*You* Deserve Better

Are you trying to quit a habit or addiction? Perhaps you’ve tried so many times that by now you’ve accepted defeat, and instead of striving to meet success, you’re merely treading to keep your head above the water?

Let me tell you why you should not admit defeat –  Because you deserve better. You have the same right as everyone else on this earth to enjoy health and longevity, should that be your path. You have the right to take happiness by the reins and to make it yours.

You deserve to have someone to tell you on a daily basis that your life is worth it. Today it is me. Tomorrow and every day after that, it might need to be you. If so, the more power to you.

We live in a society today where the norm is to poison ourselves with toxins that are so normal to us that most people actually mistakenly perceive them as nourishment. They pray for God to deliver them from cancer and disease, yet neglect to meet him halfway, continuing only to feed themselves and their children the very gasoline that fuels the fires of sickness.

To break free from the chains that shackle you to this cycle of inevitable suffering and loss, you must step out from the orderly formation of your peers and be willing to be the odd person out. You must be willing to become a spectacle, a curiosity, as you surely will be once you break ranks with the brainwashing that controls the minds of everyone you know.

You have been brainwashed to believe that the standards of beauty are set and unchangeable as you see them on television and in magazines, weather it be rail thin or thick and bodacious, all depending on what year it is.

You berate yourself internally every day because you do not ‘look like you should’, and yet continue the cycle by dining on your addictions for breakfast lunch and dinner, the irony being that this is what comforts you.

You have been programed to listen to every word your doctor tells you, drowning out your bodies warning alarms with prescription medications. Even worse yet, you mindlessly feed your children insulin spiking, brain damaging, artery clogging garbage on a daily basis and then pump their precious bodies full of medication in attempts to treat the immediate symptoms of their diets.

If I’ve made you angry, you should be. May the irritation wake you from your slumber long enough to see what you’re truly angry about – the state of society. Then take that anger and turn it into the fuel you will need to mold your life into what it was given to you to be.

Your life is a precious gift, one that should not be dictated by ‘normal’. Normal is cancer, normal is obesity. Normal is to be frightened and dumbfounded by our disease epidemics, and yet never looking to our local watering hole for answers.

Autism, obesity, anorexia, diabetes, schizophrenia…too many diseases to name. They ravage our our people, taking victims at “random” and leaving them bleeding in an already frightening world. We invite this to happen, we allow this to happen, we open our gates and eat our own pathways for this to happen.

Do you want others to continue to dictate the state of your being? Take your life back in your own hands and seek the truths you deserve to know. Put the cigarettes down because you deserve to breathe. Skip the drive through because you deserve to eat real food and you deserve to live pain free. Deal with the looks other parents will give you because your children deserve to live to the fullest.

Do not continue to poison yourself with a steaming hot plate of hydrogenation followed up by an ice cold glass of self loathing. Instead exercise just enough restraint needed to get through one day at a time junk free, and praise yourself for the enormity of your efforts.

It is not easy, it is not always fun, and at times it is painful. Quitting an addiction will surface painful emotions that will test your strength and cause you to re-evaluate your self worth.

You will find that everything you do, you do for a reason, and often the reasons behind the addiction alone are what need to be addressed. Pick yourself up and address them today. Do it because you deserve to. You have a unique set of gifts capable of changing the world in ways that no one else can, so go now and unleash them on us!

Change your life and you have the ability to impact thousands of lives for the better. Change your life by allowing yourself to be the person that you truly are, and do not continue to stifle your soul with the garbage you are told daily is healthy and normal.

As todays measure of ‘normal’ continues to become a greater source of sickness and disease, I consider it my greatest joy and accomplishment to be abnormal, and to teach my children to avoid ‘normalcy’ in everyday life as well. All people, children and adults, deserve better than normal.

Put down the cigarettes and the happy meals and the microwave dinners. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to, and the more you put your mind to your health, the healthier you will become. The healthier you become, the bigger you can dream, and the more lives you can touch.

You deserve to be healthy, you deserve to find happiness. You deserve to work hard and to revel in the fruits of your labor. 

Invest in your health, because you deserve to.

Moving Past Post-Holiday Blues

 

Foreword to readers: this post is meant for those who have a sweet tooth and like to indulge but wish it came without the guilt. This is not for those who never slip up or who do not believe in straying from your healthy daily habits. If the latter applies to you, I applaud and support you, but you need not read todays post any further.

If you’re like me, perhaps you ate a few too many treats in the last couple of days. I may be a health coach, but this year I chose to indulge with my family in a few traditional holiday foods that I wouldn’t normally…

Ok so I really indulged. I went all out ate whatever I wanted, and it was a lot of fun. Today, of coarse, I’m not feeling at all on my usual game, but I will treat my body with some TLC until this feeling of lethargy passes.

My family all took notice of every cookie I put in my mouth, and had a good laugh about it too. Someone even jokingly asked if I was going to go home and blog about it, but I took the comment seriously and decided that would actually be a good thing for me to do. Besides, I like to keep it honest.

Part of what I counsel people about as a health coach is that the most important nutrition we get is from our primary food sources. What are primary foods you ask? Primary foods make up our life outside of real food, such as work, relationships, spirituality, and recreation.

These primary foods feed us mind body and soul as either super foods, healthy foods, or junk. Think about any time you might have been in an unhealthy relationship, how did you feel overall? How bout a time you were in a less than fulfilling position at work? Where did that leave you at the end of the day?

When we are under stress we could be eating super foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and we would not be well. The same principle applies to the flip side of the coin, too. If you are fulfilled spiritually and emotionally in all corners of your life, you can afford to eat some junk on occasion and still be healthier than the absolute food purist.

I am NOT telling you junk is healthy, I am merely illustrating the absolute importance of happiness. While healthy eating is absolutely essential to longevity and indeed the foundation for happier life, there might come some situations in life where happiness requires you to eat the cookie at a dinner party.

The thing for me is that, while I quote myself saying “I ate whatever I wanted and it was fun”, I do just that ever day. 90% of the time I eat extremely healthy because I want to. I do it purely because that is my desire, not because I’m sacrificing to reach someone else’s ideal of fitness or beauty. I do it because I enjoy this lifestyle and its benefits immensely. It just so happened that this holiday what I wanted was to eat the crud and enjoy it.

I will not punish myself with negative feelings and self-deprivation as I have in past post-holiday binges, which is usually more detrimental to my health then the actual act of indulgence itself. I made my choices based upon what I wanted, and theres nothing more to it than that.

Here are some tips you might find helpful and motivating as you move past the post-holiday blues you might experience:

* Meditate. High fructose corn syrup, refined sugar and the antibiotic/growth hormone ridden junk we ate quite possibly threw us out of a peaceable state of mind. Meditation for at least ten minutes every morning will help us to find mental clarity again.

* Exercise. Exercising will not only assist in burning off the extra calories and speed up detoxification processes, but will release endorphins in your brain which are essential for combatting any seasonal or food related blues.

* Drink extra water. Any water is better than no water, but when at all possible drink warm water ( not microwaved ) as this will help clear you lymphatic system. Also, cold water will shock your body and is especially not good for an already irritated gut.

* Juice leafy greens and colorful veggies. There is no better way to re-energize weakened cells and immune function.

* Try to avoid hard digesting foods for a week or so, such as red meat and of coarse anything processed. If you’re a weight lifter and need to eat meat, boil an organic turkey or chicken. This will make digestion much easier, and while sounds strange, is just as tasty when seasoned right.

* Avoid eating gluten for a while. Get your carbs from yams and other whole food sources.

* It can be easy and tempting to give in to the “just one more won’t hurt” feelings that we’re bound to experience now that junk is in our systems, but it’s very important to cut ourselves off until the next special occasion to eat more treats. Our cells replace themselves every 23 days or so using what we’ve eaten, so we do literally become what we eat. If we allow the junk cycle to continue all month, our cells will be made of crap and thus that is what they will crave.

* Enjoy the process. Make sure you are enjoying everything you’re doing, even detoxification. If theres a healthy habit or anything otherwise that you’re dreading, it might be time to do some re-evaluation to figure out why that is. Happiness is the key to your success in all areas of life, including your health.

I hope you found this helpful, and Merry Day-After-Christmas everybody! I wish you all health and happiness:)

 

 

 

Understanding Soy

Today’s topic is quite a controversial one. While I generally do not partake in food debates, as I strongly believe that one persons food is another persons poison, soy is the one exception. I have studied over one hundred different dietary theories and been privy to all of the real information and facts on all sides of every food related debate, and after all of that one of the few truths that I can safely say applies to everyone is that soy is not a health food. 

In fact soy is extremely dangerous. Does that sound rash? I assure you it won’t once you’ve finished this article. In this article I am going to try and give you a glimpse into the truth behind the lies that public officials are well paid to tell you. I am going to provide you with information that the soy industry doesn’t want you to know, and for good reasons.

Did you know that the Israeli Health ministry, the French Food Agency, the German Institute of Risk Assessment and many other foreign governments and non profit organizations have all issued warnings against the consumption of soy?

Here in the U.S. however, there is still a faulty FDA health claim that soy actually prevents heart disease. It is because of this that many well meaning practitioners still recommend soy products as a good alternative to dairy.

The more educated you become in the field of natural healing, however, the greater your understanding will be of just how bogus an FDA claim really is. This is the very FDA that has stamped aspartame and growth hormones and antibiotics in factory farming as “safe for consumption”. Why do they approve these things while studies repeatedly prove their direct link to cancer, just to name one?

As you will no doubt discover sooner or later, the FDA is in bed with big business. The FDA is actually being sued because it is illegal for them to give their approval on a product such as soy that has had ‘inconclusive’ findings.

Thankfully, in january 2006 the American Heart Association refuted these claims, stating that soy does in fact not lower cholesterol and does not prevent heart disease, however the average American still believes these things to be true.

The biggest reason people still believe that soy lowers cholesterol is because it actually lowers LDL receptor activity. This is actually a compensatory mechanism increasing bile excretion and leading to major losses of thyroid and steroid hormones, which are both essential to us. These losses compromise levels of italothene, which regulates key metabolic pathways, and is needed for well-funtioning immune systems that protect us from cancer and other illnesses. If cholesterol is indeed lowered, it comes at too high a price.

As far as the faulty heart claim, incredibly Soy actually increases risk of cardiomyopathy, which is the leading cause of death among young athletes today, and is being linked to heart arrhythmia’s as well.

What with veganism being so in vogue right now, and for good reason too, there is certainly an increase in consumption of soy as a good protein source. The truth is that consuming soy makes it hard for our bodies to digest protein because the cystein in soy is tied up in something called protease inhibitors, and thus the cystein is bio-unavailable to us. Because of this imbalance our bodies overproduce homocystein and the the pancreas doesn’t make enough protease, which is needed for proper protein digestion.

The most serious problem with soy, however, are the phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are not real hormones, but are similar enough structurally to act like hormones and can cause significant endocrine disruption in the body. They bind with hormone  receptors and interfere with the production of testosterone and estrogen in men and women.

Because of this the most dangerous times for a woman to consume soy are during all of the major changes; infancy, puberty, pregnancy and menopause.

Lets start with soy consumption during pregnancy. Did you know that every mammalian species tested with soy during utero resulted in birth defects? We are mammals and as such cannot escape this truth either; devastatingly we are seeing a huge influx of baby boys being born with a genital deformity called hypospadias, where the opening of the penis is not at the tip but underneath.

This is the result of an estrogenized baby boy. Due to the phytoestrogens binding with real hormones and receptors, soy can easily disrupt a developing fetus’s sexual differentiation at this crucial developmental state.

Now moving on to soy during infancy. Not only is soy infant formula a large part of our country’s epidemic of young girls hitting puberty early, it also has devastating effects on baby boys that won’t show up until later in life.

An alarming 48% of African American girls today hit puberty by age 8! This is in large part due to the fact that African Americans in general have the most incidences of lactose intolerance, and as a result most babies are put on soy formula from the start.

It is hard to believe , but for the first month of a baby boys life he will have as much testosterone as a gown man. This is when the critical programing for life happens, and more often than not soy formula results in underdevelopment and low sperm counts in adulthood.

Skipping ahead to menopause, tragically most women are advised to consume soy during this time, as it is widely believed that the phytoestrogens will bring balance to a woman’s body. In short the truth is that soy is not only extremely detrimental to thyroid function, but stimulates the growth of estrogen-dependent cancers.

I can’t tell you how many times Ive heard women complaining about thyroid distress, and almost every time without fail she will shake her head in disapproval when I suggest she lay off the soy.

The evidence is right in front of her, but the media so widely upholds soy that it is sometimes impossible to convince her otherwise. If this is the case, it is very important that a woman in the least does not consume soy with her thyroid medication.

Finally, you’re probably envisioning all those healthy asians and asking yourself, isn’t soy a traditional asian food?

Yes and no. Yes, traditionally small amounts of fermented soy ( meso, tempe, natto ) were incorporated as condiments in Asian culture, but not in the way it is prepared here, and certainly not in the amounts our country consumes.

Some funny soy facts:

* Seventh Day Adventists from Ohio actually introduced soy milk to Asia in the 1920’s, so in no way is soy milk native to anywhere but America.

* Traditionally Japanese housewives have been known to feed soy to their unfaithful husbands as a way of keeping his sex drive down

* Monks consume a fair amount of soy products to assist in their abstinence.

One thing I have noticed is that when it comes to the soy debate, people in general ( but especially advocates ), get more worked up over it than they would over a religious or moral debate.

Im not really sure sure why this is, but apart from voicing my knowledge to my clients, I stay out of it. After that it’s ‘live and let live’ in my book.

One Week Anti-Stress Challenge

We all get so caught up in daily life and the media around us that we are often very disconnected with reality. Many Americans suffer from Vata imbalances as a result of our high stress environments, and feel helpless and sometimes hopeless to do anything about it.

The number one health risk today is stress. When we are under stress our immune systems are compromised, leaving us far more susceptible to not only catching every bug that comes our way, but also to developing cancer and other diseases.

The good news is that there are some very simple steps we can all take to alleviate our stress levels, and to get back in tune with ourselves and with nature. This is all intuitive, and sometimes we just need to take the time to remind ourselves!

Take this one week challenge and see how different you feel by day 7 – I promise it will make a difference in your health. Remember, this is not meant to be a permanent lifestyle change…think of it more as a temporary cleanse for your mind:)

#1. Turn off the T.V. – Simple yet very effective. Abstain from watching television for one week, no news ( if something drastic happens someone will call you ) , no shows, no commercials. If you watch anything, have it be a children’s movie with your kids, or even without if you don’t have children.

#2. Limit Computer Usage – Research shows that increased computer usage can drastically increase our risk of depression and insomnia, and can even affect cognitive ability and mental focus. Limit your computer time to work obligations. Do not use the computer for at least one hour before hitting the hay.

#3. Write – Unless our job entails a great deal of writing, most of us express our words through text messaging, e-mailing and social networking. Get a notepad and journal every morning this week. It doesn’t have to be anything intelligible, just jotting down words will be therapeutic and bring you in closer touch with your truth. Don’t think too much about it.

#4. Laugh- Laughter really is the best medicine. It may sound silly, but if at the end of a long work day you realize you haven’t laughed enough, find a way to bring some humor into your evening. Think of a funny joke you’ve heard before ( I’m serious! ), or call upon your funniest friend or relative for support.

#5. Get Into Nature – Research shows that getting in touch with nature not only decreases stress and depression, but induces faster physical and spiritual healing time as well. Taking a walk in the great outdoors is a great way to accomplish this, so give yourself at least 20 min. per day this week to do it.

For some of us computers and television have become a large part of our daily lives, and when taken out we find ourselves at a loss for what to do with that spare time. This is where the fun part comes in!

Now is an excellent chance to get back to some old hobbies or talents that you’ve neglected to take time for, or to discover new ones you never knew you’d enjoy. Even if you just take some of your new found time to do something extra special for your family or a friend, its a win-win situation all around.

You have nothing to loose from taking the one week challenge, and everything to gain!

Good luck and happy rediscovery!:)

Skinny or curvy – Which is Really Better?

Today I saw a picture of a beautiful curvaceous woman in an ad on Facebook labeled, “Curvy women are better than skinny women”. I clicked on it and read the caption quoted by the women.

She said,”The heavier I am, the more I like my boobs and bum, and the happier I look. I’d rather eat and have boobs, a bum and a bit of overhang than be really skinny and have sad, sagging boobs and a flat bum.”

While this may sound like a healthy attitude, it is actually just contributing to societies already judgmental attitude toward women’s bodies. The title of this ad alone offends me. Women who have round ‘bums’ should be proud of them, but that doesn’t give them the right say that all women should be curvy.

Just as we don’t need curvy girls trying to starve themselves, we don’t need skinny girls chowing down on artery clogging junk to try and catch up with the latest body phad. I, for one, am one of those girls who is just plain skinny. No matter how much weight I gain, healthy or non-healthy, I will never be able to have a ‘great bum’. When I gain weight it all goes to my belly and chest, which is actually much more of a health hazard than a woman who is overweight and carrying in her butt.

The questions I have are…

* who decides who has a great bum and who doesn’t?

* When are we going to stop telling our sisters and daughters what their bodies should look like?

* When are we going to stop allowing advertising to place these ridiculous ideals in our minds of what is beautiful, weather it be skinny or curvaceous?

* When are we going to start minding our own bodies, period?

Furthermore, while I appreciate the Dove Real Beauty campaign, I wish it put more emphasis on being generally healthy. We certainly need to address our counties alarming rates of eating disorders, but we can’t forget about our other serious health dilemmas either. Our country alone spends more on healthcare than almost every other county combined, and still we are the sickest country in the world.

While loving your God-given curves is beautiful, you won’t actually know which curves are God-given until you practice healthy living. This consists of moderate exercise, healthy eating and a healthy mindset.

Until we stop putting these ridiculous expectations and standards on other women, our sex will never be free to experience beauty in the way we were meant to. Each woman has been given a beauty and light that is unique to her, and for one woman to pour water on someone else’s light will only extinguish the beauty of her own.

The only constructive thing any woman can tell another woman about her body is that she should embrace it. Variety is the spice of life! If we were all skinny, things would get pretty boring pretty fast, and the same would be true if we were all curvy.

Ladies, embrace your bodies! Love yourselves! Maybe you feel you are too skinny right now, or maybe you’re on a weightless journey, either way the first step to healthy is to know that you are enough already.

We’ve all heard it a million times, but it’s more important now than ever to realize the truth of this old saying now – Beauty is on the inside.

Amazing Juice Part 2: The Most Powerful Way to Kickstart Your Health

I’m excited to be here writing about this today because I LOVE juicing! And more importantly, I love the benefits of juicing. It is, in my opinion, the most powerful way to kickstart your health, and a very important part of Ayurvedic traditions.

It is hardly a new phad either, and in fact stories of the power of medicinal juices have been recorded in many ancient cultures. The first documentation about juicing has been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating back to about 150 B.C.

I told you about how synthetic vitamins are not an effective or safe way to get your vitamins and ensure CNA ( comprehensive nutritional adequacy ), well let me tell you – juicing is an excellent form of alternative supplementation!

When we consume fresh made juice, all of the vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants are separated from the fiber and go directly into our bloodstream and begin repairing our cells immediately. This makes juice supplementation ideal for those who suffer with poor digestive health, and because the enzymes and vitamins have been separated from the fiber, you more than triple the health benefits of the vegetable itself.

For example, juicing five carrots would be the equivalent nutritional value of eating an entire bag of carrots. Wow :0

Juicing is such a powerful method of turning back the biological clock that there have been many cases of women and men reducing their fine lines and wrinkles and trading in their gray hair for their old youthful color again.

Juicing is a large part of my family’s diet, and it has been a large part of Austin’s healing  process. The juicer I personally use and love is the Omega Juicer. You can check it out here:

http://www.omegajuicers.com/juicers/8003-juicer.html 

I would recommend that you purchase it in black as I have the white and it stains very easily. The black Omega Juicer will be an attractive addition to your countertop, and if you end up becoming an avid juicer, trust me, it’ll probably stay there for the rest of its life.

The following are some great recipes to get any beginner started:

Apple Tart

* 5 carrots greens removed

* 1 apple ( any kind ) seeds removed

* 1/2 inch ginger root

* 1/2 cucumber

* 3 celery sticks

* 1 lemon wedge

Folate Special

* 2 kale leaves

* small handful parsley

* small handful spinach

* 4-5 carrots, greens removed

Clear Complexion Tonic

* 2-3 slices of pineapple include skin

* 1/2 cucumber

* 1/2 apple seeds removed

Garden Salad

* 3 broccoli flowerets

* 1 garlic clove

* 4-5 carrots or 2 tomatoes

* 2 celery stalks

* 1/2 green pepper

* 1 lemon wedge

…and last but not least, my favorite dessert drink of all time! If you’re a sweet tooth this drink will carry you through many days as you venture away from refined sugars…

Grape Delight

1 big handful purple grapes

1 big handful green grapes

1/2-1 cucumber

1 apple

1/4 inch ginger root if desired

You might be wondering to yourself, “why not just purchase ready-made juice from the store?”

That, my friend, is because the juice from the store, even if it is “organic” has been pasteurized, a heating process in which everything but the sugars are basically destroyed. While there are other brands of juices and smoothies out there claiming the health benefits of raw juice, the ‘Mana’, or life force, of the juice has already died. Therefore when you purchase juice that has sat on a shelf you’re just drinking the sugars of the fruit without getting any of the nutrition.

That is also why you should only juice what you and your family can drink in the moment. Those precious live enzymes that make juice so powerful actually die after about only fifteen minutes or so after being separated from the fiber.

There you go! Play around with these recipes and tips and soon you’ll come up with many of your own favorites. There really is no limit to the vegetables and fruits you can juice; my advice is to go wild with it. 😉 The crazier you get, the more fun you’ll have. Just be careful when blending fruits and veggies together, sometimes that can lead to a tummy ache. However, if it feels right for you, go for it!

Amazing Juice Part 1: The Cancer Connection

Childhood diets are the major cause of adult cancers. Heart disease is easy to prevent. Cancer is different, cancer is more difficult. But we can win the war on cancer.

– Joel Fuhrman, MD

From cancer to diabetes, sometimes the answer to our illnesses are as simple yet complex as needing more fruits and vegetables. Simple yet complex? I don’t need coffee, no. I mean to say that the answer is simple, yet the process of actually protecting yourself is complex. Sort of.

The average American would be surprised at how many times improper nutrition is behind many of the serious illnesses and diseases so common in our world today. Many of you are probably getting sick of the ‘pill for every ailment’ approach, and are now looking to do more than suppress your symptoms.

When our body gets sick, it is communicating with us. When we tune it out with western medication, we never get to the root problem, and thus the list of medication needed climbs higher and higher. As many of you know by now though, pharmaceutical prescriptions are a large part of our growing cancer rates.

There are many health conscious Americans, however, avoiding trans fats and eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, and these individuals are still getting sick. This is where the complex part comes in.

Cancer is one of the most frightening, devastating, and tricky illnesses to prevent. As quoted above, heart disease is easy. One must simply avoid trans fats, eat well and exercise on a regular basis. Preventing cancer, on the other hand, requires an individual to obtain CNA, or comprehensive nutritional adequacy.

The most dangerous nutrient to be deficient in is the one you’re deficient in.

– Joel Fuhrman, MD

Using new advanced technologies, we can actually read a persons AGE’s ( advanced glycation end products ) in their tissues and skin. Simply put, this is a good indicator of a persons biological age. When compared with a person eating the Standard American Diet, or even a ‘Food Pyramid’ diet for that matter, a person consuming large amounts of organic leafy greens and  organic green cruciferous vegetables shows a much lower biological age.

More amazing still, take a woman with high GSTP activity ( a woman with genetic risk or predisposition for breast cancer ) feed her enough cabbage, kale and other raw veggies daily, and that gene putting her at risk for cancer is suppressed and therefore unable to express itself.

Now, I do not take synthetic vitamins nor do I supplement my family with them, the reason being that your body won’t even be able to assimilate them enough to be beneficial. Fat soluble vitamins are beneficial and a whole separate issue that I’ll address later.

It’s important to understand that synthetic vitamins are manufactured very similarly to pharmaceutical drugs, and likewise cause stress to your internal organs as well as oxidative stress to your cells.

Cancer rates actually skyrocketed in 1930 when vitamins and minerals were first discovered and manufactured. These rates have continued to climb every single year with no exception. In no way am I placing all blame on synthetic vitamins, certainly factory farming with its antibiotics and other such evils are now an enormous part of the cancer equation. I am simply putting emphasis on the effects of the synthetic world in which we live.

While it is true that many people are alive today only because of advancements made in the medical field, every time we try to re-invent the wheel of nature we will fail, or in the least face dire consequences to our health.

Nature already provides us with the capability to achieve comprehensive nutritional adequacy, we must simply be willing to eat a LOT of raw veggies and moderate amounts of raw fruits. This sounds easy enough, but the problem comes in when we simply don’t enjoy eating them that much. And of coarse we are so stinking busy with our daily lives we just don’t have time to sit down and eat a bowl of raw kale, let alone chewing each piece down until it’s completely broken down in order to even get the cancer fighting benefits of that kale.

The answer to the vitamin dilemma and to the veggie dilemma is easy, fun and TASTY!

Juice! Yes, juice. Not store bought juice, straight up make-it-in-your-kitchen juice. Amazing, energy and mood boosting, and even life saving juice.

If you have time, look up Jay Kordich online. He has made a living practically off of preaching about juice, and if you like him on Facebook you’ll get daily updates and tips. Another good person to check out is Drew Canole, juicing expert. Again, like his Facebook page, ‘Juicing Vegetables’ and get great daily update.

If not, no worries as Ill be back tonight or tomorrow to conclude with Amazing Juice Part 2, where I’ll dive into benefits and the juicer I personally use daily, as well as great tips and  juicing recipes that are family favorites in my house.

Until then thanks for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts:)

The Power of Prayer for a Child

From the moment we find out we’re expecting, the fantasizing begins. Dreams of who our children will be, what their passions will be, what they will look like, and above all else, what awesome parents we will be. At least, thats how it was for me.

When my sweet Austin was born, he had my heart. He was the most perfect baby, and I never imagined him as anything different. The dreaming only intensified after he was born and I  was able to love him in person, able to see how perfectly he put my earlier dreams to shame. I never knew how much I could love someone until he was here. He would love me too, and we would cuddle together, do art projects together, I’d teach him how to ride a bike and he would succeed; he couldn’t not do these things, he was perfect.

It didn’t take long for reality to set in. Reality was harsh compared to my dreaming, it told me that my sweet perfect son would struggle to do any of the above. Reality was finally understanding that I couldn’t possibly know what my sons future could hold, to what level he would be able to develop, or if he could ever have the happy life I always imagined.

At nine months old, he quit nursing. By eleven months old, I tried to think about the last time I cuddled him, and couldn’t remember it. By thirteen months old, I was sick of telling people there was nothing wrong with him.

By four he has been through more than I can type in one article, and I see him as perfect more than I ever have before. My son is a fighter, and now I am a fighter too. Any mother of a special needs child knows exactly what I’m talking about, but more than anyone, my words resinate with the mothers of children who didn’t have to live this way.

Our life has been a struggle, one that I feel very blessed to be a part of. I am no longer angry with the hand we were dealt and the choices I made and the people I trusted along the way that brought us here. I am in love with this life, and every day with my family is a blessing for which I am grateful.

I cry when we lose a battle and celebrate when we win one. I once thought of this journey as one battle, one that I would someday win. I now see and accept that our life is going to be one battle after another, and I can’t win every one. We will never stop fighting.

For those of you I haven’t shared this journey with, some can relate, and others will relate at some point down the road, because weather or not you ever have a child with autism, you’ll probably know someone who does. What I want to say to you is this, DO NOT quit the battle before it’s begun. Do not let someone else tell you that nothing can be done because you believe they are qualified to make that call.

The biggest battle we will ever fight is with society. Society tells you that if you fight for your child, you don’t accept them as they are. Society tells me that autism has no cause and no cure. Society also tells me that I am just looking for something to blame, some explanation to hold on to, and about this they are correct.

I am here to say to anyone who will face these struggles in the future, that if you listen and if you believe that nothing can be done, nothing will be done. But if you believe in miracles, and the power of perseverance and the power of prayer, you will succeed. The only choice before you is to pick a side, for that will be the deciding factor.

As for me, I WILL NOT ever quit fighting, I WILL NOT listen to lies when I can see truth in my own home, and I WILL NOT be silenced. There will always be those that want you to blend in and conform. They will ridicule you for your lifestyle choices, they will not understand you, and even some that understand but wish you didn’t.

There is no profit in America’s families knowing the truth. There is no justice for the stolen life of a child. But I am here to tell you that while there is no justice, there IS hope. Never quit searching for answers that doctors and teachers won’t give. No one can care and no one can love and no one can fight like a mother can.

Some call me stubborn, and many will say that I just won’t accept things as they are; they would be correct. If I wasn’t stubborn, and if I accepted things as they are, my son wouldn’t have the life he has today. He couldn’t have made the strides accredited to therapy that he’s made.

There was a long time I fought this battle in silence. I didn’t speak about this because I feared disapproval, and because it took a few years for even me to comprehend how very hard we were actually struggling. I now believe more than ever that I am meant to be here on this path for a reason, and I will never quit fighting for not just my son, but for every one who is lied to.

I WILL NEVER be silenced again, I WILL NEVER conform, and I WILL NEVER quit speaking the truth. If I give light to one deceived mother, or one young woman who looks apon herself as less than enough because of advertising, I will consider my business a success.

My First Post: My Dream For My Daughter

Hello all! This is my very first post! As a holistic health coach, I am passionate about organic and holistic living, as well as sharing its benefits with my clients, family and friends. Learning more and keeping abreast on all the new information regarding natural health and fitness is what I do for fun when the kids go to bed at night, and so obviously a career in this area is fitting for me. This is not, however, what is driving me now as I begin on my journey into the business world.

About six months into my schooling at IIN(Institute for Integrative Nutrition), I was certified to begin working with clients on a professional basis, and encouraged to do so by my instructors. I understood this to be a very important and crucial part of my schooling, however I was too shy to really market myself at first. That all changed when I realized my true passion did not actually lie in counseling people on healthy eating and exercise alone.

I was just boppin along listening to lectures one afternoon a couple months ago, when I came across one from a guest speaker on body image entitled, ‘Killing us Sofly’. The lecture spoke about the media in a way I had never heard before, not only linking it to eating disorders in young women, but addressing its effects on young men as well. Never have I been so personally touched by a school lesson before, and I’ll tell you why…

All right, moment of truth right now, the day I listened to this lecture happened to be the very same day I had begun to seriously consider getting breast implants. I know what your thinking, how very “holistic” of you, Health Coach! And knowing me it was a whim that would have passed, but that is how powerful the media is. Even us natural nerd Health Coaches, as I’ve been aptly called, fall pray to the pressures of the world around us at times.

Well, naturally after listening to the lecture I was really agitated with myself. I looked at the Victoria Secret magazine still laying open on the bed across from me that had, incidentally, fueled my earlier thoughts of breast augmentations, and had one thought – what would I say to my daughter about ‘boob jobs’?

The answer is simple, I would say, “Heavens no! They are horrible for your health! You are beautiful the way you are!” Don’t we all do that at times though, judge ourselves harsher than others? The thought of someone else needing breast augmentation would  never EVER have entered my mind, though I was easily able to look apron myself as less than enough. If I had a the procedure done, though, how could I possibly tell my daughter she doesn’t need it?

I could go on all night, and I have a lot more to cover that I couldn’t possibly touch on in one post, but I’ve got vegetables to steam and children to tend to. I’d like to leave you with just a few points and a video before I go.

– Advertising makes up the foundation of the mass media.

– Women are taught that we are never good enough as we are( least of all our breasts of coarse ) and that we should continually strive to be cover girls, when in actuality such an ideal doesn’t even exist.

– According to the National Institute of Medicine, 25 to 40 percent of ladies who get breast implants end up needing additional operations to correct something wrong with the first one.

– Apart from the obvious risks and side effects of un-necissary surgery, breast implants can have VERY serious health risks themselves.

– Some might make the point that women should do what makes them happy with their bodies, but breast augmentation generally either reduces feeling( if not completely eliminating it)to the area, turning the woman into an object of someone else’s pleasure.

– Poor men! Imagine being brainwashed into thinking that you’re are attracted to starved stick figurines with plastic parts. Imagine how much easier life would be for young men if they realized they actually wanted a healthy and grounded girl instead of a flighty mess.

– Most of us think we are not effected but the media, but this isn’t true. The average American is exposed to 3,000 ads per day, some more, some less. None of us can say we just tune out advertising.

There are so many amazing and truly beautiful things about women that we could and should be celebrating. Women are able to be soft and delicate, and yet strong and durable enough to bear children. When a breastfeeding mother kisses her newborns skin, the little ‘germs’ on her babies skin go into her body and create special antibodies in her milk supply designed perfectly to protect that baby.

My dream for my daughter is that her childhood will not be cut short by the media. My wish for her is that as she grows she may have the knowledge and confidence to face advertising and still look in the mirror and see a beautiful daughter of God, instead of seeing what she could change to make herself better. This is what is driving me now to create a blog and advertise myself as someone who specializes in counseling women and girls struggling to find peace with themselves.

Thanks for reading! hugs!