Hip and Trending Holistic Medicine

It’s increasingly difficult to get consensus on what makes the most healthful diet, but I think we can all agree that eating more nutrient-dense plants after an overly-indulgent holiday season is a positive thing. Putting a handful of new, veg-centric recipes into rotation this time of year can help move the needle in the right direction. Hopefully this will provide a bit of inspiration! Many of the recipes are easily adaptable, and weeknight friendly. Enjoy! 1. Garlic Lime Lettuce Wraps – I love these! Ginger and garlic tempeh rice, folded into lime-spiked lettuce wraps with lots of herbs, cucumber, and carrots. A one-pan meal that comes together in no time! Get the recipe here . 2. Quick Vegan Enchiladas with Sweet Potato Sauce – These are knock-out delicious, in the oven in less that ten minutes, and a healthful alternative to all the heavy cheese versions out there. With black beans, sweet potatoes, and a stealthy turmeric boost. Get the recipe here . 3. Spicy Tahini Noodl...

This is a guest post by Nick Mullins from JiuJitsology .   Are you unhappy with your BJJ training progress? Most people are. You’ve only got so much time to devote to jiu-jitsu and you want to make the most of it. But how? Where do you start? You’re in luck. A landmark, first-of-it’s-kind study from 2012 may hold the secret. It shows how anyone, regardless of skill level, can improve their chances of winning more matches. Whether they are starting Brazilian jiu-jitsu or are a seasoned competitor. And you’ll do it with math! (Don’t worry, you won’t need a calculator) What The Evidence Shows If you’re a BJJ white belt looking for beginner tips or you’ve been training for a while everyone is looking to save time and learn as much as possible. What better way to skip to the head of the line than to study what the best in the world do and follow their lead? That’s exactly what this study has allowed us to do. The research found that the winners of most of those matches had...

Over the past few months, I've been sharing off-the-cuff recipes on instagram (which I save in highlights). This has primarily been because at the heart of cooking, I don't measure anything. Exact recipes aren't my thing (which may come as a surprise, given I've run this site for 10+ years). While I'm more than happy to help people out with a solid recipe, my passion for cooking is rooted in using my knowledge and senses to make a delicious meal. This also comes in handy when I'm trying to use up odds and ends of what I might have left. And so, I created a series on instagram stories where I cook through a recipe I'm making up on the spot. And after the fact, I'll occasionally post the more successful ones on the site. That's where this red kuri squash comes into view. Red Kuri Squash, not your pumpkin In the realm of winter squash, those that do not need peeled reign supreme in my kitchen. Delicata, acorn (in some instances), and red kuri sq...

Ribollita is a thick Tuscan stew – dark greens, lots of beans, vegetables, olive oil, thickened with day-old bread. It is hearty, filling, infinitely nourishing, and flat-out, the sort of food I crave. The amount of kale you collapse into each pot is impressive, and you’ll be patting yourself on the back before, during, and after you eat. Here are the details – it’s a soup I make constantly this time of year. I should mention, with ribollita, it’s one of those things where there are as many ways to make it as there are cooks. I normally use whole canned tomatoes this time of year – torn up. But had crushed tomatoes on hand, and they worked out nicely. You can use canned beans, beans cooked from dried, or cooked beans you’ve frozen and thawed. As far as guidelines go? Your ribollita should be thick – eventually. A sloppy sounding, bread stew. Use day old bread, preferably a rustic loaf cut (or torn) into big chunks. The bread absorbs the broth and simmers into beautifully plump zones ...

For a good part of the year I have rosemary floating about the kitchen. It’s typically crowded in a wide-mouth jar, standing stick-straight, quietly waiting to be called upon. Sometimes it sits on the windowsill here, other times it migrates to the island, or, on rare occasions, the dinner table. I tend to buy a bunch, then work my way through it little by little (you’ve likely seen it in the background of photos on previous posts). Said another way – rosemary is often in my line of sight, and I’m always looking for ways to use it. This cocktail caught my attention a couple weeks back, and I’ve been making my own citrus-spiked riff on it in the days since. So…my initial idea was that I’d do a winter citrus version using freshly-squeezed pink grapefruit juice, gin, and tonic water or sparkling water. I thought the evergreen notes in the gin would blend nicely with the tart pucker of grapefruit, and I’d take the edge off with a hint of rosemary syrup. Not meant to be. I walked into...

While you may be thinking to yourself in a sarcastic voice, "just what we need need, another butternut squash soup!" I urge you to think of this more as inspiration and less as a direct soup recipe. Take your butternut squash soup recipe and jazz it up. Add some spices. Use a sauce. It doesn't have to be boring! Squash for days On any given week, I have some kind of puree hanging out in the refrigerator. It’s a staple that can easily be used in soups, fillings, sauces, or porridges. When I don’t feel like cubing squash, it’s into the oven, sliced in half, and roasted cut-side down with a bit of water to help steam/cook. Once the squash is tender, it’s time to get to work on a few recipes. Butternut Squash Soup One of the easiest ways to use squash puree is in soups. Add it to a few cooked onions, stock, and herbs. This recipe is built on my base butternut squash soup recipe (usually without the spices and lime juice). However, this version is great when I have chimic...

I’ve been practicing Chinese medicine for over 25 years, and one of the things that I love is that it’s all about the idea of keeping in balance and staying in tune with your body. Each organ has a time of year, a time of day when it is most active, and many additional actions besides what we understand in the West. Living according to the seasons with your organs in mind is a great way to stay in balance. Starting in mid-December we move into the “kidney” time of year. Kidneys are the source of your energy or “essence”. You were born with a certain amount of kidney energy. This is called your Jing. In Chinese medicine, the kidneys also rule your lower back, knees, bones, and your overall sense of energy. Big transitions in life, the emotion of fear, and the power of will or also reliant on the kidneys. Also affecting this is adrenal glands, which produce all the hormones that your body uses to deal with stress. They also help sustain your energy. This is an interesting cross-section...

This is the week of holidays – and I just want to say that I love you and thank you for being in my life. I am so grateful to have the work that I have, to get to fulfill my destiny on this earth, and that destiny is to help people heal. Because of you, I get to do that every single day, so thank you so much. I want to wish you the warmest, loving amazing holiday season, wherever you are in the world. I wish you healing if you’re struggling with an ailment. I am sending my prayers and my good thoughts if you’re going through a hard time in your life. I wish you the most amazing new year filled with the wishes and dreams of your life so that you can achieve your goals. I hope that your holidays are amazing and that your new year blossoms into something wonderful for you. Remember to like my page on Facebook, Heart To Heart Medical Center and ask to join my Facebook group Heroic Healing. Also, you can buy my new book HEALING WHEN IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE: 7 KEYS TO DEFY THE ODDS on Amazon....

Just putting this up here before we are checking out for some Christmas celebrations with Luise’s family. This is a  our gingerbread bundt cake that we have been making a couple times in December leading up to Christmas. It’s a gluten free, spice heavy, bundt cake with a touch of sweet banana bread. Very soft and moist and very, very good. We add tangy nordic lingonberries to the cake and the glaze to give it a pop in flavor and color but you can leave them out if you like. Or replace them with other berries like cranberries or raspberries. The glaze is rather untraditional, made on dates, plant milk, coconut oil and berries. It doesn’t shine as the ones made on sugar but super delicious nevertheless. Perfect if you are trying to keep the sugar down. You could of course add any glaze of choice to it. Try this for Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve with a little glaze on top and some extra on the side. Happy holidays everyone! Gingerb...

I make a version of these cinnamon buns nearly every year for Christmas. The first time I made them was in 2010, inspired by the version in Lotta Jansdotter’s book . They’re beauties. I thought I’d do a bit of an update to that initial post today, where I list off some of the tweaks I’ve made over the years, in addition to some insights I’ve had. The base recipe is for a version of Lotta’s beautiful, homemade, hot from the oven, loaded with sugar and spice, golden, buttery, classic cinnamon buns. One of the great things about them, is that you can prepare them ahead of time, and freeze the pre-baked rolls. The night before you’re ready to bake them, leave them to thaw, covered, on your counter, and bake them in the morning. I’ve done versions with whole grain flours, different spice blends, and boozed-up icings – which I’ll note in the recipe and headnotes. There are some great insights in the comments as well. Cinnamon Bun Basics To make cinnamon buns you start by making a buttery...