The Essential Mix
January 20, 2008
Those of you who love dance culture will recognize this title.
If we are to attain an outrageously energetic life one of the steps is to feed the body the essential nutrients it needs.
There is so much written about nutrition that it all seems overwhelming. Everyday some new essential nutrient is added to the list of “must ingests” and others are called into question. Couple with the hysteria of the baby boomers to stay young and nutrition and eating clean seems a mind field. Please pass the chips! We have turned our food into the enemy.
I am going to share with you what worked for me. I call them the 4 pillars and they are the basics of taking care of yourself.
The first is clean water. If you are drinking filtered water you are advised to take electrolytes. No matter how excellent your municipal water may be it contains chlorine and often fluorides which you do not need and some believe to be harmful.
The second is full spectrum digestive enzymes which means they must contain, amylase, lipase, protease and lactase at a minimum. Most of us are not digesting our foods properly and therefore not making use of the nutrients we ingest.
The third is Omega 3’s. In the hysteria over blood fats and their relationship with heart disease; and the over processing of our foods; these essential fats were lost in the North American diet. Omega 3’s have too many benefits to even list. Look for medicinal quality Omega 3’s when derived from cold water fish. Flax seed is an economical choice, chose organic flax and the dark brown seeds. These seeds must be ground to release the Omega 3’s.
The fourth pillar is Alfalfa, which is a natural and gentle cleanser of your intestinal system
Remember I am not a medical professional and I am not offering medical opinion. I am simply a layperson who was forced to search out nutritional health because after my pregnancy I sunk into depression and despondence that was cured by changing what I ate and through this process discovering I was lactose in tolerate.
Food allergies are often the undiscovered causes of many illnesses. My friend recently discovered that eliminating milk and wheat from her diet caused a miraclous disappearance of the symptoms of arthritis. We will take a look at food allergies another time.
So there is a beginning in respecting your body’s nutritional needs another small step on the way to Outrageous Energy Living.
Namaste, eh!
B — The Energy Vitamins —
January 8, 2008
First, I want to say that you DO NOT need vitamins to have Outrageous Energy.
In fact, I will mention vitamins only occasionally at my next Outrageous Energy Seminar . But I do get many requests for information about this subject, and it’s one that is of particular interest to me.
Here’s a quick little article that gives a quick and reliable overview of the various B vitamins … pro and con…. and how to safely consider B vitamin supplimentation.
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Vitamin B: The Energy Vitamin
By: Dr. George Obikoya
The B-complex vitamins are actually a group of eight vitamins, which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12), pantothenic acid and biotin.
Many people consume foods fortified with vitamin B, but the typical American diet high in processed, cooked and microwavable food gives us only a fraction of the B-vitamins we need for good health. There are a number of ways to make up for this deficiency, but liquid multivitamins are generally considered to have the advantage over all other supplements.
The B vitamins are vital to a vigorous and energetic long life. What’s more, you can get serious health problems if you lack them. B vitamins are easily flushed out of the body, and people on weight-loss diets, alcoholics or those who take antibiotics or seizure drugs are even more prone to having vitamin B deficiency.
While it is safe for many people to take three times or more of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for B-vitamins, each of us has unique requirements based on our own individual physiology and lifestyle. Hence, it is important to check with your doctor before beginning a vitamin regimen in order to determine your proper dosage. Because deficiencies usually include more than one B-vitamin, and because the B-vitamins work best as a team, you should take a B-complex supplement along with any single B-vitamin in order to achieve their synergistic effects.
B1-Thiamin: Thiamin is necessary for adrenal gland function, proper immune performance and the synthesis of neurotransmitters. It also plays a role in the metabolism of food and alcohol. The RDA for thiamin is very low and does not consider increased thiamin requirements that result from an unhealthy lifestyle, old age or disease. Seniors typically have lower thiamin levels and should be aware of symptoms such as poor memory, fatigue, muscle weakness and blindness, and in time even heart disease, brain damage or death. Because thiamin, in combination with alpha lipoic acid (ALA), encourages the nerves of the skin and the blood vessels to regenerate, people with diabetic neuropathies often feel relief from pain when they increase their thiamin intake along with ALA.
B2-Ribofiavin: Riboflavin is required for energy production and oxygen utilization. The symptoms of low riboflavin include fatigue, blindness, anemia and crusting around the mouth.
Doctors sometimes prescribe riboflavin to prevent migraine headaches and to alleviate arthritis pain. Recent research suggests that riboflavin may also play a role in the prevention of cancer.
B3-Niacin: is also necessary for the body’s production of energy. It is also useful in treating high cholesterol, schizophrenia, neurological disease and Raynaud’s syndrome (a blood vessel disorder).
If you intend to take high doses of niacin, you should use “flush free” niacin. Besides lowering LDL (low-density lipoprotein or “bad”) cholesterol, niacin, in combination with vitamin C, can reduce the body’s production of lipoprotein (a), a risk factor for heart disease. Let your physician monitor you if you are taking high doses of niacin.
B5-Pantothenic Acid: is obligatory for energy production. It is also required for proper immune function and adrenal stress hormone production. It is sometimes referred to as the “anti-stress” vitamin.
B6-Pyridoxine and Folic Acid: work together to regulate the levels of homocysteine, a byproduct of protein breakdown that damages arteries and makes them prone to cholesterol deposits.
Folic acid is especially important for women of childbearing age, as deficiencies of this nutrient have been linked with birth defects. Women on birth control pills, pregnant women, all women of childbearing age, as well as alcoholics, heart disease patients and people taking antibiotics should make sure they take between 400-800 mcg of folic acid per day.
B12-Cobalamin: is required for normal gene function, energy production, the formation of blood cells and proper immunity.
Choline and Inositol: Choline is necessary for building your cells and severe deficiency can cause death. Because of its anti-inflammatory nature, choline supplements of 1,000 mg are effective and safe for treating asthma and arthritis. Inositol deficiency can lead to severe mental problems. Hence, inositol helps in the treatment of depression, panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with a daily dose as high as 12-18 gm. It is also used to prevent hardening of the arteries, protect the heart and treat cancer. Two daily B-complex capsules should provide sufficient amounts of these two vitamins for most people.
Biotin and Paraminobenzoic acid (PABA): Biotin is required for fat and protein metabolism, effective immunity and gene function. Biotin deficiency is most common in the elderly, people with diabetes and in those who take too many antibiotics. PABA is necessary for the metabolism of amino acids and in the formation of blood. Biotin and PABA deficiencies are rare and people can usually get enough from a good B-complex supplement.
The B-complex vitamins receive less media attention than the other vitamins but as you can see from reading this article, they are fundamental for life. As such, a daily regimen to acquire all of them, such as a liquid multivitamin, is an excellent way to prevent the diseases and conditions described in this article. They work together as team members, which keep your body functioning normally and provide you with the energy you need to conduct your daily activities. Plus, B-complex vitamins can help prevent many diseases because they repair nucleic acids and immune cells.
If you would have a question about this article, or about energy for yourself, you can contact me via email at my contact page on this website.
PS… the beautiful picture at the top is a model of the B12 molecule
Too Tired, No Time
January 6, 2008
HelenMarie’s Outrageous Energy Living is dedicated to all of us who have ever not done what we really wanted to do because we were too tired or didn’t have time or both.
I think of it as the TTNT, Too Tired, No Time
TTNT blasts the joy and spontaneity out of your life and mine.
I come from a long line of “A” type personalities. In my family, work is an acheivement in itself. A man carring rocks back and forth even with no purpose, is better than a man sitting on a rock thinking about the project and how he will acheive the efficient transfer of the rocks. Planning is something you do on the job or when you are too exhausted to stand up anymore, sitting is avoided.
I was called lazy as I child, cause I liked to daydream.
I could float away on a snowflake, disappear into a cloud, dance with the leafs in the wind, in the blink of an eye. I worked diligently to prove that I was not lazy. My cousins and I often went to Auntie’s farm to help during the summer holidays. I tried so hard to keep up with my energetic cousins.
One day we were haying. I was on the wagon behind the baler stacking the bales as they came out. These bales were alalfa they weighted about 80 pounds, it was 86 degrees F in the field and I passed out. That was the end of my baling career I was banned to the homeplace were instead of baling I did the morning and evening chores and all the cooking and cleaning for the crew which was about 10 people, this was considered light duty.
I thought it was.
I felt guilty that while I was preparing food I could listen to the radio that I was slacking off. I enjoyed being alone and working in my own way. I got the work done on time; although not exactly as Auntie would have done it. She was liberated for the kitchen and out in the fields working with the crew which she loved. My fainting on the hay wagon turned into a win.win for all of us.
As an adult I did a very good impression of working till I dropped, often driving myself so hard I ended up in the hospital or in bed too exhausted and sick to do anything but sleep. I was driven and never questioned that way of life until I became pregnant.I finally figured out that it was not that I did too much.
It was I did that which I had no interest in doing and I did not know how to stop.I taught myself yoga, I had done 5BX for years (5BX was the women’s version of an aerobic routine developed by the RCAF). I saw Karine a Swedish woman on TV and she opened the door to a new kind of movement yoga, that I really enjoyed.
My best freind signed me up for a vipassana yoga class as a Christmas gift, we had no idea that this was not hatha yoga, well…… vipassana is about sitting in silence and not movement. I had brought my “ride ‘em” back chair to the class as I had recently had acute back pain. I learned during that class that it was impossible for me to sit still and that the chair squeaked everytime I moved. I was faced with the prospect of sitting still all day and not talking.
What a challenge!
My friend and I stayed for the entire day in that old nunnery building down by the Elbow River in Calgary. That vipassana day was a turning point. I didn’t realize it at the time however it was the first step in learning about mediation and the eastern philosphies and using those “looking glasses” to view myself and my world.
So now I meditate often and I still squarm like a worm and suffer from restlessness when I sit. A wonderful man taught me Tibetan hand meditation for when I cannot even stand to sit for one blessed moment and that has saved me from giving up entirely.
I sat a N.S. Genoka 10 day and it was torture and a delight. I am so proud to have done it. It is a wonderful course and I would recommend it to anyone. I have friends who sit that 10 day at least once a year somewhere. The course is a miracle experience and offered around the world for dana.
If you don’t know what that is google it!
I noticed when I sat for 11 hours a day in silence and ate three huge meals and 2 snacks a day that I didn’t gain weight. I pondered this when I came home and weighted myself I had lost three pounds. How could that be, I mean the vegetarian fare was delicious and I ate as if I might never see food again. The food was cooked by laughing, smiling people I could hear them in the kitchen. I was hungry not only for the food, I was also hungry for the sound of their voices.
These two experiences were the beginning of my search for the peace of mind which would allow me to have the energy to do the things I wanted to do.
Namaste.
I would like to suggest just for today you practice a piece of peace that I read about in one of Deepak Chopra’s books.
I call it the Namaste Day, just for one day say namaste silently to every person you come in contact with. Made eye contact if possible and say silent a silent namaste. (I do it to animals too.) As you pass a stranger on the sidewalk a brief glance and a silent namaste. A colleage comes into your space eyecontact and namaste at the beginning or at the end of the conversation or both. It has a marvelous effect in the world.
Thank you Deepak.
Have a namaste day, eh!
<3
The Key is Energy
January 5, 2008
Do you want more healthy energy?
When I ask my clients and friends this question, the answer is always “YES”! Of course we all want more energy. That’s why I’m revealing my entire toolbox of healthy energy-building secrets at the next Outrageous Energy Living seminar.
Call me if you want to learn more about this exciting, energizing experience.
