Dr. Peter Attia's Ted Talk About How Medical Science May Be All WRONG about Diabetes and Obesity

I think that you should watch this even if you don't care about diabetes. Peter Attia is a doctor who has developed a deep, empathic humility. It is motivating him to question how we currently view diabetes and obesity. The story is personal, but also clinical, and it may change the way you see doctors.

Back to diabetes, Attia has found that insulin resistance causes obesity, rather than obesity causing diabetes. This is a huge difference and it turns our conventional wisdom about obesity upside down. Fat people are becoming obese and diabetic because of another process that is going on - NOT because of overeating and lack of exercise.

This other process, the cause of insulin resistance, may be the consumption of processed sugars and grains. It may be due to consuming too much corn syrup and our over-glutenized wheat. These are both relatively new foods for us, popularized by convenience foods that emerged in the 1950's and have now come to dominate our food supply. Fortunately for us, Dr. Attia has stepped up and is working on a research team that is looking into different aspects of this problem.

Dr. Peter Attia

Pharmaceutical Science: It's Not Science When You Cherry-Pick Results

Dr. Ben Goldacre explains how Pharmaceutical Company "Science" Is Actually Not Peer-Reviewed, and Isn't Real Science.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_what_doctors_don_t_know_about_the_drugs_they_prescribe.html

The Tree of Contemplative Practices

One of the students in my Integral Health class used a version of this

Tree of Contemplative Practices, in a presentation and I wanted

to share it with everyone.  This was developed by

The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society  

and is used with its permission.

The point of this graphic, I think, is that there are many different contemplative practices that help us to feel more human and to be able to cultivate compassion, perspective, connection and patience.

Many people view prayer or meditation as a single practice to meet all contemplative needs.  However, some practices focus on stillness while others focus on altruism, creativity, activity, relationships, movement and/or ritual.  All are important ingredients to be blended "to taste" by each of us in the feast of life.

Emergency Aromatherapy - Comedy

Funny Massage Commercial from Singapore

Massage Therapists, like gynecologists, need good boundaries.  How can one work as a professional without them?

Swami Rama on the Mind-Body Connection

For my classes and others, this video covers Swami Rama's experiments at the Menninger Foundation (in Topeka, Kansas) in the early 1970's.  He proved that our mainstream Western scientists and physicians were wrong about the "involuntary" and "autonomic" nervous system's inability to be influenced by our will power.  Swami Rama was a great teacher and a great man, by any mortal standards.  His work has enriched countless lives and continues to enrich humankind through his teachings and books, his many students and through the Himalayan Institute that he founded.

Thich Nhat Hanh talking about mindfulness at Google

To me, this is an amazing event, and to hear Thich Nhat Hanh talk about mindfulness is a gift that I want you to experience.