Here are a few nuggets that inspired and motivated us this week. We hope they inspire you too …
“Gluten free junk food is still junk.” – Dr. Jill Tieman
“Sugar was always meant to be a treat, a reward. ‘The last time I checked, birthday cake was for birthdays, and birthdays come once a year.’” – Leah Zerbe quoting Robert Lustig, MD
Tea is cool again. But it’s not just the assortment of flavors and choices that is drawing many coffee lovers to experiment with “the other hot drink.” With the health benefits of tea broadcast far and wide in the recent years, it’s difficult to have missed all of the fuss it has garnered.
Having just pulled through a long winter (although it doesn’t seem quite over for those of us in the Twin Cities), the advent of spring, nature’s new year, is a welcome time for renewal, regeneration, and a natural inclination toward cleansing. We’ve thawed, the daylight hours are extended, and we find ourselves with more energy and anticipation of the lengthened days of summer.
I’m a new mother. Harriet P. Grunewald arrived into this big world on March 28 in Florida and my husband and I cuddled her in our arms for the first time on March 29 – Good Friday. (We dubbed it Great Friday.) She’s nothing short of amazing – beautiful, alert, calm, and so easy to soothe. She’s only thirteen days old and already giggling in her sleep.
It may be possible to “cure” lactose intolerance.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been on a diet. Most of us have, given that we live in an image-obsessed, diet-crazed society and that the quick fix weight loss business is a multibillion-dollar industry. Did dieting work for you? If so, were you able to achieve your goal and keep the weight off?
Many women today have estrogen dominance – a condition where estrogen is high in relation to progesterone. It doesn’t necessarily mean that estrogen is elevated (although most of the time it is) – it means that there is not enough progesterone production to oppose estrogen and keep it in check. As if hypothyroidism wasn’t enough of an epidemic, estrogen dominance is epidemic as well and can have some serious implications for thyroid function. Kind of a double whammy.
Jen Sinkler is the former director of fitness content for Experience Life magazine and self-professed “workout connoisseur.” I found out about Jen when I became an Experience Life ambassador and not only do we share friends, but we’ve now become big champions of each other’s work. She interviewed me about easing out of Hashimoto’s for the launch of her new website and I train with her at Movement Minneapolis. Jen was recently named one of Shape magazine’s “Top Motivators for 2013” and in 2012 she was listed as one of Huffington Post’s “20 of the Best Fitness Experts Worth Following on Twitter.” I recently caught up with Jen and asked her about resolution-setting (it probably won’t surprise you what she says), workout recommendations for beginners, and all the many plates she spins.
Allow me to get personal with you. I’m going to have a baby soon-like. My first. No, I’m not pregnant. My husband and I are adopting. We’re at the end of the rope with the red tape (literally, not emotionally) and we’ve been told we’ll be matched SOON. We’re going domestic, so things can happen quickly. And we’ll have a NEWBORN. It’s crazy and scary and exciting and mind-boggling.
Hypothyroidism, or low thyroid function, is a silent epidemic. And in most cases, hypothyroidism isn’t rooted in a thyroid problem in the first place. It’s rooted in an immune system gone awry (Hashimoto’s). Making dietary changes is your first line of defense.
