Best of the Year in Functional and Integrative Medicine – 2020
It goes without saying, although I’ll still say it again, that 2020 has been a year for the books not only in the world of Functional and Integrative medicine, but in all ways possible.
Navigating the Holidays: Voices from Our Clinic Team
Have you thought much about how you and your family are going to navigate the holidays this year?
Are You Nutritionally Prepared? Protect Your Body and Mind This Cold and Flu Season
Judging from the way 2020 has shaped up, this winter season may be like no other we’ve experienced before. Metabolic Maintenance, our sponsor this month, tells us about the mood and immune-boosting nutrients we need to have on hand for an unprecedented cold season. I have a long history with this family-owned company, going back to my days as a resident at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory. They make high-quality, novel therapeutics that I trust and use in my practice routinely. I especially like their vitamin D, zinc, and antioxidants. Don’t get caught unprepared for illness this winter. Shore up your immune defenses early so you can have a fun, safe, and healthy winter season!
5 Steps to Boost Your Immune Resilience This Winter Season
A huge part of our immune resilience comes down to the inputs we give our immune system – the food we eat and the lifestyle choices we make. These choices can either help build a strong and balanced defense system or it can weaken those defenses, encouraging them to flop, misfire or overshoot. If you’re…
The Perfect Pumpkin and Breast Cancer: An Ode to Autumn and Functional Medicine
by Melissa Parker As part of Breast Cancer Awareness month, one of our clinic’s nutritionists, Melissa Parker, MS CNS CDN, bravely and graciously shares her own story, highlighting the differing options she was offered for breast cancer treatment and why she chose to include the functional medicine (FM) path. Her experience shows just how…
The Nuances of Leaky Gut as a Contributor to Chronic Illness
Reviewed by Romilly Hodges (October 2020) Leaky gut is often written and talked about as a black and white concept: Either you have it or you don’t. And if you have it, you’ll want to ‘heal’ it. While this is true to some extent – after all, health begins in the gut, and we know…
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Skin Microbiome and Gut-Brain-Skin Axis
When you hear “microbiome,” you may think of gut bacteria first. Cutting-edge research, however, shows that the skin biome is another vital population of microorganisms that influences human health in surprising ways. From 2009 to 2019, the annual number of peer-reviewed papers examining the skin biome increased more than ten-fold. (1) Scientific interest in the topic is growing exponentially as new sequencing techniques allow the identification of previously undiscovered species, as well as novel insights into the roles they play in wellness and disease. (2)
Functional Medicine, COVID-19 & Racial Disparities: Bridging the Gaps Webinar
I am so grateful for the participation of the panel in the roundtable discussion on Bridging the Gaps in Functional Medicine, COVID-19 & Racial Disparities.
A Reckoning with Modern Medicine: One Individual’s Journey to Find Healing When Faced with Eosinophilic Esophagitis
This month’ blog is a story both painful and hopeful. Our own Juston Jaco MS, current team member in our residency program for nutrition professionals, shares his from-the-heart decades of experience with a challenging allergic condition – eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).
How Gut Health Impacts Cardiometabolic Disease
As research on gut barrier function and gut microbes (aka the gut “microbiota”) expands, more is realized about the interconnectedness of the human body. One of the surprising areas is in the way that an unhealthy microbiota is a key driver of obesity, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiac risk.