We all have a story and within that story there are so many obstacles that we have to face. Here are some of my thoughts when it comes to life and the challenges we can encounter. Life doesn’t often go the way you want or expect
Food is either the greatest medicine or the biggest contributor of disease. This is very true when it comes to testosterone (T) levels. Some foods are amazing and increase testosterone levels; others deplete levels and should be avoided. Some of the best foods to eat to boost
You’ve come to see me because you’re tired of being tired and having no sex drive. We talk about all the different aspects to your life … nutrition, activity, lifestyle, relationships, self care, and so on. I’ve devised a plan to help you regain your energy, your
Last time we spoke of what testosterone is and what it does. This week I’ll explain what happens to men when their testosterone is too low and the effects that has on various aspects of a man’s health. Testosterone levels fluctuate so it’s not the temporary dips
I’m sure we’re all familiar with testosterone and some of its responsibilities. In this series I’ll be talking about what it is and what it does (today’s post), what happens when things go wrong, what you can eat to boost your levels, supplements that are helpful as
Do you struggle with losing weight even though you’re eating pretty healthy and you’re reasonably active? You’ve been told your thyroid function and blood sugar levels are normal but you still can’t lose the fat? I’m sure you’ve heard the terms metabolism (the rate your body burns
I was asked the other day by a friend of mine just what it was that I do which prompted this post. A lot of people might not know what I do … only that I’m a nutritionist and I talk about sex a lot. LOL So
Sleep issues have become so common these days. We’ve become to used to being sleep deprived, it’s our “new normal” and it really shouldn’t be. There are so many reasons for running on too little sleep. Children waking during the night Stress … about work, finances, ill
This is a question that someone asked me a couple of weeks ago. She assured me pregnancy (the most common reason) was not an issue. In a nutshell, it’s because there’s an imbalance among estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Estrogen influences positive moods, thinking, perception, motivation, memory, appetite,
This was me in 2008. I was 5’7″ and 221 pounds. I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my life but never like this. I was so unhealthy, so unhappy. Back when I was twenty-two I was a little overweight and when I decided to get
I believe we are constantly changing. Does transformation mean something huge that takes place in a short period of time? Sometimes. But sometimes, transformation happens in small ways that accumulate over time. And sometimes those small ways are the things that set you up for a major
One of the biggest causes of hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Diseases is stress. In many cases, if we get our stress levels under control, we can get hyperthyroidism under control. Graves’ Diseases is an autoimmune disease so it’s more complicated but the following recommendations will help nevertheless. I’ve
Hyperthyroidism – Supplementation to bring it down Hyperthyroidism means everything in your body is moving fast than normal so your body will need more nutrients than it would if your thyroid was operating at a normal speed. First and foremost, get as good a quality of multi
People who suffer from Graves’ Disease, which is the autoimmune hyperthyroid issue, are more likely than the general population to suffer from celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Rule out celiac and gluten as well as all food allergies first and foremost before proceeding with any type of
Last week I mentioned malaborption as one of the causes of hyperthyroidism. The following explains what malabsorption and the related leaky gut syndrome are. The job of the gut is to absorb the goodness from food. To do this, it first has to reduce food particles to
Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease (an autoimmune disease) are not nearly as common as hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (also an autoimmune disease). Autoimmune disease is defined as a disease in which the body produces antibodies that attack its own tissues, leading to the deterioration and in some cases to the
This series has been broken into two parts’ hypothyroidism, which we addressed some time ago and hyperthyroidism, which can actually be quite dangerous. For those who did not see the introduction to hypothyroidism, here’s some information on what the thyroid gland is and what it does. The
In conjunction with a healthy diet and supplementation, there are certain lifestyle choices that can make a difference in managing low estrogen. First and foremost is exercise. It does a body good at any time of life. We all need to step away from the screens and
The past couple of weeks we’ve talked about what estrogen is and what it does, what happens when it gets too low and what you can eat to raise your estrogen levels. So what do you do if diet alone is not working? If your levels are
There’s so much talk about the dangers of estrogen dominance and how to lower these levels. One of the most important aspects of estrogen balance is the health of your liver. Estrogen is metabolized through your liver and is excreted from your system through urine. If your
Last week we talked about what estrogen is and what it does. This week we dive into what happens when estrogen levels are low. Low estrogen (and for the purposes of this post we’re talking exclusively about estradiol) normally does not affect the majority of women until
There are several things that you can do from a lifestyle perspective that can help you balance out of whack androgens. Weight Loss – In many cases women who have an excess of androgens (especially those with PCOS) also carry excess weight on their bodies. Weight loss
Last week we spoke about how nutrition plays a part in balancing androgen levels. Sometimes, however, food is not quite enough and we need a little extra help. This is where supplements, or nutraceuticals, come in handy. There aren’t many, so don’t worry, I won’t have you
You had to know as a nutritionist that I was going to get here eventually. After all, food is the number one contributor to health. It will either heal you or make you sick. Last week I spoke a fair bit about nutrition for PCOS and I
Although there does not seem to be any hard and fast rules about PCOS, there seem to be some commonalities. In the majority of women diagnosed with PCOS, there is a combination of high androgens and high insulin. Often obesity is a factor, although not always. PCOS
Do you talk to your partner about sex? I don’t mean talking dirty or sexting, although those are a lot of fun and I highly encourage them. I mean really talk? About what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d like to try. Ladies, do you
What is insulin resistance? It’s when you need higher and higher levels of insulin for the same result – that is, to drive glucose into cells as fuel. It’s the law of diminishing returns; over time, insulin becomes less effective at lowering blood glucose and the cells
Do you ever feel like sex is a chore? Do you feel like sex is just one more thing on your long list of things to do? You’re so freeking tired from running around for the job, the house, the kids (if you have any), the spouse,
To find out more about what androgens are and what they do, please check out last week’s post. PCOS … polycystic ovarian syndrome … is a condition where the sex hormones become unbalanced for some yet unknown reason, and start making more androgens which in turn often
So you might be wondering where I’m going with this topic. First of all, let me tell you what I’m not. I’m not a psychiatrist, psychologist, doctor, counselor or sex therapist. What I am, is a holistic nutritionist who specializing in helping both men and women balance
Androgens are a group of sex hormones that strongly affect your liveliness, libido, mood and self-confidence. They include testosterone, dehyroepiandrosterone (DHEA), Androstenedoine and Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and yes, they are a mouthful. Testosterone is the most widely known of the androgen family. It’s the hormone that inspires motocross,
I’m a big believer in following your heart and your gut (aka intuition). I’ve tried following my head by doing what I thought was the proper thing to do, what was expected of me, what was acceptable. But you know what? It hasn’t fulfilled me. When I
Lifestyle changes may not cure hypothyroidism, especially if it’s severe, but they certainly help to manage some of the symptoms. In the last post of this series, I wanted to give you some practical ideas of changes you can make. The biggest lifestyle choice you can make
In last week’s post, we talked about foods that can help heal low thyroid. A lot of the supplements I’ll discuss this week are similar but I’ll explain a little further. Vitamin D deficiency is very common in people with autoimmune thyroiditis as well as in people who
So it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve talked about the thyroid. You can catch up on what it is and what happens when things go wrong, in previous posts. Although what you eat may not actually reverse hypothyroidism, getting the nutrients you need can certainly
Did you know that there are approximately 100 hormones in our bodies? I don’t want to overwhelm you so the main groups of hormones I’m focusing on today are sex, weight loss and stress hormones. Sex Hormones The main sex hormones are estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Many
The thyroid is a rather complicated issue. Hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis causes everything to slow down whereas Hyperthyroidism or Graves Disease causes everything to speed up. This sounds great when it comes to metabolism but can ultimately lead to hypothyroidism. More on that next week. So how
This series will be broken into two parts … hypothyroidism (which seems to cause more issues) and hyperthyroidism which can actually be quite dangerous. We’ll tackle hypothyroidism first starting next week. Now for some information on what the thyroid gland is and what it does. The thyroid
We are coming to the end of our series on excess estrogen … what is it, what happens when estrogen is too high, nutritional support and supplementation. Today is all about choices. There are many choices that we can make throughout the day that will either help
The past couple of weeks we’ve been discussing estrogen and what it does, what happens when it gets too high (estrogen dominance) and what to eat to help balance the estrogen to progesterone ratio. Today … it’s all about getting a little help. As I’ve mentioned before,
The past couple of weeks we’ve talked about what estrogen is and what it does as well as what happens when it gets out of control. Today we’ll discuss what you can do nutritionally to lower your bad estrogen levels. First of all, let’s talk about what
There are two main reasons why high estrogen can become an issue when it dominates progesterone and takes the lead. One reason is simply that we’re getting older and no longer in prime reproductive land and progesterone levels can naturally drop. This still needs to be addressed
Our darling diva hormone. She’s the main female hormone responsible for our dominant female traits such as hips, breasts and overall voluptuousness. In fact, estrogen consists of 3 subtypes … estrone, estradiol and estriol. Estrone is produced mostly in body fat which is one reason why anorexic
During the past few weeks, we’ve talked about what progesterone is, what happens when it gets unbalanced, what to eat to help improve progesterone levels and what supplements help. Today we’ll talk about what lifestyle changes you can make to help improve your progesterone level. As with any lifestyle
You’ve been diagnosed with low progesterone and you’ve changed your diet but you’re still exhibiting signs of deficiency. What is a girl to do? There is no “magic bullet” for low progesterone just like there isn’t one to make you lose fat. There are, however, a number
While progesterone replacement therapy (even bio-identical or natural hormones) is certainly an option for balancing progesterone levels that are really out of whack, I highly recommend that you take a more natural approach first. What we eat has a profound effect on our health and many of
Last week we spoke about what progesterone is and what it does. This week we discuss what happens when progesterone is too low. Essentially we become unbalanced, both physically and emotionally. Common symptoms to low progesterone include PMS, fibroids, painful periods and fluctuating mood swings. Four other,
Progesterone and Estrogen are the two major sex hormones that affect women. How we look, how we feel, how we act even. Progesterone is the key hormone during pregnancy and affects everything from PMS to sleepless nights. Estrogen and Progesterone are always engaged in a dance of
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series as we’ve explored what cortisol is, what it does, what happens when it goes bad and what to eat and supplement to get you back on track. Today we’re talking about lifestyle changes that you can make to help with the
I’m a nutritionist. My main focus is on food. But sometimes food alone is not enough to obtain some sort of equilibrium when cortisol levels are severely unbalanced. Disclaimer…. I am not a naturopath or medical doctor and therefore do not have the right to diagnose anyone
As a holistic nutritionist, I am primarily concerned with how your food intake is affecting your body. What are you eating? Why? Do you have cravings? How do you feel before you eat? After you eat? I don’t use the word diet because it’s gotten such a
Cortisol itself isn’t a bad thing as I mentioned last week. Cortisol can become too high, too low or it can swing wildly from too high to too low. There are three stages to the stress response…alarm, resistance and exhaustion. The initial response to stress is
This is how life makes us feel sometimes. Stress. It can be our best friend or our worst enemy. In moderation it can give us a boost of energy to accomplish miracles. But when it’s unrelenting, chronic, never ending … it can wear us down and create
When I graduated from nutrition school, I was so excited and I was ready to help everyone and take on the world and quit my job to focus on helping others. And then life got in the way. The 15 months following graduation were some of the