Posts

Posted on

Recipe: Jen’s Peach Buckle

This healthy fruit dessert is a favorite in our home. Bursting with naturally sweet peaches, there’s little sweetener required—just a touch of pure maple syrup is all that’s needed.

The cake-like bottom layer is made with a combination of gluten-free grains, and tangy buttermilk makes it tender and light. A crumbly layer of shredded coconut and rolled oats creates a slightly sweet and crunchy topping. Just before serving the warm cake, I drizzle lightly sweetened heavy cream over each portion. Because I’m always looking for ways to boost the nutrient profile of recipes, I add a bit of powdered whey to the cream to provide immune enhancing nutrients.

Continue reading “Recipe: Jen’s Peach Buckle”

Posted on

How Do We Define A Human Being?

To the Western way of thinking, theology and medicine have little in common. Although some progress has been made in the past several decades in recognizing the interrelationship of the mind, body, and spirit, there is still the tendency to define a human being merely in terms of concrete, physiological attributes. In Eastern Christian ideology, however, just as in Eastern traditional healing systems of medicine, a human being is viewed as a spiritual, psychic, rational, and physical whole. By addressing the spirit, emotions, intellect, and body, Eastern Christian theology approaches healing from a wholistic, psychosomatic understanding of the individual. This is the approach that I embody in my practice.

Continue reading “How Do We Define A Human Being?”

Posted on

Can You Trust Your Herbal Products?

Over the past several decades, the demand for medicinal herbal products has grown by leaps and bounds—as a result, the marketplace is flooded with thousands of herbal offerings, with more appearing every day. Not too long ago, if you wanted herbs, you pretty much had to grow or wild craft them yourself. But today, herbs and herbal formulations are dispensed by holistic healthcare providers, or can be self-prescribed by perusing the offerings at health food stores, pharmacies, “big box” stores, or on-line. Even the local gas station convenience store carries an assortment of caffeine-laced herbal energy drinks. The positive side of the flourishing herbal products industry is that people are recognizing the healing potential of medicinal plants, and are seeking an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs. At the same time, I have significant questions and concerns that I believe need to be addressed.

Continue reading “Can You Trust Your Herbal Products?”

Posted on

St. John’s Wort: An Ally Against Cancer

St. John's Wort

With the warm days of summer approaching, I begin to look for the sunny beauty of the humble little flowering plant, St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum). Called St. John’s wort because it blooms around the feast day of John the Baptist (June 24th), the plant grows prolifically in southern Oregon, particularly along roadsides and in meadows. The bright yellow five-petaled flower resembles a halo; when pressed, the flowers release a crimson liquid that symbolized to early Christians the spilled blood of their beloved St. John.

Continue reading “St. John’s Wort: An Ally Against Cancer”

Posted on

Can A Ketogenic Diet Cure Cancer?

Ketogenic Diet

I’ve recently received a number of queries from patients and practitioners who are curious about a handful of studies and anecdotal reports that indicate a ketogenic diet may help to curtail cancer growth. For those not familiar with the ketogenic diet, it’s a very low carbohydrate diet that contains moderate amounts of protein and a high percentage of fats.

I prefer to think of foods in their whole, natural forms (for example, almonds, apples, asparagus, blueberries, oatmeal, olives, potatoes, rye, and salmon) instead of in reductionist terms of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Keeping this in mind, the primary purpose of dietary carbohydrates is for fuel—the body converts carbohydrates via the liver into glucose, which is used for everything from powering muscles to brain function. When confronted with a lack of carbohydrates, the body switches to burning fats for energy by converting fats (again via the liver) into ketone bodies.

Continue reading “Can A Ketogenic Diet Cure Cancer?”

Posted on

Finding God In Nature

Finding God in Nature - Forest Scene

Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest and a great mystic, taught the monks a humble exercise; to sit and contemplate where they could view the open sky, hills, trees, fields, and growing plants, and to call upon the beauty of these things to praise God. This simple meditation on Nature reminds us of Divine Power, and the wisdom and goodness that exist in Her. If we stop for a moment to consider the origin, magnitude, beauty, fullness, activity, and order of all things, we cannot doubt the beneficence of God.

Continue reading “Finding God In Nature”