Eat greens, every day.

Eat greens, every day.

A study published in the Dec. 20, 2017 issue of Neurology, by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found some impressive results correlated less cognitive decline with eating more green, leafy vegetables.

People who ate one serving of leafy green vegetables daily performed substantially better on cognitive tests so much so that it would put them at an equivalent of 11 years younger than others their same age who were not eating greens on a regular basis.

We make smoothies on a daily basis and always include mixed greens. My 3.5 and 1.5 year old girls love them, see our go to recipe here. 

Read the complete article Daily Leafy Greens May Slow Cognitive Decline at 

rush.edu.

Energy Increase from Interval Training

As many of you know I'm a huge fan of changing your workout up and not doing the same exercise over and over. 

Research comes out daily showing how beneficial interval training is for our health. This study showed that after only 3 weeks of interval training our bodies ability to process and create energy was drastically improved! And the older someone was, the better results they saw! 

"The younger volunteers in the interval training group saw a 49% increase in mitochondrial capacity, and the older volunteers saw an even more dramatic 69% increase."

Start today and you will basically see an instant boost in your energy and your bodies ability to process food.

   

                 Source: sciencedaily.com

Prevent heart attacks through diet [NBC 25]

As seen on NBC 25, written by Joel Feick 

Dr. Dan says these foods can lead to good heart health
 
Saginaw chiropractor Dr. Dan Kehres says the quickest way to good cardiovascular health is through your stomach. What you eat can lead to great heart health.

Dr. Kehres, who appears regularly on NBC 25 Today, says blueberries, almonds and dark chocolate are foods you should include in your diet. He calls it part of a Polymeal. He says following it can reduce heart disease by 75%. He also loves anything that's homegrown. He's even printed up some t-shirts that read "Eat Local."

He also says red wine in moderation is good for your heart.

Check with your doctor before changing your diet dramatically. But the Polymeal diet is packed with nutrition. It's something to consider.

Watch the July 30, 2013 NBC 25 segment: 
 

Sugar: The Rodney Dangerfield of Sweeteners [NBC 25]

As seen on NBC 25, written by Joel Feick, with Liz McFarland



Poor poor sugar. It get's no respect. But a local nutrition expert says if you have to sweeten up your coffee (or iced tea or whatever), it's not a bad way to go.

Dr. Dan Kehres is a Saginaw chiropractor with a passion for nutrition. The former college football running back leads an extra-healthy lifestyle and urges you to consider doing the same. He's a regular contributor to NBC 25 Today. 

Dr. Dan is all about eating things that aren't processed and sugar products are no different. He showed us a host of artificial sweeteners: aspartame, sucralose, etc. He says these products aren't good for your body because they're hard to digest.

Instead, stick with the all natural sweeteners: honey, fruit and yes even sugar. It's better than the pink stuff: all chemicals. He also likes a product called SteviaPlus. It's all natural.

Dr. Dan's advice: be good to your body. Skip the food that contains chemicals. Stick with food that's all natural. 

Pretty simple advice.

Saginaw Chiropractor on Balance: Use it or Lose it! [NBC 25]

Saginaw chiropractor Dr. Dan Kehres, as seen on NBC 25 with Joel Feick:



Balance is something many of us take for granted – until we lose it. An indication on how well your brain is communicating with the rest of your body, balance typically gets worse with age. But you can improve your balance, it just takes practice like any other skill.

Most people sit for the majority of the day which is one of the worst things you can do for your balance. Standing and moving around activates the muscles in your legs therefore improving your coordination and balance.

According to The Gerontologist, falls are the leading cause of injury death for people over 65 years of age. Also, on average one in three people age 65 and older fall one time per year. Being proactive and preventing falls is very important for this age group. Especially when it is slippery outside, always take smaller steps as the larger steps you take, the worse your balance gets!

Many falls actually happen at night when it is dark. When you aren’t able to use your eyes, it completely changes how your body balances. Now imagine getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, your vision is not very good and your leg muscles are not as strong as they used to be. Practicing balance exercises with your eyes closed is a great way to prevent falls and injuries.

Practice these balance exercises daily: 

• Stand on one leg: alternate every 30 seconds, five times on each side. This helps the connection between your brain and the rest of your body improving balance.
• Stand on one leg, eyes closed: alternate every 30 seconds, five times on each side. Be sure to hold on to a wall or chair when you start practicing! This helps to prepare your body for walking when it’s dark. If you get really good at this, buy a balance disk and practice on that.
• Chair squats: Use a chair and practice getting up from a sitting position, 20 times with no hands. Squats help strengthen your legs and hips, creating a strong foundation to prevent falls. Weak leg strength is the main reason people their lose balance and fall. 
• Up and down: Practice getting on the ground and getting up. If you have trouble with this, make sure you practice with a friend to help you. Many elderly people struggle getting off the ground without something to grab or lean on. If they fall in an icy parking lot and nobody is around to help it could mean big trouble! This is a very simple exercise to practice, but very important.

Start doing these exercises on a daily basis to improve your overall balance. Injuries from falls could greatly be reduced by doing them.

NBC 25: Coconut oil - you can cook with it, rub it on your skin and put it on bug bites

By Liz MacFarland, NBC 25

"Throw out your vegetable oil! The only oils you need in your house are olive oil and coconut oil!" That's what Dr. Dan Kehres says, a wellness physician and chiropractor in Saginaw.

Dr. Kehres says If you are cooking something that is so hot it will smoke, use coconut oil. Anything that will not be heated or only lightly sautéed, you should use olive oil.

Experts say to look for expeller-pressed, organic coconut oil. If the coconut oil is expeller-pressed, it is less likely to taste like coconuts. Dr. Kehres uses it to cook eggs, chicken, vegetables and more.

You can also use coconut oil on bug bites to stop itching and to help it heal. For dandruff even! You can rub the oil on your scalp, let sit for 15 minutes and wash out. It also works as hair conditioner, there are a variety of uses for coconut oil.

Coconut oil can also easily be made into a lotion for your skin. The easy recipe be found by clicking here. 

Coconut oil is available at Kehres Health & Chiropractic in Saginaw or can be found at your local health food store.

Watch previous NBC 25 segments:
Eat Breakfast Like a King
Avoid Sugary Breakfast Foods for Kids

18 Uses for Coconut Oil

There are many benefits of coconut oil, from cooking to skin lotion – coconut oil is one of the best products to have on hand. It is important to your health to reduce chemicals and toxins as much as possible, especially if you are pregnant or have young children at home.

Here are 18 uses for coconut oil:

1. Age spots (also known as liver spots) – applying coconut oil directly to the age spot will help it fade.

2. After shave – coconut oil will help heal your skin after shaving without clogging pores. Great for razor burn!

3. Baldness – apply three times a day to affected area of hair loss. Coconut oil supports cell regeneration.

4. Bruises – applied directly to the bruise, coconut oil enhances the healing process by reducing swelling and redness.

5. Bug bites – when applied directly to a bug bite, coconut oil can stop the itching and burning sensation as well as hasten the healing process.

6. Cooking oil – when cooking food that reaches high temperatures, use coconut oil as it has a higher smoke point than olive oil. The organic coconut oil we carry at Kehres Health & Chiropractic won’t leave your food tasting like coconut.

7. Cradle cap – having issues with dry skin on your baby’s scalp? Coconut oil will not only nourish your baby’s skin, it also helps eliminate cradle cap. Just rub a teaspoon onto scalp daily.

8. Dandruff – coconut oil soaks into the scalp moisturizing dry skin and relieves symptoms of dandruff. It also helps to control oil secretion from the scalp, another leading cause of dandruff.

9. Diaper salve – safe and chemical free for babies with diaper rash, also safe for cloth diapers.

whipped coconut oil lotion

10. Dry skin – use an electric mixer to create all-natural whipped body lotion. Coconut oil can also help relieve psoriasis, stretch marks, dermatitis and eczema.

11. Eye cream – apply under the eyes to reduce puffiness, bags and wrinkles.

12. Hair conditioner – massage into your scalp and hair, let sit for 10 minutes and wash out.

13. Insect repellent – mix coconut oil with a bit of peppermint oil extract and rub it on exposed skin.

14. Lip balm

15. Makeup remover – use a cotton swab and a dab of coconut oil.

16. Pets – if your pet is itchy, rub on their skin and feed them a teaspoon of coconut oil a day.

17. Supplement – add coconut oil to your daily supplements, eat a spoonful of it each day or add to shakes, to prevent disease and reduce inflammation. I’ve had patients see improvements in dementia and Alzheimer’s from eating coconut oil daily.

18. Wrinkle prevention and reducer – rubbing coconut oil on winkles and sagging skin helps strengthen the connective tissues.

Always look for extra-virgin, expeller pressed, organic coconut oil. It can be found at your local grocery store, health food store or at Kehres Health & Chiropractic.

What is your favorite use for coconut oil? Tell us at our Kehres Health Facebook page.

Learn more about creating a healthy home.

Source: hybridrastamama.com

Turmeric: #1 Spice for Health Benefits

Every time I cook, I incorporate spices not only for their great taste, but for the variety of health benefits as well.

My all time favorite spice is turmeric, and it has been shown to help with a variety of health conditions including digestion, arthritis, Alzheimer's, liver function and detox, cancer and more. 

See my video on the many benefits of turmeric:

In India, where turmeric is widely used, the prevalence of four common cancers in the U.S. -- colon, breast, prostate and lung -- is 10 times lower. In fact, prostate cancer, which is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in U.S. men, is rare in India and this is attributed, in part, to the curcumin in turmeric.

Curcumin, which is in turmeric, also provides safe, natural pain relief, similar to an ibuprofen (without the risk of negative side effects). Recently, I had a friend suffering with arthritis and I recommended for him to mix 1 - 2 teaspoons of turmeric in a small glass of water and drink daily. In less than two weeks, the swelling and pain he had from arthritis had significantly decreased.

If you find that you don't like the taste of turmeric, try a supplement with turmeric in it (available at Kehres Health & Chiropractic) or drink daily mixed with water.

Make your health a priority today by incorporating turmeric into your daily diet!

How to Choose Personal Care Products

Would you eat it? This question is something you should be asking yourself when buying personal care items and beauty products as our skin quickly absorbs everything we put on it. For example, if you were to stand barefoot on a garlic clove, within minutes you would taste the garlic (and have pretty smelly feet). It is important to not only make sure you are eating healthy foods, but also using healthy personal products.

The Environmental Working Group, who also provided the organic "Dirty Dozen" list, analyzed cosmetics and personal care product ingredients against definitive government, industry and academic databases of hazardous chemicals and found that more than one in five personal care products contain chemicals linked to cancer, 80% contain ingredients that commonly contain hazardous impurities and 56% contain penetration enhancers that help deliver ingredients deeper into the skin.

Similar to choosing healthy foods, follow similar rules when searching for healthy personal products: look for short ingredients lists, easy to pronounce ingredients (not a bunch of chemicals) and try to find organic. A great resource is EWG's Web site Skin Deep cosmetic safety database, you can type in the name or brand to get a rating and report.

Last year I wrote about the many benefits of coconut oil, and besides its many uses in the kitchen, it is my favorite skin lotion. After recently traveling on a long plane ride, Jen's skin got really dry, so she did an (unscientific) experiment and used coconut oil on one arm and organic lotion on the other. After just one day, the arm she used coconut oil on was completely smooth while the other arm was still dry.

Also, coconut oil is a nourishing conditioner for your scalp and hair, and it can be a natural remedy for dandruff.

The next time you are shopping for personal products, ask yourself, would you eat it?

We use organic, extra virgin, expeller pressed coconut oil, available at Kehres Health & Chiropractic for $13.00. To purchase, contact us at 989-607-4322 or drkehres@kehreshealth.com

A Simple Tip for Living Past 100

Drink veggie shakes! In September, I wrote the article Dr. Dan's Veggie Shakes about my daily green shakes and received a lot of great feedback. I was so excited to hear about how many people have tried them and continue to drink the shakes daily.

I recently read about 109 year old Bernando LaPallo on drmercola.com, who believes in eating raw food and puts a salad in a blender almost daily. As Dr. Mercola says, Bernando "offers living proof that living and eating the way nature intended is rewarded with a long life. Having eaten a diet of primarily raw foods, LaPallo is more alive at 109 than most people are in their 70's and 80's."

Congratulations Bernando on being a true picture of health!

I encourage you to try a veggie shake, as it is an easy way to get more raw vegetables into your diet.

Here are some great recipes from some of my friends and family who make their own,

Kate: "I wasn't sold on the idea of a veggie shake but Dan has finally convinced me! I wanted to ease into all the veggies so for a personal shake I put half a head of romaine lettuce, about a handful of spinach, and a handful of pineapple and strawberries, and about a half cup of water! It was really good, it has almost no taste of the lettuce and spinach (just make sure you blend it completely!). Thanks for finally getting me to try it Dan!"

Rhyan: "My favorite is spinach (hand full), ricotta cheese (1/4 cup), almond milk (1/4 cup) and chocolate protein powder (2 tbs). I add half of a hand full of almonds too."

Jeff: "My daily shake consists of 1 banana, 10-15 raspberries, 10-15 blueberries, 5 strawberries, 2 large stems of kale, and a huge hand full of spinach. The banana is key for making the shake creamy and raspberry is the key for high fiber. The raspberry and banana really help increase the flavor as well. I like the shake 2/3 full of water to make it a little thicker. This makes roughly 40 ounces so 20 ounces for two people. I either do this and refrigerate over night so it is cold or I add ice so it is cold on the spot."

Sources:
Read Dr. Mercola's original article
Visit Bernando's Facebook page
Order Bernando's book

Positively Add Years to Your Life

Do you see the glass as half empty or half full? Those who see the glass as half full may be adding years to their life.

Do Positive People Live Longer was a question posed recently in the Huffington Post. Reporter David Hamilton Ph.D. says “a host of exciting research has shown that attitude affects our health – so much so, in fact, that a positive attitude can add years to our lives.”

There are a variety of studies that confirm that positive people do live longer.

• Healthy volunteers contracted a cold or flu virus and were assessed by their emotional style. The results clearly showed that the most positive people produced less mucous and had fewer overall symptoms. Study by Carnegie Mellon University.
• A 30-year study found that optimists had around a 50 percent lower risk of early death than pessimists. Study by Mayo Clinic.
• When a group of 660 elderly people were interviewed to see whether they had a positive attitude about aging, those that were positive, lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those with the most negative attitudes. Study by Yale University.
• In the Netherlands, a study found a “protective relationship” between optimism and mortality, meaning that optimists lived longer. There was found to be a 77 percent lower risk of heart disease than pessimists. Arnhem Elderly Study

There are four types of stress; physical, chemical, nutritional and mental, that can cause and promote inflammation – leading to disease. Reducing mental stress can prevent disease and improve your health.

“How do we turn our minds to more positive things?” Hamilton says. “Counting blessings is a simple way. Or challenge yourself to go three weeks without complaining, moaning, or criticizing.”

One way I’ve been doing this is to make myself accountable for counting my blessings by posting daily on my blog Gratefully Aligned. I encourage you to write down one thing you are thankful for every day.

Hamilton asks if you have a tendency to "make mountains out of molehills"? If so, try out the opposite just for a week. Try making molehills out of mountains.

Many people have heard of Dale Carnegie’s popular networking book How to Win Friends and Influence People, but he also has a very helpful book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living that outlines practical techniques to reduce worry and stress in your life.

“These simple techniques don't sound like much, but if they become a habit, they'll be some of the best habits you've ever adopted, because they might just add years to your life,” Hamilton concludes.

Read the complete article from the Huffington Post here.

Dr. Dan's Veggie Shake

For the past few years I have been making vegetable shakes almost daily, and I have received a ton of questions about them and also a few crazy looks for drinking them (especially when I used to make them with broccoli!). These green shakes are an excellent way to get more nutrients into your diet throughout the day.

Sometimes I'll add protein to my shakes, but I typically drink it as a snack throughout the day. The great thing about a blender, is that you can mix anything together! I encourage you to try a veggie shake, and notice the increase in your energy levels.  I'd love to hear your favorite shake recipes.

Watch my video on vegetable shakes here!

Sleep Yourself to Better Health

This article was originally posted on 360mainstreet.com

For thousands of years humans have been synchronized with the cycle of the sun—the circadian cycle. It has only been in the past 100 years that this cycle has really changed. With the invention of electricity, the typical hours people are awake and asleep has shifted.

When sunlight hits the body it tells us that it is daytime. As fluorescent lights, televisions and computer screens flicker on and off between 60 and 120 beats per second, our bodies interpret these lights as morning sunlight, keeping us awake. No matter what type of light it is, the stress hormone cortisol is released. This hormone wakes us up and helps prepare our bodies for the day, so cortisol drastically increases in the morning and then slowly decreases throughout the day until sundown. This gradual reduction of cortisol throughout the day is what prepares our bodies for sleep. To help reduce the amount of cortisol, it is important to prepare your body by lowering the lights and winding down before bed.

In order to allow your body full recovery time during the sleep cycle, reduction of cortisol is essential. Stimulants such as caffeine, sugar and tobacco all increase cortisol. It has been shown that caffeine has a half life of six hours. So, if you drink a cup of coffee at 4 p.m. with 400 mg of caffeine you will still have 200 mg of caffeine in your system six hours later at 10 p.m. Due to caffeine’s long lasting effects, try to avoid it after lunch and in the evenings.

Here are other tips to lower cortisol and sleep better:

• Shut down your computer or T.V. an hour before bedtime 
• Turn off main lights in your house an hour before bed and use only dim lamps or candles
• Remove night lights from your room and use dark curtains or blinds to block any outdoor light 
• Don't work from your bed, keep it for sleeping as your body will associate work with bed and increase your stress level.
• It is important to take care of your body as any form of physical stress will lead to an increase in cortisol 
• Sleep in temperatures of 70 degrees or cooler
• Wake up naturally. I personally use the Soleil SunAlarm clock, which is an alarm clock that simulates the sunrise in the morning (also available at Kehres Health).
• Ideally, aim to be in bed by 10 p.m. and to sleep by 10:30 p.m.

Following the proper sleep cycle, our bodies should be ready for sleep around 10 p.m. Throughout the day our bodies go through a variety of physical and mental stressors, and sleep is the time to rebuild and repair our muscles and brain. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. our bodies do most of the muscle repair, and after 2 a.m. mental repair takes place. If you go to bed at midnight, you will miss two hours of physical repair potentially causing you to wake up feeling tired and even sore, as your body didn’t get to finish repairs from the night before.

The more you can do to get back in sync with the sun’s cycle, the better sleep you will have and the more energized and restored you will feel the next day.

Friday Favorite: Avocados

Recently I was in Mexico for vacation, one of my favorite things about traveling is enjoying the foods of different cultures. In Mexico, they typically use a lot of fresh fish and local vegetables in their cooking.

One of my favorite meals on the trip was the fresh fish ceviche made with grouper, raw vegetables and avocados in lime juice. My other favorite meal was guacamole made with local avocados mixed with peppers, onions, tomatoes, cilantro and lime.

Both of these meals are a way to eat raw vegetables and a variety of other nutrients – especially monounsatured fat. There are types of healthy fats, monounsaturated fat for example, found in coconut oil, raw nuts, avocados and other foods can actually help reduce cholesterol levels. The lutein in avocados, a member of the carotenoid family, is found to be a natural anti-oxidant and great for maintaining eye and skin health.
 
As most Americans lack fiber in their diet, avocados are a great source ranging from 11 to 17 grams of fiber per avocado depending on the type.

Take a tip from the Mexican culture and try making guacamole with fresh avocados, using them on salads or even just peeling and eating raw avocados for a great heart healthy snack!

Go Nuts for Coconuts!

This article was originally posted on 360mainstreet.com.

In the 1930s, a dentist by the name of Weston Price traveled the world and found that when cultures followed traditional diets, their overall health was significantly better than those that followed the diet of modern civilization. While traveling throughout the South Pacific, Dr. Price found that people eating diets high in coconut were extremely healthy, with virtually no cases of high cholesterol or heart disease, despite the high concentration of saturated fat.

Natural saturated fats like those found in coconuts, real unpasteurized butter or free range eggs have unfortunately been given a bad name due to the low-fat diet craze. Healthy fats are crucial as they are used to make our cells, hormones, vitamins, energy for our brain and other crucial components of the body—given they are the correct types of fats. Eliminating fats from our diets can have a devastating effect on our health. Just be sure to differentiate saturated fats found in fried fast foods from saturated fats in their natural unprocessed forms which are found in nature.

Coconut oil is also the best oil to use when cooking at high temperatures. All oils have a "smoke point," which is the point when a good oil can turn into a bad oil. High temperatures can cause oils to become rancid and lose their health benefits. Luckily, coconut oil has a much higher smoke point than other oils, so it is one of the healthiest options to use in the kitchen because it can stand the heat.

Not only is coconut oil a phenomenal source of fats, but it's one of the best lotions to use. Keep in mind the advice if you can't eat it, then don't put it on your skin, as your skin absorbs chemicals from lotions. An all-natural alternative to skin lotion, coconut oil has been shown to help protect skin from the damaging effects of free radicals. With its anti-aging benefits, coconut oil also helps improve the appearance of skin. Even more, coconut oil is a nourishing conditioner for your scalp and hair, and it can be a natural remedy for dandruff.

When buying coconuts, make sure to look for organic ones, and when purchasing coconut oil, look for organic extra virgin and cold pressed. When you smell the coconut oil, it should smell just like fresh coconuts. Coconut oil can be found at most grocery stores or health food stores.

Whey it ain’t so! The Health Benefits of Whey Protein Powder

Anti-aging research is always looking for the fountain of youth. Although they may never find the actual fountain there has been some pretty interesting research published recently.

A lot of the new research focuses on telomeres. Bundles of DNA found in every cell, telomeres are like very long ribbons that shorten naturally with age. Similar to biological clocks, the longer your telomeres are, the longer you will potentially live!

As of now, there is no way to slow the shortening of these telomeres (whey it ain’t so!), but you can avoid accelerating their shortening. Living an unhealthy lifestyle, eating processed foods, having chronic mental stress and not exercising are all examples of things that could possibly shorten your telomeres. 

Another way to prevent the acceleration of your biological clock is to consume more glutathione. Found in whey protein, GSH increases the integrity of telomeres and protects them from stressors like free radicals. Not only is whey protein a source of GSH but it’s also one of the most potent sources known!

Dr. Mercola named whey protein one of the Top 7 Foods That Slow Your Aging. To learn more about telomeres and life span, watch this 10 minute video.

Kehres Health & Chiropractic in Saginaw carries high quality whey protein available in vanilla, chocolate and unflavored. To order contact us at 989.607.4322 or drkehres@kehreshealth.com

Prevent Dry, Winter Skin

Winter brings many merry things – but dry skin isn't usually one of them. Dry winter air, heat from radiators and exposure to the elements all contribute to dry skin – but there are factors you can control, such as the types of foods you eat.

Your skin gives you a good idea about what’s going on inside your body. So a healthy body equals healthy skin.
How does this work? All the cells in your body are made up of fats and if you aren’t putting the correct types of fats into your body, your cells aren’t going to be as strong or function as well as they could be.

What are the correct types of fats and where do you get them? Two of the main types of fats in our bodies are Omega 6’s and Omega 3’s. We are suppose to have a 1:1 ratio of these types of fats. Currently, the average ratio of an American is 30:1 Omega 6’s to Omega 3’s. When these ratios are out of balance – it is unhealthy for your entire body, skin included.

To help balance the ratio, you not only need to increase the amount of Omega 3’s that you are eating, but also reduce the amount of Omega 6 fats. Omega 3’s are found in highest concentrations in green vegetables, grass fed meats and especially wild fish. Omega 6’s are found mostly in products that are made from vegetable oil, grain fed animals and processed carbohydrates.

Learn more about Omega 3's here. To purchase high quality Omega-3 supplements, visit Kehres Health Products.

Source: Dr. Mercola, mercola.com