10 Tips For Fast Weeknight Meals

It can be a challenging feat to incorporate more culinary time into your daily routine, especially if you currently struggle to grab lunch at work, let alone make a healthy dinner in the evening. Ordering take out has its conveniences, but cooking more is one of the best things you can do for your health since you can control ingredients and keep calories in check. Cooking at home also helps increase creativity, supports increased bonding time with loved ones, and can even be a meditative activity. Who knew chopping vegetables could be so zen? It can also promote food diversity and increase oral tolerance levels since a variety of foods can reduce inflammation, lower the risk of developing intolerances, promote a healthy gut microbiome, and reduce oxidative stress1. HOW DOES IT WORK?  It takes time and effort to make meals at home, however the planning, prepping, and actual cooking is worth the benefits. Once you get into the culinary groove, you will be creating meals in your kitchen from scratch in no time at all. Nothing is better than pouring your heart and soul into the creation of a beautiful meal and then enjoying – and sharing with others – the fruits of your labor. So, how exactly do you get a home-cooked meal on the table every night? Article continued HERE on The Institute of Transformational Nutrition Blog. In Love, Health + Gratitude, Katie

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How Daily Check-Ins Can Transform Your Life: 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Daily

Have you checked in with yourself today? Daily check-ins can make a huge difference in your day, your interactions with your kids, family, friends, co-workers, and yourself. They are so important and have been a huge part of my autoimmune healing journey. Simply acknowledging how you are feeling in the morning, at night before bed, and as needed throughout the day can have a huge impact on your life and both your mental and physical health Before I get out of bed in the morning I check-in with myself to see how I am feeling. By making myself aware of how I am feeling it sets the tone for my entire day. If I am feeling stressed for example I acknowledge it, I feel it, I ask myself if there is anything I can do to change it, and then I move on. I do the same thing during the day and before bed. If you are a parent daily check-in’s first thing in the morning can be a game changer. Our kids typically get on our nerves when we are internally fretting over something. If you find that there is something you are thinking about that is making you feel frustrated, angry, or anxious for example everything your kids do or say is going to be amplified. But, if you acknowledge where you are at first thing in the morning you can take immediate control over your response to any situation that arises during the day. It’s easy to operate on autopilot and allow our thoughts to affect our mood and literally run our entire day. It can be easy to run and hide from our feelings but it’s so important to slow down and check-in with ourselves. OK time to check-in! 5 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF 1. How are you feeling both mentally and physically? 2. What do you need right now in this moment? 3. What are you holding onto that you can let go of? 4. What is going well? 5. What is not going well and what can you do about it? Start by using these questions every single day first thing in the morning. Then work to answer these questions throughout the day and before bed. Overtime checking in with these questions will become a habit. You can spend a few minutes thinking through each one or if you enjoy journaling you can write…

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Environmental Factors Role In Autoimmunity

Environmental factors play a huge role in autoimmunity but there is only one environmental factor that most people focus on initially which is diet. If you have been focusing solely on diet to heal your autoimmune disease now is the time to take a look at the environmental factors that may also be contributing. Many times when starting on a healing journey from autoimmunity people focus on diet alone. While diet is a great place to start. Healing from autoimmunity requires a multi-angle approach. Many find success with diet initially but then their healing plateaus. When I started my healing journey over 15 years ago diet was my focus. I had great success initially but overtime I started having more frequent flares and symptoms. I became frustrated and started feeling that all the work I had put it was pointless. That was until I looked at how my environment was hindering my healing. HOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT CAN HINDER YOUR HEALING Epigenetics is the study of how genes express themselves meaning “turning on” or “turning off”. Just because you have a gene that predisposes you to a certain disease does not mean you will get that disease. Genes that predispose us to disease can be turned on but they can also be turned off. We are surrounded by environmental factors every single day that affect our health regardless of if we have an autoimmune disease or not. While we can’t control our exposure to all of them we can take a look at which ones may be affecting us the most and how we can make changes to reduce our exposure. Some are much easier than others. For example, if we are currently eating all conventional produce we can start buying organic or if we eat mostly processed and packaged foods we can reduce our consumption of these foods and introduce more fruits and veggies. I know not everyone has the same level of access to fresh fruits and veggies but the idea is to do the best you can. Eliminating toxins through food is a great place to start. An environmental factor that is more difficult to address is something like emotional trauma. We all carry trauma with us. Many times something that affected us long ago is still with us years later. Trauma can manifest into disease. If you are carrying trauma you may need to work with a…

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7 Ways To Get More Lemon Into Your Diet

Lemons are one of my favs! Not only are they a beautiful color (my favorite color in fact), but they are filled with Vitamin C which is a powerful antioxidant! If you want to learn more about Vitamin C and it’s benefits check out this article. I love adding lemon to so many things. Here are seven easy ways to get more LEMON into your diet. Squeeze a whole lemon into room temp water first thing in the morning and drink. Add to any homemade salad dressing. Or, simply squeeze over the top of spicier greens like arugula or watercress and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Add to a smoothie or your favorite juice. Lemon is the perfect low sugar fruit for both! I promise you will never miss the higher sugar fruits when lemon is present. Squeeze over roasted, steamed, or sautéed veggies. Add lemon juice and zest to grain-free waffles, pancakes, or muffins. Make a nutrient-dense green sauce in your blender or food processor with whatever greens you have on hand. Parsley, Cilantro, Kale, or Danolian Greens work great! Blend greens with olive oil, lemon, salt, and any other seasonings you like. Eat on everything! Looking for a recipe? Try this Detoxifying Parsely Cilantro Sauce. If you are a margarita lover like I am use lemon instead of lime or a combo of both. What is your favorite way to get more lemons in your diet? In Love, Health + Gratitude, Katie

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Begin Healing Your Inner World With This One Simple Exercise

Our inner world has a huge effect on our health and in my personal experience once I addressed my inner world my healing from Ankylosing Spondylitis and Chronic Iritis accelerated. Addressing our inner world can be extremely difficult and can take a long time but doing the work is worth it. We carry so much with us each day. Experiences from childhood, unacceptance of ourselves, fear of the future, stress from our jobs or relationships, and the list goes on. Some of these things are on the surface and are top of mind while others are buried deep. One of the easiest places I believe to start addressing our inner world is to think about the stories we tell ourselves over and over again. STORIES CAN HELP OR HINDER HEALING When I began my healing journey many years ago one story I was telling myself was that healing was not possible for me. I was stuck in the narrative that I have a chronic life-long condition and that my future self would be limited by my diagnosis. I got this idea based on both what my doctor told me, and what I saw on the internet. When I found my only option was to manage my symptoms with a scary pharmaceutical drug I was left with no other option than to fight for my health in other ways. REWRITE YOUR STORIES One of those ways was through the mind-body connection and the place I started was to rewrite the stories I had about healing and my life. I rewrote what I had been telling myself and slowly but surely, one step at a time I began to uplevel my healing. It was not easy! Inner work is one of the hardest things you will do. On good days when my pain was low or I was flare-free, it was easy but on the days where I was in pain, my mind went right back to the story that healing was not possible for me. On those days I did the below exercise. This exercise is one I have my coaching clients complete and I ask them to revisit it anytime they need a tune-up. This one simple exercise changed the trajectory of my healing and I hope it helps you too! EXERCISE HOW TO: STEP 1: Grab a few pieces of paper and on each one write down a story…

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You Are Not Your Diagnosis

There have been many moments over the last 15 years that truly impacted my autoimmune healing journey. Acknowledging that I was not the diagnosis I was given was one of those moments. This acknowledgment was not easy. It took a lot of work! If you are struggling with your health and you finally receive a diagnosis initially it can be a positive thing. It can help point you in the right direction by allowing you to research and educate yourself. It can lead you to connect with others. It can make you feel more secure. It can validate why you have felt the way you have. It can help you explain to other people what is wrong… and the list goes on. However, over time a diagnosis or “label” for the set of symptoms you are experiencing can do more harm than good. Here is why. It may sound crazy but when we are given a diagnosis we attach ourselves to it. We begin to identify as that diagnosis and before long it becomes part of who we are. The more we talk about it and the more we say the words “I have” the move we solidify ownership of the disease or condition. Once an identity is established it can be very hard to break away from it. Learning about and understanding a diagnosis can be helpful initially. Where we need to be careful is not allowing it to define who we are. When I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and Chronic Iritis I told everyone! It was all I talked about. It almost became this cool thing that I had that no one else I knew had. While it may seem to talk about your diagnosis all the time can be healing. The reality is the more we talk about something and the more we think about something the more it persists. In our world, we like to label everything. When it comes to health issues labels allow practitioners to follow a standard of care and treatment plan. This is how allopathic medicine works. Sometimes treatments are needed and can help a person with symptoms. However, if the underlying reason for why you became sick in the first place is never addressed true healing is not possible. Now, I’m not talking about things like acute infections. What I am talking about is chronic issues. Our body is so…

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Salt Water Flush: What It’s All About

I want to start by saying that everything I am sharing in this post is from my own experience. Each person is unique. What works or may have benefits for one person may be detrimental to another. Keep that in mind as you continue to read this post. This blog post is not medical advice. Now that we have that out of the way lets chat salt water flushes! WHAT EXACTLY IS A SALT WATER FLUSH Salt water flushing has been around for a long time but is being talked about a lot more recently. The basics of a salt water flush are you consume a large quantity of salty water in a short period which results in an emptying of the bowels. When you consume a large quantity of warm saltwater it has a laxative effect and helps to cleanse the colon and draw out toxins. This may sound very unpleasant but typically you won’t get a stomach ache or cramping. You will just have a feeling of urgency to use the bathroom. How many times you have to use the bathroom is specific to each person and could be different each time you do a flush. So, don’t flush on a day when you have plans. QUALITY MATTERS The quality of the salt and water you consume for a flush is critical. You want to use a high-quality salt like Redmond Real Salt which contains trace minerals. The water you use should be filtered or spring. You do not want to use iodized salt or tap water. If the thought of drinking straight salt water seems unbearable you can add the juice from one organic lemon to help offset the taste. BENEFITS AND RISKS Benefits of salt flushes include improved digestion, relief of acute constipation, and a reduction in bloating. Some also report it helps to improve skin issues and even chronic pain. As with anything there can be risks and not every person will have a positive experience with a saltwater flush. So, you need to speak to your doctor before trying one. If you have high blood pressure, chronic digestive issues, kidney issues, or any other serious medical condition you should avoid salt water flushes. Also, if you are pregnant or nursing salt water flushes are not appropriate. HOW OFTEN SHOULD I FLUSH How often you do one is up to you. I do a flush…

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The Story We Hold Is Invisible To Others

This post may be short but the message is important. THE STORY WE HOLD IS OURS Each one of us holds a personal and unique story. Our life experiences up to this very moment may look very different from each other. The events that brought us to this very moment cannot be compared to anyone else on this earth. Because the story we hold is ours. Our thoughts, passions, and beliefs are built from things we have lived through. Things that have changed us. Things that have shaped us. Things that have allowed us to grow and become who we are. OUR STORY IS NOT VISIBLE BY EYESIGHT ALONE Some of us have healed from or struggle with chronic illness, some of us have lost loved ones at a young age, some of us have been abused, some of us have life altering trauma, some of us have dealt with years of self-hate, some of us are in pain every single day both physically and mentally and the list goes on. We all are living life through a different lens and managing things the way we know best. Our story is not visible by eyesight alone. We are not on this earth to judge others. We are here to love. OUR DIFFERENCES ARE A GIFT Keep this truth in the back of your mind each day as you encounter others. It will help you to better understand why each of us hold differing opinions, beliefs and views. We are not all meant to see things the same way. Our differences are gifts that we can share with others and our openness to understanding others perspectives will help us to grow. In Love, Health + Gratitude, Katie

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Healthyish Ginger Margarita

  I’m calling this margarita “Healthyish” because it has an ingredient that has major health benefits. Ginger! Ginger is an ancient spice that has been used for centuries in different cultures for many purposes. Today we know ginger has strong anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer benefits. It has also been shown to have protective effects against respiratory disorders. I love margarita’s and I love ginger so the two together are perfection. All the ginger margarita recipes I have found require making a ginger simple syrup or processing of the ginger root in some way but this Healthyish Ginger Margarita is as simple as muddling fresh ginger and shaking with standard margarita ingredients. This has become my favorite cocktail! It’s refreshing, not sweet and perfect for spring and summer. And you get an added health boost from the fresh ginger root! Print Healthyish Ginger Margarita Author: Katie Faison Recipe type: Smoothies + Drinks + Juices Prep time:  5 mins Total time:  5 mins Serves: 1 serving   Ingredients 2 oz blanco tequila 1 oz orange liqueur 1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice 1 inch knob of ginger root peeled and sliced (more or less based on preferred taste) Optional: salt for rimming the glass and a lime slice for garnish Instructions Peel or cut the skin off of the piece of ginger root. Slice into a few pieces and toss into a cocktail shaker. Use a muddler to smash and break up the ginger root. Add tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice along with a few pieces of ice. Shake vigorously. Rim a glass with salt if preferred by running a lime along the edge of the glass and then rolling in a bowl of salt. Garnish with a slice of lime. Cheers! 3.5.3251 In Health, Love + Gratitude, Katie

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4 Week Walk or Run, Strength + Stretch Program (FREE Program)

I’m excited to share this 4 Week Walk or Run, Strength + Stretch Program with you! There is no better time than now to commit to a workout program. This simple and effective program will have you seeing results in no time. Exercise is a huge part of my life and has helped to heal not only by Body but my Mind and Spirit too! I created this program last Fall for someone who was looking to increase her endurance so she would be ready for multiple weeks of hiking in Europe. She loved her results so I thought it was time to share! This program mixes interval and steady walks or runs with full-body strength exercises and stretching. It’s simple and easy to follow and you will have guaranteed results if you stick with it! In 4 weeks you will increase your endurance, strength, and flexibility. This program can be used after the four weeks are over. If you walked during the first four weeks. Work on running during the next four weeks. Or, increase the weight for strength exercises as you become stronger. This is a FREE program. Just click the download button below. This program can be viewed on a computer, tablet or phone. Or, print for easy reference!       In Health, Love + Gratitude, Katie

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