I finally finished The Hormone Diet by Natash Turner, ND and although it’s a crazy long book, it’s filled with tons of great material and is still accessible to a reader without a science or medical background (such as myself). I do recommend that you browse through the book, and look through the index for what interests you the most. This information does not need to be read in order for it to be valuable. Her book encourages a low glycemic mediterranean style diet, which actually pushed me toward eating a paleo diet as a way of reducing my intake of sugar.

Reducing sugar will prevent the release of excess insulin, which is a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Excess insulin has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. Reducing sugar will also help keep your liver healthy. Since the liver also controls the production and breakdown of different hormones including cortisol, an overburdened liver may cause hormonal problems. The liver also aids in detoxification, and toxins can cause hormonal imbalances as well. This book has tons of great advice and resources for detoxifying your home and work space.

Another thing I loved about this book, was her in-depth explanations of supplements and how it effects your different hormones. If you are considering taking a supplement to improve your hormonal health, I highly recommend you consult this book. Supplements are not regulated like prescriptions, and it’s important to get a quality product that is recommended by a doctor or naturopath. In her book, you can find both the brand names she recommends and the correct dosage.

In conclusion, I really liked this book as a comprehensive guide to understanding your hormones and how it relates to symptoms and disease. I was not a fan of the diet recommendations and recipes, but I did appreciate her explanations for avoiding sugar, alcohol, and caffeine. Check out The Hormone Diet by Natash Turner, ND if you are serious about your hormonal health. If your not serious, you should be. According to Turner, “Hormones are powerful chemcial messengers in the body, controlling everything from the reproductive system to mood, sleep, and appearance” They play an important role in metabolism and injury recovery, as well as many diseases related to aging including diabetes, osteoporosis, and heart disease. Excess estrogen (unnaturally found in our environment) has been linked to thyroid disease, obesity, and breast and prostate cancer. Just to name a few 🙂

So, I finally finished this ebook. Hooray!!! For a long time now, I’ve been a big fan of gelatin and bone broth. I’ve written  a couple of posts about bone broth including, The Top Ten Reasons to Drink Bone Broth, and What I Put in my Bone Broth, so I considered myself pretty knowledgeable about the subject. Well, I’m happy to say that I learned some new information about bone bone in this ebook, and I thought it was definitely worth my time.

I was worried it would be overly long, since I’ve read a lot of lengthy health books and this ebook doesn’t feel that way at all. It was beautifully designed, which as a former graphic designer is important to me, and although it had lot of technical information, it didn’t come across as dry reading. In fact, her writing style felt honest and genuine, and the author, Syvie McCracken, conveyed her research in a clear and concise way, that’s accessible to people even with the busiest of schedules.

Some of the topics she covers in depth are gelatin for:

1. Bone healing
2. Joint health
3. Gut health including leaky gut syndrome
4. Autoimmune diseases
5. Allergies and food sensitivity
6. Weight loss
7. Chronic Inflammation
8. Muscle Formation
9. Brain health and mood disorders
10. Skin health including acne, wrinkles, and cellulite
11. Healthy hair and nails
12. Dental health

Sylvie also provides in her ebook directions for making bone broth and gives advice for making it regular part of your diet. If you’re interested in learning more about the health benefits of bone broth click here to visit Hollywood Homestead, to purchase your own copy.

Disclaimer: Since I’m such a huge fan of this ebook, I decided to become an affiliate for this product. Purchasing this ebook book will support both this blog, and Sylvie’s blog, The Hollywood Homestead.

Lately, I’ve really wanted to step up my food photography skills. I took some photography classes back in art school and loved it, but for my food photos, I’m more interested in getting it done as quickly as possible so I can eat. I normally use my iphone camera (with no attachments) which automatically sends my pictures to Dropbox on my computer. Then, I edit them in Photoshop and format them for the web. This lets me post often and fast, which is great for frequency, but not so great for quality.

I have a few props that I use and I always take pictures in natural light. I take very few photos maybe 6 to 10, so I still have time to eat the food before it gets cold. However, pictures can easily end up blurry and the depth of field in a camera phone is nonexistent. So, in the future I’m planning on breaking out my DSLR and getting serious about my photos, which is why I downloaded Tasty Food Photography ($19) by the blog Pinch of Yum to help me get started on this project. Click here to visit Pinch of Yum for more information. 

What I liked best about the book were tips and links to set up a proper studio space for your food. Although it sounds like it would be a lot of work, they make it seem easy and affordable. Since I live in an older one bedroom apartment because Los Angeles is crazy expensive, I can’t take pictures in my unappealing and dark kitchen. So any advice I can get my hands on to make a pretty setup is greatly appreciated. I also liked how they described the different lighting situations with the camera settings that were used. Since manual settings are still something I struggle with, having the examples to reference will be really helpful as I try to get used to adjusting the camera myself.

I was lucky enough to get sent a preview of the new book Spartan Up!: A Take-No-Prisoners Guide to Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Peak Performance in Life. From what I’ve read so far, I’m definitely looking forward to its release date on May 13th. As someone who prides themselves on ancestral cooking and eating habits, I am intrigued by the concept of leading a lifestyle and philosophy similar to the Spartans . Although my nerve pain prevents me from pushing my body physically, I am grateful to learn this wisdom vicariously through the real-life stories offered in this book. I believe this wisdom can also be applicable to any endeavour requiring an extraordinary amount of will power, whether it be related to diet, health, money, or relationships. Since the Spartan Races are essentially extremely brutal obstacle courses, there is a very obvious and effective metaphor for overcoming difficult obstacles, and coming out stronger, and more focused (and thus happier) at the end.

I am especially looking forward to gaining more insight into such motivated individuals. When taking your health into your own hands, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to step outside what are considered “normal” habits. It can be especially difficult after encountering one scary setback after another, only to be faced with debilitating fear and doubt. My favorite part of the preview was when it briefly mentioned how much easier it became to make decisions and handle the stress of work and family, especially after facing a difficult race where food, water and shelter were your only concerns. This trial by fire, is essentially giving its participants amazing perspective that lets them better able to handle the difficulties and surprises in their own lives. Although, I’ve never been in a Spartan Race, dealing with constant chronic nerve pain has given me similar perspective about what is really important in my life. Once I was able to prioritize what matters the most to me, it became much easier to steer clear of temptations and distractions, especially those of the dessert variety.

So lately, I’ve been obsessed with hard boiled eggs. I eat them for breakfast. I snack on them. I actually just ate two of them a couple minutes ago for dessert. I’ve trying to reduce sugar as much as possible after Valentines Day, and hard boiled eggs have definitely helped me keep my diet on track. This is not a paid review, and I bought the Norpro Egg Rite Egg Timer myself. I’ve found that the lines for soft, medium, and hard are not accurate, and the egg is hard boiled when the whole timer turns from red to purple. That being said, I still love it. Now that I’ve used it a bit, I know when to take it off the heat. The longer I leave it out in the cold water after it’s done cooking, the easier it peels. I finally feel like I might succeed in making deviled eggs, which happens to be a favorite dish of mine. On amazon it’s only $6.45, which I think is definitely worth it. Mary G. Enig, author of Know Your Fats, recommends that you eat at least one egg a day if you are not allergic to them. Chris Kresser also has an awesome article “Three Eggs a Day Keep the Doctor Away” that I highly recommend you check out.