Golden Milk is a creamy, hot drink that is soothing and oh-so healing.

I’m hot on Golden Milk lately. Why? Because I recently started indulging a lot in Matcha green tea lattes, and while they’re delicious, Matcha is caffeinated. Caffeine is false fire, not real fire. And I’m about building real energy, real fire in the body, not false energy. False energy bottoms out. Real energy builds and grows. 

Plus, caffeine overloads your kidneys and liver, acidifies your body and ages your tissues, think premature aging inside and out!

But… like you, I want to enjoy yummy, warm drinks too, but I want them to be healthy and nourishing, not depleting or hard on my adrenals (or yours!).

Hello Golden Milk.

Every ingredient in Golden Milk is oh-so healing, and comes together oh-so deliciously. Turmeric, a root native to Indian cuisine,  is touted as being even more effective than some pharmaceutical mediations for inflammation and depression. Ginger, an anti-inflammatory too, helps with digestion, absorption and is anti-bacterial!

Add a few more ingredients, like black pepper, to enhance the benefits of curcumin, the healing compound in turmeric, a little cinnamon and stevia to sweeten it, and voila, you’ve got a delicious healing drink without any side-effects.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• 1 inch fresh turmeric
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch or two of cinnamon
• Stevia to taste

Put all the ingredients in a high speed blender and puree. Strain and heat on your stove, until hot and foamy. Sprinkle with a little added cinnamon and enjoy!

Yes, you can find recipes that use powdered ingredients. Not me. I include fresh, live ingredients, to get the fresh, live benefits of these healing ingredients when they are in their whole-food state. Nothing processed can ever provide you with the same electricity that a fresh, live ingredients provide.

And since you’re after energy, try the recipe my way. You will love it!  Let me know how you like it in the comments section below.

BONUS: But you say, I like the energy I get from coffee. I say add Maca to build real energy by nourishing your endocrine system, rather than depleting it. Maca is an adaptogenic root from Peru, which will help balance your hormones and build your energy naturally!

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ~ Mother Teresa 

Imagine you buy four new tires for your car, but you hit a pothole in the road and get a blow-out on one. Can your car run smoothly with one flat tire?

Or, what if you put oil in your gas tank, or gas in your oil tank, will the car break down?

You might want to blame the tire, the car, the pothole, the city or your local government officials for not paving the potholes. But no matter who or what is to blame, irregardless of the reason, you’ve got a flat-tire that you need to repair.

The modern lifestyle has not been kind to the human body, and consequently, the human experience. Statistics of chronic disease today tell us so. But have you ever wondered how chronic disease affects us mentally and emotionally?

For many years, reports emerge telling us that mental illness is on the rise. The U.S. census says that in 2017, 8 million Americans suffer from serious psychological distress (SPD) — a term used to describe feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and restlessness that are hazardous enough to impair physical well being.

It’s fitting to wonder why so many people are suffering from serious psychological distress?

My research over the past 30 years shows that many of us are born with a bacterial imbalance in our body, the bacterial balance that keeps us physically, mentally and emotionally in check. Stable. Balanced.

If digestive health is out of balance, the balance of friendly bacteria and rogue bacteria are off, which impacts our overall wellbeing, including our mental and emotional wellbeing. The body is one unit. No system is a stand-alone unaffected by the other. Each system in the human body works synergistically with the other. If the digestive system is off, every other system is affected.

In my attempt to make sense of the tragedies from Columbine, Co, to Newtown, CT to now Las Vegas, NV, I’ve asked myself each time, would a physically, mentally and emotionally healthy person ever commit such a horrific act?

My response is the same every time, “of course not.”

But because I am a “lowest-common-denominator” kind of person, like, when I look for answers to big problems, like the rise of violence, injustice and hate in our country, I continue to break the question down for the lowest-common-denominator answer.

And every time, every single time, my response is the same common-denominator response: Where do I bring violence, injustice and hate into the world with my thoughts, words and actions? When do I act in ways less than who I am committed to being, because I didn’t good care of me? Violence is violence, yes?

I take my cue from Michael Jackson and begin with me. From this context I find my personal power and the action steps I can take that matter,

I’m starting with the woman in the mirror
I’m asking her to change her ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change…

From the context of wondering why violence, mass-shootings, injustice and hate are on the rise today, are the answers only stricter gun laws and overhauling the mental health care system? Or do we need to do the deeper work of looking at the ways we participate in perpetuating violence, injustice and hate, with our own thoughts, words and actions?

I don’t think there are any easy answers, in the face of the horrifying live-footage we’ve all seen in the news this week from Las Vegas, in the face of the deadliest mass-shooting in modern U.S. history.

But I think it’s fair to say that our country and communities are desperate for even the most simple expressions of kindness, if only a patient pause. I think it’s fair to say, that those who are different from us sorely need us to honor and love them for who they are, not who we think they should be. I think it’s fair to say that our families need our love more than ever, in spite of the gaping differences we might feel at times.

We need self-love… and sacred relationship with self too, to counter the rise of despair and sadness the U.S. census reports. How can we possibly hope to be a force for good in the world, if we carry self-loathing and violence in our hearts in an unhealthy body, instead of self-love and love for others in a healthy body?

The Buddha said,

Searching all directions
with one’s awareness,
one finds no one dearer
than oneself.
In the same way, others
are dear to themselves.
So one would not hurt others
if one loves oneself.

Again, there are no easy answers at times like this, but when I find myself judging any situation, tragedy or person, I always come back to me and ask lowest-common-denominator questions like, can I be kinder? Do I hurt others with harsh words, brash behavior, impatience or gossip? Is there another perspective? Can I be more loving? Can I be more generous? Can I take better care of me, so I can better take care of ‘you?’

I pray for all the families who lost loved ones in Las Vegas.

I pray for we who are charged with ending all the ways we contribute to judgement, hatred and malevolence in the world.

I pray that we learn better how to honor ourselves, our physical bodies, our emotional selves and our spiritual yearnings, so every choice we make flows from a clear and healthy body.

I pray that we learn better how to help each other care for each other.

I pray that we each seek ways to heal the our aching world.

I don’t think we can ever fully understand what happened in Las Vegas this past Sunday, October 1, 2017.

And while there are no easy answers, we can cast stones of patience, kindness and understanding.

If I do my part, by taking really good care of me (rather than looking everywhere outside myself for reasons, justifications and excuses why things are as they are), and you do your part, by taking really good care of you (fix the tire), we can join Mother Teresa and the efforts she began in sending ripples of change out into the world with every small act she extended. Surely that can make a difference. Yes?

Six months ago Margaret Ryan joined me for Your Best Health Project as a private client. And even early on, she told me that she wanted to write a blog about my program, how it had changed her life, and what it was like to work with me. I knew we had found a serious stride, but I also knew we had so much more time to create together…

When her “testimony” about our work together arrived my heart felt so full. I was so moved by the time and heart Margaret invested in to writing this letter.

Oh yes, I felt the connection we made, and pretty much near immediately. It happens with all my clients. It happens because I believe in them and all that I know is possible when we live inside a healthy body.

But the following acknowledgment feels super special — Margaret took a lot of time and care to describe what it was like for her to work with me, and what became possible beyond simply ‘eating healthy.’

Margaret wrote:

I’m writing in a notebook that says, “Be Brave with Your Life” on the front. I feel like I’ve been brave with my life.  

I’ve had a lifelong battle with food and health. Late in 2016 I went to a Tony Robbins event, an event that gives you tools to help you make changes in your life so you can function at your personal best. Tony recommends hiring a coach to help you move through the areas of life that have caused long term struggle. For me, I knew this area was my health.

I had been following Carol’s blog for the better part of a year. I always learned from her and appreciated her holistic approach to health. In her blog, she told me to drop sugar and the “F” bomb — two things I intuitively knew would improve my life if I left them behind. She was straight-forward and no nonsense, I knew that would be a good fit for me. I had considered other programs but none seemed as well rounded, health-centered and personal as Carol’s.  

Let me be clear, I am driven and successful. I run my own business, own my own home and parent without a partner. I’ve successfully worked through and surmounted the obstacles life brought my way. But for some reason I didn’t consistently prioritize my health long enough to make more than small changes.  

I told myself aging and genetics were my problem, and resigned to wearing clothes that I didn’t love, but felt made me look better. I avoided the camera. I avoided events and invitations. I felt like no matter how much success I earned, my struggle with food diminished my wins. I didn’t feel like I was my best me, and it weakened my confidence and my sense of self. I ended up avoiding social gatherings. Avoidance felt way easier than trying to pretend I looked pretty when I didn’t feel it…

I began to realize I had become a master doer, but no longer felt comfortable relaxing. Every success I gained depended on me working near 24/7. I felt like I always needed to be productive at work and at home.  But herein lies the problem, the more I worked, the more comfortable I became with working, which made it more uncomfortable with relaxing, which led to a life of unhealthy habits. I grabbed food on the go, I didn’t exercise regularly. I rarely had a good nights sleep and self-care was limited at best. My life had become very one-dimensional. My nose was always to the grindstone.  

At 52 years old, I knew I didn’t want to wait for a diagnosis to force me to create healthy changes. I knew I wanted to stop thinking and worrying about my weight. Plus, with all the inspiration from Tony Robbins event, I reached out to Carol to discuss the details of her 1:1 coaching program.  

Initially, the obstacles to working with Carol were money and time. Did I REALLY need to spend money to work with a coach and did I REALLY need to do it for six months? Surely, three months would be enough time to whip me into shape, right?

I called a friend to discuss the pros and cons of hiring a personal coach.  My friend asked, “What would you do if one of your kids had this problem and wanted to work with a health coach?” Enough said. Based on my love and “anything for my kids,” and my respect for Carol’s work, for the first time in 24 years of parenting I treated myself like I would treat my children and signed up for the Carol’s program.

I started the program in January and committed myself to rigidly following the plan. Carol recommends that you begin with the elimination diet. I did exactly what she recommended. I wasn’t sure what would happen following her protocol, but I had a bit of a doomsday feeling and thought I would suffer from cravings terribly. I thought I would need a lot of support.

I couldn’t imagine what I would eat if I eliminated what was literally my personal food pyramid at the time.  

Eating had become, like many other areas of my life, an area that I gave myself no love or care.  At the end of a long day, I would tell myself, the least I deserved was to eat or drink what I wanted.  And that was true, it was the very least I could do for myself.  This led to slow and steady weight gain, an increase in health issues and resignation that this is what happens with aging. Yes, I had grown more comfortable caring for others than caring for myself.

Carol offers a lot of support, but fears of being her worst nightmare and neediness for a lot of hand holding concerned me. But that was not the case. I did go through an adjustment period, but it was not as nearly as hard as I expected. I had occasional cravings, coffee in the morning, wine at night, but she offers alternatives, so the adjustment and the cravings felt very manageable.

Carol’s program is significantly more self-care focused than food-focused. Once I eliminated the “inflammatory” foods she recommended taking out, it felt simple, so I could then get creative. I tried new foods, new recipes and new ways to prepare my meals.

I began to take time to grocery shop, prepare and invest in healthy take-out. I began to consistently take better care of myself. I never would deny my children healthy care, yet I had fallen into the trap of regularly denying it to myself.

Carol’s 1:1 program consists of weekly calls or video chats and starts with clean eating, but moves to eating to heal. Each week Carol would offer up her recommendations, and I would commit to, or not, what my actions would be for the week ahead. The food plan is simple and Carol offers many delicious recipes and alternative food options to some of our standard fare. The program entails nutrition, yes, but self-care and mindset strategies too, so by the end I had a well-stocked personal care tool box.  

I found myself looking forward to my Friday morning call each week. Carol is a wealth of information. In our conversations she offered me insights, strategies and “tools” to deal with whatever was needed to get me closer to my goals. Carol asks probing questions and helped me breakup life-long patterns and ways of thinking about things, to empower me to stick with all that I learned after my program ended.

I thought cravings would be my biggest struggle, but for the most part, I adapted easily to my new diet. My biggest trigger was centered around taking time to care for me. I realized that my lack of reverence and appreciation for myself and my body was the root cause of my weight and health issues. Food, self-discipline, self-control and adherence to eating clean were never the answer. Who knew?

Once I took inflammatory foods out of my diet, added more fresh vegetables and fruits in, and learned to think differently about all that I was doing, while learning to take better care of me, discipline with my food choices was no longer necessary.

I learned, and it’s true, that once cravings are gone, I went from blaming myself for a lack of discipline, to forgiving myself for ever thinking I could control the craving beast. During my time in the Carol-program, I immersed myself in reading about health and watching health related documentaries to support my experience. I learned that ultimately we are responsible for the state of our health.    

Ready to hear my results?

The first thing I heard was, “You look healthier and younger,” and I still hear it frequently! I lost 35 pounds in the first four months. Weight loss has since then slowed, but I continue to steadily lose weight.

My big win from the program is that I have stayed true to all that I learned. I regularly go out with friends and socialize. I enjoy a little treat here and there when I want them, but I immediately go back to my clean eating style.  

It feels so good to feel so good. It feels good to not be obsessing about food and weight. It feels good to feel clear mentally. Carol often talked about mental fog, but I never thought I had a problem. If my thinking wasn’t clear, I blamed it on aging too. However, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my mental clarity and memory from the program. Brain fog was NOT aging, it was from the food I was eating.

It bears repeating, it feels so good to feel so good, to choose clothes I love and to move comfortably and think clearly. I will never stray from my new healthy lifestyle. I feel so much more relaxed. I feel peaceful and much more confident. I used to feel harried. My life felt chaotic, but that doesn’t happen when you are taking care of yourself. From my efforts with Carol, I feel radiant again. I feel like I’ve improved all areas of my life.

The investment of time and money were nominal for the substantial personal and professional gains I made. 

The secret sauce of Carol’s program is her coaching and the accountability she offers. Carol is an experienced coach. She has an array of coaching strategies she uses to help you move forward each week. It wasn’t effortless on my part, it took commitment and dedication, but Carol holds a high bar. She wants the best for herself and she wants the best for her clients — me in this case.

I believe Carol’s coaching-style is perfect for professional, driven go-getters who aspire to achieve their best. She coached to the results I wanted. She was the catalyst that helped change my life in ways I had not been able to change it. She was exactly what I needed.  

I plan to live my life following all that I learned in this program. I will retain Carol for intermittent support throughout the year, for continued learning and higher levels of healthy living. I offered to write a review of my experience on the Carol program and have offered to do a follow-up report next year.

If you are driven to be your best and do your best like me, I unequivocally recommend you also be brave with your life and hire Carol. You will never regret that decision. 

After reading this letter from Margaret, imagine for a moment what she and I shared in together every week. We became sisters, as I guided her to what I like to say she already knew, but simply got lost below the world of doing… What in life can exceed such an experience? 

If you were going to distill down into one sentence who you are, what would you say?

Me? I’ve always said, “I want to be the best version of me possible.”

Average never resonated.

Good enough felt mediocre.

Excellence? Excellence felt right.

Yes, illness brought me to my pursuit of excellence, but excellence took me over.

Why would you or I want average, when excellence is possible?

Why would you or I want good enough, when excellence is within our reach?

Which is why I ‘fell for’ consultant, writer, columnist, Tom Peters, in his wildly popular books, “In Search of Excellence,” and “The Little BIG Things – 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE.”

Both books are written for business leaders.

Both books speak to all of us.

Peters offers simple, but powerful messages.

Direct. Simple. No-nonsense.

Perfectly my style. The kind of messaging I get high on.

I think you’ll LOVE both books if you’re a no-nonsense, practical, pragmatic type too!

Peters shows how attention to small details creates a ripple effect in life (and business) (and health, I say).

That the solution to the big problems we face everyday is simple, go back to the basics — that the small stuff really matters.

That striving for excellence should be our way of life.

I agree. You?

The pursuit of excellence has the potential to change our health and our lives.

If you were committed to excellence in all you do, what would be different? Specifically, what would be different with your health and wellbeing? How would that difference impact how you move in the world, your career, your relationships?

I offer you here #8 of Peter’s 163 ways to pursue excellence as my rally cry for pursuing excellence:

Excellence Is …

Excellence is the best defense.

Excellence is the best offense.

Excellence is the answer in good times.

Excellence is the answer in tough times.

(Excellence is the answer in tough times.)

Excellence is about the big things.

Excellence is about the little things.

Excellence is a relationship.

Excellence is a philosophy.

Excellence is an aspiration.

Excellence is immoderate.

Excellence is a pragmatic standard.

Excellence is execution.

Excellence is selfish.

Excellence is selfless.

Excellence is what keeps you awake.

Excellence is what lets you sleep well.

Excellence is a moving target.

Excellence is that which … knows no bounds.

EXCELLENCE. Always.

If not EXCELLENCE, what?

If not EXCELLENCE now, when?

Pursue excellent health. It’s the single best investment you can make. Start now. Download Five To Thrive, 5 Daily Habits Top-Achievers Use to Increase Energy by 30%  In this guide, you’ll

• Discover the 5 common-sense things top-achievers do to create 30% more energy
• Learn the primary reasons you’re experiencing low energy and falling behind
• Start creating the energy you deserve, for increased focus and creativity

Do you ever wonder why you’ve got a dry cough all the time? Why you experience chronic headaches, allergies, repeated bouts of acid-reflux, inflammation in your knees or hands?

Do you know that symptoms like these are actually warning signs of imbalance, and that if you ignore them, your body will begin to speak louder, and escalate to more acute health diagnoses from your doctor?

Ah, but you say “I’m busy. There’s no time to slow down, not even for a diagnosis of an acute health problem.”

Alas, you may be unhappy and even inconvenienced with weight gain, low energy, and increasing brain fog, but you’ve got projects that demand your time and attention, and a team counting on you.

I get it, but aren’t you curious as to what will happen if you continue to ignore these symptoms? 

Plus, you’ve got medication that eliminates the symptoms you’d be experiencing otherwise.

I get this too, but isn’t ignoring symptoms like gambling, with too high a risk? 

But business as usual continues, with 5:00 a.m. team-meetings, stressful deadlines, intense negotiations and regular late-night business dinners… though you intuitively know something is not quite right with your health. 

As Voltaire said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”

I offer you a list of 12 questions to gage what you intuitively know is best for you against all the reasons why you’ve not begun to take care of you and your health and wellbeing:

• How is your energy? Is your energy consistent during the day, or do you notice variations?
• Do crave sugar?
• Can you function without coffee?
• How do you sleep? Do you wake during the night or sleep like a baby?
• Do you feel productive through the day?
• Do you experience brain fog?
• Do you feel unmotivated, even apathetic?
• Do you feel hungry, even though you just ate?
• Do you experience gas and/or bloating?
• Do you exercise?
• Do you feel inflamed in your body? Joint pain? Chronic headaches?
• Do you experience food or environmental allergies or sensitivities?

How did you fare in your responses?

Do you feel like your body is telling you through the symptoms you experience something is off with your health? That you need to start taking better care of you?

Isn’t it better to be curious and ask these questions, than to gamble with your health?

Isn’t it better to know that the symptoms you experience are like an alarm you need to answer, rather than ignoring them?

Let me know how I can help in the comments below. You want to nail down these symptoms now…

You can begin with my Five To Thrive, 5 Daily Habits Top-Achievers Use to Increase Energy by 30%  In this guide, you’ll

• Discover the 5 common-sense things top-achievers do to create 30% more energy
• Learn the primary reasons you’re experiencing low energy and falling behind
• Start creating the energy you deserve, for increased focus and creativity

You’re busy, with little to no time to decompress. Life feels like a series of deadlines, long days, team-meetings and stress.

You love to work, challenge yourself and you get high on exceeding the goals you set, but you know your life is out of balance. You know this, because when you don’t take time to slow down you feel burned-out and irritable, your productivity suffers and your team is unhappy.

Nothing smart or healthy can come from exhaustion, stress and burnout. You know it.

Here are 5 simple ways to decompress, so you feel re-charged, less-stressed and more productive… and all the benefits it reaps!

1. Breathe deeply. Breathing deeply lowers stress because you bring in more oxygen and release more carbon dioxide. This sets off a cascade of chemical reactions that inhibit stress-producing responses between your brain and your central nervous system, for increased inner calm, focus, concentration and better decision-making.

2. Spend time in Nature. A simple walk in the woods, swim in the ocean, or a bike ride on a nearby trail can restore your mental energy, improve your short term memory and concentration, stimulate your creative thinking and improve your mood. Naturalist, John Muir said, “In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

3. Turn off electronics 45-60 minutes before you go to bed. The National Sleep Foundation shows that light interferes with the natural circadian rhythms of the day-night cycle. When you safeguard your sleep hours, you safeguard the hours your body heals, regenerates and detoxifies. Arianna Huffington says, “It’s time to sleep your way to the top,” that exhaustion and burnout get in the way of great leadership and innovative thinking.

4. Time Blocking:

• Gives you greater control of your schedule, which reduces the stress you feel from your demanding lifestyle
• Blocks the many distractions that get in your way of focusing on your work, which reduces stress, increases productivity and gives you greater results

5. Laugh. Research from the University of Maryland Medical Center shows that if you laugh more, you’ll feel more emotionally balanced, productive and creative — laughter can offset the impact of mental stress because it releases a flood of neurotransmitters that stimulates your brain, your immune system and your nervous system. Laughter can even impact your team’s productivity and your company’s bottom!

Your Turn:

Which idea resonates most?

Will you take action with that idea today?

What will you do to make sure that action happens?

Let me know in the comments below.

And… if you enjoyed these ideas, you might also enjoy Five To Thrive, 5 Daily Habits Top-Achievers Use to Increase Energy by 30%  In this guide, you’ll

• Discover the 5 common-sense things top-achievers do to create 30% more energy
• Learn the primary reasons you’re experiencing low energy and falling behind
• Start creating the energy you deserve, for increased focus and creativity

 

Here is my super-healthy spin on an Italian classic. Is it the same? Well… yes and know. Every flavor you love in classic lasagna is here, garlic and tomato, basil and cheese, and even the texture of fresh ricotta spilling over as you cut it, and the ‘meatiness’ of biting into pasta… but it’s raw, so it’s a bit different.

BONUS… this quick and easy recipes is even more quick and easy, because you create individual stacks, with no encrusted pans to wash afterwards!

You can get every ingredient for this recipe, minus the cashews, at your local Farmer’s Market, and I recommend you do. Why?

You’ll get the freshest possible ingredients, with the most vital nutrients, since it was just picked, plus… you not only support your local farmers, you support local farmlands and farm communities. Buying from your local farmer is a win-win-win, for you, for your farmers, and for your local community!

Ingredients:

• 3 Zucchini, sliced thinly into sheets
• 3 tomatoes, sliced
• Cashew Cheese
• Raw Marinara
• Pesto, or freshly minced herbs, basil, parsley & oregano

The Recipe:

Lasagna Pasta Sheets: 

3 “Good-size” zucchini. Slice them into thin sheets on a mandolin. Place the veggie sheets in a large bowl with a drizzle of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, a pinch of sea salt and 2 cloves of freshly minced garlic. Set aside and let marinate and soften (30 minutes or all day. Do what works)

After you make each ingredient, the pasta sheets, the cashew cheese, the marinara and the pesto, leave them out for an hours, so they are room-temperature when you assemble your lasagna stacks

Assembly 

• On each plate, layer of the marinated zucchini sheets, overlapping them as you would pasta sheets
• On top of this, layer the cheese, the tomato sauce, slices of fresh tomato, the pesto or the freshly minced herbs
• Repeat 2 or more times, and finish with crushed red pepper and minced fresh herbs

PS — Rather than give you the cheese, pesto and marinara recipes here, I led you on to another recipe where they are, to be sure that you put those recipes on your to-make list too! The Raw Fettuccine Alfredo and Spaghetti and Meatballs are ‘to-die-for!’

Buono Appetito!

Do you have an allergy? Let me know what it is, I’m pretty good at substituting things out. I’d love to help you make this in a way that works for you!

I’d LOVE to hear how you like this recipe after you make it! Let me know in the comments below.

Want more healthy and delicious recipes? I’ve got 10 quick, easy and healthy soup recipes for you in my new guide, Soupify! You can download it for FREE here. 

Move over juice cleanses… Hello souping!

TREND ALERT

Detox Soup cleanses are the latest craze, and for very good reason. Detox soups, unlike their sugary, fruit-laden, smoothie counterparts, heal the digestive system and cleanse and revitalize every cell in your body with savory ingredients, rather than sugary ones.

While souping is not really a substitute for juicing (C’mon, you know me better than that!), it offers many similar health benefits, like easily digestible meals for increased energy, weight loss, glowing skin and cleansing benefits!

SATIATING AND DELICIOUS

The cool thing about souping, rather than juicing is, if you’re a newcomer to things like fresh-pressed-juices, with soups, you retain the fibre content like you do in smoothies. Soup recipes are sure to satiate your palate, satisfy your desire for something more ‘meal-like,’ plus give you energy, vitality and a very satisfying new lunch and/or dinner option.

Think savory smoothies to have any time of the day…

SOUPIFY

And I’ve created a guide for you, Soupify, with 10 super-healthy and super-delicious recipes, including my favorite Tomato Bisque (and the best tomato soup you may ever have… I know, I know, that’s a pretty big accolade! But I do feel that confident!), Creamy Raw Zucchini Soup with Pumpkin Seed, Rosemary Crunch and my very own “Tortilla” Soup, plus 7 more recipes!

Download Your Free Soupify Guide!Soupify, offers you an easy, creative and new approach to your soup-making. Each recipe is made with only fresh and raw ingredients, to bring the most nutrient dense, live, vital nutrition to your body.

Think NO crusty pans to wash, oh yeah… plus glowing skin! What’s missing?

Plus, they are all healing and delicious combinations that will change the way you think about what you eat, while giving you a blast of live, vital nutrition to your body!

NOW YOUR IDEAS

After you look the guide over, or even try one, tell me which one is your favorite and why in the comments.

What recipe did you make, but put your own spin on?

What favorite soup recipe can I help you put a healthy spin on?

OR, tell me what flavors you like in the comments below and let’s whip up a recipe together!

For many of us, summer means it’s ice-cream time! OK, maybe any time is ice-cream time for you (Cynthia, is that you? :-)…  and me! But maybe like me, you no longer want to indulge in the dairy-laden, sugar-laden commercial kinds. Hello, Strawberry Nice Cream! This super-simple, super delicious 3-ingredient recipe will totally satisfy your craving for ice-cream! Promise.

Nut free  •  Dairy free  •  Sugar free  •  Guilt Free  •  Just pure delicious decadence, with a special shout out to you, Cynthia, who loves ice-cream! 

• 3 cups organic frozen strawberries (OR raspberries, blueberries or blackberries)
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped (match the berries of your choice above!)
• 1 cup raw cauliflower, chopped (or more)
• Stevia to taste

Add all ingredients to food processor and process until smooth and creamy. (Maybe a little almond milk or water, if you need to lighten the density of the mix). Top with:

• Fresh, sliced strawberries, or
• Strawberry sauce — 1 cup of strawberries blended with stevia until smooth, or
• Chocolate sauce — 1/3 cup almond butter, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, 1/4 cup raw cacao and stevia to taste, blend until smooth by hand in bowl (add a little water to thin if needed).

Optional: Two caps of live-probiotics to make Strawberry Cheesecake Nice-Cream

Happy Summer! Enjoy!

Like you, I hear all the dietary theories many espouse today. Worse? Many call themselves experts though they have little to no training. One course, or even notoriety seems to bestow “expert” status these days.

Beware. Many of these dietary theoreticians want to let you off the hook from creating a diet based on foods that you intuitively know are best for you, your body and your God-given radiant self… with theories laden with excuses, reasons, justifications, limitations. 

You hear all that I hear, it’s in the airwaves, “you can eat bread and lose 26 pounds,” “you can lose 3x more weight than ever (while eating sugary and processed, nutrient devoid foods),” “you can eat everything in moderation,” all the while recommending highly inflammatory foods and in in poor combinations, which cause stagnation, calcification and obstruction in your one and only Sacred body!

Add to that a world that is telling you that processed foods are food (but really only food-like substances!), and worse, good for you, when in fact they provide no vital nutrition whatsoever and simultaneously break down your digestive wall. Your body needs the live, vital electricity that raw vegetables and fruits provide to rev you body up! It is the electricity in these foods that turns your cells and systems on, which is all happening at the subatomic level.

Think about it like this,

Do you think that the Creator of life thought you’d get more vital nutrition from a tomato you pick fresh off the vine from your garden, or after it’s been picked, processed, preserved-for-long-shelf-life, put into a can and then shipped?

In the fast-paced ways most of us move today, with businesses competing to manufacture the“best” quick-and-easy products that accommodate our hurried lifestyles, our food is not the only thing that has become denigrated, but our relationship to how we think about what we eat.

Rather than bending towards nature and our innate commonsense, we are bending towards a fast-paced, fragmented, constantly-on-the-go lifestyle seeking anything and everything that makes life easier, rather than better.

But you can shift your relationship to the food you eat by taking time to turn inward and question why you eat what you eat and what the impact of your food choices is having on your health and wellbeing, your mindset and potential and even your outlook on life.

I write about themes like this extensively. But learning more is often not your first best action. Learning more can and often does pull you away from what you intuitively know is best.

For example, a client of mine recently said, “someone said this allergy test would be good for me.”

I said think about this question with me, “If you someone you know suffers from ulcerative colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome or a leaky gut, which means the gut wall is highly inflamed and irritated, do you think you can get a fair reading from that test?”

The nature of life today is so fast moving that your best first action is to turn within, to reconnect to you, so you can access your intuition, smartest thinking and deepest knowing.

Not in a woo-woo, airy-fairy way, but in a smart and feel-it-in-your-bones kind of way.

To create clarity about what to eat,

Take time to slow down. Commonsense lives and breathes in the white spaces of life.

Take time to think. New ways of seeing things emerge with reflection, meditation and deliberate time to process and reflect.

Take time to regroup. When you’re calm and centered, your smart Self and best intuition will lead you back to the food choices you know are best for the body.

You are the expert of your body. Yes, there are some who’ve studied healing for years, if not their whole life, like me, who guide many in healing life-long health problems. But separate from the zillions of conflicting and confusing theories and star-struck “sages” out there, you know what is best for the body to thrive — your commonsense tells you so. Create time to slow down, to think, to regroup, to access your intuition, to clear confusion about what foods really serve your big goals in life!

Your turn.

Have you tried many dietary styles, and still suffer from chronic symptoms?

Even though you may feel as though you’ve made great progress, do you intuitively sense you’re not yet experiencing your peak health and energy?

Have you tried turning inward, but still feel utterly confused?

Please post your comments below. I’d love to share what I know about best choices, healing and turning inward. And… if you know you’d like a little support, check out my new mini program, HOT: Health On Track! I LOVE this little “foot on your fanny” program! It will help you get back on track and clarify what foods are best for you to be eating, and why!