Natural Health Care

According to market research company A.C. Nielson, Americans watch an average of almost four hours of television per day. What are the consequences of spending so much time in front of the television?

Most studies concerning the effects of TV watching focus on television’s impact on children. However, the ways in which television affect us in childhood stay with us as we grow into adulthood. For example, researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand found a clear link between watching more than two hours of TV per day in childhood and smoking, being overweight, and being physically unfit in adulthood. Read more »

Blood Sugar

Before we look at some of the most common ways in which you might be damaging your kidneys, here are a few of the many reasons why having healthy kidneys is absolutely essential to your overall health:

1. Your kidneys produce a hormone called erythropoietin that has the important responsibility of stimulating your bone marrow to produce red blood cells.
2. Your kidneys produce renin, a hormone that helps to regulate your blood pressure.
   

According to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Instittute, regular intake of red meat, pork, and processed meats can significantly increase your risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Read more »

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. Mine is usually something around 105/60, but that is Read more »

One of the topics that I am most frequently asked about at our clinic is acupuncture. What is acupuncture, exactly? How does it work? What conditions are acupuncture helpful for? How is it different from acupressure? Does it hurt?
Let's take it from the top.

What is acupuncture, exactly?

Acupuncture is a system of health care that involves placing needles at specific locations throughout your body, usually for 15-60 minute treatment sessions. Over thousands of years, practitioners have learned through trial and error that placing needles in specific locations and combinations can help improve various health conditions. Read more »

If you're still going for a mammogram screening once every year or two years, please consider the following:

Over the past several months, many people have visited our clinic or written letters asking what they can do about various aches, pains, and cramps in their legs.

Here's an example of such a note that came in this past week:

I'm 83 and have a problem that has slowly developed over the past year. More and more I am experiencing cramps in my legs and inner thighs. They interrupt sleep and this morning it was extremely hurtful in my left leg. I have searched medical books that I have, but (haven't been able to find out) what is wrong.

I'm sure there is something natural that my system is lacking, but I don't know what. Is there anything you can recommend that I can try?

As a general marker of overall health status, few tests carry greater predictive weight than homocysteine.

The amount of homocysteine in your blood is one of the best objective indicators of how healthy you are and how long you are going to live.

In 1965, a 17 year-old college student tried to set a world record for staying awake. During his quest he experienced the following symptoms: visual and auditory hallucinations, increased heart rate, low blood pressure, and psychosis. After 264 hours and 12 minutes (just over 11 days), he collapsed due to profound weakness. Thankfully, he made a full recovery after sleeping 14 hours and 40 minutes. Read more »