Seasonal Affective Disorder and Six Tips to Beat the Winter Blues

Why is winter so hard?

With the advent of electricity, our modern lives no longer follow the rising and setting of the sun as they did in earlier, simpler times. Historically, with shorter days, our activities were fewer in the winter. In the 21st Century, our “days” can go on all night thanks to electricity and our busy schedules. The change in rhythm from the natural rhythm of day and night with seasonal changes is new to our bodies in the scheme of biology, having only been an option for the last few hundred years.

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Institute of Medicine's Flawed Vitamin D Guidelines

We recently received an email from Thorne Research, one of our supplement suppliers who manufactures the highest quality nutritional supplements, and for whom we have great respect.

The email sent by Thorne highlighted the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) flawed Vitamin D Guidelines.

We, Dr. Patrick Donovan and Dr. Mona Fahoum, firmly agree with two of the leading researchers and authorities on Vitamin D: John Canell, M.D. (Executive Director of the Vitamin D Council) and William Grant, Ph.D. (Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center).

Of note is that there are hundreds of research studies which stand in stark contrast to the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) recent statements and limited findings.

Follow the links below to see responses to the recent statement and limited findings by John Cannell, M.D. and William Grant, Ph.D.

Click here to view a response by John Cannell, MD (Executive Director, Vitamin D Council).

Click here for comment from William Grant, PhD (Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center).

Click here to view the email on Constant Contact.

Click here for Dr. Patrick Donovan's article on Vitamin D and the Prevention of Influenza.

Click here for Dr. Patrick Donovan's article on Vitamin D.

Vitamin D and the Prevention of Influenza

TheDispensaryOnline.com - About Your Health - Vitamin D and the Prevention of Influenza

Learn how Vitamin D is a wonderful, wholesome way to give your body the strength it needs to guard against the Flu.

Osteoporosis: Getting to the Bones of the Problem

What Is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a silent, slowly developing disease in which your bones become progressively less calcified and therefore, more fragile and more likely to break. This is most particularly dangerous when the bones involved are the bones of your spine and larger bones of your hips. If these bones are fractured, you can become seriously debilitated and commonly in need of hospitalization and major surgery. These fractures can further impair your ability to walk unassisted and may cause prolonged or permanent disability or even death. Spinal or vertebral fractures also have serious consequences, including loss of height, severe back pain, and deformity. The sad fact is often osteoporosis progresses quietly and painlessly to the point where it is finally diagnosed only after a fracture occurs.

Visit the About YOUR Health section of http://thedispensaryonline.com to read the entire article by Dr. Patrick Donovan.

Turmeric: The "Spice of Life" and Cancer Prevention

Curcumin is a polyphenoIic flavonoid compound derived from the rhizome of the herb Curcuma longa better known as the cooking spice turmeric. Curcumin as Meriva can be a simple and nontoxic way to prevent cancer on a daily supplemental basis. If you have cancer and are undergoing treatment, Meriva can also be a reasonable and effective adjunct to that treatment. Talk to your health care practitioner about this. See what is possible for you.

Turmeric: The "Spice of Life" and Cancer Prevention

Inflammation: The Unifying Theory of Disease

New research is being done into the role antioxidants and anti-inflammatories as anti-aging and anticancer agents. The results are quite promising. Be ahead of the game. Start now to prevent cancer and slow the aging process by supplementing your diet with some of the natural anti-inflammatory compounds discussed above. Also, eat a diet full of colorful vegetables and fruits with special focus on berries and cabbage family vegetables.

Inflammation: The Unifying Theory of Disease

Celiac: Breaking the Vicious Cycle

Celiac: When the Grain goes Against You
Part 1 of a two-part article on Celiac by Dr. Patrick Donovan

Celiac Disease: Healing the Gut - and Rehabilitating the Suspect
Part 2 of a two-part article on Celiac by Dr. Patrick Donovan

Antioxidants: What are they and why do we need to care?

Read this valuable article by Dr. Mona Fahoum to learn:

What is Oxidation?

What Does That Damage Mean for You?

When Does Oxidation Occur?

Antioxidants Stop Oxidative Damage

Antioxidants in Our Food

Antioxidants in Supplements

Antioxidants Reduce the Inflammatory and Radical Breakdown of Our Bodies

On Health and Healing

by Dr. Patrick Donovan

Healing Arises From The Transmutation of Illness

"Our purpose is not to resist illness but to use it... (because) healing arises exclusively from the transmutation of illness never from conquering symptoms." (Dethlefsen and Dahlke from The Healing Power of Illness)

• Illness is the destructive trend implied in every self-sustaining process of a living organism. It is the balancing, disintegrative counterpart to every integrating process. Without the potential for illness and disease, life could not proceed on its path of continuous creation because continuous creation is dependent upon continuous destruction.
• Life, in the physical sense, is what it is only within the context of the reality of physical death.
• Health exists as an existential phenomenon only in juxtaposition to the phenomenon of disease. Therefore, the time-honored motto of healing - Vis Medicatrix Naturae (The Healing Power of Nature) - is only a half truth. Within this concept lies its 'shadow side,' the full paradoxical, hidden truth of the 'destructive power of nature.' Without a full understanding of this full dialectic in its wholeness, we are left with only a partial truth.
• The Universe as we experience it, exists in its wholeness because of the paradox of duality and maximal contrast. Life can not be denied its death as light can not be denied its darkness and visa versa.

The Hero's Journey

Through the process of transformation, the illness itself becomes the healing path...the vehicle through which life is transmuted into greater life. As the 20th century philosopher, Paul Tillich writes, "Life must risk itself in order to win itself." Illness is the physical evidence of life risking itself to win itself. It is the very process through which one must pass to experience one's healing. This is "The Hero's Journey"... the transition from life through death/illness to new life. It is the journey of life's continuous creation.

"We have only to follow the thread of the 'the Hero's path.' And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought ot be alone, we shall be with all the world." (Joseph Campbell from Hero With A Thousand Faces)

Fish Oils for Optimal Health: My First Choice

In this article Dr. Patrick Donovan discusses his choice nutritional supplment.

I have been asked many times, “If you had to chose only one nutritional supplement to take to improve your overall health and prevent disease, which one would that be.”