Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Did you get your laugh on today?

Hey Everyone!

So, technology is not on my side today. I've lost internet connection throughout the day, ,my laptop AC adapter decided it was time to die, and my work computer won't accept my USB stick. Ever heard the expression 'when it rains, it pours.' Well that about sums up my day. Luckily, I work from home so I can blog from my other computer. The bad thing is I can't access any pictures. So, what's a girl to do? Write a post about laughing things off, of course!

I think I can speak for most people when I say, laughing is awesome. I mean when something makes me laugh I am usually infected by it for a couple of minutes. It feels so darn good to get a good chuckle out that it must be good for you to do on a regular basis. They do say that laughter is the best medicine!

In fact, laughing is actually called a healing activity. Natural News says that laughter can be broken down to three levels. The biophysical, the biochemical, and the bioenergetic levels.

Biophysical Level- Laughter moves lymph around your body, boosting immune system function. So, why not jump on your rebounder and laugh hysterically. Or, is that not a good idea? I will test it out and let you know:) Killing two birds with one stone here guys and gals!

Biochemical Level- Every minute of laughter produces so many healing biochemicals in the body which you simply could not find in a pill. These chemicals range from serotonin to immune helpers like interleukins. Having these circulate around in your body can produce numerous health benefits including reduced chronic stress.

Bioenergetic Level- As you are laughing hysterically, you are actually breathing in heaps of oxygen. All this oxygen has to go somewhere, so the ciruculation system picks up the pace to get it to your cells. Along with improved circulation, comes mental clarity and disease prevention. People actually go to oxygen bars to improve their focus. Yes, these people are paying for lots and lots of air! Also, did you know that many parasites, and even cancer, cannot live in an oxygenated environment?

Research by Dr. Lee Berk suggests that even if you know you are about to laugh, that is enough to change the biochemistry. This anticipation caused the increase of two hormones, beta-endorphins and human growth hormone. The endorphins are involved in elevating mood and the HGH is involved in immune function. Another study looked at the reduction of bad stress hormones and found that the same anticipation of laughter reduced cortisol, epinephrine, and dopac (related to dopamine).

Laughter is so good for you they even have classes where you just laugh. How cool would that be to have in University or high school?

So, how does laughing actually take place? A cool article by Care2 sums it up pretty well. First off, it actually only takes about a half a second for something to register as being funny. This causes electrical "waves" to move about the higher functions of the cerebral cortex, the outer most tissue of the cerebrum. The left hemisphere of the brain analyzes the words and their structure. The right side of the brain makes sense out of it. The visual-sensory section of the occipital lobe conjures up images, the limbic section makes you happier, and the motor sections make you laugh or smile.
It amazes me how quickly all these connections can take place allowing me to laugh!
So, have a great laugh today! Whether its a movie, a funny pet moment, or pasting a post-it to your co-workers back (be nice!), enjoy a chuckle and know that you are doing a great thing for your health!
P.S. if you want to watch something super funny and cute, check out the YouTube vid below. The hubby and I watched it over and over and it still didn't get old.



Monday, January 25, 2010

Sending the Love to Haiti

Happy Monday!


I had the craziest working weekends and so I'm sorry for the lack of posts. Nothing too much to report, except Olympic stuff which I'll talk about another time. I really feel like I need to talk about the devastation that has hit one of the poorest countries on the planet.

I knew that it happened, and I knew it was bad, really, really bad. Yet, somehow I still didn't completely "feel" the pain, the sorrow, and the hopelessness of the people. That is until yesterday. I don't have cable TV so a lot of what I have seen and heard was through brief news articles here and there. So, I came home last night after a long day and I opened my inbox and clicked on the an email from the Huffington Post who is hosting the journal of Dr. Mark Hyman. He is in Haiti providing medical aid, along with his wife Pier who is an orthopedic surgeon. I read his post and totally lost it, tears were just pouring down. Not only was it heart wrenching to hear his stories about the suffering of the Haitians, but it killed me to feel his own helplessness. He is a trained medical doctor and he has to pick and choose who he can treat as supplies have not arrived. It was so personal and it felt like I physically absorbed his words and they settled heavily on my heart. I became angry that they cannot get a bottle of water or a piece of bread and yet here in North America businesses and people alike throw away perfectly good food. I quickly realized being angry would not help anyone and I had to DO something. So, today I made a donation via CBC's website. In Canada, the government is going to match donations up to $50 million which is pretty cool.


There is a special place in my heart for those who are living in poverty and have little hope. I have vowed to myself to visit as many of these countries as I can once I'm an ND and to try to make a difference in some small way.

I live a privileged life, and most people in North America can say the same. The hardest decision I have to make some days is whether to have one piece of chocolate or two. I truly feel humbled by Mark Hyman and the people of Haiti . I pray that all the donations and volunteers can help re-build the crumbled nation and the spirit of the Haitian people.


If you can donate anything to help those in Haiti, please do. Coffee shops here in Nelson are donating tips and earnings. So, check out your local business to see if they are collecting donations or supplies. Below I've listed some charities if you don't know where to donate online and some other cool ways to get Haiti some help.


Red Cross







Click to Help Haiti via Care2 - FREE, simply click on the button and the Sponsors do the rest!
Provides funds to OXFAM.

World Water Relief- Clean water is so scarce. They will use the funds to install water filtration systems.



The little baby below was delivered by a Red Cross volunteer. Unfortunately, her mother passed away.





Please send out lots of prayers and positive thoughts to those in Haiti!




Thursday, January 21, 2010

How to naturally freshen the air in your home!

Hey all,

Now, there are so many different air fresheners out there. The puff, they spray, they glow, they do so many things except add to your health. In fact, they are quite toxic! Now, I love my home to smell good but I do not use commercial air fresheners. In fact, I make my own and it takes about a minute! I'll tell you all about freshening up your home the natural way but I first want to talk about why commercial air fresheners are harmful.

A recent study by the NRDC (National Resource Defence Council) stated that 12 out of 14 tested air fresheners contained phthalates. These chemicals are known hormone disruptors. The phthalate compounds can cause reduced sperm counts, cause structural abnormalities in the male reproductive system, and some studies even suggest that they might cause cancer. Especially sensitive to these chemicals are unborn babies and young children. The government of California even stated that five types of phthalates (including those in air fresheners) are known to cause birth defects or reproductive problems. Another shout out to all you Moms and moms-to-be out there! An article by Care2 noted a study that found mothers who lived in homes with daily air fresheners had a 26% increased risk of depression. If they can make their effects known at the endocrine level, what can they do at the respiratory level (or any other level for that matter). Breathing these chemicals into our lungs can cause great harm, including asthma. Our Canadian government has even asked employers to not use them in the work place as they can trigger an asthma attack.


The scary part about these products is that the government does not set safety standards for them and that means there is virtually no testing. Yikes! And if you think you will just check the label, think again! They do not have to list it in the ingredients. So, you really do not know what you are spraying, breathing, or absorbing in your home.


This $200 million dollar industry needs to have some standards. It's crazy that they can get their product on the shelves but it can take years to approve a natural supplement that comes from a plant. Something is definitely wrong here.


Please keep these boogy monsters out of your home and freshen it up naturally!
  • Open doors and windows- This is the easiest option and the best way to get rid of odors (in my opinion). I know this may not be an option in the winter where you live so take advantage of it in the summer.

  • Vinegar- Place bowls of vinegar in the area where there is an odor or boil 1 cup of water with 1 tablespoon on vinegar (if the odor is in the kitchen)

  • Baking Soda- This is a great thing for your fridge or freezer. Just buy a box and leave it open in the fridge/freezer. Replace every couple of months.
  • Essential Oils - Heat these up and they can make the room smell delish!



Now, my favorite and best defence for household odors is to boil some citrus peels (from one orange, grapefruit, or lemon) with various herbs such as cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, or ginger. I add about a teaspoon of each.






The wonderful smell lasts a long time and its super cheap to make. So, next time something makes your nose crinkle and your hand wave rapidly in front of you, try a more natural approach . You will be breathing easy once again and your house will smell good enough to eat!


Happy Thursday!






















Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Weekend overview-Skip-Bo, flying avo's, and pre-birthday present

Hey everybody,

Hope you all had a great weekend. I know its already Wednesday but I wanted to include everything in one humongous post so I'm including what I did on Monday and Tuesday too. Okay, where do I start. We had a great time Saturday morning chit chatting while I did my TT workout. I told you I was dedicated to this program:) Then we went out to The Full Circle for brunch. I had this amazing wrap made with black bean hummus, tofu, sprouts, and a bunch of veggies. So yummy! When I have great food at a restaurant I try to make a mental note of what's in it so that I can attempt it at home. Now I have a picture which is even more motivation. After brunch we walked around downtown a little bit and then went for tea at Oso Negro. They have this really cool dandelion tea from Swiss that is a blend of extracts from dandelion root, barley, rye, beet root, and chicory root. It's a coffee substitute that is caffeine free. It really does have the taste of a dark roast coffee and I really enjoy it. Mom had it with steamed rice milk and that tasted so good! The coffee (and tea) there is all organic and free trade so two thumbs up to Oso Negro. After drinking our delicious teas and coffees we headed home (ten steps away he he) and played some Skip-Bo. I'm not a huge card game player but I like a game that has promotes a healthy dose of competition (especially between your partner). Ya, that's right I was talking smack! My good hearted comments did nothing to confuse Ry but they did cause my mom to go into laughing hysterics. Ahh good fun! Ry also wanted some cookies so I made the Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vegweb. These were super yummy! Probably the best cookies I have made so far. We also watched a few episodes of The Dog Whisperer. Mom loved it and was absolutely amazed at his confidence. I love how he can handle the tiny dogs with just two fingers. This brings us to Sunday which involved more exploring, tea, grocery shopping, and skip-bo. It was nice to have an extra pair of hands on our shopping day as we need to walk to a couple of different stores. We started off at Save on Foods as we have a gift card for there, then we move on to Wholesale Club for the rest of our staples like fruit, some veggies, oatmeal ( for Ry's breakfast), trail mix, beans, legumes, and other miscellaneous stuff. The final stop is usually the Kootenay Co-op where I pick up all my organic greens. I try to eat organic as much as possible but we are on a pretty strict budget so I sacrifice some things. If I don't buy it organic I check and re-check the label to ensure that I'm not eating a gazillion preservatives and chemicals. This is enough for me and I don't beat myself up for not eating 100% organic. So, after shopping we played some more games and watched a movie. Nice and chill. Then Monday morning (Mom's birthday) after my workout we snuck out to another breakfast at The Full Circle. So delish! This time I had the veggie (tofu) scramble and Mom had the grown-up grilled cheese. Suiting hey? We both enjoyed it to the last morsel! After breakie we were off! We explored some second hand shops where I picked up some interesting health books by Dr. Murray (a popular ND), Dr. Neal Bernard, and Linus Pauling. I can't wait to get reading! Also at the thrift store they had this pet halter there and I bought it hoping that it would fit Nemo so we could slowly introduce him to the outdoors . Yet, he is still too large! It's too bad as it is bright pink which would go so well with his personality. LOL! Then Mom bought me my new mini-trampoline! I'm so stoked to use it as I have read into how good they are for your lymphatic system plus so many other health benefits. Rebounders unite!
We realized it was passed 4 and so we rushed home as we had lots of cooking (and uncooking to do). I started off the meal by making Heathy's Tomato Basil soup. It was my first experience with a raw soup and it was a great one! I loved how smooth and how pungent the flavors were. I topped the soup with some cashew cream which was awesome! I will definitely make this soup again. I also made a huge salad and two dressings. One was a simple olive oil and lemon vinaigrette from Veganomicon and the other was the Green Goddess dressing from Rawsome . As the kitchen in my place is tiny, I don't have that much counter space. So, I was trying to make things easier on myself and to put the dressing in the fridge until we were ready for it. Well, I lost my grip on the bowl and it dropped to the floor spraying the Green Goddess dressing everywhere, including the whole right side of my mom. I felt so bad but we laughed about it in the end:) Even though it was Mom's birthday, she wanted to cook up a dish that got rave reviews from my aunts back home! It was this great pasta dish with cherry
tomatoes, radicchio, and chicken(I went without the chicken). It was yummy and spicy because of the radicchio! I really wanted to show mom that raw foods is delicious and so I made Ani Phyo's raspberry ganache fudge cake for the finale. Apparently raw desserts are the gateway "drug" for conventional eaters, and I agree! This take takes so little time to put together (besides the soaking time for the walnuts) which is fantastic. And hello? This cake is full of super foods including walnuts, cocao, and honey (I used this instead of Agave). Mom loved it and she even took the recipe home! We sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the match (we didn't have any candles...lol) and we devoured the cake. Although, we did leave a little bit for the next day. Just enough so we didn't feel guilty. I really enjoyed it with the raspberries this time but I think I should have added more! Mom is Skip-Bo obsessed , you see in the picture she wouldn't even put down her cards to blow out the candle..er..match. Now that we are on the topic of sweets, I also put together some sunflower seed-date-cocao-coconut balls that are always good to have in your freezer. Mom loved these as well but they were a little tough on her teeth, as they harden right up in the freezer. Mom loves to have a glass of red wine so we trucked it to the liquor store and picked up an Organic red wine from Chili. I was really impressed at the Organic wine selection they had and am glad that this industry is going green too. Now, I used to be a huge wine lover as I once worked for viticulture (wine grape) researchers, but over time I shifted to drinking beer. So, it took me a 1/2 glass just to get used to it again but it was really nice along with the rich cake. Ry likes his beer so Mom bought him a tallie so he wouldn't feel left out. He definitely has a designer mind, so when he was left with the dilemma of having a beer and no holder, he came up with this ingenious design.
Ya, he cut out a hole in my mini-tramp box that he was also using a laptop stand. What a guy..lol.. a lazy guy!

This brings us to Tuesday and we were all pretty tired. Too much food , perhaps? So, Ryan went off to school and Mom and I wandered the town and had more tea. We tried to take a good mother-daughter pict and we eventually got one but it only took 20 tries lol. Mom is pretty picky and she kept looking way up lol!


Thank You for coming to visit Mom!

PS- Ryan decided to give me my birthday present already ( My b-day is in March) and am I ever glad he did. He adopted Nemo!!! Of course, I cried and gave lots of hugs and kisses...to Nemo..just kidding! But I am so happy that he is part of the family as he is the coolest cat I've ever known. Welcome to your forever home, buddy!




Yes, he loves to blog too! But he also loves mousey more (and my shopping bags)!


Have a great rest of the week and hope that you get to spend some time with your Mom too!

I'm still here and Happy Birthday Mom!

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of posting but I wanted to soak up my visiting time with my mutti (mom is Mennonite German). My mom is from Paraguay and she speaks a lower dialect of German which is cool! I can understand words but I can't speak back, unfortunately. Anyways, we are having a grand time hanging out and walking all around Nelson. We ate some fabulous food at my favorite restaurant here called The Full Circle. We also drank lots of dandelion tea (Mom had a dandelion latte with rice milk, YUM) and played many rounds of Skip-Bo. I also got a late Christmas present, a mini-trampoline! I'm so excited to bound away on it and give my lymphatic system a boost. I introduced mom to Cesar Millan and his show The Dog Whisperer. Ry and I are truly mesmerized by his abilities to calm down crazy dogs! We are trying to learn his ways so when we get our dog, eventually, we will be in a calm, submissive state! Also, as yesterday was Mom's birthday we stayed in and made dinner and dessert, and sipped on Organic wine. I started the feast off with raw tomato basil soup from Heathy and topped it with some cashew cream, YUM! Then mom was intent on making a recipe she brought from home , so we had a lovely, light pasta dish. We finished off the night with the raw raspberry ganache fudge cake from the lovely, Ani Phyo . All in all, a fabulous night of eating! I will do a more extensive post later with lots of pictures but I have to run now as we are meeting my good friend Synje for tea and I haven't finished my green smoothie yet!

Have a great day and I'll be back on Wednesday with the longest blog post ever!

Friday, January 15, 2010

WISH

Hey all,

Just a quick note today about an amazing event that is happening in March. WISH or Women's International Summit of Health begins on March 8 for 9 consecutive days. The best part about this event is that it is absolutely FREE. Yes, free! The Raw Divas have been working super hard to make this happen and I'm so grateful. What an amazing opportunity to learn about the many different aspects of woman's health from the best experts in the field. I listened to The Raw Mom Summit last year, even though I'm not a mom, and I learned so much valuable information. This truly encouraged me to take further steps to eat more raw foods.

So, who is going to be speaking at this great Event? Here is just a small sample of the fantastic people they have lined up:











Rory Freedman- Anyone heard of Skinny Bitch? Yes, this is one of the Authors of this insanely popular diet (or lifestyle) book. Should be a great interview!











Victoria Boutenko- One of the original raw foodies who has done extensive research on the benefits of a raw food lifestyle, including green smoothies. She always has some new research to add so it will be very interesting to hear her interview.










Brendan Brazier- Vegan Triathlete, speaker, and author of multiple books including The Thrive Diet. I use his Living Harvest and Vega products and highly recommend them. This interview will be great for the plant-eating athletes and work out babes out there.










Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo- This lady is a chiropractor, certified acupuncturist, certified clinical nutritionist, and much more! I listen to her whenever she gives a telecast and I learn something new every time.



So, if you want to take your health to the next level, sign up on the website today! I know you will not regret it! You'll only regret it if you don't!


Have a great weekend!

TME79FWWATAE

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Eyes Wide Open

Hey everyone,

Since I really began looking into the healthiest options for my body, I came across a few topics that really shook up my world. One of these topics was dairy and how it (and high amounts of animal protein) actually leaches calcium from our bones. Even though I never liked drinking milk, even as a baby (sorry mom!), I liked dairy products. After reading about dairy and the whole dairy industry, I have reduced my cheese consumption to a couple times a year. I want to get rid of it completely as I feel my body change right away and my skin suffers too. Another topic was just how much the meat industry is destroying the planet. Eating the close to 200 pounds of meat that people in North America eat is worse than driving a gas guzzling car. This is one reason I went veg. You can help the planet by even just eating vegetarian one day a week. Check out Meatless Monday . Recently, I came across another such topic that has changed the way I look at science and medicine. As I want to become an ND (naturopathic doctor), I try to keep updated on what is happening in the conventional and alternative medicine worlds. So, when I found the trailer for House of Numbers I couldn't believe that I had not heard about the theory that HIV does not cause AIDS. Check out the trailer below.




I also did a bit more research into this topic and it is really quite interesting. I'm going to refer to an analogy that was made on a Natural News article to help explain the role of HIV. First off, any virus can be either a "pilot" or a "passenger". A pilot type virus can change the physiology of a cell and cause it to be more susceptible to disease. A passenger type virus lives off the cell but does not cause significant changes that steer it towards disease. Guess which one HIV is? Yep, its a passenger virus. Did you the know the founder of HIV, Dr. Robert Gallo, has since been accused of professional misconduct. Also, the test he developed for HIV has been found to be fraud. Dr. Gallo's HIV-founding partner , Luc Montagnier even admitted later on that HIV doesn't have the ability to cause such immune depression as is seen in AIDS sufferers. He also claims that you can be exposed to AIDS and not get infected if you have a strong immune system to fight it off. The implications of this are immense as you might imagine!

The HIV hypothesis states that HIV causes AIDS by killing CD4+ directly or indirectly after a 10 year or longer incubation period. The numbers of these cells will get to extremely low numbers ( less than 300 per ml) which leads to severe immune deficiency. Now that you apparently have the HIV virus, you are put on a treatment plan. This would usually involve AZT, a drug originally produced for cancer treatments but was found to be too TOXIC for even cancer cells. .This powerful drug literally sweeps cells, healthy and sick, from the body. So, what happens next? The immune system is practically destroyed. This is quite scary that big pharma is pushing this extreme drug.


Anything that destroys the immune system causes AIDS!


I always assumed AIDS was mainly spread through sexual activity, but this is apparently not the case. As the disease is highly associated with homosexuals, this was automatically assumed to be sexual in nature. Again, not the case. It seems that it is more related to drug and alcohol use (immune suppressing). An article by Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati stated that in1997 the US had approximately 570,000 adult AIDS cases and 90% of them were male homosexuals and heterosexuals and homosexual drug users.

Now, what about Africa? There is an epidemic of AIDS on that continent. If the theory holds true that AIDS is due to severe immune system depression, it makes sense that there are so many sufferers due to little quality food and poor water.


WOW, so much to think about! I found this to be quite an overwhelming topic as it goes against all that I thought HIV/AIDS was about. I hope that I did not offend anyone, as this was not my intention. I'm not taking this research as the be-all-end-all. I just like to look at all the available research out there and to think critically about what is being said.


Hope you have a great Friday!