I’m squeezing in one more blog article before the holiday season, in case you are like me, and love to give food as HOLIDAY GIFTS. Chocolate is always a holiday favourite, and it’s possible for it to be healthy too! So here is a recipe that is easy to make, that you can package up to give away, or that you can finish off a special meal with. You can feel great about gifting this healthy version!
Raphael Kellman, MD, is the founder of the Kellman Center for Functional and Integrative Medicine in New York City. He is the author of Matrix Healing, Gut Reactions and The Microbiome Diet, and is considered to be a pioneer in the field of “Microbiome Medicine”. So you can imagine just how excited I was when the publishers contacted me to ask if I would review his latest book entitled The Microbiome Breakthrough: Harness the Power of Your Gut Bacteria to Boost Your Mood and Heal Your Body.
Do you love reading a good book on gut-health? Already bored? Don’t be! I read a lot about gut-health, and quite frankly I was getting bored until I read The Gut Wellness Guide. The Gut Wellness Guide offers a fresh perspective on pain, gas, bloating, and other digestive symptoms, but it is also much more than that. Allison Post and Stephen Cavaliere recognize the importance of your stress response to gut health, and utilize incredibly simple techniques that include breathing and touch to help you connect to the nervous system in your gut (your second brain). The title suggests a gut focus, but the contents take you well beyond your gut to help you understand your whole body. This book is a whole-body wellness guide.
There is a lot written about anti-inflammatory diets, and there is a ton of research looking at the anti-inflammatory effects of foods and supplements. Fish oil and turmeric are examples of supplements that have been extensively researched. Take a minute and google 'anti-inflammatory diet', or 'top anti-inflammatory foods', and you'll see just how much information is out there. Dietary approaches that are anti-inflammatory emphasize vegetables, fruit, healthy fats such as olive oil and the omega-3 oils found in fish, and nuts and seeds. At the same time they eliminate foods that contribute to inflammation such as refined grains, sugars, and deep-fried foods. The Mediterranean Diet is a good example of a well researched anti-inflammatory diet. But where is your inflammation coming from?
There are so many benefits to growing your own food, with organic and fresh picked being at the top. Nothing rivals the taste of a sun-warmed tomato fresh from the vine, or pulling a carrot straight out of the soil and biting into its crispy flesh. But there are other important reasons to consider gardening.
Ever done an online search and had a hard time finding the information you needed? A couple of months ago I started wondering if erythritol would be a safe sugar alcohol to use in a gut-healthy diet, and I've had a hard time finding relevant research. My interest in this sweetener started when I realized it was the preferred sweetener used by people on ketogenic diets. After plugging away at it for a while I'm starting to find what I was looking for.
Ever passed a kidney stone? If you have, then you know the extreme pain that goes with passing a stone. Symptoms can begin with nausea, vomiting, and can also include fever and chills. Pain on your side and back below your ribs can be intense. The pain can fluctuate and spread throughout the entire abdomen as the stone makes its way through the ureter (tube from the kidney to the bladder). Urination becomes difficult as smaller amounts are passed and the need for frequent urination increases. Urine can become foul smelling, cloudy, and bloody, and be painful to pass. The pain of passing a stone is often described as being worse than childbirth by people who have experienced both. Want to avoid this?
Call the clinic to book a complimentary 15-minute meet & greet or to book your first full appointment. If you aren’t sure if I’m the right practitioner for you, start with the 15-minute meet & greet.
