Inspired Wellness

What the hell?

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 15:28:22 +0000

Life is crazy. I was thinking I would be able to keep up on my writing here at the blog , but life is truly topsy turvy. I have been working at my weekly goals, replacing totaled vehicles, editing my recipe book, attending classes, doing homework, helping hubby, keeping kids at all their functions, parent teacher conferences, dealing with a teenager (enough said there….), and through it all, the thing that keeps me feeling like I’m not stressed and that I can do it all is, my water intake, exercise, a decentish diet (not perfect but good), and sleep. I wake each morning, bust through the day, see my friends and feel like I am finally organized. I have accomplished at least one if not more health goals each week since the beginning of the year, and I believe this action is what keeps me grounded and capable. So if you are making your goals, and find it a struggle to keep up, hang in there, stick with it. Remember to make goals that you can accomplish, no matter the tasks that await you each day and you can succeed. I will be trying to stay in touch more than I have the last 3 weeks and we will chat soon.

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
Hans Christian Andersen

Find your sunshine this week and smell the flowers!

Hangin’ in there…

admin — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:38:26 +0000

Another week has passed and one more goal achieved! What’s in store for this week? Again, let’s keep it simple and achievable. This week my goal is to continue the avoidance of all processed sugars. I will use natural sugars for any sweetening I may need. Maple and agave syrups, honey, stevia and other vegetable glycerin sweeteners. Cooking with natural sweeteners is fun and more tasty than most imagine. Breads and prepared foods are a common hiding place for processed sugars. I will be avoiding all prepared foods and will only by wheat bread sweetened with honey and raisin juice instead of sugar. Another common hiding place for processed sugars are bottled drinks and drink mixes. So this week to keep it simple, I make funky lemonade (fresh lemon juice, maple syrup and distilled water). It’s the same drink I had the last during my liquid detoxification. It is nice to keep the pH of the body neutral while I get rid of cravings of foods and drinks that make my system more acidic, such as processed sugars.

Of we go on another trip of discovery!

Happy goal keeping.

What’s your goal this week?

Detoxification

admin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:33:07 +0000

Over the years of living in a place that experiences inversion in the winter, I have come to learn my survival technique that works the best. I am not necessarily sick, just weakened by the air around us. I live in a valley. During wintertime, the high pressure settles in over the valley. It traps the cold air and boy does it get cold. Every day colder, as the pressure sits, the temperature is not the only thing that gets worse. Also trapped in these layers of air, is every exhaust, the refinery , every waste product that usually is dispersed into the upper atmosphere, here. In front of us, sticking to us, entering lungs with every breath, clogging the skin, disabling proper immune response. Sinus’ become a major removal system. The body tries to dump the junk, but after a week or so, it’s just to much. Lethargy and possible cold or flu like symptoms rule the day. Nasty ass crap. When I experience these symptoms, my mind knows it’s time for a simple detoxification, my body is practically crying out for it. I have a lot of clients that put of the detoxification weeks until they are done being sick, or until stuff is cleared out of the air, or they mentally prepare for post detox healthy habits. But I truly recommend instead of waiting until you are ready to live healthier, you should use the detox as a tool to bring you closer to being ready. Cleanse the body and it will be closer to functioning properly, get rid of some of the cravings, bog downers, immune blockers etc… Then you are feeling better, and closer to mental preparedness of living healthier. So when the cravings are strong, when energy is low, when the environment is literally trying to kill you, when you are sick, jump right in and run through my simple 3-5 day detox. Oh yeah, nothing like getting the upper hand on this muck and guck. Don’t forget the other nice helpers like, driving out of the valley for the day or even a few hours. Give the body a break by breathing good air for a bit. Move the body and rid it of it’s burden. When you have to return to the valley, remember to drink your water and take your anti oxidants, get outta the junk, get your rest, change your filter. In your house and in your body! Get motivated now, because as fast as winter set upon us, spring is a comin for to give us relief!

50 weeks

admin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:01:38 +0000

Exercise is going ok, but the sugar has been call me. Last week I accomplished my goals in part. Nutrition goals were fine, but living in this inversion is making me sick. Only worked out 3 times. Didn’t get my normal feel good rush with work outs. The air is heavy and dirty. Started my detox to clean it all out of me. Finished up with the ionic foot soak to help detox my joints and blood a bit. Feeling much better to start this week off with my new goals. This week I’m working out at least 3 times, and going to stick with the no sugar thing since I went through my detox cleanse and am feeling good.

Where are you on your goals and resolution? Have you resolved to achieve your goals at least?

Keep in touch.

52 weeks.

admin — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:38:29 +0000

There are 52 weeks in the year. Every January, we like the idea of starting of the year with a resolution to complete and achieve 1 goal for the whole year. I want to start this year with a proposal for you. Instead of one goal that most people concede to failing at soon after their commitment to achieve it, I want to suggest something worthwhile and much more possible. 52 weeks. Looking at the week instead of the year. This week, you make a resolution. It lasts from today until next Sunday. You complete this goal for this week. I always say start with something realistic. So this week, you go without soda, or drink enough water (half your body weight in ounces.), or you start walking 1 mile a day, or you commit to studying 1 hour a day for school. Just one thing that will lead to another and another and another. One thing that you know you can do for one week. One thing that will make you a better person, healthier, stronger, smarter, and after 52 weeks, you will be.

I would like to start by sharing my resolution I made last week: “I will exercise 5 days this week”.

And today, I say I successfully completed this goal and make a new one:”This week I will work out 5 days this week and eat no red meat”.

I would love if as you follow my blog you make your first resolution: to post a comment on this blog each week. State your resolution and goal for the week and then every consecutive Sunday come back, share your progress and state your next weeks goal. Join me this year in a different kind of growth and resolution. Baby steps so to speak. Find something you can do this week. And only this week, succeed at this. Next week, build on that, and then as time passes you will reap the benefits of your success’.

Happy New Year Week my friends,

See you next week

Remember that I am here to support you, make a commitment to me and I commit to help you succeed. If you use this space to put down and make yourself responsible to someone else, putting your goals out in the open, it gives you strength to succeed. Good luck my friends.

love your SELF….

admin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:03:25 +0000

“Work is love made visible.” Kahlil Gihbran

We work at a job, at relationships, at being politically correct, at making other people happy, at giving, at taking, at surviving each day. The one thing that most people don’t work at is themselves. I have used the above quote in my work for over 10 years now. I work to be better at loving others. It was only when I started working on my own self that I realized how much meaning was tied to Kahlil’s words. When my works for myself are fulfilled, I have so much more love and energy to pass onto others. I am blessed with friends and loved ones that flourish and I want to be a part of their works as well, because I am well and loved. Everyone always said “take care of you so that you can be well to take care of others.” Most people don’t heed these words. The old example is the mother on an airplane giving the oxygen mask to her child next to her first in an emergency, but she doesn’t think about what happens when she doesn’t get her mask on and parishes and can no longer take care of the child. So today, put your mask on first, and then help others with the love of yours and their works. Love yourself today, feed your physical needs, feed your emotional needs, and think of the blessings that you can share with others that out weigh what you could have offered otherwise. Eat perfectly, sleep well, drink your water, give energy to your heart and mind and your works for others will be that of love.

Happy Holidays

Quick quote

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:17:27 +0000

“Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?”

David Bader

Eat everything….just little bits

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:13:47 +0000

It’s funny that we come into winter, when we are supposed to be moving inward, using up stores from autumn, resting and rejuvenating vital organs and instead we go out, shop, stress, go crazy for the holidays, stay up late, work the same schedule on top of it and of course… we eat.. a lot. Take away what is supposed to be happening to the body and make it worse by excessive binge eating of sugars, caffeine, fats and you are in the middle of a recipe for depression and disaster. If Christmas was in July it would be easier and a much happier season. It is odd how this holiday has become a party, party, party, eat, eat, eat, drink, drink, drink, stress, stress, stress. Add that to the fact that it falls during the time of year that we are supposed to be resting and healing. If we look to Chinese medicine and beliefs, using the yin/yang cycle of the mind, body and soul, we can start to understand why the holidays are so difficult for most people.

quick note: eat everything, but just a bite. That’s all the flavors and textures of the holiday, but nothing that will put the kibosh on your health and or struggle to not put on the holiday 10(not unlike the freshman 10, but in a third of the time). Keep it simple, don’t freak out, get your rest and eat like a king(king of ones self). Happy Thanksgiving! remember, give thanks, not gifts of food!

Hippacrates said it…. sometime….. along time ago….

admin — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:39:33 +0000

“Let Food be thy medicine.” He claimed that chronic disease came from auto-intoxication. i.e., self-poisoning due to constipation. The deposits of accumulated waste in the colon release toxins which inflame the nerves [producing rheumatism, neuralgia, melancholia, hysteria, eczema, acne, headaches, and many many other health problems. He taught a very logical way to fight and handle disease. Eat well. Yep, everyone acts like it’s this new concept to take care of your body and feed it what it needs, but, you guessed it, the idea isn’t new… it’s ancient. I think it’s funny (ironic not haha) that most doctors won’t suggest a healthy diet and exercise for recovery from many diseases and health issues. My recent experience (just this week), was the doctor that was helping my son recover from an eye infection. We visited each day and on one of the visits, she asked about my sons acne. She talked about it to see if he would like a referral to a dermatoligist. She said that the dermatologists say that diet and exercise have nothing to do with teenage acne, cystic acne etc….

I wonder how this could be true. The skin is an organ and it absorbs nutrients and expels waste products for our bodies. How can an organ not be effected by diet? This is rubbish of course. As a teenager, there are extreme hormonal changes, a diet no longer controlled by mom and dad, experimental drug use, hygiene issues (obviously a bit more in line with the dermatologists belief), and a surprising number of other circumstances that effect the skin. But any combination of any of the above can create havoc on the surface (and under) the skin. There are simple steps that can reduce the redness and swelling and break outs. White heads? Black heads? Painful cysts? Yep, simple steps. A diet rich in sugars (or a combination of all carbohydrates), high amounts of red meat, artificial sweeteners, enriched or bleached foods, yeast,carbonated drinks will increase your chances of the body using the skin to expel toxins (ie acne is likely). But a diet rich in fatty acids, simple proteins, complex carbs, vitamin D and B’s (rich in antioxidants) will support a better immune system and specifically support the skin through better waste removal elsewhere. This along with a skin care regimen and good hygiene, will make the years of teenage acne a much easier and healthier experience. Like Hippocrates, I believe that the digestive system is the secret to good health, inside and out. Regardless of where you eat, if you remember (and live by the idea) that “Food is thy medicine”, you will less likely suffer from sickness and disease.Take your own Hippocratic oath: “Do no harm”. Do no harm to your body and it will follow suit. Eat moderately and well, exercise to move the blood and you will be doing no harm. Go forth and treat yourself with the best gift: Life and living it well.

Be well and live happily

Foods on Trial

admin — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:46:02 +0000

There are three substances that are common to almost every American’s diet, and a major reduction of these in your diet will improve your health and may even save your life. Wild guess…. sugars (sucrose), cow’s milk (pasteurized), and alcohol. In my own experience, the elimination of great reduction of these substances has really changed(for the better) the level of energy I experience and the way I feel. In moderation, anything can be handled, but certainly any major use of these substances, especially chronically, affects your health proportionately.

On top of these three weapons of destruction of course is my #1 list topper of body destroyers and dissemblers is aspartame. This is not on the top three list because I refuse to put it in a paragraph with the words “moderation or light use”. ( Except for the paragraph that says I won’t say them in the same paragraph.)

Anyhow…. “Modern manufacturing of sugar has brought about entirely new diseases. The sugar of commerce is nothing else but concentrated crystallized acid. If, in former times sugar was so costly that only the wealthy could afford it, it was, from the natural economic standpoint, of no consequence. But today, when because of its low cost, sugar has caused a degeneration of the people, it is time to insist on a general enlightenment” Dr. Robert Bresler, a dentist in New Jersey.

Be well and live Happily