Wellness Wisdom Latest PostsThe Quick & Dirty on MacronutrientsFebruary 10, 2023NutritionThere are 3 Macronutrients (macros) and one really important nutrient I like to include in any discussions on the topic of “macros”. I’m sure many of you are aware of the macronutrients but in case you are new to the topic, the macros are Protein, Fats, & Carbohydrates. The other important nutrient is water. If you’ve been in the weight loss or fitness scene for a while you probably have been told that Protein is key for filling up or for building muscle. But in this post, I would like to share a few other things about the macros in an effort to help you understand why ALL of the macronutrients are important. YES, even CARBS. Let’s begin – Though WATER isn’t exactly a macronutrient it plays many vital roles: Allows for Transportation and communication between cells Lubricates joints Helps regulate body temperature Moistens air for better breathing Improves oxygen delivery to cells Enables the body to digest foods and heal itself Removes wastes & toxins Have you drunk at least 70oz of water today? That’s probably your bare minimum. If you’re on your feet all day or you work out you’re definitely going to need more. If you also drink a cup of coffee or two or three or any other caffeinated beverage or alcoholic beverage then you need more also. Be sure to choose filtered and spring water for the cleanest sources. Many people do not realize that they are actually dehydrated. Sometimes thirst can be disguised as hunger but thirst is the first sign that you should’ve had some water sooner. Signs of Dehydration: Cravings Headaches Loss of the ability to concentrate Poor memory Heartburn Joint pain Back pain Constipation Exercise asthma Next on the list is FATS Fats are essential to the body, going low fat or no fat can have a cascading effect of negative symptoms. Here is a list of the roles fats play in the body and why we call them Essential Fatty Acids: Build hormones and cell membranes Protect our organs Help absorb vitamins Provide energy Help you feel satisfied at meals Choose grass-fed & pasture-raised meats and animal products, and organic coconut oil and olive oil Fats don’t equal FAT. Not all Fats are equally beneficial but that really depends on YOU. Many of us have an overabundance of Omega-6 fatty acids and not enough Omega-3 fatty acids. But that doesn’t mean that’s you. It really depends on your diet. But if you have any problems with pain, inflammation, hormones, or energy you might want to take a look at the fats you’re getting in. Eating fats is super important for our health. Too much of anything isn’t good but I’d choose rich creamy fatty foods over sugary foods any day because I know the former is almost always more beneficial than the latter. If there’s anything that makes you hesitant to eat fats, let me know below 👇🏻 I’d be happy to set you at ease. The other energy source – Carbs: Provide energy for the brain & muscles Help move food through our digestive tract (DT) Feed good bacteria within DT Play a role in tissue growth & immunity Choose clean, organic if possible, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains with more fiber and starch content, less sugar Carbs are not the enemy. They provide so many important things for us. If you’re a woman, it’s usually healthiest to have some level of carbohydrates for proper hormonal function. Too little can cause a stressful situation for sensitive people which can wreak havoc on your midsection and your health. Plus, if you want to be “more toned” you need muscle, and carbs help to build muscle. If you’re still unsure, start small with some sweet potatoes or other potatoes, legumes, and squashes. Those are full of vitamins and minerals you need anyway. Legumes tend to have less of an impact on your blood sugar and I’m loving substituting regular pasta for red lentil or chickpea pasta. And finally, Protein: Popularly known for muscle building Also makes up other important chemicals in the body necessary for proper functioning Helps you to feel full Aids in Digestion Choose grass-fed, wild-caught, & pasture-raised meats and animal products when possible Many of us have heard you need your protein but do you know all of the reasons why you need your protein? Protein isn’t just for weight loss or muscle building. Proteins are essential for building hormones. You need protein for insulin and glucagon for blood sugar balance. Protein is important in serotonin production which is a vital neurotransmitter for mood, sleep, digestion & more. Protein also affects your hormones of digestion, without it, our digestion suffers. It lets your stomach know to turn on and start digesting what you are eating. Protein makes up important cells (Antibodies) in your immune system. Proteins build enzymes that play roles in many chemical reactions in the body that are necessary for function. Protein makes up hemoglobin which carries oxygen in our blood. I could go on. Do you know how much protein you need every day? It changes depending on your lifestyle and goals, but you will always need some level of protein. Where can you find more information? Check out my “Food – What Should I Eat” Guide And these Sources: Allen L. H. (2012). Vitamin B-12. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 3(1), 54–55. <https://doi.org/10.3945/an.111.001370> Basal Energy Expenditure: Harris-Benedict Equation. (n.d.). Cornell University. <http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~spon/picu/calc/beecalc.htm> Hand Size Portion Guide. (n.d.). Precision Nutrition. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from <https://www.precisionnutrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Hand-portion-guide-FF.pdf> Harris JA, Benedict FG. A Biometric Study of Human Basal Metabolism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1918 Dec;4(12):370-3. doi: 10.1073/pnas.4.12.370. PMID: 16576330; PMCID: PMC1091498. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1091498/> Medeiros, D. & Wildman, R. (2019). Advanced human nutrition. Burlington, MA: Jones & Barlett Learning Nutritional Therapy Association. (2020). Basics of Nutrition Student Guide . Retrieved from: <https://nta.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/10530/viewContent/108119/View> Nutritional Therapy Association. (2020). Macronutrients Guidelines & Fine-Tuning Handout . Pinto, J. T., & Zempleni, J. (2016). Riboflavin. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 7(5), 973–975. <https://doi.org/10.3945/an.116.012716> Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2019). Introduction to the Human Body (11th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. […] Read more…Tips for Getting the Most out of Your FoodFebruary 20, 2021NutritionIn this Post: Tips for increasing nutrient density in foods you source Tips for increasing nutrient density in preparation, cooking, and storing The Basics There are two basic “ingredients” if you will, used to arrive at a nutrient-dense meal – 1. The Food and 2. The Preparation & Cooking Process. The Food Nutrient density is a factor of the carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, & vitamins in food. There are a few of these that are produced by the body, most of them need to come from the food that we eat. Nutrient density in our foods is impacted by the way the food is grown or raised, stored, treated, and prepared. As easy as it may seem to go with the lower price tag, your health could be the cost you end up paying later if you choose “cheaper” foods. So start small and take it slow, each step will be a move in the right direction. Tips for Increasing Nutrient-density in the Foods You Source With options from low resources to higher resources needed. The Preparation Once your desired nutrient-dense foods are sourced, the next process will be preparation and/or cooking for eating. There are many ways to prepare foods, some that increase the bioavailability of nutrients and others that may not be ideal for certain nutrients and foods. Tips for Increasing Nutrient-density in Your Food Preparation & Cooking Preparing food yourself will go a long way in making foods more affordable. Soaking, sprouting, sour-leavening & fermenting foods you can find at your local grocery store or farmers market helps make the nutrients in the foods more bio-available. Fermenting also extends the usable life of some foods. Cooking your own food and eating mindfully, chewing each bite slowly helps your body digest your food properly which will also help you absorb the nutrients better. Another good way to keep nutrient-dense, whole foods affordable is to minimize waste in your usage of food. Buy the whole chicken – use the bones for bone broths and stocks and the organs in pâté or other recipes to get the full benefit of the highly nutritious organ meats. All of those vitamins and minerals your body’s organs need to run properly are kept in and around those organs so they are densely packed with nutrients in animals too. Cut down on plastic, Teflon, and aluminum when and where you can. The utensils and cookware you have are usable until they start to fall apart and shed unwanted materials into your food, that’s when it may be a good idea to look for something new. Replace pots, pans, & utensils that are scratched or falling apart with like replacements to keep from contaminating foods Choose unbleached parchment paper over aluminum foil Wooden spoons and spatulas are a good choice for utensils Choose a glass or stainless-steel water bottle Choose glass when buying packaged foods, such as condiments and fats/oils Choose glass mason jars or food storage containers when packing your leftovers or lunches Choose higher-quality cookware that is less likely to leave behind any chemicals or other materials in your food. More expensive, higher quality cookware should last much longer as well, so you won’t have to replace it quite as often. A good quality cast iron pan is quite versatile and will last forever if properly cared for REFERENCES Medeiros, D. & Wildman, R. (2019). Advanced human nutrition. Burlington, MA: Jones & Barlett Learning Nutritional Therapy Association. (2020). Basics of Nutrition Student Guide . Retrieved from: https://nta.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/10530/viewContent/108119/View Nutritional Therapy Association. (2020). Culinary Wellness pt. 1 Student Guide . Retrieved from: https://nta.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/10530/viewContent/108136/View Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2019). Introduction to the Human Body (11th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. […] Read more…Intro to the Principles of Holistic NutritionFebruary 1, 2021NutritionOur bodies have all the mechanisms they need to provide us with optimal health as long as the systems have the right inputs. That is why our approach to wellness starts with food. Our bodies can synthesize some nutrients, sure, but the vast majority of them need to come from our diets. Without these nutrients, our body’s can’t perform the way they were intended. Unfortunately, our modern diets don’t provide the wide variety of nutrients we need and thus we start losing our vitality, gaining weight, losing concentration and energy, getting sick, getting burnt out, and more. The basic principles to eat by are: Choose Nutrient-Dense foods Elevate your Digestion & Elimination Balance your Blood Sugar Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate Mind Your Minerals Savor the Fats Because just discussing food wouldn’t be holistic, the 7th principle is lifestyle. In the guide, I share things to consider when choosing to make these a priority along with some tips to enhance your wellness following these principles. Here’s a quick overview: Choosing nutrient-dense, whole foods will ensure your body gets the most out of the food you put into it without sacrificing wellness with foods that are empty calories or full of chemicals. Digestion is a north to south process, this means it starts in your brain. Get the most out of your food by making sure your mealtime is set aside for eating and enjoying your food. Leave your work and phones at your desk. Blood sugar imbalance can lead to many other problems such as living meal to meal, needing afternoon pick-me-ups, increased cortisol, poor sleep and so much more. Eat meals with a balance of protein, fat, and, yes, carbohydrates, too, most of us do need those for energy. It wouldn’t hurt to take a ten min walk after your heaviest meals to help your body balance the influx of nutrients and sugars. Fats are also known as lipids. In the body, lipids make up a critical component of every cell membrane. The cellular membranes maintain the integrity of the cell and control the movement of necessary nutrients into and out of the cell. Fats also play crucial roles in inflammation and anti-inflammation. It is important to choose clean, less processed versions to ensure the best quality for your cells. Minerals cannot be produced by our bodies, we must get them from food. There are 18 out of more than 100 known minerals that are necessary for the body. Minerals also make up what are commonly called electrolytes. These help us absorb and use water more effectively. The big components of lifestyle that can make or break your health are sleep, stress, and movement. It is important to prioritize sleep, develop strategies for stress management that work for you, and get in some movement daily (vacuuming the house counts!). Grab your download for more info and ideas to jumpstart your wellness. Click below for your Free guide Start Supporting your foundations With this free guide to Holistic Nutrition Principles Get the Guide […] Read more…So What is Functional Nutrition & Nutritional Therapy?November 16, 2020NutritionHolistic, Functional, Integrative, Nutritional Therapy. What does it all mean? You are not alone in being confused. The terms have overlapping characteristics and even practitioners in the space may mix up where one ends and the other begins. To truly understand these terms, let’s first look at the way in which our health is treated today. In the United States, we might call it western, conventional, or traditional medicine. An example would be seeing your primary care physician who refers you to a specialist when a symptom is beyond their expertise. If you have a condition that appears to be affecting your hormones you may end up seeing your gynecologist or an endocrinologist. They are specialized in that one area or system of your body. Their diagnoses revolve around their area of expertise, meaning they will look at your hormones and the organs that produce them and use conventional wisdom to treat the symptoms you are experiencing so that you feel better. Often, their treatment is a prescription for a synthetic medicine that may resolve the symptoms. Now, this isn’t the case for all practitioners by any means, and this organization of the healthcare system has been successful in many aspects. But, if you are anything like me, you may have felt it to be inadequate at times and this is where the other terms come in. Holistic, functional, and integrative practitioners and clinics were born out of the need to fill in some of the gaps in our current system and also to complement conventional medicine with other healing practices that have been used throughout the world for centuries. Holistic refers to the whole. In medicine this means treating the whole person, including mental and social factors, and treating the body’s systems as a whole rather than individual systems. The focus goes beyond just the symptoms of an illness. Holistic is a term that tends to pop up in many alternative medicine practices as well. In any case, taking a holistic perspective on a patient/client’s concern is always a positive, in my opinion. Integrative medicine combines the practices of alternative therapies with conventional medicine and often includes practitioners in physical therapy, nutrition, and psychology as well. Integrative medicine is usually holistic in nature also. Alternative medicine covers a range of therapies that aren’t recognized by much of conventional medicine and are often regarded as being ineffective or unproven. This includes, herbalism, acupuncture, traditional chinese medicine, and ayurveda. The functional approach is concerned with the root cause of a condition. Functional practices should be holistic and often are integrative as well. Similar to my Nutritional Therapy education, functional approaches look at a patient’s genetic, environmental, and lifestyle influences to create bio-individual recommendations. Functional medicine is practiced by doctors that were educated in conventional medicine Finally, as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I am holistic in that I look at more than just what a person is eating including their sleep, stress, movement and more. My approach is bio-individual because everyone is different from their genetics to their environment and lifestyle. I focus on supporting the body’s natural processes so that it can perform its functions as designed. And as a proponent of functional medicine, I am also concerned about the root cause of imbalances and symptoms. I will help guide you in choosing other practitioners and doctors as needed. For more information click the button or see my references below. More References About. (n.d.). Nutritional Therapy Association. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://nutritionaltherapy.com/about/ Alternative vs. Traditional Medicine | Winchester Hospital. (n.d.). Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id=13500 Functional Medicine | IFM. (n.d.). The Institute for Functional Medicine. Retrieved January 5, 2021, from https://www.ifm.org/functional-medicine/ Integrative, Holistic & Naturopathy vs Functional Medicine: Las Vegas, Henderson. (2017, January 10). http://southwestfunctionalmedicine.com/functional-integrative-holistic-naturopathy/ Just what is functional medicine and why do some DOs gravitate to it? (2018, November 28). The DO. http://thedo.osteopathic.org/2018/11/just-what-is-functional-medicine-and-why-do-some-dos-gravitate-to-it/ Our Philosophy—Nutritional Therapy Association. (n.d.). Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://nutritionaltherapy.com/our-philosophy/ The Difference Between Functional, Holistic, Integrative and Natural Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved December 23, 2021, from http://www.chattanoogafunctionalmedicine.com/functional-holistic-integrative-and-natural-medicines.html What is Nutritional Therapy? Holistic and Bio-individual Nutrition – The NTA. (2019, July 8). Nutritional Therapy Association. https://nutritionaltherapy.com/what-is-nutritional-therapy/ […] Read more…Hello and Welcome!November 15, 2020UncategorizedI am so glad you are here. I hope you are able to find what you are looking for and if not, please do not hesitate to reach out on my contact page. I am here for you. Really, I am only here in this space to serve you. It’s been a long journey for me to get here and it is my mission to help you reach your goals, leave behind the hormonal imbalances, digestive distress, chronic fatigue, or whatever you are struggling with and find a place of balance that will carry you into your next chapter. I’ve struggled with constipation for years, nausea, low progesterone, low cortisol, high cortisol, low thyroid function, chronic fatigue, lack of motivation, bloat, weight gain, depression, anxiety, needing a caramel macchiato or two just to get through the day, and I’m sure I’m missing many more struggles. I’ve spent countless hours running or lifting weights and not seeing any results. I’ve shamed the body I had only to have a less satisfactory body the next year and wishing I had enjoyed last year’s body when I had it. My problem was my nutrition and my lifestyle. And I’m not talking about just hitting your macros, exercising 6 days a week, and never touching a brownie or a slice pizza again. This isn’t the place to find that willpower or motivation secret you think you have been missing. I’m not going to call you everyday to check-in that you followed my plan to a T. There is so much more to nutrition, there is so much more to exercise or as I like to call it, movement, and so many lifestyle factors that need to be considered in the equation of our health and happiness. I tried all the free classes and many of the paid courses. They brought me such valuable information and helped so much. They led me to the nutrition coach space so that I could teach you what I learned. But I needed more to put all the many interrelated pieces together and find an individualized plan for me and my life. The solution was getting an unbiased outside opinion from someone who could take the time to look at my whole life, to look at the pre-clinical potential problems with my health markers that my doctor wasn’t interested in, and to help me order tests that were not known to my conventional doctor. That is where we get a picture beyond the calories in and calories out. A truer picture of the energy equation. And that is how we develop a plan that will get you results. From here my journey led me to become more than a nutrition coach but a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner so I could bring more holistic nutrition to this space to help you. I am eager to add more education to my credentials and continue to grow in my tools to help you find wellness. Let me help you find what sustainable wellness is for you. Tell me what it is you are struggling with. Let’s work together to develop a plan that fits your life, your needs, and your goals. […] Read more…
