Annual Tummy Ache

It's Halloween time again. Cute kids, cute costumes, lots of candy.

It is that last part I want to talk about. Do you know American's spend over $2 Billion on Halloween candy?

What are you getting for that $2 Billion investment?

If you like sweets, your sweet tooth fix. But you also get and increase in sugar. What's so bad about that? I'm happy you asked.

Let's gloss right over the dental cavity issue. We have talked about that for years.

Do you know increasing your sugar in your diet immediately puts your body into a stress state? Meaning your body is no longer functioning as normal, it is now functioning like you are being chased by a lion and not the cute 18 month old in a lion costume.

What happens in the stress state is that vital blood rushes from your organs to your arms and legs so you are ready to run at a moment's notice. Now your organs, which keep you alive, do not have the nurtrition they need to take care of you.

Would you consider this a bad thing? I hope so or you are prioritizing that Snickers way too much.

It also drastically lowers your immunity. Little Billy getting a cold around this time of the year isn't because of the weather. It is because with all the excess sugar Halloween brings, his immune system has dropped drastically making him a lot more susceptible to common ailments.

Never mind how addictive sugar is and the long-term consequences of type II diabetes, obesity and early death that can come with that.

I don't write this to ruin your Halloween. Heck, I'll have some candy myself this Halloween. I write this to make sure you do not go in excess. That you enjoy all the treats of the season conservatively.

Having ADHD = The Greatest Olympic Hero

ADHD is a term that is used a lot in our society. Statstics show that 3 to 5% of children have it, but if you visit any elementary school, you will see alot more kids taking drugs like Ritalin and Concerta.

While I have a lot to say about those drugs, this article isn't about that. It is about the benefits of ADHD.

Benefits you ask?

Yes, there are benefits.

ADHD is classifed is someone who can not focus on certain things well. Generally these are broken down to the basics of reading, writing and artithmitic.

So should we addict our kids to mind-altering drugs to get them focused? And decrease brain activity since that is how those drugs work?

No, of course not. Do what Michael Phelps mom did. Her son didn't want to read books so she taught him how to read by reading the sports section. He didn't want to sit still, so she got him invovled in swimming where he focused all his energy on being his best. She was amazed that he would sit still for four hours at a swim meet, but not for 30 minutes in a class.

The secret to their success... channel all of that energy into something productive.

Now, not everyone can be a world class swimmer, but everyone is passionate about something. If you child likes dancing, have them learn to read through dance books and magazines. Get them involved in dance programs. Let them focus that energy so they can experience success when they focus all that energy.

It is debateable if ADHD is overblown in this country or not. It is not debateable that all kids need focus and focusing on things they enjoy is a whole lot easier than asking them to focus on things that bore them.

Read the article attached and learn how Michael Phelps mom adapted learning to bring out the best in Michael.

Tofu is no-food

A new Canadian study came out talking about how the typical Western diet of fatty, processed, salt-laden and fried foods increases your chance of a heart attack 35%.

On the converse side, if you eat more green leafies, you decrease your chance of a heart attack 30%.

Do either one of those stats surprise you?

Probably not. But here is one that might surprise you, eating tofu does nothing to help your chance against a heart attack and may actually increase it.

Why do I mention this?

Because so many people have convinced themselves that tofu and soy products are "health foods". It is not.

Excess amounts of soy are shown to increase your chance for thyroid problems, cancer, brain damage, reproductive disorders, kidney stones and weakened immune system.

The first comment I'll get is, "but Asian countries eat soy and they are the healthiest in the world." Yes they are, but they also eat much less soy than the typical soy-addict in this country and they eat soy, not the processed tofu which is shown to increase the health problems.

The moral of the story, do not confuse soy or soy products with "health food".

Keep eating those green leafies!

Flu Vaccine Doesn't Work for Kids

So what do you think of that headline?

I can't take credit for it, it was actually from an article in Time magazine. Yes, that Time magazine.

The University of Rochester did a study looking at children under 5 who got the flu against those that did not.

And what did they find?

The kids that got the flu shot were not any less likely to get the flu than those that did.

You might want to read that sentence again.

Isn't the flu shot suppossed to protect us from the flu? So why get one if you are still going to get the flu?

There's a question you might want to have the answer too.

So why is that if you get the flu vaccine you can still get the flu?

It is because there are thousands of strains of flu and hundreds more are discovered every year. The flu shot, assuming it even works which is a big assumption, only has protection against three strains of flu.

That means if you get one of the thousands of other strains, assuming the flu shot even works, you will still get the flu.

So should you get the flu shot? The choice is up to you.

Should you do a little more research into the efficacy of it before you get one? YES!

New Presidential Candidate announced... It's someone we know!

There's an effort to elect a person as President here in North Carolina (I guess they don't like the other two guys around these parts) so my patients started a grassroot effort to put someone we know as a write in candidate!

Watch this online video about the surprising new candidate for the President of the United States:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=380002&altf=Es41Nbuu&altl=Ifoofttz

While he might not be qualified by typical standards, at the very least, this is the best looking canidate out there... though I might be a little biased.

I Love Runny Noses!

Okay, that may be a bit over the top, but I really am a big fan of runny noses.

Why? Because they are a completely natural and HEALTHY process.

Yes I said healthy.

A running nose is your body saying, "you've got some junk up here that could really hurt you. I am going to clump it all together in this mucus and take it out these two big holes so you don't get sick or any sicker."

What is our response to our wonderful body trying to protect us?

We blow some of the stuff out onto a kleenex and the resulting pressure kicks more stuff deeper into our body leading to a greater chance of getting sick. Or worse yet, we take a drug that "stops" the runny nose and doesn't let all the toxic junk to get out.

When you honestly step back, does that make any sense at all? But we do it every day!

Think I'm goofy? Well, guess what, the drug companies agree with me.

Last year they put a warning on cold medicines for kids under two. This year they raised it to under 4 and pediatricians are calling for them to raise it to 6. Right now the Food and Drug Administration is studying if children under 12 should be taking them.

Don't believe, click on the headline and see the link yourself.

So why did they pull them? Because their independent research found the same thing the government's research found... THEY DON'T WORK!

Oh yeah and as the Food and Drug Administration added: "THERE IS DEFINITELY EVIDENCE OF SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS."

So next time you have a runny nose, take a kleenex and dab it dry. Don't blow, don't take cold medicine just let your body do what it does best... heal you.