Posts by Sara Szal MD
Dr. Sara’s 2015 Gift Guide
These are few of my favorite things that I’m either giving or have received this holiday season. Wide range of prices for all levels of splurge! Xoxo Vegetable Spiralizer $30. This slices your vegetables in a spiral so that they can act like pasta. My favorites are carrots, zucchinis, cucumbers, cabbages, turnips, rutabagas, and cucumbers. Kitchen Herb…
Read More5 Simple Ways to Detox from the Ills of Air Pollution
Whether it’s to upgrade mood, or lose weight, or have a blissful night’s sleep, most of the people in my tribe are on a personal mission to reclaim health and vitality. This can be achieved by using food as information for your hormones, adopting a whole lot of self love and tweaking your lifestyle in…
Read MoreAna Forrest Wants You to Clear Your Stuck Patterns with Yoga
My first impression when I met Ana Forrest in 2005 at a yoga workshop in St. Helena, CA? FIERCE. I gathered with 75 other yogis, mat-to-mat, in a hot room as Ana coaxed us to clear the junk, the stuck emotional debris, that hardens us and eventually sickens the body. My companion at the workshop…
Read MoreStay on the Path During the Holidays: My Top 5 Indulgences, Rituals, and Healthy Holiday Recipes
I’ve decided to think and act different Thanksgiving this year, to borrow a phrase from Steve Jobs. Not long ago, I would happily forget everything I knew about healthful eating in favor of overindulging in holiday favorites. I would overeat carbohydrates and gluten (stuffing! Yorkshire pudding!) and wake up the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas…
Read MoreNailed! Nail Polish Brands That Mess with Your Hormones (Plus the Polish I Personally Use)
New study proves that synthetic chemicals in nail polish may leach through your nails and into your bloodstream, leading to a sevenfold increase in toxic metabolites . . . . I’m doing something that feels totally weird. I’m at the nail salon in my Berkeley neighborhood, staring at a wall of pretty nail polish colors.…
Read MoreGMOs: Guilty until Proven Innocent (Plus 5 Ways to Reduce Damage to Your Gut and Brain)
Is it safe to eat genetically modified foods? What about if you eat the meat of an animal raised on genetically-modified food? At this point, the scientific community is still gathering data but my hunch is that GMs are not good for your body, and we need to apply the precautionary principle. Here’s why…. You…
Read MoreBerberine, Blood Sugar and Weight Loss
Since I saw my first patient in 1989, I’ve refined my approach to health and healing. Probably the biggest needle mover is my growing respect for plant medicine and its role in healing. My enthusiasm for berberine is in lockstep with my personal and professional experience prescribing herbs, but also as the evidence continues to…
Read MoreHashimoto’s and AutoImmune Thyroiditis
Hashimoto’s disease deserves a spot in the conversation about hormone balance, as it’s one of the most common conditions that can cause hormonal burnout and a host of vague symptoms you might attribute to other things. Before we delve into those, however, let’s recap what Hashimoto’s disease is: an autoimmune condition that involves thyroid dysfunction.…
Read More15 Reasons to Rethink Red Meat
Who doesn’t love a grilled steak, washed down with red wine? Um, potentially your microbiome, the aggregate microbes that live in your gut and play a major role in your risk of disease such as obesity, cancer, and diabetes.((Turnbaugh, P., J. et al. “An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest.” Nature 444, no. 7122…
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