What You Think About, You Bring About!

 I had lived thirty something years and never thought about this concept until I started to do some professional growth evolving as an entrepreneur. Wow, this is the most important sentence to live by EVERY day! If you wake up thinking your day is going to suck, and is going to be hard, guess what? It is! 

Here’s a scenario to prove it. Have you ever gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, and then things just start happening…like, you stub your toe heading down the hall way. This sets you off to become even more grumpy, and 20 minutes later, you spill your coffee down the front of you while driving. Now your furious! Then, you get stuck behind the slowest driver ever, or a school bus on the “local” route. To top it off, as you walk to your office, you drop your cell phone and the screen smashes into a million cracks.

Yup, this is the law of attraction.  The more you focus on the negative and the annoying mishaps of your day, the more you attract mishaps!  I chuckle as I write this, because this kind of thing has happened to me a lot. Now, I just blow it off. I’ll literally start to laugh after the coffee in the car spills and say, ok Megan, let’s get happy, you’re going to have an amazing day, and I’ll start to sing out loud to a song on the radio.

I try to instill this concept with my children.  My 6-year-old daughter finds reading difficult. As she does, hoola hooping, and cartwheels, jump roping and many other 6 year old tasks. So, one summer day, I got her so pumped, so excited about the fact that SHE was the determining factor of her success!! She was floored. I said, If you tell yourself you are the best hoola hooper ever, you will be. If you say you will throw a ten on hopscotch you will. If you want to jump rope 3 times consecutively, then believe it will happen and it will. Her excitement and belief was palpable. And just like that, she threw a ten, jumped rope 3 times, and hoola hooped for a good minute straight. 

Call it what you will, but by my estimation is, what she thought about, she brought about.

So, go conquer your next thing…., because you can!

Vitamin D deficiency: a worldwide problem with health consequences

Vitamin D deficiency is now recognized as a pandemic!

If you shun the sun, suffer from milk allergies, or adhere to a strict vegan diet, you may be at risk for vitamin D deficiency. Known as the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D is produced by the body in response to skin being exposed to sunlight. It is also occurs naturally in a few foods -- including some fish, fish liver oils, and egg yolks -- and in fortified dairy and grain products.

Vitamin D is essential for strong bones, because it helps the body use calcium from the diet deformities. Increasingly, research is revealing the importance of vitamin D in protecting against a host of health problems.

Symptoms and Health Risks of Vitamin D Deficiency

Symptoms of bone pain and muscle weakness can mean you have a vitamin D deficiency. However, for many people, the symptoms are subtle. Yet, even without symptoms, too little vitamin D can pose health risks. Low blood levels of the vitamin have been associated with the following:

         Increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease

         Cognitive impairment in older adults

         Severe asthma in children

         Cancer

Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of different conditions, including type1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis.

Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency can occur for a number of reasons:

You don't consume the recommended levels of the vitamin over time. This is likely if you follow a strict vegan diet, because most of the natural sources are animal-based, including fish and fish oils, egg yolks, cheese, fortified milk, and beef liver.

Your exposure to sunlight is limited. Because the body makes vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, you may be at risk of deficiency if you are homebound, or have an occupation that prevents sun exposure

Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency

Treatment for vitamin D deficiency involves getting more vitamin D -- through diet and supplements. Although there is no consensus on vitamin D levels required for optimal health -- and it likely differs depending on age and health conditions -- a concentration of less than 20 nanograms per milliliter is generally considered inadequate, requiring treatment.

Guidelines from the Institute of Medicine increased the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin D to 600 international units (IU) for everyone ages 1-70, and raised it to 800 IU for adults older than age 70 to optimize bone health. The safe upper limit was also raised to 4,000 IUs.

If you don't spend much time in the sun or always are careful to cover your skin (sunscreen inhibits vitamin D production), you should speak to your doctor about taking a vitamin D supplement, particularly if you have risk factors for vitamin D deficiency.

Article Sources

SOURCES:

Institute of Medicine: "Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and vitamin D."

Office of Dietary Supplements: "Dietary Supplement Sheet: Vitamin D."

Melamed M. Archives of Internal Medicine, August 2008.

News release, Peninsula Medical School News.

WebMD Health News: "Low Vitamin D Linked to Severe Asthma."

Garland C.F.  Annals of Epidemiology, July 2009.

MedlinePlus: "25-hydroxy Vitamin D Test."

Harvard School of Public Health: "Vitamin D: How Much Is Enough?"

Michael F Holick and Tai C Chen

Are you eating your Superfruits?

Superfruits are known to have amazing health benefits because of their high nutritional content, their antioxidant value, or their ability to prevent certain medical conditions.  Because of this, it is highly recommended that everyone try to incorporate these fruits into their diets whenever possible. Not every fruit qualifies. Only those deemed "super" by nutrition scientists are packed with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and other nutrients that can help you live longer, look better and even prevent disease.  Some popular super fruits include:

Apples    
Surprise, Surprise!  Yes an apple a day does keep the Dr. Away!  Apples are a great fiber source, but the skin contains quercetin, an antioxidant that packs antihistamine and anti-inflammatory power, and therefore may help protect you from heart disease and possibly allergic reactions.

Avocados

You bet, that this is a Superfruit (remember, fruits have seeds, vegetables don't). Packed with monounsaturated fat and fatty acids, avocados can help lower LDL (bad cholesterol) levels while raising the amount of good cholesterol in your body. The healthy fats in avocados also promote the absorption of other carotenoids -- especially beta-carotene and lycopene -- which are essential for heart health.

Blueberries
Researchers have found that Blueberries are known to be an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and manganese, and at the same time, contain very high levels of antioxidants. Because of several studies that link blueberries to improved brain function, they are also believed to be highly beneficial in the fight against Alzheimer's. Also Blueberries are a great source of vitamin E and an excellent source of dietary fiber.

Bananas
Stop monkeying around and get serious about Bananas!  Ever grab a snack but then feel hungry again 20 minutes later? Next time, reach for a banana. This Superfruit is loaded with potassium, which can lower your blood pressure.  A banana is one of the best sources of Resistant Starch, which is a healthy carb that fills you up and helps to boost your metabolism.


Cranberries
Cranberries have vitamin C and fiber, and are only 45 calories per cup. In disease-fighting antioxidants, cranberries outrank nearly every fruit and vegetable with the exception of Blueberries.
These tart little berries are Superfruits, but especially for women. They may prevent urinary-tract infections, and might help fight a far scarier disease: ovarian cancer.


Pomegranates
They are known to be high in vitamin C, vitamin B5, and potassium and have been used for thousands of years in traditional medicines. This superfruit is believed to combat such ailments as Alzheimerís and other neurodegeneration, heart disease, eye strain, and diabetes.

There are many other super fruits available that you can choose from.   Each one contains a wide range of vitamins and nutrients. To reap the most benefits it is important to include a variety of these Superfruits in your regular diet.

Sources

Web MD - http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cranberries-year-round-superfood

American Nutrition - http://www.americannutrition.com/store/superfruits_blueberry.html      http://www.americannutrition.com/store/superfruits_blueberry.html

Huffington Post - http://www.americannutrition.com/store/superfruits_blueberry.html

Are You Toxic?

Do you have frequent headaches? Bloated? Suffer from allergies? Your skin breaking out or look dull? Do you have unexplained weight gain? Do your joints and muscles often ache? Mood swings? Issues with your blood pressure or cholesterol? Always feel fatigued?  Do you have indigestion?

If you said yes to three or more of the these symptoms, you may be!

Over time, this “toxic burden” can lead to bigger problems, like obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and even neurological disorders.

Well, we take in toxins through 3 avenues: our environment, or the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the products we put on our skin, our largest organ!

A toxin is anything the body doesn’t see as beneficial, and doesn’t use as fuel. Think of yourself as a bathtub. The toxins are the water pouring in from the spout, and the drain is your elimination system (liver, kidneys, and intestines).  When the spout has toxins rushing in at a rate quicker than the drain can handle…they spill over into our vital organs, and into adipose tissue or FAT!

What Can We do?

Slow down that water spout of toxin influx by looking at the food you eat, and the products you use. These products are absorbing into your blood stream every day!

·      Eat clean. Don’t choose “low fat” food labels, eat real food, cage free eggs, organic produce, grass fed beef, lean proteins

·      Remove allergenic foods. For most people these are: Gluten, soy, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, sugar

·      Increase your nutrient intake. More anti oxidants, more low sugar type fruits like green apples and berries, and more super foods like beets, yams, and greens!

·      Support your elimination organs…milk thistle, dandelion are great to flush liver…flush your kidneys and intestine too. Drink 64 oz at least of water every day

·      Look at the labels on products! Mineral oil, parabens, sodium laurel sulfate or SLS, are Red Flags!

Be kind to your body, it’s the only one you have!