Words of Wisdom

Oh, it's been way too long.

I thought I would share some great advice about diet and exercise. It's mostly a note to MESELF!

You can find the entire article HERE.

Thank you, Dr. Mercola!


My Diet Plan—Summary of Basic Concepts

If you're still confused about what a "proper diet" is, I suggest reviewing my Insulin Diet Plan, which is designed to guide you through the dietary changes in a step-by-step fashion, moving from beginners to intermediary to advanced. When properly applied, it can improve just about anyone's health.

Following is a summary of the basic recommendations:

Limit fructose to less than 25 grams per day. Ideally, you'll also want to limit the amount of fructose from fruit to 15 grams per day, as you're likely consuming 'hidden' fructose if you eat even small amounts of processed foods or sweetened beverages
Limit or eliminate all processed foods
Eliminate all gluten, and highly allergenic foods from your diet
Eat organic foods whenever possible, preferably locally-grown
Eat at least one-third of your food uncooked (raw), or as much as you can manage
Increase the amount of fresh vegetables in your diet
Avoid artificial sweeteners of all kinds
Swap all trans fats (vegetable oils, margarine etc) for healthful fats like raw butter or coconut oil
To re-balance your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, take a high-quality omega-3 supplement, such as krill oil, and reduce your consumption of processed omega-6 fats from vegetable oils (trans fats)
Drink plenty of pure water
Optimize your vitamin D levels, either through appropriate sun exposure, a safe tanning bed, or as last resort an oral vitamin D3 supplement
Five Principles of Exercise

Getting back to exercise, variety is the name of the game. You also need to pay attention to intensity or level of difficulty. When an exercise becomes easy to complete, it's a sign you need to work a little harder and give your body a new challenge.

There are five types of exercises that will turn your peak fitness regimen into a truly comprehensive exercise plan:

Interval (Anaerobic) Training: This really is aerobic and anaerobic, but the research shows that the anaerobic phase if far more important. The BEST way to condition your heart and burn fat is NOT to jog or walk steadily for an hour. Instead, it’s to alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods. This type of exercise, known as interval training or burst type training, can dramatically improve your cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities.

Another major benefit of this approach is that it radically decreases the amount of time you spend exercising, while giving you even more benefits. For example, intermittent sprinting produces high levels of chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin within the exercising muscles. The resulting increase in fat oxidation increases weight loss. So, short bursts of activity done at a very high intensity can help you reach your optimal weight and level of fitness, in a shorter amount of time.

It also promotes the production of human growth hormone (HGH), known as “the fitness hormone,” which can help you add youthful vigor to your years, in addition to promoting weight loss and improved muscle building.
Aerobic: Jogging, using an elliptical machine, and walking fast are all examples of aerobic exercise, which will increase the amount of oxygen in your blood and increase endorphins, which act as natural painkillers. Aerobic exercise also activates your immune system, helps your heart pump blood more efficiently, and increases your stamina over time.

Just don’t make the mistake of using aerobic as your primary or only form of exercise, as you’ll forgo many of the most potent health benefits exercise has to offer if you do...
Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Pilates and yoga are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer. Even if a personal trainer is not in the cards for you right now, please watch these sample videos for examples of healthy exercise routines you can do with very little equipment and in virtually any location. Focusing on your breath and mindfulness along with increasing your flexibility is an important element of total fitness.
Stretching

~Garden of Eden~

My Office

I am going through some sort of mystical mode of non-stop synchronicity- ever since I came back from India, my life started to change. I went a few months ago, over Chinese New Year break. I found myself praying constantly whilst in India, for some reason. I am not sure, but it may have had to do with an inner longing for...something..change, really.
Well, ask and ye shall receive. You want change, hon? You got it! Things REALLY started happening after I wrote a song with my dear friend, Dereck, who lives in Wales.I've tried to write songs in the past, but I could never, ever FINISH them! This is the first song I've ever finished. I wrote the words, and Dereck wrote the music (and he helped me change a few awkward lyrics). I haven't heard the music yet, I am waiting for Dereck to send me a demo and backing track. I will post a link here when I record it! :-)
I had been so unhappy for so long- maybe not unhappy, but dissatisfied- because I hadn't figured out a plan or vision for what I wanted to DO with my life!
After completing the song, without revealing too many personal details, I realized that I was looking for satisfaction from without, rather from within. Since finishing the song, I realized that the REAL problem was, I hadn't found a dream! Happy Talk, the song from South Pacific kept ringing in my ears after finishing the song:"You've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come TRUE?" I realized that I wasn't following my HEART.
So....
I told Sujoy (my husband) that I was thinking of becoming a doc of Chinese medicine, and that I wanted to go to a wonderful school in San Diego.
He was adamantly opposed to the idea. He doesn't ever want to live in the US again! At first I was angry, but then I saw his point. There is no work there for him, really. I certainly can't teach either...the schools are in a state of chaos now.
SO, I thought, ok, I will go get my Master's in English as a Second Language. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
:(

THEN, we went to a wonderful flower market to start a container garden. After we bought the flowers, Sujoy brought me to this little organic health food shop where he's been going every morning recently to get this really healthy green drink.
I loved the shop- and bought lots of organic produce there and loved the drink too.
A few days later, we had the conversation again about where we are going to live, etc once Anjoli graduates.
He said, "I saw how excited you were at the health food store. Why don't we buy some land and start an organic farm, then have a Leisure Farm/eco tourist spot where people can getaway from the city and chill out."

So, we are going to start buying land very soon! Sujoy came across this fantastic documentary called: One Man, One Cow, One Planet. It was a such an inspiring movie about a bio-dynamic farmer from New Zealand named, Peter Proctor. He is nearly 80 years old, and he has dedicated his life to bio-dynamic farming. He has moved to India and works with farmers there. I think everyone on the planet needs to watch this fascinating movie. So, anyway, I’ve decided to take on-line courses in bio-dynamic agriculture through a school in England. It starts in January of 2012.

Sujoy finding that movie was incredibly cosmic. I don’t believe in accidents anymore…

Another source of inspiration happened when I received 2 dvds that I had ordered. A few months ago, I learned that a friend in San Diego had to have surgery to have his colon removed. I KNEW that there was a very good chance that he could avoid that surgery, if he followed the Gerson Therapy. I sent him 2 documenteries, along with Charlotte Gerson's latest book.
He was completely blown away, but instead of giving the stuff back to me, he sent it to his brother in Texas who has MS.
Gerson heals MOST degenerative diseases, including cancer.

The 2 dvds are called The Beautiful Truth and the Gerson Miracle.
You can stream the Gerson Miracle for $5 on their website:www.gerson.org

I had to order all the material again then, and I FINALLY watched them a few weeks ago.


I was SO inspired by Charlotte, after seeing the movies. She was my mentor. I worked for the Gerson Insitute for a few years in the late 90s. I spent hundreds of hours learning from her, because I used to answer email inquiries- that and writing articles- those 2 things were the bulk of my job...oh and research (ie reading constantly). I also spoke to hundreds of people who did the therapy, and learned so much from them! I learned that even those who just followed the diet and drank the freshly made juices and coffee enemas healed themselves from diseases like MS. People who had migraines ONLY did the coffee enemas, and it got rid of their migraines, which are in most cases a problem of toxicity. The coffee enema stimulates the liver to release toxins from the liver. They are VERY safe.The only doc who has cured anyone of pancreatic cancer is Dr. Gerson. You can see a recovered pancreatic cancer patient in the movies.




I am writing a book about my experience with brain surgery and how I healed afterward! It's called: Garden of Eden: An American's Journey of Healing in Taiwan.
My goal is to finish it by my 50th birthday - Aug. 17, 2012!


A few months ago, I watched a video of Roger Daltrey (I think it was a video) talking about the teens at the Teenage Cancer Trust. He just REALLY REALLY impressed me so much- how he is so hands on, down to earth, just a great big LOVE. He is one of my heros, to be honest, and so is Charlotte Gerson, who is Dr. Gerson's daughter - she carried on his work when the medical establishment did all they could to suppress his work and miraculous accomplishments.


Since I have been doing so much research for my book, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to share my knowledge and experience with holistic health with the teens Roger helps via The Teenage Cancer Trust. I contacted the Education Department there, and they are very excited about my idea! So, I am writing a “Wellness Manual” for them. They want to meet me! I am thrilled. I would love to lecture at the clinics, and perhaps do workshops with them. We’ll see. (I do realize that the information I share cannot be about how to follow the Gerson Therapy, as it is not accepted in mainstream medicine. But, I am clever, I will present only information that is universally accepted and validated by mainstream medicine!).


My hubby doesn’t know this (YET- he thinks I am a bit crazy!), but what I REALLY want to do is set up a Healing Center on our Eco-farm! I want people with degenerative diseases to go there, and I will teach them about nutrition and healing. I already have gone through the Gerson Practitioner Training when I worked for Gerson, but I want to do it again in the next few years. This has been a dream of mine for a LONG time. Now I can see that it may become a reality.


It feels so good to follow my BLISS. It’s been a wonderful ride! Who knows where this road will take me?