Powerful Produce
By Dr. Nikki
Throughout any given day we are exposed to a plethora of toxins which result in oxidative stress within the body and cause bad molecules, known as free radicals, to form. These free radicals go around attacking and attaching to healthy atoms, causing damage to cells, proteins, and DNA! While you probably aren't looking for a chemistry lesson, I want to paint a picture of why it’s important that we do what we can to prevent and get rid of free radicals! This is where antioxidants enter the scene, preventing the free radicals from causing damage throughout the body.
So how do we get antioxidants? Antioxidants are not something that our bodies can make, but are found in a variety of foods!
A food that is seriously jam-packed with antioxidant power is turmeric! Widely known as an ingredient in Indian foods, turmeric is a root that looks similar to ginger but has a rich orange/yellow coloring to it. You can find turmeric in powder form in the spice aisle of your local grocery store or in whole-root form in the produce section of stores such as Whole Foods and Central Market.
The active compound found in turmeric is called curcumin. Curcumin is a very potent antioxidant that is extremely beneficial in preventing cellular damage as well as helping our bodies to detoxify. The only problem is that our bodies aren’t very good at absorbing curcumin by itself. Fortunately, adding a few ingredients to some turmeric and we’re able to enjoy ALL of the benefits of this antioxidant-rich root!
What are these three necessary ingredients? Great question! One of the elements necessary for us to absorb curcumin is called quercetin. Quercetin is a plant pigment found in red onions, capers, cranberries, kale, blueberries, romaine lettuce and apples (to list a few). Another element which increases the bioavailability of curcumin for our bodies is called piperine. Found in black pepper, piperine increases the bioavailability of curcumin (turmeric) by 2000%!! No, that is not a typo, two thousand percent!! The final ingredient that is extremely helpful in our absorbing curcumin is a healthy fat. By consuming turmeric with a healthy fat we are able to absorb curcumin directly into the bloodstream through the lymphatic system, rather than having it filtered through the liver first!
These may sound like some random ingredients to throw together in order to have better health, but a little concoction called a Turmeric Tonic (see recipe) does just the trick! In the video below, I show you how to make a turmeric tonic and the benefits of each ingredient that goes into it!
Turmeric Tonic Recipe:
2 cups of coconut water
2 inches of turmeric root
1 drop of food quality black pepper essential oil
1 inch of ginger root
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of local honey
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until the consistency of a juice. Pour and enjoy! Makes 2 servings.
Making a recipe that calls for turmeric? Throw in a dash of black pepper and you’re automatically making your meal a natural detoxifier! What are your favorite ways to cook with turmeric? We would love to hear how you integrate this power-house antioxidant into your daily routine!
Pregnancy and Hyper Mobility
Pregnancy is a time of exponential change for a woman’s body, especially when it comes to hormones! Some of these hormonal changes are more noticeable than others and today I want to talk about one that isn’t always so apparent.
By Dr. Nikki
Pregnancy is a time of exponential change for a woman’s body, especially when it comes to hormones! Some of these hormonal changes are more noticeable than others and today I want to talk about one that isn’t always so apparent.
Relaxin is a hormone that increases flexibility in the ligaments and muscles. Each month a woman’s ovaries produce this relaxing hormone during the second half of her menstrual cycle in order to relax the uterus, prevent contractions and prepare the uterine lining for implantation of an embryo. If conception doesn’t occur then relaxin levels drop back down until her next cycle, but if conception does occur, then the placenta will begin producing relaxin also, causing levels to rise throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. This increase in relaxin is important during pregnancy because it allows the body to stretch and accommodate a growing fetus as well as prevent early contractions and relax blood vessels to accommodate for the increased blood volume that occurs during pregnancy. [1] Relaxin levels will typically peak around 12 weeks of pregnancy, with one final increase towards the end of the third trimester.
For most women, this change in flexibility of the muscles and ligaments is not overly noticeable. But for some women, it may result in symptoms such as feeling unsteady or pelvic girdle pain. Pelvic girdle pain can look like pubic bone pain, sacroiliac (SI joint) pain, groin pain, or inner thigh pain. These symptoms will typically be most noticeable with rolling over in bed, getting out of cars or standing on one leg to perform activities such as putting pants on. If pelvic girdle pain is an issue, a prenatal chiropractor and pelvic floor therapist are two experts who are very good at helping to resolve the problem!
But then there’s another group of women which relaxin typically hits the hardest. You can probably picture someone in your life (if not yourself) as I describe it… she’s been ridiculously flexible her entire life and as a child was often performing body contortionist tricks such as hyper-extending her elbow, dislocating her shoulder or easily bringing her legs behind her head. I am referring to the hyper-mobile woman. With these women, they are much more likely to experience pelvic girdle pain as well as other joint pain during pregnancy due to the presence of relaxin on an already flexible joint.
How can you tell if someone is hyper mobile?
A provider may diagnose someone with hypermobiity using a Beighton score. The Beighton score looks at five different movements which include bending a knee backwards, bending an elbow backwards, bending a thumb backwards to touch your forearm, bending a little finger back more than 90 degrees, and the ability to put hands flat on the floor while standing with knees straight. If someone can do four out of five of these things, then they likely are hyper mobile. [2]
What can you do if you are hyper mobile and pregnant?
Strength and stability are key with any hyper mobility, especially during pregnancy! Doing basic exercises like chair squats, glute bridges, clamshells, diaphragmatic breathing, and transverse abdominal activation can make a world of difference for pelvic girdle pain as well as low back pain during pregnancy. In addition to that it helps to strengthen and prepare for birth, which is one of the most major events a woman’s body will ever go through!
Stop stretching! Often times, we are conditioned to stretch a joint or muscle if it hurts. But with hyper mobility, we don’t want to stretch an already loose joint! It may seem counter-intuitive, but give it a try for several days and see if your joint pain improves.
What about chiropractic for the hyper mobile prenatal patient?
As a prenatal chiropractor, it is essential that we are able to identify patients who may be hyper mobile. Since we are inducing motion in joints, we need to be aware of potentially moving a joint that is already moving too much! Once this has been identified, there are specific low-force techniques that can be used to still give a pregnant woman relief with her symptoms throughout pregnancy!
If you are in the DFW area and would like receive care with a prenatal chiropractor who will take hyper mobility into consideration, as well as provide you with guidance in strengthening and stabilizing, make an appointment here! If you live elsewhere, not to worry, you can find a list of excellent Webster Certified across the nation here.
Resources
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24305-relaxin#:~:text=Relaxin%20production%20soars%20if%20you,pelvis%20and%20widen%20your%20cervix.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/joint-hypermobility-syndrome/#:~:text=Joint%20hypermobility%20syndrome%20is%20when,better%20as%20you%20get%20older.
Breathwork
Have you ever stopped to consider how your heart continuously beats, your lungs take in the oxygen you breathe and, while you're reading this, your stomach is digesting the last meal you just had without you having to constantly think about it? These physiological processes are all part of what is known as the autonomic nervous system.
By Dr. Gloria
Have you ever stopped to consider how your heart continuously beats, your lungs take in the oxygen you breathe and, while you're reading this, your stomach is digesting the last meal you just had without you having to constantly think about it? These physiological processes are all part of what is known as the autonomic nervous system. It regulates involuntary physiologic processes which include heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal. The autonomic nervous system contains three anatomically distinct divisions: sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric [3]. I want to touch briefly on how BREATHING enables the parasympathetic nervous system when we take deep, intentional, FULL breaths which can enhance your daily living.
We can get quickly sucked into the busyness of life and forget that we are not meant for all the hustle and grind. So we get stuck into this FLIGHT and FIGHT mode known as the sympathetic nervous system. This system kicks in when our stress levels or tension increases. Though there is a proper place for this response, it is not good to constantly stay in this state. We can't avoid all sources of stress in our lives, nor would we want to. But we can develop healthier ways of responding to them [2]. So how do we engage in the opposite? We need to engage our parasympathetic nervous system which is our REST AND DIGEST state. One way to do this is to take some deep, full intentional breaths also known as diaphragmatic or belly breathing. The diaphragm is a large, dome-shaped muscle located at the base of the lungs. By engaging the diaphragm, you should be able to use your lungs at 100% capacity to increase lung efficiency [1]. I love to encourage our practice members as they are coming in for chiropractic care to incorporate this as they get adjusted as well as make it a part of their daily lives.
Here are some benefits of diaphragmatic/belly breathing:
Helps you relax.
Improves muscle function during exercises and prevents strain.
Improves full oxygen exchange
Makes it easier for your body to release gas waste from your lungs.
Reduces blood pressure.
Reduces heart rate.
How do I do diaphragmatic breathing exercises?
When you first learn the diaphragmatic breathing technique, it may be easier for you to follow the instructions lying down.
Lie on your back on a flat surface or on a bed, with your knees bent and your head supported. You can use a pillow under your knees to support your legs.
Place one hand on your upper chest and the other just below your rib cage. This will allow you to feel your diaphragm move as you breathe.
Breathe in as fully as you can through your nose so that your stomach moves out, causing your hand to rise. The hand on your chest could follow to rise but should remain as still as possible.
Slowly exhale through your nose, controlling the breath. Tighten your stomach muscles, so that your stomach moves in, causing your hand to lower as you exhale through pursed lips. Once again, the hand on your upper chest should remain as still as possible.
Repeat steps 3-4 until desired results.
As you gain more practice, you can try the diaphragmatic breathing technique while sitting in a chair [1]. The more you practice, the easier this technique will become.
Here are some tips to incorporate this in your daily living:
Make this a part of your morning routine. After waking up and taking care of whatever needs you may have, take a minute or two (to start) and practice your diaphragmatic breaths.
Take a moment to check in with yourself during the day and see how you are. Are you stressed? Engage in diaphragmatic breathing exercises to help reduce your stress levels.
Use this technique at the end of the day, before going to bed, to help you wind down more smoothly and prepare you for sleep.
Get consistent chiropractic care. Chiropractic care can help balance the nervous system to enter into rest, digest, healing and repair mode.
Resources
Waxenbaum JA, Reddy V, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Autonomic Nervous System. [Updated 2022 Jul 25]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539845/
Pediatric Chiropractors
In the chiropractic realm, all licensed chiropractors have D.C. after their name, which stands for Doctor of Chiropractic. But many chiropractors will have additional credentials when they earn post-doctoral diplomate certifications in various subspecialties. There are a few different credentials specific to pediatric and/or prenatal chiropractic. One is the Diplomate in Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics (DICCP), which is a Board Certified credential through the International Chiropractic Association (ICA).
By Dr. Nikki
In the healthcare world there are a large variety of credentials that can be found listed after your healthcare provider’s name. In the chiropractic realm, all licensed chiropractors have D.C. after their name, which stands for Doctor of Chiropractic. But many chiropractors will have additional credentials when they earn post-doctoral diplomate certifications in various subspecialties. These subspecialties can include veterinary chiropractic, spinal trauma, sport science, radiology, pediatrics and other niche disciplines [1].
There are a few different credentials specific to pediatric and/or prenatal chiropractic. One is the Diplomate in Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics (DICCP), which is a Board Certified credential through the International Chiropractic Association (ICA). [2] Two others are a Certification by the Academy Council of Chiropractic Pediatrics (CACCP) and a Diplomate in the Academy Council of Chiropractic Pediatrics (DACCP), which are offered through The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA).
So why do I bring all of this up? As chiropractors, we obtain a fairly extensive amount of education in a pretty condensed amount of time. (If you’re curious about specifics of our education, check out this previous blog post.) During those 10 trimesters of schooling, only one course, over one trimester, is dedicated to learning about pediatric chiropractic care. If we stop and think about a majority of other healthcare professionals, each field has a subspecialty in pediatric… pediatricians (medical doctor), pediatric nurse, pediatric physical therapist, pediatric orthopedic specialist, pediatric dentist, etc. I know that in conversations with some of my friends and patients who work as pediatricians or pediatric nurses, they are terrified to work with adults because it’s so different from working with kids!
What makes the pediatric population so different than the adult that all of these fields have professionals dedicated to solely that population? The list is actually quite extensive, but I will focus on a few that are more relevant to chiropractic.
An adult human has 206 bones, but at birth, a baby actually has 300 bones! Some of these bones are made entirely out of cartilage and some are partially cartilage. As the baby grows, that cartilage grows and slowly becomes bone with the help of calcium. [3]
Babies are born with special reflexes that aid them in the birth process as well as survival of those first days/weeks of life. (To read more about primitive reflexes, check out this post). These reflexes will gradually integrate into the nervous system and no longer be present as the baby grows. The absence and/or presence of primitive reflexes at different ages can be very significant in the overall development of a child.
Babies and children are constantly changing as they grow and develop. There are specific milestones that children typically hit during certain age ranges. If a child is struggling to hit a certain milestone, this can be significant.
As you can probably imagine, these three factors alone, require a different set of skills/techniques for chiropractic treatment, as well as a different/additional knowledge base.
To find a chiropractor in your area who specializes in the care of children here are some helpful links:
https://icpa4kids.com/find-a-pediatric-chiropractor
If there aren’t any doctors popping up on a list in your area, you can always call around and ask questions to gauge a doctor’s experience in treating babies and kids.
Does the chiropractor focus any of their continuing education on pediatric care?
How much of their practice is made up of pediatric patients?
As always, we at Renew & Restore Wellness are here for you! If you live in the Southlake, Las Colinas, or Arlington areas, we would love to be your pediatric or prenatal chiropractor. If you live further away, but would like help finding the right chiropractor for your family, we are always happy to help.
Resources:
1) https://www.nbce.org/about-nbce/chiropractic-care/certification-and-licensure/
2) https://www.icapediatrics.com/diplomate-program/
3) https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/bones.html
An Interview with a Lactation Consultant
As a chiropractor who focuses so much on the prenatal, postpartum and pediatric population, I have the privilege of co-treating my patients with a number of other professionals. Lactation consultants are one of those professionals whom I believe to be crucial during the prenatal and postpartum period. With that being said, here is a Q & A session with lactation consultant, Tenise!
At Renew & Restore Wellness, we pride ourselves in not only providing great care in the office, but also being a solid resource for our patients. This can, often times, come in the form of a referral to another professional in the community who is exceptional at what they do. Any recommendation we make is going to be someone who we would fully trust with the care of our own family members, because our patients are like family!
This week I wanted to do something different and have everyone learn a little bit from one of those trusted connections in the community! As a chiropractor who focuses so much on the prenatal, postpartum and pediatric population, I have the privilege of co-treating my patients with a number of other professionals. Lactation consultants are one of those professionals whom I believe to be crucial during the prenatal and postpartum period. With that being said, here is a Q & A session with lactation consultant, Tenise!
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up becoming a lactation consultant!
My name is Tenise, and I am an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. I spent approximately 18 years in a totally unrelated field and came into my passion and purpose of helping families achieve their breastfeeding goals in 2020. I had really great lactation support with my children, but I soon came to realize that I was the exception and not the rule. I want to affect positive change, as it relates to breastfeeding, in my community.
What does a lactation consultant do and what are the most common reasons that moms reach out to you for your services?
I would say 90% of my job is confidence building, but I also help with those experiencing an over supply, low supply, babies with oral anomalies, poor weight gain, back to school/back to work concerns, latch issues, etc. While breastfeeding is natural, it is not always intuitive and sometimes it is just little tweaks here and there that can make a world of difference.
What recommendations do you have as far as a mom protecting her back and neck when breastfeeding?
Get comfortable first!!! All too often I see mamas bringing their breast to the baby instead of bringing baby to the breast. This can result in a poor experience for both mother and baby. I always encourage my parents to get comfortable first – utilizing pillows and a step stool if necessary and then get baby latched. Also, the early days of breastfeeding look entirely different in 2-4 months later when latching becomes more varied as babies become more efficient at feeding.
Are there any times in which you recommend a mom seek the care of a chiropractor for her baby?
YES! Quite frequently actually. I view chiropractic and lactation care as team members to the overall health of the dyad. Babies can really get cramped in the womb and can come out with stiff or sore muscles which can interfere with feeding. It is not the developmental norm for a 2 week old baby to roll over or for an infant to only keep their head turned to one side. These are the most common “red flags” that I see warranting a pediatric chiropractic visit.
What’s the number one tip you can give to soon-to-be moms or moms who are breastfeeding?
Take a prenatal breastfeeding class! In general, we don’t know what we don’t know and this type of education can help you prepare and manage expectations for a successful breastfeeding journey.
Anything else you would like for people to know about breastfeeding or lactation consulting?
Breastfeeding is the biological norm in feeding our children but it doesn’t just look one specific way. I definitely encourage seeking lactation advice/support to achieve your specific family/situation breastfeeding goals.
How can people find you and your services?
We are on all of the social media sites – our handle is @mothersmagicamilk
We offer home visits and will be moving our offices to 1015 E. Dallas St, Mansfield, TX 76063 effective September 1, 2022.
I, Dr. Nikki, can personally attest to the value of taking a prenatal breastfeeding class! My husband and I took Tenise’s prenatal course and can’t recommend it enough! We found it to be extremely informative and it helped me to feel a little more prepared for the arrival of our son. It was also comforting to already have established that relationship with Tenise in case we were needing assistance with breastfeeding once he was born.
If you find yourself facing challenges with breastfeeding, please reach out to Tenise! And if you’re noticing some of the issues she mentioned above, where your baby is struggling to latch on one side or only turning their head in one direction, please don’t hesitate to give us a call! Curious as to other reasons why people bring their baby to a chiropractor, check out this previous blog post here.
Three Foods you may Want to Consider Trying During Pregnancy
Pregnancy can bring about interesting dynamics when it comes to food. On one hand you may find yourself dealing with morning (or all day) sickness, the sense of smell of a blood hound, and/or food aversions, doing all that you can to get any type of food in your body. On the other hand, there is this strong awareness that you are growing a human and you want to give that little person every opportunity to be healthy and strong from the start.
By Dr. Nikki
Pregnancy can bring about interesting dynamics when it comes to food. On one hand you may find yourself dealing with morning (or all day) sickness, the sense of smell of a blood hound, and/or food aversions, doing all that you can to get any type of food in your body. On the other hand, there is this strong awareness that you are growing a human and you want to give that little person every opportunity to be healthy and strong from the start.
First off, I want to say that if you find yourself in that first category and the only thing you can stomach is carbs, then by all means that’s what you should eat! Getting some form of calories in your body is always most important, especially during the first trimester.
I can be quite the research nerd, so when I learned that I was pregnant, I started reading multiple books at one time to learn as much as possible about growing a baby. One of the books I really enjoyed was Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols and there were a few foods she recommended that I had never tried before or hadn’t eaten in a very long time.
1) Liver
Liver is not something we ate growing up because, quite frankly, I think my parents were both traumatized from having to eat it when they were kids. While the thought of diving into a plate of liver and onions intimidated me, I (and luckily my husband) were open to the idea of sneaking pureed liver into certain meals. Per the suggestions in the book, I purchased some grass fed beef liver and pureed it in my Vitamix. *Warning* if you’re queasy or have a squeamish stomach, you may want to recruit some help for this step! You can also buy liver pate and skip this step all together. Two of our favorite ways to sneak in liver was in meatloaf and chili. I simply added it in with the other ground meat and cooked per usual!
At this point, you might find yourself asking why I would go through all of this effort to incorporate liver into my diet? For starters, organ meats are extremely rich in micronutrients, which are essentially vitamins and minerals that have a critical impact on the body, but are only needed in very small amounts [1]. Vitamin A (in a bioavailable form), B12, choline, iron, zinc, copper, selenium, riboflavin, niacin and folate [2] Choline is often over-looked but is extremely beneficial in neural tube and brain development. It is also helps optimize the function of the placenta, reduce the risk of preeclampsia, and improve cognitive development and reaction time in infants. According to one study “In children aged 7 years old, those born to mothers with the highest intake of choline during pregnancy have better visual memory compared to those with the lowest intake. Interestingly, this study found that maternal intake of related nutrients, like vitamin B12 and folate, did not have a significant influence on cognitive test performance. (Am J Epidemiology, 2012)” [3]. Knowing all of this, why wouldn’t we be trying to get more choline in our diets during pregnancy!?
2) Sardines
Sardines was another one of those foods that I never was exposed to growing up. In my mind, it was just automatically grouped into those “gross” foods that we are supposed to dislike. I initially tried a can that still had the skins and bones and I will admit that I thought that might be the end of my sardine-eating career. Per the suggestion of my stepdad, I tried another can that were boneless, skinless, and canned in olive oil. I put a little bit of sardine on an almond flour cracker, with a little dab of mustard and it was surprisingly delicious! Thanks to Costco, they soon became a go-to snack or light lunch.
During pregnancy, getting enough protein can feel like a constant challenge. Sardines are a great source of protein, in fact the cans I found at Costco had a whopping 22 g of protein each! They also are a great source of omega 3 fatty acids (which is important for a baby’s developing brain), Vitamin D, calcium, iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iodine, and are extremely low in mercury. [4]
3) Cottage Cheese
Unlike sardines and liver, cottage cheese is a food that I actually did grow up eating. My mom would serve it to us with some apple sauce and I typically really enjoyed it. The reason cottage cheese took me by surprise is that prior to pregnancy I didn’t typically tolerate large amounts of dairy very well. As I was reading Real Food for Pregnancy, Lily explained that often times women find that they are able to tolerate dairy, even if they typically hadn’t been able to prior to pregnancy. One theory behind this, is that our iodine needs increase during pregnancy and one of the greatest sources of iodine (besides seafood) is dairy. Iodine is essential for the health of thyroid and during pregnancy, our thyroid gland has to ramp up production of hormones by more than 50%. The baby is entirely reliant on a mother’s thyroid hormones until mid-pregnancy (week 16-20), when it’s thyroid gland is able to start producing it’s own hormones. [5] In addition to iodine, cottage is another incredible source of protein with 1 cup of cottage cheese containing 28 g of protein!
If the thought of eating a bowl of plain cottage cheese makes you cringe, try mixing in some fresh fruit! My favorites are some fresh pineapple or peaches.
At Renew and Restore Wellness we are always looking for ways to encourage and support pregnant and postpartum women. If you have questions about how chiropractic plays a role in a healthy pregnancy, please reach out! If you decide to give any of these foods a try, I would love to hear how you used them in the comments below!
Resources:
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/choline-pregnancy-folates-cousin/
https://www.pregnancyfoodchecker.com/sardines-good-pregnancy-canned-smoked/
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/thyroid-health-matters-pregnancy/