chemicals

5 Ways to Kick-Start Your Health

December 22, 2017 By Karen Leave a Comment

Sometimes 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).

Clean Up Your Diet

This alone does several things, since removing inflammatory foods like gluten, sugar and even dairy helps to:
[Read more…]

Filed Under: EAT, ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH & WELLNESS Tagged With: A Gluten Primer A-Z, autoimmune disease, Celiac, chemicals, environmental toxins, gluten, indoor air pollution, sleep diet, sugar, zonulin

X Is For Xenoestrogens

December 1, 2017 By Karen Leave a Comment

OK, I admit it was hard to come up with a gluten-related word that starts with an ‘X’!

But have you ever heard of Xenoestrogens?

How about Xenobiotics?

These are synthetic (i.e. fake) substances found in your environment, commonly referred to as hormone-disrupting chemicals – because they’re known to mess with your body’s natural rhythms.

These harmful chemicals also contribute to weight gain, because they’re favorite place to hide out in your body is your fat cells!

Seriously!

These xenoestrogens are found in things like:

Plastics
BPA
Beef, chicken, dairy
Fragrance
Food Additives

So, it comes as no surprise this week, that the focus of my educational video series “A Gluten Primer – Everything You Wanted to Know From A-Z” is on: X is for Xenoestrogens (and Xenobiotic).

The ‘Xeno’ prefix refers to chemical compounds that are foreign to an organism. In other words, they come from OUTSIDE your body.

Hmmm – does this include gluten? You betcha!

To learn more, & receive the most up-to-date, in-depth information regarding all things related to Gluten Sensitivity, Autoimmune Disease, Inflammation & more – be sure to watch my educational video series “A Gluten Primer – Everything You Wanted to Know From A – Z“. It’s available FREE on my bi-weekly newsletter, but you can have immediate access to all 26 videos – plus a full, 2-hour Tutorial here.

Filed Under: ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH & WELLNESS Tagged With: autoimmune disease, chemicals, endocrine-disrupting, environmental toxins, gluten, hormones, inflammation, xeno, xenobiotics, xenoestrogens

What’s On Your Bucket List?

July 21, 2017 By Karen Leave a Comment

You’ve heard of a Bucket List, right?

It’s a list of things you’ve always wanted to do, but never quite got around to – so in a nutshell, a Bucket List is a way of setting some goals for yourself, as far as what you’d like to accomplish in this life, before moving on.

No question, it’s an awesome idea!

(Perhaps you’ve even seen the movie by that name?)

Today I’d like to share with you a different sort of Bucket List.

It’s an analogy, if you will, a way of looking at the hand you’ve been dealt – your medical history, along with your entire life trajectory and challenges along the way.

In other words, everything that’s you led to where you are today.

So, here’s the thing.

Picture a bucket of water – with the water level stopping about two inches from the top.

The Window Screen In Your Gut – A Gluten Analogy

June 9, 2017 By Karen Leave a Comment

Does this sound familiar?

You’ve recently eliminated several foods from your diet – things like gluten, dairy or even eggs – because you know you’re sensitive to them.

And you’re eating other foods instead.

Maybe you’re even eating a lot of these other foods – they’re ‘safe’ after all.

And the next thing you know, you’ve become sensitive to THOSE foods.

What the heck is going on?

Is this just a part of getting older? Or is there a better explanation?

Let me share with you my favorite analogy.

If you think of your average window screen, its job is to keep bugs and gnats out of your home – letting in only the good stuff. (The ‘good stuff’ being fresh air!)

However, what happens when there are holes in that window screen?

Next thing you know, a mosquito or two will be buzzing about your head or maybe even a larger insect.

Now compare this to what might be going on in your digestive tract.

3 More Environmental Toxin Myths Debunked

September 16, 2016 By Karen Leave a Comment

There are lots of myths circulating about environmental toxicants, detoxing, and whether or not it’s even a necessary thing to worry about.

You can read Part I of this conversation here.

I like to be thorough, if nothing else – leaving no stone unturned!

MYTH #4 – I’ve Already Switched to BPA-Free Plastic

That’s wonderful – you’re already ahead of the curve!

Unfortunately, I fell for the exact same marketing spin when I first learned about BPA in plastic.

I went out and bought all new plastic containers – looking for the tell-tale stickers that said “BPA-Free”.

I thought I was safe.

But guess what?

Manufacturers are smart. They know to replace BPA with something else – other chemicals with names like BPF, or BPS.

The 26 Second Rule – Fact or Fiction?

March 4, 2016 By Karen Leave a Comment

Do you believe everything you read on the internet?

To be sure, articles, pictures and the ever-popular infographics are plentiful, to the point it’s sometimes hard to stay on top of everything.

But how do you know that what you’re seeing is even true?

That’s a great question! And I can’t wait to share with you the ‘other’ side of the story.

Case in point, let’s take a closer look at a recent claim circulating on the internet – which is that ANY chemical you put on your skin will enter your bloodstream in 26 seconds flat!

I see this is a perfect opportunity to help you separate fact from fiction, and tone things down a bit.

Cause here’s the thing.

The internet is rife with articles and claims that we absorb up to 60% of everything we put on our skin.

However, this is only partially true – and I’ll explain what I mean by that shortly.

3 Common Myths of Environmental Toxins

February 5, 2016 By Karen Leave a Comment

There are lots of myths out there about environmental toxins, detoxing, and whether or not it’s even a necessary thing to worry about.

So, let’s jump right in and discuss these, one by one. (and be sure to check out the Special Invite at the very end...)

MYTH #1

My Body Is Designed to Rid Itself of Toxins – Without Any Help From Me

This particular myth is, in part, true.

Your body is designed to detoxify it’s internal environment, and it accomplishes this task through various specific pathways:

Your Skin (i.e. sweat)
Your Digestive tract (i.e. elimination)
Your Kidneys
Your Liver

In fact, your liver is the powerhouse for the entire detoxification process.

However, it’s also where things can go wrong.

The Myth of Weight Gain & What To Do About It

January 15, 2016 By Karen Leave a Comment

Are you swept up in the first-of-the-year weight-loss battle?

As we’ve established, it’s not uncommon post holidays to be 5-10 pounds heavier than you were two weeks ago and frustrated (yet again) that yet another year has passed where you ate all this junky food and are feeling like crap from all the over-indulgence. Chances are you’re likely thinking about what to do to start losing that weight. (It’s why Gym memberships EXPLODE during January.) You’re going to start seeing all these Detox and Cleanse programs – with the emphasis on exercising more and reducing calories.

While that’s all well & good, there’s also an elephant in the room!

What if I told you that your struggles to lose weight aren’t so much about how much you’re eating, but rather WHAT you’re eating? And that the chemicals and other irritants in your environment can also have an enormous impact on your weight!

What’s toxic to your body?

For starters, it’s all those additives and preservatives in the “fake” food you’ve been eating.

Add to this a simmering cocktail of chemicals like the BPA found in plastic storage containers, water bottles, and store receipts! (you’ve likely read about this offender in the news)

3 Surprising Things In Your Home That Are Making You Fat – Part II

September 25, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

Is your skin cream making you fat?

I pose that question partly in jest but the truth is, yes it can!

In a nutshell, it has to do with chemicals in your environment, that are considered “obesogenic”.

And it has nothing to do with food! (You can read Part I of this article here.)

To recap, remember we have three pathways to consider:

Ingestion
Absorption
Inhalation

I covered Ingestion in Part I, and you can read that article here.

This week, I’ll explore the remaining two pathways – Absorption and Inhalation – plus I’ll leave you with a few tips you can incorporate right away.

So let’s dive in!

ABSORPTION – Toiletries & Cosmetics

Chemicals like BPA and PFOA (which I covered in Part I) aren’t just limited to food containers and cookware.

3 Surprising Things In Your Home That Are Making You Fat

September 18, 2015 By Karen Leave a Comment

A pair of female feet standing on a bathroom scale

Let me guess.

You’re probably thinking that only food can make you fat.

It all has to do with eating too much, right?

Along with not getting enough exercise.

What if I told that isn’t the whole story?

What if I told you that losing weight has more to do with WHAT you’re eating, rather than how much?

And what if food wasn’t the only culprit?

Surprise, surprise!

It turns out that many of the chemicals hidden in the household products you’re using every single day – actually have the ability to add to your waistline.

How is that even possible?