Morning routines

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

What do we all need when we wake up in the morning?

Some think that coffee is an important beginning to the morning and another may think orange juice is important.
Mornings are the most important part of the day and it is crucial that we start it with the best possible routine so that the rest of the day can be a highly productive day.

After a whole night of sleeping and fasting, our bodies require nourishing vitamins and minerals. A little A, D, E, K, and the B's...and some folate are some good examples of a good morning.

Enough rest from the night is also a good way to start off the morning too. Without enough sleep, the day will drag and you won't be the most productive.

Another part of the morning, after you go to the bathroom and drink some juice, is a few minutes of meditation.
Meditation in the morning helps to restore you and center you so that you have a clear vision for the day. Meditation has been known to balance the body and lower blood pressure. Brushing your teeth in the morning is essential so that you take the nightly plaque and germs out of your mouth...meditation in the morning is important so that you can find your center and start the day off on the right foot.

In the beginning, you may begin with 10 to 15 minutes...but as you practice, your meditation practice will lengthen. It becomes addictive and you begin to see its benefits.

A good way to stick to meditation is to find a mantra to repeat. Some have their own mantra, and others choose to repeat a phrase or affirmation. You repeat the mantra to yourself.

Meditation is as important as your water soluble vitamins and your non-water soluble vitamins. It is just as important as your morning coffee too. Everything in your morning has a certain significance. That morning coffee may help you read the paper. Your morning shower refreshes you from the night. Your juice of choice awakens your taste buds. Brushing your teeth rejuvenates your teeth and gums.
Meditation awakens your soul and stimulates your senses. It centers you and helps increase your productivity for the day. It gives you a more heightened sense of clarity.

Everyone has a morning routine, and it is as unique as your fingerprints. But, there is one thing that we can all do that is the same and that is by practicing a few minutes of meditation so that we can regroup, reboot, and recharge.

Have a beautiful day!

Fed up with flu and fear

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

This whole week I have seen headine after headline about the flu. The flu has hit the papers everyday to some degree. It seems like all they want to do is pump fear and keep giving out those shots.

I love Obama. I'll admit it. But why is he all about this flu virus? He is aiding to the fear in this country. Obama has proven to be a competent and inteligent man, but when it comes to this flu virus...he looks as common and blind as the rest of the public.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

The other evening I over heard a family talking at a restaurant. The mother said, "We have to get our flu shots...our doctor recommends it so we have to get it."

WHAT!?!

You don't have to get anything. And why does a doctor have to only recommend the shot? Does he work on commission or something?

Common conventional doctors are salesmen and high class drug pushers. They see no other alternative. It's their way or no way. WHAT!?!

Why does it look like the only way to prevent flu is by getting the shot?

Why is fear running rampant? Fear is the onset of most diseases and other illnesses. To have fear is to accept disease.

Learn the facts. Stay strong and say no. Don't give it to the doctors until you know what is about to be put into your body. Find out the alternatives. Find out the side effects.

Your body is the only body you are going to get - protect it from those chemicals.

Love yourself.

The anti-inflammatory treatment

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

People are searching for a low-fat diet or foods that will help ease neurological impairments. They search for the right foods in the supermarket and are never successful. More often than not, people leave the market more frustrated.
Conventionally, dietitians will sit down with you and discuss your caloric, carbohydrate, fat, and protein intake. Well, this may be feasible to a degree, but it is missing a huge piece of the puzzle.
Simply put, food is our medicine.
It's not about the numbers that dietitians feed us, it's about the actual food. Let's look at whole food.
On a daily basis, people are inundated with processed foods and quick grab food. These foods could be low in calories and even fat, but it's not whole food! It's still processed. Anything you can just grab or that is instant is not going to be very good for your body. Your body will let you know this down the road. It may ache, let you feel pain or numbness, you may tire easily, and you may even have irregular bowel function.
People who are fighting multiple sclerosis are very strong people to be struggling such a difficult diagnosis. But let's look at their possible diet and lifestyle prior to diagnosis. Generally speaking, they were extremely active people and involved in every aspect of life. Being active usually means the body requires its stores to be adequately replenished. Drinking diet drinks with aspartame or other sweeteners is not a very wise decision. Any common soda is not something that should be consumed.
If anyone implements an active and overly busy life day-to-day, something going to give - unless you have been nutritionally balanced. Can your car drive a long distance with poor quality gas or on an empty gas tank? Your car can't drive anywhere unless all of its parts are equally running efficiently. The same goes for us. So why do we put anything into our bodies?

The solution: Anti-inflammatory foods

Whole foods are foods that are closest to nature. Eating whole foods and an anti-inflammatory diet does ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis and other ailments. Anti-inflammatory foods eases chronic diarrhea or constipation, aches, pains, and even arthritis.

Instead of applesauce, eat an apple...instead of potato chips, eat some cherry tomatoes or carrot sticks. Eat oatmeal instead of a granola bar.

It's not about the front of the package that says "low-fat" "zero fat" "all natural"...it's about reading the ingredient list on the back. Don't get caught just reading the front of a package!

Here's a recipe to get you started:

Tomato-gorgonzola soup
4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic (mince)
1 can whole peeled tomatoes
1/4 chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp organic brown sugar
1/2 cup & 2 tbsp crumbled gorgonzola
1/2 cup organic plain yogurt
3 slices whole grain bread (remove crust and cut bread into cubes)

Heat 2 tbsp oil in large pan to medium-high; add onion and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, brown sugar....simmer for 15 minutes

Add gorgonzola, stir. Remove soup from heat. Mix in yogurt.

Transfer soup (in small batches) to a food processor or blender and puree until creamy and smooth. Pour back into pan over medium heat.

While soup is heating, heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and place cubed bread onto cookie sheet and toss remaining gorgonzola onto cubes as well as remaining oil. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes.
Serve soup with homemade croutons over soup.

Enjoy :-)

Got Vitamin F?

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

There are a lot of vitamins out there. We all know about and have heard of Vitamins A, D, E, K and all the B's...but have you ever heard of Vitamin F?

It's a Vitamin that nourishes our hearts as well as our souls. Vitamin F is the vitamin of friends/family.

How do you know when you are getting enough Vitamin F? Have you ever gone out to dinner with a best friend and not eat that much food because you are eating up their presence? Even with family on Thanksgiving too, that is the most nourishing day of all. We always seem to complain how full we are and how we can't eat another bite, but the fact is it was more than just the food that we were "eating."

We are very social beings and we are fed off of other people through communication and even their touch. There are times when we feel like we don't want to be social and that is fine, but we always end up talking to or being with a friend one way or another.

Vitamin F helps enriches our hearts and allows us to relate and smile. Smiling multiplies our love inside and keeps our sanity in check too.

Ever see the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks? He was fulfilling his nutritional needs by eating the fish he caught and the food he found growing on the island, BUT even when he was fulfilled nutritionally he was still in need of one more: Vitamin F. He ultimately found his Vitamin F in his buddy Wilson. Remember his friend Wilson? If it wasn't for Wilson he wold have never have gotten off the island. Even his love for his girlfriend (Helen Hunt) helped him to get off of the island too. Good ol' Vitamin L, too.

Next time you eat with friends, look at how much more you are getting fed off of them more than you are from the actual food in front of you.

Beating the flu - NATURALLY!

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

What's the one thing that we have all heard about within the past couple weeks? The flu shot. The TV media addresses the flu shot as the only means to combat the flu - but this is bogus.

I am so sick and tired of hearing people drone on about the shot. It's flu shot this, flu shot that...it seems to be their only way to "prevent" the flu. I have news for you, getting the shot is not the means of preventing the flu. In fact, for every shot you receive, it actually lowers your immune system. The more drugs you inundate your body with, the less your body works on its own accord.

So what can we do to keep our bodies strong and resist the flu virus?

• Put the sugar away. Sugar from fruit juices (and of course candy) actually impairs immune function! So basically, both vitamin C and sugar compete for the transport sites to go to the white blood cells....but the sugar is the bully of the school yard and vitamin C is "beaten up" (reduced) by the sugar which results in lowering the white blood cell function. Darn that sugar!
• Take more vitamin C.
  
• Take more Zinc (and guys, zinc also helps sperm function and motility! So it's win-win for you!) The best way to take zinc is in lozenge form when you have a sore throat. It is soothing to the throat and easy to take. But you may take it in supplement form too.
  
• Don't forget good ol' Echinacea. It is a wonderful way to give that immune system a boost. You can drink it in tea form or take it in supplements. Drink some Echinacea tea when it first starts to get cooler out (early October, possibly) and drink it twice or three times a week while you are still healthy so that you won't get sick.
  
• Get plenty of rest. When it comes to the cold/flu season, we tend to not acclimate our bodies to the colder season and we still resume our summer schedule and run, run, run. Well, this sort of schedule is doomed. You need stop the summer hustle and tone it down a notch.
  

What to do when I already have a cold or flu?

• Oscillococcinum is a homeopathic remedy that you take at the early signs of the flu. You place it sublingually and allow it to dissolve under your tongue.
  
• Continue the Echinacea tea and supplements.
  
• Any nasal congestion? Take goldenrod.
  
• Sore throat? Zinc lozenges and even mint tea can be quite soothing.
  

What about food?

• Keep hydrated, of course.
• Avoid sugary foods.
• Add more dark green veggies, fruit, garlic, cilantro, onion, and whole grains to your plate!

Garlic holds a lot of power. It is an antiviral, antibiotic, and an antimicrobial. There's even a wonderful hot beverage you can enjoy.

• Mince a couple of cloves of garlic - add to mug
  
• add a few tablespoons of honey -add to mug
  
• pour hot water into mug
• stir
• drink
  

And, alas, don't forget to meditate. Meditating reduces stress and allows you to be in the present.

So, don't think that the only way is the flu shot way...because it really isn't the only way.
Reminder: When you take any supplements, read the bottle to find out how much to take.

Smile!

Growing younger with age

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

I read a quote by George Bernard Shaw, "We don't stop playing because we grow older, we grow old because we stop playing."

How true is that? Very true! How many times do I see grown adults acting a certain way because they assume that it is the adult way? Everyday. Many adults lose their playfulness as they get older and along with that, they lose their positive attitude.

Going to a playground and swinging on the swings, riding a bicycle, sitting on the floor with a book or the newspaper...or even while watching TV - these few examples are some of the things many people lose as they merge into adulthood.

Generally, adults wake up, have a cup of coffee, go to work, come home and sit on the couch with a glass of beer or wine and wonder where their life went. Where is the playfulness in their day? No recess, no spontaneity, no smiling...
Many adults may think that it is a rite of passage to be finally drinking coffee before work or drinking a beer after work. They think that as they drink coffee before work, then they are more adult and therefore will be taken more seriously.

Do as you must for your work routine, whatever works for you is a good routine...I am not saying to stop drinking your cup of java...but think about the rigidity in your adult life. Do you go outside after work and just play like you did after school? Do you sit on the floor and watch TV? Nobody ever said that these were childish, we only assumed it was.

Staying active and energetic like the days of your childhood is very good for your longevity. Also, by staying active, you will have regular digestive habits (bowel movements).

It's not everyday you see an 84-year-old woman briskly walking several miles without any help of any devices...but they are out there. Sometimes you may even see a 45-year-old with a cane already, and you wonder, "What happened there?" Well, somewhere along the way, that 45-year-old forgot to be young and just grew old.

Watch a child for a day, and adopt one activity in that child's life, such as doing a cartwheel in the back yard, sitting on the floor, walking a mile around the neighborhood before dinner with a friend (or alone), and smile. Most kids always have a smile on their faces. Most adults have a frown on their face. Let's change that and start smiling like a child!

An adult can be as dignified and sophisticated as they want to be, but don't forget the smiles, the walking, the upbeat attitude, and the spontaneity.

Soy: Beneficial or Dangerous?

By Carol Harblin (CHHC)

We all know that anything in grand amounts is not healthy. But what's the scoop on soy? Soy has its good points. But needless to say, we've heard rumors about soy and how it may be more detrimental. We are just not getting the facts straight because we tend to hear rumors and pieces of information from other sources such as TV and even the FDA - and this creates confusion.

This is the blog that you've been waiting for...because this will inform you about what you REALLY want to know regarding soy!

One thing to get straight about soy is SOY MILK. It has been invading our commercials by stating it's so wonderful and to drink a glass. They say it's a wonderful alternative to regular milk. But let's see...it's not milk! It's processed and contains other chemicals too! You are consuming way too much soy in concentrated amounts and it's not milk! Milk - by definition - is a beverage produced from an animal. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a Soynimal, have you? The soy milk companies are the only ones who are benefiting from the sale because they are marketing to get you! It's all about money - less about our health. Soy milk is a processed food and you should be warned to not consume it.

When you see a product with soy...just turn it over to the ingredients and read. Does it appear to be processed? Any soy lecithin? Don't get it! Simple as that.

Soy: the facts you REALLY want to know.
Isoflavones are one of the many phytochemicals found in soybeans. Isoflavones have been researched for many years and has been found that it can relieve menstrual symptoms, helps prevent cancer, reduce heart disease, and even slows osteoporosis.

Soy contains phytic acid, more so than other beans. The phytic acid has been found to block the absorption of certain minerals such as magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc! As we all get older, both men and women, we all need calcium and magnesium to help keep our bones strong.
Because of the high amounts of phytic acid, soybeans are very resistant to the slow cooking process. Soybeans also contain enzyme inhibitors which inhibits protein digestion in the body.
It is only beneficial to consume soy after it has been fermented and NOT in its natural state.

You may consume soy in miso or even tempeh. Miso and tempeh are good and safe to consume.
Miso and tempeh are the forms that people in Asia have been consuming for years. These are the safe soy foods to consume because they are fermented.

Our bodies just cannot take the high levels of phytic acid in soy prior to fermentation.

It's the high levels of the phytic acid that compromises our health. It can contribute to infertility, breast cancer, and even thyroid disease. Note that each of these problems is hormone related. The phytoestrogens interupt the flow of the endocrine function.
If you or someone you know has breast cancer (regardless of the cancer being estrogen sensitive), you should be warned against consuming soy unless it is tempeh or miso.

Soy is a wonderful contribution to your diet, but you don't have to go crazy with it. Go to a Japanese restaurant and order miso and/or tempeh and your soy requirements have been met.

It is also important to not get into the whole soy craze because you should have a balanced diet with other important foods. Don't forget your vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and even some beans or meat if desired. Drink your water, tea, or even juice.

Balance is the key. One food should not take priority over another...it's about having a food symphony. All foods play together in harmony. There are no solos in the food symphony.