Do It Now : Personal Growth

Colds and Flu? Heck NO!

If you're in the southern hemisphere where I am, you might already be seeing ads on tv trumpeting about cold and flu season. What a hard sell!

Remember that your mind is your most powerful protector. If you expect to get ill, or believe that you are constantly threatened by a virus or cold, you surely will get one. Appreciate the health you have, and expect to become healthier over time. Advertising pushes the notion of a cold and flu season, which mentally prepares you for illness.

Instead, anticipate the joys of winter than you will enjoy in good health.

(Yes, we do have snow in Australia, but this is not it)

 Of course, you have to also take care of your body. Here are a few tips to help strengthen your immunity and make you more virus resistant. Do them all, and unless you have existing health problems, you should sail through winter with smiles. These tips might even help put some of those existing problems to rest. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

First, get enough sleep at night, and enough rest as you need it. This is a priority. If you don’t do it, you are not allowing your body to recover from daily wear and tear, and thereby weaken your immune system

Second, take a calmer, more positive attitude to life. Even a minute of stress or anger can decrease your immunity by 50%. When you catch yourself being negative or stressed, stop right there, take three deep, slow breaths, and ask yourself what action you can take to make the situation better, rather than just feeling bad about it.

Correct your body pH. Microbes thrive in an acidic inner environment, but cannot survive in a pH balanced one. Most of the foods we eat tend to promote acidity. Eat more raw vegetables and fruits every day…not bottled juices, though fresh juices are fine. Make a big bowl of grated or chopped vegetables, including broccoli and deep green vegetables. Throw in a handful of chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds for protein and essential fatty acids. Take the juice of 1/2 a lemon (not bottled juice) daily in your salad dressing or in a glass of water.

Get more oxygen into your cells. Microbes also thrive in an oxygen-depleted body, and if you don’t do much outdoor exercise, stress a lot, and sit most of the  day, you are probably oxygen depleted.

Breathe more deeply throughout the day, and morning and night, stand outside in the fresh air and take 5 deep slow breaths as you circle your arms: raise your arms to the sides and above your head with each inhale, and down in front of your body with each exhale. This also helps correct your pH.

Flush out toxins before they can accumulate in your tissues and body fat (their favourite hiding places). Get at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise a day. Jump on a trampoline; walk briskly or jog. Swimming would be good but pool chlorine is a toxin so, you’re really adding more toxins.

Drink at least 6 large glasses of filtered or natural spring water a day (not tap water), and do the deep breathing exercise.

Support your immune system. You might want to take a vitamin c supplement, perhaps 1-2 gms (not mg), and a tonic, such as Floradix or Olive Leaf tonic…talk to your health food store naturopath about which might be best.

Finally, my dears, remember that your mind is your most powerful protector. If you expect to get ill, or believe that you are constantly threatened by a virus or cold, you surely will get one. Appreciate the health you have, and expect to become healthier over time. Advertising pushes the notion of a cold and flu season, which mentally prepares you for illness. Instead, anticipate the joys of winter that you will enjoy in good health.

(My son taking the little chickadees for a stroll in misty, wonderful New Zealand).

© This post is under Copyright to Tosca Zraikat, 2009. You are welcome to use this article on the condition that you reference this blogsite as your source. If you wish to contact the author, please doitnow@dodo.com.au

Tosca's 1 Month health plan - Start from Here

Laying the Groundwork:

A health plan is sort of like planning a trip. You need to know where you want to go, and have some idea of how you're going to get there.  To know that, you must know where you are starting from, where you are right now.

Here's where I'm at now, healthwise.

Not as Healthy or Energetic As I would Like

First, let me make clear that I am much healthier than I was ten years ago, and I haven't had to see a doctor for the last 6 years.  But lately, I am feeling more tired than usual, and don't seem to have the energy I had just a month ago. My body aches more often. It feels weak and stiff, even though I do exercise it (sort of). Just sitting down on the ground and getting up are huge undertakings now, and not at all gracefully done.

No. Don't tell me it's age. A person doesn't suddenly age over a fortnight or so, and besides, if a 70 year old can swim the English channel, well......what should a 61 year old be able to do?

Yet I just feel so weak these days, and by early afternoon I can become so totally drained that I need coffee of a nap just to keep my brain from fizzing out. In fact, I noticed that I become so fatigued that I have no patience for anything, and start snapping around me. Or my brain turns all spacey, as though by mind has switched off, and sometimes, I become dizzy...not too good when I'm driving little ones around.

I've also noticed that part of my intestines feel blocked and inflamed after meals, especially if I eat any meat at all, and bread, which I used to eat without any trouble, now gives me heartburn. These are signs of food allergies, and I know allergies only develop if the immune system has been weakened.

I get a particular rustiness and tightness in my throat when my immunity's down; I have it now.  And if I needed a further sign that my immune system needs help, I noticed a mouth ulcer yesterday, nothing as serious as I had for years after chemotherapy, but a little warning nevertheless.

What I Do Now

Exercise - I intend to walk daily but really, I walk for about 30 minutes and do about 20 minutes gentle yoga perhaps 3-4 times a week, sometimes less, sometimes more. My now wild garden is evidence that I give it far too little attention, just enough to keep my lemon and lime shrubs producing fruit, and to keep my herbs alive.

Most of my day, however, is spent writing at the computer or reading. I have hundreds of books, and I still have not read some of them. I prefer non-fiction but I do relish a good novel. I just finished a lovely quiet story, 'The Madonnas of Leningrad', not as moving as 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things', but quite beautiful. I also watch television now and then. Clearly, I live a deplorably sedentary life.

Food - I eat sporadically, and often forget to eat, which makes me ravenous later. If my grandchildren are over, I will usually eat what they eat, and sometimes, especially the days that I've been at work and don't feel like cooking, that means (I'm embarrassed to say it) fast food.  (I have a weakness for KFC and sometimes, I succumb to the aroma that wafts to my car as I go home). Oh well.

Most days, my diet is roughly -
 - about 1/4 grains (quinoa, oats, brown rice, organic pasta, sometimes crusty bread) or potatoes
- about 1/8 animal protein (meat, chicken, fish, eggs) About once a month, KFC
- about 1/8 lentils, beans, peas
- about 1/4 vegetables, mostly raw, sometimes cooked
- 1/8 fruit, usually 1 a day
- 1/8 snacks - cheese (oh I love the stuff!), olives, nuts, nut bars and sweets (ice cream, arabic sweets, sometimes, cake or cookies)
add to that a daily average of  2 tblsp fats (olive oil and butter) (triple that if I'm having KFC, cheese or icecream)
- perhaps 3 glasses water, strong black coffee (usually 1cup a day, rarely two) and strong black tea

Not too bad overall, but not the best. I'm not sure if I'm being entirely honest with this, though. Some days I just eat cheese and olives for dinner. Now and then, crusty bread and butter. Oh, my mouth's watering.

Rest and recovery - Most nights, I sleep around 7 hours, which used to be more than enough. Now, I try for 8 but function best on 9 hrs, though I rarely get it. My sleep has been very restless of late, and I wake up 2-3 times a night, perhaps because my new bed is much higher off the ground than I'm used to. I find sleeping close to the ground calming and ...mentally grounding.

About every two days or so, I make time to meditate or do deep relaxation for 30 minutes or so. This is my time to still an overactive mind and get into touch with my inner self. Without it, I tend to be more careless about my health, and I am easily thrown off balance. When I live too much on the surface I lose my 'natural sweetness'  (someone said I had lots of it, and I like the sound of it. Some might strongly disagree).

So here I am, at the starting point, which is my present. Photos for my starting point will uploaded later, when I get some. I'll post my chosen destination, where I want to end up healthwise, after I give it a little more thought.

Last night, as I floated off the sleep, I asked myself, 'Why on earth are you doing this? Do you really want to make your health issues and private life public?' Moments of anxiety. But the answer is Yes. Here I am dispensing all sorts of health advice from a distance, and with that, I think, comes a certain responsibility to stand behind what I write, to live what I preach. Which I more or less do. But if I really want you to trust what I write, I must demonstrate my commitment to it.

That's what I'm trying to do, to show that I believe in my body's ability to heal itself if I just give it the basic care it needs to flourish, and in the power of thought to create my physical and mental experience. Want to try it for yourself? Climb on board.

Tosca

 

Tosca's 1 Month to Radiant Health Plan

I've been feeling rather tired of late, and there is that tightness in my throat that I always get when my immune system is a bit low. No, I won't rush off to my doctor for tests, or even to my naturopath. I'll take care of this on my own.

Instead, I am planning a little one-month experiment, a single-person study to find out just how a mostly raw food diet and a reasonable amount of exercise will benefit me.

And I intend to document every step of this little experiment for you. I hope in this way to demonstrate that the building blocks of health are few and simple:

What you take in

What you take out

How you nurture yourself

I'll tell you exactly what I do, even what I'm thinking and feeling, so if you are feeling bodacious...whatever that means, I just love the word...you can join me. The more the merrier. We can tell each other what's happening, and ask for support when our motivation and commitment is flagging.

That's all for now. I'll start as soon as I take photos of myself (this weekend) now to compare with myself a month later. No, I will not undress for the camera! This is definitely not the 'biggest loser'.

cheers

Tosca

Drug Alert - Deadly Vaccine given to thousands of school girls

Somehow,governments and medical establishments in several countries have been convinced to vaccinate thousands of school girls and young women with the cervical cancer vaccine, GARDASIL. Thousands of girls have already been vaccinated...despite serious concerns over its safety.

Here are some statistics on this lethal drug from the National Vaccine Information Centre, reported in Feb 2009.    You'll be horrified.

As of Nov 30, 2008, the vaccine caused:

5, 021 Emergency room visits
2, 017 Did not recovers (ie. permanent adverse effects)
29 Deaths
261 Disabled

These included 9 cardiac arrests (remember that the drug is widely promoted for 9-12 year old girls), 23 blood clots, 9 hemorrhages, 28 cases of lupus, 544 strokes, 34 cases of thrombosis.

You can find the complete report on:
http://www.nvic.org/Downloads/NVICGardasilvsMenactraVAERSReportFeb-2009u.aspx

It seems that these figures were not enough to raise alarms. Also in Feb 2009,

Stuff.co.nz  reported:

"The main introduction of the $177 million vaccination programme, which aims to immunise 300,000 Kiwi <New Zealand> schoolgirls over five years, begins this week.

The vaccine, Gardasil, has been available free to 17 and 18-year-olds since September.....

The vaccine's maker, Merck Sharp & Dohme, says it plans to apply to have Gardasil licensed for boys and men up to the age of 26 after new research showing it prevents 90 per cent of genital warts and pre-cancerous lesions in males".

Heaven forbid!

It appears that the number of deaths attributed to this deadly vaccine has now risen to 32.  Those are the deaths that have been reported. One wonders how many have been blamed on other causes. Meanwhile, here is the link to a short video warning about the dangers of Gardasil. It might be worth a few minutes of your time:   You'll have to cut and paste, since I don't know how to create links yet.

.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msoyRYSoSJk

If you are as alarmed as I am, pass this blog on to friends and family. This vaccine is still being promoted, and in some school districts, has already been made compulsory. Maybe this message will make parents stop and consider whether they consider Gardasil an acceptable risk for their children.

© This post is under Copyright to Tosca Zraikat, 2009. You are welcome to use this article on the condition that you reference this blogsite as your source. If you wish to contact the author, please doitnow@dodo.com.au

Art in Florence

 Last night, my daughter won an art show in Florence, Italy. She's modest, but I'm not. Here are some pics she emailed me.

'Medusa' to the right

Natasha, the artist below

'Jason' at bottom, the Best of Show

 

Protecting against stroke

My mother and grandmother had strokes, and while I know that our genes only express latent tendencies if the environment encourages their expression, I now take certain precautions.

Two important supplements to keep the heart and arteries healthy and clean are fish oil and coenzyme Q10. CoQ10 also helps reduce blood pressure. So I take those as supplements regularly ...well, not so regularly but most of the time.

I know I've said this before, but I also eat a cup of raw broccoli every day...raw stems and all...to clean my arteries.

Recommended dose of fish oil for stroke prevention is 1200mg of DHA plus EPA daily.

Recommended dose of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is between 50-200 mg daily.

And I can't say it enough. Lots of walking to flush out toxins and gunk and get nutrients just where they are needed.

Well,it's getting late. Off to my bowl of broccoli.

Allergy Drug Alert

Found on web at:   http://www.mongabay.com/health/medications/Carbinoxamine.html

Carbinoxamine –  found in allergy drugs - is a powerful sedative believed responsible for the deaths of 21 children under age of two. 

How much profit is a child's life worth to these drug companies?

Babies communicating with sign language

I came across an article some time ago about teaching babies to communicate via sign language. I can't put the whole thing on the blog, and unfortunately, the link is no longer active. Here's a little excerpt:

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Some experts are concerned that using sign language with an infant could take priority over parents talking to their kids. Others worry that children may not feel the need to communicate with words as quickly since they can get what they want through sign - possibly stunting the development of speech. This, however, is not the case.

Babies readily acquire symbolic gestures, and proponents of signing say it gives them a way to communicate their thoughts and needs. Because they are able to acquire the ability to express their needs early on, their mind develops a rapid interest in increasing communication. It can also reduce frustration for both parent and child.

Research into sign language for hearing infants and toddlers began in the US in 1982 with Professor's Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn. A 2005 study by the two found that when using baby sign language and talking to your baby at the same time, on average the children in the studies at 36 months were speaking at an equivalent level of non-signing 47-month-olds. So signing not only helps you communicate with your child but has also been proven to fast-forward their speaking abilities.

Sounds good, and the pictures are so cute. And really, it's just taking what mothers naturally do just a step further.

If you want the whole article, email me.

Tosca

Teach Your Child Calm

It takes time and effort to learn to still our minds, but how much easier it would be if we learned it as children….if we learned as children to switch off and be still and calm within. 

It used to come naturally to children when they were allowed to wander through fields and  spend hours  watching streams bubbling over rocks or clouds forming and reforming. 

But now, with the constant noise and busy-ness of games, television, school activities, and fast-paced modern lives away from nature, our children are in constant action mode, and their little minds are constantly running.

As a result, children are always looking for something new, are rarely satisfied, have no patience, are easily upset, hyperactive, stressed and over-emotional. Their little minds are simply overwhelmed, and they don’t know what to do about it.

It's not enough to tell a child to calm down. We have to teach them how to do it. How can we expect a child to ‘Calm down!’ when we can hardly do it ourselves? (Gritted teeth and silent scowling are NOT being calm).

We adults can teach our little ones to enter that inner stillness and calm that is within them, to bring essential balance to their lives between the inner and outer, activity and stillness.

But before we can teach our children, we must learn to enter our own inner calm and switch off from the outer world. Then we can teach our children, if not for their sakes, then for our own. A balanced child is an easier, happier, calmer, healthier child.

It's not as hard as you might think to teach a child calm. I taught my highstrung grandson Entoni to breathe deeply and turn from his outer distress to his inner stillness when things become too much for him, and it instantly calms him. Now, I just have to remind him to take three deep, slow breaths ... breathe out upset, breathe in calm…and within minutes, he is his sweet, smiling self again. It even works over the phone.

Yes, he forgets and gets caught up again in his daily stresses, but he knows he can switch off if he wants to.  And if I remind him every time, one day, he will calm down all by himself, and have a valuable skill for life.

What’s so good about teaching our little ones to find their inner calm is that we remind ourselves to practice it, and become more balanced and in control of ourselves.

I’d like to see it become a regular part of the school day as well, time to sit and turn inward. Why not teach them to imagine or remember a place of total peace, safety and calm where they can go in their quiet time? Why must their whole day be directed outwards?  

Our over-stimulated kids might find turning inward difficult, and at first, their minds will resist. But keep it up, and the kids will gradually fall into a pattern of silence and stillness during which they just might - all on their own - find themselves connecting with their deeper selves

We've been conditioned to accept constant noise, stress and mental activity as normal.  It’s not. Teach children to find and enter their inner calm, and they will cope better, think better, and feel better about themselves.

In the outer world, children are continually being compared to others and found wanting, but within, we are all equal, all perfect and whole. Every child should have that experience, and often.

If you have ways that you use to teach your children calm, let us know. You'll be helping mothers and children everywhere.

cheers

Tosca

(Little Kody is having a few quiet, thoughtful moments as his sister paints his face.)

© This post is under Copyright to Tosca Zraikat, 2009. You are welcome to use this article on the condition that you reference this blogsite as your source. If you wish to contact the author, please doitnow@dodo.com.au

Kids' Case for Organic

All around us, children are reacting to wheat and milk (and lots of other foods, but I want to focus on these two staples). They might have chronic stuffy noses, itchy eyes, dark circles under their eyes,  eczema, frequent coughs and tummy aches. They can be moody, irritable, occasionally or chronically hyperactive, and having trouble at school.  All these are typical signs of allergies.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why all these allergies to wheat and milk nowadays, and why they're on the rise?

If you're my age, around 60, you might have once been able to count the number of people you knew with food allergies on one hand. I could probably have counted them on one finger. My father, who reacted to strawberries.

Scientists are trying desperately to understand what's gone wrong over the last 30 or so years to cause so many allergies, but surprisingly, hardly anyone's investigating what we've been doing to our food to make it so dangerous. Our large food producing corporations and supermarkets must be very happy about that.

But we know, don't we? Most of us just don't want to think about it.

As a child, I virtually lived on bread and milk. It was my favourite snack, and I never lacked for energy. We never ate sliced bread, and being from Europe, my family searched out only European bakeries that produced real bread. And the milk tasted completely different to milk nowadays.  Now, every time I eat store bought bread or milk, I become bloated, sleepy, my brain gets a little fuzzy, and I feel far from energized.

Anyone who's ever eaten real bread knows that sliced bread, that marvel of the last century, is a very poor substitute, and even most bakery baguettes and vienna loaves, which look real, lack the flavour and texture of the real thing.

Most bakery bread, and certainly bread made in and for supermarkets is made of cheap grade, highly processed flour, emulsifiers and preservatives, and is basically dead food. It stays soft and mouldless for at least 1 week , for heaven's sake. Real bread gets stale fast. (Then it's good for croutons, bruschetta and to eat with soup).

And we all know how that fake break stuff sticks together, even without spit, so you can fling bread balls at your schoolmates. That's what it does in your mouth and gut...form a sticky mass that glugs up your digestive system and gets stuck in between the millions of villi (small protrusions) that line your gut, making it harder for nutrients to pass through your villi into your blood stream.

No wonder so many people bloat up or have digestive problems after eating this stuff! 

 You have to chew real bread because it has texture, so it is partly digested by your saliva even before it hits your gut, and doesn't glug up in your gut. And real bread's nutritious, not from added chemicals to simulate vitamins or proteins, but from nature's own vitamins and proteins. If you choose organic bread, or better yet, make your own (it takes minutes in a break maker) with organic flour, you get the best quality nutrients of all.

As for milk. Well, if you inject and force feed a cow a variety of chemicals to make it fatter and more productive faster and to protect it from all kinds of diseases, you can expect those chemicals to turn up in the milk. That's one problem. Then the milk is pasteurized. Yes, it might kill whatever bacteria survived the previous chemical onslaught, but it also kills all the life that was present in the milk. So you get dead milk. Whatever calcium it still contains is not easily digested by the human body anyway. Of course the stuff triggers so many allergies.

Milk and dairy products are produced with so many chemicals it's just not funny. If you choose to buy only one kind of food organic, make it dairy.

You might be interested in the results of a Dutch research called the Koala project. It found that mothers-to-be and breastfeeding mothers who drank organic milk reduced their babies' risk of allergies, asthma and eczema. If the child was later fed on organic milk, the protection was even greater.

We don't need that much dairy anyway. You can get lots of good calcium from deep green, leafy vegetables, sardines and almonds.

You probably can't just switch from over-processed to organic and real and expect immediate improvements, though it does happen. Those with milk or wheat allergies may also react to organic wheat and milk. But you might try this. Give the body a week or two completely off dairy and wheat to clear out all the residue and give the system time to recover, then take organic bread and milk from a reputable supplier - one who produces only organic dairy and real bread  - and see how your body handles it. The same with cheese and butter.

If your local market doesn't provide organic foods, and you cannot find a good supplier nearby, demand it. If there's a market for organic, markets will provide it. And remember, making your own bread from organic flour is easy.

It might take time to re-train your family to real food, but it could be the best thing you'll ever do for them.

If you're not convinced, or want more information, let me know. I'll do the best I can to help.

cheers for now

Tosca

© This post is under Copyright to Tosca Zraikat, 2009. You are welcome to use this article on the condition that you reference this blogsite as your source. If you wish to contact the author, please doitnow@dodo.com.au