May 19, 2014

Fabulous Foods

While a few cold days have snuck themselves in, summer is just around the corner! Sure, I could do without the thick, heavy humidity, but I can’t help but grow giddy as summer draws near. You see, to me, summertime means farmers markets, and farmers markets mean real, fresh, clean, local, organic produce on my plate every week.

Sure, we all could motivate ourselves to plant gardens, but a farmers’ market is the next best thing. Personally, I love going back every year to smile, talk to, and shake hands with the person who grows my food. The produce you see here is more colorful and vibrant then anything you will find in a store, and offers greater variety, too. 

One of my favorite things to stock up on is nutritious, leafy greens. The options are endless, and these light, seasonal vegetables help our systems to clean out the thicker, richer foods we have been eating all winter long. Greens are so easy to include as a part of your daily diet, and the benefits to your body are infinite. For starters, consider the following top ten reasons to eat your leafy greens!

1. Boosts immune function
2. High in vitamins known to prevent cancer
3. Improves circulation
4. Purifies the blood
5. Provides steady energy
6. May ease feelings of depression
7. Promotes healthy intestinal flora
8. Improves liver, kidney, gallbladder function
9. Clears congestion, especially in the lungs
10. Helps reduce inflammation (1)

This list doesn’t even include my favorite reason: beautifying the skin.

For me, the easiest way to include leafy greens is to blend them all together with some frozen fruit for a delicious treat—and the bonus is that it helps you cool off. A bed of delicious, farm-fresh greens with some salmon on top is a quick go-to meal, and don’t forget you can always load them up on your sandwich if you’re trying to sneak more greens into your day.  

I think we can all agree Popeye knew what he was doing. Try to follow a little more closely in his footsteps this summer, and discover for yourself the amazing health benefits of including leafy greens in your diet.

-Megan

(1) The list of top ten reasons to eat leafy greens comes from Paula Rothstein’s article at http://www.naturalnews.com/033208_leafy_greens_nutrition.html

May 12, 2014

Short and Sweet

High doses of antidepressants appear to increase risk of self-harm in children and young adults: 
The rate of suicidal behavior (deliberate self-harm or DSH) among children and adults (24 years or younger) who started antidepressant therapy at high doses was about twice as high compared with a matched group of patients who received generally prescribed doses. The authors suggest this corresponds to about one additional event of DSH for every 150 patients treated with high-dose therapy. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140428164111.htm

“Why I've ditched statins for good”:
As experts clash over proposals that millions more of us take statins to prevent heart disease and stroke, a vascular surgeon explains why he feels better without them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10717431/Why-Ive-ditched-statins-for-good.html

US court pays $6 million to Gardasil victims: 
Gardasil, the vaccine for HPV (human papillomavirus), may not be as safe as backers claim. Judicial Watch announced it has received documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that its National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has awarded $5,877,710 dollars to 49 victims in claims made against the highly controversial HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines. To date 200 claims have been filed with VICP, with barely half adjudicated. http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/stress-and-health-dr-lind/2013/apr/10/us-court-pays-6-million-gardasil-victims/#ixzz2QV4Fdx3L

Exercise just as good as drugs in war on major disease: 
A study of more than 300 trials has found that physical activity was better than medication in helping patients recovering from strokes - and just as good as drugs in protecting against diabetes and in stopping heart disease worsening. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10515917/Exercise-just-as-good-as-drugs-in-war-on-major-disease.html

Vegetarians Less Healthy, Lower Quality Of Life Than Meat-Eaters: 
The vegetarian diet — characterized by a low consumption of saturated fats and cholesterol that includes increased intake of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain products — carries elevated risks of cancer, allergies and mental health disorders. http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/04/01/study-vegetarians-less-healthy-lower-quality-of-life-than-meat-eaters/


Radical Remission Among Cancer Patients: 
Every year, countless terminal cancer patients — some given only months to live — somehow survive to beat the odds, even after doctors have told them conventional treatments are not working. So how do they do it? Is it just a matter of luck or are there common characteristics of such remarkable, long-term cancer survivors? Read the full article to learn why some terminal cancer patients beat the odds. http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/Health-News/cancer-remission-recovery-terminal/2014/05/01/id/568869#ixzz30WdN6IPd

May 5, 2014

"O" Zone

Health, like success, is neither magical nor mysterious. They are the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals."  (Derived from a quote by Jim Rohn) 
What are the fundamentals of not good, but great Health?
Read on only if you are truly willing to change your life.
To every person who seeks help in resolving symptoms, improving their quality of life or trying to seek answers to a condition that they don’t yet understand: In this adventure, there are a few very common chasms that must be crossed. 
•      The first is the sincere desire to be truly healthier. 
•      The second is the ability to act out of a creative mindset.
•      Third is to be willing to sacrifice the mindset that allowed the condition to grow, mature and thrive. 
Everyone wants the benefits of great health. But how many can manage the responsibility? "Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves" (Friedrich Nietzsche). There is a responsibility to freedom, and great health is a freedom, and it takes a will to use it. It takes a will to choose to honor your higher self. It takes a strong will to choose consistently to be conscientious in your choices, and motives. Our will is controlled by our kidneys. The kidneys are analogous to the winter, the emotion of fear, the ears, the bones, and the low back. When we strengthen the kidneys’ energetic function, all these functions become stronger, including our will. Fear weakens the will. When we allow fear to provide counsel to us, we are gradually weakening our will. If we fear our pain, our financial ability to pay, or our future life as it may be if our condition does not change, we weaken our kidneys—and thus our will to act, and our power to be creative.
To act in a creative mindset is vital to improving our health. Health is not something you get from taking a pill, eating differently or beginning an exercise program. Health comes by changing the very way you look at the world around you as well as the world inside of you. You must see yourself in a powerfully creative way. Creativity comes from a vivid internal picture of the state you want to create. The blueprint to the building, or your new and improved health, needs to be complete before you progress very far in the construction of your new dynamic health. How do you want to feel? How much energy do you desire? How much pain do you want? How do you want to feel emotionally? What are you going to give to the universe, your fellow beings and God, to justify that gift of health? Why should you have this level of health? So you wont suffer? That isn’t a good enough reason. Be creative with your life and your potential. Why should you have this amazing gift? 
We desire the benefits of a healthy life, but are reluctant to invest in it.  The age-old debate between quality of life or quantity is an ongoing problem in our society. The vast majority of people, if asked to choose, would pick a high quality of life over a long life with poor quality. Yet, we live in a society that denies that belief. The major causes of death of our time: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and iatrogenic causes are all diseases of choice. Lifestyle choices are the major factors in diminishing our life quality and shortening what could be a very long life. Yet, as we make these choices, we bemoan the fact that we experience pain, limitation or suffer in some way, even as we continue to practice the habits that lead to illness and eventually disease, poor quality of life and premature death. 
As we experience physical, emotional and spiritual discontentedness, we seek to stem the flood of the discomfort with little consideration for the lack of integrity that caused the problem in the first place. 

Be willing to give up the old mindset that has created this level of health in the first place. Your mind is the most powerful instrument in the formation of your level of well-being. More powerful than your genes, your circumstances, your likelihoods and even possibilities. You can have a one-in-a-million chance of a recovery, and capture it because of your mindset and thoughts. But this can only happen if you cultivate the mindset that can perform the unusual and amazing feat of spontaneous healing. This mindset is the exact opposite of the mindset that causes disease. That means that if you are ill, you must go in a 180-degree direction to the one in which you are now traveling, at least in those aspects that are causing the dis-ease in you. Be willing to sacrifice those emotions, feelings and beliefs and habits that have contributed to your unhealthy state. Be willing to give up the benefits of your illness: the attention, freedom from responsibility, ability to say no, the self-criticism, spite, or the way to punish others for your illness. Whatever these limiting thoughts are, be willing to give them up. With the first two steps—desire and the ability to be creative—your pathway to a freer, clearer life is open for you to travel at your will.