Author Archives: Maria Atwood, CNHP

Precious, Ancient Liquid: A Primer on Essential Oil

Essential oils

My fascination with essential oils began many years ago, when I was making a meal that included lots of jalapeño peppers. Absentminded as to the power of essential oils, I proceeded to cut and scrape out the seeds with my bare hands! Within a few minutes, they were literally on fire with a type of […]

Coconut Oil for Dental Health and Neurodegenerative Disorders

Teeth X-Ray

A recent journey into the book Stop Alzheimer’s Now, by Dr. Bruce Fife, ND, led me to start telling everyone, everywhere: please read this book! There’s almost too much wonderful information to describe, so I won’t even try except to recommend that you read it and take it to heart. But for now, I want […]

Chronic and End Stage Illness: How You Can Help

End Stage

Do you have a chronically or terminally ill person in your life who you’d like to help but simply don’t know how? Do you ever wonder what you can do to make that person feel better or encourage him or her to hang in there? Years ago, after starting my small nutritional practice, I hoped […]

Super Raw Tips for Flavorful Ferments

Orangina

I am deeply interested not only in your health individually but in the efficiency and welfare of your families. It is particularly important in these times of industrial and financial stress that children shall not suffer defects, which may mark and handicap them for their entire life. —Dr. Weston A. Price So wrote the author […]

Consistency: The Link to Profound Success in Any Field

We don’t need to be creative at a master level to gain benefits; we need only lose ourselves in the passionate involvement of whatever it may be that entrances us. Whenever we do something we love, the energy we tap into is more powerful than science’s arsenal of drugs. —Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins […]

Let’s Take a Closer Look at Calcium

Few supplements are taken as often—and used as improperly—as calcium. Dishonest peddlers have made millions of dollars by hyping this precious mineral. They give false hope to those who suffer from calcium deficiency, which creates a real dilemma for many holistic practitioners. In this short educational presentation, I’ll explain why. I have to admit that […]

In Memory of Jerry Brunetti—1950–2014

Jerry Brunetti is known to many of us that are members of the Weston A. Price Foundation; he was also an honorary board member of the foundation. He was a highly demanded lecturer and speaker, both nationally and internationally, on topics that included soil fertility, animal nutrition, and livestock health. He passionately proclaimed to his […]

Gifts with Real Benefits

The first Christmas after my mom passed away, I went through her boxes and found lovely crochet handiwork that I loved and cherished dearly. I carefully pulled out one of the more beautiful pieces and packaged it to give to a member of the family, who sent me a thank you note in return. However, […]

Relaxation: The Cure-All Vitamin

Some years back I saw a survey of several thousand people who were asked what they considered their greatest blessing. The majority indicated “A good night’s sleep!”   I don’t disagree. Thinking back to when I was privileged to meet Sally Fallon Morell for the first time, my most poignant memory is proudly holding onto […]

Senior Nutrition: Can We Truly Have Wellness as We Age?

I recently received a letter from a lifelong friend, and it was so poignant that I thought to share parts of it with my readers. As she related her current conditions to me, I could identify with her to some degree, but fortunately not to the full extent. For the purposes of this blog post, […]

The Real Thanksgiving Story…and Some Great Nourishing Traditions Recipes

Among the many things I’ve read over time that left a big impact on me, there’s one I’ve been saving to share with my readers. It’s about one of our most loved American traditions: Thanksgiving.  A big thanks to Richard J. Marbury for bringing us up to date on what the first Thanksgiving was really […]

Holistic Practitioners: Teachers, Movers, and Shakers

A career in holistic health—could it be in your future? Having just returned from the super charged Standard Process seminar Back To School for Doctors 2014, I simply had to blog on the experience. With the mind-boggling advances being made in the holistic health field, Mark Anderson spoke about things that one could only dream […]

Ancient Grain Primer: Taking a Closer Look at Nutrient Dense Grains

I recently had the privilege to write an article for the Weston A. Price Foundation titled “To Gluten or Not to Gluten,” and I was amazed to see so many responses of the not-so- favorable type. It didn’t take long to realize that I’d touched a very sensitive nerve with my suggestion that we stop […]

Practice Forgiveness: One Very Important Dietary Guideline from the Weston A. Price Foundation

While slowly absorbing and incorporating the 20 dietary guidelines recommended by Sally Fallon Morrell and the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) into my life, I always found the final guideline totally astonishing—“Practice Forgiveness.” But isn’t forgiveness related to some form of spiritual or emotional work? Not that the other 19 guidelines hold any less importance […]

How Do You “NT” a Recipe?

NT a recipe

You’re probably scratching your head about now and wondering if the writer has lost it! After all, what kind of title is that for a blog post? But hang in there and let me explain. By now many of you know that NT is short for the Sally Fallon cookbook Nourishing Traditions. But to many […]

In Memoriam: Mary G. Enig

Mary G. Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon Morell of the Weston A. Price Foundation. One of our great’s, Mary G. Enig, has left us, and so it’s a sad day and a time to pause and give thanks for the enormous contribution provided by this doctor, along with Sally Fallon Morell, that has started the […]

The Beauty of the Beet

Growing up, I remember my mother—an avid gardener—going out early on Saturday mornings to snatch up some of her gorgeous burgundy colored beets for Sunday dinner. She always picked them on Saturday as they were considered a hard vegetable that needed to be cooked the day before. My mother insisted on boiling the whole beets […]

Yes, It Takes Two to Tango

Dr. Royal Lee and Dr. Weston A. Price My main interest—and for the most part the subject matter of my musings and writings—is nutrient dense foods. Yet I realized at one point while running my small practice that if I was going to help my clients learn to heal using food and diet, I would […]

In Defense of Wheat

“After a while the young man sat up and looked at the heavens, at the twinkling white stars, and then away across the shadows of round hills in the dusk. …The dreaming hills with their precious rustling wheat meant more than even a spirit could tell. Where had the wheat come from that had seeded […]