Making Nutrition Work for Your Patients and Your Practice

Chiropractors are the doctors of nature. As science strives to enrich lives through chemistry and extend lives past the 76 year mark through chemical intervention, chiropractors have focused diligently on supporting, building and maintaining vitality and longevity through health. Nature has the answers. Supporting the essential ingredients of health; optimum nervous system function, food, water and exercise; this is our domain. We chiropractors are the doctors of nature – the doctors of health.

"Statistics" show that Americans are living longer than ever. How I wish this were true. A brief history lesson is sorely needed to shed light on this misinformation. In fact, Americas' founding fathers lived well into their 90s. Amazingly they did this with no drugs, no antibiotics and no mega-vitamins. They did this purely through nature.

Since then, in a quest to feed the now seven billion people on earth, we have made great strides in the mass production of food, but at what cost? The consequences have had a profound effect on our food supply and health. We are taught that if we eat a balanced diet, we will get all the nutrients we need to and like our founding fathers, live a long and healthy life. Sadly this is no longer the case.

The Price of Poor Nutrition

Disorders and diseases that result from vitamin and mineral deficiencies are severe and becoming widespread. Compounding this already serious problem are the symptom-based chemical vitamin concoctions patients are "self medicating" with. It is time to stop the madness.

I am certain we have all read articles in recent months touting the ineffectiveness and dangers of taking vitamins. Is propaganda the only driving force behind all the recent press about vitamins being bad, having no benefit what-so-ever and actually causing harm?

Perhaps, but the studies and their findings can not disputed. These studies found that an isolated chemical, even one derived from a naturally occurring vitamin complex, does not function the same in the human body as the natural food source does.

System-Based vs. Symptom-Based

Every day in our practices we educate patients about symptoms. Chiropractic teaches that by naturally supporting the systems of the body over time, the body heals itself and the symptoms abate. For example – if you put your hand on a hot stove you will have a symptom = pain.

You can treat this pain symptom in different ways; you can take a lot of pain killers or you can cut your hand off, but not until you treat the cause of the problem by removing your hand from the hot stove can healing begin.

Only by working with the systems of the body will you get the results you desire. Luckily, these same systems inherent in every patient will let you know when you get it right.

Strangely however, when it comes to nutrition, we get all turned around. We survey our patient for symptoms and then attempt to treat these symptoms. Chiropractically, it makes much more sense to support and balance the systems of the body naturally through whole food nutrition and allow the body to correct the symptom.

Assimilation & Elimination

When you get down to it, this is what nutrition is all about; taking in whole nutrients directly from the food chain and eliminating the metabolic waste products inherent in all healthy physiological processes.

To that we have the added burden of chemicals and toxic compounds now present in every day life.

The body was never designed to handle such a toxic load. Today more than ever, proper nutrition, digestion, elimination and detoxification are crucial to a properly functioning body.

The task is clear, optimize and naturally support the assimilation and elimination pathways in all patients.

Simply start all your patients on a whole food supplement and digestive support. Just like taking your hand off the stove you will be amazed with the results you will see. Some patients may need additional support for hormonal, structural, nervous and cardiovascular systems. That's fine, just make certain to utilize whole foods. The nutrients in whole foods always produce superior results naturally.

For those new to the utilization of nutrition and whole food supplements in their practice let me assure you - the simple implementation of a systematic non-symptom based approach to nature and nutrition is both easy and rewarding.

Step 1 - Get Them In

By "them" I mean new patients! Doctor, you can not educate or help people who are not in your office. How many ads for chiropractic do you see that read, "Come to Main Street Chiropractic so we can align your atlas in relation to your sacrum and optimize your nervous system function." Not many – right? What you do see, and what works, is appealing to what people want – pain relief.

So, knowing people want what they want, how should we advertise our nutritional offerings?

"Come to Main Street Chiropractic to optimize your cellular respiration, metabolic pathways and elimination systems," or should you advertise, "LOSE WEIGHT NOW – I CAN TEACH YOU HOW!" It is a fact that weight loss is more sought after than cellular metabolic efficiency.