This common hormonal imbalance affects both women and men and can leave you feeling blue, overweight, and unable to sleep. Estrogen dominance occurs when estrogen levels are too high relative to other hormones, especially progesterone.  This can occur in the presence of excess estrogen or when there are deficient progesterone levels to counterbalance estrogen.

These two hormones need the presence of each other in order to correctly perform their individual roles and act like a system of checks and balances to one and another. In general progesterone calms the effects of estrogen and keeps it in check.  But when their delicate balance becomes skewed, estrogen can overstimulate the brain and body and you can experience a wide variety of mild to serious symptoms including...

Signs of Estrogen Dominance:

• Weight gain and/or weight loss resistance  -  the inability to lose weight despite doing the right things
• Extra weight around the hips, butt, and thighs specifically
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Uterine fibroids
• Irregular cycles
• Infertility, endometriosis, and/or PCOS
• Mood swings and irritability
• Water retention/edema,  and bloating
• Tender breasts
• Anxiety and/or depression
• Hypothyroidism
• Chronic dry eyes
• Brittle, dry nails
• Hair loss or hair thinning
• Low libido
• Insomnia

As someone who experienced most of these symptoms throughout my teens and twenties, I can tell you this can happen to anyone at anytime in life.  While it is often the result of chronic stress and/or hidden chronic infections or imbalances, many people will experience this just from the effects of the excess estrogens we are all exposed to in our modern diet, environment, and lifestyle.  Check it out...

Causes of Estrogen Dominance:

1. Obesity -  Fat cells contain an enzyme that converts adrenal steroids to estrogen increasing estrogen levels in the body and causing havoc.  NOT COOL!  Estrogen slows metabolism and boosts insulin production, which causes the body to store more calories as fat rather than use them for energy. In a nutshell, the more fat you have, the higher your levels of estrogen will be. This is just one more reason to maintain a healthy weight.
   
   
2. Chronic stress or Chronic illness - When our body experiences stress of any kind (internal or external), it responds by pumping out cortisol, a steroid hormone produced in the adrenals that helps "prepare" the body for stress in a variety of ways. When stress becomes chronic and the demand for cortisol is high over a longer period of time, our bodies use progesterone to make the additional cortisol needed.  This happen in those with adrenal fatigue and this is why we often see depleted or imbalanced sex hormones along with adrenal fatigue. This is because progesterone is a parent or master hormone that can make cortisol, estrogen, and testosterone. When the body "steals" progesterone and another hormone called pregnenalone to make cortisol, progesterone levels will often become depleted, leaving estrogen unopposed.  
   
   
3. Phytoestrogens - These are estrogen like compounds found in plant based foods that many of us have in our diet. The biggest source are soy products but foods like flaxseed , sweet potatoes, and red clover are also contenders.  When consumed regularly over long periods of time, they increase the risk of estrogen dominance significantly.  Phytoestrogens have also been shown to inhibit the conversion of T4 (thyroid hormone) to T3, the active or available form of thyroid, which contributes to hypothyroidism and additional metabolic imbalances. 
   
   
4. Xenoestrogens - These environmental chemicals are proven carcinogens and well known for their ability to damage the immune system and disrupt hormonal balance.  They look similar to our body's natural estrogen and our body cannot often distinguish between the two.  
   
   Sources of xenoestrogens include:  pesticides, conventionally raised meats, poultry, and seafoods, canned goods, plastics and plastic wraps, industrial wastes, personal care products, home cleaning products, styrofoam, and air-fresheners. 
   
   
5. Poor diet - A diet consisting of conventional meats and seafood, non-organic foods, and processed and canned foods is loaded the xenoestrogens mentioned above and the body gets too much estrogen on board. Additionally a diet low in healthy fats can stress your metabolism! Healthy sources of saturated and omega fats are actually needed to manufacture hormones in your body. When you don't eat enough healthy fats, hormones like progesterone suffer and can become depleted leaving your more susceptible to estrogen dominance. 
   
   
6. Poor hormone metabolism/impaired liver function - The liver is our master detoxification organ that is responsible for cleansing our body from the harmful effects of chemicals, elements in food, environmental toxins and even natural products of our metabolism, including excess estrogen.  Anything that impairs liver function or ties up the detoxifying function, like a hidden or underlying chronic infection,  can result in excess estrogen levels and contributes to estrogen dominance in a significant way.  

Conventional medicine uses a narrow minded approach to correct estrogen dominance, typically using Hormone Replacement Therapy, birth control, or IUD's to tame estrogen levels.  The problem with this approach is that it only treats the test results - low or imbalanced hormones, by replacing them. BUT it doesn't actually address the causes of estrogen dominance at all!  Particularly if the person cannot metabolize excess estrogens, this type of treatment approach is like adding fuel to the fire. 

I was someone who experienced this personally - I spent my teens in and out of several endocrinologists and gynecologists office suffering from endometriosis, PCOS, depression and difficulty losing weight.  And then spent my twenties in fertility clinics trying without success to get pregnant.  Now that I understand what was really going on with my body chemistry and metabolism at that time, I also understand why none of the hormone replacement or fertility treatments were effective. My body was suffering from a chronic illness that was taxing my adrenals and throwing my metabolism out of balance, leaving my progesterone levels significantly depleted. Plus my liver detoxification pathways were overloaded because of my hidden, chronic infections and I was not metabolizing all the excess estrogens I was being exposed to in my diet and lifestyle.  Using the hormone shots and tablets never worked because they just made the imbalances worse! (Wish I could have discovered this information 8 years,  4 doctors, and thousands of dollars ago!!)

It wasn't until I got off the synthetic hormones, addressed my chronic candida infection,  and made big changes in my diet and lifestyle that I started to lose the extra 20 pounds I had carried my whole life.   And after being diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease and early onset menopause in 2013, I've made it my personal mission to become an expert on balancing hormones naturally and I practice what I preach everyday!

As a Functional Nutritionist, my goal is to help my clients identify the specific metabolic and chemical imbalances that are unique to them using  functional nutrition labs. This allows me to develop a customized diet and lifestyle protocol to correct their specific imbalances and help them meet their health goals.  Here are some of my basic tips to correct estrogen dominance naturally...

How to Correct Estrogen Dominance:

1. Get a quality hormone panel done - Information is power and understanding what your specific metabolic imbalances are will allow you to implement a protocol that is personalized to your body.  A hormone panel that looks at your daily cortisol patterns, DHEA, progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen is what I recommend.  Take a peek at my Metabolic Recovery Program that includes a complete hormone panel test as well as a 90-day personalized protocol to re-set your hormones. 
   
   
2. Switch to organic, grass-fed, free-range, antibiotic and hormone free meats and dairy products - to avoid xenoestrogens that increase your risk of estrogen dominance enormously . 
   
   
3. Increase leafy greens and fiber  - which helps to attract and bind excess estrogens and pull them out of your body via stool. If you are not getting enough fiber or are constipated regularly, stool remains in the bowel and estrogen gets reabsorbed.  Include 3-6 cups of fibrous vegetables each day into your diet, some with each meal is ideal. Shoot for a variety of cooked and raw. Choose items like broccoli, arugula, kale, asparagus, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.  Try our Simple Detox Salad. 
   
   
4. Get enough quality fat in your diet - Fats are an essential building blocks of hormones! Your body needs some healthy cholesterol in order to be able to make hormones, which is why low-fat diets can plummet your metabolism and make it more difficult to lose weight. Ditch the old school, low-fat trend and opt for a diet with 25-35% of your calories coming from healthy fats.  Check out our blogs: 4 Sources of Healthy Saturated Fat, Health Benefits of Monosaturated Fats, and Omega Fats for an Anti-Inflammatory Diet to learn more about how to incorporate healthy fats into your diet and which are the best choices. 
   
   
5. Reduce stress - Invest some time and energy into yourself and learn to say no more often! Get rid of negative people or things from your life that bring you down rather than build you up.  Our blog, 10 Self-Care Practices to Promote Healing & Relaxation have some great tips for how to unwind and remove stress from your life. 
   
   
6. Swap your home cleaning and personal care products for all natural, organic brands! Cut down on your exposure to environmental estrogens called xenoestrogens and switch to all natural products. 
   
   
7. Reduce use of plastics, Styrofoam, and canned goods - Ditch those styrofoam cups and plastic tupperware for some glass tupperware pieces, and mason jars of various sizes. NEVER heat food in a plastic container in the microwave and try to choose fresh or frozen vegetables over canned to avoid excess estrogens.
   
   
8. Assess liver function - If your liver is having trouble "keeping up with the toxic load" this can increase the occurrence of estrogen dominance since the liver is unable to filter it from the blood effectively.   I offer a basic Metabolic Lab Panel that looks at your liver's function inside  my Metabolic Recovery Program. If your liver could use some extra support, there are many natural products available to help that I can recommend.  

If this blog has resonated with you, I offer a FREE 20-MINUTE PHONE CONSULTATION, where I will review your health history and give you some recommendations on how to balance your hormones naturally.  You can also learn more about how you can work with me by viewing our programs page.

~Billie

DISCLAIMER: MEAL PLANS FOR HEALTH DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Meal Plans for Health is designed and intended for educational and informational use only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other health care provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your health.

Weight loss resistance is the inability to lose weight despite eating healthy and exercising regularly.  Are you someone who lives at the gym and counts your calories only to feel defeated on the scale and deprived in the kitchen? You are not alone and its not your fault. Weight loss is much more than just calories in vs. calories out - there are a number of variables that can affect weight loss. 

Try to think of your metabolism not as a calculator, but rather like a balancing scale or see-saw - everything has to be in balance in order for the see-saw to work properly, right?!   This is why a caloric deficit is not enough, your body ALSO has to be in a metabolic balance or proper hormonal balance in order to drop those extra pounds as well.  And if its not in proper balance, there is no amount of gym time that will make that scale budge. Plus the bad news is that hormones get out of balance very easily, especially under chronic stress of any type,  since they are affected by and respond to every other system in body. 

When there is a stressor or small change in the digestive or nervous system for example, this sends a message to our endocrine system and our metabolism makes an adjustment in hormone secretion in order to communicate to the other body systems to compensate for this change or stressor.  All of these communications effect the way we feel especially in the area of energy, cravings, and the ability to burn fat instead of store it. 

As a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioner, I'm always looking for the root cause of my clients health complaints.  So when someone comes to me who is struggling to lose weight despite doing all the right things, my goal is to help them identify the hidden, underlying causes that are keeping them from meeting their goals.   

What I see in my practice is that when we work to identify and resolve these hidden imbalances, the pounds start to come off with ease.  This is information everyone should understand, so in today's What's That?! Wednesday post I'm sharing the top 4 most common hidden causes of weight loss resistance I see and what to do about them. 

4 Hidden Causes of Weight Loss Resistance:

1. Food Sensitivities - Inflammatory reactions from the foods we eat are very different from food allergies. Food sensitivities are low grade food reactions that produce an inflammatory or immune response in our body.  The affects of foods sensitivities can shift, change, and be delayed making them very difficult to identify. However left unchecked, these inflammatory reactions damage our gut lining leading to gut hyper-permeability or leaky gut.  When the gut lining is comprised in this way,  food particles are now able to cross into the bloodstream where they do not belong and are subject to systemic immune or inflammatory reactions.  
   
   Systemic, chronic inflammation leads to hormonal dysregulation and metabolic imbalances including insulin resistance.  And since insulin is a fat storeage hormone, you store fat like a champ and losing weight becomes very difficult. The good news is that you can turn this around by simply identifying your specific food sensitivities and removing them from your diet.  You can do this through an elimination diet where you remove the most common food sensitivities like gluten, wheat, corn, dairy, soy, and citrus but I find this is often not enough since it doesn't test enough foods and can be difficult to manage for some people. 
   
   What I typically recommend is that you do a blood test called the MRT or Mediator Release Test.  I use this  test in my practice because it is a very effective tool and I consistently see significant clinical improvement in my clients by implementing a diet based on their personal MRT results.  You can learn more on my blog about : Hidden Food Sensitivities & Testing. If you are someone who cannot lose weight despite your best efforts and/or if you suffer from an autoimmune disease and you have never had a food sensitivity test run,  I highly recommend you consider it. I've seen many of my clients autoimmune symptoms decrease or clear completely and their extra weight drop off with ease within weeks of removing their food sensitivities during our Personalized Elimination Diet Program that pairs food sensitivity testing with personalized meal planning.  
   
   
2. Dysbiois & Gut Pathogens - Dysbiosis  is an imbalance in the gut flora or gut bacteria that line the small intestine  - or some pathogenic overgrowth of good or bad bacteria.  This imbalance can occur due to chronic inflammation from food sensitivities, antibiotic use, other medications, and much more.  Gut infections and overgrowth like candida/yeast, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), h. pylori, and parasites all contribute to chronic inflammation in the body and contribute to leaky gut.  When the gut lining gets damaged, you not only experience immune reactions that increase inflammation but digestion and absorption get severely compromised. And when you can't properly digest and absorb your nutrients, you cannot fuel your body and end up feeling hungry, fatigued and craving sugar.  This leads to over-eating, insulin resistance, fat storeage, and weight gain that can be difficult to overcome until proper balance is restored.
   
   If you have symptoms like: bloating, constipation, abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea, heartburn, sugar cravings, chronic yeast or sinus infections, thrush, skin rashes, or athletes foot, you may want to consider working with a qualified practitioner to test for gut pathogens and leaky gut.  Then implement a protocol to eradicate the bugs and restore balance.  Check out my  Complete Gut Cleanse & Revive Program. 
   
   
3. Chronic Stress -  Remember that your metabolism reacts and responds to stress of any kind which can create a hormonal imbalance that tells your body to store fat rather than burn it, making it difficult to lose weight.  When you think of stress, think of it in terms of the stress you feel emotionally and physically as well as hidden, internal stressors that you may not know exist.  I've discussed three very common hidden, internal stressors above: food sensitivities, leaky gut, and gut pathogens.  
   
   The external stressors are things that are in your control like your work and home life, the quality of your sleep, and how well you are taking care of yourself.  If you are surrounded by negative people, work in a stressful environment, work excessive hours, exercise too much, or don't get enough sleep (8-10 hours/night) it can really impact your ability to drop the extra pounds. When your body is in a "stress response" constantly, the switches for both cortisol and insulin get turned to "ON" and your body is signaled to store fat and not burn it making it very difficult to lose weight despite your devotion to your diet and the gym.   If you could use more balance and less stress in your life, check out my blog: 10 Self Care Practices to Promote Healing & Relaxation to learn some ways you can take care of yourself, reduce stress, and help you lose weight.
   
   
4. Metabolic/Hormonal Imbalances  - As I've said a few times, chronic stressors lead to metabolic compensation and hormonal imbalances that impact your ability to drop extra weight and maintain it.  Some of the common hormonal imbalances that increase weight loss resistance are: insulin resistance, adrenal fatigue, hypothyroid, Hashimottos, and estrogen dominance. These metabolic imbalances will keep you from being able maintain a healthy weight, but when properly identified and corrected, the pounds will start to drop off with ease. 
   
   I recently worked with one client who could not lose the extra 25-30 pounds she had on since having her kids 5 years prior.  She had tried everything, worked out religiously 5 days/week and  watched what she ate closely, counting every calorie.  Once we ran her initial tests, we were able to identify a chronic candida and parasitic infection along with food sensitivities, adrenal fatigue, and estrogen dominance.   I worked with her to implemented a 90 day protocol to remove food sensitivities, evict the gut bugs, and re-set her steroid hormone pathways. Just three weeks into the protocol, her chronic headaches disappeared, she was sleeping better, and had already dropped 10 pounds even-though I asked her to exercise less.  I'm elated to say that she was able to get down to her goal weight and  has maintained it for almost a year now. 
   
   You can learn more about my Metabolic Recovery Program as well as our approach or request a
   free 20-minute consultation. I'll do a health history over the phone and give you personalized recommendations on how to combat your weight loss resistance.
   
   As someone who spent most of my life being overweight and suffering from food sensitivities and gut pathogens, I understand what you are going through and would be honored to speak with you!
   
   ~Billie

DISCLAIMER: MEAL PLANS FOR HEALTH DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Meal Plans for Health is designed and intended for educational and informational use only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other health care provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your health.

Unlike saturated fats, there is not much controversy around the health benefits of monounsaturated fats. Research shows that populations that consume high amounts of monounsaturated fats, like Greece and Italy,  have the lowest heart disease rates in the world. This is why many cardiologists have recommended the "Mediterranean diet" to their patients for several years now in order to reduce the risk of heart disease. In this week's What's That?! Wednesday post, we share the benefits of these healthy fats that go beyond an improved cardiovascular profile. 

Health Benefits of Monounsaturated Fats:

1. Help to lower your risk of heart disease & stroke. The American Heart Association agrees that monounsaturated fats help to reduce your LDL (bad cholesterol), heart attack and stroke by improvements seen in blood lipid profiles. (1)
2. Reduced risk of cancer.  Many studies are now showing that  toxic, polyunsaturated fats like industrial seed and vegetable oils (peanut, canola, sunflower, corn, etc) are fats that contribute to cancer cell growth whereas monounsaturated fats help to prevent cancer. (2)
3. Boost metabolism & stabilize blood sugar.  These healthy fats help to play a role in stabilizing blood sugar and improving insulin sensitivity. This helps to lower your risk of diabetes, improves fat burning ability, and decreases belly fat storage.  Alright! 
4. Assists to decrease joint and muscle pain. Diets higher in fat have also been shown to reduce joint pain from inflammatory and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme disease, and fibromyalgia.  (3)

Foods Highest in Monounsaturated Fats:

1. Extra virgin olive oil & olives - remember to choose organic, extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil as this has the most health benefits. Olive oil is best used at room temperature but is also safe for low heat saute cooking. My favorite way to use olive oil is to drizzle it some over some steamed veggies or as a base for my homemade salad dressings.  Try our Apple Cider Vinegrette. 
2. Avocados & avocado oil - Avocado oil is also best used cold in salad dressings.  Whole avocados are great on sandwiches, salads, burgers, or just on the side by themselves. Check out this simple and versatile avocado recipe: Avocado Boats. 
3. Macadamia nuts & macadamia nut oil - Raw, organic macadamia nuts are a delightful treat and loaded with monounsaturated fats. Try our Chocolate-Coconut Macadamia Shake for a little sweet treat that will fill you up and only has 4 grams of sugar and under 10 carbs per serving. 

Other nuts like almonds and cashews also have some monounsaturated fats, but the best and healthiest sources are those listed above.  I recommend 3-7 servings of total fat per day - monounsaturated, saturated, and omega 3 & 6 fats all combined. You want to get a little of each kind of fat into your diet each day.  You may also want to read our previous posts on healthy fats:

Omega-3 & Omega-6 Fats for an Anti-Inflammatory Diet
4 Sources of Healthy Saturated Fat

Hope you found this helpful and thanks for tuning in!
~Billie

This week's What's That?! Wednesday post is the third in our series on the topic of sugar. With so much contradicting information out there, it can be difficult to weed through the fiction and understand what sweet foods are safe or at least acceptable in small quantities in our diets. 

I can tell you from my own experience and from working with my clients on sugar addiction,  the answer to this question will vary significantly from person to person. Keep in mind each person has their own unique biochemistry and therefore, our bodies will each respond in slightly different ways to different types and sources of sugar - even "natural" sugars. 

One sensible way that everyone can add a touch of sweet to your diet is through eating some low-glycemic fruits and vegetables that are naturally sweet. Try organic berries, apples, bananas, goji berries, raw coconut, cacoa, carrots, sweet potatoes, squashes like pumpkin or butternut, or some fresh, organic corn.

A good serving size is 1/2 cup of low-glycemic fruits each day paired with some protein, fiber, and/or fat to help slow down your body's sugar response and keep additional cravings for more fruit at bay. Examples: apple slices with raw almond butter, berries in a smoothie with an avocado and/or some plant based protein powder, 1/2 of a sweet potato with some grass-fed ghee or coconut oil, then sprinkled with cinnamon, or try our Banana Protein Pancakes. 

When you do decide to eat some sugar outside of these sources, we recommend that you go with a natural sugar choice and stick to only one serving. Avoid products like cane sugar, brown sugar, and high fructose corn syrup that have been highly processed and refined and contain toxic, GMO ingredients that can drive up inflammation.

Choose something that is organic, similar to its natural form, and minimally processed. Here are our top 4 recommendations that meet those criteria best in our opinion...

4 Natural Sweeteners We Recommend:

1. Honey - While its fructose:glucose ratio is similar to high fructose corn syrup, this natural sweetener from honey bees is also hailed as being a powerful medicinal food. Several studies are showing that raw honey has potent anti-inflammatory properties that can help to increase antioxidant levels like Vitamin C and glutothione reductase which both help support our bodies natural detoxification pathways. There is also some interesting data that honey has anti-bacterial capabilities as well, one study showed that raw honey helped to reduce the duration of acute gut bacterial infections in children. (1, 2)
   
   Raw honey is also packed with some protein, trace minerals, flavanoids, and a bit of fiber to slow down delivery of sugars.  We recommend choosing a raw, organic honey; this form will have the most enzymes and nutrients available since it has not been heated. A good serving size would be 1 teaspoon of honey which is about 5.6 grams of sugar. If you are someone with a fructose intolerance or insulin sensitivity, this natural sweetener may not be the right choice for you. Try using honey in our: ​Honey Hot Cocoa, Lemon-Berry Tart Cookies, or our Dark Chocolate Drizzled Coconut Macaroons.
   
   
2. Coconut Sugar - This natural sweetener is made from the nectar of coconut palm blossoms, the nectar is collected, then heated slowly until it dries out and caramelizes. Then it is pulverized into the a brown powder that has a similar consistency and color as brown sugar. We like coconut sugar because it sits lower on the glycemic index at a score of 35 compared to sugar, honey, or agave that score between 65-75. This makes coconut sugar a good choice for some diabetics or for those that have a sensitive blood sugar/insulin response. Another great benefit is that coconut sugar can be used in recipes as a 1:1 replacement for regular sugar. Try our No Bake Berry Crumble or our Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie that both use this sweetener.
   
   
3. Maple Syrup - Is made from the sap of sugar maple trees that has been boiled down into a syrup. This option is lower on the glycemic index than regular cane sugar and has a favorable fructose:glucose ratio. This is very important for those with gut issues like candida or those with fructose intolerance.  We recommend always choosing 100% pure organic, maple syrup since those that are not organic are often processed using formaldehyde pellets - SCARY! Grade A or B is fine, as long as its 100% pure organic. Check out these awesome recipes that use maple syrup: Banana-Coconut Oatmeal Chip Cookies, Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups, or our Ginger-Almond Granola.
   
   
4. Stevia - This sweet plant, know as Stevia Rebaundiana, is mostly found growing in South America. Its leaves are the sweet part and has been traditionally used by native cultures in its raw leaf form to sweeten meals and beverages.  Most of us see stevia at our grocery stores today in powdered and liquid forms - we prefer the liquids. This sweetener is calorie-free since it cannot be metabolized by our digestive track so its a great option for those who cannot tolerate any sugar at all. Several studies have shown that stevia has antioxidant and anti-diabetic effects that may help to improve blood sugar control. (3) There are also several studies underway that are showing that stevia may also be a powerful anti-bacterial food. In fact, this hits close to home for me as these properties are currently being studied in relation to eradicating the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. (4) Check out our: Turmeric Spice Latte or our Cinnamon-Spiced Chia Pudding for a couple recipes that use stevia. 

Also, if you missed the first two weeks of this series on sugar, check out our posts: 10 Tips to Get Rid of Sugar Cravings and 6 Reasons to Avoid Artificial Sweeteners to get caught up!

If you liked this blog, you may also like our new eBook, 10 Day Sugar Detox Diet, over 30 recipes that are low in carbs and sugar free plus 2 (5-day) meal plans with make-ahead tips and grocery shopping lists to save you time!

Stay tuned for next week when we cover: 5 Sources of Hidden Sugar in Your Diet. Until then, take care friends!
~Billie

References:
1. Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, March 2003
2. BR Med J: Clinical Res. Ed, June 1985
3. Department of Applied Nutrition, Defense Food Research Laboratory, March 2013. 
4. European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology, December 2015.

One of the most common things I hear from the clients I work with is, "I have such strong cravings for sugar and carbohydrates." or "...if I could just get rid of these sugar cravings, I think I could follow through on my healthy eating plan."

If this resonates with you, you are not alone. In fact research shows that the average American eats between 3 and 5 pounds of sugar each WEEK! Holy cow! Back in the 1800's, people would eat only 10 pounds of sugar a YEAR!

The USDA estimates that most of this sugar comes from processed and pre-packaged foods that contain refined sugar as well as sugar loaded beverages like: soda, fruit juice, cakes, cookies, and candy. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition proved that the refined sugar found in these foods was just as addictive as cocaine or heroin. 

When you eat sugar, your brain releases tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that acts as an anti-depressant and makes you feel good and happy. But that feeling only lasts a little while until the body crashes from the sugar high. So in order to increase serotonin and help you feel better again, your body signals cravings for MORE sugar!

This vicious cycle is not your fault, these foods are crazy addictive, but that doesn't mean that you have to stay on this crazy sugar ride forever. There are some simple steps you can take to get rid of this addiction, check out this week's What's That?! Wednesday post for...

Top 10 Tips to Get Rid of Sugar Cravings:

1. "Crowd out" the processed foods and sugar by eating REAL FOOD! The bottom line here is that processed foods are sugar loaded fake foods that increase your cravings for sugar. Avoid the "middle isles" of the grocery store where these foods are featured and shop the "outside" edges of the store where the fresh vegetables & fruits clean proteins, and real, whole foods are usually located! 
   
   
2. Include clean proteins and healthy fats with EVERY meal.  Getting enough protein and healthy fats at each meal will help keep those cravings at bay. Shoot for 4-6 ounces of clean proteins-wild caught fish and seafood, organic, pastured chicken and turkey, bison, and grass-fed beef are all good choices. Include 1 serving of healthy fats with each meal like: 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 of an avocado, 2 organic pastured eggs, or 1-2 tablespoons nuts or seeds that have a healthy balance of omega 3's). Check out our blog, Omega-6 & Omega-3 Fats for a Healthy Diet, to learn more about what to include and exclude.
   
   
3. Rethink Breakfast - Choose protein, fiber, and healthy fats for breakfast! Choosing carbs for breakfast (like cereal, wheat toast, bagels, doughnuts, pastries, pancakes, waffles, etc) will spike your blood sugar, which will cause your body to release insulin, a "fat storage hormone" which also causes cortisol to plummet leaving you feeling slow and fatigued. This sets you up for increased sugar and carb cravings the rest of the day. Instead try a green protein smoothie, some organic, pastured eggs, or even a salad or soup. Head over to our blog,  5 Steps to Make the Perfect Green Smoothie to get some great recipes with the right combination of nutrients that will keep those cravings away! Or try our Seasonal Vegetable & Quinoa Frittatas - a great, nutritious breakfast!
   
   
4. Focus on eating "healthy carbohydrates" instead of "no carbohydrates" - We suggest including a little bit of fiber based carbs at each meal (1/4 cup to 3/4 cups) to help keep your blood sugar stable and insulin turned off. Eating a no or low carb diet and/or relying on "diet foods" can lead to metabolic imbalances that will increase your body's cravings for sugar. Focus on swapping your "white carbs" like rice, pasta, bread, and cereal for "brown carbs" like brown rice, quinoa, and sprouted grain breads.
   
   Check out our blog, Good Carbohydrates vs. Bad Carbohydrates, to learn more about "good - fiber based carbs" and to get a list of the best choices in this category as well as the types of carbs to avoid and how many carbs to have at each meal. 
   
   
5. Boost your intake of organic, green, leafy vegetables.  - Not only do green leafy vegetables have tons of fiber, they also contain powerful anti-oxidant benefits that fight inflammation, regulate digestion and support your immune system - all of which you need working well in order to balance hormones and keep those cravings away! Plus, greens help escort excess hormones out of your body through your waste along with other toxins that may slowing down your metabolism and increasing cravings for carbohydrates. We recommend 1-2 cups minimum with each meal or 3-6 cups of non-starchy veggies per day!
   
   
6. Know your temptations and keep them out of your house and workplace. Everyone has their vices, so get rid of yours! Empty out your pantry, fridge, freezer, car, purse, backpacks, and desktop candy dishes of all the processed foods that are keeping you addicted. Just don't buy them or keep them around!
   
   
7. Ditch artificial sweeteners & "diet foods". "Fat-free" and "sugar-free" foods as well as diet sodas use artificial sweeteners to replace the fat or sugar that has been removed. Several large scale studies point to the science that clearly shows that these fake sugars actually slow down your metabolism, increase your body's insulin production, increase fat storage, and keep you overweight and craving sugar! These are toxic substances that are not real foods - so avoid "diet" everything! We will expanding on this topic on next week's What's That?! Wednesday post so stay tuned and subscribe here if you are not already a part of our community!
   
   
8. Exercise both your mind & body. Physical exercise and movement helps the body metabolize glucose and sets your body up to crave real, nutritious foods like clean proteins, fibrous carbs, healthy fats, and non-starchy vegetables. Try shooting for 5,000-10,000 steps a day and a couple days a week of strength or interval training as a starting place. 
   
   Likewise, a busy mind that is focused on something you love doing, are passionate about, or that makes you happy will also keep your cravings at bay. These activities release "happy" neurotransmitters in abundance so that your body isn't looking towards sugar fill that void! 
   
   
9. Make sleep a priority! Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day to support your body's natural circadian rhythm. When this natural cycle is disrupted, hormones get out of balance, especially cortisol and insulin and you guessed it...your body sends signals to increase sugar and carbohydrate intake. Not cool! Focus on getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night. 
   
   
10. Consider food sensitivities as a source of cravings. Those with food sensitivities can often experience intense cravings for the very foods that are making them sick. We see this often is those who are sensitive to gluten, dairy, and soy. Once they remove these items from their diet, their cravings diminish significantly. If you'd like help evaluating whether this is an issue for you, we offer a couple programs that can help you. Check out our Elimination Diet Programs here.

If you found this post helpful, stay tuned next week when our new eBook, 10 Day Sugar Detox Diet, goes on sale Wednesday, January 27th! This book is packed with over 30 real food, sugar free recipes that you and your family will love! I've even included two (5-day) meals plans with shopping lists to help you incorporate the recipes into your daily life with ease!  I really love how this eBook turned out and I know you will love it as well!

You can even enter to win 1 of 4 free 10 Day Sugar Detox Diet eBoooks that we will be giving away to our community next week. Click here to learn more and enter to win!

Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to connecting with you next week!
​~Billie

These days, you often hear the words, "Cleanse" and "Detox" in relation to diet, health, and weight loss - there seems to be a new detox diet that hits the market every month. So in today's What's that?! Wednesday post, we talk about what detox diets are safest and most effective as well some of the benefits you may feel after detoxification. We are also offering a Special Sale Price on our 4 Week Detox Diet now through Sunday 1/3!

What is a Detox Diet?
A detox diet is a short term diet focused on cleansing the body to remove toxic environmental and dietary substances. These diets emphasize foods that provide vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants that the body needs for detoxification. The foods consumed in a detox diet are high in fiber and water content and help draw out and eliminate toxins from your body. These diets also focus on refraining from foods that can impede this process like refined flours, sugars, and processed foods, as well as dairy and grains. 

How Do Toxins Accumulate in Your Body?
A continuously growing amount of research indicates that we ingest chemicals daily through food, water, and air and that some of these chemicals get deposited in fat cells in our bodies.  Common environmental toxins include pesticides, antibiotics and hormones in food, as well as the chemicals from food packaging, household cleaners & detergents, food additives, heavy metals, pollution, prescription and recreational drugs, and cigarette smoke. These toxins get deposited in our fat cells and produce excess build-up that our bodies are no longer naturally able to eliminate on their own. This 'toxic load' makes our immune system work overtime which can lead to illness, disease, hormonal imbalances, and nutritional deficiencies - most commonly, weight loss resistance, digestive irregularity (especially constipation), weakened immune system, low energy, trouble sleeping, and mental sluggishness. 

What are the Benefits of a Detox Diet?

• Weight-loss & breaking through weight loss plateaus. These diets often result in weight loss, especially for those who are not at their optimal weight. A detox diet helps the body shed excess water weight and toxins. It also assists in resetting your metabolism so that you can be more successful at reaching and maintaining your ideal weight.
• Improves digestion and gets rid of constipation, bloating, heart burn, diarrhea, and nausea.
  Cleanses usually focus on alkaline foods that are high in fiber, like dark leafy greens, to calm your digestive tract and help improve digestive regularity. Clean, whole foods in the right combinations on a detox diet will improve gut flora by increasing good gut bacteria and making it tough for bad gut flora to survive. Bad gut bacteria live and proliferate off off sugar, so when you take sugar and simple carbs out of the equation, your bad gut flora dies off and allows more good flora to thrive.
• Nourishes and enhances your immune system. Since over 60% of your immune system resides in your gut, creating a healthy gut microbiome will go a long way to improve your immune system. In fact, it's the number one thing you can do to improve your immune system. Less toxic load and a healthy gut will make for a happier and more efficient immune system.

• Increases your energy and improves concentration levels.  By eliminating foods that slow metabolism or cause mental fogginess and incorporating only foods that energize, most people find that after the initial phase of a detox their energy and focus are significantly improved.
• Helps to regulate sleeping patterns By balancing and regulating the hormones that contribute to a good night's sleep.
  
  

What About Juicing or Protein Shake Cleanses?
Some detox diets are based on fasting, juicing alone, or replacing 2 or more meals with a protein shake. These types of diets can be difficult for most people to stick to, but more importantly, they lack enough nutrients to support the body through the detoxifying process.  If you are considering a detox diet, we generally recommend one that includes a large amount and wide variety of fresh vegetables and clean proteins to keep you feeling full and to give your body the energy and nutrients that it needs to detox, repair, and rebuild.

Our Detoxifcation & Cleansing Programs:
If you're looking to start the year with a simple, effective cleanse that includes easy and delicious recipes, shopping lists, and step by step instructions check out the details of our Nutritional Cleanse & Detox Diet Programs - On Sale now through Sunday 1/3/2016!

​All you need is a blender and a willingness to spend 40-65 minutes total in the kitchen each day. We take care of the weekly eating plan including breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner and give you weekly shopping lists along with a plan and the proper support to make sure you see results!

Both of us have personally been through detoxification and elimination diets and based on our experience and our training have created a program that is both effective and easy to follow. We've taken many clients through this diet with rave reviews and success stories...check out our testimonials to learn more and consider joining us today!

Happy Healing!
~Billie and Jen

Are you someone who struggles with keeping the weight off even when you are religiously following a low carb diet and excising like a crazy person?! You know who you are - those of you who get up at all hours of the morning to get your long, calorie burning runs and workouts in, count each and every calorie that hits your mouth, and work your butt off only to see the scale move only one pound a month?! That used to be me too!

If your scale is stuck and you are feeling frustrated and confused, you are not alone and this week's What's That?! Wednesday post is a must read for you. We find that weight loss resistance is very common with women especially since our hormonal systems are so much more complicated than men's. So what is weight loss resistance?

Weight loss resistance is essentially the inability to lose weight even when your "caloric output" is higher than your "caloric input" or you are burning more calories than you are taking in but still not losing weight. This is when the more traditional dietary rule of "calories in vs. calories out" fails and a more functional medicine approach comes into play. This approach focuses on hormones and the metabolic imbalances that occur when one or more hormones is out of balance. It's actually your hormones that govern nearly all aspects of fat loss, from where you store it to how much you store, to your cravings and even your addictive patterns with food.

These five tips will help you begin to turn on your "fat burning hormones" and turn off your "fat storage hormones"
and may help you begin to lose weight again. 

5 Tips to Boost Metabolism:

1. Rethink your breakfast. - Choose protein, fiber, and healthy fats for breakfast! Choosing carbs for breakfast (like cereal, wheat toast, bagels, doughnuts, pastries, pancakes, waffles, etc) will spike your blood sugar, which will cause your body to release insulin, a "fat storage hormone," and it causes cortisol to plummet. Cortisol is supposed to be naturally higher in the morning to help you stay mentally sharp and give you more energy to get through your day. When it plummets from a high carb breakfast, it sets you up to feel tired, sluggish, and unable to focus - not cool!  It also sets you up for increased sugar and carb cravings the rest of the day which can lead to overeating - no thank you! 
   
   We suggest a green smoothie with plenty of clean vegetable protein, organic greens, and a small portion of fiber based carbs like 1/4 of a greenish banana, 1/4 cup of organic berries, or 1-2 tablespoons ground flax seeds or chia seeds. Check out our blog 5 Steps to Make the Perfect Green Smoothie to get some great recipes with the right combinations of nutrients to boost metabolism, not squash it. Another great breakfast choice is fresh, organic eggs from pasture raisedd chickens with clean proteins, green leafy vegetables, and fiber based carbs. Try our Seasonal Vegetable & Quinoa Frittatas for a breakfast that will power you through your day and keep those fat storage hormones turned off. 
   
   
2. Focus on "good carbs" and not as much on "low carb or no carb."  - We suggest choosing good carbs that are fiber based. Include a small portion of fiber based carbs at each meal (1/4 cup to 3/4 cups) to help keep your blood sugar stable and insulin turned off. Eating a no or low carb diet and/or relying on "diet foods" can lead to metabolic imbalances that will actually prevent weight loss and tell your body to store fat instead of burn it. Check out our post Good Carbohydrates vs. Bad Carbohydrates to learn more about "good - fiber based carbs" and to get a list of the best choices in this category as well as the types of carbs to avoid and how many cabs to have at each meal. 
   
   
3. Choose organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, and wild caught proteins. - Not only does conventionally raised meat promote inflammation - which slows your metabolism and makes you hold on to fat, conventionally raised animals are overloaded with estrogen, growth factor, and several other hormones in order to "fatten them up". The problem is that these hormones get stored in the tissues of these animals because it is too much for the animals body to properly process and use up. That means, that when you eat non-organic, grain-fed meats, you consume all those excess hormones and your body "gets fattened up" too because of an overload of hormones  - excess estrogen being one of the worst.  This often causes estrogen dominance - or more estrogen in relation to progesterone - especially in aging women whose progesterone levels naturally start to drop after the age of 35. Estrogen is what gives women our curves - our hips, booty, and breasts -but when there is too much estrogen and not enough progesterone to balance it out, it can lead to fat storage and weight loss resistance. You can read more about choosing organic proteins on our blog, Why is Eating Organic Important? 
   
   
4. Boost your intake of organic, green, leafy vegetables.  - Not only do green leafy vegetables have tons of fiber, they also contain powerful anti-oxidant benefits that fight inflammation, regulate digestion and support your immune system - all of which you need in order to balance hormones and lose weight. Plus, greens help escort excess hormones, especially estrogen, out of your body through your waste along with other toxins that may be disrupting or slowing down your metabolism. 
   
   
5. Think "good fats" instead of "non-fat" - For the last few decades fats have been demonized by most doctors, nutritionists, and even our own government.  We were all told that fat makes you fat, so that was the most important thing to be taken out of your diet if you wanted to lose weight. The non-fat and fat-free trend skyrocketed and we had every food manufacturer stocking the shelves with plenty of non-fat treats for us all to enjoy on our "diets". What happened? Since these recommendations came out in the 1970's our obesity and disease rates have skyrocketed and it is now projected that one in every two Americans will be obese by the year 2050. Heart disease and diabetes are at all time highs and the number of those being diagnosed with autoimmune conditions continues to rise. 
   
   Now experts are trending more toward a healthy fat diet and the science behind these recommendations is overwhelming. In fact, numerous studies show that eating less fat actually makes it more difficult to lose weight and increases our risk of inflammatory diseases significantly.  Fats are essential to many of your body's functions including your metabolism! In fact fats are used to make your hormones, so when your diet is void of healthy fats, your metabolism really struggles and slows down - not cool!  So which fats are the healthy ones?
   
   We recommend a diet of around 30% healthy fats including a variety of monosaturated fats, saturated fats, and Omega fats.  There are healthy and not healthy choices in each category, so to help you choose the right foods, check out our blogs: 4 Sources of Healthy Saturated Fats, Health Benefits of Monosaturated Fats, Omega Fats for a Healthy Anti-Inflammatory Diet.
   

​BONUS TIP:  Make some time for personal care and relaxation.   - Stress can be a huge contributor to metabolic and hormonal imbalances - it can increase your cortisol levels significantly and signal your body to store fat instead of burn it. Schedule at least 3 rest and relaxation activities each week for yourself and guard that time with your life! Rest and relaxation activities include daily mediation, yoga, pilates, a leisurely nature walk or dog walk, a relaxing detox bath (click here for detox bath recipes), a movie night at home curled up on the couch, getting a massage or spa treatment, or anything that makes you feel calm, happy and relaxed. 

If you want to learn more about how to shift your metabolism back into balance and get that scale moving in the right direction for good, take a peek at our Metabolic Recovery Program. Perfect for women over the age of 35 who are struggling with maintaining a healthy weight and energy level or have hormonal dysfunction.  

We also offer a FREE 15 minute phone consultation, just contact us here to set one up and get started on your health goals today. We look forward to helping you master your metabolism and your scale and meet your wellness goals!

~Billie & Jen

Cravings often mean that your body is lacking in something that it needs - whether that be nutrients, water, or even emotional balance. Rather than "will powering" you way through every craving - which can lead to binge eating and overeating down the line, why not try giving your body a small, balanced snack that is high in protein and low in sugar and carbs?! 

This shake is best used as a snack in between meals when cravings hit, as small meal replacement right after a workout, or as a small dessert after a light meal (200-250 calories) to keep your blood sugar stable and your energy levels up as well as give you a protein boost. 

PLUS...raw cocoa or cacao nibs are actually both great appetite suppressors to help cut those cravings down which is why they are the star in this recipe along with another healing food, cinnamon. Cinnamon is known to reduce blood sugar and insulin response and will help keep your energy level even and keep cravings at bay. A stable blood sugar also contributes to your body's ability to burn fat and build muscle. Check out our blog, What's the Difference Between Cocoa and Cacao to learn more about the health benefits of cocoa and cacao. 

Controlling the ingredients and the nutritional profile of this shake is the most important thing to keep in mind. To do this, you must choose a plant based protein powder that meets the right criteria. Look for one that is GMO free, allergen free, under 10 grams of sugar and over 20 grams of protein. Check out our blog, How to Choose a Protein Powder to help you navigate the health food store and make a choice that will assist you to meet your goals and not sabotage them. 

"Kick Your Cravings" Chocolate Shake (PRINT RECIPE)
Serves 2

Ingredients:
3 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk, almond milk or coconut milk
2 scoops vanilla protein powder*
2 tablespoons raw, organic cocoa powder or cacao nibs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Large handful of ice cubes

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender and serve cold or store in a cold place for up to 12 hours – re-shake if you let it sit before drinking.
   
2. Enjoy!

Give it a try and let us know what you think! If you are looking for more support and nutritional know-how to help you beat the vicious cycle of cravings and rock your health goals, check out our Nutritional Coaching Program. We would be honored to support you towards meeting your goals. 

~Billie

*Choose a brand that is gluten, dairy, and soy free and has more than 20 grams protein and less than 10 grams sugar. I use Plant Fusion Brand (Vanilla Bean) it has 21 grams of protein and only 4 grams of sugar/carbs.

There is a common misconception that fat is the enemy when it comes to weight loss and overall health, but in reality your body needs fat for energy, to maintain healthy cell membranes, to support a healthy immune system, to absorb essential fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, & K, to maintain a healthy weight, and to support a variety of other everyday body functions. 

In fact, dozens of studies show that low-fat diets are no better for your health for most people than moderate or high fat diets, and may even be worse for many people.  Scientists agree that including adequate amounts of healthy fats in your diet is monumentally important to maintaining good health. 

So, when it comes to including fat in your diet, we suggest you focus you on the type of fats and not the amount of fat you consume which is why we've devoted our weekly What's That?! Wednesday post to these...

3 Big "Fat" Suggestions:

1. Avoid "Low Fat or "Fat Free" Items  - Unless they come in nature that way (i.e - most fruits, vegetables, whole grains), then you should not consume anything that has been made "low fat" or "fat free". When a manufacturer makes a food low fat or fat free they often replace fat with sugar, artificial sweeteners, salt, or starch.  And remember, when we give our bodies foods that have been modified or are not in their natural state, our bodies know something is missing and respond by sending craving signals for sugars, carbohydrates, and salts - thus continuing the cycle of unhealthy cravings. Eating these types of foods will lead to weight gain and the inability to maintain a healthy weight, and can increase your risk for heart disease, hypertension, and high triglycerides.  We recommend you avoid any pre-packaged food including breads, chips, crackers, cookies, baked goods, condiments, salad dressings, frozen foods, etc. that are labeled 'fat free' or 'low fat'. This suggestion includes items like dairy folks - we strongly advocate that you not consume dairy products that are 'fat free' or 'low fat,' including yogurts, milks, ice cream, and cheeses. 
   
   
2. Never, Never Eat Trans Fats! - These fats form when vegetable oils harden through a process called hydrogenation and have been proven to raise LDL (bad cholesterol) and lower HDL (good cholesterol) levels, which is exactly the opposite of what you want maintain good cardiovascular health. These fats clog your arteries and significantly raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke and other serious health problems. Trans fats are mostly found in processed foods, fast food, and in many restaurant foods. The most important thing to do is read the label and make sure the trans fat line reads "0" ZERO but you also want to peek at the ingredient list so you can make sure to avoid products that contain partially hydrogenated oils as well. 
   
   
3. Include Healthy Fats with Every Meal - Generally the healthiest fats for us to consume are unsaturated fats (see list below), healthy saturated fats from coconut oil (read our blog on Health Benefits of Coconut Oil here), and for those of us who eat meat as well, a limited amount of high quality, organic meats and wild caught fish. 
   
   High quality organic and raw dairy products in limited amounts can also be considered for those who eat dairy as part of their diet. A limited amount of organic eggs from pastured chickens are also an excellent source of healthy fats for those who choose to include eggs in their diet.
   
   Some of the best choices for unsaturated fats in most any diet include: olive oil (at low temps or unheated), avocados, walnuts, peanuts, and almonds. Seeds are also an excellent source of healthy fats - our favorites are hemp seeds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and pepitas. Make sure to especially include sources of omega 3 fats like flaxseed, flaxseed oil, walnuts and walnut oil as these healthy fats have been shown to play a large role in reducing inflammation and improving immune function. If you are a meat eater, the best source of omega 3 fats is from wild caught salmon or high quality fish oil or krill oil. 

Be sure to include a little fat at every meal. For example, breakfast can include a green smoothie with hemp seeds or nut butter. Try our Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie or our Chocolate Maca Chia Breakfast Pudding. Lunch can include a mixed green salad with walnut, olive oil, or flaxseed oil as part of the salad dressing and some fresh sliced avocado- try our Spring Pea Salad with Roasted Fennel and Chickpeas. For dinner, you can cook your food in coconut oil, include a high quality organic meat or wild caught seafood, or add other healthy fat ingredients like nut butters or raw nuts - try our Cucumber & Carrot Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing, our Asian Walnut Lettuce Wraps, or our Summer Corn Fritters with Wild Smoked Salmon.

Hope these big fat tips have been informative to you...as always feel free to comment below or contact us directly with questions, to work with us one on one, or just to add your thoughts. 

Wishing you good health!
~Billie & Jennifer

Maca has been used as a food and medicine staple in the Peruvian Andres for thousands of years but more recently has made a name for itself as an energizing superfood! This root from the potato family is commonly available in the U.S. in dried powder form at all health food stores and some regular grocery stores. Maca is nearly 10% protein and contains 20 amino acids; it's also packed with fiber, iron, and 21% of your daily allowance for vitamin E. Here are some other reasons to think about incorporating maca into your diet:

1. Boosts energy and endurance
Do you feel tired often, even after you get a decent night's sleep? Most of us do these days because life is just super busy and seems to never slow down. Maca offers a non-caffeinated energy boost that gently stimulates the thyroid adrenal glands to give you a natural feeling of energy without a caffeine crash later in the day. 

2. Helps relieve symptoms of PMS and menopause
Maca works with the endocrine system to stimulate and nourish the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands which are the "master glands" that regulate thyroid, adrenal, pancreatic, ovarian, and testicular function. It is thought to work as an adaptogen assisting the body to either regulate hormone production upward or downward depending on the body's individual needs. Because of this, Maca has been known to relieve symptoms of PMS and menopause including pelvic pain, cramps, and hot flashes. There are several types of maca, but yellow maca has shown to have the best results in this category for women.

3. Increases libido
Because maca helps to balance hormones naturally, many people also experience a nice boost in libido.  It can help to promote sexual function in both men and women and has been described as an aphrodisiac by many. Black maca has shown to be particularly effective for men's fertility as it can help to increase sperm production and motility.

4. Helps to stabilize mood and combat depression
Yet another benefit of a happily nourished and well functioning endocrine system is a stable mood. As maca helps to balance your hormones, you may also notice that it can help to stabilize your mood and decrease feelings of depression and anxiety. 

5. Improves skin health
Maca is packed with vitamin E which is a key nutrient for strong immunity and healthy skin and eyes. Getting the right amount of vitamin E can help to protect skin from damage and help to clear acne and blemishes.

Maca powder has a slightly "malty" taste and I prefer it stirred into puddings or added to my morning smoothie. Try our Chocolate-Maca Chia Pudding or add it into your morning green smoothie. Maca can very stimulating for some, so start small with a small dose...try 1/2 teaspoon once daily with breakfast. 

A Few Things To Keep In Mind**:
1. Always consult with your physician before adding any new supplement.This includes maca.
2. Do not add maca to your diet if you have high blood pressure, liver issues, or a hormone dependent cancer like       breast or prostate cancer or if you are pregnant or nursing. 
3. Do not add maca to hot food, as it will lose it's benefits.
4. Start with a small amount of maca until you know how it will affect you. I recommend 1/2 teaspoon every other           day, always in the first half of the day. You can work up to 2 teaspoons per day but most people find that 1/2 to 1       teaspoon a day or even every few days is plenty. 
5. If you find maca to beneficial to you and begin to use it on a regular basis, I recommend taking 2 days off each         week so that you don't get overstimulated or have any adverse affects. So take it Monday through Friday and           then take Saturday and Sunday off. 

I've been using maca powder consistently now for about 4 weeks as part of my adrenal recovery treatment and I've personally experienced several of these benefits.  ~Billie

**As with adding any new supplement to your diet, you should always consult your physician and/or work directly with a licensed health care provider. Maca root is not recommended for kids, pregnant women, anyone with a hormone dependent cancer, or women in hormone replacement therapy unless otherwise directed by a treating physician.

We get asked ALL THE TIME why organic foods are important, and we totally understand why.  Buying everything you can organic will typically inflate your grocery bill by at least 20%, and sometimes that can be hard on the budget.  We both understand budget constraints first hand, but we still emphatically recommend that you purchase as much of your shopping list as you can find as organic, and here's why:

1.  Pesticides:  Organic foods do not contain chemical pesticides.  There are over 400 varieties of chemicals typically used to kill bugs on plants on conventional farms.  Let's be clear--these chemicals are designed to kill things and there is simply no way that having them in your body is going to do anything good for you.  They don't all wash off when you get them home, and kids are especially sensitive to them.  Pesticides have been linked to asthma, cancer, precocious puberty and breast cancer.  Yuck.  On your produce, you have direct pesticide exposure and any non-organic meat or farmed seafood comes from animals that eat massive amounts of produce that have been doused in the stuff.  Those toxins don't get easily flushed out of an animals system, so they build up and are even more potent in meat, seafood and dairy than they are on your apples or spinach.  YUCK.

2.  Antibiotics:  Animals that are raised organically are not given any antibiotics or genetically modified vaccines.  Conventionally raised animals are given some or all of these things to keep them healthy in some pretty awful living conditions where they would naturally get sick.  Remember when we talked above about pesticides storing up in animal tissues?  Same thing goes for antibiotics here.  If you've heard about antibiotic resistance in humans, this is where it's coming from--you get low level doses of antibiotics in virtually all of your non-organic meat and dairy and farmed seafood, so your body adapts to them and then can't respond to regular antibiotics when you really need them.  

 3. Hormones:  You also have to be very careful of the hormones that are given to animals raised conventionally. Why do you ask? Well, first, they tend to overload them with growth factor and other hormones to make them grown bigger and stronger (makes sense, right?!..more meat, more money). The animal's body cannot properly process all these extra and unnecessary hormones and so they get stored in the tissues, which we end up consuming. The big problem is that these hormones look and act similar to the natural hormones our body produces; this can create an improper balance of hormones and throw off communication to help the body get back into balance naturally. Studies have linked hormone riddled meat and dairy consumption with several types of cancer as well as increased occurrence of infertility and hormonal imbalance conditions in women of all ages. NOT GOOD.

4.  GMO's:  I'm sure you've heard at least a little lately about GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms) in the news. In fact, the state of Vermont just passed the nation's first GMO labeling law. GMO's are plants that have been altered at the genetic level by the insertion of a modified gene or a gene from another organism. These genes are intended to do something different than plants have done in the past.  Like kill bugs.  And the properties that kill the bugs are in EVERY SINGLE CELL of GMO foods.  You can't wash it off or make it safer as you prepare the food.  Also, as scientists insert the modified genes, there is not a way to tell what else those genes are doing to the plant.  Did you know that one of the most used methods of creating a modified plant is to dip a bullet into some DNA soup and then shoot it through the leaves of a plant and see what happens?   I'm SO not kidding here.  The speed of the bullet splices new genes into the plant's DNA, and then they let it grow and see what happens.  This is not precise science so really, you have no idea what you're getting into with GMO foods. An additional consideration is that your body doesn't recognize GMO's as real food, so they get treated like pathogens or "bad bugs like viruses and bacteria" which stimulates an immune system/inflammatory response. There are many studies that show increased levels of inflammation in the body can lead to chronic inflammatory conditions like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and other auto-immune conditions. So...it's best to read your labels and ALWAYS AVOID GMO's! Don't purchase anything with ingredients you cannot pronounce and that are not whole food ingredients. 

5.  Nutrition:  Organic foods contain higher levels of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals than most conventionally raised food.  On average, about 25% more.  So that 20% premium you pay at the cash register is going directly to the nutritional value you're eating.  There was a study that came out recently about how organic food isn't necessarily more nutritious than conventional foods, but the holistic nutrition community agrees that the study was flawed.  You can read more about that here.  And, even if organic food weren't packed with more nutritional punch, the first three items here should be reason enough to make the investment. 

There are about a million other reasons to do this, but these are the most important for us here.  We understand that it's not always possible, either financially or because of what's available, to eat 100% organic.  If that's the case, we recommend that you do your best to buy organic whatever foods you eat most. If you juice with greens every day, make sure they're organic.  If you eat chicken for lunch every day, ditto.

A couple of additional tools to help you make informed decisions at the grocery store are the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Lists that The Environmental Working Group Publishes and just updated this year. The 'Dirty Dozen' is the list of the most contaminated produce that you should try to get organic whenever possible. The 'Clean Fifteen' are those that have been deemed the least contaminated. Go to EWG's website and download the list so you can make more informed choices at the grocery store!

If you have any questions or if we can help you in any other way to incorporate whole foods into your life, please let us know. We'd be happy to hear from you!

~Jennifer & Billie

A green smoothie or green juice is typically the way I start my day - everyday! And I recommend that you consider doing the same and here's why...

1. Supports Good Digestive Health
Greens literally escort toxins through your digestive tract and aid in regular elimination. If you are someone who deals with IBS symptoms at all - this will help immensely. We've had clients who have had their IBS symptoms completely disappear by adding one green smoothie a day!

2. Helps Reduce Cravings for Carbs & Sugar
When you start your day with carbs and sugar (ex: toast/bread of any kind, cereal, or even a yogurt with granola and fruit), your body is more likely to crave carbs and sugar throughout the day which can lead to snacking, overeating, and weight gain. Break the cycle and have sunshine for breakfast- start your day with a green protein shake, keep fruit content to a minimum, and kick those cravings to the curb.

3. Helps to Fight Inflammation & Prevent Chronic Disease
The alkalizing affects of greens in your body can help reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke, help prevent osteoporosis, improve brain health, and help reduce painful and swollen joints. Additionally, starting your day with something that isn't going to spike your blood sugar will help to keep inflammatory responses lower.

4. Assists in Weight Loss
A green smoothie can help to stabilize your blood sugar, which keeps you feeling fuller longer. The greens also help your body shed excess water weight. Adding more vegetables and fruits also curbs cravings for sugar and processed foods and increases cravings for healthier foods!

5. Nutrient & Vitamin Packed
When made correctly, these smoothies can contain more than your daily allowance for Vitamins A & C, and 25% of the recommended intake for Vitamin D. The daily recommended intake for green vegetables is 2 - 3 1/2 cups depending on your age and gender...and our Perfect Green Smoothie gets you 1 1/2 cups at the start of the day.

Read our blog, 5 Steps To The Perfect Green Smoothie, to get some free recipes and learn how simple and delicious it is to make a green smoothie part of your regular routine. 

In order to receive the most health benefits, it's really important when making a green smoothie that you let the greens take the lead and keep the fruit to a minimum.  We recommend 3:1 rule - you want to have 3 times as much greens (in volume) as you do fruit. For those of you who need to watch sugars even closer, like me, use a 4:1 ratio. 

Enjoy your greens in the morning! 
~Billie