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In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez, health coach Kenna Vaughn, Truide Torres, biochemist Alexander Jimenez, and Astrid Ornelas, discuss how chiropractic care can ultimately help treat sciatica or sciatic nerve pain.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Hey, guys, we’re live today. We’re going to be discussing the scourge of the back, the scourge of the back for myself. I’m a chiropractor practicing out here in El Paso, Texas. We usually have a disorder that’s typically there isn’t a day that we don’t see it, and it affects so many people. But there’s a lot of confusion with, and I call it, the scourge of the low back. It’s called sciatica. Sciatica is a disorder that has many, many reasons and many, many causes. One of the most important things is first to assess the reason and cause of sciatica. But most importantly, when it first hits an individual, it strikes them, usually with a shocking misunderstanding as to what’s going on in their legs. They feel pain in the low back. They sometimes feel pain in the leg. Different areas depend on where the issue lies, so a little bit of its anatomy breakdown and explanation of what it is. First of all, it’s a syndrome. It’s a syndrome that has many reasons and many causes. The issues that come about and are that that make sciatica arise are vast. I would venture to say that there are a million people that come in with sciatica. There are a million reasons that have presented each one of those patients. There is a majority of problems in and a subset of issues. We’re going to go over that. Today, our goal is to bring out the awareness that it is a problem, just like the present anemia. And there are many reasons why a person would have anemia. Many people are familiar with anemia, and they say that’s low blood, but you’re going to find out where the blood issue is to determine exactly what the causes of anemia are. Well, the same thing with sciatica. There’s a lot of reasons why the sciatic presentation occurs. So we’re here to kind of begin the process of explaining that. So we’re going to get real deep and down and nasty with the science of it. We’re going to try to give you some tools that you can look at and assess. So your provider can give you a better explanation, or you can ask better questions in terms of where your sciatica originates. So the first thing is to understand the anatomy, and I’ll go through the anatomy in a very visual way. But I want to first kind of take you to a visual, and my visuals are very three-dimensional and offered through complete anatomy. Complete anatomy has given us the ability to use this and show, and it is something that many medical students use. So in today’s modern-day, we don’t have to use some visceral or some sort of human anatomy. We can use these tools to help us present to the patients and to teach. So it’s probably one of the most used anatomical structured systems, and we use it to teach people in our patients every day, given the dynamics of sciatica. Here we have a picture of a sciatica HDMI, so we can see a presentation of what the sciatica nerve looks like when we can see it. The interesting dynamics here is that when you look at the interesting presentation, you can see as I go away how vast and how large it is. Now the first thing is I rotate this individual. You got to see that it comes from a large glute plexus in the lumbar spine to the sacral nerve roots. So anywhere down the line that anything is touching this thing, this beautiful, powerful nerve, you’re going to find that there is pain radiating down. So we’re going to discuss those issues. And as we kind of go over that, we want to understand that so away from HDMI. So what we’re looking at are the issues that present with us when we discuss it. So what are the causes, and what is sciatica? Sciatica is inflammation of the sciatic nerve, and as it presents what happens many times, it is the largest nerve in the body, and it’s how most people know it, and it travels from the lumbar plexus to the leg. So, anywhere that that thing is touched, it’s going to radiate pain. Now, what are the causes? Well, they could be from vascular. They could be compressive. They could be lymphatic. There could be a space-occupying lesion, such as a tumor causing the issues. Now, a good clinician will do a lot of different tests and a lot of different assessments to determine where it is having the problem. So when I have a patient, they come in when the first thing we have to do is a history we have to assess and find out what’s going on. So finding the history of something that suddenly someone starts sitting or they become active, or they get hit in the back, and they start having sciatica, it boats to a well, dynamics. So what happens is, what we need to do is we need to discuss the dynamics of where it begins and what goes on. So in terms of our direction, I would like first to take you to the physical assessment. When you explain to your doctor what’s going on, you need to tell him exactly when you started having it. That’s very important. The history is very like when these issues are? Do you have a sedentary life? So these are the types of issues that present most of the time a person comes into the office with having a severe presentation that they’re shocked? They didn’t expect this and what occurs in this particular area is that you can see where the nerve root comes in. So over here, you’ve got to figure out where it came from. As you notice, a lot of the reasons that many of these individuals have is because it’s a little bit of atrophy and muscular issues that arise. As you can see right here, there’s a lot of areas where the nerve can keep becoming trapped, and this is the main reason that most people have this issue now as they go through this and they present a symptom. I got to figure out, and we have to figure out where the problem originated with our team. So as I go through that, I want to give you a different dynamics here in what I’m going to explain. I’m going to present my team to you so that they’re all going to. Each one of them is going to explain a little different aspect of what goes on. Today, we will discuss how a coach, such as an individual helping the doctor, can assess the situation. We are going to talk to our coach Kenna. We’re going to talk to Astrid, who’s going to bring some science knowledge here. We will bring a patient in, discuss the experience with her, and bring in our top guy from the university at the biochemical level. He will teach us a little bit about some nutraceuticals and some applicational processes that we can do to help an individual with sciatica. So at first light to tell, I like to ask a question to Kenna. So Kenna, what I want to do is I want to ask you exactly what it is that you notice when a patient presents with sciatica and what kind of things we can do in the office and what’s our approach specifically more like the metabolic issues and the disorders that present that way? So when we’re looking at here, let me go ahead and head into this area, tell me a little bit about how we present a patient and what we deal with when we’re talking to an assessment or doing an assessment.
Kenna Vaughn: So one thing that many patients with sciatica have is the pain they’re feeling, of course and that low back. But another thing is they don’t have a lot of movement due to that pain, and movement is essential. It’s what life revolves around. So we take that movement, and we look at how we can help this patient decompress that sciatic nerve with the adjustments that Dr. Jimenez does, but also how can I benefit from my side of things for this patient? So we do have a lot of great resources available to us. We send our patients to Push, which is a gym here that helps them get that calibration in their muscles that they need to build up those stronger muscles all around that sciatic nerve so that this nerve doesn’t get pinched frequently or as often. And another thing we have available to us is an app called Dr. J. Today. And what that does is it syncs with the bracelet that our patients wear, which allows us to track their movement. So we want to focus on that movement as part of it. And another thing we can do is nutraceuticals in supplements. So what are nutraceuticals and supplements? One of the main ones we focus on that almost every individual should be taking is vitamin D3, and we like it coupled with vitamin K. This will help your bones and circulation. And it’s going to help to decrease that glucose by increasing your insulin sensitivity. And this is where it comes into play with sciatica.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I had a question for you in terms of that. When you’re discussing that we’re dealing with and sciatica as a pain in the hips, we’re correlating, and we’re tying together, I guess, a disorder that many people have as metabolic syndrome and many times are overweight. And that was one of the presentations that many of the patients with sciatica, not that everyone is overweight, with sciatica. Still, many people who become sedentary and don’t move as much do suffer from metabolic syndrome. So to get that under order, one of the things is to bring the insulin under control. And once we do that, we start losing weight and getting more active with the exercise protocols. She mentioned Push because we began to calibrate the hips. Now, as you can tell from our picture here, there’s a whole lot of muscles in this region, OK? So as I kind of use the application, you can see a little bit more of the muscle tissue that is involved. So as we look at the muscle tissue, we can see that calibrating and these muscles that control the hip actually propel the creature, so propel humans, so to speak, right? So what happens is as this happens, if this becomes deconditioned through a sedentary lifestyle. Well, the thing that’s lying underneath also stops working, and the muscles stop working as effectively. So one of the ways that we treat people is through a coach to assess their body mechanics and put them through the Push Fitness protocols that can help them get a calibration of the structures. One of the things that we also do in this process is we look at the sitting issues and tell me a bit of what you do, Kenna, in terms of helping people adjust their lifestyle or modify their mobility issues.
Kenna Vaughn: So what their mobility, as I said, we use the app, and we also use Push Fitness, and the supplements have a lot that comes into play because like I said, with that increasing the insulin sensitivity, what we’re going to want to do it, that is it’s going to help to control the blood sugars. And you might not necessarily relate blood sugars to sciatica just yet, but as I said, everything is connected. So when we put our patients on a protocol and have them control these blood sugars, it also helps maintain their inflammation because sugars and chemicals cause that inflammation in the blood. And that’s also it’s going then to cause nerve damage to our body and our system. And then, once we have that nerve damage going, we’ll see many more patients sitting down, which relates to that lack of motion. And then we see a lot of patients coming in with sciatica.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Sciatica. So basically, we’re going back to the same monster, which is called inflammation. Right. So inflammation is the deal. People that have sciatica will often tell the story of how it kind of looms with them. It’s like having this untrustworthy nerve back there that if they have stress or go through emotional dynamics, it affects sciatica. So this threshold that activates the sciatica presentation could have even an emotional component to it. So we want to bring that to light, too, because many people have normal lives, but they don’t have the presentation under normal situations. Suddenly, bam, they get an emotional, financial issue, family things, and sciatica just flares. Where is that even logical, right? The key is inflammation, inflammatory response, stress responses. And those issues do create an almost perfect storm to create a predisposition for inflammation. So that’s why we bring in the dietary components and the food to start eating better to prevent inflammation again. Those are some of the things. So she also mentioned the issue of Push. Push is our fitness center, where we actually put people through exercise protocols, and when we start putting people through exercise protocols, it’s there to calibrate. Now, what’s the biggest muscle in the body? Well, not too far from the anatomy to an anatomical structure. You can see the muscles in this particular area, and everybody knows that the glutes are the big muscles. So when you see this powerful muscle, if this muscle becomes decalibrated from a sedentary lifestyle, you’re going to notice that you’re going to have a lot of predisposition. So it’s like a car with flat tires. So if the car has flat tires, it starts swaying and moving to the wrong side. Well, if it’s swing, you can imagine that it affects the axis and the axles, and all that kind of stuff starts happening. Things like these happen, but in our human structure, there’s a finely calibrated system here. One of the things that many people don’t know and don’t think about is the lymphatic structure. Now, if you can see here, you can see the lymphatic. Now those guys ride directly next to the venous and arterial structures, and you can see it here. So as you can see that for progressing, you also look at the arteries. So if someone doesn’t have an arterial system that is working well and sitting on this, you can see congestion occurring around the structures, around the nerves. Now there’s a lot of nerves in here. So when you start looking at these dynamics, you start seeing that a person who is not using their muscles has an increased congestion level. So as I remove these muscles here, you can see this picture, and I’m going to remove every one of them. You start seeing the noticeable dynamics of how complex their nervous system is. So over here, you can see the complexity of how those nerves function. It’s amazing to see all the structures in here. So when you look at this, you can see the amount of influence that lack of movement would cause. It’s almost like a traffic jam. Imagine sitting on this thing all day long, OK, let alone be inactive. So one of the things we want to do is to assess exactly what it is. And one of the things that we do is to calibrate the system. So going back to removing these picked areas, you want to go ahead and work on the big systems. OK, well, as you can see, these muscles bring a huge component into helping sciatica. Now, where are the sciatic issues coming from? Now let’s go ahead and start discussing those particular issues as we can kind of go through this. And I want to take you through a little anatomy lesson here because it does require a little bit. As I remove these things, we’re going to see all of the structures that come in, and actually, but you can see if I can get the nervous system only out to the minimal component of it, the big ones. And as you can see here, you can look over this way and see anywhere down the line right here by where the nerves are. Them out where the disk comes out in this particular area as it penetrates forward, it goes this what we call the sacral notch, which is this guy right here. This hole is a sacral notch where it comes out, and you can see that it can be bumped into the bone and the actual femur here. So there’s a lot of areas that we can see that directly affect the sciatica regions. But having gone through that, I’m going to go into that in a little bit deeper. But I want to go ahead and get a little personal story right now. I want to ask an individual now what sits in here, and most women, you know, this is where they contain babies, right? So in a situation where you have an individual that is going through a lot of changes, such as an individual who’s having a child, you can see where the hips actually change and right down there, if you can see down there, this is where the sacrum has to open up to allow for the birthing canal. You see that big hole right there. A baby’s got to go through there, and if it can’t go through there, which it probably won’t until probably the ninth month where this area starts expanding, guess who’s going to go by, then kick in on the way down? OK, that would be a child. OK, so let’s talk about that. I’d like to present Trudy here because she has a story of how it affected her.
Trudy Torres: Well, I guess, you know, as a woman, you know, it’s an extremely joyful situation when you find out that you’re going to be a mom. If it’s your first-time baby, you’re in for a roller coaster. You know, like you guys were mentioning, there’s a lot of different scenarios that you go through emotionally, physically. So when you’re pregnant, you’re the perfect storm for something like this to come up. You know, you are just balanced from you’re so, so tired the first trimester. I’ve always worked out. So for me, I have never experienced sciatic pain before, and for me being so active, I went from being 100 percent active to just being so tired. I had to be super careful about spending my energy, especially in the first trimester. So on top of that, if you add, you know, everything else that’s going on physiologically with me and then my life became so sedentary. On top of that, you know, I have a desk job. So sitting at a desk and then not compensating, moving all of a sudden, that pain is so excruciating. I did not experience this with my first baby. I experienced this with my second child. And, of course, I gained more weight with my second child. So once again, you know, you’re adding problem over the problem. And just because you’re pregnant, that doesn’t mean you’re eating for two, because unfortunately, some of us, you know, have that misconception, and that’s when your weight tends to get a little bit out of control. So you’re adding a lot of different factors that create the perfect storm and are just super, super hard. One of the things that Kenna mentioned that helped me was becoming active and being exposed to Push. I had someone here that was able to work out specifically with me being pregnant. Obviously, my limitations as you start gaining more weight, it’s not the same thing that you can do when you’re not having a baby. So I was able to continue to work out later on in and, you know, after I was exposed to chiropractic and implementing exercise.
Kenna Vaughn: So the main symptoms you had when you had sciatica, and you were pregnant, was it mainly just pain, or did you also get that tingling feeling because there is more than one symptom of sciatica?
Trudy Torres: No. Unfortunately, it was just not pain. It was pain. It was burning all down my leg. I did not know what was going on. As I said, this was not with my first pregnancy, and every pregnancy is different with my first child. I watched more what I ate. I was still active, so I believe it was a combination of things, you know, that I felt like I was eating for two. I gained more weight than I should have.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I got a question: Was it when you rapidly gained weight during the final trimester?
Trudy Torres: I think everything kind of started happening a little at a time. I wasn’t that active in the first trimester, so I began having flare-ups not as bad as once I gained the weight. But, you know, once I gained more weight, that’s when I started having more severe symptoms, as I said, the burning, the lower pain. It was just excruciating, and it’s something that I don’t wish upon my worst enemy.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Now, did you ever have a recurrence after you had your baby?
Trudy Torres: Yes, I did. I did, and unfortunately, I did, but one of the things has helped me keep that under control. It’s been being active, continue to watch my weight. My supplements were one thing that I would ask Coach or Dr. Jiménez when you’re pregnant. I know we were talking about the different supplements. What do you still recommend for pregnant women to get on the different vitamin D and K supplements?
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That’s an excellent question, and one that I’ll answer very clearly as a wide disclaimer; you need to make sure that your doctor knows what you’re experiencing. Obstetricians, which are OB-GYN doctors. They’re very well astute as to what type of supplements. So in the world of supplementation, it is wise to have a doctor assess that, and many of them will make sure that you have good supplementation. The area where it’s the accurate assessment is you have to have supplementation. Your body’s trying to produce an enormous amount of cellular activity as it creates life. It draws upon a particular area that inflammation goes crazy, the body goes into dynamic changes. So nutrition becomes an essential thing from intestinal nutrition through metabolic nutrition. So one of the things is that you have to have a doctor, typically today’s individual who is in there as young childbearing age, they have a doctor evaluating. So yes, one of the essential things is from folic acid to vitamin E, D. These are a whole, complete gamut of vitamins that are assessed and given by their doctors. So most women will know that if they take some medication, they have to put it clearly by their doctor. That’s the most important thing. And the second thing is on the supplementation side; once your doctor knows, he’s probably going to give you something of a basic level of supplementation and nutritional assessment. So in terms of that, a dietitian can evaluate you and assess you and determine what’s going on in terms of the aggressive approaches where an individual is not pregnant; there’s a lot of things that can be done. But let me ask you this. I know that you do a little bit of a CrossFit, and you do that kind of stuff. And you mentioned that you had sciatica after. I want to go to the point that many people who have sciatica lead a predisposed life to sciatica now, meaning that once you get it, it’s not that your terminal is that you always have the potential of having it, so whether your body dynamics have changed. Typically, you’re not 18, and now you’re 40. What happens is your body is warning you that it’s not working as it should be. And suddenly, the nerve starts becoming flared up, either the compression through atrophy of muscle or imbalance of muscles. So all those things are essential; I notice that you mentioned something that you did. It also affected you after. Did you do some competitions later, and did it affect you?
Trudy Torres: I did do competitions after. What helped me keep it under control was that its different factors to keep it under control. You know that keeping moving makes sure that you’re taking the right supplements in chiropractic care. I’m a firm believer, you know, of a holistic approach, and I believe that a combination of all it has helped me keep it under control. I have not had flare-ups, but I believe it’s because I’ve had all these different combinations. As I said, you know, I kept active. I have, you know, been in average weight. I have also implemented chiropractic, you know, as maintenance.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, I would like to give people a kind of insight as to what happens when you first go to a doctor, and they assess you; there are many ways to figure it out. One of the ways that it’s an easy way if there’s degenerative and there are bone changes is an x-ray. And that’s what we typically look at, and we first start all assessments. But the definitive assessor who gives the vast amount of information is looking for some compression. And at that point, sometimes we have to look at the arterial-venous circulation. But the number one way to determine if someone has sciatica due to a disc injury or some compression or space-occupying lesions like a tumor or some arthritis or some sort of imbalance in the muscle is genuinely the MRI. The MRI is an excellent tool. Now, if there is bone involved, a CAT scan is used. The EMG is used to determine the muscular tone and the muscle’s ability to react and see which tone levels. But you don’t need to be a rocket scientist and put someone through that. They already know that their muscles are tight, and there is an issue. The ability to determine how the nerve functions is a nerve conduction velocity test that tells you how fast and slow the nerves could work. Now in the situation where we do a bone scan, we’re trying to look for any metabolic issues outside, and there could be a tumor or some problem. But that’s rare, and that’s not typical, but the number one way to assess an issue is through an MRI and an X-ray. Those will give you the most significant, broadest areas. Now I want to go ahead and talk a bit about nutraceuticals and specifically nutraceuticals. We’re going to go ahead in this about the treatments for it. And as we go through that, I’d like to go ahead and discuss certain areas and specific supplements. Now Astrid is our resident nutraceutical information gathering. We also have a biochemist in the background who will bring some insight to a different level. But what kind of things do we typically offer patients when they need it as a metabolic, a leaving protocol?
Astrid Ornelas: OK, well, first of all, I want to bring in an interesting statistic. According to researchers, approximately 80 percent of the population suffer from some type of back pain. Included in that are low back pain and sciatica. So with that being said, of course, it becomes a priority to know what is it and what can we do to assess this common problem? And like, Kenna and Dr. Jimenez, like you and Trudy have said, exercise is essential. And together with exercise, we want to bring in a diet. We want to eat foods and supplements. And because obesity or excess weight is one of the problems is one of the leading causes or one of the most common, commonly well-known causes of sciatica. We want to, you know, all together with exercise and following like a good, a good diet. We want to follow these things so that we can. If we lose weight, it can help improve sciatica. So with that in mind, there are several of them. I guess natural remedies, natural nutraceuticals, if you will, can help reduce or improve sciatica symptoms and, therefore, lose weight. So one of the ones that I want to talk about is that we have it here: turmeric or curcumin. So turmeric is a plant, it’s a flowering plant, and it’s related to ginger. And we eat the root. That’s what we know it. This yellow kind of orange-looking root is very commonly used in Asian foods and most commonly in curry and curcumin. You’ll hear turmeric and curcumin used a lot interchangeably together, and curcumin is the active ingredient that’s found in turmeric. So one of the things that I wanted to bring up with turmeric and curcumin is the benefits that many people can take, and they can either eat turmeric or take turmeric supplements. It can help to reduce sciatica or sciatic nerve pain. So turmeric has a lot of anti-inflammatory properties, which can help reduce pain and swelling, which is probably one of the most common symptoms of sciatica. There’s a lot of research studies that have found that turmeric or curcumin can reduce neural inflammation, which is inflammation in the nerves, which, as some of us here, know if your sciatica is caused by a disc herniation or a herniated disc, sometimes the substances or the chemicals that are inside of your disc, they can irritate the nerves. So taking turmeric and curcumin can help reduce the inflammation caused by these irritating compounds. It is also a powerful antioxidant that can help reduce oxidative stress, which can cause inflammation. And probably one of the highlights of taking turmeric or curcumin is that it can improve metabolic syndrome, as we previously discussed in a past podcast. Research studies have found that turmeric can help regulate body fat by reducing inflammation. It can also help lower bad cholesterol. It can lower triglycerides. It can improve blood sugar levels. And it has antibacterial properties as well.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Let me ask you. We’re talking about the potential of someone having sciatica; since some people have sciatica, that kind of looms on them. Well, we’re trying to do with turmeric, and we’re trying to prevent it from kicking off. So it’s basically like prophylactic prevention. I like to go a little deeper, and we have our resident scientist here, Alexander, and he is right with us right now, and he’s got some points of view on some of those supplementations. Tell us a bit of what you learned in terms of supplementation and your point of view on how we can assist sciatica from a biochemical point of view.
Alexander Isaiah: Well, there are a couple of different ways of taking different perspectives and avoiding the whole. An inflammation response is a good way of saying it. Let me see. Can you guys see my screen here?
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes, we see you, we see you right now. So I saw your screen. Yes, I do. We see the screen entirely.
Alexander Isaiah: Awesome. So I’m going to go into a little bit of the biomechanics of what’s going on with sciatica. Then we’re going to break down a little bit of the muscles, and then we’ll go into the supplementation aspect of what we can do to have either prevention or active treatment during treating sciatica. So here we could see we have three individuals from left to right. The first one is an individual who has a neutral spine. And you can see that as we draw a line down the middle there. External auditory Matis, the ear, is in line with their deltoid and is in line with the median part of the sacrum. In the second person, we can see that they have a little bit of dysfunction in terms of their physical aspect. So here we have an individual whose sacral promontory, which is the anterior side of the sacrum, is tilted superior, and their posterior area is tilted, posterior, inferior. I’m sorry. And what this is called, this is called a counter mutation. So by having that sacrum pointed up, you’re putting more stress on the thoracic region and causing the areas to be more inclined to different stresses. And most of the time, this is caused by tight hamstrings. So these hamstrings are pulling down, forcing the anterior side to come up and stretching these quadriceps. So it can either be done from an imbalance of over-powerful hamstrings or tight hamstrings and weak quads. In the third individual as we draw the same line down the middle. We can see that they are almost in line, but on an individual like this, we could see that their sacral promontory, the front side of the sacrum, is tilted anteriorly, which is called mutations. So we have a counter mutation over here. It’s going to go counter. And then mutation over here on the right side, so an easy way to remember this. They’ll stick forever is that this is pretty much if you think plumber’s butt, this is what it looks like. This is what J-Lo looks like. Oh, so you’ll never forget it that way. But the difference is here is that here the pressure is on the thoracic spine. But in an individual with notated hips, the pressure is in the lower back. So let’s say someone is pregnant and developing another child in this area. They’re going to be putting more pressure on the lower back versus someone who has pressure on their thoracic area. They’re going to be more pressure there. So going into a little bit more of the anatomy. We can see that we have all the different muscles here, and we could see the piriformis, which is this muscle right here. I’m going to give you different colors for you guys, so that you can see better. It is muscle right here. And then we could see the superior gemellus is right under that. So sandwiched between the two is the sciatic nerve. And if we have someone who is mutated, they’re going to be stretching these muscles more and putting more compression on that sciatic nerve, causing that area to be more inflamed. More of those neuropathies are occurring, shooting down the leg. And then in other instances, when we have the piriformis, which is split in half and the sciatic nerve is running between them, and that’s 10 percent of the population that that usually happens. And so and these people have always had sciatic problems. So by strengthening and working on those conditions and going over those nutraceuticals, we’re about to go into, we can treat and alleviate some of those symptoms. So the first one I kind of want to go into is a little bit of niacin. So niacin, we all see it as the store brand as something popping up like that. And most of the time, it’s either in 250 mg or 500 mg of capsules or tablets. I always recommend getting the tablets just because you can take half of the tablets. And I tell people this is because most of the time, nicotinic acid is the main thing is, vitamin B3 causes a little bit of a flush effect, but that’s just the way it works. So we’re going into it here. We can see that nicotinic acid, as it’s going through its chemical pathway, actually produces lots of NAD+, and NAD+ is essential in the cellular metabolism of many tissues. So going into brief biology, we all know that the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cells we were all beaten to death growing up in basic biology. But as we take a look more in-depth at the structure of the mitochondria, we could see that it has an outer membrane, an inner membrane, and then an interim membrane space. So we’re going to look mainly at this little section here that’s folded in between, which are called the cristae. And we could see that the first complex, known as complex one or all the known as any dehydrogenase, is responsible for using NADH, converting it and using its protons, and moving it across the gradient to make ATP. But we could see that more NAD+ is produced here, right? So that’s where niacin comes into effect. We supplement more with NAD+ to cause a reduction reaction between NADH and some other electrons, forcing it into NADH. So what does this all mean? Pretty much what we’re doing is we’re creating a boulder downhill effect, so we’re making more NAD, and we’re forcing it to go to product. And how does this happen? Just easy thermodynamics is you put a lot of it up the hill. The enzymes are going to force the work to go down the hill and make more energy. In doing so, and you have a more healthy metabolism of cells. And this does not only correlate to neuropathies, but it also helps with circulatory function, cardiovascular health; the main multi nucleotide muscle in the body is the heart, so you’re not only making sure that you’re neuropathies are covered, but as well as you’re making sure that you’re keeping a healthy heart just by supplementing with vitamin B3. Another great one, saying that you have more ATP produced and more functioning and healthy tissues, is green tea. I chose to use green tea because it has a very similar pathway to curcumin in the sense of anti-inflammatory effects. So the main ingredient in green tea in case you either have green tea in your house or curcumin available, whichever one’s easiest for you, they mostly have the same chemical pathways in that they inhibit either inflammation or cell proliferation neural damage. So the main chemical in green teas is called catechins, and catechins are similar to catecholamines, like epinephrine and norepinephrine, which is just adrenaline. And the main one is EGCG. The cool part about EGCG is that it inhibited NF Kappa B and ROS. ROS is just a reactive oxygen species, which is just free radicals, which can cause havoc and wreak havoc throughout your body, which is why it’s an antioxidant. So in doing so, it prevents NF Kappa B from producing any proliferating effects from cells or inflammation or neural damage. Now, if we go more into biochemistry, I can just break it down a little bit here. So EGCG will upregulate AMP. High levels of AMP will down-regulate this enzyme, called glycolysis, and allow for ATP to be converted to CATP. This is important because not only does the CATP break down things, but it mainly breaks down any adipose tissue and helps kill any cells that are proliferating too quickly, such as cancer cells. And it also keeps cells functioning properly, such as neural cells. So as we’re coming here, another cool part about green tea is it has small amounts of caffeine. If you are pregnant, we don’t recommend that you do any caffeine or stimulatory effects. Always consult with your doctor before taking any of these things. Specifically, something that does have caffeine and that we just doesn’t want to mix anything, especially during pregnancy. But if you are trying to make sure that you help your sciatica or your metabolic syndrome. Green tea has another effect. Using caffeine, which inhibits phosphodiesterase and phosphodiesterase diseases, is responsible for turning off CATP, so it’s a double whammy effect. Not only are you burning fat and shutting down glucose storage, but you’re also allowing for this catabolic or this structure that breaks down things to keep going. Here’s a little bit of an overview of the different things that green tea does and how it helps. And just kind of going into another cool part about green tea is that it binds to other very toxic things, such as iron. We know that we have iron in every red blood cell, but people who have hemochromatosis have too much iron in their blood, and they have to give blood about once a week. Someone who has hemochromatosis can take supplementation of green tea and reduce their iron levels, preventing any toxicity from those iron.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, when you’re talking about those pathway patterns, you remind me very clearly that many of the times, the whole idea behind our show is to try to give you natural ways. However, there are potent medications that work with these pathways, one of which is gabapentin, used for neuropathic pain. Many people don’t want to do that because of the side effects and the critical issues that it causes. We were looking at this in a natural format in a natural way. Going back to the metabolic, what are the things that we notice in the metabolic areas you have seen? What are the other supplements? Do you notice that I have been able to assist people in recovering from because Astrid mentioned turmeric, and that’s the line we’re using. We’re using the anti-inflammatory. They’re limiting, limiting the reactive oxygen species or the ROSs to prevent the inflammation from occurring. Is that correct?
Alexander Isaiah: Yes. OK. The main thing is to inhibit the production of NF kappaB, which both curcumin, other known as turmeric, both have the same name. They’re interchangeable and green tea, and both inhibit these inflammatory pathways and cancer pathways.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. So let me ask you, Astrid, in terms of those inflammatory comments. Tell me a few of your thoughts on this particular matter.
Astrid Ornelas: Well, I wanted to add another compound that can benefit sciatica or sciatic nerve pain. And that is called alpha-lipoic acid or ALA. And so ALA is an organic compound, and it is produced naturally in the body, but of course, in smaller amounts. Or it can be found in foods such as red meat or organic meats or in plant foods such as broccoli, spinach, Brussel sprouts, and tomatoes. Or it can also be taken as a dietary supplement. And I wanted to discuss the effects or the benefits of alpha-lipoic acid. Because just like green tea and turmeric or curcumin, ALA is also a powerful antioxidant, and it helps reduce inflammation, according to several research studies. And it can also have a lot of benefits for people with metabolic syndrome because it can help lower blood sugar or blood glucose levels. It can improve insulin resistance, which is, you know, an effect, or it’s something that they can that can ultimately cause diabetes. And several research studies have also found that alpha-lipoic acid can also improve nerve function, which, you know, people with sciatica or sciatic nerve pain, especially caused by neuroinflammation. ALA can also help improve nerve function in these people.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: OK. That’s an essential point of view. As you can see here on our list, we have quite a few different presentations and areas such as vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, fish oils, omega 3s with EPA, berberine, glucosamine, chondroitin, alpha-lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, ashwagandha, soluble fibers, vitamin E, green tea, and turmeric. As you can tell, there’s a lot of things that we can do to stop the inflammatory cascade. We’re going to be going into all those because sciatica is so complex and diverse that we have to find the best for the patient from the millions of presentations that it has. So throughout the anatomy, as we discussed, and I’ll show you back the anatomy in a second here, you can see that there’s a lot of physiological and as Alex presented biomechanical imbalances that, if not taken into consideration, we will end up with issues in the future as a result of these predisposing dynamics. Now, as we recover these dynamics, we’re going to discuss many different topics. So I wanted to at least give a little more on the side of the things that we do now in terms of differential diagnosis. Many other issues can cause these presentations and from, you know, the dynamics of just a compressive nerve through space-occupying dynamics. We have other areas that come in and affect the patients. So what we’re going to do is in the following seminars, we’re going to go over specific types of things we can do, but let’s give you some guided ideas in terms of the treatment protocols that are out there. We have chiropractic care, which is a form of chiropractic. Chiropractic means mobilizing joints and moving the body, and there are thousands of ways we can do it. A lot of people think that it’s just manipulation or adjusting the spinal. We have to take a lot of things into consideration. We work on the bones; we work in the muscles; we work on the counter muscles. We have to formulate many dynamics to figure out what’s best in line to assist each patient. Once we find out the cause and find out what we call etiology or the pathology and the problem. We can go and use different methods. We use acupuncture, nutraceuticals. We work hand in hand with different providers to provide medications. We also do the goal ultimately in sciatica is to eliminate any chance of surgery if there is a surgical need or that needs to be done. But that’s such a small dynamic that we don’t want to go there unless we have to. We have different other protocols in different methods of treatment, like dry needling. We do aggressive rehabilitation. Now, why are we doing rehabilitation? Because as you saw in the picture earlier, the muscles we have were extremely involved in calibrating the hips. We want to make sure that we, we determine now over here, we got some basic care. We also got some aggressive care. Now, as you know, some basic care will be like ice-cold ultrasound, tens units, spinal adjustments, lifestyle changes, which is pretty much the biggest one because most people end up in a chiropractic office because their lifetime lifestyles change. Now, what do I have? I have a person who was an athlete at one point that suddenly got a desk job and now doesn’t move as much. Well, that’s easy. We can start getting that person back into yoga, pilates, tai chi, getting their bodies to align pelvically, and their whole body structure to get back to where it should be. Here’s the deal as soon as you can get past the inflammation and prevent that, and we can get you to move your body in a way that you did when you were a child, kind of like moving, dancing, and walking. That’s the way to calibrate the glutes. This is a powerful muscle, and as we’ve learned through technology and science, immediate atrophy occurs with the muscles not used. So imagine what happens when you start getting a job, and you used to be an athlete, and now you sit down eight hours a day, that’s going to give some great dynamic. So one of the crazy components is that as I look at this, I give you an idea of the types of exercises we can do. We can go into the extreme kind of CrossFit environment. And if we look at that, you just don’t look at the crazy structures, but you see people moving dynamically. A lot is going on here, and you can see that we can come up with our rehab centers. We have extreme athletes, too, even the people that are, you know, able to move just a little bit. But the point is that as we do this process, we can help someone with the treatments and protocols occurring, as you can see in this particular area. We can see Trudy and me. This is one of the things that the reason I was alluding to. But we can see when you were doing some self-treatment here. Tell me a little bit about what you were doing and what you were experiencing at that point.
Trudy Torres: That was, I believe, if I recall correctly, that was after my competition. I did compete for CrossFit. And, you know, it’s hard, after for a couple of hours. It takes a toll on your body. So I was kind of stretching my hip and stretching, you know, the rest of my glute area to avoid that flare up again. That’s something that once you experience it once and you have to go through the treatment, it stays in the back of your head because you certainly don’t experience pain again. That’s why you have to pay attention to all the different preventive areas and approaches to avoid ever having a flare-up.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, I got to tell you that I led you there because I know you had a lot of experience with sciatica. Alex, let me ask you this. You know, you were an aggressive competitor in the world that you did things. Tell me a bit of the thing that you did that you noticed when you were working. Let’s say an as a collegiate athlete, did you ever have hip issues?
Alexander Isaiah: Only when I didn’t stretch or when I didn’t work on my core muscles, or when I wasn’t making sure that I was anatomically in line, I did have some issues either with joint pain or just lower back problems or even upper back problems that all just tied into either flexibility or I just wasn’t paying attention to either my diet as strictly as I should, especially at that level. So, yes, I did.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah. You know what? There’s a lot to be covered here, and we’re going to be discussing a lot of issues. Did anyone want to add something else before we kind of closeout? I want to thank my crew for what we’ve done here. We are going to continue with this. Because we’re going to go real deep, this story of sciatica is going to get nasty with information. This is the beginning of touching on the subject matter. Thank you, Alex, for bringing the information because extremely, very deep in terms. I want to thank Astrid for giving us insights into biochemistry. My true patient, Trudy, and my coach over here, Kenna, and the supporting staff. So I want also to go if you guys want to find us. We’re here, and we’re here in this area where we are available. If we can help you and you can contact us at any given time. I want to thank you all, and I appreciate it. We’re going to be hitting sciatica relentlessly because it was relentlessly the scourge. It is ripping apart a lot of people at their works. They just quietly suffer. They don’t sleep, they stress out, and it causes a disruption. And it happens in mommy’s world, and it disrupts the whole family directly because a happy mommy is a happy family. So the entire thing is what we want to do is to assess what’s going on here. Find out the treatment protocols and give you the best options possible. Thank you guys very much, and God bless.
Antioxidants like resveratrol, lycopene, vitamin C, and vitamin E can be found in many foods. However, one of the most powerful antioxidants is naturally produced by the body.�Glutathione is known as the �master antioxidant�. Many foods have some glutathione but it is ultimately broken down by digestion before it can be properly used. Research studies have found that dietary glutathione isn�t associated with glutathione in the blood. As previously mentioned, glutathione is naturally produced by the body. But, if your capacity to do so is affected, it can cause a variety of health issues.
Glutathione is essential for liver detox or detoxification. Unlike other ways in which we can detox the body, scientists have demonstrated the benefits of glutathione for detoxification. It�s also necessary for healthy immune function and antioxidant defenses against free radicals. Glutathione deficiency is associated with health problems from overtraining to HIV/AIDS. In the following article, we will look at the role of this well-known amino acid in detox or detoxification. Glutathione is made up of three essential amino acids, including L-cysteine, L-glutamic acid, and glycine. It is responsible for:
Promoting liver detox or detoxification before bile is released
Reducing harmful components and toxins, such as peroxides
Neutralizing free radicals and other chemicals or substances
Cleaning out the body and supporting the immune and nervous system
What is Glutathione Responsible for in Detox?
Glutathione is essential for liver detox or detoxification. Glutathione binds to harmful components and toxins before they�re eliminated which is an important step in getting them out of your body.�Glutathione may also be very essential for helping your body eliminate harmful components and toxins found in the food you eat and the environment. By way of instance, one research study found that in people who eat a lot of fish, the total amount of mercury in their bodies was associated with genes that regulate glutathione levels in the blood. The more glutathione people made, the less amount of mercury they had.
Glutathione is found in every cell and tissue of the body. However, concentrations are seven to 10 times higher in the liver than anywhere else in the body. That�s because the well-known tripeptide plays a fundamental role in the Phase II liver detoxification pathway. The Phase II liver detoxification pathway is the process of metabolizing molecules that need to be eliminated from the body. Glutathione commonly binds to these molecules to eliminate them from the body. Glutathione ultimately has the capacity to bind to harmful compounds and toxins, flagging them as hazardous.
This helps eliminate chemicals and substances, scientifically known as xenobiotics, which weren�t produced in the body. And it can identify drugs, environmental pollutants, or any number of chemicals and substances. It�s important that glutathione binds to these harmful compounds and toxins before they can bind to important cells and tissues.�But the detox process isn�t complete. The next step is to turn the harmful compounds and toxins into a form that can be further metabolized and/or eliminated. Glutathione plays a role in turning fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble toxins so you can eliminate them from your body. The Phase II liver detoxification pathway involving glutathione plays physiologically essential roles in detox or detoxification. Without it, you�d probably be filled with hazardous material.
In conclusion, glutathione is essential for liver detox or detoxification. Glutathione is made up of three essential amino acids, including L-cysteine, L-glutamic acid, and glycine. Unlike other ways in which we can detox the body, scientists have demonstrated the benefits of glutathione for detoxification. As previously mentioned, it�s also necessary for healthy immune function and antioxidant defenses against free radicals. Glutathione deficiency is associated with a variety of health problems. In the article above, we looked at the role of this well-known amino acid in detox or detoxification.
Glutathione is an essential antioxidant for liver detox or detoxification, regulating inflammation, and supporting healthy immune function. But it�s not like other nutrients where you can eat more of it to take advantage of its health benefits. Instead, the important part about glutathione is supporting your body�s natural ability to produce it on its own. Think less �glutathione supplement� and more �eating your broccoli and moderate exercise� to help your body cleanse and protect itself against harmful components and toxins as well as bacteria and viruses. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight
Protein Power Smoothie
Serving: 1 Cook time: 5 minutes
� 1 scoop protein powder
� 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
� 1/2 banana
� 1 kiwi, peeled
� 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
� Pinch of cardamom
� Non-dairy milk or water, enough to achieve desired consistency
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until completely smooth. Best served immediately.
Cucumber is 96.5% Water
Because they’re so naturally high in water, cucumber is also very low in calories. It only has 14 calories per 100g (3.5oz). That means you can nibble on it all day without worrying about your waistline.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�
Ask The Scientists Staff. �Glutathione – The Amazing Detoxification Molecule You Might Not Know.� Ask The Scientists, 19 Dec. 2019, askthescientists.com/qa/glutathione/.
Dr. Judy. �Glutathione: The Detox Boss.� Vitality Natural Health Care, 14 Apr. 2018, vitalitywellnessclinic.com/detox-immune-system/glutathione-the-detox-boss/.
Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=24.
People are exposed to toxins, such as pesticides and air pollutants in food and the environment, on a regular basis. Meanwhile, other toxins are produced in the body through normal functions and microbes. That’s why it’s fundamental to support the liver, one of the major detoxification systems in the body. If the liver isn’t working properly, harmful compounds can start to pile up in the cells and tissues, leading to a variety of health issues. Liver detoxification is a two-step process that converts fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble toxins that the body can eliminate accordingly.
In the following article, we will discuss the importance of liver detox, what happens in the two phases of liver detoxification, and how you can support liver detox to promote overall health.
The Importance of Liver Detox
The liver is responsible for the detoxification of all of the harmful compounds and toxins that the body is exposed to on a regular basis. Moreover, it’s fundamental to eliminate these from the liver and the rest of the body regularly to tremendously reduce their negative effects. If toxins start to pile up in the cells and tissues of the liver, it can potentially lead to liver damage as well as a variety of other health issues. By way of instance, toxins are associated with obesity, dementia, and even cancer. And they are also believed to be a factor in chronic health issues, such as fibromyalgia.
There are two main ways that the body eliminates toxins. First, fat-soluble toxins are metabolized in the liver to make them water-soluble. Then, water-soluble toxins are sent directly to the kidneys where these are eliminated in the urine. Another of the body�s safeguards against harmful compounds is that the blood collected from the gut goes to the liver first. The blood from the gut may be especially high in toxins if a person has a leaky gut. Through the detoxification of toxins first, the liver can considerably reduce the number of toxins that reach other organs, such as the brain and heart.
Phases of Liver Detoxification
The liver is one of the main detoxification systems in the body. Detoxification or detox in the liver is separated into two categories. They are known as Phase I and Phase II liver detoxification pathways.
Phase I Liver Detoxification Pathway
The Phase I liver detoxification pathway is the first line of defense against harmful components and toxins. It’s made up of a collection of enzymes known as the cytochrome P450 family. The enzymes help neutralize substances, such as caffeine and alcohol. They offer protection by converting these toxins into less harmful components. However, if the byproducts of the Phase I liver detoxification pathway are allowed to pile up in the liver, they can damage DNA and proteins. It is ultimately the role of the Phase II liver detoxification pathway to make sure that those toxins do not pile up in the liver.
Phase II Liver Detoxification Pathway
The Phase II liver detoxification pathway neutralizes the byproducts of the Phase I liver detoxification pathway as well as that of other remaining toxins. This is done by metabolizing fat-soluble toxins in the liver to make them water-soluble so that they can be eliminated from the body. This process is known as conjugation. Glutathione, sulfate, and glycine are the primary molecules responsible for this process. Under normal conditions, Phase II liver detoxification pathway enzymes produce low levels of glutathione. Under times of high toxic stress, the body increases glutathione production.
We are exposed to toxins like pesticides and air pollutants in the food we eat as well as in the environment every day while other harmful compounds are produced by microbes through normal functions in the body. It’s essential to support liver function because it is our main detoxification system. If the liver isn’t working properly, toxins and harmful compounds can start to pile up in the liver which can eventually cause a variety of health issues. The phases of liver detoxification are a two-step pathway that converts fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble toxins that the body can eliminate accordingly. In the article above, we discussed the importance of liver detox, the phases of liver detoxification, and how you can support liver detox to promote overall health.�- Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight
Zesty Beet Juice
Servings: 1 Cook time: 5-10 minutes
� 1 grapefruit, peeled and sliced
� 1 apple, washed and sliced
� 1 whole beet, and leaves if you have them, washed and sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled and chopped
Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.
Just one carrot gives you all of your daily vitamin A intake
Yes, eating just one boiled 80g (2�oz) carrot gives you enough beta carotene for your body to produce 1,480 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A (necessary for skin cell renewal). That’s more than the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in the United States, which is about 900mcg. It’s best to eat carrots cooked, as this softens the cell walls allowing more beta carotene to be absorbed. Adding healthier foods into your diet is a great way to improve your overall health.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�
Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.
References:
Ask The Scientists Staff. �Liver Detoxification Pathways.� Ask The Scientists, 30 Jan. 2019, askthescientists.com/qa/liver-detoxification-pathways/#:~:text=liver%20detoxification%20pathways.-,Phase%20I%20Liver%20Detoxification%20Pathway,toxins%20into%20less%20harmful%20ones.
Watts, Todd, and Jay Davidson. �Phases of Liver Detox: What They Do & How to Support Them.� Phases of Liver Detox: What They Do & How to Support Them – Microbe Formulas�, 24 Jan. 2020, microbeformulas.com/blogs/microbe-formulas/phases-of-liver-detox-what-they-do-how-to-support-them.
DM; Grant. �Detoxification Pathways in the Liver.� Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 July 1991, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1749210/.
Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=24.
Most detox diets are normally short-term diet and lifestyle modifications made to help eliminate toxins from your body. A common detox diet may include a period of fasting and a diet of fruits, vegetables, juices, and water. A detox diet may also include teas, supplements, and enemas or colon cleanses. According to healthcare professionals, the role of a detox diet is to rest your organs, stimulate your liver function, promote toxin elimination, improve circulation, and provide healthy nutrients. Detox diets are recommended due to possible exposure to harmful compounds like heavy metals and pollutants.
Detox diets are also believed to help improve a variety of health issues, including digestive problems, bloating, inflammation, allergies, autoimmune diseases, obesity, and chronic fatigue.�However, there currently aren’t enough research studies on detox diets in humans and those that exist are considered flawed. In the following article, we will discuss the role of a detox diet on health and wellness.
Potential Benefits of a Detox Diet
Healthcare professionals have attempted to demonstrate the exact mechanisms in which detox diets can help eliminate toxins from your body. As a matter of fact, because of the current lack of research studies on detox diets in humans, there is currently little to no evidence which even demonstrates if detox diets can remove any toxins from your body as most of these rarely specify the type of harmful components they aim to remove. Moreover, your body is capable of cleansing itself through sweat, urine, and feces. Your liver also makes toxins harmless and then releases them from your body.
However, there are several harmful components that aren’t easily removed by these processes, including persistent heavy metals, phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and organic pollutants (POPs). These generally accumulate in fat tissue or blood and can take an extended period for your body to flush them. These harmful compounds are generally limited or removed in commercial products today.
Detox diets may also have other possible health benefits and these can also help encourage the following, including:
Avoiding processed foods
Eating nutritious, healthy whole foods
Exercising regularly and sweating accordingly
Drinking juices, teas, and water
Losing excessive fat; weight loss
Limiting stress, relaxing, and getting good sleep
Avoiding dietary sources of heavy metals and POPs
Following these guidelines is generally associated with improved health and wellness, regardless of whether you�re following a detox diet.
Bottom Line
Many detox diets are typically short-term diet and lifestyle changes made to help eliminate toxins from your body. A well-known detox diet may include a period of fasting and a diet of fruits, vegetables, juices, and water. A detox diet may also include teas, supplements, and enemas or colon cleanses. According to healthcare professionals, the role of a detox diet is to rest your organs, stimulate your liver function, promote toxin elimination, improve circulation, and provide healthy nutrients. Detox diets are recommended due to possible exposure to harmful compounds like heavy metals and pollutants.
Detox diets are also believed to help improve a variety of health issues, including digestive problems, bloating, inflammation, allergies, autoimmune diseases, obesity, and chronic fatigue. However, there currently aren’t enough research studies on detox diets in humans and those that exist are considered flawed. In the article above, we discussed the role of a detox diet on health and wellness.
Detox diets are made to help eliminate toxins from your body. A detox diet may include fasting, followed by a diet made up of fruits, vegetables, juices, and water. A detox diet may also include teas, supplements, and enemas. The role of a detox diet is to help your organs rest, promote liver function, support toxin elimination, improve circulation, and to offer various healthy nutrients. Detox diets are recommended when a person has been exposed to harmful compounds like heavy metals and pollutants. Detox diets are also believed to help improve digestive problems, bloating, inflammation, allergies, autoimmune diseases, obesity, and chronic fatigue, among a variety of other health issues. However, further research studies are still required. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight
Zesty Beet Juice
Servings: 1 Cook time: 5-10 minutes
� 1 grapefruit, peeled and sliced
� 1 apple, washed and sliced
� 1 whole beet, and leaves if you have them, washed and sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled and chopped
Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.
Just one carrot gives you all of your daily vitamin A intake
Yes, eating just one boiled 80g (2�oz) carrot gives you enough beta carotene for your body to produce 1,480 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A (necessary for skin cell renewal). That’s more than the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in the United States, which is about 900mcg. It’s best to eat carrots cooked, as this softens the cell walls allowing more beta carotene to be absorbed. Adding healthier foods into your diet is a great way to improve your overall health.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�
Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=24.
PODCAST: In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez, chiropractor, and Kenna Vaughn, health coach, introduce Jeremy McGowan and Taylor Lyle, both experts in nutrition and strength training, as they discuss the differences between what is athletic strength training vs what is military strength training. By sharing a wide variety of nutrition and fitness recommendations, Jeremy McGowan and Taylor Lyle bring their knowledge and experience to El Paso, Tx where they offer performance improvements and injury recovery wherever they are needed. Dr. Alex Jimenez, Kenna Vaughn, Jeremy McGowan, and Taylor Lyle share what it is they do in their careers to provide overall health.� – Podcast Insight
[00:00:18] All right, guys, we’re here today. We’re excited. It’s a real special day for me here in El Paso because as you guys know, my job is to advance the science of wellness and fitness and to bring people that we have in El Paso to the forefront and to, you know, kind of show the individuals that are out there and the options we have. A lot of people don’t know. I’ve been out here for 30 years and I’ve seen El Paso kind of develop over the last three decades. And I’ve been nothing but proud to see the young kids and young men that are heading to the fitness programs all around the city, along with the insights that they’re bringing from where they come from people coming from all over the world. We have Olympians. We have specialists. We have top trainers, power trainers, fitness trainers, Crossfit trainers all around the world. These individuals bring a huge amount of talent and they all do the same thing. They get old. And as we get older, they were once the best in the world. And they come back and they share with. If you’re an Olympian and you know what? For the youth. So we bring certain individuals that have sciences and technologies. And some people are in the middle of their flight, in the beginnings and in the new starts of their lives where they actually bring us some great sciences. Today we have Jeremy McGowan and Taylor Lyle. These were two individuals that we brought in last time and we’re gonna hopefully have them come back and share with us their technologies. Jeremy brings a background. He works in the military, really smart guy. All these kids are really smarter than I am. It’s a beginning of time where we can see that the knowledge that the military has brought out has brought really great talent from around the world. [00:02:11][113.8]
[00:02:12] Jeremy is from Panama City, correct? Yes, sir. Yes. And Taylor, where are you from? Dallas. Fort Worth. [00:02:17][5.5]
[00:02:18] Dallas, Fort Worth. And one of the great things that I love about this, this whole story is that they’re here in El Paso and a lot of people don’t know this. And their expertise and knowledge are not only for us to to to benefit from, but they’re benefitting and they’re teaching the people that are here, the military, through their sciences and their techniques and their specialties and their licenses. So we really, really do have a moment in time where now the world is advancing in El Paso. So what I’d like to do is I’d like to say, introduce, you know, Kenna Vaughn. She’s over there on the side so you can see her. She’s there, she’s out. She’s anchoring on the side, making sure that my cameras work well and that I don’t stutter too much. Then we have Taylor Lyle and we have Jeremy. Jeremy McGowan. Correct. Yes. OK. And what we want to talk about a little bit about fitness training and the ideas about specifically about strength training, nutrition and as it pertains to collegiate sports and as well as power training for the military. So these kinds of sciences are very important for people to correlate. Now, do they cross lines? They cross lines for athletes in high school. So these sciences and these techniques are going to be good. But I like to know a little bit about Jeremy today. Jeremy, welcome to the show. And the people are here watching and they’re interested in understanding what it is that you do. So tell us a little bit about what you do and what you’ve done and where you came from. And we’ll leave it from there. Go ahead. [00:03:42][84.7]
[00:03:43] So, like you said, first, I’m from close to Panama City, Florida, a little tiny, small town. I went to Troy University on a baseball scholarship. It’s a D1 University in Alabama, close to Montgomery. So southeast Alabama, played there for five years. Soon as I got done playing slid right into coaching, I coached there for a little bit over three years. I ran baseball and softball, mostly assisted with other sports, the football, volleyball, soccer. A lot of others. Got offered a job out here to slot into the military side of things to coach. Getting really turn it down. Really, really enjoy what I’m doing here, running the physical training programs or the PT programs for a battalion at Fort Bliss. So I’ve worked with two separate battalions. We run the PT program, reconditioning program and then we work hand-in-hand. Kind of help write their PT programs so that when we’re not with them, they have a better idea of what to do. [00:04:36][53.1]
[00:04:37] I got a question for you. And you said that you’re an athlete going back to that. What position did you play? I pitched. You pitched. Oh, so you’re the dude. You’re the man. [00:04:44][7.0]
[00:04:45] You know, I was a closer started a little bit, but mostly closed. I really just tried to throw as hard as I could. That’s about it. Were you good? I like to think so. But you know some people might tell you differently. [00:04:57][11.8]
[00:04:58] Well, don’t be modest. Don’t be modest. You gotta say that you’re good at what you do. You know where I came from when I was a little boy. We got to see this out here in Mexico. We got this guy named Fernando Valenzuela. Well, remember that guy. Yeah. [00:05:11][13.4]
[00:05:11] Man was he was a Dodgers. Oh, man. I remember this big chunky looking dude that just could rip the ball. Definitely it didn’t look like he was a pitcher. But really, you know. But here’s the thing. Here’s the thing that I know now that I didn’t know then that people who got strong cores can really, really propel their force. Right. And this dude had a thick core, he busted up some gloves. Oh, hey. So let me ask you, what did the military see in you that they wanted to provide for this local community? [00:05:44][32.8]
[00:05:45] So the way that it kind of worked this whole program started as a very small pilot. There were five strength conditioning coaches and that was the first people on the ground. So that was it. And then it expanded. Now there are 60 coaches across a few bases in the U.S. So basically they needed qualified coaches that had an experience. So they wanted guys that had been a strength coach, you know, three-plus years, whatever, to lead the way. The assistants could have a little bit less experience but had to be certified, had to have a little bit of experience in the field so that they could get some, you know, guys in the run PT programs that were used to running large groups. So they wanted guys mainly from the collegiate side because we’re a little more used to running large groups, the private sector as well, depending on where they were at. Obviously, if they’re, you know, only working there for a very small amount of time, it might not be as much, but… They really wanted to focus on, you know, the qualifications, so having that Master’s degree and having that call and having that certification was the main thing. [00:06:44][59.0]
[00:06:45] I’ll tell you what, I saw you’re, clearly that you’re a really, really smart that both of you guys have resumes that are just amazing. And I got to tell you, the talent that the military brings this town is amazing. So don’t feel shy. Go ahead and tell people you got the big ‘ol Masters because that’s huge because you’re only one step away from a Ph.D. Let me ask you this because that’s very curious. The military has different departments, different battalions. What is it? [00:07:07][22.2]
[00:07:07] How many people in the battalion, the one that we were in originally there was around 410, 450. This one’s larger. So there are five companies. Each company is comprised of around 100 people. So there’s upwards of 550 in the battalion right now that we work with. [00:07:22][14.3]
[00:07:22] I’ll tell you what, we’re used to running a little bit of a Crossfit center. We’re actually coming from the Push Fitness Center. And 20, 30 kids at one time is a lot. How can you manage the largeness or the immensity of those groups together? [00:07:34][12.2]
[00:07:35] We kind of set up circuit style training for the most part. So we try to run stations with them. Luckily, I do have another strength coach, it’s not just me. So that helps a lot. We split the group up into two. Normally we’ll run a lifting type station and then a running type station and one of us will run each and we get about the halfway point. We’ll switch. So he’ll come over if I’m running the training. The strength training station to begin with. We’ll just flip flop. So he’ll bring his group over the straight training. I’ll take my group of the running and we’ll do that for the last half. So we usually have around outside tops around 80 people in a group. It would be the most that we would have and we would have 40 and 40 apiece. [00:08:09][34.0]
[00:08:10] Jeremy so you can pretty much see all these guys in different, I guess, techniques whether this is a running area. This is a strength area. You can see them all line sight kind of in the distance. [00:08:19][8.8]
[00:08:19] Yeah. That’s the goal. So with the strength training sessions, we set up kind of a semicircle on those stations so that I can just walk around the semicircle and then be able to see everyone. [00:08:29][9.6]
[00:08:30] And then as far as the running goes, it’s normally we do more anaerobic style training, some more sprint type work so that we can be right there telling them, you know, running the rest times, telling them, you know what, Tom, we’re trying to be on the run, whatever might be so that we can actually manage it a little more. [00:08:44][13.8]
[00:08:44] Wow. Taylor, we’re gonna get with you in a second there, so go ahead and drink some water. We’re going to get to you in a minute. But I got to ask a question for you. When you look at as a strength coach, do you have a deep-seated philosophy and the way things are done? And I assume and I don’t know, it seems like you’re beginning’s were with baseball. Correct. How do you apply that? That science and the level of mechanical sciences to the different kinds of levels and different types of specialties in the military. Let’s say you got some. Right, you know. I don’t know what kind of things they do. Let’s say the mechanics versus the heavy-duty artillery gunners. How do you change that up for them? [00:09:20][35.9]
[00:09:21] So one thing that’s really, really changed over for me with baseball to this is obviously with baseball I worked, with a lot of overhead throwing athletes. So a lot of shoulder problems, a lot of shoulder stability, things like that, that I was really trying to work with something that I’ve noticed in this military sector because of the way they’ve trained for so long. There they have a lot of shoulder injuries. There’s a lot of shoulder problems, a lot of instabilities as far as their, you know, way overcompensating. Their shoulders are starting to round from doing push-ups for so many years and not getting the proper training along with that. So having that expertise on that side of things, it’s helped me a lot as far as training, you know, different types of people. So I work in a BSB right now, so I haven’t really worked a whole lot with infantry, BSB Brigade Support Battalion. [00:10:06][45.2]
[00:10:06] Okay, got you. [00:10:07][0.4]
[00:10:07] We have a lot of mechanics, medics, communications people. It’s not a whole lot of high-speed guys. So we’re not really working with a lot of infantry type people. [00:10:17][9.7]
[00:10:17] We’re not working with a lot of guys that are really, really out there and really, really active. So a lot of the times, the people that we work with, the main things that we’re working on is landing mechanics, proper lifting technique, because we do have guys that have to lift some heavier stuff with transport and stuff like that. And in landing mechanics, guys jump out at trucks all the time. They’re in big, tall trucks, whatever might be. So those two things are something that we really try to work on so that in their day to day jobs, they don’t get hurt. [00:10:46][28.6]
[00:10:46] You know, when you say landing mechanics, whether it’s volleyball or anything, you know, that’s got to be the almost second nature. Oh, yeah. You know, I’ve seen that in the last couple of the last decade or two. I see the philosophy changing in the military, specifically in their ideas and their fitness goals. Recently, they’ve done some changes in their new programs where they actually if you don’t pass these certain things, you don’t even get the vacation time or even have even time to or migrate up in the ranks. But based on this performance, I’ve heard a lot about this ruck thing. What is this ruck thing? Yeah. Yeah, I heard. How much weight is it? Because they don’t care if you’re a 180-pound person or a ninety-five-pound lady, they’re still going to carry the same weight. [00:11:27][40.8]
[00:11:27] So there are different size rucksacks. It can be depending on really what your unit wants for that day or what type of thing you’re doing. So. Sure, you might have heard of the Baton Death March that happens here once a year. Yes, it did. So there are two separate standards for that. There’s a military light and the military heavy on the rucksacks are different. I don’t remember the exact way, but I want to say it’s 40 and 80 pounds. OK. If I remember right. Could be wrong on that. But it’s somewhere around that. And so that’s the light standard and the heavy standard as far as what they do in a normal setting for a rucksack. They kind of set it up for themselves. So basically, if a unit’s going on a ruck, they might tell you, hey, load it with as much as you want. Here’s how long we’re going, be able to do that in this fast. So they get to kind of pick their rucksack weight, depending on what they can handle. [00:12:13][45.6]
[00:12:13] Is it 40 through 80 or 40 and 80? [00:12:15][1.8]
[00:12:16] So in the baton it’s 40 and 80. But if they set it up themselves, they could do 40 through 80 as just depending on what they want to run with. [00:12:23][6.6]
[00:12:23] Yeah. You know, what do you look for in terms of an individual in order for them to say, oh, this dude’s going to just kind of wreck his back or he’s going to mess his shoulders up? What do you how do you tweak it so that you can kind of help them not get injured? [00:12:35][12.3]
[00:12:36] It’s, so posture’s a big part of it. Again, a lot of guys have rounded shoulders, so that translates over into the ruck as well. Well, they’ve got a heavy rucksack on their back. They start to hunch over round their back, their shoulders are already rounded. So you’re putting a lot of stress on the back, which I know you’re kind of the guy for that. [00:12:54][18.0]
[00:12:55] Oh, my God. I live with that every day, you know. Oh, you mean how we treat them? [00:13:05][10.2]
[00:13:05] You know what that can do to a back. And, you know, so there’s an issue that we try to fix. We do a lot of pulling, a lot of rows, a lot of rear delt work to try to get those shoulders back right. And stop the hunching. Stop the rolled shoulders. So that’s one thing that we try to do. And then again, as far as the lower body goes, proper gait is something that we try to work on, on the PTs work on that a little bit more than we do. But proper running mechanics, proper gait can obviously help with a lot of hip ankle knee issues. That a lot of guys have when they’re out there because they’re on uneven terrain. A lot of times rucking. They’re wearing their boots. You know, they’re not necessarily in the best running gear. So we try to do as much as we can to combat the problems that that can cause. [00:13:49][43.5]
[00:13:49] I find this to be so amazing that the both of you guys are here. Taylor, I know that you guys work together and I know we were introduced with you and the vast amount of expertise that you have and shared with us last time. But how do you guys interact? How does the diet world and the physical training world work together with Jeremy’s dynamics? [00:14:09][20.3]
[00:14:11] Yes. So we work hand in hand. I mean, you really can’t train without nutrition. So I’m out there a lot of times at the P.T. sessions, whether I’m trying to participate myself or just help the soldiers. So, you know, just making sure that they eat something in the morning, that’s a big issue that we see, is that they don’t have enough energy. And they wonder why they can’t finish their workout sometimes. So, you know, that is something that we both preach and then making sure that they eat something afterward, whether it’s going straight to breakfast or they’re getting some type of post-workout recovery modality. So we work with that. And then, you know, I do quite a bit of one on one counseling. And so a lot of times when I’m meeting with a variety of soldiers, you know, strength and conditioning come up in my conversation and we do a referral system. So I’ll refer them to Jeremy and, you know, follow up with him. And then, you know, a lot of times they’ll meet with them individually, give them a training program. And so we’re constantly urging communication with the best practices and, you know, how do we work towards the common goal. [00:15:25][74.0]
[00:15:26] So, you know, Jeremy, in terms of when you look at someone and you see them, they’re just they need help. You know, this kid is. He means well. But you can see him falling apart because you get that instinct like this kid’s going to blow out at something. He’s just not there. He looks ashy. He’s not eating well. How do you bring in Taylor in this dynamics, in that situation? [00:15:47][20.4]
[00:15:48] So a lot of the times I can really see it closer to the end of a workout as she said. Their energy levels are just low. You know, they can’t even, during the break period, they’re sitting down, they’re lying down. They’re trying to drink something and they can hardly drink as their stomach’s upset, you know. So I can tell pretty quickly if somebody has not eaten or is struggling with the nutrition side of things. And if that’s the case, then I’ll tell them, hey, you know, we’ve got a dietitian. We’ve got somebody that can help you. I can help a little bit in terms of telling you you need to eat something before you come out here. But she can help you, you know, in a better way than I can. [00:16:22][34.2]
[00:16:23] You guys coordinate a little bit. Kind of like this one is going to be a rough one. OK. We need to know where they’re going. They’re gonna be on the floor today. [00:16:29][6.4]
[00:16:30] There are some times that, you know, we can tell, you know, I can tell when I set up the circuit, like, okay. These guys are gonna get broke off a little bit, you know, and especially the ones that I’ve looked at and I know that she’s talked to, I’d make sure with them before those days. Hey, did you eat anything? And if not, then, you know, I’ll try to help out as much as I can, like, take breaks, you know, make sure you eat something next time, though, because this is how the sessions are going to continue to be for right now. [00:16:58][28.1]
[00:16:58] Guys, can you feel what I’m seeing, guys? And I’ve got to tell you when I started here in 1991, literally the military treated from my vantage point, again, I’m civilian and I don’t have to follow the rules, but like, they are set up there. But I could sense that the world was like Full Metal Jacket. It was really intense. It was a really harsh environment. And as you can tell, these two individuals are the forefront of the military to this day. So one of the things is I have to ask you both one question. Do you guys care about your guys? Oh, yeah, yeah, yes. You know what I got to tell you? You know what? I see this from the captains. Now, the world in the military is totally pro. There are people in a way that I have never seen go back two decades ago, three decades to 1991. I could not even get my hands on a military patient. They just would not let anyone outside the military take care of the people today. You guys are. Are you in the military? Both of you. No. No. [00:17:55][56.2]
[00:17:55] Contractors. See they’re bringing in the outside world. They’re also letting the inside go out. It’s awesome to see that because from my point of view, the caring that’s involved had to move from the top down and to have you guys from around the world, there’s got to be some amazing crew of people recruiting you guys. And I got to tell you, it makes me very proud because from the senators, you know, that actually made the Fort Bliss to become as big as it is now. And as it’s moved up, you see a lot of kind, caring sergeants, colonels, commanders that really care about their people. [00:18:33][38.1]
[00:18:34] And I got to tell you, it makes me feel really cool for an individual out there because I’ve got a kid who is your age. Right. So, you know, you guys got, you know, your guys taking care of him. So it’s a great thing. [00:18:43][9.8]
[00:18:44] Let me ask you, in terms of focusing on the dynamics of, let’s say over the shoulder, you had mentioned that shoulder thing going into that particular area is now for my vantage point, I’m a real lover of the shoulder girdle and the way the word and how it works together when you put something on the shoulder back in the day, there was one thing that really destroyed everyone’s shoulder. People didn’t realize this was this military. It was like a football jacket that had weights on it and they’d load it up in the front in the back, and you could put on, you know, some weights on it. These people had shoulder problems because of the pressure of the on the chromium, on the clavicle. And this happened. How is it that you kind of prevent a shoulder injury in terms of what you’ve seen when they wear things that are compressing them like a rucksack? [00:19:32][48.3]
[00:19:33] So part of that is the way they wear their rucksack. Our PTs do a really good job of demonstrating to them the proper technique of how to wear a rucksack, how to tie it down the right way so that it’s not putting a lot of pressure on their shoulders. That’s not something that necessarily I do, but that’s one way of combating it. As far as my role in it, I’m really just trying to strengthen the whole shoulder girdle and that whole area of the upper back, upper traps, whatever it might be done to try to take some load off so that they have a little bit of a shelf or something to sit it on. So we do a lot of like I said, we’re dealt work. We do a lot of rotator cuff work and a lot of trap work as well, so that they do get a little bit of that shelf. [00:20:15][41.7]
[00:20:15] All right. Well, that gives me a good understanding. I want to know the difference between an NCAA Division One athlete and the military athlete. How do you go about training and start like what are the similarities? And we’re going to try to look at the differences to contrast that specifically in that science. Go ahead and tell me a little bit about what you do for with your philosophies. [00:20:37][21.8]
[00:20:38] So similarities wise I would say the main things is their want to. A lot of times the military guys, the ones that are a little more high speed, they really want to get after it on PT. Right. So they’re one harder sessions. They want to sweat. They want to feel like they got something done. The NCAA guys are the same way. You know, they don’t want to come in and do one exercise and be done. They want to lift heavy. They want to get big. They want to get strong. And it’s the same way here. The only issue is here the training age is so much lower as compared to an NCAA Division One athlete. So when I would get a guy at college, you know, 18 years old. But he came straight out of high school. That was a 6A, 7A, 5A high school, you know, some bigger school played football for four years. He’s been working out since he was in eighth grade. These guys come here and, you know, I’ve got a lot of people that are 30 years old that didn’t play sports in high school, that have been in the military since they were 18. And they’ve been training wrong for 12 years since they got in the military. So their true training age is really nothing. [00:21:43][64.8]
[00:21:44] You know, they don’t really have good movement pattern. They don’t have an idea of really how to lift. They don’t have an idea of, you know, the right way to warm up, the right way to cool down anything like that. So it’s a lot more teaching here as compared to I could really get up and running at a Division One school like I was in about three or four weeks. I was up and running, had guys going full speed almost. So and here it’s a lot of teaching. [00:22:08][23.6]
[00:22:08] Jeremy, do you work with the reserves also? I do not. So we’re just with the active duty. Active duty. [00:22:14][5.6]
[00:22:15] So you mentioned 30 years old. OK. How does that work? And what’s your approach for a 30-year-old versus an 18-year-old? That’s got to do the same procedure. [00:22:22][7.6]
[00:22:23] The 18-year-olds are a little bit easier to teach. Their movement patterns are a little bit easier to pick up on because they haven’t been doing it wrong for so many years. Right. So if an 18-year-old and this is true across any population, whether it’s military or whatever, these guys, it kind of sticks a little faster. Right. So you teach them something two or three times they might have it, whereas this 30, 35-year-old guy that’s been doing this movement, but he’s been doing it wrong for 12 years. You know, when you try to teach him the correct way to do it, it might take eight, 10, 12, 15 sessions for him to finally get it down. And the issue with that is because of how many people are in the battalion, we might only get one or two sessions with him a week. So it might take four months for him to finally get this movement pattern down. And that slows down a lot of people in the process. [00:23:08][44.9]
[00:23:09] Do you separate them to kind of keep them on a different sack of or direction? [00:23:12][3.3]
[00:23:13] So we try to the issue with that is there. You know, if you’ve got one guy in Bravo Company and one guy, an Alpha company that is in the same boat, they don’t really do PT together. So it’s hard to separate within the same company, those people, because you might get that company once or twice a week. So if I’m really trying to separate the guys that are picking up on the guys that aren’t the groups, you’re going to be one of the really small. Or they’re just going to stop coming because they’re not getting enough out of it. [00:23:38][24.8]
[00:23:38] Taylor, in answering that same question, when you see those young kids that and versus the older or how do you approach the diet changes as well as just the approach of nutrition for them going through the same process in terms of the program? [00:23:55][16.3]
[00:23:56] Yes. Just what Jeremy said, you know, the 18-year-old scenario, they typically you know, they want to get better. They want to do what it takes to make it to the next level, which would be professional. And so I feel like they strive to want to get better. They’re a little bit more intuitive to that and receptive. And the, you know, 30-year-old, it’s not that they aren’t receptive. But, you know, a lot of them will have a family, whether that’s a spouse and children. And, you know, you have to take, you know, other factors that may be out of their control to have this success. So really, just in both scenarios, education component, there is so much room to grow, you know, unless someone maybe you went through like Ranger school a little bit more elite on the tactical side, you know, they might be a little bit more attuned to the nutrition and already know what to do around training and recovery. So they might not need as much education and guidance. But definitely there’s a lot of room to grow and both collegiate and military setting for nutrition. [00:25:09][73.5]
[00:25:10] All right. We’re gonna throw it to another gear here. Now, we’re dealing with in my thought process, as you take these young men to the next level, you’re going to deal with some elite guys. And that’s where a lot of my, you know, kids here, the Division one athletes, they correlate. And I got to tell you, from what I’ve seen, because I treat quite a few of the strange cats that go off to the journeys and they go into their, you know, the jungles, these are different kinds of characters. They have different mindsets. And there are at the highest level. Some of these guys are literally in their early, late 30s. And they’re just like that, you can see. In their eyes, they’re just ready to go climb trees, get in the jungle. [00:25:47][36.6]
[00:25:48] These individuals, these elite, these tactical guys, these ones that are that have percolated up to the highest level. How do you work with those individuals and what do you do in terms of trying to maintain them at their sharpest level? [00:26:01][13.5]
[00:26:03] So those guys are a little bit more obviously, like you said, they’re high speed. So they are more like working with a Division One athlete. Honestly, there’s been strength conditioning coaches in the special ops side of things for years and years. There are a lot more in tune with that side of things, with knowing the proper technique. Knowing how things are really supposed to work and knowing how they’re supposed to feel. So, you know, if they have a problem, they’re a lot more likely to either know if it’s actually pain or an actual injury. They can actually handle the two of them whereas guys that are not used to working out to them, you know, having pain and being sore the day after a workout, they’re hurt. You know, these guys are a little more in tune with their body and they’re a lot more likely to be able to push themselves through your workouts so you can go a lot heavier with them. You can do more of a, you know, true tier-based or strength-based or whatever it might be program that you want to do to get them better and better. [00:27:05][61.7]
[00:27:05] You know, when I was going to college, there were these programs that came out, strength training programs, where you could actually calculate how strong an individual was if they followed this tier, you know, go through these many deadlifts, do it this way, do it these reps. And over time, you were gonna go, you know, in a linear progression upwards. It was amazing that you could actually do it that way. Do you feel that if you push these athletes, you watch them improve, especially the top tier one that you can actually push them to, you know, an amazing level of accomplishment with tough training? [00:27:41][36.0]
[00:27:42] …�[00:32:55][48.8]
[00:32:56] Jeremy, how do you look at that stuff? And do you are you privy to that information and do you apply it to the flight that you’re doing? [00:33:02][6.0]
[00:33:02] So I don’t really get the actual numbers. Taylor is the one that gets those numbers and she would just share with me, hey, you know, this guy might need a little extra help. You know, as far as losing some weight goes, this guy is in the standards. He wants to gain a little bit of weight and he can, you know, that kind of thing, whatever it might be. So I don’t get the actual numbers, but I do get some information from her that I can help the guys with. [00:33:23][20.1]
[00:33:23] You know, one of the things that we realize in health care is the unification of data as well as integration of other sciences. You two guys met at a… Obviously, I’d like to know a little bit about how you guys introduce yourselves and how did you guys interact and how did you. Because, Taylor, you kind of talk to me about Jeremy. And I got to tell you, Jeremy seems to be an amazing guy. That’s got a lot of knowledge. And we and I really appreciate that. But how did you guys get to interact together? How did that process go in terms of for the purpose of the military? [00:33:56][33.1]
[00:33:58] Yes, so, yes, Jeremy is an excellent strength coach and it’s been a pleasure working with him. We actually work for two different contract companies, so we just were put together by chance, to be honest. And I mean, we just really clicked since day one, our personalities match really well. So that’s really where it began. And Jeremy has been here for almost two years and I’ve been here for almost a year. So he’s been here a lot longer than me. But so we met when I started. [00:34:28][29.3]
[00:34:28] Gotcha. In terms of your overall goals for the military and the dynamics for the athletes, let’s go back into the world of a little bit of the athletic division one. And now let’s also consider the fact that the sciences you have can also be applied to even the general public and even to kids at that level. And I know a lot of my patients have parents out there that want their kids to benefit from the best ideas and philosophies. And one of the things is that you realize that it’s not so much about knowledge. It’s about philosophy. It’s about your point of view. It’s the way you stand in what you think about how can we take what the military does in its sciences and its progression sciences to get these athletes and these individuals ready for battle. To our kids, how can we apply that if you can kind of reach into I don’t know if you’ve got kids, but if you do deal with kids, how would you apply those sciences to even the young, young high school, younger people population? [00:35:32][63.3]
[00:35:33] So I actually one of my papers or whatever for my masters was about strength training in kids because it was something that really, really interested me, because all my life I heard kids shouldn’t lift weights. Kids shouldn’t do this. It stunts their growth. It does. You know, it’s bad for them, whatever. [00:35:49][15.8]
[00:35:50] And honestly, everything that you read research-wise says otherwise. That’s just been a myth that’s been out there for so long that people started to believe it. So for me, as far as translating my side over to the general population. Younger kids all the way up to high school, it honestly starts with GPP, which is just general physical preparedness. So being able to handle their body weight, being able to learn movement patterns. So obviously push-ups, pull-ups, things like that for body weight, but then movement patterned on the squat, the landing mechanics like we talked about, things like that, and then just the general agility and movement stuff. So playing tag, doing things that are actually active outdoors. [00:36:29][38.9]
[00:37:12] So, you know, have him, you know, just practice squatting and making sure the knees are pointing out over the toes. He’s not getting valgus knee is not caving and he’s not you know, when he’s walking his gait pattern is good. When he’s running his gait pattern is good when he’s planting his foot. You know, stop and go playing tag with his friends. He’s, you know, actually planting sinking into that hip and driving off. You know, there’s little tiny things that you can look at that can help with those movement patterns as they get older and hopefully combat the chances of injuries as they get older. And then once as they get older and those movement patterns are more ingrained, then you can start adding some weight to stuff you can start doing. You know, even just goblet squats is where I would start. So a kettlebell or dumbbell holding a single thing. So you’re not actually loading the spine things like that and floor press and med ball throws and different things like that where you’re adding weight once those get learned more ingrained than you just are getting into the bigger lift. You know, you get to the big three, the squat bench deadlift, the Olympic lifting type stuff, whatever it is, Taylor, he is good. [00:38:12][59.6]
[00:38:13] ... [00:42:17][48.6]
[00:42:18] Taylor, you know you’re talking, right? I mean, this is amazing stuff in terms of its dynamics and specifically for recovery. How do you guys play into kids or young men that are injured in the nutrition component? How do you help them? How do you support the dynamics of the nutrition component? I know we talked about a little bit, but can you go back into it and talk about the things that you look at at the micronutrient level, as well as the macronutrient level to get these guys to be able to sustain the loads that they’re going to be under and provide them their best option? [00:42:53][34.6]
[00:42:54] Yes. So it goes back to recovery, nutrition, and the nutrient timing and making sure I mean, you’re breaking down your muscles when you’re working out and you’re trying to build them back up, grow. And so, you know, what’s going to do that is protein and carbohydrates. So making sure you have a three to one ratio of carbohydrates to protein. You know, that’s going to help them replenish their stores, their energy stores and also build muscle. And then from an injury standpoint, it’s just again, you know, making sure that depending on the injury will depend on the prescription for nutrition. But overall, you want to make sure that they have enough energy needs first and foremost, and they’re going to be less active typically. So, you know, you might not need as high of calorie needs that they would when they would be training. And the same with carbohydrates. It is your primary energy source, but you’re not going to be training as hard. So typically that is going to be lower. Now, your protein needs are going to be almost twice as high as they normally would be to really make sure that you’re, you know, getting the growth and nutrients you need for the protein and for the muscles to just recover from the injury, and then fat also plays a huge role as well. So and then micronutrients, you’re going to look at your B vitamins, zinc, vitamin C, vitamin A. You know, magnesium, those are all going to help in the wound healing injury recovery aspect as well. And then also immune support, which is really important. [00:44:36][101.9]
[00:44:37] Jeremy, thank you. Jeremy, they’re leaving now the day, they’re all exhausted. They’re all whooped on. Right. What are the words of advice that you give them about what they’re gonna eat tonight? You know, and let’s say you got an individual that’s just they just look bad. And what do you tell them? How do you tell them to rehab? Recover? I guess is a good word. [00:44:55][18.4]
[00:44:56] So for me, I’d try to preach high carb, high protein once after. So obviously, like she said, protein plays a big part in the recovery side of things. And they just depleted a lot of their carb sources during the workout. So that’s really what I try to preach, our sessions are in the morning. So a lot of times they’ve barely eaten anything as we’ve mentioned before. And if they have, it’s a lot of times not enough. So I try to preach. Get some carb sources, get some protein, get some eggs, get an omelet. They make you omelets in there. I know they do because I’ve been in there, eat one, you know, get something that can actually help you recover from this workout. [00:45:35][38.3]
[00:45:35] You mentioned, you know, they would sometimes show up without eating properly. You know, that’s a problem with a lot of the athletes. So they’re, you know, especially younger ones. They want to look good for some of the ones so they can volleyball. But some wrestlers, they got to, you know, have the basics, too. And for different types of athletes, different things for the population that you’re dealing with in order to get them better. What is the baseline good level of carbohydrates and what type of drinks or what kind of foods do you offer or recommend them at least get in that much so that they don’t end up totally running and being depleted by the end of the program. [00:46:12][36.3]
[00:46:13] So they’ll need 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate, 30 minutes to an hour right before working now. And like Jeremy said, a lot of times, the workout is at six-thirty in the morning. So you’re not going to have the ideal scenario where people are eating three hours meal before they, you know, train. So. [00:46:30][17.7]
[00:46:31] So when you just wait. I’m sorry. When you said that 30 to 60 grams. So. So thirty-one twenty to 240 calories. Just a start up the engine. Right. Is that right? Is that a good fare. [00:46:40][9.0]
[00:46:41] Yeah. So that is fair. So what that looks like is 30 grams could be a banana or it could be a couple of slices of toast. You typically want something that is going to digest very well. So that’s going to be low in protein, low in fat and low in fiber. So that is going to be a carbohydrate source. You’re going to want to isolate that carbohydrate to avoid any digestion issues. So, you know, for people that can’t handle solid foods as well, I always recommend liquids. It’s already converted. So something as simple as a 20 ounce Gatorade. You know, if they can take something a little in between solid and liquid applesauce pouch, you know, there are so many varieties at the grocery store now for kids or adults. And, you know, just taking one of those apple sauces will also help meet that need. [00:47:33][51.8]
[00:47:33] You know, as you start your training program in the morning, what kind of things do you do? How do you ramp up the training program? Jeremy, I’d like to know a little bit about that, like take me through a day in your world. [00:47:45][11.7]
[00:47:46] So with ramping it up goes. As I said, we might get guys once or twice a week. So it’s a very, very slow process. It’s also dependent upon their battle rhythm. So, you know, we might get guys say twice a week. So we do have to get a group twice a week, which is what we were that whole battalion. We get every company twice a week. We might get them for six weeks and then they’re gone for three weeks doing a field training exercise and they completely detrain. Right. They’re doing nothing but sitting there for a lot of the time and, you know, practice in military type stuff, they’re not getting any physical training in. It’s not mandatory out there. It’s not necessary. And nobody does it and they can’t really shower. So nobody really wants to get sweaty and stuff. Right. So those three weeks when they come back, we kind of have to reset. There’s not really that much of a ramp-up. It’s a lot of general physical preparedness stuff. We do a lot of bodyweight stuff. And then a lot of the big three, we try to progress those as much as we can. So like right now, because we just kind of restarted with this battalion, with the whole COVID thing going on. We’re doing a lot of goblet squats. We’re doing trap bar. Deadlifts are extremely important. That’s going to be in their new PT test. [00:48:58][71.9]
[00:48:59] What was that? Trap bar deadlift. A different name for it, but we do that. And then right now, we’re doing floor press and we’re planning to progress the goblet squad into a front squat, front squat to back squat. Right. So that’ll be the progression there. The floor press will progress into the bench press. [00:49:16][17.6]
[00:49:17] Are those the three that you’re talking about? The three? [00:49:18][1.3]
[00:49:19] Yeah. So those are kind of the big three is your deadlift, your squat, and your bench. And so that’s your main three strength lift, right. That’s what everybody wants to be good at. So that’s the three that we kind of focus on. But we’ll set up circuits around that. So if we’re doing so, you have floor press, right? We’ll try to do some kind of a pull with that, whether it’s rear delt or an actual row. So it might be a kettlebell row, dumbbell row. Some like that. And then we’ll do a lower body exercise with that. So we try to go full body every workout session. So we’re getting upper, lower-end core. We try to do the main lift is for strength. So if it’s floor press, squats, or deadlifts, it’s more of your strength-based stuff. So it’s more that max effort. So it might be sets of four sets of five. Some like that with a heavier weight. We try to work up to a heavy load. Then everything else is more hypertrophy based. So it’s more work capacity. We’re trying to do, you know, a little bit of a lighter weight, but it’s still going to be heavy not to where it makes them work for those eight to 12 to 15 reps, whatever we might do. [00:50:21][61.6]
[00:50:21] Do you mix it? Like, do you have some hypertrophy versus agility and versus body mechanics stuff or do you have like certain days. Today’s Body Mechanic Day today is power today. This today is Hypertrophy Day. [00:50:30][9.3]
[00:50:31] So right now, because we don’t really know what group we’re going to get every day with stuff going on so they’re, kind of work in shifts. They’re not there every day. So we might have one group one day. It might be the same exact people, you know, for a full week. It might be. They come every other day. So the plan right now basically is we go up there, we set up three lifts. Monday was a Friday or lift days, Tuesday a more run day, though. And like I said, the running is more anaerobic stuff. So sprint stuff. But on those sprint days, we do more. We do lift more. But it’s more bodyweight work capacity stuff. So we’ll do a lot of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges. But it’s all bodyweight type stuff and that’ll be all in a circuit with some running involved. And then on the lift days, it’s, you know, like I said, that one lift strength. Everything else is more hypertrophy/work capacity. So it’s all high reps and. [00:51:24][53.2]
[00:51:26] It’s kind of tough to get a lot of hypertrophy type stuff in because of the box that we’re working out of. So we have a gym that’s inside a box. You had to pull all the weight out. There’s not really enough weight to load up a lot of stuff if we want to do a lot of squats. We need weights for that. Right. So we need weights. But on the barbell, well, there’s only eight forty-fives. Eight thirty-five, eight twenty-five, and eight tenths. So if I have four stations of squats like that up, I’d need almost all of that weight to be able to handle that. So I can’t use that weight on anything else, whether it’s the sleds, the trap bars, whatever it might be. So I have to come up with stuff with bands and kettlebells is really I see an invention there. [00:52:02][36.8]
[00:52:03] I think there’s an invention in there and what I’m hearing is, is that your gym doesn’t go out to the outside that easy. So is that what I’m getting? Like you want to be able to have a piece of equipment, has all your stuff on it, so you just drag it off that thing. [00:52:14][11.5]
[00:52:14] … [00:56:58][62.0]
[00:56:59] I really believe that what he just said was a huge component? Now he has spent his whole life understanding body dynamics. And he ended up understanding and now the military gets it in a different level. The translation of force comes from the core. It is huge. When you hear med ball slams, that is a body that’s going to its fullest out and slamming at a full range of motion. When you’re seeing hip flexes, you’re pulling that hip to the furthest, deepest dungeon of movement, to the furthest extreme on the outside. So to be able to do that, to be able to translate, weight and slowed and sled movements, you’re gonna need a powerful core. The dynamics of it are the ability to move it through time and space at a certain rate of speed. How long you do it, you can do it a little bit, that’s strength. But power means you can translate it over twenty-five feet or so and hit back and forth. So we’re really pushing the body to a level that is amazing. I have sat down with certain patients of mine and they find that that theory. And I found it to be very interesting that deep tuck, the knee tuck, and the deep flexion movements. Where did that philosophy come from and you have as a physiologist and the nutrition strength coach? How did that come in? Where did that come from that they realized that those particular movements, the slam ball, as well as the deep tuck, became a crucial component in the military action? [00:58:26][86.2]
[00:58:27] So I know the people are well, Major Matthews’, that actually used to run H two F, she’s transferred over to a different side of the military now, but she used to work at the Olympic training facility in Colorado. And I know she helped develop the test. So I would guess I don’t know for sure, but I would guess she played a big role in that. Yeah, because she, you know, does know a lot more about that side of things. I know she helped create, you know, with the power throw and stuff. [00:58:57][29.5]
[00:58:57] What’s her name, shout out again? Major Matthews. Major Matthews. OK. [00:58:59][2.7]
[00:59:00] So you know we met her, she came down I think it was a little bit before Taylor got here so she came down to talk to us and explained about the test and why they were doing it and whatever. And she played a big part in developing a test because of her background. [00:59:18][18.4]
[00:59:19] Have you guys gone to Colorado Springs before to take a look at the Olympic Center? I have not. I have not either. You know what? I got to go there. But there, you know, I got to watch from the outside inward. And you got to I got to tell you that you can see top athletes from around the world. I mean, from powerlifters. But you can see that they’re not very big in the sense of muscular build. But you can see that every athlete had a trainer with them and usually it’s a physical therapist that was right with them. And they were talking mechanics and movements. And these athletes and all the sports that they have, you see this amazing. It’s almost like watching something out of an amazing superpower show where you see these athletes running from all different directions…
And these are the top athletes in the world training centers from swimmers to high bolt whatever the sport is, I can imagine, but you can see them training in the center and they really focus on the range of motion. And you can see the physical therapist showing the motion. And actually the intensity of the movement is really, really important. So that science of Deep Tuck and translation of force is huge now. And it’s amazing that now to be able to do that is at the forefront of the military’s progression. Let me ask you this. Now that you know and you’re in your science and understanding is about the youth. How do you correlate that and take me into the progression of how to get kids, let’s say, a high school kid into doing that particular component of translation of forces so that we can make them great at being a lineman or just torquing the heck out of someone in wrestling. You know, kind of that deal. [00:00:54][54.1]
…
You know, I’ve got to tell you, you know, I could sit here and talk for over an hour. This is it. We’ve been over at least 60 minutes here. People are gonna look at me and YouTube is going to shut me out. But I’ve got to tell you, this has been literally an exciting moment because, between the both of you, I feel like I’m in a show of Jumanji of knowledge. You know, it’s like I just opened up a Pandora and you guys are full of knowledge. That is great. Again, I got to tell you, El Paso has these individuals. And if you, again, I don’t yield, the information will be on there for them if you want to communicate with them. I’ve got to tell you, we have them. We have such great talents, such smart individuals out there. Birds of a feather flock together. So for both of you, I can see how you guys migrated into appreciating the levels of vast knowledge and in the direction that you have for both of you. I honestly see you guys being Ph.D.s and whatever you guys do. So it’s only one step away from being Ph.D.s I will say that strength coaches are different kinds of characters, huh? They’re just different, man. They just there’s no joke. There’s serious. This is life-threatening. And when you’re under that bar, they want to take care of you. So they’re the most compassionate people. And they’re the most serious of all people. And as you said in the gym, basically everyone seeks out, both of you guys, for the greater order. That is what you guys do. You guys have great knowledge. And I’ve been a big proponent of great order rules. So you guys have been pulled in through whatever the sources are to bring you to create great order for these young kids and young men so that they can perform the best that they can in the world that they have to go into. So I got to tell you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. I know that this information was something that correlates to children. I could open up each one of those conversations and open it up for another hour each. So, Taylor, I got to tell you. Thank you so much for bringing us some knowledge. And I look forward to talking to you guys some more in the future and bringing you in and breaking it up into a different. Because we talked about the leg. We talked about the knees. We talked about nutrition. Each one of these are directions that we can spend hours talking about. And it’s out there. And just to let you know, my goal is to bring it out so that the parents can also see what’s important. I think all we got here is good nutrition, good body mechanics, range of motion, dynamic transfer of power, and also the progression from even young that, you know, you can’t be accused of abusing your children when you put them under a weight machine. If you have the understanding is the proper mechanics and the right age and the right dynamics of it. So nutrition plays a huge role. I always knew that the core held the secret. Now, I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but when God put the baby, he put it where? He put it in the core. OK. So when you look at it, the Orientals called it the Chi, the center of the power right in kung fu. Watch the hips. Watch the hips where you can see where the guy’s going because of the center of the order rules in sports in translating. And when your life depends on it, your core, it has to be one of the most important components as to where you translate force and reaction time comes from there. As a matter of fact, it’s the basis of what the body dynamics are. The pelvis, the hips, the range of motion, and the knees. Those are the sciences that these young individuals have brought in the nutrition of it. Because when it comes down to circulation, you know, what’s in the circulation, the food, the stuff that you put in that hole in your face and the rest and the sleep and the water and hydration. What I’m very pleased about is that I’m a lot older and I appreciate the level of youth and youngness in them, so to speak, that is going to be changing the world for the future individuals and families around El Paso and in the regions that this kind of can reach. So thank you, guys. I appreciate your information. And I’m a fan of both of you guys, by the way, OK, because you guys are an amazing talent that I got to tell you, I do have a window. Before you were here in the 1990s where there was a different world, El Paso is different. And Sylvester Reyes, by the way, that’s the senator that I wanted to call out, it was his dream to make that military force out here and make it as big as it was. It’s got a long history. But in that impact of those big centers, those training centers was this dream. So I got to tell you for that, Senator, I don’t know if he anticipated you guys come in, but he did create the great order so that you guys would come and share your knowledge. So I wish you the best and thank you guys for everything you guys have offered. And I look forward to hearing from you best. And thank you, Kenna. Thank you for everything.
The foods we eat can have the potential to be beneficial or harmful to our health. Poor nutrition can cause a variety of health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, proper nutrition can make you feel energized, reduce your risk of health issues, as well as help maintain and regulate a healthy weight. If you want to promote longevity, you have to fuel your body with good foods. In the following article, we will list several good foods that can ultimately help promote longevity by also helping to improve overall health and wellness.
Cruciferous Vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables have the unique ability to change our hormones, trigger the body�s natural detoxification system, and even reduce the growth of cancerous cells. These must be chewed thoroughly or eaten shredded, chopped, juiced, or blended in order to release their beneficial properties. Sulforaphane, found in cruciferous vegetables, has also been found to help protect the blood vessel wall from inflammation that can cause heart disease. Cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli are several of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world.
Salad Greens
Raw leafy greens have less than 100 calories per pound, which makes them the perfect food for weight loss. Eating more salad greens has also been associated with the reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and several types of cancers. Raw leafy greens are also rich in the essential B-vitamin folate, plus lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids that can help protect the eyes. Fat-soluble phytochemicals, such as carotenoids, found in salad greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, collard greens, and mustard greens also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the body.
Nuts
Nuts are a low-glycemic food and a great source of healthy fats, plant protein, fiber, antioxidants, phytosterols, and minerals, which also helps to reduce the glycemic load of an entire meal, making them an essential part of an anti-diabetes diet. Regardless of their caloric density, eating nuts can help promote weight loss. Nuts can also reduce cholesterol and help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Seeds
Seeds, much like nuts, also provide healthy fats, antioxidants, and minerals, however, these have more protein and are rich in trace minerals. Chia, flax, and hemp seeds are rich in omega-3 fats. Chia, flax, and sesame seeds are also rich lignans or breast cancer-fighting phytoestrogens. Moreover, sesame seeds are rich in calcium and vitamin E, and pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc.
Berries
Berries are antioxidant-rich fruits that can help promote heart health. Research studies where participants ate strawberries or blueberries daily for several weeks reported improvements in blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, and even signs of oxidative stress. Berries also have anti-cancer properties and have been shown to help prevent cognitive decline associated with aging.
Pomegranate
The most well-known phytochemical in pomegranates, punicalagin, is responsible for more than half of the fruit’s antioxidant activity. Pomegranate phytochemicals have anti-cancer, cardioprotective, and brain-healthy benefits. In one research study, older adults who drank pomegranate juice daily for 28 days performed better on a memory test compared to those who drank a placebo beverage.
Beans
Eating beans and other legumes can help balance blood sugar, reduce your appetite, and protect against colon cancer. Beans are an anti-diabetes food that can help promote weight loss because they are digested slowly, which slows down the increase of blood sugar after a meal and helps prevent food cravings by promoting satiety. Eating beans and other legumes twice a week has been found to decrease the risk of colon cancer. Eating beans and other legumes, such as red beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and split peas, also provides significant protection against other cancers.
Mushrooms
Eating mushrooms regularly is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. White and Portobello mushrooms are especially beneficial against breast cancer because they have aromatase inhibitors or compounds that inhibit the production of estrogen. Mushrooms have shown to have anti-inflammatory effects as well as provide enhanced immune cell activity, prevention of DNA damage, slowed cancer cell growth, and angiogenesis inhibition. Mushrooms should always be cooked as raw mushrooms have a potentially carcinogenic chemical known as agaritine that is significantly reduced by cooking.
Onions and Garlic
Onions and garlic provide cardiovascular and immune system benefits as well as provide anti-diabetic and anti-cancer effects. These have also been associated with a lower risk of gastric and prostate cancers. Onions and garlic are known for their organosulfur compounds which help to prevent the development of cancers by detoxifying carcinogens, decreasing cancer cell growth, and blocking angiogenesis. Onions and garlic also have high concentrations of health-promoting flavonoid antioxidants, which have anti-inflammatory effects that may help provide cancer prevention.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are rich in a variety of nutrients, such as lycopene, vitamin C and E, beta-carotene, and flavonol antioxidants. Lycopene can help protect against prostate cancer, UV skin damage, and? cardiovascular disease. Lycopene is better absorbed when tomatoes are cooked. One cup of tomato sauce has about 10 times the amount of lycopene as a cup of raw, chopped tomatoes. Also keep in mind that carotenoids, like lycopene, are best absorbed when accompanied by healthy fats, so enjoy your tomatoes in a salad with nuts or a nut-based dressing for extra nutritional benefits.
The foods we eat can have the potential to be beneficial or harmful to our health. Poor nutrition can cause a variety of health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, proper nutrition can make you feel energized, reduce your risk of health issues, as well as help maintain and regulate a healthy weight. If you want to promote longevity, you have to fuel your body with good foods. Good foods can also help reduce inflammation associated with a variety of health issues, including joint pain and arthritis. Healthcare professionals, such as chiropractors, can offer diet and lifestyle advice to help promote health and wellness. In the following article, we will list several good foods that can ultimately help promote longevity. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight
Zesty Beet Juice
Servings: 1 Cook time: 5-10 minutes
� 1 grapefruit, peeled and sliced
� 1 apple, washed and sliced
� 1 whole beet, and leaves if you have them, washed and sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled and chopped
Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.
Just one carrot gives you all of your daily vitamin A intake
Yes, eating just one boiled 80g (2�oz) carrot gives you enough beta carotene for your body to produce 1,480 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A (necessary for skin cell renewal). That’s more than the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in the United States, which is about 900mcg. It’s best to eat carrots cooked, as this softens the cell walls allowing more beta carotene to be absorbed. Adding healthier foods into your diet is a great way to improve your overall health.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�
Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.
References:
Joel Fuhrman, MD. �10 Best Foods You Can Eat to Live Longer and Stay Healthy.� Verywell Health, 6 June 2020, www.verywellhealth.com/best-foods-for-longevity-4005852.
Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=24.
Aging is a natural part of life and it can’t be stopped. Or at least, that’s what we used to think. Researchers at Intervene Immune, Stanford, the University of British Columbia, and UCLA believe that our epigenetic clock can be changed, suggesting that there may still be ways for humans to live longer. In the following article, we will discuss the findings associated with epigenetics and aging.
What is the Epigenetic Clock?
The epigenetic clock is a measurement of biological age that can be used to estimate the chronological age of humans or other organisms by testing several patterns of DNA methylation. Although the age estimated by the epigenetic clock frequently correlates with chronological age, it is not fully understood if DNA methylation profiles in the epigenetic clock are directly associated with aging.
For many years, researchers have observed age-related changes in gene expression and DNA methylation. However, the idea of using an “epigenetic clock” to be able to estimate chronological age by testing several patterns of DNA methylation was first proposed by Steve Horvath where it gained popularity after his 2013 research study was published in the journal Genome Biology.
Epigenetic clocks are used in forensic studies to determine the age of an unknown person through blood or other biological samples at the scene of a crime and in diagnostic screens to determine increased risks for diseases associated with aging, including a variety of cancers. Epigenetic clocks can also highlight whether several behaviors or treatments can affect epigenetic age.
Does Epigenetic Age Correlate with Chronological Age?
The main reason that epigenetic clocks and DNA methylation are used to estimate the chronological age of humans or other organisms is that they correlate very well with the chronological age in the subjects tested. The first research study on the epigenetic clock that Steve Horvath published in 2013 included 353 individual CpG sites identified from previous research studies.
Of these sites, 193 become more methylated with age and 160 become less methylated, which leads to the DNA methylation age estimate that is used to determine the epigenetic clock. Throughout all outcome measures, including all ages of subjects, Horvath observed a 0.96 correlation between the epigenetic age he calculated and the true chronological age, with an error rate of 3.6 years.
Current epigenetic clocks are also being evaluated to help further improve age prediction as well as the diagnostic and/or prognostic abilities of these tests. Further evaluations using NGS approaches ultimately have the potential to improve epigenetic clocks, making them more comprehensive by extending the evaluation of DNA methylation sites to all CpG sites in the genome.
Can We Change Our Epigenetic Clocks?
Research studies have demonstrated that cancer can change the epigenetic clock. These observations suggest that the epigenetic clock can change under certain conditions. Therefore, it is possible that the epigenetic clock can be manipulated through changes in behavior or treatment strategies to slow it down or potentially reverse it, allowing humans to live longer and healthier lives.
Researchers believe that our epigenetic clock can be changed. In the following article, we discussed the findings associated with epigenetics and aging. The epigenetic clock is a measurement of biological age that can be used to estimate the chronological age of humans or other organisms by testing several patterns of DNA methylation. The main reason that epigenetic clocks and DNA methylation are used to estimate the chronological age of humans or other organisms is that they correlate very well with the chronological age in the subjects tested. Current epigenetic clocks are also being evaluated to help further improve age prediction as well as the diagnostic and/or prognostic abilities of these tests. Research studies have demonstrated that cancer can change the epigenetic clock. Therefore, it is possible that the epigenetic clock can be manipulated through changes in behavior or treatment strategies to slow it down or potentially reverse it, allowing humans to live longer and healthier lives. By changing our epigenetic clocks, healthcare professionals may also be able to regulate age-related health issues, such as inflammation and joint pain. These could potentially be helpful for chiropractic care, an alternative treatment option that uses spinal adjustments to carefully restore the alignment of the spine.�- Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight
Zesty Beet Juice
Servings: 1 Cook time: 5-10 minutes
� 1 grapefruit, peeled and sliced
� 1 apple, washed and sliced
� 1 whole beet, and leaves if you have them, washed and sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled and chopped
Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.
Just one carrot gives you all of your daily vitamin A intake
Yes, eating just one boiled 80g (2�oz) carrot gives you enough beta carotene for your body to produce 1,480 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A (necessary for skin cell renewal). That’s more than the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in the United States, which is about 900mcg. It’s best to eat carrots cooked, as this softens the cell walls allowing more beta carotene to be absorbed. Adding healthier foods into your diet is a great way to improve your overall health.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�
Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.
References:
Active Motif Staff. �Can You Really Reverse Your Epigenetic Age?� Active Motif, 1 Oct. 2019, www.activemotif.com/blog-reversing-epigenetic-age#:~:text=Epigenetic%20clocks%20are%20a%20measure,certain%20patterns%20of%20DNA%20methylation.
Pal, Sangita, and Jessica K Tyler. �Epigenetics and Aging.� Science Advances, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 29 July 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4966880/.
Matloff, Ellen. �Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall: The Epigenetics Of Aging.� Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 25 Jan. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/ellenmatloff/2020/01/24/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-the-epigenetics-of-aging/#75af95734033.
Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=24.
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