Dr. Nicole McCarter

This week I wanted to talk about a crucial topic: intestinal permeability, a.k.a. leaky gut syndrome. You may have heard of this oddly named medical condition. It’s an incredibly common issue correlated with many other diseases. It’s important because when you heal your gut, so many other symptoms and conditions are healed. Leaky gut has long been diagnosed and treated in naturopathic and functional medicine, and it’s finally starting to gain more recognition in the general

Your liver is your second largest organ (I wrote about the first last week). It processes around 1.4 liters of blood every minute. But what does your liver do for you? Most people know that the liver plays a role in detoxification. And that is correct; the liver plays a huge role. The process of detoxification is very complicated, and the liver has a ton of other jobs. Therefor, supporting the liver is important for many diseases and symptoms. In this article, I’ll cover th

Detox and cleanse are buzz words these days, but most people don’t know what they mean. Detoxification and cleanse are used synonymously to refer to the process of removing toxic substances from the body. This is something our body is doing every minute of every day. What are we detoxing from? Our regular everyday biochemical processes such as making energy and hormones naturally result in byproducts that our body must eliminate, which it does through detoxification pathways.

Spring is in the air and with it comes pollen. This can mean a significant reduction in quality of life for allergy sufferers. According to the CDC, allergies are the 6th leading cause of chronic disease in the U.S. with an annual health care cost of more than $18 billion (1). It’s estimated that 30% of adults and 40% of children suffer from allergies. What is an allergy anyway? It’s when the immune system has a reaction to a substance (pollen, pet dander, mold, etc. ) that

Hi, my name is Nicole, and I’m addicted to chapstick. I keep chapstick in my pocket, in my car, several in my bag or purse, on the coffee table, on my desk and kitchen counter. Needless to say, I apply chapstick no less than seven times per day. This has led me to wonder, where does it go? Chances are I’m eating a good amount of it. And if you’re a chapstick addict (or lipstick addict for that matter) like me, you’re probably eating a bunch of chapstick too. If you are readin

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s day. In honor of heart month, I wanted to empower you with some tools to understand cardiovascular disease and how to assess your risk. Before you think that you’re too young or too healthy to continue reading, signs of heart disease aren’t always obvious. The statistics are are alarming. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the US (1), with 1 out of every 3 deaths in the US being caused by CVD. So odds are yo

This inspiration has left me thinking about my mission to empower women to overcome hormonal issues and menstrual disorders naturally. The m

Should you spend the extra money to buy organic? If you don’t have time to read this full article, the short answer is YES. For both your health and the health of the environment, it's a small price to pay. If you want to know exactly why, keep reading. Somewhat surprisingly, I still get this question quite often. Then I did some investigating and realized organic isn’t nearly as prevalent as I thought. According to the USDA, organic sales only account for around 4% of total

Natural herbs, nutrients and supplements that are effective in supporting the HPA axis and increasing stress tolerance. HPA axis dysfunciton

Last week, we discussed the body's stress response system and the impacts of long-term stress on the body. Now let's look at some stress management techniques. First of all, don’t stress about stress management! There are a ton of things you can do to actively start reducing your stress levels and the effects that stress has on your body. Some of these suggestions are lifestyle interventions and some are activities. You can start with one, and once that feels manageable add a