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Top 10 Foods Most Likely to get you Sick

June 22, 2011 By spencer 3 Comments

Summer is officially here so let the bbqs begin!  Unfortunately, more outdoor cooking generally gives rise to a greater chance of getting food poisoning!  Even in the home, the actual number of people getting sick from their own food according to the CDC is ranged a staggering 200,000 – 800,000 per day (depending on who you talk to)!  While many of these facts are good to be aware of, keep in mind that the stronger your nervous and immune system is, the less likely your body will be affected by many of these bacteria and or viruses.

Below are the top 10 riskiest foods you can buy and maybe what you can do about it.

#10)  Chicken – 42% of chickens tested had the campylobactor bacteria (stomach flu) and another 12% were infected with salmonella

*Tip* Cooking your chicken at 180 degrees or higher will pretty much wipe out the bacteria.  You are also better off buying free range chicken as tests indicated none of these bacteria in them!

#9)  Ground Beef – 53% contaminated with clostridium perfringens (similar to irritable bowel syndrome), 30% with staphylococcus (common cold), and 12% with listeria monocytogenes (listeriosis)

*Tip* – Oregano is one of the most potent anti bacterial herbs, put it on your food as a seasoning.

#8)  Ground Turkey – 25% contaminated with listeria, campylobacter, and or clostridium.

*Tip* Just like the chicken, cook at at least 180 degrees.  Also, buy organic turkey as these turkeys have not been shot up with antibiotics and thus are not exposed to super resistant bacteria.

#7)  Oysters – 100% contaminated with e coli from gulf coasts, 9% with salmonella, and many oysters contain the norovirus

*Tip* Most of these virus or bacteria are killed when cooked.  Don’t slurp an oyster raw!

#6)  Eggs – Can still be contaminated with salmonella, despite pasteurization.

*Tip* Eating an egg sunny side up increases your risk for salmonella by double (only 1 in 10,000 though)

#5)  Cantaloupe – 3.5% contained salmonella or shigella (dysentery), 7% still had bugs!

*Tip* Scrub your cantaloupes before cutting.  Just don’t forget about possible cross contamination.

#4) Peaches – The highest ranked fruit for exposure to pesticides.

*Tip* Buy organic peaches.  If not an option, peel off the skin.

#3)  Lettuce – Accounts for about 28% of food poisonings

*Tip* Hard, but true – rinse each leaf at a time.

#2)  Cold Cuts – 3% contaminated by listeria, but listeria thrives in refrigerators…

*Tip* Mustard has been shown to kill about 90% of bacteria, so feel free to put it on your sandwiches!

#1)  Scallions/Green Onions – Has been known to cause hepatitis A outbreaks

*Tip* Not much you can do, but thoroughly rinse.

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Diet & Nutrition

June 20, 2011 By spencer Leave a Comment

Hippocrates once said “Let food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food.”  What you eat is very important because if you think about it, all the energy you receive comes from what you eat.  This is why diet and nutrition are a big piece to our health as a whole.  People that eat foods high in nutrients are more likely to be in better physical shape, think better, and be less sick than those that don’t.  We all know that junk food is bad for us (why else would they call it “junk”?), but food has changed so much in a generation, it is hard to keep track of what we should be eating for our health.

  • Should I eat eggs normally or just the egg whites?
  • What’s the difference between cage free, grain fed, grass fed chicken eggs?
  • What about grass fed beef?
  • What’s better for you, butter or margarine?
  • Is milk bad for you?
  • Can soy cause cancer?
  • What is a detox?  Do I need to do it?
  • Is organic food really necessary?
  • Can supplements actually be bad for me?  What are whole food supplements?
  • What’s worse, not eating fish, or being exposed to mercury?
  • Will artificial sweeteners allow me to lose weight?
  • What is gluten?  Is whole wheat bad for me if it contains gluten?

These are some of the more difficult questions that people are asking and they don’t always get straight answers.  One of my passions is to stay current on all the nutrition news.  I believe that diet and nutrition play an extremely important role in one’s health.  Creating a diet and nutrition plan is just one of the services we have to offer at Spencare Chiropractic Health to help patients reach their personal health goals.

Filed Under: General, Nutrition Tagged With: ,

Supplements you should NOT take with Certain Medicines

May 5, 2011 By spencer 1 Comment

 Side Effects of Supplements Combined with Medicine:

Some supplements have been shown to counteract or cancel the desired affect of certain medicines.  Most people are not aware of this and consider all supplements to be beneficial as a natural way to help their health.  Below are the most commonly counter acting drugs and supplements.  Some of these reactions are obviously less important than others and should be considered on a case by case scenario.  To find out if supplementation is right for you, please consult with your health care physician or with us at Spencare Chiropractic Health.

Blood Thinning Drugs – Warfarin and to a lesser extent Aspirin

  • Ginkgo biloba - dilates or increase the size of your blood vessels.  Working in combination with a blood thinning drug could increase your risk of a hemorrhage
  • St. John’s Wort and Ginseng – could cancel drugs blood thinning actions increasing a chance of a blood clot

 Cholesterol Lowering Drugs/Statins – Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor

  • Vitamin E and St. John’s Wort – reduce statin’s ability to lower blood pressure
  • Grapefruit and pomegranate juice – increases blood levels of statin drugs leading to liver toxicity

Diuretics/Blood Pressure Medications/ACE Inhibitors - Lasix

  • Gingko bioloba and white willow bark – prevent effectiveness of drug
  • Horsetail, licorice, senna, cascara, uva ursi – increase effectiveness of drug potentially leading to dehydration and potassium deficiency

Antihypertensive Drugs – Zestril, Prinivil, Capoten

  • Iron – disrupts absorption of drug and should not be taken within 2 hours of each other.  Iron found naturally in food does not have this same affect for some reason
  • Cayenne/Capsicum/Capsaicin – increases side effects of drugs, usually coughing

Oral Diabetic Medications – Glucophage, Glynase

  • Gingko biloba – interferes with effects of insulin potentially raising blood sugar levels
  • Gymnema, chromium, vanadium, ginseng, bitter melon (*caution*) – these supplements naturally lower or control blood sugar levels potentially bringing sugar levels too low when combined with diabetic medicine

Antiarrhythmic Drugs – Digitalis

  • Licorice – can cause severe, possibly FATAL arrhythmias
  • Pectin – reduces absorption of drug
  • Ginseng – counteracts drug, making useless
  • Horsetail, cascara, senna – reduces levels of potassium, increasing risk of toxic levels of drug

Antibiotics – Cipro, Levaquin

  • Calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron (and foods rich in these minerals) – decrease absorption of drug if taken within 2 hours of each other

Thyroid Medications - Synthroid 

  • Calcium, iron, aluminum – interfere with absorption of drug when taken within 4 hours of each other

Related Articles:
What are Supplements?

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What are Supplements?

May 2, 2011 By spencer Leave a Comment

What are Supplements?

Supplements are usually an oral form of a concentrated vitamin or mineral, usually in pill or liquid form.  They are normally taken to help the body get that specific vitamin or mineral that a person can’t get normally via their diet.  They may also be used to get a surplus of a vitamin or mineral so that the individual can get the benefits associated with it without having to eat a specific food, possibly due to the cost or taste of it.  Depending on your reference, the business of supplementation is reportedly over a $100 billion dollar industry.  Supplements are made by many different companies for many different types of vitamins and minerals for almost every type of condition.  Since the FDA has a different set of regulations for supplements versus food and medicine, many of the claims on supplementation bottles are not necessarily true and can be used to trick the user.

Even though they can be bought over the counter, it is often a good idea to check with your health practitioner on the safety and viability of a supplement.  One of biggest reason for this is that supplements and medicine can have negative chemical reactions when taken together!  Some supplements have been shown to block or counter the affect of known drugs and medicine. If an individual absolutely needs to be on specific medicines to function or even live, it is important to make sure that supplementation will not alter its intended use.  To see a short list of which supplements should not be combined with certain medicines, see the related article via the link at the bottom of the page.

Synthetic versus Whole Food Supplements:

The two major types of supplements are synthetic and whole food supplements.  The major difference is that synthetic supplements are man made in a laboratory and whole food supplements are concentrated granules of food that typically are rich in a specific mineral or vitamin.  Most people liken the two as organic versus inorganic.  There are pluses and minuses to both types and the difference as to which is better or if it even matters is heavily debated.

Most Commonly Taken Supplements:

Consuming supplements are very common with the CDC reporting that over half of all Americans take at least one.  The most commonly taken supplement is the multi-vitamin accounting for 40% of Americans taking them.  Commonly taken supplements for specific conditions are listed below.  Please note that this list is just a commonly used list and does NOT mean that they should be used for these conditions. Some of these supplements have no scientific proof of actually helping said condition.  Others (ie ginko biloba) have actually been proven to have no benefit for said condition.  Some can actually harm the individual if taken improperly (iron for women).

  • Vitamin C – common colds, the flu, immune function
  • B vitamins – energy
  • Calcium – osteoporosis
  • Vitamin E - skin health
  • Vitamin A (beta carotine) – vision
  • Vitamin D – general health, anti cancerous, immune function
  • Omega 3 fatty acids – general health, heart health, memory and brain function
  • Ginko biloba – memory
  • St John’s Wort – depression
  • Iron – women’s health

To find out more about supplementation or to see if a particular supplement can help you, consult with us in our Los Angeles clinic or your own health care practitioner.

Related Articles:
Synthetic versus Whole Food Supplements
Supplements that should NOT be taken with Certain Medicines

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Synthetic versus Whole Food Supplements

April 29, 2011 By spencer 1 Comment

Difference Between Synthetic and Whole Food Supplements:

When it comes to supplementation, there generally two different types, synthetic and whole food.  Synthetic supplements are man made in a laboratory taking out the key ingredient from a bigger whole in man’s attempt to reproduce a benefit attained naturally in nature.  In general, the great majority of supplements you may see in a grocery or health food store are synthetic.

Intramax is just one of the organic supplements at our office

Which supplement is better:

The debate between which form of supplement has been a long fought one to which there is yet no clear answer.  Whole food supplement companies argue that ascorbic acid is just a component of the whole vitamin C complex and that taking pure ascorbic acid will not receive the same benefits as taking what is known as the vitamin C found in food.  Synthetic supplement companies on the other hand may argue that ascorbic acid is the main catalyst to the chemical and physiological reactions in the body and that the remainder of the vitamin C complex are not required for them to take place.

Regardless of what you are told or what you believe, there are a great deal of benefits from taking supplements, both synthetic or whole food.  They each have pros and cons to them.  Knowing the difference may help you determine which ones to purchase for your own consumption.  At Spencare Chiropractic Health, we utilize both synthetic and whole food supplements.  We base our decisions on what works best on ourselves, patient results, and clinical and scientific research.  To know which type of supplement is best for you, feel free to ask us or your own health care practitioner.

Synthetic Supplements Pros and Cons:

  • Pros:
    • Higher doses, potentially better for people with extreme deficiencies
    • Generally cheaper cost
    • Uniform doses
  • Cons:
    • Man made – not the natural form of the vitamin/mineral
    • Lacks natural enzymes associated with vitamin/mineral potentially leading to reduced absorption or efficiency
    • Easier to overdose

Whole Food Supplements Pros and Cons:

  • Pros:
    • Organic – it’s a REAL food
    • Includes the vitamin/mineral’s natural enzymes allowing for proper, possibly higher absorption
    • Bonus supplements – foods naturally have more than one vitamin or mineral in it
    • A more natural way to get the vitamins/minerals your body wants/needs
    • Harder to overdose
  • Cons:
    • Lower doses, so user might have to take more supplements
    • Generally more expensive
    • Not uniform doses (since it is not possible to regulate the amount of beta carotine in a carrot, some pills may have more of the vitamin than others)

Related Articles:
What are Supplements?

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Foods that don’t need to be Bought Organic

April 20, 2011 By spencer Leave a Comment

Buying organic is great for the health because you can cut down your pestiside exposure by 80%.  There are some types of produce however that given their protective skin or qualities aren’t exposed to many pesticides.  According to the Environmental Group these foods include:

  • Onions
  • Sweet onions
  • Avacados
  • Sweet corn
  • Pineapples
  • Mango
  • Sweet peas
  • Asparagus
  • Kiwi fruit
  • Eggplant
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
  • Grapefruit
  • Cabbage (lettuce on the other hand should be bought organic!)
  • Sweet potatoes (potatoes should also be bought organic!)
  • Honeydew melon

Buying these foods organic will still ensure better soil quality and thus food quality, but if you are shopping on a budget, there are other foods that would be more beneficial to be purchased organically.

Related Articles:
Top 12 Foods you Should Buy Organic

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The 12 Foods you Should Buy Organic

April 20, 2011 By spencer Leave a Comment

The “Dirty Dozen” are the top 12 produce foods that are most susceptible for human toxin ingestion due to the composition of their skin.  According to the Environmental Working Group, these foods are exposed to 47-67 different pesticides on their way to the market!  Because of their soft skins, many of these toxins make their way into the produce itself and then into your body after you eat them.  What is even more depressing is that these toxin tests results were gathered AFTER the produce was washed with a high powered pressure system.

The 12 Foods you Should Buy Organic:

  • Celery
  • Peaches
  • Strawberries
  • Apples
  • Domestic blueberries
  • Nectarines
  • Bell peppers
  • Spinach, kale, and collard greens
  • Cherries
  • Potatoes
  • Imported grapes
  • Lettuce

Amy Rosandthal from the Environmental Group mentions that you can reduce pesticides by up to 80% by buying organic.  Pesticides are chemicals used to help prevent pests, weeds, and diseases from affecting crops.  Since some pesticides are organic, they may also be included in organically bought foods.

Are Pesticides Dangerous to Your Health?

According to the EPA, pesticides in small doses should not harm you.  There are however studies indicating that increased or repeat exposure to pesticides do have an association with pathologies such as ADD (ADHD), cancer, immune system weakening, and disorders of the nervous system.  Remember that pesticides are generally toxic and thus a chemical stress to your body.  Chemical stress is just one of the three ways your body can become subluxated, which directly impacts your nervous system and health

Short on Cash?

Yes, buying organic definitely costs more than non organic produce.  Just as there are some foods you should try to buy organic, there are others that aren’t as necessary.  If unsure, usually produce with thick skin or peels protect it from a large amount of pesticides.

Related Articles:
Foods You Don’t Need to Buy Organic

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