What
Exactly is Good Nutrition?
Secretly
we all want just a few things in life — none the least of
which is to live a life that is healthy and energetic. One way
to accomplish this is to eat a well balanced diet that fuels the
body to take on life's challenges.
Soy
Milk Alternatives
Maybe
you’re a vegetarian who’s decided to go vegan, or perhaps
you’ve just opted to give up drinking cow’s milk. Either
way, there’s a good chance you’ve reached for a carton
of soy milk to replace the dairy.
Cranberries
Show Their Strength
When
is the last time you ate cranberries? Was it with a turkey dinner?
With all the research pointing to the amazing health benefits of
this simple berry, shouldn't cranberries be more than a once-a-year
side dish?
Why
Has Yoga Become So Popular?
Did
you know that over 15 million people practiced yoga in 2003, according
to a landmark study by Yoga Journal magazine? And the numbers are
expected to increase dramatically in subsequent years.
Dieters
Need More Calcium
Women
on diets need more calcium than normal to avoid bone loss, say
Rutgers University researchers.Studies showed a weight loss diet
of 1.5 pounds a week for six weeks cuts absorption of calcium.
Candida:
Restoring Balance with Ayurveda
Candida
albicans is a yeast-like fungus that lives in the mouth and throat,
the intestinal tract and the genital tract. Normally, the population
of candida is in healthy balance with other intestinal flora. However,
sometimes its population explodes because of various factors such
as an improper diet, bursts of intense stress or ongoing low-grade
stress that isn't managed effectively combined with poor sleep/exercise
routines or antibiotics or oral contraceptives.
Decoding
Food Labels
Whether
you're concerned about cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes
or simply losing weight, you want to eat a healthy diet and focus
on foods that are high in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients
and balanced in fats, carbs, proteins.
Home
Remedy for Coughs
Here are two of my favorites (excerpted
from my book, Gentle
Healing for Baby and Child ... A Parent's Guide).
The first is prepared and consumed right away, while the
second may be prepared and stored in your refrigerator all
winter long.
Mother
Nurture: Letting Go
A
mom is dealing with so many feelings and needs and wants in
her children and partner that the stress builds up over the
course of a day. It's normal to feel like you describe. Plus,
many women have been taught various ways to keep a stiff upper
lip and not to say anything that seems like a complaint, which
just keeps things bottled up and festering.
10
Smart Reasons to Use Fish Oil
We
are in the grip of an omega-3 fish oil wave. Every day, more studies
are published showing just how important this nutrient is to us.
Last week, it was children with concentration problems; this week,
it is children with autism.
Building
a Regular Yoga Practice
People
come to yoga looking for various things: peace of mind, stress
reduction, improved concentration and weight loss. Yoga can
help you to accomplish all of this, but "yoga works, if
you work!" You have to do the practices on a regular basis
in order to get the results.
The
Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners
Back
to school time often means thinking about what to put in your child’s
lunchbox. If you’re like most parents, you’re probably
concerned about the increasing rate of childhood diabetes and obesity.
Homeopathy
and Toxic Exposure
As I have taken steps to live a more natural
lifestyle, I have found that industrial waste is not limited
to the Hollywood-sized vat. Toxins can be found everywhere
(just what your favorite paranoiac wants to hear). Pesticides,
vaccines, and
even terrorist tactics involve toxins that — well, hey, they won’t
make your face melt off, but they do pose a myriad of threats to our health.
Meditating
Mamas
If
we want to enjoy our daily lives, it is exceptionally helpful
to slow down for part of the day and focus on your breath. Research
has shown that periods of meditation — of focusing on your
breath — helps us transcend worries, lowers our anxiety,
diminishes depression and increases clarity. Meditation balances
our moods and enhances our ability to connect fully with who we
are.
Got
Stress? Go Gardening!
In
its purest form, gardening is about connecting with the earth
and resetting our clocks to the simple, natural rhythms of life.
Try as we may, we can't really speed up a tomato plant and make
it grow by our timetable. We must adapt, and in doing so, gardening
offers us a gentle reminder about what's really important in life:
food, water, warmth, a bit of loving attention and some room to
grow.
Local
Honey: Can It Alleviate Allergies?
As one who makes his living
by writing about allergies and asthma, I am often asked about
the potential health benefits of using local honey. Here I am
talking about alleviating allergy symptoms, not “curing”
allergies, which is far easier said than done. Honey contains
bits and pieces of pollen and honey. As an immune system booster,
it is quite powerful. In talks and articles and in my books, I
advocate using local honey. Frequently I’ll get e-mails
from readers who want to know exactly what I mean by local honey,
and how “local” should it be. This is what I usually
advise.
Why
You Should Go No ‘Poo
Almost three months ago, I was introduced to the
idea of no longer using shampoo. I was intrigued. After looking
into it somewhat, I figured I didn’t have anything to lose.
So I picked up some baking soda and apple cider vinegar and then
took the plunge. I love the results! There was an adjustment period
where I had to play around with the measurements a bit but I finally
got the hang of it. I have straight-as-a-board, baby-fine hair
that has never held a “do.” After “no ‘poo,”
I don’t even have to use styling products. I just blow dry
and go; my hair now keeps any style. It’s awesome!
The
Arthritis Sufferer’s Diet
Arthritis affects more than
40 million Americans and is referred to as the most common chronic
disease in people over 40. Doctors believe there are over 100
different forms of arthritis, all sharing one main characteristic:
they all cause joint inflammation. What can you do to relieve
the symptoms of arthritis? A lot. There is a great deal of debate
in the medical world about the effects of overall diet on arthritis
and using diet toward alleviating the condition.
Natural
Alternatives for Lupus Symptoms
Making healthy diet and lifestyle changes will
enable you to better manage the symptoms of autoimmune disorders
such as lupus, fibromyalgia and Sjogren's syndrome while moving
towards healing and wellness. The
following lifestyle modifications will not only benefit autoimmune
conditions — minimizing discomfort and maximizing healing
— but will also help reduce your risk of every common degenerative
disease affecting Americans today.
Get
more Time, Energy and Money!
Time, energy and money are chronically lacking
in parents’ lives. They are too tired because their children
keep them up at night, they are strapped for time between juggling
work and family, and they spend all their resources on their kids,
the house, the car and the mortgage. Everybody
has a dream. Whether you know it or not, at one time you dreamed
all the time. As children grow, their imaginations grow with them.
Then they become adults, and the reality of the world sets in.
Have you forgotten how to dream? Do you feel as if you have no
time to breath, much less make your dreams reality?
I’ve
heard that when using homeopathic remedies, my symptoms will get
worse before they get better. Why is that a
good thing? What's the point? First, may I point out that while
your symptoms do worsen with the correct remedy, in the end, you
actually feel better. You gain mental clarity. I know I get all
foggy when I'm sick, so the mental clarity helps brighten my outlook.
Yoga
for Kids and Parents
“Baby yoga! Baby yoga!”
This is my daughter’s chant any time she reaches over to
place her hands in front of her toes, in essence doing the toddler
version of downward facing dog. I fantasized about doing yoga
with my children before becoming pregnant, but I never pictured
it like this.
Breathe
to Stop Pain and Relieve Stress
Do you ever stop and think
what an amazing thing our breath is? Probably not. Most of us
never give it a thought. It is something we take for granted.
Rarely do we stop and think about how it, along with our souls,
is our life force and without it we would not be alive.
The
Mother-Child Weight Connection
As the old saying goes, the
apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. When it comes to predicting
whether or not a child will be overweight as an adult, you don’t
have to look much farther than his mother. Maternal obesity is
the single most important predictor of obesity in children.
Natural
Care for Varicose Veins
Our circulatory
system is made up of a complex web of arteries and veins. Our
arteries carry oxygen rich blood to the cells of our bodies, while
the veins are designed to pump oxygen-poor blood back to the heart.
This is accomplished through a series of one-way valves that do
not allow blood to flow backwards into the vein.
Immune-Boosting
Supplements for Winter Health
Holiday cheer isn’t
the only thing that abounds this winter: Cold weather ushers in
the sniffles, sneezes and coughs of cold and flu season. Check
with your health care provider to see if any of these supplements
can help your family avoid illness or feel better quickly in the
event you do get sick.
Avoiding
Bladder Infections
Most of us are not
used to thinking about our body's maintenance beyond eating three
square meals a day, getting proper exercise and drinking bottled
water. But as we age, bladder health becomes more important, especially
for women. So much can happen, between childbirth and infections,
that a woman needs to know how to take care of herself.
Meditation
on the Move
Simply
put, walking meditation is meditating while in motion. It might
be a good option if you have a hard time staying focused, tend
to get antsy from sitting still or have little ones who like to
keep on the move.
Natural
help for Uterine Fibroids
Uterine fibroids are solid muscle tissue growths
in the uterus. They are also called fibroid tumors, myomas or
leiomyomas. Fibroids occur so frequently (in up to half of all
women over 40) that they could be considered a normal irregularity.
The occasional fibroid can become enormous -- medical literature
reports one that was 100 pounds! -- but the majority (80 percent)
remain as small as a walnut.
Five
Easy Things You Can Do Now to Help Prevent Breast Cancer
The following tips may amaze you, since the actions
and foods they suggest run counter to many alternative views of
cancer prevention. They are supported with strong research, however
-- from the lab, with animals and in long-term human studies.
Thus, each of these tips has a solid scientific basis.
Do
You Really Need a Mammogram?
Perhaps no aspect of breast cancer is more widely
publicized than screening mammography. Ads on television, in magazines
and in the daily paper urge women to deal with fear about breast
cancer by having a yearly mammogram. We’re even told that
doing this is a way to “really care for yourself.”
Healthy
Bones the Wise Woman Way
Every woman I know is concerned about osteoporosis.
Frightening stories equate it with broken hips, bent spines, wheelchairs
and death -- things we all want to avoid. What can we do? Should
we take calcium supplements? Hormones? Fosamax? Can we rely on
our green allies?
Have
a Little Mother[wort] Around the House
Grandmother Edith's love affair with motherwort
began when her hot flashes knocked her out in the supermarket.
It continued as motherwort mended her husband's heart and grew
and grew as her five daughters found relief from PMS and menstrual
cramps, constipation and the crazies with the help of the little
mother, motherwort.
Fertility
& Menopause
Sage: More Than
Poultry Stuffing!
Homeopathy for PMS
Power Surges: Homeopathy and Menopause
10 Tips for Women With PMS
How do we know if we’re ready to have another baby?
Try These Herbs for Fertility,
Periods, Libido, and Avoiding Conception
Pregnancy Nutrition
Starts Before Conception!
Minerals Make the Difference
You Must Be Pregnant, Right? Not Necessarily
Fertility
- Natural Family Planning
Try
These Herbs for Fertility, Periods, Libido, and Avoiding Conception
So you want to try natural
family planning
Fertility
awareness: We’ve come a long way since the rhythm method
Fertility After Childbirth: When You’re Ready but Your
Body’s Not (and Vice Versa)
Red Light, Green Light: Let Your Computer Do the
Analysis
Natural family planning: A man’s perspective
For
the Mind
Internal
Cleansing
