Retired Doctors Tell the Truth - Dead Doctors Get Buried

              I wrote a series call Doctors Who Jumped Ship.  There are many interesting medical physicians who realized the best way to help their patients was considered controversial.  They couldn't sit by an follow standard protocols that were obviously not working.   They had to give up the mainstream opinions and forge their own paths.  Often it caused them grief as in loss of their career and unwanted publicity.  They have stood strong and you can read about them here.           

There are also a number of talented doctors that history wants to forget.  And I would prefer their work be remembered every day.   This will develop into my newest series: Retired Doctors Tell the Truth - Dead Doctors Get Buried.        Here is our first doctor:           

          
Dr. Stuart Graveline was a medical doctor and astronaut.  He wrote how his life was ruined when he began taking cholesterol medicine. He also had his patients' records showing their declines.  He notified the FDA twice.  No one cared.  He has since passed away. 

I am looking over his book again as it has been a number of years.  I thought most people were exposed to the information showing statin medicines are dangerous, but I suppose a new generation of unaware patients the latest money stream for the CEOs.

You'll find it interesting that retired medical doctors who are no longer threatened by their employees tell the dark and dirty stories of the industrial medical complex.  Sadly, once they die, their work is buried with them.  

Dr. Darren Schmidt went on a hunt for medical books dating back to the 1930s.  He struck gold. The medical authors had revealed profound information that saved lives, but they are soon to be erased from history.  This is crazy, but it is reality.  

Similar to my series I titled Doctors Who Jumped Ship, I want you to obtain the information these doctors shared before it completely vanishes from books, the internet, and word of mouth from mentors. 

Dr. Stuart Graveline is one of these deceased doctors. 

I would also add to the list Dr. Nicholas Gonzales, John Beard and others. 

Stay tuned....   Part 2 

More Doctors We Can Learn From: 

Dr. Patrick Kingsley   Read Here

Nicholas Gonzalez  Read Here

William Donald Kelley

Max Gerson

John Beard

Robert O. Becker

Weston A. Price

Francis M. Pottenger

Chiropractic does one thing: it modifies the nervous system to function at a useful state of ease. 

You don't want excessive fight or flight.

You don't want the freeze or faint response to tank your reserves to the point of  no return. 

You want to partner with the brain.  Chiropractic is your partner. 

See you at the table....the adjusting table.

----Dr. Lisa

---Your Health Freedom Advocate

Rebooting the brain one spine at a time. 

2025 - What I Have Realized

** Chiropractic is the deliberate habit of living according to the brain's point of view.          The spine is an extension of the brain.                                                                             

 We utilize the spine to enhance the brain's protection and rebuilding activities. **

If you know what you're really made of, you will work in concert with your brain and body as a partner rather than sitting submissively on the sidelines because of a lack of information. 

This year, 2025, I will be celebrating my 25th year as a chiropractor. 

So, looking back, what has changed in 25 years?

Back then, after graduation I was looking forward to meeting people.  I had the simplest expectation.  I would adjust their spines and and they would lead their lives in an enthusiastic manner.  

Over the years, I have watched people lose their enthusiasm. They are entirely beat down. But before I unpack these loaded statements, let's  revisit my chiropractic journey.  (I still have a plan for the next 25 years.)

My passion for chiropractic began in 1995.   I was looking for a better way to reach people who were in despair.  Working in the mental health care field, people were shut off or shut down.  They were separated from what made them great.  

Why were people struggling?  What was holding them back?  

Image Credit: Shutterstock: VectorMine 

When I was completing my master's degree in clinical counseling, I was developing my own communication style to help people release their own personal chains.  While they had to do it for themselves,  the counseling process helped chip away each stubborn link. These are the links that they forged in place with their underlying fears, tragedies and unmet expectations.  

Counseling helped people awaken to what they were really made of.  Counseling gave people permission to regain their confidence.

My explanation here may seem vague, but as I type this I am reliving these encounters with my clients.  As we dug up memories and reanalyzed them in a neutral atmosphere of nonjudgmental acceptance, the aha moment or fresh insight would restart a new rewiring process in the brain.  They were inspired to adopt new behaviors that allowed them to find the personal success they were looking for. 

This was not easy.  The process stalled for most people because there's a great deal of social conditioning that needs to be extinguished.  

I define social conditioning as beliefs and expectations we've grown up with.  They give us structure and security.  Not all of them are beneficial to us, however.  At times we tend to over-embellish these beliefs and expectations to our detriment. 

So, when I say the counseling process is not easy with people often stalling or staying stuck, chiropractic entered my life.  

I learned chiropractic speeds up the process.  

When someone is trying to release their own personal chains, chiropractic accelerates their progress. 

Disclaimer: Results may vary.  People are complicated and rewiring the the brain is individualized. No two nervous systems are the same.  

If you look back in history 100 years, you'll discover the popularity of chiropractic mental hospitals.  I wrote about it in my blog.   People with mental distress got well and lived normal lives.  I wanted to be a part of this.

Chiropractic is a profoundly exciting way to empower the brain so you can live in an empowered, inspiring manner. 

And this moved me to follow the chiropractic path. 

(Unfortunately the economic impact of WWII and political peeing matches led to the closings of these hospitals.  However, there are still 2 existing chiropractic inpatient facilities for disabled children: Kentuckiana Children's Center and Oklahaven Children's Chiropractic Center.)

Here we are 25 years later. 

What I find disturbing is people are not awakened to what they are made of.  Instead they act as if they are defective.  They have no confidence in their intelligent bodies.  We are not growing as humans.  I feel we are in a downward spiral.  I hope the pendulum swings back the other way. 

Early on in my practice people were determined to be healthy through the most natural route.  They were assertive when it came to their health decision making.  

Now people are full of fear.  This was creeping into society before the pandemonium that was nicknamed covid. It seemed year after year my patients' prescription lists kept growing.  The same people who swore they would not take medications began to give in.  Why?  It's not because they are older.  Many people now younger than me are regularly taking pills. 

If you watch incessant drug ads on TV, you can't help but be hypnotized into the magic formula of music and dancing people.  Not a single one of those medications will help you dance.  They rob you of your energy and then you blame the disease or aging.  Rather than face the truth that a synthetic material with a fancy name might be harming your liver, heart, and brain, you allow it to chip away at your self confidence.  

From an early age we are taught that we're not smart enough when it comes to health.   Every time we are sick we receive the unspoken message that we can't wait it out on our own.  We are told we need monitoring by a doctor because the human body cannot be trusted.  We begin to believe we need elixirs not made by the body to get by.  It doesn't take long for these beliefs to be solidified as they take up permanent residence in our brains. 

As I write this, I feel as if my thoughts tumbling out of my head are so absurd.  We can't be that easily swayed.  Can we?  

Why am I against the pharmaceutical industry?  Why am I picking on them?  Don't I realize some drugs are necessary?  Plenty of room here for debate, but if you are going to debate, you should eventually have options.  I don't see a lot of options.  There's no more room for second opinions which I see as our downfall.  

I won't solely focus on the drug industry, but they are a major factor in declining health.  It is very evident this industry preys on our fears.  This industry also plays a large role is misleading us on how disease works. 

I could go all the way back to the science textbooks in our early schooling.  The subtle messaging begins early.  And if you want to finish college and that respected degree, you have to believe  a lot of the rubbish taught.  I believed it, because I trusted the generations of educators. 

I was taught to be scared of the human body because it so complex and mysterious.  There are so many terrible diseases that start out with  similar symptoms that if I got it wrong then the wrong treatment would be administered.  A misdiagnosis can send you down the wrong path, wasting your time, making you worse.  You can go to any medical website, type in a few vague symptoms and be given up to 50 possible diagnoses.  More panic and distrust of your mysterious body. 

Forgotten history (when recalled) can help free us from our own chains. The first Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy,  published in 1899 was a mere 192 pages. It was probably published on thick crudely made paper compared to today's mass produced tissue paper.   The latest issue has 3,854 pages printed on such thin pages that they will tear if you "leaf" through them too quickly. 

This large tome must be proof that we have gotten sicker in the last 100 years.  There are so many new diseases.  Or, we didn't have the same lifespan.  The average age of death in the 1890s was 42 years.  So, that explains why these diseases weren't discovered yet.  Funny, Ben Franklin lived to age 84 in 1790.  I can't fall for that line of reasoning.  And neither should you. 

Unwanted Naming Game

Along with modern medicine is the multitude of tests.  If we can measure it we think we can control it.  And we think we know exactly what the body is doing. Blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, insulin, enzymes, bone density, Xrays, MRI, CT scans, etc.  

The reliance on tests has given us a certain ignorance.  It's the new fangled short cut to put you in a diagnosis box that does more damage than good.   How many friends and family have said, "At least I now what I've have."  It has a name followed by a long list of treatments (mostly drugs.)

The label follows you around the rest of your life.  It's in your electronic medical record permanently whether it was accurate and useful or not.  It colors how the next doctor views you.  Patient profiling.  You're stuck.  You are not a unique person anymore.  You are a statistic.  All treatment offered to you is based on a algorithmic math problem because of tests.  And everyone is expected to meet the same criteria.  For example, blood pressure must be below 120/80.  This has become the most fear inducing measurement giving people a sense of helplessness.  It feels 

You Are Not Standard-You Are Special

When I was in chiropractic college, I was taught "standard of care."  There's standard medical care and there's standard chiropractic care. These are a set of typical approaches we needed to utilize based on consensus. Imagine a secret society sitting in a dark room taking a vote.  Good luck if you request a certain treatment or test.  If it didn't receive the popular vote, your concern is ignored or you might be ostracized for thinking outside the box. 

I teach my practice members that they are unique.  Their nervous systems are unique.  Their own life experiences that are wired into their brains are unique.  No one can be a textbook example.  Each of us has an inborn, innate intelligence that carries us through our lives.  I guess it's so amazing we can't believe it.  But you are proof.  Despite our social conditioning that we should live in fear, you are proof of something profoundly magnificent. 

My Failure in This 

I didn't do a very good job of helping people question the beliefs that keep them stuck.  I've been in practice for 25 years  and only a few people have caught on to the inconsistencies.  Many of us are late bloomers.  It's not a matter of being a slow learner, but that of being a slow un-learner.  

Why would these health lies persist?  How am I supposed to feel about the experienced teachers  I trusted?  (I'm not going to list the "health lies" here. You know enough of them already.  Numerous times in your life you  have experienced the health explanations that don't make sense to you.)

Chiropractic speeds up the process of personal growth, as long as you are open to it. 

Most people go to the chiropractor to get rid of a pain.  If you know me, you are aware that I teach the neurological definition of pain. It is a sensation created by the body in response to a stress.  Everyone has a different pain barometer.  You've known people who have a high pain tolerance.  Even your pain is unique to you.  I also teach the purpose of  pain.  We know healing hurts, but stopping the process prematurely leaves a person with weakness.  If you're open to this view of the body, you can remove a lot of heavy chains. 

Chiropractic helps the brain and body relax, but it won't override the brain's function.  If the brain needs to repair and rebuild, it will continue to do so.  It won't stop the inflammation.  It will boost the inflammatory process so it can complete the job.  A chiropractic adjustment applied to a person with a fever may spike the fever so the body can complete the job.  A relaxed body that isn't stuck in fight or flight can do the job more efficiently.  

If we can reduce the fear response by changing our attitudes about the body, the adjustment can be more effective.  

** Chiropractic is the deliberate habit of living according to the brain's point of view. (This is the opposite of the disease-model.)            

The spine is an extension of the brain.                                                                              

We utilize the spine to enhance the brain's protection and rebuilding activities. **

If we deliberately live according to the brain's point of view, health becomes simple.  

We use chiropractic to enhance the brain's protection and rebuilding activities.  This does not mean stopping pain.  Sometimes we are pain free when fight or flight dulls our senses.   Pain free may mean you are in a hyper vigilant state of survival and you are burning through your energy reserves. 

My goal is to help you reclaim the intelligence of your body.  I want you to get reacquainted with your body.  Reduce the fear so you are confident. You can be empowered and not helpless.

Rather than focus on 25 years of declining confidence, it is an appropriate time to say, "Enough is enough." 

Have we hit rock bottom?

Often great change is inspired by hitting rock bottom. At this point there is only one direction to go: UP!  We all hit rock bottom at different times in our lives.  

If you appreciate my message, let me know.  Get under chiropractic care through the brain's point of view instead of society's fear based approach. 

If my message doesn't make sense.  I'm sorry.  I'm still working on it. Sometimes a friend can explain it better than me. 

Nothing changes unless the brain changes.

We have gentle ways to introduce positive change so you can release your unwanted chains. 

Learn what you're really made of.

We must grow as humans.  We must expand our minds and inspire our communities.  Join me on the journey.

The Worst Health Problem: Do You Have It?

(Image: Dr. Ford Brewer, YouTube)

When I talk to folks, I notice their concern and fear with certain health problems.  And it's not always cancer, even though it is assumed to come with an inevitable death sentence.  (Here are different perspectives on cancer:   The Cancer Culture  &  Is Cancer on the Rise? )

The top of list seems to be arthritis and clogged arteries. 

People are especially frightened of arthritis.  I was a bit freaked out when I had neck Xrays at age 29.  I was not in any pain, but the early formation of spurs were evident. Today, I do not have pain, and I have no desire to get new Xrays. (It is common knowledge that imaging findings do not correlate with pain levels or predict pain.)

The media has endless commercials for slow release pain medications. When many of us watched our grandparents live in a tiny world because their activity levels were restricted by pain, we all cross our fingers and say: "Not me.  Please, not me."

I'd like to be hopeful that hip and knee replacement surgeries are not as prevalent as they appear to be.  It seems as if every other person over age 60 has some type of artificial joint.  I realize it's fairly easy to get approved for the surgery.  So, what are the stats?

AI Summary from Google:

In 2010, 0.83% of the US population had a total hip replacement. This number increased with age, reaching 5.26% for people aged 80 and older. Women are more likely to have hip replacements than men, and the prevalence is expected to increase in the future as the population ages and demand for improved mobility grows. 

Hip replacements are one of the most common and fastest-growing procedures in the US, and are considered one of the safest and most reliable treatments in medicine. They can last for 20 years or more, and are often a lifelong solution for hip arthritis. About 95% of patients experience relief from hip pain after surgery, and 90–95% of implants remain viable 10 years later, and 80–85% remain viable after 20 years. However, hip replacements can fail due to reasons such as instability, infection, loosening,  or implant failure, which can be a burden for patients and the healthcare system.  NIH article

What did we do for folks before hip replacements were popular?  Did we just ignore people's pain and tell them to suck it up?  Perhaps we were healthier back then before the our food supply turned into franken foods?  We were more inclined to exercise back then? These are fair questions. 

More AI input: 

According to NCBI, 171 total hip arthroplasty (THA) procedures were performed between 1970 and 1980, which is 5.3% of the 3,219 THA procedures performed between 1969 and 2006. The University of Orthopaedic Department also performed 2,669 Charnley-Mueller THA procedures between November 1970 and February 1982

NIH link

The other scary diagnosis that has everyone stressed is metabolic syndrome/heart disease.  (Not to mention constantly worrying about it is not helpful.)

They are obsessed with their cholesterol numbers which can go up and down.  (Reasons for sudden increase in cholesterol) Cholesterol is not associated with heart disease but old habits die hard, especially when there's a lot of money to be made from statin meds. ($14.1B according to AI.)

Here's the funny thing, there are better lab numbers that correlate with heart function as they relate to the fight or flight response such as norepinephrine/catecholamines. 

What are the stats?  Well, 3.1% of American adults in the U.S. suffered myocardial infarction in 2010.   NIH article.  Does 3% sound like an epidemic to you?

Also, the American Heart Association reports that half (50%) of America has some type of cardiovascular disease. (Just having high blood pressure alone puts you in this group.  Interesting way of skewing the statistics.)

Now that I'm researching some stats regarding these two topics, I come across this: 

People with osteoarthritis are 3 times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease or heart failure.  ****  This blew me away. READ HERE

At least this article cites the serious problem of NSAID pain medications as a risk for heart disease.  The Mayo Clinic admits this side effect, but doesn't explain why. 

Some commonly used NSAIDs include:

• aspirin (such as Disprin)
• ibuprofen (such as Nurofen)
• naproxen (such as Naprosyn)
• diclofenac (such as Voltaren)
• celecoxib (such as Celebrex).

LINK HERE

I'd like to reduce people's fears by demonstrating the many incomplete assumptions that show there is no cut and dry explanation as to why the body does what it does. Also, we are all very different from one another and one size does not fit all.  If this was true 100% of us would have heart disease, or arthritis, or cancer, and that is just not the case. 

Our unique nervous systems shape our health.  Even though you may live in the same environment as your closest friend or live in the same household as other family members, no one has the same health presentation.  Hopefully you are all energetic and active, but we know life has its ups and downs.

The robustness of your nervous system impacts how your joints perform. 

The robustness of your nervous system impacts how your heart performs.      

----not genes, not heredity, not age, not gender, etc. but what you taught your nervous system by your experiences and emotions,

When you're under stress, the brain diverts its resources. If it goes on long enough, there is deprivation and depletion.  We want to avoid that extreme. 

We use chiropractic to modify the intensity of stress so the brain calms the fight or flight response. 

Fight or Flight: 

fast heart rate

fast, shallow breathing

cold hands, sweaty hands

thicker blood

digestion, elimination slows

hyper energy, anxious

insomnia

compulsive thinking, ruminating

emotions range from distrustful to fearful

tight muscles to the point of shaking, trembling

low or no pain may be risk of injury, or you take more risks

(the hyper-energy may make you feel indestructible)

These are normal survival responses when there is immediate danger, but they also wipe out your energy.  Without time for rest and replenishment, the body breaks down, performs poorly, and does not renew itself. 

Chiropractic shifts the brain's perception of its environment.  It can get stuck in Fight or Flight because of its efficient ability to learn from exposure. Chiropractic helps re-educate the brain and re-set the pre-frontal cortex (the conductor of the brain).

The worst most challenging health problem is a nervous system stuck in Fight or Flight.

Talk to me about your most challenging health concern, and let's see what the nervous system is doing about it.

See you at the table.....the adjusting table.  Don't Wait!

---Dr. Lisa

--- Your Fight or Flight Coach

The brain being a brain is not a disease

**     **     **

Chiropractic enhances the brain.  

Chiropractic is your springboard.  

Chiropractic offers something different.  It must be applied differently with its own different language and outlook. 

The whole point of chiropractic is to adjust the spine so it can unwind the stress of your life, giving you a refreshed energy to live the whole human experience  --- regardless of pain, whether you are in pain or not in pain.   

The brain is constantly reorganizing itself.  Chiropractic enhances the process.  

Arthritis is Boring

 

(image courtesy: novapublishers & book depository)
When folks come to me, I know they want to use the language they are used to.  So, I hear it.  The dreaded A word.  

Arthritis. 

Arthritis is one of those labels that are misused, much like cholesterol.  We can measure cholesterol with a blood test and think we can use it for diagnostic, disease prediction purposes.  Which time has told us is another  assumption gone bad, (yet is still a great way for pharma to profit).  

We use X-rays to diagnose arthritis.  Well, most of us in medicine and chiropractic do.  Now, I realize, if you don't have a broken bone, don't overthink it.  Typically when someone hears a doctor say arthritis, a wave of panic ensues.   But we know an X ray or MRI does not correlate with pain or future pain.

It reminds me of an interview I heard with Dr. Terry Wahls of the Wahls protocol.  She bounced back from a severe malfunction that left her in a horizontal wheel chair (for a while). 

After she regained her mobility and returned to work, she stated her brain scans looked exactly the same.  It had the same "plaquing" on her brain that endowed her with the label of multiple sclerosis.  It is her belief that different parts of her brain took over as she nourished her body with whole foods.  She has quite an interesting story that should help the public change their ideas of how the body works.  Save yourself from the dread and fear when people throw these labels back and forth. (Images courtesy: terrywahls.com)

A tight joint and a birthday milestone over age 50 gives you the wonderful title of arthritis. 

You know I don't buy it.  When I used to run 5K races, 80 and 90 year olds used to blow me away.  How can that be?

But in the last few years, people don't just have arthritis anymore.  They have lupus, Lymes, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid.  

People wear these titles as a badge of honor.  They'll take offense if you don't remember their special diagnosis.  People might be offended when they read my comments here, but I don't like the direction the medical system is going in.  We are amazed by these strange afflictions and don't seem to have protocols to reverse them.  Or do we?  

I had to learn a grocery list of arthritis types.  Apparently there are over 100 types, but my school had to narrow it down to about 20.  I'd still be in school today trying to memorize their similarities and differences.  And how does that help people get healthier? It doesn't.

Let's actually live in the real world.  We can remove the embellishments of labels, findings, symptoms, and just give the body what it is lacking.  

This lacking comes from an energy drain that is not properly replenished at reasonable intervals.  This is how I describe the stages of the nervous system so we can learn how to partner with our brain and body. 

Everything the brain does is appropriate for the situation.  It prioritizes its needs based on the level of stress it encounters, (real and perceived through brain memory).  Body responses don't happen to you. A disease doesn't happen.  It is intelligently chosen by your brain. 

When we are in the fight or flight-sympathetic state, we burn through our reserves.  When we are in the vagus-parasympathetic state it is our opportunity to rest, digest, rebuild.  Too much stress puts the rebuilding part on hold.  When that stage is suspended, we lose minerals, bone density, muscle strength, organ efficiency. 

Chiropractic helps you get back to an appropriate balance between these 2 states.  I call chiropractic a way to renovate patterns that are more draining rather than sustaining. 

When you are ready to do a pattern renovation of the brain/nervous system/body, let's get started.  

** I had a copy of that Spine Dictionary in my office.  I just tossed it in the trash can about a month ago.  I thought it would be cool to keep it on my shelf in the office for reference or teaching purposes.  I probably looked at it once when I first bought it.  It didn't serve me.  ***

--Dr. Lisa

Your Health Freedom Coach

Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable Ideas (like aging)

Expand Your Talents Beyond Your Comfort Zone.

I Want Equal Time: Cholesterol and Heart Health

Call to Action: Don't be afraid to research health advice on your own to form your own opinion.  You have the ability to weigh the pros and cons.  

Demanding equal time is surely something we need to see in a country the promotes free speech.  Access to balanced information is something we deserve. The fact is that mainstream sources of health information is one sided most of the time.  The drug companies own the TV news outlets. Without going into the specifics of fraudulent activity in science, health seekers certainly have the ability to weigh the information and come up with their own educated opinion when other sides are presented to them.

But if only one side is shown, how can you exercise your thinking brain???????

Cholesterol is a huge topic.  People are in a panic when their blood work shows a cholesterol that is considered high.   Unfortunately, people don't realize that number goes up and down over the course of a day.  I was only aware of that when I watched a lecture from an individual who measured his cholesterol obsessively just to understand it better himself. 

Just knowing many people have "normal" cholesterol and still have heart attacks should make us pause and rethink the true culprits that damage our health.  

The information is out there, but you have to search carefully.  You may be the one who educates your friends and family.  

David Diamond has devoted years dissecting cholesterol research.  This is a long, but thorough video: 

Here are some shorter videos on the questionable benefits of heart interventions.

Do you really want to help statins  become the first drug to reach $3 trillion in sales by next year??? Why does anyone promote a toxic formulation that is known to damage mitochondria?  Click here to watch this video: The Remarkable Uselessness of Statin Drugs

As I said:  You can decide for yourself, but only if both sides of the story get equal time. 

More Equal Time Blog Posts

When Doctors Pretend to Listen to You

My original title of this post was: The Necessity to Heal Your Confidence in Your Decision Making.

It's not a very eye catching title.  It puts people to sleep.  But it is the desired outcome I want you to consider because your health only comes from you. The professionals around you are just tools.  I am just a tool.  I provide information and I adjust spines. It is my passion and I hope to convey the rewards of chiropractic as your  most profound healing tool to start with first.

My eye catching title focuses on the point that doctors don't always want to listen to you. There has been an interest in medical doctors taking acting lessons to improve their bedside manner.  Now, this can be taken two ways: First, doctors are so impersonal that they need acting lessons to put the patient at ease.  On the other hand, there are doctors who have benefited from their theater backgrounds in high school and college so they can present themselves in a way that matches the different personalities they encounter.

But, there is a lot of pressure on doctors to see many people in a short time.  The prescriptions they write are tracked.  Yes.  This is a fact. You end up being a statistic.  There is a drug designated for every insurance code of symptoms and illnesses.  There are many reasons why I chose a profession that does not prescribe drugs.  

Two things things that are problematic with medications:
1- They are toxins, and damage the mitochondria
2- They create a false idea that you are doing something useful when lifestyle imbalances are the true causes of dis-ease.  (They make us lazy and teach you to tolerate feeling crappy.)

Why do I think healing your confidence is important?  Because it takes an independent streak to actually go beyond mainstream ideas that have not been beneficial to us.

I am not a fan of statin drugs.  The purpose of cholesterol is misunderstood and often it is just looked as a risk factor.  There are enough scientific researchers who say otherwise and it's not that difficult to find their writings in order to come to your own intelligent conclusions.  

I was listening the Doctor Radio on Sirius Satellite and the topic was statin drugs.  Of course, I'm not a fan and I was interested in hearing if a low carb diet would be mentioned as the natural solution for metabolic syndrome......nope.  

Some of the comments that disturbed me:
1, Why am I going to let the patient pick?  The speaker (a medical doctor) is not to keen on a patient questioning this medication.
2. Cult of haters.  That would be me.  I'm part of a cult that wants people to understand they actually have the sensibility and discipline to make better food choices that actually nourish depleted physiology.
3. Nuisance complications. Side effects are no longer dangerous.  Now, they are just a nuisance.  I don't think people would call chronic tiredness and weight gain nuisances. In fact, more specific with statins are amnesia, cognitive decline and other heart problems.  
4. Shared decision making? According to the speaker's discussion, it sounded to me as if shared decision making was really his allowing someone to decline a medicine which seemed to me to be very rare.  

Another older blog post I wrote about statins on DoctorRadio.

So, my take home message here is one must be very confident in their own decision making because there is a great deal of pressure to take every medical offering that comes down the pike.  For those who prefer to take the natural route, they are like salmon swimming upstream.  As it is said, the dead fish easily flow with the current. 

I know people are very close to their physicians. They find it hard to believe their own personal physician might mislead them, or pretend to listen then just hand over a prescription.  (Now, with the advent of electronic records, the script is sent to your pharmacy, so it can thwart your attempt to question any medical approach you may not be comfortable with.)

I don't write prescriptions, but I want people to know what got them sick came from natural (logical) causes so there is a natural (logical) solution.
Let me explain: 
If a diet got you sick, then a change in diet will help you.
If lack of sleep made you sick, getting more sleep will help you.
If a stressful schedule made you sick, a moderate, restful schedule will help you.
Usually some type of action makes us ill.  Changing the action rather than ingesting a chemical makes more sense.  

I will clarify, an emergency is an exception.  A heart attack needs intervention.  A serious injury from a car accident needs intervention. But lifestyle imbalances are solved by re-balancing the life style.  And chiropractic is a life style.

The chiropractic philosophy promotes that the body is self healing when there is no interference.  Many people fear their own bodies and doubt this innate ability to heal.  This doubt needs healing.  
That's why I want people to heal their confidence.   Confidence can grow with time and care.  Confidence truly flourishes when a person experiences positive outcomes.  Keep boosting your self healing gift.  Give it the honor it deserves.

On a final note, I hope I am a good listener.  I admit there are times when I am frustrated.  Some folks do not want to improve aspects of their life styles.  It is still a free country and I'm not a dictator. I can only try to be persuasive.  I feel down and demoralized when someone has a chronic, persistent illness and it seems no profession is getting it right.   Some people do have limitations of matter meaning their tissue reserves are very damaged so healing is minimal.  That part is heart breaking. 

But I will not stop adjusting spines, because there is still a healing power that deserves interference removal.  

See you at the table.
The Adjusting Table.

---Dr. Lisa
---Your Health Freedom Advocate

Stop Trying to Lose Weight - Lose Something Else (Keto Corner)

(Photo: courtesy of Smash the Scale Facebook Page)

This Keto Corner post has come about as a result of the topics we talk about at the Keto Krunch Club.  Check out our Facebook page for the philosophy and goings on.

Keto Krunch Club Facebook Page

People want to lose weight for various reasons.  Most often they want to look good when they stare at the mirror. They want to wear nicer clothes rather than hide under larger sizes. Many want to sit, walk, and exercise comfortably.

I've spoken with numerous folks over the years who want to see the numbers on the scale go down. Their self worth is dictated by the number bouncing back and forth on the scale. But digital scales are now popular so that leaves you with the ugly digits just staring back at you. I like the spring loaded ones that wobble back and forth like a clown face laughing back at you.

The Weight Loss War seems to be a losing battle because of the erroneous information people continue to follow about calories, exercise, and macronutrient misunderstandings. Please don't say cholesterol in front of me. I will tell you that you are living in a fantasy world.

Often when people lose weight, they lose muscle. They may even lose their energy. They may lose their resolve because weight loss is so frustrating.

It's time to forget about weight loss. Do me one favor. Quit the focus on losing weight. It's time to lose the inflammation.

Inflammation is the real reason you can't change your body shape. You want to be slimmer with more muscle tone. You need to be healthy. You want to reduce the inflammation in your body.

One of my mentors mentioned that 1/2 of a person's adipose tissue (body fat) consists of white blood cells. That is inflammation. (I'll bet the other half is mostly trapped toxins.)

We know inflammation is the baseline cause of all disease. (Think cancer, Alzheimer's, heart damage.) Inflammation leads to DNA damage which is the key to premature aging.

If you decide to rid your body of excess inflammation, you may have a better outcome and feel better about yourself.

Why? Because most people attribute weight gain to personal failure. But knowledge of inflammation removes the stigma of failure and replaces it with an inspiration that focuses on real results.

Inflammation is non-negotiable - You're either putting it into your body or you're getting rid of it.

For your homework assignment: Learn about inflammation.

Read:

Weight loss secrets you need to know: Why your brain, body physiology, emotions, and primordial drives want you fat and what you can do about it, by David Seaman

It's only 99 cents on kindle!!!

And, The DeFlame Diet, also by David Seaman.

You will look at food differently.

Get involved with the Keto Krunch Club. Contact me at the office so I can give you all the details.

The Heart of the Matter: You're Only Getting Half the Story (Part 4)

Sorry.  I procrastinated on providing part 4.  (You can go back to Part 1 here.)

I promised to write about the poly-pill study, which seems to me to have faded away over time.   It is an approach that pretty much insults the patient.  Let's put 5 or so meds into one pill to improve compliance.  

First of all, we're already too lazy to look at the dietary aspect of health, so might as well dump all the so-called medicines into one pill so we don't have to take responsibility for our own health.  

That's me being sarcastic.  We already know these drugs make the heart less healthy, so I  won't be considering this with a fair and balanced eye.   

The researchers admit the volunteers had a reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol, but we need to look deeper to see if health is improved.  (Blood pressure went down 3 points, and cholesterol 4 points.  See the Deflame Diet, Chapter 16)

It's still a "one size fits all" approach. If you have a bad reaction to a medication, how do you figure out which one is affecting you?

If you take a pill and keep eating your damaging diet, you will still have inflammation attacking your organs.

Oh, and nevermind that the authors of this proposal have applied for a patent in the polypill.  I am all for entrepreneurship, but, I won't be a buyer. 

See you at the table.

The adjusting table.

--Dr. Lisa

The Heart of the Matter: You Are Only Getting Half the Story (Part 3)

Need to read part 1 and 2?  Start here.

After watching the 2015 documentary film, The WIDOWMAKER, I felt compelled to blog about other information regarding heart health to round out the discussion.  


The film addressed technology for the problem of death due to sudden cardiac arrest, but it did not delve into the long occurring breakdown in health that got people into trouble in the first place. 

So, I offered 6 points of information and covered 1-3 in my Part 2 blog post.

What's Missing?
1- We need to talk about the nervous system
2- We need to talk about collateral arteries
3- We need to discuss why animals don't get heart attacks
4- We need to stop talking about cholesterol and change the subject to inflammation
5- We need to talk about the Jupiter study
6- We need to talk about the Poly-pill study

As a chiropractor, I offer people natural ways to maintain their health.  In fact, anything unnatural adds more stress to the body which is ultimately problematic and illogical.  These natural ways allow them to achieve health with their own efforts (with the exception of chiropractic:  someone else has to adjust the spine, but it is still a natural approach) giving people a sense of empowerment and accomplishment. 

When someone is in the midst of a health crisis, things are pretty scary and the level of anxiety pushes someone into a vulnerable state of helplessness. 

When someone is in an emergency situation, the trauma team at a hospital intervenes.  A life is saved with technological advancements, but the patient now has the daunting task of finding new life style habits to prevent a recurrence.  I don't believe it is daunting because the freedom and sense of personal achievement is powerful in healing. On the down side, the medical establishment turns to a slew of maintenance prescriptions that need constant monitoring for side effects. 

I do not prescribe drugs.  I don't want to.  As a consumer of health products, I am aware of the limitations of medicine and the risk of chemicals in the body.  I am also aware of the limitations of a body riddled with tissue damage.  When your tissues are drowning in the acidic soup of inflammation, the true source of inflammation must be addressed, and drugs only add to the fiery soup. My goal is to educate people on what is actually needed to stay alive and thrive. 

My dad died in his sleep from a coronary occlusion. But how am i sure of that?  The autopsy found the blockage, but was it really his nervous system strangled under inflammatory conditions? It was a long time ago when he was constantly given a clean bill of health after running a few minutes on a treadmill once a year.  His numbers were perfect according to his doctors .  He was taking blood pressure medication along with bile acid sequestrants. I can't remember how low his blood pressure was under medication, but his doctors were pretty happy.  

Now I blame his love of margarine for his death in his early 70's.  But I need to consider multiple factors affecting the state of his nervous system.  He was exposed to a lot of chemicals on the job that could have made his arteries stiff.  The bile acid seqestrants interfere with nutrient absorption, so I believe he lost minerals like magnesium and B vitamins that are critical for heart function. 

According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, we're no better off than 20 years ago.  Some websites state heart disease has decreased, but it is still the number one cause of death. And what about quality of life?  

4- We need to stop talking about cholesterol and change the subject to inflammation
Author, David Seaman, states in his book, The Deflame Diet,  cholesterol is "an 'innocent bystander' being unjustly blamed for clogging arteries."  He also cites recent studies that show inflammation is the culprit in atherosclerosis, not cholesterol.  Cardiovascular researchers know this is the case and the old view is no longer substantiated in the literature.  (See Chapter 20 of The Deflame Diet)  There are so many other authors out there who have already covered this topic I don't feel the need to give my readers a science lecture. 

Chronic inflammation is an underlying cause of heart and vessel dysfunction.  But you have to learn about it on your own because the medical establishment still tells you to eat low fat.  Processed food and soft drink manufacturers give money to health associations.  They will all tell you to eat anything in moderation so the money keeps flowing.  

The most inflaming foods are sugar, grains and seed oils which tends to add up to 60% of the average person's diet.  Asking someone to change 60% of his or her diet can create quite a panic, so there needs to be some type of emotional preparation.  Still, freeing someone from an inflammation catastrophe has numerous benefits in addition to improving heart health.  

5- We need to talk about the Jupiter study

Statin medications are the doctors' favorite for reducing cholesterol.  But, actually measuring if patients are better off is very difficult to prove.  I recently listened to talk by David Diamond who had to evaluate his health status.  Fifteen years ago  he was overweight and had terrible lab numbers.  He has improved all his heart disease risks by eating a low carb high fat diet and has never taken a statin medicine.  I liked his approach with the audience.  I liked that he was straightforward about the carbohydrate problem regarding overall heart and blood sugar health. I am impressed that he is a neuroscience researcher.  He understands the brain and mental function.  His critics complain he is not a heart expert, but they are missing the point that the brain and heart need the same nutrition for health.  He certainly knows how chemicals damage the brain!

He also has been critical of statin studies that poorly state their case of effectiveness yet media talkers brag about a number that is really insignificant yet blown up as major breakthrough in managing heart conditions. 

Read here: a summary of his objections to the Jupiter drug study. 

What I find interesting and helpful is really delving into the meaning of cholesterol since low cholesterol sets people up for poor health increasing their risks of infection and cancer.  Older people who have higher cholesterol in actually in better health, so it is seen as protective. As far as the damage to the brain, this is right up Dr. Diamond's alley.  Here in this link he reiterates his years of work in a rebuttal after other professionals complained of his debate with another doctor on a radio program. 


Dr. Diamond has never taken a statin and 15 years later he has had no heart attacks.  Imagine that!  What I find comical is that his doctors didn't like the fact that he used a low carb high fat diet to regain his health.  Here is a video of one of his entertaining talks.

6- We need to talk about the Poly-Pill study in Part 4.
I'm sorry that I'm taking so long to write this.  It takes a while to gather the information, even though it is readily available on the internet.  If you read David Seaman's The Deflame Diet, you will learn about the poly-pill study of researchers who want everyone over the age of 55 to take a daily pill that contains 2  blood pressure meds, an aspirin, a B vitamin (synthetic, of course), and a statin.  They did a 12 week study and took out a patent on their idea.  I'll let you know about this in Part 4.

Thanks for reading.