Lamb Chiropractic: Chiropractic Orthopedics & Clinical Nutrition

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb


Solutions
We offer drug free, noninvasive solutions to back pain, neck pain, headaches, shoulder/elbow/wrist/hand pain, hip/knee/ankle/foot pain and muscular injury. We provide individualized treatment plans tailored to your problems and needs. If you are having chronic pain, we’ll get you back on track to a normal life as soon as possible.

Experience
Dr. Karl Lamb has over 30 years experience. He is Board Certified in Chiropractic Orthopedics and in Clinical Nutrition, as well as certified in Whiplash Injuries. Dr. Lamb completed his education at Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, MO and has been practicing since 1980.  He is a Post-Graduate Instructor in Chiropractic Orthopedics for Logan College.  Dr. Lamb developed the Whiplash Certification course that is taught at Logan College.  He has published papers in peer-reviewed journals and several of these papers have been referenced in chiropractic textbooks.

Insurance & Locations
Let us help you solve your health problems.

Our Chiropractic Practice works with most insurance companies and has affordable cash plans  to make it easy for you to get the care your body needs.  Our Functional Medicine Practice has cash payment plans available as well.  Unfortunately, most insurances do not cover these services.  We have two locations in Evansville and Princeton for your convenience.

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Gluten: Are grains good for you?

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

About 10,000 years ago, our hunter-gatherer (HG) ancestors began to make the shift to agriculture.  They began to notice that some grasses were different.  A mutation in some grasses prevented them from “shattering” when the seeds were fully mature.  When a seed head “shatters” the seeds all break free from the stem and fall to the ground or are scattered by the wind or other methods.  This would make harvesting the grasses difficult.  Early farmers noticed the plants that maintained their seed heads and those that didn’t.  By carefully nurturing these mutated seeds, the domestication of grasses began.  The last grain to be domesticated was oats about 3,000 years ago.

Gluten is composed of two types of proteins, glutenin and prolamins.  Prolamins are the proteins that trigger a series of immune system reactions.  Each grain has its own prolamin that causes problems.  In wheat, it is gliadin, rye has secalin, in barley it is hordein, oats has avenin.

The least reactive prolamins are orzenin in rice and zein in corn.  They do not appear to cause reactions in people with gluten intolerance.  They do cause their own food allergies in some people.  It is possible to be gluten intolerant and have an allergy to corn or rice.

So, what can be caused by gluten?  There are three main conditions that can be caused by gluten.  The first is Celiac Disease (CD).  This is a permanent autoimmune disease that can cause inflammation and damage to the small intestine.  The immune systems of people with CD react whenever gluten is eaten.  The small villi in the small intestine are damaged and flatten out.  They are less able to absorb nutrients.  Nutrient deficiencies begin to develop.  Autoimmune reactions develop as the gut lining begins to open and become “leaky”.  This allows undigested proteins, bacteria, viruses, and other gut contents to escape into circulation.  The immune system goes into overdrive and ends up attacking the body.

The second condition is Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH).  This skin condition is caused by autoimmune reactions.  An itchy, blistering rash appears as the result.  Bowel damage can occur with resultant nutrient deficiencies.  This is a form of CD.

The last condition is Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance.  The symptoms are similar to CD, but there may, or may not, be damage to the villi in the gut.  There may be immune related damage in various parts of the body as well.  Bowel symptoms can occur.  Nutrient deficiencies may be present too.  Symptoms improve when gluten is removed from the diet.  This is the most common form and is often misdiagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

What are the symptoms of Gluten Intolerance?  Diarrhea is common.  Steatorrhea is a fatty, floating, foul smelling stool occurs.  Constipation will alternate with the diarrhea.  Abdominal discomfort, bloating, and flatulence results from poor digestion.  Nausea and vomiting can occur.  Heartburn, burping, and feelings of fullness result from impaired stomach digestion, mixing, and emptying.  Oral ulcers can occur from nutrient deficiencies or immune activity.  Recurrent intestinal bacteria and Candidiasis (yeast) infections result.  Lactose intolerance may appear.  Liver disease and gallbladder problems are associated with Gluten Intolerance.  Pancreatic function may be affected.  Pancreatitis can also be a problem related to gluten.  Fatigue, anemia, and abnormal bleeding may occur from nutrient deficiencies.

So, what should you do?  Get checked by a health care professional.  There are immune system markers in blood tests that can help identify the various conditions.  Change your diet to exclude gluten/grains.  Pay close attention to your symptoms.  Take note of any improvements and changes.  Consult with a nutritional professional to assess for any nutrient deficiencies you may be suffering from due to Gluten Intolerance.  Ask questions.  The more you know, the healthier you can become.  Following a Paleo Diet helps heal the gut.

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Diet Debates

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

So you have decided that you are over-weight and you need to go on a diet.  The typical wisdom that you will get from most nutritionists, doctors, and diet gurus is that you are just consuming more calories than you are burning.  All you have to do, according to conventional diet wisdom, is eat fewer calories and exercise more. Simple, easy, why didn’t you think of that?  The problem is, it won’t work.

You just have to keep track of every single calorie that you eat, all day long!  Then, you have to calculate just how many calories that you burn in every activity you perform, all day long!  Then you have to make sure that you are burning more than you consuming, all day long!  That is a lot of work!  That would also be very stressful, too!

What happens when you “stress-out” and are trying to loose weight?  Stress causes you to release cortisol, an adrenal hormone, that promotes insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance causes you to gain weight more easily and leads to Metabolic Syndrome (more on it next time).  It also makes it difficult to lose weight.  So stressing over a diet and exercise program is self-defeating and it will actually make you fatter!  And we wonder why people can’t seem to lose weight on most diets!

So, what should you do if you want to lose weight, get stronger, feel better, and become healthier?  You must first understand that this “eat less, burn more” approach is not workable, especially long-term.  Our ancestors would not have stopped in the middle of the forest, pulled out a scrap of bear skin and a charcoal stick, and calculated how much energy they had expended and how much more they could eat that day and still stay slim and fit.  They had no idea what a calorie was, what a protein was, or what a carbohydrate was!  And these are the people responsible for your genome!  How did we survive?

Actually, we survived quite well!  We ate as much as we could and were lean and fit.  How did this happen?  Lets look, briefly, at the macronutrients.  These are fats, carbohydrates and proteins.

When you eat protein and fats, you have an off switch. This switch tells you when you are “satisfied” and it is time to stop eating.  With carbs, you have no off switch. You will eat carbs until you are full, and a half hour later, you will find yourself standing, with the door open, at the fridge, looking for something else to eat!  Why?

Our ancestors were hunters and gatherers.  They ate meat and fats and veggies.  Veggies are mostly low carb foods.  When in season, they ate fruit and berries.  These would be the only high carb foods they ate.  Because of that, they would gorge themselves on the fruit and berries.  This sudden increase in blood sugar would cause insulin to store the excess sugar as fat, for a rainy day.  They would soon be hungry again, and would gorge to store more fat for the lean times.

High carb foods were a rare treat for hunter-gatherers.  They ate all of it that they could, whenever they could.  Now days, we have an overabundance of carbs!  They are everywhere!  And, we have even refined them and made them much easier to digest and absorb, causing sharper spikes in blood glucose and insulin and more fat accumulation!  We have thought of everything!  Except…for an off switch for our carb appetites.

So, what can we do?  Stay tuned for Part Two!

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Good Calories, Bad Calories

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

I don’t know how much you want to know about nutrition, the sorry state of our current nutritional recommendations, or how scientists and politicians have failed us. If you are like me, and have an inquiring mind, you want to know. I have been in practice for 31 years. I have seen the effects of dozens of diets on the patient’s in my practice. I have often wondered why there was not a more scientific approach to this subject. I have told patients for years that if they want to be really confused, go to their local book store and buy all of the diet books that they can find. Then, take them all home and read them! That will lead to incredible confusion!

In Good Calories, Bad Calories, science writer Gary Taubes has managed to pull it all together. All the research, counter-research, hypotheses, theories, diseases, recommendations and controversies are found in this single volume. To say that it is crammed full of information is an understatement!

The detail in this book is incredible! Taubes is like a hungry dog who worries a bone from all angles. He grabs hold of a topic and doesn’t let it go until he has exposed the truth.

This book deals with the diet/cholesterol hypothesis (bet you didn’t know that it was just one of several hypotheses about the cause of heart disease), the carbohydrate hypothesis, diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, weight loss, and aging. There are no sacred cows left when this book is through. You will understand, more completely and clearly than ever before, exactly what we (humans) should and should not eat and, most importantly, why we should eat it.

We are genetically programmed by our evolution to do well, be lean and healthy, on one type of food, and become obese and diseased on another type of food. We do this because our bodies have an off switch for proteins and fats. We become satisfied when we eat our fill or meat. We lose our hunger! It will stay lost for a long time, too.

However, we do not have an off switch for carbohydrates. Carbs were rare treats for our hunter/gatherer ancestors. They had to fight, hunt, and scrape for every morsel of food that they consumed each and every day! Most of what they ate was meat/fats because they were very good hunters. Lots of non-starchy veggies also populated their diets. Fruits were only eaten during their seasons. Then the people had to compete with animals, birds, and insects for these treasures. The fruit was tough, hard, and sour tasting. An apple to them was like a modern-day crabapple to us. Before the advent of fire, people chewed and fed for 12 hours a day due to the tough, fibrous nature of the foods they ate.

Carbs were rare and special. They boosted our blood sugar as we gorged on them during their seasons. Carbs are quickly digested and we are, once again, hungry. Time to gorge again! This would cause a spike in our blood sugar and insulin would be triggered to control it. Insulin has several jobs. It puts glucose (sugar) into the cells, moves vitamin C into cells, and stores excess glucose as fat in fat cells. Insulin is the fat storage hormone! Hunter/gatherers needed what fat they could get in case of lean times.

So, our bodies stay lean and healthy on meat and fats. The rare carbs we would encounter were precious and saved as fat to help us get through the tough times. That is how it was for the hunter/gatherers. So, what happened to us?

Agriculture happened! We switched our diet from one of mainly meat and fats to one of mainly grains and domesticated plants. We got smaller in stature and sicker in health then the hunter/gatherers. (This topic will be discussed in more detail in another post.)

Taubes goes through all of the myths, misconceptions, flawed research, and dogmatic recommendations that have led us down the wrong dietary path. This experiment that we are a part of has been going on for a very long time, but it has taken a nasty turn the past 100 years. We are living, suffering from chronic diseases, and dying prematurely because of this experiment! It is time for all of us lab rats to revolt!

I will leave you with this quote from Maurice Arthus, Philosophy of Scientific Investigation, 1921: ” In reality, those who repudiate a theory that they had once proposed, or a theory that they had accepted enthusiastically and with which they had identified themselves, are very rare. The great majority of them shut their ears so as not to hear the crying facts, and shut their eyes so as not to see the glaring facts, in order to remain faithful to their theories in spite of all and everything.”

Read the book. Read it with an open mind. It will not be a quick read due to the amount of scientific detail, but, it will be a rewarding experience, a true revelation.

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Leaky Gut

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

I have had several questions about this subject from my patients lately.  The majority of people do not even know what a leaky gut is.  Most people are surprised to learn that 70% to 80% of your immune system is in your gut!  The reason for the concentration of your defensive system in this area is the bacteria that are growing there.  There are more bacteria in your gut then there are cells in your body!  These bacteria help us digest and break down our food so that it can be absorbed.  We supply them with things that they need and we can’t use.  These include fiber and sugars that we are unable to digest or utilize.  The bacteria eat these.  This forms a symbiotic relationship that works quite well, when it goes as it was designed too.  When the system  develops a problem, we pay a price.

What can cause the system to go out of balance?  Medications (antibiotics), diet, stress, bad bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and food allergies.  Antibiotics set the stage for problems because they destroy most of the bacteria in the gut.  Good, bad, or indifferent, they all go.  This leaves the gut open to invasion by yeasts, fungi, and molds.  If you use antibiotics, you must repopulate your gut with good bacteria as soon as possible to prevent over-growth of bad organisms.  Probiotics should contain several different organisms to provide adequate coverage.

Diet, including food allergies, is one of the most common ways to develop a leaky gut.  Gluten, found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, malt, and oats, contains compounds called lectins. Lectins are sugars attached to proteins or fats.  These compounds cause irritation and inflammation of the gut.  This inflammation and irritation causes the junctions between the cells in the gut to loosen.  When the gaps between the cells lining the gut widen, all kinds of things can cross into the body, partially digested proteins, bacteria, and other products slip through.  The immune system assumes that proteins made up of three or four amino acids is a virus and mounts an attack on it.  If one of the bodies organs or other parts happens to have the same combination of amino acids, the immune system will attack it too.  Enter autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroiditis.

So what can you do to fix this problem?  The first step is to identify the source of the leaky gut.  I have only discussed a few of the more common ones.  It often takes testing and a through history in order to discover the source or sources of your specific problem.  The second step is to eliminate it from your life.  Next, you may need to detoxify in order to eliminate the products of the leaky gut from your system.  Lastly, you will need to heal you gut through nutritional means in order to seal up the leaks and enable you to improve your overall health.

The gut is a crucial and often overlooked part of your total health.  People may have gut problems without symptoms.  Other people end up with Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), Celiac’s Disease, and Gastritis, to name a few.  Until this area is assessed and properly treated, no program, nutritional or otherwise, will cause lasting improvements in your health!

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OBESITY AND LECTINS

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

Lectins?  What are lectins and how do they make me fat?  Good questions.

Lectins are carbohydrates that are bound to proteins.  Plants make them to protect themselves from insects and diseases.  They are found in high, potentially “toxic”, concentrations in wheat, rye, barley, wheat germ, quinoa, rice, oats, millet and corn.  Also legumes, all dried beans, soy and peanuts.  Dairy, especially from grain-fed cows as opposed to grass-fed cows.  Nightshades like potato, tomato, eggplant and pepper contain them as well.

Lectins have been documented to cause “food poisoning” in people without any bacteria or pathogen being found.  Lectins are toxic, inflammatory, or both.  They are resistant to cooking and digestive enzymes so they aren’t easily broken down.

Lectins in wheat, kidney beans, soybeans and peanuts are known to increase intestinal permeability (a leaky gut).  This allows proteins, bacteria, amino acids, undigested food, and viruses to crossover into the body.  Usually the immune system is quick to attack and eliminate these foreign invaders.  However, lectins also impair the immune systems ability to fight off these fragments that leak into the body.  Some intestinal bacteria, immune system proteins, food proteins, and body tissues, have the same protein sequences, further confusing the immune system.  This causes the immune system to attack itself and the body’s tissues as if they are invaders!  Enter, autoimmune diseases! Also, wheat contains gluten, which compounds the lectin problem!

Current estimates of gluten sensitivity in the US are 30-40% of the population with the majority of these people not even being aware that they have the problem.  People who are the most sensitive end up with Celiac’s Disease.  Gluten causes inflammation in the gut lining and pain.  It can cause severe symptoms (Ciliac’s) or be subclinical and exhibit almost no symptoms.  With time though, people will begin to exhibit clinical symptoms: abdominal cramping, dry skin, dry hair, diarrhea, nausea, constipation, and low energy to name just a few.

So how do lectins cause me to gain weight and not be able to lose it?  Lectins interfere with leptin.  Leptin tells us to stop eating, stores excess calories in fat, supports the growth of blood vessels, bone, the immune system, glucose- and fat-metabolism, and the reproductive system.  In mice, the administration of leptin causes satiation and weight loss.  In overweight humans it does not.  Overweight humans often have high levels of leptin already.  This points to Leptin Resistance as a cause of their obesity.  Lectins appear to interfere with leptin receptors, blocking leptin’s effect of controlling appetite/satiation.  This may lead to an increase in glucose in the blood and start insulin resistance (Type II Diabetes) in some people.  Lectins may also contribute strongly to the metabolic syndrome.

So, where do you think you would be if you followed the old USDA food pyramid?  It recommended 6-11 servings of grain a day! Consider how much the obesity rate in the US has gone up and you might just see a connection.

How do you reverse the process?  The first step is to get off of the foods that have potentially toxic lectins in them.  Hunter-Gatherer diets, the Paleo diet, the Atkins diet, and other similar diets will reduce your exposure to lectins.  However, you should consult with your physician/nutritionist before starting any dietary program to make sure that it is right for you and your problems.

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Whiplash – History and Examination

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

During the history, the doctor will ask you about your symptoms, when they started, how severe they are, how often you have them, what makes them worse or better, the type of pain (sharp, dull, ache, etc.) they produce, and where they radiate too (if they do).  The frequency and duration of the symptoms is also important.  The doctor will ask you to rate the severity of your symptoms.  Detail is important to establish a baseline for your symptoms.

Outcome measures will also be used to determine how much your neck pain, low back pain, and headaches interfere with your functional abilities.  Specialized outcome measures may also be used for your other symptoms (shoulder, knee, etc.).  Your Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) will also be evaluated.  This tells the doctor how much your problem interferes with your day-to-day life.  Any disability of limitations that you have at work will also recorded.

Any preexisting problems or conditions will also be noted in the records.  These conditions may be complicating factors in you current injury and must be noted as such.  Complicating factors can slow your recovery or result in a less than optimal outcome.  Apportionment, or how many of your current symptoms or the severity of your current complaints, is from these previous problems must be calculated by the doctor.  This should be noted in the records as a baseline.  Once you are back to this level, the injuries from this accident have been resolved and you can be released from this accident.

The doctor may order x-rays, if you don’t already have them.  A review of any films you do have will also be done.  After the review, the doctor may order additional studies, if warranted.

The examination is to help match the mechanism of your injury from the accident to the symptoms you experience.  The physical  examination findings from the various orthopedic and neurological tests should support the mechanism of the proposed injury.  If the mechanism of injury and the examination findings do not match then there could be a problem.

Anytime there is a mismatch between the history and examination, it is up to the doctor to resolve it.  The doctor must be able to explain why the history and examination do not concur.  It could be due to an old injury, an inaccurate history of the mechanism of injury, or from functional overlay.  The doctor should determine which it is and correct it or note it in the file.  Any unanswered conflicts can result in problems later, if the case goes to peer-review or to court.

Once the history, outcome measures, any imaging studies, and examination have been completed, the doctor arrives at a working diagnosis.  This should encompass ALL of the patient’s complaints (which should have all been examined).  With the working diagnosis, the doctor can formulate a treatment plan to address all of the various injuries/problems.  The goals of the treatment should be noted in the records as well.

Then the fun starts…the treatment!

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You are what you eat, right?

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

The old adage says that, “You are what you eat.”  Is that true?  Not exactly. We are what we eat, digest, absorb, and can use! When you were a kid, if you were like me, you ate rocks, dirt, and other things that you could fit into your mouth.  Fortunately, I did not become any of those things!  I also did not digest or absorb most of them.

There are things that we must have in order to live and be healthy.  There are essential proteins and fats that our bodies must obtain from outside sources.  The better the quality of these sources, the better the result.  There are vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and other co-factors that our bodies also need in order to be healthy.

You cannot build a high quality product by using cheap materials! Would you like to live in a house that is constructed from third and fourth rate materials?  NO! Then why do you eat products that are of poor quality and do not provide you with the essential ingredients that you need in order to be healthy?  Most people do it because they know no better.  They have never been taught what they need to eat and what they need to avoid (just as important).

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is energy-dense and nutrient-poor. Processed food is designed to have a long shelf life and to stimulate the taste buds in a pleasing fashion.  It is also designed to be convenient and easy to prepare (in just five minutes).  Since it is nutrient-poor, our bodies do not get enough of  the essential nutrients that we need.  This leads to nutritional inadequacies which will lead to less then optimal function of our organs, glands, and bodies!

Because of the high energy-density of the SAD, we often end up with disruption of our blood sugar levels.  This eventually results in insulin resistance and Type II diabetes. Blood sugar must be carefully regulated in order to avoid this problem and all of its potential complications (obesity, heart disease, vision problems, etc.).  In order to do this, we need to stimulate the release if insulin either very slowly or not at all.

Careful attention must be paid to the type of carbohydrates we consume.  Simple, processed carbs will spike blood sugar and insulin levels.  This will result in a roller coaster ride of high and low blood sugar with its accompanying mood and concentration swings and energy surges and drops.  Not a good way to live!

Whole foods rich in complex carbs, fiber, and that are nutrient-dense, is what is needed.  Free range meat is also essential to provide adequate proteins and to help stabilize blood sugar.  Individual needs will vary and should be addressed on a case by case basis.

If you want a strong, healthy body you must supply it with the high quality nutrients that it needs.  If you give it third and fourth rate materials, you may not be pleased with the results!

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Functional Medicine

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

People often ask what the difference is between Conventional Medicine (CM) and Functional Medicine (FM).  CM has to wait until a person has actually developed a disease before it can spring into action to treat it.  FM is designed to discover potential problems and deficiencies before they become real health threats, and correct them early.

FM focuses on balancing the body’s systems to achieve homeostasis (a state of physiologic balance).  Balance is vitally important for each organ, gland, tissue, and cell of the body to allow them to function properly.  If the person’s physiology is not balanced, then allostasis (an unbalanced state) exists.  This unbalanced state can lead to symptoms and disease if left uncorrected long enough.

By using a through history and various testing procedures (blood labs, urinalysis, etc.) an FM practitioner is able to assess your physiology and determine where it is unbalanced and needs support.  Since we are all biochemically unique, each person’s treatment program will also be unique to them.  No two people, even with the same symptoms, will receive exactly the same programs from a FM practitioner.

Functional Medicine:

  • Is patient centered
  • Is based on each person’s unique needs
  • Helps balance your biochemistry/physiology
  • Integrates physical, mental, and emotional aspects
  • Uses various types of testing
  • Encourages active participation from you in your treatment program
  • Is interested in outcomes, not just controlling or covering up symptoms
  • Is used by all disciplines of medicine: Chiropractic, Medical, Naturopathic, Osteopathic, Dentistry, Nutrition, etc.

Functional Medicine draws on many diverse fields:

  • Genetics
  • Herbal medicine
  • Nutrition
  • Environmental toxicology
  • Endocrinology
  • Natural medicine (all types)
  • Gastroenterology
  • Psychology
  • Neurology
  • Immunology

FM looks at how the body functions as a whole unit.  It does not specialize and divide a person into a heart, kidneys, lungs, or stomach without regard as to how they all interact with one another.

FM focuses on determining the underlying cause of a person’s complaints.  Treatment then targets the deficiencies that are found and supports the body so that it can achieve homeostasis and good health again.  This is done by nutritional supplementation, dietary recommendations, exercise programs, and, if necessary, referral for concurrent care with other providers.

The patient’s health and wellness is our number one concern!

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Book: Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

Diagnosing thyroid problems, and then treating them correctly, is extremely difficult.  This is even more true when your family doctor or endocrinologist doesn’t seem to “get” your problem.  The main focus of this book is Hashimoto’s Autoimmune Thyroiditis, which is the cause of most hypothyroid cases.  Most medical practitioners treat this disease as if it is just a thyroid issue.  It is not! Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune problem first!  If the immune system is not properly balanced, no treatment approach will adequately address the low thyroid.  This book is for people who want to know why they still feel like they can hardly drag themselves through the day.  Thyroid problems are so often missed, misdiagnosed, or mis-treated by our medical system.

In this book, Dr. Kharrazian details what happens to the immune system and how that sets the stage for Hashimoto’s.  He has also found six distinct thyroid conditions, only one of which responds to thyroid medication.  Is it any wonder that there are so many people who do not get improvement of their thyroid condition with standard medical treatment?

Detailed laboratory examination of the immune system and thyroid allows for an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment of your specific problem.  To often, only a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) lab test is ordered for the patient and the entire diagnosis relies on that single test!  You should never base a thyroid diagnosis and treatment plan on just a single laboratory test!

There are several complicating factors to consider when treating thyroid problems.  Dr. Kharrazian points out that anemia, estrogen issues, blood sugar handling problems, and adrenal stress can, and does, interfere with treatment.  Care must be taken to ferret out all of the factors that are affecting the patient.  Treatment should be targeted at improving the function of each area involved so that the result is a smooth recovery with as few bumps as possible!

This book is one of the most in-depth and detailed books that I have read on thyroid disease.  It is written for both patients and doctors.  The language is scaled so that anyone can understand it with clear analogies and descriptions.  This is a 5 Star book for anyone who has a thyroid problem, knows someone who has one, or just wants to know more about this complex condition.  I strongly recommend this book to educate patients who have this problem so that they can better understand their condition.

Questions/comments?  hoosierchiropractor1@gmail.com

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Book: Primal Body/Primal Mind

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Dr. Karl L. Lamb

This is a great book to provide you with a broad view of Primal Nutrition.  This book is based on our ancestral diets.  This is the type of diet that we are genetically designed to consume.  It is what works for us and our physiology, resulting in good health and reducing our likelihood of disease.

The chapters are short, usually 3 to 10 pages long.  They each cover a specific topic, nutrient or area of the primal diet.  The detail is good and gives you a good basis to understand this dietary program.  The information is clearly presented.

As with any book, there are some parts that I disagree with.  The major point has to do with protein consumption.  I feel that there is some confusion in the conclusions drawn in the book.  Nora points out that protein consumption was high in hunter-gather societies, but, then says that we don’t need that much.  Confusing.

Other than that small area, I have found this book to be very good for general education, especially in those who want to know more about hunter-gather diets and nutrition.  The chapters are quick reads and allow you to get a basis for further reading in this area.  Nutritional books can, and often are, confusing and difficult to read.  This book was a fun, quick read.  I can hardly wait for her next one!

Questions/comments?  hoosierchiropractor1@gmail.com

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