Healthy Living Maven for Every Age

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Thriving in Menopause

Menopause - it is one of the more confusing and least-talked about times of a woman’s life.

Emotions can run wild, hormones flare and one’s own body feels like it is internally baking.

For the uninformed, life during this strange and scary period is seldom fun.

Traveling this new path of life need not be a time of melancholic dismay. New careers are launched, passions followed and new loves found or old ones more richly seasoned. Try not to mark this time as an ending. Rather focus on all the positive aspects womanhood offers as your ovaries close down.

Granted, if you are simultaneously reading this while blotting pools of perspiration or bleary-eyed from a lack of sleep, joyous concentration and menopause are hardly equal components of the same sentence.

To abundantly survive and thrive during this time, without chemicals or hormones, are found through natural options.

Herbal supplements lead the list of many gynecologic health providers and wellness advocates.

For centuries, starting with Native American tribes, black cohosh, a member of the buttercup family, proves an effective tool.

Under the product name of Remifemin, studies of extracts of the plant’s roots and rhizomes have demonstrated the power to relieve or lessen hot flashes, depression and sleep deprivation. Unlike pharmaceutical alternatives, doses of black cohosh has not displayed any estrogenic effect that are linked to diseases like breast cancer.

From Asia another underground herb delivers substantial comfort.

Growing alongside an umbel of white flowers, the dried long linear leaves of the lily-like Crinum latifolium also share a long traditional medicine history.

Now taken in pill form, the herb was once under the sole domain of the royal family of Vietnam. Its antioxidant and other uterine health benefits reduce the draining effects of sudden hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings.

Incorporating nature’s herbal supplements into a life with more emphasis on healthy diets and regular exercise brings fruitfulness to all areas of your new life.

For more information on Crila, the herbal supplement created from Crinum latifolium, click here.

To view Healing Quest’s practice Black cohosh/menopause episode click here.

Earthing

Reducing stress is something all of us, occasionally, need to do.

One of the easiest ways is to stand or walk barefoot on grass, sand or a mountain boulder. Getting grounded, literally, to the Earth’s natural energies proves beneficial to many hampered by multiple ailments.

Studies on the subject of “earthing”, some of which are listed on the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s website, are increasing. Many focus on the gathering of earth’s electrons to provide a natural ground source for healing and balance.

Our bodies, from the brain down to our big toe muscles and the capillaries supplying blood throughout, require internal electrical charges to function. The science behind earthing means our planet’s infinite number of electrons maintains the body’s electrical stability. The absorption of these electrons neutralizes cell-damaging free radicals.

Earthing is not an ancient practice. Instead, it stems from modern times.

Starting in the early 1960s, man-made materials such as plastics replaced natural products like leather on the soles of our shoes according to Clinton Ober. He is an author, expert in electrical energy and a leading proponent of the earthing movement.

As more synthetics isolate us from the free electrons of the earth, Ober and natural medicine experts say our bodies’ disconnect is evident by a rise in illnesses with a direct correlation to chronic inflammation. These range from diabetes and arthritis to heart disease and certain cancers.

Another important proof to the damaging effects of disconnect, says Ober, is the ballooning of stress-related illnesses. Once, less than two generations ago they were a minor complaint. Now they top the list in patients’ health issues.

When earthing is regularly practiced levels of the body’s most important hormone, cortisol, are optimized for a healthy lifestyle. Improved cortisol levels mean stress, pain and inflammation are reduced, proper glucose metabolism occurs and blood pressure is regulated. Sleep improves and for diabetics, blood sugar is better maintained through better insulin release.

Ober’s book, “Earthing: The most important discovery ever?”, co-authored with Stephen Sinatra, MD and Martin Zucker, states blood circulation also improves. This allows waste to be carried away faster and replaced with more productive energy.

If geography or time constraints make connecting with Earth impossible, a number of specially-designed products replicate our planet’s healing energy.

Being connected could mean a healthier you.

To view Healing Quest’s episode on earthing click here.

The Art of Gratitude

You have received the highest-paying job in your career, the CAT scan came back negative or your child has been accepted to the college of their choice.

On the flip side, you are still under-employed despite years of searching, after 200K miles your car bit the dust, and your house has a major crack in the foundation.

Although it may seem surprising, what applies to all of those situations is gratitude.

To some giving thanks seems a quaint concept best suited to images of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.

However, according to our friend Dr. Brenda Wade, the key to successful living is finding ways to appreciate every situation.

Like tennis, painting or creating a cheese soufflé practice makes perfect, and the same is true in developing a regular routine of gratefulness. As you daily set aside just a minute or two or longer your brain recognizes them and develops patterns. These patterns transform into a habit and soon your brain is on autopilot mode.

Maintaining a gratitude habit reduces stress, which leads to a stronger immune system able to ward off many diseases. While negative thoughts and actions, like violence and depression, receive more media attention some scientists and researchers, like at the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley, are shifting the focus on the positive elements of happiness.

Dr. Wade, a respected psychologist and author, says daily affirmations filled with thanks also keep us grounded.

She suggests saying the following

“I am grateful for all I have, and all I am about to receive,” and then adding in what gives you joy and what might be required to increase it.

Should your current life be more strive than thrive, start with words of thanks for what you possess - right now. You have breath and some clothes on your body. Do not place emphasis on what you do not have. Instead, strip down your gratitude to the simple essentials.

Then unleash the power of the Universe and thank it for what is in your future - a job, a life-partner, the acceptance of a medical condition. Let your grateful words pave the way into your life.

Thankful fulfillment is part of a healthy lifestyle.

To view Healing Quest’s episode on the practice of gratitude click here.

Be grateful for a healthy body thanks to these supplements.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Grass Fed Movement

Warm weather lures many of us outside after months of mainly living inside.

Gardens are planted, pools readied and eating options now include al fresco dining.

A favorite activity is barbequing. Meat sizzling on a hot grill releases a seductive scent few can resist.

So, don’t.

Banishing beef and pork, lamb, chicken and even eggs from your diet is not a healthy move, according to many nutritional experts. Your body is being deprived of vital nutrition. Unlike trans-fat, found in margarine, processed meats and fast foods, eating animal flesh supplies saturated fat rich in Vitamins, A, D and K.

Continue reading here.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Outwitting Diet Saboteurs

www.fitjourney.com

“What?” asked my grandmother amazement blazing out her blue eyes, “You don’t want a second piece of cake? Are you sick?”

Was this the same woman who had 45 minutes earlier had cornered me in the kitchen and told me I was too heavy?

Yes, and she was my diet saboteur.

During World War II, saboteurs appeared in many films. They lurked in darkened hallways, smoky bars and under bridges.

Nowadays, recognizing them is a bit trickier – especially when they are your intimate family and friends.

Find out how to outwit the saboteurs by clicking here.

Stairway to Good Health

www.fit-journey.com

If your apartment house, office building or out-of-town hotel has a stairwell, you have another exercise outlet.

A study by the Mayo Clinic indicates significant calorie loss by exercising on a stair treadmill for an hour. It ranges from 657 for a 160-pound person to a 240-pound person losing 981 calories. The same holds for stairwell exercises.

Prior to doing a simple squat or running up a flight, ascertain it is a safe location. Be aware cell phones often cannot find reception in these enclosed spaces – so do a scouting trip.

Obviously, if dubious characters are hanging around – keep moving.

Click here to read more.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Open wide, its good for you

Perhaps the words, “open up, this is good for you,” bring back childhood memories of cod liver oil slipping down your throat.

Whether you remember it fondly or with a shudder, you swallowed one of the world’s healthiest foods.

Cod liver oil provides necessary doses of Vitamins A and D. The latter vitamin is a key component to building strong bones in newborns and young children and maintaining them as we age.

For centuries, it bolstered health and well-being particularly in Northern European fishing villages from Scotland’s Shetland Islands to throughout Scandinavia. Then as now, winter weather is harsh and the sun’s seasonal appearance brief.

By the mid-18^th century the oil’s healing properties were discovered to also benefit those afflicted with rheumatism. Advocates grew to include people with chronic dry skin, brittle nails and hair.

Throughout the 19^th century and up until the mid-20^th, millions of bottles of cod liver oil were consumed in pursuit of good health.

So what happened?

Click here to read more.