Preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving is a lot of work, and as the big day approaches it can be tempting to cut corners. However, one area where you should never do things in half-measures is food safety. The last thing anybody wants to deal with during Thanksgiving aftermath is food poisoning.

The “danger zone” is between 40° F and 140° F—the temperature range where foodborne bacteria multiply rapidly.   When preparing a turkey, be aware of the four main safety issues: thawing, preparing, stuffing and cooking to adequate temperature. Read More

On Sept. 13, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance on how certain Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules apply to health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and cafeteria plans.

Under the new guidance, a group health plan, including an HRA, used to purchase coverage on the individual market cannot be integrated with that individual market coverage for purposes of the ACA’s annual dollar limit or preventive services requirements. This means that an HRA will need to be integrated with another group health plan to satisfy these rules.

Health FSAs must be offered through a cafeteria plan to be exempt from the annual limit prohibition. Also, health FSAs must qualify as “excepted benefits” to meet the preventive services requirements. Read More

A couple of weeks ago I was planning to write this newsletter about sleep. I often have the conversation with my clients on the importance of creating a relaxing nighttime routine so they are able to get more sleep.
I always remind them that “the day starts the night before.” If we deprive ourselves of vitamin zzzz’s we are likely to crave sugar and caffeine for a quick boost in energy. Lack of sleep contributes to excess stress, excess calories and excess weight.
I know it is not always easy to wind down and get to bed. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been experiencing this firsthand. I almost didn’t write this newsletter because I was feeling like a hypocrite. I have not been walking my talk so why should I bother writing this at all.
Instead of listening to the crazy “you suck” voice in my head, I reached out to a loving a friend and told her what was going on. Why wasn’t I walking my talk? The answer was clear. Just like thousands of other people, I have been stressed out by the government shutdown. My husband has been furloughed and I have been uncomfortable with the uncertainty of the situation.
I have been watching the news late at night, surfing the web looking for answers and numbing out on Facebook. None of these things are part of my usual nighttime routine. I think I have watched more TV news shows in the past 10 days than I have all year.
With no clear end in sight, I realized I needed to make the decision to take care of myself. No amount of news watching is going to change the situation. It is out of our control. What I can change is how I react to it and how I treat myself in times of uncertainty.
I made a decision to focus on self care. As I am often reminded by my friends and mentors, when we feel stressed we need to double our self-care, not numb out and ignore ourselves.
Here is what I have been doing:
•   I started taking more bubble baths.
•   I have been practicing more yoga and taking more walks.
•   I have reached out to more friends by phone instead of just on Facebook.
•   I wrote down my crazy thoughts. Doing a “brain dump” helps me clear the clutter in my mind.
•   I used more essential oils. The picture to the right is my favorite calming oil. Serenity is a blend of lavender, chamomile, vanilla and other oils. I have been wearing it and diffusing it in the air.
•   I made the decision to not watch the late night news. No need to hear the same thing over and over. I am sure we will all know when there is a breakthrough and I feel like it will be very soon.
There is no straight path to ultimate health. We all have detours and need to get back on track from time to time. It is OK. Know that you are not lost in the woods forever. Get curious about why you are making certain choices and reach out if you need support. I know this can be extremely difficult. Many of us like to think we need to be strong and handle everything by ourselves. It takes strength to reach out. We are not meant to do it all alone

I knew the day was coming that I would share this story. I have been hiding it out of shame and fear. Today is my birthday and one of the biggest gifts I received this year is moving past this situation. Just a warning, if you get grossed out hearing about poop issues, you might want to delete this email now. Here it goes…

A few months ago I took my son to the doctor. During the examination the doctor told us he felt a blockage in my son’s colon.
We were sent to get an x-ray to confirm. The doctor called us to let us know he did indeed have severe constipation that could lead to “megacolon” a serious condition that could require surgery to remove the impaction.

How did this happen? I immediately blamed myself. How could I not know he was constipated? How could I be so unaware of what was going on? Wasn’t I feeding him enough fiber?

The doctor assured me he sees this a lot. He said it has nothing to do with diet. In his opinion, it was strictly behavioral. Kids can start withholding their poop because they don’t want to go the bathroom at school. Eventually you lose the feeling of needing to poop since the nerves are so spread apart they no longer let you know when you have to go.

Now that I understood what was happening we moved on to treatment. We were told to give him massive amounts of laxatives. I knew we needed to take care of the situation even though I was extremely uncomfortable with the large doses of laxatives that were required.
After a few weeks things seem to improve. He was able to go without the laxatives. The doctor warned us of the high rate of reccurrance. The colon is so stretched out it could easily get backed up again. If he got backed up again we would need to take care of it right away or again he would be at risk of needing surgery.

Despite my increasing his fiber with extra green smoothies and prunes, a couple of months later he was constipated again. This time I couldn’t bring myself to use the laxatives. It didn’t feel right to me. With my history of laxative abuse, I have experienced first hand the damage they can do to your body.

I knew there had to be a better way. I decided I needed to change his diet. Knowing that dairy and gluten are highly constipating foods, I wanted to eliminate them from his diet. My husband was not onboard with this since my son does not have an allergy to either of these foods. He thought I was just acting crazy and we should just stick to the doctor’s plan.

After many hours of tears, my husband agreed to consulting with a Naturopathic Doctor. She recommended that we eliminate gluten for a few weeks as well as add in high quality probiotics and vitamins.

We implemented all the actions steps. His condition improved immediately. I was convinced the gluten-free diet was key but my husband was not. We fought a lot about it since my husband did not want me to limit my son’s diet unless it was absolutely necessary. I reluctantly agreed to add gluten in by the end of the summer.

By the middle of August my son and my husband were beyond ready to see if bagels and pizza were OK for him to eat. Even though I had promised I would let my son try eating gluten again I couldn’t bring myself to serve it to him. I was having anxiety attacks just thinking about it. I was so sure I was right about gluten being a factor leading to the constipation.

I agreed to call the his pediatrician and ask his opinion. My whole body was shaking as I explained to the doctor that I had my son on a gluten free diet and that I believed it was a factor leading to his constipation. I explained that I never used the laxatives after the initial treatment despite the fact that he got blocked up again. Since I had never told him that I didn’t stick to his plan, I felt like a kid admitting she didn’t do the homework right. I was sure he would think I was crazy and tell me gluten wasn’t an issue.
To my surprise our pediatrician recommended that I just keep doing what I was doing. He said “why rock the boat…if its working then keep it up.” I couldn’t believe it since originally he told me there was no reason to change his diet and to just use laxatives. He said it sounded like my son was “gluten sensitive” and recommended we stay GF until next summer since it will take that long for the colon to heal.

Why am I sharing this? 
I want you to know that you have more power than you realize. You are responsible for your own health. Yes- doctors can help you but if you are not comfortable with the treatment then trust your gut and seek other opinions.

I am certainly not trying to diagnose all constipation as related to gluten. If going GF didn’t work, I would have kept on trying different natural treatments until I found an answer.

In the process of healing my son’s condition I learned some other things as well:

• I hired an amazing coach who helped me to teach my son how to meditate and alleviate my anxiety.
• I learned how to bake with almond flour and coconut flour. Now I make delicious gluten-free cupcakes with chocolate ganache.
• I learned how to let go of the guilt and shame. I stopped blaming myself.
• I was reminded of the body’s incredible ability to heal.

Thank you for reading my story.
To listening to your gut- Michelle