A New Body? ExCELLent…

There are many things that fascinate me.  I have been on a quest for as much knowledge as I can possibly get.  As I come across things, I am ever learning new things…much to my delight.  Much of these are spiritual, some are political (I am an independent political researcher by day!), some is gardening, and yet others still are related to alternative therapies.

I have always “known” deep down inside that our bodies were made in such a way that, given the proper nutrition and rest, they could heal themselves.  I took biology in high school and college, but must have missed the lesson that captured my attention a few years back while reading that our cells are constantly regenerating…some do it in seconds, some minutes, and still others in years, but they all regenerate…So literally, you can have a “new body” in a matter of years!!!

It is harder to get people (even me!!!) to understand, these days, in our fast paced, instant gratification world that we really do need to eat better, exercise and get the proper rest, for our bodies to be able to do this magnificent thing!  I am not a biologist, by any means, but I do understand cell division…I also understand that with all the impurities and chemicals in our food, water…and air…and the depletion of nutrients in our soil, we do face many challenges with regards to the possibility of regenerating “pure” cells, but I still feel, deep down, that it can be done.

It seems to me that our first step needs to be listen to our bodies.  We might also consider doing a cleanse or two…Next, commit to changing our diet for the better.  Get rid of processed and fast foods…don’t try to do a “cold turkey” sort of approach, but don’t take forever with it, either.  (You can always grow your own, which kind of helps out in the exercise department, as well!)

Next, we need to find and stick to a proper bedtime schedule.  A dear friend of mine told me that he had found in his research sleep before midnight was the most regenerating.  Next we need to find and commit to a a varied exercise program…Walking, swimming, running, pilates, some sort of sport, yoga, tai chi, Qi Gong,  just a mix of things that will get your body and joints moving…While we are at it, let’s not forget to keep our mind active and grow, spiritually.

I am convinced within myself that we can all be better, healthier and live longer without pumping our bodies full of artificial chemicals and impurities…We are magnificent creatures, capable of anything…but we must be willing to participate…

*This information is for entertainment and educational purposes only and should not be used in place of a doctor’s care.  Should you have health concerns, please seek the care of a professional…

Body Language

Body language

Have you ever wondered how the medical establishment views health? Well if we put the pieces of the puzzle
together perhaps we can better understand the true intentions of medical
sciences. Consider this, when you have a problem with your health, say
…arthritis, you make an appointment with your doctor in order to feel
better … in order to be healed of the malady which has been visited upon
you. When you get to the doctor you explain to them that you are
experiencing pain and joint discomfort, loss of strength and vitality.
The doctor then examines you, possibly runs some tests and comes back
with the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. In your mind you envision
the crippled hands and joints of one suffering from this debilitating
disease and quickly ask the doctor if he can heal you… the doctor takes
out his little pad and writes down a prescription telling you that
although rheumatoid arthritis in not curable he can lessen the pain and
slow the destruction of the dis ease , and like many you thank him for
helping you to overcome this painful ailment and hurry off to the
pharmacy to get your medicine. Well… lo and behold, the medicine works
and you feel much better, everything is back to normal. You continue
your prescription remedy and every thing seems fine, except that is for
the slight headache and stomach discomfort…not bad just a little bother,
nothing serious…must be a touch of the flu or something. Then after a
couple of months you begin to feel tenderness around your mid section, a
bloating kind of tenderness, and for some reason you seem to have
picked up a kidney infection. Better get back to the doctor for another
prescription. So you make another appointment and the doctor examines
you, and says, yes you seem to have a kidney infection and your pancreas
is swollen and inflamed. But don’t worry take these pills and you will
feel better. You ask him why am I having this trouble and the doctor
says, well, it could be your diet, or you could just be getting old, you
nod, and take the prescription to your local pharmacy and pick up your
medication, and the game plays on…..

This is how the medical community works, by prescription, they are not in it for the cure, that
would be a silly and self destructive thing to do. If they cure you, you
don’t come back.. If you don’t come back they go out of business. In
other words, curing you is the last thing they intend to do. You are no
good to them if you are healthy. So if the doctor sees you as a monetary
asset why on earth would you think he had your best interest and health
at heart?

Well believe it or not, millions of people are life long
members of the false health system, and they have the ill health to
prove it! With prescription regimens consisting sometimes of dozens of
medications to deal with everything from indigestion to athletes foot
and every thing in between. It is no wonder that the majority of the
worlds population are suffering, getting sicker faster and dying slowly
as they become less and less vital leading to inevitable death at the
hands of medical science. Yes we pay dearly to die at the hands of the
medical establishment, and they just love us for it!

So how can we change this self destructive course we are on… after all, its not
just the prescriptions that are killing us, there are toxins in every
thing we touch, eat, drink, wear and breathe. In the following text we
will explore options and remedies that if taken seriously and used will
bring us to a place of true and vital health. Will this guarantee life
long disease and chronic pain free health? Speaking from experience I will say emphatically
Yes!

So here we go, the adventure awaits…..

Where does ill health come from?

This may seem an obvious question to many, but if you buy into the genetic
marker disease argument then I need to bust that bubble . Genetics may
play a part in our propensity for dis ease… but if we are nutritionally
sound then there is no correlation no reason that our genetic make up
should lead inevitably to ill health. It is only when our bodies can not
sustain itself due to lack of nutrition that we fall ill and open the
doors to those genetic markers. The problem is.. That today, nutrition
can not be found in our commercial food industries, the products we
purchase touting the nutritional benefits of vegetables, fruits and even
meats are misleading at beast and criminal at worst. When your purchase processed
food products you are purchasing dead nutrition-less food,
chocked full of chemicals and preservatives, none of which are beneficial
to the body and all of which are harmful. But we can not stop here…
there’s more.

Food is one way in which the medical establishment
corrupts the body and creates new patients, but what about the other
things we ingest or consume on a daily basis? Every thing, shampoo,
mouth wash, toothpaste, deodorant, make up, hair dye, all carcinogens,
with a guarantee of toxic effect. Then we move on to the clothes we
wear, shoes, gloves, socks , and even our underwear, babies diapers,
pajama’s you name it.. If it is not made of unbleached undyed cotton or
other natural fabrics your skin will soak up toxins on a continual
basis.

It’s easy to over look the toxic environment, we focus so much on
what the governments and industry do blatantly yet all the while we are
soaking up toxins from every available source. It is no wonder that the
worlds population are sick and dying, the medical and consumer industry
have provided the perfect vector for their poisons.

How can we possibly expect to retain health in such a deadly environment? To be
honest, it will take more than a clean and chemical free food supply,
more than safe and pure drinking water, it will take sacrifice, a change
in lifestyle, and a change in how you view health and nutrition. The
things I will tell you here are not secrets held by a chosen few over
the ages nor will they be new scientific models given by the medical
establishment, it‘s not a new way of looking at health.. The things I
will tell you are simple, ancient and provable the only issue you will
have is your commitment and desire to live a vital and healthy life, if
the commitment is there then you can achieve health… I know some of you
will say, well it may be easy for you but not where I live… but then I
did not say it was going to be easy, nothing worth having is easy, but
if you truly are committed to your health then you will find a way to
institute these simple lifestyle changes which in many ways will be much
more accessible and cheaper to come by..

The Vital Diet
There is only one way in which to insure that your body gets the nutritional
elements it needs to function properly in order to retain vitality. You
have heard of the food pyramid, designed by the American Food and Drug
Administration, a guide to daily nutritional needs. Well I find that the
information and literature on this subject are much more useful when
used as the lining on bird cages. The correct and wholesome (with the
life therein) nutritional chart reads much better …it goes like this;

Fruits, Grains, Vegetables, Nuts, and Seeds.
A daily diet which involves these five food groups is by far the more
advantageous route to health., (do ya hear me FDA, lets talk!). If this
sounds kind of simple and basic… well that’s cause it is. But there is
more to it, let me explain… before civilization, and the advent of
communal life where one size fit everyone… people did not sit down to
dinner, they did not ingest food that was prepared, cooked or baked…
although roots and grains were boiled because of the density and
digestibility, mostly the foods were eaten on a continuous basis,,,or on an
as needed basis. This is because the energy of live food afforded the
most nutrition then and it still does today.

Eat your food raw as much as possible, vegetables cooked, steamed
or boiled have very little if any nutritional value, it is dead food,
processing kills nutrition every time!
The body does not have a time schedule for nutrition, there are
too many variables, activity, age, and environment. The body is a
machine, a self regulating machine, a self medicating machine.. Eating
large nutritionally dead meals may fill you up for the moment, but the
truth of the matter is you are overloading your digestive tract, and
causing excess bacteria and toxins to attach themselves to your system,
your body is full of nothing but useless dis ease building material. It
may taste good, and smell good but like everything else the propaganda
machine puts out…it’s a lie. A diet of fresh vital fruits, vegetables,
grains, nuts and seeds eaten on a continual basis will provide your body
with everything it needs to retain health and vitality. Snacking your
way to health instead of eating your way to dis ease.

I can not control the circumstances or difficulties that you may face due to area,
legalities, or monetary issues, these are beyond my ability to change.
What I can do however, is show you what can be achieved in the simplest
way possible for you to stay vital in the face of the environmental
toxins and dis ease that effects all of us.

A steady diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds , any nuts and seeds, some may hold
better vitamin or protein density, but if you are able to mix it up you
will get what you need. You can purchase dry fruit which if dried
naturally will retain its nutritional benefits, or you can dehydrate
them yourself. There are many ways to make a solar dehydrator, and lots
of information can be found online. Vegetables should be eaten raw, but
can also be dried, the more water content the better the nutritional
value after drying. Seeds such as sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin
seeds etc. are excellent sources of protein and other nutrients, and
wild harvested seed grasses have high nutritional value. Grains such as
wild rice, wheat, barley etc. are dense and require heat to release the
nutrients inside , which makes them an excellent match for legumes, rice
combined with beans make up a complete amino acid peptide chain, a
power house of balanced nutrition, combine that with fresh raw onions,
celery, carrots etc. and nothing could be more healthy! Juices are
essential but, you should not mix your fruits too much,. When we eat or
drink our mouth secretes enzymes which tell the stomach what it will be
digesting, regulating the stomach acids so that it is in balance.
Because fruits like apples have differencing sugars than say a
grapefruit this can sometimes if done frequently enough cause stomach
digestion issues.

Make yourself a little bag of goodies to take with you
every day, instead of filling your stomach with processed dead food,
grab a handful of dried fruit, nuts and or seeds. Eat it slowly,
allowing the enzymes to do their job, you will find not only are you
less hungry, but your energy level will not spike up and down. Do this
every day, then when you get home at night , eat a well balanced meal,
including meat if you like, but keep in mind that it takes the stomach
much longer to digest meat, so don’t eat as much. Also drinking during
the meal can weaken the stomach acids causing slow or incomplete
digestion.

Another way to make sure that the stomach is ready for a
balanced meal is to eat an apple about thirty minutes before your meal.
This allows fiber for digestion and other nutrients good for digestion.
Don’t over eat! Stop before you are full, your stomach will love you for
it!

Body Language, How The Body Talks

*Note, Body Language should have been published first, my mistake!

In my previous blog I discussed the need for vital, and wholesome food consumption for optimal health, but there are other ways in which we can also help our body to make the most of our daily diet. Beyond food and nutrition there is the body communication.

Once again if we retrace our steps backwards to our ancestors we will find that we are very different in our physiology as well as our mental and emotional states. Our ancestors viewed life very differently from what we perceive as life today.. The goals were of a more simpler and holistically pure motivation… food and shelter. Simple survival.

Today our goals are no longer simple, survival has taken on a different meaning. We do not eat for survival anymore.. we eat for pleasure, social interaction, taste and our appetites have grown, but not out of necessity, the amount of wholesome food required for health is not excessive and is far less then what we consume on a daily basis.

Eating is much more a social interaction of status and fulfillment of the taste buds. The exception to this rule would be the always in a hurry just grab a bite swallow and run attitude toward food. When we sit down to order a meal do we first consider what it is that our body needs? Do we even know? Sadly … and i say this sincerely …no we don’t. In fact i think it is safe to say that for the majority the thought never enters the equation. We want well cooked tasty food, and we want it quick and affordable! Is it any wonder that the vast majority of people living today are chronically ill and vitamin deficient, if food is not nutritious, if it does not feed the body, then what exactly can you expect of your health.

Listening to your body talk

The body is a wonderfully constructed machine… what we see as a simple task such as picking up a newspaper actually requires millions of chemical releases within the body and brain.. these chemical interactions produce the required bodily actions..increasing and decreasing blood flow, muscle contractions,eye movement, and the translation of visual to chemical stimulus needed to complete the task… yet, did you tell your body what to do?

Did you tell it which hormones to release, how much, and for how long? Did you mentally do the math required to perform the function? Need I say more… lets face it… your body is much smarter, faster and accurate than you will ever be. It can do the math and complete the equation before you have had time to add 1+1, and if you think you are good at multi-tasking think again. The body handles millions of body functions twenty four hours a day 365 days a year, non stop… over and over without a hitch… until it runs out of nutrition.

The only way that the body functions is with specific fuel… The only way to health is through nutrition, the body can only use vitamins, minerals and proteins, and they must be organic, fresh and wholesome. If you deprive the body of the essentials then you deprive yourself of health and will surely damage and possibly kill the body that sustains you. This is a cold hard fact… if you do not eat a nutritious diet your body can not function, will not function and you will find yourself a victim of any available dis ease that comes your way.

Pain, how come it hurts when i do this?

Ever have those aches and pains that seem to constantly bother you for a day or two and then subside..get more manageable only to recur more severe over time..till evertually the pain becomes unbearable and we finally go to the doctor for relief..pay the heftly clinic fee, treatment fee, x-rays and the prescription… maybe it was an infection, anemia, bronchitis or one of the many other illness’s associated with mal nutrition…yes that’s right..those fast food burgers, and trendy restaurants may have provided a pleasant social environment or a quick lunch on the go…but they did not come bearing gifts of nutritious bounty… they instead added more work for already nutritionally deprived body. How come your doctor did not tell you that?

There are many ways that the body talks to you… skin rashes, headaches, indigestion, tenderness in the mid section, muscle cramps… these are signals that something is not working right… your body is communicating not only within to the necessary nerves, cells, and hormones…but to you also. Learning to hear what your body is saying is not hard.. eating nutritious wholesome food is the only prescriptive cure.

“Nature-al” Therapy

Is there too much stress in your life?  Hard as you try, you can’t seem to find that one thing to alleviate it?  Tried yoga, and other therapies, found them very helpful, but still have more stress than you can handle?  The answer may surprise you…get into nature.

Next weekend we turn out clocks up one hour.  for some of us, me included, this is the most dreaded weekend of the year.  It’s only one hour, but it feels like months!  Yet, when you can push past the “loss,” an amazing time is opened up to us.  We can actually get home in time to get into nature, and there are several ways to go about it!

Walking in the park or neighborhood is good exercise, helping us feel better all over, and walking after dinner can help your digestion!  There are all kinds of things and colors to see in nature.  Haven’t you noticed that even the greens are not all the same color!  And, noting that, the trees are different, too.  Different shaped leaves, different heights and overall shapes and, even the bark is different on the different trees!  Birds, butterflies, bees, moths, many with intricate patterns and colorings.  Deer, so majestic in nature.  There are other animals, too, depending on where you live.  Take a camera and enjoy the sights and sounds!

There is something so invigorating about gardening…dare I say it is even spiritual!?!  Getting your hands dirty, digging in the earth, watching as the little seedlings emerge from the turned soil.  It is exciting every year, and I know it’s going to happen!  The earth returns a blessing to us, but it is more than that.  Gardening is good exercise and you get something tangible in return…flowers and food…grown right in front of you.  Not only that, but you can grow many things that are real treat to your eyes as well as your body.  Vibrant red and yellow tomatoes in different shapes and sizes, some heirloom varieties of which have some really neat patterns.  Mixed salad greens, which have differing colors from light green to burgundy reds, not to mention the shapes of the different green leaves!  Garlic chives have a beautiful purple (some are white and some lean towards pink!) tuft on top of their long, slender stalks.  Swiss Chard, the stalks and leaves of which are an array of multicolored wonder.  Peppers…oh the peppers!  Red, green, orange, yellow, “black,” hot, mild, sweet…there is almost no end!  And that is just what you see above the ground!

There are red, yellow, russet and purple potatoes.  Red, yellow and white onions.  Carrots come in orange,  but also yellow, purple, red and even black and white!  And beets, you may ask?  There are red, yellow and white, and some beets are unbelievably patterned inside!  And that is just a FEW of the incr-“edible” things you can grow!

And this doesn’t even take into account the multitude of different grasses, trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs that can be grown.  There are so many different varieties of vegetables, fruits, flowers, green plants, grasses…plants that come in so many different colors and textures and smells and patterns, there truly is something for everyone!  There are even plants that are drought tolerant for those who are forgetful!

Sooo…if you are looking for something that will truly lift your spirits and help sooth your mind…Try communing with nature…There is something to do for everyone and benefits are unlimited!

Trying Something New

Looking forward to Spring at the end of Winter is usually a great time for me, as I start planning my garden.  This year, though, I will be moving in June, so I will not get to have my normal garden.  To the rescue comes restaurant sized pickle barrels.  Thanks to a friend, I can get as many as I want…So I am thinking of dual planting…Barrels with tomatoes or peppers and herbs.  That way, I can grow lovely produce and take it with me…

Yes, I agree, my portable garden will be quite interesting, but at least I will still be able to enjoy the “fruits” of my labor…(hehehehe!)  Plus, with the cost of produce and the looks of it, you KNOW I am NOT going to want to miss my produce!

I have actually never grown a garden this way before, but my grandfather-in-law did all the time, so I know it can be done.  Put a few holes in the bottoms and sides, rocks in the very bottom, good soil, get a good organic fertilizer and  water diligently…check, check, and check!

The best thing about gardening is it is really good for my mind, body and soul!  The time spent on the land, in the dirt and with the plants is SO therapeutic!  That will change a bit, as I will not actually be “digging in the earth,” but being with my plants…I am getting giddy just thinking about it!   This should be a breeze!

Community Supported Agriculture, Farmer’s Markets, Local Co-op

While speaking to my mother today about the rising price of gasoline, she lives in the country and they have a little drive to get groceries and what not, something occurred to me.  They should consider Community Supported Agricultural or maybe even a Farmers Market in their little town.  They have a Farmers Co-Op, which is a farm supply, and maybe they would consider putting in a co-op for other goods, as well, such as personals hygiene supplies and stuff like that.  Also, many of the people living out there do garden and farm, so they could get together and have their own little Farmer’s Market, right in their town!

One thing is for sure…we need to learn to work together on the community level.  Especially now!  There are several options, but one I became familiar with a few years back was Community Supported Agriculture.

While working in alternative radio, I heard about Community Supported Agriculture, and even talked with some people who offered it.  With the economy tanking, again, and the price of gas going through the roof, it might not be a bad idea!  After all, if you don’t or can’t garden, you could get fresh, local, live food, support someone in your own community, and feel good about all of it!  One of the things to understand about CSA’s is that, at least at most, you get sampling of what is produced…so the veggies vary from week to week.  One of the other things of note is that, like in all businesses, sometimes things happen, and you might get unacceptable produce, no produce one week, or the farm could go under.  There are also farms that raise cattle, pigs, chickens and eggs from which you can purchase a share, as well.  The website Local Harvest has some great info about CSA’s and tell us that in the nine years and the multitude of CSA’s they have listed, they have received only had a handful of complaints per year, so the shared risk seems minimal!  If you are interested, you can search for a CSA in your area at the link above.

So, this year, instead of buying produce shipped in from who knows where, think local…and maybe think about  Community Supported Agriculture…After all, what better way to support your community…and your health!