Stiles Chiropractic – Novi, MI

The problem with the American Diet

If you look at what happens to people who are newly “civilized” and recently exposed to the modern Western diet, you can get an idea of the problems caused by eating a refined, processed diet. Jonathan Wright, MD, presents two examples of the deterioration in general health caused by the Western diet in Healing with Nutrition. The groups examined are Eskimos in North Central Canada and Pacific Islanders.

Consider Eskimos in Northern Canada, who, prior to the 1940s, had no exposure to Western civilization. Prior to 1940, these people were much healthier than they were after eating the type of diet we take for granted. Some women developed breast cancer, which was unheard of before 1940. Teenagers began to have acne, another condition that didn’t exist before they began eating a more “civilized” diet. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and gross obesity all became more common.

Pacific Islanders have been studied. People living on Pukapukaeat a traditional diet. Their diet averages about 1800 calories per day, which includes about 70 grams of fat and 9 grams of sugar. People living on Rarotonga eat a combination of Western and traditional diet. Their diet averages about 2100 calories per day, which includes abut 63 grams of fat and 35 grams of sugar. The Maori of New Zealand eat a completely modern diet. They average 2500 calories with125 grams of fat per day and 71 grams of sugar per day (the average American eats 150 grams of sugar per day).

In Raratonga, gross obesity is 5.2 times more common than it is on Pukapuka. The New Zealand Maori have 13 times more gross obesity than the people on Pukapuka. Diabetes is 3.1 times more prevalent on Raratongathan on Pukapuka. There is almost six times more diabetes in New Zealand than on Pukapuka. Heart disease is twice as common on Raratonga and 2 1/2 times more common in New Zealand than it is on Pukapuka. High blood pressure is seen in 10 times more people on Raratonga and in 8 1/2 more times more people in New Zealandthan on Pukapuka.

As diet contains more refined and processed foods, disease increases, we begin to see more obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and even cancer. Eating a nutrient deficient diet causes other problems like fatigue, allergies, depression, chronic pain, skin problems and many other problems that affect the quality of our lives.

 So what exactly is the modern American diet like?

A recent survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute asked Americans about their diet from the previous day. Only 9% of those asked consumed three or more servings of vegetables or two or more servings of fruit on the previous day. One in nine surveyed had no servings of fruits or vegetables on the previous day.

In the United States, 46% of every food dollar is spent on meals and snacks away from home. Convenience stores have increased by 50% in the last decade. The typical American consumes 48 pounds of high fructose corn syrup annually, usually in soft drinks. In 1990 Americans consumed their body weight in sweeteners and salt.. Four percent of the energy use in the United States goes to packing food, which is about the same amount as the energy used to grow food. This is almost as much energy as flows through the Alaska pipeline. The 36 million tons of food packaging used in 1990 equals about 290 pounds per person.

Americans drink more carbonated soft drinks than plain water. Soft drink output rose from 64 billion servings (12 ounces) in 1980, to 85 billion servings in 1990. In 1990 Americans spent $5 billion on potato chips and corn chips, $66 billion on fast food and $44 billion for soft drinks.

Improve your diet now

The decision to get rid of chronic health problems, prevent disease and improve the quality of your life begins with fundamental improvements in your diet and other aspects of your lifestyle. A proper diet provides your body with the raw materials (vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals) to begin to detoxify and heal itself. This is the foundation of your nutritional program.

Basic nutrition is an important first-step on the road to health. Following these dietary guidelines will make the other aspects of your nutritional program much more effective. If you are not yet able to follow this plan perfectly, the important thing is to keep improving, set goals for compliance and persist in improving your health. Call us for an appointment to discuss your nutritional needs.

Research shows manipulation is better than acupuncture or drugs for spinal pain. In a controlled, clinical trial (published in Spine 2003; 28: 1490-1503). Patients were treated with spinal manipulation, acupuncture or Celebrex (unless the patient had used it previously. The next drug of choice was Vioxx, followed by paracetamol).

Patients were evaluated on the first visit, and at two, five and nine weeks after the first treatment. Pain was evaluated with subjective questionnaires and objective orthopedic tests.

Chiropractic was found to be superior to both medication and acupuncture with objective tests in all area but one. The exception was the visual analog scale for neck pain, in which acupuncture produced slightly better results.

Range of motion tests all show the superiority of chiropractic adjustments. An interesting note, the group receiving chiropractic adjustments showed 47% improvement on the health questionnaire. This was a better result than acupuncture, which scored 15% improvement. It was also a better result than medication, which showed an 18% improvement.

The authors said that spinal manipulation may be superior to needle acupuncture or medication for patients with chronic spinal pain (with the exception of those with neck pain—where it was outperformed by acupuncture).

To quote the authors, “Considering that the patients in this study had experienced chronic spinal pain syndrome for an average of 4.5 years in the medication group, 6.4 years in the acupuncture group, and 8.3 years in the spinal manipulation group, it is notable that manipulation, during a maximum treatment duration of nine weeks, achieved asymptomatic status for every fourth patient (27%). This result is superior t the percentages for acupuncture (9.4%) and medication (5%) for short-term outcomes…

“Medication apparently did not achieve a marked improvement in chronic spinal pain and caused adverse reactions in 6.1% of the patients. The adverse symptoms disappeared once medication was stopped.”