Dr. Janice Jurack believes Americans are over-medicated and that people should use more natural ways to improve their health.
Jurack, a chiropractor and owner of the Muskego Health and Wellness Center, explains her views in a recently published book that she wrote, titled, “The Three Pillars of Health: The Three Simple Steps for Maximizing the Health of Your Body, Mind and Spirit.”
“I wrote it really for my patients and to try to bring together information about wellness care and preventative care to help people stay healthy,” Jurack told SBT. “I get a lot of the same questions from people, and I thought, I’d put (the answers) in a book.”
Pain is a warning signal from our bodies that something is wrong, Jurack says. However, most people make the mistake of taking pain-relieving medication to mask the pain, instead of finding a solution to the actual health problem, she says.
“Health is not merely the absence of disease any more than wealth is an absence of poverty,” Jurack says in the book. “Simply ‘feeling fine’ does not mean you are healthy, for we know that many serious health problems may progress for years without causing any symptoms.”
“We’ve been taught that if you have a symptom to take this pill and it goes away,” she told SBT. “We’re given the false sense that since the symptom goes away, the health problem is gone.”
Much of the American health care system is geared toward managing pain and symptoms, rather than working to eliminate the cause of the pain, Jurack says.
“Going to your family medical doctor usually results in coming home with a prescription for medication that often does nothing to correct the actual problem,” she says in the book. “This has led to the American population being overmedicated and unhealthy.”
The nation’s flawed approach to health care has created problems for businesses, Jurack points out.
“Many people are shocked to discover that Starbuck’s Coffee spends more money on health care for their employees than they do on coffee and that General Motors spends more on health care than they spend on steel for the cars they produce,” she says in the book. “The high cost of the health care system could even be tolerated if the enormous expense led to better health among the population, but this hasn’t been the case. Unfortunately, the current state of our medicine-based health care system actually contributes to an increase in disease and disability.”
A better approach is for people to take better care of themselves naturally, Jurack said.
“The key to health is to become a proactive agent for your body and not wait until you hurt before you do something about your health,” she writes.
Regular chiropractic care, having a healthy diet, taking vitamin supplements, keeping weight under control and stress management are all part of an overall wellness lifestyle that, if followed, will result in a longer and healthier life, Jurack says.
Chiropractic care keeps the spinal cord in proper alignment and benefits the nervous system, Jurack says. As a child, Jurack suffered from scoliosis (curvature of the spine), and she says that chiropractic treatments by Arrowhead Clinic helped her participate in sports and other activities. In college, Jurack said, she had other health problems that only improved after beginning regular chiropractic care and making other diet and lifestyle modifications. Those experiences inspired her to become a chiropractor.
In her book, Jurack also recommends that people get plenty of exercise, including aerobic exercise, stretching and strength training.
To improve diet, people should reduce their sugar, wheat and dairy intakes; eat a lot of fruits and vegetable and drink a lot of water, Jurack says
Most people try to follow the food pyramid, which calls for too much wheat and dairy products, Jurack said. Some people experience significant health improvements when they remove wheat and dairy products from their diet, she said.
People should eat fruits and vegetables to get the carbohydrates they need, Jurack told SBT. Many low-carb diets are too extreme, she said.
People should also try to avoid toxins whenever possible, Jurack says. Her suggestions include: eat organic foods, avoid processed foods, only use natural cleaning products, avoid artificial air fresheners, get an air purifier and water purifier for your home, don’t microwave your food, use a non-synthetic mattress with 100-percent cotton sheets, avoid food in plastic containers or wrappings and don’t use high heat under Teflon cookware.
“You want to avoid (toxins) when you can,” she said. “We live in a toxic world. Unless you live in a plastic bubble, you can’t totally avoid them.”
Other recommendations in Jurack’s book include: wear good shoes, sleep on a good mattress and get more exposure to sunlight (which boosts vitamin D levels).
Jurack says it took about a year and a half to write the book. The book was published by Center Path Publishing in Apple Valley, Minn., which publishes health care books. That made the publishing process fairly easy, Jurack said.
Jurack said she has sold about 500 copies of the book so far.
The book, “The Three Pillars of Health” can be purchased at the Muskego Health and Wellness Center, W188 S7830 Racine Ave., Suite 100, Muskego, through the center’s Web site at www.mhwc.net or by calling the center at (262) 679-6994.
