Peaceful Meditation

Posted on October 6, 2011 by admin

For this week’s meditation, we turn to Achaan Chan:

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have even more peace. So wherever you are attached, let go of that and come back to the center. Learn to see all movement of life with balance and openness.

In my life, the more I let go of things, the more bliss I experience.

When you’re meditating deeply and your mind is silent, that is when you’ll experience the remarkable peace that comes with just letting it all go.

You don’t have to meditate deeply to let go.

When something arises in your life that causes upset, consciously take a deep breath. As you’re breathing in, close your eyes and feel the peace that comes with breath awareness.

Let your breath be still for a second or two before you breathe out. Note the peace and stillness at the pause between in and out breaths. That peace and stillness is always there. You just have to slow down enough to become aware of it.

Now breathe out and let go of what was bothering you. Repeat this exercise whenever you feel off center or stressed.

By the way, I share everything I know about meditation in my free newsletter, EarthRain. Click here to sign up and learn how to bring peace of mind and bliss into your life.

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Smoothie Headache Cure

Posted on September 29, 2011 by admin

The following smoothie recipe and variation (courtesy of Lynden) are said to be not only healthy in a general sort of way but also as a cure for migraine headaches. I don’t know whether that’s the case or not, but I’m sharing the information because the smoothie tastes great (if you like spinach and pineapple, that is).

Alta Craig’s Pineapple Spinach Smoothie

Here’s a smoothie I frequently use when I don’t have time to eat. Take a chilled 6 oz. can of pineapple juice, put into blender. Add a handful of washed, chilled spinach, and blend until smooth. Tastes delicious and is loaded with calcium, protein, and lots of other goodies.

Lynden writes…

Chet, the recipe I’m sharing is like Alta’s: take a can of chilled pineapple chunks and add spinach in a blender until thick. Add juice of pineapple to a consistency that you can drink. Drink a large glassful and lay down. The migraine should go away or at least lessen. That is an old remedy, and I don’t know if anyone has ever heard of it or not.

If you suffer from migraine headaches, I hope you’ll give this kind of smoothie remedy a try and then come back here and report on the results you get.

Posted in Food and Recipes, Health, Natural Remedies, Smoothies | Tagged | 3 Comments

Drinking Water Articles

Posted on September 22, 2011 by admin

I get a lot of questions about the best drinking water, so today I’d like to point you to several excellent articles on my website that discuss the important points of how to stay healthfully hydrated.

Spring Water, Drinking Water, and Distilled Water
Beginning our two part discussion on drinking water, Josh Day explains the differences in water you find at the grocery store.

From Tap to Reverse Osmosis
The second part of our series talks about the filtration processes of drinking water, ranging from activated carbon to reverse osmosis.

Why I Now Say No to Distilled Water Only
Believing the health gurus and their injunctions about distilled water, I drank it as my only source of water for many years, but I kept hearing from too many people who were having problems with it. Read this article to learn about these problems.

Do You Really Need Eight Glasses of Water a Day?
Most natural health authorities tell you to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of pure water every day. According to this article, that may not be such a good thing to do after all. This is an assumption-busting article that asks questions that deserve serious answers.

After reading these articles, you should have more than enough information to make wise choices about the best drinking water to put in your body every day.

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Healthy Dining Out

Posted on September 15, 2011 by admin

Hey, I know how tough it is to find truly healthy foods when you’re out of town or away from home for a few days.

In fact, finding healthy foods at restaurants can sometimes be a real chore for the serious health seeker.

Well, my friend Karen Van Cleef, shares some excellent tips on overcoming this problem in the little article you’re about to read…

Ordering Healthy Foods at the Local Greasy Spoons

Dining out is really easy once you get the hang of it. You will eventually be able to look at any menu and find something on it you can eat and enjoy.

Here are some examples of meals you can choose while dining away from home:

Olive Garden or Italian Restaurants

For a starch meal: Order Minestrone soup and salad with vinaigrette dressing. Skip the breadsticks/bread because they are just white flour and you don’t need that (it will only aggravate your sugar cravings). Say no to any parmesan or other cheese.

For a protein meal: Order a grilled meat of your choice. Have some salad and if your meat comes with potatoes, just ask them to bring you steamed veggies instead and they will gladly do it. You can have a bit of parmesan on your salad.

Chevy’s or Mexican Restaurants with Grilled Foods

For a starch meal: Order a side salad and eat that first. Order portabella mushroom or vegetable (or a combo of both) fajitas. Order corn tortillas instead of flour and eat just two of them. If you can’t have just one or two chips and stop yourself after that, don’t even start eating them. You can eat a little rice and beans too. Order the whole pinto beans instead of the refried if they have them.

For a protein meal: Order chicken or beef fajitas. Eat a big salad first. Tell the waitress you don’t want the tortillas. If you don’t want fajitas, order a meat in chile verde sauce and order a side of vegetables. Don’t even think about eating the chips. You can have a bit of cheese with this meal.

Restaurants that Serve Everything

Starch: Choose the soup and salad bar and follow the rules for combining. Vegetable soup is a good option. Don’t hesitate to ask what is in the soup. I always ask.

Protein: Grilled meat, chicken or fish will always be on these menus. Eat a salad first and it is okay to have some blue cheese dressing (on the side). Check the menu for Cobb or grilled meat salads. You could order a Caesar salad and make sure to tell them to hold the croutons.

So enjoy your next meal away from home… your next meal of healthy foods.

Thanks to Karen for sharing that. Karen, by the way, is the creator of ToothSoap, the natural approach to dental health that my family and I (and thousands of other people use every day).

Posted in Health, Tips | 4 Comments

Stress Relief Tips

Posted on September 12, 2011 by admin

I’d like to start this Monday off by sharing some stress relief tips that I’ve found useful over the years…

STRESS RELIEF TIPS

by Lin Turner

With so many illnesses linked to high levels of stress, learning to attain stress relief successfully can be a matter of life and death. This set of tried and true techniques gives you a number of choices to help you get some stress relief in your life.

If you’ve lost your sense of humor, find it immediately. When you laugh, even smile, endorphins (those pain-killing hormones that make you feel good) are released and levels of stress hormones drop. Create a stress relief kit stocked with your favorite stress-busting devices from comics to clown noses, whatever tickles your own funny bone. Keep this kit handy at all times. You never know when a good belly laugh will save the day.

Breathe deeply. Pay attention to your breathing. When you get stressed, your breathing becomes short and shallow. By consciously slowing down your breath, your thoughts and actions will follow suit. Visualize something soothing as you breathe fully and deeply.

Put yourself in “time out.” Adults need the opportunity to separate themselves from the action, get quiet, and “think about their behavior”, just as kids do. Call a time out and put some physical and emotional distance between you and the situation.

Take a hike. Give your body a chance to expend a little of that extra “fight or flight” energy it has recruited in response to a perceived threat. If you can’t get outside and let Mother Nature inspire you, climb a few flights of stairs or walk to the water cooler and back.

Nourish your body and your mind. Just as nutritious foods help your body cope with stress, nourishing thoughts are imperative to effective stress management. Telling yourself you can handle any situation and focusing on one thing at a time helps you to stay in control. Although consuming substances like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or drugs may temporarily make you feel less stressed and more in control, if you habitually rely on these substances to deal with stress you will inevitably experience more stress and feel out of control.

Listen to soothing music. Keep a portable cassette or cd player handy with your favorite piece of music ready to whisk you away from the maddening crowd.

Write things down. Creating a “to-do” list will keep you organized and on track. Writing about your feelings in a journal can help you identify and come to terms with some of the issues that are producing stress in your life.

Take a mini-holiday. Go where no man (or woman) has gone before. Or at least go where you have never gone before. Visit an art gallery, your local aquarium, botanical gardens, or planetarium. This gives you a different perspective on things and helps you appreciate life more fully.

Talk it out. Whether it’s with your best friend or your pet parakeet, talking it out helps you to clarify the cause of your stress and identify strategies for dealing with it.

Delegate. Learn to let others do what they can do while you do what you do best.

Reward yourself. Soak in the tub. Get a massage. Allow yourself to shut off the phones and sit quietly for twenty minutes. Meditate. Let yourself receive a compliment without protest. Pet your dog or cat. Open your window and let the breeze blow over you. Feed the birds. Drink a big glass of pure water. Sing loudly and off key. Laugh — a lot!

Let go of your expectations. Release your grip on reality. Accept that people seldom act the way you want them to and situations are seldom what they seem. Let life throw you a challenge.

By the way, I use a CD I created when I get stressed out. Click here to learn more about Cat’s Purr, the CD that’s guaranteed to reduce you to a puddle of relaxation in thirty minutes or less.

Posted in Health, Tips | Tagged | 3 Comments

Dew Drop Meditation

Posted on September 8, 2011 by admin

For today’s meditation we turn to Zen teacher Dogen Zenji, who so beautifully observes…

Gaining enlightenment is like the moon re-flected on the water. The moon doesn’t get wet; the water isn’t broken. Although its light is broad and great, the moon is re-flected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the whole sky are reflected in one dew-drop on the grass.

Let’s have an interesting experience with Dogen Zenji’s observation, shall we?

Try this right now… it’ll only take a few moments…

Consciously focus your attention into the present moment.

Breathe slowly and deeply at least three times while you relax and focus inwardly.

Pause for a few seconds between inhalations and exhalations.

Repeat this conscious breathing until you feeling yourself becoming one with the flow of your breath.

Now, mentally visualize the whole moon and whole sky in one dew-drop on a single leaf of grass.

Breathe in the dew-drop.

Breathe out the dew-drop.

You are the dew-drop…

and the moon…

and the sky…

Breathe.

Wow!

Take a couple of seconds and let me know by commenting below how this little meditation worked for you. You did try it, right? If not, scroll up and TRY IT now, darn it! :)

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PMS Tips

Posted on September 6, 2011 by admin

Here are a few easy PMS tips that may help relieve some of the more annoying symptoms.

Exercise

One PMS remedy that seems to help is exercise. When women do moderate exercise five times a week for at least 30 minutes a session, their PMS symptoms are significantly reduced. Because long, steady exercise causes a release of endorphins, it makes sense to keep the level “pumped up,” so to speak, during the last two weeks of the cycle. Continuous production of endorphins appears to diminish the PMS symptoms.

Eat Small Frequent Meals

It’s been shown that occasional small sugar snacks are effective in relieving the milder symptoms. To avoid fluctuations in blood sugar levels, don’t skip meals. Eat small frequent meals instead. Eat the same amount of food you normally would, but spread it out. Have three small meals and mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.

Limit Simple Sugars and Include Fiber

It is better to limit simple sugars than to try to avoid them. It’s okay to have some sugar, but don’t have it on an empty stomach, for that could trigger a binge. Instead, have a dessert with your meal. It sounds strange, but it’s better to eat dessert during the middle of a meal than at the end. Having something sweet at the end of a meal may lead you to want more sugar. If you eat the sweet mid meal, the craving is satisfied. Be sure to include fiber and protein with each meal to slow the digestion and absorption of the sugar.

Limit Caffeine and Alcohol

Some women experience alcohol intolerance during the last two weeks of their cycle; they show signs of intoxication with only two drinks when it usually takes five or six to produce the same effects.

Reduce Sodium

Finally, sodium is not as big an issue as it once was, but if you’re bothered by fluid retention and breast swelling or tenderness, then limit your sodium and avoid adding salt.

If you have any PMS tips to share, please click on the comment button below.

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Sweet Potato Heaven

Posted on September 1, 2011 by admin

I don’t know about you, but I really like sweet potatoes. They not only taste good, but they’re healthy as all get out.

So, in honor of this lovely veggie, here’s a terrific sweet potato recipe by Jessica for…

CARIBBEAN SWEET POTATO SALAD

1 large russet potato, peeled and quartered
1 large sweet potato, peeled and quartered
1 cup corn
1 tsp prepared Dijon-style mustard
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
3 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbs favorite oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts

Place the russet potato pieces into a large saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potato and cook about 15 minutes more. Remove a piece of each potato, and cut each in half to see if it is cooked enough.

Once the potatoes are tender, add corn kernels; cook another 30 seconds. Drain through a colander.

Fill the saucepan with cold water and drop vegetables into water. Cool for 5 minutes and drain.

In a large bowl, whisk together mustard, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic. Slowly whisk in oil. Mix in salt and black pepper.

Cut cooled potatoes into 1-inch cubes, and add to dressing along with cucumber, and red onion. Toss well. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Toss the peanuts in just before serving.

Oh man, sweet potato recipe heaven, we’ve arrived!

Posted in Food and Recipes | 1 Comment

Acid Reflux Tips

Posted on August 29, 2011 by admin

Here are a few natural techniques to try if you suffer from acid reflux…

  • Since nicotine weakens the lower esophageal muscle, you should stop using tobacco in all forms.
  • Avoid chewing gum and hard candy, which increase the amount of swallowed air, which, in turn, leads to belching and reflux.
  • Do not lie down immediately after eating.
  • Avoid late evening snacks.
  • Avoid tight clothing and bending over after eating.
  • Eat small, frequent portions of food and snack if needed.
  • Lose weight if overweight. Obesity leads to increased reflux.
  • Elevate the head of the bed six to eight inches to prevent reflux when sleeping. Extra pillows, by themselves, are not very helpful.

Also, remember that the healthiest diets are those that are composed of whole foods from both plant and animal kingdoms. If you want a great diet that will build health, stay away from processed and packaged foods as much as possible.

I hope you find at least one of these tips useful in alleviating an acid reflux issue.

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Say No to Sugar

Posted on August 22, 2011 by admin

If there’s a single “food” that people should remove from their diet to improve their overall health, white sugar would be at the very top of my list.

Indeed, I think most people would be amazed at how much better they’d feel if they stopped all sugar intake for one week.

And, yes, that includes not eating any packaged or bottled foods or drinks that also have sugar in them.

You don’t believe you’re eating much sugar?

Think again.

For example, most soft drinks sent down the ole hatch have anywhere from eight to eleven teaspoons of sugar in each 12-ounce bottle or can.

And who in this day and age drinks just one 12-ounce bottle or can a day? Talk about Big Gulps. Whoa!

Almost every processed food has sugar in it. If you don’t believe me, start reading the labels. And keep in mind the many different names for empty calorie sugar: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, and many others.

I challenge you to take the No Sugar for a Week Test. Read your labels and don’t put anything with sugar in it into your body.

After a week, you’ll be pretty amazed at how much better you feel.

Removing sugar from your diet is one of the simplest and best ways to start building yourself a new body and a happier life.

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