SLAP – Bankart Shoulder Surgery

by Steven Wright

I played on several softball leagues last summer and during one all day tournament I was in, a sharply hit ball came up the middle. I started ranging from my shortstop position and when it was clear I wouldn’t get there in time, I dove. Stretched out horizontal, I thought for sure I was going to make ESPN on this one, but I didn’t… and when I started getting up I knew immediately something was wrong with my shoulder.

10-days ago I went under the knife to repair a labrum tear (SLAP / Bankart lesions) in my left shoulder. I was scared, I’m not going to lie. Recently, I lost one of my best friend’s Dad due to complications from an elective surgery (RIP – Rob) and it weighed heavy on my mind.

Thankfully it was successful, lots of love to modern medicine and my surgeon!

But it wasn’t a decision I took lightly.

First, I Tried to Figure Out All My Options

After going insane checking out all the angles, it turns out if the body can’t heal cartilage damage in the labrum in the first 6 months after the injury it is basically impossible for the body to reattach the cartilage. It was either surgery plus a lengthy rehab or I would have to cope with early onset arthritis and decreased range of motion (ROM) later in life. [click to continue…]

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Specific Carbohydrate Diet Meal Plans

How to Cut Your Stress in Half in 7-days

by Jordan Reasoner

Question for you: If I removed half the stress from your life, how would you feel?

Lighter? Calmer? Happier? Healthier?

As you probably know, The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is the best way to start healing your digestive problems and reverse chronic illness.

So many of you are working hard to take control of your health and getting amazing transformations.  Here’s a few emails we’ve received in the past few weeks:

“Thank you Jordan & Steve.  This was our best X-Mas ever.  My daughter was so happy to feel well again and down to 15mg of prednisone.  We are slowly weaning her and hope she will be off by end of January.” – Jenny

“Already I have seen a great reduction of cramps and diarrhea has stopped .I am just starting on phase 1 now.  Thanks for all the tips.” – Annie

“Even though I was technically in remission when I started the diet, it brought me to a whole new level of health. My energy levels went up, my GERD went away, joint pain reduced, no bloating or pain and was even getting solid stools.” – Natalie

Your commitment to this healing journey is so brave!

And if you’re already working hard following SCD and you’re ready to keep improving your digestion, then we’ve got something special for you that’s really going to help you do it.

We’ve written before about how tightly linked stress and digestion are… and how ignoring stress can trigger painful setbacks.

In fact, when someone comes to us doing “everything right” with diet and supplements, but they just can’t get symptom-free… stress is the first place I look.

And I got to thinking, there’s probably more of you that would see improvement in your symptoms if you had less stress in your life.  You don’t have to do this alone…

That’s why we created a free “7-Day Stress Reduction Challenge” to help you kick off the New Year

[click to continue…]

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Beth Shares Her Best SCD Baking Secrets (Podcast 33)

by Jordan Reasoner

A while back we interviewed Amy from RoboRanch.com about her incredible SCD Crohn’s Disease story.  What I really like about her story is that her Mom, Beth, jumped right in and followed the diet with her as a “diet buddy.”

Over time, Beth became an incredible SCD cook and started sharing her best stuff on her website: http://www.beth-spencer.com.  She’s authored a few cookbooks, and you can find some tasty recipes on her blog.

Her latest cookbook, “Turtle Soup: Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet from an SCD Mom,” is nothing short of miraculous…

The best of the best in the SCD community support the cookbook and endorse the recipes… and so do we!  With Christmas baking right around the corner, we just had to get Beth on the podcast to find out her best Specific Carbohydrate Diet baking secrets.
[click to continue…]

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Could Spending More Time With Friends And Family Help Reverse Chronic Illness?

by Jordan Reasoner

“Sue, I’m sorry.  I don’t know how to tell you this, but you have Cancer… maybe 18-months to live”

Once the news hit, Sue signed early retirement papers and sold the house.

She moved to Florida to be closer to her kids and grand-babies…

She started mentoring inner city kids and helping them get into college… something she never had time for in the past.

Friends and family made it a point to spend more time with her… taking road trips and weekend getaways.

12-months later, she was back in the Doctor’s office…

“Sue – I can’t explain it, but you’re in complete remission”

Is it that far-fetched?

We’ve all heard stories that go something like this… could spending more time with friends and family help reverse chronic illness?

Is there any science to it?

Why locking yourself in the house could make you worse

Typically, when animals are critically injured in the wild they’ll run to a safe, secluded place and lie down.

They give their body the resources to start healing and in some cases, they’ll lay there for days without moving.  If the wound isn’t fatal, there’s usually a point when they know they need to get up and re-integrate with the herd….

But what’s fascinating is: once the injured animals get back with the herd; their wound tends to heal FASTER than when they were in isolation.

A 2003 PNEC study on the Social Facilitation of Wound Healing, found that:

“Social interactions buffer against stress and promote wound healing… The data imply that social isolation impairs wound healing”

The background on this study is interesting so I had to geek out on it (read the full text here).  Scientists wanted to test the impact of social interaction on wound healing.  For this study, they used Siberian Hamster models separated into two test groups:

  • The first group was completely isolated from social contact.
  • The second group was paired up and able to freely interact.
  • Each hamster received similar injuries and had their wounds measured to track the rate of healing (I know it sounds bad… it’s in the name of science right?).

Here’s the fascinating twist: both groups of hamsters were split into two more groups and placed under stress everyday (kind of like going to work)… so it looked like this: [click to continue…]

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Announcing: Chris Kresser’s Revolution Health Radio Show

by Jordan Reasoner

“No offense Doc, but it feels like you have no clue what’s wrong with me.”

That’s what I said when I fired my Doctor in 2008…

As a kid I was taught to trust in my Doctor… to feel safe with them.  I was taught that when I got sick they would always make me better.

But when I started having diarrhea 10 times a day in 2007 my Doctor started shrugging more…

… and ordering more tests that didn’t give any answers

Sending me to specialists that didn’t have any answers…

… and trying to give me steroids, anti-depressants, and bowel-relaxers.

That’s when I lost my childhood trust and fired my Doctor

And I didn’t feel very trusting of healthcare professionals for a long time after that… until I got introduced to Chris Kresser L.Ac. [click to continue…]

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