A traditionally trained physician who has chosen to practice integrative medicine, Dr. Fred Pescatore is the head of the Centers for Integrative and Complementary Medicine in New York City. Along with his books, The Allergy and Asthma Cure and Thin for Good, he is also the author of The Hamptons Diet and Feed Your Kids Well. A sought-after speaker and nutrition expert, Dr. Pescatore has been featured in the New York Times and has appeared on the...

It’s the most daunting part of beginning a nutrition and lifestyle-based approach to promoting with gut health. The American diet is especially rich in sugars, yeast-containing and promoting foods, and highly processed ingredients that lack the real nutrients our bodies need. Once you’ve ruled out all the foods that are “bad for you,” what’s left?

Quite a bit, actually. Sticking to a 55 percent proteins/45 percent complex carbohydrates ratio (vice versa if your...

There is a definite substantiated connection between allergies and asthma. Studies indicate their underlying mechanisms may even cause each other. Up to 38 percent of patients with allergies have been diagnosed with asthma, and 78 percent of those diagnosed with asthma have allergies. Both as a physician and as a former allergy and asthma sufferer myself, I’ve witnessed the tie between the two conditions.

I have believed for years they are all related to an...

The strongest case for the use of nutritional supplements can be made, even to the typically skeptical mainstream medical community, when traditional pharmaceuticals have shown to be of limited efficacy. In such cases, the use of nutraceuticals as both preventive and therapeutic agents becomes very compelling. The need to consider and employ natural bioactive compounds is particularly strong in the field of infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases remain a significant...