When our body is stressed from being sick, injured, or just had surgery, it needs more protein to recover. This is not just rebuilding muscle, which is important, but also building the scar tissue that will hold things together again so we can function. If we think of recovering as rebuilding walls within our body, then we need building blocks, literally, to do that. It is the same for the proteins that rebuild us- they need their building blocks, called amino acids, and the

In some studies, up to 95% of the GENERAL POPULATION is not meeting the daily intake requirements for vitamin D. That means even when people are healthy they are not taking in enough, let alone those who are sick, injured, or need surgery. Obesity, being overweight, low levels of sunlight, and low intake of fortified foods are risk factors for low levels. Healthy and unhealthy alike are running on fumes of vitamin D; therefore the great majority of surgical patients are low g

Zinc levels fall 47% with major surgery and this drop can last up to 8 days. This is because the liver is storing extra zinc to make other proteins that fight inflammation. But this takes away from the available zinc for wound healing, immune supporting properties, and the 200+ other basic daily functions of zinc! Zinc is involved in every phase of wound healing- from stopping bleeding to cleaning up debris to building collagen and new blood vessels. We obtain and maintain zi

Did you know that vitamin C deficiency occurs often in patients with infections, trauma, and cancer? And that surgery significantly depletes the body of vitamin C? Let alone a combination of the above such as- a cancer patient undergoing curative surgery, or using surgery to help treat an infection such as appendicitis or an inflamed gallbladder? Vitamin C levels fall during these times because the stores in the body are used faster than can be replenished. Clearly, Vitamin

Use the following questions to learn more about your surgical wellness strength, weaknesses, and interests. Follow those leads to optimize your mind, body, and spirit to thrive with surgery! I want you to take a few minutes to yourself, in a place where you can think, and consider how your disease, symptoms, or injury and the need for surgery have affected you in the following ways: Sleep: do you wake up a lot, are you tired from dealing with your health issues, is the qualit

Obtaining nutrients is harder as the food we eat is less and less healthy. Caloric intake is easily overdone with the highly concentrated sugars and unhealthy fats in easy to access foods. Because of processing methods, food often needs enrichment with vitamins and minerals to keep pace with human requirements. Fruits and vegetables are grown in massive quantities over short periods of time and do not have the nutritional value that they did 20+ years ago. Data shows that ove

Inflammation is most obvious when you see a swollen ankle or redness around a cut or sore. If it were all this apparent and uncomfortable then we would have more motivation to do something about it. When it is too small for the eye to see, we have a hard time imagining that same process going on in our joints, our intestines, our nerves, brain, etc. Autoimmune diseases are more and more prevalent, and that is an extreme microscopic and molecular version. The more subtle and i

Pain is often the reason someone agrees to have surgery. And no surgery is without pain. It is obvious that the two are inextricably linked, and there are significant consequences to that. Over 800,000 knee joints are replaced each year in the US, and up to 33% of those patients have chronic pain 6 months after surgery. For patients having chest (thoracic) surgery, nearly 50% can have chronic pain. Pain before surgery has impact of pain after surgery. Because our body and emo

We have bacteria everywhere on and in our bodies and cannot live without them. There are a few hundred bacteria per square centimeter on the driest parts of our skin, and hundreds of millions per square centimeter in our colon. Bacteria are protective and helpful when in the right place, but cause infections if they get caught in the wrong place. The types of bacteria in the mouth are different from that in the lungs which are different from that in the small intestine which

A few years ago I realized that, as a surgeon focused only on surgical problems, I was actually NEGLECTING THE PATIENT. Like, wow. What a revelation…! Diving deeper and learning about holistic and functional medicine, I realized that my patients would do better with surgery if I addressed the way that disease, injury, symptoms, surgery, and recovery affected their mind, body, and spirit. In talking to patients, friends, and colleagues, I felt that this approach would help any

October is a great month to discuss breast cancer and how the surgical wellness approach can help patients better deal with their diagnosis, the stress of surgery, and recovery from it all. Today, I will suggest remedies to optimize the relationship between sleep, breast cancer, and surgery. Sleep research is a hot topic, and the latest information indicates that most people need 8 hours of sleep. Up to 70% of patients with breast cancer report sleep complaints- can’t fall as

Sugar is everywhere. Even if the labels on food packaging don’t explicitly say “sugar,” there are a dozen other forms that it takes that cause the same effects on your body. These include the notorious high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, malt syrup, agave nectar and honey. When you see these, just think “sugar.” What does all of this have to do with breast cancer? Quite a bit, both directly and indirectly. Direct Effects of Sugar and its Substitutes on Breast C