Based on the book “Put Your Heart in Your Mouth,” by dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.

Is everything we think we know about heart health wrong? It just might be. For starters, the belief that saturated fat causes heart disease is wrong, based on recent research and publications. Unfortunately, the correlation between saturated fat and heart disease has been ingrained in our brains for so many years that it seems almost impossible to convince people otherwise. Yet, I’m going to try. 

Is Saturated Fat to Blame?

Case and point: let’s talk about the “diet-heart hypothesis” proposed by Ancel Keys in 1953. This hypothesis led us to believe that low fat and low cholesterol diets were the answer to preventing heart disease. Keys’ infamous diagram showed the correlation between fat consumption and mortality from heart disease. While he studied 22 countries, only 6 of these countries were included in the diagram. Ironically, these...

In March, I saw that Getaway House was opening an outpost in Big Bear – just a short drive from Los Angeles.  I excitedly reached out to them to partner up!  For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know I love a weekend getaway.  I used to have all of the excuses why I couldn’t take a night or two away.  I didn’t have the money.  I can’t afford to take the time off.  I have too much to do.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah.

This Fudgy Protein Mug Cake is a quick and easy, protein-packed, and guilt-free sweet treat. And, it’s single-serving so you won’t overinduldge.

If you’ve been around for awhile now, you know just how strongly I feel about the importance of real food. Real, whole foods should always trump packaged, processed food, in my opinion. For example, I don’t believe in replacing high quality meats and veggies with protein powders or bars. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t use these products to supplement my whole food, nutrient-rich diet. Sometimes a girl needs a little sweet treat. You feel me? 

When I indulge in something sweet, I prefer using high-quality protein powder, instead of dense gluten-free or nut- based flours. I’ve noticed I tend to digest protein powder better, which might be true for you, too. Plus, it’s always helpful to consume an extra protein dose in my sweet treat. 

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I’ve struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, my anxiety presented itself as stomach aches and a general feeling of being unwell.  I distinctly remember telling my mother that I didn’t know what was wrong but sometimes I just wanted to cry.  This was different from depression, although they usually do go hand in hand.  It wasn’t a sad, hopeless, joyless feeling, but more of an uncomfortable, panicked, want-to-jump-out of my-skin feeling.  I didn’t know how to label it at the time, but looking back, I’m 110% sure it was anxiety.  And honestly, it’s no surprise.  I grew up in a home where my nervous system was on high alert around the clock.  My late father was an alcoholic and physically-abusive to my mother.  My anxiety served me well then.  It protected me.  It allowed me to react quickly in emergency situations.  My anxiety kept me safe.

In some...

My motto for drinking water has always been “You can either use a filter or be a filter.” When I can’t source this blog post I wrote on the dangers of drinking unfiltered tap water and the raw spring water I can’t live without.  Until pretty recently, I thought that I had my water bases covered, until I started researching how detrimental showering in unfiltered water could be.

I gave up eating meat in late 2009, not for any moral or ethical reason, but because it just started to gross me out.  I guess my decision to stop eating meat was more for health reasons than anything.  The more I read about veganism, the more I began to believe that the human body is not designed to digest animal protein.  Not only that, but learning about all of the hormones and antibiotics animals are fed made me give it up cold-turkey (no pun intended).  I would still eat the occasional piece of fish or raw goat cheese, but I considered myself “vegan-ish.”  I really thrived off a plant-based diet.  Because animal protein is much harder to digest, I had all that extra digestive energy to use. 

Since so many of you had questions about food combining after my last blog post, The Food Combining Trick for Weight Loss and Optimal Digestion, I wanted to create an easy-to-read chart for you to use.  A cheat sheet, if you will.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this or any foods you’d like me to add to this!

When I discovered food combining about 7 years ago through both Natalia Rose’s book The Raw Food Detox Diet and Donna Gates’ Body Ecology Diet, it was life-changing.  I am, by no means, exaggerating when I say that.  My digestion improved, I had more energy than ever before, my skin looked clear and bright, and stubborn weight effortlessly fell off of me.  Even my mood improved.  I never felt better!  This way of eating was also so incredibly freeing.  I didn’t have to worry about labels, whether I should or shouldn’t eat meat, calorie counting, or portion control (which I’ve always been terrible at, anyway!).

Putting these simple food combining guidelines into action will ensure food moves through you smoothly and efficiently, without getting stuck in your intestines, clogging you up, and weighing you down.  It’ll also ensure you absorb more nutrients from your food, leading to...