Happy 2022!! 

I am so happy to welcome a New Year.  A clean slate, a fresh start.  It’s such a great opportunity to self reflect on the previous year and do things better, differently and change the trajectory of your future.

I am going to be very honest, December 2021 kicked my butt.  A family emergency derailed my whole month on top of it being the busiest season for a Mom of 2 littles with Christmas in the December mix.  I was trying to be everything for my family and also stick to my nutrition plan of eating low FODMAP due to a gut infection I was dealing with-brought on by stress from 2020. It was tough, to say the least, and despite the odds being stacked against me, I remained consistent in my routine and stuck to my goals.  

I am only telling you all of this because December 2021 was one of the hardest months of my adult life and I was able to remain steady with my own health amongst the chaos that existed around me.  And that is what I want to share with you…the ke...

Cravings….do you have them?? For sugar? Cheese? Salty snacks? 

Cravings are a sign that your body is out of balance. The imbalance of your blood sugar with peaks and valleys is a part of that imbalance we are talking about.  

Understanding your cravings and tuning into what your body is trying to tell you is a part of figuring out that balance for you. When the craving comes out, it time to tune into your body and figure out what it is trying to tell you with this craving, knowing the answers to these questions can help you figure out what to do to stop your cravings.

Here are some questions I ask myself when a craving comes on: 

1. How many hours of sleep did I get last night? Was it restful sleep? 
2. How much water have I had today so far? 
3. What did I eat for my last meal? Was I busy or distracted while eating?
4. Am I stressed out or having uncontrolled feelings right now?

Knowing the answers to these questions can really help you figure out what you need to do next ...

What can you do to improve Oral Health naturally?

1. Avoid Snacking and Sipping: The longer a sugary or acidic food sits on your teeth, the more likely it will be to eat away at your enamel. Also, grazing on food all day is a recipe for a sluggish digestive system.  My best advice is to have the cup of coffee or acid drink then be done and eat 3 balanced, nutritious meals a day. 
2. Drink Clean, Filtered Water: hydration is vital for your health and your teeth.  Dry mouth causes increased acidity of your saliva and increased tooth decay.
3. Oral Health Supporting Herbs: Incorporating herbs into your diet via your meals, drink, teas and even through essential oils.  Some of my favorites are cinnamon, oregano, thyme, peppermint and clove.
4. Dietary Changes: supporting your body through a very nutrient dense diet is the best choice you can make for yourself.  Remember that the cavity, the gum disease and oral health concerns are a sign that the inner terrain in which your body is trying to sup...

What to do with your Nutrition to stop the Tooth Decay and improve your Oral Health?

Cut out Sugar. Start to read labels and look at the added sugar in your favorite products. The goal is to stay around 25 grams of sugar a day. Track it and see what your total is, you will be surprised at the sneaky places sugar is hidden in our foods.

Eat your Veggies. Veggies are full of nutrients and mineral properties that can really help your body.  Vitamin C, B vitamins and calcium are beneficial for oral health.  Be sure to eat the colors of the rainbow. 

Eat nuts, seeds and beans. Zinc, copper, chromium and B vitamins are found in nuts, seeds and beans.  Eating a variety of these foods will ensure you are getting all the nutrients and fat soluble vitamin, Vitamin E.

Get in your amino acids. Eating good quality proteins can be very beneficial to your oral health. Incorporating bone broth, grass fed beef, grass fed butter and wild caught fish can give your body the building blocks for repair....

The health of your mouth is a direct reflection of the health of the inside of your body.  Cavities are a warning sign that there is something BIGGER going on inside the body.  The solution is to support the system from the inside with healthy nutritious food and lifestyle practices.  

One major player in your Oral Health is SUGAR!! 

Sugar may seem harmless to you but sugar affects your Oral health and your body in two distinct ways. And due to the SAD, the average American consumes 125g of sugar a day and the recommended daily allotment of sugar is 25g per day. So it’s important that you know how sugar affects you and be more aware of ways to eliminate sugar from your diet. 

Sugar has a direct link to tooth decay.  Sugar feeds the bacteria in your mouth causing the bacteria to produce plaque and acid which dissolves the enamel and weakens the tooth.  

Sugar also, when refined, has no nutritional value added to your body. Infact, the processing of sugar in your body through digesti...

Polyphenol rich foods are essential to your gut health and overall health.  You may not have heard this word before but you will be familiar with the foods rich in polyphenols. 

Polyphenol-rich foods include: 

• blueberries
• flaxseed meal 
• raw cacao 
• plums 
• cherries 
• hazelnuts 
• resveratrol (red wine, grapes, berries)
• pomegranate 
• curcumin 
• green tea 

The polyphenols essentially act as prebiotics for your gut bugs. Prebiotics are like food for your good bacteria – they are PRE biotics. They feed the good gut bugs and help them flourish in your gut.  Polyphenols also reduce inflammation, improve blood pressure management and help to stabilize blood sugar.  

If you are not getting enough polyphenols in your life, start adding them in NOW.  Green tea as a snack, superfood blueberries for breakfast, a sprinkle of flax on a salad or in a smoothie, bake with raw cacao and hazelnuts and cook with curcumin.  It’s easier than you think to incorporate these foods ...

Potatoes can be beneficial to your gut health...what? Did you know this?

With the low carb movement taking over the internet, it’s easy to see those starchy carb heavy potatoes as a benefit to our bodies.  I am here to tell you that with the right preparation, POTATOES can do wonders for your gut health.

The key to getting the benefit from potatoes is to unpack the Resistant Starch benefits from the food.  Resistant starches are foods that do not break down in your digestive track and are considered prebiotics-meaning they feed the good gut bugs in your digestive system.  We want these good gut bugs to flourish as they help break down and digest our foods.  The more good gut bugs we have, the more they will crowd out the bad gut bugs we do not want. 

The benefits of consuming resistant starch include:

• the reduction of inflammation in the colon by helping to lower the colon pH 
• supporting the repair of digestive dysfunctions including symptoms related to both IBS (irritab...

We have all experienced it.  Joint pain….soreness in your back...you sleep funny and your neck hurts for days on end.  What if I told you that improving your nutrition and lifestyle choices ( ie- sleep, hydration, stress management) can improve your  pain and inflammation?

I have been a Physical Therapist practicing with patients for the last 15 years with joint aches and pains making a lot of progress and improving pain for some patients and for others not much at all.  Patients can be stuck in this chronic cycle of pain in their joints and not understand why.  Our medical system may put a band aid on it by prescribing NSAIDS and pain killers, but all the while no one is getting to the root of the problem.  It was my recent certification in Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle that has opened my eyes to the impact of these 2 elements- nutrition and lifestyle- that significantly affect our joints. 

How can nutrition affect our pain?

Nutrition affects our joints and our bodies...

Back to school this year is filled with so many emotions.  And being the planner that I am, I am always trying to stay ahead of the colds, sniffles, sneezes and bugs that back to school always bring, especially this year with the current times we are facing.  

Being a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor, I will tell you that feeding your kiddos a well balanced and nutritious diet is always first and foremost, but adding a little bit of “boosters” with vitamins is always a way to help ensure our kiddos immune systems are firing on all cylinders. 

Here are my favorite 4 vitamin suggestions to give your kids everyday: 

Multi-vitamin- I am going to be honest, I am not a fan of most of the chewable vitamins on the market as they are full of sugar, preservatives and additives.  I prefer a liquid vitamin that is easy to pour into a little cup or measuring spoon, or even mix in with some applesauce for your kiddos to hide the flavor.  I look for low to no sugar, gluten free, non GMO, d...