The evidence is mounting: Get your gut back to equilibrium, and health will follow. But how does one go about this, exactly?

The world's best 'pharmacy' exists inside each and every one of us. It doesn't require us to make a lot of complex decisions, but our 'pharmacy' does have some caveats for operating well.

The simple and undeniable truth now reflected to us in our very genes is that our feelings are intricately connected with our physiology and must be considered when we encounter any kind of distress, be it emotional or physical. We must address our entire being if we truly hope to heal.

Feeding upon the dead roots of aging trees, maitake mushrooms emerge from dark grey mounds that form a few inches under the soil at that base of the tree. From the underside of their flaring leaf-like protrusions, white spores dust the ground below or are sent adrift into the wind.

"Health and wellness are intertwined. I define health not as just 'the absence of disease' but as wholeness, balance, and resilience. Wellness is the feeling you have when you are moving toward health or you in fact are there."

There are other, less-pleasant side effects of acupuncture. None are life-threatening, and all typically are fleeting. Still, they are good to be aware of so that if you do experience them, you know they're normal and nothing to be too concerned about.

We live at an exciting crossroads in the world of health care. Ancient medical systems like Ayurveda and traditional chinese medicine are as accessible as modern medical treatments like pharmaceuticals and surgery.

Opportunities are being missed, and time and money are being wasted. We all know people who are struggling with cancer and the intense challenges of the current treatment protocols. The needs are urgent and the time to act is now.

Many unpatentable modalities in the realm of complementary and alternative medicine do not inspire huge and costly trials. We need such trials to know for sure what does and doesn't work. In the absence of them, we need to avoid a rush to judgment.

Yoga isn't the only "alternative therapy" that can help patients achieve better outcomes than pills and medical procedures alone. My prediction is that 2013 will see more and more physicians like myself who have added more than conventional Western medicines to their treatments.

When you do a search on the Internet, there are abundant studies that suggest both for and against vitamins -- so what are we to make of all the results? Should we or should we not take multivitamins?

When organs dysfunction, we get a whole host of symptoms that doctors see so often in their practice. Without the integrative model, these health problems can only be treated symptomatically.

On Saturday, Dec. 1, I turn 55, and I pause at the irony of life bringing an uncertain diagnosis at this turning point. Have you had moments that you knew were turning points in self-discovery?

The big money in complementary and integrative medicine fields and their preventive and health-promoting focus that CFO Magazine's McCann notes is not in churning services. It is in saving money by limiting services.

Clinical experience indicates that homeopathic medicine is a viable option for pertussis. However, mainstream medicine's general unwillingness to consider any therapy that is not manufactured by PhRMA tends to blind it to potentially new and/or unexplored treatments.

We want to plan. We want to control. We want to be ready and look our best and come out on top. But controlling for what is coming is no guarantee you are going to make the most of what comes -- in fact, it's probably going to hinder our ability to get the most out of it.

The beauty of integrative medicine is it is a paradigm of health optimization. It is a paradigm that can ultimately improve the quality of the life experience. If there are people out there who object to this, then I must ask what they have to lose by embracing change.