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Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
1.30.2014
My Top Secret To Staying Healthy + Somethin' New!
Are those resolutions starting to suck?
Has
Polar Vortex 2.0 got you feeling down in the arctic dumps, making you
want to cuddle up in your leopard print snuggie (actually exists... and i
want one) and sip on a heated box of tomato soup from 2 winters ago
because it’s too damn cold to go out and do groceries? I can hear the
collective grumbling...
While
staying on top of our health game can be challenging all year round,
the winter time has a way of making it seem impossible. The holidays
have come and gone, and most likely left us overstuffed, exhausted and
with really dry skin. With a trail of fruit cake, gingerbread cookies
and hot toddies behind us, we attempt to salvage what’s left of our
health by declaring our intentions for the rest of the year... the year
of transformation, of course.
That is, until Valentine’s Day rolls around and we conveniently forget our 5x/week gym commitment or the fact that the nutella graham cracker cheesecake we’ve been eating every afternoon is not actually #paleo #dairyfree or #glutenfree (denial is an ugly thing).
That is, until Valentine’s Day rolls around and we conveniently forget our 5x/week gym commitment or the fact that the nutella graham cracker cheesecake we’ve been eating every afternoon is not actually #paleo #dairyfree or #glutenfree (denial is an ugly thing).
So how the heck does one stay healthy all year round?
After many moons of self reflection and experience working with my clients, I have distilled all of the wisdom down into one bite size morsel. You ready for it?
After many moons of self reflection and experience working with my clients, I have distilled all of the wisdom down into one bite size morsel. You ready for it?
My top secret to staying healthy is...
Be tremendously kind & loving to yourself.
That’s it folks. The big ole secret that’s been keeping me going on a super space jam kinda health kick for years.
Don’t roll your eyes... I saw that.
It’s far too easy to dismiss this simple, and yet profound, statement.
Here’s why it works:
When you are tremendously kind and loving to yourself...
You are your biggest cheerleader.
You allow yourself to fall and make mistakes, then dust yourself off and try again.
You’re committed to yourself till the end.
You’ll give everything your best shot.
You want to take care of your magnificent mind, body and soul.
You’ll eat the foods that nourish and energize you.
You’ll do whatever it takes to grow and get happy.
You won’t sacrifice your health or well being for temporary fixes or destructive behaviors.
You’ll do the work.
Whether or not healthy eating is a resolution of yours, it’s an important piece in making lasting change. Why? Because when you feel good, have energy and mental clarity, and eat the right foods for your body, you’re more likely to stay motivated and invested in yourself. Staying positive is a huge factor in achieving goals and considering 95% of serotonin is manufactured in the gut, you want to make sure you’re keeping that area in tip top shape!
One of my favorite ways of doing all that is a seasonal detox.
A detox for me is more than adding juices or eliminating certain foods.
It’s a chance to show up for myself in a BIG LOVE kinda way - to give
my body a well deserved break and reset with the seasons.
Today I’m super excited to share a my new winter detox program:
This is a Do-It-Yourself Digital Detox....
That means YOU get to choose your start date.
Anytime. Anywhere. At your fingertips.
This detox is for you if...
✓ You're done with resolutions that get tossed by Valentine’s day and make you feel guilty.
✓ You're over the diets and programs that haven’t given you the results you were looking for and you need a program that works for your busy schedule.
✓ You're looking to uncover hidden food sensitivities and allergies that are contributing to resistant weight loss and stubborn health issues.
✓ You're tired of craving unhealthy foods that are sabotaging your weight-loss efforts and making those resolutions seem frickin' impossible.
✓ You want more energy and less trips to the coffee machine or the vending machine at 4pm.
✓ You're ready to actually feel the way you deserve to feel.
With this DIY digital detox, you're getting:
- A complete detox guide book
- Winter season recipe book
- Suggested meal plan and shopping list
- Daily email support from me
- AND a *new* success kit to help you achieve your New Year goals (so many tools you can use for a lifetime up in there...priceless)
And because I want you to have the best detox experience ever, you'll also get a free 30 min. post-detox breakthrough session
with me where I'll coach you on any questions or challenges you may be
having to ensure your transition is a healthy one. I'm here to support
you!
This DIY detox is only available thru Feb. 21, so be sure to check it out before it goes *poof*.
To your health & some seriously big self love!
♥ ✌ ♫ ∞
10.08.2013
Preventing Breast Cancer: Your 5-Step Action Plan
1. EAT AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET!
Studies have shown that a diet
full of whole natural foods including lots of greens, veggies, fruits
and good quality fats are effective against cancer. The key players?
Your Brassicacae family, which includes kale, broccoli, collard greens,
brussel sprouts and cabbage, helps detoxify and eliminate estrogen as
well as other toxins. And don’t be afraid of the good fats, which
include olive oil, omega 3s from fish, as well as coconut oil.
2. DON’T BE A SUGAR MAMA!
With any cancer prevention,
it’s super important to manage your blood sugar balance and healthy
weight. Sugar is a major culprit in so many diseases, but sugar leads to
insulin spikes, leading to storage of body fat and stressing out your
liver! This means excess estrogen and toxins… Make sure you keep that
blood sugar in check by avoiding sugar and processed carbs, while eating
fiber rich foods, good sources of protein and quality fats.
Remember —you’re sweet enough! :)
3. SHAKE WHAT YOUR MAMA GAVE YOU
Movement and exercise is huge!
Exercise not only keeps your weight in check, but it increases your
detox ability thru sweat, keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels in
check, gets rid of excess hormones and improves sleep. And that’s just a
short list of the benefits! So find your favorite way to move your body
and do it everyday.
4. SLOW THE FAST TRAIN: DE-STRESS AND REST
In our fast-paced world, most
of us are constantly on the go-go-go. Well here’s a good reason to slow
down and rest—it prevents against cancer and so many other diseases!
Have fun and explore what de-stress and rest means to you… find
stillness with meditation and breathe work, dance to your favorite song,
take a hot Epsom bath with lavender and some green tea. There’s just
one caveat: make sure you do it regularly!
5. DETOX THE STICKY ICKIES!
I said it once and I'll say it
again: Balance is our true nature. But the barrage of toxins we face on a
daily basis (and even before we are born!) get in the way of achieving
that balance. In a recent article from the Chicago Tribune,
a study shows the rise in breast cancer among young women. Experts are
looking at environmental factors, including carcinogenic chemicals, the
use of hormonal birth control, lifestyle habits such as diet and lack of
exercise, and increased body fat as potential culprits.
So for prevention, it's super
important to make sure we are optimizing our body's detoxification
systems to give them the best chance of doing their job. Doing a safe
cleanse or detox routinely can be really helpful, and of course reducing
your exposure to toxins in every area of your life is a must.
9.10.2013
Radical Remission Part II: 3 Core Beliefs For Self Healing
What if you could make your cancer go away, without conventional treatment?
What if you could heal yourself of heart disease, diabetes, or an autoimmune disease?
Is this the stuff that makes urban legends?
Spontaneous remissions, or “radical remissions” as Dr. Kelly Turner prefers to call them, are not only REAL... they’re happening more often than we realize.
In Dr. Turner’s research, she’s finding that there are untold cases all over the world. Part of the underreporting has to do with the system and the process of record keeping. According to Turner, “unexpected remissions are estimated to occur in one of every sixty thousand to one hundred thousand cancer patients; however, the true incidence rate is likely higher than that due to underreporting.” Part of it has to do with the health industry’s belief that these stories could do more harm than good (read: inflating hope, when there shouldn’t be any).
Venessa... do you mean to say that people are out there actually healing themselves of shit like cancer and we’re left here thinking “doomsday: we’re all screwed”??
Yup. Now, I’m not saying that doctors and conventional treatment are not necessary or that everyone and their mom would heal if they just followed these treatments and beliefs.
What I want you to take away from all this is that you, yes YOU, have a lot more power in your healing process than you may think.
In my last blog post, I shared with you the top 6 treatments that foster self healing - straight from the mouths of cancer survivors themselves and their healers. If you haven’t read that post, there’s some pretty wicked info that you should know yesterday, so get on it. After you’re done, make sure you come back here for the sequel.
Ok, for those of you who are ignoring my request that you read my last post (don’t lie to me), here’s the backstory: Dr. Kelly Turner interviewed people from all over the world who had cancer that went into remission. In her research, she has compiled the common holistic characteristics that contributed to their healing.
Today I’m stoked to share the top 3 core beliefs among those same cancer survivors. This is good stuff, people. So listen up.
TOP 3 CORE BELIEFS FOR SELF HEALING
Belief #1: Change the Conditions under which Cancer Thrives
Yes... cancer THRIVES in certain conditions. Like a body fed a diet of sugar and trans fat. But there are other, less obvious conditions under which cancer thrives.
The majority of Turner’s interviewees believed that cancer thrives in certain suboptimal conditions in the body-mind-spirit system and that to remove cancer, those underlying conditions must change.
One healer from Hawaii explained it this way:
The most successful recoveries seem to be strongly associated with major mental, emotional, or physical behavioral changes among the people with the illness. What is major for one person, of course, may not be the same for another . . . I know of one success where a woman left her family, took up a different religion, changed her clothing and diet, and moved to a different country. Maybe she needed all of those changes or maybe not, but overall it worked for her. I know of another person, a man, who simply stopped trying to outdo his father, and that worked for him.
This can also be applied to the physical environment inside and outside of your body. We’ve got to clean our internal “ecosystem” along with all of the other crap in our lives.
Think about it this way: a goldfish gets sick because it’s living in toxic, dirty water. Do you heal the fish, only to put it back into the same gross water that got it sick in the first place?
Change your water people.
Belief #2: Illness = Blockage/Slowness; Health = Movement
Turner’s interviewees also believed that “any illness—including cancer—represents a blockage or slowness somewhere in the body-mind-spirit system, whereas health occurs when there is a state of unhindered movement or flow.”
WE LIKE FLOW. This belief resonates with a lot of eastern medicine traditions, where it is believed that blocked energy, qi, prana, life force, etc leads to disease and illness. Flow and movement in all ways - physical exercise, breathe, evolution of spirit, emotional and cognitive flexibility - will ensure health.
Where do you have a blockage in your life? Whether it’s physical (clogged arteries), mental (you hate your job), emotional (your partner is abusive), or spiritual (you feel disconnected from your god) - you’ve got to make like Drano and realize that “every clogged drain has a solution.” Find yours.
Belief #3: A Body-Mind-Spirit Interaction Exists, and Energy Permeates All Three Levels
Alright, so what the heck does this mean? It means that we often forget or deny that we’re not just skin sacks of bodily fluid. Sorry, that was a gross visual.
Here’s a fact (unless you’re prepared to argue with Einstein): We are energetic beings.
The interviewees that experienced radical remission of their cancers believed that we are energetic beings on a body, mind and spiritual level. And that there is constant interaction and flow - where energy permeates all three.
According to an American-born, Peruvian-trained shaman:
You have to have mind, body, and spirit healing. . . Most of us who live in our physical bodies, we don't even know about spiritual or emotional bodies. So we have to connect with all three of them. But you see, in the mountains of the Andes, [the Andean people] are already connected.
None of this information is new. In fact, most of these beliefs and treatments can be found in ancient traditions and texts thousands of years old.
It seems the more screwed up we become because of increased stress & disconnection, the Standard American Diet (SAD), and our pop-a-pill instant gratification mentality, the more it becomes imperative that we utilize the lessons above for not only self healing, but prevention.
Challenge: I encourage you to pick at least one of the treatments/beliefs I talked about and incorporate it into YOUR life.
Remember, one step at a time is what it takes to get to where you want to be.
8.29.2013
6 TREATMENTS THAT FOSTER SELF HEALING
I’m
a hardcore believer in self-healing. I’m not saying we don’t need
doctors and practitioners by any means - that would be ridiculous. What I
AM saying is that I believe we all have the power to heal ourselves and
prevent illness to a very large degree.
My role as a holistic health coach is to be a partner to and guide for my clients - not to dictate how and when they heal. This is why I was stoked to read about Dr. Kelly Turner’s work on cases of spontaneous remission of cancer - or as she calls it “unexpected remission” of cancer.
My role as a holistic health coach is to be a partner to and guide for my clients - not to dictate how and when they heal. This is why I was stoked to read about Dr. Kelly Turner’s work on cases of spontaneous remission of cancer - or as she calls it “unexpected remission” of cancer.
I
first stumbled across Dr. Kelly Turner’s work in the book Mind Over
Medicine, then again in readings from the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
Dr. Turner is a researcher, lecturer, and consultant in the field of
Integrative Oncology. Her specialized research focus is the “unexpected
remission” of cancer—a remission that occurs either in the absence of
Western medicine or after Western medicine has failed to achieve
remission. Turner spent ten months traveling the world in search of
fifty nonallopathic cancer healers. She found twenty unpublished cases
of unexpected remission and conducted phone interviews with the
survivors.
How frickin cool is that?
The American Cancer Society provided partial funding for her study.
Side note: American Cancer Society also paid for my mom’s flight and hotel stay in Arizona when she was seeking alternative treatment. Nice work ACS. But I digress...
How frickin cool is that?
The American Cancer Society provided partial funding for her study.
Side note: American Cancer Society also paid for my mom’s flight and hotel stay in Arizona when she was seeking alternative treatment. Nice work ACS. But I digress...
In her research, Dr. Turner found 6 top treatments used by her interviewees to heal themselves of cancer.
Perhaps you’re asking why I’m focusing on cancer remissions... I want
to make clear that the techniques listed below may be used just as
effectively for the PREVENTION of cancer, or any disease for that
matter. And I’m allll about prevention.
Now
this is not a prescription as to what YOU should do, this is simply a
compilation of treatments that Dr. Turner identified as the top ones her
interviewees followed and that worked for them. So here we go...
6 TREATMENTS THAT FOSTER
SELF HEALING
SELF HEALING
1. DIET CHANGE
Radical diet change was a top factor in fostering self healing among those who had experienced “spontaneous remission” of their cancers. So what did that look like? Elimination of meat, dairy, sugar, and refined grains. The majority of interviewees ate a diet consisting of whole vegetables, fruits, grains and beans.
In
my recent visit to Costa Rica, I took a guided hike through the
rainforest and had some great conversations with my guide Felipe, a
native of the area (and whose family still lived in the rainforest).
We talked a lot about the environment, toxicity from pesticides, cancer and diabetes - which many of his friends and family are now dealing with - and diet. Felipe has considerable knowledge about medicinal herbs and is a “go-to” person for helping people in his community overcome certain illnesses. When asked about diet and disease, Felipe told me that the very first thing he tells someone with such diseases who come to see him is stop eating meat, dairy and sugar. Non-negotiable.
Now
I’m not an advocate that one diet fits all - by any means! And I am not
against consumption of meat and dairy, or the occasional chocolate
cupcake ;). I do however believe that when your body is severely
compromised, elimination of inflammatory or acidic foods such as the
ones indicated above will help your body to heal more rapidly.
Not to mention give your body a well deserved break for those who are
sensitive to these foods! This is why I base my detoxes and programs on
the elimination diet to start - giving your body a break from these
foods can be profoundly healing and eye-opening.
Shameless plug: For anyone who’s interested, I’m working on my fall detox program coming up soon, so be on the lookout! :)
2. TAKING HERBS & VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS
The majority of her interviewees took various herbs and supplements that they believed would help boost their immune system, detoxify and help facilitate healing in their bodies. You might be wondering which supplements worked best... and the truth is they were all over the map. There was no single “super” supplement in common with any of the interviewees - which brings up 2 very important points:
First,
everyone is biochemically different - because of this bioindividuality,
one person’s healing herb may not be so good for another.
Pathologically, each person’s disease or ailment was also unique. So
making the claim that any one specific supplement would work for
everyone would be irresponsible and misinformed.
The
second point is that the interviewees believed their herbal and
supplement regimen was healing them. Don’t get me started on the power
of belief and the placebo/"nocebo" effect (I’ll get into that in later
articles) but the importance that your belief carries is substantial.
Check
in with your beliefs about your body and ailments... what is the story
you are living by? If it’s not serving you, then maybe it’s time to
rewrite that story.
3. SURRENDER - RELEASE SUPPRESSED EMOTIONS
Turner remarks that most of her interviewees discussed the importance of being at peace with both dying and living - to truly surrender and release repressed negative emotions such as anger, fear and grief. It does not serve us to hold onto any emotion, even happiness as happiness can easily turn into nostalgia, then longing, etc if not released.
LET THE SHIT GO. Let go of fear. Let go of resentment. Let go of any emotion that you’re harboring so you can focus on healing!
4. FEELING LOVE, JOY, HAPPINESS
This is different than positive thinking... Turner found that her interviewees all believed in the importance of joy & love in your life for facilitating healing.
Laugh every day. Do something you love each and every day. Show gratitude and be of service. Find unconditional love in your life.
5. EXPERIENCING A DEEPENING OF SPIRITUALITY
Most of the people Turner interviewed talked about having an internal sensation of spiritual energy - they felt the experience of divine, loving energy in their body, which they achieved through various ways such as meditation, prayer, gardening, energy healing, etc.
We’re not talking about the feeling you get when you see Brad Pitt take off his shirt in Fight Club (altho it seems pretty damn close to a transcendental experience for me). It’s also not about deepening one’s beliefs about spirituality. But rather, it was having an actual internal feeling/sensation/transcendent experience of loving, divine energy in their body.
And finally, #6. This last one is probably my favorite of them all (...and you thought it was diet change, didn’t you?)
6. USING INTUITION TO HELP INFORM TREATMENT DECISIONS
I’ll tell you why this one is so great to me. It puts the the patient, the person, back into the driver’s seat of our health. It shows that we know our bodies better than anyone else. It empowers us to trust our intuition and listen to our bodies. Any healthcare provider you have - whether they’re a doctor, chiropractor, acupuncturist, health coach, etc - is your partner in your health journey, not the boss of it. Remember that.
Here’s
a story from one of Turner’s interviewees, “Unexpected Survivor #7”,
who overcame recurrent metastatic breast cancer after conventional
medicine had failed to work:
[The
Tibetan healer] took his finger and with a pinpoint accuracy touched
every spot on my body where I had had cancer, or where I had cancer
presently. It was amazing! He could see what scans couldn’t see. I had
predicted my cancer four times. I had led [my doctors] to it with a
pinpoint of accuracy before the scans could even pick up the collection
of cells. [The Tibetan healer] could do what I could do with my own
body.
HOPE FOR SELF HEALING
I love Dr. Turner’s work because it not only demonstrates that we absolutely have the ability to heal ourselves, but the stories she collects provide HOPE to those who are going thru life altering diseases.
Having had a front-line experience with my mom’s cancer journey, I can undoubtedly say that the above treatments and stories from Turner’s research are invaluable. If you’re interested in checking out more stories or work from Dr. Kelly Turner, be sure to visit her website at www.radicalremission.com.
If you dig this post, share your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. I'd love to hear from you!
And if you're ready to make some real changes in your health, email me to sign up for a strategy session and uncover your unique roadmap to wellness town!
5.16.2013
Alleriges suck. 5 easy ways to put out that fire...
You
know it’s coming... the red itchy eyes. The stuffy nose. The constant
sneezing and wheezing. The headaches... oh the headaches! Seasonal
Allergies.
1 in 4 people suffer from allergies of some kind - seasonal, food, skin,
etc. You are not alone! It doesn’t help that this year is supposed to be
a rough one for those with allergies, at least in Chicago.
I'm
here to tell you there are other things to help you out besides downing
a handful of Claritin and passing out for 4 hours (well, at least you avoided
symptoms during those 4 hours...).
Allergies
are your body's reaction to specific foreign bodies, and can vary for
different people. Having bad allergies is a sign that your immune system has tagged certain things as "bad" and is working overtime to fight them. It's your body's immune response that's to blame for those symptoms we all hate.
The next time you find yourself reaching for the medicine cabinet, why not try these easy remedies first.
Here are my top 5 ways of quelling that allergic fire...
1. Neti that nizzle!
I love me some pot... NETI POT that is.
Nasal
irrigation has been used since ancient times, with the earliest records
found in the Ayurvedic tradition. The old school way of doing it was to
just cup salt water in your hands, sniff it up your nose and blow it right
out. Pleasant visual there.
I find that tools like the neti pot make this experience much more
pleasant, and even fun (if you’re a weirdo like me). There’s something
about seeing gross stuff being flushed out of my nose that sends a
feeling of accomplishment over me...
Neti
at the first sign of congestion. It would also be a good idea to neti
on a regular basis for maintenance. One thing that I found super helpful
- which is also apart of the nasal irrigation tradition but got lost
somewhere along the road - is to oil the inside of your nostrils with
sesame oil after you neti. This re-lubricates the nasal passage so that
the dryness doesn’t provoke an overproduction of mucus.
2. Choose nettles + feverfew for relief (this is a two-for-one!)
Nettles
are another old school remedy - Native Americans used stinging nettle
for thousands of years to treat allergies and other ailments. Stinging
nettle leaf is a major antihistamine that aids in the prevention of hay
fever symptoms... without the side effects of typical allergy
medications. That means no danger of passing out from drowsiness and
missing those lovely spring days! You can get nettles in the dried form
for making tea, liquid tinctures to take as drops, or freeze dried in
capsule form.
Feverfew
is a great anti-inflammatory medicinal herb and works synergistically
with stinging nettle leaf! You can take Stinging Nettle Leaf (must be
freeze dried to retain active compounds) along with Feverfew so they can
tag team your allergy woes.
3. Ditch dairy
...and
gluten! Oh yes I did. You might be saying “Oh brother, here we go again
with the dairy/gluten-free thing.” But here’s the truth: both
dairy and gluten are inflammatory foods. Which means they provoke your
immune system by causing extra inflammation and can make symptoms worse!
Besides feeding the inflammatory fire, many people are actually
sensitive or allergic to these foods and don’t even realize it. This
creates an immune system that’s working overtime and over active. Not to
mention damaging your gut - where 70-80% of your immune system exists!
Word of advice... try eliminating these foods from your diet for a period
of one week and see if you feel a better.
4. Put on that tankini and get some sunny D!
Git
yer butt in some sunshine stat. Asthma sufferers... I’m looking at
you. Of course, everyone needs appropriate amounts of vitamin D and fact
is, most of us are deficient. But if you have asthma, optimizing your
vitamin D levels is paramount according to this study linking asthma with lower vitamin D levels.
Ideally,
you'll want to get your vitamin D from safe sun exposure. You could
also do a safe tanning bed or an oral vitamin D3 supplement. Worried
about vitamin D toxicity? Most Americans are very deficient and
therefore can use higher doses, but always ask your doctor to check your
D levels when doing blood work. And if you’re sourcing your vitamin D
from basking in the sun, your body makes the exact amount you need with
no risk of ODing on D!
5. Drink Green Tea
As
you may know, green tea has some pretty powerful antioxidant phytonutrients. EGCG
(epigallocatechin gallate) is one of them - it actively blocks histamine
and immunoglobulin E (IgE - one of our antibodies) production which
means it reduces allergy symptoms. Thanks again, green tea. Drink it
daily or add matcha powder to smoothies. My favorite kinds are
gunpowder and genmaicha (green tea + roasted brown rice).
Remember that addressing the root of allergy problems and the severity of the symptoms takes more than just a cover up job with meds. It’s important to know that there is a whole lot more we can be doing to make allergy season less doomsday-like and more "bring it on, allergies ain't got nuthin' on me"-like. If you're interested in finding out more about how you can make real changes, holla at me by clicking here to schedule a breakthru session.
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