Do you feel a sense of dread when you have to make a doctor’s appointment? Are you worried about being brushed off or misunderstood by your providers? The healthcare system is flawed, and it can be intimidating to find caring professionals who will listen to your concerns.

If your fear of doctors is scarier than the potentially dangerous condition you need to address, this outlines some ways you can practice self-advocacy and take more control of your healthcare management.

Natural lifestyle remedies are a great addition to add to your daily life.

• Chiropractic
• Tai chi
• Yoga
• Art and music therapy
• Pet therapy
• Psychotherapy
• Massage
• Meditation
• Exercise

Dealing with chronic pain

There is no one-stop cure for Chronic pain but the condition can be managed using a combination of therapies that work best for you. You can try different things and listen to your body and make it something active.

It is known that physical pain can trigger emotional pain. Chronic pain is known to increase stress so using emotional skills can help you cope with additional stress related to your condition.

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Your body is made to stand straight. This is why you start getting back and neck pain when you slouch and keep your head down, staring at your phone or tablet. Bad posture leads to your back becoming rounded and puts stress and strain on your spine.

Our internal organs were meant to function in a body that sits and stands straight as well as opening your chest to allow you to breathe properly. With all the reasons that it’s important to stand and sit straight, it’s time now to start thinking about good posture.

Start Now to Improve Your Posture

Good posture is a position in which your body is in alignment and well-balanced. To maintain good posture, your shoulders, ears, hips, and ankles should be aligned, while your head should be balanced upright on top of your spine. Your feet should be flat on the floor with your weight evenly distributed on both legs while your knees are comfortable and slightly bent. It’s important to keep from leaning forward or backward.

When your shoulders are properly held back, you’re opening your chest, allowing you to breathe more easily and effectively giving yourself more energy and reducing your chances for stress and anxiety.

Your doctor can help you get moving again

Exercise and physical activity are great for your mental and physical health and help keep you independent as you age. Here are a few things you may want to keep in mind when beginning to exercise.

This month's blog article is from Kaiser Permanente. Anybody interested in learning more about our nutrition and weight loss programs can contact us at our email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A healthy weight is a weight that lowers your risk for health problems. For most people, body mass index (BMI) and waist size are good ways to tell if they are at a healthy weight.

But reaching a healthy weight isn't just about reaching a certain number on the scale or a certain BMI. Having healthy eating and exercise habits is very important.

If you want to get to a healthy weight and stay there, healthy lifestyle changes will work better than dieting. Reaching a certain number on the scale is not as important as having a healthy lifestyle.

Exercise is such a great prescription for better health that many times we just want to keep going with it. But pain with exercise is very common and it’s a topic that comes up in discussion in my office with my patients and their continued CHIROPRACTIC care.

Having over 3 years of experience as a master-level personal trainer in addition to my chiropractic training has helped me to determine when it’s important to listen to pain signals from your body when working out.

Certain kinds of pain can be normal when performing exercises, but they need to be specified, as pain is a broad concept, and is different to each person. Things like exhaustion, discomfort, and soreness in recovery are very normal with vigorous workouts. The degree of any of these types of pain is important to monitor and should be something for each individual to determine if it’s normal for their experience.

For example, a long-distance runner is going to be able to run many miles and be ok with the soreness afterwards but that would not be right for someone just starting out, especially if they are older. However, if that long distance runner suddenly notices an increase in the amount of their normal day to day pains related to exercise that would be a signal to get it checked out.

Yoga and meditation are great for people of all ages, including senior citizens and their caregivers. In fact, there are a variety of techniques that can be especially helpful to seniors, whether they are a beginner or an expert. Courtesy of Healthways Medical Group, here are some specific ways that yoga and meditation can benefit senior citizens and their caregivers.

Strengthens Bones

For those with osteoporosis or with low bone density, yoga can help strengthen bones through the following ways:

• Helps to slow bone thinning
• Reduces the overall risk of osteoporosis (especially with postmenopausal women)
• Helps to stall or reverse symptoms of bone weakening
• Prevents fractures through improved posture and agility

The value of eating well, daily physical activity, and getting adequate sleep can't be understated as ways to help achieve health and well-being. Your hair, skin, eyes, heart, joints, and muscles will thank you for choosing nutritious food and consuming enough healthy liquids to stay hydrated. Here are some tips to help you look and feel your best.

Eat Better

Nutrition experts recommend eating a variety of nutrient-dense foods every day, including fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins, and whole grains. These foods contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, and substances to help your body fight diseases and function at its best.

The perimeter of your grocery store is where you can find healthier foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, poultry, seafood, meats without added salt, and frozen vegetables and fruits with no added sugar, salt, or fat. Filling your shopping cart with healthy options will help you plan and prepare meals that both taste good and are good for you. For example, whole grain cereal or homemade oatmeal are powerhouse breakfasts, while a vegetable frittata or yogurt with fresh fruit make for a great lunch.

Some people find it challenging to create an optimal nutrition plan. If you need help outlining a better approach, connect with an experienced nutritionist who can develop and customize a healthy eating plan that fits your lifestyle and health needs.

This month's article is about the importance of potassium in your diet as discussed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.

The Role of Potassium and Sodium in Your Diet

Potassium and sodium are electrolytes that help your body maintain fluid and blood volume so it can function normally. However, consuming too little potassium and too much sodium can raise your blood pressure.

Though the words “salt” and “sodium” are often used interchangeably, they do not mean the same thing. Salt (also known as its chemical name, sodium chloride) is a crystal-like compound that is common in nature. Sodium is a mineral, and one of the chemical elements found in salt.

Potassium is found in vegetables, fruit, seafood, and dairy products. Most of the sodium Americans eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought, and restaurant foods. Only a small amount comes from salt added during cooking or at the table.

Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA) is the most common plant-derived omega-3, and the building block for other omega-3s in our body. Only about 3-6% of what we consume is converted to other important longer chain omega-3s like EPA and DHA which are important to health maintenance and disease prevention.

Amongst plant-based sources, Ahiflower is the richest source at 18-20%. All ALA humans consume is converted to SDA before being converted into other omega-3s, so our bodies are very familiar with it. Consuming SDA from plants is the most efficient way to boost your overall omega-3 and, unlike ALA, approximately 30-40% of SDA gets converted to other important longer chain omegas.

Our bodies can make all of these very long-chain omega-3s by ingesting SDA and to a lesser extent, ALA. Collectively they produce compounds to support a healthy inflammatory response and they are associated with improved cognition, joint, skin, immune health, and cardiovascular health.

For women who are trying to gracefully transition into later stages of life, the sheer number of diet options are dizzying — and not all of them are good for your health.

Many women over 50 are looking for diets to support heart or brain function, help control menopause symptoms, or boost their overall health.

The diets in this article were chosen based on the following criteria:

• Easy to follow. Aside from offering clear guidelines and simple shopping lists, the diet doesn’t require supplements.
• Adaptable. You can make changes according to your personal preferences and nutritional needs.
• Not overly restrictive. You won’t need to eliminate large groups of foods from your eating plan.
• Nutritionally balanced. You’ll eat plenty of healthy fats and protein, plus quality carb sources and micronutrients.
• Evidence-based. Scientific studies back the diet’s health benefits.

As a practicing chiropractor for over 20 years, I have encountered countless patients suffering from chronic migraine headaches. Migraine sufferers are very common, and it is a condition that can cause great disability creating loss of work, loss of ability to enjoy life, etc. Migraines can be very painful and extremely unpleasant. Migraine sufferers often need pain medicine to reduce symptoms if they are severe.

Many of the patients I have seen for migraines were very excited to try something new, all-natural, and did not require drugs. Well, I am glad to say that even after 12 years at our current location, I still see some of the same patients that suffer from migraines and they report that although they still get migraines, incidents are less often, less severe and they have less need for medicines. This is good news for people suffering from migraines that have never tried chiropractic manipulation!

This months blog article has been submitted to us by our friends at Arash Law Injury Lawyers. 

Every year, at least two million Americans are injured due to traffic accidents. Car accidents can happen to anyone. No matter how careful you are on the road, you can't tell whether the motorist beside you is just as responsible as you are.

Being involved in a car accident causes a lot of stress and pain for the people involved. Victims are often faced with expensive medical bills and serious injuries that may take time to heal. As a result, they may be unable to return to work for a while recovering.

Some victims would choose to ignore their symptoms or shake them off in fear of dealing with expensive medical bills or complicated paperwork. However, it can be harmful in the long run to ignore your symptoms regardless of how minor you think your injuries are.

While it may be tempting to dismiss this discomfort as something that will eventually go away on its own when this does not happen, it may be necessary to consult a chiropractor. Going to a chiropractor after a car accident will assist you in determining the source of your pain and whether or not you require additional treatment.

Knee pain is a common condition that people will experience in their lifetime. Although it is not known to decrease life span, it can affect lifestyle and overall health by limiting a person’s ability to do exercise, be active and enjoy their mobility.

The most common knee pain related to aging is caused by osteoarthritis, which is a condition that causes a progressive wearing down of the cartilage in the knee joint. It is more common in people over the age of 50.

The condition can also be seen in people who are younger for multiple reasons such as if they had trauma to their knee, caused a lot of wear and tear to the knee as with rigorous activities like soccer or repetitive kneeling.

It can also be due to genetics and it is more common with people who are obese.

Fats are a macronutrient (a large group of consumed nutrients) known to provide energy in the human diet. Fats are dense calorie-rich sources of long-term stored energy found in plants and animals.

Fats provide many essential roles in survival. To name a few, they provide extra insulation around tissues and also provide thermal protection.

However, there are many human diseases in modern society that are related to excess fats in the diet. This article is meant to get a simple understanding of fats found in the diet and look at their importance.