Empower Your Inner Architect: Building a Life of Epic Wellness

Ahhh, April. Not only does its showers bring May flowers, but it brings the excitement of Easter and Tax Day. To add to the diversity of April’s gifts, it is also IBS Awareness Month. So, let’s become aware… IBS=Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Ya know, this is NOT a fun subject to address, and medicine really missed the mark in naming this extremely frustrating condition. One can assume by its name that your bowel, or your large intestine, becomes irritated a little more often than that of the guy next door. Irritated… A two-year-old pulling on your leg, saying “MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA”—that’s irritating.  A pebble in your shoe while you are on your morning run? Irritating. How about that popcorn film that gets stuck between your teeth? That’s irritating too. And “irritating” is the perfect word for when, in true Carey fashion, I hit every red light on the way to work. IBS puts “irritable” to shame. I don’t have personal experience with IBS, but I have a son that does. I asked him,...

Those that know me are keenly aware that for me, bread is life. As a kid, when my friends snacked on the biggest candy bars they could find, I would grab 2 pieces of nice, soft, white bread, peel off and consume the crust first, and then I would roll the rest up in a ball and eat it (ok, I still do that today.  Please still be my friend!) And fair warning—do not bring home Texas Roadhouse rolls tonight and still expect them to be here in the morning.  Just sayin.  I tell everyone that I love bread more than sweets. But guess what? Both bread and sweets (carbohydrates) are broken down into the same byproduct by the body, and that is glucose. And to put in generally, glucose is…well…just sugar! Sugar can’t be all bad, right? After all, glucose is the body’s preferred energy source. In fact, our red blood cells can ONLY use glucose for energy, and our brain and other nervous tissue primarily rely on glucose as well. Have you ever felt irritable, shaky, and tired when you h...

I got your attention! Ask any 4-year-old--not only is the word “poop” fun to say, it’s entertaining to talk about. Stool, waste, feces, excrement, bowel movement—these are all very professional synonyms, but I would choose poop over any of them, any time. Not only do we feel better when we do it, we cheer when our toddlers are successful at it. And they get a gold star on their sticker charts.  SO not fair.   There really is a lot that can be learned from someone’s poop. Color, frequency, shape, consistency, and smell all tell a different story about what, and sometimes why, it is coming out of you. And, there are fewer daily discomforts that feel worse than when the poop…just…WON’T leave. Now that you have all lost your appetites, let’s discuss National Nutrition Month and…WHATEVER it is that can possibly connect proper food consumption with poop. When we eat, enzymes are released into the small intestine to help break down the food into nutrients that can be absorbe...

Just think of all the words out there that start with the word “super”. A super visor works over or takes charge of other people. The super natural refers to things that are above or beyond normal phenomenon. And let’s not forget the famous super hero. I LOVE Aquaman, but sorry, Jason Momoa, my husband now takes the cape . To put it simply, he is amazing! The trendy term “superfood” has been increasing in assumed credibility, but more realistically, in simple popularity. You won’t find the term “superfood” in my nutrition textbook. If you have taken on the Healthy Habits Hunt challenge, you will run right into a superfood activity that involves identifying superfoods and including them in your diet. But how does a food earn its cape? What does it take for a food to be honored as “super”? The food industry bestows the superfood label on nutrient-rich foods with a supposed ability to positively affect health. Keep in mind, there is no single food that holds the key to good health, di...

And just like that, the hearts are coming down, and the shamrocks are going up at my house. Thank goodness my husband’s aunt lives here—I would never know what “holiday” it was.  Cupid is left behind, but our heart health remains a priority as we “March Fourth” (check out the date, y’all!) into National Nutrition Month! To debunk a common misconception, food and nutrition are not the same thing. Food refers to the things we consume that maintain life and support growth and health. Nutrition, in contrast, is actually the science that studies food and how food nourishes our body and influences our health. Nutrition includes discussions about consumption, digestion, absorption, storage of chemicals in food, and how these chemicals affect the body. We can’t stop here; nutrition also involves eating patterns, recommended daily allowances (RDA), maintaining food safety, and addressing global food supplies. Whoa. Looks like we need more than a month to discuss THIS!!! Think about it. Ever...