Author Archives: Amy
About Amy
Amy has a passion for natural, sustainable health and living that she shares by educating her clients. She runs half and full marathons, is fluent in Dutch, and grows an urban garden on her Brooklyn terrace.
The vitamin guide has covered a variety of essential vitamins our bodies need and to conclude the series we’ll be ending with zinc, which is actually a mineral, but worth covering for its importance in body function as well.
Zinc is essential for growth and development throughout all of our life stages. It supports our immune system and is involved in the healing of our wounds along with helping to form proteins. If you don’t get enough zinc in your diet you could see the deficiency through hair loss, diminished appetite, slowed growth rate, diarrhea, and delayed wound healing. (more…)
Posted on January 9, 2026 by Amy
As we move into the new year with many focuses shifting to dieting and calorie counting, I wanted to make sure that you take the time to focus on one very important, often overlooked, area.
Vitamin L is probably not a vitamin you have heard of before. The reason for this is vitamin L is not a vitamin you can get through eating the right foods or from taking capsules. You can’t get vitamin L from the sun’s beautiful rays. Vitamin L stands for “love” and is equally important in our health and well being as the vitamins our bodies need to function. (more…)
Posted on January 2, 2026 by Amy
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that is an antioxidant and protects our body from free radicals. These free radicals can damage our cells and also cause cardiovascular disease, which is why it can be said that vitamin E is essential to maintaining a healthy heart and protecting against heart disease. As an additional benefit vitamin E is also effective in helping with the immune system.
Vitamin E is typically measured in milligrams and the recommended daily intakes are as follows:
- Men 19+ years of age = 15mg/daily
- Women 19+ years of age=15mg/daily
- Women who are breastfeeding= 19mg/daily (more…)
Posted on December 26, 2025 by Amy
Want to keep your teeth and bones strong? Then you want to pay extra attention to vitamin D and ensure to have it in your daily diet. Vitamin D has also been shown to lower our risk for cancer, upwards of 150,000 cases according to Cedric Garland, a doctor of public health. One of the best ways to get vitamin D is directly from sunlight; this is due to how our bodies produce the vitamin from the exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
With the increase in concern for skin cancers and wanting to protect our skin from sun damage and burning, the amount of sunscreen we utilize has caused our vitamin D levels to plummet. I myself am very fair skinned, but I still make sure to allow my skin time outdoors to soak up the sun’s beautiful rays in limited quantities, ensuring not to burn or over expose myself. (more…)
Posted on December 19, 2025 by Amy
This week the Vitamin Guide continues through vitamins A to Zinc with vitamin C. Click here to read about last weeks topic of vitamin B12. Vitamin C is essential for our bodies as it helps with the formation of our bones, muscle, teeth and skin. It is also important to note that unlike most animals, we as humans do not have the ability to make our own vitamin C, and therefore must get it through our diet. Vitamin C helps with resistance to infection and with healing wounds, and in most recent research it has shown that vitamin C is useful in lowering cholesterol and fat levels in blood. (more…)
Posted on December 12, 2025 by Amy
Last week the vitamin guide series kicked off with vitamin A. This week I focus on Vitamin B12 an essential vitamin needed for healthy nerve and blood cells as well as the production of DNA. A lack of B12 in the diet can cause anemia, which prevents the body from making normal red blood cells that carry oxygen in the blood. Anemia can leave you feeling tired and weak, if you have been feeling this way you should visit your doctor and have your B12 sections checked.
Vitamin B12 is a water–soluble vitamin, so you don’t have to worry about having too much in your system or risk of toxicity. Any amount of the vitamin your body does not need will be rid of through urine, unlike vitamin A as reviewed last week. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for the average adult is 2.4 micrograms per day. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should increase their daily allowance to 2.6-2.8 micrograms. (more…)
Posted on December 5, 2025 by Amy
If you have ever heard the suggestion to eat your carrots for good vision, you were actually being told to eat a food high in vitamin A.
Vitamin A not only helps with vision but it is an antioxidant, which means that this substance can prevent damage to our bodies’ cells and also help with repairing damage. Additionally, vitamin A helps with maintaining our skin tissue and it is necessary for our cell growth. It also helps fight off infection, which in addition to the benefits listed above, makes vitamin A essential for our bodies.
(more…)
Posted on November 28, 2025 by Amy
As a holistic health counselor and a relatively healthy eater (yes, I eat ice cream and can be seen eating french fries), I take supplements every day. The reason for this is because despite eating a healthy American diet, it is virtually impossible to get all the vitamins and nutrients our bodies need.
In a new weekly series that will launch on Saturday, November 28th, I’m going to feature specific vitamins and provide an overview as to why you need it, what it does for your body and where you can get it.
More and more people are deficient and with busy schedules you can start to feel even more run down especially heading into the holiday season.
(more…)
Posted on November 21, 2025 by Amy
With football, basketball and hockey season in full swing there are plenty of opportunities to get together with friends at your local pub or watering hole for dinner and drinks while watching the games. Menus at these types of restaurants aren’t typically diet friendly with appetizers and entrées encompassing mostly fried options. The key to navigating this type of menu, and making your choices, is to mix and match items you see on the menu. Try the rice from one dish matched with the grilled chicken from another dish; don’t feel you have to stick to how the meals are laid out in front of you.
Pub food recommendations and tips: (more…)
Posted on November 14, 2025 by Amy
Chinese food is a genre of food with various flavors and sauces that can be very yummy, but also pack a punch in terms of calories. Depending on where you go for your Chinese food, you can in many instances find buffet options and quick serve restaurants in your local mall or shopping center. Beware of buffets, as with any genre of food, because this type of eating provides too many temptations for over-filling the plate and repeat visits.
Popular dishes such as Sesame Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken should not be kept on your list of go-to options. These types of meals are fried – a major offense right off the bat and then covered in sauces that are full of sugar and in some cases MSG, which is not something you want to be ingesting. Check out my newsletter article from June 2026 where I highlight the negative effects of MSG. (more…)
Posted on November 7, 2025 by Amy
Navigating the menu at an Italian restaurant can pose many challenges and if you are the type to shy away from carbs then it can become that much harder. I am a big supporter of well-balanced meals, which entails a mixture of protein, carbohydrates and fat. These types of meal combinations can be found in many areas on the menu at an Italian restaurant, but it’s easy to get tripped up with all cheesy goodness that is woven throughout as well.
From pizza to parmesan and even baked ziti there are some pitfalls that if avoided will help keep your dining experience a yummy, but healthy one, too. (more…)
Posted on October 31, 2025 by Amy
