Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a great morning! I have a couple of client calls this morning and am heading out on a fun work trip.

Since I’ll be traveling with a bag of food, I thought I’d chat about protein bars since they’re a staple for on-the-go snacks.

Choosing a protein bar can be overwhelming with the plethora of options available in the market. Whether you’re looking for a quick post-workout snack or a convenient meal replacement, it’s important to know what to look for—and what to avoid.

Today, I want to highlight brands that use certified organic ingredients, and share a simple recipe on how to make your own healthy bars at home.

What to look for in a protein bar

Ingredients to Avoid in Protein Bars

Artificial Sweeteners:

Ingredients like sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, and erythritol can cause digestive issues and may negatively affect your gut microbiome. Opt for natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or dates.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup:

This sweetener is linked to obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders. It’s best to avoid any bar that lists high-fructose corn syrup among its ingredients.

Hydrogenated Oils:

These trans fats can raise bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL), increasing the risk of heart disease. Look for bars that use healthy fats like coconut oil or nuts.

Artificial Flavors and Colors:

These additives can cause allergic reactions and may have other adverse health effects. Choose bars with natural flavors and colors derived from whole food ingredients.

Soy Protein Isolate:

This commonly used protein source is often genetically modified and highly processed. It can disrupt hormone balance due to its phytoestrogen content. Consider bars with protein sources like whey, pea, or brown rice protein instead.

Brands That Use Certified Organic Ingredients

Urban Remedy: Known for their simple ingredient lists, Urban Remedy uses almond flour, coconut butter, nuts and fruit, and are organic. They are difficult to find and I’ve only found them at Whole Fo

Get my newest freebie all about how I ditched wine culture, including how to find joy in sobriety and my favorite mocktail recipes.

Hi friends! I hope that you’re having a wonderful long weekend and enjoying the day. For today’s post, I wanted to share a freebie I created for you about reducing my wine intake over time.

Back in the day, it wasn’t unusual for me to have 2-3 glasses of wine each night. I also couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t sleeping well and woke up exhausted all the time.

In today’s society, wine culture has become deeply ingrained in our social lives. From casual gatherings to celebratory occasions, it seems like there’s always an excuse to uncork a bottle of wine. There’s also a huge “mommy wine culture.” I’d so often hear moms in real life and on social media talk about how they use alcohol to cope with parenthood… and that was a red flag for me. Sure, I loved the warm and fuzzy feeling that a glass (or two) of wine gave me. But, I didn’t need it to enjoy life, connect with others at parties, or enjoy my children, and I decided I wanted to cut way back.

I was once deeply entrenched in this culture, but I found myself questioning its impact on my health and happiness. This is the story of how I broke free, and now, I enjoy wine SO much more. It’s a rare treat, instead of a habit. 

How I Ditched Wine Culture

Inside my newest downloadable freebie, you’ll find:

• My experience recognizing my habits with alcohol
• Making the decision to reduce regular wine alcohol consumption
• Strategies for reducing alcohol intake
• Finding joy in semi-sobriety
• Discovering mocktails and some of my favorite recipes

DOWNLOAD HERE

aka “Botox in a bottle.” Sharing my thoughts and if it’s worth it here!

Hi friends! How’s the morning going? I hope you’re having an amazing day! I’m writing in with exciting news that the Oliveda 59 Corrective Face Serum is back in stock… but will sell out extremely fast, so if you’ve had your eye on it, snag it here!

This powerhouse serum has made a huge difference in my skin over the past month and a half, it’s viral for a reason (!), and I can’t wait for you to experience its magic, too.

Oliveda F59 Corrective Face Serum review

The Oliveda Story: Where It All Began

Before chatting about the serum, let’s talk a bit about the brand behind it. Oliveda was founded by Thomas Lommel, a visionary who turned his passion for the olive tree and natural healing into a revolutionary skincare line. Oliveda, part of the Olive Tree People brand, harnesses the power of the olive tree’s ingredients to create products that are as effective as they are natural. Their mission is to provide skincare that’s deeply nourishing and eco-conscious, transforming the ancient wisdom of the olive tree into modern beauty solutions.

Why F59 Corrective Face Serum is a Game Changer

Nicknamed “Botox in a Bottle,” this serum is designed to smooth, lift, and rejuvenate your skin, giving you a radiant and youthful appearance without the needles. As someone who’s mildly terrified of Botox (no shame if you love it! Just not for me right now), I’m always looking for safer alternatives that will keep my skin looking bright, tight, and smooth, without harmful ingredients.

Key Ingredients & Their Benefits:

This highly effective face serum with hydroxytyrosol and para cress has a lifting effect on the skin as well as it reduces the appearance of enlarged pores. Strong olive tree antioxidants have balancing and regenerating properties to smooth the skin structure. Fine lines and wrinkles as well as high pigmentation can be reduced if applied regularly. Para cress, a south american plant, works as a botox alternative by having positive effects on the collagen which lifts the skin. This unique face serum is quickly absorbed to create sculpted contours and a healthy and glowing complexion – in just seconds! Signs of premature aging can’t only be prevented but minimized.

Read more

Hi friends! Happy Friday! How was the week? I hope you had an amazing one! We’ve had a busy one over here, but school’s out for the summer and we’re all PUMPED. We all slept in today and it.was.magical.

What’s going on this weekend? For my parent friends: are your kids out of school or not yet?

This weekend we have a friend staying with us, have dinner plans the next three nights, and I head off to the Biohacking Conference next week. I’ll definitey be sharing a recap of everything I learn. I’m also excited to spend some more time studying for High Performance Health.

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

5.24 Friday Faves

Life:

A new fridge! This was completely unintentional because our fridge broke last week. Of course, it happened the morning after I’d done a grocery haul for the entire week, and I had to toss out 90% of it. When they went to install the new fridge, water had been leaking behind it. It was a blessing that it happened when it did, because it the leak would have persisted, it would have been an entirely different situation.

This is the one we ended up choosing, and are adding a Clearly Filtered filter to the line.

This pour over coffee maker. I just can’t with the Nespresso decaf anymore. I’ve never been a fan of the taste, and I also don’t like pushing hot water through aluminum to drink. Instead, I’ve switched over to a glass and stainless steel pour over coffee maker. It tastes a million times better (I’ve just been using Whole Foods Organic decaf) and is much less expensive.

Fashion + beauty:

This Amazon dress! (with these sandals) It’s just a classic cut, good quality, and the perfect throw on dress. They don’t have many sizes left because it’s on sale for $9 (what?!) but I accidentally got an XS instead of a S and it works.

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Hi friends! How’s the morning going? I hope you’re having a great one so far! Today, I’m cleaning up all of the patio furniture and getting it ready for swim season. Bring.it.on! I’m excited to head out for a yoga class in between client calls, too.

For today’s post, I wanted to share more about my initial health journey. Newer reader friends (hi! hello!) may not know that I lost 40 lbs in college. This was long before I became a group fitness instructor, or personal trainer, or Integrative Health Practitioner… and I had to learn everything on my own, the hard way. This was also in the old ages, when blogs weren’t a thing. Everything I learned (good and bad) was through fitness magazines and stacks of health books I’d purchase from Barnes and Noble.

When I reflect on my initial weight loss journey, I remember the snafus (like getting so sick after eating a pack of cooked chicken and a can of cold black beans lol) but I also feel proud of myself. I stuck with it, I wasn’t afraid to pivot when I realized things weren’t working, and I did a lot of things right.

What I did wrong, and what I’d do again [in my health journey]

Here are some of the things I did well, and are foundational habits I recommend to all of my clients:

– More protein and whole foods. I started to emphasize protein in my diet, and I paid attention to the foods that were processed. I used to eat almost entirely processed foods (with the exception of dinner), and it felt so much better to eat food from the earth. I was sitll a poor college student, so I had a tight, tight budget, but I went for inexpensive options, like apples, yogurt, frozen veggies, bananas, jerky, and wraps that I could make at home.

– Adding walking into my routine. Walking made me feel better almost instantly, and I also got the benefits from the sunshine, and a mood boost.

– Started strength training. I had NO clue what I was doing, but my friend and I hired a personal trainer from LA Fitness. He gave questionable nutrition advice, but he taught me the basics of strength training.

– Paid attention to a balanced plate and portion control. I learned that my plate couldn’t be entirely carbs and actually be satisfying, so I started to incorpoarte more

I think it’s easy to remember that the classics are classics for a reason— they work! Simple changes that you can maintain for a long time are going to make the biggest difference.

Mistakes:

Here are some things that were difficult for me, and it took me many years to unravel the damage from some of these.

– 3-5 hours of sleep per night. It wouldn’t be unusual for me to go to school all day, teach at the dance studio until 8pm, drive to the school library and study until 2 or 3am, and then drive back home, nap, and repeat. I did this for pretty much all of college. The weekends were for work (I alternated bet