Yes, reported cancer rates have risen in recent decades. Cancer now touches many of us, be it through family members, friends, or our own health experiences. Understandably, this reality and the associated media attention has created a lot of fear. But what the media doesn’t emphasize is that the majority of cancer is caused by “diet & lifestyle” and environmental factors rather than genetic heredity, which in fact accounts for only 2 – 10% of all cancers.
In other words, there are many things you can do to enhance your overall health, and dramatically decrease your risk of developing cancer or a recurrence of cancer.
Join Dr Mahalia Freed, ND, to learn more about concrete ways that you can not only reduce your risk of cancer, but live a healthier, richer, more fulfilling life.
Register through Gilda’s Club, Toronto, to reserve your space. Call 416-214-9898.
Let’s go outside and play! Join me, Mahalia Freed ND, for an herb identification and plant story-sharing walk. The medicine we need is in our backyards, in our laneways, and in the green spaces throughout Toronto. Learn how to find it, and what deep healing it offers! From pregnancy tonic to allergy relief, heart medicine to liver support, our city is rich in medicine. This walk will cover plant identification, as well as the medicinal and energetic actions of the plants we find.
This salad is build around a spicy cilantro pesto recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Lorna Sass’ Complete Vegetarian Kitchen. Thank you, Lorna, for the many tasty meals you have contributed to since I bought this book in 1999! Find her book here: http://lornasass.com/cookbooks/complete-vegetarian-kitchen It is a valuable kitchen resource for tasty and wholesome vegan meal ideas, or for a primer on how to cook beans or grains, or how to assemble an awesome salad, every time.
1 batch Cilantro Pesto (recipe below)
1 can black beans (Eden is BPA-free) or 2 cups cooked black beans (about 1 cup soaked and simmered)
1 cup raw quinoa, cooked in 2 cups water
1 large carrot, grated
1 red pepper, diced
1 stalk broccoli, cut into bite size florets/pieces and steamed
sprouts if you have some on hand
avocado if you have some on hand
whatever other veggie you are inspired to add
Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water with a bit of salt. While quinoa is cooking, chop veggies and put into salad bowl, leaving the avocado aside. Make the pesto. Remember that quinoa cooks faster than rice and take it off the heat when it is done (about 15-20 minutes)! Letting it sit with the lid on for a few minutes helps make it fluffy. Combine all ingredients (except avocado) and toss. Add avocado to individual bowls.
Serve warm for a 1-bowl week-night dinner, and pack up leftovers for a delicious – if garlicky – lunch.
“Coriander Pesto”
From Lorna Sass’ Complete Vegetarian Kitchen
Cilantro is not only delicious, and cleanse-friendly, it also supports detoxification as it nourishes.
Note from Lorna: Great served over plain boiled beans or grains, or on bean and grain salads.
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice, approximately
1 cup tightly packed minced fresh cilantro (coriander)
1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts or sunflower seeds, finely chopped
1 large clove minced fresh garlic (or more to taste)
1 tsp mild chili powder
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp sea salt, or to taste
In a food processor or jar, combine all the ingredients.
Use immediately or store in a well-sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
This quick, simple dish is flavourful, and deeply nourishing.
If you have shied away from Shiitake mushrooms in the past, now is a chance to enjoy them. Their rich flavor provides an ideal counterpoint to the bitter freshness of Dandelions. Shiitakes are immune-enhancing and antiviral. For more about Dandelions, see http://dandelionnaturopathic.ca/weeds-as-nourishing-spring-food-dandelion-greens/ .
Ingredients
1/2 lb or so of fresh Shiitake mushrooms, sliced (can use dried – soak in just-boiled water first)
1 large bunch dandelion greens, washed and chopped (or substitute kale or collard greens)
1 large onion or 2 small onions, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger (optional)
1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
Instructions
Heat olive oil in a sauté pan. Sauté onions, garlic and ginger in oil, adding water as needed, until onions are very soft. Add salt, shiitakes, with more water if needed, and let simmer at medium heat, covered, for about 8 minutes. Add dandelion greens/kale/collards and more water if needed, cover, and continue saute/simmering until greens are cooked (about 5 min).
Dandelions, ubiquitous indicators of warmer weather, are perfectly positioned to support our health – especially our livers – through the transition to spring.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
The greens are deeply nourishing. Rich in vitamins and minerals including beta-carotene, B vitamins, calcium, iron, and potassium, dandelion greens have an alkalinizing effect on the body. These much-maligned weeds are safely diuretic, and contain nutrients that specifically support detoxification pathways via the kidneys and the liver. Additionally, their bitter flavor stimulates digestive function, from the stomach down to the intestines, including stimulating bile production in the liver. For those of you thinking of a spring cleanse, guess what? Dandelion is truly a detoxifier, as enhancing bile production allows for enhanced elimination of wastes from the body.
Find dandelion greens at your local supermarket, or harvest them from any chemical-free patch of grass. If harvesting, note that they get more bitter as the season goes on.
Feeling sluggish or tired? Sick of being sick? Ready to be proactive about your health?
Spring into optimal health as the seasons change! In this presentation, Drs Angela Warburton TCM and Mahalia Freed, ND, will share tips for undertaking a safe and successful cleanse that is manageable for you. Learn the what, why, who and how of detoxification and cleansing. Explore the role of the liver in eastern and western medical traditions as a central organ of detoxification. Nourish yourself with a liver loving cleanse for spring!
Please Preregister via Whole Foods to Reserve your Spot: 416-944-0500
Hay fever (also known as seasonal allergies or allergic rhinitis) is estimated to affect 10-20 % of the population in developed countries. Hay fever occurs when your immune system overreacts to airborne particles, most commonly the pollens of trees, grass, and ragweed. The unfortunately familiar list of symptoms includes runny & itchy nose, itchy, red, watery eyes, sneezing and congestion. People who suffer from seasonal allergies are more likely to develop asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, ear infections, and other complications. Interestingly, there is also new research suggesting a link between seasonal allergies and depression. Naturopathic medicine offers a variety of treatments that can effectively manage symptoms and bring resolution, with individual plans drawing on nutrition, herbal medicine, constitutional homeopathy and acupuncture. One of my personal favorite herbs is a star in treating allergies, and it is profiled below. Continue reading →
Like Forsythias in their opera of yellow, and magnolias in their pink or white blossom-song, fiddlehead season is short, sometimes only 2 weeks. Fiddleheads are wild, their joy fleeting, their origin and taste unique. The fiddlehead is the new growth of an ancient plant family, the ferns. While there are many species of ferns, the fiddleheads available in Ontario markets in late April or early May are usually those of the Ostrich Fern. Interestingly, fiddleheads resist cultivation (they prefer swampy edges of woods), and are one of the few commercially available wild-crafted foods. Fiddleheads taste like…themselves. Some people compare their flavor to a combination of asparagus, green beans and okra. They are great on their own, in pasta salad, in frittata, lightly pickled, with other delicious seasonal veggies. The joy of eating fiddleheads, though, goes beyond their fresh green flavor and nutrient density: There is also the satisfaction we get from being in alignment with what is local and in season – an intellectual satisfaction born of making an ethical, politically-correct food choices, but also a purely physical one, as we nourish our bodies with truly spring food. Increase veggie variety in your diet, join the local seasonal bandwagon, support internal detoxification: try fiddleheads this year! Below is a recipe to get you started. Continue reading →
Yes, there is a connection between hormonal balance and exposure to pesticides and certain plastics. That connection is xenoestrogens, an ever-expanding group of synthetic chemicals similar enough to our own estrogens that our bodies respond to them, but foreign enough that we cannot adequately get rid of them. They can build up in our bodies, stimulating estrogen-sensitive tissues and throwing off our delicate hormone balance. Xenoestrogens are linked to breast growth in prepubescent girls, gynecological concerns such as PMS, hot flashes, endometriosis and fibroids, and have clearly been shown to enhance the growth of breast cancer tumors. Studies also suggest that xenoestrogens decrease sperm counts in men, contribute to increased rates of testicular cancer and affect developing reproductive systems in utero. Thus, effective treatment & resolution of any of the above concerns must address this class of chemicals.
