Time to increase our intake of vitamin rich fruits and vegetables! Summer (coming right up!!) is a natural time to put into practice some of the healthiest nutrition intentions without sacrificing pleasure. With the growing abundance of fresh local food, we can easily increase our intake of vitamin rich fruits and vegetables, minimize our consumption of high glycemic index processed foods, and eat a greater variety of diverse foods to maximize our nutrient intake As the weather warms, our bodies are physiologically inclined to eat lighter and healthier (think cravings for salads and smoothies). From a Chinese medicine perspective this

As a long-time lover of lemons, I never quite got the full meaning of when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I fail to see how getting a lemon is a down-on-your-luck, Charlie Brown experience like not getting picked for the baseball team. I guess the promise is that this sour thing could potentially be transformed into something positive through ingenuity or the right attitude. However, for me a lemon IS a gift, not something to overcome! Lemons are uplifting. They have: An invigorating scent that shouts out: Fresh! Clean! Just Picked! Freshly Squeezed! A gladdening color. A stimulating taste.

Melissa officionalis - Lemon Balm: Physical distancing and washing your hands are absolutely critical, but we must not forget that a strong immune system is fundamental for protecting our bodies from infection in the first place. We all need to focus on the basic pillars: proper nutrition, sleep, and gut health- these are critical for maintaining our wellbeing right now. In Naturopathic medicine practice, our goal is to “treat the person” not the disease or condition. We focus on the “terrain” more than the “organism”. This means we know that certain things make our terrain more inhospitable to infection and

This is a brilliant red, tart and tangy japanese vinegar made from the venerable umeboshi plum and shiso leaves. The umeboshi plums are fermented: they are sprinkled with sea salt so the juice is drawn out and soaked in shiso leaves. Shiso is an herb that is related to mint, but has a slight lemony taste. Besides adding a beautiful red color and flavor to umeboshi, shiso has strong antibacterial and preservative qualities ALKALINIZING! Now, although ume is acidic tasting (it is a vinegar after all!) , once it is in the body, it is actually alkalinizing (just like apple