Have you endured a deep level of emotional or physical stress for a long period of time? Has it affected your mental or physical health? Have those stressors left you feeling depleted and exhausted?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, I wrote this blog for you. Actually, I wrote it for me also, as a reminder that we all fall off the self-care wagon from time to time.

I feel like a broken record when I say most of us are living our lives at an unsustainable speed, in a world that does not encourage rest and homeostasis. I see it on a daily basis in my practice. We are working longer hours, not getting enough sleep, eating food that is over processed and devoid of nutrients, often while caring for others when we are not at work. Without proper self-care, this level of stress alone is a burden to the body that will leave us exhausted and strained. If the universe adds on a double whammy in the form of a job change, divorce, injury, death of a loved one, etc., you better believe that you are going to need some serious self nurturing to keep your super human head above water!

I had a couple of interesting appointments last week...

A woman came to see me covered in a red rash complaining of inflamed joints. She shared with me that her whole body felt “totally off.” Her doctor had run a couple of standard lab panels, and yet, the only bandaid that he could give her for her joint pain was a prescription for steroids. This woman was clearly dealing with symptoms associated with an autoimmune situation yet her doctor mentioned nothing about diet or any natural anti-inflammatory support.

A young woman in her early 30s reached out to me who had stopped cycling and had high cholesterol levels. Her provider had put her on statins to lower her cholesterol and offered a prescription for birth control pills to help "regulate the cycle." The dietary advice given was to consume a low-fat diet as well.  He had not taken into consideration the fact that the body uses cholesterol to make steroid hormones and was giving her medication to suppress the cholesterol, thereby reinforcing the issue. 

The joys of summer are finally here!

This is the time to pay attention to your magnesium levels as we spend time in the sun playing and sweating.

I like to rev up my magnesium during the summer months as the loss of electrolytes can disrupt magnesium stores and can cause adrenal fatigue if left unchecked.

Do you constantly feel like you are juggling too many things at once? Does your sleep and energy feel off? Is weight gain an issue regardless of exercise?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are most likely dealing with imbalanced cortisol levels.

In todays society, I believe the pace of life is unsustainable. Most women my age can relate to “wonder woman syndrome” which is merely a term that describes the predicament of woman who are raising children, working or running their own businesses and taking care of everyone and everything in between. Quite frankly, the speed of life’s requirements leave most everyone overworked and exhausted. While our bodies are designed to whether high stress levels temporarily, we are not designed to operate on all cylinders at all times. This will lead to sky high cortisol which invariably leads to adrenal fatigue.

Healthy steroid hormones make a healthy happy body. Just ask anyone who is exhausted, looking to shed some resistant weight and reboot their sex drive... are their hormones happy? Probably not. Growth, reproduction, sleep and energy production are all byproducts of steroid hormone production. When the body is strong and healthy, it is likely that hormones are balanced and working for you. When our bodies go out of balance from influences such as too much stress, chemicals in the environment and poor nutrition, symptoms such as weight issues, adrenal dysfunction, PMS, estrogen dominance, thyroid issues, dwindling sex drive and sleep problems can wreak havoc on your life. The art of keeping your hormones balanced with nutrition and detoxification support is of utmost importance in this day and age. As we become more adept at biohacking our bodies physiology for better health, not only is it possible to change our chemistry, it will ultimately support a better quality of life as we age.

After completing a year long training in Holistic Nutrition Labs for Full Body Systems with Andrea Nakayama, I decided to take my hormone health into my own hands and took part in my first hormone detox training program offered through the reproductive holistic nutrition lab program.

Due to the fact that hormonal imbalance is extremely common in this day and age with both women and men, I wanted to share my experience in hope that it might benefit others.

 Some of the most common signs of hormone imbalance include: PMS, fatigue, acne, weight gain, irregular periods, mood swings, night sweats, blood sugar imbalances, thyroid disorders, infertility, hair loss, brain fog, etc. These are issues that can start at any point sometimes as early as puberty and continue all the way through life when left unaddressed.

In this day and age most people operate at full speed on all cylinders from morning until night.

The momentum needed to keep everything going as we work and raise families can leave us “wired and tired”.

As a result, the circadian rhythm that governs the natural cycles of the body can go awry. One of the end results of this tail spin can show up in our sleep patterns. So its not surprising that when it comes to decompressing at night time, nearly 1/3 of Americans are sleep deprived. That means they struggle to get to sleep, stay asleep and wake up refreshed.