I made this recipe from The Kitchn over the weekend and went right out to buy more Sweet Dumpling Squash! Plenty of these yummy squash are available right now at Wheatsville Co-Op in Austin. This would also be a fantastic vegan addition to your Thanksgiving Day table.

Ingredients:
3 sweet dumpling squashes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
8 dates, coarsely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup cooked quinoa
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Full Instructions Here

I shared a great story last week about migraines and how supporting the kidneys can bring an end to the cycle of pain. In the case of Cathy her kidneys were doing double time because her bowels were not doing their job. By activating her bowels along with supporting her kidneys with an alkaline diet and gemmotherapy, Cathy was able to turn around a lifelong problem in record time. If you or someone you love deals with migraines, I advise looking downward beyond that pain in the head and taking some steps to engage the bowels and support your all-important kidneys.

Before reviewing some practical steps to take, let me point out what we may be doing each day to tax this most important filtering station.

• Eating processed foods and drinks that are acidic in nature—high on that list is soda.
• Prolonged sitting
• Not staying hydrated
• Taking NSAIDs for pain relief, antibiotics and some supplements

Did you know those two fist size little organs need to filter a total of 200 liters (53 gallons) of blood, and sift through about 2 liters (.5 gallons) of waste and water that your body excretes as urine per day! Working against them will just lead to a host of symptoms such as migraines, headaches, lower back pain and night time urination.

Protecting the health of your kidneys is not complicated and the benefits can be quite direct, just like it was for Cathy. Here are five straightforward steps to take now.

1. Load up on fruits and veggies from the very start of your day as these high alkaline foods do their part to neutralize the acidic wastes our kidneys must filter.
2. Pay attention to your bowels and note if they are doing their job removing acidic wastes by emptying two or more times daily. If they are not, try refining your diet further.
3. Discuss a protocol of gemmotherapy extracts or other herbal support to promote kidney health and increase bowel function with your health practitioner.
4. Get up and move throughout your workday and include a few of these yoga poses into your before-bed routine
5. Avoid chronic use of pain medications and antibiotics. Instead, focuse on the source of inflammation by engaging your lymphatic system to eliminate the acidic wastes.

Kidney health drives the health of your entire body and your longevity. Taking them seriously can ward off a host of chronic conditions. Be proactive and aware that your daily habits can have either a positive or adverse impact on your health. The choice is yours and you have the power to make a difference for yourself.

Watch for next week’s post about a case of irritable bowels.

“Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside… There are moments when you think you’re silent and all around is silent, but talking is going on all the time inside your head. That’s not silence. We have to realize that silence comes from our heart.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

Consider: The value in turning off the talk and noise around you and listening to what your heart has to say. We often believe this is not possible without physically escaping the current circumstances. While this solitude would be beneficial it is not always practical. It is important to know our daily practice is to create these periods of silence even when surrounded by chatter. We can connect with our inner silence and place our attention there rather than on the external noise. This week let’s discover how to do this without abandoning our work stations or family responsibilities

Prepare: Realizing and finding the quiet place within our heart can be incredibly freeing. We are so accustomed to the noises in our mind that we often mature without the knowledge of this peaceful place. Accessing it can be life changing. Simply try now by closing your eyes and taking a few cleansing breaths. At the end of each exhale tap into the space, right in your heart center if only for a few seconds, and again on the next exhale. With each repetition as the breath moves more slowly and deliberately you may begin to catch a glimpse of the silence that lives right inside yourself.

Do: As deadlines approach or your to do list expands exponentially the noise around and within you tends rise. Use these real life opportunities to access this space you just discovered. Reap the benefits of this silence and the rejuvenation it can bring.

Cauliflower is one of the healthiest of veggies, but not loved by all. If you are trying to convert any reluctant cauliflower fans, try preparing this Coconut Almond Crusted version from Save the Kales. It is sure to do the trick. I made this one step easier by using Rocca & Lola’s Toasted Almond Breading instead of the gluten free flour and nuts.

You can find all of my “Root of the Problem” posts here. Be sure to leave your questions or personal experiences in the comments section. 

The Migraine Story

Cathy had experienced headaches daily for years; in fact she really couldn’t remember not having headaches. Some days they were debilitating and others she just soldiered on. As a single mom and a teacher she just learned to live with them. While she had been prescribed a variety of medications, none of them worked and she really did not like taking medication in the first place. Now Cathy was retired she had the time to look for other options to address the migraines and improve her quality of life.

Listening to Cathy tell her story gave me a few key clues that her problems were not in her head as one would expect. As we made our way through her intake these facts stood out:

• She had just one bowel movement daily and sometimes only every other day.
• She experienced acid reflux on a daily basis.
• She was out of bed frequently to urinate at night.
• Throughout the day when coughing or sneezing she may involuntarily leak urine.

These symptoms told me simply that her bowels were not doing their job of removing wastes, so her kidneys were forced to overwork. The headaches were occurring because her elimination systems were compromised, thus keeping the acidic wastes from moving out of her body. This stagnation had backed all the way up to her head. Stagnant lymphatic fluids are acidic and cause pain.

I believed we had one primary task:

• Activate her lymphatic system in order to support adequate bowel elimination and reduce the lymphatic stagnation in her head.

Simply put, the plan was to move the acid wastes downward and out of her body instead of upward into her head.

We addressed this primary task with these steps:

1. Replaced Cathy’s routine “American” breakfast of two cups of coffee, a piece of toast and maybe a banana with the Living Well™ breakfast of fruit and only fruit—the juicier and the more the better.
2. Lunch could be a continuation of breakfast or raw veggie salads with or without protein.
3. Dinner would be the same as she had been doing.
4. She started taking 3 different gemmotherapy extracts daily. In the mornings one for kidneys, one midday to particularly support bowel elimination in post menopausal women, and in the evening one to support physical and emotional digestion.

I warned Cathy that while I was certain we could shift this problem, my experience was that the longer a symptom has been present the longer it will take to go away, however, the more diligently she stuck to the program the sooner she would see results.

Cathy was an all-star when it came to adopting a new way of eating and taking her gemmotherapy protocol. Even knowing of her all-out efforts, I was shocked when she emailed a week later to say she had not had any migraines in the previous few days.

I asked Cathy to share a bit of her experience and here is what she had to say:

“I have had headaches since I was sixteen years old. Some were tension and others were migraines. Some were so debilitating that I would have to throw up and go to bed to “sleep them off.” I had tried so many prescription medicines and really nothing seemed to help for any length of time. I had heard of the homeopathic remedies, but had never really given them much thought. I decided to try one more thing. What could it hurt? After beginning my gemmotherapy drops and eating only fruit for breakfast, I had a new feeling. I had energy and NO HEADACHE! It was a miracle! I feel better than I have felt in years.”

Over the next months Cathy has been steadfast with her diet and we are currently working on some of the underlying symptoms now that her migraines are a thing of the past. While I helped Cathy uncover the root of the problem with her migraines and created a protocol to support her bowels and kidneys as we reversed the acidosis in her head, the daily work fell on Cathy. Her willingness to look at her symptoms from a different perspective and openness to experiment with her diet are what moved this process along so quickly. While there is still quite a bit of clean-up work to do, her quality of life has improved tenfold.

Be on the lookout for next Friday’s post where I share a host of practical tips to support your kidneys.

“Before you speak, stop, breathe, and consider if what you are about to say will improve upon the silence.”

—Allan Lokos, Meditation Instructor, Author

Consider: A time you may have spoken to soon. Possibly you can remember a time this week already when you interjected your thoughts before hearing someone out or blurted your opinion without considering the source of your message. There is nothing but benefit from pausing and considering what is driving your urgency to speak. Is it fear? Is it resentment? This week let’s practice placing our awareness on these impulsive statements—whether we apply it at the workplace, with our children or our partners.

Prepare: Bring to mind a recent experience when you may have spoken out too soon without mindfully considering your response. Imagine now this same circumstance while taking a few cleansing breaths and closing your eyes. Surrender to the stillness deep within and try to touch the source of your statements. Could your comments have been driven by fear? What might you have said if you spoke from a place of love?

Do: Let’s use our day to day life as practice and the next time you are faced with this urgent desire, pause and take five thoughtful breaths and acknowledge the source of what you intend to share.

With holiday pie season approaching, I want to remind you that going gluten-free does not mean you have to go without! Here are 5 simple and tasty gluten-free pie crust recipes to meet your needs, whether your filling is sweet or savory.

Last week I shared the case of Doug, with seasonal allergies, who, along with a protocol to improve his elimination and clean up his digestive tract, gave up eating dairy products. After a month, Doug’s symptoms went away. Once he finished his protocol he stayed off dairy to curb the inflammation and hasn’t had any symptoms for two years.

While eating dairy did not cause Doug’s condition it certainly was keeping him from healing.

Daily I talk with people who could benefit from removing dairy from their diets, but the truth is, most are unwilling to take that step. Why is that so? I’m not the only practitioner searching for this answer, but here are a few things I have discovered in my effort to understand this dilemma.

In the face of growing evidence that dairy is just not a benefit to one’s health, most people continue to consume milk, yoghurt, and cheese at alarming rates. The average American consumes 33 lbs of cheese a year, which is triple the amount they did in 1970. This increase continues on while scientific studies state countless chronic conditions from cancer to arthritis to sinusitis are aggravated by dairy products. So, we find individuals searching for help for their symptoms from one health practitioner to another while their answer may be no further than controlling what is in their kitchen.

What is equally true is the need to consume dairy products is culturally engrained in the American diet. Forty years ago the U.S. Dairy industry began quite a series of ad campaigns that are still deeply imprinted in our minds. “Milk does a body good” is apparently a very hard slogan to turn off.

Finally, the truth is dairy products are addictive. The protein casein breaks down into casomorphines when digested and actually creates a desire for more. Anyone who has taken even a sliver of manchego cheese knows just how hard it is not to have just one more bite. So now you know it’s not only about how good it tastes, but how good it makes you feel—at least in the moment. Hear out Dr. Joel Kahn on 6 Foods that Behave like Addictive Drugs.

So what do we do with this information? Here are my suggestions:

1. Recognize that what we have been told by the dairy industry for the past 30-40 was actually for the benefit of their industry, not our bodies. No doubt they have had an incredible marketing team, but the truth for many of us is that diary consumption can cause more harm than benefit. Here is more about this subject by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
2. If your letting go of those old beliefs about dairy requires more facts and data to make your decisions, here are some for you to process:
   • Animal Proteins and Cancer
   • Dairy and Parkinson Risk
   • Dairy and inflammation
   • Dairy and Heart Disease
   • Dairy and Sinusitis
3. For you experiential learners out there I say try this for yourself. Take the month of November and begin Dr. Oz’s very simple 28 day challenge that removes one set of dairy products per week, then give yourself another month completely off the products and see what you notice.

“It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.”

—Pema Chodron

Consider: Surrendering your frustrations for inner guidance.

There is an inner guidance within each of us that knows what is needed next. We were born with this but at some point stopped trusting it. This guidance knows what is true and right for us and this practice is all we need to restore the connection.

Your answer will come with only the first step and your challenge is to accept that this is enough. Taking the first step—trusting the guidance—will move you to a place where each next step will be revealed. Remember, well orchestrated plans only come from our intellect. True inner guidance will only give us only one step at a time.

Prepare: Bring to mind whatever is disturbing your peace today. It may be a person’s words or actions or a situation where you feel stuck and resentful. Rather than staying in the frustrating place, follow this simple but powerful practice.

Take in three deep cleansing breaths. Complete the following statements:

1. I am resentful or frustrated about _________________ (situation) and I play a part in this feeling.
2. I am feeling/being ____________________(an adjective to describe your response).
3. Forgive yourself.
4. Close your eyes and with your hands placed over your heart ask for your next step in this situation.
5. Trust what you hear.

Do: Commit to addressing the first frustration of your day with this practice.

(Repeat as needed.)