I know it hasn't been a week since I blogged, but I am home on a "freeze" day, so I decided to blog.  Hopefully you have been documenting what you have been eating and drinking.  Are you seeing any patterns of foods that you may not tolerate well?  It can be difficult to figure out without doing a total elimination diet.  Electrodermal screening takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process.  Sometimes it is not the foods that we are eating, but rather the preservatives in the food that cause us problems.  With food sensitivities, the signs may show up a day or two after eating a food that doesn't agree with you.  Rotating foods is a great way to give your body a break and be able to tolerate foods better.  As an example, if you have gluten today, wait three or four days to have gluten again.  Alternate the grains that you eat, and hopefully you will feel better.  There are so many options available now that taste good, this is an easy option.  Try brown rice, quinoa and corn, or other types of pastas.  There are numerous breads made of alternate grains.  Quinoa is a great and versatile grain that can be eaten for any meal.  A goal for this week would be to try to stick to whole foods.  If you see ingredients on the label that you don't recognize, don't eat it this week.  Even better, buy whole ingredients, and create your own meals... if you are able to buy organic, you will be able to avoid pesticides, herbicides, additives, hormones, chemicals and more!  Clean, simple eating will give your body a break, and hopefully improve your energy level and mood.  Have a great week! 

I am excited to start a new year.  I have a good feeling about 2014--if you live in Minnesota, we are starting the new year with frigid temperatures, so it is a great day to hunker in and make a plan for the year.  I was going to have my first blog about food sensitivities, because I believe that we aren't going to improve our energy, health, and weight issues without addressing foods that don't agree with us.  I came up with a different idea to get an idea of how foods make us feel, and to document how we are currently eating.  Here is the idea:  Throughout the day, anytime that you eat or drink something, take a picture of it with your phone.  On the notepad of your phone, document how you are feeling throughout the day - when you get hungry, if the foods you eat make you tired, energized, or overly full.  Make notes on exercise that you do, and activities that make you happy.  Write down anything that may play a role in the food choices that make you feel good or bad.  At the end of the day, text or email the pictures and notes to yourself, so you have documentation of what your day looked like.  Do this for a week, and then evaluate what choices are the best for you.  If foods make you tired or crabby, it may be worth eliminating them from your diet, and see if you find your energy level improving.  Also, weigh yourself each morning when you wake up.  Document your weight each day.  If you find that you have days that you gain weight, even though you were eating healthy, there is probably a food in your diet that you are sensitive to.  Other reasons for weight gain might be not drinking enough water, not eating enough, or having too much salt.  For this first week, try to pack in vegetables - make them the main part of your meals, but also include good proteins and healthy fats - and don't forget the fiber!  Hopefully this first week of documenting will help develop the perfect plan for you.  Everyone has their own specific needs - whether it be more protein, smaller meals, eating frequently, or eating only a few times a day.  Also, if you have a pedometer, wear it this week and get a baseline of how much activity you are Find out what works for you!  Happy 2014!

Many people ask me for plans that they can use to jump start a detoxification or weight loss plan.  I just completed a 28 day cleanse that took out the main foods that people are sensitive to.  It isn't a plan for wimps...for the majority of the plan, sugar, gluten, meat, soy, corn, dairy, oranges, tomatoes, alcohol, and many vegetables are removed.  This cleanse does give your body a break and brings down inflammation in the system.  It is also an opportunity to determine if you are sensitive to any of the above foods.  I tested myself using electrodermal screening after completing the 28 days, and found that the foods that I was sensitive to included MSG, peanut butter, white wine, shrimp, pork, yogurt, and squash.  If you find that any time that you eat, you experience bloating, gas, and digestive disorders, this may be an option for you.  You can find this cleanse at www.clearchangeprogram.com.  There is also a 10 day option if you don't want to commit to 28 days.  Another option that I found that isn't quite as strict is found on Doctor Oz's web site at www.doctoroz.com/videos/clean-detox-manual.  This program is based on a similar premise of eliminating offending foods, but may be more doable.  If you are looking for a protein drink, stay away from whey protein when eliminating dairy, and opt for plant based proteins instead (not soy).  Of course, it is beneficial to do electrodermal screening to determine going in what foods you are sensitive to, because many people are sensitive to some of the foods that are still included on the plan (salmon, avacado, rice and many vegetables).