To start, what are nightshade vegetables? Nightshade vegetables belong to the Solanaceae family and while there are over 2000 members, the most common include the following:
 
Common Nightshades:

• Tomatoes

• White potatoes – this includes potato starch and yes, French fries

• Peppers – all types, including bell peppers of all colors and hot chili peppers like jalapenos, habanero, and cayenne

• Eggplant

• Tomatillo

• Goji berries

• Paprika

• Ashwagandha

The HPA Axis in Action: Stress Hormones

Stress hormones are integral to our survival and adaptive capabilities, and they are critical in how our body responds to challenging situations. This intricate system ensures that we can navigate and overcome environmental stressors. At the forefront of this regulatory mechanism is the HPA axis, the vital communication system that coordinates a precise cascade of hormonal signals to regulate our body's reactions. The HPA axis serves as a vital communication system. This stress response system orchestrates a complex interplay of hormones to keep the body alert when faced with stress. By releasing specific hormones, this system readies the body for prolonged challenges, ensuring a swift and coordinated response. While stress hormones are essential for a well-functioning stress response, an imbalance or excess can adversely affect our health and well-being. The delicate equilibrium required for optimal performance can be disrupted, leading to potential harm. Understanding how these hormones affect our health is crucial for maintaining a balanced and adaptive stress response.

Stress is a natural and unavoidable part of life, manifesting in various forms, be it psychological challenges or environmental pressures such as the ongoing fear of job loss or looming assignment deadlines. Its impact can be positive and negative, influencing our physical and mental well-being. Numerous factors, including work, relationships, health, life events, and personal struggles, contribute to stress. While stress can serve as a motivator, helping us cope with challenges and overcome obstacles, it can also threaten our health when it becomes chronic or overwhelming.

Mmmmm, delicious tastes & flavors! But what if your food doesn’t taste that great?
 
The taste buds peppered on your tongue deliver messages to your brain that help detect salty, sour, sweet, and bitter sensations. The flavor of food is not something we actually sense, but is created in our brain based on what we taste with our mouth and smell with our nose. How we experience flavors goes far beyond our taste buds, and involves aroma, memory, childhood exposure, texture, temperature, and even pain. Our sense of smell is estimated to be 10,000 times more sensitive than our sense of taste. Hence, if you have a cold, you may find that the food doesn’t taste as good either.
 

I think it’s safe to say that we all seek optimal cognitive function. Who isn’t game to think clearly, have a great memory, focus whenever you wish, make decisions easily, and more? Fuel yourself appropriately and you may certainly find that your cognitive function improves.

Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Pecans

A rich source of antioxidants and other protective plant compounds, whole grains may reduce the risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. The brown and wild rice add B vitamins, magnesium, fiber, and even some protein. High in vitamin E and healthful fats, nuts also provide fiber, protein, and other nutrients. Pecans are a good source of thiamin, zinc, and gamma-tocopherol (one form of vitamin E). Mighty antioxidants, berries (including cranberries) help protect against cell damage that both accelerates aging and increases disease susceptibility. They have anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiulcerative, and antiviral properties. This salad is loaded with health and always a hit with family and friends!

Holiday celebrations are often a time to enjoy great food, the company of friends and family, and gift giving. The possibilities of gifts are endless. I thought I would provide a few ideas of gifts that you could make from your kitchen as well as purchased healthful food-related items.

It’s the time of year noted to give thanks and celebrate great food. And yes, it’s true. Odds are, we’ll gain weight over the holidays. Most studies suggest that we may gain anywhere from 1-3 pounds to 8 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Regardless of the amount, it’s not uncommon to feel bloated and overtired during the holiday season. Eating tends to take on a new dimension during the holiday season. In addition to our typical meals, we manage to fit in seasonal treats, party foods, and possibly more alcohol. So, let’s strategize to avoid that unwanted weight gain and/or bloated, puffy, feel.
 

Hungry for some recipes? I hope so. Below are some beautiful, healthful, fall recipes that I truly enjoyed. Fingers crossed you do too! 

To the Women’s Healthy Eating & Living (WHEL) study participants and all of my patients, thank you! Thank you for helping me strive to learn more and more everyday, to be understanding & compassionate, and guiding me be the best practitioner I can be. You inspire me everyday, yes, each and everyday! Thank you!

The CDC confirmed that watercress is THE healthiest vegetable in the world! The CDC assigns nutrition density scores to foods and the only vegetable to earn a perfect score of 100 is watercress. “What’s watercress?” you may ask. This leafy green is part of the Brassicaceae, or cruciferous vegetable, family and grows in bodies of fresh water, like streams and ponds. Reports suggest that watercress has been eaten for over three thousand years. It was a staple ingredient in ancient Greek, Persian, and Roman civilizations.
 

Delicious Summer Recipes
Below are some recipes that I've been enjoying this summer! Hope you do as well!
 

Some of you may have read the recent Sugar & Cancer article published in the New York Times. Since then, I’ve received questions about coconut and its role in our health. Those questions helped me realize that there is considerable confusion out there about the role of coconut in our diet.
 

They look pretty, they’re healthful, and add a kick to your palate. Bitter pungency – that’s because they’re a cruciferous vegetable, simply one more reason to eat them. One cup of raw radishes has fewer than 20 calories, just four grams of carbohydrates, two of which are fiber, and provides about 30% of the daily value for immune-supporting vitamin C and small amounts of B vitamins, potassium, calcium, iron, and magnesium. And they’re packed with antioxidants. With that red/purple color, radishes can be rich in anthocyanins that are cardio-protective. Radish sprouts are a concentrated source of sulforaphane and offer quercetin, zeaxanthin, lutein, beta-carotene and other antioxidants. Seeking to increase your calcium and beta-carotene content? Eat radish leaves. Yes, the greens of the radishes are loaded with nutrient perks too.

These nutrient packed tiny morsels contain both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and are rich in minerals, fiber, and protective phytochemicals. Let’s discuss a few super seeds.
 

Carbs – Should I be eating them? Are they forbidden? Which carbs should I choose?
 
If you’ve been reading at all about carbohydrates, chances are, you’re confused. Should you eat them? Which ones are best to consume? Does it matter when you eat them? How many should you eat? And more.
 
To back up a bit, carbohydrates are our bodies primary source of energy. They are naturally found in vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, whole grains, and nuts/seeds. In these foods, carbohydrates provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and a host of protective phytochemicals.
 

Brightly colored inside and out, you know that cherries must be full of protective phytochemicals. Additionally, they’re loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and prebiotics. The fiber in cherries helps with blood sugar, cholesterol, weight management, GI motility, and perhaps more. Antioxidant-rich in vitamin A, C, and E, this low-histamine fruit also contains polyphenols, a type of phytochemical. Cherries also provide B vitamins, manganese, copper, magnesium, and vitamin K.

You hear a lot about greens, why is that? So many reasons, but to start, leafy greens are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, prebiotics, and protective phytochemicals. As excellent sources of folic acid, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin K, magnesium, potassium, and fiber, greens are arguably the most nutrient dense family of vegetables, especially cooked, when they are denser in volume than raw. Green leafy vegetables have been linked with a lower incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease - cerebral infarction, heart disease, and stroke. And, these veggies may help boost brain health. What greens are we talking about? Spinach, kale, Swiss chard, collards, bok choy, cabbage, dandelion, mustard, turnip greens, microgreens, and more.

The presence of heavy metals in foods is a hot topic that involves contamination of the food chain and potential harm to public health. When you read about possible health consequences of heavy metals, it’s frightening! Heavy metal toxicity may result in fatigue, thyroid abnormalities, mitochondrial dysfunction, autoimmune conditions, and more. Over time, cadmium exposure may lead to digestive difficulties, kidney damage, cardiovascular disease, bone damage, and cancer. Beyond impaired brain development in children, lead toxicity can lead to cardiovascular disease and cancer. High levels of arsenic can also lead to cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as diabetes and impaired cognitive development in children.
 

STRESS AND ANXIETY ARE NORMAL TO EXPERIENCE AND CAN AFFECT THE MIND AND THE BODY. BOTH CAN BE TRIGGERED WHEN EXPERIENCING A CHALLENGING OR THREATENING SITUATION, AND IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THEM. LIKE OTHER EMOTIONAL RESPONSES, IT IS BENEFICIAL TO UNDERSTAND THEM IN ORDER TO GUIDE YOU TO A SOLUTION OR A WAY TO MANAGE THE PROBLEM.