One of the most dramatic changes in one's arthritic pain, the joint pain and stiffness, can often be dramatically reduced in some people by simply eliminating a group of foods in one's diet. 

These foods are classified as nightshades and there are ninety-two different varieties.

The most common nightshades are: Tomatoes, Potatoes, Eggplant, Chile Peppers, Bell Peppers, and Tobacco.

But many spices and flavorings belong to the nightshade family and are added into processed and pre-packaged foods. Even some soda drinks, Dr.Pepper being one, is classified by some as a nightshade product.

Nightshades contain solanine, a compound that inhibits cholinesterase in the body. Cholinesterase is an enzyme found in the brain that is needed for normal muscle movement and flexibility.

Dr. Norman Childers of Rutgers University was the first person to notice a relationship between nightshade intake and body symptoms. Dr.Childers, who lived to be one hundred years old (1910-2011), noticed when he was in his fifties that his knees would pain him after he consumed tomatoes.

Dr. Childers then observed that cattle, after grazing on nightshade weeds, incurred an inflammatory response to the point that the cattle could not stand and would kneel in the pasture due to the pain from inflammation.

 Dr. Childers eventually linked nightshade intake in humans to arthritic pain, arthritic deformity, digestive disorders, nerve pain, and central nervous system disorders.

Although the solanine in nightshades is not toxic to everyone, Dr.Childers estimated in his research that between seventy-four and ninety percent of people with arthritric pain stiffness had a sensitivity to nightshades.

It is worth a try to eliminate nightshades for ninety days to see if this is the cause of one'e extreme discomfort.

There are also homeopathic remedies that have been found to be helpful for some people when they have a difficult time with total elimination of the nightshades from their diet.

Sources:

A Word About The Nightshades. Arthritis Nightshade Research Foundation.31January2012 <http://noarthritis.com/nightshades/htm.>

Nightshade Vegetables. 31January2012. <www.getting started with healthy eating.com/nightshade vegetables//htm.>

The Hidden Cause of Inflammation. 31January2012. <www.leakygut.co.uk>

In his book, "Talks on Truth", Charles Filmore wrote that if a person wants to learn how to be healthy, then that person must be familiar with the laws of health.

There are laws or principles of health. As one better understands the laws, then that person can make better decisions about his or her own health issues.

Filmore compared this process to understanding mathematics. Mathematical problems can be solved much easier if one first understands the principles of math.

For example, when attempting to solve the math problem, 2x3+4x6=n, the most common answers for n are 60,84,and 30. But what is the correct answer?

If one knows the rules or principles of math then one is confident with his or her methods of finding the correct answer. Most likely, the correct answer will result.

But if one does not have a full grasp of math principles, then coming up with the correct answer might involve some guesswork. There is a chance that the correct answer will be found but it is highly unlikely.

In mathematics, multiplication has order over addition. Now, just with that principle understood, the problem is much easier to solve. Knowing that multiplication has order over math  means that 2x3+4x6=n can be simplified to 6+24=n. Thus, n=30.

The same is true when it comes to studying health. The more one is aware of the principles of health and then applies these rules in daily living, the more likely it is that one will be closer to one hundred percent function or closer to the ideal of health.

 One of the most important principles of health and the human body, in fact in all living things,  is that there is an inborn intelligence that always works in the best interest of the living organism, the top priority being survival and the second priority  being stability or equilibrium. 

This inborn intelligence in every living thing will work as perfectly as it can with what it has to work with to keep function at one hundred percent. It is normal to be healthy. It is abnormal to be sick.

When one is not feeling well, the first step should not be to merely cover up the symptom of not feeling well with guesswork, a drug, but perhaps take the time to understand the how the body works find out why the inborn intelligence in the human body is allowing the body to feel sick.

Most of the time, when a person feels sick, the inborn intelligence of the body is working perfectly in returning the body toward equilibrium and health.The inborn intelligence usually doesn't need help in returning the body to equilibrium; it just doesn't need any interference.

Mark Fleming, D.C.

Sources: 

Fillmore, Charles.Talks On Truth. Unity Village: Unity Books,1998.

Strang, D.C., Virgil. Essential Principles of Chiropractic. Davenport, Palmer College of Chiropractic, 1984

As far as health is concerned, where will you be a year from now? Will you be more healthy, less healthy, or the same?

That is a question I pose to guests at the beginning of our in-office health workshops.

The answer is definitely not the same. 

Why? Because our bodies are constantly changing. Every day, old cells die and are replaced by new cells. Simplified, this process of cell breakdown (catabolism) and cell build up (anabolism) is known as metabolism.

It is how well the body performs metabolism or functions that determines one's health.

But doesn't how one feels determine one's health? 

No, not really.

Although how one feels is important, I am sure we all know someone who felt great and then, all of a sudden, died of a heart attack.

Or, we know of the person that feels great and has no complaints. But suddenly, one day, finds a lump on the body that turns out to be malignant.

In either situation, was that person healthy? No.

Why not?

Because the definition of health is not "feeling good".

Merriam-Webster's Deluxe Dictionary defines health as, " an optimal state of well-being, one hundred percent function, not merely the absence of disease."

So, when one is told that he or she is healthy except for the cancerous tumor, one is actually hearing an oxymoron. If the body was functioning properly, metabolism would be proper and cancer would not occur.  

Health is all about function. Sometimes, when one feels really sick, the body is actually functioning perfectly, but one feels terrible because the body is ridding itself of toxins.

If the body is functioning perfectly, then health is present. If function is less than perfect, then ideally, health is not present. Yes, health is an ideal situation.

It is the responsibility of every individual to keep oneself as healthy as one can be. Everyone is somewhere between zero and one hundred percent function. Due to genetic make up, some people will never function at one hundred percent. But one can still function as best as one can.

What is the chiropractic connection?

Chiropractors work with the nervous system.

Gray's Anatomy, the standard anatomy text in all medical schools states the the nervous system controls every function of the body.

One hundred percent function, or health, cannot occur if there is any interference on the nervous system.

The chiropractic adjustment to the spine alleviates interference or pressure that will keep the nervous system and thus the body from functioning properly.

The nervous system- function- metabolism connection has been known for years. John Tilden,M.D., in his book, Toxemia,  written in the early part of the twentieth century, emphasized the importance of a properly functioning nervous system in order to have proper function and metabolism.

Where will you be a year from now?

Make the decision to be more healthy or closer to one hundred percent function. Everything that we do in our office, present on this website, or communicate to you in mailings is geared toward giving you the necessary tools and treatment so that you can function at your very best.

Mark Fleming, D.C.

Works Cited

Palmer, David, ed.MerrimamWebster's Deluxe Dictionary. Pleasantville: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. 1998.

Tilden, M.D. John. Toxemia The Basic Cause of Disease. Chicago: Natural Hygiene Press, 1974.

Wassung, Keith W. "Nerve Interference." If I Were a Chiropractor. 26July2011. Wordpress. 10Oct2010<http://purposeconsultant.wordpress.com/2010/10/>