For Mind, Body, and Soul
6 pounds ground meat (beef, turkey, pork, or chicken)
3 teaspoons sea salt
3 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons cayenne
1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon wet mustard
2 cups almond flour
1 cup tomato juice
1 chopped onion
12 eggs
Mix all ingredients together. Grill. Enjoy!
1 cup coconut flour
4 eggs
¼ cup butter, lard, or tallow
3 cups shredded cheese
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon oregano
Mix all ingredients in food processor or blender. On a cookie sheet, thinly roll dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Pull off the top piece of parchment. Bake at 400° F for 5-10 minutes. Cut into pieces, flip, and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!
4 cups fresh or frozen, but thawed, cauliflower
4 cups shredded cheese
½ cup butter, lard, or tallow
2 eggs
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon oregano
Pulse cauliflower in food processor or blender until cauliflower is the size of rice. Mix remaining ingredients with cauliflower. Spread in circles on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 450° F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Top with sauce, meat, and cheese. Enjoy!
7 ounce block of coconut cream
1/2 cup raw cocoa powder
1/3 cup raw honey
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup nuts of your choice, chopped or whole
Stir first 6 ingredients in pan on stovetop over medium heat until coconut cream is melted and mixture is combined. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts. Spread mixture in 8×8 inch pan. Place in refrigerator until firm. Enjoy!
5 cups almond flour
3 cups shredded cheese
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
1/3 cup water
Mix all ingredients. Roll thinly onto two 9 x 13 inch cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes. Cut and flip pieces. Return to oven and bake for another 7 minutes. Cool. Enjoy!
Adapted from Comfy Belly’s Nacho Cheese Chips.
When did hope lose its meaning? When did it go from hanging out with its support team of faith and love to being in the wrong crowd with fat chance and cold day in hell? When did people stop believing in hope?
As a child I was frequently told “don’t get your hopes up.” But I wasn’t the only one and it’s still happening today. As a society we are constantly told and sold the belief system of “muddling through” and “just getting by” from the pharmaceuticals that offer more side effects than relief from symptoms, without hope for a cure, to lottery tickets with impossible odds to the nightly news spewing crime and violence as headlines.
Hope needs an intervention. We need a conversation with hope to remind it and ourselves of its true nature. That real hope and belief in miracles is possible. Not the watered-down pie-in-the-sky hope of “good luck with that”, “let’s not get our hopes up,” because “there’s a slim chance” of a cure, or winning, or even survival. Are we so afraid of disappointment that we no longer believe in hope?
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” ― Robert Fulghum
I left the highly supportive world of autism support groups in 2010 when our family moved to Minnesota. Finding that the local group in our new town had recently disbanded and that my son, with the healing power of real nourishing food, no longer needed an I.E.P. (ticket to special education) for autistic traits he no longer possessed, I felt no void, until recently.
The lead character in my children’s books is a marmot. The books are our stories ON (Moby’s First Day of Kindergarten is about autism acceptance and peer advocacy) and OFF (Moby’s First Day of Summer Vacation is about the healing power of food) the autism spectrum. So I reached out to see if I could set up a table at a local autism awareness event to share information about my books and my upcoming community education gut-healing cooking classes. Healing the digestive system is effective treatment for autism and other mental and physical illnesses and conditions. Real food is not snake oil hope, it works. Given real nourishing food, our bodies know how to heal. That’s real hope to get families out of the muddling through world of therapies and accommodations into freedom of possibilities. Don’t get me wrong, the work done by therapists, social workers, and support staff is necessary and helpful while the body heals. My first book is all about using the tools and tips from these helping professions.
At this autism awareness event under a local park pavilion, I was one of three informational tables all in a row – one table manned by a representative from the state autism society, another one by a local occupational therapist, and then my table. This first time event was well attended. Interestingly, many people gave my table a wide berth on the way to visit the other two tables. It’s not like I even brought my signature Avocado Chocolate Pudding (although maybe I should have), I was just standing there with my books, stuffed animals, and pamphlets. 
A handful of hopeful people did approach my table interested in my knowledge and experience, but it wasn’t many, which got me thinking. I left the autism community and nothing has changed. “The Experts” upon diagnosis delivery still fail to mention effective dietary intervention to parents just like back in 2004 when we were told “there is no cure for autism” only a daily professionally directed and often medicated navigation through meltdowns and odd behaviors.
Toward the end of the event, I inquired with the very kind representative from the state autism organization on how I could submit a presentation proposal for the state autism convention. She gladly filled me in on the submission process, and then cautioned that I could not mention healing or cure. Funny how it’s acceptable to cruelly proclaim a lack of a cure, but not a cure. As a Certified GAPS™ Practitioner, I claim that gut-healing real nourishing food offers effective treatment for autism. The state autism representative agreed that the wording of “effective treatment” is acceptable. Consider this, treatment is okay because it doesn’t get people’s hopes up too high, but a cure for and healing of autism is irresponsible. We were given no hope for our son’s future. We proved them wrong, my son is no longer on the autism spectrum and his future IS FULL OF HOPE.
Since my discussion that day, I was hit with yet another hope deluding recommendation to limit my verbiage, which makes me dig in my hopeful heels even deeper. A fellow business group companion cautioned that I should not even use the words “effective treatment”, but rather “may alleviate symptoms” would be easier for people to swallow. But I like feeding people real nourishing spoonfuls of hope and will continue to do so. I believe in the power of hope.
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson
1/4 cup lard or butter
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bone broth
1 bag of frozen broccoli florets or 3 cups fresh chopped broccoli
1 large box of mushrooms
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 bags of frozen cauliflower, thawed, or 2 heads of fresh cauliflower
3 cups cooked cubed chicken
2 cups homemade yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon celery powder
2-3 cups cheese
Sauté onion and garlic in lard or butter. Add broth, broccoli, mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Briefly pulse cauliflower in a food processor until size of rice. Stir in cauliflower. Simmer until cauliflower is done. Spoon into 9 x 13 inch pan. Layer chicken on top of cauliflower rice mixture. Spread mixture of yogurt, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and celery powder over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until bubbly. Enjoy!
1 cup coconut oil, liquefied
1 cup raw honey
3 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond flavor
Mix all ingredients. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Store in fridge or freezer. When firmer, cut into squares. Enjoy!
-Coconut oil liquefies at 76 degrees Fahrenheit.
5 cups almond flour
2 cups peeled and shredded zucchini
4 eggs
1/4 cup lard, butter, or coconut oil
1 cup raw honey
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon flavor or 1/4 cup lemon zest
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond flavor
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups blueberries
Mix all ingredients, folding in blueberries last. Pour into two greased 5 x 8 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 60-65 minutes. Enjoy!
I’ve been grappling with my new hypnotherapist profession and certification, not that I’m questioning my new endeavor, because I’m not. Hypnotherapy is my passion, my purpose. As a hypnotherapist, I guide others to connect with and experience peace, purpose, and positive change. How cool is that! It makes me feel alive.
Rather, the conflict resides in the duality of my enthusiasm. You see, I feel this same passion, purpose, and aliveness being a gut healing GAPS practitioner. In my mind, they seem so far apart; different enough to warrant two separate business cards!
The explanation of my two different practices is often cumbersome, sending me back into the rink for more professional identity wrestling. But maybe I need to get out of the rink. Maybe my two loves are not at odds. Maybe they offer symbiotic healing. Certainly when someone is reclining in my fabulous hypnotherapy chair (courtesy of one of my practice clients!) reprogramming their hard drive to release weight or relieve depression, the thought of GAPS also improving his/her mental and physical wellbeing crosses my mind. Likewise, while teaching about GAPS and feeding people gut healing food, my mind considers how changing some of their long held erroneous diet beliefs at the subconscious level could catapult their healing.
GAPS heals the digestive system to successfully treat many mental and physical illnesses. When the mind and body are feeling great, access to the spiritual self seems more effortless and accessible, as depicted by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
I’ve experienced this personally. After beginning to detoxify and getting my lymphatic drainage system moving again after 9 long blocked and tear free years, my spirit soared. Just as much as food and health are connected, so connected are the mind, body, and soul. GAPS is an outside-in approach to healing, bringing real nourishing food from the outside to improve the body’s functioning on the inside.
Hypnotherapy offers improvement from the inside-out, allowing for positive changes and guidance at the subconscious soulful level to help the mind and body function optimally, somewhat an inverse approach to the hierarchy of needs.
Despite the directional approach of healing, both GAPS and hypnotherapy holistically enhance the quality of life – mind, body, and spirit.
To paraphrase Joni Mitchell, I’ve looked at life from both sides now, from out and in and in and out, and I’ve found wholeness and connection. I embrace this connection, this symbiosis, and from this point forward offer a clearer picture of my professional loves not as contrasting but rather as complimentary. I now grasp that even the dichotomy of my loud and boisterous voice and laughter as a GAPS practitioner/teacher contrasting sharply with my peaceful and encouraging voice as a hypnotherapist/teacher serves to join the yin and yang of me, bringing a collective wholeness to my holistic health practices of Nourishing Happiness and HYPNOurish.
NOURISHING HAPPINESS 