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!

Losing your hair isn’t fun for men or women. 

Your hair is part of your identity; it’s what makes you look like who you are. It’s part of your personal style. It’s part of how you identify with yourself in the mirror and even how others identify you.

Your hair can give you confidence and make you feel sexy, attractive, and good about yourself. Even if being bald is your thing, it still is part of what defines you.

So when my hair started falling out a few years ago, at first I was in denial, and then I went through a mild identity crisis.

I’ve treasured my hair since I can remember. As a little girl, I loved styling it my own way, and I’ve never cut it any shorter than shoulder-length because I love my luscious locks.

But for some reason, when my typical hair shedding increased, I shrugged it off and made excuses for it… 

It was because of the change in seasons
I went too many days without washing my hair
I wasn’t brushing it enough
I was working more and under more stress 

You know, the usual things.

I just kept thinking, “If I just give it time, it will stop.”

As the months went by and my hair continued to clog up the shower drain in larger quantities than I had ever seen before, so I started to question what my body might be trying to tell me.

Because hair loss might be common, that doesn’t mean it’s normal.

I’ve had countless clients who have experienced hair loss due to thyroid disorders, autoimmune conditions, stress, nutrient deficiencies, and more.

There are many types of hair loss and over 50 root causes, many of which go overlooked by doctors, dermatologists, and even hair specialists.

Many people suffer in silence with embarrassment, shame, or insecurity while trying to cover up their hair loss with hats, scarves, hair coloring, extensions, etc., because they don’t know about the real solutions.

Hair loss is a clue, encouraging you to question what’s going on and get curious about what your body needs to function at its potential and reverse hair loss.

Some of the most common correlations with hair loss include the following:

• When thyroid hormone T3 is low
• Changes in estrogen and progesterone
• Alopecia (an autoimmune condition) is activated
• Vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies
• An increase in mental, physical, or emotional stress
• Toxic exposures such as mold and heavy metals
• Drastic changes to your diet
• Low-quality or toxic hair products
• Poor circulation

 The quality of your hair is a measurement of your health.

Telogen Effluvium was the type of hair loss I experienced years ago, which is a condition that can be triggered by a variety of things, such as drastic changes in diet, deficiencies, toxins, and low-quality hair products.

Thankfully, with the right tools and resources, I was able to turn my hair loss around and get my luscious locks back again.

I’m sharing my full hair loss story and solutions to help others reclaim their luscious locks too, during the virtual Confidence & Beauty Event taking place March 17th- 23rd.

CLICK HERE for a free ticket to attend!

This virtual event is designed for women who are ready to uncover the real root causes of hair loss and embrace natural, effective solutions. 

If you’ve struggled with hair thinning, shedding, or confidence issues, this event is packed with the guidance and strategies you need to take back control of your hair health and overall well-being by actually addressing the root causes!

Throughout the event, you’ll hear from a lineup of incredible speakers (including myself) sharing actionable insights and proven strategies for reversing hair loss. Each session is crafted to empower you with tools and knowledge to address the root causes of hair loss, improve your overall health, and feel confident again.

Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll gain from the event:

• Learn how to identify the root causes of hair loss and address them naturally.
• Expert advice on nutrition, daily habits, and supplements to support hair growth.
• Practical strategies to reverse hair loss, love how you look, and reclaim your confidence.
• Actionable steps to take control of your hair health—regardless of any diagnosis or hair journey.

We have more control over our health than we’ve been conditioned to think, and hair loss is a HUGE example of this!

Don’t settle for anything less than what you want AND deserve in life…

CLICK here to register for the event and add it to your calendar!

I know this event will help you find the missing pieces of your health puzzle to stop, reverse, and prevent hair loss, and I can’t wait to hear about your biggest takeaways!

P.S. Feel free to share this hair-liberating event with anyone else who could benefit from it!

Let’s be honest.

Stepping on the scale can be frustrating and disappointing when you don’t see that ideal number despite all of your efforts.

I know this feeling all too well as someone who watched the scale fluctuate most of my life…until I understood why.

Before I understood my fluctuations, I drove myself crazy chasing the perfect pound, counting every calorie, and driving my body into the ground at the gym. All of which didn’t help my cause – not even a little bit.

I gave up stepping on the scale; thinking if I didn’t pay attention to it, if I didn’t obsess over it, maybe just maybe I would magically reach my dream number. I would eventually feel comfortable in my clothes and my body.

But the truth is you can gain insights from what you track.

I’m not suggesting you should obsess over what the scale says, but rather instead track what makes you fluctuate so you can better understand what is keeping you from the perfect pound, and then take action on the data you’re collecting.

There are 4 primary drivers for fluctuations:

• Water retention
• Inflammation
• Muscle
• Fat

Significant increases or decreases in actual body composition (aka fat and muscle mass) take time. Changes in body composition happen in smaller increments over weeks or months due to the complexities of how they are obtained.

In general, losing 1 pound of fat per week is typical and obtainable. However, gaining 1 pound of actual fat per week is less likely unless you’re eating almost double your usual food intake (I’ll tell you more about why below), which I doubt you’re doing.

Gaining or losing muscle is even more challenging. When it comes to muscle growth, you have to hit the gym hard, consistently, combined with super stacking protein and supplements to get gains (especially for women!).
Back when I was training for fitness competitions, I worked my ass off to gain 4 pounds of muscle over 6 weeks with an intense training routine while being meticulous about protein and food intake.

If you’re noticing significant and constant fluctuations, water retention and inflammation are the more likely culprits day-to-day or weekly than muscle or fat.

In this week’s video and blog, I dive into more details about why your weight fluctuates and what you can do to not only stabilize it but to nail your perfect pound on the scale.

Inflammation and water density can change in the body by the minute depending on a multitude of factors such as…

• The foods you just ate
• The quality of sleep you got
• The amount of water you’re drinking
• The level of stress you’re experiencing
• Consuming diuretics like caffeine, alcohol, and even certain foods
• The balance of vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes in your body
• And how many toxins you’re being exposed to and to what frequency

Food, sleep, and stress are the most common factors of fluctuations I’ve seen amongst my clients and myself.

For example, my husband found he was sensitive to beef from a food sensitivity test, meaning he was having an inflammatory reaction to it. He cut out beef and lost 5 pounds in one week as a result of the reduction in inflammation.

Another great example is a client who found out she was sensitive to 87 “healthy” whole foods once we did the right type of testing. She lost almost 20 pounds in one month by avoiding these personal inflammatory foods, without changing her exercise routine or anything else.

These weight loss scenarios are typical amongst most of my clients once they cut out the top inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, and alcohol. And they see greater gains when they eliminate other specific foods they’re reactive to according to their food sensitivity test.

Aside from food sensitivities, consuming too many carbohydrates or sugars for what your body can tolerate increases water retention.

Carbs and sugars are stored in the body as glycogen, as explained in this study, “glycogen is stored in the liver, muscles, and fat cells in hydrated form (three to four parts water).” So the more carbs or sugars you eat, the more glycogen and water are stored.

Staying up late or not getting good quality sleep disrupts your body’s ability to regulate cortisol hormone, the body’s natural anti-inflammatory. When cortisol is out of balance, it hinders your body’s ability to manage inflammation, and you’ll see that number on the scale reflect this.

And then there’s stress.

Stress increases your body’s output of cortisol hormone, that anti-inflammatory agent, which challenges its ability to regulate not only inflammation but also your sleep patterns, which contribute to fluctuations, as I just mentioned.

Instead of feeling frustrated about the fluctuations on the scale, and elevating your stress levels which will just make them worse, put on your health boss hat and start tracking.

Tracking your metrics daily will reveal what exactly is impacting the number you’re seeing on the scale. Here’s an idea of what to track for clues about what’s causing you to fluctuate…

• If you ate any of the top inflammatory foods: gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, or alcohol
• How many grams of carbs and sugars you consumed
• What time you went to bed and how well you slept on a scale of 1-10
• And what your stress level is each day on a scale of 1-10

And of course, make sure you are using a scale that is calibrated correctly and regularly to eliminate margins of error.

Try this for even just a week, and I bet you’ll feel empowered by what you find, because once you know what’s contributing to your fluctuations, then you can make conscious choices to help you look and feel your best!

As Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioners like myself like to say… test, don’t guess. Don’t live in limbo anymore, take your health into your own hands and be a health boss 😉

I would love to hear what aha’s, insights, or big takeaways you got from this, leave a comment and let me know!

I spent the first week of January living it up in Maui; basking on it’s beautiful beaches, kayaking with whales and snorkeling with turtles.

It made me reflect on how grateful I am for the strong, healthy and beautiful body that I now confidently live in – which hasn’t always been the case.

There once was a time when I felt exhausted all the time and uncomfortable 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 basically 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. And all I wanted was to feel like myself again.

Eventually, with the right lab tests and resources, I was able to feel at home in my body again.

So I’m curious…how are you feeling in your body? 

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

Would you love to feel like yourself again and for good?

…the energetic, clear-minded, great skin, creative, in-shape, productive, pain and the 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.

Do you ever find yourself wondering why you don’t have the energy to do the simplest tasks such as putting away the laundry, riding bikes with your kids, 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!

I tried every diet and exercise trick before I finally figured 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. There’s something going on underneath the hood reducing the efficacy of your efforts. 

So listen up if you have ever caught yourself staring in the mirror 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?

If you’re experiencing anything like this, it’s not something that happens overnight. Feeling out of place in your body is something that occurs over time amongst the shuffle of work, kids, responsibilities, travel, stress, and anything else going on in your life.

Feeling uncomfortable in your body happens when…

• Your hormone system slowly goes haywire
• Your immune system gradually gets weak
• Your digestive system becomes sluggish
• Your detoxification system gets backed up
• Your energy system eventually slows down
• And your nervous system sends mixed signals

In order 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 should be.

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 your general practitioner, or even some specialists won’t get you the answers you’re looking for. 

In order 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 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

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 help 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, easily maintain an ideal weight, 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 dysfunction
• Liver congestion
• Poor thyroid function
• And intestinal parasites, bacteria, and yeast overgrowth

These things were standing in their way of feeling like their best self 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 feel like your best self this year…

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!

Click here to apply for one of these spots and book a consultation to explore this opportunity with me by January 31st.

(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! 

Click here to apply for one of these spots and book a consultation to explore this opportunity with me by January 31st.

Here’s to you achieving your health goals this year, no matter what life throws at you!