Baby Steps to Major Progress

Phoebe, I'm so thrilled with how you're progressing so far. I hope you're patting yourself on the back as well for how proactively and naturally you're taking your health into your own hands. You're not only following my recommendations, but expanding and elevating them based on your instincts towards wellness, and it's just fabulous to be along for the ride with you.

So lets keep up that momentum and take another step forward!

For the next couple of weeks, continue following the recommendations from our previous sessions, and add to that the following:

1. Make an appointment for acupuncture for amenorrhea, this is a very effective yet gentle way to open the channels of the body and return its natural rhythms.

2. Start tracking what you eat and any uncomfortable symptoms you experience. Food Allergy Detective is the app I mentioned which could help with this, or you can always keep a notebook if that works better for you. On the topic of apps, here are more apps to support health and wellness which are all free! And of course continue tuning in to your body and following those hunches when you feel like a particular food or activity is doing more harm than good. Write those down too and we'll discuss next time.


3. Go all-in on being gluten free. Since you're already avoiding gluten often, and have noticed that you have a physical response following consumption of gluten foods, take the next step and try avoiding it 100% of the time. This will help reduce internal inflammation, support healing your thyroid, and reduce candida as well. Here are some tips on making that transition:

• Read food labels when shopping. Anything made with whole grains, whole wheat, enriched wheat, rye, or barley should be avoided (that includes... beer!). Another general rule of thumb for reading labels is to avoid any foods that have a long list of ingredients which are unpronounceable and clearly artificial. Aim to eat foods made with ingredients you can visualize growing in the natural world.
• When eating out, check out menus online first to ensure there are adequate gluten-free options, and don't be afraid to ask the waiters if the food is gluten-free, or to customize your meal to replace any possible gluten foods with something else. 
• Cook as much of your own food as possible, you always know what goes in your food when you make it yourself!
• Tell your friends/family about your new dietary efforts so that they will be supportive and understanding, ask them for help if needed.
• Offer to bring a dish when eating at someone else's home, chances are they'll be grateful and compliment you on your culinary skills.

4. Limit goitrogen foods, which include the below, although the vegetables are ok when cooked, just not raw. (Many of these foods have other important nutritional benefits so follow the 80/20 rule here, avoid it 80% of the time, and your body can handle having a little here and there for the other 20%).

• Bok Choy
• Broccoli
• Broccolini
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chinese Broccoli
• Collards
• Daikon
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Millet
• Mustard
• Peaches
• Peanuts
• Pine nuts
• Radishes
• Red Radish
• Rutabaga
• Soy
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Turnips
• Watercress

Additional Tips

We talked about jazzing up your water, coincidentally a blog post I wrote about this includes the exact healthy flavor enhancers we talked about (to which I would add cucumbers or even fresh cucumber juice by itself if you can make time for that). 

Innate Response Formula is the Vitamin D supplement brand I use. You may be able to find it on sale elsewhere but that's the link with the product info. It's a whole food based vitamin as opposed to synthetic so that's why it's a little pricier than other conventional brands, but worth it in my opinion.

Continue getting adequate sleep (that means more than the minimal 7 as often as possible!), and taking your probiotics twice a day instead of once.

Here's the quinoa salad recipe I mentioned, and the oatmeal recipes.

We also talked about buckwheat, so here's a post with more info and basic cooking instructions.

And the rice soaking instructions:

1. Use a fine mesh strainer to rinse your rice for several minutes, using your hands to move it around and really get it "clean."

2. Transfer to a bowl of water and churn it with your hand to see if the water becomes cloudy or dusty, if so rinse the rice some more of continue transferring to a fresh bowl of water until the water remains clear.

3. Soak for 12-24 hours before cooking.

Good luck with everything, email me if you have any questions, and have a happy, healthy holiday!