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I was majorly addicted to sugar. I had a multiple chocolate bar a day habit. Ice Cream. Chocolate cake and so many other sweet things!

It wasn't just sugar though. I liked to binge on fast food, junk food, processed food, alcohol. Even overdid it with caffeine. I had zero idea about how my body actually worked and how to nourish it.

I also was an emotional eater. Some people stop eating when they're upset. Not me. I liked to eat, alot, to soothe my emotions. 

Let's just say it's been a journey to break up with my addictive eating habits. This journey has gone through variations and has taken years.

I share this because so many people struggle with food addictions. I know what it's like. But I was able to overcome my food addictions. There are a couple of things to be aware of in your journey to healing your relationship with food.

The first thing is that food companies work very hard to get you physically, mentally and emotionally addicted to their bad food. All the food...

Did you know that your gut is your second brain? Some researchers even think that your gut is more important than your brain.

Fact: 70% of your immune system is housed in your gut. There’s more serotonin in your gut than your brain. If your gut bacteria is out of balance, the rest of your body will also be out of balance and you may find yourself getting sick more often.

All disease begins in the gut. Making gut health your top priority will reward you with great health. It'll also make it easier for your body to fight against any foreign invaders. 

What gets your gut out of whack?

The #1 suspects are poor food choices. Especially highly processed foods, fried foods, and sugar. They feed the bad bacteria and drown out the good bacteria living in your gut microbiome. Red meat, farmed fish, dairy and eggs are also not ideal for gut health. 

You may find your mood is affected if you’re ingesting a lot of processed sugars. If you're getting moody highs and lows...

With school around the corner I've been having many conversations with my mom friends who are worried for the health of their kids and their families. 

One of my close friends confided in me that after being forced to shut down her business for three months she can't afford another forced shut down. Who can? 

Fear will never get you anywhere. But boosting your immune system and being proactive can go a long way, especially these days. In this blog I want to share with you my top tips for getting your Immune System in tip top shape. 

There are many simple things you can add into your daily routine to make being a healthy the easiest option.

With all the news and experts talking about COVID-19 it can seem like individuals are helpless. We're definitely not. It's about knowing what to do and then doing it consistently.

All of us are powerful. Your body is very resilient. When you give your body great nutrition and detoxify your system regularly, optimal health is...

Do you know that the most successful people in the world have stellar morning routines?

Full confession that for the longest time my morning routine was hitting the snooze button multiple times and then jumping out of bed in a panic because I was going to be late for work. 

With time comes wisdom. My morning routine looks very different these days. Now I start every day with a morning meditation. After that I do some gratitude journaling. Then I do a workout to get my body into motion. 

I've played with hot and cold therapy off and on the last few months as well. I do like to experiment with wellness practices to see what happens for my mind and my body.

Now you may reading this thinking- "I have enough on my plate. How can I add more?"

Here's my humble suggestion. Start small. Start with a practice that you can do daily that takes only a few minutes. The simpler the practice, the less time consuming, the more likely that you'll stick to it. 

Gratitude...

Where are you on your to do list?

You know the list that you have that's ongoing. The one that you never seem to get through?

Where are you on that list? Most people put themselves at the very bottom of their priority list. And it's literally costing them their life and wellbeing. 

In the short term making the easy choices- take out instead of a healthy home cooked meal, binge watching Netflix, having that second glass of wine, skipping yoga or exercise or any number of things that take you further away from your optimum health goals. 

What if taking care of your health is an act of radical self love?

Health is truly wealth. However 88% of Americans are struggling with some kind of chronic health condition that affects their quality of life and potentially shortens their life span.

But this doesn't have to be you.

What if taking care of yourself became an act of radical self love? Media, advertising and big food companies tell you to use food and alcohol as a weapon...

Motivation is garbage.

This isn't my saying. Mel Robbins, famous for her book The Five Second Rule, said it first. She's completely right. 

Motivation is garbage because you're never going to feel like doing the things that are necessary to create the life you want. It's literally not how your brain, or my brain, is wired. Your brain wants to protect you from anything that's scary, upsetting or outside your comfort zone. 

What's outside your comfort zone?

ALL YOUR DREAMS! ALL OF THEM!

Want to get fit and healthy? Outside your comfort zone.

Want to build a business? Outside your comfort zone. 

Want to travel the world? After COVID obviously. Outside your comfort zone.

Anytime you get a new idea or want to switch up what you're doing chances are you hesitate. That momentary hesitation sends a stress signal to your brain. Then your beautiful brain gets to work to protect you. It has a million different ways to protect you. One of them is called the Spotlight Effect....

Every year there's a new diet trend.

Paleo. Keto. Carnivore. With each new trend there are recipes, books, Pinterest posts, Instagram influencers. Usually the benefits of each trend is touted and many people jump on board hoping to create better health and ripped abs. 

Is every trend healthy? What diet trend should you follow? In this blog I go over some of the more popular diet trends and some of the health risks that are related to them. 

Paleo Diet

The Paleo diet is a hot trend, but it's not a new eating plan. This diet emphasizes foods and beverages that would have been the only means of sustenance for humans in prehistoric and pre-agrarian times -- fruit, vegetables, nuts, and meat. It eliminates processed foods, along with sugar, table salt, caffeine, legumes, and dairy.

The pluses with Paleo is that it eliminates processed foods, sugar and dairy which means it reduces inflammation. The downside is that some versions of Paleo people have too much meat or have...

Anyone else feeling like 2020 can go away?

Is it just me? Didn't think so. 

This past Saturday my cat of 11 years went out to explore and so far she hasn't come home. She's an indoor/outdoor cat and goes out almost daily to check out where the wild things are. But she always comes home. Except this time she hasn't come back (so far). 

It's really upset me. I am in tears. I miss having her around and know her daily routine as well as I know my own. I love my companion animals as I love any person in my life. I felt waves of grief and overwhelm come over me. The worst part of her being gone is not knowing what happened to her, if she's okay and if she'll ever come back. As much as my heart hurts for her, I'm reminded once again about how impermanent life is. That no one we love belongs to us. We're always in flux. 

Having to say goodbye without actually knowing if it's time for goodbye. Or the worst is having to say goodbye when you don't want to say goodbye.

Grief...

It was a hot summer day. I was sitting in the parking lot about to go into the bank.

My phone rang. I answered and was met with a panicked friend demanding to know where I was right that second. I told her, wondering why she was so distraught. In a rush of words she told me that an animal rights activist friend of ours had been killed. She wanted to make sure I wasn't at the scene where it happened.

There's no way life prepares any of us for this kind of shock and devastation. Most of the time many of us in the West are blessed to be able to walk through our days sheltered from severe trauma and Grief. But sometimes awful things happen. There's no choice but to face them, hard as it may be. 

I'm writing this blog to share some of the ways that I move through Grief. I always use a capitol 'G' for Grief because it is a big thing. It makes many people uncomfortable and it's not discussed in polite company. I want to share my tools so that when you encounter loss you can move...

Did you know that most people live in a state of constant stress?

True story. Most people either breathe too shallow, restrict their breath or simply forget to breathe. 

Breathing, especially deep breathing, can have profound affect on how you feel in your body. Shallow breath puts your body in a state of fight or flight, also known as the sympathetic nervous system response. However deep belly breaths helps your body kick into a parasympathetic nervous system response, also known as rest and digest. Ideally you want to live your life in a parasympathetic nervous system response state as much as possible. It turns out that your body also absorbs nutrients from food better this way, thus the digest part.

In this week's video I'm sharing some breathing techniques to help bring your stress levels down. You can practice these techniques first thing in the morning or right before you go to sleep. It'll definitely help with a deeper more restful sleep.  These are also breathing...