How To Choose the Safest and Most Effective Sunscreen

Summertime in California is wonderful! The days are longer, we do more outdoor activities, and the increased sun helps boost our own natural Vitamin D levels. However, spending more time in the sun means we need to protect ourselves from the harmful side effects of too much sun exposure. That means finding shade under beach umbrellas, hats, UV protection rash guards, and using sunscreen.

The choice of which sunscreen to use is problematic for a few reasons. According to the latest science, most sunscreens only protect against one of the three kinds of skin cancer, and not against melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Additionally, many of the ingredients found in today's sunscreens are toxic and harmful. In fact, in 1978 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began developing a comprehensive regulation for sunscreen safety and effectiveness. Now 32 years have passed and the FDA has yet to issue its final regulations. FDA officials did set regulations in 1999 that sunscreen manufacturers are "voluntarily" supposed to abide by.

To that end, there are two different types of sunscreens. 1) Mineral-based, usually using zinc or titanium, as a barrier to sun exposure and 2) Non-Mineral Based, which use chemicals to protect against the sun's rays. There are thousands of different brands of sunscreens and a patient of mine (thank you Jill) turned me onto a website that comprehensively details all sunscreen ingredients per products and gives them an easy to interpret score. I visited the site, checked out my regular sunscreen's score (I was appalled) and then checked out some alternative. Once I found ones that I liked I was able to order them online at Amazon.com and they are on the way to me as I write this.

I should note that the best sunscreen is protecting your skin from the sun by means other than something applied to your skin. Sitting in the shade and wearing large brimmed hats are good examples. One of my favorites, as I love playing in the water is using an SPF rash guard as pictured below (I know this picture is of me coming out of the water in the dark, but you get the idea).

I recommend that you visit the Environmental Working Group 2010 Sunscreen Guide website and the parent site of the Environmental Working Group which reviews other common elements of our daily lives like cell phones and drinking water. When you are there check out the sunscreen that you use and read a little bit about what those long chemical names on the ingredients label mean. It will be a few minutes well spent. Remember, everything that you put on your skin ends up absorbed into your blood stream and even small things over long periods of time can produce profound changes in your health.

Positively,

Dr. Pedersen

Omega 3's - The Most Valuable Supplement?

If you have been my patient for any length of time we have more than likely discussed Omega 3 oils, specifically DHA and EPA, and their many benefits for the human body. I have probably given you a handout that discussed benefits to your heart, brain, gut, memory, depression, allergies, joints, inflammation...

It is not just my Scandinavian heritage that makes me such an advocate for Omega 3's. It is the plethora of research over the past 25 years that shows EPA and DHA to be quite possibly the most valuable supplement to your diet. Here's some of the conditions that Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown in the medical literature to help (click on the link to see the whole story):

- Helping kidney health in diabetics

- Boosting lung function during sports and physical activity

- Combating mouth bacteria and dental disease

- Preventing mental illness
- Infertility

- Improving liver health

- Increasing heart health

- Preventing joint pain and arthritis

- Preventing age-related blindness

- Improving infants brain development

- Help with autism

- Improving memory

- Helping cancer patients

- Improving behavior issues in boys (aggressive behavior)

- Preventing age-related dementia

- the list goes on and on...

On your next visit, if we haven't already talked about Omega 3 fatty acids, please ask me about them. I am happy to discuss the specifics of dosage and correct type of good healthy fats and oils with my patients. While EPA and DHA are good, we want to make sure you are taking the right amounts, quality, and ratios for your specific health goals. Additionally, we will be able to go over any other medications you might be taking that could contraindicate your use of Omega 3 fatty acids.

In positive motion,

Dr. Pedersen (DC)

Positive Motion Chiropractic

www.PositiveMotionChiro.com

Waterskiing at 100?

The human body is nothing short of magical. The more I study about the human body, the more I am inspired by how the body is an amazing self-healing machine. Sometimes things get in the way of that healing, and that is where health care professional are needed. But for the most part, the body knows how to continue to function properly if we just get out of the way.

Take for example Frank Shearer who is 101 and still waterskiing. Contrast that to this picture of a 68 year old gentleman who needs a walker to get around. Both are human beings. Which one do you want to be when you get older?

It is the little things we do each day that make up the sum of our health. Those little things include:

• daily exercise
• not skipping meals and eating real food (you know stuff that is grown or raised, not packaged)
• encouraging positive thoughts
• nurturing good and healthy relationships
• making sure you are getting all your nutrients
• play
• get good quality sleep
• if you have a stressor in your life, learn how to best deal with that stress
• if a part of your body isn't working right, get it looked at (<-- this is where I come in)

If you need heartburn medication every day just to not be hunched over in pain, you have a problem. The answer to that problem is not a lifetime of medication. The answer is to meet with a doctor who will take the time to figure out why you have heartburn, design a program to help you heal your stomach, and follow your progress. I help people like this every day in my practice.

And if you need heartburn medication to quell the digestive acids that your stomach naturally produces, then you aren't going to digest your food properly. If you don't digest your food properly then you won't extract all the nutrients you need from your food. (Remember: you are NOT what you eat... "You are what you eat, digest, and absorb.") This will mean you need to take a whole lot of vitamins and minerals with all your meals. And sadly, we should be able get most of our nutrients from our food if our digestive system is working properly. Thomas Edison said, "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food."

So here's to all of us being able to waterski at 100. And to being able to go snow skiing with our grandchildren when we are 85. If you feel like your body might not be able to get you down the slopes right now because of pain or dysfunction, please see myself or another health professional that will help you get healthy and stay that way.

In Positive Motion,

Dr. Brant Pedersen (DC)

Positive Motion Chiropractic

(408) 358-5086

www.PositiveMotionChiro.com

Get healthy. Feel better.

Inflammation: Cause or Effect?

As I drove to work today, I was listening to the news and one of the topics was side-effects of anti-inflammatory medications. That news story made me want to express the holistic approach to healing versus the western medicine approach to treating conditions. Inflammation is a great way to explain this concept so central to dynamic health.

Inflammation in our bodies is characterized by a few cardinal signs: swelling, redness, heat, and pain. Inflammation may be easily visible to the naked eye, as in a severely sprained ankle. In contrast, inflammation can be deep in our tissues. An example of this that I commonly see in my office is patients complaining of digestive problems that upon examining and palpating their abdomen, I find have severe tenderness to even light pressure. This tenderness to light pressure is a sign that they have intestinal inflammation. It isn't visible from the surface, but nonetheless their digestive tissues are inflamed.

 One other distinction when talking about inflammation is inflammation that is overt versus inflammation that is on a microscopic level. People can have "systemic" body-wide inflammation that causes plaquing of their arteries or hastens the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Inflammation doesn't have to be visible, it can be microscopic. The more we learn about inflammation the more we realize its implication in a wide variety of conditions.

So when a patient presents to a doctor's office today complaining of inflammation, what is the doctor's response? I would hope that it would be to determine the CAUSE of the inflammation. That is what I do every day in my office.

A simpler, quicker, and one-size-fits-all approach is to give each patient an anti-inflammatory medication. This addresses the EFFECT, which is inflammation, without expending any effort to diagnose the cause of the patient's inflammation. This approach drives me crazy! Sadly, this is the standard of care for most doctors.

So you may ask, "What can be a CAUSE of inflammation in my body?" Here is a brief list of common causes of inflammation:

• Improper joint biomechanics: For example, if you ride a bike frequently to get exercise and your knee starts to hurt, the geometry of your bicycle could be causing abnormal wear and tear on your knee.
• Tight muscles causing abnormal wear on joints: If your muscles aren't balanced and working properly they cause joints to degenerate at an accelerated rate.
• An inflammatory diet: The Standard American Diet (SAD), consisting of lots of grains, refined carbohydrates, tons of dairy, processed foods, and red meat is inflammatory. On the other hand, fresh fruits and vegetables, cold water fish, and unprocessed whole foods are anti-inflammatory.
• Subclinical immune challenges: This could be anything from a semi-dormant virus, such as hepatitis, to an infection smoldering away in a tooth underneath a crown. "Subclinical" means the infection isn't keeping you in bed or giving you overt symptoms. Nonetheless, it is putting strain on your body and causing inflammation.
• A lack of anti-inflammatory pre-cursor nutrients: Your body makes its own anti-inflammatory molecules that are great at quenching the inflammatory fire. But you need the basic nutrients like EPA (an Omega 3 oil) and the vitamin and mineral cofactors to be able to produce them.
• Poor adrenal gland health: Your adrenal glands, your "stress glands," produce cortisone and cortisol which have anti-inflammatory properties. If your adrenals are "stressed out" then your body won't be able to produce adequate amounts of either of these hormones.
• Metabolic syndrome or Insulin Resistance: These conditions, which are becoming more and more prevalent in our society, are very inflammatory.

Can you see why it is important to look for the cause of inflammation? I went to college for 8+ years to learn how the human body works. I also learned how to diagnosis causes of inflammation and solve them, in most causes, by natural means. I have devoted my life to solving patient's health complaints, and I LOVE doing it.

I hope you will give me the opportunity to find the CAUSE of your health complaint. In today's health care environment, more and more patients are fed up with covering over the symptoms with medications. They want a doctor that will go to bat for them and put in the work necessary to solve the mystery of their pain. I'm excited to be that doctor for you.

Positively,

Dr. Brant Pedersen (DC)

Positive Motion Chiropractic
(408) 358-5086
15466 Los Gatos Blvd, Ste 215
Los Gatos, CA 95032
www.PositiveMotionChiro.com
Get healthy. Feel better.

The 12 Days of Wellness

Holidays Bring Stress, Pains to Many; Positive Motion Chiropractic Offers “12 Days of Health and Wellness” for a Healthy, Happy Season


The upcoming holiday season is full of reasons for good cheer, but the added demands of the season can also stress the capacities of our bodies.
Research shows that stress and unhealthy behaviors contribute to some of our country’s biggest health problems such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. This stress can also build up inside the body and manifest as back pain, neck pain or headaches...making matters even worse.

Doctors of chiropractic (DCs) are expert in spinal adjustment and other manual therapies that can relieve the aches and pains caused by holiday stress. They also provide nutrition counseling, exercise recommendations, ergonomic tips and other advice to promote good health year-round.

Positive Motion Chiropractic and the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), in an effort to promote health and wellness this holiday season, offers “12 Days of Health and Wellness,” a campaign designed to give consumers tips on ways to manage the holidays more healthfully.  Each day focuses on a different topic such as choosing nutritious foods, getting enough sleep, and stretching after tree-trimming or gift wrapping to help ease back pain.

“The holidays are synonymous with frenzied activities, parties, shopping and stress, so it is imperative that people take preventative steps to address these issues in healthier ways,” said Brant Pedersen, DC, an ACA member. “Now is the perfect time to use ACA’s tips to take control of your health and to discover chiropractic’s natural approach to wellness.”

Look for fact sheets, audio public service announcements and additional links to helpful information at www.acatoday.org/12days.

Positive Motion Chiropractic
(408) 358-5086
15466 Los Gatos Blvd, Ste 215
Los Gatos, CA 95032
www.PositiveMotionChiro.com
Get healthy. Feel better.