Click here for the Health Tip link. Weight gain around the holidays is an American tradition. Let’s face it, we work and live in a giving society, where the gift of “bulge” comes in the form of holiday cookies, cakes, candy, care packages, office parties, holiday dinners, and desserts. Making healthy eating choices this time […]
Category: H
I’m Losing My Hair!
Click here for the Health Tip link. Q&A: I’m Losing My Hair! Q: I’m a stressed-out 31-year-old woman and I think it shows in my hair. I try to eat right and usually drink about 8 glasses of water a day. But it seems like I see more hair on my pillow, in my hairbrush, […]
Q&A: Vitamin E and Heart Attacks
Click here for the original post. Q: I just read in Consumer Reports that vitamin E doesn’t help prevent heart attacks. Is this true? If so, is there any reason to take E? A: As early as 2001, clinical studies around the world were beginning to cast some doubt on the effectiveness of vitamin E […]
Healing Touch: A Balanced Approach to Health Care
Wouldn’t it be ideal to have a system of health care that focuses on the uniqueness of each person, draws on the best of ancient wisdom and modern medical expertise, maximizes wellness, and offers support when health issues arise?
Vitamin D and Your Heart
I’ve written quite a bit on the beneficial effects of vitamin D, from building bones and helping with fibromyalgia to preventing cancer–click here and scroll down on the Health Tips menu for previous articles.
RESPeRATE for High Blood Pressure
It’s always nice to find therapies for chronic conditions that don’t require pill swallowing–there’s nothing glummer than a patient’s face when she says “Do you mean I have to take this pill every day for the rest of my life?” One of the challenges of a non-pill therapy is the health insurance industry, which basically […]
The Fine Art of Asking for Help
Your dinner guests are arriving in an hour and things are nowhere near ready. The table hasn’t been set, the guacamole not started, the wine unopened. And the dog hair on the couch?
But instead of signaling for back-up help from your family, you do it all yourself. Within moments, you feel your face muscles tense into that mean little frown you’ve seen in the mirror. And you’re completely frazzled by the time the doorbell rings.
Drug-Free Hormone Balancing
You yourself can balance your sex hormones–estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone–by making some key lifestyle choices.
Taking these steps will also help you look and feel spectacular (exercise, good foods, and supplements really do work):
Symptoms of Hormone Imbalance
There are two ways to find out if your symptoms are being caused by an imbalance in your sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone).
“My hormones are out of whack!”
That’s the single most common sentence I hear from my patients.
It can come from a 25-year-old with irregular periods and industrial-strength PMS whose energy has gone down the tubes. Or from a 45-year-old (on the threshold of pre-menopause) who continues to gain weight even though she’s eating less and exercising more, and who adds that her brain feels like mush and her sex drive is a distant memory.
Prescribing Happiness
Many good studies have proved that an optimistic outlook has significant long-term health benefits. According to an article in Family Medicine, a journal for primary care doctors, some holistically oriented family physicians are recommending daily exercises in optimism to reduce the risk of developing all sorts of illnesses, both physical and emotional.
Hair Loss
Hair loss is challenging enough for men, but for women it can be devastating. Our culture accepts what doctors call male pattern baldness (even if many men aren’t crazy about the idea), but not balding women.
Holiday Stress Rx: Part 3
Click here for the Health Tip link. My patients sometimes have difficulty comprehending the extent to which chronic stress is responsible for their symptoms. Maybe it’s easier to understand how viruses cause a cold or plant spores bring on allergies. After all, both can be seen under a microscope. And yet chronic stress is much […]
Holiday Stress Rx: Part 2
Click here for the Health Tip link. Women play such a central role in family and celebration, to the degree that the stress of holiday demands can make you feel exhausted, anxious, and sick. Taking some time for yourself may seem counterintuitive, but it’s precisely what you need. Here’s another prescription for keeping healthy during […]
Homocysteine and Your Health
The medical profession has done a good job alerting the public to the dangers of high cholesterol, with ample help from the pharmaceutical industry.
A Natural Heartburn Treatment
Among the many distasteful TV commercials for prescription drugs, my least favorite are the ones for people with heartburn. Although some people do have a legitimate problem with the valve between their esophagus and stomach, most heartburn is simple overindulgence.
Health Insurance: Food for Thought
I feel a deep sadness when a patient tells me she’s stuck in a job she loathes–one that’s making her sick with stress–but that she’s staying so she can keep her health insurance.