Ray Strand, M.D. in his Healthy for Life Newsletter in Sept. 2006 discussed our ability to prevent or even reverse diabetes. He cited the Centers for Disease Control’s recent projection that any child born after the year 2000 would have more than a 30% chance of developing this condition during his or her lifetime. This statistic jumps to nearly 50% in Blacks, Hispanics, or Native Americans. This means that every second or third person in this present generation will end up developing diabetes. That will be debilitating for those individuals and overwhelming to our health care system!

Could this be you? Possibly, unless you learn more about this condition and make whatever lifestyle modifications and proactive healthcare choices are necessary to prevent its onset.

According to Dr. Strand, diabetes is the major cause of premature death and the leading cause of adult blindness, amputations, kidney failure, and neuropathy. 90% today have the Type 2 or adult-onset form. It takes decades to develop and is the most preventable type.

Increasingly, complementary health care for diabetes is being investigated. This involves looking beyond the pancreas and medication alone when caring for the diabetic patient. There are whole body issues relating to nervous system disturbance; the connection between the skeletal frame and internal organ function; as well as nutrition and supplementation.

A number of chiropractic studies (many discussed in my soon to be released book Where Does It Hurt?) have demonstrated positive responses to adjustments for issues beyond local back pain. These include referred pain syndromes as well as organ system dysfunction and the related disturbance of the autonomic nervous system that coordinates those functions.

A study by Charles Blum D.C. was published in the December 2006 edition of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research entitled “Normalization of Blood and Urine Measures Following Reduction of Vertebral Subluxations in a Patient Diagnosed with Early Onset Diabetes”. Vertebral subluxations are misalignments of the spine that produce nervous system disturbance, thereby interfering with the transmission of information throughout the body.  

This was the case history of a patient who received chiropractic adjustments, dietary modification, and exercise and experienced the successful outcome of favorably altered glucose levels. Within one month, blood and urine glucose levels had normalized and remained stable.

There have been a few other studies that indicated the possible positive influence of chiropractic adjustments upon diabetes. One demonstrated that the reduction of upper neck subluxations resulted in a stabilization of plasma glucose levels during a three-hour fasting period.

A critical dietary factor in the development of diabetes involves the excessive consumption of high glycemic foods (carbohydrates that spike blood sugar). This practice leads you to produce abnormally high levels of insulin in a persistent effort to maintain a proper blood sugar level. Eventually insensitivity, and ultimately resistance to your own insulin develops. Weight gain leading toward obesity and an entire catalog of disease consequences follow.

Beginning to eat differently, with a focus upon breaking addictive carbohydrate cravings is very important. An extremely successful method of accomplishing this shift begins with the use of the USANA Reset 5-day high fiber cleanse. This is a jumpstart to healthy living with the positive side effect of weight loss. Typical loss is 5 lbs. in this first phase of dietary change, which can then be supported by additional phases.

(View applications of this message to your life in Healing Hints below)

Visit Our Website and the "Ask Dr. Norton" Health Forum!

Visit Dr. Norton's web site. The Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center web site is packed with a vast amount of news, tips, and health information. Also check out and interact with our new Ask Dr. Norton Chiropractic Health Forum. If you are experiencing pain, or just want more information on your health or how we do business, please stop by!

News & Events

1. During the week of July 23-26, Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center will conduct a Pain Solution Week. This is a very special event because all people new to our office or who haven’t been present for at least 6 months will receive multiple benefits as follows:

   The consultation, full examination (including the unique computerized nervous system stress assessment), any needed spinal x-rays, the doctor's report of findings and recommended strategy cost only $30 and there’s no obligation to initiate care! This is a $240 value and is only offered 3 times each year.

   Please call 559-490-9550 ASAP for the best times and share this with anybody you know who may suffer with pain or illness of any kind. We must hear from you by July 26th to be included! If you would like to learn more about us and our work first, then please go to: http://www.DrMatthewNorton.com for everything you could ever want to know.

2. Dr. Norton’s new book Where Does It Hurt? Surprising Stories and Transforming Insights for Releasing Pain and Restoring Whole Body Health is completed and in the editing phase. It will be available at www.WhereDoesItHurtBook.com around September or October.

3. If you haven’t investigated our Chiropractic Health Forum yet, then please go to www.DrMatthewNorton.com and click on the “Ask Dr. Norton” box. You can ask a question, post a testimonial, read an article, or keep up with the latest learning opportunities and other developments. There will constantly be new information for your perusal and edification as well as the opportunity to participate. We would love to hear from you!

Visit our Center!

Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center (View Map) at 5670 N. Fresno St. Ste. 102 in Fresno, Calif. Call us at (559) 490-9550 or contact us here.

If you are in the California Central Valley call Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center at 559-490-9550 or visit us online at www.DrMatthewNorton.com for a virtual tour and to schedule an appointment to see if we can help you.

You will also appreciate the valuable tools on the Learning Resources page of the website if you are not in our area!

Healing Hints

1. Realize the foundational importance of your health to both the length and quality of your life.

2. Understand that your lifestyle decisions and healthcare choices are absolutely critical, and according to the field of epigenetics, more important than your genes in determining whether or not you develop diabetes or most any other disease.

3. Be willing to adopt an open attitude toward learning more about the best lifestyle and healthcare options available to help you recover from a disease by stimulating your natural healing capacity, or better yet prevent disease from ever finding fertile soil to develop within you in the first place.

4. Learn more about how your nervous system directs and coordinates your basic design of self-regulation and self-healing, including your digestive and immune function, and how these essential communications get disturbed through spinal misalignments caused by injuries and daily life stresses.

5. If you are in the Central California area, take advantage of the amazing Pain Solution Week special offer described above in the News and Events section. Call us at 559-490-9550 for more information and to schedule this limited-time appointment.

6. Go to www.ExpandYourTerritory.usana.com and read the introduction my wife Judy wrote. Then click on the red Reset button in the left margin below our picture to read more about the Reset 5-day cleanse to interrupt your cravings for blood sugar-spiking/insulin-demanding carbohydrate foods. I also recommend clicking on the Low-glycemic foods and snacks link under the word Transform. There is an abundance of information and meal ideas to upgrade your dietary choices for improved health and weight loss.

About Dr. Norton

Dr. Norton unites his passion for learning, teaching, and healing with a compassion for those who are struggling with pain and illness or not performing at their peak. He brings to his work a high level of academic achievement and cutting-edge bodymind research. However, he also brings a deeply caring heart transformed by difficult personal life experiences. Read more.