Obesity in Transylvania County: The statistics on obesity, especially in children, for Transylvania County that Stephanie Ramsey from the Transylvania County Department of Health gave us in the January 27th issue of the Transylvania Times were quite startling. She said that 39 percent of all elementary school children in TransylvaniaCounty are considered obese. This is a very scary statistic as this will become [...]
I have been involved in the world of autistic and behavioral disorders since 1996. I first worked in a pediatric occupational therapy clinic specializing in sensory integration. In college, I became an ABA therapist and continued working with autistic children throughout medical school. I wrot...
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Vitamin B12 has many uses in the body and especially affects the nervous system. It is known to cause mental retardation in developing children who are deficient in this vitamin. But does it affect the mental acuity of adults? A recent study suggests that vitamin B12 deficiency may be partl...
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Vitamin D (cholecalciferol) has been described as a vitamin, but it actually has more characteristics of a hormone than a vitamin. For instance, you make your own Vitamin D in your skin when exposed to ultraviolet light as from the sun. Vitamin D is made from cholesterol just like your sex hor...
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Statistics: In a 2006 study, almost 25% of people surveyed reported insufficient rest or sleep for 14 or more days out of every month. Over 10% reported getting insufficient rest or sleep every day. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 50-70 million people in the United States have...
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What is it? Plantar fasciosis (also called plantar fasciitis or heel spur) is caused by a degenerative process of the plantar fascial ligament. This important ligament helps hold the shape and structure of the foot. You can easily find it on your own foot by pulling the toes up; the ligament th...
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Healthcare reform in Washington is a hot topic this year, as anyone who watches even a scrap of news will already know. Unfortunately, though, healthcare reform is not actually being discussed. They are talking about the same old system of medicine that is not serving us well; the United St...
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This recipe is especially useful in the winter: Ingredients: 8 cups bone broth Carrots, onions, garlic, celery, radish, and other vegetables of your choice 4-6 Shitake mushrooms Add 2-3 pieces of Astragalus or Echinacea root (you can order this from Mountain Rose Herbs or ask at local hea...
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Hypothyroidism affects around 0.9% of men and 4.8% of women over 20 years-of-age with an additional 0.4% of males and 0.9% of females having undiagnosed hypothyroidism. Many people have mild or subclinical hypothyroidism and have no idea. [1. Bjoro, T et al. European Journal of Endocrinology ...
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Autoimmunity occurs when the body's own immune system attacks the body. This can affect literally any part of the body. Most of these conditions are pretty rare, but a few places in the body are more commonly attacked by the immune system. We often do not understand why that might be. Resear...
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Antioxidants are a requirement for health. Oxidation is breakdown of tissues. When fat is oxidized, we say it goes rancid. When iron oxidizes, it rusts. When your apple oxidizes, it turns brown. When people oxidize, they age, get sick, and eventually die. We are exposed to a lot of t...
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Naturopathic Medicine is a system using many natural therapies. Click on the buttons to the left to learn more about each type of therapy. Counseling Lifestyle counseling is one of the most important parts of Naturopathic Medicine. Without a healthy lifestyle, you will remain prone to ...
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Since the threat of a serious influenza epidemic is again in the news and on our minds, people are asking for ways to keep from getting the flu. The advice from public health officials is to wash your hands often and stay home if you feel sick. While these measures are useful, they focus only o...
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Cholesterol, as most of you know by now, is blamed for causing heart disease. It seems obvious that this must be the case, after all, isn’t heart disease caused by collecting plaques made of cholesterol? And don’t people who eat lots of cholesterol-containing foods get heart disease more o...
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One of the simplest and most important things you can do to clean up your diet and improve your health is start making your own salad dressing. When I look at the ingredient lists of most salad dressing, I see a host of problem ingredients: Sugar – often loaded with high fructose corn syrup i...
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How the Cardiovascular System Works: Basic Anatomy The cardiovascular system includes the heart and blood vessels (arteries, veins, and capillaries). The cardiovascular system is really a pump (heart) with a system of hoses (blood vessels). The blood vessels leaving the heart are called arte...
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[caption id="attachment_842" align="alignright" width="296" caption="Mild Dental Fluorosis"][/caption] Fluoride is commonly added to water supplies in the United States in an attempt to prevent dental decay, however both the safety and efficacy of this practice are in question. Research has shown...
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May 2009 Marty and I joined 125 other naturopathic doctors, students, and supporters from all over the country on May 2nd - 4th to lobby for health care reform in Washington. The event, sponsored by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), featured two days of legislative tra...
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We recently attended an employee health fair and were shocked to see that fast food was served for breakfast and the only nutrition handout provided was basically an advertisement for various fast food chains. This handout gave “worst, better, and best” choices at each restaurant based on the nu...
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July 2009 North Carolina could become the first state in the Southeast to license qualified naturopathic doctors. There is quite a long road to go with some rough hurdles. House bill 1404 (HB 1404), the Naturopathic Doctors Licensing Bill, was passed through the New Licensing Committee on Ju...
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Ingredients: Fresh Whole milk (preferably raw, never ultrapasteurized) A good organic plain commercial yogurt with live cultures (7 Stars, Stonyfield, Brown Cow) Equipment: Glass Jars (wide-mouth quart mason jars work very well) Stainless steel or glass pot large enough to hold all of...
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Bone broth is a delicious and extremely economical way to improve the health of the digestive tract. Bone broth helps soothe an inflamed digestive tract and helps to rebuild the intestinal lining. It is also an excellent source of gelatin, good fat, and minerals for your own bones. Here is a...
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Obesity in Transylvania County: The statistics on obesity, especially in children, for Transylvania County that Stephanie Ramsey from the Transylvania County Department of Health gave us in the January 27th issue of the Transylvania Times were quite startling. She said that 39 percent of all...
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Lacto-fermentation allows us to more easily digest many foods. If one looks at the digestive systems of herbivores, you will find multiple stomachs able to hold and ferment difficult-to-digest plant foods. This allows the ruminants (cows, goats, etc) to live off of grass where we cannot. We...
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How the Nervous System Works: The nervous system's main function is to regulate and coordinate the other systems of the body. It works with the endocrine (hormonal) system to perform this function. Without the nervous system to make the body function, death occurs quickly. In fact, one of the...
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The endocrine systems (also known as the hormonal system) is the second major system used to control the functions of the body. The other major system that does this is the nervous system. The two systems work together to allow proper maintenance and function of the body. The endocrine system ...
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How the Immune System Works: This is a very complex subject and we are learning more all the time, but I can give you a very simple understanding here. I will do this by giving you the order of events that occurs when you are infected with a bacteria. Bacteria breaks through one of our barrie...
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What is natural foot care? Natural foot care, like the rest of naturopathic medicine, is a holistic approach to physical medicine. It encompasses looking at the cause of physical ailments, treating them naturally with bodywork, stretching, exercise, natural anti-inflammatories, and hydrotherapy. ...
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