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

When I graduated with a Bachelor of Science 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 – 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 occurring in 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 greater insights and results; click here to grab a CGM today!

Hi, my name is Jenn and I’m a workaholic.⁣

I have to work hard at not working. Overworking in the past is part of what led to constantly being tired regardless of how much I slept, hormone imbalances, digestive issues, skin cancer, and Hashimoto’s. ⁣⁣

Scheduling time away from my computer, being outside, and trading perfectionism for presence are some of the ways I navigate around the urge to work too much these days so I can feel like my best self.

According to the law of attraction, I suspect you might be a workaholic too, which is why we’re likely connected and you can probably relate to this so well…

You see, I’ve been a busy yet health-minded professional since I can remember.

As a kid, I excelled in school, took all of the advanced classes, and then played outside until the sun went down. In high school, it was more of the same; advanced classes, after-school sports, weekends full of socializing with friends, and at 16 I got my first part-time job. 

Off to college I went to pursue a degree in fitness, nutrition, and health all while juggling an internship, a part-time job, and a full social calendar. I landed my first career job right after graduation, was promoted to assistant manager in 6 months, and very shortly after became the general manager running a multi-million dollar business.

At 22, I was living the dream; working hard, making great money working in the health industry, and playing just as hard on the weekends.

Over the years, I put in a LOT of 12-hour days, dealt with a lot of stress working in a high-pressure sales environment, and drank way too much on the weekends trying to relax and escape. 

But I thought I had it all under control. I was “eating healthy”, hitting the hard gym every day, and exceeding performance goals at work.

That was until I was diagnosed with skin cancer at 25 years old, with no apparent risk factors such as family history or being a chronic sun-bather. 

That’s when the light bulb went on, and I started to realize I had been tired for a long time. I always struggled with my weight despite what I ate or how much I exercised, and my seasonal allergies that were progressively getting worse weren’t normal. 

Healthy is a way of being, NOT just doing.

You see, I was doing a lot of “healthy things”, but I wasn’t exactly embracing being healthy. I was running my body into the ground daily and barely keeping it afloat with my so-called healthy eating and exercise habits.

And the truth is, you can’t out-supplement, out-diet or out-exercise a busy lifestyle or an overworked body. 

Now as an entrepreneur working at-home for myself, instead of someone else, it’s too easy to sit at home catching up on work instead of taking time to relax and do nothing. I love my work. It’s incredibly rewarding on many levels; I get to help people reach their health and business goals. I get a rush from checking tasks off my list and coaching others which scratches my natural born-leader itch. 

However…

Your body can only heal in a relaxed state.

This is exactly why I’m taking a semi-sabbatical in July – to really give myself the space needed to slow down and reset.  

Cultivating this container of space will not only benefit my body from a physical health perspective, but it will also allow me to optimize business with more creativity and efficiency when I resume a regular work routine in August. 

Because all the busy-ness, the doing, and the moving, elicits a chronic low-grade stress response in the body – triggering your sympathetic nervous system, also known as your “fight or flight” response, signaling the body to release cortisol hormone.  

Cortisol is your body’s response to stress, but it also helps to regulate your energy balance, sleep quality, blood sugar regulation, inflammation, and hormone pathways. 

This busy-ness response paired with emotional stress, sub-optimal sleep, hitting the gym hard, hidden environmental toxins, alcohol and foods that aren’t right for your body increases the demand for cortisol to regulate stress and inflammation.

A constant demand for cortisol from the “fight or flight” response wears down your physical body over time, leading to all kinds of health issues, draining your energy, and limiting your ability to think creatively and show up as your best self in life.

My old workaholic lifestyle is a perfect example of how we unknowingly drain our bodies every day…

• Get up early
• Workout hard
• Work all-day
• Work while eating lunch
• Eat good food but not great food
• Rush from one place to another including to bed
• Repeat

To sum it up, my routine was basically deplete, deplete, deplete, hit repeat. I would take two steps forward with my “healthy habits” and three steps backward by depleting my body with repeated demands.

Your body will do anything you tell it to, but that doesn’t mean you should. 

Understanding the burden of stress that your body is under at any point in time and taking action to reduce it is the true path to achieving and maintaining your ideal health and weight.

One of the biggest health-boosting actions you can take is to relax more (aka work less) – to allow your body to enter the rest and digest or parasympathetic state. This is when healing magic really happens allowing you to take more steps forward even if your choices or environment took some steps back.

Here are 10 of my favorite ways to stop and shift from work mode to relax mode that instantly flip the switch in the body from fight or flight to rest and digest status:

1. Lay down and prop your feet up for at least 5 minutes
2. Take a breath break; inhale 5 sec., hold for 5, exhale for 7, repeat 5-10x
3. Eat meals outside and/or away from your computer and phone
4. Schedule time to explore the outdoors and disconnect
5. Create a nightly wind-down routine and be asleep by 10pm
6. Set Do-Not-Disturb on your phone daily 9pm-7am
7. Spend quality time with furry family members or friends (dog, cat, etc.)
8. Find a hobby that entices you and brings you a bunch of joy
9. Engage in therapeutic mental challenges such as puzzles, crosswords and painting
10. Put reminders in your calendar to stop working and do something relaxing such as read a book, watch your favorite TV show, do arts and crafts or just sit and stare out at the world

Even with these tools in my back pocket, that little voice inside my head still tries to encourage me to keep working to reap the rewards of my labor, but I know better now.  

During this semi-sabbatical in July, I’ll be practicing stillness to strengthen my tolerance (aka ability) for it. 

I know what it feels like to feel at home in my body, to wake up rested, to feel strong, and to never ever get sick – this is way more worth it than that extra hour or minute of work I think I should put in.

This is the question you have to ask yourself…is all that work worth it if at the end of the day you’re too tired, sick or feeling fat to enjoy life?  

I’m curious, no matter how small, what shift could you make in July with me, to work less and relax more so you can feel your best too?

Comment below to give yourself some accountability and share your commitment to shift with me.

P.S.  My regular newsletters and Instagram Lives will be less consistent while I’m taking a sabbatical for July BUT here are a few ways to stay connected and still get great tips, tools and information during this time…

• Follow me on Instagram
• Listen to my Podcast Appearances
• Check out my Health Tips Blogs

Have a wonderful July and I can’t wait to share more insightful content in August!

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

I’m feeling fresh after my first summer getaway last week and already looking forward to my annual Maui trip next month!

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’ve learned how to navigate travel differently to 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 went up
• Or experienced a relapse in 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 also feel better upon my return than when I left sometimes, and I’m about to share them with you.

First, you have to acknowledge 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 internal 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 disrupting 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, impact your natural hormone balance which drains your energy and mood, overloading your liver leading to a backup of toxins in your body, and disrupt 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 Valley, 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!

Next week I officially take my first vacation (yes I said first vacation) of the Summer – and I CANNOT WAIT to hit the road, go offline and spend some time in nature. 

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, so I’m sharing some of my recent favorite recommendations to help you explore all of the pieces of your health puzzle to feel your best this Summer and beyond! 

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

How Toxins Impact Liver, Thyroid and Gut Health with Sara Banta

If you’re feeling fatigued, bloated, anxious, or stuck despite your best efforts, this episode will connect the dots and empower you with real solutions.

Why Your Bloodwork Looks ‘Normal’ but You Still Feel Of with Ashley Fillmore

In this episode, we uncover the missing pieces of your health puzzle. Jenn helps busy, health-minded professionals take back control of their health by getting access to the right lab tests, functional strategies, and personalized solutions—so they can finally feel like themselves again.

Internal Health and Weight Loss, Where To Start with Testing, Thyroid Health, and More with Carol Covino

In this episode, we discuss autoimmunity, where to start with testing, why getting healthy first is the secret to weight loss, and more!

  .  

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!

I love the cycle of seasons and the variety they add to life. But I didn’t always feel this way…

Seasonal shifts used to really get me down because of the impacts they had on my health. Every Fall and Spring I would struggle with:

• Foggy brain
• Low energy
• Congestion
• Earaches or infections
• Coughing and sneezing
• And downright just feeling blah!

When I moved from Northern California to sunny San Diego for college, I developed severe seasonal allergies which was odd since I had moved from a farming town full of pollen to a place with refreshing ocean breezes. But I brushed it off, ignoring the smoke signals my body was sending.

I’ll never forget walking home from class on the dreadfully hot San Diego Fall days (yes, it can get very hot in San Diego from about August to November due to the Santa Ana winds coming from the East pulling dry heat and all kinds of pollen with them). 

I lived in a seasonal allergy haze on these days. I couldn’t think straight, I had headaches and recurring earaches, and despite how much coffee I drank I couldn’t break the wall of fatigue. 

Seasonal allergies might be common, but they are not necessarily normal. 

Now seasonal shifts are a blip on my radar. I still feel them but they don’t take me down the way they used to anymore. For perspective, my symptoms are a 1 or 2 on a scale of 1-10 when they used to be an 8 to 10.

The frequency and intensity of seasonal allergies are clues about your body’s detox, digestive, and immune system function since they represent an inflammatory response; the more frequent and intense, the bigger the indication is for poor body system function.

The stronger and healthier your body systems are, the more resilient and thus less reactive you’ll be to things like pollens and allergens in the air.

Over time, I have implemented strategies to reduce the inflammatory load on my body to drastically reduce the intensity of my seasonal sensitivities down to almost zero. And when the seasons change, I have a few other tricks up my sleeve to keep even the smallest symptoms at bay.

The good news is… to restore balance to your body and reverse symptoms like seasonal allergies, it’s actually quite simple.

You can do this daily by:

• Eating the right foods for your body
• Being asleep by 10 pm and sleeping through the night
• Moving your body daily and decreasing exercise intensity on days you feel tired
• Drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces of water to flush toxins
• Taking time to destress and disconnect daily even if it’s for 5 minutes at a time
• Gradually eliminating toxins from your environment 

All of which I guide you through in my 28-Day Cleanse Challenge. 

NOW is the perfect time to focus on supporting your body in these ways.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fall and Spring are the best times of year to cleanse and detox the body of harmful impurities that have collected in our organs and tissues to restore balance to the body and prepare for the next season ahead.

I created the 28-Day Cleanse Challenge to give you a step-by-step easy way to detox for increased energy, weight loss, and hormone and digestive balance that decreases belly bloat, allergies, and other symptoms of poor health. 

It’s even specifically designed for health-minded people like you who want to take their health to the next level, naturally.

You can do the same 28-Day Cleanse Challenge I do every season for just $1 per day!

Join my 28-Day Cleanse Challenge for just $1 a day!

If you’re not sure whether a cleanse is right for you or not, here are 10 common signs your body needs cleansing:

1. Seasonal allergies
2. Abdominal bloating
3. Menstrual irregularities
4. Abdominal fat aka a pot belly
5. Joint and muscle pain
6. Low energy or fatigue
7. Acid reflux/heartburn
8. Body odor, hot flashes, and excessive sweating
9. Acne, rosacea, or itchy, blotchy skin
10. Unexplained weight gain and inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction

When you commit to the Cleanse Challenges it’s possible to…

• Have more energy to enjoy life and keep up with its daily demands
• Lose those last few pounds, get trim, and stay that way
• Blast away the belly bloat for good
• Improve your memory, learning ability, and mood
• Sleep better so that you can wake up feeling rested
• Be more productive at work and in life
• Have higher-quality workouts because you’ll have the energy to do so
• Improved the conversion of thyroid hormone Free T4 to Free T3
• Boost your immunity and digestion to heal leaky gut
• Increase your ability to handle stress to lessen anxiety and depression
• Look younger and have clear skin!

Here’s how the Cleanse Challenge works. Over the course of 28 days, you will…

• Learn what ratio of proteins, carbs, and fats are best for your body to boost your energy & weight loss, balance hormones, and reduce belly bloat & inflammation
• Incorporate the highest naturally detoxifying foods (beets, grapefruit, and dandelion greens) into your daily routine to promote the body’s natural cleansing systems
• Focus on minimizing your intake of the top inflammatory and hormone disrupting foods: gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, and alcohol
• Try simple DIY proven liver flushing techniques to push out those built-up toxins
• Receive weekly workout routine video tips to sweat out those toxins
• Get accountability to work out regularly, drink plenty of water, and get quality sleep in order to support the body’s cleansing and healing process
• Receive 30-minute recorded weekly educational webinars and be part of a special Facebook group for support
• Get recipes and a checklist to guide you along your journey

AND I’m including a special BONUS ASK THE EXPERT SESSION with one of my health expert team members!

Will you join me and many others to shed pounds, boost your energy naturally and cleanse your body?

CLICK HERE to start Cleansing Your Body TODAY!