Exercise puts stress on our bodies so it is important to nourish and feed yourself if you are an athlete. Here are some recommendations and tips to change your body composition, build strength, maintain muscle mass, and feel energized for your workouts.
One of the most common questions I get from my clients is about supplements. Do we need to take them? What brand? How do I know what to take? What supplements are good for general wellness?
I have listed 5 great supplements that can provide a foundational support for your health. However, you may need different or additional nutrients, depending on your unique health status, history, and environment. (more…)
In traditional cultures, balancing health with a balanced lifestyle was a core belief. They live in harmony with the environment. The diseases of modern civilization were rare. Food and medicine were interwoven. All cultures used special or functional foods to prevent disease. Food could be used at different times and different situations and used as either food or medicine. Foods, cultivation, and cooking methods maximized community health and well-being. With methods passed down through generations, cooking processes were utilized that enhanced mineral and nutrient bioavailability. Today, the modern lifestyle lacks many of these traditional practices, and we have the high prevalence of chronic disease to show for it! (more…)
Although it is not too cold in Southern California right now, we are in the middle of winter. Eating warming, nourishing foods during this time of year can help support your organ systems that are under stress from the cooler temperatures. What foods are good for the winter?
Meats: beef, pork, chicken, goat, shellfish, organ meats, nitrate-free preserved meats
Beans: all dried beans, especially adzuki and black beans
Fruits: lemons, oranges, kumquats, grapefruits, and other citrus, pomegranates, kiwi, and dried fruits
Vegetables: Brussels sprouts, cabbage (especially fermented), celery root, collard greens, endive, escarole, kale, kolrabi, leeks, onions, parsnips, radishes, rutabagas, sea vegetables, turnips, winter squash
Grains: barley, rice, millet, oats, dark varieties of quinoa
Herbs, Spices, Condiments: ginger, sea salt, miso, tamari, and pickled vegetables
One thing to keep in mind is quality: always strive for finding organic foods and grass-fed or free-range for animal foods. Notice that all of these foods are whole foods and if you buy organic, they will be free of toxins and promote healthy weight management.
Recently one of my clients asked me my thoughts on both the vegan diet (plant-only) and the GAPS diet, which is an omnivorous diet for restoring mental health, immune health, and digestive health. It was such a great question I thought I would elucidate my comments in this article. Here are my thoughts:
There is no diet that is right for all people, because everyone is different, with different histories, different lifestyles and exercise practices, and different environments (the holistic approach considers all of these factors). Different life stages and health conditions call for different nutrient needs as well, so changing the diet throughout life is also key to optimal health! (more…)
I just got back from the 2012 Integrative Health Symposium held in NYC. This three day conference was an opportunity for medical doctors, naturopaths, nurses, nutritionists, and other health care professionals to share knowledge about functional medicine and work to educate people how to live healthier lives.
The 5 most notable messages of the conference were:
I just watched a new documentary called Forks over Knives that advocates a whole foods, plant-based diet. It focuses on the careers and life-long research of a physician named Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and a nutritional biochemist, Dr. Colin Campbell.
The research and success stories in this movie are overwhelmingly convincing that a whole foods, plant-based diet is the best diet for your health. Eating these healthy, natural, unprocessed, unrefined, and chemical-free foods is the best way to proactively prevent disease and even to reverse chronic disease if you have it already. (more…)
Welcome to holisticnourishment! It is here that I plan to share the benefits of eating a whole foods, plant-based diet. I am pursuing a M.S. from Hawthorn University and I plan to document my journey of becoming a Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist. I hope the information I share enlightens and empowers people to make healthier decisions for themselves and the planet.
To get started, check out this amazing documentary about the interconnectedness of your health and the environment:
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