Dr. Ben Kim's blog

Few people realize how vital their knees are to everyday activities until they suffer a serious knee injury.

Michael Jordan remembers the effect that an anterior cruciate ligament tear in a college teammate, Buzz Peterson, had on his friend's level of play. "It's like I can punch a hole in your heart," he recalls telling Buzz as a way of pointing out how tentative his friend's play had become. Read more

For many years, I have explained to questioning family members and friends why I cannot support conventional cancer-fighting fundraising campaigns.

I am not completely against conventional medical treatment options for different types of cancer. For example, for a good number of people that I have worked with over the past several years, I have fully supported and encouraged surgical excision of malignant tumours. My wariness of the mainstream cancer-fighting industry pertains to what I believe is excessive and often times inappropriate use of chemotherapy and radiation, as well as the lack of attention that is given to relevant environmental and personal lifestyle factors. Read more

Most people know that blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are naturally abundant in antioxidants, nutrients that can neutralize excess free radicals in the body, thereby offering protection against premature disease.

But few seem to realize that blackberries trump all other common berries in antioxidant content. Per 100 gram serving, blueberries contain 2.68 mmoles of antioxidants. Strawberries come in at 3.58 mmoles. And raspberries provide 2.86 mmoles of antioxidants per 100 gram serving. Read more

Acupressure is a healing art that involves applying pressure to specific points on your body. The idea is to manually stimulate blood flow to your largest nerves, which promotes healthy nerve function, which in turn, promotes optimal cellular function, as all cellular activity is ultimately governed by your nervous system.

So much like you can maintain healthy muscles through regular exercise, you can maintain healthy nerves through regular acupressure. Read more

One of the topics that I am frequently asked about is acupuncture. What is acupuncture, exactly? How does it work? What conditions are acupuncture helpful for? How is it different from acupressure? Does it hurt?

What follows is a summary of how I typically answer these questions. Read more

Updated on October 21, 2012

As a follow-up to a previous post on Six Questions to Ponder in Choosing a Life Partner, I thought it would be helpful to create a post where our readers can chime in with thoughts on how to sustain a life partnership once you're all in.

Clearly, all relationships face their own unique challenges. I've been around long enough to believe that sometimes, it may be best for two grossly mismatched personalities to end a long term relationship and begin anew the quest for a mostly peace-filled life. Read more

Being a health care provider and educator, I've met all sorts of people who are passionate about healthy eating. My experience has been that most people looking to improve and maintain their health through optimal food choices and a balanced lifestyle have good intentions and seek to be healthy so that they can enjoy being alive. Read more

If you're around incense on a regular basis, you should know that a study published in the September 2001 issue of the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology indicates that burning incense can expose people to dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals. Read more

If you use synthetic air fresheners in your car and/or living space, you should know that you're likely increasing risk of developing a variety of health problems. Headaches, earaches, depression, an irregular heart beat, and diarrhea in babies are just a few of many health challenges that have been linked to regular use of synthetic air fresheners. Read more