John Douillard's LifeSpa | Ayurveda + Natural Health
Ancient Wisdom meets Modern ScienceAyurveda + Natural Health News
In this section, you will find well-documented articles citing foods, substances, supplements and herbs that should be avoided. In most cases, the pros and cons regarding these items are discussed allowing you to make your own choice about the frequency of ingesting these products. The purpose of this section is to educate you on how to stay out of harm’s way by avoiding toxic substances.
What Should We Eat? Diet wars keep raging as we humans try to solve one of our most controversial issues: what should we eat? In a recent study, a diet strikingly similar to what is suggested in Ayurveda has been found to dramatically lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, the second leading cause of
Is Meat Really Back on the Menu? We’ve all heard we should stop eating meat, and also that we should eat more meat! What are we to believe? A controversial study suggesting new dietary guidelines around meat was recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine, suggesting there was low evidence that red meat or processed
Apparently, heart disease is on the rise! The Wall Street Journal analyzed rising rates of heart disease among middle-aged Americans (between 45 and 64), finding some of the healthiest places, like Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Greeley, Colorado, saw some of the highest death rates from heart disease, with a rise of nearly 25% in 2015-2016, compared to 2010-11.1
Does Brahmi Cause Liver Damage? I have received numerous emails about the safety of an herb called brahmi (Centella asiatica), aka gotu kola. This herb is not to be confused with the south Indian herb bacopa (Bacopa monnieri), also sometimes called brahmi. Let me assure you that brahmi (Centella asiatica) is perfectly safe. Read on
The High Risk of Chlorinated Drinking Water Do you know what’s in your drinking water? A recent Johns Hopkins study discovered carcinogenic toxins in American tap water treated with chlorine.1 These newly found chemicals are byproducts that occur when disinfectants (like chlorine) combine with phenolic chemicals. Some phenols occur naturally, while others are residues from
Detox Physical + Mental Ama Sadly, a recent survey found 74% of Americans experience digestive health concerns.1 Are you one of them? Digestive concerns may be more important that you think. Ayurveda says 85% of health concerns originate as digestive imbalance. Analyze + Treat Physical Ama According to Ayurveda, the result of poor digestion is
Do You Know about Sugar Alcohols? Do you experience nagging digestive issues like bloating, gurgling, tummy aches, and occasional bouts of loose bowels? The culprit might not be wheat, dairy, nuts, seeds, beans, or other hard-to-digest foods. The problem might be that so-called healthy sweetener you’ve been using lately. No, I am not talking about
Our Ancestors: Fruit + Famine Once upon a time, about 26 million years ago, apes in Africa lived in a flourishing tropical garden, where their next meal, likely some ancient version of a banana, was just a few feet away. They were mostly fruitarians, and they had a special enzyme that helped metabolize fruit as
Blood Sugar, Glycation + AGEs The insidious rise of blood sugar levels has become an epidemic plaguing more than 100 million (or one in three) Americans. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), 90% of the population with rising blood sugars are not aware that they even have an issue!12 The result of rising
December 3, 2019 | 49 minutes, 31 seconds Download Natural Healing By now, we’ve all heard of the healing properties of nature, like the healing magic of a walk through the woods! Ayurveda described the benefits of nature thousands of years ago. More recently, in the 1980s, a Japanese practice became popular called shinrin-yoku, which
Wired for Sweet For 10,000 years, humans have been infatuated with sugar. Since the first sweet taste of mother’s milk some two million years ago, our early ancestors established a strong brain-gut neural pathway that the sweet taste was safe and happy. It also gave them energy, and the more of it they could forage,
Is Your Brain Shrinking? A handful of factors have been shown to decrease your brain size. Perhaps most noteworthy is the research on vitamin B12 deficiencies, which are linked to poor digestion, low stomach acid, cognitive function, memory concerns, accelerated death of brain cells, and loss of brain volume, aka a shrinking brain. New research
