Category Archives: Health

Toned Lips Indicate Health (Slack, “Pouty” Lips May Reveal SIBO)

Toned Lips Indicate Health (Slack, “Pouty” Lips May Reveal SIBO)

If you’re concerned that you might have SIBO, (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), a glance in the mirror will inform you either way. Face Reading, a form of traditional Chinese medicine, correlates your small intestine’s health with the muscle tone of your inner lower lip. In seconds, you can easily apply this useful self-test.  When you… Continue Reading

Types of Magnesium and Their Benefits

Types of Magnesium and Their Benefits

Here’s how to know which supplement is best for you The multiple forms of magnesium supplements differ significantly in their absorbability, their impact on the bowels and their desired benefits. So which supplement is right for you? Get savvy and choose accordingly.  Magnesium is a necessary supplement for most of us these days. It reduces… Continue Reading

Blue Veins (Sugar Bug) Across Your Child’s Nose Bridge

Blue Veins (Sugar Bug) Across Your Child’s Nose Bridge

When blue veins show across your child’s nose bridge, she’s not at her best according to Traditional Chinese Face Reading. These veins, as we see below, are found in the very young whose diets are typically high in sweets and other inflammatory foods. This explains their Japanese name, kanmushi, or “sugar bug.” Continue Reading

Natural Remedies for Chronic Diarrhea

Natural Remedies for Chronic Diarrhea

Besides the inconvenience and discomfort, there’s a more important reason that frequent bouts of diarrhea are problematic. Chronically loose bowels signal malabsorption and, if unchecked, can lead to overall weakness and declining health. However, an occasional incident, triggered by the flu or travel, is actually quite normal and so no cause for fretting. Here are… Continue Reading

Charred Garlic Tea for Tummy Distress

Charred Garlic Tea for Tummy Distress

Here’s an effective Chinese kitchen remedy for a queasy stomach: charred garlic tea. It may sound strange, but its flavor is surprisingly mild and pleasant and, most important, it quells gas, diarrhea and a stomach ache. Regular (uncharred) garlic tea brings support to the gastrointestinal tract and stimulates one’s innate energy. But when the garlic… Continue Reading

Hot Ginger Foot Bath Benefits

Hot Ginger Foot Bath Benefits

Feel Better – Sleep Better A hot ginger foot bath is a feel-good remedy that supports sound sleep and helps calm the parasympathetic nervous center. Additionally, it promotes circulation, reduces inflammation and helps drive out bacteria and viruses. As ginger both warms and energizes, it is especially useful during cold weather. During hot weather, enjoy… Continue Reading

The Varicose Vein and Blood Sugar Connection

The Varicose Vein and Blood Sugar Connection

Blood sugar irregularities underly varicose and spider veins according to Five Element Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM). This is also true for hemorrhoids, which are nothing more than swollen veins in the anus, as well as the vulvar varicosity experienced by some pregnant women. And the more translucent skin of infants and toddlers can display swollen “sugar… Continue Reading

DIY Abdominal Massage

DIY Abdominal Massage

Giving yourself an abdominal massage is an easy and powerful way to support your digestion and overall health. Commit to a five- to ten-minute session a day for two weeks and the benefits will inspire you to make it part of your daily ritual. Aim to give yourself an abdominal massage prior to breakfast; to… Continue Reading

Biofilms and Your Health

How to Maintain Healthy Gut Flora

For proactive healthcare, a basic understanding of biofilms is a requisite. The term biofilm refers to organic life forms (bacteria, yeasts and other microorganisms) that develop an extracellular matrix or, to be more graphic, a slimy film. Biofilms are a living, self-protective community that can develop and stick to any surface—living or otherwise—that is exposed to… Continue Reading

DIY Food Sensitivity and Allergy Testing: Coco Pulse Test and Kinesiology

DIY Food Sensitivity and Allergy Testing: Coco Pulse Test and Kinesiology

The Coca Pulse Test is a simple measurement you can do at home to know which foods strengthen you and which ones make you sick. You’ll find the steps below. I offer this method because it is scientifically sound. However, a faster technique–and the one I personally rely on–is muscle testing or kinesiology. Many chiropractors… Continue Reading

Castor Oil Packs—An Effective Home Remedy to Boost Immunity and Reduce Inflammation

How to Make and Use a Castor Oil Pack

Castor Oil Packs—An Effective Home Remedy  A warm castor oil pack is an ancient and effective treatment for a wide variety of health conditions. Applied externally, a pack increases lymphocyte (disease-fighting cell) production and thereby boosts immunity. (1) This aids in more efficient removal of toxins. The oil is derived from the seed of castor… Continue Reading

Histamine Sensitivity

Allergy Symptoms and Chronic Health Complaints? Histamine Sensitivity Might be the Source

Self-Test to Determine if a Low-Histamine Diet Will Help Resolve Your Health Issues. If you suffer from allergic-like symptoms, suspect hypersensitivities to multiple foods, or have chronic health complaints, histamines might be the problem. There are no medical tests for histamine sensitivity and very few health professionals identify or treat this condition. But it’s not… Continue Reading

Low Salicylate Diet for Food Sensitivities

If you have nagging health complaints, you might be one of the increasing numbers of people with sensitivities to naturally occurring chemicals in foods such as salicylates. Guest blogger Maribeth Evezich, RD, offers information on sensitivities caused by salicylates (suh–lis-uh-leyts) to help you get a handle on–and resolve–your health issues. What Are Salicylates and Where Are… Continue Reading

Low-Salicylate Diet

Maribeth Evezich will post a guest blog here on August 1, 2016. It includes: – What are salicylates and where are they found? – How do salicylates work and how can they be a problem? – I think I’m salicylate intolerant. Now what? – Where to get help. Do revisit us. Thanks for your patience.… Continue Reading

When Gluten Free Isn’t Enough

Dear Rebecca: I started keeping a food diary as you suggested. It was really, really awful. It was too embarrassing to show anyone. I was grazing the entire day until supper, my one square meal. I was feeling stuck. So I said to myself, “I need to be gluten-free. I’m going to go gluten free.… Continue Reading

How to Prevent or Resolve Autoimmune Disease

How to Prevent or Resolve Autoimmune Disease

You can resolve or mitigate autoimmune disease. If you suffer from progressively worsening symptoms that baffle your doctor, or if you’re diagnosed with a chronic disease, then odds are it’s autoimmune related. In autoimmunity, your immune system mistakenly attacks your healthy cells. Autoimmune disease (AD) refers to a varied group of illnesses that involve every… Continue Reading

A Buyers Guide to Stainless Steel Cookware

People frequently ask me what stainless steel cookware line I recommend. My first response is to think twice before buying a full line. If you own a 21-piece set of cookware, I’ll wager that two or three of those pots get regular use but that the other pieces are crammed in the back of an… Continue Reading

Why It’s Hard to Go Gluten and Dairy Free

Science now explains why going GFDF is so hard. We’ll look at that, and then the encouraging news: If you tried going without but backslid, you still have made inroads in realizing your GFDF goals. But first take a few seconds and imagine feeling utterly content. You’ve nary a suggestion of pain or suffering. You’re… Continue Reading

Ceramic–The Healthiest Cookware
 Choice

Since the 1980s I’ve cherished 100% ceramic cookware. To understand why, let’s consider roasted marshmallows. Some folks like to quickly toast/scorch the outside of their marshmallows, while others carefully slow-roast their soft little pillows until the heat deeply penetrates the core, enhancing the flavor throughout and—careful now—melting the sticky goodness right off the twig. Because… Continue Reading

How to Cook without a Recipe

Recently while cooking a community meal, my friend Lynne was excited to prepare a favorite broccoli dish. But as we didn’t have one of the ingredients on hand, toasted sesame oil, Lynne lost confidence in her ability to prepare the broccoli. I suggested various alternative seasonings, but as she couldn’t imagine how they would taste,… Continue Reading

Cold Quell Tea

At the very first sign of a flu or cold here’s a recipe for beating it. Note it’s important to drink this tea within the first 24 hours of onset, for, as my acupuncturist Leslie Shanai, Lic.Ac. writes, “Once the disease has gotten a good foothold ginger tea will no longer be effective. It may… Continue Reading

The Steamed Veggie Hype

Sure, steaming is a healthy, quick and easy cooking method. But if you bought the line that “steamed veggies are most healthful” I’ve got some lovely news for you: To heighten dining pleasure as well as the medicinal and energetic properties of foods, using diverse cooking techniques is best. Here are two reasons why. Vive… Continue Reading

Hostage to Blueberries

If you’re eating blueberries regularly because you’ve been told they’re a superfood, then you may have been duped. Yes, blueberries have a great nutritional profile. Yes, they may play a role in disease prevention. But let’s use our critical intelligence. A frequent serving of blueberries is nothing to write home about and certainly not worth… Continue Reading

Gluten Free but Still Not Feeling Your Best?

Three Steps to Identify Food Allergies If you have cut gluten from your diet but still have health complaints, then I have important news for you. Here are three likely reasons that you are still suffering from the various symptoms that eating gluten-containing foods can trigger. 1. For 100% results you must give up gluten 100%. The… Continue Reading

Sweeteners to Avoid

Be savvy about harmful and healthful sweeteners. Here’s a list of the three kinds of sweeteners to avoid along with their various brand names. You’ll find details for those to favor at Quality Sweetener Guidelines. Armed with the information below about the “bad” sugars, you can now ignore various marketing claims for “natural” cane sugars and all sugar… Continue Reading

Bust Bad Food Habits

If you’re ready to tackle your bad food habits, there’s relief at hand. It’s free and takes just a split second. Here’s the assignment: Next time you are reaching for the chips (or chocolate, or pizza, or whatever) imagine taking a snapshot. End of assignment. Put a lot of detail into your mental photo: the… Continue Reading

Quality Sweeteners

First, the good news: Quality sugar is part of a healthy diet! So your opportunity is to discern the good sweeteners from the bad ones and then to enjoy natural sweeteners occasionally rather than daily. For details about why to avoid  agave, fructose, noncaloric sweeteners and many “natural” cane products like muscavado, see Sweeteners to Avoid. Here’s… Continue Reading

Toxic Cookware and Cutlery

Ceramic Coated and Non-Stick Cookware are Toxic

Ignore the Slick Advertising for Non-Stick A non-stick, synthetic surface on cookware, is less durable than the underlying metal and is therefore reactive and toxic. With use, the coating will pit, scratch and wear off from the pan and into your food.  Don’t be seduced by advertisements for nonstick cookware. And don’t despair; there are safe,… Continue Reading

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis

Five Element Medicine and Bone Health A time tested way to prevent osteoporosis is with diet and a helpful model for understanding this comes from traditional Chinese Five Element medicine (TCM). According to this system, you can retard bone fragility, which is a natural process of aging, by taking good care of your kidneys (Water… Continue Reading

ADHD (ADD) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

If you feel unsteady on a stairway, you grab the banister to steady yourself. Likewise, if your child’s (or your) brain chemistry is off-kilter with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), favoring healthy foods supports equilibrium. ADHD describes individuals who have trouble with concentration, impulse control and, in some cases, hyperactivity. They find that eating a… Continue Reading

Foods that Reduce Inflammation

Inflamed tissues signal trouble and are a marker for pain and illness. Below is a listing of the top anti-inflammatory foods, along with common sense help to avoid chronic inflammation. But first, to better understand why some foods increase inflammation, let’s examine the nature of inflammation. Recall having a little scratch that became pink and… Continue Reading

Hay Fever Free

It’s hay fever season and how many times have you moaned (and sneezed) about that darn pollen! So why is it that your swollen eyelids and other allergic responses get worse every year but the amount of pollen remains constant? While pollen may be the trigger, it’s taking the bum rap for the underlying issue… Continue Reading

Boost Your Immunity: Protect Yourself from Bacteria, Viruses and Other Parasites

Bacteria, Viruses and Other Parasites in Children and Adults If your immune system is challenged, the odds are that you’re harboring more parasites than just bacteria and viruses. Low immunity invites additional parasites including: fungi, yeast, pinworms, tapeworms, flukes, roundworms and/or intestinal parasites. You can get rid of pinworms and their cronies and you can… Continue Reading

Menopause

Here are natural remedies to help you glide through menopause. The strategies I discuss below can help shift uncomfortable hot flashes toward mild and enjoyable ripples of energy. As a woman’s ovaries retire from active production around the age of 50, her body’s hormone production adjusts. Just as puberty signaled an increase in estrogen hormones,… Continue Reading

What’s Wrong with Wheat?

Nothing’s wrong with wheat or any whole food. That they’ve nurtured countless generations for eons proves their value. Plus, they’re versatile and many of our favorite and most tasty foods contain wheat.  So what’s the fuss? The answer is not about the wheat or another allergen; rather it’s about your digestive system. If you’re not… Continue Reading

What’s Wrong with Dairy

If you bloat easily, have weight, skin, autoimmune or digestive problems the odds are that diary is a culprit. Perhaps you’ve noticed that you do ok with some dairy products but not all. Furthermore, sometimes a bowl of ice cream doesn’t cause problems but another time it does. How confusing! Here’s a guide to help you… Continue Reading

Three Reasons to Soak, Sprout and/or Ferment Grains, Beans, Nuts and Seeds

Enhanced flavor is the first of three important reasons to soak grains, beans, nuts and seeds. To further blossom the flavor of these seeds, they can also be fermented or sprouted. In your mind’s eye, mentally compare the full, rich flavors and aromas of fermented sourdough bread to the more simple aroma and flavor profile… Continue Reading

Soy — Toxin or Tonic

Is soy a good or a bad food?  Here’s how to identify and enjoy healthful soy products and to avoid the poor quality ones. But first, purchase only organic soy foods. As over ninety percent of soybeans on today’s market are genetically modified it is imperative to use only organic (non GMO) soy products. Inherently, soy… Continue Reading

Foods that Help Prevent Diabetes

The good news for people with hypoglycemia, or a pre-diabetic condition, is that specific foods—plus a healthy diet—help stabilize blood sugar. Here’s the tasty way to prevent diabetes. Let’s look at diet first because it’s foundational. To have a couple of “good” foods in an otherwise sloppy diet probably won’t help your condition. But an… Continue Reading

Autoimmune Disease

If you suffer from an autoimmune disease, become a sleuth—daily track your flare-ups and remissions. That its intensity waxes and wanes is a key to help you take control of your health. In your daily log include your diet and any other variables that might relate to your condition. Each entry on the log becomes… Continue Reading

Cure Food Sensitivities

Accompanying recipe: Millet and Buckwheat Waffles Once you’ve clearly identified your food allergies and sensitivities, you could avoid those foods for the rest of your life. But that’s just taking care of the symptoms. Instead, resolve to cure your food sensitivities. Your digestive system was designed to digest food. But if it can’t handle, for… Continue Reading

Broccoli Combats Cancer

Horrors at the thought of eating broccoli every day just because it may help to prevent cancer. With such an abundance of delicious, health-promoting vegetables to choose from, please enjoy a wide variety. Yes, broccoli does contain a class of potent anti-carcinogens (cancer-combating agents) called isothiocyanates. Of the millions of plant chemicals contained in our… Continue Reading

Tasty Wheat Alternatives

Accompanying recipe: Buckwheat Crepes If you are among the fast growing population that is allergic to gluten, don’t despair. Here’s how to enjoy bread, pasta and cookies…albeit, wheat-free. First, identify any problematic foods that trigger your reactions and then avoid eating them while your digestive system repairs. Wheat and dairy are the most common allergens.… Continue Reading

Diet for Lupus and Autoimmune Disease

Diet for Lupus and Autoimmune Disease

Lupus is a sobering condition; however, as an original cause was malabsorption, you can profoundly minimize its effects and progression by improving your digestion. This is true for all other autoimmune diseases. When your diet is healing, you rebuild your foundational health and strengthen your immune system. Also see Prevent or Resolve Autoimmune Disease. How… Continue Reading

Iron Deficiency – Conventional and Alternative Views

Iron deficiency is a common problem and one that you can correct naturally. Here’s how to favor iron-rich foods and avoid those foods that deplete your iron. Health professionals agree that iron deficiency is a common problem and that there are two obvious ways to remedy the situation. However, their recommendations vary. Alternative health professionals… Continue Reading

Acid Reflux and Face Reading

If you frequently have an upset stomach or acid reflux then it shows in your face, specifically the region just above your lip. With amazingly specific detail, the Chinese art of Face Reading enables us to “read” digestive issues in the face. When you’ve chronically eaten a diet that is irritating your stomach, then the central… Continue Reading

Prevent Macular Degeneration with Diet

Here’s how to use a wide variety of brightly colored vegetables to keep your vision healthy. Macular degeneration—a leading cause of blindness—is preventable. Helping prevent macular degeneration (MD) is as near at hand as corn and collards. Lutein and zeaxanthin (ze.a.xan.thin), the two carotenoid pigments that color yellow and green produce, are the responsible antioxidants.… Continue Reading

Vegetables — Best Raw or Cooked?

Perhaps you’ve noticed how a little fresh garnish in a soup enlivens the whole bowl, as does the cilantro in this Tai Style Turkey Meatball Soup with Noodles. As we know from experience, both cooked and raw vegetables have their own benefits. Let’s examine them that we might make informed choices. Water-soluble B and C… Continue Reading

Healthy Cookware

One taste of hot tea in a Styrofoam cup and you know you’re drinking more than tea. The cup is reactive. And have you noticed how dried foods stored in plastic bags start to taste like plastic? It’s because food ions react with synthetic or metallic ions. Here are guidelines for choosing—and using—healthful, non-reactive cookware. For a… Continue Reading

Cherries–A Tasty Remedy for Aches and Pains

All cherries—sweet and sour—are a folk remedy for aches and pain. But recent medical research validates that sour cherries are superior to sweet varieties in their medicinal properties. This resonates with our common sense.  Sweeter fruits are higher in carbohydrates and, therefore, lower in micronutrients with pharmaceutically healing properties. Sour cherries provide highly effective pain… Continue Reading

Warming Foods

It’s fascinating and informing how some foods warm you up and others cool you down. In a heat-wave, it’s watermelon you want and not a hearty lamb stew. Here’s how to adjust your food choices and cooking styles to assure your thermal ease. This isn’t new information. In early Persian, Indian and Chinese literature, foods were… Continue Reading

Fruit & Veggie Juice–Use with Care

Juicing fruits and vegetables extracts their water, sugar and nutrients. The result is an ambrosial nectar that, when fresh, sparkles with vitality. This potent beverage is one to respect and use with care. The dregs include most of the food’s fiber and pulp and some nutrients and flavor, making juice a refined rather than a… Continue Reading

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis and colitis are major problems. Here’s why. Imagine a small scrape or irritation on your forearm. Normally, it mends by itself. However, if further insulted and unattended, it may become inflamed. If the inflammation spreads it may degenerate to a life-threatening situation. The lining of a healthy bowel… Continue Reading

Ginger Tea

Ginger is famous for its medicinal properties. A warming spice, it stimulates digestion and boosts circulation, respiration and nervous system function. By increasing circulation, it helps effect a systemic cleansing through the skin, bowels and kidneys. Ginger treats colds (see Cold Quell Tea) and fevers and is an effective remedy for motion sickness, nausea from… Continue Reading

Detox Diet

Accompanying recipe: Detox Tea Are you ready to end that battle of wanting health but eating a donut?  You can do so. You can enjoy greater health and well being. Your first step is to which means taking a break from toxins. From today, to the best of your ability, forego stimulants and chemicals. You’re… Continue Reading

Pot Liquor

For the sheer fun of it, please join me for a toast. Let’s pull out the pot liquor (or pot likker), chink-chink our glasses and aspire that all beings might be well nourished. Even teetotalers can freely and joyfully imbibe this liquor. It’s the sweet and nutrient dense liquid that remains in the pot after… Continue Reading

Detox Tea

This gentle and pleasantly flavored detox tea is excellent in the spring or to support a cleansing diet. Fenugreek supports lymph flow while burdock and red clover are liver tonics. Fennel, ginger, orange peel and licorice treat numerous digestive complaints and the ginger also increases circulation. 1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds 1 tablespoon fennel seeds 1… Continue Reading

Baby’s First Foods

How do you know when to start your baby on solids? And, which ones? Fortunately, you can discern by using your common sense and by observing her development. Here’s how to provide your baby with vital and easy to digest foods. It’s miraculous how nurturing your newborn so deeply pierces your heart with love. As… Continue Reading

Diet Goals

If you have a goal, like “feeling my best” then it’s easy to pass on food or ingredients that don’t serve you. Without a good goal, however, dietary choices are too often ruled by what’s convenient. Then, typically, you’re frustrated by how you feel and look. I work with people who are ready to set… Continue Reading


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Information on www.RebeccaWood.com is intended for educational purposes only and should not be substituted for medical advice from a doctor or healthcare provider. Rebecca Wood is neither a medical doctor nor a dietician. Use of this presentation does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Note: no single facial indicator (such as wrinkles, discoloration or irregular skin texture) makes a particular diagnosis.

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