Do you struggle with one step forward, two steps back in your get-healthy efforts? Do you hate to say no, when you want to say yes, even though saying no will help you get what you most want?

Do you more often than not choose anything and everything that will make “it” easier, rather than deal with the confrontation change requires?

I remember a few years back when reading Sharon Salzberg’s highly acclaimed book, “Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation.” I paused when she guided me and her other readers to take “mental note” of the emotions that show up when we set out to meditate. She said,

“You may notice yourself resisting these difficult emotions and the bodily sensations that accompany them—pushing them away and feeling ashamed of them. Or perhaps you find yourself getting pulled into them—replaying an argument, or reliving feelings of rage, helplessness, or humiliation.”

Salzberg, with my Dad and others, taught me about the “fleetingness” of emotions — That they come, and they go, like clouds floating by in the sky… But it’s how we respond that’s meaningful, for our health and wellbeing, and for every other goal we hope to achieve in life.

I spoke to a former client recently, a client that totally dominated his 6-month coaching program with me. He scheduled a call to “reboot” his commitment to the many results he gained. Because, though he achieved every health and life goal he wanted in our work together, he said, “Carol, no one I know eats healthy; This makes it really hard for me to stick with all that I learned!”

Three Questions and One Quote:

I asked my former client to consider three questions,

1. Did you stick with taking consistent action every day, after your program ended?
2. Did you stick with your morning ritual, to help you stay focused on what you most want?
3. What did falling off the plan teach you? Help you see?

And I reminded him of a favorite quote,

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” —Aristotle

Beyond Struggle, Beyond Fleeting Emotions

Did you see the 1996 Olympics, or ever hear of Olympic gold-winner Kerri Strug and how she unwittingly became a national hero at that event?

Kerri Strug was a member of “The Magnificent Seven,” the victorious all-around women’s gymnastics team that represented the United States at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. When performing her first Vault, Strug under-rotated her landing and badly damaged her ankle. But despite her injury, Strug completed her final Vault, landed on both feet, if even for just a moment, to help the USA Women’s gymnastic team win all-round gold!

It was a breathtaking site to behold, to watch 19-year young Strug run down the mat for her second Vault, in spite of her injury. It was an emotional site to behold, to watch her lift her arms in victory, while she raised her injured foot in pain. It was a fierceness of mental mastery and conviction to witness, because of the struggle of the moments.

Trust Your Struggle

When my former client paused to consider my questions, my heart reached out to assure him that I SO understood, and… That “one step forward and two steps back” is the way. That “inch by inch, results are a cinch.” That, I too remember the many times I felt like “odd girl out,” and ended up caving to the spoken, and often unspoken pressure to “stick with the tribe,” and “just shut up and eat the pizza already!” Those times that were equally mixed with relief to just “go with the flow” and the freedom to just let go of my own struggle with, “Why does healthy have to be so hard?”

But when we pause, for even just a few minutes, on the mental mastery 19-year young Kerri Strug beamed for all the world to see at the 1996 Olympics, every opportunity that comes to us, including the times that feel challenging and utterly impossible, becomes an opportunity to choose what we most want again.

And when we pause, for even just a few more minutes, on the wise insight Sharon Salzberg offers in her book, “Real Happiness,” that thoughts are just thoughts, and emotions are just emotions, that they both come, and they both go, and both are only laden with the meaning we give them, we learn how every moment becomes our teacher. We can choose struggle as a lesson on “it’s hard,” and we can choose struggle as a lesson on, ‘we know what we want, by what we know we don’t want.’

Every so-called struggle, becomes our best teacher. Every so-called adversity, becomes our best friend. Every so-called struggle becomes an opportunity to open to the lessons of the experience and choose again.

From this perspective, struggle doesn’t feel like struggle. Rather, it feels like a learning opportunity to stalk.

Trust your struggle. Be thankful for your struggle. Without it, I’ve learned, we would would never discover our strengths.

What Could Be Possible?

What could be possible if you could let go of “it’s hard?’ What would would be different for you, if you trusted your struggle? More results? More fun? More ease, more joy, more energy?

Learn how to “Eliminate Excuses: Prioritize Your Health Now,” in 7 short days HERE? It’s FREE

Do you have beliefs and thoughts that seem to stop you in one area of life, though you’re successful in other areas? Beliefs and thoughts that limit you from looking and feeling as amazing as you deserve, for example? Beliefs and thoughts that hold you back and leave you feeling like a victim of circumstance, rather than empowered and fired-up about all that you’re capable of achieving?  

Do these beliefs and thoughts leave you overweight, over-tired, prematurely aging or with chronic symptoms that leave you feeling heartbroken, or worse, angry? 

And like the proverbial gerbil wheel, because you’re so tired, so heartbroken or so flat-out disenchanted, do you feel caught in the never-ending cycle of wanting, but never getting, because stories like “being healthy is too hard” holds you back? 

Trust this, there are millions from all walks of life, if not you, and from all socio-economic brackets, cultures and ages, who suffer from poor health and dashed dreams because they can’t get off the gerbil-wheel of disappointment. And because they don’t know what to do, in spite of the success they’ve made in other areas of life, they acquiesce to unhealthy lifestyle habits, and turn to quick fixes that don’t work. 

You’re Not Done Wanting

But… though you’re upset, you’re not done wanting to figure it out… to look and feel your best. Though you feel trapped by the perpetual gerbil wheel, inside the limiting stories that have held you back from losing the excess weight, feeling vibrant and energized and looking radiant and healthy, you’ve NOT thrown in the towel yet. You still want to look, feel and BE your very BEST Self!   

What could be possible for you, if I told you I had a little secret that could help you drop the limiting stories that “healthy lifestyle habits are too hard, too time-consuming and no fun,” so you could create the results you most want, and most deserve?

The Pre-Secret: The Pre-Cursor to my Little Secret

Eleven years back I trained extensively with a training and development group in personal development, leadership and coaching. One of my favorite things about this training was something called “clearing calls.” We were required to schedule a clearing call with a coach trained in generating the space of possibility, before we went to a coaching session. But the best part was, before we went to this call, we were required to clean up any messes we made with people, or ourselves, so those messes couldn’t get in our way of creating results, for our clients and ourselves.

Clearing calls were required to happen before we met with clients, to make sure we were clear of anything that could get in our way of generating real results.

The coolest thing I LOVED about these calls was how I got to see how beliefs and thoughts operate in the background, and could get in my way of achieving results, if I didn’t clear them. 

Clearing calls offered me a powerful window into the ways our very own thoughts can thwart the results we achieve.

The Secret: Emotional Freedom Technique

Fast-forward 7 years, I met (through his work) world-renowned Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) expert, Brad Yates. 

EFT, also known as Tapping, is an alternative approach to healing that draws from Chinese acupuncture, neurolinguistic programming and energy medicine, and is known to clear thought patterns that can limit us from achieving the results we most want to achieve.

Before I proceed, bear in mind I am a hard-core pragmatist. Even though I am Spiritually driven and get high on the avant garde, I am way more practical than “woo woo.” I get high on smart and scientifically proven solutions in my work, so EFT only initially felt a little “out there” for me.

But because EFT felt so reminiscent to the clearing calls I was trained earlier on, it quickly gained the stature of a very smart, practical tool to integrate into my life and my work.

Brad Yates unknowingly pulled me to EFT. He first captivated me with the level of heart he brings to his work — He’s made and offers for FREE over 800 EFT videos on every thought pattern and emotional block you can imagine on his highly tracked YouTube Channel… So I started to play with EFT, and even began introducing it to my clients. 

An Overview of the Endless Possibilities of Emotional Freedom Technique and Brad’s You Tube Channel and Coaching 

Tapping:

1. Begin by picking a specific block, or limiting story that seems to get in your way of achieving the results you most want. For example, do thoughts like, “I can’t lose weight,” “Healthy is too hard,” “I can’t stop procrastinating,” “I don’t have enough time,” “It’s all his/her fault,” seem to hold you back?
2. Type your thought or block into the search tool on the far right of Brad’s YouTube Channel. or you could simply peruse his playlists or video offerings. To begin with, find one video that resonates with you and your individual experiences for the best results.
3. In the video, Brad will guide you through “a tapping session,” with his classic light-hearted, but very generous and genuine way. But make no mistake, you’ll feel his heart, and his commitment to helping you move beyond the thoughts that seem to get in your way.

Tapping is cool. Brad will show you how to tap on specific meridian points, while saying specific phrases designed to presence you to your best Self and clear the roots of your limiting thought patterns. 

But the coolest things about tapping is, you’ll be able to clear limiting thoughts for yourself, and by yourself with the endless tapping sessions Brad Yates guides you through on YouTube. 

BUT… with that said, I’d be sorely remiss if I didn’t share about the power of Brad’s 1:1 coaching work — I scheduled private 1:1 time with him, to address a specific matter. And like the master practitioner that he is, he excavated exactly what I needed to ‘get to,” though I thought we’d address it very differently, to clear my limiting thoughts. It was an extraordinary experience. Second to none. Like Jack Canfield says best, “Brad Yates is a master teacher. He is a warm, loving, powerful, effective, transformative force for good. I totally endorse his work.”

AND… he’s got the most amazing mini-programs that I personally LOVE too! I can’t say enough about the enormous value these programs offer, and the price point can’t be matched! You can check them all out here, but please put special attention on his upcoming program, Tap Into Your Unstoppable Self! This is a donation-based program, with 100% of the proceeds going to directly to the Unstoppable Foundation, an organization that seeks to end poverty through education (Brad is the BEST!). But rather than simply building schools, it also creates the infrastructure to help communities thrive, so the children can actually attend school. With access to education, they have the ability to overcome so many obstacles… and to become Unstoppable too!

Join Brad… and me, and the Unstoppable Foundation for perhaps the most amazing tapping program yet… because it’s such a win-win! But listen in to Brad here. He says it best:

Get Off the Gerbil Wheel 

Everything I share with you is yet another cut at creating freedom physically, mentally, emotionally, Spiritually and energetically. Everything I research, study, experiment with and personally practice emanate from my goal of me being my BEST Self, and you being your BEST Self. Everything I recommend is a tool, of sorts, to help you get off the gerbil wheel that leaves you wanting, rather than getting… what you most want!

As Brad recently said to me, “I’m not woo-woo at all. Tapping is a very practical tool that offers very tangible results.” So though you may have never tapped before, the world is taking this practice on by storm. With me, author and success coach, Jack Canfield, endorses Tapping and Brad Yates. Olympic athletes Bralon Taplin and Devon Allen tap before their events. Celebrities Lily Allen and Madonna, with author and alternative health teacher Deepak Chopra all practice and endorse tapping. 

In the Spirit of you achieving every goal you want to achieve. In the Spirit of breaking through old-patterned ways of thinking that hold you back. In the Spirit of “nothing ventured, nothing gained,” try tapping, though you may have never tried it before. Experiment with it, as millions of others are today. IF it can help you get off the gerbil-wheel of no results and clear all that holds you back, why the heck not, right?

Questions?

If you’ve got any questions, any previous experiences you want to share, any personal insights that you know could be helpful, please post them below. I’d love to help in any way. I’d love to hear what you’ve learned, or would like to learn from EFT…

You lost weight. You mastered the diet. You resumed a fitness routine. You reduced chronic symptoms. You even developed a greater understanding of the ways your thoughts predicate what you eat, what you believe about healthy versus unhealthy, and even what you need to do to create consistent and healthy results.

You were in the flow and feeling solid in your get-healthy game and the results you were achieving.

And then something happened that sent you reeling. Your significant other deeply upset you. Your co-worker wrongly snapped at you. The company you were working with on a deal-of-a-lifetime offered it to someone else.

And you found yourself feeling defeated, angry and hurt… while sitting in front of an empty bottle of wine and extra-large-sized box of pizza.

And you couldn’t understand what happened.

Rather, intellectually you understood that you were just flat-out upset and reacting. But you also knew, because you felt it, that your unhealthy reactions not only left you feeling physically awful and mentally unfocused, you felt a sense of guilt. Guilt not because you were eating and drinking foods you swore off, but because you KNEW with every glass of wine you drank and every bite of pizza you ate, you were sabotaging your goal to reclaim your health and put your diagnosis in remission.

Breakdowns for Breakthroughs

My client announced his falling off “the program,” as soon as he got to our call.

This client is a player, in the highest sense of the definition. He gets that his success happens with every effort he extends, even if he falters. And he’s human too, in vulnerable and straight-shooting kinds of ways. He gets that his success happens, especially when he falters, because he knows a breakdown offers him the opportunity to poke at why it happened, which often gives way to a whole new understanding of what happened.

In my coaching practice, I work out of three “buckets.” The first bucket is a bucket loaded with nutrition and fitness strategies, tools and actions to use to help the body rebalance and heal on a physical level. The second bucket is the same; strategies, tools and actions to use, to help train and condition they mind to support winning, just like building muscles! The third bucket is the same, but with these strategies, tools and actions, we set to build connection to Self. No bucket is more important than the other. Each bucket is equally important, but in different ways for different clients. Each bucket, and the unique tools and strategies it provides, serves every client in a different way, because every client arrives with their own unique and distinctive needs.

This client dominates the nutrition game. This client dominates the mindset game. But something’s been missing. 

Beyond Why

Many talk about the power of why these days: your why is your purpose, the cause or belief that drives you. For example, why do you go to the gym? Why do you want to eat healthy? Why do you get out of bed every morning? Why do you want to lose weight? What is your why and why does it matter?

But the thing is, this client is crystal clear on WHY he hired me: He wants to defy a serious diagnosis, for himself, for his family, and for every moment of laughter, love and joy a healthy future promises him with his young daughter. This why, this compelling reason IS what’s helped him create such great success in his program thus far.

The Most Missing Thing in the Be-Healthy Game

As my client and I poked around his breakdown to see if we could find “what’s missing that could make a difference,” he said, “Just yesterday I was feeling like something’s missing.”

I’ve discovered in my work that there’s something most often missing in the be-healthy game, something deeper to tap into beyond the obvious actions of eating clean, working out, rebalancing gut health, shifting our mindset, and even our very compelling reason why we want what we want. This thing is a deeper and more meaningful connection to our BEST and Highest Selves; the person we KNOW ourselves to be, beyond the self-sabotage. It’s like we find ourselves doing things that don’t match who we know ourselves to be, and what we most want in life.

This client’s mastered the healing diet. He’s upleveled his fitness game. His mindset is clear and strong. He’s shifting his white blood cell count, which IS the big goal we’re after! But something’s been missing on a heart-level, and it’s sabotaging his crystal clear and very compelling why he wants to defy the health problem his doctors diagnosed.

I asked him, “What could be possible, if every thing you did, if every choice you made, emanated from your BEST Self, from your desire to BE an expression of your Highest Self? Rather than simply adding another check to the list of actions I recommend you take, that give you the feeling of success, but still leave you disempowered in front of an empty pizza box. What could be different, if the actions you took solely emanated from your desire to be your BEST and Highest Self for no reason other than that? 

My questions landed. The landing was palpable, so I recommended he now take time everyday to connect to his BEST, and Highest sense of Self. This IS the single missing thing that most often shows up in the be-healthy game! And of course it would, right, since life asks so much of us every day?

To help him connect to his Highest sense of Self, beyond all the impressive get-healthy success he’s created thus far, I recommended he get outside and reconnect with Nature, that he meditate and slow down, to reconnect with breath, his heart, and what really matters most to him, and that he enjoy the silence of the morning with prayerful verses, quiet time and grounding exercises.

The End-Game Requirement

As Werner Erhard said,

“Life is a game. In order to have a game, something has to be more important than something else. If what already is, is more important than what isn’t, the game is over. So, life is a game in which what isn’t, is more important than what is.”

When we face a serious medical diagnosis, or a lifetime of failed efforts in creating vibrant health in spite of the many efforts we’ve extended, “what isn’t,” vibrant health, grows in importance, and even urgency, depending on the state of your health and the end-game you most want to, and even need to achieve. I help my clients discover within themselves the almighty missing link, the most missing thing in their be-healthy game, so that they win their end-goal.

How could making every choice you make from the center of your BEST and Highest Self impact you, your life and your Be-healthy game? Excuses would give way. Reasons would disappear. Other’s opinions would no longer matter. Healthy habits and high-performing actions would be the only options that would rise up on your radar!

My client wants to enjoy every year he can with his daughter. That very much matters, to him, and to me… and he needs to reverse an acute diagnosis to realize this goal. And so he plays like a player. Every action he takes bespeaks that of high performer committed to winning, even when he experiences a breakdown! He blows me away.

What do you have at stake, for you, your life and your health? Do you know what is most missing in your be-healthy game? Tell me in the comments below. I’d love to help!

Last night someone said to me, “You haven’t aged one year, Carol (though I haven’t seen this person in 30+ years). Can you help me stop eating so much? Tell me what’s your top secret to looking so young?” …As they whispered in my ear, “What’s your favorite treatment?”

I laughed, and didn’t attempt to defend my 30-years of get-healthy effort, or express my objections for “treatments,” but the answer is salient, and perhaps unexpected…

The Irony

Someone recently contacted me. Before our call, they said via email that they wanted to discuss the chronic digestive problems that “have plagued them all their life.” They said that they wanted to “discuss new ways of dealing with the chronic symptoms they experience.”

I went to the call with the same Spirit of generosity I go to every call — I wanted to be of contribution. I wanted to make sure this person left our call with at least one new insight to weigh in on, one new action to take, some bit of knowledge that could make a difference for them. 

But ironically, from hello, this person held center stage on all that they know about poor digestion, so I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. I didn’t get to share anything. Nothing.  

I didn’t get to weigh in on one new action they could take. 

And though I tried, I didn’t get to share not even one bit of knowledge that I know could help. 

I felt dumfounded, and still find myself shaking my head wondering, “why did this person want to talk to me?” 

The experience left me thinking of something George Bernard Shaw said, “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” 

The Juxtaposition

I’ve got this AWESOME client. He’s both a highly trained  leader and a Harley guy.

He hired me to help him with a serious diagnosis.

And though he put some ‘serious skin in the game to work with me‘ (financial investment), and though he’s got a very compelling reason why he wants to beat his diagnosis, once, when we first started working together, skepticism about rose up when I explained to him our next and necessary steps.

But I heard his skepticism, so encouraged him to take some time to process my recommendations.

He came to our next call and said, “Let’s go.”

And though the reflective time proved advantageous to our work together, I I know he rightly examined his skepticism. I know he smartly researched my recommendations, and I trust he thoughtfully weighed in on his faith in me.

But I also know that though he’s a highly trained leader, and though I know he loves burning the reasons that try to stop him from playing full out, he’s a Harley guy that I’ve asked to invest into his healing in ways others invest into a Mercedes Benz or a tropical vacation.

But he came back to our call ready and open.

The Path to Looking and Feeling my Best

I said to the pharmacist at the CVS drugstore, “Can you lower the dosage of this medication? It’s too strong for me. I can’t get out of bed.” She agreed, but said she’d have to call my doctor.

With chronic digestive issues and a multitude of other problematic symptoms, I experienced acute anxiety years back, so my doctor recommended I take Xanax.

As I waited for the pharmacist’s response, I could tell she was first talking to the receptionist, then the nurse, then the doctor.

When the doctor asked to speak to me, I thought “Oh good. He’ll understand.”

My doctor said, “I thought you said you trusted me? If you don’t take the medication the way I prescribed, the anxiety will lead to panic attacks, and you know what happens after that, right?”

I stood there confused and full of fear, “No doctor, I have no idea.”

“Suicide.”

“If you do not take the medication the way I prescribe, panic attacks will lead to suicide.”

I stood there speechless, as tears welled up in my eyes… but, like a small, barely visible light in a thick and heavy fog, amidst the real fear I was feeling, the thought “I need to find someone who can help me understand why my body is breaking down,” rose up like a fierce and mighty warrior within me.

The Answer: The Insider Advice You Need to Look and Feel Your Best

Thirty years later, I offer you the answer to my friends’ question, “What is your top secret to looking so young? with 100% certainty.  My answer would be the same answer for the person who reached out to me earlier this week with the hopes of learning a new way of dealing with the lifelong, chronic symptoms they experience. It would be the same answer for you, and whatever the health problem that challenges you. It’s the same answer that differentiates the client who puts autoimmune disease in remission, goes off anti-depression medication and skyrockets their energy. It’s the same answer my Harley guy embodies.

You must develop a curiosity for new ideas, new ways of doing things. You must be willing to let go of what you believe to be true. You must challenge what everyone around you says is “right.” You must develop and openness to the thoughts and ideas of others, without fear of losing yourself.

In a nutshell, to look and feel your best, you MUST open to the unfamiliar, the out of the ordinary, the new, the fresh, the unconventional, even the exotic. 

When I look back over my life, it was my ability to create and expand an open-way of being and thinking that was the most powerful driver for literally changing the whole course of my health and my life… And is perhaps the single most important piece of advice I may likely ever offer you, to look and feel your best.

For me to reclaim my health, heal my digestive system and every other symptom I ever experienced, including anxiety, I had to challenge every mainstream idea I had been taught about a typical “normal” diet, food choices and even ideas of fun. I had to look more deeply into what caused illness and how I was taught to think about healthcare. I even had to challenge who I thought I was, without other’s definitions of “what’s good and acceptable and what’s not,” constraining the choices I wanted to make for me, my health and my life. And more, I had to challenge what I had been taught about my Faith, and what it meant to me and the choices I needed to make to be my Highest Self. I literally had to open to new ways of being, perceiving, understanding and doing, to get to all that I’ve learned about living inside a vibrant and healthy body.

But like Robert Frost said… “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

The Possibilities for You

But, I did NOT eat this elephant of looking and feeling my best in one bite. My goodness it took me 30 years to get to where I’m at now… So it would be unrealistic for you to think you can eat this elephant all at once. Unless of course you want to expedite your results by working with me. If yes, you can learn more here. If no, or just not yet, your next step to healthy begins here. I’ve organized my top 5 best steps to help you increase your energy and build a very solid foundation to your get-healthy game!

Any questions? Feel free to post your questions below, or email me here. I’d love to help… If you’re open!

My plan for one of my client calls this week was to highlight what I thought would be smart for her to consider, as she moves forward from all that she’s accomplished in her 6-month coaching program, “Your Best Health Project.” 

But I began our call with a review. It’s makes good sense in general, to contextualize where we’re going, with where we began, and why we made the choices we made in our work together.

I wanted to remind her of three perspectives that shaped our work together — That we learn in two ways, with one important caveat. We learn 1) from the socialization processes that shape who we become in life, from birth through roughly age seven, and 2) through the repetition of these lessons, and 3) through the equally important caveat, that we were in a state akin to hypnosis through most of this learning because we were so young.

I wanted to remind her of these points because the vortex of the modern lifestyle, immediate gratification and fast-food nation are so strong, that if we’re not mindful, we can all easily get pulled away from what we know makes us feel better.

Socialization and Repetition 

The lessons of socialization from my days as a newbie high school teacher made a lasting impression on me, when I was offered the opportunity to launch the Sociology program for one of Boston’s esteemed exam schools. This is when I learned more indepthly, and simultaneously taught my students, that up until the age seven, we learn “what is right, and what is wrong,” by our families first, and then our peer groups, then our social institutions, like our schools and churches, and then the world at large, like our workplaces, government and even mass media. 

While many revere childhood traditions and mainstream ways of doing things, my clients and I, however, intentionally set out to “scratch the CD” of what they learned early in life, by creating healthy habits to counter what’s caused them to suffer from chronic and acute health problems.

Think about it, how could I ever hope to help my clients create healthy lifestyle patterns if “This is the way our family has eaten for generations,” or “Everything in moderation,” or “Lighten up, go with the flow,” is on perpetual autoplay in the background of their lives uninterrupted… while plagued with chronic symptoms? 

Healthy Habits and Routine

Herein lies my whole reasoning for pressing my clients to create ONE healthy habit at a time (depending on where the client is at when we begin). IF we can effectively replace one unhealthy habit with one healthy habit, and consistently, we not only build a new habit, establish a new routine and develop a stronger mindset, we build the muscle of change, as we scratch the CD that’s autoplaying “You should do it this way, NOT that way.” This is not necessarily easy for some, especially after a lifetime of cultural conditioning and social expectation to conform. But that I attract some of the most badass clients ever, we achieve some pretty astounding results together — results that even astound me! 

Hypnosis 

The thing that’s super important to note about the socialization process we all go through is, we learned everything we think to be true as adults, while in a state similar to hypnosis, when we were children. Think about it, when you were 3-years old, did you voluntarily agree that ravioli tasted better for you than apples? Or when you were 6-years old, did you have the wherewithal to say, I prefer salad instead of fast-food? Of course not. You and I were both taught from infancy through age seven and onward, by our families, friends and the world around us what was best for us to eat, drink, think and do. We developed “our preferences” according to their ideas of what is best.  

Sociologists call it socialization, but the formal definition of hypnosis says we learn in a state in which a person loses the power to voluntarily choose, and is highly responsive to the suggestions or directions of another. There’s no splitting hairs on this one, we didn’t voluntarily choose our preferences as 3-year olds.

And with the epidemic rates of chronic disease we’re facing today, and with the ginormous benefits my clients gain from the efforts they extend to put autoimmune disease in remission, reduce insulin, go off anti-depression medication, lose 40 pounds, and so much more, this conversation of “who really chooses what’s best for us” bears repeating over and over, to safeguard the goals my client’s have achieved.

As my client and I pressed on about what she most wants now, I also reminded her that we can often feel penalized and/or ostracized, or at the very least, misunderstood, when others don’t realize why we choose to do things differently. THIS point, from my vantage of professional objectivity, IS her work, is actually every client’s work, as it is your’s too, to remain vigilant in WHY you choose healthy for yourself. That first, above and beyond everything else, is to remember WHAT matters most to YOU and why, and to cultivate THAT — Connecting to our WHY in everything is our great stabilizer. 

You and I were socialized to believe many things we might not agree with at all; attitudes, ideas, behaviors, traditions, and/or practices that don’t reflect who we know ourselves to be, which is why so many of us struggle with creating consistent healthy habits — Through repetition, the ideas of others were ingrained. These ideas that are not of our choosing become our default-mode. And because of this hypnosis-like-state we all learned within, as innocent, young children,

1. Many will likely not understand why you choose to do things differently as an adult. They’ll want you to do things “the way they’ve always been done.” As an analogy, the fisherman knows to never puts just one crab in the bucket. It will climb out. He knows if he puts two crabs in one bucket, one crab will always pull the other down. — The one crab wants the other to stay in the bucket.
2. Why you too may find it very difficult to break unhealthy habits, habits that you want to break more than anything, and why you find it very difficult to build healthy habits.

But fortunately, socialization and repetition work both ways. You can scratch the autoplay CD of messaging that holds you back, by developing and building one healthy habit at a time, to establish a healthy routine and even develop mastery over time, even if you slip and slide along the way. I’ve established a whole new quality of life based on this model of building one healthy habit, building a healthy lifestyle routine, and scratching the CD of messages that no longer work for me.  I’ve watched client after client achieve what they really wanted, beyond healing of chronic symptoms, like dating again, like flying across country to attend events they would have never attended, if not for feeling so good, like waking up every day free of the panic that once plagued them. 

On our near last call, my client and I accomplished what I most wanted her to gain — A review of an important perspective of our work together, to hold her steady as she plans her next steps in life.

What autoplay messaging do you need to scratch up, to get to what matters most to you? Consider these three perspectives. They’re potent.

Want to get your health game started? Your first steps to healthy begin here. 

You hear me talk about my love and reverence for the healing powers of drinking green juice and eating a green centric diet likely more than anything else. 

You also hear me repeatedly sing the praises of creating ONE healthy habit at a time, that it’s the best way to help you build a healthy lifestyle for results that last. 

I also talk a lot about the invaluable benefits of meditation, journaling and a building a strong mindset. 

And though you may have experimented with some or all of them, to see if they could help you achieve your health goals, you may have never consistently stuck with any one of them. 

What’s The Use

Which leaves you feeling like, “What’s the use?” Right?

So let’s step back and think about the context of my suggestions. 

If you’re super busy like my clients and me, they’re all just suggestions that could land as more to do, within the context of your already very full schedule. And though you may have tried some of these ideas, and maybe even liked them, you didn’t create any consistency in doing them… so you end up feeling defeated and still struggling with excess weight, debilitating exhaustion, obsessive cravings, and chronic symptoms. 

As my 6-month superstar client Teri said, “Before I began working with Carol, I struggled with following through on my commitments so often, that I was worried about investing in yet another program that I might not follow through on anyway.”

A Little Secret

So let me share with you a little secret that I shared with Teri, that I share with all my clients:

Drinking green juice, building healthy habits, establishing a meditation practice and creating a journaling routine are NOT the end game we’re after. Good grief. Alone, that would simply be hitting a checklist and leave you feeling busier, and likely very defeated = Superficial = With no deeper relationship to the power of WHY you’d want to get up early to meditate when you’re used to sleeping in, or WHY you’d want to say no to eating pizza, when you’re used to eating whatever you want, whenever you want it, OR WHY you’d want to set time aside to make fresh juices and prep healthy foods, though it would be so much easier to pick up any fast food option. 

So here’s the secret:

WHEN we’re committed to BEING our BEST selves, we consistently use our ability to CHOOSE what we know upgrades our life like a power-tool, to transcend everything and anything that could keep us from being our BEST and Highest Selves. 

That’s it.

Yes, green juice helps deeply nourish the body and magnetizes toxicity out of our cells. Yes, building one healthy habit at a time sets the stage for creating a healthier lifestyle in all ways. Yes, meditation helps us transcend daily distractions.  And yes, oh yes, journaling can help download all sorts of gunk from the psyche. 

But if used with no intentionality for WHY you want to do each of these practices, they’re simply just busy work and they end up feeling like just one more thing to do…

Ultimately, we who are committed to being our best and Highest Selves, we consciously and very deliberately use the power of choice as a power-tool for removing everything and anything that could get in our way of achieving all that we know we are capable of achieving. 

When you get clear on this one thing, that you want to be your very best you, NO MATTER WHAT, and that you get to choose that with every choice you make, you’ll discover that there is NO hoop, NOT one, that you won’t jump through for every health goal you want to achieve… BECAUSE of ALL that BEING your BEST and FEELING your BEST makes possible in every area of your life!

And I promise you this, you too can achieve all that you are capable of! I watch clients like Teri, a high school teacher from a small suburban town in Connecticut blow the very definition of “a player” out of the water in jaw-dropping ways, and defy odds and achieve results that initially seemed improbable over and over again!

That’s the secret. You just need to want to be your best you. 

Teri does. Joel does. Juliette does. I do.

Do you?

Where to Begin

IF you know you’re ready to commit to you, to you being your best and Highest Self, but don’t know where to begin, download my guide, 5 to Thrive: 5 Habits to Increase Energy by 30% for Top-Achievers. It’s a great way to begin building 5 awesome foundational healthy habits that WILL help you increase your energy and create healthier balance in your life!

We’ve evolved to a place in time when we think we’re healthy, though we take medication. When we think it’s normal that some bodies can’t digest vegetables and fruits, though they’re Nature’s nutrient-dense food sources. And when we think we can’t do anything to heal heart-disease, cancer, diabetes and now auto-immune disease, because we’re victim to the genetics our ancestors bequeathed to us.

But from a basic common-sense standpoint, doesn’t it make sense to ask, “How do I feel if I don’t take this medication,” and, “What happened to the illness, since this prescription medication eased my symptoms?”  And, “WHY can’t my body digest vegetables and fruits, since they’re known to be the most easily digestible food substances?” AND, “Did I simply get dealt a “bad hand” when it comes to genetics,” or, “Suck it up, ‘I’m getting older?’” 

In case you forgot, or just don’t remember, when we were in elementary school we were taught that the human body is capable of regenerating itself — The human body was designed to heal itself, but like a plant needs mineral-rich soil, oxygen-rich water, and sunshine for photosynthesis to grow, the human body needs the right conditions for optimal health and healing to occur. 

Consider these healing functions the body is capable of, IF you are healthy — Your liver can literally regenerate and rebuild itself within just a few short months; your gastrointestinal tract can renew itself every four days; within hours of an injury, the body begins to repair a broken bone; the brain can create new cells to reconnect pathways between neurons and neural circuitry. 

Beyond any new “genius” technological research or discovery, the body is FAR MORE capable of healing itself, in spite of all the grandiose claims the biotech world sputters! 

So if we know our body is more intelligent, more capable of healing and more responsive than anything outside of us, why do we run around seeking out every new fan-dangled approach to wellness, or worse, accept the conditions exacted by a diagnosis that biologically makes no sense and negatively impacts the quality of our life? 

Three Metaphors

The Frog in Boiling Water

The frog in boiling water metaphor describes a frog being slowly boiled alive. The story goes, that if a frog is put into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. It feels the danger of the hot water and jumps out to protect itself. But if the frog is put in tepid water, which is then brought to a boil slowly, the frog will not perceive the danger it is in, because it didn’t feel the water getting hotter, so it cooks to death.

Consider that we grow up in homes, within communities, within societies that believe medication is good, that heart disease and cancer are genetically predetermined, though new science says not so, and yes, that some of us can’t eat vegetables. 

And without ever questioning any of these ideas, we, albeit unwittingly, believe these ideas too… because we live within families, within communities, within societies in whch everyone we know believes in these ideas too. 

And if we question any of these ideas, as I did 30-years ago, we’re called “crazy.” I remember one who I thought to be a “close” friend calling me crazy and laughing at me when I first sought out a Naturopath.

The pull to do things the same as everyone is fierce. 

Herd mentality

The pull to do things the same as our friends and family leads to a “herd mentality.” A herd mentality, like a mob mentality, pack mentality or gang mentality, describes how we can be influenced by our families and peers to adopt certain behaviors, and that this happens on a largely emotional, rather than a rational basis.

Examples of a herd mentality are: 

1. Kale — Once kale always, kale, but many now favor this “hot” “new” vegetable
2. Louis Vuitton, “Hot” Style Trends  — Place you in the “in crowd” 
3. The list is endless — BMWs, The Mini Cooper, a Prius, Cabbage Patch Kids, Beanie Babies,  family traditions, community politics and onward… 

While we all might know on an intuitive level that living on prescription medications and living with heart disease, cancer and diabetes is not “normal,” most of us tend to follow the prevailing and predominant thoughts, behaviors and actions of others, because we’re hooked on an emotional level.

I can’t count how many times I have heard, “My family has eaten this way for generations, Carol.” “Americans don’t eat like that, Carol,” (though the whole family suffers with acute and chronic digestive problems). And, how many times have others said to me, “Lighten up,” “Everything in moderation.” “Don’t be so boring.” “You’re no fun.” 

Author Suzy Kassem wrote, 

“Since the earliest days of our youth, we have been conditioned to accept that the direction of the herd, and authority anywhere — is always right.”

In the face of staggering statistics of chronic disease worldwide, it’s time we start questioning the validity of popular, but unhealthy herd ideas. 

Head in the Sand

And we’ve all heard this, if not done it ourselves, we “put our head in the sand,” which simply means, we avoid, or we try to avoid, by pretending that “it” does not exist. This phrase refers to the way ostriches bury their heads in the sand when frightened. 

While some might say burying one’s head in the sand is a flat-out refusal to think about an unpleasant situation, and this is clear and rampant, I also know first hand, from my own experiences early on, that many of us just don’t know how to think differently from canonized, herd mentality, mainstream thought. 

A client recently said to me, “It never occurred to me that I could just go off a medication.” 

I totally get it — Thirty years ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. But when I went to get my teeth cleaned with a natural dentist, he said to me, “You don’t have a thyroid problem, you have an adrenal problem.” 

At that time, I was not putting my head in the sand and hoping the problem would go away, I simply did not know how to challenge my doctor’s diagnosis. I didn’t know how to think for myself. The doctor’s diagnosis, and the popular way of responding to a medical diagnosis took precedence — Though I am actively reversing this diagnosis for myself today, while helping many clients do the same. 

But as the examples I offered above show, many are the frog stuck somewhere within a herd mentality or head in the sand. 

The Gap

But there is a gap, and within this gap exists what we know is best for us, or what we feel is best for us, and what we typically do —  It’s like we’re two people, but each in conflict with the other — We intuitively know what the healthiest choice for us to make is, but we don’t choose it. 

Do you struggle with choosing healthy habits because you’re the frog in the boiling water? Has the herd mentality taken over? Have you buried your head in the sand hoping your the health problems will just go away? 

Closing this gap is your charge. The whole quality of your life literally pivots on the ways you choose to be responsible for every detail of your life, including the state of your health. 

Yes, resistance to choosing differently will rise up. Yes, your family may tell you they’e offended when you decline to eat the ravioli. Yes, your friends may insult you when you order a salad rather than join them in eating pizza. And yes, your colleagues may laugh at you, as they pop the cork of a fine wine, and you sip on herbal tea. 

Ultimately, though, closing this gap is one of your life’s greatest calling. 

Closing this gap between who you know yourself to be, and who you pretend to be within your social circles IS the space where freedom, full self-expression, happiness and… your most vibrant, radiant Self exists. 

I’ll never forget the moments when a client leaned over the desk I was sitting at, looked me dead in my eye and said, “Eat a potato. You look terrible.” 

My body was very sick, with an endless list of symptoms my doctors had no healing answers for. My face was covered with painful cystic acne. My eyes were dark and sunken. Anxiety beat hard and heavy in my chest, with a fear that directed every step I took. 

I held my tears back. 

The pull to ignore what I had learned about healing my body was fierce. The pull to go against myself was fierce… BUT the pull to close the gap, to reclaim my health was FAR fiercer. 

If you suffer with chronic or acute symptoms, chronic cravings or excess weight, low energy or acute brain fog, I can’t imagine you not hearing yourself somewhere within these metaphors.

Find what pulls you out within them. Use them as your springboard to be fierce. To choose you. Healthy habits will change your life in ways you yet can’t imagine possible. 

Like the gap, I’ve always loved the space that doctor, writer and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl wrote about: 

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Anxiety was but one of the symptoms I suffered from when I was sick many years back. So one of my doctors, among the several treating me, recommended I take, what was for me, a debilitating dosage of Xanax. When I asked the pharmacist if she could lower the dosage because I couldn’t stand after taking it, she said she’d call the doctor for his approval.

After talking to the receptionist and the nurse, I could tell the pharmacist was then talking to the doctor. She passed the phone to me and said, “He wants to speak with you.” Great I thought, he’ll understand. But he opened with, “I thought you said you trusted me?”

“If you don’t take the medication as I prescribe, you do know what will happen, right? Next it will be panic attacks, after that suicide.”

Suicide.

Though I cried in private every single night with embarrassment and horror from the ways cystic acne began to disfigure my face, and the ways my body would shamelessly pass noxious smelling gas no matter how hard I tried to suppress it when in public, when this “specialist” said that my anxiety could lead to suicide, I knew I needed to find someone, anyone, who could help me heal my body. I needed someone to help me understand, beyond the zero answers the medical community offered me, for why my body was breaking-down.

And so my journey from to illness to wellness began from a team of Western medicine specialists, to treatment by naturopaths, to nutritionists, on to natural dentists, acupuncturists, Chinese herbalists, Ayurvedic practitioners and even a Structural Integrationist.

I attended workshops, seminars, special trainings and read every book recommended to me to try to find answers for healing… And though I learned something from every practitioner along the way, I intuitively knew that taking a handful of supplements every day, versus pharmaceutical medications, was not the answer I was seeking — Every approach I learned still felt reactionary, not root cause work, like icing-on-a-mud-pie.

Why Detoxification Matters, Reductionist Theory and What I’ve Learned

Along the way I became a reductionist theorist — I needed to find the lowest common denominator for why I was so sick — “What’s the root cause? If it’s not root cause work, it’s a waste of my time. Because if I don’t know why my body is spiraling out and breaking down, how can I heal it?”

And this is what 25 years of research, inquiry and critical thinking showed me in clear and ugly color: 

The human body cannot eliminate the food-stuffs of the modern lifestyle — The ways we eat today have devolved to accommodate a fast-paced, unhealthy, “foodie” lifestyle, with no time for anything, but go-go-go… and indulgence. And it’s all considered normal, even sophisticated.

But unfortunately, this diet we think of as normal, because it’s based on the common fare of the Standard American Diet and Fast Food Nation, is a wholly nutrient-devoid, processed, pseudo food-stuffs diet that is made from ingredients that the body doesn’t recognize as useable fuel, because it’s not real food — The foods we eat are largely all manufactured, mass-produced products that have been processed to sustain a long shelf-life, rather than our health. Sadly, like me many years back, many live on this diet today, so they’re taking in little to no nutrition that their body needs to maintain optimal health and ward off disease. 

As a result, we’re seeing epidemic rates of chronic disease, with the immune system grossly going awry, as evidenced by now over 100 autoimmune disease diagnoses today, though cause continues to remain generally unknown within the medical community. The rise of autoimmune disease has skyrocketed by 300% since the 1950s, with costs exceeding cancer by 50%, and evidence showing they pave the way to future chronic and debilitating health problems developing.

And the tide continues to rise with obesity and diabetes, heart-disease and cancer, even food-addiction and pre-mature aging. C’mon, even a rookie can see something is terribly wrong!

If what I say makes sense to you, that the body can’t eliminate the foods of the modern lifestyle, or at the very least, that chronic illness has affected you or someone you love so much that you’re willing to continue to stick with me here, doesn’t it makes sense to now ask, “Where do these foods go? These foods that we’re eating, but not eliminating?”

A Noble Metaphor: The Garbage Bag Theory

Imagine you’re in your kitchen chopping and prepping ingredients for your dinner. Imagine further, that the garbage bag begins to overflow from all the scraps you’ve added in… and someone unexpectedly knocks on your door. To tidy the kitchen quickly, you hurriedly tie the bag and toss it outside on the back porch. It’s 98.7 degrees outside… and you forget you put the bag out there.

Several days later you discover the bag on the porch.

I ask you,

What do you think happened inside this bag of food stuffs, as it sat in 98.7 degree temperature for days?

The Life-Changing Answer to this Life-Changing Question

Bringing the metaphor home: The food in the bag, that is, the back-up of constipated food-stuffs that the body doesn’t know how to eliminate, begin to decay, rot, putrefy and ferment, with the predictable growth of the by-products rot produces; bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, noxious gases and pathogen (Make no mistake, pathogen is a polite word for parasites. But this post is not about polite cordialities, but the quality of your life). The putrefaction and decay (think premature aging in every horrifying way, far beyond a loss of beauty) begins in the intestinal walls, but easily spreads throughout the body, as it passes into and beyond the digestive wall. Bacterial imbalance circulates. Heavy metals accumulate. Parasites proliferate. Viruses grow. Noxious gases destroy.

Why Detoxification Matters: What You Want to Know

Because the human body is an interconnected, whole ‘unit,’ the impact of “The Garbage Bag Theory,” is far reaching, all encompassing and systemic. This is why your body absolutely needs your help with detoxification — When the colon becomes obstructed with toxic waste matter that hardens, calcifies and blocks your internal pathways, the dominoes of the elimination system begin to fall (read fail), with the liver, kidneys and lymph bearing the heaviest brunt initially.

But you’d short-change the impact of a dirty, toxic body on your health and wellbeing if you stopped at the deleterious effects overwhelming the elimination systems. Because the body can’t remove the calcified, toxic waste, it pushes deeper into every cell, tissue, gland, organ and system within you, including your brain, with acute systemic effects caused by the noxious, carbonic gas it produces (CO2 toxicity is linked to central nervous system damage and permanent deterioration of respiratory functions).

Detoxification becomes squarely about removing toxic waste, and way more than a one and done practice.

Detoxification is the foundational lifestyle habit you exploit, to build whole-body, whole-life wellness upon.

Detoxification is far more than just a whole-foods, live-foods, green-juice laden diet, but your key to guarantee the whole quality of your life.

Think about it, HOW can you look and feel your best, if you’ve got a backed-up dirty sewer sitting in the middle of your body? How can you feel emotionally balanced, or think clearly and smartly and creatively and productively, how can you wake up energized and ready to create newly, if you’re body is permeated with toxic waste matter?

From my reliable reductionist theory rationale, WHAT can supplements possibly do for you, HOW can “everything in moderation” remotely make sense, HOW can the next-best-recipe conceivably matter, IF you do not remove the backed-up, calcified, toxic waste matter that’s obstructing your body’s internal pathways? HOW can you NOT be, even just a little bit, affected physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, by rotting decay in the middle of your body?

Detoxification is not a diet. Detoxification is a tool you use to remove backed-up, toxic waste from your body, to literally liberate you from the mental, psychological and emotional bondage it causes. 

As I like to say to my clients, we are not simply healing you of chronic and acute symptoms, we are not only helping you lose weight, feel more energized and look radiant, we are circumventing the dire consequences that would undoubtedly come if we never got to removing toxic waste from your body.

In today’s world, with the epidemic rates of chronic disease that are ravaging the quality of our lives and the lives of the people we most love, your body absolutely needs your help with detoxification.

Where to Start

To begin supporting your body in the detoxification process, you want to lighten up density in your diet, so what you do eat can pass through efficiently and support your overall healing efforts. That means add in lots of water-rich, live vegetables and fruits, and take out or reduce the harder-to-digest animal proteins. The highly-charged water in fresh vegetables and fruits will hydrate and help magnetize toxic waste out of the tissues of your body. Reducing or eliminating animal protein will conserve your energy for detoxing and healing, since it’s density needs more energy to break it down,

To help get you started, I offer you a comprehensive guide I made for my private 1:1 clients, a guide of 90+ fresh juice, smoothie and salad recipes called The Wholly Trinity Guide. Click the button below to download.

Download Your Free Wholly Trinity Recipe Guide!
Questions? Feel free to post below, or email me. I’d love to answer all your questions. Heeding the truth bombs this post offers can change your whole life, as they did mine.

 

 

Do you suffer from chronic illness, or know someone who does?

Maybe it’s not chronic illness. Maybe it’s chronic headaches, sore joints, allergies, fatigue, dry cough, even premature-aging?

I know, “who doesn’t experience one or more of these symptoms, right?”

I spoke to someone last week who suffers with five chronic illnesses.

Which is why you should know,

Every symptom, may it be physical, mental or emotional, is a sign of imbalance. 

Every symptom. 

We can respond at the first seemingly benign symptom, while trusting that our brilliantly designed body is telling us it needs our attention. Or we can wait to respond, and deal with the consequences waiting causes.

We get to choose when we respond and how we respond, and there’s typically two kinds of responses:

1. A response based on what everyone else would do, like your family, friends and even doctors — This response is reactive and often fear-based. This looks like checking in with everyone you know and asking what they would do, or what they think you should do, rather than you going within to find what you know would be best for you. Or,
2. A response driven by discernment. This choice is reflective, rather than reactionary, it’s calm, clear and empowered. Rather than looking for answers outside of yourself, you go within and you choose powerfully for yourself, even when others approve or don’t approve of your choice.

But there’s no choice when it comes to the solution. When it comes to healing the human body, the lowest-common denominator is creating order out of the disorder that’s taken over. 

Your body, or your loved ones body wants to be in balance. The human body will do everything and anything it can to restore balance.

But here’s the rub — The human body, you’re body, needs your help.

Whether you were born with illness, lived on processed foods your whole life, or just never got on the get-healthy train early enough, your body, irregardless of it’s current state of health, continuously stalks balance… and it needs your help (to counter the acidic and unhealthy lifestyle choices you’ve made for far too).

So how do you help your body create balance, if disorder and illness, or even just seemingly benign symptoms have taken over? 

Theres only one place to begin… “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step,” and you’re the only one with the answer. It doesn’t live outside you, and no-one else knows what this one thing is but you. One thing, that if you do it, you know with full confidence you’re better equipped to make smarter choices for you! When you do this thing, you can feel your strength and clarity fire up — This is when you become what I like to call, “a self-actualizing machine!”

You KNOW that if you meditate, or go for a run, or sit by yourself with a journal and download all the gunk that causes you confusion and stress, you feel clearer, stronger, more confident, and ready to DO whatever you need to do, to reclaim healthy balance. This IS your one thing, that you must do with consistency and impeccability every day. This IS when you’re like kryptonite, able to defy unhealthy temptation like a superhero!

Because the more often you go within to access your inner wisdom and guidance, the more you will learn to hear and trust you, and what you know is best for you, and the more clearly you will be able to hear and trust the seemingly benign signals your body sends you as warnings to heed, not ignore.

Let’s be clear, the goal is NOT your one thing, but the GOLD-stuff the one thing gives you access to — Calm. Clarity. Confidence. Inner wisdom. This IS what you most want, to heal your body… and for every other good choice you hope to make.

Stalk balance. Do what you need to do to live in balance. Choose actions that create balance. Balance is what you’re after.

From this angle, every symptom becomes your most trusted and reliable advisor.

Don’t you just love that? It’s a reframe, and it’s a game-changer!

If you or someone you know is suffering with chronic symptoms, or suspect now’s the time to grab hold of your health, I am accepting new clients. To schedule a consultation click here, contact me at 860-836-1990 or email me at carol@carol-egan.com

When growing up, my grandfather would bring a roast beef for my Mom to cook every Sunday. And in our Irish American home, of course mashed potatoes and gravy were a given. Roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy were always our slated Sunday family tradition, a tradition laced with love and the sweetest of memories. I remember at a very young age laughing with my grandfather as he would swing me in the air and run around with me and my brothers in the back yard, after our family dinner.

How about you? What were you’re family traditions? Salmon and lox? Biscuits and brisket? Pasta and meatballs? Barbecue and grits? Rice and beans? 

Indulge me for one minute and close your eyes. Try to recall a holiday, or a regular week day when you were young, when you and your family would gather together to have dinner and festivity. What memories rise up, what associations do you hold sacred to the meals you had with the people you love?  

Food and memory are inextricably linked. 

But do you know that food combinations like these traditional classics slow digestion down?

Do you know that carbohydrates, protein and fats each digest at very different rates, and each require different digestive enzymes to break them down, so eating them together is really not good for you?

I can hear you say, “But my family has been eating like this for generations.”

Yes, there might have been a time in history that the inner terrain of the gut was strong enough and healthy enough to break down the meals we know as traditional to our culture. But the modern lifestyle, the Standard American Diet and Fast Food Nation have all undeniably altered and impaired the microflora and inner ecosystem of our gut in ways that we can no longer  break down, absorb and assimilate the foods we eat.  

Let me ask you, do you struggle with weight loss? Perhaps low energy? Poor mental clarity? Or chronic symptoms? 

If you answer yes to any of the above health concerns, then humor me in taking on a healing experiment, for one day, one week… maybe even one month. This experiment I propose is called proper food combining, or “The Quick Exit Strategy.” 

For one month put on your “scientist’ hat to study and observe how you feel and how your body responds to combining what you eat in healthier combinations that promote a quick exit.

Food combining and the Quick Exit Strategy are based on the ways the body breaks foods down. It considers the density of the foods you eat, the varying ways the foods you eat break down and the varying ways your body responds with different chemical reactions. It recognizes your body’s need to absorb and assimilate nutrients, not simply eat them, and it also recognizes the consequences of eating in ways that waste matter can’t leave the body in a timely manner, if foods are combined poorly. The back up of waste matter sitting in your body leads to fermentation, yeast overgrowth, bacterial imbalance and a build up of carbonic gas, which correlates directly to your inability to achieve your health goals with lasting results. I can’t overstate this enough. 

So let me repeat, we want to eat what we eat in ways that provides maximum energy and nutrition, and efficient elimination. It’s the body’s inability to eliminate toxic waste, that cascades in every detrimental way throughout the body, affecting the overall state of our health.

To begin to promote quick exit meals, I offer you 3 simple food combination rules within The Quick Exit Strategy, as a mighty tool to detox your body, lose weight, increase energy, increase mental clarity and decrease chronic symptoms. 

3-Simple Rules of Food Combining: The Quick Exit Strategy

Rule One: Eat low sugar fruits away from all other foods — (lemons, limes, grapefruits, berries and green apples) 

Rule Two: Eat protein and vegetables

Rule Three: Eat starches and vegetables

What does proper food combining look like on your plate?

Protein and Vegetables: Whatever your protein source, be it animal protein, beans, dairy or other vegetarian/vegan options, you will eat it with only low-starchy vegetables, like a big salad, sautéed leafy greens, string beans, asparagus or broccoli. Do note, avocado and olives, nuts and seeds are considered protein fats, so combine them according to the protein recommendations. 

Starches and Vegetables: With this combination you will eat starchy vegetables like a baked sweet potato, winter squashes, roasted root vegetables, or other starchy choices like quinoa or pasta with low-starchy vegetables, again like above, with a big salad and/or any other low-starchy vegetable of choice. 

Since statistics suggest more than 75% of us suffer with chronic digestive problems today, I recommend you experiment with proper food combining and the Quick Exit Strategy.

This recommendation directly addresses the impact of the modern lifestyle on the human body and it’s impact on digestive health, and the natural and biological ways your body thrives. Yes, you’ll have to get to take on and challenge the eating habits you consider normal from your family traditions, but you might discover that you’re able to achieve the health goals you’ve long wanted, and feel amazing again. 

Do you have an inquisitive way like a scientist, like me? 

Tell me how it works for you in the comments below. 

Tell me too, if you try my recommendation, and how it worked for you. 

Questions? Post them below. I’d love to help. 

** NOTE: If you suffer from chronic health symptoms or chronic health problems, do note that animal protein requires a lot of energy to digest. I recommend you keep your scientist hat on and reduce or eliminate dense, animal protein intake, and even lighter choices like wild-caught fish or raw goat cheese for a healing interim, to see how it adds to your overall sense of wellbeing.