Reprinted from YES! Magazine December 2016 Gardening is my Prozac. The time I dedicate to training tomato vines or hacking at berry bushes seems to help me stave off feelings of sadness or dread and calm the chatter in my mind. My vegetable beds have even buoyed me through more acute stressors, such as my… Continue Reading
Articles
The Surprising Healing Qualities…of Dirt
Recently I’ve been enjoying dirty thoughts.… Continue Reading
Why perfect-looking produce can be less than ideal
We want our produce to look like supermodels: sleek, unblemished and perfectly proportioned. But I am discovering that our preference for these idealized fruits and vegetables might have negative consequences for our taste buds and our health.… Continue Reading
What grizzlies at the Chicago zoo can teach us about weight loss
When she was head of a cardiac imaging center at UCLA, Barbara Natterson-Horowitz was asked one day to perform echocardiography on the failing heart of the Los Angeles Zoo’s python. As the cardiologist gazed on an image of the snake’s one-ventricle heart, it occurred to her that snakes might offer clues for treating children born without a septum between their ventricles.… Continue Reading
Healthy splurges: farm-fresh goat-milk lattes
Reprinted from Food and Wine Magazine
Coffee Bars might want to skip the $20,000 machines and buy a goat, says Dr. Daphne Miller.… Continue Reading
Sexual satisfaction is a complex process that vexes many women and their doctors
Reprinted from THE AGING WELL ISSUE, February 9, 2010 My patient Debra practically waltzes into my office. She is giggling and barely waits for the door to close before she announces: “I am having sex again and really enjoying it. Not only that, but I’m actually having random lusty thoughts.” What a change from a couple… Continue Reading
A Recipe for Passover
Reprinted from The Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2008
Our ancestors had better eating habits than we do — that seems to be the current thinking. But anyone who is sitting down to a Passover meal — a major holiday feast that begins this evening — might wonder whether traditional European Jewish cooking is an exception to the rule.… Continue Reading
Take a hike and call me in the morning
Reprint of “A Trained Eye: Doctors send patients outdoors for physical, mental benefits,” November 17, 2009 “I have a StairMaster right in my own basement, but honestly it’s been there for years gathering dust and making me feel guilty,” said Miriam, one of my patients. “It wasn’t until I started walking the three-mile trail in… Continue Reading
Prescribing Food
Reprinted from The Washington Post, May 26, 2009
Rare are the moments when a specific pill promises a quick fix. To the contrary, medications often produce a buckshot-like effect, hitting organs far beyond their intended target.… Continue Reading
Locavorism vs. Salmonella: A Physician’s Perspective
Reprinted from Civil Eats, January 27, 2009
It is surprising how few in the health field are interested in food, much less the system that produces that food. Recently, thanks to the strength of the sustainable agriculture movement, there have been some promising signs that this is changing.… Continue Reading