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Detoxing Chicken Soup for Your Health

June 19, 2014Healthadmin

Detoxing Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken free range
1Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
3-4 parts filtered water
4 medium sized onions coarsely chopped
8 carrots chopped (organic is best)
2-4 zucchinis chopped (organic is best)
4 Tbsp Extra virgin coconut oil
½ cup frozen peas
Grated ginger (or essential oil)
¼ – ½ tsp cayenne pepper
6 celery stalks, chopped (organic is best)
1 lb green beans (fresh and organic is best)
1 bunch parsley
5 garlic cloves
2-4 Tbsp Celtic Sea Salt

Whole chicken remove fat glands & gizzards from cavity. Place chicken or chicken pieces in a large stainless steel pot with the water, vinegar, garlic, ginger, salt, cayenne pepper, extra virgin coconut oil, & all veggies except parsley. Let stand for 10 minutes before heating. Bring to a boil, removing the scum(??) that rises to top. Cover and cook 8-12 hours. This can be done is a crock pot or slow cooker as well(I use the crock pot). The longer you cook the stock, the more cleansing it will be.

About 15 minutes before finishing the stock, add parsley. This will impart additional mineral ions to the broth.

Remove from heat and take the chicken out. After it cools, remove chicken meat from bones, discarding the bones. Drop the meat back to the soup. This can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As much as you want or as little. One of my favorites!

I help people overcome limiting beliefs that are keeping them stuck, broke and unhealthy to create balance, time freedom and health for thriving lives!

Find me at www.livinglifeholistic.com or email susano@livinglifeholistic.com

Your Skin and Summer Sun

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) just published their 2014 guide to safe sunscreens. They reviewed over 2000 sunscreens and over 257 brands. They found more than 75% of the sunscreens contained toxic chemicals that can increase your risk of cancer and other health issues. That’s alarming in and of itself! It’s important to remember that what you are lathering on your body is going into your body. Those chemicals are penetrating the barrier and entering into the cells. Think about your babies and children and all the chemicals you are putting on their heads and bodies with those baby products!

Here’s a fact that should scare you and tell you how far behind the US is to the European countries. Sunscreens haven’t been regulated since 1978 in the US, and the SPF factor only tells you how effective a sunscreen is against UVB rays which cause sunburn. I recently learned that the higher SPF really doesn’t protect more as opposed to a lower SPF. The difference is only a few minutes longer in the sun before having to reapply.

In truth, the sun doesn’t cause cancer, it is essential for your health. Without the sun, most plants couldn’t grow and we would perish from lack of Vitamin D3. It’s recommended that we get 20 minutes of direct sunlight everyday if possible. It boosts the immune system, helps fight cancer and improves the moods.

A recent study published in Environmental Science Technology has also shown the common sunscreen ingredients oxybenzone, methoxycinnamate, and PABA are estrogenic chemicals linked to cancer. That’s right, I read the labels on not only my food products, but on anything I’m putting on or near my body, and you should too! If your sunscreen contains any of these chemicals I’d throw it away right now! Some ingredients may absorb into the blood, release free radicals in sunlight, act like estrogen, disrupt hormones (huge for those of us in perimenopause or menopause), cause allergic reactions (some severe), cause skin irritation or rash. Para amino benzoic acid, Octyl salicyclate, Oxybenzone, Cinoxate, Dioxybenzone, Phenylbenzimidazole, Homosalate, Menthyl anthranilate, Octocrylene, Methoxycinnamate, and last but most dangerous is Parabens. Stay clear of these ingredients!

There are two types of sunscreen, non-mineral and mineral, and some that are both. The non- mineral penetrate the skin and are potentially disruptive to hormones. Mineral contain zinc or titanium. This type does not breakdown in sunlight, and are usually not absorbed so as not to disrupt the body’s hormones, non-allergenic and more effective at blocking the UVA rays. I highly recommend this type especially for babies and children.

The best sunscreen is a hat and a shirt. No chemicals for the skin to absorb, no questions about whether the product works and no bogus claims like “sunblock.” (No conventional product blocks out all rays. Which is why the FDA is trying to ban the term.) But I also use my own made with zinc and essential oils, Kiss My Face SPF 30 and Melaleuca Mineral SPF 30.

So, let’s recap:

Get 20+ minutes of sunshine daily
Cover up with light clothing before you get burnt
Wear natural sunscreen if you’re going to stay out for a long period of time, reapply often
Eat a diet high in anti-oxidants to protect your skin
If you get burnt, use a mixture of aloe, coconut oil and vitamin E on your skin or a natural after sun product free of chemicals. Essential oils are a must for my home and family!

I help people overcome their limiting beliefs that are keeping them stuck, broke and unhealthy to create balance, time freedom and health in their lives!

Find me at www.livinglifeholistic.com or emailsusano@livinglifeholistic.com

Your Health and Your Wealth

It’s been awhile since my husband and I took a couple of classes for getting debt free. We first attended Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey through our church. That was a lot of information to absorb and navigate. We still use a lot of what we learned in that class and take the refresher course every other year. And since we paid for the first class the refresher courses are free! We also did War On Debt by Dani Johnson. This was especially helpful to me the nerd (if you don’t know what that means take Dave’s course) as I had a hard time finding the extra money without another source or job. What I learned in War on Debt was to look right at my pantry, refrigerator (2nd or 3rd refrigerator) and grocery bill. Ouch! We were throwing our cash in the garbage can and had way too much food.

I did the assessment and found that we could live on our pantry for about four months with very little added. I had no idea. This was such an “AHA” moment to us. I had never used a meal planner or a list to shop. So I was shopping from memory. Hello, I have been through menopause and I think I lost some of those memory cells. I digress here. My point is that I found over $400-$500 per month just in my pantry and food shopping. That doesn’t include what I found when we did a complete assessment for our financial health. It was staggering what we letting go out the door! Do you want to be debt free but don’t know where to start?

When was the last time you took inventory of your financial health? Do you realize how closely your financial health is to your physical health? The stress from being in debt and not able to make your bills or having to make a decision on whether to pay a bill or buy food can be taking a major toll on how long you live in this lifetime! I help people overcome their limiting beliefs that are keeping them stuck, broke and unhealthy to create a life with balance, time freedom and health. You can find me at www.livinglifeholistic.com or via email susano@livinglifeholistic.com

Connect with me today for my free 12 green smoothie recipes and tips, recipes in my monthly newsletters!

DO YOU HAVE DANGEROUS BELLY FAT?

June 9, 2014Weight Lossadmin

Some of the most stubborn and dangerous fat to carry is belly fat since it’s in close proximity to our internal organs and can wreak extraordinary havoc on health. Fortunately, however, there are some good-for-you foods that are helpful in busting belly fat. Here are a few of them:

Avocados and foods with other healthy fats: Just half an avocado contains 10 grams of healthy monosaturated fats, which can help stop blood sugar spikes that prompt your body to store belly fat. These healthy fats—and others such as the healthy fats in many nuts and seeds, coconut oil, extra virgin oil, organic butter, ghee and flaxseed oil—not only fight a bloated belly, but they also help you to absorb beneficial carotenoids, compounds found in colorful veggies and fruits. More specifically, those who ate salads with an avocado experienced 15 times higher absorption of carotenoids, according to a study from The Ohio State University at Columbus. Avocados are also rich in potassium, which helps convert food and nutrients to energy and muscle tissue as well as other benefits. They’re also packed with B vitamins, amino acids and fiber—and prove very filling.

Bananas and other potassium-filled foods: Bananas pack in 422 milligrams of potassium, a mineral that helps to limit the amount of belly-bulging sodium retention in the body. Be careful though as bananas are high in sugar and just ½ banana is a serving. So not every day.

Probiotic-rich yogurt and dairy: A healthy serving of probiotic-rich almond or coconut yogurt and other non-dairy products can help to support good bacteria growth in your gut, which takes space away from other “bad guy” bacteria that can cause bloating. Likewise, this supplies a belly-taming combination of healthy protein and fats, both of which can help stabilize insulin, a hormone that signals your body to store calories as fat when levels get too high.

Berries and other antioxidant-packed, low-sugar foods: Antioxidants have the ability to improve blood flow, which delivers more oxygen to muscles, making abdominal-focused exercises easier. Low-sugar berries such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are packed with antioxidants.

Green tea: Just three cups per day of green tea can boost your metabolism, stimulate fat oxidation and burn 30 calories, according to a study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Additionally, the compound ECGC in green tea allows for easier burning of fat, prevention of body fat accumulation, a decrease in lipid absorption and in the reduction of inflammatory cytokines throughout the body. Likewise, a 2011 study published in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry says that green tea actually promotes weight loss on the genetic level. It appears to trigger genes that help shed excess body fat and inhibit the formation of new fat cells at the digestive tract level. Again, try to get organic green tea.

Citrus-packed veggies and fruits: The vitamin C in produce such as red peppers, oranges, lemons and limes can boost your fat-burning capability by up to 30 percent more during exercise, according to research from Arizona State University.

I help people overcome their limiting beliefs that are keeping them stuck, broke and unhealthy to create balance, time freedom and health! You can find me at www.livinglifeholistic.com or via email at susano@livinglifeholistic.com Let’s connect! Sign up for my free 12 green smoothie recipes and monthly newsletter.