With new clients, I always establish a good health building platform with a Metabolic Typing® diet. You’ll take an extensive online questionnaire that takes into consideration your genetic factors, psychological traits, body structure, digestion and more to determine how YOU process and metabolize food.

The results from this test will provide you with many pages of information about your metabolic body type and a list of foods that will support it.

For simplicity, I’ve created a Basic Metabolic Typing® Package. It is an 8-week program that includes the Metabolic Typing® test, and 8 weekly sessions to help you implement YOUR Metabolic Typing® diet plan.

Once we have the Metabolic Typing® diet plan in place, we begin to fine-tune the Macro Nutrient Ratios. This is the ratio of carbohydrates, fats and protein that you need at each meal. This is where the magic happens. We find YOUR sweet spot with food. What ratio of these Macro Nutrients gives you lasting energy, balanced emotions, and a clear head?

The last phase of the Basic Metabolic Typing® Program is to uncover any health conditions that maybe sabotaging your efforts. For example, if you are not able to digest and assimilate your food, or if there are detoxification issues, or hormonal imbalances, we will need to address them. To do this, I recommend laboratory testing. Once these health issues are identified with the labs, we can address them and move forward with a clear plan toward healing.

Food is not always the only answer to sustained health, but is ALWAYS part of the solution!

Registration for the 8-week Metabolic Typing® Program is open now! Learn how to apply Metabolic Typing® in your life and reap the benefits of clear thinking, balanced emotions and the energy to live your life! Call Beauty Through Balance at 505.699.7258.

Protein, along with carbohydrates and fat, is an essential macronutrient and is the basic building material of the body. The body needs protein and the amino acids from which it is made to build muscles. Unless you get enough protein, your body cannot build new cells and tissue. Enzymes, antibodies, and hormones are made primarily of protein.

Protein also increases stamina and fuels most of the biochemical activities of the body—building muscle strength and supporting the immune system. Animal sources are the best suppliers of protein. Beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and milk are called complete proteins because they supply all the essential amino acids. Vegetables and fruits are called incomplete proteins because they do not supply all of the essential amino acids.

Protein: The primitive diet vs. the modern diet
Protein composed a larger part of the primitive diet than of the modern diet. Comparatively, the modern diet is about 15 percent protein, but the primitive diet was about 30 to 40 percent protein. Our primitive ancestors got most of their protein from meat, fish, and cultured (or fermented) dairy products. The meat was considerably healthier than today’s farm-raised meat—as it was leaner and contained healthier fat. The wild fish and game that our ancestors ate was organic in every sense of the word. Most of the dairy they consumed was raw and cultured, and therefore rich in probiotics and enzymes. It came from goats or sheep that grazed on rich pasture land and was much more nutritious than milk from modern cows.

Red meat is also a great source of protein—and is full of zinc, magnesium, and vitamins B and D. By eating grass-fed beef, buffalo, lamb, and venison, you can eat a diet similar to the primitive diet, as grass-fed animals have similar lipid profile to that of wild game. The ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fat in wild game is 1 to 3.5 or 4. By comparison, the ratio of omega-3 fat to omega-6 fat in grain-fed beef is about 1 to 20.

The fish and meat that our ancestors ate was superior to ours in that it was free of antibiotics and steroids. Recommended meats include buffalo, lamb, and venison and free-range or pastured chicken and poultry. Free-range chickens have a natural diet of grass, grass seeds, and insects. The meat from these chickens, as well as their eggs, is rich in omega-3 instead of omega-6 fatty acids.

There is a lot more information on grassfed meat and its health benefits at www.westonaprice.org and www.uswellnessmeats.com. Meat from a grassfed source is a very important part of the Metabolic Typing® Diet that we advocate at Beauty Through Balance.

This recipe features raw cacao powder, which you can find in many natural foods stores and raw organic cacao butter. I like the thick texture it imparts to the mousse and how it hardens when chilled, but if you don’t have cacao butter, you can use an additional avocado and a bit more coconut oil instead.

This is one of those recipes that I suggest tasting as you go. You may prefer it with less cacao and more honey, for example. You can also make substitutions as you see fit. To keep the recipe vegan, you can use agave (or your favorite alternative sweetener) instead of the honey. You could use almonds instead of the cashews and almond milk instead of the water. Go ahead and play around with it.

It keeps well in the refrigerator, so feel free to keep a little bowl in there for when you need a little (healthy) chocolate fix.

Raw Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:
Flesh from 1 avocado; 1/2 cup raw cashews; 3/4 cup raw cacao; 3/4 cup raw cacao butter; 2 Tb. organic coconut oil; 6 Tb. raw honey, pinch of Celtic Sea Salt, filtered water, raw cacao nibs for garnish and fresh berries or sliced bananas for serving.

Directions:
In a high speed blender, process all ingredients, adding water as necessary, until you have a smooth puree. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving, if possible. Garnish with cacao nibs and/or fruit, if desired.

Enjoy! Happy Valentines Day!

For more raw chocolate recipes, you might want to check out the book Naked Chocolate: The Astonishing Truth About the World’s Greatest Food. This book describes the many health benefits raw chocolate, also contains recipes for natural chocolate treats made with cocoa nibs, raw cocoa butter, nuts, coconut oil, and natural sweeteners.

Some things to think about if you cannot sleep:

1. Sugar Handling Problems

If we overload on alcohol and desserts during our day, it puts a tremendous stress on the body. The body’s ability to regulate blood sugar is compromised. This creates a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) condition throughout the day and at night. This hypoglycemic condition wakes us up.

We need to adjust our food choices and portions of food. We recommend food higher in fat and protein before bed. This sedates the nervous system and will provide a better environment for sleep.

2. Issues with Immunity

The immune system is most active at night. If there is a parasitic infection, fungal infection or bacterial infection, the immune system will kick into overdrive at night. When this happens, the adrenal glands are stimulated to secrete cortisol (an awakening hormone) in order to fight inflammation, infections and disease.

3. Estrogen Dominance

Many women with estrogen dominance will have trouble with sleep. It may be a true estrogen dominance or it may be a relative estrogen dominance in relation to low progesterone, which is a calming hormone. The ratio between estrogen and progesterone is a delicate and important balance.

4. Tummy Troubles

A hormone that plays an important role in sleep is melatonin. Serotonin is made in the gut and is a precursor to melatonin. If we cannot make serotonin, we cannot make melatonin and this will impact the body’s ability to sleep.
We recommend healing the gut by working with diet, testing for food sensitivities, taking probiotics, hydrochloric acid, and enzymes to name a few.

5. Spiritual Issues

The seventh chakra is involved in our sleep process. This chakra is about our purpose, who we are, if we are living our legacy. If you have issues in this area, there may be internal stress. This internal stress can stir the mind and cause issues with sleep.

6. Time of Waking

Most often people wake up between the hours of 1am-3am. In Chinese 5 Element Theory, the hours of 1am-3am signify the time when the liver is most active. The liver is an organ that needs special attention in this fast paced, toxic, stressful world.
When considering the liver, we look at things that affect the liver. It could be gut health affecting the liver, it could be diet (especially alcohol), taking medications, or being chronically angry and stressed.

At Beauty Through Balance, we seek to find the underlying cause of symptoms. If sleep is an issue for you, we recommend getting on a Metabolic Typing diet, and building adrenal, hormonal and digestive health. If you would like to schedule a consultation, please call us at 505.699.7258.

It happens without warning. That sporty suntan you’ve enjoyed each summer, starts to get uneven.  Less-than-lovely brown spots start to appear until one fine day you look in the mirror and notice your skin is sprinkled with dark patches and enlarged freckles.  Many people refer to them as age spots which makes sense since the number of discolorations (hyper-pigmentation) usually corresponds to cumulative effect of sun exposure you’ve had over the years.

Why does this happen?  The likely cause is the result of damage done to your skin on a cellular level by ultraviolent rays from the sun.  While this may sound a little scary – your cells have been damaged – the good news it that it’s possible to repair them.  However, to bring your skin back to normal, your need to fade the spots with a skin lightener, and find a way to restore the healthy function of your skin cells from that oxidative ultraviolet damage.

A Skin Lightening Agent to Avoid

Many conventional skin bleaching products on the market contain an active ingredient called Hydroquinone. This chemical will lighten your skin, however I do not think that it’s a healthy solution for treating sun damage.  According to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for Sciencelab.com, Hydroquinone is:  “…toxic to lungs, the nervous system, mucous membranes.  Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs (sic) damage.”  While the MSDS states that the potential long term health effects of using Hydroquinone are not available, given the known facts, they are probably not good!

What to Use Instead

Instead of using toxic chemicals to lighten your skin, I suggest using a transdermal product (one that penetrates the skin and can be absorbed into skin cells) with fruit enzymes and natural acids on dark spots to reduce discolorations without intoxicating the skin. If you were to ask your grandmothers what they used to diminish their pigment spots, traditional remedies included lemon juice, parsnip, licorice root and dandelion root taken from their backyards and then rubbed on the skin. Make sure you apply lightning treatment at night time only.  Any skin bleaching product will make you photosensitive and more vulnerable to sun damage during the day light.

How Sun Damage Spreads and What to Do

Our skin constantly regenerates, but once disturbed by the sun, it will continue to reproduce damaged “baby cells”.  That’s why after few months your pigment spots will come back together with other skin imperfections like wrinkles and de-pigmented patches (hypo-pigmentation) .

To remedy this, as a holistic skin care practitioner, I believe in taking a whole body natural healing approach. I recommend that my clients increase their dietary antioxidant intake to help repair cells from oxidation damage . Excellent sources of antioxidants include: organic blueberries, pomegranate, black currant, grapes, peppers, rose hips and green tea. Organic produce is better because it is free of harmful pesticides, herbicides and nitrates.  Additionally, I suggest supplementation with extracts of grape seed and Vitamins C, E, D.  A transdermal topical cream with antioxidants in it should be applied daily.

Light Wave Treatments

Light-based treatments like Light-emitting diodes (LED) and cold lasers can also help reverse the effects of sun damage. These techniques work like sunshine on flowers by bringing light energy to cells deep in the skin, encouraging them to grow strong again

You will likely see the quickest results, however, with a light-based treatment called Intense Pulsed Light (IPL).  IPL treatments help pull excess pigment from the skin.  This light-based technology works by actually injuring skin cells, which prompts them to generate a healing response.  The result?  The stimulation of healthy collagen and skin cell growth – and the lightening of dark spots.

Protection is Important

Please do not forget to protect your skin daily with a natural zinc oxide-based sun block. Some times 15 minutes with unprotected skin on a sunny day is enough to throw your hard work out the window.

In summary: use your natural lightening lotion at night only. Nourish your skin with antioxidant enriched transdermal cream twice a day. Don’t forget  to protect it with a zinc oxide based sunblock. Eat a wide variety of organic food rich with antioxidants like fruits and vegetables.  Stay healthy.  Stay happy!

About the Author: Elina Fedotova is an organic skin care innovator, cosmetic chemist, herbalist and aesthetician.  For more than a decade her handmade, organic, trans-dermal skin care products have been featured in the finest clinics in the world.  She is also the CEO of Elina Organics www.elinaskincare.com, and the founder of the Association for Holistic Skin Care Practitioners  www.holisticskincarepractitioners.org.

Foods to avoid

Many people are unaware of the pro-inflammatory nature of many commonly eaten foods. As long as one continues to consume pro-inflammatory chemicals in their foods on a daily basis, they will continue to fight an uphill battle against pain, inflammation, fatigue and aging. Generally speaking, eating is itself a pro-inflammatory event with sugars and fats inducing more inflammation than protein containing foods. Therefore, simple sugars and high fat foods should be avoided.

Foods to consume

Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of health promoting nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber and fatty acids and a wide range of phytochemicals. Components of whole foods have significant immune altering effects and have shown benefit in alleviating inflammation. Fruits and vegetables contain over 5,000 different phytochemicals that maximize antioxidant production and protect health. Diets with a strong foundation of whole fruits and vegetables help to increase the intake of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients while helping to reduce the intake of pro-inflammatory foods.

Foods to avoid when healing inflammation and pain or combating fatigue and aging:

1. All gluten containing foods like wheat, rye, oats, and barley which are commonly found in breads, pasta, and other products from refined flour.
WHY?
The most common allergies are caused by foods in this category. By avoiding these foods for a few weeks your system gets a chance to relax and clear out.

2. Alcohol, caffeine (coffee, black teas, and sodas), soda and fruit juices that are high in refined sugars.
WHY?
Alcohol, caffeine and refined sugar are hard on the liver. We want to approach the body with gentleness.

3. Pork, cold cuts, bacon, hot dogs, canned meat, sausage and shellfish.
WHY?
These types of meats and processed foods are high in hormones, antibiotics and other unwelcome ingredients.

4. Corn and tomato sauce
WHY?
These are very common allergens and contribute to pain and inflammation

5. Eggs and all dairy (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt etc.)
WHY?
Eggs and dairy products are very likely to cause allergic reactions and increase inflammation.

6. Citrus fruits and juices, strawberries and pineapples.
WHY?
These fruits are also common allergens and increase pain and inflammation.

7. Foods high in fats and oils, including peanuts, refined oils, margarine and shortening.
WHY?
This diet was designed to lessen the burden placed on your system by eliminating many foods, including those high in fats and refined and processed oils.

8. Any other foods not listed on these pages that you know that you are sensitive or allergic to.

The information presented here is meant to be a helpful start and can put many on a road to better health. Give it a try for 3 weeks and notice how your body feels and looks!

However, it is also important to work with a trained health professional and give sufficient attention to improving gastrointestinal status and immune function so that the immune system is no longer hyper-responsive to certain foods. At Beauty Through Balance, we offer a Bio-Detoxification Program that is customized for each individual. The program includes dietary adherence and the inclusion of recommended supplements to help with pain modulation, metabolic cleansing and regeneration and repair.

When faced with a stressful situation, we rely on our adrenal glands. They are the little glands that sit on top of your kidneys near the spine, just underneath the last rib extending down about an inch. The purpose of your adrenal glands is to help your body cope with stress and survive. They are known as the glands of stress. It is their job to enable your body to deal with stress from every possible source, ranging from injury and disease to work and relationship problems. Your resiliency, endurance and your life all depend on their proper functioning.

For the most part, our stress response evolved from short-term events — crises that came and went. If we had to run from a predator, for example, our healthy adrenal glands responded by releasing adrenaline, which makes us more alert and focused, and cortisol, which converts protein to energy and releases our stored sugar, glycogen, so our bodies have the fuel needed to respond quickly. In concert, the adrenal response rapidly increases our heart and respiratory rates and blood pressure while releasing energy, tensing our muscles, sharpening our senses, and slowing our digestion so we are primed to escape or fight back, whichever is needed. When the threat is gone, the body returns to normal — quickly with respect to adrenaline levels, less quickly with respect to cortisol.

But in today’s society, stress makes it’s way into many parts of our lives. And when chronic stress repeatedly forces the adrenal glands to sustain high levels of cortisol, two things happen: first, the adrenals can’t attend to their broader role in hormonal regulation because the same resources they use to make hormones like estrogen are required to make cortisol, and second, cortisol starts to damage healthy tissues. Eventually, adrenal fatigue sets in, and many women experience symptoms such as weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, fuzzy thinking, depression, cravings and mood swings. Once the adrenals become depleted, it can lead to adrenal exhaustion and much more serious health concerns.

Adrenal fatigue is a common and growing problem in modern life. Sadly, it is largely unrecognized by the medical establishment. Adrenal fatigue has left millions of people suffering from an untreated problem that interferes with not only their ability to function, but also with their capacity to enjoy life.

Symptoms of adrenal fatigue:

Difficulty getting up in the morning, continuing fatigue not relieved by sleep, craving for salt or salty foods, lack of energy, increased effort to do every day tasks, decreased sex drive, decreased ability to handle stress, light headed when standing up quickly, mild depression, less enjoyment of life, increased PMS, cravings for carbohydrates and sugar, less focused thoughts, memory is less accurate, decreased tolerance and decreased productivity, immune function is poor, and an intolerance to cold.

What you can do to support your adrenal health:

Add salted vegetable juice plus water to your daily routine, and drink it several times a day. It will give you a good balance of water, salt and potassium. This is extremely helpful for the adrenals.Sprinkle your food with kelp powder. It also contains potassium and sodium in an easily assimilated form.

See the Beauty Through Balance October 2008 article, Blood Sugar and Your Health.

Sleep. Be in bed before 10:30 PM. When it’s possible, sleep until 8:30 or 9:00 AM. There is something magical about the restorative power of sleep between 7:00-9:00 in the morning.

Have a couple bites of a snack that contains protein, unrefined carbohydrate and high quality fat before going to bed to help you sleep through the early morning hours. If you have adrenal fatigue, your blood glucose levels may fall so low that hypoglycemic symptoms wake you during the hours of 1:00 and 3:00 AM. A good snack here would be whole grain crackers with almond butter.

Get tested. Beauty Through Balance offers a wonderful Adrenal Test that will indicate both your adrenal health and hormonal health with a simple saliva test that you can do at home.

Laugh! When you laugh, stress decreases and all mechanisms in the body relax. The adrenals are much freer to rebuild.

Exercise! Exercise decreases depression, expels volatile gases out of your body that can become harmful if they build up, and it improves cell function. Exercise also normalizes levels of cortisol, insulin, blood glucose, growth hormone and thyroid. Best of all, it makes you feel better!

Cosmetic companies make billions of dollars off the fear of aging skin. Topical “wonder” products that are riddled with chemicals and toxins are launched every year. These products usually wind up half empty and jammed in the back of the cabinet. Nevertheless, beneath all that marketing hype there has been an authentic leap forward in our understanding of what causes skin to age, and it centers around inflammation, toxicity and stress.

This is good news! It means your skin really can look better than ever — no matter how old you are — once you recognize that what happens on the inside truly does show up on the outside. That’s because the aging you see in your skin is biological, not chronological, and can be delayed or even reversed with a holistic, natural approach that includes proper balancing of the human system, optimal diet, and lifestyle and organic product choices.

This approach to healthy skin works for many conditions like aging, dryness, acne, rosacea, and dermatitis. Whereas conventional medicine turns first to antibiotics, acids, retinol and steroid creams to treat the symptoms of these conditions, our approach helps women resolve them by addressing the root cause.

At Beauty Through Balance, we see the results of this inside-out approach every day in the skin of our clients — skin that grows younger and more vibrant each day. And yours can too… but the solution relies upon how you live your life, what you put in your body as well as what you put on your skin. This work is truly transformational. By addressing skin issues, many women discover a more balanced approach to their life.

Eat frequently during the day
Women experiencing perimenopause and menopausal symptoms do best when they keep their blood sugar stable throughout the day by eating frequent, smaller meals. If you are feeling fatigued, it would be best to work with your natural body rhythm to keep your blood sugar steady.

It’s important to eat before 10:00 am to keep your body from playing catch up during the rest of the day. An early lunch, before noon, is also better than a later lunch because your body uses up morning nourishment very quickly. Eating a nutritious snack between 2:00-3:00 pm will help to sustain you through the dip in cortisol levels that usually occurs between 3:00 and 4:00 pm. Your evening meal should be around 5:00 or 6:00 pm. If you get hungry later in the evening, a couple of bites of a high quality snack will be helpful. Nuts are often a good choice. They should be eaten raw and kept in the freezer. If you want to roast them, you can dry roast them at home by baking them on a cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Focus on portion size, not calories
Instead of calorie counting, concentrate on eating the highest quality food available in smaller portions. Cup your two hands in front of you. That’s how big your stomach capacity is. Overeating is associated with the over production of insulin and this will throw blood sugar off kilter.

Eat protein and a good fat at each meal
Good quality protein available from fish, chicken, eggs, dairy or a vegetarian alternative to animal protein such as soy protein powder or tofu will help to keep your blood sugar stable. Don’t forget to drizzle your food with 1-2 tablespoons of flax seed oil or sunflower seed oil or mix these in a ratio of 1:1. Fish oil is another great choice to get the essential fatty acids that you need each day.

Cut down on refined and high-glycemic-index carbohydrates
The rule of thumb is white and processed foods have a very high glycemic index, whereas whole foods and those high in protein typically have a low glycemic index. Eliminate most refined carbohydrates from your diet. This means cutting out rice, pasta, and other foods made from white flour such as muffins, rolls, bread, biscuits, crackers, snack foods, cookies, cakes, and pastries. You may still want to have some of these treats on special occasions, but as your blood sugar stabilizes, you’ll find that your craving for these foods decreases dramatically.

You can replace these foods with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Remember the healthiest fruits and vegetables are the ones with the most color. You can also experiment with whole grains such as brown rice, millet and amaranth.