Holistic Nourishment

Looking for a natural toothpaste that is low-cost and easy to make? This recipe will not only clean your teeth, but will also support oral health and strengthen your teeth.  All of the ingredients work synergistically to kill bad bacteria, scrub plaque off your teeth, whiten, and freshen your breath. What a great way to support your oral health!

Ingredients:

• 3-5 tsp organic coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp diatomaceous earth
• 3 tsp calcium and magnesium powder
• 1-2 drops of essential oil (optional: peppermint, orange, lavender, wintergreen are examples)

Directions:

Add all powdered ingredients in a small bowl or jar. Mix well. Add coconut oil and essential oils. Mix again. And brush your teeth! You can use a small spoon to scoop out the toothpaste from the bowl.

non-toxic lifestyle

If you eat right, you will thrive

What Does it Mean to Eat Right?

• Organic Whole Foods: Quality Matters
  • Produce: in season is best
  • Meat: pasture-fed, cage-free eggs, wild caught fish
  • 5-6 Smaller Meals Each Day (eat breakfast!)
    • Keep blood sugars (energy) stable
    • Always eat protein or fat at every meal/snack
    • 10+ Cups of CLEAN Water
      • If your urine isn’t clear, drink more
      • Never go anywhere without a reusable water bottle
      • Address Digestive Issues
        • GI tract is our connection with the external world (how food becomes energy)
        • Digestive problems indicate there is something not right with what you are eating
        • 70% of your immune system is in your gut
        • Digestive issues can lead to nutrient deficiencies and poor athletic performance
        • Avoid Food Allergens
          • Dairy, gluten (wheat), soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish
          • Allergens weaken your immune system, destroy your intestines
          • Weak intestines leads to toxic molecules entering your body and making you sick

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Are you or your kids suffering from earaches or ear infections? Are you looking for a non-toxic home remedy that will both reduce pain and kill the infection? Garlic and mullein oil is a great alternative to prescription ear drops. Garlic is a potent anti-microbial that combats the infection and provides pain relief. Mullein flowers have demonstrated antiviral actions as well as being successful in reducing inflammation, softening earwax, stimulating circulation in the ear, and also calming the auditory nerves thereby easing irritation and pain in the ear.  Ear infections can be painful and uncomfortable, but this natural herbal remedy will support the body and help it heal. (more…)

Recently I met  Tiffany Dickerson, a pescatarian blogger in Seattle. I wanted to share her thoughts on the food quality at Subway.

Here is her post:

Subway, eat fresh. More like eat azodicarbonamide, a flour bleaching agent linked to respiratory issues and allergies. What is even more alarming is azodicarbonamide is used to make dough rise quicker and in rubber/plastic industries as a “blowing agent” that gives synthetic yoga mats and other products a foamy quality (NYDailyNews, Tracy Miller). Imagine what eating plastic can do to your body, uuuum, pretty sure it’s not good. The worse part of this is I ate Subway today. I feel like my insides have been taken over by plastic.

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Store-bought lotions often contain toxic chemicals and harsh ingredients that are easily absorbed through your skin.  In fact, Americans are exposed to over 100 toxic chemicals each day from all of the personal care and cleaning products!  That is a significant source of environmental toxins because these types of compounds are easily absorbed through your skin and go straight into the bloodstream.  Fortunately, you can easily make your own nourishing lotion at home! (more…)

Castor oil packs are a great way to decrease pain, promote skin health, and boost immunity.  Castor oil comes from castor seeds and it is very high in a unique fatty acid called ricinoleic acid. The oil diffuses through the skin and into the organs and vessels where the ricinoleic acid can act as a mild irritant. Mild irritation can be good for the body—it can stimulate movement of fluids, recruit immune cells, and encourage peristalsis (the intestinal contractions that aid in removing waste), among other physiological processes. (more…)

One modality of Naturopathic Medicine is Physical Medicine. At Bastyr University, I am learning about many different ways in which to support the body by using my hands.  Not only do we learn how to give high velocity adjustments (like chiropractic techniques), we also learn about using water to help the body heal (hydrotherapy), visceral manipulation, massage, and we can elect to study Craniosacral Therapy as well. This month I took an intensive course on using this form of therapy to support my patient’s heal.

What is Craniosacral Therapy?

Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle, non-invasive hands-on therapy that follows the subtle movement of connective tissue (fascia) in the body. The practitioner will lightly place her hands on areas of restriction in order to facilitate the body’s release of those areas of tension.  This treatment started in the osteopathic community in the early 1900′s as a way to feel the movement of bones in the skull and fascia.  By freeing the bones and fascia, the practitioner is able to assist the body in regaining normal function in the nervous, lymph, hormonal, myofascial, and gastrointestinal system.  Craniosacral Therapy is a whole person therapy focusing on physical, mental, and emotional health.  The practitioner is merely a guide and facilitator of the healing process of the patient’s body.  The primary goal of a session is to maximize overall health. (more…)

A Tonic for Health: Contrast Hydrotherapy

Contrast hydrotherapy is an ancient technique that resets the autonomic nervous system, improving vascular health and supporting the immune system.  It’s use dates back to Hippocrates, around 500 BC.  The Roman Empire is famous for their public bathhouses, and hydrotherapy is still commonly used today in Germany and many Latin American countries.  Contrast hydrotherapy involves the immersion of a limb or body part in alternating hot and cold water.  In this way, you are exercising your circulatory and lymphatic systems, stimulating movement of nutrients into the area and waste away from the area.

Hydrotherapy can “tweak” homeostatic mechanisms pertaining to body temperature regulation by affecting the autonomic nervous system and tonifying blood vessels.  It also stimulates the release of nitric oxide from your artery walls, which dilates your vessels by relaxing the muscles in the vasculature, thereby reducing stress on the vessels and improving blood flow.  Contrast hydrotherapy also supports the immune system by increasing lymph movement.

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Essential Oils for Health and Wellness

Essential oils were first used in the early 1900′s for their antimicrobial effects and calming effects on the mind. The inhaled aroma from these “essential” oils is widely believed to stimulate brain function. Essential oils can also be absorbed through the skin, where they travel through the bloodstream and can promote whole-body healing.

Essential oils are distilled from the leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, tops, or fruits of plants.  Essential oils are natural, aromatic products that have a wide range of antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory effects.  They are healthier for you than fragrances. Synthetic fragrances attempt to mimic the aroma of an essential oil or the aroma of a plant that doesn’t have an essential oil (an apple for example), or to create an entirely new scent. the chemical compounds of fragrances are often harmful to humans, especially to children. Essential oils on the other hand are all natural and safe for all ages. (more…)

Enjoy Your Breakfast!

Looking for a filling, and nourishing breakfast idea? Try making your own granola and homemade coconut milk. Non-dairy milks are often mostly water and vegetable oil with additives, preservatives and, sometimes flavorings. Store-bought granola often contains undesirable ingredients such as cane sugar, preservatives, and oils turned rancid from the baking process. Making your granola and non-dairy milk at home gives you the ability to use ingredients that will nourish your body rather than cause harm.  There are many flavor combinations possible with granola, so this recipe is a framework from which you can build a delicious breakfast with ingredients you love.

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How To Make Your Own Kombucha

Kombucha is an alkalizing probiotic beverage that has many health benefits.  It is a fermented tea, packed with immune-supporting organic acids and probiotics.  It has a sweet, tangy, and effervescent taste and has energy-boosting properties.

Making your own kombucha is quick, easy, and fun!  It takes about 30 minutes every week or two, depending on how much you drink.  (more…)

You know the feeling when you think you are getting a cold, that achey feeling or scratching in the back of your throat? This tonic will help your body defend itself against the infection and get you feeling back to normal quickly!

Turmeric is a fantastic spice with many immune-supporting compounds.  There are over 580 health conditions that turmeric may be beneficial for!  Coconut milk and garlic are antimicrobial to support your body against bacterial infection.  And the egg yolk coats your throat and is rich in phosphotidylcholine which is beneficial for the nervous system and brain too.  The variation below also contains honey, ginger, and lemon, three powerful foods that support your overall immune health. Support your body and prevent disease by drinking tonics like this daily and especially when you are feeling under the weather! (more…)

Stress management techniques like meditation, yoga, and deep breathing can enhance the body’s ability to handle and recover from stressors like chronic disease, work stress, or relationship stress. These practices bring the body in to a state of relaxation, dominated by the parasympathetic nervous system. New research is providing some insight into why yoga and these techniques are beneficial to our health. (more…)

Not only are we exposed to external environmental toxins (air pollution, pesticides, heavy metals…), we are also exposed to our own internal toxins produced by the body.  These toxins are often not neutralized and excreted from the body, but rather stored in the fat cells.  When the body is under stress, it can release these toxins into the blood stream where they can wreak havoc on many other places in the body, causing inflammation and burdening the liver.

So how do you know if you are toxic? Do you suffer from headaches, excess weight, muscle/joint pain, food allergies, depression, insomnia, fatigue, asthma, body odor, or acne/eczema? If so, your body is trying to tell you that it is out of balance and these matters need to be addressed before they become serious health conditions.

Knowing what supplements you should take for your optimal health can be incredibly complicating, especially with all of the different types of products out there.  But not only do you have to worry about what nutrients to take, you must also be extremely inquisitive about the quality of your supplements.  Unfortunately, there are many poor quality supplement on the market today.  These products may be ineffective, contain toxic ingredients, may potentially contribute or exacerbate your conditions instead of help them, and ultimately they will be a waste of your money.

So how do you choose what is right for you?  Consult a qualified health care practitioner who can recommend what types of nutrients specific to your body and your current health conditions to get the best value out of your supplementation.  Only then will you be able to benefit from the healing power of nutritional supplements.  This article will highlight some important factors to consider when choosing your supplements.

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Recently one of my clients asked me my thoughts on both the vegan diet (plant-only) and the GAPS diet, which is an omnivorous diet for restoring mental health, immune health, and digestive health.  It was such a great question I thought I would elucidate my comments in this article.  Here are my thoughts:

There is no diet that is right for all people, because everyone is different, with different histories, different lifestyles and exercise practices, and different environments (the holistic approach considers all of these factors).  Different life stages and health conditions call for different nutrient needs as well, so changing the diet throughout life is also key to optimal health! (more…)

With the ever increasing toxicity of this planet’s oceans, plus last year’s Fukushima’s radiation disaster, all fish from every ocean will soon be contaminated with radiation.  So I do not recommend consuming fish frequently, at most once or twice a week. You should also be concerned with any seaweeds, chlorella or spirulina that you consume, as these aquatic plants are also at risk of radiation and heavy metal toxicity.

Mercury is a major concerning contaminant in fish. As a general rule, larger fish contain higher levels of toxins because they eat smaller fish and assimilate those toxins in their own tissues. This process is called biomagnification and it holds true for all animals.

If you are taking fish oils, beware of the quality of your product.  Often, supplements contain high levels of mercury and other heavy metals.  Nordic Naturals is a high quality company that purifies their fish oils so well that their products contain at least 10 times less contamination than the EPA’s allowable limits.

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Digest Your Food With Ease!

One of the fundamental aspects of a nourishing lifestyle is to maximize your body’s ability to digest and assimilate nutrients.  Eating foods in combinations that promote optimal digestion empowers your body to use the nutrients to fuel biochemical reactions that promote health and wellness, rather than create inflammation, malabsorption, weakened intestinal wall, and an open door to infection and disease.

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Does Sugar Decrease Your Health?
Yes! Because of Advanced Glycation End-Products

 The more sugar you eat, the more it coats the surface of cell membranes, causing life-changing damage.  One of the main issues with sugar consumption is a process called glycation.  The sugar creates cross links between cellular parts (usually proteins) that are normally mobile.  Unfortunately, all cellular activity is impaired when this occurs.  Moreover, cross-linking prevents white blood cells and other cells from getting to the location they are trying to go, thus disrupting chemical messages from being transmitted.  As you can imagine, this creates impaired function throughout the body.

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Genetically Modified Foods: Why So Many of Our Children Have Behavioral Problems & Why There is a Rise of Allergies and Chronic Disease

Genetic engineering is the process of adding a gene from another species into your target genome.  Spider genes have been inserted into goats to make bullet-proof vests. Cow genes have been inserted into pigs so the pigs have cow hides. 88% of corn produced in the US and 96% of soy are genetically modified. Canola and alfalfa crops are also genetically modified.

GMO FACTS:

Since the mid 1990’s when GE crops were introduced, we have seen nationwide increases in GI diseases, inflammation, leaky gut, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, allergies, eczema, birth defects, infertility, autism, autoimmune diseases…
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In this 45 minute webinar, learn about the causes of insomnia and how you can get a better night’s sleep tonight! Focusing on blood sugar support, hormonal balance, neurotransmitter balance, digestive health, and body composition, this webinar is not just about Insomnia, but about how to adopt a nourishing lifestyle for optimal health!

Watch here:

Conquer Insomnia: 5 Ways to Better Health and Sleep

And let me know what you think!

Have you ever heard the proverbial phrase, “stop and smell the roses”? Taking time to relax and refocus is a fantastic age-defiant habit that complements any nourishing lifestyle.

Stress management techniques are absolutely essential for people with high-stress lifestyles.  Prolonged stress can lead to fatigue, weakened immunity, higher risk for other diseases, depression, and even insomnia. This is perhaps one of the most important manifestations of the mind-body connection.

Diaphragmatic breathing is a great way to rest, relax, de-stress, and even reduce your blood pressure!

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Bones cycle through periods of growth and breakdown throughout the course of your life.  By our mid-20’s bones begin to lose their ability to regrow and are more prone to breaking down.

What Leads To Osteoporosis?

Eating an acidic, inflammatory diet including caffeine, alcohol, soda, refined sugar, processed foods, a high-salt diet, a meat-based (high protein) diet, and a low vegetable diet can all contribute to bone thinning.  Eating foods you are allergic to can also lead to bone loss because your gastrointestinal system will be inflamed and have increased permeability (more, larger molecules and pathogens can pass undigested into the blood stream) which in turn increases the acidity of the blood and draws alkaline nutrients out of the bone.  Moreover, malabsorption can lead to nutrient deficiencies that can inhibit bone regrowth.

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What is the key to maximizing the nutrient content in your whole grains? Soaking and sprouting!

If you think about what a grain is, you will realize that grains are seeds, waiting to be buried, watered, and grow into a new plant. Seeds and legumes (beans, nuts) may also develop into a full grown plant.  But why don’t the grains start growing? What is keeping them from germinating? (more…)

I just got back from the 2012 Integrative Health Symposium held in NYC.  This three day conference was an opportunity for medical doctors, naturopaths, nurses, nutritionists, and other health care professionals to share knowledge about functional medicine and work to educate people how to live healthier lives.

The 5 most notable messages of the conference were:

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Nutritional Guidelines For Those Thinking of Pregnancy

Recent research has discovered the nutrient environment of a growing fetus and baby significantly impacts genetic expression. Overall health and risk of disease are in part dependent on the mother’s health and nutrient intake before, during, and after pregnancy.  Just as nutrition is important to growing kids and adults, so to is it critical for the first weeks, months, and years of development.  (more…)

 Microwaves are low energy waves that rapidly heat your food by a process called dielectric heating.  A magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves by subjecting electrons to magnetic and electrical fields to produce an electromagnetic field with a microwave frequency of 2.4 gigaHertz.

 The waves bounce through the food and cause water molecules, which are bipolar, to resonate at very high frequencies.  The movement of the water molecules creates molecular friction and heats up your food.

This process alters the chemical structure of the food.  Significant antioxidant damage has been found in microwaved food.  Moreover, microwave radiation alters your food producing unique molecules into the food called radiolytic compounds. Radiolytic compounds are mutations that are unknown to the natural world.  These substances lead to deterioration of your blood and immune system.  By microwaving your food, you not only severely decrease the nutrient content of the food, but you also introduce toxic substances into your body.  One woman actually died in 1991 after receiving a blood transfusion that had been warmed in the microwave. (more…)

Take Charge of Your Health!

Ready to make some changes but not sure where to start? Take a look at one of these recommendations. Pick one, try it out for a week and see if you notice a change! (more…)

These days, most ice creams are full of toxic additives.  Ice cream manufacturers are not required by law to list the additives used in their products.  Independent testing has discovered some toxic chemicals in ice cream that don’t appear on the ingredient list. What else are they hiding?

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Drinking pure water is a crucial factor of a healthy lifestyle.  With your body being between 60-70% water, this substance plays a fundamental role in regulating all aspects of biological activity. Being dehydrated is the root cause of countless conditions that lead to tiredness and general malaise. Are you dehydrated?  (more…)

There is a big controversy about whether consuming milk is healthy.  I think that the nutritional value of milk and the pasteurization and homogenization of milk represent two factors that contribute to the confusion because the science and governmental policies conflict.  Pasteurization and homogenization completely alter the milk on a chemical level that renders the liquid undigestible, toxic, and dead. No wonder so many people have food allergies to dairy. What is the truth and why isn’t it well known?  (more…)

Consuming refined sugar and processed foods will damage your intestinal lining and prevent healthy absorption.  This can cause a myriad of health problems throughout your body:

• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Inflammation throughout your body, especially in joints, join pain
• increased allergies
• Poor digestion: gas, constipation and diarrhea
• Increased intestinal permeability (which allows big, toxic and foreign molecules to enter our blood stream, resulting in inflammation and other immune-related problems)
• Obesity
• Weakened immunity, depression, anxiety
• Tooth decay
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria in the gut (Dysbiosis)
• Increased frequency/severity of bad moods
• Loss of tissue elasticity
• Osteoporosis
• Arthritis
• ADD, ADHD

In addition to being conscientious about the foods we eat, we must also consider the methods of processing and preparation.  For years I have believed that vegetable oils are “heart healthy” and the “better fat” but now I am not so convinced.  First of all, oil is not a whole food: it has been extracted from a nut or a seed and in most cases stripped of it’s beneficial nutrients.  (more…)