The Nourished Life

GIVEAWAY: One Year of Weekly Real Food Meal Plans! ($72 Value)

2013-02-22T09:52:00.004-06:00

If you're busy or on a budget (or both), meal planning is a must. Throwing together meals at the last minute can be fun and I highly recommend doing it on occasion just to bring a flavor of spontaneity into your life. But if you're like most folks, waiting till the last minute often means you're too tired or frazzled from a long day to brainstorm a creative meal--and then spontaneity ends

Key Lime Whipped Coconut Oil Body Butter Recipe

2013-02-20T10:24:00.001-06:00

This whipped coconut oil recipe is the perfect moisturizer for summertime (or when you wish it was summertime!). Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts, so it comes as no surprise that I rather enjoy smelling like key lime pie in the mornings after applying this whipped moisturizer. The sweet, tangy combination of lime and lemon essential oils brightens my mood, lifts my spirits, and

Get the Beautiful Babies Class FREE When You Order the Paperback! ($199 Value)

2013-02-08T10:05:00.002-06:00

If you had a time machine, what would you do? Well, a number of things come to mind, but I would definitely pop back in time to December 2003 and hand myself a copy of the new Beautiful Babies book. See, the me in 2003 had just announced to my husband that we were expecting our first baby. We were excited, scared and totally clueless--especially about the importance of nutrition.

Cats Know Margarine Is Not Food. Do You?

2013-02-02T14:55:00.000-06:00

What is margarine? It shows up in the food aisle at your local grocery store, but does that make it food? My cats don't think so. And neither do I. What is Margarine? A Message from the Barn Cats I don't buy margarine. I used to many, many moons ago (back when I was scared of butter). But now that I know saturated fat is good for you, nary a stick or tub of margarine has entered my

Things I Love from January

2013-01-31T11:29:00.001-06:00

Whew, what a way to kick off 2013! January was an exciting month for The Nourished Life. For one thing, I began work on my first eBook The Nourished Metabolism, which will launch sometime in March. This will be a culmination of everything I've learned about metabolic health and wellness during the last five years. Expect some myth-busting, a wee bit of controversy, and a balanced plan for

Grain-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

2013-01-29T08:41:00.000-06:00

Sigh. Nothing can pull a girl's heartstrings like a good recipe for chocolate peanut butter bars. As a lifelong fan of Reese's peanut butter cups, I've always wanted to find a way to indulge my chocolatey peanut buttery cravings at home without having to succumb to mass market candy with all its not-so-lovely additives. Enter this too-good-to-be-true chocolate peanut butter bar recipe by my

How to Eat to Increase Your Metabolism

2013-01-13T14:51:00.001-06:00

Learning to eat to increase your metabolism can be a long and complicated journey. At least, that's what I used to think. It turns out the solution might be a lot more simple than I previously thought. I'll admit, I've tried a lot of the typical "tricks" to increase my metabolism. You've probably heard of them. Eat more protein. Drink tons of water. Fidget a lot. Hit the treadmill. Take hot

Cold Hands and Feet? It Could Be Your Metabolism!

2013-01-11T14:00:00.002-06:00

Do you have cold hands and feet? Are you armed with a stockade of assorted thermal socks and slippers just to keep your toes from freezing? Do your fingers feel like icicles even when other people in the same room are complaining about how warm it is? It could be your metabolism! One of the chief signs of a slow metabolism (aka low thyroid function) is cold hands and feet. You might also

The Ultimate 33 Nourishing eBook Bundle for 92% Off

2013-01-09T15:30:00.002-06:00

How many eBooks can you buy for $39? Most of the time, not even one! I'm all for learning more about living a healthy, nourished life, but a girl's gotta have a budget (at least this one does). So in general, I pass up eBook offers (even if I think it's work the money) because, well, it's just not in the budget! If you're like me, then you only spring for the wallet if it's a really

10 Ways You Can Use Lemon Juice Instead of Toxic Chemicals for Health, Cleaning and Beauty

2013-01-01T11:29:00.000-06:00

Contrary to all those catchy commercials, you don't need to use expensive products and toxic chemicals to clean your home, ease a cough, or soften your skin. Lemon juice can replace countless bottles of overpriced chemicals for a fraction of the cost. And I definitely rest easier using food-based products instead of exposing myself, my family and my pets to potentially irritating and toxic

Why I Drink Coffee Every Day

2012-12-19T12:02:00.000-06:00

Coffee every day? You bet. There are some things we hate to love. And some we love to hate. Coffee is both. People talk about the evils of coffee in the same way they talk about addictions to meth or cocaine (or the so-called evils of sugar). Whether you drink it or not, you've likely been told over and over about the detriment of coffee consumption from one health guru or another. I once

Serotonin Myths: High Serotonin Blues, Part 3

2012-12-14T15:26:00.001-06:00

This is Part 3 in a series on high serotonin. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 here. Questions are one of the only things in life that come in unlimited quantities. Ask any four-year-old. I certainly found no shortage of questions when I started looking into the problems of high serotonin. Yes, I said high serotonin. While serotonin deficiency seems to be the blanket diagnosis these days,

Want to Get Soft Hands? Make Your Own Homemade Hand Scrub!

2012-12-08T13:19:00.001-06:00

Want to get soft hands? Yeah, me too. I've often heard that nothing gives away your age more than your hands. But expensive hand creams aren't the answer. They can be loaded with chemical fillers and they always ignore a vital step in getting soft hands: exfoliation. Instead, fight dry, cracked winter hands with a food-based homemade scrub formulated especially for your hands! How to

Serotonin Myths: High Serotonin Blues, Part 2

2012-12-07T13:53:00.000-06:00

This is Part 2 of a series on high serotonin. Check out Part 1 and Part 3 if you want to learn more. After my disturbing experience with 5-HTP and tryptophan supplements (read about that here), I started thinking it was time to question my ideas about serotonin. Although it's known as the "happy" neurotransmitter, I quickly discovered other people have had experiences similar to

Serotonin Myths: High Serotonin Blues, Part 1

2012-11-21T13:36:00.001-06:00

This is Part 1 in a series on high serotonin. Check out Part 2 and Part 3 to learn even more. A vast majority of anti-depressant drugs, natural treatments for depression, and much of how the mainstream medical institution views mental health is hinged on one theory: serotonin is the "happy" neurotransmitter. There are thousands of books, blogs, articles and podcasts about increasing

Refined vs. Unrefined Coconut Oil: 3 Reasons I Use Refined Coconut Oil

2012-08-20T11:25:00.001-05:00

One of the biggest misconceptions I see in the health world is that unrefined automatically equals better. This isn't always the case, especially with coconut oil. The refined vs. unrefined coconut oil debate has raged on for decades, with unrefined coconut oil usually winning the battle. However, I choose refined coconut oil every time and here are three reasons why: 3 Reasons I Use

How to Make Homemade Bug Repellent

2012-08-07T14:24:00.001-05:00

During the warm months, my mission is simple: avoid bug bites whenever possible. And living in the humid south makes this a challenge. When I was a kid, it meant spraying liberal quantities of OFF bug repellent all over myself. It was greasy and smelled gross, but it was the only way I knew to combat the plague of mosquitoes that seemed view my legs as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Of course,

How You Can Have High Blood Sugar Without Carbs

2012-07-24T11:06:00.002-05:00

High blood sugar is bad. Carbohydrates raise blood sugar. Therefore carbohydrates are bad. The theory is simple, and yet incredibly flawed. The truth is, you can have chronically high blood sugar even while religiously avoiding every starch and sugar in sight. Low-carb forums are littered with posts asking a very relevant question: Why is my blood sugar so high when I'm not eating any

Why Diet Rules Backfire (and How to Quiet Your Inner Rebel)

2012-07-09T15:39:00.000-05:00

The rebellious teen is a cookie cutter stereotype if there ever was one, partly because it's based in reality. You know those in-between years when we battle between lingering immaturity and the desire to come into our own destiny. It's a time when sometimes rules are broken just because they are rules, even if they were meant only to serve us. Most of us have matured beyond the flagrant

Sugar: Prisoner of War

2012-05-23T12:41:00.003-05:00

If you want to wage war against food, there are plenty of ways to do it. We have vegans, who writhe in disgust at the thought of eating animal foods. And we have meatatarians, who eat animal foods almost exclusively (and writhe in disgust at the thought of being vegan). There's low-carb and low-fat, high-protein and low-glycemic. Raw or cooked. Good fats and bad fats, good carbs and bad

Homemade Whipped Coconut Oil Body Butter Recipe

2012-02-07T09:16:00.004-06:00

Does your moisturizer make you nervous? Let me guess: it's either filled with questionable ingredients or wildly expensive. Or both. Like you, I've been seeking a natural alternative to those bottles of creamy (but chemical-laden) conventional lotions. It hasn't been easy. Coconut oil has always been a top contender, but it wasn't until I tried a new coconut oil body butter recipe that I

Real Food Myths: Attitude Doesn't Count

2011-11-08T15:55:00.000-06:00

Food affects our moods. This concept is well known in the real food community and I've written about it several times myself. It's also an idea that hits close to home for me, because the reason I became interested in real food nutrition was because my own emotional health (or lack thereof) was really putting my life and my family through the wringer. When you're plagued with mood swings that

10 Reasons Why I Love Butter

2011-11-01T12:27:00.000-05:00

How do I love thee, butter? Oh, let me count the ways... 1. Butter is real. I love food that doesn't need an ingredient list. And butter is as simple as it comes: cream. That's it. No hydrogenation necessary, no flavor additives, no preservatives. Just my style. 2. It's delicious. When it comes down to it, healthy food should taste amazing. And butter definitely fits that bill. Who

5 Steps to Winterize Your Vegetable Garden

2011-10-11T15:57:00.000-05:00

While your garden may be sleeping for most of the coming winter, plenty of tasks can be done to prepare for next spring. It may not seem like it, but this is the perfect time to begin preparing the garden for a dynamic growing season next year. Now is the time to give your garden a head start by taking these important steps to winterize your garden: 1. Clean up. Remove all the debris from

Tips for Growing Carrots this Fall

2011-09-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

It’s no mystery why carrots are one of the most popular vegetables grown in the home garden: they're easy to grow and healthy to eat. Carrots are also one of the most versatile vegetables in the kitchen and can be used in everything from soups and stews to muffins or stir fry. And of course, most people can enjoy crunching into a carrot fresh out of the garden, too. There are a variety of