Today marks yet another edition of Twitter Thursday. A special note: One of our frequently featured contributors just celebrated a birthday on Tuesday and I want to take this opportunity to give him a big shout out. Happy birthday, Dr. Weil! Many of you are undoubtedly aware of Andrew Weil and the profoundly significant role he’s played in integrating alternative and complementary medicine into the mainstream. He’s now 68 years old and continues to be a leader in the integrative health movement. Even though we don’t agree on all heath care issues, I fervently believe that he is indeed one of the good guys currently working in the healing arts. Read more »

A few years ago I gave my wife a rather unconventional gift for the holidays. It was a book of “vouchers for lovers”. In it, there were coupons that could be redeemed whenever she chose. Some of the options included requests for “alone time”, “a big kiss”, “breakfast in bed”, “a candlelight dinner”, “a foot massage” and “a weekend getaway”. I don’t know who originally conceived of this idea, but I thought it was very clever. It seemed like an excellent way for couples to give a lot without necessarily having to spend a lot. Read more »

This Monday is Labor Day in the United States. Among other traditions, barbecuing and grilling frequently play a prominent role in the celebration of this holiday. But little known guests called “heterocyclic aromatic amines” (HCAs) almost always tag along and try to spoil the festivities. HCAs are toxic substances commonly produced during the cooking of beef, chicken, fish and pork. So today, I’ll tell you how to keep HCAs from crashing the party and get rid of the HCAs to which we can’t help but be exposed. Read more »

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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There’s a trend in modern medicine in which natural substances are isolated and then transformed into artificial chemicals which can be tested, patented and eventually sold as prescription medications. This has become the accepted mode by which conventional medicine has chosen to incorporate nature into science. But a lesson that’s been learned time and time again is that science is often not very good at accurately replicating nature. A recent example of this is currently under development. It’s a work in progress and I’d like to give you a tour of the process. Our story picks up in Granada, Spain. Read more »