My Journey

In September of 2008 I gained 30 lbs in one month.  I had ZERO energy, my face was puffy, I was depressed and I felt like I was in a complete daze.  I had no idea what was going on.  I worked out and ate healthy.  Alone, upset, frustrated, confused, bloated, fat and at some points, suicidal.  .  I felt horrible, every negative adjective you can think of I felt it.  I tried every diet, went to several doctors and it seemed like nobody could help me.  Aren’t doctors supposed to help you when you’re feeling sick?  Instead I was diagnosed with IBS and depression.  The pills I was prescribed did nothing for me.  I was still fat and depressed.  After numerous doctor's appointments and a move across the country I was finally diagnosed in April of 2009 with hypothyroidism.  What an amazing feeling to receive validation.  Someone finally listened to me and I was diagnosed with something that made sense.  I was put on Westhroid within a week I was beginning to feel better.  My dosage was soon at the top possible.  Now what?  I didn’t want to soley rely on medication to be healthy.  So I began to explore other options.  I started going to a Holistic Practitioner that suggested a dairy and gluten free diet.  I thought "What?  Gluten is a fad diet."  I followed his instructions anyway, at this point I was desperate to try anything.  It worked, so I continued to listen to him as he suggested supplements such as probiotics and a few more diet tweaks.  

The obvious/one word answer reason is passion.  I have been active most of my life.  Beginning with gymnastics and dance in my elementary through high school days.  I started working out in the gym during college.  I did it initially because I started to subscribe to magazines and they suggested to read a magazine while on the treadmill.  I started to get curious about the various equipment and classes and became completely addicted. At first I went to the gym to read, eventually I began to love the feeling after an amazing workout.  It's a feeling of accomplishment and gives me incredible energy to continue my day.  I wanted everyone to feel like me, so I started getting my friends to join me at the gym.  

Then the reading began.  Besides my magazine addiction I have an unquenchable desire to learn everything about the body and how it works.  I have read medical textbooks & journals and completed my personal training certification.  There are so many incredible message and support groups that have guided me to find the answers.  I have spent thousands of dollars and many hours doing research.  I completed the ALCAT, (www.ALCAT.com), test which measures the level of sensitivity to 200 foods. 

There are so many diets out there, and I may have tried them all.  I’ve tried food rotation and the inflammation diets, Paleo, the Autoimmune Paleo diet as well as the raw vegan lifestyle.  I’ve read books written by Dr K’s, (http://thyroidbook.com/blog/) and Dr Junger , (http://www.cleanprogram.com/). 

I’ve realized that food rotation is essential and sometimes my body just doesn’t like something that is considered “healthy”.  For example when I eat tomatoes my fingers get swollen, too much rice and my thighs blow up.  If I drink dairy the next day I start having breakouts.  We are all unique in our food sensitivities, I don’t believe there is a one size fits all diet or fitness program for anyone.  From all of this I have created an extremely strong mind body connection.  I now have a mixed diet from all of my knowledge to what works with MY body.  So now I am able to show others the way. 

I love what I do now, I help others feel better.  I am able to help others feel better whether they have a health issue or simply want to live a clean lifestyle.  I have my energy back and the best feeling is having a client call me and the sound in their voice and energy knowing they feel better and I was able to guide them in the right direction.  Honestly, weight loss is a wonderful secondary factor to changing your diet there are so many other amazing things that follow suit.  Besides increased energy I am complimented on my glow.  It’s not the moisturizers I use, it’s the food I eat. 

I don't want anyone to feel the way I have felt. Helpless, frustrated and alone….and that is how Love Body Mind & Soul began.

In case the plank challenge isn't enough for you!

Can't lose weight? Have you checked your hormones?

Hormones have a larger impact then most people realize.  Besides diet and exercise the digestive system and hormones those are two very important factors.  When hormones are off balance and the gut bacteria is off, losing weight is sometimes not possible.  We will cover digestive health another time.  How do you know if you're suffering from hormone imbalance?  Symptoms include fatigue, skin issues, weight gain, weight around the middle, trouble sleeping, always sleeping,  PMS, endometriosis, infertility and PCOS are a few.

If you'd like to test your hormone levels you can do this yourself using a saliva test.  I really like ZRT Labs http://www.zrtlab.com/patients. They also have other excellent tests available, especially if you do not have health insurance. You can order this yourself, without a doctor.  If you use this method, you can get your hormones in check with various supplements and nutrition.

Here are a few ways to balance your hormones naturally.

1.  Avoid High Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fats

The issue with polyunsaturated fats is that hey are unstable and oxidize easily.  Those oxidized fats cause inflammation & mutation in cells.  Cook with coconut oil and drizzle olive oil, (unheated), over vegetables & salads.  Also increase your Omega 3 fish, (http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/slideshows/best-fish).  

2.  Limit the Caffeine

Too much caffeine can put your endocrine system into overdrive.  The endocrine system is very sensitive and when it is out of whack, you feel "off".  Increase the amount of herbal tea. While green tea does have some caffeine, it is much less then a cup of coffee and has great health benefits.  Addicted to coffee?  Come off it slowly.

3.  Steer Clear of Toxins

Toxins are found in pesticides, plastics, household cleaners and health & beauty items.  Some tips, cook in class or non-coated metal plans.  Do not leave bottled water in the car during the summer and avoid heating or storing foods in plastic.  Buy organic whenever possible.  A great way to buy organic is purchasing frozen vegetables and fruits, they are less expensive then fresh and taste great.  Buy natural cleaners, or look online for great recipes you can make at home.  Finally, check your cosmetics, from foundation to body wash.  If it is on your body for more then 20 seconds, you are absorbing the chemicals.

4.  SLEEP

Get it!!  I cannot stress this one enough.  When you don't sleep your hormones are off balance.  Period.  Can't sleep?  Try breathing exercises, yoga or go to YouTube and listen to a guided meditation.

5.  Exercise

Try walking and swimming.  If your hormones are off balance, especially your adrenals, it is important not to over exercise.  When lifting weights opt for heavier weights at lower reps, 5-7.

6.  Coconut Oil

I eat this constantly and sometimes by the spoonful.  Try and get 1/4 cup a day.  It has great benefits and can help with weight loss, reduce inflammation and has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties.

7.  Get your Leptin in check

Typically the problem is not the production of leptin but leptin resistance.  If you are suffering from thyroid issues, I would highly suggest looking at your leptin.  Leptin resistance creates an increase of reverse T3 which in turn blocks the effect o thyroid hormone on the metabolism.  A few ways to improve leptin response include decreasing starches, refined foods, sugars & fructose.  First thing in the morning take a walk and then eat a large amount of health proteins and fats.  Go to bed by 10pm....get outside, barefoot if possible with some skin exposed.  Avoid snacking, have light workouts including sprints & weight lifting.  Remove processed foods and add more Omega-3's.

Craving Ice Cream? Try this instead!

Ingredients: 2-3 Cups of Organic Spinach
1 Cup Unsweetened Almond or Coconut Milk, (can be vanilla)
1-2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries
1 Cup Frozen Blueberries
1/2 Frozen Banana
2 TBS Flaxeeds

Super Simple Cauliflower Recipes

Cauliflower Crust Calzone http://www.theironyou.com/2013/07/cauliflower-crust-calzone.html

Cauliflower Rice:  http://pinterest.com/pin/65443000808496052/

It's just a number

Beware of Diet Soda

I

Water, Water and more water!

One question I get quite a bit is about water.  My guideline is drinking at least half your body weight in fluid ounces a day.  If you live in a warmer climate, go to a sauna, grab a spin class or essentially sweat more then normal, increase your water intake for the day.  The best measure? Clear urine.

Water is vital in maintaining a healthy body.  It regulates temperature, lubricates joints, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells and reduces the burden on the kidneys and livery by flushing out waste.  Water also helps with energy level, maintaining healthy skin and the best?  Weight loss.  I've had clients that have simply increased their water intake and lost weight.  Isn't that encouragement enough to drink more water?

If you need to spruce up your water, add a lemon or lime.  Another simple idea is adding a stick of cinnamon a sliced up apple, lots of ice and water into a pitcher.  In just a few hours you will have apple cinnamon flavored water.

DIY Allergy Testing

Yep, you read that right.  I'm so excited to share what I recently learned from a colleague of mine specializing in Naturopathic Medicine.  A few months ago I got the ALCAT Test done, https://www.alcat.com/.  ALCAT is a blood test that measures your sensitivity to foods.  The test is around $1000.  Instead of repeating the test again and again I learned of an alternate way of testing.  Best part?  It's free and DIY.

My ALCAT test results are displayed below.  I can eat all of the foods in green, it's suggested to rotate and rarely eat the foods in yellow and stay away from the orange & red.  Instead of getting retested or eating the food to test my reaction, I now follow the below process to see if my sensitivity has been eliminated.  If not, I'll retest in 3-6 months.

How to:

1.  Scratch your knee
2.  Rub the food over the scratch
3.  No reaction= No Sensitivity

Ahhhh Stress Relief

So let's figure out how to handle stress. We all have it, some of us seem to cope with it a little better then others.  It's important to learn how to decompress from stress to make sure it doesn't effect your health.  Sometimes stress can create swollen lymph nodes which creates an imbalance in the body that can turn into bloating or retaining water.  This article also has some great ideas and discusses swollen lymph nodes more in depth: http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/symptoms/swollen-lymph-nodes

A few ideas for stress relief......

Yoga
Stretching
Deep Breathing
Meditation: There are great guided meditations on YouTube.
Bath
Massage
Playing with a pet
Reading
Movie
Walking outside
Relaxing your shoulders.

Gluten it's everywhere!

Are you allergic to gluten? This list is great! Are you unsure if you're sensitive to gluten? A great way to figure it out just to keep a food diary. Start writing down what you eat and take notes on how you feel afterwards. Did you get a headache? Did you feel tired or bloated? Those are all signs to show that you are having a reaction and may be sensitive to a food. It's not just gluten, there are sensitivities to all foods. For example I have sensitivities to turmeric, mangos and grapefruit. There are various blood test that can also be done to check your food sensitivities. If you're interested in one of these tests please let me know and I can guide you in the right direction.

30 Day Challenges: Planks & Squats

Lose Weight While You Sleep....no really.

I mean seriously, when I was told this information I thought my practitioner was crazy.  Really, sleep 8-9 hours and lose weight.  Well...here's the theory, when you sleep your body repairs itself.  Not only does this occur but when we lose sleep our hormones get out of balance, (http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-while-sleeping).  "When you don't get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don't feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food," Breus tells WebMD.  Most of us can relate to this statement.  When we lose sleep I eat more, specifically high carb/sugars.  We need energy so we go for the foods that will wake us up, carbs and sugars.  While carbohydrates do give us energy, it's important to keep your sugar intake at a optimum level.  If you're at a maintenance phase in your eating, you may be able to increase your sugar intake.  If you're fighting Candida or a health issue like Diabetes, keeping your sugar intake low is very important. 

I encourage everyone to get 8 hours of sleep.  If you feel stressed, check out my blog titled, "Ahhhh Stress Relief" which offers suggestions on how to relax.  Your body needs it's rest, it needs to repair itself.  If you're having problems sleeping check out YouTube and try out a guided meditation.  Enjoy your Dream Diet.

Fruit, Fruit & More Fruit!

So you have always been told that fruits and vegetables are healthy.  They are!  I'm not here to disagree with that at all.  Eat fruit, just eat the right fruit.   I suggest keeping the sugar at 20-40 grams of sugar a day.  Eating fruit that is lower in sugar, lower glycemic index is a great goal.  A few great websites showing low glycemic index fruits can be found here: http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/  and http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatfruit.htm.

One other note is to try and buy organic as much as possible.  Why organic?  A few reasons, not only does organic food taste better but it reduces health risks.  There have been many EPA approved pesticides that were registered way before research was done to link the chemicals to cancer and other diseases.   Did you know that 60% of herbicides, 90% of fungicides and 30% of insecticides are potentially cancer causing?  Much of our society is buying nice cars and when you buy that nice car we put premium gasoline in the car.  Why not put premium food in your body?  If you aren't able to always buy organic make sure to look at the dirty dozen and always buy these foods organic only.

Self Motivation....Let's Get to the Gym & Enjoy it!

I love working out.....now that's not how it's always been.  I've had to train myself to enjoy the act of going to the gym.  It's turned into my escape and the place where I become creative.  I use to dread going to the gym, procrastinate and just go through the motions.  Let me tell you, when I retrained my thoughts, I not only enjoyed working out but my results improved dramatically.  It's amazing how our thoughts truly effect our bodies.

So what did I do to get myself out of the rut?  I made working out fun.  I switched things up.  I started taking spin classes and found the one's with the best music, (for my taste).  I now take spin 2-3 times a week.  I also added Pilates reformer classes which I have fun doing.  When I'm on my "own" at the gym I make sure to have a great playlist to motivate me and I download a new playlist once a month.  When I do my cardio I read, I bought myself a Kindle and become quite addicted to reading books.  Sometimes I'm so into the book that my 45 minute cardio flies!  There are some days when I don't feel like reading, so then I'll rent a movie on iTunes and watch it while I do my cardio.  I also downloaded an app on my phone that allows me to type in my thoughts....when I workout I become creative.

My suggestion to you is figure out what will make your workouts fun.  Whether it's downloading a new playlist or joining a group class, figure it out and do it.  Create a plan that makes you look forward to working out rather then dreading it.  Our minds are incredibly powerful and our self talk has a huge impact on our results.

The Types of Clients that Benefit from a Health, Wellness & Nutrition Coach.

I realize many people aren't sure kind of role a wellness, nutrition and health coach does.  I've noticed I have generally four types of clients.  The newbie, someone diagnosed with a health concern, the one that's tried everything and the one that knows what to do but just isn't motivated to do it and needs a motivator.

The Newbie is not educated about nutrition.  They have never tried a diet and have been motivated to work with me because they have either started to gain weight, had a recent health concern or simply decided to put healthy eating as a priority.  When I work with this client I focus on increasing their knowledge about the foods they are putting into their body.  We discuss the foods they are eating now and make tweaks and tend to move a little slower.  

The second client has tried it all and is stuck.  They typically come to be for a few reasons.  The first is health, they have been diagnosed with something and either needs to change their diet for their health.  I've worked with patients diagnosed with diabetes, thyroid, high blood pressure and high cholesterol to name a few.  All have the same goal, to get their disease under control.  It's amazing to watch these people become successful and realize that the food we put in our body is amazing medicine and can really help get their diseases more manageable.  Watching someone regain control of their body is a beautiful thing.  The other type of client in this category has simply tried EVERYTHING.  

The third type of patient has tried it all and simply can't lose weight.  They have tried different diets, cleanses and are willing to try almost anything at this point.  There are a few underlying causes for being stuck.  Some have tried so many cleanses, from the lemon/cayenne/maple syrup diet to Atkins.  They've yo yo'd and need to regain control over their body.  Learning to simply eat healthy and consistently is the focus of our relationship.  Others are inflamed for various reasons.  I found out I am allergic to mangoes and tumeric, I mean who knew? I couldn't figure out why I was getting sick after I ate.  After some testing I figured it out.  It was so empowering.  There are also many digestive issues that stop clients from losing weight.  Candida or other digestive issues are able to be controlled through diet and sometimes supplements.  Some have a vitamin D deficiency or simply need digestive herbs to help retrain their system on how to work.  This client has to be patient because we cannot always find the solution overnight.  Typically it will take 30 days to start to notice your body changing after beginning the correct regimen.  Either the client has starved themselves and needs to let their body know "Hey I'm going to feed you" or their body needs time to heal.

The last client knows exactly what to do but just can't stay on track.  They can't stay motivated and need a coach to keep them on track.  They go to the gym, then stop going.  They are really motivated at first but then get bored or find excuses.  They eat really healthy for a few days, cheat and it goes downhill from there.  These are some of the toughest clients!  They are really motivated to work with me and decide, yes I'm going to do it.  Then, they fall off the wagon.  My job with this type of client requires more contact.  I tend to text these clients more.  Checking in and keeping them accountable.  I like this client to keep a detailed food diary.  Details not only include the food they are eating but how they are feeling.  There are various triggers that we become aware of that are underlying causes of the slip ups.  Typically emotional eating or even the self defeating prophecy.  

Each client within these categories is different and some are a mix.  Knowing which person you are allows us to create the right plan for you and your personality.  Some clients are able to take a plan and execute it while others need more support.  This is one reason I create custom plans for all clients.  Your success is my success.