Never Put This on a Burn: What to Do First
Burns are some of the most common household injuries, yet so many people have no clue what to do when they accidentally bump into that hot pan straight from the oven or get a little too close to that curling iron. It’s time to set the record straight, dispel some incorrect assumptions, and help you […]
Stock Up Your Fall Flu and Cold Cabinet With These Natural Remedies
Every year about this time, my office gets flooded with calls from concerned parents about what to do to protect their kids during cold and flu season. Of course, your local pharmacy shelves are brimming with all sorts of over the counter medicines…but you’re more interested in a natural approach, right? If so, my team […]
This Beautiful and Aromatic Herb Could be the Answer to Your Anxiety
As a physician who is much more concerned about humans than I am about mice, you might wonder why a study called Linalool Odor-Induced Anxiolytic Effects in Mice caught my attention recently. Allow me to explain, Linalool is a naturally occurring chemical that is found in the lavender plant, and this study demonstrated that simply […]
How to Sneak More Flax Into Your Diet and Why You Should
One of our favorite family stories came courtesy of my middle daughter (now a teenager) when she was just a toddler. We were visiting family on vacation, and my aunt wanted to give her a little mid-day snack of some yogurt and fresh fruit. When the bowl of yogurt was presented to her…she looked at […]
Eat more Papaya: Here is Why and How
As lovers of global cuisine, we are fortunate to live in an area where there are world-class ethnic restaurants all over town. One of our family favorites is an authentic Thai restaurant that never disappoints. Whenever we go, I always order a “som tum” salad, which is made from shredded unripe papaya. Som tum salad […]
9 Dressings That Won’t Kill Your Salad
One of my all-time patient stories came from a 400 pound man who told me that every day, he ate a big salad for lunch and dinner every day. At 400 pounds, I had to assume that his “salads” probably looked quite a bit different than mine. So I asked… and I was right. In […]
What is Progressive Muscle Relaxation and How Can It Help Me?
This week, I had a patient come in to see me with complaints of neck pain that radiated down into his right arm and hand. I did an orthopedic and neurologic exam, which not only confirmed my suspicions that he had a nerve impingement but also made it clear that the muscles in his neck […]
3 Lemon Balm Recipes and Other Great Ways to Use Lemon Balm
When we first moved to our current home about 6 years ago, we brought transplants of some of our favorite plants from our old house, hoping that they would like their new home as much as we did. One of those plants was a small root cutting of Melissa officianalis, also known as lemon balm. […]
7 Ways to Use Calendula For Health
In my days as a naturopathic medical student, oh so many years ago, one of my jobs on the Bastyr University campus was to manage the botanical medicine laboratory. This was a facility that we built right next to the botanical medicine gardens for the purposes of taking the plants from the gardens and turning […]
Here’s How to Use Quinoa For Desert…Yummy
Sometimes, the easiest route to improving your diet comes from where you might least expect it…dessert! Eating a minimally processed, whole food, plant-based diet does not need to feel like a huge sacrifice. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you need to eat nothing but salad for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Whole grains like quinoa […]
