Women's hormones, gut + metabolism

What’s Your Food Rule Story?

From day one my relationship with food was fucked.

I remember being 10 and my grandmother eating a box of peeps, telling me they are good for you because they don’t have any fat and that fat is bad for you. There began my journey into low fat dieting.

I remember in middle school my mother doing all those slim fast shakes and only allowing herself to eat wheat thins or pretzels if she needed to.

I remember when I was a teenager and the biggest thing to hit the news was that Oprah had lost weight. During all of her interviews she said all she did was “not eat past 7pm. Not even a grape.” – Yes, I literally remember hearing these exact words. There began my journey of always thinking I would get fat if I ate a grape past 7pm.

Then in my early 20s, YouTube bikini competitor influencers were the hot new thing. I started watching videos religiously and began inheriting food rules- always work out fasted, have coffee on an empty stomach for weight loss, always have nut milks because they are lower calorie, sugar is a no, sugar free sweeteners are better, avoid fat at all costs and the biggest one…

Never enjoy food or allow yourself to eat unless you earned it at the gym.

THIS.

This is a constant mind fuck that we have all been exposed to at a young age. At this point we are so damn confused about food it’s honestly quite sad.

We have such anxiety and stress around food no wonder why are guts are fucked and our hormones are wack.

I can talk about all the “sciencey” things and how food works with our biology but at the end of the day, its all about LIVING and reducing stress.

At what point do we just live? I mean truly live.

I have come to realize the happier a person is in their life, the easier it is to heal.

Nutrition doesn’t need to be hard. At the end of the day it’s about nourishing your cells, getting in the most nutrients possible so you can live a happy, fulfilling, symptom-free life, one of joy and excitement, every damn day.

Eat real food. Eat like your great grandmother ate. It’s that simple.

And fuck the rest.

Oh and incase you were wondering all the above rules are bullshit and do not work with our biology. ✌🏼

What Social Media Tells You to Do to Be Healthy

I’ve been there.

I fell for each and every one of these at some point in my health journey. I tried them all only to be left more depleted, more confused than ever, and sicker than before.

“I need to be eating more vegetables and less carbs”

“I should only eat red meat once a week”

“I better get rid of dairy, it’s causing my acne”

“I gotta get in a HIIT workout or else I didn’t work out hard enough”

“I’m still hungry but it’s past 7pm, I can’t eat”

“I ate so much tonight, but it’s okay i’m fasting in the morning”

Vegan propaganda, marketing, social media and diet culture has done a great job at making us all so confused about what is right for our bodies but from a biological standpoint, this is what our bodies need to thrive. This is what our bodies need to have healthy hormones, thyroids, adrenals, and menstrual cycles.

Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated and confusing. Eat an abundance of real food without restriction, choose superior foods that will give you an abundance of energy and are loaded with nutrients and honor your bodies needs and signals.

How many of these fads have you fallen for?

How Do I Overcome a Weight Loss Plateau?

First let’s set this straight. YOU DON’T NEED TO WORK OUT HARDER AND RESTRICT MORE to get over a weight loss slump.

So you head into this weight loss journey and I am guessing you probably eliminated food groups, started counting macros, restricting foods (possibly sugar and carbs), working out more consistently, possible harder than you ever have. Whatever it may be you probably made some pretty drastic changes in your life to lose the weight in the first place.

So now it is time to re-evaluate. As we know you will always see changes in your body when you implement a new diet or plan BUT eventually your body does hit plateau. One thing to consider is, maybe this is your set weight, your happy weight, the weight you are meant to be at. And if this just doesn’t seem like the case then here are a few of my suggestions.

1. Address the stress in your life. Have you been under more stress than usual? IS YOUR NEW DIET OR WEIGHT LOSS REGIME STRESSFUL? We can only run on adrenaline for so long my friend, running on adrenaline initially can make us feel really good and cause us to actually lose weight, until our body hits burnout and it will… Guess what your body needs when it’s stressed out? More calories, not less.

2. If you did eliminate carbs and sugars from your diet it might be time to start adding those back in. Eliminating carbs and sugars is not only stressful it will affect your metabolism and most importantly your main metabolic gland the thyroid. We need glucose in order to convert the inactive thyroid hormone T4 to the active form T3. Focus on simple sugars that are easy to digest like fruit.

3. Are you killing yourself at the gym? Depending on the workouts you are doing this can be a big stress and cause more harm than good. Take it down a notch and make sure you are recovering. Also, focus on strength training over cardio since putting on muscle will increase your resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you need just to live and breath). Find out your energy expenditure you might be pleasantly surprised you need to be consuming a lot more calories than you think!

Address your protein, carb and fat intake. Make sure you are getting enough carbs and protein and consistently eating every 3-4 hours to balance your blood sugar and keep your bodies stress response down. Also, don’t overdo it on the fats! If you are consuming nuts and seeds and adding loads of healthy fats to your meals that may need to be addressed.

5. Sleep! I can’t stress this enough! If you are not getting deep restorative sleep every night you simply can not expect to lose those extra pounds.

Did you see a trend there? Stress in all forms is probably the reason you have hit a weight loss plateau. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I know what your thinking- you are scared you will put on weight if you change things up. Girl, i’ve been there and that is a valid fear but I assure you the fear of gaining weight won’t fix anything but may actually contribute to the plateau.

If you are still having a difficult time losing weight it might be time to get some labs to address hormonal imbalances, gut probs and mineral imbalances. I offer DUTCH hormone testing, GI Maps, and of course the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis.

How to Set Boundaries When Working From Home

Working from home. Something people don’t talk too much about. Usually you tell someone you work from home and you get the “must be nice.” Guys, I really dislike Must Be Nicers, like as if they are being held captive and can’t do something they want to do.
Anyways. What is often not discussed is the challenges, the isolation and struggle to set boundaries while working from home.
I have been working from home for 2.5 years now and I am so so grateful! I literally have a moment of gratitude daily for the flexibility and ability to work from anywhere. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I work for the same graphic design company I have been employed at for 10 years doing freelance 30 hours a week, I also do marketing and social media for a fellow NTP and blogger remotely, and I am in a mostly online school program. So I am home A LOT! Good thing I am an introvert because I actually enjoy being alone but at times it can feel very lonely.
Boundaries. Now this was the hardest for me to learn and I still struggle with to this day. Let’s be honest, one of the hardest things about working from home is that work never ends. The computer is right there, I could literally work 10 hours a day if I wanted to and in the beginning I did just that. I used to rush to eat lunch just so I could get back to work as if all hell would break loose if I was gone for 30 minutes. I would feel guilty for running an errand, meeting up with a friend or making an appointment mid-day.
Fortunately these feelings have passed and I have learned over the years to create boundaries to allow myself the freedom to still do things I love daily with a whole lot less stress, rushing, and guilt.
Here are some tips and tricks to working from home that have helped me tremendously.
  1. Put your phone away. Literally put it in another room while you work so you are less distracted. If you think motivation is hard in an office, imagine how it is at home with all the other things you could be doing like laundry, cleaning, crafts, yoga or whatever else you fancy. This one was particularly hard for me since I do a lot of work on my phone on social media. I learned to schedule times to check my phone and post things when necessary.
  2. Create an office space. Whether it be a small area in your living room or a full blown office. You need to be able to separate your work- time from home-time. Sure it sounds comfy to sit on the couch and work but I learned that’s a boundary that needs to be put in place in order to be productive. I pretend like I am going into the office and this also helps me feel less isolated. Sure some days I do sit on the couch and work on a slow day, I mean that’s one of the joys of working from home, but I try to not make it a habit.
  3. Any chance you get go work in a coffee shop, trust me, you’ll be 1,000x more productive in up-beat surroundings.
  4. Make sure you are taking time for yourself every single day whether that be a walk, getting a coffee with a friend, or taking time to make an amazing lunch even if it takes longer than an hour. Work will be there when you get back. I like to do this first thing in the morning whether it be walking with my husband, bike rides, working out, or just relaxing in my PJs while sipping my tea and watching a movie. I also make it a point to go for a walk mid-day to get my body moving. You will find a mid-day walk will make you so much more productive when you get back!
  5. Community. Make sure you are getting out and socializing with others even if its during work hours. You’ll be much more productive, less lonely and a better person for doing so.
  6. Scheduling. Get yourself a nice little planner or calendar and schedule your work times. Plan out what you will be working on ahead of time. I have even gone so far as to set alarms on my computer so I know when to take breaks and when to switch tasks. I have also set boundaries to never work before 8 and after 5pm regardless of how busy I am. Some days are exeptions but it is very rare.
  7. Maximize productivity. This could just be putting your phone away but for others this means putting in headphones and listening to music or podcasts. Anything that will get you in the groove and motivated. Save the the more tedious work tasks for a time you are most productive. For me this tends to be in the morning hours.
  8. Get rid of the distractions. I know it seems like a dream come true that you work from home and also get to stay home with your kids so you don’t have to pay for daycare. From experience working with women who have tried doing the work from home and stay at home mom thing all at once, it’s so stressful and typically never works considering kids need your undivided attention at all times. I recommend setting aside “office” time away from your children or new puppy or whatever other living thing that is keeping you from giving your work 100% attention.
  9. Get dressed. Put on some jeans or some nice loungewear and get ready, take a shower, do your makeup, fix your hair! This can be so hard working from home especially when nobody sees you all day.  It might be enticing to sit around in sweatpants all day but who feels good doing that? If you look good, you feel good and can show up ready to work.
  10. Understand your value. One of the biggest issues with working from home is feeling unvalued. It’s easy to feel so disconnected from your fellow co-workers that you feel like you are of no value to the company and they could get rid of you any day. This is so untrue, if you are doing the work and doing it well, they appreciate you even if they don’t say it.

What it comes down to is do what works for you! Some people are great working from home and others struggle. It took me some time to master the art of working from home so don’t be discouraged if this is new to you!

Also, don’t be a Must Be Nicer,  it’s not all matcha dates, yoga and sunshine (as Instagram likes to fool you). Altho working from home is a blessing it can also be very challenging.