On this week's House Call: Why Am I So Stuffy? “I’ve always been congested,” starts this week’s first House Call question. “My digestion is great, but my nose is always stuffy. I have two dogs, so I’m thinking that might be the culprit, but I think it might be allergies.” Battling Headaches Our next reader writes, “I am battling these horrible headaches for the past 3 years now and they never go away. Help! What can I do?” If I Can’t Use Sugar, Can I Use Honey? The final question in this week’s ...
Apr 25, 2017•8 min
On this week's House Call: Getting Rid of Acne Once and For All The dreaded acne. It affects more than 85 percent of teenagers. But did you know that this skin condition has increased among adults? In fact, some eight million people visit the dermatologist every year for issues with their skin. We spend over a billion dollars for prescriptions and over-the-counter (OTC) products to cure acne, yet at best, these are short-term solutions. Our first question of the week comes from Michael, a reader...
Apr 17, 2017•9 min
Gut health has become a prominent focus in Functional Medicine. Having too many bad bugs and not enough good bugs has been linked to numerous diseases and challenges such as obesity, diabetes, allergies, autoimmune diseases, eczema, cancer, heart disease and even autism. The connection between gut imbalances and chronic disease is growing stronger every day. Today, we are talking about two challenges that involve deep gut healing: heartburn/acid reflux and candida. Steps for Dealing with Heartbu...
Apr 11, 2017•8 min
On this weeks House Call: Fructose vs. Glucose Our first question comes from Sue. “I have found that there is a difference in my body and in my brain between how fructose and glucose are metabolized and their addictive components. Can you talk about the differences between these two sugars?” Preventing and Treating the Flu Our next question comes from Julie who asks, “What’s your natural prescription for preventing the flu and how do you make symptoms easier once it’s contracted?” To Soy or Not ...
Apr 03, 2017•9 min
On this weeks House Call: Prebiotics & Probiotics Scott, a 10-Day Detox participant wants to know, what are the best prebiotics and probiotics to take and how to keep his gut healthy. Wine: Should We Drink It? Our next question comes from Barbie who asks, “Can you explain how damaging a glass or two of wine is with dinner every night?” Now I want to hear from you. What are your favorite prebiotics and probiotics? What are your thoughts on enjoying wine every night? Comment on my Facebook pag...
Mar 28, 2017•7 min
I get in my own way. Chances are, unless you are an enlightened master, you also have blind spots, areas of your life that just don’t work—relationships, work situations, your health, finances, your family, etc. How do you deal with them? If you are like me, you can spot them most of the time but not always! And you find yourself stuck in the same situation over and over again, creating upset and unhappiness. It could be your way of thinking that gets you into trouble, or past traumas and stress...
Mar 21, 2017•31 min
On this week's House Call: Finding Trigger Foods Julie, an Eat Fat, Get Thin challenge participant, is curious about transitioning off of a program and onto every day eating. She asks, “How do I get a good read on whether certain foods are OK for me? What’s the best indicator that a food is good or not good?” Can We Eat Too Much Fat? Our next question comes from Sandra who asks, “Still have questions on upper limits of fats. Is there too much of a good thing?” My Top Superfoods Out final questio...
Mar 14, 2017•8 min
On this weeks House Call: The Harm of Statins Our first question comes from Dorothy. Dorothy has successfully completed the Eat Fat, Get Thin program and now all of her labs are normal, but her new physician wants her to get back on statins which Dorothy doesn’t want to do. She asks, “What can I say to my physician to keep her from dismissing me as a patient?” High Fat Diets and Cancer Our next question comes from Cathy who says, “A lower fat diet has always been recommended to reduce risk for b...
Mar 06, 2017•7 min
On this week's house call: Alison asks, “What are some wellness routines to add in addition to our normal routines while traveling? What additional supplements should I take while traveling?” I travel a lot; in fact, 50 percent of my time is spent traveling. If I didn’t keep myself healthy while on the road there is absolutely no way that I could perform optimally. There are a few basics that you must maintain while traveling in order to stay healthy. Intermittent Fasting “I just finished Eat Fa...
Feb 27, 2017•6 min
Feeding Our Kids and Thyroid Health Our first question for this week’s House Call comes from Robyn. She wants to know what treats and snacks she can feed her young children, and she also asks if there are any special considerations that need to be taken into account when following the Pegan diet while pregnant or breastfeeding. The Root Cause of Hashimoto’s Our next question comes from Mimi who asks, “For a Hashimoto’s diagnosis, how do we get to the root of the problem?” This is a great questio...
Feb 20, 2017•8 min
Snacks for Endurance Athletes “What do you recommend for food and fuel for endurance athletes?” asks Dennis in this week’s house call. The Difference between Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease Our next question comes from Antra who asks, “What’s the difference between gluten sensitivity and celiac disease? And what’s your favorite gluten-free recipe?” Acid Reflux and a High-Fat Diet Our final question comes from Meg who writes, “I have acid reflux. How do I increase healthy fats in my diet wi...
Feb 13, 2017•7 min
I am so excited to share my new and improved Housecall series with you. Instead of focusing on one submitted question per week, we’ll cover two to three questions submitted via video, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram! Have you heard of the concept of food as medicine? Have you ever wondered about the Blood Type Diet or the Ketogenic Diet? These are the topics that we will cover on this week’s Housecall. Our first question comes from Chrysanne who asks, “Is it really worth it to spend extra money o...
Feb 06, 2017•9 min
Here’s the Downside of Antibiotics Your Doctor Might Not Tell You by Mark Hyman
Jan 30, 2017•8 min
“Dr. Hyman, I’ve recently gone gluten-free, and I’ve seen tons of replacements for traditionally gluten-laden foods,” a writer recently emailed me. “I’m a little suspicious, but are any of these choices healthy?” We are all aware that “gluten-free” has become a major buzz term. Restaurants proudly offer options like gluten-free bread, and even mainstream supermarkets have whole aisles dedicated to the trend. Nearly everyone has jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon. I don’t recommend this to every...
Jan 23, 2017•9 min
“I have been dealing with constipation for years now, and I’m so tired of it. It’s making me cranky, bloated and it’s messing with my appetite,” a social media follower recently wrote. “I feel like I’m doing everything right, but I can’t poop. Help!” Unfortunately, I see many patients who struggle with constipation and other bathroom issues. Sometimes they are too embarrassed to admit their problem until it becomes too painful to bear. My patients aren’t alone. Researchers find that roughly 12 t...
Jan 16, 2017•7 min
I was visiting Google one day, and I walked into a lunch area and saw everyone sitting on couches and at tables, all on their computers. I asked, “is this the silent lunch room?” and was surprised when I was told no. Far too often, I find myself on my phone or computer for most of my day – often missing the people and live events that are all around me. This is why it is important to do a complete “digital detox” – something I do at least a few times a year so that I can get back to just being. ...
Jan 09, 2017•8 min
“Dr. Hyman, how do I know if I’m eating enough fat?” a reader recently asked me. This is an excellent question and one of my favorite subjects because I wholeheartedly believe eating the right amount and type of fat plays a crucial role in shaping health and wellbeing. Doctors, patients and readers are often completely confused about fat, clinging to myths and misinformation that prevents them from understanding the latest science to lose weight and achieve optimal health. You’re familiar with m...
Jan 02, 2017•10 min
Since the release of my book Eat Fat, Get Thin, I’ve noticed fierce debates on social media and other news sources about things like calorie counting, eating vs. avoiding fat and genetics. When it comes to overall health and weight loss, there’s an excess of advice out there. Unfortunately, most of it is terrible, misguided, outdated and scientifically disproven. This ubiquitously poor advice can create weight loss roadblocks and even damage your health. Here are four prevalent misguided myths t...
Dec 26, 2016•10 min
I am so excited to share a recent interview that I did with Dr. Elizabeth Boham, my dear friend and long-time colleague here at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. She is Board Certified in Family Medicine from Albany Medical School and an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner. She also has her undergraduate degree in nutritional biochemistry from Cornell University and her graduate degree and Registered Dietitian from Columbia University. Dr. Boham joined my tea...
Dec 19, 2016•30 min
This is a time of year where many of us become overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by what’s still left to accomplish and preparing for family or extra holiday centric obligations. I’m sure many of you, like me, are also thinking about what we want to accomplish next year. My Handel coach gives me an excellent exercise each year that helps me focus, and get clear on what I want, and it never gets old. Simply put, it’s called dreaming. You might want to schedule a 30-minute consultation to see how this tool...
Dec 11, 2016•8 min
“Dr. Hyman, I just started your Eat Fat, Get Thin plan, and I’m feeling great, but I have a lot of fear around my upcoming social schedule,” writes a Facebook reader. “How can I maintain my newfound health during the holidays? “ I get this all-to-common yet excellent question from folks as they confront their holiday eating fears. Eating well is not about perfection. We are human, so perfection is impossible. A better approach involves honoring your body and knowing what works best for you and j...
Dec 05, 2016•7 min
“Dr. Hyman, I’m so confused about what fats to cook with,” a reader recently wrote. “For so long I’ve been using vegetable oils because I heard they were best to cook with, and now I hear that we can cook with butter or coconut oil.” I completely understand your confusion, especially with rampant misinformation about fats and nutrition in general. For instance, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends adults get no more than five percent of their calories from saturated fat, urging people...
Nov 28, 2016•7 min
The First Step to Your Best Health: A Kitchen Makeover by Mark Hyman
Nov 20, 2016•10 min
When we decided to put together another Fat Summit, I knew that I wanted my friend Dr. Carrie Diulus to co-host with me. I’ve only known her for a year, but it feels like I’ve known her forever. Dr. Diulus is the medical director of an amazing center in Ohio called the Crystal Clinic Spine Wellness Center. She is one of the only female board certified orthopedic spine surgeons in the country, and one of the only surgeons I have met who encourages people to choose alternatives to surgery when the...
Nov 14, 2016•45 min
We want the facts! We want an unbiased analysis of research and we want to know what works. That is exactly why I had to interview my friend and colleague Chris Kresser, M.S., L.Ac for my original Fat Summit. He is a globally recognized leader in the fields of ancestral health, Paleo nutrition and Functional and Integrative Medicine. Chris in an investigator and pioneer in his field. In the first Fat Summit, Chris and I got the chance to talk about personalized medicine, cholesterol, Paleo diets...
Oct 31, 2016•1 hr 7 min
Is butter back? What is the deal with coffee? What exactly is biohacking? Does calorie counting actually work? What fats should we eat? Which fats are harmful? My friend Dave Asprey and I had the chance to sit down this past February, during our first Fat Summit, to answer these important questions. Dave is the founder of Bulletproof and the author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Bulletproof Diet. He is also the master of optimizing the body and the brain. Our conversation was fascinating,...
Oct 24, 2016•53 min
Many of you asked me how I gave up being a nice-aholic, which I talked about in a previous blog titled Is your Kindness Killing You? If you’ve been following my writing, then you know I had a bad habit of not saying what I really thought in some important relationships and then ended up suffering the consequences. I had the habit of getting into conflicts or disappointments with people and then complaining to my friends or coach about it, while not saying what I really wanted to the source of my...
Oct 17, 2016•7 min
The way you eat, how much you exercise, how you manage stress and your exposure to environmental toxins all contribute to things like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and of course, heart disease. The current way doctors treat heart disease is misguided because they treat the risk factors not the causes. To think we can treat heart disease by lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure and lowering blood sugar with medication alone is like mopping up the floor while we l...
Oct 10, 2016•46 min
I once had a fear of fat while growing up. I subscribed to the antiquated “all calories are the same” myth, a mentality that demonizes fat. After all, eating fat makes you fat, right? End of story. From a caloric perspective, that makes sense. Dietary fat contains nine calories per gram, versus the four calories per gram for carbs and protein. If you eat less fat, you will eat fewer calories, and you will lose weight – easy and done, right? Unfortunately, that theory doesn’t work for many reason...
Oct 02, 2016•54 min
I am so excited to announce to that we are launching The Fat Summit 2: Separating Even More Fat from Fiction this coming November. During the first Fat Summit, we brought together physicians, health experts, researchers, journalists and scientists to tell us the truth about what makes us sick and fat, and guess what? It’s not the fat that is the culprit! We dove deep into subjects like cholesterol, brain health, heart disease, hormones and so much more, but the conversation was only just beginni...
Sep 26, 2016•58 min
