Thursday, February 28, 2008

Vaccines in the News, MMR and ProQuad

The Center for Disease Control has withdrawn its recommendation for ProQuad, a vaccine that combines the MMR (Measles, Mumps Rubella) vaccine with the chickenpox vaccine due to an increase in seizures within 10 days of vaccine administration. Previously they had recommended the coupled vaccine, as it leads to less needle sticks, and therefore less trauma to children. However, the ProQuad vaccine contains 4 times the amount of chickenpox vaccine compared to the chicken pox vaccine alone. While a single seizure event usually doesn't have lasting consequences for a child, it reminds us yet again, that these small bodies with immune systems that aren't fully developed, are not ready to be bombarded by numerous virus particles.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080228/ap_on_he_me/merck_vaccine

For more information on your family's health, visit www.lifesculpting.biz or call 480-883-8160

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Meditation - your heart depends on it!

A Heart Healthy Tip for February!

Did you know that long-term meditators experience 80% less heart disease and 50% less cancer than non-meditators?*

Many people think that meditation means sitting alone silently for hours on end. But meditation can be as simple as bringing mindfulness and awareness to your daily activities. Other forms of meditation include prayer, visualization, guided imagery, transcendental meditation, Buddhist meditation, movement meditation (Qi Gong, tai chi and certain forms of yoga) and the list goes on.

Meditation causes the “Relaxation Response,” a term coined by Dr. Herbert Benson, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. From his research he determined that quieting and focusing your mind causes your body to react in positive and beneficial ways, including:

Lowering blood pressure
Lowering heart rate (pulse)
Slowing breathing (respiration), which is both calming and stress reducing
Lowering cortisol (cortisol is your stress hormone, which when chronically elevated can lead to weight gain, a weakened immune system, sleep problems and increases in chronic disease)

So consider taking a few minutes every day and beginning your own practice of meditation. Your heart, your body, and your friends will thank you!

*Meditation as Medicine, by Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD

Monday, February 11, 2008

Journey To Wellness

I was first drawn to naturopathic medicine through Duke's Integrative Medicine Center, which offered classes on holistic health and stress reduction. There, a team of doctors, life coaches, and integrative practitioners worked together to improve peoples lives and bring patients break throughs in healing. It is very fitting that I am now at Life Sculpting, a similar integrative center, helping people shape their lives, working on their mental, emotional, spiritual and physical paths to health.

My classes there were life changing, the best and most relaxing part of a rigorous class schedule. It's through these classes, that I came to know Naturopathic Medicine, with its philosophy of treating the whole person, finding the root cause of the disease, doing no harm and believing that a person is greater than the sum of his/her body's processes. I not only wanted to live naturopathically, I wanted to practice it!

I entered Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, a four year medical program in Tempe, where our coursework included conventional medicine, with physical exams, ordering labs and prescribing medications as well as botanical medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, mind-body medicine and IV nutrients. Seeing patients find healing in natural medicine first hand helped me stay focused on my journey. After graduating, and practicing for a short time I found Life Sculpting, a place to inspire and heal, that is holistic, working on all aspects of your journey, a place very similar to where I first learned about naturopathic medicine. I am excited to be here. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to encourage you in your path to wellness.