When you’re looking for a comforting meal that is filling but healthy, this is the perfect recipe. This hearty meal - a healthy twist on Shephards Pie (paleo and keto friendly) - is perfect for any lunch or dinner when you need a solid, filling meal, and also perfect for Sunday night meal prep!
Read MoreWant 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!
Read More10 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!
Read MoreEasiest Protein Yogurt Chia Parfait
I’m sharing one of my favorite quick and easy healthy breakifasts for those days when you don’t have time to prep your usual breakfast.
NOTE: This recipe is amazing for both gut/digestive health and for balancing hormones (and is of course pregnancy and pospoartum friendly).
Yogurt Chia Almond Butter Berry Bowl
Ingredients (serves 1):
1 cup unsweetened vegan coconut yogurt OR plain Greek yogurt if you tolerate dairy
½ - 1 scoop unflavored (or vanilla) protein powder or collagen peptides *(see note below)
1 ½ tbsp chia seeds OR ¼ cup chia pudding *(see note below)
1 to 1½ tbsp almond butter (option to swap for another nut/seed butter)
½ cup frozen blueberries, strawberries OR cherries, microwaved for 30 seconds (can also use fresh!)
optional: 1-2 tablespoons low-glycemic granola
Instructions: Add all ingredients to a bowl and enjoy! *see blog for many tips, subsitutions, etc.
Read MoreHealthy 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!
Read MoreWorld 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)!
Read MoreMy 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.
Read MoreIntermittent 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).
Read MoreTwo 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:
NUT/SEED BUTTER (and/or a little nuts/seeds)
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.
Read MoreReady 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.
Read More3 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!
LETTUCE CUPS – two ways
LETTUCE CUPS WITH EGG SALAD
LETTUCE CUPS WITH TUNA SALAD (OR CHICKEN OR CHICKPEA SALAD)
EGGS WITH GREENS AND BEANS
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).
Read MoreWHY ITS HELPFUL TO REMOVE CERTAIN FOODS FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME
While I am a big believer in an inclusive, varied and balanced diet, there are times when we are unknowingly consuming foods that are taxing our beautiful bodies and causing us to gain weight or just not feel our best.
For this reason, I am also a big believer in doing a periodic cleanse (like my 10 day detox) as a mini RESET, and an opportunity to check in with our bodies and see what might be affecting us.
The thing is, many of the foods we eat every day contain a ton of pesticides, and/or have an acidifying effect on the body, and/or are mucus-forming, and/or are simply difficult to digest. By avoiding these foods for 10+ days, you give your digestion a pause from these potentially inflammatory foods (while nourishing your body with an extra dose of superfoods, vitamins, minerals and proteins that help your body detox), and will be in a good place to re-introduce potentially triggering foods and see how they affect you.
LEARN MORE about what we eliminate and WHY (it’s useful info so don’t miss out!) in today’s blog…
Read MoreSeed & 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.
Read MoreCycle Syncing – How to Eat & Move During Each Phase of Your Cycle
As women, in order to feel our best and support our health, it’s important to understand our menstrual cycle and connect with the different stages and the hormonal fluctuations that accompany each stage.
This is the basis for what we call “Cycle Syncing” - which teaches us to connect with how our body shifts throughout our cycle, and use these changes to our benefit. It involves aligning lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, social commitments and more, in accordance with the different phases of your cycle to improve hormone balance, alleviate common PMS symptoms, improve fertility, and more.
The result is an increased sense of health, balance and connection to our femininity in our day to day.
Today I share my overall basic guide to cycle syncing to get you on your path to feeling better at every stage in your cycle, as well as improving your femininity and the connection to your body.
Read MoreA Day of Healthy, Blood-Sugar Stabilizing Meals
The foods we eat have SO MUCH power over our blood sugar, hormones, weight, mood, energy, and essentially, our overall health and happiness. If we want to FEEL good (and LOOK good!), we have to focus on eating heathy, balanced meals that help keep blood-sugar stable.
What does a day of glucose-stabilizing meals look like?
Here is one of my go-to days of blood-sugar balancing delicious meals (which I enjoy in large portions, with dessert, too!):
Upon rising: Lemon water + probiotics (and sometimes glass of AG1 greens)
Pre-workout (after my meditation and playing a bit with my daughter); Matcha latte
Breakfast Post-workout (usually a 30-45 min barre or power yoga class): Green Protein Smoothie Bowl or some version of this one (and I’ll have any vitamins I’m taking)
Lunch: green appetizer salad (usually lettuce, avocado, microgreens, sauerkraut & Tahini dressing) follwed by zucchini noodles with meatballs OR this delicious veggie & protein-packed lasagna
After lunch: decaf “mushroom” coffee with cinnamon and almond milk + 1-2 squares dark chocolate
Dinner: A huge bowl of my Chickpea Vegetable Minestrone Soup OR this delicious Lentil Vegetable Soup (a favorite of my daughter Chiara), sometimes with a side of an avocado toast
Dessert after dinner: Chocolate Avocado Mousse (my keto version with no banana) - topped with cacao nibs, coconut & almond butter
A Key Element for a Healthy, Happy Brain (and 5 steps to take now)
The gut-brain connection is extremely powerful, which means that a huge part of having a healthy mind is having a healthy “gut”.
If you’ve ever felt butterflies in your stomach when nervous, or nauseous when scared, you KNOW your gut is sensitive to your emotions and stress. And the reverse is also true. The health of our gut has a direct effect on our brain and mood. Poor digestion from too much processed foods, bad food combinations, or poor elimination (ex. not pooping properly) can have a huge negative impact on your mood, energy levels, mental clarity (and more!).
SO if you want to have a healthy, happy brain, you need to start by having a healthy GUT! Here are 5 steps to get you started…
Read MoreConstipation Relief Smoothie
For those days when you feel a little “backed up” and need some help going to the bathroom, this delicious green smoothie is a great way to support your digestion and get you some good bowel movements!
Read MoreLow Sugar Smoothie Bowl for Energy, good Digestion and Immunity
How you start off your morning HUGELY impacts how you feel the rest of the day - in terms of digestion, energy, motivation and your metabolism/weight.
Today I’m sharing a delicious smoothe bowl recipe that helps STABILIZE BLOOD SUGAR, BOOST ENERGY, BALANCE HORMONES, IMPROVE IMMUNITY and can support WEIGHT LOSS.
Read More8 Holistic Tips to Help Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer
October is breast cancer awareness month; a month to raise awareness about our need for Cancer prevention education, something I’m passionate about ESPECIALLY since we’ve discovered how much we can do with food and lifestyle to lower our risk
Today I’m sharing 6 important doctor recommendations to lower your risk of breast cancer, plus 8 more holistic tips to help reduce your risk of disease in general.
Read MoreHealthiest Overnight Oats and Overnight "No Oats" (recipes in english & spanish)
Due to popular demand, today I’m sharing one of my new favorite breakfast recipes (that's become my Sunday “go-to” braekfast): my super heatlhy, nutritious, filling and DELICIOUS overnight oats. I’m also sharing my grain-free “no oats” version (perfect for a detox day!).
Both the overnight oats and the overnight "no oats" are low-glycemic, packed with fiber, healthy fats and protein, and don't cause glucose spikes like many other breakfasts do (especially those based on oats). They're also dairy free, gluten free and have NO added sugar of any kind.
I make slightly different versions but today I’m sharing my favorite go-to chocolate version.
Check out my blog for the recipes (in both English and Spanish). Enjoy!!
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