Preparing for international travel

Friends! I’m going to be honest…I’m totally overwhelmed with everything we have going on over the next 2 months!

First, we are hosting a German exchange student through Keegans school. We were hoping to be in our new home and have lots of space for her but the timing didn’t work out so it’s crunch time to GET ORGANIZED in our small home and make space for her! In June, Keegan will go to Germany and live with her. It’s gonna be such a cool experience for him!

So right now we are in clean, pack, and organize mode….but just to make it more complicated, I decided to change the carpets before she gets here. Like I said, I was planning to host her in a brand new home, and when we started cleaning out the spare room to make this work I just didn’t feel good waiting on the carpets until after she’s gone. So we are getting new carpet and will have to pack everything in our bedrooms away, get it installed, and then unpack before she gets here… HA!

Right after we host her, we are all going on international travels. She is leaving back to Germany, Keegan and Patrick are going to Japan with his school over spring break, and my parents and I are going to Europe.

Pretty much as soon as we all get home our new home will be completed and we will need to sign off on it, close, and decide when to move in!

WHEW!!!!

It’s a lot on top of our already busy work schedules.

I’m definitely a planner, and one thing I’ve had to think about is traveling away from home with food sensitivities. Last November Keegan got his food sensitivities tested for the first time, along with a genetic test.

When we acted on the results, the change was immediate and dramatic. He felt better physically, and he seemed like a different kid emotionally. It was like a dark cloud lifted. He was happier, less moody, his gut felt good again…it was amazing!!!

We now have 3 tests that show he is sensitive to Gluten - a food sensitivity test, a stool test, and a genetic test. indicating predisposition.

When I researched being gluten free in Japan, apparently it’s a bit tricky.

I’ll be traveling to Prague and Vienna and it seems like it won’t be as big of a deal.

But for both of us there are precautious to be had.

Here are a few steps we are taking to make sure we stay healthy on our trips:

1) We will print out celiac travel cards.

I you go to this website you can choose which language you need and print out a card that you can show when you get into restaurants that says that it’s important your meal doesn’t contain wheat! Super helpful!

2) We will be taking gluten enzymes.

There are several to choose from, but the one I’ll send Keegan and Patrick with on this trip is Wheat Rescue by Microbiome Labs. The reason I’,m choosing this one for this occasion is because a) the bottle count is perfect for the amount of time and meals they will have while there - one at each meal. b) it’s a more comprehensive product including probiotics and beneficial yeast which will be supportive overall to their guts when on this trip

3) Keeping up on out normal supplements like vitamin C and Glutathione

Those are two major antioxidants that support your body under stress. Travel and flying is stressful on your body even if you don’t feel it emotionally! I personally feel crappy when flying and need to support my body extra.

4) STAY hydrated on the flight!!

I will be very focused on staying hydrated on our long flights!

5) Personally, I will also be ordering a new Vogmask for the long flights.

After my cancer journey in 2019, I am extra conscientious of any toxin exposure and stressor on my body so these are just a few steps I’ll be taking to be prepared. I’ve already gone through a liver support process for a month which should give my body some breathing room and I will be getting some Vitamins iVs before our travels to really give myself that extra boost!

What tips do you have for traveling with sensitivities?

Pulling back the layers of gut health

Hey hey Diva friends! 

Today I am PUMPED to share some updates with you! Many of you have followed me through my FDN journey with my certification and part of that process was becoming a client myself so I could experience the process and hello....work on my own gut issues!

I recently shared my Journey with H. Pylori and how my testing revealed that i hadn't eradicated it the first time so I needed to go for a second round. While my husband had knocked his out in one fell swoop ( with a shorter protocol while also being less compliant) my gut (as usual) was proving difficult. 

I am happy to announce that since I received my last test in April I am H Pylori free! That was step #1 and NOW, I'm finally getting to the ROOT of my digestive struggles.

Your gut is a really intricate web of little bug good and bad. Normally they live in synergy and the good bacteria keeps the opportunistic bacteria in check. Your stomach acid also plays a major roll in not only breaking down your food, but also keeping nasty pathogens at bay.

When there becomes an imbalance whether from stress, poor diet, antibiotic use, or other (check off all of the above and MORE in my history), this ecosystem of opportunistic bacteria begins to thrive where yeast, fungi, parasites, bacteria, and inflammation all creates the perfect environment for the other to thrive and more of ten than not, when one is found awry, others are to follow....

This is what I discovered in my most recent test. Now that I had been on a protocol for a period of time I was finally able to see what was ACTUALLY underneath. Literally. Pathogens like to create and live in something called a biofilm that protect them. Sort of like a spiderweb of protection for them against your mucosal lining. GROSS!

Anyway, when you go on any sort of pathogen protocol a large part of the process is breaking that home up WHILE targeting the bacteria AND restoring your good bacteria through food and probiotics and gut healing supplements.

But I digress.....now that my insides are exposed so to speak, I could see what was really happening....Below are some snapshots of my test results:

WHEW! Ok let's break this down.

1) I have to major parasites: cryptosporidium and cyclosporine. These nasty bugs are what's called intracellular parasites where they have a life cycle of 7 days and weave in and out of your cells causing damage galore.

2) I have an amoeba called endolimax nana - also not great 

3) Some bacteria dysbiosis (imbalance between the good and bad)

4) Notice in the Phyla Microbiota the ratio is HIGH. The section explains the ratio between gram negative and gram positive bacteria. You'd like it to be under 1. High ratios like mine are typically found in obese subjects or people who have difficulty posting weight which could potentially explain the difficulty I've been having over the past year in losing weight regardless of how clean my diet is.

5) My beta glucaronidase level is high. This is a marker for detoxification and while I could use a supplement to work on that, the supplement can also lower your estrogen. Since I have historically had low hormones and have been working on increasing them this is a marker I will watch as it hopefully goes down through the process.

6) My SigA is very low. This is your first line of defense in your mucosal lining. It's an immune system marker and mine is low ( but not as low as I've seen!). For reference, below 500 is considered a suppressed immune system response. This is something I will work on through my protocol.

7) A random yeast overgrowth - small, but you don't want that to get out of control!

8) Finally, I'd like to draw your attention to the zonulin marker. I love this marker because zonulin essentially tests you if you have a leaky gut or not. Zonulin's roll in the body is to open the tight junctions between the cells in your epithelial cell wall that lines your gut. This can be cause be eating foods like gluten that have been shown to stimulate zonlulin and cause leaky gut, or zonulin can be increased due to infections because it's other roll is shuttling out the bad stuff.

So in my case, we think the zonulin is so high because of the parasites wreaking havoc. The zonulin is trying to help me by flushing out the toxins as fast as it can.

WOAH BOY!!!! That's a lot to work on. But also very encouraging because several things that have  been happening in my body this past year have been SO frustrating when I feel like I'm doing everything RIGHT! This is why it's so important to TEST DON'T GUESS!!!!

I'm on a 60 day parasite protocol followed by a 60 day bacteria protocol ( remember these guys really like to feed off each other!) The protocol will address the parasites, boost my immune system, focus on healing my gut lining, and knock out the extra yeast and bacteria.

In a way, these results make me THANKFUL. I was really getting frustrated with my inability to lose weight, my perfect (literally) diet and my lack of digestion perfection....while SO MUCH has improved for me (energy, sleep, mood, PMS, etc....) I obviously still lave some digging to do.

Many of you may wonder why I don't run to take an antibiotic with results like this! I completely understand that questions and trust me, I've considered the easier, less expensive, and shorter route that that provides. Unfortunately, antibiotics are a large part of why my gut looks like this in the first place. When you use them they not only kill the bad but the good bacteria as well and it's when those good bacteria get low that the opportunistic bacteria latch on. While we can restore health and boost your microbiome we don't know yet if you can ever fully restore your microbiome to it's full glory - meaning - you never ever want to full kill of an entire strain in your body because you don't really know if you can ever get it back!!!

I would also be concerned about taking an antibiotic at this time due to the high level of zonulin which can indicate some inflammation. I don't want to put any fuel on the fire right now so I'm choosing my slow, steady, herbal route complete with nutrition and patience :) 

I hope this blog is helpful! It's funny as a practitioner sharing when you have your own struggles. Part of me wants to act like I have it all together for you but in reality who does that serve? The whole reason I became an FDN is because I was seeking to find the cause of all my health concerns including fatigue, bloating and non-existent hormones! Now I'm finally getting the the root of it all and how crappy would it be not to share the process?

I'll keep ya posted :) Let me know if you have any questions below!

I suffer from adrenal fatigue....what now?

Hey Hey Diva Friends!

Hey all! Thank you so much for taking the survey recently - if you haven't had a chance yet please take 2 minutes to answer few questions below so I can provide more information and fun content that YOU want...

I was reviewing your answers and one question stuck out to me and I got really excited to answer it!
 

"I suffer from adrenal fatigue like many women.
How can gut health, diet, or exercise help?"

I LOVE THIS QUESTIONS because I too have struggled with adrenal fatigue. In fact being aware of adrenal fatigue and the importance of hormones was what prompted to seek natural healing paths and ultimately led me to FDN!

 Gut health, diet, and exercise are CRUCIAL components in the healing process so let's talk about each one...But before I jump into that, what IS adrenal fatigue? HPA axis dysfunction is the sciency-term for what we commonly call adrenal fatigue. There's a lot of huffing and puffing going on about the name of it because the more we learn about what it actually is, the more we realize it's not that your adrenals are tired but it's actually a breakdown in your stress regulation system.
 

Your hypothalamus receives signals from your environment (mental, emotional, or external) that communicate stress. Your hypothalamus then translates that information to your pituitary gland and your pituitary gland tells your adrenals what hormones to pump out. When we are in an acute stress state your adrenals are pumping out adrenaline, cortisol, and other fight or flight hormones.

Typically, this stress goes away shortly and there is a feed back loop where your adrenals communicate back to your brain effectively shutting everything back down and your body returns to homeostasis. Adrenal fatigue is when this hypothalmus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been activated so long, that the wires get crossed and the feedback loop is no longer effective. When this happens certain hormones become imbalanced and your body cannot regulate them in the appropriate ratios anymore. 

This is  when people begin to feel symptoms of fatigue, exhaustion, inability to cope with stress, blood sugar irregulation, anxiety and more.

There are many reasons that this can happen. Severe acute stress or trauma can induce adrenal fatigue, but more commonly in our society it's brought on by chronic stress. Chronic stress can be environmental (think mold or chemical overload), nutritional, mental/emotional, or physical. So let's talk about gut health, diet and exercise and they can help or hinder your healing process.

Gut Health 

Your gut is commonly called the "second brain" but some experts wish it was more accurately called the first brain. Your gut sends more signals to your brain than your brain does to your gut. That's right....your gut essentially controls your brain. All those little microbiota in there are crucial for brain health... 2 parts of the HPA axis are in....the BRAIN! 

You can get really in depth and talk about the science of how neurotransmitters and hormones are regulated in the gut, or you can go the woo-woo route and talk about how you manifest stress in the gut. It doesn't matter which angle you come from, the health of the gut is incredibly important for regulating your hormones AND your brain.

Diet

What helps your gut health the most but diet?  Anything from inflammation in the gut, to hyper permability (leaky gut), to gut dysbiosis (parasites or bacterial imbalances etc...) can be influenced in a positive or negative way from your diet.

• Foods can cause inflammation or they can calm it. 
• Foods can cause the tight junctions to open up in your gut lining or food can protect and soothe your gut lining.
• Certain foods can regulate hormones
• Food and fiber and regulate hormones, increase gut motility, and eliminate toxins (buildup of which can cause brain and hormone imbalances)

Thankfully, this is one aspect of our lives we have complete control over. When we commit to a pesticide free, chemical free, whole food approach to our diets, we lay the foundation for other changes to be more effective.

Exercise

While exercise is a helpful acute stress for healthy people, if you are in the exhaustive stage of adrenal fatigue (low cortisol, depleted hormones, tired often, inconsistent sleep and diurnal rhythms...) then exercise becomes another stressor that actually DEPLETES your body of the few resources it has left. 

When trying to heal from adrenal fatigue calming exercise like walking and yoga are the best options. As your body heals you can increase the amount of exercise but since chronic exercise and over exercise can damage the gut, that's just another reason to take it easy until you've made lots of headway in the right direction!

Takeaway:

Stress relief, the right nutrition, targeted healing for the gut, and health promoting movement are all steps you can take to reverse your adrenal fatigue, balance your hormones, calm anxiety and get back to your best life! I know because I've been there and this year, 2018, I feel better than ever! I'm not done healing and I have more to work on, but I have seen amazing sleep, more libido, and tons more energy just to name a few improvements! 

Interested in digging deep to find the root cause of your hormone imbalances? Click the link below to schedule a free call to find if working together is right for you!

Do you or have you struggled from adrenal fatigue? I'd love to hear your experience...share in the comments below!

Are you an under eater?

Hey Hey Diva friends!!

I touched on this last week when I answered the questions, "Where the heck do I start?" but I wanted to dig a little deeper into this concept of under eating because it's a pretty common habit actually!

I'm going to give you some personal examples. I pick on my family because I love them and as a health coach I bug them all the time about this stuff. My Dad is a chronic under eater. He was a professional athlete in college, in amazing shape, and still is. He also began his own business, raised a family of 3 daughters and subsequently has dealt with a tremendous amount of stress in his life! He clings to his health by working out hard, but I constantly see that in order to sustain the burden of stress (mental and physical) that he endures, he needs to eat probably 2x the amount of calories he is currently taking in. As with many people, the fear is there of weight gain.

Quickly I'll give you another example (surprisingly these are both MALE examples but typically this is a common factor in FEMALES)...my husband. Now my husband doesn't do this on purpose. In fact, since I estimated his calories a few weeks ago he was shocked and has become intentional about packing MORE food for work. The problem for him is that he gets busy. He eats a great breakfast, he heads to work, he eats whatever he has packed, and then he eats whatever I make for dinner. This is probably ok if he isn't running several times a week and lifting heavy several times a week. But in THOSE cases, he needs to be more intentional about fueling his body and could stand to almost double his caloric intake.

So let's talk about the fear of weight gain. Because I totally understand that! Here's the super GOOD and also super obnoxious thing about our metabolisms. They adjust. So if you eat less, your metabolism slows down. You eat more, your metabolism speeds up. This is an interesting phenomenon that is certainly a mental game at first because when you begin to experiment with this you MIGHT GAIN WEIGHT. Typically, that is short lived and your body will find a new balance eating MORE calories than before. You WANT to be on the highest end of this as you possibly can be. Essentially, you want to get as many calories (aka NUTRIENTS) in your body each as possible to fuel your brain, hormones, energy, etc....as possible while maintaining a healthy weight.

So how do you know if you're an under eater? Here are 3 tips:

1) You are extremely active but can't lose weight. 

In my recent podcast "Workout Obsession" I shared how when I was training for the Beachbody classic I doubled my workouts AND cut my calories. Not surprisingly ( looking back) I plateaued immediately and could no longer lose weight. I should have INCREASED my calories to support the extra burden I was placing on my body, but instead I increased my exercise and decreased my fuel.

The night the show was over I had a huge steak that was probably soaked in butter and the next day after WEEKS of the scale not budging, I lost a pound. A POUND! Normally physique  competitors tell stories of gaining 5lbs overnight from all the salt and garbage foods they ate (just another reminder that REAL FOOD ACTS DIFFERENTLY IN YOUR BODY THAN PROCESSED FOODS).

If you've increased your exercise recently but haven't lost weight, your body may be begging you to support it with the proper nutrients.

2) You lowered your calories but didn't lose weight

If you have recently cut your calories and haven't seen a budge your body might be in survival mode. When your body thinks it's in danger whether from a tiger or lack of food, it produces cortisol. Too much cortisol for too long a period of time stimulates fat storage and makes it difficult to lose weight. 

This may be an indication of calorie deprivation OR nutrient deprivation. For example - are you getting enough healthy fat? Healthy carbs? Vitamins and micronutrients? Make sure you're getting ENOUGH food so that your body knows it's safe. Once it's in the safe zone the weight will being to shift again.

3) You miss your cycle or it becomes irregular.

Hormones are a delicate thing. As women, it's easy to look at guys get all shredded and think " I can do that too!" And in fact you CAN....but it might not be HEALTHY. This can become more of an issue after a certain age and/or after a prolonged period of time. Sure - you want to try competing one time? If you have no health issues, no hormone imbalances, and are young - go for it. 

But more often than not, our bodies are not MEANT to be that lean for long periods of time...or...ever really. Women in particular have more subcutaneous fat. This is by DESIGN because of our hormone cycles and our physical ability to create and carry other humans. It's for our protection! 

When a women goes through an extreme body change, diet change, or any situation where her body fat dips too LOW, she is in danger of essentially ruining her metabolism and creating a life of hormonal imbalance and struggles.

Missing a period, while we might think that sounds GREAT, is actually very dangerous. A woman's fertility ability is a good indicator of her overall health. Not to mention the delicate balance between your hormones, mood, and energy levels. Want to see a cranky woman? Find one that is carb deprived, body fat of 14% and prepping for a competition!

Fun tip: 2 of the first things to go when the body is under stress

are digestion and hormone regulation!

Here's the deal. Your body is a survival MACHINE. It's designed impeccably to keep you safe- NOT to keep you shredded. When you deal with stress whether too much physical exertion, mental strain, emotional burden, or not enough fuel from food, it will react to what it finds most important at the moment and normally that doesn't align with our physique goals. 

If your body deems itself unsafe it will take the appropriate measures. Cortisol is released, fat storage is turned on, digestion is deregulated and hormones are an afterthought....Don't brush off these signs that your body needs some love and affection. 

Make sure you're fueling your body with nutrient dense foods DAILY and let it tell you what it needs. When you and your body are in sync, the world is a happy place.

Share below! Have you discovered you're an under eater? Did something in this article ring true for you?

3 health concerns most women ignore

Hey Hey Diva friends!

Quick update for you :) January is off to a rocking' start!! I launched my very first Gut Health program #GetGutsyWithMe on January 15th and I'm already getting AMAZING feedback on the program, information, and recipes! This fills my heart with joy and happiness since it's my life's mission to help people make healthy changes in a doable, pleasant, and maintainable way!!

Stay tuned - Get Gutsy will be launching 2-3 times each year and you can expect edition #2  in a few months!

SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER TO STAY UP TO DATE!

I also chose to jump into the 80Day Obsession program by Autumn Calabrese! This is a beachbody program from the creator of 21 day fix. YES I'm a personal trainer, YES I could create my own workouts...YES MLMs like beachbody have a bad name (because of poor representatives I might add - not because of the products).... but I have seen GREAT success using at home programs, so have many of my clients and friends and heck...it saves me time and sanity to follow a program that's already designed! As I grow and focus on my OWN business, I enjoy popping down in my basement and not having to think about what to do next. #stressrelief If you want to join me just say the word!

I'm VERY pleased to announce that The Tiny Fit Diva podcast will be up and available to stream in February. We are currently working on a few last minute tweaks as well as preparing a few extra episodes for you to be on top of the game before we open it to the public :) GET EXCITED because Patrick and I share our best tips on this weekly show!

 I have many goals for 2018 and one habit I'm slowly beginning to implement is an organized morning. Last year I read miracle morning and I loved a lot of the ideas but didn't implement them right away. As I'm getting busier, I want to make sure my priorities don't slip, so in the evening I have been making a list of to-dos the next day and that includes the first few things I want  to get done in the morning which includes meditation, reading my Bible, and reading a personal development book! 

All in all, January is shaping up to be a pretty darn awesome month and I have more goals, dreams, and visions for the next few years that I can't wait to share with you as they come to fruition.....

Today's topic:

3 health concerns most women ignore

1) Poop. 

Man, it seems like this is all I'm talking about these days! Between Get Gutsy With Me, my podcast, personal conversations and now this blog....shew! I need t find another topic ;)

A common complaint that many of my clients have is inconsistent stools. Some may be constipated, some have diarrhea, or some fluctuate between the two. If you aren't having regular bowel movements and/or you have stomach pains that accompany inconsistent bowel movements you need to get it checked out! Consider ordering up a comprehensive stool test and/or a food sensitivities test. Often the two compliment each other well.

When you are constipated, your stool is literally putrefying in your body. Yuck! Stool is full of toxins that your body has broken down, processed, and passed through to successfully eliminate and get it out of your system. When it's held in, those toxins are getting reabsorbed which can cause an excessive toxic load on your liver, pain in your abdomen, and even issues with your mental clarity and energy, not to mention the potential damage and inflammation to your colon the longer this goes on!

If you regularly have constipation, diarrhea or a fluctuation between the two it can be an indication of food sensitivities, a bacterial imbalance or even a parasite. Ignoring these can lead to disease, chronic pain, chronic inflammation and even stomach cancer in the case of the H. Pylori an wildly common stomach bacteria. When inflammation and damage goes on too long in the body it can eventually lead to a suppressed immune system compromising your future health as well as your ability to recover.

2) Too much coffee during the day...

I almost titled this point "Fatigue" but when we rely on stimulants all day many people don't realize how tired they actually ARE. Many people will say " oh yes I feel fine, I get through my work day great!" but if you were to take away the caffeine, coffee or sugary beverages throughout the day these same people would crash and burn around 10am and have a tough time mentally and physically recovering to complete the rest of their day.

Limit yourself to 1 cup of (preferably black) coffee a day and keep that before noon. While extra caffeine throughout the day may give us the sensation that we have more energy, it's actually taxing on our body's natural energy production systems and can give us misinformation on how energized we actually are. The longer (later) caffeine is in out system the more it affects are ability to get to and stay asleep. We need to be able to rest when we are fatigued so that we can naturally reset and not rely on stimulants throughout the day.

Additionally, when you wake up your cortisol levels are at their highest for aproximately the first hour of the day. Cortisol (a steroidal hormone) gives you that energy to wake up and roll out of bed. Consider waiting to drink that cup of coffee until 1-2 hours after you wake to really maximize your body's utilization of the cortisol and the caffeine together.

3) Resistant weight loss

Many women thing "I'm just getting older", or "this is my life now" and lose hope when they struggle to lose weight in middle age ( or any age!). I'm here to tell you that weight loss IS possible and your body DOES want you to lose that stubborn belly fat. Weight loss resistance is a SYMPTOM and it's your body's way of telling you that something isn't right. Typically it's related to a stress response. 

When your body is stressed whether mentally, physically, or emotionally, it releases cortisol which increases insulin levels and therefore affects your ability to gain or lose weight efficiently. When your body is chronically stressed, in it's desire to survive it stores fat and shuts down non-essential functions such as proper digestion and fertility ability. aka - it messes with your hormones man!

Weight gain or the inability to LOSE stubborn fat is generally a signal to you that there is a hidden stressor somewhere in your life that needs to be removed. This could be anything from an emotionally stressor like a bad relationship, chronic stress like business at work or lack of proper sleep, or physical stressors like over exercising and/or food sensitivities causing inflammation and damage to your gut lining.

All 3 of these are problems that MANY women encounter and therefore many women consider them "normal". These are not normal and by no means are you meant to struggle with them for life. In fact, with some digging there may be a relatively simple answer. It may take time, and it may take work. I never said changes would be EASY, but they may be SIMPLE. 

Be your own health advocate, know your body, and don't "let it go" :)

Have you, or are you struggling with one of these? I'd love to hear from you - leave a comment below!

#YOUtrition

Hey hey Diva friends!

I was trying to think of a fun way I could refer to my personal food philosophy and YOUtrition is what came to mind. I kinda like it, what do you think?

So what IS #YOUtriton? (that's right, I aded a hashtag....get out there and share this post - I want see #Youtrition everywhere because when you embrace it your life will CHANGE!) :P

Simply put, #YOUtrition is the nutrition that is right for YOU. It's as wonderful, unique, individualized and special as you are. Everyone's genes, life history, mental/physical/emotional stresses are different and so the right combination of foods to fuel your body is just as unique. Just because a food is healthy doesn't mean it's healthy for YOU.

#Youtrition has 2 main steps: 

1) Eliminate the garbage. This covers everyone regardless of genes, environment, lifestyle, age, gender....and is beneficial for any lifestyle.

If the "food" is processed, modified, hybridized, ditch it. If it has chemicals, sugar, or words you don't recognize on the ingredients list, pass it over. Focus on REAL, whole, unprocessed, organic-as-much-as-possible food. 

2) Once you have #1 under control, this is where it gets fun. Personalize your diet to fit YOUR body and YOUR life. For example: How do you feel on low carb? How do you feel on high carb? What about high fat or low fat? How do you feel with squashes or tomatoes? Do you feel energized and awesome or do you get gassy or tired? What about Dairy (raw, organic, pasture raised of course)...do you tolerate it or not?

Just because butternut squash is packed with nutrition and could be an amazing source of carbs for Jim down the street doesn't mean that's the right food for Sandra next door. She may experience a headache, gas or bloating. In that case, put it on the no-fly list and move on.

You have to DISENGAGE to make this fun!

Drop the mentality that because something isn't right for you the world is OVER ha! Trust me, I've been there. I got sad for a minute when I realized I couldn't have cinnamon or mint this year. HELLO holiday EVERYTHING :) But your mentality is super key in making this enjoyable. Take a "can do" attitude and make it an adventure. For everything you CAN'T eat there are tons of new foods, flavors and spices you CAN. Be open to trying new things, experimenting and expanding your palate. 

If you have trouble with your mentality - WORK ON IT. This is not something innate to people. In fact, people are naturally pessimistic, fearful and negative. Positivity, productivity, and discipline take practice and personal growth. Some awesome books you might like to check out are:

Extreme Ownership

The Mind Connection

Eat That Frog

Finding the right #YOUtrition can take some time, but it's rewarding!

Keep it simple. Master step #1 first and you may find that's the only step you need. Your weight, rosacea, mood swings, and bloating may disappear when you get ride of the junk. 

If you have other goals or specific complaints that stick around then move on to step #2! Break it down, keep lists or a journal and give each change you make at least a few days to really determine it's effectiveness if not longer.

During step #2 you might find you need some guidance of WHERE to start. I know that I was surprised to learn of "healthy" things that were not healthy for me (At least not at this time) like yellow squash, and chicken! 

The MRT Leap food sensitivities test helped me a LOT and gave me a strong foundation to build my own #Youtrition from the ground up. I've adjusted and modified since taking the test and it has helped so much. Now I'm helping my clients do the same!

Be your own health advocate and discover whats exactly right for YOUR unique body.

If you're ready to take YOUR health to the next level and you want some FREE recipes, fun, and accountability along the way, join my Facebook group "Stop Dieting and Live Your Life!" I'm running my FREE Holiday Survival Guide event now through December and you can download that here!

If you really want in-depth support, 1:1 attention and guidance on gut health, balancing your micro biome and restoring your heath from the inside out, check out my new 8 week program "Get Gutsy With Me" Launching January 15, 2018!!! You will have access to additional testing including the MRT Leap food sensitivities testing to personalize your experience! 

I'd love to hear YOUR story! Comment below with any thoughts or questions!

Mangos for Thanksgiving?

Hey hey Diva friends! WOW yesterday was a long but fun day!

Our morning began bright and early as we got up to meet the rest of my family for the annual Miamisburg Turkey Trot!!!

After the Turkey Trot everyone headed over to our place for a yummy brunch full of delicious yet GUILT FREE food! 

On the menu:

• Bacon Tart
• Fruit Salad
• Chia and Mango Pudding ( recipe below!)
• Sparkling grape juice 
• COFFEEEEEE :)

After brunch we relaxed (briefly) and then began the preparations for dinner at my Mom and Dad's! It was lots of fun and the whole family was together :) We laughed, we talked, we shared what we were thankful for, we played games, and we enjoyed the day tremendously.

One recipe I made was quite delicious and so I wanted to share it with all of you! It's a combination of recipes from: Paleocoupboard.com and TheBalancedBerry.com

My combo is below!

Ingredients:

For Chia seed pudding:

• 1 Can full fat coconut milk in a can
• 1/4 ground chia seeds
• 2 TBS sweetener (honey or maple syrup)

For the Mango pudding:

• 2 mangos
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 inch of ginger

Directions:

1. Mix all the chia seed pudding ingredients together. Let sit for a few minutes and re-stir. Then refrigerate overnight
2. Peel and cut the mangos
3. Peel the ginger
4. Blend the mangos, lime and ginger together ( I think there could be more ginger personally!)
5. Chill
6. Layer the puddings and top with toasted coconut, raspberries or whipped cream
7. I doubled the recipe and made 10 servings. You could make smaller portions as well. This made about 10 LARGE servings.

ENJOY!!!!

What was your favorite part of Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear some family traditions or recipes you enjoyed :)

p.s. TODAY ONLY I'm offering a sale on my January gut health program!!! Launching January 15th, it will include 8 weeks of menus, recipes, tips, gut health protocols, and more! ANY participant will have the option to upgrade the program to include personalize gut health testing! For more details and the sale (ending at midnight!!!) Click here!

Sneaky Food Allergies

Hey hey Diva friends!

Well I'll be a butternut squash...wait...that makes no sense....if I WAS a butternut squash I wouldn't have a food sensitivity to it. That's right...add it to my list! :)
 

If you want to know more about the Food sensitivity testing process read my blog here!

To learn more about how food sensitivities, gut health and more, click here!

Let me start with the positives....since embarking on my journey of testing I have seen marked improvements! More energy, bloating gone (THANK YOU!!!) anxiety lowered and sense of wellness UP! WOOHOO!

What to look for

Much of this began to come together once I eliminated the food sensitivities on my MRT Leap test and began treating a bacterial overgrowth found on my stool test. It's very important to balance the environment in our gut. When there is an imbalance or dysbiossis of any sort, it can lead to:

• Bloating
• Fatigue
• Skin issues
• Hormonal imbalances
• Mood swings
• IBS
• malabsoprtion
• food sensitivities
• pain
• headaches
• foggy thinking
• etc....

We are more susceptible to bacteria, yeast, parasites and fungal growth (or overgrowth) with any of the following:

• Food sensitivities ( they can be a result, OR, triggering even for gut imbalance)
• birth control use
• prescription use
• antibiotic use
• stress
• poor sleep habits
• exposure to chemical or environmental toxins ( aluminum in deodorant, bleach, hair/skin/beauty treatments)
• etc....

The longer I think about my history the more I come to understand the struggles my body has had to overcome and...well...detox from! I am constantly amazed at this efficient machine that God has created to heal from within! Without our help our bodies do a LOT to detoxify and protect us on a daily basis. There comes a point however where knowledge is key and taking action on the knowledge can help reverse disease, prevent disease, and help you live your happiest, most energetic and mentally present life!

Personally I have a history of:

• Antibiotic use
• Birth control use
• Excessive Nsaid use ( excedrin and advil cold and sinus DAILY at some points)
• processed foods, sugars and wheat consumption for years
• Chronic stress for many years in young adulthood
• Traumatic event in early childhood
• etc....

Over the past few years food sensitivities has been and ever evolving journey as I become more aware of, test, and listen to my body. As my body adjusts and changes I am able to identify more easily the foods I'm sensitive too.

Think about it this way - when you are eating 20 foods your body is sensitive to and it's totally overwhelmed, it's really hard to pinpoint the problem. Once you've eliminated the main stressors however, it becomes way easier to go "oops! this food must be a problem".

The past few days I was super annoyed because I felt very fatigued, had a headache, and got really gassy (embarrassing!!!). Nothing in my life patterns had changed, and as I was thinking about it my food was basically the same as well UNTIL.....

I remembered I had added in a homemade pumpkin pudding. Seemingly innocuous, I had eaten a large portion for breakfast one day and had had a few servings 2-3 days in a row. The only major change in my foods, I thought it through and realized the last time I at butternut squash I got gassy as well, and on my food sensitivities list is yellow squash. It seems that I am actually sensitive to winter squash and all the varieties! Guess what went away as soon as I stopped eating the pudding....the reactions!

Be Patient

As you go through a process of healing, it may seem that you become more sensitive to more foods...and this can be disheartening. But don't feel bad! In reality, you are just becoming more AWARE. Once we know how to identify things and listen to our bodies the amount of information our bodies give us is incredible! It's like flipping a switch and suddenly receiving and processing information we never acknowledged before. Or think of it this way....your body is a printer and has been printing and printing analytical reports on what it needs and how to treat it but we never turned the printer on, so we were never receiving the reports.....when we begin to eliminate stressors and really listen to our body it's like turning that printer on and receiving all those pages of information that had been stored in the printers memory....overwhelming at first, but it's been there all along.

What to do next

It's important to remember that our bodies change. They change as we age, and they change as we heal. There is a high probability that you are more sensitive to something NOW than you were BEFORE. There is also high probability that as your lifestyle changes and your nutrition becomes more...well....nutritious...that your food sensitivities list changes as well!

1) Keep a food journal - it's tough sometimes to think about what we've had to eat the past 24  hours. Making it even a little more tricky is the fact that many food sensitivities can show up within 24-72 hours. This means something you ate Saturday may affect your your mood, your digestion, or your skin on Monday! It's important to look back so you're able to make correlations.

Join  the health revolution and download my free Holiday Survival Guide today!

2) Build up your gut strength. When we have multiple food sensitivities the lining of our gut becomes inflamed and the tight junctions in that lining that protect the blood from large or unwanted particles becomes compromised. This is why you can have external symptoms like skin rashes, mood swings or neurological reactions to an unhealthy gut ( toxins are crossing the blood brain barrier!). Consider bringing in fermented foods like sauerkraut and kombucha while also supplementing with a digestive enzyme and quality probiotic.

3) Consider getting tested. There are so many nutritional approaches out there - paleo, primal, whole30, grain free, autoimmune protocols, specific carbohydrate diets etc....while all are valid and effective, getting tested gives you specific information on your own personal body chemistry.  It also allows for you to work with a practitioner that can guide you, encourage you, and provide supplementation to help your body heal more quickly as you go through the process!

Take Action Now!

Gut health is incredibly important to me and that's why I'm launching "Get Gutsy With Me" January 15th of 2018!!! It's an 8 week program that will include:

• 4 bi-weekly, jam-packed eBooks overflowing with every piece of information you need to get the results your body craves—think of it as the ultimate go-to resource guide for your gut!
•   A mouthwatering Recipe Guide packed with over 59 chef-approved food and drink recipes to keep you nourished, satisfied and toxin-free!
•   8-Weeks of suggested meals to make gut rebuilding easy as 1-2-3. for the entire 2-month period—yes, you heard that right—no need to plan for 8 weeks (go ahead and take a deep breath)! I made life easy for you.
•   8 Shopping lists to make your trips to the supermarket 110% hassle-free!
•  Email support from yours truly—I’m here to make sure you succeed!
•   Handouts with simple reminders for your gut health journey
• · A Food Diary so that you can reflect on how your meals make you feel and unleash your maximum potential!

PLUS online support from me through the whole program AND the option to personalize and improve your results through your own gut testing at a discounted rate! If you sign up before January 1st, you'll receive the early bird discount of $199. Don't wait, because it jumps to $247 in the new year! 

p.s. not sure you want to work with me yet? Or simply want to start NOW? Download my FREE Holiday Survival guide first and get to know me over the holiday season! 

p.p.s. Do you have gut troubles? I'd love to hear your story, thoughts, comments and experiences below - leave me a comment! 

To your health!

p.s. the advice contained in this article is not meant to diagnose or treat any diseases and does not take the place of a qualified medical practitioner or physician.  

Eating organic for under $15/day

Hey Hey there Diva friends!  I'm SUPER excited to bring this blog post to you today. As someone who used to eat the S.A.D. (The aptly named Standard American diet), I too once though that healthy food must be more expensive. 

Stated simply, eating whole food, natural, organic, unprocessed foods is NOT more expensive and doesn't have to be. When we originally began our pantry transformation our first step was to take all the wheat filled gluten foods we normally ate and replace them with gluten free processed foods that mimicked the familiar treats. In that instance YES we would spend more money if we continued to purchase gluten free oreos instead of regular oreos. The bills would also remain high as long as I continued to buy a lot of junky snacks, chips, ice cream in ADDITION to the healthier foods on the list....

What I noticed as we progressed in our thinking and continued to tweak our diets however, was that if you really focus on eliminating processed foods (gluten free and all) it is highly probable that you with either break even or SAVE when changing your diets. The KEY is to focus on real foods. The bulk of my grocery cart is almost always from the produce section (fruits, veggies, herbs...) with a little meat (grass-fed organic) and a few canned/boxed/bagged items here and there like flax seed, non-dairy milk, and canned tomatoes or beans.

As I became more aware, it's become a habit for me to listen for the persons total in front of me at the check out in curiosity. What I have discovered is that people who use coupons, shop the sales, and stock up on chips, canned goods, frozen goods, cheap bread, snack items and soda, almost always pay over $200 for their cart. When I check out my total ranges somewhere from $130-200 for the week depending on how thorough my list was ( aka if I have to go back later in the week), if I included any splurge/treat items, and if we needed any household items that week (those always add up).

It's very frustrating to me when people say they cannot afford to be healthy and eat clean foods. Fruit and vegetables are some of the most inexpensive things at the grocery store! Even if you do something "expensive" like juicing or blending your veggies which uses quite a few at a time, it's still way more affordable than going to out to eat for most of your meals or grabbing that daily coffee habit. Not to mention you are substituting incredible nutrition for harmful toxicity that can shorten your lifespan at worst and at best make the life you have less enjoyable. 

Don't miss ALL the news! Sign up for weekly tips in my TFD newsletter here!

To illustrate this point, I created an example meal plan, went to Krogers new Click List feature, input the items needed, calculated the serving size portion you would need per meal, and added up the total for one person in a day. I made sure the ingredients I chose were the ones I would personally use - organic, grass-fed when applicable etc...

With my ONE example ( which included a few more "expensive" items like juicing, Shakeology, and grass-fed beef) I found you could eat high quality, nutrient dense foods that will reverse disease and nourish your body for under $15 a day!

Here's the menu:

Breakfast:

• 2 pasture raised eggs = .81c
• Homemade green juice ( 1/2 bunch organic kale + 1 honey crisp organic apple + 1 organic lemon ) = $1.87
• Chia Seed Pudding ( 1 can full fat coconut milk from a can + 1/4 cup grand chia seeds + 2TBS honey) = .95...estimated over 6 servings

Breakfast TOTAL: $3.63

Snack:*

Many people balk at the concept of a $4.00 superfoods shake when I talk about incorporating Shakeology into their day. But when it includes superfoods from around the world, high quality adaptogens to help the body deal with stress, probiotics and digestive enzymes to help your gut health, not to mention the help it provides in curbing your cravings, I'd say it's worth it. Just replace the sodas or Starbucks with this instead.

*Replace this with some veggies, fruit, or a salad and while you won't get the nutritional variety, you will still spend the same or less and be getting quality foods in your day.

Lunch:

• Microwaveable Sweet Potato = $1.29
• Applegate organic, grass-fed hotdog = .75
•  Whole bag of frozen veggies like peas ($10/10)  ... may add some spices and/or grass-fed butter

See the recipe here

Lunch Total: $3.04  

Snack:

Organic honeycrip apple = .62c

1TBS peanut butter = .13c

Snack Total: $.75

Dinner:

Betty Crocker Crockpot Chili = $3.47 when having 4 servings

Dinner Total: $3.47

Total for the day $14.89

Of course your days will fluctuate, but this is approximately 1625 calories for $15.

Conversely you could always choose to have a day like this:

• Breakfast: McDonald's bacon egg an cheese biscuit (450 cal)
• Lunch: Subway 6 inch tuna sandwich ( 480 cal)
• Dinner: Chipotle burrito bowl with chicken, white rice, black beans ,mild salsa, cheese, guac and lettuce (890 cal)

For a grand total of: $13.94 and 1820 calories. This is all assuming of course that no beverages, chips, snacks, or extras were consumed.

You only have one body to live in.

Studies have shown that your gut health is directly correlated to your brain health. This means if you suffer from depression, anxiety, moodiness, or if you are prone to demential, Alzheimer's and brain fog in your family...these are things that can be prevented, and even reversed by the health of your gut. Processed foods not only provide lackluster nutritional value at best, but can cause inflammation to the gut as well as hindering the absorption of any nutrients you are actually consuming. 

Make sure you sign up for my newsletter so you don't miss when

I launch my 2018 total gut health makeover program!!!

You won't be perfect over night. There is a learning curve. But the extra time and effort is ALWAYS worth it. Spending a few extra minutes looking at labels, making a meal plan, and cooking up some fresh veggies may give you an extra 15 YEARS in health, longevity, and LIFE. 

I don't know about you, but I want the last 20 years of my life to be living not dying. 

Change the mind, change the body.

Change the body, change the mind.

What are YOUR cost saving tips? I know there are many of you who are more budget conscious, and better at looking for cost saving tips that I am! I'd love to hear your tips below!!

To your health,

All about food sensitivities and getting tested...

Hey Hey there Diva friends!! 

Many of you may have seen my recent video talking about my MRT blood test results that showed me several SURPRISING food sensitivities that I have....if not keep reading! (or watch here-->)

"Whyyyyyyy??", "Are you KIDDING me?", "I can't believe I have a reaction to that""waaaahhh that's my favorite." Were just a few thoughts that ran through my mind as I read my results. But THEN it gave me hope. Hope that this is another piece to my puzzle of health...a missing link so to speak that can take me a few steps closer to where I want to be. Let me explain why...

When you are ingesting food that your body then has a negative reaction (sensitivity) to, this causes inflammation and a cascade of stress inside your body whether you can recognize it or not! The thing about food sensitivities is....you often don't "see" them. We are so used to looking at the dramatic examples with anaphylactic shock, hyves, swelling, etc....the only difference with a food sensitivity is it's you can't SEE it, so we often don't put 2 and 2 together, and/or we write it off as unimportant.

See how eating foods you are sensitive to can affect your gut here

For example...since it's not life threatening, shows up within DAYS instead of MINUTES, and can be related to what we consider "normal" things like gas, bloating, a day of bad poop, acne, etc....we often don't think about it or recognize the connection....but long term these "little" sensitivities can affect your hormone balance, immune system and potential, or susceptibility, for chronic disease!

What's even CRAZIER is that the most seemingly benign foods can be causing this which, in my case, is EXACTLY what was happening.... 

Sign up for weekly news, recipes, and tips here!

This (potentially) explains SO MUCH! I had already eliminated the major common allergens - wheat and dairy. I was even pretty low on my consumption of grains and beans! But...after all that, I would still have some issues of bloating, fatigue, etc.... now granted, I've come a long way from the debilitating stomach pains, the kill me now PMS cramps that lasted for HOURS at a time and render me completely useless for the day, the rosacea on my face etc etc.... BUT even with all those amazing improvements I'm on a journey and want to see HOW healthy I can be! Feeling fatigued at the most inopportune times, struggling with getting my hormones back to a desired level.... those are things I am determined to solve...These things brought me to my FDN certification which in turn brought me to the MRT food sensitivities testing and I'm happy it did.

Come to find out, food I NEVER would have considered as being reactive are top on my list when I got the results back. Chicken, carrots, cinnamon, vanilla,  blueberries, and avocado were all reactive foods (as were several others but these ones really hurt!). These are foods I eat not just regularly but weekly if not DAILY!!! Even MANY times a day!!! No WONDER I still have some recurring issues... my goodness!

So then - that gives me HOPE! While I have to eliminate everything on my reactive list (including BANANAS and mint!) for 90 days, I also expect to see some great results from that.

Another thing to keep in mind with food sensitivities is that they aren't always forever. When I get retested in 3 months or so, there is the potential that after fully eliminating the irritants and adding some things into my lifestyle and diet to HEAL my gut, the list may be much smaller. That's the goal!

One major reason I think EVERYONE should get this test is because of how HIDDEN these stressors can be! It's tough to detect on your own because not every sensitivity you have would be an obvious or even common one (hello chicken?!), so getting tested gives you a clear path forward.

It's not necessarily an easy thing to do - the test is an investment and if you aren't willing to put in the work I wouldn't waste the money. You HAVE to be willing to go through a mental transformation as well as a physical one because trust me - it can be overwhelming at first. But this I know. You CAN do it, and if you're willing to, I can help you get through it! 

If you are interested in getting this test done make sure to send me an e-mail! Or go to my FDNP link at the top of the page to set up your FREE 30 minute discovery call to find out if working together is the right choice for you! 

I'm looking forward to helping YOU reach YOUR optimum health goals too!

Bye for now!

If you didn't see my video check it out here! See my reaction, my results, and my PLAN!

3 Steps to Healing your Gut

Hey there Diva friends! Kylene here, enjoying this BEAUTIFUL day and thinking about all the wonderful things I want to share with you in the coming months....but today I'd like to talk about something I'm SUPER passionate about and that's gut health!

Have you ever wondered WHY everyone is suddenly getting food sensitivities, IBS, bloating, indigestion, acid reflux, celiac etc....? Why are autoimmune diseases becoming more and more prominent? Why are imodium, Ex-Lax, gas-x and tums part of every American's medicine cabinet? Why does everyone seem to have a sensitivity to SOMETHING?

Or maybe you haven't wondered...you just think that these things are part of life, aging, eating rich foods and that it's "normal".... 

A few years ago I had INTENSE stomach pains. So bad in fact that I had to leave work several times because I would be doubled over on my desk incapable of doing anything productive. I remember one specific instance where I went home and took everything available in the medicine cabinet aka excedrin, pepto bismol, tums, ibuprofin....WHATEVER could help the pain go away. But nothing seemed to work!

This happened enough times that I was pretty concerned and thought "could I have an ulcer?""is it stress?" "What could this be?" I had nowhere near the understanding of nutrition and gut health that I do today, but somewhere in my mind I connected that maybe it had something to do with what I was eating....or rather drinking....so I cut out soda for YEARS. Thankfully after that the pain pretty much went away. That isn't to say that everything ELSE I was eating was healthy....but this is what I have found out. Our bodies are INCREDIBLE at healing themselves... and what I now believe I was struggling with is something called gut permeability. The soda exacerbated my already irritated gut lining, and removing it didn't necessarily HEAL it, but at least it stopped the pain.

What the heck is gut permeability?

So glad you asked :) Gut permeability is the fancy term for what is commonly referred to as "leaky gut". And that my friends is EXACTLY what it sounds like.

See these little guys? These are the little villi, or teeny tiny hairs, that line your small intestine! They are coated by even tinier hairs! These villi keep things moving in your gut - they wave around and protect your gut lining, absorb the nutrients you NEED, and keep the bigger and/or bad particles OUT of your blood stream. But what happens when you have leaky gut? These little guys can't do their job. The hairs get separated or damaged and then particles get into your blood steam that aren't meant to be there!!! Depending on the damage, large particles of food can fall in between the villi into the blood stream or if there is significant damage the particles can even be absorbed through them inappropriately.

This of course causes all sorts of irritation, inflammation and food sensitivities!

What Causes Gut Permeability?

Let me back up here for just a second because I just said that gut permeability can cause food sensitivities....but what do you think causes gut permeability in the first place? You guessed it.... food sensitivities! I'll explain:

Step 1) We eat food that causes irritation. Many foods we have been told are "healthy" are the worst culprits! The biggest reason for that is genetic modification - the "food" is no longer in it's created state and cannot be digested properly (an entirely separate blog post!)

Step 2) That food damages the villi and loosens the tight junctions in the gut, lowering our immune system, allowing food particles into the blood stream that shouldn't be there,  and causing symptoms (p.s. symptoms are some of the LAST things to occur NOT the first!) like acid reflux, constipation, indigestion, pain, acne, bloating etc....by the time you feel symptoms, something is going wrong inside!

Step 3) Your gut is inflamed and irritated....because of that, many foods that may normally be fine are now being labeled by your body as irritants! For example: Let's say wheat and dairy (usually the top 2 most common inflammatory foods!) are the actual culprits that started step #1 in your body. Once you are having gut pain, intolerances, belching, etc....your body has probably labeled a few other foods as irritants as well. If at this point you took a food sensitivity test you may be alarmed at the long list of foods that are on it. "Avocado?! Eggs?! No way!  I know these aren't bad for me and there's no way I can be sensitive to them" is what you might think. And in most cases you'd be right! The good news is that once your gut is healed many of those foods can be brought right back in with no problem. Foods that are KNOWN gut disrupters remain gone forever.

So how can I heal my gut?

Step 1

Remove the offensive foods. Whether or not you take a blood test to know the full list of irritants, there are many common offenders that everyone can try at home through a simple elimination diet. An elimination diet should last for approximately 1 month (or longer) and means that you eliminate any food that can cause inflammation, gut damage, or sensitivities. After that time you can go through a guided process of reintroducing those foods one by one into your diet to see how you react to them individually.

The most common irritants are grain (all), wheat (specifically) and dairy (depending on the person this can be all dairy or just low quality dairy). A few less common are legumes, nuts and nightshades (like tomatoes). Sugar is also inflammatory and processed sugar should be avoided.

Don't miss out on the latest news, tips and recipes! Sign up for TheTinyFitDiva newsletter now!

Step 2

Step 2 is crucial and step 1 and 2 will not be as successful without each other. While you are removing the foods that cause irritation you also need to bring in foods that can soothe, heal, and repair your gut! 

My top 3 favorites are: Collagen, Bone Broth, and Gelatin. I love to add Collagen to my Shakeology, drink bone broth like coffee (homemade is the best!) and occasionally I'll make homemade jello from the gelatin! You can find a great Jello recipe HERE.

Fermented foods like Sauerkraut and kombucha are also really beneficial to boost your healthy gut bugs and a high quality probiotic is a good choice. A note on fermented foods and probiotics: If you begin taking these and notice bloating afterwards it may indicate some further bacterial issues and require further testing which leads me to step 3...

Step 3

Be willing to get some testing done, work with a practitioner, or coach that is familiar with the process and can help guide you through the elimination diet. Resources, encouragement, and knowing you are not alone can be invaluable! When I work with my clients sometimes they just need to be HEARD. We can laugh that they aren't crazy, and it makes the process more fun to have someone that can support you every step of the way. It's also great to have access to someone you can email and say "hey - I'm going out to eat is this ok?" or, "I'm really craving this right now - any recipes for me". They also find relief in knowing that I do the work of finding good recipes for them so they don't have to google, guess, and experiment!

Interested in working together? Let's chat! Set up a FREE 30 minute discovery call to see if we are the right fit.

Often when you have gut dysfunction you are struggling with several other things like skin issues, fatigue, hormone balance, joint pain, or more....The body is very connected and much of our health begins in the gut....which begins with what we eat! So it's great to work with someone who can guide you, test instead of guessing, encourage you, and help you resolve it from the ROOT cause - not just cover up a symptom!

Want more? Make sure to sign up for my my newsletter here!

Still have questions? E-mail me for a free 30 minute consultation :) 

Here's to your gut health!