Inflammation

We love turmeric, cinnamon and cayenne as anti-imflammatory spices that pack a lot of punch in the kitchen and for your health! Pro tip: combine your turmeric with black pepper for ultimate absorption and anti-inflammatory benefits. And while we're on the topic...

What's the big deal with INFLAMMATION anyway?

Inflammation is our body's natural response to harm. You bang your elbow, the tissue around it will become inflamed as a protective barrier to allow the bruise to heal. Sounds like a good thing, right? You're right, it is, but ONLY when the inflammation is caused by the body's natural response to help heal.

On the flip side, chronic inflammation can and will eventually lead to disease in the body. No bueno. So what causes it? Smoking, alcohol, processed foods and sugars, obesity, long-term chemical exposure, pollutants and you guessed it... chronic stress. In our American way of overdoing just about everything, inflammation reigns supreme as the leading cause of disease and discomfort.

Chronic inflammation can manifest itself in many ways: swollen joints and fingers, fatigue, stomach pain, mouth sores and rashes. Further, autoimmune conditions, arthritis and cardiovascular conditions are all inflammatory in nature. While you might not experience all or some of these symptoms, if you're human and indulge here and there, we're willing to bet you've got some unwanted inflammation lurking.

So what can we do? Step one would be to eliminate, or at the very least minimize, the aforementioned causal factors. We recommend incorporating the above mentioned spices into your diet as well as organic berries, fatty wild-caught fish, organic broccoli, avocados and other brightly colored fruits and vegetables to promote cellular healing.

Additionally, at R+R, we offer services and supplements specific to combatting inflammation. Come in for a quick CoQ10 shot and stay a little longer for the Supreme Drip or Get Glowing Drip IV Therapy specifically formulated to fight inflammation. Upon departure, snag a bottle of Inflammatone for your daily dose.

In sum, inflammation plays a sneaky game in our diets and lifestyles. Taking these precautions and incorporating a little R+R into your routine will help ward it off and make a huge difference in your quality of life.

New Year, New You!

Keto! Whole30! Paleo! Vegan! Intermittent Fasting! Get fit in 5 days! 

Overwhelmed by the fads? We feel you. Before you jump on the diet du jour bandwagon to accompany your New Year’s Resolutions, we urge you to consider our sustainable approach to reach your goals in a lasting way. Our Certified Nutritionists Dabney Poorter and Pam Packer tout a combined 30 years of experience and are well-versed in decoding the overwhelm. 

You might already be annoyed with where you sense this is going... “Yeah yeah yeah diet + exercise, but I want results NOW!”  You’re not alone in this desire, and we totally understand the motivation of the new year’s clean slate to jumpstart a routine. That said, the quick-fix equation of restriction + immediate results + more restriction + burnout + complete abandonment and sabotage = leaving you right back where you started physically and even further down the rabbit hole emotionally. 

Beyond this self-sabotage cycle, the diet trend of choice’s focus becomes the number on the scale, not the nutrients going into your body. To truly accomplish a new year, new you  - complete with all your quirks and darling imperfections because we don’t want those going anywhere - the process starts at a cellular level. We encourage whole foods high in nutrient-density to give your body what it needs to detoxify and rid itself of harmful toxins clinging to your insides and to encourage cell turnover to literally become a new you from the inside out. In addition to losing sight of invaluable nutrient-density when we jump on food trends, the hyper-focus becomes what we cannot eat rather than what we can. In this thought process, we reach a state of overwhelm with the constant behind-the-eyes buzzing of you can’t eat that. It’s exhausting. 

In light of all this, let’s get off the hamster wheel, whadya say? 

At R+R, we believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, and our guidance will be individualized by considering your unique physical makeup as well as your lifestyle. If you’re a mom of picky-eating littles, we’ve got you. If you work long hours and need something nutritious without a lot of prep-time to spare, we understand. If you feel constrained by allergies or food sensitivities, we can help expand your menu-planning repertoire. If you have an intense workout regimen or train for various races and events, we know how to optimize your diet. Lastly, if you’re lacking skills in the grocery shopping and meal prep department, we take the time to educate and fully equip you - or we can give you a more palatable route excluding these skills.  

As mentioned above, high-quality, nutrient dense whole foods top our list of recommended foods. We always encourage you to eat the rainbow (not skittles ;), and this is because the more intense the color, the greater the amount of antioxidants and fiber. By filling up on nutrient-dense foods and understanding how to correctly pair your macros, you eat to feel satisfied and to keep your cells happy. And it all really boils down to this: when your cells are happy, everything functions better, and you cannot help but feel better! 

Hold up. Pairing your macros? Say what?!

When you look at a nutrition label, you see itemized content of fat, carbohydrates and protein, correct? Fats, carbohydrates and protein = macros.  See, you know what a macro is, you just didn’t know you did! We will help you understand how and when to pair a carbohydrate (ex: carrot sticks) with a fat (ex: guacamole) to create fulfilling snacks and mealtime plates with the most bang for your buck. 

Speaking of nutrition labels, while we encourage shopping the perimeter of the grocery store (think fresh produce, fish market, meat counter), we empower our clients to fully understand how to read nutrition labels and the importance of doing so! Understanding the source of the food you eat plays a huge role as well. At R+R, we will help you understand why buying organic matters and which foods are especially important to make the switch. Ideally, we encourage organic and grass-fed meat and chicken as well as sustainably and wild-caught fish to ensure the highest-quality sources. 

Within our nutrient-dense whole foods approach, we strive to make your diet and nutrition fit into your lifestyle and to become second nature. By learning to listen to your body and truly hear it tell you what feels good and what doesn’t, you are more likely to make the choices helping it function at its best! All of this said, we know you’ve got to live. Celebrations call for cake and champagne and visiting company calls for yummy cheese boards and cocktails. We get it! At R+R, we will help you incorporate what we call “sometimes” foods into your new lifestyle diet so you do not feel deprived and inevitably tempted to self-sabotage. 

This life is meant to be enjoyed, and we believe nutrition plays a vital role in lasting health to help you live and enjoy it to the fullest. During our individualized nutrition consultations, we take the time to get to know you, your family history, medical history, symptoms, weight and dieting history, and your feelings about food and body image. After reviewing food preferences, likes, dislikes, schedule, knowledge and skills, we will walk alongside you as we construct a plan inclusive of your overall health and diet with helpful steps to reach your goals. Our optional ZYTO scans will further the vital information to individualize your plan. 

If you’re not ready or able to commit to a nutrition consultation, or perhaps you already have a working nutrition knowledge and simply need a reset, we recommend our meal plan option to give you a blueprint for success! For only $100, you will receive a week’s worth of meals to help you understand how and when to pair particular food groups for lasting energy and results-driven habits. We would love to work with you in 2020 to help you improve an already beautiful canvas!