100% All-Natural

Just because something is touted as “natural” does not mean it is good for you.  “All-natural” is a marketing ploy utilized by many in the food industry today to attract baby-boomers with their ever-increasing health consciousness.  This is certainly true for products like oat-bran cereal (which can be loaded with sugar) and no- or low-fat snacks (which usually have chemicals and other additives to improve taste and/or consistency), but it is also true for things like vitamins and minerals.  Just because vitamins are “naturally-occurring” does not mean they can be taken with reckless abandon and we have to be careful not to fall for the common consumer trap. 

            For example, a recent one-page ad in a women’s magazine purporting the importance of calcium consisted mostly of a beautiful young child (probably just a few months).  The ad was black and white except for four tablets in pretty pastel colors, which ran along the bottom of the page and cast shadows shaped like hearts (also in pretty pale pastels) and a medicine bottle with a bright yellow label.  The ad read, “Somebody loves you, please take your Tums.”  While it is true that you are important, you are loved, and you should take calcium (as the ad further states), none of these have anything to do with taking an over-the-counter antacid.  I understand that some women have trouble getting enough calcium in their diets, whether it be because they have trouble digesting dairy products or because of their poor diets.  But does it make sense to fulfill that requirement by taking a drug—a drug whose primary mechanism of action is counteracting the naturally-occurring chemistry of the stomach?  I know some people who say they have to take an antacid anyhow so they choose Tums for the calcium.  What will it take for these people to reevaluate the food they are ingesting?  The food they eat is not only not providing them with proper nourishment (they lack calcium), but it is actually making them sick!!!

            On another note, just because something is good for you does not mean that more of it is better for you.  For example, exercise is good for you but running a marathon clearly does more damage to your health than it does good.  Similarly, vitamin C, has been lauded since the early 1900’s when it was discovered that British sailors who went for months on ships without fresh fruits developed scurvy, a disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency.  Since then, and especially recently, vitamin C has been found to have antioxidant properties and researchers now believe it may lower your risk of cancer.  But wait—before you go buy stock in Sunkist—too much vitamin C can clearly be harmful to DNA, which has been linked to cancer, heart problems and other conditions.  Studies now suggest that a safe dose (about 200-mg daily) is about what you would get if you ate the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.

            Oddly enough, people have a similar reaction to chiropractic.  They think if it is natural they should be able to do it themselves and/or that more is better.  The fact is unless someone checks your spine for subluxation (and the only people qualified to do that are chiropractors), there is no way to know if you even need an adjustment.  A specific chiropractic adjustment is given for the purpose of removing interference in the nerve system caused by a vertebral subluxation (misalignment of one of the spinal bones).  Regarding the issue of frequency, the only right time to give an adjustment is when there is a subluxation.  So if there are no subluxations, an adjustment is neither required nor given.  Whether subluxations are found in your spine once a month, once a week or once a day, the best time to remove the interference is immediately.  There is no substitute or supplement for a chiropractic adjustment.  They are safe and effective at removing interference in the nerve system due to vertebral subluxation and promote health by allowing your body to function better naturally—no gimmicks.