Health Coach | Speaker | Writer | Welcome to my digital diary! I'm here to help you blend life & fitness to find your health & happy! Thank you for being part of my family & allowing me to add value to your journey!
(n.) the time after a meal spent around the table with loved ones; a time to digest food, love, & friendship.
I was reading about the Spanish tradition where people sit at the table after a meal, talk, & connect with friends & loved ones.
Sweet presence — that’s what it is.
And I thought to myself, how did we lose this in our lives?
The savor of the truly important things in life?
—> the feel of sunlight on your skin
—> long, lingering hugs & the smell of fresh flowers
—> the taste of a home cooked meal with family
—> laughing with friends & meaningful conversations
—> the ability to simply move your body, health
—> peaceful sleep, clean sheets, the taste of fresh coffee
—> the feeling of the first time someone looked at you & told you they loved you
—> knowing you have the entire day to sit in your pjs & the freedom to do absolutely nothing
As basically the entire world has been forced to stay home due to the recent pandemic, I feel we’ve discovered we’ve lost our gift of presence through constant numbing & hustle.
I thought this was fitting to serve as a reminder both to ourselves whether we’re working or home or everything in between — the people you come home to…
family
friends
friends that become family
those you can’t wait to get on the phone with
those you connect with via social media
the simple feelings & emotions we experience in our everyday “mundane”…
These are the things that truly matter & we mustn’t forget when we’re feeling lost.
For me, I’d be more interested to learn from 80 people in their 80’s who were totally lost in their 20’s & 30’s that figured out what was truly more meaningful in life than 80 people in their 20’s & 30’s that figured it out early & never got lost.
It’s in the lost where we discover truth & ourselves again. 💟
I went into this low carb, insulin reset diet as another learning experience. What I found was a wake up call.
A lot of knowledge and life bombs here 💣
With the dramatic life changes for us all over the course of the past 2 weeks, cliché as it sounds, everything happens for a reason at precisely the right time.
Why the reset? I had been overly stressed, trying to cut, eating a high amt of carbs (via jasmine rice/rice Chex/occasional alcohol) while intermittent fasting & focusing on 2 (occasionally 3) larger meals a day.
👉🏻I have Crohn’s, struggled with a missed diagnosis of IBS basically my entire early life & was overweight.
👉🏻Don’t digest fruits or vegetables or fiber or seeds or skins well
👉🏻Thrive off animal meals & animal-based nutrition
👉🏻Struggled with disordered eating & bingeing
👉🏻 Spent 4-5 years healing my gut & getting myself out of metabolic adaptation because I ate poverty macros for fuggin forever
👉🏻Tried to competitively CrossFit on Paleo, Quito, low carb & did all the dumb shit for years
👉🏻I eat lowfodmap, gluten-free, dairy free, bullshit free 😆, and basic af, not cute meals are my jam. Why? Because that’s how I like to eat, Karen.
Save this for later 😉
My cut started out well, but as we progressed I noticed my energy was all over the place I was starting to feel more out of control eating larger meals (I was fuller throughout the day). My fasting blood sugar was consistently higher (for me) around the 95 to 100 range, staying elevated even 2 hours after eating.
Mine typically sits around 80 to 85 in a controlled environment, fasting.
My digestion was decent, but I still felt inflamed, puffy, & like I was carrying a lot of “fluff” around my middle which I did not have in my 20s. (I was more low carb as far as my diet approach in my 20s, & my workouts were lower intensity). I didn’t CrossFit until my 30s.
My lifestyle now is very different from even December 2019. My stress is higher & I’m traveling more.
My last cut was amazing (I had not dieted in 2 years & was coming off of a surplus) My schedule & stress were more controlled.
Last 12 week cut for a photo shoot.
💭🤔 HELLO!!!! Katie, you’ll be 38 in July, you don’t have the same body you had in your 20s. Dude, you’re almost a legit Cougar 😻😂
💁🏼♀️It’s time to get real, refocus, & realign.
To those of you in your 30s, let me tell you, things change quickly. You don’t recover as quickly, nights of bad decisions haunt you for weeks, and you’d rather go to bed by 9:30 than stay up & go clubbing. PS you still don’t have your shit together in your 30s. 👍🏼🤘🏻
I’ve learned this is the time to accept, adjust, & think about longevity more so than a ripped set of abs.
I love being lean & feeling light & strong, but just because you look the part doesn’t mean you’re healthy on the inside. Abs, striations, & single digit body fat — don’t help you live to a ripe old age.
These require different levels of commitment and flexibility with your diet and training. Be realistic.
MY CHANGES:
👉🏻Focus on a low carb approach, primarily animal-based nutrition. Why? Because I thrive off animal meats & already don’t digest fibers and plants well. I will harp at you till I’m blue in the face, go your own way! Don’t send me fucking hate messages because I eat animals. I’m not telling anyone to eat this way, I’m simply sharing my experiences and reasoning why.
👉🏻I also am not “CrossFitting” because all the gyms are closed, therefore, my activity is more lower intensity. This would warrant lower carbohydrates for my needs are not as high.
👉🏻I am also sleeping more, reducing caffeine intake, & fasting at least 14-16hrs overnight to recover, give my digestion a break & allow my body to balance itself out.
👉🏻I need an approach that is going to keep me fuller, longer, with less energy crashes to sustain long days working at the clinics & hospitals. I don’t like worrying about food & a bunch of meal preps, just my personality. I prefer two large meals a day. Naturally, protein and fats will do this. they take longer to digest and are harder to digest by the body — keeping blood sugar more stable, energy levels more stable with you feeling fuller, longer like a cherry on top. Which is why I’m taking a higher protein, higher fat approach.
👉🏻Macro wise, I am loosely tracking just to make sure my calories are in check. Keeping my carbs 50 g & under. Not really paying attention to where my protein & fats fall, obviously I’m getting plenty of both with animal-based nutrition with the inclusion of nut butters.
👉🏻I Am tracking weight, progress photos, & blood sugar with a simple glucometer (am fasting, 2 hrs post meal, bedtime) just to see how my body tolerates specific ratios, salt intake, stress, & food choices. Not because I’m focusing on the weight on the scale. Obviously when reducing carbohydrates, you’ll naturally lose water, so a lot of this is water weight loss, initially.
Me this morning 3/24/20 113.7lbs
THINGS IM LEARNING:
✅CrossFit is not in aesthetic sport. Stop choosing CrossFit to look like a bodybuilder. Align your training, lifestyle, & align your food. Manage you mofo stress!
✅I personally feel much better on a carnivore-ish diet which aligns better with my lifestyle right now.
🌀My digestion is exceptional, my bloating is gone, bowel movements routine & normal, my puffiness is gone, I feel lighter.
🌀After nine days I’m noticing aesthetic changes finally. Stomach is starting to lose that patchy fat in my stubborn areas above and below my belly button.
🌀Yes with the training differences I’m getting smaller, and softer but I’m fitting more naturally back into my happy setpoint. My weight is staying around 113 pounds.
🌀I don’t hurt as much (minus my broken toe I have right now).
🌀No energy crashes, I have absolutely no cravings for sugar and I’m offen satisfied with one large meal during the day after my fasted walk.
🌀I love walking, it is my savior mind and body. I don’t need to work out six days a week and I need to sleep more. Duh.
✅The more data we have the more we can make educated informed decisions about our lifestyle & food choices. Do we need to worry about tracking & measuring all of the time — NO! But there’s a time & a place for it so you can learn & make educated decisions about how to live your life for YOU.
Quit whining, complaining, yo-yo dieting, yo-yo training, yo-yo living your life aimlessly because you’re not educating yourself. Get tested, invest in mentors, coaches, doctors to help you. There are free podcasts, wonderful people & resources on social media, books you can purchase & things out there at minimal cost.
✅Your goals should be centered around 4 different areas: healing, performance, aesthetics, & longevity. Your seasons will change, adjust accordingly.
✅People just think glucose is just a measure of carbs, it’s not, it’s a measurement of your lifestyle. Stress, food choices, sleep, your workouts, air pollution, under eating, over eating, toxins, artificial shit you put in your body or on your body — it all matters. It all affects your physiology, hormones, gut health, & processes that go on internally.
✅You have to ask yourself what level of stress you are OK with in your life. Adjust accordingly. If you choose this stress level, don’t bitch when you don’t get what you want.
✅The biggest thing people ignore are their mindset & their thoughts. So why are people having such a hard time right now being at home with their thoughts?
BINGO.
I hope this helps you wherever you are in your journey. Remember only you know your body best. I am not endorsing anyone to follow any particular diet I want you to learn, I want you to follow your heart, and I want you to ALWAYS listen to your gut. ❤️
Many times when asking your doctor, “What can I eat and what should I avoid?” when dealing with digestive disorders they tell you, “Just eat what you want unless it bothers you.” 🤔😳🤷🏼♀️🤷🏻♂️
Maybe they’ll add a few restrictions like a low fiber, low-fat, gluten &/or dairy free diet but beyond that you’re on your own.
I repeat, WE ARE WHAT WE DIGEST & ABSORB. When dealing with certain digestive issues like IBS or IBD disorders, gut dysbiosis like Candida & bacterial overgrowths, the inflammation & symptoms can trigger further problems other than discomfort like malabsorption. Subsequently nutrient deficiencies are a prevalent issue.
THE WHAT & WHY OF COMMON TRIGGERS
FAT
We need fat to live. It’s needed for absorption of vitamins A, D, E, & K, but in people with certain issues, it causes symptoms. Fat is a powerful stimulant to the G.I. tract which can exacerbate diarrhea & is hard to digest in individuals without a gallbladder or those who have undergone a bowel resection.
CAFFEINE
Another stimulant. Bad for those with diarrhea, can be an aid for those with constipation. Keep <200mg/day.
ALCOHOL
It’s a toxin y’all. Delicious yes, but does nothing positive but give you the confidence to dance & eat like an a$$hole. It inhibits folic acid absorption, is an irritant to the G.I. tract, filled with empty calories, no nutrient value, dehydrates, raises estrogen levels, & interacts with numerous medications.
GLUTEN
Gluten means “glue” & that’s exactly what it is: two proteins, gliadin & glutenin, stuck together. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, & rye. An intolerance or sensitivity is the body’s inability to digest or break down the gluten protein found in wheat, grains, & certain products. Causes inflammation & abdominal discomfort & symptoms ranging from skin rashes to more severe problems in those with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder.
DAIRY
Many people with problems are also lactose intolerant. Dairy is an inflammatory food, one of the top allergens. Due to lactose, which is milk sugar, it causes problems in those who are lacking the enzyme lactase which breaks down the lactose. Bacteria in the colon feed on the undigested sugar, producing hydrogen, which leads to diarrhea &/or build up of gas.
GAS PRODUCING FOODS & DRINKS
Common culprits are high fodmap foods, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, beans, garlic, onions, leeks, cabbage, beer, high sugar drinks and fruits. Many sulfur producing vegetables produce more gas & fermentation which causes bloating.
RED MEAT
Minimizing red meat greatly lowers hydrogen sulfide levels which can have a negative affect on the health of the colonic mucosa. It’s harder to break down & digest which causes stress, requires more energy, which also causes that energy slump.
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
The ols like sugar alcohols which are found in many sugarless chewing gum’s, cookies, sweets, processed foods are a big trigger of bloating & diarrhea via fermentation because our bodies can’t break them down.
FRUCTOSE
Consuming fruits with high sugar can cause bloating,cramping, diarrhea because certain individuals lack the enzyme to break down the sugar thus allowing the colon bacteria to consume triggering symptoms.
FIBER
There are two kinds of fiber insoluble & soluble.
INSOLUBLE Fiber is found in raw fruits, vegetables, certain grains, leafy greens, brands, skins, nuts & seeds. This fiber does not take on water in the gut but provides undigested bulk to the stool. For those of us that cannot break down the fiber it does not easily pass through structures, can contribute to irritation in those with an inflamed gut.
SOLUBLE fiber takes on water providing bulk to the stool but is easier on the G.I. tract. It’s found in quick oats, white bread, cereals, white rice, pasta & potatoes.
Again, we all have different triggers so keep a food journal, notice patterns when eating certain things, have patience & know that by making simple food & lifestyle adjustments, you can help minimize your own symptoms.
Be an advocate of your own health❤️
Do you know your triggers? Share your experience with someone else👇🏻
Sources: Healthy Gut, Healthy You, Dr. Michael Ruscio | Crohn’s Dsease and Ulcerative Colitis, Jill Sklar | Crohnscolitisfoundation.org | The Rain Barrel Effect, Dr. Stephen Cabral
Sometimes people, places, things, our comfortably controlled routines — the old you — must be lifted from the VIP seats of your life to allow the aligned ones in.
Hello #covid19
This removal usually hurts like hell.
It usually is a big kick in the azzzz frankly.
It creates scars.
Scars we don’t other people to see so we hide them. We mold into people & titles we think other people will like to approve of.
What happens when they’re stripped away? What do you cling to?
What do you discover?
What do you let go?
This time has been challenging for me too. I’ve had to basically relearn how to live & sit uncomfortably in my feelings. I don’t sit & rest well. #gsdqueen
I am beyond grateful, however. For some downtime & slowdown to refocus on what makes me unique, refocus, gratitude for simple things, & realizing I am fuggin awesome no matter if I’m being productive or not.
Don’t put yourself on the clearance rack — I tell my clients this all the time. With anything in life — dating, fitness, food, career, personal development.
People doubt their ability, they’re ashamed of their scars when there are people out there in awe of their potential.
I remind myself to savor relationships & connections made, no matter what the outcome, to not doubt my abilities & worth, to not settle, & to share my scars freely, & choose gratitude ALWAYS.
Here’s to service, presence, & new beginnings.
Xray on 🤘🏻💀😷
Gimme a ❤️ & one thing you’re grateful for today!🙏🏻👇🏻
But for real…I’ve received an influx of messages about emotional eating during this time of heightened emotions.
As one who suffered from disordered eating, body dysmorphia, bulimia, orthorexia…all the deep 💩 — I HEAR YOU❤️🙏🏻
Cred: Mymindmybody
FOOD & FEELS
They go hand-in-hand.
We use them for celebration, socializing, fitness, etc. They’re a necessity. We need food to LIVE. BUT if you feel like food is your go-to coping strategy, it may mean that you’re not actually meeting your needs — emotional &/or physical.
Cred: BlessingManifesting
How to approach emotional eating:
❤️Like not having your period ladies, categorize emotional eating as a red flag 🚩 Something is off balance. Physically &/or emotionally your needs aren’t being met.
❤️Journal. Let’s get to the root issue. Ask yourself “What am I feeling ?” “What do I need?”
❤️Braindump. How can you meet your needs?
✅journal, read, walk outside, sauna, read, listen to a podcast, workout, talk to someone, what puts you in a better mood?
EAT ENOUGH FOOD in the first place, we binge most often because we’re restricting in some way, positive self talk.
❤️Know thy self. If you know you can’t control yourself from trigger foods, get them out of your home. Find an approach to redirect those thoughts from ones that are hurting you to one a that are helping you.
The point is to become a mf boss at identifying & meeting your needs before they own you.
Emotional eating, like any gut &/or hormonal dis-ease, is a complex topic that affects many differently.
Please seek help from a qualified individual🥰
Leave advice & your thoughts for others in comments🙏🏻👇🏻
I feel what the world needs right now isn’t another post about losing weight or body fat loss.
Right now, for most of us, we should be focusing on feeling our best — not shrinking our bodies because we think we’ll be happier taking up less space.
What we really need is S E L F LOVE
Beautiful design by my fav: @positivelypresent 💕
Cred: @positivelypresent
Ever wonder where negative talk comes from?
They’re rooted from experiences & traumas you’ve had in your past, often childhood. The more you focus on the familiar past, the more the predictable future repeats itself.
Just because something negative happened to you in the past, maybe someone called you ugly or stupid or pathetic or whatever — doesn’t mean that’s what you are.
Remember, what people do or say to you comes from how they view themselves &/or the product of their environment. Hurt people hurt people. As we like to say, “Haters gonna hate.”
On the other hand, if you believe you are unworthy/unloveable you may have biased expectations & reactions when approaching situations with others.
Thoughts become things. These thoughts contribute to your cycle of black cloud emotions & habits.
To cultivate more self-love you must break the cycle & challenge yourself away from negative thoughts, start enforcing boundaries with yourself & others, practice self-care, and distance yourself from toxicity (environment, people, food, social media, etc).
I talk about how habits make you a lot.
That it’s not exactly about picking the right foods or the right diets or the right workouts or the right macros.
Your habits will directly drive how successful you are in anything & everything you do.
Remember that Marshmallow Experiment done by Stanford professor Walter Mischel?
I had to Google that again actually🤓
Basically it found that children who had more willpower & delayed eating the marshmallow to receive a bigger treat later on were more successful in many areas of their lives than the children who couldn’t resist & chose temporary pleasure over long-term gain.
This experiment relates to our routine habit choices. We can choose habits that will serve us more later or ones that will not.
When working with clients one of the first things we work on is self & food awareness. Which includes creating healthier habits.
These can be as simple as eating more protein with each meal or reducing drinking from three days a week to one.
Change your habits, change your thoughts — change you.
I’ve talked about it openly through the years via my Instagram.
For yrs my reason for diving into these fad diets were focused around self loathing, lack of education & wanting to shrink my life away.
I’m grateful, however, bc I learned how my body responded to different foods, different quantities, my energy level during training, my crohn’s & digestion, recovery, & realistic sustainability.
I don’t believe in any perfect way of eating — only the perfect way of eating for you. So I don’t bash anyone who hates meat or prefers a certain way of living.
💁🏼♀️Golden rule: basically don’t be a dick.
I simply want to educate you on my journey & why I utilize specific methods.
Currently I’m going through a reset diet. I found with my high carb approach I was feeling inflamed, blood sugar consistently high, digestion off, hungry more often than I should’ve, energy was all over the place, & I was having to eat an asinine amt of food to feel full to keep from wanting to binge during my cut.
Obv life has been pretty crazy for everyone recently so stress levels high. I felt I needed to hit the redo button.
Why I choose a diet based on animal foods👇
✅Majority of my calories are from the most nutrient-dense bioavailable foods
✅I LOVE & thrive off meat with no digestion issues #farmersdaughter yo 🐮❤️ BM’s have been normal! Maybe TMI but for those of us who struggle with gut stuff — shit matters — literally 💩 😂
✅Minimal fiber, meaning everything is easy to digest. I’ve talked before about my special needs — I don’t digest vegetables very well at all. Gritty, tough textures like skins, nuts & seeds, gluten, dairy, high FODMAP foods are a no no FOR ME.
✅Low to no sugar, or highly palatable processed carb based foods. I found these are my biggest triggers when it comes to binging or basically eating like an asshole.
Cereals, cakes/donuts/cookies/chips. I told you I’m an all or nothing person — I’m not a moderator. I can’t have any of that stuff in my house bc I know if I have it here, I have a higher probability to binge. KNOW THY SELF!
✅Natural fats & plenty of protein. I’m fuller longer, I don’t have energy crashes, I can eat 1 to 2 large meals & be happy all day & not have to worry about having a bunch of meal preps.
I work in healthcare — I don’t have a lot of time to fuggn worry about 100 perfectly measured out meal preps. I like to live life simple, this takes the guessing out. It was driving me nuts.
✅My body is more recovered, less inflamed. I do have to take it easy with higher intensity work like CrossFit. Yes, I love it but trying to do a 30 minute metcon on no carbs — let’s be real people, you’re gonna have to change your training.
Don’t be a dumbass & try to do Orange Theory & CrossFit on zero carbs thinking you’re going to perform like a games athlete. It’s not gonna happen. These are highly glycolytic sports & the most efficient fuel for these will be carbs. They’re not your enemy.
I modify my #carnivorish diet to my preferences. There is room for leniency, you are in charge of what you put in your mouth. If there is a food not animal based, that doesn’t trigger symptoms for you, don’t feel pressured to avoid it.
Some I include in my diet are:
💟 nut butters (pb @sunbutter & coconut)
💟 eggs & egg whites & spray butter (vice)
💟 @strongcoffeecompany & coffee
💟 water flavoring (dudes I hate water, whatevs, pick your poison)
💟 @zevia & occasional alcohol
💟 Plant based protein powder
💟Jasmine Rice or Rice Chex around training
I loosely track & eat till I’m satisfied. I still eat mainly animal foods, but this is what works for me. I don’t beat myself up if I want nachos. I make them fit. They’re still my #bae
I’m really tired of hearing about this quarantine.
I feel the reason people are having a hard time is because they’re forced to sit with their feelings, thoughts, & forced to manage their relationships with one another.
“You learn to love yourself in the context of relationships with others.”
-Ester Perel
I am one who’s love life with herself & others were a complete shit show until I started working on myself. My personal, emotional, & professional life struggled.
I had one failed relationship after another. I wandered around aimlessly from one job to another, not really knowing my place or purpose. Not really understanding why I like juggling so many different things and interests. I felt like there was something wrong with me – UNTIL I researched more about how I was wired, why, who I wanted to be, how I wanted to feel, what kind of partner made me FEEL the way I wanted to in a relationship, and what values & pillars were important to me in life.
Only then did my life start turning around and getting much clearer.
I researched Human Design, my astrology, started following accounts that made me feel good, and started doing the inner work with Lacy Phillips.
Call me woo-woo, call it BS, I DGAF. I respect everyone’s opinions on matters of spirituality & the Universe. All I know is my life is much clearer & #abundantAF
Go your own way 😉
Anywhoodle, back to the main question at hand…
I had a DM today & she asked me how I knew I was with the right person because she was unsure she was in the right relationship. That this quarantine was leaving her questioning things.
I asked her, “Are you looking for a LOVE story? Or a LIFE story?”
She asked what that meant & I explained via life thru my lens & things I learned from Ester— I was always searching for a LOVE story, the knight in shining armor, the perfect relationship, the fantasy — LOVE story. LOVE stories are not LIFE stories. They share different ingredients.
When you’re looking for the right person it’s not about what you’re attracted to it’s about who can you build a LIFE story with.
Things that are important to have in common with your partner:
–Your relationship with others. Do they like community or do they like spending time alone? How do they treat their family? How do they treat other people? Were you/they raised for autonomy or were you/they raised for loyalty & working together as a team? Children?
–Emotional availability & compatibility. Love languages, understanding of these. Outlook & attitude on life.
–Understanding the conditioning of their environment before judging. Why do they do/think/act the way they do? It’s a product of how they were raised in the environment they live in. Can you live with this & evolve together?
“What about expectations?” she asked.
The moment you have an expectation you create dependence. That dependence means you or they have power.
You create a condition that can be broken resulting in disappointment. Have you communicated this expectation with them?
The answer is what do you do with that power?
How do you use it? How do they respond to it?
Do you/they get defensive or do you/they try to understand & ask questions. That’s how you deal with struggles. You repair via communication & healing.
If communication & trust aren’t there, no matter what kind of relationship you’re in — it will never thrive!
Show the other they still matter.
Get them their favorite book, drink, give them a hug, LISTEN, let them speak, give them their space.
Self-awareness, trust, appreciation, & accountability are true freedom & home.
Successful, thriving relationships have a high degree of appreciation.
Negative, failing relationships highlight the negative.
This not only applies at home this also applies out in society & with yourself.
If someone asked me what are 3 pieces of advice to keep in your front pocket today they would be:
1.) The quality of your relationships determine the quality of your life.
A.k.a. make sure you have a rich life.
Don’t be a dick, follow the Golden rule.
2.) Invest in your relationships
No one has ever died hoping they had worked more.
Make it your purpose that when people think of you they smile. That’s your legacy you leave in the hearts & minds of others.
3.) If you have a dream, a person, a ping that has been in your heart & your mind — do it, follow it.
