If you've followed along at all on Facebook this year, you may have heard me mention some pain points I've had about my neck and around my eyes breaking out in "eczema".

It's a classic example of an overloaded immune system and I've been working diligently to un-layer my own stressors in life--whether food, pathogen, chemical/environment or life--to heal permanently instead of temporarily.

I embrace the experience even on days I've wanted to give up because trials and personal experience give me passion about being a better practitioner and relentless about finding the best methods and potential shortcuts to help others heal from long time aggravations with digestion, skin, joint or muscle pain and migraines, among other things.

Anyway, what does this have to do with cookware? I'll tell you.

I've basically done a ton of experimental testing this year looking at causes of my inflammation and test showed some excess chloroform.

Chloroform....chloroform....what was that?

One source...

Use these tips and tricks to get started with intermittent fasting!

Start small.

No need to start with a 24 or 48 hour fast! There’s nothing wrong with starting out doing a daily 12-14 hour fast and working your way up to a longer fast once you determine if it is right for you. Starting small allows you to determine what works for you without feeling overwhelmed or stressed out.

Stay busy during your fasting hours – or sleep!

Don’t give yourself time to think about the hunger. My favorite time to fast is during work because I am so busy that I don’t have much time to eat anyway.

Sleep during the hardest hours of the fast. After some trial and error, you might find that fasting during certain times of the day doesn’t work well for you. Readjust your hours so that during the times that fasting is the hardest, you are asleep! The best part about intermittent fasting is that it is truly customizable to everyone.

Remember to track your results.

Tracking...

You may have seen headlines the past couple weeks that the American Heart Association is making claims against saturated fat, LDL, and heart disease. In the Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease Advisory put out by the AHA, they reviewed research on a variety of different oils and are making recommendations against coconut oil.

The AHA  is saying that “coconut oil raises ‘bad’ cholesterol in the same way as other foods high in saturated fats like butter and beef” and they are advising against the use of coconut oil "because coconut oil increases LDL cholesterol, a cause of CVD [cardiovascular disease], and has no known offsetting favorable effects." In other words, the AHA is recommending that you replace saturated fat (specifically coconut oil) with polyunsaturated (like Omega 6 and Omega 3) and monounsaturated fat (like avocados), without reducing the total amount of fat you eat, to lower your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

In case...

Let's face it, there are a lot of myths and even more questions surrounding intermittent fasting. Before deciding to experiment with intermittent fasting (and ultimately falling in love with it) I did a lot of research regarding what those myths are. I took it upon myself to answer my own questions and figure out what other people were asking. Take advantage of my research below and feel free to do your own research as well!

Busting Common Myths

Fasting is NOT starvation!

It is common for people to believe that if you refrain from eating for an extended period of time, your body will hold onto body fat instead of using it for energy. Shifting away from thinking about calories and leaning into more whole foods and relying on healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil, and olive oil can promote fullness and improve the benefits of fasting.

“Starvation mode actually is guaranteed if you just try and cut your calories. But what's interesting is that fasting doesn't do that. What...

I gave birth to raccoons.

No, I'm not kidding. My middle child will stack chairs, climb shelves, and basically rummage through anything to find whatever she wants. I've surrendered in some way.

But this summer, as the nights get longer, we want to enjoy the great outdoors as much as possible and schedules get trashed and my family's food habits have left something to be desired.

More specifically, I cook and no one eats it....mostly because they've self-fed all day and/or been bounced around with family that sends prepackaged snacks out the door with them.

Furthermore, I've been feeling...uninspired in the kitchen because of the demands of life and not wanting to be in the kitchen when the weather calls me outdoors in the few free hours outside.

If that sounds familiar, let's talk.

It must be the season, but I've been getting a lot more inquiries about child nutrition and more pediatric clients. Some of the strategies I suggest to parents are "low-hanging fruit," meaning it's easy...

What is intermittent fasting?

Have you heard of IF? If weight loss programs based on intermittent fasting are crowding your newsfeed as they are mine, maybe you’ve scrolled past thinking: that sounds awful. (I raise my hand!) Or maybe you were intrigued.

When most people hear the phrase “intermittent fasting” they recognize it as a diet. Or maybe something that sounds like starvation. It is actually not a diet at all, but more of an intentional eating pattern and ideally, it’s not to be accompanied by excessive hunger. The stereotypical word “diet” indicates a set of rules and guidance for foods you should and should not eat whereas intermittent fasting is a method to to dictates when you eat. Intermittent fasting just means eating intentionally within a certain window of time and fasting when the window is closed. In fact, it’s something we do each night while we sleep, but there are several more methods gaining traction for their health...

People often ask me about the things I have in my pantry. More recently, since I began doing some private coaching to help those in Chalene Johnson's Diet Beta Test. I've been sharing much of this list with these clients embarking on low carb, high fat living as they start their pantry clean out and replenishment. Living in a food desert, I'm well aware how annoying it is to want to make a recipe and you don't have the supplies.

It's also hard to make progress on cleaner eating and your goals for feeling awesome when you don't have any of the right tools in place.

Yes, of course, it's expensive to stock a pantry and up-leveling your health comes in increments; not everyone feels the drive to jump head first.

However, pick the items most important for now and KNOW that many of these will last a LONG time. Pssssttttttt: Start with some better salt!!!

1. Get a free one-month membership to Thrive Market (It'll be worth it just to save $10 per jug on the collagen proteins!)
2. Coconut...

What's the difference between food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances? What's the difference when my body reacts in hives from nuts VS I have digestive issues & chronic pain vs when I get diarrhea from milk? 

Check out the recent Facebook Live video I did on this very topic!

There are a lot of ways that our BFF, food, can make us sick.

Today, I'm going to tell you about 3 types of food reactions and what we can do about each type:

FOOD INTOLERANCE | Example: diarrhea from drinking milk, or lactose intolerance.

FOOD ALLERGY | Example: Getting hives eating shellfish or nuts (common allergens), within about 30 minutes of eating that food.

FOOD SENSITIVITY | Example: Reactions up to 72 hours after eating and sometimes hard to pinpoint: Migraine, bloating and digestive pain/issues, chronic pain like fibromyalgia or joint aches. The immune system "guards" miscommunicate with any type of food or food chemical and send out "poison darts," or mediators, that cause...

How can inflammatory conditions, like eczema, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, IBD, and chronic pain be caused by certain foods?

Well, let's think about what happens to food when we eat.

When we put foods into our mouths, enzymes released from the salivary glands begin the digestion process in our mouth. Food travels down the esophagus and into the stomach, where is sits to be broken down and "kneaded" apart by the action of our stomach. And while it depends on your gut's unique transit time, food typically leaves the stomach and heads to the small intestine where most of the nutrients are absorbed.

So if you've ever known anyone that had bariatric surgery, where the stomach was reduced to 1/50 of the surface area and some of the small intestines were removed, you will understand why nutrition supplements are typically prescribed for the rest of person's life.

After the small intestine, comes the large intestine or colon. I like to call this the poop chute. (It's more fun...

Every time our family travels, we get exposed to "fun" new germs, stray from our routines, regular foods and increase our susceptibility to colds and feeling run down.

Don't get me wrong, I love traveling, but I've found that packing a few extra things in my suitcase and keeping some basic principles top of mind can really help keep illness at bay.

Here are my top 6 tips to feeling your very best on vacation:

1. Probiotics. Seems like digestive balance is the first thing to go when we get out of our routines. If you have a regular time you go #2 each day, you might find that goes out the window as soon as you get on the road. This can be especially annoying to feel "bloated" and heavy throughout the day. Probiotics and probiotic-containing fermented foods are daily recommendations from me, but the need is even greater while traveling. It's best to start probiotics shortly before traveling so you can get accustomed to them and start populating immune central station (your...