Everyone is an athlete!

“Eat right, drink right, move right and poop right.” –Dr. Robert Rakowski, D.C., DIBAK

Clinically, I find that many of my athletes are extremely fit, many times “too” fit and paradoxically unhealthy. In addition, it is my firm belief that everyone is an athlete. Everyone including the “Average Joe” or “Weekend Warrior”, needs to perform well in their own specific profession as well as recreation. Most of my elite athletes, in addition to their nagging, lingering injuries, often times have other chronic health problems. Symptoms such as allergies, anxiety, sleep disturbances, migraines/ headaches, anger issues, constipation, chronic fatigue, delayed recovery, general muscle weakness, low immune systems, high blood pressure, kidney problems, bleeding guts, diabetes, drug addictions, focusing problems and the list goes on. They tend to appear to physically fit but often times unhealthy.

Fitness Vs Health

There is a difference. Dr. Phillip Maffetone years ago wrote a book (In Fitness and In Health) to help differentiate the two:

-Fitness is the ability to perform physical activity. You define the limits of your fitness – you can walk a mile a day or train for the Ironman Triathlon.

-Health is a balance of all systems of the body – the nervous, muscular, skeletal, circulatory, digestive, endocrine (hormonal) and all other systems.

Supposed Elite Fitness but Ill Health

There are many reports of professional athletes with amazing extraordinary fitness and superb athletic skills who become a victim to serious illness or even death. In the new age of steroids, human growth hormone (HGH) and other performance enhancing drugs (PED’s), they are not only are illegal to use, but the side effects are seriously lethal.

Famous Runners & athletes died while running or during competition:

1) Jim Fixx was a famous long distance runner died of a heart attack while running at the age of 43.

2) Brian Maxwell former world class marathon runner and founder of Power Bar died at the age of 57.

3) Hank Gathers was a collegiate power forward from LMU died after slam dunking a basketball in the NCAA Tournament.

4) Florence Griffth-Joyner died in the late 1990’s at the age of 38. Whether it was because of her epilepsy or a true heart defect, dying at the age of 38, was abnormal.

5) Lyle Alzado died at the age of 43 due to brain cancer. He was known to blame steroids as the main reason for his death. Again, whether that is true or not, dying at the age of 43 years old was not because he was healthy. In fact, he was very sick even though he had an ultra fit physique.

Other Examples of Great Fitness and Poor Mental Health

1) Francisco Rodriquez aka “K – Rod” – over reacting and letting his emotions get him in trouble with the law, by assaulting his father in law. Let me ask you… Is that normal adult behavior?

2) Chicago Cubs pitcher, Carlos Zambrano having anger issues that costs him a suspension from the team.

3) Allen Iverson’s problems with team rules and other personal bizarre behavior.

4) Ben Roethlisberger, QB of the Pittsburg Steelers, exposing himself in a college night club in addition to being accused of sexual assault.

5) Adam “Pac – Man” Jones assaulting women in strip clubs.

6) Many football players getting caught smoking marijuana and being addicted to pain medication.

These are some of the examples of elite athletes that had elite fitness and ill or poor health. Health is mental as well as physical.

Health and Performance

Your health has a direct link to athletic and human performance. In addition, the ability to recover and bounce back totally depends on your health structurally, chemically, emotionally. You can dramatically improve you performance and recovery time if you have optimal health. There are five health categories that can help maximize any athlete’s performance and recovery.

1) Neurological

2) Metabolic

3) Endocrine (hormonal)

4) Muscular

Mental/ Emotional

There was a great article in the LA Times "Health" section, monday August 9, 2010 by Times writer, Melissa Healy. Statins are the most prescribed drug in the USA. It is estimated that about 24 million Americans take the drugs marketed as Pravachol, Mevacor, Lipitor, Zocor and Crestor to prevent heart attacks and strokes!

Like I've already mention and has already been documented in all the medical journals and national statistics, the number 1 killer in America is heart disease or heart attacks and the number 3 killer in this country is stroke and the number 4 killer is properly prescribed FDA-approved drugs/ medications.

The article goes on to say, that the pharmaceutical companies rake in $26.2 billion a year! In 2009, patients in this country filled 201.4 prescriptions for statins alone, according to IMS Health, which tracks precription drug trends. The FDA intially approved statins for the prevention of repeated heart attacks and strokes.

The article also states that presently, statins are now being prescribed as the primary way to prevent heart disease and strokes. Harvard medical school's own Dr. John Abramson has been quoted saying, "There's a conspiracy of false hope." He goes on to publish in June, in the Archives of Internal Medicine, "The public wants an easy way to prevent heart disease and drug companies want to maximize the number of people taking their pills to boast their sales and profits."

Ely Lily the pharmaceutical company famous for prozac (anti depressant) is quoted saying, "A drug without a side effect is NOT a drug at all."  Another mentor of mine, Dr. Scott Walker says, "We don't just die... We kill ourselves!"  How so true. When we don't take any responsibility and ownership in our own health, we become victims.

Side Effects of takin Statins:

1) muscle aches

2) headaches

3) nausea

4) weakness

5) upset stomach

6) joint pain

7) rare cases, pancreatitis

8) tendon pain

9) depression

10)sleep disturbances

11) memory loss

12) sexual dysfunction

13) cataracts

14) peripheral neuropathy

15) hemorrhagic stroke

16) rare cases, interstitial lung disease

The Times article goes on to quote Dr. Gregg C Fonarow, "It's very clear in clinical trials that side effects of not taking a statin is a 30% - 50% increase in the rate of heart attack or stroke." I like to comment that Dr. Fonarow quote is not necessarily true!  If you do nothing then the percent chance of being a victim of heart disease is real.

The Better Alternative:

A patient needs to take ownership and responsibility for their health. By stopping what they are doing and looking what is going on... and what is creating the problem is imperative. Just because you have no symptoms doesn't mean you have a clean bill of health.  In this day and age, many of us are stressed and stress causes illness.

Applied Kinesiology (AK) is a specific form of holistic health that focuses on the patient's cause of their problem.  It is my true belief, that AK is the only complete form of preventive medicine that targets what a patient needs to work on, in order to improve their health. It looks at the patient's state of health as a whole not just a specific part. The key is to identity all imbalances and stresses structurally (physically), chemically and mentally. 

AK gives you specific concrete answers to your problem. It is not a guessing game.  It doesn't just rely on what's on the internet, the latest trend or what medical schools are teaching doctors. It doesn't shotgun medicine or even natural supplements to prevent problems. This form of specific health care takes an account that every patient, person, athlete and case individually. There are no general protocols because there are different causes and stresses that create each individual problem.  AK is precise, clear and works on eliminating the road blocks, so that the body can regain balance (homeostatsis) and heal itself.

Just recently a famous golfer, Tiger Woods explained to the media that his game is suffering because he is imbalanced. Woods goes on to state the key for him is to find that balance. He is definitely on the right path. The key is balance in all aspects of your life/ health structurally, chemically and mentally. Look at his face and body posture. It says it all.  Like Dr. John Diamond, another friend/ mentor always says, "The body does not life." Added by Dr. Howard Cohn, "And it (body) makes no mistakes."

Conclusion:

Now let me ask you a question.  Do you think whether you are an "average Joe", "weekend warrior" or Tiger Woods... can you perform well if you are taking drugs, not structurally balanced and in chaos?  I'm sorry listening to the clerk at a vitamin shop, health supermarket, television, magazine, trainer or celebrity is not going to make you a healthier athlete let alone a healthier person.

Stay tune to understand the differences between fitness vs health. They are totally different. It is a popular belief system that by going to the gym and listening to your trainer will ensure you good health. Many times patients are going to the gym and becoming parodoxically unhealthy.

Tonight at 7:00 PM is my world famous health talk.  Sorry the class is full.  The purpose of the health talk is to first, educated others the difference between natural holistic health care vs traditional, allopathic disease care.  Secondly name the three basic levels of health.  Thirdly demonstrate and explain the available, high quality therapies I provide to help you restore balance in your body so that your body can heal itself.  Call the office for future health talk dates or click on the “events” section on my website.  It’s all free.  Please RSVP because we serve a chicken salad. 

Applied Kinesiology (AK) is a specific form of natural, holistic health care. But before I get into describing AK, lets be clear on the differences of natural, holistic health care vs traditional, allopathic, disease or symptom care.

Many of you might believe that if you have no symptoms then you must be healthy. And that is not necessarily true. Furthermore, an even greater myth is that if you have a symptom and you take a drug (medication), that magically you are now healthy. This symptom care belief system is not only wrong but could be potentially dangerous.

Number 1 Killer - Heart Attack:

Lets look at some examples out there. Like I already mentioned on my twitter, the number 1 killer in America today is cardiovascular disease or heart attack. Half of the deaths in America will be due to a heart attack. The first and usually only symptom of a heart attack is... DEATH. Meaning yesterday, John Doe, had no symptoms. He might've had a lifestyle that lead to the heart attack, but many times victims of heart disease have NO SYMPTOMS.

So is it true that John Doe the day before the heart attack was healthy because he had no symptoms? And the day he died, he was all of a sudden sick? No that would be ridiculous. He was probably sick for a long time, but because he had no symptoms he thought he was healthy. But in reality he was very sick, he had heart disease for years.

Number 2 Killer - Cancer:

The number 2 killer in America is cancer. One in 4 people will die of cancer. Again, many times including myself, there were no real symptoms. No real pain nor any significant problems. Fatigue is usually a common one, however many people think it's stress due to old age or something else, and they ignore the signs. Average Joe could've had a clean bill of health last year, but when he was getting his annual physical the following year the MD finds a tumor that is as large as a grapefruit. Now did the tumor appear the day of his exam and yesterday it wasn't there because he had no real symptoms? The answer again is NO. He was actually very sick but yet he wasn't aware of his illness because he had NO SYMPTOMS.

Number 3 Killer - Stroke:

The number 3 killer in America is stroke. 140,000 people will die of a stroke this year. Another 3 million will be left permanently impaired and handicaped due to a stroke.

Number 4 Killer - Properly Prescribed, FDA approved DRUGS: 

The number 4 killer in America is properly prescribed, FDA approved drugs/ medication. And these top 4 killers account for about 85% on how Americans will leave the planet. That is the problem. And symptom care or disease care many times is too late. "People will spend more money on their last two weeks on life than they will on their health in their entire lifetime. And that is sad, frightening and pathetic." - Dr. Howard Cohn.

The Sahara Clinic practice true natural, holistic health. "Holistic" means looking at your body as a whole and not just specific parts.

Three Levels of Health:

There are 3 levels of health. The top level is health, wellness and vitality. That is what we all would like to achieve. Many of us are not born with it. How do we achieve this level of health? We need to do something for ourselves. We need to build equity in our body. This level is built and not given to us. Most of us are born with the second level of health which is "no symptoms". And the third level is "symptoms".

Symptoms including disease, such as a headache or cancer can be caused by many different reasons. The three basic areas that can cause anything are structural or phyiscal reasons, chemical reasons and mental/ emotional reasons. Applied Kinesiology focuses on finding all the causes that are creating the problem. With the use of muscle testing, I can communicate with the patient's innate intelligence and find all the causes to the problem.

Then also performing the specific and proper therapy and later prescribing the proper and appropriate supplement, herb or homeopathy. One my first mentors, Dr. Howard Cohn used to describe AK like this. "We use your body like a computer and use your muscles as the keyboard so I can access what is going on structurally, chemically and mentally." 

Looking at your problem holistically:

Anything can cause a headache. A structural cause for a headache could be any type of trauma. For example, a car accident or a linebacker hitting another football player. What would be a chemical cause for a headache?

What about chemical causes for a headache? There are two things chemically that a patient can have problems with: 1) Excess 2)Deficiencies. What do I mean?

Excess. This means your body can be exposed to toxins, poisons, pollutants, parasites, heavy metals, plastics, chlorine, dust, mold, fungus, yeast and/ or other known or unknown environmental chemicals. 

Defficient. A patient's body could be deficient in many but specific nutrients, such as protien, or fiber, or a vitamin or a mineral. You can have a toxic headache from mold, perfume, cologne, parasites or paints. You can have a protein deficiency and adrenal stress which can actually create a herniated or bulging disc in your neck or back. Thus causing severe pain, spasms and inflammation.

What about an emotional cause for a headache? Emotions are based in physiology not necessarily psychology.

1895 Ivan Pavlov did an study on conditioned responses in dogs. He feed the hungry dogs meat. Everytime he feed the dogs, he decided to ring a bell. Later he then would ring the bell but wouldn't feed the dogs. But everytime the bell rang, the dogs would salivate which is known as a "conditioned response". After long period of ringing the bell, and not getting fed, the dogs reached a point called "extinction" and they stopped salivating. Metaphorically, we as humans continue to salivate.

My mentor Dr. Cohn explains that "We are like a walking juke box. Someone touches and pushes our buttons our favorite music plays. We can't change the song because that's the history of the trauma or the actual accident or event. We can't change the buttons because our friends and family know how to push our buttons. But through modern technology, what we can do is clip the wire so when someone pushes our buttons, we don't react negatively."

Then, through homeopathy we can detoxify that specific energetic vessel or meridian that holds the negative emotion and our headache goes away. There are 12 major meridians and each meridian or vessel holds a major or minor negative emotion. For example, the lung meridian displays, grief, sadness or yearning. The liver meridian displays anger or frustration and so on. And as you take off and clear the negative emotional weight off a patient and then give them the proper food and nutrients, detoxify the specific toxins and also adjust the specific structural points, a miracle happens.

The commitment and vision of Dr. Sahara and the Sahara Clinic:

The Sahara Clinic vision and commitment is to educate patients on how to build their health, how to take care of themselves better, and to provide quality services that facilitate healing and vibrant health. It's the most specific, natural, holistic and alternative way to practice preventative medicine. So pick up the phone and call me at the office at (626) 796-6830. Even if you think you are okay, why not make sure come in for an initial examination to see what's going on. Don't wait to have a problem, be pro active and create your wellness and success today.