Friday, December 26, 2014

ACN Nutrition Part 2

With current banking woes and financial instability, Americans need to begin investing in themselves. All the money in the world is useless without one’s health to enjoy it. Sometimes paying out of pocket to get additional preventive health services that are only partially covered by insurance is worth the investment.

"Health is wealth" is a great motto by which to live. Many complementary medical items and services need to be reintroduced into every day life so that you can "live younger". Supplements, vitamins, osteopathic doctors, prolotherapists (people who practice prolotherapy, use an injection technique that stimulates growth of cells and tissue that in turn stabilize and strengthen weakened joints, cartilage, ligaments and tendons), chiropractors, and preventive- aging doctors are often only partially covered by your current insurance. There is no better time to put increased importance on your health through prevention than now. In the larger picture of things, your mind, body, and spirit are the only "sure bet" investment. It’s worth paying out of pocket so that you may optimize your health.

A health care facility should evaluate the toxins in your body so that the doctor can give you advice as to how and what to eliminate from your environment or foods. This personalized medical aspect is an evaluation that is typically underemphasized given our home and workplace exposure to potentially harmful chemicals everyday in our food, air, and water. Your health care facility should know how to use natural tonics, supplements, and foods to purify your body and blood of these harmful toxins. This will help to reduce a dangerous killer called "silent inflammation" as your body wages war at a microscopic cellular level against these agents of disease. These toxins can increase your risk for heart attack, stroke, cancer, and autoimmune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.) as they potentially cause silent inflammation that you do not feel until it is too late. A health care facility should know how some important health markers including blood and urine pH should be tested and evaluated. It is vitally important to choose a preventive-aging physician to recognize how manipulating these basic perimeters subtly through diet and exercise can optimize your mood, energy, and health.

One of the greatest toxin reservoirs in the body is the stored residue in your colon. This is the last stop in your digestive system, and the undigested pieces of food and waste sometimes are not eliminated properly. This waste can build up like a clogged pipe in your kitchen sink. The western diet of Americans is filled with foods that slowly clog the pipes of our colons, causing decay, which then leads to silent inflammation. This can impact your overall health and lead to premature disease. Colon cleansing via fasting dates back centuries to our ancestor’s religious and cultural rituals to rid the body of impurities. This has slowly been de-emphasized in our current society, and thus we have lost all the medical benefits associated with this ritual. You should choose a health facility that uses this approach to re-vitalize your colon. Various modified fasts including raw diets and juice-fasts can be individualized so that each person gets a customized way to improve their digestive health.

Call 703-729-5600 to learn how the staff at ACN Wellness can help you integrate a nutrition management program into your overall wellness plan.


Monday, December 22, 2014

ACN Nutrition Part 1

Nutrition plays a vital, but often overlooked, role in promoting overall health. What we put into our bodies determines what we can get out of them for a lifetime. At ACN Wellness, we understand the role of nutrition and are committed to sharing this knowledge with our patients.

Nutrition is about understanding the role of balance in one’s life. Rather than taking extreme approaches to nutrition, we at ACN Wellness emphasize the importance of moderation and education. By showing people what a balanced nutritional approach involves and then comparing it with what they actually eat, we can give people the knowledge they need to eat properly. By maintaining a balance with one’s eating habits, you can enjoy a healthy outlook regarding food without thinking of it in terms of reward and punishment. Taking a more measured approach to nutrition will give you an important tool in staying healthy and happy, not just for the short term, but for a lifetime.

With Americans paying over $20 billion annually on nutritional supplements and vitamins, it is important to choose a physician who has had additional education and training about which nutritional supplements have been proven scientifically to be of benefit versus the ones that Americans are wasting their money on. Medical doctors are so busy in their practices caring for all the needs of their patients, they have little time to keep up with the latest news about all the breakthroughs in nutritional supplements and vitamins. The FDA does not test or guarantee nutritional supplement content and thus, Americans are left to figure that out on their own. All supplements and vitamins are not created equally.

Prevent disease before it happens and rewind your biological clock with proper nutrition, exercise, and bio-identical hormone optimization (the replacement of declining hormones via natural materials). Hormone replacement is not designed to increase lifespan, but is intended to improve health span. It is a therapy known to all medical physicians. However, only a select few have taken additional training to enlighten themselves about hormone optimization to gain preventive-aging benefits. These include improved energy, physical performance, complexion, immune function, sexual vitality, mental sharpness, blood pressure, cholesterol, bone density, body composition, and strength to name a few.


For additional information on nutritional counseling, supplements or hormone optimization, please contact the front desk.

Friday, November 7, 2014

ACNMind

Keeping the mind in shape sometimes proves to be a very difficult task. With work-related stress, relationship struggles, bringing up young children and dealing with every day life issues, it can seem almost impossible. And it can be a vicious cycle. Feeling stressed leads to the release of the hormone cortisol, which in turn causes inflammation in the body and decreased hormonal function, leading to more stress and the release of even more cortisol, and so on and so on, until a serious disease process is set in motion.  Increased levels of cortisol can result in the following:

* Fatigue
* Weight Gain (especially around the abdominal area)
* Impaired Immune Function
* Decreased Mental Ability
* Chronic Pain
* Mood Swings
* Insomnia
* Decreased Libido
* Sugar, Salt and Carbohydrate Cravings

Unresolved, long-term stress, can also lead to more severe problems such as anxiety, depression, drug addiction, some autoimmune disorders, Fibromyalgia, even heart disease, all of which are typically treated with heavy, toxic medications to manage them, which do not address underlying imbalances within the body. That means a sick person may have his/her symptoms under control, but the underlying disease process is still present. He or she is still, in essence, sick. Therefore, it is essential that those feeling moderate to extreme amounts of stress take immediate action to get a handle on stress. 

How can a busy person manage stress? ACN Wellness recommends setting aside a few minutes each day to practice slow, deep breathing, as well as a systematic "decluttering" of a stressed person's schedule. That means cutting out the unnecessaries--commitments that are not high on the priority list---and focusing instead on the things that are of significant value and importance, like spending time with family and/or children, for example.
            
Acupuncture, Chinese massage, meditation and yoga (available at ACN Wellness Center) are excellent ways to relax and decompress. Infrared Sauna Treatments (also offered at ACN Wellness) and Epsom salts baths are great ways to draw the toxins out of the body and allow tired, tense muscles to relax.
            
Stress is, unfortunately, a most common affliction for every human being. What separates the unhealthy people from the healthy people, is how that stress is managed. There are a variety of treatments and programs available at ACN Wellness. Take advantage of one of them today and get back to your healthy, happy self.


            

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Autoimmune Treatment at ACN Wellness


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that up to 23.5 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease (although the number of afflicted is probably closer to 50 million as the NIH only includes 24 diseases in its count).  More than 75% of those affected with an autoimmune disorder are women and the prevalence for autoimmune disease is on the rise. Understand that autoimmunity is prevalent within everyone to a certain extent. It is generally harmless in most people, but there are some in which the expression is more pronounced and is the cause of a variety of illnesses, some of which include, but are not limited to:

*  Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
*  Celiac Disease
*  Psoriasis
*  Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
*  Lupus
*  Ulcerative colitis
*  Hashimoto's Disease

What is an autoimmune disease exactly? An autoimmune disease develops when the immune system, which defends the body against disease, decides that the body's healthy cells are foreign. As a result, the immune system attacks and destroys perfectly healthy cells and tissues. Depending on the type, an autoimmune disease can affect one or many different types of body tissue.

There are additional risks to having an autoimmune disorder. These risks include higher rates of kidney problems, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, more so than the rest of the healthy population. The connection of autoimmunity with inflammation, heart and kidney complications makes autoimmune disorders difficult to treat. The good news is that a lot of these health problems can be avoided entirely if an autoimmune disease is put in its place early. 

At ACN Wellness, we emphasize a holistic medicinal approach (which is characterized by the treatment of the person as a whole, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a disease) to managing autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease is dynamic, meaning that it is constantly in motion, changing from one day to the next, and needs consistent attention and supervision to keep it in check. The practical results of holistic medicine lie in our ability to detect diseases at a much earlier stage in their progression and to evaluate the body as a whole. Holistic medicine gives our doctors the freedom to practice a number of nontoxic strategies for prevention and treatment of existing diseases. Our autoimmunity evaluation and treatment emphasizes the following:

*  Nutritional Deficiencies
*  Inflammation Markers
*  Hormone Deficiency or Imbalance
*  Toxin Exposures
*  Balance of Bacteria and Yeast
*  Detoxification Pathways
*  Digestive Function
*  Food Sensitivities
*  Family History
*  Undetected Infections

ACN Wellness can develop a personalized herbal and nutritional support program to increase your overall health and wellness, in relation to autoimmune disease, provide education for you regarding specific lifestyle changes to facilitate health (body work such as acupuncture or Chinese therapeutic massage may be suggested) and recommend nutritional and hormone balancing supplements to put you on the road to recovery.

With effective holistic therapies and programs like these available, there is absolutely no reason that a person afflicted with autoimmune disease should continue to suffer. Please contact the front office for further information or to make an appointment for a consultation.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Spinal Decompression Therapy & Back Pain

Low back pain has become an epidemic in the United States. Lifting incorrectly, carrying small children, injuries at work: low back pain is responsible for a vast majority of emergency room visits every year, many of which are due to bulging or herniated discs.

To alleviate chronic, severe, low back pain, usually caused by bulging/herniated discs, the majority of patients try all forms of conventional therapies: heavy medication, physical therapy, traditional chiropractic care, acupuncture, home therapies, and as a last resort, surgery---with little to no effect. But there is something else in the arsenal of healing: Spinal Decompression Therapy.

In performing Spinal Decompression Therapy, specialized equipment is used that is designed to gently and effectively reduce disc bulges and herniations, and to increase spinal mobility. A targeted “pull” is applied to the spine with specific angles and calculated weight, tailored to the patient’s needs and body, and hence, a 1-2mm opening of the involved disc immediately occurs. This new opening allows for a natural, vacuum-like action to take place in the bulging area and effectively pulls the disc back away from the irritated nerve, which in turn, leads to pain relief.

Spinal Decompression Therapy differs markedly from traditional traction therapies in that a computerized traction head on the decompression table is used. That is the key to the therapy’s effectiveness. Instead of human hands (or a pulley system with weights) tugging on a patient’s head, a pre-programmed pattern is instituted by the computerized table, ramping up and down the amount of pull. This random and ever-so-slight shift in pressure, distracts the patient just enough so that there is no muscle guarding nor preparatory tensing in the affected area which allows for decompression to occur at the disc level. When Spinal Decompression Therapy is practiced regularly, blood and vital nutrients are finally able to flood the area of the injured disc, which speeds the healing process. Thus, leading to effective and long-lasting pain relief, no scalpels required.
    
If you or someone you know suffers from spinal pain due to:


* Disc bulging/herniation
* Sciatica
* Spinal stenosis
* Degenerative disc disease
* Radicular arm pain


and have not had success with other treatments, Spinal Decompression Therapy may be the key to recovery

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The 3 P's of Wellness


At ACN Wellness, a team of certified professionals will listen to your concerns, review your health goals, and work together as a team to get to the root cause of your specific health conditions. We partner with you to determine the best course of action for you to achieve the highest level of your health.  We utilize a formula we call the "3 P's of Wellness".  
Physical - the structure. We want to assess how your body's structure can influence organ function. Physical restrictions of the soft tissue e.g. muscles, and misalignment of your spinal bones will affect your ability to heal. Balancing the body structurally is essential to whole body wellness.
Physiological - the function. Assess the hormone levels and the body's nutritional status such as micronutrients, vitamins and phytochemicals. Attention to the interrelationship of organs and systems on a cellular level, rather than keeping them separate, permits a holistic and complete approach to diagnosis and treatment.
Psychological - the messenger. Reducing stress in the mind and creating a positive healing environment in the body boosts the immune system and speeds healing.
Here at ACN Wellness we take pride in making sure we develop a customized treatment plan for each patient that walks through our doors.  Our team is committed to helping you live your best life possible!