blog
The placebo effect and you
The placebo effect is evidence that bodies can take healing cues from the mind. Perhaps the cartesian dualism of separate mind and body is overlooking a fundamental truth about humans and the way we function. How does meditation lower blood pressure? How does anxiety cause an upset stomach? How, indeed, does belief that you are being treated lead to healing?
Capturing kinetic energy
The idea of kinetic intelligence under-appreciated. In the U.S., dominant culture dictates you can be a nerd or a jock. If you're a nerd, you're weak. If you're a jock, you're dumb. You have to pick a lane. For most adults, our use of our bodies is rote. We use our eyes and fingers a lot, in service of our "real work". In jobs requiring physical labor, our bodies are tied to productivity (thanks, capitalism). But true respect for physical feats, bodily beauty, body wisdom and intuition? Largely missing. What a loss- how about if we adopt a both/and mentality instead of an either/or one? There would be huge implications for health and happiness.
Why I don’t talk about weight loss
The health world is obsessed with weight. Medical providers talk about it. Health coaches talk about it A LOT. I don't. Here's why.
Common, but not normal
What you are experiencing is common (you're not weird, you're not alone!) but it isn't normal (it's not the way bodies function at their best and you're not necessarily stuck with it). Or: you're not broken, but we can work on getting you better.
How to get Health Care in a system that stinks
Own your health, and you may find that you can use the medical system the way it works best– to manage specific, acute kinds of illnesses and injuries.
Diet Science: Support for Plant-Based Eating
This study showed that a low-fat vegan diet can improve some important health markers in overweight adults in a real-world setting. Good to know! Helpful! This increases my confidence that, for a patient who wanted to do it, a low-fat vegan diet is likely to improve their metabolic health.
Diagnosis vs. Understanding
Here’s the thing: healthcare providers mean well, by and large– yet so often, patients don’t feel that. They feel frustrated, and dismissed, and uncertain, and discouraged. On top of being sick. These aren’t puzzles, or cases. They’re people, and we in healthcare need to remember that. Even when we want to scream that the patient isn’t listening to reason, is convinced they have something they don’t have, or is being dramatic/uncooperative/noncompliant/whatever