Is Bacon Ok To Have On A Cleanse? (+ LAST DAYS TO SAVE $20)
Hell yes!!!
Bacon is not only approved, it’s actually encouraged during my Seasonal Cleanse Challenge.
That might sound odd to you since most cleanse or detox programs require you to cut out just about every fun food on the planet. However, cutting out foods that contain protein, such as bacon, is where most cleanse programs go wrong.
There are 3 phases of detoxification that our body is going through 24/7 to help you flush out toxins that you come in contact with all day long. Protein is a critical nutrient that your body needs during phase 1 and 2 in order breakdown and package up the toxins for elimination.
Plus, deprivation is never fun. When we deprive ourselves we usually end up giving in to temptation, fall off the wagon and find it harder to get back on track.
My Seasonal Cleanse Challenge is NOT about deprivation, it’s about using whole, organic and nourishing foods to promote the body’s natural detoxification process.
Don’t just take my word for it, see what some of the past participants have had to say…
“I liked how it was a program of empowerment and not a program of deprivation. Instead of preventing me from having things, it turned me on to new things and allowed me to see how enjoyable and rewarding being healthy and mindful eating could be.” – Robin, F.
“This was the first cleanse I’ve ever done. What intrigued me about this cleanse was that fact that I could still eat food! I was nervous about cutting out foods I love for 30 days but it was surprisingly easier than I thought. I have found new (healthier) foods that I love now! I’m also able to make healthier choices every day, especially when eating out.” – Jodi V.
“I associated ‘cleanse’ with deprivation- not at all true in this cleanse! I was pleasantly surprised by Jenn’s methods and clear instructions to eat! This cleanse is all about eating more of the right things for your body and eliminating toxins by avoiding things like sugar and processed foods. The daily tracker was a great motivator for me. It allowed me to make choices for myself each day, without the feeling of all-or-nothing rules of many other cleanses. I felt results almost immediately in my mood and body.” – Van L.
SEASONAL CLEANSE CHALLENGE ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!! ENROLL HERE
This challenge will help you boost your liver function to promote the body’s detoxification process naturally using foods and gentle cleansing methods so that you can:
- Lose those stubborn pounds
- Boost your energy
- Enhance your hormones and overall health
The challenge start October 25th, but Early Bird enrollment is now open!!! Save $20 if you enroll by TOMORROW/THURSDAY, SEPT. 20TH – ENROLL HERE
Here’s how the Seasonal 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, reduce belly bloat and inflammation
- Be incorporating the highest naturally detoxifying foods (beets, grapefruit, dandelion greens) into your daily routine to promote the body’s natural cleansing systems
- Focus on minimizing your intake of the top inflammatory 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
- Get accountability to exercise for at least 30 minutes daily, to drink plenty of water and to get good quality sleep to support the body’s cleansing process
- Be invited to attend exclusive 30 minute live or recorded weekly webinars and be part of a private Facebook group for support
- Receive recipes and a checklist to guide you along your journey
- Get a quick start goodie bag to get you moving in the right direction
- EARN POINTS FOR EACH CLEANSING ACTIVITY TO QUALIFY FOR PRIZES!
Save $20 when you enroll by September 30th. There are only 50 spots available so make sure you grab your spot ASAP. ENROLL HERE
Have questions about whether this is the right program or if this will work for you? Feel free to shoot me an email and I’ll give you my honest feedback about if my Seasonal Cleanse Challenge is right for you – [email protected]
And here are some of the frequently asked questions…
Q: What if I’m traveling during the cleanse?
A: No problem! Many past participants have been traveling during the cleanse, even internationally. The beauty of the cleanse is that you’re not restricting yourself of all foods so it makes it easy to eat on the road and you’ll get support from the webinars, Facebook group and me on how to make good choices on-the-go.
Q: What exactly do I have to cut out of my diet?
A: During the cleanse you will focus on minimizing or eliminating gluten, dairy, sugar, soy and alcohol. And I will give you recommendations and guidance on how to do this and great alternatives, plus you get TWO recipe guides to help you out.
Q: What if I fall off track, I don’t want to feel like a failure?
A: There is no such thing as failure, only feedback. First off the cleanse is a point system so you can pick and choose the things you want to abide by, and if you miss points in one area you can make them up in another or with the bonus point opportunities that help you to create balance. If you fall off track, that’s just a sign of needing a new strategy to keep you on track. You’ll have the weekly webinars, Facebook group and your one-on-one session with me for tips, encouragement and accountability!
Are you ready for a challenge?
Save $20 when you enroll by September 30th. There are only 50 spots available, so make sure you grab your spot ASAP. ENROLL HERE
#TBT- When Diet & Exercise Aren’t Enough (+ Challenge Open and Webinar Replay)
I’ve been hearing so many people recently talk about their frustrations with weight loss, energy and their health – “but I eat healthy and exercise so I don’t understand why…”
– I’m not losing weight
– I still don’t have any energy
– My health isn’t improving
Even my own clients feel this frustration and I have to kindly remind them that there is more to health and weight loss than just diet and exercise.
We talked in detail about this during Tuesday’s webinar The Daily Detox: No Juices, Gimmicks or Supplements Required! and you can catch the REPLAY HERE
So in honor of #throwbackthursday and of these frustrations I’m bringing back this article I wrote earlier this year to ease your mind and to paint the big picture of what’s really going on…
***
Have you ever struggled with weight loss? Or maybe you’ve noticed that as you get older, it seems harder to lose those extra pounds after the holidays, even if you kick off the New Year eating healthy and with a solid workout routine.
I used to get so frustrated with the scale when I was counting calories and putting in hours of cardio. I would tell myself it was “just water weight” that I was hanging onto or that my genetics were what was holding me back. Not long ago, not only was I struggling with losing weight but so were my clients. The age-old strategy of calories in vs. calories out just wasn’t doing the trick.
So what gives? – at what point are diet and exercise not enough?
Age and genetics do play a small role, but I’ll tell you that I’ve seen many clients successfully lose weight at any age and with all different genetics. And what about the people who diet like crazy, go to Crossfit daily and who still don’t lose weight as they want?
When diet and exercise aren’t getting you results, you have to look at the other pieces of the puzzle, and quite possibly the biggest key player is your liver.
We are exposed daily to high levels of toxins through food, water, air, home and personal care products. These toxins get filtered through the liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and are stored in fat tissue. Toxic build up prevents the uptake and utilization of nutrients, carbohydrates, and proteins.
When your liver is so busy working to filter out all these toxins it has very little energy left to filter blood, drugs and hormones let alone do its other job as a digestive organ – thus many find losing weight more difficult.
Your liver is also in charge of converting and excreting excess hormones. If liver function is sub-optimal, then hormones such as estrogen can build up causing estrogen dominance, which can lead to excess weight, hot flashes and an increased risk for cancer.
The liver is also where 60% of thyroid hormone conversion takes place, and most people know that an imbalance in thyroid slows your metabolism and can lead to weight gain.
If you are consistently exercising, then your muscles need fuel and your liver will help send fuel in their direction, but a clogged liver won’t. Then all that excess glucose fuel gets stored as fat.
In this week’s video and blog I talk more about the key role that your liver plays in weight loss and how to boost its function to shed those pounds.
Here are 10 common signs your liver needs detoxing:
- Abdominal bloating
- Menstrual irregularities
- Abdominal fat; pot belly; that “spare tire” effect
- Joint and muscular pains
- Low energy or fatigue
- Acid reflux/heartburn
- Dark spots on the skin commonly referred to liver spots
- Overheating of the body & excessive perspiration
- Acne/Rosacea or itchy, blotchy skin
- Unexplained weight gain and inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction
Keeping your liver in working order is a matter of reducing stress and toxic load on it. You can do this several ways…
- Reduce your exposure to toxins
- Eat powerful detoxifying foods; beets, grapefruit, dandelion greens
- Do a detox cleanse 1-2 times per year
***
If you’ve hit a wall with your weight loss or suspect that your liver could use some love, then you are in luck!
SEASONAL CLEANSE CHALLENGE ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!! ENROLL HERE
This challenge will help you boost your liver function naturally using foods and gentle cleansing methods so that you can:
- Lose those stubborn pounds
- Boost your energy
- Enhance your hormones and overall health
The challenge start October 25th, but Early Bird enrollment is now open!!!
Save $20 when you enroll by September 30th. There are only 50 spots available so make sure you grab your spot ASAP.
Don’t let diet and exercise hold you back from discovering your ideal health and weight, learn to love your liver and it will love you back.
The Toxic Body Burden
We now live in a world where more and more chemicals and toxins are being released into the environment every day, week, month and year- far more than we can even fathom, and our bodies are taking on a huge burden as a result.
In June of this year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a report from a year long study showing that 420 chemicals known or likely known to cause cancer have been found in the human body across different populations.
Let me repeat that…420 chemicals which cause cancer have been found in our bodies.
Cancer may be the worst of what these chemicals cause, but what about what they do to our bodies on a daily basis?
Chemical pesticides found in our food and water have been linked to increases in BMI and insulin resistance in children and rodents.
A classification of toxins known as Obesogens disrupt the endocrine system which houses our thyroid, adrenals, and other glands that regulate metabolism, growth, development, tissue function, sexual function, reproduction, sleep, mood and other bodily functions.
Toxins cause inflammation and immune system dysregulation which makes us more susceptible to autoimmune disorders, other chronic diseases and overall sickness such as colds, flus and allergies.
Exposure to chemicals causes cells that would become bones or other types of tissues to become fat, contributing to things such as osteoporosis, and make our body biased towards burning carbs.
So are we doomed to be a society of sick and toxic people?
Not exactly. We do have a built-in and very sophisticated detoxification system. Our liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and even skin are always working hard behind the scenes to flush out as many toxins from our body as possible.
However, our detoxification system and organs could use some support as they are being required to work harder than ever before with the increase of chemicals in our environment.
In this week’s video and blog, I dive into how these chemicals are disrupting our health and what’s the best way to go about supporting your own internal detoxification system.
There are a lot of “detoxing” or cleansing programs out on the market these days claiming to boost your energy and help you lose weight as a result of flushing toxins from your body.
But are these programs as effective as they claim to be, or are you just flushing your money down the toilet (literally)?
Let’s examine some of the biggest myths around detoxing your body of the toxic burden 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 really aren’t enough. The liver is the powerhouse when it comes to eliminating toxins, regulating your metabolism and energy, you have to show your liver some love too, in order to get the results you’re looking for.
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 coming out consistently. Otherwise those supplements are just keeping you afloat, but never helping you to actually get ahead.
MYTH #4 – Detoxing / Cleansing Requires 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 flushing techniques that still allow you to enjoy food and life.
Reducing your body’s daily toxic burden can be fairly simple once you learn how to identify toxins in your environment and by putting some simple healthy habits in place to support your body’s natural elimination process.
Attend my upcoming FREE webinar The Daily Detox: No Juices, Gimmicks or Supplements Required! on Tuesday, September 20th at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
During this webinar I’ll be going to go into even more detail about how you can detox your body daily and naturally so you can unburden your body, boost your energy, promote weight loss and get back to feeling like your less toxic self again!
Plus, when you register for the webinar you’ll Get My Top 6 Favorite Detox Recipes, Instantly!
REGISTER HERE
P.S. For those who have been asking about the next Seasonal Cleanse Challenge, I’ll be revealing the enrollment dates during the webinar. There’s only going to be 50 spots available on a first come first serve basis 🙂
Are You A Night Owl? (insomnia, sleep apnea, thyroid, adrenals & gut health!)
Would you consider yourself a night owl?
One of those people who does their best work at night, you get a “second wind”, maybe feel “wired but tired”, or have trouble falling asleep before midnight.
I’m definitely not, never have been.
But many of my clients come to me proclaiming that they are “naturally” night owls, and often times they have been for most of their lives…that is until we start working together and find what’s really been keeping them up at night.
I don’t believe anyone is a true night owl.
We’re not meant to be night owls- it’s in our very DNA. People are diurnal (aka day dwelling creatures) unlike our beloved pet cats and many other nocturnal (night dwelling) creatures.
The first ever research about human primal sleep patterns was released this year and guess what it showed – we are meant to fall asleep within about 2 hours after sunset and naturally wake up about 20 minutes prior to sunrise.
Yet a lot of us struggle to get to sleep before midnight, dread the alarm clock going off before 7am and have to drag ourselves out of bed.
There are a lot of things that disrupt our sleep patterns these days. Some of the most commonly known ones are; artificial light exposure, lack of exposure to sunlight during the day, too much sugar and alcohol in our diet and city noise.
But there’s one thing (actually three) that secretly disrupt your sleep.
You can’t see, hear or even feel these things most of the time. They lay in the darkness and wait for the sun to go down before they start screwing with your sleep.
I’m talking about parasites, bacteria and yeast overgrowth in your gut.
These gut invaders are nocturnal organisms, so when you’re ready for bed they are just getting the party started.
In this week’s video and blog I talk more about how these gut invaders disrupt your sleep, why being a night owl isn’t normal and how it all sets you up for thyroid and hormone imbalances, sleep apnea, insomnia and more!
Let’s set the scene for how sleep basically works in the body…
Cortisol along with melatonin are the two primary hormones that regulate your sleep and wake cycles.
Cortisol is what gives you energy to get up in the morning. It should be at its highest level right around the time you wake up and then it slowly tapers off throughout the day until darkness when it reaches its lowest point just after sunset, allowing you to fall asleep.
Then enters melatonin which rises after sunset as it starts to get dark, to keep you sleeping soundly. As the sun rises, it becomes brighter outside and melatonin lowers so you can wake up with cortisol again.
Unfortunately gut invaders mess with this beautiful dance between cortisol and melatonin.
Cortisol is also our stress hormone and gut invaders cause a LOT of internal stress. With their nocturnal nature, they get active when darkness falls causing a lot of internal chaos and distress. This internal stress then spikes your cortisol levels at night and disrupts your sleep pattern.
This spike in cortisol at night from gut invaders is the “second wind” or “wired but tired” feeling you might be familiar with- it’s artificial energy.
Melatonin is mainly produced in the gut, about 80% of it to be exact. When gut invaders are present they can cause two things to happen…
One- Melatonin is also a natural antioxidant, 200% more powerful than vitamin C. The body recognizes gut invaders as an “infection” causing the body to pump out more melatonin to fight the infection, thus disrupting your normal melatonin patterns and sleep.
Two- The chaos that gut invaders ensue suppresses melatonin production over time as they damage the intestinal lining where melatonin is made, making it hard for you to go and stay asleep.
When gut invaders are present, the adrenals also start to go into overdrive, pumping out cortisol trying to keep up with the internal stress and working to adapt to irregular sleep patterns.
Once cortisol and melatonin are out of balance it’s like a domino effect.
The thyroid is usually the next to go down since it’s so closely regulated by the adrenals, and all hell breaks loose.
One of the number one symptoms of Hypothyroidism is insomnia. If you have insomnia then, is it really insomnia? Or do you just need to check your thyroid and adrenal function, and for gut invaders that are triggering them to be out of balance?
People with sleep apnea (a disorder that affects sleep quality because of blocked breathing pathways) also suffer from daytime fatigue, apathy and feeling lethargic which are also symptoms of Hypothyroidism, dysfunctional cortisol and melatonin rhythms.
Hypothyroidism may contribute to sleep apnea by enlarging the tongue, a condition called macroglossia. But what’s contributing to the Hypothyroidism in the first place, intensifying it and causing macroglossia? Yep, those darn gut invaders.
I work backwards to solve things like insomnia, sleep apnea, and general poor sleep quality to find the underlying hormone imbalances in the thyroid and adrenals, and ultimately I always find a gut invader as being one of the biggest underlying contributors to all of this chaos.
Start to reconsider your night owl-ness, insomnia, sleep apnea and thyroid imbalances. Are they really that plain and simple, or are there underlying healing opportunities like gut invaders yet to be discovered?
Join me next Tuesday (9/13 – note date changed from 9/8) with Master Life Coach and Hashimoto’s Thriver, Molly Hamill, for our FREE webinar Your Gut: the Secret to Healing Your Adrenal and Thyroid Issues
We’ll be talking more about how gut invaders impact your hormones, sleep and overall health, how to go about testing for them and getting rid of them!
Are Gut Bugs Manipulating You?
Do you remember the scene from Alien (1979) when the alien emerges from John Hurt’s stomach?
Isn’t weird to think that something could be living in your gut that is controlling the way you think, how you eat and what diseases you possibly get?
It might not be an alien but there are plenty of other gut invaders that could be manipulating you.
People (you included) are walking around every day with no idea that their gut is likely hosting one of the 3 main types of gut invaders…
- Parasites
- Bad Bacteria
- Opportunistic Yeast/Fungus
It is normal to have small amounts of these gut invaders in your colon but when they become an overgrowth, that’s when they become a problem.
For example, it is estimated that 50% of the world’s population has an overgrowth of H. Pylori, yet 80% don’t display any of the typical symptoms.
Some studies show that more than 50% of healthy women and men host colonies of Candida Albicans yeast, with 60% of those who suffer from it being women, 20% are men, and 20% are boys and girls.
The crazy part is that these gut invaders play a huge role in the daily choices that we make.
They can literally dictate the food we choose to eat, our mood, the balance of our hormones and our susceptibility to autoimmune disorders.
To learn more about how gut invaders specifically impact your thyroid and adrenals join me next Thursday (9/8) with Master Life Coach and Hashimoto’s Thriver, Molly Hamill, for our free webinar Your Gut: the Secret to Healing Your Adrenal and Thyroid Issues – REGISTER HERE
But for now, let’s talk about how these buggers are altering the way you think and do things…
In this week’s video and blog I talk more about how gut invaders impact your thoughts, mood, weight and health.
With my one-on-one and group coaching clients we are always talking about gut health. It is the cornerstone of your overall health. If something’s a brewing in there, it’s no bueno!
Your gut is where 80% of your immune system is housed.
It’s where you produce 90% of serotonin, your happy hormone, and dopamine, your well being hormone, along with 30 other different types of neurotransmitters that balance your mood.
Your gut is what keeps toxins out of your bloodstream, where nutrients from food are absorbed and it even has it’s own nervous system network – hence why it’s called the second brain.
The health of your gut is a big deal.
When gut invaders such as parasites, bacteria and/or yeast move in they suppress your immune system making your more susceptible to colds, flus, viruses and other diseases.
Here’s what else these gut invaders do…
Cause Cravings – Foods that contain gluten, dairy, sugar, soy and alcohol are like crack for gut invaders. Gut invaders can interfere with appetite by either directly mimicking satiety and hunger hormones or by indirectly inducing an autoimmune response. If you find yourself craving these foods often or a lot, this could be a sign that you’ve got something taking over your gut.
Mess With Mood – Certain gut invaders such as Clostridium difficile (C. Diff) have been linked to depression, mostly because it inhibits the production of your happy hormone serotonin. Gut invaders also produce their own neurotransmitters (aka mood hormones). Some neurotransmitters are calming and others are energizing. If you have gut invaders contributing more energizing neurotransmitters it can cause anxiety and the more calming ones would contribute to depression.
Weight Woes – Gut invaders create internal stress as they throw off their own waste and byproducts (bug poo) that are toxic for the body. They also mess with your sleep cycles. This combo of chaos disrupts your cortisol, stress hormone, and cortisol dysregulation is linked to weight gain particularly around the midsection.
Janky Joints – Some parasites such as Blastocystis Hominis (Blasto) and E. Histolytica (E. Histo) like to get up in the synovial joint fluid creating all kinds of inflammation and joint pain. Joint pain is not necessarily a sign of getting old, it’s highly likely you could have one of these buggers, especially since Blasto and H. Pylori like to hangout together and H. Pylori is so prevalent.
Autoimmune Triggers – They say you have to have 3 things in place for an autoimmune disorder to present itself; the gene, leaky gut and some kind of environmental trigger. Guess what!? Gut invaders such as H. Pylori, Borrelia, Blastocystis Hominis and E. Histolytica are some of the most common triggers for autoimmune along with gluten. If you have an autoimmune disorder you can manage your symptoms better by getting rid of these gut invaders, or if you’re predisposed to one based on family history, you can try to prevent it by cleaning out your gut!
If you find that you just don’t feel like yourself, can’t control your cravings or get rid of pesky joint pain it might be time to look internally to see what could be going on in your gut!
Join me next Thursday (9/8) with Master Life Coach and Hashimoto’s Thriver, Molly Hamill, for our free webinar Your Gut: the Secret to Healing Your Adrenal and Thyroid Issues
We’ll be talking more about how gut invaders impact your hormones, mood and overall health, how to go about testing for them and getting rid of them!
A Recovering Cortisol Junky… (+ LAST DAY ADRENAL TEST DISCOUNT!)
I was never addicted to caffeine, drugs or other substances, but I was addicted to cortisol and abusing my body.
(Side note- before I jump into my story of cortisol recovery, I want to quickly remind you that my special Cortisol & Hormone (Adrenal) Test offer ends today! Check out the details and purchase here.)
Back to my story…
I used to feed off the rush that I would get from working under pressure. It was almost as if I would intentionally wait until the last minute to do things or I would take on extra projects and responsibilities just so I could work under pressure and get naturally high from it – it was a happy, anxious feeling.
I remember buzzing around like a crazy worker bee, fueled by being overly productive all the time and damn proud of it! I viewed being productive as one of my best qualities.
I worked long hours during the week, I exercised for long hours almost every day and I stayed up burning the midnight oil on the weekends.I fed my body processed low-calorie food to keep my weight down, alcohol to let loose, and starved it from having any downtime.
I eventually started to crash and burn – it all started to catch up with me.
I was what I now call a “cortisol junky”, living off cortisol all the time and feeling turbo-charged as a result of it.
Cortisol is our fight or flight hormone that is released when we’re stressed. It is supposed to give us the energy we need to run from whatever danger is stressing us out – a lion, a car accident, a natural disaster.
Our body doesn’t know the difference between those life-threatening circumstances and the artificial stress that we create in our lives with work, devices and expectations that we place on ourselves.
The adrenaline can be addicting. We feed off of that stress response, feeling amped up from the cortisol rush and keep pushing through whatever the pain might be.
When I was about to turn 30, but felt like I was 40, I knew something had to change.
In this week’s video and blog I talk more about being a cortisol junky, the cortisol high and what a day in the life of a recovered cortisol junky looks like now…
The constant stress put me in a state of cortisol or adrenal dysfunction, and it was taking a toll on my health. I didn’t know it at the time because my adrenals were in overdrive, pumping out cortisol, making me feel like the energizer bunny.
I look back at how I was moving through life and I can’t believe what my body was tolerating. It was screaming at me to slow down. I was anxious all the time, had dizzy spells, constantly felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was always running out of time.
I eventually reached my rock bottom and got the reality check I needed the first time I ran an adrenal test on myself. My cortisol was off the charts, and my estrogen and progesterone were super low as a result.
I decided I wasn’t going to tolerate living this way anymore. Three years later, my days look and feel much different.
Here’s a snapshot of what a day in the life of a recovered cortisol junky looks like…
Then – 5:40am drag self out of bed, immediately have coffee, check emails, feel stressed and anxious about number of emails and things to do
Now – 5:40am wake up without an alarm, feel rested and peaceful, mosey around the house
Then – 6:45am do a crazy intense workout and feel wired but tired after
Now – 6:45am do a workout that is energizing, but not exhausting, with some stretching
Then – 8:45am rush to get ready, check emails every minute, moving a mile a minute to get things done and get to work, spill things and forget stuff
Now – 8:45am get ready, meditate and set mindful positive intentions for the day
Then – 12:00pm scarf down food while working before next meeting that I crammed in, fighting to keep my eyes open and energy up
Now – 12:30pm eat a relaxing lunch while sitting outside
Then – 4:00pm hit an afternoon slump, need coffee to stay focused on work and awake
Now – 4:00pm meeting with clients and working on projects at full steam
Then – 7:00pm check emails until bedtime, watch TV, Facebook, mind racing about the next day
Now– 7:00pm walk the dog, meditate for 30 minutes, check Facebook for 5 minutes
Recovering from cortisol dysregulation means learning to let the little things go.
I had the power to change things. I didn’t work in an emergency room, so no one was going to die if I decided to do things differently.
Getting my adrenals tested is what empowered me to make the changes.
Cortisol dysregulation inhibits our ability to handle stress, thus making us feel more stressed and dysregulating cortisol even more. Yet, we feed off the artificial energy and adrenaline-like feeling that cortisol gives us. It’s addictive just like a drug and it can become a vicious cycle.
The long-term side effects of cortisol dysregulation can be very serious. It predisposes us to cardiovascular and autoimmune disease, alzheimer’s, diabetes and premature aging, just to name a few things.
In this day and age with all the stressful demands in our lives, I’m a firm believer that everyone should be getting their cortisol tested as a tool to improve their health. It was just the reality check that I needed to turn my life and health around.
It’s my personal mission to empower you, too, by giving you the tools and resources you need to take back control of your health, which is why I’m offering you a…
Discounted Adrenal Test!!!
For Just $459 You Get
One Comprehensive Cortisol & Hormone Panel Test
+ 90-Min. Results Review & Recommendations Session
(that’s a $200 savings!!!)
SPECIAL ENDS TODAY- CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
The symptoms of adrenal dysfunction (fatigue, weight gain, wired energy, etc.) can be easily overlooked and most people don’t realize they’re in it until it’s really affecting their health.
I like to say “don’t guess, let’s test!” – then you can consciously do something about it. Become empowered in your health.
Is Adrenal Fatigue Really A Thing?
You might have heard of Adrenal Fatigue before and even suspect you have it, but is it really a thing?
It depends on who you ask.
Most traditional medical doctors don’t’ recognize Adrenal Fatigue as a medical condition, yet they will diagnose other adrenal related conditions such as Adrenal Insufficiency and Addison’s Disease.
As someone who personally suffered from Adrenal Fatigue I can tell you- it’s real.
I was a kid who rarely got sick. I always got a gold star and clean bill of health after every annual check up. I’ve always been physically active and grew up eating relatively healthy compared to most people.
From the outside my health looked great, but on the inside there was a storm brewing.
In my mid to late 20’s, weird things started happening.
All of a sudden I developed seasonal allergies that turned into debilitating ear infections and migraines. I felt constantly fatigued and was relying on coffee multiple times a day to keep me going. When I got home I could barely keep my eyes open, if I sat on the couch to watch TV, it was lights out for me.
I started to develop anxiety that I thought was just related to my high stress sales job. My menstrual cycle became non-existent and I was having a hard time keeping my emotions in check. I struggled to maintain my weight even though I was spending hours exercising and cutting calories. My joints ached all the time no matter how much recovery time, supplementing or stretching I did.
Then I got skin cancer. The scary kind.
It wasn’t hereditary which means it was a direct reflection of my poor internal health and environment.
I was devastated and scared of what a future with skin cancer might bring. I started questioning my health. How was this possible? I studied health in college, was a personal trainer and the healthiest person I knew….so I thought.
I started searching for answers.
What I found was that I had Adrenal Fatigue, a clogged liver, elevated free radicals (damaged cells) and an overgrowth of H. Pylori bacteria in my gut.
In this week’s video I talk more about how I found out I had adrenal fatigue and what I did to reverse it.
Everything happens for a reason, right? It was no coincidence that the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Course (a program designed to address functional health issues such as adrenal fatigue) fell in my lap at the height of my adrenal fatigue.
I completed the course as fast as possible. With my new knowledge I was able to quickly start turning my health and life around.
This program gave me access to functional lab testing. I immediately ran an at-home saliva cortisol test on myself. The test results had SO many insights on how depleted my adrenals were, how this was causing other hormone imbalances, and even some clues about gut dysfunction.
Based on my symptoms and test results, I created a personalized plan to rebuild my health that included:
- A diet that was right for MY body
- A sleep schedule to help my body recover
- A healing workout routine
- Stress reducing tools
- Specific supplements to support my body in the way it needed it most
Within a matter of days my energy had already increased! In the coming weeks and months I lost weight, my allergies and ear infections went away completely, my joints stopped aching, the anxiety was gone and my mood was stable.
Now as an FDN Practitioner, I support people in taking back control of their health in the same way- by giving them access to tools and resources (such as at-home lab tests), and guiding them on how to restore balance based on what their body needs.
In my upcoming FREE webinar “Why Am I in Adrenal Fatigue and What Can I Do About It?” with Molly Hamill we’ll be going into more detail about:
- What causes adrenal fatigue and how to identify it
- The best testing options and how you can get your hands on them
- How to reverse adrenal fatigue using diet, rest, exercise and stress reduction
Join us on August 16th to learn more how this might be affecting you and WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!
REGISTER HERE
Are You “Accumulating” Thyroid Symptoms? (FREE Symptom Checker Inside!)
For the past few weeks I’ve been talking a lot about the thyroid – how it’s affected by food, lifestyle factors, and commonly misdiagnosed or overlooked because of improper testing.
But I just realized that you may not even be aware that something isn’t right with your thyroid in the first place so everything I’ve been saying might feel like it has nothing to do with you at all (which totally isn’t true!).
Let me ask you this, have you been accumulating random “symptoms”?
If you’re not sure, let me explain.
It’s assumed that over time our body just ages and naturally starts to breakdown. One indicator of accumulating symptoms might be some of the things you’re starting to tell yourself about your health as you age, such as…
I’m just getting older
It runs in my family
I’m just not as young as I used to be
I’m out of shape
My hormones are changing because I’m over ____ (fill in the blank with an age)
Any of those sound familiar? Here’s other examples of what accumulating symptoms might be that are NOT necessarily related to aging…
- Unexplained weight gain/loss or weight that won’t budge
- Swelling or water retention
- Lapses in memory
- Brittle, coarse, dry or loss of hair
- Fatigue that lingers all day
- Onset of indigestion or an increase in frequency of it
- Allergies that start “all of a sudden” or get worse over time
- More joint/muscle pain than before or longer periods of soreness post workout
These are “not necessarily related to aging” because they are also symptoms of a thyroid condition.
Here’s a real life example how accumulating thyroid symptoms related can be misread…
“Jenn – As you know traditional medicine set me on the path of a Hashimoto’s “diagnosis” and journey. When my period went all wonky (I’d skip months sometimes), traditional doctors tried telling me I was peri-menopausal. What?! Now a new issue? That didn’t sound right, and I wasn’t just in denial. I used to be regular, every 24 days on the dot, for 32 years until I started taking DHEA and pregnenolone as recommended by my doctor. In fact before the “remedies” to fix the “Hashimoto’s,” you could set your watch by it. It seemed like these problems were being compounded, not solved.
As soon as I started working with you, I was back to a regular cycle. That very first month, and ever since.
I feel more empowered than ever about my health and see changes and improvements that thrill me! I feel better, I have more energy, I wake up alive and ready to go – excited at the day ahead. Plus, I’ve lost weight.
I believe now, I will be healthier more than ever. Thanks for the gift!” ~ Tanya T.
Tanya’s story is a perfect example of how symptoms can accumulate from overall imbalance in the body as a result of a thyroid condition, or any other condition, and how they can be misread.
In this week’s video and blog I talk about the most commonly overlooked thyroid symptoms, how these are connected to other symptoms and systems of the body, and what to do about it.
To help you better understand how accumulated symptoms can be connected I’ve include a FREE Thyroid Symptoms Checker that you can download below.
CLICK HERE FOR THE THYROID Symptom Checker
Using this Symptom Checker you can evaluate:
- The most commonly overlooked symptoms that you are experiencing
- How impacted your thyroid might be
- What other systems of the body are being affected
- How your symptoms have become worse or have possibly improved over time if you’ve been making healthier lifestyle changes.
If you score the highest in the “Endocrine” system category, this is what regulates your thyroid, so chances are you have some degree of a thyroid imbalance and it’s impacting your overall health and wellbeing.
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) estimates that 12% of the U.S. population will develop a thyroid problem in their lifetime, and particularly it will affect one in eight women.
If you have reason to believe (based on the free symptom checker or otherwise!) that you might have a thyroid issue, then I want to invite you to take advantage of my SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY THYROID TEST OFFER-
For just $297 you get:
One Comprehensive Thyroid Panel Test + 90-Min. Results Review & Recommendations Session
(that’s a $200 savings!!!)
Offer ends August 11th and is limited to 10 people – SIGN UP HERE
There are still a few spot available. This is your chance to become your own Health Boss, to take a deep dive look at your health and find the missing pieces so you can actually fix what’s going wrong and start feeling like yourself again.
P.S. To learn more about all things thyroid you can still catch the webinar replay of Naturally Heal Your Thyroid here. And if you’re not sure if you should test your thyroid, then schedule a complimentary Ideal Health and Weight Discovery Session with me so we can talk about what’s going on with your health and if this would be a good idea for you! Schedule here.
The Thyroid Epidemic – Is It Affecting You?
I want to talk to you about something serious this week- the growing epidemic of thyroid conditions. The American Thyroid Association (ATA) estimates that 12% of the U.S. population will develop a thyroid problem in their lifetime, and particularly it will affect one in eight women.
Just about every client that I’ve worked with has either been diagnosed with a thyroid condition, has a family history of it or suspects that they have one.
If you see a doctor or Google reasons as to why you might be feeling tired all the time, struggling with weight loss, losing your hair, feeling cold when others don’t or have menstrual irregularities, chances are the information that you find will point to a thyroid condition.
These are the three most commonly diagnosed thyroid conditions…
Hyperthyroid – common symptoms can include; weight loss, anxiety, intolerance to heat, hair loss, excessive urination and panic attacks
Hypothyroid – common symptoms can include; weight gain, fatigue, intolerance to cold, constipation, depression and thinning hair
Hashimoto’s – this is a more severe case of hypothyroidism with a genetic component making it an actual autoimmune disease, meaning the body is attacking its own thyroid gland
However, in most cases thyroid conditions are a symptom of something else.
The body does not work as singular systems or organs all minding their own business. Each system of the body greatly impacts how all of the others are able to function.
To understand what’s happening with the thyroid, we have to start asking “WHY”?
Why is this thyroid epidemic happening? Why are people’s thyroids all of a sudden “just not working”? – as most of my clients are told
In this week’s video and blog I talk more the things you might be doing that are making you a victim of this thyroid epidemic and what to do to reverse it, or prevent it from happening to you.
We need to start looking at our body as the complex system that it is. Remember that song in pre-school…”the foot bone is connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone is connected to the leg bone, la la la la…” – everything is connected!
Like I said earlier, in most cases thyroid conditions are a symptom of something else because it’s all connected.
If you have been diagnosed, know someone who has, or suspect that you have a thyroid condition here are the Top 4 Things Throwing Your Thyroid Off.
#1 – Low Calorie Diet
Calorie restrictions for as little as a few days can drop thyroid production by 38 percent! That’s just over a “few” days, imagine if you’ve been dieting for weeks, months or years even if it’s been on-and-off. Even if you lost some weight from calorie restriction, the long-term side effects are a slower metabolism from a famished thyroid.
#2- Clogged Liver
Your liver is responsible for converting 60 percent of your thyroid hormone. If your liver is clogged from chronic exposure to toxins, medication use, processed foods and other things then of course you wouldn’t be converting thyroid as you should and this could look like a thyroid condition.
#3- Adrenal Fatigue
One of main control centers of the body is the HPA-axis – the Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Adrenal Gland Axis. Consider this the conductor of the train or orchestra. The Hypothalamus links the nervous and endocrine system via the Pituitary gland, and your thyroid is part of the endocrine system. If you have Adrenal Fatigue/Dysfunction, guess what? There’s a domino effect causing imbalance in the thyroid.
#4- Amino Acid Deficiency
For the body to produce thyroid hormone, particularly one called free T4, it needs an adequate supply of amino acids obtained from proteins. If you are not eating enough protein or absorbing it optimally then your body is NOT getting enough amino acids to create thyroid hormones in the first place. With Hashimoto’s it is critical to support digestion and to consume plenty of protein for free T4-it will help manage the disease better. Alternately those without Hashimoto’s but with impaired digestion or lacking amino acids in their diet could be showing low free T4 counts and be misdiagnosed with a thyroid condition.
Chances are high that one of these four things pertains to you in some way. It’s rare to see someone who has never dieted, has optimal digestion and protein intake, doesn’t have a clogged liver or suffers from some degree of adrenal fatigue.
I want to help you NOT become a victim of this thyroid epidemic!
Join me Wednesday, July 27th at 6pm PDT for a freebie webinar on all things thyroid!
In this webinar my co-host Molly Hamill Ferguson (meditation master and Hashimoto’s survivor) and I will be discussing:
- What exactly is hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s?
- The most overlooked and tell-tale signs of thyroid imbalance.
- How to use food, mindset and more to naturally heal your thyroid!
A recording will be available if you can’t attend live but you must register to receive it 🙂
P.S. We’ve got some secret bonus giveaways and gifts lined up for the webinar so be there or be square!
Are You Running Yourself Into The Ground (literally)?
I’m curious, are you running yourself into the ground by pushing yourself to work out harder and for longer amounts of time?
I’ll be the first to admit that I totally found myself doing this recently, and it wasn’t the first time. I completely got caught up in my old mindset about having to work out harder to get results.
Doh {face palm} !!!
I was beating myself up about not being able to lose weight like I should. I used the guilt to fuel my motivation to work out harder, more intensely and for longer periods of time. I tried changing up my workout, lifting heavier and running longer.
As a result, what I got was…more fatigue, burnt out and I didn’t lose a pound.
I had what I call a mini-relapse. I eventually snapped out of it and realized I was doing my body more damage than good.
I see people running themselves into the ground like this all the time, making themselves fat, sick and tired (especially people who do CrossFit or running) and not even realizing that exercise is one of the contributing factors.
Typically exercise is good for us. When we work out, our body responds to the demands building stronger muscles and bones.
BUUUTTT, exercise could be making you fat, sick and tired.
This probably sounds crazy and backwards to you, but it’s the truth. When your body is already under a lot of stress then the wrong kind of exercise can add more stress. Accumulation of chronic stress over time creates a high demand for cortisol, which is directly linked to weight gain (particularly around the midsection).
In this week’s video and blog I talk more about exercise as a stress, how it was affecting my body, and what type of exercise is best to keep cortisol and other hormones in balance.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This is exactly what I was doing during my mini-relapse. I had to take a step back, look at the big picture of what was going on with me and remind myself that my body needs rest.
You see, my body was already under a lot of stress from detoxing the toxic mold I had found in our house, and my body was giving me all kinds of signs…
Feeling tired even after a full night’s rest
Acne for the first time in my life
Weight that wouldn’t budge
Abnormal lack of motivation and drive
Feeling emotional and anxious
I tested my hormones and, sure enough, they weren’t happy. My Human Growth Hormone (HGH) was in the tank, my progesterone was low, and estrogen was relatively high. Coincidentally, the mold in our house is a species that specifically impacts HGH in women.
Ultimately, my body needed rest, not more exercise, in order to lose weight.
By pushing myself to work out harder, I was creating more strain and imbalance in my hormones. Like I said earlier, exercise is good unless your body is already under too much stress.
To eliminate the added stress from exercise, I altered my workouts to be more interval focused. I’m now running a block then walking a block (instead of continuously running) and only doing one long run a week for a max of 4 miles. I’m giving myself at least 60 seconds of rest between weight circuits and lifting for a max of 30 minutes.
I have SO much more energy, stamina and feel like myself again!
More and more studies are showing how detrimental long duration exercise or overtraining is for the body. Spending hours at the gym isn’t necessary.
Not to knock CrossFit, but I see this all the time in this community and with runners- pushing to their limits and wondering why they aren’t losing weight or why they feel fatigued all the time even though they are the “healthiest” person they know.
Stress can be everywhere. On the inside there is digestive upset, food sensitivities and toxic overload creating internal stress that can’t always be seen or felt. On the outside there is work and relationship stress, exposure to environmental chemicals and long duration exercise or overtraining.
As a Health Boss, you learn to recognize when your body is under too much stress and you have the power to control how you feel by becoming mindful of the variables and making adjustments as needed.
I had to (and still occasionally do) give myself permission to relax and let my body heal. It isn’t something that will happen overnight. If I’m as persistent about giving it space and time to heal as I was about working out, then the results will come when balance is restored.
If you’re finding yourself feeling fat, sick and tired all the time regardless of how “healthy” you are, then you might want to consider laying off the exercise a bit or changing it up. Focus on interval training for shorter bursts of time and incorporating restorative modalities such as yoga, pilates and tai chi. Your body and hormones will thank you for it!
P.S. Need help evaluating your stress load and workout routine? Schedule a complimentary Ideal Health & Weight Discovery Session here so I can help you look at the big picture and find the missing piece so you can get back to feeling like yourself again.
P.P.S. If you want to read more about the science of using exercise to balance hormones, then you should check out these articles from one of my favorite mentors, Dr. Sara Gottfried.
