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

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Forks over Knives

Why I Hate Diabetic Educators!

No offense.  It’s not their fault.  We don’t teach them real nutrition nor do we teach any healthcare providers real nutrition.  For years, out of standard of care compliance, I have referred my diabetics to educators to learn how to eat and balance carbs/proteins.  For a very few patients, scared enough by the actual diagnosis, the diabetic education is all they need.  They forge head on counting calories and planning meals.  They check their sugars and put an obsessive compulsive plan into action.   Here’s the real problem.  We haven’t really taught any of these patients that they can reverse their disease by eating whole foods (including fruits) without counting every calorie and carb.  It wasn’t until we started our wellness program that we were forced to take into account that most patient’s don’t have time to count every carb, weigh every meal, read every label.  This plan is really hard for most with busy schedules and complicated lives.  Eating whole, non-processed food straight from the earth does not raise your blood sugar.  It’s nothing like the low-fat, low carb, processed foods that continue to deteriorate the body with additives and artificial substances.   Most dietitians and doctors are recommending these without really knowing the potential danger.  This is where we are erring with these diabetics;  telling them to get sugar-free, artificially sweetened products instead of eating real fruit is a mortal sin committed against curing their disease.  Sure, we may control their sugars but ultimately, we haven’t done any thing to provide them real nutrition and reverse their disease process.  Consider looking into “Forks Over Knives” and “Hungry for Change” if you are a newly diagnosed diabetic–you are in charge of your own destiny and unfortunately you may have to take matters into your own hands.

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Childhood Obesity

There is no controversy over the fact that childhood obesity is a huge problem in the United States.  More than enough data and research has been done to prove that 1 in 5 American children will be obese by 2020 if the current trends continue.  These are the facts, but what can we do to change things?  There are many possible actions but it all starts at the home level.  We can be more successful as parents by leading by example.  For instance, making my girls watch “Forks Over Knives” and “Hungry For Change” was a real battle;  they did however get some subliminal messages from watching those two documentaries.  I noticed they replaced the traditional peanut butter cracker after school snack with fruit.  They get more messages from me as they see me painfully wean my diet mtn dew consumption.  Changing a lifestyle and years of bad habits isn’t easy.  My theory is that if I change myself gradually, they will also.  Research shows that replacing sugar-sweetened beverages in schools could reduce obesity by 12 kcal/day, as long as children didn’t consume any extra sugary drinks outside of school.   So that is my call to action, I have to eliminate the sugar at home first.   There aren’t any distinct answers in how to change the diet of the country and healthcare on average.  But, it starts with us!  Let’s do this Marines.  Let’s work to educate ourselves on whole foods and nutrition.  Lead by example.

T. Colin Campbell does a nice 18min presentation that you can watch here:

Reference:  Wang YC, et al “Reaching the Healthy People goals for reducing childhood obesity:  closing the energy gap”  A, K Prev Med 2012

For more info on T. Colin Campbell and Forks Over Knives visit:  http://www.forksoverknives.com

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, Exercise, Family, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food 1 Comment

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 July 3, 2012 by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Common Diet Denominator

There are several brand name diets I’ve tried: Atkins, South Beach, Ultimate Weight Loss Solution, Weight Watchers, Pink…also low calorie, low-fat, vegan. With the exception of the Atkins Diet which I think should be more aptly called the “Fast Track to Coronary Disease” diet, all of the diets I’ve tried have some things in common that are really very logical. If you throw them all into a concentric circle chart, you’ll see that they all focus on this: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and water. If you’ve had a chance to watch “Forks Over Knives”, you know the shocking statistics on how eating a plant-based diet can help to reverse cancer, type two diabetes and hypertension.

In this documentary, the thing I found most interesting is a chart that shows three diagrams of the stomach. In three different scenarios, you can see what eating 500 calories of plant-based foods does to fill the stomach and to trigger receptors to let your brain know you’re full, compared to eating animal and dairy products that are calorie-rich but nutrition dense. That’s really what it’s all about. The reason that fruits and veggies are the superheros of the nutrition world is that they are jam-packed with vitamins, minerals, plant proteins, complex carbs, good fats, antioxidants…all with relatively low-calorie counts. Just for fun, I decided to see what a person could eat in one day for 1200 calories — the same number of calories as a McDonald’s Big Mac, fries and a coke. (Did you catch that? ONE lunch at McDonald’s is the equivalent of a full day’s worth of calories). Here is what you could do with 1200 calories instead:

  • breakfast:  1 C rice milk, 1 C strawberries, 1 banana
  • lunch:  4 oz. chicken, 1 C long grain brown rice, 1/2 C black beans, 4 T salsa
  • snacks:  1 C apple, 1/2 oz. almonds, 4 oz. yogurt
  • dinner:  4 oz. salmon, 1/2 sweet potato, 12 romaine leaves, 2 T salad dressing

 

 
 

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, Green Living, Guest Blog, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food 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 May 4, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Exercise, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment