In October 2012, a documentary called “Escape Fire” made its debut. This is a must see for anyone interested in health care and especially health care reform. The movie starts out with a dedicated young family doctor who wants to care for her patients. It shows her frustration with the system and how she goes out to find a better way to practice. There is a great discussion by Dr. Andrew Weil about health care and his fellowship program at the University of Arizona. I was especially interested in this since I am a current fellow in the program.
Watch […]
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare
Healthy Stress-Free Holidays
by Marie Steinmetz, MD, DABFM
How do you approach the holidays? With dread? With excitement? Are you exhausted by New Year’s Eve? These are steps you can take to have a healthy, stress-free holiday season.
Start with nutrition
Practice mindful eating before the holiday starts. This means eat slowly and appreciate the taste and texture of each bite. Make mindfulness eating one of your New Year’s resolutions.
Make vegetables the first part of every meal. In restaurants, look at the menu before you go and look for healthy vegetable choices. If you are at a buffet, fill half your plate first with vegetables. […]
For Better Sleep, Tone Down Three Types of Noise
by Marie Steinmetz, MD, DABFM
Sleep is important. If you get too little sleep too often, you raise your risk of high blood pressure, heart failure, depression, stroke and irregular heart rhythms.
But getting good sleep can be challenging. Chronic insomnia affects 15 percent of adults, and more than half of us – 60 percent – have trouble sleeping at least some of the time.
One major culprit preventing good sleep is noise. But many people don’t know there are actually three kinds of noise that can interfere with sleep, each needing a different approach to eliminate. “Noise” doesn’t just mean loud, […]
Breast Health: It Matters Where the Estrogen Goes
by Rosemarie Rose, MD, DABFM
Many breast cancers arise in an environment of excess estrogen. Strangely, our bodies treat estrogen like a necessary evil. We need a small amount, in the right place, at the right time, to maintain reproductive health. Beyond that, estrogen is treated like a toxin, metabolized in the liver and excreted through the urine or feces.
A couple of tests can show whether the estrogen is being metabolized well and whether the bowel environment is right for efficient excretion.
One test looks at the end-products of estrogen metabolism. A compound called 2-Hydroxyestrogen is a beneficial end-product and is […]
Fibromyalgia: A Painful, Yet Real Diagnosis
By Marie Steinmetz, MD
Fibromyalgia sufferers experience widespread, chronic pain. And worse, because there is little that can be seen or measured, they also often suffer skepticism. A patient’s friends, family and even doctors may not understand the extent or severity of the pain. (more…)