Natural Health Care

Nature good for healthBorn in the city and raised with the luxuries associated with urban living, I have never been one for camping, hiking in the woods, or climbing trees in apple orchards. I never thought that avoiding nature and all of the creepy-crawlies living in it would have hurt my health, but research on the topic suggests otherwise.

Almost all teenagers and adults know how important calcium is to their bones and teeth. But few people know that magnesium is just as important to having strong and healthy bones and teeth.

A recent study out of the University of Tennessee and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society points to the often overlooked relationship between dietary magnesium intake and bone density.

A recent study in the American Journal of Public health suggests that getting enough vitamin D can help prevent breast, ovarian, and colon cancer.

Almost every person who sends me a letter or calls our clinic requesting help asks some form of the following question: what can I do right now to get better?

Although I usually end up providing unique recommendations in accordance with each person's health condition(s) and life circumstances, there are six fundamental recommendations that I share with everyone who asks for help with their health:

What's the most powerful step you can take to dramatically improve your health?

My answer is this:

Learn how to effectively manage emotional stress

All of my clinical and personal experiences over the years have me convinced that no other factor has more influence over your health.

I learned something interesting about probiotics this past week from a column in Alive magazine, a Canadian publication that can be found in most health food stores throughout Canada.

Francine Mondou, a microbiologist who specializes in manufacturing probiotics, suggests that it is optimal to take probiotics on a full stomach.

Her reasoning is based on the fact that an empty stomach has a very acidic environment - a pH of about 1.5 to 2.5. Right after a meal, the environment in the stomach becomes less acidic, rising to a pH of about 4.0 to 6.0.

Did you know that one of the reasons why laughing from the belly is good for your health is that doing so promotes a healthy lymphatic system? I'm not talking about polite laughter that we all engage in from time to time to make others feel comfortable. I'm talking about true belly laughter, the kind that can make your stomach muscles cramp up and even cause you to shed tears of jolly good fun.

Not sure how this can be? Then let's take a look at your lymphatic system to understand the important connection between genuine belly laughter and your health.

What is your lymphatic system?

An interesting study in the September, 2005 edition of the journal Heart provides useful guidance on how to use music to decrease stress and promote good health.

Just read your blog about understanding blood pressure, and I have a question. There seems to be a lot of information out there about people with high blood pressure, but what about too low - how low is too low, and what does it mean? Information about low blood pressure seems to be pretty scarce, and I think it would be a good thing for you to comment on.

The purpose of this article is to outline 13 ways that you can decrease your risk of developing any type of cancer. The following 13 ways to prevent cancer are presented in no particular order:

1. If you are going to be sexually active, be in a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who is not infected by human papilloma virus (HPV)