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INDUSTRY INSIGHT Chiropractics SPONSORED CONTENT True Wellness D iseases rarely come with warning signs or symptoms, especially the deadly ones. The top 3 causes of death in the U.S. are cancer, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. By the time a person knows they have one of these diseases, they are pretty much doomed. Disease doesn’t discriminate and does not care how much money you have. Disease does not care what degree or what your job may be. According to the CDC, our lifestyles will contribute 50% to which disease each person will suffer with in their lives. Are there any takers in guessing what I am talking about? No...it is called METABOLIC SYNDROME. I am not surprised you have not heard of it. It IS the leading cause of most of our debilitating diseases. What is METABOLIC SYNDROME? According to the National Institutes of Health...metabolic (metah-BOL-ik) syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes and stroke. I am sure you are thinking, what are the risk factors and how do I know if I have this? Great question! There are 5 factors: Having a large waistline, (women > than 34 inches and men > 40 inches), High Blood Pressure, high triglycerides levels, low HDL levels, high blood sugar levels. You need to have at least 3/5 to be diagnosed with METABOLIC SYNDROME. Some of you are worried right now...and rightfully so. How does that all happen? How do we one day find out we have one or more of these risk factors? Truthfully, you did it to yourself! I am sorry, I don’t mean to be blunt. If you look back on your life, can you honestly say you took good care of yourself? I know, as a society, we don’t eat healthy foods, the correct portion sizes, or frequently enough. We don’t exercise! Less than 10% of the U.S. exercise 15 minutes per day. You know it’s bad when the NFL has to launch a campaign trying to get kids off their sedentary butts. We are truly a FAST FOOD NATION. It sickens me the poor quality of foods we eat. The food you like isn’t real food. It’s processed, genetically modified, manufactured, etc. Over half of the food consumed in this country contains chemicals that are illegal in other industrialized nations due to harm they impose. Assuming most of you are on Facebook or watch the news, you have seen some of these chemicals making the headlines. The average person has over 60,000 thoughts per day. What are they about? Are you still upset by your co-workers’ comments from last week, or your spouse didn’t take the garbage out yesterday? The point is, you are the sum of your thoughts. In order to make changes, you have to change how and what you think about. Positive thoughts affect us in a positive way such as negative thoughts affect us in a negative way. It is irresponsible to think we are exempt from working out. I hear it all the time. Just because you may have a physical job isn’t excusable. It isn’t something we do only to LOSE weight. It should be done to MAINTAIN or improve the quality of your life or your work. It enables you to perform your daily tasks with ease. Another misconception is the type of working out: should I run, weight train, stretch? My answer is YES, YES, and YES. The fact of the matter is you should incorporate all 3 aspects of fitness. You need to adopt STRETCHING, WEIGHT TRAINING, and CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING into your workout regimen. People want to be too specialized in their fitness. Yoga focuses mainly on flexibility, the gym goers’ focus is on weight lifting, and the runners and cyclers are focusing on endurance. To truly maximize fitness, as I stated, all three must be utilized. I want you to know, there is a solution! In my office we are now focusing on making these necessary changes to the people in our community. The program is called 8 WEEKS TO WELLNESS. We have a program that tackles this EPIDEMIC and makes TRUE LIFESTYLE CHANGES for those who want help! Most people have tried different exercise and diet programs that failed in the long run. They are quick fixes which is why they don’t work. If you stop eating their food you gain all the weight back and then some. People start exercising all pumped up and driven and then within weeks or months they’ve stopped all together. The reason is they don’t teach the fundamentals of the HOWS and WHATS. As important as the what and how are, the most important is WHY. Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to change your body? These questions should have a deep-rooted answer, if not, you’ll inevitably fail. Our program encompasses 5 pillars. The 5 pillars are Meditation, Nutrition, Exercise, Massage, and Chiropractic. If you or someone you know is interested in the program or hearing more about it, you can call the office at 412.205.3094. We participate in monthly PHILANTHROPIES which enable new patients to receive the first-day exam and x-rays if necessary. All we ask is a $20 donation. We have our current philanthropy on our website for those who are interested. I urge you to take action NOW and not WAIT until CRISIS rears its ugly head. One of my favorite sayings is “PROCRASTINATION IS THE THIEF OF HEALTH.” Don’t wait until pain or problems force you into action. This Industry Insight was written by Dr. John. Dr. John is a graduate of Palmer Chiropractic College and member of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association. He is certified in Passive and Active Rehabilitation, Graston Soft Tissue Mobilization Technique, Kinesio Taping, and Non-Surgical Decompression Therapy. E-mail: steelcitychiropractic@ yahoo.com. 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