Finding a New Primary Care Doctor

A Big Thanks To Leslie at Wellparents.com for this great advice Thanks to Leslie at Read more

The Rollercoaster of Life

Grandma: "I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like Read more

Sheltering at Home/Covid 19

Never in the last two decades of my career as a physician would I have imagined that we would be using the same mask to see patients all day and then sterilizing/recycling them at the end of the day. Read more

Turmeric Health Benefits

Have you ever wondered what the paste is applied to the bride and groom's faces and arms in Indian weddings?  It's actually the spice turmeric.  Turmeric is the ingredient in curry that gives it a vibrant yellow color.  Actually, Read more

COVID 19 Precautions

With the scare of COVID here in the USA now, I wanted to post a little info about boosting immunity to prevent contracting the virus. Here are some important facts about Covid-19 It is spread by contact with Read more

Natural Tips for Avoiding Colds

This cold and flu season is still upon us and unfortunately, many patients are still being plagued by these nasty viral symptoms.  Here are a few tips to try if you feel like you are coming down with something. Of Read more

Sherry's Story

Sherry has a great story.  She has been diabetic for years and she has made some massive changes!   "I have been on a lifestyle change. It has been a year following a ketogenic food plan.  When I started this journey Read more

Pharmacy to Farmacy

Many of you may know Erin-- the fabulous Pharm D that worked in our office a few years back.  Erin is a phenomenal gal and we embarked on the journey  into natural medicine around the same time.  As we both Read more

What can you eat?

When you get the blues, it’s often a comforting thing to focus on what you have, not what you lack. There is a saying about a man who pitied himself because he had no shoes until he met the man who had no feet.

There is a similar thing when transitioning to a healthier diet. As a result of watching recent documentaries, I have decided to make a major step toward a plant-based diet. I would rather make a reasonable step that is feasible than a 180-degree change that I will surely fail. Step one for me is to give up beef, pork and milk. I’ve already given up sugar, white flour, white rice, pasta and white bread…almost. I did enjoy a few slices of a semolina Italian last weekend and it was heavenly. When you decrease the amount of meat in your diet, you should be mindful of getting other kinds of protein. Non-dairy milks are a good source of protein, and yogurt and beans/legumes and nuts. Don’t avoid nuts just because they are high in calories, but do watch your portion size with nuts. Beans and legumes are an all around great choice. Today I decided to make a big pot of lentil soup for the week, stepping up the normal amount of carrots and celery for extra vitamins. You should have smelled my house. There are about 150 calories in a cup of the soup and it’s loaded with health benefits. The protein in the lentils makes you feel full. Remember too that color is a simple way to gauge the nutritional value of food. See “All About Color.” For example, in yesterday’s blog picture the color of the lunch from McDonald’s. The only color in it is the bit of lettuce and tomato on the Big Mac, and guess what the only part of that meal that is healthy is? Brown burger, brown bun, brown fries and brown Coke.
Posted on by Angela in Diet, Guest Blog, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

The Flipping Point

Our good inspirational friend Seth Godin had some rivoting words in his post this am entitled “The Flipping Point.”  Dark clouds may hang on us all at times, but we can work it out.


When people say, “The tipping point,” they often misunderstand the concept in Malcolm’s book. They’re actually talking about the flipping point.

The tipping point is the sum total of many individuals buzzing about something. But for an individual to start buzzing, something has to change in that person’s mind. Something flips from boredom or ignorance to excitement or anger.

It starts when the story of a brand or a person or a store or an experience flips in your head and it goes from good to bad, or from ignored to beloved. The flipping point doesn’t represent the sum of public conversations, it’s the outcome of an activated internal conversation.

It’s easy to wish and hope for your project to tip, for it to magically become the hot thing. But that won’t happen if you can’t seduce and entrance an individual and then another.

Before the tipping point, someone has to flip. And then someone else. And then a hundred more someones.

We resist incremental improvement in our offerings and our stories because it just doesn’t seem likely that one good interaction or one tiny alteration can possibly lead to a significant amount of flipping. And we’re right—it won’t. The flipping point (for an individual) is almost always achieved after a consistent series of almost invisible actions that create a brand new whole.

And the reason it’s so difficult? Because you’re operating on faith. You need to invest and apparently overinvest (time and money and effort) until you see the results. And most of your competition (lucky for you) give up long before they reach the point where it pays off.

 

I think of my home page on AngelaMD.com when I read Seth’s inspiring words.  If I hadn’t reached my “Flipping Point” in those dark times last Feburary, I would have remained plagued by boredom and ignorance.  It isn’t easy to pull yourself out of depression, but it is opportunity to free your mind of the baggage.  Grab on to what is important to you and allow your faith to direct you into a new reality.
http://www.sethgodin.typepad.com
http://www.angelamd.com
Posted on by Angela in Guest Blog, Mind, Spirit Leave a comment

Give and Take

Very well said Dee!  I have and regularly do change the toilet paper roll while on it!  For some odd reason, my family members are physically incapable.   I am raising teenage mutant toilet paper changers!  The infamous “MOM–BRING ME TOILET PAPER” echoes through the house at least once a week!”
Dee writes today:
This note is to women, specifically speaking to a couple of my closest friends, you know who you are. I’m of the strong opinion that most women are givers rather than takers. Men can be either one but I don’t know any women who are takers. I am a giver, married to a taker.At different places in my life I’ve reached really low lows and I actually feel like I’ve tapped into a deficit reserve, overdrawn my emotional bank account to be sure to give to the important people in my life. Lots of you do this, to a fault, despite the havoc it wreaks on your health and/or self-worth. The funny part about our performance of these super-human feats is that it’s not for any recognition or glory. There is no payment, payoff or earthly reward. The benefit is rarely an ego boost and efforts are frequently unnoticed or taken for granted.I’ve multi-tasked in some of the most humorous situations…ever sopped up water on the floor by scooting in your socks, scrubbed a shower while you’re in it, changed the toilet paper roll while your on it?

We eat cold dinner after everyone else has finished, or no dinner when unexpected kids show up.  We staple our hems and safety-pin our bras, squeezing every bit of life out of them before investing in new ones.

I’ve been called a martyr, but that was by the taker in my family, the adult one. It’s really not martyrdom at all, just what we do. Anyway girls, just be mindful of it and don’t feel like you can’t take time for yourselves, pamper yourselves, indulge yourselves. Afterall, you can’t give what you don’t have. Don’t drive on fumes!

Posted on by Angela in Family, Guest Blog, Humor, Spirit Leave a comment

Spice up your life!

Besides coffee, I love tea and one of my favorites is chai. Chai has a combination of spices that are a blast to your palette and offer great health benefits. True confession, I got really excited to remember how much I love spice when I made homemade ravioli with spinach, ricotta and nutmeg tonight. At least the nutmeg was good for me….

Cinnamon – cholesterol, diabetes, inflammation, cognition
Nutmeg – digestion, asthma, memory, anxiety, depression
Cardamom – asthma, bronchitis, digestion, circulation
Anise – cold and flu, laxative, diuretic
Cloves – analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, ulcers, indigestion
Black Pepper – digestion, nasal congestion, metabolism, respiration
For most people on a normal diet, spices are a win-win food. They add flavor to otherwise bland foods and have a lot more going for them. Check out this interesting article online that addresses the antioxidant power of spices, promoted by McCormick as their seven super spices [article].
Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Exercise, Guest Blog, Nutrition, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Lunchable Makeover (Pinterest Style)

Here is some makeover advice from crafty Dee  (a fellow Martha Stewart wanna-be)

If you look at the ingredients of a Lunchable, you will see that NOTHING in the container is nutritionally sound. In fact, eating the cardboard would likely be less offensive to a kid’s digestive system than the food contents. For example, there is a turkey-cheese-cracker combo. Let’s break that down: the turkey is processed, high in sodium, cheese is high fat, calorie rich and the cracker contains partially hydrogenated oils in addition to super refined white grains (good grain stripped of it’s value to be smoother and tastier). Sometimes there is a small candy bar, no comment necessary and a pouch of Hawaiian Punch aka sugar water. Whew! I’m done ranting.

Here is the appeal of a Lunchable to kids, it looks cute. The portions are small and fun for kids to put together and play with. The idea of a Lunchable is similar to an Asian Bento box and you can create some similarly fun boxed lunches but with much more good health inside than the processed junk.

These are some of my favorite ideas:

Sandwiches – Cut the crusts off (save them to make homemade breadcrumbs) and cut the sandwich into quarters. Pampered Chef makes a cute Cut ‘N’ Seal that cuts crust and seals the sandwich all at once. My girls used to love them. (click here for my PC website) Fill sandwiches with some sugar-free jam and a touch of peanut butter or tuna salad. Also use whole wheat mini pitas for petite sandwiches.

Fruit – Cut fruit into small shapes and put them on skewers, reminding your kids that they are not to be used for sword fights when the skewers are empty (use a coffee stirrer if you’re nervous about pointed objects). If your kids like to dip, you can make an awesome fruit dip out of yogurt with a touch of brown sugar. If you need to slice apples in advance, coat them lightly in lemon juice to prevent browning.

Peanut Pasta – This pseudo-Asian snack is fun and easy, slightly dilute some peanut butter with water and mix into spaghetti or angel hair, finish with some sesame seeds and dice in some green/red pepper if you can get away with it.

Veggies -Be creative with colors and shapes. For example, score a cucumber with a fork before slicing and you get a pretty shape around the edges, cut carrots into matchsticks and fill celery with light cream cheese coated with sunflower seeds. Dip is fun here too. If you mix some dry salad dressing mix like Good Seasons or Hidden Valley with yogurt you may even get those health benefits without them catching on that it’s not high-fat Ranch.

If you like these ideas and want more kid-friendly recipes, let me know by sending an email and I’ll send you more (without putting you on a mass mailing email list…I promise.)

Posted on by Angela in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Hell has frozen over and pigs can fly!

No, I don’t have a fever.  Am I still alive?  (Pinch-OUCH-guess so!)  I am so proud of Dee!  She actually listened to me and rented the video!  I had 2 other patients this week that did as well.  It must be a full moon or I’ll have to accept that people may actually be starting to listen to my rants and raves!

Here’s what Dee had to say about the documentary…

When I started this challenge to spend 90-days getting healthy through a better diet and exercise, Dr. Angela mentioned a few documentaries that were very powerful in hammering home the grave consequences of the Western Diet — a diet rich in animal proteins, dairy, refined grains, sugars and processed foods. One of the documentaries, “Forks Over Knives”, has some staggering statistics that demonstrate the global impact of nutrition over the centuries. For example, the average American is 23 pounds overweight with forty-percent falling into the obese category. I myself, at 5 ft. 7 in. and 190 pounds am on the overweight/obese borderline. This year, 460,000 women will die of heart disease and stroke and we are seeing dramatic increases in diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis and prostate cancer. Diabetes and hypertension are becoming diagnosed in children as young as four with one in every four preschoolers reaching obesity. This generation may well be the first generation of children who are outlived by their parents.

The United States spends 2.2 trillion dollars each year in health care, five times the budget for national defense and half of the US population is taking some type of prescription drug. Every minute, a person dies of heart disease….you get the picture. This 90-minute documentary is well-worth your time to watch. It is available on DVD, Netflix online and Hulu Plus.

“Let food by thy medicine.” — Hippocrates

“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” — Thomas Edison

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Exercise, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment