This is me enjoying a coconut oil massage in Boracay, Philippines. I was born and raised in the tropics and whenever I think of home, I think about coconut oil. Never a beach trip goes by without my friends and I getting hour long coconut oil massages from the island massage therapists. The smell and texture of coconut oil gliding against your skin is very different from...

Dr. Heather Zwickey has a Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. She completed a post doctorate fellowship at Yale’s School of Medicine and currently serves as Director of Research at Helfgott Research Institute, Dean of Research at National College of Natural Medicine, and co-founder of a physician...

Got a question for us? Drop your tricky, random, wacky or plain confusing health question into the Suggest-O-Matic, leave a comment, or tag your tweet questions with #wellwire and our team of experts will answer them in this weekly column. Q: Can you recommend a product to prevent me from getting sick? Something that I can take at the onset of an illness. Jennifer, Portland,...

Q Here in the Pacific Northwest, the damp winter weather seems to affect my sinuses. When the barometric pressure changes, I get an infection. How can I avoid or prevent these infections despite the seasonal weather change? I’m not taking any medication. Carol C Portland, Oregon A You’ve hit the nail on the head! The key to your question is preventing sinus...

Dr. Gibran Ramos: We’ve been using water therapeutically for centuries. In Germany and France, there are towns that derive their names from their healing waters. The Norwegians and Swedes are famous for their saunas and some of the Turkish baths in Istanbul are hundreds of years old. The Native Americans used sweats to drive out illness. Hydrotherapy is derived...

A long spell of deep cold knocked back the last of my greens and there’s a fairly even layer of deciduous leaves covering the ground, punctuated by bare limbs and decomposing stalks. My garden is pretty much hibernating. But one of the bright points this time of year is my thyme, which looks sprightly despite the January gloom. Herbalists like to play around with lists....

My favorite seed catalog came in today’s mail: organic Floriani red flint corn, green meat radish, Bolivian rainbow pepper, purple pac choy, ruby streaks mustard. These are the reasons I started gardening–I was awed by the incredible diversity of life I could sustain on my little corner of earth. There were other reasons too. After my urban upbringing, I longed...

Concerned parents have been calling my office this week asking for advice on how to best treat their feverish sniffling tots. Knowing what to look for will help you decide if home remedies are appropriate or if a visit to the doctor is in order. While it’s a natural instinct to give a sick child medicine, holding off at first is the best bet for their still developing...