Foods for Healing Broken Bones

The body’s healing capabilities are amazing. Within a week my face went from completely swollen and bruised to almost normal. The body is designed to heal. Sometimes we just get in it’s way. This week, I’ve found my body naturally craving the foods that heal. 

Nutritionally I’ve focused on getting a large amount of uncooked fruits and vegetables for their cleansing properties. My main fruits have been papaya and pineapple as they both contain enzymes that heal skin and bruising. 

Pineapple contains Bromelain, an enzyme used to treat inflammation associated with infection and injuries. It tastes great when mixed in a shake with wheatgrass. 

Wheatgrass has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. It can significantly enhance the healing process of fractures by reducing swelling and ceasing subcutaneous bleeding.

Adding green leafy vegetables purify and oxygenate the blood as well as promote circulation. Greens are also known to promote a subtle, light and flexible energy that helps lift the spirit and aid with depression. I’m finding light foods to be helpful, allowing me not to feel heavy while I physically limited in movement. 

Spirulina is another helpful super-green that I’ve been mixing with some juice or adding to a delicious chocolate shake. 

Proteins are important for the healing process and spirulina provides both the power of greens as well as the protein. Red meat is not recommended for bone healing due to its congesting density and its negative effects on calcium absorption. (other calcium “robbers” are processed sugars, caffeine, alcohol, and processed salts.)

Apples are helpful in healing bones as they contain Boron which reduces urinary excretion of calcium and magnesium and significantly increases blood levels of both estrogen and testosterone, both of which play a role in the healing of bones. 

I’ve been finding myself craving cheese and ice cream this week and am guessing that the sudden strong interest in dairy is due to the body’s need of calcium. 

While enjoying some of what I desire, I am also making sure to incorporate other calcium rich foods so that I don’t over indulge in the less healthy calcium providers. Many green, leafy vegetables — including broccoli, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens and bok choy or Chinese cabbage — are excellent sources of calcium. Salmon and sardines (can be canned), almonds, figs, tofu, dates, oranges and dried beans (especially pinto beans) are also good dietary sources of calcium. 

Omega3 oils are important so adding flax meal or oil to my meals has been essential.  

The last booster I’ll mention is bee pollen, a full-spectrum blood building and rejuvenating food, especially beneficial in the healing of broken bones and new cell growth.  

Topically using homeopathic arnica gel has been amazingly noticeable in it’s effects on reduce the bruising and healing the skin. 

I’m on the mend!

Yoga In 'Limited' Motion

A week after a car accident, still limited in movement, my stretching routine currently consists of laying flat on the floor with my feet on a chair. As I lay flat, the muscles of my ribs are elongated and consequently begin to spasm. I stay in the position, breathing deeply until the spasms subside. Each small movement in the direction of stretching my arms over my head invites more tension. Laying on my back, waiting for a few breaths until the muscles relax and then moving a little further in to the stretch; this is my current yoga practice. 

Whether stretching in my current range of motion or going deep into a pose when I’m not injured, the benefits of the practice remain the same. Taking the body to its edge, learning to stay and breathe into discomfort, allowing the discomfort to consequently subside, and going deeper into a new range of possibility. 

I am often told by others “I’m not flexible enough for yoga.” Spending half an hour working to comfortably stretch my hand over my head has provided me with the same feeling of freedom that my usual vigorous practice does. To breathe into limitation, to work with whats currently there and to move forward from a place of ease. Yoga is not a pose, its a feeling, and it is accessible to all. 

The Yoga of Car Accidents

The ‘attack’ of the shopping bag occurred while driving on the highway with open windows. The wind carried a bag that flew into my face, blocked my vision and lead me to swerve off the road. I crashed into the median and flipped the car over taking (what I think was) a couple of rolls.

Once the car went from spinning to flipping there was nothing I could do to control it. I closed my eyes, stayed clam and waited for the movement to come to an end. I felt the body release its tension as it took its last few tumbles. Once coming to a halt, I unbuckled my seat belt and crawled out through the window of my upside down vehicle.

As the airbag had never inflated, (thanks Toyota) I had hit my head badly on the steering wheel and was bleeding heavily. The medics had covered my nose and eyes with bandages and I was taken to the ER.

For the next 4 hours of care my eyes remained shut from swelling and bandages. Without the stimulation of sight, I stayed fully focused on my internal experience of thoughts, emotions and patterns of breath. Each time a thought would bring a sense of panic, I’d return to my deep rhythm of breathing and the anxiety would subside.

As I was being stitched up, I could hear a woman in the other room screaming, more from fear than pain. It is so easy for us all to get trapped in the fear if we don’t access the tools to bring us back to center.

I am so grateful for my yoga training that had enabled to release my muscles at a time of extreme tension, minimizing the impact of the crash, and has taught me ‘breath awareness’ to transform my experience to a lesson in healing rather than pain.

Is Alfalfa Really Healthy?

When I was a kid and my mother started adding alfalfa to our salads I was resistant to be eating what I called, horse food. Unknown to me then was that when the Arabs first discovered this food, they would feed it to their horses to provide them with its strengthening qualities. It was so highly thought of; al-fal-fa means “father of all foods.” Soon enough I too became accustomed to loving this sprout and grew up to be big and strong. 

The mighty alfalfa sprout is helpful in cleaning the intestinal tract and removing harmful acids out of the blood. Alfalfa can also help us assimilate proteins, fats and carbohydrates and is helpful in producing more milk in nursing mothers.

However, alfalfa does have its down side. In "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, the author mentions that alfalfa has been shown to "inhibit the immune system and contribute to inflammatory arthritis and lupus". This is caused by an amino acid called canavanine.

As a sprout lover myself, I tend to have alfalfa in moderation. If buying alfalfa in the store, I tend to buy the kind that is mixed with other sprouts as well. For the most part, I eat broccoli and radish sprouts as they do not contain the canavanine. Some studies are saying that red clover sprouts contain canavanine as well and should be eaten in moderation. 

Click here for more information about sprouts. 
Click here to find out more about Sally Fallon's approach to health.

Enhancing Your Metabolism Through The Power of Breath

Did you know that you could control your stress levels as well as achieve your ideal weight by simply learning to breathe deeply? 

We all have stress which we need to address. What we may not have realized is that breathing is a major factor in controlling stress: it can either relieve it or create it.

When stressed, one tends to take a shallow breath using the upper chest muscles rather than the diaphragm. For many, this breathing pattern becomes habitual, even when stress is not present. By paying closer attention, we can learn to control the depth and pace of each breath, enabling us to control our reactions to the stresses of life.

A Natural Shallow Breath: 
Shallow breathing using the upper chest muscles occurs naturally when we hyperventilate. It is meant only for moments of severe stress when we need to increase the supply of oxygen to the body.

Imagine you are in the woods and are confronted by a bear. As you spot the bear you gasp. Gasping is a shallow breath into the upper part of the lungs. This gasp stimulates the lobes of the upper lungs which activate the part of your nervous system telling you there is a state of emergency. In the case of the bear, the body receives the message to RUN!

Although we now live in urban environments and bears are not the norm, our body continues to operate in a similar fashion, where a shallow breath signals the body to stay in survival mode.

A Shallow Breath’s Effect On Weight: 
When the body believes itself in danger, it looks for an immediate source of energy to fuel its escape. The carbohydrates we eat are the primary energy source in times of danger and stress because they are most easily converted into fuel by the body. As long as the body thinks there is a state of emergency it will crave emergency fuel in the form of simple carbohydrates and sugar (these include processed foods such as cookies, chips, breads, soda, etc). Unfortunately, even though carbohydrates give a quick boost of energy, it is short lived with energy levels dropping once we digest the food. We then crave another dose of sugar and carbohydrates to lift up the energy levels once more, leading to overeating, overweight, and a number of other serious ailments.  

Besides creating cravings for carbohydrates, as long as the body is in a “survival mode mentality” it will store as much fat as possible for later use. Fat has more energy stored in it and burns more slowly than carbohydrates, supplying longer lasting energy.  The body does not know how long this “state of emergency” will last so it stores as much energy as it can.

While in “survival mode”, the digestive system is weakened. The body will prioritize survival rather than digest its food, therefore it will take the energy from the digestive system and supply it to the muscles for a “fight or flight” response.

As we learn to relax and breathe deeply, our digestive system maintains the energy to assimilate foods and nutrients correctly. Difficulty burning fat as well as difficulty gaining weight can both be symptoms of a weak digestive system.

Breathing’s Effect On Weight Through Exercise:
While exercising we might find ourselves out of breath. It is important to pay attention to breathing as deeply as possible to fully oxygenate the body. If we gasp for air while running on a treadmill, the body perceives this no differently than if we are being chased by a bear. To the body, a stressful situation is a stressful situation. Similarly, if we are huffing and puffing about being stuck in traffic, the body will perceive this as a state of emergency.  

Practicing "Three Part" Breathing:

Be sure to practice breathing only through the nose both on the in and out exhalation.
 
1) Belly (diaphragm): Lying down on your back, rest your palms on your belly and begin breathing into the area underneath you palms, feeling the rise and fall of the belly with each breath.
2) Mid-chest: After several breaths move your palms up to the side ribs and breathe into the hands to expand the mid-chest. Notice that your belly just below the breastbone, after initially expanding, draws slightly in and up as your mid-chest expands. Take several breaths here before moving to the next part.
3) Upper Chest: Place your hands just beneath the collarbone. Breathe into your hands, filling up until you feel the collarbone lift. Notice that breathing into this part requires the most effort, while drawing in less volume.

Putting It Together Into A Full Breath:
Inhale: From bottom to top, breathing into each of the three parts progressively. Breathing into the lower belly, rising into the mid-chest, and from there all the way up to the collarbone.
Exhale: Relax the diaphragm first and continue from there, relaxing from your belly, to mid-chest, to upper chest. Do not strenuously “push” the air out. Calmly release each breath so that you finish the exhalation softly and relaxed, leaving the body receptive to the next breath.

Breaking The 100 Year Diet Cycle

In modern-day culture, being healthy is commonly associated with dieting.  This is somewhat ironic since most diets leave us starved emotionally or physically. How did we come to believe that struggle and deprivation equal vitality and health?

Delving into the history of dieting, we can discover why diets have not worked well for us and how we continue to get caught up in their cycle.

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the cultural increase in weight gain, our solution was a low-calorie/ low-fat diet. The assumption was that cutting out all fats would resolve our weight issues. Thankfully, the body’s natural intelligence prevented us from starving ourselves to death and we began to experience strong cravings for fat and sugar. Deprived of fuel for energy we craved sugar. The craving for fat was the body's natural attempt to stabilize the erratic blood sugar levels that were being created by a fat-free diet. Furthermore, fat cravings intensified due to the lacking feeling of comfort and fullness that only fat would satisfy.

A severely limited calorie intake led to bingeing on fats and sugars. Contrary to what we believe, cravings and binges are not an indication of being flawed or weak. Binges are extreme responses to measures of restriction at levels that are unsustainable by a healthy human body.

Finding ourselves back in the cycle of fats and sugars, we turned to the high protein diet. This “worked” for a while, but since the body needs carbohydrates to stay balanced, we once again found ourselves bingeing on the carbs.

As a solution, the high carb diet was created. What seemed a well balanced idea, ended up sky-rocketing our cholesterol levels. The result:  the low cholesterol diet was born, bringing back the low-fat diet. And so the cycle continues. Years later these diets have returned altered with modern food supply. Although historically unsuccessful, each of them continues to be heralded as the new greatest diet.  

The restrictive aspect of dieting calls our body to respond in a rebound fashion, craving whatever the diet was lacking. Each diet came to pass as a response to the nutritional imbalance created by the previous diet.

Studies are showing that 98% of the weight lost while dieting is gained back in three to five years. Most commonly within the first year. 

A diet marketed to an entire population has us believe that we are all the same “machine.” The truth is that each person is unique, with different needs based on gender, age, ancestry and lifestyle. Furthermore, diets don’t work because they are extreme solutions. If a pendulum swings to one extreme, it has to swing equally to the opposite side. 

Breaking The Diet Cycle:

    1)     Take things slow: Step out of the extremes and don’t expect to change your eating habits all at once. Quick fixes do not help you achieve life-long health and happiness. By gradually introducing new and healthful foods and activities into your lifestyle, you will start to feel better. This will sustain healthy habits and naturally crowd out the less healthy ones.
    2)    Return to the basics: For thousands of years we lived well on all natural whole foods. As our health is globally deteriorating, we create foods that are less and less natural to try to resolve our health issues. You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.
    3)    Moderation and rotation: Imagine trying to express yourself fully in a language in which you know only a limited number of words. Similarly, if you eat the same foods every day, your body will only recognize certain nutrients and will not get all it needs for your cells to interact correctly.
    4)    Go all natural: In our attempts to live a healthy life, we have forgotten one important nutrient: life. Dieting has taught us to rely on synthetic versions of “food” mixed with chemicals to minimize our caloric intake. Consuming items such as artificial sweeteners simply leaves your pallet craving for more sweetness as well as for the nutrients you never received. Artificial sweeteners, hazardous to your health, can also increase your appetite and your sugar binges.
    5)    Food will fill you, but it will not fulfill you: Raise your vibration! Engage in activities that feed your sense of purpose in life. The more you work towards a goal of living each day with a sense of purpose, the less tempting instant gratification becomes.
    6)    Just say yes: No deprivation does not mean that you can eat whatever you want at any given time. It means that the more you nourish your soul, the more you will develop a stronger connection as to why you are choosing not to eat whatever is preventing you from being good to yourself. Passing on unhealthy temptation is no longer about saying no, but about saying yes to your true self. Always say yes - saying no to temptation is saying yes to yourself. Eat natural foods and nourish your soul on a daily basis.

Staying Healthy This Spring & Summer

As the seasons change, we change.

During winter it was important to keep our body warm. Winter was not the time to go fat-free, nor was it the time to diet on salads, fruits and rice cakes. Our body needed to be warmed up  by eating dense foods and intentionally accumulated excess mucus or fat to coat itself.

Spring is the best time of year to enjoy a lighter diet. During spring our body desires detoxifying foods in an attempt to reset the system and enhance metabolic efficiency in preparation for the warmer months ahead. A high protein, high fat winter diet is highly acidic and causes mucus to accumulate in the intestines. If we do not cleanse ourselves of the mucus, it will prevent waste from moving through our bodies and stop nutrients from being absorbed. This build up of mucus is a common cause of bowel dysfunction and a weakened immune system.

The liver is responsible for filtering the blood of toxins and breaking them down for elimination. If the liver is overloaded, it is less able to detoxify the blood, and poisons accumulate, usually manifesting in an individual’s weaker areas.

It is no coincidence that sprouts and greens are among the first things to grow in spring. Both are known for their cleansing properties. As always, nature delivers what we need for balance.
Bitter roots of spring help break down mucus, while eating sprouts and leafy greens supply chlorophyll to aid the re-growth of the good intestinal bacteria.

To harmonize your body with the season and aid in detoxification:

    •    Eat smaller meals
    •    Avoid alcohol, chemical drugs and fried foods
    •    Minimize your intake of heavier foods such as meat and dairy
    •    Drink plenty fluids and use fresh lemon in your water for liver cleansing
    •    Fresh organic cold-pressed olive oil is best for the liver
    •    Focus on tender, leafy vegetables that represent the fresh new growth of this season. Your greens for Spring can include Swiss chard, spinach, Romaine lettuce, dandelion, fresh parsley, and basil
    •    Exercising and sweating regularly is a great method for cleansing
 
This is a season when we need to eat more fruits and vegetables, perhaps whole grains, and drink lots of water.

A toxic system clogs the mind just as it clogs the body. A cleansing spring diet can sharpen your concentration, help you gain insight and promote spiritual awareness.

Spring is the time to look at your life and plan anew. It is no coincidence that we traditionally spring clean our home. This is a good time to take a look at what you want to clean out within your environment and yourself. As nature awakens and flowers, so do we. The soil is fertile and ready for planting. Be clear on which aspects of your life you wish to nurture and grow.  The next six months, with the sun as the predominant energy, are an opportunity to expand into new horizons. Plant the seeds of transformation and watch yourself evolve. 

The Intuitive Source of Eating

There are two major hemispheres in our brain through which we process our experiences.  The left hemisphere governs rational and logical thoughts or reasoning.  The right side of the brain is stimulated when strong emotions are experienced and matters of the ‘heart’ are processed.

If we look at the nutrition world today, we have access to an endless amount of books and articles by nutritional experts educating us about their “formula” for health.  Most avenues approach nutrition as if it were a math equation of calories and grams.  This is a very logical left-sided (in other words; ‘masculine’ or yang) way of thinking.

While this is extremely valuable information, it only represents half of the information necessary to understand our health.

There are many more factors involved in the way our bodies assimilate food.  The right-side brain (the ‘feminine’ yin side) may be more receptive to understanding our body’s signals, recognizing what our body lacks  to support health and balance.  While logic may view cravings in a negative light, a more holistic approach sees cravings as the body’s signal in search of balance.

There is a huge component in diet that is an intuitive way of eating:  this was also true  for our ancestors who knew which foods would best treat disease or maintain health, and when would be the best time or season to eat each food.

Where do these cravings and intuitive information originate?

The enteric nervous system (ENS) has been described as a "second brain" and is embedded in the lining of the gastrointestinal system. Our gut brain has qualities that are very similar to the head brain in the way in which it communicates with the body through the nervous system.  Researchers have found that the gut sends more messages through the channels of the nervous system to the brain than the brain does to the gut.  Connecting this to diet, we can learn that rather than have the head inform the belly what to eat, we should be developing our natural capability of understanding what the belly is telling the head.

In Eastern culture, the midsection is considered to be the center of both our spiritual and physical wisdom. It is the same section that is our center of gravity.

As a culture we have lost sight of this center. Most of us live in our head. We can see it in our posture. We move through life thrusting our head forward instead of resting it on the support of our spine. As a result ,we commonly suffer from tight muscles at the back of the neck and shoulders. We have forgotten to move from our core both in body and lifestyle. We disregard our ‘gut feelings’ and count on external information more than feeling and intuition to understand our nutritional needs.

Feeling takes guts... 

Chocolate For Valentine

The benefits of cocoa beans: 
    •    Keeping the body young: great source of Magnesium and antioxidants.
    •    Increased concentration: cocoa beans help us stay focused due to their source of PEA, a chemical that increases the activity of certain neurotransmitters (brain chemicals).
    •    Lifting our spirits: cocoa contains Anandamine, a lipid (fat) known as "the bliss chemical", because it is released while we are feeling great. It supplies serotonin, dopamine, and phenylethylamine, three well-studied neurotransmitters, which help alleviate depression and are associated with feelings of well being.

We will not receive the benefits of cocoa through most commercial or milk chocolate. It is best to have chocolate with no added dairy products/milk or refined sugar. Some studies show that the additions of dairy products block the absorption of all the great antioxidants in chocolate! Choose dark chocolates with a high percentage of cocoa. Most fine quality chocolates will list the percentage of cocoa. Check the ingredients and see if cocoa or sugar is the first ingredient listed.

Even better than dark chocolates are raw cacao beans which possess all the magical properties of chocolate without any adulteration or processing!  Power the body by adding cocoa nibs (crushed cacao beans) to your favorite dessert, shake, or cereal.

When giving a Valentine’s gift of Chocolates, make sure the chocolate you choose contains a high content of cocoa. Give the gift of health to your loved ones.


Recipe:  Vegan Chocolate Pudding

1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup raw cacao powder (or regular unsweetened cacao powder)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 medjool dates (about 3-4 dates)
(if using other date types, it is best to soak them for 15 minutes in hot water)

Throw everything into food processor and mix until creamy. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of water at a time to achieve a creamy consistency (if you soaked dates, use the soaking water)

If you desire more sweetness, add maple syrup or agave nectar.
This will last in the fridge for several days.
YUM!!!


Click Here for The Ultimate Chocolate Truffle Recipe

The Temptations of Ego

As the end of January approaches, it becomes more difficult for many of us to keep our New Year’s resolutions. Fearing change we may begin to make excuses to keep us repeating old patterns.

We all have egos that endeavor to maintain a sense of control and do everything possible to prevent us from breaking out of our comfort zones.

Although we understand that it is time to take action and make changes, we often experience a strong resistance. Our ego whispers, “don't bother. It's too much work. Things are fine the way they are.”

As we begin applying ourselves towards creating change (getting fit, losing weight, quitting an unhealthy habit, prioritizing family and friends, becoming organized, etc.), the trapped energy within our bodies and minds begins to stir. Things swept under the rug rise to the surface, making change to be a somewhat difficult experience. This is when the voice of discouragement and doubt can grow louder.

The ego's most common strategy is resistance; saying we are too tired or too busy to deal with such things, that we can do more constructive or enjoyable tasks. Ego manifests as reasoning to celebrate our weight loss with a cookie, or as an injury that occurs just as our new workout has become routine.

Resistance is like breathing, even if we don’t think about it, it just happens. The ego is not evil; It is just trying its best to keep us safe. Making changes in our lives and taking steps towards self-improvement can be overwhelming. The ego, rooted in fear, much like an overly protective parent, prefers us not to  take any chances that might cause us to feel hurt.
 
Which Map Are You Using to Reach Your Destination? 
Be very clear on what intentions motivate you to achieve your goals. Your New Year resolutions could just be another ploy of the ego... For example, say you are at an unhealthy weight. The ego may have fooled you into believing  that you need to change your weight to feel beautiful or accepted. Then as you stride to make changes, the ego does everything in its power, through doubt and temptation, to prevent you from following through. It has now succeeded trapping you so that you will never feel good enough just as you are. Never satisfied with how things are now.

However, if you realize that the unhealthy weight is a result of habits created while your soul was asleep, your journey is now about waking up and loving your soul, rather than just liking your body. As the soul awakens, the ego’s hold on you weakens. When we find love for the process more than for the goal, there is less space for ego.

Moving Forward is Learning to Stay: 
We need not surrender to ego nor do we need to fight it.  Coming up against ego will only cause it to act out. If we don’t learn to stick with the resistance, the slightest incident will be a trigger and we will run.

We crave breakthroughs and get discouraged when we don’t see dramatic results fast. The excuses start pouring in:  we are too tired, or too busy to cook ourselves healthy meals, or move our bodies. Find ways to enjoy the process, to waken the soul.

We must ask ourselves, “According to my decisions now, what will the results be in a year or two?”  Giving into the resistance will bring more of the pain we are trying to overcome.  Such a realization might inspire us to work through the discomfort. Avoiding it will keep it there year after year.