Offerings

  • Offerings

    All About Me!

    Hiya, Sweet Stuff! I’m Carlie, and I am just tickled that you have come to learn a bit more about me! 

    So, for starters…I have always loved to eat. I even remember my favorite foods as a kid: Kool-Aide, and macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. My mom ONLY bought wheat bread (gag) and I had my fair share of turkey burgers (double gag). I learned to love salad and vegetables, but there was no shortage of non-fat, sugar-filled food in our 1980’s household. And as a teenager, I used my lunch money to buy the finest fried and carbonated offerings my high school had to offer.

    THEN SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENED…

    …I started growing a beard! (A lady beard to be exact.) It was a patch at first, and 10 years later I had the pleasure of regularly ripping (not so) tiny hairs out of some of the most sensitive parts of my body because I was a hairy beast. Sure, I could live with it, or laser it, but I wanted to know WHY I won the bearded lady jackpot.

    Doctors were no help to me: they gave me hormones and pills, which worked, but those “remedies” never addressed the dysfunction, just the symptoms.

    Additionally, somewhere in there I realized I was not only consumed by hair, but also by sugar! All I wanted was to eat sweets whenever I had the chance.

    AND THAT SCARED ME.

    I would obsess for hours at work about what I could eat on my next break. “The chocolate chip cookie? The raspberry fudge cake? Hm, well I don’t have time this break to eat the cake, so I’ll have the cookie on my first break, THEN the cake for lunch! But what will I eat on my last break…?”

    For years I tried various ways of eating to break that cycle. I tried everything from low-fat, to low-carb, to vegan, to real food, to carb cycling, and dealt with all kinds of side effects from gas, to chronic heartburn, to my hair coming out in clumps. Only after years of trying to free myself from the evil of sugar did I realize that sugar was the root of my PCOS as well! I had become my own investigator and advocate and no longer needed a doctor to figure out why I had a lady beard; I was able to learn what I needed by learning about food and listening to my body.

    I became a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner trained in individualized holistic nutrition and a 21-Day Sugar Detox Coach to help you totake your health into your own hands by managing cravings and learning the difference between what your brain wants and what your body needs.

    Contact Me

    When I am not reveling in my love of food and nutrition, I am definitely engaging in one of my many other passions:

    •  My husband is vegan and I do all the cooking for both of us. It is not easy, and sometimes not fun, but it is a labor of love.
    •   I love retro and vintage, well, anything (!), and have a penchant for Mid-century style dresses and Dixieland jazz.
    •  I have worn winged eyeliner for over 10 years, and my liner is on point. Like, a really really sharp point. My eyeliner could kill a man.
    •  I have three cats I call “The Spice Girls”: Ginger, Pepper, and Pumpkin Spice (who is a black Maine Coon with eyes so yellow they are almost orange!)
    •  I started collecting comic books when I was 35. I had never had too much of an interest, but modern comics have helped to enrich me in so many ways. My favorites are focused on African American history and experiences, LGBTQ, and sex-positive comics.

    MY APPROACH

    In working with me, you will finally understand why that sugar-filled unicorn frappuccino left you starving and how that hangry stupor is pushing you into a hormonal freak-out.

    You will no longer stare blankly at a menu trying to decide between the fruit plate or the red velvet cheesecake. You will learn to understand, and question, your cravings so you can eat to feel satisfied, physically and mentally.

    YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE AS A SLAVE TO YOUR SUGAR CRAVINGS AND WONKY HORMONES.

    Through small groups and individual consultations, my clients can choose the benefit of connecting with others who are experiencing the same struggles they have with sugar cravings and their relationships with food, or have the privacy to dig deep on working to manage their whacked out hormones.

    No more wondering how to balance your life and your health. You will have the tools you need to listen to your body, make food selections appropriate for your health, and be at peace with your choices.

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  • Cravings, Offerings, The 21-Day Sugar Detox

    The Top 3 Reasons Why You Have Cravings

    A woman holding a giant cupcake in her arms next to the title "The Top 3 Reasons Why You have cravings"

    Cravings! We all want to fix ’em right? They are annoying, uncomfortable, naggy, and sometimes all-consuming feelings that MUST. BE. ELIMINATED! We’ve heard plenty about how we can stop sugar cravings, don’t really need THAT much protein and that we should minimize fat and calories to be healthy. But regardless of how meticulously you follow those guidelines you still end up hungry, binging, deficient and/or craving all the foods you are trying to get out of your life. So it’s time to stop thinking of cravings as a problem, and start thinking of them as the path to balance. So, why do you have them? Here are the top 3 reasons why you have cravings!

    1. Your Body’s Talking

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    When your blood sugar drops or your body is in need of specific nutrients, cravings can show up. Some are stronger than others as your nutritional needs can change from day to day, given your physical exertion, hormones, stress levels (which can be informed by everything from your thoughts to hydration to sleep to relationships to a night of drinking), etc.

    At their root, cravings are a form of communication your body uses to tell you what it needs. Think of it as another form of hunger. They aren’t very specific, but they do tell you what to eat. They don’t always tell you to eat junk food either. For instance, if you are thirsty you may want to eat more soups, salad, raw produce, and carbohydrates (which help you to retain water…carboHYDRATE…), or foods that help balance hydration, like salty or potassium-rich foods.

    2. You didn’t eat or eat enough (of something)

    Ever drank your morning coffee or eaten breakfast, gone about your day, then gravitated to the kitchen and wondered why you feel so compelled to eat your ENTIRE pantry only to realize it’s 3pm and you haven’t eaten since 8? That desire to go full hungry hippo on your pantry wasn’t a stomach rumbling; it was a craving telling you to eat LITERALLY ANYTHING because you LITERALLY haven’t.

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    If you are STARVING going into your next meal or can’t stop thinking about carby and sugary foods,* think about what you have eaten today and yesterday. This sounds simple enough but mealtime is overlooked more often than you might think. Undereating can set you up to approach eating with urgency and FOMO, as your body doesn’t know when it will eat next/or if it will eat enough.

    Your stomach isn’t the only part of you that asks for food, and those hunger pangs don’t stick around to make sure you eat sufficiently. At some point other body parts kick in to raise your blood sugar and attempt to keep your energy stable. But your hot bod may also be looking for other nutrients that you are not aware of and/or you need more of.

    *Carbohydrates are quick to assimilate and quick to burn through. Like kindling for starting a fire. So when your body needs energy, it knows it can quickly get it from there, hence the craving for them! However, the body also knows how to burn fat for fuel, and has the capacity to switch between the two types. Cravings can also happen when the body is receiving most of its energy through carbohydrates and isn’t as practiced at burning fat for energy.

    3. You aren’t paying attention

    Ever have a ghost snack 👻? You know, the bag of chips or gummy snacks you brought with you to eat at your desk or in front of the TV, and at some point, you look down and realize THERE’S NOTHING THERE??? You don’t remember eating anything, but you don’t know where else it could have gone…? That’s a ghost snack.

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    Digestion starts in your brain and is stimulated by seeing and smelling and tasting your food. Like, your body literally gets excited and starts revving up in anticipation. But what happens when you don’t see or taste or even REMEMBER eating? Your digestion won’t run as efficiently, but more than that you didn’t ENJOY it, won’t feel SATISFIED, and may want to eat more, or again without your cravings or hunger directing you towards nourishment.

    Keep it simple.

    Okay so, your macros could be out of balance for you, or your body may be hunting down a specific nutrient, and yeah figuring all that out sounds absolutely annoying af. But reframing cravings overall as communication, prioritizing eating, and connecting to and enjoying it will help to bring you closer to understanding and addressing your cravings so you can eat happily!

    Wanna know more about how to deal with your cravings? Sign up for my email list to be notified when my next webinar drops!

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