Cara Marrs Wellness at Nutrition Prescription, Inc

03/03/2026

Important time for a refresher:
Bone health, osteoporosis and weight

1st : Lifelong low intake of calcium plays a role in the development of osteoporosis. Low calcium (and D, etc.) contributes to diminished bone density, early bone loss and increased risk of fractures. Under eating is a key player

2. Being a thin caucasian woman puts you at higher risk, underweight for your physiology adds to this exponentially. Read that again

3. Estrogen plays a crucial role in maintaining bone strength by influencing bone remodeling. When estrogen levels drop in menopause, bone resorption or breakdown increases. This out paces bone formation, leading to loss and osteoporosis.

4. Underfueling in active women will cause hormone disruption and further damage bones, years of overtraining and underfueling puts you at risk as much as being sedentary

5. Genetics, other chronic disease, and medications can all contribute as well

Last year I had 3 new clients, ~50 diagnosed with osteoporosis. All were active otherwise healthy women that had 1 or more of the following: abysmal pre-and post menopause care, a history of dieting, or a history of chronic LEA for their level of exercise, unbeknownst to them. This year, 2 more women already.

When I rail against diet culture, celebrity starvation, influencers, unrealistic expectations, and active women undereating who are otherwise healthy, this is why. It doesn't matter if it's from getting scammed into a super low calorie MLM program or from medically induced low appetite. We know you can lose weight eating 700 to 1200 cal/d but at will cost? Short term benefits do not outweigh long-term risks.

Up to 24% of white women >50 will die within 1 yr after an osteoporotic hip fracture.

I am terrified right now about women living on chronically low calorie diets, especially those without significant weight to lose. Strength training results falter w/out proper fuel.

Women have been failed with proper education to keep themselves healthy later in life. I am ~50 and I hope to actively live for another 50, so should you!

Adequate nutrition is the queen, building muscle + cardiovascular exercise is key, and education is the way.

I will keep doing my part, even when I'm weary ❤️

02/27/2026

Friday thoughts:

Can we talk about the lack of respect right now for expertise coming straight from our government. We have people in positions of power that have 0 expertise in those roles and are deeply unserious and unprofessional.

Now let me get to my area of expertise, which is human nutrition, and helping people lead a healthier life through diet and lifestyle change, preventative and curative.

How do we actually increase the health of Americans:

🍃 Education! Perhaps we start to introduce more nutrition in primary school, and it is fully offered in high school. In addition, every college student takes 1 semester of human nutrition, and we broadly offer it at the community college level so that many can also join. If you take 1 semester of human nutrition, you will look at things differently.

🍃 We expand insurance coverage by mandating they offer at least 3 free visits for preventative & curative nutrition counseling with dietitians. Do the same for mental health counseling . We have experts already, let's expand opportunity so that more people can see them.

🍃 Make college more affordable along with insurance

🍃 I would like to see punitive damages to people who spread health disinformation. Operating out of the scope of practice, you are charged with what is already illegal.

🍃 We expand supplemental nutrition programs, and ensure children and American citizens are fed!

🍃 We expand EPA regulations on chemicals and toxins in our air, water and soil instead of de-regulating them

🍃 This is a free country if someone wants to eat fast food, they can. I think, though, if we educated people on what nutritent devoid foods do in the body if they are eaten the majority of the time, for a lifetime, then people will make different choices. Educate people on fiber and the microbiome, that will greatly help.

🍃 Food dyes? Low hanging fruit. I've been lecturing on decreasing these for ~ 20 years and still it's not the number 1 problem with health in the U.S.

🍃 Teach people to cook and preserve food

🍃 Advocate for exercise and movement

Everything is so performative right now, let's start actually helping people

🩷

02/26/2026

I cannot tell you how many times I hear from women who are confused about exercise in midlife. The more noise on social media, the worse it gets.

Think of your exercise and longevity as a triangle.

🏃 🚲🎿 🏊: Cardiovascular exercise. Do what you love; swim cycle, run, ski uphill, hike, walk. Get moving, we need cardiovascular exercise for health. Some of those activities are why some of us live where we do. If you live in the mountains, there's a good chance you do so because you want to do those things. Telling people that you're never going to lose weight or it's harmful for hormones doing cardio is criminal and usually a grift. Individual health matters!

I love walking, it's not the only "safe" cardio, period.

🏋🏻‍♀️Strength training: make sure you are incorporating strength training. If you like to go to the gym 5-6 days a week or do CrossFit then that's what you should do, but add the others. New to strength, start to incorporate a program year round 2-3x/wk. It's going to look different for different people and it doesn't need to be hours, it could be 30-60 minutes. Be consistent for a lifetime, seek guideance.

🧘: Mobility/flexibility: It doesn't have to be yoga, but that's what has worked for me, and I love it. You do have to have some sort of mobility, flexibility practice. This is good for your body, your joints, your longevity and your mind.

Each woman will do more of one point of on that triangle, what is important is that you cultivate a practice of all 3 in some form, not always easy, I know. We can get specific later about doing things like SIT, which is great.

The most important thing is that you are fueling enough for the exercise you're doing. Movement is for health and fun, 100% not just losing weight!

I want women to stop discontinuing movement that they love, while realizing they may need to change things up a bit.

If you want a perfect bikini fitness comp body like the people selling on social media, the reality is that it's probably going to be a lot of misery, its not forever, and also some of those people may have/gain disordered eating. Life is far too precious.

Let's just support women getting healthy, period 🩷 💪

01/28/2026

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01/21/2026

Classes start again next week 🍎

Here is the information if you would like to get into one of my classes. I forgot to post this a couple weeks ago, but this class is an amazing semester long learning opportunity for you to really grasp how your body and nutrition work in unison.

I could spend a whole semester on each of these chapters, but it's a great overview that almost everyone can benefit from. I only share this here because I feel passionately that this information is vital for every person to understand.

The in person class has a few spots left, the remote real time class is almost full.

🍏 In person: Wednesdays at 3:10 to 4:25 PM.

January 28 to April 29th

HWE – 1050 – SB 100

Steamboat campus

🍏 Remote real time, in class, but on your computer from home

Thursday mornings 830 to 9:45 AM

HWE – 1050 – SB 300

January 29 to April 30th.

A few people have asked me what type of topics we discuss.

Here are a few:

Food choices ans why we make them

Nutrition tools, standards, and guidelines, what do they mean?

The remarkable body : in depth review of the gastrointestinal system including microbiome

Endocrine system

The macronutrients in depth and how the human body actually uses them:
Carbohydrates
Lipids
Proteins and amino acids

The micronutrients:
Vitamins and minerals

Energy balance

Performance nutrition

Nutrition and chronic disease

Hunger and the future of food

Every week is a pathway to how to decrease chronic disease.

Let me know if you have any questions!

12/26/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

May we all find peace, hope, health and happiness in the very smallest and the largest of life’s gifts.

We are truly so grateful to have you in our lives and sending ❤️ to you all.

12/21/2025

Winter Solstice~

Nature remembers what humans have forgotten:

Every cycle must return to stillness. A time for letting go and releasing, a time for hope and rebirth as the sun grows longer in its slow march to spring. Enjoy winters bounty in all of its sparkling glory. I love the beautiful deep dark cold sparkle of December.

At a time of year that may be difficult for many, my wish to you is to find love and peace in the smallest of everyday miracles.

Let us all experience a rebirth this year, whether that be small or large, a rebirth of more hope and kindness, kindness for others and ourselves.

❄️ ❤️ 🎄

12/15/2025

(Graphics provided to Steamboat Radio.) This is a weekly update. Visit YampaValleyResources.org today to explore all the resources available for you and your household. Together, we are working to create a stronger, more resilient Yampa Valley where everyone has

11/20/2025

I say I'm done posting nutrition content regularly, and then I get fired up by something I read in the news or I'm inspired by discussions in my classes and with clients.

There is much talk about chronic disease but prevention is simpler than you think. The wellness industry is $70 billion a year, it doesn't have to be so hard and $.

75% of chronic illness is lifestyle related. Detoxes, saunas, gadgets, extreme diets and supps are not the cure, and I love saunas and some supplements

What is being touted currently is a paper tiger. I've been talking about our food system for ~20 years, re. removing chemicals and additives. Do I however think that is the way to end chronic disease, no it's not.

Feeding and educating people is how. Not cutting funding for supplemental nutrition, school lunches, insurance, and education. Not by cutting funding for advanced healthcare degrees, scaring kids from going to school, and less research.

If every person could take my classes or a version in high school or college, we would be great!

❤️ : Cardiovascular disease, the #1 killer in this country.
Risk factors: age, being sedentary, male, genetics, high LDL, low HDL, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity- especially abdominal and visceral fat, smoking, excessive alcohol, and a processed diet low in fiber

🍭 Type II Diabetes: risk factors, elevated blood glucose, elevated Hgb A1c, being sedentary, not matching your carbohydrates to exercise, genetics, obesity, low fiber processed diet, increased alcohol.

🥬 Cancer: risk factors-advancing age, genetics, chronic inflammation, low fiber diet, weak immunity, sedentary, excessive alcohol and smoking, obesity, diet high in processed food

As much as I limit them, food dyes are not the root cause of chronic disease. PFAS chemicals- now those are a problem and being allowed back into our environment as we speak, one at a time

The lifestyle Rx for each of these:

🏃 Exercise
🧘 Stress reduction
🥬 High fiber, high antioxidant diet
🚬 No smoking
🍷 Limit alcohol
❤️ Human connections
😴Sleep
✨Healthy weight
👫Know your family history
💉 Labwork
🦠 Healthy gut Microbiome

Education and awareness is power ✊

11/19/2025

Patiently waiting for winter sports 🎿

To again add to my posts about why we exercise, a few more thoughts.

There has been research that shows that women who are consistently active over a long period of time or a lifetime, do so beacuse of the reasons below.

🏃 They report mental health and well-being as one of their main drivers of activity

🚲 They reported that simply the sense of accomplishment kept them coming back

🏋️‍♂️ They reported that a sense of community and connections propel them to keep doing the activities that they were doing

🏊 They reported that they continue to exercise because of the energy that I gave them

❌ The women who were the least successful with continuing a practice of movement over a long period of time reported how they looked as the number one factor of why they were exercising

This is also overwhelmingly what I have found is how you not only establish a lifelong practice of movement, but also how you establish a lifelong practice of eating in a nourishing way.

Over all of the years I have been in practice, when someone eats simply for the reason of dieting and shrinking the body, without consideration for choosing healthier foods, it fails. Without the consideration of how food will nourish your body, increase mental health and decrease chronic disease, it is hard to establish a practice of eating for health.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look great, we all want to look our best, me included. It should however not be the driving reason why we eat healthy, and why we exercise.

Consistent movement and being in a slight caloric deficit will move the needle regarding weight, when that is the needed outcome. Focusing on the benefits to every other aspect of your life is how we establish habits for life.

You need to have a deeper reason and that deeper reason should be a long, healthy independent life.

So, if you're struggling to establish a practice of movement and food, the focus should be on the other benefits, the lifelong benefits. If you are struggling to have a healthy relationship with too much activity and not enough rest and nourishment, also realize that there are just as many dangers.

Purpose🧡

11/13/2025

I'm currently feeling very mixed emotions about sharing nutrition information on the socials going forward but I thought this was important.

This week in my classes we discussed sports nutrition/exercise. To piggyback on my post 2 weeks ago I want to stress that aesthetics should not be the reason we are active. It's OK to have it be a component, but it is not the number one reason.

My students and clients learned that the 3 pillars of lifelong health in regards to physical activity are:

🧘 A flexibility or stretching practice

🏋️‍♂️ Strength training

🏃 🚲 🎿 Cardiovascular exercise

In Colorado, we have to remember this is the fittest state, and if you live in the mountains, then the levels of what is 'normal' exercise skyrockets. It doesn't have to be extreme, we need lifelong movement.

Here are the real benefits of lifelong physical activity:

✨ improved bone density
✨ enhanced immunity
✨ decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes
✨ decreased risk of certain cancers
✨ reduced incidence of mental anxiety and depression, and some forms of dementia and PD
✨ improved sleep
✨ improvements in circulation and lung function
✨ improved cognition
✨ resistance to injuries from falls
✨ longer and higher quality of life in later years

* I'd like to point out that the sleep, bone and immunity component tips far in the opposite direction when you do not eat enough and are in LEA or low energy availability

We also learned about anaerobic and aerobic energy systems and how and when our body uses different fuels, i.e. carbohydrates and fat. Once again- carbohydrates are protein sparing.
Eat enough calories & carbs and your body will not break down its muscle stores for fuel.

This is just a reminder that movement is not to look a certain way, it's to lead a healthy long life.

I was looking at old training logs from '08 and '10 that I found. I noticed that I listed my weight quite often. My main focus was getting fast and weight. I've always been a good eater and I've limited restriction but I saw where my mind was. I wasn't thinking about the points above. There was, however, a sheer joy which I love.

Do it for happiness and health, not punishment ❤️

11/13/2025

In case you did not see in the Steamboat Pilot, this is the full article that was in the paper as part of the Mental Health minute series.

Where to start for women when they start to feel and see midlife changes because that time of life can really be challenging and leave women feeling very alone.

For many women as we head into midlife, changes to our physical and mental health may take us by surprise. Often, those surprises can leave us feeling alone and bewildered. While we are navigating our...