Tasting delicious food is a great pleasure in life. If the food does not give you a pleasurable taste, then it is not the right food for you. Recognize that your sense of taste is one way your body’s innate intelligence communicates with your conscious self.

Respect your sense of taste. Your body tells you the proper mix of nutrients it needs by giving you pleasure when consuming them.

Several factors can alter your sense of taste. First of all, processed foods contain chemicals that can dull your sense of taste. Not only are these chemicals toxic to your body, they affect your sense of taste for a lengthy amount of time. Stop eating processed foods in order to restore your sense of taste and your body’s proper balance.

Nutritional deficiencies can also alter your sense of taste. Consume a natural, balanced diet of a variety of whole foods, and your sense of taste will return. Toxins in your mouth can also affect how you taste your food. Good oral hygiene ensures that toxins will not hinder your sense of taste.

Your sense of smell gives you lots of information about the food you consume. To be in touch with your body’s intelligence, you must respect your sense of smell. By smelling your food, you learn if it is safe to eat, has been contaminated by chemicals, if it is fresh, and if it is suitable for your body’s immediate needs.

If it is something that your body needs at the moment, the food will smell very enticing. If the food is not something that will keep your body in balance, the food will not smell good to you. Enjoy the aromas of your food and feed your body properly!

Unfortunately, in today’s world many people have a damaged sense of smell due to chemicals and synthetic perfumes. Manmade chemicals that block the olfactory receptors in our noses surround us. Once the receptors are blocked, we are unable to smell new substances – even food!

Synthetic perfumes are found in laundry detergents, soaps, cleaning supplies, fragrant candles, air fresheners, and perfumes. To restore your sense of smell, eliminate fragrant chemicals in your living and working environments. With the absence of the chemicals, you will once again have your proper sense of smell, and you’ll be able to rely on your sense of smell to select your proper nutritional needs.

There are several nutritional deficiencies that cause people not to be able to smell. Call Terri to have this evaluated.

How do we nourish and feed ourselves properly? Each of us has a unique heredity, anabolic cycle, energy production, autonomic nervous system, acid/alkaline balance, and water and electrolyte balance. All of these factors affect what we need to eat and how our body processes the food.

Luckily, your body has an innate intelligence, and it tells you what it needs to be fed. In order to recognize what your body is communicating, you need to be in touch with your senses.

The first step to properly feeding yourself is listening to your body’s desire. Desire for a certain kind of food is your body’s way of telling you what it needs. Each time you become hungry, stop and ask yourself this question: “What would I desire to eat right now?” Avoid emotional eating of sugar, fat or large portions of food. Resist getting in your body’s way by deciding what you should eat.

Desire is your body’s innate intelligence letting you know what will keep it healthy, happy, and energized. If you eat what your body desires, you will digest the food well, and your body will maintain its state of proper balance.

It is important to avoid processed foods. In today’s world, we are surrounded by processed foods that are addictive. Listening to your body’s desire for food only applies to natural foods. Avoid all processed foods, and your body will only desire natural whole foods.

To practice self-induced healing is only possible when we listen to the messages our bodies give us. Once we hear our bodies, we must also imagine the desired outcome.

Our bodies communicate with us to let us know when we are out of balance. This is your body’s way of trying to restore your internal balance. If your body responds in situations because of past mistakes, you need to 1) acknowledge the message your body is sending; 2) accept your emotions; 3) forgive yourself and others of past mistakes; 4) be aware of the choices you are making.

We can use the GIFT method to help let go of past experiences and mistakes:
G – gratitude: this teaches us to change our perception of present events
I – imagination & intention: shows we are ready to change and allows us to create a different desired outcome in our present situation
F – forgive: we must forgive and accept ourselves and others in order to move forward
T – trust: we must trust and believe that what we want to happen will happen, which trains our bodies to respond in a new way.

By imagining a world of positive possibilities, we will perceive that world to be true.

Our minds are powerful things. You have the ability to heal yourself on many levels because your body believes what your mind tells it. Understanding this gives us a lot of possibility – and responsibility – in changing our lives for the better.

Children play to learn and grow. They are experts in having fun because they believe anything is possible through using their imaginations. We all have the ability to play, but we often don’t exercise our imaginations in our daily adult lives.

Think about a book you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen. We can get drawn into the stories, and our bodies respond to the scenes as if we were really there. This is an example of our imagination changing our body chemistry in response to imaginary situations. We can elicit this same reaction in our bodies when we change our mindset or perception of a negative event in our lives.

We tend to let past experiences affect our present and future choices and responses. Many times we have trained ourselves to repeat past mistakes because our perception of reality is actually a misperception. Once we are able to view our past mistakes as misperceptions, we are able to learn from them and forgive ourselves (and others) of blame. This allows us to experience new things with an open and positive mindset. By changing how we think, we are able to induce healing for ourselves.

Next week: how to put self-induced healing into practice

Many studies are reported in the news that have lots of hype, make grand, conclusive statements, and have substantial flaws. It is up to us to determine what we should believe by looking at the details and validity.

Some of the information that was incomplete in the study, “Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women” include

• study participants were not asked how much of any specific vitamin or supplement was consumed, the form of the supplement, or the quality of the supplement consumed.
• there was no verification of the accuracy of answers provided by the women in the study
• none of the women were asked why they were taking specific supplements
• no causative analysis was done on the cause of death of the women participants

Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) had advice for people when it comes to examining this study:

“Consumers continue to look for the best way to live long and healthy lives, and as much as we would like for science to give us answers, the fact is that science is not black and white. But even more concerning is the recent drive to combine political agendas with what should be pure science.”

It is in your best interest to avoid the news hype surrounding these studies, and determine for yourself the validity of the research. Make an appointment with me to help you simplify the findings into accessible information that we can use to determine the best wellness approach for you.

You might have heard an alarming news report last month: “Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women,” a study published in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded that multivitamins and some dietary supplements may have an adverse effect on life expectancy in older women.

News like this would be alarming to anyone, particularly because so many of us regularly take multivitamins and dietary supplements to help prevent disease and maintain wellness. Before we believe everything we hear on the news, it’s important to examine the facts, avoid the hype and frenzy of such stories, and examine the details with a trusted professional like myself to determine the validity of sweeping statements.

Let’s first examine the study: it is an analysis of data retrieved from 38,772 postmenopausal Caucasian women whose average age was 62. The women filled out 3 surveys over a period of 19 years, first in 1986, then in 1997 and 2004. In the surveys, the women were asked questions about lifestyle, diet, supplement use, weight, smoking, hormone replacement therapy, and whether or not the women had diabetes or heart disease.

Many research scientists and health professionals believe the study is seriously flawed in methodology, analysis, and conclusions that are made. Possibly the only conclusion that can be securely stated is that there is a slight statistical association based on a limited set of data, and a simple association does not reflect causation. Even the authors of the study state, “it is not advisable to make a causal statement of excessive risk based on these observational data…” We must take this into account while determining our own conclusions.

Next week: learn more about the flaws of this study, and find out how you can read between the lines to make your own decisions.

Give a gift that everyone will love! Gift certificates optimize the health of people in your life, and they make great holiday presents, stocking stuffers, special thank-yous, and even hostess gifts. Avoid the consumer “dustables” that aren’t used again, and give something of healthy value.

Consider giving a maintenance supplement such as Vitamin C, a Multiple Vitamin, or Bio Immunzyme Forte Multiple Vitamin with an immune system booster for winter.

Give the personalized gift of health. Nutrition consultations and evaluations, Reiki sessions, and Medical Intuitive sessions all make great gifts. See descriptions of the different services
offered on my website. If you need ideas tailored for specific people in your life, contact me.

It is the time of year to boost your immune system with a generous intake of seasonal foods high in Vitamin A. I have enjoyed this recipe for years! The recipe is from my sister, Beth, and all foods in the recipe are organic.


Ingredients:
2 Acorn Squash (about 2lbs each)
2 Butternut Squash
8 Tbsp. Butter
8 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
3 Carrots, peeled and halved
1 large Onion, thinly sliced
10 cups Chicken Stock
¾ tsp. ground Mace
¾ tsp. ground Ginger
1 pinch Cayenne Pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut squash in half, length-wise, scoop out seeds & discard
Place squash, skin-side down in a shallow roasting pan.
Place 1 Tbsp. butter and sugar in each cavity
Arrange carrots & onion slices around squash
Pour 2 cups of chicken stock in pan, cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 hours.
Remove pan from oven and let cool slightly
Scoop the squash pulp out and place in a soup pot
Add carrots, onions and cooking liquid
Add remaining 8 cups of stock & seasonings, and bring to a boil
Reduce to simmer for 10 minutes, uncovered.
Puree soup in batches in a food processor.

This recipe is delicious and is full of Vitamin A.

[See more about boosting your immune system with yellow & orange vegetables from my blog entries of October 2010.]

As many of you know, I just returned from a spiritual pilgrimage to Glastonbury England. The experience was transforming for me. The pilgrimage was a week of walking the land of sacred places that were created in a time when the land and seasons were honored in daily life. We visited these sacred sites: Stonehenge, Glastonbury Abby, the Chalice Wall, the Tor, Merlin’s Cave and Mound, King Arthur’s Castle, the Hermit’s Cell, St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Roman Baths. Each of these sites carried its own history, meaning, and healing energy for the larger geographical areas. I travelled with a wonderful group of 13 women and an extremely knowledgeable tour guide, John Flanagan of Divine Light Tours.

Along the way, the road sign that read “Give Way” caught my attention. I did not realize at first that it was a “Yield” sign – thank goodness I was not driving! The words “Give Way” resonated strongly for me in thinking about my reason for the pilgrimage. To give way, to surrender, to let go of old thoughts, beliefs and habits that do not serve me anymore on my path as a daughter, mother, wife, and healer.

It is not necessary for you to go on a pilgrimage to surrender to what your intuition guidance, or higher power is trying to tell you to change. Avoid delaying a change in your own life, even if it means you only take baby steps towards the change at first. Every action counts and everything is connected. This makes a substantial difference in how easily each day can move with the flow of life. Relinquish control over to your higher power, hold steady, and step aside. This takes practice, but can provide much less stress in your life!

Please enjoy a photo album from my pilgrimage:

Breast health is about maintaining healthy breast tissue. This is done in much the same way as maintain our overall health. Breast health includes eating live, whole foods, exercising, drinking plenty of water, consuming 5-9 servings of fruits & vegetables daily, thinking positively, and practicing positive beliefs that support a healthy lifestyle. In addition to these healthy habits, you can specifically promote breast health by using self lymphatic breast massage, and you can take a homeopathic liquid for lymphatic drainage. Together, these keep the lymph flowing and toxins circulating out of your system.

Lymphatic breast massage assists the lymph fluid of the breast to flow into the normal lymph circulation, which in turn moves accumulated toxins out of the tissue and into the kidneys, the body’s filtration system. Accumulated toxins contribute to abnormal cell growth (please refer to the blog entries in November 2010 and others under the category of Environmental Medicine), so it is important to aid in the circulation of the toxins out of the body.

Lymphatic Breast Massage:

• This can be done daily in the shower or bath.
• Massage your breasts in a specific way to support movement of the lymph fluid to keep it moving through the breasts, up into the armpit and chest lymph system.

When massaging your breast tissue... (see illustrations below courtesy of the Breast Health Project)

• Create Motion
• Use a pumping action to assist the flow of lymph:
• Move the breast in the initial direction, use some pressure.
• Then release and let the breast return to its normal position.
• On the move up, use pressure and then release to allow the breast to return.
• Finally, massage the underarms in a circular motion to move the lymph away from the breast (ex: under the left arm, the hand moves outward to the left; under the right arm, the hand moves outward to the right). This enhances the natural movement of the lymph system.

I have a strong sense of community with close friends. Community provides not only a social network, but it also expands my sense of purpose in who I am and how I am supported.

I plan to live to be a Centenarian. People in areas all over the world accomplish living to be 100 years or more. In Dan Buettner’s Book, The Blue Zones, he finds 5 areas of the world with the largest population of Centenarians. In doing research in these places, Buettner finds that one of the only shared characteristics of the cultures is that the people have a strong sense of community. The people have a strong purpose in their lives, they have strong familial ties, and they have a close network of friends that has been maintained over long periods of time. The sense of community that helps people to live longer has also been shown to make much happier people.

My sense of community comes from various groups of friends I maintain. I belong to a Gratitude Group, a Circle, and a Zillionaire Club. Each of these groups has a different purpose, and each group has evolved over the years. I always look forward to seeing my groups of friends. I have learned so much from each person in these groups.

Find a strong sense of community commitment by joining a group, starting a group, reconnecting with old friends, and always being on the lookout for new friends. We are communal beings, and we are enriched in so many ways through our connections with each other.