Crock Pot Banana Bread Oatmeal

Slow Cooker Banana Bread Oatmeal 

Total Time: 8 hrs. 10 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: None
Yield: 6 servings, about 3/4 cup each

Ingredients:
3 cups water
4 cups unsweetened almond milk, divided use
1 cup dry steel-cut oats
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
6 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ cup pure maple syrup
6 Tbsp. chopped raw walnuts

Preparation:
1. Place water, 1 cup almond milk, oats, bananas, flaxseed, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a 3-quart slow cooker; cover. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until oats are soft but chewy.
2. Top each serving evenly with maple syrup, walnuts, and remaining almond milk; serve immediately.

{{{21 Day Fix portions: 2 yellows, 1 purple, 1/2 blue, and 1/2 orange}}}

How Often Should You Take A Detox Bath

There is no doubt in this day and age, our bodies are open to more toxins than ever! Toxins seem to be everywhere… in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the medications we take and in the water we drink. {Yuck.} One way to remove all this junk from your body is by detoxification {<<<–the body’s way of removing and metabolizing these dangerous compounds} and by doing so, we flush out toxins, boost our health, strengthen our immune system and prevent disease! {All pluses in my book!} If we do not remove the toxins, metabolic waste builds up in our body and can cause illnesses.

I found this list of today’s modern diseases that are related to toxicity via healthylivinghowto.com:

• Parkinson’s
• Alzheimer’s
• Dementia
• Heart disease
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Fibromyalgia syndrome
• Cancers
• Autoimmune diseases
• Food allergies
• Arthritis
• Digestive diseases
• Menstrual problems

So let’s move on to the positive now, the good stuff… soaking in the tub!

How do I detox? –>>> A detox bath made from Epsom Salt!

It’s one of the easiest therapies that can enhance our body’s natural detox process.

Epsom Salt not only draws out toxins, but also has health benefits of it’s own as well!

–>>>Benefits of Epsom Salt: Eases stress and relaxes the body, relieves pain and muscle cramps, helps muscles and nerves function properly, helps prevent hardening of arteries and blood clots, makes insulin more effective, relieves constipation and eliminates toxins from the body.

Detox Bath “How-To”:

1. Add 2 cups epsom salt to your bath water. {Get the water as hot as you can stand it. We’re looking to create a nice sweat!}

2. If your bath water is not filtered, add 1 cup of baking soda. {This helps neutralize the chemicals as well as increase mineral absorption.}

4. Immerse yourself in the water, allll the way up to your neck. {Soak for at least 20 mins.}

5. Once you are done soaking, get up slowly. {You may feel a little light-headed, this will go away as soon as you shower quickly in cool water.}

6. Once dry you can apply a natural moisturizer like shea butter or coconut oil. {Again no lotions with perfumes, dyes or chemicals.}

Tips: 

• Do not eat immediately before OR after taking a detox bath. Instead,hydrate yourself with filtered water before AND after.
• Rest and rejuvenate.
• Do not use harsh soaps/shampoos after bath since your pores are open & will absorb the chemicals from those products.

Q’s & A’s:

How are toxins released via a detox bath? –>>> Through sweat!

The skin is the largest detoxification organ in which toxins can be drawn out through via sweat.

How often should I take a detox bath? –>>> Daily!

Dr. Mark Hyman {functional medicine expert} encourages a 20 minute detox bath daily, right before bed.

Enjoy feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and squeaky clean!

This is the product I personally use, I love it!

Why you should take detox baths

A detox bath is one of the easiest healing therapies we can do to facilitate our body’s natural detoxification system. In this day and age, our bodies are subject to more toxins than ever. Toxins are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the medications we take and in the water we drink. Toxins cause irritation, harm and destruction in the body if left unchecked.

Detoxification is the body’s way of removing and metabolizing these dangerous compounds. It is a process the body does naturally without us even knowing it. 

A detox bath encourages the body to efficiently flush out toxins.

Our toxic burden is a result of the toxins we are exposed to and our body’s ability to naturally detox. The more toxins we are exposed to, the harder the body has to work at eliminating these toxins.

The list of toxins that could potentially harm our bodies is almost endless; many start their day with a hot shower, the water is contaminated with pollutants, the soap and shampoo is full of chemicals, the toothpaste has fluoride, from there we may have breakfast where the food has been treated with pesticides or even genetically modified.

We haven’t even left our house, yet we have been exposed to toxins that can potentially cause ill-health.

Even more alarming is our exposure to toxic substances is on the rise:

• 2,100 toxins, including pesticides, herbicides, PCBs, and medications have been found in our water supply
• 80,000 metric tons of carcinogens are released into the air annually in North America
• Over 80% of food have genetically modified ingredients
• The EPA estimates the average US citizen has residues from over 400 toxic compounds in their body
• 82,000 chemicals are in use today in the US, but only a fourth have ever been tested for toxicity

While it is impossible to abolish our exposure to all toxins, we can reduce unnecessary exposure, as well as improve our body’s efficiency and ability to eliminate them.

Taking a detox bath, not only boosts our health and well-being, but it also strengthens our immune system and prevents disease.

When metabolic waste from toxins builds up in our body, we get sick. Functional medicine expert, Dr. Mark Hyman, puts it this way, “problems with detoxification is one root of illness. If you feel lousy, it’s likely you’re toxic.”

It is important to enhance our body’s ability to detoxify and get rid of the waste, meanwhile minimizing our exposure to toxins. This is imperative for excellent health, as many of today’s modern diseases are related to toxicity.

The liver removes toxins and metabolic waste from the body by converting them to water-soluble compounds.

Once water-soluble they can be eliminated from the body through urine. Some waste products are not water-soluble and are transformed by the liver and excreted in the bile. The bile is then transported to the intestines where it exits the body through our bowels.

Toxins not eliminated or completely removed by either of these processes may be eliminated through our skin via our sweat.

A detox bath is one of the easiest healing therapies that can be done to facilitate and enhance our body’s natural detoxification process.

Typically, a detox bath is made with Epsom salt also known as magnesium sulfate, which not only draws out toxins, but has health benefits of its own:

• Ease stress and improves sleep and concentration
• Help muscles and nerves function properly
• Regulate activity of 325+ enzymes
• Help prevent artery hardening and blood clots
• Make insulin more effective
• Reduce inflammation to relieve pain and muscle cramps
• Improve oxygen use
• Flush toxins
• Improve absorption of nutrients
• Help form joint proteins, brain tissue and mucin proteins
• Help prevent or ease migraine headaches

How to Draw a Detox Bath

1. Add 5-10 drops essential oil (I love lavender) to 2 cups Epsom salt, then add to a standard tub full of water.

2. Ideally, you want the water quite hot as we are looking to create a nice sweat.

3. If your bath water is not filtered, add 1 cup of baking soda as this helps neutralize the chemicals, primarily chlorine, as well as increase mineral absorption.

4. Immerse yourself in the water, all the way up to your neck. You want as much of your body underwater as you can. Close your eyes, do some breathing exercises and soak for at least 20 minutes.

5. Once you are done soaking, rise out of the tub very slowly and cautiously. You may feel a little dizzy and light-headed, this will go away as you shower off quickly in cool water.

6. It is important not to use harsh soaps or shampoos as your pores are open and will just absorb the chemicals found in those products.

7. Once dry you can apply a natural moisturizer like body butter, shea butter or coconut oil and some aluminum-free deodorant, but again no lotions with perfumes, dyes or chemicals.

8. Do not eat immediately before or after taking a detox bath.

9. Instead hydrate yourself with filtered water before and after.

10. Allow time after your bath to rest and rejuvenate.

I Love My Team

Proud coach moment right here! These ladies have worked hard all year in order to earn my annual diamond leadership retreat. This year I'll be treating my team to a trip to the beautiful beaches of Florida!
The ladies you see here are moms, wives, teachers, nurses...and yet they've made their Beachbody business successful. Not only are they changing other peoples lives, but they are changing their families lives.
So blessed to know these women and work with them over Facebook. Can't wait to hang out with them beach side in Sept and spoil them for all their hard work. 

My team is like family and I love to reward them for their efforts and hard work. Seriously, I have the best job ever!

Have you ever thought about joining Beachbody? Maybe you are ready for more out of life. I can show you how to be successful in this business. For the past 3 years I've been in the top 1% of the entire company and I can show you how to do that too. 

Want to join my team? CLICK HERE!

Fighting Hashimoto's Disease Naturally

Now that I know I have Hashimoto's, I've been coming up with a "protocol" for Candida overgrowth which causes the autoimmune Hashimotos disease of the thyroid. Fix the candida and you can stop suffering from Hashimotos (weight gain, memory loss, brain fog, hair falling out, etc) all of which I'm definitely suffering from. And pure exhaustion too! That's no way I want to live.
I have a good friend who has it too and it's so nice to talk to someone who is like you and to reassure you that you are NOT crazy bc you can't remember a darn thing or even make simple sentences sometimes bc you forgot the word you were trying to say. I'm talking super simple stuff like me pointing to shoes on the floor and asking the kids to pick them up but can't say shoes bc I can't think of the word I'm trying to say. It's scary. 

I see a light at the end of my tunnel thanks to my friend who is in my shoes and seeing positive changes with her natural approach. 

It will be a long process to be healed, but I want to do this right. No just "fixing" the side effects but instead, fixing the root cause.
Now just to get started on my low hormones and I'll be a new woman here soon! 

I have had so many ladies message me saying they too suffer the same issues. Ladies, and even men....if you feel like something is "off" or you notice things are changing, PLEASE don't be like me and wait it out for a year to see if things change. Get some lab work done and get answers! Then do your research...with the internet, you could read tons of info and figure out the best method for you.
For me, I've decided to go about it naturally and to start a Paleo way of eating once I'm done with the Reset. I'll update y'all as I see progress. If I can help just one person by sharing my own journey, then it's worth it!

What is Hashimoto's?

Hashimoto's disease is a condition in which your immune system attacks your thyroid, a small gland at the base of your neck below your Adam's apple. The thyroid gland is part of your endocrine system, which produces hormones that coordinate many of your body's activities.

The resulting inflammation from Hashimoto's disease, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, often leads to an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). Hashimoto's disease is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States.

Symptoms?

You might not notice signs or symptoms of Hashimoto's disease at first, or you may notice a swelling at the front of your throat (goiter). Hashimoto's disease typically progresses slowly over years and causes chronic thyroid damage, leading to a drop in thyroid hormone levels in your blood. The signs and symptoms are mainly those of an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism).

Signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism include:

• Fatigue and sluggishness
• Increased sensitivity to cold
• Constipation
• Pale, dry skin
• A puffy face
• Hoarse voice
• Unexplained weight gain 
• Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness, especially in your shoulders and hips
• Pain and stiffness in your joints and swelling in your knees or the small joints in your hands and feet
• Muscle weakness, especially in your lower extremities
• Excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia)
• Depression

So here is how I am approaching this disease...naturally! I ordered in this highly recommended book, The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook.

I ordered these supplements too, which aid in helping you reduce Candida overgrowth...

I'm happy to know I can still have my daily Shakeology, just has to be the vegan version! 

Now I'm just waiting for my book and Now supplements to arrive so I can get started! I also have read on multiple pages that the recommended exercises for these issues are HIIT or lifting weights. Thank goodness for all my Beachbody DVD's, I can do both of those right here at home without the stress of getting to a gym! 

I'll update ASAP on how everything is going. Thanks for following my journey!

{I am not a licensed medical professional nor do I pretend to be one on this site. Take what I write as a launching off point to do your own research. My advice, experience, and suggestions are not to be considered medical advice}

Beachbody Digital Streaming Coming Spring 2015

Join Team Beachbody Today!

You can try Team Beachbody for free, or enroll in the Club for full access to all the tools and support you need to get real, permanent results.
Enjoy all the Team Beachbody Club membership benefits RISK FREE for 30 days for only $2.99 a week, billed $38.87 quarterly in advance to the credit card you provide. That's less than you'd pay for a daily cup of gourmet coffee at your favorite coffee house.

Where To Find Me

Let's connect on social media! :)

Top 5 Foods for Thyroid Health

Pick the right foods for thyroid health

The thyroid provides a convenient organ to blame for all our misfortunes. Weight gain? Sluggish? Can’t get out of bed in the morning? “Your thyroid is slow,” many practitioners will respond.

Very often, we drain our thyroid with a modern lifestyle and modern diet. Take a look at some of the many thyroid-abusing factors we face each day: 

• Emotional stress
• Consumption of soy
• Refined carbs
• Over-exercising
• Too much estrogen
• Chemicals in body care products
• Too little sleep
• Extreme diets, such as very low carb diets and vegan diets
• Vegetable oils (canola oil, corn oil, safflower oil, etc. as well as grapeseed oil)

To support the thyroid function in order to boost metabolism, we have to eliminate these thyroid-abusers and fuel up with the right building blocks. Here are 5 top foods for thyroid health:

1. Liver for thyroid health

In my book, properly sourced liver provides the most significant thyroid-boosting properties in a whole food source due to one vital nutrient: vitamin A. As a matter of fact, liver offers the highest concentration of vitamin A in nature.

Vitamin A plays a key role in nursing a sluggish thyroid back into health. In one study, groups of obese and non-obese women supplemented with 25,000 IU of vitamin A per day. After four months, both groups showed and increase of circulating thyroid hormone and a decrease in TSH, indicating improved thyroid function. 25,000 IU sounds like a lot of vitamin A per day, but in early traditional cultures across the globe, people consumed upward of 50,000 per day!

Most importantly, the vitamin A from liver (and all other animal sources) is the bio-available form vitamin A, which means the body can utilize it. The vitamin A from plant sources such as beta-carotene, in contrast, must first be converted to retinoid form to be useful in the body. The extremely poor conversion rate of carotene-to-retinoid is made insignificant if we have a slow thyroid, so it is imperative to get true vitamin A from animal sources.

I do not recommend long-term vitamin A supplementation, since synthetic vitamin A carries a higher risk of toxicity since it is not well-utilized by the body. Opt to get true vitamin A from foods. 

One important caveat: make sure you source liver from small, organic/biodynamic farms – good choices are pastured beef liver and pastured chicken liver. The liver filters toxins, but it doesn’t store toxins. However, the livers of conventionally-raised feedlot animals will contain toxins because they are overburdened. 

The Weston Price Foundation recommends 2 to 3 3oz. servings of liver per week. If you don’t like the taste of sauteéd liver or pate, take desiccated liver capsules each day.

2. Coconut oil for thyroid health

Coconut oil is about 2/3 medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), fatty acids that are directly absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine and used for energy. These MCTs have been shown to increase increase energy expenditure, which is another term for boosting metabolism.

Since increased thyroid function is essentially synonymous with increase metabolism, we can draw the conclusion that coconut oil is profoundly healing for the thyroid.

For a bit of anecdotal evidence of the benefits of coconut oil for thyroid, farmers in the 1940’s tried to fatten their animals with coconut oil only to find that it made the animals lean and energetic!Later, it was discovered that corn and soy feed accomplished the goal. It had an antithyroid effect on the animals, allowing the pigs to fatten quickly while eating less. Conclusion: if you want stable weight and a happy thyroid, ditch the soy and favor the coconut!

3. Eggs for thyroid health

Eggs live up to their title of The Perfect Food, especially when it comes to balancing hormones through diet. They provide a concentrated source of thyroid-supporting building blocks like protein, cholesterol, B vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, and minerals.

Contrary to the belief of mainstream (or, as I say, mislead) nutrition, the yolks – not whites – are the most nutritious part of the egg. Take a look at the nutrition highlights of eggs:

•  Iodine – everyone knows that the thyroid gland requires iodine to create thyroid hormones. But did you know that eating 2-3 eggs per day can fulfill 20-30% of your daily iodine requirement?
• Selenium – both the egg yolk and the white provides an excellent source of selenium. This mineral supports the conversion of thyroid hormone T4 into the useable form of T3.
• Fat-soluble vitamins – the egg yolk contains all of the fat-soluble vitamins in the egg. These vitamins A, D, E, and K all support thyroid.
• B Vitamins – B vitamins support blood sugar balance and energy levels. Egg yolks are particularly high in choline, which supports the detox pathways and hormone balance.
• Cholesterol – although demonized by scientists with poor research habits, the beneficial qualities of dietary cholesterol is slowly garnering attention. Dietary cholesterol from pasture-raised egg yolks only does a body good. Dietary cholesterol supports the synthesis of balanced sex hormones, therefore aiding thyroid.

4. Unrefined Salt for thyroid health

It seems to good to be true… salt makes food delicious AND it is good for us? Indeed! An important distinction, however, is the difference between unrefined salt such as himalayan salt and processed, bleached table salt.

These are just a few of the ways unrefined salt boosts thyroid:

• It reduces circulating cortisol and adrenaline. These stress hormones are anti-thyroid so reducing them supports thyroid expression.
• It supports overall adrenal function. We can’t fix thyroid without helping our adrenal glands… adrenals and thyroid are joined at the hip.
• It supports the synthesis of proper stomach acid so we can digest our food
• It provides a unique profile of trace minerals

Salt your food freely and to taste (if you have kidney disease or hypertension, it is a good idea to consult with a medical practitioner before increasing salt intake.). Again, favor unrefined options like  real salt or Himalayan salt.

5. Cod Liver Oil for thyroid health

Cod liver oil, a historically sacred food, offers the unique balance of vitamin A and vitamin D, both in highly bio-available forms. Everyone from babies to pregnant mothers to the elderly can benefit by taking a top quality cod liver product daily. Those with compromised thyroids benefit from the hormone-balancing fat-soluble vitamins.

As a bonus, this super-supplement has been heralded for curing acne and preventing the common cold. I can personally attest to the latter: ever since I started taking a daily dose, my immune system is supercharged! I rarely get colds anymore, and if I do, they last for just a day or two.

Fermented cod liver oil is the most pristine and effective form of cod liver oil. Although fermented cod liver is the top choice, the cod liver oil capsules may be acceptable.

You compare and tell me which is best!

I can't say enough great things about Shakeology. It's not only chemical free but it has been proven to lower cholesterol & help people lose weight. I had a friend drink it and now her Lupus is in remission! How crazy is that?! The world is catching on to what an amazing product Beachbody has. Oprah featured a 10 page spread in her magazine all about it. Even Discovery Channel had an article online about it! This is not your average shake on the market.

I am going to make more comparisons, but here is one I've put together. Our ingredients/nutrient list vs other shakes out there. Nothing can touch what we have! Heck, I can drink this while pregnant and feel confident in giving it to my toddlers. Not so much with the Advocares and Visalus stuff out there. You read the lists and decide for yourself!

Shakeology VS Visalus

Shakeology VS Advocare

Shakeology VS Isogenix

Shakology VS Slim-Fast