PERIMENOPAUSE - CHANGE & THE FUTURE....WHAT DO YOU WANT?

I have just finished a fantastic certification course to become a RAW CHEF!

Many of you may already know about eating "RAW" and some may not. There is a ton of great information online. I will probably write about this later.

During the weekend we had to write out our goals and even try to draw them! They gave us some colored pencils and away I went. It was actually quite fun. Believe me, there were a lot of stick people in the pictures.

The ironic thing is that I had been doing this last week before attending this weekend seminar. I didn't realize we would be getting into this during the weekend.

About a week ago I received an e-mail about a great tool for manifesting what you really want in life. It is called a Mind Movie.

Check out http://www.mindmovies.com/

They will send you some free "mind movies" to view and even use and see how you like them. I did end up purchasing a package so that I can do my own. I am very visual and pictures would be a great way for me to manifest. The mind movies can be run on your computer and so you can view it as often as you like.

So this past week and this weekend I spent a lot of time dreaming/imagining/visualizing what I really want in my life - what I want my life to look like in the future. I have written a ton of it down because that is what was required.

When I purchased the Mind Movie package they sent me a questionnaire to fill out. I am almost finished it and this is the perfect time for me to be doing this.

My life is changing quite fast right now and I am beginning to become clear on what I want. We all need to do this more often. It is important to keep dreaming, keep growing and keep imagining what we really want in life. We tend to go through our days almost blindly working, cooking, sleeping, shopping, etc. We procrastinate and put things off until "tomorrow". Then tomorrow never comes.

Check out the Mind Movies site. Maybe it is just what you need.

You may even get some great ideas on how you can do it on your own.

The important thing is to start and start thinking, start imagining, start dreaming. Find your passion again!!

I will write more on this and include some of the questions I am and have been answering to get you thinking. Sometimes we need a reminder to get us moving forward, towards a goal, a vision, a mission.

I know it is my time - is it yours?

EMOTIONAL EATING....PART 2

In my last post I was discussing emotional eating. During Perimenopause our emotions take some pretty big swings. Some months it feels like I am having PMS for 3 weeks!

When these emotional ups and downs come along, often I noticed that yes, I was grabbing food that made me feel better. My weakness is chocolate and peanut butter!!

I will continue talking about the book "Shrink Yourself, Break Free From Emotional Eating Forever."

I told you that I found the great web site www.healthbooksummaries.com that allows you to read some of the books. I was reading part of this book and thought I would share some of it with you.

Part 2....Emotional Eating

When we use food to make us feel better instead of dealing with our problems, it creates a viscious cycle. We may be able to avoid our problems for a while, but the longer we wait to deal with them, the worse they become. We may then eat more.


As I said in the last post that emotional eating has to do with the feeling of powerlessness.

• Powerless about how to deal with your self-doubts
• Powerless about how to get real satisfaction in life
• Powerless about being safe and secure in your relationship, financial state, job, home, etc.
• Powerless about feeling empty inside or unfulfilled
• Powerless about being able to do what you really want to in life

Etc, etc.

The goal of the book is to help you become aware of the pattern you are running so that you can find the space between when you have one of the above experiences of powerlessness and when you begin to overeat. Only by observing your mind and finding that space will you begin to change your emotional eating pattern.

Diets do NOT work because you are emotional eating. The way you REACT to a situation, event, or person sets it off. Not the situation, event or person itself.

Your end up replacing the bad feelings with the pleasurable experience of eating.

The author also goes on to explain why some people may sabotage their diet when they are nearing their goal. He states that the reason could be because if you didn’t have your weight to think about, you might have to deal with what’s really bothering you. It is frightening because you feel powerless to change the things that really bother you.

When you are afraid to stay and explore your feelings, you have already come to the conclusion that you are defeated in some way.

The author states that you need to understand how covering up emotions with food sets you back physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

Your feelings aren’t there to make you unhappy. Rather emotions provide you with information about your inner world. They are full of messages you need to hear.

If you are an emotional eater, every time you feel that you are not worthy, you become hungry. Feeling inadequate makes you desire food as much as biological hunger.

It is your own lack of self-esteem that triggers the eating.

Something to think about ..... isn't it.

I know I can relate to this and I am going to practice being more conscious. When I go to grab for chocolate or a spoonful of peanut butter I am going to ask myself "What is up?" When I do, I know that there will be a feeling of being powerless in some aspect of my life. I have already done this in the last few days and sure enough - that is exactly what the issue was. Now I have to work on not being powerless. Work on finding solutions to the areas that I feel I am powerless.

I can change my future, I can affect my present. I am the only one who can - THAT IS POWERFUL! THAT IS WHERE MY POWER LIES

I hope this also works for you. It is the first step.

Check out the site http://www.healthbooksummaries.com/ and take some time to read some of the books that are up to. There are many and you will be very surprised.

Let me know which book spoke to you.

EMOTIONAL EATING .... AGAIN

I found a great book about emotional eating you can read a bit of it online for free. Funny because I was just emotionally triggered by an e-mail and what did I do? I ate chocolate. Chocolate and peanut butter are my weakness for sure.


I had actually chosen this topic before this happened too. Now I know it was meant to be!

There is a great site called www.healthbooksummaries.com

It is so fantastic!!! I love to read but lately I have been so busy with many, many things that I haven’t been able to just sit, relax and read a great book. This site (above) is a place where a couple of health experts have summarized some of the health books they feel are very good. These are actually new books too. They keep adding books to the site, which is so great. I would highly recommend subscribing – which is FREE! The whole book is not there but the summaries are great and they give you some SUPER information.

I was reading one of the books called:

“Shrink Yourself, Break Free From Emotional Eating Forever!” by Roger Gould, M.D.

Funny, I was thinking that I don’t have this problem - ya right!! I proved myself wrong today. I don’t overeat but I definitely grab something that is not that healthy for me when I am stressed or over emotional.

He feels that the feeling of being “powerless” is the reason why people eat emotionally and/or compulsively. He says we should not ask ourselves “Why do you eat?” but “Why are you powerless?”

You know, that is the EXACT issue I was dealing with when I grabbed that chocolate – bad store bought chocolate. I was feeling powerless!

He states that emotional eaters or compulsive eaters (not saying they are the same, I mean 2 types of eaters), are like an addict or an alcoholic. The addict and alcoholic feel that they are powerless when it comes to alcohol and drugs but he says it is really that they feel powerless in some aspect of their life. That makes so much sense! I know some alcoholics (I’m sure we all do) and that fits.

Emotional eaters use food to comfort them when they are feeling uneasy, stressed, emotional, depressed, etc. They chose food instead of really dealing with their problem. That only reinforces their feeling of powerlessness.

He states that the only way to recover that power is to stop and think about what other options you have besides eating. The book is about finding the space between when something has challenged you and your sudden urge to eat (which is not real hunger). Before you grab for that food – what are you thinking? You have been operating on instinct and habit. You have developed this pattern and it just happens without you thinking about it now. You don’t even take the time to stop yourself. Or you don’t know what to think or do during that time if you were to stop yourself.

Food has become your coping mechanism. This is big because you don’t eat like this because you feel you need more nutrition – more food. You eat like that because it helps you cope. If you have been a smoker you know what I mean (I have been).

Diets don’t work and hunger suppressants certainly don’t work. Really, to me those are a joke. How many people really eat ONLY when they are hungry? – not many. I don’t even feel hungry sometimes when I eat – being hungry is NOT the issue.

Counting calories does NOT work. A donut has calories, a cookie has calories. If you are supposed to have 1500 calories in a day then you can do that – it just might not be good nutritional calories. I have NEVER recommended counting calories.

This is a loaded subject and I would like to talk more about it next post.

What I want you to get out of this is:

When you feel that need to eat for emotional reasons, think of how you are feeling powerless at that moment. Stop and think –
“What is making me feel powerless right now?”

Take a look at the web site www.healthbooksummaries.com and check out the book. There are many other fantastic books also. Learn, read, educate yourself. That is the key to handling our health and wellness. It is truly up to each of us.

How Much Protein Do We Need In A Day?

How can I get more protein in my diet?

How much protein do I need in one day?

Am I getting enough protein?

These are questions that I was asked a lot when I was a personal trainer. I was not crazy about this question because I eat very little meat. Basically no meat. I still eat fish - fresh fish that my boyfriend has caught. And the more I learn about our changing ocean enviornment, pollution, toxins, etc, the less fish I am eating also.

So, I often still get people saying I do not eat enough protein.

But.....

I consume a very large amount of green, leafy vegetables which are actually very high in protein. I also consume some nuts and seeds (soaked and sproated first). I follow a raw food diet mainly and I feel fantastic!

My nails are stronger then they ever have been - ever in my life! My skin looks better than ever also and I am 46 years old! Skin, hair and nails are greatly affected by protein levels and malnutrition. If mine are very healthy, then my protein levels are fine.

I am consuming protein that my body can utlize, absorb and assimilate. It is not fatty, wasted, overcooked, overprocessed, full of hormone and drugs protein like in many meat. Hey, my boyfriend and almost all of my friends eat meat so I do not preach about it.

Dr T.C. Fry wrote "Our protein needs, like our carbohydrate, vitamin, mineral and fat needs, are provided by plans and their fruits. There is no need to turn to the animal world to obtain the essential amino acids. In fact, this is a primary reason why there is so much disease and early death."

Making sure you get "complete" protein has been pushed and promoted by the meat and dairy industries of course! How many people do you know have dairy sensitivities? How many vegetarians and vegans are out there?? Numerous and we are all fine! Many people that consume meat are actually very unhealthy.

If you eat a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, you will get all the essential amino acids you need and you will get your full protein needs.

Most vegetarian animals that eat grass, tubers, fruits, grains, etc, never exhibit signs of protein deficiency.

The amino acids in many complete proteins (cooked meat or dairy products) cannot even be fully used by the body. Consuming the muscle of the body (the meat we do consume), is actually low in some of the essential amino acids. Proteins that have been cooked or heated may lose up to 50% or more of their essential amino acids due to the formation of enzyme-resistant linkages. Many "complete proteins" cannot even be absorbed by the body.

Which fruits and vegetables contain all 8 essential amino acids:
Bananas, tomatoes, dates, almonds, coconuts, filberts, sunflower seeds, walnuts, brazil nuts, pecans, alfalfa sprouts, bean sprouts, seaweeds, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, corn, okra, squash.

A variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts can nourish us with all the essential and nonessential amino acids we need. And there are many, many other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, omega oils, trace minerals, etc that are present in these foods.

As I stated in my last post - it is about eating more of the right foods and less of the wrong foods.

Eating or not eating meat is a personal choice. I have made mine and everyone has to be comfortable with their own decision. If you are going to consume meat I hope that you do buy meat that is organic, hopefully local, that is not full of chemicals, hormones, drugs or plumped up with water. There are health food stores and many butcher shops that sell organic meat.

It is about becoming more aware and educated. The best way to ensure continued health in the future is to educate yourself, learn, read, ask questions, use your intuition, your own good judgement, common sense, etc. Take baby steps and each day you can chose to eat a little healthier than the day before.

I can guarantee you that you will begin to feel better and that will make you want to eat better.

What do you want your future to look like?

What do you want to look like?

Feel like?

Be like?

THINK ABOUT IT!

Why Diets Don't Work During Perimenopause

The diets I am speaking about are restrictive diets. Diets where you have to buy their food or their supplements the whole time you are on their diet. When you reach your goal then what? If you stop taking the herbal supplements will you gain back the weight? Probably. Does that mean that you have to take them forever? Probably not a good idea.

What about the diets where you eat "their" food. What happens after? Who will prepare your food for you?

These types of diets don't really help you to learn to intuitively know what your body needs and when it needs it. They can be a kick start but then it is up to you and that is when people go back to their old habits.

Also, during Perimenopause your body is going through so many changes and what worked before, will probably not work anymore.

I want you to take the focus off dieting and put it on becoming healthy. I mean really healthy. I mean super charged energy healthy....and it is possible.

I have mentioned in previous posts that women tend to develop sensitivities to wheat and diary at this time in their life. I recommend taking dairy and wheat out of your diet. If you need just a little bit of milk in coffee or tea then that is fine - but that is it. If you drink soy milk, read the label. Is it organic? Does it contain a lot of chemicals - long names of things you have no idea what they are. Google them and find out. The more ingredients listed the worse it probably is. You don't need those toxins in your body, have the real thing but just a little of it.

Also, do not use diet or low fat salad dressings, cookies, crackers, etc. They are full of a whole lot of nothing. Fake food I call them. They are just fillers. No wonder they don't really satisfy your hunger.

What you need to do is eat more healthy, nutritious, organic, whole foods. Simply put - that is it!

When you eat nutrient dense whole food your body is getting what it needs to function properly. This is the fuel it needs. Without the proper fuel, it will not run very well. You will feel sluggish, tired, lazy, depressed, bloated, etc, etc.

Start by taking out some of the bad food you eat. Read labels - all labels. Pay attention to what is in the food you are eating. Don't put chemicals and toxins in your body. They screw up the chemistry and hormone balance of your body. Your tissues hold onto these toxins. You retain water, fat and feel puffy - that is a result of the stored toxins.

You will notice when you eat more good foods that you will feel satisfied and not crave as many of the bad foods.

This should happen naturally. Please give it time. Just like trying to quit smoking, your body is addicted to the sugar, the fat, the fake foods you have been eating and it will crave it until you let it know who is boss and finally stop the addiction.

A great way to start getting more greens into your diet is to drink green smoothies.

You don't need a fancy blender but I do suggest you get something that can blend a smoothy. When I first started I just had a bullet (small personal blender) and that is what I used. I will be sharing in future posts how important green drinks are to you and how they can add super nutrition and give you more energy.

Let's start with my favorite green smoothie

Ingredients:
1 apple
1/4 tsp of cinnamon (optional)
Handful of Spinach leaves
Filtered Water
(I highly suggest organic veggies and fruits - huge difference and you ARE worth it)

• Peel apple and cut up into small pieces
• Put cold filtered water into blender first (enough for 1 drink for you and leave room for apple & spinach)
• Add cinnamon and apples and blend
• Stack spinach leaves and roll up then cut the roll into thin strips (if you have a good blender you do not have to do this)
• Blend again until you do not see any chunks of spinach. Make sure you do not overblend spinach

It will be a very nice green color. Don't be scared - try it!! I promise you it is very good.

It is best to drink the smoothie on its own, without food. I like this mid morning. Sometimes I have it first thing in the morning but usually mid morning. There are many varieties of smoothies to make and one to satisfy everyone's taste. I will have more recipes in future blog posts.

I really encourage you to incorporate a homemade smoothie into your day. It is a great way to add more fruits and veggies in your diet. In the future I will also explain how good these are for you and why it is important to keep them in your diet.

HOW EMOTIONS AFFECT HEALTH AND OUR SYMPTOMS

In my last blog post I spoke about emotions and symptoms. Which comes first, the emotion or the symptom? Can a certain emotion cause a certain symptom? Can a symptom bring on an emotion?

Both are true and I am sure all of you have experienced this.

Dr Christiane Northrup in her book "The Wisdom of Menopause" devotes a chapter in her book on this. She speaks a lot about how emotions/thoughts/feelings affect our physical body throughout her whole book. This is a book I really recommend reading.

She states:
"Depression, in turn, is a very well documented independent risk factor for heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis. Emotional turmoil affects the brain and all its functions. Continuing in the same upsetting situation virtually guarantees that a woman's hormones stay unbalanced. The longer she allows negative situations to persist, the more out of whack her hormones will become, and the more physically uncomfortable she will feel."

You may have heard of the "Type C" personality, the one more susceptable to cancer. So watch what you think, what are your thoughts and feelings. With hormones out of balance you can feel a little depressed and if you don't deal with it when it arrives, it could keep getting worse and before you know it you are getting some very uncomfortable physical symptoms.

With so much change going on at this stage of our life, we must check-in with ourselves. Check in to how we are feeling, how our body is feeling. If there is something that is not right, then find out what it is, how you can deal with it. Do some research. You are important and your health is extremely important. What do you want your future to look like? Think about it - seriously.

Christiane goes on to say:
"Your emotions, desires, and dreams are your inner guidance system. Understanding how your thoughts and your emotions affect every single hormone and cell in your body, and knowing how to change them in a way that is health-enhancing, gives you access to the most powerful and empowering health-creating secret on earth.

....when all is said and done it is your attitude, your beliefs, and your daily thought patterns that have the most profound effect on your health. Attitudes and beliefs also influence how well your food is digested and how effective your exercise is."

Maybe in the past you have not taken time to check-in with yourself or have not take care of you. You may have been busy raising your family and putting yourself last. Now your kids are older and you have time. It is now your time. Things may start coming up that you haven't had time to deal with before. Thoughts, dreams and wishes that in the past you pushed away because you didn't have time to deal with them. Now these are surfacing and it is time for you to deal with them.

Maybe you have felt like you have lost yourself along the way and now with this extra time to think you are realizing that maybe your life needs to change. It is time to change your lifestyle. What worked before is not working any more. Your body is changing and your inner self is changing. If you are not good at dealing with change, this can be a bit overwhelming.

Luckily there are so many resources out there. Just walk into Chapters and let your intuition guide you to a section of the book store that has books you need to read that can help. What questions and/or concerns are coming up? What do you need to learn? What do you know and what do you not know? Are you happy with your career? Your relationships? Your body? Your health?

Big questions and there are no easy answers. This is a journey. It can be a fun and exciting journey - but then again - I love change.....

I'll talk more about this in my next post. Take time to reflect and don't be scared of asking yourself the big questions. You don't need to know all the answers.

Chicken & The Egg

So....

Is your emotion the chicken and your symptoms the egg?...

or is it

The symptom is the chicken and the emotion is the egg?....

Wondering what I am speaking of? It will make sense I promise - read on...

Can emotions cause our symptoms? Can emotions cause our illness? I believe yes and a lot of people follow that belief. And now with quantum physics we know that particles (things) can be controlled (manipulated, made to appear) through thoughts (energy, vibration, intention).

You know how it goes - you have a bad headache and you are feeling really crappy so, you get stressed and frustrated because there are things you want to do and this headache is preventing you from doing them.

OR

Deep down you are overwhelmed, worried, stressed, exhausted, etc so your body gives you the headache so that you are forced to slow down and rest?

We may be coasting through a week, feeling positive and happy and wham - we get hit with a bad headache, a bad back, a pain somewhere in our body or maybe we cannot sleep one night. What is going on? The symptom(s) continue and/or get worse and what tends to happen? - our moods and emotions get worse, they become negative, we become frustrated, angry or even a little depressed.

I hold all my tension in my neck and shoulders. I have been struggling with this for years. So much so that I have built a very elaborate story about why I experience this neck pain, tension and headaches. My story is that I have been in a lot of car accidents, I was into heavy weight lifting and injured myself quite a few times, so these injuries are catching up with me, I am getting older, etc, etc. All true - but all a story.

I have a very busy life and I am a high energy person. Many body workers have tried to help me with my neck tension and pain and I have come a long way, but it still can bring me to a complete halt sometimes.

I get told by people to stay calm, find ways to relax, de-stress, etc. I am a yoga teacher so I do practice relaxation breathing techniques and I do make sure I take time to relax.

I have had x-rays, I have seen doctors and many body workers and still this is a big problem for me.

What I have noticed is that when I am feeling uncomfortable - whether it be a headache, upset stomach, etc -the symptom leads me to feel (experience emotion) a certain way. Stress and tension builds up and makes things worse. I can feel it coming on. I try to just sit in the pain or discomfort and not judge it or fight against it. This works great sometimes but not always. When days go by and I STILL have my headache or uncomfortable symptom, my emotions get worse and the situation becomes worse.

I also believe that a symptom (sickness, pain, disease, tumor, etc) is trying to tell us something. We need to listen to our bodies and catch the small warning signs it is giving us. If we ignore these subtle nudges over and over again, they will become stronger and more prominent. Pretty soon something hits us with full force and we are knocked out of control and forced to deal with what we had been ignoring.

I believe that the emotion is first - then the symptom. But I also believe that the symptom itelf can cause the emotion. It really is hard to know what causes the other and I think both is true. An emotion can cause a symptom and a symptom causes an emotion which can make the symptom worse.

Ahh.....It really is a circle.

So if symptoms arrive to tell us something, are the symptoms we experience during perimenopause trying to tell us something?

Hmmmmm.....this may very well be true. I know that Dr Christiane Northrup who wrote the book "Wisdom of Menopause" definately believes so....

More on this in my next post.