https://www.caramarrswellness.com/

Cara Marrs Wellness at Nutrition Prescription, Inc, 57 10th Street, Steamboat Springs, CO (2025)

09/24/2025

Common questione in my office this week, let's talk where to start in perimenopause and menopause .

How to determine where you are in the journey. What are the first steps whether 42 or 55. Yes, it is more than likely affecting your energy, mood digestion , pain, sleep and well- being.

Fertility/hormones shift in our later 30's, but ' peri' is marked by more of a significant decline and flucuations. The most common age for symptomatic perimenopause is mid 40s to early 50's and most common for menopause being ~49 to 54.

I have seen clients naturally go into full menopause at 38 - 40 years old, and also 60, those are more the exceptions. I have women coming to see me now in their 30s and early 40's very worried about perimenopause. Many we find are not there yet but in turn are not fueling properly, not sleeping, dehydrated, over ceffienated, are not doing enough exercise or doing too much. While awareness is imperative!, do not stress yourself out at 37 or 40 and then go into menopause at 55, spending 15+years worrying.

I also also see too many women 50 -55 years old still cycling and wondering why they do not feel well, and STILL no one is mentioning anything about menopause! You can 100% have a regular cycle and be deep into Perimenipause🙋‍♀️

Simple steps to start:

1. Diet first. Hormonal changes can disrupt our digestion and for some women blood sugar balance is compromised. Have someone like myself look at what you are eating and your labwork. Unhealthy gain is concerning, but under eating and the dire consequences associated are serious. We need to analyze your nutrient intake

2. Get a baseline of bloodwork, comprehensive with hormones. The baseline coupled with your symptoms is the best way to determine if you need any interventions. I suggest a blood draw closer to days 22-28 if cycling or doing a Dutch hormone panel.

3. Armed with that data I can help with lifestyle modifications and your OB/GYN or provider can help you move forward hormonally if indicated

4. A caring ear is what you need, and someone knowledgeable to help coordinate and point you in the right direction. This is a part of every woman's life if so privleged

🙏

09/22/2025

Happy Fall 🍁

Welcome to my weekly summation of what my students are learning in Nutrition 101 and what I think is crucial to helping this country get healthier

1st off - this class should be mandatory for every high school and college student in the country, I truly think it would help remedy everything I say below. Students leave armed with information to make their own decisions about something that affects every one of us: nutrition and our health

Last week was an overview. I'll try to post these on Fridays. This week we are discussing "our remarkable body" with an emphasis on the gastrointestinal system, as well as hormone and nervous system.

1. 60% of people living in our country have at least least 1 chronic disease and 40% have multiple CD's

2. 40% of our country is obese

3. Only one state has a less than 25% obesity rate, Colorado. What pushes us to the top is exercise, but there are many other factors that go into this including education, economics, and policies

4. We have 6 classes of nutrients: carbs, protein, and fats, which are energy yielding, as well as vitamins, minerals, and water. All are vital. Carbs and protein are 4 cal per gram, fat is 9

5. We discussed the scientific method and also why people make the food choices that they do

6. We discussed the 6 stages of behavioral change. I'm going to share these separately because they're really important

7. What are the qualities that usually constitute a nutritious diet: Adequacy, balance, caloric control, variety, and moderation. Some of these things probably don't mean exactly what you think they do. Almost 20 years in this profession, and I still have never seen longevity in health from any extremes.

8. We discussed how to discern credible nutrition information. Check credentials, check the research and check the person's actual education to start. Then check to see if they're selling you something, a supplement, book, program, etc.

9. We also discussed free radicals, phytochemicals, and antioxidants

Have a fabulous day 🍃🍂

09/10/2025

Delicious chicken corn chowder, an ode to late summer 🌽

1+ pound chicken- any cut you like
1-2 stalks corn kernels or 1 bag of organic frozen corn kernels
1 leek, chopped- you could also use onions, I prefer leeks
2 smalls can green chillies chopped
3-4 chopped small red potatoes
2 c chicken bone broth
1 poblano pepper chopped
1/2 small seeded jalepeno
2 c plant milk- you could also use cow milk, but we have a lactose intolerant person in my house- I prefer plant
1 clove garlic
3-4 small multicolored sweet peppers
1 squah or zucchini chopped
1tsp cumin
Sea salt and pepper.

For anyone who is a local I am obsessed with the lime fresco salt at elevated olive. Do yourself a favor and go buy that.

I cooked this in the Insta pot.
Sauté chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper, cumin, leeks, and garlic until it starts to brown.

Then throw everything else in, that's the beauty of soup!

When the soup is finished, use an immersion blender to blend part of the soup right in the Insta pot. This is key, and makes the soup "creamy". If you do not have a handheld immersion blender, then take 1/3 of the soup out and blend it in your Vitamix or blender and put it back in.

Heat up again and enjoy. We topped ours with a little bit of chili crunch. Cheese, scallions, pumpkin seeds, avocado, etc . would be great toppers

High fiber, plenty of protein and good sustainable carbs for energy.

You can easily make this soup vegetarian by using tempeh or tofu instead of chicken and using veg broth.

The best thing about cooking this way is that I threw all of this together in fairly minimal time. When I picked Max up from a late practice and got done of everything I had to do, we came home to a delicious meal ready to eat.

Soup season is the best season 🍃🍂 🍲

09/02/2025

Fiber

This week I'm going to make a couple posts on what I think is one of the most important components of our diets.

Something I see across the board as a predictor of long term health is the fiber content in ones diet

Dietary fiber refers to the inedible parts of plants or carbohydrates that cannot be digested.

Some fiber is soluble in water, and others are insoluble.

Soluble fiber aids in digestion and helps you absorb nutrients from food.

Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool helping it pass more quickly through the intestines.

Soluble fiber: oatmeal, lentils, apples, oranges, flaxseed, nuts, carrots, celery, etc.

Insoluble fiber: brown rice, barley, broccoli, zucchini, dark leafy greens, cabbage, beets, potatoes with skin, etc.

Fiber has been shown to decrease weight and increase the beneficial bacteria in our guts. Fiber is prebiotic, meaning it is the preferred food that our gut's beneficial bacteria needs to thrive. When you feed your microbiome the right fuel (fiber), the beneficial bacteria can establish and proliferate

Fiber rich foods include beans, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and sources of fat like avocado.

Recommendations will vary depending on an individual needs but a base start would be 25g a day. That number can go up to 35 gor above, there is no hard upper limit. It depends on how much you can tolerate.

Fiber can help regulate cholesterol, lower blood pressure, regulate bowels, excrete excess estrogen, maintain satiety, and above all, regulate blood sugar.

A small sample: 1 cup of lentils 18 g, 1 cup of black beans 15 g, 1 pear 5.5 g, 1 orange 4 g, 1/2 avocado 9 g, 1 cup of raspberries 8 g, 3 oz. dark chocolate 3.6g

Fiber in food or a meal will cause the carbohydrates in a food to be released slowly, leading to slow sustained energy. We don't need to be drastically restricting carbohydrates, we need to be simply increasing fiber!

Many of the longest living communities around the globe eat diets high in fiber and it is very important in midlife 🥑

Questions?

📷 : I can't wait for soup season and that is a delicious bowl of pumpkin chili ( recipe incoming in a couple weeks) 🌶️

08/26/2025

Do not compare the you of today to the you of years ago, or next year. Every year brings a new set of circumstances.

I have a woman I'm working with again after ~3 years. I thought this was important, so I asked her if I could share. As it often is, it was a reminder to myself

3 years ago, she was feeling great, we had healed her gut and she had hit her A race out of the park.

Now at 47, she had a really disappointing A race this summer and is now in symptomatic perimenopause. She wondered what SHE was doing wrong, why she is so much slower, heavier and tired. Is it just the inevitable slowdown of age? Hint, its not, at 47 you can perform and feel really well! I had to point out that the difference now is that she works FT and was a SAHM before with kids in school all day, her spouse travels much more often now and she also has been dealing with peri symptoms with no help. How on earth would you expect to perform or train at the same level. We expect our bodies to function the same under every circumstance, that's not the way it works. Stress is stress

Case in point:

After dealing with an ankle Achilles issue since a roll in April I was so ecstatic to run the CDT 50K Saturday, a local Steamboat 50k trail run. Many of us had our friend Alex in mind while out there, Alex passed away last spring in an avalanche and used to be the RD for this race. The goal was simply gratitude. Gratitude that my ankle would hold up and simply gratitude for the gift to be out there.

Inevitably, I started thinking about the last time I ran that race when I was 49 and compared my time. For a while I was judgmental until I thought back to my training and realized that before this race last time I had already run a fast desert 50k, Quicksilver 100K and Speedgoat 55k that summer. How would I expect the same outcome while being limited in the length of my runs this entire summer. Yes I'm older, that factors, but even more circumstance.

Judgment fell away, contentment returned, its apples to oranges.

Stop comparing yourself to other people and a past you. You are perfect who you are right now in this moment. Gratitude for the gifts you have now. Easier said than done, but something to work on for us all❤️

📷: sunset on summer- Buff Pass

08/15/2025

Small business

I have had a private nutrition practice since 2008, its my whole ❤️ That was long before it was common place and there was no blueprint to follow, but I was determined to do it my way, success took years and thats ok, I expected that.

There are 2 threats to finding proper care these days and the patient never understands the back story

The first is authenticity. People call themselves specialists with no training, those with training may claim to be specialists before they are. It is 100% OK to be learning, it takes years. I get newsletters that I know are canned info that was bought b/c the person publishing it does not have that knowledge. Share the knowledge you already have, it's valuable!

Technology can be amazing but authenticity is what this world is crying out for and referrals are crucial. If you're a therapist or sports coach, your client probably needs a RD and vice versus. If you're a MD, your patients needs outside nutrition guidance. I'm so thankful for those that get this.

On the other end, we have an epidemic now of small office practitioners who have given their life over to being the best that they can be, being squeezed out. Apps can't replace people- its not the same. Medical complexes force employees to only refer within their system, and often the best practitioner for that patient is not within their system, that is ethically so wrong.

On top of that, we have an epidemic of private equity firms buying medical practices, daycare's, dentists, nutrition, and fertility clinics, etc. with one driving goal and that's $$$. The patients end up with worse care, the practitioners are burned out and can't do what they started all of this in the first place.

This is all to say as someone who has been in this for ~2 decades, support your local and small practice therapist, vets, coaches , PT's, RD's, functional MD's, etc. I will.

In a culture that feeds the big guy always, support your small practitioners now more than ever. As well as your small farms, tutors, yoga, store owners, all of it.

Small guys- hang the F in there- you're the future, not the other way around!❤️

Tag your small biz below, we need you

08/12/2025

What do I think is the most important piece of health and preventative measures?

My answer: the knowledge that everything is connected in our bodies. Not a 17 point routine daily, it means that you need to realize that everything is connected and focus on consistency. This is something that I instill in everyone that I work with, a few examples.

🌟 If osteopenic or osteoporotic, you need to realize that it's not just about supplementation. It is about strength training and your diet above all, making sure that you are eating enough to nourish your bones for the rest of your life. Not only calcium but enough calories. Also, that this is not a quick fix

🌟 RED-S or LEA- that has affected you metabolically, you must realize we have to look at your diet and exercise and nutrients, and relationship with with food and exercise . This is not an overnight fix

🌟 Blood sugar balance: it's not about cutting out all carbohydrates, it's about looking at your exercise and analyzing diet above all. How much fiber, what types of carbohydrates and how that fits into your activity level.

🌟On a GLP-1? it's not a cookie cutter approach, you just can't not eat. You will end up with osteoporosis and muscle wasting and gastrointestinal side effects. If we work on your diet and you are under the care of a physician, it can be a positive experience with expert help, a nutrition medical professional. Everything is not fixed by just losing weight, hunger cues are normal. You're not supposed to just not be hungry. We can manage it all to be a positive

🌟 Gi: it's your food above all, healing the gut, the gut lining, re-introducing the right bacteria for your needs. Healing through sleep, nutrients and what you're consuming - caffeine, alcohol, all of it.

🌟 Weight management, fertility and menopause: it's a compassionate ear who understands that your symptoms are normal and that you're not alone. How to modify diet to fit any next stage of life, re-think exercise, prioritze sleep, and pointing you to the right providers.

I have added a day in my practice and have a few open spots for end of Aug. and September.

I'd ❤️ to help with that compassionate ear

08/05/2025

Fall semester Nutrition courses!

There are little touches of fall popping up in the valley, and I am getting back into course prep for this semester.

I am teaching 2 Nutrition 101 classes at again this fall. These classes are open to anyone that would like to attend, and there are 2 options

These are great classes to help you with your nutrition fundamentals that go far beyond what most people know. We have so much discussion in this class that I find fosters better understanding. Audit option available

For everyone asking, I will post the course times and numbers below. I would suggest signing up sooner than later as these classes filled up last fall. Both of classes are late start so they don't begin until the second week in September

1. HWE – 1050 – SB 100. Nutrition 101 on Wednesdays at the Steamboat campus from 3:10 to 4:25 PM starting 9/10-12/10. This class is a hybrid class- in person 1x a week and you will also be working at home

2. HWE – 1050 – SB 300 on Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:45 AM. This class is Remote Reall Time, you will be in class 1x a week at that time, but will be doing so on your computers from home. Other than this being remote real time, everything else is the same as the in person class, including discussion posts quizzes, and a final project. Last year I had student students in this class from all of the different ski and mountain towns, it was a great group.

Who is this class for? Anyone yearning for a better understanding of human nutrition for themselves, their families and even their sports performance and certainly anyone who is a healthcare provider ( or future provider ) who would like to better understand the connection between nutrition, health and disease prevention. Really these classes are for anyone who wants to understand how food affects every aspect of the human body.

Please reach out with any questions!

07/28/2025

My yearly berry post because they are ready to be picked in some spots ⭐️

Serviceberries aka juneberry, sarvisberry, saskatoonberry….

These delicious berries taste like a cross between a blueberry and an apple.

I usually fill a giant wooden bowl and typically don’t even leave my yard or at least my street. Even with the drought, we seem to have a decent crop this year and will soon have a lot of plump and happy 🐻 and other animals. Even in the winter, when these are shriveled up to hard little nuggets, we watch the birds eating them from the tops of the trees. Besides bears, we see small animals eating the berries off of the ground, along with birds, moose and elk eating them in our yard. They are also a favorite of golden retrievers 😊

Technically, this is a bush, but some are as tall as trees.

In the spring, they have beautiful white flowers that turn our street white and in the later part of summer they are hanging with the heaviness of ripe berries. In the fall the leaves turn golden amongst the aspens.

On drought years, like this one , I pick less. Native people have used the juice of the fruits for stomach ailments, and as a laxative because of its high fiber content, as well as for eye and ear drops, and as teas from the roots and stems for women during and after childbirth

The berries are high in magnesium, manganese, iron and fiber, as well as vitamin C, and are extremely high in antioxidants and polyphenols. I found a journal article talking about how high the free radicals scavenging activity is of these wonderful little berries.

Tell me about your recipes, have you ever made anything from them? I have canned these as a jam, made a pie, as well as saving the leftovers in my freezer to use in smoothies. There is something so cool about foraging for edible food in your own yard, especially because it’s so challenging to have a garden up here. The service berries are coming into ripeness right now and we should have happy bears all around. Go grab some 😋

Pass along your ideas, I have always wanted to make sarvisberry wine

07/24/2025

Fueling is not just for when you’re pushing it or racing!

So often I see clients and friends not fueling adventures because they are not running, cycling fast or racing. Fueling is needed for all athletic endevours, for all bodies, abilities, and ages

Hiking for 2- 3 + hours: you need to fuel before, during and after

The same goes for your weekly 2-2.5 hour local fave ride with friends even if at conversational pace

Going to a class and then playing pickleball for 1.5 hours: you need to fuel.

Skiing all day: you need to fuel

Getting up in the AM to skin up the mountain or after work, you need to fuel: something before and during depending on duration

Sports nutrition is crucial for youth athletes, even if they’re temporarily getting away with not doing much

These are basics that are still so often missed:

Before exercise: Carbohydrates for energy, and depending on type of activity you may want to moderate your fiber and protein. The amount needed depends on the activity

During: up to 1-1.25 hours: water will suffice. 1.5+ start fueling every 45-60 minutes. Amount and type of fuel varies per activity. Yesterday I took family that was in town on a 12 mile hike in the mountains where we were moving pretty quick. Even so, I would bring different fuel for a hike vs if had been running + different amounts. This is an important distinction and where people get confused

Post activity: Protein for recovery + carbs to replenish glycogen stores, plus anti-inflammatory fats to aid recovery as well ( avo, etc.) This makes all the difference

Yes, electrolytes and hydration are also key

Sports nutrition is not just for elite athletes, it’s for everyone!

It’s also NOT a badge of honor to see how little you can eat and still perform

If you are fueling properly, you are aiding recovery while you’re still in activity. It is game changing to have someone look at your specific needs and give you a plan, not only for activity but for every day.

Training for a long healthy and happy life with decreased injury, fatigue and mood issues ⭐️

So much more to say about this, so this is a to be continued….

📷: in Mt Hood- proud mom

07/18/2025

We have to let go of perfectionism and the all or nothing mindset.

In regards to strength training, there’s so much noise that when I’m talking to clients, they are overwhelmed and put it off

🏋️ Heavy is relative to you and your experience and what your body can handle
🏋🏻‍♀️ You don’t have to go to a gym, slowly building weights at home, start w/ dumbbells & kettle bells, to get started and stay consistent. Then you can do it at any time of the day when you can fit in. This has greatly helped me. Dumbbells are portable.
🏋🏻‍♀️ Joining a gym or seeing a trainer can be so helpful for the camaraderie that classes and personalization/ injury prevention offers. I really have in the past enjoyed Bodypump and seeing a trainer, and might start back again. If either is in your budget, it can be so helpful! Be weary of places where you are bombarded constantly with diets and weight standards. The goal is to get strong, not constantly shrink yourself and underfuel
🏋🏻‍♀️ keep going, I know when strength training may go by the wayside a bit in the summer, I often think I have to hit my 2 days a week or else. If I don’t, then its easy to not do it at all ,but fit in that 20 minute session. 1-2 off weeks does not need to derail you, but 8-9+ may permanently. Nothing beats consistency over the long haul. 1 is always better than 0.
🏋🏻‍♀️ You do not need to give up cardio, some of you are endurance athletes so you ❤️ to run, hike, and ride, period. It’s the addition to strength not the subtraction of cardiovascular exercise. It makes me sad to see women give up on things that they love. Nature is our best medicine.
🏋🏻‍♀️ This might be controversial, but if you’re in your 20s, you are young and you need to have fun. Do not live a life that is too structured and strict. You can be adventurous and free and still work on your health, be active and eat well! I have a lot of clients in their 20s but 20-year-olds should not have 20 step morning routines and rules.
🏋🏻‍♀️ Strength improves endurance and is your #1 WITH nutrition to live a long healthy life with strong bones and adventure
🏋🏻‍♀️ Training for life

Nutrition up next 😘

📷: Buff pass camping this week

07/01/2025

Smiles from high summer 🌞

The phrase “We all have the same 24 hours” is one of my least favorite

I have worked with many amazing Olympians, elites, aspiring pros, and even those who hit it out of the damn park this weekend at Western States 🤗, but I don’t really talk about that often. They are all lovely private humans trying to do their best just like the rest of us. Most of my clients though are people like you and I, navigating a bit differently.

I can look back now on things I’ve accomplished with smiles instead of criticism. There was always a lot of what ifs, but a coach said to me a few years ago “there is no way you would have achieved some of your loftier goals with this life schedule, this is insane”

Like many of you there was a long time that all at once I had a young child, was training for ultras, working FT with little flexibility, organizing the SS running series, was in grad school and in perimenopause- pulled in 1 million directions. I have no idea how I did it, maybe genetics, Dave’s support, stubborness, no time to overtrain to injury, and always enough nutrition. I did however take many hits to my nervous and immune systems.

Having breathing room this summer I see how extra time to recover, eat well, sleep and relish a reduction in stress is the performance enhancer most people don’t talk about.

To get done with a long run/ride and be able to lay down, eat, and recover properly are all game changers. As is not HAVING to exercise at 5:30 AM. For many people that’s their daily reality and for many people it’s not.

My purpose here is that we don’t all have the same 24 hours and if you have a coach that doesn’t understand this time in your life, or friends that don’t understand why you don’t run/ride X miles a week, or are trying to fit in A-Z to manage changing hormones, this is why.

I don’t have regrets, but I have warnings. Stop the comparison, it’s not an even playing field in 100 ways, and that’s OK. No doubt you are making up for that in your contribution to many things that are much needed in this world. Always have BIG goals, but be gentle with your soul, we are all inperfect & always check on your busy friends ❤️

Part 1/4

Cara Marrs Wellness at Nutrition Prescription, Inc

09/24/2025

09/22/2025

09/10/2025

09/02/2025

08/26/2025

08/15/2025

08/12/2025

08/05/2025

07/28/2025

07/24/2025

07/18/2025

07/01/2025

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