A primary care provider is a family physician, internist, or nurse practitioner who coordinates all of the health care a patient receives. The holistic primary care model offers not only traditional primary care but also incorporates the best of complementary and alternative healing therapies from around the world to help you achieve optimum wellness, not just freedom from disease.

Our holistic primary care providers will be your partner and guide in helping you achieve your health goals.

Top 5 Reasons for Integrative Medicine

1. We treat the whole person

The mind, body and spirit all contribute to your health status and wellness. An integrative MD or Nurse Practitioner will develop a treatment plan that addresses your medical needs as well as your emotional and nutritional well-being. Stress management, diet, and lifestyle factors all play a role in your overall health.

2. Integrative medicine and Functional Medicine treat the cause of imbalance, not just the symptoms

I recently had a brake problem in my car, and the diagnosis I made was completely different from the one my mechanic made.  My diagnosis was descriptive, “the brakes squeak and the car pulls to the left,” I said to my mechanic.  The diagnosis he made was that the rotors and brake pads were worn down. 

My diagnosis, like the ones often given to patients who suffer from psychiatric disorders, was descriptive of symptoms.  The other meaning of the word diagnosis is to define the cause.  That’s what depression really is; definitive, testable, modifiable causes.  The causes can be immunological (e.g., gluten sensitivity), infectious (e.g., Candida or Lyme), allergic (e.g., pollen), toxic (e.g., mercury), metabolic (e.g., hypoglycemia), psycho emotional (e.g., irrational thinking, or unfinished emotional trauma (PTSD) and/or genetic issues (e.g., methylation problems). 

Here is a short list of 21 other causes of depression:

Number of Children with Asthma is Increasing

While spring is a welcome relief from the cold and dreary winter for many of us, it can be a time of misery for children suffering with asthma.  The blooming of trees with the accompanying pollen trigger wheezing, coughing, and other unwelcome symptoms for a rising number of children with asthma. Asthma now affects 1 in 11 children. The incidence has been rising over the past few decades, with an increase of 15% just in the past decade.

Other Factors to Consider with Asthma

The conventional medical approach to asthma is to relieve the symptoms as much as possible with the use of bronchodilators and steroids.  Bronchodilators open the airways, while steroids suppress the inflammatory response that the body produces to harmless stimuli, such as pollen from flowers and weeds.  The other approach is to identify the child’s triggers and avoid them.  But so many triggers, such as pollen, mold and dust mites are impossible to completely avoid.  While these are necessary treatments to control asthma symptoms, how about getting to the root causes of symptoms to help the body stop “overreacting” to these stimuli in the first place?  Here are four strategies of a holistic approach to asthma treatment that can reduce or even stop asthma at its root.

Feed your child an anti-inflammatory diet

Asthma is an inflammatory disease, which means that the body’s immune system is fired up, trying to battle the environmental assaults.  An anti-inflammatory diet is one that can help “calm the fire.” This is a diet rich in antioxidants and free of foods that further inflame the system.  Therefore, your child’s diet needs to be rich in natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans.  These plant foods provide an abundant supply of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.  On the other hand, you want to rid your child’s diet of inflammatory foods such as artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and sweeteners found in many so-called “kid-friendly” foods.  White sugar and white flour products are also inflammatory.  And dairy products are a frequent source of inflammation for many children with asthma.

Tom Baldwin DDS

Maureane O'Shaugnessy

Did you know that 70 -80 % of your immune system is in or around the digestive tract?

It’s true. Now consider what would happen to your health if the digestive tract were compromised.

Malnutrition and lowered immunity would become a real health concern.

There are several things that can compromise the bowel including:

• Parasites ( bacteria,  fungi, viruses, multiple cell organisms such  as pinworms)
• Food allergies-inappropriate immune response to foods causing inflammation
• Diverticula - herniations or pouches in the walls of the intestines that can trap foods and bacteria causing inflammation / infection of the bowel wall.
• Antibiotics- while they can clear infections, they also kill good bacteria necessary for the health of the gut
• Constipation- slow transit due to poor peristaltic motion can cause  the  bowel to become toxic due to bacterial overgrowth as well as tears in the walls of the intestines that easily become infected.

by Mark McClure DDS, FACG

Biological Dentistry is Whole person dentistry:

Whole - person dentistry, which is gaining understanding and support among the public and professionals, is the awareness of the intricate web-like relationships between dentistry and one’s general health and wellbeing. Its practitioners have advanced skills and knowledge in intervening to regain and maintain patient’s health. The whole - person dentist will embraces other descriptive terms like holistic, integrative medical and biological dentist. The whole - person dentist must wear multiple hats – first he/she is conventionally trained, incorporating the best developing dental technologies and aesthetics that modern dentistry offers but there is much more to a holistic dental approach.

Biological Natural Dentistry

Whole person, Biological Dentistry refers to routinely using biological (or natural) products and principles to help people be healthier more effectively and efficiently. The use of herbs, super-foods, nutrients, drainage remedies and homeopathics, and oxygen- ozone (as well as drugs and surgery when needed) in routine and specialty dental services defines the whole body approach that is employed. In summary, the principles of biological dentistry is treatments that are safe and effective, non-toxic with little or no side-effects, allowing the patient to heal themselves and ultimately reaching a state of biologic homeostasis - meaning health.

Flu season is upon us again.

Many believe that this season has become more worrisome because of the H1N1 swine flu that we have heard so much about. In June 2009 the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. However, a pandemic does not mean that the virus is more deadly. It simply means that it has spread further throughout the world. The response to this pandemic resulted in the rapid development of the swine flu vaccine.

We at NIHA share these concerns and want to provide our community with effective prevention measures to stay healthy, including potent strategies of regaining your health rapidly should you fall sick.

Educate yourself and implement these effective and powerful health tactics into your life. Check out the recommended product list below and make sure you are ready for flu and cold season.

The Art of Staying Healthy When Others Get Sick