As for me, J, and Hud, we are doing really well over here. I am one of those people who is really enjoying a lot of aspects of this quarantine, mostly because I finally have the time and space to pour absolutely all of my energy into my healing. My body has been asking, begging, pleading for this for a long time and most days I wake up with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and happiness to be able to just be.

I have also been receiving tons of creative ideas during this time and have been inspired to try new things, create in the kitchen, make fun YouTube videos, create this free healing guide, have a blast on TIK TOK, and record all of the TBB podcast solo episodes. Key word: SOLO episodes… because something in my heart keeps telling me to keep my energy really, really close to home right now and allow this space for my body to simply breathe and be. Comment below and let me know what solo ep topics you’d like to see me cover during this time… I am recording a bunch this week to get ahead!

Also, just because I am having such an enjoyable time being home doesn’t mean the reality and severity of what’s going on in the world is lost on me. We had a really tragic event happen in our building over the weekend that shook me to my core. I will leave it at that for now out of respect for our neighbor and his family. It was COVID related we assume, and I have not been able to get it off of my mind since it happened.

It was a big reminder to m that people are struggling right now in many ways, and it gives me even more motivation and inspiration to be a light during dark times. It’s the least I can do after living through the dark night or my own soul for the last several years. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: living with Lyme is VERY SIMILAR to living in quarantine. I have a whole podcast episode about that here, if you are interested in hearing more.

Anyway, in the spirit of keeping it LIGHT… I shared this brownie batter banana bread recipe on Instagram last week and HOLYYYY mother!! I have never seen you guys remake a recipe so quickly and abundantly in all of my years of blogging! It is so fun to see. Keep the remakes and the pics and vids coming, it is so fun to connect in community during this time.

You guys, they’re innsaaaannee!!

I also want to make it a point to include all of my recipes I share on IG on the blog so they will be forever searchable here! Gotta have that HUB, you know.

And by the way if you are loving these recipes, I want to remind you that I made the code TBBLOVE for 11% off of my vegan recipe ebook & detox program & everything in TBB digital store right now to be sure you can get in on the magic during this downtime.

OKAY, RECIPE! BTW WE ALSO MADE THESE IN MUFFIN FORM WHICH YOU CAN FIND HERE!

And and, you can find a quick 15 second video on how to make these on my TIK TOK, which is fun.

AS ALWAYS, they are vegan, SOS-free, gluten-free, whole food plant based, and heavenly!!

CHUNKY BROWNIE BATTER BANANA BREAD LOAF //

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled gluten free oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large mashed bananas
1/2 cup almond butter (or sub any nut or seed butter you have!)
3 tbsp cacao powder
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax, 6 tablespoons water)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp almond milk
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or crushed up sugar free vegan chocolate)

Method:
• Pre heat oven to 350 degrees, and mix your flax seed with water to make the flax egg.
• Set aside and add all ingredients into the blender minus the chocolate chips.
• Add flax egg when it’s ready (about 5 mins), blend, and then pour into bowl to add chocolate chips.
• Pour into parchment paper lined loaf pan, bake for about 45-50 mins or until golden brown on top, let cool, and ENJOY!!

Ok, who is going to make these?! And what should I make next?! Also let me know how you are doing below. Here for you guys always, and always sending my love. Now and always.  

I am writing to you from beautiful NYC today – looking out the window at the grey, gloomy day outside but so grateful to be back in this city with such electricity and energy. The city where I started blogging 7 years ago, which is so special and always brings me back to the roots of why I started blogging in the first place.

It’s also pretty wild how things come full circle. When I began my blog in 2013, I was writing about vegan food and recipes and how passionate I was about the vegan lifestyle. I leaned toward more of a raw food lifestyle with lots of smoothies and juices, and I was extreeeemely excited every day to wake up and live that way.

For a few years in between then and now, I went on quite the journey. I feel like I have really grown up alongside you guys since starting this blog. So if you’ve been following from the beginning, then you really know me. Like not just Internet know me, but know me know me. If you’ve been here since the beginning then you know, for a few years I stopped being vegan and simultaneously went through a health crisis that escalated and then exploded in 2017.

MY NYC VEGAN DAYS //

In my recovery from Lyme disease and mold toxicity for the last two years, I have been guided back toward a plant based diet. But this time, in an even more healing way. It’s so cool to me that my body lead me toward veganism when I was younger to try to combat stomach issues and live my healthiest life, and even though I wasn’t armed with the same knowledge I have now — intuitively I knew what I was doing was good for me.

For a few years I absolutely loved living that way. I started my blog, and after about a year of blogging every day the noise got loud… really loud. There were so many different opinions of life, diet, wellness, even of me. I had a friend here in NYC who had an eating disorder, and in hearing her speak about it I started thinking maybe I had one too. I expressed this to the people closest to me, started seeing a therapist, and started working on the deep roots of my issues that went way, way beyond food. (Side note, I have been in and out of therapy since I was about 4, so this was not new to me.)

Then I wrote a book about it, as one does. (Lol.) Now looking back on it… I really, truly have so much compassion for that young girl. It pains me deeply to think about what I was going through during that time, and I am not talking about the food. I’m talking about being slaughtered in the media and by the vegan community, the family drama, moving across the country back to LA, feeling sicker than hell, and overall feeling very alone.

HOW I FEEL NOW //

Now I know in my heart that what I was struggling with was not an eating disorder. This may be a controversial topic. True, I had a lot to learn about food and how to eat a balanced plant-based diet that nourished and satiated my body. But my love of health was not a bad thing — it was such a positive outlet for me, such a therapeutic and enjoyable thing. I loved cooking, using food as medicine, trying vegan restaurants, leading people through cleanse programs, visiting animal sanctuaries, making a name for myself in the NYC plant based community.

In fact, straying from that life was detrimental for me. It’s not about the food, but rather the principles behind the food. I felt that if I was recovering from an eating disorder, I needed to eat everything and anything in order to prove to others that I was healed. My life was so public, I was constantly getting so much judgment, and I felt like it made sense to swing the “opposite way” from the vegan life.

I also started seeing nutritionists who heavily encouraged me to eat paleo and then keto and to cut out the carbs and fruit to get back in balance. My hormones were out of whack, I had cystic acne and I was tired all the time. I mean, ALL of the time. And guess what? Those are all symptoms of Lyme disease. I was also deeply unhappy, at least 20 pounds heavier than my body is naturally, and every muscle and joint was in pain ALL of the time.

Once I started dating Jonathan he started noticing little things about me that I had never pinpointed on my own because I had so many blinders on. He noticed that I felt better when I ate plant based foods, that I had a major love for health and the vegan lifestyle, that I consistently overate foods that made me sick when I was stressed, and that my heart was yearning to be vegan again but I was so nervous about it because of the entire journey I had been through in such a public way.

GOING BACK TO PLANT BASED //

Jonathan has a major intuition when it comes to me. Through his eyes, I ended up learning a lot about myself — it goes far deeper than what I have mentioned above but it has influenced my life in the most beautiful of ways. Also, other dear friends in my life who are deeply intuitive would bring up at RANDOM, “You should be vegan again, it would be good for you,” (during healing sessions and just in random conversation) and ultimately I made the decision on my own and it kind of just… happened.

I started eating fully plant based again in the winter of 2017 and have never looked back. As I said, it literally just happened that way. I was in Bali with Jonathan and it became exceptionally clear to us both that certain foods made me incredibly sick and certain foods made me thrive. The foods that made me thrive were all plant foods. The foods that made me sick were animal products. I made a pact to myself on that trip I would stop with the self-sabotage and with eating so many foods that did not serve me or my optimal health.

Months passed, and I was growing very very ill with Lyme disease that had been as yet undiagnosed. Then once I was finally diagnosed with what had truly been plaguing me for all this time, not only was my plant based diet extremely supportive to my healing, but I ended up serendipitously learning about the SOS-free (salt oil sugar free) way of life, which takes the anti-inflammatory healing benefits of the plant based lifestyle to the next level.

Plants then not only became my diet but my little healers. Herbs, plant based foods, and specific combinations of foods (like spirulina and cilantro to detox heavy metals, wormwood to kill parasites, potatoes for L-Lysine to kill viruses) have been the absolute biggest assets on my healing journey. Not to mention, they make me happy. Happiness and belief is such a huge part of healing, and the deep belief I have in their healing properties is such a big part of how far I have come.

Eating a delicious meal at XYST, a new Matthew Kenney restaurant in NYC!

HOW IT ALL COMES TOGETHER //

All of this has only guided me to know in my heart that the plant based life found me when I was young for a reason, so I could learn all about it and in some ways learn how not to do it (i.e. not eating enough or having enough variety and thus getting deficient in certain nutrients), learn to create recipes that I love, and also create a brand based off of plant based cooking.

It’s all wild, really, when you think about the ways things are all so interconnected and meant to be. Some people on the outside looking in may think the opposite- that because I stopped being vegan for a few years and had a bad experience with the vegan community during that time, that how could that lifestyle be healing to me now?

But that’s the thing about the outside looking in… you never see the full picture. It’s impossible to know what someone is really going through, even when they share quite a few bits and pieces of their lives with you online.

Now that I am finally healing, because healing holistically (and healing in general) takes time, the passion I have for the plant based & SOS-free lifestyle is off the charts. I have also started food combining which has been a crucial piece for me, which has helped with the chronic bloat and indigestion I have experienced for pretty much my entire life.

Food combining is something I did years ago as well, studying the work of Natalia Rose & Gil Jacobs back when I was living in NYC- but again it’s something I shunned for a while when I was in the dark place of just trying to “be normal” or “eat normally.” It’s so sad for me to think of myself struggling through it all, walking away from lifestyles that had healed me, but it is all part of my journey.

And now, being back in NYC, where it all began — it’s very cool to see how things have come full circle. The plant based way of life has come back into my existence in the most beautiful, organic way. I couldn’t have planned any of this or guessed that it would happen, and while in a way I wish those darker times had gone differently for me, I know I learned from them and they will make me appreciate the lighter times a hundred times over.

I am so passionate about the plant-based life I could burst into a million pieces talking about it. Getting my family and my friends to even lean toward more of a plant-based lifestyle is one of the biggest accomplishments in my heart because I truly believe it’s the healthiest way to live and the best we can possibly be to our bodies.

Do I shy away from using the term “vegan” after the way the vegan community treated me during my days of trying to figure it all out? ABSOLUTELY. I tend to call myself “plant based” because there is less dogma around it. You will see me using the word vegan here and there because I do identify with being vegan but there is a lot of judgment from the vegan community that you will never see me spread or be a part of.

I still believe to each their own, and if you can incorporate more plants into your life in whichever way suits you then I will be happy.

I would absolutely love to share more plant based & SOS-free recipes with you in my healing program, Detox Your Life, which is a 22 day journey of eating plant based, SOS-free, food combining, detoxing (in healthy and safe ways- that include food!), and all around cleaning up your life. The program will be available until 2/14, and then the cart will close and we will begin the detox together on 2/16! SO excited!!

If you have any questions, leave them below. And I said, if you can incorporate more plants and leafy greens into your day then I am happy. I wouldn’t change my journey for anything even though it definitely got rough there for a while. I love being back in NYC and reminiscing on it all… so grateful. So grateful for all of you sticking with me through this entire journey, too!

I will be sharing my NYC vegan faves soon and going deeper on all of this- but I felt so inspired to share my journey from then to now for those who may not know. I cannot wait to go deeper on all of this one day very soon. In a book? I think yes.

It’s almost the weekend already, ahhhh! Where has the week gone?! And like really, where has the month gone? It is wild to me how fast August has flown by, and that it’s already Labor Day Weekend.

And on that note, that my wedding is now basically two months away… my bachelorette in one month… and by November I will be a married woman on my honeymoon! Absolutely wild. Exciting in the best way, and just crazy how fast time can go.

It has been a big week over here in TBB world. I had my last new podcast solo episode go live before the hiatus I will be taking for the rest of the year, and it has been EMOTIONAL. I feel relieved, excited, devastated, uneasy, and slightly unsure about my decision all at once. In my heart I know that I made this decision from a deep place of necessity, but it’s still hard & sad to step away.

Anyway, more on that another day. Most of this week has been dedicated to resting after my bridal shower last weekend (which was amazing and so special), and to doing some wedding planning & prepping for Hawaii next week! Eek!

Recipe Tiiiime!! & HEALTH BENEFIT TALK of MATCHA & TURMERIC //

Today I am going to share some DELISH recipes with you that have been getting me through the last few weeks, featuring one of my current favorite brands FURTHER FOOD. And the amazing thing is, they are offering 20% off to all TBB readers as a special LDW discount using the code BLONDE at this link!

What you need, need from their site is the Turmeric Tonic & Mindful Matcha. I will give you some recipes using them below, but first I want to tell you why they are so awesome.

First of all they are both vegan, ethically sourced, and packed with the highest quality ingredients. The brand sources all of their ingredients themselves – they literally know their wheatgrass farm. I mean, how amazing is that?!

TURMERIC TONIC BENEFITS //

In addition, they are both 100% sugar-free. Which for my SOS-free lifestyle is an actual must. Their Turmeric Tonic is the only golden milk blend on the market to be 100% sugar-free, so obviously when I heard that I went crazy because I could finalllllyyy hop on this golden milk train!

This is a good reminder that it’s important for people to really read the ingredients on products, because a lot of brands (even big brands!) throw in maltodextrin or other forms of sugar. Their blends taste amazing on their own, vibrant, clean, and DELICIOUS!

Their Turmeric Tonic is boosted with yummy herbs like cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, black pepper for max absorption, and boswellia (for pain relief) and schisandra berry (for immunity). Their Turmeric Tonic fights inflammation in the skin, bones, joints, and gut, boosts immunity, helps to prevent colds, and aids in digestion.

MINDFUL MATCHA BENEFITS //

Thennnn their Mindful Matcha (also, isn’t that a cute name?) is boosted with ashwagandha, cordyceps mushrooms, wheatgrass and ginger. All of which I am obsessed with for many reasons. Matcha with it’s naturally occurring L-theanine, when combined with ashwagandha and cordyceps promotes daily stress and anxiety relief along a sense of focus and energy without the jitters.

THIS BRAND IS AWESOME //

Also a little about the brand, Further Food is one of the only women-owned & operated supplement company on the market. They donate a portion of their proceeds each year to a chronic illness non-profit within their community. In addition, they are the only supplement company that has committed to creating 100% post-consumer recycled and eco-friendly packaging for our supplements within the next 3 years.

HOW FREAKIN’ COOL IS THAT?!?!?

I love them. Like on all levels, I really, realllllly love them.

& they are super kind people! This is a huge plus and always a must in my book.

OKAY NOW RECIPE TIME FOR REAL!

TURMERIC TONIC OATMEAL DELICIOUSNESS //

I have been really loving blending the Turmeric Tonic with delicious, warming oatmeal and making a yummy adaptogenic superfood oatmeal breakfast. It’s simple, delicious, anti-inflammatory, and gut-friendly. My sensitive stomach has been loving all of the warming herbs in the morning.

This is amazing for de-bloating and aiding with digestion, so this is the perfect pre or post-weekend (especially holiday weekend) go-to.

The recipe is super simple. All you need is…

Ingredients //

1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats

1 scoop Further Foods Turmeric Tonic (code BLONDE for discount)

1 cup water or nut milk (I love using a rich, creamy cashew mylk)

Optional toppings: cinnamon, coconut shreds, cacao nibs, bananas, anything you desire!

Method //

Boil the oats in water or nut milk until thoroughly cooked, and then stir in the Turmeric Tonic. Top with whichever oatmeal toppings you desire, and enjoy!

SUPER CRAEAMY MINDFUL MATCHA LATTE //

This goes well with the oatmeal or all on its own. And because matcha is a clean source of caffeine, I can have this a bit later in the afternoon as well without being up all night. But mostly I prefer my matcha in the mornings with my breakfast or while journaling, stretching, or meditating.

This Matcha blend is the ULTIMATE DETOX (after LDW, anyone?!) because of the wheatgrass and ashwagandha that it has.

Ingredients //

1/2 cup creamy cashew milk (or nut milk of choice)

1/2 cup hot water

1 scoop Mindful Matcha (code BLONDE for a discount)

Method //

Heat the water in a tea kettle or over the stove until nice & hot, and then add the nut milk into a frother if you have one. I like to stir the matcha into the hot water (or blend if you prefer), pour into a mug, and then pour the frothed nut milk over the matcha! YUMMMMM enjoy that creaminess and the clean energy you will get from it!

Okay, there you have it! Two anti-inflammatory recipes that are great for de-bloating and aiding with digestion. I hope you love them as much as I do. Be sure to use the code BLONDE at this link to support the incredible brand Further Food, who I am so honored to have partnered with on this post! What are you loves up to this weekend?!

Thank you for all of the love on the new site layout — I am so overjoyed about it. I cannot even handle how much I feel it represents my heart and soul now, and the direction that my brand is moving. If ya couldn’t tell from the branding, I feel the brand (and myself!) moving in a very spiritual, ethereal, calming / zen vibes, soul-level-depth kind of direction. Quite a far cry from the vegan food blog I started in 2013! (But always love that too.)

Speaking of vegan food blogs… my journey with food has been such a, well, JOURNEY over the years. Being plant-based again has drastically helped to improve my health issues over the last few years as I have been dealing with Lyme, co-infections, mold, parasites, hormone issues, and more. In fact, I even came up with the term intuitively plant-based (I am sure I did not invent it lol- but have been calling myself that for a while now) and have been following that for the last couple of years.

Although I shied away from fully using the term vegan most of the time — I have been vegan for the last few years. Especially after staying at True North water fasting center, and learning all about the benefits of the SOS-free vegan lifestyle. And trust me, I am still largely SOS-free and my body majorly thanks me for it because of my ongoing health and inflammation issues.

But when you really boil it down to the core of what I believe in… I am all about being intuitive! Even being plant-based, I have been intuitive about it the whole time. My ultimate belief is that we are souls wrapped in skin – point blank. We came here to live our lives, to feel our best, to have a lot of fun and to live out our soul’s ever-evolving eternal journeys and karmic unfoldings. For that reason & many others… I don’t believe that the way we eat defines who we are in the very least.

Being plant-based again for the last few years, I have gotten a lot of “shade” from people, if you will. “But what about the label-free life?!” people would ask me, again and again.

And how many times do I have to say it? NO JUDGMENT TOWARD THE WAY ANYONE EATS, EVER.

Whether that be plant-based and vegan, raw vegan, paleo, carnivore, Keto, intermittent fasting, whatever whatever. I don’t believe in judging people who label their diets/lifestyles and I don’t believe in judging people who don’t. Just quite simply DO YOU, however that looks for you at any given season of life.

So my reason for writing this post is that I shared on Instagram yesterday that I recently started eating eggs again after being fully plant-based for the last two-ish years. My reasons for eating eggs again were very simply – my body was craving them wildly after really not caring about them or missing them previously, and I give my body what it wants.

Also, I have been dealing with an insane IBS flare up in my stomach, causing extreme bloating, pain, indigestion, insomnia due to the pain, and so much more. Because of that, I have had to cut out things I love and was previously eating in abundance like cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts), kale, lentils / legumes, hummus, and some starches/some rice products to name a few. (Although I am still on the fence with grains – I just can’t eat them every day.)

So with a huge staple of my diet being thrown out the window, it made a lot of sense for me personally to reintroduce eggs. I want to make this abundantly clear- this post is not in defense of me eating eggs again, or in defense of anything I will or will not eat moving forward. There is nothing to defend from! I just like to be honest about what’s working for me always since I know many of you suffer from similar tummy issues and health concerns.

My best friend Jillian even had a dream a few months ago that I needed to get more protein into my diet, and that I was super protein deficient! And I do believe she was right.

Also, a lot of the time I eat egg whites because they are easier for me to digest. And eggs are super easier for me to digest in baked goods — like these delish muffins I made and posted on Instagram yesterday!

The amazing thing is… after sharing that on IG yesterday I got an overwhelming amount of support!!! Not even one negative comment or message as far as I have seen (I hope I haven’t spoken too soon LOL)- which is SO MUCH THE OPPOSITE of the response I received after my initial transitioning from veganism post that broke the internet in 2014. Please dear God never take me back to that time when the vegan community was threatening to murder me (LITERALLY) and I received hundreds of thousands of hate comments and death threats alike on IG/Facebook/YouTube/all over the place.

Now, I feel like society has come a long way with ACCEPTANCE and knowing that all of our bodies are different. Plus, it’s just really truly not a big deal how another person eats- all we should be concerned about is how we personally feel, right? Also I feel it speaks to the loving environment of the TBB community & how it’s grown, and that makes me really happy. <3

Listening to My Body //

So! After sharing that on the good ol’ IG yesterday I have been getting a lot of questions asking how exactly I listen to my body. Sometimes we try to listen to our bodies but it can be hard because if we are not used to it, our internal cues can be all off and our bods just tell us they want chocolate cake all day or something else delish like that- lol but true.

The main thing I do is I speak to my intuition, which is also my soul, or my highest self. I am so excited to share about this because the course I created that is launching on July 8 is all about speaking to our souls + waking back up to our soul’s greatest desires and needs! Communing with our souls is available to all of us. The main element required is TRUST.

When you begin to talk to your soul or any other non-physical energy, it will feel different at first. It’s not like talking to another human IRL that’s for sure. You can begin by automatic writing (writing in your journal, talking to your soul and getting out of your own way in order to let your higher self answer your questions) or speaking out loud to your soul. I find that I am most tapped in after I meditate, or after a hot sweaty workout class, or right before I fall asleep / right when I wake up.

If you’re not into journaling or speaking out loud, you can also let this all happen in your mind. I believe we are all capable of being in tune with ourselves, and part of being fully in tune with ourselves is being able to ask ourselves questions and trust the response.

When I did this, my body responded LOUD & CLEAR that YES it wanted to eat eggs. Also, my guides and my highest self told me many times, “It’s not about the food. It’s not about what you eat… at all.” So trust me when I say that our highest selves know what we need, and my highest self repeatedly tells me to stop being so focused on what I eat / what I don’t eat.

Secondly, beyond talking to my soul/my body, I have a great Nutrition Response Practitioner — shoutout to Vanessa Fitzgerald! Vanessa muscle tests my body for the foods that work for my system, and the supplements and medications as well — and she does me for the supps & meds! I am having her on my podcast soon, she is incredible. Through working with Vanessa I was able to fully pinpoint that the foods I believed were no longer working for me… were indeed no longer working for me (cruciferous veggies, etc.).

So I would highly recommend finding a trusted practitioner to help you through this process as you get started!

Loving life & plants at the farmer’s market this weekend!

Healing from the major IBS Flare //

The truth is, when stomach issues crop up there could certainly be a lot going on. I have had candida & SIBO in the past, but something in my gut tells me that is not the case right now.

What I do know is that I definitely have parasites at the moment, and I will get re-tested for those soon with a stool test through my LLMD (you can also find a good functional medicine doctor to do a stool test with and have them read the results). My parasites are causing major gut issues up in here and I am ready to keep getting them KILLED.

Also, stress doesn’t help anything. I have had so much fun planning and recording and creating and getting ready to launch this course, but I have also run myself into the ground creating it while maintaining the podcast, blog, social media, social life, planning my wedding, healing from Lyme, and more. Our bodies can only handle so much — and my lesson time and again is to MOVE SLOW, & LIVE SLOW.

A few things that have really helped my IBS flare are-

+ eliminating the foods that were not working for me

+ reintroducing new foods

+ taking lots of probiotics & digestive enzymes (I take Silver Fern — use the code BLONDE for a discount!)

+ taking the Boiron products Lycopodium clavatum & Carbo Vegetabilis for making sure the insane amount of gas in my system is getting passed and is not just stuck in my body (shoutout to my soul sis Jenna Zoe for this tip!)

+ warm water with lemon every morning

+ celery juice every morning

+ avoiding nightshades and foods like onion, garlic, and tomatoes

+ eating 3 meals a day separate from each other and avoiding snacking when possible

+ lowering my stress & sleeping/resting more

+ good exercise and yoga (yoga really helps the digestive system with all the twists and digestive release poses)

+ self-massage on my stomach with peppermint oil & CBD salve (I use Cured Nutrition CBD salve- use code BLONDE for 10% off!)

+ lots & lots of water

+ Lil Sipper‘s digestive support protein made by Nuzest USA (plus all of Bethany’s tips and recipes on her blog honestly — she is the real deal)

+ Traditional Medicinal’s Belly Comfort tea on repeat! It’s peppermint & so soothing. I was drinking it like 4x a day during the worst of my flare.

+ Eating simple foods & really paying attention to food combining.

+ I will be doing the Viome gut microbiome test soon to see which foods are best for my personal microbiome & I am so excited! More on that soon.

+ Lots of supplementation to make sure my bod is getting what it needs. Check out yesterday’s post for my favorite vitamin- RITUAL (code TBB for 10% off).

+ Coffee enemas & colonics. You can head here to read my post all about coffee enemas!

+ Castor oil packs on my tummy.

+ Being easy on myself, lots of meditation and BREATHING into my belly!

I really hope this all helps!!! I almost didn’t want to write a post about eating eggs again (and being open to incorporating more newness into my diet if it is going to help me) because I really don’t feel that what we eat defines us in any way. But because I have shared so openly along the way, I figured I would continue to do so now!

I feel that I will be predominantly plant-based for life, incorporating what I need here and there and dipping back into the fully plant-based lifestyle afterward. That is what works for ME. I want you to find what works for you! Never compare yourself and never let anyone make you feel down or less-than because of what you eat or do not eat.

If you are suffering from IBS or feeling tied to any particular diet, you are not alone. You can always speak to your soul, commune with your intuition, find a great practitioner to help you, and focus on all of the self-healing I mentioned above!

So much love to you all! What tips did I miss? Would love to hear. XO 

Also a few updates from my end: this past week’s new podcast episode with Jenna Zoe & Dara Dubinet was such a special show and I have been getting awesome feedback from you guys. If you haven’t listened yet, we chatted about getting “unstuck” in our lives — we all hit rock bottom points in our careers/lives where we feel very stuck, and in this episode we share how all three of us got out of those ruts.

We also discuss astrogeography, the practice that Dara does where she fills in a map of the world with info she gets from your astrological birth chart and tells you where are the best places in the world for you to live, create, find love, cultivate family, buckle down for career, the list goes on!!

I have done a session with Dara and I have my map now and it’s literally the coolest thing ever. I was thrilled to find out that living LA is a great place for me — career, love, family, all of it. Also traveling to places like Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, and even Brazil are great places for my particular chart. I think I need to plan a trip or two. And how serendipitous that Brazil is one of the homes of my beloved Ayahuasca!

And of course we chat Human Design because we have the fab chart reader Jenna on the show, and there is so much to discuss! It is so fun. Cannot wait to hear what you guys think.

Also, thank you so much for the love on the post I shared this weekend about the Gerson therapy program I am embarking on. I am so overjoyed and honored to be able to turn my chronic Lyme experience (that I am still very much going through…) into a way to help others heal. And myself. It’s going to be incredible & I can’t wait to take you guys along for the ride.

Now for these COOKIES !!!

Why Two Ingredients?!

I have been eating a Gerson therapy diet (which you can read all about here) as well as my usual SOS-free vegan diet. This is all for healing reasons, living an anti-inflammatory life, and ultimately doing my best to heal and eradicate chronic disease in my body through nutrition and extremely nutrient-dense plant foods. (On top of my Lyme treatments with my doctor.)

In the Gerson therapy, it is a nut-free lifestyle and for the first 4-6 weeks it is also bean-free. This is to eliminate common allergens and a whole host of other reasons that I will be learning about very soon as I embark on this new way of life / a program I am doing with them.

SO!! These cookies are nut-free. I used to make these all the time with a few other ingredients, like almond butter and chocolate chips or dates and walnuts. So feel free to add in anything additional and yummy like that if your heart desires — even coconut shreds would be heaven, or sliced apples/applesauce!

I have been eating them for breakfast & also putting them on top of my morning smoothies, eating as a snack, dessert, etc. SOOO yummy. SO SIMPLE!

They are vegan, gluten-free (as long as you use gluten-free oats), salt-oil-sugar-free, Gerson therapy friendly, healthy & delish as can be.

2 Ingredient SOS-Free Cookies //

Ingredients //

3 large overripe bananas

3 cups gluten-free rolled oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill, which you can get at ThriveMarket.com/BLONDE — using that link for a big discount on Thrive!!)

Method //

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Chop the bananas so they’re in their easiest form to blend, and then put both the bananas and the oats directly into a high-speed blender of your choice. (I use a VitaMix, which you can find on my Amazon Shop Page).

Blend until smooth, and add a little water if the mixture gets too thick or dry. I added about 2 tablespoons throughout the blending process.

Coat your hands with water so the mixture doesn’t stick to your hands too much, roll the mixture into balls and place on the parchment paper. Press the tops of the cookies down with a rubber spatula.

Pop them in the oven for about 9-12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Let them cool, and enjoy!

I have been drinking mine with flax mylk… SOOO heavenly, and also dipping into my fave chaga tonics!! In my chaga tonic I use flax mylk, Four Sigmatic chaga, Four Sigmatic reishi, and a tablespoon of carob powder. One of these cookies with a tonic is my current morning go-to while I journal, do my breathing exercises, and get the day started.

Let me know what you think of this recipe! So incredibly easy, and so gooey and delicious. I keep these in the refrigerator and they stay fresh for about a week. If they last that long. And as always if you make them, share on social and #tbbmademedoit so I can seeee!!

Well, I should say I am in ONE of my homes: Sacramento! Spending a few days here with my parents getting my strength back before hopping on a flight to LA this week to be home, home.

I am so looking forward to being with J and Huddy…!! But for now, being in Sac feels incredible. I will be hitting up my fave yoga studio (ZUDA!), going on walks with my mama, and using my dad as my official tase tester & sous chef — and by that I mean he will be cleaning up after me in the kitchen which is his favorite thing to do anyway.

Speaking of… the recipe I am sharing in this post is actually BYRON approved! He went wild for it! You can see on my IG stories before they go away. Also, have you listened to my podcast episode with my dad yet? It’s a personal favorite for so many reasons.

Anyway it’s a HUGE DEAL that my dad actually liked these banana bread brownies, because usually he tries my baked goods and requests much more sugar (lol) and basically an all around different flavor. Let’s just say he’s not fully acquired to the plant based, SOS-free life… YET.

So the fact that he loves these mean they are sweet enough for those people in your life who may not be accustomed to low glycemic treats. And the best part is… they are totally sweet: sweetened with bananas, dates, and vanilla!

They are fully salt-oil-sugar free (which you can read more about here if you’re interested), plant based & vegan. They are full of healing, anti inflammatory foods and totally TBB approved for my fellow chronic illness warriors. (Unless you’re avoiding histamines in which case… bananas… but if you’re not intolerant to histamine we are good!)

Again, I just have to say: getting sick was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Not only did it give me the most MAJOR perspective on life and give me a massive appreciation for everything good in my life… but it also introduced me to the SOS-free, plant-based lifestyle. If this is new to you, it’s similar to the Gerson Therapy Diet, which is also used to treat chronic disease.

Chronic illness is no joke. Waking up every day with no clue on earth how you’re going to feel is tough. Especially when most days you feel very shitty. Before I wake up each day I never know if I am going to have zero energy, a full blown body rash, cystic acne that has appeared overnight (oh, it happens), an extremely distended and painful gut, general brain fog and dizziness… the list goes on.

Until someone has had to walk in your shoes, or until they’ve experienced a chronic illness of their own, they simply don’t get it. So if you’re following an SOS-free, Gerson, plant based, whatever it may be way of life because you are doing your best to HEAL your life… ALL OF THE POWER TO YOU. The people who are meant to be in your life will get it, support it, and maybe even jump on board.

(Side note: they do not have to jump on board as long as they support you.)

On that note, THESE BROWNNNIEEES!!!!

I dreamt of these brownies, and about 9238298 other SOS-free recipe ideas, while I was at True North doing my most recent water fast. Nothing like a water fast to get you dreaming about the delicious desserts you can whip up when you’re finished fasting.

Especially when they’re healthy AF & full of plant goodness!

Let’s get to this recipe!! Also linking to my favorite brands for a lot of the ingredients…! You can also order on ThriveMarket.com/BLONDE to get a big discount & all of these products can be found there too!

Chunky Monkey Banana Bread Brownies //

INGREDIENTS ~

• 3 overripe spotty bananas
• 2 cups buckwheat flour (or g free flour of choice)
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax seed mixed with 6 tsp water)
• 1 cup pitted medjool dates (soaked is better)
• 1 banana to top, sliced in half lengthwise (optional)
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 1/2 cup sugar free dark chocolate chips (use ThriveMarket.com/BLONDE)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (use ThriveMarket.com/BLONDE)

METHOD ~

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix flax egg ingredients & set aside to firm.
3. In a large bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly. Keep them in bowl.
4. In a food processor or blender (or a hand mixer… that’s what i used!) add in the dates, almond milk, vanilla, ACV, cacao, and bananas to the batter mixture. Blend until smooth.
5. Pour wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well. *If batter feels dry, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more almond milk.
6. Add in chocolate chips and stir in the flax eggs, then pour batter into a loaf pan or square brownie pan. Top with sliced banana if desired.
7. Pop into the oven and bake for about 50 mins, or until a toothpick runs clean through. Let them cool before slicing, and ENJOY!

Also, I slathered some TAHINI on top for these photos… and because tahini is life.

Alright, there you have it my loves! Let me know how these are if you make them. I have already had 3 today LOL… think I was thrilled to be off of my fast?! Use #TBBmademedoit if you post on social media so I can see!

Tell me what other SOS-free recipes you’d like to see below!! YAY!

The Major Detox //

So my third night was the absolute most difficult of all. I started feeling an intense low back pain during the day while my parents were visiting me, as well as leg pain and a pretty bad migraine. At night it only got worse, and throughout the middle of the night it got worse and worse…

What it felt like was my liver detoxing very heavily, so I tuned into my body and asked myself what I was detoxing. (I also asked my pendulum!) The answers were pretty clear to me. I have been on a lot of medications for the last 9 months treating Lyme disease and mold illness.

For the last 7-ish weeks before I got here I had been on an IV antibiotic called Rocephin (that’s really helping with Lyme!!) and I could feel my body working hard to break down those medications and expel them. Not to mention the inflammation and toxicity in my body from Lyme and mold to begin with.

I was up the ENTIRE night that night!! Not one wink of sleep. I was tossing and turning and literally whimpering to myself… and then I started throwing up. The nausea and acid reflux was extremely intense.

Around 4:15am I emailed my doctor and told him the detox was so intense I felt we needed to slow it down with some juice. So that day I had four juices: watermelon celery, apple celery, carrot apple, and watermelon celery again. Giving you guys the juice deets because I got a lot of questions on Instagram about what juices I was on.

Then I went back into the fast for three more days, and I didn’t go back into as heavy of a detox as I did on night 3. Thankfully I feel that my body had been through the hardest part of it by then. I have so much compassion for my body for pressing through that and for my MENTAL willpower and mental health for being able to withstand such a strong detox.

When you’re sick, you never know what’s going to come up during a fast. Emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually. That’s why I think it’s really important to note that water fasts should not be done at home. It’s safe to do them in the care of medical professionals in a guided environment so your needs are tended to. Had I been at home at Night 3, I would have totally given up and not continued fasting. (Slash would have been horrified at how intense my symptoms were.)

But because I was here, I had my doctors, got my vital signs checked and my blood work taken and cleared, and after a day on juice was able to hop back in. Then I got three more great days of detox, what I came here to do, under my belt before my body told me it was done.

Days 5 – 7 //

Days 5 – 7 were pretty difficult. I was very low energy, as to be expected, and it had been POURING & hailing here in Santa Rosa to the point where nearby areas have totally flooded and been evacuated. Without the option to sit outside in the sun and read my book or enjoy a change of scenery, I was going pretty stir crazy. This is important to take note of because sooo much of fasting is mental — I did not feel inspired at all being in my room 24/7 and it felt like every passing hour amounted to a week.

On Day 6 my parents came to visit, and on Day 7 my best friends came to visit. Having their company definitely got me through those days, as well as drawing inward and remembering my WHY of being here. Also all of the pep talks from you guys on IG and on my email have been very helpful.

Breaking the Fast //

On Day 8, I was feeling very much like it was time to break the fast. I didn’t have as much of an energy reserve as I had before my last fast, because when I was here in May I lost a lot of inflammation & some weight from the health and hormone issues I had been experiencing… so with my weight being what it is now I felt like my body was asking me to stop.

What’s the first thing I did when I felt that way? Listened to my body!! SO important. If anyone out there is fasting for health or for other reasons, my MAIN WORD OF ADVICE is to listen to your body. You don’t want to get into a position where your fast is super extended because your mental willpower keeps you pushing day after day but your physical body is just done.

I’ve had some questions on social media about why my fast was shortened, and listening to my body is exactly why. To be honest, I came into this fast with few expectations. If my body has been up for it I was signed up to fast for 16 days, but the moment I started I knew it would be closer to 10 days. When I stopped at 8, I felt nothing but total pride and love for myself. I pushed through 8 ROUGH days to get to this point, doing something beautiful for my body that I deeply believe in.

After that for two days I went on juice, the same combo that I was on on my 4th day. Then raw food, and now… I am introducing grains. Here at True North they take the re-feeding just as seriously as the fast, so I will be here for a few more days until I am able to eat all the foods again (legumes are last for digestion reasons and I’ll be able to have those in 2 days).

My first lunch back on food! Allll of the delicious randomness, haha!

Food Again & HEALING!! //

Eating again has been an experience!! The taste of food is BLISSFUL after you’ve been fasting. A watermelon celery juice tastes like cotton candy. Fruit with cinnamon (bananas are my fave, you guys know this) is AMAAAAZING. I love the appreciation I have for food after a fast. Eating becomes a spiritual experience — chewing slowly, no distractions, no phone, just being with the food and nourishing myself.

And guess what the best part is?!?! I FEEL LIKE I AM HEALING!!! Not just because of the water fast, but because of all I have been doing for my health for the last 9 months.

My mom noticed when she was here yesterday, during my first day back on food, that my energy levels are FAR & BEYOND what they were the last time I was here. Last time I was here, it took me about a week to regain my energy after the fast and after food. Yesterday was my first day on food and I already had energy to go on a long walk with my parents and felt totally myself energy-wise.

Being able to bounce back quicker is one beautiful benefit I have received this time around and I know it’s thanks to my Lyme treatment over the last 9 months. My incredible doctor (Dr. Erica Lehman!!) has had me on a rigorous protocol of herbs, supplements, hormones, medications when necessary, ozone, vitamin IVs, and more… and it’s thrilling to see that it’s all paying off.

Another great thing is that it is finally sunny here again in Santa Rosa so I have spent the entire morning walking around the neighborhood with my newfound energy (yay!!) and tonight will be going to dinner with my best friends who don’t live too far from here. (Don’t be mistaken, I am eating at True North since I am still re-feeding… but at least I can leave the facility and hang out with them!).

Water Fasting & Lyme //

I do feel like water fasting has been a key part of my healing journey from Lyme. I wouldn’t tell someone to water fast at the beginning of their Lyme treatment or AS their Lyme treatment… but once you’re well on your way to healing it’s a great detoxifying boost you can give yourself and the inflammation it releases is incredible. Letting the body fast & rest is a huge, huge gift… something we do not often give to ourselves.

Although being in bed for the last 10 days has not been the most fun, it has been what I needed. I have heard bursts of inspiration and been able to give my body deep rest and relaxation. I have gotten massages, chiropractic treatments, and craniosacral work on my body. My bod needed this. I believe we always know what our bodies need.

My first breakfast back! SO delish!

SOS-Free! //

And the most exciting thing? Being back at True North where they teach the salt-oil-sugar-free way of life has inspired me in a big way… to create more recipes and hopefully create an SOS-free cookbook for you guys not too long from now! Tell me below if you’d like that.

I don’t want to be known as any one thing or have any major label when it comes to food — but if I can help other people experience the benefits that I have from this SOS-free lifestyle throughout my Lyme journey, I am going to do just that. It’s not about being 100% SOS-free, it’s about incorporating those meals + recipes into your life for an overall healthier, more abundant life.

I am sooo happy to be in this place of healing and I am so grateful for the support & love from all of you & my amazing family and friends throughout this journey. It has been wild and there are some great things to come.

If you have any questions, leave them below. I will be doing a solo podcast episode on this soon too! Who has listened to this week’s episode with Jeannette of Shut the Kale Up?!

XO!

I get questions from you guys about SOS-free every day, ranging from “what does that even stand for?!” to “who is it good for?” to “how has it helped you?” and everything in between. I thought it was high time I did a new post breaking it down that I can refer people to whenever they want to learn more!

First thing is first, the reason I have kept this diet up for so long now is first and foremost because I enjoy it. I am in love with the way the food tastes and how eating this way makes my body feel. Yes, I have had lots of health benefits that I will get into, but I genuinely love eating SOS-free plant-based food and that is reason number one why I continue to keep it up.

I believe from the bottom of my heart that we have to enjoy the food we eat or else we are missing out on a very important and fun part of life. That’s not to say that eating SOS-free will be immediately delicious to everyone, especially people coming from the Standard American Diet. The doctors at True North tell stories about people coming in who are used to eating fast food & gagging on the SOS-free food!

But once you eat healthy for a period of time, your palate changes. So while I don’t advocate SOS-free for everyone (of course), I do advocate HEALTHY for everyone. That’s pretty much the only thing I am a stickler about! Life is meant to be enjoyed, and I believe we enjoy life most when we are healthy and when we feel amazing.

It excites me so much to share about this with you guys. It brings me back to why I started blogging in the very beginning… to normalize healthy, plant based eating. 6 years ago when I started it was still a very hippie, crunchy granola thing. And I am sure in many ways it still is.

Now, SOS-free is VERY hippie, crunchy granola. Most people who write and speak about this lifestyle are much older than I am and live a very specific kind of lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I want to share that eating this way can also be meshed with living a totally normal life, being young, going out and being social, being into fitness and exercise, etc.

Also, if you want to learn more about my personal SOS-free journey (since I will stick more to the facts in this post), you can read this post which is my journey to SOS-free & also breaks the diet down in detail.

So let’s get into it… so much to cover!

The SOS-Free Plant-Based Way of Life

SOS-free means salt, oil, and sugar-free. It goes along with a whole foods plant-based diet, meaning real food from the earth. Fruits, veggies, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds for the most part.

I think a big misconception about the SOS-free life is that it’s not filling or that fats and carbs aren’t allowed because it’s such a healthy diet. Totally not true. Since eating this way, I have eaten more of an abundance of carbs than I ever have in my life, and I feel amazing this way! Fats on the other hand are more limited on the SOS-free diet, but are definitely still part of the lifestyle.

The idea is that fats should make up about 10% of your food intake for the day, but that’s not anything to get stuck on. If you’re eating a balanced SOS-free diet that will probably end up happening anyway. Delicious healthy fats like avocado, coconut, nuts, nut butters, seeds, tahini, etc. are all totally fine. And as far as carbs, things like rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, gluten-free bread (if you can find salt-free), grain-free tortillas, etc. are all my go-to’s.

The idea behind the SOS-free diet is that salt, oil, and sugar are all highly addictive foods since they are all highly concentrated. Salt is concentrated sodium, oil is concentrated fat, and refined sugar is concentrated sugar. Their high concentration is the result of excessive refining and processing by food manufacturers.

When we eat these foods, the more we want of them. That’s why when we are eating a salty or oily or sugary dish at a restaurant, we sometimes eat until well after we are full. Our tastebuds want more! The more refined and concentrated and processed it is, the more we want. But even for someone like me who has not touched processed food in many years, I still went for the oil and salt in abundance before I switched over to SOS-free.

A question I get often is what about eating salt, oil and sugar in moderation. Yes, that is of course an option and I think that everyone should do what most works for them in their lives. However to reap the benefits of the SOS-free life (and there are so many!!), you gotta live that life. Basically eating them in moderation reminds your brain that they’re there, and because they’re addictive will just make you want more.

From a nutritional standpoint, we can get everything we need from simply eating a whole foods, plant-based diet. Salt, oil and sugar don’t give us anything nutritionally that we thrive off of. Yes, sugar gives us energy — but that’s because it’s a carbohydrate! We do need carbohydrates to thrive. Potatoes, fruits, rice, corn, beans, green and yellow veggies, those are all complex carbs that also give us healthy energy without the crash. Complex carbs have naturally occurring sugars that are good for us and are not addictive or inflammatory.

My delish SOS-free fudgy tahini brownies!! Ahhh!

SALT

Ohhh, salt. Salt is in everything. If you buy anything packaged at the grocery store, it definitely has salt. Even things you wouldn’t imagine. Everything from pasta sauce to soups (OMG soups are so salty) to crackers and chips to ketchup to bread to soy sauce to basically all snack foods that you can buy.

Also restaurant food uses a lot of salt. Now that I haven’t been eating salt for 9 months, even restaurant dishes that I used to LOVE in LA now taste like one thing & one thing only to me: salt. It’s almost wild to me that before I could taste the food beneath the salt, and now I cannot.

According to the CDC, in recent years 89% of adults have exceeded recommendations for sodium intake, and 90% of children. Down the line that can cause health issues from high blood pressure to increased risk of stroke and coronary heart disease to obesity to chronic disease and more.

The USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend a tolerable upper limit of 2,300 mg (about 1 teaspoon of salt) or less per day. And how much do you think is in a plate of food at a restaurant? Even in one mashed potato at a restaurant?! Or SALAD DRESSING? It’s SCARY how much added salt the Standard American Diet boasts as normal… even though a healthy amount of natural sodium is of course completely fine. Just not the way we as Americans consume it.

So if you’re cool with having a little salt here and there, go for it, but think about how quickly it adds up. I will say if there’s ever one thing I am not 100% strict on with SOS-free, it’s salt. Because I know a tiny bit every so often is okay, but I’m not talking a full blown salted restaurant dish. A tiny bit in a product however doesn’t bother my stomach the way oil and sugar do.

To keep my salt intake down, I eat out less often, and when I do eat out I tell the waiter about my diet and circumstances (and so does Jonathan and so does my dad — BYRON is my biggest health advocate!!!) and I order something like salad without dressing (you can use lemon or bring your own), steamed veggies with rice, a smoothie if its available, that kind of thing.

OIL

So oil is 100% fat. It is the most calorie dense food that there is, which I hesitate to say because I am a huge proponent of not counting calories. It’s not necessary. But because I know a lot of people out there are struggling with weight and looking to make healthier choices (which is where this blog post comes in!), I do want to bring that to your attention. You don’t get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to oil.

Also, since oil contains no fiber or water, which both help us feel full, we have a tendency to eat way more of it than necessary. I mean, I used to think I couldn’t even sauté or roast vegetables without it! It turns out, I can (with water or salt-free vegetable broth) and they still taste delicious to me. The thing about eating something like oil in excess is that it adds to excess weight, and excess weight adds to inflammation. Inflammation inhibits immune function and increases the risk for all sorts of disease.

For those of us who already are sick with chronic illnesses, inflammation is the last thing we need. It’s funny because I remember telling my parents when I was young that “OIL MAKES ME SICK.” I knew that every time I had something even remotely oily, my stomach would be reeling. Looking back now I believe that my body knew at a young age what didn’t make it happy.

Oil can also slow our circulation, build up in our arteries, and damage our blood vessels. The fat in oil has been extracted from its original food source, so it is now unprotected, making it more prone to becoming rancid through oxidation (prolonged exposure to oxygen), inhibiting freshness and degrading food. Oil that has been oxidized also contains free radicals, which can damage the body and contribute to cancers.

I am not trying to scare you guys! I just want to make sure you have the information you need to make an informed choice about your own diet. Would consuming less oil be a good thing? Yes. It’s up to you what less means to you, or how much you feel comfortable having.

SUGAR

Ahhh sugar! Sugar I feel is the most widely understood addictive food out there. It’s also the most inflammatory. For those of us with illness, we do not want to eat inflammatory foods! I don’t feel I need to work as hard to share with you why sugar is not good for our health, but I will still provide the information.

Sugar has the ability to gradually change the way our brains work, making us want more and more. Do you ever feel sluggish when you eat something that has added sugars? Foggy? Bloated? Yep. It does that. It can also lead to health issues from heart disease to diabetes to obesity — all major epidemics in the US.

The food industry really tries to confuse us. Products and brands have caught on that people are now turning toward lower-sugar diets, so they often get away with changing the name on their food labels. Here are just a few of the other names that sugar goes by:

– Yellow sugar

– Turbinado sugar

– Sweet sorghum

– Saccharose

– Rice syrup

– Panocha

– Muscovado

– Mannose

– Maltose

– Maltodextrin

– Grape sugar

– Glucose solids

– Fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate

– Free-flowing brown sugars

– Dextrose or dextrin

– Barley malt syrup

When reading labels at the grocery store… keep those names in mind! Just because it has a different name doesn’t mean its any different than regular sugar. I mean, for years I was chewing gum ALL DAY LONG, piece after piece after piece, that had Dextrose in it!! Not knowing even what it was!

Fructose however is not a bad thing. We want to aim for fructose in its natural state — fruits, starchy veggies, all that good stuff. Sugar exists naturally in most plant foods, so eating plant based will give you plenty of natural, from the earth sugars. You want something sweet? Bananas! Dates! Raisins! Mangoes! All of the delicious SOS-free desserts! You can definitely still eat dessert. I do every day.

Refined sugar is an empty calorie food, which means it basically has zero nutrients. There is also sugar found in almost all packaged foods, similar to salt. Even things you would never imagine like crackers and breads and pasta sauces and salad dressings… chock full of sugar.

The reason plant food sugars are so much better for our bodies is that they’re accompanied with nutrients like fiber and water, which ensure that the sugars will gradually absorb into our bloodstream and we won’t be immediately hungry again after eating.

When cooking, there are so many great things you can do to substitute for refined sugars. Bananas, dates, applesauce, apples, peaches, berries, and sometimes I use a little bit of maple. (Not sure if maple is traditionally included on SOS-free but I’m just telling you what I use!). You’ll be surprised what your taste buds get used to!

I could go on and on about sugar, but I think you get it.

My SOS-free French fries & plant-based nacho cheese mmmmm

Who is SOS-free good for?

I would say the only people SOS-free is not good for would be individuals who currently have an eating disorder, those who are interested in the lifestyle simply to lose weight and not for any other reasons, and anyone with a health condition that wouldn’t bode well eating this way (I don’t know of any but perhaps there is one).

The only other type of person I would say should not go SOS-free is someone who has eaten this way for a while and feels very deprived. No diet should ever feel depriving.

I am pretty confident that when you do start and maintain eating this way, and your tastebuds get used to the change, you will love it. You just need the right recipes! And there are plenty out there. I have a bunch on this blog, and there are other bloggers & SOS-free cookbooks out there that keep the lifestyle fun and delicious.

The diet is GREAT for anyone suffering from chronic illness, gut issues, obesity, heart disease, or a range of other illnesses. At True North they have case studies of people reversing and shrinking their cancerous tumors into remission with water fasting followed by an SOS-free diet (what!!???!!).

What are the benefits?!

I can only speak from experience, and throughout my battle with chronic Lyme disease, mold poisoning, and MCAS, this diet has been my biggest saving grace. I used to have histamine levels of 1300 (a normal level is about 40). After my first fast at True North I got those levels down to 600. After eating an SOS-free diet for 9 months I’ve gotten them down to 300. I still have Lyme & MCAS, so my levels are still higher than normal, but I am getting there.

I used to get RAGING bloat after every meal. I’m talking looking 9 months pregnant. This goes all the way back to middle school. In fact, in high school the lunch ladies at my school started a rumor that I was pregnant. How RUDE?! But also, I am fairly certain that I was just so bloated so much of the time that I must have looked pregnant.

(Don’t worry, Jane Younger marched into that cafeteria and told them how effed up they were for saying that and of course they denied ever saying anything.)

Now that I am SOS-free (and since my fibroid removal surgery), I hardly ever get bloated. And if I do, the bloating is very mild.

I used to also be wildly inflamed all the time. I mean, I had full body hives for 9 months straight. My inflammation has gone way down, which is an indication of much lower inflammation on the inside.

My skin has cleared up times a million. Because of Lyme, I have had cystic acne for the last few years, especially on my cheeks. Due to celery juice, a great facialist, and my SOS-free diet, my skin has massively cleared up over the last several months. I have heard the same from many other people who eat this way.

Because this is such a healthy diet full of whole, real foods, it helps you maintain your ideal weight. No, I am not saying that it’s going to make you skinny if you’re not naturally a skinny person. I am saying it’s going to bring you back to the weight that your body is meant to be, which is a very healthy place to be.

You will lose weight if you are at all overweight, and will feel very confident and radiant in your own skin. I think this is a huge benefit, as confidence is everything. We all deserve to feel our absolute best.

In my own personal experience, I have lost about 12 pounds going SOS-free. For me this was great because due to the hormonal changes I experienced with Lyme, I gained a ton of weight. I’m talking like 30 pounds. Living a healthy lifestyle pre SOS-free I got a lot of that off, but this lifestyle is what brought me back to my ideal body weight. It feels SO good not to have that extra weight, which is also extra inflammation in the body.

Lastly, this diet is preventative. It sets us up to be healthy as we age. I know that everyone reading this does not want to have a nasty decline in old age like many of us have seen with our grandparents and other people in our families. I want to set myself up for the best possible outcome of NO heart disease, NO stroke, NO cancer, NO Alzheimer’s, NO dementia, NO osteoporosis, and no unnecessary pain.

The truth is, a lot of those issues are the outcome of the way that we live. Yes, some of it is genetics, but the way that we live our lives has a lot to do with it. I was living a healthy life pre SOS-free, but then I learned that my body was riddled with toxins. Riddled!!! And that is largely due to the fact that I have Lyme & compromised detox pathways (MTFHR gene) — so I have to work extra hard to make sure I am not setting myself up for sickness as I age.

My clear skin now thanks to this diet & my lifestyle!

How Do I Maintain a Healthy Relationship with Food While SOS-Free, After Having Orthorexia?

I get this question a lot, and its a beautiful question. My long answer to this would be a novel, so I will try to keep this relatively short. (One day will share way more!)

When people ask me whether SOS-free is right for them in their eating disorder recovery, I usually say that it depends on two things. 1. Where are you in your recovery? 2. What are your reasons for going SOS-free? Then I say be VERY honest with yourself about those answers. I wouldn’t recommend this diet to anyone who wanted to do it ONLY because it sounded like a good way to lose weight (unless that person was obese and had no eating disorder history).

I think people have to use their own discretion. Generally, in recovery from an eating disorder I would say eat whatever you want. Get really comfortable with food. Get to a really good, healthy place with food where you genuinely feel like you can make decisions from a healed headspace. I ate whatever the heck I wanted for about a year after I realized I had orthorexia, and for mental health reasons I am so glad I did.

Then, for me personally, my journey really evolved from there. I was no longer a girl recovering from orthorexia. I was a very, very sick girl with no idea what was wrong with me. I spent YEARS after that trying to figure out how I could feel even halfway decent again in my body. I not only gained excessive amounts of weight and exploded with cystic acne, I had rampant gut issues, chronic fatigue, migraines, rashes, and lived in total misery.

Eventually I was diagnosed with Lyme, but for all those years I felt very terrified and alone with no doctor able to help me. I genuinely believed it wasn’t cut out for me to feel good in my body in this life… that I was destined to feel sick, foggy, exhausted, and in pain every time I ate.

Because of my journey, SOS-free for me is not optional. Since I got diagnosed, it is the only thing that has kept inflammation down so that I can feel good in my body. Every day I make the choice for my health to eat this way and to fight my chronic illness symptoms. The diet is part of my treatment, that’s the way I look at it. I can finally eat food without being in pain… basically ever!

Also, eating this way feels abundant and beautiful to me. It doesn’t feel restrictive at all. I have always loved “plain” foods, not a lot of dressing, nothing oily, so it was kind of seamless when I discovered this. Like… wait, this is how I feel I should have been eating my whole life!

Like I said, I am eating all sorts of carbs, healthy desserts, my favorite smoothie every morning, having so much fun in the kitchen, and feeling good. My gut has never felt this good. My lab work came back from my doctor and I have never had such nonexistent traces of candida in my blood. Ah. Maz. Ing.

And not to be totally confusing, but after learning that I was suffering from Lyme for all this time… I came to realize that an eating disorder wasn’t exactly my problem to begin with. One day I want to share a lot more about this, but it needs its own post. The short answer is that I was a girl with rampant health issues who was trying to find a way of life that worked for her. Being vegan wasn’t the orthorexic thing for me, it was being afraid of ALL foods because everything made me feel so damn sick due to my gut issues from deeper health concerns.

I think of eating this way as giving a gift to myself, versus restricting myself. I feel the opposite of restricted. I actually felt very restricted before I found this lifestyle, because I felt paralyzed by the thought of food making me sick. Because that’s what it usually did, unless I was eating in the way that made me happiest… which was SOS-free plant-based to begin with.

Eating SOS-free makes me feel good for the first time in as long as I can remember (if not ever). It is EMPOWERING as f*ck. Making this choice for myself and sticking to it for all this time not only makes me feel incredibly proud and happy, but it also makes me feel strong. I have finally been able to take my health into my own hands, and I am not going back from here.

I wish this bliss & clarity for everyone, however they may find it.

AHHH!! OKAY!! Officially a very long post. I hope this was helpful and informative for you guys. Leave any questions and thoughts below. I would love to hear!!! I have so much more info on the subject to share, but for now here we are.

In this post I will break down my choices to go vegan again for health reasons, Lyme healing reasons, for the animals, for my spirituality, and for the environment. I will also touch on my past with veganism because I know it’s a subject in my life that gets a lot of questions, as well as the orthorexia component… which I have very detailed thoughts about. I hope you enjoy and I hope you soak it allll in, I know it’s a lot!

I want to preface this post by saying I still believe everyone’s gotta do what’s right for them first and foremost, and I don’t want anyone to feel like because this is my path it needs to be theirs. I actually think every single human on this planet’s path is different from the other, and that is what is so beautiful about us all being here.

K? Let’s dive in.

Vegan for the animals //

I was looking at a photo I took with Huddy yesterday, my angel cat who changed my life in 2938298 ways when I adopted him 3.5 years ago, and something struck me really hard: my health permitting, I would never eat animals again.

I have never been into that comparison in the past by the way, the idea that if someone has an animal they shouldn’t eat meat, or the notion that being a mama to a domestic cat has much or anything to do with eating burgers or poultry or fish or eggs every once in a while. So I am not implying that because I have Hudson I no longer eat meat… or that if you have a dog or cat that you love, you must be vegan. But hear me out.

My thought process is this: having Hudson has made me look at animals in a whole new way, on top of a massive spiritual awakening and shift that has taken place in me over the last 2-3 years (largely inspired by Hudson’s energy… you know this if you’ve listened to any of my Miranda / animal communication podcasts!).

Having Hudson in my life, staring into his eyes, locking into his gaze, developing the most intense bond with him that I have ever felt in this lifetime (aside from and alongside of Jonathan), has brought me closer to other animals I encounter everywhere, from friends’ dogs to stray cats on the streets of Bali to horses in a pasture to frogs singing to me in Indonesia to turkeys crossing the road in my hometown of Sacramento.

It has enabled me to have this moment of, “WOAH. Animals’ eyes say so much. They have souls in there. They have families, they are living and breathing, they have babies, they are mothers, and daughters, and sons.” Like this holy shit moment, you know?

I see Hudson’s eyes in the eyes of cows, and horses, and chickens. It’s not his exact same eyes, of course, but it’s this innate ability that strikes all the way through me to see that we are all the same. Thanks also to Kundalini, reiki, channeling, and other forms of meditation & spirituality for allowing me to see beyond the physical and realize that we are all one. There is technically no difference between me and a cat, or me and a cow. Physically of course there are loads of differences, but spiritually… zero.

Vegan for spirituality & for Lyme disease //

It’s wild because being vegan for many years when I was younger also provided many of those holy shit moments, especially being deeply immersed in the vegan community in New York and in the blogging space, but to be honest I never fully resonated with the radicalism of it all — which is why it was so very easy for me to walk away from. And I still don’t resonate with radicalism! The radical, hate on others to make our message heard, vegan bullying, elitism and judgement is NOT my jam.

For many years I was so turned off of the vegan movement because of extreeeeme haters on YouTube and social media that bashed me (and others) to pieces when I departed from the lifestyle. It makes me sad in the same way that the anti-diet communities have bashed me for being extremely mindful about what I put into my body now that I am healing from Lyme and mold and co-infections. But it’s been good for me to see that the diet bullying is not strictly linked to veganism — it’s everywhere. Just like hate, judgment, bullying, and extremism exists in every area of life, far outside of the diet and lifestyle and wellness communities.

And speaking of healing from Lyme, I truly believe that getting sick has been my greatest gift when it comes to bringing me back to caring for my health in a truly intuitive way. On a spiritual level, it’s like the universe woke me back up by saying, “Health is your greatest passion, and sharing and spreading the message of wellness and living that lifestyle for yourself is a massive part of your calling. Just because you had this negative experience with veganism when you were younger doesn’t mean that you need to turn your back on plants. In fact, your body is going to continue to break down in a variety of ways until you cannot function anymore if you continue to turn your back on this wellness-focused way of life that is calling you.”

Now, that might be a little out there and ethereal for some of you. Which I get. But if you’re a close follower of my blog and podcast, it’s probably very in line with what you already believe. The universe has so much wisdom for us, the earth has so very much knowledge and medicine for us, and plants are a huge part of that.

My journey back to the plant-based way of life has been slow and steady. It started a couple of years ago when I realized that eating red meat and bacon was causing major gastrointestinal issues and weight gain for me personally. I cut those things out but kept poultry, eggs, and fish. Then we all know my health started to blow up in huge ways, from eczema to rapidly escalating Lyme disease, Epstein Barr Virus, and more… and my soul called me back to a plant-based way of eating and healing.

I haven’t eaten anything non-vegan in over a year, with the exception of some collagen here and there and some Omega-3 fish oils and a bit of powdered colostrum for gut issues. In many ways I have been quietly vegan, so as not to rock the boat or make my very personal choice to return to this way of life very public. I also didn’t want to make it public before I was sure what I was doing — a lesson I learned from my orthorexia days, when I used that word very quickly and became an absolute poster child for something I only halfway resonated with.

My thoughts on Orthorexia //

When it comes to orthorexia… that is a tricky subject for me. I do believe I had serious health issues when I was living in New York and addicted to juice cleanses and listening to the advice of raw vegan YouTubers as the word of God. But beyond being somewhat orthorexic in that I had many food fears, I was first and foremost legitimately sick — with extreme gastrointestinal issues, and what I now know were the deteriorating effects of mold poisoning and chronic Lyme disease. I was searching for healing back then just as I am now… I was just younger and more susceptible to listening to people who didn’t quite know what they were talking about.

So yes while I dealt with the tendencies of orthorexia back then as a means of sheer confusion about my health, I now know the root cause of my sickness was physical. I was sick, sick, sick with Lyme back then just as I am now. Orthorexia for me was a direct byproduct of desperately trying to heal myself in the only way I knew how. I don’t resonate with much of what I believed about my health and orthorexic journey back then… because again, I was listening to people outside of myself (nutritionists, doctors, therapists) who also wanted to put me in another box: the eating disorder box.

It is really hard for me to grapple with as I look back on this period of my life. I was very sick, and I was being told I was suffering from an eating disorder. Really what I was suffering from was neurological Lyme disease. Just like many people who I look up to in the Lyme community have been institutionalized, made to feel like they were crazy, put into every box from eating disorders to ADHD to depression/anxiety and more… I was told I had a severe eating disorder. But in reality, I was drinking copious amounts of green juice in place of food because food made me feel debilitatingly ill. And now I finally know why, and now I can remedy that. I no longer eat nightshades, and inflammatory foods that were causing me to feel so very sick — plus the massive healing regime I am on right now in general is helping.

Doctors I Trust & Trusting Myself //

This year I have also been gifted with the knowledge of people I finally, legitimately, truly trust. From my Lyme doctor, to my True North Health Center doctors who have taught me the SOS-free way of life and its benefits, to the Medical Medium who has drastically changed my life and my approach to healing, to herbalists and shamans who have shared herbal tinctures and homeopathic plant remedies with me, and more. And guess what? Each and every one of those things, and people, and healers, brings me back to plants.

Most of all though, I rely on myself. I have learned the hard way, again and again, not to place all of my trust in someone else who is outside of myself. I am the only person who can truly on a deep and soul level understand how I am feeling, and how foods make me feel. I have experimented, fine tuned, and refined my approach to food and healing for the last four and a half years (as well as my lifetime). And what my gut has 100% brought me back to, is the plant-based way of life.

Plants are medicine. Leafy greens, celery juice, herbal tinctures from lemon balm to nascent iodine to nettle leaf to eleuthro to my beloved Four Sigmatic Chaga, to TCM herbs like rhodiola and cramp bark, to the medicinal properties of wild blueberries, to the extreme healing benefits of cutting out caffeine/inflammatory foods… the list goes on, all of this has healed me on a deep, deep level.

Ever since switching to an SOS-free way of life (which you can read more about here), and then amping up my protocol by adding in Medical Medium herbs / celery juice and cutting out high histamine and inflammatory foods… I have noticed SIGNIFICANT changes and improvements in my healing.

Tuning Out the Noise //

Learning to tune out the noise has been the most healing part of this entire journey for me. There will always be haters, I have absolutely learned that. Even people who I have considered friends and felt close to have made subliminal or not so subliminal comments about my healing protocol, and also people far and wide feel like they know intimate things about me because of my blog, book, podcast, etc. which invokes people to think they know what is best for me, without knowing the half of it.

And by the way you do know intimate things about me on the deepest soul level!! But I am not who I was four years ago, or two years ago, or even one. I have changed, as we all do, and my spiritual path has only escalated that change at a quite rapid pace. And as much as I share on the Internet, there is a lot I am unable to share… because a lot of life is lived beyond these tiny screens, and even if I tried I couldn’t share everything because that just becomes impossible.

My confidence has increased ten trillion fold. I am not afraid of what others say or think. In fact, my way of life and dietary preferences should be of no one’s concern. But because many, many people out there also suffer with Lyme disease, and mold poisoning, and MCAS, and gut issues, and even a past with orthorexia… I take my job as a wellness blogger very seriously. I am honored to be able to influence and teach the things I learn that really help me and many others with their severe symptoms.

That’s why I have chosen to share this personal choice in my life. Dietary choices are VERY personal. Passing judgment, subtle or non subtle, is really just not okay and flat out rude. Don’t be that person. How would you like it if I said, “OMG why do you eat meat? Do you know how much cholesterol is in that? Did you realize a cow died in order to be on your plate?” I WOULD NEVER SAY THAT. THAT IS JUST PLAIN ANNOYING, RUDE, AND UNCALLED FOR.

So there is no need to turn the table the other way and make anyone feel uncomfortable, vegan or non vegan or paleo or keto or flat out alien or whatever the heck people choose.

Soooo what I am saying here in this post is that beyond plants healing me on a medicinal, healing my sick body level… I have had multiple epiphanies this year about resonating with veganism for the animals, as well as the environment and for deep spiritual healing.

So all around, I am happy. I am healing. I feel good. I am getting stoked for my digital detox beginning in just a few days.

This is a long and intimate post, and the purpose is to catch you up to speed with a lot of what I have been thinking about and dealing with over the last year or so. There is so much more to the story, which is why I plan to write a book all about this. Would love to hear your thoughts & experiences below, I love to hear from you and get inspired by your words. <3

And specifically… juicy, flavorful, nourishing, bursting full of goods, plant based TACOS.

So yesterday when I woke up after an eleven hour sleep and found myself with enough energy to make my way to the kitchen, pop some potatoes in the oven, and throw these tacos together for lunch I was THRILLED. And they were freakin delectable.

Well, to be honest it didn’t go exactly that way. I woke up, groggily took some Ibuprofen, guzzled the superfood smoothie bowl I posted on IG yesterday, texted my mom and asked her to come over (she lives upstairs now, eek!! 50% of the time at least), gathered enough energy to walk to Alfred for a decaf with her, and felt completely overjoyed to be outside and feel the real sun on my skin. After being inside for almost a full week, it felt amazing.

I almost fell asleep on the Alfred patio (lol) so we walked back, laid on the roof for a while — we have a gorgeous rooftop on our new building, it is one of my favorite things about living here — and then I decided I was going to pull it together to make these tacos.

My Siete Foods family was kind enough to send us these grain-free tortillas as a housewarming gift (not sponsored, just all the realness for one of my very fave brands) and while Jonathan has easily downed 95% of them, he was kind enough to leave a few stragglers behind in hopes that I might be hungry / awake enough for solid food sometime this week.

And when I say “solid food” I mean… I have been on so many pain pills and my abdomen has been in such a state of acute pain that all I have really been able to eat/drink are smoothies and açaí bowls. But like I said, my body was really starting to crave some serious savory goodness.

For a salt-oil-sugar-free vegan, potatoes are a literal godsend. They are satiating, nutritious, dense, easy to prepare and store, super affordable, and extremely versatile. I find myself using them in everything these days from French fries to salad toppings to baked and loaded with avocado and other veggies to the using them as the key ingredient in creamy dips to now a TACO FILLING!

This recipe is FULL OF PLANTS. Veggies, carrots, cabbage, avocado, tomato, legumes, cilantro (if you have any — I didn’t but it would make the best addition) and anything else you wanna add to your tacos to make them your own!

Ready?! Let’s dive in.

SOS-Free Vegan POTATO Tacos

Serves 2-3 people (or 1 person + lots of leftovers!)

Ingredients // 

For the Tacos:

3-4 medium sized organic Russet or Yukon potatoes (1 will be for the cheese sauce, the other 2-3 will be for taco filling)

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 large avocado

1 can salt-free Pinto beans, or black beans, or low sodium refried beans (I use these)

1 package Siete tortillas (I used the cashew flour, but any will do!) or tortilla of your choice

1/2 cup diced tomatoes (optional)

1/4 cup diced cilantro (optional)

Drizzles of turmeric & paprika (optional)

For the “Cheese”:

1 medium sized potato (boiled or steamed) **mentioned above

2 large carrots (boiled or steamed)

1/4 cup raw soaked cashews

2 tbsp nutritional yeast (I use this brand)

1/4 cup water (add more if having trouble blending)

1 tbsp tahini (optional, I add it for creaminess & taste)

1 tsp garlic powder

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp turmeric

Method // 

+ Bake the potatoes in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until nice and soft inside. Poke holes in the potato with a fork to give it some good ventilation for better cooking!

+ While those are baking, boil a pot of water on the stovetop and add in one potato and 2 large carrots. Boil until soft, and then transfer to a high-speed blender.

+ Along with the boiled carrots and potato, add water and the rest of the “cheese” ingredients. Blend until smooth. You may need to pause a few times to make sure the larger items are being pushed down to the blade. Add more water as needed.

+ Set the cheese mixture aside, and prep the veggies and beans for the tacos. Dice the avocado, cabbage, and cilantro and open the can of beans (and drain them). Put them all in little bowls if you prefer, or if you’re just cooking for yourself you can leave them out on the cutting board like I do.

+ Once the potatoes are baked, take them out and chop them up into little wedges. Add turmeric and paprika or any spices of your choosing.

+ Finally, put the tortilla on a skillet (no grease or oil needed unless you prefer it) and let it lightly brown on both sides (about 25 seconds each side). Take it out, and layer the cheese sauce, avocado, beans, veggies of your choosing, and potatoes right on top! Fold it up or eat it nice and open-faced. Both are delicious!

+ If you are a salsa person, adding some salsa or hot sauce is another great addition. As you can see in my photos I didn’t have cilantro, cabbage, or tomatoes (I was low in the fridge, yo) so I worked with what I had. It’s a beautifully simple meal and SO tasty and nourishing.

I love the SOS-free plant-based life because I am back to eating tacos, pizza, “nachos,” all the foods I loved as a kid but totally oil-free, salt-free, and sugar-free. Oh, and plant-based. I love the way it all tastes and I have so much fun in the kitchen.

Cannot wait to hear what you guys think if you make these! Hashtag #tbbmademedoit and tag me on your instas if you try!!

PS, I truly think the cheese sauce makes it. SOOO gooey and delicious.

Thoughts?! Other SOS-free recipe requests?! Hit me!

Also… fun idea! If you are subscribed to the blog and getting the emails straight to your inbox, introduce yourself to me via email and say hi! It always makes it more real for me and fun to hear about you. Tell me: who you are, where you live, your age, your profession, and a FUN RANDOM FACT! And if you’re not subscribed but you want to be, you can do that here!

And another new fun happening of the moment… I am updating my YouTube again! My fabulous assistant Carlyn happens to be a BOMB video editor, so we uploaded this video last Thursday! Would love to know your thoughts + also suggestions & requests for YouTube! I am just getting back on my game so trying to remember to bring the vlog cam with me, etc. So we promise they’ll only get more and more detailed and fun to watch as time goes on!

ANYWAY! Let’s talk about what you came here for!

What I Eat In a Day //

This is probably the most frequently asked question I get on the blog and Instagram. I have been hesitant to share because there can be a lot of comparison out there and I don’t ever want you to feel like you need to eat what I eat in order to feel good and be healthy.

If there is anything I have learned over the years, it is that all of us require a totally different combo of nutrients in order to feel our BEST and feel satiated — it depends so much upon our lifestyle, activity level, overall health quality ( I am sick so I fall into a diff category than most ), genetics, metabolism, and more.

But regardless, if you’re here you probably already know that and just want me to get to the point. I just want to make it clear that this is how I eat right now, and how I eat is always changing and fluctuating! Sometimes I am all raw and other times I can’t stand raw and I am all about cooked foods. I will do a YouTube video on this too so that you have a visual.

A few things I want you to know before we get into it also:

+ my Lyme treatments make me feel very nauseous so I haven’t had much of an appetite these days — I eat snacks throughout the day to make sure I am getting enough nutrients and protein in my bod

+ I am in a place of acute sickness which requires LOTS OF EXTRA veggies, supplements, nutrients, superfoods, and minerals. Don’t feel like you need to run out and spend $92389283 on superfoods just to be on my level — this is out of a place of necessity right now!

So… let’s get to it!

BREAKFAST //

My usual breakfast is a green smoothie, all the way. I am 100% about it. It is such a great way to get an abundance of nutrients, superfoods, protein, and vitamins and minerals but also easy on the stomach first thing in the A.M. for those of us ( like me ), who don’t feel “hungry” until later in the day.

For many years I actually skipped breakfast in favor of a Bulletproof coffee & the intermittent fasting lifestyle, but for my adrenals and my particular hormones and overall health right now, that was really not working for me anymore. It was taxing my adrenals and raising my cortisol and messing things UP!! So now I eat breakfast even when I don’t feel particularly hungry for it and it has been very good for my hormone health and anxiety levels.

My go-to green smoothie //

1-2 large overripe bananas (YES I am into ripe bananas! Some people will tell you they are full of sugar and you should eat them when they are more green because then they are a resistant starch, but I much prefer them to be sweeter and they are easier on my personal digestion when they are really ripe)

1-2 large handfuls of organic kale or organic spinach

1/2 cup blueberries

1 tbsp spirulina (amazing for killing bacteria & detoxing heavy metals in the body)

1 tbsp chlorella

1 tbsp maca

1/4 cup cilantro (works hand in hand with the chlorella and spirulina to detox heavy metals in the body and other gunk)

1 tbsp cacao (I love chocolate, I am a chocolate freak!)

1 cup homemade almond milk

1 tbsp almond butter (for those healthy fats!)

1/2 cup ice

BLEND!

Sometimes I even make it a smoothie bowl  

My reasoning for all of the superfoods is that I am currently in a very sick body, and I need ALLLL of the superfoods and extra nutrients / vitamins / minerals that I can get. Spirulina, chlorella, and cilantro work wonders for detoxing the body. Bananas, blueberries, and leafy greens are full of vital nutrients and vitamins that my body needs right now to fight disease.

I also do CELERY JUICE which you can read all about in the Medical Medium, which I usually have first thing in the morning before I have my smoothie or anything else. I juice 1 large stalk of celery in my juicer or when I am not feeling up to juicing myself, I walk down the street to Whole Foods! Always make sure to use organic if you are juicing celery, and clean it thoroughly: it can be a goldmine for bugs and parasites!

THEN I have either an organic decaf coffee, a chaga latte (using my Four Sigmatic mushroom blends), an iced cold brew with homemade nut milk (if I am feeling like my adrenals and hormones can handle real coffee, which is something I try to have less than 50% of the time for hormone balance + alkalinity reasons), or just lots more water!

I also take a ton of supplements in the morning that are prescribed by my Lyme doctor. Currently I take a thyroid supplement, a Pregnenlone supplement (hormone regulation), use a testosterone cream, and take about 30 Lyme + parasite killing herbal supps! Because of all of these supplements it is very important for me to eat breakfast, which is another reason I no longer intermittent fast.

LUNCH //

Since my breakfast is usually full of greens, from my morning smoothie to the celery juice, I sometimes feel like continuing down the green veggie train or having something a little more starch based.

Currently I have been loving either having a second smoothie of the day, where I try to switch up the greens (for instance I will use something like arugula, romaine, or a diff type of lettuce than I used in my morning smoothie) and add a different type of fat like avocado or coconut meat instead of the almond butter and almond milk. I often have lunch when I am out and about, so I will get a smoothie like this at Erewhon or Whole Foods on the way to a doctor’s appointment most days! ( I am usually at the doctor’s office getting treatment 3 days a week right now. )

If I have a second smoothie I make sure it has some kind of superfoods in it: either maca, spirulina, bee pollen, moringa, chlorella, clean plant protein (right now I am loving SILVER FERN for plant protein), or all of the above.

Other times I am more in the mood for roasted veggies so I will do a combo of roasted potatoes ( I AM VERY into white potatoes right now, which you can also read all about the benefits of in the Medical Medium !!!), broccoli, squash, and cauliflower with something like my plant based nacho cheese dip! Sometimes also with black beans, like below! Yummmm.

Other times it will be a huge kale salad with salt-free pinto beans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sliced figs (or any yummy seasonal fruit), dates, avocado, and a lemon-tahini dressing that I make simply with JUST tahini, lemon, and a bit of water!

The salad I live for…!

SNACKS //

Throughout the day I almost always have a large carrot juice, either juiced myself or from a local juice bar or Whole Foods. I usually add in a lot of ginger for anti-inflammatory purposes and other incredible health benefits!! Other times I will have a large green juice with all the goods and lots of ginger also.

Another go-to snack of mine is a plant-based protein bar. I am loving the “No Junk” bars that I just pick up at Whole Foods and I also love RXBars. RXBars are not vegan but if you’re okay with some egg whites in your diet I think they’re delicious, full of nutrients, and always hit the spot.

Lastly… I am known for always having homemade SOS-free granola, salt-free cashews and almonds in my bag!!

DINNER //

Usually by the end of the day lately I am EXHAUSTED and very, very depleted of energy. This is largely in part to Lyme and the treatments I do every week. So I am all about the QUICK & EASY dinners.

I either meal prep veggies, where I will roast them (usually squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and sliced potatoes) at 400 degrees for 45 mins to an hour with paprika, thyme, and lemon juice. I do this in big batches and keep them in Tupperware for the week, and then I eat them with my nacho cheese dip, some white rice (if my stomach is tolerating grains on that particular day / week), legumes, or a big pile of steamed greens!

If I am not having my roasted veggies which are truly my GO-TO, I will also frequently bake a potato ( either white potato or sweet potato) and stuff it with mashed avocado, black or pinto beans, lemon juice, and baked tempeh.

To bake my tempeh I just buy the brand Light Life at Whole Foods or Erewhon, shop it into really thin slices, and bake it at 450 degrees for about 20 mins (watch so it doesn’t burn) and spice it with turmeric and paprika! SO yummy! It also makes a great salad topping and has tons of protein in it, if you can handle what it is made with (fermented soy and grains — make sure you’re always buying non-GMO if you eat soy).

TEMPEH!

And if I am not having any of the above, I will resort to a delish packed kale salad very similar to the one I described above that I sometimes have for lunch.

I ALMOST ALWAYS finish my day with chocolate! I am a huge, huge fan of Addictive Wellness chocolate because it’s completely sugar-free and full of superfoods and vital herbs and polyphenols. You can listen to the founders on last week’s TBB Podcast episode, and use the code BLONDE on their website for 10%!

I also love finishing the day with a steamed cup of almond milk or coconut milk with lots of Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Hot Cacao in it. Use code BLONDE for a discount there as well… I truly live for that stuff.

Oh heyyy mushroom hot cacao!

Since the way I eat is totally intuitive ( which you can read more about here ) I really do switch it up every day. This is a typical day of meals but it is always changing. The one constant is that it’s always intuitive, plant-based ( for now ), and full of nutrients / superfoods / supplements / veggies. If my body is feeling EXTRA sick and rundown, I stick to liquids like juice and smoothies for a few days.

Would love your thoughts! How do you eat? Do you like intuitive, smoothies, lots of greens, lots of meat?! Tell me!