Energy Vampires are Among Us…

 Donna Eden to the Rescue

by Jen Springer

Anxiety therapy can come in so many ways. One of my favorite is energy medicine pioneer Donna Eden.

Let’s say you were at the grocery store on a busy Saturday. After shopping, you get into your car and you feel just drained, your brain is scrambled, and you’re feeling anxious. You’ve been zapped! Now what?

Here’s your Natural Anxiety Therapy Tip:

When this happens to you, take a few minutes by yourself. Go to the restroom, outside, your car, a bedroom – wherever you can have a few minutes of uninterrupted time to focus on yourself. Now do this exercise from my favorite energy guru Donna Eden:

Anytime you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or just plain “not right” this simple exercise would be great to do. This is anxiety therapy on the go! I’ve used it before I lecture, when I’m attending classes, during times of anxiousness or panic, or even after talking to someone who has stressed me out.

One of my other secrets is to use an essential oil blend called Valor. Before I do the exercise in the video, I will put a few drops on my palms and take four or five deep belly breaths. Then I’ll rub the residual oil on my ears and neck. This specific blend helps me feel centered and less anxious. Then I proceed to do the exercise from the video.

It helps to do the protection exercise in the Zip Up post and the one mentioned above daily as a part of your natural anxiety therapy program. Don’t forget Young Living’s Valor!
Watch the video again, then do the Wayne Cook. Tell me how you feel on Facebook.

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

6 Hidden Causes of Anxiety Webinars Ready!

by Jen Springer

Creating the 6 Causes of Anxiety Webinar Series has been the project of the year.

Recording these webinars and figuring out how to offer them to the world has been a hair pulling task at times.  My mind and internet skills have been greatly expanded!

If you are a VIP, you got to attend these events live. (Psst, if you want to be IN on future events, see the box on the top right of the page for the Free Course? Go fill it out now!)  Every spot for these live events filled up within hours of registration opening. The post event feedback was amazing; the reward of helping people figuring out why they feel like crap is what keeps me going.

These topics are the 6 hidden causes of anxiety, fatigue, hormone problems, brain fog, fibromyalgia, dull skin, and obesity that your doctor probably doesn’t even have a clue about – unless he/she is as cool as mine.

The information pooled into these webinars are from my formal education (B.S. & M.S.), countless hours of seminars, 10 years of practice, and most important of all … my personal experience.

Did you see the first one? The one that is the overview of all of them?

Click on the picture below and it will take you there.

The 6 Webinars Are About …

Part One – Food & Other Allergies

• The 7 most common foods that can make your brain go haywire.
• 14 typical symptoms, 16 symptoms that are 99% of the time not connected to allergies.
• 6 tests that take the guesswork out of what your body is reacting to.
• Why allergies are a symptom of a broken body, not a cause.
• Why radical digestive cleansing can cause more damage than good.

Part Two – Blood Sugar

• Why one minute you feel fine, the next you are a raging lunatic.
• Are you living in a state which insulin resistance is the norm, not the exception?
• The difference between diabetes, hypoglycemia, and insulin resistance and how determine which one is a problem for you.
• The ONLY test you should ask your doctor for to determine hypoglycemia and blood sugar problems.
• How to turn your blood sugar around in 5 simple steps.

Part Three – Hormones

• The 3 types of hormones that can make you “crazy”.
• The free (and most accurate) test you can do for your thyroid that your doctor doesn’t want you to know.
• Know how to spot imbalances with the 6 brain hormones, it’s so simple!
• Why playing with puppies and kittens may be necessary, not optional.
• The one test that pinpoints exactly what’s going on in your brain that physicians are up in arms over.

Part Four – Toxicity

• The human brain on toxins and why it has been linked to bi-polar, ADD, and mania.
• The medical doctor behind brain allergies who found that an inflamed brain is not your fault.
• Why insomnia, emotional outbursts, mania, migraines, alcoholism/drugs, anxiety, and the inability to think may be reactions to what you’re being exposed to every day.
• The 3 main body systems that must work right so your brain is happy and you feel energized.
• What to expect and look for when your body starts eliminating accumulated toxic waste.

Part Five – Nutritional Deficiencies

• Why why you eat is not as important as how you absorb it.
• The #1 macro-nutrient that most people don’t get enough of at every meal that your brain needs to feel balanced.
• A simple formula for food combining that even a 6 year old can do.
• The #1 nutrient that made Jen go from “straight jacket material” to sane overnight.
• The 6 supplements a depressed, anxious, foggy thinking, and absent minded brain needs all the time.

Part Six – Adrenal Fatigue

• What the adrenals are and why you should give a rip about them. (Pssst, they may be your ticket to sanity!)
• Determine if salty cravings, afternoon slumps, decreased tolerance, and the 15 other items on the adrenal health checklist are trouble for you.
• Which adrenal test not to waste your money, there’s another one your doctor can do that’s better.
• What the heck an adaptogen and how they can give make you feel more alert, calm, and not get frazzled with everyday stress.
• Why saying “no” might be the critical factor to regain vibrant health.

You can pick and choose what you’d like to learn. Study at your own pace whenever you like.

 
Be sure to go watch the first one, it tells you exactly what’s going to expect in each webinar.  Here’s the link again 6 WEBINAR SERIES.

If you LOVE it, don’t keep it a secret. Share using the Facebook and Twitter links below!

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

Anxiety Cause: Candida Yeast Overgrowth

by Jen Springer

Itchy butt & private parts, wet ears, and red scaly skin.

YUCK, but this is very real and it is a super common cause of fatigue, anxiety, panic attacks, memory loss, foggy thinking, hormone imbalance, flatulence, toenail icks, and skin rashes.

I was so grossed out by the yeast pictures on the internet, I couldn’t even stomach to post one here. (Search Candida and be ready to gag.) So you got a mushroom!  Not remotely close to candida except they belong to the same scientific classification of the fungi kingdom.  Outside of that they are completely different, most mushrooms are health giving and candida is health robbing.

Most people don’t know candida overgrowth can be a hidden factor to anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.  I have had my own personal struggle with candida for years.

I had many of the typical and common candida symptoms such as:

• bloating around the mid section
• itchy and wet ears
• white bumps on the back of my arms and upper legs
• white coating on my tongue
• gas
• inability to lose weight
• anxiety/mood issues
• food allergies
• urinary and vaginal infections
• body inflammation
• brain fog
• fatigue
• insatiable cravings for sugar and breads
• constant dry cough

We are all individuals these symptoms can be the same of different than mine. I even developed asthma at one point! I don’t have asthma!  There was so much yeast in my body that it was harbored my lungs too and I would wheeze.

My intestines must have looked like Swiss cheese from the yeast roots taking hold. Candida overgrowth is a major contributing factor to food allergies. Food particles pass through the tiny holes from the yeast (aka: leaky gut) and circulate throughout the body. The body freaks out because it thinks the undigested food is a threat and releases attack chemicals. These chemicals can create feelings of restlessness, anxiety, and even panic attacks.

When the body is full of yeast, the body is at a heightened state and extremely reactive.  Emotions run high, hands and fingers wave when someone cuts you off in traffic .   Minute amounts of physical exertion create massive inflammation. PMS cramps double you over.  Meals result in immediate flatulence, belching, and bloating.

You can take Donna Gates Body Ecology Candida Test HERE. How do you score?

My body didn’t need tranquilizers or the purple pill, it needed the candida killed off.

The October 24, 2011 post I’m going to share my tricks and secrets. If you have any of your own, please share them on the Natural Anxiety Facebook page.

Know anyone who’s always tired, bloated, and craving sugar? Please share this post with them on Facebook now, they are counting on you.

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

Exactly How to Do a Whole Body Detox

by Jen Springer

Cleansing doesn’t have to be hard or taste like stagnant pond water.

I love the idea of 2 scoops of this and 1/3 of a tablet of that makes the yuck go away!

It can be that simple, that’s the way is should be.

The first time I did this cleanse, I was so excited and relieved that everything was outlined for me. I’m not so great at keeping myself on track, that darn wagon is so easy to fall off of.

In case you missed the directions, you can find them HERE.  I tweaked it a bit and made it my own, of course!

A few things were changed up so that I could really work on the inflammation I’ve been feeling the last few months.  The juice before bed is meant to pull out acid and help my body become more alkaline. The Omega Blue helps inflammation as well because of the omega 3′s from the fish oil.

The other angle I took for reducing inflammation was to target the adrenals. The PD 80/20 is pregnenolone and DHEA – both help a stressed set of adrenal glands.  The best way I have found to help kick start the hypothalamus is to place some DHEA under the tongue. It doesn’t have any taste thank goodness!

The other endocrine helper I used were the Thyromin in the morning, Endoflex in the lunch smoothie, and 4 Multigreens with dinner. Thyromin and Multigreens helps my low thyroid and give me energy – without stimulants.

This cleanse can be done without added supplements, but I had chronic nagging pain to get rid of so I hit it hard! It worked. As a result, my pain level is down 50%. I’m going to do the cleanse again in a few weeks and see what happens, why not?

Without further ado, here’s the custom adrenal building / anti-inflammatory 5 day whole body detox I created for myself:

RIGHT WHEN I WOKE UP:

8 ounce glass of water with ½ a fresh lemon or lime juice

1/3 of a capsule of PD 80/20 under my tongue, holding it for one minute

BREAKFAST:

2 scoops Balance Complete with ½ dropper of YL Stevia and 5 drops orange oil

3 Thyromin

3 Omega Blue

1 Digest & Cleanse

2 Comfortone

SNACK:

3 ounces Ningxia Red

½ Cup Granny Smith Apple, Berries, or Bing Cherries

LUNCH:

2 scoops Balance Complete with ½ dropper of YL Stevia, 1 drop Endoflex Oil

1 Super B (expect a niacin flush!)

Snack:

2 ounces of Almonds, Walnuts, or Pine Nuts

½ Cup Granny Smith Apple, Berries, or Bing Cherries

DINNER:

2 scoops Balance Complete with ½ dropper of YL Stevia and 5 drops tangerine oil

3 Omega Blue

2 Comfortone

4 Multigreens

1 Digest & Cleanse

SNACK:

Vegetable Juice: 1 very large cucumber or celery heart. Juice the WHOLE thing, peel and all. Dilute 50/50 with water add a sprig of fresh mint leaves or a bit of lime juice if desired, drink it all. YUM!

BEFORE BED:

1/3 of a capsule of PD 80/20 under the tongue, hold for one minute

1 Life 5

• 4 drops of peppermint oil in one gallon of water. Drank this throughout the day.

What should you expect from a cleanse? You could have less pain and inflammation like me. Or, if you’re craving salt and sugar that may subside.  Allergies, what allergies?!?  One of my favorite outcomes is when people report to me that they could just put down cigarettes EFFORTLESSLY because of cleansing.

Now you’re asking, “Where do I get this stuff?”

I know, a few dozen of you have already sent me requests asking for the source and I apologize for the delay!

The above products come from Young Living. I have been using for over 10 years and love them as much now as I did then.  The very first cleanse that helped me go from a 1-bowel-movement-a-week person to a “regular” daily person was from them too!   The stuff works and I trust recommending it to you.

I’ve heard stories where people pick up some random product from the local health food store have skin break outs, headaches, or major colon blowout – I don’t want that to happen to you! This is so gentle you can still work and live a normal life while you do it.

If you’re a do-it-yourself person, you can go to the Young Living site direct by clicking HERE. Or, if you want to ask me questions regarding your personal situation email me at Jen@NaturalAnxietyTherapy.com.  I’ll help you get going in the right direction.

Here’s a question for you -

Are you feeling blah, sluggish, bloated, and all around toxic? Yes?  Let’s work together and get your body working the way it supposed to. Feeling good is your birthright!

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

Review of the 5 Day Whole Body Cleanse

by Jen Springer

Yay, I’m done!

This cleanse taught me a lot. It’s been about 5 years since I’ve actually done an intense targeted cleanse.  I’d been taking nutrients to build my body and bring it back from the brink so it had the ju-ju to detoxify itself on a daily basis (adrenal support, B vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, etc.). But to do a cleansing fast, nope it’s been a while.

In the end, I lost 5 pounds and my tummy is F-L-A-T. My cravings are gone, connective tissue inflammation is down and that gross bloated feeling is gone.

The cleanse was a success and I reached my goals. I’m happy!

You’re probably thinking this is the miracle cleanse and you just can’t wait to do it, right? Let me fill you in on the bit of the non-sugar coated details before you decide if this is for you.

Why I am I telling you the gory details?  To let you know this is normal and to be expected!

I’m not not a regular “mover”, I mean … I have to take herbs, probiotics, fiber, stay hydrated, and minerals to keep my bowel moving regularly.  So who only know’s what was hanging out in my colon because the second night’s bowel movement could have peeled paint off the walls. If I was in a public bathroom, I would have lost friends! Super stinky.

My guess is that I was getting rid of undigested protein that was hanging around in my digestive tract. It got better as the days went on and nasty stuff exited my body. Plus, I added some pro-biotics to help THAT situation.

Another thing I noticed is my body odor. I didn’t have any throughout the week. My theory is when I eliminated hard to digest protein throughout the week like eggs, meat, and cheese my body didn’t have that toxic undigested protein smell.  I was happy to realized that this cleanse rested my gut so I could make it stronger and hopefully have better digestion when I start eating these proteins again.

The last thing I noticed was how my weight fluctuated. In the first 48 hours I dropped 3 pounds. As the days went on the last few pounds came off.  What was interesting is that some days I woke up and weighed up to 1 pound MORE than I did the night before! Throughout the day I would lose up to 2 more pounds and in the evening I’d be up a pound. The scale went up and down like notes on sheet music.  In the end, I was down – yay!

3 most important things I learned?

1. Stay hydrated! I don’t know the exact amount, all I know is I always had water in hand and was drinking it.

2. Keep your bowels moving. A few a day keeps the bloated belly away!  Have an herbal tea with cascara sagrada (I like Smooth Move by Traditional Medicinals) on hand if you start to get backed up.  I also keep my Vitamin C and magnesium up, they are my secret bowel moving weapons.

3. Don’t let what the scale is doing panic you! Understand you’ll go up and down, don’t sweat it.

Was this a piece of cake? No, but it helped that my detox smoothie tasted like cake! I would have liked food, but all the fiber in the program made this tolerable and kept me from falling off the detox wagon.

Next post I will share my general outline that I am going to use with my readers and clients as a result of this adventure.  It’s always my intention to have personal experience with anything I recommend to make sure it works.

Now this post is one that needs to be shared if you or anyone you know has, will, or are thinking about cleansing. Share the love by using the simple buttons below to tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

How To Handle Stress and Stay Sane

by Jen Springer

Fried, frazzled, and flipping out?

This is no way to be. Life is no fun when you feel like you are ricocheting through your day like a  rogue ping pong ball.

We all use the phrases, “If I could just get through this I’d feel better”, “I’m so stressed out!”, and “He/she/this job is making me crazy!”.

Sound familiar? Over using the first phrase is something I’m guilty of.

Stress can suck the ever lovin’ life out of you … literally.

Our body goes into overdrive and plows through resources in order to handle stress. It’s similar to pushing the acceleration pedal to the floor and watching the gas gauge drop to empty.

It’s no wonder why out of control stress over a period of time leaves our guts trashed and adrenals smoked. Not to mention the gray hair and wrinkles!

The reality is, we all have stress and how we handle it determines our sanity. Some people glide through it and appear unaffected.  How is that? Are these people super human?

No, people who appear to be unaffected by stress are simply well adapted. They know how to take care of themselves and mentally frame stress in a healthy way through trying times.

Recently I had a bunch of stress, but the good kind. All exciting and a bit overwhelming. Finishing off my students for the quarter, moving my horses, and re-configuring my business definitely had the potential to throw me into an anxious tailpsin.

Now that all the stress is wrapping up I know I handled it better than I did in the past. I slept well, my body didn’t inflame, and I didn’t spaz out during any of it. That is an achievement!

Here are a few things I did differently “take care of myself”:

1. Vitamin C, at least 1000 mg every day. My body loves vitamin C!

2. GABA: the amino acid for “calmness”. If I felt ANY hint of stress I took 200 – 400 mg at the time.

3. If something started to get me riled up I’d ask myself, “Is this worth dying for?”  In the long run it is the harsh reality of chronic stress.

4. Acupuncture or chiropractic sessions every week.

5. Essential oils of Stress Away and Valor.

Changing these things made a huge difference with how I felt during all the chaos as well as post-chaos.  Oh, one other thing. I didn’t work until all hours of the night to get things done. Sleep was a priority.  Hence why the lapse in blog posts and webinars!

I know you have stress helpers of your own, visit me over on Facebook and DO TELL! Everyone loves hearing what works.

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

Protect Yourself with Donna Eden’s Zip Up

by Jen Springer

No, I’m not talking about owning a handgun or buying Kujo as your new anxiety therapy.

As I meet so many people with anxiety, I do notice we have one thing in common. We are all extremely sensitive to others and often get caught up in other people’s energy.

In essence, if someone is angry, in crisis, or negative – we pick up on it because most anxious people are extremely empathetic.

Unfortunately, it brings us down we don’t separate ourselves from them. Maybe I’m not speaking to you on this one, but I know that I sometimes feel drained after I talk to someone like that.

A few years back I had an photo done of my energy field.  Right after the photo was taken, I talked to a man who had a medical condition similar to me. He drained me and I felt totally discombobulated for hours. I went back to the people who did the photo of me earlier and they did another one. Literally, my energy was drained and it showed up on the photo!

I wish I could find those pics so I could post them for you. But, I didn’t protect myself and I let him drain me. That’s the eye opener, yeah he drained me but I let him. I let him steal my mojo!

How does this relate to anxiety?

Being drained from situations like this is very hard on your stress processing centers.  Have you ever  been drained after being somewhere or with someone?  Maybe even anxious from the drain?

So how can you personally protect yourself?

This is what I do, I learned it from an Energy Medicine expert named Donna Eden. She calls it the ‘zip up’. Has something to do with making your central meridian stronger so you can ward off other people’s negative stuff. I found a video on You Tube that shows you how to do it.

Donna is the queen of energy healing, talk about a lady with good vibes!

The other thing I do is envision an invisible shield around myself where people’s negative stuff bounces off and disintegrates. I make special effort to be conscious to do this when in crowds or I know I’m going to meet up with people that might drain me. It really works, simple anxiety therapy.

In a few days I will post on what to do if you do get zapped.

Now go practice keeping your energy to yourself!

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

My Chewbacca, aka Chewy

Choose Natural Anxiety Therapy:

Don’t Live With It Anymore!

by Jen Springer

I feel honored and humbled to serve all of my clients and readers.

Feedback though emails, phone calls, and Facebook Posts has been rich with ideas and inspiration.  Keep the ideas for webinars and future posts coming!

The world needs to know that feeling better may be just around the corner via anxiety therapy that doesn’t rely on meds or having your head shrunk.  You can take your health back and feel human again through making simple changes.

Some of your emails affects me to the core. So many of you with anxiety, depression, panic attack, etc. sufferers needlessly just “learn to live with it”.

When anxiety knocked me down 24/7 I didn’t like the options that were given to me by the doctors. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for medication. But personally, I feel very strongly that it is a tool to use until the ROOT CAUSE is revealed.

As a scientist I always ask “why” something happens. I dig and dig until the root is revealed. Anxiety, pain, weight gain, extreme tiredness, PMS, and other associated experiences are not causes; they are a result.

You don’t “have” anxiety, you experience it.

Also, anxiety doesn’t happen over night. Yes – anxious feelings can start over night. However, the groundwork that lead us to that point took months, if not years, or even decades!

Unless we have a physical deformity that caused malfunction in the body, the cause of anxiety boils down to some form of stress.

Stress doesn’t necessarily mean overworked and underpaid. It can mean running, running, running without relaxation for years. Decades of blood sugar swings from improper eating and malnourishment. Maybe it’s emotional turmoil of dealing with a loved one who has a made poor lifestyle choices. All these things accumulate and pile up.

Our bodies are physically affected by these stressors.

A massive cascade of chemicals are released when we feel any sort of stress. During this time our bodies consume enormous amounts of resources to cope. Resources like amino acids, minerals, and vitamins.

As we live under chronic stress, those resources get depleted and we physically can’t cope – hence ANXIETY sets in.

For me, when I started putting the raw materials back in – the anxiety started to subside. I then could make other lifestyle changes that contributed to the problem such as over working, over committing, and worrying about everything.

We as humans are not meant to burn the candle at both ends for years at a time without serious rest. Think of a pet and how they live. I’ll use my cat Chewy as an example. He wants to go outside hunting and do his cat thing. Then he wants come home and sleep.

Then back to hunting and playing activities, then sleeping. To have the life of my cat! My point is, observe any other animal on this planet. They all have times of intense activity, then great rest.

We wonder why so many of us feel like we are going to crack at any moment, we are rest deficient!

Unfortunately I can’t share what I did to get rid of anxiety all in one post or webinar.

More so, recovery and rebuilding yourself won’t happen in a day. Maybe not even a month! Getting rid of anxious feelings can happen extremely quickly. Rebuilding your body so the anxiety roots are gone forever take time.

Start with getting “5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Reduce Anxiety“. (Look to the right side of this page!)

This will be the beginning of your anxiety therapy. Subscribe to this blog so you receive new posts from me too. There’s a lot of material in me that I am excited to share with you. Day 5 is my favorite.

Take your time browsing my site, there are oodles of resources designed to help you rid your life forever of anxiety. Hang in there. Don’t accept “learning to live with it” anymore!

And lastly, be comforted to know it’s probably not all in your head.

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  Through her entertaining and informative webinars, blog posts, and personal recovery program Let’s Get Physical: Anxiety is NOT All in Your Head, her clients quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

Gluten & Your Alligator Complexion

by Jen Springer

We all know about eating gluten free.  But for a long time there was one thing I forgot about … MY FACE!

Dermatitis herpetiformis is caused by the ingestion of gluten.  This itchy, blistery, insanely scratchy rash shows up on the elbows, knees, buttocks, and back of neck … most of the time.  It’s a common symptom of celiac, but this is not what this post is about.

It took me a few years to realize that even though I didn’t eat gluten, I should also not put it on my skin or hair!

Technically gluten can’t be absorbed through the skin, the protein molecule is too big.  But on the face it can create red pimply looking bumps that are really annoying and difficult to get rid of – especially if you don’t know what’s causing it.

On the scalp, it can create severe dandruff and even scaly sores!  Ask me how I know … found this out personally after purchasing organic “high protein” shampoo, conditioner, and hairspray.

As soon as I stopped the super high protein hair care my scalp cleared up.  But dealing my rashy face was a bit trickier.

Where the rash shows up on the face can give you an idea what organ is taking a big hit from food allergies. Mine always showed up on the corresponding lung points – cheeks. No surprise. When I was really sick I would get asthmatic from gluten exposure.  Since the lungs and large intestine are closely paired, it’s not unusual for inflammation in the gut to show up as breathing problems.

My face was inflamed for so long that eliminating the gluten alone didn’t completely get rid of the redness.  The skin needed some help “de-flaming”  (that’s a technical term!).

Salicylic acid is an ingredient I found to help  reduce the inflammation of my skin the most. It can be synthetic or the preferred source is wintergreen oil.

Ingredients to watch out for in your products? Anything using these terms: wheat, barley, hydrolyzed wheat protein, oats, protein, wheat germ, or triticum vulgare. These are especially found in creams, lotions, and hair care products.

If you’re face has blemishes that you’ve been desperately trying to resolve, it’s time to check your labels.

Please share this post with gluten free peeps you know, we must spread the word so we all have gorgeous glowing blemish free skin together!

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  She has a track record of  helping people have the “A-HA” moment they need in order to start rebuilding vibrant health which is their birth right. With her guidance, people quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years.

A Girl Just Needs to Have Fun!

by Jen Springer

I’ve been off a few weeks catching my breath and having some fun.

The past few years have been grueling.  Some days were so stressful I felt like I was going to implode! Which is better than feeling like I was going to “crack” like I did in 2007.  Completely different feelings; although both stressful.

Stress caught up with me. Part of my 2 week hiatus included a full check up with my holistic doc.  Anxiety and panic has been gone for a few years. My blood sugar has balanced out as of the past few months.  Plus, I don’t need to carry and EpiPen in case of accidental food allergen anymore.  I felt like celebrating, until …

Last Tuesday my doc called with the lab results. My thyroid, liver, and cholesterol were off!!! What the?  (More on what I’m doing to correct these things later.)

What bugs me is I felt I’ve done my best with taking care of myself by regularly receiving massage and Reiki. Yoga, strength training, eating right, and “letting stuff go” are part of my daily practice as well.

So how did my body get out of whack again? STRESS.

I was eating well and going through the motions to maintain myself, but I wasn’t playing enough. I’m a self proclaimed intense person and a workaholic. That phone call from my doc was  a turning point: I decided it’s time to have more fun.

Playing isn’t an option, it’s a requirement to feel mentally and physically well. We can eat perfect, exercise, and sleep; but if we don’t experience “FUN” by letting our hair and gotees down we WILL hold pent up stress.

Last week I witnessed this first hand. My partner Monty and I went to one of those crazy huge waterparks to blow off steam. Friday morning we were sitting in the hot tub and both of us were feeling a bit frustrated from some silly things that happened.  I looked at Monty and said, “Lets go to the slides and let go of this crappy attitude we have!“  He gave me a weird look as I popped out of the tub and sprinted over to the body slides. Honestly, just looking at the length of the slides freaked me to the point of bolting but I didn’t want him to know that. (Look at the pic above, those are the twisty coils that went outside of the building!)

We jumped into tandem slides and whooshed down to the bottom.  As we came out of the tunnel’s end, we both stood up and our frowns were turned upside down!  We were laughing and any cares we had about the morning’s frustrations were gone. We both agreed that we didn’t have a clue how badly we needed this get-away and we take ourselves too seriously on a daily basis.

My point? Do something that is slightly scary and has the potential to be extremely embarrassing! Have some fun and step out of your comfort zone.  That weight on your shoulders and worries in your mind will go POOF.

I’m not going to bore you with how your brain’s neurochemistry changes from chemicals released from laughter and play, just trust me on this one.

Think of something that makes your tummy flutter, DO IT. 

Get crazy, be silly, embarrass yourself … it’s the best anti-depressant you could take and has only smiley side effects!

You gotta come find me on Facebook and let me know what “THING” you’re going to do!

Jen Springer is a Holistic Nutrition Expert who currently serves 10,000 clients.  Her approach to health is refreshing and out of the box, yet makes so much sense.  She has a track record of  helping people have the “A-HA” moment they need in order to start rebuilding vibrant health which is their birth right. With her guidance, people quickly get results even though  they’ve spent years of chasing for answers. Jen has been a health educator and practitioner for the last 10 years