Recently I heard that a family member in her early 50s was being seen by a doctor for DVT and that she was hoping that there was a more natural way of dealing with it than the medications her doctor was prescribing. When I had digested this scrap of family ''information,'' I thought about my own lax position (denial, really) and how it would make sense for me to make some changes in my life while I still have some shreds of health and potential fitness. And, of course, I have inherited my mother's compulsive pop reading habit (in my case, the Internet mostly). So, I decided to research and write an article that would incorporate some preventative and alternative health principles into my life that might make DVT somewhat less likely to catch up with me than is likely the case now. I would also like to see our family member above and others benefit from these principles if they decide that they want to. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a critical health concern that af
HOW THIS SPELT AND OAT FOCACCIA RECIPE CAME TO BE: One day I was browsing the flour shelves in my favorite health food store when another shopper sighed in frustration and gestured at an empty shelf. Evidently it had been the Spelt Flour shelf, which was now 'sold out'. We entered into one of those conversations based on shopper bonhomie. We both liked spelt flour. It is an ancient grain, but has almost a 1:1 ability to be used in the place of bread flour or all purpose flour, even though it is technically a "whole grain flour" like whole wheat-- but sooo different in its baking profile from whole wheat. It has quite a high gluten quantity, but doesn't require as much kneading. In fact, if you over-mix spelt flour, you end up with that stringy quality that says "high protein" (or rubber bands). It has a nice nutty flavor (again, unlike whole wheat), and a sort of "soft cake-y" texture in some baking. And it is high in fibre-- definitely a pl