Y'all, I had to have major surgery during the pandemic!  And when I first heard that from my doctor I was shocked, and then I became terrified.  I am sharing my story because the tools I used to navigate having a hysterectomy during this challenging time are helpful in a variety of situations.   

I wanted to have a positive experience with this surgery.  My anxiety wanted me to worry about everything.  But that emotional toll can cause physical problems, and I knew from experience that having my body in good physical shape would help me recover more quickly and wholly.   

I created a healthy toolkit for myself just for this surgery.  This is the work I do with health coaching clients in which I help them create a healthy toolkit so they have a system in place that helps them achieve their health goals.

​Here is what I put in my surgery healthy toolkit:
Hired a psychotherapist.  Have you met my anxiety?  She can be useful for some stuff.  In general, though, she tends to worry all the time about all the things.  For example, on trips she'll try to convince me that the pilot is drunk and the plane has mechanical problems.  I knew going into surgery that having a good mindset would be essential to the success of my recovery.  And it worked!  Collaborating with a therapist helped so much that the morning of surgery I was so calm that I fell asleep while in the prep room before being wheeled into the operating room and before receiving anesthesia.  Wow!

Eliminated recreational sugar and alcohol.  Years ago, before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I had chronic foot warts.  It turns out that those warts were a result of eating wheat.  I know this is a tangent, but bear with me.  There are a lot of food allergies, intolerances, and autoimmune diseases that people think they don't have because they believe the only symptoms of these maladies are digestive distress.  This, frankly, is not a true story.  I know celiacs who had no symptoms before their diagnosis and only got tested because a family member had been diagnosed with the disease.  My celiac symptoms were foot warts and respiratory distress.  So I spent a lot of time getting to know my podiatrist.  And he introduced me to the concept of inflammatory foods.  He required all his surgical patients to eliminate sugar and alcohol weeks before surgery so they would have less pain and recover faster.  And it worked!  His nurse told me that his patients always had the best results.  I have had this tool in my back pocket ever since and I definitely employed it recently.  I walked away from alcohol last May because it was making my body feel crummy most of the time.  Since then, I had have a sip of Brian's wine at dinner sometimes just to see how it pairs with the food.  And I enjoyed a class of prosecco on New Year's Eve.  Net, this one was easy as I stopped having an occasional sip of Brian's dinner wine.  To eliminate recreational sugar, I stopped baking, stopped eating my beloved daily piece(s) of dark chocolate, and stayed away from snacking on marshmallows.  I was told it would take at least two weeks after my hysterectomy before I started to feel better.  I feel like I hit that mark at 10 days post-surgery.  In fact, I keep forgetting to take my pain meds because, well, the pain has diminished greatly.  Staying away from foods that inflame pain helps!

Went for daily walks.​  And when I say I walk, I do not mean with the dogs or with other humans.  I went on walks specifically for me.  I went on walks through nature and noticed flowers.  I went on fast walks and short walks and long walks.  I went up and down hills.  The only rule was that these walks were for me and me alone.  Walking is a standard item in my healthy toolkit.  It's how I process my thoughts.  It's part of how I stave off depression and anxiety.  And I did a walk for me almost every day during the month before my surgery.  It meant that my body was in good shape and my heart was healthy going into surgery.

Prioritized sleep.  One of the biggest sources of inflammation in the body is lack of good sleep (source).  For years, sleep has been in my healthy toolkit.  I get good sleep by not keeping a TV or my phone in the bedroom, having a bedtime routine that prepares my body for sleep, and by establishing boundaries around my sleep to protect it.  In the past, when I haven't consistently gotten 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep, my autoimmune diseases will flare up, my depression will set in, brain fog will creep in, etc.  Preparing for this surgery was no different as I prioritized 8 hours of sleep each night in the month before surgery.  It helped immensely.  And now, as I recover, I am resting when my body wants to rest, and I am sleeping somewhere between 8 and 12 hours each night.  It's essential for a full recovery.

Got by with a little help from my friends.  I have a treasure trove of friends and so many of them gave me some great advice prior to surgery from aligning expectations about the experience to what it's like to cough while nursing an abdominal incision (the worst pain ever!).  They sent cards and flowers and soup and coloring books and books and checked in with text messages and emails and phone calls.  All that love and support has been essential to my recovery.  We live in an area with few friends and no family (we moved here right before the pandemic began), and my husband has really stepped up to take care of me during my convalescence.  Knowing I have a partner who is there for me has been so helpful to my recovery.  

To recap, here's what I put in my healthy toolkit for my surgery:

• Psychotherapy
• Eliminated sugar and alcohol
• Daily walks just for me
• Sleep
• Friends

Hey, if reading this made you want to create your own healthy toolkit, contact me for a complimentary call to see if health coaching is a good fit for you! 
​

Studies show that it is not that happy people are more grateful.  Rather, people who practice gratitude consistently are happier, and, it turns out, they may be healthier, too.  A study at the University of California San Diego found that keeping a gratitude journal is good for your heart by lowering cardiac inflammation.  Researchers at the University of California Davis Medical Center have found that being grateful and practicing gratitude can boost your immune system, lower your blood pressure, and improve your sleep.  And, sleep is the most healing thing our bodies do every single day!

Practicing gratitude to improve your health does not require you to go to a gym or eat kale or give up anything.  It simply requires you to purposefully focus on what is going well in your life.  Through focusing on what is going well in your life, you then invite in more positive feelings.  And who doesn't want more positive feelings?!  So how do we get this gratitude party started?  Well, there are a couple of simple, easy, doesn't take too much time ways to do this.  

Ways to practice gratitude:

• Keep a gratitude journal.  Keep a notebook on your nightstand.  Every morning or evening, write down three or more things you are grateful for.  They do not have to be major things.  The other day, I wrote in my gratitude journal that I was grateful for broccoli rabe because it's nutritious and delicious!
• Keep a gratitude jar.  I know some families who keep a gratitude jar.  Get a jar and put in a place all family members can access.  Have a pen/markers and scrap pieces of paper next to it.  Anytime someone feels grateful, they write down what they are grateful for and stick it in the jar.  I know some families who do this year round and pick a day of the month to empty the jar and read all the notes of gratitude.  I know other people who do this just for the month of November and read the contents of the jar on Thanksgiving. 
• Commit to handwriting thank you notes.  The act of physically writing something down with a pen helps commit it to memory and wire the brain towards it, research shows.  If you are writing thank you notes, you are wiring your brain for gratitude.  
• Go for a walk and repeat to yourself the mantra, "I am grateful."  It will help wire your brain towards what you are grateful for.  

I am excited to share how gratitude improves your health and how you can easily incorporate it into your day because yes, I want you to be happy.  And I'd love to hear what you are grateful for in the comments below!

Every year I notice that the supposedly happy holidays are really unhappy holidays.  As the days get shorter and our natural inclination is to slow down and rest more, our culture goes in the opposite direction.  We are bombarded with a crazy amount of lights, activities, and pressure.  That pressure very often comes in the form of expectations -- both our own and that of our culture -- to give the perfect gifts and be the perfect hosts and have perfect decorations.  So much pressure!  That pressure is counter to the natural rhythm of life to rest during winter when the days are short and it's mostly cold (except where I live, but that's another story).

Are you finding it difficult to slow down during this time of year?  Do you feel the holiday pressure?  Is this year triggering old wounds, especially around family and expectations?

Here is what I have found I most need this time of year to both enjoy the season and embrace the desire to rest and slow down:  routine.  Having routines gives me a solid foundation so that the upheaval of the holidays does not derail me.  Having routines boosts my immune system.  Having routines gives me stability at a time of year that can feel incredibly unstable, no matter how much fun it is.  

I believe in the power of having a routine so much that when I work with health coaching clients, the first thing I encourage them to do is establish a morning routine.  It is much easier to seek and embrace change when you have a solid foundation to stand on.  It doesn't have to be anything over the top.  The key is to do a couple of things every day in support of your health and sanity.  My routine always includes tongue scraping, a long walk with the dog, and warm lemon water with a splash of apple cider vinegar.  That's it.  Three things in the morning.  And I keep that routine even when I am traveling.   

The return on investment for my routine means my immune system is strong, I have energy to give to my clients and students, and I am not tired or feeling meh.  It also means that life upheavals like the holidays or the refrigerator breaking on Thanksgiving Day (true story!  and we were hosting the big dinner!), or both of our cell phones failing within a week of each other recently are not so debilitating because every morning I can fill my cup back up through having a routine that supports my body, my mind, and my spirit.  

"My cup runneth over. What comes out of the cup is for y'all. What's in the cup is mine. But I've got to keep my cup full," renowned life coach Iyanla Vanzant said in an interview with Oprah.  It's worth the three minutes to watch it.  

Routine helps you keep your cup full, and it's essential during the holidays.  Now, the big question for you if you have this awareness that you need a routine, is how to create one.  First, write down what is important to you that brings you joy.  For me those answers included movement and nature.  Next, write down what you are willing to do every single day based on how you answered the first question.   To implement it, schedule it.  If it is not scheduled you'll never do it.  

And now I'd love to hear what you do daily to keep your cup full so please share in the comments below!

Last week, parts of my life resembled the lyrics to a depressing country song.  My parents' dog died (RIP Doc).  My car sustained damage while being serviced at the dealer.  Our fire alarm, hardwired into the electrical, would not shut off for hours no matter what I tried. This caused the dog to have anxiety ... for all of those hours. I received an empty bubble package from Amazon, slashed in the middle, lacking the vitamins I ordered.  I pinched a nerve in my shoulder and had severe pain from my neck down my right arm for most of four days.  Every one of those things in and of itself would have been trying, but compress them all into Monday through Wednesday, and my catastrophic thinker had me full-on believing that it was a bad week.  A very bad week.  

And I have a dark side so it is very easy for me to get depressed (so familiar) and decide I am a victim (so comfortable and yet so boring).  But I know that while it was a trying a week, it was not a bad week.  I know that every single one of us is going to have one of those weeks from time to time.  As my mother reminds me, no person is immune from tragedy or trauma.   Last week contained neither tragedy nor trauma. 

So how did I turn last week around and not surrender my happiness to events somewhat out of my control?  The simple answer is gratitude.

On Tuesday (before the fire alarm situation had even occurred), Brian and I were going for a pre-dinner walk with the dog.  It was lovely out, neither too hot nor too warm, lots of flowers blooming, and generally pleasant.  I turned to Brian and I said, "You got to help me get out of my head about all of these things going wrong this week.  I need to do some quick-fire gratitude right now."  

Gratitude is one of the easiest things for me to do, express, and embrace.  I talk to clients about it all the time.  Gratitude helps you focus on what is going right, not what is going wrong.  It keeps you in the present moment noticing all the blessings in your life.  Studies show that grateful people are generally happier.  As an aside, they also are in better physical health.  

Your brain patterns are not set.  Gratitude is one way to shift your thought patterns away from catastrophic thinking and towards being focused on the positive.  This does not mean spiritually bypassing your feelings and not getting upset when things go wrong.  By all means, feel your feelings.  It does mean not letting them consume you or blowing things out of proportion.  Gratitude, I've found, is great for perspective.

With Brian, while walking the dog, I listed as many things as I could think of that I was grateful for in that moment.  There were so many more things I was grateful for than the handful of weird things that went wrong last week.   As I went deeper and deeper into gratitude, I could feel my shoulders relaxing and my anxiety waning.  By the end of it, I simply felt better.

With my wonderful clients, I talk about gratitude as part of a healthy toolkit.  Mindset is key to achieving goals, ending self-sabotaging habits, and believing in your value.  Some of them have found it effective to keep a gratitude journal.   It's fairly easy, and it either sets you up to have a good day or a good night's sleep.  Here's how you do it:

• Place a notebook and pen beside your bed.
• Either before bed or when you awake in the morning, write down two to three things you are grateful for.

​So simple!  And now it's your turn.  How do you tune into your gratitude?

My great-grandmother died of complications from Alzheimer's disease thirty years ago.  My mother would take us to visit her at the nursing home in the small Colorado town where I spent my early childhood.  Most visits she had some to no idea who I was.  One particular visit, she wouldn't let me sit down.  I asked to sit on her bed, her chair, and finally, after exhausting every other surface in her room, I asked to sit in her bathtub.  The answer was always no.  Who could blame her?  The dementia had so crippled her mind that I was a complete stranger to her and she rightfully denied me the opportunity to occupy her space when she didn't know who I was.  My family laughs about it now, but really, it is not funny.  Watching that disease ruin my great-grandmother's elder years made a lasting impression on young me and I told myself I wanted to avoid that outcome in my own life at all costs.

Today, not only do I want to avoid this outcome, I am passionate about helping others avoid it as well.

We know a bit more about Alzheimer's and dementia than we did thirty years ago.  We know that yes, it can be genetic, though for every person who has the gene, it's debatable as to whether the gene gets expressed.    We know that it is inflammation of the brain.   And we know that it is no longer an old person's disease.  It is a young person's disease.

That's right, what you are doing or have done in your 30's and 40's may very well be or have been sowing the seeds for dementia later in life.  Inflammation is slow and silent when it starts.  By the time you are aware of it, whether it's in your brain or your gut or your joints, it has probably been lurking for years, possibly sending signals that were dismissed or ignored.  Chronic insomnia in the first half of your life is a predictor of Alzheimer's during the second part of your life. I've been coaching for some years now, and I am hard pressed to remember a client who didn't present insomnia or poor sleep habits during their initial client consultation.  

If you are not hearing alarm bells, they are there.  Here's some tough love: checking your email or social media at 2:00 a.m. is causing inflammation in your brain and it's slowly killing you.  I used to be so guilty of this!  So here's the good news:  you can take action right now, commit to loving yourself healthy, and start improving your sleep patterns.

Three Things You Can Do Now to Improve Your Sleep:
1.  Stop using your cell phone as your alarm clock.  Or at a minimum move it so far away from your bed that you have to physically leave the bed to turn it off.   In fact, if you can remove electronics from the bedroom that would be best for your sleep cycle.  All emit a signal that disrupts your circadian rhythm.  How?  The light emitted by electronics signals the brain to delay the discharge of melatonin needed for sleep.  Beyond that, their physical proximity is a temptation few can resist given our social media and e-mail addicted tendencies.  Give in and it creates a cognitive stimulation that disrupts your sleep cycle. (Source).

2.  Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.   "Waking and sleeping at regular times reinforces a consistent sleep rhythm and reminds the brain when to release sleep and wake hormones," according to Dr. Frank Lipman.  In other words, your body is your ally, it wants you to sleep well, and to do so you need to have consistent sleeping and waking times.  Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night.  

3.  Create a bedtime ritual.  Create a ritual around going to bed.  Light a candle.  Massage your feet.   Put on soothing music.  Write in a gratitude journal.  Have a practice at night that helps you wind down and motivate the relaxation response in the body.  "A ritual sends a signal to your body and your mind that it is time to slow down and fall asleep, " (Dr. Gerard T. Lombard, Sleep to Save Your Life, p. 45).

Note:  Some of this content originally appeared in a post I wrote in June 2016, What You Need To Lose Weight That Is Not Diet and Exercise.

Recently, I had a couple of friends over for Girl Time.  They were invited to wear pajamas, bring creative projects or not, explore creative projects or nap or pet my dog, and eat nourishing foods or not.  See the "or not" part?  That's the important part.  My whole aim was to give myself and my friends permission to do or to be exactly what they needed in the moment.  Some of us did vision boards, like mine above.  Others colored or brought personal projects to engage their creativity.  And when they left or after they got home, I got text messages that included, "I didn't realize how much I needed that."

What I see in myself, my friends, and my clients is a lot of saying yes to other people which leads us to saying no to ourselves.  The "That" my friend was referring to in her text message is a permission slip.  While we were probably seasoned  about asking for one from our parents when we were kids, we now don't know who to ask to give us the permission slip to take care of ourselves.

The whole reason I have a job is because we are not taking care of ourselves.   Our culture has a large story around it's selfish, or there's not enough time.  And therein lies the issue.  To be our most productive, contributing members of society whether that's as a mom or dad or professional or both or sometimes all three as a single parent, we need to have charged batteries.  If you are never writing yourself a permission slip to do the things which help you charge your batteries, eventually you become depleted, your immune system starts to struggle (quietly at first before developing into a full-on roar), and things begin to fall apart around you.  

No one benefits when you are depleted, when your batteries are dead.

Writing yourself a permission slip is a key to staying healthy.  When you think about what would help you charge your batteries, restore and recover, what does that look like?  What activities help you calm your nervous system?  If you were to write yourself a permission slip right now, what would it say?  Some days mine would say, "Please excuse Molly from vacuuming, she needs a warm bath with epsom salt and lavender oil."   My invitation to you is pull out a piece of paper and for the next few minutes, write yourself a permission slip.  And then, those activities or lack of activities on that piece of paper, respect yourself so much that you actually follow-through with your permission slip sometime in the next week.  You are worth it.  The world is a better place when we each take great care of ourselves. 

  
Most mornings I rinse my mouth out with oil.  Let me say it again: I rinse my mouth with oil.  It's the fourth thing I do after awaking and is preceded by snuggling with Brian, petting my dog, and removing my mouthguard.  I do it for my health.  I've been doing it for years now.  

As it is beyond habit into a full blown lifestyle practice, I don't think about it much.  Or at least I didn't until I attended a yoga retreat this past weekend with a sub-theme of Ayurveda running through it.  Ayurveda is the sister science of yoga.  In Sanskrit, it means the knowledge (veda) of life (ayur).  It is the healing and thriving modality of India incorporating so much more than a medical system.  It is thousands of years ancient.  I won't go much into it beyond that because I could dedicate this whole blog to Ayurveda and never run out of content.

As its history is closely related to the history of yoga, I studied it a bit in my yoga teacher trainings, and it keeps coming back to me, knocking on the door, and providing guidance, especially when Western medicine just shoves a pill at me and tells me it's in my head.  Ayurveda does not ask about symptoms, it asks how is your constitution?  Is something out of balance?  Are you moving through the world respecting the seasons, the elements, and your body's own rhythms?  

Oil pulling is an Ayurvedic practice.  Traditionally, it is done with sesame oil (though the oil that is right for you depends on your constitution).  Before I have swallowed anything, while the accumulated bacteria from sleeping is still festering in mouth, I sip and swish a tablespoon of organic unrefined expeller pressed sesame oil created by unicorns (I might be exaggerating about the unicorns). It whirls around my mouth like a vacuum picking up the unwanted bacteria.    Scroll down for instructions and tips for oil pulling.

When I first told my dental technician I was doing this, she was very skeptical.  When I returned six months later for a scheduled cleaning, she confessed I inspired her to read about oil pulling and its benefits.  

Benefits of Oil Pulling:

1. ​It's good for the whole body.  Not only are you detoxifying your mouth when you do this, but because you are cleaning the area of the body where most germs enter, you are preventing future illnesses.  As someone who is thriving with autoimmune disease, I'm up for anything that keeps me from getting sick!
2. It boosts your pearly whites.  That's right, oil pulling has been shown to whiten teeth.
3. It's good for your skin because you are removing bacteria that causes rashes and inflammation of our largest organ.  Many people report improved skin health when committing to a regular oil pulling practice.
4. Improves oral health.  It reduces gingivitis and tooth decay, improves gums, and can reduce cavities.

(Sources for benefits of oil pulling can be found here and here)

I have a health coaching client who practiced oil pulling as part of the health practices she created in my coaching program.  After a few months of oil pulling, she went to the dentist, an appointment she always hated, and it said it was the best dental exam of her entire life!

If you are interested in trying it for yourself, let's get started.

Step by Step Instructions for Oil  Pulling:

1. Choose your oil and store it in a cool dark place.  Sesame is traditional for Ayurveda.  You cannot go wrong with either sesame, coconut, or olive oil that is organic, virgin, and cold pressed.  Coconut oil is very trendy right now, and it has anti-viral properties.  As it is solid at room temperature and the other oils are not, I found that it triggered my very sensitive gag reflex.  Do with this information what you will.  
2. It must be done first thing in the morning so the oil is most effective in capturing the accumulated bacteria in the mouth.  To successfully incorporate it into your morning routine, insert it after something you already do like going to bathroom, getting out of bed, etc.  Don't swallow or drink water before oil pulling.  
3. Place approximately one tablespoon of your chosen oil in your mouth and proceed to swish it around for upwards of five minutes without swallowing it.  The more you move it around the entirety of your mouth, the more nasty unwanted gunk you'll remove.  The oil becomes viscous and opaque as you do this.
4. Spit it out.  Do not, under any circumstances, spit it out in your sink.  This is a recipe for a clogged sink.  I've found it fine to spit it out in the toilet mostly because I am using sesame oil which is liquid at room temperature.  Other people recommend spitting it out in a trash can lined with a sturdy, non-porous trash bag.
5. Brush your teeth using your toothpaste of choice with a toothbrush specifically to be used for oil pulling.  In other words, have two toothbrushes, one for regular use, and one for using after oil pulling.  Why?  Even though you just oil pulled, there will be some residual bacteria contaminated oil in your mouth and it may end up on the toothbrush.  Net, you don't want to be brushing your teeth at night and reinserting bacteria you removed in the morning.  Also, you'll want to clean your oil pulling toothbrush regularly.
6. Feel your awesome clean teeth with your tongue, give yourself a high five, and go share your smile with the world (it needs that smile, dammit!).  

I would love to hear from you!  Have you tried oil pulling?  Why or why not?  Post your feedback in the Comments below.

​When I first start working with a new client, they are eager to talk about diet and exercise and weight loss.  Sure, all of those are important for overall health.  What I really want to know, from them and from you, is: how much sleep are you getting each night?  Is it quality sleep?  How many times do you awake during the night?  Are you restless?  What time do you go to bed?  What time do you wake up?

Why is sleep more important than diet and exercise in determining health and well-being?  Because if you are consistently sleep deprived you are creating a hormone imbalance that will negate many of the positive aspects of diet and exercise.  Research shows sleep deprivation causes two hormones to malfunction.  The first is gherlin, the hormone that signals when to eat.  When you are sleep deprived, you produce more gherlin leading you to eat more often.  The second is leptin, the hormone that signals when to stop eating.  When you experience sleep loss, you produce less leptin and so you don't stop eating when you normally would.

When you are sleep deprived, you eat more on a slower metabolism.

It is not necessarily that you will lose weight if you start consistently sleeping well, but you will gain weight if you are sleep deprived.  One of the major keys to taking exceptional care of yourself is to prioritize sleep and make it sacred.  

Three Ways To Consistently Sleep Better NOW

One.  Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, including weekends.  This will create stability in your sleep pattern and help reset your hormones.  Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night.  Respect your biological clock.  (Source).  

Two.  Remove all electronics from the bedroom.  ALL of them.  The TV.  The cell phone.  The iPad.  All emit a signal that disrupts your circadian rhythm.  How?  The light emitted by them signals the brain to delay the discharge of melatonin needed for sleep.  Beyond that, their physical proximity is a temptation few can resist given our social media and e-mail addicted tendencies.  Give in and it creates a cognitive stimulation that disrupts your sleep cycle. (Source).

Three.  Create a ritual around going to bed.  Light a candle.  Massage your feet.   Put on soothing music.  Write in a gratitude journal.    Have a practice at night that helps you wind down and motivate the relaxation response in the body.  "A ritual sends a signal to your body and your mind that it is time to slow down and fall asleep, " (Dr. Gerard T. Lombard, Sleep to Save Your Life, p. 45).

Now it's your turn.  Have any great tips on how you get a good night's sleep?  Share them in the comments below!  

Last week, the American Cancer Society changed their recommendations on how often and at what age women should obtain mammograms.  Many contend that this less aggressive approach is a reflection of the actual efficacy of mammograms, including the fact that they often lead to false positives.  

When I turned 40 earlier this year, my own doctor said there was really no reason, meaning no evidence in my health history or family's health history, that led her to believe I would be a good candidate for a mammogram before the age of 50.  Even then, she cautioned, in her experience, they were not all that reliable at early detection.

Given the confusion around the ACS's guidelines, what are we women to do?  Is there an alternative?  While the FDA has said thermal imaging is not approved for cancer detection screening, it has approved the method as what it calls an adjunct method.  Thermal imaging uses infrared images of the body to detect abnormal or irregular blood flow.  Often it is used to detect inflammation in the body.   From this standpoint, thermal imaging may be a good idea for some people seeking to understand the whereabouts of inflammation in their own bodies.

I recently talked with M.J. Holt of Thermal Imaging of SoCal and asked her to share with you what Thermal Imaging is, how long it's been available as a medical device, and how it compares to mammography.

Here is what M.J. shared, in her own words:

Clinical Thermography is a simple test of physiology that relies on the sympathetic nerve control of skin blood flow and the ability of the sympathetic nervous system to respond to and react to pain, pathology, injury or dysfunction anywhere in the body.

Many think that thermography is a new technology or have never even heard about thermography at all. Thermography has a long history. Breast thermography was discovered in 1956 in Montreal, Canada and rapidly became popular throughout the world. It was FDA cleared and then certified by the American Medical Association as an adjunctive screening procedure for breast cancer in 1982.​

Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging or Thermography is often "compared" to other modalities such as Mammography.  The fact is, Thermography cannot be compared to Mammography because they are looking at two completely different things in the body.  Thermography looks at the physiological parts of the body (the tissue) and Mammography looks at the anatomical parts of the body (skeletal or structure).

I wish for everyone to know that medical thermal imaging exists.  I wish for our MD doctors to give the patients the option of non-invasive early detection.  I want all women to know that one mammogram is equal to 1000 (one thousand) chest xrays of radiation.  I want men to know that if you have placqueing in your mouth you probably have placqueing in your heart.  And that there is early, non-invasive detection for prostate cancer.  Men and women to know that DITI can see what is going on now, that you can prevent something from ever getting worse.  Don't wait for symptoms!