Secrets Revealed... Building Immunity

We already had our first cold of the school season! Woo hoo!

It went exactly according to plan. You know the plan - the one where you plan not to get sick and publish to the whole world how to stay healthy and then your kid is one of the first to catch a cold plan?

Well, I never said you wouldn't get sick and I didn't expect my kids would never get sick. What I was hoping for, though, was a kid that could shake off any virus pretty easily. And, he did. This is what a strong immune system does. Even if you do get sick, it doesn't shut you down or turn into something worse.

Here are a few more tips and tricks to keep building up your immune system muscle.

Avoid / reduce:
· Dairy products – milk, ice cream, soy, casein, cheese
· White flour products
· White sugar, refined sugar, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, fructose, corn syrup, pasteurized honey
· Alcohol- beer, wine, sweetened fruit juice
· Artificial sweeteners, preservatives, hydrogenated & trans fats
· Anything termed “Enriched” including flours & vitamin drinks
· Avoid or reduce Coffee, sodas, juice boxes, vitamin drinks, etc.

These 'foods', and I use the term lightly, all create an acidic environment within the body. Yeasts, viruses, fungi and bacteria can only live in an acidic environment. When immunity is compromised, the average cold turns into an ear infection, bronchitis or strep. Give yourself and your kids a fighting chance by reducing these items from the daily diet.

It's one small step toward a little more sleep and a lot more peace.

10 Years

You all remember where you were and how you heard the news. The memory of that day will live with us for the rest of our lives. It's part of the collective conscious of this society and although we may not have known even one person related to the events of that day, we knew every soul intimately... every single soul.

We knew the souls in the towers, on the planes, in NY, in PA, and DC. And, believe it or not, we also knew the desperate souls of those who hijacked the planes. In one day, our lives were forever changed.

Hero or victim - which perspective do you see? These souls came into and left the physical form for the benefit of all. The role they played honors us. Everything stopped, but the world kept turning... Babies were born, communities were brought together, families ended feuding, a country was united and a new story came to be.

That day was one lesson in our lifetime. What did you learn? How will you honor your life and the lives of those around you?

Lessons or blessings - they are one in the same. God always delivers blessings...

Secrets to a Healthy Winter

Every Fall, when the kids head back to school, they start taking this invaluable immunity tonic. Last year they had perfect attendance at school. Of course, they did catch a few colds and had one puking virus, but overall they had a great winter! For the first time in their short lives, they had a normal response to these incidences. There were no trips to the ER for IVs nor constant antibiotics and calls to the doctor.

As you look forward to the coming months, one of the best things you can do, is cut back on sugar, preservatives and artificial ingredients. These ingredients create acidity in the body which translates into the perfect environment for dis-ease to thrive. The combination of cutting back on junk and taking the tonic is how we managed last winter. It's our 'secret' family recipe.

Immune Tonic Recipe
4oz. organic grape juice (Lakewood Organic brand)
1 tsp. fish oil (Nordic Naturals or Carlson brands)
1 tsp. elderberry syrup (Sambucol brand)
1 probiotic capsule (Jarrow brand) 

Directions:
Take 5 mornings a week with 2 days off. Cut the quantities in half for kids 4 and under except for the probiotic. Lately, we've added 2 drops of oregeno oil to the mixture.

The better we all feel, the stronger our immunity and the less we even think about dis-ease. Look for more tips and information in the coming weeks! 

Dent Relief

I've had a dent in the back of my car for the past 7 years. Nothing serious. It just defined who I was.

After receiving the news about my father's sudden death at my in-laws house in Ohio, my father-in-law found the first flight back home so I could be with my mom.  My husband, on the other hand, drove from Ohio to Connecticut with two little boys. At the time they were four and two. It took him 2 days and plenty of Heavenly guidance, but he made it. He pulled into the driveway at my mother's house and my mom took the kids into the house immediately. My husband was still sitting in the car. When he finally got out, he just hugged me and cried. Yes, my father had died, but his friend had died as well. A man he looked up to, respected and who understood him even better than his own family did.  He was gone. Or so we thought...

After composing himself, my husband went into the house and I was left to unpack the car. To make it easier, I decided to back it into the driveway and unload into the garage. As I backed up, I hit something. We were all out of our minds as it was and here I was backing into something in the black of the night in the middle of winter.  It was my father's stump grinder. If you don't know by now, he was a lumberjack. All of his equipment was still in the driveway and the garage. Still fresh with hydraulic oil and wood chips. Brand new car, brand new dead dad and brand new dent... life has a way of happening and we get to make sense of it. It can be fantastically ironic sometimes.

That dent was a gift from my father. It was a reminder to me how quickly life can change - How things, people come and go, but feelings last forever. It marked me like a scar after a cut. And, this cut was deep. In good conscious, I could not get it fixed. Sure, I got plenty of quotes and talked about it, but did nothing until now. It was a scar I wore with pride for 7 years. Everyone needed to see it. I needed to see it. It screamed, "This happened in my life and I survived." It said, "This is who I am."

It was time. I don't have any logical reason for why, I just knew it was time to fix it.  I kept looking at the dent and how I defined myself, not wanting to let go of that moment in time. It was as if I had a piece of my Dad with me in that dent. Just like bumper stickers on the back of cars that convey how the driver feels about life, abortion, teams or schools ... I used the dent in the same way. But now, that sticker, that dent is inside me. It is part of my cellular structure. I've meditated upon it for the past 7 years without realizing it. That meditation has become a part of who I am.

How odd it is to define ourselves and unconsciously label or limit who we are. How odd it is to have to keep something like a dent for so long and then one day wake up and it's gone. What dents are you wearing? Is it time to smooth them out? The Buddha teaches that "Nothing ever goes away, until it has taught us what we need to know." The struggle of dark and light, good and bad has disappeared. What is left? Love.

My husband hammered it out this week. It's a smooth back-end again and I feel good about it. To the human eye, the dent is gone. That's OK, because it is forever engraved in my heart.

Power Breakfast: Gluten Free Pancakes

The challenge: Make a great tasting, whole grain, gluten-free pancake.
Why?: Because.

Cornstarch. That's the real reason. It lacks any real nutritional value, is a high glycemic food, has no fiber, no protein, and is highly inflammatory. It is also one of the main ingredients in most gluten-free foods.

Many of you know spelt is my go-to grain for most everything. And, although it is a low-gluten food, it still has gluten. I wanted to make a true, whole grain pancake without gluten, but also without cornstarch - something that had more nutritional value. Thankfully, my kids are pancake connoisseurs and I can experiment with them. Sometimes the feedback is good, sometimes not - but they still eat it.

As is true to form with my shopping habits during the summer, we had run out of our standard spelt flour for the usual pancake breakfast. Keeping up with feeding the kids during the summer months is a challenge in itself.  I swear they make up for the other nine months of the year when they are in school by eating constantly all summer. So, that morning, after surveying the pantry, I found some brown rice flour, corn meal and xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is a natural food product that thickens food. It acts like a glue when gluten based flour is not available. It's also used widely in gluten-free foods, but not the main ingredient. Usually 1/2 to 1 tsp. is all that is needed.

School is fast approaching, and you can amp up these pancake to make a complete meal. We added more fiber and protein by using flax seed and raw, organic, vegan brown rice protein powder. You'll also see oatmeal in the recipe below. Oatmeal is gluten free, however, it is not always processed in a facility that uses gluten specific machinery. Therefore, it can be considered a 'contaminated' food. If you have true celiac disease, make sure you purchase oatmeal processed in a gluten free facility.

Now we can have our cake and eat it too - gluten free!

Gluten Free Pantry Pancakes:
1 cup goat milk (can substitute almond or rice milk)
1 cage free egg
1/2 tsp. organic sea salt
1/2 tsp. aluminum free baking soda
1/2 tsp. free-trade vanilla
2 tbsp. whole cane sugar
1 tbsp. cold-processed, unrefined, sesame oil
1 & 1/4 cup organic brown rice flour
1/2 cup organic corn meal
1/2 cup organic oatmeal
1 tsp. xanthan gum
Optional: 2 tbsp flax seed meal and/or 1 scoop of Garden of Life Raw Protein.

Mix ingredients together and spoon onto a hot pan. Add a few chocolate chips or blueberries. Flip over and cook both sides.

To top them off, try Grade B Maple Syrup, almond butter & jelly or raw honey. The door is wide open to try all kinds of whole grain, gluten free flours - coconut, almond, quinoa, and millet.  Why don't you experiment a little? Let me know how your pancakes turn out.

By the way, I have been known to run out of sandwich bread and send pancake or waffle sandwiches to school. Just food for thought as you start planning those school lunches...

Mix it up and have some fun!

Crappy to Happy in 3 Bloody Minutes

We were in a huge funk at the beginning of the week. Whatever you call it, cabin fever, vacation recovery, too much togetherness - it was just ugly. The kids and I were not in harmony. July feels, to me, like the middle of winter. I feel like a hamster stuck in a cage because of the weather restrictions. Man, I just feel restricted!

Then came the bloody nose. Big brother gave little brother too rough a tackle. The third kid really does take a beating.Wake up call! God has a way of getting my attention through blood/injury and money. These get my attention and spark immediate action. Unintentional or not, mommy gets ugly when blood is drawn. It was not a pretty sight. At this point we were all feeling really crappy. So, I asked for help and said, "I am aligned with Source." The crappy feeling continued until something magical happened...

A commitment for Wednesday night canceled. All of a sudden my week was completely free and I felt better. There was literally a shift within my body that could be felt and registered in my brain - things had turned in the right direction. A total transformation within 3 minutes and I was a different person! I had another commitment Monday afternoon and canceled it. A client rescheduled due to vacation. The weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. I canceled a extra checking account the bank had talked me into and a gym membership I haven't used in a year. Wow, this feels great! The laundry is caught up and folded. The school supplies are bought and organized. The school uniforms and shoes are purchased. The kids are getting along and the little one recovered quickly.  So I ask you. . .  How can you open yourself up for transformation?

What can you cancel today that will lift some weight off your shoulders? 
What can you throw out? 
What can you do just for yourself and no one else?

Sometimes what we need is less, not more, to feel better. The Universe has a way of focusing our direction. The signs are obvious. Ease is the path to joy. All we have to do is pay attention and reach for the better feeling. Sometimes blood is involved, but that's just a part of life.

I am...

Ohhhh, we are back from Grandma's house. We need a vacation to recover from the vacation! You've had plenty of time to meditate now on what you like, what you are good at and what you love. These lists are designed to give you a clearer sense of self. To be consciously aware of who you are. Now, on to the Passion Test....

The test begins with another list. Imagine that?! Except this list begins with the statement, "When my life is ideal, I am (experiencing, having, feeling, being, loving....)__________________." Make a list of the top ten (or more) things that would give you a life of joy. You don't have to be experiencing them now, but want to be. The previous exercises I gave you were designed to help you really look at what is happening right now in your life, what you like and what you don't. Now, you have the opportunity to design what you'd like your life to look like. Close your eyes and visualize your life. Where are you? Who's with you? What are you doing? How do you feel? Let yourself loose and write it down!

Once you have your Ideal Life List written, put the list in order of importance. The goal is to get the most important in the top 5 of the list. When I first did this, I couldn't limit myself to the top 5 because I didn't realize my passions can change or that they might be a subsection under a larger heading. For instance, You might say you're life is ideal when you have flexible work hours and you're life is ideal when you are enjoying every minute of the day. Can you see how "Enjoying every minute of the day" could be the passion and "flexible work hours" can fall under it as a condition that facilitates "Enjoying every minute of the day"?  It's this kind of refinement we are asked to do in the book so that we can really look at our desires and allow our lives to sing.

Don't over think things, though. Go with your first instinct in making the list and let it sit for a bit. I know I had to come back to mine. The writers recommend that we take the test at least every 6 months. It's a good way to really refine and become clear about what we truly love.


The clearer you become about what you truly love and desire, the stronger your conscious intention becomes, and this helps the rest of your brain respond in an organized way. The Passion Test. p.34.

Of course, this is just the beginning, but it's where I end for now.  Have a GLORIOUS day!