This question might be personal, but do you wake up to pee in the middle of the night?

And if you do, are you paying attention to the time when you wake up for a quick bathroom run before falling back asleep?

I would say that 90% of the people I’ve spoken to are in this late-night bathroom boat; waking up to pee usually between 1-3 am.

But here’s the thing: waking up to pee in the middle of the night is NOT normal, AND it can contribute to weight gain over time.

Waking up to pee in the wee hours (pun intended! LOL) of the night or morning is actually a huge clue about your health.  

It can give you great insight about your blood sugar balance, detoxification system, and emotional state – all of which ultimately impact energy levels, ability to lose weight and feel like your best self. 

However, we’ve been conditioned to think that using the bathroom or getting up in the middle of the night is normal; it’s just a part of getting older and drinking too many fluids before bed.

Personally, I can take down over 8 ounces of water before bed and sleep soundly through the night.  And with age, I haven’t developed a need to pee in the middle of the night.

I’ve also seen many of my clients turn their late-night potty runs or wake-up-for-no-reason experiences into a thing of the past once they address the underlying issues triggering their body to do this.

Aside from waking up to pee or otherwise providing a clue about your health status, this disruptive habit also interferes with your body’s ability to fully recover at night. This can leave you feeling slow to get going in the morning, and more prone to cravings, weight gain, hormone imbalances, and other health issues down the road.

It’s time to retrain your body so you can sleep through the night, wake up feeling like your best self, and shed pounds overnight!

In this week’s video and blog, I’m going to bust through these middle-of-the-night wake-up myths and give you my top tips for solid sleep so you can wake up rested, and achieve your ideal health and weight!

To start, let’s talk about why waking in the middle of the night is such a big health deal breaker in the first place.

According to your body’s internal clock, known as your circadian rhythm, the most optimal sleep time frame to feel like your best self is 10 pm to 4 am.

This internal clock is ruled by the sun and the moon cycles.  

When the sun rises in the morning, temperature and light increase, letting your body know it’s time to get up and get moving. Morning is when you should have the most energy, and it will slowly taper off throughout the day into the evening in alignment with the sun cycle and your internal clock. 

When the sun sets in the evening, temperature and light decrease, signaling your body to prepare for sleep by dropping your energy levels, releasing the sleep hormone known as melatonin, and transitioning into the nervous system’s parasympathetic rest and digest mode.

In parasympathetic mode, your body sends all of its blood flow and resources inwards to organs that support digestion, detoxification, circulation, and restoration.

Based on this internal clock, your body does some massive repair work in the middle of the night while in peak parasympathetic mode from 10 pm to 4 am. If you’re not sleeping, the parasympathetic process is interrupted and this work can’t happen, leaving you feeling tired and unrested the next morning. 

This is why if you go to sleep late or wake up in the middle of the night, you still feel tired no matter how much you sleep the next day or despite the number of sleep hours you get.

Low energy can then lead to cravings as your body searches for fuel to keep you going throughout the day. You find yourself craving quick energy fixes in the form of carbs, sugars, and caffeine that can disrupt your sleep even more.

And all of this negatively impacts your ability to lose weight from the foods you end up eating for energy to the hormone imbalances and detox backup a disrupted night of sleep creates. 

So now that you know how important it is to sleep through the night in order to wake up rested and feeling your best, let’s address retraining your body so you can get the critical window of sleep you need.

Waking up in the middle of the night strongly correlates with 3 primary scenarios…

Scenario #1: Your Blood Sugar Drops
This is the most common one I see. When your blood sugar drops too low, your body releases the hormone cortisol to bring it back into balance.  

You might know of cortisol as your stress hormone, which it is, among other things. Cortisol is also what spikes in the morning when the sun rises as part of your circadian rhythm to give you the energy to get up and get going.  

When your blood sugar drops in the middle of the night, cortisol is released, giving you this same boost of energy. It’s like getting a shot of adrenaline, and what does everyone do instinctually when they wake up?…go to the bathroom!  

Constant high outputs of cortisol like this also strongly correlate with weight gain around your midsection. 

So balancing your blood sugar is the first thing you can do to promote sleeping through the night. Having balanced blood sugar also helps you to avoid cravings and lose weight. 

Eating the right ratios of proteins, carbs, and fat at each meal will help you to balance your blood sugar and get better sleep.  

When you’re eating the right ratio of protein, carbs, and fats per meal, you will:

• Be able to go 3-5 hours or more without feeling hungry or needing to snack
• Have energy for hours and feel recharged
• Think clearly, feel uplifted, and be more positive

Figuring out your food ratios is pretty simple. All you need to do is:

1. Tune into your body 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating
2. Notice how it’s responding to what you ate
3. Adjust your food ratios until you get the perfect response!

To help you figure out what ratios are right for your body to get a good night’s sleep, click here to get my Food & Body Language Log.

Scenario #2: Look at Your Liver
Balancing blood sugar usually solves about 90% of the sleep disruption issues I see, but when it doesn’t, it’s time to look at your liver.

Based on your internal clock, your liver and other detoxification organs do their deepest detox work from about 1 to 3 am. 

If you find yourself waking up during this time, it could indicate a toxic build-up or detox traffic jam. Your liver and detox organs could be burdened by too many toxins or struggling to eliminate them. This can lead to a build-up of estrogen and toxins in the body that can also contribute to weight gain.

In this scenario, incorporating more detoxifying foods such as beets, grapefruit, lemon, cilantro, and dandelion while avoiding processed and non-organic can positively impact your detox body’s detox system. 

A daily natural liver support supplement containing ingredients such as tudca, NAC, milk thistle, dandelion, artichoke leaf, and burdock root can be extremely beneficial given the number of toxins our body is bombarded with daily. 

Pairing this with balancing your blood sugar should do the trick and give you the best night’s sleep ever!

(SIDE NOTE: Scenarios 1 & 2 also highly correlate with root causes of PCOS as I’ll be discussing in more detail during the Transforming PCOS Summit starting Nov. 18th)

Scenario #3: Emotional Influences
If you’ve tried loving your liver more and balancing your blood sugar but still wake up in the middle of the night, it’s time to explore emotional influences.

According to Chinese Medicine, each organ of the body is associated with a certain emotion, and as we just discussed in scenario #2, organs do deep work during a certain time of the night based on your internal clock.

We can put these two clues together to uncover the emotional influences waking you up at night.

For example, waking up between 1 and 3 am is associated with the detox organs (i.e. liver and gallbladder); the emotions connected to these can be grief, anger, fear, and depression.

Journaling, meditating, or seeking counseling around these emotions can quickly put your sleep issues to rest.  Sometimes we don’t suspect we’re dealing with these emotions, but we are.  Grief, for example, isn’t always related to the loss of a loved one. It could be related to a recent job change, as we grieve leaving behind the old ways even with excitement for what is to come. 

The bottom line, waking up in the middle of the night is NOT normal, and sleeping through the night consistently is part of the formula for feeling like your best self.

I’ve yet to see a client who can’t sleep through the night when we address these three scenarios, and as I said, most of the time we knock it out with just one.

I’d love to know what you found most helpful about the information I’ve shared.  

Comment below with your biggest aha, insight, or takeaway! 

I’m curious, what does “eating healthy” mean to you?

When I graduated from college after studying fitness, nutrition, and health for 4 years, I thought eating healthy meant you should…

• Be in a caloric deficit by eating less and moving more
• Have a snack or meal every 2 hours
• Always eat 3 solid meals per day
• Eat low fat, lean meats, veggies, fruits, dairy, starches, and whole grains according to the food guide pyramid now known as the “plate”

So I did exactly what I was taught, and I felt like crap instead of feeling great and having my ideal health and weight.

It turns out there’s a LOT more to eating healthy than what we were taught in school or what you might have read on your own about diets and nutrition.

In fact, some so-called healthy foods aren’t healthy for you.  

It took me years to figure out what foods were healthy for my body. When I finally figured it out, it made getting the results I desired so much easier! So I want to help you cut to the chase and get to the bottom of what foods are healthy for you so you can feel like your best self too, instead of wasting time trying to figure it out.

I see so many clients and people feeling frustrated about food and eating healthy. They’ve tried just about everything with little to no results. They’ll literally say…

I’m eating healthy, but I’m not getting any results!

OR…

I’ve tried (insert any type of diet) but didn’t get the same results others get.

Do you find yourself feeling frustrated like this too?

In theory, the clients I’ve worked with are “eating healthy.” They are often eating a Paleo, Whole30, Keto, or a generally well-rounded and clean diet. In some cases, they are eating mostly organic foods, good sources of meat, and even avoiding some of the well-known inflammatory foods.  

But they still aren’t getting results. They still struggle with digestive upset, weight, anxiety, hormone imbalances, or other nagging health issues.

All because eating healthy isn’t always healthy for YOU.

In this week’s video and blog, I’ll reveal why some of the healthy foods you’re eating might not be healthy for you and give you tips to figure out what is healthy for YOU.

There’s a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body.

Eating right for your body will incorporate healthy foods, but not all healthy foods are right for your body.

Most diet approaches tend to focus on food elimination, which is good considering that oftentimes it means eliminating the top inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, alcohol, and even other grains or foods containing lectins.

However, most dietary approaches fail to consider two key components to eating healthy for your body:

1. Macronutrient (protein, carb, and fat) balance
2. Specific food sensitivities

Eating the right balance of proteins, carbs, and fats gives your body the right ratios of fuel so it can function at its potential. Understanding and eating according to your macronutrient needs can instantly:

• Reduce digestive stress
• Increase energy
• Fight off food cravings

But you can still run into issues when eating the right balance of macronutrients if you’re eating foods that you’re sensitive to. 

Food sensitivities aren’t always obvious. They don’t always show up as digestive upset, which is why you might think you don’t have any. Other common food sensitivity symptoms can include:

• Anxiety
• Skin breakouts
• Low energy or fatigue
• Poor sleep
• Weight gain or resistant weight loss

Food sensitivities or poor macronutrient balance could certainly be secretly sabotaging your healthy eating efforts and results!

Consider a banana, for example. Globally, most would agree it’s healthy food full of potassium and nutrients, but if you have a sensitivity to bananas OR they contain too many carbs and sugars for what your body can tolerate in one sitting, then they aren’t a healthy food for you. 

When you eat something like a banana that has these negative effects on you, it spikes blood sugar and inflammation, reduces nutrient absorption, disrupts hormone balance, messes with your sleep and energy, and leaves you craving more food to get another energy bump.

Wearing Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) for as little as two weeks will help you gather real-time insights about how your body is responding to bananas or other so-called healthy foods your body might be having a response to. 

When my husband found out he was sensitive to beef, he lost 5 pounds within a week of removing it from his diet. 

Beyond these two key components, there could be even more to consider, such as high oxalates and FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols)

Oxalates are a naturally occurring element in foods and in the body, but an abundance of oxalates leads to kidney stones, chronic joint pain, mineral deficiencies, and more. Oxalates can especially become problematic when Candida or yeast overgrowth is going on the body.

Some of the foods highest in oxalates include:

• Dark chocolate
• Nuts
• Berries
• Citrus fruits
• Beets
• Sweet potatoes
• Zucchini and other summer squashes
• Dark leafy greens such as spinach and certain kinds of kale

Just about every one of them is considered a healthy food!

And FODMAP foods can be problematic with an overly inflamed or leaky digestive system, making it hard to break down these foods, leading to fermentation and bacteria overgrowth in the gut.

Some of the highest FODMAP foods are:

• Garlic
• Onion
• Fruits
• Grains
• Certain nuts and legumes

See how you could be eating so-called healthy foods that aren’t actually healthy for YOU?

The best healthy eating plan considers your body’s specific needs and combines the elements related to macronutrient balance, food sensitivities, and other physiological factors.

When working with clients to figure out what foods are right for their bodies, we always do a series of functional lab tests to uncover all of the pieces to their health puzzle and then use that data to guide recommendations for how to eat healthy for their body.

The series of tests will often include a:

• Food sensitivity test to pinpoint specific foods they are reactive to
• Metabolic typing test to assess ideal macronutrient balance
• Stool sample test to evaluate digestive and intestinal health

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to eating healthy for YOUR body.

If you want to dial in the right balance of carbs, fats, and protein for your body, click here to get my Food & Body Language Log to start dialing in your macronutrient ratios. 

P.S. Combining my Food & Body Language Log with Theia’s Continuous Glucose Monitor will get you even great insights and results; click here to grab a CGM today!

If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook recently, you know I’ve been traveling like CRAZY (I’ve only been home for one of the last 4 weeks!)

In fact, tomorrow I board another flight to celebrate my dad’s 70th birthday and will be attending 3 more events to wrap up the month!

Since I’m hitting the road again tomorrow, I’m going to keep this short AND make sure it’s packed with a TON of useful information for you.

As much as I love traveling, it used to wipe me out and set my health back, but I know how to do it differently so I can feel as good, if not better, upon my return than when I left.

Whether you’re traveling as much as me or enjoying life at home, your body is hard at work for you all year long—it’s constantly filtering out toxins that you unknowingly or knowingly are exposed to; digesting and converting food to energy for you; and even running on little sleep or pushing through overworking.

We live in a world where more and more toxins are being released into the environment every day, week, month, and year. There are far more than we can ever fathom, and our bodies have taken on a huge burden as a result.

During the 2020 pandemic, your toxin exposure increased tenfold as a result of being confined indoors more than before, in addition to the heightened use of disinfectants and hand sanitizers.

The air inside your home alone is said to be up to 100% more toxic than the air outside due to paint, sealants, fire retardants, and cleaning products.

All of these micro or macro exposures add up over time leading to weight gain, low energy, hormone imbalances, bloating, allergies, and a laundry list of other symptoms or health issues.

Reducing your body’s daily toxic burden is fairly simple once you know how to identify toxins in your environment, and by putting some simple healthy habits in place to support your body’s natural elimination process.

Implementing simple strategies to detox my body daily has been pivotal in not only achieving my ideal health and weight but also maintaining it while traveling.

To help you feel like your best too, I’m sharing these simple strategies with you in a FREE MASTERCLASS YOU CAN ACCESS TODAY!

Access the Masterclass…Simple Daily Detox Strategies: No Juices, Gimmicks or Supplements Required!

This Masterclass will examine some of the biggest myths around detoxing your body from toxic burdens and what you should know or be doing instead…

MYTH #1 – Juice Cleansing Is The Best Way To Detox
FACT – It’s a waste of money if you’re not eating protein. Protein is required for your body to actually move toxic elements through the different phases of detoxification in order to eliminate them.

MYTH #2 – Diet & Exercise Are The Key To Weight Loss & Eliminating Toxins
FACT – Diet and exercise aren’t really enough. The liver is the powerhouse when it comes to eliminating toxins and regulating your metabolism and energy. You need to show your liver some love in order to get the results you’re looking for, and one of the best ways to support your liver is sleeping from 10 pm to 4 am. 

MYTH #3 – Detoxing Requires Expensive Supplements
FACT – Supplements help, but aren’t the ultimate answer. You have to decrease the toxic stuff coming in and increase the toxic stuff going out consistently. Otherwise, supplements are just keeping you afloat, but not helping you to actually get ahead.

MYTH #4 – Detoxing / Cleansing Means Deprivation
FACT – No, it doesn’t at all! There are simple ways to detox your body daily using food, water, sleep, exercise, and at-home liver-supporting techniques that allow you to enjoy food and life.

It’s a total shift in perspective to help you take control of your health and feel like your best self!

Access the Masterclass…Simple Daily Detox Strategies: No Juices, Gimmicks or Supplements Required!

And after you watch it, comment below to let me know what your biggest takeaway is for how you can naturally detox your body daily.

The end of Summer is approaching and it made me wonder….

How have you been feeling in your body?

I’ve had my fair share of body image and health struggles, but eventually, with the right lab tests and resources, I was able to get my body back to feeling like home again for good.

You deserve to look and feel your best too, and I’m proof that it’s possible for you.

Summer and travel plans tend to stir up all kinds of judgments, criticisms, wants, and desires related to how you feel in your body.

Would you love to feel like your old self again so you can live life to the fullest?

…be the energetic, clear-minded, great skin, creative, in-shape, productive, pain-free and bloat-free person you used to be?

I know. I’ve been there, and many of the clients I’ve worked with have been too.

There once was a time when I felt like a stranger in my own body.

Acne took over the radiant skin I was always so proud of. Extra weight or bloating hid the muscle tone I worked so hard for and drastically reduced my outfit options. Low energy limited my ability to show up in life; to be the social butterfly I had always been, to be present or creative in my work and at home.

All I could think about was a time when I felt physically and mentally fit. I didn’t have any limitations. All I wanted was to find myself in that place again.

Do you ever find yourself wondering why you don’t have the energy to do the simplest tasks, such as putting away the laundry, going for a leisurely bike ride, or paying attention to a conversation?

Does getting dressed every morning feel like internal warfare with yourself – you put something on, criticize yourself in the mirror, and change your outfit a million times until you find something that doesn’t make you feel like a stuffed sausage?

If you feel this way or have ever felt this way, can I get a hell yeah?

If so comment below to let me know!

It felt like I had tried everything before finally figuring out how to get my body back for good – but I did get it back, and you can too.

The first thing you need to know is… there is WAY more to getting your body back than changing your diet and exercising.

And the second thing you need to know is that it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Diet and exercise are just two pieces of the puzzle when it comes to feeling like your best self, but they are only effective when the body is running on all cylinders.

Think of it like this…

If you owned a high-profile performance vehicle, filled it with the highest quality fuel, and tried to take it from zero to sixty in 30 seconds with a clogged air filter, empty oil canister, imbalanced tires, and sketchy electrical system, what do you think would happen?

The car wouldn’t perform as expected, right?

This is similar to what happens when you try eating right and exercising, but get little to no results. Something is going on underneath the hood that reduces the efficacy of your efforts.

In this week’s video and blog, I want to help you understand what is likely going on underneath your hood and how you can fix it so you can get your body back for good.

Have you ever caught yourself staring in the mirror, wondering how you got here?

Wondering…

…where did all the weight come from?
…is everyone else noticing the circles under your eyes?
…how are you going to make it through all your meetings today?
…what would happen if you just went back to bed and hid under the covers?

So many of my clients have felt this way too, myself included, but we have also found a way to get their bodies back for good with the right lab testing and guidance.

What you’re experiencing did not happen overnight. Feeling out of place in your body is something that has occurred over time amongst the shuffle of work, family, responsibilities, travel, stress, and anything else going on in your life.

Feeling uncomfortable in your skin happens when…

• Your hormone system goes haywire
• Your immune system gets weak
• Your digestive system is dysfunctional
• Your detoxification system doesn’t work
• Your energy system gets slowed down
• And your nervous system sends mixed signals

To get your body back for good, you’ve got to get all of the systems of the body running right, just like a high-profile performance vehicle.

If your expensive, high-profile performance car wasn’t running right, what would you do?

You would take it to the best specialist around for a thorough evaluation that would include a variety of diagnostic tests to check every aspect of the engine, fuel lines, tires, pumps, and more.

To get your body back for good, you’ll want to do the same thing so you can understand what is going on underneath the hood; what’s happening with your hormones, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous system, so you’ll know exactly what steps to take to restore function and feel your best again.

Here’s the caveat though…

Running typical blood tests with a general practitioner, or even some specialists won’t get you ALL the answers you’re looking for.

To REALLY see how your body is functioning, you’re going to need to run functional lab tests that provide deeper insights about function!

The good news is that these functional lab tests are super easy to do. Most of them are urine, saliva, and stool-based, making it convenient for you to do them in the comfort of your own home.

And when working with the right health expert (like me!) you can use the data from these lab tests to guide:

• What foods are right for your body
• How much sleep you need and when
• What type of exercise will get you the best results
• Which stress-reducing tools would be most effective for you
• And what toxins or other environmental factors you should minimize to boost your health

To get all of your body systems running right to operate at your highest potential!

Now doesn’t that sound pretty straightforward?

Instead of guessing about what you should be doing to feel good in your body again.

Using the data from functional lab tests to guide recommendations for diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, supplementation, and toxin removal is exactly how I assist clients of mine such as…

…Leslie, lost over 20 lbs in 6 months bringing her back to pre-college weight, and has an abundance of energy all day long…

…Kristine got rid of stubborn excess pounds, daily pain, sugar cravings, and was able to stabilize her energy levels…

…Jene, was finally able to control her Muscular Sclerosis symptoms naturally and can now keep up with her grandson…

…David, lost 40lbs without engaging in a structured workout routine and is able to sleep through the night…

Running functional lab tests is also what gave me the insights to get my energy back, get my weight under control, clear up my skin, and think clearly again when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted from diet and exercise, or my doctors.

Running these types of lab tests is what has helped so many of my clients uncover hidden healing opportunities, such as:

• Estrogen dominance
• Insulin resistance
• Cortisol dysregulation
• Liver congestion
• Poor thyroid function
• And intestinal parasites, bacteria, and yeast overgrowth

These things were standing in their way of feeling like their best selves despite their diet and exercise efforts.

With the right lab tests and resources, it is possible to feel good in your body and like yourself again!

LAST CALL – If you’re ready to get your hands on the right lab tests and resources so you can get your body back for good now…

There’s still time to apply for one of my two open client spots by August 24th.

CLICK HERE to apply and explore working with me by August 24th!

(NOTE: My client openings are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so make sure you apply and schedule ASAP)

As the (W)holistic Health Boss, my mission is to support busy, health-minded people like you in getting access to the right lab tests and resources so you can find the missing pieces to your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the very first time!).

Here’s to you achieving your ideal health and weight, no matter what life throws at you!

CLICK HERE to apply and explore working with me by August 24th!

How many times have you said out loud or in your head, “I just want to feel like myself again?”

I remember waking up every morning wanting to feel like myself again so clearly….

…wanting to bounce out of bed instead of dragging myself to the coffee pot

…wanting to feel comfortable in my own body and clothes

…wanting to be free of severe seasonal allergies and able to think clearly

…wanting to not have to work so hard to maintain my weight

…wanting the acne to disappear from my face

…wanting the weird hormonal stuff to just go away

…simply wanting to feel my best so I could live life to the fullest

If you wish you could feel like yourself again, I’m here to tell you it is possible. With the right tools and resources, you can find the missing pieces to your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again, or for the very first time.

I’m living proof. I’ve done it, and I have helped so many of my clients do the same thing too.

I bet you know something deeper is going on with your body, but it feels like no one is listening to what you have to say.

You’ve probably seen specialist after specialist and been recommended a laundry list of supplements, medications, and therapies but nothing has really helped you get YOU back.

You understand there’s a place for specialists and medications, but you think there’s a better way to get your health and self back so you can enjoy your life to the fullest.

You crave answers like a kid craves candy (and you probably crave foods too for unexplained or uncontrollable reasons!).

Am I right?

I’ve been there; I’ve been told my blood work looked normal even when I didn’t feel that way, or that my hormone issues were a part of aging when I knew better.

I was searching for answers that no one else could seem to give me.

In this week’s video and blog, I’m going to help you find the missing pieces of your health puzzle and get real answers so you can get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the very first time).

What you need is a new way of looking at your health, one that focuses on education not medication, and then you’ll have the keys to unlock the answers you’ve been searching for.

Here are the 3 exact steps I took and that I guide my clients through to boost energy, balance hormones, achieve weight goals, and overcome just about any other health issues that might be ailing you.

#1 – Figure out what foods are right for your body so it can function at its potential.
You are unique, and therefore your diet should be too. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for you, and yet you’re trying to fit yourself into a specific framework with most dietary approaches.

There’s a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body. Eating right for your body may include healthy foods, but not every healthy food is right for your body.

So how do you figure out what is right for your body?

You can do this by testing to see which foods your body responds best to, and then dialing in your macronutrient (protein, carb, and fat) ratios.

This will instantly boost your energy, reduce bloating, and provide the nutrients your body needs to function at its potential. When I discovered what foods were right for my body, I instantly started feeling more like myself again.

#2 – Find the missing pieces and restore balance to all body systems.
The body is a complex network of systems, each doing an important job that the other systems depend on. When one system goes down, they are all affected.

Functional lab testing will help you find the missing pieces so you can see what systems of the body are out of balance and how they are impacting each other, revealing your healing opportunities! These are NOT your typical blood tests. They are usually saliva, urine, and stool-based to show the physiological aspects of the body and how it’s working or not working.

Functional lab tests will take a deeper look at your hormones, immune system, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous system. In turn, this data will guide recommendations for the right diet, rest, exercise, supplementation, stress reduction, and toxin removal you need to feel your best.

#3 – Tune into your body and give it what it needs to feel your best all the time.
Your body holds all of the answers you need, and it always has, but we’ve been conditioned to disconnect from our bodies and to search externally for solutions. When something doesn’t feel right in your body, it’s your body asking you to pay attention, to tune into what it’s trying to tell you. When you do, you’ll know what to do to feel your best all the time.

Have you ever noticed that when you have a stressful day, you experience the following: your stomach gets upset, you experience joint pain, you can’t sleep, or your skin breaks out?

Or when you eat certain things, your body reacts in some way?

This is your body talking to you, telling you to pay attention to something.

For a long time, I dealt with and ignored joint pain, severe seasonal allergies, weight struggles, migraines, cyclical breast tenderness, fatigue, and much more.

Hindsight is always 20/20 though. Looking back, I can clearly see that these symptoms were my body’s way of waving the red flag to get my attention and let me know something was wrong.

We’ve become accustomed to accepting things that are common as normal, but just because something is common does NOT mean it’s normal.

Now if my body feels “off” in any kind of way, I tune it; check to see what it needs, and give it just that.

This could mean eating something differently, canceling obligations to rest, getting some fresh air, doing meditation, or simply drinking some water. Whatever my body needs, I’ve got its back, and it’s got mine.

The health and aging concerns you are facing today are not your destiny. They are an accumulation of things that have happened over your lifetime which have slowly chipped away at that “feel good” feeling until you barely recognize yourself anymore.

With these 3 steps, you can unravel the doings of time and RECLAIM THE REAL YOU, and I’m here to help you do it!

I currently have two client spots open to work with me one-on-one so you can find the missing pieces of your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again!

Apply and book a call to explore working with me by August 24th HERE!

(NOTE: My client openings are filled on a first-come-first-serve basis, so make sure you apply and schedule ASAP)

As the (W)holistic Health Boss, my mission is to support busy, health-minded people like you in getting access to the right lab tests and resources so you can find the missing pieces to your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the very first time!).

Are you ready to feel like your best self?  If so, let’s do this!

Apply and book a call to explore working with me by August 24th HERE!

Summer is in full force, which probably means you’re slathering on sunscreen every time you step outside like I used to.

But did you know most sunscreens are loaded with toxic ingredients that can alter hormone balance, drain your energy, and contribute to weight gain or other health issues?

I recently spent over a week in the Hawaiian islands soaking up the sun without worrying one bit about skin cancer or toxic sunscreen side effects, despite having been diagnosed with skin cancer when I was 25.

At the time of my skin cancer diagnosis, from the outside, I looked like your typical healthy person…

• I ate “healthy” by consuming low-calorie foods, lean meats, vegetables, fruits, yogurts, and sweets only occasionally. 
• I exercised daily doing a mix of weight lifting, cardio, training for fitness shows, and marathons.
• On paper, everything looked perfect; normal cholesterol, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.  
• I was even a skilled personal trainer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fitness, Nutrition, and Health who (at the time) thought I knew all there was to know about being healthy and losing weight.

Regardless of all my “healthy habits”, before my skin cancer diagnosis, I had a growing list of health issues that I shrugged off as “normal” such as:

• Intense seasonal allergies that often lead to ear infections.
• Migraines that were increasing in frequency. 
• Joint aches and muscle soreness that seemed to linger longer and longer.  
• And it was getting tougher to lose or maintain my weight.

I slowly started to question the status of my health and what I had been taught all those years in college studying fitness, nutrition, and health.

Skin cancer was the light bulb moment when I knew something bigger was going on.

Being diagnosed with skin cancer at such a young age sparked an undeniable urge to get to the bottom of my health issues and to help others do the same.

I was perplexed by the diagnosis. I had zero risk factors associated with skin cancer; no family history of any cancers related to melanoma, and sure, I used a tanning bed occasionally or spent time in the sun without sunscreen from time to time, but I wasn’t an obsessive irresponsible tanner who was putting themselves at risk for skin cancer by any means.

The pieces of the puzzle just didn’t seem to add up. I was “healthy”, had minimal risk factors, and was young, yet for some reason, cancer was cultivating in my body, so I knew there had to be more to the story.

When I started searching for answers, I came across the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® (FDN) Course; a functional lab training and health practitioner certification program that gave me the tools to dig deeper into my health issues to get to the bottom of them once and for all.

The FDN Program gave me a whole new way of looking at weight loss, health, and disease.

And as I dug deeper into my health, I found A LOT of cellular damage, hormone imbalances, liver congestion, and digestive dysfunction…

No wonder cancer had found itself at home in my body!

Running functional lab tests on yourself to look at the hormone, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous systems all at once is a requirement of the program. These functional lab tests provide a very different lens into the body than typical blood tests. Most of these tests are done using saliva, urine, and stool to take a closer look at how the body is functioning (or not) in real-time.

Needless to say, my test results revealed a flurry of Metabolic Chaos®.

For example, my hormones were going haywire, contributing to drastic afternoon energy dips, and challenges with maintaining my ideal weight. This scenario was also a big contributor to my seasonal allergies, aches, and pains.

My liver was overloaded and unable to move cancer-causing toxins out of my body effectively. All of this coupled with high oxidative stress (i.e. cellular/DNA damage), made me the perfect candidate for cancer.

The good news is that this story has a happy ending. I’m now over 15 years skin cancer-free.

And I’m not afraid of skin cancer anymore, or any other health condition, for that matter.

You see, cancer was the first big health hurdle I had to overcome, but it sure wasn’t my last. Shortly after being deemed skin cancer-free, I ran into another series of hormone issues; cystic acne, weight gain, energy dips, Hashimotos, estrogen dominance, and yet again, a clogged detoxification system related to mold exposure.

But once more, I persevered using the FDN principles along with advanced detox strategies to now feel better in my 40s than my 20s, and I have helped many others do the same over the last 11 years as a Functional Health Practitioner.

In this week’s video and blog, I’m sharing the 5 foundational lifestyle pillars and advanced detox strategies that I’ve personally used to actually fix what was going on in my body and feel even better with age.

In every health situation, I’ve encountered personally and with thousands of clients over the past 11 years, functional lab testing always reveals the missing pieces of a person’s health puzzle that aren’t being identified with typical bloodwork.

The data and correlations gathered with functional lab tests from the hormone, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous systems ALWAYS HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON…

LIVER AND DETOXIFICATION SYSTEM CONGESTION!

Why?

Because we have to start acknowledging the load of toxins in our environment and the toll it’s taking on the body. It’s estimated that over 150K synthetic chemicals have been introduced in the U.S. alone since WWII, and the majority of them have not been tested for long-term side effects, safety, or interactions with other elements.

We’ve been told they are “safe” in small amounts, but the reality is, every amount counts and the exposures add up quickly over time.

Women are exposed to 168 chemicals per day just from personal care products according to an EWG survey.

We can’t always see, smell, or feel toxins, but they are all around us. They hide in food, furniture, cookware, personal care and cleaning products, other housewares and building materials, and in the air all around us.

Obviously, you can’t live in a bubble to avoid toxins completely, but there are things you can do to minimize exposures and support the body’s natural detox process to eliminate them.

And a juice cleanse every once in a while isn’t going to get the job done, or scrape the surface, in this day and age.

To effectively eliminate toxins, all systems of the body need to be running efficiently; the hormone, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous systems.

Learning to navigate toxins and support all systems of the body so I’m constantly mitigating the impacts of our modern-day environment is what gives me the confidence to spend fearless time in the sun all Summer long.

Giving your body what it needs to feel your best doesn’t have to be complicated, it can be easy. These are the 5 foundational lifestyle pillars I follow to prevent skin cancer and overcome any future health hurdles, and that I teach my clients to do too:

1. Eat the right foods your body needs to function at its potential
2. Get high-quality sleep according to your body’s natural rhythm
3. Align daily exercise intensity to build health instead of depleting it
4. Routinely release life’s daily stressors even when it feels like you don’t have any
5. Incorporate simple natural detox-supporting lifestyle strategies 

If you’re already CHECKING ALL of these boxes but still don’t feel like your best self, then it’s time for a deeper detox with Sinclair Kennally’s Rapid Liver Reset Program.

Sinclair is the founder of Detox Rejuvenation and someone I have personally worked with to guide me through deeper detox strategies when I was “checking all of the boxes” but wanted to feel even better.

Sinclair’s unique approach has helped me clear my body of lingering mold, metals, hidden parasites, and other toxins to achieve a higher level of health and feel better in my 40s than ever before.

The collection of wisdom and experience she has in this area is unmatched by any I’ve seen before. As someone who has personally overcome chronic illness and helped thousands of others, she has so much to offer.

Working with Sinclair has been a huge compliment to the work I do as a Functional Health Professional by helping me not only take my health to the next level but by also being a resource I can confidently refer my clients to when they need an expert guide to help them detoxify and regenerate their liver.

CLICK HERE to see how the Rapid Liver Reset Program can change your health and your life, and enroll by July 30th if you’re ready to feel like your absolute best self.

And if you need a sign to let you know if the Rapid Liver Reset program is right for you, pay attention to how your body feels leading up to and a few days after the full moon on July 21st.

If any symptoms or health issues intensify around the full moon, that’s a signature sign for parasites (hello liver flukes!), bacteria, and yeast overgrowth that can strongly correlate with a clogged detox system and toxic body burden.

I know Rapid Liver Reset will help you find the missing pieces of your health puzzle like this, so you can fix whatever is going on and get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the first time)

Happy Summer Solstice!

I just returned from my first Summer road trip, which is my favorite time to catch up on podcasts and audiobooks!

Are you ready to embark on a Summer road trip or vacation?

Whether you’re road-tripping, flying, or staycation-ing, I bet you’ll need some good podcasts, hardbacks, or audiobooks for the season, and I’ve got some great recommendations to help you explore all of the pieces of your health puzzle so you can feel your best this Summer and beyond!

Check out some of my recent podcast interviews for your Summer Playlist to explore topics such as…

Beyond Hormone Imbalances

Dive into the intricacies of thyroid health in this insightful episode with Jenn Malecha, a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® and Transformational Coaching expert. We start by exploring how specific tests can unlock paths to healing, moving beyond standard checks to find hidden health issues.

Bouncing Back From Betraying Your Body

Jenn shares her wisdom and insights on how to break free from negative patterns and create a healthier, more fulfilling life. She emphasizes the importance of forgiveness in our lives and how it can be a tough, yet transformative journey, and highlights the significance of self-love and how it plays a vital role in building our health and correcting imbalances in our bodies.

The BIG PICTURE of Thyroid and Weight Loss

In this podcast, Dr. Amie Hornaman interviews Jenn Malecha about her personal health journey and her thyroid and weight loss journey too. They dive into conversations and Jenn shares her knowledge with her extensive background. First, Jenn is a powerful woman. She has so much training and so much experience under her belt. This is really one that you are going to want to listen to. Her focus is on supporting health-minded individuals in taking back control of their health.

And here are a few of my favorite health-related books to help you live your best life…

• Good Energy by Casey Means, MD
• The Hormone Balance Bible by Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD
• Beyond the Pill by Dr. Jolene Brighten
• Estrogeneration by Anthony G. Jay, PhD
• The Thyroid Connection by Amy Myers, MD
• Dirty Genes by Dr. Ben Lynch
• The Autoimmune Fix by Dr. Tom O’Bryan

I need some new podcasts and books for my Summer playlist too, hit reply to let me know what some of your recent favorites have been!

It’s officially Summer travel season here in the Northern Hemisphere!

I’m off to Maui next week, San Francisco in July, and Santa Barbara in August. Where are you headed this Summer?

As much as I love traveling, it used to wipe me out and set my health back, but I know how to do it differently so I can feel as good, if not better, upon my return than when I left.

You probably don’t notice the full toll that traveling takes on your body because…

…if it’s work-related you tend to see it as “just part of the job” and so you continue to push through…

…and if it’s vacation-related, well, it must be all good right?

Traveling is a type of stress we just don’t typically address.

Think about it. How many times have you come home from a trip and:

• Come down with the worst cold or flu ever
• Felt extremely exhausted even if your trip was a vacation
• Had a flare-up of muscle or joint aches and pains
• Struggled to get your sleep back on track
• Noticed your weight shot up
• Or experienced a relapse in your autoimmune symptoms, anxiety, skin breakouts, or other health issues

These are all signs of the stress your body experiences while traveling.

Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling and I would never give it up. Over the years, I started to recognize the toll it took on my body too, and the proactive actions I could take to not only prevent a health setback, but feel better upon my return than when I left sometimes, and I’m about to share them with you.

First, you have to understand that STRESS is anything that places a burden on your body, resulting in inflammation and imbalances which leads to any of the health issues you might encounter.

Stressors can include the foods you’re eating that aren’t right for your body, getting inadequate sleep, over or under-exercising, emotional or physical stress, toxins that you encounter, and hidden stressors such as parasites, bacteria or yeast overgrowth in the gut, hormone imbalances, liver congestion and more.

The not-so-obvious but typical types of stressors you encounter when traveling are:

• Limited quality food and water options
• Bad beds or environments that negatively impact sleep quality
• Sitting for long periods or getting less movement in general
• Dehydration from flying or not being in your normal routine
• Crossing time zones and messing with your natural hormone balance
• And an abundance of toxins circulating the air in airports and hotels

These stressors can add up quickly while traveling.

As your stress load increases, it can suppress your immune system, making you more susceptible to getting sick, disrupting your natural hormone balance which drains your energy and mood, overloading your liver causing a backup of toxins in your body, and destroying your gut resulting in digestive upset.

You may not have complete control over these travel-time stressors BUT you can reduce their impact on your body when you take the right steps.

In this week’s video and blog, I share my top health travel tips to help you feel your best anywhere in the world, prevent health setbacks, and feel even better upon return!

You obviously can’t live in a bubble and avoid all “unhealthy” things. The goal is to…

Learn how to navigate life differently to support your health and feel your best.

As I pointed out, there are quite a few types of stressors you typically encounter while traveling; some might be within your control and some may not be, so the strategy is to minimize what you can and take action to offset what you can’t.

Instead of stressing about finding the perfect place, food, and toxin-free environments while traveling, here are some simple steps that I take, and that you can take too, in order to proactively support your body and prevent any health setbacks…

Be Food & Water Aware.

1. Order and seek out gluten and dairy-free options to avoid pesticides and other inflammatory elements.  
2. Increase your electrolyte and water intake 1 day before plus while traveling to prevent dehydration. 
3. Be mindful of your alcohol intake – if tired or jet-lagged, opt for a mocktail instead.

Support Sound Sleep.

1. Set your bedroom to 68 degrees for optimal sleep temperature.
2. Cover all lights; alarm clocks, smoke alarms, and tightly seal curtains shut (Ninja trick! Pack electrical tape to cover smoke alarm lights and place pillows against curtains to seal the cracks).
3. Get sunlight exposure upon waking up to balance your circadian (aka energy) rhythm. 

Reduce Physical Stress.

1. Diffuse the impacts of artificial light with stylish and compact Viva Ray blue blockers.
2. Stretch, stretch, and stretch! Daily and intermittently on the plane for long flights.
3. Choose less intense exercise, such as walking or yoga when you feel tired or depleted.

Decompress and Revitalize.

1. Pack lavender essential oil to use anytime you need to unwind throughout your trip.
2. Start and/or end your day with a cycle of deep breaths, meditation, or journaling.
3. Schedule some time at the spa or book a massage to relax and restore your body.

Tone Down Toxins.

1. Pack a Triad Air Go travel-size air purifier to combat allergen, mold, and chemical air exposures.
2. Drink bottled spring water ONLY – Fiji, Sedona, Mountain Spring, and Evian are my top picks. 
3. Get in touch with nature – open windows when possible, get outside daily, and even put your bare feet in grass or dirt to offset toxin exposure.

I love helping my clients learn how to navigate life differently so they can enjoy traveling AND have their ideal health and weight at the same time.

If you’re a busy, health-minded professional who travels a ton and wants to learn how to support your body better while doing it, then follow me closely on Instagram to catch all my travel tips with my upcoming trips!