Allergy Support Tea

Our most popular tea for the allergy season: Allergy Support Tea: Helps reduce your allergy symptoms. Available at the Riverwalk Natural Health Clinic and Pharmacy.
 

Healthy Recipes

Bastyr University (my Alma Mater) has the best allergy free recipes. These recipes are not only very healthy but also very tasty.  It is always good to add a variety of foods in our diet to prevent allergies. If you always cooking the same old recipes check out www. bastyr.edu/recipes. If you are ever in Seattle you can visit Bastyr campus and eat at their restaurant where the food is grown on site. The restaurant has been rated one of the best in Seattle. Just the photos on the site will make your mouth water. Enjoy!

Allergy Season is Upon Us

Allergy season is upon us again. The main cause of seasonal allergies and asthma are food allergies. If you identify your food allergies your seasonal allergies and asthma will resolve. Again, getting to the cause of the problem. Are your allergies getting worse every year? I can help you resolve your allergies.  Call my office today for an appointment 970-926-7606.

Spring is a Good Time for a Detox

Spring is always a good time to detox our bodies. This Spring I recommend that you should try the 100-day Organic Whole Food challenge. Take out toxic chemicals, sugars, grains, GMO’s, alcohol and processed foods from your diet. Only eat organic food non-GMO foods for 100 days. I guarantee you will feel better.  Many of your aches and pains, swelling, cholesterol and high blood pressure can resolve. Prevention is the key to Optimal health. If you are getting symptoms that need to be addressed, make an appointment to get to the cause.  As I said earlier, you cannot treat a disease without getting to the cause of the health issue. If you do not address the cause the disease will never resolve. The same diet does not work for everyone whether it is the Paleo diet, Ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, etc.  What kind of foods you eat is more important than what diet you are on. Are you eating Organic, non-GMO foods and are you eliminating the foods that you are allergic to?  Diets are very individualized; one size does not fit all. Come in and get assessed for what diet will get rid of your health symptoms. To make an appointment call our office at 970-926-7606.

What is the Blue Zone of Happiness?

Dan Buettner also wrote the Blue Zone for Happiness. In the Blue Zone for happiness, one of the most common ways to promote happiness is to prioritize prevention in health care. According to the Delphi study treating disease costs an estimated 16 times more than preventing it. Eighty-five percent of the US expenditure with an annual of two trillion dollars goes to treat preventable disease. By increasing one’s awareness of healthy lifestyles thus preventing disease happiness increases. My philosophy as a health care provider is that I educate my patients to take charge of their health. When a patient understands how most diseases are associated with diet and lifestyle and how their symptoms are directly related to what they do, then they can change that behavior thus take charge of their own health.  

The happiest place in the US are:

1. Boulder, CO
2. Santa Cruz, CA
3. Fort Collins, CO
4. San Luis Obispo, CA
5. Santa Clara, CA
6. Provo, UT
7. Norwalk, CT
8. Barnstable Town, MA
9. Anchorage, AK
10. Naples, FL

Why are these locations happier than others?  What do they have in common?

Community

• The key to happiness is trusting your local politicians, police, and neighbors. 
•  Is the place walkable such as safe streets, bike paths, and sidewalks? 
• Are there areas that are close to nature?
• Is there a community actively engaged in the government and concerned about improving quality of life?
• Is there clean water, air, and land?
• Is there affordable and good dental care available?
• Is there healthy food in the area such as farmers markets, plant-based food that’s easy to find instead of fast food. Organic and non-GMO is always better.
• Is it a community with less obesity, less drug use and restrictions on smoking?
• Is there a community noise ordinance?
• Is there an effort to treat the mentally ill as mentally ill account for 50% of the population's health care cost this includes depression and anxiety? 
• Does the community Invest in beauty and open spaces?
• Do people volunteer?

Work

• Jobs are another area that can make people happy.  When your working forty hours a week or more you want to be in a job that you love.
• Find a job that you are passionate about, that engages your talents and gives you constant feedback. 
• Do not work more the forty hours a week and make sure you take a vacation every year. 
• Avoid long commutes for work.
• Set goals at work.
• Prioritize family and friends and socialize with happy people.
• Money is not the most important factor when getting a job. In fact, after an annual income of $75,000 happiness does not increase.

Personal

• Join a club which gives you a sense of purpose.
• Adopt a pet.
• Declutter your home and bring in natural lighting.
• Listen to music.
• Use automatic savings.
• Reduce credit card spending.
• You may want to rent instead of own a home.  If you own a home pay down your mortgage.
• Count your blessings, be kind, live with passion and have a positive goal for your future.
• Try new things.
• Meditate.
• Know your purpose in life.
• Sleep at least 7 -8 hours a night or more. People who sleep less than 6 hours a night are not very happy.

A healthy, long and happy life is all about taking care of our health through preventive care, increasing our intake of plant-based foods, exercising and staying socially engaged with a job you love. It comes down to being in charge of your life. Do you live in an area that promotes the blue zone way of living? If not, what can you do to change this?
 

What is the Blue Zone of Longevity?

Dan Buettner wrote a book called the Blue Zone of Longevity researching what centenarians have in common to live a long and healthy life.The people who live in the Blue Zones of longevity are the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world from five regions in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the U.S. What do these groups have in common? They all move their bodies a lot. They have social circles that reinforce healthy behaviors. They take time to de-stress. They're part of communities, often religious ones. And they're committed to their families.

And to qualify as a Blue Zone, these communities also must be largely free of afflictions like heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes. These chronic diseases are the #1 cause of death in the US. So, these centenarians are doing something right. Diet and healthy eating is the key to prevent chronic disease. Below are some of the most common eating habits of the centenarians.  

• They are not overweight because they stop eating when their stomach is 80 percent full to avoid weight gain.The new anti-aging diet is to eat less.
• They eat the smallest meal of the day in the late afternoon or evening.  Eat your largest meal of the day for breakfast or lunch.
• They eat mostly plants, especially beans. And eat meat rarely, in small portions of 3 to 4 ounces. They eat portions of this size just five times a month, on average. When eating meat make sure it is Organic and grass-fed beef.
• Drink alcohol moderately and regularly, 1-2 glasses a day. These are 4 oz glasses, not 8 oz. Woman should watch their alcohol intake because as little as 1 drink a day can increase your breast cancer rate by forty percent.