Whether you are a parent or not, this post is for you. We were all children once and my guess is by the end of this post you will be able to draw some connections from your childhood symptoms to those you are struggling with as an adult.

Most parents seek sage advice, keep abreast of the latest health trends, and spend hours trying to prepare the healthiest meals possible. Yet our kids get sick, and some of them sicker than others.

Some children, no matter all the care and precautions of loving parents, seem to recover from one ear infection only to develop another, or maybe it is strep throat or the eternal stuffy or runny nose. The thought for the past generations has been that these childhood symptoms are just outgrown. In my practice I’ve found just the opposite. When taking case histories from my clients, I often hear current complaints that are directly related to those childhood conditions, which they “outgrew.”

I’d like you to rethink the theory that childhood ailments are inevitable, benign, and just magically fade away. I don’t believe children outgrow these conditions. Quite the opposite, actually.

Here’s what I think is really going on:

1. Symptoms like allergies or eczema appear because the body is unable to completely clean and heal itself.
2. Predisposed genetic dispositions, while complicating the picture, can be shifted with the right natural interventions early in life.
3. Addressing and supporting the body’s natural ability to clean and heal in childhood will prevent chronic diseases later in life.
4. Recurrent acute childhood conditions happen due to the body’s inability to clean and heal. Suppressing with medication or leaving them unaddressed sets your child up for serious chronic conditions later in life.
5. The longer in life we wait to restore the body’s ability to clean and heal itself, the longer it takes. As with so much in life, early intervention is the key to getting the body quickly back on track.

Here is a graph that depicts exactly this thought process:

Get the full, detailed version of this graphic here.

How do you get the body to a place where it is able to completely clean and heal itself? For many people the most important first step is to change the input and for kids, this alone often does the trick.

We are having some unusually cold and icy days here in Austin, and I am pulling from the comfort food recipes I tucked away during the blasting heat of summer. This particular version of Shepherd’s Pie is so worth the effort and absolutely won everyone over. Of course, we would expect nothing less from the amazing Jamie Oliver.

Here is my adapted version. You certainly won’t regret carving a bit of extra time out to make this satisfying dish.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 lb Japanese white sweet potatoes
• 4 T Earth Balance coconut spread
• 6 medium shallots
• 4 carrots
• 1 T coriander seeds or powder
• Coconut oil
• ½ bunch of fresh thyme, leaves separated from stems
• ¾- 1 lb baby bella mushrooms
• ¾ – 1 lb oyster mushrooms
• 7- 14 ounces of chopped fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• organic vegetable stock as needed
• 4 cups of cooked lentils (preferably Puy lentils)
• 5 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 T Herbes de provence
• 1 lemon, juiced
• ½ C gluten free bread crumbs or nut based breading

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Chop all the potatoes into quarters. Place Yukon Gold potatoes in a steamer, simmering until tender. Remove to cool and add white sweet potatoes to the steamer and simmer until tender.
3. Once cooled, peel and place in a bowl all together, adding coconut spread, sea salt and pepper to taste. Mash until smooth.
4. Peel and finely chop shallots and carrots.
5. Heat coconut oil in heavy pan, add coriander, thyme leaves and shallots, cooking over low heat until softened.
6. Meanwhile, roughly chop the mushrooms add to the pan. Once cooked add balsamic vinegar.
7. Cook for another 10 minutes, add canned tomatoes, turn up the heat and allow it to bubble away. Stir in the lentils and 1 cup of stock. Simmer further to blend flavors and reduce liquids.
8. Add parsley and Herbes de provence and lemon juice, then transfer to a baking dish. Spread the mashed potato blend over the top.
9. Sprinkle bread crumbs or nut breading over the mash, placing in the hot oven for around 15-30 minutes, or until piping hot through.
10. Place under the broiler very briefly until golden.

Enjoy!

Sometimes we are blessed by what little we have, as was recently my experience.

It was the end of the week, and I needed to put together one more meal with the remnants of all of the produce left in the fridge. Sometimes this leads to dinner fails and other times it’s a win. I declare this Better Broccoli Soup a win and so did my family.

Ingredients

2 Large heads of organic broccoli, the longer and thinner the stems, the better. Cut stems just below the crown of florets, set aside florets and peel the stems, if necessary, removing any thick or stringy outer layer and chop.

2 large organic shallots, peeled and finely minced

3-4 organic carrots diced

1-2 tbl of any mixed blend of dried green herbs such as parsley, oregano, thyme, chives

2 Veggie Bouillon Cubes

1 can of organic coconut milk

1 bag of chopped frozen organic spinach

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Saute shallots until soft, add broccoli stems, diced carrots, and herbs. Cover with 2 quarts of water. Cook under pressure or with a lid until vegetables are tender and aromatic.

While the soup base is cooking, gently steam broccoli heads until just fork tender but not more. Remove and rinse with cold water to stop any further cooking. Cut or break into smaller bite sized pieces.

Using a high speed blender or with immersion blender, blend the soup base until smooth. Add bouillon cubes, bag of spinach, broccoli florets, can of coconut milk and more water to reach desired consistency. Season to taste.

Enjoy!