport.

Wooden embraced diversity and worked to find all players strengths.

3. Don’t treat everyone the same.

To COACH effectively you don’t treat everyone the same. Everyone responds differently. Some require encouragement and some require increased pressure and challenge. Same goes for management.

4. Concentrate on what you can control.

Coach would never let his team’s dwell on the opposition. They remained focused on what they could control — mainly…

5. Practice Fundamentals FIRST and LAST.

He was legendary for grinding even the best players on the basics. He knew they could do fancy dunks — but could they hit a clutch free throw or bank shot when it counted? Do you know what your fundamentals are?

6. Moderate and Simplify.

Wooden exemplified this on the court and off with his simple demeanor and tremendous humility.

7. Focus on effort not the result.

Knowing that practicing fundamentals takes time, he was concerned solely with effort and commitment, understanding that success is a bi-product of said constant effort.

8. Quality Leadership and management require teaching.

Effective teaching requires coaching. Effective coaching requires caring and caring requires listening! Even today, ex-players recall his impact because he cared and took the time to listen and teach.

9. Balance is everything.

He said this often – balance in life and balance on the court. He put balance only second to LOVE. Balance is everything. “Be quick, but don’t hurry”. This, in essence, is balance; controlled action in all areas of life.

10. Love Rules.

See above. He used to say “the purpose of discipline isn’t to punish but to correct.” With love in his heart and by always seeking to measure intent and effort first, his players would quickly align with the teams goal — a national championship. They never feared or second guessed his intentions.

So, when you combine all his methods, it becomes fairly easy to see why he has been so successful on and off the basketball court.

Thank you Coach! All the best Sir! Thanks so much for your tremendous gifts — your thoughtful consideration and study of SUCCESS has no doubt made many a persons’ path more swift and assured. We are all likely to go farther faster because you have contributed so generously. We have indeed been fortunate to benefit from your wisdom.

via Ten Great Life Lessons from a Legend; Coach John Wooden « ZenHabits.com | Succcess.org.

The Swine Flu

Published
by
Dr. Edward Gould
on December 7, 2011
in Cincinnati Chiropractors, Drug-Free Approach and Wellness 101
. 0 Comments

shot

Every year it seems there is a newer and more deadly strain of the flu that threatens us.  The media always depicts these viruses in away that leave us feeling fearful and vulnerable.  The “experts” solution is always the same, inoculation but is there an alternative?

What most people don’t realize is there are literally thousands of viruses on this earth, maybe millions, know one really knows. What we do know about viruses is they are master mutaters.  They are constantly morphing into another strain of virus.

With these odds it would be pretty tough, if not impossible, to guess what strain of virus to use to create a vaccine.

I keep an envelope of geranium seeds in my office that I use to educate people about their immunity.  I ask them to hold out their hand palm side up, I then place a seed on their palm. I then ask them a couple of questions.  Would the seed grow if we left it there for a week?  If not, why?  Typically they look at me like I’m nuts, however, it makes very precise point.  A seed needs a very specific environment to grow and reproduce. Viruses and germs are no different.   Louis  Pasteur the father of the germ theory put it this way,

” The microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything.”

Why is it that some people that get the flu shot still get the flu?  Why is it that some people that don’t get the flu shot do not get the flu?  These questions are rarely asked by either the media or the public.  If you are contemplating getting the shot, you should know these answers.  It’s my belief the answer can be summed up in two words… Individual Immunity.  If you live a life full of unhealthy habits you are creating an internal environment (or terrain as Pasteur put it) that invites illness and disease.  Like a lion looking for the weakest in the heard, you too become easy pray for the latest germ or virus.  Conversely, if you live that is filled with health building habits, your chances of becoming ill are significantly less because your internal environment becomes fortified.

What about possible side effects of the vaccine?

A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.

The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.

It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.

GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.

The letter, sent to about 600 neurologists on July 29, is the first sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications.

It refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when:

  • More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu.
  • 500 cases of GBS were detected.
  • The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times.
  • The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear.
  • The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected

Read more:  Source Daily Mail News Article

Below are two short videos one by Ron Paul and another by  Barbara Loe Fisher.  I think you will find both compelling and educational.

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

I hope this post has been helpful.

Yours in Health, Naturally!

Dr. Gould