Balance Health Blog

Meal Plans Without

2009-05-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

by Anthony Thompson

Every once in a while, I come across a service that is such a good idea that I have to find out how it came about. This week I received information about a web site that offers meal plans for people with food sensitivities, mostly gluten and dairy sensitivities. The site is Meal Plans Without. In a previous post, I discussed the importance planning what we eat and portioning our meals so that the most beneficial foods make up more of our diet. How much more difficult this is if you have food sensitivities? So, when I heard about this site, I knew it was something I had to share.

The president of the company, whom I spoke with, has a sensitivity to gluten. Her battle with trying to plan out meals that would meet her needs and also be enjoyable for the rest of her family was the impetus for the web site. The site was put together with the help of 2 nutritionists, a professional chef and her husband, who handles the technical side. What they have done is set up a program of flexible menus that allow you to plan your meals and shopping for a week at a time. This can be done in just minutes on your computer and you are able to print out a shopping list to take to your local grocery store.

There are also some hidden benefits as well. They try as much a possible to use whole foods and to avoid specialty "gluten free" or "dairy free" products because these tend to be expensive. I think this is a real advantage because you can find many specialty products online, yet is expensive to include these in your diet on a day to day basis. Another advantage is that most markets will have the products, so you don't have to shop online or at specialty markets. While this site can also be valuable for those of us just looking to eat better by cooking for ourselves, it is a real find for those of us that have to follow a restricted diet.

Herb Info - Astragalus

2009-04-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

by Anthony Thompson

Names Common: astragalus, milkvetch root; Chinese (pinyin): Huang Qi; Botanical: Astragalus membranceus, variants - Astragalus mongholicus (1), Astragalus propinquus (2), Astragalus gummifer (3).

Description

Astragalus is one of the herbs that I often get questions about. Astragalus is in a category of herbs in Chinese medicine that boost immunity. It is not as strong as the more famous ginseng but it is more versatile. It is part of the pea family (Fabaceae) and its root is the part that is used in herbal formulas.

Usage

Traditionally, Astragalus is used to build more energy (Qi) in the body. This is useful in many circumstances. When someone becomes sick easily because their immune system is weak, Astragalus can be used over time to strengthen their immunity. When someone is weak after a serious illness or stroke, Astragalus is used to strengthen the body and promote healing. In such cases, Astragalus is usually used in high doses with other herbs that promote healing. These herbs combine and make the overall effectiveness stronger (4). Research in China has shown that Astragalus stimulates the production of blood cells (both red and white blood cells), decreases blood pressure and protects the liver from damage (5).

Modern research in the West has focused on the immune building properties of Astragalus, where it is being used in cancer research and for treatment in HIV/AIDS (6). In the West, awareness of this herb is gradually growing and therefore, more and more research is being done. In the next few years, we should have a more complete understanding of the effectiveness of this herb.

Safety

The relative safety rating is safest (7). In traditional usage the maximum dosage was 120g, which is quite high. There is no standard dose and dosage recommendations vary widely.

There a few drug interaction concerns that you need to be aware of. Astragalus may affect the peripheral circulation, so if you are taking anti-hypertensive medications, consult your physician. Also, there is a possibility that Astragalus may affect immunosuppressant drugs and those with autoimmune diseases. This possibility is only theoretical but you will want to consult a professional if you are taking these drugs or if you have an autoimmune disease (8).

The Word on the Street

I feel that Astragalus mostly lives up to its advertising. I see it being advertised as an energy tonic or immune booster, which are its main uses. Since it is a relatively safe herb and it is being used for what it is meant to be used for I have few concerns. My only concern is that in cases where someone has an autoimmune disease or someone is recovering from a serious illness or accident, Astragalus needs to be taken under supervision so that it is administered properly and effectively.

Sources

Chen J, Chen T. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry: Art of Medicine Press; 2004: 847.
Astragalus membranaceus. Wikipedia web site. accessed April 27, 2009. available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astragalus_membranaceus.
Skidmore-Roth L. Mosby’s Handbook of Herbs and Natural Supplements: Third Edition. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby; 2006: 67.
Chen J, Chen T. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry: Art of Medicine Press; 2004: 848-850.
Ibid: 850-851.
Skidmore-Roth L. Mosby’s Handbook of Herbs and Natural Supplements: Third Edition. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby; 2006: 68.
Chen J, Chen T. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry: Art of Medicine Press; 2004: 852. [tested in mice with intraperitoneal injection: LD50 40 g/kg]
Skidmore-Roth L. Mosby’s Handbook of Herbs and Natural Supplements: Third Edition. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby; 2006: 69.

Herb Info - Safety Ratings

2009-04-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

by Anthony Thompson

This post is information that will support future posts on specific herbs. One problem with most information I find about herbs is that there is little relevant discussion on the safety of herbs. Most web sites, blogs or books talk a lot about the benefits of herbs or about the possible dangers of herbs but none of this discussion is framed in a context that gives consumers an easy way to compare various claims. While therapeutic effectiveness and dangerous side effects are important, there is a way that we can look at the safety of different herbs in relation to each other and in relation to other substances, including pharmaceuticals. There is an internationally recognized system of testing for toxicity (hence relative safety) of any substance. This system is called LD50 testing.

LD50 Testing

LD50 is a form of testing, usually performed on rats or mice, that determines the relative toxicity of a substance. The animals are given varying high doses of the test substance. The LD50 level is the dose that is lethal for 50% of the population. (Wikipedia 2009) Though this is certainly cruel for the rats and mice, it provides researchers with a valuable tool. They can look at these numbers and see how toxic different substances are in relation to each other. We can use these same numbers to compare the safety of various herbs in relation to each other and other substances.

A Relative Safety Rating

I am going to use these numbers to set up a rating system in simple English to show how safe substances are relative to all others. First, let's look at some of the details. An LD50 rating is expressed as number of grams or milligrams per kilogram. This is the dosage amount of a substance required per kilogram of body weight to produce death in 50% of the population. Here's an example; caffeine when tested in rats has LD50 rating of 192 mg/kg. (Wikipedia 2009) That means that if you give a dose of 192 mg/kg of caffeine to any population of rats, half (50%) will die. So how do we translate these numbers into a meaningful rating system, below I have broken down the LD50 ratings into five broad categories with a descriptive title for its relative safety.

Safest - these substances have an LD50 of greater than 10,000 mg/kg (10g/kg). In this category are water, table sugar and vitamin C. It would be very difficult to maintain doses high enough to be lethal with these substances. It is possible but highly improbable because most of these substances can be quickly broken down and excreted from the body.
Safe with proper use - these substances have an LD50 of greater than 500 mg/kg (0.5 g/kg) but less than 10,000 mg/kg (10/kg). Ethanol (grain alcohol), table salt, many pharmaceuticals and most medicinal herbs fall into this category. With these substances you need to know what dosage is safe and stick to it. If you are not sure what is safe, consult a professional.
Safe with supervision - these substances have an LD50 of greater than 100 mg/kg (0.1 g/kg) but less than 500 mg/kg (0.5g/kg). These are generally pharmaceutical substances that require a prescription. You will want professional supervision to determine dosing.
Dangerous - these substances have an LD50 rating of greater than 1 mg/kg (0.001 g/kg) but less than 100 mg/kg (0.1 g/kg). Many of these are poisons but some pharmaceutical drugs also fall into this category. They should only ever be used under strict supervision.
Extremely dangerous - these substances have an LD50 of less than 1 mg/kg (0.001 g/kg). Most of us will never have access to anything this toxic. These substances are strictly regulated in most countries. The one that everyone seems to know these days is Botulinum toxin (Botox), which is so toxic that its LD50 level can only be estimated. (Wikipedia 2009)

This rating will appear only to give readers a general idea of the safety of a particular herb. There are, of course, specific safety considerations for each herb that should also be taken into account. Examples are possible drug interactions and possible side effects of the herbs themselves. These must be weighed along with the relative safety rating when considering if an herb might be helpful for you.

Source
Median Lethal Dose. Wikipedia web site (English version): 2009. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LD50. accessed April 24, 2009.

Supplements: know what you are taking

2009-04-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Dietary and herbal supplements are widely used in the U.S. and poorly regulated. This poses some serious risks to consumers. As an herbalist with many years of training, I find that there are few in the general public, including MD’s, nurses and other health-care professional, that have even a fundamental understanding of what herbal medicine is; its potential and its dangers. The gamut of opinion seems to rest around two misguided extremes. One is that herbs are generally safe and can therefore be taken without professional guidance. The other is that herbs are completely unsafe because we don’t know how they work from a scientific point of view. Both opinions are wrong because research on herbs has been ongoing for many years, although the U.S. lags behind much of Europe in this respect. Also, herbs are therapeutically effective, so just like pharmaceuticals we should have at least some basic information available to all health care providers. With so many people consuming these supplements it is unacceptable that there is not at least a rudimentary course offered to all health care providers. So how did we end up with this problem and how can you as the consumer avoid its pitfalls?

Regulation History

First, just a brief history of regulation in the U.S. In 1938 the congress passed a law (the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act) that required animal testing for drugs, placed cosmetics and medical devices under FDA regulation and added many more layers of safety regulation to the U.S. food industry. Dietary supplements were defined under this act and were regulated as food. This meant that they could not be misleading in their labeling and that they had to meet standard safety requirements (FDA 2009 [1]). In 1994, a new law, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed. This law took some small steps to “legitimize” the claims of dietary supplements and changed the safety regulations slightly. The manufacturers could now make general claims about the product’s affect on health if they are substantiated but could not make any claims that it could be used to “diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure a specific disease” (FDA 2009 [2]) This is the reason that we are in a sort of limbo when it comes to herbal and dietary supplements. It also explains the scarcity of good information that is available to us as consumers because there is little basic research being done on dietary supplements. There is little incentive to prove therapeutic value when no claims can be made.

How to be an Informed Consumer

As consumers we need to know some basic facts when taking dietary supplements or herbal medicines. These facts are the same as those for drugs; how much do we take, how often, what are the possible side effects, are there any dangers when taking the supplements while taking other supplements or drugs? Many of these questions are difficult to answer because the basic research that is needed to answer those questions has not been done. However, there are some good resources out there that can fill in some of the gaps. The following resources are intended to give you some idea of the potential benefits and hazards when taking supplements, so that you can some background information before discussing with your health care providers what supplements will work for you.

http://www.naturalherbsguide.com/

This web site offers good information on the individual herbs, the active compounds in the herbs, common ways of taking the herbs and standard dosages. I also like that it allows you to search through several different pathways, including Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) and Chinese herbs.

http://altmedicine.about.com/

This is one of the best sites I have seen for information on supplements. It is moderated by Cathy Wong, an author and naturopathic doctor. This is the most extensive list of supplements that I have seen online. It offers good information on potential uses and potential dangers of using various supplements. The only downside is I wasn’t able to find much information on recommended dosages.

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/herbsataglance.htm

This site offers basic information on several herbs, including some background information on what research has been done. I found that this site is heavy on the side effects/caution side but doesn’t offer a lot of other relevant information.

http://www.nutrametrix.com/balanceaom

This is a link from my web site, balanceaom.com to nutraMetrix, a nutraceutical line that we carry in our clinic. I like this site as an information site because they offer extensive information about ingredients, dosage, what it used for, what are the risks and what scientific research has been done (both in the U.S. and Europe). It is also easy to find the type of supplement that you want because the products are listed by general categories (e.g. heart health).

I know many of my readers may have other valuable resources, if so please send a comment. Also, I would love to hear from readers if you have a specific herb or supplement that you want more information on. You can go to my website and submit a question, I will happily include it in my future blog posts on specific herbs/supplements.

Sources

U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Story of the Laws Behind the Labels. USFDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition web site. 2009. Available at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/histor1a.html. Accessed April 14, 2009.
U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. USFDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition web site. 2009. Available at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dietsupp.html. Accessed April 14, 2009.

The Foundation of Health: Conclusion

2009-04-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

When I ask my patients about their diet and exercise routines, I often get a long list of all the healthy things they are doing to stay in shape. Of course, like a boss hiring new employees, I realize that this "resume" is only part of the story. Obviously, though we don't exercise nearly as often as we should or eat as well as we would like to, we are reluctant to admit it. However, this can be a big obstacle to our improving our health because we hide our own bad habits, even from ourselves. So in this final entry on the foundation of health, I would like to take some of the mental aspects of how we deal with our health habits and flip them over, so we can have a more positive approach.

Bill Moyers had an interview on PBS this past year with Michael Pollan. Mr. Pollan is the author of An Omnivore's Dilemma and recently, In Defense of Food. In his interview, he had two main recommendations for people who wanted to improve the food they were eating and the national food system, learn to cook and grow a garden. I was amazed at the Zen nature of his recommendations. For though it sounds simple, it would be a tremendous shift if we were all to start cooking for ourselves and to start growing some of our own food. His biggest rationale behind these recommendations is that it would give people an opportunity to compare quality, home-grown, home-cooked meals with what we normally eat now, which is not nearly of the same quality. It is a good idea, but a difficult one to implement. Cooking and gardening can take some time, especially if you have never done it before. It is a good starting point, though. These are just some ideas for adventures in healthier living.

In a previous post, I gave some ideas for improving your general diet plan. Now I would like to look at some longer-term "lifestyle adventures". First of all, I think we should all remember that the most successfull long term plans often start out with little baby steps. Why? Because those little baby steps add up over time and pretty soon we can see that we are making real progress. So before we all plant victory gardens and start planning our daily menus for the next year, I would like to recommend a few baby steps.

Grow a few potted vegetables and herbs to use in your cooking. Roma tomatoes can be grown indoors if you have enough light and they make a great addition to many dishes. In addition, you get to taste a real tomato!
Find four healthy meals that you can make at home and become an "expert" at preparing them. Make one meal per week.

Making little changes like this can motivate you to make bigger changes down the road. One last note here. Let's not beat ourselves up when we don't eat well. We should simply note that we could have eaten something better. On the other hand, when we eat a delicious and nutritious meal we should pause for moment of thanks and congratulate ourselves for doing the right thing. I know this sounds hokey, but try it for a month and see if you don't notice what your eating that is good and what is not.

Exercise, which was discussed in the last post, is much the same way. Before we set out to climb Mount Everest, we should probably get a few day hikes under our belts. The flip-side of that coin is that if you start doing a day hike here and there, pretty soon you are looking for bigger adventures. As we improve our physical health, our mind starts to dream of greater challenges and this is a good thing. It is what truly keeps us young.

What exercise is the best for you? I think it is the exercise that motivates you to do more, to dream of bigger challenges. That will be different things for everyone, whether that is running in the next marathon or taking that long hiking trip or playing basketball with your friends, doesn't really matter. What does matter is that it is an activity that you love and one that motivates you to stay active. If you wake up and tell yourself grumpily "I have to go running today so I can stay in shape", then I would say that running isn't the activity for you. On the other hand if you wake up excited about taking your morning run because you know it makes you feel so much better throughout the day, bravo! Activities, of course, may change over the course of our lives, but we can stay active throughout our lives if we are careful to maintain the three-legged stool I mentioned in the last blog. Always include cardiovascular training, strength training and stretching in your overall exercise routine. Remember, good health is the foundation of a happy life!

The Foundation of Health: Exercise

2009-03-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

I am so often surprised to see how much emphasis is placed on diet when discussing weight loss and so little emphasis is placed on exercise. I was just in a bookstore today and there were five racks of diet books and only one rack of exercise books. I suppose a big part of this is that everyone must eat but nobody has to exercise, and many of us don’t. Overall, the biggest barriers to a regular exercise plan are two-fold, time and effort. You must take time out of your busy schedule to exercise and as you shift into a more active life, your muscles often complain of the added effort. However, regular exercise is the most important ingredient to better health in our sedentary lifestyle. If you don’t exercise regularly, even walking for twenty minutes several times a week can greatly improve your health and peel weight off. If you exercise regularly, then some of the pointers below may help you to evaluate your overall exercise routine.

I am often asked what exercises I recommend? The answer is really quite simple and flexible enough to suit many different lifestyles. All exercise routines need to include cardiovascular training, strength training (usually weight-lifting) and stretching. I think of this as a three-legged stool. You can make one leg bigger than the rest but if you remove one altogether, then the stool falls over. These aspects of exercise give us strength, endurance and flexibility. Without all three of these, we are more susceptible to fatigue and injury. Therefore, in the long run, if we are to lead active lives then we need to work on all aspects of exercise. So how are each of these important?

Cardiovascular strengthening exercises improve the strength of the heart and its ability to circulate blood and oxygen to the tissues. Of course, the lung must bring oxygen into the body but the factor that limits the body’s ability to absorb oxygen is the capacity for the heart to circulate the blood. When our body doesn’t have enough oxygen, our muscles don’t work as well and we quickly become fatigued. Strengthening our cardiovascular system therefore improves our endurance and our ability to push ourselves without becoming “stressed”. This should be the focus of those just starting up an exercise routine. In the beginning, go slow, walking or jogging instead of running. Other good cardio exercises are swimming, biking and hiking.

Stretching, while just as important as cardio and strength training, is often overlooked in our society. Even with the up-swing of interest in yoga over the past ten years, I still believe that this aspect of exercise is often under-emphasized or overlooked altogether. Stretching is, however, the most important defense we have against injury. With a regular stretching routine, we can avoid injury because our joints and muscles can move further without sprains or strains. Also, stretching increases the flexibility of the blood vessels which increases blood flow to our tissues and makes it easier for the heart to circulate the blood. It also helps us to recover from the muscle fatigue that follows cardio workouts and protects us from injury when strength training. Yoga and Pilates are two exercise systems that offer complete stretching routines and also strengthen the body.

Strength Training does not alway involve lifting weights but this is the form of strength training that most of us are familiar with. Strength training builds muscle mass and bone density so that we can withstand the greater forces involved in strenuous activity. It goes hand-in-hand with flexibility because the stronger and more flexible we are, the greater the forces we can withstand without injury. However, strength training isn’t just for those involved in strenuous exercise. Since it improves bone density, it should be part of everyones exercise routine, especially as we age.

How much time is spent on each aspect of exercise depends on the activities that we are participating in. Generally, in the beginning we need to improve our cardio strength if we want to be more active. Once this is done, then we should add strengthening exercises as we continue our cardio exercises. Stretching should be done after cardio or strength training while the body is still warm. As our exercise routine becomes more strenuous then it is helpful to set aside at least and hour per week for a complete stretching routine. A routine that stretches the back, legs, shoulders, arms and neck. In the next blog, I will discuss more about how to choose the exercises that are most beneficial for you.

The Foundation of Health:Diet

2009-03-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest obstacles to developing a proper diet is that there is so much information out there. I feel that we are often in a situation where we can’t see the forest for the trees. We add many different foods or supplements to our diet to improve it but do nothing to improve the overall quality of our diet. This article focuses on the big picture of diet, which is meal planning and portions.

I believe that the biggest health issue in relation to diet in the United States is the amount of food we eat and the large portions of starch, fats and meat that we consume at every meal. Even for the person who is careful about their diet, it is difficult to control what you eat, because most restaurants cater to a heavy starch, fat and meat diet. To illustrate this point I have chosen to draw out two meal plans. The first plan is actually an illustration of the recommended diabetic meal plan, that can be found on the create your plate page of the American Diabetic Associations website. The second meal is one of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant; lamb chops with garlic mashers and green beans, a glass of wine, bread and butter. Just a note here; the diabetic meal has a high proportion of non-starchy vegetables; broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, green beans, etc. A complete list is given at the link above.

Why illustrate these two meals? I believe that they give us a good idea of portions and how that affects our health. This is a classic example of what we are is what we eat. If more of your meals are close to the diabetic meal plan you will be leaner and healthier. If more of your meals are similar to my favorite restaurant meal then you will be fatter and less healthy. I hope that this point is obvious to everyone. So the real question is why don’t we all eat the diabetic meal plan all the time, it is a well-balanced meal right? You don’t have to be a vegetarian or a vegan, so everyone could eat this kind of meal. All this meal does is change the portions of what we normally eat a little, which is why I have chosen it. The diabetic meal plan is actually what we all should be eating, just about every day. My example of a favorite restaurant dinner is closer to what most of us eat. I know from many years of counseling people about their eating habits that shifting the amount of vegetables and fruits we eat in our diet is really quite difficult for most people. So how do we make this shift?

I have 3 simple ideas that can change the amount of fruits and vegetable you eat forever and make you a healthier person. Here they are;

Snack – take several pieces of fruit with you each day and snack on them between meals. You can also steam vegetables (10 minutes) and toss them with soy, sesame oil, or crushed garlic and olive oil to give them some zest. Put stem in a container and take that to work as a snack. Try different vegetable/fruit combinations to get a well rounded source of nutrients.
Find restaurants in your area that have vegetable heavy dishes. This one is always a good idea because we all must eat out sometimes. Usually, Asian and Indian restaurants are the best bet. Again, you don’t always have to eat at these restaurants but the more often you can eat a healthier meal the better.
Eat more organics. True, organic vegetables and fruits are more expensive, but they are also richer in nutrients. They also taste better. One easy way to work organics into your diet is to join a delivery service. In the Seattle area we have Spud. There is also a national service called Diamond Organics.

For those interested in losing weight we will go into portions more at a later date. There is some evidence that eating higher quality fruits and vegetables in the right portions can reduce the overall caloric intake. This will, of course, reduce weight over time.

One final note, if you have never had a high portion of fruit and vegetable in your diet, you may experience some minor digestive complaints when you make the changes above. Just as our muscles have to adjust when we start a new exercise, so too must our digestive system adjust to the additional fiber and more complex nutrients in our diet. However, the benefits greatly outweigh the downside. You will not only be healthier, but will open yourself to experiencing a more varied and satisfying diet. Bon Appetit!

The Foundation of Health: Diet and Exercise

2009-03-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

One should strive to maintain good health by taking a balanced diet and exercising regularly. - Atharva Veda

If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health. - Hippocrates

Small changes in diet and exercise can prevent type 2 diabetes from developing or slow it in its tracks. - The American Diabetes Association (ADA).

If you go to the American Heart Association's (AHA) website, you will also see that they recommend changing your diet and regular exercise to maintain your heart health. Can you see a pattern developing here? The above quotes were chosen from amongst many other similar ones because they show a huge span of consistent belief about what is needed to be healthy. The Vedas, Hindu scriptures, were composed from earlier spoken verse about 1000 B.C. Hippocrates, a Greek physician from around 400 B.C. is the "father of medicine in the western world". And, even modern health organizations like the ADA and AHA, believe in the importance of good diet and exercise. So why are we still confused about basic health issues?

The devil is in the details. This is where the confusion comes in. What exactly is a balanced diet? What exercises should I do, how often and for how long? These are the questions that we will begin to answer in this first series "The foundation of health". Making the right health decisions is important for all of us and luckily the information is out there if you just know where to look for it. We also look at how making the right health decisions can improve our lives in many ways.

Note! In any of the ancient writings on health, diet and exercise were viewed as an important foundation for having a full, happy life. Being healthy doesn't just keep us out of the hospital. It is a great treasure because it allows us to be active and vital in our daily lives. This post serves as an introduction to this series but further posts will focus on the specifics of diet and exercise. In the final post in this series we will look at how we can integrate diet and exercise into our lives in a way that is both meaningful and fun. Enjoy!

Introduction

2009-03-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

The Woodinville mural on the Carol Edwards Center by the muralist group Matamuros.

We have decided to start blogging here at Balance Acupuncture for two reasons. First, we hope that this will be an avenue for discussion of health issues with our local community, Woodinville, WA. Second, we want to provide quality healthcare information from a natural medicine perspective for anyone who wishes to live a longer, healthier life.

The real advantage of a blog is that you the reader can participate. We would love for you to ask questions and comment on things that have worked for you to make you a healthier person. Discussion is the best way to investigate a problem and find a solution so feel free to join in.

This blog will be moderated, so please if you wish to comment, do so in a polite and thoughtful way. We will mostly cover health issues from a natural medicine point of view. This includes; exercise, nutrition/diet, herbal supplements, acupuncture and massage. We also take a very wide view of health because for us health involves every aspect of a person, including; physical/mental/spiritual health and the environment that you live in. We will be starting with some basics. These first few entries will be about the general guidelines for good health...as we go we will get into more specific issues. We will also respond to specific issues where there is a lot of questions or comments. Expect to see a new blog post weekly and we hope to make this a healthy and enjoyable part of your week!