20 Ways To Stay Well For Less Than "Obamacare"

Editor's Note: Today's post is just a bit off topic but is one that IS on the mind of many people right now and I think this author, Daisy Luther, covers the topic very well.  We would do well to listen and act on her advice.  Your health is your responsibility not the government's or the insurance company's.

by Daisy Luther

How about instead of paying for Obamacare, we just spend that extra money on living well and healthfully? With the amount of money that families will be spending, they could make some amazing healthy lifestyle choices that would reduce their need for healthcare in many instances. It all boils down to two options: For the cost involved, would you rather pay for health care, by preventing disease with good choices, or death care, by treating disease with toxic chemicals and invasive medical interventions?

The Biggest Forcible Ponzi Scheme in History

The numbers presented are very deceiving. Most people are utterly in shock when they find out how much they will be paying. If your budget is already tight, be prepared for it to become strangling. If I were going to participate in Obamacare (which I am NOT), after subsidies I would only be paying $185 per month. But then, there is a deductible of another $5,000 per year. And then they only pay 60% of my costs, leaving me on the hook for the other 40%.

So let’s add this up.

For my little below-the-poverty-line family the total is $7,220 per year that will be spent IF someone is sick enough to use enough healthcare to qualify to have Obamacare pay for some. For a friend of mine with a higher income and a bigger family, the out-of-pocket cost would be over $28,000 before Obamacare paid for (a percentage of) a single thing!

This is not the bargain it is being presented as. Instead, it is the biggest Ponzi scheme the world has ever known. The banking system, as corrupt as it is, has nothing on Obamacare, because if you are alive and breathing, the government wants to FORCE you to participate. Who benefits from this? Certainly not you, unless you happen to own an insurance company or be a politician on the dole to insurance companies.

Spend Money on Prevention, not on Obamacare

There are a lot of ways I could put $7,220 to use to improve the health of my family. Many of the catastrophic illnesses that are so rampant today can be directly traced back to poor choices or toxic environmental factors. A study in The Lancet says that our lifestyle has a lot to do with the dramatic increase in cancer cases. “Countries with more “progress” have substantially higher rates of cancer. The FDA has allowed a veritable Pandora’s box of toxins into our foods, cleaning products, and medications because the soft-kill poisoning of the American people has been great for the bank account if you happen to be involved in Big Pharma, Big Agri or Big Business.” (source)

With my average $601 per month that I would be paying before the Obamacare even kicked in, I could put aside money each month for any medical expenses we might incur. We rarely go to the doctor and in 3 years between all of us, we have not spent the sum of the $5000 deductible (even after a serious accident last summer that left me with a concussion and internal injuries.) Putting aside an emergency fund for things like doctor’s visits, prescriptions, and unexpected needs has long been a part of my personal financial plan.

If we want to start instituting programs to improve public health, what if we taught people how to avoid the horrible toxins in our environment? What if we ate healthy? What if we exercised? What if we just made good lifestyle choices?

It can be difficult to make good choices when you’re broke, and Obamacare is just going to cast people further into destitution. It will be a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle because they will be LESS able to afford to opt for the best nutritional choices, which means they will get sicker and need more health care.

20 Better Ways to Spend Your Money

Here are some ways that you can prevent disease and illness – many of them free.  And ALL of them can be had for far less than my personal “affordable” health care.

1. Purchase organic foods as often as possible. The use of pesticides in conventional farming is rampant. Even the hijacked the Environmental Protection Agency has to admit that the ingestion of pesticides can cause health problems. They warn of the risk of “birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects that might occur over a long period of time.” Especially at risk of harm from pesticides are prepubescent children and fetuses.
2. Avoid GMOs. Always. Genetically modified foods have not been tested for long-term effects on humans. There is a great deal of evidence to indicate the GMOs can cause a host of illness. Peer reviewed studies implicate GMOs in the development of grotesque tumors, premature death, organ failure, gastric lesions, liver damage, kidney damage, severe allergic reactions, a viral gene that disrupts human functions…you can read more HERE.
3. Avoid conventional dairy products. Conventional dairy products are absolutely loaded with hormones. Dairy cattle are given high levels of female hormones to make them produce a greater quantity of milk. This makes little boys develop female characteristics and makes little girls hit puberty at a far younger age than normal, which is the reason you see 4th graders with large breasts and hips. These hormones can also trigger obesity in both genders. Because of the public outcry, some dairies have pledged not to use rBST, the most commonly used of the growth hormones.
4. Load your plate with colorful antioxidants. Opt for organic versions of foods like berries, colorful veggies, dark chocolate, and coffee, to name a few, are loaded with powerful, cancer-fighting antioxidants.
5. Shop for foods grown with lower pesticide usage. If organic produce is not an option, look for the items with the lowest pesticide loads. (This list by the Environmental Working Group is based ONLY on pesticide loads – some of the items they recommend could be GMOs.) Fruits and vegetables that can be peeled often subject you to less pesticides than thin-skinned items. If you must buy conventional, wash the produce carefully and peel it if possible.
6. Avoid processed foods. Many of the additives and preservatives featured abundantly in North America are banned in other countries precisely because of the health risks they represent.
7. Avoid artificial sweeteners. Aspartame, for example, is a known carcinogen that breaks down into formaldehyde in the human body.
8. Opt for hormone free, antibiotic free meat. If you can’t afford grass-fed organic meat, at the very least look for options that are guaranteed to be hormone and antibiotic free. Livestock animals that provide meat or dairy products are tainted with growth hormones, antibiotics, and GMO feed. These items pass through the food chain to the consumer. Growth hormones can cause opposite sex characteristics in developing children, early puberty, the development of cancer, and infertility. Furthermore, the world is quickly becoming immune to the effects of antibiotics because of constant exposure through the food supply, which means that there is the potential for things that should be easily treated to become deadly due to antibiotic resistance. (Click HERE for a little primer on those confusing meat labels.)
9. Avoid fluoridated water. Drink spring water and avoid “city” water. Our municipal water supply is spiked with fluoride, a neurotoxin that  lowers IQs, causes infertility, has been linked to cancer and causes hardening of the arteries.
10. Be scrupulous about food hygiene. Wash your produce very thoroughly and soak it in a baking soda bath. Also remember to careful wash your beans and rice. (Click HERE to see some photos of the dirt that comes off of a cup of rice!)
11. Refuse vaccines. Many vaccines contain mercury, another known carcinogen. By the age of two, if a child has received all of the recommended vaccines, he or she has received 2,370 times the “allowable safe limit” for mercury (if there is such a thing as a safe level of poison).
12. Maintain a healthy body weight. Obesity has been linked to increased risks of cancers of the esophagus, breast, endometrium, uterus, colon and rectum, kidney, pancreas, thyroid, gallbladder, and possibly other types.
13. Exercise daily. Spend some of your premiums on joining a gym, or just lace up your shoes and start walking.
14. Don’t smoke.
15. Consume alcohol only in moderation.
16. Limit the use of plastic in your home. BPA or Bisphenol-A are petrochemical plastics that are a major component of many water bottles, lines the inside of canned goods, and makes up the hard material of many reusable food containers, including some brands of baby bottles.
17. Select personal care products that do not contain petrochemicals. Many cosmetics and other health and beauty aids contain petrochemicals. The danger of this is their byproduct, 1,4-dioxane, a proven carcinogen. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies dioxane as a probable human carcinogen. California state law has classified dioxane to cause cancer. Animal studies in rats suggest that the greatest health risk is associated with inhalation of vapors.
18. Opt for natural, biodegradable food grade cleaning products. According to the website Natural Pure Organics, the average household contains up to 25 gallons of toxic materials, most of which are in cleaning products. When you use these cleaners, they linger in the air and on the surfaces, increasing your exposure to carcinogens as you inhale the toxins into your lungs or absorb them through your skin.
19. Teach your children WHY you avoid the things you do. This will help them make better choices when they are not with you.
20. Grow your own. Get into the garden and start growing your own food. This way you can rest assured that the seeds are heirloom and that the growing methods are pure. Consider raising backyard chickens and rabbits for hormone free, antibiotic-free meat and eggs.

You are far better off to prevent disease than to treat it after the fact. These choices will not be promoted by the government, because, simply put, Big Business owns the government – the same Big Business that is getting filthy rich feeding you poison and selling you toxins to slather on your body and clean your home with. This is the same Big Business that will laugh all the way to the bank when Obamacare pays them for selling you unneeded vaccines and medication with horrific side effects, and then foreclose on your home while you’re in the hospitcal.

Spend your money wisely and opt for choices that build vitality and help you to thrive, instead of draconian forced expenditures that will impoverish you to the point that you can’t afford the building blocks of good health. That is the real difference between health care and death care.

Keep up-to-date on the fight against the forced health care mandate by joining the Facebook page, We Will Not Comply with Obamacare.

About the author:

Please feel free to share any information from this site in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio.

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

Source: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/health-care-vs-death-care-20-ways-to-stay-well-for-less-money-than-obamacare-10092013#sthash.6gsM5Mw0.dpuf

Our "Health Care" System is Upside Down and Backwards

An essay for my community and an appeal for common sense

– By Dr. Larry S. Arbeitman, D.C.

I believe that in 500 years human beings will look back on this period of time and say, “What were they doing to themselves?”

A recent article in The New York Times revealed that 11% of school-aged boys are diagnosed and treated for ADD/ADHD1. This number is astonishing! When did it become normal for millions of children to require medication for the simple operations of their daily lives? These drugs are stimulants. Stimulants can be dangerous. Dr. Jennifer Ashton, the CBS News Medical Correspondent, reports that the use of these drugs increases the chance of sudden death by 600-700%2. This reality forces us to ask another important question: how could a medicine that is deadly for one child, be healthy for another?

We’ve got it wrong. Our culture’s view of health and lifestyle is upside-down and backwards. As I refer to “health care” throughout the essay, keep in mind the term is grossly misused in our society. We improperly utilize the term “health care” to describe our “sick care” system. Most “heath care” spending in our country goes towards the treatment and management of chronic conditions. Managing illness and getting people well are two different approaches.

According to the Institute of Health, 30% of “health care” spending (about $750 billion annually) is wasted on services that do not improve health outcomes.3 The Journal of the American Medical Association states the aggregate benefits the current American “heath care” system provides may not outweigh the aggregate harm it imparts.4

Although the U.S. health care system shines in crisis and trauma management, studies show that U.S. health care ranks as low as 50th in the world in key health statistics; including lifespan.5

“According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States spent more on health care per capita ($7,146), and more on health care as percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (15.2%), than any other nation in 2008. Likewise, The Commonwealth Fund ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among similar countries, and notes U.S. care costs the most.”6
What are we getting in return for this soaring investment?

Of 17 high-income countries studied by the National Institutes of Health in 2013, the United States was at or close to the bottom in infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancies, injuries, homicides, and disability rates. The report placed the U.S. dead last for life expectancy. The average U.S. male will live about four years less than those in the top-ranked country.7

If drugs were the solution, shouldn’t we be the healthiest country in the world? We spend and consume more of them than any other country in the world. In the United States, spending for prescription drugs was $234.1 billion in 2008 – more than double what we spent in 1999.8 According to the WHO, the global pharmaceutical market totals $300 Billion.9 The United States consumes more medication than the rest of the world, but the amount spent doesn’t translate into better health outcomes. We’re worse.

We do not have a health care system. We live in a disease management system that profits most when people remain in it. Doctors and companies do not have financial incentives to prevent disease, or to cure them. Doctors and hospitals are reimbursed for procedures, not outcomes. Lifetime disease management will always yield the most financial gains. A cardiac catheterization that only takes a few minutes yields $1,500. A 45-minute lifestyle discussion with a diabetic patient pays $15.

I do not blame the doctors. Doctors do the best they can with the training and tools provided. It’s the system itself that is broken and our fellow citizens who are getting hurt…badly.

The Institute of Medicine reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association10 that medical errors and hospital acquired infections account for more than 187,000-225,000 deaths annually. Iatrogenic disease (caused by medicine) is the third leading cause of death in the United States, only behind heart disease and cancer.

It is projected that treating obesity will cost the U.S. over one trillion dollars per year, and account for 1/5th of healthcare spending.11 Even more alarming, 1 in 3 children and adults are pre-diabetic or diabetic.12 The average diabetic accumulates $150,000-$250,000 in healthcare expenditures. Again, despite this spending, estimates report that diabetics have a shorter lifespan of up to eight years.13

How did we get so sick?

One source is our diet. Much of our country is malnourished. We eat too many calories that are void of any nutritional value. Our health is directly proportional to the nutrient content within each calorie that we consume. Most processed foods and sweetened beverages carry very little, if any, nutrient content per calorie. This is the reason that many processed foods, including orange juice and bread have been “fortified” with added nutrients; since any nutrient content was eliminated in the processing of the food.

The government’s current agricultural policy and subsidies for corn and wheat has enabled bad food to be cheap, and healthy food expensive – so much so that many people on a fixed income have to choose between paying for their medications or buying food that can improve their health. Too often these people must resort to eating the less expensive, processed and fast foods that cause their illness to begin with. They feed this food to their family, perpetuating multiple generations in this cycle. Diseases do not run in families. Lifestyles do.

Our foods have been genetically modified to maximize profits, but they have become harmful as well. The most significant genetic modification of the past 20 years is the modern dwarf version of wheat. The “new wheat” has been created to maximize yield and profit in the shortest amount of time. However, the research is mounting that we are more sensitive and intolerant to the modern version of wheat. Modern wheat has been connected with diabetes, irritable bowel, gastrointestinal cancer, lymphoma, autoimmune disease, neurological disorders, skin disorders, and chronic inflammation.13 The dietary advice we are often provided is harmful. For instance, the recommendation that diabetics and heart disease patients should consume “heart-healthy” whole grains increases insulin resistance, which will accelerate the diseases.

Our lifestyle choices and food gets us sick and the medical system keeps us sick. Interestingly, both our food and drugs are regulated by the same federal agency, the FDA. Many higher-ups in the FDA have had past connections to “Big-Pharma” and the food industry giants. I am not claiming a conspiracy but pointing attention to the backgrounds of the many who influence public policy that impacts your family’s health.

Our environment is toxic. Scientists have determined that humans and animals can only tolerate certain levels of chemical exposure to their bodies. The CDC’s (Center for Disease Control) 4th annual report on human exposure to environmental chemicals tested 212 chemicals and found ALL to be in the blood and urine of most Americans! Scientists have found toxic chemicals throughout the world’s environments; even as far as the arctic people and animals.14

As a practicing chiropractor, I am trained to practice outside of the Medico-Pharma-Food machine. I have been screaming, “Shark! Everyone get out of the water!” Of course, my voice is but a grain of sand compared to the media onslaught and government policy that perpetuates poor lifestyle choices, and accentuates preventable disease and suffering in our families and neighbors. I advise my patients, “Look at what everyone is doing around you, then go the other way”.

So what’s the solution to our country’s health and economic challenges? Certainly it will not be answered in this short essay. However, I do know that we should not throw more money at this problem. We do not need more drugs and surgery. We need more people, less sick. We do not need more fear mongering, or scaring people into a learned helplessness/victim condition. We need a system that empowers the patient to take responsibility for their health. The doctor and the patient both have to believe this is possible.

Often, physicians will take a family history and then inform us that a particular disease runs in our genes. We are lead to believe that these genes will somehow determine our fate with not much that we can do. To the contrary, research from Yale University shows that genes contribute only 25% to the longevity of life.15 The emergence of the field of epigenetics proves that we have the ability to positively or negatively alter our genetic health expression through our lifestyle and environment. We are no longer a prisoner to our “genes and heredity”. A study by Dean Ornish, MD, demonstrated that after three months of lifestyle change men showed a change in activity in about 500 genes, including 48 that were turned on, and 453 genes that were turned off. “In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live? That’s pretty exciting,” Dr. Ornish said.”16

Those who want to enslave you have perpetuated limiting beliefs that support the notion we cannot alter our health destiny. You are in control of your future! Learn more! Become health literate! Question what you are being told! Free yourself and your family from the bondage of this system! All of the information is readily available to you via the Internet from professional sources and communities of like-minded individuals.

One of the problems with the current system is that the doctor often looks at their patient as fundamentally flawed. They use a chemical to artificially push the patient’s physiology in one direction or another to meet an arbitrary blood-work guideline. These “one-size fits all” guidelines have been altered several times over the past 20 years to include more and more people. One recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine discusses how modern medicine has become the management of lab values in otherwise asymptomatic adults. Often, these patients end up taking multiple medications to offset the side effects of other medications that they are taking. They referred to this approach polypharamacy. The study demonstrated that over 50% of adults over the age of 50 to be on 5 drugs or more.17 I must ask… Are our bodies designed so poorly that we need so many medications by the age of 50? Are we that sick? Are all these drugs medically necessary?

Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Einstein stated, and I paraphrase, we will not solve today’s problems with the same level of thinking that created them.

Turning the tides will not be an easy task. There are strong economic and cultural influences at work. In 2002, the combined profits for the 10 drug companies in the Fortune 500 ($35.9 billion) were more than the profits for all the other 490 businesses put together ($33.7 billion).18 Our current “sick-care” system pays doctors for procedures. It does not pay for counseling or advice that can help inform and educate the patient. As a result there are more procedures and little-to-no counseling or education of the patient. Our medical doctors are rarely trained on non-pharmaceutical interventions for creating and promoting health.

When was the last time your doctor provided you with a health workshop, wellness counseling or even a certified health coach? I have found these strategies to be an integral part of my practice in order to facilitate change in the lives of the patients that I serve.

A person close to me with a cancer diagnosis was recently told by a leading specialist not to waste his time taking vitamins since vitamins would not change his cancer prognosis. He was also instructed not to lose too much weight even though he is obese because it will affect the amount of drug needed for his treatment. It seems as if the doctor was trained to only recommend treatment that directly affects cancer. Lifestyle modifications that support this patient’s underlying physiology and health were seen as a waste of effort and time since they have not been shown to treat this particular type of cancer.

How can someone possibly get healthy in a disease management system that places little value on behavior modification and absolute power on treatment?

I contend that people cannot get healthy in the U.S. “disease-care” system. They can only become “not sick”, at best. That is also assuming they get out unharmed by the myriad of side effects and complications notoriously associated with medicine.

I look at my patients’ bodies as a biologist would look at a sick species of animals. If fish were dying in a lake, the first thing that would be done would be to clean up the lake and food supply. The strategy would not be to give the fish medication and surgery without accounting for the fish’s environment and diet. I am a doctor focused on the structure and function of my patients’ bodies. Subsequently, I recommend anything and everything that will enhance their physiology regardless of the “diagnosis”. It is irrelevant if the patient has cancer, asthma, back pain, migraines or no condition at all. All human beings, despite the presence or absence of a diagnosis, require good clean water, positive thoughts, good nutrition, adequate rest, and proper nerve flow to allow their body to function well and heal. If any of the aforementioned habits are absent for a substantial amount of time, the person’s ability to be well and heal will significantly diminish.

I never see a patient as a flawed individual who is lacking a chemical to be healthier. Headaches are never caused by an aspirin deficiency. Instead, I see the people I care for as having an incredible ability to heal and recuperate once we discover what is interfering with the “normal” healing process.

There are only two things that can be interfering with the healing process: deficiency and toxicity. Sometimes the person is deficient in good nutrition, vitamins and minerals, or deficient in movement and physical activity, deficient in proper alignment, deficient in energy, deficient in a clean and supporting environment or deficient in positive and empowering thoughts and beliefs.

Most often, people who are not healing also have toxicities, not just deficiencies. I define toxicity as having too much of something that does not enhance but decreases our physiology or function. Toxicity accumulates in our body in many forms: chemicals, thoughts, or improper physical activity. Toxicity can appear as negative thoughts (fear, guilt, worry), not enough movement or the wrong movements, and chronic exposure to chemicals in our foods, environments, and medicines (both prescription and over the counter). The list of possible deficiencies and toxicities are much longer than the simple examples I have noted.

In the nearly 80,000 visits that have come through my upper cervical chiropractic office, one of the most devastating causes to a person not experiencing high levels of health is related to the deficiency of proper alignment. Most people have structural changes to their bodies as a result of birth trauma, multiple falls, past accidents or injuries, and sedentary lifestyles. Structural changes to the body will always alter the function of the central nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system. The nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system are in constant communication with one another.

Simply stated, when the position of the skull, 24 spinal bones and pelvis are out of their proper alignment they put pressure on the spinal cord and nerves. Since the brain and spinal cord control every organ, cell and tissue of the body, structural pressure on the nervous system will interfere with the body’s function. Nerve interference eventually leads to dis-ease and a loss of the body’s ability to self-regulate and heal.

Altered alignment also affects the nerve pathways that allow the body to perceive itself and relate to the environment. This can effect the way relate emotionally to our outside world.

A misaligned body will slowly lose its ability to adapt to stress. As the body loses the ability to adapt, many measures of physiology go outside the “normal range” as well. Patients under prolonged stress develop higher levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), higher blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar. Digestive issues, sexual dysfunction, inability to concentrate or remember details, and chronic inflammation have been connected to chronic unrelenting stress. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) claims that upwards of 75-90% of chronic health conditions is related to chronic stress.

Upper cervical chiropractic care is one of the safest and most cost-effective ways to mitigate the effects of chronic stress. It has been shown that patient’s under long-term chiropractic care can improve their heart rate variability; a measure of autonomic nervous system function and the body’s stress response. Another study demonstrates that long-term chiropractic patients have a higher level of serum thiols, a DNA repair enzyme that has been shown to correlate with lifespan and aging.19

As you can see, upper cervical chiropractic is not just a natural treatment for neck and back pain. Instead, it is a system of health care that can optimize quality of life and the body’s ability to keep itself well.

Correcting (Adjusting) spinal misalignment (Subluxation) restores structural and neurological integrity to the body, better helping it to adapt to modern stress. An “adaptive” nervous system is an integral part of being well in the 21st century.

Upper cervical chiropractic adjustments do not treat any disease or condition. Recall that the disease/symptom treatment approach is the current model that is failing our society. Utilizing the upper cervical chiropractic adjustment as a form of “natural medicine” is perpetuating the faulty notion that treating symptoms reactively will somehow help one obtain good health. I encourage you to look at your health strategy from a different perspective. Rather than simply responding to symptoms and blood work, take a proactive approach towards your health care. After all, it’s easier to hold onto a champagne glass than it is to put one back together after it falls to the floor and shatters into thousands of pieces.

Adjustments are part of a comprehensive lifestyle strategy focused on strengthening the body’s adaptive capacity. It is true that tens of thousands of people with a host of different conditions have gotten well while under upper cervical chiropractic care. However, they did not get well because upper cervical care “treated” their condition.” Rather, upper cervical care improved their body’s nervous system so the body can do simply just what it was intended to do; heal itself. Yes, your body can actually heal itself. Unfortunately, many people do not heal because their body has not been given the raw materials to facilitate healing. Imagine putting soda into the engine of a Ferrari and then blaming the Ferrari for not driving as fast as it was designed.

The concept is simple but the procedures and healing mechanisms involved are so complex that our greatest minds are still trying to better understand them.

Most families have a primary care doctor who is trained in disease management, illness and pathology. Nowadays, it is even more necessary to also hire a primary care provider/team that have a wellness orientation towards your family’s health. This is a requirement for any family to be well in modern America. It is also necessary to question and research any and all recommendations, conventional or alternative.

I believe in the fabric of America and the power of the consumer. In a free market economy you get to vote by choosing how, where, and when to spend your money. Choose organic, non-GMO, local grown produce. Invest in recreational activities that your family enjoys. Take trips that will teach your children to enjoy being outdoors. Hire health care providers that support your family’s value system.

Those who can afford organic and fresh foods but pass on them because of “price” need to remember how expensive the cheap food becomes once your family is sick. If you want to create wealth, invest in your family’s health now.

Other recommendations include regular meditation or prayer, do not watch the news; especially before bed, unplug from the technology as a family at dinner, eat dinners together, become part of a supportive community, get adequate sleep, purchase a great mattress and pillow, read empowering books, get a whole house water filtration unit, clean with non-toxic chemicals, make health the core value of your family.

B.J. Palmer, the developer of chiropractic, once said, “You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today, will affect the lives of millions tomorrow.” I now urge you to do your part become informed, take small actions, be an example for others, and together we can promote health and turn things right side up again.

References:

1) More Diagnoses of A.D.H.D. Causing Concern, Alan Schwarz and Sarah Cohen, New York Times, March 31, 2013
2) Sudden Death and Use of Stimulant Medications in Youths Madelyn S. Gould, Ph.D., M.P.H.; B. Timothy Walsh, M.D.; Jimmie Lou Munfakh, B.A.; Marjorie Kleinman, M.S.; Naihua Duan, Ph.D.; Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H.; Laurence Greenhill, M.D.; Thomas Cooper, M.A.
Am J Psychiatry 2009;166:992-1001.
3) http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2012/September/07/iom-report.aspx
4) Kilo CM, Larson EB: JAMA 2009;302(1):89.
5) 2010 United States Census statistics
6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States#cite_note-nihbph-1
7) ^ a b U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health” (2013) National Institutes of Health Committee on Population, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
8) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. National Health Expenditure Accounts,
Historical. Available from: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/.
9) http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story073/en/
10) Journal American Medical Association July 26, 2000;284(4):483-5 J Bus Psychol. 2010 June; 25(2): 239–245. Published online 2010 March 7. doi: 10.1007/s10869-010-9166-5
11) Barkin, L. Shari. Millennials and the World of Work: The Impact of Obesity on Health and Productivity
12) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-26/more-than-1-in-3-americans-found-to-have-pre-diabetes.html
13) Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health: William Davis M.D.; Rodale, 2011
14) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0827_040827_tvarctic_toxins.html
15) Intellihealth 10/19/06
16) Ornish D, et al: Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. June 16, 2008.
17) 16. Hunt LM, Kreiner M, Brody H: The Changing Face of Chronic Illness
Management in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study of Underlying Influences and
Unintended Outcomes. Annals of Family Medicine 2012;10(5):452.
18.) Summary below from New York Review of Books Volume 51, Number 12 · July 15, 2004
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244 The Truth About the Drug Companies
19) Clayton J. Campbell, Christopher Kent, Arthur Banne, Amir, Amiri and Ronals W. Pero; JVSR, February 18, 2005. Pp 1-5.

The Big Idea and Upper Cervical Care

The Big Idea

Michael Thomas, D.C.

What I wanted to write about today is an idea.  In (Upper Cervical Care) we have called it “The Big Idea”!  This big idea is present not only in (Upper Cervical Care), but we have certainly based our work upon it.  The idea is that life is sufficient unto itself.  Most often, it does not need any help.  What it needs is the freedom to express itself.  The life inside of us is connected to all of Life.  While this has always been a spiritual concept, it is now also becoming a scientific one.  We are not separate little clots moving about on a dot of dirt in an empty universe.  The picture of us, the Earth and the whole Universe is looking much more like aspects of one immense integrated whole.

The same mathematical equations that can chart fluctuations in the stock market, map out the path of blood vessels in our tissues, and describe the shape of snowflakes, can also chart the distribution of stars in the galaxy.   We are learning that there is communication between molecules, cells, tissues, and within the whole person we had never dreamed existed.  It extends out beyond us to others and perhaps to the farthest reaches of the universe.  Electromagnetic fields extend to infinity.  The matter of this reality seem to be composed of standing waveforms of immense numbers of frequencies all coordinated together.  The better we can look at matter as our microscopes and methods become more sophisticated show that what we thought was solid is not.  It is vibrations that maintain themselves!  Immense amounts of information can be (and are!) contained within the frequencies that create the matter of our interconnected universe.  There are possibilities for our lives and for all of us that we haven’t even begun to dream about yet.

Within this new understanding is (Upper Cervical Care) which has claimed for (almost) a hundred years that this is true.  How we take care of our infirmities is dependent upon how we see ourselves.  In medicine we have based our understanding from a study of what goes wrong.  All of medicine is based in impeding or stopping the process of dis-ease.  To use a big word, it is a pathogenic orientation.  (Upper Cervical Care) is based in the opposite approach.  To use another big word, it is a salutogenic approach.  By this we mean what creates health?  How can we support Life?  What sustains and improves our health?  In (Upper Cervical Care) we find that removing the interference to the power of Life will allow optimal health to return.  We really can trust Life.  One approach chooses to stifle, to palliate, to suppress the symptoms of dis-ease.  The other removes interference and trusts life to find its own way, to unfold as it has for untold millennia.

At this point I want to note that when events occur that cause significant disruption of our health, medicine can be an incredible lifesaver.  When symptoms are going to kill us, suppression or palliation of symptoms is welcomed by everyone.  This is where medicine shines, in the acute care of critically ill people.  This suppressive treatment can save lives and give the innate power of life within each of us the time to rally.  However, as a lifestyle, it leaves much to be desired.  Turning off the symptoms with toxic drugs simply leaves the body with fewer possibilities.  Killing the ‘messenger’ (the symptoms) doesn’t change the reality it just means you are now unaware of it.  Most cardiac medications are suppressive and palliative.  They actually do very little to help any of us regain health.  They just shut the message off.  This isn’t a hopeless statement.  It is a statement that this path does not lead where most people would choose to go if they had a choice.  What choices do we have?

First, we have to choose to be the driver of our own lives.  How many people just passively accept the pills and procedures medicine (and our doctors) demand?  How many of us ask questions?  How many of us do the due diligence to investigate the possibilities for ourselves?  Do you really think that a five minute visit with a doctor is enough for him/her to understand the complexities of how life is breaking down for you?  If we take on the responsibility for our own lives and have sought out answers on our own, then we are in a vastly better position to ask the right questions and make informed choices about our lives and our healthcare.  We have to make the choice to be present in our own lives.  What is more important?

Yes, this means you must make efforts.  It means you must be willing make changes in the way you live your life.  It means you must be patient as the changes you make remake you.  It means you must pay attention to your own life.  Your healthcare should be a partnership between you and your doctors.  I will reiterate, you are the one in charge.  If you are asleep at the wheel then no one is driving the bus.  If you don’t take on this primary responsibility then you can’t complain when life leaves you broken down on the side of the road.

What is the goal of your healthcare?  Do you just want the symptoms to go away?  That is one choice.  It does lead to certain consequences.  In the example of cardiac (heart ) problems, lifestyle, nutritional and stress management can completely turn your health around.  You can regain your health.  Turning life off is not the answer to turning life on.

The Upper Cervical Care you receive in this office is based on removing interference at the base of the brain.  This area is filled with centers that control every aspect of your life.  Restoring normal, balanced function to your brain and nervous system is one magnificent and powerful way to restore health and the life you live.  This is much more than just turning off the pain of sciatica or headaches.  Relief is great but there is more to life than being numb.  This world needs every one of us operating at full capacity.  You have chosen a road less traveled by coming here for care.  I believe that the balance created by the upper cervical adjustment is primary health care.  This is the Big Idea.

Spread the word.

Sickness, Health and Amazon.com

"Sickness 2 Health" is now available on Amazon.com!  Please check it out and browse through some of the pages.  Let me know what you think and maybe even get your copy today!

The book is also still available on lulu.com.  Click here to check it out! 

"Sickness 2 Health: From The Inside Out" synopsis:

Regaining and maintaining your health by turning common health knowledge upside down and inside out. There is a paradigm shift happening and people are looking to “do it yourself” health care more all the time for better health and, especially in today’s current economy, to save money. There are many books out there of course that address this and try to provide ideas and suggestions about what one should do to regain and maintain their health. This is not what Sickness 2 Health is about. Sickness 2 Health, while giving some action steps, has the primary intention of rattling and shattering your current world view in regards to health. From the smoldering ashes of these old outdated views we lift up a new perspective and premise to make health decisions from, like a phoenix rising from its own ashes. 

Sickness 2 Health: From The Inside Out

Wanted to drop all of my readers a line that my first book is complete and ready. Please check it out and share this with others. Here is the link where you can get a copy. You can read the first 10 pages or so at that link. It is available as a paperback or as a download. Here is a short synopsis:

"Regaining and maintaining your health by turning common health knowledge upside down and inside out. There is a paradigm shift happening and people are looking to “do it yourself” healthcare more all the time for better health and, especially in today’s current economy, to save money. There are many books out there of course that address this and try to provide ideas and suggestions about what one should do to regain and maintain their health. This is not what Sickness 2 Health is about. Sickness 2 Health, while giving some action steps, has the primary intention of rattling and shattering your current world view in regards to health. From the smoldering ashes of these old outdated views we lift up a new perspective and premise to make health decisions from, like a phoenix rising from its own ashes."

The Problem With Progress

There is a real problem growing in the so-called health care system. One that is frightening to those of us who are involved in the delivery of health care. The problem is that as much as some people like to attack medicine and its shortcomings and dangers, the fact is that medical practice is becoming more and more effective every year. Now some may be wondering how that is a problem. If drugs are becoming more effective and less harmful, isn’t that good? If the side-effects of drugs are being diminished, isn’t that beneficial? If surgical procedures are safer today than they were 10 or 15 years ago, isn’t that wonderful? Heart by-pass was a serious life-threatening procedure in 1980. Today it is almost as routine as an appendectomy. If scientific medicine is able to develop new drugs that can relieve people’s ills for longer and longer periods of time, isn’t that progress? Shouldn’t we be thankful?

Well, in a sense it is helpful but not in the long run. If all we are doing is relieving people’s symptoms but not making them healthier, are we really making a difference? To feel more comfortable until you die may be a benefit to some but not for the many who are still years from their deaths. Let’s not mistake comfortable deaths with the full expression of health. If we have virtually wiped out smallpox and developed a new vaccine for chicken pox but AIDS is growing every year, have we really made any progress? A recent study has shown that if cancer were completely eliminated today (which is highly unlikely inasmuch as the incidence of the disease is increasing), the average life span would only be increased by less than 1.5 years.

Here is the danger--medical advances may lull us into believing either that we are healthier or that being healthy is not important as long as we are disease-free. Yet, ridding the world of a disease like cancer will only increase the life span at best by 1 1/2 years and perhaps not that much if other diseases take its place as the killers. Medicine’s progress is like the individual who cannot seem to live within a budget and is constantly using his credit card until it is “maxed out.” Then the credit card company tells him not to worry because his limit has been increased by $2,000. That is the worse thing that could happen to him. It will treat the symptom for a while longer, delaying the ultimate, which will be worse; he will have $2,000 more debt! But saddest of all, it will prevent him from addressing the real problem. His lifestyle and budget need to be altered.

Similarly the greatest danger of medicine is that it works. It relieves symptoms, treats disease and makes you feel better to the point that you think you are better. Unfortunately, it has little to do with health. Mastering bypass surgery will not encourage us to live healthier lives, which may lead to healthier hearts and thus prevent the very need for the surgery. Health is the real need. People need to know that true health comes from within. It consists of doing those things necessary to be healthy including eating right, getting the proper rest, exercising, keeping the body free from pollutants and maintaining a positive mental attitude. Most importantly, it includes being under periodic upper cervical care so that nerve interference due to head/neck misalignment is removed and the body’s self-healing, self-regulating principle, the innate intelligence, is free to be expressed to ensure that all of the above aspects of health care can be maximized. People need to know that.

The New And Improved Upper Cervical Blog

You may have noticed that we have a new look to the site. I felt it was time to clean things up a bit and give it a fresh look. One of the biggest changes I have made is the addition of the "pages" feature which is listed across the top just under the title banner. Check out "What is Upper Cervical?", "Where is the Science?" and "How do I Learn More?". I have also cleaned up the links so that they make more sense and can help you find what you are looking for faster.

Choose Quality, Choose Upper Cervical Care

From:
ARE YOU A QUALITY PERSON?

By Dr. Ben Lerner

In our modern American world, quality is the last thing on (most) people's mind. Here are some examples:

Insurance: People buy the cheapest possible or the free policy that their workplace offers, all the while expecting cheap insurance to provide quality coverage.

Health Care: Rather than going to the highest quality doctor with the best reputation and the most training and expertise, people go to the guy they find on the list because it's a lower deductible and co-pay.

Food: The most popular food in the world is not known for taste, nutritional value, or its quality, instead it's known for its speed. It's called "Fast food."

Home supplies: Today's appliances, furniture, electronics, clothing, etc. are purchased from large discount stores. All bought for the convenience and low price, not quality.

The result of a “faster and/or cheaper is better” mentality is: You spend 25% more in the long run because you have to buy it twice. Even worse, you live a 25% shorter life with 50% less quality. Quality and not price alone should be the priority, particularly when it comes to your health.

After more than 20 years in the wellness world, I've found little benefit or even a cost savings to being frugal with your health. People buy cheap vitamins and avoid health food stores thinking they're saving money. However, the vitamins don't work and don't get used, the food they're eating lacks safety and nutrients, and they spend even more money eating out because they don't like the food at home. Anything they thought they saved got spent on doctors and medications because they are unhealthy.

I see it in Chiropractic (and especially in Upper Cervical Care) every day. Someone chooses a doctor on an HMO (or with the biggest "deal" or yellow page ad) thinking they’re saving money, yet often get poor quality and insufficient care leading to more pain and illness, lost work days, and the need for greater, more invasive, more expensive care later. I came from a home that always bought the cheap sneakers, electronics, etc. They all wore out or were broken quickly so we ended up buying the cheap ones again. When those products also faded quickly, we then finally bought the good ones, now paying twice as much as the quality product would have cost us in the first place! In most cases, cheaper is not only never better, it usually ends up costing you in many ways. When it comes to your health, it ends up really costing you.

Choose quality when it comes to your health, it's not only better–you’re worth it!

Upper Cervical Docs and Epigenetics

Had to share this one also. Here is a post from Dr. Browning's Blog regarding epigenetics.

Can Upper Cervical Care Stop The Endless River?

Adapted from: The Endless River
Author Unknown

From its inception, our "health" care system has been an allopathic philosophy. Allopathy can be described as the practice of treating diseases and/or conditions. The bottom line is, you don't seek care if nothing is wrong. And if you do go when nothing is wrong, the purpose is to find something that is wrong so it may be treated. This is the limitation of allopathy--it does not serve people until they are in crisis.

Consider this analogy. If you had spent your whole life in a rescue squad pulling thousands of drowning people out of a river, would you not eventually wonder why they were in the river to begin with? Our system has spent centuries attempting to save the lives of millions who are sick and dying, but has never gone to the head of the river to discover how the people were falling in. This is why treating conditions, while necessary at times, is not the only answer. Treating anything is reactive. Pathologists have proven that symptoms are the last stage of the disease process. By the time you are getting stomach pains, neck pain, dizziness or any symptom, your body has existed at a sub-par level for some time already.

Upper Cervical Care exists as one of the only non-allopathic licensed health care professions in the world today. We don't go to the Upper Cervical Doctor when we have a bad back, sore throat or broken toe nail. We go to the Upper Cervical Doctor for one reason, to keep the nervous system un-interfered with because a properly functioning body keeps us out of the river and delivers an exceptional experience of life and health. If you really feel that your body is important to your existence, you will find that Upper Cervical Care is a refreshing and necessary addition to your health regimen. Upper Cervical Care is a life-supporting measure that is proactive and can be utilized for as long as life itself exists.

So what do you think? Can Upper Cervical Care, by helping the body function at its best, stop, or at least decrease, the number of individuals falling into the endless river of a health crisis? I think it is safe to say that it would be a drastic improvement to a system that is, itself, in a health crisis.