Dealing With Stones?

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

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!

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?

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!

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

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

The Truth About a Cleanse

Truth or MythDo you view health care as a proactive or reactive process? If you are reactive, you wait until you have a diagnosis to seek help for your body; while the proactive approach is focused on supporting your body for good function. Being proactive means you set your health as a priority and make it a point to take action with food choices, exercise, sleep, stress relief, and cleansing.

When you think of a detox or cleanse, you may think of liquid diets, expensive supplements and deprivation. The truth is, Read more

Give Your Liver Some Lovin’

LiverThere are many parts of our body that we think of and consciously support, but I’m pretty sure you liver isn’t on that list. Poor liver! It has a high demand job, but get’s little respect or active support.

Just what does your liver do for you? Read more

Are You Stoking the Fire?

CampfireWe’ve all experienced the benefits of inflammation in response to injury or illness. This aspect of our immune system causes pain, swelling and heat as it rallies resources to the site to enable the body to heal.

Such acute inflammation is vital, yet when the fire continues to smolder, it becomes the chronic inflammation that leads to disease, faster aging and weight gain. Could you be inadvertently stoking this fire with the food and drink you are consuming?

It is quite possible if you are ….  Read more