By Dr. Karen Bender Feeling Blue? Has the isolation and uncertainty of the past year left you feeling sad, lonely and anxious? If so you are not alone. The circumstance of the past year have been challenging for most of us. We have had to adapt to many changes outside of our control. We are spending more time at home … Read More
Compassion for Success
By Dr. Karen Bender Meet Your Harsh Inner Critic What happens inside your head when you do not reach your goals, or you fall short of the expectations set by yourself or others? If you are like many people, you are met with a harsh voice that is often brutally unkind and almost impossible to satisfy rather than an encouraging … Read More
Seasonal Affect Disorder Treatment
By Dr. Karen Bender How are you feeling with the latest snow we just had? While it has been fun watching my new puppy bound through the powder that is as deep as she is tall, there is a part of me that is ready for it to be spring already. With the excitement of the holidays over, the short … Read More
My skin struggle and my path to naturopathic medicine
Written by Dr. Andrea Colon I started having issues with acne in my early teenage years. It wasn’t just the acne that was the issue, but the fact that it would never go away. Which, as you can imagine, is every teenager’s nightmare while trying to get through school. It really did have a negative effect on my self esteem … Read More
6 Reasons Why You Can Still Have Symptoms in Celiac Disease after Gluten Elimination
By Aylah Clark, ND Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where gluten consumption triggers an inflammatory response and damage to the intestines. It is caused by a complex interaction between genetic predisposition, intestinal microbiome, environment, and immune system. Symptoms & Diagnosis Symptoms can vary widely but can include gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating, and mouth sores, but … Read More
How to Use Nutrition to Help Combat Addiction
By Aylah Clark, ND Though the rates of cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, and cocaine use have declined in recent years, addiction to these and other substances continue to be a serious problem. Sometimes addiction can even start with a prescribed medication that may have been very beneficial to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life at the time. 2.5% of … Read More
Forest Medicine & The Science Behind Shinrin-Yoku
By Aylah Clark, ND Less than 0.01% of our species existence has been in our modern, urbanized surroundings. (1) Throughout the 99.99% of our species’ time before this urbanization, we had many more interactions with nature and subsequent adaptations of our immune system, genetic expression, microbiota ecosystem, and stress response. Our bodies respond to airborne plant compounds and work in symbiosis with microorganisms. Our … Read More
5 Steps to Ending Your Screen Addiction
By Aylah Clark, ND How often do you check your phone? Do you ever think you feel your phone vibrating but it wasn’t? Do you look at your phone to check the time and end up spending 10 minutes on Facebook, finding you never actually looked at the time? Have you eaten across the table from someone who spent more … Read More
The Role of Inflammation in Body Weight: An Intro to the Biology of Fat
By Aylah Clark, ND Inflammation comes up a lot in my practice. It promotes many chronic diseases and correlates with worsening signs and symptoms whether it be autoimmune disease, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, or others. Inflammation is also intrinsically tied to obesity and this connection is well-established. How are inflammation and body weight related and what can we do about it? What is inflammation? … Read More
How Reducing Toxin Exposure Can Promote a Healthy Weight
By Aylah Clark, ND It may not surprise you that the majority of my patients come in with some level of concern about their weight. Even if it is not their primary concern, the issue is on their short list. Certainly part of that comes down to societal constructs of what we think we should look like, comparing perfectly healthy … Read More