"Health Food" for thought...

A courtesy of Healing Touch Chiropractic and Dr. Gary Easter.
October, 2005  
 
As memory serves me.....   "As memory serves me" is a phrase I don't use often.  My memory is more like an unruly child who only listens half the time and never when I really need it to.  If the two offices of memory are said to be collection and distribution, then my collection dept. is over-zealous, collecting more details than I could want or need, and my distribution dept. is asleep at the helm.  I can seem to remember the most minute detail about a story I am telling my friends, but I can't seem to remember how many times I have told that story to that particular friend.   Lucky for me there is help in the form of one supplement I recommend for all my patients that are concerned about their health.  That supplement is Omega-3 fand 6 fatty acids.  More and more research is coming to light on the benefits of these fatty acids.  Among them are prevention of Alzheimer's Disease and boosting of memory and brain function in children as well as adults.    Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids are used for many things in the body including:
  • regulating pressure in the eye, joints, and blood vessels, and mediating immune response
  • regulating bodily secretions and their viscosity
  • dilating or constricting blood vessels
  • regulating collateral circulation
  • directing endocrine hormones to their target cells
  • regulating smooth muscles and autonomic reflexes
  • being primary constituents of cell membranes
  • regulating the rate of cell division
  • maintaining the fluidity and rigidity of cellular membranes
  • regulating the inflow and outflow of substances to and from cells
  • transporting oxygen from red blood cells to the tissues
  • maintaining proper kidney function and fluid balance
  • keeping saturated fats mobile in the blood stream
  • preventing blood cells from clumping together (blood clots that can be a cause of heart attack and stroke)
  • mediating the release of inflammatory substances from cells that may trigger allergic conditions
  • regulating nerve transmission and communication
  • If the diet is deficient in either omega-6 or omega-3 long-term degenerative illnesses will result.

For most of my patients, the anti-inflammatory properties of this supplement is a great help for the general arthritic pain they feel in the various joints of the body.  Another good side effect of this supplement is the retardation of atherosclerosis and prevention of Heart Disease which just happens to be one of the leading causes of death in America.The best way to get these nutrients is through eating fish, fish oil, or if you can't stomach that, flax seeds or flax seed oil.  Click here to view our online nutrition site and look for the supplement called "Essential Fatty Acid Support".One of my good friends has a "Survival of the Fittest" theory about brain cells.  In this theory drinking or smoking does kill brain cells, but only the slower brain cells, so the ones that are left by natural selection are inherently faster and stronger.  (NOTE: I said it was a THEORY not necessarily a good one.)

A much better way is supplementing your balanced diet with Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids.  The benefits of this go far beyond improved memory.

Laughter Therapy 

Lipstick at School   
 
According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.

That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers, and then there are educators...