Blog

Recipes

Overnight breakfast miracle!

cholleyhurt

overnight-oats-bite

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but during the week it can also be the most hectic one.  My husband and I wake up and start the morning at a dead run. We’re doing our best to motivate the older kiddo to get up and ready while trying to convince the youngest one that it’s not time to play. In all that chaos, we have to track down homework, track down that smell, and somehow manage to get breakfast in before heading out for the day. Enter overnight oats.

Like the name suggests, this is one of those meals you prepare ahead of time, throw it in the fridge, and retrieve when you are ready to eat. It’s simple, nutritious, and delicious.

Overnight oats

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: crazy easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  1. 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (I use Bob Redmills gluten free oats)
  2. 2 TBS chia seeds
  3. 1 Banana
  4. 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
  5. 1/2 tsp of vanilla (optional)
  6. 1/2 cup of yogurt or 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
  7. Filtered water

Optional add-ins

  • a handful of chopped nuts ( I like slivered almonds or raw walnuts)
  • 1/4 cup frozen or fresh berries
  • 1 TBS unsweetened dried coconut
  • a handful of cacao nibs

Method

  1. In a bowl mix all dry ingredients together, including any add-ins.
  2. Add yogurt or non-dairy milk and berries if using. Mix
  3. If using yogurt, add a few TBS of water until the oat mixture looks good and moist.
  4. Divide mixture between two pint jars or similar sized container with a lid.
  5. Place in the fridge for at least two hours before eating.
  6. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows

healing journey

Another side of wellness

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alex-sick

When we think about what it looks like to be healthy, we envision eating lots of vegetables and doing lots of exercise. While all that’s true, sometimes being healthy looks a little different when you aren’t. (Think cold and flu season.)

Imagine, if you will, that your partner/kid/loved-one is really sick. Your response (hopefully) is to get them to bed, make them some soup, and give them comfort. We do this because we know they feel awful and we don’t want them to feel awful. Now, try to remember the last time you were sick. Did you push yourself to work through it? Did you say horrible things to yourself because you aren’t exercising like you needed to be? Did you change your diet to reflect your body’s needs? Probably not.

Our body sends us messages all the time about what it needs, but we are either deaf to it or willingly ignorant. If we want to be healthy — full of energy, a healthy body weight, strong and happy into our old age, etc. — then we have to start listening. When your body says sleep, sleep! Listening to those signals and actively working to heal your body when you are ill is just as important as all the kale salads and trips to the gym you take when you are well.  So speak and treat yourself like you would someone you love and let the healing commence.

Autoimmune Disease

I’m in remission and it feels so good

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20170215_134731I am in remission! This is a happy, happy day for me, as you can tell from the above reenactment picture.

I knew I was in remission: I hadn’t had a flare in years, I am not moving through the world as if I’m underwater, I don’t spend my weekends sleeping, and I’ve not dealt with crippling depression brought on my feeling that my body was breaking down. But now — now I have the proof.  My ANA, the antinuclear antibody test that allows doctors to see the body’s autoimmune response, showed no indication of my body attacking itself.

This isn’t the first time my ANA came out clean, but at that time my doctor (who thought my diet and lifestyle changes were silly) basically said it was a fluke. But it’s not a fluke. It is the results of changing the way I eat, the way I move, and the way I process the world. It is the result of loving myself enough to do the work.  Also, I triple checked with my new, wonderful doctor and she told me it wasn’t a fluke. So there you go!

When I compare my health now to my health a few years ago, I am amazed at how far I have come.  I’m grateful that I didn’t listen to my doctor when he said it was a fluke, that I worked with an amazing health coach that set me on my path, and that I did the work I had to do to heal my body.

How about you? Are you ready to do the work you need to do to find healing? Contact me today for a free consultation.

Health Coaching

What’s a health coach?

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mountain-of-poop

“Hello, my name is Carrie, and I help men and women transform their health after years of disappointment.”

This is how all the business training events I attend want me to introduce myself. It’s good, I think, though probably not as slick as it could be. But I still have a problem doing it. It’s not that the statement is wrong — I certainly do help people transform their health — it’s just that it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter or impress on people the importance of the work I do.

All of us have “where we are”and “where we want to be” points in our lives. In between these two points is a mountain of crap keeping us from reaching the where we want to be. It can be about the food we should or shouldn’t be eating or the exercise we should be getting, but in my experience, that is very little of what holds us back from getting where we want to be. The mountain is built of bad habits, negative thoughts, misconceptions about your failures or situations, stress management or lack thereof, and loads of other manure blocking your path.

This mountain of crap is what I help clients break down so that they can actually move along the path from where they are to where they want to be. I do this by listening, asking questions people don’t think to ask themselves, making suggestions, and, yes, giving homework that helps break down that mountain. It’s not that you can’t change your diet or exercise by yourself, but we all have blind spots that sabotage us. At the end of the day, I bring those things to light, help you deal with them, and create a crack in that mountain. And then you can continue your journey to where you want to be on a smoother, clearer road.

If you want help identifying and removing the mountain of crap in your path, contact me today to book an appointment.

Health Coaching

Hurry it up! Time is running out!

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'I started a serious workout program yesterday. So far I missed only one session.'

Ninety-eight percent of people who made New Year’s resolutions aren’t going to see them out. 98 percent!!! Don’t be part of that crowd. Join me this Friday for my FREE four week series on setting goals and sticking to them. All you have to do is sign up here and every Friday this month you will get a short little video and a worksheet to help you create a clear goal and a strategy to meet those goals. It’s going to be a life changer!

Recipes

New greens for a new you!

cholleyhurt

cauliflower-with-greens

or at least a new green to try.:)

Just the other day, I was experimenting in the kitchen trying to find the best way to make cauliflower tortillas without eggs or dairy. My experiment was a bust…ish because while I was busy failing with my tortillas I also “discovered” roasted cauliflower greens. Which means I chopped off all the greens to get to the cauliflower and realized that feeding it to my compost was going to be wasteful but storing it for a vegetable broth was going to take up wayyyy too much space.

So I did what I so often do with my vegetables; I covered them in coconut oil, sprinkled them with sea salt, and roasted them at 350 degrees. The result was AMAZING! I’m not going to lie, several of the lovely leaves did not make it to the table that night. But that’s just part of a test kitchen, right?

Roasted cauliflower greens

  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  1. Cauliflower greens
  2. 2TBS coconut oil or olive oil
  3. Sea salt to taste

Method

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cut leaves from the base and rinse.
  • Message greens with the olive oil and salt in either a large bowl ocauliflower-greensr in a big freezer bag.
  • Lay each piece without overlapping too much on a pan that’s good for roasting. I like my TeamFar Stainless Steel Baking Sheet. Pictured here and available at the link above.
  • Roast for 20 to 40 minutes depending on how your oven works and how crunchy you want the leaves. I opted for 30 minutes and loved the little bit of crunch in the leaves and the flavorful stems.
  • Enjoy!

 

Here is what the greens looked like on my plate next to my quilupa. It was delicious!

quilupa-and-cauliflower-greens

 

Here is my recipe for cauliflower rice that has successfully graduated from the test kitchen. Coming soon, a dairy-free, egg-free cauliflower tortilla (darn it!).

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

Health Coaching

Get ready to reach your goals!

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Sign up today!

Transcription: What’s the number one thing you have to do if you really want to transform your health and have this amazing experience that allows you to break through all those things that have been holding you back? The answer is, you got to set a goal! And I don’t mean I’m going to waking up super early to go on a run four times a week. I mean, something that is really clearly defined that is the end game. So for you it might be something like, I’m going to have the energy I need to pursue my passions; or I’m going to have the energy I need to be really present with my kids, or I’m going to lose the weight to get down those scary lab results. Whatever it is for you, setting a goal is a powerful tool to change your health. I believe that so deeply that that is exactly where I start with all of my clients and I want to do the same for you. This February I’m going to have a video series, the first one is going to be about goal setting and the following ones will be about the steps you need to take to meet that goal. There will be four newsletters they will come out on Fridays and they will have short little videos with accompanying worksheets.  All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter–if you haven’t already– and you will be on your way to transforming your health. Sign up here http://eepurl.com/ccZkz1

Health

Go play!

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play

We bought our kids a trampoline for Christmas. This serves two purposes: 1.) to keep from adding more clutter to our tiny house and 2.) to have fun! (Because trampolines are just really, really fun.) They love it. My oldest races home from school every day to jump, and it has ended our arguments about screen time. My youngest has a blast and wears herself on the regular. Yay for longer naps, may they stay for a while. It’s such great play. We have a net and some rules, so I set my worries about ER visits aside.

But it’s also got me thinking about what I do for fun. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stop having fun. Or maybe it’s just that fun turns into going on dates or out to bars with friends. Now I am not a teetotaller by any sense of the definition, but I find that really sad. Not only is drinking too much really bad for our gut health, but it’s also usually a sedentary event. And when we try to right all of our sedentary ways, we usually do it by going to the gym. Where is the fun!?! When did we stop having fun through moving our bodies?

Playing helps to reduce stress, makes us feel younger, and reconnects us to ourselves and our loved ones. What could be more important than that? Work you say? Bills? I get it, but wouldn’t work be easier if you were less stressed and felt more connected? Aren’t those bills always going to be there no matter what your health status is?

I’m issuing a challenge. Go play! Spend a minimum of 10 minutes a day doing something active that you find fun. Turn on the radio and make up a new dance. Have a race with your kids. Start a tickle fight with your partner. Just move your body and give into the joy of play. I’ll be jumping!

 

Recipes

Low sugar pear and blueberry crumble

cholleyhurt

pear-and-blueberry-crumble

 

Sugar is just no good for the human body. It makes us store fat, it encourages bad gut microbes, and it causes inflammation. Because of all that, I limit my intake pretty radically compared to the average American. I do have my times of the year when I let myself indulge a bit, and that usually works like a charm. However, the Thanksgiving to New Year period is a little hard on my sugar rule. I do well, but having the random fancy chocolate, piece of pie, or fabulous mimosa makes it hard to go back to my less sweet ways. The cravings are strong, my friend.

So I have two choices: give up the cause or find a way back. I always want to find my way back because giving up the cause is giving into feeling like crap. Enter my bridge dessert, a dessert I make to help me bridge the cravings while getting back on the wagon. And this year’s dessert is perfect; it’s full of healthy fats and has only the natural sugars of the fruit. The key is to sauté the fruit to bring out the sugars and make them all pie-like.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Low-Sugar Fruit Crumble

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Crumble Ingredients 

  • 1  1/2 cups walnuts
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 TBS coconut oil

Filling Ingredients 

  • 4-6 Bosc Pears cored and chopped
  • 1/2 cups of blueberries
  • 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1 TBS coconut oil

Tools

  • Food processor
  • Cast iron skillet (You can use a pie plate if you haven’t gotten your cast iron yet.)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
  2. Place all crumble ingredients into food processor and process until well incorporated. I like mine to be almost dough-like with some texture.
  3. Heat 1TBS of coconut oil in cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add pears and cinnamon sticks. Sauté until the pears start to release their juices.
  4. Add blueberries. Continue to sautéing for 5 minutes.
  5. Remove cinnamon stick.
  6. Cover fruit mixture with crumble mixture.
  7. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or golden brown.
  8. Enjoy!

 

healing journey

Snap out the negative thoughts

cholleyhurt

rubber-band

A few weeks ago I wrote about how important mindset is to our overall health and provided some easy ways to begin shifting your mindset by shifting where you put your attention. But sometimes we need to do a little more work to change our default thought pattern from negative to positive. While this may seem a daunting task it can be as simple as finding a rubber band and committing yourself to making the change.

Negative thoughts are extremely damaging to both our quality and quantity of life and are just as potent as any drug. Leading up to my diagnosis, I struggled with negative thoughts. I attribute those thoughts to the inflammation in my body. But I’m healing, and I believe that becoming aware of and shifting away from those negative thoughts has been critical to my health journey.

While I have gotten better at recognizing and addressing these negative spirals, it’s still important to stay vigilant, especially when my stress level is higher — like around the holidays. Recently, my practice has included rubber band snapping or rather lightly snapping a rubber band around my wrist when I catch myself going down that negative path. This technique comes out of the field of cognitive behavioral therapy where the goal is to change your patterns of behavior/thoughts by using tools to help you become aware of your negative thoughts so you can change them.

How you do it:

  1. Wear a loose rubber band around your wrist.
  2. When you catch yourself in that negative spiral, you lightly snap it.
  3.  Follow it up by saying something you would rather be thinking.

For example, when I start to worry about my children’s safety at school, I just snap the rubber band and tell myself, “They are safe.” Or when I start having thoughts of all the ways I fail as a mother/wife/health coach/business woman/friend/citizen, I snap the rubber band and say, “I’m enough.”

The rubber band has no mystical powers, but it is a great tool to help you gain control of your negative thoughts and replace them with the thoughts that will help you build the healthy life you want.

Let me know about your experiences with rubber band snapping or thoughts you might have in the comments below.

 

P.S. If your negative thoughts are out of control or you feel completely hopeless, I urge you to reach out to a therapist.

Health Coaching

Avoid the holiday bloat!

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http://www.vintag.es/
From the fabulous blog Vintage Everyday

The holidays have become synonymous with gluttony. It’s as if we don’t know how to celebrate without feeling like bloated slugs when its all over. But you don’t have to “celebrate” like that!

Before you close this page because I sound like some crazy killjoy, I want you to know that I love holiday food — seriously, love it! Grandma’s stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie are all delicious and bring back so many happy memories. If we are lucky, our holiday tables are a part of beautiful traditions that we get to share and pass on. But they can also be scenes of heinous crimes we commit on our digestive system. Often, we see that table and eat too much, too quickly and end up really wasting a beautiful meal.

So how can you have both? How can we enjoy participating in that beautiful tradition without going overboard and putting stress on our digestive system? Here are some tips!

  1. Have a plan. Before you step foot near that table, have a plan. Know what and how much you are going to eat and drink because it’s way harder to make good decisions when surrounded by not so great ones. Which leads me to tip 2
  2. Load up on taste vegetables. At least half of your plate should be non-starchy vegetables that are not coated in sugar. So if greens aren’t something normally served at your table, adjust the menu. Check out this technique for simple and easy to cook greens like chard, kale, or collard greens.
  3. Eat even more taste vegetables. Instead of the traditional sweet potato casserole that should probably be setting next to the rest of the desserts, roast some sweet potatoes along with some red onion and an apple. Or chop up your favorite vegetables into bite sized pieces and roast them until they are soft. My favorite combinations are broccoli and carrots or Brussell sprouts, butternut squash, and red onion. Most vegetables taste great roasted, and all you really need is a bit of coconut oil or ghee, some salt and pepper, and an oven set to 400. The great thing about eating a whole foods diet is that the food already tastes good so the cooking doesn’t have to be hard.
  4. Don’t let yourself get too hungry. Eat normally before the meal or party because the last thing you need is for blood sugar to go on a roller coaster ride. We make our best choices when our blood sugar is stable, so make sure to eat normally up until the big meal.
  5. Enjoy your food! The funny thing about these feasting days is that we load up our plates to the breaking point and then shovel it all down like at any minute it’s just going to disappear — which means that we are very rarely even tasting our food. So stop. The food isn’t going anywhere and there is probably wayyyy more than you need. Take a few deep breaths and chew slowly and  thoroughly so you can actually enjoy what you are putting into your body.

I hope this holiday season is wonderful for you and that you find lots of ways to take pleasure in and enjoy all the beauty that is around us.

If you’d like to make lasting changes for a healthier life, I offer a variety of health coaching programs. I’m booking people now for January, so go ahead and sign up for your free health consultation and let’s kick off the new year right!

healing journey

Stop stressing yourself out!

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alex-sickThis past week was one of those weeks that they invented that really irksome proverb “Man plans; God laughs.” I’m a planner because it gives me joy, direction, and security. And this week was no different. I had planned out a whole list of things that would have been awesome.  I planned so much that I had created a whole vision of how my week was going to work. But….

But at the first of the week, my partner went out of town at the exact same time my two-year-old came down with the dreaded hand, foot, and mouth. At first, I was spinning trying to stick to my vision while comforting a screaming toddler 24/7. But then I relented. I had to call an audible. As much as I really really wanted to, I wasn’t going to make my vision happen, and butting my head against that reality was just going to cause stress which was going to harm my health and keep me from being the mom my kids need. Dealing with a sick kid is already stressful enough without creating stress to add to the pile.

Don’t be fooled, this skill of identifying and addressing when I have created stress did not come naturally for me. It was only when I started really dealing with stress as part of my healing journey did I realize how much of my stress was self-imposed. In the past, I would have held tight  to my vision despite reality glaring me in the face and I would have suffered for it.  And we do suffer through stress when we try to defy reality and hold on to our vision even when there is no chance in hell it’s going to happen. So as you are settling into this holiday season remember this: While it’s good to have a plan, it’s more important to know when to be flexible and call your own audible.  I hope you have a happy healthy holiday season!

For another take on embracing the imperfect this holiday season, check out this post from one of my favorite bloggers.

healing journey

Mindset matters

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dumpster-fire
Created by Jennifer Brooks @stribrooks

As we round the final bend of 2016 I want to take a few seconds to reflect on this year and how important our mindset is to our health. The very witty ornament pictured above pretty well sums up how the world felt this year. Deaths of icons, a stressful election season, and injustices of all sorts hitting the headlines daily — it was a pretty crappy year when you take the 1,000-foot view. In all honesty, it was starting to take its toll on me.

I spent a lot of time feeling angry, sad, and completely helpless, and this started to manifest in my health. I was starting to lose energy and have those tell-tell signs of inflammation in my joints. Those of you battling illness know that this usually signals a downhill spiral. I know because I’ve spiraled away many times before. But not this time.

This time I took stock. Yes, the world can be a broken and horrible place, but how has my year been? My kids are healthy and growing. My marriage is strong and supportive. I’ve got the love of my extended family and have even seen some of them this year. I’ve got friends, I’ve got a roof over my head, and I’ve got the desire and ability to do good in this world.  In short, I’ve got a lot.

Next, I reduced my triggers. I found that when I got into the car and turned on the news my mood would sink, so I started listening to music. Likewise, Facebook and Twitter were sadness destinations, so I took a break.

Finally, I ramped up the self-care: More walking, more baths, more fun reads and silly podcasts, a fancy new coloring book with my own fancy colored pencils, and more time with people that lift me up.

This does not mean I am shirking my responsibility to be a well-informed citizen or viewer of funny cat videos. It means that I have made the choice to do those things that will allow me to act intentionally as opposed to  reacting to all the ills the world has to hold. This is me shifting my mindset so that I can continue the work of healing my body.

Health Coaching

Shush, your body is trying to tell you something.

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amazing-bodtHi there.

I’ve been thinking about how our bodies are just amazing, so well designed. Now you may be thinking, “I feel like poop, I can’t lose weight, and I have three diagnoses from three different doctors telling me that my body is  definitely not amazing, in fact, my body is broken.”  I get that. I’ve felt broken for a lot of my life, but the truth is that the things that lead me to believe that —  my inability to lose weight, the never having energy, and always feeling like my brain was just in a haze — were actually just my body doing its job really well.

What?!?

Let’s back up. Our bodies are designed to protect us. When we cut our finger our white blood cells rush to the wound to protect us from the bad stuff that can come in. When we are chased by a dog, our brain sets the stress response in motion so we can either fight or fly…um…er…run away. These things ensure that we don’t die from a paper cut or just give up and let the dog eat us. BUT…

BUT…

But when these systems are called on repeatedly they start to damage our body. For example, when we let things into our body that shouldn’t be there, like highly processed food, sugar, cigarette smoke, and other toxins, our bodies creates inflammation to deal with it. And it deals with it and deals with it until our inflammation response gets stuck on attack. Then it starts to attack us…our healthy tissue.  Likewise, when we are chronically stressed, our brain is under the impression that we are being chased by that dog all the time, which means the stress response is suppressing our normal processes, like absorbing and metabolizing our food or burning fat for fuel.

The good news is that our body will usually give us some signs that things are going wrong, but we are horrible at listening to those things. Unfortunately, it often takes us so long to pay attention that we listen only when something scary happens. So listen to your body and take those signs seriously.

In fact, before we getting into the busy time of year, I would encourage you all to stop and take stock of what your body is trying to tell you. Is it overwhelmed with stressed? Is it showing signs of inflammation, like swollen joints, bowel problems, brain fog, etc? For resources on stress management, check this out.  For real food recipes to reduce inflammation you can go here. And if you are interested to see if I can help you listen to your body and get it back in balance contact me here for a free health consultation.

self-care

How to protect yourself from election day

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hagrid

Today in the United States it’s election day…in case you hadn’t heard. To say it’s been a little stressful for the country would be an understatement. In fact, I’m supposed to be writing about adrenals today, but that’s just not going to happen because it’s not what’s happening in my world. vote

What is happening in my world is how toxic I feel from the last year and a half of campaign coverage and mud slinging. How the ugliness from all sides has penetrated into my daily life. And this is with a strict policy to turn off the radio at the mere mention of the campaign.  So today I’m acknowledging the anxiety, stress, and fear I am feeling and then I’m taking back my control.

Step 1: Vote. I voted with my little girls like I always do because if you don’t use your rights you lose your rights. I value my right to vote, and honestly, at this point, this is the only meaningful control I can exert in the process.

Step 2: Back away from your devices. For me, this means no radio, no Twitter, very little Facebook, and a whole lot of good music. I choose to not expose myself to that which will stress me out!

Step 3: Prioritize your mental and physical health. This morning after voting and dropping off the kiddos, I had a nutrient-dense breakfast and did some yoga to focus my mind. A little extra self-care on days like today will go a long way to protecting your body from stress

So that’s it, three simple steps and you should be fine today…okay, maybe it just means you won’t end the day in a ball of stress.

We cannot control the outcome of today (or any days), but you can guard your health by refusing to let those events dictate how you will respond. Besides, in the immortal words of Hagrid, “What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.”

healing journey

I’m not perfect and thats ok

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perfec

Since dedicating myself to the mission of helping others live the life they are meant to live, I’ve gotten pretty concerned with how I appear to people. What will people think if they see my kid eating sugar? What will people think if they see me eating sugar, being stressed out or one of the many other things that people could use to judge me? Then I had an epiphany: I’m not perfect and you don’t have to be either  to have the health you want. You just have to make health your priority.

This epiphany came to me one night when my husband was held up in traffic after getting off late and I was standing in my small kitchen making dinner trying to keep things light while “helping” my oldest do homework  when my naked two-year-old informed me that there was poo-poo in her room. Fantastic!

My life is not perfect. My kids aren’t perfect, my house isn’t perfect, and sometimes my refrigerator smells like my daughter room did that night. BUT, I make my health a priority and I put into place those things that support my health.

Like meal planning so those crazy nights don’t end with expensive take-out. Or stress management so I can more easily handle the chaos. But most importantly, I know that my health is a reflection of what I prioritize. When I “mess up,” instead of punishing myself or going down some hedonistic hole of binge eating, I just remind myself of what I really want and get back to doing those things that will get me there.

Make your health a priority by contacting me today for a free consultation.

Health Coaching

You don’t need (more) information!

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action-1

I just want to put something out there and it might be odd coming from a lady with a blog: You don’t need information. Seriously, you don’t need more information. You have a lot of it. Maybe you read blogs like mine to learn about what you should and shouldn’t be doing to be healthy (thank you for that), but you have been stuck in the same place for years. This is because information doesn’t bring transformation, action does.

My clients are men and women who are sick of feeling like crap and ready to take back control of their health by taking action. I love these people. They give me so much hope and energy because I get a front row seat to their amazing transformations. I have the best job on the planet.

So if this is you;

  •  you are sick of feeling like crap;
  •  you are sick of feel like a failure;
  • you are sick of feeling held back by your body; and
  • you are ready to take action…

Contact me today for a free consultation and let’s get things moving. You can be in control of your health.

detox

Detox 6: Toxins and your skin

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skin

We all want beautiful skin, but we spend loads of money making sure we won’t have it.  You see, your skin is a reflection of your liver. If your liver is gunked up and unable to get the toxins out of your body, then your skin will tell you about it through premature aging, acne, rosacea, etc.

But we don’t usually consider that our skin as something that is reflecting our insides. Rather, we see our skin problems and seek to fix it with external applications of soaps, creams, and all sorts of other products. These are supposed to keep us looking younger, feeling softer, and free from spots, but here’s the catch: Those youth/clear skin potions we use are often toxic, and not only do they harm our skin by way of overloading our liver, but they also put us at greater risk of cancer and other diseases.

In the 2010 President’s Cancer Panel report, the panel stated, “With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread. ” That’s cancer people! Your quest to look better might be making you look worse and putting you at serious risk. It’s time to rethink what we put on our bodies!

Thankfully, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has done a lot to help us understand what we are putting in our body. They have found that women are typically exposed to 168 unique ingredients daily from the products they use, 85 for men. In their evaluation of the common 60,000 products listed on the back of labels, the EWG found that 34% of products have chemicals associated with cancer, 45% have chemicals associated with reproductive or developmental toxins, 60% have estrogenic chemicals that will mess with your hormones and cause everything from aggressive puberty in little girls to breast cancer.

The good news is that consumers are getting better informed and asking Congress to update policies regulating these chemicals. In the meantime here are some things you can do to reduce the toxins you are pouring into your skin.

Tips

  1. First, check out those things that you put on your body like shampoo, soap, makeup, laundry detergent, and sunscreen.  Do they have any of these chemicals? Anything that goes on your body that has an added fragrance is highly suspect.
  2. Second, download the Environmental Working Group app  so you can make better choices when buying new products by scanning in the item or searching by the name.  I geeked out when I downloaded the app and ran around scanning all my products. It’s a good time!

As always, I hope this series has helped you feel empowered to reduce your toxic load so that you can feel and look your best!