How about a workout program where the objective is for you to reach a point where the air around you feels like water and being in your body becomes effortless?  Sound great?  This is the workout program Dr. Katie Griffin follows and it’s available here in Santa Cruz.  Here’s a description of . . . → Read More: A Workout Designed to Build Fluidity of Movement]]> By Deric Stockton – owner/trainer 

How about a workout program where the objective is for you to reach a point where the air around you feels like water and being in your body becomes effortless?  Sound great?  This is the workout program Dr. Katie Griffin follows and it’s available here in Santa Cruz.  Here’s a description of what that kind of program looks like.

The program is called CoreStrengthRX and it’s built on a paradigm of eustress, not distress.  The objective is for super-compensation from a workout, not break down of the system.

The first step starts with CoreFLOW(tm), which teaches you to relax, oxygenate, and communicate with your body during passive mobility.  Spine-based movements over a foam roller, contra-lateral relaxation, and self-active release therapies are just a few of the integrative modalities you use.

SymetriCORE(tm) is an alignment-based training program, geared towards teaching you how your body has developed functional and structural compensations and uneven movement patterns.  Mid-line proprioception, bi-lateral equalization, and hip flexion are just a few concepts you learn to incorporate into your workout program while increasing your anaerobic condition.

Once your body begins to achieve harmony between your structural, muscular, and nervous systems… it is possible to begin the CoreStrength part of the program.  You’ll be working in all energy systems… oxidative, glycolytic, and phosphagens.  And you’ll focus on developing absolute strength, by developing many specific strengths such as relative-strength, speed-strength, and maximal-strength (to name just a few).

The net result of the CoreStrengthRX workout program is a fluid body of strength, not a tight, dense body that is prone to injury and “locking up”.  The objective is for your body to achieve “Physical Buoyancy”.  This is a state where the air around you feels like water, and being in your body becomes effortless.

You can experience this kind of training at CoreStrengthRX and get in shape and stronger because of your health… not despite it.

It starts in the mid-thirties and between the ages of 50-70.  If you have this condition you can lose 30% of your muscle mass, leading to frailty, falls, fractures, and hospitalizations.  Unfortunately, walking is not . . . → Read More: Sarcopenia: Saving Your Precious Muscle]]> Sarcopenia is not exotic Italian pasta.  Unlike osteopenia, which affects mostly women, sarcopenia affects everyone enjoying a modern day lifestyle of ease.

It starts in the mid-thirties and between the ages of 50-70.  If you have this condition you can lose 30% of your muscle mass, leading to frailty, falls, fractures, and hospitalizations.  Unfortunately, walking is not enough to stop the problem.

The good news is you can stop and reverse the process.  All you have to do is lift weights to fatigue.  If this is something you haven’t done before, then just find a pro to help you!  They can tailor a program for any level and make it easy for you to get started.

Reversing the condition can take four months of serious exercising.  Take action now so it’s easy to continue enjoying your life.  And…you can start at any age.

Talk to your doctor about sarcopenia and if they say it has a high glycemic index look for a new doctor.

Lifting weights is also good for your brain.

For more information, Nutrition Action Saving Muscle April 2007 article from the Nutrition Action Health Letter, April 2007.

Doing these fun activities too much commonly causes inflammation.  Often when patients have pain in their muscles, achy joints, or swollen joints, then they also have excess inflammation.

The inflammatory response . . . → Read More: Inflammation From Too Much Santa Cruz Fun?]]> Have you been surfing too many big waves in Santa Cruz?  Dancing too many Zumba classes? Lots of golfing or tennis in our beautiful Monterey Bay area?

Doing these fun activities too much commonly causes inflammation.  Often when patients have pain in their muscles, achy joints, or swollen joints, then they also have excess inflammation.

The inflammatory response in our bodies is a normal healing response to wounds and injuries.  But when it becomes too much inflammation actually contributes to disease, including arthritis and painful, achy muscles.

An easy, safe, effective treatment is to take enzymes orally.  The most common enzyme for the musculoskeletal system is Wobenzym.  You can read about this enzyme in a great book called Aspirin Alternative by Michael Loes, M.D.  Wobenzym is sold at many health food stores or online at CheapVitamins.com.

Wobenzym acts quickly, effectively, and safely.  Many many patients I have recommended taking Wobenzym have reported surprisingly positive results for a wide variety of aches and pains.

You can follow the instructions on the bottle: 3 tablets, 3x/day, away from food for effective results.  But you can safely take more: many patients routinely take up to 5 at a time, with or without food.  It works.  There are other enzymes that are effective in the same way.  Celedrin is one.  But Wobenzym is the one I have the most experience with.  Check it out!

I was taking a free 6-week nutrition class, along with some other physicians and chiropractors in Santa Cruz, as a project for interns at Bauman College in Santa Cruz. (I’m going to host another free one for those of you that are interested . . . → Read More: The Dramatic Healing Power of Nutrition]]> This fall I had a powerful personal experience of the healing potential of nutrition.

I was taking a free 6-week nutrition class, along with some other physicians and chiropractors in Santa Cruz, as a project for interns at Bauman College in Santa Cruz. (I’m going to host another free one for those of you that are interested — please sign up at Free Weekly Nutrition Class for more information if you’d like to participate).

During three weeks of the class I had a lingering cold.  We happened to then have the weekly session topic on protein and the impact it has on our energy.   I decided to shore up my protein intake on my vegetarian diet by doubling it with both white beans and also quorn – a low calorie high protein non-soy product.  I started that doubling per day on Sunday of that week – by Friday I was completely well!  I had a tremendous amount of energy and I was also happier.  After thinking about all this and doing some research I uncovered the following information to explain this:

Protein is a key ingredient in our white blood cells – they are the ones that fight disease and infection.  Protein is also a key ingredient in neurotransmitters – those chemical messengers that are in our brain.  When neurotransmitters are functioning well, we’re happier.

This is not to say that eating more protein than you need is going to supercharge you.  Instead this is about eating the right amount of protein – something we may not be doing well, especially if using a vegetarian diet.

Clearly, I was getting only half of what I needed.  I determined how much I needed by using this formula from the worksheet I received in the class:

To calculate daily maintenance protein needs in grams for a ‘normal’ healthy person:

For a person who weighs 180 pounds:

(180/2.2) * .8  =  65 grams

In summary, divide your weight by 2.2, then multiply that by .8, then you will have your answer in grams.

Source: Bauman, E. (2010).  Foundations of Nutrition: NC105: Micronutrients.  Penngrove, CA: Bauman College Press.

You can find information about the number of grams of protein in a variety of foods on about.com’s high protein foods list.

Remember to sign up for information about the Free Nutrition Class I’ll be hosting in my office.  Dates and times are to be determined according to the availability of the interns from Bauman who will be both leading the class and giving each of us nutritional counseling.