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.  

The joys of summer are finally here!

This is the time to pay attention to your magnesium levels as we spend time in the sun playing and sweating.

I like to rev up my magnesium during the summer months as the loss of electrolytes can disrupt magnesium stores and can cause adrenal fatigue if left unchecked.

I live in Northern California in a coastal town surrounded by vineyards and pot farms. Most people who live in the “Emerald Triangle” have been steeped in the medicinal properties of cannabis for decades now, but truth be told, the medicinal use of cannabis predates recorded history.

I am not a cannabis user; however, I jumped onto the CBD bandwagon after I experienced the profound anti-inflammatory, sleep-inducing, and pain relieving herbal compound for myself. But don’t take my word for it, the CBD industry reported 518 million dollars in 2018 and is projected to reach 22 billion dollars by 2022. It is quite clear that with the legalization of cannabis across the US, this plant is going to continue to grow in its popularity and its medicinal uses are likely to expand exponentially as well.

With another two fires raging in California, the air pollution from the fires in Northern California is at an all time high. Some reports claim that the air quality in Northern California is the worst in the world at this time.

I just returned from two days in San Francisco with my daughter and the smog was so bad that it literally burned the throat and eyes. Both my daughter and her friend came back with hacking coughs and sore throats.

After this recent experience in the city, I left extremely concerned about those will be dealing with long term effects from the smoke inhalation of the debree from the destruction of the fires. Even with the new falling rain, its important to remain diligent with ones health and put in proper measures to ensure your body is detoxifying properly.

Did you know that you have

a wandering nerve in your body that is

the boss of your nervous system?

Did you know that inflammation, and the ability to bond, and go to the bathroom is directly influenced by this nerve function?

In functional medicine, research now shows that this nerve may be a missing link to treating chronic inflammation, and new medical technologies are creating a field of treatment using vagal nerve stimulation that leaves the use of medication in the dust. 

Flu season is like the energizer bunny,

it keeps going and going.

I’m finding that along with the spring rain comes a new deluge of viral and bacterial illnesses. As a parent with three children in school, our family get an extra large dosage of germs so I have to be diligent in supporting my families immunity from winter through the spring.

Healthy steroid hormones make a healthy happy body. Just ask anyone who is exhausted, looking to shed some resistant weight and reboot their sex drive... are their hormones happy? Probably not. Growth, reproduction, sleep and energy production are all byproducts of steroid hormone production. When the body is strong and healthy, it is likely that hormones are balanced and working for you. When our bodies go out of balance from influences such as too much stress, chemicals in the environment and poor nutrition, symptoms such as weight issues, adrenal dysfunction, PMS, estrogen dominance, thyroid issues, dwindling sex drive and sleep problems can wreak havoc on your life. The art of keeping your hormones balanced with nutrition and detoxification support is of utmost importance in this day and age. As we become more adept at biohacking our bodies physiology for better health, not only is it possible to change our chemistry, it will ultimately support a better quality of life as we age.

After completing a year long training in Holistic Nutrition Labs for Full Body Systems with Andrea Nakayama, I decided to take my hormone health into my own hands and took part in my first hormone detox training program offered through the reproductive holistic nutrition lab program.

Due to the fact that hormonal imbalance is extremely common in this day and age with both women and men, I wanted to share my experience in hope that it might benefit others.

 Some of the most common signs of hormone imbalance include: PMS, fatigue, acne, weight gain, irregular periods, mood swings, night sweats, blood sugar imbalances, thyroid disorders, infertility, hair loss, brain fog, etc. These are issues that can start at any point sometimes as early as puberty and continue all the way through life when left unaddressed.

In this day and age most people operate at full speed on all cylinders from morning until night.

The momentum needed to keep everything going as we work and raise families can leave us “wired and tired”.

As a result, the circadian rhythm that governs the natural cycles of the body can go awry. One of the end results of this tail spin can show up in our sleep patterns. So its not surprising that when it comes to decompressing at night time, nearly 1/3 of Americans are sleep deprived. That means they struggle to get to sleep, stay asleep and wake up refreshed.

Growing up in the woods of Northern California I have had the great privilege of experiencing mushrooms growing in the wild and as a result I developed a deep appreciation for these intelligent life forms. Despite the fact that mushrooms have been used for thousands of years both as food and as medicine, mushrooms have an illusive nature perhaps due to the powerful qualities of medicine that they carry as well as the way they grow and exist in nature.

As an essential component of the “soil food web”, fungi break down decomposing matter to provide nourishment for organisms in the soil biome to feed on. The balance fungi brings to an ecosystem is akin to how its medicinal qualities work in the human body. When used for enhancing the health of the body, medicinal mushrooms are best known for their immunomodulating, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral properties.

As our seasons change from winter to spring, so do the internal mechanisms of our body. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as spring brings cleansing rain to encourage new blossoms and green grown to occur, inside the body, the liver becomes more active and needs extra support and nourishment as well.

This makes spring an excellent time to “clean house” and give your liver some added support. I am personally taking this time to pay attention and support my liver and I can honestly tell you that the benefits are enormous! It clears the eyes, the skin and my body simply feels more resilient.

My personal quest and question for the past 8 years has been: 

“How can I master my own health?”

After resurfacing from the dark depths of imbalance I find myself constantly striving to meet a new standard for radiant health that continues to awaken in me higher and higher levels of energy and stamina.

Ultimately, I believe that we are wired for mastery and there are tools available for us that can help us at every turn. One such tool that I feel compelled to share was brought to my attention while I was participating in the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition program. At that time, I had the opportunity to run and study markers as well as the results of the spectracell micronutrient test to get a thorough assessment of my nutritional status.

The first time I heard about ozone therapy was while I was taking a workshop at the Four Winds Society in LA. It was during a period of time when I was at the lowest point I can remember physically. Determined to find deeper keys to unlock my healing potential, I decided to embark on a workshop in shamanic light body training taught by Alberto Villoldo. I enrolled with about 250 other healers of different sorts. In this huge hall filled with people, I happened to be sitting next to a man wielding a very high quality low lever laser. As fate should have it, I ended up partnering up for an exercise with this guy, the renowned biohacker Dave Asprey, founder of the bulletproof executive website. Without being privy to any knowledge of his experience in the realm of biohacking, he casually shared with me that he had healed from Lyme disease using ozone. It is worth mentioning that at the time I had no idea why I felt so awful.

I have been using PEMF on my family as well as my clients for almost 5 years now. It is a tool that I have used personally for pain relief and to support the healing process of the body. This technology is still new to people in the states although it has been used in hospitals all over Europe for decades now and the research on PEMF is quite frankly, astounding.

Pulsed electromagnetic frequency therapy uses low earth based frequencies to stimulate a potassium pump in the cell walls. The cells respond by increasing the oxygen to activate and regenerate cells. This therapy can produce stunning regenerative effects because these magnetic fields result in cells generating so much naturally derived energy that they are able to repair themselves. 

I recently attended David Wolfes Longevity Now conference. This is an event put on by, none other than, nutrition guru David Wolfe. The diverse range of guest speakers are dedicated to sharing new and innovative research in the field of health. While sitting in the audience I couldn’t help but key into a buzzword that was mentioned by many of the different speakers. The word was biofeedback. I also found myself especially drawn to the research shared by Dr Sara Gottfried on Heartmath. This company has created biofeedback tools which allow anyone using the device to gain a window into both their hearts and brains in order to self manage their stress response. This is done by monitoring their heart rate variability. Heart rate variability (HRV) is defined as the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats.  It is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval.

Sweating doesn’t come naturally to me. My body runs cold and it usually takes about 30 minutes in a 130 degree infrared sauna for my body to turn on the water works. But that is precisely why I own a sauna and use it religiously. When one of my children tested positive for heavy metals, we decided to invest in an Thermal Life infrared sauna that was designed specifically for detoxification. It has since become our “womb room” and has been a key player in keeping my elimination channels flowing.

Some people wrinkle their noses at detoxification methods like saunas, especially if they are not feeling well to begin with... yes, you have to really ease into the temperatures gradually and you do get really sweaty but you reap amazing health benefits.