It's Not Your Willpower, It's Your Microbiome

Lately I've heard from a lot of disappointed fitness people lately. Everyone seems to know what they want - they want to workout +eat well + feel (and look) GOOD. But it seems when they start an eating plan or declare to remove sugar (or beer) from their life, they falter and blame themselves for surrendering to the temptations. Damn french fries and football.

First off. Don't beat up on yourself or blame the Broncos. Second off, relax a bit; it's winter, it's time for chubbing up a little and doing less stuff. Winter is good for reading my blogs and fantasizing on your vision for what is to come. When you beat up on yourself for behaviors you don't like, you only perpetuate the cycle. Drop the negative self talk about it. Relax in knowing there are biological processing happening in your body that should be respected, understood and obeyed. And just love the process, if you had a perfect life all the time, life wouldn't be as interesting.

I'm here to offer some reassurance that it's going to be OK (it is OK my friends!) and some explanation as to WHY things are playing out this way.

Do you believe that food can change our emotions? Do you believe food can change our thoughts? I believe it can. Have you ever watched the toddler mayhem after kids eat cake and ice cream during a birthday party? Have you ever felt peaceful and serene after you ate a dessert? Food can change our emotions, and our emotions are determined ONLY by our thoughts. Thus, food can change our thoughts. This means watch what you eat, because the food can alter you emotionally and physically.

It begins with our GUT
We have 40 trillion microbes and 30 trillion cells in the human body (mostly in the gut). FACT: We are more bacteria than we are human. Sorry to all the germa-phobes out there. There is bacteria - called your microbiome which lives in your intestines and on your skin, it's everywhere. These bacteria are the first line of immunity, which works to keep you from getting sick. We're also loaded with nerve cells in our gut which are in communication with the brain via the vagus nerve. They are also communicating with our internal and external environment, so the gut bacteria play a part of what give you the gut instinct and what give you butterflies in your stomach when you get nervous.  The vagus nerve is in communication with the gut microbiome, so our emotions can be hijacked by our gut bacteria. So, this proves my theory that food can change our thoughts. Boom.

You could be feeling impulsive and unmotivated because of what you're eating.  And you are very likely feeling depression and anxiety because of what you're eating and definitely because of what you're thinking. And if food can control your thoughts, then let your food be your medicine. We tend toward anxiety when we consume too much sugar, and it's because you've fed the "sugar bugs" so to speak which create inflammation. We all know too well, after you eat sugar, you crave more sugar, not only because the sugar is HIGHLY addictive (more so than cocaine), but also because the sugar bugs want more food! You are what you eat, and you crave what you eat. 

Do you know that your happy hormone - serotonin-  is created in your gut by your microbiome, like 60-90% of it. There are EC cells that produce the serotonin and this is something we studied in depth in nutrition school. What does serotonin do for you? When you are loaded up on serotonin, you feel "all is well" and you have willpower instead of impulsively tossing a cookie in your mouth. When serotonin is low you feel anxiety or depression and you are sometimes too debilitated to act on it.


When your digestion is off, so is your detoxification pathway. Your detox and digestion pathway is the same. That's why you feel lousy when your stomach is upset, because you neurotransmitters are imbalanced, you're not detoxing all the crap that you're exposed to, and your brain is getting confused.  All of this makes you a complete emotional wreck. Food that's "good" for you could be harmful, if you're not digesting properly. If you have an imbalance of your gut bacteria then your body is not absorbing nutrients and you are doing more harm than good by eating.Your gut and nervous system are like peas and carrots.  And if you're eating when you're under stress, your nervous system is freaking out and you're just adding lighter fluid to the fire.You won't digest what you eat and you'll usually end up with a belly ache. That's a fabulous trick to follow, don't eat under stress. This makes me SEEK OUT HAPPINESS, so I can eat more.

So...Do I have exciting news to share. Over the last year, I have had epiphany after epiphany regarding nutrition. Things that have had my wheels churning in a completely different direction than what I have been taught of what is healthy and what is not.

Did you ever see the movie "I Am"? In it they did a study where they hooked up yogurt to an magnetometer which measures energy. When a person would change their thoughts or mood, the yogurt would have a response to it. Stay with me here. This has happened before, remember when they did the studies on plants and found that plants thrive when they are placed near a TV or the plant was spoken to lovingly by you? The microbiome of the plant soil responds to our thoughts and words. There's living bacteria in there.

The consensus is that the microbes (bacteria) have a physical response to their environment. Soo... if it happens with plants, it also happens with us. Again, we are more bacteria than we are cells. So my point is that we should respect our microbiome, even if we don't completely understand it yet.



"Respect My Authority" Says your microbiome
1) Start eating with the seasons. This means eating foods that are harvested per the season you are in. This means a year-round diet will not do. This also gives you freedom from eating the same way day after day which bores me to no end. Maybe you once tried a diet that worked very well for you and now you can't seem to get back on board. Maybe that diet was perfect for a season, and as time went on, the seasons changed and your body's needs changed - and things stopped going so well. STOP beating up on yourself, blaming your willpower or your lack of motivation for the gym. You are perfectly normal for being unable to comply with your "diet"so just relax. Besides, no one is meant to stay on a diet. No one ever feels they can diet forever. So don't diet, just tweak the foods you eat.

The bacteria in the soil will benefit your gut bacteria if eaten during the proper season. This is because our bodies were designed to follow the circadian rhythm of the earth. We can follow it by giving our body the veggies pulled from the ground, during the proper season. There are only three harvesting seasons that you eat by, so your diet should shift three times a year. This releases the boredom of trying to eat the same foods your whole life, HOWL-A-LU-LA! In the winter, soups with cooked veggies makes sense and cold, raw salads, don't. In the spring, raw veggies and smoothies are excellent.  In the summer time, add in a butt-load of fresh veggies and fruits, foods that cool your body down during the heat of long days.

2) Say NO to processed foods (year round!) Fake food like chips, candy, french fries and food in a box are all dead foods. There are no microbes in them that can benefit your gut. These junk foods,
rather than nourishing you, kill the good bacteria and create a traffic jam, clogging up your lymph and blood systems with toxicity. And since you're not digesting or detoxing well, then you're body will store the toxins inside your liver and fat cells to protect you. With this, your liver becomes burdened and you become puffy, you get brain fog, headaches, rashes, depression and even anxiety. Your body is protecting you, it would rather keep you alive than let you fit into size 6 jeans only to have you kill over the next day. Otherwise we'd all be skinny inside coffins, dead from toxicity.  Stop eating dead food, it hurts you.

Just follow mama nature, she knows best.

Fermented Food Craze
A quick rant on fermented foods. Eating probiotic rich foods like cultured veggies is all the rage right now. I've even jumped on the train myself, or at least I tried. But honestly, I'm not fully convinced that it is for me. So my advise there is to just pay attention to YOUR body. And that goes for everything I ever post. Your body is yours and NO ONE knows it better than you. It's funny when people tell me to eat something because it's healthy. Healthy for who? The scientific studies they do on foods show the potential that food has, not what it does inside each person. Fermented foods might only be OK in very small doses. Or you body might not like them at all. Just because something is "healthy" now, doesn't mean it is what will help your body thrive. That's why we listen to our body cues, right?

So I learned most of what I learned about seasonal eating from an Ayurvedic-doctor in Boulder, Colorado. He designed what's called the 3-season diet and I am just pimping out his research as I devour it. You can get more info on him here. Everything I've read from him resonates with my whole being, you can trust his research to lead you to some peace with your "willpower" as it did for me.

Need help knowing what to eat that's in season: grocery lists for November through February

Exercise: Moving Away From Negativity

We are creatures made to move - energy beings.  You have more neural pathways that run from your body to your brain than you do running from your brain to your body. This means your body is telling your brain what to think. Movement does so much for our physical bodies and also moves the energies that we can not see. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. Just like you can't see motivation, but you can sure feel it. 

 Movement carves out our emotional state of mind. 

I've lived my physical life as a yo-yo. My body weight goes up and down, my body is never stagnant. Never big forever, never small forever. We all ebb and flow in our physical form, just like the ocean. Relax with that thought. What you are now is not permanent. Relish in that. When I'm at a bigger body, my thoughts are different, than when I am at a smaller weight. Fact: I'm more confident when I'm smaller and more introverted when I'm larger.Which caused the other? The chicken or the egg theory. This post ties in both the physical with the mental aspects of our body in regards to movement. 

We are all creatures of energy. Thoughts are a form of energy, just like our body. Food has an energy. Think of when you walk into your parents house and you are overcome with a need to head to the fridge, or like when you go to a fancy restaurant and you gravitate toward glass of wine. Or you go to the movies and you smell the popcorn. Those are energy patterns which came from our experiences. Certain thoughts create certain emotions which drive our behavior. 

Culture of Perfection (in the now)

We have belief systems which cause you to judge your body harshly because it's not what YOU (or society) think it should look like. In other cultures or in past times, a large body gets revered as a leader or as royalty. Women in past times that were plump were considered to be living a good life. We judge each other so harshly based on CURRENT ideas of beauty. Fifteen years ago, a masculine CrossFit girl was considered too manly, muscles being so disgusting on a girl. Now that's all the rage, we've all been sold on fitness as having defined muscles and trendy yoga pants. How well do you comply to the temporary standards of a beautiful body? 

Times have changed, ya?

What we used to disgrace, we now embrace

I want to start a new revolution. I want us to start working out to FEEL good. I want us to seek out bliss and let the body do as it will. Our body follows our thoughts. Change in our body happens from the inside out.  Seek out vitality using body movement. I want us to feel inspired to exercise and move. Rather than to listen to media revere fit pics on Instagram pictures or the news telling us we need 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity three times a week. That's an old story. That's just riding the waves of already-outdated-by-the-time-its-published scientific data. The body follows the energy that's put into it. When you feel good, you are inspired to action. 

Honor Yourself

To start, I must begin here. The best thing you can do, the best gift you can give yourself, is to honor how you feel. During winter months, we tend toward slower activities and more food. It's natural, stop resisting it. And it's perfectly OK, because spring brings longer days and much more motivation and better weather. 

Find your best self in today. Sometimes my best self comes out after a 30 minute walk outside, sometimes my best self happens when I just lay down and relax and other times I need an intense workout with sprints and a barbell. There are so many variables, like the weather, the season, what thoughts I am thinking, what I've eaten, what I'm doing the rest of the day and what my body feel like. Honoring how you feel involves you asking yourself what it wants most and then listening. This takes courage and awareness. Sometimes what we need most is to take a 5 minute time out and not feel guilty about it. Our society is driven by this "toe the line" mentality which makes us feel lazy if we just lay down for ten minutes. That's total BS. I've had some of my best inspiration when I've given myself permission to rest my human body. Allow yourself to relax into your inspired action. Or sometimes, you've (I've) done so much laying around that you can't handle it anymore and you MUST get off your negative thinking tush and create something new. Either way, honor where you are right now - do you have some fight in you? I bet you do.

Working out always puts me in a better place mentally than I was before I started the workout. And I've truly never regretted a workout. But go easy my friends, and ride the wave of joy in knowing you can't get it wrong. If you had the urge to workout but you decided to sit and eat a 2 boxes of glazed donuts and a gingerbread house instead, then you felt like crap...well, then **uck it, you learned that didn't work. Next time you have that urge to workout, maybe you'll flow that direction. Its not wrong, it's just figuring out how to honor your instincts. That's how we learn. It's like watching a baby learning to walk - you don't watch them fall down and then say, "what's wrong with you, get up you stupid baby!" Go easy on yourself. We're all learning as we go. Make peace with where you are, and respect your path. Don't ever tell a baby that either.

Toss Out Negative Nelly

The best part of exercise, and what rings true for me, is that movement dissipates negative thoughts. If I'm feeling crummy, and like the world is not a good place, and maybe people are better off without me around, (OMG, the cat's out of the bag here!) then I know that I need to either nap or ACT. If I feel down, it's usually after I've been overly sedentary, skipped a few days of workouts and put myself into a funk. It's like having a fog around you and you only bring in negative thoughts and people, which build the fog, which makes you immune to joy. One of my more spiritual yoga instructors told us while holding poses, to mentally send our negative thoughts to mother earth. Whatever comes up in our mind that feels anything less than joyful, we can send down through our feet to the earth. We don't need to hold onto those beliefs in our head that cause us pain. We don't need to feel like things are imperfect. And those thoughts, those beliefs which don't serve you- are all part of the process to get you something better. If it doesn't feel good when you think it, stop giving it any attention. The more attention you give anything, the more it grows. This can work for you or against you. If something is going well for you, dwell on it. If something is not going well in your life, stop trying to tackle it with your overthinking. The easiest solution is to allow exercise to release the mental drama you are playing out inside your head, let moving carry you from helpless to empowered. 

Moves your garbage dump (lymph system)

Do you ever wake up with a swollen body - eyelids, hands, feet, and aching muscles/joints? Consider what you ate (or drank) the day(s) before. Most times it's too much crap. Exercise moves your lymph system, which detoxes you. Your lymph system is like the drains of your house, a clogged toilet and you're in trouble - especially in a one-bathroom house. So eating poorly or using crappy products, or being overly negative, can clog up your lymph system.  Time, movement, and water will move the swelling out but consider that swelling your warning. If you continue to eat processed crap like fast food, boxed food and inflammatory foods (you know who you are dairy and sugar) your lymph system gets a traffic jam of sorts which means you're body is struggling to detox. Once that congestion process is under way, your digestion gets knocked off its tracks and you get inflammation, bloating, rashes, depression, anxiety and a whole host of ugly conditions (including weight gain) that you gave yourself from poor lifestyle habits. Don't do that to yourself. Nourish your body. You might be able to exercise your way out of a bad diet, but it would take a lot more exercise than most people are willing to put in. People who run 25 miles a day can eat poorly. But do you really want to. 

Energy Levels

What's the first thing people ALWAYS say after starting an exercise routine? They say they have more energy. Energetically, negative thoughts hold us down and make us feel heavy, but exercise and movement dumps them. On a physical level, exercising pumps more oxygen, blood and lymph through our body so we cleanse out the yuck and increase our metabolism. Do you want more energy? Prove you want more energy by using some energy. Depriving our body of movement causes us to feel fatigued, conserve energy, to hold onto things mentally and physically, and to slow down the metabolic pathway. So get up and dance to your favorite  (as my daughter says "FR-AVORITE") song or just lay there and stretch. Not feeling like moving yet? Then go the other way, until you feel inspired to action. Relax into your well being. Hold a restorative yoga pose for a few minutes and just breath. 

Use blankets and boxes if you don't have the yoga gear

WEEEEE! Running downhill...do it for the fun!

Fitness Molehill

In regards to exercise, I don't want you to ever feel like a small ant staring up at the Himalayan mountains of fitness. Don't feel that you are too far from your dream. You just keep on moving in the direction you want to go. Stop turning around in the mirror looking for immediate results and just do what feels good. Movement feels good. Results come with a positive state of mind. Start basing what you do on feeling good. Stop saying you hate exercise. ChiGong or Tai Chi are energy movers and require only your hands and your body. Movement is natural to us. And feeling joy and having energy are innate to us, they are our birthright. Exercise and move your body for the optimism it gives you, for the energy you gain. People that feel the best on the inside reflect that on the outside. People naturally gravitate toward a radiant people. YOU be that radiant person. 

YOU can let exercise do it for you.

Thanksgiving, Grateful I'm Not Stressing!

Holiday time. So, my sister wanted to know what I’m bringing on thanksgiving this year. This question USED to stress me out, because I tend toward (very) last minute planning. But then I realized we live in the information era. The plethora of nutrition and health blogs at our fingertips makes holiday meal planning a sinch! But I also wanted to help you with recipes I KNOW are paleo and deliciously tried and TRUE.

Don’t stress out like I used to do, instead, simplify it. Every thanksgiving only needs a few items besides turkey. Veggie dish (Brussels sprouts this year), biscuits, sweet potato side, and pie(s).

These recipes are gluten free, sugar free, dairy free and will knock your socks off anyway. Now, let’s do some clean eating from now until the holidays so we can pig out in peace.

Elanas pantry pumpkin pie – Last year we (well, in ALL honesty, I ) started a new tradition. We eat a piece of pie while we wait for the turkey to bake. We start with pie and we end with more pie after the grub.  Why not, we're Americans.

Elanas pantry salt/pepper crackers – heavy but great for you crunch-seeking cracker lovers who want to stay away from gluten

Nom nom paleo brussels sprouts - I never like Brussels sprouts until this recipe came in my life. serious. Your kids will even love it, especially with small pieces and using quality fig balsamic vinegar as the cherry on top

 Creamy prebiotic potato salad - also with bacon. I love this stuff because it's actually really good for you if you use real sauerkraut, plus its got resistant starch so you'll stay full longer along with other health benefits. You can sub sweet potatoes or just use white potatoes and be a paleo-rebel 

Chicken in coconut milk soup

We had this in school and I loved it. Omit the sugar please, you don't need it. This is so nutritious with mushrooms with adaptogen properties. 

Cauliflower mashed “potatoes” You don't need the fullness of more potatoes, get your cauliflower with loads of vitamin C, B vitamins and minerals. No guilt here!

Cauliflower saffron soup

Ever cooked with the most expensive herb on the planet? Saffron comes in small amounts because its full of vitamin A, folic acid, vitamin C (so is the cauliflower)

Lexisclean kitchen – thanksgiving biscuits - Pumpkin is delicious and also loaded with fiber and helps you produce serotonin (the "all is well" neurotransmitter that helps you have self control

Getting Back on Track (yes, you can!)

-When I eat sugar, I crave sugar 

-When I eat veggies, I crave veggies

In nutrition class, my instructor started class with one question, "How do we get back on track?" She said on a trip she just returned from, she ate poorly, she drank martinis and changed from gluten free to gluten-full. "It's near impossible to eat gluten free in some parts of the east coast." she said. It actually was a relief to hear from my food guru that she gets off track with her eating too. 

Lack of healthy options leads to sub-par food choices, and traveling amplifies that. 

The answer for 'how to get back on track from class varied. One person said he goes straight from the airport to the grocery store, no matter the time, and buys his groceries. You have to find what works for your body. My mental and physical self works best using baby steps. So here's my go-to:

Getting Back On Track:

For me, my eating habits work in a circular pattern, they work on a system where I am propelled in the direction in which I was eating the prior day. So vacations really tend to put me in the hole, where I am eating poorly but I have to pull myself out because I feel so yucky. Bloated, fat, overfed, lacking self control. You know. like this guy

Down the Hatch! Smothered in butter

Kale chips and Brussels sprouts!

So for my quick fix, post-vacation or post Holidays - I start with a big plate full of one veggie that I really like which is usually steamed broccoli, asparagus or Brussels sprouts- something green. Honestly, it doesn't look or sound delicious after coming off a bad-eating cycle. Disrespectfully, I look at the food and kinda roll my eyes at it. The transition can be difficult on everyone/thing including the food.  Also, I pull out the big guns, and use butter as bait! If I need to get my veggies in, I will smother them in grass-fed butter + Himalayan salt OR coconut oil + salt. Butter and salt make everything better, use them as your kick start. 

However, once I eat the plate of healthy, magic happens. After consuming the plate of greens,  my mood brightens and I know I can live a healthy life again. I feel so much better and I have established the tone for the next meal. I also would advise to prep your next meal's veggies ahead of time. That means the next meal is partly prepared and you have less excuses keeping you from getting those vitamins inside. So while one veggie cooks, chop up the ones for your next meal. See, baby steps. I personally am not a week-long food prepping type. But I will prep for the following meal if I am thinking clearly.

You Crave What You Eat
Here's the deal. Whatever you eat, your body will crave more of. Our gut microbiome (gut bacteria) changes in 3 days of a new diet. So our gut will easily adapt to new food choices, good or bad. Why are you craving junk food? Because you're eating junk food. Why is the vegetarian craving a big salad, it's because she eats a big salad regularly. It's not a lack of self control. Kids, don't read this next sentence, processed food has a "double fuck you" effect on hunger, because the ingredients are chemically processed to be addictive plus, you crave what you eat. 

Honestly, I think this happens as a protection mechanism. Back in the way back of old days, we didn't know what was safe to eat from the wild. I think if we tried a food once and it didn't kill us, then we would keep eating it. Plus it gives our gut bacteria time to adapt for proper digestion. 

But it shows also that a lasting change in your eating habits, starts with your prior meal. It is as easy to start eating well as steaming some broccoli and smothering it in butter. Go get your greens people. Make a change now that lights the path for how you want to eat forever. Baby steps. 

Invoking Physical Change, You Are The CEO

In one of my favorite books, Nurturing Wisdom, the author said there are two divisions of the mind. There is the thinking part and there is the proving part. One part of your brain will have a thought and the other part will seek ways to prove it's correct. It develops our belief system. It's why once we have a belief, we see it's truth everywhere. This is why religion works so well.

This morning, my dear 3-year old daughter woke me up, it was too early, and I was grumpy at the intrusion of my slumber. Meh. But this morning, in particular she said, "I love you, can I kiss you?" My whole body softened as she puckered up and kissed my cheek and hair over and over. From the moment she woke me up to the moment post kisses, what changed?  My thoughts. My thoughts changed my emotions.

Other people's reactions (her reaction) is the part of life we're not in charge of, as CEO's. Just like CEO's are not in charge of the market changes or employees or other company's, we are not in charge of the behavior of others. There will be good and there will be bad and in between from outside sources but we are in charge of being the CEO's of our actions, our thoughts and our emotions. So we're going to discuss how to control our minds, so that a bad day and a good day are not random occurances.


My prior immature belief system
Most of my teenage years all I did was take all the pain of the world, all the cruelty I felt and instead of making my thoughts about it better, I internalized it. I didn't know how to handle it and I got really depressed at a young age. I turned that depression into a drive toward a skinny body. I had this jaded belief that if I had the perfect body, then life would be peaches and cream. I thought if I was perfect, people would like me, I thought I'd get everything I wanted and I could be permanently happy. What a rude awakening it has been to be so drastically disappointed. Permanent happiness is not real. Happiness is not a trophy you get to put on your fireplace mantel. Nope, happiness is not a destination, happiness a place you find with your thoughts. There are poor people who live on barely anything but they experience more joy than you do. There are rich people who live in absolute misery. Just like there are skinny people who live in constant depression. And I guarantee there are people who would trade places with you, and all your circumstances, and they would feel extreme joy. Happiness is a mindset, it's not your genes, or your job, or your car, and it's definitely not your body.

You see, our thoughts create our physical body. Our thoughts determine our behaviors and our emotions. Our body is our subconscious mind. Ever heard that?  Our body is always listening to the commands of our thoughts, spoken words and emotions. When we decide the dessert is what's making us fat, not only is it going to do just that but it will also tell us that when we feel fat, we'll crave dessert. Why? Because in the long haul of life, we've established a mindset and a behavioral pattern associated with feeling fat. And every other emotion also has patterns associated with it.  When I feel fat, I get unmotivated, when I feel stressed I stop living in the moment, when I feel unworthy, I get really introverted.

Patterns of Behavior
The same goes for stress by the way. For me, when I feel stressed, I eat without realizing it, I snap at my kids without listening to them, I stop being present, I forget to take deep breaths, I don't look far into the future, I drive crazy bad, I become very selfish, thinking whatever is going on for others is smaller than my issue. When I feel flawlessly beautiful, I am present, I feel calm, I feel that everything is going very well. What do you do under stress? Drink too much, scream at people, stop appreciating beauty?

So by recognizing our own repeating patterns, we can stop the behaviors we don't like.

It starts with paying attention to how we feel. First we have to recognize what we're feeling. We've become numbed as a society by the distractions in life, things like Facebook, the TV, YouTube (my personal biggest addiction right now is YouTube Red) anything that keeps us from being present in the moment. Anything that pulls us away from connecting with our emotions and what's going on in life. So if we acknowledge how we feel and own it, no matter how ugly it looks, then we are creating the first step toward change. And usually the feeling is brought on by our thoughts, repeating beliefs that keep us locked into our present lifestyle.

After we own the feeling by feeling it, we can begin to see what pattern we have associated with it. What do I repeatedly do when I feel this way? How do I behave and what thoughts do I keep repeating?

Next, we MUST take time to refocus, reground ourselves toward our driving factors. What changes are you wanting to make? And here's the MAGIC question ---------> How do you WANT to feel? If you want to feel loved, what are the things you do and say to yourself when you do. So can you reverse it, and start doing those things you do when you feel that way? Such as, when I feel happy, I am very sweet to others, and I think really good thoughts of the past, future and present. When I feel happy, I am kind to myself and I don't put others down.

There's two ways to address this.  If you want to FEEL a certain way, maybe you want to feel like a skinny bitch. You just have to pretend, you set the stage and you act the part. I don't mean going out to buy size 6 jeans and trying squeezing into them. What I mean is, you wear clothes that you feel sexy in, ones that make you feel damn good looking. You seek out the feeling first. Because when you FEEL thin, you will act thin. And when you act thin, you'll feel thin. That's the blessing of the patterns. The feeling will create the behavior pattern you want. The behavior pattern will induce the physical change.

Ask yourself valuable questions for this exercise. What are you doing when you feel your best? For me, when I feel my best, I'm out of the house. When I feel my best, I am meeting new friends. When I feel my best, I am aggressive at work. When I feel my best, I am writing dynamite blogs. When I feel my best, I am the sweetest Mom you could ever ask for. Now, I have no idea - which behavior created which, but the patterns link them and they make life really easy for you to make changes. Use the patterns as your guidance, and they'll lead you to gold.


EMPOWERMENT
You're in control of everything. You are the CEO. Be a powerful CEO by being aware of your thoughts. If a bad thought comes in -you know because it makes you feel depressed or unworthy or just shitty in general. If a bad thought comes in, just do one thing for me. Soothe it away. This is a practice. Practice this with grace. Instead of thinking, "I can't believe I just ate all that candy and I was only going to have one piece." Instead think, "wow, my body was really craving some sweet stuff, it sure tasted good! I'm glad I had that available in my time of need." Soothe the pain away with better feeling thoughts. If you wanted to go for a 2-mile run but you stopped after only a block, then say "it's OK, this is just where I am today. I'm glad I made it outside, I did my best, all I can do is my best."

You are in charge of your reaction to the outside world. You are in charge of your reaction to the guy who cut you off in traffic. You aren't in control of the guy (or are you??) but you can soften getting cut off by saying something like, "well he's having a really bad day" or "I remember when I was so pissed and I cut off someone just like that." Ever been flipped off driving and sometimes the event just rolls right off you like butter off a warm knife but others that knife stabs you in the heart.  Sometimes you just ignore it with a laugh and an eye roll? You are in charge of your thoughts, and your thoughts are what's controlling your emotions and your behaviors. What is dominating within you? What are you repeatedly thinking, and is it helping or harming you?

Pain, guilt and regret will prohibit your transformation. They lock you into a circle of negative thinking that won't let you blossom. Watching TV to numb you from your emotions only leaves them unresolved. Let it hurt for a bit but then once the pain has subsided, you can decide how you want to tackle it next time. But you can't make logical, functional choices from a place of stress or fear. So soothe the pain, by thinking lightly on the subject. Saying something like, "this is just where I am in my body now, and it's OK, I am always changing." Saying "life is full of ebbs and flows." or "all in all, things are going quite well and I've learned a lot from this."


Steps for using patterns for easy changes:

1.  Decide on the goals you are working toward (a fit body)
2.  Decide what emotion you will feel when you have them. (when I am at my goal weight, I   will feel happy)
3. Find things you do that make you feel that way (when I am moving, walking or exercising, I feel joy)
4. When you don't feel joy or fit, think thoughts that will soften the heavy burden. (I'm doing my very best now, my body is changing daily, I am in control of my body)
5. Start doing the things you plan to do when you have a fit body. 

Lasting change is evoked when you are in a peaceful frame of mind. When you are calm of mind, your breathing changes and then your whole physical and emotional body are in control. As your breathing changes, your body begins to function optimally. When your body functions optimally, your glands and organs know just what to do. Find peace in everything. Find lightheartedness in where you are and seek out where you want to be.

Take care my sweet friends! Much love to your on your journey as CEO's.

24- Hour Urinary Tract Infection Cleanse

The infection of the bladder can be healed with some quickness if you apply some fierce remedies.

So in my 35 years, I've had only two urinary tract infections. The first time being in 2007 when I went to my doc for back pain and a fever that turned out to be a kidney infection which originated from (a secret) bladder infection. I literally skipped right over all the red flag warnings like cloudy urine, pain in the lower abdomen, frequent urination and burning pain. Woops. I was much less in tune with my body at that point. My (necessary)warning is that if you have a long term or aggressive UTI, a fever, a painful back and feel really dehydrated, consider a visit to your Dr.

My second bladder infection was more noticeable because it wasn't my first rodeo. And I'd been told by an alternative Dr that I had it, she found it through muscle testing. So I was on the look out for symptoms to show up, and 7 months later, they did. Being terrified of antibiotics, I decided I must nip my UTI in the bud today, or even yesterday. The very far possibility after a long term UTI is that the infection drives up into the one of the kidneys. But don't let that scare you to the pharmacy, people have been curing infections without prescriptions for eons. And besides, I believe if you treat something with antibiotics you're just shuffling the illness to another body part or pushing it deeper into the same organ.

I want to take antibiotics as much as I want Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton to become the President and vice President. Antibiotics are like a war between the good and the bad guys and then a random fighter plane flies overhead and bombs  the whole battle field. Its like as a kid when your Dad comes over when you're fighting with your sibling over a toy, and he snaps up the toy from both of you and and throws it away. Back to adulthood and antibiotics, it can take years to rebuild your immune system and gut bacteria after antibiotics. But if you do take antibiotics, don't listen to my raging fear of them, just bump up your probiotics to recolonize the battlefield faster.

I love this woman! She is a huge part of why I don't take antibiotics or use antibacterial wipes

A 3-Dimentional Cure for Urinary Tract Infections

Here's the Anti-Antibiotic Route to Halt Bladder Infections (UTI's) in 24 Hours:

PHYSICAL LEVEL:

1. Fluids, you need water/broth/tea to flush the infection out
2. Natural antibiotics: Oil of Oregano (150mg) and/or Berberine (250mg) taken 2-3 X a day
3. Diuretic tea: Dandelion root tea or nettle tea, drink 4 cups/day
4. D- Mannose (the active ingredient in cranberries that helps the infection) take 3 grams 2-3 x day
5. Cranberry juice (cold pressed only and not from concentrate Lakewood organic brand) added to          water to sip on all day. Actually tasty if you don't usually drink juice
6. Giai Herbs UTI formula (not pictured)
7. Starve the infection by NOT feeding it sugar (even fruit)

Your UTI Tool Box 

ENERGETIC LEVEL:

1. Watch my video for visual assistance!

2. Sitting down with legs in front of you, move to the forward fold position with arms extended parallel to the ground and move your arms and upper body toward your oes, breathing out. Then breath in on the way back to get your spine straight. Repeat this for 3 minutes

3. A standing cat/cow with hands on top of knees, deep breathing, inhale with head up and arch the back; then look down at the belly and breath out. Do this for 2-3 minutes also

4. Do these through the day when you have time

EMOTIONAL LEVEL:

• Ask yourself, who is pissing you off? 
• What is pissing you off? 
• When your symptoms are the worse, what were you thinking about? Feeling unsupported?
• What can make this situation/person better in your mind?
• Is it someone else or is it just your thoughts about that person or their behavior? 
• Are you repressing your anger? 
• Are you in a toxic relationship?
• What can you change in your thinking to soften the anger? 
• What thoughts bring relief? 
• Can you just breath more through the chaos?
• Can you write a list of all the things you LOVE about this person or this thing you've been sending so much anger to. Can you flip it. Your body needs you to.

More blogs about the energetic reasons for bladder infections: Here and Here