Hi friends! How’s the week going so far? I’m so excited because I have a new podcast up with Josh Kreifels. I follow the account that he shares with his wife over on Instagram, and love their approach to healthy living. I align with a lot of his values and messaging, and am so thrilled to have him on the show today.

Here’s what we talk about:

Metabolic health

prioritizing health with a busy schedule

biohacks for anti-aging/longevity

and so much more.

146: Metabolic health and biohacking with Joshua Kreifels, RD

Here’s a bit more about Josh:

Josh Kreifels is the founder of kreifwell functional medicine along with his wife Kristina. He is a masters level trained registered dietitian focused on helping you use food as medicine. Josh is passionate about NOT telling you what to eat, but instead teaching you how to eat in order to optimize health, function and longevity. He is best known for helping women with hypothyroid address the root cause and reduce symptoms, increase energy and improve body composition.

Connect with Josh and Tina on Instagram here, check out their website, and use this link to book a free discovery call.

More resources from this episode:

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.

If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission. You can absolutely join if you don’t currently work in the health or fitness industry; many IHPs don’t begin on this path. They’re friends who are passionate to learn more about health and wellness, and want to share this information with those they love. You can do this as a passion, or start an entirely new career.

You can use my referral link here and the code FITNESSISTA for up to $250 off the Integrative Health Practitioner program. I highly recommend it! You can check out my review IHP Level 1 here and my review of Level 2 here.

I’m still obsessed with Read more

Sharing a holiday gift guide filled with ideas for your health and fitness-loving friends… or yourself. 

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far! I taught at a fun event on campus yesterday and we had an amazing holiday dinner with friends.

For today’s post, I’m popping in to share some holiday gift ideas focused on health and wellness. I’m a huge believer that all you need to improve your health is a safe place to walk, some sneakers that fit well, a good water bottle, a plan, and the dedication to stick to the promises you make to yourself. All of these gadgets and extras are an expense, and definitely classified as “nice to have” instead of “need.” At the same time, they can be super fun, provide extra insight into what’s working in your routine, and the PERFECT thing to gift someone you love (including yourself!!)

Here’s a roundup of some of my favorite health and wellness gift ideas at various price points:

2023 Fitness and Health Gift Guide

Walking pad. I use my walking pad every.single.day and it’s such a great way to get in extra movement and steps, especially during long conference calls (when I don’t have to talk), emails, and watching modules.

HigherDOSE sauna blanket or PEMF Go Mat. These are two of my all-time favorite biohacking products. (You can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off)

Rebounder

An Aviron rower! This one is definitely a home gym investment, but I LOVE this thing. It’s so fun to row and be able to stream shows from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Disney+. I can’t wait to watch the new Bridgerton season in the sauna blanket and on the rower. My review of the Aviron rower is here. 

Water purifier- We use Berkey and Clearly Filtered. We’re getting a Radiant Life whole house system this year!

Oura Ring. The Oura ring provides excellent data on sleep and recovery. You can check out my full review here. 

Air purifier! Clean air and clean water and some of the first

Mexican Wedding Cookies are tiny melt-in-your-mouth cookies that are known by many different names around the world. My grandmother called them Sugar Butter Balls.

The first time I shared this recipe online, I was overwhelmed by the response, it felt like everyone had a different name for these cookies!

Russian Tea Cakes, Polvorones, Snowball Cookies, Egyptian Feast Cookies, Nut Butter Balls, Norwegian Snowballs, Kourambie, Walnut Delights, Pecan Petites, Holiday Nuggets, Swedish Heirloom Cookies, the list goes on and on. If I’ve missed your favorite name for them, please leave a comment here to let me know!

Wedding Cookies

Every time I bite into a wedding cookie, I’m transported to a time when I watched my grandmother roll them between her hands. She was the source of so many delicious foods in my childhood.

She would set the finished cookies on a platter and everything looked so elegant to my young eyes. More than any other holiday treat, these Mexican cookies taste like Christmas to me.

I’d try sneaking them from the tray before it was time but I’m fairly certain that the powdered sugar always left a ring of evidence around my mouth. No matter, Grandmother always made plenty of these cookies to go around.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

The first time I tried making these cookies on my own, I was 18 years old and living in my first apartment. I had my grandmother’s Mexican wedding cookies recipe, but I figured I knew best.

Instead of rolling the warm cookies gently through the powdered sugar, I placed them in a Ziploc bag and poured sugar over them. When I shook the bag to coat them with sugar, at least half the cookies broke apart.

The cookies were still delicious, but they were a mess to eat. In the years since I’ve learned that Grandmother knew best. If you follow her directions for rolling the cookies in the sugar, yours will turn out every bit as perfect as hers always did.

The easiest method I’ve found for coating the cookies in powdered sugar is to put about a cup of powdered sugar in a bowl and roll the warm cookies, a few at a time, through the sugar.

Yes, rolling each ball in powdered sugar might take a little more time but the results are so very worth it. These classic cookies are crisp when you bite into them and then they melt in your mouth.

That first bite delivers sweetness from the powdered sugar on both the inside and outside. This light buttery cookie always brings a smile to my face as I think about my grandmother and all those childhood holidays.

Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

This easy Sweet Potato Casserole is topped with marshmallows and a brown sugar streusel topping. It’s so easy to make, and kids always love it! It’s a Ruth’s Chris Copycat gone wild, so if you love their famous Sweet Potatoes then jump in, and let’s get cooking!

This recipe is undeniably the best marshmallow sweet potato casserole on earth. We just made it again for Thanksgiving, and it was my favorite side dish this year. In fact, I’m going to make it again for Christmas and I think you all should too! They are great for Easter too!

Sweet Potato Souffle with Marshmallows

Several years ago, I remember making this recipe with our four-year-old. She was so excited about making it, that she had call Cade, with my supervision of course, to tell him that SHE just made the best dinner ever. It’s definitely not “dinner” as we had more than just sweet potato casserole for dinner, and she most certainly did not make it all by herself, but the girl did quite a bit! And she loved it! 

Can all of us moms have a moment of silence for a toddler who loved something that would become dinner? Not just ate it, but loved it! Alright, that could have something to do with the amount of sugar and marshmallows in this dish, but I won’t tell if you won’t. 

I used to hate “yams” at Thanksgiving because they were an awful orange, dripping with some weird syrup (gag!), and they tasted like grossness with burned, flat, hard marshmallows on top.

Now I know better. Now I know that it was the person bringing them that was the problem, bless their hearts (that’s what you say to make a mean thing sound better). Sweet potatoes are awesome, they just need to be cooked correctly and if you must do the marshmallow thang, well let’s just do it my way at least. 

Make the sweet taters into a souffle (easy peasy, so don’t get nervous on me…a potato ricer is a game changer) and then use both marshmallows and a brown sugar streusel on top. Trust me, your guests will be BEGGING for the recipe.

Sweet Potato Casserole Ingredients

To make this easy sweet potato casserole recipe with marshmallows, you’ll need: 

• Sweet Potatoes
• Egg
• Unsalted Butter
• Salt 
• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon 
• Vanilla Extract
• Read more

Fudgy and delicious, these are the best gluten-free brownies! They’re actually the best brownies ever, gluten-free or not! I’m so excited to share the recipe with you and hope you love them as much as I do! This is an older post that got a little photo refresh.. and we got to eat a ton of brownies.