Are you driving while asleep at the wheel of life? Lack of sleep is the new DWI. Pull over and get some sleep before life happens to you without your consent.

Sleep-deprived drivers have a similar reaction time behind the wheel as drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.089 (that’s DWI), a sobering fact when you consider that nearly 30 percent of all drivers have admitted to falling asleep or nodding off while behind the wheel!”– Cleveland Clinic

I always get a kick out of how people think of sleep as something that is optional. We stay up later, we get up earlier, work longer, faster, more. Even our down time is packed full of activities that deplete and exhaust us in the name of having a fun weekend. What ever happened to the value of a nap or getting to bed early? We take a perverse pride in working extra long hours, staying up late,  and cheating our bodies and minds of needed rest.

Our culture is all about being “larger than life,” supersizing everything, doing more (and more and more). It demands more caffeine and stimulants like screen time to get that constant stream of micro highs as we are “liked” or “connected” on social media. At the end of the day we are exhausted, but not satisfied. We counteract the buzz of our thoughts by taking sleeping pills or drinking a glass of wine or beer to unwind. Like never before, we are overweight, stressed, fatigued and overwhelmed by our lifestyle of doing more.

Women are often the worst offenders. Women are doing more than ever and believing that SUPER should be added to every role: SUPERmom, SUPERlover, SUPERworker, SUPERboss, SUPERfriend, SUPERwoman. Whether at the office, home, social circle, or gym, women feel they are failing and falling into that kind of exhaustion that has no fulfillment in it.

What if I told you that I had a simple remedy that would:

• ENHANCE your memory, mood, concentration, outlook and perspective
• INCREASE your physical ability, immunity and overall energy
• PROMOTE your weight loss, give you younger looking skin, and heal you on all cylinders
• REDUCE your stress, anxiety, overall fatigue, and physical injury
• LOWER both your blood pressure and the likelihood of you making mistakes
• PUMP up your sex life (oh la-la), creativity, and your ability to make connections and bonding

You agree that if I DID have a remedy that could do all of these things, I would be Oprah’s newest hottest thing, right? Well, there actually is a remedy out there that does everything on the list above. I’m not kidding. I know, you’re now wondering how much it’s going to cost you.

Nothing. It’s free, available to all.

Sleep is that magic elixir. Sleep is the new revolutionary healer of all. Dream on!

According to Huffington Post’s creator, Arianna Huffington, sleep is her secret weapon, the magic to her success. Her advice to women around the world, “Sleep your way to the top.” But, like most women, Huffington didn’t always think this way. Only after collapsing at her desk from exhaustion and ending up with a series of stitches and a huge wake up call did she make this realization.

We have a national sleep deficit epidemic. Even though we don’t value the elixir that only sleep provides, we pay thousands of dollars on tips, tricks, products, and supplements to make us appear rested. Strong women leaders such as Huffington are fed up with this unsustainable lifestyle. It is not only exhausting, it is also causing the kind of physical, mental, emotional, and cultural harm that sucks the joy out of life.

Cheating on sleep for work and our busy lives doesn’t make us super heroes, it just leaves us tired. Lack of sleep deprives us of how amazing and “on” we get to be when we are rested, refreshed, and energized. When we don’t sleep enough, we aren’t fully here and fully alive. We fail at giving the gift of who we are and all we can be. Our beloved family, friends, and the communities where we want to make a difference are robbed by our own lack of sleep. And it isn’t just our mental and emotional selves that suffer. Our bodies can’t repair and heal when we starve them from the process of healing and resetting that happens only in sleep.

Sleep isn’t a luxury, or even optional. It is as essential to living a healthy life as oxygen.

“Sleep is absolutely essential for basic maintenance and repair of the neurological, endocrine, immune, musculoskeletal, and digestive systems,” says Chris Kressor.

If you’ve ever tried to have a coherent conversation with new parents, you understand the dramatic effects of lack of sleep on our ability to recall facts, figures, and basics like which shoe goes on which foot. In all seriousness, the impact that lack of sleep has on our memory, emotional state, and body is only now starting to be understood. Missing sleep impacts our ability to recall things, not only small details, like remembering to pick up more eggs at the market, but our long-term ability to recall information and create lasting memories.

Lack of sleep can not only lower your I.Q. a few points, it can actually make you crazy!

Neuroscientist, Jeffrey Iliff connects the dots between lack of sleep and the rise of neurological disorders later in life such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and overall memory loss. Think about it this way, the brain is the command center of our body. When that control deck is not up to snuff, what happens? When we push ourselves without resting and restoring, we put our brains into overdrive. With constant tasks, duties, stress, and stimulation, the brain is overloaded and, even worse, without proper sleep it is depleted from it’s only source of renewal and downtime.

It turns out sleep isn’t a passive activity. There’s all sorts of amazing stuff going on in our bodies and, especially our brain, when we’re asleep. A good night’s sleep can improve your memory, and keep your brain healthy in the short- and long-term. It also helps us think better, solve problems, and make deeper connections.

A well-rested mind is a clean mind. Not that kind of clean. Wink wink. Healthy clean.

All throughout the day we produce a type of toxic protein called beta-amyloid that tends to collect in the brain and the spinal cord. A new study shows promising evidence that our bodies have a special mechanism to remove this toxin, but only when we sleep. In our sleep, our glymphatic system pumps cerebrospinal fluid through our central nervous system, flushing that toxin from our body. As it turns out, the only time this type of CSM fluid matter is discarded is during our REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycle, or deep sleep.

Our limbic system — which is connected to senses, memory and dreams — is one part of the brain that is turned on while we slumber. When the lights are out in the rest of the body, this portion of the brain is awake and kicking. It’s been understood that while sleep is necessary for physical health, strength, resilience, and such, it also renews and restores our spirit and emotional connection.

Though exactly what happens biologically and physiologically is still a mystery, we now know there is a purpose (scientifically proven!) for why we dream. In our sleep we seem to access a deeper level of thinking. Our mind makes connections with the unknown or unconscious to help solve problems, create solutions, and mend upsets that happened during the day. We resolve things from the waking day during our sleep — that fight with a co worker, how to deal with the emotions of a breakup, or even remembering where we left the keys.

Sleep often unsticks us when we have a creative block. Think about a time when you were burning the midnight oil attempting to kick out a creative project, only to be met by a huge block. Frustrated, you hit the sack. The next morning you awake revived and replenished and boom, there it is, a new idea or spark of inspiration that you just couldn’t see in your sleep deprived state the night before. I know some will say, “but I’ve always been a night owl,” or “I do my most creative thinking at night.” This maybe true, but when we are lacking sleep, our bodies and brains are in survival mode and can only function for so long until we crash and burn. Believe me, lack of sleep will catch up with you. If you think your natural biorhythm makes you shine at night, adjust your schedule to sleep during the day (see below for some helpful tips – you’ll sleep best if you block out all of that day light).

When we start to value our sleep and see the importance of it’s healing power not only for today, but for our future selves, we start to think and do things differently. When we take care of ourselves with a good sleep habit, we are more present and able to take care of others and contribute to the projects that fulfill our sense of purpose. Could there be anything more powerful than being fully awake, rested, and ready to take life on with all of our cylinders firing?

Here are a few things you can do to start getting a good night’s rest. Like anything else, it takes time to start a new habit; even sleeping well takes practice!

Tips for Good Sleep Hygiene

• Don’t be too full – or too hungry
• Go to bed early! Most of us have active REM between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
• Relax and stretch lightly before going to bed.
• Practice makes permanent changes.
• Reduce your exposure to artificial light.
• Don’t use a computer/iphone/ipad for 2 hours before going to bed. Exposure to screens can disturb your sleep.
• Use blackout shades to make your bedroom pitch black.
• Cover your digital alarm clock or get an analog clock.
• Turn off all digital devices that glow or give off any type of light.
• If you can’t do these things for some reason, use a sleep mask.

Spread the word and start a sleep revolution. Tips for good sleep hygiene.

It takes time to restore and get your good sleep on! During my teens and 20’s I was destructive with my body, and I didn’t take good care of myself. When I gave up partying, I replaced it with perfectionism and overwork. I had been sleep deprived for as long as I can remember, until I started to “wake up” to how much of a negative impact it was having. Only during the last year have I noticed that I have not been saying “I’m so tired!” And, this is after several years of actually sleeping regularly, mind you. So don’t expect the elixir of sleep to make a difference overnight. Lasting results come from practice.

Think of how long it has taken for you to become this tired and exhausted (a lifetime). It will take time to rebuild your sleep storage account, but you will get there. I don’t feel sleepy during the day any longer, nor do I repeat the dreaded mantra, “I’m so tired.”

Everyone needs a different amount of zzz’s each night. I have friends who get 5 hours of sleep and seem to be healthy and productive. They take care of themselves, nap when needed, and feel great with their sleep routine and hygiene. I do best with 8 hours. How do you know how much sleep you need? Only you will know. Over time you’ll find the pattern that fits you best. Remember it takes time to make changes. Be patient and gentle with yourself. You deserve to be well rested, healthy, happy, and joyful!

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Nerve Sedative Formula
• L-Tryptophan
• Stress B-Complex • 60c – Thorne Research
• SleepThru – Gaia Herbs
• Sleep & Relax – Gaia Herbs
• Shillington’s Cal-Calm Tea
• Skullcap Herb – Gaia Herbs
• More supplements for insomnia

Further Reading:

• Natural Remedies for Insomnia
• Thyroid Disease Epidemic – How is Yours Doing?
• Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue
• Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium
• Earthing – Touching Earth
• Earthing – Ground Your Body for Optimal Health

Prayer.  Now there’s a word that has been bandied about in the context of health and healing.  Some churches say special prayers for the sick and the Spiritualists offer hands on healing in their churches.  There are hundreds of thousands of healers all over the world: folk healers, shamans, healers registered with approved associations; there are even groups who have a specific time to stop what they are doing and pray for people who are sick.  This is known in some circles as “The Healing Minute” because it doesn’t need to take more than that.

So How Do We Do It?

We use the word “prayer” to explain globally what we’re doing, but some people feel uncomfortable with it and in a group to which I belong, our methods and our beliefs are our own business; we are just required at a certain time every day to stop and send healing in our own way to the people on the main list and our personal lists.

What do I do?  Not wanting to impose anything on someone who may not have asked for help, I just see the person smiling and surrounded by white light.  I expect some of the people in the group do much more traditional things, but it doesn’t matter.  Whatever we do is never wrong if we have the good of the person in mind.  And what does seem to prove its efficacy is the fact that group healing sessions, or the sending of light, or praying, or whatever at a time when lots of people do it together gives very positive results.  The group members and the recipient don’t have to be in the same room nor even in the same country; in fact some healers insist that sending healing to someone who is not present works best,

Does It Really Work?

It has been shown how people fervently praying for the health of one person can have great results.  Take the amazing case of Eben Alexander.

In his book Proof of Heaven, Alexander, a neurosurgeon who was totally brain dead and in a coma for seven days tells us that he was so far away he had no memory of anything on earth but when he started to “come back”, to come out of his coma, he could hear murmuring all round him although he couldn’t understand the words.  He became aware of countless beings surrounding him kneeling in arcs that stretched out into the distance.  It was only afterwards when he was fully back and writing about his experiences that he realized they were people who were praying for him.  Although he reports that he was deeply sad to be leaving behind the wonders he had experienced, the vision of these people gave him an odd feeling that everything was going to be fine.

He wasn’t religious and rarely went to church, but his wife knew the local minister and prayer groups were rapidly organized.  Although I’m not saying the prayers were the reason he recovered, what I am saying is that it was his vision of what turned out to be people praying that comforted and reassured him on his return, and that’s a successful result by anyone’s standards.

Every Thought Counts

Even when we are not necessarily sending healing or praying, just thinking of someone in a positive way can be helpful.  We used to have a saying in our family when we talked about somebody who was having a hard time: “Ah, bless his heart”. We meant nothing more by it than an expression of compassion, of empathy for a fellow human being, but that’s really what praying for someone is all about and that’s why we do it.

Further Reading:

• Psychosomatic Illness – Is It All In The Mind?
• Healing Vibrations

The dictionary defines a psychosomatic illness as one “…caused by mental or emotional problems rather than by something physical”.  This idea has fascinated me since I became aware of the work Louise L. Hay has done on making a connection between our minds and our state of health.  In her view, anything affecting our lives, (and this can come from our feelings, our background, our belief system), just about anything that touches or has touched us, can be a factor.  She tells her personal story of childhood sexual abuse, which she connected to the vaginal cancer she developed in adulthood. Her book, You Can Heal Your Life, with its explanations of what may have caused illness or led to an accident, has sold millions of copies worldwide.

These are real illnesses, with a physical element, but they are not necessarily caused solely by outside forces such as heredity, smoking, a life crisis, or eating the wrong things, although these factors have probably played their part in the illness.   For many of us, illness is a wake-up call, and we need to look at what we can do to change matters.

Food For Thought

For Phil Edwardes, a UK healer, none of the causes of illness are found anywhere in the body and, emphasising that he isn’t blaming anyone, he believes that everything that happens to our bodies is because we’re inside them.  This does rather bear out a finding in the case of multiple personalities.  People who have several personalities have found they may need reading glasses in one personality and not in another; they may be diabetic in one personality and not in another.

I’d often heard of things being “all in the mind” as have most of us, but when I took my first steps in complementary medicine in 1987, I saw how this thinking could be applied.   One of my earliest purchases was a book based on Chinese medicine that was recommended by my reflexology teacher.  I immediately read what it had to say about every illness I could think of that had touched my family, my friends, or me.  And I was blown away by some of the possible explanations; things fell into place and understanding dawned.

Finding Out For Myself

The best way to learn something is to experience it ourselves and I didn’t have to wait long.  Studying for my reflexology diploma I worked on an old friend who suffered from sinusitis. The treatment really helped, but so did finding an apartment away from her parents, or more precisely her mother, with whom she was often at loggerheads.

In 1990 I started up in business, distributing and demonstrating ear and body treatment candles (although body candling arrived much later on the scene) and one of the very first people to contact me was a lady suffering from a distressing and continual noise in her ears (tinnitus).  She told me she had a handicapped daughter and in the course of our conversation she burst out: “I can’t stand it when she screams”’.  Even with my limited knowledge of the product I was so confidently selling, I knew the candles wouldn’t help her and I really hoped she could understand at some point that she was manufacturing a noise in her head to drown out her daughter’s screams.   It sounds hard, but there is only one place where the solution to any such problem lies … where it started.  In ourselves.  Until we are able to do that, few therapies will bring lasting relief.

Stories I’ve Been Told

A child’s  deafness at birth stemmed from what she’d heard while in the womb. Once her mother understood this and worked on her own emotions—a tough task for her—the child was hearing perfectly by the age of 7.

A young Catholic priest had always known he was homosexual,  but until he was ordained at the age of 32 he had attempted to deny it. He plunged into a nervous breakdown and carried on as well as possible until he started to experience a loud whistling sound in his left ear, which he interpreted as his soul crying out to speak its truth. The physical suffering was intense. He finally decided to come out and to inform his bishop that he was leaving Holy Orders. The decision made, his tinnitus immediately calmed down and at the time the article appeared, he was practically cured.

A colleague at an exhibition knelt down to chat to a girl in her mid-teens who was confined to a wheelchair. She was accompanied by her mother and younger siblings and explained there was absolutely no physical reason why she couldn’t walk, but that was the situation and she didn’t really care one way or the other. It would have been fascinating to learn something about her family dynamics, but even if a skilled therapist managed to uncover the possible root of her problem, unless she was prepared to work on herself, little progress would result.

Choosing Our Words With Care

Some of the expressions we throw around so lightly can give us a huge clue as to what’s going on in our lives—or what could be waiting in the wings to pop up.

• “She really gets up my nose,”
• “I can’t stomach it.”
• “It breaks my heart.”, etc.

We can connect this thinking with sinusitis, digestive or cardiac diseases – in fact, with just about anything.  If we look at some of the things we suffer from: arthritis, short or long sight, poor hearing, allergies, ulcers, constipation, cancer, they can tell us volumes about our deepest beliefs.  Illness may seemingly have a real physical cause, yes, and certainly has a real physical manifestation, but if we can process the painful experiences we all endure as we go through life, we can certainly reduce any damage that physical ill-health can do and hopefully avoid many problems altogether.

Further Reading:

• Healing Vibrations
• Praying For Health

So you’ve eaten your fill and then some. Maybe you had about seven too many glasses of wine or beer. Between the cranberry sauce, the sweet potato casserole, the eggnog, the pies, the cookies, the candy, the punch, and the alcohol, you’ve ingested more sugar in one day than you usually eat in a month. Did you know that eating refined sugar, even small amounts of any refined sugar (but especially conventional sugar), will cripple your immune system for 48-72 hours? In addition, bad bacteria, viruses, and Candida love sugar. It feeds them! So while you’re binging on sweets, they’re having their own little party and mass multiplying. Not only are your defenses down for the pathogens already in your body, it’s flu and cold season and you are being bombarded with pathogens every single day. Here are a few things you can do to help your immune system bounce back faster.

Repopulate Your Gut With Healthy Bacteria

The first and most important action you can take is to eat nutrient dense, prebiotic foods to aid your gut in its efforts to regain proper balance. Eat lots of whole, fresh, raw vegetables and fruits (more vegetables than fruits). The healthiest diet consists of 80% fresh, raw, organic produce each day. The fiber helps to cleanse the gut and it provides the best environment for healthy, beneficial bacteria to thrive.

You may need to be eat probiotic foods as well, fermented foods that will help repopulate the beneficial bacteria. Consider probiotic supplements, too. Supplements that kill Candida, like undecylenic acid, will be beneficial as well.

Support Your Immune System With the Right Food and Supplements

In addition to prebiotic and probiotic foods, there are several foods that will aid your immune system in fighting pathogens.

Garlic is antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral, without harming beneficial bacteria. Add raw garlic to your salads or your salad dressing to get the most benefit.

Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, kiwis, mangoes, papayas, strawberries, pineapple, red peppers, green peppers, chili peppers, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and kale are all great sources of vitamin C. If you would like to supplement with vitamin C, try saving your organic citrus peels! Simply dehydrate them and grind them up.

Echinacea and vitamin D also strengthen the immune system.

Get Enough Sleep, Exercise, and Water

Of course, you should always make sure to get enough sleep and exercise. Too often during the holidays we push ourselves too far, too fast, trying to please everyone, and ignoring our own needs. The one thing a four-day holiday weekend gives us is the time to relax and the time to catch up on sleep.

Go for walks, dance, tumble with the kids or grandkids, use a rebounder, or jump rope. Do something to get your lymph moving. And squat! Do bodyweight squats. They not only build total body strength; squats also benefit internal organs, and they cause the body to produce large amounts of beneficial hormones.

This is also a good time to drink lots of water. Or, even better, try the cranberry stevia lemonade recipe (see the first source link below).

Step by Step

We have a tendency to ignore our health around the holidays, putting it off good behavior for our New Year’s resolutions. If you take really good care of yourself for the next few days or the next week, you may find you like the added benefit of more energy, fewer aches and pains, and a happier digestive system. Maybe you might just roll on into the next holiday right through to New Year’s with a resolution to make this change permanent instead of temporary.

1. Eat salads with lots of vegetables and fresh garlic
2. Eat 80% raw fresh produce
3. Do body-weight squats (if you can’t squat, try sitting and standing repeatedly with a chair)
4. Kill Candida and balance your inner eco-system
5. Bullet Proof your immune system
6. And last but not least, drink lots of water!

Recommended Supplements:

• Coptis chinensis
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Shillington’s Total Tonic
• Shillington’s Echinacea+

Further Reading:

• Make Your Own Total Nutrition Formula
• How to Make Homemade Vitamin C
• How to Cure Candida
• How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem
• After taking antibiotics, this is what you need to do to restore healthy intestinal flora
• Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
• Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural Remedies
  
• 80% Raw Food Diet

Besides sharing time with family and friends over food, the primary ingredient of the American Thanksgiving holiday is gratitude. While it’s certainly good to have an annual holiday to remind us to express gratitude, there’s much to be said for the benefits of cultivating the spirit of thankfulness year-round.

People who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. Scientists have even noted that gratitude is associated with improved health.

As noted in a previous article on this topic published in the Harvard Mental Health Letter,1 “expressing thanks may be one of the simplest ways to feel better:”

“The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). In some ways gratitude encompasses all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible.

With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. 

As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.

…People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways. They can apply it to the past (retrieving positive memories and being thankful for elements of childhood or past blessings), the present (not taking good fortune for granted as it comes), and the future (maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude). 

Regardless of the inherent or current level of someone’s gratitude, it’s a quality that individuals can successfully cultivate further.”

Gratitude—It Does a Body Good

Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, head of biologic psychology at Duke University Medical Center once stated that: “If [thankfulness] were a drug, it would be the world’s best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system.”2

One way to harness the positive power of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal or list, where you actively write down exactly what you’re grateful for each day. In one study,3, 4 people who kept a gratitude journal reported exercising more, and they had fewer visits to the doctor compared to those who focused on sources of aggravation.

As noted in a previous ABC News article,5 studies have shown that gratitude can produce a number of measurable effects on a number of systems in your body, including:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/8-hZQ3FJkcg

Ways to Cultivate Gratitude

Cultivating a sense of gratitude will help you refocus your attention toward what’s good and right in your life, rather than dwelling on the negatives and all the things you may feel are lacking.

And, like a muscle, this mental state can be strengthened with practice. Besides keeping a daily gratitude journal, other ways to cultivate a sense of gratitude include:

• Write thank you notes: Whether in response to a gift or kind act, or simply as a show of gratitude for someone being in your life, getting into the habit of writing thank-you letters can help you express gratitude in addition to simply feeling it inside.
• Count your blessings: Once a week, reflect on events for which you are grateful, and write them down. As you do, feel the sensations of happiness and thankfulness you felt at the time it happened, going over it again in your mind.
• Pray: Expressing thanks during your prayers is another way to cultivate gratitude.
• Mindfulness meditation: Practicing “mindfulness” means that you’re actively paying attention to the moment you’re in right now. A mantra is sometimes used to help maintain focus, but you can also focus on something that you’re grateful for, such as a pleasant smell, a cool breeze, or a lovely memory.

Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude

Three years ago, the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California,6 in collaboration with the University of California, launched a project called “Cultivating Gratitude in a Consumerist Society.” This $5.6 million project aims to:

• Expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal and relational well-being, and developmental science;
• Promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in medical, educational, and organizational settings and in schools, workplaces, homes and communities, and in so doing…
• Engage the public in a larger cultural conversation about the role of gratitude in civil society. 

In 2012, 14 winning research projects were announced, with topics covering everything from the neuroscience of gratitude, to the role of gratitude for the prevention of bullying. The organization has a number of resources you can peruse at your leisure, including The Science of Happiness blog and newsletter,7 and a Digital Gratitude Journal,8 where you can record and share the things you’re grateful for. Scientists are also permitted to use the data to explore “causes, effects, and meaning of gratitude.”

For example, previous research has shown that employees whose managers say “thank you” feel greater motivation at work, and work harder than peers who do not hear those “magic words.” As noted in a previous Thanksgiving blog post in Mark’s Daily Apple:9“[R]esearch10 has shown that being on the receiving end of a person’s gratitude can boost subjects’ sense of self-worth and/or self-efficacy. It also appears to encourage participants to further help the person who offered the gratitude but also another, unrelated person in an unconscious ‘pay it forward’ kind of connection.”

Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle

Starting each day by thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for is one way to put your mind on the right track. Also, remember that your future depends largely on the thoughts you think today. So each moment of every day is an opportunity to turn your thinking around, thereby helping or hindering your ability to think and feel more positively in the very next moment.

Most experts agree that there are no shortcuts to happiness. Even generally happy people do not experience joy 24 hours a day. But a happy person can have a bad day and still find pleasure in the small things in life.

Be thankful for what you have. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, remember the 1,000 reasons you have to smile. Face your past without regret; prepare for the future without fear; focus on what’s good right now, in the present moment, and practice gratitude. Remember to say “thank you”—to yourself, the Universe, and others. It’s wonderful to see a person smile, and even more wonderful knowing that you are the reason behind it! And with that, I wish you all a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

Green tea is one of the natural foods that can increase fat loss. The Chinese have known for centuries about the many benefits of green tea, using it to treat headaches, body aches, and poor digestion. The Chinese also revere green tea for its ability to improve well-being and life expectancy. Now the rest of the world is finally catching up and starting to drink their own healthy dose of green tea.

Research has shown that green tea has a combination of natural caffeine and phytochemical antioxidants called catechins. Both of these substances are incredibly effective at promoting fat loss.

Green tea also contains volatile oils, vitamins, and minerals. The primary elements of interest are the polyphenols, especially the catechin known as EGCG. The polyphenols are believed to be responsible for most of green tea’s health benefits.

Even though green tea contains caffeine, it does not significantly change your heart rate or blood pressure. This is why it is considered to be a safe weight loss supplement. On the contrary, many of the fat burners that you see advertised contain products like ephedra, which can raise heart rates and blood pressure.

Green tea also revs up your metabolism. A study conducted in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that green tea extract significantly increased metabolism.

In fact, this study also concluded that over a 24-hour period, green tea extract increased the metabolic rate by 4%. This is probably due to the high concentrations of catechin polyphenols found in green tea.

How Much Green Tea do You Need?

Experts vary in their opinion, but the general consensus seems to be that 3 – 5 cups of green tea per day is optimal. Drinking this amount  can help you burn an extra 70 calories per day, which equals  7 pounds per year.

If 3 – 5 cups is just a little too much for you, you may want to consider green tea extract or green tea pills.

However, the benefits go beyond fat loss. When studied closely, this ancient Japanese brew provides so much more.

The Many Benefits of Green Tea:

There is also evidence that chemicals in tea help to protect lean muscle tissue and stabilize blood sugar levels. Green tea also boosts your immune system, kills dangerous bacteria, and a whole lot more.

Drinking 2 cups of strong green tea half an hour before your workouts will boost your energy and promote fat-burning, muscle-saving, and health promoting benefits.

Let’s also not forget the loads of antioxidants that are packed into green tea. In fact, green tea contains more antioxidants than broccolli. These antioxidants include polyphenols, flavonoids, and catechins. These powerful nutrients support your body’s immune system and help to eliminate harmful toxins from your body and make you more relaxed, which is helpful if you have to deal with stress.

In fact, these antioxidants are so powerful that much research is showing that it may help to prevent cancer. The PubMed database now contains over 2,000 studies on green tea. EGCG is believed to play a large role in the green tea’s anticancer and antioxidant effects. EGCG inhibits the growth of cancer cells and kills cancers cells without harming healthy tissue.

Green tea’s anticancer benefits have been widely supported by epidemiological, cell culture, animal and clinical studies. In fact, green tea’s aid in cancer prevention is so overwhelming that the Chemoprevention Branch of the National Cancer Institute has created a plan for developing tea compounds as cancer-chemopreventitive agents in human trials.

This same EGCG protects against digestive and respiratory infections and blocks the actions of carcinogens which promote cancer. EGCG also helps lower cholesterol levels. This antioxidant is over 200 times more potent than Vitamin E in fighting free radicals and pro-oxidants.

However, the health benefits don’t stop there. Green tea also reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, colon cancer, high cholesterol, bacterial and viral infections, cardiovascular disesase, stroke, periodontal disease, osteoporosis, and leukoplakia.

Green tea’s rich supply of polyphenols has also been shown to protect against heart disease.

In Japanese studies, green tea consumption has been found to help protect against coronary artery disease. In one study, those who drank 5 or more cups of green tea each day were found to be 16% less likely to suffer from coronary artery disease.

Researchers concluded that, “The more green tea patients consume, the less likely they are to have coronary artery disease.”

Best of all, green tea is a great alternative to your morning coffee. It doesn’t give you an insulin crash like soda and its not hard on your stomach like coffee.

I challenge you to replace soda, coffee, or any other sugar filled beverage with green tea. I guarantee you you’ll start to see positive changes within days.

(NaturalNews – Dr. David Jockers) The food we eat provides the raw materials for healthy cells in our body. Children need high quality nutrition to function and perform at their peak. Our society trains children to devalue the importance of high quality food choices. Raising healthy children takes determination and great meal planning on the part of the parents.

Most government provided school lunches are packed full of toxic genetically modified, highly processed foods that offer no real nutritional content other than calories. Micronutrients and antioxidants are never considered in designing these meal plans. Additionally, our society has bought into the idea that it is acceptable for children to eat junk food at parties and events.

To raise a healthy family in the 21st century, you must be different. 90 percent of what we are sold as healthy food for kids is not good. Whole grains and pasteurized dairy are used in abundance as healthy parts of a daily diet. Unfortunately, gluten containing grains and pasteurized dairy are inflammatory foods that are linked with digestive problems, allergies, concentration challenges and much more.

Breakfast

Ideal breakfast foods for children include low-glycemic foods that have good fats and clean proteins to keep stable blood sugar. Berries are a great addition as they are loaded with anti-oxidants and are low-glycemic so they help maintain a healthy blood sugar level. Berries are thin skinned and sprayed heavily with pesticide in conventional practices so it is important to get these organic.

Great fats for kids include coconut products, avocados, and extra virgin olive oil. Nuts and seeds are great but ideally, they should be raw, soaked and sprouted. The best seeds include hemp, flax, pumpkin, sesame, black sesame and sunflower. All nuts are great except for peanuts which often contain fungal toxins and are highly allergenic and inflammatory.

Great protein foods include 100 percent grass-fed beef products, 100 percent grass-fed raw cheese products, organic eggs, organic poultry, wild fish from clean waters and wild game from cleaner parts of the country.

The best way to begin the day is high-quality liquid nutrition. Making a shake with frozen, organic blueberries, cinnamon, organic almond or coconut milk, extra virgin coconut oil for more good fats and a non-denatured grass-fed whey protein is fantastic. One could also substitute organic, raw eggs or a sprouted hemp, pea and brown rice based protein.

Lunch

Lunch should consist of soaked and sprouted nuts and seeds. Granola, crackers and cookies can be made out of soaked and sprouted nuts and seeds and flavored with low-glycemic sweeteners like stevia and coconut nectar. At home, a stevia sweetened chocolate avocado mousse is a great treat that contains no sugar and lots of good fats and anti-oxidants.

Snacks

Great snack foods include raw veggies like carrots, celery, cucumbers, red cabbage and bell peppers. Almond butter, guacamole and hummus can be used for dips for these veggies. Also, raw nuts, coconut flakes, dried berries and cacao nibs can be combined to make a great anti-oxidant trail mix.

Dinner

Dinners should be designed around high quality animal protein and double veggies. This could be grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, organic chicken, turkey, duck, eggs, wild game, wild fish, etc. Steamed or sauteed veggies along with a baby spinach salad is great. Make a dressing with fresh squeezed lemon, dried herbs and extra virgin olive oil.

Starches that are okay to use include brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, yams and sprouted grain breads. Sweet potato fries can be made with sliced sweet potatoes grilled with coconut oil on a stainless steel pan. A mashed potato alternative can be made out of steamed cauliflower or sweet potato.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.healthychildren.org
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/033375_cognitive_function_foods.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/032275_ADHD_natural_remedies.html