Good to Know: Help for Post-Holiday Blues

Enjoy the latest installment of Dr. Lowell Keppel’s “Good to Know” series for practitioners.

It’s tradition to start the New Year with a peppy line like “Let’s make this the best year ever!”

But the reality is that most of our patients are not that motivated. They’re often feeling more under the weather than the last time you saw them before the holidays.

Let’s start with colds and flu, which predictably strike your patients right around the holidays. Why? Well it’s probably obvious: too much sugar, too many refined foods, too many adult beverages, staying out too late, not getting enough sleep. Then add in the cold weather and stress of all kinds. One of these factors alone might not be enough for system overload, but when you load one on another and another, the end result is illness.

We know by now that refined white sugar is harmful. Holiday cookies, fudge, pie, the marvelous chocolate death cake my daughter makes, sugary alcoholic beverages—they all use up and deplete B vitamins. Your body needs the B vitamins to metabolize sugar as fuel in the Krebs’s Cycle. The more carbs (aka sugar) we eat, the more B vitamins we use. Especially B4, which we need for healthy heart function.

Did you know that sugar competes with the GLUT1 receptor on the cells and blocks vitamin C from getting into the cell? In practical terms, this means that after consuming just one soda, your immune system will be compromised for five hours, making it more susceptible to viruses and bacteria.

So, what do we know? The immune system needs ionizable calcium for the calcium wave to mobilize the white cells into action and gobble up the germs.

Cataplex D moves calcium into the blood, while Cataplex F Tablets moves it into the tissues. Cataplex C is another important factor that gives white blood cells ammunition to destroy germs. (Remember, it is the J factor of the C complex that increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, and oxygen is part of the ammunition.)

Or we can simply give our patients Congaplex, and lots of it. I recommend 2 every 30 minutes, along with the MediHerb product Echinacea Premium (3–4 per day) to stimulate white blood cell production.

What about emotional stressors? Well, we need the mineral potassium to relax the nervous system. A great product for this is Min-Chex (contains Organically Bound Minerals, Calcium Lactate, and Orchex). Min-Chex helps the nerves calm down and aids sleep and rejuvenation.

What about clients who are run down? This is when we look at adrenal support. Here again, vitamin C complex is needed for the adrenals, along with vitamin B complex (although the adrenals like more of the G complex) and potassium (found in the Min-Chex). Add Dermatrophin PMG, and the adrenals will be happier.

Keep in mind that the adrenals are part of the immune alliance. You can always add more adrenal support with Adrenal Tonic Phytosynergist from MediHerb. This product contains:

Licorice: an antiviral
Rehmannia: for general detoxification
Ashwagandha: to support sleep
Echinacea: to stimulate the immune system

Go the extra mile and help these patients. They will love you forever and refer their family!

Images from iStock/AntonioGuillem (main), SebastianGauert (post).

Dr. Lowell Keppel

Dr. Keppel received a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Logan College of Chiropractic in 1983, following an associate degree in science from Southwestern Michigan Community College. He became certified in Neuro-Emotional Technique in 1999, having studied directly under the program’s founder, Dr. Scott Walker. He has undertaken a variety of further training, including herbology, spinal rehabilitation, and ongoing nutritional education.

Dr. Keppel knows there is always some seminar, book or journal that might deepen his knowledge or contribute one more bit of information that he can directly translate into an effective treatment. He gives sound advice from the perspective of clinical experience and years of practice.

More recently, Dr. Keppel has been teaching seminars for Standard Process West. He has become their in-house chiropractor and is recognized as a mentor for other practitioners throughout the greater Denver area.

For more information, visit his website at DoctorKeppel.com, check out his YouTube channel, or contact him directly at drkeppel@gmail.com.

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