Books
CULTIVATING YOUR MICROBIOME:
Ayurvedic and Chinese Practices for a Healthy Gut and a Clear Mind
by Bridgette Shea, L.Ac., MAcOM
HealingArtsPress.com
In traditional medicine, the digestive system and microbiome are recognized as the foundation for good health. Our internal flora influences our immune system, brain function, hormonal balance, cravings, sleep, mood, inflammatory response, digestion, nutrient assimilation, and elimination. In this holistic guide to cultivating a healthy microbiome and managing gut health naturally, Bridgette Shea explores digestive functioning from the perspectives of both Western science and traditional medicine, and examines Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine principles on digestion and constitution types. She reveals how, in addition to describing what we now call the microbiome, traditional Chinese medicine also has long recognized the importance of an abdominal organ that modern science has only recently acknowledged: the mesentery, the tissues that connect and support the internal organs. Going beyond probiotics and prebiotics, the author presents practices to reestablish balance in your internal microbiome, support the mesentery, improve digestion and elimination, and restore a clear mind and strong immune system. She explains how to read your symptoms, from brain fog and fatigue to congestion and stool quality, and offers herbal remedies, acupuncture and acupressure techniques, and dietary methods to improve your internal health, including a microbiome dietary reset. Cultivating Your Microbiome shows that by changing your microbiome, you can greatly improve your physical, emotional, and mental health.
PARALLEL PERSPECTIVES:
The Brush/Lens Collaboration
by Holly Gordon and Ward Hooper
City Point Press
What do you get when you have the improbable pairing of photographer Holly Gordon and painter Ward Hooper? Parallel Perspectives: The Brush/Lens Collaboration, an eye-arresting contemporary art book, or visual memoir, featuring two popular mediums: painting and photography inspired by the Long Island landscape. Parallel Perspectives: offers seamlessly created images that work on many levels: It pays attention to tiny details yet pulses with large swaths of vibrant color. The pictures look like paintings, but could be photographs, and vice versa. Gordon finds images and builds digital layers that blend an unflinching assessment by a documentary photographer and environmentalist with a painterly sensitivity. Hooper’s loose brushstrokes capture the ever-shifting light and shadow through watercolors that are as elusive as the light.
Most curious and coincidental is the creative connection that Gordon and Hooper discovered quite by chance. Social media brought Gordon and Hooper together, combining life, loss, serendipity, and art after their similar work evolved independently over the many years. Collectively, they have nearly 100 years of experience—he with his paintbrush and she with her camera. Now their artistic relationship is an affirmation of the human spirit, pushing aging and infirmity aside while showing how artistic vision is infinite. This book compares and contrasts photography and painting with their mutual affinity for color and light. Technology changed painting with the invention of the camera in the 1860’s and today technology is changing photography, as we know it. Holly Gordon’s photography is part of the change. While painting and photography have had a frequently adversarial history, in this collaboration the relationship is confluential and transformative. This book is for anyone who cherishes treasures of stunning, memorable beauty. BTW, not so incidentally, about a dozen of Holly Gordon’s photographs have graced the covers of Creations Magazine.
HOW GOOD ARE YOU WILLING TO LET IT GET?
60 FEELGOOD Cards for Creatives, Healers, and Helpers
by Sarah Bamford Seidelmann M.D.
This Card Deck from Sarah Bamford Seidelmann M.D., Woman of Medicine, Shamanic Mentor, and author offers insightful messages and sacred wisdom. Sarah and her magnificent spirit animal, Alice, the Elephant created this card deck of inspiration to encourage creatives, healers, and helpers. Alice offers up thoughtful messages in a lighthearted (and sometimes salty) way, and Sarah adds her reflections along with a prompt and prayer. Themes include Humility, Moderation, Self-love, Family, Friendship, Creativity, Pitfalls & Quagmires, Addiction & Recovery, Dealing with Fear. Primed to help people feel supported, inspired, and uplifted, this card deck asks, “How good are YOU willing to let it get?” Sarah and Alice hope that your answer is “very good indeed!” and heartily believe this deck of feel-good cards will help you get there.
PRODUCTS
MAGICdATES
magicdatesbites.com
Known as “nature’s candy” and a powerful whole-plant superfood snack, dates are a nutrient-dense, paleo delight with prebiotic fiber! Made of only nutrientdense ingredients, MAGICdATES Energy Bites are a specially-selected variety of dates with walnuts, coconut, and cacao to bring you a chewy, crunchy, and sweet bite with just a touch of Himalayan salt. Non-GMO, Vegan and Dairy-free with no added sugar, the bites are available in six mouthwatering varieties, including Chocolate, Coconut, Lemon, Chocolate Covered Blueberry, Chocolate Covered Hazelnut and Chocolate Covered Coconut. Our fave is the Lemon…and the Coconut… and the Coconut Chocolate and … 🙂
PARMA VEGAN PARMESAN
eatparma.com
If you’ve been looking for a vegan, plant-based parmesan, alternative, you have just arrived at your destination: Parma Vegan Parmesan is a complete protein super-food that is Gluten-free, Dairy-free, and Soy-free; Non- GMO, Paleo, Keto, Kosher Certified and oh yeah, tastes great! Original Parma! has a delicious cheesy umami flavor, made from a handful of simple Ingredients — Nutritional Yeast, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Walnuts, Himalayan Crystal Salt and Organic Hemp seeds. The rest of their vegan line includes Chipotle Cayenne, Better Than Bacon, and Garlicky Green.
CHARLOTTE’S WEB CBD TOPICALS
icharlotte.com
This line is formulated without: parabens or PEGs, synthetic fragrances, artificial colors or dyes, sulfates, GMOs, sodium acrylates copolymer, carbomer, sharkderived squalane or betaine. They are also free of eight major allergens, gluten free, with no animal testing, and vegan (except for balms, which are made with vegan ingredients except for beeswax). Products include:
• Charlotte’s Web Balm and Balm Stick – Designed to target specific areas of the body that need extra care such as elbows or knees. Both are formulated with menthol, peppermint oil, turmeric oil and ginger oil. Convenient and effective.
• Charlotte’s Web Roll On – This CBD roll-on features two different essential oil aromatherapy blends. The Peppermint Roll-On is formulated with peppermint oil, menthol, eucalyptus oil, and rosemary oil. The Lavender Roll-On is a blend of lavender oil, bergamot oil, and chamomile oil. They each come in 10ml (.34oz) glass bottles with roller balls. Very nice!
OE ORGANIC ENERGY SHOT
https://oeshot.com/
Tap into Earth’s top energy authorities when you need a boost with the brand new OE Organic Energy Shot—a USDA 100% Organic Certified energy shot that contains no preservatives, no artificial additives, and no toxic chemicals! OE Shot is formulated to elevate your mind and body’s performance without harming you or the planet. Ingredients, including Green Coffee Beans, Ashwagandha, Ginger, Ginseng and Turmeric will give you pure power prior to a workout, to maintain energy balance in your day, or simply when you’re feeling sluggish. Backed by the research of Cardiologist Dr. Rasham Sandhu and Neurologist Dr. Maheep Virdi, in collaboration with Fitness Expert Pat Brown, OE Shot offers something entirely different (and better for you, says the company) than anything else on the market. The manufacturer further claims this product helps maintain energy, focus, mood and athletic performance; helps with inflammation, blood sugar, stress and anxiety, and supports immunity with antibacterial properties. Available in two flavors: Pina Colada and Mixed Berry.
