Click here for the Health Tip link. The first nervous e-mails from patients began arriving over the weekend. While there are many unknowns, this swine flu A H1N1 virus is brand new–it’s not been detected in North America before now. If you’re curious about the facts on swine flu, click here for the CDC’s rundown. […]
Yoga: Getting Started
Clinical studies from around the world have shown that students of yoga are healthier than the rest of the population. They have more energy, better strength and joint flexibility, are more relaxed, have lower blood pressures, slower pulses, stronger hearts, better sleep, improved digestion, and more positive outlooks on life. Emotionally, yoga students have increased self-awareness, better coping skills, and a more relaxed approach to any stress, whether on-the-job or in a family crisis. This may be partially due to the slew of feel-good endorphins, including serotonin, released during yoga postures.
Stress Less: Yoga
Click here for the Health Tip link. If you want to take a major step in reversing whatever problem ails you, sign up for a yoga class and stick with it. There are now classes in virtually every community large enough to have paved roads. Even if you live in the middle of nowhere, you […]
My Annual Smoking Rant
Click here for the Health Tip link. You needn’t bother reading this if you’re a non-smoker or you don’t know a soul who still smokes. If you do know a smoker, do a favor and forward this piece. You never can tell. Your forwarded e-mail might trigger the decision to quit and believe me, an […]
Saving a Bundle on Healthcare, Part 2
Click here for the Health Tip link. If you use nutritional supplements and alternative therapies as part of your health care, you may finally be compelled to thank the Republicans for something you’ll like (that was not an easy sentence for me to write). It was during the Bush administration that the concept of Medical […]
Saving A Bundle on Your Health Care
Click here for the Health Tip link. A recent public survey revealed that the most pressing problem with our health care system was not that so many people were either underinsured or without insurance altogether, but that health care–all aspects of it–was just too expensive. Patients, including doctors themselves when they or their families become […]
Laugh Your Troubles Away
Click here for the Health Tip link. It’s been one tough day. Your boss chewed you out for something that was clearly her own doing and your computer crashed. The dry cleaner lost your favorite suit. Your car is making an odd but expensive-sounding noise. But wait–don’t pull a blanket over your head or reach […]
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 […]
Saving A Bundle on Your Health Care, Part 3
Click here for the Health Tip link. Let’s say that you’re among the numerous unemployed whose COBRA benefits are expiring. Or you’re among the under-employed who aren’t eligible for your employer’s health insurance. For the first time in your life, you realize you don’t have health insurance. Maybe you lie awake at night wondering what […]
Our Missing Nutrients
Click here for the Health Tip link. “Empty calories.” “Overweight and undernourished.” These are the phrases used to describe millions of Americans. Waddling though our now half-empty shopping malls, chowing down on a Mrs. Field’s cookie for the energy to get us to that distant food court, we wonder, “What, in this Land of Plenty, […]
Can You Trust the NYT?
Click here for the Health Tip link. After three patients and health tips readers sent me copies of a decidedly smug article in the New York Times blasting the public’s gullibility regarding vitamin supplements, I felt I had to say something. The article reports that the public seemingly ignores numerous large “well-controlled clinical studies” that, […]
Anti-Aging Supplements
In a previous health tip, I discussed what I considered to be the pointlessness of spending your hard-earned money seeing a specialist in anti-aging medicine. This tip is for those curious about anti-aging supplements. But first, a quick list of the current theories about why our bodies age: Genetic Genes are probably overrated, but if […]
Breast Thermogram
Click here for the Health Tip link. We’ve had so many inquiries from women about breast thermograms during the past year that we decided to do some homework before offering it to our patients. The test’s complete name is “digital infrared thermal imaging,” or DITI. For the test, your breasts are photographed with an infrared […]
Your Bones Need More Than Calcium
Click here for the Health Tip link. Most people know that calcium supplements are recommended for healthy bones. If you’re really up on the latest data, you’re also adding a good dose of vitamin D3 and magnesium to the mix. However, bones are living tissue and require many other nutrients as well to maintain a […]
Toxic Food Syndrome, Part 2
Posted 02/06/2009 What surprised me most about toxic food syndrome (TFS) is the number of chronic medical conditions that have been linked to it. Now certainly not every person with one of the following conditions can attribute the symptoms to toxic foods, but if I or a family member was suffering from any of these, […]
Toxic Food Syndrome
Posted 02/03/2009 • A 35-year-old woman who has had two unsuccessful sinus surgeries and still remains chronically congested.• TR, 44, described by the rheumatology department of a leading Chicago teaching hospital as having “seronegative rheumatoid arthritis,” meaning she had all the features of rheumatoid arthritis but her blood tests were negative for the condition.• A […]
Less Stress: Aromatherapy
Click here for the Health Tip link. You’ve probably seen one of those aromatherapy displays in health food stores and thought, “One of these days, I’m going to learn something about aromatherapy.” I admit that confronting the 40-odd different oils put me off aromatherapy for a long time. Too many options paralyzed me into indecision. […]
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 […]
Oprah: Poster Child for My Book, The Triple Whammy Cure
Click here for the Health Tip link. It comes with being a doctor, I suppose. I just can’t keep myself from reading about illnesses of the rich and famous. So when I saw Oprah’s name linked with the words “depressed,” “overweight,” and “thyroid,” I had to explore further. You can read about her major health […]
Mayo Clinic Sells Its Soul
Click here for the Health Tip link. The moment I saw the title of the “research” article comparing the effectiveness of the non-generic statin Lipitor to the generic version of the statin Zocor on the cover of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, I knew its conclusion without reading it. My first thought had to do with the […]