10 Ways to Detox Your Home

Opening the windows is one of my favorite things about warm weather, especially after a long winter of record-breaking snowfalls and low temperatures.

Reveling in sunshine and warmer temperatures and exchanging and circulating the air inside our homes is as good for our bodies as it is for our spirits. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air can be “more seriously polluted” than outdoor air, even in the largest and most industrialized cities.

While opening the windows helps reduce exposure to environmental toxins in the air, it’s just a start. There are lots of other ways to minimize toxic exposure inside our homes and these ten tips will help you get started.

5 Reasons to Avoid Artifical Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are popular among dieters and diabetics alike.  Because they don’t contain sugar or calories, they’re often recommended for people who have high levels of blood sugar and those who are overweight. This conventional wisdom is being turned upside down by studies showing that fake sweeteners can actually promote the diseases they’re marketed to prevent including prediabetes, type two diabetes, weight gain, and obesity. Artificial sweeteners have also been linked to changes in gut flora, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancer.

Vitamin D: Should We Get it From Food, Supplements, or the Sun?

A new study found that vitamin D levels made a difference in the survival of patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The individuals who had higher levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream before they were treated with chemotherapy and biologic drugs lived longer, on average, compared to people with lower levels of vitamin D.

There's no doubt that vitamin D is important. It's a key nutrient for several systems in the body including the cardiovascular, neurological, and immune systems. And it regulates the activity of more than 3,000 different genes. Many people are deficient in vitamin D and for them the question is: Should it come from food, supplements, or the sun?

Natural and Non-Toxic Spring Cleaning

Cleaning products can contain dangerous chemicals that are often unlisted. In the United States, manufacturers are not required to disclose all of a product’s ingredients on the label, which makes it very difficult to evaluate their safety.

10 Ways to Prevent Cancer

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, just behind heart disease, so it's no surprise that more and more of my patients are asking me about cancer prevention.

Prediabetes 101

Prediabetes is a worldwide epidemic and in the United States alone it affects an estimated 86 million people. It's being diagnosed in 1 in 3 adults (20 years and older), 1 in 2 older adults (65 years and older), and almost 1 in 4 adolescents (ages 12 through 18).

5 Ways to Relax Right Now

Relaxation is an important part of reversing prediabetes, staying healthy, and reducing the risk of some of the deadliest diseases in the United States including type two diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. When I bring up the subject of relaxation with my patients, they often tell me they’re too busy to relax. It takes too much time. They don’t know how. It doesn’t come naturally to them.

They would prefer to take a supplement and get on with their day, but that’s exactly why I recommend relaxation. Because it isn’t about taking something, it’s about doing something, and because people who think they have no time to relax are usually the ones who have the most to gain from trying it.