Category: Archive

Extra, Extra!

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Read all About it…

There has been a lot happening this year and this year has only just begun.  I want to tell you about some of the projects and new opportunities I’m involved in so you can know me a little better. I have just returned from a stay at a Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center in Florida, oh it was so sunny and warm. The center provides a B&B feel while providing classes on healthy lifestyle choices, food preparation that is raw and cooked vegan, a Bible study and exercise. Last Fall I went through the training offered by Hallelujah Acres to be a Health Minister, to be able to help people claim and achieve the abundant health God intended us to have. Our choices really do get in the way of our health. I will be offering some classes based on that training. The course, Get Healthy, Stay Balanced, is one that is approaching.

I am also going through a six month Plant-Based Professional Culinary program for wellness diets, so that I can teach and inspire others in new ways how to incorporate more plant-based foods into their diet. It is through these foods, that God created, that provide better nutrition for our ailing bodies. I hope to work with some doctors in the area by providing classes that will help patients implement better dietary choices so that their sickness and diseases will be reversed.

There is another thing I want to let you know about. Besides loving to cook and prepare raw whole foods, I have a love for holistic health. Food and health go together. I have been learning and living out herbal and natural alternative approaches to healing for the last 22 years. In the past two years I have acquired training in Holistic Blood Chemistry Analysis. It is a great way to see specifically how your organs and glands are functioning and also how they respond to stress. Knowing these things about yourself can help to pinpoint what is going on and how to bring balance back to your body, by targeting those organs or glands that are out of balance with specific foods, supplements and therapies. More information on this can be found under the Healthy Alternatives Tab in the directory.

So, as I keep learning and doing, I will keep sharing that information with you, hopefully inspiring you to take greater responsibility for your own health and making healthy lifestyle choices.

I am happy to answer any questions and consult about health concerns, but I also need to state that I am not a doctor and can not prescribe or diagnose. Let me know if there is any way I can help you in achieving your health goals.

Giving Thanks

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, we set aside a whole day to enjoy food, family and friends and to reflect on our blessings and BE Thankful.  Have you ever considered taking on this mentality Daily, everyday!  I’m not talking about the food gorging and all the extra helpings of  mashed potatoes and pie we find ways of justifying because it is ‘ only one day’.  I’m talking about the aspect of focusing on the enormity of our blessings, which the most important of which are family and friends! I have come to realize that it is with WHOM we have relationships, that bring the greatest blessings into our lives. Each day we may touch someone new with a smile to lift their aching heart or give  someone a tender touch to comfort their soul, have tea and conversation with a good friend or take a walk around the lake. It is our presence in their life that we may never know the impact of, while they make a mark on our life.  I believe when we are thankful and take time to acknowledge our blessings, we feel better and have a greater quality of health.  So taking time out daily to be thankful for the people you will see that day, or for friends and family that you received a call or text from, can build up your mind and body  while exercising your spirit of Thanksgiving. I believe God provides gifts of comfort and enjoyment, but it is the people He puts into our lives that make life worth living and bring the greatest blessings! I’m thankful for you, who visit this site, who come to my classes and those who visit me at Fresh and Green and enjoy the food I prepare. Many of you have become friends that I cherish and feel blessed knowing you.

 

Take Care

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Green Goodness!

If we don’t have a life-threatening illness, we know someone who does.  We have been taught that disease is a result of a host of many possible causes, of course depending on what the illness or symptoms are.   It is my understanding, that the majority of illnesses and diseases are primarily the result of two causes…  either a deficiency of nutrients that prevents the body from functioning in a healthy way, or a toxic load under which the body cannot function, or the combination of both, in most cases.  The body was created to deal with all kinds of assaults from bacteria, viruses, injuries and poisons and has in place specific mechanisms like generating fever for overcoming pathogens and acute inflammation and cell renewal for healing itself.  But these self – healing abilities require proper nutrition for the innate mechanisms to take place. When the nutrients are not provided through eating fresh whole foods, the lack of nutrition generates dis-ease in the body in addition to it not being able to fight off pathogens and  self-heal.
When a food is ripe in nature, it is at its nutritional peak. As soon as it leaves the ground, branch or plant it grew on, it begins to lose nutritional value. If that food is then processed in some way and ends up ground, bleached, heated, pasteurized, sauced and in a box, can or jar, there isn’t much nutritional value left. Then usually, synthetic vitamins are added. However, the synthetic vitamins are difficult for the body to utilize, if at all. So much of our food that we have been told is good for us and we have lived on for many years, has been nutritionally deficient causing our body’s to reach a level of having significant deficiencies. When food is processed it is also loaded with additives to sustain its shelf life, but the additives are toxins to our bodies. Our bodies try to break them down and get rid of them, but adequate nutrients are necessary for proper detoxification to occur. So many of us have also reached appoint where our bodies can no longer detoxify sufficiently, so we have a large toxic load due to insufficient nutrients. In addition to food toxins, we are exposed to hundreds of environmental toxins and toxins found in personal care products. So there is no shortage of toxic buildup in our bodies. The combination of toxins and the deficiency of nutrients play an integral part in the dis-ease and illnesses we experience.
To successfully overcome illnesses, super nutrition is needed in the form of fresh vegetable juices, a whole foods diet comprised of mostly raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes. If you take care of your body and give it what it needs, your body will take care of YOU. It was created as wonderful self-healing machine.

I will be giving a Come Clean-Cleanse Workshop on Thursday November 7, from 6:00-7:30 PM at Fresh and Green Market. Green Juices and Smoothies will be served and the cost is $10.

 

Beautiful!

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Here a some pictures of a beautiful place I visited recently…South Africa!

Beauty is a gift for us to enjoy each day, I need to remember THAT even when it is negative 5 degrees F outside!  The sky in Wisconsin is always something I see beauty in. But we should also take the time to not only enjoy the beauty of our surroundings, but enjoy or feast with our eyes, what we put on our plates.

I will never forget working on Quantico Marine Base during high school, serving mess to the officers in training…it was a mess, and I don’t know how they ate it. But they always tried to smile. We served it up with a smile, because they were enduring rough treatment, but it never looked very appetizing. Poor guys!

I believe we decide whether we will like something before we even taste it! If it is beautiful, we want to like it!  Our digestion starts when we salivate, and we can get the juices flowing by looking at beautiful food. So take a little time to ‘dress up’ your plate, so you can sit down and look forward to eating and enjoying the beautiful food provided. 

Something to think about when you’re composing your meals, is trying to incorporate different colors into your dishes or onto your plates. For example: a colorful root slaw, with shredded orange yams and/or carrots, red beets, white turnips, purple radish, green cabbage, and yellow peppers!  Each color brings with it a specific phytonutrient important for health. There are so many that science is just scratching the surface of the benefits and health promoting / disease preventive actions that they have.

So eat food with as many colors of the rainbow as you can DAILY!

Supporting Others

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This post is meant to be encouraging for you in your pursuit of better health.

Often times, almost everyday, our plans do not always unravel as we might hope, right. We are always encountering what we may call an interruption in our day, a fork in the road, an ant in the lemon aid, a pit in the cherry, etc. But what matters in our life, and in the lives of those who may be watching and learning from us or who may be the cause of the pit, is how we react to each situation.

We always have a choice of how to react in any situation. Our reaction can be rage, complacency, disgust, stress, exhilaration, laughter, joy, love, you get it. Some of those reactions will cause more health problems, while others will actually raise our immune response and lessen blood pressure and inflammation in the body. Your response will also affect the health of others receiving your response in similar ways.

So my encouragement to you is to slow down and think carefully about how you will respond to any situation, before responding, so your health is benefited and your actions support the health of others at the same time.

I have chosen to support a friend during her fight for health, and for me to do that I have had to reschedule my classes. The classes have not yet reached their minimum number of participants, so I hope you will understand my choice at this time.

I look forward to being able to support her as a friend and also provide the best healing diet possible for her during this time.

By the way, LOVE is the best response you can give!

 

New Year, New _____!

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Happy New Year to you!
Are you one of the many who makes a resolution to change something in your life for the better because it’s a new year? I want to encourage you to make conscious decisions this year that will bring you greater health and allow you to enjoy the life God has granted you. But why make a resolution one time a year because it’s a new year? Everyday is a new day, and you have a choice everyday to choose what you eat…your body tells you, if you listen to it, what it needs and will thrive if you give it healthy life-giving foods. It will become ill and show signs of dis-ease if you choose foods devoid of nutrition and lacking in life. This year can be a year for renewed health, a new you, a new plan, a new life – you fill in the blank and choose, everyday.

Let me know if I can help!