Lifestyle Impacts Cancer

This study found that breast tumors actually send signals to the brain trying to cause disruption in sleep patterns and glucose metabolism.

The reason cancer cells do this is because they thrive when there is excess glucose in the body and minimal sleep. Sleep is when your body heals and when glucose levels are out of balance inflammation is increased and chaos follows.

Lifestyle can have a massive impact on many types of cancer:
1. Reduce and remove processed carbohydrates. Lots of veggies and berries are your best option, try to eat some sort of vegetable at every meal, eat more than you think you should eat.
2. Make sure you have the best sleep habits possible. Make it a routine, go to bed early, take magnesium, block out all light, make sure your room is below 70 degrees, etc.

Source: https://buff.ly/2BnqipK

Health Is a Lifestyle

"I think that focus on the scale and what it says or how we look in the mirror too often derails the bigger picture of how we’re living our lives. Exercise doesn’t have to be something we dread. Food doesn’t have to be tied into guilt. We can choose exercises that we enjoy and put healthy food on the table that actually tastes delicious."

Come into our offices, and you'll hear all of our doctors talk about health being a lifestyle. It's easy to compartmentalize health into the 60 minutes at the gym, or the moments of eating vegetables instead of sugar.

But like this author writes, health and the lives we live should be the same things, enjoyed at the same time.

Read the full article here: https://theascent.pub/

Magnesium Supplementation

Having a nutrient deficiency long term is going to lead to side effects. Depression and anxiety can easily happen as one of those side effects.

Magnesium is involved in over 300 metabolic reactions which helps to generate energy inside your body. If you aren't eating a lot of foods that contain magnesium (greens, nuts, seeds, etc.) or you aren't processing them properly then odds are you are going to be deficient.

I find that the majority of people are deficient in magnesium, I eat tons of foods that contain magnesium in them and I still benefit from taking a magnesium supplement on a regular basis!

Understanding Gut Health

Prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics - this article helps unpack the terms you need to know in order to understand gut health.

Source: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Weight Loss Starts With Nutrition

You can't outrun a donut.

Slaving away for hours on a treadmill or bike trying to lose weight? While exercise WILL make you healthier, it isn't the key to losing weight.

The problem is that the more calories you burn during exercise the more calories you are going to crave afterwards. If you aren't eating healthy foods, you are going to magnify the problem with just eating more unhealthy foods.

Over and over we see people lose weight the easiest by putting their focus 100% on nutrition and not exercise, in fact many people who see the best weight loss results are only doing low intensity walking or bike riding on a regular basis.

How it needs to be done:
Learn how to eat healthy first and THEN implement an exercise routine! Or if you're currently exercising, get a nutrition plan and STICK TO IT. Your body will thank you.

Common Supplement Mistakes

Health Tip:

You typically pay for what you get in the supplement industry. I see patients all the time that tell me they are taking a supplement and not seeing the intended results but they got it from a local grocery store or box store because it was cheaper. The problem is there is zero regulations on these products and they are typically junk.

In this research they found that the average Vitamin D-3 only had 33% of what was on the label! So you pay half the price but get 1/3 the quality!

The two most common supplement mistakes:
1. Taking cheap, low quality supplements
2. Not taking a therapeutic dose

Source: https://www.medpagetoday.com

Why Grains Are Unhealthy

Here's a quick read about why grains are unhealthy: https://www.marksdailyapple.com

Social Media and Food

This picture won't do well on social media.

It won't go viral, be swooned over by foodies, and no one will pin the recipe to a board so they can impress their guests next time they have company.

It's a reasonable portion, easy to make, and healthy - but it just doesn't have that social media zing. But it's important to realize that the "social media zing" can influence our relationship with food, and can determine everything from what to how much we put on our plates - for better or for worse.

What makes a great picture may not make a great meal...or it might. Education and having a nutrition plan in place can act as a healthy filter, helping us choose good food and discard unhealthy food, as we scroll through Pinterest or Instagram.

For more on social media and food, check out this article: https://medium.com/s/thenewnew

Say No to Fake Food

I can't believe it's not Butter..... If it's NOT butter then what is it?

It's chemically made by mixing unhealthy corn, soy or cottonseed oils with nickel oxide.

Then it's heated to very high temperatures, mixed with emulsifiers and starch, steam cleaned to remove the odor, bleached to remove the color and then dyed the color of butter.

Finally it's injected with flavor to taste like butter!

The takeaway? Eat real food.

Kerrygold Grass fed butter is a much better option.

#justsaynotofakefood

The Meat Sweats

Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you ever get hot after eating Thanksgiving dinner?

Did you know that protein, fats and carbohydrates have different thermic effects on our bodies, meaning they can heat our bodies up differently. This means that it takes more calories to processes certain types of foods which creates more heat inside your body. A calorie simply means a unit of energy aka heat.

Protein has the largest thermic effect, which explains the "meat sweats" many people have after eating a ton of protein on Thanksgiving. Upwards of 35% of the calories in protein are directly used to break it down and process it metabolically. So if you eat 100 calories from protein your body is actually only getting 65 of those calories because the other 35 are burned during processing, which makes you hot.

The thermic effect also explains why calories from protein are not equal to calories from carbohydrates or fat. Calorie counters don't take this into effect either.

Many people who are always cold should consider eating more protein especially in the winter because it will potentially help increase their body temperature!

Favorite natural cosmetic & skincare products

My wife Jen is often asked what her favorite cosmetic and skincare products are, we try to use as many natural products in our house as we can -- here is what she has found over the years that she likes the best. 

We research everything on EWG's Skin Deep website or Think Dirty which has a lot of great info. 

Tarte cheek stain |  Arbonne CC cream |  Honest Beauty eyeshadow 

Honest Beauty mascara | Pixi eyeliner

Ambre blends natural perfume  | Burt's Bees lotion for daytime |  Soapwall restorative face serum for nighttime (one bottle typically lasts 6 - 8 months)  |  Beautycounter rejuvenating radiance serum for nighttime  |  P.T. Pure lash & brow oil -- made in Michigan!

Pharmaceutical Drugs and Our Body

The idea behind pharmaceutical drugs seems great from a superficial standpoint.

Have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety? Take a pill and you will be cured!

Unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Our bodies are far more complex than research could ever prove. Drugs typically only work on one reaction, such as inhibiting the conversion of a single enzyme that produces cholesterol (statins). However, when you change one reaction it can impact the way everything else functions in the body, hence the reason all medications have a list of side effects 3 pages long.

This graph is one I used in biochemistry to show the basic cycles of our metabolism and cellular function, you obviously can’t read all the names because the real chart takes up half a wall, but the main point is that everything on this chart (aka in your body) is highly connected and proper function is critical to be healthy. If you change one reaction with a medication it’s going to alter every other reaction in the body eventually.

Are there conditions and situations where pharmaceutical drugs are necessary? ABSOLUTELY.

But there are also plenty of conditions and situations which are simply better treated by regaining how the body is naturally designed to function, and this comes through education, nutrition, exercise, and stress reduction.

Vitamin D-3 for Seasonal Sickness

As we transition to less sunlight - both because there's les time during the day when the sun is out and because people spend more time indoors because of the weather - it becomes time to think about your vitamin D levels.

Sunlight increases the amount of Vitamin D-3 produced inside your body. Vitamin D-3 is actually a hormone that plays many vital roles in our bodies, especially in regulating our immune system.

Flu season follows the cycle of the sun around the world. Meaning anywhere in the world where sunlight is the least seasonally people are getting sick. Research has shown that lack of Vitamin D-3 is one of the big reasons for this.

Most people benefit greatly from taking 2,000 IU to 5,000 IU per day, but getting your levels tested is the only way to know exactly where your levels are at and what your supplementation amount should be!

Share this for anyone who suffers from seasonal sickness!

Grains Are Not Healthy

"...but I buy whole-grain bread."

Grains are not healthy, period.

1. They are inflammatory, they have a poor Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acid ratio. This ratio promotes inflammatory eicosanoid production which leads to disease.

2. They contain lectins which are a type of sugar protein called a glycoprotein, this can cause leaky gut syndrome and chronic irritation to the gut leading to auto-immune problems. Cooking doesn't deactivate lectins, which many people claim, the only way to break them down is to soak them and then pressure cook them.

3. They contain gluten. Most people think that gluten only causes digestive problems but it's involved in many other negative reactions in the body as well. It's reactions are simular to lectins. One example is that when it binds to cells inside the digestive tract it creates a substance called zonulin, this disrupts the tight junctions between the lining leading to leaky gut syndrome, which leads to auto immune reactions.

4. Grains are very acidic for their overall composition. Typically foods that have a high protein content are acidic because of the metabolic breakdown of protein which gets balanced out by fruits and vegetables, but grains are very low in protein comparatively which makes them one of the only foods with this makeup.

5. Calorie for calorie grains lack nutrient density. If you keep calories equal the same amount of broccoli has 36 grams of fiber and 2748 mg of potassium while whole grains have 4 grams of fiber and 144 mg of potassium, romaine lettuce has 39 grams of fiber and 4638 mg of potassium. Potassium is used because typically things that have potassium also have an excellent all around nutrient value.

6. They are loaded with carbohydrates and are broken down into sugar within seconds of eating them. Only a few pieces of bread or bowls of cereal is typically going to be more carbs than someone should be eating for a whole day. This leads to weight gain and dis regulation of insulin and glucose levels internally.

To you grain-free or grain-avoidant eaters - what do you substitute for grains?

Sleep Tips

Sleep is sleep is sleep.

There isn't anything else like it, and nothing can do what it does. Handfuls of vegetables can't replace the hours being missed every night, and an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill doesn't make up for being chronically sleep deprived.

"Yeah, but I do fine with five hours of sleep."

Try two weeks of at least 7 hours and see how you feel. "Doing fine" is usually just "becoming used to feeling terrible", and after a extended period of good sleep habits, people report improvement in most areas of life - from mental outlook to erased aches and pains to better productivity at work.

Some tips:

1. Go to bed by 10 PM
2. Sleep at least 7 hours per night
3. Take melatonin or Magnesium before bed if you have sleeping problems
4. Wear a sleep mask or use a sound machine
5. Do anything you can to reduce light an hour before sleep and in the bedroom - less screen time, blue light glasses and the "nighttime" function on your phone, blackout curtains, etc.

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe

'Tis the season for pumpkin everything! Pumpkin is great to eat this time of year, as it contains a lot of potassium which can help lower blood pressure and help reduce the risk of a stroke.

This recipe is a family favorite of ours and it is gluten-free. It makes 8 small pancakes. Serve with local maple syrup!

The Benefits of Supplementing

Question: Should I take supplements?

Answer: Part of the answer is in the word "supplements" itself. These products are designed to additional nutrition to a diet that is already focused on improving health.

You can't supplement your way out of terrible eating habits - that would be like throwing a band-aid on a giant cut. It will make you feel like you're doing something, but what you're doing isn't doing any good.

The other part of the answer is... it can help supplement your diet. The majority of patients I work with do not get sufficient nutrients from their food or enough sunshine on a daily basis, so supplements are an easy way to supplement your diet. Talking with a doctor is the best way to determine whether or not you should use supplements in addition to the food you eat.

5 Tips to Naturally Boost Your Child's Immune System

As the days get shorter and there is less sunshine, our immune systems typically can take a hit causing a "cold and flu season." 

Especially if you have kids in school, follow these tips to keep their immune systems strong. 


1. Wash hands regularly -- when you get home from an outing, before eating and after sneezing or coughing. Do not use an anti-bacterial soap. We like Dr. Bronner's, Honest Company or Method brand soaps. If you are on the go, find a safe hand sanitizer such as Honest Company's hand sanitizer (also available in a convenient spray, available at Kehres Health & Chiropractic, Target or Honest.com).

2. Use Xlear nose spray -- Dr. Elisa Song, MD says "one of the MOST preventive things you can do is to irrigate your and your children’s nasal passages with Xlear nasal spray at the end of every day, and after any potential exposure (work, school, playgroups, plane travel, etc.). This is a saline nasal spray with xylitol and grapefruit seed extract, both of which have antimicrobial properties. After exposure to a virus, the virus tries to invade and multiply in your nasal passages for at least 1-2 days before you develop any symptoms. Nasal irrigation can wash away viral particles before they have the opportunity to take hold, and thereby prevent many infections from happening in the first place!"

3. Take Vitamin D3 supplements -- as we get less sunshine in the fall and winter, it can deplete our immune system. There are many great kids' Vitamin D3 supplements on the market. Make sure they are GMP Certified (Good Manufacturing Process). Read more about the benefits of Vitamin D3 here.

4. Get plenty of sleep -- Sleep is when your body heals. Lack of sleep can cause inflammation, which can cause disease and illness. Do everything you can to reduce light in the bedroom (no tablets or tvs, use blackout curtains).


5. Decrease sugar, increase fruits and vegetables -- holidays, birthday parties, school snacks and more can sneak in more sugar to your child's diet than you would like. It's ok to have treats once in a while, but be sure they eat healthy food before these events and keep only healthy food at home. Kids do not need juice, stop buying it and it is an easy way to reduce sugar in their diets (while saving you money at the grocery store). Veggie shakes are a great way for our kids to get extra fruits and vegetables. 

(These statements are of a general nature, consult your primary care doctor before using any product.)

McDonald's Removes Artificial Ingredients From Burgers

Every time you purchase something you are voting for that product. Companies watch these trends and make decisions based on what the consumer wants.

McDonald's knows that people want healthier food and this is a step in the right direction, a small step but it's still a step.

If everyone protested and said they would only eat pasture raised grass fed meat then McDonald's would carry exactly that.

Source: https://www.wsj.com

Grains: The Real Truth

Grains are not healthy, period.

1. They are inflammatory, they have a poor Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acid ratio. This ratio promotes inflammatory eicosanoid production which leads to disease.

2. They contain lectins which are a type of sugar protein called a glycoprotein, this can cause leaky gut syndrome and chronic irritation to the gut leading to auto-immune problems. Cooking doesn't deactivate lectins, which many people claim, the only way to break them down is to soak them and then pressure cook them.

3. They contain gluten. Most people think that gluten only causes digestive problems but it's involved in many other negative reactions in the body as well. It's reactions are simular to lectins. One example is that when it binds to cells inside the digestive tract it creates a substance called zonulin, this disrupts the tight junctions between the lining leading to leaky gut syndrome, which leads to auto immune reactions.

4. Grains are very acidic for their overall composition. Typically foods that have a high protein content are acidic because of the metabolic breakdown of protein which gets balanced out by fruits and vegetables, but grains are very low in protein comparatively which makes them one of the only foods with this makeup.

5. Calorie for calorie grains lack nutrient density. If you keep calories equal the same amount of broccoli has 36 grams of fiber and 2748 mg of potassium while whole grains have 4 grams of fiber and 144 mg of potassium, romaine lettuce has 39 grams of fiber and 4638 mg of potassium. Potassium is used because typically things that have potassium also have an excellent all around nutrient value.

6. They are loaded with carbohydrates and are broken down into sugar within seconds of eating them. Only a few pieces of bread or bowls of cereal is typically going to be more carbs than someone should be eating for a whole day. This leads to weight gain and dis regulation of insulin and glucose levels internally.

Exercising Without Exercising

Would you like an hour of daily exercise without actually exercising?

The way you eat could be equivalent to an hours worth of moderate intensity exercise every day.

This study showed that when total calories were kept the same a low carbohydrate diet (10%) with moderate to high fat (60%) burns 300 more calories per day than a high carbohydrate (60%) low fat (20%) diet.

This difference in diet alone is equal to 1 hour of moderate intensity exercise per day.

Doing this type of diet in conjunction with exercise is going to magnify your results. However you always want to make sure to have control of your diet before incorporating exercise.

Link: https://jamanetwork.com

Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D?

Sunlight, Vitamin D-3, Depression and Seasonal Sickness

Fluctuating levels of sunlight are natural throughout year, but during the fall, winter and spring most people aren't getting nearly enough sunlight due to the lack of outdoor activity and decreased exposure to sunlight.

Sunlight increases the amount of Vitamin D-3 produced inside your body. Vitamin D-3 is actually a hormone that plays many vital roles in our bodies, especially in regulating our immune system.

Flu season follows the cycle of the sun around the world. Meaning anywhere in the world where sunlight is the least seasonally people are getting sick. Research has shown that lack of Vitamin D-3 is one of the big reasons for this.

With fall right around the corner, now is the time to start thinking about how you are going to normalize your Vitamin D-3 levels. Most people benefit greatly from taking 2,000 IU to 5,000 IU per day. Getting your levels tested is the only way to know exactly where your levels are at.

Share this for anyone who suffers from seasonal sickness!

Saturated Fat in Breast Milk

Friday Fact:

Did you know that the fat in breast milk is made up of 50% saturated fat? Basically the same amount as butter, lard and beef tallow?

But every month on the news a new article comes out saying how bad saturated fat is for us and that it leads to heart disease, cancer and all sorts of other health problems.

Where is the common sense?

What's next, they are going to tell us to stop breastfeeding because it's unhealthy?!

Please share.

The Costs of Diabetes

Every time you eat you are either getting healthier or sicker and the majority of people are getting sicker by the day.

People with type 2 diabetes don't spend their retirement traveling the world and spending time with their grand kids, they spend it going from doctor to doctor and pharmacy to pharmacy.

"The American Diabetes Association (Association) released new research on March 22, 2018 estimating the total costs of diagnosed diabetes have risen to $327 billion in 2017 from $245 billion in 2012, when the cost was last examined.

People with diagnosed diabetes incur average medical expenditures of $16,752 per year"

Indirect Costs Include:

-Increased absenteeism ($3.3 billion)
-Reduced productivity while at work ($26.9 billion)
-Reduced productivity for those not in the labor force ($2.3 billion)
-Inability to work as a result of disease-related disability ($37.5 billion)
-Lost productive capacity due to early mortality ($19.9 billion).

Link: http://care.diabetesjournals.org

Grass Fed Meat vs. Grain Fed Meat

Grass fed meat versus Grain fed feedlot meat

Whatever something (humans or animals) eats determines how healthy it is. Cows are meant to eat grass not grains and when they eat grains it changes their nutrient density and makeup. Feeding cows grains is good for the farmer because the cows get to full size much faster allowing the farm to have a bigger turn around time and more profit. However, this is not good for the cow, the consumer of the meat and the environment.

Healthy meat should have close to a 1 to 1 ratio of Omega 6's to Omega 3's. However, grains are highly concentrated with Omega 6's which are very inflammatory for humans and cows and will throw this ratio out of balance to around 8:1 Omega 6's to Omega 3's. This promotes inflammation and typically causes the cows to get sick and to require antibiotics and or medication to stay alive long enough to get processed.

Try to find local farmers raising grass fed beef, you can talk to them to see how the cows are raised and even visit the farm to verify and know where your food is actually coming from. Buying grass fed beef in bulk from the farmer is the cheapest option if you have the freezer space.

#EatLocal #EatLocalMi #GrassFedBeef

The Side Effects of Medication

The idea behind pharmaceutical drugs seems great from a superficial standpoint. Have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety? Take a pill and you will be cured! Unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Our bodies are far more complex than research could ever prove. Drugs typically only work on one reaction, such as inhibiting the conversion of a single enzyme that produces cholesterol (statins). However, when you change one reaction it can impact the way everything else functions in the body, hence the reason all medications have a list of side effects 3 pages long.

This graph is one I used in biochemistry to show the basic cycles of our metabolism and cellular function, you obviously can’t read all the names because the real chart takes up half a wall, but the main point is that everything on this chart (aka in your body) is highly connected and proper function is critical to be healthy. If you change one reaction with a medication it’s going to alter every other reaction in the body eventually.

Chemicals In Your Cereal

Many genetically modified crops (GMO's) were made to be resistant to glyphosate (Roundup Ready crops) so that when Roundup which contains glyphosate was sprayed all over the fields it would kill basically everything in the field except for the crops.

This seems like a good solution for farmers to control weeds however it's a chemical disaster waiting to happen for our health. Humans are not resistant to glyphosate and GMO crops are unnatural.

"Out of 61 food samples tested, 48 had some glyphosate in them. The most heavily contaminated were made with conventionally grown -- as opposed to organically grown -- oats."

Source: https://www.webmd.com

The Better Butter

I can't believe it's not Butter..... If it's NOT butter then what is it?

It's chemically made by mixing unhealthy corn, soy or cottonseed oils with nickel oxide. Heated to very high temperatures further ruining the oils, mixed with emulsifiers and starch, steam cleaned to remove the odor, bleached to remove the color and then dyed the color of butter. Finally it's injected with flavor to taste like butter!

Eat real foods, not foods that are chemically made to look, taste andsmell like other foods!

Kerrygold Grass fed butter is a much better option.

Nutrition Promotes Weight Loss

Everyone can agree that exercise is healthy for us however it's not the key to weight loss, nutrition is.

"Regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and some cancers by at least 30%,” they write. “However, physical activity does not promote weight loss."

The problem is that the more calories you burn during exercise the more calories you are going to crave afterwards. If you aren't eating healthy foods, you are going to magnify the problem with just eating more unhealthy foods.

Also, just because someone is skinny it means very little about their overall health. Whether you exercise or not, junk food is still inflammatory and will eventually cause disease.

Over and over we see people lose weight the easiest by putting their focus 100% on nutrition and not exercise, in fact many people who see the best weight loss results are only doing low intensity walking or bike riding on a regular basis.

How it needs to be done:

Learn how to eat healthy first and THEN implement an exercise routine! Your body will thank you.

Link: https://www.forbes.com

Chiropractic Before Pain Medication

Side effects and addiction to pain killers have never been more prevalent that right now. They are easy to get prescribed and are also massively addictive.

Chiropractic adjustments have been shown over and over to be one of the most beneficial treatments for many types of pain.

This study published in The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics concluded that even when people were taking pain medications their side effects were greatly reduced when going to a chiropractor.

Please have anyone dealing with chronic pain to consider chiropractic before taking pain medications. Addiction and side effects associated with pain medications ruin lives and kill many people on a daily basis.

Study: https://www.readbyqxmd.com

Omega 3 Supplement

Omega 3's are one of the most popular supplements and for good reason.

Many people eat way to many processed omega 6 fats (vegetable oil, corn seed oil, hydrogenated oils). The ratio in the United States is 24:1 of omega 6's to omega 3's and anytime this ratio is above 1:1 inflammation starts aka we are very inflamed.

The average american has 24 times too much inflammation and this is why NSAID's (Aspirin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, etc.) are the #1 over the counter medications and the rate of chronic inflammatory diseases is at an all time high.

Omega 3's work well for everyone because they balance out the ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's internally reducing the inflammatory response.

The absolute best way to see the most benefit is to reduce processed oils as much as possible and to take 2-3 grams of omega 3's specifically EPA/DHA per day.

Many people take omega 3's on and off but because they don't notice an immediate impact they stop taking them, however research is very conclusive that they are very beneficial long term.

Buying high quality supplements is key, if you aren't you are wasting your money.

Healthy Popsicle Recipe

We made another popsicle today that included a few different fruits and no added sugar, dyes or any unhealthy stuff. Our girls like picking out what colors they want their popsicles to be and we make them with whatever fruit and vegetables we have! #healthykids

Disease Prevention Chart

This chart is excellent!

Would you rather:
Have a 30% reduction in breast cancer risk or 80%?
Have no reduction in risk of MS or a 50% reduced risk?
Have 30% reduced risk of colon cancer or 60%?

The answer is obvious.

The medical world suggests that a Vitamin D-3 level around 32 ng/ml is ideal, however I have always been skeptical of this since most research concludes that it has to be closer to 50 ng/ml.

This chart breaks that down for some of the most common diseases and conditions and show's a massive decrease in risk for almost all conditions when you have your levels over 50 ng/ml and minimal benefit if they are around 32 ng/ml.

Research typically shows that ideal levels are between 50-90 ng/ml.

It's very easy to normalize your vitamin D-3 levels through supplementation and sunlight. The best way to know where your levels are is to test them after a series of supplementation modifying from that point. More supplementation is required in the winter than the summer.