Blog.

Originally published in mindbodygreen

The fact that some people get attached to presenting themselves in enhanced ways, only to be disappointed by their real image, is disheartening. I would much prefer to live in a society that had no mirrors than to live in one in which we felt it was so important to look a certain way that we apply digital plastic surgery! In general, I’m all for re-centering our expectations of what others look like and what we should look like back to a more realistic baseline.

Read more

Turn off your phone and put it aside. Read a paper book, listen to music, have a conversation, take a walk, take a bath. Take out a piece of paper and do some future-self journaling. Do something that engages your senses and reclaims your time. Let the phone and all of its applications serve you. Don’t let them drive the ship of your life.

Originally published in REI

The body likes predictable daily rhythms that are synced up with the sun and the moon. There is no evolutionary precedent for everyone suddenly shifting their circadian rhythm by one hour—it’s like a mini form of jet lag, and it takes a minute for our circadian rhythm to catch up.

The best way to regulate your circadian rhythms is to spend plenty of time outside in natural light during the day, and to expose yourself to the moon and darkness at night. These were the original cues for our circadian rhythm and they’re still more effective than any amount of synthetic melatonin or indoor lights for conducting our body’s symphony of internal rhythms.

Be sure to get bright outdoor light exposure first thing in the morning for the whole family. This will help everyone get on the new circadian rhythm.

Read More

Originally published in Well + Good

While vitamin D plays a big role in mood, so too, does light itself. Research has shown light therapy to be a positive way to boost mood, especially during the darkest months. For those who don’t have the option of taking sunrise walks, I recommend adding a 10,000-lux lightbox to your a.m. routine (although, you should speak to your doctor beforehand). 

Read more

Originally published in mindbodygreen

I prep for winter by getting sufficient vitamin D the old-fashioned way—sun exposure. Of course, I take reasonable precautions to prevent skin cancer, but overall I think, as a culture, we get things slightly wrong in how we balance skin cancer risk with the risks of vitamin D deficiency (which are numerous, including increased risk for autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, and even cancer). I think a sunburn is dangerous, but I often think a mild tan is a sign of a healthy amount of sun exposure. I’m letting my skin get a bit sun-kissed in preparation for the darker months ahead.

Read more

Originally published in CleanPlates

My first line of defense against mental health issues like anxiety and depression is switching to real food — which means cooking food at home. This one switch often helps my patients avoid the need to take pharmaceutical drugs. And while that may seem like a rebellious idea today, what we eat does affect our mental health. Hopefully ten years from now it will seem like the most obvious thing in the world.⁠

Read more

Originally published in mindbodygreen

Many of us default to watching TV in the evening. While we’re in an era of really brilliant TV, you want to take at least a few nights off per week to do something better with your time. Read a book, call a friend, exercise, have a candlelit floor picnic with your roommate. Get vulnerable and get into a serious conversation with your partner. Have a silent disco with your family. In general, bring consciousness to how you use your time, and do the activities that actually enrich your life.

Read More

Last night, while tucking my daughter in for bed, we were doing our usual “highs and lows” where we talk about the high point and low point of our day. Her high point was eating pizza (Ellen Vora’s daughter eats pizza?! Sometimes. Rarely enough that it’s the highlight of her day). Her low point was having to leave the library. My highlight was this snuggle with my daughter, and my low point was that I was feeling sad. This gave me an opportunity to explore sadness with my daughter. I used to be a chronically sad person. And then some combination of community, yoga, and eating gluten-free broke me out of those shackles about 13 years ago. I haven’t identified as a sad or depressed person since then. But yesterday that old, familiar, pitted-out sad feeling descended over me as the sun set. Rather than jump to conclusions or tell myself stories that depression was coming back, I just allowed it and stayed curious. I told my daughter, “my low for today is that I’m feeling sad right now.” She asked why, so I told her, “I don’t know. Maybe because the days are getting shorter, maybe I’m hungry, maybe I ate something that doesn’t agree with me, maybe I’m worried about some things at work.” She said, “you can just ignore it and then you won’t be sad.” (Kiddo, you need to go back to therapist school ). I responded, “no, I don’t want to ignore it. I’m going to let myself feel sad. I’m guessing that by the time I wake up in the morning, I’ll feel differently. But for now, I’m okay having this feeling.” It felt good to model for her that feeling sad is nothing to be afraid of. It’s not something we need to ignore. I was also able to model that sometimes sadness is blood sugar, gut inflammation, or a natural adjustment to the shorter days. And it’s not fixed. I can feel this way for a night, and who knows what tomorrow brings. In the end she said, “I could give you a hug to help you feel happy.” Last night ended in a transcendent embrace. And this morning I woke up, meditated, and feel a resurgence of gratitude and awe.

Photo by Peter van Agtmael

Originally published in Well + Good

Life requires a balance between yin and yang. Our culture is in a state of total yang imbalance — we’re go-go-go and “on” all the time. If you start setting boundaries—like not checking your work email after a certain time, or taking a few hours completely “off” to just walk in nature—you’ll be refreshed the next day and better able to be creative, intelligent, patient, kind, and productive. Sometimes rest is the best recipe for sustainable productivity. We’ll talk later about the fact that productivity isn’t even the goal anyway…  

Read more

Listen to the podcast here

I’m honored to be featured on today’s episode of the Happier & Healthier Podcast. I share diet and lifestyle tips to beat anxiety and depression, naturally. We discuss a wide range of topics including why millennials need organic food more than earlier generations and the link between gut health and mental health and even auto-immunity.

Listen to the podcast