Are the chemicals you’re using to clean your home actually doing more harm than good? The average household contains more than 60 harmful chemicals, and these can negatively impact your health and the health of your family. Cleaning with harsh chemicals can result in irritation in the eyes or throat, headaches, and even long-term effects like endocrine disruption (hormonal effects) and asthma. Consider using more plant and enzyme-based natural products that will get your home sparkling clean without sacrificing your family’s health. Natural ingredients can be just as effective, and provide the added benefit of being environmentally friendly as well!
Reflexology – More Than a Foot Rub!
Reflexology is a natural therapy that reduces pain, stress & tension in the body and improves circulation (cardiovascular & lymphatic) and elimination. There are reflexes in the feet which are connected to every part, organ and gland through a subtle energy that flows through channels in the body. When there is discomfort like stress, trauma, injury or illness, blockages develop in these channels and the flow of energy becomes disrupted. By applying pressure to these reflexes, signals are sent via the nervous system that release these blockages, relax the body and balance the natural functioning elsewhere in the body. It is a total ‘reboot and rebalance’!
Be Hair-Free Every Day!
Many people who are bothered by unwanted body hair search to find a hair-free solution that is permanent. Electrolysis is the only medically recognized and FDA approved permanent method of hair removal in today’s market. Electrolysis directly targets the root by cutting off the blood and oxygen supply to the hair inside the follicle. Thus, eliminates hair growth anywhere on the face or body. Over the years, it has proven to be the only technique that can achieve permanent results to remove unwanted body hair. Electrolysis treatments are hygienic, 100% effective, non-toxic, and safe for all skin types and colour tones.
A Solution to Your Resolutions
This past year was a tough one. Do not start the new year off stressed by your list of resolutions when it can be as simple as one solution. Drink one drink, once a day, and ignite your body’s optimum fuel source. We have the only ketone that is naturally fermented and bio-identical to what your body creates when in ketosis. Rather than worry about keeping to a diet, you can drink to improve your mood, sleep, energy, focus, fat loss, muscle preservation, skin, gut health and mental clarity. We are here to support you in your journey; why not give it a try? Here is to a Healthy New Year!
Healthy Mouth, Healthy Body
Maintaining good oral health isn’t just about keeping your teeth and gums healthy – it can have an impact on the rest of your body as well. Research suggests that a buildup of dental plaque can be linked to other health issues, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes complications, and even various types of infections. Brushing and flossing away dental plaque each day can help keep buildup under control and limit your risk of other issues linked to poor oral health. It’s also important to see your dentist regularly to ensure your teeth, gums, and other oral tissue are in tip-top shape.
New Year ~ New You!
2021 is on the horizon and not a moment too soon. Do you find that old memories and heartaches are triggered in the grief of this pandemic or any other traumatic life event? Unaddressed emotional pain affects us far more than we think and can bring out the worst in us; extreme anger, depression, isolation or even addiction. But there is great hope for the future. Spiritual growth includes facing our grief, our fears and processing them once and for all. The transformational process is very fulfilling. It includes forgiveness of self and others, identifying unmet hopes, dreams and expectations and finding a new way to live joyfully. There is a New You waiting to find peace and prosperity in the New Year.
Mindful vs Mindless Eating
Are you most often a mindful or a mindless eater? Mindless eating often involves eating whatever is easiest, quickest or readily available. It’s often done while multi-tasking (watching TV, driving, working) and can be based on external cues such as satisfying urges and cravings, or for comfort, rather than actual hunger. Mindful eaters, however, make conscious food choices, savor indulgences, are tuned into and honour their hunger and fullness cues, and eat for both nourishment and pleasure. Mindful eaters tend to enjoy better health, experience more satisfaction and control around food, and are able to maintain a healthy weight.
Clean Eating: Banana Quinoa Breakfast Bars
1 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup quinoa, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, a pinch of sea salt, 3 large ripe bananas, mashed, 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed, 3 Tbsp natural nut butter, 1 Tbsp coconut oil, 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup. Optional: 1/4-1/2 cup add-ins coconut, chopped dried fruit. Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9 baking dish with coconut oil. Combine in a large bowl. Add batter to baking dish and spread out evenly. Bake 25 mins. Let sit for 20 mins before cutting and allow to cool completely.
Words to Live By
There are greater things to be achieved in every New Year, and each and everyone must prepare themselves to be great, not by words of the mouth, but by a lot of sacrifices. – Michael Bassey Johnson
Joyful Mindful Holiday Eating
Tips abound for how to partake in all the delicious holiday season foods, without gaining 10 lbs or tossing your health goals aside until the new year. You’ve likely seen or heard the following before:
● Don’t go to a party hungry, eat a small snack beforehand
● Choose your splurges wisely – survey all the options first before making your choices
● Plan ahead, offer to bring a healthy option
● Be mindful that holiday beverages such as eggnog, hot chocolate, and cocktails carry a generous dose of extra calories
● Don’t stand next to the food table where you’ll be more tempted to continuously graze
● Hold a drink in your right (or dominant hand) so you are less likely to grab food
● Use smaller plates or glasses
● Make lighter or healthier versions of family favourites
● Chew gum while baking to avoid tasting or nibbling
● Keep Christmas baking in the freezer – out of sight out of mind
● Et cetera
Many are helpful and effective, but I want to offer (or I’d like to propose?) an even simpler option. Mindful eating.
Mindful eating is so helpful to avoid overeating, overindulging, or obeying the fomo or wth thoughts that tell us to go ahead and eat it all now and make up for it come January.
The essentials of mindful eating include paying attention to your senses, your surroundings and especially your thoughts.
Eat with all your senses
● Use your eyes to observe and appreciate not just the details of the food itself but also of the way the table is set, how the food is presented, and any additional festive decorations in the space.
● Use your ears to listen for the sounds around you; the buzz of conversation, music playing, tinkling of glasses or clattering of plates and possibly even sizzling or bubbling sounds from the food itself.
● Use your nose to note the delicious smells and aromas. Maybe it’s the turkey roasting, your mom’s famous cinnamon buns, grandma’s sugar cookies or the sweet and spicy fragrance of mulled wine.
● Use your body sensations to notice how hungry or full you might be, the temperature in the room, your feet grounded on the floor.
● Use your taste buds to savor and enjoy the food. Pause to discern the textures, temperature and flavours. Can you identify a unique ingredient or spice?
Observe your surroundings
Take note of where you are, who you are with, and what else might be going on around you. How are these things contributing to your overall enjoyment and pleasure? In what ways might they be encouraging behaviour you want to avoid such as overeating or eating just because it’s there?
Notice your thoughts
What is your inner dialogue? What stories are you believing or getting caught up in? “It’s the holidays…” “It would be rude to not eat something…” “I really want to, but I shouldn’t…”
Let go of all those thoughts, and instead get into the holiday spirit and intentionally cultivate an attitude of gratitude and appreciation. While this is a good thing to do all year round, it’s especially relevant at holiday celebrations intended to spread goodwill and cheer. What can you be thankful for and appreciate about this particular situation or event? How might you express that appreciation? Who can you share that feeling with?
A bonus of mindful eating is that it’s always available to you regardless of where you find yourself – no need to plan ahead. And you can do it the moment you think of it, no need to wait!
This holiday season allow mindful eating to slow you down, help you pay attention and create the opportunity to pause. Then, use that pause to connect with appreciation for those with whom you are celebrating and you’ll naturally consume less while experiencing more joy and happiness.
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
~Viktor E. Frankl
Using our Gifts to Better the World
‘Tis the season to give and receive, yet this holiday season will be like no other. Many are tired, overwhelmed, exhausted and anxious for this to end, while navigating a pandemic with many restrictions, limitations and emerging needs. How can we best use our own gifts and talents to serve and nurture our relationship with self, others, material things and our changing world instead of filling up with more “stuff”? We are being called to diligently examine and discern what is most important and in need of deep repair, healing, and loving while bringing in more ease, kindness, compassion and light moving forward into 2021.