Reading a Nutritional Label

Food-Label

How many times have you looked at a food label and said to yourself "I have no idea what I am looking for on this label!"  Sometimes I feel like you need a special certification to understanding what's on those labels.  Being that it is extremely important for you to understand what you are putting in your body, I have decided to discuss a few important things to understanding nutritional labels.  Two of the most important things to understand about a Nutritional Label is number 1, The Serving Size, and number 2, The Ingredient list!

 

1.  The Serving Size-  When you read the label and looking to see how much Calories, Sugars, or Fats, you need to first realize what the serving size is which is listed at the top of the label.  That Serving Size is crucial to understand because if you are eating double or even triple the amount of the serving size, then you have to double or triple the amount of Calories, Sugars, or Fats!  Understanding this can prevent you from loading your body with tons and tons of calories and/or sugars.

 

2.  The Ingredient List-  This is the list of ingredients in the product.  This list is in order based on the quantity of that ingredient.  So the things listed first on the list are of most quantity and the things listed at the end are the least in quantity.  This is important to understand because if you are about to eat something that the first 3 or 4 ingredients are mostly sugars or artificial ingredients then you probably should not be eating that item.

Check out this video that I recorded discussing an example of this with a bowl of cereal.  I bet you will be surprised on how much calories and sugars you are consuming with a bowl of cereal!  Enjoy :)

 

Are you De-Evolving? Understanding Arthritis

de-evolving_poster_for_web-300x237

It is very likely that at some point in your life you will be told you have Arthritis.  Not because it is a natural progression of life, BUT because you have not been educated on the true cause of Arthritis.  Arthritis develops from long standing stress on a joint.  This is called Wolf's Law.  Wolf's Law says that a bone will remodel to the stress that is being placed upon it.   When we have an abnormal position of our spine or we have too much stress on another joint in our body, the body remodels the joint to aid in withstanding that stress.  The problem is that on an X-ray that looks like the joint spacing is becoming smaller, giving the illusion that there is inflammation in the joint, and therefor the doctor tells you that you have Arthritis.  The CAUSE is the long-standing stress on the joint, the AFFECT is breaking down of the joint showing "Arthritis."

How can you prevent this?  Chiropractors are trained to detect and remove these types of stresses!  Every CHILD and ADULT should have a spinal checkup every year to assure that they do not have these stresses in you spine.  This is the best kept secret in the health care community!  EVERY person should be under chiropractic care!  It is one of the safest and most effective ways of preventing pain, sickness, and disease.

 

Enjoy this video which explains more about the cause of Arthritis! 

The Top 3 Nutritional Supplements

nutrition

Nowadays more people are going towards a Natural, Nutritional Supplementation or Dietary Health Care agenda.  There are so many products on the market and so many people advising what products you should be using, how do you know what's the most important?  I have many patients confused on what is the most important products to take.  So what I have done is narrowed the list to my Top 3 Supplements that each and every individual should be using in order for their bodies to function more ideally.  The Top 3 Supplements that every should be using are as follows:

1.  An Organic Food-State Multivitamin

2.  A Natural Omega 3 Fish Oil

3.  Probiotics

Enjoy the following video on an explanation of the importance of each!  Enjoy! ;)

 

Phases of Chiropractic Care

chirocare

"Once you go to the chiropractor once, don't you have to go to the Chiropractor for the rest of your life?"  Have you ever asked yourself that?  Well that is asked to me on a daily basis and I always explain the reasons why a person would see a chiropractor and how long that can take.  This is what I call the Phases of Chiropractic Care.  In order to understand why a person would go to a Chiropractor for an extended period of time, you first need to understand the different reasons you would see them.  There are 3 types of Chiropractic care.  

1.  Acute Phase of Chiropractic Care:  Acute meaning having a symptom, is when a person is coming for pain or symptomatic relief.  This usually occurs during the first 2-4 weeks of visiting the Chiropractor

2.  Corrective Phase of Chiropractic Care:  There is an underlying CAUSE to the symptoms that each person develops and most of the time they are due to an abnormal stress on the spine and nervous system.  So, the Corrective Phase usually last anywhere from 3 Months to a Year depending on the condition of the spine and nervous system.  This is when you are correcting the spine and nervous system back towards normal.  

3.  Maintenance Phase (sometimes called Wellness Phase) of Chiropractic Care: After the spine and nervous system has been corrected back towards normal, there needs to be a period of time in which you "Maintain" the changes that were made, so thats when you would see the doctor once a week or once every other week.  This is when your seeing the doctor for Health/Wellness not because you have a problem. This is the phase of care that is most beneficial for your overall health!

Check out this video for a great explanation of this! Enjoy! :)

The Importance of Good Posture

forward-head

What is the deal with Posture!?  Why is Posture so important!?  I know we all know that we are supposed to have good posture, but what happens if we don't!? 

Lets begin with some basics…Which system in your body controls all your postural muscles?….The Nervous System!  Your Nervous System comprises of your Brain, Spinal Cord, and all the Spinal Nerves that go to each and every tissue and organ in your body.  This complex system controls and moderates ALL bodily function, from your thoughts, to organ function, to your posture!  So, when we begin to have weakness in the Nervous System, guess what one of the primary symptoms are?…Changes in Posture!  There is more to posture then just slouching or not standing up straight.  It is a representation of how well your nervous system is functioning.  Basically speaking, the worse your posture is, the worse your Nervous System is functioning, and the worse your health is! 

There is a direct correlation between your Posture and your Health!  Medical research has shown that the more your head comes forward off your shoulders, the unhealthier you become!   This is called a "Forward Head Posture."  When you look at your head posture from the side, the middle of your ear should be lined up with the middle of your shoulder.  As your head begins to come forward, the middle of the ear starts to shift forward in relation to the middle of your shoulder.  So if you know someone who has this type of posture, it mean there is a weakness in their postural muscles and this needs to be addressed!     

In our office, we use a program called Posture Screen to analyze your posture.  It is an advanced digitized postural analysis that really accentuates how good or bad your posture is.  Check out the video below to see how this program will benefit you!  Enjoy!

 

Pregnancy and Chiropractic

pregnantwoman

Let's me begin by sharing about a recent encounter I had with a lovely pregnant woman at a postural screening I was providing to the members of a local gym.  When she approached my table I was so excited for her because I thought to myself, "WOW!  this is going to be such a great opportunity for her, if she doesn't already go to a chiropractor."  As we were talking, I was mentioning how I am doing postural assessments and I told her about what chiropractic is all about and she was so excited!  But to my astonishment she was not excited for herself, she was excited for her husband.  She goes, "Oo my god, my husband needs to come see you, he has so many issues you can help with!"  Obviously I was excited to hear she understood the importance of the care, but what shocked me the most is during that moment she didn't even think about herself or the child growing inside her!  She had no clue that she could benefit from chiropractic care, in fact, she said "OO I thought you could not help me BECAUSE I was pregnant."  My jaw almost dropped!  The first thought that came to my mind was if this wonderful woman is walking around thinking that, how many other woman are believing the same thing!  This motivated me to make a short educational video on this!

Let's quickly discuss some of the more common things that Chiropractic care has been seen to improve.  Chiropractic care has been known to help with conditions such as generalized pain, lower back pain, neck pain, headaches, carpal tunnel, sciatica, and posture to name a few.  Now, lets think about pregnancy, I think we can all agree that during pregnancy a woman, at some point, has some lower back pain, headaches, neck pain, and their posture definitely changes (for the worse).  Hmmmm!  So if Chiropractic has been known to help with these conditions, then wouldn't you agree with me when I say EVERY PREGNANT WOMAN SHOULD BE UNDER CHIROPRACTIC CARE?!

Check out the video below which illustrates the importance of this very topic!  Enjoy! :)


ADHD/Autism Webinar

Sticking out tongue

Last week I hosted a seminar in my office about Childhood Developmental Disorders.  Childhood Developmental Disorders encompass disorders from ADHD and Dyslexia to Autism Spectrum Disorders.  The information that I shared was so life-changing that I made it available in a Webinar format.  My mission is to share this information with as many parents, teachers, and students as possible and I used this as an opportunity to kick start awareness for these kids!

How many children out there have these disorders?  New statistical research have shown that up to 1 in every 8 children will be diagnosed with some type of learning challenge, whether it be ADD, ADHD, or Dyslexia.  Research also has shown that 1 in every 88 children will be diagnosed with Autism, an alarming rise from the 1 in every 10,000 50 years ago!  I don't know about you, but these I believe that these numbers are unbelievable!  Why are there so many children developing these disorders.  Something is flawed here!  Maybe their diagnosis and treatment??? 

I used this Webinar as an opportunity to spread awareness of the underlying cause to these mysterious developmental disorders.  The seminar is lengthy but the information is so unbelievable, that I am sharing the entire recorded version of it.  There are a few technical issues with the audio, but the content is priceless.  I hope this opens up more opportunity to these kids!  Enjoy the recording below.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly at drmarcoferrucci@gmail.com.

 

Early Christmas for Hockey!

hockey-santa

As stated by Dr. Ted Carrick, its like "Christmas" for Sidney Crosby (an early Christmas!).  Sidney Crosby, one of the most elite NHL hockey players, has been battling crippling symptoms from repeated concussions.  He has been treated by doctors and they have shown great progress, but were limited to only about 80-90%, then the symptoms would reoccur!  What was missing?  Functional Neurology!  Dr. Ted Carrick is the leading expert in Brain injury and the lead professor of Chiropractic Neurology for the Carrick Institute (yes its his institute!).

Since beginning care with Dr. Carrick, Sid's progress has improved leaps and bounds!  They are now predicting that there will be a full recovery and Sid will probably be back in action by January!  What's the biggest reason?  Treatment of Brain Function!  Functional Neurology is the most elite care for the human brain!  Once the rest of the health community realizes this, our health care system can become elite as well!  Check out this interview with Sidney Crosby and his medical staff!


Expanded Office Hours!

office-hours

As of September 6, 2011, the office will have New, Expanded Office hours!  Our new hours will be as follows:

Monday:

Closed

Tuesday:

8:00AM-12:00PM

2:30PM-6:30PM

Wednesdays:

8:00- 12:00PM

2:00PM-6:00PM

Thursdays:

8:00AM-12:00PM

2:30PM-6:30PM

Fridays:

Closed

Saturdays:

9:00-12:00PM

Exercise Beyond “Looking Good”

Exercise-and-Fitness

Have you ever said to yourself, "I want to start exercising because I know it will help me think clearer."  How about "I am going to the gym because I know it is going to give me more energy."  These are not the most common reasons why most people engage in exercise programs.  I would venture to say that MOST people start an exercise program because they want to lose weight and "LOOK GOOD!"  Don't get me wrong, we all want to look our best, either for ourselves or others, but is that really the main reason to start exercising?

In this weeks segment, I brought another special guest.  His name is Danny Ribaudo and he is a certified personal trainer and life coach.  He has seen countless clients who all exercise for the same reasons, but he prides himself on what's beyond simply looking good.  On this video Danny shares his top 5 benefits of Exercise beyond "looking good." 

If you are looking for more information about Danny you can contact him at 973-703-0701.  Hope you enjoy the video!  :)