The thyroid, perhaps the most sought after diagnosis in medicine because, for many women struggling with weight, fatigue and hormonal symptoms, the thyroid stands as the holy grail of hope.

Many mistakenly believe that if they could be identified as having a thyroid problem, they would be able to take medicine and once balanced, would experience weight loss, energy, sex drive, and improved sleep.

However, this all in one thyroid is a myth. There are no overnight ways to regulate thyroid and modern medicine offers little if any hope because conventional thyroid medication is mostly a synthetic blend. The thyroid is a big problem but it is never alone and when weak, cannot be fixed by some thyroid only therapy, the things that we commonly think of as thyroid symptoms are really indications of a hormonal system that has reached its breaking point.

These symptoms are:

• Fatigue
• Weight Gain
• Sleep Disturbance
• Mood Changes
• Thinning skin and hair
• Muscle pain and weakness
• Low libido

 
...

A recent study has reminded me just how altered our societal views on fats in foods have become. Fats are often demonized as the reason for obesity and heart disease and cholesterol rising, but the reality is much more complex than that. 

The term fats can be applied to anything with the chemical structure of fat meaning containing lipids. However not all lipids are created the same and some, usually ones that are actually not recommended by mainstream science are the ones we need the most of. As with most health topics, much of what has made it to major media has been altered and pushed forward because it supports large financial interests over true nutritional ones. 

Many fats are good fats; in fact, some like pasture-raised meaning grass-fed butter like Kerry Gold from Ireland are great fats and should be a major part of everyone’s daily diet.  Of course, this is the point where many begin to mentally panic, remembering every time their doctor has warned them...

There will forever be a debate about if and how much vitamin support is needed for a healthy long life. Some believe that everyone needs a multi, B vitamins, and minerals; others recommend replacing every nutrient in large amounts citing the declining state of our soil and thus the declining mineral and vitamin content of our foods.
Others advocate for a strong diet with minimal accessory supplementation used only to make up for what cannot be found sufficiently in the diet. Each side has good arguments and in reality, both sides are right. However, taking vitamins is not as simple as just taking a capsule or a tablet, because none of these nutrients were supposed to enter our bodies as little pills.

Pills have a drawback that cannot be surmounted; they represent a manner of medicine unfamiliar to our bodies. No matter how many years someone has taken them, vitamins are not normal. That being said, sometimes we must supplement what our food is lacking, but only after we have ensured...

I have always found it amazing that ash from a volcanic eruption can travel all the way around the world. It is easy to forget how connected everything is, that ash, or water, or even emotions from one part of the world can travel the entire globe. Although we live in an ever-expanding world of internet and media connection, often our everyday actions get isolated in our thoughts as being just of our life.
I have struggled with this so many times over the years, how to remember and check in with my daily actions and their total impact on the world. If someone is sick on the other side of the world, I can't help but know it must affect me, or perhaps I am affecting it.

If ash can travel, and now food travels, and insects travel, and water travels, then what about chemicals, pesticides, EMF waves, viruses, bacteria, parasites?  When I go to the store and buy food did that food cause destruction somewhere else?  
And thinking forward, could seven generations eat and live the...

Today can be the first day of renewed attention on your health. 

So often people wait for a specific moment or event to start or restart attempts to improve their health.  But why wait, every day is a new beginning and every
action no matter how small is amazing and significant. 

So even if today you just drink one more glass of water or eat a few more vegetables it is an accomplishment and it matters!

This time of year, people seem to become very hard on themselves.  
I see it in the patients I sit with, many feeling anxious, and pressured and overly fatigued.  This end of year season should not fill us with anxiety, it should fill us with hope. In the Chinese calender this is the most yin month of the year.  Yin is the darkness, cold, stillness and quiet.  And culminating at the 21st, this is the most dark, cold, still, and yin month.  Yet, in that darkness and stillness lies a promise of light, and warmth and return.

Being mindful of the return of the light in all aspects of our lives will enhance and propel us into the next months with strength and purpose.  Instead of running from the cold and dark, embrace it, sit in stillness every day, breathing deeply, and finding appreciation for the quiet and darkness because they give us time to rest.  Biologically there is great purpose in being still during the winter, it preserves and replenishes...

Bipolar disorder affects 2.3 million Americans. The mood fluctuations, depression and accompanying fatigue, sleep problems and occasional body pain can drastically affect every aspect of ones life. Many people struggle to find an appropriate treatment protocol, often moving from one drug to another, and investing years in counseling, doctor visits and missed work.
What most are never told by their Psychiatrists is that there are good natural medical alternatives to conventional treatment that can be used safely in conjunction with traditional therapy or independent of it.

Before beginning any natural medical treatment, do research to ensure that you are working with a qualified practitioner. Naturopathic Medical Doctors are qualified practitioners who have spent four years in medical school learning the basic medical sciences and spending two years in supervised clinical training. Although Michigan does not license naturopathic physicians, there are web sites that such as ...

Via the Plymouth Observer

Doctor focuses patients on education, nutrition
BY BRAD KADRICH
STAFF WRITER

After Rev. Linda Lowery suffered deep-tissue injuries and muscle problems following a February 2006 car accident, she said doctors told her she was going to have to live with excruciating pain.

Since she found Breathing Waters Health Center in Plymouth Township some six months later, Lowery said she's feeling much better.

I love this place; it's a God-send," said Lowery, a minister in outreach ministries around metro Detroit. "Where there was hopelessness, there is hope. There is no more despair."

Lowery attributes that to Breathing Waters' owner, Dr. Julie TwoMoon, who opened the center in May 2006. TwoMoon, 31, is a naturopathic doctor who believes many health problems suffered by people are caused by an over-indulgence in food and medication, along with nicotine and alcohol.

TwoMoon, a 2003 graduate of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore., thinks doctors...

Nutritional needs are determined by a few key factors. First, the overall stress burden on the body, second the digestive ability of the body and third previous exposure to diminished nutrient quality. People living with cerebral palsy have an increased need for adequate nutrition because of the increased stress burden of the body and because the multiple interventions common among people with this condition create an environment of diminished digestive ability. Essential nutrition must begin at birth and then be considered a critical part of all ongoing care. There are five basic rules of optimal nutrition that can be paired with four basic supplementation guidelines and the use of acupuncture that will magnify and improve overall health, energy, inflammatory response and quality of life in most people living with CP. The guidelines do not vary much from the optimal nutritional needs of all people; however, when there is a greater need in the body, it is essential for good...

Introduction to Toxicity

Toxicity cannot be ignored as a primary instigating factor in health decline. Everyone has previous and ongoing toxin exposure. Chemical elements are in our food, water, furniture, carpet, paint, cleaning supplies, fragrances, the air and even our clothes. Complete avoidance cannot be done. That being said, it is imperative that our bodies be properly supported so that we can deal with, safely process and remove as much of these compounds as possible. This process requires properly functioning lymphatic, liver, kidney and digestive systems, something not commonly found in most people.

Why?

Imagine, if you have been exposed to a multitude of chemicals every day of your life and then, in addition, you don’t always eat the right foods, sometimes you sleep too little, sometimes too much, you don’t always exercise, your life has excessive and ever-expanding stress and more often than not, you always have more to do than you have time for. The above...