Calcium Supplements: Bone-maybe: Heart-no

Calcium, long (and seemingly incorrectly) considered the panacea for bone health in older woman is finally moving out of the limelight.  With very compelling evidence mounting over the past decade that vitamin D is more of a key in terms of bone maintenance than is calcium for most people, at the same time, there are signs that perhaps calcium is not all is it cracked up to be as a supplement.  What is next?  Concern over fluoride for tooth... Read More

Insulin-producing beta cell replication sustained for four+ weeks

There has been some pretty exciting new developments in the world of diabetes care.  Not suggestions from the ADA of course, they are busy telling us all to eat high carbohydrate diets in the face of all logic (more on this soapbox another day…).  But in the realm of science, it is really starting to look promising.  This new research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Diabetes, (which is indeed) a journal of the... Read More

Life Changing Facts about Coconuts

Yes, you read that right. Coconuts.  Coconuts are fascinating things.  Why I have woken up at 4:30 this morning and decided to wax poetic about them is a whole other question, but if you are not in awe of the all-helpful coconut, you soon will be!  Behold! Coconut milk is considered very healthy in both Ayurvedic medicine and modern research.  It has been found it to have lipid-balancing qualities as well and antimicrobial properties... Read More

The Healer’s Lament

Here's hoping you'll understand I want to fell like a natural man Get up early in the morning to do what I can You can't help no one with money If you can't with your hands - Arlo Guthrie (Cooper's Lament) While this blog, as a general rule, is dedicated to the process of negotiating health – sometimes in spite of the efforts of your care providers, there is another side to this story.  It is likewise not an easy path to be a genuine... Read More

Life Lessons from the Dimsum Cart

I was in Boston last week, having lunch at our favorite dimsum restaurant in Chinatown (Chao Chow City) with my family.  We arrived right in the middle of service, and were seated along an outer edge of the flow of food carts from the kitchen.  As we sat, some carts would come our way, but for others – despite our being interested in what might be contained within – the dimsum ladies passed us by without even glancing in our direction. ... Read More

No Time for Pain: Part 2

As touched upon in the previous post, meditative traditions offer a patient-centered approach to reducing or eliminating the degree of pain medications that may be necessary to manage pain, in particular chronic painful conditions. Meditation, and indeed just about any absorptive practice (more on this term nest post) can change one’s entire physiology of pain perception and the subsequent need for medication. But how does this happen? “It... Read More