Improving the Pancreas-Kidney Marriage: A Yogic View of Diabetes
According to Bikram Choudhury, founder of the widely popular Bikram style of yoga, Type 2 diabetes reflects “a poor marriage between the kidneys and the pancreas.”
According to Bikram Choudhury, founder of the widely popular Bikram style of yoga, Type 2 diabetes reflects “a poor marriage between the kidneys and the pancreas.”
The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine released its final policy report and called on the Department of Health and Human Services to create a permanent, federally funded office for scientific research, education, and public policy on holistic health care.
Genistein and daidzein are the two best-known phytoestrogens identified in soy. But roughly one-third of all people who eat soy can metabolize diadzein into equol, which is among the most potent plant estrogens known. This could account for the widely variant outcomes in clinical trials of soy for prevention of breast cancer, menopausal symptoms and other clinical conditions.
Women with histories of emotional and/or physical abuse may experience a lot of emotional upheaval in conjunction with the process of giving birth. Compassionate and understanding physicians can go a long way toward easing the process.
The trace element chromium, and particularly chromium picolinate, will likely find a greater role in the management of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the coming years, as clinical evidence accumulates to support its antiglycemic, insulin-sensitizing effects. Chromium researchers from across the globe recently gathered to share their findings at a summit sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Diabetes Research and Education (CADRE).
Dr. William Fair was as old-school and conventional as any oncologic surgeon could get. His faith in the power of the scalpel was nearly unshakeable, until he himself was diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer. That diagnosis prompted him on a quest into the worlds of nutrition, yoga, meditation, botanical medicine and touch therapy. He devoted the last years of his distinguished life to creation of Haelth, a New York City integrative health center bringing together the best of natural medicine with conventional allopathic care.
The core tenet of the emerging discipline of functional medicine is that nutrition is the major determinant of gene expression, and therefore of health and disease. Functional medicine pioneer Jeff Bland, PhD, explains how, in a sense, food is information that tells the genes what to do. Depending on the signals we send our genes, they can produce health and happiness or depression and disease.
For healthy, low-risk pregnant women, water births—giving birth in a pool of warm water—-can reduce time spent in labor, lower the need for Cesarean section, and increase the chances that the birth process will be uncomplicated. Though popular in France, water births are still rare in the US, but the numbers are growing. Holistic Ob.Gyn., Jan Stafl, MD, describes his experiences.
Type 2 diabetes and its precursors like impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance represent “a complex set of interrelated problems requiring a comprehensive treatment approach,” said Lev Linkner, MD, at a course on holistic medicine sponsored by the American Board of Holistic Medicine (ABHM).
Dietary supplements are regulated as foods in the US, but in many cases, they are used like drugs, creating a difficult regulatory conundrum. Many thought leaders in the field believe the problem could be solved by creating a third regulatory category that recognizes the ways in which supplements are different from both drugs and foods.
Copyright © 2023 Holistic Primary Care. All Rights Reserved.