Fore! Ways Chiropractic Can Improve Your Golf Score

For those of us who live north of the Mason Dixon line, we have to wait for the snow to melt before we grab the links and hit the greens. Lucky for us this year, spring came early! Avid and amateur golfers alike are always looking to try new ways to lower their score. Here are four ways chiropractic care could help achieve a healthier handicap.

1. Better balance

When I see someone in my office, one of the spinal screening tests that I can perform is a bilateral weight distribution. Instead of stepping on one scale, I use two scales (one for each foot) and see how your weight is distributed from side to side. People with spinal subluxation (misalignment that increases stress on your delicate nerve system) will normally have a weight distribution greater than 5 pounds from one side compared to another. The worst I have ever seen has been over a 50 pound difference. If you are a golfer, you understand that proper weight distribution is essential for an effective golf swing. By receiving chiropractic adjustments to restore spinal alignment, I can help to bring your weight back into balance, which can lead to a more efficient swing, which hopefully leads to fewer strokes on the course.

2. Decreased muscle tension

Another test that I run in the office is a paraspinal sEMG (surface electromyography), which is a way to measure muscle activity around the spine. Again, people with spinal subluxations consistently show increased and imbalanced spinal musculature. My grandfather taught me in Golf 101 to RELAX. Increased muscle tension leads to poor coordination of your swing, which can lead to slices, hooks, or simply just duffed tee shots. Again, chiropractic adjustments help to reduce that muscle tension that you may or may not even be aware of and I can show you with the technology in our office!

3. Increased range of motion

Part of a spinal subluxation includes a decrease in motion between spinal bones. Range of motion decreases significantly as the number of spinal subluxations increase. This is especially important to understand for the strength of your swing. The force of your swing is generated from the pivoting of your legs, hips, and low back and follows with your shoulders, arms, and wrists. This requires an incremental and fluid motion from lower to upper body. A healthy, subluxation free spine is like a freshly picked twig that produces a lot of whip and torque when it is swung. Compared to a spine with subluxation, which is like a dead branch. The dead branch can still produce a force, but not nearly the amount compared to the young twig. In fact, if there is repetitive torque placed on a subluxated spine, over time it can lead to serious degeneration and injury. A chiropractic adjustment is a fast, gently, and specific force used to restore motion and alignment to a subluxated spinal bone. Ultimately, getting regular chiropractic adjustments can keep you swinging longer and stronger.

4. Improved coordination

Muscle memory and coordination are essential for an effective golf swing. Without giving you an entire neurology lesson, let me briefly describe how your spine and brain are connected. Whenever we engage in a dynamic movement (i.e. your golf swing), the brain must send messages down nerves to all the muscles that need to engage in order to produce the desired motion. However, our body is so dynamic and adaptive that messages from all the spinal joints and muscles are constantly sending messages back to the brain, which the brain uses to increase the efficiency of your movement. If you have a spinal subluxation, this will send distorted and incomplete information back to the brain, which will in turn lead to poor messages sent out by your brain, which leads to poor coordination. Obviously the more fine tuned your swing becomes, the better the golfer you will become. Chiropractic adjustments help to maximize the messages between your brain and body by removing spinal subluxations and improving your coordination.

Tiger Woods is still an amazing golfer despite his recent moral judgements and he said, "Being a Chiropractic patient has really helped me immensely...lifting weights and seeing a Chiropractor on a regular basis has made me a better golfer. I've been going to Chiropractors for as long as I can remember. It's as important to my training as practicing my swing."

Although I cannot guarantee you a green jacket, I can say that I have many people who improve their golf game through regular chiropractic adjustments.

Abundant drives,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter.

 

3 Secrets Your "Health" Insurance Company is Keeping from You

In today's society, there is so much opinion, debate, and fear over the current health care reform which is really just insurance reform. The government is trying every single angle to "help" the uninsured Americans to gain access to "health" insurance coverage. The problem with this reform is that they are trying to get more Americans on an already sinking ship. It has been estimated that over 16% of the United State's GDP is spent on "health" care costs and yet according to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the United Nations, America ranked 42nd in life expectancy (below Chile and Cuba) in 2006. Simply put, the United States is spending more money on "health" care and yet our outcomes are getting steadily worse.

Why is that? It may have something to do with the following three secrets that "Health" Insurance companies are keeping from you:

1. Not all healthy habits are covered

If you haven't noticed by now, I have been placing the word "health" in quotations. Why? That is because "health" insurance has been referred to as such, but I truly feel it is one of the greatest misnomers of our time. It should really be called "sick" or "emergency" insurance because that is what it covers. If you break a bone, have clogged arteries, or even have a tumor that is taking over vitals organs, the medical profession is there to save your life. However, if we look at the top causes of death in our society, 9 out of 10 are PREVENTABLE through a healthy lifestyle.

What does that healthy lifestyle look like? For me and my family it involves 30 minutes of exercise every day, plenty of organic fruits and vegetables, 7-8 hours of sleep, a positive attitude, and a properly functioning nerve system (see my Nervous Doctor blog post). Now, you tell me the last "health" insurance company that reimbursed for your gym membership, your fruit and vegetable grocery bill, or your nutritional supplements. I still have yet to find one. For now, I will continue to use to our "health" insurance for what it truly should be used for, emergencies. And I will focus my energy on those habits that truly produce health.

2. Benefits are not necessarily beneficial

Let's look at one example such as taking a medication for a chronic disease such as hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol in the blood), which is normally covered with most "health" insurance plans. Will the medication lower your blood cholesterol levels? The answer is yes. But is that necessarily beneficial? A study quoted by Lipitor in advertisements showed that for every 100 people taking the medication, there was only one less heart attack per 100 people compared to 100 people taking the placebo. When you look at all the side effects of statin drugs (cholesterol lowering drugs), I start to wonder if the side effects are worth the benefits of lowering your cholesterol. 

I recently had a patient in my office who had a total cholesterol level of 150 for most of his life (below 200 is normal according to the current guidelines, even though I believe a level between 200-240 can be perfectly normal). This patient, although he had a low cholesterol level, had recently undergone coronary bypass surgery due to nearly complete blockage. In this man's case, did it matter that he had low cholesterol? Is it important to lower every one's cholesterol level artificially with medication that can cause a number of side effects, including muscle degeneration leading to kidney failure (rhabdomyolysis)? Did you know you can lower your cholesterol by over 30% just by eating a third of a cup of cooked beets every day? I don't see my "health" insurance company paying for my organic beets. Just some questions to ponder.

3. Early detection is NOT prevention

Recently my wife and I have been shopping around for a different health care provider for reasons which are a totally different story. Many of the quotes have been touting all the "preventative" screening tests that are available on an annual basis. Let's think about this logically, and this goes for any screening test; if you screen for any condition (i.e. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.) and the screening comes back positive for that condition, what have you "prevented"? The answer is NOTHING. You have merely detected the condition. If you are lucky, you have caught it early enough that it can be reversed. So you are thinking, well Dr. Dan, isn't that the point of screening for these conditions, to catch them early? That depends on your plan of attack with this new information (see #2 above).

One of the more memorable pieces of information from my Pathology I class was the fact that my professor explained that we all have cancer. We all have 750,000 to 1,000,000 cancerous cells in our body every day. So what is the difference between a healthy individual and the individual diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 cancer? The fact that the healthy person has an immune system that fights off those cancerous cells on a daily basis long before any technology could ever detect their presence. The individual with end stage cancer has a greatly diminished ability to fight off those cancer cells. Have you ever wondered what chemotherapy and radiation do for cancer patients? They are procedures of odds, where we kill off all cells, healthy and cancerous alike, and hope that the healthy ones hold on long enough to win out. 

So does it pay to have all these fancy high tech screening procedures? Or should we be trying maximizing our own healing potential (see #1) that is with us from conception until death? I prefer maximizing my innate healing ability. This ability is greatly enhanced with the recognition that we are all created to be healthy, with or without our "health" insurance.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments.

Abundant Blessings,

Dr. Dan

 

Taking Time to Trust

At our recent Ribbon Cutting ceremony, I had the opportunity to catch up with an uncle and two cousins that traveled over 200 miles to attend. So I am happy to say that our business is already attracting people over a 200 mile radius! At one point my uncle stated the obvious, “Man, I hadn’t realized it, but your life has really changed over the past few years.” Man, was that an understatement. Since September of 2010 (just about 18 months ago) I have lived in 4 different locations, I completed my doctor of chiropractic degree, my wife and I had our first child, we opened our first two businesses, and my wife left her first career to pursue our dream of serving others through health and chiropractic. Not a bad 18 months!

It is always wonderful to reflect and give gratitude for the abundant blessings in our life. Was it easy to go through many of these changes and challenges? Not in the least! Upon learning our story, the reaction we get from family members, friends, clients and vendors is always quite interesting and sometimes even humorous. Some people comment on how they could not handle the amount of stress and change we have taken on in such a short period of time. Maybe they just haven’t tested or pushed to their limit yet. Others chime in with how “lucky” we are to have our son in the office with us every day. Although I don’t like the word “luck” because it assumes we live in a random chaotic universe, which is not the case (maybe this will be my next blog), I do appreciate their understanding.

Ultimately, there has been a lot of risk involved in the path we have chosen, but then again, there are risks and rewards in every path of life. What I have come to know for certain is that no matter what the outcome, it happened for a reason. That is very hard to accept for many people who wish to be in control or do not deal well with change. There are two things that are an absolute in all our lives, change and death. How we react to change will dictate the path we take. There is no right or wrong path, positive or negative, but simply acceptance. Trusting that I am in the right place at the right time has been my biggest strength to lead me through the last several months.

Ask yourself this question. What aspect of your life do you want to improve? Is it your eating habits, physical activity, fashion sense, finances, time with family, career, education, or maybe your contemplation? Once you determine what you wish to improve, follow these steps for you:

1.  Reflect. Take some quiet time to be grateful for the many blessings in your life and then ask how you can better yourself. 
2. Decide to change. Everything begins as a thought. The world was only a thought in the mind of God, the Infinite Intelligence, before it became a reality. Make up your mind to change your life. 
3. Decide how to change. Develop an action plan that will guide your change. 
4. Act. Do something every day according to the plan. 
5. Trust. No matter what the outcome, know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

Always remember that our greatest successes come out of our deepest challenges and frustrations. You have to dig and lay the foundation before you can build the skyscraper. So what are you waiting for? You know how! Trust me!

Abundant Blessings,

Dr. Dan 

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter.

What Chiropractic is NOT

Do you ever have days when your mind is racing faster than a greyhound? Late nights lying awake for hours in bed, trying to catch the ever elusive "z", because the next day will be even more adventurous than yesturday? When was the last time you truly listened to a neighbor's pain? Does that pain keep you awake at night? Or is it the fact that maybe their pain is a reflection of where you are currently living your life and a "slap in the face" reminder of where you will surly end up if a change in course is not taken. I experienced all these emotions in the rollercoaster ride of September 10, 2011. And now sitting here at 2 AM the following morning, I realize that today marks the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The only way I can see personaly honor the men and women who were lost their lives is to continue sharing my passion with the world. Each one of us has a passion in life that calls others to live their passion as a lighthouse calls a boat to its destination. The spirit of the 9/11 vicitims lives on in vein if we do not ask ourselves the question of "WHY?" every day of our life. Why am I here? For what purpose do I serve humanity? And once the answer is crystal clear, the more we strive to fulfill our purpose, the greater we honor all humanity, both the present, and the Eternal.

Yesturday, my wife and I attended our local Community Day as a vendor sharing our new chiropractic practice. It was a typical outreach event, one that I have participated in many times while assisting other chiropractors in growing their practices while I was in school. Some people were very intrigued, some people were appalled and will only see a "real" doctor, but the majority actually had no concept for what the chiropractic profession truly is and how it benefits the lives of millions of families across the world. I think this article is mostly for those individuals, because I heard a whole lot of what chiropractic is not about.

Chiropractic is NOT: 

• Getting your back "cracked." Yes, in some chiropractic techniques, the spine can make a noise called a "cavitation" when a specific and corrective force is used. The important thing to remember is why that force is being used. The alignment and motion of your spine is directly related to you overall health. People who maintain their spinal health throughout a lifetime are some of the healthiest people on the planet. So then next time you approach your chiropractor, instead of asking for your "weekly crack" you should say "Please align my spine, it helps me to shine."  

•  About how you "FEEL." A common answer to the question of "Who is your family chiropractor?" is "I don't need a chiropractor." When I ask why they don't need one, the reply is usually "I feel fine" or "I am healthy." Let me put this understanding of health into perspective. If you were a high profile attorney and you ask your prospective client 10 questions on the initial consultation to gather as much information about his case as possible before you make a decision to represent him, what would you you say to him if he could give you the answer to only one of the 10 questions (10%)? You would politely shake his hand, show him the door, and ask your assistant for the next case. Basing decisions in life with only 10% of the information seems rediculous, but that is exactly what people do when they base health decisions off of how they "feel." Less than 10% of your nerve system registers sensory (touch, tempurature, texture, pain) information, and the other 90% coordinates all other functions in your body including blood circulation, breathing, digestion, and muscle movement. Would it make more sense to make a decision based off 10% of information or 100% of information? If you had cancer, you would want to know about it so you and your health care team could form an effective care plan to restore your health. Spinal subluxations (misalignments) are a serious a health concern. Please do yourself a favor, the next time you are offered an affordable way to get your spinal health checked, take advantage!

• Passive or Reactive. Just like the reflex hammer hitting your tendon and causing your leg to extend, in a reactive world, we wait until some event occurs and then respond. This is not the way to stay healthy. However, most people wait until they get "sick" with a cold, flu, or headache before they ever see a doctor. Unfortunately, sickness takes time to build and just because you have an absence of symptoms does not mean you are well. Why not take control of your health with a little proactive effort? Exercise, eating organic vegetables and meats, sleeping 7-8 hours a night, prayer/meditation, and receiving regular chiropractic adjustments are all ways to be proactice with your health. Then you may never experience the cold, flu, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more. Always remember that early detection of a disease is NOT the same as preventing a disease.

Abundant Blessings,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter. 

Sweat 16

You've heard of a Sweet 16 - Why not a Sweat 16?!

The guidelines for the importance and amount of physical activity we should strive for in a day have changed drastically since I was earning my Kinesiology degree at Penn State. The current guidelines from the CDC are for adults to participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (i.e. brisk walking) per week and use resistance exercises at least 2 days per week that focuses on all major muscle groups (i.e. chest, back, arms, shoulders, abs, buttocks, and thighs).

These guidelines are much improved from where they started, but I believe that focusing on an amount of time per week can lead to problems. I can go to the gym and work out for 75 minutes 2 days per week. That gives me the minimum exercise requirement for the CDC, but do you think that is healthy? The answer is no. 

Throughout my undergraduate career, I would work out 3-4 days per week in the gym for 60-90 minutes. The problem was, my exercises were completely inefficient. I would rest and talk a lot between sets, but rationalize to myself that since I was in the gym for over an hour, that I must have put in a good workout. I wasn't working out efficiently and I wasn't getting the most out of my time.

This led me to the principle of the Sweat 16. In our world today, where schedules are packed more than ever, efficiency is key in achieving the amount of activity that our bodies crave. The bottom line is that our bodies were created to move and yet we have created a society in which the majority of us sit at a desk in front of a computer for more than half our waking hours. I am going to introduce a little radical thought here: sitting is to the spine what smoking to the lungs. How about that to encourage us to get off our butts?

So what is Sweat 16? It is simply participating in some activity that allows you to continuously sweat for 16 minutes a day during EVERY day of the week. Now of course that is a minimum to get you started, but if you set that as a goal to schedule into your day, every day, then you will be well on your way to achieving a healthy and active life. 

But Dr. Dan, only 16 minutes of sweat a day is less than the exercise requirement of the CDC... Of course it is! But here's the deal: how long does it actually take you to reach the stage where you have built up a good sweat? It takes at least five or ten minutes for the average person depending on the environmental conditions (i.e. air condition vs. humidity). Adding in the "warm up to sweat time" makes puts your weekly minutes at about 175!

The CDC has laid down an excellent baseline, but the intensity levels are not clearly defined and can differ greatly from person to person. A "brisk walk" for a pregnant or an elderly individual may be a moderate to high activity, but that same brisk walk for the average healthy person would hardly get their heart rate up. The advantage of the Sweat 16 principle is that you are basing your exercise levels completely upon your individual ability. And, once your strength and endurance begin to improve (and of course they will because you are designed to adapt!), you will have to increase your activity intensity to reach that same level of sweating.

Six Ways to Ensure your Sweat 16:

1.       Add a hill, incline, or steps.

2.       Add weights or resistance bands.

3.       Increase repetitions.

4.       Increase your speed.

5.       Change the plane of your body (low to high and high to low).

6.       Decrease rest time between sets. Ideally you should choose a series of movements that do not require a rest for the duration of the activity.

It is important to remember that if you have not engaged in any physical activity and you wish to begin an exercise program, you should consult a health care professional.

Always empowering,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter. 

From Pyramid to Plate

Last night, as my wife and I were celebrating our 3rd anniversary at a wonderful local Italian restaurant, she reminded me how truly different our food choices are compared to the average family, even with the latest change to the food pyramid. Now we are some of the healthiest people I know (that is not to sound conceited in any way), but it took years of personal research and studying to adapt a nutritional regimen that would meet our needs and every family's needs, provided they have a little discipline.

The new governmental nutritional recommendations can be found here and I strongly encourage you to browse through the website as I explain my two cents throughout the remainder of this post.

Veggies: Finally, someone had some decency to increase the amount of vegetable servings we get in a day. Personally, I still think it is too low. Our diet should be closer to 50% vegetable consumption. I always try to alternate the way I prepare my vegies as well. Eat them fresh, steam them, grill them, or bake them, but just don't avoid them. Veggies are some of the greatest sources of vitamins and trace minerals that are essential for proper body function. They also have a ton of fiber, which is great for cleansing the digestive track and letting your brain know that your stomach is "full" and it is time to stop eating. Surprise! If you eat more vegies, you will lose that weight you have been trying to lose for years.

Fruits: I am so glad the USDA decided to separate fruit from vegetables. I love fruit, but in the old pyramid recommendations, it was lumped together with veggies and most people avoided the vegetables and turned to the fruit. Fruit is loaded with natural sugar, which is much better than refined sugar, but can still cause weight struggles if you eat too much. I try to limit my fruit intake to 1-2 servings per day and I focus on fruits that have a lower glycemic index (i.e. red apples) or are higher in antioxidants (i.e. berries). Always remember to eat your fruits with a protein, because it will help to prevent your blood sugar from spiking too high, which is how Type II diabetes is developed.

Protein: Oh my favorite food group! There is nothing better then a properly seasoned chicken thigh that is grilled to perfection. Sorry to those vegetarians and vegans, but the fact of the matter is that we are genetically designed to eat meat. This is how we obtain the majority of our B-vitamins, which are essential for nerve and blood cell function, and cholesterol, which is essential for the formation of many hormones throughout the body. I have seen many patients who do not consume adequate amounts of meat in their diet and suffer from chronic fatigue, dizziness, arrhythmias, or heart palpitations. I strongly encourage all vegans and vegetarians to supplement B-vitamins.  A serving of meat is 3-4 oz, which is the size of a standard kitchen sponge. Nuts are also a great way to fulfill the requirements of this group. Almonds are the gold standard in my book. I try to avoid peanuts and peanut butter like the plague, due to all the allergens.

Grains: Something else to avoid like the plague is ALL refined grains, including white bread, white flour, and white rice. These products are stripped of all nutrients to prolong shelf life. Think of it this way, if it prolongs shelf life outside your body, it will inside your gut. Processed grains are very difficult to digest and can cause a lot of undue stress on the stomach and intestines, which leads to excessive bloating, gas, and even allergies. If you have any sort or allergies or auto immune disorder, try eliminating wheat products from your diet for 30 days and see what happens. I personally try not to eat more than a couple wheat products in an entire week. I used to have horrible digestive distress until I stopped eating wheat products. There are some amazing grains other than wheat that can fulfil this category. Quinoa is one of my favorites. This is known as a "super grain" due to its high protein content. It has a very low glycemic index and will provide you energy for hours after you eat it, without all the digestive distress like wheat can cause.

Dairy: This is probably one of the most controversial categories. The bottom line is, we are the only mammals that continue to drink milk after we are weaned from our mother's breast milk.The problem with milk and all dairy products is that the pasteurization process kills all the necessary enzymes that we need to digest lactose and can lead to the same digestive distress and allergies that wheat products can cause. If you insist on drinking milk, the best way to do it would be to purchase a goat or cow, milk it, and drink it that same day. Personally, I quit drinking milk along time ago and it has done wonders on my overall health. How do I get my calcium you ask? Almonds (I do recommend almond milk) and green leafy vegies (i.e. spinach and kale). I do enjoy a sprinkle of cheese now and again, especially on my omelets or salads, but it is less than a serving.

I know this post was much longer than normal, but I hope it gives you some good insight into the differences of the nationally recommended food categories and my own food choices. I try to eat as close to our genetic design as possible, and that is a hunter/gatherer diet of nuts, vegies, fruits, and lean meats. I believe that if today the world stopped eating processed grains, refined sugar, and pasteurized dairy products, in less than one years time we would see chronic illness nearly disappear. The bottom line is "you are what you eat!" Eat healthy and your family will be healthy. Now it is time for lunch =)

Abundant blessings,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter. 

Summer Lovin'

Looking back at my naive life guarding days, I shiver to think about all the unnecessary damage I placed on my body due to the poor sunshine safety habits that I practiced. Understanding the chemistry of the body has given me a much greater insight into practices that are congruent with my health. Summer is headed into full swing and it seems as though everyone has now jumped on the Vitamin D and sunshine bandwagon, so I decided that I would join too.

I think it would be very beneficial to start with the basic question: How is vitamin D made and why is it needed in the body?

When ultraviolet light from our sun hits the cells in our skin, it activates a biochemical pathway that creates vitamin D3. [As a side note, it has been estimated that each individual cell completes over one million reactions every second and there are over 70 trillion cells that make up a human body.] Next, vitamin D3 must go through a few more reactions in the liver and kidney to reach its hormonally activated form. [Another side note - this form  of vitamin D3 is produced directly by the placenta during pregnancy.  Pretty neat how mother nature knows how to supply the growing baby with all it needs.] Vitamin D is ESSENTIAL in calcium absorption, bone growth and repair, immune system activation, and programmed cell death (apoptosis), which is a process that prevents cancerous growth of cells.

Now we ask, how much vitamin D do I need?

Instead of focusing on how much vitamin D we need to prevent cancer or the common cold, let's think about how much vitamin D we need to achieve an optimal level of health. It has been recommended that a MINIMUM of 15 minutes of sunshine exposure per day on the arms and legs WITHOUT sunscreen is essential to obtain proper vitamin D levels. Sunscreen can decrease vitamin D production by over 95%!

But Dr. Dan, can't sun exposure without sunscreen cause cancer?

Sure it can. Too much water can also cause drowning, but that doesn't mean water isn't good for you. Here is a shocker though: many of the toxins that are in sunscreen have also been linked to cancer and/or hormonal imbalances.

For your sunscreen shopping convenience, I have listed some of the more common toxins in sunscreen:

• Octinoxate 
• Oxybenzone  
• Octisalate
• Avobenzone 
• Octocrylene
• Homosalate 

The bottom line is that anything you put on your skin is going to be absorbed into your blood stream. If there is a foreign and toxic substance in the blood stream, it must be processed and filtered out by the liver. Too many toxins can stress the liver and lead to a multitude of other hormonal and health challenges.

3 Keys for Sufficient Sun Shine and Skin Safety:

1. Lotions - use an organic sunscreen with only one active ingredient (i.e. titanium dioxide or zinc oxide) and use an organic moisturizer 
2. Clothing - stay in the shade when possible, wear a hat that protects the face and neck, and wear a t-shirt intermittently to reduce sun exposure
3. Nutrition - drink plenty of water, eat your omega 3 fats (i.e. flax seed or fish oil), and get plenty of calcium (great sources are almonds and green leafy veggies)

With these practices, you have the ability to increase vitamin D levels and all the amazing health benefits associated with it; protect yourself from harmful toxins in sunscreen; and still obtain that awesome summer tan that everyone loves.

Always empowering,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter. 

Go Where You Have Never Gone Before

While I was running my first ever marathon last Sunday, I saw several signs that the volunteers and family members were holding up, which stated, "Less than 1% of the population will run a marathon this year." Though this statement did not truly sink in while I was running the race, I started to dwell on it a bit more in the days afterwards. If this number were true, that means roughly 3.6 million Americans ran a marathon and 60 million people world wide, which is a very large number. However, when I began to think about the percentages of chronic disease (i.e. heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer) in our country, it all fell into perspective.

In a recent seminar that I attended, one of my mentors explained that 80% of Americans have a diagnosed chronic illness, which amounts to over 288 million people in the United States alone. Now that number is a bit larger than the 3.6 million that may have run a marathon. Those chronic illnesses cost our country over $12 billion per DAY. Every one of us knows at least one person who is taking a drug for one of these chronic conditions and the effects are to taking a giant toll on our lives and economy. The issue that drives me crazy is that these conditions are completely 100% preventable!

Now let us take a step back and consider what it took to run these 26.2 miles of the marathon? I did not just wake up the morning of the race and decide to run. It took nearly 6 months of preparation. I made up my mind back in October (the race was May 15) that I was going to train for the marathon. I placed the marathon date on my calendar and then began to research training programs. I spoke with other people who had completed marathons and they shared their experiences and training methods. Even through the bitter northeastern winter, I had to discipline myself to get out and run, sometimes early in the morning or late into the evening.

As a side note here, it makes me cringe when people state, "I am not a runner" or "I could never run a marathon." Well, with that mindset you are absolutely correct. Let me explain that I would not have considered myself a runner either. I have always been the type of person who loves to work out at the gym and lift a lot of weights. If I did add running to my workout regimens, it would never be more than 6 miles in an entire week. However, I made the decision that I wanted to run a marathon and to do so; I was going to have to follow a training program that I have never completed before, running close to 30 or 35 miles in a week.

How does this have any relation to the 80% of people with a chronic illness? Well you did not wake up one morning and just have diabetes or high cholesterol. It took years of over eating the wrong foods, not participating in daily physical activities, or taking advice from ignorant health professionals. The bottom line is that if you wish to GO where you have never been before (a state of health), then you will have to DO what you have never done before (healthy actions)!

As a disclaimer, I understand my tone may have been a little direct in this post. However, I want the absolute best life possible for you and your family, and I know what it takes to get there. Change takes discipline, responsibility, accountability, and time. Not only are we all blessed with the ability to change our life and circumstances, but I believe we have the responsibility for our future generations. With my first child on the way, this really hits home. I think it would be wonderful if we could show our children a world of prosperity that humanity has yet to see. But, in order to GO where we have not gone, we need to DO what we have not done!

Please continue to follow my blog to find out what you can DO to lead a healthier life for you and your family.

Always empowering,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter. 

Awareness 101

As I was preparing to run my first marathon ever (26.2 miles!), I was finishing up my training with a 13 mile run two weekends ago.  I started off great, making it up a huge hill within the first 2 miles and got into my groove through mile 3.  But as I ascended the second major hill in my run, I felt that nagging emotion and crushing sensation that it was time to walk. My breaths increased frequency, my steps became shorter, and my leg muscles burned until I had to give into the feeling and slow my pace to a walk. Breaking pace has got to be once of the most frustrating events as a runner, especially when I knew exactly why it was occurring. In fact, if I had to predict that day how my run would go, I could have easily told you that it would be a struggle. 

Why did I know this? Because the weekend just prior, I was visiting some family members out of town and I drastically deviated from my typical eating habits. I had a few deserts and two alcoholic beverages that I had not been accustomed to up to that point in my training.  That meant I was going to have a tough run. Why is that so important? My point is that I was aware of my poor dietary input, so much so in fact, that I could predict my future output.

Let's use a computer as another example. If a virus is downloaded onto a computer, what will be the result? Obviously we know that the computer will slow down and wreak havoc on our production. But if instead of a virus, an upgraded software version is downloaded, then our efficiency increases by leaps and bounds. This is the universal law of action and reaction or input and output. And guess what - Your health is to subject this same law!

It amazes me the number of people that I speak to who struggle with a number of health challenges; obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, asthma, allergies, muscle cramping and pain, fatigue, insomnia, depression, arthritis (believe me, the list goes on). Most people blame these health problems on bad luck or bad genes and worse yet, they believe there is nothing they can do except to manage their conditions with medication.  Fortunately, this is just not the case.

Allow me to take the first step in increasing your awareness. Your health (output) is the product of your life experiences and choices (input) up to this point. But even more exciting is that we have the ability to change our health by simply becoming more aware and changing our input! That's fantastic news!

In my experience, the best healers are the ones who facilitate increased awareness in all people they encounter.  That is why I have a personal mission to elevate the awareness of every person I meet. Just like I immediately knew I was going to have a tough run, you can get to the root of any or all of your health challenges and start to predict your future as a result of increasing your awareness. The substances we choose to consume or not consume, the TV shows we watch, the publications we read, the thoughts we think, and the relationships we share all have a monumental effect on our health.

Five Beginning Steps for Increasing Awareness: 

1. Find a coach/partner. We gain more insight from those who hold us accountable.
2. Collect and read the labels of everything you consume in one week. If you cannot understand (or even pronounce!) the ingredients, chances are, it is not the best option for consumption.
3. Write down everything you watch and read in one week. Does it create a positive or negative emotional state? It has to be one or the other, there is no neutral. 
4. Evaluate the relationships of the 5 people you hang out with most. When you are with them, do you find yourself more joyful, relaxed, and peaceful OR fearful, anxious, and fatigued?
5. Interview and choose a chiropractor. We experience life through our nerve system.  A chiropractor's responsibility is to make sure that system is as clear as possible, so that you may experience health and life to the fullest.  Trying to increase your awareness without one would be like watching satellite TV in the middle of a storm. Can you make out the plot? Sure, but the fuzziness will leave you frustrated and keep you from gaining an appreciation of the whole story.

When we start to become more aware of what we put in, the output begins to make a lot more sense. Will it be easy? Of course not.  But what in life is worth pursuing if it is easily attained?

Always empowering,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter.