Eat What Feels Good

The Whole 30 is an elimination diet program designed to remove most if not all inflammatory foods from the diet for a 30-day period, and then reintroduce them one by one to assess potential effects on the body. Primarily, I'd say its purpose is to identify food sensitivities, but it's also a nice "reset" for the body which can tell you a lot about how different foods have been making you feel. It is not intended as a weight loss program, but some people have the pleasant side effect of losing a few along the way as a result of eating much, much healthier! This was not the case for me, but I wasn't trying to lose weight.   I found out I was pregnant on Day 3 of my first official Whole30. The pregnancy was intentional. We had been trying for a few months, and I wanted to do more to maximize my health and my fertility. I was letting unhealthy foods creep into my diet, and I thought a fresh start with a Whole30 would be a good choice either way- improving my fertili...

2018 was busy! I feel like I accomplished a great deal, making progress toward my career goals and my health. I finished the NTP program, certifying me officially as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner! I graduated in late October, and took the rest of the year off (still working my day job of course) to reflect and prepare myself mentally for what this year will bring. I have a LOT of feelings about finishing this program. I was eager to get this certification because I knew that a credential in this field would jumpstart possibilities for me. I also felt that making that career shift probably depended on some level of credibility that went beyond listening to podcasts and reading everything I could get my hands on. Now that I have the certification, I am overwhelmed. In essence, I have no excuses now. Before, I could tell myself, "Well, no one will listen to you unless you have a credential." First things first. Now, I am the only thing holding myself back from this caree...

       Wow. I have let two years pass since my last post, and I have regrets about that. I planned to document this journey better. I thought it would be cathartic. The truth is, writing is cathartic for me, but I often do it in private. There's a freedom in journaling that is lost when you know it will be posted publicly. Some may say there's a freedom in releasing it to the world, and I agree with that, too.        I'm trying to take myself back to the mindset I had in May 2016. I was pregnant and I didn't know it yet. I was a caregiver to my father, who was living at the skilled nursing facility where I worked and still work. I was exhausted and stressed but I was so actively trying to heal myself so I could get pregnant and be strong for my family. I was in a better place then than I was during the October before, when Dad was given 6 weeks to live and I was struggling with infertility. I'm happy to say I'm in an even better place now, though...

I regret my long hiatus from this blog.  My family has been going through the most horrible and stressful year of our lives, and continuing the blog has just been overwhelming. Last April 23, 2015, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a glioblastoma that is the most aggressive and fatal of its category. These tumors are projected to kill their sufferers within 14 or so months according to Dr. Google (which the real doctors tell you not to look at). It's just horrible. He was 59 years old, working full time and living a normal life. He had surgery, radiation and oral chemotherapy. He was entered into an immunotherapy vaccine clinical trial. Treatments wiped out his immune system, depleted his energy and eventually he became hemiparetic (paralyzed on one side) from the swelling and scar tissue in the brain. In October 2015, his oncologist gave him 6 weeks to live. We were looking at planning a funeral before Christmas. Two weeks after that grim prognosis, however, things...

To cheat or not to cheat? That is the question on vacation for most health-seeking people. Eating healthy while traveling can be both stressful and empowering, depending on the situation. I found on my recent vacation that mindset was paramount to my success, and starting out in a healthy place mentally and physically set me up for "good" decision making. I actively made the decision that being on vacation does not mean that I want to ignore what I know about nutrients, but also that sweating every little crumb I ate was not going to be fun either. I figured there has to be a balance there. When you're on vacation, you want to "soak up the culture" and "eat what THEY eat" and, of course, drink alcohol (if you're into that). However, I had two concerns about falling victim to the leniency I've given myself in the past on vacations. First, weight gain was always an inevitable part of adult vacationing for me. When I'm home I work out and eat...