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.