October 2010

In This Issue

Nutrition Tip – Breathe read more...
Featured Recipe – Field Greens with a Variety of Fruit, Nuts and Other Goodies read more...
Featured Article – Count Your Blessings read more...
Tools to Create a More Balanced Life – Two targeted home-study programs read more...
Get to Balance read more...
Looking for a Speaker? read more...
New at Seeds To Change Featured CD – An Introduction to Meditation read more...
Quote of the Month    Gratitude   read more...

Nutrition Tip

Breathe You might wonder what this has to do with nutrition.  If you had ever eaten anything because of stress (and who hasn’t?) you know that there is a multitude of other solutions to stress.  Try breathing.  Before delving into that third donut of the morning or that bag of chips in the afternoon try taking a few minutes to sit quietly and take a few breathes.    

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Featured Recipe

This would be a great addition to any holiday celebration.  If you are bringing a dish to an event bring a healthy one – then you’ll know there is at least one balanced option.

Field Greens with a Variety of Fruit, Nuts and Other Goodies (Serves 4)

Mixed Field greens, washed and dried and ripped into bite-sized pieces

2 pears, cut in bite-sized pieces

6 figs, cut in quarters

1 / 2 cup pomegranate seeds

1 / 2 cup spiced-sweet pecans (recipe below)

Goat cheese cut in small pieces (optional)

Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper

Mix greens fruit, seeds and nuts (and goat cheese if using it.)  Sprinkle with olive oil and toss to coat.  Sprinkle with vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper; gently toss to mix.

This is recipe from my wonderful friend Carrie – who I recently had a pleasure of spending some time with as she visited from LA.

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Featured Article

Count your Blessings   by Valerie Reiss

Thank you – Chances are you say it often and automatically – to friends, family, colleagues, baristas, store clerks and even strangers.  It’s part of the background hum of polite society.  But how regularly do you really see and celebrate the little gifts you’re receiving – a glass of water, a hub, a ride, a smile – and count them as blessings?

Well, it turns out to be tremendously helpful – not to mention healthful – if you do.  Recent studies show that the benefits of gratitude ay include less stress, more joy, enhanced vitality, improved sleep, faster recovery from illness, more fulfilling relationships and a deeper sense of spiritual connection.

Gratitude works because it recruits other positive emotions – like joy, contentment and hope – that have direct physical benefits,” says Robert Emmons, Ph D, a physiology professor at the University of California, Davis and author of Thanks!  How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier.

Conscious appreciation also gives the mind a boost.  “When we actually experience gratitude, we activate the part of the brain that floors the body with feel-good hormones.” Says M J Ryan, author of Attitudes of Gratitude “It helps dampen the stress response.”

And yet, after a hard day, most of us tend to kvetch more that appreciate.  “we’re naturally more likely to put attention on what upsets us; it’s just the human condition,” says psychotherapist and guided-imagery pioneer Belleruth Naparstek.  But worry not, woe-is-meites:  Studies show that gratitude is a habit – as learnable as flossing.  Try these tested ways to give thanks.

Keep a gratitude journal  One of the most effective ways to cultivate appreciation is to write daily in a gratitude journal. In Emmon’s studies, people who make simple list of what they’re thankful for are 25 percent happier, sleep half an hour more per night and exercise 33 percent more each week than those who don’t.  Each evening, replay your day, recalling everyday pleasures, find gestures, positive interactions, personal talents and beautiful sights that filled it. “Take a moment to really savor or relish these gifts, think about their value, and then write them down,” says Emmons.  “Do this every day, even every few days, and you will soon reap the rewards of grateful living.  Focusing on gratitude leads to having more to be grateful about.”

Express yourself It’s also important to share your gratitude with its sources.  “we forget to tell that friend we’re grateful for her,”  says Mary Beth Sammons, co-author of Living Life as a Thank You. “If you really articulate why you’re grateful, it’s contagious.  She feels really good and starts telling other people he’s grateful, so it becomes this force.” Be specific – and consider delivering handwritten thanks.  “Even a simple note that says, “Thank you very must of taking in my newspaper when I was on vacation,” is powerful,” she says.

See a bigger picture  Grateful people spot the positive without denying pain.  “Gratitude is an and experience,” explains Ryan.  “You may be having trouble at work, finances may not be so good, and you receive blessings every day.”  This insight struck her when her father was dying of emphysema.  “ I was watching him just trying to breathe, and finally the works blurted out: ‘Dad, is your life worth living?’  He said, ‘I like to watch the ballgame on TV.  I like to read the comics in the newspaper.  Sometimes it’s easier to take a breathe than other times.  My life is good.’  That’s the practice of gratitude,” Ryan says.

Celebrate Thanksgiving every day Many family do a round of “What I’m Grateful For” at Thanksgiving dinner, but Ryan’s family doe sit every night.  “It creates a connection between the people at the table,” she says.  It can also connect us to our food when we’re thankful for its journey to our plates – form the sun and rain to the farmer to whoever bought and cooked it.  “If you actually allow yourself to experience that,” says Ryan, “then of course you eat in a different way.”

From November, 2010 Natural Health Magazine

Another great, related resource – 365 Ways to Give Thanks – One for Every Day of the Year – by Brenda Shashanna

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Tools to Create a More Balanced Life

Two targeted home study programs available --

Here is the ultimate at-home support for creating physical change! A vibrant collection of audios and workbooks take you on a step-by-step journey to success.

They are so thorough, it’s almost like I am in the room with you!  Since they are self-guided you can work at your own pace.

Available topics:

• Healthy Weight Loss                        An eight week program to help you get a

handle on your weight

For more information or to order visit: http://www.seedstochange.com/item.asp?id=83&cat=10

• Detoxifying Cleanse Program         This complete  program guides you through

a week-long internal cleanse at home.

For more information or to order visit: http://www.seedstochange.com/item.asp?id=86&cat=10

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Get to Balance –How will you bring more balance to your life?  How about a healthier, more balanced life plan?

Are your health concerns impeding you from living life fully? Do you want to change your relationship with food from the inside out? Are you seeking deep seeded balance and wellness?

I would eagerly welcome the opportunity to work with you on a personal level.  We can work together privately to create a customized life-long plan for you AND create the steps to incorporate those changes into your existing routines.

Through my counseling services I can help you create and maintain balance in your life by using nutrition as a focus and a tool.  To do this I look at your entire lifestyle to achieve maximum health.  This is accomplished through education and private consultations where an individualized program is developed for you.  These consultations include evaluating your current diet and overall lifestyle and then making easily implemented, gradual changes.  Additionally, you’ll receive outside information in the form of articles, books, tapes and recipes.  Also included are additional monthly forms of education and participation -- activities like cooking coaching, health food store shopping hints, light exercising functions and other activities. My practice is telephone based, allowing for maximum flexibility and ease.  

There is also an email version of my program now available. 

To learn more to go http://www.seedstochange.com/programs.asp.

To schedule an initial consultation contact me today at Brenda@SeedsToChange.com or (917) 213-9305. 

By starting today, you will; Create action NOW

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Looking for a speaker?

One of my greatest joys is speaking to groups.  It is always a dynamic exchange and we all come away enriched.  Would your company or group benefit from an entertaining, motivating speaker on how to get healthier?   If so, please let me know the name and contact information of your program coordinator so that I may send them an informational packet.  I would love the opportunity to serve your favorite group.

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New at Seeds To Change

NEW PODCAST POSTING – hear a rebroadcast of my radio show on Using Food Medicinally  We all use food medicinally but usually it’s after the fact.  We’ll look at ways to use food to support your lifestyle and other health concerns. Just click the “listen to my podcast button on my website: www.SeedsToChange.com

FEATURED CD  This month’s featured CD is—  An Introduction to Meditation

We will discuss the benefits of meditation, its powerful qualities and how it can help in so many areas of your life. We will also discuss some of the misconceptions around meditation. In a relaxing guided meditation you will see for yourself. You will leave the meditation both relaxed and energized.

To order: http://www.seedstochange.com/item.asp?id=65&cat=1

PERFECT FOR YOUR CAR LIBRARY OR A GIFT. Informative CD’s - You can lean about anything from Sugar to How to Eat Out Healthily in my new series of nutrition and lifestyle lectures on CD. Other topics include: Fasting and Cleansing, Eat for Balance and Energy, Healthy Weight Loss, Your Nutrition Questions Answered, Get out of Your Head: How To Stop the Chatter, and an Introduction to Meditation and five new titles: Sleep Issues, Water: How and Why to Drink More, Ten Top Tips for a Healthier You!, Constipation and Food Cravings. They are informative, interesting and even a little entertaining!  You can order them individually or join the CD of the month club.  To order go to http://www.seedstochange.com/category.asp?cat=1

GIFT CERTICIATES ARE AVAIABLE – Give the gift of health for any occasion.

NOW AVAILABLE --  CD OF THE MONTH CLUB  What a GREAT way to create change or to give the gift of health.  For details: http://www.seedstochange.com/item.asp?id=96&cat=1

WEBSITE: Check out my website.  It is chock-full information and resources. www.SeedsToChange.com

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Quote of the Month

Gratitude before me,

gratitude behind me

gratitude to the left of me,

gratitude to the right of me,

gratitude above me,

gratitude below me,

gratitude within me,

gratitude all around me.

            By - Angeles Arrien

I think this would make a nice daily mantra.

Please forward this newsletter to anyone and everyone that would benefit from Nutritional and Lifestyle Advice. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

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Helping you grow a happy, healthy life