Your Magnificent Liver: Get to Know, Love & Treat Yours Well

October is National Liver Awareness Month. Are you ready to love your liver?

I love mine. Dearly. After reading this, you’ll love yours too.

About 5.5 years ago, when my health pretty much exploded and I was lost in the maze of conventional medicine, one of the complications I had was medication-induced hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) and pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).

Trust me, it sucked.

No thanks to that and a cluster of many, many other health issues, I was laid up in bed for months. I had to leave my career and go on disability for the ensuing two years.

Curried Quinoa with Cauliflower & Artichokes

Do you ever stop and admire the cauliflower and broccoli you see at the farmer’s market or in the grocery store? No? Well, maybe you’ll want to after reading these facts and trying the recipe below.

Welcome. Meet the cruciferous (brassica) family of veggies, which includes: broccoli, broccoli rabe, broccolini, cauliflower (white, orange, green, and purple), all cabbages (white, purple, napa, etc.), brussels sprouts, collard greens, and all kinds of kale.

The cruciferous family, if they were human, would be a very loving and nurturing family. No dysfunction here. Here’s why:

Talk. Not Treats: A Powerful Manifesto

My brilliant client, entrepreneur Karri Flatla, recently penned a manifesto borne from her personal frustration as a parent to two young children, as a participant in a society that tends to take the easy way out by bribing with “treats” versus taking the time to talk and get to the core of what children (and the rest of us!) REALLY need.

I just read it and have massive goose bumps. Well said, Karri.

Here it is: Talk. Not Treats.

How do you handle the “treats vs. talk” situations you find yourself (and your children) in?

Product Review: Fantastic Travel Meal Option – Hallelujah!

I’ve been traveling a lot lately. And eating well while traveling on the road can be a challenge, especially when working around food allergies or intolerances. Even I don’t always want to take the trouble of organizing myself well enough to take home-prepared travel meals along with me, or I end up having to cobble a meal together to avoid my food intolerances.

I also love to scope out new food products everywhere I go:  in corner stores, grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, airports… you name it. Well, I did a double take at the Baltimore-Washington Airport this week as I zeroed in on a brilliant food option that made my heart sing (yes, I get easily excited by food): the perfect travel food!

Eating for Focus & Calm

Author’s note and disclaimer:  This information is provided for educational purposes only. The recommendations included in this informational article are not to be construed as medical advice and do not take the place of medical advice. You should seek medical advice and continue to consult with your existing medical practitioners as needed. This article is not meant to formally and thoroughly address ADHD or ADD, but some of the common symptoms and root causes shared by those diagnosed with these conditions as well as those with general overwhelm.

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Mediterranean Yogurt Salad

This is a delicious, cooling dish we have often in my family, in particular during hot summer months. Very easy to prepare, and very Mediterranean in every sense of the word: flavor palate, health properties, seasonally appropriate. Fantastic as a side dish or snack.

It will help steady your focus and mood, boost your immunity, nurture you with rich, health-promoting vitamins and minerals, and provide cleansing elements to help you gently detoxify.

Mediterranean Yogurt Salad
Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

Could It Be Adrenal Fatigue?

Author’s note and disclaimer:  This information is provided for educational purposes only. The recommendations included in this informational article are not to be construed as medical advice and do not take the place of medical advice. You should seek medical advice and continue to consult with your existing medical practitioners as needed.

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Feel like you wake up tired, stay tired, then dip even more around 3-4 pm, push through the evening, then gratefully fall into bed? (And maybe even have trouble falling or staying asleep despite all that tired-ness?)

Chicken Broth or Bone/Mineral Broth

This year’s transition from spring into summer has been a bit bizarre in many parts of the U.S. Many people went from shivering from cold straight to summer! As such, there seems to be one bug in particular that seems intent on making us suffer from sore throats and lots of sniffles, much later into the year than usual.

After two years of no colds or bugs whatsoever (thank goodness!) and after dodging this bug 2 times before (sore throat was creeping in but I was able to get rid of it overnight in both cases)… it got me. This week, I am tearing through tissues like nobody’s business and nursing a hoarse voice, which I tend to get with any cold. Bummer.

Product Review: Pure Indian Foods’ Organic Grass-fed Ghee

The folks at Pure Indian Foods sent me a jar of their organic grass-fed ghee a while ago.

I frequently receive requests to review products, but unless I have an overall positive review of the product, I decline to post anything. Why send around bad karma? Maybe I’m too nice. Oh well.

These past few days, I finally had the occasion to really test-drive this ghee, as I’m doing short ayurvedic cleanse at home. Ghee is often used in Ayurvedic medicine as a healing food, and I believe is the prevalent source of fat / oils used in traditional Indian cooking, and it was a part of my cleanse.

Artichoke Hummus

Gluten-Free, High-Nutrient Snack for All Ages!

My dear friend Amy is our guest contributor for this deliciously healthy and easy recipe. She and I met in high school overseas. After sharing much fun and many foibles over the years, we remain close friends.

Amy was waaaay into healthy eating and cooking waaaay before I even learned how to not burn soup. To this day, she is always an inspiration. And I still credit her for being the person who turned me on to avocados about 10 years ago with her home-made guacamole. YUM.

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