Widening the Circle: Being a Wellness Ambassador

You have a passion for all things healthy, green, raw, vegan – some or all of the above – and more! You’ve learned and are learning so much about green smoothies, dry body-brushing and kale crackers, it can start to make you feel a tad insane when people just. Don’t. Get. It.

After all, it’s for their own good. You want soaring health and energy for them, and hey, it would be nice to be surrounded by more like-minded people, too. After all, switching from wine to wheatgrass, from brie to beet greens, can feel lonely. If you could convince your tribe to join you on your quest for crazy sexy health and happiness – more fun would be had by all! It would make your healthy choices easier to maintain; plus the people you love would feel better, look better, and play better. Sizzling good!

Looks like it’s time to become a skilled wellness warrior. Here are eight ways to lovingly seduce others into learning more about all you know … no matter the topic:

1. Lose the guilt

Ban “should” from your vocab. Yeah, that withering look needs to go, too, babe. While you’re at it, lose the scary facts. Facts don’t inspire your people to try chia seeds or filter their water. Facts don’t inspire change – love and stories do. Share the good news in a way that’s enticing, instead of guilt-producing, and watch the green smoothies blend.

Need help mining your experience for stories? Ask yourself:

• What do I love most about my healthy love-style? Tell that story.
• What are the easiest changes I made that really helped? Yum!
• What’s my most riveting example of the benefits to me? Any variation of the illness-to-health story excites people. Stories told in first person as if they were happening are especially persuasive.

2. Pile on the love

You know what we’re all starving for? Unconditional love. As a teacher and coach (official or uonfficial, that’s what you are) the more you can communicate, “I love you, and I don’t judge you for eating a deep-fried candy bar followed by butter covered bacon,” the more open people will be to your knowledge. Surrender the self-righteousness and judgment. Over and over. Consider it your spiritual practice.

3. Don’t care too much

Wait, didn’t I just say, “Share the love?” Yes. Now I will add: Do so within clear boundaries. Desire change for your students and friends. Radiate excitement for them from the grounded truth of what works for you, while letting go of the outcome. If you care too much about what happens, you risk exhausting yourself and getting too entangled with other people’s lives. You don’t want your best friend to feel she has to sneak a hamburger lest she risk losing you as a friend.

4. Leave them wanting more

New teachers feel that if they don’t tell their students everything, something terrible will happen. Check this out: Your human brain can take in only about eight minutes of new information before you need to do something with the info – trying it out for yourself, telling somebody, teaching it yourself. Overloading people with facts or information doesn’t serve. Offering a tasty tidbit or three, then giving them time to put the info into motion, will help them own the knowledge.

5. Show more than tell

Have your family make a raw dinner with you (resist the temptation to do it all for them or to do it “right”), take a friend to the farmer’s market with you, or bring your sister cosmetics-shopping at Whole Foods. Letting them experience the changes themselves makes it real to them.

Is yours a distant tribe? YouTube and Ustream are your friends. Put on your cooking show virtually! Video yourself shopping.

6. Don’t try to look perfect or be an expert.

Think you have to be a 100-percent raw, sugar-free vegan and do two hours of yoga every day before you can share what you know? Or that you need an advanced degree in alternative therapies?

Nope. And no. And please no. In fact, sometimes the more “pure” or pedigreed you are, the less your tribe can relate to you. Instead of seeing you as someone to model themselves after, they put you on pedestal and can’t imagine how they would ever get up there with you. Share your slip-ups – past and present – and be sure to share what you’ve learned from those missteps. That is the most valuable knowledge you have.

7. Be a beginner

Remember when you first learned what was in lipstick? When you first learned how to make tofu that actually tasted like something? When you learned which supplements were important, and could even pronounce some of them? Go back to that beginner’s mind, and teach from there. Steer clear of jargon. Don’t assume your peeps know what has now become second nature to you. Meet them where they are, and teach from there.

8. Remember that you are needed

I believe education is one of the best ways to save our world. Without a doubt, the things you know about health must be shared because they will play a direct role in saving lives and the earth.

You have a mission. You are part of something huge. It may be lonely and frustrating sometimes, and you may even wish you didn’t know all that you know. When that happens, give yourself a big hug and remember: you are a wellness warrior, and what you are doing matters.

Now get out there, and spread the love!

For more information on how to awaken the teacher in you, visit http://theteacherspath.com/.

40 Hours That Are Critical To Your Health and Well-Being

Just more than two years ago I made one of the biggest decisions in my life. My overall well-being was more positively impacted by that decision than by any other decision I’ve made. It had more of an impact than my decision to become a vegetarian and more impact than my decision to get daily exercise.

Just more than two years ago I decided to quit my job.

How you spend your 40 hours working is how you spend your life.

We usually look at health through the lens of the food we eat and how we move our bodies. Diet and exercise are key factors in health and well-being, and so are a million other things, like the people we love, the impact we have on the world, and what we do with the 40 or so hours that American culture calls “work.”

I’m sure you know this old adage: “You are what you eat.” The same is true for the hours you spend working. If you spend your 40 hours in a job that causes you great stress, what might that say about your life?

For 10 years I worked in a job for which I had zero passion. My job was a means to pay my bills. And it was slowly killing me.

Although I took good care of my body, my job was making me ill. I had stomach aches, knee pain, and allergies, all of which seemed “mysterious” to doctors because according to any tests they could run, I was “very healthy.” I felt constricted in my body, and I needed a lot of down time on the weekends to have enough energy to make it through the week. Something was wrong with me, even though the doctors couldn’t see it. That something was my job.

Finding a new direction

When I finally realized my body was crying for help and telling me to leave my job, I was ready to listen. However, I had two problems. First, I was the primary breadwinner in my household, and I didn’t want to leave without another plan for income. Second, I had no idea what I’d rather be doing. So, I began soul-searching.

I read books. I talked to a lot of people about their work. I challenged “the rules” I had been taught about what it meant to be successful. I asked a million questions. I refused to settle for something less than what my whole being longed for: soulful, meaningful work that wouldn’t make me ill.

After two years of searching, I found a new path and was ready to make a change. Or maybe I should say, I couldn’t not make a change. You see, I wasn’t really ready. I was scared out of my mind, but the alternative (staying in my job) was too painful, and my body, mind, and spirit were suffering too much.

The healing begins

Within two weeks of leaving my job, I got a serious cold. I had bronchitis and a fever, and my allergies were acting up worse than normal. I wasn’t a bit worried, even though having a cold is a very rare event for me. My body was cleansing itself, releasing the old, toxic energy that had accumulated over the years. My whole being was relieved, and, in an odd way, being ill felt good. When the cold was over, my allergies had subsided significantly. My stomach aches stopped. My knee pain became less frequent. My body was rejoicing.

It is the job, and it is so much more than the job

Yes, leaving my job helped heal my body, but it’s not as simple as “quit your job, and you’ll get healthy.” We are too complex for such a simple equation. However, if your job zaps your energy and your zest for life, it is worth checking to see if the benefits of that job are worth the sacrifice to your health.

Take inventory

If you’re feeling stuck in a job that doesn’t serve you, take inventory of your life. Ask yourself questions about all four areas of your well-being: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

- How did I get here?
- What do I believe about work, and are those beliefs serving me?
- Am I giving my emotional self the space to feel what I feel about my work?
- How does my body react to my work?
- How would I like to feel about my work?
- Spiritually, is this work serving my highest good?
- Is the stress or pain that comes along with this work worth the benefits I receive?

These are a few questions to get you started down the path of finding what is right for you and your health. If you decide that you need to make a change, that’s wonderful. The change will not happen overnight, but it will happen if you set yourself on that course. Although much healing will occur once you make the final leap, your well-being will begin to improve the moment you head in your new direction.

Staying on track

Today, I love what I do. It fills me up and satisfies my soul. When I get too focused on working, my body reminds me that I’ve gone astray. It gives me a slight stomach ache or a little knee pain. It gently reminds me what I already know: how I work is as important to my health as everything else.

Does your work serve you and your health? If not, what can you do to take charge of your work and your health?

Jenny Shih is a coach and consultant for creative entrepreneurs who have “big ideas” and want to change the world. She believes we all can make a living using our own superpowers and loves nothing more than helping great ideas get up and flying.

Photo credit: CityGypsy11

Crazy Sexy Seaweed

Here in the U.S., seaweed suffers from a longstanding, totally undeserved reputation as a slimy, slithery character. But adding seaweed to your culinary repertoire is not only sexy, it’s smart. Besides being alkalizing, seaweed is high in antioxidants, B vitamins, vitamin K, iodide, iron, and calcium. All this, plus it has anti-viral, cholesterol-lowering and potential estrogen-reducing and anti-cancer properties.

Think you’re a seaweed virgin? Hate to break it to you, but you’ve probably already eaten – and enjoyed – more seaweed than you realize. Like sushi? Then you like nori, the dark, slightly nutty sea veggie that encases your maki. Ever drink soy milk? Snarfed down some ice cream? Then you are familiar with the wondrous thickening properties of carragenaan and agar (not often used in home cooking, but the food industry uses these seaweeds widely as coagulates).

Popular throughout coastal Asian countries, seaweed comes in an astonishing variety of flavors and textures, some taste stronger than others. This seaweed cheat sheet will help newbies navigate the sea vegetable waters:

Arame – Mild, neutral to slightly sweet, light texture. Add to salads and soups; use as flavoring. To prepare: Soak in enough water to cover until soft; drain.

Dulse – Chewy, mild; gets spicier when cooked. Add to soups, salads, vegetables; use as a condiment. To prepare: Sprinkle as is, or rehydrate and drain to tease out the chewy texture.

Hijiki – Mild, but stronger thanarame; “sea” flavor, slightly coarse. Use when “veganizing” traditionally seafood- or fish-based dishes or in place of anchovies; add to salads and soups. To prepare: Soak in enough water to cover until soft; drain.

Kombu – Strong, distinctive salty flavor thanks to its natural MSG (Yes, you read right). A little goes a long way. Add to cooking water when cooking beans to decrease cooking times and improve digestibility; adds flavor and minerals to soups and stocks. To prepare: Most commonly comes in sheets. Wipe sheets with water before using.

Nori – Light, slightly nutty. Use for sushi, rolls (maki); add shreds to soups. To prepare: Comes in sheets, which are usually pre-toasted.

Wakame – Strong “sea” flavor; tougher texture. Add to soups, stews and bean dishes. To prepare: Soak in enough water to cover until soft; cut away any tough ribs (just as you would do when cooking kale or collards). If using in soups or hot dishes, add at very end. Should not cook for too long

To get started on your amazing seaweed adventure, try my easy, raw arame salad. Arame, the mildest of the seaweeds, provides a gentle, slightly sweet flavor base for the sweet onion and spicy ginger. The contrast of the delicate black strands against the red tomatoes and translucent white onions is a feast for the eyes, as well as the palette.

Easy, Raw Arame Salad

Serves 4

-2 cups arame
-2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
-1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced
-1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
-2 tablespoon cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil
-1 small Vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced very thinly
-1 large tomato, chopped
-½ red pepper, chopped
-sea salt and pepper, to taste

Soak arame in water until soft (about 3 hours, depending on the texture). Drain.

Make dressing: In a small bowl, stir together garlic, ginger, oil and vinegar.

Toss everything together in a large bowl. Adjust seasonings. Tastes best if you let it sit overnight.

Dynise Balcavage is author of “The Urban Vegan” and “Celebrate Vegan.” She has published recipes in Vegetarian Times, VegNews and the Philadelphia Daily News, and she has been interviewed in The New York Times and International Herald Tribune.

Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Save 20% on Luxury Natural Skincare OSEA & Support Farm Sanctuary with Your Purchase

 
Nourish your skin with serums from the sea! OSEA Skincare was inspired off the coast of Malibu, with the idea of uniting the elements – Ocean, Sun, Earth and Atmosphere – to refresh, rejuvenate and restore skin to its highest level of healthy beauty. This advanced skincare is 100 percent free of nasty synthetic fragrances, genetically modified ingredients, petrochemicals, parabens and sulfates. All products are vegan, biodegradable and made with organic seaweed, which is packed with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and trace elements.

Now through October 15, you can save 20% off all OSEA products – cleansers, serums, masks, moisturizers, body scrubs and more! In addition, 20% of your purchase before shipping will be donated to Farm Sanctuary. Take advantage of this Crazy Sexy offer by visiting oseamalibu.com and entering the CODE: OSEA20/20 at checkout.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Making the Most of Summer Markets

The farmers’ markets here in NYC are riotously abundant now, and I have to contain my enthusiasm as I walk the aisles. I simply want to buy every vegetable and herb I see.

I don’t have a garden this year, not having discovered a way to transport to Brooklyn the Hudson Valley garden I built last year. But I’m a long way from despair; my lack of a garden means that I can benefit from all the other farms in the region.

To help me manage my enthusiasm, I developed this short guideline for “marketing” (that is, how to go to the market). I hope it will be of use to you, too.

Take an experienced guide

The “Field Guide to Produce” by Aliza Green is a fantastic little book that can accompany you to the market. Photos and descriptions of more than 200 fruits and vegetables are provided, as well as handling and preparation tips and seasoning suggestions. Not sure what to do with kohlrabi? Don’t even know what it looks like? This book is for you!

Know the schedule

Near my apartment in Brooklyn, there are markets happening on three days of the week. As a stupendous bonus, I work near Union Square, where one of the best greenmarkets happens four days of the week. In fact, the only day I might have trouble getting something is Thursday. In other cities where I’ve lived, markets have been held on multiple days of the week, too. So if you’re in NYC, Dallas, Denver, Santa Fe, Saugerties, Mendocino…anywhere, get to know the schedule, and make it a part of your weekly routine. I guarantee that it’s much more pleasant than ducking into Whole Foods, not to mention enormously “greener.”

Go early; go often

If you can manage it, get to the market just as it opens. The greens and herbs will be fresher, and all the produce will have been handled the least. However, if you’re going to buy potatoes or carrots or other more “durable” vegetables, go just as the market is closing. You can possibly score a better price, as the farmer would rather sell than pack it all back home. Also, if you’re buying delicate items like greens and herbs, purchase only what you’ll need for the next three or four days. Nothing is more de-motivating than watching things go bad in the fridge. When you’ve reached the end of the salad greens, hit the market again. It will become a very pleasant and peaceful routine – not onerous at all. Plus, you’ll have a wonderful variety of foods in your diet and on your plate.

Try something you’ve never had

Find a bouquet of epazote? Or some purslane? Go for it. Don’t fear the arugula. Embrace the amaranth. Honor the okra. And of course, love the lovage. Imagine the call you can make to your partner: “Honey, I’m feeling like some shishito tonight? How ‘bout you?”

Ask the experts

Having bought that glorious bundle of purslane, feel free to ask the farmers themselves what to do with it. They wouldn’t be growing it without knowing some great ways to use it. Also, most markets have cooking demonstrations, recipes and a website full of information about the produce.

Master a few techniques

You’ll need some hardcore skills to prepare all this bounty. Be ready – a moment’s notice – to rinse, peel, slice, scoop, crank a salad spinner, and shake a jar. Most of all, master the art of low-oil sauté. When in doubt, this is the way to go with most summer produce that you’re not eating raw. Put a good pan on medium high heat, add a little oil, toss in the prepped vegetables and then toss them another time or two. If you want them a little more done, cook them that way. You’re the master!

Have sketches instead of recipes

Since the produce at a market will fluctuate more than that at a traditional supermarket, apply some flexibility to your recipes, too. If you have a great recipe for melon & cucumber soup, remember that with a little effort it can be transformed into a cantaloupe & raspberry soup. Pasta primavera – in Italy it’s called “greengrocer’s pasta” – is about the most flexible idea around: buy the currently available fresh vegetables, pair them with pasta and add a light sauce. For this, a simple herbed aioli will support all the variations. Even more than Pasta Primavera, summer salads are open doors for just about any herb, flower, fruit or vegetable: garlic scapes, nasturtiums, squash blossoms, beets, celery root, berries, apples, fresh uncooked peas or corn. Recipes are great for generating a shopping list, but the shopping list shouldn’t be bound by the recipe.

Buy mindfully

To me, this means “buy organic.” Make your own decision, based on your own principles and in keeping with your budgetary limits, but remember that conventional agricultural methods contribute to depleted soils. As a consequence, nutrient levels in foods have been dropping over the past 50 years. Organic methods, such as those espoused by the Real Food Campaign, produce richer soils, and therefore richer foods. Your body gets more of what it needs. If improving your health isn’t enough, you’re also supporting the health of the farm workers themselves.

Even if you’re not missing last year’s garden, I encourage you to seek out the farmers’ market in your area. Many of us talk about eating seasonally and locally, and practicing a more healthy intercourse between our bodies, our foods and our lands. There’s no better place to enact this than at the farmers’ market. We often hear the phrase, “Vote with your dollar.” So hand that dollar to the farmer who grows your tomatoes, you’ll enable her or him to make the most of the summer market, too.

For more information and delicious recipes, see http://chefkevinarcher.com/.

Photo credit: Kevin Archer

Making a Diagnosis is Less Important Than Asking These 2 Questions

After 30 years of practicing medicine, I have learned that for any chronic illness or ailment, treating underlying imbalances and dysfunctions is more important than making a diagnosis and naming the disease. Ultimately, asking the right questions is more important than giving a label to a set of observations.

This is because most if not all chronic problems, from heart disease to arthritis, migraines to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), depression to fatigue, usually have multiple factors that need to be addressed – this is called the total load. The total load is the sum of the factors that influence a person’s life and health, including diet, exercise, job stress, relationships, state of mind etc. Individually, each of these elements might not cause a problem, but their cumulative effect can overload our normal functioning and cause harm. Everyone’s tipping point is different and each of us manifests or experiences overload in our own unique way.

For example, several patients may all be diagnosed with IBS but the individual factors underlying their illnesses may be varied, meaning that each requires different treatments to address their specific problems. Simply diagnosing these patients with IBS, obscures this critical fact.

When working with patients, I always assess their total load and then try to reduce it by slowly removing the factors that could cause harm. At the same time, I will add new elements that will nourish them in order to enhance the healing process.

Some examples of what may need to be reduced or removed from your diet are, sugar, chemicals, caffeine, or alcohol. Or you may need to lessen the burden of responsibilities, your work load, or how much tension you carry in your muscles. Examples of factors that may be lacking and need to be added are nutrients, sunlight, sleep, down time, play time, love or joy.

To understand the concept of total load, think of yourself as a ship floating in the water. Depending on the load you’re carrying, you are either riding high above the waterline or sinking beneath the waves. And just as you can save a sinking ship by tossing some ballast overboard to lighten the load, your health can be improved by reducing the overall number of factors that cause stress to your system. The good news is that frequently you may only need to identify two or three factors to toss overboard in order to feel better.
Unfortunately, I, like all doctors was never taught this at medical school. Instead, we were taught to name it, blame it and tame it. That is to look at the symptoms, signs and test results, make a diagnosis, name the disease and treat it.

This model works well for the acute or short-lived illnesses that were most common until about 70 or 80 years ago. There is no better model for crisis care management, such as a heart attack or burst appendix, a broken bone or an acute bacterial infection like pneumonia. Due to the incredible success of antibiotics in treating most infectious diseases, we have extrapolated that model, looking for a single cause with a magic bullet treatment, and adapted this thinking to all diseases.

But most complaints today are not acute illnesses, rather chronic problems, which are not served well by this model in which varied complex disease processes are reduced to a single diagnosis. Giving a set of observations a name and treating the named problem does not help us understand the origin of the problem and its causes, which are usually multi-factorial. This name-it, blame-it and tame-it medical paradigm is not particularly effective for the chronic diseases which are so endemic today.

I want to make it clear, a label or descriptive name for a problem is not a bad thing–it is often reassuring to know what we have. I do not want to under-estimate the significance of this. But we have been habituated to assume that if we know the diagnosis and the name of our disease we will know how to not only treat it, but fix it.

Unfortunately, this is not true. Doctors are increasingly practicing from the vantage point of an outdated and ineffective model and are not addressing the needs of the millions of patients who come to them with complicated chronic problems. They give them drugs to suppress symptoms and do not address the underlying physiological imbalances that produce these symptoms. Therefore we do not change the course of the disease and often end up causing more harm than good because the underlying problem persists and many people develop side effects from the drugs.

Luckily for all of us, there is a new little known science-based model for chronic diseases, called Functional Medicine that deals with the underlying causes instead of just suppressing symptoms. It is a true mix of Chinese and Western Medicine. This new medicine is systems-based biology rather than disease-focused. It redefines chronic disease as a functional alteration in the physiological network that requires a systems biology approach to its management, improving both the safety and effectiveness of treatments.

This model helps us understand how the disruptions of molecular pathways cause dysfunctions in various body systems that then result in disease. It is less concerned with a diagnosis and more concerned with the underlying dysfunctions that lead to the symptoms and the disease.

My Chinese Medicine teachers taught me to think of myself as a gardener when I see patients. When a plant or tree is not growing well, when the leaves are drooping and turning yellow, we do not call it yellow leaf syndrome and paint the leaves green or cut off the sick part. The gardener evaluates why the plant is not growing well. He determines whether the plant is getting enough or too much sunlight, enough or too much water, is the soil rich and balanced in order to nourish the plant? And he looks to see if the roots are being impinged upon, and if so, what needs to be removed.

Even though you may have been given a diagnosis, always ask these two questions with any chronic problem

1. What is harming you and needs to be removed to permit the body to heal?

and

2. What is lacking or what does your body need to promote healing?

For more information on how to optimize your health, see http://www.drfranklipman.com/.

Photo credit: Milos Milosevic