Healing in Harmony

We all have a wonderful, sacred ability within ourselves for healing and renewal. By reaching into and touching this place of harmony,
we can experience true health in body, mind, and spirit. There are many ways to reach this place of health and harmony; the following meditation, Healing Nourishment, is one of them. You are the only one with the power to heal yourself and you must find the way that will work for you. Healing begins with the desire to heal yourself.

Imagine that you're walking outside on
a pleasantly warm summer day. You feel a wonderful sense of peace and harmony within you. You're completely enjoying being outside and breathing in the pure clean air on this beautiful day.

You notice a few puffy white clouds that have gathered in the sky above you. You know that these clouds are very special because they are filled with liquid drops of healing light. As the rain softly begins to fall, nourishing the earth, you notice how the rain caresses and cleanses the earth, healing and rejuvenating it. The rain feels like warm gentle kisses on your skin and you're completely enjoying this experience of walking in this very special healing rain.

You listen to the gentle patter of the rain on the leaves of the trees and notice how the raindrops cling to the leaves, nourishing and renewing them. You feel the rain gently nourishing and healing you
as it softly touches your skin. The soft raindrops somehow seem to enter inside you--inside your body, circulating through you, cleansing and healing you from the inside out. You feel a wonderful sense of being nourished and completely healed by this beautiful rainfall.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

One of the hardest things for me is giving up chocolate. But then I discovered that you can have your cake and eat it, too! This recipe, from the ADA, is good for you and it has chocolate. :) Plus, it has veggies. Even better.

1/4 cup Smart Balance Light margarine
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 egg whites
1 3/4 cups Splenda
1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk
2 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh zucchini grated with skin (about 1 medium)
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat oven 350ºF.

2. Mix margarine, applesauce, and Splenda together. Add egg whites and beat well. Add vanilla and buttermilk. Blend well.

3. Sift together flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

4. Blend together wet and dry ingredients. Fold in grated zucchini. Spray 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour mixture into baking dish. Bake 60 minutes.

Serves 12; Serving Size: 1 slice

Exchanges/Choices: 1 1/2 Carbohydrate; 1/2 Fat

Basic Nutritional Values: Calories 140; Calories from Fat 20; Total Fat 2.5 g; Saturated Fat 0.8 g; Trans Fat 0.0 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 175 mg; Total Carbohydrate 25 g; Dietary Fiber 4 g; Sugars 5 g; Protein 6 g

Going Green

When you think of eating healthy food,
you think of going green. Whole Foods
has a wonderful blog post, Healthy Tip:
Get Your Greens, that can help you eat
green and healthy.

Top Ten Healthiest Foods

This list of the top ten healthiest foods is from Healthy Eating. You can read the full article by visiting their site.

1. Extra Virgin Olive Oil contains monounsaturated (good) fats which have been shown to have some excellent health benefits. It's great for sauteéing vegetables and meats but don’t go overboard with this. One tablespoon is 120 calories.

2. Blueberries contain powerful antioxidants which may help lower LDL cholesterol. These antioxidants were rated #1 in a recent Tufts University study that compared 40 fruits and vegetables. We're talking fresh blueberries here, not the kind you find in a blueberry pie!

3. Yogurt contains healthy bacteria which helps boost your immune system, fight infection, and improve your gastrointestinal health. It is an excellent source of calcium and B vitamins. Choose low fat and low sugar yogurts; read the nutrition label. Dannon has a Light ‘n Fit yogurt which is only 3 carbs, 2 grams sugar, and 60 calories.

4. Broccoli is high in antioxidants and loaded with vitamin C, calcium and folic acid. Broccoli is high in soluble fiber and low in calories. I love broccoli and it’s so easy to make. I wrap it in a moistened paper towel and microwave it for about 3 minutes.

5. Spinach is very high in antioxidants and vitamins A, C, and K, as well as potassium and folate. Spinach is one the healthiest foods you can eat. Calorie for calorie, not many foods can match the nutritional benefits and low calorie content of spinach and other green, leafy vegetables such as kale and Swiss chard.

6. Tomatoes are high in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, and have many other health benefits. Tomatoes are packed with vitamins A and C, as well as potassium. Enjoy a salad every day as a snack or before dinner.

7. Apples aid in lowering cholesterol, prevent numerous types of cancer, and have health benefits related to many other conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, and diabetes. Apples are high in antioxidants and contain high amounts of vitamin C and fiber. One of my favorite snacks is apple slices dipped in organic crunchy peanut butter. The fat in the peanut butter slows down the absorption of sugar.

8. Salmon is loaded with heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Choose wild salmon over farm raised.

9. Sweet potatoes are one of the good carbs for good reason: they're nutrient-rich foods which contain high amounts of fiber, potassium, and vitamins A and C. They have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and have been shown to stabilize blood sugar levels, which helps you feel fuller for longer periods of time.

10. Almonds are loaded with healthy monounsaturated fats and contain protein, fiber, potassium, and calcium. They are rich in vitamin E and potassium and have been shown to lower cholesterol levels, reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, and have cancer fighting properties as well.

It's important to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, not only for your nutritional needs but also to give you food that tastes good. Try to incorporate more of the top ten more often.

Green is the Color of Healing

I found a new blog last week that has really good vibes. Jules of Golden Reiki wrote a post several days ago about creating an orb of life that is just beautiful. The gist of it is that you imagine a ball and fill it with positive energy. When you sense that the ball is full, you allow the life energies to fill your body. You direct the energy in any way you wish.

After reading his post, I decided to create an orb filled with life energy and the healing color of green and send it to my brother, Don. (See my previous post.) I did this meditation outside where there is a beautiful, healthy tree with a round shape that is flowing with life. I simply meditated on the tree, imagining that all the healing energy of nature and the universe was filling a sphere--a large bubble--with a pure green healing light.

When I felt it was ready, I closed my eyes, saw my brother Don in my mind’s eye laying in his bed at the hospice, and sent the healing ball of energy to him, seeing the sphere gently hover over him and then enter his body and flow through him, renewing and replenishing him. Will this cure him? No, because he has already accepted that he is going to die soon. Will it make him more comfortable? Yes. I spoke with his doctor a few hours after I sent Don this healing ball of energy and the doctor said that he seemed much better, that his spirits were lifted and he was happy.

This is a very powerful meditation which you can use to renew and regenerate your life-energy and to put your natural healing abilities into motion. It is limited only by your thoughts and beliefs. Allow a healing green light to enter your body, mind, and spirit; feel it flowing through you. If you are sending healing to someone else, send it with the thought that this is for that person’s highest good. You can’t heal someone else unless they want to be healed. You can heal yourself if you want to be healed.

This meditation offers you one way to tune into healing energies but there are so many ways to heal yourself. Please use it as a basis for creating your own healing meditations, ones you feel comfortable with, ones you believe will work for you. Or just make up a healing meditation or a visualization. You already know how to do this. You don’t need instructions--unless you feel that you do--because your body knows how to heal itself in harmony with your mind and spirit. Just sit quietly and listen to your body; listen to your feelings; listen to your thoughts, and go with the flow. Healing occurs first in your mind and then in your body. All your body needs to heal is for you to want it to be so, for you to believe that you can heal yourself, for you to allow it to be so, and for you to simply accept the healing within your body, mind, and spirit.

Please Take Care of Yourself

I got a call last night from my sister, telling me that my younger brother, Don, has only six months or less to live. He was diagnosed with Type Two ten years ago and never took care of himself. He ate whatever he wanted, didn’t exercise, and didn’t take his meds. His diabetes progressed and he required insulin, which he said he couldn’t afford and therefore didn’t use.

His kidneys failed and he requires dialysis three times a week. He weighs 80 pounds and is nearly blind. He can’t move around without help and is now living in a hospice. He is only 52 years old. Much of this could have been prevented or delayed if he'd only cared enough about himself to take care of himself. I’ve already lost my mother, who had Type One and was 47 when she died and my older brother, Doug, who had Type One and was 37 when he died. Now I’m losing another brother to diabetes.

If you have Type One, more than likely you are well aware of the devastating effects of diabetes. If you have Type Two, you may think that only these serious complications affect people with Type One. If you have diabetes, you are at risk for all the serious complications. There are 21 million people in the United States who have diabetes. 16 million people have pre-diabetes, which means they are at risk for developing diabetes--if they don’t take care of themselves. Diabetes kills more people each year than AIDS and breast cancer combined. In ten years, there won’t be enough dialysis machines to keep all the people who require this treatment alive.

My brother doesn’t want to die. He says he wishes with all his heart that he had taken his diabetes seriously and had taken much better care of himself. Please, I implore you, if you have diabetes, care enough to take care of yourself. Many of the serious complications can be prevented or delayed. Ten years down the road, please don’t wish with all your heart that you had taken better care of yourself. Please take care of yourself now.

What's in Your Food?

Do you want to eat healthier? Want to know what’s in your food in terms of calories and carbs? Spark People has an online recipe calculator which shows a nutritional analysis.

Do you have any healthy recipes you’d like to share? Please leave a comment or send me an email.