Posts Tagged ‘well being’

Water! Do we drink enough?

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

I find hard in the colder months is to drink enough water.

I am just not inclined to drink cold water, I’m drawn to the warmer drinks like herbal teas and miso.

Although these are good options I noticed that I was getting

dehydrated and had to force myself to drink more water.

You just don’t get as thirsty in the winter as you do in the summer.

It isn’t difficult to get dehydrated in the winter as the cold can

be very drying to the body as well and the skin. Have you noticed that your skin is

more dry in the winter than in the summer.

A good way to check if you are hydrated enough is to do the test on the back of your

hand.

Just pinch a piece of skin between the thumb and index finger, hold for second and

then let if go. The skin should immediately return to normal, if it doesn’t and the

skin appears to take some time to flatten

out then you are dehydrated and need to drink more water.

Another way to tell is by your urine, it should be almost clear

and have no or very little odor. Our bodies will produce strong urine when

it doesn’t have enough fluid so if you can smell it then you

need to drink more.

Water should stay in our body for 2-3 hours the body will take what it needs and

then the water goes to the kidneys for excretion.

If you find that you are getting tired in the daytime and find it

hard to concentrate then you are dehydrated.

We need a lot more water than we realize, imagine a plump grape hanging on the

vine this is a hydrated cell, then visualize a sultana this is a dehydrated cell.

Some suggestions on how to get the water in are;

Get a 500 ml bottle preferably glass, this makes it easy to

calculate.

Drink a whole bottle first thing in the morning before breakfast.

Also last thing at night.

Try to get another one in during the day.

Squeeze some lemon juice or grate fresh ginger in the water

to flavor it.

Try drinking hot water and lemon and or ginger instead of a

coffee or tea.

Your body is made up of 70 to 80% of water and in order to

maintain that level you need to consume 1.5 to 2 Litres of

water a day.

Coffee or tea are not included in this calculation, they are

diuretics which dehydrate the body.

I can hear you now thinking I will  be on the toilet all day and

night if I drink that much water. Well yes you will go to the

bathroom a bit more initially but this will pass in less than a

week and you will find that you are more alert much clearer

in the head.

90% of headaches are due to dehydration, dry skin is due

to dehydration, constipation is often caused by dehydration,

brain fag is due to dehydration, in fact most health conditions

can be improved by just drinking more water.

Now that is a lot cheaper than a whole lot of supplements.

Who would believe that simple water could make you feel so good, it can lower your

blood pressure hence improving cardiovascular heath.  Help you concentrate, get rid

of that annoying headache and increase the fluid retention in the skin as well as

keep the bowel working well.

If that is not a good enough reason to drink more water then I don’t know what is.

So go on go get a large glass of water and drink it.

PS do not drink more than 3 litres of water a day, too much can flush out  vital

minerals.

Tags: , ,
Posted in General Health, Self Help | 2 Comments »

Cleansing by Fasting

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

I fast at least once a year as I enjoy the cleansing  feeling that it gives me, not only my body but also my mind. I feel de-cluttered mind wise after a fast. This passed week I have been on a fast with some friends of mine.

I wish to share some of our experiences during this time. It’s not exceptionally radical, it consist of 3 lead in days then the fasting days,  3 lead out days.

The 4 others that came on the fast with me had never fasted before, so it was great to hear all there positive experiences as we progressed through.

We got together on the first evening (Friday)and spent some time  sharing our reasons for doing the cleanse.

We all had different goals and expectations. TW was give up smoking, GF wanted to detoxify in order to lose weight, SF was wanting to kick start a new rawfood lifestyle and RC wanted to do a detox,  I needed to cleanse.

We met again on the Sunday to make a big pot of Broth which everyone contributed some vegetables too. This being the third day, we had our last solid meal at lunch time on that day.

We all got around the island in my kitchen and chopped up 5 onions, 2 cabbages, 6 capsicums, 3 chillies, a large bag of spinach and 18 potatoes. Fitting all these vegetable into my 2 large pots was a challenge, then GF chomped into his thumb instead of the potato.

In between trying to stop the bleeding finger I added lots of herbs and spices to the broth.

The broth took another hour or so to cook and we settled down to a game of Rummy O, which some of us had never played before. I won the game even though I was flitting from game to stirring soup and tasting.

To everyones horror I stained off the vegetables to be discarded (feed to my chickens) and divided all the liquid broth among the 5 of us, we ended up with 2 litres each.

The fast lasted for three days, then we had our lead out days.

It was amazing how everyone had similar  and some individuals experiences.

Most of us did some kind of cleaning I cleaned out all my draws in my bedroom and in the kitchen.

RC dragged out all her stuff she had stored, she sorted and discarded what was no longer wanted, she did this until 3 am then proceeded to continue the next day to de-clutter her life of all the things that she had been holding on to for unwarranted reasons.

SF cleaned out her office, TW who gave up smoking wanted to wash everything mainly to remove the stale smoke smells that were lingering.

This is often a common occurrence when you clean on the inside you have the desire to clean on the outside.

Most of us were waking early and feeling energy to burn, I went with GF for a 35 km ride on the Saturday and for 52 km on Sunday, I was a bit shattered after that though.

SF wanted to get out and exercise, due to lack of motivation she had not been doing any for several months.

RC and I had been attending Buddhist meditation classes, we found more clarity in our meditation. I found everything was easier to understand, it all made sense all of a sudden.

TW had the desire to curl up and keep warm with a good book, she found it better to hibernate.

GF had the most interesting experience of all, he discovered he had gallstones when he had a gallbladder attack. This was very painful and unfortunate for him. However on a positive note he can now remove them from his body.

This just goes to show how powerful a fast can be. The idea of fasting is to give the digestive system a break and allow the body to do some healing. This is exactly what happened with GF his body decided it was time to cleanse the gallbladder.

Some of us felt a bit cold near the end of the fast. We all lost weight, some as much as 3.7 kg, but most of us around 3 kg.

We all had a lightness and feeling of well being. Everyone found that they were not hungry at all, some reported to have missed the chewing process.

So the fast had a positive result for everyone, we are all happy with the results.

This is the cheapest detox you can do. You don’t need to spend money on detox kits.

You just use the best organic fruits and vegetables available and you can cleanse your body and mind over an 8 day period and feel great.

Best results when you plan the process, do it with others as then you aren’t feeling isolated.

If you want to do a fast, then email me and I will send you the fasting protocol, it isn’t hard but important you follow the instructions. Should you suffer from chronic illness you should consult  a naturopath before fasting.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in General Health, Healthy Eating, Self Help | No Comments »

Realising your potential

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Today this blog is about ways to help you overcome the disadvantages that may be holding you back from realizing your potential

Let us just look at one of the most common disadvantages DISEASE.
So what is disease?

Disease is interrupted health or an imbalanced state of health.

How do we get disease?

Disease starts with either a Trauma, Accident or Emotional disturbance,

An example of a accident/trauma, you are injured on the rugby field. When healed your get back out on the field the injury gets knocked repeatedly you continue to have trouble because it is weak. Several years later you could develop arthritis in that knee.

Emotional disturbance, you get bullied at school, other children tell you your a geek, your a very sensitive type, you don’t tell your parents they might think that your weak. You just shut it up inside and it eats at you, you start to believe that you are a geek, several years later you develop Ulcerative Colitis. An ulcer is self eating self.

Of course many other factors are involved such as viral, bacterial influences as well that determine disease on a individual basis.

WHAT IS HEALTH?
Most would agree that “Health is a state of mind and being where you are free of physical mental and emotional disadvantages”.

So what holds us in a state of health?

I’m healthy because I feel healthy, I live a healthy lifestyle and I believe that I’m healthy.
So am I healthy ? YES I AM. Why? because I believe that I am in a healthy state of being and mind.
So what makes me healthy is the desire to be healthy.

So what keeps us in a state of health or state of disease?

Could it be that we are where we are because that is where we “THINK“ we should be consciously or subconsciously? Most definitely.

So how do we change this should we need to?

What I am saying to you today is “ no matter what state of health or disease you are in today it isn’t permanent, you can change it”.

I am who and what I want to be, and you to can be who and what you want to be as well.

If you want to be healthy then you need to believe you can be healthy.

There are three easy steps to the process of empowerment

Step 1. Define what you want your life and health to be like.

Step 2. Believe that you can have this and that you deserve it.

Step 3. Start to act like you already have it.

Now surely it can’t be that simple, but really it is.

Once you define your desired health status, you need only visualize yourself being healthy and it will come, your mind doesn’t understand the difference between visualization and reality.

Extensive Studies have be done in this area of research, they discovered that when training for an event that if you visualise yourself training it can be just as beneficial as the actual training.

Train your mind to think health and bring it on.
Believe that you can be healthy and then start to live like you are healthy.

You will need to make and plan this journey in a way that suits you on an individual basis and make the rules and plan the steps at your pace.

But don’t forget to celebrate every milestone along the way. Gratitude is everything.

You have only but to REALISE YOU POTENTIAL.

This process can be applied to any issue or disadvantage you may be experiencing, the principle is the same.

Be thoughtful and careful what comes out of your mouth, since with those words you create your reality.

If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more about creating your reality sign up for my newsletter for more on this subject.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in General Health, Self Help | 5 Comments »

What is best 100% or 80% Raw Diet?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

This is an interesting question I have been raw for almost 2 years now, but I have only been 100% raw for short periods. I do like to eat some cooked food on the odd occasion and I’m not a vegan although I don’t eat meat. I like to eat eggs, some cheeses, fish and shellfish now and then. Most of the time I am 90 – 95% raw as at times I just eat 100% because that is what I desire to eat.

Many of the purist’s will be saying that 100% is the only way to go. But I say that eating raw is a great way to get your optimum nutrition but 100% doesn’t work for everyone.

I attended a Seminar last weekend on Quantum Reflex Analysis, which had several other raw foodist attending other than myself. One brought all of her food with her and the others including myself brought some food a made the most of what we could. I decided the week before the seminar that I was going to go 100% raw for several weeks and wasn’t thinking about going away at the time. I was staying with my elderly auntie and also was invited to dinner at my nieces to see my brand new grandniece.

But I’m pleased to let you know that I survived the trip with out eating anything but raw food. I consider this a good effort as I am just the same as everyone else I am human. It was a bit difficult to manage especially when my sister made a very large carrot cake of which she is famous for. But I found that I just wasn’t interested in eating it.

I would probably never go 100% raw on a permanent basis as I feel that you are setting yourself up for failure. And it is not about whether you succeed or fail it is about health and well being. Eating raw is about getting the nutrition that the body needs to heal itself of disease.

If you are trying to heal from cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular, diabetes or any other therapeutic diagnostic label of dis-ease, then yes 100% raw for a period of time is definitely going to be a good option. But setting unrealistic limitations on yourself can be very damaging in its self. I recommend flexibility. When you keep yourself flexible and don’t put unrealistic limitations on your self then you will not fail, and success will be your friend.

Fabulous results can be achieved on a 80- 90% Raw Diet.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Raw Food | 1 Comment »