A woman showed up at a hospital struggling to breathe — because of a 61-pound tumor in her uterus

The tumor, roughly the weight of an average-sized second-grader, has been removed at a Singaporean hospital.

My Current Go-To Mantra & How to Create Your Own!

I received THEEE absolute best text message from my favorite medium in all the land (and one of my very most favorite humans) MaryAnn DiMarco the other day, and it went a little something like this:

“You are the seeker. The powerful steel winged butterfly that creates and transforms and maneuvers through every blustery storm with force and a reckoning so strong that anything in your path who tries to stop you will wilt and crumble as you pass through it. Be that force in your minds eye. See that storm! stare at it deeply! and with a wink and a flutter of your wings you will smile.. broadly and triumphantly, because you know… you are have the strength and the power. You are destined to do all that you desire to achieve. And nothing, nothing at all can stop you.”

She received that message for me in a meditation and it floored me, you guys. It floored me for so many reasons.

For one, it’s always so cool when an intuitive person you know who you truly and legitimately trust gets a message for you from above.

For two, it resonated so deeply because these words are exactly what I have needed to hear lately. I feel like there has been a STORM brewing in my life from every angle. With my health especially, but also with so many changes happening at once (mostly all good ones!) and an overall difficulty I have been having pushing myself to start what I REALLY want to do.

So, here is the mantra I have crafted for myself based off of this amazing message from MaryAnn & my guides:

NOTHING CAN STOP ME FROM ACHIEVING MY DREAMS AND SATIATING MY DESIRES. I AM LIMITLESS, AND I AM CREATING IN THE FLOW EVERY DAY.

Nothing! Literally nothing, nothing at all can stop me.

And nothing at all can stop you either.

By the way… my greatest desire and dream right now is to transcribe my process with Lyme into a book, and write a new memoir. This was my first memoir, and SO MUCH has changed since that time in my life. But writing it was one of the coolest things I have ever done, especially because I have dreamt since I was a little girl about being an author above all else.

Other dreams and desires I want to manifest and bring to life? Writing more fiction (novels!!), poetry, and more and more books. I really just want to be a book writer, and the truth is: I AM a book writer. I just am not working at it right now, because of a) being busy with other things, and b) FEAR.

So I am working HARD to rid myself of fear. We all have to do it. We all experience it. We’ve got to SHED those layers.

Simple Steps for Creating Your Own Mantra //

Ask yourself these questions…

+ What in your life do you DESIRE most?

+ What in your life do you feel is holding you back from manifesting those desires & bringing them to life?

+ What is your greatest gift?

+ Who is someone you admire, and what do you admire about them?

+ What is one simple action you can do every day to help you work towards what you desire?

I know these questions all sound very simple. Because they are! But how often do we stop, draw inward, and really get to the bottom of these core questions. Knowing what it is that we desire is key when it comes to creating a daily mantra. It can be as simple as cultivating inner peace, and as specific as WRITING A BOOK or HAVING A BABY or MEETING YOUR SOUL MATE.

Also, remembering your greatest gifts, the things that come naturally to you, can help you create your own mantra. If you are very good at being patient, or bringing friends together, or making shit happen, write it down! Add it into your mantra!

A mantra should always be affirmative, so for example “I am” vs. “I want to be.”

It can be as short as two words and as long as a full paragraph!! The more simple, the better. As you can see with mine, it reflects my deepest desire (to write a book) without exactly stating that — because I am open to being in the flow and creating whatever it is that wants to come through me! The healing part to me is that NOTHING is holding me back. Those words really hit home for me.

Okay, time to try to create your own!! Would love to hear yours!! Share them by commenting below or sending to me in an email response to this one. Are you subscribed to the bloggy? Subscribe here if you haven’t yet to get these blog posts straight to your email inbox, every day of September!

Side note… I am having fibroid surgery today!! Send me all of the good vibes — will check in with you guys ASAP and I can’t wait to tell you how it all goes.

‘Black hairy tongue’ is an actual medical condition, and it looks as weird as it sounds

A 55-year-old woman in Missouri developed a condition known as "black hairy tongue."

The Doctors Visit From HELL !!

This post is rather hard for me to write but if I experienced this just last week ( and have many times in my life ) then I know there have got to be tons of you out there experiencing something similar.

So I will do the only thing I know how to do… talk about it in hopes to help someone out there who may be in the same position!

Many of you know that in June I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, toxic mold poisoning, MCAS, parasites, severe hormone imbalances, and a handful of other health concerns. All of these are very serious, but to me Lyme disease has been the real kicker because of all of the complications that come along with it — including the 8 co-infections or “Lyme cousins” that I have developed from it.

ANYWAY, I am having a fibroid removal surgery on Friday (yes, tomorrow!) to remove the GRAPEFRUIT SIZED mass that has grown on my uterus due to Lyme & co-infections (and other hormonal issues) — and because of that surgery I have had to see many, many doctors that I wouldn’t normally see in order to get cleared for this pretty major procedure.

My general practitioner is in Sacramento, because I really haven’t had a reason to see a regular MD in the last several years. My medical team in LA consists of my functional medicine doctor, my Lyme specialist, my OBGYN, and various healers and Ayurvedic practitioners. Keep in mind… the first three I listed are MD’s!

But alas, even the wonderful MD’s that I see on the regular are not the types of doctors that I needed to see in order to get fully cleared for this surgery. I did have to get cleared from my Lyme doctor, which was a given because she knows that having a large fibroid is causing me tons of extra health complications and that it’s gotta go.

But in order to get fully cleared, I also had to see an internist from UCLA (otherwise known as a general practitioner / MD) to have a physical and also get an MRI to make sure there weren’t additional masses or issues to address during the surgery.

Here in lies my story…

Before I found my Functional Medicine Doctor and my life-saving Lyme doctor and her team, I found it incredibly difficult to find a good doctor in LA. When I was suffering from head to toe hives and eczema earlier this year, I saw a handful of urgent care doctors who were just bleh & a dermatologist who was so NOT-THOROUGH with his job that it was legitimately scarring.

Not to mention the last decade and a half of trying to get answers for my health problems from doctor after doctor with absolutely no avail, but we will save that for another day.

The Doctor’s Visit From HELL //

SO! Last week, the day finally came to go to my appointment with the MD from UCLA. My mom found him for me because with the constant brain fog I experience from Lyme, searching through UCLA’s system of thousands & thousands of doctors who may or may not be available before my surgery sounded like a very tedious task.

She found him, we booked it, the appointment came. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it, as I feel very well taken care of by my Lyme doctor and it is always an absolute marathon and a half to share my turbulent medical history and recent diagnoses with yet another new-to-me doctor, but I went into it with a positive attitude (as I try to do with everything).

But from the moment I arrived, everything was off.

I will let it slide that I waited for an hour (!!!) in the waiting room, because I guess that’s how it goes in the medical system these days but that was frustrating point number one. Yet like I said, no big deal if the doctor was going to be great and the experience was going to be painless overall.

The nurse took my vitals and I felt like telling her, “Don’t worry, my vitals are fine and I happen to know this because I spend 2-3 full days a week in my doctor’s office receiving Lyme treatments, often hooked up to an EKG.” But I didn’t, I let her do her job.

Then, a while later, in came the doctor. He was a younger looking guy, very similar to the UCLA dermatologist I had seen, but at first I took that as a good sign!! Okay, young, cool, maybe that means you’re up to date with the Lyme epidemic and other issues of mine!

But no.

We started going through my chart, and when I told him that I had Lyme disease by way of explaining the 35+ herbal supplements that I am currently on, his response was:

“Oh, really?” *smirk smirk smirk as if to suggest I definitely don’t have this disease* “I’ve never met anyone with Lymes disease. What exactly are your symptoms?”

For one, he’d called it Lymes. Plural. That is a personal pet peeve of mine in general because its incorrect (Lyme is named after Lyme, Connecticut, the town in which it was first reported) but also…. this was a medical doctor speaking to me! Someone who should maybe know a thing or two about Lyme? One of the fastest growing epidemics in our country?

Anyway though I was very willing to chat with him and was still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt… so still, no big. Cool it, Jordan.

I told him my symptoms: “Full body rashes, chronic debilitating exhaustion, brain fog, joint pain, body aches, hormone imbalances… hence the fibroid.” And then I told him even more just to give him a little heads up about what Lyme is like and how everyone experiences it quite differently.

His next response: “Well, you can’t get Lymes on the West Coast. So SURELY you’ve spent a great deal of time on the East Coast???”

So of course I told him, “Why yes, I lived in New York for a year and spent a lot of time in the Hamptons and Upstate.” Although in my head I was thinking: You can get Lyme anywhere, dude. It’s a rampant problem right here in Los Angeles.

Then he said, “Well, if you have LYMES, then I guess you should have been given an antibiotic and you’d be better by now, so that shouldn’t be a concern.”

*OK RAGE THROUGH THE ROOF IS STARTING TO ENSUE*

I calmly tried to tell him that there is not an antibiotic that cures Lyme, especially not for someone who has likely had it for many years. He decided to drop this point because he was bored and didn’t like not knowing anything about this disease.

So we moved on to the next subject.

“Well then Jordan, what other complications do you have from LYMES?”

“Well unfortunately I also suffer from mold poisoning due to my weakened immune system from Lyme,” I told him.

“Mold poisoning?” – Him

“Yes…. mycotoxin illness?” – Me, confused as to why I am now having to use the medical term for mold poisoning, talking to a doctor.

“Interesting,” *smirk smirk smirk smirk* “I’ve never heard of it.”

By now I was just over it. I was filled with anger of course, but not even for me (well okay yes for me but for so much more than just me). For the hundreds of thousands or rather millions of people who are wronged by the medical system every year — by doctors like this one who are fresh out of medical school but somehow completely uneducated about various issues that are becoming a HUGE problem in our toxic world.

And this is not to say that I don’t respect the medical system. I have dear friends and family members who have gone through the intense & profound process of receiving a medical school education and they are doing fabulous things for the world: surgery, anesthesia, vaccinations, pediatrics! But I seriously believe that something in this system has to change… doctors should not be graduating from medical school and treating patients with absolutely no knowledge of the symptoms of Lyme disease or the possible co-infections.

So of course my response to him was: “You’ve….. never heard of people getting sick from mold? Black mold poisoning? It is a very common issue for people with Lyme, but also just for people in general.”

I didn’t even go into the MTFHR gene or the other multi-susceptibility genes that make mold illness absolutely debilitating and life threatening for many people.

“Yeah, well I’ve never met or treated anyone with Lymes. We live in California.” – he reiterated.

From there on out I had given up on this guy. Of course I wanted to get cleared for my surgery, which was what I came for, but that was it. I didn’t feel he was even remotely adequate enough to clear me for this surgery, given that he was 100% unfamiliar with every single one of my health concerns, but I had already been cleared by my Lyme doctor so I just needed his sign off.

He proceeded to also have no idea about…

+ testosterone cream, another thing I have to take for my “broken” hormones due to Lyme (he proceeded to insist that testosterone CREAM does not exist so I just went with it to assuage his ego)

+ curcumin, which is the most anti-inflammatory component in turmeric. I will let that one go but honestly as a doctor, get with it!

+ MCAS, which I really avoided telling him about to be honest but he was very confused about what I was saying in regards to my histamine levels being off the charts so I had to explain it in the end

+ blogging as a career, LOL but really that one does not bother me but it was icing on the cake with this guy!

SO THERE YA HAVE IT YOU GUYS, my doctor’s appointment from hell!

It breaks my heart that Lyme disease, with over 300,000 diagnoses each YEAR (so imagine all the people going undiagnosed), which brings it to being a larger epidemic that AIDS ever was, is SO largely misunderstood and even neglected by large parts of the medical community.

UCLA is a teaching hospital! A research hospital! A top hospital in the world! Excuse my language but why in the actual f*ck is this doctor allowed to do his job with such little knowledge about these health concerns? I understand that Lyme is perhaps not prevalent enough for most doctors to become experts in, but a brief education about *what it’s called* and what the SYMPTOMS are would be nice… ya know, so people can get diagnosed if they have it?

It was a very sore subject for me because I spent so many years seeing SO many different doctors to try to figure out what was wrong with my health. Time and time and time again, I was given no answers.

As a young child I was given endoscopies and colonoscopies only to be told that my entire body was clean as a whistle — no disease, no ulcers, no issues.

I spent MANY years that I will never get back being extremely ill, with no one to believe me except for my own family who saw the pain I was in every day.

I will continue to write and share about this, because the people suffering from Lyme disease, mold, and other co-infections, and ALL other hard to treat and diagnose diseases deserve SO. MUCH. BETTER.

If you suspect that you have any symptoms that could be Lyme or even mold poisoning or MCAS, find a Lyme Literate MD (LLMD) and get tested! And if you too have horror stories with doctors, share them below. <3 You are not alone — you never were, and you never are.

Thank you so much for listening my loves & send me good vibes for my surgery tomorrow! I will be updating you like crazy, and we will even be documenting for YouTube — so subscribe if you haven’t yet!! XO

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop touted ‘benefits’ of putting a jade egg in your vagina. Now it must pay.

Paltrow's "lifestyle brand" must pay $145,000 in penalties as part of the settlement.

Intuitively Plant Based vs. Vegan

Hi lovers & welcome back to Day 3 of the SEPTEMBER SERIES on TBB! Where I am blogging every weekday of the month to get back in my blogging routine & bring you topics you’ve asked me to address and share more about.

And let’s be real… no matter how hard I try to switch it up, the blog will always be my online diary. So amidst addressing your topics, sharing recipes and tips, etc. I will always just be blogging from the heart! That is what this blog has always been about.

Today I am writing about a topic that has been tugging on my heartstrings to address for a while… the intuitively plant-based lifestyle I have been following since January of this year.

I have been getting so many ( very VALID! ) questions from you guys about where the whole intuitively plant-based thing came from on my end. I very publicly went through a “breakup” with veganism, if you will, which you can read all about HERE if you haven’t, and also HERE ( the whoooole story & shebang! ) in my book.

After that public breakup, I see how it could seem a little confusing from your point of view to see me go back to a largely vegan diet. I want to share this post to break down the walls between us & try as best as I can to share where I am coming from… because if you had been with me for the whole journey ( which you kinda have if you’ve been reading the whole time, but I mean like REALLY with me every day / seeing the ins & outs of my health decline ) then it wouldn’t seem out of nowhere in the least.

I don’t really mind what anyone thinks of the switch I have made. I learned a long time ago that when you share your life on the Internet, an onslaught of opinions about your every single move will be made and shared with you ( often lashed out, but also often shared with grace and compassion ). The only thing I care about is expressing myself & sharing with you where I am coming from so it can hopefully help you find more clarity & wellness in your own life!

So let’s see here… without backing up TOO far, let me walk you back to last December when J & I spent two weeks in Bali.

My health was already a mess, but it got REAL BAD in Bali…

While that trip was epically fun, and our first huge trip together as a couple, to the most magical healing oasis of all time… it was also INCREDIBLY hard on my body and my health. It was the first time I had taken myself out of my day to day routine for that long, and while we were traveling it hit me hard that I WAS NOT WELL.

I felt very off. Nauseated, inflamed, bloated (massive understatement), puffy, ITCHY (head to toe rashes), out of whack hormones, emotional / moody, in pain with migraines and joint aches, VERY fatigued and lethargic, ten times my age (just no energy or zest whatsoever), horrible acne, scatter brained, and desperate for a change. All of this pain and sickness was also making me DEPRESSED, which is a terrible addition to the rest of it.

Jonathan was a trooper. He saw how happy the lifestyle & pace of Bali was making me, so he encouraged me to book a solo trip for April so that I could give myself space and time to HEAL.

Bali nights with my number one support system. Feeling like crap but very much in love… with him and the gorgeous oasis of Indonesia.

At the time we didn’t even know what I needed to heal from, but it was clear that healing needed to happen. I was not myself at all, whatsoever, not even close. At Nihiwatu, the most beautiful hotel in the WORLD on the island of Sumba outside of Bali, I sobbed and laid in bed with the worst migraine I have ever had in my life… spent an entire day inside after a morning hike + breakfast overlooking the ocean that should have been the most glorious / luxurious /enjoyable view I have ever experienced in my entire lifetime.

Instead, I was a mess. I had NO idea what I could eat / could not eat. I was paralyzed with pain and fear that what I put into my mouth would make my symptoms 100x worse. I was afraid to eat anything other than water or coffee, literally, because food was such a gamble. I was also trying to play the game of “I’m on vacation, I should be indulging!!” by eating the yummy gluten-free toast, eggs, bacon, desserts, etc. that Jonathan was eating with ease.

Every day culminated with me saying, “You have to help me,” to him. “You have to help me make sure I never eat eggs or gluten-free grains again. I can’t eat sugar. I don’t even think I should be drinking coffee. I am so f*cked up.”

“Make me take more magnesium at night. Make sure I am drinking 10x as much water as I am now. I need to find a doctor that can help me. I should have brought my digestive enzymes with me. I think my hormones are really, really, really bad from this IUD.”

( I had an IUD in for about 5 weeks before I got it removed — NOT a good idea to ever get it put in, in the first place. At least for my body and what I was already dealing with. )

In Bali, I was asked if I was pregnant at least three times. It was AWFUL. Here I am, being ridiculously careful about what I eat, working out every day, flaunting my cute new swim suits & resort wear, feeling sick as all hell but trying to keep a smile on my face and live in the moment, treating my boyfriend to a Balinese massage, and being asked post-massage by the spa owner if I am PREGNANT. What the f*ck?

Needless to say, I came back to the U.S. with a lot of questions, a lot of defeat, a lot of misery, and a whole new perspective of HEALTH and what I needed to do to get well.

Some initial takeaways from Bali…

In Bali I was able to get some perspective I very much needed about my life. I realized a few things: I was stressed BEYOND belief in my every day life, I had gut issues and some other health issues that were becoming absolutely debilitating, I NEEDED to get my IUD out, and my body was ridiculously intolerant to eggs, grains (even gluten-free), coffee, fish, and sugar.

So what did I do? Just about the only things I had control of: stop eating all of the above foods, and get the IUD taken out.

Since I already didn’t eat much red meat or pork, these new food eliminations brought me to a mostly vegan diet, which honestly… in my GUT OF ALL GUTS and CORE OF ALL CORES… seemed like the best freaking move of all time.

To be totally honest with you guys, I MISSED veganism. I missed it so, so, so much. I didn’t miss the labeling or the eating disorder I once had or the restriction I experienced when I used food to control my life, but I missed the healing properties of plants and the simplicity of a plant-based diet. I missed how GOOD I felt once upon a time eating that way. I missed the pride I had in myself for making those positive choices and sticking to them, and I missed how much fun I had in the kitchen creating plant-based meals and making them taste good.

In short, I knew in my heart that veganism was calling me home.

This is what my face looked like around that time. Very inflamed. Very out of sorts. Crawling with mold and Lyme bacteria.

And I don’t mean that in a dramatic, I’m going to live be a label again kind of way. I just mean it in a… I was born for simplicity kind of way. I was not born with an iron stomach that can handle a whole lot of meaty, protein-rich, or even remotely processed or acidic foods. I was born with a sensitive stomach and system that has been my greatest blessing (it brought me to my passion for wellness) and my greatest “curse” for how much pain and turmoil it has brought.

Just imagine for a second how AWFUL I felt in Bali. I was legitimately 20 pounds over my comfortable weight, and for no good reason at all. I was living my life yes, but I was not eating unhealthy foods or overeating in any way. I was exercising and doing everything in my power to feel like me again, and it just wasn’t happening.

I wish I had more photos from that time, but I honestly deleted a lot of them because I was so disheartened by how I felt. I am going to try to dig some more up, but here is a highlight from the trip — when we serendipitously ran into our friends Britt, Tara, EVEREST, and Emily at a vegan cafe in Ubud!!

The Next Steps…

Since I knew I wanted to return to plant-based eating for healing but didn’t want to confine myself with the label that once triggered me to eliminate TOO MANY FOODS… I knew that intuitively plant-based just felt right.

In short, I made the term up. I am sure other people have used it, but the way in which I am using it came straight from my head. Intuitive means to eat straight from the intuition — listening to your own body, honoring its cues, treating it with kindness and loving choices and staying in the moderate lane vs. the extreme lane.

Being intuitively plant-based, I know that if plant-based no longer feels INTUITIVE to me, I will incorporate other foods.

Crazy enough, looking back on that post-Bali feeling and the desire to go plant-based again, I was so on target. I didn’t know at the time that my histamine levels were OFF the charts, causing severe inflammation and hormone imbalances. I had NO testosterone, NO pregnenolone, and a totally sluggish / not working thyroid. I also had Lyme disease, mold poisoning, babesia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, MCAS, gut dysbiosis, a fibroid the size of a grapefruit, and MORE.

I look back and realize, my intuition was more on point than I could have even imagined or desired it to be! My intuition knew what I needed before I did.

Cutting out grains, eggs, fish, coffee, and other non-vegan foods definitely helped by inflammation go down quite a bit. But I still struggled to get better or feel even halfway decent until I did the water fast and found the salt-oil-sugar-free plant-based lifestyle in June.

And because of my illnesses and the severity of them, I STILL struggle to feel well, but I know that being plant-based helps me immensely. It is anti-inflammatory and because of the nutrients and vitalism and minerals in plant-based it is profoundly healing. It supports my healing from disease as well as my hormonal imbalances and digestion issues.

I have lost a solid 15 pounds which is always an indicator to me that at least SOMETHING is working right inside my body. To be real with you, I still feel like I am holding on to excess inflammation and body weight because my body is struggling so, so deeply to find its balance… but I am not so concerned about that from an outer perspective. I am concerned about what that means for my insides, and I am so, so looking forward to getting my thyroid / testosterone / pregnenolone / iron back in balance and killing the toxins and bacteria in my body to find that balance!

So as you can see, finding the plant-based lifestyle again was a windy road. Four years passed between my last time being vegan and then going the plant-based route again. It is HARD for me not to use the term “vegan” because I identify with so many parts of it… the cruelty-free movement, the benefits for the environment, the health benefits, all of it. But I try hard not to use that term because of everything else it entails — the hardcore “cult ish” parts of it, the judgmental parts, and the UNSWAYING rigidity of it. And by that rigidity I mean that if I call myself a vegan I may have more trouble incorporating non-vegan foods if I need them for my own personal health.

Currently I will occasionally use colostrum powder (from a cow) to deal my leaky gut, marine collagen from time to time for protein and skin / bone / joint health, and I have had some Surya Spa bread that has eggs in it. I am not MILITANT by any stretch of the imagination, and I never do want to be militant again!!

I think finding that in-between, moderate, healing, intuitive diet for YOU is what it’s all about. For me right now, that is intuitively plant-based. Not militant. Not even vegan. Just very plant-heavy and very, very in love with the benefits of plant foods and the passion they fill me with when I am eating and when I am in the kitchen.

A yummy plant-based dessert I found in Sedona! Go to CHOCOLATREE if you ever visit Sedona… so many veggie options and the best chocolate of all time. Probably not oil OR sugar free, but def refined sugar free! Sometimes you’ve just gotta live!

I also love plant foods! I don’t feel deprived at all. That is huge. The first time I was vegan, I did feel deprived. I eliminated so many foods and I had food fears within the vegan category that I didn’t touch. I was more of a juice cleanse addict than anything. This time I eat an abundance of foods… even legumes and plant proteins and tempeh! I am all about it. I have had fun playing around in the kitchen and I had grown so much in four years — I never again want to HARM my body by eliminating too many foods.

My focus is on healing. Getting my hormones back into balance and supporting my healing with vital nutrients and enzymes. Having a variety of foods in my diet and ENJOYING the ish out of what I eat and make. Salt oil sugar free makes it even more fun for me because a) I feel sick less of the time, and b) I get to cook at home way more than ever before because its easier than finding foods in a restaurant that support my goals.

I will share a lot more on this topic, but for now wanted to at LEAST address the question and let you know where I’m at with all of it! I am feeling amazing on the food front, and even though I have a long way to go with my healing in general… I feel very, very good about the intuitively plant-based life for ME at this stage.

Would love to hear your thoughts!! Do you eat intuitively? Have you tried the plant-based life, or are you more of a meat eater / vegetarian / paleo / non labeled?!?! I respect all of it!!!

SEPTEMBER Q+A PART II!

Hello my beauties & welcome back to Day 2 of the September Series on The Balanced Blonde!

What is the September Series, you ask?

It’s where I blog every day of the week (Monday through Friday) for the month of September to get back to my blogging roots and stay connected with my favorite humans… that would be all of you.

Subscribe to the bloggy to get these posts straight to your inbox (it’s fun, I promise) or just check back here every day for a new post! Open to suggestions — send them my way via email to let me know what you wanna read about all month! Whoop, whoop!

So for today, we are back to the Q+A we started yesterday, featuring the questions you guys sent in on the ‘gram!

TBB Q+A PART II/

Q: Does your fiancé eat like you? How do you prepare meals for both of you?

A: For the most part, yes! Jonathan is definitely way more carefree than I am able to be when it comes to food, because he has no stomach issues / health issues at all. I am forever jealous of him! But also so happy that he doesn’t have to deal with the ish that I have to deal with. Jonathan loves to intermittent fast — he does the whole Steven Gundry / Dave Asprey thing where he eats one meal a day, with a 18-ish hour fasting window. NUTS! He does it because he LOVES eating huge meals (lol, such a boy) and can literally eat whatever he wants in that small eating window. He loves to eat healthy though, so usually what he eats is a healthy take on something traditionally “delicious.” He loves gluten-free, dairy-free pizza, veggie hot dogs (this amazing brand from Whole Foods I need to find out the name for you guys!), veggie stir fries, big salads, veggie burritos, my “Buddha Bowls,” and generally anything I make for him or pick up for him at Erewhon. He is big into the Erewhon combo plates!

He is not vegan but he would happily eat all vegan mostly all of the time. He is one of the healthiest guys I know… from the way he eats to the way he exercises (Ironmans, baby) and the way he takes care of himself. I always joke that he could eat ANY way at all and feel totally fine!! He likes to challenge himself every month by doing something different. One month it will be raw vegan, other months it will be paleo or alcohol-free, other months it is intermittent fasting. The intermittent fasting definitely stuck with him because he’s been doing it since May!

I do find it challenging sometimes to get used to cooking for both of us. I forget how much he can eat, so I find myself buying veggies “for the week” that last us ONE NIGHT!! And if course the foods I eat are simple as can be, so I have to think of fun ways to spice it up for him. It is a nice challenge for me and he is good about picking up extra food for himself because he knows the amount I make doesn’t always cut it!! Constant work in progress!

Q: What are some of your go to meals right now?

Since I am eating a salt-oil-sugar-free diet that is completely plant-based vegan, I have to get REAL creative with my meals to make them exciting! Lately, I have been all about:

+ green smoothies for breakfast with bananas, blueberries, coconut milk, cashew butter (or any nut butter), kale or spinach (good to switch it up between the two), spirulina, chlorella, the occasional plant protein if I feel like I need it, cacao (CHOCOLATEEE always wins), and ice. Nothing fancy but it hits the spot and keeps me full for hours, plus gives me lots of immunity boosting nutrients!

+ a big salad for lunch with kale, baked tempeh (recipe coming soon), lentils, walnuts, more berries, and tahini / lemon dressing. or sometimes another smoothie honestly, I can never get enough smoothies!

+ BAKED POTATO WEDGES for dinner (every night, literally) with my plant based nacho cheese dip and avocado and black beans, or any type of bean. I am mindful to always include plant protein in my meals when I can, to keep my energy levels up and make sure my blood sugar is stabilized and my body is getting truly satiated. LOVE to bake my potatoes with some paprika and thyme — no oil needed!

Q: What makes you prefer Spindrift to other sparkling / seltzer water?

It is made of REAL FRUIT and sparkling water — that is it!! Their cans are BPA-free and their waters are genuinely delicious / hit the spot for me. This is not sponsored, just true love because a lot of you guys asked!! Since I don’t drink alcohol and really don’t drink many juices or lemonades or anything that has unnatural sugars, the sweetness and refreshing-ness of Spindrift is my jam. Our fridge is always stocked with Spindrift, REBBL, Suja (Lemon Love), and Health Ade kombucha!! I can’t really drink kombucha right now because of SIBO / candida, but J loves it and I love to steal a few sips.

Q: Do you guys want kids?

HELL TO THE YES! I have dreamed of being a mama since I was a kid. Just as much as I dream of being an author, poet, speaker, inspiration, (and blogger of course hehe). I don’t think that having kids and being a kickass, successful businesswoman need to be separated in the least. I want to be a “stay at home mom” as much as possible by working from home but taking lots of time off to soak in time with my kids. I also want to either homeschool them or send them to a Waldorf school or the type of school that I went to, which was a tiny liberal arts K-12 school. To be real I can’t imagine myself homeschooling so I think finding the right school will be a key. This is a bit of a tangent but YESSS we can’t wait to have kids and we already have our names picked out.

Q: What is your go-to mantra lately?

NOTHING CAN STOP ME FROM ACHIEVING MY DREAMS AND SATIATING MY DESIRES.

This comes from a magical message I got from my medium, MaryAnn DiMarco, over the weekend. I needed this big time and she heard it straight from my angels. My mantra is always changing but this one really hit home — I have lots of big dreams and goals and I am thrilled to bring them to life — and NOTHING will hold me back. Not my sickness, not my lack of energy, not my debilitating brain fog… N O T H I NG.

Q: What to do if someone makes you a meal at your house that you don’t want?

Oh man!! I try to avoid this happening as much as possible by making my allergens and health concerns VERY CLEAR to someone before they have me over for dinner or a meal. If its a big group, I offer to bring food for myself and anyone else who wants to try it so that the host doesn’t have to worry about my various health concerns. If they insist on preparing it for me (some people enjoy the challenge) then I just remind them no oil, salt, or sugar, totally vegan and gluten-free. If they’re truly up for THAT challenge then they’re a rockstar!! My aunt made me some delicious versions of the meals she made for the rest of our family the other weekend and I thought it was beyond kind of her. I made sure to thank her 2938298 times, because she went way out of her way to make sure I was taken care of.

The main thing is, with my health concerns right now I don’t EXPECT for anyone to cater to me. I really don’t need them to. I am maintaining this diet and lifestyle for my own personal healing reasons and I don’t need it to be validated by others or to make their life any harder by having to accommodate it. If they WANT to, cool!! If they’re a little confused by it, cool too — I will bring my own thing or eat beforehand!! To make sure I am not isolating myself or offending the host, I also bring extra food for anyone who wants to try “my” meals and maybe even get inspired to eat a bit healthier than they would have otherwise.

I have learned the hard way to never show up unprepared or without warning the host properly — the worst is when they’ve made something you can’t eat and they really wanted to accommodate you and thought they were!! I have also learned that just because they made it for you doesn’t mean you have to eat it — YOU are the one who has to deal with the consequences later.

Jonathan made me promise him never to eat something I can’t have at someone’s house just to be polite or because I am afraid to tell them I can’t eat it… because then for days afterward I am in pain and he has to listen to me be in pain! It’s really no big deal to say: “Thank you so much, but I really have to stick to my healing protocol. I know my diet is always changing and that can be confusing, so trust me it’s MY CONCERN not yours. Don’t worry about me at all, I am totally fine eating when I get home! I just want to spend time with you — that’s what matters about getting together, not the food.”

Q: You’re so driven! When you were a little kid what did you want to be when you grew up?

Thank you!!!! I always wanted to be an author, an actress, or a kindergarten teacher. Or a nutritionist!!! I nixed the nutritionist idea when I learned in college how many SCIENCE classes would be required (lol), so props to all of the nutritionists and RD’s out there. I did however go through my health coaching certification program after college so I did satiate that desire a bit! Funny to think that author / actress combined is a bit like a blogger. I am definitely not acting (when I was in high school I was very, very serious about acting… I even started college as a Theatre major!) but there are parts of blogging that resemble acting — from being on camera to being on the podcast to speaking in public, it uses a lot of the same skills.

Kindergarten teacher is really the only one I didn’t pursue, but when I was in middle school / high school I did work in the Pre-K at my school for many hours each day and it was literally one of the highlights of my LIFE! Some of the kids I was a teacher’s assistant for are now GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL… it gives me a little taste of how teachers must feel to see their kids all grown up. It’s really amazing. Another reason why I loved my school so much. My best friend and I always joked we had more friends in the Pre-K than we did in our high school… and THAT was true.

Author… yes!!! I still have huge aspirations of writing fiction and poetry, and like I said above in my mantra… NOTHING will hold me back. I also will be writing a lot more memoir and non-fiction… watch out, literary world. Fun fact too for people who don’t know: I went to grad school in NYC to get my MFA in Creative Writing, but I left partway through to pursue my blog full-time. Writing is in my blood.

Q: How do you stay so motivated and positive with a chronic illness?

It. Is. So. Hard. You guys see the best, most positive aspects of my journey because that is largely what I choose to share on social media. I also have really, really shitty days and moments — but the good news is, they pass. Sometimes I wake up and I am in such a dark fog of depression and sickness that I ask myself why live is even worth living. Dark, I know, but it is so true and something that should be noted because EVERYONE with intense chronic illness must go through feelings like those.

It is hard to live life on the sidelines for so long. I desperately miss the things I used to be able to do with ease… running marathons / half marathons (okay that was never easy but at least I was able to train my ass off and complete them), doing yoga every day, traveling all over the world, jumping out of bed and working all day long with massive inspiration and energy, hosting parties and events and retreats, being around people for more than a couple of hours at a time without getting debilitating exhaustion… you feel me.

I guess I stay motivated by remembering where I came from and where I am going. I know what it’s like to be healthy and full of energy, and man do I miss it. I know I will get back to that place. I also know what it’s like to be FULL of inspiration and bring my dreams and goals to life. I have so many goals and intentions… from being a mama in the future to writing oodles and oodles of books, to marrying the love of my life and growing old with him, to traveling the world again and living part-time in Kauai (more on this later) — I can’t give up on life now. I can’t deprive myself of positive hopes for the future. I MUST focus on these things in order to move forward in my healing process.

Q: What is your blood type?

I am O negative! Interestingly, that is the meat-eating type. I was into the Blood Type Diet for a while (I was into ANYTHING that might possibly save me from my dark hole of sickness and health issues!!) but when I ate meat, I was a MESS. Hormonal, overweight, uncomfortable, major GI issues, not happy, etc. NOT for me, but always worth a try I suppose.

Q: Why don’t you talk more about your siblings?

I totally feel like I do!! So funny because as a blogger it can be hard to tell what we are OVER sharing or UNDER sharing. I guess it seems to some like I am under sharing about my family!! A lot has gone on with my family over the last few years. I am the youngest of four, by far. There is a huge age gap between me and my 3 older half siblings. ( I am my mom and dad’s only child together. ) I am incredibly close with my nieces and nephews. I am particularly close with one of my sisters and her husband, Jeff. You’ve probably seen those two and their kids on my IG and blog. Photo of some of us below! ( My dad & J & me with my two nieces Bella + Liv. )

When I say a lot has gone on, I mean that I have drifted a lot from my half brother & his wife & daughter. It breaks my heart and is very hard for me to talk about. If he is reading this I would be surprised, but maybe he is so for privacy I will keep it brief. Yet for the sake of being honest with you guys and myself, it has been probably one of the Top 3 hardest things I have ever been through. The other top 2 being navigating my illness, and an awful con artist scheme my dad was involved in as a victim a few years ago.

Before this distancing with my brother went down, I am sure I talked about my family a bit more, and certainly posted more photos of all of us together. Yet as with all things challenging that happen, I know it is all for a reason (not sure what the reason is yet) and a larger purpose. It has made me exceptionally grateful for the family I do have in my life, and the friends that feel like family. It has also made me grateful for him and his sensitivities, because this wouldn’t be going on if it weren’t for hurt and pain that he feels in his heart… which breaks my heart but also gives me compassion for where he is in his journey.

(Side note — I am having deja vu right now what the heck??? So weird. Have I written about this / felt this in a past life?!?)

Anyway I am happy to talk more about it in the future if anyone has questions. It is something I have kept very private (because it involves so many people’s feelings other than my own) but if what I have shared has helped even a single person feel less alone or more understood, then it is worth it to me.

Q: Favorite thing to look at in your home (other than Hudson & your fiancé)?

Wow!!! Such a fun question. I LOVE our bedroom. We recently swapped out our darker colored sheets for white sheets from West Elm which give a very beachy feel. We have filled our home with green plants (lots of fake plants too) that I love to look at, and a personal fave is our BATH TUB!!! Our bathroom feels a bit like a hotel bathroom.

Thanks for all of the awesome Q’s!!! Leave more below & I will do more of these soon. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post and allll of the posts to come, 5 days a week this month!! Would love your thoughts & responses below. X

September Series & A Lil’ Q+A!

Welcome to the September Series on The Balanced Blonde! It has been a few years now since I’ve blogged every day on my actual blog (not including Insta, podcast, YouTube, etc.!) so my main intention for September is to get a blog post up 5x a week! That means still taking weekends off to rest + restore (the biggest thing I have learned in my five years blogging…) and making the posts a little briefer than my crazy-long catchup style ones.

Anyway, I am EXCITED to dive back into the consistency of blog land and connect with you guys in the most O.G. way — which, by the way, used to be the ONLY way, back in the day.

If you haven’t yet, sign up for the TBB Tribe newsletter here (!!!) to get these blog posts straight to your email inbox Monday – Friday of this month! And of course beyond this month too, but I can’t promise the 5 days a week consistency. Or can I? When I’m healthy, I am a machine! But it is been a long time since I have been at max health capacity, so I am doing what I can.

We are kicking this series off with a Q&A, featuring questions that I screen-shotted from my last Insta Story Q&A that I wasn’t able to get to. Ready?! Let’s do it…!

TBB Q+A PART I //

Q: What type of doctor is treating you right now? How did you know it was THE one?

A: Great question!! My doctor, Dr. Lehman (who you can find here if you’re interested!), is an Integrative Physician, Tick-Borne Disease Specialist, Board Certified Ophthalmologist, Cornea Specialist, and Eye Surgeon. The standout part as related to me and my health is that she is a Tick-Borne Disease Specialist. So yes, she is an MD and also has a background in internal medicine, ophthalmology, and surgery. She is an expert in Lyme and confections, as well as mold illness, thyroid disease, adrenal fatigue and Gastrointestinal disturbances.

I feel like she came into my life as a GODSEND! Many of you know I am not particularly religious, other than my spiritual practice (non religious) & my Jewish roots, but I believe very much in a higher universal power and the guidance of angels, spirit guides, and the universe itself. Dr. Lehman was totally brought into my life by my angels. She was really brought into my life by a HUMAN angel, my dear friend Celeste of The True Spoon. Celeste met her, heard about her specialty, and instantly thought: “JORDAN NEEDS TO SEE HER!”

The fact that I am suffering from Lyme, coinfections, mold poisoning, thyroid issues, GI issues, and hormone imbalances (and more), and THOSE are all of her focuses and expertise, is truly remarkable. When I met her, I instantly knew she was going to be able to help me / heal me. I hadn’t felt that way about a doctor ever in my life before her. Her office does IV ozone therapy, vitamin IV therapies, hyperbaric chamber, infrared bio mats, and more. Considering the fact that I am there 2-3 times a week, it also helps that she is the most LOVING individual and I feel so at peace when she is around. I wish that type of doctor-patient relationship for everyone.

And BTW this is after YEARS (!!!!!) of searching, misdiagnoses, and more. Just wait for Wednesday’s post all about the WORST doctor’s experience ever…!

Q: How can I join the autoimmune support group on Facebook?

Just go to this link, add yourself, and I will accept you!! You can also always search HIGH VIBE CHRONIC LYME + CHRONIC ILLNESS TRIBE and it will pop up! You don’t have to have a chronic illness to join, you can also just be interested in learning more / offering support!

Q: Favorite Erewhon foods?

OH MAN!! Most of you know I go to Erewhon (healthy grocery store in LA) at least once a day, most days. Some of my go-to’s are the Green Goddess smoothie, Chocolate Jing smoothie with all of the adaptogens, Almond Butter blast smoothie, matcha with house made almond milk (can you tell I spend a lot of time at their tonic bar?), carrot juice, celery juice, and BEYOND the tonic bar… I usually get the pre-made macrobiotic salad that can be found in the refrigerator under the deli case. It is one of the only salt-oil-sugar free food options there! Erewhon, if you’re reading… please make more SOS-free foods!! I’m dying for them!

Before I was salt-oil-sugar-free as part of my healing protocol, I was a huge fan of the hot food bar. I used to get combo plates with eggplant lasagna, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. It’s all delicious. I hope to get back to those foods one day once I am not so sick and inflamed.

They also carry all of my fave brands like… Siete chips / tortillas, LightLife tempeh, Chameleon Cold Brew, REBBL tonics, OWL Venice bone broths / veggie broths, all of the adaptogenic powders your heart desires, and of course they have a very bomb produce section.

Q: How excited are you to be a wife?!

BEYOND!! I have joked with Jonathan that I have felt like his wife basically ever since we started dating. We just instantly slipped into a very serious, very committed relationship — most likely because we were friends for so long before we dated!! Calling him my fiancé feels WAY more natural to me than calling him my boyfriend ever did. He is my twin flame, my other half, my everything. I cannot waaaiiittt to marry that boy and have his babies. But I try to take it one step at a time, especially because I have a lot of healing and personal work to do before we legitimately do have babies. What, this question wasn’t about babies to begin with? WHOOPS! But in all seriousness, planning this wedding and having our special day (saying our VOWS!!!!) is a huge light in my life & something major to look forward to.

Q: Might sound silly, but what’s the point of crystals? How do they work?

Doesn’t sound silly at all! Crystals are legitimate energy from the earth. If you think of where a crystal originated, it was a part of the earth in the purest form — in rock formations, buried under ground, as a part of the mountainsides, all over the place. The word crystal comes from the Greek krystallos, which means ice — so originally, crystals formed when liquid rocked cooled and crystallized. How cool is that?!

Because crystals come from the earth, they are infused with the earth’s energy. Some crystals go so far back that they are even infused with ancient records and codes from spiritual sites like Lemuria, Atlantis, Ancient Greece, and more. Depending on where it is from and how it is blessed, certain crystals will assist in removing energy blockages, providing deep healing, infusing powerful meditative light into your life and your manifestations, etc.

Different crystals have different healing properties, and depending on where its from / its shape, it can hold ancient wisdoms and codes for you to download. Above all, a crystal really is what you make of it in your life. Infuse your own crystals with a power and a manifestation (for example: I have my “writing” crystal, my “channeling my angels” crystal, my crystal that helps me connect to my grandfather and his wisdom, my healing crystals, my public speaking throat chakra crystal, etc.) and YOU are the one who can make your crystal hold a certain power or meaning for you.

I also recommend sage-ing and bathing your crystals after you get them, and charging them by the light of the full moon / new moons.

Q: How could someone with a family (I’m a mom) integrate MM or vegan in a balanced way?

Ohhhhh yes!! You’ve got to!! MM, otherwise known as Medical Medium, is my go-to and has been a huge life saver for me. I would recommend starting slow — reading his books (this one is my fave) and feeling out what resonates for you and what doesn’t. One small step you could make is to start juicing in the mornings. Celery juice and carrot juice are my go-to’s. And adding more veggie meals into your life!! MM is big on white potatoes, so even making more potatoes in your home (who doesn’t love potatoes?) for dinner or as a dinner side dish would be a great way to incorporate some of his healing tools and wisdom.

Also, educate yourself!! It is important to know where to get your protein and supplemental nutrients when going vegan. A few accounts / YouTubes I love to follow for FAMILY vegan ideas are Ellen Fisher, Fully Raw Kristina, and Ullenka. And of course Anthony William himself!

Okay we will continue with PART II tomorrow! So many great questions from you all! If you have more, leave them below and I will make sure to get to them soon too. I am so thrilled to be blogging every day of the week this month. Comment below so we can make this an interactive place, that is the best part! And be sure to sign up for the NEWSLETTTTERRR to get these emails straight to your inbox! X

Texas doctor says gender pay gap is fair because “women don’t work as hard.”

Medical professionals have since taken Gary Tigges to task on social media for views they say are discriminatory and ignorant of most research on the gender pay gap in medicine.

Leo Medical Trends

A woman showed up at a hospital struggling to breathe — because of a 61-pound tumor in her uterus

My Current Go-To Mantra & How to Create Your Own!

‘Black hairy tongue’ is an actual medical condition, and it looks as weird as it sounds

The Doctors Visit From HELL !!

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop touted ‘benefits’ of putting a jade egg in your vagina. Now it must pay.

Intuitively Plant Based vs. Vegan

SEPTEMBER Q+A PART II!

September Series & A Lil’ Q+A!

Texas doctor says gender pay gap is fair because “women don’t work as hard.”

Comments system

Trending Post

A woman showed up at a hospital struggling to breathe — because of a 61-pound tumor in her uterus

My Current Go-To Mantra & How to Create Your Own!

Simple Steps for Creating Your Own Mantra //

‘Black hairy tongue’ is an actual medical condition, and it looks as weird as it sounds

The Doctors Visit From HELL !!

The Doctor’s Visit From HELL //

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop touted ‘benefits’ of putting a jade egg in your vagina. Now it must pay.

Intuitively Plant Based vs. Vegan

My health was already a mess, but it got REAL BAD in Bali…

Some initial takeaways from Bali…

The Next Steps…

SEPTEMBER Q+A PART II!

TBB Q+A PART II/

September Series & A Lil’ Q+A!

TBB Q+A PART I //

Texas doctor says gender pay gap is fair because “women don’t work as hard.”

Atticus Story Albrecht’s BIRTH STORY 🤍💫

Atticus Story Albrecht’s BIRTH STORY 🤍💫

Spiritual Awakening, Life Updates, Going Deeper 💜

The TRUTH of Living with Lyme Disease, Inspired by Glennon Doyle. 🤍

A New VIBE for a New ME + 10 Things You May Not Know

How Wellness Has Changed Over the Years & My TBB Mission :)

Souls Wrapped in Skin- Reintroducing New Foods, Dealing with IBS, & Listening to My Body!

COME HANG WITH ME! UPCOMING EVENTS & Other Fun Happenings. :)

A smoker writes his own obituary to stop others: ‘Quit — now — your life depends on it’

Judge orders stem cell company to stop selling treatment