Lemon and Apple Cider Love Affair

I am fond of experimenting with food and in the last few months, I have been enjoying a refreshing drink that is so good it is downright sinful in its enjoyment! Okay, I'll confess to it, I am in love with this refreshing drink and so I decided to share it with you, hoping you'll fall in love too!!

I often receive tons of lemons and other fruits from caring people and sometimes I wonder what to do with all the lemons that come in at once. During one of my ruminations on the many ways to "lemonize" (I think I just made up a word, ✔) everything I was consuming, I combined lemon, apple cider vinegar and carbonated water and was surprised by how the cocktail turned out. I took the first sip and it was as if love, honey, and ambrosia, all rolled into one, kissed my lips and traveled through my tongue into my stomach. The carbonation added a level of excitement that made the cocktail more refreshing in comparison with using plain water. I tried the combination and it lacked the scintillating buzz that carbonated water added to the cocktail. So I went back to using carbonated water.

One day, while I was enjoying this new love of mine, I thought about the health benefits. This drink contributes lots of vitamins and minerals such as C, B6, A, E, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, folate, iron, pantothenic acid, copper, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, antioxidants, antimicrobials, and probiotics.  Each time I drink it, I think, "a small dose of A, B complex, C, E, minerals, antioxidants, antimicrobials, and probiotics to boost my well being" and then I sip on with a large grin on my face.  

If you want to find out if you also can fall in love with this healthful cocktail, here's the recipe:

1 whole lemon, squeezed and dash of zest from the rind

2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

750 ml San Pellegrino Sparkling Natural Mineral Water

Add lemon juice and apple cider vinegar to 32 ounce jar, pour in the sparkling water. It will start to sizzle so don't pour in the water too quickly. Enjoy as a refreshing drink in the morning, afternoon or throughout the day. It will go flat if you keep the drink for too long, but it is still nice tasting.

You can add a dash of honey if you desire to sweeten it more than it is.

Why You Should Fall in Love With Your Gut, If You're not Already in Love with Her

I often see many people come to our wellness center with primary and secondary complains of digestive issues. It is not surprising to hear these complains, digestive diseases make up more than 40 acute and chronic conditions plaguing the human digestive tract and they range from common indigestion and constipation complaints to serious, life threatening diseases.

There once was a debate among the organs of the human body over which one was the master of all. The liver said, “I am the master. I perform over 500 functions every day and everything must come through me. I am the master.” The brain, in all gloriousness said, “I am the master puppettier and I control all of the body’s functions. Therefore, I am the king and master of all.” All of the other organs except the intestines touted their reasons for being the master of all. Finally, the gut quietly and gracefully said, “I am truly the master of all. All passes through me to get to each of you and I must ensure you all get your portions. Without me, none of you will be able to perform your functions.”

The brain harrumphed, the liver guffawed, the gut decided to show them all. Like a true lady and queen that she is, she decided to stop working for a few days. Immediately, the liver couldn’t do his work properly, the brain started sending out weird instructions to the rest of the body, the heart started beating erratically and the human was in pain and crying out in agony. There was bloating, cramps, nausea, blotchy, clammy skin, feverish feelings, visual distortions, mood issues and more. After 3 days of the gut’s strike, all of the rest of the organs unanimously bowed at her feet and crowned her the Queen. For they recognized, that they all needed her in order to be their awesome selves. Once she returned to work, the rest of the organs began to function properly and the human pooped, the pain subsided, the mood improved and happiness returned to the body.

Now, I hope you have been taking excellent care of your gut. If not, here are some things to get you started on a lifelong love affair with your lovely queen so she may serve you well.

First, eat whole, nourishing foods daily.

Reduce or cut out gluten if you’re really serious about kicking up your love affair a few notches.

Eat two servings of raw, fermented vegetables daily.

Drink ½ your weight in ounces and if drinking pure water is too dull for your new romance, infuse your water with freshly cut fruits, mint, ginger, lemon or lime. You can even change them up to keep the affair sizzling hot and the contenders on their toes.

Use a smaller plate to serve your meals and chew your food portions very well. If you want a count, 50 times is a good chew time. That gives your stomach time to signal to your brain that you are full and keeps you from overeating. By the way, this tip is also red hot for weight management, ohh la la!

Walk for at least 30 minutes every day; it helps with keeping the queen happy to be of service.

Add 2 tablespoons of ground golden flax seeds daily to your salad, yogurt or gluten free cereal or smoothie. It will help with smooth sailing afterwards, if you know what I mean.

Take digestive enzymes, glutamate, prebiotics and probiotics daily.

Find reasons to laugh and have fun. This will help your gut’s neurotransmitters work for you better.

5 Key Things That will Make Your Weight Loss Permanent

So, you’re thinking about losing weight or you have lost it and are now wondering what to do to ensure the pounds don’t creep up on you again. Welcome, you’re in good company.

There are plethora of diets and strategies about weight loss and I admit, my head spins many times around her axis from the number of them. You have the very basic ones to the super complicated, breathe only air and sniff some water only (not really but it seems that way when you read the list of all the things you cannot do and the itsy 5 line of things you can do) programs. Then there are the ones that have you exercising almost to the point of keeling over, yikes! You can probably tell that I am not a fan of dieting just for weight loss.

I am a proponent of committing to a lifestyle that supports many areas of your health, including your weight. Therefore, I seek ways to effect lasting solutions for my clients. From our successful strategies that have benefited many of our clientele and helped them achieve and sustain their desired weight goals, I have gleaned a few to share with you here.

First, design your lifestyle plan. Why? Because this will help you identify the life you have now, the life you desire and the details of that life. This will also lead to clarified actions plan that can be your compass.

Now that you have your lifestyle plan and know what your desired health goals are, it becomes easier to itemize steps or actions you need to support your desired health goals.

Okay, we’re on to something now my friend; you can now get to work on your desired health actions.

Next, implement these actions in small steps and consistently, then track your actions.

Lastly, add these daily activities:

Drink ½ your current weight in ounces of water

Chew your foods until fine before swallowing

Reduce the size of your plate size by 30%, get new set of plates and use smaller bowls

Walk for 1 to 2 miles daily

Set a specific bedtime and stick with it as much as possible.

Wake up at a specific time daily

Fill one third of your plate with high fiber foods such as lentils, beans, quinoa, squashes, and root vegetables.

Fill the second one third of your plate with leafy vegetables

Divide the last one third into equal sixes and fill 1/6th with fresh fruit and the other 1/6th with 1 ounce of nuts or ½ avocado or small piece of animal protein

Eat your fresh fruit first, then your high fiber food, then your protein/fat, lastly your leafy vegetables.

You can track your progress daily or weekly to measure your success. 

HOLED UP!

A few years ago, I ran into a gentleman who told me that as long as he worked out, he could eat whatever he wanted to eat. Requiring clarification, I asked him what he meant by "whatever he wanted to eat." And his response was devastating! He believed that as long as he exercised regularly, he could eat junk food, drink soda and candy and his health would be fine. I didn't know what to say to him so I wished him well and went about my business.

At the time, I did not say what I thought of his  misunderstanding of diet and exercise. If I had responded to him, I would have said, " Sir! working out every day and eating junk food and drinking soda is like filling a bucket with holes with water and expecting it to stay full. It will drip out!!" It's like bringing  chunks of dirt in  into a clean room and expecting the room to be clean. Eating junk food, drinking soda and then "burning them off" through rigorous exercise is not healthy.

 I didn't know this man at all and I hope junk food and soda is not his standard diet. He would be missing out on vital life giving nutrients that whole, fresh foods offer for true health and well being. With whole foods, he would be receiving nutrients that will help his body replete after a rigorous workout. He would be feel more vitality in his body and be able to live life more fully. 

Whole foods provide proper nourishment and benefits that help ward off disease and ailments.  Junk foods and junk beverages deplete life. They offer high amounts of calories and empty nutrients. We've often placed people on the appropriate life giving and life sustaining dietary regimen for them to later report that they are eating less foods because they aren't as hungry. And at the same time, their energy levels have improved and they feel better mentally, emotionally, and physically.

If I were to run into this man again, I would ask him how his health has been and hope that he would eat better, if he was still on the junk foods and beverages diet.

THE BOY WHO FELL THE TREE

Once upon a time, on a planet so very near, there once was an orphaned boy who needed a way to make money to feed himself and his little sister. Because his clothes were in tatters and he was very small in stature, no one would give him work. Every day, he would roam the main streets, asking people for work and each day, he would be turned away and somethings had to run away to avoid being hit by flying objects thrown at him by annoyed prospects. Yet, he returned, the next day and the next because he considered each rejection as steps to the eventual day that someone would give him a job so he can earn money.

One day, a merchant who had been observing the boy’s daily troll of the market center, finally offered him a job. He asked the boy to cut down a mighty oak in 2 days. Excited to have work at last, the orphaned boy took the saw he was given by the merchant and began to hack at the oak tree. For hours he persisted and there was no dent in the tree.

The merchant came by in the evening and asked the boy to stop. Unrelenting, the orphaned boy continued to saw into the tree and worked all night. When the merchant returned the next morning, the mighty oak tree was nearly sawed in half! With more effort from the orphaned boy and some additional hands with ropes around the oak tree, the mighty oak came down and shook the ground as it fell. He did it!

Very impressed with his persistence and tenacity, the merchant not only paid the boy the wages due for felling the tree, he adopted him and his little sister and raised them as his own children. The boy grew up to inherit the merchant’s business and expand it into multiple businesses which made him and his adopted relatives very wealthy.

Years later, the boy told his story to another young boy who grumbled about the amount of work he would need to do to get his results. The wealthy orphan kindly told the young boy, “Consider each day’s effort as but one blow of your blade against a mighty oak. The first blow may make zero impact on the wood; as a matter of fact, one hundred blows may make no impact on the oak tree. However, if you keep the effort consistent, the cumulative blows will fell the oak tree and you will have your desired result.”

HALF ASS IS BETTER THAN NO ASS!

Those were the words I said to Petra, a new client at our clinic when she was contemplating how long it may take for her to regain optimal health. She had plethora of questions and as I was answering each one of her questions, I told her about another client.

Fernando, had been dealing with very high cholesterol levels that refused to respond to prescribed medications from his conventional medical practitioner. Two separate cholesterol medicines had only put a dimple in the levels and he sought out other ways to improve his health. When he found us, at the recommendation from another client who has found success with her health concerns with our multimodal natural health approach, we recommended specific dietary and targeted supplementation and exercise protocols that will support the medications and help him get the results he desired.

Perturbed by the changes he would need to make, Fernando exclaimed, “How on earth am I going to be able to keep all of this together and do everything every day!”

It’s not a statement we haven’t heard before. As a matter of course, it is a regular utterance from many people we see as they realize the changes they need in order to truly get well. I had said to Fernando, “I only want you to add one thing for now and do this one thing every day.” Rather than focusing on the changes, I encouraged Fernando to follow the “Add To” principle and continue to do everything he was already doing and just add one thing to it. Within a short time, Fernando had consistently replaced one artery clogging meal with artery opening meal and he did it daily. He also did minimal exercises two times a week and took his supplements and drank more water.

In one year, after retesting, Fernando’s cholesterol dropped by 60 points and he weighed 12 pounds less! He was astonished!! Surprised by the results, he said, “Wow! I probably would have dropped double the points if I had done everything you recommended.” I agreed and said, “Well sir, half ass is better than no ass! You can now see how small changes can be significant. So let’s kick it up by half a notch for the next year, what do you say?”

Fernando agreed; you see, he didn’t just lose 12 pounds and 60 points off the cholesterol that was silently and quietly snuffing out his life. He reported he was less stressed, he felt happier and more content, and he was more productive at work. The second year that he kicked it up just a notch, he lost an additional 15 pounds of excess weight, dropped another 30 points off his cholesterol, greatly reduced the small density lipoprotein particles in his blood stream, and was taken off one of the cholesterol medicines. He is still gradually achieving his goals and getting better every day.

When Petra heard this story, she thanked me and informed me she is now ready to get her results. Although she laughed a lot as I answered her questions and told her about Fernando, she reflected she understood my intentions and was grateful for letting her know she needn’t be perfect on her way to optimal health. Working together, Petra has joined the ranks of many of our clients who are adopting my philosophy of living perfectly flawed and normally dysfunctional in the achievement of our goals in all areas of our lives.

LIKE THE OCEAN CURRENTS...

One of my favorite things to do, since I moved to the central coast of California over a decade ago, is to sojourn by the ocean on as many weekends as I am able. During one of my trips to Avila Beach, I was on the beach, enjoying my leftover smoothie bowl and my mind, as usual, began to take in my surroundings. The most fascinating that day, was the ocean itself. I sat there, spooning bits of the food from the bowl into my mouth and simply watched the ocean. Waves rolling into each other, washing up kelp and bobbing sea otters slothfully around in blissful sleep. As I watched the waves, I started to think about how the “ocean effect” occurs in daily living.

Often times we do things that, although ever so slightly, can kick our health goals down the drain. As I watched the small waves gently rock the sea otters and move the kelp fronds, I saw the subtle currents move some kelp fronds away and ashore. This natural occurence reminded me that seemingly small, bad health habits move us so far away from our health goals and derail our lives.

Someone I used to know a few years ago once complained to me about his weight creeping up for no reason. I asked him about his day to day activities and I found out his favorite past time, after work, every day, was to stop by the convenience store on his way home to purchase a six pack of light beer and some nibbles. I couldn’t believe it so I asked how long he had been nibbling and sipping and he told me for four years.

I saw the problems right away and I told him. The four years of evening routine of light beer and the evening snacks added empty calories to his waist line and were sabotaging his health. I also let him know he may be an alcoholic because he felt the need to drink every evening. Unbeknownst to him, he had created life depleting evening routine and he couldn’t see it until it was pointed out for him. 

What are your current habits and routines? When was the last time you examined them to see if they were contributing to- or depleting your health? If you haven’t put your habits or routines under the microscope lately, is it time to put them in the witness stand and cross examine them? You can easily check your routines and habits by writing down everything you eat and drink for 30 days. After 30 days, look and see if there are some unhealthy habits or routines on the sheet. If there are, replace each one with something better for 30 days; but do the replacement one at a time and track your results. Doing this will help you check your routines and habits and keep them from subtly drifting you in the direction you do not want. 

THE LEMON TREE

I once heard, a long time ago, an adage, the elephant is best eaten, one bit at a time; and it has stuck with me since. Several months ago, during a consult with a client at our clinic, the client, whom I will call Kathy, responded to my question with an experience that was akin to the elephant adage and how the adage and her experience speak to daily health and well being.

I was explaining the processes of healing to Kathy when she responded that my explanations reminded her about what she endured with her lemon tree. Kathy had bought and planted a lemon tree in what appeared to be a suitable spot in her backyard. Yet, with care and attention, the lemon tree refused to thrive; it was dying. Refusing to give up, Kathy uprooted the tree and moved it to another spot in her backyard.

The lemon tree was lifeless; it looked beyond hope, with no evidence of recovery. Having the feeling the new spot would benefit the lifeless lemon tree, Kathy began to once again nurture the tree. She pruned off the dead leaves, cut off the dead twigs and small branches; she fed it with nourishing mulch, water, made sure it was getting plenty of air and sun and gave it daily attention. Kathy continuously cared for the lemon tree; refusing to give up on it. For a while, it looked to be a futile effort, the lemon tree did not respond to Kathy’s efforts. Then one day, a tiny bud appeared on the main trunk. The tree had begun to create an offshoot branch. Then came others, reaching out of the body, it made limbs that started to stretch out and form luscious green leaves. The lemon tree was growing and blossoming. It had returned from the dead!

It grew tall and wide and began to yield fruits.  Kathy continues to nourish her flourishing lemon tree with the right nutrients, water, air, plenty of sun and every year, this tree bears big, plump, juicy lemons for her to use and to share with others.

When Kathy finished telling me about her relentless effort to revive her lemon tree, I remembered the elephant adage. Just like eating the elephant one bite at a time, Kathy’s lemon tree had required, patience, attention, and tenacity on a regular basis. The “elephant” of the lemon tree was “eaten” with Kathy’s efforts. As Kathy relayed her lemon tree story to me, I saw a woman with tenacity, courage, and diligence. I saw a woman with the willingness and desire to work and achieve her desired goals. I saw the lemon tree in Kathy and in Kathy, the lemon tree.

Like the lemon tree, Kathy’s health and well being are restored and bearing daily healthful fruits. And in simile to the elephant and the lemon tree, we are accomplishing Kathy’s health goals and desires, one day at a time.

We are like trees; we get planted, we need to be nurtured and cared for in order to grow into the flourishing trees we are meant to be.

FANNIE HURST DID IT!

Ever heard of Fannie Hurst?

If you’ve seen the movies, “Imitation of Life” (1934 and 1959) and Humoresque (1946), you’ve met Fannie Hurst through her stories.

Fannie Hurst, in her days, was a prolific writer and activist who refused to give up on her dreams. She moved to New York in 1915 to pursue her writing career. For four years, Ms. Fannie labored during the days and hoped at night. She repeatedly sent stories in to publishers even after being rejected. The Saturday Evening Post sent her thirty six-rejection slips before Ms. Fannie’s story broke the “ice” with them. For Fannie, when her efforts of being a successful writer didn’t immediately yield the desired result, she didn’t let the light of her hope dim. She didn’t say, “You win” to the despair of receiving another rejection letter from another publisher. She dug in her heels and probably said, “You may think you are winning but I am going to have the last laugh. I will persist until I force you to give in to my desires.”

Fannie Hurst kept on and pounded the proverbial doors of several publishers until they gave in and started to publish her stories. She became a successful writer whose stories earned a lot of money through motion picture rights in addition to publishing royalties.

Do you have the Fannie Hurst Persistence trait in you? When it comes to your health goals, how persistent are you in getting your results. Have you given up after two weeks at the gym didn’t give you the guns you wanted? Did you eat healthy for 3 days and decided it was a lost cause after you ate a pint of ice cream? Or are you thinking, “it’s going to be a very long time to get back my health so why bother.” Whatever your excuse may be today, I implore you to model Fannie Hurst’s persistence for your health goals. You can crawl, walk, trot, jog, run your way to your desired health goals; just do not give up on your health. Whenever you find your hope growing dim, charge back with, “I will persist until I succeed!” and keep going.

Very soon, like Fannie Hurst, your efforts will pay you richly! 

PLAYING THE GAME OF HEALTH

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016 AT 3:36PM

Recently, I was in need of a break and I decided to watch a movie. I got on Amazon Prime and found the two-part movie “Augustus: The First Emperor” At the opening scene, Ceasar Augustus, on his deathbed asked the questions, “did I play my part well in this comedy called life? Was I just or cruel? Applause please.” This line got me thinking about the game of life and especially the game of healthful living. As Augustus told his daughter Julia, about his fight to a better Rome, the viewers come along on the journey of his decisions, plots, reactions, and responses to circumstances, sacrifices, and cunnings from him and others around him who all vied for power and control of the Roman empire.

Having been reminded by Augustus that the world is a stage and we are all actors, I asked myself similar questions about my health life, “Am I living my daily health principles well? Am I kind to my body by giving it the best daily? Am I playing my part to ensure my health is optimal daily? ...” I didn’t like my honest responses to my own questions.

Word to the wise, if you don’t like the truth, don’t look in the mirror and definitely don’t ask questions to which you don’t want truthful answers. I didn’t have to dig too deep to discover I can do better with my daily health life. Truthfully, I realized I could do even better than I am doing presently. So, as I enter 2016 and I outline my goals for the year, I'l be revising my weekly and daily health goals so I can be better.

In 2015, I had intended to hike once a month, walk to the beach and back for 30 minutes daily, return to 95% raw foods diet, be in bed by 9pm every day, wake up at 5am every day, do more yoga and drink half my weight in ounces of water. In retrospect, I only hiked three times in the entire year; I walked to the beach and back twice in the entire year; I ate raw foods 75% of the time the entire year. I drank half my weight in ounces, sometimes more than that, daily. I didn’t increase my yoga practice and at best, my bedtime was at 10pm with wake up fairly consistent at 6am.

With all of my other goals, I track and revisit them daily. Alas! in 2015, I didn’t track my health and fitness goals daily. Somehow, I thought, because I am in the natural health business and I help others regain their health and wellbeing, I didn’t need to pay that much attention to my health and fitness goals. I admit, that was a pompous assumption on my part. While by average standards I did well for my health, I failed in following my own rule of tracking for consistent effort and return on improvements. I also realized I had set too many goals in the area.

For 2016, my revised health and fitness goals are:

Eat raw and plant based diet and take my supplements daily

Bike for 30 minutes 3 times a week

Drink half my weight in ounces of filtered water daily

Bonus: hike whenever I can so I can enjoy beautiful sceneries of the Central Coast of California

I set my intention to get to bed at 930p every night (a compromise, I admit)

To help me keep my intended goals for 2016, I am engaging in weekly and daily tracking of my health and fitness goals as I track other goals. One other thing I am doing is to rewrite all my goals daily; this is because I am only committing to each goal anew on a daily basis and re-entering the contract with myself each time I write it down.

Just like Caesar Augustus, on that day when I decide to vacate my human body, I want the answer to the questions, “Did I play my part well in this comedy called life? Was I just or cruel? ...” to be met with aplomb response from my Self so when I request, “Applause please” my audience will clap with gusto and vigor in celebration of a life well lived for Self and Others.  

2 SWIMMERS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016 AT 11:50AM

A husband and wife went on a lovely vacation for 1 week. There was a nice, warm lake at the vacation spot and they decided to race each other from one side of the lake to the other side. “Ready, set, go”, called out the husband and they both jumped into the water. Counting on his strength, the husband vigorously swam and swam. His wife also swam and somehow arrived at the other side of the lake before he did. Astonished by this, the husband asked, “how did you get here before I did? I am a better swimmer than you and I have more stamina”, he further stated. “I picked a tree as my focal point and I looked up from time to time to make sure I was swimming towards it. That’s all I did to get here,” she finished.

I know that many people make resolutions, set goals and sometimes don’t accomplish them. There may be plethora of reasons why the goals never get achieved; one of it may be not having a plan to achieve the goals. I often counsel our clients on tracking and the clients who use the tracking journals we provide them show more success and feel happier about their results than those who set the tracking tool aside and say they can mentally track.

Personally, I like to see and know, at any given time, where I am, what I am doing and how I am doing. So, I track. I have several trackers for various uses because I can measure my successes and see my “missed takes” which in and of themselves are super gems I use to get better.

“I know, I know, one more thing to keep track of, sheesh”, you’re probably thinking. However, if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? When you track your goals and intentions, you get your roadmap to success and you can easily get back on track for those times when life curveballs swing you off course. Because I track, I have made strides in accomplishing my health goals. As a result, I know definitively, how my health and wellbeing are doing and I can keep moving on my everlasting journey to optimal health.  

Like the wife who picked a tree as her focal point, tracking my health and other areas of my life give me focus and also my daily to do action items so I can get to my destination.

As 2016 is rolling in, how are you going to track your better health resolutions?