I recently asked my new client, Ruth, what her goals were in working with me. She said, “I just want to be…myself…again.” She blurted it out and seemed surprised with what she had said. But there it was, the essence of her greatest loss, what chronic illness had taken from her. Years of illness had “destroyed”…
Insomnia sufferers, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. What are the reasons for not sleeping well? And what’s actually happening when we don’t sleep? We all know it feels bad, but why is it bad and how does it lead to illness? As you can deduce from the previous discussion about what sleep does, lack of sleep has a profound effect on regulation of key aspects of our internal biology, as well…
Sleep, like food, is powerful medicine. There are few aspects of our daily lives that are as profoundly essential and influential to our health and healing as getting good sleep. Sleep is a magical, mysterious time that allows us to power down, repair, replenish, and renew—providing the deepest healing and renewal available to us.
We must sleep—this is one…
The cruciferous family of vegetables–your favorites like cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli–are so special in their deliciousness, but also possess magical chemistry that supports many key dimensions of our health, like detoxification, antioxidant protection, and control of inflammation. Through their detoxification attributes, they help us neutralize and eliminate…
After decades of helping clients recover from persistent complex illness, I have come to view the gut as a key part of the solution to energy recovery. The gut and its inhabitants–the microbiome–are central to our health as the seat of our nutrition, immunity, detoxification, as well as important emotional wisdom–all critical drivers of our precious energy.Solving the riddle of persistent…
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” -Walt Whitman
I love the freshness and promise of each new year, but I’ve never liked the harshness and punitive nature of New Year’s resolutions that feel so judge-y–like we’re not good enough until we drop those pounds or start that exercise routine or accomplish this or that, believing that the new year will bring the magic that we need to create better…
Sue had almost given up. Her symptoms began abruptly one summer after returning home from a camping trip with her family. It started with vertigo that became so severe she couldn’t turn her head while lying in bed. She developed pain, numbness, and tingling all over her body. She felt like she was trembling from the inside, but no one could see this. She had headaches, muscle…
I find the holidays to be curiously stressful. There have been many past holiday seasons when I have struggled with sluggishness, irritability, and resistance to the challenges and expectations that seem to be part of it all.
And yet our winter holidays are a time of celebration in the many ways of our diverse traditions–light within the darkness, family, sharing, and coming together. The new…
We are energy at our most fundamental level. Energy is the expression of all action, function, and feeling associated with being alive and human. This includes biological energy in all its various forms—passion, vitality, curiosity, and life force—that are all connected, and that we lose when we are ill. The greatest blow of chronic illness is the loss of vital energy and how…
I’d like to pay homage to our adrenals in this series of articles, the source of our physiological life force energy, and teach you how to nourish them back to their full potential. Supporting adrenal function, as part of a comprehensive energy recovery strategy, will catapult you into…
Consider the root causes of your inflammation symptoms before reaching for another supplement. No matter how natural or powerful your favorite supplements are, if you don’t consider why you are hurting, aching, and tired you’re missing an opportunity to discover deep sustainable ways to improve your health.
I routinely…
Ever heard of a FODMAP? It sounds like high-tech terminology, but it actually refers to food for your gut bacteria. (And gut bacteria are definitely ancient and primordial, although absolutely essential.) FODMAP stands for Fermentable Olig-, Di-, and Mono-saccharides And Polyols. I admit, none of those words sound like food. They’re just fancy words for small carbohydrates that bacteria…
Holidays can be one of the toughest times to try to follow an elimination food plan. Food is such an integral part of celebration in every culture on earth. Our treasured holiday recipes hold emotional, religious, and family memories and meaning for many of us. Even if you’re not really attached to the holidays, you see everyone else eating mashed potatoes with gravy, pumpkin pie, and sugar…
I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude lately, both because it has been a respite for me from the climate of fear that has surrounded us this past year, but also because it’s Thanksgiving.
I’ve decided that gratitude is so much more than the spontaneous rush of thankfulness we feel when good and joyful things happen to us.
Gratitude is a decision that we make and practice every day, that…
This past week brought with it a tsunami of emotions as a result of the election. Throughout this presidential campaign, no one has been immune to the expressions of anger, fear, disbelief, shame, grief, and hatred that have permeated our social spaces, leaving many of us feeling vulnerable and exhausted. Whether it be a highly contentious election, economic insecurity, health crises, or the…
This has become my all time favorite pumpkin pie recipe. Not only does the flavor and texture absolutely rock, but it meets my high nutritional standards. It is grain-, cow’s milk-, egg-, and legume-free, lower in sugar-content than other pumpkin pie recipes, and is utterly creamy and delicious. It’s robustness and depth of flavor is reminiscent of a cheese cake.
I believe my first rendition of…