What’s Up with the Microbes in Your Cheese?
By Jill Horn As most of us know, cheese consists of milk from which water is removed, leading to a concentration of milk proteins, fats, and nutrients. However, not everyone is familiar with the fermentation processes that are necessary for the manufacturing of cheese which largely depend on the activity of various microbial strains. A […]
Ayahuasca – Rediscovery of an Ancient Healing Approach
By Sarah Abedi, MD Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic tea that has been used by Amazonian cultures for centuries as a central element of healing ceremonies. In the native Quechua language spoken by indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Andes, aya means ancestors, souls or dead persons and wasca (huasca) means rope or vine with the compound […]
Can We Trust Our Gut Feelings?
What Is All The Hype About Ashwagandha?
By E. Dylan Mayer Ashwagandha, otherwise known as “Indian Winter Cherry” or “Indian Ginseng” or by its scientific name Withania Somnifera is one of the most important herbs of Ayurveda – the traditional system of medicine in India. Its roots have been used for thousands of years for its claimed wide-ranging health benefits.1 As you […]
Why Kindness Makes Meditation Sustainable
By Amanda Gilbert As a lecturer and teacher of mindfulness, I often get asked the question, “How do I become consistent with meditation?” Or “How can I make it sustainable?” I love when people ask this, because it means that they are looking to go deeper with their meditation practice and that they care about […]
MDMA and PTSD
By Sarah Abedi, MD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in an individual who has difficulty recovering from experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. PTSD can be associated with a variety of symptoms including anxiety, disordered sleep, irritable behavior and angry outbursts and irritable bowel syndrome. Patients with PTSD often avoid people, places and activities that […]
Why Do Healthy Foods Give Me Gas?
By Markham Heid In my household, for reasons that are obscure even to me, fart is a bad word. At some point, my wife and I must have decided that we didn’t want to hear our kids use the F-word all the time, so we adopted “toot” as a gentler substitute. Beans and other legumes […]
The Link Between Type 2 Diabetes and the Gut Microbiome
By Colleen Cutcliffe, PhD and The Pendulum Team The gut microbiome is an ecosystem that exists deep within our gut and is intimately linked to our health. Like any ecosystem, the gut microbiome is resistant and resilient to change, but at the same time highly adaptable to new challenges. These gut microbial changes can either […]
The Remarkable Rediscovery of Magic Mushrooms by Modern Medicine
By Sarah Abedi, MD Recently there has been a re-emergence of psychedelics in clinical research for its therapeutic benefits. These compounds have been used for centuries by indigenous people and ancient civilizations in ritual practices and are beginning to regain popularity in the scientific community for its potential role in depression, anxiety and PTSD among […]