Summer’s an excellent time to take advantage of three steps that naturally help your brain make more feel-good serotonin, which protects you from the damaging effects of stress:
Stay Skeptical
Click here for the Health Tip link. During the past few months, I’ve been noticing an unusual number of articles and news stories about clinical studies “proving” that a certain alternative therapy (like chiropractic or acupuncture) or nutritional supplement doesn’t really work after all. Each time a news release like this appears, some people will […]
Red Grapefruit and Cholesterol
Here’s a quick health tip if your cholesterol is on the high side. Make your daily breakfast a bowl of oatmeal and one red grapefruit.
You’re likely already aware of oatmeal’s cholesterol-lowering effects, but those of red grapefruit are the result of newly published study.
The Dark Side of Prescription Drugs
One of the many reasons I decided to learn more about using nutritional supplements to treat various medical problems 15 years ago was this: I was getting nervous about the medical profession’s over-reliance on prescription drugs.
Green Tea and Ovarian Cancer
I know that a daily cup or two of tea–especially green tea–is astonishingly good for you. Unfortunately, I never developed a liking for the stuff, black or green. Probably this stems from when I had to drink black tea as a kid whenever I had a cold or the flu.
Fibromyalgia and Acupuncture
I roll my eyes ceiling-ward when I come across a “major new finding” in a medical journal that “reveals” something we in alternative medicine have known for years. In this month’s Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers discovered that acupuncture really does work for fibromyalgia. It was a good study: starting with 50 fibro patients, half had […]
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.
Q&A: Men and the Triple Whammy
Thanks for the many questions you send us. Here’s one a half dozen people have asked me about:
Q: Is there a book for men that’s similar to The Triple Whammy Cure?
It’s Allergy Season…
…and this year is a bad one. Patients have been contacting me with all sorts of the usual hay fever type symptoms: watery eyes, runny noses, sneezing, coughing. My own allergies progressed to asthma and I was compelled to rummage around for an inhaler to use for a few days this month. (It’s probably not the smartest move to use an old dust-covered asthma inhaler, but that old saying that doctors make terrible patients is often true.)
SAMe for Depression and Arthritis
SAMe (pronounced “sammy”) is the abbreviation for a molecule already made by your body, S-adenosylmethionine. Some good clinical studies have shown that SAMe supplements are effective for three seemingly unrelated conditions: depression, arthritis, and liver disease.
Organics
One of the best parts of capitalism is that demand drives production, and the demand for organics is growing steadily—by one estimate between 20 and 25% since 1990.
Q&A: SAMe or St. John’s Wort?
Q. A friend of mine just tried SAMe for depression and is having a very positive experience with it in a very short time. Can you tell me why in The Triple Whammy Cure you emphasize St. John’s Wort as a natural antidepressant instead?
Echinacea: My Doubts and A New Recommendation
Last year echinacea sales took a drop when a US study showed that this long-respected herb was ineffective against the common cold. Herbalists took issue with the study, but I’ve always harbored some doubts about echinacea myself.
Worry and Stress
Pointless worrying is a significant source of stress for many of my patients. Most of us know the difference pointless and productive worrying. The latter can spur us to find a solution to a problem: you’re concerned that your daughter needs help with reading, and your worry compels you to ask her teacher for help […]
Digestive Enzymes
I’m frequently asked if it’s helpful to take supplemental digestive enzymes. The answer is an unequivocal “sometimes.”
Stress and Brain Fog: Three Steps to Clear Thinking
Your brain will simply not function efficiently when you’re stressed out. You’ll forget why you walked into a room, miss important appointments and birthdays, and find that balancing your checkbook is an exercise in advanced mathematics.