Common Myth #7: The average person should drink eight glasses of water a day.

The Myth: 

The average person should drink eight glasses of water a  day.

The Truth: 

You need to drink enough water to replace the fluids you lose daily through sweating, elimination, and other bodily functions.  The amount of water needed depends on the amount of water lost and the person in question.  Most scientists agree that people lose up to 10 cups of water per day.  You can get up to 4 cups replenished per day from your food intake.  That leaves 6 cups that you would need to drink.  If you exercise heavily, you probably need to drink more.  And since most people err on the side of not drinking enough water, it doesn't hurt to over hydrate.

Common Myth #6: Your skin cells are replaced every seven years.

The Myth: 

Your skin cells are replaced every seven years.

The Truth: 

If this were true, we wouldn't age!  The truth is that our body's cells do grow old and die.  When this happens, new cells replace the old cells.  Cells live and die on different time tables.  For instance, blood cells live for about 120 days, while skin cells live about 35 days.  So our whole body does not regenerate on a seven year time frame, but new cells replace old cells every day.

Common Myth #5: Feed a cold, starve a fever.

The Myth: 

Feed a cold, starve a fever.

The Truth:  

When you have a fever, your body naturally may experience a loss of appetite.  If you aren't hungry when you have a fever, don't eat.  If you hungry, go ahead and eat.  Studies have shown that warm liquids (such as chicken soup) may help loosen congestion if you do have a cold.

The Benefits of Weight Training for Women

Many women enjoy exercising, but are commonly drawn to exercises involving cardio, yoga, and Pilates rather than weight training.  However, weight training is one of the most important exercises that women should be doing.

Although cardio exercise burns more calories per minute than weight training during the exercise, weight training helps you to burn an additional 100 calories in the 24 hours after exercising.  Muscle equals about 1/3 of a woman’s weight, so it has a profound effect on a woman’s metabolism.  If a woman replaced 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of muscle, she would burn and extra 30-50 calories per day.

Women’s metabolisms naturally decline around age 30, so weight training can give your metabolism a boost and help ward off extra pounds as you age.  Women who weight train maintain their female shape, they just improve it.  Since women have lower levels of testosterone than men, they do not have to worry about growing big muscles.

Weight training also:

• Stimulates bone growth and helps to prevent age-related osteoporosis
• Improves balance because strong legs and core muscles help to stabilize you
• Decreases resting blood pressure
• Improves posture
• Improves the immune system
• Elevates mood
• Improves energy

Common Myth #4: You'll catch a cold if you go outside with wet hair or without a coat.

The Myth: 

You'll catch a cold if you go outside with wet hair or without a coat.

The Truth:

You'll catch a cold if you come in contact with someone who has a cold virus and your immune system is not working well.  Studies have shown that only exposure to a virus and a weakened immune system response leads to a cold.  A well adjusted spine can help your immune system function at its best and may help prevent colds.

Nutritional Supplementation for Females

We all have specific nutritional needs. As women, there are certain nutrients we can benefit from to help with specific problems such as menstrual pain and cramps, stress control, and reducing the risks of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and breast cancer.

The base of nutritional supplementation is a quality multivitamin. A cheap, one-a-day vitamin is made with binders and fillers that make it difficult, if not impossible for your body to absorb .  Vitamins that boast 100% of RDA are not necessarily of high quality.  The RDA is the absolute minimum our body needs to ward off serious disease.  Our bodies often need vitamins and minerals in excess of the RDA  for optimal function.  A healthy balanced diet is important, but the soil is so deplete in nutrients a multivitamin/mineral supplement is a must.

Omega3 fatty acids in the form of fish oil and flax seed are important for many reasons.  Most importantly omega 3’s decrease unhealthy inflammation in the body.  Inflammation , in the short term, adds to the pain of menstrual cramps, mood swings, and headache associated with PMS.  In the long term, inflammation leads to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.  Omega3’s not only decrease inflammation, they help your body absorb and use calcium effectively. As with a multivitamin, a quality omega3 supplement is a must.

Omega3’s in the form of fish oil should be made from quality sources, as cheap sources often contain mercury and other toxins. Flax seed is best as whole seeds , ground at home every 1-3 days and stored in the freezer to preserve quality.  Flax is very sensitive and can easily go rancid if not cared for in this manner.  Flax can be sprinkled on salads and cereal as well as added to soups, stews, etc.  It adds fiber along with omega3 fatty acids, and also contains a nutrient called lignans that help estrogen balance.  If you are on an anticoagulant medication such as warfarin, you may want to limit how much fish oil you take as fish oil is also a natural blood thinner.

B vitamins are important for many body processes including making hormones.  Did you know that stress, birth control pills, and hormone replacement therapy all deplete your body of B vitamins?  Anyone in these categories (and, let’s face it, who doesn't have stress in their life) needs a B complex vitamin which contains a blend of  the B’s.  The B vitamins need to be in balance with one another, and a quality B complex will contain them in varying amounts rather than all the B vitamins in the same amount.

Lastly, calcium and magnesium are important minerals for women.  Your body needs calcium and magnesium to maintain bone density.  Magnesium is necessary to help your body utilize the calcium. Taking Tums does not count as calcium supplementation, your body can not absorb the calcium in Tums.

Calcium/magnesium supplementation also helps reduce menstrual cramping. In fact, calcium levels in menstruating women decrease before menses, causing a deficiency of calcium which makes the cramping and pain worse.

In conclusion, a quality multivitamin and mineral complex, fish oil and/or flax seed, a B complex vitamin, and calcium and magnesium are important supplements for women.  The amount may vary slightly depending on what you  are trying to achieve, so ask your doctor of chiropractic, nutritionist, or medical physician for specific amounts.

Common Myth #3: Humans use only 10 percent of their brains.

The Myth: 

Humans use only 10 percent of their brains.

The Truth:

Although we might not use 100% of our brains 100% of the time, we do use 100% of our brains over the course of the day.  Part of our brain may be used for reading, for exercise, for conversation, etc., but we may not be using the whole brain all the time.