Posted 01/09/2008 Readers of this newsletter regularly hear about the dangers of stress to their health. We experience the emotional and physical reaction known as stress whenever we’re in a situation where we can’t control the course of our lives. The minor stresses (late for an appointment, a botched recipe) are unavoidable, part of life […]
Category: Knowledge Base
Nutritional Research: Busy Month
Click here for the original post. I’ve had the feeling recently that everybody’s getting tired of prescription medications. To begin with, we’re taking far too many unsavory chemicals for problems mostly attributable to our unhealthful lifestyles–controlling adult-onset diabetes, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, cooling heartburn, sedating our stress-laden lives. And did I mention side effects? […]
R&R for 2008
This new year’s eve, consider a resolution that will make your cheeks glow and your heart happy.
Consider scheduling a long weekend, or even a week, at a health spa.
Many of my patients who have followed through on this (my favorite) prescription consider their health-spa visits life-altering. The healthy food, massage, long walks, and yoga sessions, lack of TVs, and turned-off cellphones helped them see how eliminating stress could lead to a whole new approach to good health.
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.
D-ribose: New Supplement of Note
Any primary care physician will tell you the number one symptom that prompts a visit to the doctor is fatigue, expressed as “I’m tired all the time,” “I crash at three in the afternoon,” or “My get up and go just got up and went.”
2008: Time for Mini-Resolutions
As we approach the new year, here are ten small resolutions that will boost your health and are likely to prolong your life:
Cranial Electrostimulation
Several months go, I was reading the on-line bulletin of the Rush Medical Center here in Chicago when my eye caught an article about Rush psychiatrists enrolling patients into a trial of a non-medical therapy for depression and anxiety. They were especially seeking patients who were either medication-resistant or had experienced too many medication side effects.
Q&A: Increasing Your Energy
Q: I’m wondering if you could summarize all the ways I might go about increasing my energy level. I’ve had a lot of fatigue recently. Would you list supplements that could help, along with food and anything else? Thank you so much.
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 […]
Nature’s Apothecary: Valerian for Calm and Better Sleep
Using the herb valerian medicinally goes back to ancient Greece. By the 19th century, valerian was regularly found in pharmacies as a medication for both anxiety and insomnia, essentially the Valium of those days.
December Stress
It’s December. Does the very mention of the holiday month bring you joy? Stress? A mixture of the two?
My patients often tell me that December is their worst month, with extra activities, lists, and entertaining high on the roster of stressors.
Cure PMS The Natural Way…Without Seeing a Doctor
I can’t imagine what PMS actually feels like, but having heard the litany of miserable symptoms from thousands of my patients, it sounds pretty dismal. But just because I happen to be a male physician doesn’t mean I can’t offer help.
Q&A: Complex Carbohydrates
Q: Would you review again why we should eat complex carbohydrates and define what they are? Thank you.
Gratitude
In the spirit of the holiday, consider starting a gratitude journal. Use a pretty notebook or a plain one–it doesn’t matter.
Title the first page something meaningful, such as “Good Things That Happened Today” or “What I’m Thankful For Today.”
Menopause Transition Rx
Okay, you’ve faced the fact. You’re entering the potential minefield of the euphemistically named menopause transition and you know your hormones are definitely out of whack.
Fast Food Favorites: Chickpeas
Chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans–read more about them here) are a potential meal in a can. Plus, they’re one of the truly good carbohydrates. Because they’re taken up slowly and steadily by your body, they have a stabilizing effect your blood sugar and your mood, keeping you energized and elevating your feel-good serotonin.
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.
Q&A: Nutritional Medicine
Q: In a recent newsletter you discussed new findings in nutritional medicine. I’ve never heard of nutritional medicine. Would you define it?
Wintertime Blues: 10 Steps to Turn Them Around
The wintertime blues, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), usually begin when the days get shorter and the sky clouds over into perpetual gray. Many people with SAD dread late autumn because the clocks move back an hour and, in a single day, autumn twilight becomes dark night.