Warm Winter Smoothie Recipe

Warm Winter Smoothie Recipe

Some might call this "soup" - but I like to call it my nourishing, warm winter smoothie! In my last post, we uncovered some of the hazards of regular (frozen) smoothie consumption, and how to consciously create smoothies in service of your health and hormonal goals.

This recipe is a great substitution for a raw smoothie, especially during the cold winter months. It's a pureed blend of a variety of greens and vegetables, nourishing protein, tastes great and when prepared ahead of time can provide a quick reheated meal throughout the week.

Sounds kinda like a smoothie to me, no?

But instead of taxing your system, it will bolster the digestive energy, enhance nutrient absorption, offers up cellular renewal to the tissues of the body and combats free-radical damage...full recipe below.

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How to Eat a Smoothie

How to Eat a Smoothie

Smoothies are a fun (and usually, delicious) way to enjoy all sorts of foods and superfoods pureed into one beverage. But despite their popularity over the years, smoothies should be enjoyed with caution - and in some cases, avoided entirely - especially when it comes to women's hormonal health.

Chinese Medicine nutritional therapy has a lot to say about the temperature and method of food consumption, and smoothies fall right into this important category. This post will explore the risks associated with regular smoothie consumption, and offer my step-by-step guide for incorporating smoothies into your healing strategy.

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How Flower Elixers Can Uplevel Your Regular Wellness Routine

How Flower Elixers Can Uplevel Your Regular Wellness Routine

About five months ago I was introduced to the wonderful world of Flower Elixers and the beautiful work and products by Lotus Wei. They have been positively impacting my life in major ways, as well as for my clients. From enhancing fertility, heightening professional goals and preparation for childbirth - these truly are potent little bottles. They are a safe way to support personal growth and herbal therapy.

So, I was thrilled when Lotus Wei founder, Katie Hess, was willing to contribute some information about the simple yet profound benefits of her flower elixers - read on below!

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Kidney Jing and Creative Expression In Winter

Kidney Jing and Creative Expression In Winter

The winter season is affiliated with the Water Element in Chinese Medicine - a very auspicious and deeply soul-searching energy. Learn how this element connects us to our foundation for health on emotional, energetic, and physical levels by cultivating our true essence (jing) and paving the way for creative expression in alignment with our highest potential.

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Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

Bursting with immune boosting, endocrine balancing and anti-inflammatory health benefits, this recipe for stuffed peppers is sure to delight even the pickiest of eaters. It's the perfect way to nourish during the cold winter months - offering deep support to the water element in Chinese Medicine, enhancing fertility and balancing hormones along the way. Grain-free and dairy-free, too!

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Rosemary: Eight Reasons To Use It and One Delicious Recipe

Rosemary: Eight Reasons To Use It and One Delicious Recipe

A common culinary herbs - especially during the holidays - Rosemary has a lot more to offer than simply good taste. From immune health to improving brain function, it is really a superb herbal friend. In this post, you'll learn the most common culinary and therapeutic ways to use rosemary, eight reasons why you'd want to and a delicious (and super simple!) recipe for Rosemary Pulled Pork.

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Optimizing Fertility at Any Age

There are many good reasons women decide to delay having children until their mid-to-late thirties, one of which is usually not enhanced fertile health. Women today are inundated with reasons as to why it will be more difficult – if not impossible – to conceive after the age of thirty-five. And, yet, we know from the ancient wisdom of Chinese Medicine (and other traditional healing systems) that a woman’s fertility is not simply a spiral downward, diminishing with each passing month from menarche to menopause, but that she has the capacity to actually increase her fertile health as she ages.

What to know how?  Hop on over to Dr. Carly Snyder's blog, where I illustrate the five steps for optimizing fertility if you want to get pregnant right now or to lay a healthy foundation for pregnancy later in life.

Read the full article here.

The Metal Element (+ Recipe)

The Metal Element (+ Recipe)

This is an auspicious time of year - for both our physical and spiritual health. Autumn is ruled by the Metal Element, bringing clarity and inspiration, along with grief and vulnerability. It is both cutting and tender, often manifesting in emotional turmoil or decreased immunity. The Metal Element relates to the Lung and Large Intestine organs, making these areas particularly susceptible to ailments this time of year (think of that pesky cough that just won't quit, or chronic digestive symptoms).

Let's dive in to understand a bit more about the Metal Element as it relates to our health, finishing with one of my favorite Metal Element Recipes: Roasted Pears with Honey.

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Reassembling Our Hormonal Puzzle - Guest Post On Kelly Brogan MD

There is a significant disconnect today in the world of women’s health. In many traditional healing systems, women’s wisdom was passed down between grandmothers and mothers, daughters and sisters. Female fertility, menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, breast-feeding, post partum and menopause were spoken about, learned and embraced. Women empowered one another, allowing them to thrive in their own physiology and make appropriate choices in service of their health.

Somewhere along the way, this conversation among women vanished, leaving us confused, overwhelmed and in fear of our own cycles, fertility and bodies. Many of us turn our hormones over to prescription birth control (myself included for nearly a decade). We’ve willingly relinquished our birthright of knowledge, and I believe women are suffering because of it.

Continuing reading over at Kelly Brogan MD's informative site where I illustrate six key benefits for reconnecting to our hormonal physiology and my time-tested road map for balancing hormones naturally.

Three Reasons to Love Lavender for Breast Health

Three Reasons to Love Lavender for Breast Health

Every October the world turns its focus to breast cancer treatment and prevention, which has done amazing things for women's health - especially in bringing awareness to an often overlooked, but important, part of female anatomy. In the spirit of preventative health and self-care, I've put together a post on simple techniques that any woman can do at home to maintain healthy circulation and detoxification in breast tissue. 

A favorite herb that has specific affinity for breast tissue is Lavender, which is easy to source and is most commonly used as an essential oil or in its dried flower form (pictured above). It smells heavenly and has minimal contraindications or side effects in adult women. Lavender can be used topically through the skin, directly access the nervous system through our sense of smell and internally circulate via the Liver Meridian - learn my three favorite ways to use lavender for therapeutic benefit below.

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The BEST Buckwheat Pancakes

The BEST Buckwheat Pancakes

These gluten-free, grain-free, sprouted and slightly soured pancakes are made using whole buckwheat groats...and they really are the best! We always have a bunch in our freezer so we can enjoy pancakes on those days we don't have time to cook them. They are easy, nutritious and delicious - my little girls eat them up just about as fast as my husband and I do. Enjoy!

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Top Ten Tricks for Increasing Immunity

Top Ten Tricks for Increasing Immunity

The transition from Summer to Winter isn't an easy one for the world around us, and many of us experience this upheaval through our immune response to common colds and flu's. Inside, you'll learn my top 10 ways to strengthen immunity - the same ones my family uses as soon as we feel that first hint of fall in the air!

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Erin Interviewed on MD For Moms

In my July 2016 Interview with Dr. Carly Snyder, I discuss the importance of Gut Health - and not just for women struggling with digestive symptoms. Our entire system, including hormone balance and mood regulation, relies on good digestion for nutrient absorption and assimilation. In my interview, I'll discuss:

  • Why Gut Health is the foundation of systemic health
  • How Chinese Medicine has known this for thousands of years
  • Six easy ways to improve your digestive balance today

I hope you'll check it out and pass it on!

In health,

Erin

 

My Favorite "SuperFood"

My Favorite "SuperFood"

I'm not really a fan of the "superfood" revolution, as I believe variety is a key to health and that no single food-source has the ability to nourish us on its own – but gelatin might just be a close contender. My family and I turn to this nutrient daily, and I recommend it to most of my clients as part of their health routine. Learn the unique benefits of this nutrient dense food, how to source it and easily incorporate it into any daily regimen - adults and kids alike!

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Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by...

Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by...

Hello! My name is Erin and I am the proud mama to those two adorable little girls in that photo up there, wife to the amazingly talented and inspirational artist Borbay, and a deeply passionate women's health and wellness practitioner. I founded this virtual practice out of my love for educating and inspiring others to step into their most blissful life, by owning their health.

In 2015, I closed my brick and mortar practice in the heart of New York City after seven years, to embark upon a sabbatical with my family. We traveled, explored, played and visioned. About half way through our year on the road, I began to study with some mentors and work with clients remotely. Both of these experiences enriched my life in ways that surprised me. Click to read more about my transition from brick-and-morter clinical work to engaging in phone-consulting with clients.

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Wild Fermenting At Home

Wild Fermenting At Home

Learn how to make these scrumptious, savory and probiotic dill-carrots at home - and why you'd want to (hint: think lifelong vibrant health!).

Lacto-fermentation is a craft that has been used for literally centuries to not only preserve food but also to increase nutrient content and improve digestion. Recently, wild fermentation has made a comeback into the modern nutritional landscape by both the health-conscious community and in food manufacturing.

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Ten Ways to Eat Your Probiotics (Part 4 of 4)

Ten Ways to Eat Your Probiotics (Part 4 of 4)

In this post, you'll learn 10 easy ways you can increase your probiotic flora through food - a simple and affordable solution to long term digestive health. I’ll also throw in a few suggestions for intestinal lining help, too. Enjoy!

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Rebuilding the Gut (Part 3 of 4)

Rebuilding the Gut (Part 3 of 4)

It might seem far-fetched to fathom that so many modern ailments can be linked with some level of gut dysbiosis: flora imbalance, food intolerance or other digestive distress resulting in inflammation and poor nutrient absorption. But, it's true. Chinese Medicine has known for centuries how important the role of the digestive system is based on proper functioning of the Spleen and Stomach - an energetic system linked to pretty much every pathology (and physiology) imaginable within the scope of TCM. Science is even starting to prove it.  So how does it all get out of balance in the first place?

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Our Inheritance: Generations of Gut Flora (Part 2 of 4)

Our Inheritance: Generations of Gut Flora (Part 2 of 4)

Just like all other living things, beneficial bacteria need to be inoculated, fed and cultivated. We can inoculate (or, start) and proliferate our own digestive flora through eating probiotic rich (alive) foods and taking supplements, but our initial foundation for probiotic growth was at birth, and has been passed down for generations. Yes, generations. Your great-grandmother’s gut flora played a role in the formation of yours. We'll explore this fascinating process in Part 2 of my Gut Health Series and learn how to lay a healthy foundation for future generations to come.

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