Is It My Responsibility To Address My Patients’ Nutrition?
PERSPECTIVE
Todd G. Singleton
As a population, Americans are overfed and undernourished. The average American is eating 300 more calories each day than he or she did in 1985, with added sweeteners accounting for a full 23% of these additional calories.1 For all of these excess calories, Americans aren’t getting the nutrients they need. This means that, ironically, nutritional deficiencies aie becoming increasingly common in First World countries where plenty of food is available. To our detriment, refined and processed foods have become much more popular than the produce aisle.2
Unfortunately, poor nutrition doesn’t just make your patients fat, but it also can leave them in a great deal of pain. The excess omega-6 found in refined vegetable oils (soy, peanut, canola, safflower, etc.) increases your patients’ risk of heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory conditions.3 Refined grains and sugars are problematic too. A single slice of white bread carries a glycémie index of 70, which is twice that of an apple, and more than three times that of pure fructose. These foods spike your patients’ blood sugar and cause a state of widespread inflammation, which can lead to chronic pain and degenerative disease.
Today, more than 100 million Americans suffer from some form of chronic pain. Low back pain affects 27% of all Americans and is the leading cause of disability in Americans under the age of 45. Migraines affect 15% of the population, and another 21% suffer from neck or facial pain.4 A 2006 study conducted by the American Pain Foundation evaluated the impact of chronic pain on quality of life, finding that most sufferers feel as if they have “little or no control over their pain.” Those who suffer from chronic pain often suffer from depression (77%), low energy levels (74%), and difficulty sleeping (86%).5 By providing adequate nutritional guidance, you have the ability to restore your patients’ sense of control and completely transform their lives for the better.
Reasons to Incorporate Nutrition in Your Practice
As a chiropractor, you have an obligation to protect the holistic health and wellness of your patients. Chiropractors are committed to treating the entire person, not merely the isolated symptoms of disease. In this respect, you’ve chosen a profession that sets you apart from many other healthcare providers. Incorporating nutrition into your clinical practice gives you a way to ensure that your treatments are both effective and long lasting. If you’re not paying attention to the entire person, you’re doing your patients a disservice.
Though you do have an obligation to facilitate your patients’ overall health and wellness, you may also find that nutrition programs will give you greater control over patient outcomes and success. Because poor nutrition creates a proinflammatory state, patients respond better to chiropractic treatments when combined with an anti-inflammatory diet. When your patients are on nutritional programs, you’ll find that your adjustments last longer and your patients report greater satisfaction with your care.
Although nutritional programs do improve the quality of your chiropractic care, they’ll also boost your bottom line. Holistic wellness programs (including nutritional weight loss programs) appeal to a much wider audience than traditional chiropractic services, and as such, will bring in many more patients. Fewer than 12% of Americans see a chiropractor, yet 56% of Americans want to lose weight!6’7 As your business grows, you’ll have the opportunity to reach more people and change more lives.
Ways to Incorporate Nutrition in Your Practice
Chiropractors have two main options for improving patients’ nutrition: dietary programs and nutritional supplements. You can offer one or the other, or both. Though supplementation won’t accomplish everything on its own, it can make a significant difference (especially in combination with an anti-
inflammatory diet). For pain patients, strongly consider prescribing a fish oil for omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory and painrelieving alternative to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drags, and it is especially effective for neck and back pain.8
When choosing supplements to offer your patients, quality matters. Choose whole-food herbal supplements over synthetic isolates, and pick organic herbs over conventional crops. Make sure that the manufacturer processes the herbs immediately after harvesting and uses a low-heat drying method to create the final product. Don’t give your patients supplements that are old or poorly processed, and thus may not have retained their medicinal value.
Beyond simple supplementation, you can also offer your patients comprehensive nutritional programs designed to help with pain, weight loss, or any number of other conditions. Supervised nutritional programs are successful because you, as their physician, can hold them accountable for the choices they make on a daily basis. At the most basic level, nutritional programs should restrict your patients’ intake of refined foods (grains, sugars, oils, etc.) and replace them with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (especially leafy greens). To achieve top-notch results, you should also encourage your patients to choose organic poultry, wildcaught fish, and free-range eggs over their less healthy counterparts. Keeping your patients accountable for their choices will motivate them to succeed.
As a chiropractor, you have an obligation to protect the health and wellness of your patients. Incorporating nutritional programs and supplements into your practice will improve your patient outcomes and boost your own business, allowing you to offer higher-quality care to more members of your community. Change can be tough, but adding nutritional programs to your practice can be incredibly rewarding for both you and your patients.
References
1. Putnam et al. USDA. From the presentation, “Cultivating the Common Ground of Food, Nutrition and
Ecological Health, ” by David Wallinga, M.D., Director, Food and Health Program, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minn.
2. Guenther PM, Dodd KW, Reedy J, Krebs-Smith SM. Most Americans eat much less than recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2006; 106(9): 1371-9.
3. Simopoulos AP. The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essentialfatty acids. Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy 2002; 56(8): 365-79.
4. National Centers for Health Statistics. Specialfeature: Pain. Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans 2006: 6-14. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs data/ hus/hus06.pdf
5. David Michaelson & Co, LLC. Voices of chronic pain survey. American Pain Foundation 2006: 3-6.
6. Barnes PM, Bloom B, Nahin RL. Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults and children: United States, 2007. National Health Statistics Reports 2008; 12: 3-4.
7. Moore, DM. Close to 6 in 10 Americans want to lose weight. Gallup Poll, March 2006. Gallup Canada Inc. Retrieved from: http://www.gaUup.com/poll/21859/closeamericans-want-lose-w eight, aspx
8. Maroon JC, BostJW. Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) as an anti-inflammatory: An alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for dicogenicpain. Surgical Neurology 2006; 65(4): 326-31.
Todd Singleton, DC, is an author, speaker, and consultant M>ho has I been a practicing doctor for more than 20 years. He ran the largest MD/DC/PT clinics in Utah before switching to an all-cash, nutrition ■'JKl model in 2006. He runs a very successful practice in Salt Lake City. Hfi For additional information, contact him at 801-903-7141 or
contact/cfiDoctorsGoldMine. com, or visit www. ChiropractorGoldMine. com.
