Intermittent fasting has become a hugely popular way of eating and living for health, fat burn, longevity, and even brain clarity. It’s not so much considered a “diet” as it is a lifestyle and eating pattern. In recent months, it’s become a huge topic in many of my circles and groups, and it’s often one of the first topics my perspective clients want to discuss when we begin our health relationship. So, this week, while searching for the perfect topic for a blog post, IF-intermittent fasting just seemed like the perfect choice…

It’s summer time for many of us, and it’s a fantastic time to add some fresh, light, and healthy veggies to our diet! If you’re looking for a power packed but super low calorie vegetable to add to your summer meals, leafy greens like kale, is a great choice. Kale grows well year round and is easy to find at any grocery store. It is a superfood filled with health benefits like helping to reduce various types of cancer and type 2 diabetes, boosting digestive health, and helping to manage blood pressure. Kale has antioxidants to help…

If you’re currently not eating a healthy diet, it can be difficult to start such a plan. However, healthy eating, along with some enjoyable form of exercise is very important for maintaining a good bodily function and goes a long way towards living a disease-free life. If you struggle with healthy eating, then you know that breaking unhealthy habits can be the most difficult part of the process. Therefore, if you truly want to live the best lifestyle possible, it is important to follow tips in order to start eating a more healthy diet…

Weight loss is one of the most challenging things you can do, but also one of the most rewarding. It not only changes your body composition and improves your physical health, but it can also improve your mental health at the same time. The problem is often not with your physical body, but how your mind reacts to changing certain lifestyles that will help you lose weight and keep it off….

Summer is a great time to focus on exercise; the weather is nice, the days are longer, and we tend to spend more time outdoors. For those looking to add some exercise to their summer schedule, but may be looking for something low impact and low cost, walking is definitely the answer!
Walking provides so many health benefits, and it’s literally a free activity, so it’s a win-win situation. Walking increases the fitness of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, boosts your metabolism, burns calories at a steady rate, helps improve muscle strength and tone, reduces body fat…

Soda and sweetened drinks are one of the biggest sources of hidden sugars in our diet. A single can of soda contains upwards of a staggering 33g of sugar. However, if you’re used to chugging soda, sweet tea, or other sweetened drinks every day, making the transition to drinking just water can be difficult. I live in the south, and sweet tea, Mountain Dew, and Cheerwine are considered cultural gold, so today I’m going to be sharing some healthy, low sugar alternatives to these drinks that you can enjoy in place of those super sweet, sugar packed indulgences….

For many of us, the hot weather of summer is here! Summer can be such a fun time, with so many outdoor activities, and lots of fabulous foods at parties, cookouts, and picnics. It can be super easy to find yourself straying from the healthy eating habits we may have built in recent months, or even the habits we may still be trying to build. There are lots of ways to enjoy the summer fun while still sticking to your healthy eating plans though! I wanted to pass along a few quick ideas to get you thinking…

As I’ve mentioned several times, stress seems to be the number one issue my clients currently deal with. They may contact me about meal planning or diet strategies, but after a few conversations, it becomes clear that the root of their desire for change is based in stress. Stress affects our ability to think clearly, focus on tasks, sleep well, and have energy to do the things we wish to do in our lives. Often, when we feel stressed, we find that we crave easy, fast, comfort foods: big meals, take-out, fatty foods, sweets, and alcohol. I think we’ve all found some comfort in a tasty meal and…

You may have heard about the benefits of clean eating but perhaps don’t believe you have the time to think through the process, or, maybe you are concerned about the cost.  After all, we’ve all noticed that the cost of fresh foods compared to that of popular fast food options seems high. As a result, you may be finding it easier and cheaper to just keep your favorite takeout or delivery on speed dial and maybe your freezer is filled with packaged microwave meals.  There’s a chance you haven’t considered that by eating this way you are depriving your body of..

Hello Healthy followers! It’s been quite awhile since I posted here, but with good reason: I moved to a beautiful new home here on my island paradise in southeast NC! This decision came about very quickly a month ago, and these last weeks have been filled with a lot of activity, AND quite a bit of stress and insanity. Now that I’m settled, I wanted to jump on and share how I dealt with the non-stop uncertainty and stress, hoping that it can inspire you to use these methods when your life is a bit chaotic and out of order…

As warmer weather approaches, we seem to get busier and busier! As this time of year approaches, with warmer days and more sun, it’s likely that many of us are spending time thinking about healthy eating, but finding that our busy lives make doing that very difficult. Although we may have the best intentions for ourselves, we find that our busy schedules have us grabbing quick meals and snacks at the last minute, and not always making the best choices. While you may think you are saving time and being more efficient by grabbing a burger and breezing through your busy, warm, fun filled day, or…

One of the biggest questions I hear when it comes to nutrition advice is about sugar. In recent decades, sugar, in some form, has shown up in just about every product, often listed as something other than “sugar”, and that has caused a lot of confusion even for the most trained food label readers. In truth, added sugars account for 17% of the daily calorie intake in the average American adult diet-and almost as much in the average child’s diet (14%)…

I recently released my free cookbook full of super healthy 5 ingredient recipes, and I wanted to be sure to share a bonus dessert recipe with you!! This cookbook offers 19 recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and even desserts, that are full of super foods and whole ingredients to provide you with powerful nutrients for energy and vitality-and they are super yummy as well!

If you are on a mission to reduce your stress levels (and hey, who isn’t these days) it doesn’t require you changing your entire life.  As a health and wellness coach, the biggest issue I currently see with my clients is stress. While someone may contact me looking to drop weight, get control of their meal planning, or gain control of their hormones, conversation ultimately turns to how the stress in their daily lives is the key factor behind all of these needs. Meals are not prepped…

It’s Superbowl Weekend, which means it’s time for football friendly snacking! Even though parties are still on the backburner, I’m offering up a few yummy and super healthy crowd-pleasing dips that are a convenient and delicious way to consume a wide variety of anti-inflammatory vegetables, spices, and healthy fats. While we love the convenience of purchased dips like packaged hummus, many brands contain unnecessary levels of fat and preservatives. Making dips yourself allows you to control the flavor and quality – and it’s easy!

One of the biggest health issues affecting American’s is having and unhealthy and unbalanced gut. This issue, and my journey to solve it, it partially what led me into health coaching. So, in this blog post, I invite you into a bit of my story.

In early 2016, right before I turned 50, I began to experience crazy health issues. I woke one morning to rash covering my face, neck and arms, and had no idea what caused it. The months that followed became increasingly worse with giant hives appearing over most of my body, joints aching for no reason, and waves of deep fatigue. I did elimination diets over and over, finding that many foods made it worse-gluten, artificial sweeteners, and added colors and flavors. I began to cut foods from my diet, while visiting doctors to help me find a solution.

It’s brand new year, and a lot of us are thinking about making some changes for the better. Many of us spent the last year binging Netflix, wearing comfy sweats, and perhaps munching a bit too much on our favorite comfort foods, and why not? After all, we spent a ton of time at home, rarely had to be at anything social, and well….2020. So, now that we are looking at a brand new year, and hopefully a little bit more normalcy in our lives soon, it’s only natural to think about getting our diets cleaned up and hopefully drop a few of those pandemic pounds!

As I write this, I sit looking out over the Atlantic on a warm, but slightly gray, gloomy day. I sit, searching the waves for the whale that has been teasing my island coastline for the last few weeks, but there’s no sign of him. I came to my beach today hoping to find some energy, a spark of inspiration, anything to bring me out of a week-long funk. But, there’s no sign of that here either. I’m very…tired? Unfocused? I can’t put my finger on the exact word, but I’m feeling very out of sorts…

It’s December 1st, and Thanksgiving is over, but the biggest holidays of the year are heading quickly into sight! On average, many American adults gain anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds in the weeks between Halloween and New Years.  Although this crazy year of 2020 has changed the way we generally celebrate this season, food, sedentary behavior, extended darkness, and cold weather tend to affect our health goals just as much as parties and social events. My goal, as a health coach, is to make people aware of the habits and hidden traps that can lead people into the land of temptation and help them create tactics and plans to avoid those added pounds…

This is a popular question that I hear all the time! Health Coaching is a relatively new field that many people have no knowledge of. It’s an amazing concept, and it fits right in to our current pandemic world because it can be done virtually in the safe comfort of your home. A health coach can be so helpful, in so many ways, and can literally change your life with some guidance, support, knowledge, and motivation.