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

disease

“When I let go of who I am, I become who I will be”—Day #1

“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.” -Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything)

When I was a little girl–the words “become a professional and don’t expect someone else to take care of you” were gently and repetitively etched into my head.  I think that is why I aspired to become a doctor.  I didn’t want to do law, I have no passion for rules.  A business owner seemed too processed for me.  I wanted to help people.

When I was in college after already committing my life to become a doctor, I became terribly ill and landed a spot in the hospital.  My doctor at the time told me “You are not going to die”  That phrase I will never forget because at that moment–I felt like I might.  I was then forever indebted to becoming that person who would reassure a patient that their darkest hours were not at hand.   I studied hard and abstained from activities my peers were engaged in only to persue my dream.  Eleven years ago my dream came true and I was finally the doctor starting practice and ready to change the lives of many.  I was trained to treat every disease with the best of medicines and could conquer any patient’s complaint.  Unfortunately, those concepts drastically changed as I continued to evolve as a person and was touched by each patient that I met.  After ten years of medicine I could feel myself beginning to change but I wasn’t quite sure just what the change was.  Then the day Susan came in I began to have a greater focus.

A few years ago, Susan, a popular vet in the local community with 4 boys, came to me tearstricken and upset.  She had developed an autoimmune disease seven years before that had debilitated her to the point that she was unable to function as the woman, mother, and wife that she had once been.  Tears welled in my eyes during that annual visit as I noted her spirit and life’s luster being eroded by the burden of her disease.  I told her … “I am no superwoman, I have no answers for you.”  We could only pray together that things would change.

The following monday morning she called and said  “My pastor pulled me aside after church on Sunday and told me he had dreamt I got a second opinion and was healed.”  I immediately called a physician who I had not seen since residency.  He was leaving for a mission trip to Haiti the next day and the only way he could see her was if she could be there in thirty minutes.  Ironically, she had no patients scheduled that day, had a babysitter for her kids, and was already having lunch in the area.  He told her that it wasn’t a disease, it was an allergy.  He hadn’t a clue as to what she might be ingesting that would cause this severe reaction. Eventually, she discovered that she had to eliminate red dye # 40 from her diet and she is 100% healthy now.

I have spent countless hours walking in the woods and enjoying my own family.   Yet, I continue to watch many other patients struggle with their inability to share the same pleasures in life.  I have now realized that I have been on the wrong track.  We dont need to cure and treat disease–we need to prevent it!
All the years of training to to heal people have proven that I have been coexisting with them.  I must shift my role to help them before the diseases takes hold.  I must help my patients change themselves.  I realize that the best way to change the world is to change yourself.

Thus—I will simply become who I am by letting go of what I thought I was and hope to do the same for those who come to me for help.

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Labor Day Recipes

Happy Labor Day weekend!  The long weekend brings lots of get togethers with food as the main agenda!  Don’t waste your weekend slaving behind the stove—
Instead, load up your slow cooker with one of the following crowd-pleasing dishes. I’ve listed the  recipes in countdown order— if you have a favorite, please chime in below. Happy Labor Day!
10) Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup. This is filling, delicious, and is different enough to gain lots of attention on the buffet table. Easy to stretch by serving rice, and fixen’s like sliced avocado and tortilla chips.
9) Lima Bean Casserole Cassoulet. I love serving this to guests and listening to the conversation. “what type of beans are these?” “I’m not sure. some sort of large pinto beans or something?” I usually wait until the pot is practically empty before coming clean that they were lima beans.
8) Honey Lentils. Delicious, nutritious, vegan vegetarian, and such a fun offering to bring to a picnic. I get the nicest emails about these lentils!
7) Pesto Spinach Lasagna. I need to run to the store to pick up the ingredients for this! You have never had a better vegetarian lasagna. So so good.
6) Hirino Psito. This is a wonderful main dish to serve to guests. Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and beer mix together to create a savory sauce that perfectly compliments the sweet contrast of brown sugar and cranberries. Win!
5) Brie with Apricot Topping. To make this more user-friendly for guests, insert an oven-safe dish into your large slow cooker and load the ingredients into the dish. Then remove the dish (use mitts!) and serve with your favorite crackers (we like Glutino a lot). Do not add water in the crockpot around the dish.
4) Pomegranate Beef. When we host a dinner for new friends, I usually make this. This keeps picky older relatives happy, along with the kids (note to self: I need to update some of these photos!). I’ve made this for television audiences, and served it at the Disneyland Food & Wine Festival, where the kitchen chefs gave rave reviews, which made me cry. This recipe was also featured on Oprah.com!
3) Cream Cheese, Sausage,  and Rotel Dip (mommy crack). The ingredients are odd, the taste is not. Make this and you’ll be happy.
2) Potluck Beans. We can’t have a potluck countdown without potluck beans, now can we? These beans have bacon. Nuff’ said.
1) Original Taco Soup. Feeds a bunch, easy to throw together, and everyone LOVES it. This has been our number one potluck bring along for the past 12 years.
 
Honorable mention: Black Beans with Cilantro. I ran out of numbers— this is a great bean recipe.
Enjoy your long weekend!
Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food 2 Comments

Ranch Dressing

Nothing goes better with those raw veggies than ranch dressing!  I am personally addicted to ranch and would eat it with almost anything.  However, with my recent nutritional education journey-I have decided that it’s time to substitute my processed version of this sugar loaded dressing with something a little healthier–Here is what I tried–

Paleo Ranch Dressing

1 cup olive oil

1 cup coconut milk (use canned for thick texture)

1 Tbs dijon mustard

1 tbs onion powder

1 tbs garlic powder

2 tsp Dill

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp chives

4 Tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp parsley

Combine all the ingredients in the blender or the Ninja and Voila!  A healthy version of Ranch!

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Essential Oils

 

Ever wonder why you immediately feel calm and relaxed when you walk into a spa for that much-anticipated massage after a long week?  The aroma of the spa is invigorating and uplifting.  Spas often use essential oils that have positive effects on the hypothalamus and limbic system in our brains.  Thus, they immediately relax us and detoxify our thoughts.  Our noses know exactly how to harness the healing power of plants which is why oils can be so effective in the healing process.  Essential oils have been used for centuries in traditional cultures for purification and medicinal purposes.  Essential oils can be inhaled as well as applied topically to penetrate cell membranes thus enhancing cellular function.

Beware–when buying essential oils, quality is key.  Synthetic oils found in most health food stores can be toxic.  They are created with solvents and high heat that damages the plants.  The companies that make them also often use chemicals to extend their shelf life.  You must get therapeutic grade oils that use steam distillation as a water extraction process and not chemicals

For more info on essential oils visit:

HOME

 http://www.youngliving.com

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Conventional Diet Wisdom

 

Conventional diet wisdom is wrong!  Changes in our diets have occurred as a result of the agricultural revolution 7,000 years ago.  Unfortunately, the more recent industrial revolution has happened  so quickly that our genes haven’t had time to adapt.  Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes were virtually nonexistent before we rapidly changed our diets.  Our ancestors for more than 2 million years ate meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.  Grains like wheat and corn, soybeans, and sugar were not part of their diet.  The processed foods that we are consuming now only contain food like substances and not nutrients.  If you don’t believe me–go into Walmart and count how many healthy looking people over the age of 30 you see.  More food for thought—Watch this tidbit about the Paleo Diet.

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Crazy Weight Loss

I was recently reviewing the current fad diet trends and had to ask myself–what are these people thinking?  My guess is that women are so desperate for the truth that they are willing to try absolutely anything.  These top trends are shocking.

1.  The Feeding Tube Diet—the new hot fad for brides-to-be is placing a feeding tube thru the nose into the stomach that provides a continuous protein drip at around 800 calories a day.  With no solid food, weight loss is inevitable.  Really???  That’s a sexy look for your new husband on the wedding night!

2.  Body Wraps–Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kim Zolciak, tried this wacky trick.  They wrap you in elastic bandages and then you stay in motion for 60 minutes and the inches are squeezed off your body.  Really??  How do you move once mummified?

3.  Tape Worms–these wacky dieters will ingest a parasite in pill form and it grows and attaches itself to the intestine.  Since the parasite eats all the food you ingest–weight loss and nutritional deficiencies are inevitable.  Really??  Who cares if you are skinny if you are pooping worms!

The bottom line is–diets don’t work!  You have to change your lifestyle in order to lose weight.  Throw away the scales and focus on health!  Whole unprocessed foods are healthy–and if you eat only those when you are hungry, you will never have to worry about fad dieting again.

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Pea Juice!

A big thanks to Green Bean Delivery this week for providing our family with the perfect combinations of fruits and veggies to give our family a jump-start each am this week.  Emma slept in this am (much-needed rest for a very tired little 5 yo who played hard outside yesterday) and this fabulous forty-year old made PEA JUICE.  Yep, you got it! Pea juice.  I stole this little concoction from  http://www.juicingadvice.com

 

Pea Juice

1 bag of sugar snap peas

1 honeydew melon

fresh ginger

Throw the sugar snap peas (pod and all) into the juicer.  While that is juicing, chop the ginger (a little goes a long way) and cut the melon rind away and de seed the melon.  Then throw that in and serve chilled with some ice and yippee!  A healthy morning PEA!

Eat those veggies folks–but, if you can’t stand to eat them—Juice them!

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

Food Additive Intolerance

Are foods or food additives making you sick?  Could it be as simple as Susan’s cure for Lupus by eliminating Red Dye #40?  Well, here is my solution for you—Order an ALCAT test!

Many years ago Lucretius expressed the basic concept for The ALCAT Test. He stated, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Now more than ever, diet plays a critical role in preventing a wide range of degenerative diseases and premature aging. The immune system is a double-edged sword. It should react appropriately and protect against infection when confronted with harmful invaders or “infectious agents” like viruses or bacteria. Unfortunately for some, exposure to common foods, chemicals and molds may trigger chronic activation of the immune system. For over 20 years The ALCAT Test has provided healthcare professionals and their patients with a tool for managing a wide variety of conditions linked to chronic activation of the immune system, such as:

● Digestive Disorders

● Migraines

● Obesity

● Chronic Fatigue

● Aching Joints

● Skin Disorders

● Autism

● And many more…

 

The ALCAT Test differs from other food allergy or intolerance tests as it accurately and objectively measures leukocyte cellular reactivity in whole blood, which is a final common pathway of all mechanisms. The test utilizes electronic, state of the art, hematological instrumentation. Standard allergy tests, such as skin testing or RAST are not accurate for delayed type reactions to foods and chemicals. They measure only a single mechanism, such as the effect of mast cell release of histamine or the presence of allergen specific IgE molecules. Delayed reactions to foods and chemicals are NOT IgE mediated.

The ALCAT Test also differs from standard IgG tests in that they rely exclusively on one immune pathway, serum levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG). In fact, high food specific IgG titers are indicative only of exposure, not necessarily intolerance.

The ALCAT Test reproducibly measures the final common pathway of all pathogenic mechanism; whether immune, non-immune, or toxic. It is the only test shown to correlate with clinical symptoms by double blind oral challenges, the gold standard.

 

Test Results

 

The ALCAT Test results are presented in an easy to understand, color-coded format. They highlight each patient’s incompatible foods and the level of each reaction (severe, moderate or mild).

 

 

 

Wondering if you have a food intolerance? Order an ALCAT blood test online and find out yourself.

Please contact Angela MD at doc@angelamd.com

or

Call 317-217-2626 and ask for Michelle (AKA-superjuicer)

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Healthcare Reform

Thanks to the Forks Over Knives crew for summing this up so concisely!

 

The United States Supreme Court’s decision last week on health care reform brought the subject back into the spotlight. We released the below statement through social media, which was shared by thousands.

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

Asparagus? Who Knew?

Thanks to sheriff Jim for sharing this tidbit with Angela MD!  Being a cancer survivor himself, he is always willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to share healthy information with others!  Did I mention that he is one hilarious guy!  I did not write the following article.  I did however feel that it was worth sharing.  I don’t have the original article yet but it is cited in the excerpt below.  Enjoy the power of the green veggies!  Eat your veggies people, eat your veggies!

Asparagus Remedies:

My Mom had been taking the full-stalk canned style
asparagus, pureed it and took 4 tablespoons in
the morning and 4 tablespoons later in the day. She did
this for over a month. She is on chemo pills for Stage 3
lung cancer in the pleural area and her cancer cell
count went from 386 down to 125 as of this past week.
Her oncologist said she will not need to see him for 3
months.

THE ARTICLE:

Several years ago I met a man seeking asparagus for a
friend who had cancer. He gave me a copy of an article,
entitled “Asparagus For Cancer” printed in the
Cancer News Journal, December 1979. I will share it
here, just as it was shared with me: I am a
biochemist, and have specialized in the relation of diet
to health or over 50 years. Several years ago, I learned
of the discovery of Richard R. Vensal, D.D.S. that
asparagus might cure cancer. Since then, I have worked
with him on his project. We have accumulated a number
of favorable case histories. Here are a few examples:

Case No. 1,
A man with an almost hopeless case
of Hodgkin’s disease (cancer of the lymph glands) who
was completely incapacitated. Within 1 year of starting
the asparagus therapy, his doctors were unable to
detect any signs of cancer, and he was back on a
schedule of strenuous exercise.


Case No. 2
, A successful businessman, 68 years old,
suffered from cancer of the bladder for 16 years.
After years of medical treatments, including radiation
without improvement, he began taking asparagus. Within 3
months, examinations revealed that his bladder tumor
had disappeared and that his kidneys were normal.Case No. 3,

On March 5th 1971, a man who had lung
cancer was put on the operating table where they found
lung cancer so widely spread that it was inoperable.
The surgeon sewed him up and declared his case
hopeless. On April 5th he heard about the Asparagus
therapy and immediately started taking it. By August,
x-ray pictures revealed that all signs of the cancer had
disappeared. He is now back at his regular business
routine.Case No. 4,

A woman had been troubled for a number of
years with skin cancer. She developed different skin cancers
which were diagnosed by the acting specialist as advanced.
Within 3 months after beginning asparagus therapy, the skin specialist said her skin looked fine with no more skin lesions. This woman reported that the asparagus therapy also cured her
kidney disease, which had started in 1949. She had over 10
operations for kidney stones, and was receiving government disability payments for an inoperable, terminal, kidney condition.
She attributes the cure of this kidney trouble entirely to the asparagus treatment.I was not surprised at this result as `The elements of
materia medica’, edited in1854 by a Professor at the
University of Pennsylvania , stated that asparagus was
used as a popular remedy for kidney stones. He even
referred to experiments, in 1739, on the power of
asparagus in dissolving stones. Note the dates!
We would have other case histories but the medical
establishment has interfered with our obtaining some
of the records. I am therefore appealing to readers to
spread this good news and help us to gather a large
number of case histories that will overwhelm the
medical skeptics about this unbelievably simple and
natural remedy.

For the treatment, asparagus should be cooked
before using. Fresh or canned asparagus can be
used. I have corresponded with the two leading  of asparagus, Giant and Stokely, and I am satisfied that these brands contain no pesticides or preservatives. Place the cooked asparagus in a blender and liquefy to make a puree. Store in the refrigerator. Give the patient 4 full tablespoons twice daily, morning and evening. Patients usually show some improvement in 2-4 weeks. It can be diluted with water and used as a cold or hot drink. This suggested dosage is based on present experience, but certainly larger amounts can do no harm and may be needed in some cases.

As a biochemist I am convinced of the old saying that `what
cures can prevent.’ Based on this theory, my wife and I
have been using asparagus puree as a beverage with
our meals. We take 2 tablespoons diluted in water to
suit our taste with breakfast and with dinner. I take
mine hot and my wife prefers hers cold. For years we
have made it a practice to have blood surveys taken as
part of our regular checkups. The last blood survey,
taken by a medical doctor who specializes in the
nutritional approach to health, showed substantial
improvements in all categories over the last one, and
we can attribute these improvements to nothing but
the asparagus drink. As a biochemist, I have made an extensive study of all aspects of cancer, and all of the proposed cures. As a
result, I am convinced that asparagus fits in better
with the latest theories about cancer.Asparagus contains a good supply of protein called
histones
, which are believed to be active in controlling
cell growth. For that reason, I believe asparagus can
be said to contain a substance that I call cell growth
normalizer
. That accounts for its action on cancer and
in acting as a general body tonic. In any event,
regardless of theory, asparagus used as we suggest, is
a harmless substance. The FDA cannot prevent you
from using it and it may do you much good. It has
been reported by the US National Cancer Institute, that
asparagus is the highest tested food containing
glutathione
, which is considered one of the body’s
most potent anticarcinogens and antioxidants.

Just a side note…
In case you are wondering why this has
not been made public, there is no profit in curing cancer!

 

Posted on by Angela in Body, cancer, Diet, disease, Green Living, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment