Blog - Inner Connected Wellness

Build a Balanced Meal

It’s smart to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet and skip the processed food. But can you eat too many plant-based foods? On the other hand, can you eat too much protein or fat? Balance is crucial to avoid metabolic disorders, hormone disruption, blood sugar disruption, and disease.

How Many Vegetables is Enough?

Americans don’t get nearly the quantity of vegetables they should, so more than likely, you’re going to be adding, not subtracting! Aim to fill half your plate with vegetables – both raw and cooked. Raw vegetables will have more vitamins and enzymes, but cooked vegetables will be more digestible and their minerals will be more bio-available. Don’t count starchy ones, like corn, peas, and potatoes. They come under carbohydrates. But do prepare an array of colors – oranges, yellow, purple, red, and green. Pick a variety of vegetables that represent different parts of the plant, such as these:

Shoots and stalks:sprouts, asparagus, celery
Leaves: lettuces, chard, spinach, beet greens, mustard leaf
Buds and flowers: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, artichoke
Fruits:green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squashes, eggplant
Roots: turnips, beets, rutabaga, parsnips, onions, garlic, carrots

Can I Get Sufficient Protein on a Vegan Diet?

Protein is tricky. It musn’t be too much or too little, but must be just right – like the porridge in Goldilock’s story. An excess of protein can cause gout and kidney disease. But because protein is what provides the building blocks for your body, if you don’t have enough, you have trouble making hemoglobin (blood cells), hormones (including thyroid), antibodies (to fight disease) and enzymes (the catalysts for every process from digesting to growing.) Even detoxification requires protein.

So try to make 25% of your calories, or at least 1/4 of your plate, protein. Women ought to target 20 grams per meal as a minimum and men would be well-served with at least 30 grams per meal. Those who don’t eat animal products should make a conscientious effort to add up their protein. Yes, quinoa is a high-protein “grain”. But it’s still 4/5 carbohydrate (32 grams carbohydrate, 8 grams protein). The same is true for most legumes. While they contain protein, they are around 75% carbohydrate. One of the best plant proteins would be spirulina, at 2 grams carbohydrate and 4 grams protein per tablespoon. Tofu also rates high in protein – but the processed soy is another story completely!

What is Carb-Loading?

While there are essential fatty acids that the body cannot make and essential amino acids that can only be derived from proteins in the diet, there are no essential carbohydrates. But being carb-free isn’t the answer either, as grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables all have vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that the body thrives on. The key is to focus on eating carbohydrates in their whole form, as close to nature as possible. Avoid refined sugar, white flour, and other processed forms of carbohydrate. Afterall, real foods don’t come with a label!

If more than 50% of your calories are coming from carbohydrate, you are robbing your body of its need for proteins and fats. I believe that most individuals do very well with no more than 1/4 of their plate coming from starchy carbs: whole grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables. So don’t load up, here!

But Go Easy on the Fat, Right?

Not exactly. Fat is the primary fuel source for your marathoning heart, and the very substance of your brain cells. If you don’t have enough fat, there isn’t a single cell in your body that won’t suffer as it tries to build the membrane around itself that lets nutrients in and siphons wastes out. While carbohydrates provide quick energy, fats provide sustained energy. Be sure to include both saturated and unsaturated types in your diet. But avoid hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated and trans-fats at all costs! Be wary of processed oils that may already be oxidized and rancid. It’s best to stick with unrefined and cold-pressed varieties, especially with those oils that are liquid at room temperature.

A general rule of thumb is to eat a couple of teaspoons of fat for every fist-ful of carbohydrate and palm-ful of protein.

You can learn more about balancing your macronutrients in this class.

in Food & Cooking

5 Way to CUT Your Sugar Cravings!

It isn’t that you’re ignorant of sugar’s impact on your body! It isn’t that your willpower is lacking. It’s that your cravings are bigger than you! There are physiological changes in your body that create eating emergencies. To overcome these effects, you have to work from the inside out, re-programming your body’s sugar responses.

1. Prepare for Craving Crises

When blood sugars drop, you will eat almost anything in sight, and since sugar is readily available and quick, you’re going to grab those convenience store snacks that are so damaging to your health. So plan ahead. Keep an Emergency Kit in your pack, purse or car that includes sugar-stabilizing fats and proteins and slow-burning carbs, such as:

jerky
nuts and seeds
smoked or canned fish
snack-pack olives
nut butter packets
whole grain crackers
For short term: hard-boiled eggs, whole fruits, hummus, fresh vegetables (cherry tomatoes, peppers, pea pods, etc.)

2. Hydrate Well!

Sometimes you mistake thirst for hunger. Sometimes you stoke your cravings by feeding your thirst with sweetened beverages or diuretic caffeinated drinks. Beware that for every ounce of soda, energy drink, or coffee that you consume, your body needs TWO ounces of plain water to replenish itself. That is on top of the 70-80 ounces of water a 150-pound person needs daily for normal function. If you are not drinking water regularly, your body cannot digest properly, and that fuels cravings even more by throwing your microbiome (gut bugs) off.

If you don’t like the taste of water straight, add fruit chunks and herbs to it, such as rosemary and peaches, berries and basil, or cucumber and mint.

3. Make Your Meals Like a 3-Legged Stool

Everyone knows that a three-legged stool cannot balance on two legs. Neither can your diet. Don’t go to extremes by eliminating one of the three macro-nutrients: carbs, fats, or proteins. Try to make sure that you eat balanced ratios of each calorically. Although body types and demands differ by lifestyle and genetics, a good rule of thumb is to eat a palmful of protein and a thumb-size portion of natural fat for every cupped handful of carbohydrate. Also eat these foods in their whole forms, as close to nature as possible. Avoid man-made, refined, processed products as much as possible. Source locally and organically where you can. Look for pastured, wild-caught, and free-range.

4. Don’t Feed the Bears!

You can’t get away with just a little sugar and expect that your cravings won’t be triggered. It’s an all-or-nothing deal. Just like an alcoholic who can’t even walk into a bar, you have to STOP eating sugar completely if you’re going to break the addiction. The soda, candy bars, and pastries are obvious foods containing sugar, but watch food labels for sneaky places where sugar might be hiding. About 3/4 of all packaged foods contain added sugar, including some brands of chips. Labels might say dextrose, fructose, sucrose, malt syrup, rice syrup, and barley malt, among other tricky names for added sweeteners.

5. Actively De-Stress

Among my clients, one of their top causes of cravings is stress. But it doesn’t work to passively watch TV or surf the internet to find relief. You have to engage your senses, your thoughts, your breath, and your vagus nerve! If you need some ideas on how to hack your stress, you can check out my online course!

If you need a reminder about why you’re doing this to keep yourself on track, post this infographic on your mirror, your refrigerator, or your cubicle:

in Lifestyle

5 Ways to Save Yourself from Stress

Are you sinking under a sea of “overwhelm”? Did you know that you can physiologically change your state from “Fight, Flight, or Freeze” to “Rest and Digest” with an act as simple as pressing against your palm, or remembering a child’s face?

Stress produces measurable changes in your body, such as a faster pulse, dilated eyes, shallower breathing, and the need to urinate. But there are five simple ways to interrupt these changes and re-establish physical calmness.

Change Your Mind About Stress

You may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can change your mind about how you respond to circumstances. You can choose at this very moment to acknowledge your existence, your support network, and those amenities of life that you are grateful for, such as sight, or shelter, or safety. Deciding to focus on the present sweeps you away from regrets over the past and ruminations about the future. Stress is cerebral, because it’s what you think about your circumstances. It’s a choice! In my Instant Stress Hacks course, I show you 10 different ways to change your thought process.

Just Breathe!

Under stress, you take shallow, rapid breaths. By conscientiously and deliberately slowing and deepening your breathing, you can literally take yourself out of sympathetic state, popularly known as Fight or Flight.It’s easy to practice breathing exercises that train your body to inhale from the diaphragm, and to exhale for a longer time than you inhale. Most breathing exercises only take a moment or two. In my new course, I give you 10 different exercises, so you can find the one most suited to you, individually.

Take Some Pressure Off

The ancient art of acupuncture purports to relieve stress by unblocking the flow of energy along certain pathways in the body called energy meridians. Whether or not that is true, simply putting pressure along those points can certainly stimulate circulation and lymph flow, relieve muscle tension, release endorphins, and improve cell-to-cell communication. I can show you where to press to get the most relief.

Come to Your Senses

As mentioned, stress is cerebral. It’s hyper-focused and tunnel-visioned. If you can bridge between your thoughts and your senses, you re-connect to the moment. You become aware of what you are smelling, tasting, hearing, seeing, and feeling this minute, and you pulled away from whatever is worrying you. It’s as if you exit the future or the past and re-enter your body. Can you think of 10 ways to sense your surroundings better? I’m happy to share my hacks with you!

Get Some Nerve

The vagus nerve is the instrument by which the thoughts in the mind are converted to physical changes in the body. It is this nerve that signals the heart to beat faster so that muscles can be fueled for a fight. It is this nerve that diverts blood from digestion to the extremities for that escape. It can lose its tone, especially if you stay in sympathetic mode too much But it can be exercised! You can practice techniques to restore vagal tone. For you, I have compiled my favorite ways to strengthen the vagus nerve.

Stress can kill! It is linked to the six leading causes of death. Take yours under control now!

in Lifestyle

Pretty Papaya Pudding

Oh, what a treat to find a perfectly ripe papaya at the market! Naturally sweet, these make a delightful dessert without adding sugar! This no-cook version is a cinch. It will be soft set and ready to eat in 5 minutes.

Simple Pudding Ingredients

1 whole papaya, peeled and seeded

1″ fresh ginger root, finely grated

1 c. full-fat coconut milk

3 Tb. chia seed

Extravagant Pudding Ingredients

All ingredients above

1 c. fresh or frozen berries

water

1/8 tsp. cardamom

1 tsp. lime juice

Directions

Blend fruit, grated ginger and coconut milk until smooth. Mix in chia seed until evenly distributed. Pour into dessert dishes and serve immediately, or for a thicker set, refrigerate an hour or more.

For the extravagant topping, place berries in a saucepan and add water until they are 2/3 covered. Bring to a simmer, stirring and mashing until you have a jam-like consistency. Remove from heat and stir in cardamom and lime. Cool and spoon over pudding.

in Food & Cooking

Free Yourself from Fatigue with a Glucose Meter

Glucose meters aren’t just for diabetics. If your youthful energy has evaporated, and you want to feel free and easy again, you may want to monitor your blood sugars throughout the day to find out if you are suffering from insulin resistance.

How Does Insulin Resistance Cause Fatigue?

Insulin is a carrier. It transports glucose from the bloodstream to the cells to be used for energy. When insulin levels have been chronically high for extended periods of time, cells in the body “stop listening” to this messenger. There can literally be a flood of glucose in your blood, but not enough in your cells to meet all your energy demands. You feel tired, especially after meals. This causes you to want something sweet for quick energy following a meal. You feel you need dessert.

How Can a Glucose Meter Help You Identify Insulin Resistance?

When you start eating, blood sugar levels begin to rise. They peak, on average, about 60 minutes after the start of a meal. A healthy reading one hour “post-prandial” (post-meal) would ideally be no higher than 140. Diabetics are encouraged to keep this number under 180 because that’s where organ damage begins. If your post-meal reading is high, you likely have either:

eaten a meal that is too high in quick-absorbing carbohydrates, or
have insulin resistance that is keeping the glucose from leaving he bloodstream.

By two hours after a meal, blood sugar levels should be dropping, and glucose levels should should not exceed 120 at this point. The slower your readings are to drop below 100, the greater your likelihood of insulin resistance. In fact, if they don’t drop below 100 ever, then insulin resistance will most assuredly affect your health.

On the other hand, your reading can be too low. Blood sugars are generally their lowest four hours after the start of the last meal, right before the next meal. You don’t want to see anything lower than 70, as this would indicate a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) response.

You might think of hypoglycemia as a result of eating a low-carbohydrate meal. On the contrary, it is often a reaction to eating too many carbs, triggering a surge of insulin. When you eat a high-carb meal and blood sugars rise above 140, the pancreas over-compensates with a burst of insulin, which subsequently drops the blood sugars below healthy ranges. Some individuals may experience hypoglycemia for years before insulin resistance sets in.

Use a Glucose Meter to Reverse Insulin Resistance

To avoid the damaging insulin rush, you will need to change the “glycemic load” of your meals. Basically, you have to eat foods that do not readily and rapidly convert to glucose. You can do this by adding more fiber, fat, and protein to your meal, and by switching carbs to ones with a lower glycemic load. For example, you could swap sweet potatoes for white potatoes, quinoa or brown rice for white rice, beans for pasta, fruit for soda, and oats for crackers. You can also reduce the serving size of your carbs. Fill your plate with vegetables instead of foods made from flour and processed ingredients.

You will know you have succeeded in preventing an insulin burst when your post-meal readings are within normal ranges, as noted above.

in Education

Do You Have Cellular Fatigue?

Everybody’s tired these days. It seems our memories and our nights are getting shorter and shorter. Meanwhile, our stress and our irritability are growing. As a nation, we purchase energy drinks and take adrenal supplements. We can’t get out of bed in the morning, and we hit a wall before the work day is finished.

Do we sprint so much that we out distance our reserves, or is there an energy crisis at the cellular level?

Energy is Produced in the Mitochondria

You’ll recall from your high school physics class that the mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cells. One particularly unique feature about them is their double membrane.

Image result for mitochondria

This twin layer makes them doubly vulnerable to damage. See, all cell membranes are made of phospholipids, a special class of fats that allow a two-way exchange of materials in and out of the cell. That way nutrients can enter and wastes can exit. But because they are lipids, they are subject to oxidation – a type of damage that occurs in fats. And because these membranes also contain proteins, they are subject to glycation – literally, sugar-coating that makes them sticky and cross-linked so that they cannot send or receive signals properly.

The bottom line is that diets high in processed fats and sugars dam the inner and outer mitochondrial membranes and stop the creation and dissemination of energy.

Interrupt The “Kryptonite”

The first step to overcoming fatigue is to halt the acceleration of glycation and oxidation. That means:

Eat only natural, unrefined fats, not processed and refined fats. Stay away from the Big Five: cottonseed, corn, canola, soy, and sunflower. Instead, use olive, avocado, coconut, and grass-fed butter.
Stop eating refined flours and sugars. Eat nutrient-dense whole foods, mostly from plants (vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and grains in limited amounts) with high-quality animal products for protein requirements.

Power Up Your Powerhouses

Eat anti-oxidant foods. That means lots of colors! Make half your plate vegetables. Eat your fruit, don’t drink it. Swap white carbs like rice, potatoes and pasta for colored ones like wild rice, yams, and squashes.
Work with a health practitioner to supplement your diet with the necessary vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that may be missing in your diet.

Diet is the biggest factor you have control over to regain your energy. If your thinking is foggy, your memory is impaired, or you suffer from mood disorders, focus on cellular nutrition to feel happy, healthy, focused, and sharp once again.

in Education / Lifestyle

Why Does Stress Make Me Crave?

Stress. Even the word itself sounds, er, uh…stressful! You immediately conjure images of family quarrels, financial problems, road emergencies, sleep deprivation, a difficult boss, or life-sucking disease. But no matter the source, stress is a voracious monster that has a lust for only one victim: Energy. To mobilize…to escape… to ward off danger…to survive.

And whose job is it to supply the sacrificial lamb to this beast? The adrenals, those tiny glands atop the kidneys, best known for their production of adrenaline and cortisol. Instantly, they send out their fleet-footed messengers to recruit fuel for the energy factories in the body – those tiny mitochondria inside each cell. They sound the alarm for oxygen and food to be delivered promptly.

The bronchioles in the lungs dilate, the pulse quickens, all the better to ferry the goods to their destination. Digestion, reproduction, and other “non-essential” functions grind to a halt. All attention must be focused on responding to the demon’s demand.

The couriers dash to the liver to scrape up all the glycogen stores that can be converted to glucose – the quickest food that can be lapped up in such an emergency. They race to the muscle tissue to coax fatty acid and amino acid conversion into glucose. But inevitably, they sprint to the brain, where the commander-in-chief demands that rations be confiscated from outside the camp. You receive an unquestionable order: Eat! Eat now! Eat quick!

No long-burning logs will stoke the fire soon enough. You need kindling! Intuitively, you seek carbohydrates that can be transformed into glucose rapidly. A fiber-ful bundle of buttered asparagus doesn’t quite pass muster. But ice cream – now, that sounds fine!

Two Keys to Kill Your Cravings

Outwitting your cravings will require clever strategy. Implement these assertive tactics:

Fight the stress itself! Instead of letting urgent bids take your attention, re-focus on the moment. Ascertain that you are actually okay – you are alive and functioning – then reprogram your breathing, your mindset, and your sensory input through deliberate, mindful exercises. (Check out our Stress Hacks class.) You can choose to respond from a place of peace.
Fuel up before the energy crisis. Having adequate amino acids from healthy protein, and plentiful fatty acids from natural, unrefined fats will guard against energy deficits. Make sure, especially, that your first meal of the day will meet your metabolic needs. It has been suggested that no less than 20 grams of protein are needed in the morning to establish your metabolism for the day. So if you want waffles or cereal, save them for dinner. Instead, try some Fisherman’s Eggs for breakfast! Rich in Omega 3’s, this dish is protective of those energy factories, your mitochondria.

Fisherman’s Eggs

2 Tb. coconut oil or unrefined red palm oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 package of frozen vegetables, optional (or any fresh ones, such as bell peppers, artichoke hearts, or asparagus)

1 can wild-caught sardines packed in olive oil

2 pastured eggs

Preheat oven to 350°. Using an oven-proof skillet, saute the onion, garlic and optional vegetables over medium heat in oil until soft. Add sardines to the pan. Gently crack the eggs over the mixture. Transfer skillet to the oven and cook until the eggs are soft-set, approximately 10 minutes.

in Education / Food & Cooking

A Little Indulgence

Boycotting refined flour and sugar doesn’t mean you must live a spartan life! Being healthy certainly includes joyful connection with family and friends over delicious and nourishing food. Why not replace low quality treats with something better? Deprivation only instills resentment and drives cravings.

Since brownies were once my downfall – the food that triggered my bingeing and was the gateway to my sugar addiction – I have chosen to give them a healthy makeover. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 c. yam or sweet potato, cooked and mashed

1 c. almond, cashew, sesame, or sunflower seed butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 c. pure maple syrup or honey

1/2 c. cocoa or carob powder (I find carob less bitter)

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat the yam, nut/seed butter, salt, and cinnamon together until smooth. Add the egg, syrup, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Mix well, until batter is evenly colored and no lumps remain. Scoop into a sprayed or greased 9×9″ pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Don’t eat the whole pan!

in Food & Cooking

Can’t Sleep? Check Blood Sugars

The more erratic your blood sugars, the less you sleep, and the less you sleep, the higher your blood glucose goes. So being healthy depends on establishing both level blood sugars and restorative sleep.

How Poor Sleep Raises Blood Sugars

Sleep deprivation is a form of stress. Stress is another way of saying “energy demand.” There has to be fuel to supply that demand. So certain hormones, including cortisol, signal the body to release glucose from stores. Naturally, the higher the stress, the greater the release of glucose.

But there’s another problem. The less you sleep, the less able you are to metabolize, or use, the glucose that is being released. So of course blood sugars escalate!

How Erratic Blood Sugars Disrupt Sleep

It doesn’t matter which comes first: the sleep loss or the blood sugar changes. Just like chicken and egg, one begets the other continuously.

Remember that cortisol is released when the body is stressed? Not only does cortisol raise blood sugars to fuel the energy need, it wakes you up! Cortisol is a mobilization hormone. It competes with melatonin, your sleep hormone. In teeter-totter fashion, when one rises, the other falls.

To aggravate the situation, when your blood sugars are too high, your kidneys will try to remove some of the glucose via urine. So, you wake up to use the bathroom. You may also wake up because you feel hot, thirsty or irritable – other side effects of high blood sugar.

You know that high blood sugars directly correlate with high insulin. But did you know that insulin is a trigger for the “fight or flight” response? So having a meal during the day that precipitates an insulin surge will keep you from sleeping tonight. When that happens repeatedly, you become insulin resistant. Insulin resistance can affect the liver, rocketing blood sugars even more. Normally, your liver supplies your with just the right amount of glucose to keep you functioning in your sleep. If your liver has become insulin resistant, it makes too much glucose, provoking even greater blood sugar imbalance.

On the other hand, you also lose zzzzz’s if your blood sugars drop too low. Why? Hormones again. Cortisol, as well as adrenaline and glucagon, tell the body to eat, not sleep, because energy stores are waning. Adrenaline quickens your pulse and breathing. It takes you from “rest and repose” to “rally and run.”

How to Assure a Healthy Balance

So what are you to do about this vicious spiral? Love your hormones! Honor melatonin by following circadian rhythms. Reduce adrenaline and cortisol with nightly relaxation practices. And by all means, eat balanced ratios of carbs, fats, and proteins to avoid glucose and insulin surges! Here are some specific suggestions:

Wake up with the sun. Minimize artificial light, especially in the evening. Special blue-light blocking glasses can be helpful if you have to function after dark.
Try aromatherapy, music therapy, pet therapy, or any other calming practice to shift out of sympathetic state at the end of the day.
Eat whole food meals and avoid snacking. Stay away from refined and processed foods, limit starches and flours, increase vegetable portions, and until sleep normalizes, boost your protein consumption.

If you need further help with your sleep, contact me about supplements and strategies for your individual physiology.

in Education

Reverse Insulin Resistance to Control Cravings

Trying to control sugar cravings without addressing insulin resistance is like learning to swim without getting in the water: you’re only going through the motions, not developing any lasting change.

Because insulin resistance instigates carb and sugar cravings, it is pointless to try to curb these cravings until you correct the insulin resistance – which develops after years of poor eating habits. Signs and symptoms of insulin resistance include:

fatigue
hunger
hormone imbalances that contribute to
- PMS, PCOS, and facial hair in women
- thinning hair, “man boobs,” and erectile dysfunction in men
- low thyroid
- infertility
inability to lose weight
abdominal fat
migrating aches and pains
desire for sweets after a meal
rising cholesterol and triglycerides

Five Steps To Reverse Insulin Resistance

You need both diet and lifestyle changes that bring your physiology into desirable condition, just as dressing meat or dressing a mannequin makes it suitable or fit. You can remember the acronym DRESS for these needed changes: Diet, Relaxation, Exercise, Supplementation, and Sleep.

Diet: Eat whole foods that are high in fiber and low in sugars and flours. Get plenty of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and detoxifying foods. That means eating lots of colorful fruits and vegetables; plenty of high-quality protein, especially fish; a variety of legumes, nuts, and seeds; and an abundance of omega-3 oils from seafood, flax, chia, grass-fed meats, dairy, and eggs.

Relaxation: Your stress hormones raise blood sugars and therefore trigger insulin resistance, so it is essential to practice relaxation daily, even hourly, using breathing exercises, acupressure, meditation, guided imagery, exercise, recreation, journaling, gratitude, and other techniques.

Exercise: More movement of all kinds will benefit you. Even a walk after dinner each evening is helpful. Interval training has the added benefit of increasing the efficiency of your calorie burning so that you burn more when you are not exercising. But recent studies show that resistance training with weights is most desirable for reducing insulin resistance.

Supplementation: The following nutrients have been clinically shown to be helpful in controlling blood sugars and moderating insulin resistance.

B Vitamin Complex, especially B-6, B-12, and biotin to protect against diabetic neuropathy and enhance insulin sensitivity
Magnesium because most individuals with blood sugar dysregulation show magnesium deficiency
Alpha-Lipoic Acid, a powerful anti-oxidant that helps with glucose conversion
Omega 3’s to help nutrients get into the cell that otherwise would be blocked by insulin resistance
Berberine to lower blood sugars
Chromium to lower insulin levels
Cinnamon to imitate the action of insulin
Vitamins C and E to serve as anti-oxidants

Sleep: Even one night of sleep deprivation may increase insulin resistance by as much as several months of a poor diet. As few as four days of sleep deprivation in a row causes significant metabolic disturbances that reduce total body insulin sensitivity. So while diet and exercise are certainly critical in optimal health, sleep is just as critical.

in Education / Lifestyle