With aisles in grocery stores now featuring plenty of gluten- and dairy-free options, it’s clear that food sensitivity awareness has become more mainstream. In earlier years, there was some confusion about the difference between food sensitivities and food allergies.
Catching an occasional cold or flu is inevitable. But do you sometimes feel like you catch everything that goes around the office or the family? Or maybe you feel a bit paranoid about not catching a cold or a flu because it goes straight to your lungs every time and you end up with bronchitis…or worse? Or maybe you’ve come to terms with your chronic nasal congestion, and you just make sure to carry a tissue everywhere you go…
More than 20 million Americans suffer from peripheral neuropathy, and this number is projected to increase along with other related chronic diseases. Neuropathy has many causes but the most common is from complications associated with diabetes. Signs of neuropathy are numb, tingling, or burning feet, one-sided bands of pain, and numbness and weakness on the trunk or pelvis. Therapies for neuropathy include antidepressant medication, anti seizure medications, local anesthetic injections and injections called nerve blocks, anesthetic patches and creams, opioids and surgery for some.
Do you experience widespread pain with no clear origin? Are you feeling stressed, tired and like you’re in a constant state of brain fog? If you’ve tried reaching out for help, you may have had your symptoms dismissed as “all in your head” or just a mental health issue. Many doctors prescribe pain medications and do little else to help. You may ask yourself, “How long will I have to take this? Is this medication safe?”
Arthritis impacts over 30 million Americans and is projected to increase significantly. In fact, joint pain is one of the top reasons people see their physicians. Signs of arthritis are joint misalignment, lack of joint mobility, morning stiffness, joint swelling, joint line tenderness, bony enlargements and pain with exercise in some cases. Most therapies for arthritis include patient education, over-the-counter analgesics (acetaminophen) and anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), a walking or light exercise program, weight management or nutrition program and many times a referral to a physical therapist or chiropractor to help with symptom management.
A healthy plate may seem confusing to build. How much of your plate should be fat or vegetables? How many carbs or proteins should be included? We understand the difficulties and have developed an easy-to-use method to help you build a healthy plate for every meal. Instead of using exact measurements, we recommend using your hand and fingers as general measuring guides to help you build a healthy plate. Nutrient needs differ by size, sex, age, activity levels, and other metabolic needs. Using the hand method for measuring matches up well with size and sex of the individual and will be perfect portions for most people.
From time to time, it is not unusual to have loose stools or diarrhea when going to the bathroom. However, excessively painful, urgent and recurring diarrhea, which may include blood or excessive mucus, is a red flag potentially indicating a more severe issue. One possible cause of those symptoms is an inflammatory bowel disease called ulcerative colitis (UC).
All backed up and don’t know what to do? If you are leaving the toilet feeling like you still have to go, you are probably constipated. Individuals who are constipated may be able to pass a small amount of stool, but may not empty their bowels completely, leaving a sense of incomplete emptying, which is frustrating and uncomfortable.
Do you feel bloated all the time, especially after you eat? Is there pain in your belly after mealtimes that eventually leads to diarrhea? Although unpleasant to think about, almost everyone experiences these symptoms at some point. But if these are daily hurdles for you, occurring repeatedly over several months, there is more going on in your gut. This is especially the case if you find yourself staying within running distance from a bathroom, knowing you are going to be in there for 20 minutes or more at a time!
