It’s a story we hear nearly every day: a man in his mid-fifties develops chest pain and shortness of breath. A visit to his doctor leads to an electrocardiogram (EKG), then an exercise stress test, perhaps later a visit to a cardiologist, more tests, and finally a diagnosis: blocked coronary arteries that require arterial stents … Read more
If you’re anything like me, music plays an important part in your life. I walk around humming singing out loud, serenading my horses in the barn and my dogs over their morning cookies. Pandora plays in the background much of my workday and occasionally I stop to look up the lyrics so I can belt … Read more
My readers are well aware how much I love curcumin for, oh so many reasons, and I’ve just found another one. Let’s back up a bit. I know that curcumin is a powerful anti–inflammatory. And I know that inflammation is the underlying cause of a wide variety of terrible diseases, including heart disease, cancer, arthritis … Read more
My grandma was a practical soul. Aside from her decades-long addiction to the soap opera, As The World Turns, Grandma was a product of the early part of the 20th century, when life was simple and when people learned to “make-do” as she’d always say. In addition to her incomparable strawberry jam and the tiny … Read more
It’s that time of year . . . when the trees and grasses are blooming. For many of us, it can be a time of miserable head congestion, sinus headaches, sneezing and coughing. These excerpts from my book, Food Is Medicine: 101 Prescriptions from the Garden offer some food-based ways to prevent and treat springtime allergies … Read more
On my recent wondrous trip to Peru’s Amazon River basin, we stayed in a retreat center far from any city. There was electricity only for a handful of hours a day from a generator and no waste disposal system. Because of the delicate ecology of this most precious part of our planet, we were asked … Read more
Excerpt from from Food Is Medicine: 101 Prescriptions from the Garden By Kathleen Barnes JOINT PAIN Your Garden Rx: chili peppers, oregano, spinach, cantaloupe, broccoli Joint pain is almost always caused by some sort of inflammation of the joints, usually due to wear and tear over the years that causes deterioration of the cartilage, a soft … Read more
Most of us have probably taken melatonin to help us sleep after a stressful day or to get sleep patterns back in sync after an international flight. Now new research shows that melatonin has other important benefits outside of its ability to regulate sleep rhythms. In fact without the brain’s ability to manufacture the hormone … Read more
Nowadays, everyone wants super bright pearly whites. But if you want your smile to last a lifetime, you need to be just as concerned about fighting gum disease, which affects almost 90% of all of us over the age 20. Gingivitis is a mild form of gum disease that can easily be reversed; with regular … Read more
Last Updated: June 28, 2019 From The Healing Power of Trauma Comfrey by Holly Lucille, ND, RN It’s that time of year—for bumps, bruises, sprains and all of the not–so-fun adjuncts to an active outdoor life. If you’ve ever had a sprained ankle, a black-and-blue bruise or an aching back – and who hasn’t? — … Read more