7 Science-Based Benefits of Essential Oils

Cinnamon, Clove, Rosemary, Lemon: Thieves is my favorite essential oil 

"Kind of woo-woo, huh?" I said sarcastically, turning to my friend and rolling my eyes skeptically as the New Age-infused aroma engulfed our senses.

Admittedly, I wasn't keen about visiting this new Silver Lake massage place, especially after I learned the owner heavily promoted a crappy supplement line (decidedly not Thorne Research) and, even worse, essential oils.

Full disclosure: I had long ago dismissed essential oils as un-scientifically proven.

But I did remember something about their use in the recovery of my friend JJ Virgin's son. An MD that we know had brought them in to help Grant heal from his life-threatening injuries

That massage actually ended fabulously. I felt

9 Ways to Get Lean, Toned & Happy… By Fixing Your Gut

An icky tummy WILL mess up  your workout

Recently I worked with a 30-something female client who unenthusiastically was seeing a functional practitioner to fix her leaky gut.  I get it. In the echelon of sexy, stimulating health concerns, digestive health falls somewhere above the normal-bowel-movements category.

“What if I told you when you fix your gut, you’ll also become lean, toned, and happy?” I asked.

Understandably, that got her attention.

Listen, indigestion, heartburn, constipation, and bloating hardly become sexy topics, but digestive issues have become far too common in our mindless-junk-stressed-eating society. We’ve all experienced their miserable aftermath, craving the couch and Sex and the City reruns over hitting the gym or otherwise being our best selves.

Even when you’re not belching, passing gas, or

Water...It Isn't Boring!

Water "service" break at a conference  at an upscale, L.A. hotel

I graduated from high school in 19XX.  The actual year isn’t important (I keep telling myself.)  

That year, our yearbook was titled “It’s the Water.”  I remember thinking to myself at the time, “what water?”  Our school wasn’t located near a beach, lake, river or other waterway so why was water so important that it had to be our yearbook’s theme?  

I never found out why it was chosen for The Quixotion that year.  It might have just been a random title for the Agoura High School yearbook but I actually wondered about that...

Time went on and I couldn’t read anything health without hearing about the importance of water. Most articles touched on keys points such as how important staying hydrated is to your health, or the 

7 Strategies to Not Screw Up Halloween

Treats: They're ALL tricks

“I hate these childhood memories and all their enabling consequences,” my client told me recently, clearly perturbed that a few bites of her favorite Halloween candy (not naming any names, but it goes after a particular Peanuts character) became half the bag.

These days, early October seems to initiate the holiday season’s official start. You know, the one where every “special occasion” becomes an opportunity to indulge in some sugary-sweet concoction that provides a few blissful moments but inevitably leave us cursing the scales and stalling our workout.

Part of me wants to scream, Come on! You’re a freaking adult. Pull yourself together with that high-fructose-corn syrup, rot gut-ingredient stale candy that populates every dentist office, drugstore, and office space come October.

But that

9 Overlooked Energy Thieves

Are you sooo tired?

“That alarm clock just didn’t go off this morning,” my client said breathlessly, running into my office 15 minutes late and spilling a gargantuan cup of Dunkin Donuts dark roast all over her new turquoise Lulu top. 

As a single mom with two kids who often worked doubles waiting tables, no jury in the land would convict my client for blowing off a workout or otherwise complaining her battery felt drained. 

Still, I had a reputation in my gym as a no-excuser, and I wasn’t offering any sympathy for her sob story. (I did feel badly about her coffee spill though!) Instead,

7 Ways I Helped My Client Overcome Her Worst Sleep Challenge

Sleep like a baby

“I’m doing everything you told me, yet I’m still barely coasting by on five hours a night,” a client – let’s call her Alyson – recently confessed about her seemingly insurmountable sleep struggle.

In a previous blog I discussed strategies for a better night’s sleep. Many readers and clients found them incredibly helpful, yet occasionally I meet someone like Alyson – in her mid-40s, a single mom with three kids and a high-stress job – who hurdle through these strategies without much success.

Alyson fell into the “extreme cases” category, where she did everything correctly yet

5 Ways to Boost Antioxidant Levels

Exercise: Increases  or decreases antioxidant levels?

“Wait, my jerk of a boss stresses my life, and these training sessions just create more stress?” a client recently asked, giving me a strong what-on-earth? look. She had just read a recent article explaining how exercise “stresses out” your system, creating all sorts of havoc.

Let’s get clear. “Stress” becomes a loaded term. There’s psychological stress, like when you get stuck in rush hour LA traffic and you’re late for that 3 p.m. meeting. Studies show consistent exercise decreases psychological stress.

But there’s another kind of stress exercise does create, churning out damaging free radicals in the bargain.

In case you forgot college biochem (you are forgiven), free radicals are like those sleazy guys you meet at the bar who will do anything to pick you up. These single electrons are desperate to find a hookup, and they create serious cellular damage in the bargain.

Here’s the bad news. Studies show high intensity resistance exercise increases free radical production.  Another meta-analysis that looked at 300 studies over 30 years found “single bouts of aerobic and anaerobic exercise can induce an acute state of oxidative stress.” 

That contributes to increased free radical production, and subsequently, oxidative stress. In fact, rigorous exercise can