Shock Treatment of Child was Torture

 

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center is a facility that provides services for children and adults with “severe developmental disabilities and emotional or behavior disorders”. In the past decades, the Center garnered negative criticism due to its use of aversives such as electric shock, the withholding of food, spanking with a spatula, pinching of the feet and forced inhaling of ammonia.

 

The recent release of disturbing footage from the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center – featuring a restrained teenager who gets electroshocked 31 times – brought the controversy to a whole other level. While the Center claimed that the use of electroshock was a form of “therapy” to change behavior, the footage shows an all-out torture session under the watchful eyes and laughs of Center employees.

 

I would not recommend watching the Fox News footage of his torture as it is so appalling that you may disbelieve that it actually took place. Unfortunately this type of heinous treatment of children and adults has been going on for years and is supported by the US government which pays this facility $250,000 a year per child.

Please check similar facilities in your city and have them investigated if you feel that there are any treatments that harm in the name of mental health.

 

Autism – What you can do about it

Two plus two = 4. Processed food + sugar + pharmaceuticals + chemicals = Autism. Report came out yesterday that one out of eighty-eight children have been diagnosed with Autism, “Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its estimate of autism prevalence in the United States to 1 in 88 children (1 in 54 boys and 1 in 252 girls). By comparison, this is more children than are affected by diabetes, AIDS, cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy or Down syndrome – combined.”

These facts are alarming. The odds of having an autistic kid are one on every block. How can that be? What is the real cause of such an epidemic that started ten years ago. The experts are saying that “better testing” is revealing more autistic children. Are they saying they were always there and we just couldn’t see them until now! I highly doubt that. I believe that these children are turning out this way because of the food and drinks they are being fed, along with all the vaccinations a new born is given, 27 at my last count.

Let’s do an experiment. Take a vibrant healthy plant in your house and now pour a can of coke into it instead of water. Do this 4 times a day and let me know how long that plant lives. It becomes obvious when you do this. The experts are being paid $176,000,000 this  year to discover the cause of Autism.

Now you can say that a new born wouldn’t drink 4 cans of coke a day but did the mother while she was pregnant? Did she eat processed foods from a fast food restaurant, does she crave ice cream? Did she consume any water while pregnant or is her beverage of choice a double dose of caffeine four times a day? When was the last time she ate raw vegetables on a regular basis?  Then the child is born and is not breast fed, but given a chemical formula of imitation food.

I can’t say enough of how obvious it is that each generation of children are born physically worse than the one before. If you want to see the results of processed, cooked food on cats, search “Pottenger’s Cats” on YouTube and you will see the kittens didn’t live beyond the third generation. We’re there now with our children.

The good news is that a pregnant mother can change her diet, breast feed her child, and ensure that her children are fed wholesome food that isn’t contaminated with sugar or chemicals and this epidemic can be reversed in one generation.

So the formula for this is for the mother and father to change their diet and then the diet of their children and they’ll live happily ever after.

To be Obese or not to be, that is the question

Picture this scenario: It’s January 2013 and you’re recalling that last year you vowed to lose 30 lbs in the coming year. You start out with a fad diet and lose the 30 lbs in 30 days eating only 500 calories a day. Now you feel it’s OK to cheat a little and start to drink specialty coffees and the sugar in them sets your body to craving more sweets. You give in and you go on a gradual binge and gain back the 30 lbs plus 10. You’re worse off now than a year earlier. Plus you start beating up on yourself for being such a weakling and a quitter. Fortunately it’s 2012 and you still have a chance to change your way of eating so that by 2013 you’ve lost 30 lbs for real and can keep it off.

Your purpose is to find the right combination of foods that stop the cravings, make you feel full and allow you to lose weight at a gradual pace over the year.

Your goal is to go to the grocery store and stock up on nutritious foods that can promote health, protect you against disease and cause weight reduction.  Although you have the best of intentions, as soon as you slip into the cookie aisle, temptations run wild and unhealthy thoughts cascade into your mind producing a dreamy state of ecstasy. Fortunately for you, you had told your wife of your intentions and she grabs you and shakes you back to the present before you can consume any of the delights that would ruin all your well set plans.

Here’s why you can’t let those temptations destroy your future good health:

“In the quest for the American Dream, we have fallen into a nutritional nightmare. With our fast paced lives, who has time anymore to prepare food?  The American kitchen is now a microwave. Our kid’s dinning table is now the back seat of our cars and home cooking has been replaced with convenience meals. Farm fresh has been replaced with flash frozen and 10,000 preservatives. The #1 eaten vegetable in America is now French fries. Friends we don’t eat foods anymore. We eat merchandise. The degrading of the American eating habit is a major contributor to poor health and the resulting consequences. Add unheard of levels of stress and anxiety, a lack of exercise and sleep and now you have a recipe for disaster, the American health disaster.” Dr. Richard Schulze.

In some of my previous articles on diet and health I’ve told you what I’ve done to lose weight and keep it off. I’m still following this way of eating and I only fluctuate a pound or two above or below my ideal weight. I continue to exercise daily in case I miss a day. I even went into a lot of preparation of the food I was eating and enjoyed it more and more. However for those who are just starting out a full change is not likely to happen. So here is my latest recommendation. Buy a bottle of Dr. Schulze’s SuperFood Plus and start out gradually with on tablespoon in the morning per his instructions just before you start your workout, then work up to a two tablespoon dose. Now you’ve got all your needed vitamins, minerals and the best concentrated protein for the day. Of course, drink lots of water. You’ll get the energy you need out of doing this.

Then simply start dropping those bad processed foods out of your diet and adding nutritious foods. If you cheat, don’t cheat two days in a row or only do it once a week.

Here’s some guidelines:

1. Colorful fruits and vegetables:  Red, green, orange, yellow and purple—more color means more variety of healthful nutrients and disease fighting compounds, such as antioxidants.  Studies show that consuming 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day can help prevent and fight many diseases such as obesity, cancer and heart disease.  Try berries, apples, oranges, leafy greens, carrots, squash, sweet potato and peppers.

2. Complex carbohydrates: 100% whole grain, whole wheat, oat bran, rye, spelt and kamut (organic kamut is absolutely delicious and very nutritious for you. A member of the wheat family, kamut is considered the “high energy grain” because it contains 40% more protein than the national average for wheat) are complex carbohydrates that provide your body with the energy, B vitamins and fiber it needs.  Look for breads, cereals, pastas and crackers that say “good source of fiber” or “high fiber”.  Avoid simple carbohydrates such as white breads, crackers and other products made from white flour, which are stripped of their nutrients and fiber and are not a good source of nutrition.

3. Legumes:  Beans, peas and lentils are highly nutritious foods that are a good source of cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. Legumes rank low on the Glycemic Index scale helping regulate blood sugar levels by producing less insulin.  Legumes also provide useful protein, iron and B vitamins for those eating vegetarian diets. Try adding kidney beans, chickpeas or soybeans to salads, wraps, soups and pasta. If you experience gas from eating beans, soak the beans overnight and drink plenty of water.

Paul Turnbull

Death by Food

I’ve written several posts on obesity and children. It seems that this plaque is getting worse. The results of eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) is having a wide range of effects on our children. Once they get a taste for fatty foods it becomes an uphill battle to get them to convert to a healthy lifestyle. My advice is to not let them get a taste in the first place. A great book for this is “Dr. Attwood’s Low-Fat Prescription for Kids” available on Amazon.com. There are numerous recipes that are really appealing to the young ones.

Two other books are worth mentioning: “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell and “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” by Caldwll B. Esselstyn, Jr. M.D.

A study of these three books will give you all the information you need on nutrition and help you not only change your life but the lives of all those that follow you.

Patient Education

Why should you educate a patient in a fashion that allows them to fully understand what you are about to do? Simple, to solicit their help in the healing process. A patient who understands the process they are undergoing, assists with the process. A patient who doesn’t understand, misses appointments, drops out completely, doesn’t do their exercises or follow advice. Without the patient fully on board no sustained healing takes place.

Those patients that give you the most trouble are the ones that don’t understand how a chiropractor, physical therapist or nutritionist can in actual fact heal the person they are administering to. This is a proven fact, spiritual healing does take place between therapist and patient and the conduit is simple education and the application of a workable technique.

Cash Practice

The insurance companies are raising their deductibles and the average could be as high as $5,000. The patient must meet this deductible amount before their insurance will cover them. If they don’t intend to use more than $5,000 in medical care in a year, it would be less expensive for them to simply pay cash.

They usually come into your office knowing that they have a high deductible and yet they seem surprised that their insurance won’t cover their care. It takes a lot of education of the patient to handle their misinformation about insurance and on why they should accept care from you.

I’ve educated patients on spinal decompression which is not covered by most insurances. The patient is told that they are not covered before they come into the office. When they arrive, they are shown the spinal decompression machine, allowed to talk to patients who are already receiving it and they are educated with a flip chart that clears up all the terms they probably already heard and misunderstood. They get a clear picture of the benefits of spinal decompression before the see the Chiropractor or Physical Therapist.

They are then asked questions on a thorough medical history so the patient can recall and rediscover all the ways in which they injured themselves. Then a physical examination is done so the patient becomes aware of the extent of their injury. They should at this point be fully aware of their condition and why spinal decompression is the answer. They are obviously there to avoid surgery and this is one of the ways to do so. They are shown their MRI which confirms the need of care.

The Chiropractor or Physical Therapist then tells the patient how many treatments they will need based on all the information gathered. Then the patient rep goes over the finances and possible ways of payment using different forms of financing like CareCredit etc. if necessary.

The patient then starts immediately on their care. A testimonial is gotten when the patients is out of pain and meets all the criteria set by the attending physician or therapist.

Asking for Referrals

Asking for referrals is one of the most difficult things to do in a Chiropractic office. It can cause you to sweat profusely and shake all over. You may have a tendency to stutter and cough in embarrassment. That’s why most doctors won’t do it the embarrassment is too great and the benefits, they think are too little.

Now that I’ve gotten all the false data out on this subject, I want to tell you the truth. Asking for referrals is the easiest thing to do once you know how and the patient in most cases will help you out. Here’s how it goes:

You look on your schedule for the day and note 2 – 3 patients that are doing well. When they come in you ask them “How are you doing?” They’ll tell you that they are doing well and if you encourage them they will tell you of the miraculous results they’ve gotten while under your care. Simply ask them, “Did I help you?” They will say: “You’ve given me my life back,” or “I couldn’t even walk when I came in here and now I’m running the 5K next week” or something like that. Acknowledge them and tell them that this is the moment you enjoy the most, helping people. Now ask them: “Do you know of anyone who lives locally that has a health problem that I could help?” They usually say “no,” or “not off hand.”At that point tell them some of your other specialties like headaches or low back pain and ask them if they know anyone that has this type of condition. Get their name and phone number and ask the patient to call and get permission for the doctor to call. Then ask if they know anyone else and get their name and phone number. Call these new patient and give them a consultation over the phone and then schedule them for a full examination.

I hope this helps.

Paul Turnbull

BJ Letter to Dr. Oakley

Dear Friend Oakley,

Father received word from Dr. Harriman this a.m. saying he could come out any day this week except Monday and he would show him around the buildings…quite fortunate isn’t he.

Business has been very slow here for the last month and father is getting very much discouraged so much so that mama has almost persuaded him to sell out here, take his collection of heads, go to Washington, D.C. and start up a 25 cent museum.

How ridiculous when there are zoos of live animals that people can see free of charge!Chicago,Philadelphia,New Yorkare the same way. I think it is a very foolish piece of Business!

The facts of the case are that mama has been living high on her fine dresses, “that will make the President look at her etc. etc.” that & the hired help which all costs a pile of money & makes expenses heavy. So he says he is losing $200 monthly.

But he says “I have lived since I was 26 with 5 women & this is the best of them all and if I see they want to boss it I just let them do it.” He would do it even if they run him & his business in the ground.

Now if you don’t think he is doing the right thing for suffering humanity in quitting the ranks of Chiro to be a museum leader, tell him so when he comes out because he will be sure to broach the subject.

It was said that if he got a buyer he would sell his stuff here today & go east tomorrow. Might be good opening for you Oakley.

If you wish to write to me do so it will be strictly between you and I or public just as you want. Because I would like to know what you think of this outrage.

You can send to Gen’l Delivery or house as you please but G.D. would be safer. Yours truly,

Bart Palmer

Excitement!

By my old friend and mentor, Harvey Fish, DC: Ahhh, so simple and yet so out of reach for so many. I recall many years ago an older, grizzled chiropractor was asked by a newly graduated one how to build his practice. The geezer looked over the lad and said to him that he should get excited about chiropractic and that that excitement would generate more people than he could manage. The student understood but still didn’t have the spark that could ignite his passion. The wise one asked him if there was anything in his life he was excited about. The response was underwhelming but the new DC was very excited about his new car and his impending marriage. The genial older man then said that for a start it would do and he was to go to his office and share his excitement with others. He was to tell everyone about his new wife to be and his new wheels: at check out lines, at lunch counters, pumping gas, in a word, everywhere. So the newbie did as he was told and his office got busier. Yeah, he was pleased and surprised and over time his enthusiasm for his car died, thankfully not for his wife, but interestingly enough, his enthusiasm and excitement for his practice and for chiropractic grew. And as it did so did his successes, his wealth and his happiness. So excitement at almost anything will generate expansion in almost anything.

Early Lifestyle Changes

Nutrition research shows that optimal health and health habits – or the lack thereof – originate early in life. Conditions such as osteoporosis, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity – all traditionally associated with adulthood – are “down aging,” appearing in early childhood and adolescence.

Research connecting lifestyle and diet to future chronic disease risk, and outlining ways that health professionals can intervene and facilitate health-promoting habits early in life are an absolute necessity if we are going to help the younger generations. Such action is critical if we are to avoid a potential medical meltdown of health care resources as chronic diseases take their toll earlier in life.

Within the context of setting the stage for risk of chronic disease, the conventional wisdom that pregnant women eat for two takes on additional meaning. For example:

-  Maternal calcium intake has been linked to lower blood pressure in children, potentially helping to prevent hypertension in the next generation.

-  Twin offspring of mothers supplemented with calcium had lower cardiovascular risk factors (triacylglycerol, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol) at age 9 years than other children.

- Calcium’s (and vitamin D’s) role in bone health and the development of osteoporosis later in life is well known. Optimizing bone deposition before age 18 is especially important in females.

- Maternal overweight and obesity not only contribute to complications during pregnancy, but also increase the risk of obesity in infants. Research on children born to overweight mothers showed that by age 4, weight, body mass index (BMI) and lean body mass were significantly greater and by age 6, weight and fat mass were greater than those born to lean mothers.

Over the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled for preschool-aged children and adolescents aged 12-19, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11. This evolving childhood obesity epidemic is linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In the past referred to as “adult-onset,” type 2 diabetes now commonly occurs in the adolescent and teen years; cases in children as young as 4 have even occurred. One study found that for each adolescent diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, there were 10 others with impaired fasting glucose. Researchers expect pre-pubescent type 2 diabetes rates to soar as the population becomes increasingly overweight. African American, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian children who are obese and have a family history of type 2 diabetes are at especially high risk.

Blood pressure has increased steadily in children over the past decade, across all age and race/ethnic groups and in both genders. Clinical guidelines for ranges in blood pressure in children now include a “pre-hypertensive” range mirroring the revised categories for hypertension in adults. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet have had positive effects on blood pressure in adults – and research indicates a beneficial effect during childhood. Children who ate 4 or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables or 2 or more daily servings of dairy products during preschool years had smaller yearly.

The down-aging of chronic diseases and the identification of “pre-conditions” are relatively new phenomena. The impact on children, their family’s quality of life, and on our health care system is still to be felt. As health professionals we need to take a more proactive approach through early screening, intervention and referral when necessary to other disciplines to prevent these consequences.

What we have to promote is healthy food in appropriate portions coupled with appropriate levels of physical activity? We had hoped research would find a magic bullet but we aren’t even close to manipulating our basic genetic and metabolic mechanisms. The only way to achieve energy balance is through appropriate food choices and activity. We must make changes in our communities, worksites and schools to enable us to get in energy balance, but we cannot afford to wait for all the needed changes to take place.