When 2 Universes Collide: a chant

Arp 81: 2 galaxies collide, NASA

What happens when our worlds collide? For many of us it's when everything seems to fall apart. Yet given some support or nourishment maybe those two things can work together. 
Combing the scientist and the healer in me has been a blessing. At first it seemed like a disconnect. How could a scientist believe in all this woo-woo stuff? Then I realized, the scientist in me could prove that maybe this "woo-woo" wasn't so crazy after all. Each endeavor whether it be herbs and concoctions or chanting, I come to with an open mind and the scientific method and things work or they don't. I'll admit that I do believe in some things that can't be proven and I'm okay with that now as well.


So much of my life has been learning about and sharing how to nourish our minds, bodies and spirits. I write often about nourishment because underneath it all, it's what we all need whether or not we think so.  

For this Earth week I offer you a chant:        om vardhanam namah, 
which translates loosely to ”I nourish the universe and the universe nourishes me.”

Whether you're outside tending the garden, hiking in the mountains, walking the dogs, whatever it is you do to nourish yourself and the planet, quietly chant these soothing words. Know that it's not always explosive when two worlds combine, it's meant to be to rock and change our world. Open your heart to receiving and giving. We are nourished as is our universe.

Please share any nourishing chants, recipes, activities or ideas. We all NEED them.

Procrastination--10 Foolproof tips

I love making lists and even more than writing the list, I love, love, love crossing things off. I have even been known to write things on the list I already completed just so I could cross something off. Scary I know.

Because I like to get things done, I am productive most of the time. It's those prickly, uncomfortable things that I don't want to do--the dreaded phone call, selling myself, the book I don't want to read, but have to--that seem to be repeatedly on the list until finally I just do it. 

I was talking to a friend about this and she said, "That's the first thing I do so that it's not hanging over my head." I thought that was an amazingly simple and effective solution. I went home after that talk determined to get some of those not so pleasing things done; I made the call. What a relief! 

I am learning new skills and becoming a business person with some help. 

The book still rests in the to be read pile, which keeps growing because there are so many books I want to read and not enough time to read then.

I came across this article and thought it might help those of you who have my same procrastination gene.

10 Foolproof Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

…and the very best tip is the easiest (hint: it’s the first one).

Procrastination has been extensively studied by psychologists, probably because they have some world-class procrastinators close at hand: students. Read more

Happy reading!  I'd love to hear some of your solutions.

How Sweet it is...

Too much of anything is not good for us -- right? Well, especially when it comes to sugar. Most of you reading my blog are probably not like most Americans (other parts of the world are plagued by this dilemma as well-see Infographic below), but just in case you have some sweet tooth tendencies, as I myself do, here it goes.

According to Laura Schimdt of UCSF, School of Medicine, "The average American is consuming 22 teaspoons a day." That's about 400 calories. Many of those sugar calories are hidden in foods that we wouldn't think contain sugar like tomato sauce, yogurt, crackers, peanut butter, etc. Many of them are also disguised by other names sucrose, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, just to name a few.

The American Heart Association recommends that we not have more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day, which is approximately 24 grams. My son was drinking an "all natural" pre-sweetened tea that contained 3 servings.  Each serving contained 23 grams of sugar, which meant that he was consuming 69 grams or 17 teaspoons of sugar by drinking the entire can. YIKES! I won't be buying that again.

Is sugar addictive? According to many scientists around the globe, animals' brains, including humans, will choose sugar over fat and protein given the chance. Research also tells us that we'd be better off with only water than sugar water. Something to ponder.

For more on the dangers of sugar, The One "Crazy" Thing All Nutritionists Agree Is a Good Idea, by Corrie Pikul

infographic courtesy of www.hcs.harvard.edu

 Refined sugar consumption has been linked to:

• weight gain
• tooth decay
• skin issues
• sleep disturbance
• ADD/HDD
• diabetes
• high cholesterol
• heart disease
• malnutrition 
• the list goes on  

I've known for some time the pull that sugar has had on me. More recently though after completing one of my month-long cleanses, I realized that I couldn't ignore the changes that took place in my body and mind without sugar. Of course during the cleanse, I was eliminating more than just sugar. I felt more energetic, slept better, lost a little weight and a lot of bloating, and I just felt great. More importantly, I noticed the chaos sugar created in my body when I decided to take it back. I became irritable, felt bloated and got a pretty intense headache. It was easy to know the culprit because I didn't add anything other new food substance in.

Eve Schaub recently published a book, Year of No Sugar, about her family's experience. As reported by the Huffington Post, 'Year Of No Sugar': The Schaub Family Went Sugar Free For An Entire Year by Sarah Klein. Inspired by research and writings by prolific food-industry researchers like professor Robert Lustig, M.D., and journalist Michael Moss, Eve Schaub decided to try an experiment. She, along with her husband and daughters Greta and Ilsa, spent all of 2011 eating no added sugar.  Read more.

So what can we do?

• Read labels; if you don't know the words look them up or only buy things that you know what the words are.
• Drink fewer pre-sweetened drinks.
• Enjoy a small sweetened treat on special occasions.
• Consume unsweetened fresh or dried fruit for your sweet fix.
• If you give in, don't beat yourself up. 
• Make your own sweets using sweeteners closer to their natural source like maple syrup 
• Dates are one of my favorite sweet treat--you might try my date-nut balls 

Feel free to share any stories or recipes. Enjoy! We can still have an amazingly wonderful, sweet life without refined sugar.