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News and ideas worth your attention.
Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
438 written by Dr. Frank Lipman
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Oct 23, 2023 · Health & WellnessDr. Frank’s Fall Fortification Plan: 19 Ways to Stop Winter Ills Before they Start
Though we’re still a few weeks away from winter’s official start, seasonal ills are on the march, so the smart money is on prepping your body for the onslaught. The mission? To make yourself an inhospitable location for viral and bacterial opportunists attempting to take up residence – and to strengthen all your defenses so you can repel colds, flu, RSV and whatever Covid-19 variants may pop up over the next few months. How hard seasonal ills will hit this year is anyone’s guess, but now – not November or December – is the best time to focus on building up your resistance. Here’s where to start…
Oct 16, 2023 · Gut HealthHow to Manage The Six Microbiomes That Keep You Well
What researchers and the wellness community are increasingly coming to appreciate is that the human body is not just made up of human cells and a bunch of bacteria in the gut. We are a collection of microbiomes. Humans and the bacteria that live inside us co-evolved over the millennia, one giant quid pro quo – our bodies provided the bugs with a moist, warm home, complete with a steady food source, and they sustain us in a variety of ways, most numerously and elaborately in the gut. But there are 5 more less talked about but fundamental microbiomes in your body to also pay attention to if you wish to stay well.
Oct 9, 2023 · Healthy AgingAnti-Aging with Spermidine – and How It Can Save Your Brain, Heart, and Youth
Sometimes I come across cutting edge information about health therapies that just excites me, and ‘spermidine’ is a case in point. If your first response is: “what the heck is that?” you’ve got plenty of company, even though it was first discovered by the inventor of the microscope, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, way back in 1678. But only recently have scientists come to appreciate that this compound plays a valuable role in all sorts of key physiological processes and anti-aging, which, no matter your years, is a fascinating proposition.
Oct 2, 2023 · Health & Wellness30 Timely Tips to Send Autumnal Allergies Packing
For millions of people, autumn, perhaps the most gorgeous time of the year, can be a season to brace for rather than embrace. Experienced through a pair of itchy, watery eyes and a sneezy nose, the charms of the season’s colors and warm days and cool nights can be elusive. The good news is, you can tamp down much of the allergy-induced misery if you get on the defensive early in the season with a multi-pronged plan of action. So, instead of bombing your system with brain-fogging, sleep-inducing over-the-counter and prescription drugs, I advise my patients to try a more holistic approach so they can autumn with a clearer head and less wheezing and sneezing.
Sep 25, 2023 · Gut Health5 Things You Need to Know About Leaky Brain – and How to Prevent It
Here’s a new one for you: leaky brain and it’s a syndrome that everyone who has a brain needs to be aware of. Integrative doctors call it “leaky brain” and it’s remarkably similar to leaky gut but, just like the name says, at the level of the brain. The two conditions often feed off each other. Taken together, leaky brain and gut give us a much fuller picture of how a bad diet and too much stress conspire to make us feel and look less than our best, pushing us away from optimal health and towards chronic disease.
Sep 18, 2023 · Healthy Aging13 Ways Peptides Make Vibrant Health Happen
Safe to say, just about all of us want to remain as vital as possible for as long as possible. To help our bodies do that, our cells, organs and systems need to work in concert, to ‘talk’ to each other to keep everything running smoothly. Helping to keep that communication moving along are peptides, natural signaling agents which go to work inside in our cells and have a host of positive effects on our physiology. In short, they help make good health things happen throughout the body and it’s a big reason why I’m such a fan of putting peptides to work with a number of my patients.
Sep 11, 2023 · Healthy Aging6 Things to Know About the “Miracle” Drug Ozempic And Its Weight-loss Cousins
Ozempic and a handful of similar drugs have been grabbing countless headlines these days, marketed as ‘miracle drugs’ to millions of people who are struggling with weight problems, not to mention diabetes, which these drugs were originally designed to treat. But are these drugs right for you?
Sep 4, 2023 · Nutrition7 Great Vegetables That Are Even Healthier When Cooked
As everyone (hopefully) knows by now, fresh, colorful vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Simply put, your body thrives on the real, close-to-the-vine stuff. When it comes to veggies though, one question patients often ask is, which is better – raw or cooked? And the answer is, both have their merits, though it does depend quite a bit on the individual vegetable. For some, heating will destroy certain vitamins and phytonutrients, and with others, heating will amp up the nutritional haul, unleashing their full powers and making them easier to digest.
Aug 28, 2023Get Your Energy Back Quick – with CoQ10
When it comes to optimal health, everyone’s looking for a magic bullet – one that neutralizes free radicals, staves off disease, preserves organ health and rejuvenates our bodies. Turns out there is one. The cool thing is, it’s already inside of us. It’s called CoQ10 and our bodies make it. Not so cool is the fact that our bodies don’t make quite enough of it to power us through our whole lives as vigorously as we’d like – yes, aging can be a drag, literally, in this case, on your energy. So what’s the workaround? Getting more of this incredibly helpful substance into your life – stat!
Aug 21, 2023 · Healthy AgingMy 7 Point To-Do List for Aging Well – and Slowly!
One of the most frequent questions I get from my patients is: “How do I slow down aging?” I get it. Nobody wants to look, and more importantly, feel like they’re getting old. And by “getting old,” they mean losing the spark and sparkle and wrinkle-free skin they may have taken for granted in their twenties and thirties. What I tell them is, if you follow some basic rules of slowing down aging, you’ll help take care of the wrinkles on the outside of you at the same time you’re addressing the wrinkles on the inside – dysfunctions in the way your metabolism, cardiovascular system, immune system and your brain work, in other words the big things that can reduce both the quality and the quantity of your years on the planet.
Aug 14, 2023 · Health & Wellness9 Ways to Tame Anxiety Naturally
To put it mildly, we live in an anxiety-triggering era which can do a number on your mental and physical health. With life in an almost constant state of rapid, and occasionally head-spinning change, it can be a challenge for even the mentally healthiest among us to keep anxiety at bay. Doom and gloom flooding the news, social media and our everyday conversations, saturating our psyches 24/7, small wonder people are on edge these days. The good news is that while anxiety may be almost impossible to completely avoid, there are a number of toxin-and-drug-free non-addictive ways to tame the beast. Here are a few of my favorite healthy approaches to help take it down a few notches.
Aug 7, 2023 · Health & Wellness7 Physical and Mental Benefits of Vitamin Sea – and How to Get Yours
It’s as if your body and brain are telling you somewhat explicitly that they need some ‘TLSea’ – and they are: research shows that folks who live in close proximity to coastal waters report substantially better health, both mentally and physically, than their land-locked counterparts. The good news though is that even just a visit to, or a view of, a ‘blue space,’ be it any body of water, can have a positive impact on mental health, particularly on depression – so indulge in this natural treatment brought to you by Mother Earth.
Jul 31, 2023 · Healthy Aging5 Health-Enhancing and Life-Lengthening Benefits of Grandparenting
Parenting. As any mother or father can tell you, it’s not easy. Rewarding, for sure, often joyous, but it’s still a job that can sometimes feel overwhelmingly challenging. (Remember the terrible two’s? The teen years?) But, when all those years of parenting give rise to the next generation and you become a grandparent, delight becomes the default. As a very proud grandfather, it is pure joy to watch my young grandson grow physically, mentally, emotionally is a thing of beauty. And, seeing how much he loves having Janice and me spend time with him, fills us with love and gratitude as we nurture this very special, life-long relationship.
Jul 24, 2023 · Health & WellnessHow to Kick Forever Chemicals Out of Your Body and Your Life!
Over the last few months, you may have been hearing quite a bit about ‘forever chemicals,’ or PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which encompass roughly 4700+ man-made chemicals that don’t break down in our bodies or in nature and, no surprise, have the power to wreak havoc on our health. As more of the dangers associated with PFAS have come to light, safe to say the concern about these nasty toxins has radiated far beyond the wellness community to ordinary concerned citizens, which recently has resulted in almost half of the states in the U.S. enacting over 100 laws to ban or restrict the use of PFAS to help curb the chemical assault.
Jul 17, 2023 · Health & Wellness10 Ways to Use Your Brain to Break Bad Habits and Lock in Good Ones
When you come right down to it, the major part of living a healthy life boils down to developing good habits and weaning yourself off the bad ones. When you’ve got a routine that incorporates the essentials and dispenses with, for instance, regular desserts or alcohol or hours of streaming and bingeing as your unconscious default, you’re in business. This doesn’t count as a revelation – good habits are good for you, bad habits are bad. But, it's the next step, the “how,” that isn’t so obvious – what are the best ways to internalize those healthy habits and rid yourself of the compunction to do the unhealthy things?
Jul 10, 2023 · NutritionWhy Choline is So Essential for Your Health – and How to Get Yours
If you’re not familiar with choline, well, you’re not alone. In fact, choline wasn’t even recognized by American health authorities as “essential” until 1998, so it is, in its way, a relative newcomer. And, while our bodies do produce some small amounts of choline, we need to be mindful to consume a sufficient amount of this essential nutrient in our diets or else we’ll be in trouble. It turns out that choline plays a key role in many of the, yes, essential things that the human brain and body need to do, from thinking clearly to smoothly pumping blood to burning fat for energy.
Jul 3, 2023 · Nutrition9 Simple Ways to Make Your Kitchen a Greener and Healthier One
Though plenty of people still cling to their plastic, these days we know that doing so is bad news. Over time we’ve realized that plastic-based convenience comes at a high price, exposing our bodies to far too many health-bashing endocrine disruptors or EDs. What makes EDs so scary is that they have the power to wreak havoc with your hormones – think stimulating cancer development and triggering immunity, fertility, metabolic, developmental and cognitive problems - so in short, it’s time to get this crap out of your kitchen and your life.
Jun 26, 2023 · Health & Wellness9 Things to Know About Optimizing Brain Function with Nootropics
Not sure I’ve ever met anyone who’s not interested in having a well-functioning brain and as time marches on, we tend to desire it even more. There are a number of things you can do to keep your brain moving in a positive direction for as long as possible, like the usuals of high quality sleep, whole foods, no sugar and movement, but another you may wish to add to the list would be ‘nootropics.’ Though the name alone might stop you – it does have a bit of a 50’s sci-fi ring to it – the phrase comes from the ancient Greek which, literally translated, means “mind turning.” These are substances that when ingested may enhance mental performance.
Jun 19, 2023 · Health & Wellness9 Ways to Connect With Nature – the Medicine Just Outside Your Door
More than just being good for your emotional life, one fact that often gets overlooked is that connecting with nature creates incredibly positive physical changes in the body as well, making time spent in nature a powerful natural medicine, and one I happily ‘prescribe’ to all of my patients. What’s more, time in nature is one more pillar of wellness – along with good sleep, whole foods, and plenty of movement that can make or break how well you feel right now and for as long as possible in years to come.
Jun 12, 2023 · Nutrition3 Reasons to Love Organics – And 17 Ways To Buy More Of Them For Less
The increased demand for and supply of organic food has narrowed the cost differential, putting more organic options within reach for more people. Still, I know price can be a concern. That’s why I want to explain why I’m so passionate about organics and offer a few ways to help you enjoy more of them without emptying the piggy bank. In the end, investing in the cleanest, least altered, healthiest food possible is a lot less costly than a lifetime of prescriptions and doctor visits, so I feel strongly that organics are an essential investment in long-term health everyone should make. Here’s how to do it with an eye toward the bottom line.
Jun 5, 2023 · Nutrition9 Instant Health Upgrades That Happen When You Quit Booze
Everyday we’re bombarded with TV images advertising all the good things that drinking alcohol brings – fun! Spontaneity! Romance! Too bad they rarely show us the other side, the busted lives and wrecked livers that come with blatantly abusive drinking. But for a much larger group of us, it’s a more subtle erosion of the quality of life – trouble sleeping, feeling a bit dragged out and mentally maybe a step slower – that is so routine we may not even think about what’s behind it. All too often, a so-called moderate alcohol habit that may even stay within government recommendations –no more than two daily drinks for men, one for women – nevertheless chips away at our physical and mental health. It’s time we call alcohol what it is: a toxin, and as we get older, the body gets less shy about confirming its toxic status.
May 29, 2023 · NutritionMy 9 Rules of Good Food and How to Get Yours
Big Food has so dazzled us with the quantity of what they produce, it’s helped made it easy to overlook or consciously ignore quality. The result? The food we’re putting into our systems, however reasonable in cost and tasty they may be, is making us sick and ultimately contributing to shortened life and health spans -- and making a hash of our health on a global scale. I have a few thoughts on how you can beat the odds by shopping and eating smarter.
May 22, 2023 · NutritionLet’s Get Nuts: 7 Nuts That Taste Great and Boost Health
It’s hard not to love nuts. They’re portable, convenient, delicious and deliver a solid dose of nutritional goodies that help your body thrive. Eating more nuts is one simple, virtually effortless healthy habit that I encourage everyone (everyone who isn’t allergic, that is) to indulge in. Nutritionally speaking, the average nut punches above its weight (and small size), yet it’s one of nature’s most often overlooked superfoods! Whether you’re trying to snack smarter or add more flavor and texture to your morning oats and lunchtime salads, nuts are always a great idea.
May 15, 2023 · Nutrition7 Ways to Balance Your Brain, Belly and Mood with Food
In a post-pandemic world, depression and anxiety are all too common afflictions, but before you reach for the pills, consider the plate, that is, the food you eat every day. It can have a major, and all too often, underappreciated, effect on your mood. Why? A lot of it has to do with the role of the bacteria in your gut, the microbiome, which play crucial role in maintaining your emotional well-being. Feed the good bugs in your belly what they want, they, in turn, will take care of you.