If you’re not satisfied with your weight and your body, I’d be willing to bet that you are pretty excited when a new diet book comes around promising you the answer at last. But here’s the big weight loss secret – most of what you need to know, you already know. It’s bridging the gap between what you know and what you do that’s the trouble.

There are several choices you make every day that you know full well are not supporting your fat loss or even just feeling well.  You go to bed too late. You choose lunches that make you sluggish and quickly looking for the sugary or caffeinated treat to get you through the afternoon. You overeat at dinner because you come home ravenous having not eaten in 7 hours. You’ve never learned to mediate or handle stress better – cuz let’s face it, you’re too busy and stressed out! There’s the gap. You know these things aren’t helping, but you’re still doing them. You’re not alone – what diet book (and I know you’ve read a few) has ever taught you how to deconstruct a habit and how to manage your willpower? These are tools you need as much as a fork and a dumbbell when it comes to losing weight and changing your body.  

If trying to incorporate any of the BETTER habits or any new, healthy habit –

1. Understand how this new habit will help you get your WANT.  Identify and write out at least 2 ways it supports your WANT.
2. Tap into your WHY power and utilize your anchor at the start and end of each day as well as any tough moments.
3. Plan in detail how you will accomplish this habit.  Use if-then planning* as you lay out your intention for this new habit.
4. Troubleshoot challenges and obstacles you’ll have to pulling this off.  Think a minimum of 2 challenges to you successfully practicing this new habit.  Use if-then planning here if it seems appropriate. Practice Optimism Light (stay positive but plan for trouble).
5. Optimize your WILLpower.
6. Manage progress by comparing to your old self, not someone else. How much better are you doing than you would’ve done before?

If trying to transform an old habit -

1. Identify the habit and tune in to its reminder, routine and reward.
2. Id the payoff of this habit and be willing to give it up. Identify and write out at least 2 reasons you are willing to give it up and how it helps you get your WANT.
3. In your habit loop (reminder, routine, reward), replace the routine. The reminder stays the same and once you’ve identified the actual reward, that stays the same as well – what changes is only the routine.  As you change your routine, utilize if-then* planning to implement. And lay out in detail your new routine.
4. Troubleshoot challenges and obstacles you’ll have to pulling this off.  Think a minimum of 2 challenges to you successfully practicing this new habit.  Use if-then planning here if it seems appropriate. Practice Optimism Light (stay positive but plan for trouble).
5. Optimize your WILLpower.
6. Manage progress by comparing to your old self, not someone else. How much better are you doing that your old self?

Take this simple approach to tackle doing more of what you need to do or to transform an unhelpful habit. I know there are a lot of ideas in this post – it’s BIG! I’ll keep unpacking these and teaching you more tricks for better willpower, if-then planning, etc. But for now, just try it out and get wise to how your habits are in your way – and know you CAN change, you just need a system to bridge that gap between knowing better and doing better.  Please share below or on Facebook how you’re using this process!

Remember to only work one habit at a time and that “it takes 30 days to change a habit” is an outdated idea.  Some habits take a few days while others may take months to take hold. When you feel solid with a new habit, go ahead and try another, but avoid what most diets and fat loss plans have you do which is take these supplements, eat this way, avoid these foods, eat this often, do this workout 3 x per week and that one 2 x per weeks, do these stretches, drink this juice, drink more water and go to be earlier….that’s 10 different habits. One thing at a time…..let the changes take hold, then take the next step.  You’ll find some are way easier than others and that as you do more and more of this, it gets easier and change happens quicker. But please heed this advice: one thing at a time (especially to start).  Slow and steady does indeed win this race. Good luck!

In this series of posts, I’ve already talked about finding the reminder for some habits you’d like to change using the perhaps New-Agey feeling but super effective technique of mindfulness. What triggers or reminders did you discover? Was it coming home at the end of a long day that triggers overeating or drinking alcohol? Is it a stressful conversation that makes you want a cookie? What triggers your bad ol’ habits?  And why does the reminder matter?

The reminder is the first part in the habit loop (to learn more about the loop check out The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg). You can’t hope to change the habit, without getting clear on this first step. All habits have 3 parts: reminder, routine and reward. This loop creates cravings – you get reminded (aka triggered), you take an action  because you’re seeking the reward. The desire for this reward creates a craving and leaves you on a perpetual Ferris wheel of cravings with no hope of getting off.

Since you’ve started to slow way, way down and see the reminders for your habits, let’s next watch routine that happens after the reminder. This is what you do, the action part of the habit.  Stopping by the wine store or the bakery on the way home. Grabbing fast food at lunch after a stressful meeting. Buying the muffin when you stop for your morning coffee.  And why we take this action is cuz we’re after the reward.

Figuring out the reward of a habit is often the toughest part, but it’s key because it’s why you do the habit in the first place. It’s the promise of reward that drives you to do stuff not in the interest of your WANT. It’s interesting to note that you often don’t even need the reward to happen to fire up the desire for it, just the promise of it.  So you really have to have your wits about you to have a hope of changing it.

An example of this is that you may think you’ll feel more calm, comforted and better after getting upset if you have a sweet treat. The reward you think you’re getting is comfort. Although after you eat it you feel stuffed, sleepy and really guilty that you caved to the temptation. You may even know that you won’t feel great after you indulge, but the promise of comfort – of feeling better than you do now – is enough to make you give in. Can you see where you have to really get this stuff?

Understanding your habit loop: reminder, routine and reward is key to dropping bad dietary habits because it’s this loop the creates a craving.  The promise of the reward fires up your motivation center and soon all you can think about is getting that thing. You feel often helpless to stop it.  Breaking down habits into these parts makes them way easier to manage, but even then it can be tough which is where WILLpower comes in super handy (more on this soon, but read this now.)

So ask yourself – what do I get out of this? It’s not often what you think.  For example, a habit I needed to break was always having a glass of wine after a long day of work.  I thought the reward was relaxation – but I realized the wine actually made my anxiety worse because I felt guilty about not sticking to my guns of not having it. It threw off my sleep and I felt puffy and tired the next day – which made me more stressed.  While I wanted relaxation, and I thought wine gave that to me, upon further inspection…um, not so much.  The real reward I got from the wine was freedom – I sometimes rail against dietary restrictions, even if I know they help me get my WANT.

Now that you’re clear on the reminder, routine and reward simply re-work these into new, more supportive habits by changing just the routine. You will keep the reminder and the reward the same – research shows this is the best way to change a habit.

But Dr Brooke, Isn’t This A Whole Lot of Work?

Can’t I just try not to eat cookies? Let me ask you: how many times have you lots those 5 pounds (or more) only to have them creep back on? You’re not alone: 2/3 of women who lose weight on a diet gain it back and then some within 2 years. And it’s not because you’re a bad little dieter – it’s because diets don’t really change you. You will only create real change by taking a very honest look at how you got where you are, what it will take to get your WANT and a smart, methodical approach to hacking those habits.  Change does happen but it’s not always easy. Be the exception.

This is powerful stuff! Now that understand why you’re doing things that aren’t serving you, you can start to unwind them, transform them and dare I say: change!

Need a straight forward process to follow in order to change your habits? Well stay tuned, next week I’ll give you my 6 Step Process to Habit Change

As you start to observe your habits and see how they get you into trouble, you no doubt have had the thought, “Why do I do this???” Or rather, “Why in the hell can’t I stop doing this??” So many little habits you do don’t really support getting you to your goals, yet you struggle to change them.  It is maddening, huh? Logically some habits seem like obvious things to drop, stop or get over….yet they persist.  Despite knowing they don’t support your goals, you do it far too often – and feel terrible about yourself because of it, I know I do.

Why would you do such a thing? You get a payoff. You don’t do anything that you don’t get something out of, plain and simple. We all do this, it’s human, but it’s not helpful to getting your WANT.

So look at a habit such as drinking wine after work, grabbing a muffin at Starbucks or ordering a sandwich when you know you should have a big salad and you’ve sworn off gluten. What are you getting out of it? You may clearly see the flipside: the cost. You know wine every night doesn’t help you lose weight and you know that muffins are not the proten packed fat loss breakfast you should be eating. That’s the cost, but what’s the pay off?

You need to get clear on this – we don’t do anything without some sort of payoff and you’ll need to give this up if you want to get your WANT. I know, tough to admit, but do it.  Being honest with yourself doesn’t make you a bad person, just a human person. What is the thing you don’t want to give up in order to get a better, healthier body? It is often freedom, time, security, or energy – as in it’s easier to just sleep in than get up and workout. It feels restrictive to avoid gluten or watch your carbs. I takes too much time to get in shape……

Here is where you may be feeling you neck muscles tightening up as you start to feel your resistance to answering these tough questions.  Your brain likes things to stay easy, to stay the same and it will start to say stuff like, “I eat good enough and I don’t need this psycho-babble about payoffs and inspiration.” Here’s the reality check – whatever you are doing – no matter how good you think your diet is – it’s giving you the body you have now. If you’re not happy with that status quo…..you see where I’m going here.

You may already be trying very hard, but if your body isn’t changing then there’s work to be done…and it’s probably not at the gym.  Exercise is important, but at least 80% of your results are determined by diet so chances are, you’ve got more work to do in the kitchen than in the gym. So as you start to decide where you’ll focus your efforts to get your WANT, keep in mind that your diet is going to change.

This is a good time to notice if you’re complaining or taking a victim mindset.  If you’re thinking things like, “It’s so hard, I have a job and a family and I can’t do this.” “Who has time?” and the classic and my personal favorite, “It’s not fair. Why do I have to work so hard when so and so doesn’t?” If you catch yourself thinking anything along those lines, go back to the payoff. What are you getting out of not trying to do it different, of not taking on more with your nutrition plan – and what is the cost of continuing to do what you’re doing now?

Stings a bit huh? I certainly thought so. You’re not alone, this is the human condition. It’s easier to complain and feel we’re at the mercy of our lives than take responsibility and give some really comfy stuff up.  You do it, your girlfriends do it…I do it.

Get clear on the payoff of your habits – especially those that you’re resistant to giving up. To really change you have to give these things up IN SPITE of the pay off.  Knowing the cost isn’t usually enough – you know darn well booze is no way to a smaller booty and that muffins add to the muffin top, you know a lot actually – we all do. Yet many of us struggle to bridge the gap between knowing better and doing better.

You’re taking a huge step towards actually making change by observing your habits, looking for the habit reminders and getting clear on what you’re really giving up to have your WANT. Take the time to find the payoffs, you’ll have much more power in the face of change by doing so cuz let’s face it, change isn’t effortless.

Next post: the habit loop. Take the reminder observation one step further and see what your habit is seeking – the reward. This one is often the hardest part to suss out, don’t worry though I’ll walk you through it.

So much of what you do all day is habit – and much of it you don’t even realize you’re doing. I wrote yesterday about not being able to fix it if you don’t know it’s broken.  For so many of your habits, this is why you struggle to change them: you don’t know why you do it, you don’t know what’s wrong.

You don’t realize that you always brush your teeth with your right hand. You don’t realize that it’s leaving your office that triggers the desire for booze. You don’t realize that it’s that one coworker that makes you want sugary treats. You don’t realize you ate the rest of the French fries off your kid’s plate until they’re gone. You’re on cruise control, with your unconscious mind at the wheel.

You’ve all heard the stat: the unconscious mind processes 4 billion bits of info per second, while your conscious awareness takes in only 2000 bits per second. How can you compete with that??

Start with getting mindful. With so much of your day being rote routines and unconscious, don’t-even-think-about-it habits, you gotta learn to pay attention! Being mindful doesn’t mean you have to meditate or get your zen on up top a mountain, you can do it anywhere, any time.

To be more mindful simply pick a time of day, such as putting on your make up in the morning or sitting down to lunch that cues you to pay attention. Or you can set an alarm on your phone to go off on the hour to remind you to practice mindfulness. All mindfulness is is becoming aware of this moment right now. To do so simply pay attention to one thing: the feeling of your ring on your finger or your feet in your shoes. Pick something and practice with it. Just be aware, that’s it. You don’t have to do anything with the moment, just notice it.

Mindfulness sounds “nice”, but not something you really have time for, right? Well like I say, motivation is out and mindfulness is in. If you want to have better success with your body change or weight loss goals you’ve gotta get mindful. Mindful trumps motivation when it comes to making changes.

Motivation lasts a few days or weeks and then pitters out, yet we rely on this over and over again to get to our goals. Instead, take up some strategies that help you really change and aren’t reliant upon how you’re feeling in the moment but rather bring you right into the moment – however good or bad it may be. Mindfulness does just that, gets you present to the here and now. It’s in the each moment that you can observe the little decisions you make that get you into trouble – aka your habits.

The first step in changing a habit is observing the habit and looking for the reminder – the thought, feeling or activity that happens just before you take the action (do the habit). The reminder is the first part of the habit loop (more on the habit loop this week, sit tight). It’s this loop that you have to unravel to change your habits, so start from the top: the reminder.

To get to the reminder, get mindful. Slow down and watch yourself.  Pick one habit, like drinking wine or not being able to pass up the bread basket at a restaurant, and see if you can figure out your reminder.  What is the feeling or time of day or type of situation that triggers you wanting to engage in that habit?

For just today, get mindful. See all the little habits you have by just by watching them. Get a notebook and take a few notes.

Up next, why on earth you’d do some of the stuff you do when you know it doesn’t serve you. We all do this, it’s human, but it seriously gets in your way.  See you again later this week for more on crackin’ your habits and finally being able to change.  Stay tuned

I tried not to be too frustrated this past year with my belly because after all, it was in the not so distant past, stretched over an entire baby. But as I look at it my midriff in the mirror, it still looks flabby and well, just not good. I kept thinking, “I just need to lose more fat there and keep doing those planks, yada, yada.”  Then I’d think, my baby is 21 months old for crying out loud, this should be coming along more by now. So back to the gym I went….

I had full sit ups on my last workout as a more metabolic ab strengthener (having to get creative at my under equipped gym) and my upper abs really started to hurt.  They were really sore, not like having just worked out sore, painfully sore.  It was strange.

Just after I delivered Lola, I knew there was a big separation between my upper abs (I could put my fingers way too deep in there between the first 2 of my 6 pack – remember we all have a 6 pack, just can’t always see it!)  I assumed it would go back to normal in time and with training.  What I didn’t know, until a few weeks ago, was that it definitely did not!

That separation was an actual separation – those muscles were nowhere near close together yet!  I watched as I did a full sit up and there was this huge bulge popping out of my upper abs, under my ribs.  Yikes.  I have a diastasis recti (a separation of the abdominal muscles where the connective tissue is very stretched out, common after pregnancy) and if I do any more of these full sit ups I may also have a hernia.

How in the hell did I not realize this before? I am a doctor after all. It was like I had blinders on. I wasn’t making progress in this area, and instead of looking outside the box I went to what I always did – clean up my diet more, try to workout more, tweak my routine, keep pushing. I figured it was just fat and slack abs from pregnancy.  It never occurred to me that something else could be wrong.

Something else was wrong, and I couldn’t fix it until I knew what it was.

Same is true for you and your metabolism and your body. If what you’ve been doing isn’t working, maybe you don’t really know what’s wrong. If you feel like you’ve been working hard and not seeing results, take an objective look at the routines and habits that you hold on to that may not be working for you. And by all means get your hormones evaluated!

For me, my habit is to just buckle down and push harder. This (as it so often does) made my problem worse. I put more ab stress in my workout thinking I needed to work them harder – which was the exact opposites of what I needed.  In the past I’ve jumped on detoxes or fasts and even tried a stint as a vegetarian to lose weight.  When these things didn’t work, it was hard to let them go, I always want to hold on tighter and try harder. Wrong.

If it doesn’t work for you, look at your attachment to your habits and practices. Why do you do them? Why are they hard for you to let go of? It could be a dietary strategy like eating vegan or it could be you’re hell bent on not giving up martinis every evening.  Really look at the reward you’re getting out of it – and it may not be what you think.

Doing more of what doesn’t work, well it doesn’t work.

If it makes you BETTER, do more of it. If it is hindering your progress, let it go. It’s simple, but not always easy.

Intrigued by why we do stuff that just plain doesn’t work for us? Tune in tomorrow and get clear on what drives habits that get smack dab in our way of what we want – and how to change them, finally!

As for me and my diastasis recti, I reached out to a fellow fitness professional Christa Doran, who I know also had this issue. She steered me towards the Tuppler Technique. I’ve ordered my splint and I’m ready for some rehab. If you’ve read my blog much, you know I’m historically terrible at rehabing injuries – but time to fix what’s REALLY wrong and give up my bad habit of just pushing through. Sigh…..I feel like I’m growing up  Lola certainly is! Can hardly believe she’s old enough to feed and care for her “bebe” doll. (But it’s pretty darn sweet.)

When you suffer from low thyroid (hypothyroidism), everything slows down.  You’re tired, bloated, constipated, our skin is dry, your hair falls out, you can’t shed weight and live in a cloud of brain fog. While there are several causes for hypothyroidism, it is estimated that nearly 90% is due to an autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland (known as Hashimoto’s, affecting 1 in 8 women. If you have this and want to work with me in a one-of-a-kind program, click here). When it comes to nutritional thyroid support, you need to focus on quieting this immune attack but popular advice spouts: Put down the broccoli! Gluten avoidance only matters if you have Celiac. And bring on the iodine. 

When I first graduated from naturopathic school, this was the advice I espouse as well. This was before I really understood Hashimoto’s and autoimmunity and needless to say, a lot of my patients weren’t getting much better. But I know much better now – and so should you, so let’s bust the three most egregious thyroid nutrition myths.

Myth #1 Broccoli Shuts Down Your Thyroid

As you adjust your diet for better thyroid health, understand where this “Broccoli is bad” notion comes from. The reason broccoli, and other Brassica veggies, such as Brussel sprouts, make the thyroid no-no list is because they contain compounds called goiterogens , which can affect thyroid’s ability to do its job. .  Soy is also a goiterogen and makes the “bad for your thyroid” list.

A goiterogen is simply a  drug, chemical, or food compound that disrupts the normal production of thyroid hormone by blocking the thyroid gland from taking in iodine. The hormones your thyroid makes are made up of the amino acid tyrosine and 4 or 3 molecules of iodine (hence the thyroid hormone names of T4 and T3).

If this iodine blocking process is going on in your thyroid, it will begin to swell, causing a non-toxic goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland that is swollen but not overproducing hormones). This swelling from too many goiterogenic foods blocking iodine uptake happens as the pituitary bombards the thyroid with TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone).  It does this in attempt to get the thyroid gland to kick out more thyroid hormones. . (What you’ll see on your bloodwork is high TSH and low thyroid hormones, T4 and T3.)

Here’s the kicker: if Brassica veggies or soy are the cause of hypothyroidism simply taking those foods out  would ”fix” it. You’d feel better and your labs would return to normal. But the main cause of hypothyroidism in the Western world is not goiterogens but rather an immune system attack on the thyroid called Hashimoto’s. Overtime this attack hinders the thyroid’s ability to do its job making one hypothyroid – but not because of low iodine intake.

It’s important to know why you have hypothyroidism. If it is Hashimoto’s, skipping Brassica veggies can cause you to miss out on some great cancer fighting, estrogen detoxing, liver supporting, high fiber powerfoods… and do little to improve your thyroid health. Besides, most of us couldn’t possibly eat enough broccoli to induce thyroid problems.

Soy, on the other hand, could possibly cause thyroid problems because it is so ubiquitous in our modern diet.

The moral is that it’s unlikely that Brassica veggies are significantly hindering your thyroid and if you have Hashimoto’s, getting that immune system under control is job one – not curtailing your cauliflower intake. However, cooking does destroy most of the goiterogens in these foods, so more cooked vs. raw is a reasonable strategy to employ for anyone.

FYI: Vegetables in the brassica family: broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, canola, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mizuno, mustard greens, rapeseed, rapini, rutabagas, tatsoi and turnips.

Myth #2 I Don’t Have to Be Gluten Free If I Have Hypothyroidism

OK, we’ve let Brussel sprouts off the hook but what about the bagel?

When you realize that the vast majority of hypothyroidism is autoimmune, then foods that fire up our immune system become important to avoid. The last thing we want to do is poke the bear with a slice of bread.

But why is gluten such a problem? The wheat/gluten we eat now is actually a lot different from what our parents and grandparents ate. Homegrown American gluten is a completely foreign molecule that our immune system sees as very foreign, much like it reacts to a common cold virus.

Here’s a few specific ways gluten is firing up our immune system,

1. In order to make gluten mix well with other ingredients, food manufacturers “deaminate” it.  This chemical process makes the gluten molecules water soluble in order to make processed, packaged foods (meaning anything you buy in a box or bag from ketchup to cookies). However, this also creates a molecule that is much more reactive that our immune system reacts to even more than just plain gluten.

2. We grow and farm massive amounts of wheat and it’s stored in large bins for long periods of time, allowing mold to act on it and create little immune system aggravators called enterotoxins.

3.Many of us have “intestinal permeability”, aka a “leaky gut.” A leaky gut is caused by inflammation in the gut. Swelling in the cells of our intestines damages the junctions between the cells allowing larger proteins to “leak” through.  Normally only small things pass through such as a a vitamin, or an individual molecule of glucose or one single amino acid (not a whole protein).  When whole proteins end up in our blood stream, our immune system sees them and then here comes the inflammation!

We can get a leaky gut from years of a bad diet, various medications, having hypothyroidism, being under high stress, eating foods that we are sensitive to, taking antibiotics or doing anything that disrupts the delicate balance of bacteria in our gut.  If you find you’ve become increasingly more sensitive to foods, this may be an issue for you.

Don’t fall into the, “but I don’t get a belly ache when I eat bread or pasta, so gluten is no biggie for me” trap. About 60 percent of people that react to gluten have ZERO digestive symptoms.  Reaction to this inflammatory food can show up as anxiety, depression, fatigue, eczema, acne, blood sugar problems and female hormone imbalances.

Myth #3 Bring On The Iodine! Then Load ‘Em Up With Tyrosine

This is among the most controversial topics in thyroid health: to iodine or not to iodine. (I am prepared to ruffle a few feathers here.)

Iodine is a component of thyroid hormone, meaning it’s essential to have iodine in order to have good thyroid output. However, the main issue in 90% of cases of hypothyroidism in the US is an immune system attack on the thyroid, not iodine deficiency.

In your thyroid gland, an enzyme called TPO (thyroid peroxidase) makes your thyroid hormones. It is this enzyme that is often attacked in Hashimoto’s. When we dump a bunch of iodine into the system, our body will make more of this enzyme and it will go to work! Unfortunately, all that TPO activity can also kickstart an immune system attack in people with Hashimoto’s.   And remember with each “attack” the Hashimoto’s patient loses a little more thyroid function (translation: they need more and more  medication over time as they continually lose thyroid tissue from these attacks.)

So yes, many Americans are deficient in iodine (we’re all also deficient in magnesium, zinc and a whole lot of other minerals as well) however, if the cause of your hypothyroidism is Hashimoto’s you shouldn’t start adding supplemental doses of iodine to your regimen.

Do some of us need iodine? Yes, but it’s wise to know your autoimmune status first and respect your Hashimoto’s diagnosis. And perhaps the best advice here is simply to work with a qualified health care provider well-versed in supplements, thyroid and autoimmune concerns before going for a shopping spree at your local health food store.

Ok, now tyrosine. When a patient begins to take tyrosine they often feel better – isn’t that what we’re after? Well, yes, but they probably aren’t feeling better because their thyroid function has improved.  We do need tyrosine to make thyroid hormone but we also need it for adrenaline and dopamine production – those also make us feel great.

Our adrenals are responsible for our adrenaline production and this hormone is so vital to survival that it takes priority – it snatches up the tyrosine straight away.  Adrenaline allows us to not pass out when we stand up and is responsible for that immediate reaction to move out of the way of an oncoming car.  This is all good stuff, but it’s not thyroid related.

Many of you – especially those with low thyroid production – have low-functioning or mal-functioning adrenals and this flood of tyrosine into the system boosts adrenaline and you’ll feel much more alert, have better energy and better concentration.  This is all good stuff – and we probably needed this adrenal support. But we mistake this boost in energy as having improved thyroid function. Adding tyrosine to a thyroid support regimen is not a terrible idea, but it gives us a false sense of improvement in thyroid output and what’s more, if you’re highly stressed throwing more adrenaline fueling nutrients into the mix may make adrenal issues worse.

So what are we to do? First, if you are concerned about your thyroid or have hypothyroidism but do not know if it’s autoimmune, get it checked out (ask for TG and TPO antibodies). If you do have Hashimoto’s and have been sweating the Brussel sprouts, relax but do take a good look at going gluten free for the long haul.  Lifestyle changes such as this take practice and commitment, but it is worth it – and it does get easier. Finally, if you’re thinking of supplementing with herbs and nutrients to support your thyroid and have autoimmunity of any sort, consider working with someone who can help you with a safe, effective regimen.

As I always say, with autoimmunity you are in a special class and the standard advice isn’t always safe for you – even when that advice is “correct”. You’re special So special that Molly Galbraith and I made this program especially for women with Hashimoto’s because your needs are unique!

Recently I’ve been once again facing some really big fears. Going head to head again with all my old insecurities that I thought I’d licked.  Here it is…all my “stuff”…again.

There have been many days lately that I just wanted to put my head in my pillow, cry and give up. I mean, how many times do I have to face this same crap?  Didn’t I do this work already? When am I going to get there?

As soon as I asked this question, I knew the answer…never. This is a truth that I try most days to pretend is a lie. We never arrive. We’re never done working on ourselves.  The work gets easier, the time between episodes is longer, the drama is less, but it still happens.

It’s been a few years since this much of my junk surfaced, but here it is – as ugly as ever.  Having done so much work facing my “I’m not good enough” stuff, to be honest, I was a little shocked at just how much it reared its head this time.  It was big.

Big enough that my instinct was to shut down, hide, to run, to just say, “Well if I stay here, if I stay small then I don’t have to face this.” As I heard myself say this in my mind I was reminded of yet another truth: I have to face it anyway.  I may not have to face it on camera (where my current insecurities are being triggered) but I have to face it every time I give in to a glass of wine or sugary treat when I said I wouldn’t. I have to face it every time I look in the mirror and feel bad/sad/depressed/fat/blahblahblah.  I have to face it on a small scale, or on a big scale…no two ways about that.

Once I was done stomping my feet about this and out of the inappropriate shock that I wasn’t yet done working on my biggest issues, it felt OK.  I know that the work worth doing isn’t something that will be easy, get ‘er done and then that’s that – it’s the work that keeps on giving.

And it is a gift, I see that this time around. If I have to deal with this stuff, so do other women – and the more I share, the more we share, about how hard this stuff is the easier it will be for all of us.

So whether I’m not good enough speaking to a large group of people or just not good enough when I look in the mirror, I gotta keep trying to crack that nut. It’s tough one, it’s been there as long as I can remember. I know it’s BS, but it has a hold on me still at times…and I gotta keep trying to learn from it, grow from it, transform it. And so do you, whatever your gremlin is, because we don’t ever really get there.

We don’t ever leave behind completely the “stuff” that shapes us, its part of us – and I’m realizing that’s not such a bad thing. It does get easier to manage, it almost becomes funny after awhile, but it sticks around.  It reminds us that if we don’t keep our wits about us, we could slip back into old patterns, back into old ways of being that are not part of our BETTER.

When you’ve done so much work to have a better mindset or a better body, it’s a product how you’ve transformed your stuff. We don’t just wake up one day thinner, more beautiful, more confident and our not good enough stuff has vanished.  I think what happens is we slowly quiet the “I’m not good enough” voice and bolster the “I’m actually sorta awesome” voice. This one is actually louder and more powerful because of the not good enough voice.  Make sense? It didn’t to me for a long time.

I always thought when I’m there, when I finally get there, I’ll be thinner, happier and this not good enough stuff will be gone for good because I’ll be, you know, good enough…finally! Well, wherever I now am, that stuff is still there but it’s quieter and keeps to itself over there in the corners of my mind AND the good stuff is BETTER because it’s not phony or trying to be something it’s not – it’s earned. The increased confidence, more stamina in myself, better body image, better body – all of it – has a glow (yes, a glow) of the less than pretty stuff that help it come into being.

I’ve always looked at my downfalls, my flaws, as something I needed to “get over” so I could be happier, prettier, thinner, more confident, better. Now, even though this “not good enough” default isn’t my best quality I’ve decided to be grateful for it. It’s been my biggest teacher.  It keeps me from getting complacent, it keeps me striving to be better. It’s not meant to be whipped into shape. Each time that I deal with it better I see how far I’ve come – not how far I have left to go. I’ve decided to stop asking, “Am I there yet?” and instead say, “Hello old friend. I know you’re here to show me how to be BETTER today. Thank you.”

And I’m no longer afraid to also say, “OK, you’ve stayed quite long enough now. Time for you to go. See ya later!”

Inside and outside, we simply have to keep trying to be BETTER.

Me working on my WANT. Being BETTER – sprints in the rain

Making sleep a priority is key to a BETTER body, slower aging, less feeling frazzled - and generally being nicer. You’ve read many a blog on “sleep hygiene” as they call it. The basics on sticking with a sleep schedule, avoid caffeine too late in the day, get a white noise machine and don’t sit up surfing the web of checking Facebook when you should be turning in. But they bear repeating so let’s review:

*Get to bed and wake up at the same time every day (or as close as possible). Your mind may want to sleep differently on the weekends, but your brain and body don’t know the difference between Tuesday and Sunday.

*Turn off the TV and computer at least an hour before bed.  I know the lull of the TV helps many of us turn our chattering minds off, hopefully as you sort things out you’ll need this less.  Just remember that light of any kind will not allow melatonin release in your brain and keep cortisol elevated (more on this below).

*Stop working at least an hour before bed.  Make your to do list for tomorrow and let it go.  Don’t do anything else that gets you riled up either such as talking to someone who urks you on the phone.  Keep it chill….

*Avoid anything you personally find stimulating in the evening such as intense exercise, exciting reading (certain blogs, the news, even an gripping novel).

*If you are someone who really has a tough time winding down at night, try to stimulate more melatonin and less cortisol by really keeping lights low. Consider switching to low lit lamps vs. bright overheads or go full on candlelight as soon as you get home from work. Try it. It’s so mellow and lovely.  If this doesn’t work for your entire family at least try candle light in the bathroom and bedroom so you can keep your bedtime rituals low light and low key.

Sleep Troubles (aka Coritsol Troubles)

Sleep problems can be more serious such as sleep apnea (although a good diet does a world of good here) or other sleep disorders, but the bulk of us are not having pathological sleep issues – we’re having blood sugar issues.

I know, it sounds a little nuts to think our blood fuel levels have much to do with our racing mind as we lay in bed stressing about the day to come, but because of the relationship between cortisol and insulin, that is indeed the issue.

Think of insulin and cortisol like a see saw, when one is high the other is low and on and on they go throughout the day.  We think of cortisol as a bad guy, our stress hormone making us feel harried and packing on inches to our waistline. Its bad rap is only partially deserved (real trouble comes from chronic, repeated cortisol release). What cortisol does in a nutshell is raise your blood sugar.  During any type of stress: a fight with your boss, skipping breakfast, a spin class, etc. your body calls on cortisol (and adrenaline) to release stored sugar to keep you going.  This is also how you can sleep through the night without having to get up and eat every few hours.

Cortisol has a natural rhythm of output: lowest at bedtime, rising throughout the night and highest around 5am. Now this is normal and many of us have abnormal secretion in terms of timing and amount of cortisol.

While cortisol’s job is to get blood sugar up, insulin’s job is to get it down.  Insulin is released when we eat, more so and for longer when we eat carbohydrates.  But insulin is also released when cortisol is high because if cortisol is high: blood sugar will soon be up too.  This tug of war is going on in all of us all the time as our body aims to keep our blood sugar just right: not too high and not too low.  When we have insulin resistance (cells stop responding as well to insulin’s message and they stop letting glucose easily into the cell, causing us to secrete more insulin to get the message across) we tend to get higher blood sugars after we eat, insulin secretion rises and finally gets it down often overshooting the mark and then we need cortisol to come in and level us out.  You can see where continuing to tug on one side exacerbates the other.

On the flipside, when we don’t have good cortisol reserves or a good cortisol response to lower blood sugars we have to rely on cortisol’s heavyweight cousin to get blood sugar up: adrenaline (aka epinephrine).   Rather than having a hard time lowering blood sugar after a meal, this camp has a hard time keeping blood sugar up between meals – and throughout the night.

So what does this have to do with sleep? Cortisol and even more so, adrenaline are stimulating hormones and if high will keep us awake.  When we’ve got insulin issues, particularly if we stress that insulin system with a big dinner or too many carbs at our last meal, it’s easy to have higher cortisol come bed time giving us a racing mind and leaving us to lay there for hours trying to fall asleep.  Periods of high stress can also create this higher cortisol at night. If it’s too high at bedtime, we can’t wind down even though we’re tired. This is that tired and wired feeling where your brain just won’t turn off.

With this logic in mind, wouldn’t lower cortisol be ideal for better sleep? Sorta. Like any hormone, cortisol’s gotta be just right.  High cortisol can keep us from falling asleep, but low cortisol throughout the night will prevent us from staying asleep (normally cortisol rises throughout the night to be highest in the morning).  As our adrenal glands (source of both cortisol and adrenaline) work to keep our brains, lungs and everything else going throughout the night without a food supply coming in for energy, we employ these stress hormones to keep us tapped into our sugar stores.  However if cortisol is low our body has to rely on adrenaline to get that stored sugar free.  Adrenaline is like high octane, cortisol – it’s more stimulating and it will wake us up.

Some people with this lower cortisol/lower blood sugar problem wake feeling anxious – or even hungry.  Many have a really hard time going back to sleep, lying there for an hour or more unable to fall back asleep. This can mean waking frequently in the night or waking too early (think 4am and can’t go back to sleep).

This may sound a bit complicated, but the treatment is pretty straight forward: mange blood sugar throughout the day and sleep better because it helps these hormones stay in a good balance.  But while you’re working to eat regularly, ensure enough protein and veggie fiber for nice level blood sugar, avoiding sugar and alcohol (both blood sugar crashers) you need to sleep better tonight right?

Here’s a few nutrition tips for managing both sides of this troubled sleep coin: 

If you have a hard time falling asleep try a lower carb dinner – think vegetables and fish or vegetables and a grass fed steak.  If you are wanting a bedtime snack, go for veggie and protein but avoid starchy or sugary carbs.  Overdoing starches and sugars will stress your insulin mechanism and keep you wrestling those ruminating thoughts.

If you have a difficult time staying asleep you really should consider a bedtime snack as regular habit. I know we’ve all heard that for weight loss we don’t want to eat too late.  We want to get maximal responses from leptin, growth hormone, etc.  This is all true…in perfect physiology.  All of these higher level hormones like leptin (a key hormone in regulating appetite and fat loss) can’t really be affected until we have a good cortisol and insulin balance.  Start there, then get into these more nitty gritty hormones. And guess what? Many of them normalize when we fix insulin and cortisol anyway. Blood sugar balance also drives neurotransmitter levels in the brain so even if the cause of your sleep issue is low serotonin or trouble with GABA (our best calming chemical), sorting out blood sugar will help to a large degree here also.

Back to difficulty staying asleep: your bedtime snack should consist of protein, veggies for fiber and a small amount of starch or sugar (such as 1/3 cup sweet potato or a small apple).  This type of sleep issue really needs a mini-dinner closer to bedtime.

Now, many people have been so stressed for so long that this insulin:cortisol relationship is really out of balance and they have trouble with both too high and too low blood sugar.  This may warrant employing some adrenal support such as the herb rhodiola as well as supporting the insulin mechanism with nutrients such as chromium, magnesium and alpha lipoic acid.

Often these nutrition guidelines are enough, but sometimes our adrenal and blood sugar systems are so stressed that we need to follow these rules as well as employ natural sleep aids or even sleep medications to get a good night’s sleep. (see below for some tips of what to try for better sleep)

Think Twice Before Popping Some Melatonin

While melatonin is sold freely over the counter, don’t forget this is a hormone – thus a powerful messenger to your body.  When we take melatonin our body can’t gauge how much melatonin it needs to make on its own so it slows – and eventually almost halts – its own melatonin production. Melatonin is meant to be taken just for 3 days or so – thus is ideal for travel especially across time zones – but not a good idea to take daily.

Hooked on melatonin and wondering if it’s is it so bad? Getting your own melatonin production and rhythm out of whack from taking it daily is a problem because melatonin and cortisol regulate each other.  These two hormones have opposite rhythms and timing of release (cortisol is high in the morning, lower at night and melatonin is opposite of that).  As we shut down our own melatonin release we will cause cortisol abnormalities and quickly both stress and blood sugar issues arise as well. Because your hormones are a tightly knit web, when cortisol is off soon thyroid, female hormones, fat loss, immune system, etc. all get out of balance. 

Boost your own melatonin production by:

*Keeping lights low in the hours before bedtime – and keep sleeping environment as dark as possible

*Because serotonin is the precursor for melatonin, utilize serotonin boosting supplements like 5HTP and methylating nutrients such as B12, folic acid, B6, etc to boost serotonin.

*Address any cortisol issues (high or low) as your body makes melatonin by trying to coordinate with cortisol’s rhythm.

If you’ve been taking melatonin for years you may not be able to sleep without it. If you try and just can’t manage then we know your own melatonin production and rhythms are disrupted and can assume you’ll have some cortisol and blood sugar issues because of it. In this case, you may simply need to stay on the melatonin to be able to sleep.

Note for Hashimoto’s & Other Autoimmune Patients: Cortisol and melatonin have profound effects on your immune system. Cortisol is usually deemed as “bad” while melatonin is often touted as “good” for the immune system. Good and bad are relative depending on your particular shifts towards one arm of the immune system (known as the TH1 or TH2). Everyone with an autoimmune disease has an imbalance towards TH1 or TH2 – problem is you probably don’t know which one (there are not great lab tests to discern this for you).

Cortisol stimulates TH2 and melatonin stimulates TH1, so if you have a dominance of TH1 you will make your autoimmune attack on your tissues much worse by taking melatonin.  So while many natural health experts endorse use of melatonin as an “immune booster” or recommend daily use as a sleep aid – and these claims may be true, even research based – if you have autoimmunity avoid “immune boosting” or “supporting” supplements as they can increase your immune based attack (i.e. on the thyroid in Hashimoto’s). Autoimmunity puts you in a “special class”!

How to Get BETTER Sleep Tonight by Boosting Your Own Chill Chemicals (aka GABA & Serotonin) 

Your main natural calming neurotransmitters are GABA and serotonin (largely because it gets converted into melatonin). Having enough activity of these guys helps you relax and unwind, countering some of the effects from cortisol abnormalities – and sometimes while you’re working on blood sugar and cortisol issues straight, you need to boost nature’s chill pills to get some zzzs.

Many herbal “bedtime” teas have GABA boosting herbs.Teas are a tried and true way to use herbs but keep in mind these are low dose – so tea may not be enough for some of you.  However, it’s a simple and cozy way to turn in so try a strong tea (start with 2 bags and increase to 4 if you aren’t getting relief).

If you have a hard time staying asleep, struggle with lower vs. high blood sugar, try:

Yogi Tea with valerian, chamomile, passionflower and skullcap as well as a bit of licorice

Calm chamomile tea from Tazo – a classic. Calm has lemongrass for a different twist and a touch of licorice as well

If you have a hard time falling asleep, struggle with higher blood sugar, try:

Get Some ZZZs tea from Republic of Tea. Roobios base for with valerian, passionflower and chamomile.

Tulsi Chamomile Tea. Tulsi is a great herb for managing high cortisol making this a great tea for trouble falling asleep.

When teas aren’t enough: 

Here’s a few supplement ideas to affect these GABA & Serotonin:

Herbs that boost GABA include: Valerian, Chamomile and passionflower (try Dr Brooke’s calm+sleep available soon!)

GABA deficiency signs include:

*Feeling anxious or panicked or overwhelmed for no reason

*Feeling knots in stomach, dread or doom; inner tension or excitability that’s difficult to turn off

*Mind feels restless and you can’t turn it off when you want to relax

*Worry or guilt about things that didn’t used to bother you

Herbs and nutrients that boost Serotonin include: St John’s Wort, 5HTP, SAMe  (try Serotone from Apex Energetics)

Serotonin deficiency signs are:

*Depression that feels guilty (life isn’t so bad, you feel guilty that you aren’t more happy), the “blues”

*Losing enjoyment and pleasure from things you used to enjoy

*Feel more susceptible to pain and get angry more than before even when unprovoked

*Feel worse in grey, overcast weather

Other Relaxing Nutrients for BETTER Sleep

These three calming nutrients work for any type of sleep issue and can easily be combined with teas or herbs above.

Magnesium: Try 300-400mg (many of us are very deficient in magnesium and need to use this dose several times per day) or try a topical magnesium such as Magnederm (use a quarter sized amount applied to a large muscle such as low back, traps/neck, quads or hamstrings – pick a tight or sore one as it helps the muscle relax). 

Inositol can be relaxing and is also great for female hormone issues of many sorts.  Try 500-1000mg at bedtime.

Theanine is the relaxing amino acid found in green tea.  Try 100-300mg at bedtime (found in calm+sleep).

Nighty, night! Zzzzzz……

Sure sometimes, it takes a little finesse – a tweak here or there until we get it all just right. Even then, the body often doesn’t work on our timetable. Instead taking a frustratingly long time to jump to and start dropping fat. I’m not talking about that stuff – and I’m not talking about those rare few in my office who simply so exactly what I ask them to, no muss, no fuss…I’m talking about the rest of us.

Those of us that know what to do, but struggle to always do it. I’ll admit, I fall victim to this at times as well. Some days it’s just plain hard to do what I need to do for myself. What happens to me when I can’t pull it off is that I feel weak. I feel like I’m failing.  I feel like, “What the hell’s wrong with me??”

There is a huge gap between knowing what to do and actually being able to do it – let alone keep doing it, consistently.  And this my dears is the real fat loss secret.  Us experts make it sound really fancy at times talking about this hormone or that, but for the most part it’s doing a few simple things right, over and over. That is actually the key to your fat loss success.

So what’s going on when we’re wondering “What the hell is wrong with me?? Why can’t I just do what I need to do?” We’re having a lapse in willpower.  The problem is that we don’t know it – we feel weak and like we’re failing, not that we’re just low in juice to keep going.

I’ve really turned my focus with the women I work with towards habit change and willpower. I’m trying to help them bridge this gap between knowing better and doing better.  That gap exists because diets focus on what to eat, what not to eat, how much to workout – no one’s talking about how you actually do that…especially when your resolve is in the tank.

I will be writing on this a whole lot, so stay tuned.  But know this: there are things that drain your willpower and things that boost it.  Just knowing this should help you stop feeling weak or like you’re failing and rather that you’ve just never learned to manage your own willpower.  What comes to mind when you think of willpower? I know, I know, that you don’t have enough of it.

Willpower is this vague, invisible thing that has a huge hold on how we feel about ourselves. When we have it we feel virtuous and when we lack it we feel like crap.  Shift your thinking at times of perceived weakness from it meaning something bad about you to it being simply a willpower failure. Although it feels like it, low willpower doesn’t mean that you’re failing, it means that you’r willpower is failing. See the difference? Think of it like being unable to do that last pushup, that last lunge…you can’t, you’re just fully fatigued. Willpower works the same way.

That said, willpower failures can mean big trouble for you because when we start to feel bad, start to feel weak or like we’re failing we tend to give up.  So while you may have simply been tired or hungry or otherwise zapped of willpower temporarily, you may throw in the towel all together instead of realizing your tank was simply out of gas. Little did you know, a fill up is just around the corner.

Here’s one thing you can do to boost your willpower right now: Did you know that just thinking of someone that you see as a success in what you’re trying to do OR thinking of someone who you deem as having loads of willpower will increase your willpower? Research bears this out so have some go to sources of inspiration to fill up your willpower when you’re feeling low.  Here are some of mine:

Molly Galbraith, Neghar Fahooni and everything that goes on at Girls Gone Strong instantly boost my resolve as I see these strong girls keep on rockin.  They look awesome, have a positive message about how beautiful it is to be strong and when I see them I’m reminded, “Yeah, that’s why I am going to the gym today!”

Miss Molly: was hard to pic a shot of Molly that didn’t show her face, cuz she’s so darn adorable! But I love this one of her looking like such a beautiful badass!

Neghar: Tell me those abs don’t want to make you eat clean??

Both Neghar and Jen Comas Keck remind me that strong girls need to lift lots of heavy stuff – and also do yoga.  I get so into exercising for “fat loss” that I regularly neglect the yin to my yang….consequently I’m injured too often and tight and sore every day.  I’m really getting into yoga – finally! But historically I found it boring, too slow and even agitating as I tried to breath and just couldn’t quiet my mind thinking of all I needed to be doing.  How bad did I need to be doing yoga?? Sheesh.

Jen, Lovely Jen: I am no where this bendy, but she inspires me to keep trying!

When my head wanders into victim territory and I start to let myself off the hook by saying things like, “Well I did have a baby after all….” I pop over to Tuff Girls Fitness and take a look at one buff mama, Christa Doran.  I’ve followed Christa’s journey back to body after babies on Facebook. Very inspiring!

Crista: There have been two babies in this belly….need I say more??

And when I want to be inspired to run my business, write books, eat well, have a hubby and a baby and be able to flip a tire I visit my friend Cass Forsythe’s page and I feel instantly more awesome.

Cass: Aside from living close enough to hang out with Cass on a regular basis, I want to move to CT so I can flip a tire. Not a lot of room here in Brooklyn.

Who inspires you? Have them on speed dial, subscribe to their blogs, and fave their Facebook pages or favorite their sites in your web browser so you can get instant access to inspiration and willpower.  Be inspired so you can be BETTER!

Is detoxing all nonsense? No, but let’s start with what detoxing is – and then what it’s not.  Detoxification is something your body – namely your liver – is doing all the time (you’re doing it right now, actually). Our world is full of chemicals, allergens and other excessive gunk like hormones in our meat and dairy, parabens in our skin care and the list goes on. We also make our own share of garbage from our normal metabolic processes. All of this stuff must be dealt with, everyday.

Think of your detox capacity like a bucket that’s being filled up from the top with toxins and trash, and there’s a release valve at the bottom.  How well you are able to keep the bucket empty depends on the rate at which you’re filling it up (aka your exposure) and how quickly you can empty it (aka your detox capacity).

Your rate of filling up your toxic bucket depends on how clean your diet is, your exposure to chemicals and toxins and how burdened your metabolism is (i.e. is your body dealing with just your own hormones or are you also say, taking the birth control pill upping the amount of estrogen your liver must clear each day) . Your rate of dumping the bucket depends on the health of your digestion and the capacity of your liver to clear this stuff out.  So where do the fancy juices and 7 day cleanses come in? Truthfully, they don’t need to come in at all.

Keep your bucket from getting too full by avoiding as much garbage as you can: eat clean, organic, free range or grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free meat and dairy; opt for organic produce; minimize or avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugar and refined, packaged foods; and choose paraben and phthalate free cosmetics and skin care.

If your bucket isn’t dumping out fast enough because you are unable to empty it effectively, you should work with a nutritional medicine practitioner to safely and effectively aid your liver in processing toxins and clean up your gut (restoring proper balance of normal gut bacteria, identifying and removing food allergens and healing up any inflammation).  For example, at my office if your job exposed you to a lot of chemicals, I would support your detox differently than if you had bad PMS and breakouts or digestive trouble.

But what about those green juices? Sorry folks – there is nothing inherently “detoxing” about these juices, although they do give you another dose of green stuff so you’re bolstering your nutrient intake overall (you could also just eat a salad).  One thing to avoid for sure is fasting or “juice cleanses” where you eat very little to no food, but drink juices for 3 or more days.

Remember that mechanism to dump the bucket? It’s entirely dependent on sulfur containing amino acids and guess where those come from? Namely animal protein. So if you want to see your detox ability screech to a halt, stop eating protein.  The juice only fasts are also a nightmare for blood sugar and will often leave people feeling ‘great’ for a few days, only to crash and binge on a doughnut. What was that great feeling? Adrenaline! If no sugar is coming in, we use stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) to break down stored sugar and fat to fuel ourselves. Not as healthy as it sounded huh?

The patient population I work with does particularly badly on juice fasts and cleanses.  If you’ve got blood sugar problems, adrenal issues or hypothyroidism the juice cleanse is a sure fire way to cause a lot of stress and inflammation in your already delicate metabolism.  The core ideas of a cleanse are great for you – the tasty, sugary beverages, not so much. Green juice can certainly be part of a healthy diet and part of a detox, just avoid the juice only bloodsugar rollercoaster and watch for those highest in sugar.

Want a quick and dirty detox that’s free and doesn’t leave you packing around your cooler of fancy pants juices? For one week avoid packaged foods, alcohol, caffeine and sugar.  Opt for organic produce and high quality meat products.  Skip common allergens like dairy and soy. And voila! You’ve just lowered your intake of junk into your bucket…and you’ll feel better very simply for it.

Or if you’d like help supporting your liver nutritionally to dump the gunk better please email me at drdbrooke@betterbydrbrooke.com.  I’m taking participants now for distance coaching through a detox for a discounted price of $395 – which is a steal on my hourly rate and includes supplements.  Please gather a group of 4-5 of your friends and contact me and we’ll get started! Happy spring cleaning!