“Hey, hey, Mae: I heard you stay away from dairy and am curious as to why?” Before we get moving on some dairy education, I want to recognize that stealing someone’s cheese is about as serious to Americans as removing apple pie from the fall dessert lineup.

As we’re creeping into fall and getting closer to citrus season and further away from that summer abundance, I like to start adding in different (and inexpensive) ways to keep my veggie intake high. Feeding myself a real meal at lunch can also be a little tricky when I’ve got two preschoolers to feed, too.

Listen up, ladies - did you know that we tip the scales on suffering more with insomnia than men? Stress (sleepless kiddos, anyone?) and traumatic events can trigger an acute case of insomnia, while longer struggles with difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep can be stem from some medications, substance use, hormone imbalance or medical conditions.

“Hey, hey, Mae: I struggle with getting my kids to even try new foods, so they're stuck on their favorites and those contain loads of what we may need to try an elimination for. How can I make this work for our family?” Implementing food changes can be easy...until our feelings and our kids’ opinions get involved, right?

“Hey, hey, Mae: What’s the big deal about gluten and why does it matter for our health and the health of our children?” What is gluten? Gluten is a type of prolamin found in wheat, barley and rye.

“Hey, hey, Mae: How exactly DO you eat and why? How did you go gluten-free and dairy-free with kids?” Grandma’s brownies, chips, family-recipe chocolate chip cookies and pouches of fruit punch Capri-Sun were the high, yummy points of my childhood.