Tag Archives: Common Sense

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

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

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

Fig Compote

Serves 3 Here’s a delicious dessert or breakfast dish. Simply plump dried figs and then simmer until tender. This dish needs no adder sweetener, but you may dress it up with a dollop of crème fraiche or a grating of nutmeg 6 ounces (1 cup) dried figs, woody stems removed 1 cup apple or orange… Continue Reading

The Art of Fermentation

If you are interested in the connection between health and diet, here’s some important news. Sandor Katz’s new book, The Art of Fermentation is the first definitive guide on fermented foods with recipes taken from around the world. Today its rare for a cookbook to become adorned with the splatters and smudges that accumulate on real… 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

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

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

Homemade Almond Butter

Accompanying article: Peanuts Makes about ¾ cup. While almond butter can be made from raw nuts, roasting the nuts just prior to making the butter considerably enhances both flavor and aroma. To roast the almonds, spread them in a thin layer on a baking sheet at 300°F for about 20 minutes. Stir a couple of… 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

Oil Shopping Guide

Quality Unsaturated Vegetable Oils There is much confusion and misinformation about what constitutes a quality vegetable oil. But it’s really pretty simple to make a healthy choice, and it starts with looking for the words “unrefined” or “extra virgin” on the label. All other vegetable oils are refined. But reading a label isn’t enough, because… 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

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


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