Premature aging

Our health is under attack. We currently live in the most obese, polluted and energy-drained environment in the last 90 years. It is a fact that 92 percent of people over 50 have at least one chronic disease and 77…

The current state of negotiant wine

A "dust up" in the wine blogosphere this week brought the subject of negotiant wine back to the front of our consciousness. Negotiant has two meanings here and in Europe. In Europe, any wine produced from grapes no…

Acupuncture to improve fertility

Acupuncture to improve fertility and the chance of having a healthy baby is not new. It is one of the oldest fertility treatments ever. It has been practiced for thousands of years. It still is, because it works.

Ask your audiologist...

Child's backpack leads to back pain?

Here's a sobering statistic. In 2011, nearly 14,000 children ages 5 to 18 were hospitalized for backpack-related injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. And that's not counting college s…

Squashing summer

The last weeks of summer bring an abundance of garden favorites, including squash. The most common summer squash are crooknecks, yellow squash, and zucchini. From breads to "noodles," squash can be versatile and ad…

Protect the feet

Football is here, and two-a-days are in full swing. And, it's time to protect your feet. It's hot and your feet take a beating in the heat. Normal cleats do not have enough support in their insoles for such wear an…

Total joint replacements on the rise

As we age, many will suffer bone joint issues. Pain, swelling and loss of range of motion will lead to the lack of mobility and the loss of function. Total joint replacements have been known to alleviate pain and o…

Figure eight

I always thought the hula-hoop was a fun thing to do when I was a kid, along with hopscotch and jump rope competitions in our neighborhood and at school. We would play for hours and would always have a new twist to…

Good signs

We were recently asked by a reader - and have been asked several times previously - if there is some predictable pattern to good years and not-so-good years for domestically produced wines. A related question we ha…

Are headaches taking over your life?

"I had been experiencing perpetual migraines - I either had a headache or full-blown migraine every single day. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the level of natural childbirth), my migraines usually averaged an 8. My …

Is Cold Laser for me?

Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), commonly known as "cold" laser, has been used worldwide for over 40 years to relieve pain, remove scars, heal wounds, regenerate nerves and solve addictions. On January 17th, 2002, t…

Food addiction

Food addiction is a pervasive challenge. The addiction can make it seem impossible to control your behavior around food, even when you know you should not be eating it. It is so often at the root of people's failur…

Outpatient therapy and the importance of understanding the CMS therapy cap

For several years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has instituted a therapy cap that serves as the determining factor in what Medicare identifies as the annual allowable cost for outpatient the…

Confessions of a cereal killer

I can still picture the old shower curtain that used to hang in the downstairs bathroom where I spent hours doubled over with stomach cramps after basketball and track practices in high school. Two pink columns, th…