family health

‘Biggest Loser’ Host Bob Harper Suffers Heart Attack

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Bob Harper has a heart attack

How is it possible for someone who is so fit, so in shape, and eats properly, to suffer a major heart attack?

That is what Bob Harper, celebrity trainer, has just experienced. He is known for his role on The Biggest Loser, as a trainer from 2004 to 2015 and is now the host.

Obviously, not knowing any of Bob’s medical history, it’s hard to say for sure. But a very significant factor for any health issues (for anyone) is how healthy the central nervous system is.

The central nervous system is an information super-highway that flows from your brain to the rest of your body as it is protected by the bones of the spine.

If any of these bones shift out of alignment, it puts pressure on your central nervous system, and your body cannot function and heal at 100%.

Bones shifted out of alignment are called subluxations.

Subluxations cause interference.

Interference causes health issues.

Your body can live for weeks without food, days without water, but not one second without your central nervous system. This is why your skin heals if you get cut, your bones repair themselves if there is a break, and why you recover from a cold or flu bug.

Your central nervous system controls every single function of your body, 100% of the time.

If there are interferences in your central nervous system, i.e. a spinal bone is out of alignment, putting pressure on the messages that are travelling through, it is impossible to be expressing 100% health.

If there are inferences on the nerves that run from your brain, through your central nervous system and out to your heart, your heart is not functioning at 100%.

So, over time, is your body getting sicker or healthier? Yes, it’s getting sicker.

And over time, are you building health or are you building disease? Yes, you’re building disease.

The problem is that often, the very first symptom of heart disease is a heart attack. The thing is, you can eat low saturated fats, exercise daily, meditate and control your stress and be the healthiest possible version of yourself as you can, but if you have subluxations in your central nervous system causing interference, you are simply unable to function and heal at 100%.

The same is true throughout your spine and for every single organ and function that your body does to keep you alive.

For example…
Again, if there are subluxations interfering with the messages that are reaching your digestive organs, it is impossible for them to function properly. This makes way for the development of irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, constipation, even Crohn’s and colitis.

These conditions may take the same length of time to develop as heart disease, but their symptoms tend to come on slowly, rather than the very first symptom being a full blown heart attack.

How do you remove subluxations and begin to express health?

Only a trained chiropractor is able to detect and correct subluxations. Having a subluxation-free spine is the foundation of living in a truly healthy body. Find a chiropractor in your area who can remove the subluxations in your spine and help you return to living a full, healthy life!

With Sources from:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/Biggest-Loser-Host-Bob-Harper-Suffers-Heart-Attack–414878563.html

What is behind your pain?

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What is Behind your PAIN?

During my 20 years of practicing Energy Healing I have found one Universal Truth: PAIN means “Pay Attention Inwards Now”

Pain stems from unresolved and unacknowledged repression of emotions. E-motions mean energy in motion. If energy is repressed then dis-ease and pain results. We label these pains Arthritis, Allergies, Anxiety, Angina, Headaches, Migraines, Frozen shoulder, Fibromyalgia, Cancer, Carpal Tunnel… the list is endless.

Pain is just information. Neither negative nor positive, pain is just ongoing feedback, “an indication of our current energetic vibration”. Or an indication of parts of our body that are not in sync with our total energetic vibration.

PAIN lets us know that we have something to discover and resolve. Stressful thoughts, limiting beliefs, worrisome stories replaying in our unconscious mind… these are reflected in your body. Often we inherit them from our ancestors, other times we pick them up from the energy around us, our environment, our media, our families and circumstances. When communication within the body cells is disrupted, we blow fuses, set up handicaps, and our perfect blueprint is derailed.

Your BODY is  your GPS, or rather it has the key to an effective built-in Human Guidance System that unlocks these hidden blocks preventing our mind and soul to communicate effectively. When we experience emotions that don’t feel good, it simply means that we are not in-line with our ‘true’ or ‘higher’ self. Our spirit is the part of us that lives at the top of the Guidance Scale in joy, love and self empowerment.

This is where we embrace the basic spiritual truths that:

We are worthy, deserving, loveable, loving, brilliant eternal BE-ings
and each of us is an important significant part of the Divine plan
we have a miraculous perpetually healing organism we call a body.

Knowing this truth, is not the same as embodying it. I love witnessing my clients RECLAIM their health and life after sessions. I love doing demonstrations and talks (group healings) at corporations and watching employees have ah-ha moments.

Helping people Reclaim their healthy body, by Refreshing their Mind, and Renewing their Spirit keeps me in my energy vibration of truth, joy and awe. We can all attain Complete BE-ing Clarity, if we listen to our body. Are you listening? What is your body saying to you?

The really fascinating truth is that all of this can be reversed and healed. Energy consciousness work is quick, easy and fun, you don’t need to rehash the past, get stuck in the story, or stay in the pain. If you are in pain, explore energy healing … Reiki, BodyTalk, Psych-K, Acupuncture, and other modalities. You will be amazed at the quick results, and love your new found understanding of your Self and your energetic vibration.

__________________________________

Blog by Guest Author:

01Jessy headshotJessy Morrison

Jessy Morison  has tremendous success in helping those to whom doctors have given no hope of recovery at all to Reclaim their Life, Refresh their Mind, Reclaim their Body, and Renew their Spirit.
A Reiki Master Teacher, BodyTalk & EFT Practitioner, Soul Genesis Facilitator, Founding Member of the Ontario BodyTalk Assoc., and Founding Member of The Whole Life Learning Collective, and Transformational Tuesdays, Jessy is also a  contributing author to “The Joy of an Ex”, Women With Vision Magazine, and Another View Magazine.

You can contact her at
[email protected]
705-241-8680
www.jessymorrison.ca

What is a Meal Replacement Shake and Why are they Pushed on the Elderly?

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What is a Meal Replacement Shake?

You’ve seen them advertised on tv. Boost. Ensure. Those meal replacements in a bottle, with elderly ladies jumping on a trampoline or elderly men finishing what looks to have been a marathon, who are just overjoyed with happiness, radiant health and physical activity.

Cut to…. having these shakes be recommended by doctors for patients who are suffering the effects of chemotherapy, and are not hungry due to the poisons being pumped into them, who have no energy to exist, due to the poisons being pumped into them (a topic explored in another blog here!), or for those people living in a nursing home who maybe struggle to eat properly due to denture issues, decreased appetite or various other health issues.

First of all, what is in those meal replacement shakes? Can it even be called food?

It is definitely not food. It is a chemical concoction of food-like substances created in the lab with a whole lot of sugar added to it. They are marketed (very well) to medical doctors, nurses and health aids to recommend to their patients, but it seems the ingredient list is lost in translation.

Here, we break it down. Can you even recognize any of these ingredients as real food?

Ensure Plus® Milk Chocolate

Water, Corn Maltodextrin, Sugar, Blend of Vegetable Oils (Canola, Corn), Milk Protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate, Cocoa Powder (Processed with Alkali).

Less than 0.5% of: Nonfat Milk, Magnesium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Soy Lecithin, Natural & Artificial Flavor, Calcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Cellulose Gum, Potassium Citrate, Choline Chloride, Ascorbic Acid, Cellulose Gel, Carrageenan, Salt, Ferric Phosphate, dl-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Zinc Sulfate, Niacinamide, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Palmitate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Chromium Chloride, Sodium Molybdate, Sodium Selenate, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12, Phylloquinone, and Vitamin D3.

There are 22 grams of processed sugar in one 250mL bottle.
Processed sugar FEEDS cancer cells. Yet they are highly recommended to everyone who has chosen to take chemotherapy because they HAVE CANCER. Too much sugar can also destabilize blood sugar, lead to sugar spikes and crashes and cause moodiness.

There is also less than 1 gram of fibre in the entire bottle, which is an essential piece of our nutritional needs. It helps to move things through the digestive system and sweeps up toxins as it goes.

The canola or corn oil are both extremely inflammatory compounds and cause a great deal of havoc in the body.

All of the vitamins and minerals that are in the bottle are synthetic, and your body really has no idea what to do with them. Your body likes natural vitamins and minerals from real food, as they are synergistically available to work together in the body. There are many vitamins/minerals that need others to be fully utilized by the body, and Mother Nature provides this for us in REAL FOOD.

There are many artificial ingredients in this bottle which help to create flavour, thickness,  colour and preservatives to let it sit on the shelf for months. All of which cause a host of inflammatory responses in the body.

What should you eat instead?

For people who are suffering ill effects from chemotherapy, or have decreased appetites, or anyone who needs to eat when they may not feel like it, a simple smoothie is the best recommendation.

For example, you could blend up a bit of frozen banana and strawberries with almond milk and that would be a perfectly healing meal (that needs no replacement!)

Or raspberries, blueberries and peaches.

Or strawberries, kiwi and natural peanut butter.

It does not matter what the combination is, as long as the person enjoys the ingredients. There is a much higher chance of them drinking something fruity and palatable than blended green vegetables to start. Meet them where they are at, and if it is a plant based, whole food – throw it in that blender and I really hope they enjoy it!

With Sources from:

https://ensure.com/nutrition-products/ensure-plus#milk-chocolate
https://draxe.com/meal-replacement-shakes/

What Otto Warburg Actually Discovered About Cancer

What’s in your chicken sandwich? DNA test shows Subway sandwiches contain just 50% chicken

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What's in your chicken sandwich? DNA test shows Subway sandwiches contain just 50% chicken

What are you eating? Do you really have any idea what you are buying when you whip into a fast food restaurant?

CBC’s Marketplace recently had chicken from 5 fast food restaurants DNA tested to see what is actually in their chicken.

If you can believe it, DNA tests on Subway’s Oven Roasted Chicken show that just 53.6 per cent was chicken! The majority of the remaining DNA was soy.

Two major red flags are waving here.

1. What else is the company hiding in their products?
2. What if someone was allergic to soy and unknowingly eating it in a piece of chicken?! Additionally, regular consumption of soy can wreak havoc on the hormonal system.

Subway states that “Our recipe calls for one per cent or less of soy protein in our chicken products.” This is still quite concerning for those of us who like to know what we are actually consuming.

• A&W Chicken Grill Deluxe averaged 89.4 per cent chicken DNA
• McDonald’s Country Chicken – Grilled averaged 84.9 per cent chicken DNA
• Tim Hortons Chipotle Chicken Grilled Wrap averaged 86.5 per cent chicken DNA
Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich averaged 88.5 per cent chicken DNA

Each restaurant’s chicken actually averaged approximately 15 ingredients per piece of chicken.

How is this even possible? Isn’t chicken supposed to be just chicken?

These restaurant chains are actually serving meat that has been “restructured”.

Restructured products are smaller pieces of meat or ground meat that are bound together with other ingredients to make them last longer, taste better and ‘add value’ – i.e. – to make them cheaper.

The ingredients can include simple items like salt, honey or onion powder, as well as shocking industrial ingredients. They most likely also contain transglutaminase, which is meat glue. Yes – glue to hold together scraps of meat to bind them into a new form for consumption.

What is the Solution?

Plan ahead and bring your own food when you’re on the road, or when you go to work. It’s much cheaper to eat food that you prepare yourself, and you will also have a better idea as to what you are eating! Here is a quick recipe to make your own delicious chicken wrap that is actually 100% chicken, instead of just half!!

RECIPE: Savoury 100% Chicken Wrap – Great for Lunches

Slice 3 organic chicken breasts into strips and bake or fry ahead of time. (this will make several lunches for a few days for yourself or a day of lunches for your family)

Grab a whole wheat wrap and spread hummus onto it.
Place a large lettuce leaf in the middle.
Add sliced tomato, cucumber and onions.
Add your chicken slices.
Sprinkle with pepper and wrap it up!
Hold it together with a tooth pick and you’re out the door!

Whenever possible, avoid fast food by planning ahead and bringing your own food. Take control of your health and empower yourself by being proactive about your meal choices!

With Sources from:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/meat-glue-an-ingredient-to-fear-or-cheer-1.855985

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-chicken-fast-food-1.3993967

How Processed Sugar Destroys Your Body

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How Processed Sugar Destroys Your Body

How much processed sugar sneaks into your diet in a day? You may be surprised at how many grams of sugar you are consuming without even realizing it.

For example, a quick visit to Tim Hortons for breakfast, lunch or snack with a fairly routine order can tip the scales of sugar content at over 30 grams!! That is a lot of sugar for your body to process all at once, especially when the sugars are all processed, accompanied by equally processed foods around it.

A Tim Hortons Cinnamon Raisin bagel (11 grams) with plain cream cheese (2 grams), Double-Double Coffee (18 grams) = 31 grams of sugar

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre advises that women should consume no more than 25 grams of sugar per day, and men should consume no more than 37 grams of sugar per day.

So after one stop at Tim Horton’s you’ve maxed your entire daily recommended sugar intake in just one blow! Think about the rest of your day… how will that look? A sandwich for lunch? A granola bar for snack? Pasta for dinner? Your processed sugar intake is adding up to look mountainous.

So what is the problem with sugar?

Sugar is an anti-nutrient. It causes your body to leach nutrients in its attempt to clean up the damage that sugar leaves behind. It also directly feeds cancer cells, and causes serious inflammation.

Inflammation is the cause behind almost every single illness and condition, and sugar continues to fuel inflammation rather effectively once it has started. Because of its oxidative effect on the body, it can contribute to a whole host of conditions and issues that may be misdiagnosed as other illnesses or causes, but in actuality, the cause is actually the over consumption of processed sugar.

How can processed sugar affect your body?

According to Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., there are over 146 reasons that sugar is ruining your health. Here are the worst offenders, and if you’d like the full list and references, head over to http://www.rheumatic.org/sugar.htm

• Sugar can suppress the immune system.
• High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.
• Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
• Sugar can cause heart disease.
• Sugar can cause appendicitis.
• Sugar can cause multiple sclerosis.
• Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
• Sugar causes food allergies.
• Sugar can cause cataracts.
• Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
• Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
• Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
• Sugar can cause depression.
• Sugar can adversely affect school children’s grades and cause learning disorders..
• Sugar feeds cancer.
• Sugar can exacerbate PMS.
• Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.
• Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
• Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.
• High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.

These are very serious conditions and illnesses that are completely preventable! Reduce your processed sugar and processed foods intake by increasing your whole foods intake. Crowd out the bad foods with lots of delicious, colourful produce! Focus your diet on lots of leafy green vegetables, smoothies with berries and healthy fats, fresh fruits and vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, legumes and if you choose to eat meat or eggs, be sure they are from organic / grass fed / free range / wild sources.

With Sources from:

https://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/pdf/TH_Nutrition_Guide_CE_2013_-_FINAL.pdf

https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/may-2015/FOH-cancer-love-sugar.html

http://www.rheumatic.org/sugar.htm

Are you poisoning your family?

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Are you poisoning your family?

What are you cleaning with? What soap do you wash dishes with? Run the dishwasher with? Do the laundry with? What about your windows? toilets? sinks? floors? How do you control odours? Manage the dust collection? Are you inadvertently poisoning your family?

You probably have a giant bucket of cleaning supplies, solutions, soaps, detergents, sprays and poisons to combat the dirt, grime, dust and bacteria that tries to call your home their home too.

This bucket is filled with hundreds of chemicals and can cause very serious health problems for your entire family.

The worst part is that there are no regulations in this industry that states they must label their products with warnings about the health problems these products can cause from not only extended use, but even to use them once.

So, here is your warning label!

When we use these chemicals in our homes, they stick around for a very long time.
• They linger in the air and we breathe them in
• They stay on the dishes and cutlery until they combine with our food and find their way into our bodies
• They stick in the clothes we wash in the toxic detergents and cause our skin to absorb the chemicals
• They stay on the floor until our feet or our babies’ crawling tummies have absorbed the chemicals into their skin
• They go down the drain to further poison our aquatic life and then circle back around to the drinking water supply

Once these chemicals are used, they are with our planet forever. And they can cause serious health complications, such as:

• cancer
• allergies
• migraines
• hormone mimicking
• chemical burns
• kidney damage
• endocrine disruption
• skin and eye irritation
• throat and lung problems – breathing problems, asthma
• and many more serious health issues.

How to Avoid Toxic Chemicals?

Make your own cleaning supplies!!! You can clean 99% of your entire home with vinegar in a spray bottle, some baking soda and your favourite essential oils.

Toilets and sinks – spray them down with vinegar, sprinkle around some baking soda, add 3-4 drops of essential oil (lemon is great), leave it for 5 minutes and clean as usual.

For laundry detergents, dish soap, etc, begin shopping at your local health food store for non-toxic products. Speak with the staff to hear about their favourite options and try them out.

How to identify toxic chemicals?

These are some of the worst offenders, found in a variety of your household cleaning supplies. Avoid them like it’s your job!

• Ammonia
• Coal Tar Dyes
• MEA (monoethanalomine)
• DEA (diethanolamine)
• TEA (triethanolamine)
• Fragrance (can be a mixture of the more than 3000 chemicals existing that create fragrance)
• Pthalates
• Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs)
• Phosphates
• Quaternary Ammonium Compounds
• Silica Powder
• Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
• Sodium Laureth Sulfate
• Triclosan
• Trisodium nitrilotriacetate

These chemicals are found in dish soaps, disinfectants, laundry detergents, cleaning towelettes, toilet bowl cleaners, deodorizers, surface cleaners, abrasive cleaning powders, all purpose cleaners, fabric softeners, degreasers, dishwasher detergents, stain removers, car wash products, air fresheners, floor cleaners, oven cleaners, glass cleaners, window cleaners, drain cleaners, stainless steel cleaners, rust removers, and automobile cleaners.

With Sources from:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/the-dirt-on-toxic-chemicals-in-household-cleaning-products/

Do You Want to Kill Your Stress Once and For All? Do This.

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Kill Stress Once and For All

Stress has become an epidemic in our society. When someone asks “How are you?” the majority of people now answer “stressed”.

This is now a normal, accepted answer to which the reply is a nod in understanding, “Yes, me too.” It’s like we’re keeping up with the Jones’ to see who can be busier and more stressed out.

This has got to stop!!!!

There are obviously major reasons why we would feel stress, and this is our body’s way to kick on our adrenaline processes and potentially our fight or flight so that we can get through a trauma, injury, major life change or passing of a loved one.

But the daily stresses that are climbing and adding up need to be seriously revised.

The first problem is not having enough time to get everything done that life demands. The answer is that you need to ask for help.

Your children can be a great source of your home stress, so ask them to help you. Depending on their ages, give them special tasks to complete to help out around the house.

There is no reason your teenagers should hit the couch when they get home from school. They can help to start dinner, get their lunches ready for the next day and help to care for their siblings.

This is not taking away their freedom and childhood, it is giving them life skills and responsibilities that I promise, they will thank you for in the future. (What student wants to get to college or university, away from home for the first time and have absolutely no idea how to feed themselves? Let’s give them a chance!)

The most important thing you can do is to live in the present moment.

Right here in this moment (the only moment we actually have) there is no stress. We are consciously present. We are just working on this one task. There is no worrying about getting it done in time, ohh I only have 2 more hours, etc. because that is not living in the present moment. The stress arrives when we think about the future and think about how something will affect us when it arrives. But if we try to stay just in the moment we have, your stress will diminish drastically.

The other important thing you need to do is to detach from outcomes.

Put no weight or importance on the outcome of any event. This is again, living in the present moment. For many things, we literally have no control over many situations and worrying about them can make us crazy. The outcome will unfold over time and we will deal with whatever happens at the time. Because we will be practicing being present in each moment and taking things minute by minute.

We must begin to consciously decide how our lives want to look and feel.

I’m sure that you are in agreement with me, we’ve all experienced enough stress for the rest of our lives just in the past few years. It’s time to let go of the panic of worrying about the future and fretting about the past and choose, decide today, to make every moment one of joy and contentment.

It’s so much nicer to live in a mindset that you actively choose, rather than to be sucked into the societal pressure of being stressed all the time. Your health will be so much better, and your personal and family life will be much happier. Share this new mindset with your family and friends to help them reduce their stress. Obviously it takes some time to train your mind to stay present but over time it will get easier and you will have a much more serene life.

Could Your Boy Belly Cause a Heart Attack?

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Could Your Boy Belly Cause a Heart Attack?

Do you carry extra weight around your abdominal area? Research is telling us that people of normal weight who have extra central body fat are at an elevated risk of dying of heart disease.

Central obesity it extra fat around your midsection, and there is an easy way to calculate if you may fall into this category.

1. Measure your waist at your belly button.
2. Measure your hips at the widest part of your buttocks.
3. Divide the first number by the second number.

For men, your waist-to-hip ratio should be no greater than 1.0 and for women it should be no greater than 0.9.

If your numbers are higher than the suggested ratio, there are simple changes that you can implement to reduce your ratio and improve your health.

The first thing that you need to do is to add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet. It’s very difficult to make a massive diet and lifestyle change all at once and be able to sustain it long term. So the most important thing you can do is eat more fruit and veggies and these foods will begin to crowd out the bad foods.

I also want you to moderate your meat intake. A serving of meat is the size of a card deck. Which does not mean 8 decks stacked on top of each other!! When was the last time you ate a steak that fit in your hand? I bet it’s been awhile.

Over the years, our portion sizes have grown and grown into rather ridiculous quantities of food. Our bodies don’t need that much food and literally can not digest that much protein in one sitting. This extra protein ends up being stored as fat and can contribute to central obesity, putting you at risk for heart disease.

Avoid fast food, processed food and packaged food.

Eat real food!! Learn to make a few delicious recipes that you enjoy. Check out our blog of recipe ideas here.

And of course, move your body more often. Add some gentle cardio to your routine, go for a power walk at lunch, hit the gym and sweat it out.

The very first sign of heart disease is erectile dysfunction. Your arteries and capillaries are very active and sensitive in that area, and can be the first to indicate that there is hardening of the arteries or plaque building up in your blood vessels.

Obviously not a topic that you want on your radar, but heading to the doctor for a prescription to help in this area is one of the worst things you can do. It puts added stress on your cardiovascular system and masks an important symptom that is telling you that your body is in distress.

This is the time to make healthy diet and lifestyle changes to let your body naturally heal and return to abundant health.

With Sources from:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/research-were-watching-belly-fat-boosts-risk-of-dying-of-heart-disease

Is Eating Healthy More Expensive Than Junk Food?

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Many people think that eating healthy is more expensive than eating junk food.

While this argument could be proven true by eating very inexpensive, very bad for you junk foods, there are several tricks that you can use to eat healthy on a budget.

If you have perused the junk food aisle at the grocery store lately, a bag of potato chips can run upwards of three or four dollars. Just imagine reallocating those three dollars to the produce department to buy a bag of oranges, grapes, or even a full pineapple. Now that is a healthy (and inexpensive) snack!

If you’ve turned on the TV lately, then it’s probably safe to say that you’ve seen Tim Horton’s latest commercial introducing their “Perfect Pairings” menu which allows consumers to pick and choose what “convenience” they are craving for a quick meal.  While this concept is probably enticing to many customers with a price of only $5.99 for a lunch on the go, by the time you add a beverage and tax you are likely breaking the eight dollar mark for ‘fast food’ that is not going to fuel your body for greatness.

I’m going to show you how you can spend less than $25 at the grocery store and make five healthy and delicious lunches for the entire week.

WHICH IS DEFINITELY CHEAPER THAN SWINGING INTO TIM HORTON’S EVERY DAY!

Packing a lunch doesn’t have to be time consuming or exhausting. It is as easy as adding a few items to your weekly shopping list to have fresh vegetables and fruit on hand. If you find that you run short on time in the mornings, you could prepare your lunch the night before or even on Sunday afternoon so lunches are ready in the fridge to grab and go in the morning.

Shopping List

1 large container of organic mixed lettuce $5.99
1 bag of 5 avocados               $2.49
2 bell peppers                        $2.00
1 cucumber                            $1.49
1 sweet onion                         $0.75
1 bag of carrots                      $1.99
4 limes                                  $1.00
3 bananas                              $1.00
3 apples                                 $2.00
1 bag of clementines               $3.00
1 bag of raw sunflower seeds   $3.00

  $24.71

Using the lettuce, bell peppers, cucumber and onion, prepare 5 garden salads.
For a very basic dressing, place half a lime in your salad container to squeeze over your salad when you are ready to eat it.

Or a homemade salad dressing could also be made using extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and your favourite herbs and spices. Just mix up the dressing at home and store it in your fridge at work. Add one avocado to each salad when you are ready to eat it (otherwise it will turn brown if exposed to the air).

Cut up carrots into carrot sticks for an afternoon snack.  Grab two pieces of fruit each day and carry the bag of sunflower seeds for snacking if you feel like your energy is dropping or you are having a craving for something crunchy.

There you have it! Five quick and easy lunches that are so easy you won’t even have to think about it! There are a plethora of healthy lunch options out there that are easy on the wallet, but more importantly, they will provide you with the nutrients and energy that you need to fuel your day.

Are you Addicted to Caffeine? How to Detox without Withdrawals

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Are You Addicted to Caffeine?

Do you stumble out of bed and head straight to your coffee pot? Do you even have a timer set so it’s ready and waiting for you?

Do you need a little pick-me-up mid morning and hit the Tim Hortons drive thru?

Or mid-afternoon, do you find yourself reaching for a soda (or worse, an energy drink) to give you enough energy to get you through the rest of your day?

These are some not-too-subtle signs that your body is relying on caffeine as an energy source – both physically and mentally.

Caffeine can wreak havoc on your adrenal system and depending on the source of your caffeine, can affect your cardiovascular system and digestion, not to mention your sleep habits.

You may also know it’s time to curb your intake of caffeine if you notice…

• you need more and more to feel its effects
• your consumption levels are ever increasing
• you are starting to notice that your nerves are jumpy or you are not feeling like yourself
• you feel fluttering in your chest or differences in your breathing
• extra urination and symptoms of dehydration
• if you have a headache or other uncomfortable symptoms if you don’t have caffeine

So how do you reduce or eliminate your intake of caffeine without serious withdrawals?

Everyone’s body reacts differently when they come off of caffeine. As it is classified as a drug,  it is important to treat this as a serious issue and make sure your withdrawal is limited and your transition out of its clutches is gentle.

Some people may decide to go cold turkey, but that definitely tends to cause headaches and other terrible symptoms that may leave you out of commission for up to 3 or 4 days.

It would be best to slowly reduce your intake until you either bring it back down to a more controllable level or remove it from your life altogether.

For the first week, reduce your consumption by 25%. So if you’re having 4 coffees (or whatever your caffeine source is) per day, try to have just 3. Do this for a week and notice any changes.

For the second week, again reduce your consumption by 25% – so just have 2 coffees per day.

And for the third week, reduce another 25% and have just 1 coffee per day.

For the fourth week, you can continue to reduce your intake by having a coffee every other day or if you feel like you are back in control, one per day is a much better amount.

Be sure to supplement your eliminated cup of coffee with another liquid – either warm water with cinnamon and lemon squeezed into it or a caffeine-free tea, so you do not feel deprived of the relaxation of enjoying something warm in your hands that tastes lovely and feels comforting.

While you are making this major life change, it is incredibly important to support your body with added vitamins and nutrients during this time.

Load up on the plant based meals and add as many extra fruit and vegetables into your day as you can. This will help to rebuild your body and support your reduced caffeine intake by offering a real energy source. If your body is fed properly with abundant sources of real nutrition, it will stop craving external energy sources, such as caffeine to get your through the day.

If you have any questions about reducing your caffeine intake and supporting your body through this change, talk to your natural health practitioner.