Functional Medicine Category
Medical NewsAre You Grounded?
When was the last time you walked barefoot on the beach or lay in the grass with your face in the sun? How about camping in the forest or hiking without your shoes? This may be the perfect prescription for what ails you. Of course, this statement is nothing new. Read more…
Natural OptionsAssisting Our Internal River of Life
The lymphatic system is often referred to as the “river of life” as it flows with nutrients and substances that bathe our cells and flood the interstitial spaces under our skin. This vital system is key to sustaining homeostasis throughout our bodies, working silently and consistently to maintain fluid balance Read more…
Health is a ChoiceNaturopathic Medicine: Karen’s Story
Karen was a vivacious young woman living the dream. An avid tennis and softball player, she loved doing yoga, had a private psychotherapy practice, and spent time between Redondo Beach and Palm Springs with her husband and their labradoodle Dood. Her family lived in Texas but her beloved sister, Stephanie, Read more…
Integrated PracticesMental Illness and Biomedical Correlations
I recently returned from the 9th annual Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Conference in Dallas, Texas. This conference offers health care providers from many different disciplines a holistic approach to successfully diagnose and treat underlying issues contributing to neurological, behavioral, and psychiatric disorders. Research has revealed that many conditions such Read more…
Integrated PracticesPalm Springs to Host Wellspring
Wanderlust, the world-renowned yoga lifestyle festival, is coming to Palm Springs with their latest innovation, Wellspring. The 3-day gathering will take place October 26-28 and feature leading health and wellness speakers and a large expo, as well as yoga, meditation and other participatory activities that CEO Sean Hoess calls the Read more…
Integrated PracticesWellness Patterns For Ourselves and Our Community
It has been said that we can only see what we expect to see. If this is true, it poses a difficult hurdle in finding answers to questions about our health and well-being. So often a patient will come to see me because they feel un-well or have specific symptoms Read more…
Integrated PracticesWe Finally Understand Overweight and Obesity
Jason Fung, MD, taught me how not to eat. I never realized I could skip meals and have greater mental clarity and more energy. In his book, The Obesity Code (Greystone, 2016), Fung, a nephrologist turned obesity physician, describes with great clarity and solid science that obesity is a hormonal Read more…
Medical NewsCaring for the Caregiver
In the March/April 2017 issue of Desert Health®, Dr. Lu introduced a pilot program being conducted by a team of doctors at Eisenhower Medical Center. The results of that intervention program follow. It is estimated that 5.5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2017. Most people with Alzheimer’s Read more…
Integrated PracticesThe Advantages to Treating You as a WHOLE Person
The Advantages to Treating You as a WHOLE Person The body is a fantastic network of systems. An incredible realization for me as a physician is that every system impacts every other system in our body. The premise of Functional Medicine and Integrative Medicine is that all of these parts Read more…
Integrated PracticesThe Key to Ending Chronic Disease?
How do we reverse the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our country? Indio High teacher, Jason Tate, says to start with the next generation. He knows the value first hand. Over the past ten years, he has been teaching the biology of nutrition and recently created a Health & Wellness Academy Read more…
Health is a ChoiceWhy practice integrative health care?
This was the topic of a recent panel hosted by Women Leaders Forum (WLF) and moderated by Desert Health® publisher Lauren Del Sarto. The panel featured a medical doctor, chiropractor, acupuncturist/herbologist and naturopathic doctor discussing how conventional and complementary modalities are working together for whole person care. So why the Read more…
Health is a ChoiceHealth is a Choice: Doctors Have the Ability to Heal
Doctors have the ability to heal. Unfortunately, the current health care system has turned many away from their natural ability to do so. But things are changing. A core aspect of integrative medicine is whole person care by doctors who take the time to listen and understand their patients, and Read more…
Integrated PracticesCleveland Clinic Embraces Functional Medicine
Integrative medicine has taken a tremendous step forward with the opening of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine (CCCFM). Functional medicine is based on the evidence that lifestyle factors – such as nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress levels, relationships and genetics – are major contributors to disease. Cleveland Clinic is Read more…
Integrated PracticesCreating Your Integrative Team
Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Phil Jackson said, “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” As individuals on a quest for wellness, assembling your health team is vital. In creating this team, you may want to consider combining practices of Read more…
Integrated PracticesBeating MS & Other Autoimmune Diseases
Terry Wahls, MD, is an Assistant Chief of Staff at Iowa City VA Health Care and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa. She has practiced medicine for over 30 years and is board-certified in internal medicine. Like most physicians, Dr. Wahls treated her patients’ ailments with drugs Read more…
Through the GenerationsIntegrative Approach to Back Pain: A Case Study
I’d like to share a story about a woman with whom I recently worked who was struggling with severe back pain. We will call her Susan. Susan was diagnosed with herniated discs (disc bulges) as well as spondylolisthesis (vertebrae slipping on each other). She had excellent medical care with anti-inflammatories, Read more…
Integrated PracticesNaturopathic Treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is defined as a condition with a criteria of symptoms that includes lethargy, poor concentration and/or memory, sore throat, headaches, tender lymph nodes, and muscle pain that persists for 6 months or longer. CFS symptoms may vary among patients — solely as fatigue and lethargy, or Read more…