There is an old Cretan saying: “Το λάδι είναι το αίμα της γης.” It means, “Olive oil is the blood of the earth.” That tells us a lot, about both the inherent richness of olive oil, and the importance that it had—and continues to have—in the lives of the people of Crete, and throughout the Mediterranean. Olive […]
A few decades ago, acupuncture was not a modality one expected US military healthcare to embrace. For most non-Asian Americans, it was more the stuff of myth than a reality of medical practice. Colonel Richard Charles Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH, did much to change that. Over his long and admirable career, he worked tirelessly to […]
Michael McGuffin was a true influencer. Not in the modern sense of someone who builds a personal brand cult by flooding social media with provocative content and amassing “likes” and followers. But in the older, more noble sense: one whose quiet but unflagging commitment to good work had profound, far-reaching impact on the world. Highly […]
The cosmologists tell us we are made of ‘star-stuff,’ that the elements and energies of which we are comprised have their origins in the sun. For most of us, that’s theoretical. But some people seem to embody this truth. Their very presence emanates a certain shine that illuminates and invigorates everyone and everything around them. […]
Holistic Primary Care honors the memory and legacy of Roland Redmond Griffiths, PhD, a visionary neuroscientist and psychopharmacologist who was among the leaders of the recent renaissance of serious clinical research on psychedelics. Griffiths died at the age of 77 of metastatic colon cancer on October 16, 2023, at his home in Baltimore, MD. He […]
Usually I’m a voracious reader. I’ve always enjoyed reading and gobbling up books. But this year it seemed I couldn’t get past more than a couple of pages of anything at any time. “The Well-Lived Life” –a new book by Dr. Gladys McGarey–had been sitting on my desk collecting dust for months. Finally, I picked […]
Are contemporary allopathic medicine and Ayurveda mutually compatible? Is it possible to merge modern biomedical science with ancient healing principles defined millennia ago? Is there any relevance in today’s medical clinic for a paradigm centered substantially around pulse diagnosis, or for therapeutics focused on behavior modification, herbs, mind-body therapies, and detoxification? Most importantly, what purpose […]
Psychedelics have been hitting the headlines nonstop these days. The New York Times, and other major media, have run a slew of articles highlighting the promise of psychedelics for hard-to-treat clinical conditions like major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction. Important discoveries are emerging from prestigious academic centers worldwide that have dedicated millions of dollars […]
Massage provides many benefits. In addition to simply loosening tight muscles, it can help calm the nervous system, improves range of motion, correct postural imbalances, reduce stress, increases self-awareness, improve blood flow, speed healing time, improve the appearance of scars, and much more. But with so many different styles of massage now available, this field […]
In recent years conventional biomedicine has begun to recognize that disruptions in the composition of the microbiome and the integrity of the gut lining are key factors in the pathogenesis of certain chronic disorders. For example, we know that in celiac disease, exposure to gluten induces an immune response which in turn triggers inflammation. This […]
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