Waking up early…Set the Tone for the Day!

Waking up early…Set the Tone for the Day!

There are some people that handle all of the stresses of the day with ultimate ease.  Every obstacle or situation they have to deal with is a breeze, everything rolls off of their back (if things don’t roll off your back then you may be experiencing emotional back pain, just saying!).  If you are one of those lucky “easy rollers” maybe you don’t need to read on; yet if you want to improve your amazing stress free life, or if you are like the rest of us that react imperfectly to stress, then read on! 

I work hard to place positive messages in my brain first thing every morning.  By doing this, I can shape my own "reality" into what I envision, rather than waiting for someone else to put messages in my head, messages that may or may not be positive.  When you begin your day by placing positive messages into your head, you are much more likely to be more resilient and in a better mood the rest of the day.  It's just that simple. Did you ever wake up “on the wrong side of the bed”?  Did you ever have stressful or bad news in the morning that ruined the rest of your day?  I don’t know about you but I always feel better when I start the day off on a positive note.

Why do I do this?  Because I want the best for me and I want the best for the people I interact with every day.  If I’m not at the top of my game then it makes it more challenging to help others.

 So- what does that really mean?  Here is an example of what I do every day for my morning ritual:

The alarm clock is set for 4:45AM but 80% of the time I don't even need an alarm, I’m just up a few minutes before it goes off.  I know it’s early yet I have found that in order to really get my head in the right place before I leave for the office in the morning I prefer to take my time and perform certain rituals.  I need time to fit all of these things in so I choose to wake up early.  Maybe your routine is much simpler; maybe you don’t have to be at the office so early.  Wake up whenever is best for you.

  As soon as my eyes open, my first conscious thoughts go towards prayer.  I’ve been saying the same one every day for years; it works for me.  It gets me to feel connected to G-d and the magic of the world right from the start.

I’ll skip the details of my bathroom habits and simply state that while I’m waiting for my shower water to heat up I spend a few minutes writing down what I am grateful for.  I choose to write 3-7 things to quickly journal about.  

After getting dressed I go downstairs for breakfast (lately nuts or seeds) and I take my supplements with a big glass of water.  Then it’s back upstairs to meditate 20-25 minutes.

Now it’s time to kiss my family farewell, fill up my 40oz water bottle, grab my coffee, high fiber gluten free crackers and off to the car. 

During my hour commute I listen to something uplifting; whether it’s a recording from my coach; a philosophy podcast; or an interview with someone that I am interested in; I must put something positive in my head before I get into the office!

All of these morning rituals developed over time…NOT overnight!  I put one in a time and gradually started waking up earlier.  I actually fought my coach on almost every suggestion he made and then did a little bit of it anyway because I knew it was the right thing to do I (how did you know? Unspecific).  On follow up conversations he praised me for what I had done and then asked me to do more.  Each time I added a piece, my life improved.  I don’t know why we can’t just snap our fingers and change…it really IS that easy but if it takes a while…don’t worry…you have a lifetime! 

 Just remember, these rituals are for YOU!  Many of us have kids, pets, significant others that are part of our mornings as well.  Find that extra time for yourself and you will be a better person for them.

So, to sum up, the rule for this post is:

RULE—create my own morning ritual that lifts me up!

Things to think about adding:

·         Prayer             

·         Meditation

·         Exercise

·         Stretching

·         Goals

·         Journaling

·         Grateful List

·         Nourishing food

·         Water

·         Supplements

Dr. Jason Piken, a 1996 graduate of New York Chiropractic College. During Chiropractic College he became proficient in Gonstead (a system of analyzing the spine) and has since spent hundreds of seminar-hours broadening his technique skills to include, Chiropractic Biophysics and Applied Kinesiology. For more information about Dr. Piken, please visit his website at www.innatechiro.com.

Why call this blog “The Rules”?

I grew up a very picky eater. I mean really picky.  This wasn’t because I had food allergies or some religious restrictions, I just had these incredibly peculiar taste buds.  I probably limited my life to fifteen or so foods, and every food had rules attached.  For example, I loved tuna fish but it had to be eaten on an English muffin…ONLY a Thomas’s English muffin!  Not toast and eeeeewww definitely not plain…if it fell off the English muffin onto the plate I probably wouldn’t touch it.  Another rule, two different foods could not touch each other on the same plate…If one pea rolled over and touched the chicken cutlet then that pea was not to be eaten.  I guess I forced my Mom to do more dishes because I preferred everything in their own separate environments.  Ice cream had to be chocolate. Plain chocolate. No chips. Only chocolate. The list went on and on.  These were the first “rules” of life that I created and for what reason?  I have no idea.

 Eventually my eating habits changed.  One of the few blessings that came out of my College fraternity’s hazing was that I was forced to eat all sorts of disgusting foods that broke my rules.  I figured that if I could eat a mixture of sardines/baked beans/spoonful’s of mustard/and a gigantic industrial sized can of Chef Boyardee meat ravioli…all mixed together…none of which I on their own...then I could begin to try some foods that were outside my rules for pure enjoyment.  This did not necessarily make me a healthier eater, but it did expand my palate a bit.   My life was filled with McDonald’s hamburger eating contests (I think I remember 5 being my max), pizza, General Tso’s chicken, KFC, and bagels, with the occasional head of broccoli thrown in.

 I had no reason to stop eating all the fast food and snacks though, I just had a wider range of crap that I ate.  I thought there were no consequences.  I could eat whatever I wanted and I still remained a skinny kid. I felt physically OK, so …why change?  My rules were working for me and I thought they were delicious.

Things eventually changed.  I turned 26 and suddenly everything was in question when I developed “Acid Reflux”.  It became clear that even though I learned a lot about nutrition in Chiropractic College… I learned the proper amounts of proteins, carbs and fats, I never followed any of the rules about the quality of my food.  For the first time I realized that my body was speaking to me.  It was giving me a signal. This signal was a symptom called “Acid Reflux”. And that “Acid Reflux” was telling me that my rules weren’t actually working so great.   And, luckily, instead of looking for a pill or quick fix to get rid of the symptom (or just dealing with it because it “wasn’t so bad”), I actually stopped for a moment and asked myself, “Why?”  Why was I getting this symptom?

Asking the question, “Why?” …was the first step to revising the rules of my life.  It is a question that can apply to anyone and to any symptom, be it acid reflux, anger, guilt, anxiety, constipation, high blood pressure, “Why?” should always be the question.

 In fact, the main lesson that I learned from becoming a chiropractor is that we all are born with an innate intelligence.  The Innate Intelligence is the wisdom that our body was born with.  It is the wisdom that knows how to grow hair, heal a cut, digest our foods, and deal with toxins. This is the intelligence that keeps the body healthy and alive.  Think of all the things that your body does every second just to keep you from falling down when you stand!  There are so many processes that go on that we are unaware of.  That’s Innate Intelligence at work.  If we are in touch with that innate intelligence, that inner wisdom and truly listen to it…you can!  It will always guide us to making the right decisions.  It will guide us to our very own perfect rules.

We all have rules.  Whether or not they are working out well for us is a different question. Sometimes we have set up rules for ourselves that don’t actually support our health or what we really need, they keep us stuck in a certain lifestyle and prevent us from truly being happy.  This happens because we haven’t spent all our lives making every decision based upon the question; is this the healthiest choice I can make?  Give me a break…the first couple decades we are brainwashed into thinking whatever our parents and the advertising companies exposed us to.  It is as we get older and begin making decisions to set us up for a lifetime that we should ask… is this the healthiest choice I can make? 

The reason that I live my life the way I do right now is not because my parents brought me up this way.  It’s not because of my religious beliefs, or the people around me.  No, it’s because I know what I want. I want to live an abundant life! I want to be able to play on the floor with my great grandchildren.  I want to play golf.  I still want to see patients at my office.  I want to cut my own toenails when I’m 96! And, most importantly I want an amazing relationship with my family forever!  It’s because of this I created a new set of rules; rules tailored to me that are based off of a knowledge of my body and understanding of how it communicates with me.

 In the coming posts I will be teaching you some rules that I have learned about the body, most of them through personal experience, and other rules that I have learned through the experience of my family or my patients.  This blog will give the reader a practical approach to life and hopefully offer some “rules” for you to follow that will make your life better.  If you don’t like MY rules then change them a bit…make them fit your life but don’t make the mistake of not pushing yourself to make big changes if those changes will get you closer to your goals.  I know it because I live it!  Let’s Begin!

Dr. Jason Piken, a 1996 graduate of New York Chiropractic College. During Chiropractic College he became proficient in Gonstead (a system of analyzing the spine) and has since spent hundreds of seminar-hours broadening his technique skills to include, Chiropractic Biophysics and Applied Kinesiology. For more information about Dr. Piken, please visit his website at www.innatechiro.com.

Healthy and in Pain

      Sometimes we get lessons about how our bodies work in unexpected ways.  I try learn something about health from every health challenge that I have experienced throughout my life.  Recently, I received another lesson.  Last week I slipped and had one of those falls that was positioned just right to break something.  I fractured the transverse processes of my L3 and L4 vertebrae...OUCH!!!

      I have had way too much time to think over the past week because being a practicing chiropractor with a broken back doesn't work so well; thank goodness our office also has Dr. Johnson to care for patients in my absence.  This trauma brings up the most important teaching point as far as the healthcare profession of chiropractic is concerned...It doesn't matter how you feel, what is important is how you function!!!!

      Sure it sucks to be in pain but I am in pain because my body is HEALTHY and it is healing and letting me know all the things I should/shouldn't be doing while I am healing.  Every single time I place my body in a position that will stress the healing process I get a signal/SHARP PAIN!  Every time I feel good but do too much I get a longer signal/ACHY BURNING PAIN!  Sure I wish the pain was gone but pain is a signal that your body uses to keep you from continuing  to hurt yourself.

      The acute pain I have is different than that of most people that I care for.  When there is acute severe pain from something like a sudden trauma then treating the pain with drugs can be a tremendous blessing.  If I had the same injury 200 years ago, before the use of pain medication, I would probably go insane.  So for now I am using just enough medication to allow me to be a bit more comfortable yet not so much that I drown out the signals that my INNATE INTELLIGENCE is sending me. 

     Most new people that come to my office aren't in acute pain.  They are dealing with some sort of chronic symptom that may have recently escalated. Their innate is trying to guide them and teach them that something they are doing in their daily life is hurting them and they need to address the cause of that symptom. Just like I am doing right now, avoiding things that hurt, people need to realize that they need to listen to what their bodies are telling them in order to heal.

      So here is the lesson!  We utilize Chiropractic care, Nutrition, and Applied Kinesiology to remove the cause of your pain...not to reduce your pain.  Pain reduction is the practice of medicine and sometimes it is necessary.  If your goal is to be truly healthy you need to understand WHY your pain/symptom is there and work on removing the stress in your life that is causing your body to give you that signal.

      Want to know HOW to remove that signal?  Find a great chiropractor/nutritionist/applied kinesiologist and let them teach you.

Please feel free to reply with any questions!

     

" I can smell everything, I have Leaky Gut, and my doctor won't listen to me"

I just had a woman walk into my office to buy a Thorne multivitamin.  There aren't too many people that come to my office who aren't patients and I had a couple minutes so I asked her why she wanted this particular supplement.  She told me a story I had heard way too many times in practice, but not yet from another Applied Kinesiology doctor.

To summarize the conversation...she had been told by an alternative medicine doctor many years ago that she had Leaky Gut (see our blog on 4R program or dysbiosis) and was given a big bunch of supplements to fix her problem...this was overwhelming to her, she wasn't the type of person used to taking pills so she never followed through.  After a number of years she wound up with the classic progression of Leaky Gut which is either an Autoimmune condition and severe environmental sensitivities (very sensitive to smells, tastes, skin and hair products and always sick but can't figure out why). 

Fortunately she eventually wound up at the office of an Applied Kinesiology(AK) doctor that turned her around within a short period of time with a few supplements, one of which was this Thorne multivitamin.  So after this great success this AK doctor wanted to fix a lot of other things still wrong with this patient so she prescribed a lot of different other supplements.  Then the problems got worse again, this patient being very frustrated decided to take a break from all the other supplements and listen to her intuition and only take the one supplement again, she felt better!  When she returned to her doctor and explained the situation her doctor didn't LISTEN to her; she merely started her protocol again and suggested another line of supplements.  Despite this woman's intuition she agreed to try again and immediately felt worse so now she has given up on going to doctors and will only take this one supplement. 

This supplement has actually worked on most of her symptoms for a couple of years but recently she has developed more and is scared of seeing anyone because of her past experience of a doctor not listening to her.

Sorry for the long story to get to the point which is this...If you find your doctor isn't litening to you and is not getting results don't give up on doctors...find one that does listen and get results.  There are many talented caring chiropractors/Applied Kinesiology doctors ( and lots of other health practitioners ) that aren't busy because someone had a bad experience at one doctors office and is scared of trying again...Like our older post says DON"T GIVE UP.  Help is available.  If you need a reference give our office a call.

Acid Reflux--More information

I decided to write a follow up to our acid reflux post because it is the most popular post that we have had.  We have seen so many people throughout the years in practice who had a complete resolution of acid reflux, I just can't understand why more people aren't trying the strategies discussed in our first post.  One of the reasons I thought were that people TRY things out rather than following through and DOING them.

The difference between trying and doing is immense.  Principle 6 in the chiropractic principles of healing is that everything takes time.  It takes time for problems to manifest and it also takes time for problems to heal.  From what we see in our practice it is very rare that a person with acid reflux can't heal...it's just that some people aren't willing to give their body time to replenish and heal.

Another reason that we find that is common is that people pick and choose which method they want to do and if it doesn't work then try the next one while dropping the first one.  In our practice we treat people as a whole unit. Sometimes a particular therapy doesn't alleviate a patient's symptoms but we don't necessarily give up on it...we add the next layer to the equation.  Some people may need to do all the protocols at the same time and stick to them long enough before results can occur.  I'll bullet point the best approaches below and read through our other posts to get the details.

• Get to a great chiropractor that understands the relationship between stress on the nervous system and how it can lead to acid reflux.  Ask your chiropractor if they can describe the relationship to you.  If they can't then find someone who can.
• Find a way to release tension a stress from your jaw...hopefully with a doctor familiar with Applied Kinesiology
• Supplement with zinc
• Food Combining ( read our post )
• Find the right digestive enzyme for you!  Start with one that includes Betaine Hydrochloride.
• Eat Food!  ( again read the post )

These are all strategies that will get you healthier and in turn your body will heal whatever ails you...yes even acid reflux!

The Dukan Diet, The four hour diet, the 17 day diet...

Its been a long while since I've written a post. We've done a bunch of short informative videos posted to our YouTube site but I've got the bug to write again so here it goes...

There were some new Fad diets that were all the buzz in 2011 and I'm sure there will be more this year. I don't have anything against most of them actually. Most diet fads out there have the same recommendations with slight little twists and tweaks and names that make them sound new and exciting. Even my wife is hooked on one, "Crazy Sexy Diet" by Kris Carr. She ordered it towards the end of 2011 and went full steam ahead with it right away. The CRAZY thing is the fact that as she was reading it she was telling me that it basically was the info I had been teaching her over the past 13 years that we have been together.

You see, there is nothing new out there, there is no magic bullet (well I do like my magic bullet mini blender) when it comes to diets. All the info we are ever going to need is already out there and most of you already know it. So what are you waiting for? Maybe, just like my wife Stacey, you are just waiting for the right time. That's it! Stacey was ready for the change. Even though she had been making positive lifestyle changes slowly over the years there was always that "extra few pounds" she was pissed about. Well when you are really truly ready for change you can do it anytime. Stacey put her nutrition into overdrive and now she picks on ME for the food choices I make because she is so committed to being healthy.

So my recommendation to you is this...find an old diet book that you had read (or skimmed through) in the past and follow it because it works. Don't have one? I like Crazy Sexy Diet, it's what I teach anyway! All diets work! Some are better than others but they all get results if you are committed to them. So GET COMMITTED! Draw a line in the sand! Make today the day you change! Don't TRY to do it, DO IT! then remember the changes you are making are FOR LIFE! Not for a few weeks.

This is the kind of info we teach at our office. When you are ready to change your life you can do it. If you need help, call us email us and Innate Chiropractic of Manhattan will Help you achieve optimal health!

Don't Give Up!

I just replied to an email I received from someone in San Francisco and it inspired me to make a new entry. This person is dealing with a chronic pain and has tried going to various doctors and alternative health practitioners. One piece of advice I had for this person is "don't give up!" There are plenty of times in my office where, unfortunately, I wind up being the 3rd, 5th even 15th doctor someone has seen for an issue. I definitely can't say that I have taken away the symptoms of each and every one of those people but I have helped many. Sometimes there is either one piece of advice, one supplement, one adjustment, or a muscle being worked on the correct way that can make a difference in the way a person responds to care.

I'll give you my personal example...Before graduating chiropractic college I was in a car accident. Along with many other injuries I also had 2 compression fractures in my spine. Those two fractures kept me in some form of pain or discomfort for months. I had been getting adjusted by great chiropractors 1-3 times per week, I was in Physical therapy for 2 years, I exercised on my own and was taking great care of myself and I still was experiencing mild chronic lower thoracic pain. I also had frequent flare ups of more acute pain for about 2 1/2 years after the accident.

Having chronic pain would have been frustrating for anyone but especially for someone like me who's job it is to care for others. Here's where things changed. I went to an Applied Kinesiology seminar because I was curious to learn more about it and to be honest I was getting bored with my practice. I was called up to the "stage" by Dr. Eugene Charles who was teaching the seminar because I raised my hand as someone who had a certain type f pain that he was describing. I laid face up on a chiropractic table and Dr. Charles put 2 wedges under my back and then proceeded to traction my legs. The whole procedure took 1 minute and he then told me to stand up. When I stood up and tested my range of motion I noticed I had the ability to rotate side to side further than I had been since the accident and I felt better as well.

That one movement to correct a "facet imbrication" was done by a chiropractor and is considered an adjustment just like I had received hundreds of times before. The point is this time there was something a little different. Sometimes that is all a patient needs. Something a little different. I still have to keep up a healthy lifestyle of getting adjusted, eating well, exercising and taking supplements; but without that facet imbrication being released I feel like I would have still felt that accident to this day. That is what put me on the road to learning more Applied Kinesiology and why no matter what; you should NEVER GIVE UP!

Stress is just like Calories!

Stress is a word thrown around way too easily these days. "My neck hurts but its just stress...I have a stress headache...Ugh, my boss is stressing me out!...I can go on and on. I hear complaints about stress all day long in my office and I don't think people understand that when we experience stress we can't just blow it off!

Stress is like calories. If you eat more calories than you burn what happens? You gain weight and after weeks or months or years of your calorie equation being out of balance(More calories in than out) you can see the damaging affects on your body.

Think of stress the same way. Every day we are exposed to combinations of physical, chemical and emotional stress. If we experience stress yet do little to alleviate stress we throw off balance our stress equation(More stress in than out). The affects of stress aren't as quickly apparent as calories but they do impact our health in a tremendously negative way.

Think of it; when you experience any stress your muscles tense, your blood pressure rises, your blood sugar rises, your heart rate increases, your immune system becomes depressed...I can go on with many more! Even when the stress is over there are residual effects of stress that stay with you. Think of the most basic:

Right now feel around your upper trap muscle ( its the muscle between your ear and your shoulder) If you poke around for a few seconds it will be easy to touch upon a sore spot. There will most likely be one little knotty area that will feel slightly more tender than the rest of your trap. That is one of the many effects of stress, tight muscles. those muscles in turn pull on your spine and cause subluxations. Subluxations are small misalignments that place stress on your nervous system. So ultimately a lot of the stress that you experience negatively impacts your nervous system. That doesn't sound like a good thing to me...how about you?

The greatest way to alleviate stress is to live an incredibly healthy lifestyle. You need proper rest, regular exercise, and excellent nutrition. If there are times when you are not following the best of lifestyle, which for most people is often, you should get to a chiropractor. Remember stress is cululative just like calories it builds up for weeks, for months, or even for years before you start to pay attention to the affects of stress.

The main purpose of chiropractic care is to reduce the effects of stress on your body. The less stress your body experiences the healthier you are. I also choose in my practice to utilize Applied Kinesiology, which is the melding together of chiropractic, nutrition, acupuncture, physical therapy and cranial sacral therapy. The more areas of stress you relieve the better!

My Advice! Get rid of your stress right now and call your chiropractor for an appointment!

Cold Laser Therapy is Amazing

My new Laser is amazing me all the time. In November of 2007 I finally invested in a cold laser device for the office and I couldn't be more pleased with it. I decided to avoid a lengthy technical discussion about lasers on my Blog, instead choosing to refer you to a link that explains that.

http://www.usalaser.biz/faq.html#3

What I want to state hear is a summary of what the Cold Laser does and some of the experiences I have had with it at my office.


First of all a cold laser as the name implies does not burn, it is merely a source of concentrated light that penetrates the body and does two really exciting things. Laser light has unique physical properties, which no ordinary light has. Laser therapy, also known as phototherapy and low level laser therapy, involves the application of low power coherent light to injuries and lesions to stimulate healing and reduce pain. It is used to increase the speed, quality and strength of tissue repair, resolve inflammation and give pain relief. Laser therapy has been found to offer superior healing and pain relieving effects compared to other electrotherapeutic modalities such as ultrasound, especially in chronic problems and in the early stages of acute injuries. Laser therapy is a complete system of treating muscle, tendon, ligament, connective tissue, bone, nerve, and dermal tissues in a non-invasive, drug-free modality.


As far as experiences I always refer back to my first. I barely had my laser out of the box for a few minutes before testing it out. My first of many success stories is a patient with an 8+ year old knee pain that was not responding to any other treatment. After using the Cold Laser for 4 minutes on her knee the pain was gone!!! Best of all it still is gone as of today after only 1 treatment! That's over 5 months later!! I can't say that everyone has responded in the same way. The Laser is designed to be used as a treatment modality that is used multiple times to achieve results but on many occasions I do see tremendous results in one treatment.


I would next like to give my own testimonial. I have had a Morton's Neuroma (google it if you like) in my right foot for about 10 years. The Neuroma hasn't been painful in a long while because I altered my lifestyle by avoiding running, biking, jumping rope...anything that would hurt it. I have tried stretches, exercises, orthotics, manipulation, supplements, detox, nothing helped and I was resigned to the fact that one day i would get the thing cut out through surgery. I was delaying surgery because I always believe that cutting your problem out is absolutely the last resort. Although it is necessary at times, you can't go back and repair if something goes wrong. Any way, I decided to start lasering my neuroma. After 4 treatments I noticed about a 50% improvement and I kept using it about twice per week for 3-4 minutes at a time. I actually hit a wall for a while where I didn't see any further improvement until about session 20 where there was a change. The area actually felt different, actually worse. I felt numbness in the area for about 10-12 days. During that time to be honest I was mildly concerned that I fried my foot but I do realize that can't happen using a cold laser so I pushed on. By session 24 the numbness was gone and so was 90% of the neuroma problem. I can't state how happy I am that there are times when I don't think about my foot. Even though it hasn't been painful for years I was aware of the problem many times a day. I haven't had the time to laser it in a few weeks but I will resume soon seeing if I can get the last 10% but even if I can't I think its amazing as is.

Just Eat Food!

We have this vessel, our body that needs certain ingredients in order for it to run properly. There is a basic concept that we all must understand. If you don’t give your body the proper fuel to allow it to run properly, it won’t! There it is simple as pie; just give your body the proper fuel. Sounds simple but I see book after book telling us what to eat, how to eat, in what proportions, if there should be carbohydrate if there should be saturated fat, every opinion under the sun about food. For the most part all of these books can be correct if you follow the plan, meaning that almost all reasonably healthy plans will work if you stick with them. I have realized that you can find studies and statistics that prove whatever you want if you are willing to take a narrow view of the facts and manipulate it to your liking. The way I decipher what is a good plan of eating or not in the vast realm of nutrition is by first using plain old common sense. If I feel that the guidelines in the book make sense and that I could follow those guidelines easily than I would give it a try. Now you could spend your life jumping from trying every plan available or the best advice you can follow is to find out one that works for you and stick with it. What do I mean by working for you? Well I consider a way of eating proper if it allows you to fuel your body enough to build muscle but not put on much fat and makes you feel good while eating that way.

So when it comes down to it, how do we feed these incredible bodies of ours? There are many different paths that we can take. Again there are many books out there that you can buy and try so that is an option.

For those that want the ultimate in simplicity, for those that can’t bear to follow any guidelines or plans. For those of you that want the magic pill, that just want to know the bare minimum I have this advice. First of all there is not now and never will be a magic pill so give up your search; and if anyone tells you that their pill is the new miracle pill on the market run the other way.

My advice to you is this:

Don’t eat anything that comes out of a box!

You wanted it simple there it is! Many of the problems of modern society have been caused by convenience foods. Yes the stuff that you eat that can last on a shelf for weeks or months or years at a time. The stuff filled with partially hydrogenated oils, trans fats, sugar, polyscorbate 80, red dye #4, and numerous other chemical additives, fillers,

by-products, and preservatives. If you just simply follow this rule your life will improve! You’re done! You now know how to help people with problems like diabetes and heart disease. Just remember just because you didn’t see it in a box doesn’t mean that it didn’t come from a box. Restaurants use boxed items also. That is a good basic rule but there are many exceptions to the rule, very often my frozen brussel sprouts come in a box and I am not about to give them up.

Now here are the general exceptions to the box rule. This is not a weight loss plan or a special needs diet. It is a list of the 2 most basic rules of proper nutrition that will enable you to become a healthier happier person. Here are my rules for what constitutes something to be called food. And if all you eat is food than you are on your way to becoming healthy.

1. Food is not white unless it started off that way.
2. Food spoils

Let me explain Rule 1. Food is not white unless it started off that way. That means that eggs, milk, fish, cauliflower, chicken, white beans…are all considered food because man/woman has not done anything to these things to make them white (except maybe cook them) they are basically unadulterated. What doesn’t belong on the food list? Sugar, white flour, Splenda, Equal, … all the things man/woman has placed in nice packages that sort of looks like food and sure does taste good but really is just a manufactured product not something that grows or once lived and provides nourishment.

Nourishment, now there’s a word for you. The main reason for these two main rules for food is to try to ensure that everything that you eat provides some nourishment. You should not eat merely to fill your stomach so the hunger pains go away. The purpose of eating is to provide the nutrients necessary to carry on the process of LIFE!

Now don’t get discouraged I love, love, love food. I love to cook, smell, shop for, and of course eat food. You can truly have delicious and nutritious things to eat all day long, day in and day out that are simple to prepare and still be able stick to these rules. Believe me I do it all the time. It just takes a little time to learn new habits.

I’ll follow up soon with ideas to help follow the eat food not junk rule in future Blogs.

Thanks for reading!!!!!!

Dr. Piken