12 archives posted by "Gretchen Lees"

Potassium is a mineral that, once inside the body, operates as an electrolyte and becomes essential to the maintenance of proper neural and muscle function. In partnership with sodium, it helps maintain fluid volume and pH balance, and creates what’s known as a concentration gradient that [...]

Several years ago, a woman named Barbara came to me for help with weight loss. At the time, she was 52 and she had gained nearly her age in weight (42 pounds) over the previous year. She was a biology professor and she’d been passed by for tenure for [...]

I find soups especially satisfying this time of year. They’re warming, as nutrient packed as you want them to be, and since they’re the original one-pot meal, typically pretty simple to put together. Below, you’ll find three of my favorite soup recipes, which you can follow to a [...]

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, otherwise known as NSAIDs (pronounced phonetically, as in “N”said), are non-opioid painkillers that can help produce relief from a number of maladies. My patients use them to treat muscle aches, back pain, arthritis/joint pain, menstrual cramps and [...]

From Mom’s best health advice – to top doctors everywhere – soup broth tops the list of healing foods to eat when you’re feeling sick or simply need a soothing, light and nutritious meal. Varieties of soup broth include vegetable, fish, chicken, beef and bone broth without [...]

Electrolytes are electrically charged minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, that are found in your bodily fluids. They perform many important functions including helping to balance pH; transporting nutrients into cells and waste out of them; and ensuring nerve and muscle [...]

It’s fairly common knowledge that antibiotics kill some of the health-promoting bacteria that live within your gut’s complex ecosystem. Taking a probiotic supplement can support the way gut flora work together to keep that ecosystem – and you – at the healthiest. Antibiotics [...]

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect anyone subject to a huge stress, but veterans have it the toughest. More than a quarter of U.S. veterans of recent wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) have been treated by the Veterans Administration (VA) for PTSD. And that doesn’t count the veterans who [...]

You may think of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) only as an ingredient that adds a mild citrus and floral flavor to many Southeast Asian dishes. But this tropical grass has a lot of biochemical properties that make it not just good-tasting, but good for you, too. Its health-promoting power comes [...]

Dozens of peer-reviewed studies show that being outside quietly in nature lowers blood pressure, cortisol levels, heart rate and stress for days, not just momentarily. Even viewing plants has been shown to alter EEG recordings and has reduced blood pressure, pulse rate and muscle tension. This [...]