Blog
The Tell-All About Your Aging Skin (Part 1)
Forty-nine-year old Amy arrived in my office and plunked down a grocery bag filled with skincare products, everything from anti-wrinkle creams to anti-aging serums. She’d even tried injections of various kinds. “I fork over half my paycheck for a herculean ritual – and it’s getting me nowhere,” she complained. Her main lament was that skincare was…
Read More5 Genes That Make It Hard to Lose Weight, and What You Can Do To Combat Them
Do you ever feel like you exercise and eat well, but don’t see positive results? I feel you. I’ve been there! The problem may be with your genes. As scientists look into weight-loss genes, they have found that people with variations of certain genes are more prone to put on weight than others. I know,…
Read More3 Surprising Reasons to Cut Back On Alcohol & Caffeine + How to Do It
Everyone knows that alcohol and caffeine aren’t always the healthiest of choices. Is moderation effective enough to avoid their negative effects, or do some people have to quit altogether? It all depends on you. I’ll start with a short survey. Then I’ll discuss how alcohol and caffeine may be affecting you. Do you struggle with…
Read MoreHow My Great-Grandmother Influenced My Functional Medicine Practice
My great-grandmother embodied healthy living. She was a whole foodist and yoga practitioner—way before these things were trendy. When she visited us, she came armed not with candies and gum like my friends’ grandmothers, but with kale, carob, and wheat-berry cookies. She drank hot water with lemon every morning and evening. She extolled the virtues of…
Read MoreMy Top 5 Health Lessons of the Year: HIIT, Blood Glucose, Divine Unrest and More!
As I close out this year and look toward next year, I want to continue what was good and improve upon it. I have a vision of myself, fully expressed, beaming love and kindness to my family, friends, and community. But I started the year not in that state. So I took the vision of…
Read MoreThanksgiving: What Gratitude Does to Your Brain
Dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin walk into a bar . . . No, I’m not going to torture you with a bad joke. Instead, I want to discuss what gratitude does to the brain. Recent research findings are a call to action for a sense of thanksgiving every day, not just the fourth Thursday in November.…
Read MoreWhy Can’t I Lose Weight and Keep It Off? (Hint: It’s Not Your Fault)
Have you tried every diet imaginable, and still find it hard to lose weight? Or maybe you lose weight, only to gain it back within a few months? Chances are your metabolism is broken. A broken metabolism is intertwined with what I call hormone misfires, which make you store fat no matter what diet you…
Read MoreDetoxification: Your Questions Answered
What does detox mean, in a nutshell? Detox is nutrient rehab. Detoxing means cleaning out the body, removing toxins, clearing out your jammed hormone receptors, and resetting key hormones. Most simply, detox is a tool of functional medicine: remove the obstacles to radical health, and add in the factors that support you. We accumulate junk…
Read More5 FAQs on Hormones and Weight Loss Resistance
What happens in the body regarding weight gain and loss when estrogen and progesterone are out of balance? Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone. It gives women hips and breasts, buffers mood, and keeps you on task by regulating serotonin. Estrogen is responsible for the first half of your menstrual cycle, it boosts sex…
Read MoreWhat Is Cortisol And How Can You Manage It?
At a basic level, what is cortisol’s role in the body? Cortisol is the hormone that governs your digestion, hunger cravings, digestion, sleep/wake patterns, blood pressure, physical activity, and your capacity to cope with stress. Cortisol is the main stress hormone and is released when you’re in a fight with your partner or mom or…
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