Thanksgiving, Grateful I'm Not Stressing!

Holiday time. So, my sister wanted to know what I’m bringing on thanksgiving this year. This question USED to stress me out, because I tend toward (very) last minute planning. But then I realized we live in the information era. The plethora of nutrition and health blogs at our fingertips makes holiday meal planning a sinch! But I also wanted to help you with recipes I KNOW are paleo and deliciously tried and TRUE.

Don’t stress out like I used to do, instead, simplify it. Every thanksgiving only needs a few items besides turkey. Veggie dish (Brussels sprouts this year), biscuits, sweet potato side, and pie(s).

These recipes are gluten free, sugar free, dairy free and will knock your socks off anyway. Now, let’s do some clean eating from now until the holidays so we can pig out in peace.

Elanas pantry pumpkin pie – Last year we (well, in ALL honesty, I ) started a new tradition. We eat a piece of pie while we wait for the turkey to bake. We start with pie and we end with more pie after the grub.  Why not, we're Americans.

Elanas pantry salt/pepper crackers – heavy but great for you crunch-seeking cracker lovers who want to stay away from gluten

Nom nom paleo brussels sprouts - I never like Brussels sprouts until this recipe came in my life. serious. Your kids will even love it, especially with small pieces and using quality fig balsamic vinegar as the cherry on top

 Creamy prebiotic potato salad - also with bacon. I love this stuff because it's actually really good for you if you use real sauerkraut, plus its got resistant starch so you'll stay full longer along with other health benefits. You can sub sweet potatoes or just use white potatoes and be a paleo-rebel 

Chicken in coconut milk soup

We had this in school and I loved it. Omit the sugar please, you don't need it. This is so nutritious with mushrooms with adaptogen properties. 

Cauliflower mashed “potatoes” You don't need the fullness of more potatoes, get your cauliflower with loads of vitamin C, B vitamins and minerals. No guilt here!

Cauliflower saffron soup

Ever cooked with the most expensive herb on the planet? Saffron comes in small amounts because its full of vitamin A, folic acid, vitamin C (so is the cauliflower)

Lexisclean kitchen – thanksgiving biscuits - Pumpkin is delicious and also loaded with fiber and helps you produce serotonin (the "all is well" neurotransmitter that helps you have self control

Getting Back on Track (yes, you can!)

-When I eat sugar, I crave sugar 

-When I eat veggies, I crave veggies

In nutrition class, my instructor started class with one question, "How do we get back on track?" She said on a trip she just returned from, she ate poorly, she drank martinis and changed from gluten free to gluten-full. "It's near impossible to eat gluten free in some parts of the east coast." she said. It actually was a relief to hear from my food guru that she gets off track with her eating too. 

Lack of healthy options leads to sub-par food choices, and traveling amplifies that. 

The answer for 'how to get back on track from class varied. One person said he goes straight from the airport to the grocery store, no matter the time, and buys his groceries. You have to find what works for your body. My mental and physical self works best using baby steps. So here's my go-to:

Getting Back On Track:

For me, my eating habits work in a circular pattern, they work on a system where I am propelled in the direction in which I was eating the prior day. So vacations really tend to put me in the hole, where I am eating poorly but I have to pull myself out because I feel so yucky. Bloated, fat, overfed, lacking self control. You know. like this guy

Down the Hatch! Smothered in butter

Kale chips and Brussels sprouts!

So for my quick fix, post-vacation or post Holidays - I start with a big plate full of one veggie that I really like which is usually steamed broccoli, asparagus or Brussels sprouts- something green. Honestly, it doesn't look or sound delicious after coming off a bad-eating cycle. Disrespectfully, I look at the food and kinda roll my eyes at it. The transition can be difficult on everyone/thing including the food.  Also, I pull out the big guns, and use butter as bait! If I need to get my veggies in, I will smother them in grass-fed butter + Himalayan salt OR coconut oil + salt. Butter and salt make everything better, use them as your kick start. 

However, once I eat the plate of healthy, magic happens. After consuming the plate of greens,  my mood brightens and I know I can live a healthy life again. I feel so much better and I have established the tone for the next meal. I also would advise to prep your next meal's veggies ahead of time. That means the next meal is partly prepared and you have less excuses keeping you from getting those vitamins inside. So while one veggie cooks, chop up the ones for your next meal. See, baby steps. I personally am not a week-long food prepping type. But I will prep for the following meal if I am thinking clearly.

You Crave What You Eat
Here's the deal. Whatever you eat, your body will crave more of. Our gut microbiome (gut bacteria) changes in 3 days of a new diet. So our gut will easily adapt to new food choices, good or bad. Why are you craving junk food? Because you're eating junk food. Why is the vegetarian craving a big salad, it's because she eats a big salad regularly. It's not a lack of self control. Kids, don't read this next sentence, processed food has a "double fuck you" effect on hunger, because the ingredients are chemically processed to be addictive plus, you crave what you eat. 

Honestly, I think this happens as a protection mechanism. Back in the way back of old days, we didn't know what was safe to eat from the wild. I think if we tried a food once and it didn't kill us, then we would keep eating it. Plus it gives our gut bacteria time to adapt for proper digestion. 

But it shows also that a lasting change in your eating habits, starts with your prior meal. It is as easy to start eating well as steaming some broccoli and smothering it in butter. Go get your greens people. Make a change now that lights the path for how you want to eat forever. Baby steps. 

Invoking Physical Change, You Are The CEO

In one of my favorite books, Nurturing Wisdom, the author said there are two divisions of the mind. There is the thinking part and there is the proving part. One part of your brain will have a thought and the other part will seek ways to prove it's correct. It develops our belief system. It's why once we have a belief, we see it's truth everywhere. This is why religion works so well.

This morning, my dear 3-year old daughter woke me up, it was too early, and I was grumpy at the intrusion of my slumber. Meh. But this morning, in particular she said, "I love you, can I kiss you?" My whole body softened as she puckered up and kissed my cheek and hair over and over. From the moment she woke me up to the moment post kisses, what changed?  My thoughts. My thoughts changed my emotions.

Other people's reactions (her reaction) is the part of life we're not in charge of, as CEO's. Just like CEO's are not in charge of the market changes or employees or other company's, we are not in charge of the behavior of others. There will be good and there will be bad and in between from outside sources but we are in charge of being the CEO's of our actions, our thoughts and our emotions. So we're going to discuss how to control our minds, so that a bad day and a good day are not random occurances.


My prior immature belief system
Most of my teenage years all I did was take all the pain of the world, all the cruelty I felt and instead of making my thoughts about it better, I internalized it. I didn't know how to handle it and I got really depressed at a young age. I turned that depression into a drive toward a skinny body. I had this jaded belief that if I had the perfect body, then life would be peaches and cream. I thought if I was perfect, people would like me, I thought I'd get everything I wanted and I could be permanently happy. What a rude awakening it has been to be so drastically disappointed. Permanent happiness is not real. Happiness is not a trophy you get to put on your fireplace mantel. Nope, happiness is not a destination, happiness a place you find with your thoughts. There are poor people who live on barely anything but they experience more joy than you do. There are rich people who live in absolute misery. Just like there are skinny people who live in constant depression. And I guarantee there are people who would trade places with you, and all your circumstances, and they would feel extreme joy. Happiness is a mindset, it's not your genes, or your job, or your car, and it's definitely not your body.

You see, our thoughts create our physical body. Our thoughts determine our behaviors and our emotions. Our body is our subconscious mind. Ever heard that?  Our body is always listening to the commands of our thoughts, spoken words and emotions. When we decide the dessert is what's making us fat, not only is it going to do just that but it will also tell us that when we feel fat, we'll crave dessert. Why? Because in the long haul of life, we've established a mindset and a behavioral pattern associated with feeling fat. And every other emotion also has patterns associated with it.  When I feel fat, I get unmotivated, when I feel stressed I stop living in the moment, when I feel unworthy, I get really introverted.

Patterns of Behavior
The same goes for stress by the way. For me, when I feel stressed, I eat without realizing it, I snap at my kids without listening to them, I stop being present, I forget to take deep breaths, I don't look far into the future, I drive crazy bad, I become very selfish, thinking whatever is going on for others is smaller than my issue. When I feel flawlessly beautiful, I am present, I feel calm, I feel that everything is going very well. What do you do under stress? Drink too much, scream at people, stop appreciating beauty?

So by recognizing our own repeating patterns, we can stop the behaviors we don't like.

It starts with paying attention to how we feel. First we have to recognize what we're feeling. We've become numbed as a society by the distractions in life, things like Facebook, the TV, YouTube (my personal biggest addiction right now is YouTube Red) anything that keeps us from being present in the moment. Anything that pulls us away from connecting with our emotions and what's going on in life. So if we acknowledge how we feel and own it, no matter how ugly it looks, then we are creating the first step toward change. And usually the feeling is brought on by our thoughts, repeating beliefs that keep us locked into our present lifestyle.

After we own the feeling by feeling it, we can begin to see what pattern we have associated with it. What do I repeatedly do when I feel this way? How do I behave and what thoughts do I keep repeating?

Next, we MUST take time to refocus, reground ourselves toward our driving factors. What changes are you wanting to make? And here's the MAGIC question ---------> How do you WANT to feel? If you want to feel loved, what are the things you do and say to yourself when you do. So can you reverse it, and start doing those things you do when you feel that way? Such as, when I feel happy, I am very sweet to others, and I think really good thoughts of the past, future and present. When I feel happy, I am kind to myself and I don't put others down.

There's two ways to address this.  If you want to FEEL a certain way, maybe you want to feel like a skinny bitch. You just have to pretend, you set the stage and you act the part. I don't mean going out to buy size 6 jeans and trying squeezing into them. What I mean is, you wear clothes that you feel sexy in, ones that make you feel damn good looking. You seek out the feeling first. Because when you FEEL thin, you will act thin. And when you act thin, you'll feel thin. That's the blessing of the patterns. The feeling will create the behavior pattern you want. The behavior pattern will induce the physical change.

Ask yourself valuable questions for this exercise. What are you doing when you feel your best? For me, when I feel my best, I'm out of the house. When I feel my best, I am meeting new friends. When I feel my best, I am aggressive at work. When I feel my best, I am writing dynamite blogs. When I feel my best, I am the sweetest Mom you could ever ask for. Now, I have no idea - which behavior created which, but the patterns link them and they make life really easy for you to make changes. Use the patterns as your guidance, and they'll lead you to gold.


EMPOWERMENT
You're in control of everything. You are the CEO. Be a powerful CEO by being aware of your thoughts. If a bad thought comes in -you know because it makes you feel depressed or unworthy or just shitty in general. If a bad thought comes in, just do one thing for me. Soothe it away. This is a practice. Practice this with grace. Instead of thinking, "I can't believe I just ate all that candy and I was only going to have one piece." Instead think, "wow, my body was really craving some sweet stuff, it sure tasted good! I'm glad I had that available in my time of need." Soothe the pain away with better feeling thoughts. If you wanted to go for a 2-mile run but you stopped after only a block, then say "it's OK, this is just where I am today. I'm glad I made it outside, I did my best, all I can do is my best."

You are in charge of your reaction to the outside world. You are in charge of your reaction to the guy who cut you off in traffic. You aren't in control of the guy (or are you??) but you can soften getting cut off by saying something like, "well he's having a really bad day" or "I remember when I was so pissed and I cut off someone just like that." Ever been flipped off driving and sometimes the event just rolls right off you like butter off a warm knife but others that knife stabs you in the heart.  Sometimes you just ignore it with a laugh and an eye roll? You are in charge of your thoughts, and your thoughts are what's controlling your emotions and your behaviors. What is dominating within you? What are you repeatedly thinking, and is it helping or harming you?

Pain, guilt and regret will prohibit your transformation. They lock you into a circle of negative thinking that won't let you blossom. Watching TV to numb you from your emotions only leaves them unresolved. Let it hurt for a bit but then once the pain has subsided, you can decide how you want to tackle it next time. But you can't make logical, functional choices from a place of stress or fear. So soothe the pain, by thinking lightly on the subject. Saying something like, "this is just where I am in my body now, and it's OK, I am always changing." Saying "life is full of ebbs and flows." or "all in all, things are going quite well and I've learned a lot from this."


Steps for using patterns for easy changes:

1.  Decide on the goals you are working toward (a fit body)
2.  Decide what emotion you will feel when you have them. (when I am at my goal weight, I   will feel happy)
3. Find things you do that make you feel that way (when I am moving, walking or exercising, I feel joy)
4. When you don't feel joy or fit, think thoughts that will soften the heavy burden. (I'm doing my very best now, my body is changing daily, I am in control of my body)
5. Start doing the things you plan to do when you have a fit body. 

Lasting change is evoked when you are in a peaceful frame of mind. When you are calm of mind, your breathing changes and then your whole physical and emotional body are in control. As your breathing changes, your body begins to function optimally. When your body functions optimally, your glands and organs know just what to do. Find peace in everything. Find lightheartedness in where you are and seek out where you want to be.

Take care my sweet friends! Much love to your on your journey as CEO's.

24- Hour Urinary Tract Infection Cleanse

The infection of the bladder can be healed with some quickness if you apply some fierce remedies.

So in my 35 years, I've had only two urinary tract infections. The first time being in 2007 when I went to my doc for back pain and a fever that turned out to be a kidney infection which originated from (a secret) bladder infection. I literally skipped right over all the red flag warnings like cloudy urine, pain in the lower abdomen, frequent urination and burning pain. Woops. I was much less in tune with my body at that point. My (necessary)warning is that if you have a long term or aggressive UTI, a fever, a painful back and feel really dehydrated, consider a visit to your Dr.

My second bladder infection was more noticeable because it wasn't my first rodeo. And I'd been told by an alternative Dr that I had it, she found it through muscle testing. So I was on the look out for symptoms to show up, and 7 months later, they did. Being terrified of antibiotics, I decided I must nip my UTI in the bud today, or even yesterday. The very far possibility after a long term UTI is that the infection drives up into the one of the kidneys. But don't let that scare you to the pharmacy, people have been curing infections without prescriptions for eons. And besides, I believe if you treat something with antibiotics you're just shuffling the illness to another body part or pushing it deeper into the same organ.

I want to take antibiotics as much as I want Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton to become the President and vice President. Antibiotics are like a war between the good and the bad guys and then a random fighter plane flies overhead and bombs  the whole battle field. Its like as a kid when your Dad comes over when you're fighting with your sibling over a toy, and he snaps up the toy from both of you and and throws it away. Back to adulthood and antibiotics, it can take years to rebuild your immune system and gut bacteria after antibiotics. But if you do take antibiotics, don't listen to my raging fear of them, just bump up your probiotics to recolonize the battlefield faster.

I love this woman! She is a huge part of why I don't take antibiotics or use antibacterial wipes

A 3-Dimentional Cure for Urinary Tract Infections

Here's the Anti-Antibiotic Route to Halt Bladder Infections (UTI's) in 24 Hours:

PHYSICAL LEVEL:

1. Fluids, you need water/broth/tea to flush the infection out
2. Natural antibiotics: Oil of Oregano (150mg) and/or Berberine (250mg) taken 2-3 X a day
3. Diuretic tea: Dandelion root tea or nettle tea, drink 4 cups/day
4. D- Mannose (the active ingredient in cranberries that helps the infection) take 3 grams 2-3 x day
5. Cranberry juice (cold pressed only and not from concentrate Lakewood organic brand) added to          water to sip on all day. Actually tasty if you don't usually drink juice
6. Giai Herbs UTI formula (not pictured)
7. Starve the infection by NOT feeding it sugar (even fruit)

Your UTI Tool Box 

ENERGETIC LEVEL:

1. Watch my video for visual assistance!

2. Sitting down with legs in front of you, move to the forward fold position with arms extended parallel to the ground and move your arms and upper body toward your oes, breathing out. Then breath in on the way back to get your spine straight. Repeat this for 3 minutes

3. A standing cat/cow with hands on top of knees, deep breathing, inhale with head up and arch the back; then look down at the belly and breath out. Do this for 2-3 minutes also

4. Do these through the day when you have time

EMOTIONAL LEVEL:

• Ask yourself, who is pissing you off? 
• What is pissing you off? 
• When your symptoms are the worse, what were you thinking about? Feeling unsupported?
• What can make this situation/person better in your mind?
• Is it someone else or is it just your thoughts about that person or their behavior? 
• Are you repressing your anger? 
• Are you in a toxic relationship?
• What can you change in your thinking to soften the anger? 
• What thoughts bring relief? 
• Can you just breath more through the chaos?
• Can you write a list of all the things you LOVE about this person or this thing you've been sending so much anger to. Can you flip it. Your body needs you to.

More blogs about the energetic reasons for bladder infections: Here and Here

A Diamond in the Darkness, Illness As Your Ally

If I could make an ugly face at my body for my disappointment, I would. This body got sick on vacation! My beach vacation! In Cancun, of all places.  How can my body get sick when I'm in beach mode? I only get sick when I am torturing myself with a 3 page to do list. But in this instance, my to do list was sand volleyball, Mexican feasts, and vodka sodas to consume. No, there is no room for immune system glitches on a beach vacation. But it happened and it taught me two very interesting lessons.

First, what you may think I had, I didn't. Montezuma did not take revenge on this gal! I had an intense head cold. So when I woke in the morning of day 1, I was clogged in the nose and face and very ornery, so I mossied to the shower to create steam to clear my clogged head. Then realized that's only something a Denverite would do - because Colorado air is dryer than gluten free bread. Instead, I looked out over the balcony, oh, hello beautiful ocean. Breaking no land speed records, I walked to the beach and began a one-nostril (cocaine style) snort of the ocean. Take that Neti Pot, this nasal irrigation was complimentary. I'm happy to report, I didn't get explosive diarrhea from my experiment, despite hubby's hesitation. And there were multiple snorts on the trip. So next time you have a cold and you're near the blessed salty ocean, you know what to do   I really doubt that happens much to other people.

Lesson Number Two, Going deeper (ocean pun suggested)
The second lesson has come from my most recent Detoxification and Digestion class at Nutrition school. Something I read that tinted my vision like rose colored glasses. So first, let me prep you and request you read this with an open mind. Closed minds are for old people, so don't act old.


The body uses illness as a way to cleanse the body. OK. Yes, we kinda know this, like we sweat, we get pimples, we girls have periods,  but I'm going in deeper here. Think of it like a favor. Being sick is not meant to shine a light on your weak immune system, or punish you for having donuts at work. (Although, sugar does thwart the immune system, so if you do donut up, make sure its delicious and don't waste your experience feeling guilty). No, your body loves you and is only helping you. Your body is looking at the big picture. Stay with me here.

Illness is used to protect us. We get sick to gather all the old and no longer needed materials, including cells, bacteria, old emotions, bad food, and dump them out of the body. We get sick to give a swift kick in the rear to viruses and not-serving-us molecules. Your eye will water up when you get a speck of dust in it, to flush it out. Your body will kick out a splinter even if you don't pull it, because it's a foreign invader. Your body will heat up with a fever when you have a bad guy it needs to kill. The symptom is the fever, the fever is not the illness. Just like the ocean washes out seaweed and drift wood, we cleanse too. Side note, imagine if the pharmaceutical companies could talk to the ocean, they'd convince it that the seaweed was a symptom of weakness and that the salt in the water was disappearing.

Your body is working hard to cleanse the body to keep it in tip top shape and we've just been working to rid the symptoms in order to be comfortable. Western medicine has taught us that discomfort is bad. But what discomfort really is, is just plain necessary. It's also based on your emotions and thoughts. Physical symptoms stem from your thoughts, ya? Don't believe me? Why else do you blush when you get embarrassed? Or yawn when someone else does? Did you know that your body can't tell the difference between extremely cold or extremely hot water? Anyway, your body's emotions follow your thoughts. Lots of info on this, but let me steer you back to this cleansing topic.

When the cleansing process is halted, say, when you run to your medicine cabinet to pop an Advil because your head is hurting, you slow down the cleansing, add in more toxins that drive the illness deeper into the organs. It's like telling yourself to walk but stepping on your left foot with your right one. Drugs, yes even over the counter ones, are bad. Let me say it again, drugs are bad. Drugs insult the body's natural rhythm. And drugs make you feel loopy, they add to your toxic load (hello obesity epidemic!) and disrupt your natural cleansing process. It's like having a housekeeper come to your house and when she starts to clean you tell her you'd rather not clean it but just rub the house down with a rag and water.

One of my newest CD's I've been listening to is a book called, "Your Body is Your Subconscious Mind" by Candice Pert. Oh man! If you have a drive toward science, you'll love it and if you don't then she'll help you hate it less. One of the things she said was that every cell in your body responds to your thoughts. Boom. We knew that right, at least a little. But she proves it through science, and she got me really excited for the potential in this shift. Your body is responding to everything; in your physical and your non-physical  environment. This means your body responds to your thoughts. Your body is even responding to other people's thoughts. Open mind, people. So many people can prove this now. Life is WAY different than what our parents taught us. And science can prove it.

 So being armed with this power, I challenge you to think delicious thoughts, and to breath in the greatness of each illness, the body is here to help. Wave a white flag of truce to every cell in your body, the battle is over and the celebration is now here. Consider facing a little bit of discomfort the next time you feel under the weather. Consider natural remedies like chicken soup, rest, breathing, fresh air and tea with honey. Remedies that relieve the discomfort but don't halt the cleansing process. Consider just saying no to drugs and yes to cleansing.

The Body is Your Subconscious Mind

A Love Affair With The Barbell, It Can Happen to You Too!

Flashback to when I first trained with a barbell. 6 years ago I think when I was just a casual runner, before I lifted weights. My coach was first teaching me how to do some Olympic lifting - specifically a move called a Snatch (hold your laughter folks!) I asked my coach what the snatch was working. Like - was it toning my butt, could it get me into bikini modeling? His wise answer was, "it works everything." And he was right. It does. But I still rolled my eyes on the inside when we were suppose to do snatches in a workout. BTW. I know the term snatch leaves things WIDE open for all kinds of jokes. One of my favorite things to say when I am coaching, is "alright everyone, now it's time to warm up our snatches." Grinning.

It took me about 2 years of Crossfit before I stopped sighing while viewing a workout of the Day with some form of overhead lifting. I used to think, "why can't they just do regular stuff? Deadlifts are WAAAY less intimidating. Which is my point exactly.

It wasn't until I was really comfortable with the techniques, that I ever grew to love weightlifting. Before that  I had so much resistance to barbell moves because of my inexperience and fear. From the start, I had a gigantic fear of dropping the barbell on top of my head. As a coach, I have never trained any woman who doesn't have these fears as well. Guys tend to be a little more ignorant of the dangerous possibilities. But I guarantee we all have some form of fear of the barbell.

Badass Chick, Jackie Perez

And slowly things changed for me. I developed a love affair with the barbell. It was nothing that slapped me in the face suddenly but I began to notice that when I was having a day where I felt unworthy, or lame, or was being judgey with myself - it seemed that after I worked with the barbell on overhead movements - that my mentality shifted dramatically. Still to this day, give me 20 minutes with a barbell and I am reincarnated from a lame-o weak duckling into a BADASS CHICK.

Through watching others that I coach, I noticed the transformation isn't unique to just me. I watch people walk into the gym with zero confidence and walk out smiling, eager to approach life with gusto enthusiasm. Fast transformations of energy are happening everyday inside Crossfit boxes and gyms everywhere. Now that's newsworthy.

Not the kind of exercise bike your Mom rode. Photo Credit Kraig Scarbinsky/Digital Vision/Getty Images

Your brain chemistry changes dramatically when you exercise or move your body. Your brain chemistry responds immediately to your newly oxygenated blood and air. Movement causes your thoughts to shift because your neurotransmitters are firing messages to your brain of positive-ity. This is endorphins, and they along with others, are what keep people addicted to exercise. In fact, I notice I feel really crummy and become very mean after 3 days without some decent movement. So, movement moves changes thoughts into positive ones and those positive thoughts energize you and leave you coming back for more. That's why when I feel down in the dumps, the best thing to do is walk, workout or do focused deep breathing.

The first barbell move that I learned to love was the clean and jerk. Using power and strength, you grab the barbell from the ground and "clean" or lift it to your shoulders. Next you transfer strength from your legs and toss the barbell to the arms locked out overhead position. wa-la. I like this move because you end up in a power pose position which we know increases testosterone and decreases cortisol. Boom. And everyone, yes, even girls, want some testosterone - because it makes you VERY brave.

If you weren't interested in barbells before this, you will be afterward.

As I told someone I coach. If you are afraid of something in life (we all have something) then do some weightlifting. It is my strong belief that we live our life as a metaphor - every way you live your life is a reflection of your thoughts and beliefs. If you're afraid of one thing, then that fear transfers to every area of your life as well. The simplest way to overcome a fear of one thing is to face fear in a different area, that's a SWEET life hack of monumental proportions. When you have things that you are fearful of, you can manipulate the fear by practicing bravery in other areas. I'm not kidding you on that.  Pride and self love are two of the bi-products of practicing bravery. And when you have pride and self love, life is WAY less frightening.

So how you do learn to love weightlifting? First you have to want to do it, even just a little bit. My reason came from vanity. I wanted to look like a Crossfitter. I walked into my first Crossfit box, 6 years ago, and said - so this is where the beautiful bodies are born! You have to want to have strength. And if you have just the smallest desire, then practice. Then, you go easy on yourself, you start really light and then learn to do it properly. Clean and jerk is very commonly the first skill to master with the barbell. Snatches and overhead squats have a lot of working parts - so they would come later. Then lastly, you get heavy. No powerlifter ever picked up a 300# barbell and threw it over their head, no. Instead they started light and went up in weight slowly.

dream body alert!

Practice lifting a barbell to love the way it makes you feel. Practice because it's a little scary, but so is life - and the more you lift it - the less scary the other things in life become. Life hack.


Lift because when you feel good on the inside, you radiate it on the outside. Barbells are your friend who you don't want to let down by playing weak. Barbells put you in touch with your strong side; the fearless one. But even if you don't love the barbell right away, give it time. The barbell love is accumulative- it gets bigger each time you lift it.

Lift heavy my friends.

Heartburn Got You Burning Up?! Got Your Cure, No Rx Required

Did you know I am interested in healing the world with food and demolishing the pharmaceutical company stocks with my healing, genius mind? Oh, you didn't know. I haven't told many because I've been studying instead of blogging. So for my nutrition therapy class, we are studying natural alternatives to nasty acid blockers like Nexium, Maalox, Tagamet and Prilosec, Pepcid AC. Here is some of the info I feel compelled to share for all you heartburn sufferers.

Personally, I've only ever had heartburn a few awful times - It hurt SOOOOOO bad - like a flame was oozing out of my heart.  In fact, the first time I had it, I sat up in bed thinking I was going to croak. Times after that,  when I was prego, I took peppermints, I chewed down 4 of them and it calmed the fire down though I've read that it isn't suppose to help, it definitely did. So, there. Maybe that's all we need is some artificial mint- flavored sugar to cure what ails us. (that's a sweet metaphor for life)


Energetically, heartburn is caused by fear, fear and more fear. According to Louise Hay, some thought or emotion you are thinking is causing clutching fear within your body. Remember to breathe fully and that things are always working out for you. Then figure out how to soothe yourself into relief.

In case you are in pain, rolling your eyes and holding your chest, wondering when I'll get past the candy and move to the grits - here you go:

• Did you know the heartburn/acid reflux business is a $13 billion industry? The pharmaceutical companies have no intention of curing this -----> When you are sick, it's buying their family pet a new Range Rover. So if peppermints really are the cure, they would tell you.

Heartburn is not your heart burning! I hope that becomes common knowledge. Your heart is fine, it's your digestive tract that's working overtime.

• The causes of heartburn/acid reflux is because the muscular flap that separates your esophagus from your stomach - the flap is not staying shut. It's name is the lower esophageal sphincter. The sphincter is an exit only door - and the food is going back through the exit and there's a bouncer at the door who lights the whole place on fire as punishment. But the burning is actually just stomach acid which is usually just in the stomach and needed to polarize your food. Don't block the acid, you need the acid for all the processes in your body
• Low stomach acid is very common a problem for most of us Americans. It's not that we have too much stomach acid and its eating our insides. Indeed it's the opposite. We don't make enough acid and the exit only door is not triggered to stay shut thus the acid goes splashing into the exit only door and the fire the bouncer started
• All those heartburn medications and OTC meds are harming us more than helping us. They are only to be taken for a short time and yet we use them regularly and they cause a whole host of other problems
• The best chapter in the book I read is called "Is the Cure worse than the Disease?" The answer is yes, it is worse. Acid blockers are worse than heartburn. But if you have heartburn for a long time you can get ulcers, so the solution is to figure out WHY you are getting heartburn and address that. Is it a certain food? Is it a certain person or thought? Is it a job? Is it from standing up eating? Is it from over-feeding yourself at every meal? 
  
• Side effects of acid blocking drugs include bone loss and asthma, and bloating, malnutrition, constipation, chest pain, coughing, anemia, aggression, arthritis, back pain, dry mouth, farts, rashes, cancer of the GI tract, flu, hair loss, goiter, fever, depression, kidney disease, liver disease, impotence, vision problems, weight gain or loss. Holy Sh*t!

Indeed the answer is actually to increase your stomach acid so the exit only door can tell the bouncer to go home because the club is closed and the door is locked. Once there is sufficient stomach acid, your sphincter gets the message to shut and stay shut, thus the "club" is closed. 

You can increase your stomach acid naturally: 

First, hold the boat! Stop taking antacids which neutralize the stomach acid, you want the acid acidic so you can digest and assimilate nutrients from your food

1) Drink a small amount (1/3 teaspoon) of Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar with water 20 minutes before meals . Not only does this help you digest food, but when you properly digest food, you have less waste for your body to sort through so you will usually lose weight. I know a guy who did nothing different to his diet and lost 10 pounds just adding in apple cider vinegar to his diet for 2.5 months. 

2) Take herbal bitters to help the bouncer (esophageal sphincter) get stronger (the sphincter is a muscle - get it? you can picture it now, right!) and to increase stomach acid. It's a one-two PUNCH!

bitters

3) Avoid tap water, get a water filter. Get rid of fluoride and chlorine which lower the amount of enzymes (that help produce stomach acid) also they are nasty and they perform torture on your thyroid. 

4) Supplement with HCl (hydrochloric acid) don't do this if you have an ulcer and take digestive enzymes- or probiotics-  better assimilation of nutrients, win-win!

5) Lifestyle habits: slow eating, small bites, just eating without your phone (eeeekkk! is that possible?) When you feel fear,or stress - are you eating it away? Don't eat when you're scared or stressed. Wait it out. You won't wither away skipping a meal or two. But you will be able to get down to the real issues without bottlenecking

6) Foods to add in for healing of the gut/intestines: aloe vera, cabbage juice, payaya, chamomile tea. Add them in! 

7) Get checked for H. Pylori bacteria if you have regular bad breath, bloating, migraines, rosacea, anemia, asthma, or vomiting after a meal  

8) Examine if you have yeast overgrowth or candida since it causes acid reflux - if you regularly crave sugar, consider a candida cleanse to nip this in the bud! Yeast overgrowth causes the bugs to poop out gas and the gas travel up through the exit only door (AKA the sphincter)

My emergency remedy (besides peppermint candy):

  Arm AND Hammer

FOR MASSIVE HEARTBURN ATTACKS: 1 TINY TEASPOON OF BAKING SODA will neutralize the acid. Add to a small glass of water and put it down the hatch

Reference: Natural Alternatives to Nexium, Maalox, Tagamet, Prilosec & Other Acid Blockers by Martie Whittekin, CCN

Joy. Joy. Joy. Bring It.

Your Cells Understand Happy

When you are happy, dopamine receptors sit on the edges of cells and prevent viruses and illness from entering the cell. WHAT?! Yes, A book called The Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert wrote about it. This means the happier you are, the less sick you get. And science proved it. She went further to say the body is the subconscious mind. hmmmm. We won't go there yet, but that will be a killer post. 

Today's post is all about being and feeling happy. 

Ever notice the people in your life that are the most positive almost never get sick? Think of the most positive person you have in your life.They are usually good looking and you feel more joy just being near them. These people are shining from the inside out. They are projecting joy and getting joy back. They aren’t happy because they have everything, instead they are happy, so they get everything. They are magnets for goodness.

The body with its trillions of highly intelligent cells will function perfectly when joy is your dominant emotion. But add in a bucket of stress, fear, or depression and the body doesn't know how to respond. So sickness and disease begin to manifest within the physical body. There is tons of research on the mind/body connection because of all the people who healed themselves, its real. They hurt, they cured themselves and then they shared their story so we could heal too. Is your story waiting for you to heal?

Louise Hay has a book all about the mind/body connection, and lots of medical personnel are also beginning to relate lifestyle habits and thoughts to physical conditions. People who are afraid or worry have problems with their kidneys. People who are angry are having problems with toxins (even toxic thoughts) related to the liver. People with low thyroid function have a hard time speaking up for their needs. These correlations can be very specific or very vague, but people are proving the truth of it all within the scientific community. Consider Christine Northrup and Mona Lisa Schultz as well as Bruce Lipton. 

The Journey...

Start with taking the pressure off yourself to try to be something different than what you are. You're perfect as you are. Just relax into being yourself so you can really resonate with your spark. You don't have to earn comfort in your own skin. It's already yours. If you aren't experiencing it, then start to focus on things you love, or things you are good at, or just dream about the things you desire. Imagine what you want and pull in. Your joy is waiting for you. And follow my examples to get you your happiness, instructions to follow.

This made me laugh, just had to share. Nothing related to post except lifting a mood

Move Toward Joy With HaPPy HaCks! 

 General/Specific mindset. Go general in your thoughts, if you're thinking of something you don't like. Shrug it off with statements like "well, that wasn't my most shining moment". And move on.  Unless you're thinking of something you really like, then you get specific and relish in it. Such as, you nailed a job interview - then specifically dig in and note why you liked it, what mood you were in when you walked in the door, how proud you were, how today is best day of your life, how you are a master at squashing the competition. That's how you experience more joy. Milk the GOOD and ignore the NEGATIVE. It creates more of the excellent experiences that feel good inside our body.

For Joy Through the Day: A Five-Minute Energy Routine

I love the 5 minute energy routine, it's how I guarantee myself a great day. When I feel blah or I need some extra confidence for my day, I move through all these moves and it's never disappointing. It accumulative, the more you do it - the more it helps. This stuff is real. Just like the cell phones work though you can't see the wire. And the wifi works, it's all through energy. Our body is more than physical flesh. It's also energetically wired and just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there.

standing at attention to brush, don't you do this?

"Fake It Until You Become It" You can change your mind by with body. Strike a power pose, for two minutes - hold your arms out to make a giant letter "T". Or my friend said she knows a verteran who cured himself of PTSD by brushing his teeth for 2-minutes twice daily, standing at attention - see pic. What I'm mentioning is epic: Amy Cuddy's TedTalks. Power posing increases testosterone (for confidence) and lowers cortisol (for relaxing). They proved with CEO's of large companies tend toward a proper hormonal mix of low cortisol and high testosterone. They did hormonal tests on people to prove standing in wonder woman stance really works! Get your CEO on with a 2-minute power pose - KILLER prior to a job interview! 

When you feel Anger or Negativity:

Get upside down for new perspective. 

1. Stop and breathe. Give yourself 5 minutes of nothing but breathing. Let me just say this in bold: your thoughts control your breath and vice versa. Even if it means you'll be 5 minutes late or even if it means you have to be excused from an important meeting. You have to take care of yourself first. Be selfish with the needs of your body. 

Remember, if you imagine you are getting chased by a guy with a chainsaw, or if you imagine you just won a million-dollar dream house- your mind believes you. The biggest indicator of which of those is really happening is through your breathing.  So don't work yourself up in a tizzy.

Solutions to problems will magically come when our brains are full of oxygenated blood. When we are stressed, about something that hasn't ever happened or happened ten years ago,  the idea alone will put us in fight/flight mode. This means no blood is going to our brain or to the gut. So your food gets stored as fat and you are thinking on the level of a lab rat. Breathe instead. Just breathe.

2) Move to Music! This is embarrassing to admit but I love listening to my kids Frozen CD, it cheers me up every time. We throw dance parties and I just let my body move. Moving releases negative energy. There is the iconic song,  “Let It Go” in which I use my arms and push out anything negative I've been holding onto. Movement of any kind does this. Rolling in the grass, walking, dancing, stretching, tai chi, break dancing, finger tapping-  it doesn’t have to be exercise. Give the gift of movement to your body.

3) Write a Wish List.  Get very specific in the things you like. You could do a vision board or just go out into the world and look for occurrences that sit well with you. Even look for things you see in the world that you would like more of in your life.  Take a mental snapshot of two people kissing, a well-meaning kiss. Tell the universe you want more of that. I once was at the airport and saw a grandmother greet her grandchild with so much love and give him the most gentle squeeze, that I felt it within my own body. I was just the observer, but I felt it.. These acts of love are all around but we sometimes have blinders on - anger, rage, jealousy, self-pity, victimization, blame, guilt - these emotions are all disconnecting emotions that take away from the joy we were born to feel. 

4) Start a list of what's great about things. There's a positive to everything, seek it out. Control your focus. We easily go into negative mode but it can't serves us. Reverse it. What's great about having an imperfect body. 1. I don't have to be perfect. 2. I can be slightly invisible if I want, I can blend in a crowd  3. People don't judge me on a level of perfection

5) Stop what you are doing, do something different. Turn on the radio- full blast, walk on the grass barefoot, jump up and down, stand on your head, go chug 3 giant glasses of water. Change what you're doing to get a different result.

EnJOY the JOY.

Joy Is The New Skinny

All these years, staring at ourselves in the mirror, looking in dismay and assuming happiness is just on the other side of ten pounds, or the 100 pounds. It becomes this asshole belief, that the scale grants you permission to be happy. And we've taught our self,  this disillusion message of " I Can Be Happy When"... I look a certain way, when I lose the weight, when I have a mate, when I drive this car, when I have enough ones and zeros in my checking account. 

Beauty Could Be in the Eye of the Marketing Campaigns

What?! Your lashes don't look like this?

We're quietly taught by American culture that if we lose weight and get sexy, that then, finally, we get the key to enjoy happiness. But that's just what Nike, Revlon and Macy's want you to think. Big corporations bank millions on the concept of conditional self love. All the big names that market to people use the Army tactic - tear us down then give hope BUT only if we use their product. Stretch marks? Oh dear, better use this cream to make them less visible, as though a scar is so terrible. **TANGENT WARNING**As though our skin should not tell a story. Flawless skin BORES the sh*t out of me. Grow some stories and wear them on your body like your beautifully messy autobiography. **TANGENT OVER**

Conditional happiness is the name of the game.  What condition do you place on your happiness? Now, my lovelies, I want to introduce a new game. 

Most of us want things (cars, people, houses, lifestyles) which we assume will make us TWO things in life: Happy and Healthy. However, I remember in my adult life some of my most dark and depressing times, they were when I had the perfect body, a spouse, kids and almost a white picket fence - a seemingly perfect looking life. But inside, I was a wreck. I was often depressed and talked smack to my body daily. My internal dialog was so negative that I repeatedly needed to workout, to disengage from a painful reality that I was living. Sometimes I worked out three times a day to keep my mood up, if I didn't get to do that, I had to face myself.

That misery led me to understand that we are all suckers to the lies of our first world culture. Happiness is not some forever-medal you are rewarded once you have all your ducks in a row. All that hype we listen to from big-money-driven-companies telling us if we lose weight we'll be thin enough to deserve to be happy, if we drive this car, we'll look like a celebrity, if we take this magic pill we'll be skinny which will make us happy. Guess what- I'm on to you, American capitalism. Happiness comes from a place inside that does not falter to gimmicks and click-here promotions. We're better than that. Of course we are.

There's no amount of money to be paid to procure unconditional self love. That's the best part. Self love is free and feels so darn good. And we all want to feel good. Feeling good is innate - it's the way we were born! You don't see a 2 year old running to hide their naked body in shame, you instead see how loving they are to it, how they carelessly shed their clothes and run naked. Self love and shameless living are built within us, but as we grow up, we screw it up for ourselves - letting marketing companies have their way with our emotions. What if you could have the best of both worlds. What if you could be happy and then you could get the body you wanted. 

If your weight is "keeping" you from being happy:

Your challenge is to set aside worry and stress over food and exercise. That will come organically later, after you feel joy. By practicing kindness to yourself, avoiding mirrors and scales and judgement, then you can move toward what you desire; JOY. Enjoy the food you enjoy. So your goal is to set aside the rules, the harsh judgment and the self hatrid. Your goal is to be happy. In your perfect-for-now body. And how cool is that. How good does that feel? I give you permission to just enjoy being you. 

We've tried the other way. We've tried to listen to nutritionists lamely explain that a size of a meat portion should be a deck of cards. (l-a-m-e) We've tried to force ourselves into a type of exercise that doesn't feel good but we think we need. (Zumba & pilates for me) We've tried to read every new diet book and we've followed it like a bible, but then it all collapses again. We have to be either on or off a diet. That's because we've been going about it backwards. Thinking we have to earn the right to feel joyous in our bodies. Thinking we have to create a rich, skinny, socially acceptable person that is lovable before we can love ourselves. Thinking we have to suffer in order to get what we want. Then we can be happy. Thinking happiness has a cost. Well, it doesn't. It's yours for the taking and you deserve to experience it. Work it backwards.

Maybe work on a 3-month experiment to find our happy and then allow our body to realign with our right appetites, like when we were kids. I am always amazed to watch my 5 year old and 3 year old who turn their noses up at the extra ice cream or the dessert or even dinner - even if they love it. To them, there's no emotional aspect to food. They eat when they're hungry and they don't have a problem leaving half their plate of food or avoiding a meal altogether. Sometimes they are having so much play time I wonder if that is all the nourishment they need, that food is just a bonus. If we could nourish ourselves with so much love, could we then stop abusing food to supplement us with pretend love.

There's an article I wrote on not eating a tub of ice cream in a fancy dress. My point there is, when you are so thrilled about something - a new hobby or a new relationship or a new business venture- your natural appetite goes down. Your happiness level goes up and no longer do you need to self soothe. It's a beautiful, natural system. With joy, your body restores itself. 

A study that proves my point perfectly. In fact, there are lots of these studies, but this one stands out in my mind. There were two groups of people. Both groups were separated from each other. One group was watching a boring 2 hour lecture, the other was watching a 2 hour comedy show. Both groups were given chocolate cake. What do you think happened when they tested their blood sugar levels? They both had the same cake. But their physiological response was massively different. The group that was laughing during the comedy show had normal blood sugar levels while the group listening to the lecture had a large rise in their blood glucose level.

My next post will have more specific details on finding joy, how to seek it out no matter what your dominant mood is. Trust me, this stuff works. The universe knows you want to be skinny, and it wants to bring you happiness - all you have to do is live happy and more happiness will come your way. If you want specific tasks in the mean time - I suggest my above post link for eating ice cream in a fancy dress.