Healthy Eating Buzzwords and What You Actually Need to Know

There are so many buzzwords when it comes to healthy eating - clean, organic, non-GMO, etc.- but how do you know what these terms actually mean and if it’s something you should even pay attention to? Today we’re going to dive into what you need to know to make an informed decision for your family. 

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Have you ever found yourself wandering around the grocery store, trying to make healthy choices for your family, only to be confused by all of the labels placed all over the boxes or hanging over the aisle? Well, you aren’t alone. Food makers have started adding tons of different labels to their products - some of them are important and some are just marketing to fit into the latest health trend. So, how do you know which is which? Unfortunately, it’s not as straightforward as any of us wish that it was, but I’m hoping that what I share here with you today will help clear it up a bit. 

3 of the most confusing food labels:   

GMO - it means that this crop has been genetically altered to make it more resistant to environmental factors or pests. Concerns about GMOs are that they can add to overall body toxicity, allergies and sensitivities, and could possibly contribute to cancer risk.                                                                                                                                                   

A lot of packaged foods and ingredients are common GMO crops such as sugar, corn, soybean, canola, and cottonseed oils as well as ingredients commonly used in animal feed (so what your meat is eating). 

Organic - this term has a lot more complexities in what it can mean. There are many different artificial ingredients used in food production that come with concern especially for things like allergies and sensitivities, contributing to cancer risks and DNA damage, as well as an overall negative effect on gut health and detox pathways.

When referring to produce it means that only allowed synthetic chemicals or preservatives have been used (about 25 different ones allowed vs 900 allowed in conventional produce) and that any chemical used went through testing that proved that it wasn’t harmful to human health or the health of the environment, as well as that the farming practices used passed the organic standards set by the USDA. 

When referring to packaged foods it means that the products contain none of the following: artificial dyes, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, partially or hydrogenated oils, BHT/BHA (hormone), GMOs (specifically important with corn, sugar, soy, canola, and cotton), glyphosate sprayed crops, added hormones, antibiotics, glyphosate by-products or GMOs used for animal feed. It also means that if any herbicide/pesticide was used they followed organic standards and rules. 

Natural Flavors - this one is super confusing and seems to be in everything. It could consist of approximately 2500 different ingredients. The FDA has some standards that say it must be derived from an animal or plant, however, that’s a very broad category. It also means that GMOs or chemically treated ingredients can be included as “natural”. 

Other common labels to watch out for: 

Natural - this term is completely unregulated and therefore could mean anything or nothing. 

Zero / Low calorie or Zero / Low sugar - look at that label. In order to make something zero-calorie, it has most likely been stripped of any actual food or nutrients and is full of artificial ingredients instead. This also applies to low / no sugar labels. If they aren’t using sugar, what are they using to sweeten it? Most likely something artificial. 

High in protein - this is a completely subjective term so it could mean anything. It likely refers to a ratio of carbs to protein and means that it’s not super high in carbs compared to protein. A lot of people have different protein intake goals based on health goals, but generally for adults, specifically for women, I recommend shooting for 20-30g of protein per meal - so think about all of the components of that meal and what the total protein would be. That should get you in a generally good place for your overall daily protein intake.

Here are a few of my top tips for navigating these confusing terms:

1. Pay attention to the ingredient list, not just the nutrition facts. A lot of times we think we are making healthy decisions if the item has good protein or low sugar, but that isn’t always true. Do you recognize most of the ingredients as real food? Are there 30 ingredients? Are the first few ingredients one of those common GMO crops? If so, look for a better alternative. 

2. Stick to buying organic produce for the dirty dozen and don’t worry about the other produce items. This frees up money in your grocery budget for buying the organic versions of other foods like meat/dairy as well as those packaged foods that contain the commonly modified crops that we talked about earlier - sugar, corn, soy, canola, and cottonseed oils, as well as any product containing wheat as it is not a GMO crop but it is one of the crops most commonly sprayed with glyphosate. 

3. If you’re buying a product that includes “natural flavors” which most do, make sure it also has an organic label so that you can at least know that a lot of the artificial things that we want to avoid like GMOs, dyes, preservatives, etc. can’t be it. 

There are so many more things that I could share about food labeling with you but I wanted to really focus on the most common ones today. If you’re wanting to hear more about healthy eating and how to make healthy - yet realistic - food choices, check out Episode 70 to learn how I do meal planning or Episode 90 for tips on making healthy eating choices at parties and in social settings. 

I hope that this has helped make food labels a little less confusing and you walk away from this episode feeling more educated and empowered to make food choices for your family. 

If you’re looking for more ideas for healthy meals, I have a few resources that I think you will love. You can download my Healing Foods Guide as well as my recipe ebook “Easy, Healthy Eats” by clicking here.

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What to Focus on to Improve Your Health in the New Year

Hi, friends, and Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and made some great memories. We had a sweet Christmas this year and really soaked up our last Christmas together as a family of three. We have a lot of new and exciting things coming up this new year, so I loved a little quiet downtime before all of that. Now, we’re switching gears and getting into that time of year when people are a little more focused on their health and often setting some new goals for themselves, so today, I want to share what I believe to be a few of the most effective ways to really improve your health in the new year. 

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Have you already set your goals for 2023? Most of the time when people, especially women, set goals for themselves, they include some kind of health-related goal. Often it can be related to weight or something about their bodies that they’re wanting to change. I love goal setting and think that when done in a healthy way, it can be really helpful and effective, but one thing that I’ve noticed working with women on their health, is that they often don’t really know what to focus on or they find themselves focusing on something that’s kind of arbitrary and often just leaves them frustrated and burnt out after a few weeks. If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know that I don’t love focusing on weight as a goal because weight is affected by so many things and a healthy weight doesn’t follow a perfect, easy formula, which leaves most women feeling frustrated. It’s also possible to lose a lot of weight and still be really unhealthy - not to mention how it can negatively affect body image and mental/emotional health. So, if focusing on weight isn’t a good idea, what should you focus on if you are really wanting to see improvements in your health? Well, I’m glad you asked because I have a few thoughts to share with you on that. :) 

Stabilize your blood sugar

The first area I believe should be prioritized is stabilizing your blood sugar. I talk about blood sugar a lot on this podcast and when working with my clients because it affects so many things in the body. Every cell in your body is dependent on glucose for energy and it fuels many functions of the body, but when it becomes dysregulated it can increase your risks for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, immune system dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, nerve damage, metabolism issues, decreased brain health, and so much more. It’s not something to ignore and can lead to serious health issues, yet many, many people walk around with very unstable blood sugar levels and don’t think much about it. You may not even know that you have dysregulated blood sugar but you may be more familiar with some of the common symptoms such as mid-day energy crashes, headaches, irritability, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, slow wound healing, skin issues, fatigue, dizziness, irregular menstrual cycles, fertility challenges, and more. 

Untreated blood sugar dysregulation can contribute to insulin resistance - a condition where the cells of the body become desensitized to insulin, leading the pancreas to produce more and more insulin in order for the cells to respond and be able to take in the needed glucose. This leads to high levels of both insulin and glucose in the body, which also leads to increased fat storage, blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. These dysfunctions within the body lead to an increased risk for heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and just overall increased damage to the body. 

So you can see how this one area of your health that may seem like not a big deal can actually affect your health in really negative ways or when managed well can create a solid foundation for better overall health. 

I have a few other episodes about ways to improve blood sugar regulation, so I’m not going to go deep into that in this episode - go listen to episode 17 or check out my online course if you are looking for more info on how to do this. I also have a brand new resource that is a great tool for anyone, but especially anyone working on blood sugar regulation. You can download my new Healthy Eating Food Formula Guide for free on my website or in my Instagram bio. It gives you the exact formula to follow to create any meal or snack that will support blood sugar balance while also leaving you feeling full without energy crashes or cravings. My favorite thing about this new guide is that it gives you the tools to create healthy meals on your own, with the foods that you enjoy rather than giving you a strict regimen of foods to eat that leave you feeling dissatisfied and bored. Download the Healthy Eating Food Formula Guide here.

I could talk about blood sugar all day, but let’s move on! 

Improve your Gut Health 

The next area that I believe should be prioritized and will have one of the largest impacts on your overall health is prioritizing gut health. Is anyone surprised by this? Probably not! :)

You have heard me say this many times but you cannot have poor gut health and optimal overall health. It’s just not possible! The gut affects everything in the body - some areas are obvious like digestion and metabolism but a lot of areas that you may not think of, like mental health - depression, anxiety, mood imbalances; skin health - allergies, sensitivities, acne, eczema; immune health and autoimmunity; hormone health - hormonal conditions and imbalances, reproductive health and fertility; weight management and ability to regulate weight; even genetic patterns that can affect your kids and their kids. It’s unlikely to think of an area of health or function of the body that isn’t either directly or indirectly affected by gut health. 

So how do you know if your gut health needs attention or to be improved? Well if you’re breathing and haven’t already taken time to focus on improving your gut health, then this is most likely something that you can benefit from. Our “guts' ' run from our nose/mouth all the way through our digestive tract to the other end of us. It houses the majority of our microbiome - an ecosystem made up of trillions of microbes, including different viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other organisms. Studies have proven that there are more of these microbes in our bodies than human DNA cells - isn’t that insane? Just like in any other ecosystem, there needs to be a balance of the types of microbes within our microbiome. Some are more beneficial and some are more opportunistic and can lead to dysfunction within the system when there is an imbalance (also called Dysbiosis). Our current lifestyles of processed foods, excessive sugar, chronic stress, lack of sleep, lack of nutrients - especially B vitamins and vitamin D, and increased usage of meds like antibiotics, oral contraceptives, and antacid/PPI meds all have detrimental effects on that balance and often wipe out the good or beneficial microbes, allowing the pathogenic or opportunistic ones to thrive. Even some things completely out of our control like how we were birthed and fed as babies can trigger an imbalance in our microbiome. 

When this imbalance occurs, it can lead to all kinds of uncomfortable symptoms that you may be familiar with: gas, bloating, constipation/diarrhea, abdominal pain, unexplained weight gain/loss, mood imbalances, brain fog, skin issues like acne or eczema, chronic yeast infections, hormonal imbalances, infertility. When left untreated dysbiosis can eventually contribute to more serious conditions that I mentioned above. 

The concept of improving your gut health may feel overwhelming or daunting but it really isn’t. Following the functional medicine protocol allows you to calm and heal any inflammation of the gut while also supporting the rebalancing of the microbiome. Working with a professional trained in gut health who can lead you through the process will make it even more simple. 

The last area of health that I want to talk about today may feel like a super simple one but it’s one that makes such a huge difference and that is…

Move your body

Moving your body. I know - exercise is something that every health professional talks about and tons of fitness programs are built on, and yet it’s something that a lot of us just overlook. Even knowing all of the benefits of moving my body, it’s always been a struggle for me to be consistent in exercising, but it’s also been one of the biggest “needle movers” for me. Not just in a weight goal or something like that, but regularly moving your body is one of the most effective ways to improve both your blood sugar balance and your gut health! It’s part of the “S” triad (Sweat -or moving your body, sleep, and stress management) that is included in my course - Move Forward, Feel Better (more on that later). I chose to focus on the “Sweat” portion of that triad here because exercise is one of the ways to improve sleep and help the body deal with stress. 

Exercise has just so many benefits. As I already mentioned it helps improve gut health and support healthy blood sugar - which if you remember affects most systems and functions of the body - but let’s just highlight a few benefits like increased energy, increased happiness, improved mood, improved detoxification, improved digestion, and gut motility, increased cardiovascular endurance and overall strength which leads to fewer injuries, improved immune response, improved mental clarity and an overall better outlook on life. 

We all need to be prioritizing moving our bodies each day for at least 10-15 minutes and building up to a longer amount of time. The beautiful thing about exercise is that it can look so many different ways. You can totally customize it to your preferences and schedule. Just make sure to prioritize it and have some accountability for it. You can find a lot more ideas and information on exercise in episodes 15, 46, 53, and 87. I’ll link to those in the show notes. 

So there you have it - three areas that I believe have the biggest impact on your overall health. If you’re looking to actually improve your health in 2023 and take action that has positive effects on your health and makes a lasting difference, I encourage you to focus on these three areas. Most likely whatever area of your health that you are wanting to improve or change will be positively affected and improved.

As a resource to help you know how to focus on these areas that I’ve talked about today, I’m offering 30% off of my Move Forward, Feel Better Course that walks you step-by-step through the process of how to stabilize blood sugar, improve gut health, prioritize those lifestyle factors that I mentioned like sleep, stress, and movement, as well as module all about having a healthy mindset and setting optimal health goals for yourself that will actually lead you to success. It’s a 4-module course that you can do at your own pace that fits your schedule and includes downloadable worksheets to help you apply what you learn to your life and health. For the next two weeks only, you can purchase the course for 30% off making it only $55! That’s the price of one nice meal out or a new sweater at your favorite boutique. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn the tools you need to improve your health! 

What You Should Know About Essential Oils

Hi friends! In this episode, I’m talking about a topic that I really enjoy - Essential Oils! They have been all the rage for quite a while now, but today I really wanted to get into the basics of what they are, how they actually work, what safety considerations we need to follow, as well as what some of my favorite oils are and how I use them. 

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What are Essential Oils?

Essential Oils are concentrated aromatic liquids that are derived from various parts of plants. They are the true essence of the plant and have many useful properties for the plant, like attracting pollinators, repelling pests, etc. but they also have useful properties for humans. Pure essential oils are harvested at their peak, properly distilled, and completely unaltered or added to in any way. 

It’s important to note that essential oils can not cure anything. They are meant to be used to ease common symptoms and support the body’s natural healing abilities. They are considered a form of alternative medicine but should not be used to replace prescription medications or other therapies prescribed by your physician. 

What should you look for in an essential oil?

The two things that matter most when considering essential oils are quality and purity. You’ll often hear about different grades of essential oils - therapeutic and food grade. What’s important to know here is that there is no official grading system for essential oils in the US (it’s often just a marketing tactic); however, there are a few markers of both quality and purity to look for. An essential oil should be clearly labeled with its full botanical name and not contain any additional ingredients, fillers, or something else that ers, or additives. The essential oil company should be completely transparent about their quality standards and the ingredients/processes that they use by providing a GC/MS report or an equivalent (this states exactly what is in the bottle of oil). It’s also important that the essential oil be stored in a glass bottle that protects the oil from light, such as an amber glass bottle. 

How do essential oils work? 

Essential oils can have many beneficial effects, which we’ll get into in a minute, but first I want to explain how they interact with the body. Inhaling essential oils interacts with the olfactory system in the body, which stimulates the limbic system, and then the hypothalamus in the brain. This, in turn, affects the cells in our body. For example, many essential oils help with emotional health by promoting relaxation, energy, focus, or reducing worry or nervous energy. This happens through this process of stimulating the limbic system, impacting the hypothalamus, and then triggering cell memory - especially when the scent is associated with feelings of calm or comfort. 

How do you use essential oils safely?

There are two main ways to use essential oils - inhalation and topical application. There are a few different ways to inhale essential oils but by far the easiest is by using a diffuser. This disperses the oil into the air which allows you to both enjoy the aroma of the oil but also experience the therapeutic effects through the process I just explained. Most aromatherapists suggest diffusing for about 30-minutes at a time. 

You can also benefit from essential oils by applying them topically. Many essential oils are very beneficial for skin health, muscle pain, and some even believe they can help with inflammation. When using an essential oil topically, it’s extremely important to dilute the oil properly with a carrier oil/lotion. Most oils should have a dilution guide right on their label or at the very least on the company’s website. There are a lot choices to use for a carrier oil. My personal favorite is fractionated coconut oil, but jojoba oil, argan oil are all great choices.  You can also buy pre-diluted oils and lotions - just be careful to check the label for additives or unnecessary ingredients. 

It’s also important that if you are using oils around pets or children that you check to make sure that they are safe for that. Also, if you are pregnant or nursing, there are certain oils that aren’t safe during that time, so make sure you are doing your research. 

What are some of my favorite oils? 

I’m by no means an expert on essential oils, but I have been using them for several years and have found them to be so helpful! I don’t really get into the whole which brand is the best discussion because I feel like so much of it is marketing but obviously, as I shared before quality matters, so do research on the brand that you use and don’t just grab something from the shelf at the grocery store without reading about it first. Personally, I mostly use Plant Therapy oils. I really appreciate their transparency, their customer service, and educational resources, and I really love their prices. Again, that’s not to throw any shade at the other brands, that’s just what has worked the best for me and my family. 

Before I wrap up today, I want to share with you a few oils that I always try to keep on hand and why I love them so much. 

Lemon 

It’s such a bright and cheery scent. It can help with improving both your mood and ability to focus. It’s also great to use around the house for cleaning. I add it to my all-purpose cleaner, use it to scrub my sink, remove stickers and labels from bottles, and so much more. 

Lavender

It’s probably the most common essential oil and has endless benefits. It helps to promote relaxation and sleep. It can be used topically to soothe burns or other skin irritations and it has antimicrobial properties. 

Peppermint

Another really popular oil that is helpful for so much. It helps soothe skin by providing a cooling effect that is also really helpful for muscle pain. It is great for helping calm digestive discomfort and reducing nausea, as well as helping with tension headaches. It also is great for diffusing and promotes energy and mental clarity. 

Frankincense

This is a great oil for skin health. It can help with aging and improving skin elasticity. It has been shown to help support lung health and clear breathing. It can help ease aching joints and calm inflammation. It also has emotional health benefits by promoting a sense of calm. 

Clary Sage

This oil is one of my favorites and most used. It can promote a feeling of calm and reduce feelings of anxiety. It can also help with PMS symptoms by providing relief for cramps as well as helping to stabilize your mood. I consider this one a must-have. 

Germ Fighter

This is an essential oil blend from Plant Therapy (it is comparable to Thieves oil) and contains Lemon, Clove Bud, Eucalyptus Globulus, Cinnamon Cassia, and Rosemary oils. It’s great for supporting the immune system. I use this in our hand sanitizer, as well as apply topically when I feel like one of us is fighting something off. I also diffuse this regularly in our home, especially right now. I also just love the scent! It smells like Christmas to me!

I hope this has been helpful for you! Whether you are on the fence about essential oils and wondering what all the fuss is about or whether you’ve been using them for a while but didn’t really know all the details behind how they work, I hope you now feel more educated and empowered to use essential oils for yourself and your family. 

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022 - Why Losing Weight Should NOT Be Your Goal for the New Year

Hey friends! As I mentioned in the last episode, we are going to be spending the remaining episodes of 2019 talking about setting ourselves up for success with smart and healthy goals for next year! 

What Your Goal Should Not Be

We all know someone, or maybe we are that someone, who comes to the end of the year and says “my New Years’ resolution is to lose weight”. As a matter of fact, according to statistica.com, 45% of Americans made “losing weight” their goal for 2018. Today, I am going to share with you why that actually isn’t a good goal, why your weight isn’t how you should measure your level of health, and what you should be focusing on instead. 

Why Weight Isn’t A Reliable Indicator of Good Health 

My story is a perfect example of this. I recently shared my experience with Insulin Resistance and PCOS and how my physician and I were both surprised at the results of my blood work because I wasn’t considered overweight. I had a normal BMI and while I had gained a little weight, I was still within the normal range. As it turns out, I had inflammation and the beginning stages of disease taking a toll on my body, but I thought I was healthy because I wasn’t overweight. 

Our weight just isn’t a reliable indicator of the state of our health, for many reasons. One being that it isn’t a static number - our can weight fluctuates 3-5 lbs on a regular basis. This can be based on so many things including hormones, especially for women (weight will fluctuate at different stages of your cycle). This is why we do NOT need to be weighing every day! If you are getting on the scale every morning and beating yourself up because you seem to be battling the same 3-4 lbs over and over - STOP. You are creating undue stress on yourself by obsessing about your weight and being disappointed in your body or thinking that the work you are putting in isn’t worth it. This isn’t good for your physical or mental health, and actually, studies have shown that obsession with weight or dieting can actually lead to more weight gain. 

Also, standards such as BMI are skewed as well. They only take into account a ratio of height and weight and make absolutely zero adjustments for body composition and muscle mass. So people who are actually in great health and have a good amount of muscle mass will usually fall into the overweight or even obese categories.

Also, it’s important to note that in a lot of chronic diseases, studies are showing that weight gain or inability to lose weight is more a side effect of an underlying disease or dysfunction in the body, rather than the root cause. So when all we are doing is focusing on the weight, we could be missing what is actually going on in the body.

So if we shouldn’t be focusing solely on the scale or BMI, how should we measure our level of health?

Better Indicators of Good Health

Waist circumference

One better option for monitoring your health is by measuring your waist circumference. Studies have shown that having a waist circumference greater than 35 for women and 40 for men is indicative of higher amounts of visceral fat (a type of fat that lies deep within the abdominal cavity and pads the spaces between vital abdominal organs) and is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, unhealthy cholesterol, hypertension, hormone imbalance, and Cardiovascular Disease. 

All you need to monitor your waist circumference is a tape measure. Simply wrap it around the middle of your waist, right above the top of your hip bones, Make sure the tape measurer stays flat against your skin and level all the way around. This isn’t something that should be done daily or even weekly. Every 2-3 months is a good increment of time, especially if this is something you are trying to work on. 

Health markers related to metabolic disease 

Another better option to monitor your health and risk for disease is by regularly monitoring health markers associated with Metabolic Disease (BP, Fasting Insulin and A1c, and Cholesterol)  specifically HDL/ Total Cholesterol ratio and Tri / HDL ratio)

As a reminder, you need to work with your physician to have these markers evaluated:

• Blood Pressure Levels 

• Blood Sugar Levels - Fasting Insulin and Fasting Blood Glucose 

• Cholesterol Levels - specifically HDL and Triglycerides

A Harvard-lead study reported that high triglycerides alone increased the risk of heart attack by 3 times and people with the highest ratio of triglycerides to HDL -- the "good" cholesterol -- had 16 times the risk of heart attack as those with the lowest ratio of triglycerides to HDL. The ratio of triglycerides to HDL was the strongest predictor of a heart attack, even more accurate than the LDL/HDL ratio

Optimal Triglycerides / HDL ratio is under 2 (the lower the better)

Body function 

Just taking a moment to evaluate how your body is moving and functioning can be helpful in measuring your level of health. 

How are you sleeping? Do you wake up refreshed or groggy and exhausted? 

Do you find your energy crashing throughout the day - especially the afternoon?

For the ladies, are your cycles regular? 

Is your skin clear?

Do you have repeated sickness or seem to catch everything that goes around?

Do you have chronic pain or stiffness? 

How is your digestive health?

These are all questions you can ask yourself to possibly pinpoint any areas that you need to focus on or work with a professional to address. 

Better goals 

We will get more into the specifics of how to set smart and health goals in the next couple of episodes, but for now, as you are starting to think about health goals for next year - I want you to focus more on establishing healthy habits and rhythms. You are much more likely to see progress in your health with those anyway.

If you feel like you could use some extra support as you set health goals for next year or work to meet your goals from this year, schedule a free 30 min consultation call with me! I’d love to help point you in the right direction and see if there are ways that I can help!

016 - My Favorite Tips to Stay Healthy While Traveling

Hi friends!! So, I don’t know about you but I feel like the end of the year is flying by! I can’t believe we are already well into fall and almost into the holiday season! I can already feel our schedule busier, and at least for us, that is just how it is throughout the end of the year! 

One thing that the holiday season typically brings with it is some travel, whether to visit family or just for fun. We just got back from a week in California visiting family and seeing a lot of fun things in San Francisco. It was a blast!

On the flight home, I got to thinking though about how while traveling is a lot of fun, it can be really hard on our bodies. We’re exposed to a lot of things outside of our norm, whether it be long times sitting in a car or being cooped up with hundreds of other people in an airplane. 

However, there are some easy things we can do to help support our bodies and our health while traveling, and that’s what I want to share with you today! 

Bring your own snacks!

- Bring snacks to eat on the trip and while waiting at the airport. 

- Most airports do not have healthy food options and if they do, their usually very expensive. Save yourself some money by bringing along balanced snacks (balanced meaning they contain good amounts of carbs, protein, and fat). This will help you stay full and keep your blood sugar levels stable. 

Bring your own water bottle!

- In my opinion, airplane water is pretty gross (and not filtered well). Plus, those little cups are bound to spill, especially with littles around.

- Fill your cups with water after security so you will be set on the plane (I ran out of time to do this on our depart flight last week and I was miserable while we waited for beverage service).

- Also, be sure to drink enough. Planes are super dry and it’s easy to not want to drink a lot in order to avoid the airplane bathrooms / rest-stop bathrooms, so when and where you can, try to get the water in. 

Plan ahead!

- Start packing several days ahead and make a list for all the last minute things. Traveling can be stressful with so many moving parts and so much to keep up with, so do yourself a favor and don’t wait until the last minute. 

- Go to bed early the night before your flight. While you may be lucky enough to catch a little snooze on the plane/ride, the quality of sleep won’t be nearly as good as a night’s sleep. Lack of sleep raises inflammation levels in the body, as well as lowers immune function. That’s like a double-whammy on your body. 

- Start taking immune support supplements at least a week before the flight. We chose these immune gummies by Mary Ruth Organics that have great amounts of vitamins C and D, zinc and elderberry extract in them - and they are sourced from whole foods and yummy too! You can also make your own elderberry syrup to start taking before your trip (it’s just a little more difficult to travel with, in my opinion). 

- I also think it’s a smart idea to take a regular whole-foods based multivitamin and a probiotic leading up to the trip, as well as for the duration of the trip. It really sucks to get sick while on vacation or visiting family for the holidays, so this is just one simple way to help prevent that. 

Manage the germs as much as you can, but don’t freak out about it.

Germs are everywhere and are unavoidable, however, you can use a clean, non-toxic hand sanitizer like the Honest brand, Dr. Bronner’s, or Branch Basics to clean hands before eating, as well as when you get off the plane. It’s also a great idea to spray down trays etc. if you can, but don’t make this something to stress about, that’s why all of the prevention measures are helpful. 

Eat a good meal before and after your flight.

Even your healthy snacks are usually decently high in sugar and just aren’t as rich in nutrients as whole foods, so try to eat a balanced meal both before and after. Obviously, if you’re on vacation or seeing relatives, you probably aren’t going to eat perfectly balanced or super nutrient-dense foods the whole time, and that’s totally okay, but being more intentional on the day you actually travel can help your body deal with all the changes / stressors and less nutritious foods better.

If you need to detox a bit when you get home, do it! 

Your body will tell you if you’ve pushed it too far. A few easy ways to detox are by doing a 5-7 day standard elimination diet (eating only whole foods and eliminating the main inflammatory ones like sugar, maybe gluten/dairy, any processed foods), drinking extra water, drinking Dandelion-Root tea and bone broth daily, and taking detox baths*. Also getting lots of good sleep and movement (walks are great for this)!

Most of all, relax and enjoy your trip!

Just like everything else, perfection is a myth. So do your best and make the conscious choice to not stress about the things that are out of your control. 

I hope these tips will be helpful as you plan your travels for the upcoming holiday season! As always, feel free to reach out on Instagram or Facebook if you have any questions. 

If you feel like you need more personalized support as we enter this holiday season, I would be happy to help you stay on track with your health goals or maybe set some for the first time! You can schedule a free 30-min consult with me by going to www.yourhealthforward.com/free-consultation!

*My fav easy detox bath recipe - Add to a hot bath and soak for at least 20 minutes:

• 1-½ C Epsom salts (unscented or only scented with essential oils, nothing synthetic)

• ½ C baking soda

• 1 tsp ascorbic acid (Vit C powder - this helps neutralize chlorine in the water)

• 5-10 drops lavender essential oil

** Some links in this post are affiliate links. I will earn a small commission if you choose to purchase items using these links. 

006 - Part 2: The Top Four Reasons Women Struggle To Lose Weight - Misleading Health Myths

Hi friends! Today we will be continuing with part two of our month-long series on The Top Four Reasons Women Struggle to Lose Weight. 

Today’s topic is misleading health myths and oh my - there are so many of them! Today I’m just going to cover a few of the ones that I encounter often when working with a client and how these myths could be getting in the way of your weight loss progress.

If you haven’t already listened to part one of this series, please go back and start there! The info in that episode helps to build a solid foundation and also ensures that you understand where my heart and intention is with this series.

Let’s get into talking about misleading health myths! 

These are so common and understandably so... The nutrition and health world is constantly changing and just like anything else is subject to all the advertising fads and trends. This can make it so difficult to tell what is actually true and supported by the most up-to-date research. Unless you have had nutritional training (heck, sometimes even when you have) there’s not much of a constant point of reference or a trusted source of truth to base your decisions off of. For my family, I like to use a simple rule that helps me decide whether a health theory or new trend is good for us or maybe something I need to research more. I like to think of it this way: If the main ingredients of that item or product are made by God or come from the earth (for the purpose of eating) then it likely has a purpose in our diet and is good for us. If it’s something that has been manufactured or processed in a factory or industry, then I think twice. That doesn’t mean that I don’t eat it or use it, but I don’t just blindly accept it either.

Myth # 1 - Eating Fat Is Bad For You

One of the health myths that I encounter the most is a perfect example of following this rule. And that is the myth that eating fat is bad for you and should avoid it. Ugh… if only we could go back in time and tell the nutrition experts of the 60s that this simply isn’t true! In their defense, this was the best research they had at the time, but now there is so much research that proves that eating the right kinds of fats are not only good for us but are also absolutely vital for our health!

In studies comparing a high-fat diet, identical in calorie count, to a high-sugar diet, they found totally different effects on metabolism. The higher-fat diet caused people to burn an extra 300 calories a day (that’s like going for a 45 min run, without actually running)! These studies show that dietary fat actually speeds up your metabolism, while sugar slows it down. Not only does consuming healthy forms of fat speed up your metabolism, but it also helps to keep you full longer and helps to reduce cravings! 

In addition, eating healthy fats (like polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and even most quality-sourced saturated fats) has a long list of health benefits like reducing bad cholesterol (LDL) and increasing the good cholesterol (HDL), reducing inflammation in the body, fueling your brain (which is made up of 60% fat, by the way) and building stronger hair, nails and clearer skin. One of the most important things that consuming healthy fats does is to help balance our hormones. Fat is absolutely essential for hormone production in the body and also allows for the absorption of essential fat-soluble vitamins (like A, D, E, and K), which are all needed for hormone balance. 

I could go on and on, but as you can see thinking that including fat in your diet will make you gain weight or make you unhealthy couldn’t be further from the truth! Do make sure you are thinking about the quality of the source of the fats you are eating and avoiding inflammatory ones like trans fats and other inflammatory oils like canola. 

A few examples of healthy fats to include in your meals are things like avocados and avocado oil, coconut oil and butter, olive oil, flax seeds, chia seeds, salmon, pasture-raised eggs, nuts, and nut-butters.  As far as how much, a good general rule is about 2 Tbsp per meal (1 Tbsp is about the size of your thumb).

One more thing to add to the myth about fat is that if it’s true that healthy fats are good for your health, then it’s also true that all the “low-fat” and “diet” foods and drinks out there are not good for you. When in doubt, refer back to the basic rule that I mentioned in the beginning. Look at the label - are there a bunch of words you can’t pronounce or understand? Is it super low in fat but high in sugar? If so, it’s not a good choice! 

Myth # 2 - All Calories Are Created Equal

No… just no! I think if most of us really took a minute to think this myth through, we would see it for exactly that! All calories are not created equally and therefore will have different effects on the body. You will never get the same amount of nutrients, feeling of satiety, or energy from a can of coke as you will from eating an apple with almond butter, even though they are almost the exact same amount of calories.

Our intake of food is about so much more than calories, which is why I feel that a hyper-focus on calories alone can often do more harm than good! When your main goal is just to stay under a certain calorie count for the day, it becomes easy to lose sight of focusing on quality. The calorie-focused mentality can also cause us to mistakenly think that the key to losing weight is to just always burn more calories than you consume. As a matter of fact, I used to think that! I wouldn’t have any problem at all eating those donuts or that bag of chips, as long as I knew that I was going to go “work it off” later. But, the truth is that our bodies are way more complex than a math equation and our food is more than just calories and flavors! Food is information telling our cells what to do! It is actual fuel for our bodies! Whether we like it or not, everything we eat affects our hormones, our brains, and our metabolism. We have to be more concerned about the quality of the calories we consume, instead of the quantity.

Myth # 3 - The More You Exercise, The Thinner You Will Be

Without question, exercise is a foundational component of good health. There are numerous benefits to our health from regularly moving our bodies - things like lowering chronic inflammation, improving mood and memory, strengthening muscles and bones, increasing energy levels, improving sleep quality, increasing metabolism and many more. But just like in so many other areas, balance is key in exercise too! As we are now learning, more may not always be better when it comes to exercise - especially for women and especially if you struggle with hormone imbalance.

It may seem like common sense to try to work out as much as possible when you are trying to lose weight, especially when you’re working toward a goal like balancing your hormones or improving your fertility. But doing things like two-a-day workouts or multiple hour-long cardio sessions can tip the scale of benefit versus risk. As I just mentioned, regular, moderate exercise actually helps to lower inflammation and overall reduces levels of stress hormones, like cortisol,  in the body. But when you crossover into “over-training”, the opposite starts to take place and you start to have elevated cortisol levels in the body for a prolonged amount of time. If cortisol levels are chronically high, it can increase hormones like testosterone and subsequently estrogen, while also decreasing hormones like progesterone. This can quickly have a domino effect and start to cause things like irregular cycles, acne, increased appetite, extreme fatigue, and blood sugar dysregulation. These are things you certainly don’t want to deal with. 

So, I say all of this, just to say just be mindful of your workouts - both the frequency and the intensity! You want a good balance! 

I often recommend to my clients, especially when they are just starting to get back into exercising regularly, or they are already dealing with some hormone issue or inflammatory disease, to shoot for a goal of just moving their bodies for 30 minutes a day! This can be walking, jogging, weight-training, HIIT style workouts, barre, yoga - really whatever you enjoy! Picking something that you enjoy and won’t dread, will increase the likelihood that you will actually do it. Ask a friend to join you, if that will help you stay accountable and feel more motivated, but just don’t go to any extremes. Remind yourself that the point of exercising is to move your body, to increase oxygen and nutrients to your tissues, to help calm stress and inflammation, and ultimately to help your body to be strong and to function well. 

I hope that this episode has helped to clear up any of these myths that you might have been taught and will help remove potential roadblocks on your way to moving your health forward in the area of weight loss!

Please remember that sign-ups are open for my Fall Group Coaching Sessions that will start in September! If you feel like you need some extra support and accountability to reach your health goals, this is a great opportunity for you to not only work with me but also to be a part of a community of women all working on similar goals! Sign-ups will be open until September 1st, but spots are limited, so make sure you get your spot! 

004 - What Are Your Food Cravings Trying To Tell You?

Hey friends! Today we are talking about cravings!

Do you feel like your brain is sabotaging your efforts to be healthy? Do you often find yourself craving something that you know isn’t good for you... maybe even something that you know will make you feel sick or tired, but you just can’t stop thinking about it? Have you ever felt like you were doing so well - you were eating all good, whole foods and your workouts had been on point, and then all of the sudden you pass a billboard for pizza or donuts and something in your brain changes?! It’s like a switch was flipped and now you NEED that food! (I think that happened to me just last week!)  

Are cravings just a result of a lack of willpower or is there something deeper going on?

Today I want to talk about two main reasons we get cravings and how we can use them to work for our health instead of against it.

The first reason that we crave unhealthy foods is that we have a literal, physical addiction to them. 

Scientists have long been doing research on cravings and why they seem to hold so much power over our thoughts and behaviors. One such study, from the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, sheds some light on food cravings and why some people seem to struggle with them more than others. In the study, 39 overweight people and 42 people of “normal weight” were given MRI scans and shown photographs of buffet-style food. People who were overweight had far greater stimulation in the “reward center” of the brain than people of normal weight. In essence, the study found that food cravings are “hard-wired” into our brains in a way that is similar to alcohol or substance addictions. This seems to be especially true for those who are overweight. 

Things like sugar and processed foods cause an opiate release in our brains. Opiates increase dopamine in the brain, which is why they are known as “feel good” chemicals and are highly addictive. So, it’s not just that we like sugary foods or junk foods, we’re literally craving those chemical highs that we get from those foods. 

Also, keep in mind that these companies who sell and market these addictive foods know exactly what they are doing. They all have their own scientists and researchers who have read all these same studies, know the perfect wording to use, and the exact way to display their product that makes it almost impossible for us to ignore. 

So, remember when you are having these cravings, it isn’t that you are weak and have no will power... it’s just that the last time you ate that particular food, your brain got a rush of dopamine and now associates pleasure with that food. Just like any other time you set out to change habits and behaviors, the brain has to be retrained! 

Another reason we EXPERIENCE cravings is that our body uses them as a way to communicate with us about what it needs.

 Remember, that our bodies were created intelligently with the ability to communicate and send signals from our brains to other parts of our body in order to maintain harmony and optimal function. I mean, think about it - you can eat junk food, and your body will still turn it into energy to keep you alive;  you can deprive it of sleep, but it will still get you up and running the next morning; you can expose it to toxins and chemicals, and it will still process it through your system, so that you don’t poison yourself. The body is amazing! So, it only makes sense that when your body is in need of something that it figures out a way to communicate that to you. Here are a few signals your body might be trying to send you through food cravings:

• It needs more water! Dehydration can often disguise itself a mild hunger

• There’s an emotional imbalance or feelings that need to be dealt with

Are you unhappy with a situation in your life and looking to numb your feelings instead of dealing with them? Is there a nostalgic connection or favorite memory from your childhood associated with that food?

• There could be a possible nutrient deficiency

It is actually very common to have a vitamin or mineral deficiency, especially if you tend to eat the same kinds of foods all of the time and if those foods aren’t the healthiest. Some of the most common nutrient deficiencies include calcium, which could cause you to crave carbonated drinks or dairy; magnesium, which can cause intense cravings for sugar and leave you feeling anxious and exhausted; omega-3s which often causes cravings for sweet and salty or greasy type foods and give you a low mood and major brain fog; another is B-12, which can cause cravings for meat and will usually cause you to have low energy, and sometimes anemia.

Some easy ways to combat a nutrient deficiency is to eat mostly whole foods that include dark or rich colored vegetables (check the EWG to see which should be organic but the basic rule is, if you eat the skin or outside of the produce, organic is the safest bet), other complex carbs (like root vegetables, brown rice and quinoa), organic meats (including beef, chicken and seafood - as long as your body tolerates them well), and healthy fats (like healthy oils - coconut, avocado, and olive, ghee or grass-fed butter; nuts and seeds; and avocados and coconut milk). 

Taking a whole-food-based multivitamin can also go a long way to help fill in the gaps in our diets! 

Another tip is to make sure that you have good gut health so that your body can actually absorb the nutrients from the food you are eating. I have a whole episode about that coming up soon! 

So, as you can see there is both a physiological component and an emotional component to why we get cravings. So, the next time you find yourself dealing with a craving, treat it as a signal from your body and try these tips before rushing in to indulge:

• Drink a glass of water and wait ten minutes.

• Consider if something is out of balance in your life? Is this craving an emotional response, and if so, is there a healthier way to satisfy it?

• Eat a healthier version of what you crave. For example, if you’re craving something sweet, try eating more fruit or a “treat” that is made of cleaner, healthier ingredients. 

• If you think you have a nutrient deficiency, get your levels checked and start to implement a few of the things I mentioned above.

• Ultimately, when you do eat the food you are craving, really enjoy it, taste it, savor it. Make a note to yourself if it felt worth it or not so that you can be more aware and free to decide if you really want it next time.

I hope that these tips have helped encourage you to know that this is something that everyone struggles with for different reasons and has given you a few ideas for ways that you can listen to your body instead of feeling like it’s trying to sabotage you! 

If you have any questions about this topic or feel like you need some extra support, please feel free to send me an email or schedule a free consultation. I’d love to see if we can work together to help you overcome whatever is holding you back from being the healthiest version of yourself!

003 - Which Diet Is Best For You?

Hey friends! Welcome to episode 3 of the HF podcast! Today we are going to be talking all about food! So, grab yourself a healthy snack, and let’s get into it!

Have you ever thought to yourself… “What am I supposed to eat?”, “ Which diet is best? Low carb, Paleo, Keto, Zone, Mediterranean, Vegan?”, “Why are there so many choices?” 

I think most of us have had those questions - I know I have! When I was first starting out in my health journey, I was constantly searching for the “best” this and that. This especially seems to be an issue for those of us who are a little more “type A” and need to know the exact list of dos and don’ts to achieve the perfect results!  I also think it’s natural to look at what other people are doing and assume that if it works for them, then surely it will work for me too! 

Well, today I want to talk to you about why I think that there isn’t a “perfect, one-size-fits-all” diet out there and why I actually believe that trying to have everyone eat the exact same way could do more harm than good. 

Now, having said that, let me be clear - there are general guidelines that are helpful for most people (find my free Kitchen Makeover Guide here). Things like eating leafy greens, drinking water, reducing inflammatory foods like sugar and processed junk foods - most everyone benefits from those types of things. What I’m really talking about today is the more specific kind of guidelines, like “everyone should eat this many grams of carbs, but only after 10 am” or “all women would feel better if they eat very low carbs and high protein”. 

Bio-individuality

We are all INDIVIDUALS! We have different blood types, different activity levels, different stress levels, different ethnic backgrounds, different levels of emotional health. We are all different and these differences have an effect on how our bodies function optimally! This is called Bio-individuality. 

There can’t be a healthy “perfect, one-size-fits-all” diet for everyone, because each individual person has a genetic makeup, specific to them and therefore will respond to a “diet” or way of eating differently than someone else. We are all far to individualistic to all thrive by eating the exact same foods! 

Let me give you an example: two women, about the same age and size, decide to try a raw food, vegan diet. They meet up after a few weeks to check in with each other and realize that they are responding to the exact same way of eating and the exact same kinds of foods completely differently! One of them is feeling great, with a clear mind and high energy, and losing weight, but the other is feeling awful, with a major case of brain fog, low energy, she has a continual dull headache, and hasn’t lost any weight at all! How could this be? Isn’t eating vegan healthy? Shouldn’t they both feel great? 

If we look a little closer at each of these women, we then see that while they may have a lot of similarities, they also have major differences! They have different blood types - one is A+ and the other O-. They also have different ethnic backgrounds - one has Indian ancestors and the other European.  These factors (plus many more) play a huge role in how their bodies are digesting and metabolizing food and as a result, how they feel after eating certain foods or going without certain foods, like meat and other animal products.

I’m sure a lot of you have had this same experience! You go on a new diet with a friend of yours and one of you does amazing, loses weight, feels awesome and the other… not so much! 

This concept of bio-individuality can actually provide us with a lot of freedom! I believe that our bodies were created with a God-given intelligence to know how to function optimally. Think about it - you don’t need to remind your heart to pump or your lungs to breathe, and you don’t have to guide your body through the process of digesting your lunch - it just does it! It was created to know how! I think the same can be true when it comes to knowing how we should be eating for our unique bodies. Unfortunately, I think this innate understanding often gets silenced and crowded out by things like marketing and let’s be honest… by the comparison game! How many times have you scrolled through Instagram or Facebook, seen that someone has lost weight or gotten really fit by using the latest trendy diet or weight loss product and thought, “that’s what I need!”? (By the way, those things aren’t all bad! Sometimes they provide the tools and motivation that a person needs to start to make changes in their health!). The issue is that without taking the time to educate yourself on what is actually healthy versus just trendy, and even more than that, what is healthy FOR YOU, you may be unknowingly sabotaging yourself!

TIPS 

So, now that I’ve burst your bubble and said that there is no “one-size-fits-all, perfect” way to eat, I want to leave you with a few simple tips for discovering what is best for your body!

• Start with the basics 

  Those general guidelines that I referred to earlier. Things like not eating artificial and processed junk foods, eating more whole fruits and vegetables, clean protein sources and drinking more water. As I mentioned, I have a fun little freebie download for you guys that outlines what kinds of foods we should have in our kitchen and the ones we need to just go ahead and get out of there! 

• Consider your unique circumstances

  • Blood Type and Ancestry

    Your blood type and ancestry can give you an idea of how your body can handle certain types of foods like meat. For example, Blood Type O has shorter intestines better designed to digest meat faster – they do better with red meat. Those with Blood Type B don't process chicken well and should choose other types of protein when possible. And then Blood Type A folks extract protein much better out of vegetarian sources than the other blood types. (If you want to know more about eating for your blood type, here is a cool 5-min video by Food As Medicine TV (What Our Blood Types Can Tell Us.)

  • Stress Levels

    The more stress we have, the less digestive work our bodies can do. So for example, eating well-cooked, balanced meals we need with clean animal protein and complex carbohydrates like root vegetables can be used stabilizing anchor. During times of extreme stress, raw food diets and juice cleanses can further exacerbate health issues and delay healing. Stress has a huge effect on our health and we need to do everything we can to reduce it but to also support our bodies during times that it’s unavoidable. 

  • Medical Issues 

    If you are struggling with a specific medical diagnosis or a complex health issue, for example diabetes, hormonal imbalance diseases, thyroid diseases,  you need to work with a professional that is experienced and trained in how different foods affect the body and are knowledgeable about how to safely do an elimination diet or change your way of eating (this is in addition to your PCP). You will save yourself a lot of time and effort by reaching out for support and not trying to just take a shot in the dark. 

• Keep a food journal for 30 days 

  Please hear me say this! I am not talking about a calorie tracking journal or tracking macros. Those things have their place, but that’s not where I want to focus for now. What I would like for you to do is to keep a journal/log of what you eat and how you feel - both while you were eating and how you feel in the hour after you ate. This practice will not only shed a lot of light on how specific foods make you feel but will also help you to get in the practice of listening to your body! Remember that everyone will respond differently, even to healthy foods!. You are the only one who can listen to your body and know how it makes you feel. 

Friends, there is no easy button or hack when it comes to our health. It is a process and it takes time and intentionality, but it is so worth it and you will feel so much better for it! 

Thank you so much for being here with me today and taking the time to listen. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or feel like you need some extra support in this area! I’d love to help!

002 - Fast Forward! 3 Ways You Can Move Your Health Forward Today!

Hey hey, friends! Welcome back to the HF Podcast, today we are going to be talking about 3 things that you can do to move you forward toward a healthier body and mind! I love starting with these 3 things because they don’t require you to buy anything or go anywhere - you can literally apply these tips today! So let’s get into it...

Hydrate! Water, water, water!

The first thing you can do is to HYDRATE! Okay, I know you probably hear this a lot, and if you are one of my family members, you are probably rolling your eyes right now because I say this all the time, but it’s for a good reason! The majority of us are dehydrated right now...and yes, I said us because sometimes I slack on this too. Dehydration can cause so many symptoms. Most of us think, well if I’m peeing and I’m not thirsty, I’m fine. That’s just simply not true! Not drinking enough water is one of the top causes for headaches, muscle and joint pain, indigestion, bloating, constipation, skin issues like dry skin or breakouts, and fatigue - just to name a few! Our bodies NEED water and just cannot function optimally without it. 

So, how much water should we be drinking every day? There has been a lot of confusion about this in the past, but I think most health professionals pretty much agree now, you should aim to drink half your body weight in oz every day. So, that means if you weigh 150 lbs, you should aim for 75 oz every day; if you weigh 200 lbs, you should aim for 100 oz. So whatever your current weight is, just divide it in half, and that’s your goal.  Now, if you’re not used to drinking a lot of water, that probably seems like a lot, so just start small and build your way up to that amount - it’s the goal, so that means you probably won’t start out hitting it every day and that’s okay. 

One of the best tips that I have found for increasing your water intake, is to use a water bottle that you like, and that is easy to carry around with you -  24-32 oz and either glass or stainless steel are the best options. (I prefer stainless steel because it keeps my water cold and I don’t have to worry about my baby shattering it!) Aim to drink one whole bottle full of water before breakfast, before lunch, and before dinner. You can also set an alarm on your phone to go off every hour or two to remind you to go fill up your water bottle. It may take a few days to a few weeks to get into the habit, but eventually, you will start to feel so much better and your body will start to crave more water, so it won’t really be a chore anymore. Also, real-life... you will likely also notice that you have to pee a lot more once you start upping your water intake, but that is a GOOD thing. Your body is working hard to flush out toxins and get rid of things it doesn’t need. It’s good for your liver, kidneys, digestion, and skin to get rid of all those toxins. So, just be happy about all the good it’s doing for your body and know that it won’t last forever. Your body will adjust and you won’t always be running to the bathroom that often. 

I’ve had several people tell me that they struggle to drink water because they just don’t like the taste, and I actually had the same problem several years ago when I started trying to drink more water, so let’s talk about a few ways you can work through that. 

• One of the simplest ways to add a little flavor is to add some fresh fruit! A wedge of lemon, lime or both is a great way to enhance the taste and get a boost of vitamin C. You can also add a sprig of fresh mint with a few slices of cucumber for more of a spa-like experience. 

• Play around with the temperature of the water. Some people prefer super cold water and some like it better more at room-temp. Just try a few options and see which way you prefer and which way you are able to drink the most. 

• Another option to help with the transition to drinking more water, especially for those of you who are big soda drinkers, is to switch to a naturally flavored carbonated water option like La Croix or Perrier. Just be sure to read the label and make sure that there aren’t any added sugars, or artificial sugars and flavors. Ideally, you would still work to transition mostly to just regular water, since carbonated water can leave you feeling a bit bloated, but this is still a great way to ease yourself into it. 

So, go get yourself some water to drink as you finish reading this post! :) 

Reduce your stress! 

I can already hear you laughing, but hear me out. We all know that chronic stress is bad for us. It’s bad for our physical health, our mental health, our relationships - just bad in general. We don’t really need to be told that, right? But I think a lot of us don’t fully understand just how much it can affect our health. Did you know that chronic stress can not only cause things like anxiety and depression, insomnia, and headaches but also cause you to have decreased immune function, imbalanced hormones, and weight gain? 

When we encounter stress, our bodies produce a hormone called Cortisol. It is our primary stress hormone and is responsible for activating our “fight or flight” response. The effects of this release of hormones alter our immune function, suppress our digestive and reproductive systems, and slow growth function. This is actually a survival mechanism and how our bodies were created to respond to stress. If we were being chased by a wild animal, we would need to focus all of our body’s energy on surviving. We wouldn’t need to digest or burn more calories, and it certainly wouldn’t be a safe time to have a baby, so we wouldn’t need any of those functions either. The problem isn’t with the release of Cortisol… the problem is that our brains can’t tell the difference in a lion chasing us and our bank account over-drafting. We live in a constant state of stress these days, and therefore our bodies are continually releasing cortisol. And as we just learned, we can’t function well in that state for a sustained amount of time.

So, you’re anything like me, you’re probably thinking “well, that sucks… but stress is just a part of life. There is nothing I can do about it!”. And while it’s true that we can’t eliminate stress altogether, we can reduce it and we can help our bodies deal with the effects of it.

Here are a few ideas:

• Set some boundaries! Seriously! A lot of our stress, especially as women, comes from saying “yes” to too many things and trying to be all things to all people. We so often overextend ourselves to that point that we have no time, and we are always rushing or running late, which only stresses us out more. We want to take care of our families and our friends, have the perfect house, excel at work,  and get all the kids to all the places! Here’s a question that I have had to work through and I want to ask you to consider: Are we doing all these things just to prove to ourselves that we can and that we’re enough? 

• Let’s just be honest and admit that we aren’t enough and that is perfectly okay! We will never be perfect and will never be able to do it all perfectly! (Here is a link to another podcast called Work and Play by Nancy Ray - she has such encouraging things to say on this subject!) We need to set ourselves free from the expectation that we can meet everyone’s needs, and set some clear boundaries in our lives. If we don’t take the time to care for ourselves, we won’t be able to care for the ones we love, right?

• On that note, self-care! Pick one or two things that fill you up and allow you to regroup and feel refreshed. They don’t have to be elaborate or expensive. Maybe it’s just a hot bath before bed every night or 10 minutes of time to pause and pray in the morning before you start your day. You get to decide what that thing is for you, so sit down and plan to start making time to care for yourself starting today! 

Get better sleep! 

Sleep is so vital to good health and ensuring a good night’s rest is probably one of the most important things we can do to help our bodies and minds function well! Good sleep is essential for our bodies to be able to do things like recover from the stress of the day, repair our muscles and tissue from workouts and injuries, regulate our hormone levels (including the ones that affect our appetite, metabolism, and reproductive systems), retain knowledge and memories that we obtained throughout the day, slow the aging process, and reduce the risk of disease and illness.  

So, as you can tell from this list (that is by no means all-inclusive), there can be serious negative outcomes associated with not getting enough sleep. So, that prompts the question of “what is enough sleep?” According to the National Sleep Foundation, the number of hours of sleep required for optimal health can vary per individual, but the general recommendation is that adults sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours each night. It was also noted that we should pay attention to how we feel with differing amounts of sleep. For example, do you feel better and more rested with 7 hours vs 9 hours? 

Also, the quality of our sleep is just as important as the quantity of sleep we are getting! Here are a few suggestions for improving your sleep quality from the NSF:

• Stick to a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends (waking at the same time each day)

• Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual (this can also help with the stress and self-care that we mentioned before)

• Exercise daily

• Evaluate your bedroom to ensure ideal temperature, sound and light (cool, and completely dark helps your body produce melatonin appropriately)

• Beware of hidden sleep stealers, like alcohol and caffeine

• Turn off electronics before bed (the blue light, as well as the EMFs admitted from the devices, have been linked with poor sleep quality and insomnia)

• Address any issues like Sleep Apnea with a trained health professional

• Most importantly, make sleep a priority! You must schedule sleep like any other daily activity, but don’t make it the thing you do only after everything else is done! 

Friends, I cannot stress enough the significance that working on these three things can have on your health! As I mentioned in the beginning, these are changes that you can make today, no matter what day of the week or what time of day you are listening to this, you can start now! We often get tricked into thinking that in order to move our health forward in a positive direction that we need to make these huge time commitments or spend a lot of money, but in reality it’s the small, daily decisions that we make that have the greatest impact on our health. 

Click here for a downloadable PDF of these tips!

Thank you so much for being here with me today and taking the time to listen in.