New beginning

So 13 months eating nothing but meat and animal products and I’m embarking on a new 30 day experiment. The last 13 months have been a good experience mostly, but I’ve put on some weight which doesn’t feel good. Plus who wants to work with a nutrition coach who’s not happy with her OWN body? Most of it is my own shit. I feel great health-wise, but I AM dealing with a ton of life stress with school, the student-poor life and lack of sleep, neither of which are helpful for any body composition goals!

I’ve been very strict with my diet for many years, initially with the goal of improving my health through a paleo approach. It was quite helpful with some symptoms, but I still struggled hard with constant nerve pain and chronic fatigue. That’s where the transition to eating Keto and drinking ketones came into my life. All symptoms resolved with this change, but the weight began to creep on… When my professor at nutrition college raved about carnivore, I decided to give it 30 days. Which turned into 13 months!

Now it’s time to try something new. My health is great, I’ve been living MS symptom-free for more than 3 years and I feel I can start working on body composition again!

Stay tuned, I plan to share this journey too

Day 365….

So, when I initially started my carnivore trial I had absolutely no idea if still be eating this way a year later! I will say, it’s crossed my mind several times over the year that I really no want to write more of my experience, then I reflect on what new I have to share and realize it may be pretty boring! I LOVE blogging about food and now that I really only have about 5 regular foods that I eat, with now sauces, or bright colours, there’s not really much you can do to make beautiful food photos! So… yes I still eat meat. Yes I still feel fantastic!

Some changes I have noticed that are worth sharing would be:

1. I definitely have better digestion
2. My skin is consistently clear
3. Inflammation is way less than it used to be
4. I actually tolerate heat and cold better than I used to… that one is a really BIG deal for someone who’s lived with an autoimmune disease for years!

So hears the thing – at the end of the day, the best diet for YOU is the one that makes you happy and feel your best!  If you can stick to eating real food, especially if you aren’t currently, your health and life will improve, potentially in a really big way!  I talk about the carnivore diet passionately because for a good portion of my life I felt like crap and didn’t really know if I’d ever feel good and like myself again.  Drinking ketones were the start for me, my brain turned back on after years and years of feeling trapped.  The keto diet helped as well with some other symptoms I had been carrying around, but it’s the combination of ketones and the carnivore diet that have been a total game changer for me.  That being said, as I near the end of earning my holistic nutritionist designation, I have quite a strong understanding that finding out what works best for each individual body is the trick to overall optimal health and well-being.  Start with real food.  If you still find there are symptoms, then it’s time to try eliminating some trigger foods to see if you feel better.

I need to say this – often I hear “yeah, I get bloated after I eat, but that’s just me.” or “yeah, I get itchy a couple times a month, but that’s just my allergies.”  Etc, etc, etc… NO!!  We are not meant to have regular symptoms!  Just cause you’ve had them for weeks, months or years does not mean that’s just the way things are!!  If the smoke alarm went off a couple of times a month would you just turn it off and ignore it?  NO!  Symptoms are warning signs that something is not right in your body!  If this is YOU, please reach out or find a nutritionist/naturopath in your area.  

Check this out if you’d like more info or like to book a time to chat – More Info

The carnivore diet is the ultimate elimination diet in that it eliminates EVERYTHING, then gives you the option to start reintroducing foods one at a time to see what works and what doesn’t.  Maybe one day I too will bring things back, maybe not.  I feel better than I could remember going into this.  This is going to sound crazy, but I honestly feel lucky for my MS diagnosis in my 20’s because it directed me on a path to the healthiest life possible!  Hopefully you’ll pay attention to the gentle nudges your body is giving you and don’t have to wait for a giant kick in the butt to start doing your research and making some changes.

Are you ready for better?

What would your life be like if you woke up every day energized, focused and feeling comfortable and happy in your body?

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost confidence, you don’t feel sexy anymore, you feel judged and don’t really want to go out with your friends? Have you felt embarrassed shopping for clothes or worried you’re not setting a good example for your kids?

Well, I know I have and it sucked!  All I really wanted was to fit into my clothes again, and to see the weight drop off. What I really needed was to have less fuzzy brain, to stop craving sugar and treats all the time and have energy again!

Think for a moment what that could feel like in your life!  You wake up with more energy, and a clearer mind, now you crush it at work and can’t wait to get active again. You lose the weight, now you can rock the bikini at the beach.

Ok, how could that happen?  If you’re like me, I had tried pretty much everything!  I tried the complicated diet programs.  The 14-part cleanse, squishing my food into the time containers, the laundry list of pills and potions… it was frustrating AND exhausting!  I also tried working out, then working out more (and MORE) when that didn’t work.  I just ended up feeling like a failure.

UNTIL… a friend who I totally trusted and respected tried Ketones.  I was the biggest skeptic.  I wasn’t ready to waste more of my money and feel like a failure yet again!  I also had other health challenges, so I was even more resistant than most!  If any of this resonates, I totally get it!  Maybe I’ve been in your shoes, and if that’s the case, what if I could help?  I know how crappy this feels, and thankfully NOW I also know how much BETTER life can be!

If YOU have had enough, are tired of the frustration, and are ready to make a change, click the link below to book a call!  We can see if we could be a good fit to work together and if Ketones may be a good solution for you too!

***My ONE ask… if you’re not ready to commit to yourself and improving your health and your life, take a look, drop your contact so I can send you more info, but please wait until you’re ready to book a call!  I’m here to help as your tour guide to improve your life, but I can’t do it for you 😉  I am only one person and I try to keep my time available for those who are READY to ACT!

I’m READY to take action!

Transform with Keto

Just wanted to stop in and say Happy Holidays!

Been busting my tail sharing info and building a community for the awesome new Transformation Challenge that starts January 1 and wanted to make sure you got to hear about it too!

I’m so stoked for this!  Life has been, well… life!  My diet hasn’t been as awesome as I would like over the last little bit and I’m definitely feeling it.  This challenge brings amazing coaching on many topics such as meal plans, grocery lists, tips/hacks, exercise and more.

I hear ALL. THE. TIME. “I’m going to get back on track in January.” or “Yeah, in January I’ll get started.” but here’s the thing… without a PLAN, you won’t!  Sorry to drop that truth bomb like it’s hot, but many need to hear it.  If you could do this on your own, you would have done it already.  I know this about myself as well!  I need a goal.  I need a challenge.  Or I’ll be exactly where I am NOW, in 3 months!

Best part – It’s really pretty simple, which is really a big appeal for me (and some many of you!) when the real challenge isn’t having the desire, it’s all about making it fit into life!

Check this out if you’re interested in more details!

Learn MORE!

Gut health matters!

There are around 40 TRILLION bacteria in your body, most of which are in your intestines😲
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Collectively they are known as your GUT Microbiota, and play a huge role in your health🤒🤧😪
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There are hundreds of species of bacteria in your intestines and each species plays a different role🦠
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🔸The foods that you eat greatly affect the types of bacteria that live inside you, and require different nutrients for growth.
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🔸So a diverse gut microbiota is considered to be a healthy one! The more species of bacteria you have, the greater number of health benefits they may contribute to.
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🔸Eating a diverse diet rich in whole foods leads to a diverse microbiota which leads to optimal health.
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Eat LOTS of vegetables and fruit🍏🍓🥦🥬🍠🥑🥕
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🍎They are high in fibre and fibre promotes the growth of beneficial gut bacteria.
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🍎Here are some high-fibre foods that are good for your gut bacteria:
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🌱Raspberries
🌱Green peas
🌱Broccoli
🌱Artichokes
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❓What is your favourite❓
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Upgrade your mind, upgrade your life.
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Interested in learning more about my monthly Keto ReBoot? DM me or click link in bio for more details.
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Food matters. Lifestyle matters. YOU matter!
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The Responsibility is Yours

“The moment you take responsibility for everything in your life, is the moment you can change anything in your life.” ~ Hal Elrod
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So often people waste time feeling sorry for themselves when they encounter a problem.
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We’ve all been there!‼️
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Complaining to others about how bad things are, or sitting around and wallowing in self-pity and negative emotions👀
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Some of us may only spend a few minutes feeling sorry for ourselves while others it might be days, weeks, months or even years‼️
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In this circumstance, time doesn’t heal anything. You’ll only begin to feel worse as more time passes❌❌
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Every minute 🕒you spend wallowing in self-pity is a minute wasted, and will only hold you back from making better, healthier decisions.
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Next time you catch yourself feeling sorry for yourself, 🚫STOP and shift your focus to what YOU can do to improve your situation.
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🔥🔥Take responsibility, take action and watch how quickly things begin to change in your life!
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Drop a 👍 in the comments if you’re taking ACTION🔥🔥
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Upgrade your mind, upgrade your life.
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Interested in learning more about my monthly Keto ReBoot? DM me for more details!

It’s all about choice…

We are where we are in life as a result of the choices we make📌
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🔹There are plenty of things in life that aren’t within your control
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🔹You can’t control certain health problems, other people, or how the world around you operates🌎
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🔑But the ONE thing you can control is your ATTITUDE.
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🔹Everyone faces obstacles, hardships and heartache. That’s just part of life.
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🔹No matter how bad things are, you always have a choice when it comes to how you react to the obstacles and circumstances in your life
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⚠️When things don’t go your way, you can choose to allow it to define you, or you can choose to make it a defining moment⚠️
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🔑When life pushes you down, you can choose to get back up.
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🔑Don’t waste your time wishing things were different or complaining life isn’t fair.
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🔑Life can be unfair and no one ever promised it would be easy.
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👀I know it sounds cliche and you’ve likely heard it before, but the fact is, many of life’s obstacles that are thrown at us, simply make us stronger‼️
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⚠️When you experience problems or adversity, YOU get to choose how you want to respond⚠️
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💯This is the greatest gift we have – our ability to choose
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We’re not going to get it right 💯% of the time, but we can choose to learn from our mistakes🚫and that will always be a good choice‼️
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Upgrade your mind, upgrade your life.
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Interested in learning more about my monthly Keto ReBoot? DM me or click link in bio for more details.
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Food matters. Lifestyle matters. YOU matter!

Passion & Purpose (pt. 2)

In May 2017 my ketones journey began.  I had been following a keto diet for a few months and felt a slight improvement in my brain fog and energy, but when I added exogenous ketones to the mix change really started to happen.  Within 7-10 days my brain turned back on after so many years of running with the “low power” light on and a constant short circuit when it came to getting my thoughts to actually make it to my mouth in one piece.  That was huge for me and quite emotional.  Previously I felt like an idiot.  I’d try to get involved in conversations for a while yet my smartness was stuck in my mind.  By the time it made it to my mouth, i mixed up my words constantly, spoke slower to try to focus on each word at a time and slurred a bit.  It was embarrassing and so frustrating that over time I just avoided the conversations and eventually all social situations.  When things started to come back online, the relief was incredible!  That alone had me totally on board, and there were many other improvements I experienced as well.  I finally had energy to get through the day, I finally started to sleep well and wake up feeling rested, I became less of a sad or grumpy b**ch, and I finally began to regain feeling in my legs!  Picture for a second doing box jumps with no feeling in your legs.  The Crossfit Open workout 17.1 was traumatic for me in a whole different way! Yes, most people suffered through that one, but the mental freak out of not being able to feel whether my feet had actually landed on the box or not was terrifying.  I’ve always had the FU MS mentality and did it anyway, but now two years later, it’s difficult to even imagine going back to that added challenge on top of an already challenging sport!

The changes I experienced were so profound that anyone who knew me took notice.  This girl who was previously so quiet, spacey and sad looking was transforming before their eyes.  When you experience something like this, it’s hard not to want to shout it from rooftops.  I knew there were so many others who were suffering through their own battles and wanted to share this piece of hope and possibility with the world.  Over the last 2 1/2 years I have shared in so many awesome journeys and I am so grateful to be a part of it all!  My message to you – if there’s anything in your life that you aren’t happy with, chose something different.  Everything we do serves us somehow, and for some, the role of the victim serves them enough to not be open to taking responsibility and moving forward.  I made a choice a long time ago that the victim was not how I wanted to live my life, and when I opened my mind to exploring, learning, experimenting, the world of possibilities open up for me.

I will drink ketones for the rest of my life.  I will eat a diet that best supports my brain and body, and I will avoid the foods that don’t!  Right now, the carnivore diet has been serving me very well, and for the time being that’s where I plan to stay.  That being said, I will never close my mind to other options.  People ask all the time how I’m able to stick with such a “strict diet”.  The best response I’ve got is:

MS is much more restrictive. Eating food is just a small portion of my time, and I don’t depend on it to bring joy to my life.  Living with MS would take 100% of my time, and I guarantee there’s no joy in any of that.

Birth of a Passion & Purpose (pt.1)

So for years I really struggled with annoying, debilitating or painful symptoms that I was just told were to be expected for someone with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis.  I didn’t know any better, so I just assumed this must be true.  I was raised to believe that the doctor had all the answers, and whenever you didn’t feel well, that was the route to go.  I think the first time I started to question in my own mind if this was may not the truth was when although I was doing everything I was told, I was still getting sicker and sicker and my doc said “yeah, I don’t know.  Let’s keep going, maybe it will get better”  That just didn’t sit well with me!

I first got the idea that food could make an impact when I stumbled upon a TEDx video in 2012 from Dr Terry Wahls who had reversed her MS symptoms through diet.  I wish I could shake her hand and thank her directly, because this one video was the start of the journey over the next 7 years of my life which took me from a point of wondering when I’d have to cave and go on disability, to feeling better than ever have.  It wasn’t a direct path.  It wasn’t sunshine and rainbows the whole way, and there were definitely many times along the path where I was tempted to throw in the towel on the whole thing.  There were even times where I felt like “if this is the way my life is going to be, I don’t really want to be alive”, however today I can tell you the journey was so worth even the biggest of bumps in the road.

In 2012 I made a pretty major diet change.  I was the multigrain cheerios with almond milk junkie, who counted calories, ate lots of carbs and avoided fat like it was ultimate enemy of life.  Pretty much the complete opposite of the protocol Dr Wahls was suggesting, but I was so tired of living the life I was living that I was willing to give it a try.  I wanted off the laundry list of meds I was living on, and I wanted the ability to start dreaming of the life I wanted again, knowing I actually had the chance to make that a reality.

Paleo = no grains, no sugar, no processed foods, no legumes, no dairy.  Long story short, real foods don’t have ingredients.  Steak = steak.  Apple = apple. Carrot = carrot. Focus on those.  Did this diet help?  Yes.  Eliminating all the processed crap is a good idea for pretty much everyone, in my opinion, however while I did feel some changes, I still felt there was more to the story yet I didn’t know what that was.  After 5 years of following the Paleo approach, I was still living with cognitive struggles, chronic fatigue, and 24/7 nerve pain that was really threatening my mental health.  In 2017 I was at the point of thinking “if I’m destined to live in pain forever, I don’t want to live anymore.” When I was in the darkest of dark places, my girlfriend encouraged me to try this ketones supplement thing a friend had been talking about.  It was another of those times in my life where I was desperate for hope, and really had nothing to lose.  I was also a major critic!  I had try things in the past and just ended up disappointed, but I owed it to Amanda to at least try.

Major Rant

I’m at the point where I need to say this.  I’ve held back for quite a long time because I’m nice and don’t like to offend anyone, however sometimes a little anger can be the spark that leads to massive change.

If you’re not happy with your life, albeit your health, your body, your happiness, your marriage, your job, etc and you’re not actively working to improve it, stop complaining.  Take responsibility for the fact that your life is up to YOU.

Where do I feel I got the nerve to make such a bold statement? 14 years ago I was diagnosed with MS.  I had a little pity party for myself, then picked myself up and carried on.  I listened to my doctors and did what I was told, but continued to decline in quality of life.  One day I realized I need to take my power back.  I didn’t blame my doctors for their ignorance in actually helping me.  I didn’t blame god/the universe/or whatever you call it.  I didn’t sit there and say “well, I guess it just is what it is.”  I also didn’t accept that MS was WHO is am.  Yes, it’s a part of me, but it does not define me.

I’m at the point today where I needed to share this because I’ve spent the last 2 years working to share my story and help others and faced so many situations where people struggle to see that they have the power to at least work towards improving their situation.  Yes, I sell a supplement that has been so incredibly life-changing for me that I think everyone could benefit from at least trying it, yet that’s not at ALL what this post is about!  I don’t know if anyone is solely responsible for giving themselves MS, yet even if I am, it was doing the best I could with the tools I had at the time.  Whether or not your situation is the result of actions you have taken, I’m not placing any blame on anyone, however I can pretty much guarantee blaming anyone or anything else for your situation is just crap.  Shit happens, but it’s how we deal with it and move forward that matters!  What small steps could you take TODAY to help improve your situation?  Who do you know who’s been where you are and gotten where you want to be?  Start there.  Find out HOW they’ve done it and get moving.