New Year and New Begining

 Here it is, a new year. New months, new years or new moons are considered markers of time. They mark a beginning point and  inspire us to introduce change. One of the most popular focuses for change is in the lifestyles that lead to changes in health. Frustrating limits lead many people to consider committing to a detox program. These programs can offer greater mobility or help shed a few extra pounds. Excess weight, low vitality and joint pain are often the result of a sluggish system. However, this commitment can seem rather like the squirrel caught in a trap. It would rather chew off its leg than be restricted. Rather than opening the door to frustration (which may lead to defeat) consider giving yourself with a trimmer, healthier new you through a detoxing cleanse.

The main difference in a cleanse and a diet is that you don’t have to starve to cleanse. Adding nutrient dense foods, coupled with removing the most common dietary toxins, such as sugar, soft drinks, yeast, corn and excess animal protein will bring about a natural cleansing and building of your body systems. Eating fiber-rich vegetables improves bowel function, and drinking plenty of water  allows toxins to be flushed from the body. It only stands to reason that offering your body the cleanest and highest nutrition will lay a foundation for homeostasis…perfect balance. A body in perfect balance finds its perfect form. 

Feast, don’t fast, with naturally detoxifying foods. Try including plenty of naturally detoxifying foods, like cabbage, leafy green vegetables, curry, bitter greens, garlic, parsley, lemon, ginger, celery, green tea, cayenne pepper, grapefruit, and sea vegetables.  I include Honduran Chimol as a relish or side to slaws, beans and other foods. As a side to meals, chimol guarantees fiber, balances pH and supplies the 5 colored vegetables suggested by nutritionist. I’ve given you the recipe below. You can also find more about detoxing by reading my January 10, 2013 entry titled Detoxing is Releasing. I welcome your comments.  Here’s to a healthy you in the new year.

Honduran Style Chimol (or chismol) is a condiment usually served with grilled meats, but also goes well with other dishes including beans and rice.  My favorite is to put it on top of coleslaw. Alone, it could be used for a delicious salsa.The raw mix of five colors along with the addition of lemon or lime juice and apple cider vinegar makes this dish a fountain of health in my estimation.

Ingredients

1 medium red or white onion

2 Roma tomatoes

2 medium bell pepper halves (ideally 1yellow, 1 orange)

3 Stalks of celery

sprigs of cilantro (or culantro) to taste

Juice of 2 lemons or limes

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

Salt or garlic salt to taste

(additional vegetable options include carrot, green pepper, or green beans)

Directions

1. Finely chop all vegetables and cilantro.
2. Mix together in large bowl.
3. Add lemon juice, vinegar, optional salt, and mix until all vegetables have been coated. The more you stir the more liquid created.
4. Cover and refrigerate. Best when chilled 4 hours or more.

Makes approximately 2½  cups.   Keeps well for about a week.

Food as Medicine

In my Honduran community, there are families of various incomes. Almost half of my neighbors are still washing their laundry by hand and bathing from a hose or 5 gallon bucket. For people of lower incomes medicine is a great expense. So when they come to my gate with health problems I look to food as their medicine. If a health problem is going to separate people from their money, then let their medicine be  an investment in vitality. 

This belief was driven home this morning as I swept my patio floor. My cat eats a mixed diet that will  include canned tuna. This morning I noticed bits and pieces of tuna drying on the concrete where her plate sat the evening before. There were no ants.

The awareness brought back a lesson learned from a local fisher-woman. She offered to sell us a barracuda she had caught. My husband was suspicious because sometimes this fish can be toxic. When I mentioned my concern to the woman her head nodded in agreement. She then cut off a piece of the fish and placed it on some bark at the base of a tree. She said that if the fish was good the ants would find it in just a minute. Her explanation had barely finished when my gaze returned to the to the meat. It was already becoming covered with ants. Animals (including insects) in the wild will always choose the highest and best. 

Although my cat will eat tuna, she will not eat fish from the grocery store. Yet, she always eats fish I buy from local fishermen. Grocery store fish has invariably been treated with some chemical. Often it is formaldehyde; applied while at sea in an effort to keep fish from spoiling when longer days are necessary to fill the boat.

My rabbits are also keen judges of food. They will often turn up their noses at store-bought produce in preference to tasty morsels growing in my gardens. As maddening as this can be as I view my roses, I understand. It is all about the vitality needed for survival. This is something those living in an economic cultures are not taught. We learn about vitamins not vitality. Without vitality, healing cannot take place. Every level of healing requires vitality. It comes from things of the Earth: clean water, fresh air and minimally processed foods.   

If you want to learn more, come walk with me:

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                                           The Power of Red

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.   - Nikola Tesla

All is energy but in learning to recognize the world from an energy viewpoint, color and sound are the two easiest vibrations for most people to relate to. The sensation of color depends on the number of vibrations of light, just as the sound of a note depends on the vibrations emitting it. The variance is produced by the intensity of their energy frequencies. These make up the visible light spectrum. Any vibration beyond those we can see are known as ultra-violet.

Every living thing on the planet requires sunlight to grow and survive. Human beings are no exception.  Within the white light of the sun are seven different rates of vibration, we know as colors. Sunlight produces color in plants and that vibration is carried into the animal that eats the plant. These different color frequencies affect the well-being of the body, mind as well as our emotions and spirit.

The color RED anchors your connection to the physical world. It is essential in creating overall strength that supports the physical body. It stimulates. It represents passion, life, love, survival, family and tribe. It strengthens and awakens physical energy and will.  The physical organ that reflects this is the heart and blood. According to the Greek Law of Similar, red foods support the components of the Fire Element; a Chinese medicine term for heart, adrenal and blood.

Students of energy, familiar with vortexes of the human body, know that the color red is the vibration of the root chakra. It extends from the lower abdomen to about midpoint length of the thighs. Organs within its influence include the sexual organs, prostate, bladder and large intestine. Those organs are a long way from the heart yet; the root chakra energetically represents all the aspects of survival just as the heart does in the physical plane. The distance in the physical body seems extreme yet, the conceptual similarities of these two match. 

Recent science indicates that the lycopene in the skin of tomatoes is good for your heart, and that many red foods increase metabolic rates. The natural color of red radishes, red peppers (especially chilies), strawberries, cherries, pomegranate, raspberries, watermelon, red onion, red apples, red grapes as well as tomatoes and beets add vitality and strengthen the immune system.

If you find your life feeling out of balance in areas of finances, career, family or love relationships, try adding more red to your diet, wardrobe or environment.

Photo courtesy of: all-free-download.com

Make It Healthy

I love spicy chili when the weather is cold. However, when you are trying to get lean or to get your cells clean there is nothing in chili that = health.  It’s a T&T pleaser (that’s tummy and tongue). Whether you eat canned chili or you make it from scratch it’s vibrational frequency for health is just under ‘maintain’.  That means more energy is required from your body to break down and assimilate the food than it actually gives back.

Making chili from scratch with freshly picked veggies can boost the frequency a notch just as blessing the items as you mix them gives an edge. However,  let’s face it, good chili is cooked to death ...it mingles the flavors. So, the end result is that it may offer some vitamins, proteins, and herbal benefits from possibly using cayenne pepper, onions  and garlic but as a component to restoration of health and vitality, it falls short.
Here’s what I do to my home made chili that allows my T&T to be happy but lifts the healing and health vibration to the brew.

Pictured is my chili served with my all 3 of my corner posts for health; slaw, chimol and sprouts. First lay a bed of slaw. Then ladle chili to cover. Now the next of my corner post; a couple tablespoons of chimol. The next level is some plain yogurt or cottage cheese for probiotics and then top with live sprouts.  Not the prettiest dish but the additions take regular chili from a  5 to a powerhouse 10.  It also lets you serve your family what they want but turn your dish into what you need.  Salud !