Blog | Navigating Healthcare

Teeth, Tooth Pain, Tooth Structure June 27, 2016 0Comments

The Structure of The Tooth

Healthy Teeth You may gaze into the mirror and simply see a set of pearly whites grinning back at you, but those teeth are a little more complex in their composition – more than you probably have ever thought about.

When you think of it, your teeth are challenged every day to withstand icy cold or steaming hot drinks, or to crunch down and pulverize every piece of food that you put into your mouth. We’ve had our current teeth since we outgrew our baby teeth and got the permanent set, and, for some, old cavities or dental issues forced us to get crowns so that our old metal fillings were not so unsightly.

Teeth, Tooth Pain, Tooth Structure June 27, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Bad Breath, dental care, Dental Health, Oral Health, Tongue Health June 24, 2016 0Comments

How to Keep The Tongue Healthy

Healthy Tongue
If you see a dentist or dental hygienist on a routine basis, they no doubt give you an oral cancer check. This is commonplace now since over 40,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral and throat cancers yearly. Sadly, the five-year survival rate of those diagnosed is only slightly more than 64 percent. By being proactive, you and your dentist can detect cancer and treat it so that major health problems are alleviated later. So thank your dentist next time when the oral cancer test is complete as he or she might just save your life!

Bad Breath, dental care, Dental Health, Oral Health, Tongue Health June 24, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Healthy Foods, Healthy Lifestyle June 17, 2016 0Comments

Health Risks of Processed Foods

Every time you turn around the headlines are screaming about another food recall. E-coli, listeria, e-coli and avian flu issues have us rethinking where we dine or what we put into our grocery carts and into our mouths. The Chipotle e-coli issues leave us less likely to be craving Mexican food at that establishment, even though they are cleared of contamination issues and back in business again. We may want to eat healthy by eating more produce, but then we worry about listeria-contaminated lettuce or consuming supposedly “pre-washed produce” like bagged coleslaw or lettuce, only to find a large manufacturer like Dole is sweeping them off the shelves in a massive recall. Even a treat like ice cream was contaminated with listeria causing Blue Bell, a manufacturer established way back in 1907, to halt production of this frozen treat while they determined the source of contamination. The avian flu has us scrambling to find organic eggs or just doing without eggs altogether.

Healthy Foods, Healthy Lifestyle June 17, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Healthy Foods, Healthy Lifestyle June 14, 2016 0Comments

Healthy Eating Habits for College Students

College life is a dramatic change from the comfy convenience of living at home. Even if you were involved in athletics or had a part-time job, chances are you had three nourishing meals, a clean bed and your laundry done on a regular basis. You got your homework done before the weekend so you had free time. Unless you continue to live at home while attending college, you are in for a rude awakening.

Table of Contents

Big adjustments

The biggest adjustment might be living away from home for the first time, and, in general, dormitory life and sharing a room with strangers. Even if you shared a room with a sibling, it’s just not the same. Strangers coming and going all the time, and their friends as well, and so on. Sometimes you need to get away from it all and the library may become your sanctuary – that’s a good place to go to catch up on your studies and chill out a bit.

Healthy Foods, Healthy Lifestyle June 14, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Children's health, Healthy Foods, Healthy Lifestyle June 9, 2016 0Comments

Healthy Habits for Elementary School Kids

Nothing saps your energy and keeps you from feeling your best like a head cold, no matter what the time of year. Colds can come at any time, and flu season typically runs from October through May, peaking in February. You must be proactive to help your kids understand how to develop healthy habits.

As soon as your child is old enough to understand that “germs are not our friend”, you should encourage your child to do the following:

Children's health, Healthy Foods, Healthy Lifestyle June 9, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Things You Did Not Know About Sunburn sunburn in childhood

Anti-Aging, health concerns, Skin Cancer, Skin Health, Sun damage, Sun Spots May 28, 2016 0Comments

How to Protect Skin from Sun Damage

With summer fast approaching, there are so many feelings of excitement in the air as everyone prepares for vacations, trips to the beach, and spending quality time with friends and family. Indeed, with sunnier days comes an increase in outdoor activities as people are more inclined to venture outside and enjoy the warmer weather ahead of them. This also means there is an increase in exposure to direct sunlight and in turn, more exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. While natural sunlight is undoubtedly important for a healthy dose of Vitamin D, there are still risks involved with overexposure to the sun. Beyond dry, peeling and even blistered skin due to sunburn, there is also the increased risk of developing skin cancer. To avoid such health implications, protect your skin during the summer by following these simple daily health tips for a fun, yet safe summer season.

Anti-Aging, health concerns, Skin Cancer, Skin Health, Sun damage, Sun Spots May 28, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Gastroenterologist, GI Doctor, GI Health May 27, 2016 0Comments

The Immune System and The Gut

If you are in reasonably good health, you might attribute it to genes (no major health issues in your immediate family), you watch what you eat and you have good gut health. What the heck is good gut health you ask?

Much scientific research has been done showing the association between a gut-healthy diet and increased immunity and overall health. If you’re already blessed with good health, you must be doing something right, and, if you want to strive for good health, look below to see what you should be doing going forward.

Gastroenterologist, GI Doctor, GI Health May 27, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

digestion, Fiber, Gastroenterologist, GI Health May 20, 2016 0Comments

How to Prevent Gas

It’s Friday at your workplace and the boss is out for the day. Someone suggests doing Mexican food for lunch and soon all the employees are making a mad dash for the door. You feast on all that tasty fare and head back to work, however, the rest of the day you swig water until you are sure you can hear that water sloshing around inside of you. Blame it on the spicy salsa and a few too many warm tortilla chips. But, not only that, you want to loosen your pants because you feel like a balloon about to burst – must’ve been the refried beans! Mexican food sure is tasty, but everyone jokes about beans and their aftereffects.

digestion, Fiber, Gastroenterologist, GI Health May 20, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

Acid Reflux, Gastroenterologist, GERD, GI Doctor May 17, 2016 0Comments

What is Indigestion?

During your high school and college years, pizza was your go-to food 24/7; you ate that hot and piping pizza pie when it was delivered, and ice cold the next morning. Your stomach never rebelled one iota. So …

Suddenly, that ooey-gooey crust or that tangy tomato sauce leaves you feeling like your innards are on fire. After vowing to stop patronizing that pizza joint going forward, you might think “do they make pizza differently these days … or is it me?” Well, if you really have to ask that question, perhaps it is time to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist to have your GI tract checked out to ensure everything is okay. Gastroenterologists deal with all types of stomach ailments and should be able to quickly determine if your pain is caused by simple indigestion or is a symptom of a serious stomach condition.

But first, let’s delve a little into the topic of indigestion.

Acid Reflux, Gastroenterologist, GERD, GI Doctor May 17, 2016 0Comments 0Likes

lifestyle medicine practitioner with patient

Children's health, GI Doctor, GI Health, Stomach flu, Stomach pain April 1, 2016 0Comments

Common Causes of Tummy Ache in Children

When you are not feeling up to par, there are a few solutions available to remedy the situation: 1) you wait it out and hope it goes away; 2) you Google to find the answer (and sometimes you feel worse after reading what those symptoms might really be; or 3) you take yourself to the doctor.

Babies and pets are the only ones who must suffer in silence because they are unable to tell you they don’t feel well. An astute parent, or pet parent, notices a not-so-perky or listless demeanor or crying/whining and that is all you have to go on.

Toddlers or children are more vocal. They’ll come up to you and say “I’ve got a tummy ache” and will point a chubby finger around the area of their bellybutton. Well, that doesn’t help much, so, it is up to you to play detective and decide if the malady warrants a trip to the pediatrician, or even the E.R., or just a few days spent in bed. Pain that is generally located around the center of the abdomen, or the bellybutton is considered “simple” abdominal pain.

Children's health, GI Doctor, GI Health, Stomach flu, Stomach pain April 1, 2016 0Comments 0Likes