Dr. Holly welcomes health coach, Sarah Corey, as a guest blogger this week. For more from Sarah and Dr. Holly on this topic, listen to their conversation about Your Dairy-Free Guide to Calcium

Now, here's Sarah:

As children many of us were told the only way to grow up big and strong was to drink a glass of milk with every meal.  Dairy however is notoriously hard to digest and many people are finding their bodies function better without it.

There are estimates that as many as 6 out of 10 people react negatively to dairy.  

Even if you’re not lactose intolerant, meaning you lack the enzymes that digest the lactose, or milk sugar, you can still react negatively to milk.  Common digestive symptoms indicating you may have issues with dairy include gas, bloating, and loose stools.  For some it can also show up as rashes, acne, eczema, or chronic sinusitis.  

Removing dairy from your diet may be scary at first, especially as many people are concerned that this is their only source of calcium intake. The good news is that you naturally get calcium in your diet without even trying, and there are a variety of healthy choices you can make to ensure proper calcium levels in your body sans dairy.

Brace yourselves, your gym is about to become overcrowded with newcomer chaos.

It's a new year, and with this comes new dreams, desires and goals. I'm all for positive thinking, encouragement and transforming your life into a healthier one, especially when it comes to working out. Now that it's officially a new year, many of you may have decided to make 2015 "your year" and get moving on your fitness goals. This is great; high fives all around! In fact, most gyms will see a boost in members around the New Year, since getting in shape is one of the most common resolutions.

BUT, as someone who perceives the gym as my happy place, newbies always seem to find a way to make it a more irritating and unpleasant space rather than a comforting one.

My patients, family, and friends often ask me "How can I make my bones stronger?" In my last blog, I spoke about the Wonder Vitamin (Vitamin D). This time, I will focus on its counterpart calcium.

Calcium and Bone Health

Getting enough calcium and vitamin D is essential to keeping your bones strong and healthy. Without either essential nutrient, your bones may grow fragile and you may put yourself at risk for developing fragility fractures as you age. To stay healthy, it's vital that you eat foods rich in both calcium and vitamin D, or take supplements for the nutrients each day.

Grief is some tricky shit.

I apologize for the language... I tried to think of any other phrase that would set the stage for this blog; for what I’m feeling... somehow “grief is some tricky stuff” didn’t cut the mustard.

I’m fairly cerebral in my life processes; meaning that I tend to make sense of things by “thinking it out.” That is, I try to work everything out in my brain. If I can explain it away, with a reasonable argument and step-by-step analysis, I can process and move on.

I can’t make sense of what’s happening in my heart.

There are varying levels of grief. You can grieve the loss of a loved one (death). Grieve the loss of a loved one (divorce). Grieve the loss of your skinny jeans (just getting fat).

Obviously that last one is super-superficial.

It’s strange how I’ve processed grief in the past. When my grandparents and great aunts and uncles (who treated me like a grandchild) passed, I think I was still too young to realize what this meant. They were elderly; many in the stages of dementia and disease. What I didn’t realize is that while I lost a grandparent, my folks lost a parent.

And, while I haven’t lost a parent, I’ve lost a parent-in-law.

"Probiotics" have become a huge buzzword in personal health. Commercials, magazines and doctors are always saying "Take your probiotics!" And you should. Probiotics are a supplement worth the hype. The average consumer has poor dietary habits, lives a stressful lifestyle and is frequently exposed to antibiotics. Both antibiotics that are prescribed for them individually and antibiotics found in many meat and dairy products. It is important that we all repopulate the healthy bacteria needed in our bodies.

Probiotics are the "good bacteria." They help support the healthy bacteria in a person's gut - as well as the healthy lactobacillus bacteria in the vagina.

Good bacteria, such as the lactobacillus species in the vaginal area, protect you against yeast and other infections. One way in which the lactobacillus bacteria (i.e. L. Acidophilus, L. Casei, etc.) do this is by the production of lactic acid, which makes the vaginal environment more acidic. This keeps yeast and bad bacteria from growing. When you take certain antibiotics, have hormonal changes, or use harsh chemicals for intimate cleansing you lose this safeguard. This is when yeast and other opportunistic infections may occur.

It's Veterans Day.

A day we honor the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

Unfortunately, this day has gotten a bit lost in our ever-growing self-serving society, where it simply means a vacation day from work or an extra 20 percent off at Macy's.

If you ask me, that's a tragedy.

Course, I'm a bit biased in this department. My mom was a nurse in the Air Force. My older sister served in the Air Force as well, and now is climbing the ranks in the Air National Guard. Her husband is retired Air Force. My younger sister served in the Army. My best friend lost her brother, a Marine, in Afghanistan.

So, yeah, I can appreciate what these individuals do... and it's why I have such a hard time understanding why our veterans aren't being taken care of in the way they should. I fail to comprehend how we bring them home from war and then -- more often than not, it seems -- leave them to their own devices to deal with what they've seen and what they've done.

The result is not acceptable.

Vitamin D is often considered the Wonder Vitamin.

It is one of several fat-soluble vitamins. This Wonder vitamin plays key roles in body throughout our lifetime. The vitamin comes in two forms, D2 which is sourced from plants, and D3 which we synthesize from the sun. The human body benefits from Vitamin D because it enhances the absorption of iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium and phosphate from our daily diet and supplements.

Of great importance is the absorption of calcium, which plays a major role in keeping bones healthy. Without Vitamin D, our bones wouldn't be able to absorb the necessary calcium needed to be strong.

Dr. Holly welcomes health coach, Sarah Corey, as a guest blogger this week. For more from Sarah and Dr. Holly on this topic, listen to their conversation about Struggling to Sleep: Is there Too Much Light in Your Bedroom?

Now, here's Sarah:

We all know that getting a good night sleep is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Studies continuously show that achieving 7-9 hours of restful sleep nightly can have many health benefits including reduced the risk of chronic diseases, stress relief, improved cognitive function, weight control and even weight loss.

In our every connected digital age many of us are being exposed to light by our devices right up until the moment we get into bed, and for many of us, we even take these devices in bed! All light can disturb our sleep, however the light omitting from laptops, iphones and ipads is blue wave light, a wavelength that can be most destructive to our sleep cycle.

This light inhibits our pineal gland from releasing a hormone called melatonin, which helps reduce alertness and put you to sleep. At a very basic level melatonin production is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light.

While light affects our sleep and health in many ways, there are four main ways that this lack of sleep may be affected our bodies:

I competed in a charity Crossfit competition this past week called "Barbells For Boobs", a non-profit organization who provides funding to breast centers globally through their Mammograms in Action ® Grant Program as a "last resort" resource for thousands of people who do not qualify for government funding or other charitable resources in the detection of breast cancer.

My workout a partner and I took home first place for the best costume, I was "Dr. WOD" and she was "Nurse No-Rep" (insert pic here) and we didn't do too badly on the work out either.

The "Barbell For Boobs" story, which was told at the beginning of the day along with our movement standards, got my head shaking in a confirmatory YES way and brought me to tears. Sara, the woman who started this charity explained that her best friend at the age of 26 presented to a breast clinic because she had little funds but had noticed a lump on her breast. The clinic sent her away and told her to come back when she was 40 years old because that is when you have your first mammogram.

Sure enough, this young lady was soon diagnosed with breast cancer within weeks.

 
When do women reach their sexual peak?

Is it at 30, 40 or maybe even 50 years old? Well, if we use conventional medical opinion, then women are past their sexual peak when they hit menopause, which is characterized by ovarian shutdown.

So what do you think? Is a woman’s sexuality linked only to functioning ovaries?

I think the answer is no.

A woman’s sexuality is not linked to her ovaries. I believe that women and men can have active sex lives well into advanced age. Why else would we have a “blue” sex pill for men? But here’s the million-dollar question: Where’s the “blue” sex pill for women?

Like many of you out there, I'm a fan of natural remedies and alternative treatments. When it comes to menopause especially, many women will want to avoid Hormone Replacement Therapies (or HRT.)

That's not to say that HRT doesn't have a time and place, as well as benefits. It can ease the symptoms of vaginal dryness and discomfort, help with hot flashes and other symptoms and decrease the risk of osteoporosis. Currently there are studies going on to see if it can also help reduce the risk of heart disease. Please note that HRT isn't for everyone. It is a matter of personal preference.

The risks are what cause a lot of women to avoid HRT. Risks include: blood clots, stroke, heart disease, breast cancer and others. Some risks may depend on whether you're given estrogen alone as monotherapy or combination therapy with estrogen and progesterone.

SO WHAT'S A WOMAN TO DO?

When picking out an intimate moisturizer, people commonly overlook the importance of "water-based" versus "oil-based" formulas.

Water-based moisturizers are designed to more closely resemble your body's natural lubrication. They're usually well tolerated even by sensitive skin and don't stain your undergarments.

However some women choose oil-based moisturizers because they feel silky to them. While some of these moisturizers may feel good to use, there are concerns and risks to consider when using oil-based moisturizers on your vaginal area.