Beauty, Wellness, Recipes, Food
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This time of celebration, gratitude, community, and connection is not to be ruined by a diet NOR is it to ruin a diet. Instead, you make space for the things you love.
During the holidays your schedule is going to be flexible. We are going to skimp in some areas to make space for indulgences. Also, don’t believe that if you don’t feed every hunger you will binge later. That is simply not true. You are eating leanly so that you can eat more later. You are making space. Do not eat before the party. Just eat at the party. Eating before is not going to increase your willpower, but it will increase the total amount you eat in a day. So during the holidays - start sidelining the things you can do without. For me that means I go super low carb most of the time; snack on cucumbers and tea; and prioritize moving after eating. That way my leanness during most of December makes space for the celebration days. Think of three ways you can create space for your celebrations? Another idea comes from a client who has lost his gut with jolie this year. He orders a one or two day broth cleanse and then uses the broth throughout the day as a replacement to some of his meals and a way to suppress hunger. An excellent, and sustainable, way to make space for what you want without sidelining your goals. I do a pre- and post- celebration period of 12-24 hours intentionally hydrating and eating mainly low calorie foods like jolie salads and soups. With these hacks, you can move toward and maintain your weight loss goals while celebrating. And in doing so, you learn how to maintain weight loss during periods of events, parties, and celebration. Mastery over food equals you not feeling restricted by good foods vs. bad foods which means learning to include things you love in a diet that serves you. I wanted to arm you with strategies for including non-negotiable foods so that they work with your plan and do not harm it.
First is to prioritize quality: up leveling your non-negotiables means opting for higher and higher quality versions. For example, my chocolate non-negotiable overtime became more and more aligned with my healthy lifestyle as I improved the quality of my chocolate and the percent cacao. Now, I can say that my love of chocolate adds to my health instead of distracting from it. Timing is important. Food timing is something we dive into with our online training in nutrition, weight loss, and metabolic health. Eat them when you will most enjoy them. Eat carbs or sweet foods at the end of meals to buffer the absorption of sugars. Move after you eat if you can to blunt the caloric effect. Know that you will have those foods again. You do not need to gorge yourself or overeat because you will have those foods again. You can always have them again. Let yourself know this, so you are not motivated to eat past enjoyment. You enjoy it. Stop as enjoyment wanes and move on until the next time. This approach empowers you to enjoy your weight loss journey without sacrificing the foods that bring you joy. Thanksgiving is an Optimization day. Optimization days are built into jolie weight loss programs to give you caloric and macronutrient variation AND to teach you that within a weight maintenance lifestyle you can have foods that are not your “normal.”
So how do we Optimize on a day like Thanksgiving? The Thanksgiving menu is definitely more robust than your usual Optimization day. The day before Thanksgiving is your day to eat foods that are filling and calorically low. We do not want to go into Thanksgiving starving and to do as much walking as possible. A Sample: Go for a morning walk Smoothie like jolie Beauty Elixir: protein, plant mylk, spices OR 2 eggs and a salad Lunch: A salad focused on vegetables. For protein: chickpeas or fish/shrimp Dinner: Sauteed greens and fish or lentils Do as much walking and moderate movement as possible. This will put you in an energy deficit without hunger. Enjoy Thanksgiving day. Let yourself Optimize with foods you really love and make you feel celebratory and happy. Don’t waste it on throw away food that you can live without or don’t even really enjoy. Do not take leftovers home! The day after fast as long as you are full. For me, I can go most of the day after Thanksgiving without eating. The heaviness from eating carb rich foods is a lot for me and I don’t feel hunger for quite a time afterward. Once you do feel hungry, eat lightly just to take the edge off of your hunger. Do this for all of Friday and even into Saturday if you can. This will land you on Monday not too far off the mark. If you like, join a jolie cleanse the week after Thanksgiving to finish the job. The key to long term weight loss success is honoring your non-negotiables. My first question to you as a client seeking weight loss or health transformation is what are you not willing to give up? Be honest. What is it?
You will learn to lose weight with these 1-2 non-negotiables in place. Sustainability has to be accounted for from the beginning so you can develop a thin-self lifestyle you can live with forever. The benefit of having clear non-negotiable foods is it adds value to your program from a nutritional and mindset perspective. From a lot of experience, I can guarantee that there is a way to lose weight for you even with your non-negotiable. Optimized weight loss which includes your 1-2 non-negotiables: 1. Promotes Sustainability - Including foods you love is the beginning of creating a thin long term style of eating. 2. Reduces Feelings of Deprivation - One thing we work really hard to do is to support weight loss without deprivation. Extra effort goes into taste, variety, and flavor because this is your new long-term way of eating. Banning your favorite foods, feeling restricted with no balance for your cravings usually results in going off the rails; therefore, your favorite foods. 3. Creating a new relationship with food is at the center of permanently creating a new health status - Weight loss diets can sometimes create a mindset of "good" and "bad" foods, leading to guilt when eating something deemed unhealthy. Including non-negotiable foods helps normalize all food choices within moderation. Mastery over food is the aim; not feeling judged by your food choices. 4. It allows you to enjoy things you love without feeling off track - When I began weight loss, homemade Friday pizza night was a non-negotiable. Experiencing it without feeling “off-track” kept me on track for the next meal. This puts you in a space of staying consistent and developing positive habits. The goal of Optimization day with jolie Weight Loss is to practice moderation - this is further practiced in Incorporating intentionally and wisely non-negotiable foods - crucial for long-term success. When I first discovered the anti-aging impact of Metformin - I was sold. But being a perpetual academic, I had to dive into the research to see if food could do the same. Yes, is the answer when food is used with intention.
My prescription for myself to incur the same benefits of Metformin with food is: Jolie Nutrition 80% of the time Once every 2-3 months do a Deep Reset or 10 Day Reset Maintain a solid 12+ fasting window between dinner and breakfast Working with Dr. Amina of Simply Well has given the opportunity to begin case studies on the interaction of food and allopathic medicine. One of the most consistent results has been that jolie gives the benefits of Metformin for non-diabetic clients. The JolieLife diet works similarly to metformin in promoting anti-aging benefits through natural means like reducing inflammation, improving insulin sensitivity, activating AMPK, and enhancing gut health. By emphasizing whole foods, antioxidant-rich ingredients, and intermittent fasting, the diet mirrors many of metformin’s mechanisms that target aging, making it an effective lifestyle approach to healthy aging and longevity. The fantastic bonus of food is that you not only get the effect of anti-aging, pro-metabolic medications such as Metformin, but you get the synergistic impact of food which addresses brain health, immune health, and overall wellness at the same time. I wanted to highlight the anti-aging pathways that jolie Nutrition targets to give you the impact of Metformin. 1. Support for Cellular Repair
Jolie improve longevity by giving you everything you need for a long life and a life with all your systems functioning optimally. Every program considers the nutrient needs of your entire body. By providing you with an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants can achieve optimal cellular function. Love, Julia xo To round out our month on heart health here are three specific actions you can take to leverage the significant role diet plays in cardiovascular health.
Three key dietary components that stand out for their heart-protective benefits are fiber, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids. All of which are in abundance within the jolie way to health. Fiber: The Heart's Best Friend Dietary fiber is best found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes - not supplementation. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance that helps lower cholesterol levels by binding with cholesterol particles found in bile. This lowers overall cholesterol by preventing the reuptake of cholesterol from bile into the bloodstream providing a significant impact on levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease. We will return to this form of fiber again when we get to metabolic health Insoluble fiber, while not directly linked to cholesterol reduction, aids in maintaining a healthy digestive system supporting microbial activity that reduces inflammation and, thereby, contributes to a healthier cardiovascular system. Antioxidants: The Protective Shield Antioxidants are compounds found in a variety of foods: berries, nuts, vegetables, and whole grains. They help protect the body from the oxidative stress which occurs when there is an imbalance between free radicals produced from cellular activity and antioxidants in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage cells including heart and blood vessels. By neutralizing free radicals, antioxidants reduce oxidative stress and inflammation - key contributors to heart disease. Specific antioxidants, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and polyphenols, have been shown to improve endothelial function (the inner lining of blood vessels), enhance blood flow, and reduce the risk of atherosclerosis (the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries). Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Heart's Ally Omega-3 fatty acids, primarily found in fatty fish, flaxseeds (my favorite for heart and hormone health), chia seeds, and walnuts, are crucial for heart health. These essential fats help reduce triglyceride levels, lower blood pressure, and decrease the risk of arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). They also have anti-inflammatory properties that can prevent the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Omega-3 fatty acids improve the balance of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good" cholesterol to LDL cholesterol, further protecting your heart. Additionally, they help maintain the flexibility of the blood vessels which aids in blood flow, reduces the likelihood of blockages, and lowers blood pressure. Be intentional in including these in your diet daily and at as many meals as possible when not eating jolie to significantly enhance cardiovascular health. Love, Julia xo Although we generally think more about our immune system in the winter - it is just as important during the summer. For you to have the best summer of wellness - I am going to break down key components of your immune system and how to support yourself as you work, travel, relax, and enjoy numerous social engagements.
Your immune system has essentially three layers: the physical barrier to the outside, your innate immune system; and your adaptive immune system. The physical barrier is your skin and all the mucosal linings where your skin isn’t like your eyes, nose, and eyes. This first line of defense filters out most of the microbes that you encounter in your day. Keeping them strong is important. This is where seeking healthy skin goes far beyond looking good. When your skin is compromised: the other aspects of your immune system have to work harder - but the caveat is what compromises the skin also weakens your innate and adaptive immune system. So how do we reinforce the skin and mucosal barrier? Action : avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose. When skin is irritated - avoid scratching or rubbing. Scratching, for example an insect bite, creates microtears in the skin that weaken the barrier. Hydration: the integrity of our mucosal linings depends on proper hydration. If you are over 60, I want you to hydrate by numbers - do not rely on thirst. If you should be drinking 64 oz, then drink 64 ounces. Our sensation of thirst diminishes with age. Vitamin A : is your eye health vitamin and plays a role in tear film (aka your eye immune system) and ocular surface health - again related to your physical immune system barrier. This is NOT a call for vitamin A supplementation. It is reason to increase the dark leafy greens, carrots, red peppers, and sweet potatoes. Eating a plant centered diet like jolie gives you all the vitamin A you need. Have a cup of berries everyday. This is my favorite mid-afternoon snack. Do this and eat more vegetables - It will supply you with all the vitamin c you need without supplements. Vitamin C is absolutely necessary for your body to make collagen. Julia xo The adaptive immune system is the third layer of your immune system - each layer is more complex and more targeted than the other. The adaptive immune system regulates acquired immunity and is uniquely able to respond with specificity to pathogens.
When a microbe enters your body - your innate immune system (layer 2) looks for specific patterns or structures that are most common to most pathogens. These structures and patterns are general enough that innate immune cells can lock on and destroy. But if a pathogen enters that is different from a recognized pattern or structure - the innate immune system signals for the adaptive immune system to take over due to its ability to handle new pathogens. Vaccines work by triggering the adaptive immune system to make antibodies specific to the pathogen being immunized against. Your adaptive immune system can not only do this, but it creates an immunological memory of the pathogen in case you encounter it again. This is the most powerful part of your immune system because of its specificity, immunological memory, and it is ablity to differentiate between you and non-you. It is vital we work to maintain the adaptive system because it protects us from never before encountered pathogens and autoimmunity. A weak adaptive immune system opens us to more severe illness and the development of autoimmunity There are two key factors in maintaining and strengthening the adaptive immune system: sleep and nutrition. And both are equally important. Do not compromise sleep - this coming from someone who used to challenge herself to sleep as little as possible. Lost sleep cannot be made up. You don’t need to be an early riser or early to bed - follow your innate sleep rhythm, but you need 7 hours minimum. There are those who will say, especially as they get older, I do not need as much sleep as I used to - you may think that, but your body doesn’t know it. One reason adaptive immunity begins a rapid decline as we age is lack of sleep and lack of nourishment. As you get older do not trust how sleepy you are, how hungry you are, or how thirsty you are. Sleep, eat, drink following the rules: 7-8 hours of sleep, tons of vegetables, whole grains, some healthy fat, and some protein; ½ oz. water for every pound of body weight. Make this a habit while you're younger - so as you get older - and the feedback loop is less reliable - you can still maintain good health. Nutrition: the aspect of nutrition that impacts the adaptive immune system is your micronutrient profile. Eggs and toast, a ham sandwich, and a bag salad with chicken does not meet micronutrient needs. For that you need variety. A great example of deep micronutrient nourishment is the Wahl’s Protocol. It calls for 3 cups of leafy greens, 3 cups of sulfur containing vegetables (mushrooms, onion family, brassica family) and 3 cups of colorful vegetables / berries. Here is a link to a Wahl’s Cheat Sheet. My passion is vibrant longevity - so everything in the jolie meal programs is first and foremost making sure you get all your micronutrients. When you do, I know you become more disease resistant, heal pathologies that may be forming, and strengthen your immunity and regenerative mechanisms. With this, you can be at your optimum which means you are strong, resilient, and recover well. Julia xo Today we will look at your innate immune system - what happens when a pathogen gets inside.
So a germ makes it across the skin and mucosal barrier - the body immediately senses it is foreign - not of you. The foot soldiers are instantly activated to shoot first, ask questions later. The attack is speedy because as soon as a microbe breaches the physical barrier it is programmed to begin replicating as quickly as possible - and they are fast. In most cases, your innate immune system handles the problem. Often before you notice physical symptoms. You may for an instant feel a bit run down, tired, or a scratchy throat and then it’s gone. During this period the best way you can support yourself is slow down, rest, drink lots of fluids like water, Immune Booster, broth, and soup, sleep more. Your slowing down will allow the energy needed for optimal immune function. Your food provides the micronutrients you need for immune function. If you barely feel rundown and then normal - your innate immune system is victorious. How do we keep this layer of our immune system healthy? The soldier in the innate immune system is housed in your lymph fluid and blood stream. Movement aids their circulation as well as proper hydration. Deep nourishment - the most crippling thing for your immune system is under nourishment. We are talking micros here: minerals, vitamin, antioxidants, and the like. These are from your superfoods, vegetables, and fruits - a.k.a. jolieLife nutrition. Rest. You need slow down built into your day (10-15 minutes is enough) and you need sleep. The only time I get sick is after a book that I just cannot stop reading. Not sleeping enough causes low level inflammation which engages your immune cells. Therefore, there is a tamped down response to true pathogens. Sleep. Make this summer great - learn from jolie nutrition. Order your program and see what meals look like that are made to optimize your health. Love, Julia xo Hydration cannot be left out of The Basics. You are mostly water. Dehydration - even slight dehydration - affects your mood, hormones, and every reaction that happens in your body. ½ oz of liquid for every pound of body weight. When we get older, our thirst sensation is less and less reliable. It is one of those things that diminish with time. So drink by body weight, not thirst.
We want to hydrate with liquids and with food. Liquids are your rainshower and food is gentle drizzle. Top hydrating liquids: Water - seltzer, with lemon, with flavor, or just plain. This is a must. I start the day with warm lemon water and use it as a warming winter beverage during the day. Tea - if you haven’t become a tea drinker, you’re missing out. The benefits of tea are endless depending on which leaves are being seeped. Choose your tea on what you need. For me I want youthening and immunity. I usually drink green tea like The Tres Legendes or Cloud Mountain at jolie. Broth & Pressed juices, especially green ones. You get hydration and a vitamin IV treatment in one. Coffee - high in antioxidants, but you can only count ⅔ of it as hydration due to the dehydrating impact of coffee. Broth- or come let The basics Hydrating foods; Fruits and vegetables are filled with water. Including these liberally in your daily diet provided constant hydration. Hydration within the colon is important also - if we do not have adequate fluids coming in the body will seek the fluids from the colon. And when that happens, it’s hard going to the bathroom. Beware of Dehydrators You will need more liquids if you frequently sauna like I do or in warmer weather. When you are under the weather, you are losing a lot of fluids through your mucus membranes, fever, and decreased appetite; small, frequent sips of seltzer, broth, or tea help here. Winter heating indoors dehydrated us as well as warm bedrooms at night - another reason to start the day with a big glass of water. Alcohol - remember one drink, then one glass of water and definitely water before bed if you’ve had more than two. You will have to go to the bathroom during the night, but it’s worth it for the wellness of your body. Game Plan: Morning: warm water with lemon digestive health Daytime: carry water with you, drink frequently Tea after lunch, after dinner Eat lots of veggies with love, Jolie xo A broken ankle, a surgery, and accident that restricts your movement does not have to mean extra pounds.
Nothing is as disappointing as not being able to exercise and move around. And we have helped many clients who have gained weight due to an injury, but I want you to have a plan, so if something happens where you need to be still for a bit, you can still keep your weight where it needs to be. First, realize food influences your weight more than exercise. My first wellness coach became a coach because as a Bar Method teacher she saw students who would take Bar day after day and still be frustrated by unwanted weight. It was what they ate after Bar that needed to be changed. Instead, think of exercise as a buffer: it does burn calories so small indiscretions do not show up; and, it is a micro-habit that points you toward better food choices. So, if you can’t exercise you have no cookie-safety net and you miss the daily reminder to make good choices after you’ve worked out. Therefore, you laser focus on food to do what you need done. You need to eat to heal so you need protein and collagen. During healing the immune system is busy, so you need foods that support the immune system. Inflammation is part of how the body heals an injury - but, you do not want systemic inflammation because it diverts resources away from your healing - so you need anti-inflammatory foods. What you don’t need during healing are foods that elevate blood sugar or insulin levels. You do not want these foods because you are not moving around. Metabolizing those foods requires that you are active. With inactivity those foods turn into fat. During recovery skip the pasta or rice one dish meals; sandwiches are not your friend; toast, bagels, english muffins, and oatmeal are not for you; ice cream and desserts will not help you; keeping the snack bin full is asking for weight gain. You want your diet to look like jolie meals: vegetables, super high fiber grains, protein, and healthy fats in portions that satisfy, but do not exceed caloric needs. Broths and soups are also excellent to use during recovery as breakfast, a snack, or dinner. Dialing down your diet during this time will not only keep you from needing to lose weight after recovery, but it will help you recover faster. It is a win win. with love, Jolie xo Digestive inflammation is growing. It is labeled as IBS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, and non-specific intestinal inflammation. All of these conditions and the road to these conditions - make it hard to eat. Especially hard to eat the foods that are healers like vegetables.
You're stuck in a cycle of pain and toleration of foods that don’t address the underlying inflammation and immune conditions. How do you eat vegetables with IBD?
Jolie xo January basics includes changing our relationship with fat. Fat was demonized and replaced by sugar and carbs; and all the chronic life ending and debilitating disease rose dramatically.
Fat is not the enemy. In fact, it is a friend to cellular health, weight loss, anti-aging, and metabolic health. Scientifically we know this and we knew it then too. Why is fat important for our health? Most of our cellular membranes are made of lipids. Most of the action happens on the cell membrane - the home of receptors for everything. The inside of the cell is like the bank vault, the cell membrane is the trading floor, commodities desk, equity exchange, and Fat is also important because all the fat soluble vitamins need fat to gain access to the body. Without fat, they pass through the digestive tube. Fat is linked to feeling full. When fat sensors at the exit of the stomach sense adequate fat intake they go off signaling the brain that you're full. That is why eating slowly aids weight loss. I recommend that clients wait 20 minutes before deciding a meal is not enough. Jolie meals teach you portion size. If your portions are out of whack, however, some dishes initially seem like not enough food - wait for it. When the meal begins to exit the stomach - your nutritional sensors will pick up that you have everything you need, and signal the brain to release leptin - the satiety hormone. Fat is long lasting energy. Fat calories take a long time to break down because of the number of bonds between the atoms. As each breaks you have energy and nourishment. So good dietary fat helps you avoid snacking. If you snack, it’s not because you need to, it’s more of a habit. How to get the fat we need: Top sources of fats that I integrate into every jolie program: avocado, olive oil and olives, flax, hemp, nuts and seeds. This gives you a full array of the healthy fats your body needs for repair, maintenance, and cell integrity. When not eating jolieLife:
Also, eating a variety of nuts and seeds will give you broader nourishment. By integrating good fats into your diet, you will find that you are more hormonally balanced, your skin improves, inflammation is lessened, cravings decrease, and metabolism upregulates. with love, Jolie xo Even at Whole Foods, most of the food is processed food. Back to the basics means eating food that hasn’t come from a factory - even an organic factory.
When you sit down to a meal - if there are carrots in a dish, you need to be able to see the carrot. If you have a strawberry something and all you see is strawberry goo or you taste them but can’t see them - that is not a whole food. We learned in The Jungle that when food becomes unidentifiable there are things in there that you don’t realize are in there. That rings true today also. And what is added is not added for your health, rather it is for shelf life, texture, color, or smell. More importantly, what’s taken out is even worse for your health. Fiber, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, antioxidants are lost. “It’s not the food, it is what is done to the food that makes you sick, “ my favorite quotation and a guiding light in the grocery store. It comes from the book Metabolical by Robert Lustig, an awesome book. For example, whole grain factory made foods are not truly whole grains. In most cases, it began as a non-whole grain food. Why? Because whole grains are not as shelf stable as refined grains. So, refined grains are used and then the bran and fiber are added back in after being stabilized by heat or chemicals before the product is completed. So you are actually getting the stripped grain and denatured bran and fiber - a key reason foods are fortified to partially make up for the nutrition loss. But, when you strip the grain you change how your body processes the sugar in the grain - the sugar is absorbed quickly giving you insulin spikes; and the fiber becomes less healthful. So what to do? Get back to truly whole foods. That does require time - one of the reasons I created jolie: whole foods based prepared meals focused on health and priced accessibility. Opt for snacks that are not from a box or with a wrapper: fruit, half of lunch, jolie or homemade soups, olives, smoothies jolie or yours, nuts, cut up veggies,. Buy your grains minimally processed. My favorite grain or grain substitutes are wild rice, black rice, oat groats, and, if you are not gluten free, wheat berries. These are basically all intact - so there is no nutritional loss and your body knows what to do with them. If you haven’t tried jolie, this is a great time to begin. with love, Jolie xo Having the Best Year Ever - which I want for you - begins with dialing in the basics. The basics will get you 80% to where you need to be.
What is the biggest dietary source of aging, inflammation, hormone imbalance, gut dysbiosis, metabolic disorder?
Correct answer: C Sugar does all that. Dialing back your sugar is first priority for the new year. And from wherever you are there is a tweak you can make. If you have belly fat, that is a telltale sign of excess dietary sugar. If this is you and you eat a healthy diet, it is time to reduce grains, beans, oats, sprouted breads. Lessen your sweet tooth by training yourself to lower levels of sweetness. When I was a baker, I always added HALF the amount of sugar called for in a recipe right out of the gate. From there, everytime I used that recipe again, I would take a little bit more out until I reached the bare minimum. This is the origin of the jolie Bakery: great foods, minimal sweetness. When given a choice go for the less sugar filled option. Seltzer over Coke, Vinegar chips over BBQ. Mustard over Ketchup. Omelet over Pancakes. Smoked over Honey Glazed. Iced coffee over Coffee-chinos. Gin & Tonic over a Mojito. These small changes make a difference. Reduce quick converts to sugar. These are your breads, oats, and grains. Eat half a bagel. Skip the toast. Scoot all the pizza toppings to one side and eat less crust. Use an ice cream scoop to portion rice, pasta, oats, and other grains. At jolie, our medium size ice cream scoop is our standard serving of grains. Choose savory snacks over sweet ones. Individual portions of olives or nuts. A boiled egg. Nut butter with cut up vegetables. Baby cucumbers or tomatoes. Let fruit be your sweet. Mother nature packaged fruit with fiber and water. The sweetness you perceive in fruit is unlike the sweetness in pretzels or chocolate chips. An apple a day will benefit you, not harm you. As we stay away from more and more sugar, our taste buds change and perceive sweet things more intensely, even unpleasantly. This helps us to eat less of a sweet treat and to crave sugar less. with love, Jolie xo P.S. When baking you will also slightly reduce the wet ingredients because of the drastically reduced sugar. What is the opposite of the fight or flight response? The rest and digest response. You can turn on rest and digest with your breath. Learning how to do this will give you better digestion, rev up metabolism, help balance adrenals and lower the toll of stress on the body.
Your breath can exaggerate imbalances: suppress your immune system, depress metabolism, encourage belly fat, and wreck your hormones. Shallow breathing or feeling like you're frequently holding your breath - negatively impact your health everyday, every moment. I want to teach you to use easy breath practices that you can integrate into your day (no meditation necessary) to help you feel better and be better. Your breath is healing. Each time you take a deep breath you are telling your body that everything is okay and you are safe. This is because deep belly breathing stimulates the Vagus nerve which governs the off switch of the fight or flight response. This connection with your brain is key to understanding why your breath affects not only digestion, but your entire body. Learning how to breathe for better digestion, hormonal balance, metabolism, and less anxiety is a priceless life tool that will make everyday better, and particularly this holiday season. How do I juggle so much - one of the tools in my toolbox isI using deep breathing every day to manage stress, pressure, and overwhelm. Learning to breathe therapeutically can change your digestion, correct constipation, promote weight loss, accelerate detoxification, and reduce cravings. You don’t want to miss it. Another bonus of belly breathing is by improving digestion and oxygen flow it helps you to lose weight and have optimal metabolism. Emotional eating, sugar cravings, and hunger decrease with the activation of relaxation resulting from deep breathing. Many of our habits of overeating or making sub-optimal food choices are stress induced. Reducing stress lessens and alleviates the driver of these health and control robbing behaviors. Love, Jolie xo  Broth is magical - I want you to have broth. It is one of those hidden culinary gems that is also a health, beauty, and weight loss elixir. I glow, recover, and revive with broth.
In revamping service at the cafe - faster, more grab and go, and even better for you - I wanted for you to have broth. So now it is here for you at the cafe on demand! Broth, especially during the colder months, is going to help you stay energized, recover from colds, and feel fabulous inside and out. Despite all the benefits - broth has so few calories - 60 tops - it confers so many benefits. Why I drink broth Hydration with warmth, no caffeine, and healing properties Weight maintenance or loss - mineral, mushroom, chicken and seaweed broth is the perfect for fasting - satisfying, healing, reduces inflammation and increases immunity without calories. Staying younger longer - broth, all kinds, are amazing at helping your cells repair, seek out rouge cells, and detox. Healing - after injury, surgery, or during periods of intense physical training chicken bone broth gives me the extra protein and collagen to speed up healing - especially for those of us with very light meat consumption. Cold prevention - this is when I reach for broth for me and the kids. It is a great fortifier - so if you are around people who are sick or work in an environment that challenges your immune system - a daily broth will help. Also - for this and all my supplements I cycle on and off of them to improve and maintain efficacy. I have to highlight the seaweed broth - this is so good for your hormonal balance, thyroid support, and chronic fatigue. love, jules xo  When does my body feel off kelter, bloated, and my waistline feels tight? When there are days of disordered eating,
Disordered eating are the days when your meals are stretched out, patched together, skipped, or squished together. Most often it’s due to busyness - running here and there - or unpreparedness. September is a danger zone for this. The impact of disordered eating, even when eating healthy, is that you throw your hormones out of whack, you encourage weight retention, and create digestive problems. Consuming food triggers a cascade of hormones in your body which then influence other hormone pathways. Disordered eating creates insulin dysregulation - most often keeping insulin levels raised (not diabetic, just raised). The danger here is that insulin functions as a growth factor within cells - this is one reason why elevated insulin levels are related to cancer growth and accelerated aging. A healthy microbiome cannot exist on grazing, coffee and energy bars, or snacking instead of eating a meal. This lacks fiber - necessary for your beneficial bacteria. When they are starved, they eat your gut lining which leads to leaky gut, increased allergies, and compromised immunity. Bunching your meals, on the other hand, creates a digestive backup and encourages reflux, And, most often the bunching happens later in the day which leads to weight gain. Being conscious of meal timing - eating distinct meals with 4-5 hour periods of non-eating between meals will help you maintain energy, lose weight, regulate your hormones, improve gut health, and protect you from GERD. The solution to disordered eating is having meals planned, ideally prepared, and creating an eating schedule that you stick to each day. The schedule does not have to be the same every day, but each day you need to plan when you will eat, when you will not eat, and what you are eating. Without the time or desire to do this on your own - join a jolie meal program. Or perhaps lunch is your hardest meal to get in, order lunch delivery for September. Or if breakfast is the hard part, think about intermittent fasting or have a smoothie or broth pack delivered. Love, Jolie xo Anxiety over health is so common within the mental health field it is referred to as health anxiety. Anxiety is often rooted in feeling out of control or powerless over something. With health - conscious prevention helps relax anxiety and puts you in a better health space even if a challenge arises. I don’t want you to be anxious.
I am sharing with you a smoothie I am dubbing the Morning Miracle. A client shared a recipe given to him when undergoing prostate cancer treatment with one of California’s leading cancer doctors. She specializes in breast cancer, but many of the triggers and mechanisms of prostate and breast cancer overlap.. Dr. Kristin Funk prescribes this for all her clients to have daily and is the author of Breast: The Owner’s Manual. The smoothie contains active foods: 1. herbs to reduce inflammation - major driver of cancer 2. berries to prevent angiogenesis - the creation of blood vessels to cancer cell groups 3. ECGC is a polyphenol that is showing cancer fighting, blood pressure lowering, metabolism boosting, and brain protecting capabilities in clinical trials. 4. Indian gooseberry is being shown to prevent growth of and invasion by cancer cells. 5. aloe which is being shown as a cancer deterrent and increases the effectiveness of cancer treatments 6. antioxidants to protect the cell replication process and keep disease genes turned off Morning Miracle 2 c. berries fresh or frozen 2.c. spinach or other green 1 t. Matcha ½ banana 1 date 1 t. flax seed (more potent than pre-ground flax) ½ t. black pepper ½ t. turmeric 1⁄4 t. Amyla powder 1 oz aloe juice 1 ½ c. plant milk - plain like jolie plant milk or Malk 1 t. cinnamon Blend together in a high power blender. Long enough to grind flax. Drink. We will be introducing this to the cafe menu June 15th. In trialing it myself for the last month - it is truly as powerful as Dr. Funk says. The difference was visible which was remarkable especially as eating jolie your diet, as is mine, is packed with nourishment. But, it is the synergistic effect of these ingredients all taken together - in natural form, no pills - which is so powerful. Love, Julia xo P.S. Besides cancer this smoothie is effective in combatting systemic inflammation, boosting immunity, improving gut health, and re-balancing metabolism. Use your food to suppress genes that cause disease.
Diseases like some cancers, diabetes, autoimmunity, obesity and many others have a strong genetic factor. But, all research confirms that genes are only part of the equation. The genes need to be activated. And, most wonderfully, your body has the mechanism to suppress disease genes. This is the field of epigenetics. However, when certain micronutrients are absent the body is unable to keep disease related genes suppressed. Those are the small guys: the molecules in your foods that comprise vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and antioxidants. Eating the rainbow is how you ensure you do your part to avoid disease - what gives color also prevents disease and illness. This way of eating also has the possibility of turning off disease genes that are active. On next week's menu, we are eating the rainbow. We do this within all our nutritional programs, but next week each day will highlight a different color of the rainbow to show you how to integrate the colors when not eating jolie. Sign up for your experience of Eating the Rainbow and benefit with feeling more energized and good going into the Memorial day weekend. Love, Julia xo Honestly, I sometimes worry if my” obsession” with health will make my kids, daughters especially, self conscious, diet conscious, or weight obsessed. I am just like you. I want my kids to grow up with a healthy relationship with their body and food.
The interesting thing I’ve observed (in my subset of 7) that will help you as a parent is that the old adage of more is caught than taught is true. And they are watching how you feed yourself, how you feel about your body, how much anxiety you have over how you look at social gatherings, whether you enjoy shopping for clothes or find it frustrating. They have a sixth sense to know if you are nourishing yourself, punishing yourself, or giving up on yourself with food. They even know if you feel controlled and exasperated by food or in control of your nourishment. At first eating with health in mind may be a conscious choice. But, overtime that conscious habit becomes an unconscious lifestyle where you equate nourishing yourself with foods that make your body and soul feel good. You equate how you eat with self love, valuing yourself, and self care in the deepest sense. Once you experience that transformation - not only you, but your children benefit. What they begin to see is a parent that prioritizes investing in themselves. They see a parent that is vibrant, has energy, can confidently enter a room of strangers. They see a parent who is comfortable in her skin - happy about how she looks and feels. They see a parent who is at ease with food: she can enjoy celebrations and normal life without anxiety. That is a gift. And from that gift which you give them when you eat well, learn to eat well, make it your default - is that they see an alternate reality from what may be in the social surroundings. They see that life doesn’t need to be a diet to feel good about yourself. That everyday eating well gives you room to indulge without guilt or repercussions. They see that as they grow, their bodies change and they can feel beautiful every step of the way. And, very importantly, you teach them that they have power over their choices, how they feel, and their health. The result in my own family is: They naturally developed habits that make them feel good:
I invite you to consider that more is caught than taught. So everything you do to take care of yourself is powerful. You can teach your kids and those around you lessons for life. And they will model for others. You can be the center of a beautiful ripple of health and self love. Take a moment and tell me what ripple you are creating this week. Julia xo Thank you for sharing your burning questions with me! One question that came up a lot was regarding intermittent fasting. I wanted to give you the broad stroke answer on fasting ahead of the opening of the Weight Loss Success course to sign up. Here we go.
Do I have to fast? The short answer is no. You don’t have to practice intermittent fasting, but you DO need windows of not eating. Observational studies have found that small frequent meals do not produce the results we expect. This outdated model of eating 5-6 times a day increases hunger, food consumption, and does not help reduce weight gain. (For a recent client, she was able to lose weight with this one step.). But, at the same time, you don’t need 16-18 hours of fasting - particularly as a woman - on a daily basis. What is a non-eating window? Time when you're not eating or consuming caloric fluids. Non-eating windows are highly beneficial. The non-eating window gives you time to, one, burn off the foods you consume and, two, to switch into fat burning mode to burn off stored energy found in your muscles, fat cells, and organs. A non-eating window can last anywhere from 5-12 hours. In non eating windows you 1. Create metabolic flexibility - teaching your body to burn both glucose and fat. This decreases hunger, cravings, and energy dips. It also trains your body to not go to hangry when you miss a meal - you will have greater stamina and less food dependence. 2. You give your gut time to repair and your microbes a chance to feast. Your gut naturally is equipped to repair itself, but it needs time not involved in digestion. If once digestion is over, you refill, your gut doesn’t get a chance to repair. Digestion takes 6-8 hours from mouth to large intestines. Eating every 3-4 hours keeps this process in continual motion. Having a period of 5+ hours between meals and 12 hours of rest at night gives the digestive track repair time. This will benefit you with less sickness, fewer allergies, and more regular bowels. Prolonged fasting (3-5 days) is a tool to: 1. Reset your weight set point. Your weight set point is an interesting mechanism which keeps your weight basically the same despite occasional overeating or under eating. This is also the bane of weight loss because it pushes you to regain. To not regain without continual dieting - you must reset your set point. Fasting is a tool for this. 2. Feel younger. Prolonged fasting is a tool for rejuvenation. Longer periods of fasting that happen monthly, seasonally, or yearly helps your entire body renew itself on a cell level. We use this in the Deep Reset and in juice cleanses. To learn more about fasting, stay tuned. It is a wonderful tool and not as onerous as you may have thought or experienced. Love, Julia xo P.S. If you didn't get to submit your burning questions - do so here. https://www.thejolielife.com/your-burning-questions.html Cravings sabotage our nutrition programs, efforts to reverse chronic disease, and weight loss plans. Cravings make us feel out of control, defeat us, and can mentally make us feel like we are not fixable.
I acknowledge all those feelings that cravings create, AND, I offer you an alternate view and path to use to make you healthier. First off - cravings have a biological root. They are not the result of your weakness, lack of self control, or self sabotaging. The body actually becomes addicted to foods: sugar and bread are two common examples. Interestingly, foods that are inflammation inducers prompt the body to create antibodies to them as part of your immune response. Knowing that dairy, for example, inflames you, you avoid dairy. But the presence of these dairy antibodies circulating in your body actually triggers a desire for the enemy, so your cravings for ice cream, lattes, and cheese increase. Understanding the biological root of cravings is important for two reasons. Firstly, it underscores that there is nothing wrong with you, your body is functioning well and correctly. Secondly, it guides us in addressing cravings. Realizing that they are basically well worn food pathways that your body has come to expect, the most successful approach is to create new pathways and walk down the well-worn path less and less frequently until it all but disappears. Here is a quick outline of how to get started in unhooking cravings that are not supportive of your wellbeing.
with love, Jules xo |
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