Today, for various reasons, social media is a hard place to be. My newsfeed is also full of dieting ads, supplement pushes, and diet/supplement “reset” plans. Ya, they’re expensive and the budget-conscious part of my brain cringes. But it’s more than that.

“Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants” ~ Michael Pollan (from In Defense of Food, An Eater's Manifesto). This is really it; this is what we need to follow. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. But…then why is it so hard?

It’s often assumed that since I’m a Nutritionist then I also must be an avid recipe creator…but I’m not. I’m really really not. Except with cookies, cookies are my jam.

Tell me, what’s your relationship with 1200-calorie diets? Does this seem reasonable to you? Or too abstract to visualize? Have you tried it in the past? How did you feel?

After many months of self-isolation, many of us (myself included) are feeling a tad more soft and squishy than a year ago. The trouble is, what we’ve been “trained” to do whenever the scale goes up by the dieting culture only makes matters worse, not better.

I’ve been very hesitant to weigh in on Intermittent Fasting. I’m asked about it a lot and I always want to be honest with you. Yes. There’s some research on IF that looks promising. And…there are many, many gaps.

One of the most common questions I get asked is, “what should my macros be?”. Or a variation of that, like “how much protein should I eat?”, or “can I eat carbs?”. Today, I want to tell you why you can ignore macros completely.

A few days ago I had a couple of overripe bananas and my plan was to make a batch of my Chocolate Banana Cookies…but then I thought I’d try something new. And they were AMAZING!

The scale has tipped over that number that, in your mind, you’ve connected to “danger, danger!”. The question is - now what? The trouble is what we’ve been “trained” to do through our dieting culture usually only makes matters worse, not better.

I’ve spent the last 10+ years trying to pull the controlling threads of the dieting culture out of the minds of amazing, beautiful-exactly-as-they-are people. Because, real wellness doesn’t involve fear, control, manipulation, or a restrictive diet.

There’s something you really need to know about me – I detest diets. Like, they make me cringe when I hear about them. No matter how amazing or effective they may seem, they always make me cringe.

The short answer is – NO. There’s a better way to support your immune system <3. “How to boost your immune system” is probably the most popular blog post, article, webinar, and podcast right now…but, you won’t hear it from me because it’s wrong.

I’ve been hearing this everywhere this week, “My sugar cravings are totally out of control!!” So, why is it? Why do we crave sugar when we’re stressed? In a nutshell, the answer is 3-fold.

Don’t let the words “Black Bean” scare you off…this recipe is AMAZING! These are the best brownies I’ve made in a very long time and they even went over like gangbusters at a party recently.

Relaxing and a bit of self care might be the furthest thing from our mind, it can also be one of the most beneficial for our wellbeing and for our immune system. The key is - EASY. Let’s not add anymore stress or strain to our lives today! <3

Why is it so darn hard to lose weight after 40??? WHY WHY WHY? In a nutshell, it’s frequently due to our delicate balance of hormones and our body’s ability to detoxify. Let’s dive into this, shall we?

To be honest, I’m not a big recipe collector. I have a handful that I use a few times a year, but mostly I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of cook. Until this delicious chili recipe came into my life.

I've got a story to tell you,, a story about how to cement new changes. It’s a story about how I messed up...but in a very good way <3. This month in Your Beautiful Life, we’re all doing a Real Life Healthy Eating challenge, and it’s been pretty fun so far.

Inflammation is usually seen as the gremlin of health. It’s been linked to most chronic health issues, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and even depression.

Okay, I’m not afraid of the keto diet like I’m afraid of the boogieman. I’m afraid of what it might do to people. Specifically, the health repercussions after you go off keto. In that way, I’m TERRIFIED of the keto diet. Full stop.

This recipe is SO good it’s hard to believe it’s super healthy! Cauliflower hasn’t always been my favourite vegetable. Actually I generally don’t like it very much. Well…until now.

A lot of new clients come to me wanting/hoping/expecting to be told exactly what to eat so they can feel better. They want a plan, a guide, or a list of good foods vs. bad foods so that constant diet confusion can finally be over. 

How have you been feeling lately? Dig deep and really feel it for a second. Are you feeling fantastic? Do you jump out of bed every morning ready to tackle the day?

Or… Are you feeling less-than-stellar? Do you have a bad case of the “blahs” or the “I-don’t-wannas”? 

Are you tired of hearing about all of the problems with being stressed out all the time? Ya, me too.  Because really! It’s not very helpful when stress is almost impossible to get away from. Between work, family, bills, and commitments, there’s no time to relax.

Have you been feeling less than stellar lately? Do you have to drag yourself out of bed most mornings?  And most importantly – does this just feel normal to you?

It’s everywhere you turn on social media these days. Memes extolling the importance of self-care. Posts bragging about luxurious baths, vacations, or time in nature, #selfcare.

How much do you love salty foods? When you put a salty bit of loveliness (maybe a favourite potato chip?) into your mouth, does your whole body light up? Does it just taste SOOOO good? Like the best. food. ever.

Cravings can be hard to overcome. Many experts have many different techniques to banish your cravings for good. Do they work? Sometimes? Kinda? I have a different (and kinder) approach :)

Aren’t the 40s exhausting enough? High stress careers. Teenagers (or younger children) in the house. Elderly parents. …and now hormones. Really, hormones? You couldn’t have waited until my retirement to get all wacky?