Homemade Gluten-Free Flatbread Bun (also, nut-free!)

I have been mostly gluten-free for a few years or so now because of the nasty effects that gluten can have on ones gut and physical health and I really haven't found any gluten-free bread replacements that I can really stand behind. Mostly because of their long list of ingredients and the GF breads that I do approve of are just so darn pricey. So I have cut out all types of homemade sandwiches and wraps over the years and since they haven't been on the menu for so long I don't really miss them very often...BUT from time to time I get a hankering for one.

I've tried making some coconut flour breads in the past but they usually called for a ton of eggs because coconut four is super dense and I just can't eat eggs in large quantities without having respiratory issues. Plus I could never really get them to hold together enough to make a sandwich with. So recently during my 28-Day Beat Belly Bloat group program, myself and others shared a couple soy, dairy, gluten and egg-free tortilla and na'an recipes using different flours like quinoa, almond and tapioca flour. I tried several of my own recipe variations with other fours I had on hand but they just never came out quite right. Then I used tapioca for the first time and noticed how amazingly you could create a bread-like bun using only a few ingredients. So after several experimental recipes I have settled on a delicious gluten-free flatbread bun made of brown rice an tapioca flour.

I've enjoyed the bun with both chicken breast and a burger patty topped with tomato and avocado and the bun has stayed intact every time. Not only does it stay intact while eating the whole sandwich but it also travels well to make sandwiches at the beach or on a picnic. Best of all it tastes buttery delicious! 

I have this sandwich about one meal a day as this is by no means a low carb sandwich as it has about 43g of carbohydrates. So don't go crazy and eat three of them once you taste how yummy they are! The great thing is it's void of all the junk ingredients that most processed packaged gluten and gluten-free breads have which makes your body happier and healthier!

Gluten-Free Flatbread Bun

• 1/4 brown rice flour
• 2 Tbsps tapioca flour
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive or coconut oil
• 1/4 cup water
• Salt to taste, I use a lot for flavoring

1. Pre-heat a flat pan to medium heat.
2. In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients. Slowly stir in olive oil and then water, make sure it does not become too liquidy. If it the mix does look too runny, add less water. 
3. Spray the pan lightly. I use a misto oil sprayer to avoid soy and chemicals. Pour liquid out into 2 round flat pancake like circles. 
4. Cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side until the bun starts to slightly brown. Then flip and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes. Let cool and enjoy with your favorite protein and toppings. 

Tips for travel: If you don't plan to eat the sandwich right away, let the bun cool first then wrap it in a paper towel and put it in a ziplock bag. The paper towel may stick to the bun but it will remove easily.

Disclaimer: We earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. We recommend only products that we would use in our own home or that we would recommend for our clients. Your purchases help to support our blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps us to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us continue what we LOVE to do!

Curry Spice Chicken Drumstick Recipe

Curry dishes not only taste amazing but are also great for their many health benefits because they use anti-inflammatory ingredient blends such as turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. When you eat a diet of whole natural food that helps to fight inflammation rather than food that causes inflammation such as processed packaged foods with ingredients you can't pronounce, you are not only helping your body to feel better by relieving joint pain and preventing disease, but you are also making it easier for your body to lose those extra pounds that just wont go away. So next time you get a hankering for something spicy, run to the store and pick up some wings and whip up this easy-to-make curry spice chicken drumstick dish! Your taste buds will not be disappointed!

Curry Spice Drumsticks

• 2 packs of organic chicken drumsticks (about 8-10)
• 2 Tbsps organic cold pressed coconut oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp curry spice
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp garlic
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash drumsticks and pat dry. Set aside on a plate for seasoning.

2. Sprinkle drumsticks evenly with the above spices, add more or less cayenne to alter the spice factor.

3. Heat coconut oil in skillet over medium/high heat. 

4. Place each drumstick skin side down in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip over for an additional 3 minutes. Finally flip back over to the skin side and cover for roughly 15 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

Sources:

Dr. Mercola - http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/02/02/anti-inflammatory-foods-herbs-spices.aspx

Dr. Mark Hyman - http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/01/27/inflammation-how-to-cool-the-fire-inside-you-thats-making-you-fat-and-diseased/#close

Disclaimer: We earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. We recommend only products that we would use in our own home or that we would recommend for our clients. Your purchases help to support our blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps us to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us continue what we LOVE to do!

How To Choose The Perfect Budget Blender

Back when I first started on my health journey, I owned a standard blender which was awesome for making smoothies and puddings but the clean up without the use of a dish washer made it tough for me to use it every day. I then purchased a small travel size blender to make my smoothie clean up a little less laborious. I loved those two blenders because they both fit my needs at the time and each cost very little money. But as my needs changed, I started to want to expand my blending into making nut/seed butters such as yummy sunflower seed butter and also various types of nut milks. So I started my search for the perfect blender that wasn't going to break the bank.

What To Look For:

Determining which budget blender is best for your needs it totally up to what you want to get out of your blender! So first we need to find out what those needs actually are. 

Make a list of what you want in:

• travel capabilities
• weight and size for ease of storage
• glass or plastic pitcher - most budget blenders will be plastics so look for a BPA-free pitcher
• power - do you want to make smoothies or something more complex like nut butters?
• price point - how much are you willing to spend to find the perfect budget blender?
• features and accessories 
• warranty

Next do some research, ask your friends which blenders they like and why, and ALWAYS read reviews on amazon.com. This will help you determine if they blender you are buying is a quality machine that will last.

When I was on the hunt for my budget blenders I was specifically looking for blenders to fit all my needs which for me were:  power, size, quality and cost efficiency.

This is what I found..

The High Powered Blender:

For me personally, a Vitamix just wasn't an option at a price tag upwards of $499. So I did my homework and got connected with the Oster company who makes their Versa Blender line. When I discovered the Versa line, I was going to purchase the 1100 version but was very fortunate to be gifted two of their models (all opinions I share here are my own)! I received the $200 Versa 1400 watt which is a high power blender that can make hot soups and nut butters and is very comparable to the power and wattage of a Vitamix. I also received the $135-$170 Versa 1100 watt which actually had more features like a food processor attachment, the ability to make single serve smoothies as well as both a large and small blending pitcher, and it too made nut butters and cold soups. Ultimately, I decided to keep the Versa 1100 watt blender because it had so many more features and I didn't really notice a huge difference in the power between the 1400 and 1100 watt machines. I also really love that the Versa line of blenders are super light weight and can easily be moved around the kitchen or stored in a cabinet without being a pain to take in and out. Both models are also self cleaning which was another huge plus for me as I don't have a dishwasher. The Versa line also has a 7 year warranty so you don't have to worry about parts breaking on you.

The Travel Blender:

I've had 2 models of this single serve Hamilton Beach travel blender now for almost 5 years. I absolutely love it's small size and great blending capabilities. First blender lasted me about 3 years of normal use and I loved it so much that I purchased a second one as a replacement. It only costs around $15 and really comes in handy when I am staying in hotels or rentals or even at home when I just want to make a super fast smoothie without a lot of pieces or clean-up. It's extremely light weight and doesn't take up a lot of storage space in the cabinet. 

The Standard Counter Top Blender:

This is your standard 700 watt blender from Hamilton Beach that costs around $35. It will do basic things like crush ice, multi-serving smoothies, margaritas and milkshakes. This is not the exact blender I have as mine is an older model and much more basic than this one. If you need an inexpensive blender for normal minimal every day functions, this style should work well for you. You can probably find an even cheaper standard model from either Target, Wal-mart or K-mart, just look up reviews online before you make your purchase to make sure it blends well. 

One of my favorite features that I found of my standard blender is that I can attach a blending blade to a quart size mason jar and blend individual to-go smoothies without having to use a toxic plastic container. It also makes it very easy to pre-prep your smoothies at night and just blend them quickly in the morning. I have used this trick on several different brands of blenders and it even works with my Oster Versa blender which has made me really happy! 

What is your favorite brand of budget blender? Does the mason jar blender trick work with your blender? Let me know below!

Check out some of my favorite smoothies in my FREE 3-Day Gluten-Free Detox!

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Berry Delicious Breakfast Smoothie

I absolutely love a good smoothie for breakfast because they pack a big nutritional punch, they keep you feeling full until your next meal, they don't take up much time to prepare and can easily be consumed anywhere which make them the perfect on-the-go food! You can even prepare most of your smoothie ingredients a week in advance by washing and trimming your fruit, then placing fruit smoothie portions into individual jars to freeze. Each morning you can throw them into the blender and go.

So what makes a smoothie good for you?

 Because smoothies are:

• full of amazing vitamins, enzymes and minerals
• easy to digest, which mean optimal assimilation of your nutrients
• great for stabilizing blood sugar, both healthy fats and protein are key for blood sugar stabilization
• a great way to consume a variety of different fruits or vegetables at one time
• terrific for cleansing the body of toxicity
• an easy way to add more fiber to your diet for optimal bowel function

Berry Delicious Breakfast Smoothie

• 8oz almond or coconut milk
• 1 scoop protein powder - I recommend either vegan Sunwarrior brand or 2 Tbsps grassfed Great Lakes Collagen
• A handful of organic raw spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen organic strawberries
• 1/4 slice of avocado
• 2 tsp Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
• Organic stevia and cinnamon to taste

Blend well in either a standard, travel or high power blender with 2-3 ice cubes and enjoy!

Sources:

SF Gate - http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/fats-proteins-affect-blood-sugar-levels-11172.html

Disclaimer: We earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. We recommend only products that we would use in our own home or that we would recommend for our clients. Your purchases help to support our blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps us to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us continue what we LOVE to do!

6 Tips For Eating Out With Food Allergies and Sensitivities

Food sensitivities and allergies are extremely common these days because so many of us have compromised immune systems due to the rise of heavy use of pesticides sprayed on our foods, the over consumption of genetically modified and processed foods, and other environmental toxins that we breathe in on a regular basis...just to name a few reasons. Some people are born with sensitivities to certain foods but many, including myself, have developed food sensitivities and allergies over time which can actually be the result of a leaky gut syndrome. If you are not familiar with leaky gut, it is when the gut is damaged causing small holes in the intestinal lining which allows food particles and toxins that are normally digested to go directly into the bloodstream causing an immune response that can come in the form of food allergies and sensitivities, brain fog, eczema, headaches, bloating, fatigue, muscle aches, diarrhea and many more symptoms.

There are several ways that one can find out about food allergies and sensitivities. A popular but less accurate way to find out about problematic foods is to get some form of allergy testing which usually done through blood work. This method has been used for years but you will most likely discover that you are reacting to more foods than actually show up on your test results. My preferred testing method is to do an elimination diet which is where you will remove allergenic foods for about two weeks, then slowly add back in one food at a time and note how your body reacts to it over the next 24-48 hours. I used the elimination diet to find out about my food sensitivity to dairy, egg white, and soy, then later confirmed my soy allergy through blood work.

Now just because you react to a food doesn't mean that you have to avoid that food for the rest of your life. Most of the time you can remove the food for an extended period of time and work on healing your leaky gut through eating healthy whole foods and supplementation, then later add the food back in and enjoy sparingly. I did this with my egg white sensitivity. I removed eggs completely for several months while healing my gut then slowly added back in organic pasture-raised whole eggs and now I can enjoy them regularly. 

But in the meantime while you are healing your gut, you will want to do your best to keep that food out of your diet. This can be especially hard when you are eating out. As I mentioned earlier I am allergic to soy, lactose intolerant, and I avoid gluten because I recognize the poor effects that gluten has on the immune system. Avoiding these three foods while eating out isn’t an easy task and takes some effort. I’ve had really amazing experiences with accommodating restaurants and really awful ones where I had to leave restaurants because they every food item on the menu was marinated in soybean (vegetable) oil. Preparation and communication are key when you want to enjoy a nice meal without feeling sick, gassy or bloated.

6 Tips For Eating Out With Food Allergies and Sensitivities

• Call ahead before you dine. Call ahead before you head out for dinner and ask to speak to a manager or head chef, tell them what your food allergy is and ask what items (if any) you could safely order from the menu. Some restaurants even have a designated allergy menu that will list out all of the ingredients making it easy for you to decide what to eat. Most restaurants are very accommodating and are happy to prepare you something that is not on the menu. 

• Be a food detective and ask your server a lot of questions. Tell your server that you have a food allergy upon sitting down. Ask questions about cooking oils and other ingredients used in marinades and sauces. Most servers are not educated about food allergies so you need to be a detective and ask a lot of questions. Ask that your food be prepared away from other dishes and that the pans and utensils used are cleaned thoroughly to avoid cross contamination.

• Simpler meals are always better. The less complicated your order is, the less likely that they will mess it up. A simple dish made up of protein such as chicken or fish served with avocado slices and sautéed vegetables cooked in olive oil is really hard to mess up. Just because it isn't pasta or bread loaded down with sauces doesn't mean it still can't be a delicious meal!

• Make a list of your favorite allergy friendly restaurants. Talk to others who have food allergies in your area and find out what their favorite restaurants are. Check Allergy friendly websites and phone apps such as Allergy Eats or do a search in Yelp or Google for allergy friendly restaurants. My go to restaurants are Bareburger, Hu Kitchen, Dig Inn, Siggy’s Good Food and Whole Foods Market because they have several soy, dairy & gluten-free meal options, the food is amazing and they have several locations around New York City. Make a list of several go-to spot so you always have a handful of restaurants to suggest for lunch and dinner.

• Realize that some cuisines may be off limits for a while. From my experience I’ve noticed that the hardest restaurants to avoid soy and gluten are Mexican, Chinese and Thai. That's not always the case because I've found a few exceptions to the rule so it's still best to call ahead. Just be prepared to search for another cuisine. Italian restaurants can be great for avoiding soy, dairy and gluten because most of them cook with olive oil and now many have gluten-free options.

• Be prepared to be disappointed and uncomfortable from time to time. No one likes to seem like the “picky” eater or weird person who is allergic to everything, but just try remember how important it is to avoid foods that are making you inflamed and sick. Some friends and family may not understand your dietary restrictions and that's totally okay.  Communication is key so make sure you explain your new way of eating to your loved ones, offer to answer any questions that they may have, and ask for their understanding.

*These tips are for less severe food allergies and sensitivities. If you have more serious allergies such as anaphylaxis, then you should take extra precautions when dining out.

What are your best tips for eating out with food allergies and sensitivities?

Reduce Belly Bloat With This Flat Belly Tea Recipe

Most people start their day first thing with a big cup of delicious hot coffee, then rush to the office and enjoy yet another large cup of coffee all the while forgetting one very important detail which is essential all hours of the day - hydration! When you are gulping down coffee all morning, there is a very high chance that you are not drinking water alongside your cup of Joe. This used to be a very bad habit of mine. Lunchtime would roll around and all of the sudden I'd realize that I haven't had a cup of water all day.

Most all of my female clients deal with the dreaded belly bloat which can come from a host of things like food allergies, leaky gut, candida, too much sodium, or more simply just plain old dehydration! When we are rushing around each day running on coffee alone for the first half of the day, we start to retain water which is the last thing we want when we are trying to get a flat belly. 

I'm not out to make coffee the bad guy because there are actually a lot of benefits to drinking organic coffee such as antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. But I can bet that if you are just drinking coffee from Starbucks or the office pot of coffee, then you are most likely drinking coffee that has been heavily sprayed with pesticides that are toxic to our bodies and get stored away in our fat cells. I don't know about you, but I don't need any extra junk stored in my fat cells!

So what can be done to start reducing that stubborn belly bloat?

There are two things that I absolutely love to do in the mornings to help reduce belly bloat...

• #1 Drink a large glass of water first thing when you wake up. I prefer warm water with the juice of half a lemon, but just plain warm water is perfectly fine too. 

• #2 Swap your morning coffee with my favorite flat belly tea recipe (below).

Not only will both of these morning rituals help you to kick your coffee habits to the curb it will also decrease belly bloat, help stimulate digestion, stop cravings in their tracks, and may help with weight loss by jump-starting the metabolism! You will still need to remember to drink water during the rest of your day, so make sure to keep a water bottle next to you to sip on throughout the day.  

Flat Belly Tea Recipe

• 1 cup hot organic green tea

• 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

• Juice from half a lemon

• Stevia or raw honey to taste

1. Boil hot water then brew 1-2 tea bags of green tea in 8oz of filtered water.

2. Add apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and stevia to taste.

3. Stir and enjoy!

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Ready kick belly bloat to the curb? Then click the button below to grab my freebie 5 Steps to Beat Belly Bloat!

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What's your best tip for de-bloating or ditching the coffee habit?

Disclaimer: We earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. We recommend only products that we would use in our own home or that we would recommend for our clients. Your purchases help to support our blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps us to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us continue what we LOVE to do!

Meal Prepping: My #1 Weight Loss Tool + a Roasted Garlic Rosemary Chicken Recipe

Exsoycise is now Awakened Nutrition & Training, a blog for health seekers, food lovers and dream body builders!

If you knew me about 6 years ago, you would have laughed at the thought of me being a healthy eater much less a health coach. I had just moved to NYC and my time as a vegetarian was coming to an end. I can see how when one would hear me say “I was a vegetarian”, that would lead you to believe I was health conscious. But let me tell you, I was so far from the picture of health! I was the girl eating pizza at 2am after a long night of drinking and partying, and I loved any and ALL desserts that NYC had to offer. I mean, you can't move to NYC and not enjoy some of the best foods on Earth, right?

I often times, I would forget to bring my lunch to work and order food that I know wasn't great for me usually under the pressure of co-workers. Or I'd have a fridge full of random food and I wouldn't know what to cook. The next thing you know, I'd be so ravaging hungry that I'd end up ordering take-out or another poor food choice - like a tub of ice cream in the freezer or an entire jar of peanut butter.

I was already heavy when I moved up here, but with all the amazing foods I was eating the scale continued to go up and my closet was also expanding from having to buy larger size clothes as my waistline expanded.

I was not happy with how I looked and despite how bad I wanted to lose the weight, I was never able to achieve my weight loss goals mainly because I didn't know where to start. I was so tired of falling back into my old habits of crash dieting and needed a serious change!

Luckily, I started dating Chris and he came to my rescue like a knight in shining armor! He taught me about foods, like clean proteins, complex carbs and health fats, that I should to eat to nourish my body and workouts I should do in order to create lean muscle.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what food I should eat for the week and even more time putting them all on an excel spreadsheet. Meal planning became even more of a struggle for me once I did an allergy elimination diet and realized I was allergic to soy and intolerant of dairy. I soon realized that it's nearly impossible to find packaged foods at the store that were both soy and dairy-free. I had many "freak out" moments in the aisles of the grocery store when I realized I could no longer enjoy many of the foods I had loved my entire life.

It was a struggle for me at first, but I soon learned that these foods were acting as poisons to my body causing me to stay in a constant state of inflammation, hold onto body fat, and causing me to have a leaky gut. Once I cut out most processed packaged foods and started incorporating more whole foods by planning and cooking my meals each week, those stubborn pounds started to come off which resulted in 17lbs of weight loss in the first year.

Meal planning over the years has helped me to transform my body and take a lot of stress out of eating a soy, dairy and gluten-free diet. AND I almost always start noticing a shift in my weight when I start to stray away from planning and preparing my meals regularly. You can look back at many past blog posts where I have “gotten back on the wagon” using meal planning. It’s really such an easy and effective tool.

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It’s been my goal over the last few years has been to show my clients and blog readers that cooking and eating healthy foods, even when dealing with food allergies or sensitivities, does not have to be difficult or boring; it can be an easy process and taste delicious at the same time! That is why I rcreated the 4-Week Soy, Dairy & Gluten-Free Meal Plan and recipes just to share with all of YOU!

The 4-week meal plan is the perfect jump-start to help you get back on track with your health and wellness goals after the holidays without having to follow some fad diet. You don't have to let poor food choices get in the way of achieving your goals any longer! Let healthy wholesome food be the solid foundation for achieving your own transformation!

Maybe you are also soy, dairy and/or gluten-free and are looking for some easy-to-make recipes or maybe you just want to incorporate more whole foods into your diet in order to shed a few pounds or maintain your current weight. Whatever your reasons for wanting to be the healthiest version of YOU possible, these meal plans are loaded with so many great recipes and tips that will help!

But I really want you to be successful whether you buy my meal plans or not, so I've completely revamped the FREE 7-Day Meal Plan, that many of you all have already downloaded! It now includes 15 delicious recipes, an easy-to-read 7-day plan, and an exact list of what you need to buy from the grocery store. I want meal planning to be as simple as possible for you guys because I know that it's one of the key tools that will help you make daily healthy food choices to maintain your ideal body weight and remove inflammatory foods that are making us sick and fat. You can grab the new copy of the FREE 7-Day Meal Plan HERE. I'm so excited to hear how you guys like it!!

I wanted to share one of my favorite entrée recipes with you from the meal plan. I seriously make it just about every week and it’s so easy! It’s also a great dish to serve when you have guests over for dinner. When I made it this last Thursday, I also added 1-2 teaspoons dried Thyme and 1 tablespoon dried Sage that came from Chris’s mother’s garden – such a treat! You can really add any herbs to this recipe and it would taste amazing!

Roasted Garlic Rosemary Chicken Breast and Legs – 4 Servings

From Week 4 of the 4-Week Soy, Dairy & Gluten-Free Meal Plan

• 2 bone in organic chicken breasts and 4 legs with skin on (I get the pack from Trader Joe's)
• 3-4 cloves garlic cut into thick slices
• 1 ½ tablespoon coconut oil melted
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread about 1 tablespoon coconut oil into bottom of a 9x13 pan.
2. Cut garlic into thick slices and chop rosemary. Salt and pepper the bottoms of chicken, then place into pan skin side up. Separate and lift up the skin, place 2-3 slices of garlic under the skin and make sure they are covered under the skin. Brush the tops of the chicken with ½ tablespoon coconut oil, sprinkle rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done. Enjoy!

3 Easy Ways to Detox Using Coconut Oil

I was very honored last summer to write this article for the Kelapo Coconut Oil Blog. I loved it so much that I wanted to re-post it here so you don't miss out this great information! Enjoy..

Coconut oil is beginning to be a pantry staple in most households these days and for good reason. It not only smells and tastes delicious, but it also aides in helping you to lose belly fat, and improves digestion. Also, it's a great high-heat cooking oil to use in place of other more delicate oils that become rancid at high temperatures.

 But there is so much more to coconut oil than pleasing your palate. Did you know that you can actually use coconut oil to help your body detox? 

 Why detox you ask? Well we live in a world where we are exposed to hundreds of chemical toxins each day through our air, food, water, household cleaning and beauty products.  Not to mention there are over 80,000 new chemicals released into our environment each year and that number is only growing. 

 So finding simple ways to detox your life daily is essential to living a vibrant healthy disease-free life.  

Here are 3 ways you can start detoxing with coconut oil right now!

Cleanse your teeth by oil pulling with coconut oil

Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic practice that will help to remove toxins, bacteria, mucus and plaque from your mouth. This is a result of swishing and pulling oil around your mouth which traps the bacteria and toxins making it easy for removal. You can use different oils for this, but I prefer to use organic coconut oil because of its antibacterial properties. Monolaurin is found in coconut oil and is a fierce bacteria and virus killer. As an added bonus, it's also said to whiten teeth and freshens breath!

Do this first thing each morning:

• Scoop 1 Tbsp of organic coconut oil into your mouth. (When first getting started, you can cut the amount in half and work your way up to the full tablespoon.)
• Swish and pull the oil all around your mouth for 15-20 minutes. (Don't worry if it's weird at first, you can start with 10 minutes and build up if needed.)
• Spit the oil out into the trash. Make sure not to swallow any so you don’t reabsorb all the toxins and germs that you worked so hard to remove. It’s important to remember not to spit the coconut oil in the sink because it will solidify and clog up your pipes.
• Brush teeth immediately after.

Use organic coconut oil as a safe natural moisturizer

Each day the average woman uses about 12 personal care products which contain over 160 chemicals. Men are no different using an average of 6 personal care products which contain over 80 chemicals. These chemicals are absorbed right through our skin, our body’s largest organ. Anything we can do to cut down on exposure to these toxins will help in a big way! Not to mention using coconut oil is much easier on your wallet than buying several of beauty products each month.

• Replace your facial moisturizer with coconut oil. You may think that putting oil on your face is silly especially if you already have oily skin, like I do, but your body will naturally balance out the oil on your skin rather than produce more oil. It’s a great way to get rid of acne because of its antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.
• Swap out expensive lotions for coconut oil. Your skin will soak up this goodness and feel soft and smooth. Add your favorite essential oils to create your own personalized scent.
• Use as an eye makeup remover at night. The skin around our eyes is very delicate as it is, so when you use coconut oil to remove your eye makeup you are not only hydrating the skin but also irritating the skin less.
• Use coconut oil as in place of massage oil. Add some essential oils like lavender for a calming effect.

Swap out your morning cup of Joe with coconut oil

You probably gasped when you read that and don’t worry, I’m not asking you to remove coffee forever. But it is good to detox from it every once and a while to help your body easily remove toxins. Unless you are using a high quality organic coffee, which it’s likely you’re not if you’re stopping by the corner coffee shop on a daily basis. You are probably drinking large quantities of coffee that has been sprayed when chemical pesticides. Not to mention you are providing your body with fake energy masking how you are really feeling.

So instead of grabbing a coffee, reach for a shot of coconut oil first thing in the morning for a boost of natural energy. Coconut oil contains Medium Chain Triglycerides (MTCs) which do not need to be digested like normal foods but instead it goes straight to the liver, our body’s main detox organ, and is metabolized rapidly. This is what gives your body that clean burst of energy. As an added bonus coconut oil can also help you to reduce some of the pesky belly fat you may be trying to lose.

Start adding these simple detox practices into your daily routine and you will start to feel amazing in no time! 

Why Eating Organic Food Won't Break The Bank

Mmmm Tacos! Last week, I posted this picture of my delicious healthy spin on tacos onto my Facebook page. These babies tasted amazing!

"Thanks to @thewholejourney I found these amazing organic sprouted corn tortillas! They are made of only organic sprouted corn, water, lime and salt. Doesn't get much better than that! I topped it with some delicious grassfed beef, red peppers, red onions, garlic, tomato and avocado!" 

That day, I received the comment below from one of my amazing followers.

It made me a little sad for two reasons. For one, it sucks people feel like they have to be perfect and buy organic/grassfed food in order to make changes to be a healthier version of themselves. And for two, there is a very big misconception that eating organic/grassfed or healthy food in general has to be expensive and totally break the bank. Because it doesn't. Here was my response...

"It was so delicious and not too pricey! The total comes out to only $3.35 for the meal. That's a lot less than what most people spend when going out to eat and usually cheaper than a subway sandwich. But instead Of getting low quality food that can cause all sorts of health issues, I get a delicious meal that is PACKED with nutritional goodness! Here is the breakdown of this meal:

  4oz serving grassfed beef: $1.50

Quarter avocado: $0.38

Chopped Tomato: $0.22

2 Organic corn tortilla: $0.70

Onion: $0.25

Pepper: $0.25

Garlic: $0.05

Total: $3.35

What I mainly focus on is buying high quality meats which I get organic grassfed beef from trader joes for $5.99 per lb and organic chicken from $1.99 - $2.99 per lb. I choose to spend a little extra per pound on meats because non-organic is full of so many toxins and antibiotics that wreak havoc on our immune system and cause us to store body fat. I save money by not splurging on processed packaged foods, I rarely eat out, and I cut back on Starbucks. When I actually thought about all the unnecessary things I was spending my money on each week, I realized that there was lots of little things that I was splurging on which made it a little hard to make the argument that buying organic foods was really breaking the bank. Organic eggs are also very cheap to buy and make as meals too so you don't always have to go for expensive meats like beef. 

If you absolutely can't afford to buy organic protein, then go for the leanest cuts of meats possible since toxins are stored mostly in the fats. Then, grab some organic eggs and use the dirty dozen chart to find safe non-organic foods to eat until you are ready to transition to organic. You'd be surprised how cheap sweet potatoes and onions are and how easy to incorporate them into your meals. 

And lastly, try not to think of paleo/whole 30 as an all or nothing thing. Try to just do the best you can with what you have! Just because you can't afford organic, doesn't mean you can't cut out inflammatory foods like gluten pastas and replace them with white or brown rice. Just do the best that you can right now and build off of that!"

She was super thankful and said that when you break it down per meal, it really wasn't that bad. She admitted to drinking too much Starbucks coffee each week. The best part was that she was so excited because she went to the store, shopped the outer aisles for fresh ingredients, and bought her family the healthiest foods she could afford. All without breaking the bank!

I think where we as Americans get confused is that in the US, we eat the cheapest food on the planet because of farm subsidies which give us access to very low quality foods that are genetically modified, fed GMO feed, sprayed with tons of pesticides and pumped with antibiotics.

Therefore, since our low quality food is priced so cheaply, it makes buying say a dozen eggs for $1.50 per carton to now buying a dozen organic eggs for $4.99 per carton seem super expensive. But really we are talking about .13 cents for a low quality egg vs .42 cents for a high quality egg which is only a .29 cents difference per egg. So for me personally I'd rather pay .29 cents extra per egg and invest that money into my health rather than in the hospital later. This goes the same for comparing organic grassfed meats to conventional meats.

Another way to look at organic pasture raised meats vs. conventional meats is that besides avoiding all the toxins that are making you sick and fat, you will also get many more nutrients like vitamin E & C, beta-carotene and health-boosting omega-3 fatty acids and CLA "conjugated Linoleic Acid"from a healthy organic grassfed animal. When you eat meat from a conventionally raised animal, you are not only eating the toxins, hormones and antibiotics from the animal but also the toxins and pesticides from the GMO-feed that they consumed throughout their entire lifespan.

As you can tell I am a big fan of eating organic meat but I don't want to neglect the importance of eating organic produce because that is another major source of how chemical toxins are getting into our bodies. Luckily, we are able to metabolize and excrete  many of the pesticides that we consume on a daily basis, but chronic exposure of pesticides sprayed on the produce we've eaten over a lifetime means that we always have high levels of pesticides in our bodies. A study came out recently showed  that eating an 80% organic diet can reduce the amount of circulating pesticides in the body by nearly 90% in just 3-5 days! Now if that isn't motivating then, I don't know what is!

I admit it, when I first started my transition into buying organic food, I thought the prices were outrageous! And sometimes I still do depending on the store I go to and how overpriced the meat is. But when I took a step back and realized that I was investing in my health now so that I don't have to pay for it later on down the road in medical bills, then it looks a WHOLE lot cheaper. Plus, when I really started to do price break downs of food, like I did above, it really wasn't very expensive compared to some of the silly stuff I was spending my money on each week.

Simple shopping swaps that may help justify spending more on organic food each week:

1 pair of underwear from Target $5.99 vs. 1 pound of organic grassfed beef from Trader Joes $5.99

1 grande mint tea from Starbucks $2.67 vs. 1 bag of organic baby spinach $1.99-$3.99

1 tall Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte $4.45 vs. a dozen organic pasture raised eggs $4.00-$4.99

1 bottle of Essie Nail polish $8.99 vs. 1 pound of wild caught salmon from Trader Joes $9.99

1 Energy Drink $3.50 vs. 1 pint of organic tomatoes $3.50

1 pack of Gum $1.25 vs. 1 bunch of organic bananas $1

Maybe your splurge items are different from these, we all have them. The point is, we all have some non-essential items that we buy on a weekly basis that we can cut back on which will allow us a little extra spending money for quality foods. And like I told my reader above, it's not about being perfect nor is it an "all or nothing" kind of deal. It's about doing our best we can to incorporate more healthy organic foods into our diet so we can start lowering our exposure to these chemical toxins and live longer healthier lives!

Links on how to get thrifty when buying organic:

EWG's Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen Shopping Guide

Eat Wild's Farm Directory for grassfed meat, dairy and eggs

Find Real Food App (apple) from the Weston A Price Foundation

Farmers Market and store finder for organic food

Local Harvest farmers market locator

Costco  or Sam's Club Membership to buy organic in bulk and save $$$

Seasonal Food Guide - Buy seasonal produce to save money

Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet--All on $5 a Day or Less - Book

Rich Food Poor Food - The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System - Book

What are some of your favorite tips for saving money when buying organic food?

Disclaimer: We earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. We recommend only products that we would use in our own home or that we would recommend for our clients. Your purchases help to support our blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps us to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us continue what we LOVE to do!

Creamy Vanilla Coconut Smoothie Recipe (Soy and Dairy-Free)

Exsoycise is now Awakened Nutrition & Training, a blog for health seekers, food lovers and dream body builders!

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If you read my very LONG post yesterday, you now know ALL of my personal business of how I went from thinking I had a binge eating disorder, to losing my sex drive, then finding out that both parasites and candida overgrowth have taken residency in my gut, to finally finding some life balance after I started naturally killing off the bad guys which helped to start balancing out my hormones again and getting my sexy back! Whoa that was a mouth full!

Like I said at the end of my post, this is really just the beginning of my journey and it's far from over. I am working hard to kill the parasites and candida albicans through a sugar, gluten, soy, and dairy-free diet and herbs. Since removing sugars of all kinds (yes, even fruit!), all my cravings and binging tendencies have gone away. I no longer feel like I want to eat an entire back of chocolates or face plant into a jar of almond butter and honey. It's a really good feeling and I'm hoping I can keep it this way! I know I will never be perfect and I'm sure there will be some stressful times in my life that will make me want to eat the world. But at least now I know that I am making progress and have removed the major trigger foods that were causing me to feel out of control.

So this summer, I had the honor of taking over Integrative Nutrition's Instagram feed during their #IINtakeover. I got to share what a day of my life as a health coach looks like with all 26,000 of their followers. It was really such an honor!

For my takeover I shared one of my favorite healthy treats to satisfy my sweet tooth which is my delicious creamy vanilla coconut smoothie! This smoothie is loaded with healthy fats and protein to keep you full and satisfy your sweet craving!

Creamy Vanilla Coconut Smoothie

• I use 1 scoop vanilla vegan protein powder
• 1 cup lite coconut milk
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 ripe avocado
• 2 Tbsp sunflower or cashew butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• a dash or two of organic powdered stevia

Blend well with a couple ice cubes, add extra cold water if needed, and enjoy!

Of course for my first post during my @nutritionschool #IINtakeover I had to share a before and after! So I posted my classic before shot from May 2009 and then a shot that Chris and I took at a beach bootcamp in Florida on July 4th.

"Hi my fellow health fanatics! I'm Amber Williford a Certified Holistic Health from @exsoycise and @awakenednutrition, I'm so excited to share my life through photos with you during today's #IINtakeover!Since I started my own journey over 5 years ago, I was on a mission to lose weight and get fit. With the help of IIN I realized that there is so much more to living a healthy life than just dieting to lose weight. Through IIN and my own research I've learned about eating nutritious foods that help to heal and fuel the body as well as how relationships, self love, stress, and environmental toxins affect all aspects of our lives.

I suffer from leaky gut syndrome which caused me to develop an allergy to soy as well as sensitivities to dairy and eggs. And I'm also working hard to get rid of candida overgrowth and parasites. The allergies plus uncontrollable bloating after eating the even healthiest foods and extreme food cravings that helped me to uncover the root cause of my issues.

It's my goal to help woman just like me to overcome digestive distress and get a handle on their weight loss through daily detoxification and stress management through coaching  AwakenedNutrition.com."

I don't want to bore you all with another mega long blog post, so I will save the rest of the photos for next weeks post! I hope you have a great weekend!

What's your favorite sweet tooth taming smoothie or snack?

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3-day detox

Disclaimer: I earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. I recommend only products that I would use in our own home or that I would recommend to my clients. Your purchases help to support my blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps me to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping me continue what I LOVE to do!

How I Found My Sex Drive When I Didn't Even Know I'd Lost It

Exsoycise is now Awakened Nutrition & Training, a blog for health seekers, food lovers and dream body builders!

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It’s been a hot minute since I last posted on the blog. I hope you all didn’t miss me too much! ;) I’ve been doing a little self healing and running my Sexy Summer Detox which has kept me busy busy!

The last time I posted was when I was riding high on the GAPS diet. If you are unfamiliar with GAPS, it is a very strict whole foods diet designed to heal a leaky gut. I was going through the introductory phases of the diet and started to detox from a lot of the junk and toxins I was normally putting into my body. I felt so amazing, I was losing weight, my abdominal bloating was practically gone, my period was starting to normalize and I started to feel somewhat normal again besides the fact that I was eating an ultra strict and very limiting diet.

During the introductory phase of the diet, you go through stages where you gradually start incorporating approved healthy foods back into your diet and see how you react. Well after gracefully cruising through the first several stages, I got stuck. I gradually started to incorporate different foods such as raw honey, cooked fruits, nuts and nut flours back into my diet. I quickly started spiraling out of control and binge eating on whole bags of soaked nuts and the fruit. When I wasn’t binging on the foods I was adding in, I was going to town on butternut squash and roasted carrots. I would eat two and three bags at a time. I started to feel a little crazy. Was I just too deprived from these sweet foods that when I finally got my hands on them I just went wild?

I read other blogs and everyone else seemed to be going through GAPS with flying colors and here I was mixing gobs of honey, cinnamon and nut flour to create my own nut butters that I would binge on in secret. I tried to deprive myself of these foods even more and stayed stuck in the stages where I could only eat grassfed meats, oils, veggies and fermented vegetables. Even when I was back on my game, I still suffered from unexplained bloating and gas. But as soon as I thought I had a handle on my binging and would attempt to add another food in, it would happen all over again. One handful of nuts would quickly turn into a whole pound bag of nuts.

Then one night I broke down.

I was sitting in a friends kitchen alone, I started thinking how I was eating some of the healthiest food I’ve ever eaten in my life and should be making amazing progress, yet I felt more out of control than I ever had. I literally felt like I was going insane and I was going to be trapped in this vicious cycle of healing and self sabotage for the rest of my life. How could I ever heal myself if I couldn’t get my shit together? I want to be normal again one day, so the motivation is there. I want to be able to go to a restaurant and not have to be the weird allergy girl that everyone has to accommodate. So at that moment of weakness and disappointment, I took my binging to a whole new level and started going to town on some left over Halloween candy completely blowing the months of hard work that I had put in. I ate piece after piece of any chocolate I could find and literally couldn’t stop myself! I started getting full and each piece started to taste less and less delicious to me, but I still kept on eating it. Then, I moved onto kettle corn popcorn. I kept telling myself that I should stop eating because I wasn’t even enjoying the food anymore but I couldn’t make myself stop.

I felt like I wasn’t in control of my own body or mind. I felt like an addict.

After failing on the GAPS diet, I came to the conclusion that I had a binge eating disorder. Not only because of this incident, but also because of my struggles with binging over the last several years. I had a very emotional conversation with Chris about how I was pretty sure that I had an eating disorder and that I had been dealing with it for years. This made me feel like a failure. How was I supposed to be a health coach and help my clients when I couldn’t even help myself. We decided that it was best for me to take a break from the GAPS diet and any other strict eating program besides my food allergies until I could get a handle on what was going on with me.

This tear filled conversation brought up so many emotions that I was harboring deep down inside of me. With all of my binging, I had gained quite a bit of the weight I had originally lost which made me feel so insecure and unsexy. I was beating myself up because I felt like I had to live up to the amazing shape I was in when I got my fitness photos taken in June 2013. If that all wasn’t enough to deal with, I realized that I had nearly lost my once very vibrant sex drive! How could this have happened and how did I not even notice? I think with all of life’s craziness and stress, it just started to slip away and I was too busy and sleep deprived to even notice.

Chris said he could tell that I was a little off over the last several months, but he had no idea that I felt this way. He was shocked because it was totally out of character for me to feel so down on myself. The girl he fell in love with 4+ years ago wasn’t in shape at all, but had a bubbly personality and was super confident in her own skin. He was very understanding and told me he would support me any way I needed him too. He uplifted me with sweet words of encouragement and told me how beautiful I was more often. Chris's support has been beyond helpful and I'm so very blessed to have him by my side!

But I had to do some deep soul searching to find my own happy.

That came in the form of:

• dancing around the apartment to music I love
• spending time with God
• taking more time for myself
• limiting my workouts to once or twice a week and not beating myself up when I didn't go
• attempting to get more sleep
• eating nourishing foods that didn’t make me feel super restricted
• taking time for personal self care practices that made me feel beautiful

During these months of self care, I started to dig deeper into my detox practices by doing coffee enemas to help to support my liver and clean out all the junk that's been backed up inside me for my whole life. Through the enemas and taking some anti-fungal herbal tinctures, I found out that I had parasites. They literally came out of my body and I have the pictures to prove it but I will spare you those. Chris and I named my new visitors “The Frederickson’s”. ;)

This was not at all shocking to me because I suspected I had parasites while I was dealing with yet another month long sweets binge about 5+ years ago after I returned home from a trip to Jamaica, but I never had it confirmed. Once I found this out, I started to see a holistic practitioner that someone referred to me for colonics at The Piper Center For Internal Wellness in NYC. There I found out that I also had candida yeast overgrowth and because of this my body was creating a lot of mucus to help fight the inflammation they were causing internally.

The pieces of the puzzle started coming together for me.

Candida albicans and parasites both feed on sugar of ALL kinds. It can’t decipher between natural raw honey, fruit sugars, brown unprocessed sugar or plain old white sugar. It’s all the same to these guys and I was directly feeding them with most of the foods I was eating. They were taking over my mind and causing me to have such intense cravings that made me feel crazy! All of the times I felt like I wasn’t in control of my own body, I was completely right because I wasn’t. It is no wonder that I did amazing on the 21 Day Sugar Detox a couple years ago! Sugar cravings aren’t the only way that candida overgrowth can affect you, it is also very sneaky and will wreck your sex life as it did for me. It has the ability to mess with your hormones, adrenals, and in some people completely take away your sex drive. I can now only imagine the amount of woman today who are suffering from a low sex drive and wacky hormones due to candida overgrowth and feel like it’s “normal” for them to feel that way as they get older. But that is the complete opposite of what should happen to us ladies!

I immediately jumped on a completely sugar-free cleanse with special herbs that helped me to start getting eliminating some of the candida and The Frederickson’s that took residency in my gut. I felt like crap for about a week with low energy, fatigue and extreme brain fog as they started to die-off and release toxins in my body. After just 3 weeks, I started losing weight again, bloating less, and decreasing inflammation in my body. All cravings I had went away completely and I no longer wanted to the eat junk that the candida and parasites were making me crave.

Detoxing from these pests also helped my hormones to balance out again and I finally got my sex drive back! It was a Christmas (in July) miracle! I am happy to say that I feel beautiful, sexy, sane, and happy again! My physique is nowhere near where I was last June and I've even lost a little bit of muscle. But I feel SO great about myself now and that is what is most important!

This post is now entirely too long. I intend to go into more detail about this subject in future posts both here and on Awakened Nutrition so don't you worry. I am far from healed, in fact, I have a long road of recovery ahead of me but at least I have a clearer picture of where I am headed. But I just wanted to share my story because I know many women feel like the same way that I did and I want you to all know that you are not alone in this!

Have you or anyone you know ever had to deal with candida or parasites? I'd love to hear any tips or sugar-free recipes that you can share in the comments! 

What are some of your favorite ways to find your own happy?

3 Scary Reasons To Avoid Gluten NOW

I'm sure you know at least a handful of friends by now that are "Gluten-free". Am I right? Nowadays, "gluten-free" is definitely a buzz word we hear a lot. Everyone seems to be going gluten-free and for good reason.

Did you know that more than 55 diseases have been linked to gluten?

Or that 1 in 30 people have a gluten sensitivity and don't even know it?

That means that YOU could be walking around with a gluten sensitivity that's making you sick!

This reminds me of my good friend and detox partner Jill Hoffman's story. Several years ago before Jill became a health coach, she actually worked with her own health coach. After her coach recommended that she take out gluten from her diet, her life changed. She had more energy, her brain was clearer, her digestion improved AND she lost those last pesky pounds that would never budge.

I seriously hear stories like this time and time again.

So, if you still eating whole wheat bread and whole grain pasta and think you're doing yourself a favor, then keep reading.

What's the deal with gluten?

Gluten is a mixture of proteins commonly found in wheat products such as bread, pasta, and cereal and it's used mostly as a binding agent and provides that doughy texture we love so much.

3 Reasons To Avoid Gluten If You Are Sensitive:

1. Gluten sensitivities can lead to auto-immune disease. Gluten can cause an auto-immune response in your system where your body attacks itself. This happens because the protein in gluten resembles human tissue. So, when your immune system is trying to attack the foreign gluten invader, it might accidentally attack your other organs or tissues such as your thyroid or even your brain. There is massive research that connects the increase of auto-immune disease in people with the rise of gluten-containing foods.

2. Gluten is often responsible for resistant weight loss, poor sleep and skin conditions such as acne and eczema. Gluten causes an inflammatory response in your body which, over time, becomes chronic. Chronic inflammation, whether due to stress, food sensitivities or environmental toxins, almost always show up as weight and skin problems.

3. Gluten messes with our brain. Because gluten is hard to digest, our gut gets full of undigested food particles...yuck! This can lead to an imbalance of bacteria (dysbiosis) and eventually lacerations in our gut lining (leaky gut). Also, yeast feed on the undigested particles and so we can develop issues like candida, which can be extremely problematic. What does this have to do with your brain? Well, your brain and gut are very intimately connected especially when it comes to your mood. About 90% of your serotonin (a.k.a. happy hormone) is produced in the gut. When you have all this chaos on in your gut, then your brain is not getting enough serotonin, and then you're feeling the "Monday Blues" every single day.

How do you know if you are sensitive to gluten?

Based on my research and experience's that I've had with clients, the best way to determine if you have a gluten sensitivity is to go through a strategic elimination diet. This is where you would remove the food you are challenging (gluten) for a period of time and then reintroduce it back or "challenge" the food to see how your body reacts. A few notes about this:

• Gluten is something that can stay in your system for a long time because it is a large protein. So, to really test it out, you may need to remove it for more than the usual 2-3 weeks, perhaps even a few months to really get it out of your system.

• Many people who are sensitive to gluten are often sensitive to other foods such as dairy because the proteins mimic each other. What this means is that if you only do an "elimination" for gluten, then you might not see much of a change because you're still eating dairy and other possible allergens. It's recommended to do a full elimination diet for best results.

Gluten Free: Yay or Nay?

I think it goes without saying, that if you know you're sensitive to gluten then you should definitely avoid it as much as possible, if not completely. In our modern "fast food" world it can be difficult if not impossible to be 100% gluten-free.

But, for most of us, eliminating 90-95% of gluten from our diets can have a dramatic effect on how we feel and our susceptibility to disease.

Once you get over the initial hump of "gluten withdrawal" and discover a whole new world of delicious foods that can give you the same satisfaction as a bowl of cereal (sans the gas and bloating), you will never want to go back.

If you find out that you are not sensitive to gluten, then you have more wiggle room. BUT, gluten is very hard to digest and because of all the issues I mentioned above, you can develop a sensitivity that can eventually lead to symptoms and disease.

So, my recommendation, is to either minimize it or eliminate gluten completely from your diet if you want to stay healthy and symptom free. You want to do this by adopting a whole foods diet that's rich in organic veggies and fruits, along with healthy fats, clean protein, and gluten-free grains, if tolerated. I highly caution you to be skeptical of the "gluten free" products out on the shelves. If you flip over the box and look at the list of ingredients, very often you'll find a large list of processed and sugary ingredients that do more harm than good.

Stick to real food and you're good to go!

What are your experiences with gluten? I want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly down in the comments below!

Resources: Amy Meyers, MD

Why You Should Start Juicing Right Now + a Green Detox Juice Recipe

Did you know that when you make juice from raw vegetables, your body absorbs the nutrients within 15 seconds? Talk about an energy shot! No need to buy those sugary and chemical-ish concoctions from your local drug-store or mini mart. Juicing is an all-natural way to boost your energy and feel amazing. When you juice your fruits and veggies, you end up extracting all the water and nutrients from them and leave behind only the plant fibers. By separating the fruit or vegetable from its fiber, we gain access to all of the amazing vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytonutrients which are much more easily assimilated by our body than if we were to eat them.

This allows your body to absorb the nutrients more quickly, without having to digest the dense bulk of the plant. You can also fit an amazing amount of veggies into a single glass of juice, making it a great way to use up those extra veggies from your garden or CSA share. PLUS, you will end up with a glass of deliciousness that packs a powerful nutritional punch.

I bet you are thinking that stocking up on enough fresh organic vegetables to make daily juices can be somewhat expensive, and I totally hear your concerns. But the way I see it is if you cut back spending money at the local coffee shop each week or maybe even on many of the pre-packaged foods/snacks you may be buying, you will end up saving money in the long run on your food AND your doctor bills. The beauty is that organic veggies are getting easier to find and are not as expensive as they once were. I have actually been able to find some really great deals on organic vegetables here in NYC where EVERYTHING costs twice as much as every other city in America. I saved even more money and bought this amazing little juicer from Hamilton Beach (affiliate link) for less than $60 on Amazon and it has really fit my needs well since I started juicing this year.

Juicing is really fun and a great way to get your daily dose of vitamins and nutrients in especially if you aren't a big vegetable eater. I definitely don't want you to get discouraged by cost or know how because this is one of the best things you can do for you health. Just start slow, try a juice per week and work your way up to several per week - there is no wrong way to do it!

One more thing before I go:  while you can control the quality of ingredients when you are making fresh juice at home, always read your labels when it comes to buying store-bought juice. These juices can be high in sugar and have a high glycemic load, which may cause blood sugar imbalances.

Here is an amazing juice straight from my newSexy Summer Detoxprogram to get you started!

Slim & Sexy Green Detox Juice

• 1 bunch organic kale
• 1 organic cucumber
• 1 cup organic parsley
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 organic lemon
• 1 green (or red) apple
• 1 thin slice of ginger root

Have you tried juicing yet? What's your favorite juice recipe?

Never Skip Breakfast Again With This Strawberry Banana Bliss Smoothie!

Let's get real for a second. How many times per week do you run out the door in the mornings without eating breakfast? You and I both know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and sometimes it just doesn't fit into our schedule the way it should. How we begin the day will determine how the rest of the day goes. It will determine if we feel energized or if we feel dragging with a lack of energy. What we put in our bellies is directly related to how we physically feel. So if you are a skip breakfast and grab the coffee mug morning person then this blog is totally for you.

We all need and crave energy. I know I do! Sometimes it is so easy to want to grab a quick bowl of cereal or even forget breakfast and just get through the morning on 1-2 cups of coffee for the energy needed to survive the day. I don't want you to just survive through the day though; I want you to thrive through the day. I also don't want you to go on the "crash and crave" roller coaster for the entire day. If you begin your morning with caffeinated coffee and sugar, you will crash, and you will be either too tired to make it through your responsibilities or you will be reaching for another cup of coffee to get through a few more hours. Before you know it the craving will sneak up on you and next thing you know it's the afternoon and you have just finished off half a sleeve of thin mint cookies.

So we have to be smart and set ourselves up for success first thing! Smoothies are a super quick alternative to a fast breakfast that can help energize us throughout the entire day. When you toss in some greens, protein, a little fruit, and a healthy liquid like coconut water you are bound to feel energetic and ready to take on the day. Our bodies need protein, complex carbs and healthy fats in order to function properly and to prevent diseases. Starting the day with a smoothie also gives you well needed antioxidants which help protect our bodies from free radicals, and it is a great low glycemic start. Eating a low glycemic breakfast will help curb your sugar cravings for the entire day and it will also help with not crashing.

Next time you want a quick breakfast, try a delicious smoothie that will leave you feeling energized and motivated. To make this meal even quicker, go ahead and throw your smoothie ingredients together the night before and keep in your fridge or freezer. You could also use this trick to plan out smoothies for the whole week. A morning smoothie will help your body detoxify and will also provide your body with the nutrients it needs to produce natural energy and naturally boost your metabolism. Want 3 more yummy smoothie recipes to try out this week? Then download my free 3-Day Detox now!

So, what are you reaching for tomorrow morning? I know I will be pulling out my blender and getting ready for some long lasting energy.

Strawberry Banana Bliss Smoothie

• 1 cup coconut water or coconut milk
• ½ cup frozen strawberries
• 1 banana
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon hemp seeds
• 1 Tablespoon flax meal or chia seeds (if you don't digest seeds well, try Great Lakes gelatin or a clean protein powder such as grass-fed whey or a vegan protein)
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Stevia or raw honey to sweeten
• Ice (optional)

What's your favorite morning smoothie recipe?

P.S. Want a sneak peek into one of my 10-Day Detox programs that uses the elimination diet? Sign up to get myFREE 3-Day Detox and jump-start your weight loss now!

3-Day Detox

Disclaimer: We earn a small commission if you use the highlighted links to purchase the products mentioned in this post. We recommend only products that we would use in our own home or that we would recommend for our clients. Your purchases help to support our blogging activities such as creating yummy recipes to share with you and also helps us to bring even more helpful nutrition and training information to you on a weekly basis. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us continue what we LOVE to do!

How Food Allergies Are Making You Fat

Summer's (unofficially) here and it's that time of year when we're showing more skin and definitely more conscience of our bodies. All around me, I hear people jumping into juice cleanses and fasts to jump-start their weight loss. I'm not a huge fan of these aggressive detoxes because they can have serious consequences. In truth, most people will lose weight on these types of cleanses simply because of the calorie restriction, not because they are detoxing. But, these types of programs are pretty much impossible to maintain long-term and so is the weight loss. As soon as you stop juicing, the weight comes back on. I've seen it happen time and time again. There is a Better Way.

What if I told you that you could eat (yes, eat) as much as you want of delicious food without counting calories or carbs, and still lose weight? Say what?? Yes, you heard me. Look, it's no secret that excess weight is related to many other chronic conditions and diseases. In fact, we can really look at being overweight as just a symptom of inflammation - and inflammation is the root of all disease.

There are many things that can cause inflammation in our body but one of the most common causes is allergies and sensitivities from our food. An allergic reaction is inflammation. And, common sense tells us that when we constantly expose ourselves to something we are allergic too, this leads to chronic inflammation. Having a severe allergy to say, peanuts, can cause an immediate life-threatening response and if you're someone with that type of allergy, then you probably are very meticulous at avoiding such an exposure. Of course an allergic reaction doesn't need to be life-threatening. It could be something as simple as breaking out in hives.

BUT, what if you didn't have an allergy to peanuts but you had a more mild sensitivity? What's the difference here and how would you know? Well, unlike the allergy where you get an immediate response, a food sensitivity is an inflammatory reaction that is delayed, meaning your symptoms may not come out until about 24-72 hours after you are exposed to the culprit.

Symptoms vary, but the most common ones are:

• weight gain
• digestion issues (constipation, diarrhea)
• bloating
• gas
• fatigue
• brain fog
• headaches or migraines
• muscle aches
• stomach aches

You may not even know that you have a food sensitivity because most likely you are eating the culprit food every single day and any symptoms you are experiencing could feel totally normal to you. OR, you are aware of the symptoms but because of the delayed time lapse it's extremely difficult to make the connection that something you are eating is causing the reaction. The other side of this, is that it can be difficult and expensive to get tested. Most doctors are not testing for food sensitivities - just allergies. And this is why so many people are unknowingly causing chronic inflammation in their bodies that can lead to toxicity and excess weight.

How To Find Out If You Have a Food Sensitivity

The easiest, most cost effective way to identify food sensitivities is by doing, what's called, an Elimination Diet. This is the protocol that I use  as the foundation in my seasonal detox programs because it works. I believe in this protocol because it's also how I've uncovered my own food allergies and sensitivities. Although an elimination diet is not a new thing, it hasn't gotten nearly as much publicity as many of the other heavily marketed diets and weight loss programs on the market. And, although the goal is not to necessarily lose weight, that is more often than not, a happy side effect. Just recently, Dr. Mark Hyman was featured on The Today Show talking about the benefits of the elimination diet in helping people identify food sensitivities, decreasing inflammation and losing weight. You can read the article here.

In my seasonal detox programs, we focus on eliminating the most common food allergens for 10 days and then we guide you into a reintroduction phase where you would strategically add back each food one by one so you can determine which food(s) are causing the problems.

The foods we avoid for 10 days include:

• gluten and wheat
• dairy
• corn
• soy
• gluten-free grains
• nuts
• processed sugars

During the 10 days that you are eliminating the common allergens, we are replacing them with nourishing whole foods which support your detoxification. This 2-prong approach has been very successful in helping people jump-start their weight loss, detox, AND identify foods that they are sensitive to. For most people, this is a very powerful "first step" towards reducing inflammation and building their health blueprint for life.

Have you had success with uncovering food allergies or sensitivities with an elimination diet or detox? I would love to hear about it in the comments below!

P.S. Wanna sneak peek into one of my 10-Day Detox programs that uses the elimination diet? Sign up to get my FREE 3-Day Detox and jump-start your weight loss now!

Cranberry Chia Fresca Detox Cocktail

Mmm tastes like summer!

Here in NYC we've finally started having a glimpse of summer weather and it's been amazing! I'm from Florida so of course I love warm weather...but I'm also part snow bunny and get giddy any time I hear of snow fall. But I have to say the last two winters here have really made me long for warmer weather a lot sooner than I normally have in the past.

So with just a few weeks left of spring I'm already dreaming of my two summer vacations that Chris and I are taking in July. First, we are heading back home to Florida to celebrate the 4th of July and my birthday with my family. Then then in late July we are going to Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side for a friends wedding. I'm just imagining us laying on the beach drinking refreshing summer cocktails and getting a nice golden brown tan. Sounds dreamy, right?

Well I don't see why we have to wait for summer to have refreshing cocktails. Let's get this party started right now!

I have a seriously delicious refreshing cranberry chia fresca recipe to share with you that is loaded with amazing detoxing health benefits.

DRINK UP THE GOODNESS

• Chia seeds also pack a big punch with their high levels of Omega fatty acids , fiber, calcium, antioxidants and protein. It also contains the amino acid tryptophan which the body uses to produce the feelgood hormone serotonin.

• Cranberry is an amazing little fruit that is loaded phytonutrients such as Phenolic Acids, Proanthocyanidins, Anthocyanins, Flavonoids, and Triterpenoids which are known for their antioxidant, cancer fighting and anti-inflammatory properties. They also assist with UTI prevention, improves digestion and supports the immune system.

• Coconut wateris great for summer as it has a high amount of hydrating electrolytes. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, it helps balance blood glucose and insulin levels, it boosts the immune system, and as an added bonus it helps with elasticity in the skin which reduces age spots and wrinkles. Cheers to that!

These three detox ingredients help provide our bodies with protein, amino acids, essential vitamins, minerals, helps us to stay hydrated and keeps our digestion running smoothly. All of these things are essential for our body to eliminate toxins properly.

Cranberry Chia Fresca

• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• ½ cup coconut water or plain filtered water
• ½ cup pure cranberry concentrate
• Juice of a half a lemon and/or lime

1. Add chia seeds to the coconut water and cranberry juice and stir until combined. The chia seeds will begin to swell up. Aim to stir well into an even, gel-like consistency or drink it before the gel forms. (Use a lid with a jar for an easy way to shake up any clumps that fall to the bottom!)

2. Drink immediately if desired, or set aside for up to 10 minutes to let it gel.

3. Add lemon and/or lime and stir well again.

4. Drink and enjoy!

What's your favorite summertime cocktail to enjoy beach side? 

Sources:

The World's Healthiest Foods

Dr. Oz

SF Gate: Healthy Eating

Dr. Mercola

P.S. Wanna sneak peek into one of my 10-Day Detox programs that uses the elimination diet? Sign up to get my FREE 3-Day Detox and jump-start your weight loss now!

30 Healthy Snack Ideas to Bust Through Cravings + a Kale Chip Recipe

Have you ever had those days when cravings hit and you just want to eat everything in sight? Cravings happen even to the healthiest of us. Often, when a craving hits in the afternoon or the evening after dinner, we get the urge to snack. Snacking can be a bad habit to get into, because the snacks we choose are often junky, nutritionally void, and high in calories, sugar, or fat. I call this the "Snack Attack!" and it can sneak up on you like a ninja. There are many different reasons why cravings sneak up on you such as having a lot of stress in your life, lack of sleep, restricting certain foods from your diet too long, or maybe your body is lacking certain vitamins and minerals. It is key to try to identify what is causing your cravings and try to get to the root of the issue. But, I realize that it may not always be easy to pin point exactly what is going on when life gets busy.

So it's up to us to outsmart our cravings before they get the best of us. The trick to snacking without piling on the pounds is to find healthy alternatives to the regular snacks you might normally reach for.

Usually, when we get a craving it is for either something sweet (chocolate!), savory (potato chips!), creamy (ice cream!), or crunchy (crisps!). Obviously, my examples are foods you shouldn’t eat all the time if you want to be trim and healthy. But that doesn’t mean you have to fight your cravings for the rest of your life. Instead, you just need to substitute.

Next time you get a craving for something sweet, why not try:

• fresh organic berries like blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries

• apples and almond or sunflower butter

• no sugar added dried fruit and raw almonds or walnuts

• green or fruit protein smoothies

• banana “ice cream” (peel a banana, freeze, blend in a food processor, top with nuts, berries or unsweetened shredded coconut)

• dates stuffed with almond butter or other nut butter, and top with unsweetened shredded coconut

• 1 tbsp organic dark chocolate chips or Enjoy Life (soy, dairy & nut free) chocolate chips

For your savory cravings, try these healthy alternatives:

• hard boiled eggs with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and salsa

• olives, pickles, and pickled vegetables, such as carrot, daikon, beets, and lotus root

• homemade hummus (download my free 3-Day Detox to get this recipe)

• kale chips (recipe below)

• sweet potato chips

• zucchini chips with freshly made salsa or guacamole

• Sauerkraut (this will also knock your sweet craving right out!)

• chopped avocado and tomato with sea salt and pepper

Your creamy cravings can be met by eating:

• smoothies

• chocolate chia pudding

• dips and spreads, like hummus and baba ghanoush

• puréed soups

• puddings made with avocado, or mashed banana

• mashed sweet potatoes

• coconut milk

Finally, don't cave and reach for the Pringles, when you can eat these crunchy (but still healthy) snacks:

• apples

• frozen grapes

• rice cakes

• organic non-GMO popcorn (use coconut oil and sea salt to pop in a covered pan)

• carrots (particularly the sweet, organic baby carrots)

• celery and nut butter

• raw, unsalted nuts like cashews, almonds, Brazil, and walnuts

• small handful raw sunflower or pumpkin seeds (about 1 tbsp)

Don’t fight your craving. Instead, listen to what it is your body wants specifically and choose the healthier option that will be good to your waistline.

Make sure to keep plenty of these delicious healthy snacks around the house so you don't get in a pinch and grab something you will regret later. Another great way to avoid snacking is also to keep your trigger foods out of the house. When you do decide to splurge on your favorite treats, make sure you only buy as much as you are going to eat right at that moment. That way the bag of treats won't unexpectedly call your name from the kitchen pantry.

Kitchen tips and tricks:

• Pre-cut veggies for quick snacks. Store in airtight, glass containers in the fridge. Make sure to cover celery, carrots and radishes with water so they don't dry out.

• Freeze a few bananas to have on hand for an ice cream snack later in week.

• Never waste another avocado. Put ripe avocados in the refrigerator to stop the ripening process. They can be stored for up to a week in the fridge.

• Measure out and baggie up your nuts and dried fruit ahead of time so that you don't go back for seconds or thirds.

“You cannot change your destination overnight. You can change your direction.” - Jim Rohn

Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch lacinato kale

• Olive oil

• Sea salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350-375 degrees, depending on your oven. The kale chips burn quickly, so keep the temperature on the lower end if your oven tends to get hot or have hot spots.

2. Clean kale and remove the thick stem by folding each leaf in half lengthwise and cutting it away. Make sure kale is quite dry.

3. Pour a bit of olive oil into a dipping bowl. Dip your fingers in the olive oil and massage over each kale leaf, front and back.

4. Arrange kale on several baking sheets making sure not to crowd the leaves. Sprinkle sea salt over the top.

5. Bake for 5-7 minutes, keeping an eye on the chips to make sure they don’t burn. Turn the chips over and then bake for another 5 minutes more. You may need more or less time depending on your oven. The chips are ready when they are bright green and haven’t turned brown yet except maybe at the edges.

6. Add some flavor by sprinkling smoked paprika, garlic, ginger, cumin, or curry on before baking.

Comment below and tell me some of your favorite craving fighting snacks!

Want to learn more about how you can stop bloat from happening?

Want to reduce inflammation and lose fat for good? Start by downloading our free guide: 5 Easy Steps to Beating Belly Bloat!

We are Chris and Amber, a husband and wife team dedicated to helping you improve your nutritional and personal fitness habits for a better lifestyle. If you have issues with bloating, inability to lose fat, brain fog, or are in need of a proven nutrition and fitness plan to get you out of a rut, then sign up for our 28-Day Beat Belly Bloat Program today!

Makeover Your Health With the Elimination Diet

When I first started on my health and fitness journey about 4 years ago, I started experiencing uncomfortable and embarrassing digestive issues which was starting to drive me crazy! I had never experienced these issues before or at least I never noticed because of all of the junky nutritionally void foods I was dumping into my body the many years prior. I was determined to figure out the foods that where working with and those that worked against my body in order to lose weight and be healthier. When you realize that your digestion is much less than optimal and you feel terrible, it is time to do something about it. I got to that point and started noticing that I had symptoms like gassiness and belly bloat that started happening frequently. I knew I needed a reliable way to find out WHY this was happening and, more importantly, WHAT was causing my discomfort. That’s when I found out about the Elimination Diet.

The Elimination Diet is the approach I use in my 28 Day Beat Belly Bloat program to help my clients figure out which foods they are sensitive to so that they can eat mindfully, keep their digestive symptoms at bay and start losing weight. About 80% of your immune system is in your gut and is considered the “second brain” in your body, so it is important to keep it healthy and keep things running smoothly. It's also been discovered that if your body is in a constant state of inflammation, it can prevent you from being able to lose weight.

In the elimination diet, you start by eliminating common culprits of digestive upset and common food allergens. You dial down your daily meals and snacks so that you are only eating real, nourishing foods that will not hurt your gut. In fact, you can begin to heal your gut with a proper elimination diet. The categories of food to eliminate are:

• Grains – The foundation of the Food Pyramid for decades, at one point the government suggested we eat 6-11 servings of grains per day. It has now been discovered that many people have a hard time digesting grains, including corn.

• Processed Foods – There are many toxic chemicals (like MSG, artificial colors, and flavorings) and other undesirable ingredients (like GMOs, trans fats, and high fructose corn syrup) in processed food that can impede digestion and even cause disease.

• High Glycemic Foods – Large amounts of starches and added sugars can feed a bacterial overgrowth (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth aka SIBO) and other gut dysbiosis problems.

• Gluten and Fructans – Found in many grains, gluten has been found to be one of the causes of leaky gut syndrome and autoimmune diseases. Fructans are found in FODMAPS (short-chain carbohydrates) and can also feed those bad bugs in your gut.

• Soy - Over 90 percent of all soy grown is genetically modified and is wreaking havoc on our bodies. Many people can't tolerate soy but have no idea because they eat so much of it on a daily basis via processed packaged foods. Soy phytoestrogens cause infertility, breast cancer and hypothyroidism. It contains high levels of phytic acid which reduce absorbtion of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum, which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

• Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oil – The top offenders are corn, soy, safflower, canola and vegetable oils. These can cause inflammation throughout your body and destroy your health.

• Feedlot Meats and Dairy – Meats and dairy from the conventional food system are full of hormones, antibiotics, and even poisons such as arsenic. These animals are sick and stressed form living in confined polluted spaces.

• Eggs, Peanuts, and Shellfish – All are common food allergens.

• Gut Irritants – Caffeine and alcohol can wreak havoc on your gut. Avoid these while you are healing.

The Elimination Phase

All of the commonly known gut-irritating foods we talked about above will be eliminated for an initial 14 days. This is so we can allow enough time for food allergens and other gut-irritating foods to fully get out of your system and your symptoms to go away. Make sure to write yourself a list of all the foods you can and can't eat during the elimination period so that you are very clear on which foods you need to avoid. It's very easy to forget and slip up on the foods you are used to eating. It's important to stay on track during this time so that you can really figure out which foods work best for you!

Then, you will gradually reintroduce these foods back in your diet one at a time to see how your body reacts. With certain food, you may notice reactions from it immediately and with others you may feel the effects a day or so later. It is important to keep a food reaction journal during this time so that you can pinpoint exactly how you are feeling both mentally and physically. The entire elimination could take up to 35 days or so depending on how many foods you introduce back in. The great thing about the elimination diet is that it can be tailored specifically to your personal needs with your health coach or practitioner. In my Beat Belly Bloat program we start with only 28 days and then my clients have the freedom to add in extra foods if they would like to. I think this is more manageable for clients and their busy lives! 

The Reintroduction Phase:

For two weeks, follow the elimination diet without any exceptions. It is best to have your meals and snacks prepared ahead of time because you don’t want to risk eating foods that may be cooked with unapproved ingredients. If you do eat any packaged foods, you will need to check the labels very carefully for hidden ingredients such as soy, dairy and gluten.

After you have completed the 14-day food elimination diet, you will now start to add foods back in one by one. Introduce one allergenic food in two days increments for 3 meals per day (morning, noon, and night). You will then go back to the strict elimination diet for the next 2 days and monitor how you feel. Take notes on how you are feeling before, during and after the reintroduction. If you notice a server immediate reaction from a food, you can stop there and go ahead and remove the food from your diet and go back to the elimination diet.

Below is the schedule I use during my program with clients who do a general elimination diet of the top known allergenic foods. Follow the schedule below to keep track of what days you will reintroduce each food. Log your food during the elimination and reintroduction phases so you can go back and use it as a reference point.

During this time you will need to document how you are feeling, both during the two reintroduction days and the two days following it. Take note of any headaches, muscle aches, constipation, gas, bloating, low energy, mood swings, fatigue, foggy thinking, etc.

Day 15: Gluten

Day 16: Gluten

Day 17: Back to elimination diet

Day 18: Back to elimination diet

Day 19: Dairy

Day 20: Dairy

Day 21: Back to elimination diet

Day 22: Back to elimination diet

Day 23: Soy

Day 24: Soy

Day 25: Back to elimination diet

Day 26: Back to elimination diet

Day 27: Corn

Day 28: Corn

Day 29: Back to elimination diet

Day 30: Back to elimination diet

Day 31: Eggs

Day 32: Eggs

Day 33: Back to elimination diet

Day 34: Back to elimination diet

Day 35: Discuss

Eventually, you will come up with an eating plan that your body will love. Everyone is different and finding your own unique way of eating to feel good will change your life.

If you think the elimination diet might be just what you need to jumpstart your health and relieve annoying belly bloat, then click the button below to grab my freebie 5 Steps to Beat Belly Bloat!

Sources:

Dr. Mercola - http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/04/soy-dangers-summarized.aspx

Dr. Axe - http://draxe.com/canola-oil-gm/

Dr. Mark Hyman - http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/01/27/inflammation-how-to-cool-the-fire-inside-you-thats-making-you-fat-and-diseased/

Eat Wild - http://www.eatwild.com/basics.html

*Heizer, W D., Southern, S, McGovern, S. The Role of Diet in Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Adults: A Narrative Review. JADA 2009; 109: 1204-1214

CalorieLab - http://calorielab.com/news/2011/01/01/big-8-food-allergies/

The Truth About Your Salad Dressing + a Healthy Swap Recipe!

I have a confession to make...I used to drench my salads in ranch and Caesar dressing! Not only did I cover my salads in these thick fattening dressings, but I also poured it over chicken, pizza, wraps, and quesadillas. Does this sounds familiar to you? The thing is that for a long time I wasn't aware that there was anything wrong with these dressings. I mean, I thought I was doing the healthy thing by choosing a salad and what else do you put on top of a salad? Creamy dressing, duh!

I'm not hating on salad dressings because they are high in fat, I hate on them because they are FAKE! That's right! These creamy delicious dressings are full of artificial flavors and colors, they are also loaded with sugar, salt, chemicals such preservatives and thickening agents, and rancid refined oils such as GMO canola and soybean oils that are high in inflammation causing Omega 6 fats. Who knowingly wants to eat chemical-filled fake foods that will wreak havoc on your health and your gut? Not this girl!

Once I realized what I was putting into my body and the destruction I was doing to my health, I started reaching for healthier salad dressing options that taste even better than those high calorie nutritionally void dressings. The amazing part is, I can make them at home in minutes and I don't have to worry about bad calories, excess sugars and rancid fats because I know exactly what is going into my dressing! I realize that life gets busy and you may want more of a convenience option, so you can also go for a healthier option like Tessemae's salad dressing which you can grab at Whole Foods.

Below is a super healthy recipe that you can whip together and enjoy on your favorite salad tonight! This dressing not only tastes delicious but it also has amazing health benefits such as: natural detoxification from the lemon and apple cider vinegar, fights inflammation with olive oil, boosts your immune system with garlic, orange and thyme. Let me know what you think!

Need some healthy salad ideas?

What's your favorite healthy salad dressing swap? Share your recipe below!

Weight Training 101: Choose the Right Weight for Strength

One of the biggest mistakes I usually see in the gym is guys lifting weights that are clearly too heavy for them and are either half repping it or swinging the hell out of the weight and lifting with momentum. On the other end, you see girls lifting too light of a weight to effectively challenge their muscles. Although  these criminal offenders are on the polar opposite of the weight spectrum, they both have essentially the same issue. They have chosen the wrong weight to create the appropriate amount of tension. In simple terms, how a muscle gets stronger is through a damage/repair cycle. By creating micro tears in a muscle through resistance training the body is sent a signal that it needs to repair those tears and increase  the strength of the given muscle fiber. If the weight is too light, not much is going on. If the weight is too heavy, the person is probably not going through a full range of movement or cheating in some form or fashion just to move the weight and isn't placing full focus on the targeted area.

For example swinging up a bicep curl and using a lot of momentum to carry you through the movement and/or leaning back to assist you in bringing the weight up is taking a lot of focus off your bicep and instead putting more work in your back and shoulders and hips to help generate the necessary force to bring the weight up. An important thing to remember is that our muscles are blind as a bat. They have no idea what weight you are picking up, all they know is what kind of tension is being placed on them.  We often get caught up with the number on a given weight (myself included) but you've got to remind yourself that what's most important is the tension.  One of the best ways to really emphasize the tension being placed on the muscle is to concentrate on the negative or eccentric part of the movement. For example, when doing a dumbbell chest press lower the weight down in a slow controlled manner (2-4 seconds) to increase the time under tension for the muscle and then continue to push the weight away from your body on a 1-2 count. You will quickly feel how much more difficult a given exercise becomes and how much greater the tension being placed on the muscle is.

For guys, this can be a great way to take a step back and make sure that you are lifting a weight that you can actually handle, going through a full range of movement with that controlled eccentric tempo sometimes means going down in weight but you can sometimes get much more superior results with that increased discipline.

For women, if you are feeling stuck at a given weight or don't feel confident in taking that next jump up this same technique is a great way for you to continue to squeeze out as much value from the same weight you have been using.  Remember if your goal is strong, lean muscle and you are able to do 12 reps, it's time for you to step it up in the weight department to continue to progressively overload the muscle to get stronger!

So the next time you are at the gym DON'T be that guy or girl. Now you know better!  Keep lifting and working hard and results will come.