You Can Be Skinny and Unhealthy

Most people take a very superficial look at their body and determine whether it is healthy or not. They look in the mirror, at the scale, and at their pants size and decide if they are in need of physical improvement or not. We all cognitively know that weight is not the sole determining factor in our health, and yet we continue to rely unrealistically heavily on it. Even medical doctors rely heavily on the BMI scale to tell if a person is considered to be healthy. They check blood pressure, pulse, respiration, height and weight, look for presenting symptoms of illness, and decide whether to give you a clean bill of health or not. “Lose a little bit of weight and you’ll be back in balance.”

I’m about to burst your bubble. Ready? Here’s a bit of news for you: You can be skinny and unhealthy. Your BMI, your blood pressure, your pulse, and your respiration are all good things to know, and they can certainly tell you a thing or two about the state of your health. What they cannot tell you, however, are many things that severely affect the way your body functions.

They cannot tell you about the toxicity levels of your fat cells. They cannot tell you about your adrenal function (indeed, there is no medical test to determine the function level of the adrenals). These tests cannot tell you about your heavy metal toxicity or how nourished with iodine your thyroid is. It cannot tell you about the integrity of your gut lining or whether you get enough vitamin D.

Furthermore, you can be skinny - and very fit - yet have high toxicity accumulating in your liver. Or people with perfectly healthy BMI’s, good blood pressure, and regular pulses can have severe leaky gut and not know it.

Let’s reorient our definition of health. When you focus on being fully healthy - truly healthy - your weight will come down as a result of good decisions. Do a detox twice a year. Get adjusted. Take proper amounts of iodine. Get some sunshine every day. Eat a plant based diet.

Yes your blood pressure will come into balance and your pulse will regulate. On top of that, you’ll be healthier.

And as an added bonus, you’ll likely lose weight as you pursue health. 

The Importance of Postpartum Planning

These days, modern expectant parents are overloaded with information when it comes to childbirth. They attend childbirth classes, read books about what labor will be like, they hire a birth doula, and they practice labor skills. They can spend hours researching options for their birth plan... and they should! The birth process is so important!

Then the baby arrives. Now what? Now parents are befuddled. What’s the plan now? What do we do now that baby is here? There needs to be as much attention given to postpartum planning as there is for birth planning.  

Now, it’s important to note that some things can not be planned. For instance, you cannot plan what temperament your baby will have. You can't know which breastfeeding positions your baby will latch the best with for the first 6 weeks. You can not plan which type of pacifier you are going to need because you don't know which one the baby is going to take - or if they are going to take one at all!

However, what you can plan is an environment that caters to you having time to figure out all of these things. This is where postpartum planning comes in.

The first several postpartum weeks should be focused on spending time with your baby. This is a sensitive time where you both recover from birth and learn how to breastfeed.  You get to know your baby's personality. You might even take out a comfortable baby carrier and put baby in it for a walk around the block. You catch up on some sleep, and heal from birth. Your first several weeks at home with baby should NOT be full of of demands and stress. "Have I eaten today? Who is coming to see the baby today? Is the house a mess? Have I showered in a week?”

What all moms need is a postpartum plan, so here are a few simple things you can do to plan for the postpartum period.

1.) Hire a postpartum doula. The postpartum doula is a professional that cares for a new family as they transition during the postpartum period. Her expertise is in helping and affirming new mothers, and creating an environment where moms can relax, heal, and just be with their new baby.

2.)  Before birth, go through your house while you do regular chores and make a "how-to" list for each of them.  What one specific chore makes you feel like the house is in order? Where do you store your bathroom and kitchen cleaning supplies? Where do you store all of your bath towels? Is your washing machine easy to use or does it require a few special instructions?  Where is the extra dishwashing soap? Take your instructions, along with a list of chores that need to be done on a regular basis and put them on the fridge. Then, when you have visitors that want to see you and the new baby, they have ready instructions for how to help you out.

3.) Make extra meals during your pregnancy and place them in the freezer.  When you cook dinner during the last few months of pregnancy, cook a double sized batch, and freeze half of it. Crock pot meals are especially helpful since they are so simple.

4.)  Set very clear boundaries about visiting times. This is a time for you to focus on recovering from birth, resting, and bonding with your new baby. It is NOT the time to be entertaining. Set visiting hours and communicate them clearly to your family and friends what their allowed visiting times are.

5.)  Have a trusted friend or family member organize a meal train for you. There are many different ways to do this.  Some people will use a free website like www.mealtrain.com or something similar. Others will organize one on their own. With a meal train, you have the first several weeks - or longer - of dinners covered. Then when friends and family come to drop off your dinner, they can also help with chores because you have a list on the fridge!

6.)  Be flexible.  It's tempting to speculate during pregnancy what the postpartum time is going to be like. You cannot fully understand what it’s like to help a new tiny person adjust to life outside the womb. It never goes exactly how we think, so be ready for unexpected changes.

Having a baby is the biggest life change you’ll ever experience. Plan to give your baby and yourself as much rest, grace, and attention as possible for several months after birth.

Healthy Travel Tips

Summer is the time for travel, sunshine, beaches, and fun. But all that travel can often times cause stress - and when there is stress, sickness is too quick to follow. Nothing is worse than planning a week of relaxation, only to spend it feeling crummy. So here are some travel health tips for your summer vacation.

1. Plan Ahead.  The worst thing you can do to your health when traveling is to find yourself hungry in the middle of nowhere, and resort to convenience store food. Bring a cooler in the car with you full of healthy snacks from the grocery store (or your garden!) from home. If you are flying, pack snacks in your purse or travel bag that will help you resist the temptation to grab quick and easy food. In addition, planning ahead is better on the budget.
2. Stock up on Vitamin C. For a few days prior to leaving, stay away from too much sugar (see below), and do a little immune support. Pack some Emergen-C along with your healthy snacks and mix one into your water bottle on the go.
3. Eat healthy snacks. This is actually not as difficult as it sounds. Pack bananas, carrot sticks, packs of almond butter, dried fruits, hummus, and lunch meat to graze on in the car, airplane, or hotel.
4. Avoid sugar. This one requires some planning, but it’s vitally important - not just when traveling, but all year round. Drink water instead of soda, and eat fruit instead of sugary pre - packaged snacks. Read my blog about sugar for more information. Sugar is the worst thing you can do to your immune system, so avoid it as much as you can.
5. Get some good sleep. An unfamiliar bed can be a nuisance, and it can be tempting to stay up late for all hours of the night catching up with friends and family. But lack of sleep is killer on the immune system, and the last thing you want is to spend the entire trip sleeping - because you got sick.
6. Get adjusted before you go. Plan a wellness visit before you leave on vacation. A single chiropractic adjustment can increase your immune function by 200%. Increase your odds of optimal immune function by getting a quick wellness adjustment in the days before you leave.
7. Don’t overbook yourself. It’s tempting to fit all the fun things available into your short time off, but overdoing it can be stressful, leaving you needing a “vacation from your vacation.”
8. Practice extra careful hygiene. This should be done every day, not just when vacationing. However, extra care should be taken with little ones when you are in a new place. Small hands like to touch things, and that can be a little extra risky when you are out and about on vacation.
9. Get some sunshine. Read my post about the sunshine vitamin: vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for optimal immune function, and fortunately it’s easy to come by on vacation!

Enjoy your summer - it always goes way too fast! Make sure to take extra steps to support your health while you do so.

How Do You Define Health?

Most people on any given day would define health by saying something to the the effect of: “I feel fine, therefore I’m healthy.” Conversely, when they are lying in bed with a  fever, they would say: “Oh man I’m so sick.”

Neither of these definitions of health and sickness are necessarily accurate. Let’s revisit this. What if we define health through a lens other than our “feeling” on any given day? After all, are “feelings” ever an accurate description of one’s actual health status?

Try this on for size. Let’s redefine health by saying this: if our bodies are functioning optimally, we are healthy. That makes sense now, doesn’t it? Our bodies were designed with very careful and deliberate functions. When those function cease to operate, that is when we really get sick.

So what does this look like on a daily basis? Let’s say you get the flu. Your fever spikes to 103, your throat hurts, and you’ve got a nasty cough. You’re sick.

Except you’re not. Your body is working perfectly to get rid of that virus.

What would happen if you got that flu virus and your body did NOT respond to it with fever (kills viruses and bacteria), increased white blood cells (sore throat), and mucous extraction (cough)? Friend, you’d be very VERY sick if your immune system did not respond to a virus. In fact, you likely wouldn’t survive. The fact that your body is responding to a threat - even though you feel miserable - means that it’s actually functioning optimally: it’s HEALTHY!

Now, let’s say that you are “feeling fine,” but you go for a checkup to find that you have cancer. All this time you’ve felt normal, but your immune system is out of control (which is the essence of cancer… that’s for another post.) Your body is not functioning optimally, so you are sick.

Doesn’t it make sense then, to focus your own health efforts on supporting your body’s various functioning systems?

So how do you support your body to function optimally? Or, better stated, “How can you be healthy?”

The good news? This is not news. You know the answer. You eat whole foods, exercise, get some sunshine, get adjusted, make sure to get enough sleep, reduce your stress, and avoid toxin exposure. (Each of these deserves its own post, so make sure to keep an eye on my blog for upcoming related topics.) A healthy lifestyle does not come in a pill - nobody ever got a headache for a lack of Advil.

A final thought. Your body is your own. You alone bear the consequences of what you do to it. Your doctor doesn’t, so it’s up to you to make the best decisions for you. “As you sow, so shall you reap”, as the parable goes. Taking personal responsibility for your health is a tremendous empowering gift - one that needs to be taken seriously. Fortunately, you already know how to do it. You already know how to be healthy. Now, just do it.

Use your BRAIN(ED)

In regards to modern childbirth, women have more choices than ever before in history.  We have high tech capabilities, surgical interventions, low tech labor options, pharmacological (drug) interventions, pain medications, augmentation abilities, natural remedies, and other options that can be used to help manage the various of labor and birth.

With all the options, a birthing family can get easily overwhelmed with the sheer number of options. Quality childbirth education is so important in understanding the options available to you.  Even with a solid foundation of knowledge, every family is going to have their own path to walk as they navigate their labor and birth.  How a family prioritizes their preferences and options - both for birth and for baby care - is going to be completely unique to them.

When navigating labor and birth, a mother will need to make many choices. Having a simple but effective way to weigh the risks and benefits to help navigate labor is of tremendous benefit.  So when you are faced with a decision in labor, remember to use your B.R.A.I.N.(E.D.) (Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Intuition, Nothing, Evidence, Decision)

What does that mean, and how does it look in application?  Let’s say you are in labor and your provider suggests augmentation (speeding up labor) with the drug pitocin. You can go through this list so you can be fully aware as you move forward with your decision. Remember, each situation is going to be different, and the reasons to move forward with a decision or not are unique to you.

Benefits - What are the benefits to using this particular intervention at this time? How will it change my doctor or midwife’s approach to my care?  What outcome are we hoping to achieve with starting this intervention? What benefit will we have as a result of using this intervention that we currently are not experiencing or seeing?

Risks - What are the risks associated with using this particular option?  In his instance, explain the risks that the use of pitocin carries and its effects on both mom and baby.  

Alternatives - What can we use instead of pitocin that will give us the same effect? What are their risks and benefits? If you want to, are there natural remedies you can try first?  For example, what about nipple stimulation?  Can the mom walk around on the labor and delivery floor a while to try and move things along instead?

Intuition - Mom, what does your intuition tell you about moving forward with this course of action?  Never - NEVER - underestimate your gut feeling.  Your intuition is stronger than you think and it is prudent to heed it's warnings and follow it, especially in labor.

Nothing - What happens if we choose to do nothing? If you choose not to move forward with augmentation with pitocin, what is going to happen and are these guaranteed outcomes? As long as both mom and baby are doing fine, sometimes doing nothing is actually the safest option. This requires some patience, but many times it’s worth it.

Evidence - What does the scientific evidence say about this option?  For instance,  augmentation with pitocin is supported by evidence after a woman's water has been broken for 18 hours.  It is not supported for a woman whose progress isn’t following the Friedman's curve (1 cm / hour, which is what many hospitals still require despite its many flaws).  What reason is your provider giving for wanting to go down this particular path and is it supported by evidence?

Decision - What is your final decision?  Own it. The consequences of this decision, both good and bad, lie with you alone. If you choose to have pitocin and it leads down the common path of necessitating further intervention and possible complication, ultimately you and your baby are the ones that are going to be living with that decision.  Your doctor or midwife are not, your doula is not, and your husband or partner sometimes is not. The responsibility for the decision you make needs to be yours alone. You can move forward with as much confidence as possible after carefully and deliberately weighing all the factors at hand.

The BRAIN(ED) acronym can be applied to each decision in your pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum time.  For instance, you can use it to decide if you want to move forward with artificial rupture of the membranes (breaking the waters), induction, cesarean, or even an epidural.  

There is no such thing as a "textbook" labor. Birth is a very individual experience for each person. Each situation is different in the way a labor progresses, the priorities that a family places on values, and the way those two things come together as a baby is being born.  There are not necessarily any wrong choices in birth - just make sure that your decisions are fully informed ones.  

The Sunshine Vitamin

Summer is here and that means most people are rejoicing at the arrival of the refreshing warm weather - particularly the sunshine! The good news? Sunshine is WONDERFUL for your health. The bad news? Most people will tell you otherwise.

Sun exposure produces vitamin D in our bodies, and that is why it is called the sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D - which is actually a hormone rather than a vitamin - is not only beneficial, it is of utmost importance for many aspects of our health and well being. Yet we as a society are told to run away from the sun, hide ourselves from exposure of any kind, and to slather our skin in sunscreen in order to protect our fragile health. When we do this, however, we are denying our bodies one of the most important tools necessary for overall health. One can supplement vitamin D through vitamin D pills, but pills do not always act the same way in the body. The purest form of vitamin D comes the natural way: through the skin.

Vitamin D is crucial to our immune function. Vitamin D decreases the incidence of viral respiratory infections. It's said, for example, to provide powerful protection against colds and flu. Some theorize that the reason “cold and flu season” takes place during the winter months is because we are not exposed to enough sunshine during that time and we are naturally vitamin D deficient.

Vitamin D is a powerful anti-cancer agent. This is contrary to modern medical thinking which says that UV exposure causes cancer. Healthy, moderate sun exposure will provide you with the cancer fighting properties of vitamin D, but it’s important not to overdo it to the point that you burn your skin.

On that note, here’s a word about sunscreen. Many sunscreens are full of known carcinogens. So when you use a regular sunscreen, you are preventing your body from getting vitamin D as well as providing your body with known cancer-causing chemicals. If you want to protect yourself from too much sun so as to not get burned, consider a natural sunscreen or moderate your exposure by covering up lightly or staying in the shade as much as possible. Avoiding conventional sunscreens is generally a good idea.

Regular sun exposure also helps regulate your hormones and sleeping cycles through the pineal gland, which is very sensitive to light. Melatonin is produced by this gland and it is an important antioxidant with cancer-fighting abilities. Daily UV exposure helps keep your pineal gland functioning optimally, providing you with the benefit of both melatonin and vitamin D.

To get enough vitamin D, you don’t need extensive time in the sun. Simply 20-30 minutes once a day in the sun while wearing shorts and a t-shirt will provide most people with the health benefits of vitamin D. During winter months, supplementation is an acceptable substitute, but as soon as you are able to get in the sun again, jump right in - and enjoy your summer in the sun!

Breech Babies

The normal way for a baby to be born is head first, and generally speaking it’s also the safest. Not all babies play by the rules, however, and many are not head down at the end of pregnancy. Babies can be in a couple different positions if they are not head down. When a baby is facing side to side, they are said to be transverse. If their bottom is down ready to come out first, this is called the breech position.

It is possible for a baby to be born breech, though most physicians are not trained in handling a vaginal breech birth. Breech birth requires specialized training and with a skilled care provider it can be perfectly fine. Most of the time however, a baby whose position is breech at the end of pregnancy will be scheduled for a cesarean.

Nobody knows why some babies turn breech. Whatever the reason, moms and those who work with pregnant women have every trick in the book for trying to turn a breech baby.

• Some will sit in an inverted position (bottom in the air, chest on the ground) for as long as they can stand it.
• Some will place warmth at the bottom of their bellies and ice packs at the top to encourage baby’s head to move toward the comfort of the warmth.
• Some OB/GYNs are trained in a procedure called external version in which a doctor will attempt to manually turn a baby from the outside.
• Chinese medicine uses a tool called moxibustion which places heat at the end of the toes on acupuncture points.
• Some beg and plead with their babies to turn!
• Some will simply wait for labor to start because many times babies will turn in labor.

Each method will work for someone somewhere. Some babies are committed to being breech and others are easily encouraged to turn.

An often under-utilized method of turning a breech baby is seeing the chiropractor. Chiropractic has an extremely effective method of turning breech babies and it called the Webster Technique. In short, the Webster technique releases tension in the pelvis. It gives the baby more room to have an opportunity to turn. The Webster Technique is so effective that it is said to turn babies who are either transverse or breech to a head down position in over 80% of cases. There are no risks involved so it's a perfectly healthy way to try to turn a baby.

Chiropractic care and spinningbabies.com can prevent a baby from going into a breech position. But if you find yourself in this position, you want to avoid a cesarean, and you want to turn your baby prior to birth, do all the things! And make sure you see a chiropractor that is certified in Webster Technique, such as myself.