Which End of the Battery Are You?
Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, Dis - Ease of the body... How do they all fit together in some sort of sensible way? And, what does the battery have to do with it all?
Reasonable questions, hang with me on this one and I will explain.
I work with people, daily, on their health & well being through my online classes and 1 on 1 consultations. These people, my clients and students, are motivated to change their lives, relief ill health symptoms, and live in a dis - ease free body.
The steps to getting to this space of ease in the body (lack of dis - ease) are similar for all problems:
- tease out the root causes of the problems
- remove the causes of the problem
- heal the digestive tract of inflammation of the gut lining, lack of balance in the gut microbes, remove food sensitivities...
- calm the immune system
- nourish the liver
- balance nutritional intake, balance blood sugar , & balance body weight
- add in healthy lifestyle habits (daily movement, botanicals-herbs, etc.), including whole food eating, that will nourish the body cells and whole body back to a state of ease
- understand this is a lifestyle and commit to living these changes... well, for life.
Each of these steps are personalized for each individual's specific needs based on their body's bio-chemistry and their own personality needs.
Let's get to that battery!
I have two teen boys. Teens can be snarly, negative word spouting fountains from time to time. We were having a dinner time discussion on the role of mind set in creating disease and healing the body.
Spread Love Where Ever You Go. Let No One Ever Come To You Without Leaving Happier. Mother Teresa.
Basically, which end of the battery are you? Positive or negative? What do you surround yourself with:
- negative or positive people?
- negative or positive words, thoughts, and actions?
- negative or positive media, screen time?
When we work to change our lives for healing, we must remember the power of the ends of our personal batteries.
Negative words, conversations, thoughts, actions, people, news, social media crap, etc. are just as toxic to our body cells as:
- heavy metals toxins
- agricultural chemicals, pesticides and the like,
- synthetic ingredients in factory made food
- factory made food itself
- chlorine
- etc. etc. etc.
Every negative experience, no matter how brief, creates negative vibrational frequencies in our miraculous & beautiful body cells. Just like other toxic impacts, these negative frequencies cause inflammation that lead to ill health, dis - ease in the body. Negativity contributes to a weaker immune system and the impacts of a weakened immune system: ill health in all areas (acute issues such as colds and flu to chronic inflammatory issues of lifestyle diseases, auto-immune responses, and cancer.
Your Everyday Positivity Prescription:
- Every AM think of 1 kind thing you can do for someone else. Even tiny little acts of kindness have a huge positive ripple in your world and the world at large.
- A positive act of kindness for self (10 minutes of yoga anyone?).
- Be aware of negative thoughts creeping into your mind & stop them dead in their tracks. Replace them immediately with positive thoughts. Generating positive thoughts will become a habit quickly.
- Negative people... move away. Surround yourself with positive people.
- Negative conversations? Find a way to subvert to positive or excuse yourself from the conversation to go do a random act of kindness.
- Everyday remind yourself of 1 thing you are grateful for.
- Every night as you lie down to sleep: remind yourself of that thing you are grateful for and something good that happened that day.
- Remind yourself of the grateful thing every AM.
Gratitude is the attitude of happy folk!
The power of thought is the magic of the mind! Lord Byron
Much love and gratitude for you being here & reading this! Paula
The sign on my front door:
Anti-Inflammatory Butter Recipe
To my delight, the Potsdam Food Co-op recently had a basket full of wild turmeric root*. Before I could discover it, I received several messages from personal clients and Co-op members... "Hey Paula, guess what I found at the Co-op? AND, what do I do with it now that I have it?"
Suggestions:
- grate into soups, stews, and stir fries
- add to grated root veggie slaws
- grate into butter and nut butters
- grind into smoothies** if you are a smoothie person (See eBook information below)
- add to yummy chai tea
Keep in mind that turmeric is absorbed and used more efficiently (healing & nutritionally speaking) when it is eaten with fat. Some plant constituents (the natural chemicals in plants) are better broken down, absorbed, and assimilated into your cells when fat is part of the equation. Healthy fat is also a great help in weight loss, healing body cells, and creating vibrant health.
So... I decided to make Wild Turmeric Butter! No, this is not local butter but I was out of Kriemhild Butter and I get tired of stock piling the plastic containers it comes in. Time for me to special order some of the 1 lb. rolls that are wrapped in paper. Hmm, they do sell a 50 pound block! :)
Wild Turmeric Butter Recipe
Into the vita-mix I threw:
- 1/4 pound (1/2 cup) of cow's milk butter, see image above
- 1/3 cup raw, local honey
- 2-3 tbsp. of organic, extra virgin olive oil (always make sure it comes from a virgin!)
- 1/3 cup organic, raw, unrefined coconut oil
- 1/3 cup raw coconut butter (this contains all edible parts of the coconut not just the oil)
- 6-7 small pieces of wild turmeric root
- 2 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp. dry ginger root powder (next time I will use a piece of fresh, organic ginger root)
Then I blended it thoroughly. This took using the vita mix plunger to keep pushing the mix of ingredients into the blades. I also shut off the blender twice to scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula until all was well blended.
The next time I make this decadent and scrumptious butter I will use only cow's milk butter with the honey, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger. I was down to my last 1/2 pound block of butter. Being without butter in my home is a tragedy!
Looking into the vita mix
Turmeric butter on toast with a fried duck egg from Nature's Storehouse in Canton.
Finished Turmeric Butter in it's jar
*Curcumin, turmeric's most active ingredient, reduces the formation of fat tissue. Turmeric suppresses the blood vessels needed to form new fat tissue (it is an anti-inflammatory herb and excess fat formation is an inflammatory response) and therefore may help prevent fat build-up. Curcumin use, from turmeric, results in improvements in insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and other inflammatory symptoms associated with obesity, metabolic disorders, and even cancer.
**Smoothies:
No Quick Fixes
The "quick fix miracle" I can offer to you...
Almost daily I receive emails and/or FB messages asking me for quick fixes for all sorts of health symptoms and ills including weight loss products... "Will this really work for me and make me lose the weight?" I have stopped sending answers with suggestions. Truly, for me to even consider responding to these messages is unethical on my part as it does not serve the person's best interests.
Quick fixes do not exist for problems that have settled into our body cells over a lifetime of eating and other less than optimal lifestyle habits. Truly it takes motivation to change and commitment to the process for the "fix" to be had. And... the fix is a lifetime process, a lifetime commitment. When we reach the goal, be it weight loss or the end of some cluster of ill health symptoms, our wellness walk is not over. The walk is a walk of life and for life: a commitment to self to make the best choices every day for cellular health and overall vital wellness.
Now I will tell you this: sometimes there are quick relief strategies for problems and symptoms. What I mean is I can suggest a little tweak here and a little tweak there to give quick relief for some issues while we work to get at the underlying reason these problems exist. Then we can work on changing what needs to be changed to get rid of the problem symptoms forever.
Examples of some quick relief strategies (keep in mind these are not long term solutions but rather a "get me over the hump until we can figure better solutions":
muscle spasms and cramps (especially at night making you shoot up out of bed in crazed agony): take magnesium 400 mg at bedtime and drink more pure water throughout your day.
constipation: again, magnesium (of the citrate variety) will assist here as well as more fruits and veggies, more pure water, move your body daily, and maybe use some herbs for a bit of relief until we can correct the underlying issues.
sleep issues (keep in mind sleep issues can vary from trouble falling asleep, to staying asleep, to experiencing quality sleep): magnesium can help here as well, get off the caffeine and sugar, get outside and move...
Last night I was told the story of a local man who has transformed himself (over 2 years... it is about the long haul and commitment to self). He went from a 340 pound ill health human with serious cardiac issues; severe back, hip, knee, and ankle/feet issues; diabetes; depression with 3 medications; and high cholesterol to a 180 man with no health issues, no medications, and a healthy, fit body free from disease and depression.
What did he do? Changed the way he ate, what he ate, and got his butt to the gym and out for walks every single day. Sunshine. Fresh air. Movement. Real food, nothing processed. No sugar. Inner Conscious Connection work: how he thinks about himself and the world.
Why? Because his body was falling apart from the way he had ill treated it. It was a conscious decision on his part: stay grossly obese and sick or choose health.
He is a happy man for his endeavors and I wish he was my poster child! He did this on his own - Woo Hoo for him!
Lifestyle choices are up to you. I am offering you the opportunity and support to make health and healing choices in your life.
Blessing of good health and happiness on your personal path, Paula
E-Courses To Walk Your Health Path
Wanting The Work
I confess. I am an observer of people. I think it is part of the path I walk on this earth. I observe to try and find solutions for people as they struggle with life's challenges. In my previous blog post I spoke of Working With What We Already Have. On this note, I want to remind you that each and every one of us, has inside of ourselves, ALL that we need to heal; to reach every goal we have for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. We just need to work with what we have, call up our strengths (and we have far more than we think or give ourselves credit for having), and put into action the steps we personally need to create a healthier lifestyle.
OK, so first... my floor, back to working with what I had and my promised update. Here are finished pictures of the floor. Not bad for 100+ year old floors that the pro floor guy told me my best option was to bag them and start over!
Perfect? No.
Shabby chic? Yes.
I am happy!
Working in health care (true health care and not just disease symptom management) for 30 years and most recently for 20+ years in personal health education, I have made discoveries. We often have amazing goals for ourselves. We know where we want to be with our health, our body weight, and our physical wellness (emotional & spiritual wellness as well). Our end goals are very clear to us and we do truly want to attain these goals. Most of us have pretty good ideas about what we need to do to get to our goals.
Here's where things get sticky: wanting the work that leads us to these goals of health, weight loss, healing, physical fitness, emotional and spiritual happiness, etc.
In order to be successful at reaching our goals, we have to want to do the work to get there. This means changing the way we eat, what we eat, and our lifestyle habits little by little, step by step (or making sweeping changes if that is how you best function) and sticking with our changes to reach our goals and beyond. Maintaining health means living these newly incorporated eating and lifestyle habits for life, changing them up a bit as the seasons of the years and our lives evolve and need something different. (An example would be slowing down to embrace aging gracefully: giving you body more recovery time between fitness routines and allowing for more sleep at night than when you were 20!)
Reaching and maintaining our goals, for life, is a true "on top of the world" feeling!
The work comes in when we have to suffer a little to meet the challenge of change. I will give an example here in weight loss. In order to lose weight we have to change the way we eat, get rid of the garbage factory made food, and learn to eat less. With this comes the struggle to get through the feeling hungry challenges. If you are used to eating large meals, the challenge will be to leave the table feeling less than full and relaxing, breathing, and moving through this feeling knowing you will be ok, you will survive without feeling stuffed and full all of the time. Going hungry is the work of losing weight for some people. Wanting this work makes reaching the goal of weight loss easier and more acceptable for you to accept the challenges that lay before you.
This is true of many forms of lifestyle change to improve (yes, even heal) lifestyle diseases. To reach the goal of saying goodbye to diabetic, cholesterol, or hypertension medication and ill health symptoms, we must want the work that lies between the present dis - ease in the body and achieving the goal: major eating and lifestyle changes, living completely without sweeteners, and being OK with this and the impacting consequences of our changes.
My job as a natural health educator RN is to give you tools to support you through the WORK of making change and achieving goals. I have raved about the power of yoga to heal on numerous occasions. I am throwing it out to you again because that is just the kind of gal I am... repeat, repeat, repeat until someone actually listens to me! (I keep thinking this will someday work with my kids!)
Why I Love Yoga And Other Thoughts On Whole Food, Whole Health Healing
5 Shocking Ways Yoga Causes You To Lose Weight
The above three blog posts are inspiring posts on the benefits of yoga. I encourage you to explore what makes your mind, heart, and soul sing so that the path of the work comes more easily to and for you every day. Maybe for you it is meditation, prayer, martial arts, Qi gong, walks in the woods, etc. Find your personal soul medicine and practice it daily. Wanting the work will become second nature.
Much love, Paula
PS Upcoming Fall Online Class:
Herbs For Enhancing Your Natural Health
PPS Beloved Beet Recipe!
Substance part of the beet dish:
6 small to medium local & organic beets, gently steamed (save and drink the steam water)
2/3 can organic chickpeas
1 handful each of organic walnuts and pecans
1/2 handful organic pine nuts
Dressing:
2/3 to 3/4 cup full fat yogurt, from pasture raised cows / goats / sheep, etc.
2 tsp. local maple syrup
Fresh herbs of your liking: Basil, Oregano, Mint, Spearmint, Thyme, Tarragon, Chives , Garlic chives, Rosemary (I used all of these from my herb/weed garden out in front of my home)
Serve on a bed of local, organic, baby greens & sprinkle or slather with chunks of soft goat cheese
Weight Loss is in Your Hands
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, adds fiber to roto-root the intestinal tract, provides pectin for weight loss, and is an all-around awesome whole food for many healing and nourishing purposes. Truly speaking (or writing I should say): nourishing the body, healing, and lifetime body weight balancing all go hand in hand!
I have written several posts on sustainable weight loss over the past few years. This link will take you to them if you wish to peruse through them and see what catches your attention and feeds your personal needs.
Weight loss is a goal many of my clients put on their health history as one of their top 3 health goals they are looking to achieve.
Weight loss can be achieved quickly through the many, many, many get skinny quick diet plans. Problem is: what will you learn and have you learned about healthy eating from these get skinny quickly plans that you can use over the long haul of your life? When you stop the latest get skinny quick plan and go back to the old habits... voila, back comes all of the weight you lost.
This is what I can tell you about permanent, lifetime weight control:
1. Healing the body, this includes arriving at and maintaining a healthy body weight for your gorgeous shape and body structure, is achieved through a lifetime of eating natural (whole) foods and living as in sync with the rules of nature as possible.
2. Weight loss is not the first effect you will notice when changing your lifestyle and eating habits, so hang in there. The wait will be well worth it.
3. Healthy food repairs cellular metabolism (All the exciting things that go on inside each and every body cell every second of your breathing life. Your body cells are the building blocks of your body and your health!). When we repair the cells we in turn repair the tissues, organs, organ systems, and you... the organism! All those nasty ill-health symptoms become a thing of the past, a distant not so great memory!
4. When your eating habits are built around whole food and amounts needed to sculpt your awesome body back into its natural size and shape... this is what will happen.
5. Ditch the scales and get skinny quick schemes. Fill your home with whole foods and whole health habits and your personal health will soar as your body weight sinks!
This is my bottom line friends: get real with yourself, your food choices, and your lifestyle choices. Health will slip gently into place if you are patient and allow your body to heal.
Cheers!
The "Diets" I Have Tried
First, let me define diet as simply the food one eats. Your diet is what you eat at a meal, over the course of a day, and more so over the course of your lifetime. Diets change with the seasons (especially if you eat local food) and with our moods.
Now I realize that most people quickly think "weight loss" when they hear the word diet. If I mean weight loss, I will specifically term this a weight loss diet. Many of us have tried different eating styles in the quest for better health, vibrant energy, balanced body weight, etc.: raw food, vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, carnivore (I am thinking a serious Dr. Atkin's diet here!), local, seasonal, gluten free, wheat free, juice fast, herbal tea fast, and on and on the quest goes to get it right. I am feeling a frisky need to share the things I have tried, how they worked, why I changed the "diet" yet again, and all the funny tales that accompany my food adventures. I have to laugh as it is all a learning journey, a trek through the food of my neighborhood and the world!
I offer up this information with humor and love. I think I am suffering from Cabin Fever and a serious desire to move into the Spring Fever mode!
Spring Fever Crocus flowers, 2014 at the Potsdam Food Coop... they want out of their winter "cabin" too!
Framed photos compliments of Jayne at the Potsdam Food Coop.
Vegetarian-Vegan:
I first veered from the diet I ate growing up after reading Diet for a New America by John Robbins when I was 26, maybe 27 years old. I then decided eating vegetarian was the life for me. This vegetarian eating quickly evolved into vegan eating; if I wasn't going to eat the actual animal because of the horrid way they are factory farm raised, I could not see me continuing to eat their products (milk, dairy products, and eggs) as being any different. This plant based diet of mine went on for 7 or so years. I had fun learning about all kinds of "new" veggies and beans that I had not been exposed to as a kid. You know, in walks the kale and collards and the broccoli not slathered in cheese sauce. Who Knew! Broccoli comes without cheese sauce? This diet is the how, when, what, where, and why of my learning to cook and eat seasonal veggies in amazing ways. Along this part of my diet trek I tried macrobiotic, Ayurvedic, and various other ethnic, plant based diets. What a fantastic way to learn spices, herbs, and food combinations that I was not exposed to in the meat, potato, and side salad and/or cooked veggie diet of my youth (Now trust me, I am not knocking my diet of childhood and young adulthood. Read on and you will see why.).
I was 33 when I experienced my first pregnancy. Along with pregnancy came dreams... dreams of Mom's roast beef dinners (yup, the meat and potato thing was back with me!), chicken and dumplings, venison stew, and various other omnivorous - carnivorous things my Mom whipped up in splendor. I wanted meat. My Dad, being the wise man he is said this: "Obviously your body is telling you something, get down here for dinner, your Mom is making you venison stew." So I did! The road from Hannawa Falls to Brasher Falls is not a long one when Mom's venison stew is at the journey's end! I continued to eat meat here and there throughout this pregnancy and mostly squelched my body's cry for protein with lots of free-range eggs and organic cheeses. Keep in mind; I ate a very healthy, whole food and plenty of protein foods vegetarian diet. No junk, no refined, no packaged vegetarian fake food products... just lots of veggies and beans and whole grains (pre-soaked and cooked in a thermos, I did it up right!). My only question from these vegan years: How did I survive without butter?
Lessons Learned:
If I was going to eat a vegetarian only diet again; and believe me, I eat plenty of vegetarian and vegan meals, I would do some things differently to prevent weight gain (more about this later). I would eat my beans coupled with lots of yummy, raw nuts and seeds, skip the grains most of the time, pile on the veggies, and enjoy fruits in moderation.
Veggies, veggies, and more veggies.
Many ways to whip up veggies and enjoy without cook books or recipes: how to spice them, how to blend them with other foods, how to enjoy then in ways never before!
Balanced diet for me: I tend to be better satiated with a leaning towards protein and fat and I maintain my healthy weight this way.
Omnivore (again):
Pregnancy, post pregnancy, and breast-feeding found me searching out local sources of grass fed meat / dairy and pasture raised eggs. I was an omnivore again! To my delight, the 15 to 20 pounds I had gained eating a mostly vegan diet literally melted off my body without any effort. I say mostly vegan diet as on occasion I would eat pizza with cheese: whole grain crust pizza loaded with yummy veggies and organic cheese!
Lessons Learned:
Mom's cooking rocks!
See vegetarian lessons above.
Weight Loss: herbal tea and juice fasts
Over the years of vegetarian and vegan eating... let me tell you the fun and funny diets I tried to lose this gained weight. Yup, now I am venturing into the "weight loss" diet realm. Now keep in mind, this was all pre-motherhood and I had plenty of time to mess around in the kitchen and the health food store learning and trying new things, prepping food, and making fresh juices and herbal teas. Post-kids... I just have to have food ready to eat!
I was always mystified as to why I was gaining weight on a vegetarian diet. It made no sense to me; I was eating a healthy, whole food, and animal fat free diet. Why was I getting fat when I was leaving the animals to keep their own fat alive and intact on their body frames? In retrospect, it was all in the grains, too many grains for my body. This is where the knowledge that not one diet is healthy for every human on the planet comes into play. We must consider our physiological make up, where we live, the climate, etc.
In come the herbal tea and juice fasts. I figured I could wash that fat right out of my flesh, re-set the metabolism, clean things up a bit, and get a fresh start on life and eating. I would eat raw foods for a day, drink nothing but fresh juices and herbal teas for 3 to 7 days or so, another day of raw foods, and then back to my vegan diet. My weight loss on these fun food frolics away from solid food? Big fat zero. Never worked! But I did these juicy, herbal fasts over and over. Now I confess it was fun and easy. The food prep was minimal and the clean up a snap. No prepping, chopping, and cooking food. Just a simple zip the veggies down the juicer tube and voila'... my meal was ready! I loved carrot, celery, and beet juice. Yummy!
Lessons Learned:
The best combinations of fruits and veggies in juice blends.
Juices are easy "to go" meals.
The body feels so good when it is emptied of food for a few days.
Beer Fast (or Beer & J.D. Fast):
Warning: While this form of liquid detox diet was fun in the moment (much fun), I have to warn you that its cellular enhancing properties are not recommended over the long haul of one's life. : ) And, for your information, the J. D. is not a juice related thing!
If you are wondering: "What? Paula on a beer diet?" Yes, in my 30 plus years of studying and living holistic health and healing... I have not been perfect. There, I confessed my food and beer style sins.
So, the beer fast, It goes like this:
Grab a mug,
Grab your sister (or any tight friend will do),
Bring a tent and sleeping bag,
Head for a weekend party that consists of kegs of beer,
No, no! Food is not required in the packing plan. I told you this was a beer fast! (The JD part, Jack Daniels, is optional based upon your strength of constitution.)
Lessons Learned:
One can survive several days on beer.
The colon is completely cleansed out after a weekend of beer fasting.
This type of fasting works more efficiently and pleasantly at younger ages.
My "taste" in beer has grown up a bit.
I miss my sisterly fun!
Macrobiotic:
Eating macrobiotic is recommended to heal the body of cancer and many other health concerns. Obviously I needed to look into this healing diet! (I was probably 28, maybe 29.) I read up on it, attended a couple of classes, and joined a weekly dinner group. Both the classes and dinner were through a group in Syracuse, NY called Wellspring.
The foods I was introduced to were amazing: pickled stuff, fermented this and that, sea weeds (on a more palatable note, sea vegetables), spices I had never heard of, many rice varieties, and on and on.
Lessons Learned
This was the start of my "local" food mentality. Pure macrobiotic, when you get to the heart of the teachings, is truly about eating the local foods, what is available locally and seasonally close to your home.
This made so much more sense than me, a basically French decent person, eating foods local to the country of Japan. Seemed silly transporting Japanese foods to my plate in Northern NY State.
Ayruvedic
Ayurvedic healing is a system where your specific healing and eating plan is based upon your constitution, your body type. What you eat is based upon the needs of your body: hot, dry, cold, wet, etc. and the 6 tastes in food to balance your specific body's needs, appetite, satiation, and taste buds. I am giving a very over simplified definition of this healing lifestyle.
As per one practitioner: The most important principle in the Ayurvedic Diet is that your food is fresh (without pesticides, additives, and other chemicals), seasonal, and as often as possible local. Fresh doesn't, however, mean raw. The best Ayruvedic meals are freshly cooked, whole meals.
Are you seeing a pattern in my learning through diet, dieting (not weight loss but simply eating plan) through learning?
Lessons Learned:
Again, it is the local and seasonal thing coming at me. All these ethnic cuisines I played around with just drove home the point that our food needs to be as fresh as possible which means local and seasonal food... not food shipped in from hundreds and thousands of miles away!
Gluten Free:
Well, except for beer, of course (It is that beer thing again. But no more all weekend beer fasts for me. I am not certain a 50 year old body can handle that lifestyle!).
I do buy wheat free beer (so I avoid the biggest issue around gluten, modern wheat), organic, and brewed in Europe. I figure European beer has a better chance of being free of GMOs and other unhealthy stuff.
Why I chose to go gluten free:
psoriasis on elbows, knees, shins, and eyelids,
joint pain,
digestive woes,
wheat that has been horribly altered from the original heritage grains people ate from time beginning that contains *Super-Gluten now, and Ta-Da...
GMO pesticides.
Lessons Learned:
My psoriasis, digestive woes, and joint pains disappear when I leave wheat alone.
I have learned so many other wonderful grains exist and can be used to make anything wheat was used to make. The consistency and end product is quite different from the regular wheat stuff we are used to. (2019 update: 99.75% of the time I am totally grain free and feel better. Seriously, Thai food without steamed rice noodles would be criminal!)
Gluten Free beer is nasty. I assume that European brewed, Belgian style ales are made with non-GMO barley and hops. The gluten in barley is a totally different thing than the gluten in modern wheat.
Belgian style ale is yummy. Have I mentioned this before?
I am certain I could tell many more tales, if I thought on it long and hard enough, about all the fun food diets I have tried, the foods and spices, and the cooking methods. Life is a journey; food is a journey... just make sure to have some good quality beer and butter (from grass-fed cows) along for the trek!
SHARE: Tell us your healing diet stories in the comments below.
*Super-Gluten: I use this term as a blanket word for wheat that has had the percentage of gluten in it changed horribly and in the cross breeding of wheat to arrive at modern wheat, we have created gluten proteins that have never existed before in heritage wheat.