The Aunt Flow rage, PMS mood swings, and days where you love & hate everything at the same time is blamed on hormonal imbalance but what exactly does that mean?

Hormonal imbalance is one of those phrases commonly used by the medical community but often misinterpreted by someone without a medical degree.

It wasn’t until I was studying to become a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner did, I start to understand all the functions of hormones. And it wasn’t until I started my own journey of improving my gut health did I realize the negative impact of abnormal levels of hormones.

Hormonal imbalance can make you feel crazy. It can also be very frustrating if you’re on a path of becoming healthy and those results aren’t falling in place.

You don’t need a medical degree to have the basic understanding of hormonal imbalance. More importantly, you should be able to tell if you are having hormonal imbalance. There are five basic signs of hormonal...

Ditching the stubborn weight is a daunting task. You barely feel like you have time to fix your hair in the morning let alone meal prep and squeeze in a gym session.

In working with hundreds of clients on improving gut health for weight loss, I see a common denominator for the women who have long term success.  

1)     They get in a groove and stick with it

2)     Their healthy habits are non-negotiable

How to Get Your Groove On and Stick With It

You know you’re ready to focus on improving your gut health for weight loss when you light up about preparing and following through the protocol tasks. You don't feel pressure from outside sources. You only feel a strong inner desire because it’s what you want instead of being driven by trends, society, parents, etc.

Tips for sticking with it:

• Diet: Eat the right types of food for your body and eliminate your food sensitivities for 90 days 
• Rest: Core hours of rest are from 10pm-2am. If you really need to watch...

ELIMINATION DIETS AND GUT HEALTH

To eliminate or not to eliminate, that is the question.

I get a lot of questions about elimination diets.

• Do elimination diets work?
• What foods should I eliminate?
• How long do I need to eliminate those foods?
• What foods can I eat?

Elimination diets can be extremely effective and informative. BUT, can you stick it out?

Pros to elimination diets:

• Help you discover which foods you may be sensitive or intolerance to. During this diet period it allows your body time to restore from the constant inflammatory response from certain foods triggering in your digestive and immune system.
• Add in nutrient-dense and anti-inflammatory foods which help accelerate rebuilding & restoring a healthy internal environment for the digestive system.
• Typically eliminate gluten, grains, dairy, soy, nightshade vegetables, all processed foods, added sugars, peanuts and tree nuts, alcohol, and eggs.
• Typically eliminate foods for at least 30 days and then are slowly...

My obsession with bone broth is REAL!

I walked into my functional medicine doc 8 years ago with high heels and booshie corporate clothes. On the outside I had it all together. A “highly successful young professional mom” living the Super WoMOM “she does it all” type of life.

“You’ve got it together Mar!” “How do you do it all Mar?” Common questions from others.

On the inside I was a wrecking ball. My brain was mush, I was drained constantly searching for energy boosting sugar sources, and my stomach was plagued with painful bloat and gas.

When I discovered I had an imbalance in my gut bacteria, leaky gut, food sensitivities, and brain fog my Doc placed me on a lifestyle protocol to reduce my symptoms naturally instead of turning to pills to fix a specific issue.

One of my favorite products for restoring the body has been Bone Broth. It's also been been an integral product in most of my client’s personalized protocols.

Bone...

It was a teaser!

We had a day or two of 50-degree weather in Michigan and then BAM – SNOW!

We expect those random snow days until May but they're never easy. The length of gray skies, bone chilling temperatures, and lack of fresh air is depressing. The Winter Blues can keep you from starting your “I want to feel good and get healthy” program.

Instead of delaying your “get healthy” program one more day because you’re not in the feel good mood, make a commitment to include these super mood boosting nutrients in your diet.

B12: A vitamin essential for brain and central nervous system function, forming red blood cells and converting food into energy.

Iron: A mineral which plays a significant role in your moods, attention span, and overall health.

Magnesium: A mineral which facilitates brain electrical activity and aids in calming the nervous system.

Omega-3: A fatty acid which provides essential DHA to support brain development. 

Probiotic: Good...

Have you fallen victim to a diet trend because your friend had major success? You tried it and your results were “meh,” at best. Or maybe you spent $$$ only for it not to work.

In order to lose weight and feel great, you NEED the 6-Step Protocol. 

1. Diagnose
2. Diet
3. Rest
4. Exercise 
5. Stress Management
6. Supplements

Most often as a busy professional mom you skip about 80% of these steps because you’re overwhelmed with doing it all. 

When it comes to losing weight, you need to eat the “right foods”. Finding the “right” foods is more important than eating “less” food. Your body needs food for fuel, but it also needs the right fuel mixture for your unique gut blueprint.  

In my practice, I focus on helping you find the foods with diagnostic testing and metabolic typing analysis. You know you have the right fuel mixture when you start shedding the stubborn weight and your chronic symptoms fade away.  

...

If all you had to do to lose weight was thoroughly chew your food, would you focus on that effort? 

Losing weight and ditching the bloat starts with chewing your food properly. Digestion begins in your mouth. The minute you smell or start chewing food enzymes are released from your digestive system which includes the mouth. The enzymes released in your mouth help to break down carbohydrates.

A professional working mom’s life is not set up for long lunch breaks or peaceful dinners at the kitchen table. It requires healthy meals to accommodate a need for speed.

Shoveling food without proper breakdown sets the stage for poor digestion.  Poor digestion opens the floodgate to unwanted symptoms like:  weight gain, acne, poor sleep, hormonal issues, adrenal fatigue, constipation, acne, IBS, low sex drive, mood swings, and food allergies! Most importantly, when you do not digest properly your body cannot transform your food into energy. 

I hear this all the time...

When you’re the household CEO it’s difficult to plan healthy meals as well as healthy snacks. If you caught my last blog post 8 Simple Belly Busting Snacks you know that snacks may be the missing ingredient to weight loss. 

Just as meal prepping can be extremely helpful in weight loss so can snack prepping. If you’re snack ill-prepared it can lead to grabbing handfuls of chocolate chips and countless dives into the peanut butter jar.

Before derailing yourself one more night, consider these methods of having healthy snacks ready to go when you or your family need a quick bite.

Balance Snacks Equally

Yin-Yang is an important concept in weight loss. When your circle of life is imbalanced you will experience symptoms like being unable to lose stubborn weight. When you crave salty it’s an indication of a mineral imbalance. When you crave sweets it’s an indication you need a source of energy. 

Plan out equal amounts of healthy salty and sweet snacks...

Skipping meals, depriving, and cutting calories each day may be the WORST way to lose weight!

What if I told you, you may be the person who can lose weight on snacks? 

Yes, there are people who do well on mini meals!

If you live in a stressed-out body, tackling the constant chaos of corporate and household CEO, than you may be the body type which strives on mini meals.  

Mini meals/snacks keep your blood sugar stable. A stressed-out body craves the constant need for stabilization and energy.  

Here are some of my favorite go to snacks:

• ¹⁄₄ cup raw seeds or nuts with 1 tsp of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
• 1-2 Tablespoons sunflower seed butter, almond butter, hemp seed butter, or pumpkin seed butter mixed with ¼ scoop  vanilla collagen powder. Try Ancient Nutrition Vanilla Collagen or Ancient Nutrition Vanilla Protein Powder
• 1 sliced cucumber with sea salt + a dash of cayenne
• Fresh figs + ½ cup coconut yogurt
• 1 apple, ¹⁄₂ banana, ¹...

Stressed Out?

Stress not only thinks you need wine at 6pm but also depletes your mineral reserves causing exhaustion. 

When you crave items like chocolate it’s your body’s signal that there is a magnesium and hormone imbalance. 

Instead of sneaking into the pantry for multiple handfuls of chocolate chips try crushing your chocolate craving with my two new favorite healthy chocolate product picks:

LMNT Chocolate Mint

Taste: A

LMNT Lab has several flavors, raspberry being one of my favorites, but if you’re looking for a weight-friendly alternative to hot chocolate I recommend swapping out the chemical infested hot chocolate packets with the LMNT Mint Chocolate. 

Recipe: 

Mix ½ Mint Chocolate packet with 8 oz of vanilla almond milk.  

Nutritional Value: A (compared to packaged hot chocolate)

Pro: Dairy free, sugar free, stabilize blood sugar, energy boost

Con: Not real chocolate

Crio Bru - Brewed Cacao

Taste: A

This sample pack...