What if striving to be healthy was actually making you sick? If you are: living with the belief that you have to eat perfectly, or close to perfect, to avoid disease and/or operating within a wellness and diet culture mindset … you may be doing more harm than good to your mental and physical...
For the Love of Health: Are You a Victim of Diet Culture and Disordered Eating?
It’s official, diet culture has taken over medicine, media, nutrition, and fitness. Its deceitful messages have etched their way into healthcare and have perpetuated body size stigma, weight bias, and substandard medical care. As concerning, many nutritional and medical experts and fitness gurus are promoting orthorexic and disordered eating practices in the name of...
How Do You Know if You Have Health Anxiety?
Considering that lately many have been overly focused on their bodily symptoms, and that chronic stress can lead to psychiatric issues, I think it’s imperative that we are all mindful of our emotional state. With the current world events and the rise in mental health conditions, now more than ever it is vital to...
Could All Your Anxiety Be “False?”
Are you worried all the time? Do you struggle with brain fog, chills, muscle tension, digestive distress, and heart palpitations? It’s always important to rule out any physical cause, but when a clean bill of health by your doctor doesn’t soothe your worries or symptoms, you may be suffering from anxiety. Previously, I discussed...
What if…All Your Worrying About Your Health is Health Anxiety?
Every symptom, every heartbeat, every stomach grumble and rumble, every chill…. What if there’s something really wrong? We are living in a world where our amygdalas have been hijacked by negative news and current events. With all that we’ve been through in the past few years, it’s more common than not to be hyper-aware...
Smile, Relax…Two Ways You Can Alter Your Genetic Health for the Better
How often do you laugh? Do you carve out time to relax? I ask you these questions because your answers influence your genetic destiny and health outcomes. We’ve previously explored the science on how integrative medicine (IM) and mindful-based practices have the ability to “turn on” genes that are health promoting and “turn down”...
Changing Our Genes with Mind-Body Medicine: Part II
Previously, I discussed how various lifestyle and integrative medicine (IM) practices have the power to “turn on” genes that promote health and “turn down” cellular processes that are detrimental. Isn’t it cool to know that yoga, meditation, and mindfulness can not only positively benefit your health by calming your mind-body but also through changing...
How Mind-Body and Integrative Medicine Can Change Your Genetic Destiny for Better Health
Did you know that meditation, yoga, and mind-body practices can make you healthier? The evidence has been exploding on the many associations between mindset, lifestyle, and mindfulness-based practices and better brain and body functioning, so this is probably not surprising. Now, for a not-so-obvious connection: Did you know that these techniques can also change...
Purpose and Spirituality in Medicine with Essentially Everything About Essential Oils
Right now, we are in the midst of a fear epidemic. It can be hard to detach ourselves from the addictive nature of the news, social media, and advertising, all of which perpetuate this contagious, negative emotion. Yet, if we stay stuck in this amygdala hijack, it is to our own and society’s detriment....
How Fear Harms the Mind-Body & Using the Power of Hope and Belief to Heal from Trauma: Mindset as Medicine 3
In the previous articles in this series, I’ve highlighted how past traumas can negatively impact our mind and body. Furthermore, the unrelenting stress from the current state of our world can add to these effects. This has led to a rise in mental and physical health issues. We have the opportunity to lessen the...