Real Healing

Real healing bubbles to consciousness as a call to use our illness to transform our lives.

by Carolyn C. Ross, M.D., M.P.H

Toxic Relationships in Eating Disorder Recovery

In the vulnerable early stages of recovery from an eating disorder, there is an increased risk of cross-addictions, one of which may be the “high” of romance, sex, and relationships Read More

Stigmatizing Obesity

Obesity has been said to have reached "epidemic" proportions. Interestingly, obesity doesn't fit the true definition of this word from the dictionary:

ep·i·dem·ic/ˌepiˈdemik/

A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time: "a flu epidemic". Read More

Do Anti-Depressants Really Work?

The television program, 60 Minutes, recently addressed the volume of research on the lack of efficacy of anti-depressant medications. This research began over a decade ago and has shown that anti-depressant medications are not much more effective than placebo (sugar pill). In fact on 60 Minutes, Dr. Read More

Are Midlife Crises Necessary and Useful

Recently, I read the book "The Midlife Crisis Handbook" in preparation for interviewing its author, Dr. Dike Drummond on my radio show (listen to the show at: http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1888/the-vital-life-awakening-your-full-potential). I was intrigued by his approach to midlife crises. Read More

Grieving in Pieces

Grief is defined as a reaction to a major loss. It is most often an unhappy or painful emotion. The NIH discusses the stages of grief:

There can be five stages of grief. These reactions might not occur in a specific order, and can (at times) occur together. Not everyone experiences all of these emotions:

Denial, disbelief, numbness

Anger, blaming others Read More

Why We Crave the Food We Crave

Prostate cancer almost 100% survivable if detected early. Read More

Back to the Future: The Ancestral Diet

The statistics are clear. Sixty-five percent of Americans are overweight or obese. The health risks associated with obesity are more related to our lack of cardiovascular and metabolic fitness than the number on the scale. Nonetheless, our future as a nation is in jeopardy because of how much we eat and what we eat. Read More

Pediatric Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese therapy that treats a wide range of conditions through the stimulation of specific points on the body with thin metal needles inserted through the skin. Read More

Stressed Out, Maxed Out

Stress was defined by Hans Selye in the 1950's as the "wear and tear on the body by anything - either positive or negative." When Dr. Selye studied stress there was not a lot of research documenting the health problems related to stress. Read More

Energy Healing

I recent interviewed Dr. Ann Marie Chiasson, a Family Medicine doctor trained in Integrative Medicine who is also an energy healer. I learned a lot from our conversation which you can hear by going to http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1888/the-vital-life-awakening-your-full-potential. Read More

The Brain in your Gut

You may already know that different parts of the body communicate and send signals back and forth. Researchers have recently discovered that "cross-talk" between gut bacteria and the brain may reduce your risk for a variety of health issues, including psychiatric illness, intestinal problems and even obesity. Read More

Conquering Fear

Fear is defined in the dictionary as: "a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feelingor condition of being afraid." Read More

Archetypes and Eating Disorders and Obesity

Archetypes are unconscious patterns of behavior that are universal. Archetypes can be found in most popular movies and books. Examples of these include the hero or heroine, the seeker, the orphan, the mother, the child and more. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote extensively on archetypes and their use in understanding the human psyche. Read More

Forgiveness Is Miraculous

Why forgiveness can bring vitality and energy back into your life. Read More

The Healing Paradigm

Is there any difference between curing and healing? Why are doctors taught to fight disease and focus on "going for the cure?" What is the patient's role in the healing process? Read More

Five Healing Foods for 2011

Eating foods that are healing have the power to not only nourish the body but also nourish the spirit. It is possible to find foods that taste good and that are good for you. Every meal should be a potential symphony of taste, joy and satisfaction. The healing foods listed below fit into this category and can help you make 2011 your healthiest year yet. Read More

Radical Acceptance

Most of us spend our life wishing for something or someone we don't have, in other words, wishing for "what is not." When I think of how much of my life I have spent doing this, I even wonder "what would my life have been like if I had just accepted what is. Then I have to chuckle, realizing - I'm doing it again!!! Read More

Miraculous Healing

Medical journals have long catalogued isolated cases of individuals who have miraculous recoveries or spontaneous remissions from serious and life threatening illnesses. There are cases of spontaneous remission from adult T-cell leukemia (Takezako, et all, 2000; Murakawa, et al, 1990), lung cancer (Hercbergs, 1999; Kappauf, 1997), liver cancer (Terasaki, 2000) and many others. Read More

Conscious healing

Almost a year ago I had what I thought was to be a relatively minor arthroscopic knee surgery. I dutifully went to my primary care doctor and asked for a referral to an orthopedist. I followed everyone's instructions: stopped my supplements a week or two before surgery, continued to ice my knee after surgery and went to physical therapy religiously. Read More

Carolyn Coker Ross, M.D, M.P.H., is an expert in Eating Disorders, Addictions, and Integrative Medicine. Her latest book is The Binge Eating and Compulsive Overeating Workbook.

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