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Helpful Stop Snoring Aids and Options

Approximately half of the world's population snores to some degree. While most snorers do this on a tolerable level, there are some snorers that snore loudly enough that they disturb the whole household. Needless to say, loud, continual snoring can be bothersome to the snorer and their family.
 
Naturally, you should try sleeping on your side or stomach to stop snoring. However, when this easy option doesn't work, then stop-snoring devices may prove to be of benefit to you.

There are plenty of methods on the market today that can assist in silencing the noisy situation. These products are specifically designed to enable snorers and their families to get a good night's sleep.

The first method you may wish to explore is the over-the-counter strips that you place on your nose, similar to a thin, flexible bandage. These 'Breathe-Right' strips help to open the nostrils, therefore enabling more air to pass through. Check your local drugstore or pharmacy to see if this option is available to you. It is probably one of the least expensive and least invasive options available.

Different Types of Anti-Snoring Devices

Apparatus designed to stop snoring come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the most popular products are those that can be bought over the counter without a doctor's prescription. Here are a few of those items you may like to try.

Throat Sprays and Nasal Dilation Aids

Throat sprays are dual-purpose in their action. Firstly, they lubricate the throat and allow air to pass through more easily. Secondly, they can bring down the swelling of the tonsils and adenoids, further reducing another cause of snoring. 
Nasal dilation aids, which are similar to little nose bandages, keep the nasal air passages open while sleeping so you can breathe through your nose instead of the mouth.

Stop Snoring Pillows

Special pillows can also be used. Snoring is far more likely to occur if you sleep flat on your back, and/or if you sleep with a thin pillow. For chronic snorers, it is preferable to sleep on your side so that there is less pressure on the airways. 

If you have a difficult time staying in this position while sleeping, it is recommended that you invest in a pillow which is specifically designed to prevent or reduce snoring. However, if you really can't stop yourself from sleeping on your back, try elevating your head by using a thicker, firmer pillow instead of a thin, flimsy one. 

Some people may find it helpful to place pillows under the head of their mattress in order to elevate their bed. Experiment with your pillow and see which setup feels the most comfortable and gives the best results.

Special Mouth Guards 

There are other devices similar to mouth guards which are used to keep the mouth closed and the throat open at the same time. These devices are especially useful for people who not only snore regularly but who also have sleep apnea.
 
If you are interested in using these mouthpieces, you will have to see your dentist as they will fit you with a properly fitting device. 

Mouthpieces - Pros and Cons

Mouthpieces are by far the most popular snoring prevention devices. The main advantage of these devices is that they are very easy to use. They are available in all forms and price ranges, so there will certainly be one that fits your mouth and your budget. An anti-snoring mouthpiece works by keeping your tongue in place as you sleep, thereby keeping your air passages open and reducing the chance of snoring. It may feel uncomfortable to use in the beginning, but after a couple of nights, you will get used to the sensation of having the device in your mouth.

Many people prefer using a mouthpiece over other snoring prevention devices because they are less intrusive. Some may worry that the mouthpiece will force their teeth out of place, but that is not likely. Unlike a retainer, an anti-snoring mouthpiece will not put pressure on your teeth. Its only purpose is to keep your air passages open while you sleep.

Another Option, if Over-The-Counter Options Fail

You can experiment with the above non-surgical solutions first. Should all these simple options fail to prevent your snoring, you may need to discuss with your doctor the option of surgical treatments.

There is also another alternative to traditional methods of snoring prevention, and it is called 'Radiofrequency Tissue Reduction' or 'Somnoplasty.' In this simple, out-patient procedure, the space between the nose and throat is enlarged to make breathing during sleep an easier process. 

If all else fails, you can try sewing a tennis ball into your pajamas, so that you can't roll onto your back and snore. There's more than one way to help you stop snoring!






Getting a Good Night's Sleep

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Foods that Boost Your Immune System
By Lori Lamb Functional Medicine Health Coach

For most of the population, when it comes to improving the health of their immune system, the biggest single, manageable and effective variable is diet. 

Stress and environmental factors are certainly issues that should be addressed if you seem to be succumb to whatever virus is currently in your area, or your wound healing takes longer than it should.

However, more and more research confirms that the main reason behind increasing levels of susceptibility to viral and bacterial attack (due to diminished levels of immune system potency) is a diet that that does not provide the nutrients essential to promoting immune system health.

Our immune system underpins our health by automatically, with no conscious effort on our part, killing off invisible invaders that attempt to destroy our health. In turn, our immune system is most strongly supported by eating the right foods, and avoiding the wrong ones.

A healthy immune system is totally reliant on a regular supply of antioxidants. These occur naturally, in abundance, in fruit and vegetables, some more than others. Healthy protein is also an essential requirement, to supply amino acids vital to our immune systems health.

Eating a wide range of fruit and vegetables will provide a holistic, broad-based, nutrient and antioxidant supply to ensure no essentials are omitted. However, some foods have been shown to supply above-average support to the immune system. 

As such, they deserve special mention, and extra effort should be made to  regularly include them in a healthy diet, to rev up your immune system's fighting ability. Remember that your cells are feeding and replicating off of what you eat, so strive to make it organic as much as you can. Your cells will than you. 
Spinach

Spinach is rich in folate that is vital for the production of new cells and for repairing damaged DNA.  This green leafy vegetable is also an excellent source of protein, fiber, antioxidants and calcium. To be able to ensure that you get these benefits from spinach, try eating it raw if not lightly cooked. 

Watermelon

Watermelon not only refreshes and hydrates but it also boosts the immune system. Watermelon is one of the richest sources of glutathione. Glutathione is made up of three kinds of amino acids namely L-Cysteine, Glycine and L-Glutamic Acid. Each human cell needs glutathione for its protection against the adverse effects of free radicals. 

Glutathione also boosts energy, reduces muscle pain and promotes clearer thinking. Watermelon contains active compounds that fight against the adverse effects of aging while reducing the amount of toxins and wastes inside the body. 

Carrots

Carrots are known for their beta-carotene content. One of the main functions of beta-carotene in the body is to protect the mucous membrane found in the intestinal and respiratory tracts against any bacterial invasion. Eat your carrot raw or enjoy it along with broccoli and cauliflower as a nutritious appetizer.
  
Cabbage

Cabbage is loaded with glutathione making it one of the best foods for powering up the immune system. Cabbage is not only cheap but it is also available in the market all year round, so it can be considered an immune-health staple any time of the year. 

Cabbage not only helps in battling against inflammation but it also has anti-cancer properties.  It helps disinfect the colon and speeds up the healing process of any skin problems. Cabbage juice has also been proven to be effective for healing ulcers.

Grapefruit

Grapefruits are rich sources of flavonoids that act as antioxidants.  These flavonoids are very helpful for reducing inflammation and for promoting healthy arteries. The antioxidants also function as anti-aging compounds that prevent and repair damaged cells. 

Grapefruit is also loaded with vitamin C that helps protect people against the common colds and flu. 

Include more of these fruits and vegetables in your daily diet to keep your immune system functioning at the best it can. In spite of the other variables which may seem uncontrollable (such as stress or environmental factors), diet is an area over which you do a large measure of control. 

Foods that Boost Your Immune System

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Are Food Cravings a Sign of a Nutritional Deficiency?
By Lori Lamb Functional Medicine Health Coach

Food cravings are defined as an intense desire and longing for a particular type of food. However, are your food cravings a sign of a nutritional deficiency? The answer is not necessarily. 

For example, a craving for chocolate, which is rich in magnesium, may not necessarily be a sign that you need to increase your magnesium intake. It may be that you are a sweet tooth longing for a sugar hit. Similarly, craving a juicy steak may simply mean that you love eating steak for dinner, rather than your body needing more iron.

Natural vs Unnatural Influences

Before humankind became ‘clever’ enough to enhance and ‘improve’ the flavors and tastes of food, food cravings would have been viable triggers to the brain to seek foods that would remedy nutritional deficiencies.

Wild animals in their natural environments self-select their foods to overcome any deficiencies. Domesticated animals do also to the degree that they are able. Ever noticed your dog eating gras? They do that when they are constipated. However, because their diets are often partially or totally supplied to them, they can be easily tricked into eating less healthy inputs by adding taste-enhancing fractions.

Does that sound familiar? So many of the processed foods that we consume today do not have optimal nutrition as their base precept. The ultimate goal is repeat sales, and the means to this end is to make the product as tasty as possible. It is very possible to create ‘foods’ that have little to no nutritional value and contain elements that are toxic to health but taste great.

The bottom line - food cravings today are unlikely to be related to dietary requirements as much as they are to other factors.
Food Cravings and Nutrient Deficiencies Today

Nutritional deficiencies linked to cravings certainly exist, however, they are not common today. For example, pregnant women may crave high-carb and fatty foods, during the first half of their pregnancy. If nutritional deficiency was the sole driver, wouldn’t a pregnant woman only be craving healthy foods rich in nutrients for their growing baby? Especially in the later stages of their pregnancy when the developing fetus needs more nutrients. 

What Causes Food Cravings?

So if a nutritional deficiency is not the culprit behind food cravings, what could cause our intense desire for certain foods? Unlike true hunger, which would occur after fasting for a period, food cravings are more likely a result of psychological factors. 

Here are some of the possible reasons for food cravings.

Visually Appealing Food Images

Images of food bombard us all day - from advertisements to social media. It also doesn't help that foods we often see are high-calorie foods. Being constantly exposed to all these visual images can trigger our food cravings, which can lead to the overeating of less healthy foods.

Habits We Create

Another possible reason for experiencing food cravings is our psychological conditioning toward a specific type of food. For example, if you eat popcorn while watching a movie, you could trigger a craving for popcorn every time you watch one! You are conditioning yourself and also creating a bad habit. Therefore, this type of craving is motivated by a learned behavior rather than a nutritional deficiency.
Food Restrictions

Consciously limiting our intake of a certain type of food may further increase our desire to eat it. For example, if you love snacking on different savory delights after your evening meal, and you make an effort to stop this habit, your desire becomes a compulsive craving that you really have to fight!

Gut Microbes

Your gut microbes could be influencing your food cravings. The microbes in your digestive system can manipulate you into eating a certain type of food to help with their own survival. Some types of gut microbes survive in a highly acidic state, while others don't. Depending on what type of microbes are present in your gut, they can send signals from the gut to your brain, letting you know what they want you to consume in their best interest, not yours!

In Summary

The case for food cravings mostly points to psychological factors rather than physical requirements. Experiencing cravings can also tell us a lot about our relationship with food. Either way, knowing what causes your food cravings could help you understand your eating habits better and make healthier choices.


What are your food cravings telling you?

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The Six Stages of Nutrition For Optimal Health

Eating healthy is more than just eating fruits and vegetables and putting as many colors of the rainbow as possible into our diet. When we say a person eats healthy, it's more than just maintaining a nutritious diet. 

There is more to nutrition than just eating fruits and vegetables. To eat a nutritious diet and have the foods we eat most benefit our health, it helps to understand that nutrition goes through a multi-stage process.

For us to be able to fully benefit from the food we eat means that the nutritional building blocks that make up our diet should be distributed throughout our system, then absorbed by the cells for optimal functioning, and ultimately eliminated from the body in the form of waste after it has been metabolized.

Therefore, the concept of nutrition is more than just maintaining a healthy diet. What we eat is only the first stage in a six-stage process. 

The Six Stages of Nutrition

Diet

Our diet is composed of all the food, drinks, and nutritional supplements we take daily and consume regularly. Having the intention of becoming healthier still begins at the dietary level, even though it is only the first stage of nutrition. 

To get the nutrition you need from your diet, you have to begin by eating food and drinking liquids that are highly nutritious and you need a variety of healthy foods. Unfortunately, many of our foods contain or are exposed to elements that are adverse to our health, such as toxins, pesticides and other chemicals, food additives and preservatives.

Out of the six stages, this dietary stage is the one that we have the most control over. This is why it is important we make good choices at this level. Our diet is the foundation for healthy nutrition and for better or worse, impacts all the other five stages.

Digestion 

Digestion begins in the mouth when we bite, chew, and swallow food. These actions are voluntary and something we can still control. However, once the food is swallowed, the whole digestion process becomes involuntary, and ultimately controlled by the nerves. 

During digestion, the food we eat gets broken down and converted to simpler substances for it to be used as energy for our cells, organs, and tissues. Protein is broken down as amino acids, fats into fatty acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugar like fructose or glucose (blood sugar).

Absorption

From the food we eat, we derive macronutrients in the form of protein, fats, or carbohydrates. These highly complex substances get broken down into simpler substances during the digestion phase. In the absorption phase, the by-products of digestion (amino acids, fatty acids, and glucose/fructose) pass through the intestinal lining and head toward the circulatory system. 

Most nutrients get absorbed into the bloodstream, whereas lipids and lipid-soluble nutrients are absorbed through the lymphatic system.

Circulation

The main role of the circulatory system is to transport the nutrients the body has absorbed from the broken-down substances derived from the food we eat to the cells. They do this constantly to power up the cells with nourishment and to enable cells to convert nutrients into energy. This makes carrying out our bodily functions possible. 

Think of the circulatory system as the body's main transit system that enables traffic to flow smoothly. We wouldn't want it to ever go on a mass strike preventing the main goal of nutrition, and the conversion of food into nutrients and energy.

Assimilation

We consider our cells to be the building blocks of life, providing the structural framework for our body to carry out its proper functions. However, cells aren't immune to wear and tear. They also have to grow and repair themselves.

For cellular repair to happen, proper assimilation of nutrients from our diet is critical and the cell membranes need to be healthy. During the assimilation process, nutrients from the bloodstream pass through the cell membranes, where the cell assimilates vitamins, minerals, and other chemical substances delivered from our digestion within the GI tract. 

When nutrients are properly assimilated in the membranes, cellular renewal and repair happen. A few symptoms of malabsorption include fatigue, irritability, depression, lethargy or loss of energy, muscle weakness, and weight loss.

Elimination

This sixth and final stage of nutrition involves the efficient elimination of toxic wastes from the body. Whatever goes into the body creates some form of waste product that needs to come out in one form or another. 

The process of elimination or excretion is primarily experienced by us through bowel movement, the urinary process, sweating, and breathing. However, elimination is more than that. 
It begins at the cellular level and gets completed through metabolically-active zones in the body which are the lungs, colon, skin, and kidneys. 

The last stage of nutrition is elimination and wastes must be eliminated regularly from the body, otherwise, they can create autointoxication and easily cause illness. We all know what it is like to not be able to eliminate toxins easily. It makes you feel very unwell!

I support clients to make sure that detoxification pathways are open to allow your body to release them safely and effectively.




The Six Stages of Nutrition for Optimal Health

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Importance of Sleep for Health

By Lori Lamb Functional Medicine Health Coach

There is plenty of scientific evidence which proves the health benefits of getting quality sleep. Sleeping for at least 8 hours, the more, the better, can improve your health considerably.

Alternatively, chronic sleep deprivation is problematic as it increases the risk of disease, obesity and many other serious illnesses, which is why it is crucial to get high-quality sleep every night. 

Unfortunately, sleep remains under-appreciated by many people, as they continue to steal their sleep time for 'catch-up' work or playtime. Therefore, it's not surprising that the increase of Alzheimer's and other mental health issues are on the rise. 

Sleeping Cleans Your Mind

A good nights sleep can greatly help our brain restore and consolidate memories. Think of your brain as a computer. A computer needs defragging when it gets clogged to help put all the files back into place. Your brain is similar! Scientists have discovered that it is only when a person sleeps that the brain activates its nocturnal cleaning services. Therefore, the brain undergoes its detoxification process during sleep.

The Brain's Cleaning System

A group of researchers discovered that the brain's glymphatic system is highly active during sleep. The glymphatic system basically cleans out the trash, toxins, and waste, which can be the primary culprit, not just for Alzheimer's, but for many other neurological problems. Researchers have also revealed that during sleep the brain removes much of the beta-amyloid protein, that when left to accumulate can contribute to Alzheimer's disease.

Brain Cells Shrink During Sleep

Another interesting fact is that brain cells shrink up to 60% during sleep. This shrinkage allows easier cleaning in and around the spaces of the brain's cells. This means more cerebrospinal fluid can enter the brain, enabling faster and efficient toxin flushing. The cerebrospinal fluids pass through the gaps in between the neurons, then flow through the bloodstream and into the liver for detoxification. This process gets rid of the toxins and wastes for good. 

During sleep, there are certain parts of the brain that are more active than any other periods within the 24-hour cycle. This is because there are other functions that need to be carried out during sleep besides cleaning, and some of these include the following:

Sleep for Brain Health

Sleeping greatly dictates what and how much information we either remember or forget. Through sleep, the brain will be able to enhance and/or preserve certain parts of our memory. Research reveals that the memories that have the greatest emotional value will be enhanced through sleep, while those memories with lesser value will be downgraded. 

People also need to have at least 7-8 hours of sleep so their brains will be able to carry out automatic processes of the body, such as hormone manufacture and secretion, in an optimal manner. 

Sleep for Bone Health

Better bone health requires quality sleep. Yes, diet and exercise play a part, but sleep is a necessary requirement. Sleep is necessary for the production of healthy bone marrow, which contains stem cells that form healthy blood cells. This complex process cannot be performed without sleep. So if you want to have healthy bone marrow, make sure you get plenty of shut-eye.
Sleep for Hormone Health

Our body is full of hormones, all of which do different, essential things. We have our stress hormones, such as cortisol, adrenaline hormones, our sexual hormones, thyroid hormones and more. All these essential hormones are affected by sleep or a lack thereof. If our hormones are out of balance, so too is our health, either mentally or physically. Therefore, getting the right amount of sleep will help rebalance your hormones and your health.

Sleep for Heart and Liver Health

Again, sleep is important for two more major parts of our body, the heart, and the liver. The health of these major organs is essential to our total wellbeing, so it makes sense to start caring for them by getting quality sleep. 

Although sleep appears to be an easy task for the body to perform, it is actually a complex process. It is definitely more than just a period of quiescence for the mind and body. 

If you want a healthy mind and body, you need to care for it the best and easiest way possible, and that is to sleep! It doesn't require you to measure food portions or count carbs or calories, or whatever your preference for maintaining a healthy weight may be, or running around the park, or pushing weights at the gym. It simply means making the time to sleep, and sleeping for an adequate period of time.  



Importance of Sleep for Health

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Boost Your Mood with Mindfulness

By Lori Lamb Functional Medicine Health Coach

Do you recognize that when you are in a good mood, everything seems to be going right? You don't get upset easily over small things, and you can deal with minor problems without making them a big deal. However, when negative vibes surround you, it feels like nothing is working out. 

You get easily irritated over trivial matters, and the bad mood often snowballs throughout your day. Research has shown that being in a positive mood or being happy changes how one perceives the world. You look at the brighter side of things, and you don't let other stuff ruin your happiness. So how do you stay in a good mood? Mindfulness.

Being mindful can boost people's mood and happiness. Mindfulness is a natural human ability to be aware of what you are thinking, where you are, what you are doing, and what is happening around you at this moment without getting overwhelmed. 

While mindfulness is innate, it's not easy for everyone to use this ability always. Most people often find themselves drifting away, losing focus, overthinking about something that just occurred or returning to worrying about the future. With proper practice and conscious efforts, mindfulness can help you boost your mood. 

Here are some ways to exercise mindfulness:

Meditate

Meditating is perhaps the best method to start being mindful. It's a silent exercise that helps you become aware of your own body, pay attention to self, and achieve a calm and stable state of mind. 
One of the easiest ways to meditate is by sitting still and comfortably with your eyes closed. You first start to focus on your breathing, how the air flows through your nostrils, fills your lungs, how your abdomen rises and falls as you inhale and exhale naturally. Then you can expand your focus by being aware of other sounds and sensation around you. 

You may find your thoughts wandering again, but you can snap back by focusing on your breathing again. Mindful breathing can help stop the mental discourse going on in your head, so you don't think about the past or the future anymore. You become calm, and when you are calm, it's much easier to be in a good mood.

Eat Healthy Foods

Physical health affects the way you feel, so eating a healthy diet can do wonders not only for your body but for your mind as well. Mindful eating entails paying attention to what you are consuming, being present in the entire experience, and engaging all your senses. 

What are you ingesting? Is it healthy? How does it taste, feel and smell? Take small bites, chew thoroughly, eat slowly, and appreciate your food. Being mindful of what you are eating also helps your digestive process. 

Additionally, most of the neurotransmitter chemical called serotonin that affects the mood is found in the digestive system. So when you eat healthy foods, it has positive effects on your wellbeing and happiness.

Do One Task At a Time 

Multitasking is a myth. It gives you a false sense of being productive, but in reality, multitasking takes you longer to finish tasks than when you are focused on one thing at a time. Trying to do several things at once can often lead to errors and performance stress, and when you think you're not accomplishing anything, you feel bad about yourself.
So give your full attention to one task for a given time, and then take a short break before continuing to another one. You'll find yourself feeling more accomplished, more productive, and less stressed. 

Be Kind To Others


Boost Your Mood with Mindfulness

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Understanding the Immune System

By Lori Lamb Functional Medicine Health Caoch

The Immune System Defined

The immune system is a whole network of defender cells, organs and tissues.  The main task of this network is to defend the body against many types of invaders such as parasites, fungi and bacteria that have the potential to harm an individual's health. 

Although the human body provides an ideal environment for many disease causing microbes or pathogens in which to survive, multiply and thrive, the immune system works to keep these microbes out or to seek and kill them. 

This is made possible because the immune system consists of both specialized and non-specialized defenses. Examples of non-specialized defenses include the skin and the acid produced in our stomach, while the specialized defenses have specific types of pathogen targets to fight against. 

The Body's First Line of Defense

The first part of the immune system is made up of defenses that humans are born with, thus the term "innate system". The first line of innate system defense is the skin, which is a water proof barrier that prevents pathogens from entering the body. 

Our nose and mouth have mucous membranes that have the capability to produce sticky mucus that cleverly traps pathogens and other disease-causing bacteria. The stomach also produces gastric juice that has high levels of acidity to be able to kill those bacteria that come from foods that we eat. 

Your saliva is also part of your innate system defense because it washes off all those pathogens that enter your teeth and reduce the amount of bacteria that stays in your mouth.  

However, if there are disease-causing bacteria that manage to enter the body despite the presence of this first line of defense, the second line of defense will now be summoned to wage war against these pathogens.

The Body's Second Line of Defense

The second part of the immune system is what we commonly refer to as "immunity" which is continuously developed as the person grows. The immunity does the task of fighting against specific types of pathogens. The immune system comes pre-loaded with a database of specific types of threats, and it adds to its store of knowledge as it encounters disease-causing pathogens though a lifetime. 

Our body's immune system (i.e. the part that provides us immunity) mainly involves lymphocytes that are found in the blood, lymph nodes, thymus and spleen. Lymphocytes produce antibodies that attack antigens. These lymphocytes also have the capability to destroy virus-infected cells.  

Once a certain illness is defeated, lymphocytes will then keep a record of these viruses or bacteria so your body will be able to remember it all throughout your lifetime. In turn, when these disease-causing bacteria or virus manage to penetrate inside your body for the second time it will be much easier for your lymphocytes to defeat them. 

An understanding of this pattern of occurrence has led to the birth of vaccines, which contain weakened antigens that may be injected into the body. It is amazing to know that the human body produces millions of defender cells every day, to be able to kill germs and prevent them from causing any illness. If you are found to have a weak immune system, be aware that there are many natural ways to improve and strengthen it.


Understanding the Immune System

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This introductory session is an opportunity for both of us to get to know each other and for me to hear what brought you to HatchPath. 
After hearing your story, you will let me know your top 3 health issues or concerns that you want to address, and I will share with you how I may be able to help you get you back to feeling vibrant and like your old self. We all have that time in our lives when everything was great, we felt good, we looked good, we had a job we loved, a spouse or a partner we loved, we loved to eat and our foods loved us, everything was clicking and then something happened. 
Our lives are made up of stories, a series of ups and downs, and poor health that doesn't just happen overnight, it's an accumulation of poor food choices, stress, and toxins that eventually lead us to seek help. I will do an exercise with you where we talk about the things that can lead to poor health that have nothing to do with what we are eating but affect our health on so many levels. 
I will share some simple strategies in the form of handouts that you can begin to use from day one that have been proven to be effective, whether you decide to work together not. The main thing to understand is that it's not your fault. 
With my guidance and targeting your care to set up a coaching plan that best meets your needs, you will begin to feel confident that this time will be different. 
I spent seven years going from specialist to specialist, feeling ignored and never getting what I needed or wanted, so I can empathize with your frustration of not feeling heard or dismissed. What we feel is real and it shouldn't be brushed aside.  
My one on one programs are not pre-designed, as everyone comes to the table with their own unique, individual set of circumstances and no two people are the same, we call that bio-individuality. 
I will provide you with all the information you need and give you all the support you need, but in the end, you will be the one to make the changes. What you learn will empower you to not only regain your health but be a more informed patient who can talk with your provider, not simply talked to. 
If you are ready for a change and eager to hear about a different, more effective way of looking at your health, I invite you to join me for this Discovery Session! Then YOU can decide how you want to proceed.

I'm a Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach and began my journey into Health Coaching in 2011 after spending seven years trying to figure out what was wrong with me. After spending tons of money and seeing every specialist imaginable and constantly being handed a prescription for anti-depressants I decided to take my health into my own hands and attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and became a Board Certified Health Coach. I was able to reclaim my health with lifestyle and dietary changes and started showing others how to do the same. In 2018, I decided to attend The School for Applied Functional Medicine to really get to the root causes of why so many people are unwell and am now able to help my clients read labs, understand how they got to this point and empower them to be their own health advocates. I am married with two grown children and seven beautiful grandchildren. Health Coaching is the most rewardable job I have ever had!

Discovery Session

Introductory Discovery Session!

6 month one on one Functional Health Coaching Program
Your 6 month program includes 12 hour long zoom sessions and in depth Discovery zoom where we review your Health History completed by you and going over your labs that you will have sent to me for the previous, along with any specific tests or panels you may have had done before our first visit. After evaluating all of that information we will sit down for 90 minutes and discuss your health history form and fill in any missing information. If I have your most recent lab work 24 hours prior to that call I will go over your  labs with you and show you areas that we will need to keep an eye on and areas that we can address right away. In functional health coaching we look at your labs with you the person in mind and where they need to be optimally for you. Nobody ever has “normal” labs that is only said to you because they take everyone’s labs across the country and come up with a “normal range” but your “normal” may be very different from my “normal” we want you to be “optimal” not “normal.” If you haven’t had any labs done in the last two years we can start with the health history and I can recommend labs or specific tests that I would like to see. Your 6 month program is specialized to you and your particular set of symptoms and how you are feeling. Functional Health Coaching focuses on getting to the root cause of what got you to this point in your life. It usually comes from either ignoring aches and pains or relentlessly going from Dr. to Dr. to specialists who simply want to mask the problems with drugs. While drugs have their place, they are not the answer for chronic health issues. Once we figure out the why I can create that personalized plan for you. We will meet at a specified time every 2 weeks for an hour and begin addressing one at a time how to get you back to optimal health.
It's not a quick process, in most cases people are dealing with devastating pain and discomfort for years and progress comes in baby steps not overnight. Functional health coaching puts you, the client, first.
Together we will address things like sleep habits and patterns, nutrition, your exercise routines, stress and the connection between chronic illness, inflammation, the gut microbiome, toxins, food sensitivities, genetics, and disease progression, taking your whole health into consideration.
It’s important to me that your story is heard! I spent 7 years feeling ignored and dismissed and you won’t get that from me.
Some of the Common “root causes “ of chronic health issues includes, stress and trauma, (this may have happened to you as a child or teen years and is still lingering) excessive antibiotics use, exposures to heavy metals, pesticides, glyphosate, mold or infections such as Epstein-Barr, Lyme, or Covid 19. There’s a saying that we are what we eat, but I believe that we are what we absorb and together we’ll get to the root cause specific to you.
Inflammation is the gateway to disease in the body and it can come from our food choices that leads to diabetes, heart disease, insomnia, constipation, acid reflux, muscle and joint pain, weight issues, anxiety, Alzheimer’s and Crohn’s to name a few.
There are now over 55,000 diagnosable diseases that your Dr. can bill your insurance for and you will learn that those 55,000 originate from just 3 sources.
My 6 month program will empower you to take back your own health and you will learn how to read your labs and what they mean, along with how to track them for future trends.
These are interactive sessions where your participation is key. You will let me know how you best learn, whether it’s visually, vocally or both.  I will provide you with the information that you need, but it’s you who has to do the work and believe me it’s so worth it in the end.
Think of me as your guide, your support system and your biggest cheerleader. We’ll celebrate your wins and learn from any setbacks which will happen. We’re not perfect and nobody expects you to be. I try to do what is best 90% of the time and the other 10%  I’m living my life.
Getting well is a journey and staying well requires positive changes and looking at your life in a whole new way!
I look forward to going on this journey with you!

In our introductory 90 minute class we will go over your completed Health History and any labs from the previous two years. This is when I want to hear your life story, where you grew up, your health as a child and throughout the teenage years and any surgeries or life events that have happened to you along the way. All of this is helpful in trying to piece your puzzle together to figure out how you got to this point. From there we will set up set times to meet and at our first coaching appointment I will have mapped out a plan specifically for you.

6 month one on one Health Coaching Program

Each session is 60 minutes long and tailored for just you and your health concerns.

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