Stress — It’s Not What You Think!
This is the first in a series examining the true nature of the stress response and what you can do about it. The motivation for this series is that stress is the number one cause of illness in the United States and that little is being done to address it. This claim...
Illness as Invitation
What if illness was a reflection, a calling card let's say, of deeper healing resources within us that had been ignored too long. What if the symptoms that we're accustomed to resisting and judging harshly were in truth a meaningful and necessary part of a deeper...
Who Love’s the French Fry … You or Your Subconscious?
Harvard Medical School and Tufts University just published a study in which they used brain scans to confirm that it's possible to learn to 'like' more wholesome foods, while losing the 'addictive cravings' for the less wholesome. Brain scans have also been used to...
Low Thyroid, Pooped Adrenals … You’re Not Alone
The combination of low thyroid function and overworked adrenal glands generates a long list of symptoms ... including fatigue, weight gain, constipation, depression, fuzzy thinking and memory loss. Thyroid and adrenal dysfunction also underlie common conditions like...
Serenity Now!!!
If you're a Seinfeld fan you may remember the ever perturbed Mr. Costanza bellowing "SERENITY NOW, SERENITY NOW!!!". I'm sure that 'The Institute for Very Loud Affirmations' has it's devotees. Control and domination are proven and familiar strategies in our culture...
Emotional Experience Guides Mood, Behavior … and Biology!
“If I told patients to raise their blood levels of immunoglobulins or killer T-cells, no one would know how. But if I can teach them to love themselves and others fully, the same change happens automatically. The truth is: Love heals.” Bernie Siegel, M.D., Love,...
Diet & Detox: The Missing Piece … that You Control!
Type two diabetes, inflammatory conditions of all kinds, hypertension, difficulties with weight, and blood lipid imbalances are just the tip of the iceberg when describing the kinds of chronic issues that often are resolved, or at least improved, with a comprehensive...
Insomnia Remedies … The Good, the Bad & the Ugly!
What do you do when you can't sleep? It seems that doing anything other than taking a sleeping pill is a good idea. It's important to address sleep issues as a priority since sleeping well is an indispensable element for overall healing and well-being. At the recent...
The Poetry of Healing
I'm fascinated by the science surrounding the mind-body connection. It's a good bet that this fascination might be fueled, at least in part, by being raised in a family where emotional experience wasn't given much conscious attention or value. So for me this science...
Adrenals, Buried Stress, & Your Health!
In the last post I spoke about how the brain responds to stress. In today's blog I'll focus on how the adrenal glands respond to stress and trauma and what you can do to support them. I'll make a distinction between stress and trauma by suggesting that stress is a...
Anxious Thoughts … Your Body is the Solution
A common strategy for quieting anxious thoughts is often more thinking in an attempt to control the mind. I'm going to suggest another, and predictably more fruitful approach, which involves your body. Since anxiety (and stress) either contributes to the creation or...
You Were Born with Biofeedback Equipment
Over fifty years ago the Indian adept Swami Rama changed the history of medical education ... or at least should have. He was invited to the Menninger Institute in the 1960's to assess the influence that his years of yogic training had had on his physiology. He was...
Meditation as Medicine
Did you know that a regular meditative practice can dramatically influence blood pressure, blood sugar, anxiety and so much more ... without the side effects that accompany our more common pharmacological remedies? Research is validating that our bodies possess an...
Addressing the Roots of Illness … Almost Free Lecture
This coming Sunday afternoon in Lakeland I'll be giving a talk about the connection between the Gut, Immune System, and Brain. It will be at the Paint-A-Long Studio at 123 Kentucky Avenue ... from 4:30 pm until 7 pm. The price is $5. I'll be talking about how G.I....
Sleep Heals Your Brain
Researchers have found that amyloid beta ... the protein that contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease ... was excreted from the brain most efficiently during sleep. A recent study available on the NIH website shows that when we sleep our breathing...
Vitamin D3 & Autoimmune Thyroid Disease
I recently read media accounts of research showing that taking supplemental vitamin D wasn't helpful for supporting the bone health of women. I find this kind of medical reporting upsetting and manipulative in a way that discourages individuals from taking more...
Vaccines: A British Doctor’s Saga
The vaccination debate was staged publicly in Great Britain back in 2007. A British doctor who challenged the conventional wisdom regarding the safety and efficacy of childhood vaccinations was charged by her governing body with serious professional misconduct and...
Gut Microbes, Insulin Resistance, & More
I just read an article that began 'An exciting presentation at the International Liver Conference'. Who wouldn't be compelled to read further? The article discusses the impact that our intestinal flora has in either creating or preventing insulin resistance, diabetes,...
Study Shows Veggies, Meditation & Yoga Slow Aging
A new study published in the Lancet Medical Journal demonstrated for the first time that dietary and lifestyle changes can increase the length of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, that are linked to aging. It's been know for some time that stress can shorten...
Surgical Anesthesia … How to Protect Yourself
In this post I'll share how general anesthesia poses risks to us and what to do to minimize those risks. Did you know that anesthesia greatly increases your risk of cognitive decline ... including dementia? When it comes to surgical anesthesia our immediate concern is...