Never fall victim to Stage 5 Clingers

Ello Poppet,

I don’t know if you realize…but dude, you got some Stage 5 Clingers sucking the life out of you right now.

I’m not talking about those needy people who harass you, I’m talking about the free radicals floating around your body damaging your cells, causing you to shrivel up, lose muscle tone, age and develop degenerative diseases. Everyone has these, but people who eat crappy processed foods and not enough raw fruits and veggies got it baaad.

You can see this happen in front of your eyes if you cut an apple in half and squirt lemon juice (which has antioxidants in it) on only half of it. Leave both halves out for a few hours and notice what happens. The half of the apple with lemon juice will look normal while the other half without lemon juice will look nasty and brown.

This happens to your body, too!

Scary, right? To stay young and fight off degenerative diseases, eat your fruits and veggies! I know, I know…it’s easier said than done. Good thing there’s an easier way to save your life from Stage 5 Clinger free-radicals…

Astaxanthin to the rescue! Say whaaat? Asta-hoobie-whatty? “Asta-Zan-thin”
Astaxanthin is the most powerful natural antioxidant known to science. You can see the power of astaxanthin in the flesh of salmon. The fishies swim upstream for days on end, but the astaxanthin content in their muscles prevents oxidization so they don’t feel the burn. Astaxanthin will help save you from free radicals even if you’re not quite ready to update your diet. It has soooo many benefits I’m not going to write about all of them here.

For your own good, get your hands on some Astaxanthin. You will notice increased muscular endurance and stamina, and you’ll just feel better.

People at the health food store may not be familiar with this supplement, but you can try looking in their Vitamin A section. My favourite brand is not available in the stores in my city so I order it online.

That is all! More questions on this topic? Don’t hesitate to drop me a line here: maddie@maddaboutfood.com

Cheers,

 

 

 

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Doing this one thing will work wonders

Hello Loverz!

This month was the looOove month and I just heard the. sweetest. love. story. ever.

Before I get into that,

Do you know what the power of love is capable of?

Dr. Christiane Northrup, Woman’s Health magazine author, is a believer in the powers of self-love. She says it has been scientifically proven that self-love improves eyesight, improves hearing, lowers blood pressure, increases cardiac output, and increases pulmonary function.

That’s absolutely cray!

We all need to show ourselves love on an ongoing basis, but this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes when we’ve been doing really good for a while we start to sub-consciously sabotage ourselves. We do this without realizing it because when in our mind we are trying to break old habits, our bodies resist the changes because they don’t feel safe doing unfamiliar things. Make sense?

What you must do is become aware of self-sabotage and counter it with more self-love.

…so back to the sweetest love story ever…

A friend of mine told me about how just after she met her hubby, he was diagnosed with a condition that compromised the proper functioning of his heart. His heart problem developed from all the crazy stress he had been dealing with in his life prior to meeting her. Five years later, they were still happily together and one day he had a check up at the doctor’s office……and BAM! His heart condition had reversed itself over the period of time they were together.

Their sweet love literally mended his broken heart.

Talk about the power of love! When I heard this story I just couldn’t help but let out a big ol’ “aaawwwwwwwWW!”

Where were we…oh yeah. Becoming aware of the ways you are sabotaging yourself is the first step to a life of on-going self-love. Then all you must do is counter the sabotaging behaviour with more self-love.

I show myself some love on a weekly basis when I take a hot bath with essential oils and epsom salts. Once in a while I treat myself to an infrared sauna session at the spa or I book a massage.

I’m challenging you (and me) to show some serious self-lovin’ this week.

Here’s a few options for us:

1. Go for a leisurely-paced 30 minute walk. Concentrate on breathing deeply and just appreciate the natural beauty around you. Take note of how you feel before you go and how you feel after. You could make it even more interesting by taking a camera with you.

2. Treat your next supper like it’s your last. Turn off the tv, turn off your cellphone (yes, TURN off…vibrate doesn’t count), and unplug the landline. Make sure nothing and nobody for any ol’ reason is going to interrupt your feast. Dim the lights and burn a candle. Actually set the table with the fancy plates and everything. Eat your meal niiiiicee and slllooow, consciously enjoying every bite. Here’s an idea for a starter salad and here’s my favourite side dish.

Once you’ve completed at least one of these random acts of self-love, write about your experience in the comment section below. Tell about how your self-lovin’ has affected your day. I love hearing your personal stories!

Much Love,

Banana Berry Blitz – Post Workout Smoothie!

You can enjoy this smoothie whenever you want, but the Banana Berry Blitz is especially great for breakfast and after a workout.

The three key ingredients that make this a smart food choice are: yogurt, fruit, and chia seeds.

Yogurt will provide you with the right nutrients for two very important times during your typical day. In the morning, the protein you get from yogurt will help you feel full until lunchtime. Also, the probiotics from the yogurt will prime your digestive tract for anything else you may eat. Another perfect time of day to have yogurt is after your resistance training session because your muscles will need protein to rebuild.

The second key ingredients are the berries and bananas. Berries are a source of short-term energy and will help you get the ball rolling in the beginning of your day. They are also anti-oxidants so they will assist you in cleaning up toxins. Contrary to the former, the frozen bananas will serve as a source of long-term energy and will help you get through a long day or help you keep up with your gym routine. Although all the ingredients so far are delicious and nutritious, you can’t forget about the chia seeds.

Chia seeds are classified as a super-food and, as you can see from this fantastic recipe, are easy to incorporate into your diet.

Something special is the chia seed’s gel-forming abilities. As the chia seed travels through our digestive system, the gel substance picks up garbage as it goes, helping us clean more toxins. Chia seeds are also the best way to get your Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3′s, unlike Omega-6′s, can be supplemented with fish oil but are otherwise hard to find in our diets. Another interesting characteristic I found out about on NaturalNews.com is that chia seeds have more iron than spinach. Even more excited was I to read that chia seeds have more calcium than milk! Ok, you get the point- chia seeds are awesome not only at breakfast or after a workout but for any and every time of the day. One more thing before we wrap-up: chia seeds have anti-oxidant properties stronger than those in blueberries!

Now that you have this recipe and you are aware why yogurt, fruit and chia seeds are excellent food choices, how will you incorporate it into your day?

How to Deal

Do you ever think to yourself,
How will I afford this?
Am I doing the right thing here?
Why am I in so much pain?
Why would this happen to me?
How am I going to get all this done?
What am I doing with my life?

If you are not already experiencing anxiety and stress from these things, you may at some point. How would you deal? Would you eat some comfort food, or take a relaxing bath? Would you light a joint and get high, or would you light incense and practice deep breathing? Would you rather crack open a cold beer or crack open a hot book? What would you do? Would you lie on the couch and watch TV or would you write in your journal about what’s bothering you? Would you call somebody to love you for the night or could you love yourself enough to hit the gym instead?  Would you stare off into the distance, feeling paralyzed and depressed, or would you close your eyes, concentrate on everything you are grateful for and carry on? What would you do?

We all need strategies to cope with our stress and manage our anxiety. Some of the methods we choose have become automatic, addictive and destructive behaviours, but we must realize that we have a choice! We must learn to recognize when our emotions are influencing our thoughts, which in turn direct our actions.

To start, become aware of your feelings as they arise and question them. What happened to make you feel this way? Is there a valid reason to feel this way? Is it healthy to react to this emotion, or is it destructive? Is how you feel like reacting really going to solve the problem and make you feel better in the long term?…Know that you do not have to act on each emotion you feel.

In the beginning, you will have to put forth a conscious effort to catch yourself because you will be interrupting your current habits and patterns of behavior. It won’t be like this for long, though. Your brain can make new patterns of neural connections that, with practice, will become familiar to you and will feel like the “new normal”. You are in total control of your future and you can choose what it will be. Love yourself and make the right choices to get there.

How Not to Get Sick Over the Holidays

Happy New Year everybody! Last night you were probably with a bunch of people and some of them were probably sick. Especially during this season filled with holiday food and drink, cold weather and partying instead of sleeping, your immune system is vulnerable. Instead of taking over-the-counter drugs after you get sick, consider trying some natural methods to boost your immunity and prevent getting sick in the first place.

One way you can protect yourself from getting sick is to clean your nasal airways using a neti pot. With a neti pot, you can flush your sinuses with a saline solution and clean out all of the germs and pollutants you’ve picked up. If you were at a party or a busy bar surrounded by people, it is possible and likely that you were exposed to the flu virus and/or other cold germs. These pathogens enter your system through your nose and mouth, so today is a good day to wash those out of your sinuses! Learn about neti pots and how to use them here.

Another way to avoid a cold is to increase your intake of vitamin C. Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant and anti-histamine. For me personally, I take 6 – 9 grams of vitamin C a day to reduce my allergies. Even if you are eating oranges and taking perhaps 500mg of vitamin C every day, this is not nearly a high enough dosage to optimize your health and immunity. Vitamin C is totally safe to take in greater doses (5000mg compared to 500mg) and it works wonders in preventing sickness, disease and cancer. Get the facts about vitamin C here.

One more way some people can get sick less often is to stop smoking. Smoking things knocks out the cilia lining your airways. This is important because cilia are tiny hairs that capture pathogens and germs when you breathe and prevent them from getting into your lungs. Anything that gets into your lungs goes into your blood and circulates through your entire body, so if you’re breathing without functioning cilia you’re at greater risk of getting sick. Do you know any smokers (either of the tobacco or marijuana variety) who seem to always cancel plans or stay in because they are sick? Part of it is because the smoke is trippin’ out the cilia!

Over the holiday season, large groups of people gather to celebrate and are exposed to each other’s germs. The colds and flues go around like crazy and it seems like everywhere you go somebody is sick! Using these three tools will definitely help you avoid sickness: get a neti pot, take large doses of vitamin C, and lose the smoke.

See also: Increasing the Likelihood of Success With Your New Year’s Resolution