Julia Buchkina, MD

07/19/2022

I had fun talking to Elanie Welch and Kay Boyer about autoimmunity, elimination diets, and functional medicine principles on the Renegade Nutrition Podcast!

Dr. Julia Buchkina joins us on this episode of the Renegade Nutrition podcast to discuss Autoimmune Disease and the dietary and lifestyle changes that can transform your life and halt or even reverse the condition. In this episode we discuss: Dr. Buchkina's journey to becoming an MD, and then from a...

09/05/2020

Correcting vitamin D deficiency is a very important public health issue going into this cold/flu season. Speak with your physician about having your level checked - and ask whether supplementation is right for you.

September 3, 2020 The first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of vitamin D in COVID-19 has just been published. The results are astounding: vitamin D nearly abolished the odds of requiring treatment in ICU. Although the number of deaths was too small to say for sure, vitamin D may actually abolish t...

08/13/2020

As much of Cedar Rapids remains without power, organizations in the community are providing food and water to residents. Below are the publicly announced events where food and water will be distributed on Thursday and Friday. Thursday, Aug. 13 The city of Cedar Rapids announced that Hy-Vee will be p...

07/20/2020

I have been cooking healthy, delicious, no fuss meals with real foods for my family for over 3 years with my Real Food Matrix technique - and I can't imagine life without it. This weekend I threw together these 8 family-sized meals in a little over an hour. Join our Cooking with the Real Food Matrix group to learn how to do it yourself.

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BBQ Chicken with green beans
Chicken Teriyaki with cabbage noodles
Herbed Pork with cabbage noodles
Coconut Amino Turkey with zucchini noodles
Persian Lime Chicken with butternut squash noodles
Pork Adobo with carrot noodles
Turkey Teriyaki with brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and onions
Creamy Adobo Chicken with brussels sprouts

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No fancy menu planning. Prep time includes clean-up. Easy-peasy! Watch for my monthly Virtual Cooking events and prep your meals along with me. Next one will be Saturday am August 22.

05/10/2020

Spend a minimum of 20 minutes outside 3 days per week between the hours of 10am-2pm to ensure adequate vitamin D levels (while practicing social distancing!) And if you can't get out in the sun, discuss with your physician whether a vitamin D supplement is appropriate for you.

After studying global data from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, researchers have discovered a strong correlation between severe vitamin D deficiency and mortality rates.

05/09/2020

There are still a lot of questions to answer about COVID-19 - but the following is the foundation of good prevention:
1) continued social distancing and mask-wearing to slow community spread, and -
2) reduction of baseline chronic inflammation (even in "healthy individuals" without diagnosed chronic conditions) with a diet of whole, unprocessed foods without added sugar.

Many COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths could be prevented if Americans had a better diet and better metabolic health.

03/22/2020

Point of no return dates for prevention of hospital overload in Iowa: March 27-April 1
https://covidactnow.org/

03/18/2020

I wrote this post on Facebook on Thursday Night, March 12th 2020. Since I wrote it, the post been shared 120k times and I’ve been asked to…

03/16/2020

This is fascinating. A potential connection between melatonin and the inflammatory cytokine storm that COVID-19 patients are experiencing. Melatonin levels naturally decline as we age and this may explain why children, who have high levels of melatonin, are not experiencing severe disease.

***Always discuss changes to your medication regimen with your own personal physician...***

But adding a TINY physiologic dose of melatonin 0.5 mg 1 hour before bedtime may have a dramatic effect in reducing severity of the disease and loss of life.
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Extra vitamin C, zinc in lozenge form, and standardized oregano extract are also potentially helpful when used early after exposure (before viral replication is extremely high) and - at the very least, unlikely to cause harm.

There is some evidence that elderberry increases the cytokine storm, therefore I am advising my personal patients to stop taking it if they do develop symptoms of illness. There is still good evidence for its use against colds and flu - but not COVID-19 - and without access to universal testing, it will be difficult to tell the difference.

Melatonin stops cytokine storms by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasomes, reducing damage from pneumonia as result of ARDS/ALI in COVID-19 severe infections.

02/24/2020

Functional medicine changed my life! Wondering if it could change yours, too?

I know firsthand what it’s like to struggle with chronic illness. In my late 20s, I developed the symptoms of 3 autoimmune disorders

08/27/2019

Love these beautiful jars already bubbling away from last night’s class on no-fail fermented veggies! The colors are so fun.

Jar 1: mix of purple and green cabbage
Jar 2: cauliflower, cilantro, onion, purple cabbage

What are your favorite veggie combos to ferment at home?

07/28/2019

"People who score high on measures of cynical hostility have shorter telomeres." The science of positive thinking!

Researchers are finding that your mental patterns could be harming your telomeres — essential parts of the cell’s DNA — and affecting your life and health. Nobel-winning scientist Eliza…

07/17/2019

Check out this list of the benefits for hula hooping for fitness - and don't miss your chance to join us Monday July 22 at 5:30 pm in Coralville's North Ridge Park for Hula Hooping in the Park!

Hoopnotica lays out some of the benefits of hula hooping that are guaranteed to have you wanting to give hooping a try for at least 8 minutes a day. (Keep reading to find out why.) Hooping is a complete core workout. (Cue the killer abs.) Hooping regularly can help to whittle your waist and strength...

06/17/2019

05/24/2019

I am proud to be a certified Bredesen Protocol practitioner. Alzheimer's disease is a leading cause of death and disability in the US. Fortunately, it can be treated (and ideally - prevented) with personalized lifestyle changes.This is significant because the current pharmaceutical medications for Alzheimer's do not offer a cure.

The report in the comments details the clinical improvement of 10 patients with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment using the Bredesen Protocol. It is not a protocol to be entered lightly. It is hard work for the patient and the patient's family, and requires a commitment to sustained changes for life. I consider it to be one of the most important and most fulfilling things that I do.

05/22/2019

This is my great uncle! He says you are only as old as you feel - and he feels like a teenager.

They say you are only as old as feel and 92 year old Keith Wymore feels like a teenager. Well at least he has the energy of a teenager.

05/19/2019

When I initially came up with my Real Food Matrix technique for prepping and cooking whole foods meals, I did it with my family's (and my patients') need for easy BULK meal prep in mind. It has been a lifesaver for reducing the stress of meal planning that can come with the transition to a whole-foods lifestyle.

Each meal we make is a combination of 1-2 lbs of protein, 9 cups of veggies, and 2 cups of sauce (or an impromptu mix of spices with fat, acid, salt, and sweet). We don't stress too much about the actual combos, and the meals always taste unique and delicious - without strange ingredients or complex menu plans. Average cost is between $12-15 per meal, with each meal serving up to 6 people at $2.50 or less per serving.

Making the sauces from scratch and shopping for the sauce ingredients at Thrive Market is what allows our costs to remain so low. Their prices for staples like olive oil, coconut oil, vinegars, coconut aminos, and bulk spices are hard to beat! They also make it convenient to shop by diet (gluten-free, paleo, plant-based). I especially love that they recently updated their categories to include AIP, which is the diet that I follow.

If you have considered joining Thrive and the membership fee is holding you back, you can get an extra 25% OFF your first order + a 30 day free trial membership when you sign up with this link. (Valid on orders $49+, max $20 discount). http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-9086499-12982167

If you are interested in learning more about how our family and others use this simple meal prep technique, join our group Cooking with the Real Food Matrix

05/16/2019

Yikes! I know I had a few other classmates that went gray with me in med school and residency. 🥼👩🏻‍🦳 Thankfully, the functional medicine approach can help us all age gracefully while preserving - and even increasing - function.

In just a few short weeks, tens of thousands of newly minted doctors will start the most intense year of their training: the first year of residency, also called the intern year.