Author: osaintegrative
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Love Your Mouth
Valentine’s Day is just one day, but here in the Bear Cave we’re celebrating hearts all month long because February is American Heart Month! They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but a growing body of research is explaining that you might not even need to go that far: another… Read more
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Appetite, Mood, & Endocannabinoids
Dear Osa friends, TBE is back to, well, essentials this week with a look at omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and a lesser known function of these essential fats: activation of the endocannabinoid system. This fascinating internal “feel good” system impacts diverse physiological and mental functions including mood, pain sensation, inflammation, and appetite. Research shows that… Read more
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Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Going
Dear Osa friends, Happy 2025 to you! In the process of brainstorming where to go with The Bear Essentials (TBE) this year, I took a look back at topics we covered in 2024. It was so much fun to revisit the newsletters that I decided to create for you a quick one-or-two sentence synopsis of… Read more
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Happy New Year from Osa
As we ready ourselves to welcome a new year, I wanted to offer some food for thought for your health journey in 2025. Some of these tips come from my clinical experience, and others from a re-visiting of James Clear’s excellent book, Atomic Habits, which I read for the first time a year ago and have… Read more
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Boundaries and Cranberries
We have made it to the threshold of the holiday season, and–if you live in the Pacific Northwest–this means wading through leaves and puddles when out and about and feeling damp a lot of the time. As the trees shed the last of their colorful leaves, and critters prepare for hibernation, I find that it’s… Read more
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Fermented Foods vs. Fiber for Microbiome and Immune Health
Happy Halloween greetings from the Bear Cave! This week I have a couple of learning opportunities to share with you: First, I published a guest post on the Vibrant Wellness blog on the topic of omega-3 fatty acids and muscle health in aging! Protein gets a lot of attention when it comes to muscle, but… Read more
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Benefits of inefficiency: Mitochondrial uncoupling
Dear Osa friends, I hope you are enjoying the beginning of this autumn season. I love the gentle reminder that the change in colors and the falling of leaves offers us to shed what we no longer need and to shore up for the inner remodeling of the winter season. In this spirit, I want… Read more
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Optimizing Protein Timing
The issue of how much protein to eat has been a major topic of conversation and some controversy in functional medicine circles over the past couple of years. The controversy has stemmed from a larger conversation and focus in the functional medicine community on the science of longevity. There is a large body of evidence,… Read more
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GLP-1 and your microbiome
As summer draws to a close, I hope you have been able to return–in your heart or otherwise!–to an anchoring habit or comforting place, as we talked about in last month’s Bear Essentials. Now, as we are preparing to transition to the fall season, I’m shifting gears with the newsletter and starting a series of discussions… Read more
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Summer Reading + Returning
Dear Osa Community, I hope you are all enjoying a beautiful summer. I have been pulled in many different directions by my family’s usual summertime wanderings, which have involved returning to some familiar places–the Olympic Peninsula, the Oregon coast, Lake Chelan–and along the way I’ve been thinking about how grounding it is to return, because there… Read more
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Fisetin and Prostate Cancer
Dear Osa friends, This week we’re saluting the end of Men’s Health Month with a discussion of research involving a particular phytonutrient which holds promise for mitigation of prostate cancer growth. Enjoy! Fisetin and Prostate Cancer Lycopene, a carotenoid found in high quantities in cooked tomato, is perhaps the best known chemoprotective plant compound in… Read more
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Actionable Steps for Low Testosterone
Dear Osa friends, Happy summer to you! I’m back from my test prep and am excited to break open a new conversation this week around a sometimes overlooked topic in men’s health: testosterone. We’re going to discuss a few nutritional factors that can affect testosterone levels, in addition to touching on one of our most… Read more
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Simple Functional Hydration
Dear Osa friends, As we welcome summer and warmer weather, I’m taking a break from my CNS exam preparations to share a few simple tips for staying hydrated–no expensive electrolyte sachets required! Enjoy. Proper hydration is foundational for essential bodily functions including maintenance of internal temperature, oxygen and nutrient transport to tissues, and waste… Read more
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Calling your guide + Embracing rest
Dear Osa friends, With Mother’s Day this weekend, I am reflecting this week both on the ways we have been nurtured by our mothers and also on the ways in which we can all continue to “mother” ourselves, and I’m also cracking open a discussion on why rest is a necessity, not a luxury. Enjoy!… Read more
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Vitamin D, Calcium, and Cancer
Dear Osa friends, There isn’t a single one of us who isn’t affected by cancer in some way–either you know or knew someone who has or has had cancer, or you have received a cancer diagnosis yourself. We know that the development of cancer is heavily influenced by environmental factors, including toxin exposures and nutrition;… Read more
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What’s really the fat-burning zone?
Dear Osa friends, We’re continuing our conversation about exercise this week with a look at fat-burning (fat oxidation in science-speak) and how we might strategize to optimize this with the type of training we choose. If you’ve ever exercised on any kind of aerobic equipment, you are probably familiar with the phrase “fat-burning zone,” because… Read more
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VO2 Max, longevity, and nutrient needs for aerobic energy production
Dear Osa community, Although we’ve had some cold and wet days recently, I’m finding the earlier sunrise and morning birdsong energizing, and I’m excited to continue our conversation about exercise this week. I hope you enjoy! Last week we briefly discussed a 2009 study by Kokkinos et al., in which aerobic capacity was found to be… Read more
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Movement and your mitochondria
Dear Osa friends, Last time we spoke, we were welcoming springtime with the equinox and celebrating with more green in our lives (if you missed that letter, you can check it out here). Since then, spring has really sprung here in Portland with blooming daffodils, hyacinths, and magnolias, fresh leaves on trees that were no more… Read more
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Chlorophyll benefits + greenery & oxidative stress
Dear Osa friends, With St. Patrick’s Day and the spring equinox this week, I’ve got the color green on the mind 🍀. So, today I’m sharing a couple of insights on greenery for nourishing your whole self. Enjoy! You’ve heard you should “eat your greens,” but what exactly makes them so important? Green plants… Read more
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Ageism at the individual and systemic level
This week I’m sharing a reflection on aging and announcing the beta launch of my first group program offering. Enjoy! I was really glad to see the article on NPR this past week about doctors tackling ageism in medicine–it’s a quick, worthwhile read if you missed it. The term “ageism” refers to the stereotypes and negative… Read more