We offer nutritional/diet counseling and offer a variety of nutritional supplements that can be purchased within our office. We only carry physician grade nutritional products in our office when it comes to supplements quality does matter. A few of the brands we carry are Numedica, Anabolic Laboratories, Metagenics, Biofreeze Professional, and Encore Life.

What is Inflammation?

The inflammatory process, also called inflammation, is best viewed as the body's response to injury, and the function of inflammation is tissue healing. In short, the inflammatory process is a chemical process, and no matter the source of injury, inflammation is the outcome. From a practical perspective, we are all dealing with the inflammatory process at this moment to varying degrees, and this is because we all experience injury on a daily basis, which is either overt (macro-trauma) due to falls and accidents, or subtle (micro-trauma) due to normal activities of daily living. Some of us heal better than others, and part of this is a genetically determined issue; and it is also a dietary issue. No doubt, all individuals have heard that we can prevent heart disease and cancer by eating more fruits and vegetables, and by eating less fat and sugar-concentrated foods.

Why is this? Because fruits and vegetables are anti-inflammatory, while high fat foods (excessive saturated fat, trans fats, and omega-6 fatty acids) and sugar foods cause inflammation, and both heart disease and cancer are pro-inflammatory diseases. With this in mind, we can begin to see that our diet can be a source of injury or chemical trauma. The topics of dietary trauma, macro-trauma and micro-trauma are discussed more below. Most people do not realize that the following conditions are caused or promoted by inflammation: aches and pain, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, acne, aging, syndrome X, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and more. Health and wellness essentially refer to a state of optimum function -- an optimal state of physical, mental, and social well-being. Optimal function is an ideal that we can pursue through appropriate lifestyle choices, particularly diet, exercise, adequate sleep, healthy mental pursuits, healthy relationships, and a job we like.

Please understand that "true health" is not a realizable state -- it should be viewed as a goal to achieve throughout one's lifetime. While health and wellness are essentially synonymous, the term "wellness" is typically used to describe the active care performed by the patient for the purpose of promoting health/wellness. Wellness is actually defined as optimal function achieved via exercise and proper nutrition. The deflaming approach to nutrition that includes diet and supplementation represents a method to pursue health/wellness and prevent disease. (reprinted from deflame enterpries (www.deflame.com), copyright 2007)