Asheville Chiropractor Speaks on Healthy Living

I attended a dinner hosted by Dr. Acton, a local chiropractor who owns Acton Family Chiropractic off Patton Ave. The health and wellness seminar was called “How to live to be 100″ and was an introduction to natural healing and the benefits of chiropractic care.

A friend of mine, Tom Whittington, e-mailed me with a question earlier that day regarding his chiropractic website and his Google Local Listings placement. While trying to figure out his question, I came across Dr. Acton’s website and saw that this seminar was happening that night. If you’re wondering why I clicked on Dr. Acton’s website in the first place–he is Hot Neile‘s dad among other claims to fame.

He sold me with the video tour of Asiana Buffet.

I arrived at 6:15pm a little early and said hello to Dr. Acton. Next I signed in with Melissa Alvarez, the office manager and Dr. Acton’s right hand woman. She handed me a booklet called “Dr. Acton’s Special Health Report: Stop Making Disease.” I found an empty table in the back and read through it as more people filtered in.

It begins by posing the question, “Can I really heal without using prescription drugs, vaccines, chemotherapy or surgery?” and immediately answering, “In my opinion, if you’re serious about getting healthy, you have to answer that question with a YES!”

In quick summary, the pamphlet addresses rethinking your health, the healing process, digestion, how your body makes blood, a recipe for “The Magical Juice”, fasting, lung cancer, diabetes, and cancer. It was pretty informative–I didn’t know that fasting occasionally is healthy because it allows you to detox, ridding yourself of junk in your body that you get from eating processed foods.

The room fills up–my first thought was, “It’s amazing how many people show up when there’s a free dinner involved.”

A group of rednecks sit next to me–they obviously didn’t know what the seminar was about but heard about “Free Asiana Buffet” and were in. They were reluctant to fill out the registration card. “Why do they want my e-mail address? I aint giving them my phone number. These mother*&?$er’s better not call me.”

I told them to shut the *&?$ up and continued to read the pamphlet.

What I actually told them was that Dr. Acton had absolutely no plans of harassing people who didn’t need chiropractic care. It was just a voluntary registration card if you’d like to keep in touch or receive more info. This wasn’t Amway.

The Amway reference went over their heads. I smiled and one of the women smiled back–she might have been passing wind coincidentally at the same time though.

I sipped my coffee, scribbled in my notepad, and waited. A few moments later the lights dim and a 15 second video plays on the projection screen up front. The lights come back on and Melissa introduces Dr. Acton.

He starts by thanking everyone for coming, asks the waiters to hold off on drinks for a moment, and says a short prayer. Next he shares a story about two people close to him who had a tremendous impact on his life–his Grandma and Mom.

His parents recently celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary and neither his mom or dad are on any medication. Dr. Acton boasts that his family is healthy–in 31 years of practice he’s never missed a day of work due to illness.

The purpose of his seminar wasn’t to sell his chiropractic services necessarily–but to educate and empower people to take control of their health. When you go to a doctor he explained, “just because you get someone’s opinion doesn’t mean you have to do what they tell you to. That’s why it’s an opinion.”

He brings up something I’ve never thought about before. How healthy is my doctor and his family? Are they on medications? Do they live notoriously long?

If doctors aren’t taking care of themselves and their families–should I value their opinion about my health?

In no way is Dr. Acton against using prescription drugs–but there’s a time and a place in his opinion. Many people don’t understand, he explained, that most prescription medications don’t heal you–they merely treat a symptom.

Next we see some video testimonials of clients, a clip of a News 13 profile of Acton Family Chiropractic, and a home video interview of Dr. Acton’s mother.

The latter half of the seminar was Dr. Acton’s “The 3 Hidden Secrets to Maximum Health”–but I don’t want to give everything away. You’ll have to attend his next seminar.

At the end of the seminar Dr. Acton restresses that he does not need your money anymore–this class isn’t to lure you into a $150 first consultation. In fact, his offer was that if you DID want a first consultation–he would give it to you for $17 that night and donate all the money to Make-A-Wish Foundation. How could you turn that down if you were thinking about getting a first opinion?

It was easy to see that in front of me stood a man who deeply cared for his profession and the people who his work impacts. Dr. Acton has coached over 120 chiropractors worldwide and his offices have seen over a half million patients. Out of those patients, 10 became chiropractors. Many of the staff members at Acton Family Chiropractic started as patients too.

To conclude the presentation, Dr. Acton gave a formal introduction to his office’s lead chiropractor Dr. Christopher Kiernan and other members of the staff in attendance.

Next they passed out referral cards and raffle tickets. They were giving away a $100 gift card and some other prizes in addition to the free dinner–but it was already 7:45pm and I had an obligation so I left.

A few more things I learned about the body that I wanted to share:

1. No two people have the same body chemistry–just like fingerprints. This is why the same chemicals and drugs affect two people in opposite ways. The best example is alcohol. Some people want to make sweet love while others want to fight when they drink.

2. If you continued to grow at the pace you do between conception and 9 years–you’d be bigger than the planet by the time you were 70. That’s how fast we grow during the beginning of our lives!

3. The biggest trauma most people’s spines go through is birth–when the doctor pulled us out head first.

I’ll post the next time Dr. Acton has a seminar or dinner in Asheville so that you can attend.

That’s my story.