Spring Clean Your Body Posted on March 24, 2015 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

We are exposed to toxins from the foods we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. In the U.S. alone there are 1700 new chemicals released every year. Only 45% of these chemicals have been tested for toxicity. Recent research evaluating the blood of newborn babies found industrial chemicals in their blood. These babies had not yet been exposed to the toxins in the air or water outside the womb. Testing showed their blood already contained toxins that they had absorbed from their mother. We do indeed live in a toxic world.

Without food most humans will die within a month, as long as they have water. Without water, the human body will survive only ten days. Water makes up 70% of the body, 90% of the blood, and 85% of the brain. The rule for water consumption is to drink one-half your body weight in ounces. Failure to drink sufficient water causes signs of dehydration that most people have learned to ignore.

Americans do not worry about dehydration. They think that dehydration is something that happens to travelers in the desert when they run out of water. Chronic dehydration is widespread today and does not have immediate symptoms. It affects everyone who is not drinking enough liquid.

Chronic dehydration has been masked by food or with drugs. Some symptoms and their common remedies are: Peptic Ulcer - Antacids; Craving Sweets – Sugar; Depression - Anti-depressant drugs; Allergies – Antihistamines. Dry mouth is a late sign of thirst for water on a cellular level. Saliva is produced even in chronic dehydration with a dry mouth, because it is a digestive enzyme.

If you have any of these symptoms: fatigue, constipation, digestive disorders, high or low blood pressure, gastritis or stomach trouble, respiratory trouble, acid-alkaline imbalance, excess weight and obesity, eczema, cholesterol issues, urinary infections, rheumatism, and premature aging, you may need to drink more water.

Drinking clean water is essential to good health. But which drinking water is the cleanest? You might guess bottled water, but it's not that simple. Bottled water is not necessarily cleaner than tap water. In fact, FDA purity requirements for city water systems are far more stringent than for bottled water companies. The plastic from the bottles can leach into the drinking water. Bottled water creates more pollution by filling our landfills with gazillions of wasted plastic bottles. Bottled water is often tap water that has been filtered once and then sold to the consumer.

Drinking more water is the first action that can be taken to cleanse the body of toxins. Detoxification is a natural process occurring on a continual basis in the body, and more water is the easiest way to help detoxify. Studies show that detoxification improves all the organs of elimination and results in increased health benefits. The best health insurance you can have is to do everything possible to cleanse your body to prevent sickness and disease. Besides increasing water consumption, there are detoxification diets and programs to help cleanse the body of accumulated toxins.

There are many different types of detoxification programs. Besides detoxification diets, there are detoxification programs that focus on specific organ systems: the skin, liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs, blood and lymphatic system. Even dietary changes (eating organic) and nutritional modification (decreasing intake of processed sugars) can be a mild form of detoxification.

If you are trying a detoxification program for the first time, it is best to start with a gentle cleanse. Detoxification diets can target different organ systems involved. In general, it is usually recommended that you begin with the intestines. If your bowels are not moving adequately enough to expel the toxins, there will be little benefit from detoxification.  Failure to have proper bowel elimination is a sign of dehydration. By focusing on the hydrating the bowels first to increase elimination, you will enhance detoxification.

Spring is the best time to cleanse your body. All native cultures around the world have spring rituals involving body cleansing to eliminate toxins that have been stored during the winter. The easiest cleanse to begin with is to increase your consumption of good healthy clean, hydrating water. There are many detoxification and cleansing programs available at TLC Holistic Wellness in Livonia to help your body become cleaner on the inside.  Call (734) 664 - 0339 for a no charge consultation with Dr. Linda Solomon, DC, CCWFN to learn what detox program would work best for you. Happy Spring Cleaning!

Disclaimer: The recommendations in this article are not to be taken as medical advice. Please consult a qualified health care practitioner to obtain your own stress and/or hormone evaluation, and for specific recommendations on your personal health issues.

Life Essentials

 Posted on September 22, 2014 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

                                         Life Essentials

                                              By Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

The essential requirements for survival have not changed. There are four key factors that determine how long and how well you survive. Theses are unchangeable, and essential to life: air, water, food and motion.  Posted on September 22, 2014 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

You need oxygen to survive, which you get from breathing the air. Most people do not breathe deeply, but breathe shallowly. Without deep breathing, you can have difficulty getting sufficient oxygen. This is why exercise is important. You breathe deeper during and after exercise. Without sufficient air, you cannot survive more than 3 minutes.

Your body is 70-75%. Without sufficient water you cannot survive more than 3 days. It is estimated that over 80% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. Dehydration has been linked to most major common conditions like allergies, headaches, back pain, digestive disorders, fatigue, depression, arthritis, skin issues, degenerative diseases and more. The type of water that you consume influences the efficiency of your hydration. You lose ½ your weight in ounces daily through normal body function. If you do not replace this amount with water that can get into your cells to hydrate and flush out toxins, you become dehydrated.

Water that cam actually get into the cels to hydrate the body is essential. Not all waters are created equal. All the man-made chemicals, toxins, pesticides and cleaners end up in our city and well water. 

The most efficient way to get the best water is to use a water processor to remove these contaminants. A good water system not only filters the water, but it also changes the water so it is more hydrating.

You cannot survive more than 3 weeks without food. Food is an essential component to life, but the type of food consumed matters. Food in its whole and raw form is the most natural food for the body. Processed, manmade food with chemicals and preservatives, composed of artificial ingredients, cannot nourish and rebuild your body. Nutritional supplements made from foods are most utilized by your body, compared to synthetic manmade products. The type of food and nutrients consumed determines the quality of your survival.

The last ingredient essential for survival is motion. Your body was designed to move daily. Current cultural habits require people to sit 80% of the time. Sitting with little motion decreases the mobility of spinal joints, and body fluids. While the heart pumps blood, lymphatic fluid needs body motion. Both spinal joints and lymphatic fluid rely on your movement and exercise for health. Without sufficient motion, joints become stiff and arthritic, and lymphatic fluid flow becomes sluggish, weakening your immune system.

Exercise moves the muscles. If there is stiffness and soreness with movement, it indicates that the joints are fixed in their motion. Chiropractic is the simplest. safest and most effective way to gently mobilize stiff and limited joints, allowing freer motion, and reducing joint pain while exercising. 

If any of these 4 essentials are non-optimal, your body experiences stress. The stress response is an inherent body reaction that releases hormones to deal with stress. This results in a hormonal imbalance that creates physical indicators like fatigue, unwanted weight gain, pain, digestive issues, allergies and more.

The solution to longevity is to decrease the stress on the body by ensuring that the 4 key essential ingredients to survival are at optimal levels. By fixing the cause of your body stress, the stress response reduces, your body can repair, and survival is enhanced. 

Visit www.TLCHolisticWellness.com for more information and free public workshop dates on Life Essentials, or call (734) 664-0339.