Happy Halloween, Ghouls and Gals! This is the night where the veil is thin between the spirit and material worlds. If you ever wanted to talk to your dead relatives and get a response, this is the night to hold a séance. Of course, most people just get dressed up and give away candy.

Ah, but as health conscious individuals, not only do we want to be careful in what we put in our bodies, but we also care about the quality of treats we give to others. But junk is junk, you tell me. If it’s one night of the year where we should let our hair down and go nuts on the refined sugar and milk chocolate, it’s Halloween!

I’m here to tell you that there are options, if you so choose. There is good for you candy – or at least better for you© candy - out there! Specifically, Pure Fun™ Confections is old-fashioned, organic candy like our grandparents used to make. Certified organic, kosher, vegan and fair trade – this candy company is perfect for those who care!

They also promise: “No dyes, no pesticides, no GMO’s and no chemicals… nothing but Pure Fun!” What else don’t they use? Oh, let’s see the list: no gluten, no casein, no dairy, no artificial flavours, no synthetics and no preservatives. Read the rest of this entry »

As I continue to pursue a nicotine free existence and fight other addictions as substitutes, a Metro article, “Teen Net addictions growing” catches my attention. Apparently, in some cases these kids get so involved with online games or surfing the Net that they stay up all night, skip school and withdraw from real-life friends.

So far, says the article, research indicates those most prone to Internet addiction “lack social skills, tend to isolate themselves, and internalize emotional stress.” Addiction specialists say this obsessive Internet behaviour threatens health and, also like other addictions, “is a sign of underlying problems and often goes hand-in-hand with mental health issues such as depression.”

But really, don’t we all have unresolved issues? And don’t we all have bad days where we couldn’t see the bright side if it whacked us in the forehead? I think we all battle with some level of addiction most of the time. If it’s not a substance (like drugs, alcohol and sugar), it’s a process (like sex, work and gambling).

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Did you know that in old China, doctors were paid to keep people well? Makes sense if we’re calling it healthcare, right? But get this: if their patients got sick, the doctors treated them for free!

In Staying Healthy with the Seasons, Dr. Elson M. Haas combines Eastern and Western healing traditions to form, Integrated Medicine. His basic philosophy is that humans and nature are inextricably linked. There is a two-way communication between us and the natural world and this affects both inner harmony and growth, and physical well-being.

Haas follows the Chinese health and wellness philosophy closely in his book. His total health guide focuses on education and prevention, and “explains the Chinese Law of the Five Elements – Fire, Earth, Metal (or Air), Water, and Wood – and how this system relates to specific seasons of the year, organs in the body, and experiences of activity, emotions, color, and flavor.”

This is only one small part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. From Wikipedia: Read the rest of this entry »

Last week for Blog Action Day, we covered how giving is healthy for you and helps complete a totally healthy lifestyle. If you’ll remember, the secret to making healthy living easy is to make it habit by consistently performing it everyday. So, I suggested one way to make kindness a habit is by performing small acts everyday.

You can do this through this cool new kindness tool that I’m ecstatic to say I’m helping develop, www.dailychallenge.org. It’s a site that will transform the preconceptions of `Do Gooders’ and make it fun to spread love in your world.

Interestingly, Google has just offered $10M to 5 world changing ideas through a contest called, Project 10 to the 100^th! The timing is impeccable, wouldn’t you say? So we’ve applied to the contest and submitted a 30 second video. Please watch it and if you’re so inclined, pass it on to your friends:

Monday’s Metro had an article, “Sick leaves ailing TTC,” which reported how the Toronto Transit Commission estimates they will overspend on their budget this year by $3.8 million to cover employee sick days. Additionally, the article mentioned that sick days have been costing the TTC an average of $20 million a year! That’s a lot of tax moula just to pay people to get well so they can return to work.

The sad part of this story is that this is a common occurrence across industries all over North America. People are just now coming to the realization that this old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” has some truth to it.

For instance, did you know that the common cold is not supposed to be common at all? Dr. Elson Haas is an integrated medical practitioner who combines allopathic and naturopathic medicine in his practice, and he suggests in Staying Healthy with the Seasons that:

“The misuse of foods and other substances we call “foods” is a main factor in the formation of many acute and chronic ailments. The “common cold” and “flu” are primary signals that the body needs to clean and rest itself. Overindulgence in foods, improper intestinal elimination, and the intake of more toxins (unusable materials) than the liver or the kidneys can detoxify result in a buildup in the tissues and organs. This must be regularly balanced by the abused body in bouts of elimination which we know as “illnesses.” Intoxicants like nicotine, alcohol, sugar and caffeine, as well as the sprays and chemicals used to grow and prepare foods, affect individual organ functions and weaken the whole system.”

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It’s all over the news, the economy is in turmoil and we’re heading into a recession (if we’re not already there). Whatever you do: don’t panic! Some historians believe that it was this type of reaction by the public and government that determined how severely a country experienced the Great Depression. Actually, several historians suggest that panic turned what would have been a very normal economic downturn (a recession) into the Great Depression.

So I’m here to ease your worry a bit. While you can’t control what will happen to the economy, you can control your reaction to the threat of a recession. You can choose not to act at all, or react emotionally which may include irrational behaviour motivated by panic, fear, anger, etc. Or, you can choose to think positively about the situation, be proactive and choose constructive activities that will help you prepare and deal with limited financial income.

Here are 7 ways a recession can be a blessing:

1. Cutting out the extras. Many of us spend a lot of time and resources on activities that help relieve us of stress. While some of these are ok in moderation, most of us don’t know when to stop. They become destructive over time while other activities have no health benefits at all. Some of these extraneous activities include: drugs, alcohol, junk food, shopping, t.v., video games, insert your obsession here, etc. A recession encourages you to reevaluate how you spend your money and search out alternative means to deal with stress.
2. Read the rest of this entry »

Even though it’s turned a bit chilly these last few weeks, I still enjoy my morning protein smoothies after a good workout in the morning. Because the colder weather is drawing near, I want to bulk up a bit. So for this one I doubled my protein with almond spread. Did it ever add a little somethin’, somethin’ to it!

Try it and tell me you love it:

Banana Berry Almondy Smoothie

Prep time: 2 minutes
Blend time: 1.5 minutes
Ready in: 3.5 minutes
Serves: 1 or about 20 oz

Ingredients

1 medium banana, peeled
¾ cup Europe’s Best Berry Mix, frozen
1 tbsp PC’s Just Almonds almond butter
1 serving Ruth’s Hemp Protein Powder
½ cup yogurt, plain
1 cup vanilla soy beverage

Preparation

Toss ingredients into a blender, blend until smooth and enjoy.

Nutritional Information

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It’s Blog Action Day and bloggers worldwide are publishing articles on a single topic in order to raise awareness and facilitate action. This year’s theme is poverty. So in honour of this fabulous idea, the following article explains why your healthy living plan should include giving what you can, when you can, to the less fortunate.

Total health is defined by many people as achieving balance and harmony between all aspects of life. Based on this definition, healthy living consists of continually performing actions that strengthen the body, mind, spirit, emotions, relationships, career and your finances. The result of complete health is prolonged feelings of fulfillment, happiness and satisfaction.

The idea of health can be simplified, however. It’s all about fulfilling needs. The most basic ones are those necessary for survival (food, water, shelter, etc). According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, once we’re winning the survival game, we instinctively seek fulfillment at the next level of needs, love & belonging. Esteem needs are next until we reach self-actualization.

Maslow believed that when we’re really rockin’ life and fulfilling all the lower level needs, we become abundant in energy, positive emotions and resources. It’s natural to want to share all your extras because it gives you a sense of contribution – which falls into your esteem needs. My interpretation of this theory is: the healthier you are, the more complex needs you seek to fulfill.

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Happy Gobble Gobble Day, Canadian Live Lighter Readers! It’s a blessedly beautiful weekend up here in Canada, thanks to the Powers That Be. I hope you’ve all enjoyed lots of sun and good, soulful, loving food with friends and family. If you’re like me, then you celebrated LARGE and had all sorts of yummy foods not included in your healthy living plan.

This post will be very helpful to anyone who’s indulged too much this weekend. To recap on some of the substances that put a strain on our systems, Dr. Elson M Haas reminds us in “Staying Healthy through the Seasons” to:

Be careful with fried foods, processed and chemical foods, and drugs of all kinds, especially alcohol, or too much caffeine, as all these can be pollutants with which the liver must deal.”

But of course, “everything in moderation, including moderation.” I think this is why we have holidays: they are the perfect time, considering they are usually very social, to go a little crazy and stress your system a bit. “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” right? And I stressed my system wonderfully this weekend!

For these celebratory times, Dr. Haas has thoughtfully included a cleansing “Liver Flush” tonic recipe in his book. He suggests drinking it first thing in the morning. It’s very strong but surprisingly creamy and tasty, and I’ve tried (and liked!) both versions:

Liver Flush

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If you’ve been reading Live Lighter for the last two weeks, you’ll know that I had the immense pleasure to vacation at Grail Springs Holistic Health Resort. I’ve reviewed my experience in two parts.

I also brought you along on a labyrinth walk in my amateur video and explained how it worked in another post, “Demystifying the Labyrinth Walk.” Now, I’d like to show you Grail Springs by handing it over to the professionals.

Here is Grail Springs, compliments of YouTube: