Natural Health Care

Err...hope this topic doesn't ruin anyone's appetite. It's one that I touched upon in a newsletter a few weeks ago, and given the positive feedback that it's generated, I thought it be best to elaborate and even make this topic a permanent addition to the archives.

But before we do any elaborating, here's a look back at what I wrote in my newsletter:

Just a brief post to share some details on a few items at Amazon.com that I think most people would find helpful.

As a follow-up to last week's article on the three most important determinants of cardiovascular health, this post outlines six reliable measures of how healthy your heart is.

The latest statistics on heart disease indicate that about a third of us will find out that we have heart disease just before we're about to die from it. Fortunately, modern medicine provides us with a number of tools to assess and monitor our cardiovascular health. And more importantly, we are aware of all of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Updated on December 22, 2008

With few exceptions, disease and dysfunction do not develop quickly. Disease and dysfunction tend to develop slowly, usually over many years as subtle and overt signs that mark loss of health are ignored.

I have found that many people feel that they are fine until they get diagnosed with a named condition like diabetes or hypertension. The reality is that degeneration is a fact of life - with each passing day, we lose some of our health potential. It's the pace at which our bodies degenerate that we influence through our daily choices. By understanding the main causes of disease and dysfunction, we can make dietary and lifestyle choices that promote longevity.

The main causes of acceleration of disease and dysfunction can be categorized into three groups:

Updated on December 9, 2008

One of the first points that I learned about during my education in contemporary medical acupuncture was GV-26, also known as Governing Vessel 26.

Updated on November 30, 2008

Acupressure is a healing art that involves applying pressure to specific points on your body to produce health-promoting effects.

How can applying pressure to different areas of your body help your health? The answer lies in understanding your nervous system.

Our instant-gratification society teaches us to reach for quick solutions to specific health problems. Google any health condition and you're bound to come across products and procedures that fit into this mold. Have joint pain? Take glucosamine chondroiton. Have chronic acne? Take high doses of vitamin A. Want to lose weight and have rock-hard abs? Obey the golden rule to a flat stomach (for 39.95).

Updated on October 11, 2008.

After reading the responses to the article Should Parents Spank Their Children?, some of which support spanking, it occurred to me that perhaps many parents just don’t know how else to influence their children’s behaviour. Some parents feel that spanking is the best way to teach their children not to misbehave. Some parents feel that everything else has failed and so, having run out of other options, they turn to spanking. If you are a parent, especially one who would like to begin learning about alternatives to spanking, please consider the following points.

When researchers from l'Universite de Montreal recently tested the waters of the St. Lawrence River downstream of Montreal, they discovered levels of estrogen 90 times the normal rate. These estrogens were both the natural type (estradiol) occurring in all women and men, and synthetic estrogens, like the ones found in some contraceptive medications and medications used in hormone replacement therapy.