Getting to know Lex has been such an immense pleasure after following her for some time on Instagram. She is such a ray of light and you can feel her radiating warmth and her kind soul that comes through with each of her posts. She is opening up on her story, her food freedom journey and raising (almost) two littles to make their own choices with food (hello future intuitive eaters!). I know you are going to enjoy this week’s Q&A with Lex as much as I did!

Hey Lex, so for those who haven’t met you just yet can you tell us what it is that you do and one thing about yourself that may surprise people?

Hi, I’m Lex! I live in Richmond, VA with my husband, almost 2 year old boy and I’m pregnant with our 2nd boy. I’m the one behind the IG @restoring_radiance and I’ve actually been doing it for almost 7 years now! I started my account as a private account back in the day when I was struggling with a binge eating disorder! It was more of a personal/ food and exercise journal. It’s changed a lot through the years, but through my healing and recovery I’ve become passionate about sharing that light with others. To encourage others struggling that they aren’t alone in their struggle. That life can come after an eating disorder, and that if I can be healed I believe anyone can. I hope to inspire others to have a healthy relationship with food and to not let it control their life, because this life is so much more than the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and our bodies.

A fun fact about me: I lived in Barcelona, Spain for 2 months after college and almost moved there. If it wasn’t for my now husband that started pursuing me back home at the time, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have left! 

Take us through a day in the life for you! 

A day in my life these days looks a lot different than it used to with a toddler and a baby in my belly. I used to wake up at 5am and take on the day. I go to bed early though haha! Now, I’ve been needing more sleep in this pregnancy so I typically wake up around 6am. I drink a big glass of water and have my coffee while I read my Bible and pray. Then, if I can I’ll do a little movement of some sort (so either an at home workout video, a walk outside, or Pure Barre if I have time which I haven’t recently. I typically do house chores like unload the dishwasher, start the laundry, make the bed, and get breakfast ready for my son. If I can squeeze it in, I’ll do an email check in or IG check in to answer some comments and messages! 

My son gets up around 7:30am and we have breakfast! I try to reserve my time with him off screens if possible. So in the morning, we play, sometimes run errands or go outside, do other fun things. My husband works from home too so if I’m able to squeeze in lie 20-30 minutes of IG and prepping my content for the day, working on a blog, or answering emails, etc then I’ll do that!

We have lunch around 11:30/12pm and then my son goes down for a nap. It’s usually 2-2.5 hours! This is when I literally get all my work done. Content planning/ shooting, recipe creation in the kitchen, cleaning, emails, DM’s, comments, catching up on social, etc. It’s usually a crazy race to try to get done as much as I can before he wakes up!

He’ll wake around 2:30/3pm and I try to do something outside in the afternoon if it’s nice. We usually have a snack and then go play. Again, I try to be off my phone as much as possible when I’m with him! Then, we start making dinner and usually eat around 5:30/6pm. We play, clean the kitchen, start the dishwasher, prep the coffee for the next day, pick up the toys, then give T a bath, do our bedtime routine, get T down. 

Once he’s down, I try to do a quick 10-20 min check in with anything I didn’t get done for the day. Then, I wash my face, get ready for bed, and my husband and I usually hang together. We talk or read (trying not to watch TV right now) and hangout until we go to bed. Usually around 9:30pm and then we go to sleep and do it all over again. It’s a lot of the same thing everyday. Of me trying to balance mom/ work life which can be so hard. Everyday doesn’t look the exact same but that’s our general day! It’s not always exciting, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! Of course that’s our day-to-day now, but once we have baby number 2 within the next month, I’m sure everything will change and we’ll find a new day-to-day! 

How did you discover Intuitive Eating and how do you practice it in your daily life? 

I ended up discovering intuitive eating about 3 years ago! I think I learned more about it from Robyn at @thereallife_rd. She was so free from food rules, but yet a dietitian and it intrigued me. I was mostly recovered from my eating disorder, but still didn’t have a very healthy relationship with food overall. The more I learned from her, the more curious I became, and ended up reading the original Intuitive Eating book! It was so helpful for me and I found the more freedom I gave myself, the less crazy I felt around food. I started to really enjoy it and had a completely different perspective around it. It was amazing and so freeing! I practice it daily still, and I don’t always get it perfect. We aren’t supposed to! I’m able to actually listen to my body and what it needs and recognize that rather than give it what the world tells me it needs. I’ve found it’s helped my digestion and mind so much!

What is your
definition of Food Freedom?

Food freedom to me is being able to enjoy food without stressing about it. To eat with a grateful heart rather than stress or restriction. It’s being able to enjoy a family pizza night with no regrets and just beautiful memories with my family. It’s eating all the foods my son eats too without him wondering why mommy never eats what I eat. It’s enjoyment, it’s fellowship, it’s community, it’s joy. It’s not always getting it right, but instead enjoying the journey and having a good relationship with food again.

What advice would you give someone on where to start with healing their
relationship with food/finding food freedom?

Everyone’s journey is going to look different and that’s normal. No one will have the exact same experience and your healing journey usually depends a lot of your current relationship with food. That being said, something that really helped me with finding a more balanced life with food was being around other people that had a pretty normal relationship with food. Being with people that didn’t constantly talk about diets, or good/ bad foods, their body, etc. Not that we can’t still love those people, we’re all allowed to have our own opinions, etc, but more just because it was really triggering during that time for me. So that’s one thing, another is to seek help or read some books/ blogs about it. I love all the content from @thereallife_rd, @simibotic, & @nourishingmindsnutrition. I truly talk about those three all the time, but they have been incredibly helpful on my journey! Their blogs have a ton of free information and they all offer coaching as well. I think having someone help guide you through it whether 1 on 1 or through their blog advice is really helpful. I remember I couldn’t get enough of the info they shared. Also, to find food freedom, you really truly have to let go of food rules. Not just kind of, but you really do. It’s hard but practice everyday. Every time you have a negative thought with food or your body, shift your mindset and turn it positive. You won’t always have to do this because eventually it’ll be more second nature but changing your perspective is a huge starting point!

What advice can you give on raising kids as intuitive eaters? What has been difficult in this process?

One of my biggest hopes with my son was trying to let him lead the way and be an intuitive eater. It’s actually been so interesting to watch and honestly such a joy. To see his food preferences, what he likes and doesn’t like, how he eats and how much. His days all look different, some days he’ll eat a huge breakfast and some days he won’t eat that much. I don’t stress about it, because I know it’ll all even out. Some days he’ll devour vegetables and others he won’t eat one. That’s part of the beauty of it all, because no one meal or day makes your overall health. Also, our bodies are incredibly smart and that has proven true with kids! When T is sick, he typically barely eats or literally just wants fruit and he’s typically a pretty big eater. This is always so interesting to me because it’s his body truly knowing what it needs!

As far as letting him be an intuitive eater, I really try to let him guide most of the way. If he’s all done and barely eats it could be because so many factors: he hasn’t gone to the bathroom yet, he’s distracted from what’s going on, he’s just not hungry, he doesn’t like what’s being served, etc. I don’t ever not give him more if he asks for more. He’s so smart and always stops when he’s full. I don’t worry about that even if it’s more than I eat sometimes haha. He’s super active and needs fuel and his body knows that!

I think one of the more difficult things has been when he’s hungrier for a bigger snack and doesn’t want to eat dinner with us. I do try to always sit down and eat a family dinner each night so it’s hard if he had a bigger or later snack and isn’t hungry at that time. I try not to stress, but I also don’t like spoiling his appetite for meals. So my biggest challenge is letting him have snacks but not overdoing it so that he won’t eat his meal! 

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I’m going there by saying that this is hands down my favorite smoothie combination that I have made so far in 2020. I wasn’t sure how the combination of pear and blueberries would turn out but it is heavenly.

This is why I love making smoothies for breakfast. Not only are they a nutritionally balanced breakfast but you can have fun and get creative with combinations.

I followed my own advice on How to Make the Perfect Smoothie by combining the right amount of veggies, fruit, fats, fiber and protein. The outcome? Creamy, filling and delicious.

Here is how you can DO IT:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 pear chopped and frozen
3/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen riced cauliflower
1 pitted date
1 tbsp. almond butter (use BBM25 for a 25% discount)
1/2 tbsp. chia seeds
2 scoops collagen peptides

Method:
Combine everything into a high speed blender and blend until smooth (longer that you think, you want it to be creamy).

Sip and say AHHHH!

FOR MORE SMOOTHIE RESOURCES:

My Top 5 favorite smoothie recipes (other than this recipe)

The best supplements to add to your smoothies

The best healthy fats to add to your smoothies

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The word I immediately think of to describe Sammi is REFRESHING. As a Registered Dietician Nutritionist who believes that all food fit, she offers such an easy and approachable view of food and nutrition. She believes in listening to your cravings (eat the chocolate when you are craving it!) and also that eating and cooking food should be enjoyable, easy and not complicated.

I couldn’t think of a better person to interview to kick off my Food Freedom Q&A Series which I will be featuring every Wednesday on my blog this Spring. Hooray!

Hey Sammi! For those who haven’t met you just yet can you tell us what it is that you do and one thing about yourself that may surprise people?

I’m a Registered Dietitian with a private practice in NYC. I meet with clients individually for nutrition counseling and work with food brands as a spokesperson. Most people are surprised to find out that my job is split pretty much 50/50 between the two!

Take us through a day in the life for you!

On any given day, I could be doing a few different things: meeting with clients; creating recipes, shooting photos and editing them; researching and writing blog posts; working on my online program, All Foods Fit; or working on a number of other projects. It’s what I love the most about my job – no two days are the same. I love working for myself, but it also means that there’s always work to do! I typically try to be at my desk to start work between 7:30 and 8:00 AM. I usually catch up on emails and computer work first until about 9:00 AM, and then the day always changes from there.

How did you discover Intuitive Eating and how do you practice it in your daily life?

Like many people, I struggled with my relationship with food and my body for a while, especially as a teenager. When I finally saw a dietitian for myself in college, I learned that we need to eat all foods in order to be healthy and that healthy eating should be easy. It started me on a journey of understanding that all foods truly can fit into a healthy lifestyle. Over the years, the more comfortable I became with myself and my body, the easier it became to let go of food rules that were – consciously or not – controlling many of my eating decisions. Right now, the way I eat is second nature. I know that I naturally crave nutrient-dense foods like veggies and whole grains. At the same time, I also love chocolate and dessert and make sure to eat some every day. I don’t think too hard about what I eat (unless I need to make the plate pretty to share on Instagram!) and don’t stress about it either. I love eating out and pretty much never cook on the weekends. There are truly days where I don’t eat one vegetable at all. None of this makes me unhealthy, and I know that it’s my diet overall that matters most. It’s a really freeing feeling that I try to teach to all my clients.

What is your
definition of Food Freedom?

Like I mentioned above, food freedom involves not only allowing yourself to eat all foods, but also being able to enjoy them without guilt or thinking twice about it. It’s when you can easily figure out if you’re craving a salad or pasta when out to dinner – and feel satisfied and content with either choice. There’s no black and white or good and bad – it’s when everything easily fits into your diet.

What advice would you give someone on where to start with healing their
relationship with food/finding food freedom?

Start by getting rid of judgement – both on yourself and of food. This is where I start with a lot of my clients too. Knowingly or not, a lot of us classify food as “good” or “bad.” We say things like “I should get the salad,” or “I’m so bad for eating that!” Instead, start to notice when you label foods and behaviors as good or bad and try to slowly stop yourself from doing it. By removing these labels, you’ll start to allow yourself to eat what you want – and not what you “should” have – and also remove some of that guilt associated with eating the “bad” food. No food is good or bad – food is food.

In your practice, where do your clients struggle most with intuitive eating?

A lot of my clients struggle with letting go of control. It’s a common fear that we’ll automatically start to gain weight when we listen to our bodies instead of our food rules. And I get it – when you’ve followed rules most of your life to try to control your body, it’s super scary to think about letting go. I work with clients to slowly let go of some of those rules and control. I can confidently say that pretty much all of my clients feel amazing when they’re able to do that. So many of us have food rules that we don’t even realize we have. Letting go of those rules frees up space to focus on so many other things in life. Our bodies are smart. When we listen to them and eat in a way that feels good both physically and mentally, they’ll go where they’re naturally and healthfully meant to be.

For more resources check out the following:

Sammi’s Ebook: 7 Days to Make All Foods Fit (without guilt)
Sammi’s Cookbook: The Essential Vegetable Cookbook

Four Steps to Food Freedom
8 Steps to Mindful Eating

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Matcha Green Tea Lattes came into my life unexpectedly. Never being one for wellness trends, because of my opinion that following trends is never intuitive, I avoided matcha for a long time. Then on a whim, I shared one with a girlfriend at StoneMill Matcha in San Francisco and I was pleasantly surprised.

I’ve never been a caffeine consumer or a coffee drinker. I always maintained a good, natural energy in the morning and afternoons throughout my 13 year corporate career in banking. I never needed it.  Then I started working for myself three years ago after I quit my corporate job and started my health coaching practice full time. My work became more focused as I practiced time-blocking and chunks of time without breaks dedicated to clients, writing or creating content. So when I had my first matcha out with my girlfriend that day, what I noticed when I went back into work was my calm focus on the tasks at hand. And instead of a jittery energy, it gave me sustained energy.

Matcha tea is a full-bodied green tea when whisked with water. It’s different than tea you find in bags. Matcha tea is select whole tea leaves ground to a very fine powder. Matcha is rich in vitamin C, packed with antioxidants and contains the amino acid L-Theanine which calms the body and promotes alert awareness without headaches or caffeine crashes. Basically, if I want to get shit done for work I’ll make a matcha latte when I need one.

This is the recipe that I always make. I like it because you have the option to make with or without milk. If you happen to be out, you still get the creaminess of the coconut butter and the frothiness from the collagen powder.

Ingredients:
8 oz. boiling water
4 oz. milk of choice (I like using oat milk or cashew milk)
1 tbsp. coconut butter
1 scoop collagen peptides
1/2 to 1 tsp. matcha powder*

(if out of milk, replace with 12 oz. boiling water that has cooled for 5 minutes)

Method:
Add all the ingredients to your blender and blend for 10-15 seconds until frothy. If you don’t want to wake the whole house or neighbors in the morning, you can also blend with a hand frother.

*My favorite matcha powders so far, after trying dozens, have been the following:
MATCHA BAR - from the popular matcha bar, a nice color and flavor
DoMatcha - most mellow flavor, but need a bit more to feel the caffiene.
Ippodo Kannoshiro - the richest in terms of flavor and umami. I love this one.
Matcha Love - cheapest one when you need to save $$

When buying, I recommend looking for organic, ceremonial grade matcha powder that has a bright green color vs. a dull green.

Want more frothy drink recipes? Download my free Breakfast Recipe Book to get my Earl Grey Latte recipe and 10 more amazing breakfast recipes to elevate your morning!

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Confused on how to eat intuitively when healing your gut?

The true definition of intuitive eating is to eat what you want. So how can you eat intuitively if what you want gives you a stomach ache, causes uncomfortable bloat, constipation or embarrassing gas?

To answer this question, we need to rewind it back a bit. Most people who are in pursuit of getting back to the basics of intuitive eating are those who are healing their relationship with food. And typically, this means that at one point in your life, probably for an extended period of time, there was restriction – removal of entire food groups, removal of types of food, food rules, portion control and/or intermittent fasting aka skipping meals.

The reason that this is important to note is that dieting and restriction cause harm to your digestive tract – your stomach, small intestine and large intestine – and the function of digesting your food. What this dysfunction can create is increased constipation, bloating, gas, delayed gastric emptying (gastritis), premature fullness, and disruption or flattening of the villi that line your small intestine which are responsible for this nutrient absorption and creation of digestive secretions to probably break down your food.

Understanding why your gut needs healing is one of the very first steps to actually healing your gut. I see it time and time again where doctors or naturopaths will prescribe a restrictive diet in order to remove the foods that are causing digestive symptoms without first diagnosing any disordered eating that may be present and may be the cause of your gut symptoms. Removing more foods, when there is a history of disordered eating, can instead exacerbate the problem and make it worse. Then what inevitably happens, is feeling like you can never eat “normally” again because of your gut symptoms.

Instead of eliminating more food, the first step is to heal your relationship with food and make peace with your body. You cannot heal your gut until you make peace with food. Disordered eating is way more common that food sensitivities and intolerances.

Intuitive eating is a journey. Knowing what your body wants and craves take time, and also the unwinding of possibly years of dieting, restriction or disordered eating. If you find it hard to eat intuitively because of digestive issues, it is likely because you still have work to do to heal your relationship with food. Also, any time you start adding food back into your diet that you haven’t had in a while, this is going to cause bloat and other digestive symptoms. This is because the food you eat on a daily basis creates the bacteria in your gut. Change the way you eat, and the bacteria changes. Any changes beyond the normal, will cause temporary digestive issues, such as food reintroductions.

 
How to eat intuitively while healing your gut? Work first on making peace with food. Before you do this, eating “what you want” may be guided by factors other than your intuition. Often times, if we have been restricting or adhering to food rules for so long, you crave the foods you don’t allow yourself to have and then when you do have them, they upset your gut which then leads to thinking you need to cut certain foods out. In order to tap into our true cravings, this means allowing all foods to fit and letting temporary gut discomfort that comes with introducing foods back in as we heal.

More things to help:

Download my Four Steps to Food Freedom to help you release food rules to get closer to food freedom.

Schedule a consultation if you are interested in working with me one-on-one. My coaching programs help you to set your own goals to heal your relationship with food. Here is what past clients have to say.

Yesterday I was in line at the grocery store. The line cued right next to the freezer section of ice creams, enticing customers for that “guilty pleasure” to drop into their cart last minute. Two police officers were discussing Halo Top ice cream and what their favorite flavors were. The male cop citing Birthday Cake while the female cop laughed about how she could literally eat half a pint without feeling guilty about it. The guy behind them in line, and in front of me, chimed in and added “but have you tried Bi-Rite Creamery’s ice cream?”

Without knowing it, the man in front of me diverted a conversation about “guilt-free” ice cream to a better suggestion of just eating REAL ice cream - with only full fat milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks. Because it tastes better. And maybe, just maybe, ice cream can be eaten without feeling like it has to be only 280 calories per pint because it is guilt free.

If you were to compare Bi-Rite’s Ice Cream Ingredients, or even Ben and Jerry’s Vanilla to Halo Top’s Ingredients, this paints a different picture of what you are actually eating with added ingredients such as gums and sugar alcohols to lower the calorie count.

Ice cream is supposed to be a treat. Enjoyed on occasion without guilt. Eat the real thing, instead of replacing with a low-calorie version that has been marketing to you “without the guilt.”

Because here is the fact of the matter, when companies market desserts or foods as “guilt-free” this can cause shame when you just want to enjoy the real thing. Shame around food takes the enjoyment out of eating. It places a morality on food - labeling ice cream as either “good” or “bad.” Food should never be moral. Eating food and enjoying dessert when you want it isn’t a moral choice. It’s a personal choice, and one that you should never feel bad about making!

I have seen articles written by the medical community on how to practice guilt free eating and cheat sheets listing foods to eat instead of the dessert you are actually craving. For example, craving ice cream? Blend frozen bananas and eat this instead! Honestly, if you want ice cream, my advice is to actually just have the ice cream. The more banana “nice cream” you eat, the more you may actually wish it was ice cream. The more we deprive, or restrict ourselves from eating sweets that we want, the more we obsess and focus on this food. And then when we inevitably eat real ice cream, we binge on it because we have deprived ourselves of it, which causes feelings of shame. And then feelings of shame are then tied to ice cream, making us feel bad about wanting it whenever we crave it. And the cycle of guilt continues.

This is why “guilt-free” desserts are full of shame. Because banana “nice cream” and Halo Top diet ice cream are marketed to convince us that we can eat “bad” foods without feeling bad about it. When you think about it, this is very twisted marketing. We should have never believed that ice cream, or any dessert, is “bad” in the first place or that banana nice cream is the “good” choice.”

No food should ever be morally better than the other. Because when we label foods this way, we feel guilty or shameful when we eat the “bad” ones.

A reminder that all foods fit.

Need more help finding balance with food and breaking your food rules? Download my Four Steps to Food Freedom guide.

One of my favorite salad combinations is walnuts with beets. There are so many ways you can play around with these two ingredients in a salad. For this recipe I included a bright pop of citrus with grapefruit and added sweetness with a honey balsamic dressing that is so simple to make it’s silly. 

Walnuts are probably one of my favorite nuts because of their nutrient value. Walnuts contain good fats, such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and are also a great source of the essential fatty acid omega-3. They also contain iron, selenium, calcium, zinc, vitamin E and even some B vitamins. Talk about a nutritional powerhouse! 

I am specifically using Diamond of California Walnuts in this recipe because they decrease the risk of heart disease by helping maintain healthy cholesterol levels and decreasing blood pressure*.  Diamond of California Walnuts are an American Heart Association Certified Heart Health Food and have been held to the highest standards of quality and freshness to guarantee a delicious experience. 

Here is how you can create this delicious recipe! I made it vegetarian which makes a delicious lunch or side salad for dinner. You could also add protein such as chicken to create a filling dinner!

1 small roasted beet
1/2 grapefruit, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp. Diamond of California Walnuts, chopped
1/2 avocado, chopped
1 cup butter lettuce 
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar 
1 tbsp. runny honey 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Remove stems from beet. Wrap in foil and bake for 50-60 minutes until you can pierce with a fork. Create your dressing by combining the olive oil, vinegar and honey with a whisk or place ingredients in a mason jar with a lid and shake. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Assemble your salad, drizzle with dressing and enjoy! The flavor combo of this heart healthy salad is insanely delicious.  

*Pulled from California Walnuts website 

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When I make smoothies I follow my simple formula of 3/4 to 1 cup of liquid + 1/2 cup of fruit (or banana) + 1 cup veggies + 1 tbsp. fats + supplements. You can download my current favorite smoothie recipes here. The last piece to any good smoothie are good supplements. These vary from amount to add as well as what exactly the supplement boost is providing - from protein, fibers or added nutrients.

Let’s dive in!

PROTEIN POWDERS
The market for protein powders is a saturated one, mostly with brands and options that include a long list of unrecognizable ingredients, additives, chemicals, sugars and preservatives. For protein powders, I like to keep things simple, preferably with one or just a few ingredients for a chocolate or vanilla flavor when possible.

Here are my favorites that I personally use and rotate through:

Collagen Peptides - I love this supplement for many reasons. One, it is made with one ingredient (check the label of other brands to make sure) and two it has a whole list of benefits from gut healing and tissue repair for post work out thanks to the long list of amino acids.

For plain I like Vital Proteins, Further Food and Ancient Nutrition.

For flavored I like Vital Proteins Dark Chocolate Blackberry, Further Foods Vanilla, Ancient Nutrition Salted Caramel and Primal Kitchen Chocolate.

For another animal based protein, if you like Whey Protein, I strongly recommend buying one where the only ingredient is “grass-fed whey protein” like with this brand.

Vegan Protein

For vegan proteins I recommend sticking with one ingredient proteins like a pea protein or a hemp protein. You can also simply use hemp seeds! 3 tbsp. of hemp seeds = 10g of protein. You can then add a tablespoon of any nut butter to add more protein to your vegan smoothie.

I also love Philosophie Cacao Dream.

FIBER SUPPLEMENTS

I love adding fiber to my smoothies since it can thicken the consistency and also fiber digests slower than fruit and veggies, which keeps you full and satiated longer than just a fruit smoothie which will leave you hungry again about an hour later. Slower digesting foods such as fats and fiber are great for keeping you full until lunch. The first two fiber supplements listed below also contain Omega-3’s for a boost of fat.

1. Ground Flax Seeds. You could also use whole seeds but I find that ground flax seeds blend better. Be aware that these absorb liquid over time, so best to drink after making within the half hour.

2. Chia Seeds. These babies are such a powerhouse of nutrition. Same as flax seeds, they absorb liquid so best to drink within 10-30 minutes as it will thicken your smoothie.

3. Acacia Fiber. A great fiber boost as well!

OTHER SUPPLEMENT BOOSTS

To save on costs, I like to buy in bulk when possible and I don’t dabble in many adaptogenics as they can be expensive and I really don’t understand or notice any benefits of glamorously marketed products like Sex Dust. lol.

Maca Powder
I love this stuff. It adds a great malty taste to smoothies and it gives me a boost of energy when I want it without caffeine. It also can help with hormone-balancing, ask your functional MD about this if you are curious. I like this brand of maca powder.

Spirulina/Chlorella
I love using green powders when I am having an IBS flare and raw vegetables are hard to digest in smoothies. Spirulina and Chlorella are also green powerhouse providing a sh*t ton of nutrients and can draw out toxins from the body. I like this brand to add to smoothies.

Matcha Powder
So much fun to add to a smoothie! I like to add matcha powder to my Tropical Smoothie in my smoothie recipe download. I prefer ceremonial grade matcha powder.

L-Glutamine
Great for gut healing and also if you have been working out new muscles, running longer distances, or get sore after your workouts - it provides muscle recovery and reduces soreness. I use this brand.

Cacao Powder
If you want an amazing chocolate shake, combine 3/4 cup unsweetened nut milk, 1 frozen banana, one date, a handful of frozen cauliflower, 1 tbsp. of cacao powder and two scoops of chocolate collagen. You are welcome. The bomb diggity.

Alright! That rounds out my favorite smoothie supplements but let me know if you have one or a few I should add to my list!!

I suffer from IBS and I am also an Intuitive Eater. Sometimes these can conflict when I am eating what I want and crave in the moment.  Not everything I crave is perfectly nourishing and good for my gut. Intuitive Eating doesn’t work perfectly that way because it is not a diet.

I have learned to give myself grace over the years, and in doing so I can keep my symptoms mostly under control. Recently I enjoyed myself on a trip to Seattle and also for my birthday with more sugar and alcohol than I usually consume which resulted in a flare up of symptoms, aka uncomfortable bloat that is painful and means I can’t wear jeans for a while.  

When this happens, I usually follow these remedies to help heal my gut.

1. No raw veggies or raw nuts. Both of these foods are difficult to digest and will further exacerbate any bloat and IBS symptoms. I stick with just a small amount of nut butter made with roasted nuts (like Georgia Grinders cashew butter, use my code BBM25 for a discount). For veggies I always steam for easier digestion. When I make smoothies, I skip the veggies and instead use spirulina powder. Spirulina feeds healthy intestinal flora for good gut health. 

2. Collagen and Bone Broth. By drinking bone broth you are getting the benefits of the healing properties of collagen and gelatin. When my stomach is upset and I don’t feel like eating a full meal, I heat up 12 – 16 oz. of bone broth and sip it warm. I almost always feel better after drinking bone broth. This is by far the best way to consume collagen in its whole food form, but that can be an expensive habit. This is why I supplement with collagen. You can add to your coffee, matcha tea or smoothie. Collagen contains the amino acids proline and glycine which are the building blocks of your intestinal lining, making it essential in repairing a damaged intestine.

3. Ginger Tea. I like to buy fresh ginger at the super market and grate directly over my mug (about 1 tbsp. equivalent), and then pour hot water over it. Let sit for 10 minutes. The ginger will sink to the bottom so you don’t have to strain. Ginger tea always soothes my tummy and is great for preventing nausea.

4. Slippery Elm. By far my favorite supplement for IBS flare ups, and also for prevention. For the latter I try and stick to taking two capsules daily. During a flare up of symptoms I break open 3 capsules and pour the powder into a mug, adding 2 oz. – 4 oz. of warm water and stirring until combined. Drink on an empty stomach. Slippery Elm coats your intestinal lining for major gut healing.

5. Yoga and Breathwork. Ever notice how there is a lot of twisting of the lower abdomen in yoga? All of these twists do wonders for your intestines and helps to ease things along for going to the bathroom. Yoga also helps with stress and anxiety, as does a good breathwork practice. I love the 4-7-8 breath practice to help calm your sympathetic nervous system as well as breath of fire.

6. Stress and anxiety management. Both of these are directly related to IBS and vice versa. It can be said that Stress and Anxiety trigger IBS as much as the symptoms of IBS can make you stressed and anxious. It can become cyclical in one triggering the other. I recommend seeking professional help to find a routine to help combat stress and anxiety in order to alleviate IBS flare ups. CBD supplements and acupuncture are also great for stress and anxiety management.  

7. Limit alcohol and sugar.  If anything will disrupt your stomach lining, it is sugar and alcohol. I like to consume both of these out of pure enjoyment every once in a while, but during a flare of IBS symptoms I avoid in order to heal.

Woo hoo! Email marketing is one of my favorite topics.

Why you ask?

Since Instagram changed it’s algorithm earlier this year, resulting in a drop in follower growth and engagement, I have been shifting my focus to my email list. By growing and nurturing my subscriber list, I know that I am directly reaching those that want to hear from me, and potentially buy from me. I spend a lot of time creating both my free and paid content, and to scale my business I want to make sure it ends up in the hands of people who want it!

The Instagram algorithm is a crap shoot in terms of any guarantee that your followers see all of your content, most of the time you are only reaching 10% of your audience. Yikes!

I love sending emails to my subscriber list because it goes directly to their inbox, so you know they are seeing it, and if you are delivering amazing content week after week, it is likely that they are opening it!

So how do you grow a list of subscribers who care about and want to read your content?

Here are my 3 steps:

1. Choose a provider: I started with Mail Chimp which offers a free membership when you are just starting out. You can use MailChimp to send out weekly newsletters with template options. I suggest watching a YouTube video on how to do this. I found MailChimp to have a bit of a learning curve. If you are ready to graduated from MailChimp to a platform with more capabilities, I would recommend ConvertKit or Kartra.

2. Send a Weekly Newsletter. Commit to showing up once a week for your subscribers. Use social media to take polls in your stories and ask about the content that they would like to see from you. Use this to build out your newsletter. I would recommend including a template with a few or all of the following:
   • Life update
   • Business update
   • Recipe of the week
   • Product/service offering of the week
   • What’s coming up for you next week
   • Any promotions or sales

3. Create an Opt-In Freebie. Based on the feedback you get from your social media audience or your subscribers on the content they want. Build one or two freebies to offer in exchange for someone’s email address. Offer freebies that tap into your own story and what makes you special. Here are some ideas for freebies that work well:
   • Create a quiz using Interact
   • Host a challenge
   • Shopping/Meal Prep Guide
   • A free chapter of your Ebook
   • Step by Step “how to” Guide

   Place your freebies everywhere: on your social media platforms and on your website. Add a banner to your website. Add pop-ups in your blog. Have a link in your profile in Instagram (you can use LinkTree for multiple links). Talk about freebies in your Instagram Stories. On your Facebook feed. The more places that people can find them, the better! And remember, it is all about giving them something VALUABLE in exchange for their email address. And then sending them valuable weekly content so they stick around ;)