Adaptability—The Key to Optimal Health

Let’s not sugarcoat things here, folks. The last three-plus months have put many of us on edge. The lockdown. Unemployment. Living in fear of a dry cough, fever, or shortness of breath. While little pieces of our routines are coming back into play, COVID-19 has changed the way we function on a daily basis. With […]

Chicken and Broccoli Divan from Leftovers

When it comes to leftovers, it often seems that the husbands rather than the children don’t want to eat yesterday’s meal. (But as I’m fond of saying, this is the meat and potatoes of another post.) My dear readers, perhaps you’re old enough to remember that ladies’ luncheons in the 1960s always served chicken divan. […]

The Right and Wrong Food for Your Dog and Cat

I’m a firm believer in offering fresh foods to our pets, yet a number of things we humans eat can be harmful, toxic, or even deadly to our dogs and cats. Unfortunately, the modern American diet is full of unhealthy, processed, and refined foods. And it only makes sense that what is unhealthy for us […]

Varicose Veins and Hemorrhoid Hassles:
How to Naturally End the Annoyance

As a semiretired health practitioner, I was recently able to give one of my close friends the name of a symptom-relieving supplement that could ease the discomfort of her annoying varicose veins—a condition that started after the birth of her third child and got worse with each consecutive pregnancy. (While my friend was grateful for […]

Lifelong Learners Live Better

When something comes up in my world, I rarely think, Okay, so this is happening now. Let’s see what happens next. Nope, I want to know more. I want to have an idea of what to expect and try to outsmart it, if only a little bit. Of course, many things in life cannot be […]

Aftermath of the Pandemic:
Lessons Learned & Going Forward

By the time this article goes public, some positive changes will have been made for getting our nation back to normal—or, at the very least, a semblance of normality. It is now late May, and the warm spring weather is more than welcome after the harsh reality of everything that transpired over the cold winter […]

Chicken Cacciatore:
One Dish, No Fuss Cooking, Huntress-Style

Ask Chef Phyllis My family loves a good chicken dish. They demand chicken breasts, although my mother always bought whole chicken and used every part. I usually make chicken breasts in the slow cooker, and though it’s good, the breasts get too dry and lack flavor after six hours in the pot. I have a […]

How Do You Know If You Have Good Digestion?

“How’s your digestion?” Without fail, this is a question I get asked whenever I see a healthcare provider who takes a more holistic approach to things. My automatic response is always, “It’s good.” And then we move on. However, because I also work at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, I hear this question asked of […]

You Are Using Nutritional Healing—Even If You Don’t Know It!

The hardest thing about being an alternative healthcare provider isn’t that the natural methods in use for thousands of years have been replaced by drugs and surgery—although that is definitely a bitter pill to swallow (pun intended). No, the hardest part is when people tell us with complete sincerity and certainty, “I don’t believe in […]

Reflections on Baking:
How to Make a Dessert Out of Nothing at All

Here’s a novel idea: a sumptuous dessert from your already depleted pantry. And it’s easier than you ever imagined. Did your mom ever make fruit cobblers? Or perhaps a baked apple with cinnamon and raisins in the middle? Nothing is easier than a baked apple, and in my opinion, nothing appeals to the senses quite […]

Revisiting Our Definition of Nutrition

Every once in a while, I like to browse through the SRP Historical Archives looking for a random article to read. It’s inevitable that I’ll find some little gem of information that makes me go, “Now that’s interesting!” And that’s exactly what happened the other day. These articles date back more than 80 years, but […]

Conscious Autosuggestion:
How to Reset Your Negative Thought Patterns

For those of you already acquainted with the idea of “autosuggestion,” this blog post may be old news. On the other hand, it may be a good opportunity to pass this on to someone who is sick, unsuccessful, and/or depressed. If you’re not familiar with autosuggestion but still identify with these negative emotions, I invite […]

Food in a Troubled World:
New England Clam or Fish Chowder from the Pantry or Freezer

Practice is “the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it.” What can you put into practice? If you are of Italian, French, or Greek ancestry, perhaps you were raised as I was, with your conversations revolving around food—good food, fresh from the garden, and the […]

Fight Indoor Air Pollution with Nutrition

Whether we like it or not, most of us have been spending more time indoors lately. So it seems like the perfect occasion to consider the air inside your home—is it healthy, or could it use a little help? Indoor air quality can be impacted by a variety of dangers. Some of these we bring […]

Spice Cake to Live For!
Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, GAPS!

A long time ago—more than 20 years—I gave up wheat and gluten for health reasons. A few years later, I discovered the work of Weston A. Price and how using traditional cooking techniques such as lacto-fermentation can make food more easily digested by the body. My next level of learning was how I could use […]

Whipping Cream That’s Getting Old

Ask Chef Phyllis What can you tell me about whipping cream that I’ve already opened and has been in my fridge a little past its “best use” date? In this time of stay at home, I do not wish to waste anything. It smells fine, but it’s thicker than when I opened it. Can I […]

Staying Youthful Longer:
A New Approach to “Shape Your Face”

Who among us wouldn’t want to look more youthful or have a more beautiful smile? Well, maybe I’ve found a bit of the fountain of youth, and you can too in just a few easy steps. So let me introduce you to a product that can teach you some effective facial movement exercises. I will […]

Love Your Liver!
Foods for Springtime

According to Chinese medicine, every season corresponds to both an organ and an organ meridian. In the spring, this is the liver. Traditionally, spring is the season when we clear out. We spring clean our closets, our drawers, the garage, the flower and garden beds. But it can also be a time to spring clean […]