Hi friends! Happy weekend! What do you have going on? We have an event for the girls’ school and I’m looking forward to teaching barre and hopefully catching a hike. The weather has been a dream this week! I’d love to hear what you’re up to. I also wanted to add a little note that I’m praying for safety for my friends in Hurricane Ian’s path. <3
It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.
A random note: I ended up canceling our fall break trip to NYC. We have a lot of reasons for deciding to postpone the trip, but decided we’d rather do a Disney cruise in the new year instead. When I told the kids, they were SO pumped, so I know we made the right choice! I’m also kind of glad that fall break will be more low-key, especially since we’re heading into the Pilot’s birthday, P’s birthday, Halloween, my birthday and a wedding, Thanksgiving through the New Year into Liv’s birthday. It’s all fun stuff – my fave time of year- but it can definitely be a lot. Do you have any upcoming trips planned?
Family dinner at Calle Tepa is always a winner. I feel like it’s one of the most underrated Mexican spots in Tucson; it’s been a go-to for years.
Fashion + beauty:
If you’ve been wanting to take advantage of the 30% off for new Beautycounter clients, it ends tonight! The discount will go back down to 20% on the 1st. Click here and use the code CLEANFORALL30. I highly recommend the All Bright C serum, AHA mask, color intense lipstick, charcoal mask, and supreme cream.
Got these Chelsea boots on sale at Nordstrom. I think they’ll be super cute with skirts, dresses, and leggings. (Still not sure how I feel about these with jeans…I’m not on board with the wide leg/baggy trend.)
I FINALLY created my Amazon storefront. I’m going to be adding in goodies this weekend – fashion, fitness, and for the kids is already available – and will also post more holiday gift ideas here. Check it out!
If you find yourself responding by “stress eating,” know that you are not alone.
One of the top issues faced by clients in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program is emotional or stress eating. It actually seems to increase in occurrence year over year.
Today, we’re going to show you exactly how we address emotional eating with our clients, including when it’s – GASP – actually okay to stress eat.
Justin covers three important lessons I want to highlight, but before we do that, we should ask ourselves a question:
“What exactly is stress eating?”
Stress eating is consuming food in response to negative emotions like fear, anger, or sadness.
When we stress eat, food is being used to solve a problem. Now, unless we’re actually hungry, it’s likely a problem that food itself isn’t meant to solve.
That’s stress or emotional eating.
Here’s what compounds the whole problem:stress eating itself can make us feel guilty. We often feel terrible once our spoon hits the bottom of the pint of ice cream.
This can drive more negative emotions, which can trigger evenMOREstress eating.
And the pattern continues.
We’ll talk about ways to break this cycle in a moment, but before we do, we need to create some tools to identify it in the first place.
What Causes Stress Eating? (Lesson #1: Playing Detective)
You may have been surprised in our video above when Coach Justin gives permission to stress eat.
Counterintuitive and seemingly counterproductive, I know. But this is going to be important fortworeasons.
How to Approach Stress Eating:
Step #1: we need to curb the guilty feelings about stress or emotional eating.
I started this guide off by highlighting the frequency of stress eating amongst our Online Coaching clients.
You are not the only one struggling with this.
Most humans do.
And robots with human-like emotions and taste buds
We’ll come back to this idea again, because ending the shame of emotional eating will be critical for moving forward.
Step #2: allowing ourselves to stress eat will help us learnwhywe do it.
We’re going to be playing detective here, to see if we can piece apart your actions and routines.
At the end of the day, our lives are a cumulation of habits. Stress eating is one such habit.
So let’s learn about it!
To do so, we’re gonna record someEmotional Eating Notes.
During an episode of stress eating, it’s important to ask:
What am I doing?
What am I feeling? (Both physically and emotionally)
What am I thinking about?
What time is it?
Where am I?
Who am I with?
Also, gauging these at different times can be helpful too.
How is your stress looking:
An hour or two before the eating episode?
Right before it?
During it?
Right after it?
The purpose of theseEmotional Eating Notes?
Look for patterns!
Perhaps you’ll notice some of the following:
“After my recent Tuesday morning conference call, when I got grilled by my company’s leadership, I grabbed some chocolate chip cookies. This happened the week before too.”
“Around 2pm, when I get the ‘afternoon slumps,’ I normally grab a Coca-Cola. This little boost gets me through the end of the day. This is almost a daily practice.”
“Last Sunday evening, when thinking about the start of the work week, I had a couple of glasses of wine. When looking back at my notes, this takes place at the end of most weekends.”
We’re looking for patterns to help us understand what drives our stress eating.
The most important thing about this process: withholding judgment.
We’re looking at our notes for clues into our psyche. Whatever we captured is okay.
If you order pizza every Thursday after talking with your overbearing mom (of course, she means well), step one is to recognize it.
Oftentimes, this awareness step alone can help shift behavior. “Oh, I’m reaching for a beer like I normally do after ending my workday. Typical Me.”
After creating some notes on what spurs our emotional eating, it’s time to think about some alternatives for coping with stress.
How Do I Stop Mindless Eating? (Lesson #2: The Stress Response Menu)
After documenting what sets off our stress eating, we need to formulate a plan on what to do when our anxiety rises.
That means it’s time to build…a Stress Response Menu!
Our Stress Response Menu will be a list of actions or activities you can do to de-stress outside of eating.
Ideally, you’ll do them before an eating episode, but they can be done during or after the fact too.
In other words, if you only realized you were stress eating when your hand reaches the bottom of the Doritos bag, no problem, you can do your stress response activity right then.
The purpose of the Stress Response Menu is to reward yourself with a small moment of self-love, whenever your anxiety levels are too much.
Examples for a Stress Response Menu:
Close your eyes and take five deep breaths (Coach Justin’s go-to move)
Just make sure it’s something you won’tdreaddoing.
A combination of a “de-stressor” and a “reward.”
This is important, as Coach Justin mentions that many of his clientsonlyreward themselves with food.The self-love they practice only takes place in the kitchen.
Our menu above will help us develop some more options, not solely based on food.
To make the most of your Stress Response Menu:
#1) Make the activities short and easy.
You should feel confident that you can do every item on your list. So avoid activities that will take longer than 10 minutes to complete.
If you’re going to journal when stressed, keep your diary open on your work desk.
If you’re going to drink water before any emotional eating, keep your full glass near you.
If you’re going to take a short walk, keep your kicks near the door.
Don’t set yourself up for failure by picking overly complicated or burdensome activities.
#2) Place your Stress Response Menu somewhere visible.
Once you make your list, print it out and place it in your kitchen or pantry (or wherever you typically stress eat).
You could also write out a couple of your favorite activities and attach them to your refrigerator.
If it’s right in front of you, it’ll be harder to ignore (however, it’s okay to ignore it from time to time, as we aren’t striving for perfection).
Just please don’t write it and then stick the list in the junk drawer that opens to another dimension.
You never can find anything in that drawer.
#3)Track your usage of the Stress Response Menu.
This will help us in two ways:
First, by tracking your usage, you’ll start to feel better about using the SRM. You’ll see an accumulation of all the times you successfully deployed a stress response, helping you visualize the momentum you’re building.
Second, the data will help you understand your patterns of emotional eating. Maybe five deep breaths steered you away from ice cream but the large glass of water did not. You can then use this information to update and revise your response plan.
For the first point, Coach Justin has his clients keep a “Jar of Awesome.”
Every time they have a small win in the day, like taking five deep breaths instead of chugging soda, they place a marble or small token in a jar. After a while, the jar will have a decent amount of marbles or “small wins” in it.
This will then stand as a visual reminder of all the progress being made, proof of their ongoing wins.
How Common Is Stress Eating? (Lesson #3: Learning Self-Compassion)
The American Psychological Association has found that about a third of Americans respond to stress with food.[1]
This research was done BEFORE the global pandemic.
If you find yourself binging in response to stress, know that you are not alone here.
Heck, both clients and NF Coaches turn to food and alcohol for comfort every now and again.
Personally, somewhat recently I mindlessly devoured an entire tub of Animal Crackers after a stressful week. It was only when the bag was gone did I understand what just happened.
So yep, many of us (even fitness “experts”) are prone to stress eating.
Now, don’t take this as a free pass to stress eat.
If the behavior goes against your goals, it’s something we want to work towards improving.
But there’s a reason they call it “comfort food.” Food can often be used to make us happier.
At the end of the day, we’re all emotional bags of meat on this floating hunk of space rock, and we’re doing the best we can.
Give yourself a bit of a break, my friend.
You’re here, you’re reading, and you’re trying. That’s great!
This will bring me to my last point with our handy guide:
Is It Okay to Stress Eat? (Next Steps)
There are times when food is the perfect response to stress.
It’s something Coach Justin mentions in his video.
“Stress eating” might be appropriate if:
After a long workday, a glass of wine with cheese helps you unwind.
To celebrate the coming of the weekend, you have an ice cream party on Friday night.
The week already seems long, and it just started, “Taco Tuesday” might help you survive until Friday.
The important thing here?
“We are making a choice.”
We are choosing to deal with stress or anxiety with food. By making it an intentional activity, we can remove the guilt around emotional eating.
Food can be fine as a reward, as long as it’s us controlling the behavior, and not the food itself.
In addition, if we can recognize the action (or plan for it), we can then adjust our calories before and after and not go off the rails.
If it seems like you aren’t quite there yet, start with your Emotional Eating Notes and your Stress Response Menu.
Even just the process of taking notes on specific episodes of stress eating may be enough to slow down the behavior.
Remember, no matter what happens:
You are not a bad person if you stress eat.
You are not a bad person if you forget to take notes.
You are not a bad person if you ignore your Stress Response Menu.
You are not a bad person (unless you’re a Death Eater, but come on, you know what side you’re on).
If you need any help along the way, we are here for you.
We have three specific paths to continue with Nerd Fitness:
#1) Our Online Coaching program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.
As I said before, “stress eating” is the number one issue faced by our coaching clients, so we know exactly how to help recognize and address the habit.
You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you:
#2) If you want an exact blueprint for leveling up your nutrition, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
If you follow our Mindset missions, you’ll learn to de-stress while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Join the Rebellion!We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get ourRebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out at home” guides, the Nerd Fitness Diet Cheat Sheet, and much more!
Get your Nerd Fitness Starter Kit
The 15 mistakes you don’t want to make.
Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.
Complete and track your first workout today, no gym required.
Alright, I want to hear from you:
Have you been stress eating more over the last year?
Do you have any tips or tricks to interrupt the pattern?
Hi friends! Happy Thursday! I have a new podcast episode and can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this one.
Today, I’m chatting with Lisa Moskovitz, RD, all about quieting the diet noise and why diets don’t work.
Here’s what we talk about on today’s episode:
How to quiet the diet noise: how become a more confident, autonomous, and intuitive eater, and improve your relationship with food
How to move the needle towards fitness and weight loss goals in a healthy way
Why diets don’t work: how they actually bring you further away from finding your healthiest, happiest weight
How diets impact your metabolism
Her tips for being Healthy in Real Life
and so.much.more.
I LOVED today’s conversation and hope that you’ll take a listen!
111: Why diets don’t work with Lisa Moskovitz, RD
Here’s a bit more about Lisa and her background:
Lisa Moskovitz, RD, is a registered dietitian, the CEO of NY Nutrition Group, a large group nutrition practice and the author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan, a personalized, science-based guide to finding your healthiest, happiest weight. She received a BS in nutrition from Syracuse University and then went on to complete an intensive dietetic internship at NYPresbyterian Hospital. Since then, she has accumulated over a decade of experience in private practice, providing nutrition workshops and working with the media. Lisa is regularly featured in major publications such as Well + Good, Eat This Not That, Yahoo Health and is often interviewed for popular news channels such as Fox 5 NY, CBS News and Inside Edition.
I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.
Get 15% off Organifi with the code FITNESSISTA. I drink the green juice, red juice, gold, and Harmony! (Each day I might have something different, or have two different things. Everything I’ve tried is amazing.)
The weather is cooling down, and I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. It feels even BETTER when it’s chilly outside and you can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off! This is one of my favorite ways to relax and sweat it out. I find that it energizes me, helps with aches and pains, I sleep better on the days I use this, and it makes my skin glow. Link to check it out here. You can also use my discount for the PEMF Go Mat, which I use every day!
If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission.
Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support with the podcast! Please be sure to subscribe, and leave a rating or review if you enjoyed this episode. If you leave a rating, head to this page and you’ll get a little “thank you” gift from me to you.
Sharing some tips for easy meal planning for the busy moms out there + a template you can use.
Hi friends! How’s the day going so far? I hope you’re having a good morning! I’m getting things ready for Fit Team (join us here and get your new workouts on the 28th!) and have a podcast interview later today. Thank you so much for letting me know that you enjoy the old school more conversational type blog posts. I will definitely add them more frequently into the content rotation.
For today post, I wanted to chat a bit about meal planning because it is SAVIN.OUR.BACON right now. (Time-wise and money-wise!) We are in the thick of evening activities and events, and if I don’t know what we’re going to eat, it leads to random hodge lodge meals or takeout. It’s absolutely worth sitting down each week to plan our meals (at least our dinners) and making a list for one big grocery stop.
Taking some time to meal plan each week takes the guesswork and last-minute dinner stress out of the equation, and is a great way to save time, money and effort. Planning, preparing, and cooking healthy meals takes time, and meal planning in advance can help us make healthy meals for the family on a more consistent basis. It also maximizes trips to the grocery story and makes mom life a bit easier overall! I figured it was time I dedicated a post on practical meal planning for my busy mom friends out there.
Easy Meal Planning For Busy Moms
Setting aside time to make a weekly meal plan
Set aside 30 minutes or so each weekend to create your plan for the week. For us, dinners are the most important, but I also have an idea of what I’m going to pack in the girls’ lunches and make for breakfasts. Plan out as many meals as you’d like for the week, emphasizing dinner and weekly staples.
Create a master list
After you’ve planned out your meals, make a master grocery list including all of the ingredients. Take inventory of your pantry and fridge to avoid buying duplicates, unless you like having backups on hand.
Keep track of meals that work
If you find a meal that’s a home run for the family, hold it in your heart FOREVER. Until you make it again and they don’t like it the next time? (Kids can be a mystery sometimes, I tell ya.) I keep a running cheatsheet in my phone of meals the kids have really loved and will come back to them. We also have some staple dishes (like the ones in this post) that I know will always be a hit.
Asking help from family members
I like to ask the kids if there’s anything they’d like to have the following week and use their suggestions when I craft my list. I’ll also put a few cookbooks on the table for them to choose recipes that look good to them. Sometimes they surprise me with their selections and I love that helps to shake things up and prevent dinner ruts.
Create meal plans from items you have on hand
Before I start our meal plan for the week, I’ll think about any items I have on hand that I’d like to use. For example, we might have meat from ButcherBox or veggies from the garden that I want to use. I’ll search for recipes from my fave sources using these ingredients.
Creating themes on some days
This is huge if you have a schedule with extra-curricular and after-school activities that end up being around dinnertime. On soccer nights, I’ll specifically plan Instant Pot or slow cooker meals that can be ready quickly or already waiting for us. If we’re going to be home later that evening, I’ll choose meals that I can prep earlier in the day.
Bulk cooking
I’m a huge fan of making anything in bulk or doubling recipes, so we’re able to freeze or use leftovers later. I prefer to cook certain things only once per week, so if I know we’re having rice two times, I’ll make a large batch and save half of it. I’m also a huge fan of eating dinner leftovers for breakfast or lunch the following day, so it makes planning my lunches a little easier.
Order staples and faves online
This really streamlines the meal planning process for us, because usually I have meat and pantry essentials on hand. I order almost all of our meat from ButcherBox and I get most of our pantry staples from Thrive Market. (<— both of those links get you a discount if you decide to try it out! Thrive is 40% off your first order and ButcherBox is currently 30% off + free chicken for a year.)
This way, I only have to get fresh ingredients at the store, eggs, and dairy. Because Thrive Market and ButcherBox are significantly less expensive than grocery stores’ current prices, we save a lot of money by doing it this way. I also like shopping at Costco for any of our favorite brands they carry (like Rao’s pasta sauce, salad kids, organic veggies and berries, salsa, avocado oil, syrup, and almond butter).
Prep protein or anything you can in advance
I like to wash fresh fruit and veggies, chop anything I can for dinners and easy snacking, and prep a couple of protein staples. I’ll usually boil eggs and smoke chicken for the week. Anything you can do you set yourself up for advance: do it. I also like to mention that if you’re able to splurge on more convenience items that will make your life easier (like chicken that is already cooked and cut into pieces), do what you need to do to set yourself up for success.
Use a meal planning template
This helps a ton if you’re going to plan out meals for the week! Simply print, add in your meals, and write out your grocery list on the opposite side.
Free Weekly Meal Plan For Busy Moms
Here is a free weekly template I created for meal planning. If you need more help, enter your email address here and I’ll send you a free copy of meal prep blueprint! It has my exact strategy for meal planning, along with some new recipes.
Here’s a sample week of eats if you’re looking for ideas!
Hi friends! How was the weekend? I hope you had an amazing one. This blog post is a way to bring it back old school and share some more real-life adventures. Quite a few of you let me know that you missed the style of blogging from the past (I do, too!) so I’m trying to do it in a way that’s low-key and still focused on my experience, instead of the kids’ experience if that makes sense? It can be tricky because the kids are obviously a huge part of my life (and by far the most exciting and such an enjoyable part of my life). I’m still trying to navigate blogging in a way that feels authentic to me without overdoing it on kid content, while continuing to create value-driven posts, too.
If you guys enjoy this and want more everyday-style posts, let me know!
This weekend was a wild one and packed with so many fun adventures. Friday night, we went to a local fall festival with the fam. My dad, stepmom, aunt, cousins, Kyle and Meg, and their kiddos were all there.
We also ran into so many familiar faces that evening! Tucson is a small world, but feels smaller the longer we stay here.
BEFORE fall festival, the Pilot took P to a birthday party while I took Liv to dance, so P had double fun times. The kids played in the obstacle courses, got their faces painted, did the cake walk and bingo thing, and it was a blast.
Saturday morning, P had a soccer game, I took care of some work stuff and chores, and then one of Liv’s best friends came over for a sleepover.
We took the crew to sushi at Ginza,
(dress is here! Heads up that it runs big, so if you’re in between sizes, I’d size down)
and then picked up one of P’s friends so she would have a buddy, too. We headed to the mall, where the younger kids hit up the giant arcade with the Pilot, the older girls and I went to Claire’s and got boba teas.
We made it back to the arcade for some motorcycle races, Dance Dance Revolution, and then grabbed ice cream before P’s friend went home.
(they’re 10 and way cooler than I’ll ever be)
Sleepover breakfast was crepes! I hadn’t made them in years, but used this recipe (added a little vanilla to it) and they came out really well! The kids loved building their own crepes with bananas, strawberries, Nutella, marshmallow fluff, and we served everything up with crispy bacon, hash browns, and orange juice.
Later that afternoon, we saw Lion King at Centennial Hall! TBH I tend to feel a little meh about Lion King (I think I just overdid it from watching the movie 1800 times in the 90s with my JTT obsession), but the live production is so different. The costumes are set design are truly breathtaking, and we all loved it.
Also worth noting that Broadway in Tucson has STEPPED UP their theatre snack and drinks game. They had charcuterie boxes, hummus and veggie boxes, chocolate gummy worm pudding for the kids, wine, beer, giant cookies — 10/10 recommend a snack stop if you’re seeing a show.
Sunday night dinner was filet with asparagus, homemade sourdough, salad kit (we’re fans of the dill pickle salad kid from Whole Foods), and a little wine to cap off the weekend.
I ended up taking Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off from the gym, so I’m feeling refreshed and ready to get back into my workout mojo this week. If you want to join us for Fit Team, the link is here! New workouts go out on Wednesday and I’m filming a new mobility workout for the platform this afternoon.
I hope you have a happy Monday and I’ll see ya soon!
What was the highlight of your weekend? Any fun sleepover breakfast ideas? I usually do pancakes, but crepes were a good way to switch things up.
Before I head into the usual Friday Faves post, I wanted to send a huge hug and thank you to all of you for your wonderful messages, emails, texts, and comments about saying goodbye to sweet Caro. All of your lovely messages lifted us up during a hard week. I hope you know how much we appreciate you.
While I was heartbroken over everything, I feel a sense of peace this week that she’s pain-free and hanging out with Bella and my Tata Gene.
What do you have going on this weekend? It’s going to be a fun one over here. P has a birthday party, we’re headed to a fall festival, Liv’s friend is sleeping over, and we’re seeing Lion King. Whew! Packed as much fun as possible into the weekend. 🙂 I hope you have a great one ahead, too.
A bright spot in the week: seeing Michael Bublé for the second time! The last time I saw him in concert was 2019, and it was a DREAM to see him again on Tuesday night. Madre watched the kiddos and the Pilot and I headed up to Phoenix for dinner and the show. It was everything. He’s so incredibly talented, the musicians were incredible, and I LOVED his backup singers/dancers. They were up there killin’ it the entire time.
Naturally, I screamed my face off and croaked all day on Wednesday. It was worth it and 10/10 will do it again.
We had amazing seats! Also, there was a woman in the audience who has been to 52 of his shows! GOALS.
It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.
The All Bright C serum. It makes a huge difference in my skin tone, and can help to protect from further damage.
Our new reflect effect mask! Its bouncy gel formula features a hardworking blend of chemical and physical exfoliants: AHA glycolic acid and bamboo particles for added exfoliation, plus hydration boosting saccharide isomerate to soothe skin.
If you’re going to spend at least $50, I recommend joining Band of Beauty. It’s $29 for the year and you get a free gift for joining (the charcoal mask and overnight peel), free shipping on orders over $100 and 10% back in product credit that you can use right away.
This cute dress! It’s a little summery but so is our weather (100+ this week), so I’m rolling with it.
I’ve been looking for a lower heeled sandal to wear with jeans and dresses, so I picked these ones. They should be here today – I’ll report back.
Fitness + good eats:
If you’ve been feeling blah about your routine, confused about how often to train which muscle group, and like you need some community support as we head into October, join us for Fit Team! You’ll get instant access to our September workouts and all of the bonuses (recipes, playlists, live call recordings) and the new October workouts + our Healthy Girl Fall challenge will arrive in your inbox next Wednesday!
You’re getting all of your fitness programming done for you (you just have to put in the work!) and have access to a Women’s Fitness Specialist, certified Personal Trainer, and Integrative Health Practitioner (meeee) at your fingertips, crafting your programming and here to support you along the way.
I’m writing this post with tears streaming down my cheeks and the biggest knot in my stomach… because sweet Caroline is gone.
She crossed the rainbow bridge on Monday, and devastated is an understatement. She hasn’t been doing well for a couple of years – she’d have a rough week and always seem to pull through – but knowing that it was coming didn’t make it any easier. In some ways, it’s made it even harder and more heartbreaking.
We got Caroline from a Cavalier Kings Charles rescue when Liv was a toddler. We drove to Phoenix, where they had multiple cavaliers running around from the puppy mill in Arkansas that had been shut down, and Caroline was the one Liv had to have. She was the smallest, most timid one, hiding in the corner, shaking.
“Are you sure you want this one?”
“Yes, I want this one.”
We drove her home and gave her lots of snuggles and food. For the first year or so, she remained timid, yet extremely sweet (even while receiving some occasional harassment from Bella). When we adopted Caroline, she was used to doing everything in a crate outside: it’s where she ate, did her business, and also birthed multiple rounds of puppies, as she was a young mama dog for the puppy mill.
When we brought her home, she had never walked on grass.
While she was still recovering from everything she endured, we quickly learned about Caro and her two favorite things: sleep and belly rubs. The girl could snore, too. She had the loudest, most satisfying snores, and it made my heart happy that she was able to fully relax after the horrible first couple of years of her life.
and year by year, she came out of her shell, transforming from a scared little thing into a real dog who’d beg for food and wag her tail.
She is the sweetest, most gentle dog I’d ever known.
Even when one of our babies would accidentally grab a handful of her fur, I never once had to think about her biting them. She never bit or growled at anyone. She always had the cutest little smile on her face, and wagged her tail at everyone.
She lived the good life after all she’d endured, spending most of her days in retirement mode, snoozing on the couch and waking up to eat. Every now and again I could convince her to join us for a walk. She walked behind us with the expandable leash slack almost all the way out. She was content to follow at her own pace.
She was also there for us through so many life moments. She’s been an integral part of our family, who has known our babies since they were babies, and has been with us through so many moves, deployments, and major life changes.
Over time, her little heart started to give up on her and while meds helped, her body started to fill with fluid again. When her breathing became more labored, we called the vet again, who saw her on Friday, and said that if it was her dog, she would let her go. We enjoyed one last weekend with Caroline, feeding her all of her favorite foods and giving her lots of pets. On Sunday, we knew we were making the right decision because she slept all day and didn’t want to eat anything; not even chicken or a lick of peanut butter.
While it was heartbreaking, it was an honor to hold her and snuggle her in the same way I said goodbye to Bella: in her favorite spot, here at home, with the comfort of a kind vet who was able to take away her pain.
I held her close one last time, cried into her fur, and thanked her for all of the joy and comfort she’s brought our family.
I know that Bella is up there waiting for her with a comfy bed, and probably a gentle tackle for old times’ sake.
Thank you, friends, for loving our fur babies along with us for all of this time. I know so many of you remember when we first brought Caro home, and have loved her from a distance for these years. I appreciate all of your beautiful and heartfelt comments and messages; they mean more to me more than you know.
Sharing my review (so far!) of the Integrative Health Practitioner certification and my thoughts on the program. I’m so thrilled to be partnering with Dr. Stephen Cabral on a few podcast episodes, and he also generously gifted access to my level 1 and level 2 certification programs. In this post, I’ll be sharing an update on the course and my thoughts on level one now that I’ve finished. If you’d like to join me as a study buddy, head here and use the code FITNESSISTA for $100 off Level 1 and $250 off levels 1 and 2.
Helloooooo. Happy Monday. I hope you had a lovely weekend. We’re here enjoying our last moments with Caro before we have to say our goodbyes later today 🙁
For today’s post, I wanted to share an updated review of my experience with the Integrative Health Practitioner course and how I plan to use this certification. I recently finished level one and have started level two. I’ve loved diving into these modules and know that it will be an entirely new layer to my coaching.
There have been times when I’ve worked with a nutrition client online and wished I could suggest specific labs (it’s NOT in the scope of practice for a nutrition coach or personal trainer to do this. All you can do is refer out to an RD or doctor). I’ve added other members to my coaching team who are able to run these tests. But as my online practice continues to grow, I’ve wanted to be able to learn how to do all of this myself.
Integrative Health Practitioner Certification
What is the IHP certification?
The Integrative Health Practitioner certification was created by Dr. Stephen Cabral. If you’re not familiar with his work, Dr. Stephen Cabral is a Board Certified Doctor of Naturopathy and founder of the EquiLife & the Integrative Health Practitioner Institute, and Author of the International Best-Selling Book, The Rain Barrel Effect. After almost 20 years and over 600,000 pages of research study completed, dozens of certifications in the natural health field, over a quarter of a million private client sessions, and a doctoral degree in Naturopathy – Dr. Cabral‘s knowledge, experience, and passion are at the top of his field.
I’ve had a huge benefit from working with naturopathic doctors and functional medicine practitioners throughout the years. Particularly, when I was told, “Nothing is wrong” or that I’d, “Just have to live with it” by various physicians. (This is not the case with everyone! Also worth mentioning here that my Nurse Practitioner here in Tucson, who is my Primary Care, is AMAZING.) But there have been a handful of times in my life when I thought things were hopeless… and were told they were actually hopeless. All I needed to do was seek out another physician (sometimes you just need a second or third opinion!) or alternative options to get the help we needed.
I’ve been soaking in all of the lessons and am so excited to help clients in a different way.
IHP is based on 7 integrative disciplines:
– Ayurvedic medicine (the science of life and body-typing)
– Bioregulatory medicine (the science of self healing and rebalancing)
– Chinese medicine and herbalism (unlocking nature’s healing wisdom)
– Eastern Philosophy (using the mind to heal the body)
– Traditional Naturopathy (the “right living” to reverse illness)
– Orthomolecular medicine (the science of vitamins and minerals as “medicine”)
– and Functional medicine (state-of-the-art lab testing to determine underlying root causes)
There are two levels of IHP: Level 1, which teaches you how to introduce healthy habits based on the DESTRESS method (diet, exercise, stress, toxin removal, rest, emotional balance, supplements, and success mindset). And Level 2, which focuses on 7 functional medicine labs (including HTMA, OAT, DUTCH), the ability to recommend and analyze these labs, and suggest an action plan depending on the results.
Each lesson is about 30 minutes. And Dr. Cabral includes suggested reading material, complementary podcast episodes. And shares tons of resources and handouts to use for clients. Since it’s so in-depth, the full course can take about 6 months, And level 2 can take 6 months to a year. I’m a couple of months in, and not even halfway through the first level.
What I like about IHP:
– This is exactly what I want to be learning and know I can use these skills to help 1:1 clients, with the content I create here on the blog, and also with group coaching and courses I develop. I want to help as many people as possible to have happy, balanced hormones, optimal energy. And help them break through the *noise* to create consistent and sustainable healthy habits. This is another step in my education process and I’ve loving it so far.
– Dr. Cabral. If you follow him on Instagram or listen to his podcast, you know that he’s incredibly knowledgeable. But also can tell that he’s a genuinely *good person* who truly wants to help others on their path to healing. I enjoy watching each lesson video and learn something valuable from every.single.one. He really did an incredible job with the content and delivery of the course.
– Extra support. They offer a private Facebook group for IHP candidates and certified practitioners, live calls, and will even refer clients to IHP Level 2 graduates. I also appreciate all of the handouts and resources we can use and share with clients when we’re finished with the certification process.
Any cons?
– It’s hard for me to study on the go, and feel like I need to be at my computer taking notes. Dr. Cabral dives into a LOT of information, and has been even more prevalent in Level 2. Time is the only thing standing in the way since the lessons are around 30 minutes each and I need to be at home to complete them. My only frustration is that I can’t blast through the information as quickly as I would like, but at the same time, it’s enabling me to truly absorb all of the lessons.
I think that’s the only con!
If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission.
You can use my referral link here and the code FITNESSISTA for $100 or $250 off (depending on whether you’re doing Level 1 only or both levels for a higher discount).
So, tell me friends: what’s a healthy habit you do every day that makes you feel amazing?
If you could change careers or add another certification to your resume, which one would you choose?
