Take a few minutes for yourself every day..

Teaching, doing lectures and radio shows for over 3 decades has taught me many things. One of those things is that we humans are a tough group to get organized, and all of us are motivated to make changes in completely different ways. Some of us at the first sign of weakening health will change our routine entirely, and never look back. Some of us will wait for Mother nature to fix the problems, thinking our bodies are meant to do it on it's own. And then there are the many of us that even with  life threatening episode, or being put on medication and told the situation is dire will still hold onto  the idea that things will get better.

I am not sure if it is because by dealing with a health problem we are accepting that there is one, while somewhat ignoring it, praying for a change or just sweeping it under the carpet allows us to feel it does not exist. I cannot tell you how many hospital beds I have sat on having conversations with people that wished they had been more attentive, and had given their health the importance of focus it deserved.  Of course there are people who have lost their battles even doing everything correct, but I can pretty well guarantee there are many more people who lost the fight leaving us with a lot of coulda, shoulda. wouldas!!

Maybe if we all gave life, diet, exercise, attitude and healthy living a little more attention along the way we could have a better chance of giving it the good fight when needed. I have heard many times if I had only been better to myself, or if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself. Personally my favorite is, if I lose the body where will I live.

A moral to this, maybe it just comes down to being a little better to your self along the life journey, and not waiting to give yourself focus only when a problem, or health emergency rears it's ugly head. And the deep belief in your mind and heart that we deserve to be healthy, happy and have an amazing quality of life. We have the where all to do this, we just need to give our health the same focus we give to the other things we do every day, you know the things that are not life saving.

Quick relief does not mean getting to the source..

Why is it that we gravitate to quick health symptom fixes today more than any other time in history? I think it is , at least partly that we have either forgotten that getting to the source of a health problem is the ideal solution, or we just do not care  what the real reason we ended up in this situation. Today almost all advertising is aimed at the "quick fix" and fast change solutions, and after hearing it all the time it is easy to start thinking that way, and expect it to be so.

If you have visited your drug store self care aisles lately you will see a field of snappy colorful packages that are worded in a way to catch your eye, and to have you pick up their product over any other. I get it,  we all  get annoyed with symptoms  from out of balance health conditions, so much that desperation sometimes takes over.

From colds and flu, to allergies,upset stomachs, constipation and diarrhea, I get it, the frustration that accompanies these annoying symptoms can be mentally stressing. I myself have used the quick fixes in the past, especially when an event, or work situation required me to be at my best. But I also know that even if I did choose to resort to a quick fix, I kept in mind that getting to the source of the health problem needs to be focused on as well. Band aid quick fixes are extremely common today, and some of us are actually convinced that we have corrected the problem when the symptom goes away, even temporarily. The hard part to comprehend is that when you cover up an annoying symptom you are actually just putting the actual health problem on the back burner as you get into a comfortable situation for the day.

Nobody wants to be sick, or wants to suffer with any bad symptoms, and with us being in a nation that sweeps our problems under the carpet because we do not want to"deal" with them, eventually the small problems manifest into major out of control problems that are even harder to deal with.

So how do we approach these health situations and deal with the annoying problems? Plus, how do we get to the cause of what is causing the annoyance and out of control symptoms? I think it comes down to allowing your body to do the job it was meant to do. Our bodies have the ability to fix, mend, balance, rejuvenate, rehydrate, repair and put us in a defensive mode, but it needs the correct tools to do the job. This is what we can do to provide the right tools for every job the body needs to complete. Getting back to the basics most of we taught when we were younger is essential. A great diet with balanced healthy foods, a great nights rest, exercise to provide strength, movement and hormonal balance, a positive attitude for a healthier brain, and supplements to fill the gaps created even by a great diet. This is the best, and most effective way to aim our bodies in the right direction. This may take longer, but when your focus is on the source and cause, rather than the now situation, you ultimately have a better chance of finally getting the results you have always wanted.

CHANGE........

The word change is most likely one of the most confusing words many of us come in contact with, and although the word itself can mean the process of leading us to a positive experience, we many times see only a negative outcome, another failure or difficult process. I think we have all become so entrenched in our lives that quick and easy resolutions, multi symptom relief products and daily living in an auto pilot mode has become both comfortable, and the norm.

With everything moving smoothly, and without thought, even though it may be uncomfortable, unhealthy or just bad for your quality of life, we are able to glide through each and every day without thinking of having to consider change. Through my thirty five year career I think I can count on one hand the number of people that were excited about the prospect of making a change in their life, but I can comfortably count thousands of people that were happy when the process had settled in, and the changes began to be comfortable, and as they saw and felt the difference the dreaded changes had made.

Change is something that we can have control over in many aspects of our lives, especially when it relates to the things we personally do every day. The foods we consume, the way we handle and deal with our stress, our outlook on life, our vices, activity levels, and even how we organize our daily routine. I am often reminded that there are many things in our life we cannot control, and I agree completely, but my answer is always to just change the variables that we can change. Obviously watching any news program today you will be inundated with world happenings that although heartbreaking in every aspect of the word, we sadly cannot change much of what we see and feel, but the things allowable for us to change can be life changing for each of us individually, which can lead to large scale changes.

If we were to look at the idea of changing our diets to only healthy foods, exercising daily,obviously whatever your body will allow you to do could have a domino effect never seen or thought of.  If all of us stopped eating processed foods, ate healthy and organic foods, switched to an anti inflammatory diet, lived in the moment with a positive attitude and regained our zest for life and living this country would escalate to the most healthy country in the world. It would allow us to back away from unnecessary medications, over the counter quick fixes, and reduce such a large part of the medical attention we need that there would have to be a complete revamping of the health care system. Most, if not all of the major health problems today are self induced from the lifestyles we presently live, and the vices and choices we make each day, as well as the health problems created by our own forks and spoons. Changing this American daily protocol from top to bottom with individual changes would be the most positive epidemic we have ever seen.

The problem is that each of us either in public, or secretly in private want a different state of living than we presently have. We all want to be healthier, in better shape, to be happier and to have a more positive life, but we treat it as a wish rather that a goal or quest, History reminds us of our weak past attempts that usually ended up in utter failure because we knew the word change was looming over head.

My dream has , and always will be for all of us to give ourselves more credit and have us stick to these attempts for at least 30 days, at that point enough of a noticeable change will have occurred to keep us on track. There is  nothing better than the face of a person who has finally achieved a long attempted goal, and this time success had prevailed. This kind of change is priceless and amazing to see and experience.

Somewhere, and sometime we will all remind ourselves that we deserve to be happy, healthy and incredible, no matter how many attempts it may take. My Grandmother always said to never settle for anything but reaching for the stars, I think I finally get it...

Changes, on your terms.....

All weekend I have been thinking about how when we start on a journey, be it health, wealth, weight loss, or whatever the goal, we seem to have the hardest time committing, even though the outcome could be life changing, or life saving. I am not sure if it is because we have been so unsuccessful in the past, or because we are not ready to do all that is needed for the changes involved.

I think about how many times I have wanted to, said it publicly, and planned for a life change, and after a short time I was off the path, and not just for a day or so, permanently. Knowledge is and always will be very important, and doing your homework to make sure you are ready for a change is essential, but I am not sure that these are the most important things needed. I have always said both on a one to one, and on my shows, that being prepared is number one when change is occurring, but I think I may have been wrong, or maybe I did not see what was staring me right in the face.

I talk to thousands of people monthly through social media, email and in person, and my radio shows are listened to by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. When people correspond with me and tell me they thought they were ready for a change to occur, they picked up the right foods, the right supplements, they had their goals clearly stated and they were prepared and yet still were unsuccessful, my response has always been maybe you missed something in your preparation. But now, I think I have been wrong and overlooked the most important thing, going through the process of being mentally ready and Wanting a change in the first place.

Every day people are told by advertisements, television, friends, family members and spouses that they should do this, or try this and we do it. Then, we fail because we never wanted to do any of those things, and we should not have gone along with the herd. The only changes that will ever be successful, and the only goals that will ever be achieved, appreciated and benefited from is or are the goals and changes You want for yourself, and nobody else.

Take time to see what it is that you want as you move forward in this life. What will give you the best health, or pleasure or what will be of importance to you. Learn what things will make your life better for you, and how making this change that you alone fully support will be life changing for you.

Time zooming by

Lately time has become an issue that has been on my mind, and has me wondering. Not time in itself, but how fast time seems to be going. I have always heard that as we get older time can seem as if it is zooming by so fast that you fell as if you are missing life, and I am beginning to think it may be true.

I remember when I was younger, time, and the speeding up of time was something every kid I knew used to celebrate the parts of the years we wanted most to be in at that time. Summer vacation, holidays, spring break, new years, birthdays, vacations and of course the last day of school every year. I know I myself would count the days down to each and every one of these events throughout the year.

We could do the things we wanted and the things that needed to be done never seemed urgent, but today, procrastination can be life altering, and in some cases may kill you. Today, everything from paying bills, being on time for work, getting the trash out, celebrating events all have time restraints that need to be met. Even if you do not want to be held to a time period in your personal life, too bad, we are. The other thing is how we cannot, as adults put things off, that when we were younger we never would have thought about twice. Doctors visits, check ups, Dentist visits, picking up medication from the pharmacy, staying stocked up with your nutritional supplements are all now things that need to be first and number one on our priority list.

Today when things are urgent, they are urgent for a reason, and we should pay heed to them or suffer the consequences. How many times have you attended a funeral, or been sitting in a hospital waiting room when someone, who should and did know better did not follow the urgency of things like diet, exercise, stress reduction, supplements, check ups, weight loss, getting enough sleep? The same person who always said, I will get around to it, and didn't, and now may be in a bad life altering situation.

I feel that as we get older, and life is zooming by, and we are overwhelmed with the day to day things that loom over us every day, we need to stand back and take an importance inventory. We need to rate all the things on this overwhelming list of things to do by urgency, importance, necessary, would be nice if it was done, and of course, pipe dreams. This simple technique will force you to become a priority in your schedule, will remind you to stay on top of THE most important things, eliminate the must do today cloud, space things out to cause better life balance,and hopefully keep you on the most important path, Great health!

The last part of the year downward spiral!

So hard to believe that school is back in session and that we have begun the last four month of the year downward spiral. Holiday, flu and cold season and between trying to stay healthy, shopping, and doing the normal daily requirements it is no surprise that we get sick. A few great easy tips that may allow you to get through this season in a healthy manner,no matter what your history has been in the past. Some of these may sound like common sense, but many of the things that are life changing are small, consistent basics that we forget about along the way of life.
1- Drink water. The summer months bring on the visible signs of dehydration with sweating and exhaustion, and visibly being red faced and tired every day. The winter months bring cooler weather, lack of sweating and heat exhaustion is not as common, but dehydration is far from gone. Honestly, water consumption is more important in the winter months and the signs of lack of water reach far beyond exhaustion. Urinary tract and bladder and kidney infections are more common in the winter. Constipation, dry skin, brittle hair and nails, and rises in blood pressure are some more conditions that come about from lack of water.
2-Fiber consumption. Roughage or bulk as many people call it is important not only for digestion, but for keeping the elimination tract moving. Back ups and constipation can make you feel sluggish and leave you open for bacterial infections and can impair your digestive tract. Although we gravitate to sweets during the holiday season, try increasing fruits, vegetables and even adding more legumes, flax and chia seeds.
3- Sleep.- Something that seems so easy, and would be a no brainier, may be the missing part of many peoples healthy puzzle. Sleep not only gives you next day energy, it boosts the immune system, restores balance, helps to rejuvenate the body and helps slow down the aging process by recharging our batteries. Remember, although drug store fixes and prescriptions are available, try the natural remedies for better sleep. They work better, you feel better upon rising, and they are much safer for you.

Although these three things are mostly common sense, you may ask yourself these question, and do not be surprised by your answers.
1-Do you drink your 8-10 glasses of water every day?
2-Do you eat 30 or more grams of fiber every day?
3- Do you get restful 6-9 hours of sleep every night, and are you rested upon rising?

Like I said, simple common sense tasks that most of us do not do like we should. I guess getting back to basics is more important that we think!!

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