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Hello to all of our patients and friends,
Well it’s certainly been a busy few weeks since our last newsletter. We hope you find our efforts helpful and enjoyable. If there are any topics in particular that you would like us to cover please drop us a note. We will do our best to get any information out that we have on the subject.
Wishing everyone the best for their health!
Dr. Russell Heller
A "Delicious" Apple A Day to Keep The Doctor Away
Antioxidants are compounds found in certain foods that can help our body combat free-radicals. Free radicals are a by product of our body’s metabolism that if left unchecked, become over abundant and can lead to or feed numerous diseases or disorders such as cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, decreased immune function and a tendency for inflammation as with arthritis and fibromyalgia.
A Canadian study appearing in the June 29, 2005 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, evaluated the relative amounts of antioxidants contained in various varieties of apples. It concludes that the Red Delicious apple contains the highest amounts. Red Delicious apples contain over six times more than the lowest-ranked apple in this study, the Empire. Other types examined in this study, ranked by antioxidant content, were Northern Spy, Cortland, Ida Red, Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Mutsu. The vast majority of antioxidants, about 80 percent, are in the skin of the apple.
Numerous other foods are rich in antioxidants and should be consumed in variety since not all antioxidants affect the body in the same way. Some antioxidant rich foods to look for:
Fruits: Cranberries, blueberries and blackberries
Vegetables: Beans, artichokes and Russet potatoes
Nuts: Pecans, walnuts and hazelnuts
Spices: Ground cloves, ground cinnamon and oregano
You can have a profound affect on your health by choosing your food wisely. Enjoy the plentiful apples as we enter the autumn season.
The Eternal Optimist
A man was driving home from work one day and stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near his home.
 As he sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, he asked one of the boys what the score was.
"We're behind 14 to nothing," the boy answered with a smile.
"Really," the man said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."
"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet."
Affordable Back to School Computing
Children are all headed back to school and it seems that more and more assignments are dependent on them having access to a computer. Even though the costs of computers has dropped dramatically over the past 5 years, the costs of the hardware is only the beginning. If your system came loaded with only the minimum you might notice that the costs of software can far outpace that of the hardware.
The editor of CNET.com, Tom Merritt, bought a new laptop and decided to try an  experiment. He wanted to see exactly how far he could get in setting it up using only the operating system that came with it and free, legal software. The full story can be found at CNET.com
He started with E-mail, Internet and Business Software by downloading the Mozilla Suite, this provided him with a browser, e-mail capability, a Web editor, and an IRC client. He then downloaded OpenOffice, this gave him a Microsoft-compatible word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics programs. He already had e-mail, but OpenOffice didn’t have the calendar capability of Microsoft Office's Outlook Express, so the Mozilla calendar plug-in was downloaded.
He went with the GNU Image Manipulation Program in place of Photoshop, he used Audacity for audio and sound editing.
He downloaded Skype, for Internet telephony, and iPodder or iTunes for podcast subscription.
After trying them all for a period of time, he found that, for most normal uses, paying for software is unnecessary.
All of the above programs can be found on the internet and are legally free for the taking. Technology is truely becoming affordable.
Six Jumbo Jets Per Day For The Entire Year
Most of us remember in great detail the fateful day of September 11, 2001. Nearly 3000 lives lost, including those passengers on the planes that were used as weapons. We all know the outcry afterwards, the major policy changes that took place, the massive security organizations that were developed in response and the huge budget that was allocated for "homeland security"!
With this in mind, what kind of response do you think we as a nation would give if we lost every life on six fully loaded jumbo jets each day for an entire year? Don’t you think that amount of loss of life would be heard about? Those lives are being lost in this country, not to terrorist or a troubled airline industry. They are being lost to the industry we have put our trust in to do just the opposite, the medical health industry!
According to the 2003 medical report Death by Medicine, by Drs. Gary Null, Carolyn Dean, Martin Feldman, Debora Rasio and Dorothy Smith, 783,936 people in the United States die every year from conventional medicine mistakes. This is the equivalent of six jumbo jet crashes a day for an entire year. But where is the media attention for this tragedy? Where is the government support for stopping these medical mistakes before they happen?
 According to the study only a fraction of medical errors are reported.
The study states 106,000 deaths are from prescription drugs. This also is a conservative number. Some experts estimate it should be more like 200,000 because of underreported cases of adverse drug reactions.
Another 1995 study stated, "The iatrogenic [doctor-caused] death rate dwarfs the annual automobile accident mortality rate of 45,000 and accounts for more deaths than all other accidents combined." That study was issued before the Vioxx disaster killed 60,000 people all by itself.
Since 2001, 490,000 people in the United States have died from prescription drugs, while 2,996 people in the United States died from terrorism, all in the 9/11 attacks; prescription drugs are therefore 16,400 percent more dangerous than terrorism.
This country spends about $282 billion -- on deaths due to medical mistakes annually. This is about eight times the amount of next year's budget for the Department of Homeland Security of $34 billion. Remember this is a conservative estimate.
So why not change the industry? The problems are primarily those of money and ethics; drugs are over-prescribed and surgeries are over-recommended in order to increase the profits of the medical industry. Corporate pressure also gets many drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regardless of their safety.
Corruption and deregulation of the medical and pharmaceutical industries is a huge and expensive problem. You can help yourself avoid becoming part of the statistics by taking a proactive approach to your health. Prescription drugs for the most part are intended to cover the symptoms after the condition developes, without addressing the real problem. You can be proactive by taking care of your body physically, nutritionally and emotionally. Dr. Heller can help you develope a plan to help you rebuild and maintain your health.
You can also get a very basic recommendation online by completing a simple survey at www.freewellnesstest.com
Just a Thought.....
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours?
It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and we really aren’t using it much anymore.
Caffeine in Soft Drinks Equivalent to Nicotine in Cigarettes
At least that is the comment of the researcher in a recent study on the affects of caffeine on elementary age school children. This is one reason why researchers have recommended young children shouldn't be allowed to consume caffeinated sodas during school hours.
Results of the study that appeared in Middletown Journal May 24, 2005, found that less than just one can of a caffeinated soft drink can make first-graders rowdy and inhibit their concentration.
20 first-graders (10 boys and 10 girls) were served either caffeine-free or caffeinated soda over a three week period. The students' teachers were instructed to monitor and rate their behavior; neither the teachers nor the students knew which kind of soda was being consumed.
The results indicated children who drank caffeinated soft drinks suffered from behavioral problems. They also noticed:
* The first-graders clearly preferred caffeinated soft drinks to caffeine-free brands; consumption of caffeinated soda was, on average, 9.45 ounces on days the children were allowed to drink sodas, compared to 7.55 ounces of caffeine-free soda.
* And compared to when the children drank caffeine-free soda, behavioral problems were rated an astounding 432 percent worse on days they consumed caffeinated soft drinks instead.
If you are convinced to stop feeding your children regular soda, please don't make the common mistake and assume artificially sweetened sodas are better because they have less sugar. Most natural health authorities feel that artificial sweeteners are far worse than real sugar with their own list of problems.
We need to convince our children that water is still the best choice for a healthy beverage and the best way to teach children is usually by example.
Back Surgery May Be Worse Than No Surgery
Know anyone considering surgery for back pain? Caution them to consider it carefully. Research shows that many patients who undergo surgery for lower back pain often have subsequent surgeries for the same condition due to the failure of the initial procedure, which can contribute to further patient disability.
 The study appearing in journal, Spine, Sept. 1, 2004 issue found that patients with a history of lumbar spine surgery fared significantly worse on areas such as physical functioning, general health and mental health compared to those patients with no prior history of spine surgery. "Previous back surgery is associated with significantly worse general health status than those without surgery among patients with low back pain," the researchers wrote, also stating that "active rehabilitation intervention strategies designed to improve physical and mental well-being should be promoted, as they could have an impact on enhancing positive health outcomes."
The public should think twice before considering spinal surgery. For more information and a second opinion a doctor of chiropractic should be consulted when the spine, joints, muscles or nerves are involved, for a treatment plan that will not only help reduce pain but preserve general health for the long term. | 
