Eat Pure. Love Life.

Four leading baby food manufacturers knowingly sold baby food that contained high levels of toxic heavy metals, according to internal company documents. All of these heavy metals have been linked to cancer, chronic disease and neurotoxic effects, but it's the devastating damage that can be done to a developing baby's brain that makes baby food toxicity so critical.

When gluten enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract (which happens due to leaky gut, another thing gluten contributes to), and the immune system is alre...ady primed to attack thyroid tissue, the body then reacts and attacks, worsening symptoms in the process. This is why I always recommend a gluten-free diet to my patients with Hashimoto's and why they often see dramatic results. With a Functional Medicine approach, there are so many other steps for treating the thyroid, too. We need to address the gut, look at toxicity, deal with stress and sleep, and so much more. The thyroid plays a major role in metabolism, growth, and development, which is why so many different symptoms can ensue when hormone levels are off. Intolerance to cold, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, brain fog, constipation, depression, brittle and thinning hair, heart palpitations, irregular menstruation, and others, can all occur from an under-active thyroid. And if When Hashimoto’s is active (identified through antibody testing), the destruction of the thyroid gland continues and the immune system stays on overdrive. The good news is that the right diet and lifestyle choices can work wonders when it comes to treating and healing the thyroid. See more

We know that alcohol sales increased over the past several months during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Overall, we have seen a rise of 27% in alcohol sales off premi...ses32% for spirits, 26% for wine, and 17% for beer compared to the same period in 2019. Zoom happy hour. Family drinking games. It’s like every night has become Friday night, as one Bloomberg analyst put it. The risk of drinking alcohol are well established. Alcohol can harm every organ in the body, including your gut and immune system, and even modest amounts (3 or more servings per week) are associated with a greater risk of breast cancer in women. Importantly, alcohol can damage your lungs and cause breathing problems. Heavy drinkingdefined for men as 14+ drinks a week or 2+ a day, and in women, 8+ drinks per weekis associated with a 2-4X greater risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS, Yeligar, 2016). ARDS causes shortness of breath, lung inflammation, and an inability to breathe on your own. Patients with ARDS commonly require mechanical ventilation. The governor of South Carolina has restricted alcohol sales to try to reduce the spread of coronavirus in his state in what has been called the Last Call Executive Order. Bars and restaurants are prohibited from selling alcohol after 11 p.m. Why? Because 42% of the state’s cases have been reported in the past 2 weeks, and the age group 21-30 has had a 436% increase since June 1, according to US News and World Report. South Africa banned alcohol sales last week for the second time to contain the spread, according to the BBC News. If you want to improve immune function, stop or reduce drinking alcohol.

Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Watch Office of the California Surgeon General's Dr. Nadine Burke Harris deliver an impassioned talk about how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime.

Details how corporations manipulate science not just to defend dangerous products and activities, but also to market them as safe:

Brain body connection: how the health of your body, especially your gut, affects your brain and your mood.

If you’re lactose intolerant or sensitive to dairy, then you should avoid it at all costs. But even if you are tolerant, it shouldn’t be a major part of your di...et. Milk from conventionally raised cows is full of hormones, chemicals, and inflammatory compounds. Stay away from it, and reduce your intake of all other industrially produced cheeses or dairy products. If you suffer from digestive issues; autoimmune disease; weight gain; type 2 diabetes; PMS; infertility; heavy menstrual bleeding; skin disorders like acne, eczema, or psoriasis; allergies; sinusitis; or any chronic disease, you should avoid dairy, or at least eliminate it and then add it back to see how it affects you. That said, dairy doesn’t have to be completely off-limits. It’s fine to have some grass-fed milk, cheese, and butter from time to time-- as long as they’re full-fat, free of additives, and ethically and sustainably produced. What dairy CAN you eat? -Grass-fed whole milk in very small amounts--a splash in your coffee is okay; ideally, use goats’ milk -Grass-fed, full fat, unsweetened yogurt that contains milk and live cultures an nothing else; ideally use goat or sheep yogurt -Kefir (fermented cow’ milk), following the same rules for yogurt -Whole-milk, grass-fed cheese made with no additives -Butter or ghee, grass-fed, of course -All these products are made with goats’ milk or sheep’s milk when you can find them, but still in small amounts. See more

The statistics on depression in women are staggering. Antidepressant use in the U.S. has soared nearly 65% over the past 15 years, women experience major depres...sion twice as often as men do, and we’re 2.5x more likely than men to be on an antidepressant. In fact, 1 in 6 women is on one. Yet 50% of the women who try antidepressants report getting no benefit and 60% have no improvement even when taking them for a year. And like all medications, they come with side effects, which is why many women look to natural remedies for relief. While it’s always important to reach the roots of depression - which can include trauma, poverty, stress, diet, microbiome, chronic inflammation, and more - to find lasting solutions, herbs can be powerful supporting allies along this journey. The herbs on this post can be taken for months, or ongoing, as needed (of course, please seek appropriate medical care for severe depression), and all are safe while breastfeeding. SJW is the only one that I use during pregnancy with my patients. If you're interested in learning more about adaptogens - a subset of herbs that can be a great ally for mental health, including holy basil + eleuthero - join me tomorrow (Saturday 5/9) at 2 pm ET on Instagram Live where I'll be giving an in-depth explanation into how adaptogens work and how to incorporate them into your daily life, and answering any questions you have. If you're interested in harnessing the power of these plant allies to empower your personal health, you can learn more in Herbal Medicine for Women which is on sale for just a few more days at a discounted price. Go to avivaromm.com/hmw and learn all about it! Sending you extra love & peace as you head into Mother's Day weekend - whether you’re a mother, daughter, or both. See more

Acid blocking drugs obviously block acid that can cause symptoms of heartburn and reflux. But your body actually needs stomach acid to stay healthy. Stomach aci...d is necessary to digest protein and food, activate digestive enzymes in your small intestine, keep the bacteria from growing in your small intestine, and help you absorb important nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and vitamin B12. There’s evidence that taking these medications can prevent you from properly digesting food, cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and lead to problems like irritable bowel syndrome, depression, hip fractures, and more. For example, studies show that people who take acid-blocking medications for the long term can become deficient in vitamin B12, which can lead to depression, anemia, fatigue, nerve damage, and even dementia, especially in the elderly. These are all treatable conditions that you don’t need powerful acid blocking drugs to fix. To properly diagnose the causes of your reflux, you may need to do the following: -Ask your doctor for an H. pylori blood antibody test or breath test. -Consider a test for IgG food allergies and celiac disease. -Get a breath or urine organic acid test to check for small bowel bacterial overgrowth. -If you don’t get better with the suggestions below, consider getting an upper endoscopy or upper GI series x-ray to see if there is anything else wrong. -Try to eliminate dairy and gluten. -Eliminate alcohol, caffeine, citrus, tomato-based, and spicy foods. -Don’t eat within 3 hours before bed. - Avoid processed foods. -Eat cooked foods, like fish, chicken, cooked veggies, and rice; avoid raw food for now. -Take 2 to 3 capsules of digestive enzymes with each meal. -Re-inoculate the gut with healthy bacteria by using probiotics. -Try 75 to 150 mg of zinc carnosine twice a day between meals -Take 3 to 5 grams of glutamine powder in water twice a day to help heal the gut lining. -Chew 2 to 3 chewable tablets of DGL (a form of licorice) 15 minutes before meals. -Try 200 to 400 mg of magnesium citrate or glycinate twice a day. *Please consult your physician before trying any new supplements or treatments See more

Here are some of my favorite snacks to have on hand. You’ll see that most of them include some form of fat because healthy dietary fat is satiating and prevents... me from reaching for bad stuff. When your blood sugar starts to drop, you are hard-wired to eat anything (and everything) in sight. Thinking you can use willpower to control your hunger or cravings, contradicts the science of how your brain controls your behavior. The more willpower you use, the more it backfires, eventually. You find yourself automatically overeating and bingeing or just eating whatever happens to be in front of you. This is what I call a food emergency. Even I can fall prey to a food emergency from time to time. This is why I always recommend having an emergency food pack handy when you’re on the go. I’m on the go almost 90% of the time, so it’s important for me to have my favorite foods and snacks easily available. An emergency food pack almost guarantees that you won’t make disastrous food choices. See more

By now you have probably read reports or even studies on the use of intravenous Vitamin C in hospitals in China and here in the US to treat patients with COVID-...19. It is important to note that no supplement, including Vitamin C, will cure or prevent COVID-19. However, with all that we do know about the value of Vitamin C: its role as an antioxidant and the positive effect on the immune system (Nutrients 2017, 9(11), 1211; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9111211) it makes sense to boost your C intake. Dose: For adults, the recommended daily amount for vitamin C is 65 to 90 milligrams (mg) a day, and the upper limit is 2,000 mg a day. I recommend a dose of 1000-2000 mg per day. Large doses of vitamin C are low risk, however, in some people, they may cause loose stool. I always recommend a food first approach and supplement where necessary to fill in the gaps. Those gaps may be larger at the moment if your supply of fresh fruits and vegetables is limited. But if you can find a supply of fresh veggies, here are some of the ones that have a high Vitamin C content. If you have been following me for any length of time, you know that one of my recommendations is a pound of veggies a day. I prefer to get my supply of C from veggies, whenever possible. Blended veggies count towards your daily intake of 1 pound. According to the USDA’s FoodDataCentral here is the approximate Vitamin C content for the following veggies: PEPPERS Yellow Bell Pepper - 1 large pepper - 341 mg of Vit C Red Bell Pepper - 1 large pepper - 209 mg Green Bell Pepper - 1 large pepper - 132 mg Chili Peppers - 15 gms (about 1 tbsp of chopped raw chili) contain approx 21.2 mg of Vit C GREENS & CRUCIFEROUS Mustard Spinach - 1 cup of mustard spinach - 195 mg Kale - Raw 1 cup - 60 mg 1 cup of Kale cooked with oil - 53.1 mg Broccoli Raw - 1 cup = 78.5 mg 1 cup of cooked broccoli florets - 73.5 mg Brussel Sprouts - 1 cup cooked with oil - 95.8 mg Cabbage - cup chopped raw green cabbage - 32.6 mg 1 cup chopped raw red cabbage - 50.7 mg HERBS Thyme 1 tsp of fresh thyme - 1.28 mg Parsley - 1 cup of chopped fresh parsley - 79.8 mg of Vit C What’s your favorite way to eat these veggies?

Our concern for a growing baby often starts when we get pregnant, but given the toxic load most of us carry around, we should be thinking about detox if/as we think about getting ready to conceive.

More research on the benefits of omega-3 supplementation, this time for the men-folk.

PSA: You can’t physically gain a few lbs of fat in a day.