This Week in Health Coaching

The past week was so busy and the new week promises to be just as crazy. I am in the midst of a ton of health coaching. Last week I worked with more than 20 clients and have the same client load this week.

I really enjoy the process of getting to know my clients and getting to witness their process. What is amazing to me is how often their process is somehow mirroring my own. I listen to clients try to work through major transitions that I myself have just navigated or say something about their health challenges that I stare down everyday.

In working with clients and discussing their journey I find myself saying things that are just as important to say to myself as it is to them. I feel this shared sense of development is something that is very fulfilling in this process for the clients and myself.

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If you are interested in learning more about health coaching then contact me, Erika, and we can schedule a free hour long health history during which I get to learn about where you are in your health journey and you can learn about the amazing process of being guided by a health coach.

New Logo for Diet Without Dogma

Click to learn more about Health Coaching!

I’m slowly working on revamping my health coaching practice as well as the materials associated with it. I’ve been playing around with an updated logo and this seems to be the direction I’m heading with it.

If you would like to learn more about health coaching please check out Diet Without Dogma. The best way to learn about health coaching would be to schedule a complimentary health history session with me. It’s a free hour where you get to discuss you health concerns and goals with a Certified Health Coach!

Food Stuff

My eating lately has been schizophrenic at best lately. I wish I could blame the holidays or traveling or work but honestly it’s just been a lack of focus and commitment. As a result all those early warning signs that I’m on the wrong dietary path have started to rear their ugly little heads. Namely, chronic heartburn, skin issues and aching joints.

I think part of the issue has been a deep ambivalence regarding how to eat. My dietary journey has taken me on a long and winding path: I was raised by a gourmet chef, became a pretty mainstream vegetarian, traditional foods, and raw foods as a vegan, vegetarian and omnivore. These days I’ve been eating a pretty basic “healthy” diet. This has included whole grains, gluten-free baked goods, some pasture raised animal foods and not as many vegetables as I usually like to eat but still more than most people probably.

Throughout all of these dietary adjustments it has become very clear to me that I do not do well with grains, of any kind. I also don’t do very well with most dairy. When I was my sickest I was eating a mainstream vegetarian diet and the traditional foods diet. Both of these diets can easily become very dairy and grain heavy. I started to see vast improvements on the raw vegan diet. While eating this way my skin issues subsided, my digestive issues disappeared and my joints eased their constant aching. My energy level improved slightly but was still very low on this diet though. I found it impossible to exercise and in general got worn out easily. I tweaked the raw diet extensively trying every variation from high-fruit to low-glycemic and consistently had low energy.

I’ve experimented with adding things into my diet in conjunction with raw foods and increasing my protein levels seem to be the key. The protein sources though seem to only be animal foods, plant proteins such as legumes and nuts, almost immediately start aggravating my system again.

Another thing that seems to help my digestion especially are higher levels of fat in the diet, specifically fat from coconut, pastured butter and olive oil. A higher fat diet also leaves me feeling more relaxed.

So, as much as I hate the label, my diet by default seems to be leaning towards a primal diet. Mind you a very vegetable heavy paleo diet with a lot of raw techniques and foods thrown in for good measure. Yesterday, as I sat on the couch recovering from my shoddy diet as of late, I read Mark’s Daily Apple (check out his Creamy Turmeric Tea, it’s to die for) and a cookbook I purchased on my iPad, Make It Paleo.

While I was digesting all of this information I ate 3 yummy meals sans grains and this morning woke up feeling much improved over my achy, cranky self yesterday. I plan on keeping you updated and posting some recipes furthering the blending of raw foods and paleo.

New Brochures

I’m always refining my health coaching brochures. I feel like I finally have a name for my practice as well as a logo that I really like. I also feel like I’m really getting my wording and benefits more effectively spelled out in my brochure.

Why on earth would I need a health coach?

I’ve been a certified health coach now for about 6 years and in that time have worked with a lot of clients. I also meet a lot of people who are curious about how a health coach could support them. So I thought I’d write a little post about the glories of health coaching.

First, what is a health coach? I’ve always said a health coach is a combination of a nutritionist and a life coach. Instead of just giving you an eating plan and a list of do’s and don’ts we delve way more into the why’s of your health and habits.

As far as the biggest benefit, that would be the constant support you get from a health coach around your personal goals. It is so hard to eat healthier, lose weight and avoid food sensitivities. It is hard to figure out why we overeat or eat the wrong things or undereat. A health coach is someone that can help you figure out why you are engaging in bad behavior and then support you. Through focusing on goals as well as small lifestyle and diet goals each session some big changes can be made over the course of months.

Most health coaches really specialize on certain issues as well. We usually choose these areas of specialization from our own personal experience. So instead of sitting down with someone who has read about your symptoms or disorders in a book you can sit across from someone who has actually struggled with similar issues. For instance, I focus on celiac/gluten-free diets as well as overeating/compulsive eating. Why? Because these are issues I’ve struggled with and have a lot of personal experience with. Over the years of focusing on clients with these issues I have delved even deeper into these areas.

The next best thing about health coaching is many of us offer our first session free. This gives the health coach a chance to learn about your particular struggles. It gives you a chance to hear about how that health coach works with clients with your issues as well.

And finally, many health coaches offer phone coaching. Phone coaching is an amazing option. You get to be in the comfort of your own home and don’t have to add yet another appointment into your schedule that you have to rush all over the place to get to.

If health coaching sounds interesting to you please contact me. If I’m not the right coach for you I know dozens of others with amazing specialties and experience to pair you up with. Find out more and contact me through my site DietWithoutDogma.com.

My skin is sending smoke signals.

I had hoped to share a gluten-free quiche recipe I’ve been working on but have been thwarted every step of the way. The last way I’ve been thwarted was by my own body.

I’ve bee really upping my physical activity lately. I’ve been doing cardio and weights many mornings, yoga most nights and evening walks unless I’m working in the evening. Something always happens when I start exercising and shedding weight, my skin explodes. I have developed many little skin woes over the past few weeks, of which I will spare you the particular details.

I don’t wish to stop exercising. I do find the physical activity is helping my energy and mental clarity overall which is good. I’ve decided to do a juice cleanse for the next 2 weeks as a result.

Cleansing is not my favorite health tool really but sometimes I do find it useful. For me personally, I find juicing to reduce skin issues and inflammation so when I start to experience these things it is usually what I will fall back on.

Overall my diet has been working really well for me lately, which is good because I feel like I know what will work for me post cleanse. I’m just thinking refining my diet and adding in more physical activity is really stirring some junk up in my body and I have to facilitate it’s very prompt release!

Today in preparation I’ve been having very simple berries and green smoothies. Just water, berries and mixed greens. I may have some broth later on, which is something else I plan to incorporate into my cleanse.

I’ll be sharing my progress here over the course of this cleanse.

New Drawing & Ad

In Patagonia, AZ we have a monthly newspaper that is volunteer run and community based. While I’m not sure how much actual business I get from running ads with them it is important to me to support this type of media within my community. For this month I decided to highlight the Health Coaching aspect of Tumbleweed & Poppleswamp.

New Health Coaching Site

I’ve been really working on updating my web presence the past few days. The latest installment is a new site for my Health Coaching practice, Diet Without Dogma.

It’s still fairly barebones but I hope to be adding lots of new content and information over the coming weeks so stay tuned! And remember, if you feel ready to start making health and lifestyle changes give me a call! The first hour-long session is always free and a great way to learn more about the health coaching process.

Thoughts Regarding “Curing” Celiac

What is Celiac some you may be thinking, especially those who have been tuning in for my art more than my Health Coaching. Celiac is an autoimmune disorder which is triggered by eating gluten containing foods. You can learn lots about Celiac here. This post is going to deal more with some thoughts I have regarding celiac, its treatment and some current trends within alternative health I’ve been observing.

This less than flattering photo of me was taken shortly after I went gluten-free, still sick but working on getting better.

How do you treat Celiac? You go gluten-free. Currently a gluten-free diet is the only treatment for celiac, this is commonly agreed upon within the medical community. Once a person with celiac goes gluten-free there is usually a fairly rapid improvement in a lot of aspects of that persons health. After some time many of us find ourselves plateauing in our health goals. I have found on my own path with celiac that there have been years of diet and lifestyle tweaks and probably many more to come. In making these adjustments though we can reach very high levels of health even with celiac and even feel recovered or cured.

What I’m seeing in some “recovered” celiacs which is causing me concern is once people have found an optimal diet and feel that their issues are in remission they think they are “cured”. In the past I have had many people in the alternative health community insist that I could “cured” of celiac if I would only follow their diet dogma or do their cleanse or use their product. I have always found this thought process to be a dangerous lure for people with celiac. Since these people never suffered from celiac themselves I’ve always found them easy to dismiss.

What I am observing now however, seems much more dangerous to me. I am reading articles and blog posts from people actually diagnosed with celiac claiming that they are cured. They are telling others they can be cured too and once cured they can start eating gluten containing foods again. This is extremely disturbing to me because it can take a long period of time for people to have extreme symptoms again and it can take time for enough damage to be done again to show on an endoscopy. This delay in symptoms can make people think they are cured, only to find 5 years later that they are sicker than ever again and, in fact, not cured. This would be a horrible set back for anyone who has already had a long health struggle behind them.

One thing you learn when you adjust to a gluten-free, nutrient-dense diet is that wheat, rye and barley while tasty are not an integral part of a balanced diet. It is easy to reach optimal health without gluten containing grains in the diet. So my question is why risk it? Why risk all the sickness and misery we went through before being diagnosed by taking the risky gamble of reintroducing gluten containing foods?

While I’m not going to call out any specific blogs or people in this post I would like to mention that most of the people claiming to have cured celiac are following a diet promoted by the Weston Price Foundation. I use many concepts of this diet in my own diet. The idea that Tradiitional Foods can cure celiac is dangerous though and I really hope to see people within this community drop this claim.

Once you regain your health and vitality after a diagnosis of celiac, or any other autoimmune digestive disorder, you do feel cured. In many ways you are cured. But it is a cure that must be maintained for the rest of your life. You must always maintain a stricter more nutrient-dense diet than most of your peers. This is not an easy path but it can be a vibrant, health-filled path.

Cleansing of Sorts

As I mentioned in my post yesterday for my new drawing, I am {sort of} cleansing. I have quite honestly been taking terrible care of myself for at least 6 months, perhaps longer. There has been so much transition and work and sickness since last fall that taking care of myself has been so far on the back burner I think it actually fell off the stove and onto the floor.

For the past week I have felt a sudden desire to fix this. I think having recovered from my horrible 2 month cold and settled into a routine with Tumbleweed & Poppleswamp has given me just enough mental space to be able to make those first timid steps.

As a Health Coach I think it’s useful for other people dealing with their own health struggles to be completely honest about my own health struggles and lapses. This comes up often for Health Coaches. We’ll think, “What right do I have to help other people with their health when I’m letting mine slide?” Often these lapses are what help us forge real connections with our clients and they form the basis of some of our most useful advice. It is precisely because of the bad times I’ve gone through, and recovered from, that I have useful information to share with others.

After months of poor eating, no exercise, weight gain and even smoking some cigarettes (gasp) I feel like I’m settling back into taking care of myself and caring for myself. Besides obvious stressors another thing that has always been a challenge for me is finding diet and lifestyle choices that work for me. It is so easy to get caught up in the dogma of a diet and then realize 6 months into it that I am not thriving. After the past 7 years of constantly tweaking my diet I feel like I know what has worked and what hasn’t and am ready to let go of the labels of any particular diet. Now I’m just following my own thing because it works for me.

What does that look like these days? A lot of liquids to start with and some animal foods to end with. The decision to move to a lot of liquid foods has seemed obvious to me for a long time. My digestion is f*cked. Eating food, no matter what, rarely goes well for me. Not eating for the rest of my life is not the best choice though. As a result I’ve been focusing on a lot of vegetable juices and lots of savory smoothies. I’ve also been having some citrus juice and the occasional fruit smoothie. I’ve been working on refining a vegetable smoothie, kind of V8-esque. I wouldn’t say I’ve got it totally worked out yet but am getting there. So far I’ve been blending the following in it: parsley, cucumber, sweet onion, garlic, lemon juice, sweet peppers, jalepeno pepper, red pepper miso and some dried tomato powder from Premier Research Labs. I’ll share the recipe when it’s good.

I’ve also been drinking a lot of citrus juice with Sunwarrior’s Ormus Greens added. This is yummy and satisfying. This is great when I’m in the studio because I have a little electric citrus juicer. I usually juice some oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes all together. I’ve also been making a limeade: juice of 3 limes, 1 dropperful of Grape Stevia with 24 oz. water. I swear this limeade tastes exactly like Pez candy.

In general my days are looking like today has as far as what I’m eating:
2 cups coffee (a lot, I know but so much better than two weeks ago!)
smoothie (usually the first is protein powder, almond milk & berries)
veggie juice (often carrots, celery, beets, cucumber)
today at this point I had some raw goat cheddar cheese
“Pez” limeade
savory smoothie
green tea
If I’m hungry at this point I’ve been either having citrus juice and/or a bottle of kevita.

Even though I’ve only been getting back on track the past week and a half, I already have more energy and am feeling happier. That seems like about enough food rambling for now. I’ll post more of what I’ve been working on in a few days.