Your Perspective on Pain ….

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None of us enjoy pain. It makes life difficult by adding both physical and emotional stress. The typical response to pain is to open a bottle and pop a pill (or two), washing it down with whatever liquid is at hand.

If the goal was to stop the pain, this approach can succeed … for the time being. What about identifying the root cause of the pain? If the pain returns and you need to repeat the process daily or multiple times a day, you may actually be adding fuel to the fire. Read more

Have You Explored the Roots?

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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

Dump the Vegetable Oil!

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For the past four decades, the U.S. government has warned that eating cholesterol-rich foods and saturated fat would promote heart disease. In that time, low-fat and fat-free foods have become more prominent on the grocery shelves. But have these changes made a difference in our overall health?

Dr Christopher Ramsden, of the National Institute of Health, unearthed raw data from Keys’ largest, most rigorous trial of its kind. Analysis of the data clearly showed that lowering cholesterol by consuming vegetable oils instead of saturated fat actually raised the risk of death from cardio vascular events. Read more

Is The Tissue Box Nearby?

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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

Dealing With Stones?

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CitrusDo you know someone – friend, family member, or yourself – who has had their gallbladder removed? This procedure is increasingly common, and gallbladder disease is unfortunately on the rise among younger people, even teens.

The gallbladder is not a extra organ that you can easily do without. It is an important part of your digestive system, storing bile that is made by your liver until it is needed in your small intestine to emulsify fats. While you can survive without it, there are some important considerations to keep in mind. Read more

Loves Me, Loves Me Not

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choc-cover-strawberriesDo you love food? For many of us certain foods bring back memories of special events, people with whom we connect those foods, or something as simple as the taste in our mouths.

Would you ever imagine that some of the foods you really like to eat may not be working well for your body? Hippocrates said centuries ago, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” But just as food can be medicine, for some of us, there are foods to which your body reacts. Read more

Spice Up Your Holidays – and Your Health!

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whole-spicesYou may consider this week as the home stretch for the holidays, or are you may just be getting warmed up with Christmas, New Years and then the buildup for Mardi Gras? How are you faring thus far? Remembering to care for yourself?

One way that you can care for yourself is to incorporate spices into your food, or even a cup of tea, to support your body with the benefits they offer. My list of possibilities is pretty long, but let me offer a few options to get you started. Read more

How Sensitive Is Your Body?

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caution-with-foodI’m a strong proponent of Hippocrates’ idea that our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food. Yet the adage that one man’s medicine is another man’s poison couldn’t apply more appropriately than in the topic of food.

Millions of people suffer from allergic or inflammatory reactions to the common foods they consume every day. For most of us, the thought of food allergies prompts a mental image of hives or a swollen tongue developing in response to eating a peanut. That is an example of an immediate allergy which results in an aggressive histamine reaction. These are serious, but not as frequent as you may think. Read more

Time to Change the Oil!

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1415890We’ve lived with messages promoting eating low-fat or fat free foods for decades. Saturated fats seem to have drawn the majority of disparaging remarks, and many doctors continue to echo the theory that they should be avoided, despite many studies disproving the idea.

Would you like to feel free to consume foods containing fat without fear that you will get fat? Read on, and I will share what fat sources are beneficial, what to avoid, and how to ensure that they are able to be used properly for fuel in your body. Read more

Edit Your Food Additives, part 2

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Parsley Sage Rosemary ThymeWe’ve been talking about different ways you can edit your foods, as well as the way you approach meals, for a while now. Most recently, the topic has been ways to edit the flavor of your food beyond using the salt and pepper shakers that are commonly found on our tables. What edits have you tried recently? Have you found a new flavor you like? Let’s explore some more options ….  Read more