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Category Archives: Moods and Food

Therapeutic foods: the gut-brain connection

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Food is Therapeutic. I love sharing good solid nutrition, rather than profit-based nutrition. Thought provoking… real… information, recipes, occasional book finds, and other things that you—the person seeking to rebalance health starting by rebalancing eating—finds really useful. Which brings me to today’s topic, beets! As a member of several professional groups focused on functional medicine and integrated nutrition, just about every day I get an email or six asking my thoughts about handling bloating, digestive upset…. more… or brain fog, tiredness, headaches, anxiety… more… A recent holistic health practitioner wrote: “Hello! I need some help figuring out my client’s brain fog and fatigue. She sent me this info … Continue reading →

Sneaking sugars into kefir??

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Coconut milk kefir probiotic

“You put sugar in your kefir, right?” (I’m sorry—did I hear that right????) “Well I was over buying coconut milk kefir and she said you put sugar in yours, that’s why her’s is better.” There I was, enjoying the company of the great clients who turned out for the first ever Fermentapalooza over at the Alaska Health Improvement Center, and suddenly there was this “You put sugar in your kefir?” question / statement. I am the mother who helps an entire football team develop iron-man stamina by finding alternates to sugary Gatorade, who applauds schools like Spring Hill in Anchorage for … Continue reading →

Feel satisfied: Five ways to fill “hedonic hunger”

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plant-based diet, SCD diet, GAPS diet, body ecology, anchorage nutritionist

Not a “Top Six Hunger-suppressing Foods” post or even a “7 Foods to Control Cravings” post, hunger is the number one reason people fail at dieting so let’s look at another angle on it. One of my client last week asked me why it was so hard to achieve her goals. So we had to take a good hard look at the emotional connection of food as she frowned when I pointed out that while switching to maple syrup is a better choice than cane sugar, continuing to consume an average 34 teaspoons per day is still not healthy yet this … Continue reading →

My child can’t behave: 10 tips to handle the food additive connection.

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During the 1970s the headlines read: food additives drug children—and result in drugging children, researchers say. But this wasn’t enough to convince health policy or medical professionals, creating a confusion for parents. During the 1980s headlines read: New research shows possible link between food additives and hyperactivity. During the 1990s we put a name on it: Possible ADHD link with food dyes and additives according to new research. And so it goes… Except none of it is “headline” news given Theron Randolf published her observations “Allergy as a causative factor of fatigue, irritability, and behavior problems in children” in the Journal of … Continue reading →

Obesity: the making of an epidemic

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Not just in the US, all around the world, obesity and related problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes are at levels we’ve never before seen. More people are now overweight than underfed. Surprisingly, a person can have normal weight yet still be over fat—still have excessive fat inside their body surrounding their organs. Why is this bad? Because the deep fat—the intra-abdominal or visceral fat as it is called—also becomes a sponge for toxic chemicals. The concentration of fat-stored toxins can be 1000’s of times higher than that circulating in your blood as demonstrated by my dear … Continue reading →

The Wonders of Real Maple Syrup

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buckwheat pancakes with blueberries and real maple syrup health

Before I’m accused of backtracking on 50,000+ times of saying “sugar is bad,” let me just say it again: Sugar is bad. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way… let me also say… not all sugars are created equal. Maple syrup health properties are very interesting. Alright, why is sugar so bad… There are some sugars that just should never, ever be consumed. Cane sugar in any form (raw, turbinado, concentrated juice, organic or otherwise…) and corn sugar (also known as high fructose corn syrup). Why? Because they create an immediate inflammatory response in the body that is … Continue reading →

Do happy people have healthier hearts?

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This interesting question has some truth to it: — Granted there are many factors leading to better mood and a stronger heart – diet, exercise, sleep, etc. – but interesting research by Harvard School of Public Health shows not only does mood matter, but that we should do all we can to improve mood naturally. Better Outlook: Better Heart Health.     Harvard research fellow Julia K. Boehm, PhD evaluated over 200 studies, the largest review ever to examine the impact of a positive outlook on heart attack and stroke risk. We have seen plenty of good research showing how sadness and anxiety … Continue reading →

Control Your Weight, Cholesterol, Blood Sugar and Heart Health.

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The sun is out and our unbelievable record-setting Alaska winter snowfall is finally leaving. Soon we’ll be wearing shorts, bathing suits and, looking in the mirror, yikes! extra winter insulation has just got to go: time to lose some weight! There is probably no bigger argument in the corporate lobbying dietician/nutrition world than how to get to our ideal weight. Should we count calories, percent of protein, percent of carbohydrate or glycemic index? Which is the most important weight loss strategy (or how can we prevent diabetes, lower cholesterol, improve heart health…) And, of course, we have to shun dietary fat—which … Continue reading →

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