Vitamin D is called the sunlight vitamin because the body produces it when the sun’s ultraviolet B (UVB) rays strike the skin. It is the only vitamin the body manufactures naturally and is technically considered a hormone. Essential for building strong bones and teeth, vitamin D also helps to strengthen the immune system and may prevent some types of cancer.
Category: D
Herbal Digestive Formula
Naturopathic doctors have long recommended a classic herbal digestive combination (variously known as Robert’s or Bastyr’s Formula) for controlling the intestinal pain and inflammation associated with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both inflammatory bowel diseases.
Herbal Decongestant
Several herbs can help relieve the swelling and stuffiness that make sinusitis, the common cold, or other respiratory complaints so uncomfortable. Most of these herbs work by opening up clogged nasal passages to ease breathing. And while they can certainly be bought and used individually, a blend of these botanicals provides the unique healing qualities of many different herbs–in just a single pill.
Dong Quai (angelica)
Dong quai has been used in Asia for thousands of years as a tonic for the female reproductive system. In fact, it ranks just below ginseng as the most popular herb in China and Japan, although its effectiveness has yet to be substantiated by conventional Western standards.
Digestive Enzymes
Digestive enzymes are proteins specially tailored to break down foods into nutrients that your body can then readily digest. The human body produces some 22 different digestive enzymes. Many more are found in the fruits, vegetables, meats, grains, and other foods we eat. A number of digestive enzymes, from both plants and animals, are also sold as supplements.
Devil’s Claw
The deserts of southern Africa are home to the peculiar-looking devil’s claw plant (Harpagophytum procumbens), so named because of the distinctively shaped tips of its fruits. For years, people indigenous to the African continent dug up the plant’s large tuberous roots, chopped them up, and let them dry in the sun. From the dried roots, they then prepared healing formulations to treat arthritis, fever, indigestion, and a number of other conditions.
Dandelion
The word “dandelion” derives from the French “dent de lion,” meaning lion’s tooth. The jagged edges of the plant’s shiny, smooth leaves account for its fierce-sounding name. In Europe the medicinal properties of this perennial (Taraxacum officinale) are so prized that it is grown commercially, but in North America dandelion is often dismissed as a bothersome weed. It wasn’t always so, however. Wise minds at England’s Hudson Bay Company, which was founded in 1670, made sure that employees in their Canadian outposts received shipments of vitamin- and mineral-rich dandelion roots to supplement an excessively meat-laden diet. Ordinary English settlers, too, planted dandelion in their window boxes and herb gardens.
Detoxification Therapy
Detoxification therapy includes a variety of techniques designed to assist the body in removing the buildup of potentially harmful chemicals and toxins. Practiced by many naturopaths, as well as some chiropractors, osteopaths, nutritionists, and holistically trained M.D.s, the purpose of the therapy is to improve the body’s overall well-being through internal cleansing and purification. Diet and lifestyle changes–such as giving up caffeine and fast food, cutting back on sugar, and quitting smoking–are considered key to the treatment. In addition, other techniques, such as hydrotherapy, colon therapy, chelation therapy, or even a supervised fast, are often suggested as part of detoxification.
Dance Therapy
Dance therapy (also called dance/movement therapy) is the use of choreographed or improvised movement as a way of treating social, emotional, cognitive, and physical problems. Throughout the ages, people of many cultures have used dance to express powerful emotions, tell stories, treat illness, celebrate important events, and maintain communal bonds. Dance therapy harnesses this power of movement in a therapeutic setting and uses it to promote personal growth, health, and well-being.
Diarrhea
It’s best to have a positive mental attitude when struggling with a bout of simple diarrhea. It may be comforting, while you’re sitting there, to realize how none of the Beautiful People has ever been spared the experience. Believe me, the likes of Oprah, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise have all been there, just like you. Be philosophical and accept your body is doing its job. Your intestines are simply struggling to deal with the water you were told not to drink, the leftovers that tasted a little funny while you were eating them, or the virus which recently arrived in your neighborhood. Of course, any episode lasting more than a week, or accompanied by fever, severe cramps, or bleeding needs medical attention. As do episodes of recurrent diarrhea.
Diabetes
Most of the people with diabetes that I see have the adult-onset type 2, which typically develops after age 40. Conventional medical treatment for this condition is certainly very good, and someone with well-controlled adult-onset diabetes can expect a perfectly normal life span. But too often, both physicians and patients consider diabetes a “medical problem”–meaning all a patient has to do is take his medicine, watch his sugar intake, and check in with the doctor every so often.
Depression
Usually when I hear someone complain about “feeling depressed,” it just means they’ve had a bad day or are feeling temporarily down. As a medical condition, however, depression is quite different: It’s a mood disorder that can range from mild but persistent melancholy, to alternating moods of elation and despair, to a despondency so severe that a person can even feel suicidal. Fortunately, there are lots of options for people with depression. At WholeHealth Chicago we suggest a wide range of treatments–from counseling, lifestyle changes, and natural therapies to supplements and even prescription medications.
I Went to the Doctor and I Left Feeling Much Better
Posted 03/10/2009 At WholeHealth Chicago we view health care differently than most conventional doctors, so when patients share sentiments like the one in the headline, it makes our day a very good one. Following the original definition of the word “doctor,” we see ourselves as teachers, not body mechanics (or in my case, someone who […]
St. John’s Wort as Effective as Pharmaceuticals for Mild Depression
Several years ago, the herbal antidepressant St. John’s Wort (SJW), best known for its excellent combination of effectiveness and absence of side effects, was dealt a serious and unfair blow by the US pharmaceutical industry. But there’s a hopeful end to this tip, so read on. In an example of how the industry’s greed will […]
Pre-diabetes Prescription Drugs
Click here for the Health Tip link. Q: My doctor told me I need to take drugs for something he calls pre-diabetes. After reading your tips on the pharmaceutical industry, can you give me any advice on whether or not I need to take them? A That’s a great question because it exemplifies how doctors […]
On Their Knees: Doctors and Med Schools before Big Pharma
Big Pharma–the multi-national companies that make up the pharmaceutical industry– gives staggering amounts of money to medical schools for research that virtually always manages to come out favorably for the company. With this much power, physicians-in-training simply don’t learn any means of treating most illnesses short of pulling out their prescription pads. And as a […]
Why I Dislike Drug Companies
If you’ve been reading this series, you already have an inkling that your health, your most precious possession, is being compromised by tacit collusion among the pharmaceutical industry, government, medical profession, and health insurance industry. Most prescription medications are prescribed unnecessarily, and you have the power to stop, or avoid altogether, some of the most […]
Why Doctors Avoid Prescription Drugs
The massive Physicians’ Desk Reference is distributed at no charge once a year to every practicing physician in the US. Weighing in at about five pounds, its 4,000-plus tissue thin pages are printed in painfully small type across three columns. With publishing costs underwritten by the pharmaceutical industry, the PDR is essentially one immense drug […]
Death By Medicine
Click here for the Health Tip link. This letter appeared in the Chicago Sun Times July 31, 2008. I hope readers appreciate the irony behind the news that Viagra may help women suffering low libido because they’re taking antidepressants. Here’s a drug with significant side effects itself to treat side effects for a drug they […]
Your Brain: Maybe You’re Depressed
Depression is the result of low levels of the stress-buffering brain chemical serotonin trying, but failing, to protect you against assaults of unchecked stress.
The same holds true for similar disorders, like anxiety, fatigue, and fibromyalgia.