August 16, 2017
August 11, 2017
July 29, 2017
The Importance of Breath
“For many people it seems difficult to believe that changing breathing patterns can have such significant impact on mental and physical health. Not to mention performance and recovery.
It is the lowest hangning fruit and very few poeple are picking it. Instead many are looking for complicated methods or become dependent of pharmaceuticals.”
– Paul Silfverstrale, Wudang Practical Tai Chi Chuan
Here is his recent Blog Post entitled Nasal Breathing: https://wudangtaichichuan.wordpress.com/2017/07/29/tai-chi-chuan-qi-nasal-breathing/
It compliments, perfectly, all that I have said on this Blog on the subject, including the very recent Post on mouth breathing (the problem).
July 26, 2017
July 24, 2017
The Fat Wars, by Dr. George Lundberg
This Post is something that I got from Medscape. I can’t just paste it here because you have to be registered on their site to get it. And, I am probably violating some promise to secrecy – or some internet copyright arrangement – so don’t tell anyone that you got it here.
That said, this is a useful example of forces behind “official” recommendations: it can be a mix of facts, fiction, and fantasy. But, because if comes from what is supposed to be a credible source, we tent to give it a lot of weight. (It falls under the “be careful who you listen to” category, as far as I am concerned.
It is also an example of how things can become very complicated, but they can also be simplified (at least I will offer what I consider a simple solution).
Here is the quote from Dr. Lundberg:
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
COMMENTARY
The Fat Wars
“Hello and welcome. I am Dr George Lundberg and this is At Large at Medscape. I am about to fix my dinner and I do not know what to eat. Can you help me?
You probably saw the official American Heart Association’s (AHA) “Presidential Advisory” on dietary fats and cardiovascular disease, by 12 distinguished authors.[1] It was published in the AHA’s own journal, Circulation, on June 15, 2017, with much public relations hoopla. The authors ignored the world literature and cherry-picked four studies they considered the best, and pronounced that lowering the intake of saturated fat, coupled with a higher intake of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, would reduce cardiovascular disease by about 30%.
Never mind that on March 18, 2014, a systematic review and meta-analysis[2] of many observational studies and clinical trials by six authors from Cambridge, England, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found no evidence that low consumption of total saturated fats and high consumption of polyunsaturated fats affected relative risks for coronary artery disease. Never mind that on Aug 12, 2015, 11 authors from Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, reported, in a systematic review and meta-analysis of many prospective cohort studies,[3] that intake of saturated fats was not associated with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, or type 2 diabetes, although trans fats, especially of industrial origin, were.
Once upon a time, in 1982, JAMA published an early paper by the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.[4] Back then, I was so naive that I believed that high serum cholesterol caused atherosclerosis.
David Cundiff is studying 19 different relative risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in 168 countries. They include consumption of animal products; refined carbohydrates; alcohol; tobacco; vitamin K2 intake; exercise level; body mass index; fasting blood sugar/hemoglobin A1c; blood pressure; medication for hypertension; cholesterol/HDL ratio; personal income; education level; gender; age; ethnicity; vitamin D level; air pollution; and fetal, infant, and childhood stress. That sounds pretty complicated. Results are published in Cureus.[5]
Finally, we have the great anecdotal case report of Fred Kummerow, who died on May 31, 2017.[6] Illinois professor Kummerow was born in Germany, moved to Wisconsin between the wars, and became a PhD biochemist. He never did believe much about cholesterol, saturated fats, eggs, meat, and butter having anything to do with heart disease. But from 1957 on, his research demonstrated big-time vascular damage from trans fats, margarine, and fried foods.[7,8] Four hundred Kummerow research papers later, the US Food and Drug Administration finally moved against the practice of adding manufactured trans fats to processed food.
Did I mention that he was 102 years old when he died this year? He practiced what he preached.
Meanwhile, back to the 19 risk factors. I am in good shape on 13 of them; there is nothing I can do about four; so I guess I will fix myself some beans and carrots, an apple, and one hard-boiled egg.
That is my opinion. I am Dr George Lundberg, at large at Medscape.”
So how do you simplify? Easy. The healthiest, longest lived, and happiest people on earth do things a certain way; do it that way. See Blue Zones Posts on this Blog for more information.
July 22, 2017
July 21, 2017
July 19, 2017
For Tai Chi Students: Spear Form (Dan Docherty)
Nottingham Cloud Dragon School Of Tai Chi Chuan presents a video of the Wudang Principal Instructor in action. Master Dan Docherty demonstrates the Tai Chi Spear. For info on this style or class and teacher info see http://www.taichichuan.co.uk. For classes with master level instructor Andrew Harris in Nottingham see website http://www.clouddragontaichi.co.uk
July 14, 2017
July 5, 2017
Maybe you too?
“I feel amazing” she said. And “doing stuff that I haven’t done in years… and on my knees too!”
When I met this patient in December of last year, it was: “I sometimes have to pull over…” while driving due to knee pain. She said that her back was “always really tight” and it had been that way for two years.
Now?
She is going a month between visits. She knows how to brace and breathe, and how to bend and lift, as well as get up and down off the ground. She does the exercises to keep the joints that I adjust moving between visits; and she is helping her husband build a 40 foot deck – with no pain anywhere!
This is a woman who has had back surgery for lower back disc herniations – twice.
Not every patient does this well. Not all chiropractors check and adjust hip, knee, and ankle/foot joints. But all chiropractors who use the Activator Method properly can check all the joints. If you need help finding a decent chiropractor in your area, just let me know. Maybe I can help.
And if you are within striking distance of Everett, WA., then give us a call at (425) 348-5207.
