A Christian counselor's take on healing mind, body and spirit.
Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”…
As I sit here this first morning of the New Year, reflecting on 2019 and considering my hopes for 2020, one theme continues to surface: simplify. This is a concept God brings around in my life regularly; about every 2-4 years when my family gets new military orders and we pack up our home, say…
Have you ever had a day when you’ve felt just completely broken? Like nothing you do is beneficial or good, no one seems to appreciate or enjoy you, and you just make mistakes at every turn? Maybe you’ve felt that way for more than just a day – maybe it’s been a few weeks, months…
Bone broth is a staple I love to have on hand in my freezer, particularly during the cold and flu season. I can grab a jar and turn it into a healing soup full of protein and vitamins to help my family quickly and comfortably get over whatever bug we've caught. We've all believed for…
I was sitting in a counseling session one day with a married couple. They were arguing, and I was listening, watching how they interacted with each other. I was hearing harsh tones, watching their body language fluctuate between aggressive gestures and then defensive, protective ones. They were both talking, loudly, but no communication was actually…
There is a necessary overlap between nutrition and mental health when it comes to dealing with disordered eating. Disordered eating is any form of eating that causes “disorder” in a person’s life. Maybe it contributes to emotional problems, relationship difficulty, further health problems that then perpetuate the problem. Most people are familiar with the term…
I remember a time when my oldest son was 4, he was upset because he’d lost his bouncy ball. He’d been bouncing it all over the house, and it bounced away to a remote corner of some room when my son wasn’t watching. He was so distraught over the loss, he just sat on the…
Sleep is important. Adults need an average of 7-9 hours of sleep (uninterrupted) per night. Why is sleep so important? Regulating your circadian rhythm (your sleep-wake clock) underlies all mental health improvement. Our circadian rhythm is the master clock in our brain that tells our body's systems when to do what. It's connected to the…
A few months ago, my husband and I were taking a walk around the bay near us and I watched a fish jump and create ripples through the water. It was a common enough image, but it reminded me of what I’d read that morning. In the book of Joshua, there was a misunderstanding between…
It seems like even though the conversation here is about using nutrition and integrative medicine to support mental health, the topic of weight loss keeps coming up. Certainly, for many of the overweight and obese citizens of the world, doctors are emphasizing more than ever the need to get down to a healthy weight to…
