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Explore the latest articles by Dr. Sara Szal, where she blends science and holistic wisdom to address the most pressing issues in women’s health, longevity, and personal transformation.
How to Eat, Drink & Be Mindful This Holiday Season
Research out of Cornell University indicates we make, on average, more than 250 food decisions on any given day. During the holidays, this number skyrockets – from sugar cookies brought in by clients to pecan pie made by a neighbor. The number of choices you have to make can be exhausting! It’s no surprise that…
The Real Truth About Sugar (The Good, The Bad, The Substitutes) – And How To Break Out Of The Cravings Cycle Once And For All
By JJ Virgin A Note from Dr. Sara… If you have a sticky relationship with sugar (no pun intended), now is the time to take action and take back control over your health, hormones and happiness. In today’s article, my good friend JJ Virgin reveals the real truth about sugar in all its forms, and…
Gluten & GMOs: The Hidden Health Hazards
For nearly 2 decades, Big Food has relied on GMOs to make plants resistant to pests, to tolerate herbicides, to survive weather changes, and to increase crop yield. Big Food, Monsanto, the FDA, and some of the scientists they support believe GM foods are safe. As a physician scientist (and one of my favorite warriors…
Dr. Sara’s Book Club #4: EatQ by Susan Albers, PhD
Do you love diet books? Read them for fun? I understand that most people just want to find ONE weight loss program that works and call it a day. But when it comes to our relationship with food, I find the wide variety of approaches absolutely fascinating. I love to learn more about what’s involved…
Thyroid Questionnaire
I love this questionnaire from Dr. Hotze, another integrative physician. It gets to the heart of whether you should be tested for thyroid dysregulation, even if your conventional doc has dismissed your concerns. I also like to use these questions to build a tracker for how you improve with different therapies, as trial-and-error continues to…
Knitting as Mantra
I cannot get enough knitting time. It’s my favorite meditation and I love the product. It’s therapeutically and aesthetically rocking my world right now. Why? I think Herb Benson, MD, a mentor of mine from the Harvard Mind-Body Institute articulated it best. “Working with yarn provides stress relief. Like meditation or prayer, knitting allows for…
Sacred Socks & Pablo Neruda
Maybe you didn’t quite get just how obsessed I am with knitting. Here’s an example: I could not properly express the joy I feel with my new socks, knitted from delicious “soft girl” yarn from local Petaluma sheep, until I came across Pablo Neruda’s Ode to Socks, excerpted way below in English and Spanish. Thank you,…
Converted
Was getting a little veggie henna applied to my lashes today on Fourth Street in Berkeley when I stumbled upon a new eco boutique in the ‘hood: CONVERT. WOW. Waltzed in and explained my organic experiment: one year – 100% organic in what I wear and schmear. No blank stare. Instead: efficient march through store, all arms…
Organic Right Up Next to Your Skin: Undies
Perhaps the most important layer in my organic experiment is my undies. Right up next to your privateness, you want no endocrine disruptors or heavy metals. Surprisingly, I found this to be one of the harder items to procure before January 1, 2011 when my experiment begins. Here in Berkeley, there’s a foxy brand called Pact. Check…