Day 8 – Get your Blood Tested

If you want to know objectively just how well this program is working for you, it’s a good idea to get your blood tested before and after you do the Purification Program.  I got my blood tested the day before starting my detox and found out that I had a high triglyceride level and high bilirubin.  I never would have known this if I didn’t check my blood for fun, and now I can see if this program will help to get me back to where I should be.

I recommend getting the standard CBC as well as getting a metabolic, lipid, and thyroid panel.  This will cover your sugar tolerance and cholesterol levels.  It will also measure liver and kidney enzymes.  The liver and kidneys are the 2 organs that filter out many of the substances in your body.  Detoxing helps to decrease the normal load you put on these 2 organs.  The thyroid exam is also important because the hormones the thyroid secretes controls your metabolism, which should be improved through this program.

Just don’t forget that you should fast 8-12 hours before taking these tests (therefore the best time to take it is in the morning)!  Eating can easily throw off your triglyceride and maybe even your glucose levels.

Day 7 – Shop at Costco

It’s not only because of this Purification plan, but I am a big Costco fan!  I believe that Costco sells some pretty top quality items and they have very good customer service.  With regards to this plan, since you know you’re going to be eating a ton of fruits and veggies, going to Costco is a very good bet.  Amber and I managed to just finish the 2.5 lb bag of spinach today.  That’s 7 days, but we didn’t let any of the spinach go to waste.  It definitely took a lot of space in the fridge, but that’s why you should clear space in the fridge ahead of time anyway.  The bag of spinach is something like $3.50 – what a deal!

Other great buys at Costco include (prices are rounded to the nearest $0.50) that you can eat on the Purification Program:

• Bag of baby bell peppers (yellow, orange, and red, the best ones!) – $3.50
• 5 lbs of beef steak tomatoes – $5.00
• 3 lbs bananas – $1.50

If you don’t like eating salads all the time, a great way to use your spinach is to cook it.  I personally get tired of salads really fast and prefer hot meals.  I have found out that if I cook the spinach, whether it be a stir fry or purely just microwaving it, it tastes better to me.  It’s a lot easier to eat too.  Try stir frying your spinach with onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and olive oil, which is the same ingredients as your normal salad, but see how different it tastes!

Day 6 – I am Losing a lot of Weight…

It’s day 6 and I have lost about 4 pounds.  This is great news for most people because weight loss is probably one of the reasons for getting on this program.  For me however, weight loss is not something I am interested in because I don’t have much weight to lose!  This does tell me though that the program is working and if weight loss is what you are looking for, then this program is definitely for you, as long as you can keep it up.

For those that do not want to lose weight however, you simply need to add more calories into your diet.  I am personally always hungry.  About 3 hours after my biggest meals my stomach is calling for more, shakes included.  This is probably because fruits and vegetables contain a lot of water, so eating them can be filling.  Water however is quickly taken into the body and fruits and vegetables generally don’t have that many calories as a whole.  My solution will be to drink a third shake during the day, up from 2.  Maybe to keep my sugar intake down, I will just add the powder into water and add half a fruit instead of 1.5 fruits.  I doubt it will taste very good though.  I might also start eating an egg a day as they are much higher in calories and last a lot longer in my belly.  People with high cholesterol issues however might want to stay away from this.  Other options would be to just eat a meal with the shake for breakfast and or eating a 4th or 5th meal during the day.

Day 2 – Plan Ahead

There is nothing worse than committing to this detox program only to wake up on day 2 and not have anything to eat!  My tip for the day is to plan ahead.  Plan your meals out, and know what you want to eat.  There isn’t much you can eat anyway, so knowing what you want to eat and getting to food to prepare it will really help you from cheating.

The hardest thing for me are snacks.  I personally like to eat chips and you can not have that on this program!  Plan to buy lots of different types of fruits so you do not get bored.  Carrot sticks are another great option.  My favorite natural one is the hard boiled egg from a free range (hormone and antibiotic free) chicken.  Just keep in mind that if you are trying to not take in any meat until day 11 (recommended by Standard Process), you will not be able to do this until then.

SP Purification: Day 1

This is the first day of the “detox” program and surprisingly, I feel great!  I got the day off to a great start with the smoothie, which could have been the best protein shake I have ever had.  I think the secret of the smoothie was that I put in freshly squeezed orange juice instead of water, which gave the smoothie a ton of flavor!  The program mentions that you should only drink water, but since you’re also supposed to put a cup of fruit in, and our orange juice is freshly squeezed by us, it in essence is like putting in the fruit and then blending it, right?  Anyways, great smoothie.  I believe the Whole Food Fiber supplement is very tasty and recommend it over the Gastro Fiber pills when ordering.

I must say, I was not very confident that I would be able to do the 21 day Standard Process Purification Program.  I mean it’s 21 days of a pretty strict diet!  Here is what I am supposed to leave off of my plate:

• Nuts/seeds
• Dairy
• Grains (except wild or brown rice)
• Processed or refined foods - pretty much anything coming in a can, box, or package
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Tobacco

This diet plan seems almost impossible to me for 21 days because what kills me are cutting out processed and refined foods.  All of my favorite snacks (chips, popcorn, anything with wheat, even pasta) are refined.  Eating mostly salads is fine, except I get extremely hungry maybe 2-3 hours after eating a salad, no matter how big it is.  The program recommends always having a handy vegetable or fruit available, but those only can curb my hunger for so long.  Oh well, we’ll see how it goes.  AT LEAST I CAN STILL EAT BROWN RICE!

My best advice for anyone who is considering doing this cleanse is to do it with someone that will support you.  In my case, my fiance is taking the plunge.  Luckily for me, she’s the best cook I know and is already thinking up cool dinners to make.  Here is an example of the salad she scrounged up:

• Spinach
• Tofu
• Garbanzo beans
• Avocado
• Balsamic vinaigrette dressing

I am Finally in the Clinic!

Starting from this January 2010, I am finally in my school’s clinic doing both chiropractic and acupuncture needling!  If you wish to visit me, I will be there Tuesday 3-6 PM and Thursday 12-3 PM for chiropractic under Dr. Losack.  I will also be there on Friday from 1-5 PM for acupuncture.  Thanks for visiting my site and hope to see you in person!

Clinic Address:

Southern California University of Health Sciences
16200 E Amber Valley Dr.
Whittier, CA  90604

Acupuncture and Western Diagnosis – My Thoughts

Chinese acupuncture and oriental medicine (CAOM) for those of you that don’t know, has a very different methodology when it comes to diagnosing their patients.  For example, if you go to a medical doctor and get diagnosed with the flu, an acupuncturist might say that you have external wind invading the lung. 

The process of coming to a CAOM diagnosis is simple to learn, but hard to master.  In some cases, it’s very common sense: If the patient is physically cold, there must be a cold pathogen in the body.  Sometimes it is very difficult, especially when the patient is seeing symptoms of several different disorders. 

When I was learning how to diagnose in CAOM class, I found it a little unnerving that some of my classmates would simply ignore or not even care about getting to a Western diagnosis since the Eastern diagnosis is very different, but what they can treat.  Is it possible that practitioners today hide behind this technicality and in essence give poor or completely wrong (Western) diagnosis to their patients?

I think acupuncture and oriental medicine is a great thing and hey, it’s been around for thousands of years.  I can understand that there shouldn’t be a problem of different methods of diagnosis, especially if it has been shown to effectively treat conditions commonly seen today.  I do have a problem however, if an obvious and deadly Western diagnosis, such as cancer or a heart attack, is missed due to an acupuncturist sticking plainly to their Eastern diagnosis, and then the patient has a misfortune.  It is also true though that Western doctors miss these key diagnosis too, which is another problem.  Moving forward, I feel that it is very important to ask your acupuncturist for a Western diagnosis to compliment the Eastern one that they are going by.  As a student of the Eastern arts, we are still required to maintain certain standards and we should still be able to answer that question.  If you haven’t, also try to ask the Eastern diagnosis as understanding the Eastern side can readily help you prevent future occurrences as well as speed up your recovery.

California Schools Trans Fat Free (at least in Vending Machines)

Today, July 1, 2009, California schools are now not allowed to have food containing trans fats…in school vending machines.  I am not sure how to take this news.  Half of me feels that this should be a pretty monumental achievement in increasing the health and nutrition in California children, the other half thinks, “big whoop!” 

Why big whoops?  Yes, I understand that this could be a very big step in eradicating trans fats from schools entirely, however, have you ever looked at the food in a vending machine?  It’s very hard to find any food in there that would have trans fats to begin with!  In the past potato chips would be the major culprit in carrying trans fats, but due to public concern and distaste amount the topic, just about every manufacturer has done their part to eliminate trans fats from their products already.

I believe the more important step will be to get rid of trans fats from the school cafeterias, but one step at a time.

The Chiropractic Diagnosis

A couple nights ago, my sister called me asking for pain advice.  Her friend was in extreme pain in her shoulder area and just underneath her skull.  The pain was described as an “achy” feeling that occured from about 12 – 9 PM and has been going on for some time now.  She was also experiencing headaches and had sought medical care for an opinion.  I pressed on and found out that there was no trauma, that she worked long hours in front of a computer, heat made the pain subside and that the shoulder pain was muscle aches, which I later identified as the upper trap and suboccipital muscles.

Eureka!  This was a textbook case of upper crossed syndrome, also known as “student syndrome” or “corporate syndrome.”  My sister went on to say that the doctor her friend was seeing had no idea what was going on.  Due to the precaution of the headache, she was scheduled for a CT scan the following week!

While it is possible that there could be something far more dangerous going on here, I found it hard to believe that my sister’s friend hadn’t heard of the syndrome from her doctor.  Upper crossed syndrome is extremely prominent in the US, especially for those that have desk jobs or are students, infact there is a good chance that you have it!  It didn’t sound that the doctor considered upper crossed syndrome though so it was scary that he was so quick to jump to a CT scan, a type of x-ray that exposes patients to a decent amount of radiation, in which if it was indeed upper crossed syndrome, nothing wrong would be seen.

As a chiropractic student, we are thoroughly educated in musculoskeletal problems and diagnosis.  While musculoskeletal disorders will probably not be my primary focus in my practice, low back pain is the second most common reason for someone to seek a doctor or go to the hospital, making it very important to know.  With this in mind, I know that there will be many people I can help once in practice and am very proud to be a future chiropractor!

Other conditions chiropractors are great at treating (just to name a few) include:

• pain reduction
• nutrition
• balance
• weight loss
• blood pressure control
• strength building
• TMJ (jaw joint) disorders
• increasing immunity
• memory
• nerve problems
• tight muscles

My First MRI Experience

Following my recent accident with my head, my doctor and I thought it would be a good idea to get an MRI of just my skull just to make sure there was nothing to be concerned about. I had never gotten one before, and it was partly for that reason (plus the fact that my insurance would cover it) that made me want to get one.

It seems like in House, patients get MRIs every other episode; it doesn’t look very scary does it?  They just put you in that tunnel of a machine and it starts scanning.  Maybe it lasts for 5 minutes tops.  So when the front desk lady asked if I was claustrophobic, I hesitantly said “no”.

Upon being admitted, I had to leave behind all of my metal devices naturally.  I have a permanent metal bar retainer attached to my bottom jaw and was worried about that, but they said it would be alright.  Since they were only scanning my head, they also said I could leave my belt on.

The machine was definately not as nice as the one in House, but then again, the one in House is probably just a prop anyway.  I had to lie down on the table, and was told not to move because the machine would be taking lots of pictures.  They put on some head phones connected to the radio because it was supposed to be very loud.  Finally, the resident said that I would be in there for 20 minutes!!!

As I was entered into the machine, I felt that I was going head first into an orange abyss (the machine had an orange light).  As more of my body went through, I could feel my belt start to lift toward the ceiling as it had undoubtedly become attracted to it.  My head was strapped in, but even if it wasn’t, the hole was barely bigger than the circumference of my body.  15 seconds had gone by and that’s when I started to panic.

I wouldn’t say it’s serious, but I believe I do have a claustrophobic tendencies.  For example, elevators freak me out, especially the slow ones that rumble a lot.  Secondly, when in the car, I need some sort of air, whether it be the AC or opened windows.  If not, I start feeling like I can’t breath, which can sometimes drive me into a semi state of panic.  Anyways, back in the MRI machine, I started feeling that sense of panic again and could hear my heart beating.  I tried taking deep breaths and closed my eyes in attempt to sleep, but that’s when the machine started making noises.

The noises were indeed loud.  It kind of reminded me of the sounds you would think an alien aircraft would make.  Tie that in with being stuck in a large device and someone might actually think they were abducted by aliens!  There were about 4 different sounds the machine made from fast whirling sounds to staccato beeps.  The weird thing was that the machine shook a lot and I couldn’t imagine how accurate the images could be if I was vibrating so much.

Despite my fear and inability to move, the 20 minutes passed surprisingly quickly.  Needless to say, I don’t think I would like to do it again.  I can’t even imagine how a fully body MRI would be like, if they even do that.  I can’t wait to see my images though.  It will be nice to see my anatomy and how it relates to what I learned in school!

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