You haven't heard from me for a while because there's been A LOT going on at home.

The radio silence was no accident. My husband has been ill with a serious medical issue. After months of struggle, he's finally on the mend. Add that to a crazy-busy year of launching my book and going non-stop, I needed some downtime. I chose to honor the Water Phase of the Five Elements and allow myself some quiet, rest, and reflection.

What I didn't expect was how long of a pause I needed to truly recharge…

 Every cold and flu season many children come down with a head cold that results in a cough. Coughing can be uncomfortable and downright irritating if it’s strong and persistent or keeping everyone up at night.

Since I originally wrote this post in 2013, I've updated it adding even more tools to help you with your child's cough. So, now we have not just seven, but eight ways to calm your child's cough naturally. Many articles on treating kid's cough naturally focus on things you probably alre…

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Every year, millions of people make their new year's resolutions and start dieting, detoxing, and exercising!

But honestly, winter is a terrible time to do this!  According to the Five Elements, we enter the Water phase of the year around the winter solstice. The days are shorter, the weather is colder, and, to live in alignment with the season, we're meant to slow down. It's a time to honor our bodies need for warmer foods, quiet days, and getting more rest. Create time to reflect, daydream…

Tired? Unmotivated? In Pain? Could be a Water Element Imbalance!

>>Take the Quiz!<<

The Water Element

The Five Element system of Chinese medicine are thousands of years old. It was developed by Chinese philosophers who studied the rhythms and interrelationships of the Elements of nature in order to help mankind attune to the natural order of things. They believed that to live a balanced life was to understand the rhythms of the earth and live in harmony with it.

The Five Elements are Wa…

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Sugar-Free Hot Cocoa

One of my favorite winter treats is hot cocoa, but the thought of drinking hot cocoa from a packet doesn't sound appealing. So, I wanted to create a gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free version that I could share with my kids. What follows is the recipe I've perfected over the last couple of years. In this recipe, you can use any type of milk. While there is quite a bit of added fat, it's what makes the cocoa so creamy and delicious your kids…

Are you ready to help your extremely picky eater this holiday?

When I say picky eater, I'm not talking about kids that don't like broccoli or kale. I'm talking about kids that have severely limited diets - eating only 3 to 6 foods. Or kids that are overly sensitive to tastes and textures where the normal rules, like taking a 'no thank you' bite, don't work. In fact, few of the rules for normal age-related picky eating apply to extremely picky children.

For many years my son fell into the extre…

Is your child highly sensitive?

Is he easily affected by the emotions of others? Is he irritable or overstimulated after school? Is he highly fussy, picky, or dramatic? Does he have an “imaginary” friend? If so, chances are you have a highly sensitive child. Highly sensitive kids are here to usher in a new level of consciousness on the planet! But, they aren't the easiest kids to raise.

Learn the 7 things you need to about them in my guest blog post over at the Heal Your Life Blog.

You know what really scares me about Halloween? It's the ingredients in most candy! Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!  It's enough to make me run for the hills on Halloween night!

Ok, so not really… but I am being serious when I say it's frightening to any parent with a kid on a special diet or for those who simply want to avoid processed fake foods with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. I thought Halloween would be tough for our family because my boys were on a gluten- and dairy-free diet since the…

Having a baby brings out the best and the worst in us!

It opens up our hearts to a whole new level of love. At the same time, it opens up our minds to a whole new level of worry, indecision, and doubt! How do we know if we're making the right decisions for our child, especially if they differ from what other parents are doing? Maybe the "cry it out" method worked for all your friends but was an epic fail for your baby. Or maybe you and your spouse disagree on how to handle picky eating or not…