Why My Baby Will Always Get Adjusted

I'm excited to feature another guest post today, this is by my friend Victoria Rechcygl. I went to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Florida with her husband Dr. Chad Rechcygl, and my wife and I enjoyed getting to know Victoria, Chad and their daughter Gemma.

Owners of Rechcygl Family Chiropractic in Hales Corners, Wis., read more from Victoria at http://www.innatemama.com/ as she blogs about healthy recipes, raw food fasts, raising a healthy baby and more.

Gemma getting adjusted by her dad, Dr. Chad at 4 months old

I did a lot of work to keep my pregnant self, and growing baby healthy. My first priority was to get adjusted regularly by my chiropractor during my entire pregnancy. After my daughter was born, I made sure her spine was checked to make sure nothing had shifted from her birth.

I learned a lot during my pregnancy, what my body and baby need and how she was developing. I was amazed to find out that the baby’s spine and nervous system is the first thing to develop. It makes sense, because the brain and nervous system run everything in our bodies from our beating hearts to our breathing lungs and immune systems.

Everyone who spends time with us and sees our daughter is amazed by her. At 1 ½, she hardly ever gets sick and just gets the sniffles sometimes, sleeps like a rock, eats fruits and vegetables, has been alert from day one and she is always happy. We did not vaccinate her. She is stronger than any chemical that could go into her body and hinder her health. She has such a strong immune system, and much of that is due to her regular adjustments.

Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York’s Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University, did a study measuring the immunity of chiropractic patients. His initial three-year study of 107 individuals studied people who had been under chiropractic care for five years or more. The chiropractic patients were found to have a 200% greater immune competence than those people who had not received chiropractic care, and they had 400% greater immune competence than those people with cancer and other serious diseases. And as Dr. Pero noted, the immune system superiority of those under chiropractic care did not appear to diminish with age.

Victoria and Gemma

More and more studies have shown that a chiropractic patient’s immunity after an adjustment. My family and I might get sick, but it will not last long.

Knowing this, I felt much more powerful and in control of my daughter’s spine, and ultimately her total health. People say to me, "You're such a calm mom, what's your secret?" Honestly, it's knowing a chiropractic adjustment, and the perfect structure in my daughters spine, is the key to ultimate health, and longevity. I don't have to worry if she falls over, or gets a few sniffles. I know that her body heals, from her brain down through her spine, and out over her nerves to her organs and body, it simply needs no interference. That is why I am so grateful for my chiropractor, who is also my husband.

With chiropractic and a wellness lifestyle, we've seen kids on anti-depressants and Ritalin, get off their medication and be happy, healthy, focused children. We've seen babies who are scheduled to get tubes put in their ears, with "chronic" ear infections, get adjusted once, and the next day they are healed. It is possible!

This is why my daughter, and any future children we have will get adjusted from the moment they are born, for the rest of their life. We all want what is best for our kids. You have everything to gain by getting your kids spines checked, and adjusted today!


Much Gratitude,

Victoria and Dr. Chad Rechcygl

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I recently featured another mom of a chiropractic family, click here to read Jenn Cohen’s article on the benefits of exercise and chiropractic care during pregnancy.

Recipe: Tomato Chips

Eating healthy and eliminating processed carbohydrates isn’t always easy and a lot of the time you have to be creative in your meal choices. Almost all crunchy snack­­s are highly processed and made with unhealthy carbohydrates. If you have a dehydrator and like tomatoes then tomato chips are a great option!

Not only do they taste great, but tomatoes contain a powerful carotenoid named lycopene. Lycopene has been shown to help reduce the risk of prostate, lung, stomach and multiple other cancers. It has also been shown to help reduce oxidation and damage to the heart leading to a reduced risk of heart disease.

Tomato Chips

• Wash and dry Roma tomatoes (I wash produce with a mix of white vinegar and water)
• Slice into ¼ inch slices
• Top with seasoning of your choice (garlic powder, sea salt, pepper, basil, oregano)
• Place slices in dehydrator
• Leave in dehydrator for 12­ - 24 hours until crunchy.

Enjoy!



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Sign up for a free health class by Dr. Kehres. Monday, Feb. 7 or Thursday, Feb. 17, 6:30 - 7:30 pm, at Kehres Health & Chiropractic in Saginaw. We invite you to come and bring a friend! Click here for more information and to RSVP.

New Month's Resolution

It is one month into the New Year and many of us have forgotten about our New Year’s resolution. Instead of New Year’s resolution, why not start making New Month’s resolutions?

With traditional annual resolutions people tend to put off making big goals the whole year, waiting until New Year’s Eve, focusing on it for the first few weeks, then putting it off for the rest of the year again.

This year, let’s celebrate accomplishments and re-focus on new goals each month. If your resolution was to get healthy and lose weight this year, focus on incorporating two new vegetables into your daily meals this month. Or to try a new workout class at the gym three times a week. Then next month, re-evaluate your progress and pick another small goal to focus on.

Don’t sit around and wait for the New Year to come around to set goals, challenge yourself throughout the year.

Happy New Month! 

How Chiropractic & Proper Exercise Together can Benefit a Woman During Pregnancy & Postpartum

I'm excited to feature a guest post today by my friend Jenn Cohen. I went to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Florida with her husband Avery, and my wife and I enjoyed getting to know Jenn and Avery, and their son Nolan.

Jenn is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor, she designed and teaches a Prenatal Fitness class. Jenn’s class provides moms-to-be with an outlet for physical activity, mental clarity, emotional support and social interaction. Jenn and her husband Dr. Avery Cohen, D.C. had Nolan on June 9, 2009. Visit her blog http://www.the-natural-mama.blogspot.com/ for more great information.

 

As a Certified Personal Trainer, mother to a 19-month-old, and the wife of a Chiropractic Physician, I know first-hand the amazing benefits a mother-to-be can receive from regular chiropractic care and proper exercises during and after pregnancy. I had a comfortable, easy, amazing pregnancy. I felt great the whole time because my body was balanced and my nervous system was functioning at 100%.

I stayed active throughout my whole pregnancy, biking up until three weeks prior to the birth. I received weekly chiropractic care and massages, continued Yoga and Pilates (with modifications) up until just days before birth, and I used the basic principles of Yoga through labor.

As I specialize in prenatal and postnatal fitness, I’ve seen tremendous results with my clients when incorporating chiropractic, Yoga, Pilates-based principles, strength-training and cardiovascular exercise designed especially for pregnant women.

Pregnancy is different for each woman, and a chiropractor and personal trainer can work together to balance the pelvis and the spine for a pregnant woman. A balanced pelvis comes from a strong core, which will help support the growing uterus. If the body is not balanced, the pelvic ligaments could over-contract, causing the baby to shift into an undesirable presentation and can cause the mother pain or discomfort. Even if there is no pain, the imbalanced ligaments can cause an altered center of gravity and affect proprioception, possibly leading to many complaints.

As the mother’s body changes during pregnancy, the spine takes on the toll of these postural changes. As her belly grows larger, she might have a tendency to over extend the lumbar curve in the low back. This could cause tight low back muscles and tight hip flexors. To maintain a center of gravity, the thoracic spine might flex more with rounded shoulders and a forward head posture, resulting in tight neck extensors. Upper-cross/lower-cross syndrome is very common among pregnant women.

Proper breathing is a huge component of both Pilates and Yoga. As the baby and uterus grows larger, it will start to push up on the diaphragm. This results in shortness of breath/difficulty of breathing. Many mothers then resort to shallow, chest breathing instead of deep belly breathing. Shallowly breathing into the upper portion of the lungs prevents full oxygen exchange. It also overuses the accessory breathing muscles creating tension in the neck and shoulders. The more focused the breath is, the more relaxed the mother will be, the more oxygen will be supplied to her body as well as the baby and placenta.

Deep breathing and relaxation that comes with Yoga can help relieve STRESS! Stress is a main contributor to: high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, fatigue and/or insomnia, headaches and irritability. If the mother can relieve stress, she can avoid many other health issues to herself and the unborn baby.

The relaxation and meditation that I teach in my Prenatal Fitness class helps with labor and delivery. Whatever childbirth method the mother decides to use, they all have a common factor of focus, concentration, breathing and visualization, which we work on in our class. Many say that when the mother can visualize and meditate on her birth, it often goes much smoother and quicker, with less of a chance for complications.

What’s in it for baby? Many researchers theorize that changes in heart rate and oxygen levels in exercising moms-to-be stimulate the baby. They also think that babies that are born to active moms are more fit, born at healthier weights, smarter, better self-soothers and reduced risk for diabetes in the future. Plus, they have a strong, centered mama ready to take care of them!

Here is how exercising during trimesters changes:

• First trimester can come with fatigue and nausea. Heavy exercise might not be desirable. If you can get outside for a short walk, it can boost you energy and the fresh air will diminish nausea.
• Second and most of third trimester can come with a burst of energy. Increased blood volume in your body will boost your VO2 (the volume of oxygen in your blood). Some cardiovascular exercises you normally would find difficult might seem easier now. Make sure your heart rate does not exceed 70% max heart rate.
• The third trimester will come with an overall feeling of excitement, anxiousness, fatigue at some times and bursts of energy in preparation of the baby. Exercise can help you burn off some nervous energy, clear your mind and boost your mood.

Proper key movement patterns received through exercise will help hold chiropractic adjustments longer, keeping mother and baby balanced and comfortable. Are there any reasons NOT to visit your chiropractor and personal trainer? Visit The Natural Mama blog for more information at http://www.the-natural-mama.blogspot.com,
watch this video about Jenn and her prenatal fitness class:

If It's Not Butter

 

If it's not butter, then what is it?

It's chemically made by mixing unhealthy corn, soy or cottonseed oils with nickel oxide. Heated to very high temperatures further ruining the oils, mixed with emulsifiers and starch, steam cleaned to remove the odor, bleached to remove the color and then dyed the color of butter. Finally it's injected with flavor to taste like butter!

Eat real foods, not chemically made foods. Always choose real butter or ghee over fake alternatives such as margarine.

A Chicken Isn't Just a Chicken

A chicken isn't just a chicken. There is a big difference between chickens that are free to roam on pastures and chickens raised commercially on grains, drugs, hormones and no room to move.

The price of the free range, pastured raised chicken may be more but you're also getting a totally different product. It's like saying a Corvette and a Cavalier are the same just because they are both cars!

Recipe: Quinoa Stuffed Red Pepper

I recently tried this recipe that Jen saw in a Shape Magazine, it was easy to make and turned out great. The cheese is a splurge, but everything else is very healthy. It was a filling meal, I ate one and was full.

Below is the recipe I used, we didn't have mushrooms and I made a few other small modifications. Here is the original recipe from Shape Magazine.

This made two big red peppers:

Preheat oven to 350. Place 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until all water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Set aside and keep covered.
While quinoa cooks, use a sharp knife to cut the top off 2 large red bell pepper and remove the seeds and membranes; keep the pepper whole.

Set aside.

Heat a medium skillet on medium-high; add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 1/2 cup minced red onion and saute until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, 1/2 cup shredded carrots, 1/2 cup baby spinach, and oregano, parsley, salt and pepper (or other spices of your choosing) and sauté until vegetables are slightly tender, about 4 minutes.

Transfer sautéd vegetables to a bowl. Mix in cooked quinoa, and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Fill pepper with the mixture. Place in a baking dish and bake uncovered for 15 minutes or until pepper is slightly charred. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Garlic: A Superfood

When most people think of garlic they typically think of its potent smell or even more potent taste. Smell and taste aside, garlic is an absolute superfood! The health benefits of eating garlic far outweigh its smell and taste.

One of oldest global food remedies, more than 1,200 pharmacological studies have been done on garlic proving the health benefits that people have been touting for hundreds of years.

The secret to getting the full benefit of eating garlic is mashing it or chopping it up finely, this produces allicin – the compound in garlic that provides many health benefits.

Here are some of the benefits of allicin:

• A natural remedy for lowering cholesterol, garlic has been shown to lower unhealthy LDL cholesterol and to raise healthy HDL cholesterol.
• Research has found allicin provides excellent anti-platelet activity, meaning that it can help prevent blood clots which therefore helps prevent heart attacks or strokes.
• Garlic has been shown to help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer and to even slow cancer cells from spreading.
• Garlic can reduce the length of the common cold or even prevent it completely. In a study published in Advances in Natural Therapy, the average duration of cold symptoms were less than half the time for those eating garlic. Learn more tips to prevent a cold here.
• Working on losing weight? Garlic has been shown to help aid weight loss.
• Garlic has also been shown to reduce blood pressure by two to seven percent after just four weeks.

Try adding freshly chopped or mashed garlic into your meals throughout the day. Saute it with vegetables, use it in homemade salad dressings and add to meat while cooking.

• Take a normal or elephant garlic clove and pierce multiple times with a fork or knife, douse with olive oil and wrap in tin foil.
• Bake in the oven at 250 degrees until it is soft (about 30 – 45 minutes)
• Mash the garlic clove on a plate with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and enjoy with whole grain bread (we buy Ezekiel bread, available at most health food stores, including Grains & Greens in Saginaw)

The next time you go to the store, be sure to add a tasty superfood to your shopping list – garlic!Roasted garlic is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it, here is my recipe: