Search Results for: environmental toxins

D is for Donut

D - Dining Out

As always, I’m here to teach you about all things gluten – including certain environmental toxins you might not have thought about before.

Yes, food is part of your environment!

In this #4 video of my new series:  “A Gluten Primer, Everything You Wanted to Know From A – Z” – we’re exploring the biggest social challenge of all:

Dining Out!

If you’ve already been doing this while, then it isn’t news to you that knowing how to navigate the social landscape when living a gluten-free, allergen-free lifestyle can be especially hard. And no surprise – it’s often the one area where people cave, despite their best intentions.

Why is this important?

If your goal is to minimize your symptoms and turn your health around – it all starts with what you’re putting into your body. Understand, too, that what works for one person, might not be the best thing for you – no matter how seemingly healthy it might be.

[Read more…]

5 Simple Ways to Pamper Your Skin

Gal Toiletries SmallDid you know that your skin is your largest organ?

Not only that, it’s also your body’s #1 defense against the outside world. And it gets more fascinating still – since you have both an outside skin, and an inside skin. (That inside skin covers things like your digestive tract and your respiratory system – not necessarily something you would think about)

Back in the early days when I first went gluten-free, I attended a lecture that was geared toward gluten-free folks like you and me.

The presenter was very insistent that there was no need to be concerned about putting gluten-containing products on our skin.

He said it was virtually impossible for gluten in skin care products to be a problem – because we weren’t ingesting it.

At the time, I thought it made sense.

But guess what?

He was wrong!

While it’s true that we don’t ingest our toiletries or cosmetics – whatever we put on our skin can get absorbed.

And that’s important!

[Read more…]

Are You A Toxic Mess? (What’s Your Body Burden?)

Many empty tube blod for blood test screeningEver wonder if you’ve got harmful chemicals in you?”

I don’t blame you for being curious! Especially if you’re feeling challenged by:

  • Excess weight
  • Digestive issues
  • Any number of mysterious aches & pains

On the heels of our recent exploration into Internet “fact or fiction” – including the myth that chemicals can be absorbed into your skin in 26 seconds flat – answering this question means taking the conversation a bit further.

As you know by now, chemicals CAN find their way into you through many different pathways – either from:

  • your food
  • personal care products
  • cleaning supplies
  • home furnishings
  • pesticides
  • …& more

And there ARE specific kinds of tests that can determine your overall chemical load – some of which you might have heard about some of, such as urine or hair analysis.

That said, are you familiar with Body Burden testing?

[Read more…]

10 Americans – A Gem of a Video

Pile of PancakesTruth be told, this isn’t a story about pancakes but bear with me here.

Because there actually IS a large pancake stack in this wonderful video I’m sharing with you today – titled “10 Americans“).

As you may know by know, I’ve done a considerable amount of training with an Environmental Toxins Expert – learning as much as I can about the home environment in particular and the many little things we can do to create change.

As a former interior designer, with an eye on Green Design – this is right up my alley!

As I’ve also shared in recent weeks, it’s SO important to broaden the conversation beyond calories and exercise and  food sensitivities, so we’re not just talking about these things – but also understanding how other things in your environment can affect your weight, and your health in general.

For example – did you know that the average female consumer uses a dozen personal care products every day (which may, or may not contain gluten)? And that those products alone, contain in the neighborhood of 168 different chemicals?

(Men use about half as many products – containing 85 different chemicals, or so.)

Either way you look at it, that’s a lot!

[Read more…]

5 Simple Ways to Kick-Start Your Health

Almonds and avocado slicesSometimes it can feel downright overwhelming to get your health back on track!

You want to eat better – and you’ve tried – but despite your best efforts it still isn’t happening.

You try to go to bed earlier, but get sidelined watching a favorite late-night show on TV.

Or, you’re convinced that you do your best work late at night. (more on that later)

You have days, perhaps, when you really feel like crap – and that’s when you tell yourself (again) that you really, really need to get a handle on things.

We’ve all had days like that, right?

Yet even when you know better, it’s often hard to begin.

My advice?

Slow down. Take baby steps.

Pick one of the following, to start – yes, just 1! (After all, you have to start somewhere).

 

Jump-start your digestion

Hardly a day goes by, that I don’t hear another tip for what you absolutely MUST do first thing in the morning.

[Read more…]

Why Your Aches & Pains Are A Good Thing

 

Fresh organic eggsDo you sometimes feel like a human guinea pig?

Perhaps you’ve even experimented with different foods, in an effort to figure out what might be a trigger for you.

Let me preface this first by saying – if you have Celiac disease, or an Autoimmune condition, this is in NO WAY a license to re-introduce gluten!

Got that?

However, your dietary triggers could also be dairy, eggs, or nuts – or any number of different foods.

Let’s take a closer look at eggs for a moment.

Are eggs a regular part of your diet?

They use to be for me, too.

I often enjoyed scrambled eggs, or an omelet for breakfast.

And I absolutely LOVED making soufflé! (As fancy as that sounds, it’s not that hard. Seriously!)

At this point, however, it’s literally been years since I last ate eggs.

In recent weeks, however, I decided to re-introduce them – as a human experiment, if you will.

Using me as the guinea pig.

[Read more…]

What’s Your Toxic Burden?

Holding water in cupped handsThere’s a lot of talk in the media these days about toxicity – both in the environment and in your body.

What’s that you say – your body isn’t toxic at all?

I hear you!

It’s a hard concept to wrap your brain around – and perhaps, you’d rather bury your head in the sand.

But I invite you to think again!

And yes – I totally get it.

It CAN be overwhelming!

Unfortunately, we live in a time when every single human on the planet has been exposed to environmental chemicals.

There’s simply no getting around it.

Some will argue that the human body is perfectly capable of dealing with these environmental toxins entirely on it’s own – and there is some truth to that.

However, the majority of chemicals that we’re exposed to in our present world, weren’t around one hundred years ago.

(Not even fifty years ago, for that matter).

Why is that a problem?

[Read more…]

5 Simple Ways to Kick-Start Your Health

Almonds and avocado slicesSometimes it can feel downright overwhelming to get your health back on track!

You want to eat better – and you’ve tried – but despite your best efforts it still isn’t happening.

You try to go to bed earlier, but get sidelined watching a favorite late-night show on TV.

Or, you’re convinced that you do your best work late at night. (more on that later)

You have days, perhaps, when you really feel like crap – and that’s when you tell yourself (again) that you really, really need to get a handle on things.

We’ve all had days like that, right?

Yet even when you know better, it’s often hard to begin.

My advice?

Slow down. Take baby steps.

Pick one of the following, to start – yes, just 1! (After all, you have to start somewhere).

 

Jump-start your digestion

Hardly a day goes by, that I don’t hear another tip for what you absolutely MUST do first thing in the morning.

[Read more…]

Are You Vulnerable?

Weakest LinkGrowing up, I thought I was fairly invincible.

This would explain the concussion at age 8, from falling off my bike. (I was trying to stand on the handle bars).

It would also explain the ski accident four years later that put me in a cast for several months.

(While you might still find me on the slopes, I’ve never again skied downhill quite so fast).

When it came to food, I thought I had an iron stomach.

I was extremely proud of the fact that I could eat pretty much anything.

Fast forward a good many years, and things have definitely changed.

In fact, the older I get, the more vulnerable I seem to be.

Is this simply what happens as you get older? Or is there something more going on?

[Read more…]

5 Simple Ways to Pamper Your Skin

Gal Toiletries ExtraSmallDid you know that your skin is your largest organ?

Not only that, it’s also your body’s #1 defense against the outside world. And it gets more fascinating still – since you have both an outside skin, and an inside skin.

(That inside skin covers things like your digestive tract and your respiratory system – not necessarily something you would think about)

Back in the early days when I first went gluten-free, I attended a lecture that was geared toward gluten-free folks like you and me.

The presenter was very insistent that there was no need to be concerned about putting gluten-containing products on our skin.

He said it was virtually impossible for gluten in skin care products to be a problem – because we weren’t ingesting it.

At the time, I thought it made sense.

But guess what?

He was wrong!

While it’s true that we don’t ingest our toiletries or cosmetics – whatever we put on our skin does get absorbed.

And that’s important!

[Read more…]