Vegetarian Vitality

First of all, you may be wondering what exactly is “neti”.  In a sentence “neti” is a technique for cleansing the nasal passages.  There’s more  info on this page if you’d like further details.

There are various types but my favourite one is the “jala neti” where you use slightly salted warm water to clear your nostrils with a tool known as a “neti pot” or “lota”.

I remember when I first tried it I wasn’t convinced and felt the water  wouldn’t come out  or I wouldn’t be able to breath. However, something made me persist and the water did come out and I could breath and now even speak ( not advised for a beginner)  while doing it!

Even though I don’t have sinus or allergy problems, I’ve seen the benefits especially when I have colds – they get flushed out – literally. Other benefits I’ve experienced have been when having to stay up very late to finish work. While my colleagues had coffee I  did a neti around 11pm and was wide-awake and alert to work until we finished around 3am. My regular neti practice also helped me when I took an early morning flight. I did my neti practice as usual in the morning and noticed that my ears did not pop during take-off and landing.

Do you have any neti experiences to share? Good (or bad – I may be able to help you make them better), feel free to share .

As we approach the party season (it starts earlier each year), we all start thinking about spending for food, presents, decorations. As busy professionals, we rush around to parties or have a lot to organise to make sure our loved ones have a good time. This activity also has a cost (and not just a financial one!).

We know that no matter how much money we may or may not have, we can’t buy good health. We can pay for all kinds of treatments that will make us feel good for a short while but what if we don’t want to or don’t feel we can pay? How can we ensure we have Health Wealth anyway?

The director of my nutrition course used to compare the state of your well-being to the state of your bank account. If your well-being account is in credit you’re in good health. How quickly your “credit” is used up depends on factors such as your environment, lifestyle and your diet.

Your environment covers everything around out but also everything you are involved in personally and professionally. Your interaction with your environment is important to determine your level of “health wealth”. For example, if you eat the right type of food for you but are feeling angry or tense or you eat too much, this would be an interaction that causes you to use some of your health wealth. Do this on a regular basis and you’ll feel yourself moving into the debit zone.

With my clients I witness evidence of “health debit” as they draw on their “well-being” bank account but don’t replace what they withdraw. So I’m going to share 10 no/low-cost nutritional and well-being strategies to help you stock up on your health wealth for the coming months.

1. Cut back on how much refined sugar you and your family eat. For example, decide to make your own sweets during the party season. You’ll save money and feed your well-being account.

2. Buy more organic local fruits and vegetables for you and your family so that you increase your intake to 7 servings daily.

3. Limit your alcohol intake (more thoughts here)

4. Look after the health of your digestive tract by giving it a regular rest. This can  simply involve not eating between meals, eating a mono-diet for a day or two or doing a simple cleanse. More ideas here

5. Drink plenty of water, filtered if possible (do my test and get your family and friends to do it to have a clearer idea of what you need).

6. Add essential omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids to your meals every day and to party dishes. Get them from organic nuts and seeds or oily fish (if you’re not vegetarian!) to help you and those around you build strong immunity against illnesses and disease.

7. Resolve personal issues as they arise within yourself and with those close to you and release your stress on a daily basis. Just a few minutes can make all the difference. Deep breathing exercises and simple stretches are helpful tools.

8. Have a positive outlook and practical approach. Remember that it’s your choice how long you decide to stay feeling as you do. If you’re feeling sad, anxious or even depressed, acknowledge the feeling and do something to change it – to stop using up more health credit. Your health wealth starts with your attitude to life.

9. Strive to attain peace within by stilling your mind. Breathing exercises and meditation can help. Even when busy  you can find a few minutes a day for yourself.  (If not, use this no-cost tool a friend shared with me.)  This peace is a source of happiness that will always be yours.

10. Get a good night’s rest, ideally by 11pm so the body can have time to rest and recuperate.

Pick at least 5 of these strategies to start feeding your well-being account today!

(c) 2008 Janet Gomez
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About the author:  Janet Gomez, nutritional consultant, produces the “Nutri-Jyoti News”, a free bi-monthly e-newsletter for busy professionals. Feel ready to learn how to use nutritional strategies to manage your energy levels? Then sign up for her FREE e-course “5 Nutritional Keys to Vitality in your Life” at http://www.nutrijyoti.com

A friend of mine recently sent me this story about how your attitude can make a difference. Read on and enjoy!

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins!’He was a natural motivator.If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?’  He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or … you can choose to be in a bad mood .  I choose to be in a good mood.’  Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or…I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. 

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.  ‘Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.  ‘Yes, it is,’ he said. ‘Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.   You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.’  I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.   Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.   After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.   I saw him about six months after the accident.   When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?’   I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. ‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied. ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or…I could choose to die. I chose to live.’ 

‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked   He continued, ‘..the paramedics were great. 

They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.’ 

‘What did you do?’ I asked. 

‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John. ‘She asked if I was allergic to anything ‘Yes, I replied.’ The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity’.'   Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’   He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude… I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully… 

Attitude, after all, is everything.   Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’   After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

I was reading the French consumer magazine “Bon à Savoir” (Good [things] to know) the other day which I receive regularly. It had an article about various ideas about drinking alcohol when eating.

For example, did you know that if you have an alcoholic drink while eating, the alcohol is burned off first, meaning that any fats consumed take longer to digest – several hours more in fact?
Also there’s the fact that an alcoholic drink does not hydrate the body. In fact it increases the chances of dehydration since  less of a hormone which concentrates the urine is produced and the body eliminates more water.

The good news is that a little alcohol seems to be ok but not necessarily for children, because of  their lower body weight and the fact their liver has fewer enzymes to elimate it. The amount  of red wine suggested is 2dl for a man and 1dl for a woman per day. It increases the level of good cholesterol in the  blood and the antioxidants it contains may help prevent hardening of the arteries. However, a balanced diet, regular exercise and being a non-smoker also keep your heart in good shape.

My conclusion from the article was that a little red wine occasionally is fine as long as you have it with your main meal at lunchtime. Having a couple of glasses of wine, beer,  or a strong digestive alcohol with your evening meal will help  you store a nice layer of fat in the hip and stomach area. Maybe an increased intake of good oils  would be a better idea for weight gain – but’s that another post

Do you like a drink while eating? Share your thoughts and experiences below.

Recently I interviewed Frank Jensen, a Physiospect practitioner living in Portugal who runs a fasting retreat centre. Listen in to our discussion to help you learn more about this cutting edge technology and how computers can be beneficial for our health!

To listen to the interview go to this page