One thing I focus on with my clients is fibre intake. Fibre intake is important for general health but it is especially important when my clients are dealing with issues related to hormone imbalance.

One of the major ways we detox excess estrogen from the body (among many other things) is by having a bowel movement everyday (and we all know that fibre can be really helpful for regularity). Research has shown that by increasing our fibre intake, we can reduce the amount of circulating estrogen in our body.

Some of my favourite sources of fibre are cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.) and things like chia seeds and ground flaxseed.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I like to aim for between 25-40 grams of fibre per day (tip: make sure you increase slowly so that you don't cause too much digestive upset and also make sure you’re drinking enough water!)

To give you an idea of the approximate amount of fibre in these foods - I'll outline them here:
Broccoli (2 cups): 5 grams
Cauliflower (2 cups): 4.5 grams
Brussels sprouts (2 cups): 8 grams
Chia seeds (2 tbsp.): 7 grams
Ground flaxseed (2 tbsp.): 8 grams
Raspberries (1 cup): 8 grams
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
With a good strategy, you can hit the 25-40 grams of fibre per day but it takes a bit of thought, in most cases!

Have you thought of how much fibre you're getting each day? What is your favourite source and how do you incorporate it?

You guys - I have to start this post by saying I am SO sorry I have been so sporadic over here on the blog (please follow me on Instagram here - I am super active over there right now!)

Life with a full nutrition practice, working on a bunch of amazing projects for you guys and being a twin mom and wife has got me full out 24/7 (not to mention the podcast that I am trying to get up and running - YIKES!)

This was a project that I NEEDED to get out to you guys because you have been asking questions and I had to get this in your hands!

Why have I created this resource? Because I KNOW the impact that environmental chemicals can have on our health (particularly our hormones) and women NEED to get this information. If we can make these simple swaps in our home right now, we can have an incredible impact on the health of ourselves and our families.

My first session with all of my fertility clients includes talking about hormone disruption due to exposure to environmental chemicals from our cleaning products, our pots and pans (check out this post if you don't know what I am referring to... or better yet, watch the documentary on Netflix "The Devil We Know"....) and our personal care products.

I first started exploring this area of environmental chemicals back in 2015 when I hear Dr. Victoria Maizes speak at a health conference in Arizona. I was absolutely BLOWN away by the research she shared and immediately bought her book "Be Fruitful". I started incorporating her principles in my counseling sessions with my clients and was amazed at the changes I saw (mostly around period regulation and the ability to conceive) - this was SO POWERFUL.

Anyway - I realized over the years as I looked at more and more research that I HAD to share this with more women than just my clients. Women deserved to have access to this information. Now, one thing that I really don't like is fear mongering. I think that spreading fear without giving actionable steps that are fairly easy to follow is really not helpful at all. So this is where the guide comes in! This guide has EASY TO FIND products and the EXACT ones I recommend picking up. Not every product from a specific line is rated so great - so I have used the EWG database and picked out the top rated products that you can find at your local grocery store, health food store or on well.ca (free shipping over $35 makes it really reasonable).

Are there products on this list that you'd like me to update? I want to continue making this resources as comprehensive as possible and your one stop for totally overhauling your home. Let me know in the comments if there are product categories that you'd like to see that haven't made the list!

To access the guide: Click here 🙂

And if you're not following me on Instagram yet - head over here and join the party! I am hanging out there SO much these days and I love sharing my daily routine with you all!

Until next time sisters,

Be well,

Kristin

 

To Scale Or Not To Scale

When I first opened my private practice I knew one thing had to change – there would no longer be a scale in my office.

There are two schools of thought on this issue and for a long time I thought that weighing yourself on a regular basis was a good way to keep you "honest" and "on track" because, let's be real, sometimes we put more food into our mouths in the run of a day than we think we do.

We hear it all of the time “the scale doesn’t lie”… but I began to think – it does lie. It lies because A) SO many things impact the number on the scale that are not related to the food we consume or the exercise we engaged in and B) it does not measure all of the amazing things we did for ourselves and for our health.

For some people (and I commend you – I do not fit into this camp) stepping on the scale and seeing a number looking back at you elicits no emotional response. It is simply a number – a data point – that is forgotten about the moment you leave the room. For others, this number is sitting in your mind for the rest of the day. Every time you put something into your mouth, every time you make a conscious food choice, you think of that number.

I would have clients come into my office and they would talk about how proud they are of themselves that they were consistent with a goal they had for the week. Then they would step on the scale and it might be the same, or MAYBE it even went UP! What the heck!?! *&#%@&$

“I worked SO hard this week. I worked out and EVERYTHING”

The next 5 minutes is a conversation consisting of reminding my client about the things they were so proud of themselves for just moments before and listing all of the things that can make that number on the scale go up that are NOT related to food at all:

  1. A salty meal yesterday (which after self experimentation I will tell you it causes a temporary increase of 2-3 pounds the following day)
  2. Constipation (what goes in, must come out)
  3. Muscle soreness

And this is just a few – there is so much more that changes that number and those little things, and the resulting inflation of the number on the scale can have such a HUGE impact on our mood throughout the day.

After thinking about this more and more, I began asking my clients how they would feel if they reached all of the goals they verbalized (one of them typically being “feeling awesome in my clothes”) but the number on the scale didn’t change. I got some interesting responses. Usually a pause, some contemplation and most of the time they would tell me that it wouldn’t really matter.

So if we could reach our goals separate from the number on the scale… why will we continue to monitor the number?

The reason we monitor that number is because it gives us a concrete way of saying “good” or “bad” (I try not to use this verbiage) and that we are either moving closer or further away from our goals.

But we KNOW that this is not the case. We know that you can change your body composition drastically without a huge change in the number on the scale.

Scale Manipulation 

People would admittedly do things on the day they would come to see me that did not reflect a healthy way of living – skipping meals, restricting water, etc. This was all in hopes of seeing the number on the scale go down.

After experiencing this time and time again, I decided that it was finally time…. I had to ditch the scale for GOOD!

Monitoring Progress

So you might be wondering… if there is no scale how do you know if what you’re suggesting is actually working?

My number one focus with clients is how they feel – their mood, energy levels, digestion, sleep, etc. These are the areas we look at first. And let’s be honest… when our weight changes, we feel it! We can feel it in our clothes regardless of what the number on the scale says!

So why do we need that little tool to measure our progress if we can feel it in SO many different ways… the answer is, we don’t! I give you full permission to BREAK UP WITH YOUR SCALE! Break up with it forever – it serves you no purpose. It cannot define you, it cannot give you an accurate reflection of your eating habits, it cannot tell you whether or not you’re getting closer to your goal, it cannot BE your goal.

Take some time and decide whether or not your scale is contributing positively to your life. Even if your goal is to lose “that last 10 pounds”… you don’t need the scale to tell you when you’ve gotten there.

What do you think? Does your scale positively contribute to your life? Please leave your comments or questions below.

 

Yours in Health,

Kristin

Sign up for the newsletter

Receive the latest nutrition advice straight to your inbox.
If you enjoyed this content, check out Kristin Brown on Instagram, where you can enjoy more content, created daily.
The contents of this website are for informational purposes only. It is not intended to offer personal medical advice, diagnose health problems or for treatment purposes. It is not a substitute for medical advice provided by a licensed and qualified health professional.
menuchevron-down linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram