Hi friends. June was a lot!

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know what’s been going on, but I want to talk about it here too because I think it matters and because some of you may need this information one day.

Before I left for Hawaii for my wedding, we had three water leaks happen in our condo within the span of about a week. None of it was our fault: the leaks came from units above us. And either the people living there didn’t understand how serious water damage can become, or they just didn’t take it seriously enough to act quickly. Either way, it wasn’t addressed in time. I didn’t let myself stress about it because I was about to get married, though I did casually start browsing Zillow and Redfin just in case.

Then we went to Hawaii, and something interesting happened. Both my husband and I noticed that we were not waking up with the symptoms we had every single day at home: congestion for both of us, sometimes an upset stomach for him, and for me, exhaustion that I couldn’t shake no matter how much I slept. In Hawaii? I had more energy than I’ve had in months. I woke up feeling incredible every single morning. And then we came home to Los Angeles and the congestion was back immediately.

Now, I know Los Angeles air is genuinely terrible. I still remember during the COVID lockdowns when people stopped commuting and suddenly the air was the clearest it had been in decades. We could actually see the mountains. The clouds! It was stunning, and also a little heartbreaking because it showed us exactly what we were breathing every other day. So I considered that the air might be the culprit.

But then a few weeks after coming home, I returned to our condo one afternoon to find the entire hallway leading to our unit completely blocked off for mold remediation. Nobody told us this was happening. Nobody gave us any warning! Problematic? Yeah, I’d say so.

My body told me everything I needed to know. I had a full-body reaction: fluid-filled, pimple-like bumps broke out across my legs and all over my face. It was physically painful. And I won’t pretend it wasn’t emotionally painful too, because it was. Facing the world looking and feeling the way I did was really hard.

The short version of a long story: we are moving!! Out of Los Angeles, but close enough to drive in when we need to. I cannot wait to be a suburban girl. I cannot wait to start fresh in a space that actually feels clean and safe. And breaking news: I’ll have a backyard! With grass! This city girl is SO EXCITED and gratefuuuuul!

The silver lining is this: I have spent years researching exactly what to do in situations like this, and the protocols are working. I am healing, and I am healing faster than I expected to. I am going to put together a full guide for you, because mold exposure is more common than most people realize and the conventional medical system is not always equipped to help you navigate it. When that guide is ready, I will share it here and on Instagram. In the meantime, let’s get into June’s favorites, because there were genuinely some good ones.

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If you missed last month’s 12 Things I Loved, you can check it out here:

1. Skin & Lymph Herbal Tea by Elham’s Liquid Gold

About five years ago, I was dealing with “moon face,” persistent acne, poor lymphatic flow, and kidneys that were not filtering the way they should have been. I was frustrated, I was struggling, and I started doing what I do: researching (because the drugs and topicals weren’t working and I was sick and tired of them). I ended up becoming a clinical herbalist and formulated an herbal tea blend for myself using organic herbs specifically chosen to support lymphatic drainage, kidney filtration, and skin clarity. I was not thinking about a business. I was not thinking about becoming a content creator. I was just trying to feel better.

Then people started noticing. My face was slimming down. The acne was clearing. My energy was shifting. They started asking questions, and eventually they started asking if I could offer the blend so they could try it too. That tea blend is what became Healing The Source. It is the reason I am here, writing to you right now.

The Skin & Lymph Tea is now available on Elham’s Liquid Gold’s website, and given what I have been going through with mold this month, it has been back in heavy rotation for me. If you are dealing with skin issues, sluggish lymph, puffiness, or kidneys that need support, I made this for you. I made it for me first, and then I made it for you.

2. Beef, Season 2 on Netflix

I absolutely loved Season 1 of Beef, and if you haven’t seen it, please go watch it. That said, you do not need to watch Season 1 to enjoy Season 2 because it is a completely different story with a completely different cast.

Season 2 is set at Monte Vista Point, an ultra-exclusive country club in the Montecito/Santa Barbara area of Southern California, and the setting alone is stunning. Think sprawling cliffside lawns, ocean views, Spanish-style architecture. Dreamy, wealthy, slow-living Southern California at its most cinematic.

The story follows two couples: Josh (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), a millennial married couple holding their lives together with their fingernails while Josh manages the club and Lindsay tries to keep up appearances. And then Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), a younger Gen Z couple who work at the club and accidentally witness something they were never supposed to see. What unfolds from there is a slow, simmering spiral of blackmail, class tension, escalating bad decisions, and the kind of domestic chaos that feels both wildly specific and deeply recognizable at the same time.

It’s been compared to Parasite at a country club, and that is not far off. The social commentary is sharp. The performances are exceptional. Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are phenomenal together.

I will say: the last episode left me a little flat. I have complicated feelings about it. But sometimes I actually appreciate an ending that doesn’t tie everything up neatly, even if it stings in the moment. I’ll say no more. Watch it and form your own opinion.

3. Pomona Organic Pear Juice in Glass Bottles

Simply addicted. These little glass bottles of organic pear juice have been such a joy this month, and I am not even a little sorry about it.

Pear juice is genuinely good for you! It is rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium, and it naturally supports digestive health because of its sorbitol content, which helps move things along gently. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, supports heart health through its potassium content, and is one of the more hydrating juice options out there because of its high water content. Pears are also a good source of antioxidants that help neutralize free radical damage, which is always a yes from me.

My favorite way to drink it: pour one bottle into my giant water bottle, fill the rest up with filtered water, and suddenly plain water is interesting again. Hydration hack that also happens to taste delicious. The glass packaging is a bonus because we are not drinking out of plastic over here.

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4. Alkify Acidity Reducer — discount code: CLAUDIA

This is such a clever invention and I had to share it even though I don’t drink coffee myself. Alkify is a powder you add to acidic drinks, like coffee, juice, tea, wine, or even tomato sauce, to reduce their acidity. The concept is simple and genuinely brilliant: many of our favorite beverages are quite acidic, which can irritate the gut lining, contribute to acid reflux, erode tooth enamel over time, and generally create more acidity in the body than we need. Alkify neutralizes some of that without changing the taste or experience of the drink.

I gifted a bag to my mom, who does drink coffee, and she absolutely loves it. The reviews across the board confirm that it works, which is ultimately the only thing that matters. If coffee or other acidic drinks give you grief, this is worth trying.

5. CSB Organic Loungewear & Swimwear

Low-tox clothing is getting cute, and I am thrilled about it. For a long time, choosing organic and natural fabrics meant settling for something beige, baggy, and a little too crunchy for everyday wear. That era is over. Brands are finally catching up to the demand from consumers who want their clothes to look good AND be made responsibly, and CSB is a great example of that shift.

They have loungewear and swimwear options made with organic cotton, and finding them is easy: just type “organic” into the search bar and it will pull up everything that qualifies. This is exactly the kind of thing I have been adding to the Low-Tox Closet. Comfortable, stylish, and made without the synthetic fabrics that sit against your skin all day. A win on every front.

6. Dime Whipped Body Exfoliant

Body exfoliation is one of those steps that makes an immediate, noticeable difference and somehow still doesn’t get the attention it deserves. This whipped exfoliant has a really thoughtful texture: it uses a two-size bead system, where the smaller beads polish the surface of the skin and the larger beads work on more stubborn buildup. And because the beads are round, they do not create micro-tears in the skin the way some harsher physical exfoliants can. The result is genuinely baby-smooth skin, and the experience feels like a spa treatment in your own shower.

7. Toups & Co Deodorant in Lavender

I have been singing Toups & Co’s praises since last month, and now I am back with their deodorant because it has officially become my favorite. Specifically the lavender scent. It smells incredible, like actual lavender, not synthetic fragrance pretending to be lavender. And here is what reaaaally matters: it works. Real, effective deodorant that does not stain my clothes and does not contain aluminum, synthetic fragrance, or any of the other things that make conventional deodorants a hard pass for me. The trifecta: smells beautiful, functions properly, ingredients I actually approve of. Not easy to find. Toups & Co keeps delivering.

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8. Bawi Agua Fresca in Passionfruit

I will be specific here because the reviews on this brand’s different flavors are very mixed, and I don’t want to steer you wrong. The passionfruit is the one I genuinely enjoy. It’s lovely and light, not too sweet, and it doesn’t have that artificial aftertaste that a lot of flavored drinks have. The ingredient list is refreshingly short: water, passion fruit juice, organic cane sugar, and lime juice concentrate. That’s it. Only 9 grams of sugar. For a flavored drink that actually tastes like something, that is genuinely impressive. Stick to the passionfruit. You’re welcome.

9. L’Oro Del Sud Organic Ditalini Pasta

Carina Wolff posted this recipe on her newsletter, Good Mood Food, and the second I saw it I knew I had to make it. Warm, comforting, a little unexpected, absolutely divine. My husband has been begging me to make it again, which is the highest possible endorsement in this household.

The pasta I used is this Italian organic ditalini, and it is perfect. I want to flag this specifically because I do not always react well to conventional pasta, but I have no reaction to this one. For those of you who find that gluten or pasta in general doesn’t sit well, it is worth trying a quality organic pasta from Italy, where the wheat standards and production methods are quite different from what we typically find in the US. This brand is beautiful and I highly recommend it. Go make Carina’s recipe. Immediately.

10. Abbode Custom Bags

I went a little overboard on this one… oops! Abbode makes custom bags that you can personalize with whatever text you want, and the options I created have been so practical and so fun. I have one that says “charge me” for all my chargers, and one that says “holistic drugs” for my supplements. (Clever, right? I thought so.) They are adorable to travel with and instantly make packing feel more organized and more fun.

They also make genuinely great gifts: baby showers, bridal showers, birthdays, you name it. A personalized bag that someone will actually use? Always a hit. Go make one. You will not be able to stop at just one. Consider yourself warned.

11. Le Specs Le Mimi Glasses

Chic, affordable, and genuinely gorgeous. I have to be honest with you though: I don’t usually wear sunglasses. I believe in getting a healthy amount of natural sun exposure, including for my eyes, because there is real research supporting the benefits of light exposure to the eyes for circadian rhythm regulation, mood, and overall health. So dark, heavily tinted lenses aren’t usually my thing.

What I love about the Le Mimi is the very light lens tint, which gives you the style without completely blocking the light. You get the look without cutting yourself off from the sun entirely. Finally a pair of sunglasses I can actually get behind.

12. Silicone Straw Bottom Sleeves

A small but important one to close out the month. I will always, always recommend glass straws over plastic or metal. But if you use glass straws, please, please use these silicone protective sleeves on the bottom.

Here is why: even when we are being careful, glass straws occasionally get dropped into the cup and clink against the glass. Over time, and sometimes immediately, this can cause small chips in the straw. And no one needs to be drinking microscopic glass particles through their beautiful clean water. These sleeves absorb the impact and significantly reduce that risk. The set also comes with tips for the top of the straw, which I personally don’t use, but the bottom sleeves alone are worth it. A tiny addition that gives real peace of mind.

Zyn pouches are showing up in gas station checkout lines next to the gum. Podcasters are simply ~obsessed~ framing it as a focus hack. People who would never touch a cigarette are popping a pouch before a big meeting and calling it biohacking.

Here’s the thing people aren’t saying out loud: nicotine itself was never really the problem with smoking. The tar, the smoke, the thousands of combustion byproducts in a cigarette, those are what cause cancer. Nicotine is a much smaller piece of that picture than 40 years of public health messaging made it seem.

But “nicotine isn’t as bad as we thought” is not the same thing as “nicotine is good for you.” And the wellness world has skipped right past that distinction. (I’m so tired of the lack of nuance).

So what is happening in your brain when nicotine gives you that hit of focus? And why does it stop working the longer you use it?

Nobody has a nicotine deficiency (lol). Your body doesn’t make it, doesn’t need it, and has no biological use for it. So when nicotine hits your brain and you feel sharper, calmer, more motivated, that effect is real, but it’s not because your brain wanted nicotine specifically.

Nicotine works because it’s shaped closely enough to a molecule your brain genuinely needs,

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That’s what I want to talk about today. And the answer is something most people walk right past in the grocery store.

Quail eggs.

Stay with me!

All eggs contain a protein in the white called ovomucoid. Quail eggs have it in significantly higher concentrations than chicken eggs. Ovomucoid is what’s called a serine protease inhibitor, which is a technical way of saying it blocks a specific enzyme called trypsin.

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Morning sickness affects around 70% of pregnancies. Symptoms typically start around week 6, peak between weeks 8 and 10, and for most women, begin to ease around week 13 when the second trimester begins. We are talking nausea, vomiting, heartburn, food aversions, motion sickness, and general digestive chaos, at any time of day or night.

The conventional explanation is “hormones.” But the more specific explanation, and the one that has completely reframed how I think about this, is histamine.

Here is what is happening in the body during early pregnancy:

• Elevated hormones trigger increased histamine production in the mother

• The placenta produces its own histamine, up to 1,000 times more than any other organ in the body

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I know how that sounds. But stay with me.

Here’s what I was tired of: paying money every month to a company that tries its hardest not to take care of me (quite literally). High monthly fees, massive deductibles, ridiculous charges for things that would cost me one-tenth of the price if I just paid cash. Surprising bills showing up months later, after I thought everything was taken care of. Not being able to see the doctors I actually wanted to see.

As someone who works in the health world, I see this system crush people every day. And I mean crush. Not just financially -- though that part is devastating enough -- but in the way it wears people down over time. The way it trains you to expect less. The way it makes you feel like fighting for basic care is just part of the deal. Like… imagine being sick, not getting answers or support, and then also having to pay $$$ and fighting with the people who are supposed to be helping you. Or maybe you don’t have to imagine… because millions of people are dealing with this exact situation.

Healthcare costs are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US. Even though 92% of people are insured. Read that again. The majority of people going bankrupt over medical bills have insurance. The coverage isn’t protecting them. In a lot of cases, it’s part of the problem.

Eventually, I realized that the problem isn’t that healthcare is too expensive. The system is designed to keep it that way. Insurance companies are not incentivized to keep you healthy. They are incentivized to collect premiums and minimize payouts. Those are not the same thing. And once you see that clearly, it’s very hard to keep handing them your money every month and pretending otherwise.

So I switched to CrowdHealth.
FYI, this is NOT a sponsored article. No one paid me to post this. I am passionate about encouraging more people to QUIT HEALTH INSURANCE!!

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To be clear, CrowdHealth is not insurance. It’s a peer-to-peer community where members fund each other’s medical bills directly. No middlemen. No networks. No billion-dollar insurance corporations sitting in the middle, profiting off denial letters and administrative delays. And no, it’s not some cult lol.

Here’s how my costs break down:

I pay $60 a month for membership. I contribute a maximum of $140 a month to help fund other members’ bills. If I ever need care, I pay the first $500 of every health event -- and the community pays the rest.

That’s it.

No deductibles. No copays. No surprise invoices. You go to the doctor, ask for the cash pay price, and pay your bill directly. For emergencies, CrowdHealth can step in and negotiate on your behalf before you pay. For planned care -- labs, imaging, surgery -- they prenegotiate prices ahead of time, often saving around 70% compared to what the billed rate would have been.

And, yeah, you’re going to ask: “Well, what if my bill is a million dollars?!?!”

There have been bills submitted to CrowdHealth that are over $1M, and they have been covered. The patient only had to pay $500 out of pocket. (There was a guy who accidentally shot himself while fishing and had to be helicoptered to the hospital… not cheap!—but he only paid $500).

Three reasons.

First, CrowdHealth attracts people who prioritize their health. Members tend to eat well, move daily, and take real responsibility for their own well-being. That self-selection matters. A healthier pool of people means lower costs across the board -- for everyone in the community. It’s a model that rewards wellness instead of profiting off disease. That’s a fundamentally different incentive structure than traditional insurance, and it changes everything about how the math works. (No smokers allowed, and restricted to individuals under 260 lbs (males) and 220 lbs (females)).

Second, cash pay pricing is real, and it’s significant. When you tell a provider you’re paying cash, the price drops -- often dramatically. That’s because insurance introduces layers of bureaucracy, middlemen, and inflated billing codes that drive prices through the roof. None of that overhead exists to benefit the patient. It exists to serve the system. Remove it, and the actual cost of care looks completely different.

Third, professional negotiation. CrowdHealth has a team of professionals who negotiate bills on your behalf, either before or after care is received. This is where the numbers get hard to ignore.

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A heart attack billed at $240,000 -- negotiated down to $20,000. A cardiac condition billed at $140,000 -- negotiated down to $10,000. A fall requiring surgery billed at $55,000 -- negotiated down to $3,000.

Every single one of those patients still only paid $500. That’s it. The community funded the rest.

Members have funded well over 99% of eligible bills -- including million-dollar cases.

You have a dedicated advocate -- a real person who calls you, negotiates on your behalf, and checks in on you throughout the process. When a family goes through a major hardship, other members can step up and contribute directly to help cover their bills. There is a real community here. People who are invested in each other’s outcomes, not because a corporation told them to be, but because that’s the whole point of how this works.

It’s a system that aligns with what medicine should be. People helping people.

After switching, many members report saving around 65-75% compared to what they were paying for traditional insurance. I can see any doctor I want. I know exactly what I’m paying for, every single month. And instead of lining the pockets of insurance executives, I’m helping fund real people in my community who need care.

I would much rather fund people than paperwork.

It’s not for everyone, and I want to be honest about that.

This model works best for people who are already proactive about their health (not a smoker, not obese, etc.), who can absorb the $500 per health event out of pocket, and who are willing to ask for cash pay pricing when they seek care. If you have complex ongoing medical needs that require expensive, consistent treatment, it’s worth thinking through carefully before making the switch.

But for people who prioritize their health, take an active role in their own wellbeing, and are tired of feeding a system that was never designed to serve them -- CrowdHealth makes a lot of sense.

I can see any doctor I want. I know exactly where my money is going. And every dollar I put in is going toward someone’s actual care, not toward administrative overhead and quarterly earnings calls.

If you’re interested, go to joincrowdhealth.com and use code CLAUDIA to only pay $39/month for the first 3 months of membership.

You cleaned up your diet. You cut out gluten, maybe dairy, probably alcohol. You take your supplements, you try to manage your stress, you drink enough water. And you still feel inflamed. Still bloated, still puffy, still off in a way you can’t fully explain.

I’ve been there. And what I eventually figured out is that the conversation around inflammation is missing half the picture. The triggers that get the most airtime are rarely the ones quietly running in the background. So let’s talk about the ones that don’t.

Conventionally processed coffee is one of the more common dietary sources of mycotoxins, toxic compounds produced by mold that form during certain harvesting and storage processes. Mycotoxins can trigger immune activation, worsen histamine issues, and drive a low-grade inflammatory response that’s genuinely difficult to trace back to your morning cup. Switching to a lab-tested coffee brand is a simple swap worth making.

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For most of my life, creatine existed in a corner of the supplement world I never thought applied to me. The tubs were neon. The marketing was aimed at men trying to add mass. Nobody was talking about it in the context of brain fog, hormonal shifts, postpartum depletion, or the kind of cognitive fatigue that accumulates over years of doing a lot.

And yet, the research has been pointing in this direction for over a decade. Women may have more to gain from creatine than men do, particularly when it comes to the BRAIN!!, and the conversation has almost entirely missed us (per usual).

If you have ever felt like you are doing everything right and still running on empty mentally, this is worth understanding. Brain fog, the 3pm wall, words that used to come easily and now feel just out of reach, sleep that does not recover you the way it once did, these are often energy problems at the cellular level. And creatine is one of the most well-studied tools we have for addressing them.

Most women I talk to are either skipping it entirely or taking a dose too low to do anything meaningful. That is what I want to change today :)

Creatine is a compound your body already produces, primarily in your liver and kidneys, and one you get in small amounts from animal proteins like beef, salmon, and eggs. It has been studied extensively, it is well-tolerated, and its mechanisms are well understood. The reason it got boxed into gym culture has more to do with marketing than with what the science shows.

Its core job is energy. Creatine helps your cells regenerate ATP, the molecule that powers everything from a muscle contraction to a neuron firing to you thinking your way through a hard conversation at the end of a long day.

Here is the part that gets left out of almost every conversation about this supplement: your brain is one of the most metabolically demanding organs in your body. It is roughly 2% of your body weight and burns approximately 20% of your energy. (I believe this is well-established, but recommend verifying from a primary source.) When your ATP supply gets disrupted by poor sleep, chronic stress, postpartum depletion, perimenopause, or just the accumulated weight of doing a lot, your brain registers it immediately. Foggy. Slow. Like you are thinking through wet concrete.

Creatine helps back up that system. And the research behind it is substantial!

A 2018 meta-analysis found creatine supplementation improved short-term memory and reasoning in healthy adults.

A 2003 study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B showed it improved working memory and reasoning scores in vegetarians, a group with naturally lower baseline creatine stores, which tells us something meaningful about how dietary intake affects cognitive performance.

A 2024 randomized trial in Scientific Reports found that a single high dose of creatine partially reversed the cognitive impairment caused by sleep deprivation. For any postpartum woman or anyone running on broken sleep right now, that finding matters.

And a double-blind randomized trial in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2012 found that creatine augmentation accelerated and improved response to SSRI treatment in women with major depression.

The piece that most directly applies to this audience: women have lower baseline creatine stores than men. Part of that is dietary. Part of it is how estrogen interacts with creatine metabolism. A 2021 review in Nutrients laid this out in detail. The conclusion was straightforward: women arguably stand to gain more from supplementing than men, and yet the conversation has been almost entirely directed at men.

If you have ever felt like you are doing everything right and still running on empty mentally, this is one of the simpler things worth looking at.

The marketing was built for men. Neon tubs, artificial flavoring, sucralose, maltodextrin, synthetic dyes, the exact ingredient profile we spend the rest of our lives trying to avoid.

The dose is almost always too low. Most women take 1 to 2 grams if they take any at all, usually because they were told to start small. The clinical research consistently uses 3 to 5 grams daily. Below that, you are not giving your body enough to work with.

The water weight fear. Creatine draws water into your muscle cells, that is part of how it works. It does not make you puffy. It is intracellular, not subcutaneous. The concern has been overstated significantly.

Most formulas are creatine monohydrate alone. Which is not a problem, exactly. But there is an amino acid that pairs with creatine in a way that most products completely overlook.

Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the human body. Your brain holds some of the highest concentrations of it.

It supports mitochondrial function, the same energy machinery creatine feeds into. They work on adjacent pathways. Think of creatine as the fuel and taurine as the thing that helps the engine run clean.

Taurine also acts on GABA-A and glycine receptors, which gives it a calming, regulating effect on the nervous system. Creatine can feel slightly activating for some women early on. Taurine rounds those edges. The combination gives you energy that does not feel edgy.

A 2023 paper in Science found that taurine levels decline with age and that restoring them extended healthspan in animal models. That finding put taurine back on the radar for anyone paying attention to longevity research.

It is not a flashy ingredient. It does not get its own marketing campaign. But it belongs in this conversation.

I get a lot of supplement partnership requests. Most of them I decline because I cannot get behind the product.

With Puori, the thing that made me say yes was not the formula: it was the transparency. Puori’s Creatine+ holds the Clean Label Project Purity Award, which is not a simple pass/fail certification. It ranks products within their category after independent testing for heavy metals, pesticides, and plasticizers. Creatine+ tests in the top tier.

On top of that, Puori is the only supplement brand currently participating in the Clean Label Project’s Transparency Project, which means every tub has a QR code that links to the lab analysis for that specific batch. Not a general certificate. Not a marketing claim. The actual numbers, for the tub in your hand.

That level of accountability is rare. Most brands do not do it because there is nowhere to hide when the results are public. Puori does it anyway. That matters to me, and it should matter to you.

What is in the formula:

5 grams of pure creatine monohydrate per serving, the clinical dose, not a reduced amount
400mg of taurine per serving for synergistic mitochondrial and nervous system support
No fillers, no artificial sweeteners, no dyes, no natural flavors
Unflavored, dissolves easily, and does not change the taste of whatever you add it to

That is the whole list. Nothing hiding!

Daily. One scoop in the morning. Coffee, electrolyte drink, water, whatever your morning routine already includes. Consistency is what matters. There is no precise timing window, despite what the bodybuilding world will tell you.

Most people start noticing something within two to four weeks: workouts feel more sustainable, the afternoon cognitive drag lifts a little, sleep recovery improves after hard nights. The deeper benefits build over months of consistent use.

For women in perimenopause or postmenopause, this is one of the highest-return daily habits I can point to. The hormonal shift that happens during those years affects creatine metabolism directly. The research supports supplementing during this window more than almost any other.

Puori is giving my community 32% off a first order when you start a subscription. Use code HEALINGTHESOURCE at checkout.

Shop Puori Creatine+ →

Subscriptions can be paused, skipped, or canceled anytime. That is the only kind I will ever recommend.

Try it for 60 days at the full clinical dose and pay attention to how you feel. Not just in the gym. In the conversation you have at the end of a long day. In how your body comes back after a hard week. In whether the words come a little faster.

Your brain has been working hard. Give it what it needs.

Sources

Avgerinos KI, et al. Effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function of healthy individuals: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39070254/

Rae C, Digney AL, McEwan SR, Bates TC. Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2003.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14561278/

Gordji-Nejad A, et al. Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation. Scientific Reports, 2024.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38418482/

Lyoo IK, et al. A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial of oral creatine monohydrate augmentation for enhanced response to a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor in women with major depressive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2012;169(9):937-945.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22864465/

Smith-Ryan AE, Cabre HE, Eckerson JM, Candow DG. Creatine Supplementation in Women’s Health: A Lifespan Perspective. Nutrients, 2021;13(3):877.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33800439/

Singh P, et al. Taurine deficiency as a driver of aging. Science, 2023.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37289866/

Clean Label Project, Puori Creatine+ Purity Award:
https://cleanlabelproject.org/certified-products/?search=puori&product-award=507

Clean Label Project, Puori Transparency Project:
https://cleanlabelproject.org/transparency-project-puori/

This post is sponsored by Puori. The link above is an affiliate link. I only partner with brands I genuinely use and trust. This content is not medical advice. Please do your own research and consult a trusted practitioner, especially if you have kidney concerns or are pregnant.

My first full month as a married woman, and I have to say... it suits me 🤍 After the whirlwind of the wedding and Maui, coming home and just being felt like exactly what I needed, although… the Virgo in me really wanted to start planning the next 5 years and I basically had a breakdown for one entire week from the overwhelm I caused myself... but my husband and my mother both shook me into the present moment and told me to chill out…. so I am doing my best with that lol.

I got into a real workout routine (finally!), celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom, and honestly spent a lot of time just nesting and enjoying our home together. It was a quieter month in the best sense of the word, and the things I’m sharing this month reflect that: books, smoothie additions, skincare, movement, and a few things that just made daily life feel a little more elevated.

Let’s get into it!

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If you missed last month’s 12 Things I Loved, you can check it out here:

1. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

My half-sister recommended this to me for the flight to Hawaii, and I am so grateful she did because it was everything I needed for that plane ride. I started it on takeoff and finished it before we landed… I couldn’t put it down!

The Correspondent is an epistolary novel, meaning it’s told entirely through letters. The main character, Sybil Van Antwerp, is a 73-year-old woman in Annapolis whose entire world revolves around her daily letter-writing ritual. She writes to her brother, her best friend, famous authors whose books have moved her, customer service representatives who have failed her... and most heartbreakingly, to her deceased son, in letters she will never send. At first, Sybil can feel a little difficult to warm up to: she is precise, controlled, a little guarded. But the more her letters reveal about who she really is underneath all that careful order, the more you fall completely in love with her.

There were genuine laugh-out-loud moments (the customer service letters alone are worth the read), and there were certainly some tears. It’s the kind of book that stays with you after you close it. A perfect travel read, and honestly just a perfect read, period. Thank you, sis.

2. Ello Glass Bottles

I fell in love with one and then immediately went overboard and bought three different designs. No regrets whatsoever. These glass bottles are gorgeous and the ones sold at Target come with a glass straw, which I love. Here’s the thing about hydration that I think gets overlooked: if a beautiful bottle of water is sitting right in front of you, you will drink it. It really is that simple. Since getting these, I have been so much more consistently hydrated, and it’s not because I’m trying harder. It’s because the bottle is there, it’s pretty, and it’s easy. Sometimes the simplest habit upgrades are the most effective ones. Also, glass over plastic whenever possible. Always.

3. Victoria Beckham Beauty Foundation Drops

I really, genuinely did not want to like this. Celebrity brands, in my humble opinion, are almost always a disappointment. They tend to trade on the name, not the product. And then on top of that, the price on these is ridiculous. I resisted. I rolled my eyes when it was recommended to me. And then I tried it.

Would I buy it again? ...Yeah. Probably. Unless I find something just as good at a more reasonable price point, I probably would. The formula is smooth and gorgeous, the finish is beautiful, it sits well on the skin throughout the day, and most importantly for me: it has cleaner ingredients and does not flare my sensitive skin. That last part is not something I take lightly. My skin has opinions and it has made its peace with this foundation. So here we are. Victoria Beckham, you win this round.

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4. Oak Essentials Face Polish

I got this for my mom for Mother’s Day, and she loves it! I want to be transparent here: I don’t love every product from this brand, and I don’t endorse the line as a whole. But this face polish specifically is one of the good ones, and it felt like the right kind of gift: something she wouldn’t necessarily splurge on for herself, made with ingredients I actually feel good about giving her. If you’re ever stuck on a Mother’s Day gift (or any gift, honestly), a well-made, clean skincare product that feels luxurious is rarely a wrong answer.

5. Symbiome Mask

Calm, happy skin. That’s the whole review. This mask is genuinely soothing for redness and irritation, it feels lovely going on, and my skin looks and feels noticeably better after using it. I have sensitive skin that has preferences and this mask gets a thumbs up. Simple as that. If you’re someone who deals with reactive or red skin, this one is worth trying.

6. Anti-EMF Blowdryer

Goodbye frizz, hello sleek shiny hair! I have been so happy with this purchase. But let me back up and explain why I specifically sought out an anti-EMF option, because I think this matters.

EMF stands for electromagnetic fields, and they are emitted by most of our everyday electronics. Traditional blow dryers are one of the higher-exposure culprits because you are holding a device that produces significant EMF directly next to your head for several minutes at a time, every wash day. Over time, repeated close-range EMF exposure is something worth minimizing where you can. An anti-EMF blow dryer is specifically designed to reduce that output without compromising performance. And the performance on this one is genuinely great: my hair dries smoother, shinier, and with zero frizz. A wellness upgrade that also happens to be a hair upgrade. My favorite kind.

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7. Pendulum Gut Fuel

This goes into my morning smoothie every single day, and it has been working beautifully. Pendulum specifically targets Akkermansia muciniphila, a beneficial strain of gut bacteria that lives in the mucus layer of your intestinal wall. Here’s why this matters: Akkermansia plays a central role in gut barrier integrity, essentially helping to keep your gut lining strong and sealed so that toxins, undigested food particles, and pathogens stay where they belong instead of leaking into the bloodstream. Low Akkermansia levels have been linked to increased gut permeability (leaky gut), metabolic dysfunction, blood sugar dysregulation, and higher levels of systemic inflammation.

The problem is that Akkermansia is difficult to get through diet alone and is not found in most conventional probiotic supplements. Pendulum formulates specifically to support these strains, and I have noticed a real difference: better digestion, more regularity, and just an overall sense that things are moving the way they should. Add it to a smoothie and you won’t even know it’s there.

8. Lineage Protein Bars

I will be honest: I am not a protein bar person. Most of them taste like chalk or a candy bar with a protein label slapped on it, and the ingredient lists are often not much better than actual junk food. Lineage is different. The flavor is genuinely good and the ingredients are clean and thoughtfully sourced: real food, quality protein, nothing I feel the need to squint at. For those moments when you need something quick and filling and you don’t want to compromise, these are a solid option. High bar for me to say that about a protein bar. Here we are.

9. The Sculpt Society

I finally got into a real, consistent workout routine this month, and The Sculpt Society is what made that happen. It’s an at-home workout program that is so genuinely convenient that I keep showing up for it, which is the whole game. I’m currently doing their Beginner Program because I still have a sensitive lower back and I needed something that met me where I am without feeling like I was settling. It doesn’t feel like settling at all. I have been genuinely enjoying my workouts, which is not something I say lightly.

Also, I got my mom to sign up. That’s my highest endorsement. If I’m recommending something to my mom, I really believe in it.

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10. Speedo Mirrored Swim Goggles

Okay, these are so fun. They look like sunglasses! If you have to wear goggles, you might as well look cute doing it, and these genuinely deliver on that. But beyond the aesthetics, the thing that won me over is that they do not fog up. If you’ve ever had to stop mid-lap to clear your goggles, you know how annoying that is. These just... work. Great visibility, comfortable fit, and you look infinitely cooler wearing them than any standard goggle has ever made anyone look. A small but very satisfying upgrade to time spent in the water.

11. BaubleBar Custom Tote

I love a custom, personalized item. My friend Tiare made one of these and I immediately needed one for myself. The totes are adorable and you can personalize them however you want. I’ve seen moms use them as baby essential bags, which is the cutest thing ever. Whether it’s a gift, a beach bag, a farmers market tote, or just a fun everyday carry, these are such a sweet little thing. Tiare, thank you for enabling me. Worth every penny.

12. Silk Laundry

Ending the month on an investment note. Silk Laundry is a gorgeous clothing line with 100% silk options, and these are the kind of pieces you buy once and keep for a very long time. Silk is one of the most beautiful, natural, skin-friendly fabrics you can wear: breathable, temperature-regulating, and gentle on sensitive skin. It’s the antithesis of fast fashion, and that’s exactly the point. You buy less, you buy better, and you build a wardrobe that actually lasts. These pieces are not a spontaneous purchase, and they’re not meant to be. They’re meant to be worn for years, and they will be.

It did the opposite.

According to Dr. Ray Peat, farmers attempted to use cheap coconut oil for fattening their animals, but found that it made them lean, active, and hungry. The animals were eating more, moving more, and getting leaner. This was a disaster for the farmers’ bottom line. So they went looking for something that actually worked.

They found it. In the late 1940s, chemical toxins were used to suppress the thyroid function of pigs, to make them get fatter while consuming less food. When that was found to be carcinogenic, it was then found that corn and soybeans had the same antithyroid effect, causing the animals to be fattened at low cost.

Read that again^

The goal was to suppress thyroid function. A suppressed thyroid means a suppressed metabolism. A suppressed metabolism means the animal gets fat on less food. More profit per pig.

And when the chemical method proved too dangerous? The highly unsaturated seed oils had the opposite effect of coconut oil, producing rapid fattening of the animal while decreasing feed consumption, so by 1950 corn and soybeans were widely considered to be optimal feeds for maximizing profits in the production of meat animals.

So why did coconut oil do the opposite?

The answer is the thyroid.

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Coconut oil supports mitochondrial respiration, increasing energy production that has been blocked by unsaturated fatty acids. Since polyunsaturated fatty acids inhibit thyroid function at many levels, coconut oil can promote thyroid function simply by reducing those toxic effects.

Coconut oil is almost entirely saturated fat, which means it contains virtually no PUFAs. It has a general pro-thyroid action, for example by diluting and displacing antithyroid unsaturated oils. Its short- and medium-chain fatty acids sustain blood sugar and have anti-allergic actions, and it protects mitochondria against stress injury.

PUFAs, on the other hand, work in the opposite direction at nearly every step. Excess PUFAs inhibit various proteolytic enzymes that the body depends on to release stored thyroid hormones into the bloodstream. PUFAs block the body’s ability to deliver thyroid hormone to the cells, resulting in decreased cellular energy production. And excess PUFAs inhibit the enzyme necessary to convert T4 to active T3.

That last part matters. T4 is the inactive form of thyroid hormone. T3 is what your cells actually use. If the conversion is blocked, your thyroid panel can look “normal” on paper while your metabolism is crawling.

This is not a fringe theory. This is what farmers accidentally demonstrated in the 1940s, and then deliberately exploited for profit.

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Now look at what we eat.

Soybean oil. Corn oil. Canola. Sunflower. Safflower. These are in almost every packaged food, every restaurant fryer, every “heart-healthy” spread that was supposed to replace saturated fat. We have been eating the livestock fattening formula for decades. And we have the chronic disease rates, the thyroid dysfunction rates, and the metabolic disorder rates to show for it.

Farmers began to use soy and corn oil to feed their livestock and found that this practice made the animals significantly fatter. The decrease in metabolic rate induced by adding significant PUFA to the diet allowed the animals to become fatter on less food, which translated to increased profits for them.

The same mechanism. Different species.

If you’ve been doing everything “right” and still feel like your metabolism is working against you, cold hands and feet, stubborn weight that won’t move, energy that crashes by noon, this history is worth sitting with. The food system was not designed with your thyroid in mind. It was designed around what made pigs profitable.

The pigs got lean on coconut oil. They got fat on the stuff that’s in your grocery cart.

If that is you, this post is for you.

Feeling stuck in a healing journey is not a sign that you are doing it wrong. More often, it is a signal that something deeper has not yet been addressed (and you’re exhausted hearing it.. I know…). Sometimes it is physiological: a missed root cause, a stressor the body is still carrying, a system that has not yet had enough time or safety to restore itself. Sometimes it is identity: you have been unwell for so long that you no longer know who you are without the healing process as your primary focus. Sometimes it is both, tangled together in a way that is hard to separate.

The prompts below are not a protocol. They are not going to tell you which test to run or which supplement to add (please stop adding more will-nilly!!!). What they will do is help you slow down, look honestly at where you actually are, and start to hear the parts of yourself that tend to get drowned out by the noise of trying so hard to get better.

Before you can figure out what needs to change, it helps to get honest about what is actually happening, not what you thought would be happening by now.

1. What does “feeling stuck” actually feel like in your body right now? Not your thoughts about it. Your body.

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Memorial Day is one of those weekends that feels uniquely American. We gather, we grill, we stay outside too long, we eat too much. It’s a holiday rooted in honoring the men and women who died serving this country — and somewhere along the way it also became the unofficial start of summer, which means backyard cookouts, cold drinks, and a spread that could feed a small village.

This year, I’m sharing what our spread looks like — and why we made the healthier (and honestly, more delicious) swaps we did.

Before the swap list, here’s a quick breakdown of what’s in the products most people grab at the grocery store this weekend:

Wonder Bread Buns — soybean oil, a long list of chemical dough conditioners including DATEM and ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, plus synthetic folic acid added back into flour that was stripped of its nutrients to begin with.

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce — the first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup. Not cane sugar. Not honey. HFCS. The entire bottle is essentially liquid sugar with smoke flavoring added.

Ruffles — fried in a rotating blend of canola, corn, soybean, and sunflower oils. All industrial seed oils, all high in linoleic acid, all pro-inflammatory when consumed regularly.

Johnsonville Sausage — corn syrup, BHA (a synthetic preservative classified as a possible human carcinogen), and propyl gallate. Conventional pork with zero sourcing transparency.

Vlasic Pickles — “natural flavor” is a legal catch-all that can hide dozens of undisclosed chemical compounds. Then there’s polysorbate 80, a synthetic emulsifier that research has linked to gut microbiome disruption and intestinal inflammation. In a pickle, of all things.

Morton Salt — heavily processed, stripped of trace minerals, and contains calcium silicate as an anti-caking agent plus added dextrose.

Blue Bell Ice Cream — high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavoring, and carrageenan. The “homemade” branding is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Gatorade / Country Time Lemonade — artificial dyes, high fructose corn syrup or sucralose, “natural flavors,” and synthetic vitamin fortification that doesn’t absorb the way whole food nutrients do.

Bomb Pop — Red 40, Blue 1, corn syrup, artificial flavor. Classic summer nostalgia with a dye cocktail inside.

None of this means you can’t celebrate. It just means there are better options — and this year they’re easier to find than ever.

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Food

Wonder Buns → Bread of Heaven Buns

Conventional Ground Beef → Force of Nature Ground Beef

Johnsonville Sausage → Kiolbassa Sausage

Morton’s Salt → Vera Salt

Sweet Baby Ray’s / Heinz condiments → Primal Kitchen Condiments & Sauces

Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs → Teton Hot Dogs

Ruffles Potato Chips → Boulder Canyon Potato Chips (avocado oil)

Tostitos Tortilla Chips → Siete Tortilla Chips

Vlasic Pickles → Grillo’s Pickles

Drinks

Coca-Cola → Boylan Cane Cola

Gatorade → Just Ingredients Blue Hawaiian Electrolytes

Country Time Lemonade → Just Ingredients Lemonade Electrolytes

La Croix → Spindrift

Dessert

Blue Bell Ice Cream → Ice Cream For Bears Sundae Cups

Bomb Pop → Goodpop

Electrolyte Popsicles

This one is almost too easy. You only need two ingredients and they take about five minutes to prep. Make them the night before and you’re done.

What you need:

• 2 packets Just Ingredients Electrolytes in different flavors (lemonade and blue Hawaiian work beautifully together)

• 4 cups water or coconut water, divided

• A small handful of fresh or frozen organic fruit per color layer: strawberries or raspberries for pink, blueberries for purple, mango or orange juice for orange

• Popsicle molds

• A blender

Instructions:

1. Make your first layer: blend 1 electrolyte packet with 2 cups water or coconut water and your chosen fruit until smooth.

2. Pour the first layer into popsicle molds, filling each about one third of the way. Freeze for 1.5 to 2 hours, until firm.

3. Make your second layer the same way with the second electrolyte flavor and a different fruit.

4. Pour the second layer on top of the frozen first layer. Insert sticks if your molds require it at this stage. Freeze for another 1.5 to 2 hours.

5. Add a third layer if you want — plain coconut water works well as a clean, pale finish.

6. Freeze overnight. Run the mold under warm water for a few seconds to release.

The layering is what makes these look impressive. Each layer sets on its own so the colors stay distinct. Strawberry and blueberry together give you a natural red, white, and blue without a single artificial dye — which feels appropriate for the weekend.

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers

A lighter alternative to the standard beef burger that still has real flavor. These come together fast and hold up well on the grill.

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey

• 2 tbsp coconut aminos (or a clean soy sauce alternative)

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tsp Vera Salt

• ½ tsp black pepper

• Optional toppings: pineapple slices, sliced avocado, Primal Kitchen mayo, lettuce, Grillo’s pickle slices

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine turkey, coconut aminos, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix until just combined — don’t overwork it.

2. Form into 4 patties, pressing a slight indent into the center of each one so they don’t puff up on the grill.

3. Grill over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes per side, or until internal temperature reaches 165°F.

4. Serve on Bread of Heaven Buns with your toppings of choice.

The coconut aminos give these a slightly sweet, savory depth that makes them feel intentional rather than just “the healthier option.” Grilled pineapple on top is not optional in my opinion.

Have a beautiful long weekend. Honor those we’ve lost, gather the people you love, and eat well while you’re at it.

This list is exactly that. Some of these you’ve heard me talk about. Some are new. All of them are things I actually do, recommend, or research obsessively.

Pick five and start there.

1. Drink chlorophyll water on an empty stomach. Your liver has been fasting all night and naturally detoxing. Give it something to work with for a little support.

2. Get morning sunlight on your face within 30 minutes of waking. No sunglasses. This is one of the most powerful circadian anchors you have, and it costs nothing.

3. Eat breakfast within an hour of rising. Skipping it is not discipline. For most people, it’s just cortisol elevation with a wellness label on it.

4. Take your basal temperature when you wake up. If it’s consistently below 97.8°F, your metabolism is communicating something worth listening to.

5. Before you open your phone, say one thing out loud that you’re grateful for. Sounds small. Neurologically, it shifts everything.

6. Don’t open social media until you’ve eaten. Feed your body before you feed the algorithm.

7. Add more fruit to your diet, not less (unless you have a fungal overgrowth). Ripe fruit is not sugar in the way the wellness world has demonized it. It’s fructose that feeds your liver directly and supports thyroid function. Dr. Ray Peat spent decades writing about this.

8. Swap your cooking oil. If you’re still using canola, vegetable, or soybean oil, that is the first domino to push over. Replace it with tallow, butter, or coconut oil.

9. Eat a raw carrot salad once a day. Shredded carrot, a little coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, salt. It binds endotoxins in the gut and helps your liver clear excess estrogen. Simple, inexpensive, and one of the most underrated things you can do for hormone balance.

10. Add gelatin or bone broth to your daily routine. Glycine is deeply anti-inflammatory and most people are chronically deficient because we stopped eating the whole animal.

11. Eat protein at every meal. Not just dinner. Every meal.

12. Have a small snack before bed. A little OJ, some raw cheese, fruit with protein. Your liver needs glycogen overnight to regulate blood sugar and support repair. Waking at 2 or 3am is often a blood sugar issue, not an anxiety one.

13. Stop eating from fear. Chronic food anxiety raises cortisol in a way that often does more damage than the food you were afraid of.

14. Filter your water. At minimum, a carbon block filter. Ideally something that also removes fluoride and heavy metals. What you shower in matters too.

15. If you drink coffee, don’t drink it black on an empty stomach. Add milk, eat first, and keep it before noon.

16. Limit alcohol this month. Even one drink suppresses liver detox pathways and depletes zinc, B vitamins, and glutathione. That’s not a moral statement. It’s just what alcohol does.

17. Try adding whole milk or raw milk to your routine if dairy works for you. The fat-soluble vitamins in whole dairy are meaningfully supportive of hormonal health and most people have been conditioned to avoid the version that actually benefits them.

18. Open your windows daily. Indoor air is frequently more polluted than outdoor air. Filter your air properly. Fresh air is genuinely one of the most accessible health tools available.

19. Swap plastic food containers for glass, starting with anything you heat food in. Plastics combined with heat release estrogenic compounds directly into your food.

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It’s not!!

Over the years, I’ve gotten strategic about what comes with me. Not just convenient or cute, but things that actually support my body when it’s under the unique stress of being in transit — the cabin pressure, the recycled air, the new environments, the disrupted circadian rhythm, the exposure to chemicals you’d never tolerate at home. This is my full list, with the why behind every single one.

Keep scrolling for the descriptions of each item and click here for the full list: Travel Essentials

Portable Waterpik

I switched to this years ago and my dentist actually noticed the difference. Flossing alone wasn’t cutting it for me, and this gets into places string floss misses entirely. The fact that it’s travel-sized means no excuse to skip it on the road.

Suri Electric Toothbrush

Most people cover their toothbrush in a case that traps moisture and becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. The Suri case has a built-in UV light that actually kills bacteria between uses, which matters more when you’re traveling and your toothbrush is spending a lot of time in a bag. It’s also the charging case, so everything stays together. One of those swaps that’s hard to go back from.

Clean Skin Club Towels

I use these at home and never travel without them. Hotel towels go through industrial laundering with harsh detergents and bleach, and they’re touching who knows how many faces before yours. For anyone with sensitive or acne-prone skin, that’s a real problem. These are single-use, ultra-soft, and the travel size makes it easy.

Makeup Brush Holder with Suction Base

Hotel bathroom counters are not clean. This suction cups directly onto the surface so my brushes are never touching anything they shouldn’t be. The suction actually holds, and it keeps everything upright and organized while I’m getting ready.

Cocokind Calming Magnesium Mist

Cabin air has almost no humidity, sitting around 10-20%, which pulls moisture directly from your skin during a flight. Magnesium also has a calming effect on sensitized or reactive skin, so this does double duty. I mist it throughout the flight and it genuinely makes a difference in how my skin feels when I land.

Young Goose Blue Peptide Spray

This is more of an active treatment than a standard mist. The formula contains methylene blue, a mitochondrial antioxidant that supports cellular energy, along with NAD+ precursors, copper peptides (GHK-Cu) for collagen and elastin repair, and superoxide dismutase for antioxidant defense. Travel puts real oxidative stress on the skin — UV exposure, dry air, disrupted sleep, environmental toxins. This spray works at the cellular level to counteract that. I use it throughout the flight and in the evenings during trips.

Young Goose Hyperbaric Mask (Travel Size)

Designed to mimic the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the skin. It uses Sirt1 and NRF2 pathway activators — longevity pathways that support cell-protective processes — along with pro-collagen peptides and moringa seed oil. I put this on the night I arrive somewhere new, when my skin has taken the most hit from travel stress. The travel size is 15ml and TSA-compliant.

Therabody Depuffing Wand

I use this under my eyes and along my jawline every morning. The contoured tip is designed specifically for lymphatic drainage movements around the face, which helps move stagnant fluid that causes puffiness. It heats or cools depending on what your skin needs. Heat is great for circulation and product absorption; cool is great for inflammation. It’s become a non-negotiable part of my routine at home and I bring it everywhere.

Tymo Automatic Hair Curler

I’ve tried enough curlers to know most of them are annoying to use or just don’t hold. This one is automatic so it does the work for you, and the curls actually last. Non-negotiable for travel when I don’t have time to fuss.

Heat-Resistant Carrying Bag with Fold-Out Flap

The detail that matters here is the flap that folds out so you can set your hot tools directly on it. No waiting for things to cool down before packing, no burning your bag or the hotel sheets. Small thing, massive difference.

Innersense Organic Travel Set

Hotel shampoo and conditioner are some of the most overlooked sources of toxic exposure when you travel. Synthetic fragrance, sulfates, silicones — your scalp is one of the most absorbent parts of your body and most people just use whatever’s in the bathroom without thinking twice. I use Innersense at home and have for a while, so having it in a TSA-approved size means I’m not compromising just because I’m away. Same clean ingredients, same results, no hotel mystery bottles.

Portable White Noise Machine

There’s a real reason you sleep poorly in hotels even when you’re exhausted. Your nervous system stays on alert in unfamiliar environments — it’s called the first night effect — and outside noise makes it worse. White noise works by masking the sudden sound changes that keep your brain from fully dropping into deep sleep. I never travel without this. It’s one of the highest-leverage things I’ve added to my travel routine for actually waking up rested.

Pulsetto

Travel dysregulates your nervous system more than most people realize — disrupted sleep, new environments, time zone changes, constant stimulation. Vagus nerve stimulation works by activating your parasympathetic nervous system, your body’s rest and digest mode, which also supports digestion, inflammation regulation, and heart rate variability. I use Pulsetto at home for general nervous system support and always bring it on trips for exactly that reason. If you deal with anxiety or trouble sleeping while traveling, this is worth knowing about.

TrueDark Blue Light-Blocking Glasses

Airports and planes are fluorescent light environments for hours straight. Blue light exposure disrupts melatonin production, which is the last thing you need when you’re already trying to protect your sleep on a trip. I put these on before boarding.

Elham’s Liquid Gold Rose Quartz Roll-On

+ Organic Cotton Castor Oil Pack

If you travel and don’t struggle with bloating or constipation, consider yourself lucky. Changes in routine, dehydration, time zone shifts, and stress all slow gut motility. This is my go-to combination when that happens.

The rose quartz roll-on applies castor oil directly to the abdomen in gentle circular massage movements, following the direction of the colon — up the right side, across, and down the left. Castor oil’s active compound, ricinoleic acid, has been studied for its ability to stimulate smooth muscle contractions in the gut, which is exactly what you need when things have stalled.

For more support, I’ll layer the organic cotton castor oil pack over the abdomen. The organic cotton matters here — synthetic fabrics can off-gas when warmed by body heat. I do this for 20-30 minutes, lying down, ideally before sleep. It’s one of the most underrated tools for travel digestion that nobody talks about.

Both are from Elham’s Liquid Gold, the mother-daughter brand my mom and I founded together. 100% organic, cold-pressed, hexane-free castor oil in every product.

Maggie’s Organics Compression Socks

Most compression socks are made from polyester and rayon, which are essentially plastic fibers sitting against your skin for hours. Not ideal, especially when you’re already dealing with recirculated cabin air and a sedentary position that slows circulation. These are organic cotton, which actually breathes.

The key detail nobody tells you: put them on first thing in the morning, before you’ve been on your feet. Once your legs have been dependent and fluid has already started pooling, compression is less effective. You want them on before that happens.

I’m prone to circulation issues and on any flight over three hours these are non-negotiable for me. You’ll notice the difference when you land and your legs don’t feel like lead.

AirTamer Personal Air Purifier

Airplane cabin air is a real exposure concern. This device emits negative ions that attach to airborne particles and pull them out of your immediate breathing zone. I wear it on the plane and in crowded airports. Small and unobtrusive.

ReHydration by Energetix

Flying is dehydrating in ways that drinking more water alone doesn’t always address. This is a homeopathic formula I use to support my body’s ability to actually utilize the water I’m taking in. It’s become a travel staple for me. As with all homeopathic products, claims are based on traditional practice rather than clinical trials — I use it because it works for me personally.

Kindle +

Page Turner Ring +

Portable Chargers (1) (2)

Vacation reading is non-negotiable for me. The Kindle is lightweight, holds everything, and I’m not lugging three books through an airport. The page turner ring sounds extra until you’re on a six-hour flight with both hands full and need to flip a page. And I travel with more than one portable charger and I’m not sorry about it. A dead phone in an unfamiliar place is a situation I refuse to be in.

Silicone Bottle Covers

If you’ve ever opened your bag to find your oil or serum has leaked everywhere, you know why these exist. They stretch over your existing bottles and create a seal so nothing gets through. I bring a lot of liquids when I travel, and these are the reason none of them end up all over my clothes.

Travel Folding Hangers

Hotel rooms never have enough hangers. These fold completely flat so they take up almost no space in your bag, but you have them when you need them. Small problem, simple fix.

Miss Mouth’s Messy Eater Stain Pen

A stain remover I actually feel good about using. No bleach, no peroxide, no fragrance, no parabens, and it’s EPA Safer Choice certified. Most conventional stain removers are loaded with harsh chemicals you don’t want sitting on your clothes. This one works and doesn’t come with that tradeoff.

Aecooly Handheld Fan

I’ve used this on a boat in Hawaii and walking through Italy in the summer. Small, powerful, and it actually makes a difference when you’re overheated and have no control over your environment. If you run hot or just refuse to be miserable in the heat, this earns its spot in your bag.

Hand Sanitizing Wipes + Biom Personal Care Wipes

Conventional sanitizing wipes are usually loaded with synthetic fragrance, harsh alcohols, and chemicals you don’t want on your skin repeatedly throughout the day. These are my low-tox swap for both. Biom uses no synthetic fragrance — the scent comes from real botanical ingredients — and they’re gentle enough that I don’t feel like I’m stripping my skin every time I use them.

Travel doesn’t have to wreck your sleep, your skin, or your routine. The right tools make a real difference!!

I am a married woman!!!! 🤍

I genuinely don’t have the words yet to describe how beautiful our wedding day was, how full my heart is, and how surreal it feels to be writing this as my best friend’s wife. This month has been the most meaningful of my entire life, and I am so grateful. God is so good.

Most of what made it onto this month’s list are things I either brought with me to Maui for our honeymoon or used in the weeks leading up to the wedding. It’s a very travel-forward, skin-forward, newly-married-and-glowing list, and I am not sorry about it at all. Let’s get into it!

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If you missed last month’s 12 Things I Loved, you can check it out here:

1. Cocokind Magnesium Calming Mist

Flying to Maui for your honeymoon is exciting. Flying in general, however, is genuinely stressful on the body: recirculated cabin air, low humidity, disrupted sleep, and the general tension that comes with airports. I brought this magnesium mist specifically for the plane, and it was such a good call. Magnesium absorbs transdermally (through the skin), so spritzing it on your face and neck during a long flight is a simple, effective way to support your nervous system when you need it most. It’s calming without being sedating, and it genuinely helped me feel more settled and less depleted by the time we landed. A carry-on essential.

2. Toups & Co Makeup — discount code: HEALING25

I want to talk about this brand for a second because I genuinely love everything about them. Toups & Co is a small business that actually walks the talk when it comes to ingredients. No synthetic fragrance, no endocrine-disrupting additives, nothing your skin has to work against. And here’s the thing: my skin is happy with everything I put on it from this brand. Not just tolerating it — genuinely happy. The makeup also looks incredible, which matters, because clean beauty used to mean sacrificing performance and that is simply no longer an excuse. Use code HEALING25 for a discount. Support small businesses that are doing it right.

3. Dr. Mercola Astaxanthin

I’ve been taking this for a few months now specifically because I knew I’d be spending extended hours in the Maui sun. Astaxanthin is a powerful carotenoid antioxidant (it’s what gives salmon and flamingos their pink color!) that provides internal photoprotection. It doesn’t replace sunscreen, but it works from the inside to reduce oxidative stress caused by UV exposure, supports skin elasticity, and helps prevent the kind of cellular damage that leads to premature aging. Think of it as your internal SPF backup. For anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors, this is one of the most underrated supplements you can add.

4. Realm Room Spray

A newer brand that I am completely smitten with. I got the lavender because it was the only scent in stock when I ordered, and honestly? I’m so glad that’s what I got. It smells lovely, not synthetic, not overwhelming, just genuinely beautiful and clean. I’ve been spritzing it around my home and it instantly changes the energy of the room in the best way. Scent is deeply connected to mood and the nervous system, which is why I take it seriously: I’m not putting a synthetic air freshener full of phthalates in my space and calling it self-care. Realm is the real deal and I’ll be keeping an eye on their restocks to try more scents.

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5. Solara Sunscreen (and their Tinted Face Option!)

This is what I wore on my body during extended sun hours in Maui, and I feel so good about that choice. I’ve been sharing a lot about sun health on Instagram lately, so go check out those posts if you haven’t, because there is so much nuance to this conversation. The short version: mineral sunscreen is the move. Conventional chemical sunscreens use UV-absorbing compounds like oxybenzone and octinoxate that are absorbed into the bloodstream, detected in breast milk, and are known endocrine disruptors. Mineral sunscreen uses zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide to physically block UV rays at the surface of the skin without being absorbed. Solara is one of the few mineral options that also performs beautifully: no white cast, no greasiness, just effective, clean sun protection. They also make a tinted face version that I love for everyday wear!

6. Sky & Sol Lip Balm

I included this in every single welcome gift bag for our wedding guests as a party favor, which tells you how much I love it. A lip balm is such a small, practical thing, but the skin on your lips is thin and absorptive and most conventional lip balms are full of synthetic fragrance, petroleum, and other ingredients you’d never choose if you read the label. Sky & Sol is a clean, nourishing option that actually works, feels amazing, and is genuinely giftable. My guests loved it. So do I. 🤍

7. Pip’s “Cheeto” Alternative

Okay, I have to be honest with you: these are not a health food. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But my (now!) husband and I have been absolutely obsessed with these as a junk snack alternative, and the ingredients are genuinely not terrible compared to what you’d find in a conventional bag of Cheetos. Sometimes you want something crunchy and snacky and a little indulgent, and I’d rather reach for something like this than something full of seed oils, artificial colors, and MSG. They have a “fries” version and a “balls” version and both are very, very good. Treat yourself.

8. Innersense Travel Kit

I will never trust hotel haircare. Never. The bottles are cute but the ingredients are almost always loaded with synthetic fragrance, sulfates, and silicones that leave my hair feeling stripped and coated at the same time. I travel with my own, always, and Innersense is what I bring. I use their color protecting shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner and my hair thanks me every single time. The formulas are clean, the performance is excellent, and the scent is beautiful without being synthetic. If you’re someone who notices a difference in your hair when you travel, this is your sign to start packing your own products.

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9. Year and Day Bowls

I needed new bowls. Both large bowls and smaller snacking bowls, and I wanted something that felt elevated without being precious about it. Year and Day completely delivered. These glossy bowls are genuinely stunning and feel substantial in your hands. The brand itself is lovely: thoughtfully designed, built to last, and the kind of thing that makes your kitchen feel like it was put together on purpose. I love them so much I keep finding excuses to use them. Snack bowl, soup bowl, fruit bowl... if it can hold something, I’m using a Year and Day bowl for it.

10. Young Goose LADR + Blue Peptide Spray

Two things I’ve been excited about from Young Goose this month. First, the LADR serum: I apply this right before doing red light therapy, and the pairing is intentional. I’ve been using my Celluma panel consistently and absolutely loving it for skin repair, collagen stimulation, and overall radiance, and LADR is formulated to enhance how your skin responds to the light. It essentially primes your skin to get more out of each session.

Second, I’ve been testing their Blue Peptide Spray, which contains copper peptides, a form of peptide known to support wound healing, collagen synthesis, and skin regeneration. Copper peptides signal your skin to behave more youthfully at the cellular level, stimulating repair processes that naturally slow down as we age. Still in the testing phase on this one, but I’m intrigued and will report back!

11. Clean Skin Club XL Travel Towels

I’ve talked about Clean Skin Club towels before because I love them, but I’m specifically calling out the XL travel size here because they are everything when you’re staying in hotels. I don’t love the idea of using the same harsh, heavily bleached hotel towels on my sensitive skin, especially on my face. These disposable towels are soft, hygienic, and genuinely feel luxurious. They’re a non-negotiable in my travel kit at this point. My skin deserves better than a hotel towel that’s been laundered in industrial detergent, and honestly, so does yours.

12. Pure Encapsulations UltraDetox 10-Day

My husband and I did this cleanse together before the trip, and I’m so glad we did. The UltraDetox protocol is a structured 10-day program designed to support your body’s natural detoxification pathways, primarily through the liver and gut. It uses a combination of nutrients, botanical compounds, and amino acids that support Phase 1 and Phase 2 liver detoxification, meaning it helps your liver not just identify toxins but actually complete the process of neutralizing and eliminating them. It also supports gut motility and microbial balance, which matters because a sluggish gut means recirculating what your body is trying to get rid of.

We wanted to go into our wedding and honeymoon feeling our absolute best, as clean and energized as possible, and this helped us get there. If you’re approaching a big event, a vacation, or just feel like you need a reset, this is a thoughtful, well-formulated option. As always, check with your practitioner before starting any cleanse protocol!

They’re signals from a relationship between two biological systems that rarely gets discussed together in a clinical setting: progesterone and histamine.

The research connecting them exists. It lives in immunology and endocrinology literature, and the mechanisms are well-documented. What’s missing is the translation, the moment when a clinician looks at a woman cycling through diagnoses of unexplained allergies, MCAS, PMDD, or recurring inflammatory flares and asks whether her hormones and her histamine load are talking to each other.

Buckle up, because we’re going deep on this one…

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Dr. Ray Peat, the biologist and physiologist whose work has shaped so much of the pro-metabolic framework, looked at that guidance and followed the actual data. What he found tells a very different story.

Salt restriction, according to a review of roughly 100 studies, lowers blood pressure a few points. But as Peat documented, that reduction does not consistently translate to better health outcomes.

In one study of 3,000 people followed over four years, there was a clear increase in mortality among individuals who ate less salt. An extra few grams of sodium per day was associated with a 36% reduction in coronary events (Alderman et al., 1995). A second study, following more than 11,000 people over 22 years, showed the same pattern: an inverse relationship between salt intake and mortality (Alderman et al., 1997).

Not marginal differences. Not statistical footnotes. Two large, long-term datasets pointing in the same direction.

When sodium intake drops, the body perceives it as a threat. The renin-angiotensin system activates. This is the same hormonal cascade linked to heart failure, fibrosis, and elevated blood pressure over the long term. Stress hormones like aldosterone and adrenaline rise to compensate for the reduction in blood volume. The kidneys work harder. The heart works harder. The system strains to maintain equilibrium that adequate sodium would have provided naturally.

This is the part that gets left out of the low-salt conversation. Salt restriction does not simply reduce cardiovascular load. In many cases, it increases physiological stress. And chronic stress of any kind, whether emotional, metabolic, or hormonal, is one of the central drivers of the chronic illness epidemic we are living through right now.

One of sodium’s most fundamental roles in the body is maintaining proper blood volume.

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In with the cute can. The one with the botanical ingredients on the label, the promise of gut health, the fiber content listed right there on the nutrition facts. Olipop. Poppi. A handful of others following close behind. They BOOMED.

And the instinct is right! Conventional sodas are genuinely problematic. Aspartame is a neurotoxin with a well-documented association with gut microbiome disruption, and artificial dyes like Red 40 and Yellow 5 have been linked to inflammation, behavioral issues in children, and allergic responses. Getting away from those ingredients is a real win. Brava.

But prebiotic sodas are not totally innocent, and they are worth understanding before you make them a daily habit.

In 2026, the trend is FIBER. I’m sure you’ve already seen it everywhere. While I, too, am a big fan of healthy fiber intake, I’m going to be that person who has to talk about the nuance… because the nuance is needed. In every. single. conversation.

The main functional ingredients in prebiotic sodas are plant-based fibers, most commonly inulin and chicory root. These are fermentable fibers, meaning your gut bacteria break them down rather than your digestive tract absorbing them directly. That fermentation process is the whole point. It feeds beneficial bacteria and, in theory, supports a healthier microbiome.

The catch is that fermentation produces gas. For people with a healthy, balanced gut, a small amount of bloating after a high-fiber food or drink is normal and temporary. But for people dealing with IBS, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), or any kind of gut dysbiosis, adding fermentable fiber can significantly worsen symptoms. Cramping, distension, loose stools, and discomfort are all common complaints, and the cruel irony is that the people most drawn to gut health products are often the ones most likely to react to them.

The prebiotic doses in these drinks also tend to fall between 2 and 9 grams per can, which sounds meaningful on a label but sits below the threshold used in most clinical research on prebiotic supplementation. The gut health positioning is largely marketing. A serving of cooked and cooled potatoes or Jerusalem artichoke will give you more clinically relevant fiber for far less money.

This is where it gets more nuanced. Listen up!

Prebiotics work by feeding gut bacteria. But they are not selective. They feed whatever bacteria are present, including bacteria that produce histamine as a byproduct of fermentation. For someone with an already compromised microbiome, regularly introducing fermentable fibers can increase overall bacterial activity in ways that raise histamine load systemically.

Histamine is a compound your body produces and must also break down, primarily through an enzyme called DAO (diamine oxidase). When histamine production exceeds your body’s ability to clear it, you end up with what’s called histamine intolerance. Symptoms range from headaches and skin flushing to nasal congestion, heart palpitations, anxiety, digestive pain, and sleep disruption. Many people living with these symptoms have never connected them to their diet, let alone to a drink they were having because they thought it was healthy.

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Certain bacterial strains are particularly high histamine producers, including some Lactobacillus species. When you feed a dysbiotic gut with fermentable fiber daily, you may be inadvertently amplifying the strains driving your symptoms. For people with known DAO insufficiency, MTHFR variants that affect methylation and histamine clearance, or a history of mast cell reactivity, this is not a small consideration.

The fructose component also plays a role here. Many prebiotic sodas use fruit juice concentrates, which introduce fructose. Fructose malabsorption is common, particularly in people with gut dysfunction, and unabsorbed fructose becomes fuel for fermentation further down the digestive tract, compounding the gas, bloating, and bacterial overgrowth issue.

Not necessarily! Enjoy them if you’re in the right place to :)

If your gut is in good shape, you digest fiber well, and you have no history of histamine issues, a prebiotic soda here and there is a genuinely enjoyable treat. It is a far better choice than a conventional soda, and there is nothing wrong with wanting something fizzy and flavorful that does not contain Red 40. Enjoy it at a dinner out, grab one at the airport, have one at a summer barbecue.

The problem is when they become a daily ritual in place of real food, or when someone with underlying gut dysfunction is having one every afternoon, thinking they are doing their gut a favor. Real food sources of prebiotic fiber, things like cooked and cooled starchy vegetables, onions, garlic, and asparagus, come packaged with cofactors, enzymes, and nutrients that support digestion rather than bypassing it. They are also far more cost effective at $3 to $4 a can (although, I know you’re probably not drinking a Poppi for the health benefits… it’s probably because you want a sweet, bubbly drink)

The broader principle holds here: no packaged product, no matter how good the branding, replaces the foundation. Know your gut, know your history, and let that guide how often something belongs in your routine versus your treat rotation.

PS: when I first started dating my fiancé, I noticed he had conventional sodas in his fridge, so I wanted to find a healthier swap for him. I ended up gifting him a SodaStream for his birthday and showed him how to mix carbonated filtered (or spring) water with an organic juice (don’t use SodaStream’s mixes). Turns out he LOVED it and has been doing this for almost 7 years. I also like the Arke (looks prettier). Juice examples: one, two, three

I want to start with something that I think a lot of women will (unfortunately) recognize…

You go to your annual gyno appointment. You ask your questions. You advocate for yourself the best you know how. And you leave with some version of “everything looks fine,” which should feel reassuring, but somehow doesn’t quite land that way. Because fine isn’t a picture of your health. Fine is just the absence of something being obviously wrong.

For a long time I accepted that as normal. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to realize that it isn’t.

Women’s health has a research gap, and one of the most striking examples of it is the vaginal microbiome. The community of bacteria and fungi living in the vagina is increasingly linked to fertility outcomes, inflammation, infection risk, and more. Research has been building that case for years. And yet it’s almost never included in standard fertility evaluations, and most of us have never once had it tested.

One in three infertility cases is diagnosed as “unexplained.” I keep coming back to that number. The vaginal microbiome is just one piece of a complex fertility puzzle, but it’s a piece that’s largely been left out of the conversation entirely.

That gap is what led me to Evvy, the first at-home vaginal microbiome test that includes unique fertility insights. Not as a replacement for traditional fertility testing, but as a way to finally see a part of the picture I’d never had access to before.

It arrives at your door. You do a simple swab at home, send it back, and wait for your results. No appointment, no waiting room, no five-minute conversation squeezed between seventeen other patients.

When my results came in, I was struck by how much real information was there. I actually documented my full results in a previous post — screenshots included — if you want to follow along with what this looks like in real life. My Protective Score came back at 94 out of 100, my Diversity was 0.3 out of 4 (low and stable, which is what you want), and my Fertility Disruptors came in at 4.56% elevated, driven by a small Gardnerella presence I had no idea was there. Seeing it broken down that clearly, with educational context built right into the app, was a different experience than anything I’d gotten from a standard appointment. Read that post here.

Evvy tests for 700+ bacteria and fungi and breaks everything down into a few key areas.

The Protective Score measures how much of your microbiome is made up of beneficial bacteria, and crucially, which type. The gold-standard protective bacteria is called Lactobacillus crispatus, associated in research with lower inflammation and positive fertility outcomes. Before this test, I didn’t even know that was something I could know about myself.

Then there’s the Microbiome Diversity Score, which reframed something I thought I understood. In the gut, diversity is a good thing. In the vagina, lower diversity is actually associated with better fertility and IVF outcomes in research. It’s one of several moments in this process where I realized how much I’d been carrying assumptions instead of information.

And then there are Fertility Disruptors, a measure of bacteria that research has linked to fertility outcomes. This is where results can get nuanced. Your score might flag something you had no idea was there. It might confirm your microbiome is in a strong place before you start trying to conceive. It might give context to symptoms you’ve been dismissing. Whatever it shows, you’re walking away with something most women never get: an actual baseline.

Every Evvy test comes with a personalized care plan and a 1:1 call with a certified health coach who walks you through your results and what they mean for your specific situation. That call, for me, was the part that made it feel like healthcare rather than just data.

I’m writing this because for years I didn’t know this kind of information was even available to me, and I think a lot of women are in the same position.

Understanding your vaginal microbiome is the kind of baseline knowledge we should have always had access to. The fact that most of us are only finding out about it now says more about the gaps in women’s healthcare than it does about us.

Fertility is multifaceted and complex. The vaginal microbiome is one piece of it. But it’s a piece worth knowing.

If you’ve ever left an appointment with half an answer and learned to live with it, you don’t have to.

Want to see exactly what my results looked like, screenshots and all? I broke it all down here.

Use code CLAUDIA for 10% off your first Evvy test: evvy.com/vaginal-microbiome-test-fertility

The problem is that for most people living in the modern world, it never fully shuts off… ooooh boy.

There is a physiological mechanism that helps terminate this cascade. It is not a supplement, not a pharmaceutical, not a breathwork protocol. It is saturated fat!! Specifically, the kind found in butter, tallow, and coconut oil. These fats are structurally stable. They do not oxidize easily under heat or stress. They support the cell membrane in a way that actually buffers the stress response rather than amplifying it.

Dr. Ray Peat, the biologist and physiologist whose work has shaped how I understand metabolism and hormones, wrote extensively on this distinction. He was clear about what polyunsaturated fats do inside the body under conditions of stress: they amplify the inflammatory signal. As he put it, “The polyunsaturated fatty acids are the material basis of inflammation.” They are stored in your tissues, released under stress, and converted into the very inflammatory compounds that drive disease.

The oils flooding our food supply, the ones in every processed food, every restaurant kitchen, every product with a “heart-healthy” claim, are predominantly polyunsaturated. Soybean oil. Canola oil. Sunflower oil. Corn oil. These are the oils that, when consumed chronically, accumulate in your fat tissue and your cell membranes, where they become highly susceptible to oxidation. Every time your body experiences any form of stress, physical, emotional, metabolic, those stored PUFAs release and ignite an inflammatory response that your body was never meant to sustain long-term.

The research on lipid peroxidation, thyroid suppression from PUFA accumulation, and the relationship between stored linoleic acid and systemic inflammation has been building for decades. It was largely buried under decades of anti-saturated fat propaganda that originated from deeply flawed studies and was accelerated by industries with enormous financial incentive to replace traditional animal fats with cheap industrial seed oils.

We were told butter was killing us. Meanwhile, we were drowning in vegetable oil. (and let’s be honest on which tastes better… I could live off of salted butter on a fresh baguette)

Coconut oil deserves its own conversation, because it is the fat I come back to again and again, both personally and in how I educate people on pro-metabolic eating. It is composed primarily of medium-chain triglycerides, which means it is metabolized differently than long-chain fats. It goes directly to the liver, where it is rapidly converted to energy rather than stored. It does not require bile for digestion. It is one of the most efficient and stable fuel sources available to the human body.

Dr. Peat was an outspoken advocate for coconut oil at a time when nearly the entire medical establishment was demonizing it for its saturated fat content. He understood that the saturated nature of coconut oil was precisely what made it protective. Its stability means it does not oxidize. It does not contribute to the lipid peroxidation chain reaction that damages cells, disrupts mitochondrial function, and suppresses the thyroid. He noted that coconut oil, consumed regularly, actually has an anti-stress, anti-inflammatory, and thyroid-supportive effect on the body.

The thyroid piece is where I think the conversation gets most urgent, because thyroid suppression is epidemic and most people have no idea it is happening to them.

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Let me paint you a picture...

I spend a meaningful chunk of my life researching root causes of disease, studying methylation pathways, reading functional medicine literature, and building wellness rituals that actually support my body at a cellular level. I came out of a chronic illness journey that the conventional medical system had basically no answers for. The practitioners who actually moved the needle for me were functional doctors, integrative specialists, a biological dentist, a nervous system-focused practitioner. People who looked at the whole picture instead of handing me a prescription and a 15-minute appointment slot.

None of them take insurance.

So there I was, a self-employed wellness entrepreneur, paying hundreds of dollars a month for a health insurance plan that covered the very system I had consciously stepped away from. A system that, if we are being honest, profits from managing your symptoms rather than resolving them. I had been in that frustrating loop for years, and I know I am not alone in it (hence why you’re part of this beautiful community at Healing The Source). If you are health-conscious, self-directed, and building your care around practitioners who actually look at you as a whole person, traditional health insurance often covers almost nothing that is relevant to your actual health.

That is what led me to CrowdHealth. I made the switch last year, and this is my honest account of how it has gone.

CrowdHealth is not health insurance (thank God!). I want to be clear about this upfront, because it matters practically and legally. It is a peer-to-peer health funding platform, which means members contribute to cover each other’s medical bills through a crowdfunding model. There is no insurance company in the middle. There are no actuaries gaming your premiums. There is no pooled fund that a corporation controls. When another member has a health event, you contribute directly to them. When you have a health event, the community funds you.

It was founded in 2021 by Andy Schoonover after his insurance company denied a claim for his daughter’s ear surgery, deeming it “medically unnecessary.” He decided to build something better. I had Andy on the Healing The Source Podcast, and his story of why he built this platform is worth hearing in his own words. You can listen to our full conversation here. The platform now has over 17,000 members, and according to the company, 99.8% of eligible bills submitted have been successfully funded by the crowd.

Compare that to the experience most of us have had fighting with insurance over denied claims, pre-authorizations, out-of-network surprises, and bills that arrive months later for things you were sure were covered. CrowdHealth is transparent in a way that traditional insurance simply is not. You can see exactly where your contribution goes each month. A member in Illinois needed help after a knee injury. A woman in Texas navigating a cancer diagnosis. You are not feeding a machine. You are helping a real person.

Here is the basic cost structure. There is a $60 monthly advocacy fee that covers your access to the platform, a dedicated personal care advocate, and all of their support tools. On top of that, you contribute a variable amount each month to help fund another member’s bill. For individuals under 55, that contribution is capped at $140 per month, making your total monthly maximum around $200. Most members report actually paying $130 to $150 total.

When you have a health event of your own, you are responsible for the first $500. After that, the community crowdfunds the rest of your eligible expenses. Yes, you read that right. The rest is covered. 1 million dollar medical bill? Taken care of. Think of the $500 less like a deductible and more like a flat co-investment in your own care. Because once you have contributed it, the crowd steps in.

For context, a comparable individual plan on the traditional insurance marketplace can run $400 to $800 or more per month, often with a deductible in the thousands before coverage actually kicks in. The math gets even more interesting when you factor in something that tends to surprise people: cash-pay discounts. When you present as a self-pay patient without insurance, providers routinely discount their bills by 30 to 50 percent. The insurance billing game inflates costs specifically because it anticipates the insurance company negotiating them back down. Remove the insurance company from the equation and you are often looking at dramatically lower starting numbers.

CrowdHealth’s team also negotiates on your behalf. One example from their site: a member in Dallas needed a hysterectomy. The local hospital quoted $48,000. CrowdHealth negotiated it to $9,190. That is not a typo. Yes, health insurance is a SCAM!!!

When you have a health event, the first step is notifying CrowdHealth through their app before or as soon as possible after your appointment. You go to your provider as a self-pay patient. There is no insurance card to present. You tell them you are self-pay and ask for the cash-pay rate. You upload your bills to the app, and CrowdHealth’s team reviews them to confirm they are legitimate and fairly priced relative to market rates. If the bill clears review, it goes out to the crowd for funding, typically within a week.

Once the crowdfunding is complete, the money lands directly in your CrowdHealth bank account and you pay your provider. The funds never pass through CrowdHealth’s operating accounts. Banking services are provided by Regent Bank, member FDIC.

Your advocate is a real, named person you can text, call, or email. They help you navigate the process, find providers, and negotiate bills. This has been one of the most meaningful differences I have experienced compared to traditional insurance, where you are more likely to spend hours on hold with a robot than reach someone who actually knows your name. (ps hi Taryn!)

Emergency? Don’t fret. Follow these instructions:

There is also a “Generosity Score” built into the platform that tracks your history of contributing to other members’ requests. If you consistently approve contributions to other members, your score stays high, your funding requests are marked “green,” and they move through review faster. The community model requires everyone to show up for each other. If you only want to receive without giving, the platform will not work for you. Which I think is actually the point.

This is where CrowdHealth gets genuinely interesting for a community like mine.

Members can earn longevity discounts of up to 20% off their monthly fee by passing specific biomarker tests: Fasting Insulin, High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and a DEXA scan for visceral fat. These are not arbitrary metrics. Fasting insulin is one of the earliest markers of metabolic dysfunction. hsCRP reflects systemic inflammation. Visceral fat is one of the strongest predictors of metabolic disease, cardiovascular risk, and cancer susceptibility. These are exactly the markers that functional medicine practitioners prioritize, and that most conventional insurance plans never bother to measure. (I missed the deadline for this last one… womp womp. I already have October 1st marked on my calendar to participate in the next one!).

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CrowdHealth is financially incentivizing what the conventional system pays lip service to but rarely acts on: actual metabolic health. You are not just rewarded for not being sick yet. You are rewarded for being genuinely, measurably well. That is a completely different proposition, and it is one that aligns with everything I believe about how we should be approaching health.

Beyond the discounts, every member gets a $300 annual wellness credit to use toward a visit of your choice, whether that is labs, a check-up, a dental cleaning, a vision exam, or a gynecological visit. There is also 24/7 virtual care access, talk therapy, and prescription discounts included in your membership.

I will be transparent about something personal here: one of the factors that made CrowdHealth feel right for this season of my life is that I plan to start trying to conceive soon. When I was researching the switch, the maternity coverage details genuinely surprised me in the best way.

CrowdHealth covers the full pregnancy journey as a single health event: prenatal visits, labor and delivery, and postpartum care, all under one $3,000 member commitment. Once you have covered that, the crowd funds the remaining eligible expenses. What made me stop and re-read it twice was the list of what is included alongside the standard care. Doulas. Pelvic floor therapy. Lactation consultants. Birthing centers. These are the things that actually support a woman through pregnancy and recovery, and they are rarely covered under conventional insurance plans, if at all.

When your baby arrives, they can be added to your plan as well. For someone who is approaching the possibility of starting a family with the same intentionality I bring to everything else in my health, knowing that the platform is designed to support the kind of care I would actually want is not a small thing. The one timing requirement worth knowing upfront: your estimated due date needs to fall at least 300 days after your membership start date to be eligible for maternity crowdfunding. So if this is on your radar, plan accordingly.

I want to be direct about this because it is the most important practical thing to understand before making any decisions, and I would rather over-explain it than leave you with a surprise at tax time.

While the federal individual mandate penalty was eliminated in 2019, several states have enacted their own. CrowdHealth does not qualify as minimum essential coverage under any of these state definitions, which means that if you live in one of these states and use CrowdHealth as your sole coverage, you may owe a state tax penalty when you file. The states currently enforcing actual financial penalties are California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. Vermont technically has a mandate but no penalty attached to it. If you live anywhere outside of those five jurisdictions, this entire section does not apply to you, and the decision becomes considerably more straightforward.

For those of us in mandate states, the honest answer is that the numbers can still work strongly in your favor. Most members are saving hundreds of dollars a month compared to what they were paying in traditional insurance premiums. Depending on your income and how rarely you use the conventional healthcare system, even after factoring in a state penalty, many people come out well ahead. Some members in mandate states choose to pair a bare-bones bronze plan with CrowdHealth, satisfying the state requirement at minimal cost while keeping their larger health events within CrowdHealth. Others run the math and decide the savings justify absorbing the penalty outright. Neither approach is wrong. What matters is going in with full information and ideally working with a CPA who understands the landscape for your specific situation.

I am not a licensed financial advisor or attorney, and none of this is legal or financial advice. But I will say plainly: I did the math for my own situation, and making the switch still made sense. That is the most honest thing I can tell you.

Pre-existing conditions are subject to graduated waiting periods. In your first year, expenses related to pre-existing conditions are not eligible for crowdfunding. In year two, up to $25,000 can be funded. Year three, up to $50,000. Year four and beyond, up to $100,000 annually. Cosmetic procedures, rehab facilities, and contraceptives are not covered. Tobacco users are not eligible to join, and there are weight thresholds for new members as well.

There is also nuance around provider pricing. CrowdHealth will fund bills that reflect fair market rates. If you choose a provider whose pricing is significantly above market, the crowd will fund what is reasonable and you will cover the gap. This is less a limitation and more a built-in incentive to be an engaged consumer of your own care, which if you are here reading this, you probably already are.

Making this switch required me to let go of the psychological security blanket that a traditional insurance card represents, even when that card was not actually serving me. That part was real. But once I did, what replaced it was something that fits my actual life.

The conventional health insurance model profits when you are sick and stay sick. CrowdHealth profits when its members are healthy, because healthy members contribute to the crowd without drawing from it. The biomarkers they reward are the ones that matter. The transparency is real. The advocate is a real person. The community is made up of people who are, by the nature of the platform’s design, invested in each other’s wellbeing.

If you are self-employed, already working with functional or integrative practitioners outside the traditional network, proactive about your health, and tired of paying premium prices for coverage that has nothing to do with how you actually manage your health, CrowdHealth is worth a serious look. Know your state’s rules, run your numbers honestly, and talk to a tax professional if you are in a mandate state. But do not let the bureaucratic complexity of the old system make you assume there is no better option. There is.

If you want to explore CrowdHealth for yourself, you can use my referral code CLAUDIA at sign-up for a discount on your first few months of crowdfunding requests. You can get started here.

Have you made the switch from traditional insurance? I want to hear how it has been for you. Drop it in the comments.