Everyone knows that vitamins found in their natural form work better than synthetic vitamins. Just like lemons can cure scurvy, but ascorbic acid (they synthetic version) does not do as good of a job.

So here is a quick list of what you should be eating to get your vitamins. All of the vitamins are listed here…make sure you are eating nutritious food!!

Vitamin A:
1. As Retinol:
a. Milk (breast, animal)
b. Butter
c. Liver
d. Eggs
e. Small fish (eaten whole)
2. As carotene:
a. Red palm oil
b. Dark/medium-green leaves (spinach, kale, amaranthus, beans, cassava, cowpea, sweet potato)
c. Yellow/orange vegetables (carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, cassave)
d. Yellow/orange fruits (mango, pawpaw)
e. Yellow maize

Vitamin D:
1. Milk
2. Ghee
3. Cheese
4. Chicken (skin)
5. Liver
6. Fatty fish (cod, herring)
7. Cod liver oil
8. Egg yolk

Vitamin E:
1. Vegetable oils
2. Sunflower seeds

Vitamin K:
1. Broccoli
2. Asparagus
3. Lettuce
4. Cauliflower
5. Cabbage
6. Brussels sprouts
7. Turnip greens
8. Liver
9. Spinach

Vitamin C:
1. Tomatoes
2. Potatoes
3. Peppers Pumpkins
4. Citrus fruits (guavas, berries, plantains, bananas)
5. Yams
6. Cassava
7. Milk (breasy, animal)

Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)
1. Meats
2. Potatoes
3. Liver
4. Whole grains
5. Some fish
6. Legumes
7. Oilseeds
8. Milk
9. Eggs

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
1. Eggs
2. Liver
3. Meats
4. Some fish
5. Asparagus
6. Milk
7. Whole grains
8. Green leaves
9. Legumes

Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
1. Meats
2. Eggs
3. Fish
4. Whole grains
5. Legumes
6. Milk
7. Liver
8. Peanuts

Vitamin B6
1. Meats
2. Cabbage
3. Potatoes
4. Liver
5. Beans
6. Whole grains
7. Peanuts
8. Soybeans
9. Some fish
10. Milk

Vitamin B7 (Biotin):
1. Liver
2. Egg yolk
3. Cauliflower
4. Kidney
5. Peanuts
6. Soybeans
7. Wheat germ
8. Oatmeal
9. Carrots

Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)
1. Liver
2. Milk
3. Meats
4. Eggs
5. Fish
6. Whole grains
7. Legumes

Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid/Folate)
1. Tomatoes
2. Beets
3. Potatoes
4. Wheat germ
5. Cabbage
6. Eggs
7. Meats
8. Spinach
9. Asparagus
10. Liver, Kidney
11. Beans
12. Peanuts
13. Whole grains
14. Milk

Vitamin B12
1. Liver
2. Fish
3. Eggs
4. Milk

This information comes from Gerald F. Combs, Jr’s book: THE VITAMINS: Fundamental Aspects In Nutrition And Health; 2nd Edition.

• When standing, keep one foot slightly in front of the other, with your knees slightly bent. This position helps to take the pressure off your low back.
• Do not stand bent forward at the waist for prolonged periods of time. The muscles in your low back become deconditioned in this position, which may lead to pain.

Lifting

• At all times, avoid twisting while lifting. Twisting is one of the most dangerous movements for your spine, especially while lifting.
• If the item is too heavy to lift, pushing it is easier on your back than pulling it. Whenever possible, use your legs, not your back or upper body, to push the item.
• If you must lift a heavy item, get someone to help you.

Sitting

• Keep your knees slightly higher than your hips, with your head up and back straight.
• Avoid rolling your shoulders forward (slouching).
• Try to maintain the natural curve in your low back.

Reaching and Bending

• When reaching for something above shoulder level, stand on a stool. Straining to reach such objects may not only hurt your mid-back and neck, but it can also bring on shoulder problems.
• Do NOT bend over at the waist to pick up items from the floor or a table.
• Instead, kneel down on one knee, as close as possible to the item you are lifting, with the other foot flat on the floor and pick the item up.
• Or bend at the knees, keep the item close to your body, and lift with your legs, not your back.

Carrying

• When carrying objects, particularly if they are heavy, keep them as close to your body as possible.
• Carrying two small objects—one in each hand—is often easier to handle than one large one.

Healthy Diet and Exercise

• While the proverbial jury is still out, we suspect that extra weight puts undue strain on your spine. Keep within 10 lbs. of your ideal weight for a healthier back.
• “Beer belly” is likely the worst culprit, as it puts unwanted pressure on the muscles, ligaments and tendons in your low back.
• The most efficient and effective way to reduce weight is by eating a sensible diet and exercising regularly.
• Consult with your doctor before beginning any exercise program, particularly if you have a health condition.

Sleeping

• Sleeping on your back puts approximately 50 pounds of pressure on your spine. Other positions may be better.
• Placing a pillow under your knees while lying on your back cuts the pressure on your spine roughly in half.
• Lying on your side with a pillow between your knees may also reduce the pressure on your back.
• Never sleep in a position that causes a portion of your spine to hurt. Most often, your body will tell you what position is best.

Quit Smoking

Smokers have more spine pain than nonsmokers, and they also heal more slowly when they have an episode of back pain because the chemicals in tobacco smoke restrict the flow of blood to the tissues in and around your spine.

While following these instructions is no guarantee that you’ll be free from back pain for your entire life, it can certainly reduce your risk of developing it. These simple steps will help you keep your spine in good shape, making you a healthier, happier person.

Do you believe that what you eat has a direct affect on your aches and pains?  Despite what you believe, the common perception is that what we eat does not have any bearing on our pain levels.  That is wrong and I’ll tell you why.  I will show you how nutrition can actually change your biochemistry to cause you to have more or less pain, depending on what you eat.

Are you really what you eat?  Unfortunately most of us just laugh at the statement that we are what we eat.  Are we really going to turn into a bottle of india pale ale beer, or a turkey sandwich with sprouts on it?  Of course not.

Let’s consider a report put out by the Surgeon General in 1988.  The Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, published in 1988, states that heart disease, cancer and strokes are the three leading causes of death in America, totaling close to 75% of all deaths.  We are also told that these are diet-related diseases.  The Report concludes, “one personal choice seems to influence long-term health prospects more than any other: what we eat” (1).

The problem is that we don’t really think about what we are eating and how it affects our health.  We don’t think about the long-term affects on our body.  The younger we are, the more indestructible we feel.  The more indestructible we feel, the less we care about what we eat.

If you get sick, what do you do?  Do you go running to your doctor to ask them for a cure?  Most people in our country do.  All you have to do is look to see how many drugs are taken in the U.S. on a daily basis. According data just released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showing that at least half of all Americans takes at least one prescription drug, with one in six taking three or more medications. We want to be able to eat and drink whatever we want to, then blame the doctor if they can’t heal us.  Most people take no responsibility for their own health.

Who do you think is healthier, a sedentary, pill-popping, junk-food junkie, or the active, fruit and vegetable eating, supplement taking woman?  You know the answer to that, so why is it that we don’t pay more attention to what we are putting in our bodies?  We know that we should eat more fruits and veggies than ice cream and 1,000 calorie coffee drinks.  The problem is that no one really has had a reason WHY they should eat properly.  Well, if you want to get out of PAIN, now you have a reason.

To be healthy we have to take care of three things.  We must take care of our structure, our body chemistry (diet/nutrition), and our minds.  The World Health Organization defines health as “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This means that we need to take care of our body with exercise and proper care of the structure, such as the spine, take care of our minds with positive thinking and prayer/meditation, and last of all eating properly.  Let’s talk about how to eliminate your pain with food.

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables will reduce your level of pain.  Your diet can actually help to prevent the development of degenerative diseases (2) and help fight pain.  The question that needs to be asked is, what causes pain?  What is the difference between your back pain, headaches, leg pain, or carpal tunnel pain?  People take a lot of medications for pain in many different locations.  Do you think that the treatment of pain makes any sense?  Why is it the same pill for every ailment?

We have to understand that we perceive pain through our nervous system.  Pain is felt because a pain sensitive nerve is irritated by a chemical or joint fixation.  This is not really hard to understand, and can make this whole topic of “eating for less pain” easier to understand.  You don’t really hear this information on the TV though when you see commercials for pain relievers…they never talk about WHY you have pain.  But, you just have to know that pain is cause by irritation to your pain nerves.

Neurologically speaking pain is pain.  What I am saying is that no matter where your pain is, the pain is due to irritation to the pain nerves.  So, as long as we can remove whatever is irritating that nerve, you will have less pain and associated symptoms.  This should be easy to do.  We just have to know what stimulates these nerves…and through the research we do know!

Pain nerves are irritated by joint restrictions and direct trauma.  Pain nerves are also irritated by certain biochemicals including lactic acid, prostaglandin E-2, and many more.  The names are not important.  We have to know that these chemicals are released due to injured tissues, which cause inflammation and pain. (3)

All of our food that we eat is broken down into biochemicals.  Certain foods like meat, dairy, and cheese will cause inflammatory chemicals to be released when consumed in large amounts.  But, if you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables with them…the affect will not be as inflammatory.  It is that simple.

The fact of the matter is if you eat poorly, your pain levels to rise due to increased inflammation and irritation to the pain nerves.  Make sure that you eat enough fruits and vegetables to balance this cascade out, so that you have less pain all around.

1.     The Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, U.S. Dept. Health & Human Services, U.S. Government Printing Office, Wash., DC., 1988.

2.     American Journal Clinical Nutrition Suppl to 53(1): Jan/1991

3.     Seaman, David R. Clinical Nutrition for pain, inflammation and tissue healing. Lake Lure, NC: NutrAnalysis, Inc, 1998.

2. What Are The Biggest Misconceptions About Back Pain? I would say the biggest two are that it is ok to ignore back pain, thinking it will just go away.  And the second is that if you are in pain, you are just going to have to live with it. If you’re like me, you’ve heard doctors say “you’ll have to just live with the pain.”  Many of my patients come into my office as a last resort.  I get them after they’ve tried everything else and it hasn’t worked.  Some of you reading right now that have had chronic pain for years are taking over the counter medications, muscle relaxers, even prescription pain killers because you’ve been told that you will just have to live with the pain for the rest of your life.  People come to me and say how can I get off of these medications.  Now, of course I use chiropractic as one way to eliminate the pain because it is found to be the best thing out there for low back pain, neck pain, and headaches, but there are other things you can do on your own.  Why do women begin the year with the very best of intentions about making a change and taking care of their health and happiness, but then waste away the year by doing everything BUT taking care of themselves?  The problem is that women are busy and are just not taught how to take care of their back.  You may think it takes a lot of time, or it is too hard.  Even a very busy woman could prevent back pain by doing a few maneuvers that take only 15 minutes a day. Click HERE for videos of a short routine. 

Such a healthy back plan is the real key to success.  Most women just wait for their back to “go out” before they do anything about it…and that is not wise.  Women especially need to take care of their back because they have to take care of their families and friends and they don’t have time to be down with an injured back.  The longer you wait to take care of your back, the more time and money you will need to put in to fixing it.  So start now. We don’t wait until our teeth fall out to start brushing them, don’t wait for your back to go out before you take care of it.

3. So, how do we get rid of or prevent in the first place back pain? “I would love to share my top 3 things to do right now to eliminate pain.  So, let’s talk about some simple things that you can do.  And these are things that EVERY kind of woman can do…from the stay at home mom, to the working woman, to the retired woman.  The first are simple stretches and core maneuvers.  Now, my wife and I have two Black Labs, Sammie and Libby, that we rescued in the past year and I have learned something from them.  If you watch your pets when they get up from a nap, what is the first thing they do?  Exactly, they stretch, and we can learn something from them.  On page 52 in my book (get it for free HERE) I talk about the 3 stretches every woman must know.  Most women in America will have similar patterns of weak muscles and tight muscles.  In the upper back it is called upper cross syndrome and what you need to do to eliminate the pain is to stretch these muscles in the back of the neck, as well as strengthening weak muscles in the mid back.  In the lower extremities, we have a problem called lower cross syndrome.  The best way to attack this is to stretch the muscles in the groin area, then strengthen the abs and core muscles of the back.  I put the ultimate 15 minute core strengthening program on page 59 of my book.  And that leads to the 2^nd tip and that is to strengthen your core.  If you have a weak core, you are setting yourself up for back pain, and a possible back injury.  So, you need to stretch your muscles, strengthen your core.   The 3rd thing you must do is to start paying attention to the way that you do your daily activities.  Most women don’t pay attention to how you get out of bed, shave your legs, stand over the counter to do makeup, how you carry your baby, your purse etc.  These small activities on a regular basis add up to cause serious pain.  I have dedicated a chapter in the book to daily activities and what you can do to have a healthier back…I believe that starts on page 21 in the book.

If you want my new book for free you can get it HERE.

If you want more information email me at info@goodbackbadback.com.



Here Is How I Eliminated My Sinus Infection In 2 Days!

I knew I had to do something quick because my patients were all going to be here for Patient Appreciation Day, and they deserve nothing less than top-notch service. (thank you for all who came out, we had a lot of fun!)

How To Eliminate Your Sinus Infections:

1. Get adjusted! Make sure you get your spine adjusted on a regular basis to insure a healthy immune system.  Your nervous system controls every part of your body, and it needs to function properly so that you stay healthy.

2. Drink a LOT of water.  One of the best things you can do for your body when you are sick is to drink water (pure water…no added flavors, or tea, or coffee).  I had to cut out my normal coffee that I like to drink.    You all know that we are made up of ~75% water and we need it to stay healthy.  Make sure you are drinking 1/2 of your body weight, in ounces of water each day.  (I weight 190 lbs, so I drink 95 ounces).

3. Use a Neti Pot, or sinus rinsing system.  You can find these items for around $12 in your local pharmacy, in the sinus section.  They are very easy to use and are necessary to eliminate the bacteria and infection that are in your sinuses.  When I use my Neti Pot I feel my headaches go away almost instantaneously!  You will love it!

4. Drink some hot tea with honey and lemon juice in it.  If you are having a sore throat, this will help to soothe your throat.  I like to use Tazo’s CALM tea with honey, then squeeze fresh lemon juice in it.

5. My favorite is one that my wife suggested…and then made for me.  For this you need hot water and Lavender and Thyme Essential Oils.  All you do is get some hot water in a bowl, then drop 2 drops of Lavender Oil, and 2 drops of Thyme Oil.  You then proceed to place a towel over your head and lean over the bowl.  Make sure your eyes are closed and you inhale the fragrance of the steam for 1 minute.  Do this 3 times a day.  This helped my throat considerably!

6.  The last one is to take your supplements.  I took 10,000 IU’s of Vitamin D each day, as well as using Cod Liver Oil for Vitamins D and A.  I used 3 tablespoons a day.  If you want a good tasting Cod Liver Oil click HERE (this is the one I use because I can’t stand the taste of fish)!  If you have questions about supplements please call our office to set up a time to talk to Dr Scot.

As spring time comes and you deal with allergies and/or sinus infections, remember these simple solutions to eliminate your pain and discomfort quickly and safely!  You typically do not need to take medication to eliminate these problems.  I have not taken antibiotics in over 20 years…these natural remedies do the trick each and every time for me.  If the problem persist’s over a week, then go and see your medical doctor.

To your health,

Dr Scot Gray

PS: Remember to watch Dr Scot on Lifetime Television soon…(we will update you when we know the exact date that the interview will air).

P.P.S. Remember you can also download Dr Scot’s new book by clicking HERE

Cindy B shares her story of how she eliminated her severe back pain.  Discover more at our website http://www.OhioBackPain.com

by American Chiropractic Association

A new study finds there is no evidence of excess risk of stroke following chiropractic spinal manipulation, according to a February 2008 report in the journal Spine. In the study, researchers noted that patients are no more likely to suffer a stroke following chiropractic treatment than they would after visiting their family doctor’s office.

The study goes on to say that any observed association between a vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stroke and chiropractic manipulation is likely due to patients with an undiagnosed vertebral artery dissection seeking care for neck pain and headache before their stroke.

“This may prove to be one of the most important and significant studies in the profession’s history,” said ACA President Glenn Manceaux, DC. “The results of this study confirm that chiropractic manipulation is a safe and appropriate course of treatment.”

The issue of stroke being associated with a chiropractic neck adjustment focuses around the very rare occurrence of a tear to the vertebral artery as it passes through the sides of the upper cervical vertebrae and into the base of the skull. An injury to the arterial wall may lead to formation of a blood clot, which can break free and travel upward until it lodges in one of the smaller blood vessels in the base of the brain, blocking circulation.

There are many reports in the literature of cervical artery dissections (CADs) occurring after everyday activities that most people would consider non-traumatic, such as turning the head when driving, having your hair washed at a beauty salon, or sleeping on your stomach.

A research paper published in 2001 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found there is only a one-in-5.85-million risk that a chiropractic neck adjustment will be associated with a subsequent CAD and stroke.

In this new study, the Canadian team looked at nine years of data in Ontario, and found that only 818 patients with a VBA stroke were reported among a population of some 11.5 million people. Unlike a previous study in 2001 that investigated the relationship between chiropractic visits and vertebral artery stroke, researchers in this study also studied visits to family doctors that preceded this kind of stroke.

According to the study’s authors, “Because the association between chiropractic visits and VBA stroke is not greater than the association between PCP visits and VBA stroke, there is no excess risk of VBA stroke from chiropractic care.”

Stroke Warning Signs

While there are no standard screening procedures to identify patients with neck pain who are also at risk of a VBA stroke, health care providers should be aware of the following stroke warning:

> Sudden difficulty speaking (slurred speech) understanding what people are saying
> Sudden onset of confusion or altered mental status, such as loss of consciousness, or recognizing people who should be familiar
> Sudden numbness or tingling on one side the face or body, or both
> Sudden onset of dizziness or unsteadiness, loss of balance or coordination, or both
> Sudden difficulty walking or standing upright
> Sudden severe headache
> Sudden severe unexplained upper-neck pain
> Sudden trouble with vision or sight