Color My Food, Nutritional Therapy

01/28/2026

In this crazy cold weather I learned to take “walking snacks” - take the stairs to the next floor bathroom at the office, pace when I’m on the phone (with headphones) or in a zoom meeting, walking 10 - 20 minutes up & down at the airport instead of sitting at the gate for an hour to then sit in a plane for more hours…
Other thoughts to add in walking snacks? 😊

01/28/2026

Choose fats from nature ✨

Even though fats are complicated, eating a fat-free diet is not good for your health. We need fats to survive.

Every cell is made of fat; our nerve coverings are made of fat; our brain is mostly fat; our hormones are made of fat; our cells and metabolism run better on fat. Fats help you absorb all of the beneficial fat-soluble vitamins in plant foods, and some fats have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

Don’t fear fat; instead, eat the right fats with every meal. Fat won’t make you fat, unless you eat it with starch and sugar like most Americans.

Eat 3 to 5 servings of fat per day, and eat fats mostly with vegetables.

Unless it is trans fat, it won’t cause heart disease.

My favorite fats are avocados, olives, nuts and seeds, and traditional oils like extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil. Small amounts of butter, grass-fed ghee, and coconut or MCT oil are fine for most.

If you’re eating a high-fat diet and are curious about how it’s affecting your body, I recommend looking into the NMR particle-size cholesterol test.

01/28/2026

💥Midday crashes
😣Irritability
😶‍🌫️Brain fog that comes and goes

Often, these aren’t motivation issues — they’re signals the body is asking for internal balance, not more willpower.

When blood sugar is supported:
✨ energy feels steadier
🙌 moods are more predictable
🧠 thinking feels clearer

This isn’t about diets, rules or counting calories.

It’s about foundational nourishment that helps the brain feel safe and steady.

A simple reflection when energy dips:

Think nutrient density

What was in your last meal?
• protein?
• carbs from plants?
• fats from nature?

Small adjustments can quietly change how the entire day feels.

💬 Do you notice energy swings — or steadiness — during your day?

01/25/2026

Sunday meal prep idea 🧠🍽️

A nutrient-dense meatloaf brings together what the brain needs most — in one familiar, flexible dish:

• Protein to support neurotransmitters, mood, and focus
• Plants for steady energy, gut-brain support, and micronutrients
• Natural fats for satiety, blood sugar balance, and brain structure

Pair it with roasted vegetables and a leafy green salad, and you’ve got a simple, repeatable way to nourish the brain at any age.

It’s real-life friendly:
✔️ batch-friendly
✔️ freezer-friendly
✔️ easy to reuse during the week

If you’re planning ahead today, I put together 4 of my favorite brain-nourishing meatloaf recipes — each built with quality protein, plant diversity, and herbs & spices your family will actually eat.

Small, doable meals like this are how Brain Health becomes a lifestyle — one week at a time.

👉 Comment MEATLOAF and I'll send you the link to the recipes: 4 Brain-Nourishing Meatloaves

01/25/2026

If your shoulders feel tight for no obvious reason
If your mind feels busy even when the house is quiet
If rest never quite feels restorative
Your nervous system may still be “on.”

Many women I work with aren’t doing anything wrong —
they’re simply carrying more than their system was designed to hold continuously.

Before changing food, supplements, or routines,
the brain often needs a signal of safety.

Here’s a low-effort nervous system shift you can try today:
🫁 Physiological Sigh (2 minutes)

✨ Inhale through your nose
✨ Take a short second sip of air at the top
✨ Exhale slowly through the mouth
✨ Repeat 3–5 times

This pattern helps reduce stress signals in the brain and gently moves the body out of “high alert.”

No fixing.

No optimizing.

Just a small cue that you’re safe enough to soften.

This is brain health, too.

💬 Do you feel wired but tired?

Awareness is the first step toward change.

01/25/2026

Walking is medicine …
Mental, emotional wellbeing too💕✨

01/24/2026

One of the most overlooked foundations of brain health is reducing daily decision fatigue around food.

When meals are planned simply — not perfectly — we see consistent benefits for:

✨steadier blood sugar
✨more stable energy
✨improved mood and focus
✨a calmer nervous system

This is especially important for women in midlife and families balancing: work, parenting, emotional load, and long-term health.

From a brain health and functional nutrition lens, what works best is gentle structure.

A supportive weekly rhythm often looks like:
🌟 2 breakfasts to rotate
🌟2 dinners cooked once & repurposed = 4 additional simple, familiar dinners

Nourishment that supports the brain before the week gets busy.

This approach helps shift food from a daily stressor
into a quiet form of self-support — for you and your family.

💬 Is meal planning something that currently feels supportive — or overwhelming?
(There’s no right answer. Awareness comes first.)

💬 Do you have a weekend ritual that helps your week feel smoother — or is this something you’re wanting to build?

01/23/2026

By this point in January, most people aren’t thinking about resolutions anymore.

It's more like...
Why is it so hard to stay on track?
Why do I keep starting over?
Why do I know what to do… but still feel stuck?

Can you relate? 😅✨

This is where intention becomes powerful — not as a goal, but as a way of listening.

In my work, when someone comes in wanting to change something on the surface —
lose weight, exercise more, manage anxiety, prediabetes diagnosis....feel better —

we gently slow things down and ask why.
Then we ask it again.
And again

Often, especially by midlife, we’ve become disconnected from our inner knowing.
We’ve learned to push, override, and “try harder.”

So the first layers sound practical…
but what emerges underneath is deeper.
Not weight — but energy.
Not a number — but confidence.
Not a plan — but a desire to feel calm, capable, and well in your own body again.

This is how real change happens.
Not by fixing isolated pieces of the ("ill") health puzzle —
but by understanding why you want change in the first place.

That “why” becomes:
💫 motivation that doesn’t rely on pressure
💫 a steady direction when life gets busy
💫 a bigger picture that helps you stay the course

When intention leads, efforts stop feeling forced.
They start to feel supportive.

If it feels helpful tonight, try this — just for yourself:

📝 Take a few quiet minutes and journal (or simply think on it):
“What do I actually want to feel more of this year?”
Then ask why.
And why...why...

See what comes up when you listen a little longer.

You don’t need to solve anything.

Awareness is the first step back into the driver’s seat.

01/23/2026

January isn’t asking for unrealistic health goals
or a new version of you

It’s inviting you to listen more closely.

Consider setting an intention for 2026 — if you haven't yet

Intentions live beneath the surface.
They’re the why behind the why.

Accessing your intention may look like:
💫 stepping away from the noise
💫 journaling without an agenda
💫 sitting quietly with your breath
💫 allowing the nervous system to shift first

From that quieter place, clarity tends to emerge.

Think of it as a steady inner compass.

Intetion gently guides your choices when life gets busy.

Write it down.

Keep it somewhere visible — as motivation, encouragement, and a small daily act of care, a roadmap to guide you through the year

When you take care of yourself,
you show up more fully for your family, your work, and your community.

💬 If one word were to guide your 2026, what would it be?

01/23/2026

Grateful for the invitation to give a presentation to a school wellness counselor team on:

🥬🍠🐟🥦🫘 Good Mood Foods: How Everyday Nutrition Shapes Students’ Mood, Focus & Emotional Resilience 🧠💖✨

The conversation centered on a simple fact:

The brain is only 2% of body weight —
yet it uses about 20% of the nutrients we take in each day.

When nourishment is inconsistent, we often see it show up as:
• low energy
• low mood
• irritability
• anxiety
• brain fog
• difficulty focusing

When nourishment is steady and supportive, we create the conditions for focus, emotional regulation, and resilience.

The content resonated so strongly that it immediately led to two additional invitations to present — one for parents, and another student-facing presentation. 💖

This work matters deeply to me because food is one of the most powerful tools we have to support physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing — especially when children are young.

A brain-health approach connects everyday food choices to:
✨focus in class
✨steady energy
✨emotional regulation
✨ performance — in school, in sports, in life

Helping students understand how to nourish their brains gives them:
💫 agency
💫 confidence
💫 self-awareness
💫 life skills

The message is simple, empowering, and non-diet focused —
centered on foods that help the brain and body thrive, and an understanding of foods that can be disruptive to physical, mental and/or emotional wellbeing

This is what a brain health lifestyle looks like in practice:
supportive, accessible, and designed to build resilience over time.

01/22/2026

One of the biggest shifts I’ve made — in my private practice and in my own life — is this:

In modern life our nervous systems are in chronic stress mode (fight-or-flight) -- which they are not designed for.

For years, I began every client journey with food.

But it became evident that even the most nourishing food can’t fully support the body if the nervous system is stuck in constant stress.

Now, we often begin by helping the body shift out of fight-or-flight and into rest, repair, and regulation — the state humans lived in for most of history.

This matters because brain health is not just about what we eat.

It’s about the environment the brain is operating in.

One of the simplest ways to support this shift?

Mindful breaths.

Just a minute or two of slow, deep inhales and longer exhales can:
💫 support nervous system balance
💫 improve focus and clarity
💫 create steadier energy and mood

This is what a brain health lifestyle looks like:
consistent, supportive choices that connect
lifestyle → brain → whole-body wellbeing

January isn’t about doing more.

It’s about building the sustainable foundations — one intentional micro habit at a time.

💬 What helps you feel more grounded during the day?

01/22/2026

A few years ago, I made a quiet decision, setting a new micro habit

I wanted to move my body consistently — without burning myself out.

Running kept leading to injuries.

Sitting still to meditate didn’t work for me.

So in 2023, I set one simple intention:

✨ Walk 5 days a week.

I didn’t track steps.

I didn’t optimize it.

I just walked — and paid attention.

I noticed:
🌳🍁trees changing through the seasons
🐦‍⬛birdsong mixed with city noise
☀️ sunlight, wind, the rhythm of my breath
✨ how my nervous system shifted as I moved

What surprised me most?

🚶‍♀️ Walking became one of the most regulating, grounding practices in my life.

It supported my mood.
My focus.
My energy.
And it fit my real life.

This is what I mean by a Brain Health Lifestyle —
small, supportive practices that help you feel more like yourself.

💬 Do you have a simple movement practice that helps you feel grounded — or is that something you’re wanting to build this year?

01/21/2026

One small shift that supports steady energy, focus, and mood:
✨ Nutrient density.

At most meals, I aim for:
• Quality protein
• Carbs from plants
• Fats from nature

Not perfectly.
Not complicated.
Just consistently.

A real-life example from my kitchen this week:
🍲 Black bean + quinoa chili

Cook once → eat multiple ways
• chili bowl one night
• stuffed into zucchini “boats” the next
• leftovers for lunch

This is what a brain-first lifestyle looks like in real life:
💫 nourishing
💫 practical
💫 supportive of busy lives

💬 Curious — which feels easiest to add right now?
▫ more protein
▫ more plants
▫ more consistency
▫ not sure yet

(There’s no “right” answer — just awareness.)

01/20/2026

Today, I’m holding an intention for my work.✨

Not to teach more.

Not to share everything I know.

But to create space.

Space to slow things down.

Space to focus on what truly supports your brain, body, and energy.

Space to help you step back into the driver’s seat of your wellbeing — one intentional choice at a time.

Over the past years, I’ve learned so much about nutrition, brain health, and how change actually happens.

And I’ve also learned this:
More information isn’t what helps most.

💫 Clarity does.
💫 Consistency does.
💫 Support does.

So this week, my intention is to be mindful —
to guide rather than overload,
to offer what’s useful right now,
and to keep everything grounded, doable, and real-life.

If you’re resetting your rhythm this January, you’re welcome here.

💬 What intention are you holding for yourself this week — even a quiet one?

01/19/2026

Let’s reclaim our brains…🧠💕✨

The average American spends over 12 hours a day interacting with media. People are spending hours a day on their phones scrolling social. This isn’t innocuous. We must reclaim our brains for the best shot of good brain health. Be the exception!

01/17/2026

Micro Habit in Real Life

A lot of people ask me how this looks in real life — so I’ll share mine.

In 2023, my one nutrition intention was simple > eat more nutrient-dense breakfasts by shifting from refined grains (bread, bagels, muffins) to whole grains + some protein/fats from nature

✅whole grains (carbs from plants): oats, quinoa, buckwheat)
✅some protein/fat from nature like yogurt, nuts, flaxseed, chia
✅foods that supported steady energy and focus

Over time, that turned into:
• homemade granola with Greek yogurt + seasonal fruit
• overnight oats with chia
• “cake-inspired” oats (carrot cake, apple pie, pumpkin pie)
• egg casseroles on the weekend

Note: oats alone can spike blood sugar.
So when I eat oats, I always pair them with:
• protein
• and/or fats from nature (chia, almond butter, even a dab of butter)

That one intention (a more nutrient dense breakfast)— practiced consistently — became a lifestyle habit.

No perfection.
No rules.
Just nourishment.

💬 What does breakfast look like for you most days?

01/17/2026

Health doesn’t change through willpower.
It changes through consistency.

That’s why, for the past couple of years, I’ve encouraged clients to start with:
✔ ONE daily nutrition change
✔ ONE daily lifestyle change

Not forever.

Not perfectly.

Just consistently.

That might look like (nutrition):
💧drinking a glass of water after waking up
🥬eating leafy greens each day
🥚adding protein to each meal
🍑adding 2 colors on their plate

(lifestyle)
✨1 - 5 minutes of breathing or journaling
🪜choosing stairs instead of the elevator
🚶🏻parking a little farther away
🛌going to bed at the same time each night

These changes may seem small — and that’s the point.

🌟 They’re doable.
🌟 They fit real life.
🌟 And over time, they become habits.

Once a habit is established, we gently layer in the next one.

So this year, I invite you to make a "micro change"
✅Make a micro change
❌ So skip the New Year's Resolution (data shows they fail by February) 😅

This is how sustainable change actually happens. 💫

💬 If you had to start with just ONE small daily change, what feels most realistic right now?

01/17/2026

Most people don’t fail at their health.

They’re trying to change too much, too fast — and alone.

In my work as a Functional Nutrition Therapy Practitioner, I’ve seen this pattern again and again:

People reach out when they’re exhausted, overwhelmed, uncomfortable in their bodies, or struggling mentally — often after years of “doing all the right things” and still not feeling well.

By the time symptoms show up — low energy, digestive issues, blood sugar or hormonal imbalance, anxiety, low mood, brain fog — they’ve usually been building quietly for years.

And yet we’re conditioned to look for quick fixes.

The fact is:
There are no shortcuts when it comes to feeling better in your body and mind — but there is a gentler, more sustainable way forward.

What really works is this:
✨ One small, intentional change at a time
✨ Repeated consistently
✨ Supported by community and guidance

Over the past few years, I’ve shifted how I support my clients — away from overwhelm (big changes) and toward micro habits that nourish the brain, regulate the nervous system, and restore trust in the body.

This is the foundation of a Brain Health Lifestyle — a way of living that supports:

🧠 A sharper mind (focus, clarity, resilience)
😌 A calmer body (steady energy, lower inflammation, stress resilience)
💛 A happier inside (digestion, hormones, vitality)
🌱 A happier outside (mood, emotional resilience, confidence)

Not through extreme rules or willpower —
but through simple, doable daily practices that meet you where you are.

This space is for you if you’re ready to:
💫 Step out of quick-fix culture
💫 Reclaim the driver’s seat of your wellbeing
💫Build sustainable habits that support your brain and body — for the long run

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing practical tools, real-life examples, and invitations to practice these changes together — with support, accountability, and compassion.

If this resonates, this is for you.
And I’m really glad you’re here.

— Diana
Brain Health & Functional Nutrition
🌿 Color My Food

01/10/2026

Daily choices matter…💖

01/06/2026

Back to basics > protein + carbs from plants + spices

Nutrient dense breakfast tacos:
Protein + 4 plant carbs + 3 spices
🥚Eggs + breakfast sausages
🥦Sunday’s leftover roasted broccoli, onions & potatoes
🥬 Spinach (fresh or frozen)
🌿Three spices: chili, cumin, oregano

✅ Steady energy
✅ Sharper mind
✅ Calmer body

REMEMBER:
Nutrient density = nutrients per calorie (protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, essential fatty acids)

Skip counting calories, think nutrient density instead 😊

01/05/2026

Feeling bloated? Drink water
Feeling foggy? Drink water

Not a fan of plain water?

Make a pitcher of infused water for the day.
🥒 Cucumber
🍋 Lemon, lime, or grapefruit
🌿 Fresh mint or herbs
🍓 A few berries

Hydration is one of the simplest ways to support your body’s natural detox processes.

When you’re well hydrated, your body is better able to:
💧 Flush waste
✨ Support digestion
⚡ Improve energy
🧠 Enhance mental focus
🍭 Reduce sugar cravings

Drink water & follow for more gentle detox habits that support a brain health lifestyle.

01/05/2026

Feeling puffy, heavy, or restless at night?
That’s a sign your body may be holding onto stress — not that you’re doing anything wrong.
🛁 Tonight’s gentle reset:
A warm Epsom salt bath.
It helps your body relax, unwind, and let go — which supports detox naturally.
No effort. No willpower. Just rest.
💬 Save this for later or share with someone who needs permission to slow down.
Feeling puffy, heavy, or restless at night?

That’s a sign your body may be holding onto stress — not that you’re doing anything wrong.

🛁 Tonight’s gentle reset:

A warm Epsom salt bath.

It helps your body relax, unwind, and let go — which supports detox naturally.

No effort. No willpower. Just rest.

💬 Save this for later or share with someone who needs permission to slow down.

💬 Is this a tonight ritual or a weekend reset?

📌 Share with someone who needs a gentler approach to detox.

01/04/2026

If you’re feeling foggy, tired, or uncomfortable in your clothes post-holiday… your liver may simply need a little extra love.

Here are gentle, realistic micro habits to support liver function — no extreme detoxes, no deprivation:

🍋 Lemon water and herbal teas
🌿 Herbs & spices
🫒 Healthy fats from nature
🌈 Colorful plants
🥦 Cruciferous veggies

✨ Action Pick ONE liver-loving habit to add today.

💬 Tell me: Which of these is already on your plate today?

👉 If you want to go deeper and stack these January micro habits through the year : check out my blogpost Clear the Fog: Support Your Liver Naturally > link in comments

01/04/2026

Tip of the Week: Prep one cruciferous vegetable once and use it all week

🥦 Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage support your body’s natural detoxification pathways, especially in the liver.

They help with:
✨ Waste/toxin processing
✨ Estrogen balance
✨ Metabolic health
✨ Brain clarity & mood

💜 Bonus: Red/purple cabbage & cauliflower provide extra nutrient (antioxidant and anthocyanin) support for brain health.

🌱 January Detox Micro Habit:
• Shred cabbage for slaw
• Make it a base for a grain bowl
• Use as a wrap base with leftoversUse as a wrap base with leftovers
• Add crunch to soups or stews

💬 Which cruciferous veggie will you start with?

👉 Comment RECIPE and I’ll DM you a link to my favorite simple slaw ideas.

📌 Save & follow for gentle detox habits all January.

01/03/2026

January isn’t about doing everything.

It’s about gently supporting your body’s natural detox systems — one small habit at a time.

🌱 January Detox Micro Habit:

Start your morning with:

🫁 5 slow, mindful breaths
☕ A detox tea (chamomile, dandelion) or simply water

Why this supports detox:

🧠 Calms the nervous system (detox works best when stress is lower)
⚡ Improves mental clarity
💛 Supports digestion & elimination
😌 Sets the tone for the day

💬 Question:
What’s ONE small detox-supporting habit you could do daily this week?

👇 Comment below — community builds consistency.

📌 Follow along for daily detox micro habits that support brain + body.