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7/26/19: FLOAT THERAPY - BENEFITS, DOWN SIDES, AND THE BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN ORANGE COUNTYI just recently started float therapy and guys - I LOVE IT. I find it more relaxing than acupuncture and cheaper, too! Plus - it helps with a lot of the same symptoms. Flotation therapy, also known as a sensory deprivation tank or an an isolation tank, is when you strip down, enter a big ol' tank of body temperature water (usually around 6x4x1 ft-ish) filled with about 800 lbs of epsom salt, and then just try to relax. It can be hard to get into at first: laying in stillness and silence (or with light music) for an hour in a weightless chamber can lead to some awesome mediation and relation - but it can take awhile to get comfortable with hearing everything in your head and nothing else. That said - once you get the hang of it? Most relaxing hour EVER! MORE...
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2/13/19: Getting a Better Night's Sleep with Reverie Sleep CoachA few months ago, I teased you guys and let you know I was working with a sleep coach. It was never something I thought I’d need to try - I’ve always fallen asleep quickly and been able to take a nap almost anywhere. It wasn’t until I got a little older that I started connecting the dots; the reason I can nap any time is because I rarely sleep through the night and wake up at least 4 or more times, tossing and turning, getting overheated, and of course trips to the bathroom! (Is it just me or do you also drink like 3x as much water at night?!) I worked Reverie, an innovative leader in sleep technology for over fifteen years, to create a custom sleep plan to identify the factors that were keeping me up at night and how to fix them. I was nervous but excited - would it be worth in investment? Would I walk away with better sleep habits? Could my partner benefit, too? Before I give you a resounding YES - let’s talk about what Reverie Sleep Coach entails. MORE...
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12/10/18: PROBIOTICS WITH PURPOSEYou guys know - I love high-quality probiotics! As someone with all kinds of food allergies and intolerances, taking high quality probiotics along with dietary supplements crafted with nutrients and whole food ingredients is a great way for me to make sure I’m getting all of the vitamins and minerals I need in my diet. That said, there are too many companies touting their products as ‘the best’ or ‘most effective’ that it can be really tough to figure out what’s worth your money and your time. I’m a big fan of MegaFood® products – not only are their supplements made with whole foods from trusted farm partners, they are also committed to supporting organic and regenerative agriculture. Even more, their products are tested free from the most common allergens: gluten, dairy, and soy. But there is a lot to choose from! MORE...
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10/8/18: 10 SMALL THINGS YOU CAN DO EACH MORNING THAT WILL LIFT YOUR MOOD + MAKE YOU YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE SELF!1. Start a Gratitude Practice! 🙏 Mine is a simple checklist in my head of the three things I am most grateful for in that VERY moment. It changes regularly and you can check in on your gratitude practice as many times a day as you like…like when you’re about to scream at the person who just cut you in traffic.
2. Make your bed - it matters! I make my bed every morning because it sets me up to be organized and productive. Plus, it’s my way of moving my brain from ‘sleepy’ time to ‘awake’ time! 😴 And who doesn’t want to get into a cozy, nicely-made bed each night? MORE... |
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1/24/17: MORNING MINDFULNESS - YOGA, SMOOTHIES + VIDEO!We held our very first (hopefully of many!) Morning Mindfulness event last weekend and it was SUCH a success! My close friend Kruti (of @cultivatewithkruti) and I co-taught a gentle yoga flow on the green outside of Whole Foods to 25 students, followed by a superfood smoothie-making workshop and all kinds of selfies!
Kruti and I met online and quickly realized we already attended the same yoga studio! We bonded over our love for yoga and great food, and were instantly friends. We knew once we were both finished with our teacher trainings and certified, we wanted to teach together. MORE... |
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1/7/18: MY HELIX FOOD SENSITIVITY+ TEST RESULTSI've had a TON of interest and questions about my Food Sensitivity+ testing since I posted about receiving my kit from Helix. If you’d like to read more about my experience using the kit to test my saliva + blood for my body's response to 96 foods, you can head here. Otherwise, I’ll catch you up. Basically, a company called Helix sent me their DNA kit to collect and sequence my DNA so that their partner EverlyWell could analyze my DNA for different food sensitivities. Helix uses Exome+ sequencing which reads every letter of all 22,000 protein-coding genes and produces 100 times more data than most consumer genetics companies. MORE...
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12/28/17: NOT ALL VITAMINS ARE THE SAME - HERE’S WHY!I love vitamins. I know - weird. But as someone with all kinds of food allergies and intolerances, taking high quality, supplements made with whole foods is a great way for me to make sure I’m getting all of the vitamins and minerals I need in my diet. That said, there are too many companies touting their products as ‘the best’ or ‘most effective’ that it can be really tough to figure out what’s worth your money and your time. I’m a big fan of MegaFood® products - the majority of their products are free from the most common allergens: wheat, corn, gluten, dairy, and soy. But there are a lot to choose from! MORE...
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12/27/17: Morning Mindfulness with Amber + KrutiJoin Amber St. Peter (@good_saint) and Kruti Shah (@_kruti) Sunday, January 14th from 10 am-Noon for a morning of mindfulness, yoga, and smoothie bowl making! We'll meet on the green at La Floresta for a 45 minute gentle, restorative flow co-led by Kruti and Amber, followed by a smoothie making workshop where everyone will get a chance to make Chocolate Maca Smoothie Bowls and chat with the girls about mindful and intuitive eating. Each guest will get a smoothie bowl of their own loaded with superfoods and a goodie bag stuffed with Amber + Kruti's favoite food, drink, and skincare products! MORE...
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11/28/17: At-Home food sensitivity Testing with HelixIf you’re following me on Instagram, you may have seen that just a few days ago I got the coolest thing in the mail. A company called Helix sent me their DNA test and DNA-powered EverlyWell Food Sensitivity+ kit. Together, they’ll tell me if I have elevated levels of immune antibodies in my blood, plus measure my genetic predisposition to metabolize and absorb foods and vitamins. What does that all mean? Well simply said, the Food Sensitivity+ needs just a few drops of blood (plus some saliva for the DNA part of the test) and it can test for reactivity to 96 foods (like gluten, wheat and dairy) as well as genetic influences on lactose intolerance, caffeine, vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, and magnesium. That’s pretty rad! MORE...
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9/25/17: 5 Natural Remedies for an Upset Stomach!
I've always had an easily upset-able stomach. It's sensitive to new foods, too much sugar or spice, dairy, soy, and sometimes wheat. And because of my history with an eating disorder, I've totally wreaked havoc on my insides. My stomach has a hard time finding it's happy place, but with the help of lots of probiotics, a good routine, and a couple other little helpers, I've mostly gotten a handle on it. That said, I still overeat sometimes or go out and splurge a little on my diet - and that can cause serious tummy troubles. Sure, you could just feel crummy and go to bed, hoping that your stomach will have dealt with the bulk of the uncomfortable trouble while you're sleeping - or you could start to try and fight back! Working on balancing your belly pH and cutting your crap intake all at the same time. I've found a few tools that have really helped me to work past the uncomfortable belly pain and get into a state of relief. [MORE...] |
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8/26/17: Self Care Recipe - Clary Sage Salt Scrub
I've been making a real effort lately to spend some serious time on self-care. It's a phrase that's been getting thrown around a lot lately, but I'm actually a big proponent of the discussion and the idea. Self-care, if you're late to the party, if all about taking care of yourself in a restorative way. That can be different for everybody! I like to do gentle yoga, listen to podcasts, get a massage, light scented candles and take long afternoon walks. These things help me center, calm my crazy always-running brain, and allow me to spend some time focusing on myself and what I need. It's really a skill to be able to focus on listening to your body and giving it what it needs - especially when what its need is a little extra TLC. [MORE...] |
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7/10/17: How Going Vegan Helped with my Eating Disorder - and Why I'm Ditching the Vegan Label Now
When I was 17 I went through a really crummy breakup. I was already at an age where I felt insecure about my body and the changes it was going through, and insecure about who I was and who I would be in the future. There was a lot of upheaval in those years, and without getting into too much detail (another post, another day - maybe), I had one parent in and out of serious legal trouble and the other struggling to stay afloat amidst the chaos. It had affected me more than I was willing to admit or recognize, and coupled with the messy breakup, I started to feel out of control. Things were spinning, and the only thing I had some semblance of control over was what I was eating. I have always had a sweet tooth, and I grew up in a meat-and-potatoes, ‘clean your plate before you leave the table!’ kind of family. I never had healthy eating habits, but never really understood that they were bad, because everyone around me ate the same way. [MORE...] |
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5/27/17: Dealing with Anxiety + Preventing Anxiety Attacks
Last week, I suffered from my very first anxiety attack. Before writing this, I considered the terms 'panic attack' and 'anxiety attack' interchangeable. Turns out, there are subtle differences. For the purpose of this discussion, I will consider my attack that of the anxiety variety, which usually includes a direct stressor - i.e., an event or situation - as opposed to a panic attack, which is often unprovoked and unpredictable. It was last Thursday, the day before my bachelorette party. I was about an hour out from leaving my house for LAX to pick up the first of the weekend's guests - my cousin, Devin. I had been cleaning the house all morning, wiping up stray water drops and scrubbing things no-one but me would pay attention to. I was already frustrated, knowing how little time I had left to prepare. As a crazy perfectionist, I generally can't relax until everything feels perfect. Which it never does, which creates a really shitty cycle of me hating myself for not reaching impossible expectations I set for myself. That morning was particularly hard, as I was also silently dreading going to my own bachelorette party. [MORE...] |
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4/12/17: Living with Reynaud's Disease
My first real memory of dealing with it was when I was about 10 and stayed after school for a soccer practice - or game? Those details are fuzzy. I just remember waiting outside for something organized to start happening and getting really cold - painfully cold in my hands. Soccer is a fall sport in Maine, so it was probably September-October, and probably not that cold outside. But my hands starting HURTING and I started complaining to my friends. By the time the coach came by, one of my hands was completely white in all the fingers with the palm a deep purple, and the other hand was quickly catching up. It totally caught the coach off-guard and I remember him sending me into the bathroom to warm my hands under the water. Which REALLY hurt. And took a while to actually begin to work. I came back out after about 20 minutes with normal looking hands and practiced and was fine. I know - anticlimactic. But it was the first instance I really remember thinking like, why aren't other people's hands doing this, too? [MORE...] |
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3/16/17: 5 BEST Vegan Medicated Marijuana Edibles
About 4 months ago I officially came out of the GREEN CLOSET with my review of Dr. Raw, a Medicated Edibles company that makes a bunch of great, vegan options. This post, like that one, will quickly become one of those 'if you don't know, now you know' posts. For some of you, it'll be more like uhm, duh! If you know me personally, it's probably the latter. Before I totally shock you with my grand exit from the green closet, let me just remind you that this is my choice. You can make yours. I am very pro-choice, and I want to offer these reviews both for people who may medically need the products and would like an honest review before they try 'em, and because medical marijuana is now legal is 28 states and DC and frankly, it seems like everybody's enjoying it. One more quick note - this is very much a safe space for questions and discussion, but no hate. I'm happy to indulge curiosity but never douchebaggery. If you're more comfortable asking me privately, please feel free to email at amber@good-saint.com and I'll do whatever I can to help you and/or answer your questions. [MORE...] |
