An anti-inflammatory lifestyle has become something of an obsession for me. It was thrust upon me, really, after a health incident that caused me to take a very hard look at my own lifestyle. Chronic inflammation is at the root of many of our disease processes, as we’re only just beginning to understand. I blogged about […]

It was exactly a year ago when everything changed for me. On May 10, 2011 I logged on to check my bloodwork results. I scrolled down, and stared at the screen. And the floor dropped out from under me. I had a positive result. Which, in the medical world, is a very big negative. I […]

People bat around the word superfood pretty blithely these days, which is easy, because there’s no real definition. Scientists tend to use the term “functional food” (meaning: food which provides a clinically proven and documented health benefit) but it’s not quite as sexy, is it? Anyway, I like the term superfood, but I try to reserve […]

It’s like Voldemort. It strikes such fear into people’s hearts, some of us are afraid to even speak the word, for fear of invoking the name…but let’s just say it: Cancer. Everybody is afraid of cancer. It’s the elephant in the room for many, many of my patient visits. Occasionally people will vocalize their fear, but often it’s lurking there, unsaid.  […]

When I was younger I used to avoid nuts because of their high fat content. You too? Fortunately, we now know about the blissful thing called “healthy fat“. There’s no doubt, nuts do contain a lot of fat, but most of it is the monounsaturated kind (same stuff that’s in olive oil). And that sort of fat is good for your cholesterol profile, […]

Are you a regular flosser? Yeah, me neither. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I sit in my dentist’s chair and listen to the hygienist’s heartfelt lecture on flossing…when it comes time to make good on my sworn promises…I dunno. I’m a good brusher–great brusher, in fact–but just so damn lazy when it comes to flossing. Well, […]

Is CRP a test you should be getting done? Chances are, you’ve never even heard of it. (If you have: bonus points to you!) CRP stands for C-Reactive Protein, and it’s a marker for inflammation. But we also use it as a screening test for heart disease risk.  At this point you might be asking: what does inflammation […]

I’ll admit it: I’m a little obsessed with Europe. In the past I’ve written about the French Paradox , and there’s a big part of me that would like to be reborn in this life as a French woman (and not only because spa treatments are considered part of the French healthcare system). Also, I […]

In recent years, you might have heard rumors about chocolate being good for your health. And you promptly dismissed said rumors as being way too good to be true. But this week a study was published that is seriously validating the idea of chocolate as health food. According to the folks at the British Medical Journal, chocolate is […]