ch ch ch changes ...

My wrists don't hurt anymore, and my head feels partially normal (for the first time in nearly 2 years), but I finished all my work, took a pillow and blankey outside, and fell asleep for 45 minutes. The strange thing about these afternoon naps is that I can feel this light, different energy passing through me, and then I almost lift out of my body and let the energy in. It really feels amazing, but only seems to happen during the day. My intuition tells me a LOT more goes on in the night, but I'm not awake (most of the time). A client asked me about how I've changed my life around, as she hadn't seen me in over a year and couldn't get over the change. "It's not your PHYSICAL appearance," she said, "it's something about your energy. What are you doing?" She really wanted to hear it all, then I got to thinking, I've read over 50 books on nutrition and health, and it seems like a lot of us are waking up to good health, but might not know where to look, so I wanted to talk about what books/diets I've found helpful, and also part of the changes I've made to create these vibrant, fabulous changes.

After it's all said and done, my eating habits mimic most closely the Mediterranean Diet. It also share some similarities with the South Beach Diet, and even the Diabetic Diet (which I personally we ALL would do well to be on). Andrew Weil's books are really great starters, because he explains good health from the ground up, and feels pretty moderate about everything. There are some who are fanatics about medicines and Western mindset of medicate not cure; then the opposite side who are fanatics about natural natural natural. I think there's a danger in becoming too rigid in ANY direction, except for some pretty firm ideas about absolute no-no's if you want good health.

My no-no's? No refined sugar or refined flour. Dr. Gott has a FABULOUS book called, "Dr. Gott's No-Flour No-Sugar Diet." The recipes in there are unbelievable. I suggest picking it up for the recipes alone - they're healthy AND yummy. I've researched the whole alcohol/red wine/antioxidants thing, but I've still come up with the conclusion that alcohol is just not good for you. Nothing artificial at ALL, because your body is made up of the earth, and the earth is all natural. Your body just doesn't know what to do with artificial things - it sees them as poisons and send the fat to surround the poisons to keep them from your organs. Artificial anythings include over-the-counter meds and prescription meds. Now, if you've got a serious medical condition, I always suggest working with the doctor, but maybe ask if there are other natural options. It appears that coffee in moderation can actually be good for you, but it's poison for me, so it's been over a year that I've had any (decaf included). Trust me, that was a HARD one for me, as I just LOVE my coffee, and have for years. More no-no's? Hydrogenated anything, aspartame (wow - it's just SO bad for you, and I don't care what anyone says about it and the studies they've done - it did weird stuff to my brain and hearing, and gave me horrible headaches), packaged foods, high fat foods, major carbs, and dairy. Dairy, you say - but I thought dairy was good for you - calcium, and all that. Well, I've come to believe that a vast majority of the world's population is lactose intolerant and doesn't know it - it causes so many diseases and complications that it's not even funny. If you're interested, just try going without it for a week and see how you feel. My daughter was recently diagnosed as lactose intolerant, gave it up, and promptly lost 10 pounds and had all digestion problems she's had since birth CLEAR TOTALLY UP. You can't tell me that's all a coincidence. Other important no-no's? NO smoking or drugs - that's just SO awfully bad and harmful to the body I can't even say. If anything else, start by quitting smoking - it will benefit your body more than probably anything else you can do.

So, today is just about the no-no's, but I'm more interested in the yes-yeses, so I'll start on those tomorrow. I think the most important thing is to listen to you body, trust that it knows how to take care of you better than anybody else, and support it to do its best. It's the least we can do, in exchange for it carrying us through our life. I want to live a long, active life in a strong, healthy body, and to do that, I need to keep committing to a healthy lifestyle. More later ...