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Nutrition Category
Natural OptionsCustomizing Your Carb Count on Keto
The ketogenic, or keto, diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet growing in popularity due to the many health benefits it can offer. The concept is to drastically reduce carbohydrate intake and increase healthy fat intake which puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis. When this happens, your body Read more…
Fresh CuisineThe Miraculous Mushroom
For a while there, it seemed that kale was at the top of the superfood kingdom…on nearly every menu and making its way into practically everything. Even fast food eatery Chick-fil-A rolled out a superfood kale salad. The ubiquitous McDonald’s also incorporated the healthy green, offering a kale breakfast bowl. Read more…
Fresh CuisineWhy Keto is Taking the World by Storm
Who’s heard of Keto? At this point almost everyone, even if they aren’t completely sure what it is and how it works. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Tim Tebow and Lebron James didn’t start the ketogenic, or keto diet trend, but they’ve certainly added fuel to the already-hot fire. Read more…
Fresh CuisineRaw Vegan in The Valley
What is a raw vegan diet and why the heck would anyone follow it? I’ve been doing so for over 12 years now and can’t imagine eating any other way. A raw vegan diet includes fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds not heated over 115 degrees. There is an elegant simplicity Read more…
Fresh CuisineThese Are a Few of My Favorite Things
If you’ve decided to cut down or eliminate sugar, I salute you. It isn’t easy. It’s in almost everything which you quickly learn when you give it up. And with the holidays here, temptations are sure to grow. Sticking with Mother Nature’s bounty and reading labels is the only way Read more…
Natural Options5 Natural Habits of Healthy People
Modern conveniences developed over the decades have made it hard for us to know what “healthy” means or looks like anymore. Here are a few instinctual habits of healthy people that are more in line with our human design. 1. Eat real food. When we eat food that comes from Read more…
Integrative MedicineDopamine Driven Sugar Addiction
In my practice as a nutrition consultant, I am continually trying to support people in their struggle with foods that sabotage their health goals. In my own life I am constantly battling my own “sugar addiction.” Eating and the desire to eat stimulate different mechanisms in the brain. Dopamine, the Read more…
Fresh CuisineMore Veggies Made Easy
We all want to eat more vegetables, but often the effort gets boring. Eating more of the same old thing – salads, sautéed, steamed or roasted veggies – diminishes your enthusiasm and can derail your efforts. The secret is to keep things interesting and easy. Since starting a pescatarian diet Read more…
Fresh CuisineMeal Plans
Meal plans are the number one request I get from new clients who are fed up with dieting. Meal plans are set recipes for days or weeks, measured out and calculated, telling you exactly what to eat and when. Seems like a slam dunk success, right? The dreamy concept of Read more…
FitnessExercising on a Ketogenic Diet
It seems the hot diet trend these days is the term ketosis. People are losing weight quickly and keeping it off with a great deal of discipline and significant effort. The aim of a ketogenic diet is to keep your body in a metabolic state called ketosis. Our bodies normally Read more…
Natural OptionsNutrition for the Aging Body and Mind
Whether we want to admit it or not, with age comes declining function of every major bodily system we have. The World Health Organization defines the aging population as 60 and older, but symptoms may start to show decades earlier. Common aging concerns should be addressed early when they are Read more…
Live Your WellestFood as Medicine
The old phrase “you are what you eat” is now the center focus of integrative medicine. But sometimes simply eating food is not enough, so we take vitamins to supplement what we may be missing. Another option growing in popularity is nutritional IV therapy which delivers vitamins, minerals, and other Read more…
Medical NewsWhat is Disordered Eating?
In a nutshell, disordered eating is when an individual’s relationship with food causes problems in their life or that of their loved ones. People are often surprised to find out that what they consider to be a lack of self-control or poor discipline is really “disordered eating,” driven by a Read more…
Fresh Cuisine“Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.”
That’s it. You have to make a change. Maybe after a routine checkup you discovered your cholesterol or blood pressure were elevated beyond normal. Could be that your clothes pinch and tug in ways you can no longer ignore. Perhaps you’re inspired by a friend’s change in habits and the Read more…
Fresh CuisineNuts about (Young) Coconuts!
Phew. It’s been a very hot summer. Personally, I must be mindful of keeping hydrated to maintain a proactive lifestyle in this scorching heat and humidity. What better thing to help with hydration than fresh young coconuts, to help us transition into fall! Coconuts have become all the rage in Read more…
Fresh CuisineHealthy Italian Traditions
There are many beautiful lessons woven into historic Italian traditions which continue to be passed down through generations. A few weeks on the Amalfi Coast offered me the opportunity to see firsthand why Italians live longer, better-quality lives than most other nations, despite their blatant enjoyment of wine, pasta, cheese, Read more…
Natural OptionsSulfur-based Foods to the Rescue
Sulfur, which is present in every cell of our bodies, is the third most abundant mineral in the body and is crucial in forming a variety of sulfate compounds that perform a vast array of biological processes.1 Many experts recognize we are at risk of sulfur deficiency due to diets Read more…
Fresh CuisineHealth Benefits of Cinnamon
Cinnamon is well-known as an aromatic spice that people enjoy adding to oatmeal and baked goods. Less well-known is the fact that it can also be used therapeutically to improve several common health conditions including high blood sugar, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Cinnamon is derived from the bark Read more…
Integrative MedicineImproving Digestion after Gallbladder Removal
A cholecystectomy, or gallbladder removal, is the second most common surgery in the United States. The removal is a safe, conventional treatment for the diseased organ, but it can often result in various complications on a daily basis. A cholecystectomy does relieve pain, but 50 percent of patients still have Read more…