Follow Your Gut
Dive into my best tips for sustainable weight loss, vibrant health, and unstoppable body confidence.
Episode 121: "Fat Burning Foods"... Fact or Fantasy??
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Summary
Raise your hand if you've found yourself foregoing your morning coffee for a cup of hot lemon water or a giant glass of celery juice.
Or if you've ever kept that cup of joe, but added spoonfuls of coconut oil to it.
Or if you've put yourself through the gag-inducing shot of apple cider vinegar before your meals...
All in the name of dropping a few stubborn pounds.
The question is, do these diet tricks belong in the giant book of weight loss hoaxes? Or is there scientific merit to any of these...
Episode 120: Should You Be Eating for Your Metabolic Type?
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Summary
Have you ever heard of the body type diet or the metabolic type diet?
Or maybe you've heard the terms 'ectomorphs', 'endomorphs', or 'mesomorphs' thrown around on social media or in your local gym.
If so, you may have some questions like one of our awesome podcast listeners did, such as: what's the actual science behind it? And is it a useful thing to know and rely on in a better health journey?
So the truth is, in the 40's a psychologist by the name of Doctor William Sheldon came up with the 3...
Episode 119: Breakfast... To Eat Or Not To Eat??
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Summary
There's a lot of conversation (and confusion) about the first meal of the day... breakfast.
For a long time you were told never to skip it.
Now you're told to cut it out completely.
Some argue you need it to rev your metabolism for the day.
Others would say a longer fast means more fat is burned.
What's the truth??
Well if you know me, you probably know my answer is going to be somewhere in the middle and I'm going to say it differs from person to person (I know, I know, I can hear the groan of...
Episode 118: How Do I Know When I'm Hungry/Full??
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Summary
At some point in your life, you've probably heard this piece of weight loss advice: "just eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full."
Hell, I've given that advice many times over to my clients.
Sounds simple enough right?
But what about when it's not?
What if you have a hard time differentiating between true hunger and boredom?
What if 'full' has always meant 'stuffed' for you and you're not sure what you're supposed to feel like after a meal?
I've had many clients in this boat. From...
Episode 117: Does Fruit Make You Fat? Science Says...
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Summary
I can't count how many times in my career I've uttered the words, "No one is fat because of eating bananas."
I actually remember the first time I said it.
I had a client who ate virtually every meal out, who regularly drank 4-5 artificially sweetened ice teas at one sitting, and who was just getting into a workout routine.
They had a solid 60 pounds to lose and when I told them to eat a banana to fuel their workout their response was, "Don't bananas have a lot of sugar??"
Honestly, it hurt my...
Episode 116: Go with the 'Flow': Following Your Cycle for Better Health and Weight Loss
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Summary
This is probably the most embarrassing story I could tell you, and believe me I never thought I would tell a soul, let alone put it out into the world in a podcast episode. But I really think we need to talk about it.
Warning: if you're squeamish (especially about period stories), skip to the 'advice' section of the blog.
It was about a month ago, it was day one of my cycle and I was hurting... bad. I've had cramps that have made me yack before, but nothing came close to what I was experiencing...
Episode 115: The Mediterranean Diet: Where Science and Common Sense Meet
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Summary
I see people arguing over nutrition research all the time. This study says keto is the best, this study says paleo’s the best, this study says vegan’s the best. But here’s the thing, research and the experts behind it can be skewed, biased, and outdated.
How many times have we proven old diets wrong that were once strongly supported by hundreds of studies (the era of ‘fat makes you fat’ comes to mind)?
Look at the fact that most researchers don’t want to use women to test their...
Episode 114: How We Heal from Trauma (With or Without a Therapist)
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Summary
The last 2 weeks we've talked about how trauma affects the brain (giving you an external locus of control, reduced impulse control, and impaired memory) and how trauma affects the body (reduced metabolism, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, just to name a few).
And after hearing all that, you may be feeling a bit hopeless, wondering if your past trauma is going to define and limit the possibilities for your future.
It isn't. Not if you're willing to do the work.
Now before you click away thinking 'the...
Episode 113: How Trauma Affects the Body (Hint: Yes It Can Influence Your Weight)
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Summary
My narcissistic relationship triggered my autoimmune disease.
Yes there were certainly other factors at play: diet, genetics, birth control.
But for years I couldn't speak my mind for fear of retribution. For years I was on high alert, unsure what would set him off. For years I felt like I was crazy, having every word twisted and turned against me.
My body's defenses were chronically waging war against the ever-present emotional threat and eventually turned on me, attacking my own thyroid...
Episode 112: How Trauma Affects Your Brain (Willpower May Not Be Your Problem After All)
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Summary
For years I've said that the negative emotions and experiences we don't process and release get stored in the body. Sometimes as fat, sometimes as illness, sometimes as injury.
It always sounded 'woo woo' when it came out of my mouth, but finally I've discovered a book that scientifically backs up this intuition.
'The Body Keeps the Score' by Bessel Van Der KolK, MD, is one of the most comprehensive books I've ever read on trauma, how it affects the brain and body, and how to heal...
