
sharing my experience & insight into living my healthiest life, as a naturopathic doctor, mom, & wife
Protecting and Restoring Your Child’s Gut Health When They Need Antibiotics
Antibiotics are life-saving medications, but on the other hand, they’re overused. Antibiotics are overprescribed, especially in children, for conditions that don’t require or respond to antibiotics, such as viral ear infections and colds. I’m always against the use of antibiotics when they’re unnecessary; however, there are times where they are necessary. I anticipated that if…
Maeve’s ‘Real Food’ Birthday Cake
We celebrated our daughter’s first birthday this week! A first birthday is such a special celebration of growth, development, milestones, parenthood, breastfeeding (if we chose to), and learning (on both ends!). I wanted to share Maeve’s birthday cake! After researching a couple recipes for inspiration, I made my own rendition on a ‘real food’ birthday…
Feeding Little Ones: Starting Solid Foods
Introducing solid foods is an exciting milestone for your little one! There are several methodologies of introducing solids, including which foods to start with, when to begin, how to serve the food, etc. The goal of this article is to share and summarize some evidence, and what worked well for our daughter, Maeve. When to…
Plant-Based Diets & Meatless Alternatives on the Rise: A Naturopathic Doctor’s Take
Plant-based diets have been increasing in popularity as research shows its potential health benefits in favorably altering metabolic parameters, such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, blood sugar, hemoglobin A1C, blood lipid levels, and more. While including more ‘plants’ into your diet (vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains) is undoubtedly a healthy step for someone…
Breastfeeding: Benefits, Challenges, Pumping, & Products
Breastmilk is designed to be the ideal and exclusive food for a baby’s first six months. A fed baby is most important, but if you are able to breastfeed, breast milk trumps formula in every way. There are innumerable benefits to breastfeeding for almost any length of time (some degree of benefit is typically observed…
Natural Postpartum Recovery
Having a tiny, precious baby, while healing from birth is an extremely trying, yet incredibly rewarding, season of life. It’s filled with so much change, adaptation, intense emotions, new responsibilities, learning, love, and joy. Physical healing during the first several weeks after giving birth is a slow and gradual process. I had prepared for the…
Important Supplements for Newborns
There are so many things we can do to improve the health of our children, even while we’re pregnant and when they’re newborns. I’ve shared some guidelines on nutritional supplementation during pregnancy in another post, but now I want to focus on nutritional supplements to consider for babies. Breast Milk is Foundational Breast milk is…
6 Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fats
Omega-3s are the healthy fats we find in fish, flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and grass-fed meats. The primary omega-3 fatty acids are EPA and DHA. EPA modulates our body’s inflammatory response, while DHA plays a role in the health of our brain, nervous system, and eyes. Most Americans don’t get enough omega-3 fats in…
Maeve’s Homebirth
The Story On June 28th, 2019, I was ten days past my due date. Up until today, I had no signs of labor coming soon, except for some Braxton Hicks contractions. I was a little nervous that my body wasn’t going to go into labor naturally before 42 weeks; however, today was different. I started…
Dr. Alex’s Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy
Pregnancy Pregnancy is a beautiful and exciting time in a woman’s life, with the anticipation of bringing a new life into the world! It’s also a time that presents changes and challenges – physically and emotionally. If you lack motivation to make healthy changes in your life, being pregnant, or potentially becoming pregnant, can be…
Breast Cancer on Long Island: 12 Evidence-Based Steps to Reduce Your Risk
Currently, one out of every eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer at some point during their life.1 Lately, there has been much attention given to the high and growing rates of breast cancer on Long Island, New York. In the early 2000s, a federally-mandated study – The Long Island Breast Cancer Study…
Lose Weight by Getting Better Sleep: 6 Simple Steps
An Overview There are several factors that must be considered in order to successfully lose weight and maintain a healthy weight, such as food intake, physical activity level, health conditions, and stress. Another important factor that is not often considered is sleep. Good quality sleep is important for several facets of our health, and it…
Infertility & Thyroid Health
An Overview of Infertility & Thyroid Health It’s currently estimated that 12.1% of women in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 44 have trouble conceiving and becoming pregnant.1 A diagnosis of infertility can be made after one year of unprotected intercourse in women under 35, and after six months in women over 35. Although…
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