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Dr. Pfeiffer was in Clearwater,
FL
August 28-30 to complete all preliminary work for his Advanced Clinical
Training in Nutrition Response Testing. Dr. Pfeiffer will attend these
classes on a monthly basis from October 2008 through May 2009.
Dr. Pfeiffer is now serving as a board member of the Palmer College of Chiropractic
Alumni Association.
Click here to read Dr. Pfeiffer's
full biography.
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Eat Right - More Evidence That I am Right
In the August Health Hintstm I referenced a term which may be familiar to
some of my Inner Health Circletm members, but I feel glycemic
index may need further explanation. Probably the simplest and most
easily understood explanation is this; the glycemic index is a
measurement of how quickly a food is broken down into glucose or sugar
in your body. Although I tend to talk about sugar as if it were the bad
guy, which in many instances it can be, it is also the main food/energy
source for every cell in your body. We need sugar or glucose in our
bodies to survive, but we do not need to take it into our bodies in the
hyper-refined forms that most people utilize.
A low glycemic food is preferable because it is broken down into
glucose gradually. In this way it does not cause a spike in blood
glucose levels and circulating insulin levels. The higher the glycemic
index of a food, the faster it is broken down into glucose, and
therefore less desirable.
Here is a link regarding the glycemic index
that you might find helpful. This web site gives you a breakdown of a
number of different foods relative to their glycemic load. If you do
nothing else at this point, begin reading the labels on your food
choices and notice the carbohydrate load on everything that you eat.
You will be amazed at just how many refined carbs you take in each day.
Start observing and decreasing, and you will improve your health!
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Think Right - A patient's perspective
I received an e-mail from an individual who is an
Inner Health Circletm member and a patient at
the Center for Nutrition and Wellnesstm. She began by describing
an experience she recently had at a local supermarket. As she described
it, she entered the store to the wafting aroma of freshly baked cakes,
strategically placed to entice unsuspecting, hungry shoppers to grab
one of these super high glycemic goodies (non-food items) and throw it
into their shopping carts, long enough to get through the check out
line. Once to the safety and security of their cars they would crack open
the plastic lid (another indication that this is not food) and
"just sample" some of this sugar fix. Our super hero in the
Inner Health Circletm would have none of this!
Although in a past life she would have followed the other sheep going
to slaughter and dug right in, she is no longer attracted to this
sugary non-food. As a matter of fact, she stated "the sweet smell
really turned me off". This is not because of will power or any
other "dieting trick", but it is due to the change in this
young lady's belief system. You see, she has now internalized the fact
that those cakes, as she put it, "with more icing than I had ever
seen", were no longer viewed by her as food.
My hat goes off to this wonderful lady. She is well on her way to a new
life of health and wellness! A side note is, when she first came to the
Center she was our tootsie-pop girl because she ate many tootsie-pops
every day. Not any longer. With some guidance and education SHE changed
and I give her a lot of credit.
These lifestyle changes are easy once they start because you build on
your own successes. Remember, as Robert Shuler always says,
"Success is never ending, and failure is never final". To
those of you who are trying, please keep it up. "Every small step
is a big win for you!" (That one was mine.) If you fall back or
have a bad day, then start over tomorrow. As my mother and Scarlet
O'Hara said, "tomorrow is another day". So keep on keeping
on!
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For this installation of Move
Right, I decided to talk about what to do when you cannot
or do not move right. Patients often ask me whether they should
use ice or heat after an injury. First, please understand that altering
the temperature of an injury site can be extremely beneficial to the overall
outcome. Now let's talk about what ice and heat will do to the tissues
when it comes in contact with them.
Applying heat to tissues causes an increase in circulation to the site.
It also causes a relaxation of the muscles and ligaments. Therefore,
heat applications are generally reserved for chronic conditions such as
an arthritic joint, for example.
Applying ice does the opposite; in fact it decreases circulation to an
injury site and therefore decreases swelling and nerve impulse
transmission. However, using ice has the tendency to increase muscle
and ligament tension. Therefore, ice applications are generally
recommended for acute or fresh injuries. For example, a sprained ankle
is the type of injury that you are usually safe using ice on immediately.
Always remember to wrap the ice in a cloth to insulate the skin. I have
seen patients who have used ice incorrectly and ended up with frost
bite.
Please know that there are no hard and fast rules to using ice and
heat. If an arthritic joint is swollen then you should not use heat
because it will inflame it more. Sometimes I suggest using what is
referred to as Contrast Therapy; applying both ice and heat at
intervals. This helps to decrease swelling, then increase circulation
to bring in nutrient-rich fresh blood (assuming you Eat Right), which
will help the injury heal faster. This form of therapy also assists in
carrying away inflammatory by-products and assists the tissues in
healing more rapidly. I wouldn't recommend this one for you to do on your
own. This regimen should be monitored by your health care provider!
So there you have it, the basics of heat and ice. As always, if you
have an injury please consult a qualified health care provider first.
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Organic Corner - Is this organic?
In our last survey a majority of our members said they wanted to know
more about "organic foods". I was very pleased to hear this
because it indicates to me that many of you in my Inner Health Circletm are exploring the next
level of purity and sufficiency.
While I want to be encouraging to those of you who are ready to take
this next step, I also want to assist you in making this transition
with the proper insight and information.
The first thing I want you to truly understand is that you must take an
active role with many aspects of this health and wellness paradigm. You
are responsible for you and your ultimate health. Do not believe
everything you hear or read. Always check references and consider the
source. I do this with everything that I present to you. After all,
it's your health and my reputation, and I don't want either to suffer.
So, let's explore the organic certification process. The U.S.D.A.'s
National Organic Program (NOP) is manned by less than twelve people.
This is obviously an extremely under funded arm of the U.S.D.A. and
therefore they rely on independent contractors for inspections. This
alone may create some problems in standardization. As a case in point,
the U.S.D.A. has just placed 15 of 30 federally accredited organic
certifiers on probation. I don't know about you, but that is not a big
confidence booster for me.
Does this mean we should just throw the baby out with the bath water
and forget about the whole organic thing? My response to you is,
definitely not! You just need to be more diligent and cautious.
As I mentioned previously, one thing I recommend is that you consider
the source. This applies not only to the source of your organic foods,
but also to the source of criticism, as you know if you attended my
seminar on "Stress and How It's Killing You" (but that's
another story). What I mean by this is you should avoid organic food
that is imported from outside of our borders. As we have seen recently
with produce imported from Mexico, and Central and South America, there may be health concerns that we don't have
to be as concerned with in the U.S. As far as products imported from China, the list of health concerns is long and
growing. The most recent Chinese debacle was one that I referenced a
few months back, involving the natural and organic supermarket chain
Whole Foodstm, where my wife and I
frequent. The problem was Whole Foodstm, under their brand label
365, imported organic ginger from China. Unfortunately the ginger was not organic. A
pesticide called "Aldicarb" was sprayed on this ginger making
it a non-organic product. One of the problems with a country like China is that the government will not allow foreign
agencies to inspect their farms. The Accredited Certifying Agencies
(ACA's) that are used in inspecting products are hamstrung in a closed
country like China and, or are dealing in a corrupt system. The farmers
will not blow whistles for obvious reasons.
The best policy is to buy organic foods from growers in the U.S. It is wise to buy all of your fruits,
vegetables, raw dairy (if you are fortunate as we are in PA to be able
to still buy these products), and range fed meats from local growers
and farms. That is truly your safest bet.
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Recent and Upcoming
Events
- September 13-14: Dr.
Pfeiffer recently completed the class "Herbal and Clinical
Nutrition for Optimal Healthy Aging", Harrisburg,
PA. Angela Hywood, N.D. from Australia
was the presenter.
- October 2008 - March 2009:
Dr. Pfeiffer will attend monthly classes for his Advanced Clinical
Training in Nutrition Response Testing, Clearwater,
FL
- November 5,
2008: Dr. Pfeiffer will be the keynote
speaker at the Upper Perkiomen Christian Businessman's Association. Tickets
available here and at multiple locations.
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Parting Thought
"The scientific theory I like
best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline
luggage." Mark Rusell
Reprinted with the permission of Good
Stuff, Malvern PA.
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Contact Info
Dr. Pfeiffer, Center for Nutrition
and Wellness
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Copyright 2008, Upper Perkiomen Chiropractic Center. All
rights reserved. This article is protected by United
States copyright
and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced,
rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published
or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior
written permission of Upper Perkiomen Chiropractic Center.
Articles in this newsletter do not claim to diagnose or make treatment
recommendations. Always seek the advice of your health care professional.
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