Embracing Sausage & Hot Dogs

Hot dogs and sausages are foods we are often told to avoid. The scraps of meat, organs, and fat of animals are ground, spiced, and formed into sausages and dogs.

But what if we looked at these meat options from a different perspective?

Traditionally, people used all of the animal:

• muscle meat

• organs (eaten whole or ground into sausage)

• make bone broth for soup and then grind the bones into powder to fertilize the fields

• use the hides for tanning leather, etc.

Why are we grossed out by the thought of eating the organ, as the whole organ, or ground into sausage meat? The nutrients needed to form these organs are exactly what you get when you eat them. For example: eating heart nourishes your heart.

The key to embracing ground up meats, hot dogs and sausages of many kinds, is to embrace products made from animals that are organically and pasture raised. This means the animals are

• allowed to eat their natural diet,

• supplemented with organic feed only and preferable of their natural food preferences,

• not given hormones, steroids, and/or antibiotics, and

• the final meat products are an all natural preparation meaning no fake stuff in the actual meat products you will eat (preservatives, stabilizers, artificial colors & flavors, etc.)

Ask your local Coop, natural food store, and supermarkets to stock food fit to eat.

Find your local farmers who raise animals on pasture, animals who roam freely and happily in their grassy, wild plant fields. Tlhe link back there, and this one, will connect you to our local food guide published yearly by Gardenshare.

Eating local food:

• is more nourishing to your body cells and to the Earth, less miles to your plate and food maintains freshness and nutrients

• saves petro chemicals to move food about the Earth, the more miles your food is trucked… the more gas / diesel that is sucked up and burned

• supports local farm families and this is HUGE for local food security

• local farm families put that money back into their farm and your local community

• you create a community of farm happy people: both the farmers and the other farm customers

• gives you better control of the choice of best farming practices, your vote by purchasing local-organic-pasture raised food encourages more farmers to transition to Earth friendly & sustainable farming practices

• brainstorm on more ideas of why local farm products are better for you, the farmers, local communities, and the Earth

What we feed ourselves creates or destroys health. What we feed animals creates or destroys their health.

When we eat animal products that come from healthy animals, our body’s health is nourished.

When we eat products that come from unhealthy animals, our body’s health is degenerated.

Longevity Recipe

From NY Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?_r=0      

Photo by Andrea Frazzetta

The Greek man above has an amazing story of health, healing, longevity, and defying medical hexing. To read his incredible story of being diagnosed by US doctors with cancer and given 9 months to live and his story of unintended healing success, click this LINK.

Longevity Recipe

Ingredients:

1. Human with desire for vibrant health

2. Real food: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/whole-food-feeding-your-cells/

3. Garden and/or connection with amazing local farmers

4. Vibrant lifestyle habits in mind, body, & spirit

5. Update 2/28/21 Connection to a loving community

It is really this simple: feed the body real food; real food for body, mind, and spirit.

In a recent conversation with a client a comment was made to me when speaking about healing:

"People do not want to believe that food is the problem."

To which I replied:

"Food, real food, is not the problem. The problem is factory made food products brought to you by Nabisco, Kellogg, Post, Betty Crocker, Pepsico, Tyson, Kraft, Nestle... on and on the list of food product manufacturers goes.

Real food feeds body cells for vibrantly healthy regeneration. Food products detract from body cell health, depleting nutritional stores, and degenerating body cells contributing to degenerative diseases. (Degenerative diseases are a body composed of degenerative body cells.)

As a culture we observe the world and look to emulate those countries with a better health and longer longevity:

• The French Paradox

• The Okinawan diet

• Mediterranean diet

Importing their culture's specific foods is not the answer. Cultures who stick to their traditional diets: food grown locally & naturally and then prepared through time honored home cooking methods are the cultures who thrive with vibrant health. No importation of foreign foods needed. Simply grow food, team up with neighbors to share the different foods you have grown and raise, and befriend local farmers who grow real food in time honored and sustainable ways... keep those farmers farming through purchasing their food and supporting their work in this world. Your health will soar, local food economy will soar, life will be vibrantly good.    http://www.gardenshare.org/

Reverse these time honored practices and instead eat processed, packaged, factory made food products and your body cells suffer. To digest and get rid of these products (detox, methylate) your body must rob nutrients from your cells. Keep robbing from your cells and the cells degenerate further and further and degenerative diseases are now the norm. 

Cultures who have always eaten their locally available and traditional foods create pregnancies with healthy babies who are developing with a firm foundation of healthy body cells. Feed those newborn infants (and their breastfeeding moms) real food and the baby's bodies develop with cellular health intact. Continue this good food, real food trend through the childhood and teen years and you grow up young adults with their cellular health intact. A lifetime of real food, whole food eating and you have a natural prescription, a recipe, for vibrant health and longevity.

The same feeding process for embryos, infants, teens, and all humans in general with processed, packaged food products and the reverse happens: cells degenerate and degenerative diseases are the norm.

Take a peak at the current US population... As a whole, We are NOT vibrantly healthy people.

Junk Vs. Real... Vibrant Vs. Degenerative Body Cells

Bottom Line: Eat Real Food, Eat Whole Food and THRIVE for the Long Haul of Life!

Whole Health Lifestyle Choices create vibrant health & longevity, click to learn more.

To learn more about using herbs to contribute to cellular health and longevity Join my Herbs For Natural Health online course.

This is a no sweat, straight forward class on making simple herbal medicines and 3-5 herbs that enhance each specific body system for your vibrant health. 

I look forward to sharing this time honored, wise woman wisdom with you, Paula

Traditional Foods, Traditional Movement

Eating whole foods, real foods, the foods that are traditional to one's area of living and thriving on this planet is one key to healing personal (and global) health. I praise the cell enhancing and body healing benefits of a 100% whole food diet all the time.

I now want to introduce you to traditional movement, the act of simply moving your body in flexing and strengthening ways, the time honored ways people on this planet have always moved their bodies. This is moving the body in the simple acts of daily living tasks that involve using the body not auto door openers and mechanized, labor saving devices. 

The farmers of Birdsfoot Farm, Canton, NY going about their daily tasks: moving, flexing, and strengthening their bodies all while creating something tangible... whole foods! Explore Birdsfoot Farm's website to see what they are up to and what they have to offer towards your healing plan!

We are a culture that simply needs to move more. Movement creates all sorts of healing effects in the body and creates an upward spiraling ripple effect to entice us to make other healing changes in our lives. When we move and then feel better... we naturally want to make even more changes to feel even "More Better!" (My kids used to use this grammatically incorrect more better making the term very endearing to me.)

We are told by the media, scientific sources, and all sorts of exercise specialists that we need to get our butts in gear, dramatically increase our heart rates for at least 20 minutes daily, lift weights to keep our muscles and bones strong, etc., etc., etc. I am not going to tell you to not engage in such activities if you are so inclined to do so. What I am going to tell you (if you are not one inclined towards hard core, butt hauling, sweat inducing, heart pumping, serious shit at the gym exercise...) is that simply getting up and moving your body, several times daily, has huge benefits for your whole body, and yes for your each and every beloved body cell!

As I grow older, I like to think common sense and wisdom is growing with me. I am one who has run miles daily (getting those miles in at 6 1/2 minutes or less was imperative), rode my bike for long and hard miles, lifted my body weight in all sorts of ways (bench presses, squats, lunges, etc.), and swam laps across rivers and lakes... I think you get the picture. In comes the wisdom (I am glad I did those things as I have always had too much energy that I needed to burn but my wisdom also tells me that some of it wore hard on my body parts)... all 4 of my grandparents lived to be just months shy of 89 years old. Not one of them ever did hard core, sweat inducing running, biking, weight lifting, swimming, etc. They simply worked hard in their tasks of daily living, moving their bodies constantly throughout the day to take care of farm animals, gardens, orchards, wood for winter fires, hay for winter feed, etc. Their exercise and weight lifting was part of life and survival from year to year. 

Lifestyle Hints: walk away from the computers (Yup, me too) go for walks, even short ones, several times daily. Walk up the stairs to use your upstairs bathroom every time you need to go (Or do laps about the house, even outside, if you only have a down stairs bathroom). Drop and do some push-ups before peeing, drop and do some crunches or V-seats (boat pose) when you are finished on the pot. Stack wood (I have 4 more cords needing stacking if anyone is interested in assisting with some free movement, no gym membership fee required and I might even make you lunch!) Walk more, do work by hand instead of using machinery, i.e.: push that lawn mower instead of sitting on it (do push-ups and pull-ups before and after mowing), split wood by hand, hoe-rake-shovel-weed, do everything you need to by hand using those glorious muscles and save the drive, and membership fee, to the gym.

I am off now to do some muscle flexing-strengthening-balancing yoga, push-ups, and a walk in the woods with my dog. I will contemplate the wood stacking and lawn mowing!

Create some Movement Magic in your own life!

Sean Corn, Yoga Teacher. Image from Yoga Journal August 2015, page 23, Rainbow Light Nutritional Supplements ad.

This chilly, wet weather on June 28th has me looking for something to do in my oven. With a hankering for yummy granola and my local yogurt, the timing seems perfect to whip up a batch of...

Gratifying Granola

Please feel free to assume that all ingredients are whole (unrefined), organic, non-GMO, pasture raised animal products, and as local as I can get.

• 2 1/4 cup oats
• 1/2 cup spelt or amaranth flour
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup water or milk of choice
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• pinch of unrefined sea salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 250 F.
2. Blend dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl.
3. Beat eggs in a separate bowl.
4. Add other wet ingredients to beaten eggs and mix well. If batter is seemingly too "wet" add tiny amounts of flour and meal to create a damp batter.
5. Drizzle wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to blend well.
6. Spread granola batter in a thin even layer in baking pan(s).
7. Bake for 2 hours at 250 F. Set a timer for every 20 to 30 minutes and stir granola well and redistribute into a thin layer on the pan(s).
8. When granola seems crunchy and well baked (not burned) remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan.
9. Transfer cooled granola to air tight containers. I prefer wide mouth quart canning jars with the 2 piece metal lids.
10. Enjoy in any and every way you enjoy granola!

80/20 Deception

I compare this 80/20 eating plan to a license to kill.  I know, I am harsh, but let's look at the reality of this bold eating statement:

Essentially what this 80/20 statement is saying is:

• eat good food - real food - whole food 80% of the time AND
• 20% of the time just let it all hang out and eat anything you want (food products, fast food, and junk food that are not even real food, yikes!). 

This equation, in most people's hand, seems like it could be dangerous. Let me explain.

Questions:

1. Do you want to heal and thrive or just survive 80% of the time?
2. Do you want health professional who hold you accountable to good cellular health or health professionals who say, "Hey, go ahead, poison your body cells 20% of the time?"  (I warned you I am harsh. Achieving health is not something to sugar coat. This reminds me of My Holistic Momma's Dilemma post.)

If you were diagnosed with lung cancer would you want to be told?:

"Hey, 80% of the time... give up those cigarettes but 20% of the time, well just go for it. Smoke whatever you want."

Liver disease...

"80% of the time avoid alcohol but 20% of the time enjoy all of the drinks you want."

Car Care: Would you put gasoline in your car's gas tank 80% of the time and corn syrup the other 20% of the time? (This is just for perspective on this 80/20% thought line.)

Hang on good people, stick with me on this one... here comes the positive, loving, there may be some interim usefulness to this 80/20 thing.

Now do not get me wrong, if a person was on "the reverse 80/20 eating plan" and consumed 80% processed, packaged, and junk food... swapping out the eating habits to an 80% whole food and 20% not so whole food eating plan would be a huge improvement. This person would notice major shifts in their energy, sleep, colon health, mental alertness, digestive ease, moods and happiness... their 80/20 eating plan's healthy side effects would on and on.

For example: I have clients who give up eating any & all sugar for just 3 days. This means reading each label carefully for every conceivable form of sugar that food manufacturers use to hide the real sugar content of food. Truthfully, most clients will just go on a 100% "no packaged food" for 3 days to rid sugar from their lives.

100% of the time I get emails or phone calls with this general message: 

     "I cannot believe how much better I feel just from this one change in my eating habits. (Now remember, in getting sugar out of the diet they have also removed all packaged foods. Bonus healing effects happen with this double shift in eating.) I have better energy, fall asleep with ease, wake up feeling more refreshed, have no sugar cravings; the mid afternoon slump and moodiness has eneded, I just feel so much better."

Natural foods start the cellular healing process immediately! This is a 100% win win.

80% Junk vs. 20% Real Food?

Shifting to 80% Whole Food & 20% not so whole foods might be the shift that pushes one over the edge to get even healthier. Feeling good begets wanting to feel great!

Quite frankly, I know I am not saying anything that most people do not already innately know: Your body needs real food to thrive. This is nature's plan. Being reminded of these cold, hard facts is a story that not everyone wants to hear. Learning, relearning what we innately know, means something has to change. A shift in lifestyle has to be made. This creates discomfort.

Try this fun field trip to take on a cold, cloudy, North Country day: 

1. slowly wander through your local grocery store and take 1 item per food category off the shelves in each section of the store,
2. read all ingredients carefully, and
3. decide if any or all ingredients seem like anything nature intended to be in your body contributing to (or detracting from) your body's cellular health.

What are your thoughts on the 80/20 Eating Plan?

Chewing for Weight Loss

I have written about the virtues of chewing on a few occasions.  Every day I see health issues that could benefit from better chewing, so...

I feel compelled to write about chewing again because your whole body's health depends on the quality of food you eat AND that very food getting to your each and every body cell. Chewing is a foundational habit of good health.

Chewing properly:

• unlocks the nutrients in the whole food you feed yourself with so those nutrients can feed your body cells which
• makes for vibrant healthy body cells (this is a front line defense against disease of all manners)
• creates a healthy digestive tract
• feeds healthy gut microbes which in turn keep your immune and nervous systems healthy (really, your whole body healthy)
• prevents constipation
• prevents gastro-intestinal ill health symptoms
• and so many more whole health effects!

Chewing for Whole Cellular Health 

Eating begins with the simple act of chewing which leads to smooth digestion and greater absorption and assimilation of nutrients by initiating the release of digestive enzymes that break down food.  The better chewed your food, the better your body can absorb and use the food’s nutrition. This means healthier better nourished body cells.

The chewing action sends messages between the mouth, brain, and stomach alerting your digestive tract that food is coming. This helps to jump start the whole digestive tract for smoother functioning by starting your digestive juices rolling! 

Have you ever chewed a piece of gum only to find your stomach churning and growling within 20 minutes?  Your chewing of gum is telling your tummy that something is coming. In the case of chewing gum, nothing is actually headed down to the stomach.  You have started the digestive process but not given your digestive tract food to work on.

Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth with chewing. Chewing converts whole grains, fruits and veggies, and other complex carbohydrates into satisfying whole food sugars.  Whole foods must be mixed with saliva and chewed until they become liquid to release their full nutritional value.

In addition, the more whole carbohydrate foods are chewed, the sweeter they become.  This, in of itself, helps to naturally satisfy the “sweet tooth” and end sugar cravings. 

Better carbohydrate digestion, from efficient chewing, helps to end that bloated feeling after a meal.  Bloat can be carbohydrates that are not digesting well from inadequate chewing and the resultant lack of mixing with salivary enzymes.  You literally stop digestion in its tracts from poor chewing habits, making the stomach and small intestine work harder than nature intended.

Chewing breaks apart proteins and fats making the oils, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and all nutrients available for maximum absorption.  Because digestion becomes so efficient when you chew your food thoroughly, your body will begin to feel wonderfully light.

Chewing food well takes your mouth and senses through the whole range of flavors in foods.  This mindfulness practice, while eating, ensures that your senses experience sweet, salty, bitter, pungent, sour, astringent, and spicy.  By chewing and experiencing these tastes, your body is satisfied with less food.  No cravings later! (When your blender chews the food for you, you miss this taste sensation experience.)

Try this experiment:  Eat a carrot.  Chew it poorly (or what is normal chewing for you), leaving good size chunks in your mouth and swallow them.  Aim for the size of sunflower or pumpkin seed chunks and swallow.  What do you think you will find in your solid waste?  You've got it, those very same chunks of carrots, virtually unchanged.  

Chew another piece, slowly and taking your time, until the piece of carrot resembles smooth pudding in your mouth.  No chunks will be found in your solid waste and your body will be able to absorb all the nutrients from the carrot.  Chunks in your solid waste are food wasted; no nutrients can be pulled from the interior of solid chunks of food.  Your digestive tract only pulls what it can from the surface area of these food chunks.  When food is like “pudding” when swallowed, the food’s surface area is immense and available for digestion and absorption of nutrients.

“Drink your solids, chew your liquids.”   An intelligent saying Dr. John Christopher, Naturopath, repeated over and over in the classes I took in Natural Healing and Herbal Medicine.  When the solid food you swallow is in liquid form from chewing, your body can absorb all the nutrients in that food. (Whole food eating is expensive. Chew well to get your $$$ worth!) This ensures healthy cell regeneration and deposits into your nutritional banks (not withdrawals and degenerative cells!).  This is a foundational practice for good nutrition and whole health.

When consuming liquids, chew them thoroughly also, so you are doing a fine job mixing those salivary enzymes with all the food that passes slowly through your mouth.

Chewing helps you lose weight!

When you slow down and thoroughly chew your food, you create a consciousness around what you are eating and your body’s satiation response (feeling physically satisfied). Chewing food well means your body can digest it better (break it down into usable nutrients) and absorb it better into your blood stream. This means that your each and every body cell will be delivered plenty of whole food nutrition. Your body will not be begging you for more food all the time if your cells are well nourished. Much of the time our hunger is not for more quantities of food and calories but it is a cry from our body for better nutrition, more nutrients at the cellular level. Slowing down to chew food into pudding like consistency (or chewing already liquid foods very well before swallowing) delivers more nutrients to the cells, squelches your body’s begging for food, prevents over eating calories every day, and ultimately supports your body in losing excess weight.

Chew well… life depends on this!

How to Chew Properly

•To get into the habit of chewing correctly, try counting the chews in each bite. It helps if you put your fork down between bites.

•Chew every mouthful of food at least 30 times each, until the food becomes liquid. Chew a minimum of 50 times if what you are eating is a really solid food (raw carrot).

•Chewing preps the digestive organs telling them food is coming. Better digestion is the result as the organs get prepped to release the necessary digestive enzymes. 

•Chewing breaks down food and makes it easier on the stomach and small intestine to digest and prepare the nutrients for your beautiful body cells. 

•Saliva assists in the digestion of carbohydrates, makes the food more alkaline, and creates less gas.

If under pressure at meals: take deep breaths before you begin your meal, chew, and let the simple act of chewing relax you. Taking the time to chew will help you to enjoy the whole spectrum of tastes and aromas that make up the meal.  Taking the time to chew will increase cellular health as the nutrients are more available to your body cells!

Slowing down and taking the time to chew is actually a stress reduction exercise.  It is a mindfulness exercise, the yoga of eating, around your food.

Good Meal Prep and Eating Suggestions

•Wash up.

•Create quiet spaces and peace for eating, turn off the “screens”.

•Use candle light to create peace and relaxation.

•Sit up with good posture.

•Say a prayer thanking the local farmers for their hard work, the earth that grew your food, your higher power, whoever cooked your meal, and your family and friends who dine with you.  The simple act of gratitude slows and calms the body, mind, and soul.

•Put your utensil down when chewing.

•Relax, breathe, and experience the textures and flavors.

•Eat in a relaxed setting: not the car, your desk at work, standing at the kitchen counter, or while on the run.

•Say thanks after you eat as well.

•Create post meal conversation instead of bolting to the “next” activity

•Go for a walk, sit on the porch just listening, create a post meal relaxation experience

Enjoy every meal for the gift of life that it truly is, Paula

Naturally Simple Ways to Weigh LESS...

Naturally Simple Ways to Weigh Less

and Live More Every Day of your life!

This is all about re-balancing your body, mind, and spirit to create a vibrantly healthy you... inside and out. So much more than the number on the "scales!"

1. Feed your soul with primary food.  Friends and family, physical activity, spirituality and a satisfying career feed us. Lack of primary food creates over-reliance on secondary, edible food.
2. Drink water. Most people are chronically dehydrated. We often mistake thirst for hunger. If you feel hungry between meals, drink a glass of water before giving into cravings. Limit liquid calories from soda, juice, sports drinks and “enhanced” waters.  Stick with nature made!
3. Eat a plant-rich diet. Plant foods are typically lower in calories and higher in fiber than meat, dairy and processed foods, while providing loads of essential nutrients.  Purchase your animal products from farmers who raise the food in a natural manner; healthy and naturally balanced foods make for a healthy, naturally balanced human. Make certain you do get enough fat and protein in your daily diet to satisfy hunger, appetite, and nutritional needs for YOU.  Each of our needs is different!
4. Chew your food well. Digestion begins in the mouth. By thoroughly chewing your food, your body will better assimilate nutrients; you will also slow down your eating. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that it is full. By slowing your eating, you’ll feel full, satisfied, and better nourished on less food.  More nutrients in each cell mean a healthier body!
5. Eat real food; avoid processed, packaged foods. Avoid products with high-fructose corn syrup or a long list of unpronounceable ingredients. (Reduce or eliminate refined sugars from your diet; glucose, fructose, any “oses”.) Packaged and convenience foods tend to be highly processed, lacking the nutrients your body needs, and are often loaded with empty calories. Avoid artificial sweeteners.  Avoid refined sweeteners, even stevia products.

If you have attended my workshops or been supported by me as a client:  Remember the cellular health information from the Whole Food slide show?  Feed your cells well!  Need to experience this workshop? Join me and the Local Living Venture on Thursday, September 25th for the start of the Whole Health and Healing Academy!  

A few more tips for balancing mind, body, and soul weight.

1. Eat raw foods:  raw fruits & veggies, raw nuts and seeds, raw nut & seed butters.  Raw foods are rich in nutrients that are not altered by the heat of cooking and provide natural enzymes needed in the body for many processes including digestion.
2. Eating enough healthy fats and protein to satisfy your appetite and your body’s nutritional needs:  choose naturally raised animal products for protein and fat and the omega 3's found in naturally raised meat, eggs and dairy products, wild salmon, avocados, walnuts, raw nuts and seeds.
3. Eat breakfast. Skipping meals causes your blood sugar levels to peak and dip, affecting your energy and moods. It can also cause overeating later on because you’re so hungry.  With this said, listen to your own body and what you know works for you.  Some people do much better without breakfast and have no problems with the rebound overeating later in the day.  Be conscious of you and your needs. I can personally admit I am not a breakfast eater.  I get hungry by 11 AM or so. I listen and follow my body's requests for food.
4. Eat mindfully. Turn off the TV. Get away from the computer. Sit down and savor the food you are eating with no distractions.  Eat from a space of unconditional self-love!
5. Get moving. Do any type of physical activity every day. Find movement or exercise you enjoy.
6. Get outside.  Your body needs fresh air and natural light.  You will create life long health benefits!
7. Sleep, rest and relax. Breath work creates relaxation, slow down & breathe deeply.  Ask me for my educational handout on breath work.  When you are sleep-deprived or stressed, your body will crave energy, causing cravings for sugary snacks and caffeine as an energy boost.
8. Schedule fun time. Boredom and stress can lead to overeating. Make sure to take time to laugh, play and participate in activities that bring you joy.
9. Find a mindfulness practice and use it every day. (Yoga, Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Meditation, Prayer...)

PS  Just a reminder about the Whole Health & Healing Academy that starts Thursday, September 25th. Join us to create vibrant health in your life!