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On the right side of your abdomen, just under the ribcage, is the gallbladder. A small pear-shaped organ, it supports the body’s detoxification process and, working with other organs, is crucial to the digestion of certain foods, particularly fatty foods. It’s important to understand [...]
What is the microbiome? The human body is home to over 100 trillion microorganisms, the majority of which are found in the gastrointestinal tract–also know as the “gut.” Taken as a whole, this community of microorganisms, their genes, and the functions they encode are referred to as [...]
An interesting question that people commonly ask about food and nutrition: Is there that much difference between foods grown 30 years ago and foods grown today? The answer is YES. Decades ago, conventionally grown fruits and vegetables were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the varieties [...]
Maca root (Lepidium meyenii Walp) is a cruciferous root vegetable prized by the indigenous Andean people as a remedy for stress, improving energy, and enhancing libido in men and women. It can be a great part of a high energy diet plan for athletes. Popularly known as “Peruvian [...]
From Asian cuisine to gluten-free and other special diets, rice is a staple food for many people. Yet there are a couple rice food safety tips to know. Depending on where it is grown, rice can contain one of the world’s most toxic elements: arsenic. Arsenic can be passed [...]
This is the 40 minute invited “The Science of Nature as Medicine”, guest lecture (zoom video) to Harvard’s “Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine” course I taught in January 2020, with 20 minutes of questions. Many of the references for the studies I cite can be found in [...]
There are dozens of reason why you’d want to keep a food journal or a diet diary. Whether you need to monitor eating habits to manage a health condition or because you want to lose weight, keeping a diet diary is a powerful tool for gaining insight about what, [...]
Thanksgiving is a holiday all about giving thanks (it’s right there in the name!). We hear a lot these days about the benefits of gratitude—but what does the research have to say about it? Thankfully, all the studies seem to back up the idea that practicing gratitude has a [...]
Performing a breast self-exam (BSE) at least once per month is the best way to detect a lump or other abnormality. It is best to do a BSE the same time every month. For those who are menstruating, choose a time in the month after your cycle completes. How [...]
We all have a connection with nature and living things… Explore 10 ways nature can help you heal with Dr John La [...]