Eating is a necessary activity we all routinely engage in, but rarely consider its purpose. You often eat because you're hungry, but sometimes only because a clock tells you its lunchtime even when food isn't really needed. It is also commonly a vehicle for spending time with people.

Is there a more foundational intent and how do you decide what to consume?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines nutrition, as "The process of aiding the growth and development of a living organism" and states, "The ingredients of nutritious food should be beneficial, healthful, and invigorating." Growth refers to "Our progress toward maturity or greater complexity" and development indicates "Expansion or realization of our potential." The food that you ingest should facilitate these important goals.

Food should serve to strengthen and advance your life and help propel you toward your full potential. Eating must therefore replenish the specific nutrients that optimize the functioning of your system. It needs to provide the building blocks for healthy tissue construction as well as the fuel and instructions needed to drive your various body processes.

How do you normally make your food selections? I contend that usually we are motivated by the pleasures of taste sensation but also by mostly unconscious drives for comfort and to modify our feeling states or moods. As a result, we often overeat, create nutrient deficiencies, and sustain potentially destructive addictive urges with little awareness.

Food changes your chemistry and modifies your feelings either toward greater well-being or distress just like many pharmaceutical and illicit drugs. A key factor is how food affects your brain and nervous system. It impacts various neurotransmitters that influence how you think and feel as well as the messages delivered to every organ system in your body.

Your brain and nervous system is responsible for perceiving and interpreting incoming sensory information, coordinating and controlling all bodily activities, and exercising thought and emotion. How important is all of this? It involves everything essential for your very existence plus the giving of value and meaning to your life.

Do you think it might be important to determine how what you eat affects your brain and nervous system and then make dining selections more oriented toward optimizing brain function? I believe this should be your primary food concern as your brain holds the key to you living a long, healthy, and happy life. It can cause you to enjoy playing lovingly with your young child one moment and then react with angry rage the next.

As we seek to understand nutrition for better brain balance and health, what is balance?

Balance is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "A stable physical, mental, and emotional state where equilibrium is maintained", even as we live and work in a world of constant and potentially dangerous change.

Countless stressors threaten our stability every day. A critical nervous system function is to continually orchestrate our adaptation to our shifting environments. As part of the definition of balance, it must continue to create "A harmonious or satisfying chemical arrangement" from the nutrients we provide it in our diet to allow us to thrive.

(Stay Tuned for the Conclusion Next Month)

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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. If you are experiencing pain, or just want more information on your health or how we do business, please stop by!

News & Events

1. If you live in our area, come join us, along with Sherrie Olp of Go Natural Wellness Center, at the upcoming Fresno Chamber of Commerce Business after Hours Trade Show on Thursday, August 17th, 2006 from 4-7 p.m. at the Radisson Conference Center (Downtown). Tickets are $3 at the door, but we have complimentary ones available at our office. Our two businesses will be sharing a booth and sampling our various products and services. We will offer some amazing deals to encourage you to check out how we might help solve your pain or illness challenges. Call us at 559-490-9550 for more info.

2. Go to DrMatthewNorton.com now to request my free CD "I Could Feel Better But…" : Confronting The Top Ten Myths and Misconceptions of Chiropractic Healing. It is FREE and it could save your quality of life or that of someone you love!! Go pick one up right now!

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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. Observe what you eat this week. Create a food diary that includes what, when, and why you chose to eat it. No pressure or guilt. Simply make it a game of curiosity.

2. Pay Attention to how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally in the hours after your selections. Experiment with different choices and see what difference it might make in your feelings. Are you more invigorated and expansive or bogged down and listless? Are you happier and more focused or anxious, depressed, and foggy? Are you using food that may not be very nutritious as a drug to briefly feel better about your life or are you giving your body what it most needs to thrive?

3. Determine to think more about eating as the replenishing of critical nutrients. These are the chemical substances that allow you to more fully and frequently experience the feelings of love, joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment as well as producing more energy and vibrant health! Wouldn't you want more of that?

4. Take pharmaceutical-grade supplements, which are mandatory in our day for optimum health and peak performance! An ideal diet is difficult to accomplish even with the utmost of focused attention and knowledge in our fast-paced lives. Much of our food is also depleted of many essential nutrients due to soil conditions and manufacturing processes

   The #1 nutritional supplements in North America are made by Usana Health Sciences according to the panel of experts who did the research published in the Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements. Go to www.Usana.com to learn more, then call 559-307-3904 and ask for Judy for ordering information.

5. Consider how well you are adapting to the daily stress challenges you are facing! Check the quality of nervous system communication from your brain to every tissue cell since that is command central for all physical, mental, and emotional functioning. Your very health and life depend upon it!

   Call 559-490-9550 to schedule an appointment for your check-up or go to www.DrMatthewNorton.com for more information about our unique computer diagnostic system and gentle, instrument adjustments to assist you toward a pain-free and dynamic quality of life! Call by August 24th and mention this newsletter for an incredible special offer.

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.