Developing Our Personal Power

I took the words in the below two paragraphs, with permission, from  Elissa Hayman's November blog post.  Elissa is a spiritual healer from New Mexico. I was introduced to Elissa and her work by a fine, local lady and friend.

I was stopped in my tracks by the most fiery blaze of coppery gold color I ever saw, radiating off a long line of cottonwoods on the riverbank.

Someone else had stopped to admire them and we got to talking. He turned out to be an herbalist who lived in the nearby mountains. His renowned company, Dragon River Herbals, was on the scene in Santa Fe; they supplied doctors and health facilities with their high-quality, wild-crafted, organic products.

Through this herbalist, I learned something interesting about wild-crafted herbs: their medicine is so much more potent because in Nature, they go through a lot of stress.  The plants' response to the natural stressors in their environment makes them produce more potent medicinal properties. The "fat cat" herbal plants grown in cultivation don't need to develop the inner strength necessary to BE strong medicine.

That's something to remember in November 2014, when  it will behoove us to see challenges like a plant in the wild, as something that develops our powers.

I love these words. It is the wise woman teaching I do around the foods we eat, the herbal plant foods we use for medicine, and the way we cultivate personal power in our mind, body, and soul.

Organic foods have this magic about them as well! When food is grown organically, the food itself has to fend off foreign invaders. In this dance for survival, the organically grown food develops higher amounts of nutrients and develops nutrients that do not exist in conventionally grown agriculture's foods (because conventionally grown foods do not survive these natural stressors). 

We are approaching the American holiday of Thanksgiving; a time to be grateful for all that we have and have experienced in life. 

Life experiences are the building blocks of who you are as a being; your wild crafting as a human. Take a moment to express gratitude, every day, for your life and all the wild crafting that has made you grow stronger. Life experiences are powerful medicine!

Feed your body, mind, and soul well!

Gratitude for making it safely into the Supai Village in the Havasupai Home, the Indians of the Blue Waters. Gratitude for surviving the long and very, hot trail down into the canyon.  Getting out was easy; we started at 4:30 AM and beat the sun out of the canyon!

Happy Thanksgiving with Love!

 

Herbal Recipe to Clean the Liver from Holiday Eating and Imbibing!

Simple Liver Nourishment Cleanse

Liver Nourishment:  This is a very simple way to nourish the liver as it goes about its non-stop job of filtering your blood.  Your liver is not “dirty.”  Spending a few days focusing on nourishing this important organ is a good way to prevent disease and heal your body.  Love your liver with good food, liver specific herbs, and relaxation. Oh yeah, did I mention fun and laughter? Anger is a toxin to the liver; let go of anger and revel in fun, love, and laughter.

Raw food fast for 3 days:  lots of local and seasonal berries / fruit in AM with nuts and seeds and then vegetable salads and raw nuts and seeds at noon & PM meals.

***If pre-diabetic, diabetic, or you have any metabolic syndrome issues (where you need to not have high levels of blood sugar surging through your system) keep your intake of fruit conservative and eat more vegetables. 

Raw root veggie and cabbage slaws are great in fall and winter for the raw, seasonal veggies.

AM liver flush before any food:  juice of 1 whole lemon, 1-2 tsp olive oil, pinch of unrefined sea salt. You can use this simple liver flush in the PM and/or the AM.  

I have clients who do it in the AM because they drink their Essiac detox tea at night.

Detox infusion:  purchase an ounce of each of these herbs:  cut burdock root, cut dandelion root, nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, and red clover blossom.

Each night heat 1 quart of water, stainless steel pot please.  When water is simmering turn to very low heat and simmer 1 tsp. each of the burdock and dandelion roots for 10 minutes.  This is a very gentle simmer with the cover on the pot.

After the ten minutes, shut off the heat and have 1 tsp. each of the dandelion, nettle, and red clover.  Add to pot, stir to get wet and cover pot.  Let it sit over night to steep, pot covered.  Strain into quart canning jar in AM and drink 3-4 cups over the course of the day.

Relaxing habits when doing a liver nourishing cleanse:  Plenty of fluids; lots of good, restful sleep, eating in a calm environment (without screens) and chewing very slowly and thoroughly, yoga, massage, relaxing by the fire or under a favorite tree (seasonally dependent behaviors!) while reading a good book…the point is to nurture the whole you and make your liver feel at peace and loved.

When to nourish the liver:  Ideally 4 times a year at the spring and fall equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices.  I recommend waiting past the Winter Solstice, after the December holidays, for obvious reasons! 

Milk thistle is a good herb to take for liver nourishing and rebuilding.  It can be added to the above dandelion, etc. herb tea. Milk thistle is a seed and needs to be added and simmer with roots and/or barks.

http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/making-herbal-infusions-teas/

Capsules, tinctures, teas of milk thistle are good options as a single herb or as a combination herbal formula with turmeric and perhaps ginger…

Taking milk thistle for a couple of weeks after a three day nourishing cleanse can help to nourish and rebuild the liver.  You can make milk thistle into a tea with nettles.  Again, simmer the milk thistle seeds, very gently for 10 minutes before adding the nettle leaves. Shut off the heat before you add nettle leaves and allow the herbs to infuse, covered, for at least 4 hours.

If you would prefer to do a more intense liver nourishing (that is pre-packaged for you, creating ease), go to this website:  www.herbdoc.com  and search under the 5 day detox programs for the liver cleanse.  It is a very complete liver cleanse kit with a well written book explaining liver cleansing and its benefits to your health and longevity.  Think of it as nourishing your liver, fortifying it with the nutrients it needs to do its blood filtering job well.

Dr. Schulze’s products are top of the line and use high quality herbs. They tend to be a bit more expensive but quality is quality.

You can do a more intense, longer, liver / organ cleanse by putting the materials together yourself and following the cleanse for more than 3 days

• Whole foods, raw
• Herbal teas
• Fresh made juices
• Lots of pure water (no chlorine and flouride from municipal water supply; both are toxins to body cells and your liver.)
• AM flush

If you have diabetic tendencies do not do a "juice or herbal tea" only liver cleanse.  Eat food and keep your protein level up.

Need help? Give me a shout.

Healing the Collective Mind, Body, & Soul!

Human… Heal thyself! 

Healing literally means to make, return yourself, to whole–whole in mind, body, and spirit.

Healing is natural

I write this to remind everyone of their own innate ability to heal.  Healing is the norm.  If you cut your finger, it heals without intervention.  Every part of your body is capable of healing if it is given what it needs to heal and thrive.  This is a Vitalist philosophy of healing:  healing comes through nature.  You are nature; therefore, healing comes from within you and through you.

The responsibility to care for our bodies, to ensure lifelong health, prevent disease, and heal is ours.  Healing is not about what you are giving up; it is not about deprivation.  It IS about what you are inviting into your life: the choices, changes, and additions that will open doors to healing, health, and happiness in ways you may never have imagined or experienced.

Healing your own body is a supreme act of self-responsibility.  It means taking control of aspects of your life that have often been left in the hands of the modern medical professional. “You are in the driver seat, Doc. I will do whatever you say.”

Self-responsibility would change the above statement to,  “Thanks for being here to support me, Doc. This is how I plan to handle this health crisis.”

“If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?”      Unknown

Healing is a simple equation:

Remove the cause(s) of your health issue + add in healing choices = healing, returning to whole!

10 steps to start on your self-healing path:

• Remove the causes of your disease.  If you are diabetic, this means removing sugar, in all its forms, from your diet. Lung disease?  Stop smoking or exposing your body to the toxins creating the lung challenges.  Find a healer who can help you with the task of discovering the causes of your health challenges.
• Add in whole foods.  Whole foods heal the body by feeding your body cells with nutrients.  Refined, factory made foods deplete the body of nutrients.  You want to nourish the body, not deplete it.
• Add in herbs that heal the health challenges you are facing.  Every organ system has herbs specific for healing that system.  Herbs are whole foods.  Herbs feed your body cells.
• Movement.  Movement, daily exercise, increases circulation to every body cell.  This brings more oxygen and more nutrients to each and every body cell.  This IS healing! I call this Movement Magic! Increased circulation also removes the waste products, toxins, from each and every body cell.  Again, this is healing!
• Movement Outside!  Engaging in your daily movement outside has the added benefit of fresh air and natural light.  Fresh air and natural light are amazing healing tools for every body cell.  Both help your body to produce the hormones that balance the nervous system and create happy, feel good emotions. Feeling happy and emotionally balanced sends ripple effects of healing throughout your body to every cell.

 “Just lift the corner of the clouds and the sun is always shining.”  Eli Schechter 

• Sleep.  When we get to bed, to sleep, before 10 p.m. each night, our bodies work in rhythm with the earth’s circadian rhythm. This is poetry in motion; magic healing energy to your every body cell.
• Get plenty of juiciness in your life!  Hydration is a must for keeping body cells working at their optimum levels.  The internal structures, organelles, of each and every body cell need proper hydration to do their jobs.  If your cellular structures are doing their jobs, your whole body is functioning at optimum performance.  Your cells are your building blocks!  Get your juiciness from pure water, herbal teas, and fresh produce every day.
• Juiciness in your emotional and spiritual life is also essential for health and healing.  When we connect with people we love, who love us, when we have support in our lives, have people to tell “our stories” to, and have people we listen to as they tell their stories, we produce oxytocin.  This is the feel good hormone, the hormone of love.  Oxytocin is also the antagonist of adrenaline, the stress hormone.  Oxytocin helps us to relax, release stress, feel love, and heal mind, body, and soul.  Find some juicy friends in your life.
• Kindness.  Create and live from a space of a healthy attitude toward yourself, all others on this planet, and life in general.  Practice a kind attitude towards all, starting with you.  Self-care, and its ripple effects for your health and how you perceive and interact with the world, cannot be  emphasized enough.
• Energy Healing.  Energy healing helps us to release blockages in our body’s internal energy system, the chakras and meridians.  When life force energy flows freely to every body cell, this is healing energy.  Find a form of energy healing that works for you and use it regularly to shift the healing, life force energy in your body.   Energy healing to try includes acupuncture, acupressure, reiki, yoga, Tai chi, Qi gong, Tae kwon do, prayer, meditation, massage… to name but a few.

Taking one step at a time can create huge changes in your health, happiness, and vibrant longevity. Step up to your plate of health and healing today.  Ask a holistic health coach for support on your healing path. This one action could bring some juiciness, oxytocin, into your self-healing equation.

See my bonus pages for more tips on incorporating healing changes into your juicy life!

Every person who self-heals adds one more healed being to the collective mind, body, and soul. These actions, in your personal life, make the world a better place for every living being.

Get healing and, please, tell me your story!  

My Happy, Juicy, Life Announcement:

My next book... Early Morning Coffee & Donuts will be out before the end of this year, 2014.  OK, so my fingers are crossed that all goes as planned with the publisher!

Are you chuckling yet?  A book about coffee and donuts from Paula, seriously?  Maybe, just maybe, it is more than you think it is.... read what it IS about here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/book-2/

Cheers of good health to you in mind, body, and soul!

Souped Up Soup!

Yesterday I posted about my "take a peek into the produce bins and concoct some sort of soup for dinner" experience in the kitchen.  I commented that tonight's soup would be similar but with sautéed celery instead of the kale. (My apologies on the typo about "now add the onions and garlic" as it was supposed to be add the onions and kale. I fixed that boo-boo.)

OK, so the planned soup just got souped up. I discovered 4 buttercup squash, from Old Market Farm, in my garage last eve. Now I did not exactly lose them, they were just momentarily forgotten. I decided to get them into the house before they froze and started rotting on me.

So I roasted the squash this AM. Revving the oven up in early AM helps to warm the chilled downstairs after a cool night.

To make this soup quickly, on an eve after working all day: get the squash steaming first, before you sauté the celery and onions. Cut a small to medium buttercup squash in half, remove seeds, and put into a pot of water that has about 1 inch of water on the bottom. When water starts to boil, reduce heat to a gentle simmer, and cook squash for about 20 minutes. It will be ready when you finish with the sauté and soup prep. 

Kitchen Advice: Never boil your veggies in a pot full of water; steam in the least amount of water you can get away with and not go dry. This goes for potatoes you are cooking to mash. Less water means less nutrient loss. Pour off cooking water into a coffee mug, let cool, and drink. Get every cell enhancing mineral and nutrient any way and every way you can!

Now get going on the celery & onion saute'!

• Sauté the medium sized onion, cut into small chunks, and the celery leaves in bacon fat from local, pasture raised pigs, no nasty curing chemicals added. (Use whatever you like for gentle sautéing: pasture raised butter, coconut oil... I would avoid most vegetable oils but that is another blog post and story!) The celery will sauté quickly, add the celery after the onions are just about finished.  This way you do not over cook the celery leaves.
• Add approximately 3 1/2 cups of goat's milk to the blender with 3 big cloves of the Birdsfoot garlic.
• Add the onion and celery to the blender.  
• Plop in big scoops of the squash, at least use one half of the cooked squash. Be careful scooping the squash out of the shell as it is hot and a steamed squash gets mushy not rigid like an oven roasted one. (Add lots of butter and sprinkle with curry, the other half of the squash, while it is still hot so the butter melts. Mash the butter and curry into the squash. Put into a dish and take to work tomorrow!)
• Sprinkle in, oh maybe 1 tsp. of medium heat curry powder (Nature's Storehouse or the Potsdam Food Coop). I use more curry with squash or pumpkin soup because the squash flavor can handle it without being overwhelmed. Besides, the spices in curry are amazing healers!
• Blend until the consistency and smoothness you want in a cream soup is achieved.
• Pour in soup pot and gently warm.
• Ladle into soup bowls and add a pinch of unrefined sea salt, if desired.

Don't forget the beet gratings!  Beets soup up the soup in several ways:

• fiber
• nutrients
• raw veggie with dinner
• contrasting color to the pretty orange soup (this artsy cooking style feeds the heart, mind, and soul!)
• beets are used as cancer therapy in Germany and Russia!  Why wait to use as therapy; prevent health problems now!

Quickly grate the beet using my metal cheese grater. I sprinkled the beet gratings on top of this generously curry seasoned cream of squash/celery soup.

If the pot is big enough, or the eaters few enough, you will have left overs for lunch or later dinners this week!  OR... freeze in a wide mouth, quart Ball canning jar (leave head space for expansion during the freezing process) and enjoy in a week or two!

Cheers and happy, healthy cooking!

Ice Cream's Purpose

To Every Thing (turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn)...

To everything there is a purpose!

So you are asking me, what real purpose could ice cream possibly have?  Ready for a story? Sit down, let me tell you a story. Stories are the fibers that weave us together as community!

The recent Indian Summer has been a joy. I love warm fall days with bright blue skies. 75 degrees is about as perfect as it gets. This is still good swimming weather!

The sudden Autumn heat made me think some ice cream would be a good idea. Now I confess, I am not a big ice cream eater, maybe once or twice a summer. Ice cream was just appealing to me. My sister was visiting during this fine summery fall weather. After a hike in Stone Valley, I threw out a "Hey, let's get some ice cream" to her and my kids.

Mistake #1, I opened my big mouth before I thought about it and they (my 2 boys and my sister) were not going to let me off the hook on this one.

So, off to the Potsdam Food Coop a shopping we will go! (I had my way and organic, quality ice cream was on the shopping list!)

I suggested we try a pint of The Three Twin's Dad's Cardamom flavor ice cream. Somehow we left with that, the Sea Salt Caramel, AND the 3 pint container of the Alden's Organic Vanilla ice cream. My sister wanted to get the Three Twins Milk Coffee ice cream as well.

Someone had to be the voice of reason... 5 pints of ice cream for 4 people? Seriously? They listened, we skipped the coffee ice cream!

So, are you wondering about the whole "ice cream's purpose" thing here? Let me just say this:

Ice cream in your freezer is like the canary in the coal mine. It is the perfect way to gauge the correct temperature setting of your freezer. Ice cream too hard to eat? The freezer needs to be turned down, meaning the temperature inside the freezer needs to be raised a bit. Ice cream too mushy and runny? Time to set the temperature in your freezer a tad bit lower.

I recommend any freezer temperature changes be carried out in tiny, little increments and tested frequently. It is totally acceptable to leave a spoon right on top of the freezer, you know, just in case an emergency check is required.

Caution: Do not ever hide the spoon inside the freezer. Way too cold in the mouth!

Action to take:  Head on over to the Potsdam Coop or your local natural food store that carries quality, organic ice cream and get some now... before the Indian Summer escapes us!

PS  By the way, I do recommend the Milk Coffee ice cream. It is divine! The cardamom was exquisite! Vanilla is simply scrumptious and the Sea Salted Caramel is a must try. You decide!

Tell me your ice cream story!

PPS Remember to join the Local Living Venture and I as we rock your world (no, not with ice cream) with vibrant health and healing messages!  Whole Health & Healing Academy continues this Thursday evening with Natural Foods Know How. See you there!

Life Force Energy, Healing The Collective Soul

Photo and inspiring words compliments of Ali Hotmer of www.Twin Tree Healing.com, West Chester, PA

Life force energy flows through us. Life force energy flows through all living things.

When we expose our self to life force energy (it is all around us, we breathe in life force energy) our mind, body, and spirit (spirit is life force energy) become more vibrant.

As I was walking through my wood I had thoughts; thoughts I felt compelled to write about and share. A few weeks ago I wrote about the healing powers of the great white pine. This healing power of being in the woods, surrounded by trees and plants, I will expand upon.

                                              I really do hug trees!

The woods are alive and vibrant with life force energy. This energy radiates from every living thing. When we walk in a forest, the emanating energy of one plant or tree overlaps the emanating energy of all the other plants and trees around it.

When you walk in the woods, you are literally bathing your mind, body, and spirit in the life force energy of the woodland plants and trees. This is powerful medicine, powerful healing energy.

This healing energy has the strength to bring peace and serenity to you, the strength to heal from deep inside your being.

To your natural, healing medicine bag I recommend you add a daily walk in the woods (even 5 minutes) and bathe yourself in the life force energy, the collective soul of the world.

Poster available through United Plant Savers

Suggestions to enhance the flow of your life force energy: 

• walk in the woods,
• just get outside and walk,
• acupuncture,
• reiki,
• massage,  (a new massage therapist in town, Adrea Elizabeth, is looking to grow her clientele)
• yoga, (more yoga in the Canton - Potsdam, NY area),
• any energy healing!
• AND, how about trying this: (You will be glad you did!).

Whole Food Pumpkin Pie!

I had a request for how I would make a lower sugar, lower carb pumpkin pie for the fall holiday table... maybe for Thanksgiving, Fall Equinox, a Harvest Fest... you decide when and whip up a tasty, whole food pie treat.

Here is how I make my yummy Autumn pumpkin pies. Enjoy!

Lower sugar, low carb Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients  Praline Crust:

• 1/4 cup melted butter*
• 1 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (almonds or coconut are other fun variations)
• 2-4 tbsp. sucanat sugar (Potsdam Coop & Nature's Storehouse)
• 1/8 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Sugar Pie Pumpkins

Pie Filling:  You can also use a butternut or buttercup squash. 

• 1 (15-ounce) can no sugar added pumpkin filling, organic of course.  To cook your own pie pumpkin, see below.
• 1/3 to ½ cup sucanat sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream* (If you buy a pint of heavy cream, use 1 cup here and 1 cup for whipped topping, just add 1/4 full fat milk* to make up the difference.)
• 4 eggs*

Long Pie Pumpkins

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the crust:

• Mix all crust ingredients together in a small bowl.
• While mixture is still warm from the butter, press it evenly into the bottom of a deep-dish pie pan.
• Bake for about 5 minutes, or until browned.
• Remove pie crust from oven.

Make the filling:  Turn oven to 425 F

• Place all filling ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well with a wire whisk.
• Pour filling into your pre-baked pie crust.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• Continue to bake for an additional 50 to 55 minutes.
• To test to see if cooked enough, stick a sharp knife in the center; if it comes out clean, the pie is done.
• Cool and then chill before serving.
• To serve, top each slice with a dollop of low carb whipped cream.

Lower Carb Fresh Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream*
• 2 tbsp. to ¼ cup sucanat sugar
• 1-3 tsp. vanilla extract, I tend to go for the more is better, you do not miss the sugar when you add vanilla, maybe a dash of cinnamon too!

Cooking your own pie pumpkin:  I take the whole little pie pumpkin and put it in a pot with about 1 inch of water in the pot.  Cover, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a very gentle simmer.  Check in 30 minutes, if a sharp knife slides into the flesh easily, it is done.  I carefully remove it from the pot and put it in a bowl or plate with upturned edges.  Cut into pieces and puree the whole pumpkin: seeds, skin, and all.  A blender works best.  Use what you need for the pie and make curry pumpkin soup with the rest! 

Curry Pumpkin Soup: This is as easy as putting the rest of your pie pumpkin in the blender with milk* (add enough milk to blend the pumpkin into a puree and then add what you need to get the thickness you are looking for in a creamy soup) and adding your favorite blended curry spice to your taste. Blend, heat, enjoy!

*I suggest using butter, eggs, and whipping cream be from animals raised naturally: grass fed cows and chickens foraging for their own natural foods.