Breast cancer is a common health problem, affecting one out of eight women in the United States. Instead of worrying about whether you are going to get it, or what to do if you have it, be proactive and take breast health into your own hands. An excellent book on this subject is Breast Cancer?… Read more »
Integrative Medicine
In my practice as a nutrition consultant, I am continually trying to support people in their struggle with foods that sabotage their health goals. In my own life I am constantly battling my own “sugar addiction.” Eating and the desire to eat stimulate different mechanisms in the brain. Dopamine, the neurotransmitter I introduced in the… Read more »
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 oils work synergistically when combined.… Read more »
Really? Hypnosis for dementia? That’s the usual response I get when people first learn I’ve been using hypnosis for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease since 1997. In 2007, a lengthy study conducted in the U.K. by Simon Duff, PhD, and Daniel Nightingale, PhD, found that people living with dementia who received hypnosis therapy showed… Read more »
Cannabidiol (CBD) continues to gain attention in orthopedic and health care circles and is used in the treatment of anxiety and chronic pain, as well as other conditions. CBD plays a major corrective function in the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which may make it a viable treatment alternative for people experiencing back or joint pain. What… Read more »
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This question has a new application for me as I pursue optimal brain function for patients. For most of my “doctor life” I’ve believed brain function to be dependent on the right environment and care – a fragile organ sustained by the right brew of vitamins, nutrients… Read more »
One of the most common chronic maladies affecting people is low thyroid function. Symptoms which bring patients to a doctor may include unexplained weight gain, fatigue, loss of hair and lateral eyebrows, brain fog, feeling cold when others are warm, cold hands and feet, and menstrual irregularities. These symptoms are caused by lack of the… Read more »
Cancer patients and survivors often experience significant problems with pain, fatigue, sleep, stress, anxiety, trauma and grief associated both with the cancer diagnosis and side effects of treatments. Hypnosis can be powerfully effective for the physical, mental and emotional fallout that comes with the disease – and after, when life is often profoundly different. Cancer… Read more »
Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, an oncology fellow at the time, wrote a detailed biography of cancer in his 2010 book Emperor of All Maladies. In it he reports that early in human history, cancer was a very rare disease. As we all know, cancer has become increasingly common, especially since the industrial revolution. This increase cannot… Read more »
Wellbeing is defined as the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy. In past Desert Health articles, I have discussed aspects of lifestyle to achieve brain health for quality of life; now I’d like to dive a bit deeper into brain chemistry and discuss the importance of dopamine. Dopamine is one of the brain’s neurotransmitters,… Read more »
Fasting is currently one of, if not the, most popular eating pattern these days and is believed to be an important therapeutic tool for longevity. Well-nourished calorie restriction (fasting) can enhance healthy aging in a number of ways. Perhaps most easily observable to the naked eye are reductions in waist circumference and total body fat… Read more »
When I tell people I’m a medical hypnotherapist, I’m usually met with a bewildered look. If you’re like most people, you’ve probably seen stage show hypnosis either in person or on TV and may be wondering if I’ll make you cluck like a chicken—well, only if you really want to cluck like a chicken! The… Read more »
Eat to Beat Disease is a groundbreaking book by a Cambridge, MA based physician who is an expert in angiogenesis, the making of new blood vessels. William Li, MD, is an internist and leads the Angiogenesis Foundation, funded to come up with cancer treatments designed to starve tumors by inhibiting their blood supply (anti-angiogenesis). Dr.… Read more »
In the hectic pace of normal life, I can often tell that I am stressed or anxious. In these moments it feels like life is moving too fast or my brain is spinning with too much input. I’ve been working at practicing a technique that I am finding helpful and hope you may as well!… Read more »
“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 forgotten how much power is… Read more »
Dean Ornish and his wife Anne have a formula for achieving great health and avoiding or reversing heart disease and cancer, as well as the risk factors that lead to these. Ornish was the first to show coronary heart disease could be reversed by a very low fat diet (Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing… Read more »
Treatment of chronic disease is at the forefront of the health care crisis that threatens to bankrupt our government. One in two Americans now suffers from a chronic disease and one in four has multiple chronic diseases. Of the $3.8 trillion we spend on health care in the United States each year, 84 percent goes… Read more »
Recently, Jim Dethmer, the author of 15 Commitments of Conscious Leaders, in speaking to a group of health coaches stated, “All sustainable transformation begins with radical self-acceptance.” As a doctor, I have been called to support healing and transformation, but both in my patients and in myself, I find transformation to be an arduous process,… Read more »
Take a look around anywhere you go – cell phones and wireless devices are an integral part of our lives because they are beneficial in many ways. However, we continue to hear conflicting messages about their health effects. So what can we do? In light of excellent independent science, we should take simple precautions. As… Read more »
Depression is a disease that has plagued humankind for centuries and which unfortunately remains prevalent today, affecting 1 out of 5 individuals at some point in their lives. Up to 50% of the population may be seasonally affected, experiencing a mild form of depression due to fewer daylight hours during the winter. Moderate to severe… Read more »