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Continued from Let the food be thy medicine Part 5 It wasn't until I discovered macrobiotic cooking that I truly understood the transformative healing power of foods.  In Part 2, I explained how September was always a significant month. It all made sense when I learned about The 5 Elements. September and October fall in the category of the Earth Element, Late Summer, which is associated with the stomach, spleen, and pancreas. The organs of digestion and nutrition. The stomac

Continued from Let the food be thy medicine Part 3 Before we get deeper into Macrobiotics, Yin & Yang and The 5 Elements, I'd like to share what prompted me to write this blog series. I've had the pleasure and blessing to meet many people over the years as a yoga teacher and bodywork practitioner. When the food subject comes up its apparent that the way I think about food and health is very different to the mainstream. My hope in sharing some of what I have learned and practi

At first, the idea that I could turn my health around, was just that. An idea. A hope. I didn't really have a plan. My mother did something quite revolutionary. I was diagnosed with rheumatic fever at age 9, three doctors all said I'd be on penicillin (antibiotics) and 6 adult strength aspirin daily: until age 18, or age 33, or indefinitely, depending on the doctor. After 3 years of this medical regimen at age 12, one day my mother announced: "I don't think this is good for

Continued from Let the food be thy medicine Part 4 The ancient principles of Yin and Yang are universal principles that encompass all aspects of existence, far more exhaustive in scope than I will cover here. So to keep it simple, we'll focus on food, and how foods affects our organs.* Yin and Yang are opposite and complementary forces in the Universe. For example: the sky is Yin, expansive, moveable and light; the earth is Yang, contracted, solid and heavy. Like the carrot r

Continued from Let thy food be thy medicine Part 2 Laurence held up a vibrant organic carrot with the greens attached, and explained: The downward contracting Yang properties of the roots were centering and grounding, like an anchor into the earth. The upward expansive Yin tendencies of the flexible wispy greens that grow towards the sky, sway in the breeze and absorb energy from the sun. "Whole organic foods, grown in healthy soil contain more nutrients. Once food is process