Applying Technology to Empower Patients. 2016’s trends gave us glimmers of towards crossing the autoimmune abyss and achieving the vision of individualized autoimmune care. What was the state of autoimmunity in 2016, that unforgettable year full of positive and negative events? One positive development was increasing awareness of the unmet needs of people with autoimmune disease. Bonnie spoke at/attended conferences, including Stanford MedX, Targeting the Microbiome, Health 2.0, and the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Thought Leaders Conference. She was surprised and encouraged to see increase ..read more

So you’re walking around the grocery store, and you come to the dairy aisle. You look past the heavy whipping cream and milk. What do you see? There it is, right next to the sour cream and butter: Greek yogurt. The component that elevates your breakfast from “basic” to “bad and boujee.” The product that might bring you a few extra likes on your Instagram brunch post. Slapped on the side of this magical container is a single word: “probiotic.” If you couldn’t tell already, we’re big fans of Greek yogurt. But beyond its ability to add class to an otherwise mundane breakfast, we’re more intereste ..read more

Over two thousand years ago, the great Greek physician Hippocrates said: Hippocrates was a man ahead of his time. Now, entire books explore how the properties of certain foods can benefit our immune systems (check out Food as Medicine, The A-Z Guide to Food as Medicine). It turns out that some of the herbs and foods we’ve been eating for centuries exhibit qualities that we now call “anti-inflammatory.” So today, we’re going to throw it all the way back to 460 B.C. and take a look at how our new understanding of anti-inflammatories/oxidants applies to Hippocrates’ “food as medicine” philosophy ..read more

It’s easy to feel like an outsider in a digital world where everyone seems to be blogging about the new diet that changed their lives. It’s easy to think that you are the only one struggling to be healthy in this increasingly information-driven society with too many success stories. But the truth is, most people have not found the answer to living their best lives. Most people haven’t found the optimal diet that changed everything. The truth is: you are unique, your body is one of a kind, and the diet that worked for your best friend–or someone with the same autoimmune diagnosis–may not be the ..read more

Did your mother or grandmother pester you over your posture? “Chin up, mouth closed, shoulders back.” While these may have seemed annoying and trivial at the time, it turns out there is more than etiquette at stake! Oral posture affects your bite, breathing, sleep and body posture. That’s why you should care about it. What is correct oral posture? Sandra Kahn, DDS, MSD, and Paul R. Ehrlich, PhD are authors of the new book Jaws: The story of a hidden epidemic. They describe correct oral posture as mouth closed, teeth lightly touching, and tongue pressed to the roof of your mouth. (1). “Chin up ..read more

Isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many more of us into working from home. Most of us do not have ergonomically optimized workspaces. Even those of us who do are suffering neck, back, and hip pain! Many people are working on suboptimal laptop or tablet setups for many hours. Here are some ergonomics suggestions and resources to help you rebalance your head and neck. Read this post to find out more about major causes and symptoms of forward head posture (FHP), the most common form of head/neck imbalance. We will be splitting this post to give exercises their own space. Forward He ..read more

Many autoimmune and immunocompromised patients are self-isolating because they are more at risk of severe disease if they contract COVID-19. Some of these patients have told their stories to the media, follow the links. Plus, several functional MDs that specialize in autoimmune share self-help tips for coping during the coronavirus pandemic. In an earlier post (Useful Basics) we provided links to useful information about the COVID-19 pandemic. Don’t put me at risk! Pleas from autoimmune patients Autoimmune and immunocompromised people, young and old, are at risk of more severe disease during t ..read more

Written by: Bonnie Feldman, DDS, MBA, Ishita Dubey, Ellen M. Martin The art of makeup is an ancient tradition. It arose concurrently with civilization itself, with the earliest recorded evidence of cosmetics originating from the first dynasty of Egypt (1). Today, the cosmetics industry is one of the most lucrative and growing sectors of the corporate world; it is worth more than $200 billion worldwide!(2)  Beauty products can be found in the day to day routines of women–and men–everywhere. But as pervasive as makeup is, the hidden dangers of the chemicals found in these products remain un ..read more

For 35 years, DrBonnie360 has coped with chronic musculoskeletal pain, secondary to her chronic autoimmune condition and fibromyalgia. She was a faithful physical therapy patient before later discovering that there are limitations to this exercise treatment. From her personal experience and extensive research (found at the end of the presentation slides below), she discovers additional movement modalities such as pool therapy, yoga therapy, pilates therapy, Gyrotonic method, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Feldenkrais method that can advance mobility and provide additional long-term benefits. To learn m ..read more

To start this series, I interviewed Bill Snyder, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Vivante Health. First, about his experience at the 4th annual HLTH Conference. More importantly, we discussed how his company’s product can help GI patients thrive between doctor visits.  HLTH attracts more than 6000 attendees from across diverse sectors of healthcare. It has emerged as a conference that features an impressive list of speakers as well as a rich networking environment. Thus, I was delighted to be a media representative at the HLTH Conference from October 27 to October 30, 2019. Bring ..read more