2502 NYCC TRANS FINAL2 - New York Chiropractic College

Nutrition Promises
Chiropractic’s Future Health
CDC Online
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DEVELOPMENT
Sue Pittenger, Director of Career Development Center, counsels NYCC students
regarding their future career plans.
“Doctors Say, Chocolate Good For You” reads the headline on a
recent home page for MSNBC’s online health section. The article
went on to explain that flavenoids found in chocolate may, in fact,
help fight heart disease. As a dedicated “chocoholic,” I was elated!
Unfortunately, the article continued, “Its impact on your waistline
appears unchanged.”
Needless to say, chocolate did not answer all my health-related
concerns! Nor am I alone in my quest to find better ways to eat and
stay healthy. Another recent headline on the CBS02 website at
www.channel2000.com, reads, “Baby Boomers are Battling the Bulge.”
An aging Baby Boomer generation, 76 million strong and the largest
segment of the American population, struggles with “supersizing”
and the effects of a sedentary lifestyle as it constantly searches for
ways to maintain youth and health. According to the “New Millennium
Chiropractor: A Trend Forecast for the Chiropractic Profession,”
the Baby Boomer generation is currently “previewing” the
health problems encountered by their parents, who may not have
been diligent in maintaining their health, and determining to take a
different course. A healthy diet is increasingly recognized as a key
component of a healthy lifestyle, and members of the boomer generation,
along with many other Americans, search in vain for knowledgeable,
reliable sources of nutritional information.
Reliable sources are few and far between, according to Gerald
Celente, also of the Trends Research Institute and author of the
book Trends 2000. There is clearly an absence of structured, personalized
approaches to nutritional advice. Such advice must be individualized
to fit the person. Many of the conventional sources of
information on nutrition do not effectively relay the crucial facts.
Medical doctors, while knowledgeable in numerous other areas, usually
are not particularly well educated in nutritional topics. As a result,
many tend to rely on the latest appetite-reducing drugs rather
than educate patients about proper nutritional and weight-loss techniques.
Some educational organizations fall prey to special interest
groups and wind up promoting information that is incorrect or misleading.
Often, commercial weight-loss programs take a limited, “one
size fits all” view of nutrition – employing a staff skilled in promoting
particular programs at hand, though ignorant of general nutritional
concepts. The media, while a valuable source of information,
does not prepare such information for useful public adoption. Though
the nutritional field offers a variety of professionals with varying
degrees of education and training, the average consumer cannot distinguish
whom to call for specific needs. Where is the knowledgeable
professional with specific expertise in the area of nutrition that
the average person can turn to for personalized, structured nutritional
assistance?
According to Celente and “The New Millennium Chiropractor,”
chiropractic may be the profession to fill this need. Chiropractors,
with their holistic approach to health care, examine a variety of factors
that affect patients’ states of health, and address problems rather
than symptoms, focusing on overall wellness, preventive measures
and long-term health status. Nutritional counseling fits well within
such an approach. In fact, chiropractors receive more education in
nutrition than the average medical doctor. A review of medical school
curricula revealed that many do not include a separate course in nutrition,
while a common requirement for chiropractic schools is 60
or more credit hours. Chiropractors also address musculo-skeletal
conditions that are caused or exacerbated by excess weight, making
nutritional and weight-loss counseling an integral part of many treatment
plans. A trend post in “The New Millennium Chiropractor”
reads, “By integrating ongoing personalized weight management programs
into their practices, chiropractors will substantially increase
their incomes while measurably improving the effectiveness of their
treatment.”
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