Organic vs. Non-Organic

This is the difference. No need for a taste test. The non-organic one grew in 1/2 the time the organic one did... and it's 2x the size.

Pictures taken from my kitchen table this morning!

LAY OFF THE SUGAR!!!

Do you know why I tell my patients to stay away from sugar? Do you know why I limit my children's intake of sugar?

#1 It makes your brain fuzzy

#2 It makes you feel hungry all the time, never full

#3 It changes your chemistry of every cell

#4 It's like gas on a fire, for CANCER

#5 It triggers other food allergies/sensitivities

It's not easy to avoid sugar, because it's in EVERYTHING. So, eat foods that do not list sugar in the ingredients list. If you are craving sugar, eat fruit. Stay focused.

I gave up sugar for Lent this year and it has forever changed me.

Need more of a reason? Go here.

All about Vitamin D!

Vitamin D Deficiency
by Dr. Frank Lipman:

For the last 30 years or so, doctors (dermatologists in particular), health officials, beauty experts and many product companies have been demonizing the sun. They’ve told us to avoid it because without sunscreen, exposure to the sun’s rays will damage skin and cause cancer. But this oversimplification distorts the facts. In the past few years, numerous studies have shown that optimizing your Vitamin D levels may actually help prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, and colon cancers. And the best way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun.

For hundreds of thousands of years, man has lived with the sun: Our ancestors were outdoors far more often than indoors. We developed a dependence on sunshine for health and life, so the idea that sunlight is dangerous does not make sense. How could we have evolved and survived as a species, if we were that vulnerable to something humans have been constantly exposed to for their entire existence? Is it possible that our bodies are made in such a way that the sun is really a lethal enemy? Not in my opinion. Like all living things, we need sunshine, and it feels good for a reason. Much as plants harness the sun’s rays through photosynthesis, our bodies use sunlight to help the skin produce the Vitamin D it needs to build bones, quell inflammation, bolster the immune system and protect against cancer (including skin cancer).

“Let the sun shine in”

Western medicine has made a practice of telling us to abstain from things that are bad for us in extreme quantities, when in fact those same things⎯fat, salt, and sunshine for example⎯are very good for us when consumed wisely and in moderation. In the case of sunshine, our UV paranoia is contributing to a silent epidemic: Vitamin D deficiency. It’s silent because most people don’t know they are deficient. And it’s deadly, because this deficiency can lead to cancer and a multitude of other diseases. But we’ve demonized the sun and been brainwashed into believing that even small amounts will harm us. We are told to slather on sunscreen whenever we are in the sun, which blocks Vitamin D production and exacerbates the Vitamin D deficiency induced by our modern, indoor lives.

Studies show that as many as three out of four Americans suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. A study published in 2009 in the Archives of Internal Medicine (a leading scientific journal), found that 70% of Caucasians, 90% of Hispanics and 97% of African Americans in the US have insufficient blood levels of Vitamin D. Indeed, it’s thought to be the most common medical condition in the world, affecting over one billion people and we now have research showing just how essential Vitamin D is to health.

U.S. and Norwegian researchers have found that people who live in higher latitudes are more prone to Vitamin D deficiency and more prone to developing common cancers and dying of them. It’s now thought that this is due in part to the body’s inability to make enough activated Vitamin D to help regulate cell growth and to keep cell growth in check. Independent scientific research has shown that whether you live in a sunny or not-so-sunny climate, exposure to the sun and its UVB radiation will increase your production of Vitamin D and help lower the risk of a host of debilitating and fatal diseases – including many cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and depression.

And now the experts are concerned that we’re passing an epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency down to a new generation. Studies have shown that Vitamin D deficiency may imprint on an infant for the rest of his/her life. Infants that are deficient at birth can remain Vitamin D deficient for the first several months after birth, which may put them at risk of developing many chronic diseases much later in life.

What is Vitamin D and how much do you need?

Although called a vitamin, it is not. Vitamin D is in a class by itself, behaving more like a hormone. It is made in the skin, gets into your bloodstream and then goes into the liver and the kidney where it becomes activated as a key steroid hormone called Calcitriol. It then goes to the intestines, bones and other tissues, effecting metabolic pathways and the expression of myriad genes. Vitamin D's active form can interact with almost every cell in the body directly or indirectly, targeting up to two thousand genes, or about six percent of the human genome. It is necessary for numerous cellular functions, and when the body does not have what it needs to function optimally, it follows that we experience a decline in health and put ourselves at risk of disease. We now know that almost every cell and tissue in our body has Vitamin D receptors, which raises the question: Why would those receptors be there if they didn’t have a function?

Our Vitamin D needs vary with age, body weight, percent of body fat, latitude, skin coloration, season of the year, use of sun block, individual reactions to sun exposure, and our overall health. As a general rule, older people need more Vitamin D than younger people, large people need more that small people, fat people need more than skinny people, northern people need more than southern people, dark-skinned people need more than fair skinned people, winter people need more than summer people, sun-phobes need more than sun worshipers, and ill people may need more than well people.

The best way to determine whether or not you are deficient is to have your Vitamin D blood levels measured and replenish accordingly.

My Top Ten Tips for Healthy Sun Exposure and Optimizing your Vitamin D Levels

Have a healthy respect for the sun. It is powerful medicine with potentially dangerous side effects on your skin. Treat it like medication, using the lowest dose necessary, but don’t avoid it completely. Never fall asleep in the sun without protection.

Always avoid sunburn. It is sunburn, not healthy sun exposure that causes problems. Repeated sunburns, especially in children and very fair-skinned people, have been linked to melanoma. Whereas there is no credible scientific evidence that regular, moderate sun exposure causes melanoma or other skin cancers. Prepare your skin and build up tolerance gradually. Start early in the year (spring), or early in the morning before the sun is strongest and slowly build up the amount of time you spend in the sun.

Get 15-30 minutes of unprotected sun exposure 2-4 times a week. Each of us has different needs for unprotected sun exposure to maintain adequate levels of Vitamin D. Depending on your age, what type of skin you have, where you live and what time of the day and year it is, your need will vary. The farther you live from the equator, the more exposure to the sun you need in order to generate Vitamin D. For instance, a fair skinned person, sitting on a New York beach in June, in the middle of the day, for about 10-15 minutes (enough to cause a light pinkness 24 hours after), is producing the equivalent of 15,000-20,000 IU’s of Vitamin D. But the same person living further north in the U.K, or Canada would need 20-30 minutes to get that light pinkness, which is all one needs. Also, people with dark skin pigmentation may need 20-30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people, to generate the same amount of Vitamin D. For more specifics, I recommend the tables in The Vitamin D Solution by Dr Michael Holick.

Get frequent, short exposures. Regular short exposures have been found to be much more effective and safer than intermittent long ones. Note that you cannot generate Vitamin D when sitting behind a glass window, because the UVB rays necessary for Vitamin D production are absorbed by glass.

After your 15-30 minutes of sun-block free time in the sun, you must protect yourself. If you’re going to be out in the sun for longer periods, wear a hat to protect your face and light colored clothing that blocks the sun and keeps you cool. When you do apply sunscreen, use one with fewer chemicals. Check out the Environmental Working Group’s list of safer sunscreens. Remember that even weak sunscreens block the ability of your skin to manufacture Vitamin D, so once you have applied it, you will not be making Vitamin D.

Boost your “internal sunscreen” by consuming anti-oxidants and beneficial fats. These strengthen skin cells, helping to protect them from sun damage. Eating lots of vegetables and fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, goji berries and pomegranates and supplementing with green powdered mixes and fish oils are great options when going into the sun.

Have your Vitamin D blood levels checked regularly. The correct blood test is 25OH vit D or 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D test. Be aware, however, that current “normal” range for Vitamin D is 20 to 55 ng/ml. This is much too low!!! Those levels may be fine if you want to prevent rickets or osteomalacia, but they are not adequate for optimal health. The ideal range for optimal health is 50-80 ng/ml.

Don’t rely on food alone for your Vitamin D needs. It is almost impossible to get your Vitamin D needs met by food alone. Fatty wild fish (not farmed), like salmon and mackerel are the best food sources, but you would have to eat huge quantities of them daily to get anywhere near what your body needs. Although fortified milk and orange juice do contain Vitamin D, you would have to drink at least 10 glasses of each daily and I don’t recommend doing that.

Take Vitamin D3 supplements if necessary. In the winter or if you don’t get enough healthy sun exposure or if your blood levels are low, make sure you supplement with at least 2,000 IU’s a day of Vitamin D3. Although I recommend moderate sunbathing, Vitamin D supplements provide the same benefits as sunshine (in terms of Vitamin D needs). But, if taken in too large a dose, they can cause Vitamin D toxicity, whereas sun exposure does not. It is impossible to generate too much Vitamin D in your body from the sun: Your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs, which just reaffirms to me that we should get our Vitamin D from sensible sun exposure. Here are specific guidelines for replenishing Vitamin D.

Although irresponsible sunbathing is unquestionably harmful and precautions need to be taken, regular, moderate, unprotected sun exposure is essential for good health. It is free, easy to get and good for you when used intelligently. It is the only reliable way to generate Vitamin D in your own body, which we now know to be an essential ingredient for optimizing health and preventing disease.

A thought to consider...

This is a wonderful time to be alive. There have never been more possibilities and opportunities for you to achieve more of your goals than exist today. As perhaps never before in human history, you are actually drowning in options. In fact, there are so many good things that you can do, that your ability to decide among them may be the critical determinant of what you accomplish in life.

~ Brian Tracy

All Natural Bug Repellant Recipe!

Of course, your particular usage and body chemistry can potentially affect your results. Also, this product may be gentler than most commercial products, but you still should do a skin patch test before fully using it.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. clean spray bottle with a fine mist setting (do not use a bottle that previously contained cleaning products or hair products such as hair spray).
• 1.5 ounces of distilled water and 1.5 ounces of high-proof alcohol (vodka is suitable, isopropyl or rubbing alcohol is not). Alternatively, you may omit the alcohol and increase the amount of distilled water to 3 ounces.
• 15 drops Citronella Essential Oil
• 10 drops Lavender Essential Oil
• 10 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
• 5 drops Lemongrass Essential Oil

Directions: Fill the spray bottle with the choice of either 1.5 ounces of distilled water and 1.5 ounces of alcohol or 3 ounces of distilled water. (Even though a 4 oz. bottle is suggested, leave about 1 oz. unfilled so you can shake the bottle well between uses.) Then, add the essential oils.

To Use: Shake the bottle before each use. Essential oils do not fully dissolve in water and alcohol and will settle. If you do not shake the bottle, you risk having concentrated droplets of essential oil irritate your skin.

Mist onto your skin and clothing and reapply as necessary. Discontinue use if you feel sensitivity from the repellent. Be careful not to mist delicate fabrics or surrounding furniture that may be harmed by the ingredients in the repellent. Be especially careful not to allow the mist fall onto into open beverages.

Everyone and every situation is different. Although this recipe has worked well for me over many summers, there is no guarantee that this recipe will prevent you or other users from being bitten by insects and it hasn't been scientifically tested for effectiveness. You assume all responsibility for trying or modifying this recipe and seeing if it works for your particular needs. This recipe has not been tested for the prevention of ticks or their bites.

Source: Aroma Web

Enjoy the outdoors!

Dr. M

How you frame your problem, may be your problem!

Is there something in your life that you would like to see improve in some way? That could be anywhere from fixing something that is negative over to simply going from good to even better; from digging out of debt, getting a job, finding a more loving and caring relationship, becoming a more loving and caring person yourself, getting rid of the job you do have in favor of something better, to simply learning how to enjoy what you already have.

Clearly, there is any number of conditions in which you may find yourself ranging from fantastic to horrific. The question simply comes down to how satisfied you are with your current experience of life and what can you do about it.

Notice the question isn't about how much you have of anything in particular, but one of your level of satisfaction with what you have. And what can you do about it?

From time to time, people ask me what I do for a living. Depending on the circumstance and context of the question, I can answer in a variety of ways. Sometimes the answer is that I am an author, an educational psychologist, a management consultant, or a coach.

My favorite answer: I help people get what they think they want as fast as possible so I can ask, "Was that it?"

I'll bet you've been there; in fact, some of you may be there right this very minute. Did you ever want something, really long for it, work your butt off to get it and then wind up wondering why you ever wanted it in the first place? Again, most of us know what this is like first hand.

What makes this so interesting in my work is that people seem to want and need a combination of both. Surely physical circumstances make a difference and yet people can have "everything" and still find themselves wanting at several levels.

You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Truly Want

Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman philosopher is often quoted as having said: "You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy. Sometimes, he is quoted as saying, "You can never get enough of what you don't really want." Same thing, really.

If I am after the experience of being secure, free and at peace, is there any amount of money (or house, or car, or perfect relationship) that will produce the experiences I seek?

The obvious implication here is "NO!" People have been happy with next to nothing, miserable with all there is, and everywhere in between.

So, what is it that you want out of life and what's in the way? If your answer is on the material side of things (money, house, car, etc) and what's in the way is someone else (Bush, bankers, greedy capitalists), then we have a real dilemma. Especially if you have lost your job, house, car and most everything on the material levels of life.

Surely, there are many of us in trouble, having lost everything due to circumstances ranging from hurricanes and oil spills to manipulated financial systems. I know a bit of what it means to have lost everything having come through a period earlier in my life when I wound up living in my second hand car after my father died and our family went through our third bankruptcy in 10 years.

However, I was quite fortunate that in the midst of my turmoil while literally living on a dollar a day, I got some great coaching from some equally great people who encouraged me to take responsibility for my circumstances, figure out what I wanted to do about them, get off my poor-me mindset and get busy.

Of the many profound lessons I learned at the time, one stands out right now: how you frame the issue is the issue. This can also be stated as, how you frame the problem is the problem.

If you're out of work right now, and your mindset is that some dirty, greedy SOB is to blame, you may be right. The only problem with this framing is that as long as you stay focused on those dirty SOB's , you will continue to be at the mercy of SOB's who may not care all that much about your circumstances.

If your life circumstances and how you experience them are going to change for the better, how will they get better? Who is going to be at the helm, guiding the change? There's no question that improved external factors can help; however, what are you going to do regardless of what happens out there?

Sooner or later, it's going to come down to you and what you choose to do.

If you read these HuffPost pages enough, you may slide into that group that has become so very good at blaming everyone else. Surely, we have no shortage of culprits to blame, ranging from oil companies to bankers to misguided politicians.

However, we have always had culprits to blame. The real question comes down to what are you going to do about it? And, in particular, what are you going to do about it as it pertains to your circumstances.

If you frame the problem as something that somebody else created, then as surely as you are a victim of what somebody else did to screw things up, you will remain a victim to the next set of screw-up's.

What would happen if you reframed the problem as something that not only impacts you, but as something about which you can exercise some choice? I hope you have noticed that even as the job situation continues to be "bleak," some folks have managed to find their way through all of this, finding jobs, opportunities, and ways to make things better, even if only marginally.

How would you have to frame the situation in order to make things even marginally better? What could you do that might take even the smallest of steps forward? Is there anything at all that you could do that might help, even in the slightest?

Of course, the cynics out there will decry these questions with all their usual pablumesque rejoinders about drivel, etc. However, if you are going to experience any improvement whatsoever, sooner or later it is going to come down to you to get off your assets and do something about your current condition.

It's going to be pretty difficult to find that job if you don't go looking; it's going to be pretty difficult to improve that strife-filled relationship if you don't look at your own role in it; it's going to be pretty difficult to improve damn near anything if you don't start with the assumption that it can improve and that you do something about it.

Sure, small improvements are only small improvements. However, how does anyone ever get better without taking those first micro steps? And if things only improve marginally for the time better, are you better off doing nothing or doing what you can?

If you don't like this advice, then don't take it and see just how much things change for you as you sit there blaming everybody else out there for your situation.

Once again, there's no question in my mind that you will be right. There are many to blame; the only problem seems to be that blaming somehow isn't sufficient to change anything.

What can you do to help your own situation? What will you do?

***

Article by Russell Bishop is an Educational Psychologist, author, professional life coach and management consultant, based in Santa Barbara California. You can find out more about Russell athttp://www.lessonsinthekeyoflife.com. Contact Russell by email at: Russell (at) lessonsinthekeyoflife.com

***

Here's to you changing your life, for the positive!

Dr. M

How to Transform Your Lifestyle and Life!

This is a fabulous article by Dr. Dean Ornish that I just found and needed to share with all of you. Enjoy, Dr. M

***

"Listen, here's what I think. I think we can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do. By what we deny ourselves. What we resist, and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include." -- from the movie, Chocolat

* * *

Two days ago, after 16 years of review, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a proposed decision to provide Medicare coverage for thecomprehensive lifestyle program for reversing heart disease that my colleagues and I at the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute have developed and tested (www.pmri.org).

This is the first time that Medicare will be providing coverage for an integrative medicine program, so we are grateful to everyone involved in this decision. Since reimbursement is a major determinant of both medical practice and education, this is an important breakthrough. This is the first time that Medicare will be providing coverage for an integrative medicine program, so we are grateful to everyone involved in this decision. Since reimbursement is a major determinant of both medical practice and education, this is an important breakthrough. (The Pritikin Program also will be covered.)

So, in celebration of this, I'd like to share with you a brief summary of what my colleagues and I have learned so far about what really works to motivate people to make and maintain lasting changes in diet and lifestyle (part one):

1. You have a full spectrum of nutrition and lifestyle choices.

It's not all or nothing. Diets aren't sustainable because they're all about what you can't have and what you must do. If you go on a diet, sooner or later you're likely to go off it.

What matters most is your overall way of eating and living. If you indulge yourself one day, you can eat more healthfully the next. If you're a couch potato one day, exercise a little more the next. If you don't have time to meditate for 20 minutes, do it for one minute -- the consistency is more important than the duration. Studies have shown that those who eat the healthiest overall are the ones who allow themselves some indulgences.

2. Even more than feeling healthy, most people want to feel free and in control.

If I tell people, "Eat this and don't eat that," or "Don't smoke," they immediately want to do the opposite. It's just human nature, and it goes back to the very first dietary intervention that failed -- "Don't eat the apple" -- and that was God talking, so we're not likely to do better than that... And if their spouse says, "Honey, you know you're not supposed to be eating that," people sometimes start to feel a little crazy.

Nobody wants to feel controlled or treated like a child. Even my son, Lucas, doesn't like to be treated like a child. When he was four, I said to him, "No one can tell you what to eat, not even me. You don't ever have to eat anything you don't want." He feels regarded and respected, so he feels free to make healthful choices that are sustainable. He understands the reasons for eating this way rather than telling him, "Because I said so!" Paradoxically, he eats much more healthfully than most of his friends because he feels free to choose.

In our home, we serve mostly healthful foods. If he wants a treat, or some dessert, and he's eaten his meal, then he gets it. But since there isn't a charge around it, it's not a "forbidden fruit," so he doesn't feel compelled to pig out.

Whether you're six or sixty, if you go on a diet and lifestyle program and feel constrained, you're likely to go off it sooner or later. Offering a spectrum of choices is much more effective; then, you feel free and empowered.

3. Eating bad food does not make you a bad person.

The language of behavioral modification often has a moralistic quality to it that turns off a lot of people (like "cheating" on a diet). It's a small step from thinking of some foods as "bad" to seeing yourself as a "bad person;" at that point, might as well finish the pint of ice cream.

Also, the term "patient compliance" has a fascist, creepy quality to it, sounding like one person manipulating or bending his or her will to another. In the short run, I may be able to pressure you into changing your diet, but sooner or later (usually sooner), some part of you will rebel.

What's sustainable are joy, pleasure, and freedom.

4. How you eat is as important as what you eat.

When I eat mindfully, I have more pleasure with fewer calories.

If I eat mindlessly while watching television, reading, or talking with someone else, I can go through an entire meal without tasting the food, without even noticing that I've been eating. The plate is empty but I didn't enjoy the food -- I had all of the calories and little of the pleasure. Instead, if I eat mindfully, paying attention to what I'm eating, smaller portions of food can be exquisitely satisfying.

"Eating with ecstasy" is much more sustainable than "portion control." Here's a downloadable guided meditation: http://www.pmri.org/spectrum/guided_meditations.html

Also, when you pay attention to what you're eating, you notice how different foods affect you, for better and for worse. More healthful foods make you feel good -- light, clear, energetic. Less healthful foods make you feel bad -- heavy, dull, sluggish. Then, it comes out of your own experience, not because some doctor or book or friend told you.

5. Joy of living is a much better motivator than fear of dying.

When you make healthy diet and lifestyle changes, most people find that they feel so much better, so quickly, it reframes the reason for changing from fear of dying to joy of living. Joy and love are powerful, sustainable motivators, but fear and deprivation are not.

Trying to scare people into changing doesn't work very well. Telling someone that they're likely to have a heart attack if they eat too many unhealthful foods or that they may get lung cancer if they don't quit smoking doesn't work very well, at least not for long. Efforts to motivate people to change based on fear of getting sick or dying prematurely are generally unsuccessful.

Why? It's too scary. We all know we're going to die one day -- the mortality rate is still 100 percent, one per person -- but who wants to think about it? Even someone who has had a heart attack usually changes for only a few weeks before they go back to their old patterns of living and eating.

Once we accept fully that we're going to die one day, then we can start to ask, "How can I live more fully?" As Quincy Jones likes to say, "Live every day like it's your last, and one day you'll be right."

For the same reasons, talking about "prevention" or "risk-factor reduction" is boring to most people. Telling someone they're going to live to be 86 instead of 85 is not very motivating -- even when they're 85 -- for who wants to live longer if you're not enjoying life?

Sometimes, people say, "I don't care if I die early -- I want to enjoy my life." Well, so do I. That's the false choice -- is it fun for me or is it good for me? Why not both? It's fun for you and good for you to look good, feel good, have more energy, think more clearly, need less sleep, taste better, smell better, and perform better athletically--and sexually.

Ironically, some of the behaviors that many people think are fun and sexy -- like smoking cigarettes, overeating, abusing alcohol, and chronic stress -- are the same ones that leave them aging faster and feeling tired, lethargic, depressed, and impotent. How fun is that? (Check out Christy Turlington's site,www.smokingisugly.com.)

When you eat a healthier diet, quit smoking, exercise, meditate, and have more love in your life, then your brain receives more blood and oxygen, so you think more clearly, have more energy, need less sleep. Your brain can grow so many new brain neurons in only three months that your brain can get measurably bigger! Your face gets more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. Your heart gets more blood flow, so you have more stamina and can even begin to reverse heart disease. Your sexual organs receive more blood flow, so you may become more potent -- the same way that drugs like Viagra work.

For many people, these are choices worth making -- not just to live longer, but also to live better. Life is to be fully enjoyed.