My Top 6 Beautycounter Makeup Products
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7GQGhJIyKQ
Interested in switching to nontoxic makeup products and trying Beautycounter?
Here are my 6 favorite Beautycounter makeup products:
My Most-Used Immune-Boosting Natural Supplements
With cold and flu season upon us plus the fear of coronavirus, people are more interested than ever in supporting their immune systems. Wearing a face mask is probably not going to be the answer for you, let’s be honest. Doing everything you can to boost your immunity on an internal level is always a good idea. The way I do this is by:
- getting 8-9 hours of sleep every night
- eating whole, unprocessed foods
- cutting out sugar
- loading up on my favorite immune-boosting natural supplements
Here’s a list of some of my favorite supplements to boost my immune system naturally:
- Sovereign Labs Colostrum-LD – liposomal delivery is very important, and this colostrum is safe for lactose-free diets
- Just Thrive Probiotic & Antioxidant (use code “christina15” for 15% off!) – I double up on this for extra immune support
- Beekeepers Naturals Propolis Throat Spray (use code “CRW” for 15% off) – I spray 10-15 sprays in my mouth 2-3x a day
- AHCC (use code “WELLNESS” for 10% off!) – the ultimate immune-boosting functional mushroom that has changed my world and is a MUST for supporting your immune system
- Vitamin D / K2
- Zinc
- Liposomal Glutathione – glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant
- OssoGood Bone Broth
- Further Food Collagen (use code “WELLNESS” for 10%)
- On Guard essential oil from doTERRA – I take this in a veggie capsule, diffuse it, and clean with it
This list could go on because there are so many amazing natural ways to boost your immune system, but these are some of my favorites. You can head here for even more natural remedies for cold and flu season. What are your favorite immune-boosting supplements? Share below!
Negative Hormonal Shifts for Women on Low-Carb Diets
I got this text message last week, and I wanted to share it because I receive messages like this very often. In a sea of information about the benefits of low-carb, ketogenic diets (and there are many benefits), there aren’t as many voices discussing the potential downsides or longterm negative effects. I am a huge believer in low-carb diets, but I don’t think they’re for everyone, and I definitely don’t think they’re for everyone longterm. Age, activity level, sex, underlying health issues, ancestry, emotions, and other factors all affect how our bodies respond to different foods and macronutrient ratios. Something that you don’t usually read on posts about “why keto is so great for you” is the problems that can arise for women in their reproductive years on low-carb diets.
I want to reiterate that this does not happen to everyone, but I see it commonly with my demographic of health-conscious women who are mainly 18-35. Many of them feel great on a low-carb or ketogenic diet at first, but then they start to experience problems when they stick with it for an extended period of time without cycling in more carbohydrates. Longterm low-carbohydrate diets without carb-ups tend to work better for men and for post-menopausal women, but I would argue that cycling macros / foods / calories can benefit everyone.
I started a ketogenic diet when I was 20 years old, and it helped me heal my gut and reverse my prediabetes. However, after a few years of my strict low-carb diet, my hormones were in the post-menopausal range, I didn’t have my period, my cortisol was sky-high, I was having issues with my sleep, and I felt chronically hungry no matter how much I ate. Many of my female clients have experienced some of the same symptoms when eating strictly (very) low-carb for an extended time, in addition to hair loss, mood swings, and energy depletion.
Many people forget that just because something gave you benefits initially doesn’t mean it will forever, and sometimes doing the same thing for too long can cause other problems. What do you do if your low-carb diet starts causing even more issues? It depends how long you’ve been on the low-carb diet, how severe your symptoms are, and how tanked your hormones are. Some women feel better if they just start carbing up a few times a week, or even just the week before their period.
For others, though, their hormones need a lot more work. If that’s the case, I’ve seen a lot of success with increasing carbs consistently to 100-150g at least every day until things balance out again, which often takes a few months. However, sometimes increasing carbs alone isn’t enough. Some women’s hormones only normalize once they reduce the intensity / volume of their workouts or stop them completely, eat more calories overall, put on some healthy weight / body fat, get rid of the chronic stressors in their lives, and support the liver. Sometimes all of those steps are necessary, and sometimes only a few of those are needed. Check out this post and this post if you’re missing your period after being on a low-carb diet.
My hormones were in the post-menopausal range for almost 4 years – I had no period and my cortisol was sky high. Making the changes above for over a year (consistency was key!) helped balance out my hormones and get my period back on track. After I rebalanced my hormones, I was able to return to a low-carb diet and feel great, but I cycle in carbs when needed so I don’t run into the same problems again.
Have you had hormonal shifts from a low carb diet?
Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
If you don’t already use the app The Pattern, I highly recommend it. It’s one of my favorite apps to break down your astrology in a digestible way, and it always tells me something about myself or “my timing” just when I need to hear it. The above message popped up the morning after a night when I spent a lot of time reflecting on this trait of mine, and I knew the message came to me for a reason. It makes sense that I’m a Type 8 on the enneagram, an Aries, and a Generator with a Human Design chart that says I’m meant to “shake things up in a penetrating, shocking way.” 😉
Sometimes this trait is uncomfortable for me, because it can trigger other people, but I’ve learned to embrace it, own it, and understand the greater purpose. It’s one of my favorite things about myself, because I feel so strongly about the importance of getting uncomfortable. I would not be where I am today without having spent a lot of time feeling wildly uncomfortable.
I was my unhappiest in life when I was stuck in the safety zone. It took me hitting rock bottom to realize that discomfort can catapult you into extreme growth. The best lesson I’ve ever learned is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
It can be uncomfortable at first to set boundaries, to say no, to go against the status quo, to listen to intuition instead of logic, to shift your paradigm, to ditch your limiting beliefs, to figure them out in the first place, to invest in yourself, to put yourself out there open for judgment, to work through trauma, to forge your own path, to fully believe in yourself, to release expectations, to replace what you think you SHOULD do with what you want, and to face your triggers. But this is also where the magic happens.
When you feel uncomfortable, triggered, or challenged, I encourage you to see how that situation can actually push you FORWARD into EXPANSION! When things don’t go your way, you can embrace the opportunity to pivot or you can create a story in your head that everyone is out to get you. That’s the victim mindset, and that keeps you rooted in unhappiness and scarcity. If you always stayed in your comfort zone, would you ever move forward?
If you want to inspire people, it is not always comfortable. I get tests from the universe all the time in this arena, but I know that giving into guilt or fear is never for anyone’s highest good. Right now I am setting major boundaries in my life, saying no to people I love, and tossing things aside that I’ve kept there for security. Part of me is scared, but a bigger part of me is insanely excited for how this discomfort will breed expansion.
Have you experienced a period of extreme growth? How were you pushed outside of your comfort zone?
5 Reasons Why You Feel Like Crap on a Low-Carb Diet
https://youtu.be/zllBa45uqQg
Low-carbohydrate diets, including both paleo and ketogenic diets, can help with mood, energy, weight loss, inflammation, skin health, gut health, and balancing your hormones, but only when done properly! If you’ve ever tried a low-carbohydrate diet and felt like total crap, there are a few common pitfalls you might have accidentally fallen into. I’ve made many of these mistakes myself in the past and see them again and again with clients, so if you’re in the same boat, look into these top 5 reasons for why you might not be feeling great on a low-carb diet.
- Your electrolytes are out of balance. When you switch to a low-carbohydrate diet, it’s important to consume extra salt to help balance your electrolytes. The main electrolytes to track are sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. If your electrolytes are out of balance, you might deal with fatigue, headaches, irritability, sugar cravings, trouble sleeping, or leg cramps. When you reduce your carb intake and your glycogen stores get depleted, your body excretes extra water through your urine, sweat, and breath, excreting electrolytes at the same time. For most people, eating more salt solves the issue. Don’t fear high-quality sea salt – my favorite is Redmond’s Real Salt. Cook your food in salt and add more on top. You’ll know if you’re eating too much salt – your food will taste way too salty!
- You accidentally cut your calories way too low. If you replace all of your bread, pasta, tortillas, and other sources of carbs with low-carb vegetables, that creates a drastic decrease in calories throughout the day. A huge cut in calories will lead to fatigue, headaches, and other unwanted symptoms. I’ve seen people accidentally cut their calories by more than half, especially if they’re still a little afraid of adding more fat to their meals. Sometimes you’ll feel better as soon as you simply eat more food. Remember, non-starchy vegetables are very low in calories, so you need to make sure you eat enough calorically dense foods. You’ll most likely need to eat more protein and fat than you’re used to.
- You’re not consuming enough fat. Sometimes the issue with eating too low-fat on a low-carb diet is that you’re simply not getting enough calories, and sometimes the issue is that your body just doesn’t know what its fuel source is. Many people make the mistake of eating a high protein, low-carb, low-fat diet when they first switch to low-carb or keto, but this is a very stressful state for the body to immediately transition to. Your body needs either fat or glucose for fuel, so when you’re first making the transition to a low-carb diet, you need to give it enough fat for fuel if it’s not getting carbs! Don’t depend on gluconeogenesis for energy when you first switch to low-carb. When your body doesn’t have easy access to fat or glucose, this will leave you feeling exhausted and hungry, with hormonal imbalances longterm.
- There is a mismatch between your training style and your carbohydrate intake. If you’re engaging in high-intensity workouts that use glucose to fuel performance, and then you drastically reduce your carb intake, your workouts might really be suffering and you might be feeling exhausted. The classic example of this is trying to do CrossFit while consuming a ketogenic diet. It works for some people, but most people feel better when they give themselves more carbohydrates to fuel their performance, or they change their training style. Fat can easily fuel other forms of activity, but if you’re an athlete engaging in high-intensity workouts then you might feel much better incorporating carbs before and after your workouts.
- Maybe you need a carb-up! There is a common misconception that you can never eat carbs on a low-carbohydrate diet, but you can definitely incorporate carbohydrates! Many people feel much better when they add in some carbs strategically, and the frequency will be different for everyone. Many women, especially, find they feel much better adding in starchy carbohydrates a few times a week, once a week, every night, or around their workouts specifically to keep their hormones in balance. Don’t think of a low-carb diet as a no-carb diet. There are plenty of benefits to cycling in carbohydrates. In fact, cycling carbs is what I recommend most.
Many people find that one of these adjustments makes a huge difference in how they feel on a low-carb diet so they can finally feel their best. It really can be as simple as one change!
Have you ever fallen into one of these pitfalls? Comment below!