Most of us know about Macronutrients – Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats. We eat these to give us enough caloric energy to fuel our activities. They get a lot of attention actually, especially around weight loss, as many of us calorie count, measure our macronutrient ratio or restrict certain macronutrients (maybe low carb or low fat etc.).
 
But let’s not forget about Micronutrients. These are nutrients that we need to ingest in relatively small quantities to function at our best and they are vital to our health. You are probably familiar with some or all of them: vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), essential fatty acids (omega 3s and omega 6s) and phytonutrients (chemicals found in plants). Each micronutrient has a wide variety of functions in the body so if you don’t consume enough to meet your needs then symptoms can start to show up. We call these Deficiency Symptoms. The following chart shows some of the major functions of some key micronutrients and an outline of their deficiency symptoms.

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How do nutrient levels become depleted?
Unfortunately, it is all too easy to get low on nutrients. Here are some of the ways it can happen.
 
Drug induced
Medications can block the absorption, synthesis, metabolism or storage of nutrients.  For example, statin drugs deplete our stores of CoQ10. Your doctor is supposed to tell you that when prescribing a statin, but I find many of my clients are in the dark on that one.
 
Inadequate intake
The recommended daily amounts, RDAs, are the best information we have on how much of each nutrient is needed to avoid deficiency symptoms. Our individual genes or lifestyle can determine an even higher level of need. National surveys show that many people in the US do not meet even that benchmark for many nutrients. Contributing factors can be:

• a lack of (micro) nutrient dense foods in the diet,
• a high intake of highly processed foods,
• the declining quality of the food supply due to farming practices,
• longer storage time for food between farm and table,
• a restricted diet, such as veganism.

 
Stress and caffeine
For some Americans this is a way of life! Being amped up and stressed takes a toll on your body and you burn through more nutrients. That can leave you depleted.
 
Sugar and white flour foods
Eating a lot of sugar and white flour foods that raise your blood sugar fast can deplete the body of key nutrients like magnesium and chromium, amongst others.
 
Alcohol
The process of metabolizing alcohol requires the liver to use nutrients. These nutrients are diverted from other roles in the body and can leave you depleted.
 
Mal-absorption 
You may be eating enough micronutrients but not absorbing them! There are a number of different situations where this could occur but common ones that I encounter with clients are leaky gut or low stomach acid.
 
If you have symptoms, you may have micronutrient deficiencies!
 
One of the most helpful tools I use in my practice to gather information about my clients and help them get to optimal health is a Micronutrient Test. It is one key for me to knowing how to support and restore health in clients. The results show me which deficiencies in nutrients could be playing a part in symptoms. Testing cuts down on a lot of the educated guess work that would otherwise be needed.
 
If you’re curious about getting your nutrient status checked then read more about our Micronutrient Blood Test or get in touch with your questions. You might also be interested in our Holiday Special Deal on a Total Nutrition Package. It’s a great way to start out 2019!

You’ve probably heard about lots of the benefits of taking magnesium due to its many important roles in the body. Perhaps you also know that many of us are magnesium deficient, estimated at around 80% of the US population. Maybe you’ve even heard about its benefits for brain health but here’s something you may not know about…
 
Certain forms of magnesium have benefits for those suffering from anxiety related disorders such as social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, specific phobias and others.
 
You may know someone dealing with anxiety. Anxiety disorders impact a whopping 18% of the US population and are the most common mental illness.
 
Here’s what’s happening:
When in real danger, fear is essential for survival. Fear triggers the brain to use its Cognitive Ability and respond with many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This response is a healthy reaction meant to protect us from harm.

In anxiety disorders, the fear memory continues or is triggered even when the danger is no longer real or present. Cognitive ability is not sufficient to control the fears.
 
Boosting Cognitive Ability:
Magnesium, in the form of Magtein™, magnesium I-threonate, has been shown in studies to improve magnesium concentration in the brain, which boosts cognitive ability and enhances control of fear and anxiety. Other forms of magnesium have low brain bioavailability and are not able to effectively raise the brain’s magnesium levels.
 
You can find products containing Magtein™ at our dispensaries with EmersonWellevate, Natural Partners NPScript (use code W2O) and Fullscript You’ll SAVE 5% off the retail price when you use our dispensaries compared with going direct. FREE SHIPPING on orders over $49.
​We also love Xymogen’s Magtein™ containing products. Contact us for information and to discuss your needs and we can provide you with a referral code plus a 5% DISCOUNT there on your first order site wide.

There is such a fear of phytoestrogens or estrogen-containing foods out there that women frequently ask me about whether they should consume flaxseeds.
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Do flaxseeds cause hormonal problems in women?
Can they cause cancers?
Could you exacerbate symptoms of the dreaded estrogen dominance that can cause us women to gain weight, experience PMS, bloating, heavy periods, breast tenderness, etc.?
Well, most of the time you’ll be glad to hear, the answer is no!
 
Typically estrogen dominance is not associated with too much estrogen but with difficulties with breaking down and eliminating estrogens well. Adding some plant-based estrogen to your diet does not usually cause a problem. In fact flaxseed can actually help redirect estrogen metabolism from the unhealthy estrogen metabolites in the direction of the preferred ones and improve your ability to detoxify and eliminate unhealthy estrogen metabolites.
 
Additionally, flaxseeds act as estrogen balancers – either promoters or blockers to our internally produced estrogens as well as synthetic xenoestrogens (synthetic hormone disrupters found in our personal care and cleaning supplies) as is needed by the body.
 
How to include Flaxseed in your diet:

• Buy it in seed form and not pre-ground.
• Don’t buy flaxseed oil as it turns rancid easily.
• Keep it in the fridge and grind as needed.
• Add 1 or 2 tbsp per day to foods like smoothies, yogurt, porridge etc.
• Pay attention! For most women, hormonal symptoms improve but if you start eating flaxseed and your estrogen dominance symptoms worsen then flaxseed is not for you. We are all biochemically different after all!

 
Let us know how your body responds. We’d love to hear from you.
If you want to learn more about Nourishment for Hormonal Harmony then take a look at our workshop Tues November 13th 2-4pm or buy a ClaryCalm essential oil and get a free video class on hormones with our Holiday Special Deals.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  In this field of health, there is a ton of attention given to detection of breast cancer. One area that I feel is sorely lacking though, is information about what women can do around prevention. For instance, did you know that micronutrients (think vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids) are important in breast cancer prevention? Have a read of the article below that talks about micronutrients, breast health and the comprehensive micronutrient blood testing that we offer at Ways to Optimize. It takes out the guess work and allows us to support you in a more targeted way, reducing any nutrient gaps that we see. This month you can get $100 off with our Special Deal to Assess Your Nutrient Status. Let us know if you’d like to take advantage before the deal expires at the end of October.

Here is a guest blog from our Women, Wine & Wellness - Lowry speaker for October, Lorrie Grillo.
To receive an invitation to this private event, you can sign up here: 
http://www.waystooptimizehealth.com/women-wine-wellness-lowry.html​

One of my favorite aspects of feng shui is that it doesn’t require you to make huge changes in your space to bring change into your life. Whether your goals are to increase your energy, enhance your well being, attract more prosperity or fame (to name a few), small changes can begin the process. Small changes made with intention--getting rid of old or outdated items you no longer use to make room for new; clearing off your desk at the end of the day to prepare for the next; making your bed in the morning to create calm at the end of your day; removing everything from a kitchen counter except what you use regularly to encourage healthy eating—help your environment support your best you. All are feng shui practices that are easy, effective, and quick.
 
I was recently reminded of how the small changes we make to our spaces and our lives can also help change the world. While reading one of my favorite feng shui tomes, A Guide to the I Ching, a translation from the Chinese by Carol K. Anthony, I came across this important passage:
 
Every step of progress leads not only to our own success, but to a better world. Our smallest self-improvement is of the greatest importance to ending suffering in the world, and to bettering the human condition, for how things are in the world is a reflection of the accumulated effort of human beings to follow the good within themselves. 
 
Wow! We can feel good about cleaning out a drawer or a closet, but we can feel even better knowing the success we create for ourselves with these acts is also bettering the world!
 
Here are other small feng shui steps you can take toward self-improvement--and positive world change--that can be accomplished in less than an hour:
 

• Cull stale herbs and spices and questionable pantry items from your kitchen. Checking expiration dates makes this an easy task. 
• Review all your first-aid kits--in the car, drawers, and backpacks—for expired products. If you ever need to deal with a bee sting, you’ll be glad your Benadryl is potent. 
• Look through your bathroom drawers and medicine cabinet to make sure all your makeup, medicines, and ointments are current. Toss out what’s old and replace what’s necessary. 
• Take a trip under your kitchen and bathroom sinks to get rid of aging, potentially toxic and caustic cleansers. 
• Clean out your closet. If you don’t have time for a full-on purge, pick one area to focus on. Clean out a sock drawer, your scarf display, shoe collection, or tie rack (small steps, remember?)    
• Take a close look at all the notes, magnets, and artwork hanging on your refrigerator--discard or recycle what no longer speaks to you. Same goes for your kitchen bulletin board!

 
Together we can make a difference.  Help is a close as this link with a search function and a directory to help you find the place to recycle just about anything: https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/trash-and-recycling/recycling/recycling-directory-dropoff-locations.html .
 
Will anyone notice the small changes you make? You will, and not only will you benefit from making them, you know the world will benefit, too!

Contact Lorrie: www.thrivingspaces.com | LWGrillo@thrivingspaces.com | (303) 882-7275 

Despite the fact that there is so much information out there about the health benefits of good sleep it is interesting how many of us still fail to make it a priority. It’s really tough to get it to sink in that it truly makes a difference in our lives. Maybe this might motivate you to prioritize sleep. Did you know that a rough night’s sleep can impact hormones that affect your weight?!
 
Pretty much everyone is familiar with the experience of a bad night’s sleep. You wake up feeling depleted and it is no coincidence that you are reaching for sugary foods and caffeine! Studies show that depriving people of sleep for just one night, increases cravings for junk food and decreases rational eating decisions in the frontal cortex. Well that’s not likely to help your weight, is it? If you do succumb to those cravings then you have set yourself up for a day of more cravings, hunger and fat storage as your blood sugar levels sore and crash repeatedly.
 
So what’s going on here and why does the sleep loss often send us on this downward spiral? Sleep affects the following hormones that are likely out of whack after a rough night:
 
Leptin tells your brain that you're full and regulates metabolism so you can switch to fat burning when your body needs to.  Decreased sleep duration reduces leptin production so no wonder your appetite is out of control when you are tired.
 
Ghrelin tells your brain to eat. Sleep deprivation increases gherlin levels driving your body to want more food.
 
Adiponectin is an anti-inflammatory hormone produced by adipose tissue that regulates fat breakdown. Optimal adiponectin levels can reduce the risk of insulin resistance, diabetes and therefore weight gain. Reduced sleep decreases adiponectin production.
 
Insulin is a fat storage hormone. When it is elevated you cannot burn fat and your body holds on to it. Our cells need to be sensitive to insulin otherwise our insulin levels can get driven up. Chronic sleep loss decreases insulin sensitivity keeping our levels elevated and our body storing fat.
 
Glucagon releases fat from your fat cells to burn for energy. Decreased sleep duration reduces levels so your ability to burn fat will be reduced.
 
Cortisol, which causes us to store fat and breakdown muscle, gets chronically elevated with lack of sleep due to the increased stress.
 
Growth hormone, your fountain of youth, is made during deep stage 4 sleep so less sleep can reduce your levels. It aids in muscle synthesis and repair, boosts energy and improves fat metabolism.
 
If weight loss is elusive for you then focusing on an improved sleep routine could make a world of difference for you and should be part of your long-term strategy for health. Nutrient levels can certainly impact sleep so let us know if you’d like to get your nutrient levels tested using our $100 off deal this month.
 
If you want to learn more about how to Unlock Weight Loss, you might consider joining me and Fran Gallaher for our workshop on October 13th, Unlock Weight Loss – Little Known Keys that Open the Door to Your Success where we’ll share some of the nutritional and energetic areas that have been holding our clients back.

Fran Gallaher, intuitive coach and owner of Really Flourish, and I have talked often about this issue because we both believe in the intelligence of the body.
 
Fran looks at things from an energetic perspective. She believes that sometimes we unconsciously give our body messages and that we may be asking it to hold onto our weight for a reason. She has great insights about this to share. For a teaser, have a read of her recent blog,  Are You Learning to Trust Your Body?
 
What I can share from a nutritional perspective is that food is not simply calories, or energy, that you have to burn or else gain or hold on to weight. The long-term failure of the “eat less, exercise more” approach to weight loss is evidence that there must be something more complicated going on. The fact is food is so much more than just energy. It is information! It is a message to our body to do something and it changes the way in which our genes express themselves. Our body has intelligence and responds to the information we are giving it. If you are resistant to weight loss there is likely something deeper going on that needs to be uncovered. It is not just that you don’t have enough will power and are lazy and there are some solutions out there for you.
 
So what basic things do you need to take care of and understand first to move forward with weight management and weight loss?

• First, understand that a temporary fix isn’t going to work. Whatever method you use, in the end you are going to have to create a new lifestyle that manages your weight rather than just going on a diet and returning to your old habits.
• Overall health has to be part of your goal. There are unhealthy weight loss approaches out there that can help you shed pounds in the short term but in the long run they do more harm than good. Any program that involves eating highly processed foods is going to be counter-productive.
• You need to be exercising regularly. Our body was designed to move and we need that activity to function properly.
• Factors other than food and exercise can be at play. (More evidence that the energy in/ energy out formula doesn’t work and that lifestyle solutions are key.) Stress, sleep, pharmaceuticals and toxins can all play a part as can our habits and programming.
• Everyone is different because we each have different genes and different lifestyles, which impact our nutritional requirements. You are going to need to find out what works for you and your body may need additional support in certain areas to function optimally.

 
Fran and I have so much more we want to share and so we’ve decided to come together to share this information in a workshop on Saturday October 13th: Unlock Weight Loss – Little Known Keys that Open the Door to Your Success. We’ll be taking a deeper dive into some of the areas that we find are in the way of success for our clients when they have found weight loss to be unattainable or unsustainable. We are really excited for this collaboration and can’t wait to share what we know.
 
So if you are you curious about why you don’t seem to be able to lose weight and why it is a constant struggle;
If you’d like to understand more about why some people seem to lose weight easily but when you follow the same program, nothing seems to work;
If you’ve been counting your calories and try to get in shape and find that still nothing seems to shift;
If you have a difficult time sticking to a program at all and feel like you fail over and over, seeming to sabotage yourself;
Then consider joining Fran Gallaher and me on Saturday October 13th to find out if we can help you Unlock Weight Loss! Early bird pricing applies until Saturday October 6th so get your ticket now for just $67 (reduced from $77) for this information packed afternoon.

Here is a guest blog from one of our Women, Wine & Wellness - Lowry speakers for September, Fran Gallaher.
To receive an invitation to this private event, you can sign up here: 
http://www.waystooptimizehealth.com/women-wine-wellness-lowry.html​

Are you learning to trust your body? To believe your body has wisdom? What about when it comes to weight loss? Are you trusting your body, even if it resists weight loss? (Of course, you may not need to lose weight but stay with me, there’s something here for every body.)

Because, really, your body is likely doing what you have asked it to do. Sometimes we need to look at what good thing your body is trying to accomplish—what good thing you may have, unconsciously, asked it to accomplish.

There are a number of things your body might use weight to accomplish. The one I want to explore here I’ll call armoring. Armoring is just what it sounds like: we are padding up, so to speak, to go on the offense or to go on the defense.

In the first case we may have felt currently or at some point in the past, that we were not big enough to handle a situation—or to make a difference or to just matter. Maybe we felt weak, not strong enough, maybe we felt as if we didn’t make an impact or maybe we feel like we need to “throw our weight around” to get our point across. In any case, our body gets the message and pads up just as we’ve asked it to, and like some football player padding up for the game, or like the gladiator before them, we get ready for battle.

Or maybe, instead, the weight—the padding—is about protecting ourselves. It could be that we are in an abusive situation. Whether slightly abusive or very abusive doesn’t matter: abuse is a threat to our well-being and so a threat to the body.

Whether we are conscious of abuse or not, doesn’t matter either. In the same way that the Earth may well give off signals before a seismic event, warning animals to seek safe ground, our bodies can be sensitive to abusive, disrespectful, dismissive or even dangerous signals it receives, and can go into a self-protective mode.

Sometimes this disrespect can be very subtle—and can have occurred at some point regarding our body image, our gender or sexuality, or some very personal way we might feel discounted. The padding, therefore, is not just protective but also acts as both a way to set a boundary and a way to become less visible, less likely, in some cases, to receive unwanted attention.

So weight loss becomes less the problem and more the symptom. And the real problem can come to our attention, and with loving kindness, we can nurture our body’s true needs and remove the reason for our body’s need to armor itself.

Contact Fran:
www.reallyflourish.com | fran@reallyflourish.com | 303-722-5115
 

I don’t know about you, but I have found the messaging about alcohol and health to be pretty confusing. We’ve always been told that there are certain health benefits associated with moderate alcohol consumption. This is defined as one standard drink per day for women and two for men. But to be honest, it has never seemed right to me and I have walked that tight rope with clients. I couldn’t see any nutritional benefits to alcohol. After all, it is a toxin that your body has to process out and really, how much resveratrol can you realistically consume without drinking bottles and bottles of red wine? If you want to consume resveratrol, it's better to supplement. I know for myself that I definitely feel way worse when I have a drink, even a small one. Nevertheless, moderate consumption is what the accepted science told us was best for us. It turns out that like many other health recommendations that we all bought into, it is money, not our health that took priority. The alcohol studies have been largely funded by the alcohol industry and have ignored problems around the study design that may have skewed the results.
 
While the US CDC continues to recommend moderate drinking for health, last year, the UK updated their guidelines for alcohol consumption. The UK listened to the latest science and responded accordingly.  On the UK government website it states:
 
“New guidelines for alcohol consumption, produced by the UK Chief Medical Officers, warn that drinking any level of alcohol increases the risk of a range of cancers. This is supported by a new review from the Committee on Carcinogenicity on alcohol and cancer risk.
It is now known that the risks start from any level of regular drinking and increase with the amount being drunk, and the new guidelines are aimed at keeping the risk of mortality from cancers or other diseases low. The links between alcohol and cancer were not fully understood in the original guidelines, which came out in 1995.
This review also found that the benefits of alcohol for heart health only apply for women aged 55 and over. The greatest benefit is seen when these women limit their intake to around 5 units a week, the equivalent of around 2 standard glasses of wine. The group concluded that "there is no justification for drinking for health reasons".”
 
So there you have it! I would agree that there is no justification for drinking for health reasons. Maybe there are other reasons you wish to drink and moderate drinking may be low risk, but know that health improvements from drinking are not likely. I must say, I have been feeling relieved as what I see with clients is more often the damage that it does, especially to the ability to absorb nutrients. When I see the results of micronutrient blood testing on clients who drink heavily, they often show a pattern of mal-absorption along with gut dysbiosis or leaky gut concerns (alcohol is one of the four main causes I see). This can cause a whole plethora of symptoms for them. Knowing the damage that’s been done nutritionally, means we have some direction as to how to fuel them back to wellness.
 
If you’ve been a drinker or if you’re just curious how you are doing, you can get your nutrient status checked with us for $100 off this month with our Fall into Wellness Deals. If you have questions about Micronutrient Blood Testing then just let us know and we can explain more.

Getting the right amount of sun is such a juggle. We want to get some sun in the middle of the day to enhance our vitamin D levels but this is the time we are most likely to get a sunburn too. You’ll want to cover up or wear a safe sunscreen to avoid over-exposure.
 
You can also give your skin the best chance of being resilient by following the dietary suggestions in my article Protect Your Skin from Sun Damage from the Inside Out.
 
Nevertheless, sometimes we can overdo it. Here are my ideas on giving your skin some love and care when it gets burned.

1. Mix a drop each of Lavender, Melaleuca and Peppermint essential oils together with a tsp of coconut oil as a base and rub it into the burned area.
2. Aloe Vera applied topically. This Ultimate Aloe is a favorite. The plain is best for using topically but I’ve used the flavored in a pinch if that’s what I have available. (I try to always keep a bottle in the fridge as Aloe Vera juice can help with so many health issues that crop up, from gargling for a sore throat to soothing the digestive system and keeping it regular. Natural Aloe Vera juice tastes pretty nasty so if you’re not good at chugging things down, it will need to be masked with something. The strawberry kiwi flavor is something even your kids will drink!)
3. I recently got a sunburn while traveling and happened to have doTerra’s Correct-X Essential Ointment available because I always keep it in my bag. It is designed to soothe distressed skin and worked like a charm to reduce the heat.

 
Let me know your favorite tips and tricks!