Craving watermelon? Welcome to Summer! Finally the long, hot days of summer have arrived. And while you might find yourself diving through waves and soaking in the rays, do you notice anything about your eating habits? Chances are you don’t crave those warm hearty soups you’d give anything for during the blistery Winter months. As the seasons shift so to does our bodies internal rhythms and digestion. Paying attention to what your body needs each time of year is the easiest way to keep the body in balance and health in check.

In holistic approaches to nutrition like Traditional Chinese Medicine, eating too much of the wrong types of food during a given season can interfere and slow down digestive organs, causing sluggishness. In other words the body is knocked out of it’s natural balanced state. Keep in harmony with the atmosphere of Summer with these key tips:

Lifestyle: Summer is all about growth, lightness, activity, brightness, and creativity. Easily summed up as a yang season. It’s the perfect time to wake up early and enjoy all the sunny days have to offer. Look to the sun for nourishment and life. Work, play, travel, and smile! The beauty outside enlivens even the most boring day.

Eat: Brightly colored fruits and vegetables flourish at this time and should define Summer dishes. Cook lightly with a rainbow of ingredients. Regularly add a a little spicy, pungent, or even fiery flavor. When sauteing, use hight heat for a very short time, and steam or simmer foods as quickly as possible. Use little salt and more water. Cooling fresh foods such as salads, sprouts, fruit, cucumber, and tofu. Common fruits that beat the summer heat best are apples, watermelon, lemons, and limes.

Avoid feeling like a beached whale in your bikini, by limiting heavy foods like meats, eggs, and excesses of nuts, seeds, and grains. Eating less and lightly on hot, bright days is a healthy pattern easily forgotten when we don’t pay attention to our body’s internal workings. A super easy way to eat in season is to hit up the local farmers market. That way you’ll get fruits and veggies that only grow during this time of year from your local soil. Much better for you, the farmers, and the earth.

Drink: Opposite of common thought, it’s suggested to drink hot liquids and take warm showers to induce sudden sweating, which will cool the body. Ice cream screams your name on sweltering days, but isn’t a good choice since Summer heat combined with too much cold food weakens the digestive organs. Coldness causes contraction, interfering with digestion, and holds in sweat and heat. Iced drinks and ice cream actually contract the stomach and stop digestion!

The idea is to disperse the heat by bringing it to the surface of the body to then be sweated out. Try flower and leaf teas like chrysanthemum, mint, and chamomile. Even drinking room temperature lemonade and the teas above are better than the ice cold variety.

All I have to say is time for a mojito!! Well, maybe an iceless mojito…

Resource: Healing With Whole Foods, by Paul Pitchford

These days it’s fairly easy to find the “health food” isle at your local grocery store. The brilliant, yet sly minds behind product marketing throw around words like organic, all natural, and heart healthy in hopes that we won’t actually check the ingredients. The “Health Food” market is a gold mine every company wants to get their hands on, so how do we know what brands hold up to their claims?

Check the label and read ingredients. If it claims to be organic make sure all the ingredients are organic! It sounds obvious, but big names like Safeway’s O Organics load their organic products with preservatives and natural or artificial ingredients. Which in some cases hide nasty additives like MSG. The fewer ingredients the better.

Here’s a short list of fabulous companies I endorse, eat and enjoy. I narrowed my choices down to the all important breakfast foods.

Kashi: From cereal, to snack bars, to simple dinners, Kashi has nailed it’s all natural products. As one of the biggest names in the health food market, Kashi delivers with whole food ingredients like fruits, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Don’t worry, no bland fiber bark here. To Kashi, and to all of us, food that tastes good is equally as important as the quality and health benefits.

Organic Autumn Wheat- Fibrous and lightly sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice, these light puffs of grain won’t weigh you down. And the super bonus….it’s organic!! If only all of Kashi’s products were organic. Autumn Wheat is pretty much the most perfect cereal you’ll find on the grocery shelf.

Go Lean Crunch- With twice the protein and fiber of the average cereal, Go Lean Crunch’s cinnamon dusted whole grain clusters will keep you satisfied all morning. I usually pour a bowl topped with soy milk and blueberries. It’s seriously the only cereal besides Autumn Wheat that keeps the hunger pains away during a morning of teaching and dancing. The sweet cinnamon adds a little fire to the meal, revving up your metabolism for the day.

Bossa Nova and Sambazon: By now you know I’m a huge fan of Acai. The skyrocketing antioxidant levels and sweet tart taste of this purple berry are best found in Sambazon and Bossa Nova products.

Sambazon offers organic Acai smoothies, sorbets and supplements. Not only do I love the taste of their smoothies, but the company’s commitment to the environment and the growers in Brazil. Organic and fair trade…hell yeah.

Bossa Nova on the other hand leads in Acai juice. Agave, and blueberries compliment the Acai in their low sugar juices. I love the Blueberry Acai juice! Why not get two amazing antioxidant fruits in one? Only bummer is it’s not organic.

Galaxy Granola: Now I know there are about a million types and brands of granola, but one is a cut above the rest. My biggest issue with most granola is the high fat content. While strolling through my local farmers market I stumbled into the Galaxy Granola booth. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Galaxy Granola- While most granola’s are coated in oil, Galaxy Granola uses fruit juices to bind their oats. With fantastic taste, all organic ingredients and 1.5 grams of fat per 1/2 cup, I’m sold!!

Redwood Hill Farms: Have you tried goat’s milk yogurt? As with any milk product, quality is of utmost importance. Redwood Hill Farms is a family goat farm committed to creating european style, grade A yogurt, with an all natural approach. No additives, preservatives, antibiotics, GMO’s, pesticides, growth hormones and it’s kosher to boot!

Goat’s Milk Yogurt- What’s a morning without yogurt? Go a step further and try some goat’s milk yogurt. This easily digestible cow milk alternative offers the same beneficially bacteria, with less strain on our GI tracts. All of their yogurts are sweetened with whole fruit or honey. Pour some over cereal or granola for a perfect meal.

Though it might sound a little obvious, if you are looking to lose weight all you have to do is eat for your health. It’s not all about looks! How you feel is just as important. Do you feel full of energy, with glowing skin and hair, or do you feel weighed down, and sluggish? If you focus only on losing weight to look good it will be extremely hard to stick to any healthy eating plan. Why continue eating veggies you hate when you can keep the weight off by drinking three lattes a day and binging on the weekend?(obviously horrible for epic health). Health and vitality has got to be the priority to make lasting change. Ask yourself what you think your body needs to function at it’s best and then run with it.

My Tip: Packaged “diet” food, across the board, is full of preservatives, salt, and is way over processed. Real food or whole foods like veggies, fruit, whole grains, nuts and seeds are packed with vital nutrients that are stripped away from heavy processing. That’s why no one will every be satiated by a Lean Cuisine or Slimfast smoothie! Read labels and stick to whole foods as much as possible.

As omnivores we have millions of options when it comes to food, learn what’s best for you with this helpful guide on what to eat.

It seems like everyday a new report rings the alarm on another mercury filled fish we should banish from our diets. As health conscious consumers walking into a fresh fish market or scrolling through a restaurant menu can be daunting at best. As a woman of child bearing age should I order the salmon, the mahi mahi, or forgo fish all together in fear of damaging myself and a child I might have years down the road?! Beyond future pregnancies, how is my choice effecting the environment, and what other chemicals am I ingesting? The considerations are literally endless!! What can we actually eat?

Instead of trying to keep up with the constant flow of press releases log on to websites of organizations that do that for you. The Environmental Defense Fund has an incredible website describing all the eco and health conscious fish options. The organization places each fish into eco-best, okay, and worst catigories based on the most current research.

The EDF also offers a printable pocket guide you can carry in your wallet so you can weigh your options when out and about. Most recently they unveiled a Seafood Selector To-Go that you can access easily from your cell phone. The selector provides you with mobile access to recommendations for more than 200 popular seafood choices. Here’s a simple run down of the best and worst fish to eat:

Eco-Best: Choices describe wild fish caught from healthy, well-managed populations using low-impact fishing gear; or farmed fish raised in systems that control pollution, chemical use and escapes.

Examples: Anchovies, Char (Arctic, farmed), Atlantic Mackerel, Mussels, Oysters (farmed), Wild Salmon (Alaska), Rainbow Trout (farmed), Albacore Tuna (U.S/Canada)

Eco-Worst: Choices have a number of associated environmental problems, such as overfished populations, poor (or no) management, high bycatch or habitat impacts, or farms that allow widespread pollution, chemical use and escapes.

Examples: Chilean Sea bass, Grouper, Salmon (Atlantic, farmed), Shark, Swordfish (imported), Yellowfin Tuna (imported), Blue fin Tuna.

Fish are an excellent source of protein and are full of essential Omega-3 fatty acids. While you can find the vital omega-3’s in flaxseed, avocado and other whole foods, fish offer a fabulous way to incorporate healthier meat into your diet; Devoid of saturated fats, antibiotics and hormones found in red meat. Like anything you just have to know what you’re eating (and today, know what you consume has been eating or swimming in!). Now you’ve got a leg up on the options!

Alright ladies, so here’s the deal. We obviously have very different health issues and concerns then men. From monthly cycles, to fertility and pregnancy, to menopause, we need to maintain our health through it all. We often turn to birth control, pain killers, and hormone replacement therapy to regulate and quell our discomfort, only to suffer severe side effects and cover up symptoms. Have you ever wondered how woman of other cultures maintain and regulate their health? The secret is Dong Quai.

Revered as the ultimate, all-purpose woman’s herb, dong quai, or angelica root, has been used by woman throughout China and Asia for thousands of years. This potent herb is traditionally used to regulate menstrual periods, enhance fertility, build blood, strengthen bones, and maintain healthy hair, skin, and nails. It also relieves hot flashes and other symptoms related to menopausal changes. But studies have shown that in addition to reducing these discomforts, dong quai increases immune functions and reduces levels of damaging free radicals in the bloodstream.

Health stores readily carry dong quai in either tablet, liquid extract, or raw root form. At first I was skeptical, but after drinking dong quai tea for several months, I felt a ton of relief from PMS. Of course you’ll want to get more info and see if dong quai is an herb you want to incorporate into your life.

All I have to say is, taking an herb beats popping a handful of Aleve every month!