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energy
Quick and easy energy bars (minus the sugars and processed ingredients) will fuel your body with sustainable energy, while keeping your blood sugar balanced this spring.
Filled with healthy protein and fat with just the right amount of sweet you will be so glad you have these to nosh on all week long!
The cycles of the seasons harmonize us with the rhythms of nature, reminding us that we are nature. Within these, nature goes through everything on the spectrum – from full bloom to death and decay.
The more we feel into the elemental cycles around us, present for all life forms on the planet, the more we can ride the waves and rhythms in ourselves. This knowing is embedded in our true nature, our cellular DNA and our innate animal wisdom.
Spring synergy is intuitive when we listen. Often, in our bustling culture and our busy day-to-day lives we tend to miss these intuitive cues in and around ourselves, but it is never too late to return to the most natural part of our existence. Following the innate rhythms of the seasons informs our body’s wisdom, our emotional intelligence, and our manifestation of our health and vitality in the world around us.
According to Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, each season comes with a unique energetic quality, nourishment, dominant organ,emotion and action. Synchronizing with each season’s expression is like medicine for the body, mind and soul.
Let’s take a stroll through the earthly cycle dedicated to SPRING and begin to understand and how spring reflects around us and within us.
Spring is the most healing, creative, and vital season of the year.
As we emerge from the winter months, we often feel the urge to cleanse our lives, our bodies, and our beings for an energized renewal.
Blooming into spring’s brilliance is a synergy of some important aspects of life. During spring, ruled by the wood element, our energy and vitality heighten, we wake up from winter’s rest to energize our life force, creativity, and zeal. We clear and cleanse the sacred spaces of our bodies, minds and homes to find a fresh rebirth for ourselves to gain a renewed momentum.
Spring is the time to renew the pleasures that our physical bodies are designed to feel. Transforming from the quieter more inward season of winter into spring, we may feel a little tired, a little sluggish, and even a little resistant to turning towards the bright new energy of this season. When senses wake up with the beauty of nature blooming all around us, we heighten the pleasure in our bodies and hearts. Spring is abounding with passion, excitement, inspiration and love.
As the leafy bitter greens sprout and emerge in our gardens, and the dandelions fill our yards, try finding some ways to cleanse your body and mind with some of spring’s treasures.
At this time of year, we are designed to eat lighter and leafier greens, – spring’s medicinal liver cleansing foods (such as dandelions) that are in full abundance. The flavor of spring is bitter, which in turn supports the liver in cleansing and strengthening. Walking through the farmers’ market I love to gather bright green baby arugula, an array of sprouts for my spring salads and colorful tulips to beautify my home and office.
o Eating lighter and more bitter foods
o Growing your own fresh salad spring garden
o Sprouting seeds such as alfalfa, broccoli, or sunflower in your kitchen with a sprouting jar.
o Roasting radishes, asparagus, artichokes and spring onions to support your liver and uplift your spirit.
o Brewing up some dandelion or nettles’ tea to cleanse your body and support any spring allergies or hay fever.
After a long winter’s rest, a time most of us eat heavier foods and perform less physical activity, our bodies often become more sedentary and our livers more stagnant. The dominant organ of spring is the liver, housing the emotions of anger and resistance.
As we begin to attune to spring, we naturally support the liver in cleansing, and releasing the anger and resistance that winter has accumulated. Once our energy begins to flow more freely, and our bodies and minds become clear and free, we are most often left with the inspiration of hope and renewal for what is ahead. The blooming flowers and new greenery inspire a renewed attitude and passion.
One of the most effective ways to energize our lives in the spring is through daily movement. Practices such as yoga, hiking, and dance can help to awaken the spring within us. Enliven your spirit and uplift your moxie with some inspired movement of your own.
I love to take late afternoon walks in the beautiful spring air, sauntering along the creek path near my house where I can behold the array of flowers and trees blooming. Remembering to feel good in our bodies through movement we can savor the sensuality of spring. Enjoying our bodies and the heightened senses that come with spring is one of the most potent ways to elevate our sensuality and pleasure.
What I am going to share with you today comes from what I have personally learned about my energy and vitality through my own experimentation and deep inquiry. I will also share what has impacted my daily rhythm, my food choices, my sleep patterns, my libido, my cravings and even my internal dialog and self-talk.
I have learned what works for me. I have learned what is sustainable for me in the world today. I have learned about health, combined with a deep priority for pleasure, that doesn't feel restrictive or depriving. I have learned to be fluid, feminine and intuitive as things are always changing and I have learned that we each have our own unique recipe for feeling our best.
I have put the past 15+ years of my work into discovering this for myself and today I want to share a couple of these specific nuggets with you – my favorite ones for spring.
The truths toxicity are real, important and impactful, while also being be daunting, fearful, and overwhelming. Don't worry, I have some answers for you....
These truths have supported me greatly in my own journey with health and high energy living and I want the same to be available for you.
1. Toxicity is one of the primary blocks to your metabolism working at it's best. A high toxic load will literally slow down your cellular metabolism of energy. You will feel more sluggish, lethargic, tired, and depleted.
2. Toxicity can literally impede, inhibit or block the efficient functioning of our cells, tissues, organs, systems and biochemical processes. This could lead to the slow onset of degenerative disease that gets harder and harder to reverse over time. Toxicity makes the body's natural ability to heal and find equilibrium more and more compromised.
3. Toxicity creates and/or exacerbates inflammation in our bodies. Many of us in the world today are struggling with inflammation in relationship to various health issues. Inflammation is a big problem, and the root of most health issues. Inflammation is only made worse with some of our daily exposures to toxicity.
4. When our toxic load is high, accumulated or frequent, it prevents us from burning and releasing fat. All those attempts you may have made were not futile on your part, you were not at a plateau, or doing things 'wrong'. Your body just cannot lose weight effectively with toxicity in the way.
We all are exposed to high amounts of toxicity in the world today – its unavoidable. Toxicity is prevalent in our food, our water and our air. While we can surely minimize our exposure with clean, healthy living, the reality is toxicity needs a bit more assertion than that for us to feel our best.
I've been busily working on some solutions for you and I have put together some very useful, practical and work-able practices for you to explore .
What do you seek to shed this spring to “lighten” up and access your inner freedom, energy and brilliance?
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The aroma from my crockpot fills the house each Sunday afternoon. Something about my house smelling like home cooked soup takes me back to my childhood. As I wipe down the counters and pour another cup of tea, I carefully lift the lid (again) to have yet another little taste.
Like many of you, I am a creature of habit.
I like my daily/weekly rhythm. I enjoy cooking my favorite meals regularly, hikei my favorite trails in Boulder County often, Jason and I have our favorite restaurants around town, and I try to keep up with my most effective and nourishing self-care practices each week.
While trying new things is also part of my adventurous personality, I do it in smaller increments these days so I don't throw myself too far off from what I know works and feels good.
This past year, I have added a weekly broth making routine. Each Sunday morning I get my trusty crockpot going with some delicious broth ingredients. Sometimes I make an alkalizing veggie broth (more to come on that one) and often times slow cooked bone broth. I drink it regularly throughout the week and I have noticed some key benefits which I want to share with you today.
Last week I posted the photo above on my Instagram page. I was pleasantly surprised to find more likes and comments than usual. Many folks requested the recipe, many folks wanted to know more about bone broth, so as promised, here you are:
While you may have heard a lot about bone broth, tasted it at a local health food store, or from your grandmothers soup pot, you may not realize that not only is it super simple to make, but it is also a medicinal nourishing tonic that can make a really big impact on your health.
Bone broth is becoming so popular amidst recent health and wellness trends for a few very important reasons.
Bone broth is chock full of gelatin. There have been many studies on the health benefits of gelatin throughout history showing it's healing power for ailments from ulcers, to diabetes to tuberculosis. In the case of your metabolism, a regular dose of gelatin in your diet, especially from homemade bone broth, has been shown to be extremely satiating and metabolically stimulating, as well as decreasing the need for overall protein and fat in the rest of our diets by up to 50%. Metabolically speaking, bone broth keeps your blood sugar stable and keeps you in the fat burning zone.
One of the most effective and healing ingredients in bone broth are the amino acids – glutamine and proline. If you suffer from food allergies, leaky gut syndrome, autoimmune symptoms, or IBS, bone broth is for you. Glutamine is one of my favorite supplements for healing digestion, digestive inflammation while rebuilding and strengthening the digestive wall (which gets thinned during digestive illness). A regular dose of bone broth will do wonders for your digestion.
Bone broth is also full of glucosamine and chondroitin. Both of these nutrients are specifically helpful for joint pain, inflammation, arthritis symptoms, and mobility.
Bone broth is a mineral superfood! Your immune system functions on minerals. All of the bone broth minerals specifically feed your immune system for a stronger healthier you. Who knew our grandmothers' chicken soup really was a cure all!
One of the main ingredients found in bone broth is collagen. The main nutrient we need for healthy skin, hair and nails is collagen. Collagen helps to maintain the skin's natural elasticity (good bye wrinkles) while promoting smooth and supple skin.
Bone broth is full of assimilatable natural protein and fat. Glycine, found in the protein of bone broth, stabilizes your blood sugar, boosts energy production, increases satiation and builds muscle mass.
While most of us could use a little liver love in the world today, bone broth is an easy tonic to include in your daily regiment to support your liver and kidneys in a gentle yet effective cleansing. The high amounts of glycine in bone broth are incredibly effective in aiding the body in its natural ability to detoxify regularly.
There are many, many ways to cook bone broth. Some are plain and simple, while others get more creative and complex. This favorite of mine is somewhere right in the middle. This one is simple, yet full of some of my favorite spices and flavors. Try it as a soup, sauce for your favorite stir-fry, or a warming beverage right out of your favorite mug.
Questions, comments, requests, recipes? Please tell me all about them in the comments below. If you know someone who would benefit from this information please feel free to share it with them using the button below.
Tired? Sluggish? Moody? Frumpy? Out of balance?
So often we are told that feeling exhausted, grumpy, sleep deprived, unsexy and stressed out is a normal condition for the modern woman. Even more often, we are told that the new normal can be found in coping with our symptoms via caffeine, anti-depressants, hormones, diets and sleep medications.
Spring is a time when many of us get excited. After the long winter months, it is so inspiring to look forward to blooming flowers, warmer weather and longer days.
We turn to light with zest and renewal.
Having the energy and vitality to enjoy all of these upcoming seasonal flavors is something most of us yearn for.
The truth is, spring does come with a renewed vigor, but many of us find ourselves too out of balance to enjoy it.
Meet your metabolism: The source of your energy, vitality and health.
So today, I want to talk to you a little about your metabolism. If you are still reading, this may sound like a BIG relief to you. The underlying causes we are speaking of here are are deeply embedded in your cellular systems, your autonomic nervous system and exactly how you are feeding your unique metabolism each day.
There are some important metabolic laws I want to share with you, so you can get your MOJO back on track this spring + a special offering I have ready for you below...
Over many thousands of years, the evolution of people in various parts of the world has developed very specific nutritional needs based on many important factors and variables: climate, genetic lineage, environmental stressors and daily life rhythms. These tell tail pieces of information are needed to understand the differences across the human race between energy, vitality, and metabolic support.
What works for some of us may not work for others. The one way approach to health and healing doesn't work.
Discovering your unique metabolic needs is the miracle of your MOJO.
Creating balance in our bodies, our blood sugar and our daily lives is a relief to our metabolic output. In fact, with the right ratios of macro-nutrients on our plates we can see not only a deep biochemical balancing of our blood sugar, but also a fueling and even kick start to our metabolism. This cannot happen if our blood sugar is on a roller coaster.
There are many ways to balance our blood sugar (each of us with a little different formula) but a few worth mentioning here so you have something with which to start:
What do you crave?
You will know you are on track when you are satiated, and your cravings no longer are getting the best of you. Even if you are known to emotionally eat, stress eat, or boredom eat – you will notice a significant improvement with these habits when you are metabolically tuned into your unique needs around food.
Carbohydrate quality is a big culprit in how our cravings unfold. The more processed, usually the more of a blood sugar imbalance. If we can eat carbohydrates in their whole form (such as brown rice, sweet potato, steel cut oats, quinoa, or a tart apple) with fats and proteins, we will find these whole carbohydrates are much more gentle on our blood sugar and our cravings begin to melt away.
When we wait too long between meals, we are taking an insulin risk that usually ends up in us getting too hungry, and making a choice that is more impulsive.
Planning on little dense snack bites more regularly will keep you satiated and satisfied and free yourself of those crazy cravings. Eating regularly throughout the day creates a healthy metabolism, and happier hormones (AKA Insulin).
When we continue to focus on weight loss, rather than healing, we keep ourselves stuck. Even if we fight it, the truth is that our bodies need a strong metabolism to loose weight, feel energized, and be strong.
Getting healthy to loose weight works much more effectively than loosing weight to get healthy.
We need strong and healthy metabolisms to loose the weight we desire, to boost our energy, curb our cravings, feel strong and balanced, and to come back to our vitality and true health.
Each of us comes to the table with a different history. How much healing do we need for our metabolisms to be strong? What is our story around stress, sleep, eating, mood, cravings, and blood sugar?
You may be in this transition for a period of time, while your metabolism is healing to then enable you to thrive.
There are 4 main stages that metabolic healing goes through:
Many of us start on a health and healing journey relying on our will power to keep us on track. What most of us do not realize is that our will power is inconsistent. This variable of how we move through our day changes based on a few key ingredients: stress, sleep quality, and blood sugar.
In their recent report What You Need To Know About Willpower: The Psychological Science of Self-control, the American Psychological Association states “A growing body of research shows that resisting repeated temptations takes a mental toll. Some experts liken willpower to a muscle that can get fatigued from overuse.”
To create a sustainable path to health and healing, we must turn towards something a bit more reliable. Habit forming and automatic behaviors are what I am referring to. While most of us can find time to take a shower or brush our teeth each day, this is because these acts of self-care have become automatic.
When a behavior becomes automatic we are not relying on the irregularity of our willpower. This is true with eating, exercising, meditation, sleep routines, and even our internal dialogue.
Consider picking a few new behaviors to work with around habit forming and automatic behaviors. Start slow and build your momentum strong and steady.
I would love to hear your comments and questions below.
Here's to your health and vitality this spring.
Do you ever feel confused about what to eat?
The challenges happening in the world of food, body and health are overwhelming for many of us. The endless search for the one right way to eat, and fuel our bodies makes sense amid the jungle of confusion.
When I read the latest and greatest diet books or health trends it seems that each of these approaches also often comes with the need to feel like their way is the way.
I disagree...there is a different way.
WE BEGIN MARCH 22ND, 2017
It is all virtual from your own home and all recorded for your convenience. This course will revolutionize your eating and ignite your energy and vitality.
I can't wait to have you join...
