I have a love/hate relationship with meat. I love how it keeps me satisfied and sustains my husband, a competitive cyclist. To be honest, it has just been easier to eat animal protein because I grew up with it and was used to centering my meals around it. But the more I learn about current industrial animal farming in our society, the more concerned I become. I lament its effects on the environment and water supply, its lack of sustainability, and the cruel and unhealthful way our industrialized meat is raised and harvested. I’m even concerned about the potential...

It’s a common story: You wake up before dawn, rush to the airport and arrive with only a few minutes to spare before boarding. Glancing around, you realize many breakfast options aren’t available. You think to yourself, a bagel sounds really delicious right about now. After all, it is vacation! Unfortunately, the bagel leaves you feeling bloated, foggy and fatigued. You forgot to grab a snack, so you eat the free ones the flight attendant gives you. When you finally check into your hotel, you’re tired and starving and there’s no way you want to go to the gym....

One of the most common patient concerns voiced in the office is, “I want to lose weight.” Most patients have already tried a combination of various medications, crash diets, surgeries and exercise regimens with limited, if any, success. Success rates are so low because there are many complex pathways and chemical messengers mediating the body’s ability to optimize metabolic processes and body composition. The majority of weight loss resistance is centered in the regulation of hormones. The calorie-in/calorie-out theory has been widely disproven, yet remains a dominant misconception regarding diet and weight loss. Calories do matter, but the updated...

Tucked away in a cozy plaza in Newtown is an amazing farm-to-table restaurant that focuses on delivering fresh local food in a warm and welcoming setting. As soon as you walk into The Farmhouse Restaurant you are greeted like family. They have a gorgeous dining area with floor to ceiling windows where you can watch the sun go down, relax and enjoy a spectacular meal. Executive Chef and Owner Winnie Togonon joined with Michele Carrino-Hanson and Michael McGetrick to create a true farm-to-table dining experience for their community. Chef Winnie is no stranger to the culinary arts industry and...

Are you a spiritual being having a human being experience? If you are, then it would make sense that a success strategy provided by the Divine would apply to any endeavor in your life. For example, the Divine’s success strategy can be applied to developing happy relationships, designing a career strategy or a new business, creating a community event, or manifesting healing from illness or addiction. Here are the six stages of success from the view of the spiritual journey – because that is how I learned them. One day, I was driving in my car and I heard...

Taking care of your skin is so important – and so easy!, Once you start, it quickly becomes a daily routine, just like brushing your teeth. However, sometimes we need a little guidance in deciding what regimen is best for us. This is where your esthetician or skincare professional can be helpful. Time is sometimes an obstacle for people who can’t follow a daily skincare routine. If you really think about it, it only takes 3 to 4 minutes to properly do the minimum three steps; cleanse, tone and moisturize. It’s really not a lot of time to get...

Let’s face it, running has become a growing community over the past 10 years. New ways to get individuals up and active is key to why this sport is now so popular. For some people, running is an occasional activity that is completed to incorporate cardiovascular health into their lives; but for others running is much more than that, it’s a way of life. Being a marathoner is a strange addiction. The love of fatiguing your body to push yourself to new limits is what many enjoy about the “runner’s high” they receive when completing a race. So why...

Residents of Connecticut and beyond enjoyed some of the state’s best food and drink at the First Annual West Hartford Wine & Food Festival on Saturday, June 17th at Kingswood Oxford School. Attendees were treated to more than 30 wine tables featuring 250+ wines from local, national & world-renowned brands, food from 30+ top area restaurants, and live entertainment, that helped raise funds for select Independent Schools in West Hartford. It truly was a fantastic event and if you weren’t there…you definitely missed a great one. Eat IN Connecticut, who helped out with the festival planning and was tasked...

Anti-Aging Medicine attempts to improve health, not just treat illness. When you went for a check-up with your doctor were you told, “everything is fine”? What does that mean? What it means is that your doctor didn’t find a disease that you are suffering from now. The effects of aging aren’t seen as a medical problem, and therefore not in the realm of anything that your doctor will deal with other than prescribe medication for symptoms as they arise. With the application of Anti-Aging Medicine treatments some disease processes can be at least partially reversed. Maintaining Youthful Vitality 1....

We live in Connecticut which is home to Lyme and, ironically, Hadlyme. It seems there is not a person in the state who has not either had Lyme or at least known someone suffering from this brutal disease. It is an infection that brings with it a series of brutal symptoms that are both related to the actual Borrelia burgdorferi infection and secondary to our own immune response. There are so many schools of thought on this disease and how to both diagnose and treat it. Then there are the co-infections that must be contended with including Borrelia, Ehrlichia,...

Do you remember when your mom used to tell you to correct your posture? To sit up straight? To stand tall? Now, how is your posture? Your walk? When you walk, do you feel vibrant and energetic? Are you upright? Does your body move easily? Do your arms swing? Do your feet strike the ground evenly? Do your hips and pelvis move with freedom? Can you still bend and squat like you used to? Or do you have pain, stiffness, or soreness? Is getting up from a chair difficult? Are you a little stiff until you stretch out? Do...

It keeps you up at night, or maybe it’s there first thing when you wake up in the morning. Your eyes open and this wave of anxiety flows over you before you’re even fully awake. You watch the news or check out your Facebook feed, and crazy things are happening in the world. It’s literally hard for your mind to make sense of it all. You listen to some of the decisions being made by our government, and you literally can’t understand what they’re thinking but are pretty sure they’re not thinking about you, your family, or mother earth...

It’s 8:00 at night on a Monday evening and you’re just getting home from picking up the children at soccer practice. Long before this though you woke up at 5:30 am. You were able to get the kids ready for school, cleaned up the house, worked all day, managed to hit the gym afterwards, quickly rushed to the grocery to buy dinner, and THEN went to pick up the kids. Not to mention all the other events that had occurred within your day like dealing with your overbearing boss, or how you came home from work to a burst...

Being physically active most of my life has been a great advantage for me and I know it. But after having kids, relying on exercise alone wasn’t as productive as it had been in the past. Even though I was dedicating the time and effort to exercise it began to feel like I had hit my “new normal” and I just settled in to accepting where I was. Work, kid’s sports, planning meals and teaching classes took enough of my focus and energy. There wasn’t a lot of time to prepare for a change. I was like many of...

Quintessential New England…old homesteads, and white-steepled churches nestled amidst the village green with fir trees still covered in snow. This is the quaint and peaceful scene you’ll stumble across as you drive into Newfane, VT to the elegant yet timeless Four Columns. I was so excited to visit the Inn and the legendary Artisan Restaurant Tavern and Garden as I am a huge fan of its sister properties, at Delamar Greenwich Harbor and Delamar Southport Hotels and soon to open, West Hartford! And as expected, The Four Columns did not disappoint. A beautiful, tumbled Carrera marble walkway leads you...

This business spotlight is our 4th in a series recognizing local holistic practitioners and businesses that are celebrating 10 years in 2017. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Lauren Young, owner of CT Natural Health Specialists to discuss her inspiration and success. DH: Why did you want to start your own business vs working for someone else? LY: I grew up in Hebron and always knew I wanted to be in this area. There really wasn’t an opportunity out here to join someone, so the choice was made for me! Hold your breath and trust your...

Does this sound like you? At times, it seems as if you’re totally getting the spiritual journey and your life is flowing in a beautiful manner . . . but at other times your spiritual journey can be the most frustrating or painful experience one may imagine. Why is this amazing experience so painfully good? Let’s break it down: The spiritual journey requires that you recognize that you are – first and foremost – a spiritual being having a human being experience. This recognition brings forth three sets of learnings: The first set of learnings revolves around you being...

Bioidentical hormone therapy refers to hormone replacement with hormonal substances that are, on a molecular level, identical to what our own bodies make. This, as opposed to replacement with synthetic hormones, allows for several advantages. First, because the bioidentical hormones you receive are identical to your own, they have a complete action in the body. That is, they act exactly like your own hormones would. Synthetic hormones are molecularly similar, and will exert similar effects to your own hormones, but will not have complete action. This incomplete action often does not elicit a balanced hormone response in the body....

In my many years in private practice as a board-certified Ob/Gyn, I had many appointments with women who complained to me that they felt that their “hormones were off,” or that they were “feeling so hormonal.” They would say to me, “Dr. Wei! Why do I feel like I want to kill my husband and children the days before my period? Why can’t I lose weight? Why am I so tired?” As a woman who also faced these issues firsthand, I understood fully what they were describing; however, in my conventional practice, I had few reliable tools to address...