Earth Hour and Bob Dylan

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Bob Dylan said that the way we treat the planet is a reflection of the way we treat ourselves, and it is with this paraphrased quote in mind that I reflect about Earth Hour this past Saturday evening.

With great media hype, many of us turned our lights off for one hour. I took that opportunity, while rocking my infant son to sleep, to reflect on what the hour meant to me, and what I could do once the lights came back on at 9:00.

In my city, apparently the power consumption fell by about 5%. Now this is clearly not a gigantic amount, especially compared to New Zealand, who dropped by over 10%. However, as the Japanese principle of Kaizan says, the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. And we must ask ourselves what the next simplest step is to saving the planet. In my opinion, Earth hour served to start creating the habit of turing the electricity off, as well as showing us that we can mobilize together for a good reason to make a difference.

I created a principle called “3 minutes on the floor” to help people create the habit of doing something good for themselves. Many people tell me that they want to stretch, or meditate, or do yoga, or eat better, but they don’t have time. My advice begins by getting them to make a commitment to spending 3 minutes every day lying on the ground. During that time they can do something active, reflect on life, or do nothing.

Why 3 minutes? Because everybody has 3 minutes. It’s not about quantity, it’s about building the habit of breaking yourself away from the TV, or computer, or kitchen, or desk and focusing on yourself.

People who do this consistently are so proud of themselves for sticking to something, even if it is only 3 minutes on the floor, and invariably end up increasing the time to 4, 5, or even 10 minutes.

I know that I felt good about myself for not turning the lights on, and not even listening to my iPod. I increased my level of awareness of how much I consume, thought about where I could cut back, and ways I’d like to be more environmentally conscious. And I also spent an hour in silence, clearing my own head without the hum of the TV. There’s currently a miniseries on HBO about John Adams and the founding fathers, and I found myself wondering if they would have gotten as much accomplished if there had been 3 TVs in every house.

So doing something for the planet also meant doing something for me. I think often about Dylan’s quote, and think that as more people become conscious of wellness and Naturally Savvy living, they invariably become more environmentally conscious. Bob’s a pretty smart guy.

What can you do for yourself and the environment?

Dr. Sidenberg

How Was Your Earth Hour?

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We constantly hear messages, see advertising, and get spoken to about conserving energy and not being wasteful, so by now, it should be second nature to most. When Earth Hour came along, I was left feeling like there was not much else I could do to conserve even more energy when I already conserve as much as I can all the time.

Then a thought occurred! Why not use even LESS energy than I always do? I got inspired to live like Ebenezer Scrooge for an hour and completely disconnect from the modern world. So 5 minutes before 8:00 on March 29, I gathered a magazine or two, boiled a cup of hot tea, lit my candles, and started turning things off. My computer…shut down, my kitchen stove light…off, my cellphone…unplugged. Every nook and cranny in my condo was now dark.

At first, I didn’t know what to do with myself and wondered how long the hour would actually feel with no distractions. Then I started remembering that when I was young, I loved it when the power would go out. It gave the family a chance to really spend some quality time together without the phone ringing or the TV blaring. I remembered how much fun it was to tell stories and find new ways of shedding some light on the subject, shall we say.

But since I didn’t have anyone to tell stories to, I decided to I open up all of my blinds and observe the outside world. I watched the clouds roll in and the rain mist through the mountainside. How beautiful it was. By the time I got around to reading the magazines I had pulled out earlier, the time was almost up. I embraced the silence and the calm for a little longer and then slowly worked my way back to reality.

I gotta say it was my best Earth Hour yet and a great excuse to disconnect. I think I’ll do it again next week!

~Amanda~

Homeopathic Medications for Fibrocystic Breast Disease

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Homeopathics are a safe and extremely effective way of balancing your problems naturally by allowing your system to correct itself with gentle stimulation of your own immune response. Unlike so many conventional medications, homeopathics are never addictive. Once symptoms are relieved and resolved, you can stop taking them. Here is a list of just a few of the most common medications that I’ve used over the years:

Phytolacca Decandra (poke root)—comes to mind as the most prominent glandular remedy and almost always is useful in problems associated with mastitis. Tenderness of the breasts before and after menses. Breast tumors with the enlargement of Axillary glands. When a patient complains about breast pain in the upper outer quadrant radiating into the Axillary regions, I always think of this great medicine.

Conium Maculatum (poison hemlock)—indispensable in conditions that present with very hard nodules, tenderness, and swelling around menses. Painful swelling in the Axillary glands with numbness going down the arm.

Silicea Terra (pure flint)—as a consequence of defective nutrition and assimilation, these patients will complain of stitching (splinter-like) pains. Unhealthy tendency to suppuration with fistulas and abscess conditions, keloids, painful scars. Soreness of drawn-in nipples, sensation of a stone pressing in the breast.

Scrophularia Nodosa (knotted figwort)—useful in dissipation of nodules in the breast. The characteristic symptoms would be pain in all flexor muscles. Incidentally, very useful in Hodgkin’s disease.

Lac Caninum (dog’s milk)—this patient will present with symptoms of painful swelling in the breasts before menses, worse with jarring motion. This woman will hold both breasts firmly going up or down the stairs. Her nipples may be painful and the pain usually alternates from side to side.

Asterias Rubens (red starfish)—may have symptoms of ulceration in the breast, nodules, and indurations with lacerating pains that are worse at night; these pains may extend all the way from Axillary glands through the arm to the end of the little finger. Restlessness of lower extremities at night would very much indicate the use of red starfish.

Dr. Alex Mostovoy

Fibrocystic Breast Disease: Diet and Lifestyle

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Fibrocystic disease should be treated with the understanding that it is a multifactorial problem that requires a multi-modal approach. The following strategies have been found to be very effective in our clinic:

We begin with a detailed case history of the individual to identify potential problem areas such as current health conditions, past diseases, medications that may cause symptoms, and any unresolved physical and psychological issues. Once the case “picture” is complete and there is a clear identification of imbalances, a therapeutic approach is applied to address the issues. Since each individual case history is unique, each case requires a different approach.

Diet Advice
Besides eliminating caffeine, saturated fats and salt, a high fiber diet including a great variety of plant-based foods free of pesticides and hormones will help in preventing cyclical fluctuations in cyst size and tenderness. A high fiber diet is extremely beneficial with the elimination of unwanted toxins preventing dangerous xenoestrogens from being re-absorbed back into the body.

Increase consumption of vegetables, especially the cruciferous family (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale). The main ingredient in these vegetables is indole carbinols, which promote 2-hydroxyestrone, (a protective estrogen) and counters the proliferative effect of carcinogenic 16-alphahydroxy estrone (a bad estrogen).

You should also keep your intestinal flora healthy with the use of probiotics.

Maintain and enhance your liver’s ability to metabolize estrogens from different sources. This can be done through proper nutrition and requires very specific concentrations of nutrients and occasional liver support and detoxification. This is a continuous and life-long prevention program. The ultimate goal here is to improve your estrogen metabolism.

Lifestyle Advice
Start and maintain an exercise program that addresses three key components of health: duration (aerobics), strength (weight resistance), and flexibility (stretching). A moderate daily exercise routine will promote weight loss and hormonal balance, stabilizing your mood and the overall feeling of well being.

Dr. Alex Mostovoy

Natural Breast Enlargement Supplements

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Some women have been asking me if there are nutritional supplements that can increase breast size. Are these safe? How effective are they?

Breast size is determined primarily by heredity and estrogen activity. The herbal/botanical products currently on the market basically boost the effects of estrogen and theoretically could increase breast size. If they really did that, they would also increase body fat percentage, weight, and perhaps the size of existing tumors in the body, whether benign or malignant. When estrogen gets boosted in the body, it does not necessarily only stimulate the breasts but may, in fact, stimulate cells in the uterus, the ovaries and the fat cells.

No effect of such supplements has ever been proven, so, at this time, all I could advise is buyer beware. Some studies are definitely needed here. I am sure there are plenty of researchers that would be interested in doing double-blind placebo-controlled studies on the differences they measure in breast size over a number of months.

Dr. Zoltan Rona

Want to Help? But Not Being Heard?

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Have you ever felt so darn good that you just want to spread the love to someone who doesn’t want to hear it? Sometimes they are our friends or mothers, and sometimes they are the guys who are renovating our basement. I know, I know, every bone in your body wants to make them “see the light.” But that’s only because you allow it to make you feel bad, my friend.

Trust their path; it just might not be time yet or it may be someone else who is a better teacher than you for that person. Just because everyone could benefit from emotional assistance doesn’t mean they’re asking you for it.

Can’t you change the world with your thoughts? Yes you can, but you can only change your world with your thoughts. It may look occasionally like you uplifted someone else’s world, but that is only because they allowed you to. Here are some ideas for you on the subject:

• If you waste your time shining your light on those who are not ready, you are taking the time away from those who are ready.

• You cannot positive-think situations into alignment. Knowing that all will be well is very different from “wishful thinking it” to be well.

• How will you know who you can make a difference for? It will be effortless—as all aligned things are. If it takes effort, you are not their teacher or it is not the time. Trust that feeling of ease as opposed to effort.

• It will pain you to watch someone in the “struggle” stage if you have forgotten your faith in your own ability to connect to greater Wisdom when you are stuck.

• Sometimes you and I might forget that it is in those times of struggle that we learn lessons that create abundant ease, flow, and joy. Another person’s journey is none of your business, unless they are asking (verbally or vibrationally).

Then what is your business? When you come across those negative or struggling people who are not interested in remembering their magnificence quite yet, it is your job to decide how much time you will spend with them. It is your business to pursue your path of joy! The most powerful way to make a difference for another is through your example, not through unsolicited teaching. Unsolicited teaching, in fact, will often leave people running from you!

You wouldn’t let someone else’s struggle rob all the rest of us of your gifts, now would you?

Jennifer Hough

Injury Prevention: Using Yoga to Optimize Your Workout During Pregnancy

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While it’s safe for many pregnant athletes to continue their pre-pregnancy exercise regime, a pregnant body not only looks but also behaves differently and requires a new focus when it comes to exercise goals and injury prevention.

The pregnant athlete who continues to follow her regular training program may be at risk of straining her joints, which become more lax during pregnancy due to the amount of relaxin released in the body. The hormone relaxin helps increase the flexibility within the pelvic area in preparation for birth. However, relaxin does not isolate itself to that area which needs it most! During pregnancy, relaxin circulates through the entire body and can cause joints in the ankles, wrists, and knees to also become more lax, thereby creating some instability.

To help overcome the instability and maintain muscular balance, I recommend that pregnant athletes modify their exercise program to include a balance of strength and flexibility training exercises.

Many runners only run, and many weight lifters only lift weights. In my experience, adding yoga to the pregnant athlete’s program has helped many of these women sustain their exercise program for a longer period with less likelihood of injury.

Some very active women are not fond of yoga or find it boring. Finding the right yoga class for you may help you to enjoy it. Also try learning some postures that you can do in small bursts throughout the day or before or after a workout. As many athletes already know, sometimes the thing we like the least is the thing we need the most!

Recommended resources for the pregnant athlete:

Exercising Through Your Pregnancy
by James F. Clapp III M.D.

Or you can also check out my e-book, Fit to Birth 101, at www.newmom101.com.

Cheers,
Andrea Page

Let It Flow, Let It Flow, Let It Flow!

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I recently had an excellent new awareness. After a very busy weekend, I realized that I hold tension in my hips, and that the tension my hips are holding is related to trying to control things. Can’t I just be perfect at last?

If something is hard, that’s because:

1. It isn’t the right timing.
2. You are “shoulding” on yourself. or
3. You aren’t in alignment with it yet—you aren’t believing it, feeling it, in the zone about it yet.

So here is what I learned about my hips: that when I am micro-managing my life, I leave no room for creativity or miracles. My hips lock up when I micro-manage (for you, maybe it’s your shoulders). When I give my body permission to allow for miraculous answers, and then have faith that I am connected to Source at all times, my hips let go. Maybe your neck will feel better, too!

The good news is, your life has been created completely in alignment with your beliefs and perceptions. The bad news is, most of your perceptions and beliefs were created unconsciously. The good news is, now that I’m telling you this, you can become more conscious and create more aligned beliefs!

Where does your body mirror your “inner control freak”? Give your body permission to allow for miracles. Bless our little bodies for telling us both just what we need to know, right?

Jennifer Hough

Keeping the Kitchen Organized

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We’ve seen kitchens of all kinds! It can be an incredibly overwhelming place to be, so we suggest keeping it as de-cluttered as possible.

You have to treat the kitchen as it is: a storage centre for rolling inventory. It needs to be purged every so often (think about a store with last season’s fads; they all go on super discount sales to make room for fresh inventory). Buy less; even if those deals on canned beans seem amazing, it’s better to have a little more room and a little less clutter.

Cupboards are usually brimming with things such as canned goods, spices, bags of bulk foods (nuts, pastas, flours), and the like. Go through and throw things out twice a year. If something has not been covered or stored properly, it has likely gone bad, so just get rid of it anyway. For more efficient storage, consider good quality airtight jars. They look pretty and are much better for storage and organization. I picked some up at Ikea.

Examine your fridge weekly. The best time to do this is right before a grocery shop. Throw out the old stuff (and then remember how much of it you actually ate so that you don’t throw that money away again). This takes about 3 minutes to do and really helps to keep things fresh and clean in the fridge. When you toss something out, if you notice a stain or drip, give it a quick wipe up.

Again, I will draw a comparison to clothing. If you haven’t worn a shirt in 6 months or a year, you’re not going to wear it again—so to make room for the cuter of clothing items, give the old clothes away. Same goes for these fridge and cupboard items. Invite people over for dinner and have a massive cook-a-thon to get rid of the excess food.

The key is to keep things fresh and in moderation in your kitchen. Since it’s such a busy part of the home, you need to have some method of organization going on, and treating your food like inventory will help you manage the kitchen like a pro. Keeping it organized is one amazing way to keep it clean!

Melissa

For Your Heart! What You Need to Know About Antibiotic Dosage Prior to a Dental Visit

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In the past, patients who had a medical history of rheumatic fever or mitral valve prolapse were required to take antibiotics prior to dental cleanings and surgeries. Currently only high-risk patients are required to take the pre-medications. Patients with conditions such as mitral valve prolapse, aerotic stenosis, or rheumatic heart disease are NOT required to take an antibiotic prior dental treatment. Please consult your family physician to confirm if this change applies to you.

Dr. Dana Colson

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