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ChrissyJee

Egg Buying Guide + What Egg a Health Coach Chooses

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Eggs are nutrient-dense, easy to eat and have built in portion control.  There are a lot more choices in eggs besides the size.  It can be overwhelming deciding between organic, free-range, and cage-free eggs.  The type of eggs you buy are a personal choice so it’s best to choose based on your priorities.  Here is a simple buying guide to help you buy the right egg for you:

Egg Nutrition Facts for one large egg

  • 6 grams of protein
  • 5 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated)
  • Yolk is where you will find a lot of important nutrients so eat it to reap these benefits.
  • 5 percent of your daily vitamin A needs
  • 10 percent of your daily vitamin D needs
  • 27 percent of the daily amount of brain-boosting choline you need
  • eggs labeled “omega-3” generally means the hens were fed a diet supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids, usually DHA
  • The number of eggs you eat each week depends on the individual.  For those who have a personal or family history of heart disease, eat egg yokes within the context of your saturated fat intake for the day.

Conventional Eggs come from hens living in battery cages. These are cramped mesh cages that prevent the hens from stretching, nesting, spreading their wings, basically anything besides laying eggs.  The cages are not electric, the name battery comes from hundreds and thousands of cages next to each other like a battery cell.

Natural Eggs means nothing.  All eggs meet this USDA regulation because nothing is added to eggs.

Free-range Eggs means hens have shelter and also have access to the outdoors.  There is no regulation on how much time the hens stay outside or if the area is covered with vegetation.

Cage-free Eggs means hens stay indoors but have unlimited access to food and water and do not live in a cage.  The hens generally have space to walk and run, spread their wings, and actually lay their eggs in nests.  While this is a very good environment, it doesn’t mean the hen lives a cruelty-free life and could have their beak burned off (a common practice), or transported long distances without food or water.

Pastured or Pasture-raised Eggs come from hens that are uncaged, free to walk around and nest, and given access to the outdoors. While this is a very good environment, it doesn’t mean the hen lives a cruelty-free life and could have their beak burned off (a common practice), or transported long distances without food or water.  Pasture-raised hens were able to eat bugs and grass and likely richest in “omega-3s” then all other eggs.

Organic Eggs are raised at the same standards as pasture-raised hens.  “USDA certified organic eggs” were produced without pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers and the hens were fed an organic diet without those substances or fed any animal by-products or antibiotics. Organic eggs are also non-GMO because the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) prohibits the use of GMOs.

Shop Local. The best way to find out how a hen is cared for is to learn about the company.  This can easily be done by talking to your local farmers about how they raise their egg-laying hens.

My favorite eggs to buy are pasture-raised eggs.  I prefer to buy them from a local farmer.  If I can’t get pasture-raised eggs from a local farmer, I’ll order these.

Happy Shopping,
Chrissy xo

 

 

I Broke Under a Mountain of Small Stresses

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This is a picture from a Memorial Day weekend away with my family in Washington DC.  The weekend after this trip I broke down from all of the stress in my life.  Everyone breaks down differently.  For me, it’s a feeling of being overwhelmed with life and losing control.  It’s usually followed with uncontrollable crying.  I have had less then a handful of breakdowns in my life.  Sometimes a breakdown happens after a single stressful event.  Like when my dad broke his leg skiing in Canada last year, and laid in the hospital for four days on a morphine drip while he waited for a surgeon to have enough time to perform emergency surgery.  This time, I broke under a mountain of small stresses building up over time.  I am an oldest child and Asian so not being able to control my life or emotions is not a place I feel comfortable.  I am at my most vulnerable and a breakdown is my body’s way of crying out to start making changes in my life and get myself to feeling good.

We all have “baseline stress” in our life where we worry our kids will always be safe, deal with rush hour traffic, scramble to make  our deadlines at work.  Baseline stress is normal and ok.  Occasionally, really stressful events will happen in our lives and our bodies have natural defense mechanisms to manage these circumstances.  Over the last few months I’ve piled onto my body lots of small stresses from all the unexpected things that happen when building a house, living with my parents during construction, taking on a high profile project and working more hours, and launching a health coach practice.  These were consistent every day stresses that were added to my “baseline stress”, and it was too much and my body broke.  Our bodies were not made to be really stressed all the time and it tells us by having trouble sleeping, thinking, digesting.  When things are really bad, they break down.

I’m slowly climbing my way back to feeling good.  It hasn’t been easy because I’ve developed a lot of bad habits these past months and I need to replace them with good habits of health.  Here are the habits I’m creating in my life to put my body back together and feel good:

  • At least 7 hours of sleep a night.  This is so important for my road to recovery.  My body will only get better if I let it rest.
  • At least 30 minutes of free time a day.  This is me-time where I selfishly do anything that makes me happy.  For me, it’s finding places to go on vacation, getting a pedicure, reading, and shopping.
  • At least 30 minutes of exercise and movement.  It can be a class or a walk around the neighborhood, just make sure it’s something you enjoy.
  • 1 time a week have coffee or lunch with a friend.  Social connection is so important to good health.
  • Eat a nutrient-dense diet.  Lots of vegetables, grass-fed and pastured meats, broths, gluten-free, stay away from processed foods, and 2 alcoholic drinks a week.

Broken but going to be ok,
Chrissy xo

Creating Your Personal Habit for Sleep

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My problem with sleep is not falling to sleep, it’s getting enough sleep. I’m a night owl because I like to get everything done the night before. After I had my second child at age 34, I developed an autoimmune disease and getting enough sleep has been a big part of my road to recovery and feeling good.

Sleep is one of our pillars for good health.  When our bodies are sleeping, our memory and learning improve, metabolism and weight are managed, we keep safe by not being tired, our mood is controlled and we do the things we want to do, and we maintain healthy cardiovascular and immune systems.   The best sleep for your body is done naturally. Using sleeping pills or other artificial induced sleep methods makes you unconscious, not sleep.

There is a lot of evidence that suggests we need 7 – 9 hours for optimal body function and prevention of disease.  According to the National Health Interview Survey, about 35% of US adults sleep fewer than six hours a night.  More evidence links reduced sleep time and quality to a range of health problems in brain function, hormone production, cell regulation, immune function, and metabolism.  It is a big stressor on your body when we don’t get enough sleep.  When people tell me they function fine on 4 hours of sleep, I always respond they don’t know how much better they would feel getting 7 hours of sleep.

It is important to create a habit of sleeping 7 – 9 hours a night.  If you don’t already have this, it will take repetition and a little effort each day to create this habit for yourself.  Here are the steps to create a habit of sleep in your life:

  • Make sleep a priority.  Start with a goal of 8 hours of sleep plus the time it takes to go through your bedtime routine. This time should be like an appointment in your calendar where you schedule the rest of your day around it.
  • Create a before-bed routine.  This should be a sequence of actions regularly followed before going to bed.  This will train your body to be tired and ready for sleep.  Below are ideas and guidelines for creating your personal bedtime routine.
  • Control your exposure to light.  Light is the primary determinant of our circadian rhythm and sleep-wake cycles.  Reduce exposure to artificial light at night and increase exposure to natural light during the day.  If you are like me and spend time on your computer before bed, get a pair of blue-light filtering glasses.  To get more exposure to natural light during the day, consider drinking your morning coffee or tea outside or taking a 30 minute walk at lunchtime.
  • Move your body.  There is extensive research supporting physical activity having a positive effect on sleep and too much sedentary and sitting time may decrease the quality and duration of sleep.
  • Optimize your sleep nutrition.  Some people, especially with digestive issues, sleep better after eating a light dinner.  Others with low blood sugar do better with a snack before bed.  In general, it’s best to not be too full or hungry when you go to bed.  I encourage you to experiment with macronutrient (protein, carbohydrate, fat) ratios to find what best works for you.
  • Ditch the stimulants.  If you are having trouble sleeping, try stopping all caffeine intake for at least 30 days.
  • Regulate your nervous system during the day.  We live busy lives, constantly on the move to the next activity or appointment and rushing to get things done.  When our nervous system has been on overdrive for 16 hours, it’s unrealistic to assume that it can switch into low gear in a matter of minutes because we want to sleep. Managing your stress levels throughout the day is very important to getting a good night’s sleep.
  • Create an environment good for sleeping.  Your bed and preferably your entire bedroom should be used for sleep and sex.  Avoid working and electronic screens in the bed, especially near bedtime.  Create a pleasant and relaxing environment – make your bed as comfortable as possible and control the temperature.  Most of us sleep better in a slightly cool room.  Darken the room with a face mask or blackout shades and reduce the noise level with earplugs or a white noise machine.

My habit for sleep is to take a shower and brush my teeth by 9pm and then spend 2 hours watching TV or reading or writing a blog post (like this one).  My bedtime is 11pm and I get up at 6am.  My nights follow this routine almost 90% of the time.

Happy sleeping, Chrissy xo

Reason Why I Eat Gluten-Free

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I stopped eating gluten over 6 years ago after my youngest daughter was born.  I was exhausted all day, always felt like my brain was in a haze, and my stomach was covered with eczema. I just had a baby so I initially thought it was from being overwhelmed taking care of a second child and breastfeeding the baby every 3 hours.  But after months of feeling like this, I knew something was wrong.  After seeing many doctors and going the multiple tests and procedures, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, a thyroid autoimmune disease where my immune system produces antibodies that attack my thyroid.  If you have a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, your body will launch an autoimmune response, or attack, on the gluten protein in your body.  The gluten protein and thyroid tissue are structurally similar, so when your immune system is attacking, antibodies could accidentally go after the thyroid tissue.  Eliminating gluten from your diet can remove this autoimmune response.  My road to recovery started the day I stopped eating gluten.

What is gluten?
Gluten is a type of protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.  This protein acts like a binder, acting as the glue for baked goods, breads, pastas, and giving them spongy elasticity.

Why does gluten make some people sick?
Contrary to what people believe, GMO white flour has not been approved for sale anywhere in the world.  Wheat has been crossbread over the years to withstand pesticides which some experts believe is the cause of increased inflammation, not the wheat itself.  Factories also develop bread and processed baked goods with a higher percentage of gluten using a stabilizing ingredient called, vital wheat gluten, to develop elasticity much faster, reducing the time from 24 hours to 20 minutes.  People with a gluten sensitivity have been able to digest bread from farmer’s markets and Europe because they were made with traditional methods and high quality, less-processed wheat.

Hope this was helpful, C xo

7 Natural Ways to Beat a Hangover

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There will be times, intentionally or unintentionally, where you will celebrate a little to much, drink one or a few too many alcoholic cocktails, and wake up with a hangover.  In case you haven’t experienced a hangover, the symptoms of a hangover include headache, nausea, stomach discomfort, and dehydration. A hangover is a sign your immune system, digestive tract and organs are struggling to remove and filter out excessive toxins from too much alcohol.

As someone who wants your best health, excessive drinking is stressful on your body and it is best to avoid.  But if you find yourself with a hangover, the key to feeling better is supporting the liver and detoxing for the next 12 – 24 hours.

  1. Hydrate.  Alcohol dehydrates the body.  Drink water.  Also, drink coconut water and bone broth to restore electrolytes.
  2. Naturally relieve your headache.  Skip the aspirin, it can cause liver problems when mixed with the alcohol in your system.  Instead take magnesium for a headache.  If you can remember, take magnesium before you go to bed to help prevent a headache from happening.
  3. Settle your stomach and nausea with ginger tea.
  4. Take your B-vitamins.  Alcohol depletes vitamins in your body.  The liver’s detox processes rely on B-vitamins to detox effectively.
  5. Detox with food.  Eat eggs, they contain L-cysteine, an amino acid responsible for breaking down toxins and releasing them.  Eat cooked broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and brussels sprouts because they contain enzymes that support liver detox.
  6. Sweat it out.  Exercise and movement stimulates the lymphatic system to excrete toxins and get the blood flowing.  Go for a quick hard workout.  Move through a yoga class or take a brisk walk.
  7. Rest. When you have a hangover, your body is crying to rebuild and recover.  The time your body does this is during rest or sleep.

To health and happiness,
Chrissy xo

The Good and Bad About Inflammation

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Inflammation has become a popular word with health professionals, doctors, and communities and not in a good way.  Before we talk about why inflammation can be bad, let’s first understand why it is good and necessary for our body.  Inflammation is our body’s natural defense system.  It’s the process that senses foreign invaders and sets off a series of events where white blood cells and other special chemicals protect us.  Inflammation is a good thing when it happens normally protecting and healing our bodies.  Examples of this good acute (short-term) inflammation:

  • We get a cut, bruise, scrape, or have a virus and our body reacts with pain, swelling, and fever.  Inflammation flushes out the bad and harmful stuff.
  • After a hard workout, your muscles are extra sore and it’s hard to walk up the stairs or sit on the toilet. This soreness is caused by inflammation in your body repairing and strengthening itself to be stronger and protect itself from injury.

Things start to go south when inflammation is chronic or constant in your body.  In these cases, your immune system is out of balance, inflammation is out of control, causing a constant state of defense in your body that contributes to disease and weight gain.  The causes of chronic inflammation are sugar, high doses of the wrong oils and fats in your diet, hidden food allergens like gluten intolerance, lack of exercise and movement, chronic stress and hidden infections.   These causes can trigger a raging, unseen inflammation deep within our cells and tissues.  It can lead to major chronic diseases of aging like disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia.

The scary part of chronic inflammation is it can go undetected for years and wreak havoc on your body.  If you are dealing with chronic inflammation, it becomes critical for you to cool off your internal defense system and prevent a series of damaging events.

Here are two ways to start reducing inflammation in your body:

  1. Reduce adding processed or real sugar to food and drink.  Sugar causes inflammation and is the root cause of obesity and chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, or neurological problems like depression and autism.  Start by reducing the sugar, real or artificial, you add to your food or drinks.  For example, if you add sugar to your coffee, reduce it by half the first week, and work your way to not needing it.
  2. Reduce stress.  Chronic stress negatively impacts our bodies.  It has become the norm in our modern lives where our schedules are packed and our ability to multi-task is the only way to accomplish all we have to do.  Stress will be part of our lives but we need to manage it so we can get the rest we need, enjoy time with our loved ones, and not feel overwhelmed.  Management might mean you need to stop doing some things, start a meditation practice, exercise regularly, or visit with friends.

Hope this was helpful,
Chrissy xo