Blog

I have vivid memories of the few times my parents went on trips and my grandmother came to take care of my sister and me.

It was always fun - she loved to break the rules!  

She fed us lots of canned whipped cream (on just about everything, including our hands!) and let us stay up late playing checkers and telling ghost stories, even on school nights.

Decades later, when so many people her age were moving into retirement homes and assisted living, my sassy independent grandma …

We are getting ready for Halloween!

A fun holiday featuring candy, candy, candy.

Hmmmm... extended controversial pandemic... time to trash our children's immune systems with vitamin D- & C-depleting sugary junk?

Here are a few options so you're still the BEST house to trick-or-treat at:

1.  Non-food toys & musical prizes!

2.  Treats that have no sugar!  

Zollipops (and taffy) probably have some questionable ingredients, but I'm rolling with it because it's an important holiday!

Ev…

We went to the pumpkin patch!  (scroll down for food pics!)

Pumpkins, gourds, pigs, we even saw a bald eagle grab something out of the next field over... it looked rabbit sized.  WOW!

We were also quite hungry when we got home... and a gorgeous harvest feast was minutes away!

1.  Burgers on lettuce with kraut and mayo - one of my favorite quick standbys!  Add your fav herb/veg/clean condiment toppings, colorful ferments, and you're rocking a powerhouse meal!

2.  Steamed veg…

You might already know that sugar crushes our immune system.

How do you explain this so your child feels empowered to choose or decline sugar AND take responsiblity when they get sick or stay healthy?

How do you help them make the connection in a way that's empowering?

TELL A STORY!

Note:  The trick is to tell this story over and over again, without judgement and without emotion - you're just giving them the facts so they can make a choice knowing the consequences.  You're ha…

The other day I pulled a chicken out of the oven for the first time since early June.  

"Monday chicken!" exclaimed my son, happily.  "It's been a long time!"

Our Monday chicken gets stripped after dinner, and the bones/skin/joints/organs go into a pot with water and a few plugs of apple cider vinegar to simmer over night. 

Monday chicken, Tuesday soup.  

It's a rhythm that marks the passage of weeks, the turning of the seasons.  

It calms us with a subtle embrace of simple, routine…

So many moms tell me their anxious children eat mostly fruit.

This can throw a gut way out of balance, and impact our child's behavior... like anxiety.

While fruit provides antioxidant and healthy anthocyanins, polyphenols missing in a diet of crackers, bread, noodles, butter and pizza, there's actually a LOT OF SUGAR in fruit!  And it can be a problem, especially during cold and flu season.

This research found a high fruit-sugar diet decreased the bio-active form of vitamin D…

I’d recently discovered that my son and I were extremely sick from mold toxicity, and so we moved out of our little moldy rental (mold is sneaky - we couldn’t see it but it was everywhere) and spent two months hopping from airbnb to airbnb in our neighborhood, where he could still bike with his friends and play outside with the dog and feel safe and grounded since we’d recently moved out of our family home.  

Lots of hefting organic olive oils, bottled water and organic veggies …

I served cheezy chicken nuggets, guacamole and dilly coleslaw for dinner and my kiddo was over the moon!

"Mommy I LOVE this dinner!  Can I have all of these things in my lunch tomorrow?"

I love when my kid says this.  (He says it a lot!)

I love that I hear zero complaints (unless I do something really crazy ha ha!). 

I love that gut-healthy, anti-inflammatory eating is so delicious and EASY.

It can be that way for you, too! 

I used to try to please everybo…

(Want the secret to never having seasonal allergies again?  Scroll down.)

The robins are singing, the intoxicating fragrance of winter daphne is everywhere, and daffodils are blooming like swaths of sunshine across the parks and gardens.

It's spring!  

And I noticed my eyes were just a little itchy yesterday.

You too?  

Or is it much worse?

I have a lot of sympathy.  I do.  

The little itch in my eyes, now completely gone, was a far cry from the debilitating allergies I su…

I grew up in a family where table manners mattered.  

(If you just want to see the lunches and breakfasts, scroll down!)

My dad was a hotel manager, and we dined at the hotel restaurants several times each year.  

It was a way for my dad to be present & working on the holidays, while still sharing them with his wife and kids.  

My sister and I LOVED it!

I remember each Easter, we'd take our time at the gorgeous, over-the-top buffets, with their enormous flower arrangements, …