Today's kids

Have you ever wondered where all the kids are during the day? I do not mean during the school part of the day, but after. I see them getting off the bus sometimes, and I never see them again. I think back when we were kids and you could not get us in the house, and after chores and home work we could not wait to get out until it was time for dinner, and after dinner outside again until night fall.

 Now you may say back then we did not have cellular phones, x box, televisions in our rooms, computers and ipads, and I would totally agree. I have said often if I would have had all that technology at my fingertips life and school would have been a breeze. But may like the kids today I would have played on them as high priced toys rather than the tools they were meant to be. Are the kids of today truly any better for all of the technology and for having information at their fingertips, I would say no. They are, not to stereotype, but commonly lazy, over fed, overweight, rude, uncooperative and socially hooked to the world only through electronic devices.

They talk about the obesity problem, the ADD- ADHD problems and the lack of respect of children and the lack of focus most children have today. Almost daily I hear from parents frustrated about the lack of respect their kids give them and how they cannot get them to follow tasks, do chores or stay focused. The first thing they always say is we have had them to the Doctor and the Doctor said they need something to calm them down and keep them focused and paying attention. Pharmaceutical drugs, of course because that is what is used as a cookie cutter solution to all of these child hood problems. It seems like the common protocol is to quiet them down and numb them down at the same time. Is this getting to the solution? Rarely, but instead putting a blanket of the problems but keeping the annoying symptoms out of sight. I understand after being at your wits end as a parent every day, desperation takes over for many and for teachers as well. I see it with friends and clients, and I feel their frustration and lack of support from both school and the medical establishment.
So what is the solution, I am not sure, but I can bet having a healthy balance in your kids life is step one along with activity, a good diet and plenty of exercise and spending time with them would be a step in the right direction

Change can take some time...

Are you one of the people that when starting a healthy way of living expects dramatic results by tomorrow? Many of us want the results, and we will openly express our frustration when it does not happen as fast as we want it to happen. The thing is we have no sense of urgency the entire time we are living in an unhealthy state, but the day we start eating vegetables and drinking water, we want everything that is wrong with us to change.

Patience is a virtue that many of us were absent on the day they passed it out. The hardest thing to understand and wrap your head around is that getting healthy is neither fast or easy, but it is worth the time involved. Changing and relearning healthy ways to do many of the things you now do in an unhealthy manner is a process that takes time. I always feel starting the healthy journey while you are still healthy is the best way tio go, but whenever, even after finding out there are health issues can still make dramatic luife changes.

Remember to set your healthy life changing goals lower and attainable so you can meet them and reset the next goal. An example would be if you had 50 pounds to lose, the number 50 is overwhelming to most of us and most people will never get close to that staggering number. But break it down to 5 pounds monthly and start satisfying the goals today. We tend to set out of reach goals and then give up because we get no where close to satisfying them. When you set goals in an attainable manner you will soon be satisfying goals and feeling great. Also, small  baby steps in a healthier direction make the journey easier and much more attainable.

Back to basics..

Today we live in a climate where the chance of getting or knowing someone that has or will acquire a health condition or serious disease. The factors that play into this phenomenon have to do with things we can control like diet, exercise, sleep, water consumption, stress balancing and immune building to things we cannot control like environment and chemicals in about everything we use, touch or come in contact with.

One thing, different from in years past is we now have better technology, better alternatives and more choices on both sides of the fence. Nutrition and supplements have made strides in every direction to allow us a plethora of choices that we have not had in the past. The hard part is doing your home work and asking the right questions to people that have the correct and honest educated answers, and depending where you live, it make take some trial and error.

I hate to say that a quality of life is all about a "back to basics" philosophy, but when the basic bases are covered, your chances are better for the life we want, you know, the one where we feel good more than just a few days per week.

Get the best sleep you can, if you have trouble, look into the amazing herbal formula choices that can help you relax and get the sleep you need. Balance your stress, learn to relax and try to avoid the things, and the people in your life that are stressors. Keep the diet clean and avoid as many of the processed food choices that most of us tend to gravitate to without thinking about it. Increase your activity level, this does not mean running a marathon, it just means getting up and getting moving. Of course no quality life today in our stressfull, unhealthy and toxic world would be"quality"  without supplements. Always shop at stores that carry only the highest quality supplements with a staff of passionate knowledgeable people that can help you on your healthy journey. These basics,  along with a great diet, more Mediterranean based and clean fresh water will surely put you on a path that will be well worth an effort you may have to put into it.. In no time at all you will feel so much better that you will be sorry you waited so long to get started.

A letter from a child.

I received a letter this week from a little girl and it about broke my heart. She was 13 years old, and her Mom passed away from breast cancer around March 15 th of 2013. She asked me in her letter a question I was not prepared to answer. Her question was, Do I think that Mom died because she would not eat healthy, not take her vitamins and because she was always stressed out?

First of all most adults will not ask a question like this, or most likely ever think of the reason why, as adults are usually thinking about the "now what" scenario. The letter went on to say that she used to always tell her Mom to slow down and relax, and how she would run her a bath to have her soak after a long day at work, but her Mom was always too busy. She said she had started cooking to make things easier at home, as I am sure there was no father in the picture, and the cooking was to help her Mom out. She said her neighbor would take her grocery shopping when she went, and she said she always tried to get healthy food as her Mom was so tired and stressed out. She would cook, but Mom wanted her coffee and sweets and never really seem to eat anything that was good.

It took me a while to respond to the little girl whose name was Mya. When I finally had my thoughts together, I sent her the following response.

Dear Mya,
I am so sorry for your loss and I hope you are able to understand some of the things that I am bringing to you in this letter. First of all, you sound like a wonderful daughter, and so mature for your age. You are a caring and supportive young lady, and I am sure your Mother lived a lot longer due to your outpouring of love that you gave her every single day. To answer your question yes, diet and stress are large factors that can cause disease to spread and manifest in the body, but they are not the only reasons. Many times it is in the blood lines and is genetic through out family blood lines. Sometimes it can be environmental where once again we may not have a chance to prevent it. I think the answer is yes, taking better care of ourselves is always number one in priorities and yes, a positive attitude and being able to relax and deal with stress are also very important. I would like to wish you the best in your future, and my thoughts and prayers are coming to you as we speak.

Why...

For years I have been asked the question, and it has been asked of me from all corners and from all demographics of our country. The question being why I feel we as a nation are so sick, so early in age when our ancestors never got sick until they were older. My answer has become a standard answer that today seems even more correct, diet!

Just as we try to do the best we can in every category of our life, searching for the newest, biggest, best products with all the bells an whistles, we are individuals that today are very outspoken about wanting the best. We like being the first to do something, or to be in the "IN CROWD" with everything hot, new and the most talked about. Somewhere we have overlooked how to apply, and be consistent applying these principals to our health, our daily life and even our long term health goals.

Most people when asked this same question will say stress is the reason we are so sick, and although stress can be a killer, our state of health, and the malnutrition of our bodies causing this unhealthy state many of us live in every day I feel is the main reason. If we were supplying our bodies all the tools it needed in the form of balanced healthy foods, supplements, aiding the digestive system and supporting the immune system, we would have a finer tuned machine that would deal with stress head on, and successfully. But because our over fed, bloated, unbalanced, unrested and nutritionally unbalanced bodies are in such a state of dis- ease, we do not have the capability we could have if our bodies were better taken care of, and in better states of health.

Years ago the standard of life and life expectancy was much lower. We got smarter for a time, ate better and our life expectancy grew, and we lived longer lives. I am seeing a reversal to times when the expectancy is much less than it is today because although we have the tools, knowledge and protocol in place to live a longer, healthier life, we choose not to do our homework. We have an attitude that these things will never happen to me, and that I am in great shape and never sick, and many of us feel untouchable. Although our hardened external shell may keep us protected and fearless, I am sure way down deep we know we need a change but maybe are fearful of doing it incorrectly, or afraid to ask for help and support, and we would rather just roll the dice than ask questions.

Sooner or later all of us are going to need to make changes in our daily routines, I only hope that you will chose to make the changes while they are just a good measure of present and future health, rather than a necessity to survive because you waited way too long.

Spinning in circles and going nowhere.

Today we seem to be more in a hurry than ever before, and no matter how fast we move we tend to still be running behind, or late. I see these commercials and advertisements for all of the time saving devices available, I have bought some of them, but I am yet to see the saved time, or where does it go if I am saving it up, and how do I use it when I want to?

Technology has allowed us to do so many things at the speed of light, and afforded us amazing things to make our lives better, but when you think about all these changes it can seriously be over whelming. So why are we still so stressed out, running behind with all of the availability of saved organized time and our day to day routines having such extreme and effective organizational tools?

I also wonder at what costs are these changes coming to us? Seriously, with smart phones we have all but given up on one on one face to face contact, and everyone I know can barely remember their own phone number or anyone they call on a daily basis. We rarely call for conversation because texting has allowed us to do things by typing in a sentence rather than having the courtesy to call. Texting has become a form of conversation that allows you to do one more thing quickly, easily and without having to think things through.  When I was younger when I was running late you would call and apologize for your tardiness,but today you send a text, running late, be there soon, and we just expect everyone to accept it as being respectful.

Children today rarely go outside, their waistlines, like those of their parents are widening every year. Computers, X box, play station, movies at your fingertips, skype, smart phones have made child hood something that is controlled from the child's bedroom and rarely is outdoor activity a choice. Responsibility and respect seems to have disappeared, and although the kids have the resources to learn more effectively, we are putting children out in the world would could not survive without a smart phone, computer or calculator. I witness rudeness that would have, when I was a child kept me from seeing my next birthday, and parents do and say virtually nothing, so consequences are rarely established.

Fast paced lifestyles are the norm today, and slowing down to appreciate life, or stopping to smell the flowers is something of the past. We rarely think about today because as fast as we are moving we are always in a future mind set. Most people act like they have one foot nailed to the floor and they are really just spinning out of control. When you are going at this pace when do you allow yourself a time to actually chill out and enjoy all your hard work?

I will admit that I am a user of technology, but I have learned, maybe the hard way myself that there is life and social activities, friends, animals and activities to enjoy in our life that do not depend on electronic devices for them to be enjoyed.

Have you thought about your food choices as a trigger for stress?

Today we are all facing stress from places and things in our daily life we may not even associate with stress. Our bodies are in perpetual overdrive just to get us from morning until night so we can shut down, do some repair work and then do it all over again. Most of us feel stress as something that comes from dead lines at work, or balancing the check book and trying to make ends meet at the end of the month. Some of us relate bumper to bumper traffic while traveling and even the chores and day to day tasks we do to be stressful, especially when we are running behind, procrastinating and while being disorganized.

All of these things, and many more are triggers for stress, and all of them can cause our bodies to become run down, exhausted and lead us to run at less than optimal levels. The fact is, we are always going to have stress coming at us full speed ahead, and this will rarely change no matter who you are or where you live. How we deal with this stress and disarm it's harmful effects is the key to success.

Many of us do not relate food with stress, but if you eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) there is a good chance you are running your body's nutrition on less than quality fuel. We have become a nation where sugar, processed and white bleached foods are the things we prefer. It is not uncommon for people to actually crave them,and feel a withdrawl when we do not get them, and although we are told to eat healthier, we don't. Daily in the media we are instructed to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, to avoid fast and deep fried foods, cut back on caffeine and alcohol, these foods have become the foods of choice for a large portion of America. The funny thing is we know better and we understand the ramifications of an unhealthy diet, and we know the health consequences that are almost a given when we eat this way. With all of this information we are still holding on to our unhealthy eating convictions and I see no mass exodus to a healthier way of eating anywhere in sight. This way of eating is a huge factor in the stress on our body, and continuing to eat this way can weaken our system and cause even more daily and long term stress.

Stress is a daily part of life and I do not see it going away anytime soon. I do see us having to make lifestyle adjustments to deal and live within the stressful way of life. I am sorry to say when it comes to stress, and our dealing with it, the ultimate decision to have noticeable change is up to the person in the midst of the stress. I am sorry to say it may take running into the wall face first a few times for some people to get the motivation to make any changes at all.