The idea of eating detoxifying foods might feel like a fad. It’s often linked to trendy teas, shakes, powders, herbs, juices, or supplements that claim to remove all the toxins from your bloodstream in a “miraculously” short amount of time.  Although it’s been co-opted as a marketing tactic by the diet industry, as a nutrition therapist myself, I can tell you that the process of detoxification offers many health benefits. (And no, you don’t need to be an expert to know how reap those benefits.)  I want to cut through all the buzz and hype and get right into what we all need to know ..read more

The health benefits of gardening go far beyond the delicious food, herbs, and flowers you harvest throughout the season. (Though there are few things as rewarding as biting into the food you grew yourself!)  That primal sensation of growing plants, touching the earth, basking in the sunshine, and nurturing seeds rejuvenates both your mental and physical well-being. Although I don’t always have time to garden, I have high hopes for starting a garden every year because I love all the benefits of it. Those who do garden feel deeply rooted in the present in those moments, and that sense of ..read more

Not everyone is a natural “morning person.” I, however, have always been one of those annoyingly chipper morning people who wake up jumping out of bed. That’s not always the case now. From having kids to life getting hard, no matter how much of a “morning person” I am—it’s not always easy to wake up feeling excited about the possibilities of a new day.  In good times or bad, more often than not, we’re rushing around to look presentable for a Zoom meeting or to ensure the kids get to school on time while downing a cup of coffee and barely remembering to eat breakfast. Does any of this so ..read more

Inner peace is so much more than just a brief escape from the chaotic events of daily life—though that’s what I thought it was many years ago too. What I learned, though, is that it’s actually this beautiful, continual state of being that you can harness in all environments, circumstances, and interactions.  When I began to live from this intentional space, after a few very challenging years life threw my way, I found I could unlock a deeper sense of balance, rootedness, connection, and presence. Even as challenges arose, I felt deeply grounded in my sense of calm.  Interestingly ..read more

The importance of recovery days cannot be overlooked. In most health-focused conversations, people and experts are often quick to focus on cultivating habits around physical activity, movement, or nutrition. While both of these are important (very important!), there’s something that gets easily overlooked: rest days. I was totally caught off guard when I got my health diagnosis a few years ago—lab results showed that my hormones were all out of whack. While the test results revealed that an auto-immune disease was not currently present, she told me that I had to make changes. Thankfully, ther ..read more

Daily intentions and mindful living go hand-in-hand. Mindfulness doesn’t exclusively occur in a meditation class or on a Pilates mat (although these practices can be instrumental in helping you cultivate it). Mindfulness can permeate and enrich all facets of your life no matter where you are or what you’re doing.  But how do you make mindful living a natural, intuitive, habitual response in the midst of other obligations or distractions competing for your attention?  This is something I struggled with back in 2020 when it felt like the world was crashing down around all of us. The ..read more

Our society has a lot of loud opinions about women’s aging in today’s world. We’ve all seen facial serum claiming to restore that “youthful radiance” or a social media post about how to avoid looking older. I’ve also had friends share that as they get older, they start to feel invisible, or they feel less relevant and as a result, less valuable.  I’ve found that this is a common feeling among many older women I know, and honestly, I hate it! We deserve better and this should not be our experience as we age and continue to grow in wisdom and experience. Healthy aging is something that sho ..read more

False narratives are a part of your daily life and the crazy thing is you may not even know it. While both men and women feel the pressure of these false narratives, a recent APA survey found that women are more likely to report feeling overwhelmed by societal pressure to maintain excellence in their homes, careers, relationships, and physical traits than men. False narratives drive that unattainable expectation to look, be, act, or live a certain way. As a result, women tend to have the added pressure of heavier expectations that weigh on our shoulders. I have certainly felt this in my role ..read more

Body disconnection is all too common in a world that has trained women to ignore, repress, and control their bodies. Instead of hearing what your body has to say, you learn to follow external cues and guidance. And I know that maybe this doesn’t sound so bad—why not listen to the experts?—but it is problematic for two reasons: There’s a lot of information available today. Unfortunately, not all of it is legitimate or coming from a true expert or research-based source.  You’ve been taught to do everything with your mind, but the body has a lot to say too. If you’re not listening, you ..read more

Body checking is so automatic—my bet is you don’t even know you’re doing it. If you take a minute to really think about it, how often do you stop in front of a mirror to scrutinize the width of your hips, the texture of your skin, or the fit of your jeans? To some degree, we all practice this self-monitoring behavior. So much so that there’s a name for it: body checking. I love the way Katherine Metzelaar MSN, RDN, CD explains what this is: “I often describe body checking as the fleeting moment between stimulus (‘Omg, how does my stomach look right now!?’), and action (doing the body checkin ..read more