Posts by Sara Szal MD
Top Gut Secrets: How to Test for Dysbiosis, SIBO, and Leaky Gut
Your internal ecology has everything to do with your health. It is stunning to me that the gut is so smart and complex, yet so vulnerable. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that many lifestyle factors directly impact your gut barrier and can lead to leaky gut, including eating certain foods, drinking too…
Read MoreTop 10 Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer
With every mammogram, I think about what I would do if diagnosed this time with breast cancer. First, I’d wig. A woman’s risk of a breast cancer diagnosis is one in eight over her lifetime. Second, I’d call the five people who matter the most: Darling Husband, Mom, Sisters, and BFF. Then I’d get all…
Read MoreDr. Sara’s Book Club: Interview with Spring Chicken Author, Bill Gifford
Hi, Everyone – it’s time to engage once again with my favorite new book. This time the topic is aging, but in this book, Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying), you’ll find counterintuitive approaches that happen to be evidence-based. It’s chock full of page-turning stories and wicked humor. I enjoyed it so much…
Read MoreGut Heath: Autoimmunity and the Leaky Gut Connection
When your body is healthy, you have a powerful army that defends you against invading bugs and foreign particles, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites. That army is your immune system, and it polices your gut and blood stream for anything it deems foreign. Your immune system is a complex network of specialized cells and…
Read MoreDysbiosis Decoded: Symptoms, Why You Get It, and Link to Autoimmunity, Breast Cancer, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Plus Other Common Conditions
Dysbiosis is an imbalance in your gut flora caused by too few beneficial bacteria and an overgrowth of bad bacteria, yeast, and/or parasites. The more clinical term that relates to the problem is “Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth” (SIBO), and this term refers to the gut flora that crawled backward into the small intestine from the…
Read MoreTen Toxic Ingredients That Might Be in Your Skin Care (And What to Use Instead)
Recently, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins proposed the Personal Care Products Safety Act, which would give the FDA greater oversight over the millions of skin care and makeup products that are sold each year. This new bill would allow the FDA to recall products that are mislabeled or unsafe, require companies to submit information…
Read MoreDr. Sara Grades Different Forms of Exercise for Women: Barre Fitness Gets an “A+”
As an OB/GYN, hormone expert, and specialist in women’s health, I receive a lot of questions from my patients about their bodies. While many of the questions involve hormones and reproductive health, I am also asked a lot about physical activity. Specifically, which exercise is the best for weight loss? How do I build strength…
Read MoreThe Top 7 Books Every Woman Should Read
These are books that I’ve loved in the past few months to years. Hope you love them too! 1. Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Her two apology letters, one from the brain (p 80) and from the heart (p 82) are required reading for anyone in a relationship, because relationships will take down your adrenals…
Read MoreDr. Sara’s Hormone Reset Brownies
How can brownies be good for you? Well, these ones are. I included these in my book THE HORMONE RESET DIET because I don’t think that women respond well to a drill sergeant restricting every food. Women like to have their chocolate. And guess what, chocolate resets your cortisol. My brownies contain sweet potatoes, which…
Read MoreDr. Sara’s Top 10 Tips to Reset Your Hormones Naturally
My top tips for how to reset your hormones shifts with time, the latest scientific discoveries, and the problems my clients face most commonly. Here’s the latest game plan! 1. Wear organic lipstick. I love lipstick but it was making me sick. I recently checked my heavy metals and was stunned to learn that my…
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