Chia Seeds

Chia seeds, (yep...."ch.ch.ch.chia"...you got it) are the new, hot, anti-aging food! They are high in omega 3s and they feed your brain with those important good fats. Tiny like sesame seeds, you can sprinkle them on your foods for an extra kick.

Try getting about 2 TBS a day for awhile and see how you do! I oz has 4 g of protein, and 9 g of fat...the good fat. These little guys pack a punch!

Nuts online is a source if Whole Foods doesn't have them.

Turmeric the spice, and a soup recipe

Turmeric. botanically known as Curcuma longa. Turmeric is related to ginger, and saffron, and is a potent antioxidant, known to contain anti-cancer properties, and is good for detoxification of the body. It is profoundly anti-inflammatory, and is more potent than an anti-inflammatory steroid. For gut issues, as well as tissue healing. It's an astringent, and tightens. It's been used for polyps, hemorrhoids, degenerative brain issues, post nasal drip. It can be used for any wet and expanding tissue issue. It's an immune enhancer, cellular detoxifier.

Powdered turmeric, by itself can be very hard on the liver, creating a "heating" or irritating effect that can worsen Pitta related problems, so add it to your foods. It works best if you sauté it in a little oil or ghee or you add a little bit to soups or stews. It has water-soluble and fat-soluble components like most spices.

It's an incredibly powerful spice. Add it to your foods. Recipes using tumeric are usually Indian, although you can add it to eggs, sprinkle it on soups, use it on fish and chicken, stir fry. BTW-India has the lowest rate of Alzheimer's in the world. It's turmeric that gives ballpark mustard it's golden color.

If we begin to use more spices, we will find that our bodies can balance more readily. Remember-nature gives us her true medicines.

Try this out for a quick turmeric dinner-
Clean and wash, peel if necessary whatever vegetables you have around; these work well, but if you don't have them, use what you do!

Sweet potatoes, carrots, red onion, celery and bell peppers
Saute in a bit of olive oil until soft - about 5-7 min
Add chopped stewed tomatoes and some broth to cover and simmer for 20 min or so until soft.

Spices that work great together are:
Turmeric
salt and pepper
garlic
cayenne
thyme
ginger
add these to taste. We like spicy so I don't want to add the amounts I use! :)

If you have fresh kale, strip out the center stalk and chop into bite size pieces.
You'll stir these in at the end.

Serve with chopped nuts: cashews, pinenuts, walnuts all work.

If you like chunky vegetables, like I do, serve it chunky.
If you don't, whip it into the blender
(before adding the kale or nuts.)

Inspired by "The Whole Foods Market Cookbook" by Steve Petusevsky with modifications by me!

Why we can't go by the RDA anymore!

The RDA standards (recommended daily allowance) was really established as a health MINIMUM standard-in other words, the minimum nutritional amount to keep us from getting sick. Minimum-not optimum. This is so not what the general public realizes. They pick up vitamins and look at the RDA.

So, the RDA for C, for instance, used to be 15 mg-which is the amount they figured we needed to keep from getting scurvy. The amount needed, in other words, to keep our teeth from falling out of our heads. Minimum. They've raised it to 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men now.

But did you know that men need 5x that amount just to make healthy sperm? Do we wonder why we have a growing infertility problem in this country when doctors are generally telling people they can get all their nutrition from a balanced diet?

Studies in the UK and GR have shown that grown foods are actually from 25-75% less nutritionally abundant than they used to be, and higher in sugar!

So, this translates that the amount of potassium you used to get from a banana in 1968 would need you to eat 8 bananas now. We are overeating in this country because we are nutritionally starving from a combination of over-processed foods and low national standards.

When we have an ever increasing issue with imbalances in brain chemistry and mood disorders, learning disabilities and erratic behavior, why aren't we looking at nutrition MORE and medications LESS? Who are the experts you are turning to, and why? Who do you listen to? And how do we become more proactive in what is good for us and what we are willing to ingest? And I mean both nutritionally and educationally.

How often do we swallow some expert opinion without bothering to research it ourselves? WHY is it mainstream for pharmaceutical companies to advertise chemo meds in women's magazines? WHY do we need this information in the common daily world? That is scary. Do we want to have chemo meds as common as cold remedies?

Weight Loss This and That

I was reading health.msn.com and I found new 'to me' information.

The article was talking about one of the reasons why we gain back the weight after we have lost a lot of weight.

 It said that when you have lost considerable weight you've lost fat from fat cells, but the fat cells stilll remain in your body. These fat cells are programmed to be filled, since fat is the body's energy supply. So when weight is lost, energy preservation mechanisms kick in to attempt to restore the lost body fat. It's unclear how much weight loss triggers this phenomenon, but it appears that when weight loss starts to plateau, often after about six months of with loss, some biological triggers try to reverse the loss.

Biochemicals are released in your brain and body that may affect your tendency to regain weight in a varity of ways: You may feel less full after eating, you may crave snacks more often, you may crave more fattening foods, and or you may get hungrier sooner.

The weight loss hormone is LEPTIN, and it tells your brain to suppress hunger. Here's how to make the most of it. Leptin could be the master hormone for you appetite!

Elevated triglycerides in the blood, which prevent leptin from reaching the brain, allows hunger feelings to persist.

Fortunately, you can take steps to bathe your brain in leptin and quell appetite naturally:

Eat foods low in triglycerides: Dairy Fat
Get hooked on fish oil: It may lower triglycerides and facilitate leptin's passage to the brain.
Sleep about eight hours: Anything less is associated with lower levels of leptin in the blood and brain.
Exercise Often: Regular activity lowers triglycerides and helps the brain abosorb more leptin.

An additional bonus to maintaining robust levels of leptin in the brain: a flatter belly. When appetite(and, thus food intake) is suppressed by leptin, the body first turns to it most readily available source of body fat, which is stored around the belly, for fuel.

Thomas Crook, PH.D, a clinical psychologist , has conducted extensive research to improve our understanding of how the brain works. He is a former research program director at the National Institute of Mental Health and is CEO of Cognitive Research Corp.

Pyroluria Testing, B6, Zinc and the BRAIN

I've been researching an interesting little vitamin-B6. The RDA is a whopping 2 mg a day, which is the standard set in 1968.

Think things might be different now???

Microwaves? Processed foods? Soil depletion? Electromagnetic fields? STRESS? Home computers? Cell phones?

B6 is deficient in most of the conditions involving a brain imbalance: things like ADHD, autism, downs, schizophrenia, bipolar, manic depressive. Without sufficient B6, we can't metabolize our foods-proteins, sugars, starches, carbs. B6 is used to make tryptophan, which is used to make melatonin, which is used to get us to sleep! It's an important little guy!!!

And another thing-some people have a genetic issue called pyroluria. If you are pyroluric you don't process zinc or B6 and it flushes out of your system so you are always chronically deficient...and many people with the above mentioned imbalances will test deficient in zinc, even if they take it.

I tested deficient-and still do. The taste test (liquid zinc sulphate) should taste quite nasty. Mine was neutral which means I was low. Interesting for me is that even supplementing up to 50mg (remember the RDA was 2mg) I still taste neutral. Odds are I AM pyroluric.

The best part is my brain feels calm, balanced, and I am happier. I am! I feel great, I have energy galore, and I'm just plain happy.

There is a mail order test if you want to know if you or someone you know has pyroluria. Here's the link:
phroluria testing

For more information, try these sites:
dr kaslow about pyroluria

Pyroluria is managed by restoring B6 and zinc; and if you are pyroluric, you are stress intolerant because you can't make serotonin-which is the feel good precursor. Other symptoms are poor short term memory, explosive anger at times, higher irritability, anxious, nervous, mood swings, poor mood control, and depression. Most pyrolurics have at least two of these, and in general they are stress intolerant. Symptoms increase with stress.

(which pretty much brings me back to my first point-our society is much more stressful than it was in 1968)

If you have a tendency to any of the above emotionals, this could be the smoking gun we've been looking for. Who would think a nutritional deficiency could be the culprit...oh wait...US!

And btw-remember it's genetic, so if you have it, chances are your kids or your parents-so pass the information on.

One more thing: for fun look up orthomolecular psychiatry...I did. They have known about these particular imbalances and how it affects the brain and emotional body-since the 1950s. The doctor that first came out with it...was disbarred and banned by the AMA. The next doctors that coined the phrase "orthomolecular psychiatry" and said that they felt nutrition could heal many of what were being termed 'psychiatric' conditions...they were also drummed out as quacks.

I don't know about you...but the way things are going...I'm even MORE inclined to look at who they are and have attacked...since the drugs don't seem to be what they thought. But that's me. Go research for yourself and see what you come up with!

ACID ALKALINE AND INFLAMMATION-you asked for it

Alkaline foods are primarily: fruits and vegetables which are great detoxifiers and antioxidants.

LEMON goes alkaline in your body.

ACIDIC foods slow and inhibit the detox process. Simple. Acid foods are meats, eggs, pasteurized dairy, then beans, cooked tomatoes, nuts and seeds and fruits.

Meats, eggs and wheat all contain arachidonic acid which causes inflammation if we get too much of it. And guess what. For most of us we have too much of it STORED in our bodies that it can't get rid of. It needs good consistent nutrition it can count on to have the ENERGY to dump the toxins.

This is an alchemical process we are establishing in our body. It’s not random. It’s going to immediately demonstrate to us a result for our effort-pro or con.

Choose your acids wisely. Your body is demonstrating EXACTLY the amount it can tolerate now. Seeds, nuts, fruits, maybe cooked tomato products and maybe beans or not. That’s about 10% of your current raw diet. No more. Look at the list for sulfur forms foods, phosphorus sources that are vegetarian. Acidic foods are high in sulfur (eggs), phosphorus and nitrogen.

Acid forming foods are inflammatory and mucus forming. they increase free radical damage and therefore cellular damage. If you are reacting to eggs then don’t eat eggs yet.

Most animal proteins are irritants to the mucosa and actually invoke an immune response. That immune response is what we are feeling immediately. Congestion in the lungs, the joints, the sinus’ the ear canals, the throat, the intestines, our whole body aching, that’s an ALLERGIC response.

Going raw for 30 got us clear. Then we selectively began to add things back in so that we knew exactly what was causing us an issue.

These toxins go into the lympathic system to get processed out but our lymphatic system can only MOVE it out if we MOVE. It doesn’t have the heart to pump it like the blood does. That’s why our lymphs back up and get congested and swollen when they work and we used to think we were getting a cold or the flu. We ARE really, if you think about it. A cold is a reaction from our body, and our body is trying to get rid of an invasion! It is trying to right itself again. Homeostasis. It has to do something. What we don’t eliminate we accumulate.

We are biologically programmed for a balance of alkaline/acid with the minimum of 60% fresh, 20% animal products, 10% fats. Now, we haven’t had that most of our lives so we are noticing our body starting to feel strong enough to get rid of stuff. It gets rid of it by beginning to release it into the bloodstream so we can process it out and into our kidneys and then OUT.

Understanding our Hormones-not

This weekend I had an incident as you all know.
Very clearly I "heard" apple cider vinegar during the second day. Now, it could have been from the blood loss, but hey! I listened.

This is an old old folk remedy, and 20 years ago or more I remember I had a book by a botanist who went to the Ozark Mtns to study this remedy and it was filled with amazing cures. Mostly I remembered that it was awesome for balancing the intestinal tract with the best bacteria possible, and that if you ever ate any food you suspected of being tainted, to drink the tea.

So I sent Jon to the grocery store with one thing on the list. Why?
Because the immune system is in the gut. It just is, and my gut was off track. I wasn't clearing, and I was overtoxinanted. :) My own word.
And if we are out of balance-anywhere-including our hormones-it has to do with our gut. EVERYTHING ELSE in our body is coming off that.

I knew I had triggered something, and I knew that I had to get on top of it. It might be my hormones that were reacting, but it was my gut that I had to clear, and I wasn't up to a colonic, or starting that colonix. I had been getting the right message-I just was overthinking the solution. When I got "empty" a simple solution, my favorite, came to me.

So, in addition to the progesterone cream, I did apple cider vinegar tea.
If any of you had taken my Intuitive Anatomy class, you would have it in the materials, but you haven't so I want to give it to you, and if this rings for you-use it.

2-3 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of raw honey-or more
hot water
sip it throughout the day, at least 2 mugs full a day, preferably before each meal. And if you drink it at night, you will sleep like a baby. Deep and deeper.

We've talked about the power of fermented foods to balance the bacterial load in your system.
We've talked about the importance of clearing your g.i. tract.
We've talked about cleanses, and detoxes, and colonics...

I still have to say, that the very best is nature.
I overstressed my stressed system-that's what caused the bleedout.
Yes, my body was trying to rebalance.
Yes, my body crashed.
Yes, it was a healing crisis.
Yes, my hormones were off.
Yes, I have been bloated-which is another word for inflamed. And inflammation means toxins that are backed up. And inflammation has lots of fancy disease names: arthritis, high blood pressure, edema to name a few.
Yes, toxins are stored in fat cells, cellulite pockets and saddle bags.
Yes, the bloat wasn't clearing, and I looked like I was 4 mns pregnant!

This is ALL symptomatic of overloaded lymphs BTW.
Yes, sluggish lymphs are helped by two things-deep breathing and movement. You can do either and they will move. If you stand and do deep rhythmic breathing from the gut for 15 min-without moving-your entire lymphatic system is MOVED and ENERGIZED. We'll do this in class.

Why? Because the LUNGS move your lymphs.
Not your muscles. Well, they help, but truly, it's your lungs.
Your HEART moves your blood
Your LUNGS move your lymphs
Most of us think that you have to MOVE your body to get your lymphs pumping...but that's not true/not only true. People in wheechairs can do this breathing and move their lymphatic system just fine.

So, sluggish thyroid-an issue for years with me. When I do the breathing, I get results. WHY I forgot this is really interesting.

Last year after the healing, I started doing this breathing, and I lost fat around my waist, and I increased my bust size, and I felt awesome! I wasn't doing any other exercise. But I was absolutely moving my sluggish lympathic system.

When I stopped, I coincidentally gained volume around my thighs, hips, belly.
You know, I didn't put it together. I went and got a blood test, they put me on thyroid, and a water pill to control the bloating, and those pills were supposed to take care of it. They didn't. They made the problem worse. My mother has been on a diuretic for 20 years or more and is terrified of coming off it.

That's our medical system. And I fell right into it. I was busy. I wasn't listening. I wanted it taken care of. It didn't work. I realized that month after month I was holding MORE. I was defying their usual results. So she upped my thyroid. To 2 grains, and then to 3. Why? She figured that because of my bypass, the thyroid wasn't in my stomach long enough to really digest. Ok. That made sense I suppose. And she changed my water pill.

It didn't help. I didn't lose a pound. Not one. And I didn't lose inches. I didn't want to do high protein, meat was gagging me to even cook, but I didn't know what else to eat! I was very very confused. Very. I didn't want to cook anymore. I totally didn't want to go in the kitchen even! Old past history.

I could rebalance my thyroid with theta but I couldn't seem to get it to hold. Amd it also told me it was fine. FINE. Meant it was doing it's job. The body always thinks that.

It made sense that it was my blood. low iron, low oxygen, low metabolism, low thyroid. Or was it?
Could it ALL be congested bowels from YEARS of high protein eating? I mean YEARS of it??? I always resorted to high protein because it was the only way I dropped weight. Before. Something was way off now. Overloaded liver?

Maybe.
So, this weekend, in addition to the progesterone cream, I drank apple cider vinegar tea.
Trust me, after the first day, you like it. We retrain our tastebuds all the time. Rebecca and CA are noticing that the old sweet stuff is actually TOO SWEET now. Yes.
And actually, my body LOVED IT right away, which tells me that I really listened. Clearly heard the correct thing to do with no mixed signals.

I am still drinking it.
This is Tuesday, i started on Saturday. I've had almost a whole bottle of vinegar.
During the night on the weekend I was waking with swelling in my hands between 1 and 3 am which is the liver cycle. I knew that my liver was working on the congestion and the inflammation. I kept water by my bed and drank it.

This morning
I woke up and realized that I could take my rings off. I hadn't been able to before.
This is Straight inflammation reduction.

My lungs are clear-they had been feeling congested-which is a sign of a stirred up liver btw.
I feel really good. My eyes feel extremely clear. Another sign that my liver is clear.
Why? Because the liver and the eyes are connected. Deeply connected.
We see clearly when our liver is clear.
Our liver clears hormones. When our body starts dumping the toxins-i.e. the imbalance of stored estrogen and progesterone, and it is already stressed-
well the result was the bleed out in my case.

Our liver is so so important. And you know what. I don't agree with Vianna about the liver cleanses. I don't think we should go into a healing crisis. It's why I like the footbaths. But now-I love the apple cider tea.

A bleedout is NOT normal. It is NOT ok. And it's not OK that we are told it is.
Yes women bleed. A reasonable amount. Our hormonal balance is our brain chemistry.

If you choose, keep a detailed MOOD diary for yourself. Straight moods. NOTICE how you feel. Document it rather than trying to control it, or run from it. Tune IN to it. That's what the shamanic work is. TUNING IN, not out.

I started to feel agitated, and irritable, and I wasn't sleeping.
All signs of a drop in ESTROGEN.
Ok. But I am estrogen dominant. I have TONS of estrogen. What else is going on?
Well, I could be estrogen dominant because I am not producing enough progesterone.
Or is it that I am not STORING enough progesterone? See, Progesterone is ALSO stored in fat cells, but if our oestrogen receptors are taking up all the cellular space-then we can't store progesterone-unless we get more fat cells....could our bodies be trying to do that?

See I think our bodies are doing the best they can with what they have.

What is clogging up and confusing the estrogen receptors?
Well, how about the xenoestrogens and synthetic estrogens that mimic the same molecular structure? Our bodies are being tricked. Surprise.

By going raw, we are getting our bodies to clear the clogged cells and attach to phytoestrogens which come from leafy vegetables and good fats like the omega 6s from food sources-yams, avocados, flax, coconut. These then feed our bodies with exactly the nutrients that we need. Exactly what feeds us. But it takes up to 3 mns for those new improved cellular generations to cycle in-and several cellular rotations for the future generations to recognize and prefer the phytoestrogns. So, keep doing the raw. GOOD GOOD GOOD.

And
here's the biggest of the food myths-no fat.
we DO have to eat fat. Lots of fat. GOOD fats. Organic olive oil, flax seed oil, UDOs, yes, even though it has omega 6 which we are overloaded in. AVOCADOS, COCONUTS. Exactly what we have been called to eat! Surprise that when we listen our bodies DO know what they need, when we get out of the way.

BAD Omega 6 oils are all the cooked oils, all the vegetable oils. Sunflower, canola, on and on. Anything that has these-like crackers, and packaged foods. Omega 6 goes to estrogens. Omega 3s go to progesterone. Our thyroid LOVES progesterone.
hah. Of Course. It's about our power and progesterone makes us feel more powerful.

Omega 6s are awful for us because they are loaded with rancid cooked omega 6 oils. Lots of them. Omega 6 converts to estrogen, and clog us up. We are supposed to have much more omega 3 than 6, but our modern diet, since the 1940s has shifted us into a predominance of processed foods which means a predominance of omega 6 and lower and lower omega 3s.
Omega 3s convert to progesterone by the way, and our thyroid-LOVES PROGESTERONE. But in our country, women especially have low functioning thyroid. NOT to mention that the medical community considers it normal and natural for us to have a DECLINING thyroid function as we get "oler". Piss on that. Why??? What is normal and natural about having less vital life force?

We get our energy and the get up and go from progesterone. And our thyroid is our metabolism and it loves progesterone. So, what do they give "perimenopausal" women? ESTROGEN therapy. Hmmmmm

We get our sluggish want to sit from estrogen and estrogen dominance leads to insulin resistance.
While we need both, we need them in the correct ratio. And HRT increases our heart disease and cancer rates which are now the two leading causes of death in women in our country.

Ok-so lots of information fast.

If you want to experiment gently-
add the apple cider vinegar for a week and let me know what happens to your intestines and bowel movements.
Do this BEFORE you submit to a colonic. Just try it. Just try it.
I am passing some interesting really DARK colors that I haven't eaten so more than you want to know! :)

And I am dropping the bloat.