The program is called Ideal Protein. It was designed by a French medical doctor to reduce unwanted fat while maintaining muscle mass. It is not a hyper-protein diet, but it gives your body just the protein it needs to shed unwanted fat while keeping you feeling full. The company describes it as “The Last Diet you will ever need.” After trying the diet I believe that to be true.

Ideal Protein is a comprehensive protocol which involves vitamin supplementation, weekly complimentary meetings with your health coach, pre-packaged breakfast, lunch and evening snacks. You prepare you own dinner consisting of a lean protein of your choice and two cups of veggies. It is a really easy process that works!!

Men lose, on average 5-7 lbs per week and women lose 3-5 lbs per week. Yes, you read it right that’s per week, not per month. I was skeptical about this program working as they claim; so quickly and without me being hungry, but I tried it and its true. The first couple of days were tough but after my body went though the initial carb withdrawals I felt energized and not hungry. What impressed me about this program were its claims of fast results that could be reasonably maintained. Diet programs that I have tried in the past have been so slow that I would get discouraged and quit.

If you have any questions, or would like to get started, I would like to invite you to come to one of our Ideal Protein Open Houses to find out more.

We usually only think of the muscles when we exercise but we also have to remember our ligaments (which connect bone to bone), tendons (which connect muscle to bone), spinal column, peripheral joints and nervous system. All of these systems can be strengthened through exercise as long as the body is properly aligned.

The two most important factors in maintaining balance in the body are: symmetry while performing exercise, and Chiropractic adjustments to correct misalignments. When you use good form in exercise and your spine is in alignment, then the exercise strengthens the muscles and joints in an aligned state and grows them stronger. In addition, the adjustments strengthen nerve impulses to the muscles which have an inhibitory effect on pain pathways, helping us to stay with our programs.

So the next time you head to the gym, don’t forget to stop by my office and get your spine checked, and ask me about the exercises you are doing. It just might make the difference between winning or losing the exercise battle.

People have written pages and pages on this topic, so we are going to cover just a few of the basics. There is one thing you have to absolutely do if you want to live to be 100, and that is……… Don’t die! A look at the top ten leading causes of death reveals that 9 of them are preventable through lifestyle changes. A diet low in saturated fats, high in fruits and vegetables. Also 30 min of aerobic exercise a day does miracles for the body. Cardiovascular disease is high on the list, but luckily it is easy to fix: don’t eat greasy food, and exercise, exercise, exercise. Want to live longer? Get involved and stay connected with friends and family. People who live the longest lives have strong ties to family and stay involved. They are simply too busy to slow down.

So HFCS is chemically altered corn that keep our food fresh longer. What’s the problem with that? Well, as it turns out, multiple studies have documented the ill effects of this product so conclusively that it has been banned in Europe. HFCS has a heavy connection to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Apparently, the problem lies in how our bodies react to the substance. Unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance lepton production which makes it difficult for our bodies to regulate our appetite and increases fat storage. Lepton helps the brain to send the signal to stop eating, so without it we get full, but we don’t feel full. It makes our bodies physically crave this stuff, and it makes you wonder why you can’t eat just one.

A study was done by the US government which compared rats fed a glucose diet to rats fed HFCS and the results were disturbing. Male rats where affected the most; they did not reach adulthood, their testicles did not develop fully, and they had high cholesterol and enlarged hearts. Female rats fared a little better but could not produce live babies. Both sexes had fatty cirrhotic livers that looked like an alcoholic’s liver. Apparently, every cell in the body can metabolize glucose, but fructose must be metabolized in the liver.

The lists of bad effects of this stuff goes on and on, and yet the food industry in the United States disagrees and has even started a pro-HFCS campaign that you can see on TV. What is most infuriating to me is that this stuff is in its highest concentration in foods marketed to children. In our house we have started the process of trying to eliminate this stuff, although it is really hard to get rid of. It is in everything from vitamins to BBQ sauce, but the worst is soft drinks. So if you do nothing else, stop drinking soda, and that step alone will reduce your intake. No wonder that Coke tasted so good in Europe, or then again, maybe it was the great food, amazing architecture and beautiful art.