Want to Balance Your Hormones and Optimize your Weight? Take these 4 steps!

Hormonal balance requires a holistic approach, including:

  • DIET: nourishing your body with a nutrient-rich diet

  • EXERCISE: engaging in regular physical activity

  • REST & STRESS MANAGEMENT: prioritizing sleep + managing stress, and

  • MINIMIZING TOXIC LOAD: reducing exposure to environmental toxins (as well as internal toxins!); start by switching to cleaner household products, clean beauty, etc.

I delve quickly into each of these points, giving you actionable steps in each category so you can start to improve your hormonal balance and overall health ASAP!

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HOW ADDING COLOR TO YOUR PLATE CAN BOOST YOUR HEALTH & BEAUTY

Including different COLORS in your plate – coming primarily from nutritious vegetables and fruits - is an easy and fun way to maximize the nutritional benefits of your meals (and make them more tasty and pretty!). Eating a wide variety of colorful fruits and veggies will help to increase your immunity, strengthen your muscles and bones, slow down your aging, improve your skin, and can even contribute to weight loss!

There are 6 main colors, and I suggest to have at least 3 colors present in each meal (ideally some green plus 2 other colors). And aim to have a bit of each color every day.

This goes hand in hand with a recommendation that I always give my clients, which is to include at least 2 different veggies (or fruits) in each meal. And every day, I suggest (generally speaking) having 5+ servings of veggies, 1-2 servings of fruit and 1-2 (or more!) servings of nuts/seeds and/or legumes, always switching it up.

Read the blog for the benefits of each color, and some healthy foods in each category to start incorporating into your daily diet.

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10 Coffee Alternatives for better hormonal health

Taking a break from caffeine can have HUGE positive benefits for our hormones and gut health. That being said, it can be hard to cut out coffee, and one thing that can make it easier is to have delicious, comforting alternatives to replace our usual coffee ritual.

Here are my favorite healthy coffee alternatives!

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Best Healing Postpartum Foods + 4 Favorite Recipes

I recently shared 10 tips that helped me recover after birthing my children, and now I want to delve a little deeper into the FOODS that have helped me during this “4th trimester” to nourish myself, heal, promote healthy digestion, and keep up my energy (despite sleepless nights).

I promise that what you eat makes all the difference in your recovery! A healthy nourishing postartum diet is important to: 

  • Replenish nutrients depleted during pregnancy 

  • Support a successful and speedy recovery from birth 

  • Create a healthy supply of (and good quality) breastmilk 

  • Support hormonal balance

Here are the key HEALING FOODS that I was eating daily in my first 40 days postpartum (and continue to enjoy almost daily during my “4th trimester”), and 4 of my go-to recovery RECIPES.

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A Day of Anti-Inflammatory Meals for Sustainable Weight Loss

Chronic long-term inflammation (what SO many people are facing today) is extremely harmful to our health. Not only does it lead to weight gain, but also contributes to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and other health conditions.

Thankfully, there is a lot we can do to reduce inflammation in the body just through our daily diet.

Some anti-inflammatory foods that I recommend to eat regularly include:

  • leafy greens (lettuces, arugula, kale, spinach, etc).

  • fermented foods like raw sauerkraut, kimchi and unsweetened organic yogurt or kefir

  • colorful vegetables (orange veggies like organge bell pepper, sweet potato and butternut squash, yello veggies like yellow squash, yellow peppers and onions, purple vegges like purgple cabbage, eggplants and purple potatoes/carrots/cauliflower, white veggies like cauliflower and radish, red veggies like beets, and of course ALL green veggies, including brocoli, green beans, zucchini, all green herbs, ETC).

  • colorful fruits - in small amounts at a time (blue/purple including blueberries, blackberries, plums; red including starwberries, raspberries, cherries and red apples; orange including oranges, nectarines, some varities of peaches; green including green apples and pears, etc.)

  • omega-3 rich proteins like wild-caught fish and seafood, organic grass-fed meats and poultry, as well as organic eggs.

  • nuts and seeds - ncluding walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, etc., as well as nut and seed butters

  • other healthy fats including avocados and extra-virgin olive oil

  • fiber-rich legumes including: lentils, chickpeas, peas and all beans, as well as small amoutns of whole grains such as quinoa, wild rice, brown rice, millet, amaranth, teff, buckwheat, etc. (*only if your tolerate these ; reguardless I recommend sticking to small portions and cooking properly, always soaking before cooking).

Today I’m sharing a day of healthy, delicious and easy “anti-inflammatory” meals to get you started on your anti-inflammatory lifestyle!

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Healthy dinner recipes - salmon with pesto, kale salad, and a quinoa-veggie salad

Today I’m sharing an entire 3-part menu (including four healthy recipes), which is perfect for a family lunch or dinner, or for hosting a few friends or another couple.

This menu is PACKED with omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber, making it great for your digestion, for longevity, immunity, and for hormonal balance. It’s also very balanced in protein, healthy fats and healthy low-glycemic carbs, making it ideal for keeping blood sugar stable.

Menu (all gluten-free and dairy-free):

  • Kale, Fennel & Avocado Salad

  • Quinoa Bell Pepper Salad

  • Roasted Salmon with a Pumpkin & Hemp Seed Pesto

Watch the video to learn how to make these recipes easily, and get tons of cooking/prep tips! And check out my recipes below. Enjoy!

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A delicious, colorful & flavorful salad you'll love

I’m sharing one of my favorite salad bowl recipes - Mediterranean Salad Bowl (inspired by a BeingBrigid recipe) - that is packed with fiber, protein, healthy fats, but also rich in colorful, antioxidant-rich veggies that help promote longevity and better immunity (among many other benefits). It’s easy and delicious, and one of my favorite meals for a hot summer day, or when I’m ovulating.

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Matcha Pistachio Vanilla Protein Energy Balls - english & spanish recipes

I’m a huge dessert addict, but in order to stay healthy, not spike my blood sugar, and not gain weight, I make sure my desserts are mostly homemade and always: nutrient-dense, packed with superfoods, protein, healthy fats and low in sugar (NO added sugars for me!).

These balls are also a great source of FIBER (primarily soluble fiber) which helps to:

  • promote a healthy digestion and good, regular poop

  • lower cholesterol

  • slow absorption of carbs (supporitng healthy blood sugar) and increase satiety

  • support hormonal balanced hormone

And they’re SO delicious! Check out the recipe - in both English and Spanish!

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5 Foods to Combat Stress & Anxiety

When people think of stress, they think mostly of work and deadlines. But there are so many other forms of stress that are impacting your health. And one of the biggest ones comes from the FOOD that you’re putting into your body.

The foods you eat can affect your hormonal balance and create inflammation in your gut, all of which can stress out your body.

Generally, when your body experiences any type of stress, its primary focus becomes controlling that stress. Your body will secrete more cortisol and adrenaline, which tells your system to “restock on the energy supply” even if it’s not really depleted. As a result, it makes you hungry and encourages fat storage. Yikes! (This is why I say, “stress can make you fat!”) Note: everyone is different and people respond differently to stress, but this is what most commonly happens.

And what’s interesting is that certain foods contribute to stress on your body, while others help alleviate it.

What are the key foods that creates stress?  

Coffee, alcohol, sugar, and generally, all heavily processed foods. They increase your stress hormone levels, and will feed the bad bacteria in your gut, causing stress in both your hormones and your gut.

What are the foods that actually help your body stay healthy and combat stress? 

Read my blog for 5 categories of foods that help your body cope with stress and anxiety, from the inside out!

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Healthy Burgers - 4 ways (gluten free and low carb!)

One of the main ways I like to enjoy red meat is making homemade burgers.

Burgers can actually be very healthy, as long as you choose lean, grass-fed beef, make them at home, and use healthier alternatives to serve your burgers (vs. standard bread and french fries!).

I alternate making burgers with healthier, more nutrient-dense and lower-carb alternatives for bread, including:

  • grilled eggplant “bread”

  • roasted large portobello mushroom “bread”

  • roasted sweet potato “bread”

  • large plantain “tostones” as bread (air fried vs. deep fried)

Also, I ALWAYS serve my burgers with salad and/or extra veggies, and use organic ketchup with no sugar added, mayo with avocado oil (with NO highly processed vegetable oils!), and organic mustard.

Here is my go-to burger recipe, with 4 different replacements for bread (Note: the plantain “bread” is the least healthy / most carbs, so it’s the one I make more for my husband!)

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World Health Day: 4 ways to embrace it and support your health

Happy World Health Day - a special day (April 7th) that serves as a reminder to prioritize our physical, mental and social health and wellbeing.

For me personally, my definition and understanding of health has changed a lot over these past 20 years since I’ve been immersed in the health and wellness world.

Given my journey, personal experience and years as a health caoch, this year I’ve drawn 4 key conclusions on how we can best prioritize our health (and then I share 4 things you can start doing today to put in practice)!

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My Half-Way Pregnancy Update

This week on Women’s Day I reached my 20-week half-way pregnancy mark, and I feel amazing, so I wanted to share some of the things that have helped me. I share both all of my daily lifestyle practices, and a deeper dive into my diet.

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March: National Nutrition Month - 6 nutrition tips for optimal health

March is National Nutrition Month, a month to help increase awareness about the importance of good nutrition for improving your overall health. Making healthy food choices and improving your eating habits (in combination with incorporating more physical activity and stress reduction into your lifestyle) can help prevent many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. And of course, it will help you LOOK and FEEL better, have more confidence and be happier!

Here are 6 of my best tips to help you make healthier nutrition choices (to minimize risk of disease, reach and maintain your ideal weight, and feel better in your body overall).

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Intermittent Fasting: 5 Tips to Make it Work for You

I’m a big fan of fasting, for the right people. It can have some impressive results, but after extensive research on the topic, and experience with many of my health coaching clients, I’ve realized it’s not for everyone.

Even if it IS for you, you might be doing some things wrong and not getting the full benefits.

Today I share and/5 key tips to optimize your Intermittent Fasting, and make it work for YOU. (Plus I explain when it’s just NOT for you, or how you can tailor it).

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Two ingredients to include in your healthy snacks (and 5 easy snack options for you and your kids!)

MOST of your typical go-to snacks, even that banana (and especially those packaged crackers/cookies/bars, etc. that are filled with sugar and preservatives) can lead to a large glucose spike. And this is something we need to minimize if we care about our health and our weight!

So today I’m sharing with you 5 of my go-to healthy, easy “sweet” snacks - for both me and my toddler.

NOTE: For all of these sweet snacks, in order to support blood sugar regulation, I add two KEY INGREDIENTS:

  1. NUT/SEED BUTTER (and/or a little nuts/seeds)

  2. a pinch of CINNAMON

Find out WHY, and get my 5 easy to prep snacks for when you’re on the rush and ant to be prepared for when the sugar craving comes in.

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Multi-Seed Chocolate Protein Granola (recipe in ENGLISH & SPANISH)

I’m a HUGE fan of granola, but the reality is that most granolas are NOT healthy. Most are packed with sugar and consist primarily of oats, making them very high in carbs and lacking in protein and healthy fats - so they’re very likely to create a big spike in your blood sugar.

For this reason, I like to make my own, using a few tweaks to make it lower carb and super nutritious.

Today I’m sharing a delicious and super healthy granola recipe that is supportive of stable blood sugar, and an excellent option for a sweet breakfast or snack, given its high level of protein and fiber. I add tons of “superfoods”, including pure cacao to make it a chocolate treat. Check out my recipe below!

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Ready to Improve Your Health This Year? Start with these 7 Steps

If this year, you’ve realized YOUR HEALTH is a top priority, you know you want to positively and definitively upgrade your health this year (in a way that does not require suffering nor excess restriction, and actually LASTS), but you’re not sure where to start, I’m here to help!

After a decade of experience as a health coach, I can share 7 key steps to embark on a successful health journey.

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3 Easy, Quick, Low-Carb Dinners

After a long day of work, we’re tired and have little brain capacity left to think of what healthy meals to make, so we often go for the easiest, quick, carb-based dishes like tortilla with cheese, or pasta, or order takeout from restaurants (which often contains processed carbs, even hidden sugars and inflammatory oils).

But these dinners can wreak havoc on our health!

Plus, we are generally, more susceptible to blood sugar spikes at night, so it’s even more important to be careful with carbs at dinner time. Focusing on blood-sugar balancing meals at dinnertime is KEY for our metabolic health, our weight, our sleep and our energy levels.

The good news is, there are many healthy, delicious low-carb dinner recipes that are also super easy, quick, and loaded with flavor and nutrients to support our health, and filling enough to satisfy us after a long day.

Today I’m sharing 3 of my favorite low-carb dinners (actually 4 recipes!) that keep my blood sugar stable and are super quick and simple to make! PLUS, they are moslty detox-friendly!

  1. LETTUCE CUPS – two ways

    1. LETTUCE CUPS WITH EGG SALAD

    2. LETTUCE CUPS WITH TUNA SALAD (OR CHICKEN OR CHICKPEA SALAD)

  2. EGGS WITH GREENS AND BEANS

  3. CREAMY ONE POT CAULIFLOWER SOUP - WITH SEED CRACKERS AND VEGAN CHEESE*

*the soup is the only recipe that takes more than 10 minutes, BUT the recipe makes 3 to 4 portions so it’s great to make once and enjoy twice in the week (and its still one of the quickest soups to make, and all in one pot).

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15 Healthy Snacks for Kids

Today i’m sharing my basic guidelines for holisitic nutrition - aplicable for toddlers and kids - plus 15 healthy homemade snack ideas for babies and kids, and 8 more healthy packaged snacks to buy (with links to amazon!)

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Seed & Tea Cycling for Hormonal Balance

Both Seed cycling and Tea cycling are 2 of the easiest ways we can help support our hormones in a gentle way (especially when combined with other diet/lifestyle habits to support hormonal balance). The idea is to use different seeds and teas to help support our hormones in the different stages of our cycle to help regulate our cycles and minimize PMS. It can also be beneficial for women with PCOS and women trying to get pregnant naturally.

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