The Virtues of HDL's

Medicine spends a lot of time and effort discussing bad cholesterol and the need to lower LDL (low density lipo-proteins) levels. While high levels of LDL's are not good for your health, high levels of HDL's (high density lipo-proteins) are good for your health. HDL's take away the excess fat in the blood. This prevents the fat from clogging the arteries and building up on the walls of blood vessels. In addition to trying to lower LDL's, one should be trying to raise HDL's. Healthy fats found in olive oil, fish oil, nuts, fruits and vegetables raise HDL levels. Exercise, performed on a regular basis, provides a temporary boost to HDL levels. The temporary boost is why exercise needs to be done on a regular basis, thus sustaining higher levels. Also, cardio-vascular, aerobic exercise has been shown to boost HDL's 20 %, plus, burn an extra 800 calories per week. (Walking 3 miles a day, 3 x per week burns 900 calories!) Avoiding trans-fats (hydrogenated oils) not only lowers the bad cholesterol, but also prevents HDL levels form being lowered.

Thought for the Week: "The maintenance of health should take precedence over the treatment of disease." ----Robert Aldrich, MD

Chiropractic Tip of the Week: "Life heals. If you cut a piece of steak, put iodine and a bandage on it and give it a shot of penicillin, it still will not heal. Therefore those things have nothing to do with the healing of the body. A living body heals itself, a steak does not."----Reggie Gold, D.C.

Dr. J: The point is that there is an intelligence in the living body that is responsible for "life", "function" and "health." This intelligence has to communicate through the body for the body to respond to its direction. The "life" communication flows from the brain, down the spinal cord, out the nerves to the rest of the body. Life flows from above, down and inside out. Not from the outside in.

Dangerous Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup is the sweetner of choice in processed foods. Corn Syrup has replaced sucrose as a food sweetner for two reasons: Corn is much cheaper and it is also twice as sweet as table sugar. Here is the downfall. High Fructose Corn Syrup is not metabolized the same as other sugars. Sugars are usually digested and converted to glucose which the body uses as energy. Corn Syrup bipasses this digestive process and is removed by the liver. Since the liver removes the fructose, the pancreas does not get to do its job of releasing insulin the way it does with other sugars. With little or no insulin secreted, the fructose corn syrup converts to fat more than any other sugar. Corn syrup also does not cause a release of the hormone, Leptin. Leptin is the hormone that helps regulate the appetite. The Leptin helps to signal the body when it is full. When consuming foods with high amounts or any corn syrup, you don't tend to feel as full and eat more. This coupled with the fact that the fructose is converted directly to fat is contributing to obesity and disease, world wide. Fructose corn syrup also raises triglyceride levels and has no enzymes, vitamins or minerals. It is much better for your health to use real sugar as opposed to corn syrup, especially, the healthy form of sugar which is unrefined white or brown sugar or unrefined cane juice.

Thought for the Week: "Each person's reality is different, it is the product of what you have experienced or been exposed to."
--Gerald Clum,DC

Chiropractic Tip of the Week: "The beauty of chiropractic is the fact that it works with natural means. It puts nothing new into the body, nor does it take away any natural gland or organ. Chiropractic simply releases life forces within the body, sets free rivulets of energy over nerves, and lets nature do her work in a normal manner."---BJ Palmer, DC