Thursday, May 28, 2015

Fresh Start Morning Juice

1 Cucumber
handful Kale
4-5 handfuls Spinach
1 stalk Celery with leaves
sprig fresh Parsley

Strain after you juice. Then add 1/4 Almond milk to 3/4 juice.
My favorite way to start the day:)

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Effects Of Negative Emotions On Our Health

Here's another article I found very interesting and wanted to share with you:

Humans experience an array of emotions, anything from happiness, to sadness to extreme joy and depression. Each one of these emotions creates a different feeling within the body. After all, our body releases different chemicals when we experience various things that make us happy and each chemical works to create a different environment within the body. For example if your brain releases serotonin, dopamine or oxytocin, you will feel good and happy. Conversely, if your body releases cortisol while you are stressed, you will have an entirely different feeling associated more with the body kicking into survival mode.
What about when we are thinking negative thoughts all the time? Or how about when we are thinking positive thoughts? What about when we are not emotionally charged to neither positive nor negative? Let’s explore how these affect our body and life.

Positive vs. Negative

Is there duality in our world? Sure, you could say there is to a degree, but mostly we spend a lot of time defining and judging what is to be considered as positive and what we consider to be as negative. The brain is a very powerful tool and as we define what something is or should be, we begin to have that result play out in our world. Have you ever noticed, for example that someone driving can get cut off and lose their lid, get angry and suddenly they are feeling negative, down and in  bad mood? Whereas someone else can get cut off while driving and simply apply the brake slightly and move on with their day as if nothing happened. In this case, the same experience yet one sees it as negative while the other doesn’t. So are things innately positive and negative? Or do we define things as positive and negative?

Cut The Perceptions As Much As Possible

After thinking about it for a moment you might realize that there are in fact no positive or negative experiences other than what we define as such. Therefore our very perception of an experience or situation has the ultimate power as to how we will feel when it’s happening and how our bodies will be affected. While we can always work to move beyond our definitions of each experience and move into a state of mind/awareness/consciousness where we simply accept each experience for what it is and use it as a learning grounds for us, we may not be there yet and so it’s important to understand how certain emotions can affect our health.
“If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do away with the reasons for his illness. Only then is it possible to help him.” ~ Hippocrates

Mind Body Connection

The connection between your mind and body is very powerful and although it cannot be visually seen, the effects your mind can have on your physical body are profound. We can have an overall positive mental attitude and deal directly with our internal challenges and in turn create a healthy lifestyle or we can be in negative, have self destructive thoughts and not deal with our internal issues, possibly even cloak those issues with affirmations and positivity without finding the route and in turn we can create an unhealthy lifestyle. Why is this?
Our emotions and experiences are essentially energy and they can be stored in the cellular memory of our bodies. Have you ever experienced something in your life that left an emotional mark or pain in a certain area of your body? Almost as if you can still feel something that may have happened to you? It is likely because in that area of your body you still hold energy released from that experience that is remaining in that area. I came across an interesting chart that explores some possible areas that various emotions might affect the body.
emotional_pain_chart
Source :http://www.cforcestudio.com/resources/emotional-pain-chart
When you have a pain, tightness or injuries in certain areas, it’s often related to something emotionally you are feeling within yourself. At first glance it may not seem this way because we are usually very out of touch with ourselves and our emotions in this fast paced world, but it’s often the truth. When I’ve had chronic pains in my back, knees, neck or shoulders, it wasn’t exercise, physio or anything in a physical sense that healed it, it was when I dealt with the emotions behind it. I know this because I spent the time and money going to physio and even though I wanted and believed I would get better, something wasn’t being addressed still. The more I addressed the unconscious thought pattern and emotions throughout my body, the more things loosened up and pain went away.
When you get sick or are feeling a lot of tightness and pain, often times our body is asking us to observe yourself and find peace once again within yourself and your environment. It’s all a learning and growing process we don’t have to judge nor fear.
You Have The Power
Davis Suzuki wrote in ‘The Sacred Balance’, ‘condensed molecules from breath exhaled from verbal expressions of anger, hatred, and jealousy, contain toxins. Accumulated over 1 hr, these toxins are enough to kill 80 guinea pigs!’ Can you now imagine the harm you are doing to your body when you stay within negative emotions or unprocessed emotional experience throughout the body?
Remember, you have all the power in you to get through anything life throws at you. Instead of labeling with perception the concepts of negative and positive as it relates to each experience you have in your life, try to see things from a  big picture standpoint. Ask yourself, how can this help me to see or learn something? Can I use this to shift my perception? Clear some emotion within myself? Realize something within another and accept it? Whatever it may be, instead of simply reacting, slow things down and observe. You will find you have the tools to process emotions and illness quickly when you see them for what they are and explore why they came up. If you believe you will get sick all the time, and believe you have pain because it’s all out of your control, you will continue to have it all in an uncontrollable manner until you realize the control you have over much of what we attract within the body.
Sources:

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Chocolate A Day Raw Bars

1 1/2 c coconut oil
1/4 c almond milk
1 c organic medjool dates
1 tsp non alcohol vanilla extract or coconut(Frontier brand)
1 Tbsp chia/flax seeds
2 Tbsp sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds
1 1/2 c gluten free rolled oats
1/4 c eikhorn wheat flour or sprouted spelt
1/4 c coconut flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp real salt
1/3 c hemp seeds
8-10 Chocolate A Day, cut into chip size bits

Preheat oven 350.

Blend in Blendtec twister jar, coconut oil, dates, milk, vanilla and chia/ flax seeds set aside.

In bowl mix remaining ingredients. Then add wet ingredients to the dry mix. Spread with wooden spatula in glass pan to about 1/2 inch thick. Bake 12 minutes. Enjoy!

Loves,
Ashley

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Prayer and Meditation and Mothering

I got to read today. There was enough time to sit down, open a book and read a few pages before getting disrupted. I loved it. Because my time to read is limited I try to make it good. Today's section was the importance of prayer and meditation. The author explained the importance of personal prayer every morning and every night. How this practice can bring wholeness and balance with your creator. She goes on to explain how she had gotten distracted with the many challenges that come with balancing children and life (she is a stay-at-home mom)and she had slipped out of practice of prayer and meditation. She went to a confessional and lamented to a Fransiscan friar her struggles. His response to her I thought was so profound and tender. It really resonated with me. He told her that her very life as a mother was a prayer. When you think of that doesn't that just have a tremendous impact? When busy in the job of mothering that single act is a prayer. I am not professing that only women that have kiddos running around are the only ones mothering. I am saying the act of mothering, those that nurture and care for not only their children, but also others are actually engaged in sacred prayer. Such a great thought. The very life as a mother is a prayer.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Try Sprouts

Try Sprouting. You can get great tray sprouters at any health food store. Today we put mung beans in our sprouter. You first soak your desired seeds overnight in water in the fridge and then rinse them morn and night for 2-3 days until they sprout. You can sprout all kinds of seeds and grains. We love to sprout our wheat for mana bread, sun seeds, quinoa, sunflower and there is also a good multi seed bean mix you can buy. Sprouting adds 10 times the nutrient value. We love to snack on them and put them in our salads, soups and just as a side dish.


Another great grab snack we make sure to have is soaked almonds in the fridge. By soaking your almonds you increase the Oxygen content making them easier to digest. You can also make spreads, sauces and dressings with them. Many recipes in all the Ph Miracle books and the Back to the House of Health books.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Coconut Creme Broccoli Soup

1 onion diced
3 Cups org Broccoli
8-10 C Veggie Broth (I make my own with my dehydrated veggies in the vita mix)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tsp Herbs de Provence (Spice Hunter)
1/2 can organic coconut milk

Saute onion and chopped up broccoli stalks in 4 tbsp coconut oil for 5 minutes on low. Add Broth, broccoli florets and spices, simmer on low for 10- 15 minutes. Transfer half the soup to the vita mix, blend and then add back into the soup. Last add the coconut milk. 

We like to serve this with diced avocados,and sprouted tortillas with coconut oil and salt.

Bon Apetit