Be Real: Keep it Simple

No pictures today... only words.


Lord, take me where you want me to go.
Let me meet who you want me to meet.
Tell me what you want me to say, and
keep me out of your way.


Fr. Mychael F. Judge
NYC Chaplain
died Sept. 11, 2001
World Trade Center

Eat Real: Gluten Free Baked Ziti

What's with the pig? You'll figure it out ...

I share this story with you about my son ... He was grunting. My husband is Italian and pasta has always been big at our house. This grunting would start as soon as the child took his first bite of food and it would increase as he went through the meal. He really couldn't stop. It was annoying at first. He literally sounded like a pig snorting. Finally, I took him to the doctor and she said it was a nervous tick. So, basically, it was emotional. After doing some reading and listening to my inner voice - I decided to cut out gluten for 2 weeks to see if he improved. Guess what? He did. No more grunting. So, here's the kicker - I added back the pasta with the gluten. Guess what - more grunting.

Did I get him allergy tested? Nope. Did I do this because the doctor told me to? Nope. I did this because of the guidance I received from Spirit and my own intuitive voice. After reading enough information and seeing ticks can be related to neurological disorders in children and that these children always improved on gluten free diets - I made the next logical conclusion. Cut out gluten products and see what happens. This was a lot easier, less invasive and less expensive than getting allergy and neurological testing. He was and continues to be in no grave danger.

The more research I do, the more information I find about the side affects of gluten. I've researched 4 different, unrelated conditions this week and reducing and/or eliminating gluten increases the recovery time for ALL of them.

My own family has gone 90% gluten free. We still use spelt flour, which is a cousin of wheat and considered a reduced gluten product. Many people who follow a gluten free eating plan have been able to tolerate this flour. However, we've experimented with many others including brown rice flour, oat flour, coconut and quinoa flours. All have been great. We've been able to mix and match them to create flour combinations to suit whatever we are baking at the time.

His grunting was a sign of inflammation - an intolerance to a food product. What I'm getting at is this - regardless of a serious diagnosis or just grunting at the dinner table, health improves when gluten is reduced. We've adapted and so can you! Here's one of our favorite recipes. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Gluten Free Baked Ziti
1lb brown rice ziti
28 oz can organic crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 lb. grass fed ground beef
2 cups shredded mozzarella (rbgh & hormone free)

Cook beef, olive oil, spices together. When complete, add crushed tomatoes. Cook pasta and drain. In a 9x13" pan, coat bottom with sauce/meat mixture, layer pasta on top, add more sauce and then cheese. Repeat layer with pasta, sauce, cheese. Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 30 min.

Here's to a meal without grunting!

Eat Real: Food & Faith

It seems this months postings are all about combinations, addition and subtraction. What can we add to our lives, what can we subtract and what combinations seem to make the most sense?

There's always something new to learn and from that opportunity to learn, a chance to grow. That's what this life is all about. Would you tell your kid not to try something new? Why shouldn't you? If something is working, great - don't fix it. But, if something is not, why not try something new? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the same undesirable result.

Trust your intuition, listen to your inner voice no matter how quiet and small it is. It's trying to tell you something. It's trying to tell you life doesn't have to be difficult, that simple solutions are there staring us in the face all the time.

I was watching a video of Dr. Oz about the future of medicine. What struck me was that the future of medicine ends up being defined as the traditions that have been around for thousands of years. What's future about it is this - science is able to quantify it and that the old ways are being combined with current 'modern' therapies. The old remedies have always been the best, least expensive, and easiest. I'm not knocking modern, western medicine. What is interesting though is that clinical studies have proven that the more advanced our culture gets in medicine and technology, the sicker the population becomes.

Check out these statistics:
92% of Americans are deficient in vitamins and minerals
20% of Americans get most of their calories from sugar
90% of Americans are deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids
The US is ranked 12th out of 13th for health care in industrialized countries
Approx. 10 trillion per year is spent on health care
180 million alone was spent in 2009 for depression medications

Ask yourself this - Do you need more health care or different health care? Maybe it's not health care that needs to change but a paradigm shift in our thinking, doing and living - a lifestyle change. See what I mean about combinations? It comes down to balance again. What do you need for balance in your life?

Historically, the poorest civilizations have used food and faith to heal themselves. We are lucky enough to live in one of the greatest countries in the world with everything at our fingertips. Wouldn't it be wonderful to utilize the traditional methods that have worked for millenium along with the technology that's been developed? You are your own best advocate. We have choices.

God gave us everything we could ever need to heal and live in harmony with Him. All we have to do is choose it.

Be Real: Holistic Health, Doubts & Trust

A few of you have asked me how I've come to do the work I'm doing now. Well, let me explain - about 3 years ago my mother was diagnosed with shingles. She lives in the North East and I live in North Carolina. With two young kids and still nursing a baby, you can understand my difficulty in helping her recover. In fact, all I could do was pray and google stuff. I ended up googling everything natural and holistic I could find to send to her. In the process I learned that healing happens from both the inside and outside with intention. It's holistic - the WHOLE person.

At the same time, I heard a voice in my head say, "You know what to do, just do it." So I did. I started walking everyday and eating vegetables all day. In the midst of all this, when it came time to re-enroll for health care and I looked at our out of pocket expenses to prepare for enrollment, my jaw dropped. We had spent almost $7000.00 in co pays and deductibles over the year. INSANE!

I took it upon myself to learn everything and anything I could to save money on health care and that meant changing my life and the lives of my family members. What started simply enough turned into a complete overhaul. It was a gradual processes which has included honesty, patience and love.

Enter spirituality. Holistic means treating the whole person - not just the body, but the mind, heart and soul of a person. God had it all lined up for me. Next thing I knew I was getting attuned to Reiki. Now I'm attuning others and teaching others to live holistically as they continue on their journey.

I had NO IDEA where God was leading me when I first started this journey. It bothered me some, but in hindsight I see all I had to do was trust Him, follow the feel good feeling and push past my fear and doubts. I offer you this story because my journey, as is true for many others, was filled with doubts. Am I doing the right thing? Will it be successful? Is this a waste of time? Do I really hear angels? The answer is yes to all of those doubting questions.

Doubts are God's way of slowing us down to experience the lesson fully. So the lesson can be completely integrated into our being. We think that doubts hold us back, but they don't. Doubts force us to evaluate each option fully. If the option serves us, we can thank them for showing up and release them. If we are not ready, then honor them and just sit tight. The answers come - they always do.

Be Real: Common Sense + Faith

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right."

I kept hearing this in my head on Saturday. We have so many opportunities open to us, there's so much to choose from - what if we make a wrong decision, what if we miss an opportunity? How many of us have heard that monkey chatter in our heads? Self doubt, self criticism - we should have done or should not have done something - Regret.

This is just another way our ego distracts us into thinking this reality is real. That things are so important we have to think over the past and worry about the future when all that matters is right now. There is only abundance, there is always more and more than enough. Anytime we say we want something, we define ourselves in a state of lack. Here's where the faith comes in - we surrender and know what we have is exactly enough and more than what we could have ever dreamed. We give it over and know the Universe will deliver what we need and desire when it's appropriate - all we have to do is have patience.

Here's the common sense part - do what feels right and makes sense. Stop talking yourself into or out of situations and opportunities. It's called intuition, the voice of God. If you're "trying", then you're doing it wrong. I used to ask my son - "easy way or hard way?" when he'd have to take medicine. He always chose the hard way! How many of us do that?! If it feels appropriate, take the opportunity or the chance. If it feels heavy, inappropriate or otherwise - honor your feelings! You don't have to know why, all you need to do is honor how you feel. There is never a missed opportunity. There are always more chances. God, the Universe is abundant like that. Stand in your power and move on.

Break it down even further - eat junk, feel like junk. Eat whole, real food - feel good. It is that simple. Feeling good doesn't have to be hard. Eating good doesn't have to be difficult. Life is as simple or complicated as you want it to be. I read this recently as I discern another degree: "Faith in the Designer and His design. Proof of His love in every natural remedy. There is a predictable and reassuring order in Nature that embraces all of us if we only open our hearts and minds to it." Philip Fritchey

All of this brings me the equation... Common sense + Faith = Intuition. When you trust your intuition, you stand in your power. When you stand in your power, you stand in the power of God, for you and God are one in the same.

Common sense steps to feeling good:
1. Trust God/Universe/Source and trust yourself.
2. Eat real food.
3. Drink lots of water.
4. Move your body and sweat.
5. Sleep.
6. Go Outside.
7. Move your body.

Are you going to follow the feel good feeling or the distracted, icky feeling? It's all vibration. Feeling good means vibrational harmony, feeling bad or 'off' means vibrations are out of sync.
Easy way or Hard way - each way gets you where you're going. All you have to decide is how you want to get there. I choose the easy way (most of the time :).

Eat Real: Feeling Food

Everything is energy. What we think, say, do, and eat. Our bodies are a very dense, low vibration. Our soul is the vibration of God/Source/the Universe. It is a vibration of love, which is the highest vibration in the Universe. It takes quite a bit of energy to remain in these bodies. Isn't it worth the effort to take care of them as best we can? They are holy vessels that carry a holy host.

Eating food of the earth, being honest with our emotions, slowing down and taking care of ourselves and our needs is essential to living a life in balance.

You can look at the pieces of your existence or start by looking at the whole of it. Do you feel good? Are you in pain? Stop, feel, breathe. You know how to heal yourself. Your body has innate, intuitive intelligence. No one gave you instructions on how to breathe, or how to make your heart beat. It just does!

What you eat is reflected by what you feel. How you feel is reflected in what you eat. When you feel good about yourself, you eat good. When you feel bad, you eat bad. Food is an integral way you can take care of yourself. Food changes you at the cellular level. It's in your blood, tissues, brain matter. You are what you eat is truer than anyone realizes. Do you want to be a chicken nugget or a leaf of lettuce?

What we feel is a by product of the experiences we've had. We've been programmed to believe, process and respond to life in a certain way. Our energetic field is a reflection of our beliefs and emotions. Everything is energy. Intention is energy, prayer is intention, worry is intention, fear, love... all of it is intention. If we can address the lower vibrations of fear and worry and come to see the illusion of it all, we can release it and allow love to fill us. As if on cue, the pain leaves, and we feel better.

This is the crux of body, mind & soul medicine. Addressing ALL of the individual aspects of the person as a complete whole.

Think about that the next time you take a bite of cake!

Be Real: Let Go and Do It Again

Things didn't go as I had expected this morning... and it was a good thing. In the past, I would have let it get to me. Not so today.

I was able to experience Creator's hand working and putting me where I would be of most use - and that was with my family. Originally, I had a client appointment, but she was a no-show. Hopefully, she is ok. What I got to do instead, was go rock climbing with the kids and see my husband get his belay certification. This means the kids can use the ropes now and not be limited to just free climbing. This is something they've been wanting to do for some time. It all happened because I went with them and was able to watch the youngest while my husband received instruction.

In the past, this no-show would have bugged me. It did a little, it showed me some client boundaries that require firming up. So, I received twice - the chance to be with my family and the chance to respect myself even more by setting firm expectations with clients.

This is a big deal! So, I can trust God to do what is in the highest good and in the meantime, use any 'setbacks' as an opportunity to grow. This past 5 weeks has been about seeing the good in everything. Everything, even set backs are good. They might not feel good to the ego, but they are part of a lesson for the soul. My husband always looks at the bright side of everything. "Isn't it great", he says. Well, I've made a conscious choice to do the same. I'm amazed at how much fun life can be when you look at it through the "Isn't it great" lens.

As I was watching the kids climb this morning and the cheesy grin on my husband's face, it hit me... All they know is they want to go up, so they climb. When they can't hang on anymore, they let go and someone is always there to catch them. Then they look at the course again, plan it out a little better and try to go up again. This time they make it a little higher. The message - let go and do it again.

Everyday, look forward to how the day will unfold. Have expectations for the best and you'll receive the best. Release what you think the best looks like. We don't know what lies ahead for us, all we can do is focus on the now and clear up any confusion on our parts. It's not about beating yourself up, but taking the "opportunity" to see the good, the light and to grow from it.

A friend recently sent this link to me: How to live before you die. Steve Jobs speaks to Stanford University graduates. It's perfect. By allowing Creator to work in our lives and remaining flexible enough to follow the path, this really can be an incredible life!

If you don't bend, you break.