An extremely biased, relatively insignificant study was published last week in the journal Neurology about how neck manipulations are supposed to increase the risk of strokes in some people.  The article was in the Macon paper, and a friend asked if I had seen it.  I had not, and asked him what it said.  He told me, and I brushed it off as nothing.  Chiropractors are accustomed to defending our work, and I assumed that everyone already knows that.  Three patients of ours, however, saw the article too and asked if I would explain what it was about and how chiropractic is safe.  I don’t love writing defensively, but I will attempt to shed more accurate light on the whole issue of the bias against chiropractors and the truth about neck manipulations.

Chiropractors offer drug-free, cost-effective conservative care that assures nervous system health.  It is exceptionally effective for lower back troubles, neck troubles, and headaches in addition.  According to Dr. Terry Rondberg, president of the World Chiropractic Alliance, “Millions of people are turning to chiropractic for their health and wellness care.  That’s millions of dollars that won’t go for risky medical treatment or expensive drugs.  The medical and drug industries have a strong incentive to scare people away from chiropractic.”  A person can be seen in my office for an entire year for about the same amount as it costs for a single MRI.  Natural remedies that can do as effective a job as many pharmaceuticals are cheap and offer no built-in profit for big conglomerates.  It is all about money.  In 1990 in Wilk vs. AMA, the American Medical Association was found guilty of conspiring with other medical organizations in a “lengthy, systematic, successful, and unlawful boycott” designed to eliminate chiropractic as a competitor.  Since the AMA cannot directly launch an all-out assault on chiropractors anymore, the assault comes in the form of media exaggeration of a comparatively small issue.  The media has an interest because, according to Dr. Rondberg, “Drug companies and other medical firms spend more than 3 billion dollars yearly to fill newspaper and magazine pages, saturate radio and television airwaves, and blanket the Internet with ads.”

 The paper published last week involved 51 stroke victims who had had neck manipulations in the same time frame as their strokes occurred.  This could mean the same week, day, or month.  “Just because there was a temporal relationship between the events does not mean that one caused the other,” said chiropractic researcher Dr. Christopher Kent.  The media also failed to distinguish the difference between neck manipulations and chiropractic adjustments.  Some of the manipulations performed by medical doctors, physiotherapists, and osteopaths were incorrectly blamed on chiropractors.  Numerous prior studies, some involving thousands of patients, directly contradict the findings of the study which was published last week.  In fact, chiropractors have the lowest malpractice premiums in the healthcare profession.  This is an indication of the safety of chiropractic procedures.  If it were so unsafe, the premiums would be outrageous to protect the public from all of the risk.  According to the April, 1998 Journal of the American Medical Association, medical treatment and drug errors account for more than 100,000 deaths per year with another 350,000 adverse drug interactions, many of which are fatal, in nursing homes. This is why many medical doctors are leaving practice, limiting their practices, or eliminating surgical procedures. Malpractice insurance rates are correlated with the amount of risk a practitioner poses to the public.

I do not want to appear to be anti-medical.  I am not.  I do get frustrated when my profession is misrepresented.  We are highly skilled, well-trained doctors.  We know when something is out of our scope of practice, and when to refer to someone who knows more than we do about one condition or another.  The first part of our oath as doctors is, “First, do no harm.”  We also remember that the word “doctor” in Latin means “teacher”.  We take the time to teach our patients about their conditions rather than dictate to them their treatments.  We have tests which are specifically for determining a patient’s risk of having a cerebrovascular incident, or stroke.  We have specialized cervical techniques which target specific areas of the spine and were developed to reduce patients’ risk.  I know that chiropractic won’t heal everything from skin cancer to hemorrhoids, but I also know that if my nervous system is free of interference caused by vertebral subluxations my body has a greater chance of healing and recovering from a host of ailments.  I love what I do.  I love those that I serve, and by the grace of God I will continue to defend the merits of chiropractic until my job on this earth is done.  Treat your body well.

The time of year is coming when many children will have stuffy noses, coughs, and a number of them will have fevers to accompany their discomfort.  Often parents panic when their children get fevers and they rush to do whatever they can to bring the fever down.  Is it always a good idea to bring a fever down?  Are there benefits to leaving an elevated temperature elevated?

These questions were also on the mind of Dr. Michael Crocetti, director of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, who authored a study to investigate problems associated with bringing down fevers prematurely.  The study questioned 340 healthcare providers, including parents and grandparents, about their practices when their children had fevers.  The study indicated that 14 percent of parents gave acetaminophen (Tylenol) and 44 percent gave ibuprofen (Advil) at rates that were too frequent.  If the bottle suggested that the medication be administered every 4 hours, most parents gave it every 3 hours.  Ibuprofen is supposed to be administered no more frequently than every 6 hours, but parents often gave it every 4 or 5 hours.  It seems that caregivers panic when children’s fevers go up even slightly, and they rush to medicate them to bring their temperatures down to a more acceptable (to the parents) range.  The problem with the too-frequent dosing of children is that the children then are potentially at risk of toxicity from the medication.  Parents’ tendency to overreact to fevers most likely results from the fact that in the past fevers accompanied illnesses that were life-threatening, but today that is no longer necessarily true, according to Dr. Crocetti.   He says that parental practices need to catch up to medical science.

There are benefits to elevated body temperature, as strange as that might sound.  It was hard for me to break the thought patterns of my own upbringing when I went to chiropractic school, but when I actually started to study the body and how it works to preserve its own health, my interest piqued.  The body was designed to be a self-healing, self-regulating organism, and raising temperature is one of the body’s mechanisms for doing that.  Normal body temperature is the optimum temperature for the survival of some microbial invaders, so when they are detected by the body in any form, the body’s core will heat up to just a few degrees above normal and sustain that temperature for a long enough period of time to kill its enemy.  If the temperature is brought down prematurely, the infection might even be allowed to thrive in the body rather than die as it would have if it were left to be handled naturally by the body.  The body also uses fever to turn on the immune system.  It stimulates the inflammatory response which sends a myriad of antibodies all through the system to help protect the area of invasion from microbes and viruses.  In fact, according to Paula Elbert, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center, “taking away a fever might even hamper the induction of the immune system to do its job…the fever can have a positive function.”

Rather than being a sign of sickness, having a fever is actually a sign that the body is working properly.  The problem with fever for most is that having one causes body aches and general discomfort.  Some guidelines suggested by pediatric researchers for the appropriate points at which to be concerned about fever are: 1) If a child is younger than 8 weeks old and has a temperature above 100.4 degrees, 2) If a skin rash accompanies the fever, and 3) If the child’s core temperature is above 102.2 degrees.  Otherwise, it is all right to let the fever do its job and fight infection naturally.  Lowering a fever will not make the process of healing the infection happen any faster.  As I stated earlier, it might even prolong the illness.  The only real effect of decreasing the body temperature will be that of easing the discomfort of body aches and generally feeling cruddy that come with fever.  If you can just ride out the unpleasant feelings, the body will usually regulate fever and kill any invaders without medicating faster than it will if the temperature is brought down.

“It is going to take a real concerted effort on behalf of pediatricians and other healthcare providers to help parents understand what fever is and how to handle it,” according to Dr. Crocetti.  This week’s column is my share of the effort to let parents know that rushing to lower fever is not always such a great idea. Use these guidelines, pay attention to the body’s signals, and be much healthier in the process.  Treat your body and those of your children well.

We can all tell that autumn is here.  Fall festivals abound, football is in full swing, Halloween decorations are out, the stores are already filling displays with Christmas decorations, and people are complaining that their joints ache.  What do achy joints and autumn have in common?  It depends on who you ask.  There has been for eons a theory that changes in the weather cause joints to ache more than usual.  One client of mine said to me this morning as it was raining, “Y’all might as well forget about a lunch break today.  The weather is changing, and the parking lot is filling up!”  Is there any truth to the weather change/joint pain connection?

In 400 B.C., Hippocrates made the first known correlation with changes in the weather and an increase in joint pain.  A theory that has stood the test of time is hard to dispute, but some researchers have tried.  Dr. Amos Tversky, a Stanford University psychologist, says that people’s enduring belief that their arthritis pain is intensified by changes in the weather is a myth.  He claims that human nature in all of us wants to find and follow patterns whether they actually exist or not.  He says that it is his job to de-bug human intuition, and he has found that we humans are good at pattern generation and are very good at forming hypotheses.  We just aren’t, in his summation, very good at testing our hypotheses. 

Other people, however, are more convinced that joint pain is indeed affected by the changes in the weather.  Dr. Frank Arnett, a rheumatologist (a doctor who specializes in the study and treatment of joints and joint disorders) from the University of Texas at Houston, says that the correlation definitely exists.  He says that the notion of weather changes and joint pain going hand-in-hand is real and that it goes even further than just arthritis.  He says that in his experience people with fractures that have healed can tell when the weather is going to change.  It is hard to argue with the many people who report that they can actually predict the changes in the weather, and Dr. Arnett refuses to.

From a standpoint of weather, the reason that many people feel more pain during periods of weather change can be explained by the fact that weather changes are associated with changes in barometric pressure.  Barometric pressure is the pressure that air exerts on all objects. It is called barometric pressure because the instrument which is used to measure the pressure is called a barometer. Most often meteorologists are talking about air pressure on the ground when discussing barometric pressure. If an area of low pressure exists, clouds and precipitation can be expected.  Dry places like Arizona have states of predominately high pressure which brings to them warm climates with low humidity and very little rainy wet weather.  This is why many people who suffer from severe arthritic conditions might even move to drier warm climates to avoid the ebb and flow of barometric pressure changes. 

Pressure makes fluid levels rise and fall.  Most of our joints are surrounded by fluid-filled capsules, so when pressure rises or falls it causes the pressure in our joints to rise and fall as well.  Those who suffer from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis feel the pain of pressure changes in a heightened sense because their joints are already inflamed and the pressure change just irritates them further.  Motion tends to lubricate joints, so it is helpful for sufferers to get moving as difficult as that might seem.  This is an area in which your chiropractor can be of tremendous service.  Chiropractors manipulate stuck, achy joints and the motion helps relieve the pressure inside the joint capsules.  If the pressure inside the joints is relieved so is the intense sensation of pain in most cases. 

Is there a definite connection between joint pain and weather changes?  I would have to say that I have been amazed at the accuracy with which some of my own clients can predict the weather.  You, however, can judge for yourself.  Treat your body well.

Many changes have been swirling around us in the world lately.  I have finally turned off my television because there is too much bad news out there and not nearly enough stories of hope and the promise of stronger rebound.  A couple of days ago I was talking to one of the members of our staff and explaining that adversity is not always the pit of doom that it seems at first glance.  I have fallen more than once from what I thought was the ultimate position in life for me and each time I have bounced back higher than I was before.  Sometimes people have to hit the ground hard before they can be prepared for the higher levels of blessings available to them when rebound occurs.  Although there has been complete devastation in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, rest assured the people there will be given even more than they had before.  The city will be restored more beautifully and the levee system will be forged so that this type of disaster can be avoided in the future.  On a recent trip to New York this was proven.  Go there and visit the site of the World Trade Center, formerly known as Ground Zero.  The people of New York are changing the name in preparation for new, more magnificent buildings to represent hope and steadfast belief in the strength of the human spirit.  The people of New York are warm and welcoming of visitors and are happy to see us Southerners enjoying their beautiful city.  The tragic events of September 11, 2001 served as a huge wake-up call for New York, and there is a palpable difference in people there.  Of course nothing will be the same as before for people recovering from any type of disaster, but renewal brings with it the promise of something better. 

I spent a large part of my life resisting change.  I finally learned, however, that change is inevitable and the true test of emotional maturity is how one reacts to change.  In writing recently about managing stress I realized that one of the best ways to reduce life’s stresses is to be the cause of change rather than always being the buffer for the effects of it.  In learning in my own life to be the cause of change I have come to embrace it and to grow at a faster rate as the result of it.  If being in a comfort zone all the time is what we expect from life, certain stagnation will follow.  No growth can occur when everything remains the same.  Stagnation breeds complacency and complacency opens the doors for us to be blindsided.

I receive the newsletter from my church in Savannah each month, and a recent issue contains a parable that I am borrowing for my column this week.  The story is told of a young woman whose complaints to her mother were that she could not go on because her life was so full of problems.  She said she was tired of struggling.  Her mother took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water, and put them on a high fire to boil.  In one she placed a carrot, in one and egg, and in one some ground coffee beans.  After the pots boiled for a short time the mother fished out the carrot and placed it on the drain board, then the egg, and finally she ladled out the coffee into a cup.  The mother then explained that each of these things had experienced the same stress (boiling water), yet each reacted differently.

The carrot was initially strong and firm.  However, after being subjected to the boiling water it became soft and weak.  The egg had been fragile.  Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior.  After sitting in the boiling water, its inside became hardened.  The ground coffee beans were unique.  After they were in the boiling water they actually changed the water rather than succumbing to the effects of the water and allowing it to change them.  Straining the ground coffee beans left water flavored with delicious coffee and the ground beans were still intact. 

”You can choose which you want to be like,” she told her daughter.  “Adversity knocks on your door.  How do you respond?  Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

In dealing with the various outside influences that disrupt the smooth flow of our lives, it truly is our choice how we respond to them.   Internal stress is often the result of feeling out of control of our circumstances.  If we focus on being in control and at cause rather than at effect, we can all flourish and prosper in the face of adversity.

Will you be the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity becomes weak and wilts?  Will you be the egg that starts with a fluid spirit and soft heart but with exposure to the heat becomes stiff and hardened?  Or will you be like the ground coffee beans?  The crushed beans actually change the hot water (the very circumstances that brought trauma).  It is only with the hot water that the beans release the true gifts of their aroma and flavor.

Like everyone else, I have made some difficult choices in my life.  It might have been easier for me to take a quiet job where I would blend in with everyone else, but something drives me to be a voice for change and to help others to make a significant difference in their daily experiences.  I could have been a general practitioner in the medical field and been accepted by everyone just because of my title, but I chose the “red headed stepchild” (my apologies to the lovely redheads out there) of the health care providers.  It is sometimes difficult being a chiropractor and having always to defend my position but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  There is nothing better than changing the water for me.  Treat your spirit well.

The “battle of the bulge” is one I’ve been fighting all of my life.  I can never remember a time when small was a word that was used by anyone to describe me.  Short is a descriptive term I have heard a lot, but never small.  Believe me, as a child growing up in the South, I lived for dessert.  Nothing was better than Granny’s peach cobbler or Mom’s coconut cake.  I ate plenty of macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and homemade buttermilk biscuits along the way as well.  What I did not realize at that time was that I was filling myself full of carbohydrates and fattening myself every step of the way.  I believe I have finally found the key to winning the battle since I am approaching 40 and have vowed to be in the best physical shape in my entire life when I hit that mark.  I have been changing my diet for several years now and have discovered that restricting my intake of carbohydrates to only whole grains and those that come from vegetables and some fruits provides me with proper nourishment, mounds of energy, and the much sought after trimmer waistline. 

There has been quite a buzz lately in the media about carbohydrate addiction.  Carbohydrate addiction is defined according to Drs. Richard and Rachael Heller, founders of the Carbohydrate Addict’s Network, as a compelling hunger, craving, or desire for carb-rich foods.  They go so far as saying that people who are carbohydrate addicts have an escalating, recurring need or drive for starches, snack foods, junk food, or sweets.  There is a physiological explanation for this.  If the body produces too much of the hormone insulin, a condition called hyperinsulinism results.  Since insulin is the hormone which tells the body when to take in food, those with hyperinsulinism take in entirely too much food.  Once food is eaten, insulin tells the body to store the food energy as fat.   Too much insulin leads to too strong an impulse to eat too often and the body stores too much food energy as fat.  This might explain why more than half of the people in America are overweight.  The typical fast food “combo” includes a small amount of protein, large amount of bread and fries, and an enormous sugar-sweetened drink.  Three fourths of the meal is laden with carbohydrates, waiting for fat storage since there is no way a consumer of that meal will burn all of the carbs for energy. 

Overconsumption of carbohydrates has also been blamed for the overwhelming majority of Type II Diabetes cases.  When people are diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, they are told that they can control this disease with diet, but many of the diets they follow disallow only sugars.  Very few of them take into account the hidden carbohydrates found in breads, pastas, fruits, potatoes, popcorn, rice, and breakfast cereals.  These carbohydrates act just like sugar when they hit the digestive tract.  Unless controlled carbohydrate eating is the rule, Type II diabetics will continue on the merry-go-round of peaks and valleys of blood sugar levels.

The answer to solving the problems like obesity, Type II Diabetes, and carbohydrate addiction is adopting a low-carb lifestyle.  Many of the controlled carbohydrate diets have come under fire from people who reject them and are stuck in the low-fat model of eating.  The one thing to watch in a low-fat lifestyle is the enormous amount of sugar that is used to replace the flavor of fats.  Take a look at the labels of many of the low fat prepackaged foods and see how much sugar there is in them.  The words “low fat” can often be replaced with “high sugar” and there is no wonder why Type II Diabetes has become such a problem today.

One major champion of the low-carb lifestyle was Dr. Robert Atkins, who died last week after hitting his head on icy pavement.  He did studies in his own clinic about the effects of a low-carb eating regimen and had astounding results.  Many were apprehensive about his work because they erroneously assumed that he advocated eating large amounts of meat and fat while eating absolutely no carbohydrates.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  There is an enormous difference between eating a controlled carbohydrate diet and eating a high protein, high fat diet.

 Medicine is paying attention to and actually changing its mind about controlled carbohydrate eating.  In this month’s issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, a paper was published citing a study done by Bonnie Brehm, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the college of nursing at the University of Cincinnati.  The study randomized women whereby half went on a low fat diet and half went on a very low carbohydrate diet.  The researchers had hypothesized that the low carbohydrate participants would cause detriment to their cardiovascular profiles (cholesterol levels, for example), and that the low fat dieters would not.  The researchers also assumed that the low fat dieters would lose more weight and body fat.  The study shows that the low carb dieters lost much more weight over the period of the study and that neither group did any harm to their cardiovascular profiles.  This is significant research because there are few randomized studies to follow regarding restricted carbohydrate eating.

It is probably too late not to beat the proverbial dead horse, but it is important in today’s environment to watch our bodies before they start to fall apart and we wish that we could buy more time for them.  One very easy way is to control our intake of carbohydrates to protect our health in more than one way.  Control insulin levels while you lose unwanted pounds and still eat luxuriously.  Treat your body well.

Many of life’s lessons I have learned the hard way.  Actually I have had to learn most of life’s lessons the hard way! I am infamously stubborn.  Sometimes that trait serves me well and sometimes it haunts me.  I would not listen when my mother and grandparents told me to be careful when I was playing outside because I was going to get hurt.  It took a snow skiing accident at the age of 24 for me to begin to take care with my outdoor activities to prevent my own injuries.  I did not listen when people told me to go on to college after high school.  It took me another 12 years until I was 29 years old to figure out what I want to be when I grow up and start a whole new career at the age of 35.  I did not listen when they told me to be grateful for my youth because it would be gone one day.  It took my turning 40 last August to realize how quickly Christmas does roll around every year. (By the way, 2005 is officially half over and the days are already getting shorter.)  I have decided that I will spend the rest of my life getting life’s lessons a bit more quickly and heeding the advice of people who have walked the road before me rather than trying to reinvent the whole experience.  One of those lessons I am learning now is that it is exceptionally important to get my proper daily intake of calcium.  I heard all of my life about the importance of consuming dairy products for strong bones and teeth, but of course I ignored it.  After observing a few of my patients’ x-rays and seeing the devastation of poor bone density I am taking note.

Adults need about 1200 milligrams of calcium daily in order to promote and maintain proper bone health.  That seems simple enough.  Go to the store and get a bottle of 1200 milligram calcium tablets, right?  Wrong.  Go to the store and look at the shelves of all of the different types of calcium.  There is calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, calcium hydroxyapatite, calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, calcium citrate, and the latest- coral calcium.  With this dizzying array of choices, which one is the right one?  If you believe the hype of the marketing industry, coral calcium is the way to go.  The truth about coral calcium, however, is that it is one of the worst possible choices.  Since coral reefs make up some the earth’s most fragile ecosystems, it is illegal to mine them for calcium or anything else.  The coral calcium that is marketed to us is supposed to come from either old “dead” sea beds or from pieces of coral that wash ashore in various places.  Who knows if this is true or if the reefs are being mined illegally in the name of free enterprise?  Coral calcium has been touted to cure a myriad of diseases from cancer to kidney stones and everything in between but that simply is not true.  The truth is that coral calcium is composed primarily of calcium carbonate and is full of toxic metals such as lead or aluminum. 

A popular source of calcium is calcium carbonate because it is an ingredient of several antacid tablets.  It is also inexpensive.  One antacid marketer actually promotes that it is a good thing to take antacid daily to get your daily recommended dosage of calcium.  Huh?  Is it really a good idea to take antacids every day?  I don’t think so.  Your stomach needs a certain amount of acid to digest food properly and to fight off bacterial infections.  What do you think happens if you take an antacid every day to kill the acid in your stomach?  At any rate, one of the main disadvantages of taking calcium carbonate is that it may not be adequately absorbed by those who have insufficient stomach acid.  It needs to be taken with food for maximum absorption since your stomach produces acid when you eat in order to digest the food that goes in.

The most easily absorbed form of calcium is calcium citrate.  It is easily absorbed regardless of the output of stomach acid at any given time.  The main disadvantage is that since the molecule itself is bulkier than that of calcium carbonate you might have to take more tablets or capsules in a day to get the recommended dosage amount than you would have to take of calcium carbonate. Research shows that in order to prevent osteoporosis it is better to take calcium at night than to take it early in the day.  It is also best to take calcium supplements with food in order to prevent kidney stone formation.  As always be sure to get the right amount of water behind your supplements as well as throughout the day.  In order to facilitate proper absorption of calcium the body needs vitamins D and K, small amounts of fats, magnesium, and exercise among other things.  It is easy to get the amounts of vitamin D that are necessary if you are exposed to sunlight.  The skin produces vitamin D after sun exposure.  There are dietary sources of it too for those who don’t get in the sun enough.  Small amounts of fat are almost always available in our bodies to facilitate fat’s role in calcium absorption.  Magnesium is readily available in supplement form, and the exercise is up to us.

I have tempted fate too many times and have thus far lived to tell about it.  I take my calcium citrate every night along with magnesium for maximum possible absorption.  I want my bones to remain healthy for as long as I walk the earth.  Calcium citrate has been proven to be the most beneficial and most readily absorbable form of calcium in supplement form.  Why reinvent the experience?  Treat your body well.

The Burning Bowl ritual is a year-end release work which is very appropriate in preparation for a new beginning and for bringing new good into your life.  Rituals make things real for us, and the burning bowl sends a clear message to our subconscious minds (where the “hidden” patterns of thought operate to create or attract experiences into our lives) that we are truly serious about the new decisions we are setting out to make.

Rituals, in general, are important in our lives because they give us occasion to slow down for a few moments, and they provide the opportunity to reflect, to assess where we have been and where we are going.  Rituals are a way of honoring our journey.

Just as we must clear out closets and drawers to make space for new items which come into our lives as we receive Christmas presents, so too must we make internal space available for the spiritual gifts of the season.  Christ is born anew in you, and so today you get a chance to clear out everything unworthy of the expression of God that you are so as to create a place within you that there might be room in the Inn, so to speak.

The best place to begin the releasing process is with forgiveness.  If there is anyone you feel strong negative emotions toward, put their initials at the top of a blank sheet of paper.  Jot down anyone and everyone who is problematic in your life, anyone you feel resentment toward or anger about.  Remember that you release these emotions to free yourself of them because having resentments toward another is like taking poison and expecting someone else to die.  The major relationships in your life might be OK just now, but scan your awareness for anyone, even a minor character in your life, who interferes with your peace of mind and sense of being a loving person.

Sometimes our irritations are not about the person as a whole, but just a particular situation where he or she “has let us down” by not being considerate, accountable, sensitive to your needs, or whatever it might be – perhaps by infringing on your boundaries or even not measuring up to your standards or the expectations you had of them.  It might be someone irritating at work or maybe just an annoying acquaintance that seems to be unavoidably present in your life.

Don’t feel totally free from the need to forgive, however, even though you can’t think of a particular individual.  If you don’t feel strong repelling emotions toward an individual, you might find that you do have such emotion toward a group of people – racial or religious bigotry, for example, or clerks or food service people who are not service oriented, government employees, the IRS, lawyers, salesmen, telemarketers, the medical establishment, politicians, in-laws, the conspicuously wealthy, people receiving public assistance, slow drivers, nosy neighbors, etc.

If you can’t relate to any of that, ask yourself what situations come up in your life which really irritate you.  Fill in the blank: “Don’t you hate it when X happens.”  For example, you have scheduled an appointment with someone and you are in that person’s office when the phone rings.  You have to sit there and listen to a one-sided conversation for five minutes.  In another example, you go to your doctor’s office for an appointment and still have to wait 1 and ½ hours before you get to see the doctor.  You make an appointment to get your car repaired, and it takes them 4 days instead of 1 to get the job done.  You are in the only open checkout line, buying something that you need badly and you are in a hurry, of course, then the cashier calls for a price check for the slow person in front of you.  What if the scanner scans the item for regular price when there was a sign that said it was on sale for much less?  In short, what are the typical situations which you feel resentment or upset toward?

Try to get clear in your mind precisely what it is that frustrates or irritates you about the person, group of people, or situations which push your buttons.  What is it that you feel when you interact with this person or group, or how do you feel when you encounter this situation?  Get clear in your mind and state clearly on paper the exact cause of the irritation.  That cause will be the feelings which stir your emotion. Jot down what your feelings are as clearly as you can.  If you are unsure of what you feel, just note the situation for the time being.

Be aware that behind feelings is a belief that is a part of an old pattern of thinking.  Typical patterns, which you can think of as scripts, revolve around issues of trust.  For example, the fear of being taken advantage of, the fear of being discounted, the idea that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, the fear of abandonment – behind every experience is one of these old beliefs in operation, even though at the conscious level your spiritually-aware rational mind recognizes the pattern of belief as untrue.  At the conscious level you know that, but someplace inside and old part of you has not received the message yet.

Now focus on your heart and ask what that person or group has come into your life to show you or to teach you.  Know that behind appearances is a message with a true blessing – one, when understood, enables you to perceive a false belief so that you can release it.  This feeling is there to develop a soul quality in some way.  Whatever negative emotion you feel signals a false belief, and that belief which is undoubtedly beneath the surface of your awareness is blocking the full experience of abundance in your life.  Remember that every experience in life is an experience which resonates with meaning – the Universe is always trying to communicate with us, so just be willing to release this pattern of thought and experience today.  Write it down.  God within you will provide the insights you need as you decide it is time for you to release this excess baggage.  As you see your forgiveness paper go up in smoke in a little while, know that it is being dissolved through this prayer ritual and everything that needs to take place for your new freedom unfolds easily, in divine order.

Charles Fillmore, the cofounder of Unity Church, said that we should each spend a half an hour daily forgiving everything and everyone who came into our life that day who was capable of evoking negative emotions.  To forgive is to give truth for error.  The truth is that everything happens in our lives so as to bless us.  Once we integrate this paradigm shift into our consciousness we see that we “own” the experience by right of consciousness – it is our experience, and so it is our blessing.  Make sure you forgive yourself for unworthy thoughts and behaviors as you do your forgiveness work, otherwise the residue of guilt will draw punishment.  Just know that, like everyone else, you have done the best you can and that now, as God in you works to create more awareness and you become more practiced in the exercise of your spiritual understanding, you are destined to do better.

The rest of this exercise in unburdening ourselves tends to lighten because we tend not to feel so unworthy about other areas where release is in order.  So let’s have fun doing our house-cleaning as Spirit guides us in sweeping over our souls.  Please don’t use this as an opportunity to beat yourself up for your perceived defects – that is a major old pattern to release.  During the time we focus on what we no longer need, remember that defects are merely calls for adjustment – we have all that we need to perfect every defect.  That’s why defects draw our attention.

Draw a line under your forgiveness statements and begin writing your list of those things in your life which you are now willing to release.  I’m going to talk all the way through this exercise while you are writing to help you think of things which you might otherwise leave out.  Just keep writing, and don’t worry too much about the form.  After all, this will all soon be burned.

Begin now by writing down whatever tops your list of most burdensome or worrisome things in your life today.  Write them out and let these be at the top of your list.  Remember it is the worry you are releasing or the burden.  The thing itself is neutral until you put a judgment on it.  After you have the ones that come to your mind most quickly, add any others that fit your experience from the suggestions I now make:

Enemy thinking – viewing other people as threats or obstacles, the idea of competition (there really isn’t any), aggressive thinking, arguing in your mind, responding in your thoughts to hurts or imagined hurts, swelling on being right at the cost of being happy, making the other person wrong so that you can make yourself right.  Making God wrong so that your position is self-righteous.

Limitation thinking: using the “facts” to limit the possibilities in your life such as, “the economy is slow, there are no jobs out there”, “I am too old to get a job”, “there is no need for what I do”, “nobody values what I do enough for me to earn a comfortable income”, “I’ve been out of school too long to be a successful student”, “there’s no future in doing (fill in the blank)”, etc.  “This is cold season.  Every time I sneeze I realize that I am getting a cold.  If my head gets stuffy, I will have cold symptoms for X number of days.”

You might also want to release habits such as smoking, excessive intake of coffee or colas, drinking too much alcohol or doing anything excessively (and obsessively).  Whatever repeating patterns there are in your life which interfere with your joy, that get between  you and fulfillment in your relationships, or which sabotage whatever you wish to achieve or be…what are the patterns that lead to your showing up in the world in a way not worthy of who you really are and who you are becoming?  Perhaps you want to release commitment avoidance so that you can be a person who says “yes” to life.  What patterns can you track which create the most negative thinking?  Release these patterns, these addictions.  You might also find that in some cases you avoid commitment, and in others you over-commit.  Release the imbalance. 

Look at the words you use.  Some of them could be replaced easily and the release would create a tremendous difference in your perceptions.  Eliminate the word “try” as in “I will try to do X”.  There is no try.  You either do something or you don’t.  “Trying” prevents us from ever achieving our goals.  “Try” is a word that signals commitment avoidance, lack of confidence, and it undermines our success.  Another word to release is “need” as in, “I need to do X”.  Use “choose” instead, because “choose” takes the activity from the realm of mandatory into the realm of choice, where it belongs.  “Want” is another word to release.  Remember that Conversations With God makes it clear that we cannot have what we “want”!  As long as we want, we acknowledge lack.  So instead of saying “I want X”, say “I choose X”.

Eliminate all but the most literal descriptions of how you feel or what you are experiencing – don’t use clichéd metaphors to describe your feelings.  There are probably thousands of phrases which send a negative message to our subconscious minds:  “This is just like pulling teeth”, “I don’t believe it.”

Eliminate fear statements:  I can’t do X, because I am afraid that if I do X will happen.  Certainly acknowledge your fear, but then take time to recognize it as a fear, a worry thought, and not a necessary outcome.  Affirm the outcome that you choose rather than the outcome that you fear.  Eliminate words like “unrealistic,” “ought,” “should,”; eliminate scripts like the one that says my duty is to please, or try hard; I must be strong; I must be perfect.  Eliminate life scripts like “Life is hard,” “I have to do it myself,” “This is too good to be true,” etc.  Release the “Until” script:  When X happens, then I will be happy, or safe, or free (when my kids are grown, when I retire, when I have X number of dollars in the bank, when I get the promotion, when I finish school, when I meet my soul mate, then . . .) Claim whatever it is that you envision now.  You don’t have to wait unless you think you have to wait, to experience joy, love, peace, abundance, fulfillment, etc.  Eliminate “once and for all” thinking – in truth, nothing happens once and for all, and we simply discourage ourselves by thinking that it does.  Let go of the need to control, to change others, to have definitive answers, release the fear of change, the sense of not being enough – not good enough, attractive enough, thin enough, smart enough, strong enough, rich enough, healthy enough, educated enough, loveable enough, talented enough; I’m not creative, I’m not organized.

Eliminate this morning the filter that prevents you from seeing the peace that is already there (or order, harmony, blessings joy, beauty, fulfillment).  Eliminate the idea that joy comes from the outside rather than the inside.  Eliminate the tendency to look exclusively outside yourself for healing, joy, fulfillment, love, etc.

Eliminate the tendency to measure your worth b y what you do; release the distrust you have for anything that can’t be proven or seen; let go of the need to be more, to do more than you can do; set free the compulsion to commit without thinking; and, conversely, to say no automatically; say goodbye to the need to believe that you are responsible for bringing happiness or safety to others – over care; false gods (giving something or some person or condition more power than you give to God).  Release self-righteousness, guilt and self-condemnation.

Release what Caroline Myss calls wound-ology – the sense of being permanently warped by your past; the sense of being a victim in life.  Release willfulness, discontent, resistance, depression, being against rather than for, the need to know before you can move forward; let go of being a truth seeker in favor of being a truth finder; release the idea that you are stuck.

Give up the idea that your life (or marriage, or church, or your job, or body, your income, etc.) is already as good as it can be.  Release the current limits of your imagination.  Release the idea that you can’t be who you are, that it is not safe to be fully yourself.  Release the idea that what you don’t release today will never be released, release the idea that it will soon be too late to do what you have to do, that you are unlucky, that you are destined to failure, that you inherit limitations in health or appearance or opportunities.

Now take just a moment once again to center yourself within, and to confirm your conscious choice to release the patterns or judgments written on your list.  Bless them for what they have taught you about yourself, for they have helped you clarify your values and priorities – and have helped you to better know who you really are and what you are becoming.  And so, with a grateful heart, let us all now release that which no longer serves us well, and that which has outgrown its usefulness.

Do you ever have trouble finding just the right gift for the person who has everything?   One suggestion is something that will not only be unique for the person who has everything but will benefit him or her as well.  That gift is the gift of therapeutic massage.  I have written in the past about the need for humans to deal with and reduce stress rather than carry it around and hope it will go away.  In addition to my regular chiropractic adjustments, one of my favorite ways to reduce stress is to have full body massages.  This idea is foreign to many but as massage becomes more readily available to us it would be helpful if more people understood what it is and how it can be beneficial as part of a regimen of natural health care.  I was surprised to learn recently that when some people hear the word “massage” they think of massage parlors that were actually just covers for brothels in days past.  Therapeutic massage is as far from a brothel as is a doctor’s office, and I thought I would share some information on the subject with you.

Massage has been used for thousands of years as Chinese medical texts document.  Many different methods of massage were used to loosen muscle tissue and to relieve pain.  The techniques that most massage therapists use today are based on the principles of Swedish Massage which was developed in the late 19^th century by a Swedish gymnast named Per Henrik Ling.  The system developed by Mr. Ling is a systematic application of pressure and motion on the muscular and ligamentous tissues in the body in an effort to relieve tension in these areas.  While that seems simple enough, there is much more that happens as a result of getting a massage than meets the eye.

 A tremendous amount of research has been done on the effects of massage on the body.  Massage can relieve muscle tension related to stress as well as muscle soreness from overworking.  A trained massage therapist can locate stress points in the body and work them out so that the body’s response to stress and muscular soreness is much more palatable.  Sometimes massage therapists work on trigger points, which are areas of the muscle where blood is not flowing properly and knots form.  This sometimes doesn’t feel great at the moment but a tremendous sense of relief is the result of a good trigger point session.  If you get a deep tissue massage to work on really stubborn areas, the body might feel a little bit sore as a result.  Drinking plenty of good, clean water will help to rinse away any toxins that might cause this soreness.

Massage has been shown to stimulate the flow of the lymphatic system, and this eases the elimination of toxic substances that would otherwise tend to build up in the body.  There are entire massage techniques which are built solely on the different methods of aiding lymphatic drainage.  This helps the immune system work more efficiently.  Increasing lymphatic circulation can also reduce edema (swelling) in certain instances.  With less edema comes less pain.

When you get massaged, you go into a state of deeper relaxation than normal.  As you become more relaxed, you tend to breathe more deeply. Having deeper respirations increases the body’s rate of oxygenation and thereby promotes a clearer mind and a more restful state.  The body’s  healing processes are sped up if the body is resting.  That is why one of the cornerstones of good health is the assurance that you get plenty of rest.

Massage also promotes the release of chemicals called endorphins in the body.  Endorphins are hormone-like chemicals produced in the brain that have a close functional relationship to morphine.  This makes the brain a factory for its own pain-control substances.  The other phenomenon associated with endorphins is that they serve an antidepressant function.  Heavy exercise also produces endorphins and results in the infamous “runner’s high.”  Massage is a way to experience the pain-relieving effects of endorphins without the vigorous output on your part.

The potential benefits of massage are numerous, and can be more completely explained by a trained massage therapist.  Always ask about a therapist’s education, certification, and licensure.  Although Georgia doesn’t have strict licensing requirements for massage therapists, graduates from approved schools can take a national certification test which is standardized and assures you that basic knowledge about specific techniques is mastered.  With many natural aids to healing available to us, we can bring about a better state of being and thereby make our world a little bit better place to live.  Treat your body and your spirit well.

I am acutely aware that school is in full swing.  Moms have been pouring into our office requesting letters for their children to be able to carry safer backpacks to school this year.  Although it came around more quickly than usual, it’s that time of year again – new school schedules, football games, band practice, studying for exams, and homework.  All of this means that your kids will be carrying heavy loads all around with them in their backpacks, and this can pose a serious health risk to them if backpack safety is not addressed by you. 

I have seen a number of children in our area with scoliosis, a lateral curvature of the spine, and they certainly don’t need to be carrying backpacks loaded with heavy books and other items all over the place.  I took the liberty of weighing a child’s pack in our office just before school was out last year, and was astonished to find that a 60 pound child was carrying a hefty 27 pounds on his back.  This could bring about strained muscles at the very least and become quite uncomfortable for him.  I have learned that some children are “punished” by being denied access to their lockers, thereby forcing them to carry all of their books around all the time during their time of punishment.  Some children think it is cool to play the role of martyr and compete for parents’ attention by seeing how many books they are “required” to bring home.  Either way, children are carrying too much around on their backs.  Although children definitely heal faster than we do, long-term stress-type injuries can occur when they require their bodies to do more than they were designed to do.  According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were over 12,000 visits to emergency rooms alone in 1998 for backpack-related injuries to 5- to 18-year-olds.  This figure does not take into account the number of visits to general pediatricians, orthopedists, or chiropractors. 

There are several sources for the safely allowed amount of weight for children to carry on their backs.  The range is 10 to 20 percent of their body weight.  Keep in mind the fact that children’s bodies vary in muscular composition, and some are inherently heavier than others and have larger frames.  According to Mark D. Widome, M.D., a general pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at Penn State’s College of Medicine in Hershey, PA, a good rule of thumb is to allow 15 percent of the child’s body weight in his backpack.  This means that the 60 pound child I mentioned before should carry no more than 9 pounds on his back.   

Weight is not the only hazard with backpacks.  It seems that kids think it is “cool” to wear the backpacks on only one shoulder.  The trouble with this is rather obvious, but kids do it anyway.  A functional scoliosis, which is one that develops as a result of some outward stress as opposed to a congenital scoliosis which one is born with, can develop as a result of carrying heavy weight on one side of the body rather than distributing weight evenly.  There are two solutions to this problem: 1) distribute weight evenly, and 2) carry the weight for equal amounts of time on both sides of the body.  Most of us pick up objects habitually with one hand or the other, so solution #2 is not really a viable one unless you are very well-disciplined and can remember to pick up the heavy object with the opposite hand each time you carry it.  There is usually no one to walk behind your children all day at school and remind them to switch hands.

Backpacks can become a problem for those other than their carriers, too.  Imagine walking down a very crowded hallway full of children when one of them suddenly turns to yell at a friend and swings her 20 pound pack, hitting you squarely on the shoulder.  This is a real issue in crowded schools.  Kids are unaware of the bulk on their backs, and can pose hazards to their neighbors.  Bulky packs are a problem in the classroom when they aren’t in use.  Unless plans have been made for storage, backpacks are often dropped beside desks and create tripping hazards.  The best solution to this and many other backpack-related issues is to purchase a small backpack which can easily fit under a desk or chair.  This will leave the aisles clear and make it much safer for everyone to walk in them. 

Backpacks are available with lumbar supports and multiple compartments to help distribute heavy loads more evenly.  For heavier loads, a hip strap is available to help keep the pack close to the body. This allows some of the weight to be carried by the hips rather than overloading the back.  Look for a pack with wide, padded shoulder straps that are easy to adjust.  The American Chiropractic Association has information regarding a line of backpacks made by an Australian company for Samsonite.  The line of packs, called Chiropak, is designed for comfort, efficiency, and protection for the spine against the damage that can be caused by overstuffed packs.   The correct way to carry heavy loads is to carry them close to the body, so heavier books should be inserted into the pack first.  To decide which pack is best for your child, have the child try it on for comfort first, then put a few books or something moderately heavy in it to see how your child will go about carrying his or her load.  Make sure the pack can be carried with the child standing upright and not leaned over forward or off to one side.

Remember that “as the twig is bent so grows the tree.”  Take the extra time to weigh your child’s backpack.  Discuss these safety issues now, and you just might save some serious trouble down the road.  Treat your body and those of your children well.

I was having lunch one day last week in a local Mexican restaurant, and couldn’t avoid hearing a conversation between a few ladies from an office here in town who were celebrating a co-worker’s birthday.  The mood was festive, and the conversation was a little loud.  One of the women asked another to pass the “pink stuff” for her iced tea.  That was the beginning of this week’s column.  I was surprised at the length of time these women spent discussing the merits and perils of artificial sweeteners.   One of them said she had heard that the “blue stuff” caused brain damage and that saccharin caused cancer in rats.  I decided to do a bit of research on my own about this subject and share it with you. 

Years ago a large study was done on the carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effects of saccharin.  A huge alarm was sounded when, indeed, saccharin was determined to cause cancer.  I was a teenager then, and winced at the thought of how many of those tiny white saccharin pills my granny used to dissolve in gallons of tea on Sundays.  I was certain that I was about to come down with some rare form of saccharin-imposed brain tumor.  Lo and behold, someone let the proverbial cat out of the bag and educated the public about the fact that the amount of saccharin that was administered to those poor lab rats was equal to about three hundred times their body weight.  I imagine that anything would cause cancer if it was given in that dosage to anyone.  Panic was widespread and nobody would go near saccharin due to cancer-causing fears.  Studies were done to prove that it was safe, and saccharin was removed in May 2000 from the list of carcinogens. Alas, the “pink stuff” can be consumed without fear once again.

The difference between the upset over the alleged cancer-causing properties of saccharin and the buzz about aspartame’s being a neurotoxin is that some of the facts about aspartame are pretty sobering.  There never really was any information other than the results of a heavily weighted Canadian study to back the panic caused by the saccharin scare.  There are facts about the properties of aspartame that are disturbing.  Aspartame is composed of two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid.  Upon metabolism, this produces methanol.  Methanol further breaks down to produce formaldehyde, and this is where the problem seems to be.  It is a bit unsettling to realize that when aspartame is ingested formaldehyde is being produced in the body.  There is a whole host of other alleged problems with the sweetener, but they are based on rumor and can be read at your discretion if you log onto holisticmed.com.  The fact that aspartame breaks down ultimately into formaldehyde is undeniable, and is an issue to be reckoned with.   The FDA has established an acceptable daily intake amount (ADI) of aspartame.  The most important thing to realize is that if you use the product, do so in moderation.  One or two diet sodas a week shouldn’t be a problem, but beware if consumption is much higher than that.  There is also the issue of phenylketonuria (PKU) for those who cannot metabolize phenylalanine, which is one of the two components of aspartame.  If you have PKU, you already know it.

There is a sweetener called stevia which is available in health food stores and is a natural sweetener.  It is actually a plant which was used by Guarani Indians to sweeten bitter teas.   Stevia is available in many forms as an alternative to artificial sweeteners.  I have tried it myself, but I found it to have a strange aftertaste.  It is sweet, though, and it is all natural.  It shouldn’t be too controversial since there is no chemical company involved and no stock prices to watch as the result of its sales.  It is no different from any other spice in that sense.  Several companies will package the stuff, but none of them can take the credit or the blame for having created it.  There is some scuttlebutt about how the FDA wants to keep it out of the mainstream since it will provide some competition for aspartame, but no ill effects have been determined to be caused by its use. 

Other sweeteners are available on the market today.  Sucralose, which is being marketed as Splenda, is now available widely.  Sucralose is made from sugar by a process which alters the chlorine atoms in sucrose.  The jury is out on this product since it is being marketed by a chemical company and the FDA hasn’t stated the safety of altered chlorine in the body in this particular form.  Stay tuned for more conclusive research on this product. 

There is no easy answer to the question about which sweetener is better for you.  It seems safest to shy away from the ones with the most processing involved.  Moderation is always the best route to take when you are dealing with anything that is not completely organic, and of course you should do your own homework to be sure you feel comfortable with what you are placing in your body.  I’m just thankful that those tiny little saccharin pills can bring the sweet memories of those Sunday afternoon dinners of my childhood without the bitterness associated with fear.  Treat your body well.