http://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/

Kristen Carlson Wellness, Portland, ME (2025)

11/23/2025

Ever felt like your hunger cues are all over the place — one day you have zero appetite, the next you’re craving everything in sight? You’re not alone.
⠀
Your hunger isn’t just your stomach — it’s a conversation between your brain, gut, fat tissue, pancreas & nervous system.⁠
⠀
In my latest blog I dive into the hormones behind it:
🔬 Ghrelin (makes you feel hungry)
🔬 Leptin (signals fullness)
🔬 Insulin, Adiponectin, plus hunger-hormones like Peptide‑YY, Glucagon‑like peptide‑1 (GLP-1) & Cholecystokinin (CCK).
⠀
Here’s what can throw them off: skipped meals, ultra-processed food, low protein/fat/fiber, stress, and poor sleep.
⠀
📝 Want to get back in sync with your body? Start with these:
➡️ Prioritize protein (aim for ~1.6-2.2 g/kg ideal body weight)
➡️ Add healthy fats + fiber
➡️ Regular meals, whole foods
➡️ Sleep and stress aren’t optional.
⠀
Your body is talking to you — let’s learn to listen and respond with nourishment, not frustration. ❤️

https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/blog

11/23/2025

Ever felt like your hunger cues are all over the place — one day you have zero appetite, the next you’re craving everything in sight? You’re not alone.
⠀
Your hunger isn’t just your stomach — it’s a conversation between your brain, gut, fat tissue, pancreas & nervous system.⁠
⠀
In my latest blog I dive into the hormones behind it:
🔬 Ghrelin (makes you feel hungry)
🔬 Leptin (signals fullness)
🔬 Insulin, Adiponectin, plus hunger-hormones like Peptide‑YY, Glucagon‑like peptide‑1 (GLP-1) & Cholecystokinin (CCK).
⠀
Here’s what can throw them off: skipped meals, ultra-processed food, low protein/fat/fiber, stress, and poor sleep.
⠀
📝 Want to get back in sync with your body? Start with these:
➡️ Prioritize protein (aim for ~1.6-2.2 g/kg ideal body weight)
➡️ Add healthy fats + fiber
➡️ Regular meals, whole foods
➡️ Sleep and stress aren’t optional.
⠀
Your body is talking to you — let’s learn to listen and respond with nourishment, not frustration. ❤️
⠀
👉 Read the full blog (link in bio) to dig deeper and get practical tips.
⠀

11/06/2025

Back in 2010, I published my book Quantum Supplements, where I first explored the idea that nutrients are more than biochemistry. They also carry subtle energetics that interact with the body on many levels, including the chakra system. I’ve distilled that concept here into a simplified visual: a symbolic spectrum of vitamins.

Whether we view the body through molecules or meaning, both are valid languages. Science and spirituality are not opposites. They are mirrors of the same truth.

Here’s how each vitamin supports us physiologically:
Vitamin A – supports vision and immune integrity
Vitamin B1 – helps spark energy from carbohydrates
Vitamin B2 – drives redox reactions for cellular energy
Vitamin B3 – supports NAD+ formation and detox pathways
Vitamin B5 – helps build CoA for stress and hormone response
Vitamin B6 – assists in neurotransmitter and hemoglobin production
Vitamin B7 – supports healthy skin, hair, nails, and metabolism
Vitamin B9 – essential for DNA synthesis and methylation
Vitamin B12 – nourishes blood, nerves, and methylation cycles
Vitamin C – helps form collagen and defend against oxidative stress
Vitamin D – supports calcium balance, immune health, and circadian rhythm
Vitamin E – helps maintain cell membrane integrity
Vitamin K – directs calcium to bones and away from arteries

We often talk about nutrient deficiencies in the physical sense, but have we considered the energetic deficiency of a nutrient as well?

If a vitamin supports vision, repair, resilience, clarity, flow, or protection in the body… where might that also be needed in our inner life?

10/29/2025

Most people think hunger is simple—eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full.

But when your body is under stress, those signals get scrambled.
Cortisol (the stress hormone) rises, and suddenly:
Ghrelin (your hunger hormone) keeps shouting, even when you’ve eaten.
Leptin (your fullness hormone) gets quiet—you can’t tell when to stop.

Insulin can’t deliver the message that you’ve had enough.
It’s not lack of discipline. It’s a stress response.
The healing process begins when we create a sense of safety—both physically and emotionally.

When cortisol levels drop, blood sugar levels stabilize, and the body begins to trust again.

That’s when hunger and fullness cues return.
Healing isn’t linear. It’s one act of nourishment, one moment of self-compassion at a time.
When we rebuild safety, the hormones—and the person—begin to come back into balance.

If this resonates, this is the work I do—helping clients and organizations understand the emotional and physiological roots of nourishment.

Let’s build a healthier relationship with food and stress together.

10/29/2025

Please help support our local business!! ✨✨✨✨✨

We would be SO grateful if you could set your alarms and reminders to vote for us each day for the next 2 weeks in the Best of 207! 🙏 🙏 🙏

We are thrilled to share that Root To Rise has been nominated as the Best Women's Clinic, Best Acupuncturist, Best Physical Therapist, and Best Yoga/Pilates studio in Maine in this year's Portland Radio Group's Best of the 207 contest!

Voting starts TODAY and runs for two weeks until 5pm on the 12th of November.

You can vote in all three categories every day (under ‘Health and Beauty’) and it would mean so much much to us and our local business to win!

To Vote:

1. Go to https://bestofthe207.com/vote/
2.Click on Health & Beauty Category
3.Click through and vote for us in:
💛 Best Women's Clinic
💛 Best Acupuncturist
💛 Best Yoga/Pilates Studio
💛 Best Physical Therapist

Thank you for your nominations!

We are incredibly honored and grateful to support the Southern Maine community and we couldn't do it without you and we SO appreciate you! ❤️ 🙏

10/26/2025

Nutrition is often seen as calories, macros, and meal plans. These are SUPER supportive tools- But our relationship with food is much deeper—it’s tied to our emotions, stress, and personal history.

In my latest blog, I explore how emotional eating shows up—not just as overeating, but also as restriction—and the physiological mechanisms behind it. I share parts of my own journey, including the challenges of hypothalamic amenorrhea, chronic injuries, and autoimmune flare-ups, and how these experiences shaped my approach to healing.

I struggle with this every day and the growth I’ve made in this area has improved the quality of my life and health. The back-and-forth between restriction and emotional eating affects not only emotional and mental state, but also my relationships and my ability to fully enjoy life.

Sometimes people assume that because I work in nutrition, I have it all figured out—or that I think I do. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I embrace these challenges, because by experiencing them as a human, I can better support others navigating food noise, confusion, restriction, and emotional eating.

If you’re ready to explore the emotional side of nutrition and build a healthier, more compassionate relationship with food, I invite you to read the full article or reach out to start your journey:
https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/blog/beyond-nutrition-healing-the-emotional-body-through-food

https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/blog/beyond-nutrition-healing-the-emotional-body-through-food

10/26/2025

As a clinical nutritionist working for a globally recognized longevity practice, I can tell you — it’s not the flashy trends that make the biggest impact. It’s the unsexy, consistent habits that change everything:

✅ Choose whole, minimally processed foods
🌈 Increase plant intake and try to eat the rainbow every day
🥑 Balance healthy fats (omega-3s, olive oil, nuts, avocado)
🍽️ Eat balanced meals that include protein, fat, and fiber
🌾 Focus on fiber — aim for 30–35g per day
🍗 Diversify protein sources and try to get ~30g per meal
🌿 Use anti-inflammatory herbs & spices
🧘‍♀️ Be mindful of portions and eat slowly

These simple principles support blood sugar balance, hormone health, and long-term energy — the foundations of feeling good in your body every day.

As someone who’s helped hundreds of clients move from confusion to confidence around food, I can promise: boring consistency beats short-term perfection every time.

✨ Save this post for a reminder of what really matters.

09/29/2025

I’m excited to share my latest blog, which delves into how nutrition impacts every aspect of our well-being — from immune function and energy levels to mood, longevity, and disease prevention.

In the post, I cover:
• The biological links between inflammation, oxidative stress, and diet
• How gut health and the microbiome play a central role
• Practical, everyday nutrition strategies you can begin implementing now
• Why personalized guidance often outperforms one-size-fits-all advice

If you’re curious about how food truly acts as “information” for your cells — and want to use nutrition as a powerful tool to support your health — I’d love for you to check it out:

➡️ https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/blog/why-nutrition-matters-the-foundation-of-whole-body-health

09/03/2025

🌿 Let’s talk about perfectionism — and how it might be holding you back from feeling your best.

In my work as a nutritionist and health coach, I’ve noticed something powerful:

It's often not the lack of knowledge or motivation that blocks people from making lasting changes…

It’s perfectionism.

You know the voice:
❌ “If I can’t do it perfectly, why bother?”
❌ “One ‘bad’ meal ruined everything.”
❌ “I’ll start over Monday… again.”
❌ “I should be further along by now.”

These thoughts lead to cycles of restriction, burnout, bingeing, and feeling stuck — physically and emotionally.

💡 A personal note:

For years, I felt (and still feel) the pressure to be perfect — in how I ate, behaved, and lived. When I faltered, the shame felt magnified, feeding self-criticism and isolation. Perfectionism showed up for me as restriction, over-exercising, over-performing, numbing, disconnecting, drinking, and procrastination. Recognizing these patterns and learning to show myself grace has been a crucial part of my healing — and it’s informed the way I support my clients today.

✨ Here’s the good news: You don’t need to do it all perfectly to make real progress. You just need to start with one small step — and show yourself some compassion along the way.
That’s the heart of my practice: using food and lifestyle as medicine, while helping people shift away from shame and toward balance, nourishment, and resilience.

📖 I wrote a blog about this — part personal story, part practical tools — and I think it might speak to you if you’ve ever felt pressure to do it “all right.”

💬 Drop a comment if you’d like me to share it!
Let’s let go of all-or-nothing thinking and start healing — from the inside out.

https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/blog/perfectionism

08/01/2025

What is Functional Nutrition—and Why Does It Matter?

When I left a career in corporate banking to step into the world of wellness, I had one driving question:

Why are so many people experiencing fatigue, brain fog, bloating, anxiety, irregular cycles, and inflammation—without answers that make sense?

That question led me on a path of deep learning: certifications, a Master’s in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, mentorship, clinical experience, and eventually licensure.

I didn’t just want surface-level advice—I wanted to understand the why behind symptoms. And that passion continues to grow as I support others in reconnecting with their health.

Functional Nutrition is a personalized, root-cause approach to health.

It’s not about restrictive diets or one-size-fits-all advice. It’s about understanding how your body functions, how your systems are interconnected, and how food can be used as a tool to support healing, resilience, and vitality.
In my latest blog, I break it all down:

✔️ What functional nutrition really is
✔️ How it differs from conventional nutrition
✔️ The personal impact it had on my own healing
✔️ The key benefits of working with a functional nutritionist

This approach isn’t trendy—it’s science-backed, empowering, and truly transformative.

📖 Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/eHuiXDRB

If you’ve ever felt like something’s “off” in your body—but no one’s listening or giving you real answers—this might be the perspective you’ve been looking for.

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07/18/2025

Hey friends!
I just published my very first blog post—and it feels so good to finally hit "publish"! This has been on my heart for a long time, and I’m excited to start sharing more of what I’ve learned along the way.

To kick things off, I went back to the basics: What is Functional Medicine, really? There’s a lot of confusion out there, so I wanted to break it down in a simple, personal way.

If you're curious about my own healing journey with acne, hormone imbalances, autoimmunity, and amenorrhea—and how I began addressing it all through gut and liver support, food sensitivity work, herbs, nutrition, and the core principles of Functional Medicine—this one’s for you. 💛

It’s a quick read, and I’d love for you to check it out:

https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/blog/whatisfunctionalmedicine

07/13/2025

You can now download my E-Book, Nourish, on my website. This book aims to revolutionize your life through the power of food. More than just a cookbook, it serves as an invitation to embrace a vibrant lifestyle that celebrates creativity, color, and nourishment in both cooking and living. The primary objective is to alleviate some of the stress associated with achieving health, balance, and vitality.

Life can often feel overwhelming, making the prospect of preparing wholesome meals seem daunting. This guide will empower you to create delicious dishes that nourish your body at a cellular level. By mastering the skill of crafting balanced and
nutrient-rich meals, you'll not only save money but also enhance your well-being for years to come.

The focus here is not on crafting perfect or extravagant meals, but rather on preparing dishes that are enjoyable and energizing. By doing so, you'll lay the groundwork for all other aspects of health in your life. Every system in your body requires specific enzymes, nutrients, and minerals to operate optimally.

Why is this significant? By learning to eat in a way that fundamentally nourishes your body, you can prevent chronic diseases, boost cognitive function, and elevate your energy levels. Additionally, you'll feel better physically, enabling you to move with ease, rest more deeply, and stay present in your daily interactions.

Alongside delightful recipes, I offer a pathway to a holistic and anti-inflammatory lifestyle. You deserve to feel your absolute best in mind, body, and spirit.

This book is structured into three parts: the first section provides you with essential knowledge, followed by practical planning tools, and concludes with a collection of mouthwatering recipes.

Remember, small changes in your life can lead to significant results.

Download here for FREE: https://www.kristencarlsonwellness.com/resources

Kristen Carlson Wellness

11/23/2025

11/23/2025

11/06/2025

10/29/2025

10/29/2025

10/26/2025

10/26/2025

09/29/2025

09/03/2025

08/01/2025

07/18/2025

07/13/2025

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