In an ocean of choices, yoga is no exception, and for so many it can also be an ocean of confusion. The media has done a fantastic job of portraying yoga as a practice for a certain person: typically a young, white female, who is lithe, wearing a fabulous two-piece outfit and exhibiting extreme ranges… Read more »
Integrative Medicine
Five highly respected local cancer support nonprofits —American Cancer Society (ACS), Desert Cancer Foundation, Gilda’s Desert Cities, Pendleton Foundation, and Susan G. Komen Inland Empire —are dedicated to serving all those in the Coachella Valley whose lives have been impacted by cancer. They understand that patients as well as their families will need a great… Read more »
Do we age because we lose our hormones or do we lose our hormones because we age? This is an interesting question because as a population we are living longer than ever before, but the question really needs to be about our quality of life as we age. Today, everyone seems to know someone that… Read more »
A favorite teacher of mine, Robert Fritz, is known as the Father of Structural Dynamics. He teaches two basic truths about advancement in any setting: When we focus on what we want to create, we advance. When we focus on problem-solving, we oscillate. Oscillation is repetitive movement from one end of the spectrum to the… Read more »
There will be times when life’s challenges will cause extreme misery and sorrow. No matter what you do or how hard you try, you may feel that your situation is hopeless. You feel stuck in the tunnel of despair. Everything around you looks dark and uncertain. It seems as if things are falling apart, and… Read more »
Have any of you wondered about this column’s title, The Paradigm Shift in Medicine Today? What is the paradigm shift it references? Why does this matter? And, why would this be important to me? A paradigm shift is an expansion of perspective to include more information. The revelation that the world was round and not… Read more »
Health care stress is rampant― affecting its providers (employees and the organizations) and customers (patients and their families) alike. “Most stress in life is unnecessary, though some of it is inevitable,” says Kiran Dintyala, MD, MPH, a board certified internal medicine physician with Eisenhower Medical Center. “There are simple things that one can learn to… Read more »
As a licensed marriage and family therapist, I have worked with many people on a one-on-one basis. I have also led many group therapy sessions and facilitated numerous support groups. Quite often I am asked: What is the difference between group therapy and support groups? Aren’t they pretty much the same? But if not, which… Read more »
This is the latest story in our series about the uses of fat-derived stem cells for the treatment of degenerative diseases. Stem cells can be derived from your own fat as part of a minor outpatient procedure performed as a type of “mini liposuction” under local anesthesia. The product obtained known as Stromal Vascular Fraction… Read more »
Cancer does not discriminate. It affects people of all ages, races, backgrounds and lifestyles. And sometimes it finds those you’d least expect – those who have lived the healthy, balanced life that we all strive to achieve. This year, breast cancer found Shay Moraga at 39 years old. A yogi who lived a clean, balanced… Read more »
It seems straightforward. Calories in equal calories out. If we eat less and exercise more, we’ll lose weight. NOT TRUE! The truth is: Eating calories isn’t the same as burning calories. When you eat sugar and refined carbs (bread, pasta, crackers, chips, cereals), an increase in the hormone insulin occurs. This hormone fuels fat cells… Read more »
One of the beauties of life is the repetition of patterns that serve as teachers of life’s great themes. Nature must know that we humans are slow learners and therefore offers us example after example of this important truth: rhythm is a vital component to virtually every part of our existence. Our heart has a… Read more »
Have you ever audited yourself on the way you plan for your most precious gift: your health? We tend to spend time planning our financial strategy, our travel, our social life, but few of us create a health strategy for ourselves. With the growth of the functional medicine movement, I have pondered its basic premise:… Read more »
Painful bladder syndromes are very complex and often poorly understood. Yet, they are a significant public health concern and contribute substantially to health costs and poor quality of life. Painful bladder symptoms may include frequency, burning, and urgency to urinate as well as pelvic pain and interference with sexual function. The most severe of the… Read more »
Life is about growth, balance, and passion. Life is supposed to be lived peacefully and joyfully. Alas! How often we are stuck in the stresses and strains, losing ourselves completely in the maze of life…too often. Stress hinders growth, leads to imbalance and breeds dispassion. So, it is very important that we prevent stress and… Read more »
Probiotics have really stepped into the spotlight in the past few years. New research linking gut health and pathologies like depression is proving what naturopathic doctors have been saying for a long time – the gut-brain connection is not to be ignored. By extension, gut health is of prime importance. To be clear, probiotics are… Read more »
Support groups are made up of people with common interests and experiences. People who have been or are going through a similar circumstance can do more than sympathize with you—they can truly understand your thoughts, feelings and questions. Often, people who have been through what you’re going through have fewer judgments about what you “should”… Read more »
Peyronie’s disease (PD) is a curvature of the penis that is sometimes painful and can interfere with sexual function. It is an acquired condition of abnormal fibrous tissue overgrowth of one of the inner layers enveloping of the body of the penis. In other words, the covering of the elastic dual chambers that make up… Read more »
Robert hadn’t even celebrated his 30th birthday when he was told he had months to live…or a few years at best…and that he should get his affairs in order. Just as he’d barely begun a promising career and had been settling into a life he loved, everything was suddenly turned upside down. Robert’s doctors still… Read more »
Probiotic, micro-biome, gut-brain axis, leaky gut, food intolerance…these words have become more common in the past few years, and yet there is a lot of confusion about what is going on with our gut. We used to think of the gut or gastrointestinal tract as a somewhat indestructible channel through the body that had no… Read more »