Take Time for Yourself


Many of us are constantly running. Time just seems to dissipate so quickly, the responsibilities of work, long commutes, family, and social engagements absorb our time quite rapidly. Our energy gets expanded in many positive and negative ways. However, taking the time for balance and replenishment and condensation of energy is not always done in the most effective way.
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If you are tired, run down, and/or overworked then take time to sleep. Set out the intention at night that you want your body to heel during that time. Sleep some extra time - naturally, if possible - without the use of drugs to induce it.

You might have a tendency to chill out in front of the TV or computer. Begin to pay attention and be mindful of the amount of time that you are spending in a passive manner. As we all know, this can be a very addictive form of relaxation. Set goals with it, so you might devote 20 minutes for your personal web searches and keep your focus on your own goals and time. Avoid being led from link to link if that’s not your purpose.

Set time to be in silence. Just withdraw some time from your senses, you might be amazed at what you discover.... where do your thoughts take you, where do your emotions take you? Don’t judge, but be aware. Tremendous insight can be revealed just by being in silence.

For those of you that resonate with meditation, do practice various forms of it. For those of you who are familiar with body/mind practices such as Yoga, Tai ji, Qi Gong, take whatever time you have, even if it is 10 minutes, and observe how you feel before and after your practice.

Breathing exercises including pranayama can be a very effective and quick way to transition from a busy mind, to a self-nourishing practice.

Artistic activities (music, painting, drawing, pottery, mosaic, knitting, etc.) are wonderful nourishment for those that do not practice them professionally or frequently. For those who are artists, time away is essential to connect to creative energy.
(If you would like instruction in practices listed above please
contact me)

Sweet as sugar

Quiz Answer: They all have sugar!

According to Chinese Medicine the sweet taste is associated with the Earth element in all of us and it is paired with the spleen energy (not the organ) responsible for the action of transporting and transforming the energy in our bodies.

There is tremendous power in sugar. It is a primary source of nutrition, so you can see how easily we learn to reach for it when we want an immediate boost of energy, and also how easily we can attach our emotions to it. If we reach for candy bars in mid-mornings and afternoons at work, we get an immediate response and we quickly turn it into a habit.

At night, if we are home exhausted, trying to relax the body and the mind, what better way to complete this self-nurturing if not a box of Oreos, Chips-a-hoy, a pint of ice cream... (you bought the 0 transfats, so it’s not sooo bad.... you think).

Before you know it the package is gone. The cycle get repeated and your rational mind begins to send you messages of guilt, so if your will power is strong enough then you may actually deny your self totally (“I’m on a diet, I can’t have it in the house....”).

If you have children you know how much they become exposed to sugar - just watch any kid’s TV show and look at the commercials. The cereals, the snacks (fruity snacks, they must be healthy...) the juices.....Children are being completely manipulated by the advertising industry.

In the school environment and any party or celebration, sugar is omnipresent (Halloween being the culmination of excess - in my neighborhood kids walked around with literally pounds of candy in their bags).

In children, the effects of sugar are detrimental to their development, a situation that is compounded by the fact that the food industry uses chemicals and food dyes that are
dangerous to their nervous system as it is being formed and developed. It is highly correlated to the incidence of Attention Deficit Disorders (hyperactivity or not).

For the past 20 years I have worked with children that have these deficits and in neither the health care nor education system is information being provided on the relationship of diet and disorder. (why are we so willing to accept that children just develop ADHD or ADD so easily in our culture?) The rise of type II diabetes acquired in childhood is reaching epidemic numbers in our society.

I am not making these statements to be alarmist but rather to emphasize the significance and seriousness of this situation. If this is resonating with you, and you want to learn how to eat in a smart, healthy way without denying yourself don’t struggle with this by yourself
contact me and I can facilitate your transformation into a balanced healthy life style.

My mission is to educate and support you as a parent because, I understand the difficulties that you encounter in dealing with the infusion of these chemicals and altered sugar substances in your child’s diet. Again, when offering a slice of whole wheat bread are you thinking of giving your child a sugary snack?

The American food processing industry generates approximately one trillion dollars a year, so the level of financial, political and cultural power is enormous for the likes of Nabisco, Coca-cola, Tyson Foods, Kraft, PepsiCo, Nestle, General Mills, Hershey, Horizon Organic, Heinz. If these conglomerates of the food industry dominate your food cupboard and your refrigerator then we need to talk. You are feeding your body chemicals rather then nutrients.

Time is health

Time is Money?

We have all heard that expression, and many of us work within that frame of reference.

When you are in a service-oriented profession, you bill for your time - there is "billable" and "non-billable" time. With commodities, productivity is measured by time - "how quickly can I get the job done?" Of course, in our multi-tasking society we are expected to do various activities in the shortest amount of time. I think it's fair to say we all value TIME.

Time is Health

Ponder a bit on the following questions, and if you realize that your health, energy and vitality are low, but your value of them is high - give health coaching a try!

Can we strongly agree that we have power and ability to bring about health? Do we value health as much as we do time? Are we always making our decisions so that we may bring about health? Are we focusing on the balance of work, family, exercise, rest and nutrition? Do we think of health as only the absence of disease, or do we want to foster a healthy lifestyle?

Cooking Time

We are all challenged when it comes to having time for meal preparation. You probably know that if you consume more than 50% of your food from outside of your own kitchen, you running the risk of generating a disease state in your body. Restaurant food has increased salt, MSG, high levels of fat and low quality ingredients (such as vegetable oil rather than olive oil).

I personally know the challenges involved in cooking health meals in my own kitchen while maintaining a pretty busy lifestyle - especially with predominantly vegetarian cooking.

So in this segment I want to present my own tricks and ideas to save you time in the kitchen. Think that time is now for health!

1) Plan your meals
2) Group base elements
3) Manage Quantity

Planing is important because you will have all ingredients needed. You will not waste food. Planning is not only is that done at home but also at the market, where flexibility is important. Especially when buying your produce, you may plan to have stuffed peppers, but may get to the market and realize that the peppers are not available. For primarily vegetarian cooking, the planning is usually for a week at a time since you want to have fresh produce.

Group your base elements, which means you may want to plan your meals that can share base ingredients like my spanish tortilla, pasta primavera and vegetarian chili. They all have onions, peppers, tomatoes and shitaki mushrooms. So when I am preparing the ingredients I saute them for all three dishes, although I may only make one complete dish at a time. Save the cooked ingredients in a nice tight glass container until you need them.

Quantity helps to reduce cooking time. For instance, you can boil two cups of rice in just about the same time it takes to boil one. Instead of washing and preparing your salad daily, do the washing when you have extra time, then spin it dry. Then all you need is to add the other ingredients to make a nice salad. When making brown rice, beans, and other ingredients, you may want to cook extra for several meals.


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Recipe: Spanish Tortilla
Ingredients:

5 medium size potatoes
1/4 onion
1 yellow pepper
5-6 shitaki mushrooms
1/4 head of broccoli
6 eggs (free range)
Cheese and spices of your liking

Peel the potatoes, cut in large cubes, salt and boil until they are tender. Steam the broccoli (I use a double boiler pot so that both get done at the same time). Saute the onion, pepper and mushrooms. Lightly oil a deep pie dish, place in all the ingredients with the exception of the eggs - you may want to do layers or free style.

Beat the eggs, salt & pepper them, and pour over the ingredients. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Enjoy this delicious dish next to a salad and soup, or as a breakfast or lunch.

Vatta Time of the Year

Ayurveda, “the science of life,” the traditional Indian healing system, and traditional Chinese medicine share many similarities, but one of the most important aspects is the concept of BALANCE.

The 3 Gunas or qualities of nature that we possess are Rajas (activity); Tamas (inertia); and Sattva (balance). It is with Sattva that we are concerned as the seasons change, because it can be a challenge to maintain balance.

In Ayurveda, there are three fundamental body/mind types or doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha which contain different combinations of 5 elements: air, ether, fire, water and earth. In vata there is more air and ether; in Pitta more fire; and in Kapha more earth. Traditional Chinese medicine also has five elements, fire, earth, metal, water and wood. There are many characteristics of each element which I will present in detail at a later point .

The autumn is a time of great change brought about by the quality of the element air. It is associated with the element metal, as in going inward finding metal deep in the earth. The organs associated with this element are the lungs and large intestine. During this time people will tend to catch colds, coughs, involving the lungs, also they tend to become dry and even constipated, so there is a need to increase moisture inside and outside of the body.

As you can see, the principal of balance is really important if one element is beginning to become out of balance. With too much Yin (receptive, inward energy) or too much Yang (active, outgoing energy), the body wants to restore it’s Sattva nature in order to maintain health. If the body or the mind or the emotions are out of balance for a given length period of time then you can begin to observe the impact on your health.

During times of change, it is not unusual to experience more stress at work and at home, and to feel a the emotional effects of these stresses more acutely. These changes can even affect self-image and sometimes result in weight gain or other changes. It can be enough of a challenge to maintain balance when things are more or less stable, but it is especially challenging when seasonal changes add another level of stress.

If you want to learn more how to maintain your optimum balance, if you want to discover your dosha type and want to learn how to deal with stress related to work, family, a holistic health coach can help. I am trained to help you restore balance and maintain optimal energy and health. Click here to contact me.