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Could your lifestyle be making you sick?

Could your lifestyle be making you sick?

What is your lifestyle? Not whether you are married or where you live, but rather, how are you choosing to live your life? What choices are you making to keep yourself and your family healthy and well?

It is startling to learn that some of the most prevalent causes of illness, disease, and death - including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes - are all heavily influenced by lifestyle. For example, we don't usually think of cancer as a lifestyle disease. We think a person is unlucky if they have cancer, and often we have a fatalistic outlook toward news that someone has developed cancer. "It's in their genes," we say. Or "stuff happens - the luck of the draw."

But only approximately 10% of cancers are based on genetics. The vast majority of cancer cases are very much related to how we live our lives - our environment, the food we eat, whether we exercise regularly, and the quality of our relationships. Within the last ten years medical researchers have been learning of the strong correlation between overweight/obesity and a person's likelihood of developing cancer. It seems that fat cells are not merely passive storehouses of excess energy in the form of fat. Fat cells are metabolic furnaces that spew out a wide range of chemicals, including hormones and inflammatory agents that may often cause normal cells and tissues to become cancerous.1

Most people and even some physicians are unaware of these facts. The connection between lifestyle and heart disease, and between lifestyle and type 2 diabetes, seems obvious.2,3 But cancer, too, is a lifestyle disease. The very good news is that by creating the willingness to make healthy lifestyle choices, you're making positive long-term changes in your health and well-being.

Additional good news is that these choices are in your hands. Every day you get to choose a healthy lifestyle or not. Of course, some days or even some weeks just seem to go by without a real opportunity to do things that are healthy. You might be on a business trip in a country where it's difficult to find good, nutritious healthy food. It might also be difficult to find the time to exercise when you're on a travel schedule. That's OK, though, because lifestyle is a lifetime project. If you're eating healthful nutritious food most of the time and doing daily exercise most of the time, you can take a week off or even two weeks off here and there. The main goal is to be on a healthy lifestyle path the vast majority of the time.

Chiropractic care is an important component of healthy living. Chiropractic care helps ensure that your body is functioning at its maximum. Chiropractic care helps ensure you're getting the most out of the healthy food you're eating and the healthy exercise you're doing. Your chiropractor will be glad to provide guidance on creating nutritional plans and exercise programs that will work for you.

1Chan AT, Giovannucci EL: Primary prevention of colorectal cancer. Gastroenterology 138(6):2029-2043, 2010
2Shi Y, et al: Cardiovascular determinants of life span. Pflugers Arch 459(2):315-324, 2010
3Ma J, et al: Evaluation of lifestyle interventions to treat elevated cardiometabolic risk in primary care (E-LITE): a randomized controlled trial. BMC Fam Pract 10:71, 2009
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Meet Your Doctor, Dr. Joan Kim Wagner PhD, LAc — 3rd Generation Master Acupuncturist

  • Dr.
    Joan Kim-Wagner
    Executive Director of Evergreen Wellness
    Dr. Joan Kim-Wagner, L.Ac, Ph.D is a third generation acupuncturist whose family instilled in her the dictate to, “Help others with love and holistic guidance.” Dr. Kim-Wagner earned her Masters of Science in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at Dong-Guk University in Los Angeles. She earned her Ph.D. in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at Yuin University in Southern California. She is a board certified acupuncturist in the state of California, where she has been in private practice since 2003 and is nationally certified through the NCCA. She continues to revolutionize the field of acupuncture and increase her own knowledge through ongoing study with numerous acupuncturist Masters from around the world.

Los AngelesTop-Rated Acupuncturist, Doctor Joan Kim Wagner PhD, LAc

5 Star Reviews of Evergreen Acupuncture & Wellness Center

  • "I originally went to Dr. Joan Kim-Wagner for chronic neck pain. I have to say I was quite skeptical, but also desperate to get relief and nothing else was working.She is extremely knowledgeable about the human body and has fixed every complaint I have brought to her attention. That was over a year ago. Since then less than a few weeks into being treated 3 times a week I had gone from chronic pain taking 3 medications to minimal or no pain and occasionally one medication. She has also been managing my blood pressure for which I was taking 3 different medications, now down to two. The idea is to get off of all meds completely. My weight and physical condition has improved tremendously. I only visit once a week now."
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    QUINCY A. SANTA BARBARA, CA
  • "I started going to Evergreen Acupuncture about 4 weeks ago. I had a really bad shoulder pain that ran through my Arm down to my fingers. Dr.Kim spent time and carefully diagnosed my symptoms and explained exactly what she was going to do to turn things around. The truth is that acupuncture is one of the steps toward turning on the healing process and with her advice on my diet and my daily routine, together we solved my shoulder pain and now I am feeling better.Her staff are amazing and very professional and super accommodating.They all work as a team to make you feel comfortable and welcomed each time they see you. I am looking forward to feeling even better as I continue to work with Evergreen Acupuncture."
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    Depression & Anxiety Patient, LOS ANGELES, CA
  • "Over the years I have visited Dr. Kim for my chronic stiff neck and shoulders. She was able to help me to move freely. I have also had the face lift acupuncture treatment which did wonders. While I was training for the LA marathon for some reason my ankle began to swell up. I hadn't fallen or out right injured it but it didn't look good. I visited Dr. Kim and immediately felt better. Dr. Kim has a calm bedside manner and has always made me feel comfortable and relaxed. I highly recommend her."
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