Storm & harmony Blog Library

There was a time when I believed my metabolism had simply stopped working. Maybe you've felt that way too? The weight seemed to come on more easily than it used to. The pounds became harder to lose. I wasn't eating dramatically differently, yet my clothes fit differently. Energy wasn't what it once was. Everything I read seemed to point to the same conclusion. "Your metabolism slows as you get older." "Once you hit your forties, it's all downhill." "Your metabolism is broken.

There was a time when I thought blood sugar was something only people with diabetes needed to worry about. If my fasting glucose came back "normal," I assumed everything was working exactly as it should. Case closed. In fact, when my own fasting glucose came back at 86 mg/dL, I remember feeling reassured. It was comfortably within the laboratory's normal reference range. I folded the lab report, checked that box in my mind, and moved on. There was nothing to worry about... ..

For years, I struggled to understand what was going on in my body. I knew I was too young to feel the constant fatigue, body aches, and at times, an overwhelming sense of impending doom. My physical health was declining, and my mental well-being began declining with it. Some days I questioned whether I had some sort of rare condition that was going undiagnosed. In my quest for answers, I eventually began to wonder if my body was simply getting older. What else could it be?

The other day I spent five hours in a leadership meeting. You know the kind. A hotel conference room, motivational speakers, organizational updates, and plenty of energy focused on rallying everyone around a common vision. I am not going to lie, I left feeling inspired. At the same time, I could not stop thinking about what was waiting just outside the doors. It was one of those rare Wisconsin summer days where the temperature was over 90 degrees, the sun was shining, and Lak

Last month, I opened my lab results and immediately saw the number everyone seems to focus on: LDL cholesterol. It was elevated. I knew what many people would think because I've heard it countless times from clients, friends, and family members. "Your cholesterol is high." "You need to cut out fat." "You are at an increased risk for heart disease and stroke." The interesting thing was that the rest of my labs didn't seem to fit the story. My triglycerides were very low. My

Have you ever noticed that two people can experience the exact same setback and walk away with completely different conclusions? One person sees a challenge and thinks, "That was frustrating, but I'll figure it out." The other thinks, "This always happens to me." The event may be the same, but the story they tell themselves about the event is very different. Psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman spent much of his career studying these differences. Through his work in positive psyc

There is something about the first farmers market of the season that feels like opening the windows after a long winter. The air smells a little greener. People move a little slower. Music drifts through the streets while a toddler holds a strawberry almost bigger than they can handle. Farmer market season is not just about buying vegetables. It is about stepping back into community again. You can feel it the moment you arrive. Friends bump into each other between booths. L

Every Memorial Day, my family takes on the Murph workout together. The Murph is a workout created in honor of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. The workout became known throughout the CrossFit community as a way to honor sacrifice, resilience, and service. Traditionally, the workout includes a one-mile run, followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and then another one-mile run. For many people, just reading the workout can

For many people, dairy feels confusing. One person drinks milk daily with no issue, while someone else experiences bloating, congestion, stomach discomfort, skin irritation, or fatigue after only a small amount. Often, people assume they are “lactose intolerant,” but lactose is not always the whole story. Another piece of the puzzle may be a protein found in dairy called casein. Casein is the primary protein in milk, making up about 80% of the protein content in cow’s milk. I

Most of us have something we dream about building someday. Maybe it is a new bathroom, a deck to enjoy summer evenings outside, a workshop, a garden, or even something as simple as a birdhouse hanging in the backyard. Usually, the vision itself is not the problem. The problem is the voice that shows up shortly after the vision. “I do not know enough.” “I have never done this before.” “I am probably going to mess it up.” “Other people can do these things, but not me.” Before w

Most of us grew up thinking of eggs as one thing: chicken eggs from the grocery store refrigerator aisle. But once you step outside the standard carton, there is an entire world of eggs with different flavors, textures, nutrient profiles, and even colors. Duck eggs, quail eggs, and heirloom eggs have become increasingly popular among people looking for variety, nutrient density, local food options, or simply a deeper connection to where their food comes from. At Storm & Harmo

Standing in front of the egg section used to be simple. White eggs. Brown eggs. Done. Now we are faced with cartons labeled cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, organic, omega-3 enriched, vegetarian-fed, soy-free, and more. Somewhere between the dairy section and the checkout lane, buying eggs started to feel oddly complicated. At Storm & Harmony Wellness, we talk often about how nutrition is not just about calories or protein. The quality of our food, how it is produced, a

There’s a moment a lot of us run into at some point. We find something that looks like it should work. A plan, a routine, a way of eating, a morning structure. It checks all the boxes. It worked for someone else. It’s backed by research. It feels like the right next step. So we try it. For a few days, maybe even a few weeks, it feels promising. There’s a sense of control, maybe even a little excitement. This might be the thing that finally clicks. And then something shifts. E

If you’ve ever tried to “cut sugar,” you probably realized pretty quickly that it’s not just about willpower. Sugar is everywhere, and more importantly, it plays a role in texture, taste, and even how satisfied we feel after eating. So instead of thinking about removing it completely, I like to approach this as a shift. What can we use instead that supports our body a little better? That’s where simple sugar substitutions come in. When we rely heavily on refined sugar, we ten

Maybe it is the first stretch of warm air after a long winter. Maybe it is the smell of the grill firing up for the first time. Or maybe it is just the way people start to gather again without needing much of a reason. Someone brings food, someone else brings a chair, and before you know it, you are outside a little longer than you planned. And that right there is where grilling starts to become more than just a way to cook food. It becomes a health habit. Not in the rigid, m

There was a time when our days didn’t feel like this. Not scheduled down to the minute.Not optimized.Not measured by how much we got done before collapsing into bed. Somewhere along the way, life quietly turned into a checklist. Wake up.Get through the day.Eat something “quick.”Power through the afternoon.Try to unwind.Repeat. And if we’re honest… a lot of us got really good at it. We became efficient. Productive. Reliable. But also… a little disconnected. The subtle trade we

Yesterday, my son and I went for a bike ride. It wasn’t one of those picture-perfect spring days. The air still had that sharp edge to it. The wind was cold and pushing back against us. And, we went anyway. And somewhere between the first few minutes of cold fingers, rosy cheeks and the rhythm of the ride, something shifted. The kind of shift that’s hard to explain but easy to recognize. Breathing deep felt different. The noise in my head quieted down. It felt like we had ste

There was a stretch of time when my plate didn’t look anything like what most people would call “normal.” And that wasn’t because I didn’t care about eating well. If anything, I had always put a lot of intention into making healthy choices. But during a season of working through gut dysbiosis, I learned something that really shifted my perspective… food isn’t just about what we put into our bodies, it’s about what our bodies can actually do with it. And in certain circumstanc

There’s usually a reason we stepped away from exercise in the first place. Work picked up and took more than we expected. We got sick and needed time to recover. Family responsibilities shifted and suddenly our time wasn’t our own. Sometimes it’s one thing, sometimes it’s a slow build of many things, but over time the routine fades. Not because we didn’t care, and not because we lacked discipline, but because life asked us to prioritize something else for a while. And without

There’s a project sitting somewhere in your life right now. You’ve thought about it more than once. Maybe even a lot. It shows up when things get quiet. It taps you on the shoulder when you’re doing something else. It might look like writing, building something, starting a business idea, creating content, or even just organizing a part of your life that’s been sitting untouched. And yet, it stays undone. Not because you don’t care. Not because you’re lazy. But because somethi