Holistic Nutrition
Bone Broth: What's the hype?
When something becomes a health fad, it’s important to remain skeptical until you get the facts. Bone broth is all the rage right now, but for good reason. The empirical and scientific evidence supporting its benefits are overwhelming. Food is medicine - and that certainly holds true for bone broth which has been shown to improve the health of your skin, digestion, joints and bones, promote natural detoxification and even have a calming effect. Chicken broth for the for the mind, body and soul...
Let’s start with the basic nutritional benefits of bone broth:
Recipe: Simple, Beautiful & Delicious Salad
With the weather finally being consistently warm, I’ve been craving more cold foods and lots of raw vegetables. I threw this salad together for lunch on Saturday. When my husband commented on how beautiful and tasty it was, I figured I had to share!
What you’ll need for 1 salad:
How To Up Your Smoothie Game
I know it probably doesn’t sound like something you need advice on how to do, but you probably do. Typically if you’re making a smoothie, you’re trying to do something beneficial for your health. Unfortunately, I too often hear my patients making some simple mistakes. Let’s fix that.
Organic...Why does it matter?
Should you spend the extra money to buy organic? If you don’t have time to read this full article, the short answer is YES. For both your health and the health of the environment, it's a small price to pay. If you want to know exactly why, keep reading.
Somewhat surprisingly, I still get this question quite often. Then I did some investigating and realized organic isn’t nearly as prevalent as I thought. According to the USDA, organic sales only account for around 4% of total U.S food sales (1).
Here’s why I want to see those numbers much much higher...
Lettuce Turnip the Beets...Why Buy Local
Did you know that some of your produce travels thousands of miles to get to your plate? The numbers are alarming. In one study, it was found that apples traveled 1,555 miles, peaches 1,674 miles, grapes 2,143 miles and lettuce 2,055 miles to get to Chicago (1)!
Obviously the long distances food travels has detrimental effects on our environment, but it also means significantly less nutritious food. Here are some things to consider:
Nicole McCarter is a naturopathic doctor located in Los Altos, CA which is conveniently located near Palo Alto and easily accessible from the Bay Area.
Holistic nutrition individualizes nutrition to your specific needs. Not everyone requires the same diet. Nicole uses food intolerance testing and looks for nutrient deficiencies to determine the right diet for you. She creates an individualized diet plan. She specializes in food allergies, elimination diets, cleanse and detox diets.
Against the Grain:
Tasty Ideas for a Gluten and Grain Free Diet
Maybe you’re Paleo or trying to lose weight. Maybe you're pre-diabetic or diabetic and you've heard grain free might help you reverse your blood sugar issues. Maybe you’ve have had a recent diagnosis of celiac or another autoimmune disease and know grains can exacerbate the problem. Or maybe your general health isn't where you want it to be or digestive tract is a wreck and you’re experimenting with grain free to find relief. Either way, if you're grain free and at a loss for what to eat, you're not alone.
The standard American diet (SAD) is loaded with grains. Many people have cereal, toast or a pastry for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, then pasta or rice and possibly even more bread with dinner. Yikes, that’s a lot of grains (the only food group that should get that much love from you is vegetables - eat your veggies, this is a topic for another time) So what are you to do without them? Don’t worry; after being asked this question countless times, I’ve put together a list of my favorite gluten and grain free alternatives...