News and ideas worth your attention.

9 Ways to Tame Back-to-School and Back-to-Office Stress in Pandemic Times

As summer winds down and the pandemic grinds on, safe to say, many of us are heading into the fall with a sense of unease about what lies ahead. Getting a handle on how to move forward in the midst of constantly changing circumstances is something that just about everyone is struggling with right now. Vaccination, masking up and following CDC guidelines are essential. But after that, what? Despite pandemic fatigue, you simply must take good care of yourself and your loved ones and be as safe, physically healthy and mentally well as possible as we push through the next phase of the pandemic, whatever that turns out to be. No backsliding.

20 No-Brainer, Do-Every-Day Tips for Maximum Immunity Against COVID-19 and the Delta Variant

As much as we were all hoping to have COVID-19 on the run by now, it is still very much with us, with the Delta variant currently taking center stage. As the virus grinds on, continuing to follow CDC guidance and local mandates, getting the shot, masking, hand-washing and social distancing are all a big part of the ongoing battle. What else can you do to keep this unprecedented menace at bay? Do everything possible to support your immunity and remember, you’ve got a tremendous amount of control over it.

7 Ways Olives Can Help Keep You Healthy, Young and Energetic

Got olives? If not, I encourage you to start weaving these versatile, ancient fruits into your repertoire.

9 Ways to Stay Well on Your Summer Travels, Flying Adventures and Road Trips

How to avoid travel ills no matter where you roam? Think immunity, as in keeping your body – and your gut – fortified so it’s less susceptible to bugs – and better equipped to fight them off should one try to slow you down. A compromised or unbalanced gut sets you up for vacation-disrupting ills like indigestion, bloating, diarrhea, constipation – none of which you want to be dealing with while you’re trying to unwind and enjoy yourself.

How ‘Bathing’ and Grounding Yourself in Nature Heals and Protects Body, Mind and Spirit

The pandemic has served up many lessons, but one of the most positive ones has been a renewed appreciation for the great outdoors, even among those didn’t care much about it before – and I encourage everyone to carry the habit forward long after summer has set. Time spent in the outdoors and connecting with the Earth supports the health of your body, mind, and spirit, just like good sleep, wholesome foods and regular movement. Think of your time in nature as a wellness practice, an essential part of your self-care regimen, so don’t miss a dose.

Safe, Not Sorry: 5 Health-Saving Reasons Why You Need to Embrace the Precautionary Principle and Ditch GMOs

When it comes to our health, regulation usually lags behind common sense. How long did it take us to label cigarettes dangerous? To require seatbelts in cars? To squash nasty stuff like trans fats? It’s astonishing to think about what wasn’t on our society’s precautionary radar as recently as just a decade or two ago.

Become a Chocolate Connoisseur – 9 Ways to Do it Right

Chocolate is one treat that I have few qualms prescribing. When done right, high-quality dark chocolate is akin to a bittersweet multivitamin, capable of reducing oxidative stress (a root cause of illness and aging), countering inflammation, lowering blood pressure, boosting mental focus and cognitive longevity. Score! The secret of this stuff the ancient Mesoamericans called ‘food of the gods’ is its key nutrient-rich ingredient, cacao.

Effortlessly Upgrade Summertime Health with 7 Tasty Herbal Teas

Everyone loves a good health hack and one of my favorites is tea. While black, green, white and red teas have numerous benefits and are great ways to start the day, herbal teas have loads of pluses too, and no caffeine, so they won’t keep you up at night, no matter when you imbibe. Teas under the herbal umbrella -- made from flowers, dried fruits, spices and herbs -- are rich in antioxidant polyphenols which can help reduce the risk for chronic disease. We’re all for that.

8 Timely Tips to Stay Healthy in Summer’s Heat

Go easy on yourself when summer temperatures climb and the heat rolls in. Wear light-colored clothes, hats and sunglasses and drink plenty of liquids. What else can we do to avoid temperature-related ills? Check out my timely tips to help get you through the heat to come.

9 Essential Ways to Emerge from the COVID Cave – and into Post Pandemic Life

Who Owns Your Healthy Food?

Here are the five Big Food conglomerates that own some of your favorite "natural" or organic brands.

Fast and Effective Fixes for the 3 Most Common Tech Injuries

For the last 16 or so months, all those hundreds of daily, small postural compromises we’ve unconsciously made while being tethered to computers and devices, have taken a toll. These folded over, rolled and forward-jutting body shapes we’ve assumed —sometimes for hours at a time—got repeated over and over, until they started pulling millions of spines out of alignment. The result? Structural issues like back pain and hip imbalances which have triggered problems body-wide – and hardly the recipe for a productive day at the (home) office.

10 Frequently Asked Questions on CBD Use

Not long ago, it seemed like few people in the States had ever heard of cannabidiol, or CBD, much less knew what to do with it. And those who were vaguely familiar often confused it with the stuff that gets you high. Fast forward five or so years and today, CBD is everywhere, tucked inside everything from oils, tinctures and pills to candies, smoothies, bath bombs and beauty creams. Safe to say, CBD is a ‘thing.’

4 Reasons to Dive into Sustainable Sardines

Your body loves fish, and all the benefits they confer, but there are ethical and ecological concerns that come along for the ride as well. As with most things, it’s best to weigh the options carefully, and buy consciously, the healthiest, highest quality fish available.

7 Ways Laughter Makes Staying Healthy Easier

Excerpt: Just like eating your veggies and getting good rest and daily exercise, adding frequent doses of laughter to the mix is an easy and pleasurable way to support the health of your heart and brain, while also lightening some of life’s darker moments. Plus, it’s safer than any Big Pharma pill-of-the-moment. Over the years, I’ve seen laughter in action in my practice on an almost daily basis -- patients with a good sense of humor tend to heal better and faster than those who don’t.

8 Ways Prebiotics Make Your Gut Health Soar

Probiotic foods help ‘seed’ the gut, adding beneficial bacteria, which helps keep ‘bad bacteria’ in check, aids digestion and keeps nutrient absorption humming. But, probiotics are only part of the story. There’s another ‘biotic’ in the gut-supportive mix, namely the less talked about prebiotics. These are plant fibers that feed the beneficial bacteria (like, for example, the lactobacilli and bifidobacteria) in the gut – and they are essential to your gut health.

Understanding SIBO — 7 Things to Know If You’re Struggling With Gut Troubles

There are any number of belly-based ills that can make life very uncomfortable. Ailments like gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, IBS or all of the above can, in addition to making you feel lousy, interfere with your body’s ability to get nutrients to where they’re needed, negatively impact your mental and emotional well-being and set you up for serious health problems down the road. One possible underlying cause of all this unhappiness? SIBO, or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Trouble is, medical professionals often overlook it or misdiagnose it.

The Gut Sleep Connection: 15 Ways a Healthy Belly Helps Sleep

An out-of-rhythm lifestyle can throw off the gut and your sleep. And an out-of-rhythm gut can throw your entire life off-kilter – and screw up your sleep to boot. Conversely, good gut health can facilitate good sleep. So, the better you tend to your gut, the easier it will be to fall asleep and stay asleep.

11 Tips on How to Enjoy Sunshine Responsibly

Beyond just simply being drawn to the sun – its light, its warmth, the everything-will-be-OK vibe it brings – we actually need sunshine. Much like plants which harness the sun's rays through photosynthesis, our bodies use sunlight to help the skin produce the vitamin D it needs to build bones, tame inflammation, boost the immune system and protect against cancer.

Better Rhythms for Better Sleep

The biological laws that govern sleep are more potent than social obligations and work responsibilities, as well as the pharmaceuticals created to override them (we’re looking at you, Ambien). They were written back when our ancestors were living in caves and huts, waking with the sun, eating the plants provided by nature, and resting as darkness fell. Even if our lifestyles are quite different today, our DNA hasn’t changed all that much.

Protect Your Heart, Brain and Life with Sulforaphane

If I had to pick a ‘best of’ group for your body, tying for first place with leafy greens would be cruciferous vegetables, those slightly sulfuric-scented veggies from the brassica family. They’re versatile, tasty, fairly easy to grow and most importantly, they’re nutritional superstars, rich in a very powerful sulphur-based nutrient compound, known as sulforaphane or SFN, whose benefits can push your health in a very positive direction and could even help save your life.

13 Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Digestion Now

Digestion is one of those routine bodily processes you probably don’t pay much attention to. That is, until ills like bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation rear their ugly head. While some people just try to ride it out, frequent gastrointestinal distress isn’t ‘normal.’ Rather, it’s your body’s way of telling you that your digestion needs some TLC.

6 Common Drugs Your Body Needs to Try Cut Ties With

Contrary to what you might think, I’m not against medications, but I am against their overuse – and we are a nation of over-users. Lots of people think pills are harmless: they may do some good, and well, the doc said to take an Advil and call him in the morning, so why not? I’ll tell you why not. Drugs, be they prescription or over-the-counter, unbalance the system by design.

10 Essential Ways to Protect Your Gut Microbiome

A happy, trouble-free gut is the key to keeping your entire body healthy, and never more so than when we’re (still) in the midst of a pandemic. The stronger and more resilient your gut is – and the more harmoniously balanced the trillions of bacteria that live there -- the better your heart, brain, immune system and just about every other part of your body will function.