I can still hear my good friend Patty’s voice from a conversation years ago. ‘Shoulda, coulda, woulda’, she stated, with a bit of  snark in her voice.

We were discussing a lot at the time, but the overarching theme was shedding guilt of expectations or obligation. Basically, we both wanted to stop ‘shoulding’ all over ourselves, and letting other people do it to us too.

The shame of the 'shoulds' is very real and very powerful and not in a good way. Let’s talk about what this means and what you can do instead so you can be incredibly empowered.

First, let’s discuss why believing ‘you should’ do anything is a problem.

I‘ve spent a lot of mental energy on allowing the shoulds to eff with me. You?

The belief we “should” do or be something is rooted in other people’s expectations—not our own.

When we think we should do something it’s because our family, friends, religion or society has convinced...

I love getting to know myself and tuning into my inner wisdom. It's something I've craved my whole life that led me on a wild goose chase to trying so many things.  Such as, the next "it diet", to gain control of myself and life.

Having spent many years using diets and food plans to try and control myself, I'm here to tell you there is a better way to enjoy vibrant health.

If you are on a healing journey,  you will know that what you eat and the amount of food has a direct impact on your physical health. But did you know that those same choices also influence mood, mental alertness, memory, and emotional well being? Food can act as medicine, or it can be a poison to the body and mind.

But so can your approach to your diet. Your diet can liberate you or imprison you. You get decide which it will be. I choose freedom my loves. And in this post I want to share how I use boundaries to help me tap into my intuitive self when it comes to eating by using a mind-body food journal....

In light of my recent post, "How to love your body with safer skincare"; I wanted to share more about safer SUMMER skincare practices and products you can choose for your best health. I don't know about you but I enjoy being outdoors during the summer, and try to maximize that time as much as possible.

Since I'm in the sun more, I pay more attention to my direct exposure by covering up as much as possible and using protection, such as safe mineral based sunscreen.

Crazily, sunscreen is one of the most controversial topics in the health and wellness world. As well as how to stay safe in the sun. I'm here to shed some 'light' on the topic for ya (ha, see what I did there).

On one hand, sun exposure is healthy. We can benefit from the sun's rays, it's how we actually make vitamin D in our body. BUT avoiding overexposure is key. We do need sun exposure.

There are UVA and UVB rays. The UVB rays are the good guys. Those are the ones that stimulate the vitamin D production in our skin....

My journey to a more holistic lifestyle to recover my health did not stop with figuring out what to eat, improving my sleep and getting rid of MASSIVE stress. It included a search to make my personal care routine safer for not only my health but also my kids.

You see, I suffered with a bunch of skin related issues. Dry itchy skin every fall/winter, puffy eyes and eye bags, dry lips, red bumps on my thighs and sometimes my arms, eczema on my hands after my first son was born and dry hair with split ends.

After radically revamping my diet many of these things began to improve but I was afraid to put any products on my body for fear of some kind of reaction. At the time, it was so hard to find safer skin care. I went the DIY route for a bit and that proved to worked in the short term but was not a long term solution for every product I wanted to use. I stopped using so many products out of fear of all the toxins I'd be putting on my body.

I decided to love myself, my body by finding...

Meditation is a powerful practice anyone can do to help better cope with everyday stress. Practicing meditation helps me to stay centered even when my world is in upheaval. As a single mom, I could argue that life is stressful and hard and allow that to overwhelm me. OR I can create the time and space to be better able to deal with whatever comes my way.

Meditation has empowered me beyond what I can express, I used to think it was silly but that was only because I didn't know how or why I should do it. I used to overthink how it had to go. Like I had to lay still for hours and chant or transcend to the heavens or some such thing. Truth is, it's not hard, complicated or overly woo-woo (unless you want it to be).

Simply by creating and allowing space every day to sit or be still, calm your breath and watch your thoughts, your gain clarity on your inner self. Meditation helps to shine a light through the haze of life's distraction and illuminates deeper levels of meaning and revelations...

It was the summer of 2016, I was in a total funk, completely emotionally and energetically drained and I didn't recognize myself. I knew I was destined for SO much more in my life, but I wasn't even able to muster any energy towards anything. For 6 weeks I suffered in silence, losing sleep, gaining weight and sabotaging my health in numerous ways.

I was entirely overwhelmed in every way; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I had lost faith in myself and questioned my life. I even wanted to quit my job to become a fashion blogger. I didn't feel worthy of what I truly wanted deep down so I buried it away to avoid the pain of not being able to have it.

I didn't realize how much my stagnant emotions were holding me back in my health and life.
I wanted SO MUCH MORE. I knew there had to be more for me in my life. I wanted my life to be full of purpose, passion, excitement. I was ready to live the life I really wanted but I didn't know how to. I was afraid to even...

Like many modern women, I've experienced total burn out. Totally unmotivated, dissatisfied with life and struggling with anxiety. I even sought medical help but didn't get any answers. My doctor looked at me like I was nuts when I suggested adrenal fatigue. I also stopped caring about myself and didn't bother to take care of myself, neglecting my appearance. I went through periods of stress eating or not eating at all.

I eventually decided I no longer wanted to feel this way, I wanted to THRIVE and enjoy vibrant health.

To me, thriving means waking up daily happy to be living the life I live. It means I wake up able to do things I once was not when my health crashed and I finally realized that I had adrenal exhaustion, to now being able to wake up and make breakfast for my kids in the morning with the chance to bond with each of them.

Now, I can take leisurely walks during the day and actually have the energy to get in my 10,000 steps. I get to wake up and do the work I love with...

Ladies, are you ready to get set free from 'the perfect diet' mentality'?

It was 1998, and I was searching for a way to feel better in my own body and find a 'path' to follow. I felt I needed a diet to follow because I honestly needed something to control my health as well as have a mission, something to believe in. Truthfully, I was not informed, connected to myself and quite frankly feeling a bit lost.

I had found out I was pregnant for the first time and all of a sudden my diet, what I put into my body mattered. I also had a lot of symptoms of IBS, which at the time, I didn't realize was what I was struggling with.

So I set out on a path to find 'the perfect diet'.

I began to read everything I could get my hands on at the time. I have to be honest and disclaim, going on a 'diet' when you are newly pregnant is not the wisest plan. But that was where I was at during that period of my life.

My first diet attempt was the 'Fit For Life' diet. Again, NOT a smart choice for a ravenous,...

Many years ago, during my Nutritional Therapy training, I learned about using a vision board to help fuel my goals for my business and practice. It was one of those, "Oh Yes!" I am SO going to do these moments, where I just knew that it would be a powerful project to utilize.

Fast forward four years, and I finally got around to creating my first one. Today, I want to share more with you on the 'how,' but first, I need to share the immediate benefits I saw shortly after I created my first board.

As I added things to my board, I started to get happier than I had been in a while. My focus became clearer and I became more proactive about my life in general because I had a grand vision to actually look at and forward to. Knowing what I wanted and what made me happy, fueled me daily to take BIG action and not waste time.

Within six weeks, I started to see things on my board appear or happen in my life. I focused a few minutes several mornings a week on going over my board and revisiting...

I have been involved in the health and wellness arena for over 11 years.

I've observed a pattern when someone finds a path to wellness that leads them into a health journey towards freedom: this pattern is one I lived myself and now see occur in clients and colleagues. There is a sort of pendulum swing from one total opposite of the spectrum from where you've been.

With me, it was radical. I went from a state of apathy/lethargy to become quite the zealot. From McDonald's drive-thru with the kids on the way to summer camp one day and purging my pantry the next to only fill it with real/whole foods.

Believe me, this can be good. I mean for me, it got me out of a huge rut, but the flip side is it may lead to burnout. Too many sweeping changes all at once can lead to a form of unhappiness and restriction that seems like a spiritual health journey, because after all it's 'healthy'.

As an example, let's say you decide to do a mass overhaul on your health through diet. Like me, I chose to...