Author Archives: rawgirl

Happy #WorldVeganMonth y’all! Yesterday was #WorldVeganDay and I was reminded that it’s now been 24 years since I embarked on a plant-based lifestyle. Pictured left is me in 2008 and on the right is 2019.  I was vegan before “What the Health?”— before veganism was a trend, and before plant-based options were readily available LOL! For most of my life my family and friends have thought I was a little cray cray for being so committed to healthy living. But it has paid off. 

My job now is to ensure that every client I service finds the best diet for their body specifically—but I know that plant-based diets that are comprised of whole foods are a powerful intervention for so many chronic conditions. I know for a fact that if I did not start this journey years ago, I would have some of the health concerns that many of my clients have. Seventy five percent of African Americans are lactose intolerant. If you are still consuming dairy, start with removing it, and then begin increasing the amount of plant foods in your diet while paying attention to how you feel. As for me…Here’s to another decade of #PlantBasedDrippin! -XO

Hope you all have a happy Halloween tomorrow! Funny thing is, I don’t need a holiday to get dressed up lol. On a more serious note, don’t be spooked by the increasingly colder temps. Here are 7 preventative supplements and herbs to have on hand during this time of year:

• A Good Selection of Herbal Teas. Nettles, green tea, gypsy cold care, and Egyptian licorice are just a few of my favorites.
• Slippery Elm Bark Powder. This amazing herb soothes and coats the throat, has expectorant properties so it can help to expel mucus, and is also a great supplement to include in your regimen for gut healing. 
• Ginger will never go out of style as a preventative measure and a remedy in the event that you find yourself under the weather.
• CALM is a powder supplement that is essentially magnesium citrate and can help with winding down if you are dealing with regular stress and anxiety, while also giving your elimination a boost too. 
• Vitamin C is something you can never go wrong with having more of. In fact it is perfectly healthy and acceptable to take up to 16,000 mg of vitamin C daily without any adverse side effects. We can also include foods such as oranges, papaya, Camu Camu powder and more.
• Vitamin D is not just a vitamin, it’s a hormone responsible for many essential reactions in the body and also helps to keep our immunity high. It’s not necessary to take vitamin D separately unless you have a deficiency. For most, taking a multivitamin with at least 2000 IU of vitamin D is adequate.
• Umcka Cold and Flu is my favorite homeopathic cold remedy when and if the onset of sniffles begins. You can find it online and at general health food stores in tablet and cough syrup forms. It can help with cough and congestion and works pretty rapidly to help the body get back to one without any side effects.  -XO

This week’s #WCW is dedicated to the ladies who help make Raw Girl Coaching what it is! @lauriealessandrawellness @ginatrimnutrition @rachkennaly I am so grateful for you all! -XO

@lauriealessandrawellness has been a student of Ayurveda for 20 years. She became a chef, massage therapist, and then a lifestyle coach. She specializes in hormone resets, Ayurvedic lifestyle, anti-inflammatory diets, adrenal and cortisol support, and creating personal menus. After losing 25 lbs in the Staying Ageless 30+ program last year, Laurie now helps coach our #AgelessTribe. 

@ginatrimnutrition is a licensed, board certified nutrition specialist specializing in weight loss. She earned her Master’s degree in Nutrition and Integrative Health at Maryland University of Integrative Health (shout out to @muihhealth) and she is also a certified Holistic Health Coach. Gina has an unwavering passion for nutrition and helping others develop healthy lifestyle changes. Gina helps coach in the Staying Ageless 30+ program and she also works with clients that purchase packages with Raw Girl Coaching. 

@rachkennaly is my executive assistant and content creator. She is passionate about staying physically active, eating healthy, and the outdoors. Rachel helps keep me and the team organized, provides creative input and creates content for social media, and is the kind hearted point of contact for all of our clients at Raw Girl Coaching.

We are into the implementation weeks of my Staying Ageless 30+ class! The last few weeks of class are all about taking all that you’ve learned about diet, exercise, and creating healthy, life-giving rituals and applying it to your life. Chile, it’s time for the follow through! 

If you aren’t currently in the class, or haven’t taken it in the past (girl, you better be on the lookout for when enrollment is open again), then let’s talk about the art of creating healthy rituals. If you spend any time studying the world’s most successful people or high performance athletes, you will discover that they all have one specific thing in common: the ability to create and maintain healthy rituals that allow them to maximize their time, energy, and focus throughout the day. 

What is a ritual? Rituals are habits that we can create and repeat over and over. What can make a ritual special is that they can become sacred. The daily actions you take, consciously or unconsciously, are affecting your daily life. When you take control and create rituals that feed your soul, you take better control of your destiny. Below are some steps to help you begin on your path to establishing rituals that feed your mind, body and spirit. -XO

• Start with baby steps
• Push through resistance with preparation
• Create accountability
• Set reminders and notifications
• Begin tracking and journaling
• Choose rituals that bring you joy

The more I delve into holistic healing, the more I believe these two things: the importance of getting out of the body’s way and allowing it to heal itself, and the importance of staying connected to Mother Earth. 

Earthing (also known as grounding) is one way to maintain that core connection with Mother Earth. There needs to be much more in depth research conducted, but there have been a number of studies that have looked at the effects of Earthing on health. When it comes to blood pressure, Earthing’s positive effects on blood viscosity are so immediate that those on prescription blood thinners need to be careful when beginning an Earthing program. Other studies have shown Earthing may support heart health by reducing stress, balancing the autonomic nervous system, reducing red blood cell aggregation, and managing levels of cortisol (a stress hormone). I know we all could use less stress in our lives right now. 

A pilot case history series published in 2018 was undertaken with ten hypertensive patients in a single physician cardiology practice. The Patients grounded themselves at home for at least 10 hours per day for several months and monitored their blood pressure at regular intervals. At the end of the study, all patient measurements had significantly improved. Systolic levels decreased, ranging individually from 8.6% to 22.7%, with an average decrease of 14.3%.

A small scale study published in 2013 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine also grounded ten subjects with conductive patches on the soles of their feet and palms of their hands. Those patches were connected to a stainless-steel rod inserted in the earth outside. This study examined effects of 2 hours of grounding on the electrical charge (zeta potential) on red blood cells (RBCs) and the effects on the extent of RBC clumping and found that Earthing or grounding increased zeta potentials in all samples by an average of 2.70 and significantly reduced RBC aggregation. The researchers concluded that grounding may be the simplest and yet most profound interventions for helping reduce cardiovascular risk and events.

So this weekend, I hope you go into your backyard or find a nearby park, chuck those pumps off, and spend some time barefoot! Let me know how you feel afterwards. If you have the time, I highly recommend watching the Earthing Movie (available on Amazon Prime) to learn even more about the science behind Earthing. -XO

Today’s #WCW is Lencola Green @californiapilates

Not only is Lencola a comprehensively trained Master Pilates instructor with 16+ years of experience, but her main goal is also to empower new and seasoned teachers to thrive and strategize. Her business, California Pilates, is a progressive #Pilates and movement studio offering streaming workout videos, mentorship for instructors, and on-demand web based courses. California Pilates has a cultural foundation of giving and empowerment. The aim is to enrich the physical body through fitness and nurture the emotional/spiritual side of its students.

If you need a unique exercise environment that will promote your confidence and allow you to achieve personal goals and healthy movement habits, I highly recommend checking out @californiapilates

Girl, keep up the good work! You look strong and #Ageless  -XO

That time an article that was supposed to be 500 words turned into 5 pages! Chile, I have a lot to say about fibroids. It’s real out here for black women’s wombs and we need to talk about it. As a Certified Nutrition Specialist and Behavioral Coach, I hear the same story from different women on the daily in my virtual office. Many black women who develop fibroids caused by diet / lifestyle habits often combined with years of birth control use, are immediately told they need to get a hysterectomy. They come to me anxious and unsure of what to do because no one is guiding them or providing solutions beyond surgical intervention that addresses the root cause. 

If I didn’t have my day job, I would consider taking to the streets as a professional conspiracy theorist carrying placards that read: “Don’t let them take your vagina, sis!” or “Watch out for the pussy snatchers!” This article will tell you why.  

Read my article “A War Within Our Wombs: The Fibroid Epidemic No One is Talking About” in @ayomagazine. Special thanks to the editors for allowing me to express all I had to say, and my manager @chitalentmanagement.  -XO

One year wiser. Still #Ageless 🙂 More grounded and comfortable in who I am than I have ever been. Although I seriously wish I was somewhere in Africa right now partying like it’s 2099 and dancing to some Fela Kuti all night (Happy Birthday also to the Afrobeat King)… I am so grateful to God to see another birthday, be in good health, and have the ability to help so many incredible clients live their best, healthiest lives. 

In case you care lol, here are all the nerdy healthy things I did this year to celebrate my birthday: ordered a NutrEval from Genova on myself to check up on my nutrient absorption and better tailor my supplements, ordered telomere testing (I’m still biologically 10 years younger than my actual age ayyyye!), got a @whoop tracker to measure my sleep and recovery better (link in profile to get one month free through my link), getting a hydrafacial today and a massage, went to an amazing chiropractor / kinesiologist to check up on my alignment and get exercises to strengthen my posture (which needs work), started back at @SolidCore (sore as I type this lol), and last but not least I’m heading over to get my body composition checked out soon @composition_id.

Happy birthday to me!!!  -XO

#LibraSeason #KingJesus #Grateful