When Dr. Richard Lord and our team were authoring the textbook Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine (LEIFM) in 2008, a major focus of mine was on the Elements Chapter. As I drilled down into the literature around minerals, I became enamored with each of them and their unique roles. Since I’ve been blogging,…
When I was a youngin’ in my early 20’s, the low fat craze was gaining some serious traction. I imprinted hard on the concept. In fact, I specifically remember going to the grocery store with “low fat” in mind and discovering the cornucopia of foods I could consume. I was SO excited! Twizzlers? Fat free!…
This week, I was asked “What benefits do I see for my kids from all the home cooking I do with them?” “Well,” I said, being in somewhat of a mood to be difficult, “on one hand it’s hard to say definitively since my kids are not growing up in a ‘controlled’ science experiment!” But…
Last week I ran a nutrient intake analysis (NIA) on a couple of patients of the clinic; let’s call them Ava and Paige. In both these cases, weight loss is one of the primary goals. An NIA is something we regularly do with individuals that we work with to ensure that not only is their…
In 2011, WHO categorized cell phone radiation as a possible carcinogen—with good reason. If you’re not using a head set or speaker setting with your phone, it’s time to switch. Seriously. And don’t carry your phone in your pocket- or ladies, as I’ve seen done- in your bra! It’s been demonstrated that radio frequency (RF)…
In Part 1 of this 2 part blog, we defined phthalates and discussed sources. Here we’ll be focusing on avoiding exposure as well as boosting the body’s natural ability to detoxify them out of our system. Simple lifestyle and dietary changes can go a long way in helping offset the dangers of phthalate exposure. If you…
“Red, raw tongue; red, raw gut.” —Jeghers, New England Journal of Medicine, 1942. In 1942 it was understood that what was happening in the gut was often reflected in the tongue. A red, irritated tongue was thought to mirror a red, irritated gut. This was seen in B-vitamin deficiencies, glossitis and ileitis. Simply correcting the B deficiency…
You may have heard the term before, maybe have had some concerns about how it might affect your health. Like BPA, phthalates have been getting more and more exposure in the media due to their relative widespread use and potential health risk. Also like BPA, phthalates are known to be hormone disruptors, meaning they can…
Just today I was reviewing a nutrient intake evaluation with a patient of our clinic, let’s call her Trish, who is on (among other things) a dairy-free Food Plan. Since we are sometimes implementing relatively complex elimination diets in our patient population with severe allergic disease, nutritional balance requires careful attention. We regularly request diet…
Cass Nelson-Dooley and I had a great time exploring the oral microbiome in our recent podcast. It got such a great response, I asked Cass to do a follow-up blog on the topic this month. I am convinced that as research emerges, we will be addressing the oral microbiome as carefully as we do the…
