Spinach often conjures up images of parents forcing their children to eat a pile of mushy green slop. It was with good reason too. Calorie for calorie, spinach provides more nutrients than any other food and therefore should find a way into everyone’s diet.

Spinach contains at least 13 discovered compounds that act as antioxidants and anti-cancer agents, which help protect against osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer, and arthritis. Moreover, the vitamin E and the antioxidant compounds are known to decrease free radicals in the brain and protect against age – related decline in mental function. Spinach also contains lutein which is a compound that protects against age – related eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts.

Spinach is best eaten fresh because it retains all of the nutrients that are lost when cooked or processed. In addition, raw spinach has a much milder taste than cooked spinach. So, not only was Popeye making himself strong by eating spinach, he was protecting his heart, colon, and bones. Pretty smart after all.

If you read my other article on soda pop and thought, “it’s a good thing I drink diet soda,” this article is for you. There is a very common and dangerous misconception that diet soda is better for you than just plain soda. Through mass marketing, soda companies have convinced the public that low or no calorie diet soda is a healthier alternative. However, this healthy alternative isn’t so healthy after all. Multiple studies have shown that the artificial sweeteners used in diet soda can stimulate your appetite, increase your carbohydrate cravings, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In addition to gaining weight, artificial sweeteners can pose real life dangers.

One common diet soda sweetener is aspartame (NutraSweet). Aspartame is a known neurotoxin (toxic to brain cells) and can cause many side effects such as birth defects, brain tumors, diabetes, emotional disorders, and epilepsy. Sucralose (Splenda), another sugar substitute, is not much safer. Animal studies have demonstrated that sucralose can cause a decrease in red blood cells, increase male infertility, and cause brain tumors. The bottom line is that you may be saving calories by drinking diet soda laced with artificial sweeteners but at the cost of eating more and ingesting chemicals with dangerous side effects. Drink water…it’s safer than soda (carbonated sugar water) and diet soda (dangerous carbonated chemical water).

Some call it soda, some call it pop, nevertheless, it’s slowly stripping years off of your life. Soda accounts for more than a quarter of all drinks consumed in the U.S. with a heavy portion consumed by kids. Roughly 60% of private and public middle schools sell soda in their cafeteria with a large number giving them away to students who purchase their lunch. Soda companies, much like cigarette companies, discovered that marketing to children can create lifelong soda drinkers. This is evident by the statistical fact found on Mercola.com, “fifty-six percent of 8-year-olds down soft drinks daily, and a third of teenage boys drink at least three cans of soda pop per day.”

What can soda do to a healthy person? Harvard researchers discovered that for every serving of soda, the risk of obesity goes up 1.6 times. In addition to the cavities caused by the large amounts of sugar in soda, the acids begin to strip tooth enamel within 20 minutes of taking one sip. The phosphoric acid content in soda leaches calcium from bones. Since calcium is the “cement” of bones structure, without it the bones become very porous and weak. Additionally, the caffeine found in many sodas is a stimulant that can cause an addictive dependence as well as cause headaches, increase blood pressure and heart rate, and irritability. Maybe we should think twice before ingesting a substance that can loosen rusty bolts and clean the dirt from tile grout!

Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin is one of the greatest breakthroughs of our civilization. If not for this discovery, certain types of bacteria would undoubtedly get the best of us. However, as with most things, antibiotics fall under the category of “too much of a good thing is not good.” Currently antibiotics are being over utilized as a “cure all” for any sniffle, cough, or discolored mucus. This is a dangerous trend that creates drug resistant bacteria.

Bacteria, both good and bad, reside in our bodies usually posing very little problems. In fact, most common conditions (like colds, the flu, most coughs, bronchitis and sore throats) are caused by viruses which are routinely treated with prescription antibiotics despite their ineffectiveness on viruses. Bacteria are one of the fastest reproducing organisms in existence which enables them to easily mutate their genes to resist antibiotics. Therefore, over prescribed antibiotics will not only destroy beneficial bacteria in our bodies but weak bacteria, thus, leaving the drug resistant bacteria (super bugs) to reproduce. So, the next time you come down with a sniffle be judicious with your use of antibiotics. Strengthen your immune system instead with proper nutrition, adequate exercise, and optimal nerve function by getting chiropractic adjustments.

Spider monkeys in rival gangs do it. There are kits to show you how, books explain the benefits, and parties are hosted for it. Anyone can perform it on virtually anything. Some people do it to trees, teddy bears, real bears if one is ever so daring, and most importantly other people. The taboo was broken in the ‘60s and ’70s by the hippie movement and there is more than one way to do it. What am I talking about? Huggin of course!

The brilliant therapist Virginia Satir, once said “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.” Having a positive mental attitude and living a stress free life are imperative to living healthy and disease free. Studies introduced at the American Psychosomatic Society demonstrated that the simple but powerful hug lowered the blood pressure and heart rate of stressed individuals compared to those who did not receive hugs. These stress reducing attributes affected both the hugger and the huggee. Moreover, the best part of hugging is that it’s a great drug-free approach to reducing the harmful effects of stress without any side effects. Therefore, make sure you get your quota of hugs today and don’t forget Family Life Chiropractic is a FREE HUG ZONE.

Not all fats are created equal. Avocadoes contain Oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat which, for simplicity sake, is considered a “good fat.” Fats are classified as “good” or “bad” according to how they affect your cholesterol levels. In a seven day study that included avocadoes, participants were able to reduce their total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise their HDL (good) cholesterol by 11%. Low LDL levels and high HDL levels are important for cardiovascular health and to reduce your chances for heart disease and stroke. Avocadoes are also high in potassium and folate, a mineral and nutrient that aids in blood pressure control and heart health. If this scientific jargon has put you to sleep, just remember one thing, eating avocadoes is good for your heart health.