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 while serving as a main… Read more »
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, a pediatric gastroenterologist, moved with… Read more »
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 as depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety,… Read more »
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 “Wanderlust magic.” For those already… Read more »
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 for which they would like… Read more »
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 illness: the central hormone is… Read more »
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 dementia have a long duration… Read more »
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 need to be treated concurrently… Read more »
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 at Indio High where pre-med… Read more »
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 change? Natural medicine has been… Read more »
The term ‘Functional Medicine’ grew out of the vision and energy of a group of scientists, medical doctors, chiropractors, naturopaths, nutritionists and other health professionals that began meeting in the late 1990s. Under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Bland, these practitioners began holding regular conferences which eventually led to the formation of The Institute for… Read more »
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 a treatment protocol that incorporates… Read more »
Thanks to new science called gene sequencing, researchers have discovered 1,800 disease genes. This information is part of what was learned with the conclusion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Additionally, hundreds of genes have been discovered that influence the way we metabolize nutrients, perceive taste, regulate hunger and respond to exercise. Your diet… Read more »
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 the first academic medical center… Read more »
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 both Western and Eastern medicine.… Read more »
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 and surgical procedures, until she… Read more »
In this modern “hi tech” world, chiropractic is decidedly “low-tech” in nature. Based on manual manipulations and founded over 100 years ago, studies to support its effectiveness have been slow to surface. Fortunately, numerous scientific studies over the past 25 years have established chiropractic to be an evidence-based modality. These studies have found the practice… Read more »
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, pain management and injections. Yet… Read more »
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 as a myriad of seemingly… Read more »
Heart disease is the general term used to describe any medical condition of the heart, blood vessels, and arteries. The type of heart disease that affects most Americans is coronary artery disease, or a blockage of plaques in the cardiovascular system which often leads to heart attacks. The most common health advice given to reduce… Read more »
