Eat for Life

Is your smartphone phone really bad for you? Our lives are increasingly full of wireless devices, from our phones, tablets and e-readers to our “smart” home appliances. We know there are mental health impacts from constant connection to the internet, work, social media and more through our phones, but our technology poses other risks too. Maybe you’ve been hearing people talk about the negative ef...

Prior to 2020, an estimated 25% of adults struggled with a mental health condition. Since the beginning of the pandemic, with the added stressors and uncertainties many of us face, along with the toll of social and physical isolation, that number is estimated to have risen by 40%. The landscape of our collective mental health has likely permanently changed since the beginning of 2020. But accessin...

Parenting in a post-pandemic world with masking requirements, Zoom school, and social distancing from friends and classmates is hard enough. Being a parent to a behaviorally challenged and neurodivergent child comes with unique challenges that for many, have been heightened by the pandemic. Anger, rage, extreme defiance, high anxiety and other behavioral and mental health issues can take a toll on...

23.5 million people in the United States suffer from at least one autoimmune condition and that number is rising fast. Worldwide, autoimmune diseases are increasing by 7% each year, with the biggest increases in celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, and myasthenia gravis. The most significant jumps are happening in the northern and western hemispheres. There are now over 100 different types of autoimmu...

When you think of a concussion, do you picture a football player passed out on the field or someone who hit their head in a car accident? It may surprise you to learn that a concussion doesn’t have to be from a direct blow to the head or include losing consciousness. So what defines a concussion? Anything that jostles the brain can cause a concussion. And symptoms can be more than just headaches....

Diet culture tells us “eat this, don’t eat that,” while anti-diet culture too often says, “eat whatever you want” even if it’s inflammatory and can feed health problems in the name of body positivity. Though at opposite ends of the spectrum, both embody rules that keep us disconnected from the cues our bodies are actually giving us about the foods we eat. In truth, diets and anti-diets trickle int...

So many women struggle on birth control. Yet when they finally decide to go off it, they continue to have the same, or in many cases worsening, symptoms. If you or a loved one struggle on any form of birth control, today's episode will empower you with the knowledge to understand why this is happening and the steps you can take to begin the healing process. You'll learn how hormonal and...

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and histamine intolerance have been buzzwords for quite some time now, but these conditions are still highly misunderstood and impact 1 in 8.5 people. That’s up to 17% of the general population! Mast cells are our immune system’s first responders, sensing and communicating back to the brain about incoming pathogens, toxins, injuries, and other stressors. When t...

Drastic behavior changes. Extreme irritability. Developmental regressions. Why did your child become someone you barely recognize seemingly overnight? Radical, sudden changes in a child’s behaviors and mood can be signs of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder (PANDAS) and Pediatric Acute Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS). These infection-induced autoimmune encephalopathies were once...

Lots of people are talking about the vagus nerve, but do you know just how many of your body’s organs and functions it interacts with? In this episode, I'm talking with Dr. Navaz Habib, author of Activate Your Vagus Nerve: Unleash Your Body’s Natural Ability to Heal . Dr. Habib explains beautifully what the vagus nerve is and why it's so important for optimum health. He gives us an overv...

Have you ever thought about how your perceptions can significantly influence your body's reaction to food? Food should be pleasurable, but unfortunately for so many people, it's a source of fear, anxiety and overwhelm. In our world of influencer marketing and Dr. Google, it’s no wonder we’re more confused than ever about what and how to eat. The anxiety and confusion that happens when we...

Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the world. 2020 CDC statistics estimate that 1 in 54 children in the United States is born with autism spectrum disorder. That's 1 in 37 boys and 1 in 151 girls. And epidemiological studies estimate a global prevalence of 1 in 132 children! What is happening to create this disturbing statistic? And more specifically: how are our genes...

Sound nutrition and equal education are the birthrights of every child. This is the rallying call that today’s guest Dr. Vaishnavi Sarathy bases her life’s work – confronting the false belief that children with disabilities are incompetent. She rightly believes that when we bring dignity and respect to all children, regardless of their assumed level of intelligence, anything can happen. For this f...

Anxiety, anger, and stress are a normal part of the human experience. But if you find yourself unable to tolerate even the smallest amount of stress without feeling lots of anxiety and anger, you may have a little-known stress disorder known as Pyrrole disorder. Pyrrole disorder (also called Pyroluria) occurs when a biochemical abnormality results in the overproduction of pyrrole molecules. Pyrrol...

What if we viewed addiction as a response to something, rather than the common viewpoint that someone is a lost cause and can’t get their life together? What if we embraced people with compassion and empathy, while also acknowledging that addiction is the result of a combination of genetics, who we are exposed to, trauma, abuse, family dynamics, and biochemistry? In this week’s episode, I talk all...

In honor of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, I am so honored to share my very real and raw conversation about eating disorders with my friend, colleague, and eating disorder survivor Mindy Gorman-Plutzer. In this episode, Mindy and I share our own experiences with disordered eating and how the path to healing is one that includes deep empathy and a holistic approach that looks at all aspec...

For over 25 years I carried around an immense amount of guilt and shame because of my disordered relationship with food and my body. No matter how hard I tried, I felt like I wasn't strong enough or smart enough to figure out why I had allowed this to take over my life. In my mind, I was a failure and total fraud for pretending everything was fine when in truth, I was in so much pain. When I...

Well, it's January and I have no words to describe all that we endured last year. After taking some much needed time for self-care, I’m invigorated to begin anew. That’s why I feel this episode is so important. This time of year is when we set new goals and do everything in our power to achieve them. But what happens when we don’t? What stops us from doing what we truly want to do to become a...

Understanding the complexities of the human microbiome can be overwhelming.   At its most simple, we can think of the microbiome as an ecosystem that consists of a collection of organisms including bacteria, viruses, fungus, and protozoa.   We often think there is a single ecosystem—or microbiome—found within our bodies, largely residing in the gut. But there are different versions of our microbio...

Be a boss. Hustle hard. Love yourself. Make it happen. You decide the outcome. Do these phrases and mantras sound familiar? Usually, these sayings are used in the self-help world to boost your confidence both in life and work. The self-help industry makes us believe that we can make anything happen—but what if these mantras we hear repeated in the self-help industry actually make you feel worse? E...

Many of us have been touched by narcissism. Up close or from the sidelines, we have experienced its effects from a teacher, our parents, or from the leaders in our lives. Often this narcissism surprises us and comes from the most unexpected of places where we feel safe to let our guard down and allow ourselves to be vulnerable. One of these places is the Church. Typically we don’t relate narcissis...

It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart because breast cancer runs in my family—not only am I a nutrition therapy practitioner, I’m also a patient. I believe I would have had a very high likelihood of getting breast cancer had I not learned about my own biochemical imbalances along with the help of my guest today, Dr. Albert Mensah. There is so muc...

It’s National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and I am continuing this month’s special two part series with licensed psychologist, Dr. Perry Passaro, and orthomolecular specialist, Dr. Albert Mensah. In this case study series, we are sharing Sara’s story. Sara is a young woman who spent two years receiving psychiatric treatment with absolutely no improvement in addition to two hospitalizations...

It’s National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. In this month’s special two part series, I’m sharing Sara’s story with you along with licensed psychologist, Dr. Perry Passaro, and orthomolecular specialist, Dr. Albert Mensah. This is a story of a young woman who spent two years receiving psychiatric treatment with absolutely no improvement in addition to two hospitalizations and two suicide atte...

Could copper overload be at the core of your anxiety and depression? Copper toxicity is a condition that negatively impacts both the brain and body—and, unfortunately, this simple chemical imbalance is not common knowledge among women and doctors. On today’s special women’s health episode I’m talking with Deb Tokarz who is a copper toxicity survivor and author of I Cu Copper , which is an open and...