Summer produce boasts various delicious fruits and vegetables that we (okay, I) wait all year to enjoy. Watermelon, juicy cantaloupe and berries bursting with flavor and nutrients are just a few of my favorite summer treats. The summer months are often filled with outdoor activities and travel in addition to our normal commitments which leave your schedule jam-packed. Read more
Lunchtime during the work week can be a real challenge when your goal is to fuel your body well. There may be tantalizing treats from well-meaning co-workers waiting in your office break room or a vending machine in close proximity to your desk.
Temptation surrounds you and can veer you off of your path quickly, leaving you not only drained of energy, but also feeling disappointed and defeated. To avoid these negative feelings, it’s crucial to be proactive about your meals for the work week. Read more
You do not need to drink milk to be healthy. Sounds like blasphemy, doesn’t it?
Most of us have been encouraged since childhood to drink our milk so we would grow strong bones.
No matter how many mustache-bearing Hollywood stars tell you otherwise, milk does not necessarily do a body good.
The American Dairy Association want us to think we will die early, or fall and break something, without a daily glass of milk. Yet there are entire countries of people who never consume dairy products, and they thrive with plenty of calcium in their diets. They even have Olympic teams! Read more
When we think about food cravings, typically the first thing that comes to mind is some type of junk food. You know what I mean – food-like substances that are processed, high in calories, low in nutrients, and generally unhealthy. Aren’t these what you tend to crave?
What tops your craving list? Chocolate chip cookies? A big bowl of ice cream? Or perhaps you lean toward salty snacks like chips? Read more
I delight in opportunities to teach about fueling the body and supporting its ability to heal itself. In that setting, I often hear questions about how to buy organic foods and others deemed most healthful when on a budget.
I understand such a question. It can certainly appear that eating healthful foods is costly — but after a bit of evaluating I trust you will realize that eating healthy is absolutely possible on a budget. In fact, once you get the hang of it, it can be quite simple!
I’m going to share some of my tried-and-true tips on how to eat healthy without breaking the bank. Read more
What is the normal pattern of your visits to the doctor? You notice symptoms and make an appointment. Once the doctor joins you in the exam room, he or she asks what your major complaint is, perhaps asking a few clarifying questions, and then offers a prescription to ease the symptoms.
If you were to equate the process with care of a tree, what part of the tree have you addressed? Read more
Spring is a beautiful time of year with trees bursting forth in fresh, green growth and flowers blooming in a rainbow of colors. For many of us, though, spring means excess mucus, itchy eyes and skin, and frustrating symptoms related to allergies.
As a child, I had plenty of challenges with allergies, including frequent breakouts in hives, swollen lips, and the more common runny nose and itchy eyes. No fun! Read more
There are several avenues by which the outside world enters your body, including breathing, consuming liquids or solids through your mouth, and absorption through your skin. Digestion is involved when you eat or drink.
Digestion – like breathing – is a process we tend to take for granted, unless you notice signs that something’s amiss.
Have you felt the burn of acid reflux or GERD? Read more
Two weeks into 2017 … how are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? Did your resolutions – like so many others’ – include an intention to lose weight? I’m going to go out on a limb and guessing that you aren’t having a great deal of success.
Now, I don’t doubt your intention or your efforts. Yet I do know something about how our bodies work. We women tend to focus on body size, or more specifically, on the number on our scale.
How long have you been fighting the battle? How many different plans have you followed – counting calories, skipping meals, depriving yourself, feeling hungry, and counting more calories? Yes, calories matter. But hormones matter more. Read more
In prior articles, I have outlined the path that our food takes when we eat a bite. Starting with chewing, and then swallowing to send the food down the esophagus into the stomach, where it meets with stomach acid to aid in the next stages of digestion.
We aren’t aware of the intricate process that our food goes through once we swallow a bite. You may have heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” yet I would say that is not a complete statement. Simply eating doesn’t make the food become a part of you. It must be broken down into its constituent components – proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates into starches and glucose, and fats into fatty acids – in order for your body to absorb them. Read more
