Author: adminEmMaMD7fzJ

Farmers Market Fog: Your Personal Guide to the Farmers Market

By Katharine Jameson These days, everything seems like it has its own catch phrase. ‘Heirloom’. ‘Artisanal’. ‘Organic’. From ‘natural’ or ‘non-GMO’ to ‘classic’, foods don’t only carry a brand name, but an often-convoluted description of what they are and the purpose they serve. Their nutrients are showcased regardless of the amount they actually contain, depending […]

Food For Thought with Kat | Back to School

By Katharine Jameson This time of year elicits memories in all of us, whether we’re sending our littles to back school or remembering our own days preparing for a new school year. Perhaps it’s the chill in the air signaling the start of a new school year or the smell of school supplies that brings […]

The Other Microbiome – The Microbes Living in Our Mouth

By Dr. Diana Kessler Surprisingly, the microbiome of the mouth is still mostly uncharted territory compared to that of the gut. Here, at the entrance to our digestive tract, live up to 10 billion bacteria – that’s more than humans on our planet! In addition, there are fungi, viruses, amoebae, and other microorganisms. I often […]

A Self-Compassionate Approach to Working with Difficult Emotions

By Suzanne Smith, MSN, NP, CMT-P There continues to be mounting evidence that stress negatively impacts the systems in our body. Many of you experience how stress manifests in your gut, impacting your quality of life. We might not even realize we are stressed, so it is necessary to become aware of stress cues and […]

How Preparation Affects The Nutritional Composition of Vegetables

By Fiona Riddle At this point, most people are well aware of the numerous health benefits of a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. Including a diverse range of different types (and colors) provides your body with fiber, phytonutrients, polyphenols and essential vitamins and minerals. What many people might not know, however, is that […]

Can Nocebo Effects be Managed in Clinical Practice?

By Sarah Ballou, PhD and Anthony Lembo, MD The Latin word “placebo” translates to “I shall please” in English, which reflects the positive quality of placebo effects. When a patient responds to placebo, it means that their symptoms have improved after taking an inactive medication, or an active medication with little physiologic evidence to support […]

Post-traumatic Stress and Gut Health

By Kerry Wangen, MD, PhD There is growing awareness about the impact of trauma on our lives and our health. Is it possible to protect our gut and maintain good digestive function when we have had trauma or even currently suffer from Post-traumatic Stress (PTS)? Yes, it is possible to make changes in our daily […]

How Antibiotics Threaten Your Health and Your Gut

By Markham Heid Infectious bacteria cause all sorts of illnesses—from food poisoning to tuberculosis. Antibiotics are a group of antimicrobial drugs that either kill or stop the spread of these harmful bacteria. “…antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. Those numbers seem poised to go way up”. While we depend on these […]

Food For Thought with Kat | Organic Omissions?

By Katharine Jameson Food choices are so confusing these days, most of us wouldn’t mind a bit of guidance to point us in the right direction. The phrases natural, non-GMO, lite, fit, fat-free and no sugar added have all supplied us with a feeling of comfort as we plod through the grocery aisles considering how […]

Food Additives and the Gut Microbiome

By Katharine Jameson Summer is defined by vacations as much as it is by ice cream and popsicles. It was Memorial Day weekend and we had invited ourselves to barbeque at my in-laws’. My mother-in-law said she would have “tons of popsicles” and I shuddered, assuming she would get the ones that are “all fruit,” […]

The Surprising Health Benefits of Chocolate

By Fiona Riddle You’ve probably come across a headline or two along the lines of “new study reveals chocolate is good for your health” or “eating chocolate everyday will help you live longer.” And who doesn’t want to believe that something as delicious as chocolate can actually be beneficial to eat every day? When you […]

Insects: The “New” Frontier

By E. Dylan Mayer I distinctly remember a class I took in my undergraduate studies at Boulder where a guest speaker came in and introduced us to the idea of eating insects. She brought our class multiple insect dishes including cricket chocolate chip cookies and cricket popcorn. Just about everyone was uneasy at the idea […]

The Role of Diet in Inflammation

By Jill Horn Though acute inflammation is an important component of innate immunity, chronic low-grade immune system activation can be harmful to one’s health. Chronic inflammation has been identified as a pathological feature shared by various chronic diseases, including metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Although the association between […]

Science Confirms That the Vagus Nerve Is Key to Well-Being

By Markham Heid Take a deep breath. Hug a friend. Reach for the ceiling and stretch your limbs. Each of these simple acts bestows a sense of calm and comfort. And each works its soothing magic in part by activating a complicated system of nerves that connects the brain to the heart, the gut, the […]

Resilience

By Jeffrey Lackner, PsyD The American Psychological Association defines resilience as the process and outcome of successfully adjusting to difficulties or challenging life experiences, especially through flexibility in thinking, feeling, and behaving. There are a number of factors that influence resilience. Some of these involve the way individuals interact with their environment. Others concern the […]

Fruit, Fiber and Blood Glucose

By E. Dylan Mayer As I have been working in the health and nutrition space for a few years now, I have learned many things I had never had exposure to in college. Something we all can agree on, and have been engrained to know from early on, is that fruits and vegetables are some […]

Time-Restricted Eating vs. Simple Calorie Restriction

By E. Dylan Mayer If you’ve been a follower of our blog for some time, you’ll know Dr. Mayer touts the benefits of time-restricted eating (TRE). There has been plenty of preclinical and clinical data showing the benefits of restricting the time of daily food intake to 8 hours, giving the gut a rest period […]

Artificial Sweeteners vs. Sugar

By Jill Horn An increasing awareness of the adverse health effects of ingesting too much sugar has led to a boom in the abundance and accessibility of sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners in recent years. Including myself, a lot of people wonder whether the ingestion of artificial sweeteners as a sugar replacement produces adverse health […]

Self Compassion is Good Medicine for Your Gut and Mind!

By Kerry Wangen, MD, PhD “Digestive issues can really impact our quality of life, social interactions, and our feelings towards ourselves and our bodies.” Digestive issues can really impact our quality of life, social interactions, and our feelings towards ourselves and our bodies. It’s not uncommon for frustration to arise when we have digestive symptoms, […]

How To Choose The Best Yogurt

By Fiona Riddle We’ve all been there, wandering down the dairy aisle trying to pick a yogurt from the dozens on display. Add in the dairy-free options and the options seem endless. All you know is that you want something healthy, and you also want it to taste good. So how are you supposed to […]

Antibiotic Use Increases Risk of Cognitive Decline

By E. Dylan Mayer Antibiotics have long been used to treat or prevent bacterial infections and can be considered the most important medications ever developed. While highly effective and potentially lifesaving in the treatment of bacterial infections, antibiotics have been increasingly prescribed for conditions, in particular viral infections for which they are completely ineffective and […]

Intermittent Fasting vs. Time Restricted Eating

By Juliette Frank The obesity epidemic and its metabolic consequences are a major public health problem both in the United States, as well as globally. While the underlying causes are multifactorial, dysregulations within the brain–gut–microbiome (BGM) system play a central role. As obesity rates hit peak levels, causing a major public health crisis, many Americans […]

Mindful Eating

By Kerry Wangen, MD, PhD “Practicing mindfulness when eating can improve digestion, increase awareness of how different foods affect you, lower your stress level, and it may help you to maintain a healthy weight.” What if there was a simple way to improve your gut health, you could start doing it today, your mind has […]

Can Breathwork Be Psychedelic?

By Sarah Abedi, MD Breathing techniques have been used for millennia to improve physical, mental, and spiritual health. Pranayama, for example, is the ancient yogic practice of controlling the breath. In Sanskrit, “prana” means life energy and “yama” means control. The goal of pranayama is to connect the body and mind. Some examples of pranayama […]

Fish Oil – A Super Pill or a Hoax?

By Emily Noronha Every evening, for the past few years, my Dad would open up the medicine cabinet, retrieve his weekly pill organizer, and take a mix of vitamins. Over the years, the supplements changed, based on the newest common cold, the trends his friends mentioned, or what his cardiologist recommended. However, one always remained […]

How Effective are Dietary Therapies in IBS Treatment?

By Jill Horn Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a disorder of altered brain-gut interactions (formerly called functional gastrointestinal disorder) characterized by symptoms of chronically recurring abdominal pain associated with altered bowel habits. Depending on diagnostic criteria used, IBS affects approximately 10% – 20% of the adult population in Western countries, and psychosocial stress as well […]

Have Processed Foods Hijacked Your Taste Buds?

By Fiona Riddle Do you ever wonder why it’s so hard to put down a bag of chips or why you keep reaching for cookie after cookie? Chances are the packaged foods that you can’t seem to walk away from contain some type of flavor enhancers that are actually designed to make it nearly impossible […]

Gut Bacteria Linked with Long COVID

By E. Dylan Mayer We know that having a rich and diverse gut microbiome is essential to preventing chronic disease and maintaining a healthy body and brain, however, we are just learning about the role of the gut microbiome in COVID-19 outcomes. There is growing evidence that the COVID-19 virus’ severity and long-term health consequences […]

The Key to Healing Ourselves — and Our Planet

By Gayle Madeleine Randall, MD Never in my 40 plus years career in medicine has it been more crucial for us to understand the connection between our own health and the health of the planet. Today, we find ourselves at a crisis point in both areas, the human health crisis, not just in this country […]

Glyphosate and Gut Health: Is Oatmeal Dangerous?

By Jamisen Cook There is nothing quite like waking up in the morning to a tasty bowl of oats. A swirl of maple syrup, a spoonful of brown sugar, or a dash of cinnamon creates a concoction that feels like eating a warm cookie for breakfast. This not-so-guilty pleasure can be a healthy, satisfying meal. […]

Stress and The Female Gut Microbiome

By Ariel Suazo-Maler There are many benefits to having a well-tuned acute stress response system. If we didn’t have this alarm system which was perfected in evolution over millions of years, our species would have long disappeared from the planet. In its simplest terms, the fight or flight response has saved our ancestors from being […]

Gluten Is Not The Enemy

By E. Dylan Mayer If you have been a follower of the diet and health space for some time, chances are you’ve heard prominent voices and many commercial entities tell you gluten is enemy #1 in our diet. A publication in 2013 convinced a large and still increasing number of people to believe that many […]

The Nocebo Effect in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination

By Jill Horn The nocebo effect refers to a negative reaction expressing itself as adverse symptoms which are mostly driven by the expectation of an individual that a negative effect will follow the administration of a medicinal dietary intervention, such as a vaccine, drug, or food item. A potentially easier way of describing this phenomenon […]

The Power of Gratitude

By Suzanne Smith, MSN, NP, CMT-P What are you grateful for? Reflect on one thing that you are grateful for right now in this moment. How does gratitude make you feel? “Gratitude is a celebration of the good things in life….” Gratitude is the feeling of appreciation that arises from within in response to something […]

Fasting: The New Diet On the Block

By Arpana Gupta, PhD and Riya Sood Most start the new year with optimistic resolutions around health and wellness. My husband and I decided that we were going to get a head start and end the year on a healthy note. While everyone was gathered around tables briming with abundance, we decided to go on […]

Trying to Quit Smoking? Your Gut Microbiome May Hold The Key

By E. Dylan Mayer According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), tobacco use remains the leading cause of morbidity and preventable death in both the United States and worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2019, approximately 14 of every 100 U.S. adults aged 18 or […]

Does a Gluten-Free Diet Help with IBS Symptoms?

By Juliette Frank The majority of patients seen for IBS treatment are either on a gluten-free diet, or have tried such a diet with mixed success. Marketing campaings have promoted a gluten free diet for a variety of common digestive symptoms ranging from abdominal bloating and pain, gas and altered bowel habits. However, the evidence […]

Will Ketamine Help with My Chronic Abdominal Pain?

By Sarah Abedi, MD Ketamine has been in the medical toolbox for a long time. With its first use as a surgical anesthetic in 1970, ketamine quickly also gained popularity for its ability to maintain hemodynamic stability on the battlefield. Unlike other anesthesia that can sometimes bring down blood pressure and respiratory rate, ketamine does […]

Can Trauma Manifest in the Physical Body?

By Sarah Abedi, MD When I learned about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in medical school, it was usually confined to my psychiatry courses. Because why else would it be anywhere else…it only affects the mind, right? I never really questioned this paradigm as I had no reason to until I started to see some particular […]

We Are Facing a Youth Mental Health Crisis

By E. Dylan Mayer Last week, the United States surgeon general spoke out and warned that young people are facing “devastating” effects on their mental health as a direct result from challenges experienced by their generation, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. The US surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, released a 53-page report stating that the […]

Discussing Women’s Health

By Ariel Suazo-Maler A more nuanced conversation needs to be had about women’s mind-body wellness. This is especially true when it comes to the connection between diet, emotional and physical health. With women making up 56% of Americans actively dieting, an unpacking of the word ‘diet’ is a necessary place to start. Ideally, ‘diet’ would […]

The 3 Ps of What to Eat in Fall: Pumpkin, Persimmon, and Pomegranate

By Jill Horn Fall is officially coming to its end and winter is about to start. Not only do the leaves turn orange and red during fall time, but so do the foods on our plates. If you eat seasonally, the benefits of which have been discussed in a previous post, you may have been […]

Microplastics and the Microbiome

By Markham Heid You’ve probably heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s the mass of plastic debris—now twice the size of Texas—that’s floating in the ocean between California and Hawaii. As if it that weren’t bad enough, four more large collections of plastic waste are spreading in the open waters of our blue planet. […]

What is Akkermansia Muciniphila—And How Can It Help Your Gut?

By The Pendulum Therapeutics Team Akkermansia (A) muciniphila is a species of human intestinal mucin-degrading bacteria (in this article, we refer to this species simply as Akkermansia). Extensive research is being undertaken to understand this microbial species’ association with several metabolic disorders. In healthy people, Akkermansia accounts for up to 4% of intestinal bacteria. Studies […]

Gut Pain? There’s an App for That!

By Luisa Scott, PhD Living with chronic pain is hard. Disorders characterized by chronic pain, like IBS, do not just affect us physically. Pain affects our emotions, our outlook, and how we interact with others. We change our behavioral patterns to try to guard against our symptoms occurring or worsening. It is common for those […]

More Exercise, Less Aging?

By Jill Horn Successful aging implies growing old in the absence of chronic illness while maintaining mental and physical well-being and successfully adapting to the changes of increased age. It is well-known that lifestyle factors can influence the process of aging in either positive or negative ways through epigenetic and other pathways. In addition to […]

Natural Ways to Boost Testosterone

By E. Dylan Mayer Testosterone is a steroid hormone with important functions for both the female and male body and brain. It is produced in men’s testicles and women’s ovaries, with some also being produced from the adrenal glands. While testosterone is important for driving physical changes in boys during puberty (increased muscle, deeper voice, […]

Is There a Difference Between Empathy and Compassion?

By Sarah Abedi, MD Empathy and compassion are frequently used interchangeably. But are they the same? Let’s discuss the subtle differences between empathy and compassion.” Empathy: Feeling what a person is feeling. Understanding empathy requires us to discuss a special part of our brain that holds mirror neurons. Found in the premotor cortex, these neurons […]