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The Perfectionist’s Guide to Good Eating

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There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

That old Mother Goose nursery rhyme comes to mind often in my work. Women sitting there telling me of all the beautiful meals they make for themselves “when I’m being good.” There’s a self-righteousness to these parts of their food day, a certain pride in the fact that they’ve learned the rules and show a sense of discipline.

These same women go on to tell me about later in the day – during that afternoon dip or once supper’s over and they’ve settled in front of the TV. That’s “when I’m being bad” and their poor food habits show up. When the office candy bowl and cookies and ice cream and the repeat visits to the fridge take over all sense of reason or strength of will.

One client recently referred to such bad habits as “sins” – insinuating that there is a moral transgression being committed, one punishable by God. Ouch.

Is that tendency a part of the perfectionist’s personality? That when you’re being good, you’re very, very good, and when you’re bad you do so with equal zeal? Which certainly translates to those sins being well worth the self-flagellation and berating you offer yourself in return. Double ouch.

 

That’s the kind of black and white thinking your inner perfectionist no-doubt craves. There ends up being no room for grey zones.

Unfortunately, nutritional advice has evolved into nothing less than one huge grey zone.

The lines get very blurry from one style of eating to the next, and even blurrier between experts on a given style.

Even so, when you decide on a specific set of rules, you will accept nothing less of yourself than following those rules to the letter as outlined by one of said experts. Sometimes to the sacrifice of your likes and dislikes. Or in ignorance of your emotional state or how active you’ve been or the fluctuations through your cycle. Sometimes cutting out any sense of celebration.

Yet, when it comes to “good” and “bad” food choices, there can be no absolutes.

I do the air-quote thing on purpose when using those words with students or clients. I want to emphasize the fact that the goodness or badness of a food or an eating habit is relative.

good and bad food choices

Here’s what I mean:

We all know sugar is “bad” for us, more so for those dealing with such conditions as Type II diabetes or cancer. Even when calming inflammation of any kind (including those 15 lbs that have set up camp on your middle), sugar will feed the issue.

In that sense, sugars from any source need to be taken into consideration, whether it’s from a candy bar or a PB&J or a carrot or a glass of wine. At the end of the day, they all contribute to how much sugar you’ve taken in. That is, the carrot has potentially become one of the “bad” guys.

That said, sugar is our cleanest energy source and getting a certain amount (up to 10% of your daily calories) makes life a heck of a lot more pleasant and your body function more efficiently. When you focus on whole foods and eliminate the added sugars, you can easily stay within those limits. At which point a carrot, full of fibre and antioxidants along with the sugar, is a “good” source.

Make sense?

In In Defense of Foods, Michael Pollan shares another great example from psychologist Paul Rozin.

From a list of foods, study participants were asked to consider which food item from a given list they would choose to have on a desert island (along with water). Participants chose bananas, spinach, corn, alfalfa sprouts or peaches over hot dogs or milk chocolate.

However, on that desert island, that hot dog might be your only source of protein for a few days, the chocolate will keep your blood sugar happy and your mind alert. Of all of the above, they would increase your chance of survival.

 

And then we get into the actual enjoyment of good food.

How well will your body take in and use the nutrients of a healthy bowl of steel-cut oats and ground flax if the texture grosses you out and you can barely swallow, let alone chew it? If you pinch your nose to get through the steamed kale, is it possible your cells will be pinched on the inside?

In Chinese tradition, when the shen (your spirit) tastes the food or herbs in your mouth, that is the first stage of your organism’s ability to take it in.

If you prefer physiological facts, think about your parasympathetic nervous system. You know the relaxation response, that is, the part of you in charge of “rest and digest.”

Call to mind the most delicious thing you’ve eaten this week. (Seriously, do it!)

Remember taking that first bite – how buttery or complex or pungent it was – what happens in your body? As you imagine the flavours expanding in your mouth, don’t your shoulders drop? Do you maybe let out a big sigh and fall back in your chair ever so slightly? You’ve relaxed –  engaged the PNS – improved your digestion by simply savouring your meal.

Now repeat the exercise with the last thing you ate out of righteousness. I’ll bet you feel a little more tense from that one.

Which brings up the question, is food “good” because of its nutrient profile or because it tastes good?

Engaging your taste buds also attunes you to the fact that tasting “bad” may mean that a food has gone bad; mouldy or rancid or rotten. It may be telling you that the food in question is actually bad for you in some other way. Try eating a fast-food burger slowly, savouring every bite. How does it actually taste?

Feeling bad – physically, mentally or emotionally – after eating a particular food is another way your body tells you to steer clear. This is your individual decision, regardless of how nutritious the actual food.

 

Do I have a solution to offer you for maintaining good eating habits?

I prefer to think that you have the solution by listening to your body through practices such as

* Mindful eating – slow, deliberate and seasoned with gratitude. This extends to mindful planning, grocery shopping and cooking. As they say, most of healthy eating is in the prep.

* Engage the relaxation response throughout your day, with breathing exercises, meditation or generally loosening the strictures on your image of what the “perfect” (yes, that one’s relative too) meal, or the “perfect” life, need be.

* Forgive yourself when you’ve been “bad”, knowing you can start again at the next meal. Beating yourself up for your less than “perfect” choices does you more harm in the long run that the junk food.

* Take responsibility for your choices. Stay away from stuff you know is “bad” for you (see above). If, however, you choose to go ahead, know that it may involve consequences on one level or another. YOU have the power of choice over the food you put in your mouth, not the other way around!

* Step back and explore your emotional state before you go back for that second helping of [insert “bad” choice].

Rather than a grey zone, I prefer to think of healthy eating habits as a full-spectrum. Not black & white, but exploding with colour. Just like all the best food.

The word “healthy” comes from the same root as “whole”. By letting your whole self be a part of the action – the “good” bits and the “bad” bits of you – you are feeding yourself from a place of fulfillment. You fill yourself with more than parcels of nutrients (or junk) and will be more satisfied and healthier for it.

 

Which part of your eating habits do you consider “bad” and what do you do to make it better? When you offer your thoughts in the comments, you open the possibilities for others.

Share this post with any friends struggling with getting control of their eating habits by using any (or all!) of the pretty green buttons.

The Soul of Bone Broth

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You can’t turn around these days without tripping over a nutrition expert extolling the virtues of bone broth.

Guilty as charged. I have been suggesting bone broth to clients with everything from IBD to arthritis to breast cancer, and to entire groups of busy, nursing mothers. Heck, it even makes a great body booster for my athletic sons.

Is bone broth truly a revolutionary superfood or just the nutrition-obsessed flavour of the month?

 

I’ve always known bone broth to be the ideal supplement for nourishing, well, your bones.

It’s one of Nature’s calcium supplements, balanced along with ALL the minerals and protein your bones need. By steeping all the nutrients from one set of bones into liquid, they’re easily assimilated to support yours.

Recent studies are proving that this very basic, traditional food is also loaded with

  • glucosamine (repairs cartilage),
  • chondroitin (reduces inflammation & improves joint function).
  • electrolytes, including a highly absorbable form of potassium (regulates heart rate, blood pressure & nerve impulses).

Bone broth has being touted as the cure for leaky gut and dysbiosis. It calms inflammation and detoxifies your digestive tract. It nourishes you when you’re pregnant; it rejuvenates you when you’re ill.

My goodness, bone broth really is a super food!

 

Now, you might know me enough to realize that my trust in bone broth goes much deeper than those wonderful physical benefits.

Broth is at the basis of some pretty ancient traditions: show me a Jewish grandmother who doesn’t make chicken soup. What about congee, the Chinese equivalent? Soups cross every culture – phó, dal, wonton, Korean hot pot, Mexican avocado soup, minestrone,…

This isn’t coincidence. These foods developed from very basic human practices: ancient traditions that use every last piece of the animal they killed. Not the “yucky” parts we modern Westerners tend to throw away, bones and cartilage and fat and organs are the gold!

Think about it: your structure and your organs are a core part of you, the most essential, so it stands to reason that they should be storehouses for your most essential nutrients.

 

Maybe it was the fat scare in the late 20th century that turned us off these good bits. Maybe it was growing awareness of environmental toxicity that compelled us to chuck the skin and the liver. Then, we became overly concerned with building muscle, which somehow translated to a need to eat more muscle, aka lean meat.

Over the last few decades, our focus shifted from enjoying the whole animal, to only wanting boneless breasts and tenderloin.

The return to whole food seems radical, but it’s just a natural return of the pendulum after so many years feeding ourselves refined, partial foods and non-foods. Some items obviously need peeling or gentle cooking, but the goal is to eat food as closely to how it grows in Nature. All of it – the seeds, the pith, the leaves, the roots – not just the starch and the sugars.

Whole food is not just about plants, either. Eating whole food also means eating an entire animal. Ok, you might not eat an entire cow at one meal, but a family of 4 or 6 through a year…sure!

Eating the whole animal means getting what you can out of the gristle, the gizzards and the bone, not just the “meat”.

It’s not just the what of bone broth, but the how.

We city-dwellers also like the convenience of cooking lean, boneless meat. Nothing to trim or clean; just pop it on the grill or in the pan and voila! healthy fast food at home. We live fast, we eat fast, we want our meals to be ready fast. I can’t tell you how many women in my office tell me they don’t have time to make healthy meals.

At the risk of sounding like my mother, Rome wasn’t built in a day. To have anything of quality – a solid house, a well-made dress or a healthy body – is not something that appears fully-formed overnight. Quality takes time and effort and persistence.

Your body regenerates completely every 7 years. Which means that it could take that amount of time to shift your health fully. There is no magic bullet – no herb, no superfood, no drug – that will cure you tomorrow.

You’re in the driver’s seat of your own healing with the choices you make, the food you eat, the thoughts you think, the feelings you express and words you speak. All that you receive into your body and that you emit from your being form the dynamic creation of your health. It’s a wave, a pulse, an ever-shifting breath. It is eternal.

Health takes time. Wait…scratch that…it’s timeless.

When you feed your body with such “slow” food as bone broth, you are infusing the water, not only with nutrients, you are accessing the health and energy of the animal, of the plants he ate, and of the plants you’ve added to the pot.

Having a crock-pot on the go for a day or two harks back to the kettle on the fire, the hearth of the family home, the core of the community. It’s the women around the fire-pit, tending, caring, nurturing. You’re heating the house and nourishing your family with nothing less than basic nutrition. Boiled down to its essence, you’re feeding your family with love.

Nothing fancy or difficult about it, either. Same method your grandmother used: bones and veggies covered in water, with the addition of some vinegar to draw out the minerals and break down the protein. Let it simmer ever so gently for a good long time (3-4 hours for fish, 24 for poultry or up to 48 for beef). Want a more specific recipe? Try this one from the inimitable Sara Bradford.

If truly time is of concern to you, why not engage some of that community spirit to your benefit? Get a couple of friends to start bone broth sharing: everyone collects their organic bones and veggie scraps in the freezer, then each month, one of you tends the fire. You can even make a party of everyone coming by with their jars for their share of the wealth.

 

Perhaps my ideas are bit too far out in left field for you. Then, look at it this way: taking the time to make your own bone broth is a way of slowing down, of taking a breath in the middle of your go-getter life.

See the effort of bone broth as an act of self-care, an act of self-love, to supply yourself and your family with the most exquisite nourishment you can offer.

 

There are countless recipes out there for how to make and use bone broth – what’s your favourite? When you share in the comments, you open possibilities for others.

Have a friend looking to improve her health and digestion? Send her this post by using any (or all!) of the pretty green buttons.

The Skinny on Fat

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What better time to talk about fat than the lead-in to the holidays and the prospect of all the deliciously rich food on offer.

In exploring the beautiful reflection you see in your meals through the Magic Looking Glass for Eating Right, you are also learning to reflect a deeper care of yourself. This is self-love in action. Eating a balance of nourishing food you enjoy is one of the concrete ways you express self-love – it’s a form of radical self-care. Each of the nutrients in the looking glass framework offer you an important angle for eating right AND show you how you can nourish your best self.

Let’s first clear the air by saying that fat isn’t bad for you. It’s absolutely necessary to your health. Eating fat doesn’t cause you to put on fat…unless you eat it in poor qualities and excess quantities.

Why You Need Fat

Your brain is made of 60% fat, and your nerves are coated in the stuff. Without that insulation, all those electrical signals flying around at light speed would go haywire.

Your cells are surrounded in fat, keeping their functional molecules contained away from the watery medium of your body.

Your sex hormones are made from fat (cholesterol, to be precise), and your body fat is necessary to certain stages of their production & metabolism. I’m talking estrogen, progesterone, testosterone: your ability to reproduce. Not to mention all the fun & games to get you there!

Cholesterol is also the base for vitamin D (for your bones and immune system), and for bile, so that you can digest, you got it…fats.

You know all the hype about getting enough essential fatty acids, vitamins A and E? Unless you eat a variety of fat, you’re not getting these goodies.

The fat under your skin insulates you from temperature changes. Boring? That fat also keeps your skin soft & silky.

I know you’d like some of that padding to go away, but it’s actually a protective layer for your vital organs.

Fat & oil in food, when heated, carries the aroma of a meal. It’s why your food smells so delicious: Nature’s way of stimulating your appetite.

When you eat a bit of fat in a meal, it actually slows the digestive process, so you’re satisfied sooner and feel full longer. (Yes, fat, just like fibre, helps you eat less!)

Now tell me, how is any of that bad for you?

“But it’s so high in calories!”

True. A gram of fat has 9 calories, where protein and carbohydrates have 4. There’s a reason for that.

Fat is a storage molecule.

(Technically, we refer to these molecules as lipids: oils in plants, fat in animals/humans.)

The sun’s heat gets trapped when a plant makes sugar (carbs) – we release that energy when we eat the plant (or eat an animal who’s eaten the plant). The plant concentrates that heat into the seed as oil, ensuring it has what’s needed to endure the winter and sprout again come spring.

Animal or human, the fat stores on the body ensure we’ve got the energy to make it until the next meal. (Don’t forget, we’ve evolved through eras of feast or famine.) Like the plant, or the squirrel in your backyard, you have the capacity to store up for a long cold winter.

As a keeper of calories, lipids hold your heat.

Let’s look at what that means at a deeper level.

During the height of summer, a plant’s oils evaporate & disperse into the atmosphere as its perfume. Its essence. It’s how the flower expresses itself, declares its presence to the world, attracts the bees & butterflies that ensure its reproduction. It’s part of what we love about flowers.

Could we say that our essence also manifests through our lipids?

The thoughts, memories, emotions sparking around your brain; the decisions you make and your ability to carry them out, via nerves, to your motor activities…they’re all facilitated and made efficient because of fat.

Your femininity – your curves, your ability to nurture, be receptive and creative, your ability to attract a mate and have a baby – all of it flourishes because of your fat.

Every cell in your body, the houses of your DNA, the machinery that builds and rebuilds the physical aspects of your being, would fall into chaotic disarray without the lipid membrane that keeps it whole.

You solidify the boundary of who you are and you glow with inner light because of the fat in your skin (like an oil lamp).

Just as the flower attracts others with its scent, your own essence – the heat you give off to the world by being fully present in your life – sparks connection with others. In love, in friendship, in work, in community.

 

To ensure that you’re glowing to your fullest potential, there are, of course, a few guidelines. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of this already, but it bears repeating.

Fat Quality

You need to eat a balance of 3 types of lipids for your body to work at its best.

Saturated:

These fats are easily recognized because they’re more solid at room temperature. Mainly from animal sources (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, butter & cream), they’re also found it coconut and palm oils.

The plant form of saturated fat are very easy to digest and actually help burn other types of fat because they’re made of shorter chains. That is, they provide easily accessible energy.

Egg yolk also contains a fatty compound known as lecithin, which eases your body’s ability to get the fat where it needs to go without damaging any arteries along the way.

Monounsaturated:

Found in poultry fat, which is why it’s more viscous than lard from beef or pork.

The best (and yummiest!) sources are avocado, olives and olive oil.

Polyunsaturated:

We know these as the essential fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6.

Omega-6 are in animal meats, poultry, nuts & seeds and plant oils (corn, safflower, sunflower, etc.), i.e. in fried foods.

Omega-3, the mood-calming, anti-inflammatory fat, comes in leafy greens, fish, grass-fed animal food, seeds such as flax, chia, hemp; nuts like walnut.

We need both types in proper proportion, but our over-use of the one kind has displaced the other and increased our need for it, hence the view that one is better than the other.

Fats and oils are “bad” when they’re out of proportion or no longer in their natural state.

Overheated, these lipids are damaged and lose their nourishing effect beyond the calories they add. (Different oils can withstand different temperatures.)

Processed – hydrogenated, heat extracted, bleached, deodorized – they are stripped of their natural properties, stripped of their essence, their subtle energy.

Which means that your body won’t necessarily recognize them as usable material.

These altered molecules (such as trans fats), when not assimilated effectively into your body, create more work for your liver. Plus, they hang around as free radicals – the scavenger molecules that wreak havoc, leading to inflammation, cardiovascular disease and cancer (among others).

Quantity of Dietary Fat

You need 20-30% (some even say up to 40%) of your calories from fat. If you’re that average person who eats 2000 calories a day, that translates into 44-66 g (88 g) of fat each day.

To give you a practical idea, you need 3-5 servings a day…not a lot:

2 tsp of butter, oil, nut butter = 10 g
2 egg yolks = 9 g
½ avocado = 15 g

You need 1/3 of each type; saturated, mono & polyunsaturated (in equal proportions of omega-6 and omega-3).

As you indulge this holiday season, you’re storing up some extra heat for the winter.

Remember that, as you curl in with more quiet, indoor activity through the cold months, you give your soul a chance to feed its essence for your re-emergence next spring.

No matter what you do eat (or skip) this holiday season, make sure you’re doing so from a place of joy and celebration. (If you missed it, you can still listen to last year’s webinar to help with this.)

In the comments, I’d like to hear how you struggle with the idea of fat or the enjoyment of fatty-rich food. When you share your thoughts, you open the possibilities for others.

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8 Steps to Healthy Breasts

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Because the women in my life are so important to me, I’m dedicating all of my work for October 2013 to them: my friends, my colleagues, my readers, and all the ladies I connect with in multiple Facebook communities. I want to empower my sisters with a baseline of knowledge, which you can build on as part of your own healthy practices.

Self Love

While most of the western world observes breast cancer awareness in October, I want to put a positive spin on things. The blogs I’ll post this month will pour energy and focus into the manifestation of breast health. It’s a celebration of our femininity and our connection to the Goddess.

Today, I offer you practical tips for your breast health.

Purple Cabbage

The food & lifestyle recommendations I’m sharing here are good for your breasts no matter the state of your/their health.

Perhaps you simply want to incorporate their care into your daily routine. Maybe you want to lessen your tendency towards cysts, or alleviate monthly pain & tenderness. (Incidentally, these benign breast symptoms are much more common than their more insidious cousin.) And yes, reduce your risk for breast cancer, perhaps even help to heal it.

My intention is to move beyond the fear of cancer. Where we put our attention, grows. Why wait for a diagnosis to provide motivation to change habits in your life that may contribute to that, and other diseases?

WHAT IF YOU MAKE A RADICAL DECISION TO TAKE YOUR BREAST HEALTH INTO HAND SIMPLY AS A PART OF LOOKING AFTER THE GIFT THAT IS YOUR WHOLE BODY?

I can guarantee you, whatever’s good for the “girls” is good for the whole woman.

First some facts:

  • Breasts are made up of glandular tissue that’s sensitive to hormonal changes in the body, which means they change through the menstrual cycle, and through perimenopause.
  • They’re particularly sensitive to estrogen, to which we’re exposed more & more (see below).
  • Because of the strong link between the nervous & the endocrine (hormonal) systems, breast tissue is highly reactive to stress (both internal & external).
  • Breasts and nipples come in all shapes & sizes. Most of us have one that’s larger and/or higher than the other.  We’re all different. Or should I say, unique. As such, it’s important to get to know what that means to you. What’s your normal?

Estrogen dominance, the imbalance of estrogen relative to progesterone,

  • is amplified by high body fat (some estrogen is produced in the fat cells)
  • and by a high sugar/simple carb diet (increased insulin sets the stage for cellular inflammation and increased estrogen circulation by suppressing the hormone SHBG).
  • Inadequate fibre reduces the clearance of hormones once they’ve done their job, allowing them to recirculate and do more than they were intended for.
  • Environmental toxins (aka endocrine disruptors) mimic and increase estrogenic activity. Estrogen exposure includes that from the Pill & HRT, and their circulation in our waters.
  • Add inflammatory tendencies from poor diet and stress, and you have the recipe for overstimulation of breast tissue, a higher incidence of benign breast symptoms (lumps, cysts, pain), as well as an increased risk of cancer. (Estrogen dominance is also responsible for PMS, uterine fibroids and thyroid imbalances.)

One point to highlight about any symptoms in your breasts

This is the place in your body that’s deeply linked to the way that you care for others, yes, but more importantly, your breasts are a barometer for how well you’re nourishing yourself. Any symptoms you experience in your breasts are a part of your soul’s messaging system, reminding you that there are places where you need to give more time, love and energy to yourself!

So, let’s dive into what can be done to protect, improve and maintain these gals.

Get to know your normal. In the next blog, I’m going to detail a new approach to the Breast Self Exam. Knowing the details of your own body is a crucial step in improving on its integrity.

For now, I give you

8 STEPS TO REDUCE ESTROGEN DOMINANCE AND IMPROVE BREAST HEALTH

Try looking at these suggestions as a way of improving your diet globally, for all sorts of bonus health reasons, like more energy, a healthier weight, clear skin, and increased libido. Now, who wouldn’t want all that?

This is not something you need to do in one shot, because then you’ll be right back to your old habits next week. Instead, every few days, choose a new habit to incorporate, a different food type to replace, or a new food to add to your menu. Let this be a gradual transition, a gentle shift to a new way of living, with lots of room for forgiveness and kindness along the way.

1. EAT MORE VEGGIES!

  • Aim for a minimum 4 cups; challenge yourself to get as many colours of the rainbow in one day. Vary the types and preparation.
  • Eat more cruciferous veggies daily: indole-3-carbinol limits estrogen binding. Be sure to mostly eat them cooked to lessen the goitrogenic effects, i.e. improve iodine absorption.
  • Eat fewer nightshades, or avoid them altogether if you have inflammation.
  • Include leafy greens daily. These babies, which include fresh herbs, are packed with vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fats and phytoestrogens!

The upshot: the more veggies you eat, the more you displace poor food choices, which means you will

  • Decrease body fat
  • Decrease sugar and refined carb intake
  • Increase soluble fibre intake

2. Get to know where you’re exposed to xeno-estrogens and other toxins that add to the load your liver has to clear:

  • No more plastic containers; especially with hot, acidic, fatty food
  • No more chlorine-based cleaning products
  • Opt for organic food
  • Drink filtered water; consider a filter for your shower
  • Choose cosmetics with natural ingredients

3. EAT PHYTOESTROGEN- AND LIGNAN-RICH FOODS; these plant-based compounds act like estriol and lessen the impact of estradiol. Bonus: they’re all rich in fibre!

  • Legumes/pulses/beans; includes red clover & fenugreek
  • Seeds, nuts & healthy oils
  • Whole grains such as brown or red or black rice, quinoa (≠whole wheat/grain flour products)
  • Leafy greens (yes, I’m repeating myself on this one!)

fiber-rich-foods crop

4. GET ENOUGH IODINE to decrease the ability of estrogen to bind to receptors

  • Seaweed; add a 2-inch piece of kombu to your rice, instead of salt; eat more sushi!
  • Tincture; a small drop can be applied right to a sore breast daily for 2 weeks
  • Supplement drops
  • If you’re at the beach, take long, deep breaths of the iodine-rich sea air!

5. EAT PLENTY OF GOOD FAT The more omega-3 and other high-quality fats you eat, the fewer “bad” fats you’ll eat (hydrogenated, trans, heat-processed, fried oils)

  • Cold water fish; salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines
  • Flax, hemp & chia seeds
  • Walnuts
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, butter, ghee
  • Avocado, olives, free-range eggs

6. Eliminate dairy
It’s mucous-forming. And, in the US, BGH given to cows adds to your hormonal load.

From an energetic perspective, milk is meant to flow from the breasts, out of a woman’s body. When you ingest milk, you reverse that natural flow, and create blockages & inflammation in joints, kidneys, uterus, ovaries, as well as breasts.

Stay away from all dairy for one month, and see what happens – you might be surprised!

7. REGULAR MODERATE EXERCISE regulates insulin and reduces body fat.

Walk, bike, swim, garden, yoga, dance around the living room like an idiot,…find something you love to do. Make it fun!

8. CHANGE YOUR BRA

An underwire or a too tight bra will prevent proper blood & lymph circulation, which means it cuts off the nutrients going into your breasts, as well as the removal of wastes coming out.

I know. I know. I love my “Body by Victoria” as much as the next girl. But, I’ve come to appreciate those as my occasional bras, and save the cotton sports bras & Lululemons for daily use. It’s made a difference to how lumpy by boobs used to get premenstrually. I’m currently on the lookout for a stunning bra that holds the girls in place without the wires and without looking like it’s a hand-me-down from my great-aunt Bernice.

Have you tried other solutions to improve the health of your breasts? Tell us about it. When you share in the comments, you open the possibilities for others.

Because this is a topic that effects us all, be sure to share this post with the women in your life, using any (or all!) of these buttons.

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