Sharing my thoughts on the Dr. Stephen Cabral 7-day detox, and sharing the recipes I enjoyed while I was on this Functional Medicine detox. If you’d like to try it out for yourself, you can use my code FITNESSISTA20 for 20% off. 

Hi friends! Happy Monday! How are you? I hope you’re having a lovely day so far. We had a great weekend. I got a ton of work stuff done, we went to the pumpkin patch, and celebrated the Pilot’s bday a day early. His real birthday is today and I’m looking forward to more celebrations this evening with my favorite guy. I also wrapped up the 7-day Dr. Cabral detox with our community last night and feel SO good! I’m excited to share more details about my experience in this post with ya.

In this post, I also wanted to share some of the recipes and meals I enjoyed for my friends out there who are considering doing this functional medicine detox at their own time. It can be helpful to have meal ideas for days 3-7. This post is a beefy one because there’s so much I wanted to include. Grab a mug of coffee or tea and I’d love to chat with ya and share my experience.

Here we go!

Dr. Cabral 7-day detox review + recipes

What is the detox and how does it work?

– It’s a liver-based detox to help reset your body, provide a break from digesting heavy foods, and potentially help your body eliminate toxins that we accumulate from our environment. It includes functional medicine ingredients and Ayurvedic herbs to support phase 1 and 2 liver detoxification.

– It’s nutrition-focused. It includes the POWERHOUSE Daily Nutritional Support powder (which I’ve had in my smoothies for the past couple of months and notice a difference in how I feel when I drink this smoothie), and meal guidelines for the remaining meals. The goal is to NOT have your body depleted of nutrients during the process.

– It can potentially help with weight loss (although that’s not a focus for me), along with anti-aging, and total body wellness. 

– It’s only 7 days! When I first started working with a naturopath (back in the old days! It was like 2010), he had me do a month-long detox that was similar in format (but did not include the Ayurvedic supplements). It’s so much easier to do for 7 days, and I feel like my results were even better from the extra nutritional support. (The first two days are supplements, fruit, and smoothies only, and on day 3, you add in nutrient-dense meals using their meal guideline/template.)

Creamy Turkey Green Chile Soup is loaded to the brim with chunks of leftover turkey and roasted green chile.

Creamy Turkey Soup

Soup with a richly flavorful creamy broth full of roasted green chile and loaded with chunks of leftover turkey is my kind of comfort food. Just cupping the bowl with two hands and breathing in the heat of the green chile warms me right up.

My husband and boys give this recipe two thumbs up around the table every time I make this. They are lovers of spice and flavor. Take that as a gentle warning that this soup has a bit of heat. You can easily adjust to suit your tastes though.

Start by using a large stock pot. I do suggest using a heavy stockpot if you have it. It helps to distribute the heat nicely when making soups and stew. Plus I like how I can turn my burner on low and it keeps the soup nice and warm.

Over medium heat melt butter, saute onions and garlic. When your onions are soft it is time for my favorite ingredient – the green chile. It is no secret I keep my pantry fully stocked at all times with our favorite 505 Southwestern medium flame roasted Green Chiles.

Add the seasonings and flour. The mixture will become slightly thick, a bit paste-like. Keep stirring so it won’t burn or stick to the stockpot.

Slowly add the chicken broth a few cups at a time. Whisk continuously to ensure you are maintaining a smooth texture and it doesn’t become lumpy. Next, add the chopped turkey. If you don’t happen to have leftover turkey on hand, shredded rotisserie chicken works just fine.

Drop the temperature to low and add your milk. The key to keeping your soup cream

Creamy Sausage and Peppers over Mashed Potatoes

Typically, you see creamy sausage and peppers over pasta, but we are going to blow your mind with it served over creamy mashed potatoes!

This recipe is inspired by our whole wheat penne sausage and peppers. I had a little cream left in the fridge that I tossed into the sauce, and I loved the extra richness that the cream added! 

We were in the middle of moving at the time and my kitchen was half packed. When I went to grab the penne, all my pasta was already packed, but my potatoes were still sitting in the pantry. I figured, why not?! And we absolutely LOVED the change in carb! I mean, you can’t go wrong with mashed potatoes!

What Do I Need For Creamy Sausage and Peppers?

I love a quick dinner recipe with simple ingredients! Here is your grocery shopping list with a quick explanation of each ingredient. I find it so helpful to get a little snapshot of what I’m going to need for a recipe before getting into all the details!

• Italian Sausage Links – you can get mild, sweet or spicy depending on what flavor you prefer
• Green Peppers –  remove the stem and seeds and slice into thin slices
• Red Pepper – remove the stem and seeds and slice into thin slices, red peppers are a little sweeter than green peppers so they add another dimension of flavor
• Yellow Onion – we prefer a yellow onion, sliced thin
• White Wine (cooking white wine) – we don’t drink alcohol so we cook with cooking wine, but feel free to use whichever you prefer, you can also use chicken broth if you don’t want to use wine at all
• Fire Roasted Tomatoes – adds a tiny bit of heat and so much flavor to the sauce
• Tomato Paste – a 6oz can, any brand works, just choose your favorite
• Tomato Sauce – an 8oz can, any brand works, just choose your favorite
• Water – thins the sauce out a little and helps blend on the ingredients together
• Italian Seasoning – a dried seasoning blend that you can buy at the grocery store that usually includes dried basil, dried oregano, dried rosemary, dried thyme and dried marjoram
• Sugar – enhances the flavors
• Salt – adds flavor
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What is intimacy, is it really that important, and how can we fix intimacy issues in our relationships? We answer your top questions about all things intimacy-related (and share how you can find help)

Intimacy generally refers to the closeness between people in a personal relationship. Typically building over time as you feel a deeper sense of connection, grow to care more about each other, and feel more comfortable together, you can be physically and/or emotionally close to someone.

For many people, the more you work on deepening your sense of intimacy within a relationship, the stronger your relationship feels. But what if you struggle to feel those connections? What if your partner avoids intimacy, or it feels like you are growing apart? And can you strengthen intimacy after your connections have begun to fade?

We explain more about your most commonly asked intimacy questions, and share how (and where) you can find help.

Are there different types of intimacy?

There are many different types of intimacy. Fostering a sense of intimacy requires a mixture of openness, trust, and vulnerability. Physical intimacy alone doesn’t guarantee a deeper sense of closeness and connection.

While not all relationships will involve all kinds of intimacy, many romantic relationships, marriages, or long-term partnerships involve a mixture of several different kinds. These can include:

• Emotional intimacy - being open with your feelings, thoughts, and fears (often leading to feeling safe and able to be open without judgement).
• Intellectual/mental intimacy - sharing ideas, life perspectives, and opinions whilst being open to learning, challenging each other, and respecting differing viewpoints to create a sense of mutual respect.
• Physical intimacy - holding hands, hugging, cuddling, kissing, and other physical touches including (but not limited to) those of a sexual nature.
• Spiritual intimacy - feeling safe to share your innermost ideas and beliefs on the purpose of life, your connection with the world and/or divine energies. (You may have differing beliefs, but feel validated in sharing and discussing these, and may share underlying values such as being honest or faithful).

Other types of intimacy can also include experiential, creative, aesthetic, recreational, commitment, communication, and more. There are many different ways to build a sense of intimacy, bringing you closer to each other and strengthening the bonds that create and hold your relationship together.

Read more

The stigma stops here. Is your workplace doing enough to become menopause friendly? Our expert columnist Claudine Thornhill investigates…

Does your workplace have a menopause policy yet? If not, one may be on its way to a workplace near you. In July 2022, the government policy paper, Menopause and the Workplace: How to enable fulfilling working lives, suggested that businesses have open conversations about the menopause in the workplace to help break down the taboo and normalise the issue. The paper also discussed the Equality Act 2010, which protects employees against discrimination at work. As a result, many employers have started to look at how they can make their workplaces more menopause-friendly.

Not many would have dreamed of a time when women’s health and work would be mentioned in the same sentence, let alone at a policy level. Periods, reproductive health issues, and menopause, have long been taboo, only to be discussed with close friends and family, and hardly ever in the workplace. But with just over 4.4 million women aged 45–60 in employment in the UK at the end of 2021, the average age of menopause being 51, and considering that symptoms of menopause can affect mental and physical health, it’s no wonder that government ministers issued a review of menopause and employment.

When we think of menopause, the typical images that come to mind are often red-faced women, glistening with sweat, desperately fanning themselves. We think of irritability, emotional rollercoasters, and mental fogginess. Actually, each person’s experience of menopause is completely unique to them.

Firstly, there are three stages of menopause; perimenopause, where progesterone levels begin to decline. Periods may become irregular and cravings, weight gain, fatigue, and irritability may increase. People may also experience night sweats. Emotionally, we may be less tolerant of stress.

The second stage, menopause, officially happens when your periods have stopped completely for 12 months. Oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone decline at this stage. Symptoms might include loss of muscle mass as a result of testosterone decline, a build-up of fat mass due to oestrogen loss, hot flushes, reduced libido, lower mood, fatigue, vaginal dryness, and mental fogginess.

The final stage, post-menopause, is what follows. During this stage, symptoms may persist for up to five years, and gradually reduce in intensity. It’s important to reiterate that every person’s experience is different; some women breeze through menopause, fanning themselves as they go, while others have symptoms that may seem unrelenting.

So, how does menopause affect employment? According to the British Menopausal Society, women have cited poor concentration and memory, tiredness, low mood, depression, and reduced confidence as affecting their work. Hot flushes at work have even been linked to women wanting to resign from their roles.

When it comes to employment law, although there isn’t protection against discrimination on the basis of menopause, the Equality Act 2010 does offer protection against discrimination on the basis of age, gender, gender reassignment, and disability. This means that a workplace