Functional Medicine Category
Natural OptionsEssential Oils for the Holidays
The festive season is here again, and we look forward to end-of-year celebrations, parties and get-togethers with family and friends. As the days grow shorter and the year winds to a close, we gather together to reminisce and to share our hopes for the year ahead. Yet, this time of Read more…
Integrated PracticesMedical Aromatherapy
Medical aromatherapy (also known as clinical aromatherapy) is a practice that is rapidly gaining acceptance in the medical world. Education, awareness and practice-based evidence have been the drivers behind the emergence of this new aromatic healing paradigm. Each plant-derived essential oil has unique uses, benefits and healing properties, and many Read more…
Integrated PracticesEast Meets West for Comprehensive Care
“My back still hurts and I’ve done everything.” “I’m stressed and anxious and can’t sleep.” “My meds give me side effects and are so expensive.” Do these claims sound familiar? With so much technological advancement in medicine and a cornucopia of prescription drugs, it is not surprising that we have Read more…
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…
InspirationNaturopathic 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…
InspirationWhy 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…
InspirationHealth 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…