Back when I was a new Christian, I heard a sermon that was very thought-provoking. The pastor was talking about how God chose to see Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, through "favor glasses." Think about it. Mary wasn't "saved" when she conceived Christ. She was still a tainted, unsaved human. Yet, in spite of her imperfect humanity, God chose to see her as being worthy to bear the Savior of the world.

At least in that one way (wearing glasses that affect our vision), we're the same as God. We see people through "glasses," too. Only, our human lenses are usually smudged. I think that explains why two different people looking at the same situation can perceive it in different ways. They have different experiences up to that point and those experiences influence how they see things.

The point is your perceptions in your interpersonal conflicts aren't necessarily 100% accurate. You don't see other people through the eyes of objective truth. You see them through your own, tainted, imperfect, injured eyes, and, even then, at best, you see only tidbits of truth.

First Corinthians 10:9-12 says it best. "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now, I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." FULL POST

Breaking News! Look for Dr. Rita appearing LIVE THIS MORNING 1/8/13 at 11:05am ET on 700 Club Interactive, talking about the mind-body-spirit connection and how stress becomes physical!

When I was young, my poor mother was sick just about every New Year's Eve. While the rest of the family watched the ball come down in Times Square with our party hats and noise makers, Mom was in bed with the flu, racked with muscle aches, chest congestion, and high fevers.

Now that I’m a physician, wife, and mother, I understand why Mom was sick every year. One reason is viruses are spread more readily in cold weather months. However, another big factor is that we're under more stress during the holidays, and that added stress decreases our ability to fight off infections.

One way stress impacts your health is through its effect on your immune system. When you're under stress, you release more cortisol, which is basically like a steroid. Probably, your doctor has given you steroids at some point to decrease inflammation from infections, allergic reactions, and other problems, like herniated discs. Basically, steroids dampen your immune response, and that means your chronically stressed-out, high cortisol state makes you more susceptible to illness.

Have you ever had "shingles"? It's an extremely painful, burning rash caused by the varicella zoster or "chicken pox" virus, and it's a perfect example of how stress lowers the immune system and allows illness. Once you get over your initial infection with chicken pox, usually when you're young, the virus doesn't completely go away. It camps out in the nerves that come out of your spine. As long as your immune system is healthy, your body keeps the virus in check from then on. But when your immune system is weakened by age, stress, or other illness, it stops keeping the virus in check. The virus is then able to multiply in the nerve endings and eventually erupts on the skin as the excruciatingly painful, blistery rash.

Numerous other conditions are aggravated by stress, as well. The list is almost too long to mention, but so you get an idea of where I'm coming from, I'll mention a few illnesses that I've seen in recent months in my medical practice: Pityriasis Rosea (a skin rash caused by stress), stress urticaria (hives caused by stress), spine pain, migraines, abdominal pain, headaches, muscle aches, depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, pelvic pain, high blood pressure, weight fluctuations, choking sensations, and aggravation of hot flashes. And that's just in recent months!

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[Before I go further, PLEASE do NOT SPAM this article by mentioning or promoting a fad diet product of any kind in the comments section. Thanks in advance!]

"Oh my gosh....why did I eat all that?" I've personally thought that more times than I want to count--especially during the holidays. If you read my blog habitually, you know I grew up morbidly obese but then lost weight before going off to Cornell University to study nutrition and the psychology of obesity. You also know that the years AFTER I lost the weight were initially difficult for me. I temporarily fell into compulsive eating before I found a good "middle of the road" approach. Basically, in order to lose weight and keep it off, I had to learn to eat smaller portions and ONLY when physically (not emotionally) hungry. Plus, I had to learn to love exercise.

In this article, I give you my BEST tips for losing weight and keeping it off after the holidays.

1. Learn to wait for TRUE PHYSICAL (NOT EMOTIONAL) HUNGER before you eat. One tool I advocate in this regard is called "The Apple Test." It's a very simple technique that can help you differentiate true physical hunger from false, emotional cravings to eat, and it's especially useful if you're an "emotional eater."

The premise of The Apple Test is that when you’re physically hungry, foods that you're normally indifferent to (e.g. apples) will suddenly seem appetizing. But if you're tempted to eat by thoughts, emotions, stress, or images (like a beautiful, tempting picture of chocolate cake), then an apple will NOT sound good enough to eat.

Get it? If you're truly physically hungry, you'll eat nearly anything that's available, but if you're tempted by non-physical factors, you'll be a lot pickier.

This concept isn't my creation. According to the Bible, “One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet” (Proverbs 27:7). See how nice I am? I didn't tell you to hold off on eating the cake until you'd eat a bitter food. I just told you to hold off until you'd eat a neutral food (like an apple).

2. When you ARE hungry enough to eat, eat LESS! Probably, I don't need to expound on this thought. You have to be from another planet to not know that our portion sizes have become gigantic in recent years. Try cutting your portions in half and see what happens.

3. Learn how to let go of emotional stress so you don't stress-eat. This involves learning to identify your emotions, which is hard for some people...especially for those who eat to AVOID feeling their emotions!

• Find a nice, quiet place, where you can have private time with God without interruption.
• Identify the overriding emotion that is bothering you. I.e., take it "captive" in your mind. Literally, name it. Is it "fear," "anger," "anxiety," "sadness," "emptiness," "boredom," "guilt," "shame," "worthlessness," etc?
• Out loud, proclaim that you accept yourself in spite of your feeling that emotion, “Even though I feel [name the emotion], I totally accept myself, just as God accepts me fully.” The spoken word is a powerful thing, especially when it lines up with the Word of God.
• While focusing on God in prayer, directly experience the negative emotion in His presence. Even if it feels uncomfortable to do this, remember that the emotion itself won’t actually kill you. Your emotion may not even be based on truth about you, but rather your perception of the truth! (E.g. just because you feel fear doesn't actually mean that you're in danger!).
• Choose another activity besides eating if you feel the urge to “do” something with the emotion. Perhaps you can exercise or take care of something you’ve been procrastinating about. Willfully do this "in spite of your feeling this emotion."

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Recently, The Wordserve Watercooler writer's blog asked about 20 of us Christian authors to post on the same topic on the same day (today, December 14). The concept is called a "blog parade," and the topic we were asked to write about is "A Writer's Wish List."

For me, this topic, "A Writer's Wish List," was easy to write about. I have a strong passion to help patients who struggle with conditions like depression or anxiety, illnesses worsened by stress, such as fibromyalgia, migraines, spine pains, irritable bowels (and other conditions like those), or behaviors such as over-eating, over-shopping, taking drugs or alcohol. Thus, my wish (or prayer) is that readers find the right books and resources to help them break free of their bondage and experience the good health, peace, and joy God meant for them to have. FULL POST

“I wrestled with bulimia all through college and for two years after that," said Katie Couric to Demi Lovato on her talk show. "I know this rigidity, this feeling that if you eat one thing that's wrong, you're full of self-loathing and then you punish yourself. Whether it's one cookie or a stick of gum that isn't sugarless ... sometimes [I would] beat myself up for that."

Unfortunately, I can relate to Katie’s struggle. Even though I never purged by vomiting or taking laxatives like Katie must have done if she was bulimic, I still had an eating disorder in college. I was a compulsive eater. I tried desperately to control my food intake through dieting, but when the combination of hunger and academic stress overtook me, I lost control and binge-ate. Either I was on a diet and starving myself, or over-eating and loathing myself. It was feast or famine.

When you get right down to it, eating disorders aren’t actually about the food. They’re about control, perfectionism, and low self-esteem. If you feel out-of-control or weak, you try to control whatever is in your reach to make yourself feel better—even if that means trying to control the food that passes through your lips. FULL POST

I felt great compassion for Shelly, my new patient, when she said, “What’s wrong with me, Doc? I’ve been to fifteen doctors and I still hurt.” I’ve heard stories like hers innumerable times, so I can’t imagine how many other people have the same story. Maybe you are one of them.

In this article, I focus on two commonly-missed pain diagnoses. Shelly had both of them! The diagnoses I’m talking about are frequently missed, even by the best pain doctors. But they are common problems. They’re just hard to identify if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

The diagnoses are called “Myofascial Pain Syndrome” (MPS) and “Somatic Dysfunction” (SD). The latter is sometimes referred to as “Mechanical Dysfunction” by physical therapists. The two conditions tend to run together “like peas and carrots,” as Forrest Gump so eloquently said. Patients with one often end up having the other.

As much as I empathize with the poor patients who have these problems but go through life undiagnosed, I understand the doctors’ side of the equation, too. On the surface, Shelly could easily be mistaken for a drug addict or hypochondriac. She didn’t have much wrong on imaging, she didn’t respond well to conventional treatment, and she frequently called her other doctors, looking for narcotics. On the surface, it looked like she was either, crazy, drug-addicted, or lying. FULL POST

Because I'm a pain management physician, patients sometimes ask me about non-medicinal alternatives to pain control. Being that I want to help them minimize their use of narcotics (due to the risk of addiction and other adverse consequences of narcotic use), I try to answer their questions as well as I can.

Here's my short answer to patients who ask about energy work: I think energy work is dangerous if people try to do it. On the other hand, if God decides to heal people somehow through energy, that's up to Him.

Now, here's my long answer, including definitions: energy work is an area of practice that claims to manipulate the electrical currents, forces, and fields in and around your body for the purpose of improved health. It’s one of the many controversial healing practices that originated in the eastern world, but it’s also a subject of great interest to and debate among a subgroup of Christians.

When I first heard of this emerging branch of medicine, I was pretty skeptical that it could even work. Now that I’ve looked into it, I think there are definitely some cautions to tell you about, here.

I think the first question to ask is this: does energy work even make sense from a physics point of view? Actually the answer might be a reluctant "yes." I know it sounds far-fetched, but, electrically, people are wired to be like radio antennas. That's because we have nerves that literally run on electricity. Electric currents run through nerves. And from physics at Cornell, I learned that nerves can be influenced by surrounding electric and magnetic fields. It's called "the right hand rule." Look it up! (In case you know just enough about physics to be dangerous, don't take this to mean that I advocate using "magnets" for pain management because I don't). FULL POST

Because I'm a pain management physician, patients sometimes ask me about non-medicinal alternatives to pain control. Being that I want to help them minimize their use of narcotics (due to the risk of addiction and other adverse consequences of narcotic use), I try to answer their questions as well as I can.

First, let me give you the short answer to the question I posed in the title of this article: yes. Both hypnosis and meditation could be dangerous.

Now, here's my longer answer, which I amended after having read thought-provoking comments from CP readers. Their comments led me to rewrite this post because I realized I didn't broadcast my point of view clearly. I hope this is clearer: both meditation and hypnosis could be either hurtful or helpful for certain people in certain situations, depending on several tricky factors. In the case of meditation, whether it's helpful or hurtful depends on what thoughts you meditate on! If you meditate on Scripture, how could meditation be a bad thing?

As Christians, we’re trained to quickly reject anything that sounds like Eastern religion, such as the concept of “meditation” (e.g. “transcendental meditation). But the reality is even King David meditated. He said, "I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word" (Ps. 119:15-16).” The difference lies in what David meditated on. He focused his deep thoughts on God's goodness. FULL POST

I almost slapped myself on the forehead this morning in a “Duh! Why am I always the last one to get the memo?” moment. I was on the treadmill, exercising in front of the TV, when a Gain laundry detergent commercial came on and taught me the secret for finding emotional peace. I can't believe I waited nearly 47 years to hear the answer. Are you ready to hear it? The answer might not be what you expect. It has nothing to do with God, anxiety medicine, or overcoming emotional baggage from childhood. The key to breaking free from anxiety is laundry detergent.

Let me digress for a moment to explain what causes anxiety in some people, and then I'll get back to talking about the laundry detergent.

Fear is hard-wired into the human experience through the hormone adrenaline. When you run from the saber-tooth tiger, your body releases adrenaline, which causes your heart to pound and your skin to sweat. It gives you either a panic attack (negative interpretation) or exhilaration on a roller coaster (positive interpretation), depending on your mind-set at the time the hormone is released.

Thus, fear is a normal human physiologic experience. But some people over-experience it because of their emotional triggers. Things happen in life that cause them to feel weak, insignificant, incapable, stupid, responsible, guilty, ugly, unwanted, dirty, etc., just like they did at times when they were kids. In turn, those unpleasant feelings lead to a sense of vulnerability (a close cousin of fear). In turn, feeling vulnerable and anxious leads some people to eat compulsively, take drugs, consume alcohol, gamble, hoard, cut, etc. In a way, these behaviors serve as distractions. They're momentary attempts to escape the negative emotions. FULL POST

Recently, I read Galatians 5:13-15 and it really got my attention. It’s about life in the Spirit rather than life in the flesh, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

In a nutshell, we’re supposed to play nice. However, the stresses of life cause us to feel edgy and fly off the handle more easily than we should. Our stress leads us into unwanted and unhealthy behaviors, like arguing, fighting, stress-eating, and lots of other vices. According to Scripture, we “devour” each other (and let me add: we devour “food”) as if we’re wild animals.

It’s the same when I give patients high doses of steroids for herniated discs. They get irritable and want to devour (pick fights with) each other, as well as devour food. That’s why I warn them, “In about three days, when this steroid kicks in, you’re going to start noticing how irritating your family, friends, and co-workers are. But listen, it’s the steroids. Do NOT take it out on the people around you. Just go hide in a closet for three days and don’t come until it passes.” FULL POST