Fives tips and little known tricks to a healthy life…

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, therapist, holistic practioner, or a diagnostician. I am a writer who spins magical tales by moonlight and talks to trees whenever she can. I have never been trained by a professional healer, though I have known several and am currently being treated by one. 

  During this current life, I have dealt with – and still deal with – various health issues in my family. Thankfully, I was blessed with an aunt who turned me on to natural healing and the damage man has done to the environment. Over the years, I have accumulated an ever-evolving storehouse of information to help combat what I’ve been faced with. Now, at Alura’s suggestion, I am happy to share a few of them through these articles. Please remember, these are only suggestions. Several of them I ahve learned from certified hollistic practitioners, but please try to do your own research and use your own discernment and common sense. I also recommend finding your own naturopathic physician and receiving a customized plan for making any dietary changes, just incase there are other hidden issues that must be resolved first.  

  We are regularly told of the dangers of becoming too acidic; and yes, it’s true that most people (Americans inparticular) are too acidic. However, rarely are we told that there is such a thing as being too alkaline, as well. In order for the body to function optimally, it must be balanced. The human body is healthiest when you maintain a reading of 7.9 on the Ph scale. However, being a vegan, I learned that it is easy for us to become too alkaline. Citrus, veggies, and alkaline water all push the body too far to the right (alkaline) side of the scale. Certain types of viruses, rashes, hives, and even a few cancers thrive in environments that are either too alkaline or too acidic. The best and simplest cure, believe it or not, is apple cider vinegar. 

  Apple cider vinegar tends to balance people who are leaning too far to one end of the scale or the other. If you are on a plant-based diet or are vegetarian, I highly recommend adding this ingredient to your diet – you don’t have to change a thing! The only brand we trust is Bragg’s, which you can also find online. I put a tiny bit of the mother on our burgers, hashbrowns, sausages, and salads. It balances the Ph of the body and enhances the taste of the meal at the same time. If you are sensitive to the smell or taste (I was raised on it so I’m far more used to working with this gift from Nature than most people), you can buy the Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar Drinks. We love the concord grape! For vegans especially, I’d recommend drinking six ounces of this drink a day if possible. You can find it on Amazon, Vitacost, or here on their website.

  Years ago, we tried incorporating the Bloodtype Diet into our lifestyle. While it certainly improved our lives, it still felt as if something wasn’t quite right. Our bodies were looking for something a bit different. That was when I and my family first began working with Alura. She was the one who encouraged us, through the lifecoaching, to go vegan – and we’ve never regretted it. However, the Bloodtype Diet is still a good place for many people to start if they want to improve their health enough to make bigger changes later on.

  As Alura has said, feeding the blood is one of the first steps to healing the body because the blood feeds everything else. If the blood is not healthy, the body can not be healthy. My recommendation for this type of diet is not to force yourself to eat any huge portions. Even cutting down the smaller recommended portions when you’re starting out can make the transition much more pleasant. As vegans and animal activists, we personally don’t consume any dead flesh. However, we have developed our very own “vegan bloodtype diet”, which I can do a separate article on if anyone is  interested in how we pull it off. (It’s not easy! And we’re always improving.)

  Here are links to Dr. D’Adamo’s Bloodtype Diet resources. Personally, I like to order his books from my library’s online catalogue and pick them up at my local branch. It doesn’t cost a cent and is an easy way to begin.

– Scents and Essential Oils
“Ah, the smells! The smells!” This is usually the reaction you’ll see whenever I’m exposed to natural products that contain essential oils. However, beware: not all essential oils are essential oils. A large number – if not the majority – of oils labeled as “essential” that you can buy in stores are very poor-grade products that are little more than perfume scents. Others are poluted or poorly grown. The good stuff is higher priced for a reason. As someone who has worked with essential oils, I can personally attest to this. I have bought “reasonably-priced” name brands from the store and felt absolutely no effects. However, when I have used “the good stuff”? That took the healing to a whole other level. The scent of the oils alone is enough to clue you in to their effectiveness. 

  How do you smell essential oils for the first time? No, you do not open the bottle and wafe it under your nose. Never do that! The sense of smell, like all other senses, is intricately linked to the nervous system – and the brain. Holding the bottle directly under your nose will shock the nervous system. Instead, unscrew the cap and wave it in the air in front of your face so that you get a faint scent that gradulally grows stronger. This gives your body time to adjust to the new experience. Then, smell the cap. If the oil on the cap has evaporated (essential oils to evaporate fairly quickly), then you can wave the bottle several inches away from your nose, slowly drawing it closer if need be.

  Growing up, I learned that if you want to promote weight loss or even just maintain your ideal weight, the perfect time to exercise is first thing in the morning before breakfast. It kickstarts your day, burns fat more quickly, raises the metabolism, and oxygenates the blood. I have kept up this tradition and can tell you it deffinately works. Exercise lifts your mood and raises your energy. Your morning helps set the tone for the rest of your day. Even if your day takes a bad turn, that positive energy helps counteract it. 

  If you think you can’t motivate yourself to try morning exercise, try this simple trick: open the windows. The second you are out of bed – even before you brush your teeth – open as many windows as possible, no matter what the weather is doing. Airing out the house changes the energy of the house and everyone in it. When your are in a closed environment, your energy becomes stagnant. Letting the outside in not only wakes you up but immediately boosts your energy by getting things moving faster. Once the windows are open, start streatching. You don’t have to be able to do splits or complicated yoga poses; just do what you can while breathing deeply. Before you know it, you’ll be wide awake and ready to tackle the rest of your day.

  The funny thing about commiting to a fitness routine is that if you do a little the first day, you suddenly find you can do more the second day. Another thing I highly recommend is to take a look at the places you drive to every day. Do you really have to drive there? If it is a block or two away, walk instead. Your body can pull a surprisingly large amount of vitamin D from the atmosphere just by walk around outside. Remember, cancer patients suffer from extremely low levels of vitamin D. Even a ten minute walk around the neighborhood can do wonders for you, and being out in nature actually helps heal cells in the body. Even in the 1940’s the main treatment for cancer was not radiation; it was a change of diet and exercise in the fresh air. I have known people whose parents had cancer in the ’30’s and ’40’s and went on to live wonderful lives. Yet suddenly, the medical profession doesn’t have a cure? My own holistic doctor also works with people suffering from various hard-core illnesses. What does he prescribe? Meditate, eat organic, exercise, get outside, cut out technology and t.v. as much as possible. Alura recommends the same thing. Take it from me – it works!