"If you thought the FDA does a subpar job in regulating what goes into our food supply, you'll be equally appalled, if not more, on its regulation of cosmetic and personal care products. The same way you look at food labels, you should do the same for your beauty products." ~ Vanessa Cunningham, Nutrition & Wellness Expert

If you want to achieve optimal health, you will need to spend some serious time in the kitchen preparing your own food. Like any work space, your kitchen needs good tools. With the following basic tools you'll be well on your way to creating easy, delicious, and nutritious meals.

Butternut squash is a fall favorite and shines brightest when used as a base for a rich, warming soup. It's a type of fall-harvest squash with a sweet, nutty taste. The color signals an abundance of powerhouse nutrients and it's reported to have anti-inflammatory benefits as well.

The holidays are coming!!! As I shop for Thanksgiving dinner this next week, I will also begin to stock my kitchen for the holiday season. With increased gatherings, activities, and gift shopping on top of our already busy schedules, it's a time when our healthy diet can seriously suffer! While I am all for enjoying the holiday season and the extra treats it brings, I also like to "make a plan" and stock my kitchen with lots of healthy choices so I don't end up reaching for something less healthy when tired, stressed, or in a hurry.

Robert Emmons, Ph.D, and the world’s leading expert on gratitude, states that it is easy to feel grateful for the good things, but no one feels grateful when times are bad. He goes on to say that it is vital to make a distinction between feeling grateful and being grateful. We cannot easily will ourselves to feel grateful, but being grateful is a choice. And when disaster strikes being grateful provides a perspective from which we can view our life in its entirety and not be overwhelmed by temporary circumstances. He also says that this perspective is hard to achieve - but totally worth it!

I attribute my Taurus rising sign to the fact that keeping my home and yard tidy and beautiful a priority for me. And it’s one of the numerous ways that I express my artistic creativity. Add in having Virgo parents and you’ll understand my strong work ethic of “taking care of business” and doing it well. AND if you know me at all, then you know that I’m passionate about healthy FOOD! So those are the topics of this week’s Welcoming Autumn blog.

Getting enough sleep, and the right kind of sleep, is just as important as food and water for your body. Inadequate or restless sleep can sabotage the success of your health program.

Most of us have grown up brainwashed to think that "everybody needs milk" or "milk does a body good". Why? Because the dairy association has spent millions in advertising as well as providing elementary schools with beautiful, free "nutritional" teaching materials. But the truth is, it "just ain't so"!

A freshly blended smoothie is a quick, easy, delicious, and energizing breakfast IF made with healthy and nutritionally balanced organic ingredients.  

Gluten (from the Latin word meaning "glue") is the composite of two proteins called gliadin and glutenin. Gluten "intolerance" is a well-known and mostly undiagnosed food sensitivity that causes a mucotoxic inflammatory reaction in the intestines. This inflammation may go undetected for years, but the ultimate effect of this hidden wear and tear is the slow destruction of the healthy mucosa, or lining tissue of the small intestine which ultimately leads to all kinds of health problems.

“Whole” foods are any food humankind has NOT changed in some way. “Processed” or “refined” foods, then, are any food that HAS been CHANGED in some way. They usually come in packages, boxes, cans or bottles (such as sugar, flour, bread, pasta, cereal, white rice, mixes, sauces, salad dressings, junk food, fast food and more) and are the bulk of what you will find in the center of the grocery store — including HEALTH FOOD STORES!

In my opinion, eating healthy doesn't need to be so complicated. I LOVE food and I believe it is meant to be enjoyed. And it shouldn't require intensive study, calorie counting, or complicated calculations to figure out what you should eat and shouldn't eat. The holistic nutrition food philosophy that I was taught and have found to be successful for myself and my clients is really pretty simple: just eat real food!

"Treat sugar like an illicit drug, a kind of legal form of heroin, a dark force to be avoided,and a substance whose use leads to physical ruin." ~ Dr. Frank Lipman

Caffeine isn't all good - nor is it all bad, but it’s definitely a good idea to increase your awareness of it’s negative effects and reduce your consumption or avoid it altogether.

While most people automatically reach for over-the-counter or prescription medications for seasonal allergies, natural treatments can provide relief that is just as effective without any nasty or dangerous side effects and toxicity.