food as medicine

The kids are back in school and the weather is getting cooler -- which brings a bounty of beauty, as well as cold and flu season. We all know what it feels like trying to sleep with a stuffy nose and chest congestion.

If you take a look at your average store bought vapor/chest rubs you will see many unnecessary ingredients on the list. The shorter the list of ingredients in your products the better, especially if you can pronounce them.

What Oils Should I Use?

Well here is where some of the fun gets to take place -- at least I think so!

I see many of my patients are living a healthy lifestyle and eating a plant-based diet.  It is especially important for me to make sure that these patients have enough of the essential mineral: iron.  I can determine if a patient is low in iron by looking at the size of their red blood cells, levels of iron circulating in the blood as well as the body’s storage of a form of iron called ferritin.

While perusing the fruit and vegetable department of my local grocery store several years ago, I came upon an interesting looking fruit. I had never had it in my life at that point and was looking for something new to add to my diet that was healthy.

I had read about the kiwifruit and knew that it “packed a punch” of vitamin C. There was one sliced open, and I was intrigued by its beauty as well. What an interesting looking fruit it truly is. Of course, it went into my grocery cart along with the rest of my items. I had to try it.

Driving through Dateland, Arizona, we had to stop at the travel center and get a date shake. With soaring summer temperatures and a long day’s drive, it was a much needed break from the road. The creamy, sweet shake got me thinking about the origin of dates and why an area would be so inclined to pride itself on a single crop. After investigating, I began to understand what makes this fruit so sought after and how its nutritional benefits have been enjoyed for thousands of year.

Imagine: sitting in class, about to take a final that will determine your grade for the overall class. You’ve been up all night studying and are now only fueled by four cups of coffee and the anxiety that is keeping you focused. The professor hands you your test packet and tells you to begin when you realize nothing you have studied is on the test. Your stomach begins to churn and before you can finish writing your name on the corner of your paper you bolt out of class to the nearest bathroom.

This essential oil has a very interesting back story. There are a few different versions of course, but that happens when a story is carried on for almost 10 centuries.

Your connection to Earth, to being grounded, feeling cared for and protected is in your hands – literally. It’s in the food you eat. The more whole foods you consume, the more peaceful you become. The body utilizes everything it needs – everything else, whether it be too much of something or a foreign ingredient, is removed. This takes energy - you are energy. So the question becomes: what do you want to do with your energy?

Wheat germ is the reproductive part of a grain of wheat -- thus the term germ, meaning to germinate, which left to grow becomes wheat grass. It contains the most fat of the grain and is also the most nutrient rich. It has valuable health benefits, including preventing several major diseases, as well as aiding many other physical and mental functions.

American beautyberry is also known as French mulberry, sour-bush, bunch-berry, and purple beautyberry. The berries grow all throughout the Southeastern USA. Funny enough, it’s actually the leaves and stems that have the most power in warding of bugs in this DIY spray.

Organic garlic and organic onion are valuable herbs that benefit the body, add flavor to foods and are well known for their healing qualities. They are both members of the allium family, among chives, shallots, and leeks. They are one of the oldest and easiest plants to grow and have been cultivated for millennia. It is said that both garlic and onions originated in Asia but onions and garlic grew wild in the Americas and were popular long before Europeans arrived. Onions were regarded as a god in ancient Egypt – because of an onion’s many layers, it symbolized life.