Dispelling THE Food Myth

So you ask, "What is this myth you are referring to Paula?"

Why it is the myth our medical culture continues to perpetuate:

The food you eat has nothing to do with your long term health. Health is all about your genetics.

So, the wise ones among us use their common sense around this issue and say:

"Hey, we know that. Common sense says that food is the huge impact on our short term and long term health."

I questioned this food issue my very first day in the hospital, clinical setting as a student nurse. I could not figure out why we were feeding my patient, a man who had his 3rd heart attack, these foods:

• instant mashed potatoes with margarine and canned gravy
• pressed turkey loaf slices with more canned gravy
• overcooked, previously frozen, carrot cubes with peas and corn
• a plop of canned pudding with some sort of fake, whipped cream topping to adorn it

I was no nutrition genius at 18 years of age but I was quite certain that nothing on this man's lunch tray was in any way going to heal his damaged heart. 

31 years later and I am still convinced institutional food, fake food products, are killing people!

Another food issue arose when I was in my 40's and it was recommended I have a colonoscopy because of my age. I asked if this was necessary as I ate a 100% whole food diet. I was told yes, it was necessary.

So I then asked: "OK, if I ate McDonald's food three times a day or ate as I do now (100% whole food) what would the impact be on my colon?"

The answer was: "Nothing, your colon cancer, colon disease risk, is based on your genetics and what you eat has no impact."

I opted to not have that colonoscopy and went home to resume my healthy eating habits.

Let's play around with some food information for a minute or two....

 Packaged Food        VS.         Real Food

Which food choices do you think will feed your body cells in a healing way?  

Take Away Points:

Medical care decisions, preventative included, are a personal choice.

1. Keep feeding your body with the magic of nature: real food!

2. Your body cells depend on densely nutritious foods to replicate in a healthy manner. Replication is happening every day. Your food does matter.

Happy Halloween!

Healing the Collective Mind, Body, & Soul!

Human… Heal thyself! 

Healing literally means to make, return yourself, to whole–whole in mind, body, and spirit.

Healing is natural

I write this to remind everyone of their own innate ability to heal.  Healing is the norm.  If you cut your finger, it heals without intervention.  Every part of your body is capable of healing if it is given what it needs to heal and thrive.  This is a Vitalist philosophy of healing:  healing comes through nature.  You are nature; therefore, healing comes from within you and through you.

The responsibility to care for our bodies, to ensure lifelong health, prevent disease, and heal is ours.  Healing is not about what you are giving up; it is not about deprivation.  It IS about what you are inviting into your life: the choices, changes, and additions that will open doors to healing, health, and happiness in ways you may never have imagined or experienced.

Healing your own body is a supreme act of self-responsibility.  It means taking control of aspects of your life that have often been left in the hands of the modern medical professional. “You are in the driver seat, Doc. I will do whatever you say.”

Self-responsibility would change the above statement to,  “Thanks for being here to support me, Doc. This is how I plan to handle this health crisis.”

“If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?”      Unknown

Healing is a simple equation:

Remove the cause(s) of your health issue + add in healing choices = healing, returning to whole!

10 steps to start on your self-healing path:

• Remove the causes of your disease.  If you are diabetic, this means removing sugar, in all its forms, from your diet. Lung disease?  Stop smoking or exposing your body to the toxins creating the lung challenges.  Find a healer who can help you with the task of discovering the causes of your health challenges.
• Add in whole foods.  Whole foods heal the body by feeding your body cells with nutrients.  Refined, factory made foods deplete the body of nutrients.  You want to nourish the body, not deplete it.
• Add in herbs that heal the health challenges you are facing.  Every organ system has herbs specific for healing that system.  Herbs are whole foods.  Herbs feed your body cells.
• Movement.  Movement, daily exercise, increases circulation to every body cell.  This brings more oxygen and more nutrients to each and every body cell.  This IS healing! I call this Movement Magic! Increased circulation also removes the waste products, toxins, from each and every body cell.  Again, this is healing!
• Movement Outside!  Engaging in your daily movement outside has the added benefit of fresh air and natural light.  Fresh air and natural light are amazing healing tools for every body cell.  Both help your body to produce the hormones that balance the nervous system and create happy, feel good emotions. Feeling happy and emotionally balanced sends ripple effects of healing throughout your body to every cell.

 “Just lift the corner of the clouds and the sun is always shining.”  Eli Schechter 

• Sleep.  When we get to bed, to sleep, before 10 p.m. each night, our bodies work in rhythm with the earth’s circadian rhythm. This is poetry in motion; magic healing energy to your every body cell.
• Get plenty of juiciness in your life!  Hydration is a must for keeping body cells working at their optimum levels.  The internal structures, organelles, of each and every body cell need proper hydration to do their jobs.  If your cellular structures are doing their jobs, your whole body is functioning at optimum performance.  Your cells are your building blocks!  Get your juiciness from pure water, herbal teas, and fresh produce every day.
• Juiciness in your emotional and spiritual life is also essential for health and healing.  When we connect with people we love, who love us, when we have support in our lives, have people to tell “our stories” to, and have people we listen to as they tell their stories, we produce oxytocin.  This is the feel good hormone, the hormone of love.  Oxytocin is also the antagonist of adrenaline, the stress hormone.  Oxytocin helps us to relax, release stress, feel love, and heal mind, body, and soul.  Find some juicy friends in your life.
• Kindness.  Create and live from a space of a healthy attitude toward yourself, all others on this planet, and life in general.  Practice a kind attitude towards all, starting with you.  Self-care, and its ripple effects for your health and how you perceive and interact with the world, cannot be  emphasized enough.
• Energy Healing.  Energy healing helps us to release blockages in our body’s internal energy system, the chakras and meridians.  When life force energy flows freely to every body cell, this is healing energy.  Find a form of energy healing that works for you and use it regularly to shift the healing, life force energy in your body.   Energy healing to try includes acupuncture, acupressure, reiki, yoga, Tai chi, Qi gong, Tae kwon do, prayer, meditation, massage… to name but a few.

Taking one step at a time can create huge changes in your health, happiness, and vibrant longevity. Step up to your plate of health and healing today.  Ask a holistic health coach for support on your healing path. This one action could bring some juiciness, oxytocin, into your self-healing equation.

See my bonus pages for more tips on incorporating healing changes into your juicy life!

Every person who self-heals adds one more healed being to the collective mind, body, and soul. These actions, in your personal life, make the world a better place for every living being.

Get healing and, please, tell me your story!  

My Happy, Juicy, Life Announcement:

My next book... Early Morning Coffee & Donuts will be out before the end of this year, 2014.  OK, so my fingers are crossed that all goes as planned with the publisher!

Are you chuckling yet?  A book about coffee and donuts from Paula, seriously?  Maybe, just maybe, it is more than you think it is.... read what it IS about here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/book-2/

Cheers of good health to you in mind, body, and soul!

Naturally Simple Ways to Weigh LESS...

Naturally Simple Ways to Weigh Less

and Live More Every Day of your life!

This is all about re-balancing your body, mind, and spirit to create a vibrantly healthy you... inside and out. So much more than the number on the "scales!"

1. Feed your soul with primary food.  Friends and family, physical activity, spirituality and a satisfying career feed us. Lack of primary food creates over-reliance on secondary, edible food.
2. Drink water. Most people are chronically dehydrated. We often mistake thirst for hunger. If you feel hungry between meals, drink a glass of water before giving into cravings. Limit liquid calories from soda, juice, sports drinks and “enhanced” waters.  Stick with nature made!
3. Eat a plant-rich diet. Plant foods are typically lower in calories and higher in fiber than meat, dairy and processed foods, while providing loads of essential nutrients.  Purchase your animal products from farmers who raise the food in a natural manner; healthy and naturally balanced foods make for a healthy, naturally balanced human. Make certain you do get enough fat and protein in your daily diet to satisfy hunger, appetite, and nutritional needs for YOU.  Each of our needs is different!
4. Chew your food well. Digestion begins in the mouth. By thoroughly chewing your food, your body will better assimilate nutrients; you will also slow down your eating. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that it is full. By slowing your eating, you’ll feel full, satisfied, and better nourished on less food.  More nutrients in each cell mean a healthier body!
5. Eat real food; avoid processed, packaged foods. Avoid products with high-fructose corn syrup or a long list of unpronounceable ingredients. (Reduce or eliminate refined sugars from your diet; glucose, fructose, any “oses”.) Packaged and convenience foods tend to be highly processed, lacking the nutrients your body needs, and are often loaded with empty calories. Avoid artificial sweeteners.  Avoid refined sweeteners, even stevia products.

If you have attended my workshops or been supported by me as a client:  Remember the cellular health information from the Whole Food slide show?  Feed your cells well!  Need to experience this workshop? Join me and the Local Living Venture on Thursday, September 25th for the start of the Whole Health and Healing Academy!  

A few more tips for balancing mind, body, and soul weight.

1. Eat raw foods:  raw fruits & veggies, raw nuts and seeds, raw nut & seed butters.  Raw foods are rich in nutrients that are not altered by the heat of cooking and provide natural enzymes needed in the body for many processes including digestion.
2. Eating enough healthy fats and protein to satisfy your appetite and your body’s nutritional needs:  choose naturally raised animal products for protein and fat and the omega 3's found in naturally raised meat, eggs and dairy products, wild salmon, avocados, walnuts, raw nuts and seeds.
3. Eat breakfast. Skipping meals causes your blood sugar levels to peak and dip, affecting your energy and moods. It can also cause overeating later on because you’re so hungry.  With this said, listen to your own body and what you know works for you.  Some people do much better without breakfast and have no problems with the rebound overeating later in the day.  Be conscious of you and your needs. I can personally admit I am not a breakfast eater.  I get hungry by 11 AM or so. I listen and follow my body's requests for food.
4. Eat mindfully. Turn off the TV. Get away from the computer. Sit down and savor the food you are eating with no distractions.  Eat from a space of unconditional self-love!
5. Get moving. Do any type of physical activity every day. Find movement or exercise you enjoy.
6. Get outside.  Your body needs fresh air and natural light.  You will create life long health benefits!
7. Sleep, rest and relax. Breath work creates relaxation, slow down & breathe deeply.  Ask me for my educational handout on breath work.  When you are sleep-deprived or stressed, your body will crave energy, causing cravings for sugary snacks and caffeine as an energy boost.
8. Schedule fun time. Boredom and stress can lead to overeating. Make sure to take time to laugh, play and participate in activities that bring you joy.
9. Find a mindfulness practice and use it every day. (Yoga, Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Meditation, Prayer...)

PS  Just a reminder about the Whole Health & Healing Academy that starts Thursday, September 25th. Join us to create vibrant health in your life!