Wellness Articles

About Me Section from Website:

Have you ever felt stuck working towards goals that didn’t feel authentic?

I remember vividly the feeling of going through the motions. Not knowing why I was following the current diet trend or why I was exercising the same as everyone else. I didn’t do my research. I didn’t stop to consider what was best for me – I just trusted that if someone said “this is the path to skinny”, then it was the road I needed to be on! I would push myself, even when my (then) quiet inner voice was trying to tell me “girl, this just isn’t the right choice for you.” I didn’t understand that nutrition is the most confusing science there is and just because something works like magic for one person doesn’t mean it is going to work for me. I didn’t respect the truly miraculous things going on inside my gut and how my special set of bacteria makes me digest, process and heal differently than anyone else.

It wasn’t until I started studying gut health during my integrative nutrition health coaching certification program that a great big light bulb went off in my head (and I want to share this light with you). In my very early twenties I was misdiagnosed with lupus. I was put on serious medications, sat with other women in a self help group for those with auto-immune disorders, wondered if I’d ever have children, and got depressed about the new way my life was being defined. My new reality was Peggy = sick. Luckily, Peggy also = curious. I became very curious about my diagnosis and what it meant for my future and I started a quest for answers – this was before the internet so my search found me deep in resource materials at the library. I discovered that I didn’t have lupus, I had an adverse reaction to a certain food (alfalfa sprouts of all things). I eliminated the sprout sandwiches I was eating a couple times a week, and by doing so eliminated the “auto-immune disorder” as well. A seed was planted at that point in my life and was finally watered when I learned about the gut/wellness connection. I learned that when our gut isn’t happy it will tell us that in all kinds of ways. It will send distress signals letting us know it needs help. But we all too often misunderstand these signals and rather than working to clear up what caused the SOS, we suppress our system with medication. Of course there are instances of disease that are outside the scope of anything caused by food or that can be improved by healing the gut, but science is pointing its finger more and more at inflammation as the root of nearly all disease. Inflammation starts in the gut.

My name is Peggy Smith and I am a certified integrative nutrition health coach. I received my certification through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition – the leading expert on health and nutrition coaching. I received further certification on gut health because I truly believe healing our guts can heal our lives! I work with individuals to help them identify what their authentic goals are and what food and exercise plan works best for them. I help clients who feel their lives are out of control because of stress and the anxiety of day to day life. I help restore balance so they can enjoy fuller and happier lives and thrive to their fullest potential – physically and emotionally. I am available for private sessions, I lead group sessions and I am happy to speak to your business or association.

Work With Me Section – Website

Ready to BE WELL?

You probably didn’t wake up this morning and think to yourself “I want to be WELL”, but what you might have been thinking is “I wish I had a better idea what to do to control the crazy stress I’m under”, you might have thought “I hope today is the day I can stick to my eating plan” or “I hope I don’t blow up at the kids or the hubby today”. As busy, high achieving women, we find ourselves in lives that sometimes feel out of control. We want to keep our health and wellness priorities in order, but who has time for that?

As your coach I will provide you personalized nutrition and life solutions to help you transform into your best self! I provide a safe and supportive space where creative solutions are found and strategies for implementation are established so that you can live life to the fullest!

WHAT I WILL HELP YOU WITH…

As an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, I look at the whole person; body, mind and spirit, because no two people are created the same or have the same life story. The wellness solutions we create for you will be unique from anyone else’s. I help you look at lifestyle and food choices as a mechanism for creating balance in your body and your emotions.

I will help you establish and document your goals
I will evaluate your food choices, lifestyle patterns and use of supplements
I will work with you to help balance your gut bacteria
I will help you identify imbalances that could be blocking your success
I will guide you in implementing a personal nutrition and life plan that helps meet your personal goals
I will deep listen to you like it’s my job – because it is
I will make advocating for your success my priority

———————————————————————————-

HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

If…

You feel stuck in old patterns of eating or thinking
You have tried and “failed” other people’s diet plans
There are emotional issues blocking you from progress
You have a hunch your gut microbiome isn’t performing optimally
You know you should feel more energy and enthusiasm but need help figuring out how to find either
You struggle staying on track with goals you make for yourself
You could really use someone to help hold you accountable
You know stress is controlling how you eat and perform and you want to change that

————————————————————————————–

MY CURRENT PROGRAMS:

One on One Private Sessions – 3 Month Program

Sessions offered M-F 7 a.m. or noon

2 private sessions per month – 50 minutes each in person or by phone
Personalized support between private sessions
Topic specific handouts tailored to your goals
Menu planning assistance
Personalized goal setting
Accountability tracking

Group Sessions – 3 Month Program – Evening Program

Sessions will be offered in the evening at Pathway Wellness (Contact me for next class dates)

2 group sessions per month – 75 minutes each held in Tallahassee Florida
Group size not to exceed 8 people
Food journaling and elimination plans explained
Informative handouts provided at each session
Follow up email with transcript of each session provided with additional resources
6 Step Habits for Gut Health Program given to each participant
Science of gut health explained in great detail
Meal planning for gut health

Group Sessions – 3 Month Program – Lunch and Learn Sessions at Your Office

Sessions will be offered at lunch time at your office (Contact me to set this up for your office)

2 group sessions per month – 50 minutes each held in Tallahassee Florida
Group size is only limited by your facility space – as many as are interested are welcome
Food journaling and elimination plans explained
Informative handouts provided at each session
Follow up email with transcript of each session provided with additional resources
6 Step Habits for Gut Health Program given to each participant
Science of gut health explained in great detail
Meal planning for gut health

Reset Retreat

Price to be determined (depending on retreat location and if you share a room)

3 day/2 night beach retreat
All gut reset meals, snacks and beverages provided
Friday evening – Sunday afternoon
Guided meditation
Dissecting Habits to break bad ones and build better ones
Sessions on understanding gut health
45 minute private coaching session for each participant
Meal prep guidance and menus for weeks following gut reset
Bone broth demo
Sunday evening meal in take away container to complete the three day reset/detox

Making Inside Moments – 12/24/2017

You know those almost mystical moments – the ones where someone says something seemingly random and a connected group of people all laugh and have internal flashbacks to a shared memory? I like to call those inside moments (often referred to as inside jokes).

What if we each made an effort to create more of those, to remember more of those, and to use them with a wider group of people we connect with? I think the result would be transformational! I believe the focus on making and retaining these inside moments would be good for the brain but the focus on using them would be oh so good for the heart!

These moments are happening all around us, we just need to put our phones away, be present with those around us and choose moments to remember. Let it be a memory that caused a shared positive response rather than something that mocks someone else. It could be as simple as a line from a movie, or a funny moment at a restaurant, or a time you said something out of place that made everyone laugh.

I encourage you to spend some energy making these fun human connections. They will make life richer, more fun and they will lighten the mood for you and those around you (and we can all use that)!

I leave you with this:

“Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.” Saint Augustine

Be WELL –

Peggy

Focused Breath – 12/24/2017

The word meditation used to bring to mind an image of a completely controlled, spiritually evolved individual not distracted by to do lists, or kids or Facebook. This advanced human has her life in order way better than I do and enjoys sitting in an uncomfortable position for long periods of time. With this as my internal image its not surprising I rejected the notion this could be a part of my life story. But then there finally came a point I could no longer ignore the overwhelming evidence that there is something to this slowing down of the central nervous system. The science (rather than the mystery) of it finally pulled me in.

I began to think of the goal being focused breathing rather than my warped definition of meditation. I began to sit however I wanted, or even lie down, and several times throughout every day I would think about my breath. I tried some counting techniques and those helped immensely in the beginning. Just focusing on the counting and breathing in and out (use your nose) was all it took to get this 40 something to finally fill her lungs up and to finally let it all out – in a regular and intentional way. I have now evolved into using a technique that is my own (or at least I’ve never heard of anyone else doing this). I must say first that I totally acknowledge that there are far more evolved and sophisticated techniques out there, I just want to share what is working for me currently and encourage you to find something that resonates with you so you too can begin your journey of better breathing.

What I do is first use the aid of counting to get myself in the pattern I want. I typically use a four count in, a pause and a five count out and a pause. The reason for making the exhale a bit longer is that it will literally calm you down and help ease anxiety. After I have established the feel of that count, I will begin to focus my breath into my brain – literally imagining the breath filling up my brain space. After I get the feel of that sensation I will start a mantra that begins with “I think”. Sometimes I will say as I breathe slowly in and out – I think today is going to be a great day, or I think I will l be a better listener today. I try to steer clear of things like I think I need to clean the baseboards and order dish soap on Amazon. Next I focus my breath into my heart space. I feel the sensation of life giving breath filling up my heart. Then I begin the mantra “I love” and I focus on an individual thing I want to honor that I love in my life. Next (and this one might be the most important) I turn my breath to my gut. I feel the breath filling up my entire belly region and then my mantra falls to “I feel”. You know that saying – I have a gut feeling? That’s really a thing. Spend time on your intuition, on what your gut is telling you. And then I end with a few breaths where I imagine the breath going to all the areas at once and my mantra becomes “I AM”. I am whole, I am beautiful, I am willing, I am able. Whatever resonates with me that day.

I leave you with this:

“When you own your own breath, nobody can steal your peace.” Author Unknown

Be WELL-

Peggy

Out with Resolutions – 12/24/2017

Do something with me. Get out a piece of paper and write at the top “New Year’s Resolutions”. Look at that piece of paper for about ten seconds and then wad it up – with intention – and throw it across the room! Then take a deep breath, close your eyes and day dream for a moment about something you are passionate about. Focus on that thing and let your thoughts wonder to how you might take that passion and either bring it to life if you’ve been hiding it, or allow it to grow if you’ve been minimizing it.

Focusing on your passion is what will help make the coming year magical and full of purpose. It will be the way you take what makes you uniquely special to the world and give it as a gift to others. When we can shift our resolution making into a life giving opportunity to improve the lives of those around us we take away the task and hardness of it. It becomes instead a way of bringing joy and fun and meaning to our lives and to the world around us.

I leave you with this:

“Passion is Energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” Oprah Winfrey

Be WELL –

Peggy

Create a Story – 2/18/2018

I met with a client last week and she wanted to talk through an issue that was bothering her. She had stopped doing an activity she enjoys because of a toxic stranger that was always there. My client didn’t know how to navigate this and it is something I think we all deal with from time to time. What are our choices when we are faced with people we dread being around, people who rob us of our energy and turn an otherwise light event into something much darker? I suggested to my client that she create a story.

Picture the person who is making you anxious and uncomfortable. Now create around this person a drama, a story of their upbringing or of their current reality. These are all fictional issues, because you don’t know the person, but if you create a story that would (if it were true) answer some of the questions you have about why they behave the way they do or why they are so gloomy and negative it will help you see them differently! Take that example of the man on the subway whose kids are behaving badly and causing everyone else to feel uncomfortable. People are judging the Dad and the kids but what they don’t know is they just left the hospital where the wife/mother passed away. If his fellow humans on this journey of life had known his current reality don’t you think they would have reacted differently? We all go through tough times and not many of us escaped childhood without some kind of emotional baggage we continue to drag around.

Our opportunity in these situations is to switch on the light in a dark situation and give the other person the benefit of the doubt. Let’s assume that today they are not at their very best for one reason or another. Let’s remember there are going to be days we aren’t at our best. Create a story for the strangers around you that guides you towards kindness and sympathy – who knows, maybe one act of kindness is what they need more than the story we created came close to imagining!

I leave you with this:

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa

Be WELL-

Peggy

Vegan, Paleo – and the Happy Place In Between – 4/22/2018

“Skinny Bitch” was the book I asked for at Christmas of 2007. As I confessed to you in my About Me section, I didn’t do a lot of research back then, I just wanted whatever got me to skinny. Surely a book called skinny bitch would have all the answers! What this book turned out to be (for a softy like me) was a first class ticket on the vegan train. The book described in graphic detail the horrors of conventional meat and poultry farming practices and convinced me that if I consumed animals anymore I was a horrible person. I believed them and spent the next 18 months avoiding all animal products (including honey and leather handbags). Now this is not to say I was getting it all right in the kitchen, but I did eliminate meat and most processed junk food (another component of the Skinny Bitch lifestyle). I did lose weight, I slept great, I was able to focus better, and I felt more connected to animals. I am thankful for all of these lessons around what life without any animal products can do for a person’s appearance, quality of life and soul. However, after a year and a half I started to feel sluggish any my blood work showed some deficiencies. I knew that in order to thrive my body needed more than I was giving it. Knowing what I do now, that was because I hadn’t figured out best practices for supplementing the vitamins and minerals my body would need from other sources. I eased back into life as a meat eater and unfortunately also eased back into the standard american diet (SAD).

Fast forward to the spring of 2014 and there’s me living the Crossfit dream. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been in my life, I’ve totally taken on the “get comfortable being uncomfortable” mentality, I’m seeing and feeling muscles I didn’t know I had, and – I’m Paleo. In the beginning Paleo for me was a free for all of healthy fats (including butter coffee and lots of bacon). I coupled my fat consumption with a drastic reduction in sugar so I did lose weight, I slept great, I was able to focus better and I was strong. But I still wasn’t getting it all right in the kitchen because I hadn’t matured past the herd mentality. I was a follower of whatever the new shiny diet plan was and my body started telling me it wasn’t getting all it needed.

Thankfully Crossfit (and then the introduction of yoga and meditation) taught me something completely outside of the realm of food or exercise. These practices helped shift my entire way of thinking about wellness. They taught me that my body is unique and built to perform and that it deserves to be listened to. When you ask a lot of your body in a physical way you begin to listen to it better. When you sit still and quiet your mind you begin to hear better than ever before. I began to ask the WHY questions in a way I hadn’t before. I began to do my own research and slowly I started to trust my gut.

Today I am primarily plant based and when I do choose to eat meat it must be, as I call it, “happy meat”. This means that the animal who provided the meat I am eating moved around, wasn’t injected with anything or forced to eat anything in order to end up on my plate faster or fatter than it would have naturally. I am way more tuned in to what my body is telling me, what makes it feel good, what makes it function well. I can tell immediately if a food gives me a headache or makes my joints ache (or any other signal it might send). I’m not as lean or as strong as I have been when I’ve forced certain lifestyles on myself, but I’m in such a good place physically and emotionally. My soul has healed from the belief that I must look a certain way or eat a certain way just because other people do. My mind now knows that we are all different for hundreds of reasons and so what works great for one person might not work at all for me.

I learned so much being vegan and then paleo. I see in hindsight that at their core they both promote real, clean, unadulterated foods. I am totally on board with that! Trusting yourself takes time, it also takes experimenting and knowing what to listen for from your body. It is SO worth the effort and really a lot of fun. Let’s work on it together!

Gratitude – 4/26/2018

So today my Deep Thoughts are on GRATITUDE.

It wouldn’t feel right to jump into anything else on episode one without first taking a moment to say how freaking blessed and over the top thankful I am for the ways health coaching is going to provide so many opportunities to be of service and help people in ways I never could have before!! I am FILLED TO THE BRIM with GRATITUDE!

I kept trying to make up some clever way for gratitude to end with attitude but it ends up sounding kinda silly – gr-attitude. But really, attitude IS in that word and that is the point I want to make. Our attitude is shaped in such a deep way by how thankful we are for everything already in our lives.

I am pretty sure that I am now one of those people who can with authority say that the quality of my life has improved because I started the simple practice of keeping a gratitude journal. I asked for this Best Self Journal for Christmas and so for almost a full four months now I have been jotting down three things in the morning and three things in the evening I’m grateful for. I didn’t really realize how much it was changing me until last night my hubby and I were having a great chat and he said something along the lines of “whatever you’re doing right now, keep doing it”. That was so sweet, but also made me feel kinda bad for the days I clearly wasn’t getting it right (but no sense crying over spilt milk right??!!). I’m going to thank my lucky starts the increased gratitude is making me a better wife!

So in preparing for this little chat (my personality won’t allow me (yet) to just go at this totally unprepared) I found this amazing post from a website called Happier Human. In it he had this chart – which I’m going to share a link to in the comments of this video.

He talks about the major categories of our life that are improved by gratitude and I’m going to just touch on the one that really hits home for me from each section.

Health (Improved Sleep)

Gratitude increases sleep quality, reduces the time required to fall asleep, and increases sleep duration. Said differently, gratitude can help with insomnia.

The key is what’s on our minds as we’re trying to fall asleep. If it’s worries about the kids, or anxiety about work, the level of stress in our body will increase, reducing sleep quality, keeping us awake, and cutting our sleep short. If it’s thinking about a few things we have to be grateful for today, it will induce the relaxation response, knock us out, and help us stay asleep!

Personality (More Optimistic)

Who doesn’t want to be at least a tad more optimistic in this rather negative world we live in? We stand out from the crowd when we are the one noticing how great things are rather than how they didn’t go as planned, or it was so hard to make happen, or cost so much money – etc, etc. Being thankful for what awesome things are happening makes us more optimistic – no way around it!

Emotional (Happier Memories)

Ask anyone who knows me well at all and they will tell you that I often say there isn’t anything I’d rather spend money on that making memories with my loved ones! So this one matters to me a lot! Our memories are not set in stone. There are dozens of ways our memories get changed over time – we remember things as being worse than they actually were, as being longer or shorter, people as being kinder or crueler, and so on.

Experiencing gratitude in the present makes us more likely to remember things as being positive. So when you are on your next vacation focus on all the ways you are so grateful for the opportunity to get away, the time with your loved ones, the yummy food, the things you might never see again – rather than on the things that aren’t going exactly as planned. At that point you likely can’t change that anyway so why dwell on it when it might impact the entire memory of the event forever???

Social (Healthier Marriage)

Well this one just seems pretty obvious but why is it the things are super duper obvious can get overlooked when we are tired or stressed or hungry or all of the above – which becomes the trifecta of human grouchiness?? When we concentrate on being grateful for the ways our spouse does help out, does contribute, does show us kindness, does make us feel safe, etc. etc. instead of the ways they don’t get it exactly right, we are going to love them more. Period. We are going to love them more because we will be focused on how our lives are so much better with them in it. For the sake of all humanity, be grateful for your spouse!!!

Career (Increased Productivity)

Those who are insecure have difficulty focusing because many of their mental resources are tied up with their worries. On the other hand, those who are highly confident are able to be more productive, because they can direct more of their focus towards their work. As gratitude has been shown to increase self-esteem and reduce insecurity it makes sense it can help us focus and improve our productivity.

Thank you so much – YES, this will be in my journal for tonight – for taking a few minutes to let me share with you a little bit about my thoughts on gratitude.

Be WELL!!

XO – Peggy

happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

Stress – 5/3/2018

So today my Deep Thoughts are on STRESS!

This is on my mind because I’m working with a client who isn’t getting enough sleep. When you start to study why we don’t sleep enough, you see that stress is mentioned over and over.

(sing) Let’s talk about Stress Baby – Let’s Talk about You and Me, Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be, let’s talk about stress!

Funny – but also SO PERFECT to start the conversation because stress does have good aspects that we can be super thankful for (like when it helps us hit the brake pedal like a super hero and avoid an accident, or when it gives us laser pointed focus during a work presentation). BUT the problem is so many of us are in a state of chronic (which means ALL THE TIME) stress. Chronic stress means we’ve used up our bonus points and we can’t count on it as much for our super hero powers. You see, the nervous system isn’t very good at telling the difference between emotional and physical threats and so when you’re stressed about a deadline, or a fight with a friend your body is activating the same stress responses as it would if you were running from a bear. If you tend to get stressed out a lot – as many of us do in this demanding world – your body may be in a heightened state of stress most of the time. And that’s not the super hero state of stress unfortunately, it’s the one that disrupts nearly every system of the body. Your immune system, your digestive and reproductive system (I see you low sex drive). It can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke and speed up the aging process. It can even rewire the brain leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression AND let us not forget to mention – it can make us fatter! JEEZ stress, you kinda SUCK!

I’m gonna focus just for a second on that last part – stress making us fatter. Let’s get down to some science.

As I mentioned a second ago, your body responds to all stress in exactly the same way. When you are under stress of any kind your brain instructs your cells to release the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline taps into stored energy and cortisol tells your body it needs to replenish the energy that was just used (except for most of us we didn’t just use any – we were simply sitting at our desk getting wound up about something at the office or that is going on at home).

Cortisol makes you hungry… very hungry, and your body is going to keep pumping it out as long as the stress continues. And to make this problem even more serious, we don’t usually reach for vegetables in these situations, we crave sweet, salty, high fat foods because they stimulate the brain to release pleasure chemicals that reduce tension. AND this soothing effect becomes addicting so every time you are anxious you want fattening foods!

And as a parting gift, cortisol also encourages the body to store fat.

SO, is anyone with me on lowering cortisol production pronto?

Here are some ideas to try:

When you start to feel some anxiety – drop and do a few push ups or some other strenuous physical movement that will get the blood circulating. This transports the cortisol to the kidneys and flushes it out of your system faster.
Eat slower! Slowing down and savoring each bite and paying attention to when you are full lowers cortisol levels and decreases the amount we eat because we are paying attention.
Don’t use strict dieting as a weight loss plan. Constant dieting can make cortisol levels rise as much as 18%
And now for Starbucks least favorite tip – curtail caffeine. The caffeine cortisol cocktail we are taking all day long is SO BAD FOR US. Adding caffeine to get through a stressful day just amps up the amount of cortisol you release – by as much as 30%!!!

So those are four ideas for keeping cortisol in check. I’m going to post the link to a great article on how to manage stress in general. I want us all to feel more power and control over our lives than we might currently think we have. Stressful stuff is going to happen, things are not always going to go as planned and there will be days we don’t have enough time, or money or both to get it all done. BUT when we take charge of our thoughts and emotions we can tackle these things from a calmer place. We can protect our health while still getting things done.

I hope this gave you a little insight into how important it is to save our super hero stress powers for when we really need them.

Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter by visiting my website and signing up there. My very first newsletter comes out tomorrow and I don’t want you to miss it! There’s a party going on in the newsletter (that’s all I’m saying)!

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Be WELL friends!

XO – Peggy

Believe in Yourself – 5/10/2018

So today my Deep Thoughts are about BELIEVING in OURSELVES!

This is on my mind because exactly a year ago I took a leap of faith and believed in something I wasn’t sure was possible. I finished the program I signed up for just this week and I’m feeling super thankful I didn’t let fear hold me back.

This particular instance of believing in myself was to go back to school, but it could have been anything – here are some examples that come to mind.

Asking for a raise

Losing weight

Going on vacation alone

Looking for a different job

Standing up for your beliefs

Going on a first date with someone super amazing

Starting a side hustle (don’t you love this new phrase for second job – it makes it sound so mysterious and sexy)

Way too often we get something pretty fantastic in our head, or we’ve had it there for quite some time, and we don’t act on it. It sits there and starts to become bigger than life – scarier and scarier the more we dwell on the “what if’s”. What if I try and fail, What if people laugh at me, What if I waste money on this, What if I end up right back where I started from?

BUT, even if all of that is true – WHAT IF you learn something and feel a new level of confidence for having at least given it an honest try? WHAT IF what you learned this time sets you up for success next time? WHAT IF you meet someone along the way that becomes a friend you can’t imagine life without?

If something is on your mind in that “I just can’t shake it” kinda way – my advice is go for it!

Listen to the voice of hope and possibility, not the voice of fear and uncertainty.

Talk to that child inside of you who attempted something and failed. That little one might have internalized that trying new things is scary and not worth the risk of looking like a failure. Tell that little you that you are so proud of her for her attempts. Tell her that you are inspired by her childlike belief that anything is possible. Tell her it’s okay that things didn’t go as planned because the big you knows that every single thing that has happened has prepared you for this very point in time.

We all have those scared voices in our head – don’t believe for one second that anyone is free of fear. Some people are just better at not seeing fear as an enemy. Instead they have a rational conversation with their fear and collaborate with it to make great things happen.

The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful folks is successful people are determined to figure out how to make things work for them. They don’t play the role of victim or make excuses for why something won’t work before they even give it a try. Be willing to think differently and experiment with new ideas and TRUST that you will discover a way to make your idea work!

And in case you were curious how believing in yourself can have any impact on weight loss I want to spend a minute chatting about that. Studies show that those who truly believe that they can change their lives through their actions tend to eat healthier and exercise more. They take proactive steps to improve the quality of their sleep and reduce stress. Those who feel they are in control tend to stick with changes long enough to make them the “new normal”. They also tend to put setbacks in perspective rather than letting a bad day or bad meal derail their efforts.

If you struggle with believing that you have what it takes to create new eating patterns and find you are constantly looking for the quick fix or miracle solution I want you to do a few things.

List things you have already achieved in life that have been difficult. When you remind yourself of your ability to stick with a task and get it done it will make you feel more confident about changing eating habits or making lifestyle changes.
Make another list of the reasons you want to change that have nothing to do with size or the number on the scale. I want you to instead think of the ways you want to FEEL. Sexy, energetic, powerful – whatever words resonate with you.
Create an action plan to avoid your biggest obstacles to success. For me it is making sure I have a healthy snack with me at all times so I don’t make unwise choices out of desperation.
And last but not least – find someone who will be your cheerleader and lift you up when you aren’t feeling super confident. (I know a health coach who is a super good cheerleader if you’re looking for one).

Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your precious time. I hope something I said was helpful and propels you forward in the direction of your most amazing dreams.

Please be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter by visiting my website and signing up there.

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Willpower – 5/18/2018

So today my Deep Thoughts are about WILLPOWER.

I’m going to start by reading you just a few of the many quotes that are out there, and that we have likely heard, about willpower.

“People do not lack Strength, they lack will.”

“The size of your success depends on your willpower.”

“There is no such thing as great talent without great will power.”

“You don’t find willpower, you create it.”

There are so many quotes just like this that I believe were delivered in moments when folks needed confirmation of their internal greatness, they needed to harness strength and resolve.

These testaments to human capacity helped lead teams to victory, business to success and armies to battle. But what these quotes in the back of our mind might be doing to you and me when we are staring in the fridge at 10 oclock at night is make us feel like we kinda suck because we don’t have enough willpower.

We ask ourselves WHY we make unhealthy choices when we should know better? We determine whenever we “fail” at our goals (health or otherwise) it is because we just don’t have enough willpower. And perhaps this is actually true – but not for the negative reasons you’re thinking.

Let’s reframe our perspective of willpower by thinking of it like the tank of gas in our car. Let’s understand that we get a full tank every morning (as long as we had a good amount of sleep) but every single decision we make depletes the tank a bit. And really big decisions take a good deal of gas. When you think about all the things life throws at us that require some form of decision it is no wonder we have run out of gas by the time our actual car pulls in the garage at night!

I thought it would be fun to share with you a short list of the decisions in the life of Peggy on a typical workday morning – the all day list would take FAR too long!

Should I snooze or get right up? Is Chris walking dogs or am I? What am I having for breakfast? Do I pack a lunch or am I meeting a friend? What the heck to wear (this one takes a lot of gas for me for sure) Roof or no roof on the jeep? Music or podcast? Facebook or Instagram at stop lights? What task on the to-do list do I tackle first? Do I return this voicemail now or later? Do I eat one of the cookies on the counter in the kitchen? Where am I going for lunch with the friend?

And all of this is before 9 a.m.!

The constant requirement to make choices, even when they seem minor, creates what is known as “decision fatigue”. Your brain is tired of making decisions and this has a direct impact on your willpower! The more choices you make the harder each one becomes for your brain and eventually you look for shortcuts in one of two ways. You either become reckless and act impulsively instead of thinking through consequences or you do nothing at all to avoid agonizing over details related to making a choice.

There truly is a finite store or mental energy for exerting self-control!

So perhaps this makes you do a happy dance and feel a tremendous amount of relief knowing there is science backing up your dive headfirst into that Ben & Jerry’s or perhaps this makes you really frustrated because how the heck are you ever going to avoid the ice cream unless you coast on auto-pilot all day and refuse to make any important decisions at all?

Never fear – Coach Peggy is here!

I’ve got some tips for you to help overcome decision fatigue!!

Plan as many things as you can the night before – things like what you are going to wear (I read a great tip to plan out the entire week on Sunday and have it all lined up and ready to go – I might give that one a try!), what are you having for breakfast, who walks dogs on which days of the week, if you work out in the morning – just get up and do it, no debating in your head about it!
Do the most important thing first – one day I’ll do my Thursday chat on my favorite book – Eat that Frog, but it is all about this concept of getting your most important tasks out of the way while you’ve got the most fuel available.
Schedule the most important things as appointments so it takes out the decision component. I get out my scheduling journal on the weekend and plan out the upcoming week in as much detail as possible – things that I know must get done are given a time slot in as many days as I think it will take to complete the task, that way I’m not left hoping I can fit it in. And when you are doing your scheduling, don’t schedule things back to back if you can help it – give your brain some recovery time to eat a healthy snack and recharge.
Glucose is vital when it comes to willpower – don’t forget to eat! This is an especially interesting fact for those who are trying to use willpower to lose weight. In order not to eat a dieter needs willpower, but in order to have willpower a dieter needs to eat! Keep glucose levels from crashing by supplying your body healthy, consistent forms of energy.
Just say no. Just like the most effective way to save gas is by not driving, a very effective way to save willpower for the important decisions is to minimize the number of unimportant ones you are faced with. Making decisions about unimportant things still pulls precious energy and willpower from the things that matter most.

Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your precious time. I hope something I said was helpful and propels you forward in the direction of a WELL life.

Let’s keep the conversation going by posting comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts on willpower and if any of what I’ve talked about changes your perspective or plans for going forward!

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Until next time friends.

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Stigma – 5/24/2018

So today my Deep Thoughts are about Stigma.

I don’t have a clever song for this topic, and my shoes won’t provide any comic relief. In fact, it is possible I might not make it all the way through this topic with dry eyes!

For the past three years my heart has led me to organize a local semicolon tattoo event. The goal is to fund-raise for our local chapter of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness). With the help of some awesome local tattoo artists we set aside a day to do semicolon inspired tattoos – like this one (show wrist) and talk to people about what in their life inspired them to get one. In addition, we encourage folks in the community to draw a sharpie tattoo to spur conversation with their friends and family about mental illness. The most important objective is not raising money, but raising awareness and helping break the stigma that so many people feel when talking about depression, mental illness and suicide.

I guess because of my involvement in this I had developed tunnel vision as it relates to the word stigma. Over the past few years it has become a word used in that context alone so a few days ago while reading this awesome book – What Are you Hungry For? by Deepak Chopra I was caught off guard when I read about the stigma so many of his patients have endured as it relates to their body size.

In a super charged moment of clarity I felt these two great passions of mine coming together. First, my commitment to be a voice for suicide prevention after the loss of two people I love to suicide and second, the part I truly believe I am meant to play in improving the lives of others by helping them reach greater wellness through food and lifestyle choices.

I then felt an overwhelming sadness for every single one of us because we, or someone we love, have all been impacted in one way or another by the negative effects of stigma. Feeling isolated, neglected, ridiculed or embarrassed for any single part of who we are is hard to escape in this hyper-critical world we live in. One definition I found of stigma describes it as “a perceived negative attribute that causes a segment of society to devalue or think less of a whole person.” There are so many examples of groups that suffer because of stigmas placed on them. Those with physical disabilities, mental illness, those who are economically disadvantaged, who are perceived to have intellectual issues. Those who are members of a race, religion or group devalued in our society. Stigmas are based on sexual identity and physical appearance.

The reality is it is very easy to find ourselves labeling or blaming, judging and criticizing. The important question to ask ourselves is how do we help create a world where we do less of these things, how do we instead create a positive ripple effect when it comes to erasing stigmas?

I believe eliminating stigmas starts with me. It starts when I stop labeling myself, comparing myself, judging myself. We must dismiss the negative self talk that bubbles so quickly to the surface and replace it with affirmations that remind us of our important and unique contribution to the world. We must refuse to play the compare game with ourselves and instead root deep within our souls the belief that the most important thing we can be is our most authentic self.

I truly believe that when we commit to doing the work required to truly love ourselves we will genuinely and automatically love others better. We won’t point fingers or tell ugly jokes, we won’t make assumptions about an entire person because of one aspect of who they are or one decision they might have made. We will be more forgiving of others because we have learned to forgive ourselves. We will embrace the complexity of another’s life story because we have finally accepted our own.

Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your precious time. I hope something I said was helpful and propels you forward in the direction of a WELL life.

Let’s keep the conversation going by posting comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts on stigma and if any of what I’ve talked about changes your perspective or plans for going forward!

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Until next time friends.

Be WELL.

XO – Peggy

Breathing – 5/31/2018

Today my Deep Thoughts are about breathing. If you read my May newsletter you found my section that invites everyone to try something new for the month. This month it was to breathe deeper so it makes sense for us to do this together for the last Deep Thoughts Thursday of May!

Before we get started grab a pen and paper for something we are going to do together in a moment.

There is so much evidence that shows that most of us unintentionally short change our health and wellbeing with the way we breathe. We take shallow breaths that limit the diaphragm’s range of motion. The lowest part of the lungs don’t get a full share of oxygenated air which can make you feel out of breath and anxious. When you breathe deeply your diaphragm literally massages your heart which is so cool to think about. Deep breaths help us switch from our sympathetic nervous system (also known as our fight or flight response) to it’s calmer cousin – the parasympathetic nervous system (also known as our rest and digest response).

Yogis have known forever that we can either calm or arouse ourselves by changing the depth and pace of our breath but now mental health and other wellness professionals have begun recommending better breathing to patients suffering from a variety of ailments.

I have always felt intimidated by the idea of meditation, but I kept reading over and over again how important it is for our total health to breathe better. It was finally the science that pulled me in and made me give it a try. About a year ago I started a journey of discovering what this might look like for me. There are so many theories and forms and breath counts and holds and ways to sit. I knew that if this was to be something I maintained it had to be authentic for me.

One day while in the midst of a pretty stressful situation the practice I’m about to describe came to me. I think of it as directed breath and I combine the importance of breathing with something I consider equally life changing – controlling the messages we silently send ourselves all day long. I want each of us (me included) to be better at telling ourselves really wonderful, life affirming things throughout the day – and believing them.

So now is when you will need that piece of paper.

The first step is to write the following three things, leaving a space after each one. I KNOW (space), I LOVE (space)and I FEEL (space). Examples – I know (I am worthy), I love (myself), I feel (abundant).

Take whatever time you need to get the right words in there. These are affirmations you are going to breathe in and we want them to be meaningful to you where you are in your journey today.

Now let’s start to take some yummy, wonderful deep breaths. Just keep the inhale and the exhale even and do that a few times until you literally feel yourself start to calm down. If you can, use your nose for both the inhale and the exhale. Feel the air traveling all the way down to your belly, feel your ribs moving out away from you.

Okay, for this next part I want you to close your eyes and continue to do the same exact breathing, nothing there needs to change – just nice controlled, deep breathing at whatever pace feels right for you right at this moment. Now I want you to imagine the breath is filling up your brain space. You should literally have a sensation in your head, perhaps a little tingling or just a warm sensation. And now with each breath, while focusing on your brain I want you to say the I know phrase you wrote a few minutes ago. Let go of any negativity that would keep you from truly embracing that truth. Do that a couple more times.

Next we will direct our breath to our heart center. As you breathe in say your I LOVE phrase and as you exhale let go of untruths which might be holding you back from loving and being loved fully and completely.

Now we move to our gut and we focus our attention there as we say our I FEEL phrase. Our gut is our second brain and when we use the term “gut feeling” it is a very accurate way of describing the “gut instincts” we have about things. This area of our body is critical to our health. Let go of negativity from this life-giving center of who you are.

Awesome! Open your eyes and hopefully you notice that you are feeling more relaxed and less distracted. Part of the reason for breathing like this is it helps open your mind to become more joyful, less fearful and more balanced. You have more clarity and a better ability to make decisions. The beauty of incorporating breathing into your wellness routine is it can be done anywhere without anyone even knowing you are doing it!

Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your precious time. I hope something I said was helpful and propels you forward in the direction of a WELL life.

Let’s keep the conversation going by posting comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s topic!

And don’t forget to sign up on my website for the monthly newsletter! They come out the first Friday of each month – so that is tomorrow! This month I’m diving deep into the truths about fats and hopefully answering questions you have about this confusing nutrient.

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Until next time friends – Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Not Taking Life too Seriously – 6/7/2018

So today my Deep Thoughts are about Not taking life too seriously.

This topic actually presented itself after I filmed last week’s video. That video was excruciating to get right.

It took over an hour, I moved to four different locations around the house and yard, had numerous technical difficulties, the dogs were barking at just the wrong moment – you name the hiccup, I had it last week!

When I finished I was wound up tight and realized I’ve been wound tighter than usual lately.

It’s ironic how my deep desire to help other people feel better was making me lose sight of how to feel good myself.

I realized I have been taking myself far too seriously and I needed to regroup and get this figured out – stat!

Let’s all imagine something together.

We have been asked to present an idea we have to the big boss.

This idea is something we think can change lives and really bring an impact to our company.

We know that this opportunity won’t come up very often so we do everything we possibly can to prepare and get it all just right.

On the morning of the presentation we dress extra nice and eat a healthy breakfast and arrive at the conference room early, but the boss is already there too.

So we set things up while chatting and then the other folks arrive. We have our presentation on a “computer sticky thing” (for all you Tina Fey fans out there) and away we go.

Except as it turns out, we brought the wrong computer sticky thing and instead of the presentation we worked so hard on showing on the projector screen it is photos from our Caribbean vacation wearing not much more than our teeny weeny bikini! Do we:

A – Scream and run for the computer to shut things down as fast as possible

B – Stand there frozen with arms and legs going numb and our face turning bright red, or

C – Laugh and say – Now that I’ve got your attention lets use the paper version of the presentation to dive into today’s topic.

I would LOVE to claim I’d be C – but it might be more like some combination of A and B followed by several dozen I’m so sorry.

My goal is to work to be more of a C in all life situations. I’ve come up with some strategies and I want to share them with you.

Whenever possible compliment other people.

This probably doesn’t seem super intuitive as a way to not take yourself so seriously, but I really think it makes sense.

The more often we can get out of our own head and focus on others the less seriously we will take ourselves.

When we walk around living in the wrapped up place that is our own worries and insecurities it is hard to think of others.

I believe when we make thinking of others as our go to response we will naturally feel more upbeat and people will like being around us a lot more.

Laugh as much as you can.

Now we all know that we need to do this within reason, and I’m not at all suggesting every event in our lives should be responded to with hooting and hollering – but I do believe there is healing power in laughter.

Whenever it isn’t rude or inappropriate, add some laughter into a situation – just about everyone will thank you for it and it will certainly make you feel less serious!

Say good riddance to your perfectionist tendencies.

– I promise I know from personal experience they are holding you back and making you less spontaneous and often far too serious.

Every once in a while you are allowed a pass and can work to get something as close to perfect as you can – but give yourself a reasonable deadline. When that deadline comes let the project go and trust that you have created something amazing.

And my last suggestion is.

Hang out with kids – or people that act like them.

It’s magical really, the way kids move and talk and interact. The way they trust themselves and don’t feel constricted by the grown up need to over-analyze every word and action and worry if something will make us look silly or if we will be judged for being our true selves.

One of the things I believe way down in the deepest place where beliefs live is that we need to work to find the freedom to be our most authentic selves.

When we do this we cause a ripple effect because the people around us feel a little more empowered to do it too – and on goes the ripple!

This is one of the things I work with my clients on and I encourage each of you to consider for yourselves…

What can I do each day to move in the direction of personal freedom?

What ways am I judging myself too harshly?

In what aspects of my life am I taking someone else’s version of the way it’s supposed to be as gospel?

Ask these questions over and over and I think you will find you begin to shed the protective layer of you that takes life (and possibly yourself) a bit too seriously.

Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your precious time. I hope something I said was helpful and propels you forward in the direction of a WELL life.

Let’s keep the conversation going by posting comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s topic! Do you have any creative ideas for not taking life too seriously? I can always use creative ideas when I get in this rut!

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Until next time friends.

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

How you do Anything is how you do Everything – 6/14/2018

It’s time for Deep Thoughts Thursday!!

I truly look forward to our Thursday evening chats! A chance for us to spend a few minutes considering a wellness topic that relates to lifestyle or nutrition. I hope these videos give you a glimpse inside my head and heart and more importantly provide you with tips or tools you were looking for to live a healthy, happy and WELL life!

My deep thoughts tonight are “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Has anyone else ever heard that saying? The first time I did was about 6 months ago and it came at just the right time for me. It reminded me that my efforts in one area of my life will be a mirror in all the others. I have said it to myself many times in 2018 as I learn to be a business owner and try to grow an authentic and meaningful presence online.

This week I especially needed the reminder so I wrote it up on a post it note and have been looking at it over and over.

Every time I sit with the thought for a moment I think of new areas of life this applies to. Things that run the full spectrum of our lives from weight loss, paying taxes, exercise, raising children, honesty and relationships to name a few.

When we lie a little in one area of our lives, we send the signal lying is okay.

When we don’t give our full energy to one thing, we now have permission not to in other areas.

When we don’t listen well, when we don’t follow through on our promises, when we give up when things get hard.

It all matters. Our actions in one area of our live impact all the others.

I think it is also powerful to apply this to something that I bring up over and over again in these videos – the self talk in your head.

I believe this applies here very directly.

What we tell ourselves as we do one thing effects what we believe about ourselves when we do everything.

For example. Today I took the day off – I had a big presentation last night that I’ve spent weeks getting ready for and we leave tomorrow for a three day weekend at Disney, so a day to myself sounded beautiful. I cleaned, packed, did the necessary get the house ready to go out of town stuff and then felt like a nap. Did I berate myself and feel lazy for wanting a nap when there are still plenty of things to do?

Nope. I used my very powerful self talk to say that a nap is exactly what I need and I’m smart to listen to my internal voice because she knows what’s up.

By making this acknowledgment I have helped negate self loathing or scolding. I won’t allow myself to feel lazy for something that is actually self care and that will most likely encourage more self care in my life.

We owe it to ourselves and to the world to do everything with all of our energy, love and attention – with integrity, honesty and courage. When we own ALL our actions, not just the ones we want people to see, that’s when we start to change the world.

Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your precious time. I hope something I said was helpful and propels you forward in the direction of your most well life.

Please be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter by visiting my website and signing up there.

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Be WELL friends!

XO – Peggy

Accountability – 6/21/2018

It’s time for Deep Thoughts Thursday!! This week being recorded for you on Friday morning because I’ve been under the weather (what does that saying actually mean)?

Anyway, I truly look forward to our chats! A chance for us to spend a few minutes considering a wellness topic that relates to lifestyle or nutrition. I hope these videos give you a glimpse inside my head and heart and more importantly provide you with tips or tools you were looking for to live a healthy, happy and WELL life!

This week’s deep Thoughts are about accountability.

To every single person who has looked at even one of my food journals – thank you for helping raise my awareness of what food accountability feels like. I have a couple clients who want to work on sustainable weight loss solutions and meal tracking can be a very effective tool to raise our personal food consumption awareness. When we couple the tracking with reporting to someone else, we tap into the power of being accountable for our actions. I decided that if I was going to expect other folks to do this and report to me, I needed to be willing to do it myself.

We all know what it means to be accountable. We hold jobs that expect certain things from us, we live in families who need us to hold up our end of the bargain for households to function and we exist within the guidelines set forth by society on how we need to behave to keep ourselves and others safe and avoid chaos.

But lets chat tonight specifically about accountability to weight loss and exercise goals.

When we set goals it is because we want them, we dream about them, we can picture ourselves living in the reality of them – but can we combine that desire with the action required to reach those goals? This is where I think accountability can play a major role in making our goals our reality.

Let’s imagine Sally wants to lose 20 pounds. She has tried a number of different weight loss plans but nothing has worked all that great in the past. She really wants it this time as she has a big event next summer. What can Sally do to turn the 20 pound goal into a reality? What will make this attempt different than all the others?

I believe that Sally needs to be truly accountable to three things:

Accountability comes from a place deep inside that can’t be forced or fabricated by anyone else. The ability to tap into core desires as it relates to weight loss will make a huge difference in how accountable we are. How do we want to feel as it relates to weight loss and exercise? Perhaps stronger, in control of our actions, lighter, sexier, healthier. Identifying these desires and separating them from any mandate by society or family or doctor will help us feel accountable to who we want to be from the inside out – not the other way around.
The Plan. When we truly want to reach a goal and feel a way we aren’t currently feeling we need to allow that goal to hold us accountable. We do this by taking the goal seriously enough to write out all the details we can about it. Make a timeline. Think through the action steps required to reach the goal and refer back to these plans often enough that they create a sense of accountability in us. If that means daily checklist or weekly progress updates or vision boards with timelines – do it. Whatever it is that creates a physical representation of the action required to meet your goals, use it to create accountability.
And last – A partner. This partner can take the form of one other person who you work with and you guys hold one another accountable (think exercise friends who make sure they get up to go to the gym together) or a group (weight loss groups whose aim is to build community around the goal of losing weight) there are tons of online apps and electronic devices (although great tools I still think the human component is much more effective). I didn’t realize it when I started, but you guys on my Facebook page ended up being my accountability partners while I’ve been tracking food the last 10 days. It is very powerful to know that someone is going to have eyes on what you are doing. I think the ideal partner is someone who knows and understands your goals and feels a sense of pride in helping you reach them. A partner who lovingly notices when you get off track and reminds you of how far you have come and how important the goals are to you. A great thing to do is to write down all the things you know will matter most to you in an accountability partner and share them with the person you seek out so they know what is expected of them.

And before I end I want to add that a big part of any sustainable change is believing in yourself! Knowing that you are worth it and deserve great things for your future. I believe in you and I’m here to cheer you on and provide support for your biggest goals!

I hope this has provided some insight on how powerful accountability can be.

If I can help you in this regard, please let me know!

Until next time friends.

Be WELL

XO – Peggy

Unexpected News – 6/28/2018

I truly look forward to our chats! A chance for us to spend a few minutes considering a wellness topic that relates to lifestyle or nutrition. I hope these videos give you a glimpse inside my head and heart and more importantly provide you with tips or tools you were looking for to live a healthy, happy and WELL life!

This week’s topic is close to my heart because of the recent diagnosis of a dear friend with cancer. The topic is how to work through unexpected news.

We all find comfort in the predictability of our day to day schedule. We might whine about it sometimes, but when we really reflect, we crave knowing what the order of our day will be, what our schedule will look like and what is expected of us. Minor deviations are okay – but we can really get out of whack when we have several days in a row where we are pulled in different directions than we are used to.

A time when this happens in an extreme way is when unexpected news throws everything out of kilter. What do we do to maintain some amount of normalcy while we work through issues related to major illness, heartbreak, job insecurity or the host of other things that life throws our way?

I wanted to spend our few minutes together tonight suggesting a couple ideas.

Get enough sleep! I can’t say enough about how important this one is. Adequate sleep is going to make everything else easier to tackle. It is going to make you recover quicker, think more clearly – and therefore make important decisions better, and feel less anxious. When people talk about what is the component that really gives folks an edge when it comes to success in any aspect of life my answer is they sleep (and eat) better! Which leads me to point two.
Be mindful of your nutrition. It’s ironic how many times in my life I can look back and see how I sabotaged myself on the days when I needed to be the most present and plugged in cognitively. This self sabotage happened because I was stressed and turned to sugary foods for comfort. It seems like a logical thing to do in the moment, we say to ourselves “I’m dealing with some pretty knarly shit and I deserve this cookie, cake, potato chips, etc (insert your go to item)”. There might be a moment where that food does exactly what you expected – it makes you forget about everything else – but it is only for a very short moment and what takes a lot longer is the work your body must now do to process what you just consumed. I think we can collaborate with our bodies much more effectively when we choose foods that are easier to digest. Foods that don’t give us brain fog or that “I want to crawl under my desk and take a nap” feeling.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. This isn’t always easy because we pride ourselves in being able to juggle it all. It feels like a lack of strength to admit we need help – but really it is an act of courage. It is what we need to do for the sake of our well being and the well being of our family. When we allow ourselves to lean on others when life throws us a serious curve ball we are showing those around us that they can do the same if they get in a difficult situation in the future. By asking others for help we are paying it forward for our close friends and family by giving them permission to seek out help when they need it and we are conserving our energy for the things that matter most.
Take a few minutes each day to focus on deep breathing. As we chatted about in a prior episode, deep breathing can do so much to calm your central nervous system. If you feel panic coming on, take just a minute or two and stop whatever you are doing, close your eyes and use your nose to breathe deep into your belly and then concentrate on making the exhale just a second or two longer than the inhale. Slow your breathing down and feel yourself regroup and move forward with more clarity and calmness.
Keep a journal of what you are feeling, and include in the daily entry the things you feel truly grateful for. Acknowledging the truth about each day and how your emotions ebb and flow will help you find hope that even on the bad days you can count on the fact that better ones are coming. Taking the time to write things down is powerful in the same way that taking notes when you are learning something helps you remember it better. By the simple of act of writing down the small things each day you are grateful for, your brain will store them deeper in your memory and they will be better able to access them when you need those good thoughts. And finally
Surround yourself with good vibes. These vibes come in the form of the people you are with, the music you are listening to, the books you are reading and the tv you are watching. While you are healing or working through a difficult time try to limit the exposure you have to negativity in any form – I know, this is near impossible, and some of your family might wonder why they aren’t being asked around much, but do your very best to increase your positivity by telling the negative stuff to take a hike!

No one likes to receive bad news. No one wants anyone in their inner circle to struggle, but as we all know, it is a part of the normal course of life. We know we aren’t going to get through this journey without a few deviations from our planned path. While these off road experiences might not be what we programmed into our internal GPS, they can still get us to our destination. We just need to pack into our life backpack some healthy food and a good pillow. We need to take breaks to breathe well and reflect on how far we’ve come and we need to only allow in our vehicle the people and things that make us feel upbeat and calm.

I hope this time together provided some insight for you. I know it helped me immensely to think through my best course of action for the days ahead.

Each week I link the transcript to the video in the blog section of my website – check it out if you would like to read this instead of watch it again!

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know.

Until next week friends,

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Easy as 1.2.3. – 7/5/2018

It’s time for Deep Thoughts Thursday!!
I truly look forward to our Thursday evening chats! A chance for us to spend a few minutes considering a wellness topic that relates to lifestyle or nutrition. I hope these videos give you a glimpse inside my head and heart and more importantly provide you with tips or tools you were looking for to live a healthy, happy and WELL life!

My deep thoughts tonight are a quick little 1. 2. 3. to help you feel more connected and less anxious starting right now!

Compliment at least ONE person today whom you have either never met or never complimented before. The power of this gesture won’t be the same if you just wake up and tell your hubby he looks handsome day after day – although I’m not saying he won’t love that and you shouldn’t do it as well – it just doesn’t count as your ONE. Being on the lookout for a person who crosses your path each day who perhaps needs a friendly uplift or who isn’t expecting a kind word is so powerful. For them AND for you! The gift of a compliment that isn’t anticipated can have a real ripple effect! Be the smooth stone that starts that ripple in the river of life!!
Stop twice each day to take at least TWO deep breaths – the kind we chatted about a couple weeks ago. In through your nose until you feel your belly expand and out through your nose for at least a count longer than the inhale. Slow that central nervous system down and feel yourself regroup in all the right ways. Do this at least twice a day, but the awesome thing is that start a practice that will become a part of the way you stop and center many times throughout the day to get a fresh perspective, to clear out negative energy or even to overcome a food temptation.
Reflect at the end of each day on THREE things you are thankful for. This daily practice of gratitude can be transformational! Perhaps during your breathing breaks you think of what has happened up to that point in the day which will double the impact of that time and get you in the spirit of gratitude throughout each day. It will prompt you to be on the lookout for the small moments you might otherwise overlook. When you are attempting food changes, use this time to be grateful for the smarter choices you made. Celebrate any movement you made in the direction of your goals. Most of life changes start with little progress in the right direction and then just a daily repeat until new habits are formed.

I hope these three little – but mighty – ideas bring some positivity and calmness to your day. Let me know your thoughts and if you have any regular habits like this that you want to share!

Please be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter by visiting my website and signing up there. I’ve included the link in the first comment below. My newsletter dives deep into a nutrition topic and they come out the first Friday of each month – which for July is tomorrow!! Click the link below and sign up now so you are sure to get issue 3 in your inbox (and gain access to all the older issues as well).

If I can be an advocate for you in any way, please let me know!

Be WELL friends!

XO – Peggy

Too Emotional – 7/13/2018

Happy Thursday everyone! I’m so glad we are spending these few minutes together, discussing a health or wellness topic that we can use as we navigate this amazing thing called life! I’m trying something totally new for this week’s Deep Thoughts Thursday! We could call it Q&A Thursday! What I’m thinking about this week has come directly from a client question and I thought my answer for her might be helpful to others as well.

So the question I received was “Have you ever had issues with being too emotional, like in the wrong setting?”
Oh girl, have I ever!

I think a lot of us ladies have had to navigate this reality at some point in our lives. For me at least this is one example of something that did get better with age! But as I sat and really reflected on the question I realized I have memories of my early years working in law firms where any amount of confrontation would bring me to tears, where frustration felt insurmountable – and hence, tears and where any situation where I really need to exert myself felt so impossible all I could do was cry.
In a split second of the moment when I felt ignored, dismissed, scared or confused my cheeks got hot and I would start to cry. Not sobbing making a big scene kinda crying. But it doesn’t matter, it’s hard to ignore the stigma that the sudden appearance of tears can turn you into someone who is not to be taken seriously.

So I want to really provide some relief for my client now – I don’t want my answer to just be, it will get easier as you are forced to go through tough shit and navigate more of the messy business of life. I don’t want her to need to be 40 and more cynical and jaded to be able to hold it together in a work setting or when she has to talk to doctors or confront a mean mechanic. I want my client to know she is in control of her emotions rather than feeling like it’s the other way around. I don’t want the people around her to judge her as manipulative (using tears to get her way because I KNOW she isn’t, but they might not know that). I want her to sit with confidence through work meetings, I don’t want people to put out the box of tissues when she walks in their office. I want great things for her and so I was determined to come up with a couple solutions that didn’t have to do with more trips around the sun.

So I did what most of us do when we need answers – I asked Google. I read stories from dozens of folks who have tried all kinds of things (including inflicting pain on themselves to try and distract the tears – ouch) and the two I’m about to share are the ones that makes the most sense.
The first solution comes from Jerry Bubrick, PhD, a cognitive and behavioral psychologist in New York City.
He advises to take a step back – literally. “It’s not what the other person says that’s causing you to cry,” he explains. “It’s how you interpret it.” The trick, he claims, is to remove yourself from the drama, even by just a foot, to short-circuit the usual rush of tears.
And the other is to simply change your facial expression. There is evidence to support the fact that our facial expressions can influence how our brains process emotion. Adopting a much more neutral expression might just allow your brain to get the signal everything is okay.
So this is what I am going to tell my strong, smart, funny and incredibly passionate client – that the next time she feels like the situation is going to stir up a strong emotional response, literally step back – or push your chair back if you’re sitting and relax all the muscles in your face and then I’ll probably add to take a good deep belly breath – because that’s always my go to advice on just about everything.   And then I’ll tell her, if you can’t stop yourself from crying – don’t beat yourself up. It’s important to understand that we have limited control over emotional responses such as crying.
Unfortunately, our bodies don’t have reliable on or off switches for crying. That’s why those tears from actors in the movies are so convincing – they are actually real tears!!

My hope as I leave you to the rest of your Thursday evening, is that you go forward a totally feeling human in this sometimes cold and calculated world. Recognizing that there is a time and place for tears is not the same as being scared of your beautiful emotions. Let’s instead have a profound respect for how they are part of what makes us who we are!

Be WELL friends.
XO – Peggy

Gut Health 101 – 7/26/2018

Isn’t it funny how we find ourselves in these spheres of information once we become interested in something? It doesn’t help that social media and Goggle can literally read our minds! They exacerbate the situation by sending us every article and product ever created on the topic we casually looked up last week! So forgive me if when I say “isn’t it crazy how gut health information is everywhere right now” you’re thinking “uh – no” – because it isn’t actually everywhere on your newsfeed and social media sites. But take it from me – gut health information is everywhere right now!!
When these gut health articles or commercials or podcasts or recipes come your way or when (hopefully) your doctor mentions gut health to you – where does your brain go? What is your immediate reaction to that phrase “gut health”? Two years ago I can say that honestly I would have thought of the stomach only and what is happening with stomach acids or perhaps how well I’m digesting and pooping – but that was about as far as it would have gone. But now, I’m head over heels in love with the functions of the gut because I truly believe the gut as a whole can be the key to helping unlock better health, better mood, better concentration and a more WELL life! I decided to dedicate the next four Thursdays to topics related to gut health so that hopefully by the end you’re kinda in love with your gut too!!
So, why is there so much information surrounding the gut right now? Scientists are calling what has been discovered as it relates to the gut and more specifically our microbiota the most important discovery of our lifetimes! They have discovered that the gut is its own complex ecosystem. It’s home to 100 trillion micro organisms, including about 400 different species of bacteria! Scientists have figured out that we literally can’t live without them! They play a super important role in our digestion, metabolism, immunity and even mood. Without them we can’t break down food or use the energy food creates for body functions. Our gut is responsible for around 75% of our immune system! Our gut actually has conversations with our immune system to alert our body that potentially harmful invaders are present.
The gut has also been given the nickname “second brain”. It has that title because of the way it helps control our mental state! Our gut contains 100 million neurons that respond to environmental threats, potential danger and excitement. Those butterflies you feel in your stomach and the presence of a “gut feeling” about something is real. Those things are a true biological response that the nervous system in the gut is responsible for!
Because it plays a role in so many areas of our body, a healthy gut is absolutely critical to our wellness!
If our gut is out of whack because the bacterial environment is not in balance, you’re going to feel it. If you’re not eliminating properly, you’re going to feel it. There are certain digestive complaints we are all aware of, bloating, gas, constipation, heartburn, diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome – but these things are only the tip of the iceburg. A damaged gut is also connected to autoimmune diseases like thyroid disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and lupus to name a few. Damage in the gut may be responsible for acne, hives, eczema, joint pain, chronic fatigue, anxiety and even depression.
The problem is our modern lifestyle and the SAD diet (which is short for standard American diet) is toxic to our gut health. Processed foods, refined sugar, chronic stress, use of medications and a fast passed lifestyle have become the norm. These things can destroy the gut! Regular exposure to chemicals and toxins kill off the gut bacteria and give the bad bacteria a chance to thrive! When bad bacteria outnumber good bacteria we call this a state of dysbiosis – or bacteria imbalance.
The GOOD news is, simply by changing the way we eat and some important things about our lifestyle, we can restore our gut balance and get back on track to wellness!!
I’m SO excited to share with you over the course of the next three Thursdays tips on exactly how to get going on restoring gut balance!
I love spending this time together each Thursday evening. Thank you Thank you Thank you for setting aside a few minutes of your precious time for me!

Until next time friends,
Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Leaky Gut; It’s as Yucky as it Sounds – 8/2/2018

The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, said, “All disease begins in the gut.” More than two millennia after his death, scientific research has now proven he was onto something all those years ago. For over three decades, study after study has been published discussing our growing understanding of immunity, gut function and how modern diets and lifestyles negatively contribute to overall health by damaging our digestive system. There is a specific kind of damage that is truly wrecking havoc and it is called leaky gut syndrome (that name is such a visual representation of what is truly happening). In the medical literature, leaky gut is often referred to as “intestinal hyperpermeability.”

The intestines are protected by a single layer of specialized cells. It is AMAZING when we consider that if this single layer of cells was stretched out and laid flat it has a surface area of two tennis courts, but is only one half the width of a strand of hair!! This huge, thin layer is all that separates the external environment from our internal biology! About 70-80% of our immune system lies right behind this thin barrier. It is what keeps toxins and food particles out of the bloodstream and lets nutrients and vitamins in. You might be thinking – how does it do that?? Kinda like kids (and sometimes hubbies) can have selective listening, our gut lining has what is called selective permeability. The lining is held together by tight junction proteins. They are like the gorilla glue of your gut lining. Leaky gut symptoms are a consequence of these intestinal tight-junctions malfunctioning.

When you have leaky gut, certain tiny particles that should never be able to enter your bloodstream start to make their way through. The body recognizes these things as foreign particles and goes on the defensive and elicits an immune response. If it goes on for an extended period of time the normal part of your immune response that serves to fight infections and diseases winds up over-performing, leading to chronic inflammation, which is at the root of most diseases.

Some of the underlying causes of leaky gut include:

Poor diet — especially a diet that includes allergens and inflammatory foods
Chronic stress – no one has a problem with that do they?
Toxin overload — toxins include drug and alcohol consumption but we also come into contact with lots of toxins and chemicals in our daily lives that are much harder to avoid. The worst offenders for causing leaky gut include antibiotics, pesticides, aspirin and NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
Bacterial imbalance — also called dysbiosis, which means an imbalance between good and bad species of bacteria in your gut.

We really need to take leaky gut seriously as the chronic condition of hyperpermeability has been linked to numerous symptoms and health conditions. Some of those include.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s)
Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (often referred to as SIBO)
Celiac disease
Allergies
Respiratory infections
Chronic inflammatory conditions (such as arthritis)
Thyroid disorders
Obesity-related metabolic diseases (Type II diabetes, heart disease)
Autoimmune disease (lupus, MS, Type I diabetes, Hashimoto’s, to name a few)
Parkinson’s disease
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Propensity towards weight gain or obesity
Food sensitivities
Mood issues and autism

While these diseases are linked to leaky gut syndrome, it’s not yet established that leaky gut causes any of these conditions, just that people who have leaky gut are more likely to have a number of other health problems. So while the scientific evidence has not yet proven that leaky gut syndrome is actually responsible for these conditions, it strongly suggests that leaky gut and other dysfunctions tend to occur simultaneously. For me, that is enough evidence to do what I can to “get my house in order”.

If you are interested in how you might do that as well I wanted to leave you with a few suggestions.

To help reduce bad bacteria:

1. LIMIT USE OF Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (EX. ALEVE, IBUPROFEN) – compromise the barrier function of the lining of the gut and change the gut flora
2. REDUCE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS – antibiotics can’t differentiate between bad bacteria that are making you sick and good bacteria that need to be in your gut. It kills them all which creates an imbalance – known as dysbiosis.
3. LIMIT USE OF ANTIBACTERIAL SOAPS AND CLEANING PRODUCTS – there is now evidence that long term use contributes to bacterial resistance to antibiotics and may have unanticipated hormonal effects. Our bodies need to be in contact with bacteria to develop natural immunities that keep us healthy. Children whose lives are too sterile are actually at a greater risk of developing seasonal allergies, food allergies, hay fever and other immune – related sensitives!
4. AVOID ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS – they change the population of gut bacteria that direct metabolism which can lead to obesity and diabetes. Artificial sweeteners enhance the populations of gut bacteria that are most efficient at pulling energy from food and turning it into fat.

To help promote good bacteria:

1. EAT LOTS OF PLANT FIBERS – broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables (kale, cabbage and cauliflower)
2. EAT WHOLE GRAINS – has all three parts of the seed (the bran, the germ and the endosperm) Bulger, brown rice, oats, farro, quinoa
3. CONSUME FERMENTED FOODS – they directly inoculate your gut with healthy bacteria that crowd out the unhealthy bacteria. Examples include kombucha, sauerkraut, pickles, miso, kimchi, kefir
4. BUY LOCAL – has more nutrients, less likely to have chemicals on it, fewer hands have touched it.

If I can help in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out!

As always friends, Be WELL!!

XO – Peggy

Probiotics – 8/9/2018

Here we are, together at week three of our four week breakaway segment of Deep Thoughts Thursday where we are focusing on gut health! Week one we did a quick 101 on gut health and why it is something we need to pay attention to. Week 2 we chatted about leaky gut and how that is something we want to avoid like the plague and today we are going to get the scoop on probiotics. I decided on probiotics because “should I take them and if so what kind” is a question I get a lot from clients, friends and family who understand they probably need to be doing something but they aren’t sure what – and they don’t want to throw money down the drain by purchasing supplements that don’t do a darn thing.

Let’s start by diving into exactly what probiotics are. You will find them defined most often as “live microbes (general term for bacteria, archaea (ar-key-a), protists and other molecular organisms) which, when taken in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the person taking them.” I’m glad they distinguished the fact that it is the person taking them who will receive the benefit and not some other random person. Weird. Any-hoo – so in plain language, probiotics are good microbes that help us digest food, maintain health and fight disease! They work by stimulating the body’s intestinal and immune system and also by displacing harmful bacteria that might otherwise cause disease – get out of my way bad bacteria, there’s a new kid in town.

It is critical that we keep our good and “bad” bacteria in balance. This balance has major implications for not only digestion but also for our brain, our skin and our immune system. It is important to keep in mind that not all probiotics have the same effect. But in general there are three different ways probiotics are thought to work.

They 1. Prevent bad bacteria from growing and replicating in the intestinal tract. 2. They block the uptake of bad bacteria by improving the ability of the intestinal barrier to resist infection and 3. They enhance the ability of the immune system to fight off any invasion of bad bacteria that might occur.

Diversity is truly key when it comes to the microbes in our gut. We want to have as many different good guy bacteria, protists and other teeny tiny – only seen with a microscope – friends in our digestive tract as possible. We know that these little guys are sensitive to things like diet, stress, toxins, medications (to name a few) and that these things will often disrupt the digestive systems natural balance. This can unfortunately lead to a situation where the bad guys outnumber the good guys. If you think this might be the case, or you are suffering from symptoms you think (or preferably a doctor has told you) are a result of dysbiosis then getting back in balance should be a priority for you.

We can find probiotics in certain whole food sources. Plain yogurt often contains probiotics, but make sure you choose a brand that is marked with “Live and Active Cultures” which distinguishes it from yogurts claiming to contain probiotics from those with actual cultures benefiting your gut. And be super mindful of hidden additives and sugars which aren’t good for your gut. Fermented foods also provide plenty of probiotics. These foods will easily absorb into your body giving you the maximum benefit from the beneficial bacteria they contain.

If your gut bacteria are in good balance and you have a healthy population of the good guys, then you can likely maintain that balance by doing two things. 1. Avoid as much as possible the problematic triggers we discussed a moment ago and 2. Eat foods that contain not only probiotics but also prebiotics. Prebiotics are the non-digestible food particles that support the growth of friendly microbes already living in your gut (also known as the food that is food to your probiotics). Prebiotic foods are things like berries, flax, onion, garlic, artichokes, leeks, legumes and whole grains).

However, if you have just finished a round of antibiotics, or you know your gut is out of balance then you might want to consider supplementing for a time frame that allows you to get back in balance. When choosing a probiotic consider the following guidelines:

The number of strains. Bacteria prefer to colonize in different parts of your digestive tract and so the more strains you ingest, the more coverage you will provide. Each strain has its own different purpose so choosing a formula with many strains will provide you with many more potential benefits.
Formulated by a doctor. It takes specific expertise to come up with an effective probiotic formulation. Do your research and choose a brand that indicates real doctors specializing in gut health are backing the product.
A high quality product will list substrains. These will show up next to the strain and it indicates that a specific probiotic strain has undergone clinical studies. When they don’t list them it is a red flag that they may be using generic substrains that have not been studied.
It’s awesome if it contains a prebiotic in the mix. These help the probiotic populate and flourish in your gut and can significantly increase the overall effectiveness of the probiotic.
And finally, it is actually best to choose one that doesn’t require refrigeration. Unless the company has taken every single effort to ensure that the product arrived at the store and was put on the shelf without ever coming to room temperature, it is possible everything will be dead by the time you pay for it and start taking it if it requires refrigeration to stay alive.

As way of conclusion, I want to say – PLEASE remember that I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist and what I know is based on my health coaching certification, self study and the personal experiences of friends and family. If you believe you have something going on with your gut, it is my recommendation that you seek out help from a functional medical provider who can order tests for you that will help identify what is going on with YOU! Also, because those with impaired immune systems, pregnant women and the elderly are all at special risk when it comes to bacteria – you guys need to FOR SURE seek out medical advice before taking probiotics.

I know this was a hundred foot glimpse at a very detailed issue, but I hope it provided some helpful guidelines and information as you consider what is best for your individual wellness journey.

If I can be an advocate for you on that journey in any way – please reach out and let me know!

Until next week friends.

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Immunity and Inflammation – 8/16/2018

Did you know your gut is where a large majority of your immune system lives and that it is the largest immune organ? The immune system is made up of cells, tissues, and organs and 70 to 80% of the immune system resides in the gut. For things to work properly, the immune cells in your gut need to be able to sort through all you ingest and tell the difference between healthy bacteria, pathogens, toxins, and nutrients – and it needs to protect you against anything that doesn’t belong in your body. Immune function is one of the main jobs of the gut. To properly do this critical job, the intestinal wall must be permeable enough to let nutrients and fluids in – but strong enough to keep out unwanted particles, toxins, and pathogens.

In addition to functioning as a physical barrier, the immune system in the gut sends out chemical signals to identify and fight off unwanted substances. This is important to understand when considering gut problems because it’s the immune system that triggers inflammation or autoimmune reactions in response to the signals it picks up from the immune cells in the gut. The bacteria in the gut are constantly communicating with the immune system by sending chemical signals that help determine when pathogenic bacteria have gotten out of line or grown out of control. Bacteria can up- or down-regulate the immune system. The common thought has always been that our immune system was developed to ward off bacteria. But, in reality, the bacteria in our gut may be essential to not only building our immune system, but helping it function day to day! Our friendly gut bacteria have been educating our immune system from birth on who to look out for and who’s okay to keep around. Bacteria send signals to the immune system that tell it whether or not inflammation is needed. You have within you trillions of microbes – bacteria, fungi, viruses, even parasites – all living together in your gastrointestinal tract. This lively bunch of microbes is known collectively as your microbiota. Let’s think of it like our own internal garden. The microbial garden can shift out of balance. Think about how a garden can become overgrown with weeds. When that happens, we say a person has dysbiosis.

Dysbiosis of gut bacteria can disrupt the immune system by altering the way bacteria communicate. They are communicating via the chemical signals that tell the immune systems how to respond. Reduced bacterial diversity can lead to an immune system that overreacts to antigens. This can lead to autoimmune responses or allergies. You might be asking yourself why? Think of it this way: It’s as if the immune system missed out on early training, and so it doesn’t recognize that these supposed offenders are okay and that it’s fine to relax.

When conceptualizing immune function, think of it as being broken down into two parts: The innate immune system – the one we’re born with – and the adaptive immune system that learns and gets smarter over time. You can think of the innate system as a set of instinctual immune responses and the adaptive immune system as a set of learned responses. It’s much like the makeup of our behavior, we are born knowing how to breathe, but we must learn how to do algebra. The innate immune system is ready to go at all times. Always on guard working quickly to protect the body. The innate immune system is a bit like a hand grenade. Imagine a soldier holding the pin, ready to release quickly and indiscriminately targeting anything in the area when time is of utmost importance…like when you have an open wound. The critical goal is to keep you alive and preserve your health.

The innate immune system is triggered to quickly keep the area clean or rid it of infection. In the case of an open wound, the body is exposed and the innate immune system instinctively knows that the area must be protected – even if a few bystander healthy cells are injured in the process.

The innate immune system targets three things:

Breaks in the physical barrier, like an open wound.
Foreign bodies, like bacteria or pollens, and
Compromised cells, like a cell that has become cancerous or invaded by a virus.

And there are three major types of innate immune responses

Inflammation
Pathogen eating cells, and
Natural killer cells.

We are going to focus on inflammation.

The innate immune system is key when it comes to allowing the body to act fast. Inflammatory cells kill invading pathogens by raising body temperature to burn them off. Blood flow is increased, and a fever may occur – all as a way to protect the body. Inflammation is a response that helps protect the body against unfriendly bacteria and support tissue repair. Inflammation is a necessary response that only becomes problematic when it goes on for too long or the reaction is too strong.

For a long time, the common wisdom was that children should be put on antibiotics or medication to bring a fever down, but now we’re starting to understand the wisdom of letting a fever run its course and how a fever can be a sign of the body doing its job well.

If this first line of defense, the innate response, is unsuccessful, about 4-7 days later, the body unleashes its second round of attacks: The adaptive immune system. You can think of these defenders of the body as the sharp shooters that can target specific pathogens or cells. The adaptive immune system is smart. It has a memory of cells that have created a previous offense, it is like a database of information. When a familiar threat is experienced, the body can look in its storage for the perfect antidote, or antibody, to ward off that offender. The adaptive immune system knows its enemy’s weak points and uses that to formulate its strategy. Cool, right? This is why it can be slower than the innate immune system – it’s calculated. And, if there’s no memory stored, it takes the body a while to figure out what to do. But, previous offenders – watch out; it’s got your number! These memory cells are the reason that some illnesses, like chickenpox, tend to happen only once. Vaccines also work on this system. In a vaccine, inactive viruses or bacteria that may cause illness are introduced so that the body is warned and can properly fight off these infections if faced with them in the future.

So we have the two types of immune responses, innate and adaptive and then we have two types of inflammation – acute and chronic. These words are used to describe the amount of time the inflammation persists.

Acute inflammation is a positive, protective, and healing mechanism. It is a friend. If you fall or cut yourself, you will experience pain, redness, bruising, swelling, and scabs.

If you catch a cold or experience seasonal allergies, you may have redness in your eyes, runny nose, and pain. Skin infections and allergies to certain household products may lead to rashes, redness, and itchiness. These symptoms are your body’s way of protecting you and help speed up your healing process. In some cases, like acute appendicitis, the pain and other symptoms of acute inflammation serve as an alarm that something is wrong and treatment is necessary.

Acute inflammation is short lived. It only lasts for a few days to a few weeks or until the issues are resolved, then everything goes back to normal.

Chronic inflammation is where the real problem lies. It is a sign that things got out of control. Instead of attacking true invaders, the body begins attacking itself.

Chronic inflammation can be caused by lifestyle choices, such as a toxic and unhealthy diet, a gut flora that is out of balance, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, or too much stress. Environmental factors, such as using toxic cleaning products, bad air quality, and working around toxins can play a role as well.

Your body is smart and knows that unhealthy factors are not good for its optimal well-being. It starts to see bad foods, unhealthy lifestyle choices, and environmental distress as invaders. Doing its best, the body tries to fight them off through inflammation. The problem is that unlike a small cut, temporary seasonal allergies, or stomach bugs, these factors are not going away as long as you are eating the same unhealthy diet, continuing to experience stress, not sleeping well, not exercising enough, and being exposed to environmental toxins. Your body will continue its fight, fighting harder and harder without results. Eventually, it will end up mistaking inflammation itself for disease, mistaking its own tissue for foreign pathogens and killing it off.

Chronic inflammation leads to all kinds of symptoms, such as pain, brain fog, joint pain, depression, tummy troubles, headaches, and more. Chronic inflammation is correlated with most chronic disease. It contributes to 7 out of the top 10 causes of death in the US.

An increasing amount of scientific evidence now points to the idea that autoimmunity and inflammation – the cause of more than 100 chronic illnesses – isn’t just genetic, but must also be triggered by environmental factors in order for it to emerge. In my opinion, this offers a tremendous amount of hope and optimism that diet and lifestyle modifications can be valuable solutions because what we’re seeing is that symptoms, even when turned on, may have the potential to be turned off when the offensive trigger is removed and the gut lining has a chance to heal. This is pretty amazing.

By making better food and lifestyle choices, we have a beautiful opportunity to partner with our bodies in ways we might not have ever before thought possible. We are not victims of our genetics, but rather the most important determining factor in our future health. Spread the word, to anyone who will listen, that there is more hope for healing and more access to wellness than ever before imagined, and it all starts with your fork!

Until next time friends,
Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Testosterone – Turns Out I NEED it! – 8/23/2018

This post will get personal, so if you’re not into gory details about hormones you might want to change the channel.
So I found out last week I have really really low T (after reading lots about testosterone on the internets it appears “Low T” is the cool, hip way to say you feel kinda crummy and you don’t know why and you never would have imagined it would be testosterone because you’re a GIRL!).

So here’s some science.
Testosterone in women comes from the ovaries and adrenal glands and the amount of it we have increases during puberty and pregnancy and then declines with age and the start of menopause (this is where the guys turn the channel). A sudden drop in it can affect us ladies by lowering our libido, our energy levels and our mood! And to think I was blaming estrogen all this time! Testosterone belongs to a group of hormones known as androgens and they impact fertility, sex drive, red blood cell production and muscle mass and fat distribution. The numbers I found online suggest that normal is in the range of about 15-70. Mine was 4.

I’m going to go ahead and say that finding out was honestly a huge relief because I have been doing all the other stuff I could think of to try and feel better. Eating just as clean as is possible when you live in a world with ChickFilA and Mint Moose Track ice cream, exercising often, going to bed in order to get around 7 and a half hours of sleep, minimizing stress when I can (but is that truly possible at all times??). I wasn’t in a terrible place, but just not in a great place either. I’m going to go through the list of common symptoms that are signs women might have low T – and without me giving away all my secrets, let’s just say I put a check in the box next to a good number of these.

Fatigue: Women with low testosterone often have lower energy levels. And a telltale sign this is not from other things is that even if you get a good amount of sleep you still feel tired.

Disrupted sleep: Low levels can interrupt otherwise healthy sleep patterns. Women suffer from bouts of insomnia, sleep apnea or find that they wake throughout the night.

Weight Gain: A loss of muscle tissue, which happens with low T may be followed by a sudden unexplained increase in body fat, particularly in the abdomen area. From what I found online, researchers believe decreasing testosterone levels is the leading cause of midlife weight gain in women! These symptoms start to appear in the late 30’s but often we assume they are a part of getting older, but getting our levels in order might actually help us gain back a normal amount of muscle and lose some fat!

Decreased Libido: Testosterone plays a critical role in sexual arousal for both men and women and folks of both genders who suffer from Low T will naturally have a decreased interest in sex. And that’s all I have to say about that. (In my best Forrest Gump voice).

Depression: Testosterone helps regulate more than just energy levels and libido – it also plays and important role in mood stabilization and mental focus! Other symptoms are a general lack of motivation and a loss of interest in things we used to enjoy. I will say that this is one of the complaints that is very real for me. It doesn’t rise to the level of me saying I’m depressed, but I would describe it as having a “low mood” for a good portion of the month.

Osteoporosis: Testosterone is an important contributor to bone production and maintenance and so if levels are low, over the course of years the body just can’t maintain bones as well as it should. Declining testosterone is one of the leading causes of osteoporosis – a condition which affects millions of women.

Irregular Periods: This can manifest as periods that aren’t predictable or are lighter than usual or if levels are really depleted possibly no period at all. Some of these symptoms are going to be hard to distinguish from the onset of menopause if you are in the age range where that might be going on, but if you are having these issues and you are younger than the typical onset of menopause, you might consider having your levels tested.

Anxiety: A decrease in normal levels is associated with increased anxiety. Levels can be out of whack to the point folks suffer from panic attacks. This goes back to the role that testosterone plays in regulating mood and brain chemistry. We don’t want to be misdiagnosed with anxiety and put on unnecessary drugs when what is actually going on is low T!

I bet I know what you are thinking – and it’s the reason I didn’t put this all together without blood work – these symptoms are pretty vague and could be attributed to so many things.

I think what I’ve learned is to not jump to any conclusions about what is going on with our health. It is so important that we listen to our bodies and not ignore the signals they send us when something isn’t quite right. I am so thankful that Dr. Farrah at Pathway Wellness did my blood work as it related to my vitamin levels and found this in the process. I’m thankful they are offering me some options and I’m happy to talk to anyone who is interested in what I decided to do – just private message me!

Putting on our detective hat is so critical when it comes to our health. I can imagine I would have been able to walk into a number of places with these symptoms and be prescribed something for either depression or anxiety or both or even estrogen replacement. Knowing what I know now, that would only have masked what is actually going on without improving the issue whatsoever! Nutrition and medicine and what’s going on in our bodies is confusing, no doubt – but our bodies want desperately to be in balance. Do your best to surround yourself with food, movement, friends, family and practitioners to help you find that balance.

If I can be of help to you in this regard, please let me know.

Until next time friends.
Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

What do you Have on Repeat in Your Head? – 8/30/2018

I’m really excited to chat with you about this because there are life applications to it and also health and wellness applications, so there should be something for everyone! Let’s dive right in.

Have you ever spent time reflecting on the personal stories you have on repeat in your head? You know, those things you just believe about yourself and regurgitate to yourself and others without even thinking about them? These are things, often negative in nature, that we are programmed to believe. Likely someone said something to us as a child or at an impressionable time in our life, and we started to self identify with the message. Examples are things like –

“You aren’t good at Math”

“You are too fragile to play contact sports”

“Women in our family have weight problems”

“It’s frustrating you can’t ever sit still”

“You are too emotional to lead a company”

“You’re not detail oriented enough”

When internal programming happens from messaging like this we usually build other messages on top of them and then we make decisions about our lives based on this complex web of beliefs that might not even be a true representation of who we are or what we are capable of. Unfortunately however, these beliefs become so engrained they might as well be as true as the color of our skin and the city we were born in.

What if the messages we have on repeat just aren’t true?

What if we have been held back from adventure and experience because we don’t believe we are capable of something we are actually fully capable of??

A perfect example for me was when Chris talked me into crossfit. I had a lot of personal messaging going on with beliefs about what I could and couldn’t do – which translated into potential self-sabotage about what this experience was going to be like. I had to fight against the voices in my head that told me I wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t built like an athlete, wasn’t qualified. But I did fight those voices and now when I look back at the two years we spent doing hard core crossfit my main take away is how it caused me to believe I can do anything! It changed me from the inside out way more than it changed my muscles and body fat percentages! The change was so profound because it allowed me to look at all the stories I had on repeat in my head and challenge each of them!

I like inviting my clients to take some time to be still with that child inside who had something careless or mean said to them, who wanted very badly to be good at something but was told by an authority figure that they weren’t, and so they never tried again. When we can connect with that sweet little one and tell them to try again, to believe a different ending is possible, to challenge the status quo – who knows whats possible?

The other area where this comes up is as it relates to our health. Way too often we are told a certain thing about our options or our future based on a current health diagnosis or issue. Way too often we shortchange the rest of our lives because our doctors tell us that certain things are risky or could cause complications. We internalize the messaging that we are sick and that being sick limits us. This makes me sad because I believe it can be so different.

One of the things I LOVE about gut health is how it is really challenging the notion that we are strapped to our genetics and can’t ever escape. What science is finding now is that we have way more control than we ever dreamed possible as it relates to our health. We can help prevent the onset of disease and even help reverse it once it has presented itself. We can claim ownership of our bodies and how they perform on the inside in much the same way we control how they perform on the outside. With better nutrition, better sleep, better breathing, less stress and less toxins anything is possible! But we must start by believing it is possible!

We need to challenge the stories on repeat in our heads. We need to have a heart to heart with that child in us who believes the messaging given to them and set that child free to try anything they desire. We need to claim ownership of our health and believe that food and lifestyle choices might be the very best medicine in the world for us.

I love thinking about how different your future might look from your past if you are willing to skip past the track you have on repeat in your head and move forward to dance to a brand new song!

As always, if I can be an advocate for you in this regard, or any other, please let me know.

Until next time friends –

Be WELL,

XO – Peggy

Friendship is Like A Puzzle – 9/6/2018

Cute little sayings about friendship are everywhere. Every time I log into Pinterest or Facebook I see them: “Friendship isn’t a big thing, it’s a million little things.” “The most memorable people in life will be the friends who loved you even when you weren’t very lovable.” “Your job won’t take care of you when you’re sick, your friends will.”

But the nuances and subtleties of the true essence of friendship can not be summarized in a cute quote.

Earlier this week I met up with one of my best friends for lunch, we had not talked for a couple months and I wasn’t sure why – but the separation had weighed incredibly hard on my heart. It was one of those times where all you can do is play back every conversation in your head, rewind all the interactions and search out the moment that things went wrong. Feelings are so fragile, even well-seasoned relationships can take a hit by ill placed words or thoughtless comments.

Thankfully, things are on the mend now because she cared enough about our friendship to work through her hurt and present it to me honestly. This gave me a chance to apologize and try and make it right. I think that’s all we can really hope for… a few friends who care like that. Friends who want you in their lives enough to accept the fact we aren’t always going to do things the best way, or the most thoughtful way, or simply put – the way we should.

What is really beautiful to me though is the fact that I now feel more connected to this friend. I think it is because her hurt showed me how deeply affected she is by my actions and the separation showed me just how much I want her in my life. I told her when we were talking that day that getting older does indeed make us wiser. I was not the girl of my youth who would have been easily offended by the silence, who would have placed the blame elsewhere, who would have talked behind her back. Instead of judging, I reflected; instead of feeling sorry for myself, I put myself in her shoes.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed at how blessed I have been to travel the road of life with so many truly remarkable women!! Each one of these beautiful friendships work together to make me the person I am today. Not a single one of them is more or less important than the others. It is like a giant complex puzzle (you know, the kind you get out on vacation when it is raining out). Some of my friends have been the outside pieces; not too hard to find, fairly easily placed but oh so important because they create the structure and boundary for everything found inside. Other friends are those inside pieces, they are the ones you search out, you agonize over, you turn and test and focus on until you get it just right. What a glorious puzzle my friends are helping me make of my life.

I wrote this post to my journal blog on July 6, 2013.

Less than a month later the friend who the post is about had died by suicide.

Don’t wait to tell others how much you love them, how much you need them or how sorry you are for anything that has negatively impacted your friendship. Tell them today!

I’m sending giant hugs your way friends.

Until next time,

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

—————————————

Food Tracking – 9/20/2018

It’s super duper easy to lose track of everything we consume on any given day if we aren’t paying attention. It’s easy to forget the handful of m&m’s at our co-workers desk we mindlessly ate while chatting (guilty), or that we asked for that extra side of chick fil a sauce, or ranch dressing, it’s easy to forget, and hence not account for, the half a granola bar the kids didn’t finish and you didn’t want to waste, or the few French fries you ate off hubby’s plate when you went out to dinner last night.

I want to be sure to say I’m not a fan of anyone feeling like they have to track food for the rest of their lives – but I am a huge proponent of doing it when you have specific goals or if you want to have a much better idea of what your eating habits really are, or most importantly, you want to investigate whether there are foods you are consuming that are impacting your health or your mood!

Whichever way you choose – using an old fashioned paper journal, or a slick new phone app (and I’m going to include my favorite suggestions below) – tracking everything you eat for at least ten days can really help in few key ways.

First it will help you better control the number of calories you are consuming. Let’s face it, as much as we want there to be a magic pill – if we want to lose weight, we need to consider the number (and type) of calories we are consuming. If you don’t have a good idea how many calories are in certain foods, you might be sabotaging your weight loss efforts without realizing it (even with seemingly healthy foods). Using one of the electronic trackers, either on your computer or your phone, really makes the process simple because you just have to start typing what you ate into the database and it will usually find it and know exactly what the calories and other nutritional data are per serving. Some of the apps even work by simply taking a picture of your food or the bar code on the packaging!

The next reason is to get a better idea of portions. This goes along with learning about calories because when you get a better idea of how many calories are in things you have a much better idea of the kinds of things you can “pig out” on – like our gut’s favorite food – vegetables and also lean meats and certain fruits. In addition, you’ll be much more aware of foods you want to seriously control the portion size of if weight loss is one of your goals.

A really important reason to track is that it gives you concrete data from which you, and if you have a coach, you and your coach, can formulate much more specific plans for smashing those goals! We can very easily trick ourselves into believing we don’t snack much on processed food, or that we get our full 5 servings of vegetables everyday. But if you are really honest and diligent for several days about tracking every single thing you consume, you will start to see patterns and understand much better what your food story is.

Studies show that those who lose the most weight, in the short and long term – are those who are the most diligent about self tracking. When you stick with tracking while you are on your weight loss journey, you will find you do eat less because you don’t want to record junky food – especially if you have an accountability partner looking at your journal with you.

When I work with clients on elimination plans – which can really significantly improve gut health and reduce inflammation and make you feel better in more ways than you might imagine – we couple the activity of food tracking with the more mindful act of journaling emotional and physical responses to food or beverages and even supplements or medications.

As I mentioned above, I believe the most important reason to get serious about food tracking is to determine if certain foods are triggering a negative response by your body. When you start to make the connection between food, your health and your mood, your commitment to better eating becomes about so much more than a number on the scale. You will make this connection faster when you are journaling throughout each day how you feel – do you have a headache after dairy, do you feel brain fog after you eat bread, do you lie in bed with your heart racing if you eat a lot of sugar before bed? Sometimes we assign these symptoms to other things and we can go a lifetime assuming we have one condition or another, when the culprit might be what we are eating.

Making the commitment to honesty track everything you eat and drink and then combine that with an honest account of how you felt at different times of the day can be truly transformative on your wellness journey!

Happy tracking!!!

Until next time friends,

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

Food Tracker Suggestions:

My top choice if you are primarily entering your data on a computer is My Fitness Pal (link below) and if you are doing it on your phone Lose It is really amazing!

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

———————————————–

A History of the Ketogenic Diet – 10/4/2018

You don’t have to be able to throw a stone very far to hit someone who has either tried, or is thinking about trying, the ketogenic diet. It is all the rage right now. You can tell how popular things are nowadays in part by how many podcasts are dedicated to the subject! I’m a big fan of podcasts and will often use them to help me understand topics better as I drive around town. I looked up keto on my podcast app and there are tons of folks who have created channels dedicated just to this subject!

I’m not trying today to tell you what to do or not to do. I do have an opinion, but I won’t share it here because my goal is more to give you a history of where the heck the whole keto thing started and a little bit of the science behind what our bodies are doing if we do decide to take the diet seriously and stick with it in the strict sense (where our bodies switch what form of fuel they use for energy – but I’m getting ahead of myself). First, a little history lesson.

Documented fasting and other dietary regimens have been used to treat epilepsy since as far back as 500 BC. To mimic the metabolism of fasting, the ketogenic diet was introduced by physicians as a treatment for epilepsy in the 1920s. For two decades this therapy was widely used, but when drugs used to treat epilepsy were introduced the use of the diet declined dramatically. However, in the past 15 years the diet has exploded back onto the scene in part because of the media attention given to the family of a little 2 year old boy by the name of Charlie. Charlie’s family went to Johns Hopkins because of his terrible, and up to that point, basically un-treatable seizures. The doctors started him on the ketogenic diet and he quickly became seizure free! His father then founded the Charlie Foundation and sought to get this information out to the public as broadly as possible. Now the diet is being used in over 45 countries but is still one of the last choices of physicans worldwide. They will most often try all available pharmaceuticals before suggesting the diet.

The diet is based on the process of ketosis, in which the body uses ketones for fuel instead of glucose. Ketones are a byproduct of fat metabolism that are used in times of starvation, carb restriction or excessive exercise. Calorie intake must be limited and comprised of 80% fat for the body to reach ketosis. It is suggested that the other 20% of calorie intake come from low carb vegetables and protein.

Ketosis usually begins within a few days of starting the diet. Once ketosis has begun, insulin levels drop which causes the pancreas to start producing glucagon. Glucagon determines the rate at which ketones are produced and sends the body into fat-burning mode which is why the diet has gained recognition as a means for weight loss.

Under a doctors supervision, the diet is customized to individual needs. Most recommend the first 24 hours be a fast and then a gradual introduction over the next few days so the body can start to adjust. Each meal must be carefully measured, including fluids and a daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement are super important.

Potential side effects include dehydration, constipation, vomiting, high cholesterol, kidney stones, behavior changes, slower growth rates in children, pancreatitis, excess fat in the blood and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Because of these serious issues those on ketogenic diets need to be closely monitored by knowledgeable doctors.

Foods that are included on the diet are low carb vegetables, low carb fruits, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds and healthy oils. Foods to avoid are high carb vegetables, high carb fruits, grains, beans, sugar, trans fat and processed food.

When evaluating anything it is important to look at pros and cons.

The pros are ketogenic diets may prevent or lessen the frequency of seizures, may alleviate epilepsy, it dramatically restricts sugar intake and it provides quick weight loss in some cases.

The cons are it is not safe for people who do not exercise because ketones need to be released as energy, it is difficult to maintain for extended periods of time, weight lost is often quickly put back on when a person returns to regular eating and nutrient deficiencies are common.

So what’s my summary – the ketogenic diet, by that name, has been around for just about 100 years with variations of it documented back much much farther in history. Starvation diets have been used to treat all kinds of disease (its actually a quite fascinating study if you’re ever looking for some interesting light reading!). The ketogenic diet was developed with a very narrow, particular scope in mind and has been used for that with varying degrees of success. Much more recently people without epilepsy have gravitated to the diet because of the quick weight loss, the reported increase in energy and a feeling of fullness with much less food. There is a fanatical following of the diet and lots of folks are claiming to have all the answers on how to do it and claim they can tell you all you need to know. My advice is to really do your homework – don’t just read the articles and websites that say what you want to hear, read the other ones too, and then create a list of questions for your doctor and talk to him or her before you start this and if you do decide that your situation is such that this makes sense, then follow it exactly and stay in contact with your doctor throughout the process. I think the keto diet is another amazing example of how we can use food to heal, and I love that part of the story – but I’m not certain this is the right solution for those who are looking for ways food can help us lose weight – there are other, much less risky, solutions for that! (Oops, I said I wasn’t going to give my opinion. Well, I guess this is my deep thoughts – so there you have it!).

Until next time friends,

Be WELL!

XO, Peggy

—————————————-

On Struggle, Difficulty and Love – 10/19/2018

My thoughts are quite deep this week and in the midst of these thoughts I recalled a book I read years ago which had some thought provoking passages – so I pulled it out and did indeed, find some comfort in them again.

Letters to A Young Poet is a collection of ten letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke from to Franz Kappus in the years between 1903 and 1908. Kappus was a young man in military school in Austria who describes himself as a poet stuck in a military world and he seeks written counsel from Rilke after reading his poetry. After that first letter, where Kappus admits “I found myself unreservedly laying bare my heart as never before and never since to any second human being” a written dialogue began that spanned five years (in other words, they were really legit pen pals). Kappus published the letters because he believed they were too valuable to keep to himself, their insight and encouragement would reach countless others if he shared them. They certainly had an impact on me, and I thought I would read to you three of my favorite passages in the hopes they might offer encouragement or insight to you.

These passages are on struggle, difficulty and lastly, on love. These topics are close to my heart this week as so many in our city and more markedly, in those cities that neighbor us, are dealing with true devastation and loss from Hurricane Michael.

There is struggle without a doubt, families are facing loss in ways they might have never imagined – but I also see so much love pouring into those communities, and so much compassion for fellow human beings.

“Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, since after all you don’t know what work these conditions are doing inside of you? Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where all this is coming from and where it is going? Since you know, after all, that you are in the midst of transitions. If there is anything unhealthy in your reactions, just bear in mind that sickness is the means by which an organism frees itself from that which is alien; so one must simply help it to be sick, to have its whole sickness and to break out with it, since that is the way it gets better.”

“Don’t be too quick to draw conclusions from what happens to you; simply let it happen. Otherwise it will be too easy for you to look with blame… at your past, which naturally has a share with everything that now meets you.”

“For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the work for which all other work is but preparation. For this reason young people, who are beginners in everything, cannot yet know love: they have to learn it. With their whole being, with all their forces, gathered close about their lonely, timid, upward-beating heart, they must learn to love. Love is at first not anything that means merging, giving over, and uniting with another, it is a high inducement to the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world for himself for another’s sake… it chooses him out and calls him to vast things.”

As always, the transcript of this will be posted on my website if you think you might need to read the words to really dwell on their meaning. I’ve included the link for you.

My hope for all of you who hear this is that despite whatever might have happened to your homes or your yards or how many days you were without power – your families are safe and you feel loved by your friends and communities.

If there is anything I can do for anyone who is a Deep Thoughts Thursday listener who has been impacted by Hurricane Micheal – please let me know!

Until next time friends,

Be WELL!!

Peggy

———————————-

Primary Food; 10/25/2018

Hi friends and welcome back to another episode of deep Thoughts Thursday. Today I’m coming to you from my bedroom! The weather is so yucky and rainy out and all I wanted to do when I got home was put on my pajamas and climb in bed – but I couldn’t do that entirely because I wanted to look the part for our video time together – but check this out – I have on my pink polka dot jammy bottoms on with my rust colored work shirt! It’s all about balance people!!

Today we are going to chat about something pretty awesome called Primary Food and as we dive into the topic I want to lead with this visual. This is the nutrition plate that was taught to me by my health coach school to help us understand that nutrition isn’t just about the food we put on our plate but it is so much also about our emotional wellness. This plate shows that importance of fruits and vegetables, of whole grains and proteins. It makes the suggestion that our fluid be water and that we also consider the fats and oils we consume as part of our diet as well – all of these things together we refer to at IIN as secondary food. But as you can see there is something going on around the outside of the plate as well, and those are the things that matter just as much – if not more – our relationships, our spirituality (whatever that looks like for you), our careers and our physical activity. These things are collectively referred to as primary food.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could actually reach all our wellness dreams just by changing what we put on our plates? While it is true for sure we can go a long way towards changing disease and nutritional imbalances, weight issues and energy levels by what food we put on our plates, we must also recognize that all the brussel sprouts in the world can’t fix our relationships; all the organic apples won’t make you love your job if you don’t already. And if your relationships, the energy you bring to your career, and the amount of time you spend in movement and deep breathing are out of whack then your wellness potential isn’t being fully realized.

This concept was one of the very first things I learned through the Integrative Institute of Nutrition – the concept is called Primary Food and it aims to bridge the gap between food and personal growth and development. Lifestyle clearly plays a huge role in how well we pay attention to our nutrition. All the busy Mom’s out there can relate to the time crunch situation going on each and every day to make sure the kids have some kind of food in front of them while you drive to the next activity! But there are also lifestyle issues that hinge on stress, or loneliness or sadness or anger. Food choices that are about escaping or coping more than they are about providing fuel for movement and survival.

As a nutrition coach really obsessed with how to get our guts healthy in order to maximize health and minimize inflammation I can get tunnel vision about what is on our physical plates. I know I spend a lot of time and energy helping clients understand the importance of feeding our good bacteria and starving out the bad guys! But when I sit and really listen to clients talk about all of the things that they are struggling with or trying to overcome I am reminded that food alone is not going to fix it all. When we are struggling with primary food issues all the healthy food in the world can’t make you feel a full sense of well-being and joy.

I have also seen evidence that those who have fulfilling relationships and careers, who incorporate exercise and movement into their regular routine and who have a spiritual practice that soothes and invigorates usually don’t look to food as any kind of crutch or emotional life-jacket – they don’t lean on secondary food to fill voids in their lives, because there really aren’t any.

I know it sounds like just one more thing to have to think about in the realm of your wellness – but it’s really not another thing, it’s more of a way of bringing all the things together. It’s a way of remembering you are a whole being, with many different kinds of needs and desires – and when any one of those needs or desires aren’t being met, you will often turn to another to try to make up the difference, to nourish what is lacking.

Taking the time and effort to heal any hurt or emptiness as it relates to our primary food will indeed help heal the secondary food issues. When you have more energy and purpose for living you will have more enthusiasm for healthy food choices, which will give you more energy and on and on the healthy cycle goes.

If you’d like to hear more about primary food or look at how personal imbalances might be staling your personal wellness goals, please reach out to me – I’d love to schedule a time to chat either in person or on the phone!

I care deeply about your wellness – all the parts of it!
Until next time friends.
Be Well

XO – Peggy

—————————————

Sugar – It’s Complicated; 11/1/2018

I recently did a presentation and admitted to the participants a little bit about my complicated relationship with sugar. I said that if I had to choose a relationship status on social media I would have to choose “It’s Complicated”. Based on their reactions I felt like I was at a support group meeting and we were all encouraging one another in how to best handle a troubled love life! It’s so easy to love sugar, but it is also so obvious that it is not always good for us.

I know that when I eat too much sugar I’m going to feel anxious, if I eat it too late at night I’m going to have trouble sleeping but if I eat it during the day I won’t be able to concentrate and I’ll want to crawl under my desk and take a nap. I should probably just declare myself “intolerant” to this class of sugar but when certain things cross my path (like cookie dough and pie) some kind of amnesia comes over me and I forget all the yucky ways I’m likely going to feel and the brain fog that is inevitably going to set in. I just want the treats! I’m sure you’ve all heard the studies about the mice and sugar and cocaine and how often the mice go back for the oreos rather than the drugs! There’s something going on here that we can’t ignore! Let’s spend our time together getting down to some basics on sugar in its different forms and the different names we have for it and whether or not these distinctions make any difference for our wellness.

First I think it’s important to go through a tiny little science lesson on how our bodies respond to sugar. When we digest sugar enzymes in the small intestine break it down into glucose. This glucose is then released into the bloodstream where it is transported to tissue cells in our muscles and organs and converted into energy. The body is constantly monitoring the amount of glucose in the bloodstream and the pancreas releases insulin to control those levels. If you consume more sugar than your body needs right away for fuel, it can be stored for later to keep your blood sugar levels constant. If your body stops producing any or enough insulin or if your cells become resistant to it, this can result in diabetes which will leave blood sugar levels to rise to dangerous levels. If we eat more sugar than our energy levels require, our bodies have to find something else to do with it. Excessive sugar consumption is one of the leading causes of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Sugar addiction is a real thing and it’s because of what is going on in our brain in response to it. When we eat sugar, the brain releases dopamine and serotonin, and these are hormones that boost our mood. This is similar to what happens in drug addiction. Regular sugar consumption can also inhibit dopamine transporters which can lead to us needing to eat even more sugar to eat the same pleasure as before! And lastly (as it relates to the brain) fructose which is used to sweeten many foods and beverages doesn’t suppress the hunger hormones meaning our bodies are unable to tell when we have eaten enough!

Natural Sugar

The word “natural” as it relates to sugar means that the sugar comes from a source that was produced in nature, like the sugars in fruit and vegetables. And if this was the only place we ever got sugar from we would likely all feel better and suffer less from headaches, brain fog, fatigue, and cravings. Fruit sugars are superior to all others (and I’m not at all referring to fruit juices) because we need the fibers from the fruit to help fill us up and also to help feed our friendly gut bacteria. “Natural” is also used to refer to the types of sugars present in things like honey and maple syrup. Calling honey and maple syrup natural only really refers to the fact that they are products that come from nature. We must bear in mind that the sugars (fructose and glucose) in honey are no different than those in table sugar or high fructose corn syrup and so we are going to be broken down quickly by the body and can cause spikes in blood sugar levels.

Added Sugar

If the sugar that is in an item didn’t arrive there by the grace of God then it is an “added sugar.” It’s recommended that we limit added sugars in our diet, in large part because eating a diet too high in added sugars makes it harder to get all the nutrients we need without eating excessive calories because most foods high in sugar are not also high in nutrients. And to make matters more confusing, sugary foods often don’t make us feel full which leads us to consume far more calories than if we had eaten natural sugars rather than added sugars in the first place! An apple a day people!!

Organic Sugar

When you see the USDA Organic label on food packaging, it means that a product meets the Department of Agriculture’s criteria for being certified as organic. Any food with this label must meet certain production and labeling requirements. But what does the term organic mean for sugars? Nutritionally speaking: not a thing. Organic sugar provides the same number of calories as non-organic varieties and causes all the same body responses.

Raw Sugar

Raw sugar has a rustic sound and look to it, so you might assume that it’s “healthier” due to its darker color, larger crystals and name. Raw sugar (which might also be called turbinado sugar) gets its faint brown color from the naturally-occurring molasses found in sugar cane and sugar beets. The molasses is only partially removed in raw sugars, whereas it is fully removed from white sugars. While raw sugar is less processed than other sugars, that doesn’t make it healthier. We digest it in exactly the same way that we do other types of sugars.

Artificial Sugar

This deserves a session all of it’s own – so tune in next week as we dive into the different kinds of artificial sweeteners and to hear my opinion about the whole confusing truth behind them!

What this all boils down to is the fact that added sugar is added sugar. Regardless of its name or source, the amount of added sugars we eat should make up less than 5 percent of our calories. And to make our guts happiest we should make it our goal to get our sugars from whole fruits almost without exception (Halloween being one of those exceptions). So enjoy the kids York Peppermint Patty’s or Almond Joys – or whatever it is they will share with you – and then plan to be back to apples and strawberries in a day or two!

With sugar, as with all of our relationships, I think it is important to be mindful of what triggers certain behaviors and responses (in this case, are there stressors that lead you dive headfirst into the cookie dough)?? As I’ve mentioned in other episodes, food tracking can be really helpful in this area as it will give you a clearer picture of when and why you might feel inclined to eat more sugar than you know is good for your health.

If I can answer questions you have on this topic or provide any additional insight on how I personally navigate the triggers – let me know.

Until next time friends –

Be WELL

XO – Peggy

————————————————

The Truth Behind Artificial Sweeteners; 11/9/2018

Do you ever watch a friend at a restaurant reach for either a little pink or little yellow packet and wonder to yourself? Is one of those better for me than the other? What Is the truth about artificial sweeteners? Today we are going to try to navigate through some of that confusion together!

My name is Peggy Smith and I’ an integrative nutrition health coach specializing in gut health issues. Every Thursday I offer up a few minutes of screen time in what I call Deep Thoughts Thursday. I’ll tackle a topic in the realm of food or lifestyle that might help you on your journey to optimal wellness.

Today I’m coming to you in live video for the first time. Kinda nervous about this honestly, but I’ve done over 25 videos the pre-recorded way because I’ve honestly been too chicken to do what I’m doing right now – but as they say, the growth happens when you get out of your comfort zone! So let’s see what happens!

So last week we talked about regular sugar – the natural kind in fruits and vegetable and even honey and maple syrup and all the kinds of added sugars out there and how those calories behave in our bodies. We talked a little bit about the potential problems that comes from having too much added sugar in our bloodstream and why choosing natural sugar in the form of fruits and vegetables is always your best bet.

Today I want to tackle for a few minutes the topic of artificial sweeteners. It’s a no wonder we are all confused by the little packets because there has been controversy about them since they were first introduced. It was so interesting to learn that the first artificial sweetener – saccharin was discovered accidentally in 1897 by a researcher looking into new uses for coal tar derivatives! He forgot to wash his hands before lunch and tasted something sweet on his hands and discovered that this derivative of coal tar is 300 times sweeter than sugar!! (And if the coal tar derivative part isn’t making your skin crawl, how about the fact Monsanto got it’s start as a company selling saccharin!)

The derivative was being widely used by 1907 but then was eventually banned in 1912 for being possibly toxic. That decision was reversed during WW1 when sugar rations led to the “necessity” of adding it back to our food supply. But once the war was over and ever since then, saccaharin (and it’s newly developed kissing cousins Aspartame and Sucralose) have continued to be used and are now included in more foods and products than we likely realize. Did you know artificial sweeteners aren’t just in the usual suspects of sodas and baked goods. They are hiding in cough syrups, chewing gums, salad dressings, no calorie waters, breakfast cereals, prepared meats and the list goes on.

So what is the real scoop on these products since they are being added to so many things we consume?

You guys know, if you’ve followed me at all, that I am all about REAL food and in my opinion these products are the exact opposite of that. They have been manufactured to trick our taste buds (with the claim of that being worth it to lower our calorie consumption). But the question really becomes whether the lowering of calories through these products is really making a long term difference in weight management or not? And even if it was proven to be doing that, would it be worth risking the side effect issues that have been linked to the use of them?

Instead of helping us manage our sugar consumption, what many studies have shown us is that artificial sweeteners actually heighten our addiction to overly sweet foods. Our taste buds want sweeter and sweeter foods because that is what these substances are – WAY sweeter than natural sugars. What you might recognize from that restaurant scene I mentioned in the beginning is that person who orders the diet soda or adds the artificial sweeteners to their beverage might also be the person who orders the sweetest dessert on the menu. A couple things might be contributing to that – first, the psychology of the fact that some calories have been spared in my beverage so I deserve to have dessert, but also the real biology of the fact that the artificial sweetener didn’t provide any real sense of satisfaction of fullness but it amped up your craving for something sweet.

And you know, because I am so in love with your amazing microbiome, that I’m so so worried about what impact these chemicals are having on your gut! Studies have shown they can intensify gut inflammation in those with sensitivity to them and while people might argue there isn’t concrete evidence to show a direct correlation between gut health and artificial sweeteners my hunch is its just a matter of time before they do prove that link and since we can be certain there isn’t any benefit derived for our gut from artificial sweeteners, I think it’s in the best interest of our friendly gut bacteria that we always choose the natural sugar that comes from fruits and vegetables so we are getting those fibers down into our large intestine that make them jump up and down for joy!

When we eat the natural sugars we avoid the long list of potential side effects associated with artificial sweeteners. Side effects like anxiety, mood swings, headaches, memory loss, acne, migraines, skin rashes, bladder problems!

So let’s all make a pact that we are going to look for these substances hiding in the things we consume and think twice about the impact they might be having on our wellness. If you are currently regularly consuming food or beverages (or vitamins or toothpaste) with artificial sweeteners, try knocking one off the list at a time. Lower your body and minds addiction to these overly sweet substances and see if you notice any nagging health complaints start to improve. I’d love to hear your success stories!!

Until next time friends –

Be WELL –

XO – Peggy

————————————

Best Diets of 2019; 1/2/2019

For all of you following the Mediterranean diet – congratulations – you take home the blue ribbon! For the first time, the Mediterranean diet won the best overall diet in rankings announced Wednesday by US News and World Report.

The analysis of 41 eating plans also gave the Mediterranean diet the top spot in several subcategories: best diet for healthy eating, best plant-based diet, best diet for diabetes and easiest diet to follow.

A number of studies found the diet can reduce the risk for diabetes, high cholesterol, dementia, memory loss, depression and breast cancer. Meals from the sunny Mediterranean region have also been linked to stronger bones, a healthier heart and longer life – not to mention weight loss!!!

The diet features simple, plant-based cooking, with the majority of each meal focused on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds, with a few nuts and a heavy emphasis on extra virgin olive oil. You won’t be eating refined sugar and flour except on rare occasions. Fats other than olive oil, are consumed rarely.

Red meat can make a rare appearance, usually only to flavor a dish. But meals may include eggs, dairy and poultry, but in much smaller portions than in the traditional Western diet. Fish, however, is eaten all the time on this plan.

This lifestyle approach also encourages eating with friends and family, socializing during meals, mindfully eating your favorite foods, as well as a focus on deliberate movement and exercise.

You might be wondering how does a diet become a “best diet” according to US News and World Report. Well, the judges for the diets are a panel of experts in heart disease and diabetes, nutrition, diet, food psychology and obesity and they review research about the diets from medical journals, government reports and other resources and then they rank the diets in several categories such as how easy it is to follow, its nutritional completeness, its ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, its safety and its potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.

The second place overall prize this year goes to the DASH diet (which stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension), with third place going to the flexitarian diet, a plant-based diet that allows meat on rare occasions. Fourth place was a tie between the brain-focused MIND diet and Weight Watchers.

I love that all of these diets have some really gut healthy things in common -they require the use of minimally processed foods and focus on fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds!!!

Foods like these reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, they balance our gut bacteria, and they’re getting at the root cause of disease!

Another amazing thing these diets all have in common is they allow for the occasional indulgence. Perhaps it’s a glass of red wine on the Mediterranean diet or a piece of cake on Weight Watchers, the top diets allow people to plan for an indulgence that many plans would forbid. So much about weight loss is mental, and being able to incorporate all foods, including an occasional treat, is really important for any healthy eating plan.

In case you were curious, US News and World Report also indicates their lowest-ranked overall diets. For this year they are the Dukan diet, the Body Reset diet, the Whole30 diet and the popular keto diet. These diets focus on high-protein or high-fat foods with minimal carbohydrates.

These diets have few substantiated claims, are extremely restrictive, harder to follow, and they eliminate entire food groups, which is really not something that’s realistic as a long term lifestyle for most people.

Weight Watchers won first place for overall weight loss and I’m a big fan of an important component of their plan: support. In addition to in-person meetings and optional one-on-one consultants, the plan offers an online community.

People really want to talk about their diets and Weight Watchers has great support built into the program. (Just wanted to self promote for a second and say that my group circles offer amazing support and accountability as well – and I’ve got a new one starting in February. Just saying!)

Second place for overall diet for weight loss went to Volumetrics, which is a diet that focuses on using low-calorie, high-density foods such as broth-based soup and nonstarchy fruits and vegetables to reduce hunger. Third place in the weight loss category was a three-way tie between the flexitarian diet, the vegan diet and Jenny Craig.

There are awards in the quick weight loss category as well. This category is for the person who needs to lose a few pounds for a special occasion, as the diets were evaluated for only a two-month period. It is so important to consider the fact that effectiveness as a short-term diet does not mean that it is a good idea for long-term weight loss, which is more important for your health and overall wellness. Unfortunately, these diets can be deceptive because of their initial success. In the short term, they may show a slightly faster rate of weight loss, but in the long term, there’s no evidence that these diets are any faster or better at helping people lose weight.

For completeness I will share that the winners in this category are the HMR diet, which is designed for those who need to improve their health quickly by losing a significant amount of weight under close medical supervision. It offers at-home and in-clinic options, and all meals and snacks are delivered for a specific period of time.

Second place was a four-way tie between Weight Watchers, a version of the Medifast meal-replacement plan called Optavia, and the Atkins and the keto diets.

In addition to winning best overall diet, the Mediterranean diet also ranked first in best diet for diabetes and tied for first place in best heart-healthy diet.

The foods in the Mediterranean diet are really high in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber, which are all key components for reducing the risk for chronic disease.

In case you are asking yourself why the news folks are ranking diets, US News and World Report says it does it to clear away clutter. New diet trends are a dime a dozen and they want to provide comprehensive, trustworthy information that highlights the diet standouts and those that don’t perform so well in an array of different categories – good and bad.

They go on to say It’s a chance for experts to help the general public separate diets that are looking for their 15 minutes of fame from diets that are based on what we know about the fundamentals of healthy eating. It’s really replacing controversy and confusion with consensus. And in an arena that tends to cause so much confusion, I think they have done us a great public service! I’m going to attach the link to their article for you to go take a look at all of the other winners and losers if you would like!

I hope this has provided some insight as you embark on what might be some dietary changes this month. If I can be of any assistance in this regard, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

Until next time friends.

Be WELL,

XO – Peggy

https://health.usnews.com/wellness/food/slideshows/best-diets-overall

—————————————-

Forming Habits Using Association; 1/10/2019

Tonight we are going to talk about using association to help you form new habits. Associations can help you remember to do things enough days in a row that they start to become more natural and eventually just are a part of what you do!

I didn’t set any year long resolutions for 2019 and instead started with two manageable new habits I want to create. If those are feeling pretty second nature to me by the end of January, I’ll add in a couple more. The positive energy I’ll feel at having created a couple fairly easy new habits will encourage me to add things that might be a little more challenging, and an and on will go the year.

The first two habits I choose are to drink a full glass of water as soon as I wake up, and to take three good deep breaths before each meal. And yes, these are both motivated by gut health! The water was pretty straightforward, I just added another glass on the nightstand and when I sit up and turn my legs over to the floor I grab that glass and drink it down! But I have been having a harder time in the midst of the hustle of the day, to stop and take those breaths before eating. This is a really significant new habit I want to get down pat to help with digestion and to put me in a more reflective, thankful frame of mind for the food in front of me and all that went into it being available to me.

I decided I needed to incorporate an item or event of some sort to help me associate the deep breaths with eating. So I choose the fork. When I pick up my fork it is my signal to stop and take those breaths, slow myself down and focus on eating and try not to multi-task! I’m not getting it right every meal – but the fork trip is helping tremendously.

Tonight I’m going to give you several other examples of associations you can make throughout your day to bring in some healthy habits. Don’t try all of them at once – or even any of these exactly – but if you’re finding it hard to remember to do the new things that you want to add to your life, consider the idea of using association to help you during the transition time of making your new habits a regular part of who you are!

At a green light – think of one thing you are grateful for

At a red light – reflect on someone in your life who could you a kind text

While you are brushing your teeth – hold a wall squat

In the shower – carefully stretch forward towards your toes

When you get on social media – set a timer for just a few minutes

When you make a trip to the bathroom at work – drink several ounces of water when you get back

When someone else is talking – practice the habit of active listening

When you look in a mirror – say at least one self affirming thing to yourself

I truly believe we all the power to make significant positive change happen really quickly in our lives but tapping into that power will require us to be intentional. It will require us to tune out some of our distractions and slow our pace down enough to hear our own thoughts. Use associations like these to practice intentionality and gain confidence in your ability to add in to your life what you focus on!

Until next time friends

Be WELL,

XO – Peggy

——————————————-

You Are a BadAss – Your Health Goals; 1/17/2019

This Thursday’s topic is what a Badass you are when it comes to your health goals – inspired by You Are a Badass my very favorite self-help book by Jen Sincero.

I had the MOST amazing thing happen to me last weekend! I got to meet Jen Sincero in person and hear her speak live to a book store full of like minded badasses! Jen is the author of You Are a Badass, You Are a Badass at Making Money and now her new book You Are a Badass Everyday. That’s a lot of badass (and if you’re keeping track I’ve said badass 8 times already!!) Perhaps I should have given a language disclaimer before I started!

When I read this book in January of 2017 it changed my life! It made me believe in myself in ways I hadn’t before and also believe in the idea of dreaming outside the box for my life. The book helped me think bigger about my purpose for this one amazing life I’ve got to live! Because of the book I signed up for health coaching school 3 months later and I get to make a difference in other’s lives in ways I had never imagined before!

Getting a chance to see her and give her a hand written note telling her how thankful I am for her contribution to the world was the BEST feeling! (I wrote down because I was afraid to try and tell her in person for fear I would either a) ugly cry in front of her out of excitement and overwhelm or b) aggravate all the people in line behind me waiting to get their book signed by taking far too long or c) both).

Hearing her say out loud and in person some of the things I had only read was so powerful. As I listened to her talk, I was thinking of each of you and I was thinking about the me before I really dug in and did the work on myself to get way more comfortable being exactly who I am. She doesn’t talk about weight loss specifically that I can recall, but what I keep coming back to is how her messages can really be applied to any of our wellness goals – be they weight loss, eating cleaner, exercising more, stressing less, breathing better, creating a gratitude practice, drinking more water – whatever it is for you at this very moment!!

What follows is how I take what Jen preaches and translate that into what we should all take to heart as we work on our wellness goals!

The very best place to start is with a DEEP, unapologetic, unwavering love for exactly who you are right now. Let’s not waste another moment second guessing ourselves, comparing ourselves to others, postponing joy and pleasure or holding on to guilt! In Jen’s amazing words “I’m talking about a deep connection with our highest selves, and an unshakable ability to forgive our lowest. I’m talking about loving ourselves enough to let go of guilt, resentment, and criticism and embrace compassion, joy and gratitude.” SO GOOD right??? We need to get busy right this second on the internal work required to feel this kind of way towards ourselves. When our goals come from a place of taking care of the person we love most in the world (ourselves) then we do all the things for our health for all kinds of life affirming reasons and not because we aren’t “enough” of one thing or another or “too much” in any certain way. One of my very favorite things about coaching is helping others find this peace and light inside of themselves!!

If I was able to channel Jen (don’t I wish) – I believe the next thing she would say in this regard is “Your Brain is your Bitch”! (the title of chapter 11). What we are saying to ourselves really matters, especially the things we have on repeat in our heads (and if you want more of a deep dive into that topic be sure to revisit my August 30^th episode on that exact thing). We should aim to upgrade the messages we send ourselves so that we can get to number 1 faster – the deep unapologetic love for who we are! I love Albert Einstein said this, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” This makes me think of stories of those who lose a tremendous amount of weight but continue to see themselves as the heavier version. Their thinking hasn’t caught up with the reflection in the mirror. It also makes me think of the super sweet and hilarious movie “I Feel Pretty” whose main character’s life changes drastically (for the better) when she loves what she sees in the mirror! All that actually changed was her thinking – although in the movie it’s because of a bump on the head and takes some twists and turns your life won’t likely take – but the message is the same as we hear from Jen many times in her book – LOVE YOURSELF!!

And last but of course not least “Never apologize for who you are. It lets the whole world down!” Jen goes on to say that “when you love yourself enough to stand in your truth no matter what the cost, everyone benefits. You start attracting the kinds of things, people, and opportunities, that are in alignment with who you really are.” So don’t make your goals based on what you think anyone else says they should be – make them based on YOU. Don’t decide you need to do a certain thing because it is what everyone else is doing, decide what you will do based on what feels good and brings you joy. When you make goals and decisions from this place you will stick with them, you will enjoy the process of learning what you need to learn to reach the goals and you will be madly in love with the amazing person staring back at you in the mirror each and every day!

As always, the transcript will be posted on my website and if you’re on my mailing list you’ll get a copy sent right to you along with some other fun tips and challenges. If you aren’t on the list send me a private message with your email address and I’ll get you added!!

If I can be an advocate for you on your wellness, and loving your amazing self, journey in any way – please reach out and let me know!

Until next time friends,

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

———————————

Bone Broth; 1/25/2019

You know how food trends come and go – a few years ago it was cupcakes and then everything was Red Velvet and now gourmet doughnuts are having a run. Alongside all those sugary trends healthy ones sometimes appear as well – and right now bone broth is all the rage (although there is absolutely nothing actually new about this nutrition staple)! There are even bone broth shops, and if someone who is listening wants to give me a business loan – I am so down to open one up in Tallahassee!! So if you’re new to the whole concept of bone broth you might be kinda grossed out by the name (like I initially was being a mostly plant eater). But my desire to know about all things that can heal and help the gut won out over my squeamish concept of what this was all about and I decided I had to give it a try.

Bone broth, as it turns out, is a very simple and traditional healing food that has been like a well kept secret of the health and wellness movement for quite some time. Bone Broth is a nutrient-dense, easy to digest food supplement that is the result of simmering grass-finished animal bones (be they chicken or beef or even fish bones) with a simple acid (such as apple cider vinegar) for over 12 hours. Bone broth is a way to use every part of an animal – bones, marrow, skin and feet, tendons, ligaments – things most of us would never eat directly. These parts are added to water, possibly some veggies and spices are added and they are simmered for a good long while which allows the bones and ligaments to release healing compounds that have the capacity to improve your health.

A body cannot be healed without adequate digestion. Bone broth helps restore a digestive foundation, preparing our bodies to become medicine-making machines by restoring the gut to a state in which it can absorb more of the key vitamins, minerals, and nutrients from the other foods we eat throughout the day. But that’s not all bone broth does! We also sing its praises for its role in improving joint mobility, muscle recovery, and having anti-inflammatory properties. For bone broth to have these therapeutic benefits pure ingredients are essential, and when it comes to bones, this means pasture-raised antibiotic free sources from farms with ethical practices and no GMO feed. Drinking bone broth daily and making it a part of a lifestyle is a wise move in the direction of optimal wellness and deep nourishment and it helps support farms that take the time and care to raise animals that can support this part of the health and wellness movement.

Knowledge of the positive effects of drinking bone broth regularly is spreading like wildfire as it reemerges as a staple food source around the globe. I now make bone broth from scratch just about every weekend and it easily fits into my super busy routine. I get myself out to the farmers market on Saturday and shop from one of the vendors I discovered carries all the necessary parts of chickens that have been raised organically and without any hormones. If I travel on the weekend or for some reason can’t get around to making broth, I can buy it at the store. After doing my homework, my go to brand is BonaFide which you will find in the freezer section at just about any major grocery store. I also have considered purchasing it online from the folks at bonebroth.com where they quick ship it to you in such a way to keep it frozen in transit (but unless you place a big order to avoid the shipping costs, this will be an expensive way to go). Or, after listening to the Doctors Farmacy podcast I’ve included the link to, I want to try Brodo who cold ships to 37 states for free.

Most of the “bone broths” you find on the shelf in boxes that have been sitting there for who knows how long, are not going to contain the iron, vitamins A and K, zinc, collagen, gelatin, potassium, magnesium, calcium, not to mention the valuable amino acids like proline, glutamine and arginine that will be found in a well prepared clean bone broth. It’s not possible to say exactly how much of the above nutrients you will get out of a particular batch of bone broth, since this depends in great degree on the type and quantity of the bones and tissues that went into it, but you can feel confident if you are drinking bone broth on the regular, you will be getting a good healthy dose of these vitamins and minerals, amino acids and other nutrients so vital to our well-being.

The thing that lights me up the most about bone broth is how much of a healer it can be for our gut! You’ve heard me talk before about leaky gut and how significantly that condition can wreck havoc on our health.

Studies show that gelatin (found in bone broth) is beneficial for restoring the strength of the gut lining and fighting food sensitivities. It also helps with the growth of good bacteria in the gut and supports healthy inflammation levels in the digestive tract.

Bone broth stock is easily digested and soothing to the digestive system, unlike many other foods, which can be difficult to fully break down. After all, a food is really only useful if we have the means of absorbing its nutrients.

In addition, studies have found that folks with digestive imbalances have lower concentrations of collagen. Because the amino acids in collagen build the tissue that lines the colon and entire gastrointestinal tract, supplementing with collagen can support healthy digestive function.

I’m not going to geek out on you any more than that – instead I’m going to include a link to an amazing article that will tell you that in addition to aiding in the improvement of gut health and digestion, bone broth has also been found to improve skin health, cardiovascular health, muscles and performance, bone and joint health, eye health, brain health, mood and sleep, immune function and the detoxification of the liver and kidneys. This article is full of all the information you need to get started on your own journey into the world of bone broth! In addition, I’ve included the information on a really awesome podcast all about bone broth. If you don’t want to listen to the segment about this guys famous New York City restaurant – just start the podcast at about minute 16.30. After you read the article and listen to the podcast, if you want to reach out and let’s geek out together – I would love that!!!

https://chriskresser.com/the-bountiful-benefits-of-bone-broth-a-comprehensive-guide/

Podcast: The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman – Is Bone Broth Worth the Hype with Marco Canora (October 24, 2018)

Until next time friends,

Be WELL –

XO, Peggy

——————————————-

Probiotics vs. Prebiotics (What’s the Difference); 2/8/2019

I think we are all starting to come to terms with the fact that we are not entirely human. Our human body is like a hotel to trillions of guests – called microbes – that help make us who we are. And just like any hotel guest, microbes need to eat!

These hungry little guys inside us create a micro-ecosystem called the microbiome. And while we could possibly live our entire lives without even really knowing that system is busy at work inside of us, it plays a huge role in how we feel physically and emotionally, how well we perform, not to mention what’s happening when we head into the bathroom!

The healthier our microbiome is, the healthier we are.

The best way to have a healthy microbiome is by inviting a whole diverse population of bacteria (known as probiotics) to stay in your hotel and then feed them things they love to eat (prebiotics). So, in other words prebiotics are food to our probiotics.

A lot of folks will spend a good deal of money on probiotic supplements thinking that is going to make them healthy in and of itself. If you aren’t eating the foods that help your gut bacteria thrive, then you might be throwing a lot of money down the drain – or more appropriately – you might be pooping a lot of money down the toilet!

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are specialized plant fibers. They act like fertilizers that stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut.

Prebiotics are found in many fruits and vegetables, especially those that contain complex carbohydrates. These carbs aren’t digested in either the stomach or the small intestine, so they find their way all the down to the large intestine where our bacteria are hanging out just waiting to be fed!

Some common prebiotics are bananas and asparagus, also onions, garlic, artichokes, dandelion greens, oats, flaxseeds and even apples!

Remember – prebiotics don’t contain additional bacteria – they are a source for feeding the bacteria that are already present in your gut.

Probiotics

The word is thrown around a lot on food, drinks, and supplement labels, but it still can cause a great deal of confusion. Here’s an easy way to think of it. Antibiotic means “anti-life,” and probiotic means “pro-life.” Antibiotics kill bacteria, while probiotics are full of live bacteria. Probiotics are living organisms that are beneficial to health when they thrive in adequate amounts in our bodies. Probiotics are bacteria that live in your body naturally and help our bodies perform many functions essential to survival.

A super smart thing to do is to find combinations of foods that have both probiotics and prebiotics present – when you do this you are creating a symbiotic effect! You know how nice it is to travel with a snack close by in case you get hungry – this is what you are doing for your bacteria when you send them down the digestive track with their food right next to them! I’m including a link to some great recipes that combine pre and pro-biotics in one meal!

https://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/smart-choices/food-combinations-that-boost-gut-health

I hope this helped clear up some confusion you might have when you hear or see these concepts discussed.

If I can be of any further assistance as it relates to your wellness, please let me know!

Until next time friends,

Be WELL –

XO, Peggy

—————————————-

Gut Health and Your Heart; 2/15/2019

If we stop and consider gut health and what in the world that actually means as it relates to how we feel and function day to day we would pretty easily offer up that it has a significant role in digestion and maybe we would even say weight gain or loss. Some of us may have even read an article or two which led us to believe there is some mysterious connection between the gut and our brain, and thus our gut plays a role in how we feel emotionally. But we would not be so likely to say that a healthy gut microbiome would impact our cardiovascular health – but it turns out it does!

“There’s a complex interplay between the microbes in our intestines and most of the systems in our bodies, including the vascular, nervous, endocrine and immune systems. All of these relationships are highly relevant to cardiovascular health.” Dr. JoAnn Manson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of preventative medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Some researchers at the University of Nottingham and King’s College London studied 617 middle aged female twins to see if there is a connection between diet and probiotics and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

What they found is that the women who had a lower diversity of healthy gut bacteria were more likely to have hardening of their arteries. So now this association can be added to the list of other problems that a lack of diversity in healthy bacteria is connected to – diabetes, obesity, inflammation and bowel diseases.

“Inflammation impairs the function of blood vessels, and this is believed to be influenced by certain gut microbes. Chronic inflammation impairs the function of the inner lining of the blood vessels which results in stiffness, plaque formation and “hardening of the arteries”. Dr. Michael Miller – Center for Preventative Cardiology for the University of Maryland Medical System.

Another benefit that has been shown as it relates to our cardiovascular health is in regulating blood pressure. This happens with the help of short chain fatty acids which are made almost exclusively in the gut! They are involved in blood vessel dilation and constriction.

There are also bad bacteria, which, when allowed to grow out of control, have been shown to damage blood vessels which can lead to heart attack or stroke. The foods that can contribute to the growth of this bacteria are those high in fat or an excess consumption of red meat.

Clearly it is important to consider the role our diet is playing in every aspect of our ability to be well – but far beyond the science of how gut bacteria and the mechanics of the heart are related, I think it is important to recognize the significance of taking care of your heart in other ways too. Take care of your heart by moving throughout each day, particularly in ways that are relaxing and bring you joy. Breathe deeply several times a day intentionally, until the habit of deep breaths is just a part of who you are. And take time to think about the people, places and things that make your heart sing. If you do that every day you are very likely going to notice a quality of life improvement that will make changing eating habits much easier to conquer!

Today is the day Hallmark has set aside for us to celebrate Romantic Love – but let’s also use it as a day to celebrate how much we love ourselves by making at least one step in the direction of better health in the days to come.

If I can help you to identify those first steps and hold you accountable as you begin to take them, please let me know!

Happy Love Day Friends,

Be WELL –

XO, Peggy

———————————–

Everyone Poops; 3/14/2019

I get it, talking about poop and anything having to do with your bowels can be awkward. But just remember what that adorable children’s book tells us: Everyone Poops!

Unlike many politicians these days, let’s try to all be adults for a few minutes and consider the fact that paying close attention to what you see in the toilet—from the color, shape, size, and smell—can tell you a lot about what’s going on with your health, so it’s important to take note, and to understand just what our poop is trying to tell us.

When it comes to poop there is no one way for it to look or smell that is considered normal. Everyone’s “normal” is different. How often, the texture and the smell of your poop, when you are not under any digestive distress, is your normal.

The idea that you must poop everyday to be normal is not true. The frequency with which we go varies greatly. For some folks three times a day is normal, and for others three times a week is what happens when they are in their normal pattern. Many believe that more important almost than your regular pattern of frequency is looking at the consistency of your stool.

Medical professionals use something called the Bristol Chart to classify bowel movements. As a funny aside, when I started my research for this topic I couldn’t remember off the top of my head what the chart was called and so I typed into Google – Poop Log and the strangest Christmas tradition from a region in Spain appeared, complete with songs and pictures. You seriously have to go look this up!!! Just type in poop log.

So back to our poop Chart. The Chart was developed at the Bristol Royal Infirmary as a clinical assessment tool in 1997, and is widely used to determine digestive health and also evaluate the effectiveness of treatments for various diseases of the bowel, as well as a clinical communication aid – it’s just easier to point at a picture than try to describe to a medical professional something as personal as what your poop looks like! The chart identifies seven categories, or types. Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation, 3 and 4 are the most ideal poops, and 5, 6, and 7 suggest diarrhea. “Generally, you’re looking for a type 3 or 4 range, they are soft and formed, and easy to pass without the need to strain. That is the key – being able to go without really thinking about it much at all.

If you have a hardened stool or separated lumps, this indicates constipation. This happens because the large intestine works to remove water from the stool as it passes through the gut. Decreased motility—either by problems with the muscles lining the intestines, or by a diet low in fiber—lets the stool sit in the large intestine longer, where more water is drawn, making the bowels harder.

Eating a diet that’s rich in fiber helps bulk up the stool, since fiber acts like a sponge to help retain some water.

Dehydration can also play a role in constipation because the intestines pull water into the bowels to make the stool softer and easier to pass and so if the body is low on fluids this is clearly harder to make happen. Food sensitivies, overgrowth of bacteria or yeast in the small intestine, and excessive intake of red meat or alcohol are other contributors to constipation.

The color of your poop can also tell you some things about what is going on in your body. If your stool is a color besides brown, it’s most often just due to whatever you recently ate, we have all had those experiences where we remember what we ate when we see it come out the other end! Leafy greens, red fruits and veggies (like beets), artificial food coloring, and some medicines and supplements can all change the color. But if the color change doesn’t bring back memories of a particular meal and persists for an extended period of time, it might be an indication there is something more serious going on. Keep an eye out for stools that are black, white, red, yellow or green for longer than would be the case from a particular medicine, meal or food recently consumed.

Regardless of the color, stools normally have an odor thanks to the bacteria in the colon that breaks down food. If the smell of your stool changes and has an extremely bad, abnormal odor, this may be due to infection. Other culprits can be inflammation of the colon from inflammatory bowel disease, or diseases that cause malabsorption, like celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, or lactose intolerance.

The color, regularity, and consistency of your bowel movements aren’t the only characteristics that can give you a real peek into what’s going on inside your body—there’s also a host of information available at the microscopic level. The bacteria inside your stool, which can be analyzed through laboratory tests ordered by your doctor or through specialized private companies, provide a snapshot of the microbes living in your intestines. One day soon, I’ll do a deep thoughts Thursday on this topic all by itself and tell you about my personal results from getting a Ubiome test done! It’s really pretty cool what they can detect from just a teeny tiny sample sent by regular mail!!

I am so proud of all of you that made it to the end with me! That wasn’t so bad, was it? I hope that this deep dive into the what lands in our toilet was helpful for you. I urge you to consider and take seriously anything that isn’t normal for you and talk to your doctor about it if it is causing you distress or discomfort. Like I said, the process of eliminating waste should be really straightforward and painless and so if it isn’t, perhaps it is your amazing bodies way of letting you know something isn’t quite right.

Until next time friends –

Be WELL,

XO – Peggy

————————————

Anxiety and the Gut; 5/6/2019

For 70 years, May has been recognized as Mental Health awareness Month. The importance of setting aside time to talk about the issues related to mental health was conceived of and originated by the Mental Health America organization in 1949. I’m so thankful this organization has been doing everything they can for a really long time to help each of us better understand the complex issues that surround mental illness. I for one lived in a bubble for most of my life, not having been impacted in any real personal way by the realities of mental illness. That was until death by suicide took the life of a close friend followed several months later of a first cousin. Shortly after that came struggles of family members and of my own related to anxiety and panic and debilitating thoughts.

When I decided to get my certification as a nutrition coach it was in large part so I could better understand for myself, and hopefully help others better understand, the connection between what we eat and how we feel. I have been personally impacted by this direct relationship and I know from experience that disease is often our bodies way of messaging us that it isn’t okay with something we are feeding it (either in the form of food or stress or lifestyle choices). What I didn’t anticipate at all – when I signed up to go back to school – is that when I learned about the gut, my understanding of things related to anxiety and depression and emotional well-being would open up in the most profound way. What I learned about the gut, as it relates to our mental health is EXACTLY why I decided to focus just about all my attention on this critical component of our health – our microbiome.

Let’s look at some statistics as it relates to a mental health issue that hits close to home for so many of us – anxiety. According to the most recent numbers by the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect 18.1% of adults in the United States (that is around 40 million adults between the ages of 18-54. (I’m not sure what you are called once you reach age 55 – but those folks are anxious too!). Many however, estimate that the real numbers are likely closer to 30% of the adult population because so many don’t seek treatment and therefore go undiagnosed. The Economic Burden of Anxiety Disorders says that more than $42 billion a year is spent on anxiety disorders in the United States.

With this many people suffering, and this much money being spent, let’s make sure we understand what exactly is anxiety. According to the American Psychological Association, Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure. People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat. A recent survey showed 41% of employees from a range of industries reported high levels of anxiety in the workplace and these high levels of anxiety often lead directly to lower job performance. Another report found that more than half of all college students sought help for anxiety issues. 43% of North Americans take mood altering prescriptions regularly. Recreational drugs and alcohol are commonly used to cope with anxiety – and not always with positive outcomes.

Those who have an anxiety condition (conditions with names we have likely heard, like Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, PTSD, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and phobias) these folks often feel out of control of their health and life, they experience higher levels of overall stress, they struggle with low self esteem, they feel nervous in social situations, they have difficulty managing pressure, they have higher expectations of themselves and others, are more likely to have other health problems, they are often quick to get angry and the list goes on and on. If you, or someone you love is suffering in any way from what you think might be an anxiety disorder, it is really important to seek out help sooner rather than later! Many believe the condition will just go away, but way more often what happens is just the opposite – when ignored, the anxiety issues get worse making a resolution of the symptoms harder and harder to achieve. Early help can often lead to the best results.

One type of help that is quite new in the world of mental health, is looking at the gut microbiome. More and more research is showing us how the health and diversity found in our gut is playing an important role as it relates to anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism and even dementia. Though we’ve always been told depression and anxiety are chemical imbalances of the brain, cutting-edge research is revealing our gut has way more to do with these imbalances than ever before imagined. The gut microbiome contains 100 trillion microorganisms that influence our wellbeing in significant ways. In fact, it’s hard to think of one chronic disease that has not now been associated with an imbalance in the gut microbiome at some level. This imbalance is know as dysbiosis – a fancy word which means when it comes to our bacteria, the bad guys outnumber
the good guys. The microbiome is involved in most, if not all, biological processes and it turns out, signaling in the brain is one of those processes as well. We are starting to understand that along the gut-brain
axis, there is constant communication between the gut and brain. These signals travel along the vagus nerve. And if you think the brain is doing most of the talking, think again.

It turns out the microbiome has a lot to say! In fact, most of the messages are coming from the gut to the brain – not the other way around!

There are 400 times the amount of messages coming from the microbiome to the brain than from the brain to the body! And in addition to the messaging mostly coming from the gut – guess what else does?? The chemicals that we associate with mood stabilization, motivation and calmness! Our dopamine, serotonin and GABA chemicals are primarily produced in the gut by our friendly bacteria. The gut uses these neurotransmitters, along with hormones, proteins, and other communication factors to talk to your brain. Your microbes influence how you feel, your emotions, and your happiness in a very real and tangible way.

Each week of this month we will dive a little deeper into exactly how the communication from the gut to the brain through things like serotonin can profoundly influence just how much anxiety we feel, how motivated we are and how connected we can be to those around us. We will talk about the role food plays in this and how stress management is so critical to the health of our gut (and therefore by association, our emotions).

Until next time friends,
Be WELL –

XO, Peggy

————————————

Neurotransmitters and the Gut; 5/13/2019

Most of us have heard of mind body medicine and we understand from personal experience that the mind can affect the body and that stress impacts just about all illness. What we might not think about is that the body can affect the mind. Everything from depression, anxiety, ADD, dementia, all these things can be affected by what’s happening in your body. There is evidence to show we should be looking for treatment for depression in the gut and treatment for autism in the immune system! Because of the amazing discoveries being made with the microbiome, functional medicine is starting to do just that! They are exploring how the microbiome is linked to conditions of the brain.

The belief in medical and therapy circles has been that the gut and the brain operated as basically separate entities. Perhaps if you’re stressed you get diarrhea, but not much connection beyond that. The fact that the whole gut environment is driving changes in the brain is a very new discovery. This discovery is creating a lot of excitement and interest in how this new reality can completely change a persons options and hope for healing!

The gut and the brain actually start out at the same point when we are forming in our mother’s womb. One part then goes up and the other goes down. When two cells start from the same place they retain a memory for one another and they communicate with one another. The brain and the gut are actually constantly speaking to each other in many different ways. And what is super fascinating is that unlike what we might intuitively think to be true, most of the messages are coming from the gut to the brain – not the other way around! As I mentioned in last weeks episode, there are 400 times the number of messages coming from the microbiome to the brain than from the brain to the body! The train track goes both ways, but most of the communication cargo is loaded up in the gut and sent to the brain to let it know how we are doing. And in addition to the messaging mostly coming from the gut – guess what else does?? The chemicals that we associate with mood stabilization, motivation and calmness!

These are called neurotransmitters which are chemical messengers that carry, boost, and balance signals between nerve cells and other cells in the body. These chemical messengers can impact a bunch of our bodily functions, both physical and psychological. Billions of neurotransmitter molecules work constantly to keep our brain functioning – managing everything from breathing to heartbeat to our learning and concentration levels to our sense of well-being. The three we are going to cover now are dopamine, serotonin and GABA and a large share of these chemicals are produced in the gut by our friendly bacteria and then sent to the brain!

Dopamine is our main motivation neurotransmitter. Our interest in doing things and our ability to get excited enough to push ourselves to do things is associated with dopamine. When these levels are low, folks have a hard time finishing or even initiating tasks. Dopamine also helps regulate movement, learning and emotional response. And since it contributes to feelings of pleasure and satisfaction, low levels of it have been associated with addiction.

Another primary neurotransmitter associated directly with how we feel and perform is serotonin. It is responsible for regulating things in the body like mood, appetite, feelings of contentment, fear and our ability to sleep. The right amount of serotonin produces a relaxed and positive feeling. People who struggle with low levels of it have a hard time finding joy. They might not be depressed necessarily, but things that would normally make them happy are just meh. They have a hard time getting excited about much of anything. 90% of our serotonin comes from our gut!!! If we don’t have a healthy gut environment to produce it, our feelings of wellness are going to be impacted.

And the calming down neurotransmitter we find in the gut is called GABA. When these levels are not balanced, we may have anxiety like symptoms or a super restless mind. GABA is your body’s signal to calm down. If the levels of it decrease, anxiety, depression and insomnia can increase. Your intestinal lining has its own GABA receptors and they help us digest food. Folks with inflammatory gut problems will find that GABA is very important because it helps regulate pain perception in the gut.

What if paying attention to the health of our gut could have an impact on our mood, on how we sleep, on how successful we are at navigating our relationships at home and at work? It seems worth it to me to pay attention to this. To the healing that is within our reach by eliminating sugary, processed foods and adding in more whole, real, fiber rich foods!!

As always, it has been my honor and privilege to spend these precious minutes with you.

Until next time friends

Be WELL,

XO – Peggy

——————————————

Food for your Mood; 5/23/2019

I have a very distinct memory of the first Uber ride I ever initiated and experienced all on my own. It was after the first day at the Gut Microbiome World Summit in Miami a few months ago. I was on an emotional and mental high from learning so much and hearing from so many amazing doctors and scientists all day long and so when I crawled into the back of the Uber I should have probably given the guy a heads up that I might talk a hundred miles a minute about my amazing day. Because that is what I proceeded to do for sure! He was so kind and asked great questions, one of which totally stopped me in my tracks. This sweet man, who sits in a car and drives folks like me around for 15 hours a day, in a very sincere and thoughtful way asked me what food he needs to eat to be happy.

First I wanted to hug him, but then what I really wanted was to give him an answer.

I choose this conversation in the context of our month dedicated to mental health awareness because honestly, most of us would ask this same question if we thought there was something easy, something quick, something that would really work! We might not all have a mental health diagnosis, but most of us struggle from time to time getting motivated, experiencing joy, being enthusiastic, engaged, happy. And those struggles all too often hold us back from reaching for the next level in our relationships and our careers. These less than ideal mental states keep us from giving our all as it relates to our personal life goals.

Last week we focused on the number one food to avoid to help with mood and brain health – sugar! So this week we will focus on some foods (and nutrients) that have been shown to give our brains (and mood) a boost.

Everyone knows bananas are full of potassium, but what you may not know is that they also contain tryptophan, a brain chemical that helps to regulate mood. Bananas are also a good source of B vitamin folate, and having low levels of the vitamin has been linked to depression.

Flavonoids found in berries have been found to reduce inflammation, and as we talked about last week inflammation in the brain is a bad thing so anything that helps prevent or heal that is something we should add to our plate.

Low levels of zinc have been linked to anxiety so to help keep yourself cool and calm, get your fill of foods rich in zinc, oysters are a great source but so are things like chickpeas.

Dark chocolate is a good source of antioxidants, but it’s also been found to reduce the stress hormone cortisol, aim for 70% and above and organic if you can find it.

Salmon is chock full of omega-3 fatty acids, which can improve mood and fight depression. For optimal breath health, be sure you are getting in enough of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids and not too many of the problematic omega-6 fatty acids.

Spinach contains folic acid, which has been shown to alleviate depression and reduce fatigue. Can anyone say spinach salad with a side of legumes for lunch tomorrow???

Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to low-mood depression. Try some mushrooms – they are surprisingly high in vitamin D.

Low magnesium levels are linked to lower energy. Chomp on magneisum rich foods, like beans, or avocado to make sure you don’t fizzle out too quickly each day.

Eating walnuts can improve brain function. Contributing factors include walnuts’ high antioxidant content, vitamins and minerals, and that they contain a large amount of alpha-linolenic acid, a plant based omega-3.

And finally eggs are high in choline, which have been shown to help boost memory. But there’s a catch — choline is found in the yolk, so you might want to rethink those egg white omelettes.

I hope this list helped give you some ideas of a few new things you might want to add to your grocery list to boost your mood! You might have noticed that the list sounds pretty Mediterranean doesn’t it? Those folks really do seem to have this food thing figured out!!

I want to wish each of you a very safe and happy Memorial Day and welcome you to the summer season! I get so excited for all the produce available this time of year!! Don’t underestimate just how happy these whole foods make our brain, and the rest of our body as well!

Until next time friends,

Be WELL!
XO – Peggy

———————————————

What your Gut thinks about Soda; 6/13/2019

This week I choose my topic directly from a client question. I was with someone this week in a group setting and she asked me if soda has any influence on the gut?

A little heads up to any soda addicts out there – particularly the diet soda lovers, this episode might be hard to read, but I hope you will stay with me for the few minutes and consider what might be some new information on the ways that soda and diet soda are compromising your health! And if you’re not a soda drinker, but you know one who might need to hear this, please share this with them- you could be drastically improving the quality of their health.

I think it’s fun sometimes with questions like this to take a look at how it all began. How did soda actually originate and how has it evolved over time?

In 1767 the first-ever carbonated soft drink was created, and it was made by a doctor named Joseph Priestley. It was about three years later when a Swedish chemist created an apparatus that makes carbonated water. It used sulfuric acid and chalk to make the water. Research shows that the first-ever carbonated soft drink was created in 1807 but it wasn’t until about 1832 that the popularity of carbonated drinks really started to grow. In 1835 the first bottle of sugar water was distributed in the US. (You know that’s really all that soda is – just a ton of sugar and water and some colors and chemicals added in to mask the intensity of the amount of sugar being consumed).

Root beer was made in 1876. The first-ever cola-flavored soft drink hit the market during 1881. It wasn’t until about 1952 that the official diet soft drink was released. Many of the earliest pharmacies actually contained pop fountains. In fact, people actually used to think soft drinks had healing properties – they were considered health drinks. After countless years of research, we have a much better understanding of soft drinks and most of us agree it doesn’t make sense for our pharmacist to serve them to us, and quite honestly, we might be getting other things from the pharmacy as a direct result of our soda habits!

Before we dive into the rather alarming facts surrounding soda I want to be fully transparent. There was a day when I was a Dr. Pepper addict. I drank at least one and often two every day during the work week, and the question at the office wasn’t whether or not you drank soda – but what was your favorite kind. I know one lady who drank 6-8 diet cokes every single day and now she doesn’t touch soda at all. I haven’t had one in half a decade or more at this point, and many of the people I work with are no longer consuming soda, so there is hope for you if you feel like giving it up is an impossible idea. I hope that some of this information will help encourage you in the endeavor!

We have a hormone produced in the gut called ghrelin. The job of ghrelin is to let us know when we are hungry. It stimulates appetite and therefore is associated with an increase in food intake and it also promotes fat storage. One of the forms of sugar in soda (fructose) does not lower our levels of ghrelin the way other food compounds do, so we don’t get any signal that we are satisfied. The result of this is that on top of all the calories from the sugar in soda, we consume calories from food. Not surprisingly, studies show that those who consume soda, or other sugar-sweetened beverages consistency gain more weight than people who don’t. So reason number one to kick the soda habit is we want to only consume food and beverages that activate ghrelin.

There are two molecules that make up table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup – those molecules are glucose and fructose. Assuming things are working properly, all the cells in your body can metabolize glucose, but fructose can only be metabolized one place – in your liver. Your liver has to take the fructose and turn it into glucose so we can use it. When you drink a lot of fructose (or eat it for that matter – you can be pretty confident that anything that says it has added sugar is high in fructose) your liver becomes overloaded and turns the fructose into fat. Some of it gets shipped out of the liver as blood triglcerides and some stays behind in the liver, sometimes leading to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. So reason number two to give up soda is we want to lower our fructose consumption. Regular soda is full of it.

The hormone insulin is what transports glucose from our bloodstream into our cells. When we drink sugary soda the cells become less sensitive or in extreme cases resistant to the effects of insulin. When this happens our pancreas must make even more insulin to remove the glucose from our blood and this causes insulin levels to spike. This is what is known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance has been shown to be the main cause of metabolic syndrome which puts a person on track for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. So reason number three to tell soda good bye is to help avoid our chances of developing insulin resistance.

Consuming excess added sugar causes several changes in the body which can lead to chronic, low-grade inflammation. One of those changes is an increased risk of developing leaky gut, also known as intestinal hyperpermability. When we develop leaky gut, substances that are not supposed to get through the gut lining are able to leak through and get into our bloodstream. When that happens the body does what it is supposed to, it elicits an immune response and inflammation is activated. This is not a problem if it happens just once in a while, but if it is happening day after day and harmful chemicals and substances are in our bloodstream which puts our immune system in a constant state of work through inflammation we begin to develop chronic disease. Reason number four to nix the soda habit is to decrease the likelihood you end up with leaky gut issues and inflammation.

In research released at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting, drinking sweetened beverages is associated with an increased risk of depression. This particular study involved 263,925 who were followed for 10 years. People who drank more than four cans of soda were 30% more likely to develop depression than those who drank no soda. And those who drank four cans of fruit punch were 38% more likely to develop depression than those who didn’t drink any sugary beverage! We haven’t even talked yet about how much uglier things get when you replace regular soda with diet soda – but in this particular study, it is worth noting that the risk for depression was actually higher if the beverage being consumed was diet soda, diet fruit punch or diet tea. This is likely due to the fact that artificial sweeteners mess with the gut brain connection. Reason number five to not drink soda is to minimize your chances of depression being a part of your story.

And just because I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t throw in some conditions other than depression that artificial sweeteners are linked to, here you go:

migraines, anxiety, short term memory loss, MS, fibromyalgia, weight gain, fatigue, brain tumors, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, alzheimer’s, diabetes, arthritis, ADHD and parkinson’s…

When I work with clients and we complete their food journal for a week or so we look first for those real sore thumbs that might be sticking out and we work on those first. We don’t try to rush a whole bunch of change all at one time. If soda is a thing on their list it is the first habit I recommend they break. For the health of their gut, their brain and their entire well-being. Regular and diet soda are doing you absolutely no favors and you don’t need them in your life. I hope this information arms you with some motivation to go kick that soda habit, once and for all!

Until next time friends,

Be WELL!

XO – Peggy

———————————————-

Cortisol, Our Internal Alarm Clock; 6/25/2019

This week I have been up close and personal with some of the processes of the body that really matter. We have watched as one of our most beloved family members has had several different aspects of her health seriously compromised by infection and organs not able to function properly. It has been a real reminder for us of how we can never take our health for granted and how it really and truly is our most valuable asset. I feel more motivated than ever to do what I can to help others feel and function better! One of the things we have learned more about first hand is the impact of cortisol. And so that is what we are going to take a little dive into together now.

Cortisol is one of those things in our lives that we need to have some of, but not too much of. We can think of this steroid hormone as our built in alarm system. And just like the alarm we set to wake us up in the morning, we need it for that function – but we don’t want it going off all day long.

Cortisol is our body’s main stress hormone. When working properly, not too much, not too little it helps control mood, motivation and fear. We think of it primarily in conjunction with our bodies fight or flight instinct but it is also at work helping us manage how our body uses carbs, fats and proteins. It is helping keep inflammation down, it is helping regulate our blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, it is having an impact on our sleep cycle and it is also boosting energy so we can handle stress and get back to balance after the stressful event is over.

If your body is in a constant fight or flight mode, and your alarm is going off constantly, it can literally derail our bodies most important functions. It can also cause a laundry list of health problems, some of which are anxiety, depression, headaches, heart disease, memory and concentration problems, digestion problems, trouble sleeping and weight gain!

We clearly want to do what we can to keep our alarm system only going off when we need it to! Here are some ways to naturally manage cortisol levels.

Work at lowering your stress levels. Most of us can tell when we are getting into a stressful situation, we can feel the changes starting to take place in our body. Very early in this process stop and take the time you need to get your body to calm down. Experiment with the ways that work for you to literally tell your body that we have nothing to fear, that this situation is not something to turn on all the alarms for. Deep breathing, movement, calling a friend, meditation – whatever works for you to re-calibrate and return to a calmer state of mind.
Eat whole foods and limit sugar intake. Some foods that I found listed on the internet that specifically help keep cortisol levels stable are bananas and pears, black or green tea, dark chocolate, fermented foods and foods containing soluble fiber. In addition, staying hydrated with plenty of water helps keep cortisol levels lower.
Get plenty of sleep. Prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to higher levels of cortisol in the bloodstream – but even just a single restless night has an impact, so it is so important that we are mindful of how many episodes of our favorite show we are binging or what our sleep routines are that help us be in the right frame of mind for a good peaceful night in bed!
Make sure to laugh and have some fun every day! Research has shown that cortisol levels decrease in response to laughter and having a positive outlook is related to lower cortisol levels.
Be sure to get your body moving – but not always in an extremely intense way. Intense exercise can trigger an increase in cortisol levels as this is the bodies way of managing the additional stress the exercise puts on it. Move in ways that bring you joy and create a challenge for the body from time to time, but not constantly.
Create and foster good loving relationships and make it a point to untangle yourself from those that are stressful or unhealthy. The people we spend time with have a huge impact on our health. We can’t obviously control or end every single difficult relationship we are in, but to the extent that you do have control – exercise it. Arguments raise our cortisol and when we feel trapped in these toxic relationships our health suffers because our internal alarms are going off way more often than they should. Work at healing relationships where you can as a gift to your health. Minimize the amount you are exposing children to arguments as this raises their cortisol levels as well.
A couple of supplements that have been shown to have a positive impact on cortisol levels are fish oil and an herbal supplement called ashwagandha. Please remember, adding in supplements is never a replacement for a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Life is not going to stop being stressful, I think we are rather going to continue to see in our lifetimes, because of environmental and political and global issues, it will get worse and harder to navigate. So we need to be aware of the signals our body is sending, the way it feels when the alarm starts to go off, and we need to do the things we can to manage the alarm system on the front end so we aren’t just going through each day hitting snooze on it over and over again!

Take some good deep breaths friends, turn off Netflix, have a good talk with your loved ones and give them a giant hug and do your best to get a good nights sleep with dreams of yummy vegetables!

Until next time friends,
Be WELL –
XO, Peggy

——————————————

Body Image Strategies; 8/26/2019

Hi friends and fellow advocates for health. I’m so thankful for each of you in my tribe, my fellow partners in the search for a life less complicated when it comes to health and nutrition!!
So, since we are partners, I will confess to you that I feel restless as I write this today. So far, I am staring at a mostly white screen with thoughts running a million miles an hour. I have started and stopped several topics because nothing seems to be speaking to me at this very moment. If it isn’t speaking to me, I’m pretty sure I can’t turn it into something I expect to be helpful to you. And that is my main goal with what I offer to you, to be of service as it relates to your wellness journey.

So today I am going to go super transparent and talk to you frankly about my body image struggle, and how I am attempting to work through that. In some ways I’m certain my struggle is much like your struggle – images are everywhere of “perfect” bodies. Slim, slightly muscular, just curvy enough to be interesting bodies, advertising everything imaginable, starring in every show we watch, featured in every magazine we buy, posing in every other Instagram post we scroll by. In our minds, and even a bit in society’s conversations, we tell ourselves these images don’t matter, it’s what’s inside that counts and our contributions to the world are about what we do and think and say and create – and not about how we look in the process. So WHY is it so hard to actually feel that way? I’m admitting to you today that for me, it takes a tremendous amount of focus and perseverance. It takes purposeful self talk that rises above the judgmental noise. And it takes a tribe of friends and family who love me just as I am. I’m going to break those down a little bit.

1. Focus and perseverance. This is all about goals and keeping my mind truly fixated on them. It’s about the long game rather than the quick fix. It’s about food and lifestyle decisions that heal me, protect me and energize me. Not those that break me down, make me more susceptible to illness or wear me out. When I think about my big picture goals, they are all about being fully present for my family and friends and my work, and finding joy in the things I do. Because those are the things that matter most to me, and I want to do them for as many years as possible, I know that I need to eat for the future, I need to prepare food with purpose, I need to watch my stress levels, breathe deeply, sleep well and exercise. None of those things dictate that I slash calories or go on a super strict diet or lose all the roundness in my belly in the next five days – even though I can slip into that mindset if I’m not careful. Because, well – society. But when I journal my thoughts, and remember my big picture goals, I can quickly bring back into focus the true reason that the size of our waistline matters. That reason is only as it relates to the health of what is going on under the surface. We want to provide our bodies the very best opportunity possible to keep us well so we can enjoy our lives as disease free and clearheaded as we possibly can.

2. Purposeful self-talk. This one is a game changer! The little hamster inside our heads can get on that darn wheel and run round and round if we aren’t careful. When that wheel is spinning, the loop of messaging is often something like this (at least in my head). “Who do you think you are trying to help others eat right when you snuck ice cream at 10:30 last night” “You sure did look better when you were exercising to exhaustion”, “Why am I trying so hard when my hormones are working against me”, “It’s not fair that hubby can eat treats whenever he wants to and still look like a Greek God!”.
I could go on and on – but you get the idea.

When one of those thoughts starts to spin out of control, I take a deep healing breath, down deep into my gut and I forcefully (this is no time to be timid) replace those thoughts with something like the following.
“I know I am wonderfully made”
“I love exactly who I am today”
“I feel beautiful”
“I am full of purpose”
And if I need a little more, I’ll breathe into another round…
“I know this body has seen me through so much”
“I love how strong I am”
“I feel ready for what the future holds”
“I am proud of who I am”

Getting these affirming statements on our hamster wheel can change everything. We will act with more certainty, we will make bolder choices, we will own our place in the world. When we own our place, we have the power to change it!

3. My tribe. The first two items will be made abundantly easier or harder depending on the folks we are spending the majority of our time with. We can be hyper focused and understand in our hearts what our big picture goals are, but if the people around us have no goals, or if their goals are all very short term, surface kind of goals, we are likely to feel silly or outrageous sharing ours with them (so we won’t – which minimizes them and silences them and eventually can eradicate them). Our goals need to be said out loud, they need to be released from the confines of our brain. To really grow big and become fully realized, they need the support and encouragement of the people whose validation matters to us. Without the kind of friends and family who will rally you on, and remind you of your dreams when you need it most, your hamster wheel is going to get stuck on messaging that is self-destructive to your big picture, life changing, amazing goals.

My hope for you today, and always, is that you are able to rise above the noise and remember what a kick ass, beautiful, smart and important person you are! That the world has only ONE you and so no matter where you are in your journey, today matters! Don’t wait until you reach the finish line of your current goal to start enjoying life. Take some deep breaths, remind yourself how many things you have accomplished in life up to this point and if you’ve got some bodacious future goals – take one step today in that direction and then celebrate every single step along the way.

Until next time friends,
Be WELL –
XO, Peggy

Vagus Nerve – Our Information Highway; 9/19/2019

You have some nerve – and so do I! It’s called the Vagus Nerve and we can consider it the boss of the nervous system. This “wandering nerve” is an information highway and it starts in the brain and passes through the throat, esophagus, lungs, heart, diaphragm and intestines. While wandering around inside of us, it helps each of these organs communicate with one another and therefore carry out critical functions. The bi-directional flow of communication moves between the brain, cardiovascular system, gut and immune system. One of the most important jobs of the vagus nerve is as it relates to the functions of the parasympathetic nervous system (our rest and digest function). And this is why I am fascinated with it in conjunction with gut health – without the vagus nerve functioning well, our digestive functions will be compromised – and that can have an impact on so many aspects of our health.

Here are some reasons you should consider the importance of the health of your vagus nerve:

The vagus nerve delivers information from the gut to the brain to help inform the brain how we are feeling. The whole concept of “gut feelings” is a real thing – and the conversation happening along the vagus nerve (from the gut to the brain) is where this comes from.
The vagus nerve helps us breathe better. The vagus nerve sends out a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine which actually tells our lungs to breathe and which also plays a role in putting on the brakes when it comes to inflammation in the body.
The vagus nerve sends an anti-inflammatory signal to other parts of the body. We need the vagus nerve signaling to be flowing and working well to help minimize the amount of time our body spends in sympathetic (the fight or flight) response. Chronic stress, which leads us to stay amped up in the fight or flight mode, can lead to chronic inflammation which we are learning is at the root of most chronic disease.
The vagus nerve can help us make memories. A University of Virginia study in rats showed that stimulating their vagus nerves strengthened their memory. The action released the neurotransmitter norepinephrine into the amygdala, which consolidated memories. Related studies are being done in humans, suggesting promising treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
The vagus nerve plays a role in the functioning of our heart. The vagus nerve is responsible for controlling the heart rate via electrical impulses to specialized muscle tissue—the heart’s natural pacemaker—in the right atrium, where acetylcholine release slows the pulse. By measuring the time between your individual heart beats, and then plotting this on a chart over time, doctors can determine your heart rate variability, or HRV. This data can offer clues about the resilience of your heart and vagus nerve.
Overstimulation of the vagus nerve is the most common cause of fainting. When you get queasy at the sight of blood or while getting a shot you are experiencing vagal syncope. It is the body having a response to the stress and the overstimulation causes your blood pressure and heart rate to drop. When it’s really severe the blood flow is restricted to the brain and you can lose consciousness.
The vagus nerve initiates our relaxation response. When your ever-vigilant sympathetic nervous system revs up the fight or flight responses—pouring the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline into your body—the vagus nerve tells your body to chill out. People with a stronger vagus response may be more likely to recover more quickly after stress, injury, or illness.

SO, how do we get a stronger vagus response? The exciting news is there are really straightforward ways to do this, some of which are available to you right this second, require no medication and can make a difference very quickly!

The first way to help strengthen vagal tone (an indicator of how well the vagus nerve is functioning) is through deep breathing! Take some really good deep breaths – focusing on the inhale and the exhale. This can slow down the heart rate and increase heart rate variability, which is the variation between heartbeats and which is used as a measurement of stress. It is of particular importance to slow down the exhale as that is the part of the breath cycle when our heart rate decreases.
Another option is acupuncture. Trained acupuncturist can stimulate the vagus nerve. This can help produce an anti-inflammatory response and reduce heart rate.
Positive thoughts have an impact on our nervous system and that could have an impact on the vagus nerve. It is believed that negative thoughts can create inflammation and positive thoughts can help reduce it! Because an active vagus nerve releases anti-inflammatory cytokines, this could be the way that emotions and inflammation are connected. What we do know for sure is that bad thoughts are stressful and stress stunts cellular growth. Good thoughts trigger oxytocin and dopamine which help our cells to thrive.
Laughter can stimulate the vagus nerve and improve vagal tone as can singing, chanting and humming. Any sort of vocal work or activity like these, where positive vibrations are released from the body can stimulate the vagus nerve and make it stronger.
A cold plunge can also help support the body’s ability to transition between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. It helps build up the immune system. If you don’t have access to a cold plunge (around 20 seconds) right out of your hot shower, what can work (and what I do now) is at the end of each warm shower I move the water to cold and stand under it taking deep breaths for 3 cycles (breathing in for around a count of 5 and out for at least 5).

I invite you to add some or all of these techniques into your self care practices. We know that stress is a key factor in the development and persistence of many gut conditions. Learning how to manage stress is incredibly important to good gut health. We now know that the vagus nerve is a major player in our ability to manage stress at the biological level. Because of this, it makes real sense to engage in practices that stimulate the vagus nerve so that in can help us move more quickly from the fight or flight mode back to rest and digest. A healthy vagus nerve promotes resilience in the body and the mind and this resilience helps us retain or even reclaim our health.

Until next time friends,
Be WELL –
XO, Peggy

————————————————

Common Sense, Common Practice – 9/23/2019

Don’t wear high heels to a theme park – ✔️
Don’t text your boyfriend during a job interview – ✔️
Don’t go the dog shelter when you have three dogs already at home – ✔️
Don’t start a new season on Netflix at 11 p.m. when you have to get up at 6 a.m. – ✔️

Each and everyday a bunch of decisions come naturally to us because we allow common sense to prevail. We might not even consider the fact that we are actually making decisions about certain things because we can’t imagine doing it any other way. This “doing without thinking much about it” is where we want to get to when it comes to elements related to our health. We want to choose clean, natural foods because it is good common sense to do so. We want to exercise several times each week because it would feel strange not to. We want to take deep breaths throughout the day, we want to drink plenty of water and we want to love ourselves, no matter what. And wouldn’t it be amazing if these things came as naturally to us as not putting our social security number on a Facebook status does?

Here are some tips that might help all of us (ME included – because none of us have it all figured out, I promise) get closer to matching health related common sense to daily common practice:

1. Get super focused on how things make you feel.
This one is so helpful I promise, but it takes some time and commitment (but don’t all good things?!) When I read You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero (highly recommend this by the way), she helped me take a look at how I thought I could really make a difference in the world. A VERY succinct and powerful thing came to me; I would help others make the connection between what they eat and how they feel. I had to idea what shape that would take, or how that could even actually be a thing – but it became my mission statement. And it applies here for sure. If we all slow down just a bit, enough to do some detective work on the clues our body is sending us, we will find it much more natural to do the things that quiet down the painful clues. We will “hear” our body tell us, through pain, inflammation, fatigue, depression, anxiety and illness that what we are eating, drinking, and doing, is a problem. And then, when we start to eliminate certain things and we sleep better, we don’t pass gas, we become interested in sex again, we aren’t having panic attacks – we will find it much easier to stick to those better patterns of behavior until they become habits. Use a journal, keep notes, be curious and believe in your heart that nearly all symptoms can be traced back to something our body is not processing well. Figure out what that is and you have the power to change your life!

2. Mute all the noise.
How many freaking books and ideas and theories and plans could there possibly be out there? The health and nutrition space is VERY noisy! This becomes overwhelming for sure and makes a lot of us want to just throw in the towel and go eat peanut butter pie for dinner. To really get to a place where certain things become common sense for you, you have to experience them working for YOU! They can’t work in theory, or because someone else said they will – you will need to make that connection in your own life. Eating on a certain macro plan, or intermittent fasting, or juicing or paleo or vegetarian or any of these things all work for some people – and they might be exactly what will work for you – but in order for something to come naturally, and therefore you do it without thinking much about it, you need to go back to number one above and make the connection between what you eat and how you feel. Mute out all of the noise, all the voices in your head telling you the thousand different theories, and get down to basics. More vegetables, more fruit, no added sugar, healthy fats, lots of water. Start there, pay attention, tell everyone else to buzz off, and see what happens.

3. Make long term health your priority.
I will be the first to admit it – many of the things I have tried throughout my life when it comes to “health” had a lot more to do with the number on the scale than my long term wellness. But each day I feel myself gaining more control over that. It is a journey, and I’m not at the end of it by any means. But when I think about how I want to feel when I’m 80 I know that what is most important is that my mind is working (so I need to quiet inflammation in the body and brain and that isn’t about weight loss, it is about nutrition) and I want to be able to move and play and enjoy my body (and that is about exercise and stretching and staying active, not as punishment for calories consumed, but because movement is joy and freedom). I can make eating for health and moving for freedom common practice when I see them as beautiful opportunities to partner with my future self.

And remember, common practice is not the same as always practice. We aren’t going to get it right 100% of the time, what fun would that be? If life gives us anything, it is ample opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Sometimes when I do give into temptation and I eat the cookie dough or 3rd piece of pizza, I use the stomach ache and brain fog to remind me why I don’t do that all the time. I don’t pretend it wasn’t yummy – it was. But I also don’t pretend it makes good common sense to do it very often.

I hope this provides a fresh perspective on something we all struggle with – taking the things we know our bodies need and turning them into habits our mind and spirit help us do.

Until next time friends,

Be WELL –
XO, Peggy

—————————————–

He SAID – She SAID; NSAID – 11/4/2019

So, inflammation is bad, and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) help cut down on inflammation, so NSAIDs must be good, right? Unfortunately – it’s not as easy as that. At least not when it comes to the gut.

All of us, at one time or another, have taken at least one NSAID. This includes things like aspirin, Motrin, Advil, Aleve, Celebrex, Anaprox and a whole host of both over the counter and prescription medications. Some people have been told by a doctor they need to take them as part of an actual medical treatment plan for long term heart health – this article is NOT for you guys, but a lot of other people take them regularly for problems like muscle soreness, headache, or just general aches and pains – this article IS for you!

NSAIDs can increase intestinal permeability (leaky gut), change the composition of the gut flora, and even cause more serious problems with long-term use. When we look at life in the big picture, and consider how do we create sustainable health, a much better solution is to get to the bottom of the source of the pain and inflammation, not just throw an anti-inflammatory at it day after day. This is especially true when we consider the potential health consequences and the sheer number of us relying on them for daily support. More than 70 million prescriptions and more than 30 billion over-the counter tablets are sold annually in the United States alone!

If you know that your tendency is to reach for a bottle of either over the counter or prescription NSAID, consider first some of these techniques for helping manage pain.
Meditation,
physical therapy,
massage,
acupuncture,
essential oils,
are all possible ways to reduce pain and reliance on pain relievers. But more important than just resolving the current situation is taking the time and commitment to get to the bottom of the source of the pain. NSAIDs suppress the inflammation but they don’t actually address the underlying issue. And, the way that they suppress inflammation is hard on the whole digestive system.

Until next time friends,

Be WELL,
XO – Peggy

——————————————–

Tips for Navigating Turkey Day – 11/25/2019

OH My goodness am I thankful for each of you! Thank you for all the ways you have made 2019 a year I have been honored to find myself in a place where I can be a small part of your wellness journey.

My first goal with this post is to send you on an internet search for some tweaks to your typical Thanksgiving Day recipes. I found some fun ones on Delish, Cooking Light and Eating Well. Replacements like mashed cauliflower (just make sure there’s some gravy so your family won’t throw the cauliflower at you), yummy fall salads with chunks of butternut squash, brussel sprouts in all kinds of fun ways and combinations, baked apples and pumpkin pie dip. And if you have some recommendations you’d like to share – tried and true recipes, be sure to share them on the Peggy Smith Wellness Facebook page so we can all enjoy!!!

So after you have planned ahead for some strategic healthier choices to be on the table, what are some ways to better tackle the big Thursday???

The first thing I’d say is to be sure to eat breakfast! If you skip you’re likely to do a couple of things – first, you’ll graze more as you are prepping food and second you will much more likely overeat when meal time finally does arrive.

Second, survey all your options before you put anything on your plate. Make sure everything that you put on your plate is something that you have either waited all year for (for me that would be corn pudding) or that you truly love. If you just get everything available, or aren’t particular with your choices, then you will likely feel more zombie like than if you know that you considered all your options carefully and are eating exactly what you love the most.

Next, don’t feel anxiety about trying all the things on day one. Day two and three can be pretty amazing if there are leftovers and you can extend the festivities through the weekend! When we don’t have the mentality that it is now or never, we can cool our jets and only take what makes sense for one meal. If you aren’t eating at home and the leftovers won’t be in your own fridge – ask your host if they would mind letting you bring a little of your favorite things home with you (bring your own container even because you can be pretty certain if they invited you to share in the special day they won’t mind sharing with you at all)!

Also, be careful how many calories you give up on turkey day to beverages! Keep water nearby so that alcohol or sugary beverages aren’t the only thing you consume all day long.

Try to practice some mindfulness. You can do this even in the midst of a busy meal by just putting your fork down while you chew and checking in with the signals your body is sending you. It’s okay not to eat the things you don’t love, if you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings be strategic and leave a little bit of a few things so it doesn’t just look like it was Aunt Mildred’s casserole you didn’t care for.

And lastly, keep in mind that just as important (if not more so) than the food is the company you are with. Engage in fun conversation while you are around the table and create traditions that are about things other than food – like perhaps going around the table and talking about what you are most thankful for that year or other such things that keep the real reason for the day as front and center as the turkey is!

p.s. tip – Keep political and other heated conversations for a time other than when you are eating as a gift not only to one another but also to your gut. Remember that your body can only be in one mode at a time – either the fight and flight mode or the rest and digest mode. If you get all wound up while you are trying to eat and get your stress response engaged, you can’t digest your food properly – it literally stops digesting to conserve all the energy for whatever fight or flight is about to happen. Hopefully no actual fights happen at the dinner table and no one literally runs from the table in anger – but your body responds to all triggers in the same way.

So keep the conversation casual and calm and fun to keep your body in that rest and digest cycle (so that when it comes time for pie your body has been working on digesting all the turkey and stuffing!).

Until next time friends,
Be WELL (and Happy Thanksgiving)

XO, Peggy

Devolving.me

Wellness Articles

Have you ever felt stuck working towards goals that didn’t feel authentic?

Ready to BE WELL?

WHAT I WILL HELP YOU WITH…

———————————————————————————-

HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

If…

————————————————————————————–

MY CURRENT PROGRAMS:

One on One Private Sessions – 3 Month Program

Group Sessions – 3 Month Program – Evening Program

Group Sessions – 3 Month Program – Lunch and Learn Sessions at Your Office

Reset Retreat

Pages

Archives

Blogroll

Meta

Devolving.me

Wellness Articles

Have you ever felt stuck working towards goals that didn’t feel authentic?

Ready to BE WELL?

WHAT I WILL HELP YOU WITH…

———————————————————————————-

HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

If…

————————————————————————————–

MY CURRENT PROGRAMS:

One on One Private Sessions – 3 Month Program

Group Sessions – 3 Month Program – Evening Program

Group Sessions – 3 Month Program – Lunch and Learn Sessions at Your Office

Reset Retreat

Share this:

Pages

Archives

Blogroll

Meta