The next time you grill some rosemary chicken or make a pot of Boston clam chowder with thyme, keep in mind that these fragrant herbs may be doing a lot more for your health than simply stimulating your taste buds. Recent scientific research is providing evidence that Rosmarinus officinalis and Thymus vulgaris may in fact shield us from some of the common ills that affect both the body and mind. In conducting today’s research, I was pleasantly surprised to find that these unassuming and ubiquitous herbs show a great potential impact on brain health and function.
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Here’s an intriguing question. What’s it like to live the life of a child prodigy? How would being uncommonly brilliant shape the way you see the world? Would your life be filled with more love or simply the envy of others? This is an experience that most people will never understand. A Swiss film from 2006 called Vitus attempts to explore that very topic and more.

Vitus is the name of the young, title character in the film. At a very early age, his parents discover that he has an extremely refined intellect and a prodigious gift for both mathematics and playing the piano. From the moment of that realization, it shapes all of their lives for better and for worse.
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The best type of health information is easy to apply in a real world setting. Being informed is the foundation to wellness, but having the tools to enact what is learned is equally important. To that end, I’d like to offer a brief summary of products that help me to apply the principles that I often write about here. My selections are based on practicality, price and quality. I hope that sharing a glimpse into my personal daily routine will help you to find your own tools to make a healthy lifestyle easier to manage.
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Last week, I posted a column about the potential of a low-sugar diet in the management of prostate cancer (PC). Today I’d like to share some information about a polyherbal supplement that may be an excellent accompaniment for men who are at high risk for PC. The product in question is composed of many traditionally revered herbs and spices, such as ginger root, green tea, holy basil, oregano, rosemary, skullcap, turmeric and more. But what really sets this formula apart is the considerable amount of scientific study that has been devoted to it.

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A few months ago I wrote a column about a relatively obscure sweetener known as luo han guo. It was of interest to me because it’s a natural, zero-calorie sweetener that doesn’t appear to impact blood sugar levels and may even possess some health promoting properties. The real question in my mind was how luo han guo compared to another similar sweetener called stevia. To that end, I did some very basic blood sugar testing on myself in order to compare how luo han guo and stevia affected me.
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One of the great obstacles in making dietary changes is the lack of assurance as to what the outcome will be. Will the effort expended to change translate into real world results? In certain instances scientific testing can help quantify objective improvements derived from lifestyle modification. Examples include regularly testing your blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol levels. But before even considering new health practices, most people would like to know the basis for making such a change.
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It’s part of human nature to overlook the potential of very “ordinary” things and instead seek out more exotic solutions to problems in our lives. This is very often the case in the field of natural medicine. We’re far more likely to hear about a new “superfruit” from a remote location than to read about similarly impressive features found in items available at the local supermarket. I can think of no better example of this than in the case of Zingiber Officinale, otherwise known as ginger root.
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