How healthy is your neighborhood? Are your health and your child’s health being stolen from you for the monetary benefit of some company? Use this map http://www.npr.org/series/142000896/poisoned-places-toxic-air-neglected-communities to find places that could be emitting toxic chemicals into the air that you breathe right near your own home. Also it is important to take the time to read the CDC report on how these toxins can affect your body; you can find this report here http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/. If there is a plant near your home which is emitting a known cancerous or other health harming substance contact your local state senator or representative and address the issue.

If you are suffering from any of the following it is likely that you have reached a point of toxic burden: Acne, Alzheimer’s / Dementia, Autism, Autoimmune Disorders, Cancer, Cholesterol, Depression, Diabetes, Diabetes & Pre-diabetes, Energy issues, Fatigue, Food Allergies, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Heart Disease, Hormone Imbalances, Hypertension, Hypothyroidism & Thyroid Inflammation, Migraine & Headaches, Pre-Diabetes, Skin Conditions, Sleep Problems, Social Issues, Stress, Weight & Obesity. Get help now don’t allow your health to deuterate.

Learn about detoxification by reading more here.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) refers to a group of lung diseases that block airflow as you exhale and make it increasingly difficult for you to breathe. This decrease in respiratory capacity leads to fatigue and weariness as well as potential cardiac complications. Emphysema and chronic asthmatic bronchitis are the two main conditions that make up COPD. Emphysema is a chronic disorder characterized by the destruction or hardening of the alveoli in the lungs limiting the ability of the body to perfuse or absorb oxygen. Asthma is a narrowing of the airway due to an allergy or to another noxious stimulus to the respiratory system.

New research shows that Acupuncture alone has shown significant increases in the ability of people with pulmonary diseases to breathe more easily and to improve their quality of life. The study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine stated that:

Methods Sixty-eight of 111 patients from the Kansai region of Japan who were diagnosed as having COPD and were receiving standard medication participated in a randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial (July 1, 2006, through March 31, 2009) in which the patients, evaluators, and statistician were unaware of the random allocation. Participants were randomly assigned to traditional acupuncture (real acupuncture group, n = 34) or placebo needling (placebo acupuncture group, n = 34). Both groups received real or placebo needling at the same acupoints once a week for 12 weeks. The primary end point was the modified Borg scale score evaluated immediately after the 6-minute walk test. Measurements were obtained at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment.

Result After 12 weeks, the Borg scale score after the 6-minute walk test was significantly better in the real acupuncture group compared with the placebo acupuncture group (mean [SD] difference from baseline by analysis of covariance, −3.6 [1.9] vs 0.4 [1.2]; mean difference between groups by analysis of covariance, −3.58; 95% CI, −4.27 to −2.90). Patients with COPD who received real acupuncture also experienced improvement in the 6-minute walk distance during exercise, indicating better exercise tolerance and reduced DOE.

Conclusion This study clearly demonstrates that acupuncture is a useful adjunctive therapy in reducing DOE in patients with COPD.

Suzuki M et al. Arch Intern Med. 2012; doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1233.

Acupuncture and TCM qualify COPD as lodging of deep-lying or hidden phlegm internally which causes depression and obstruction of the lung qi. The qi thus counterflows and is inhibited. Thus the lung qi mixes with phlegm and counterflows upward. This is the main or basic disease mechanism of this disorder. The weaknesses of the Lungs from either environmental or congenital complications are typically the culprit. Once the Spleen loses its ability to overcome the production of phlegm, then the body starts to house the phlegm in the lungs leading to obstruction.

This study even without the use of herbal therapy shows a great success with Acupuncture solely and its ability to increase pulmonary function. This is amazing news for people who have been suffering from COPD and gives them hope for a better quality of life and improved ability to maintain activities of daily living.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) people who take Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) have a significantly higher risk of stroke and heart attack. The exact warning reads as follows:

People who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (other than aspirin) such as indomethacin may have a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke than people who do not take these medications. These events may happen without warning and may cause death. This risk may be higher for people who take NSAIDs for a long time. Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has or has ever had heart disease, a heart attack, or a stroke, if you smoke, and if you have or have ever had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes. Get emergency medical help right away if you experience any of the following symptoms: chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness in one part or side of the body, or slurred speech.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000524/ Accessed April 19^th 2012.

One of the greatest things that you can do if you find yourself taking NSAIDs is to think about why you are taking them. Is it s pain that will not go away? Constant headaches or migraines? Whatever the cause there is a great chance that Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) could help you and whatever you are taking the NSAIDs for. Since Acupuncture and TCM have little to no side effects and certainly do not cause strokes or heart attacks this is a much safer treatment option. Of course finding the root cause of what is ailing you is crucial and 9/10 times taking NSAIDs is simply not addressing the root cause as well as possibly leading to greater injury to your body.

The top five common complaints and the top five reasons for taking NSAIDs are: Headaches, Muscle or Joint Pain, Menstrual Discomfort, Lower Back Pain or Chronic Inflammation. Each of these common complaints can be in most cases successfully treated with harmless Acupuncture and TCM. Go ahead give it a try.

For more information on what Acupuncture can treat effectively visit

www.HealthyLivesAcupuncture.com

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/16/146944270/military-pokes-holes-in-acupuncture-skeptics-theory

There is truly a lot of changing information out there on what to eat and what not to eat. I have to say that this list of the top ten really sums it up. Leave it to Dr. Hyman to really have it all in one place under one list. So as copied from his specific list here are the top ten things that you can do for your health and your diet.

1. Ideally have only food without labels in your kitchen or foods that don’t come in a box, a package, or a can. There are labeled foods that are great, like sardines, artichoke hearts, or roasted red peppers, but you have to be very smart in reading the labels.   There are two things to look for: the ingredient list and the nutrition facts. Check out my special report on “How to Read Labels” for more information.
   Where is the primary ingredient on the list? If the real food is at the end of the list and the sugar or salt is at the beginning, beware. The most abundant ingredient is listed first and the others are listed in descending order by weight. Be conscious, too, of ingredients that may not be on the list; some ingredients may be exempt from labels. This is often true if the food is in a very small package, if it has been prepared in the store, or if it has been made by a small manufacturer. Beware of these foods.
2. If a food has a label it should have fewer than five ingredients. If it has more than five ingredients, throw it out. Also beware of food with health claims on the label. They are usually bad for you – think ”sports beverages.”  I recently saw a bag of deep-fried potato chips with the health claims “gluten-free, organic, no artificial ingredients, no sugar” and with fewer than 5 ingredients listed.  Sounds great, right?  But remember, cola is 100 percent fat-free and that doesn’t make it a health food.
3. If sugar (by any name, including organic cane juice, honey, agave, maple syrup, cane syrup, or molasses) is on the label, throw it out. There may be up to 33 teaspoons of sugar in the average bottle of ketchup. Same goes for white rice and white flour, which act just like sugar in the body.  If you have diabesity – the spectrum of metabolic imbalances starting with just a little belly fat, leading all the way to diabetes— you can’t easily handle any flour, even whole-grain. Throw it out.
4. Throw out any food with high-fructose corn syrup on the label. It is a super sweet liquid sugar that takes no energy for the body to process. Some high-fructose corn syrup also contains mercury as a by-product of the manufacturing process. Many liquid calories, such as sodas, juices, and “sports” drinks, contain this metabolic poison. It always signals low quality or processed food.
5. Throw out any food with the word hydrogenated on the label. This is an indicator of trans fats, vegetable oils converted through a chemical process into margarine or shortening. They are good for keeping cookies on the shelf for long periods of time without going stale, but these fats have been proven to cause heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. New York City and most European counties have banned trans fats, and you should, too.
6. Throw out any highly refined cooking oils such as corn, soy, etc. (I will explain which oils to buy in Week 1 of the program in my book The Blood Sugar Solution). Also avoid toxic fats and fried foods.
7. Throw out any food with ingredients you can’t recognize, pronounce, or that are in Latin.
8. Throw out any foods with preservatives, additives, coloring or dyes, “natural flavorings,” or flavor enhancers such as MSG (monosodium glutamate).
9. Throw out food with artificial sweeteners of all kinds  (aspartame, Splenda, sucralose, and sugar alcohols—any word that ends with “ol” like xylitol, sorbitol). They make you hungrier, slow your metabolism, give you bad gas, and make you store belly fat.

10. If it came from the earth or a farmer’s field, not a food chemist’s lab, it’s safe to eat. As Michael Pollan says, if it was grown on a plant, not made in a plant, then you can keep it in your kitchen. If it is something your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food, throw it out (like a “lunchable” or go-gurt”).  Stay away from “food-like substances.”

To learn more about what Dr. Hyman recommends please visit and learn from his site http://drhyman.com/.

In good health,

Marcus

Acupuncture and the Treatment of Whiplash

Recent research published in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine found that Acupuncture was highly effective in decreasing the pain associated with the injury.

What is Whiplash? Whiplash is a common injury for drivers in all countries. Whiplash occurs when the impact of a motor vehicle accident causes the body to lunge forward until it is stopped by the seat belt that the person is hopefully wearing. When the seat belt catches and stops the body the head unfortunately continues to travel forward until it reaches the end point of its flexion or forward bending ability. At this point the musculoskeletal soft tissue is then damaged. There can be ligamentous damage as well as damage to the muscles which support the neck. Whiplash injuries can also be sustained in sports like soccer, snowboarding and skiing, boxing, or other high impact events as well some people with severe sneezing fits can also have whiplash injuries.

According to the European Journal of Integrative Medicine the following was evaluated:

“Methodology Forty participants were randomly allocated to an acupuncture group or a waiting-list group. The acupuncture group received acupuncture treatment three times per week for 2 weeks. Symptoms were evaluated before random allocation and after 2 weeks. The primary outcome measure was pain intensity. Secondary outcome measures were the SF-36, cervical range of motion (ROM), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Cornell Medical Index (CMI). Conclusions Acupuncture treatment was associated with a significant alleviation of pain” (Hyun-Young et al).

This well developed study shows the clear success of treating whiplash pain and its rehabilitation with Acupuncture. One of the greatest and most precious aspects of Acupuncture is how effective it really is, proven over and over again through clinical studies. Musculoskeletal injuries are especially responsive to Acupuncture therapy.

Any person who has been injured in a motor vehicle accident with minor injuries should really be trying to get treated with Acupuncture as soon as they are cleared from serious injury from the Emergency Department. The same goes for those who have been injured in sports or other non-life threatening injuries.

Works Cited

Hyun-Young Kwak, Jong-In Kim, Ji-Min Park, Sang-Hoon Lee, Hong-Suk Yu, Jae-

Dong Lee, Ki-Ho Cho, Shuichi Katai, Hiroshi Tsukayama, Tomoaki Kimura,

Do-Young Choi, Acupuncture for Whiplash-associated disorder: A

randomized, waiting-list controlled, pilot trial, European Journal of

Integrative Medicine, Available online 9 January 2012, ISSN 1876-3820,

10.1016/j.eujim.2011.12.008.   (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876382011001843)

The first real step in battling stress is to acknowledge that one is stressed. Are you? The majority of people do not realize just how stressed they actually are, nor do they know the tell tale signs of stress. Some of the tell tale signs of stress include:

Read the full story and find the solutions here.

My amazing wife and I had the wonderful trip of our lives this winter in Costa Rica. This trip was a much needed chance to recharge our batteries and to spend some much needed time together and with friends; after a hard and demanding year of work and school. It is not very uncommon to just keep burning the candle at both ends until a person is merely a hollow shell of an over worked and stressed individual. We truly take for granted the time in which it takes to recover from our hectic and chaotic lives with little to no time to regenerate and recover from these stresses.

Our first week in Costa Rica we spent kayaking the great warm white water of this amazing country, well mostly the Central and Southern regions of the country. We paddled the Naranjo, Guabo, Chirripo Pacifico and the Picuari. We saw river otters, lots of cool lizards and Iguana’s, beautiful birds, amazing people, and lots of cows. We also got to tour the Cloud Forest reserve which was full of high elevation rain forests, protected mountains, beautiful plants, amazing waterfalls and lots of wild birds.

Our second week in Costa Rica was our actual honeymoon all alone just the two of us at the beach!!! We spent the week sitting on the beach and surfing the warm pacific waters of the North Western region of Costa Rica. Thanks to our wonderful friends we spent the week in a great time share with a kitchen so we could cook and save money. Every day was a gift of great food, adventures, well needed time together and great surf. Watching the sun melt away into the Pacific while floating on a surfboard is just amazing! We met some amazing people and had the epic driving experience through Costa Rica. We spent a day at the foot of the Rincon Volcano which was amazing; full of rainforests and deserts, birds and volcanic activity. We also found a great hot springs to soak in right off of the Rio Negro, so beautiful with monkeys and Iguanas all around.

Our last week in Costa Rica was spent with our good friend’s family playing in the ocean and hiking through the rain forests. Our Costa Rican friends let us use the cabin near the beach so we were able to only spend money on food and travel for this week which really helped. We saw a great deal of cool birds and other cool creatures; luckily we did not see any snakes or other scary creatures. The Scarlet Macaws would just fly right by our porch almost every day. We had an amazing time snorkeling, hiking through the rain forests, eating homemade food and just relaxing on the beach.

All in all we had a wonderful trip with great people, we met amazing new friends, paddled some great white water, had epic surf, explored a new part of the world that neither of us had adventured to in the past, ate wonderful local cuisine and spent every day uninterrupted with each other and recharged our batteries.

Each person has their own needs for recharge. Some people recharge with sitting down for some quiet time reading, riding their bikes, walking in the forest etc. I encourage you to make a list of the top five things that bring you the most joy, love and effortless smiles in your life. Now really stop reading this and make a list. Now when was the last time that you did one or all of these things? If it has been to long than it is time to change those priorities and make recharging your soul and finding your happiness a real priority.

Not so long ago I was listening to some Brian Tracy a great person to listen to if you are interested in goal setting and well I think just being a better and more aware person. Anyway he was talking about sitting down and writing out what your goals are on one piece of paper. On a second piece of paper writing out your goals as if money was of no hindrance and you could do what ever you wanted. On the third piece of paper making a list of what your goals would be if you found out that you only had six months to live. I found the third list to be the hardest myself, with a limited time what could I cram into this list? He suggests that you then look at these three lists and see if there are some common goals between the three. If you are not working towards the goals on the third list now you really need to re-evaluate what is important to you and start recharging and fulfilling your goals now.

It is almost that time of the year in which the new years resolutions come out and the drive to be better is in full force. I hope that you will take the time to make these three lists for yourself and focus on taking the time to fulfill your soul and recharge your batteries. Personally I am off to spend three weeks on my honeymoon with my amazing wife filling my main soul tank and hopefully a reserve as well. I look forward to hearing all of your plans to recharge your own souls and to make this the best life that you have.

Happy new year!

Marcus Rhoden.

Acupuncture Relieves Chemotherapy Induced Neuropathic Pain

A recent study performed at the Hamburg school of medicine in Germany shows that Acupuncture has been proven through Randomized clinical control study to increase nerve conduction in patients with Chemo-Induced Neuropathic Pain (CINP).  Neuropathic pain is described as when the nerve fibers themselves may be damaged, injured or idiopathic in origin. These damaged nerve fibers then send incorrect or wrong signals to other pain centers in the body. Nerve injury includes a change in nerve function not only at the site of injury but in areas around the injury as well.

Read the whole article here.