Have you ever done a cleanse? Annual cleanses are a great way to care for your body, support longevity, cancer prevention and provide an overall reset for the body.
How to Eat and Live in Support of Your Adrenals
Stress causes increased levels of stress hormones in the body. You have likely heard of adrenaline, cortisol is also a big one. We want cortisol to stay in its antagonistic relationship with melatonin, so that we wake up with energy and fall asleep naturally and easily. If that is thrown off by stress, then we begin to feel poorly, tired, foggy headed, insomnia, anxiety, and more
Benefits of Eating Pumpkin- Recipe included
So turns out, it’s not just for carving. Obviously….
Our ancestors, and let’s be real, not that many generations back, used to eat this lovely and wholesome member of the Cucurbitaceae family was part of the Fall diet for most humans living in much of the world. Below is a map illustrating the areas throughout the world where pumpkins grow.
Podcast Share: Huberman Lab
I first heard about the Huberman Lab from my partner, Allen. He had previously been listening to a doctor who claims vegetables are toxic, so I don’t always take his recommendations. However, I was intrigued by some of the research he was citing and Andrew Huberman, PhD has some solid credentials as a Stanford-tenured neuroscientist.
The best gluten free cookbook
Vitalizes' Favorite Winter Recipes
5 Things I learned from a Cleanse
Fall Soup Recipe
Functions Of The 5 Flavors
Food should taste good, right? So why are so many medicines bitter? There are bitter flavor receptors throughout the whole body, and just like the other flavors, the bitter flavor has specific biochemical actions that we can benefit from. The 5 flavors are one of the most important concepts of Chinese Herbalism and food therapy. Here is a rundown of how each of the 5 flavors - spicy, sweet, bitter, sour, and salty - functions in your body.
Top Five Nutrients That Help Women With The Symptoms of PMS
NUMBER ONE: Check-in on your B Vitamin needs. Why? Taking a good B Vitamin complex throughout the month will help reduce the symptoms of PMS. Estrogens, including oral birth control pills or hormone replacement, deplete B vitamins. Depletion can take a toll on the body because we need B vitamins for multiple functions. Vitamin B6 specifically helps to boost the production of serotonin. When serotonin is low, women experience depression, poor memory and poor sleep (which we often see in PMS). In the liver, B Vitamins contribute to detoxification of environmental pollutants, medications and excess estrogens. Having a busy lifestyle, high exercise output, stress, and alcohol consumption all deplete our B’s. Even if a woman is not taking an estrogen hormone, she likely needs them! Make sure to ask your provider about doses.
Trying to Quit a Habit?
Whether its smoking, over-eating, one too many glasses of wine at the end of your day, or just plain sweet tooth behavior, acupuncture is one of your greatest tools. We use 5 needles in each ear to assist patients with addictive behaviors. Often patients who have been smoking cigarettes for years and are finally ready to quit will feel immediate support with their attempts to cut back or even cut off all together.
Five acupuncture needles gently placed at both ears offers support and often leads to fewer cravings, making cutting back or quitting so much easier. Along with acupuncture your provider might also recommend a Chinese herbal formula to assist your lungs, liver, spleen, or any other organs that might be experiencing imbalance due to the continued over use of toxins.
Winter Chai Smoothie Recipe
- 1 large banana
- 1.5 cups milk - I like to use a coconut/hemp milk blend
- 1-2 raw egg yolks (you can use the separated whites in a scramble)
- 1 Tbs heaping nut butter - sunbutter, cashew or almond butter
- 1 tsp chai spice blend: 30% cinnamon, 30% ginger, 15% nutmeg, 15% cardamom, 10% clove (if you want to make it yourself, or just add a pinch of each.)
Add Ins:
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 Tbs hydrolyzed collagen - collagen is great for joint health and reproductive health, high in amino acids that are difficult to find in other food sources. Your hair, nails, skin, muscles and ligaments will thank you.
- Cod Liver Oil - good source of vitamins A, D and K, as well as omega-3 fatty acids
- 1 tsp ashwagandha powder - adaptogen herb that supports a healthy immune system
- 1 Tbs pumpkin butter or puree, just because it's tasty
- 1 tsp cacao nibs
Adrenal Fatigue
Yesterday a patient asked me if I thought she might have adrenal fatigue. Her friend had mentioned it when they were discussing their health and she wondered what type of symptoms are caused by adrenal fatigue.
This is such a common question and, in our culture, a very common state of being. Lets rewind and explore the historical aspect of adrenal fatigue; our lifestyle has evolved faster than our bodies. We no longer have to spend our days hunting or gathering for our next meal, putting ourselves between tiger and snake in order to find food, this is the type of stress that our 'fight our flight' response was designed for.
Why Do a Spring Cleanse?
The idea of a spring cleanse may or may not appeal to you. As a bit of a health nut, I have always been drawn to healthy eating, but the idea of needing to purify one’s body through deprivation seemed puritanical and unnecessary if already eating fairly well. Nonetheless, I was feeling like my immune system needed a boost prior to allergy season, so I decided to go for it.