Healthstarter

09/05/2026

I’ve been eating molokhia since I was two, back when my grandparents were just cooking and I was just eating. It took until 2020, in a culinary nutrition course, to learn why it’s so healthy. The leaves cook down in homemade chicken broth with a good amount of garlic, and as they break down, they release a gel that coats and soothes the lining of the digestive tract on its way through. I wouldn’t call it a cure for anything. It’s a gentle food that a lot of traditional kitchens arrived at long before there was a word for what it was doing.

The soup is a small example of a much bigger thing I’m training in, and the work goes well past knowing which foods do what. This week, I started the second half of my Nutritional Therapy Practitioner program with the Nutritional Therapy Association Nutritional Therapy Association, moving out of foundations and into the clinical side of it, which is assessment and application with real individuals.

There will be several ways to work with me, and I’m genuinely excited to show you what they are. 😊 I’m starting with a few practice clients as part of this phase of training, and I’m looking forward to opening it up to everyone else when I launch.

If molokhia was in your house growing up, tell me how yours was made — I’ve never met two families who do it the same way. Recipes for the soup and the chicken are coming this week too. 🥣🥘

traditionalfoods

08/15/2026

Unhurried weekend breakfast is quite possibly the most delightful experience and feeling. 🥰 We also recently discovered these Original Sunshine gluten-free bagels that are made from wheat starch (I had no idea that existed!) 🥯 🍳 🥓 🍅 🥒 🧀 ☕️ We got them when on vacation and I’m already thinking about ordering more online. Gluten free isn’t optional for me, and out of every gluten-free bagel I’ve tried, this one actually tastes and chews like a real bagel.

Still treating it like bread though, not a daily thing … just a good weekend brunch addition. And because it’s mostly starch, I build the plate around it with real protein and fat: eggs, smoked salmon or bacon, avocado, a little cheese or yogurt, so it’s balanced and actually keeps me full.

If gluten-free bagels have felt like a letdown before, this one is worth a try!

08/04/2026

This is my beach read. 🏖️📖 As a mom, I am committed to giving my child the best opportunities for vital health. I am learning that even for kids, maybe especially for kids, starting with the basics of nutrient-dense foods from infancy, restful sleep, and engaging in activities that promote a healthy microbiome including sunshine, fresh air, community, and plentiful foods with probiotics and fibers is absolutely essential for thriving and growing well.

My takeaways from this book so far:

1. Immunity is built in the belly. The majority of immune tissue lives in and around the digestive tract, so when I think about helping my child stay resilient through a school year of shared germs, I am really thinking about what is happening in the gut.

2. The microbiome gets seeded early and keeps getting shaped. Birth, feeding, antibiotics, pets, dirt, and time outside all leave a mark, and what I appreciate is that nothing about it is fixed. Every meal is another chance to feed the bacteria we want to keep around.

3. Symptoms we treat as separate often share a root. Lipski keeps drawing lines between digestion and the things parents get used to managing one by one, whether that is recurring ear infections, stomachaches that show up on school mornings, eczema, congestion, or trouble settling and focusing. Her invitation is to look at the gut early rather than last.

4. Fiber and fermented foods are the daily practice. Variety matters more than any single superfood, so I am thinking in terms of how many different plants land on the plate in a week rather than perfecting one meal.

5. Digestion begins before the first bite. A calm, unhurried table, real chewing, and eating together do more than we give them credit for, because a stressed nervous system quite literally slows digestion down.

6. Sleep, sunshine, and play belong in the same conversation as food. They regulate the same systems, and they are the parts kids tend to be most delighted to participate in.

What keeps landing for me is how reachable all of it is. None of this asks for a perfect pantry or a rigid routine, just a steady return to real food, real rest, and real time outside, which happens to be the same foundation I keep coming back to for myself.

If you are somewhere in the thick of this with your own kids, I would love for you to follow along while I read the rest. I will share the parts that are worth keeping. 🫶🏽

08/03/2026

Anyone else here weird like me?! 🙋🏽‍♀️ I can’t eat gas station / rest stop snacks for dinner so smoked salmon seaweed sushi wraps checked the protein box and the on-the-go box for me that day. Good thing we took my car for that road trip, because my husband wouldn’t have been so okay with me eating this in his car 🤣

07/30/2026

Do you want to be made well?

That question is at the center of my next essay, and it connects straight to something you already know about Healthstarter: our tagline is take the helm, and the compass rose symbol carries the same idea, finding your own direction instead of waiting for someone else to hand it to you.

The essay looks at the research behind that: how much a practitioner’s own belief in your capacity to heal actually shapes what happens in your body, and why that has to run both ways. The person doing the healing and the person guiding them both have work to do.

New essay coming soon on my Substack, Key of Life. Subscribe to read it as soon as it goes live: hebawrites.substack.com

07/26/2026

That 3pm crash, the cravings you can’t explain, the energy that comes and goes? Your blood sugar might be on a rollercoaster. 🎢

Here’s the ride: a sugary or refined-carb meal 🍩 spikes your glucose, insulin rushes out and often overshoots, you crash, 💥 and your brain begs for more sugar to climb back up. Do it often enough and your cells stop responding to insulin. That’s insulin resistance, the road that leads toward prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. 😟

The hopeful part: this is largely driven by daily habits, which means daily habits can bend it back. 🥳

Swipe for three plate changes 🥘 and three daily habits that steady the whole thing. My favorite is the “movement snack”: a 10 minute walk after a meal 🚶🏾, or a set of squats and lunges, that lets your muscles soak up glucose without extra insulin.

You don’t need a total overhaul. Pick one from each side and let it compound. And this is bio-individual, so what steadies your blood sugar won’t look identical to anyone else’s. Start where you are and pay attention to how your own body responds!

** This is educational content, not a diagnosis or treatment plan. Sources in the comments.

07/22/2026

One more reason to use ghee, and not avocado oil for most cooking needs.

Almost all processed foods on grocery store shelves claiming to be made with avocado oil actually contain cheaper substitute oils, according to a new study by University of California Davis researchers.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/07/15/the-avocado-oil-boom-has-a-fraud-problem-new-study-suggests/?utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ForbesMainFB
Photo: Getty Images

07/08/2026

I didn’t wear a Continuous Glucose Monitor to chase perfect numbers. I wore a Stelo CGM to understand how my body responds to real life. Stress, sleep, gut balance, meal timing, and movement all shape the glucose curve in ways we don’t always feel. The science behind it is powerful. Cortisol shifts glucose. Circadian rhythm changes insulin sensitivity. The microbiome influences inflammation and barrier integrity. High‑intensity exercise raises glucose to fuel the muscles.

Seeing those patterns show up on my arm made my body’s signals feel clearer and kinder. 🙏🏽 If you’ve ever wondered why your energy, cravings, or mood change throughout the day, your physiology might already be explaining it. Bioindividuality is real. Your numbers tell your story.

07/04/2026

Breakfast! Utopihen Farms eggs scrambled in ghee with on a GF Siete Foods chickpea flour tortilla. Then, a bowl of Harmless Harvest coconut yogurt with vanilla matcha, Bees & Trees Manuka Honey honey, fresh organic berries and peaches. Of course after my Numi Organic Tea earl grey. Yum! 😋

07/03/2026

Come prepare my favorite drink with me — it has 3 simple ingredients: fresh lime 🍋‍🟩 + fresh mint 🌿 + raw honey 🍯 Add ice if you like at the end! Ok now let’s see about this World Cup game 🇪🇬