Joyful Cooking

It is always a delight to discover a cookbook that speaks to the pleasure of cooking for health--and not just to indulging the eyes and tongue!  It's even better still when the author specifically addresses children's health and ways for parents to improve the food on offer at home.

Joyful Cooking by Joy Feldman is my latest discovery. Though my focus is usually on TCM and Ayurveda, occasionally a Western approach to nutrition is so compelling in its wisdom or simplicity that I veer in that direction. As my first beloved TCM doctor and teacher, Dr. Henry Woo, said, "East plus West is best".

Swimming in the Bliss of Natural Childbirth

Swimming in the Bliss of Natural Birth

Choosing home birth as a 

first-time 42-year old mother

I’d always imagined a natural birth.  In  our 20’s my cousin, Christina, and I would joke and laugh about squatting in the shade of a tree to have our babies--and we were just joking...but not completely.

Through my 30’s I watched not one or two, but almost all my friends enthusiastically enter the hospital in labor, having claimed for nine months that they would have a natural birth, and saw them come out 2-10 days later having been induced, forced to labor on their back, drugged, cut, observed by countless strangers, having had their babies taken from them immediately after birth, having nursing problems, and having been given food I would call toxic.

If you’d asked them ahead of time if that would have been their story,  Read Full Article Published in Holistic Networker

ALLIE CHEE has studied Asian martial and healing arts since 1989, earning a 2nd degree black belt and certification in TCM nutrition; she is a 42-year old home birth mom; and author of NEW MOTHER: Using a Doula, Midwife, Postpartum Doula, Maid, Cook, or Nanny to Support Healing, Bonding and Growth; and FREE LOVE: Everyday Ideas for Joyful Living.

Her articles have appeared in The Well Being Journal, The Holistic Networker, The Birthing Site, and MidwiferyToday.  

Website: www.alliechee.com  Facebook: www.facebook.com/AllieChee 

SITTING MOON: Book review + Author interview

Sitting Moon: A Guide to Natural Rejuvenation After Pregnancy

How does a woman quickly and safely rejuvenate after childbirth, provide well  for her baby, get back to her old energy level, and back into her old jeans? Have a sitting moon!

Sitting Moon?

In use for thousands of years, the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, indicating the phase of the moon. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), to rejuvenate after childbirth a woman should rest for approximately one month, or one “moon”. Thus we have the title of the new book from Dr. Daoshing Ni and Jessica Chen about natural postpartum rejuvenation, Sitting Moon.
In a country where woman are often back on their feet and running soon after giving birth, one month’s rest may sound shocking, but this practice