Paleo Lifestyle Resources

    I have always been a fan of lower carbohydrate-higher protein based diets.  The Atkins'/Ketogenic diet was my first venture away from the traditional high carb/low fat that is to this day still pushed by the food industry and traditional medicine.  Early in my chiropractic career, I found that my patients responded better to the higher protein/lower carbohydrate diets.  Not just from a obesity standpoint  but also from a chronic disease standpoint; patients with heart disease, diabetes and auto immune conditions greatly improved if not resolved their conditions all together.
   About three years ago, I was exposed to the Paleo Diet; originally developed by Loren Cordain, PhD.   I found his ground breaking book, The Paleo Diet to be a nice change of pace to the Atkins' diet.  Many of my patients felt too deprived while on Atkins'/Ketogenic.  Since that time, I recommend the Paleo Diet, a.k.a. Paleo Lifestyle to all of my patients.
    In my office, I routinely tell my patients to check out website after website about the Paleo Lifestyle. To avoid confusion and repeating myself, I decided to create a list of all the websites/resources for my patients that I routinely recommend.  These sites offer a wealth of information regarding the dos and don't s, the science behind Paleo and thousands of wonderful recipes to try. 

     ENJOY!

     Books: The Paleo Diet (L. Cordain) thepaleodiet.com
                 Life Without Bread (Allan & Lutz).
                 Neanderthin (R. Audette)
                 The Paleo Solution (R. Wolf) robbwolf.com

     Education:  Weston A. Price Foundation. westonprice.org
                       glutenfreesociety.org
                       glutenfreeworks.com
                       paleoparents.com
                       blog.bellatrixnutrition.com
                       liftbigeatbig.com
                       crossfit.com

     Great Paleo Websites:  fastpaleo.com    *My favorite for Paleo recipes.*
                                        marksdailyapple.com
                                        paleobread.com
                                        everydaypaleo.com
                                        paleomagonline.com
                                        theclothesmakethegirl.com
                                        health-bent.com
                                        paleodietlifestyle.com
                                        thepaleosecret.com
                                        carbzero.com
                                        chowstalker.com

     Sugar Substitute:  Just Like Sugar, justlikesugarinc.com   All natural, no calorie, no carb sweetener.

Getting Back on the Crossfit Horse

    We are all human, every once in a while life can throw us a curve ball to where we either fall off or jump off the proverbial horse.  Which in this case equates to missing or avoiding our Crossfit workouts (Yes this certainly applies to different workout systems, but since Crossfit is my main focus, I reserve the right to use it).  Perhaps its a personal or family emergency or an injury related or unrelated to Crossfit.  For whatever the reason before you know it, weeks have gone by and your physical gains as well as your emotional state (which you worked so hard for) have deteriorated. 

    I myself am not immune to such an occurrence.  Unfortunately, I end up kicking myself when I do get back to training as I am once again forced to get retrieve my gains from what I lost from time off.  I can tell you right now, it is much easier to stay with your momentum whether you train three, four or five times a week with Crossfit.  From an emotional or mental standpoint, staying on task with your workout is even more imperative as one goes through emotional upheavals in one's life.  Without emotional stability or clarity, we often times fail to make the appropriate choices and decisions that are best for ourselves as well as our family. 

    From a physical standpoint, I have learned that if you are healing from an injury, instead of remaining stationary for weeks on end, train around your injured area.  Granted, I understand if one is recovering from major surgery, one might have to take a certain amount of time to recover before your doctor clears you for resuming your training.  But, for most sprain/strain/tear injuries, modify your workout.  Train around the injury, lighten your load and avoid routines and positions that negatively impact your injury.  But whatever you do, don't stop working out.  It can be a bugger to get your momentum flowing again.

    It is often said, the hardest part of working out is just getting there.  Once you are there its all down hill.  And when you're finished with your workout, we all know how good we feel both physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Bottom line, if we want to be at our best to help our family in times of need and if we want to recover from an injury at the quickest possible pace, don't stop your workout, you may think you are helping you or your family in the long run but, if we don't take care of our needs first and foremost, then we won't be at our best when someone needs our help.  When this happens, we not only end up cheating friends and family not having you at your best, we also end up cheating ourselves for not being at our best.

Supplements for Post-Workout Muscle Soreness

Whether you are new to CrossFit or been around the block a few times, muscle pain and soreness are part of the CrossFit lifestyle. Stretching and rolling out sore muscles will definitely aid in recovery. From a nutritional standpoint there are specific supplements you can take to keep the inflammatory process in check. My top three favorite nutritional supplements are: Omega 3's (essential fatty acids), L-Arginine and good old fashioned water.

With Omega 3's, the optimal therapeutic dose is 2700mg a day of EPA and DHA. To get this level, go for the liquid brands. One or two teaspoons a day is much easier than 6 to 10 horse pills a day. And make sure your omega 3's are from Norway to ensure the lowest levels of heavy metals.

l-Arginine not only improves muscle recovery time and soreness. It also aids in total cardiovascular support, energy production and nitric oxide production. Optimal dosage, 5000mg a day. Two of my favorite brands are L-arginine plus and L-arginine complete.

Water is often our most neglected basic essential for optimal health. Strive for 25oz. per 50lbs. of body weight. So if you are 150lbs., your recommended amount is 75oz. of water a day. Also for every 8oz. of coffee or tea you ingest per day, that is an additional 8oz. of water you must add to your regiment. Most of your early morning muscle stiffness can be alleviated by drinking 16oz. of water before you head off to do your WOD.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy.

Dr. Corey

Why can't I lose weight when I walk three miles a day?

One of the biggest reasons people seek care at our office is weight loss. I frequently have patients ask me all the time why are the not losing weight when they walk 2 to 3 miles a day. This is always one of my favorite questions I get. I will in this case make a generalization. It is very rare that you see a thin group of ladies out for a walk or even seniors doing their morning walk at the mall. Although I commend them on having the right intentions to do something about their health but unfortunately they are wasting too much time with dismal results. What most people don't realize, once you get into a specific exercise routine your body soon adapts and you lose any real long lasting benefit. I also see this in the construction world. Construction workers by in large are more physically fit than the average person. But again after six months of doing the same thing over and over the body plateaus and they lose any real gains.

One of the keys to really shaking things up to where you lose pounds and inches is intensity. The higher the intensity, the better the results period! Increasing your intensity of exercise over a period of fifteen to twenty minutes will yield better health gains and a noticeable drop in pounds and inches than loafing for hours.

The other key is shocking your body with a change in routine. Instead of walking everyday, incorporate hiking, biking, rowing or weight resistance training. When you frequently change up your routine your body has to learn to accommodate the unfamiliar muscle motions and cardiac output. Constantly changing our workout allows our muscles, cardiovascular system and proproioceptors to make better, noticeable gains. Especially around our waste line.

If your really wanting to step up your intensity or your looking for a change in your workout routine, give CrossFit a go. Personally I have found no better way to increase muscle mass, lose inches and feel incredible without pills or potions than CrossFIt. Just to reiterate, there is no quick fix and there is no magic bullet. Optimal health and wellness is a way of life.

Love, Light & Laughter

Dr. Corey

New to CrossFit? Take it slow at first.

Occasionally I hear from friends or patients that started doing CrossFit then quit because they were so sore they could not continue. I found this out for myself when I first started earlier this year. The muscle soreness was beyond anything I had ever experienced in a workout. Any time one engages in a new workout or exercise regime muscle soreness is a common theme due to lack of conditioning especially if one has not exercised in years. CrossFit is no different. However, muscle soreness is amplified with CrossFit due to the variety of exercises as well as the level of intensity that CrossFit commands.

Most CrossFit facilities recommend that you have at least four one on one sessions with the instructor before they feel you are ready to workout in the group settings. From personal experience as well as patient response, I found that future compliance and morale was much improved if they waited four days before their next individual session. Basically, give yourself a whole month to get the first four initial sessions out of the way. Then by that time your initial muscle soreness will be gone.

However, I must point out that as you continue with CrossFit, muscle soreness will continue to be a factor but, in a good way. The CrossFit muscle burn lets you know you are pushing your body in a positive, healthy, kick butt direction.

Enjoy

Dr. Corey

I Can't Do CrossFit, My Doctor Says I Have Arthritis

One of the most common issues I see in the office are patients that have been told by their physician that they have arthritis in their spine, usually in the form of osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease or degenerative disk disease and they are told by their physicians to refrain from activities such as CrossFit. I am going to let you in a little secret; Everyone over age forty typically has some form of arthritis-osteoathritis-degenerative disk disease-degenerative joint disease. Its usually nothing more than just the wear and tear of life. Often times many patients have arthritis and don't even know it because they are symptom free. It isn't until they go into an orthopedist or chiropractor have an x-ray then the physician gives them the so-called dreaded news of arthritis. I just want to emphasize I am not referring to the severe types of auto immune-inflammatory arthropathies such as rheumatoid arthritis or gout. The problem with basic arthritis is patients typically don't know any better. They are usually ignorant on the topic of arthritis and put all of their faith and trust in their physician. Often times, their doctor is mis-informed on the subject and patients fall victim to the nocebo effect. The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo. Their physician has planted a seed of arthritis and patients believe that their bodies are going to succumb to arthritis where their bodies fall apart and there going to end up in a wheelchair or possibly surgery. The fact is, most arthritis issues including osteoarthritis, deg. joint disease, and deg. disk disease can be treated effectively with acupuncture, chiropractic, diet modification, increasing your water intake and supplementing with omega 3's (fish oil). Several MRI studies have shown that many asymptomatic (No Symptoms) patients will demonstrate a positive result for disk herniation, spinal stenosis and degenerative disk and joint disease in as high as 35 to 60 percent depending on the study. And these patients go on to lead happy, healthy productive lives despite what the MRI tests reveal.

Bottom line, don't believe everything you are told. Even the experts are wrong from time to time. Our bodies crave motion and activity. You have heard the term; Use It Or Lose It. When we become inactive, we fall apart literally. When we stay active, we become stronger and healther. And I can't think of a better way to stay active and healthy than CrossFit.

Enjoy.

Love, Light & Laughter

Corey Sondrup, D.C.

Oh! But CrossFit is Too Expensive!

CrossFit is so expensive! I hear this one all too often in my office and online. Does CrossFit cost more than a regular gym membership? It may appear that way at first. Most gym memberships average out to about $40.00 per month for an individual. CrossFit memberships run, depending what region of the country you live in can go anywhere from $99.00 to $150.00 per month for an individual. To the uneducated $40.00 a month is a no-brainer. However, when you consider that for every CrossFit workout you participate in, you get a certified CrossFit instructor-trainer-coach at every workout. Add to that, a group of highly motivated individuals there to motivate and cheer you on at each workout. Lets not forget the faster and better results with your health gains that two hours in a regular gym four to five days a week won't even come close to matching the results you will be achieving from doing CrossFit three times a week. Not only that, most CrossFit (WOD) workouts range from seven to twenty minutes per workout. How can you beat that?

Still not convinced? How about that daily $4.00 latte or energy drink; 4x30=$120.00 a month in drinks alone. Now factor in what the average person spends a month eating out; $200.00. Give that up and now you have an extra $320.00 per month that will be more than enough to pay for CrossFit.

Still not convinced? How about these numbers:

$44,820.00: Average cost for heart bypass surgery (American Heart Asso. 1995).

$$10,000: Average cost per year per person for treating complications related to diabetes. (WebMD. Healthnews)

$$1,500.00: Average cost more per year obese patients pay for health care (ABC News/Health)

$$147 Billion: Direct and Indirect costs America spends each year on obesity (CDC 2006).

So you still think CrossFit is too expensive? If you still do. Then maybe you're just not really serious about your overall health and wellness.

Love, Light & Laughter

Dr. Corey