From  Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD   

Cholesterol is not a deadly poison, but a substance vital to the cells of all mammals. There are no such things as good or bad cholesterol, but mental stress, physical activity and change of body weight may influence the level of blood cholesterol. A high cholesterol is not dangerous by itself, but may reflect an unhealthy condition, or it may be totally innocent.

A high blood cholesterol is said to promote atherosclerosis and thus also coronary heart disease. But many studies have shown that people whose blood cholesterol is low become just as atherosclerotic as people whose cholesterol is high.

Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.

There is no evidence that too much animal fat and cholesterol in the diet promotes atherosclerosis or heart attacks. For instance, more than twenty studies have shown that people who have had a heart attack haven't eaten more fat of any kind than other people, and degree of atherosclerosis at autopsy is unrelated with the diet.

The only effective way to lower cholesterol is with drugs, but neither heart mortality or total mortality have been improved with drugs the effect of which is cholesterol-lowering only. On the contrary, these drugs are dangerous to your health and may shorten your life.

The new cholesterol-lowering drugs, the statins, do prevent cardio-vascular disease, but this is due to other mechanisms than cholesterol-lowering. Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer in rodents, disturb the functions of the muscles, the heart and the brain and pregnant women taking statins may give birth to children with malformations more severe than those seen after thalidomide.

Many of these facts have been presented in scientific journals and books for decades but are rarely told to the public by the proponents of the diet-heart idea. 

The reason why laymen, doctors and most scientists have been misled is because opposing and disagreeing results are systematically ignored or misquoted in the scientific press.

Work, Life and Balance….. What else is possible?

Work, life and balance...what does this mean and how can we achieve it?

When we look at work, life and balance, of great importance is how does stress affect this balance?  So what we really want to know is how can we find that balance and minimize the devastating effects of stress?  University studies show that stress is the cause of 95% of all diseases. It is a real concern for everyone. 

Albert Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.  Many people are looking for answers and not asking the wisest questions”.  When it comes to stress and balance in our lives, it is important we are asking the right questions.

Two right questions would be: What is stress and why do we all respond differently to stress?  What may be distressing for one person may be a joyous occasion for another.  Of course there are different levels of stress, but when it comes to the common low grade daily stressors we all face, if we all respond so differently, then stress isn’t the problem, rather it is how we respond to stress that is the problem.

The stress response is designed for short duration fight or flight protection responses. Our control system, the brain and nervous system, is responsible for activating the stress response when we perceive a stressful situation.  As being eaten by a lion is no longer a real concern for us, (unless you work in a zoo) the problem arises when our system lives under constant low grade stress and hence our bodies are constantly in survival mode. Growth and repair (otherwise known as healing) are of very little concern to our control system when the body struggles to survive. We then wonder why as a society we are plagued with an exhaustive list that includes heart disease, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, headaches, high blood pressure etc., all caused by stress.

We cannot eliminate stress; in fact we need stress.  What we can do is change how we respond to stress and the world looks different.  With the latest technology in neurologically based Chiropractic, we are able to measure how the body responds to stress and then more importantly, change it.  We can conduct a Stress Response Evaluation with an instrument called the NeuroInfiniti.  With this we can measure neurological reactions to stress, including brain activity, heart rate and 5 other major nervous system responses.  We can see how they respond to stress and how well they recover from stress.  This way, we can really see what the body is doing on the inside and most importantly we can change it.  Latest award-winning research in Chiropractic shows what we have known for years; “there are definite changes to how the brain processes information after Chiropractic Care”.  These changes in neurological responses improve our ability to cope with stress.

Often, when people first present to me, they say I do everything right. “I exercise, I eat healthily, I try to reduce my stress, but I’m still in pain, I can’t sleep, I have headaches, or I’m tired all the time.”   This is where we can look at what your control system is doing.  Eating well, exercising and consciously reducing stress are all recommended, but if our control system is out of balance and functions more in survival than growth and repair, is this going to be enough?   What if the digestive system is shutting down as the body thinks it is preparing for a battle, how will we then utilise the nutrients in our food?  How many people start exercising with great intentions and find they injure themselves in the first week?  How well will your body cope with exercise if your control system is in survival mode?

So when it comes to work, life and balance, our role is to empower people to achieve this and experience enhanced quality of life.  In health care, I have always believed in informed consent.  I believe that people should know what is going on in their body and then make an informed choice of what will be the best course of action for them.  Now that we have such amazing technology, we are able to offer people exactly that.  We can show people how their control system is working and give recommendations to enhance their life.  What else is possible for you?

For more information on having a stress response test or to find out your nearest “Managing Stress” talk, please contact the Gulledge Family Wellness at (913) 338-1112 or on the web at www.GulledgeFamilyWellness.com 

Stress, blood pressure, your immune system and Zen monks.

Stress.  It’s everywhere.  From our boss wanting a higher work output, to the TV telling us the world is surely ending due to political unrest, to our in-laws coming over for dinner.   We can’t avoid it and it takes a toll on our health.  

Here's a link to an article about stress and your immune system that we found interesting, followed by our thoughts.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120305103203.htm

GFW's thoughts:

This article begins by telling us that stress can lead to higher blood pressure.   Some may not understand this but picture the following.   A Zen monk being cut off in busy city traffic (do Zen monks even drive cars?).   What is his response?  Compare that image to a work-aholic, coffee in hand, type A personality guy being cut off in traffic.   Whose reaction was more volatile? Whose blood pressure do you think would spike more?   Whose blood pressure do you think would be higher in general?   Most would agree the second character would most likely have a stronger reaction to the stressful event and have higher blood pressure.   

The article goes on to say that the immune system plays a role in the process of raising blood pressure.  Most people wouldn’t think their immune system is playing a role in blood pressure regulation.  Come to think of it, most people probably don’t think about the mechanism of blood pressure control at all.  But luckily, your local neurologically based chiropractors do!    

We know stress is said to cause approximately 90% of all illness.    We know stress has a large impact on the immune system and all parts of the body.  What to do about it is a mystery for modern medicine as drugs and surgery is the intervention of choice and these will do little to improve one’s stress response.   This article talks about the possibility of treating the immune system to regulate blood pressure when traditional drug therapy fails.   And when medicine talks about treating, that usually means lowering with chemicals.  A lower immune system is not what most people are looking for.  To manage stress and other health issues, we must start out with a healthy respect for the body.  The more we learn about the body, the more we are realizing that our body chemistry is like a symphony - all parts working in harmony to bring about an appropriate response to our environment.  If something is out of balance we should seek to understand why and what we can do to bring it back to a balanced state. 

To control stress, blood pressure and boost your immune system naturally here are some tips

Meditate (remember the Zen driver)

Reduce excess coffee or other stimulants

Optimize your Vitamin D levels (Get some sunshine and or supplement)

Exercise (weights and cardiovascular training)

Eat real food and ditch things in bags and boxes

Consider a one day fast per week (seek guidance for this from a doctor) 

Smile more  :  )

If the issue is bad enough you are on or being suggest Blood Pressure medication, anxiety or depression medication or have immune system issues, consider having your brain and autonomic nervous system tested at GFW with their new SRE(stress response evaluation) technology.  Have the docs suggest a holistic plan to bring your system back into balance.  You’ll be glad you did.  Until next time, let’s all try to be more like the zen monk in our response to daily stress.  :  ) 

Blessings,

The GFW team.   

Work, Life and Balance….. What else is possible?

          By Drs. David Gulledge DC and Kyle Gulledge DC

Work, life and balance...what does this mean and how can we achieve it?

When we look at work, life and balance, of great importance is how does stress affect this balance?  So what we really want to know is how can we find that balance and minimize the devastating effects of stress?  University studies show that stress is the cause of 95% of all diseases. It is a real concern for everyone. 

Albert Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.  Many people are looking for answers and not asking the wisest questions”.  When it comes to stress and balance in our lives, it is important we are asking the right questions.

Two right questions would be: What is stress and why do we all respond differently to stress?  What may be distressing for one person may be a joyous occasion for another.  Of course there are different levels of stress, but when it comes to the common low grade daily stressors we all face, if we all respond so differently, then stress isn’t the problem, rather it is how we respond to stress that is the problem.

The stress response is designed for short duration fight or flight protection responses. Our control system, the brain and nervous system, is responsible for activating the stress response when we perceive a stressful situation.  As being eaten by a lion is no longer a real concern for us, (unless you work in a zoo) the problem arises when our system lives under constant low grade stress and hence our bodies are constantly in survival mode. Growth and repair (otherwise known as healing) are of very little concern to our control system when the body struggles to survive. We then wonder why as a society we are plagued with an exhaustive list that includes heart disease, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, headaches, high blood pressure etc., all caused by stress.

We cannot eliminate stress; in fact we need stress.  What we can do is change how we respond to stress and the world looks different.  With the latest technology in neurologically based Chiropractic, we are able to measure how the body responds to stress and then more importantly, change it.  We can conduct a Stress Response Evaluation with an instrument called the NeuroInfiniti.  With this we can measure neurological reactions to stress, including brain activity, heart rate and 5 other major nervous system responses.  We can see how they respond to stress and how well they recover from stress.  This way, we can really see what the body is doing on the inside and most importantly we can change it.  Latest award-winning research in Chiropractic shows what we have known for years; “there are definite changes to how the brain processes information after Chiropractic Care”.  These changes in neurological responses improve our ability to cope with stress.

Often, when people first present to me, they say I do everything right. “I exercise, I eat healthily, I try to reduce my stress, but I’m still in pain, I can’t sleep, I have headaches, or I’m tired all the time.”   This is where we can look at what your control system is doing.  Eating well, exercising and consciously reducing stress are all recommended, but if our control system is out of balance and functions more in survival than growth and repair, is this going to be enough?   What if the digestive system is shutting down as the body thinks it is preparing for a battle, how will we then utilise the nutrients in our food?  How many people start exercising with great intentions and find they injure themselves in the first week?  How well will your body cope with exercise if your control system is in survival mode?

So when it comes to work, life and balance, our role is to empower people to achieve this and experience enhanced quality of life.  In health care, I have always believed in informed consent.  I believe that people should know what is going on in their body and then make an informed choice of what will be the best course of action for them.  Now that we have such amazing technology, we are able to offer people exactly that.  We can show people how their control system is working and give recommendations to enhance their life.  What else is possible for you?

For more information on having a stress response test or to find out your nearest “Managing Stress” talk, please contact the Gulledge Family Wellness at (913) 338-1112 or on the web at www.GulledgeFamilyWellness.com