We are over six weeks into the COVID 19 quarantine. I have been home with my three kids, managing my business online in a time warp that feels endless. During this time, our normal patterns of life have been severely disrupted. Our sleep wake cycles have been dramatically altered. We are staying up late and getting up even later. The transition to online school has caused screentime to increase by 80% easily even though we live in nature and are free to spend time outside. Eating and snacking habits are also off. We eat later in the day and snacking is more frequent.

Feedback from clients indicates that they are experiencing similar circumstances. Common complaints include insomnia, excessive sugar and carb intake, and a increase in the use of alcohol and other mood altering substances.  Mood issues such as anxiety, loneliness and depression are a common theme. As a result weight gain and lethargy are becoming more of a concern than before.

As the COVID 19 crisis unfurls, I have been paying close attention to the research and words of advice from  a few well respected functional medicine doctors in the field. 

Recently I watched Dr Ben Lynch, an author and well known methylation and nutrigenomics specialist, loose his cool in a video he put out on social media pertaining to why so many older people are dying of COVID 19. Dr Ben Lynch emphatically stated that one of the main reasons why both people with fragile immune systems and older people seem to be getting sicker is tied to the inability to regulate pro-inflammatory chemicals or cytokines. This is especially evident with the COVID 19 pandemic and its effects on the lungs.

Have you endured a deep level of emotional or physical stress for a long period of time? Has it affected your mental or physical health? Have those stressors left you feeling depleted and exhausted?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, I wrote this blog for you. Actually, I wrote it for me also, as a reminder that we all fall off the self-care wagon from time to time.

I feel like a broken record when I say most of us are living our lives at an unsustainable speed, in a world that does not encourage rest and homeostasis. I see it on a daily basis in my practice. We are working longer hours, not getting enough sleep, eating food that is over processed and devoid of nutrients, often while caring for others when we are not at work. Without proper self-care, this level of stress alone is a burden to the body that will leave us exhausted and strained. If the universe adds on a double whammy in the form of a job change, divorce, injury, death of a loved one, etc., you better believe that you are going to need some serious self nurturing to keep your super human head above water!

 Your gut is your gateway to

health or illness and what you put

in your body is the key.

You house an incredible 25 feet of intestines! This is where you absorb your nutrients from food, make your feel good neurotransmitters and where a vast network of immune cells and nerve cells reside. When your gut isn’t working properly, it affects every system in the body from your brain to your hormones and immune system.