In case you haven’t already noticed, the slogan for this website is “Your Natural Health Critic”. And while I tend to focus on the more positive developments in the field of integrative and natural medicine, at times it’s necessary to point out some troubling trends as well. This year’s Natural Products Expo West was an excellent opportunity to flex my critical thinking in precisely this arena. In a recent press release, Adam Anderson, a spokesman for the Anaheim-based trade show, commented that “While the economy recovers, the natural and organic industry continues to grow. 2010 metrics including attendance and hundreds of new product introductions at Expo West are proof positive of the strategic value surrounding in-person business events”. The introduction of new products to the marketplace is an opportunity to show how innovative the natural health community can be. However, more often than not, the products in question fall short of my expectations.
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Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday I walked the floor of the Anaheim Convention Center along with over 58,000 other members of the natural health community. I had my comfy Sanuk walking shoes on and a mission at hand: to survey the current trends in the natural food sector with a critical but fair eye. Some of what I saw left me hopeful, so that’s what I’ll focus on today. In my next installment on the Natural Products Expo West, I’ll discuss some of the more troublesome aspects of this colossal trade show.
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Glaucoma is an eye condition which affects approximately 2.5 million men and women in the United States alone. It is characterized by increased inner eye pressure which can cause damage to the optic nerve and, thereby, result in vision loss. Fortunately, the combination of two nutraceutical ingredients has recently shown a reduction in intraocular pressure and an improvement overall eye health. (1) Read more »

There are few topics in modern medicine that stir as much debate as nutritional supplementation. At first glance, it seems like such an innocuous subject matter. What could possibly be so controversial about the concept of supplementing in order to protect against a potential nutrient deficiency? On one side of the fence, you have some allopathic physicians who believe that supplements give license to patients to eat an unhealthy diet. Surprisingly, some on the naturopathic front share a similar perspective. They believe that the goodness found in natural, whole foods can’t possibly be matched by most supplements. In an ideal world, mankind could be expected to derive all that’s needed from the environment and food supply. But that’s a different world than the one we live in.
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One of my least favorite sayings is, “Everything in moderation”. I think it’s a problematic piece of advice for many people who think they need such guidance in the first place. You wouldn’t tell a mother to let her child eat lead-based paint in moderation. It would be foolhardy to suggest to an alcoholic or drug addict to indulge every once in awhile, provided that it’s done moderately. So why then do family, friends, nutritionists and physicians insist on passing along this ubiquitous adage when it comes to eating unhealthy food? In my opinion, it’s largely rooted in a belief that most people just aren’t capable of doing what’s right for themselves on a long term basis. But I think there’s a better solution. Read more »

Glaucoma is an eye condition which affects approximately 2.5 million men and women in the United States alone. It is characterized by increased inner eye pressure which can cause damage to the optic nerve and, thereby, result in vision loss. Fortunately, the combination of two nutraceutical ingredients has recently shown a reduction in intraocular pressure and an improvement overall eye health. (1)
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I was listening recently to an interview with Dr. Richard Bernstein that was conducted by David Edelman of Diabetes Today. During the course of the interview David posed a few specific questions that I genuinely wanted to know the answers to: “What did you have for breakfast and for lunch?”. These aren’t exactly hard hitting inquiries or the kind of material that is likely to convert anyone to Dr. Bernstein’s philosophy for controlling blood sugar. But it does offer an intriguing glimpse into how a seasoned expert applies his own recommendations to his daily life. After all, isn’t that what we’d all like to know? How do we take the concepts and guidelines presented in books, magazines and websites, and incorporate them into our regular routines? One way to accomplish this is to replace damaging diet elements with healthier options. Read more »

Last Friday I was zigzagging between exhibitor booths at the Anaheim Convention Center. One of the most pleasant surprises I discovered was the omnipresence of stevia-based items and finished products sweetened with stevia. Even the coffee shops and concession stands throughout the convention center provided only honey, sugar and stevia as condiments. There was nary an artificial sugar substitute to be found at this gathering. Read more »

There’s an old joke that goes: “If you want to hear God laugh, make a plan”. In November I hatched a plan to conduct a pilot study on a traditional herbal tea. The objective of the preliminary, mini-trial was to determine whether an herbal blend known as SLP Tea could help promote better sleep quality in a handful of my readers. I didn’t hear any divine chuckles, but not everything turned out quite as I had hoped. Initially, I enrolled 6 volunteers into my experiment. 3 of the 6 were ultimately able to comply with all of the guidelines I set for the study.
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When I was growing up I imagined that the absolute greatest job in the world was to be a film critic. What could possibly be better than making a living watching movies and then telling people all about them? But, as time went on, my perspective changed somewhat. I think it’s partially because my desire to create surpassed any interest I had in critiquing the work of others. When I started writing films myself, I began to understand how very difficult it is to write a good, let alone great screenplay. What’s more, it dawned on me that the writing process is but one small piece in a much larger production. I think this is why I’ve ultimately phased out movie review columns on this site. My original intent was to recommend obscure but noteworthy films that I hoped would entertain and inspire. But writing (and reading) exclusively positive reviews tends to be rather boring and, frankly, my initial reservations about motion picture critiquing began to haunt me once again. Read more »

According to the October issue of the AARP Bulletin, 10 of the most popular medications prescribed in the United States are used to address psychological symptoms. In fact, over 243 million prescriptions were written in 2008 alone expressly for this purpose. Anxiety, depression and insomnia top the list of conditions for which these drugs are dispensed. But that startling statistic doesn’t reveal whether or not any natural alternatives were tried prior to the use of these powerful, psychoactive agents. Read more »

Thursday is the day of the week that I venture out to my local health food store. Today’s mission: To find a crunchy snack that’s all-natural, nutritious and delicious. It’s a tall order, but I think I’ve come up with three noteworthy items that fit the bill. There’s a little something for everyone: raw foodists, vegetarians and those of us on low-carb diets. I’m even throwing in a recipe from my own kitchen that is far more versatile and easy to prepare than any other chip or cracker I’ve ever made. Please join me on this brief tour to the land of healthy snacking. Read more »

In an attempt to personalize HealthyFellow.com, I’m going to invite you all into a part of my world that only my wife and select family and friends ever venture into: our bathroom. Don’t be scared! There’s a perfectly logical reason for this. If you’re anything like me, you probably stare at the seemingly endless wall of natural hair and skin care items at your local health food store with a perplexed look on your face. The good news is that this very expression often attracts the cosmetics attendant on staff to try to rescue you from your daze. The bad news is that I rarely feel like I end up walking out of the store with exactly the type of product I was looking for. But through much trial and error, I’ve found a group of products by a single manufacturer with which I’ve experienced some success. I’m not trying to sell you anything, but rather hope that this information will assist you in finding cleaner products at a fraction of the cost and time. Read more »