Health and Fitness

Optimal Fueling For Young Athletes (Karate et al)

July 27, 2018 by Claire Fitzpatrick

The following is a copy of my notes from a presentation I gave at my favorite karate dojo in the world, Ryokubi Karate Dojo in Stamford, CT, in 2012. The information is still relevant, and for adults as well as kids. Enjoy!

Karate, along with requiring strength, speed, skill and agility, requires endurance

You need to train right and eat right. Building a body equipped for strength, speed, skill and endurance will require plenty of protein, good fats, fruits and vegetables. You and your child need to lay off the junk food 90% of the time.

Optimal Fueling Notes — Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peta-de-aztlan/3519424024

Example: Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee’s height and weight: 5’7 ½” (1.71 m) tall and 140 lbs (63.6 kg).

Don’t have to be large to be strong and fast. Bruce Lee had a strong interest in healthy eating, especially when it came to high protein drinks and nutritional supplements. He is reported to have drunk 1-2 protein drinks every day, along with homemade smoothies made from fruit and vegetable juices and plenty of fresh green vegetables.

Bruce Lee’s waist was between 26 and 28 inches (66-71 cm) throughout most of his adult life. The average male’s waist size today is about 38 inches (97 cm).

By the way, the most telltale (and worrisome) indicator of diabetes and heart disease is a preponderance of abdominal (gut) fat.

Problems with inadequate energy

World Champion team in 2014 – Demonstration of a perfect Kime. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kime#/media/File:Karate_WM_2014_(2)_173.JPG

Problem maintaining existing lean mass
Lowering of metabolic rate
Lower energy / nutrient intake
Reduction in athletic performance
Increased risk of injury

Energy inadequacy clearly has problems associated with it.

Inadequate energy intake reduces the benefit athletes derive from training.

Energy inadequacy also makes it difficult for athletes to maintain existing lean mass, probably because muscle is being consumed by the body to provide some of the needed energy that was not consumed through food. A lower metabolic rate is commonly seen in people who consume inadequate energy, and is probably linked to a lower lean (metabolic) mass.

The less you eat, the lower the nutrient intake and, for young developing athletes this could dramatically increase developmental problems. A poorly developed skeleton from inadequate calcium intake is at far greater risk of developing, for instance, stress fractures now and osteoporosis later. There is ample evidence that shows that inadequate energy consumption is associated with reduced athletic performance.

Finally, athletes who consume too little are at increased risk of getting injured. Some studies suggest that these injuries are most likely to occur at the end of practice or competition, when energy inadequacy causes both mental and physical fatigue.

First and Foremost: WATER!!!

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/clean-clear-cold-drink-416528/

Water is a food. We do not get enough of it, especially during workouts

Fluid loss during exercise can equate to weight loss just after the workout. You do not want to lose water weight directly post-workout! If you weigh 2 pounds less just after exercise, you have lost 2 pounds (907 grams) of water.
Sweat rate is heavily influenced by:
- exercise intensity
- ambient temperature (rm. temp)
- humidity

Proper Mineral Balance and Hydration

A direct threat to heart health is electrolyte imbalance, which can occur when your child is dehydrated and not eating enough of the right nutrients. Muscle, including the heart, is over 75% water.

The heart, in particular, has its own electric circuitry that is regulated by proper hydration and electrolyte balance. Children become dehydrated much more quickly than adults, and the dehydration and electrolyte deficiency that can occur during athletic training and sport events can be dangerous, even life-threatening.

Water levels and minerals like sodium, chloride, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphate in proper quantities and ratios are all necessary for the heart to function properly.

Normally, we should drink ½ our body weight in ounces of water a day. For example, a kid who is 86 pounds should drink 43 ounces (1.22 kg) of filtered water a day – not juice, not coffee, not sports drinks.

In both children and adults, higher exercise intensities slow the rate at which fluids and fuels are digested. However, this occurs to an even greater extent in children who are exercising at high intensities, and the maximum amount of fluid that a child can absorb per hour while training will be about 20-24 ounces.

Sweat losses during 2 hours of exercise can equal 2 liters (68 ounces) of fluid or more. For this duration, your child should drink 8 oz (1 cup) of filtered water every 15 minutes! The child needs to replenish during training in order to keep hydration at proper levels.

A good rule of thumb for your child athlete is the following chart:

Water Intake

2 hours before exercise 2-3+ cups
15 minutes before exercise 1-2+ cups
Every 15 minutes during exercise 1 cup
After exercise 2-3 cups for every pound lost

Source: American College of Sports Medicine Position Paper, 2006

Keeping Up with Hydration Status

Monitor urine color (should be a light straw color).

Focus on fluids all day, not just during workouts and practice.

Adequate Fueling:

Adequate macronutrient / micronutrient intake daily – fresh, locally grown organic raw foods as well as cooked foods
Portion sizes! Look at your fist. No more 3 huge square meals: 5-6 servings of food/day the size of your fist. Eat every 2-3 hours.
Do I have a balanced plate for my training cycle needs? Good fats, useful carbohydrates, and useful proteins!
Is the way I am eating going to support my body so that I can accomplish my goals well?

After exercise, it is important to eat the proper combination of nutrients during the first 30 minutes. The meal following exercise should be very easy to digest and provide amino acids to help building and repair of muscular tissue and optimize uptake of the nutrients and minerals to the muscles, including the heart (remember: the heart is a muscle!).

A good example of a post-workout meal would be a good whey, egg, or pea/hemp drink with a teaspoon of sea salt or dulse thrown in.

Following are examples of electrolyte-rich foods (all should be organic and in the case of dairy, raw):

Sodium: dill pickle, tomato juice/sauce/soup; sea salt (1 tsp = 2300 mg sodium), dulse
Chloride: sea salt, dulse, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, olives
Potassium: red potato with skin, plain yogurt, banana
Magnesium: cacao beans/dark chocolate, halibut, pumpkin seeds, spinach
Calcium: raw dairy (yogurt, milk, ricotta), collard greens, spinach, kale, sardines
Phosphate( available in suitable quantities along with the other electrolyte foods) egg yolks, milk, nuts, wheat germ, peas, beans, legumes, mushrooms, cacao beans/dark chocolate

Carbohydrates

Primary energy source for high-intensity activity
Nutrient-dense carbohydrates provide:
- Vitamins & minerals
- Antioxidants & phytochemicals
  - Contribute to healthy immune system
- Fiber
  - Helps control appetite
  - Helps stabilize insulin levels
  - Helps resist chronic diseases

Healthy Carbohydrates

Make sure they are organic, locally-grown, bright colored, and in season

Daily Carbohydrate intake for Young Athletes (under 16)

(Key: 2.2 kilograms in 1 pound)

4 grams/kilogram for girls

7 grams/ kilogram for boys

Ex: 90 pound young female athlete would need to eat around 165 grams of carbohydrate daily, or about 660 calories of carbohydrate (165 x 4). A 90 pound boy athlete would need 289 grams of carbohydrate, or about 1155 calories.

Calorie Chart

4 calories per gram of carbohydrate

4 calories per gram of protein

9 calories per gram of fat

Make sure your child eats calorically-balanced, healthy meals consisting of lean proteins, healthy carbohydrates like leafy green vegetables, and healthy fats like omega 3 fish oil supplements, flaxseed oil, and nuts every two hours for four-to-six hours followingexercise. BTW:Children do not require extra carbohydrate intake prior to exercise lasting under 75 minutes. They require water!

Fat

Fat is very important for the development of appropriate muscle-neuron development in the young athlete, as well as in very hardcore adult trainers. Children and high-intensity trainers use 10-40% more fat stores than adults who exercise only moderately. Parents should be very considerate to provide meals that contain healthy omega-3 fats for proper muscle/neural development.

Dietary fats
- Supplies energy to the body
- Needed for structure of cells, hormone production, etc
- Regulates metabolic processes
- Transports fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K through the body
- Contributes to healthy immune system

*Fats should be avoided by moderately-active adults prior to exercise; they will drag them down.

Good Fats

Polyunsaturated:

Omega-3 Omega-6

Oily Fish Corn

Flaxseed Safflower

Canola oil Soybeans

Leafy greens Sunflower

Cottonseed

Monounsaturated:

Olive, Peanut oils, many nuts, avocado

Saturated:– animals, some plants:

*Make certain the animals lived a happy life free of antibiotics, genetic modification, and pesticide intake.

Game Birds, Wild Fish, Deer, Boar, Grass-fed beef, Free-range chicken, Free-range eggs, Raw milk/cheese/butter

Trans Fat/Bad Saturated Fat (DO NOT EAT):

Processed food, Factory Farmed Animals, Genetically-Modified Animals/Plants/Dairy —

If you see/hear about it on a commercial, DO NOT EAT IT!

Sad, Scared, Angry, Unnatural Animals/Plants + Human Belly

= Unnaturally Sad, Scared, Angry, Unhealthy Human

Protein

Provides building blocks for muscle
- Growth
- Maintenance
- Repair
Contributes to healthy immune system
May help with appetite control

Nature is smart! Many foods you need contain carbs, fats, and proteins all in one!

Avoid/limit intake of these proteins:

Okinawa Health

A very good model for eating can be found in Okinawa, the birthplace of Shotokan Karate

Okinawans Have:

Very little sickness
Longest, disability-free life expectancy on planet
Mean age of 81.2
Highest percentage of centenarians (40 per 100,000)
Use nutrient dense diet, cultural traditions, elder care, and Reiki (Healing Art) for wellness

Compared to Americans

Okinawa death rate from heart disease is only 18% that of Americans
80% less breast and prostate cancer
50% less ovarian and colon cancer
60% less hip fracture
50% less dementia
Heart attacks are only 20% as common as in the U.S. and the survival rate is twice as great

Diet and Nutrition

Diet is considered the “key” to their longevity
Plant-based diet
78% of entire food intake is comprised of vegetables
Wide variety of foods
Vegetables, rice, seaweed, sweet potatoes, fish, legumes, and turmeric
Protein comes from: fish, nuts, tofu, chicken or pork
Omega 3 fatty acids
Americans daily consume 3 times the avg. amount of meat eaten by Okinawans

Food Preparation

Meals prepared with care
Main method of cooking: stir frying using expeller-pressed Canola oil (Omega-6)
BTW: if an oil smokes when heated, the oil has become carcinogenic. Heat oils carefully!
Many garnishes such as turmeric are used that offer numerous health benefits
Meals are enjoyed, not rushed through

Hints for Meal Timing

Spreading same food intake out over 5-6 meals and snacks rather than 3 large meals or preventing the “Backlog Effect”
- More even blood glucose levels
- Lower blood fat levels
- Stimulation of metabolic rate
- Reduces “hunger spots” when on a lower energy diet

Once Again:

After exercise, it is important to eat the proper combination of nutrients during the first 30 minutes.
The meal following exercise should be very easy to digest and provide amino acids to help building and repair of muscular tissue and optimize uptake of the nutrients and minerals to the muscles, including the heart (remember: the heart is a muscle!).
Good examples would be a good whey, egg, or pea/hemp sports drink with a teaspoon of sea salt or dulse thrown in.

Fueling your child properly for training can provide your child with a performance edge and help your child develop into a strong, smart, balanced, confident adult!

Yes, Virginia; there ARE Biologisch Hot Dogs

July 11, 2018 by Claire Fitzpatrick

Yes, Virginia; there ARE Biologisch Hot Dogs…even here in the Netherlands!

I was on my way home from my morning shift at the office, and I was very peckish for lunch (the auto correction on my Word doc just corrected it to “puckish,” which I am…but I digress).

So when I got off at my stop and saw a new snack stand nearby, one that says it has biologisch snacks (organic fast food), I was thrilled.

There were a man and a woman who were working that stand. They did not look like teenagers; meaning, I think they knew each other and that this was their venture. The manner in which others were hanging around chatting with them also lent itself to the impression that this was their business.

I am all about supporting local businesses who want to add to my mission to make the world as natural and clean as possible. I made my way over.

First of all, there was a sandwich board by the bikepad to advertise the stand. The arrow, supposedly there to point toward the stand, was pointing the other way. That should have been my first clue.

But being who I am, I turned the sandwich board around, so it actually pointed to the snack stand, and trotted over.

It is a Dutch stand, not far from a hospital. I am trying to learn Dutch, so I can read the signs pretty much.

The friets (fries) are biologisch. The suiker (sugar) is biologisch.

Not much else.

Still, I remained hopeful. There were hot dogs rolling away on a hot dog cooker/roller thing, and I like hot dogs.

So I asked the woman behind the counter, “Zijn de hot dogs biologisch ook (are the hot dogs also organic)?”

She answered me back, in English, “No. They don’t make biologisch hot dogs.”

She chuckled, as if at the thought, and repeated louder, “They don’t make them.”

While its true that I have, up to now, not had a hot dog in the Netherlands – I don’t normally eat fast food – I have, indeed, had many organic hot dogs back in The States.

Maybe they don’t make organic hot dogs here. I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t want fries, so I went off home.

As soon as I got home, before I fixed my lunch, I looked up on the Internet, “biologisch hot dogs.”

Hear ya go.

With links, just because they exist, and I WANT TO SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES THAT GIVE A DAMN.

Yes, Virginia; there ARE biologisch hot dogs…even in the Netherlands!

I hate it when people in positions of authority (and if you own a snack truck that says “biologisch is lekker” on it, it implies that you are an authority in organic fast food) just SAY THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE.

Not only is it not true, it’s not true that she even looked.

And it’s only midday.

My day, up to this point, has been full of hearing reports of these so-called, “authoritative” opinions.

Before I left for home, I ran into one of my ex-patients. He told me that the hand brace he’s been wearing for 6 weeks for De Quervain tenosynovitis (no imaging – standard of care says it’s not “necessary”) is not working, so “they” are going to try surgery.

I asked, “Have you worked with a physical therapist? Have they tried ultrasound? Laser therapy? Mobilization? Anything like that?”

No, he answered. But he trusts them. They only do hands.

“They only do hands.”

This is why he’s my ex-patient. As much as we like each other and as much as I care, he trusts people who deal with the body like it is a machine with separate, mechanical parts. I treat the body like it’s a whole being that works synergistically. Our world views are different.

Still, I care, so I referred him to a very good sports medicine center in Amstelveen. Here they are, because I CARE.

Ibis Medisch Centrum http://www.mcibis.nl/

And then before that…

Before that, I have a patient who has been dealing with debilitating back pain for a few weeks.

He’s been visiting me and a physiotherapist, and we both agree there’s probably a herniated disc or two in his low back.

If I was in The States, I would order imaging to rule out herniation and spondylolysis. But I can’t do that here. I have to rely on his huisarts (primary care physician) specialist to make that call.

I wrote a nice note to the doc, hoping it would help.

It did not help.

The huisarts specialist said he didn’t need it because “its really something that is not that.”

???????? First of all, what does “that” mean in that context?

Second of all, HOW THE HELL DOES (S)HE KNOW THAT WITHOUT TAKING A F*@&ING PICTURE?

It drives me CRAZY when people, who we are supposed to trust with our health – and that means, with our lives – say and do things to influence their patients without even trying to find out what’s going on, and whether or not they are saying and doing the right things!

We have a responsibility to say, “I don’t know.”

More: as humans, we all have these responsibilities:

To say, “I don’t know,” when we don’t know.

At this point, we are obliged to either:

Find out
Send them to someone who knows
Send them to someone who might know, or
Admit we don’t know and we don’t know anyone who might know, but we will try to find someone who might know

As health care providers, we are doubly responsible to do so.

And above all else:

Stop acting like an authority in EVERYTHING just because you are an authority in SOMETHING.

The snack stand owner may know how to run a snack stand, but she doesn’t know how to please her supposed-target customer.

When you put, “biologisch en lekker (organic and tasty)” on your sign, you’re calling to me. Biologisch food is very, VERY important to me.

When I ask you about your product, and your branding is all about biologisch, you better bet that I know something about it too, or I wouldn’t be interested at all.

Stop branding with my values.

If I am not your target, stop calling to me.

It’s insulting to me that you’re branding with my values, and they are not your values at all.

It is INSULTING.

If you brand yourself as a health care provider, and you do not provide health care, it is insulting to me that you are branding with my values when health is not your value at all; and, in the process, mishandling our patient, who wants help.

If you brand yourself a health care provider, provide health care.

This evening, I am going back to the office to see my late afternoon-evening patients, and to host a monthly event called, the Functional Forum Amsterdam Meetup.

It is an event for medical and other health care providers who are interested in incorporating functional medicine into their practices.

I, personally, am not interested in incorporating functional medicine in my practice.

That’s not why I am holding these monthly events.

I AM interested in partnering with health care providers who share my values, so I can refer my patients to them when I need to.

What is my brand?

I am a chiropractor who loves to deliver chiropractic. Chiropractic is my product.

My BRAND, though, is living well in harmony with nature, connected to your body and to Source.

It is VITALISM.

Vitalism takes into account the whole of human experience — body, mind, and spirit.

I want our spiritual beings who are having human experiences to have the most effective, vitalistic human experience possible.

Chiropractic can help that happen.

When it comes to health care delivery

I am not the whole. I am part of the whole – a vital part, to be sure; but not the whole part.

I need you for that.

Does this all resonate with you?

Be real. Be human.

The Brain is Your ECU

May 10, 2018 by Claire Fitzpatrick

The ability to adapt

I got a wonderful email from a patient of mine this morning. He is relatively new to care, Dutch, and a business professional.

He came in because he periodically gets debilitating back pain, to the point that he cannot move for two weeks. He finally sought care out of a recommendation from SOMEONE I DON’T KNOW.

That is a compliment right there. Someone heard of me from another source, and recommended a totally different person to me. This is very moving and an extreme honor for me.

He’s been under care for about three weeks. He hasn’t had any recurrence of the spasms, but he has continued to feel stiff and pain in the low back while attending Vinyasa yoga.

Yesterday, I helped him release a subluxation pattern, the access points of which were left L3, left T3, right C3. The points were very clear to me, which is a good sign that we’re on the right track.

A Sound Adjustment

Happily, he emailed me last night to thank me, that he really noticed a change today in his practice and feels particularly healthy.

I am super pleased about this, and I thanked him for this update. I am also aware that, while this is a great report, our bodies follow a healing pattern that rarely follows a straight line, nor a predictable timeline. So I am aware that he’s not out of the woods yet.

The main thing is he seems committed to his health and is willing to weather the highs and lows. When someone is committed to stay the course, despite how they feel from day to day, this is usually how I can tell that someone will be able to take charge of their health. This is when I can tell they will be able to progress to states of awareness and flexibility that have been previously been unknown to them.

Health is a process.

It isn’t a “one day I was healthy, the next day I was sick,” kind of thing — although sometimes it feels that way.

I am looking forward to helping my patient on this facinating, interesting patht that is the optimal healthy expression of body, mind and spirit, as long as he allows me the honor to do so.

Who is helping you?

Last night, I held my third Functional Forum in Amsterdam, and there was a doc who made an observation: people take better care of their cars than they do their body.

He posed the question: what if you only brought your car in to get serviced when it couldn’t function anymore? Where would you be if you didn’t listen to the little changes, the little noises, the lag in pickup, and keep it tuned up?

We count on the fact that our bodies are self-healing mechanisms, and they are.

But when the body fails to self-heal, when the nagging lack of repair just doesn’t go away, what is keeping you from seeking help?

Who is traveling the bumpy road of life with you, to help you spot the possible potholes and sharp turns?

Who is helping you optimize your engine control unit, ECU’s communication with the workings of your car (i.e., your brain and body).

We All Need Somebody

As the song goes, “We all need somebody to lean on.” Who is helping you find the answers that are right for you?

True health is expressed when the body and mind are flexible and adaptable to the stresses in the environment.

Chiropractic and Neuroplasticity

Chiropractic is all about helping your nervous system be as flexible, adaptable, and “plastic” as it can be, so it can not only communicate with your body properly, but improve its own function and capacity.

Each chiropractic adjustment builds on the last. Each adjustment builds momentum in your body and mind.

The reason it is so hard to predict how fast or how well someone will “heal,” is because when two people show up with the same symptoms, they don’t show up with the same past, nor the same life trajectory.

It is difficult how quickly they will build that healthy momentum.

I Can Help You Build That Momentum

But I can help you with that trajectory. I am honored to help. It is what makes me happy, to see you blossom into the best you that you can be.

I hope you reach out to talk to me about chiropractic. If you’re in the Amsterdam area, to speak to me or to schedule an appoinment, you can go to my office website here.

Have a healthy, loving day, filled with joy.

Sometimes Healing Hurts, Pt. 1

January 30, 2018 by Claire Fitzpatrick

“There is no process that does not require time.” — 6th Chiropractic Principle, Ralph W. Stevenson, D.C.

Did I ever tell you how I came to chiropractic? I actually think I have, but I’ll tell you again.

I was a dumb teenage kid and I got into a lot of car accidents. I walked away from them, but my car did not.

Unlike a car, I have the ability to heal. That’s why I took for granted that I was okay.

But I wasn’t okay. I had jolted my spine into misalignment. I just didn’t know it because I didn’t have pain.

High school gave way to college, and college in North Carolina meant that I had to run two miles in twelve minutes in order to graduate.

“Um…what?”

Two miles in twelve minutes. Running.

That was PE 101. We called it PE run-oh-run.

(I actually just went to my alma mater’s web page to see if this is still the case. Oh my gosh; you kids have it so lucky. You get to do everything from shag dancing to integral yoga to fencing now! https://uncw.edu/shahs/facetofacelabs.html)

In 1984, at 18, I was a pack-a-day smoker who imbibed beer, wine, and double Big Macs and Whoppers on a regular basis. My regular breakfast was Captain Crunch on a pillow of soft-serve ice cream. My idea of a healthy lunch was chicken salad on toasted white bread. My idea of fun was head-banging at the local live rock bar, watching General Hospital and Mighty Mouse, and playing drinking games with the other meatheads like me.

I most certainly didn’t run.

I barely walked. Needless to say, I had a damn hard time moving my rear-end.

Something began happening to me, though. My left leg went numb.

It was the darndest thing. There was no sensation in a section of my left lower leg. I could pinch and punch it, but nothing.

I went to see the doctor about it, who recommended an orthopedist, who recommended a physical therapist.

Wrong target. Wrong therapy.

Three times a week for three months, I received electric stim and ultrasound on my leg. For three months, there was no change.

Then, it was winter break. I went home to New York and all was well.

One day during the trip, I took a bus to the City with my mother. We were going to visit my sister, who managed a Pizzaria Uno on 2nd Avenue at the time.

My back was achy. I remember it getting worse and worse all the way to the City. By the time we got to the restaurant, my pain was so great that I had to go to the bathroom. I was hyperventilating. Then my legs gave out.

I was face down on the black and white tiles of a Pizzaria Uno bathroom in New York City, 1985. That’s when chiropractic came into my life.

When You First Realize How Much You Need A Healthy Spine

My mother gave me some ibuprophin; eventually, I could stand — wobbly — again. My mother brought me to her chiropractor, who took xrays of my spine.

I had something called an L5 spondylolisthesis. Spon-dee-low-lith-s-thees-iss. It most likely began with a pars interarticularis defect that occurred on L5 left lamina earlier in life. A-pars-inter-arti-cu…

Basically, I had a break in one of my low back vertebrae — might have happened when I was a kid — that contributed to an instability in my low back. Eventually, one of my vertebrae moved a bit forward over my other one.

Here’s what a spondylolithesis looks like.

I had that picture on the right.

Because my vertebrae was so far out of alignment, the nerves that come out at that level and go down my legs were impinged. Hence the numbness in my leg that the orthopedist and the physical therapist missed.

The problem wasn’t in my leg. The problem was in my spine.

The break in the vertebrae was an old break. The misalignment occurred over time. My chiropractor let me know that this fix was going to take time.

What kind of time?

Months. Maybe even over a year.

My youth would help me beat it, but I had to clean up my lifestyle if I wanted it to be quicker (unfortunately, I didn’t clean up my lifestyle. It took longer).

Because I was a student in North Carolina, he found a chiropractor for me near the college and referred my case there.

But before I did, because it was scheduled, I went for a follow up to the orthopedist and told him what the chiropractors found. He said, “Chiropractors are quacks. Don’t listen to them. They don’t know what they’re doing. I’m going to set you up for six months of traction.”

Hmmm.

Chiropractic adjustments with people who found the cause of my problem or six-months of traction with someone who didn’t even think to look at my spine, who had made no difference at all before I lay face down on a bathroom floor in New York City?

I said TTFN to my orthopedist and began a nine-month journey of 3 times a week care with my chiropractor.

It wasn’t easy. Some days were more painful than others. Some weeks there was no change. Some weeks were all right.

Eventually, I noticed that sensation had returned to my leg. Then my spine got stronger and felt better. I had finally graduated to maintenance care.

Years went by.

Life happened, life happened some more — in fact, 15 years of life happened, and finally I decided that I wanted to be a chiropractor.

That’s a WHOLE other story. More years, more life.

I’ll tell you about it next time.

How are you stepping into your 2018 goals? Start with last year’s

December 12, 2017 by Claire Fitzpatrick

How are you stepping into your 2018 goals? Start with last year’s.

Most experts say that we quit our New Years’ resolutions (NYRs) within the month of January. I think we place a lot of weight – no pun intended – on January 1 being the start of our “whole new me.” Our bodies don’t really know that it’s January 1. It’s just another day to our health.

So right now it’s mid-December. We’re starting to negotiate with ourselves.

“I’m going to park myself beside this chocolate fountain because starting January 1, it’s a whole new me.”

“I’ll cut back on dairy and grains after January 1 because I’m going to so many family dinners that I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

Or even…

“I’m going to join the gym on January 1, but I’m going to start January 15 because it’s going to be so crowded in the first two weeks because of NYRs and I don’t want anyone to see me.”

Look at that last one. WE KNOW that NYRs fail! Yet we still make them! We are the most clever, talented, heartfelt, creative, emotional, and illogical beasts on the planet!

Okay. I’m not going to fight this particular tide. But what I am going to do is to make a suggestion: If you want to know how to stick to your NYRs this year, you have to start with two things: your “why,” and last year.

Look backward.

Que the time machine. Look back to this time in December of 2016. Besides the obvious sociopolitical changes (don’t look back at the politics right now; you’re going to turn to salt!), you had an ideal for yourself that you were going to go get!

Did you?

What were your wins?

Mark down your successes. What were your goals for 2017 that you actually made happen? Type or write them down. What were you able to tick off your list? What changes did you create that actually came to pass?

Once you get this down, make an inventory of the conditions, both inner and outer, that allowed this change for yourself. How did you do it? Where did you find the strength to make it happen? Who helped you? What helped you?

Now think about these wins. How do they make you feel when you think about them? Accomplished? Proud? Draw on that good feeling and use it for setting your goals for 2018.

Write this down: Success breeds success. The feelings the success you have over the accomplishments of this past year is crucial to creating your success in 2018.

What did you not do?

Take a look at what goals that you failed to accomplish in 2017.

Take a good, loving, honest look at them.

Did you fail because you just stopped trying? Did you set them too big? Did you believe that they could happen? Did they feel too hard to do, or did you feel like you weren’t up to the task?

Maybe it was something else. Did something change in your world that had to take priority? Were you faced with challenges that called your energy away from the task you set for yourself before the challenge?

Maybe it wasn’t time.

Maybe your innate intelligence told you that the goals you didn’t accomplish in 2017 were goals that actually had to be put aside until the proper time.

Maybe you had to take care of a health challenge before you could take on the goal you set for yourself. It might be that you did the right thing by putting it off. Maybe you and your body just wasn’t ready this year.

In any case, if you are quiet and really give yourself time to listen to that inner voice, your inner voice will be honest with you. Your innate intelligence will deliver the truth if you give it the honor it needs to speak to your inner self.

When you finally come up with the answers, write them them down so you can look at them. This will help you clarify how to craft your goals for 2018, and help you look for pitfalls to your future success.

Above all else, be patient with yourself.

Adopting a lifestyle in which you honor your body and spirit takes mental practice. You can’t be expected to learn to play the piano in two weeks. Give yourself the emotional room to make an honest commitment to your goals.

Have a blessed holiday week!

A Lesson For Us All

August 26, 2017 by Claire Fitzpatrick

The following story illustrates one of two huge reasons why it’s hard to change our eating habits:

We talk ourselves into believing we are addicted to them.
We actually are physically addicted to them.

In this blog post, I am going to address #1. I’ll address #2 in a future blog post.

Food is an easy comfort.

All we do is reach for it and consume it.

Food becomes a reward we give ourselves for putting up with, and making it through, yet another dissatisfying day.

it’s the same attachment that some of us have with alcohol and drugs.

To ask ourselves to give up our eating habits is asking us to give up the one pleasure that we allow ourselves.

We are so attached to that addiction that we actually tell ourselves that our eating habit is our choice, and we actually embrace the addiction.

We submit.

We succumb.

We release the struggle for a better way, and we accept — for better and for worse — the way we have.

I want to tell you a story.

It is a terrible story.

Last week, a man I know lost his girlfriend to heart disease.

She was not obese. She was not “obviously” ill.

She was relatively young, she was financially successful, and she died — shockingly and instantly — in her lover’s arms.

Let me fill in the details.

I’m going to change the names. We’ll call him Paul. We’ll call her Joyce.

Paul is 43 years old. He is an acquaintance.

He is in the “acquaintance” camp because he’s kind of unbearable.

He’s judgmental. He makes ugly jokes that are designed to hurt, then he says he didn’t mean anything by it.

He’s sneaky. If he can get away with manipulating a situation to his benefit, he will.

He talks about people behind their back, and then when that person is in front of him, he will shower that person with praise.

We all have our stories…

He has a story about that. He suffered abuse at the hands of an ex-spouse, who took everything – his money, his child, his dignity – and moved to another state.

Since then, he’s become a bit unbearable.

Don’t get me wrong. I am sympathetic. However, that doesn’t mean that I am willing to suffer his abuse.

So I don’t.

About two years ago, Paul re-met an old lover of his from his college years, Joyce.

Joyce had her own story.

She was smart – too smart for her life choices.

She had once worked as an editor for her local newspaper. The newspaper was purchased and went in a direction in which she didn’t agree, so she moved on.

Eventually, she got a job that paid very well but was extremely unrewarding. She was the director of a bunch of managers at a company whose mission she disagreed with.

She made a lot of money but was never satisfied with her life.

She had had long-term lovers but never married. She was sensitive about what people thought about her, but she didn’t hesitate to tell others what she thought they were doing wrong with their lives.

If you tried to engage her in discussion, she accused you of being insulting. If you tried to respond to one of her criticisms, she told you that you were being defensive.

Joyce and Paul had one thing in common. Food.

They each had allergies. He has allergies to dairy and wheat. She had allergies to nuts and legumes. For their allergies, they listened to their respective doctors and were on a great deal of many different drugs.

They also both hated vegetables and they both loved sugar.

So, they spent a great deal of their time and energy together searching for and sharing sugary, starchy foods that met their allergic profiles. When they ate meat, it was processed meat, as cheap as they could find.

That’s actually quite a niche, isn’t it? That’s not easy – finding sugary, starchy foods that are dairy free, wheat free, nut free, and legume free, while at the same time avoiding fresh vegetables. That takes effort!

Neither smoked; that’s one good thing.

However, neither exercised. They didn’t even like to walk around the neighborhood. They drove to the corner store.

They complained of this ache and that ache, of this or that trip to the doctor.

They complained that the doctor could never “find anything,” and would take the pain killers that were prescribed.

But, whenever I tried to tentatively suggest natural, lifestyle changes in answer to Paul’s complaints, he would chuckle at me and say, “I know that’s what you do for a living, but I don’t want to be bothered; and sorry, but I just don’t believe in that stuff.”

So, we didn’t see much of Paul after he started dating Joyce. When they were together at a party or a function, we chatted politely for a few minutes and moved on.

On the few times we saw Paul when they weren’t together, Paul would grumble about Joyce.

He would complain and tell unflattering stories about her habits. Afterward, he would declare, “Well, it doesn’t matter. She’s as good as I’m getting. But I’m sure as hell never getting married again. She can forget that!”

It is difficult being close to people like that. It is not emotionally rewarding.

Time went on.

I haven’t seen Paul – or Joyce – for the better part of a year.

Last week, it was reported to me that Paul and Joyce were in the kitchen, putting together a meal. According to Paul, they were having an argument. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” he reported. “We were just pecking at each other, you know,” when she stopped short and grabbed her chest.

He ran to her and caught her in his arms, just as she was falling. They both tumbled to the floor.

She died in his arms.

She was 42.

Friends say that Paul is a wreck right now.

The last thing I understand he said to a group of people he visited was, “I wasn’t very nice to her. I wish I had treated her better.”

Was it her eating habits that killed her?

Given that she had seen doctors on multiple occasions to get evaluated for “serious diseases,” I could guess yes.

But I would hazard a more nuanced guess that her eating habits were only part of the story.

You see, food habits, like any habit that hurts us, are symptoms of bigger problems.

Those problems are inside. They require self-reflection and a willingness to see oneself honestly.

So, the way we relate to food is often a reflection of the way we feel about the way we live.

You never know when the result of a life not-well-lived it’s going to happen. But in retrospect, you can always say that you saw it coming.

You never know when you’re going to die, but you can often have a direct influence on its length and quality by intentionally living well.

I am 51. These things are becoming very clear to me in my own life.

As Claire Fitzpatrick, private citizen, I have been to too many funerals of forty- and fifty-something friends and acquaintances to not notice these patterns.

As a chiropractor and nutritionist

I have seen people turn themselves around.

It is the most gratifying thing in the world to know that I have been a small part of their successes.

However, when I have a patient in my office who wants something I don’t offer – a “quick fix” – someone I can’t reach, someone who is a lot like Paul or Joyce, I shake my head and sadly move on.

I can’t help anyone who doesn’t really want help.

I can’t “walk the walk” for them.

Sometimes, the patient isn’t like Paul or Joyce.

Sometimes, the patient is someone who lives with, and takes abuse from, people like Paul and Joyce — someone who has no kind, loving support.

Sometimes, the patient is sweet, giving, lovely, shy, and lonely. Food is their intimate friend.

Sometimes, the patient is sad, depressed, anxious, and suspicious; someone who want to believe in themselves but ultimately sabotages themselves with excessive food (and, very often, with drink).

Sometimes, they want something better for themselves, but they don’t try.

Or, when they do try, when it becomes emotionally difficult to sustain the effort (as it always does), they lack the will to continue and they quit.

These are the cases that break my heart.

I have all kinds of tools to give. I can show how to use them.

For instance, as of this writing, I am hosting a 28-Day Rapid Reset Challenge (click here for details).

But ultimately, any tool I offer will fail if it is not used.

I’m not a psychologist.

I am a chiropractor. I’m sort of a “neuropsychologist” for the body.

However, I do work with psychologists, and I recommend them often. We tend to see a lot of the same people.

You know, I have seen this over and over: Physical pain is worse when we have emotional pain.

Pain — physical and emotional — is frightening and isolating, and so it often becomes part of one’s self-identity.

Physical discomfort is easier to manage and eliminate if one has faith in oneself.

I wish I could reach into your heart and fill you with self-love and belief.

We walk beside you as you heal; but ultimately, we all walk the inner road by ourselves.

The best I can do is be here, continue to tell you how much I believe in you; and that, when you’re ready, I am honored to help.

Posture: The One Word that Can Change Your Behavior Instantly

July 20, 2017 by Claire Fitzpatrick

Posture.

You just sat up, didn’t you?

The word, itself, reminds people of the importance of good posture.

We all know that good posture is important. But why?

Here’s Why

Do you know that your posture can literally determine your mental health? Your emotional health?

How successful you can expect to become?

Here’s one thing I notice about living in Amsterdam, home of some of the tallest people in the world: A good majority of them stoop over.

A lot.

They do the same thing that New Yorkers do, regarding cell phones (known here as “mo-bile” phones). They walk down the street, bent over the tiny screens, typing as they walk…walking into traffic, bikes, me*…

[pullquote align=”normal”]*…by the way, that makes me crazy. I wish these people would just pull over to the side of a building and do their business. Why do these people walk down the street like a zombie, colliding with everything like its nothing?* [/pullquote]

…but I digress…

However, many Amsterdammers tend to slump over without the phones.

They slump over while talking to friends, while eating at a restaurant, sitting at their desks, when speaking in front of a room full of people…its as if they have an imaginary ceiling over their heads, and they have to perpetually duck as to not hit it!

Then I watch the older Amsterdammers, those in their 50s, and 60s, let alone their 70s and 80s, trying to walk down the streets.

Many of them shuffle, their upper backs now deformed after years of stooping, and the gravitational weight of their forward head carriage has worn down their low backs’ ability to stabilize the rest of their body, so their legs are weak from nerve system interference.

Many of them have walkers, or are even in wheel chairs.

Goodness knows about their ability to go to the bathroom, have sex, or even climb the stairs, let alone their ability to enjoy the sailboats in the canals or the beautiful parks on bicycles.

It’s really sad to see, because the Dutch are a very proud people. One can see, as they make their way slowly down the street shuffle by shuffle, that their lack of independence at a relatively young age is extremely humiliating to them.

It’s unnecessary

It’s so unfortunate, because it is so easy to fix.

One simply needs to adjust their spines and change their posture. And keep doing it.

Americans are not immune. We slump. A lot.

It affects everything we do.

It even affects our hormones. Forward head carriage and slumped shoulders are primal stances of fear and depression.

When we slump forward and rest our weight on our rib cage, we are telling our bodies that we are in danger and that we are helpless.

In contrast, sitting and standing straight, head held high, shoulders open, chest open and available, tells our bodies that we are not only all right, but that we are strong, happy, and victorious.

Amy Cuddy, researcher at Harvard University, and her team, tested this theory out in a series of famous studies; the results of which she presented in a famous TED talk in 2012.

She and her team found that testosterone and cortisol levels improved dramatically after just TWO MINUTES of what they called, “high-power positions,” vs. “low-power” positions.

That’s huge.

When we carry ourselves straight and tall, strong in our core, our brain and spinal cord are able to function with less interference and are able to clear waste products from our cerebral spinal fluid into our lymph nodes. This is crucial for brain and body health.

Posture affects

The following quote is attributed to The American Journal of Pain Management. I can’t confirm right now it that is true; if it is, it was written in or before 1991. However, the quote is said very concisely:

[pullquote align=”normal”]“Posture affects and moderates every physiological function, from breathing to nervous system function, and despite the considerable evidence that posture affects physiology and function, the significant influence of posture on health is not addressed by most physicians.” [/pullquote]

Can you imagine if it is true? That we’ve know this for at least 30 years?

You know that there is a lot of worry about the increasing incidences of Alzheimer’s disease these days. Did you know that recent research suggests that brisk, purposeful walking 30 minutes a day can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 60%?

There’s not a drug out there that can come close to matching that.

How much more effective do you think these results would be if we employed open, strong, proper posture to our walking?

No shortage of help

There is no shortage of postural and fitness professionals who teach the importance core strength and postural alignment. Yoga teachers, Pilates teachers, all the martial arts, therapeutic exercise, strength training, Rolfers, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Technique…of course, the list goes on.

When we have been stuck in a rut of poor posture, chiropractic care is crucial to the success of any program of postural success.

How Chiropractic Helps Posture

When we hold our bodies in any position for a long period of time, the body creates fibrous connective tissue to hold us in that position because it thinks we want to stay in that position.

Even the bones will grow extra bone to try to stabilize the body in a position in which we repeatedly place ourselves. That’s called osteoarthritis.

If the spine starts to do that, the extra bone can grow into the spinal canal and the foramen where nerves pass. That’s when we can get severe nerve interference.

If you find it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve healthy posture, it is critical that you get chiropractic care.

Chiropractic care breaks up the adhesions in the spine and joints of the body. It allows free movement of the vertebrae, and thus minimizes interference to the nervous system at the junction of the brain/spinal cord and the peripheral nerves of the body.

It allows the success of using every other technique.

But you can start today. Right now.

Here’s how.

Standing

Get up against a wall, feet shoulder-width apart. Touch the back of your head and your rear end to the wall. Roll your shoulders back until your shoulder blades are flat against the wall. Drop your shoulders.

That weird feeling you’re feeling is proper posture.

At your desk

The top of your monitor should be level with your eyes. Your legs, arms and hands should all be at a 90-degree angle with the rest of your body. Your keyboard should be close. Make your spine straight by lifting yourself up from your pelvis and tummy. Breathe into your tummy, not your shoulders.

And get up and shake it out every 15 minutes.

Walking down the street

Put the phone away, or use headphones to talk, straighten up and walk forward.

Using your phone

Bring the phone to eye level – not your head to phone level. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. So what? Are you afraid of a little upper body strength

When talking with short people (like me)

Stand tall, look down at me with your eyeballs. As long as your manner is jolly and not snobby, I won’t take offence. Make me straighten up to talk to you. It’s good for me, too.

It will make us both jolly. Literally, it will make us happier, healthier people.

For Two Minutes

If you can do any of the above and hold if for just TWO MINUTES, you can improve your health by a magnitude!

Imagine if you hold it for longer? Hours? Days? Months? Years?

How happy and healthy can you make yourself if you do just this? Absolutely free?

C’mon. Straighten up. It’s worth it.

Guest Post: Jack Tricarico on Tai Chi

June 26, 2017 by Claire Fitzpatrick

I’ve known Jack Tricarico for going on three and a half years now.

Jack is an accomplished painter and poet from New York City. He also teaches tai chi and meditation. He is turning 80 next month.

Since I’ve known him, he has touted the practice of tai chi, and credited it with saving his sanity and his life on many occasions.

I asked Jack to contribute his story, that it would touch the life of someone who needed to hear it; and he very generously obliged.

When you read his story, you may think that Jack is an understated fellow. On the contrary; his personality is big and his talent wide. His work is anything but understated!

I highly encourage you to get to know him and his work. Links are provided below.

By the way: the teacher who introduced Jack to tai chi, Eddie Rodriguez, is also a talented massage therapist on New York City’s West Side,

I refer patients to Eddie very often. A link to Eddie is below as well.

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Jack’s Story

In the year of 1988, while teaching drawing and painting to high school students at an after-school program in Manhattan, I met a young man named Eddie Rodriguez; who, at the age of 17, was already a black belt in karate, and knowledgeable of other martial art systems.

After the program ended Eddie asked me if I wanted to learn karate. I had never practiced a martial art form before then except boxing in my adolescence which I enjoyed, but had no talent for.

After a few months of practicing karate, I became bored and quit.

Shortly after Eddie again asked me if I wanted to learn tai chi, which he thought I might be better suited for.

He was right. At the time, I had a close friend who practiced tai chi also, and it appeared to be a discipline I might enjoy learning because it looked so profoundly meditative when I watched him do it.

Before that, I had practiced yoga for a couple of years and Zen meditation sporadically. I enjoyed these disciplines for both the calmness and the energy they produced.

So, in July of 1989, at the age of 51, I began learning the Kuang Ping form of tai chi, an early Yang style technique, from Eddie.

During this time, I was in the midst of an emotionally turbulent relationship with a woman I was nevertheless rapturously in love with.

Practicing tai chi for a couple of hours daily enabled me to maintain some semblance of sanity throughout this affair.

The practice utterly reduced the stress of the continual conflict that went on, sometimes edging toward violence, between my lover and I.

A year after that relationship ended, I met someone else who I eventually married.

Since then, I have learned 3 more tai chi forms: the short Yang style which I learned from Larry Galante, the Chen style and the Yang style classical sword form which I again learned from Eddie.

I have survived 3 car accidents, which caused spinal, knee and nerve damage, and cancer since then.

Today, at 80, practicing 2 to 3 hours of tai chi and meditation daily, I feel better than I did at 30.

This routine has also helped me creatively more than I can imagine.

I am both a painter and poet. My work can be viewed at: New York Art World, web director Johanna Lisi, and Collaborative Pursuits, LLC, web director Courtney Rogers.

I thank Eddie Rodriguez and Larry Galante for teaching me tai chi. It helped save my life.

Jack Tricarico

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Jack’s paintings are available at the above links; some of his poetry is also on Amazon. For further works of his poetry, you can contact Jack through his art agent here.

Eddie Rodriguez practices massage therapy at 448 West 57th Street, Garden Level, New York, NY 10019. His contact information is here.