There’s no way to control the season’s falling temps and snow, but you can control winter’s effects on your body and your immune system. Winter’s common negative impacts are an increase in illnesses and seasonal depression. Here are some ways to arm yourself for the long months ahead:

Vitamin D3 (or vitamin D): Known as sunshine in a bottle, it is just that – replacing what mother nature has suppressed during the winter. The body produces all of the D compounds naturally when it is exposed to sunlight, but during the times of low sun, you’ll need to increase your intake of D through foods or supplements. This magical vitamin helps strengthen bones, teeth and the immune system. It is also important in boosting your mood. Vitamin D deficiency is a leading symptom of depression.

Vitamin C is another crucial vitamin to help guard against the negative effects of winter. Vitamin C is required for the proper development and function of many parts of the body. It is most commonly used for preventing and treating the common cold and also plays an important role in maintaining proper immune function. During the winter months, less vitamin C rich foods are consumed, so you may need to find a good multivitamin that is high in Vitamin C.

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that help maintain a healthy digestive system. Usually we think of bacteria as causing disease, but our digestive system is also full of what is known as “good bacteria” – or Probiotics – which maintains our health, in more ways than just our digestion. Probiotics maintain the microorganisms that live in our digestive track known as gut flora.

Our gut is often referred to as our “second brain” because 80% of your immune system is in the gut. Keeping our gut healthy and stabilized is not just important in digestion but believe it or not, will help stabilize your mood. People who suffer from depression have shown low levels of gut flora. When we consume refined foods or antibiotics, we kill off the good bacteria. So, finding a good probiotic is so important to keeping our gut healthy this winter.

Immune Boosters: In addition to arming yourself with a good multi-vitamin, there are other immune-boosting supplements to help you fend off the common cold and flus. Immune boosting supplements could help you fend off other illnesses as well.

“Supplements are one way to get ready for winter, but you should also make sure you schedule regular adjustments with your chiropractor,” suggests Dr. Raymond Vactor of Wexford Chiropractic Centre. “Keeping your spine in proper alignment keeps your immune system working optimally. Stay healthy and happy through those long winter months!”

Dr. Raymond Vactor has been practicing for over 30 years in Western, PA and believes the key to wellness is the combination of exercise, nutrition and chiropractic care.

www.wexfordchiropractic.com    724-935-1610

A healthy spine is good for people of all ages. Regardless of your age, size or condition, safe and natural chiropractic care makes perfect sense, and it can begin as early as a few days old.

It’s hard to imagine a tiny human, who can’t walk or even roll over, already having a misalignment, but it’s true. During the birth process, especially if it was a difficult birth, the infant can become subject to blocked nerves and even central motor impairment.

Have you known any babies who suffered from colic? Colic is thought to be an infant’s response to pain. Chances are, you either had a baby who cried violently for lengthy amounts of time for no apparent reason, or you’ve probably known someone who’s had a colicky infant. Usually, digestion is the lead suspect, but it’s the belief of chiropractors, that due to the high incidence of abnormal spinal joint function found in colicky infants, that spinal dysfunction may be a significant cause of colic. Researchers concluded in a study of infants with colic, that standard chiropractic treatment constitutes an effective treatment of colic.

Even if the baby isn’t colicky, it’s still a good idea to have a trained chiropractor check your baby’s alignment to get them started off on the right foot, so to speak. Not only could there be a subluxation, but the hips or other joints may be misaligned as well.

“We’ve seen babies as young as just a few days old in our office. The proper attention to the development of the spinal structure early on can lead to fewer spinal problems as adults,” says Dr. Ray Vactor of Wexford Chiropractic Centre.

The chiropractic treatment of infants is the same as adults but with very little force and is isolated to a smaller area. This is the most natural and gentle treatment your baby can experience. If you’re a new parent, you’re scheduling your baby’s pediatrician visits, so why not schedule a chiropractic consultation today!

 Dr. Raymond Vactor has been practicing for over 30 years in Western, PA and believes the key to wellness is the combination of exercise, nutrition and chiropractic care. www.wexfordchiropractic.com   724-935-1610

You’re being pulled in a hundred directions and attempting super-hero-like feats in order to get through the day. And no doubt – you’re stressed.

As we discussed in our previous blog post, the effects of stress can be traced to our adrenal glands – those important little guys atop the kidneys that produce vital hormones and respond to our stress. Over-stressed means our adrenal glands are overworked. Patients suffering from adrenal fatigue will experience symptoms such as nausea, salt and sugar cravings, poor appetite, excessive exhaustion, and memory loss. So, we need to tend to our adrenals in order to maintain or regain our health.

We touched on some things you can do to help out our warn-out adrenals, but we want to give you some more practical ways to get healthy via adrenal gland maintenance.  If we can’t cut the external stuff out of our lives that’s wearing us down, let’s at least fuel our bodies to be in top condition for the battle.

What can we eat to combat the effects of stress?

It’s a great idea to adopt a natural, whole foods diet and your first step in accomplishing this is by making sure your diet contains quality protein and raw vegetables. Those high sodium veggies – such as green beans, celery, avocados, onions, zucchini and tomatoes – are smart choices. Stressed out? Grab a veggie!

You may also consider snacking on nuts such as almonds, walnuts or Brazil nuts. Another great food to incorporate into your diet that’s rich in quality protein and smart for your adrenals are hemp seeds. But, maybe you prefer fruits instead, so a few wise choices would be oranges, lemons, or Goji berries.  And you can never go wrong with beans, like kidney beans.

Other adrenal-smart foods include wild oats, shitake mushrooms, ginseng, squash and kale. (One more food tip: replace table salt with sea salt!)

What vitamins and supplements can aid the over-worked adrenal glands?

Another way to preserve our adrenals is by making sure you’re taking a high strength B-complex supplement. And every day, be sure to take 2,000-5,000 milligrams of Vitamin C.  This, along with quality fish oils are a great way to supplement your diet.

Dr. Ray Vactor of Wexford Chiropractic Centre recommends supplements that support adrenal function. One is AdrenaMax from Nutritional Frontiers. “If you’re unable to lower your stress, ask me about these supplements or schedule an appointment for nutritional evaluation. We carry numerous supplements to help adrenal function because one may not work the same for everyone. At your evaluation, we’ll determine what supplement works best for you,” says Dr. Vactor.

Dr. Vactor urges patients to control cortisol levels – in other words, take care of those adrenals – in order to feel better, sleep better and live longer!

Dr. Raymond Vactor has been practicing for over 30 years in Western, PA and believes the key to wellness is the combination of exercise, nutrition and chiropractic care. www.wexfordchiropractic.com 724-935-1610

Stress is killing us. It robs us of our health – mentally, physically and emotionally. Too much stress weakens our immune system and shortens our lifespan. It’s an epidemic that seems to be on the rise in our overworked and uber-busy society. Of course, we can’t get rid of all of life’s stressers like our jobs, our kids or our obligations, but there are ways to reduce stress’s destruction to our bodies.

And it starts by protecting two small-but-mighty glands – our adrenal glands.

What’s an adrenal gland and what does it do?

These two important glands sit right on top of each kidney and are responsible for keeping us alive and safe – nature’s built-in alarm system, if you will. Also known as our Sympathetic Nervous System, these glands provide our body’s “Fight-or-Flight” mechanism. By releasing hormones like adrenaline, cortisol and androgens, they also help control our heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and water/salt balance – all life-sustaining functions. When our adrenals are balanced and functioning well, our energy levels (and systems) are strong and vibrant.

 What does stress do to our adrenal glands?

The adrenals release cortisol, which is the body’s main stress hormone, and works with the brain to control our mood, our sleep cycle, and boost our energy, among other things. If your body is on high alert (super stressed), cortisol will inhibit other functions not needed during that time, such as digestion, the immune system or reproduction system. After the stresser passes, everything in your body should return to normal. But if you’re under constant stress, this barrage of cortisol doesn’t subside and can lead to health issues such as anxiety, depression, headaches, heart disease, digestion issues and memory issues as well as interfere with sleep. And often times, when we feel fatigued by stress (and lack of sleep), we turn to caffeine and sugar, becoming over-stimulated.

In healthy conditions, the opposite of our Sympathetic Nervous System – our Parasympathic System – should kick in to stimulate our body’s unconscious action of resting and recovering. However, if our adrenals are in overdrive and overstimulated, the Parasympathic System can’t do its job effectively. Our adrenals are unable to replenish, and our body can’t heal and recover.

 How do we help our adrenals become balanced?

Besides lowering the many stresses in our life, we can also give our body some well-deserved self-care. In addition to healthy food choices and exercise, we can also do our body a great service by visiting a chiropractor regularly. Why? Since our central nervous system is housed within our spine, the spine’s alignment is vital. When it’s not aligned, nerve blockages occur, impeding proper energy flow throughout out nervous system and ultimately to all of our vital organs. (Only 10% of our nerves sense pain, so some could be blocked without exhibiting any symptoms!)

“A chiropractor helps support the adrenals by assuring that the parasympathetic system and the sympathetic systems work in harmony and in balance,” says Dr. Ray Vactor, of Wexford Chiropractic Centre. “This is achieved through making sure the nervous system is unimpeded and the energy is flowing properly. Chiropractic care helps your body to rest, recover and heal. This, combined with exercise and a healthy diet, can help you achieve your healthiest you, and live a longer, healthier life.”

The doctor feels the other component of healthy adrenal glands is nutritional support. “When your adrenals have been stressed and depleted you usually need to support them with supplementation for faster and complete healing and a great sense of well-being. At our office, we can test you for deficiencies to find what adrenal support is best for you,” says Dr. Vactor.

We will cover other ways to manage stress and increase your energy in upcoming posts, but for now, take care of those important adrenal glands!

Dr. Raymond Vactor has been practicing for over 30 years in Western, PA and believes the key to wellness is the combination of exercise, nutrition and chiropractic care.  www.wexfordchiropractic.com 724-935-1610

Story at-a-glance

The best mercury test analyzes blood, hair, and urine to identify the type of mercury you have in your body, allowing you to determine the best course for detoxification
Glutathione is the dominant agent that binds to and helps move mercury and other heavy metals out of your tissues. Part of effective detox involves upregulating chemistry that then mobilizes and eliminates the metals
Three pillars of heavy metal detox are: cleanse and clear your GI tract of metals and toxins, optimize glutathione, and upregulate detox genes. Kidney- and liver-supporting herbs and supplements are valuable adjuncts
What Causes Dark Circles Under Eyes?
Flavorful Butternut Squash Breakfast Bowl Recipe

By Dr. Mercola

Mercury is a pernicious neurotoxin. Removing it, however, needs to be done with great care, lest you cause even more problems.

Chris Shade, Ph.D., is probably one of the foremost experts in the world on the subject of heavy metal detoxification, and in this interview, he shares his wisdom on this important topic.

Shade received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he studied the environmental transformations of mercury.

He’s developed a patented liquid chromatographic mercury speciation technology that differentiates and identifies the exactly source of your mercury — whether it’s from your dental amalgams, or from eating contaminated seafood.

He’s also involved in developing new lipid-based delivery systems for nutraceuticals, including liposomes and micro-emulsion systems to address the need for effective and affordable detoxification.

“We had sophisticated computational tools for telling us what kind of ligands (binding molecules) are holding the mercury. What I was tasked with was developing an analytical system for separating different forms of mercury out,” he says.

“You’ve got methylmercury (which is the form that builds up in fish) and then you have inorganic mercury. In the environment, inorganic mercury is everywhere …

I developed these chromatographic tools that would enable a high-throughput analysis of biological samples to separate these different forms.”

The Mercury Tri-Test
In your body, glutathione is the dominant agent that binds to and helps move mercury (and other heavy metals) out of your tissues. Part of effectively eliminating mercury involves methods that help upregulate certain aspects of your chemistry that then mobilizes and moves the mercury out.

I actually used Shade’s diagnostic tests and detox processes about five years ago to help me detox from mercury amalgams, and was able to cut my mercury level down to normal, quite quickly.

The test he developed is called the Mercury Tri-Test, because it looks at three different kinds of samples: blood, hair, and urine. You always have more mercury in your tissues than in your blood. But there’s a steady state or ratio between what’s in your blood and what’s in your tissues.

Hair is an excretion marker for methylmercury, while urine is an excretion marker for inorganic mercury. These levels should be directly proportional to the levels in your blood.

“The most telling of these, the most importantly diagnostic of these ratios, is looking at the inorganic mercury in the blood compared to the inorganic mercury in the urine.

For a given amount of inorganic [mercury] in the blood, there should be roughly a seven-fold increase in the urine, as [mercury] is filtered out in the urine. But what we find that a lot of people have low [mercury in] urine, and high [mercury in their] blood.”

What the Blood to Urine Ratios Indicate
The reason for this has to do with retention toxicity. If two people have 10 amalgams, the sicker of the two will be the one whose urine output of mercury is lower; typically due to damage to the active transport system in the proximal tubules of the nephrons.

More specifically, when the mercury in your blood rises above the 1:7 ratio to the urine, it means your proximal tubule transporters in your kidneys have been damaged.

Your kidneys filter everything in your blood. After the general filtration, in the proximal tubules your body resorbs ions and nutrients it needs to keep, while toxins are actively shuttled out into the urine flow.

“This is what we’re measuring — that movement into the urinary flow of the toxic conjugates. That area in the proximal tubules is very, very easily damaged. In mouse models, a combination of endotoxin and mercury exposure creates that damage to those transport proteins.

Obviously, probably the biggest thing on the radar of integrative and functional medicine right now is leaky gut syndrome and gastrointestinal (GI) problems. They are the number one cause of getting high endotoxin levels in your body.

If you have a high mercury level and a leaky gut, you’re very likely to damage the very transport system that’s getting that mercury out of your body.

That’s going to lead to [increased] inorganic mercury levels in the blood. That diagnostic is really important. If that ratio’s off, we need to start by treating your kidneys before we go into the main detoxification.”

The Difference Between Inorganic Mercury and Methylmercury
The Mercury Tri-Test is the only clinical test out there that differentiates between the inorganic form of mercury (typically found in amalgam fillings) and organic mercury or methylmercury (from fish), allowing you to tailor the most ideal detoxification protocol for your situation.

While many believe all mercury is the same, this is not necessarily the case. Inorganic mercury is much more toxic to the extracellular matrix and thus to connective tissues.

If you’re having joint problems or fibromyalgia-like pain, you need to work on getting rid of this inorganic mercury, and you need to make sure your kidney transporters are working well.

Metylmercury is a less cytotoxic (toxic to the cells) form of mercury. If you only have methylmercury in your body, it’s all going through glutathione conjugation to your liver, and on to your GI tract.

On the cellular level, the inorganic mercury, is more disruptive because it can bind to more sulfhydryl groups and disrupt more chemistry than methylmercury can.

“For instance, if somebody only has methyl mercury exposure from eating fish and has no amalgams … they’re going to break down a certain amount of the methyl mercury into the inorganic mercury pool. But that’s not a fixed rate. That’s an individual reaction that we don’t really understand.

I suspect it’s related to oxidative stress. But some people break down a lot and really build up this inorganic mercury pool despite not having amalgams; some people breakdown only a little bit.

Those who break down a lot are much more at risk from toxicity from their fish than if they’re not doing that. They have two forms of mercury building up in their blood, including the worst one — the inorganic mercury. It’s important that we divide those and see how well you’re excreting the two.”

Primary Sources of Mercury Exposure
Seafood is essentially the sole source of methylmercury. However, it’s a major source of mercury, and it can be problematic if you eat a lot of seafood. The type of seafood you eat also plays a big role. At the top of the food chain, a shark might have 4 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm methylmercury in its tissues. According to Shade, swordfish is routinely 1 to 5 ppm, and tuna is routinely in the 1 to 2 ppm range.

Toward the bottom of the food chain you have sardines and anchovies, which may contain 1 to 10 parts per billion (ppb) of methylmercury, or nearly 1,000 times less mercury.

Wild salmon like Coho and sockeye can be in the 10 to 100 ppb range — a hundred-plus-fold lower level than high-level shark, tuna, and swordfish. Depending on the fish you compare, there could be a thousand-fold difference between the mercury levels. To put that into perspective, it’s like eating 1,000 pounds of anchovies versus 1 pound of shark. So if you eat fish on a regular basis, it’s really important to look for species known to be low in mercury.

“A dentist I know, Dr. Dave Regiani, had mercury levels measured with us. I said, ‘You obviously don’t eat any fish. He goes, ‘I eat fish every day.’ So I said, ‘Sardines and anchovies?’ He said, ‘You got it.’ It looks like he’s not eating fish at all. When you get down into kippers, anchovies, and sardines, you can eat them at will all day long, and you’re never going to build up high levels [of mercury].”

Inorganic mercury exposure is dominantly from dental amalgam and the breakdown of fish-based mercury into the inorganic form. Airborne mercury is the third and least troublesome source. Exceptions include some older buildings, such as old medical, dental, agricultural, and scientific buildings, where mercury levels could be quite significant.

How Mercury Damages Your Health
Inorganic mercury and cadmium are the two heavy metals that cause the most damage to your kidneys. They tend to build up there, causing a downward spiral where the more damage there is to the proximal tubules, the more metals accumulate, and the more damage is created. Many have suffered damage from doing chelation for this reason. By using the Tri-Test, you can determine whether chelation is a good idea or not.

When you take a chelating agent, such as DMSA, you solubilize a lot of mercury in the form that needs to be filtered out through the proximal tubules. This can be a risky type of mercury detoxification and typically isn’t necessary. Nevertheless, if you choose to use it, make sure you are working with a highly skilled clinician in this area.

This is because if your kidneys are not working properly, then mercury gets bound up, causing inflammatory damage around the kidneys, which can actually worsen the problem by causing chronic renal insufficiency. (On a side note, a relatively low-protein diet [typically less than 40 to 50 grams per day] can be a beneficial strategy if you have kidney problems such as this.)

“The central nervous system and nephrotoxicity (or kidney toxicity) are the most well-understood damages,” Shade says. “It should be said that in neurotoxicity, the most common site for damage is the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor or the glutamate receptor, which causes hyperglutamate activity, which leads to anxiety.

Glutamate excess or excess activity of the glutamate receptor makes a chronic peroxynitrite free radical cascade coming off of those receptors that causes neuroinflammation, which gives you brain fog and fuzzy thinking. It also causes a lot of anxiety and disrupts your autonomic nervous system function … That’s another downward spiral.

Thyroid problems is also a huge one — hypothyroid activity or lack of thyroid activity. It’s mostly damaging the deiodinase, which takes the T4 and moves it to T3. If you’re looking at your thyroid labs and you have a high T4 but a low T3, mercury, cadmium, or arsenic are the most dominant players in breaking that chain.

Inorganic mercury also builds up in connective tissue, leading to a lot of joint pains. If you’re having lower back pain, a lot of hip pains, connective tissue pains, or diffused pains like fibromyalgia, and you have dental amalgams, that’s a very common situation. We see people’s joint pains and connective tissue pains clear up a lot when they get rid of their amalgams and clear all that mercury out.”

The Importance of Optimizing Your GI Tract
Fortunately, there are solutions to these problems, and Shade’s work has led to treatment strategies that are far safer and more effective than earlier detox methods used by many alternative practitioners, including myself and Shade.

“Most of us are pioneers because we poison ourselves and had to figure ourselves how to get out of that. That was exactly what I did and that’s exactly how this all came about …

Nigel Plummer, Ph.D., (one of the probiotic leaders of the world) and Dr. Robert Rountree (one of the leaders in GI and functional medicine) were speaking back to back at the Colorado Functional Medicine Forum, talking about how the GI tract reacts to the toxins coming through it and is signaling your immune systems on how to do things.

At the time, I was doing really badly with my DMSA chelation protocol, and I suddenly realized I was accumulating mercury in the GI tract and not moving that out. That was stagnating the system. I started taking strong mercury binders. We have one called Intestinal Metal Detox (IMD), which is a silica particle saturated with sulfhydryl groups. One 6-gram bottle of that is equal to 3,000 to 5,000 chlorellas, which is what had been used naturopathically.

Once I cleared that metal out of the GI tract, it seemed to open up the liver’s ability to work with the small intestine, start moving that load out of there, and take the load away from the kidney. It worked so well, that provoked me to do a lot of research and figure out exactly why it worked,” Shade says.

In short, when there’s inflammation and/or toxin build-up in the GI tract, the movement of toxins from the liver and the GI tract ceases, and everything gets shuttled over to the kidneys. Unless you can open up that liver-GI path, you end up overloading your kidney with toxins. Then, if you try to mobilize all that mercury with a chelator, it all hits the kidneys and cause even more damage. So part of the solution is to “clear out” the GI path first.

Detox Step 1: Optimize Your Filtration Mechanisms
Intestinal Metal Detox (IMD) is a powerful mercury and heavy metal chelator, hundreds of times more potent than chlorella. It helps take the pressure off your kidneys by restoring the natural dominant detox pathway — from your liver to your GI tract and out through fecal excretion. So the first part of the detox involves clearing the metal out of your GI tract with specific metal binders.

The primary endotoxin binder is charcoal, and clay binds to aflatoxin. Ideally, you’ll want to use a combination of IMD/chlorella, charcoal, and clay to cover all the bases. Quicksilver Scientific is the sole source for IMD. Chlorella, charcoal and clay can be found in most health food stores and grocery stores.

“I like a cocktail of GI binders, including a metal-specific one like IMD or chlorella, charcoal (which gets almost all the other mycotoxins, except for aflatoxin), and clay (which gets aflatoxin but not the other mycotoxins). Then you’ve got the pesticides and herbicides. In that mix of different binders, you’re going to be able to get almost all of them. It’s really important in a detox to have a good cocktail of GI binders,” Shade says.

Remember, detoxing involves moving the toxin out of the cell; squeezing the toxin out of the cell into your blood circulation, and then filtering out the metals through your kidneys, liver, and GI tract. However, you need to begin by assessing your filtration capacity before you start moving toxins out of your tissues. If you’re feeling awful, it means toxins are building up in circulation faster than they’re being filtered out.

To ensure your filters are working properly, begin by supporting your kidneys, liver, and GI tract, and use binders to capture and eliminate metals and toxins in your GI tract.

Classic herbs known to support healthy liver and kidney function include: dandelion, milk thistle, and bitters like gentian and myrrh. For added kidney support, cranberry (a diuretic), solidago (goldenrod), and corn silk can be used. Shade’s favorite is goldenrod. General kidney and liver support formulas are also viable options.

Adding burdock will help clear your blood. Dandelion is a good all-around option as it supports blood, liver, and kidney. Be sure to drink lots of water to flush the toxins out.

Detox Step 2: Address Detoxification Biochemistry
Next, you need to optimize the metabolic biochemistry needed for detoxification. That biochemistry involves glutathione and the enzymes and transporters that work with it, such as the enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST), which is responsible for catalyzing and moving the mercury off the cellular proteins onto the glutathione.

There are several well-known nutraceuticals that help accomplish this. The most well-known and most reliable is lipoic acid. R-lipoic acid is the biologically active form, which is the most useful. Alpha-lipoic acid does work, but that’s a mixture of R-lipoic acid and S-lipoic acid, the latter of which actually works against the process. So R-lipoic acid (sometimes also called R-alpha-lipoic acid) is the one to look for.

“R-lipoic acid hits a switch called nuclear factor erythroid 2 (Nrf2). It’s a protein made to translocate into the nucleus. It hits promoter regions on genes. Promoter regions are signals for families of genes to turn on. If you want to accomplish something, there’s usually not just one protein that does it; there’s a family of proteins.

A promoter regions brings up a family of proteins. The Nrf2 promoter region is called the antioxidant response element. It brings up the family of detox or chemo-protection genes.

There are a number of different nutraceuticals and also pro-oxidants that do that … My favorite is called haritaki or terminalia chebula. It’s an Ayurvedic plant filled with polyphenols … Then you’ve got sulfur compounds from brassicas. Sulforaphane is a well-known one from broccoli seed extract. Erucin comes from all the brassicas.

You’ve got allicin and diallyl disulfide from garlic. All of these upregulate Nrf2. They create little free radical cascades that hit that Nrf2 and move it into the nucleus, so that you can detoxify the compounds. So in effect, these compounds are well targeted mild toxins that stimulate a response from the body.”

Which Is Best? Precursors or Direct Delivery or Glutathione?
If everything is working well in your body, you can simply use precursors to glutathione, like N-acetylcysteine (NAC) which will support glutathione production. If things aren’t working well, Shade recommends using a direct delivery of glutathione.

It’s important to realize that most oral glutathione supplements do not work. It’s simply going to break down to its constituent amino acids, so it’s not an effective intervention. Shade recommends and uses a nanoliposomal glutathione that absorbs under your tongue and is far easier and less expensive than IV glutathione.

Again, whether you can make do with precursors or need direct delivery of glutathione has a lot to do with how well your glutathione system is working, and your current state of health. Poor immune function is a sign of glutathione insufficiency, and a tip-off that a precursor might not be enough. In studies on HIV positive patients, 1,000 times more precursor than glutathione was necessary to restore cellular function in those with active disease.

“Another example of that is the herpes family. Cell cultures of herpes 1, the herpes that you get on your lip, will grow in a petri dish and kill all the cells. If you put glutathione in first, it doesn’t grow at all. If you start it and it starts killing the cells, and you throw glutathione in it, it stops it in its tracks. In fact, liposomes are a topical as well as a systemic. They were originally used in the cosmetic industry.

You can use a liposomal glutathione topically to penetrate in and help stop the propagation of a virus in a cold sore or any other herpes diseases,” Shade says. “You hear reports from people who get their amalgams out, detoxify and bring their glutathione system up that they stop getting recurring herpes infections, because herpes is living in the situation of reduced glutathione in the immune system.”

Leave Chelation for Last
The chelating agent EDTA is a powerful biofilm breaker. When taken systemically it opens up biofilms throughout your body, revealing various organisms to your immune system. As a result, you may experience immune reactions. A lot of the fatigue that people feel when chelating is in fact due to immune reactions to organisms, and is reflective of systemic biofilm-based infections. According to Shade, “If you’re not having success with detox, you need to go after microbial injections almost every time.”

Also, it’s important not to indiscriminately chelate for lead. If you go through the glutathione system upregulation discussed above, you’re not just getting mercury, cadmium, and arsenic out. You’re also getting a whole host of other toxins, including fluorinated, brominated, chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides, and herbicides.

“Start low, work up, and pulse on and off. That’s the key to making that happen. That will stop the toxic manifestations of lead. But mobilizing lead out of the body using EDTA, DMSA, or 2,3-Dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS) has to be done with a qualified practitioner.

I would say, do the glutathione system upregulation. Get rid of all that other junk. Really build up your body’s own ability to deal with these toxins, and then mobilize the lead. And always do that with a practitioner,” Shade says.

Addressing Toxic Metals Besides Mercury
To detect heavy metals besides mercury, Shade uses an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) scan of blood for nutrient and toxic metals. This is important, because you need to have your nutrient metals in order before you can go after toxic metals. Most of the toxic metals displace zinc, and zinc drives many important metabolic reactions. If you have low zinc, you’re not going to be able to detoxify metals well.

If you have high copper and low zinc, you will present symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, and it will be synergistically toxic with any heavy metals present in your system. High calcium and low magnesium stops detoxification by restricting magnesium-dependent transporters and by putting you in a state of chronic inflammation. You also need to have adequate molybdenum, selenium, and lithium in order to detoxify.

“You need to bring up the ones that are low, and you need to stop supplementing or stop exposing yourself to the ones that are high. It’s a little bit more complex with copper. But generally, when you get the glutathione system in order and when you get methylation in order, the copper levels will come down.

Now as far as the toxic metals, when we do glutathione system upregulation, we handle mercury, cadmium, and arsenic — three of the Big Four. The only one we really want to chelate for is lead. If lead is very high, you need the guidance of a qualified licensed practitioner to use either our liposomal EDTA or a little bit of DMSA and DMPS.

In general, I don’t like DMSA and DMPS unless you’ve already cleared the system of the mercury, you’ve normalized the glutathione system, and you’ve established very importantly that your kidneys are able to filter those chelates.”

Three Pillars of Detoxification
The three pillars of detoxification in general and metal detoxification in particular are:

1. Cleanse and clear your GI tract of metals and toxins using a thiol-functionalized silica (Intestinal Metal Detox, or IMD) with a practitioner, or chlorella, plus charcoal and clay, which bind to all the other toxins. Herbs like dandelion and goldenrod are good for added liver and kidney support. Burdock and dandelion helps clear your blood. Be sure to drink extra water to flush the toxins out.

Remember, if you’re detoxing and feeling really unwell, you need to clear more toxins out of your GI tract and blood. When you do that, back off your Nrf2 upregulators, and instead take more GI binders, and more liver and kidney supporting herbs. Drink a lot of water. When you’re feeling clear again, restart the Nrf2 upregulators.

2. Glutathione optimization. Increase glutathione levels either by using precursors (such as N-acetylcysteine [NAC], or a liposomal glutathione formulation.

3. Nrf2 upregulation in the cells using R-lipoic acid, polyphenols, and sulfur-based compounds from cruciferous vegetables and alliums. The Ayurvedic herb haritaki is beneficial, as are sulforaphane (broccoli seed extract), and allicin and diallyl disulfide (garlic). All of these upregulate Nrf2 and aids detoxification.

Last but not least, remember that detoxing is a marathon, not a sprint. Start all your doses low and work your way up. Do not jump in and do too much all at once. Typically, detoxing will take anywhere from three to 12 months; sometimes longer. Also, pulse the treatment on and off, or else it will lose its effectiveness.

Thinking of Coming in to see Dr. Ray Vactor at Wexford Chiropractic Centre?

That’s great! We can’t wait to see you!

Here’s some things to expect:

1. Friendly and informative Care

Dr. Ray Vactor and his staff are happy to meet you and assist you in your Integrative Care Journey. We want to help you feel the best you possibly can.

2. Alignments

Alignments/spinal adjustments can be a bit daunting to a first time patient. Just remember that you are in good hands!

3. Nutritional Assessment

Not all Chiropractors give you a thorough nutritional assessment. Dr. Ray Vactor will find out what your body is deficient in and give you the supplements you need to balance your body and help you feel better, more energized and overall more healthy!

4. A thorough follow up
Dr. Ray Vactor isn’t interested in getting you out of the door…he’s interested in getting you out of the door feeling better and back in for your next appointment.

Chiropractic Care is not a one time thing, or fix, it is a method to get you as healthy and happy with your body as you can be with a better aligned spine and a better performing central nervous and endocrine system.

So what are you waiting for come see Dr. Ray Vactor at Wexford Chiropractic Centre today!!!

Many people have some crazy ideas about what Chiropractic Care means.

They even fear coming to the Wexford Chiropractic Centre with visions of “Witch Doctors” in their heads.

That is a famous character on Scooby Doo…not anyone you’ll find practicing Integrative Medicine,

So let’s focus on taking this Misconception based on a stereotype and find out the truth.

Integrative medicine focuses on body, mind, and spirit sure, but it’s not a scary pseudo-religious thing like on Scooby Doo, instead Chiropractic Care is about systemic medicine, how each part of the body reacts and effects the other.

An aligned back, relieves the tension and stress off of joints and muscles, making you feel better.

Testing you for what nutrients you are deficient in and creating a nutrition plan with vitamins and a diet and exercise plan is a vital part of chiropractic care AND a way to get your body working better as a whole.

So never fear! Dr. Ray Vactor is here!

Come on in and find out how integrative care can benefit (not scare) you.

Dr. Ray Vactor is one of the best chiropractors around and there is good reason for it.

His knowledge of chiropractic care enables patients to feel relieved of their pain, more stable posture, moods, chronic pain levels and have a better understanding of what it means to take care of your body.

What we love about him:

#1 His chiropractic adjustments

After a session with Dr. Ray Vactor, your body feels more aligned and chronic health problems are alleviated.

#2 His Friendly Quality Care

Dr. Ray Vactor is kind and helpful for the whole family.

Whether it’s Dad’s football injury, or mom’s anxiety with every visit and kind word, the whole family feels better!

#3 Supplements

Dr. Vactor had a way with supplements. He knows just what supplements your body needs to bounce back.

If your feeling low or unmotivated supplements may need just what you need and Dr. Vactor will know exactly what to give you.

Adjustments, Quality Care, Supplements, what more could we ask for in a chiropractor?

Story at-a-glance

Original source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/06/10/longevity-secrets-from-centenarians.aspx

By Dr. Mercola

At a time when half the population in the U.S. is struggling with chronic illness and life expectancy is on the decline, the idea of living to 100 may seem like a pipedream to most. Yet, in many other areas, life expectancy is actually rising, and centenarians are far more commonplace than you might imagine.

In 2015, there were 679 people at or over the age of 100 living in Wales. Sardinia, which boasts the highest number of centenarians anywhere in the world, has 6 centenarians for every 3,000 people. That is literally 10 times more than in the U.S., where the ratio is 1 centenarian per 5,000.¹

While you’d think most centenarians — people who have lived a century or longer — would advocate a certain diet, their longevity secrets typically center around social and emotional factors, such as expressing love, nurturing strong family and social ties, and being involved in your community. Centenarians also overwhelmingly cite stress as the most important thing to manage.

Centenarians Age Slower — But Why?

As previously noted by Israeli physician Dr. Nir Barzilai of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine:²

“The usual recommendations for a healthy life — not smoking, not drinking, plenty of exercise, a well-balanced diet, keeping your weight down — they apply to us average people. But not to them. Centenarians are in a class of their own.”

The majority of centenarians do not feel their chronological age; on average, they report feeling 20 years younger. They also tend to have positive attitudes, optimism, a zest for life and a good sense of humor. As cheerfully noted by a centenarian in Sardinia, the secret to living to 100 is to “not die before then.”

Or as Doris, 105, says, “Living is easy — if you’re willing to do it. People [say] life is awful to live. I don’t think so. It’s what you make it. If you want to make it a good life, it’s up to you.” Could it be that personality characteristics and world views play a more significant role than genetics, diet or exercise? Based on years of data from studying centenarians, Barzilai reports that when analyzing the data from his particular pool of centenarians, at age 70:

• 37 percent were overweight; 8 percent were obese
• 37 percent were smokers (for an average of 31 years)
• 44 percent reported only moderate exercise and 20 percent never exercised at all

Despite this, centenarians as a population have lower rates of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Depression and other psychiatric illnesses are almost nonexistent. Barzalai is quick to emphasize you should not disregard the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices (such as keeping your insulin level low). He explains:

“Today’s changes in lifestyle do in fact contribute to whether someone dies at the age of 85 or before age 75. But in order to reach the age of 100, you need a special genetic makeup. These people age differently. Slower. They end up dying of the same diseases that we do — but 30 years later and usually quicker, without languishing for long periods.”

Food Then, and Now

It’s well worth noting that our diet has undergone enormous changes just in the past 50 years or so. An individual celebrating their 100th birthday today was raised on a very different diet than a child born now, or even a few decades ago. I believe these differences are a major reason why people in their 30s and 40s are struggling to stay alive today while centenarians seem more or less impervious to health issues that plague the rest of us.

Public dietary guidelines, issued for the first time in the U.S. in 1980,³ have also done a great deal of harm by leading the entire population down the wrong path, diet-wise. The guidelines have even had international ramifications, as nations that don’t have the resources and scientific expertise to duplicate the process simply model their own guidance after the U.S.

In 1965, Americans ate about 40 percent of their calories as carbohydrates, and another 40 percent of their calories came from fat.⁴The first edition guidelines issued in 1980 called for a diet lower in fat and higher in carbohydrates, and by 2010, Americans had brought their fat consumption below 35 percent, and increased carbohydrates to 55 to 65 percent. The advice to eat a carb-based diet low in saturated fats has been followed ever since, and the results have been devastating.

Skyrocketing obesity and type 2 diabetes rates are a direct result of following these recommendations, as are rising rates of heart disease. Today, overwhelming amounts of evidence show sugar, especially fructose, and hydrogenated vegetable oils are primary drivers of metabolic dysfunction and disease — the very ingredients we’ve been told to load up on for the past 37 years.

What Are You Eating, Really?

To that you also have to add the rise of genetically engineered (GE) food, which started with the Flavr Savr tomato in 1994.⁵ The first insecticide-producing crop was approved in 1995, followed by the first herbicide-resistant crops in 1996,⁶ after which pesticide use skyrocketed and health statistics took a nosedive.

In terms of diet, today’s centenarians have had a clear and distinct advantage. To put it bluntly, they were not raised on artificial crap. For the first 50 or 60 years of their life — the majority of a lifetime for most of us — they ate real food, and when it comes to creating a foundation for health, I can think of little that can compete with a whole food, unadulterated, non-GMO diet.

Perhaps this is why so few commonalities in terms of specific food choices can be found among centenarians. As noted in the documentary, most say they eat a bit of everything, including home-baked sweets and foods commonly shunned, like cheese and eggs (which are actually really healthy for you).

In Sardinia, which has the highest percentage of centenarians in the world, there are to this day no major grocery stores selling processed food and no takeout or fast food restaurants. Households grow their own fruits and vegetables, and food is always prepared fresh, from scratch.

This is what you would call a major clue. Another clue: The locale forces daily walking, and lots of it, up and down steep, sloping cobbled streets and hills. The Sardinian culture also favors socializing, which is another major, if not the most important, longevity factor.

What About Limiting Animal Protein?

Although the above video does not go into this, Dr. Steven Gundry’s new book, “The Plant Paradox,” has some compelling information about the value of limiting your animal protein intake to 2 to 3 ounces a few times a week to increase longevity. I believe this is solid advice and this is my typical strategy. I am convinced most of us eat far too much protein and it’s wise to replace most animal protein with safe fish like sardines and anchovies, and even then limit total protein to 30 to 60 grams depending on your lean body mass.

Gundry reviews how cattle, pigs and sheep all carry a sugar called Neu5Gc, which your immune system recognizes as foreign when you eat their meat. There is significant data suggesting that when your immune system is exposed to the foreign sugar molecule Neu5Gc from red meat, you develop an antibody to the lining of your own blood vessels, A radically reduced intake of animal protein could explain some of the longevity advantages.

An Active Life and Social Support — Keys to Longevity Gleaned From Centenarians

Failing to find any specific dietary influence (aside from the fact they’ve been eating real food for most of their life), what have researchers found when mining the minds of centenarians for clues to their longevity? In interviews and surveys with centenarians, including the ones interviewed in “How to Live to 100,” the following themes dominate: ⁷

Indeed, the importance of social support, which most centenarians give credit to for their longevity, has been scientifically verified. As noted in the documentary, an American meta-analysis of published studies found strong social support is the No. 1 factor that determines longevity and survival. The influence of social support on mortality is so great, it surpasses the influence of weight and even eclipses the influence of smoking!

Rx for a Long Life: Joy

Happiness is another factor. Research confirms happy people live longer^8,9 — about 35 percent longer, according to one study.¹⁰ So it’s no surprise that centenarians are a happy and optimistic lot. Positive thoughts and attitudes seem to somehow do things in your body that strengthen your immune system, boost positive emotions, decrease pain and provide stress relief.

In fact, it’s been scientifically shown that happiness can affect your genetic expression. A team of researchers at UCLA showed that people with a deep sense of happiness and well-being had lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger antiviral and antibody responses.¹¹

Indeed, while part of your longevity may depend on the DNA you were born with, an even larger part depends on epigenetics, over which you have a great deal of control. Your diet, physical activity, environmental exposures, thoughts and emotions all exert epigenetic influences every minute of the day, playing a central role in aging and disease.¹²

What Does Money Have to Do With It?

As noted by Chiappa, a common belief is that money has an influence on longevity. If you’re more affluent, you can afford to buy all the things that bring you health, right? Wrong. There’s not a shred of evidence to suggest this is true. On the contrary, living a “hard” life, meaning a life of physical activity, if not hard labor, preferably outdoors, is something most centenarians have in common.

Growing and/or eating fresh food, socializing with family and friends, appreciating life in general and cultivating a sense of purpose — a reason to get up every morning — are other commonalities that centenarians share, no matter where they live.

For many, the 21st century lifestyle is working against us, which means if you want to live to 100, you have to take proactive steps to not always take the easy way out, because “convenience” is largely what’s killing us — from processed foods that (presumably) cut our time in the kitchen to elevators that let us skip the stairs, to cars that transport us from point A to point B, even if the latter is mere minutes away, to social media that gives us the illusion of socializing while ignoring the person sitting right in front of us.

The tools to live to 100 are available to everyone, everywhere, and they’re really not complicated. But as Chiappa says, you have to implement them.

Chiropractic care is safe and effective for people of all ages. Adults are recommended to visit a chiropractor before age 30 in order to prevent oncoming problems such as pre-mature spinal aging and slow bone degeneration present in many young adults.

 

In a U.K. survey of more than 19,700 patients who underwent more than 50,000 cervical spine manipulations, a team of researchers have concluded that your risk of having a serious adverse event from “getting your neck cracked,” is slim to none.

The manipulation technique at the focus of this safety study was defined as the application of high-velocity/low-amplitude or mechanically assisted thrust to the cervical spine. Patients were followed, and any adverse symptoms recorded immediately, and up to seven days after treatment.

There were no reports of serious adverse events, which translates to an estimated risk of, at worst, one per 10,000 treatments.

Minor side effects, occurring either immediately after, or within seven days after treatment, were slightly more common. Some of the side effects included:

• Fainting, dizziness, light-headedness in, at worst, 16 per 1,000 treatments
• Headache in, at worst, 4 per 100 treatments
• Numbness or tingling in upper limbs in, at worst, 15 per 1,000 treatments

Sources:

Spine October 1, 2007, 32(21):2375-2378

Original Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/11/01/new-evidence-supports-the-safety-of-chiropractic-care.aspx