Healthy Stuff. Hair Stuff. There’s a Post For Ya!

Woohoo!  Sounds like a great post doesn’t it?  Health and hair.  Wow!

Stick around, it won’t be that bad!

So, a few of you mentioned you wouldn’t mind if I shared some tips on living healthy – so hopefully you weren’t lying and just trying to be nice, because now I’m going to share some stuff.

This is where the hair comes in.

I realize that talking ‘health’ can be a tad boring, so I’m going to throw in some ‘history of my hair’ pics to add a little laughter to your day and some excitement to this post!

Come on – you know you wanna stay and read all the way through!  Wink-Wink!

(digging the outfit, aren’t you?)

Before I give any pointers I think it’s important to know where I’m coming from.  So many people will jump and grab onto anything they hear.  My issue with that is what if they’re not telling the truth?  I think in everything, we should give ourselves to a little research so we aren’t doing something solely because someone out there said to, but because we are informed and educated on the matter.  So, don’t take my word for it – research it for yourself too!

I’ve been collecting information for the past 17 years on ‘living healthy’.  Everything from food to skin care to exercise.  It has been a passion of mine and now I’m excited to be able to turn into a career that will be a part of helping people improve their lives.

I am so grateful for doctors.  I’m grateful for hospitals.  Be sure you understand that up front.  What I don’t agree with, though, is the philosophy that ‘doctors know everything.’  Simply because, they don’t.

(me and my bro.ski with all the cabbage patch dolls of the family.  yes, even bro.ski had one and his name was Elliot.  I’m so liking my leg warmers.  Side note, all the drawings you see above the couch were done by my uncle Marc who was an artist)

Are you aware that life existed and thrived long before conventional doctors came on the scene?  It did.  I promise you.  There was life without pills, without fad diets, without pharmacies on every corner.  Now, many people could have been saved had their been a hospital or medication for certain diseases and infections – but you didn’t see millions of people dying from cancer, living with high blood pressure or diagnosed with diabetes.

If doctors had all the answers, then the United States would be the most healthy nation on this planet and there would not be a single sick person here.  We are far from it.  In fact, the United States has more doctors than any other country, we have more prescription drugs, more weight loss regimens, more fitness centers, more hospitals – and yet, we are the most unhealthy nation in the world.  Our citizens are dying daily of sickness and disease – sicknesses and diseases you didn’t see 100 years ago.  To me, that’s a wake up call!

(this was in 2003…my hair was growing out of a pixie cut.  I cut it all off when my grandmother was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer and she began losing her hair from the chemo treatments.  I told her if she started losing her hair, I’d cut mine off – and I did) 

So, I’m a big advocate of ‘alternative’ ways of living healthy.  The way people lived for thousands of years that proved to be effective.  I refuse to get caught up in today’s idea or for that matter, the government’s idea of what is healthy.  The FDA (Food and Drug Administration), AMA (American Medical Association) or WHO (World Health Organization) doesn’t know much when it comes to a healthy lifestyle.  A little research will clue a person in on that!

So…with that being said – and believe me, I could have said a lot more, but I’ll leave that for my other blog – here are some tips I am going to pass along today.

(me and my sister and my dad.  Well, part of him.)

- Stop thinking ‘diet’.  Start thinking ‘lifestyle’.  This can make all the difference in the world.  A diet stops working once you stop doing it.  When you make a lifestyle change – it becomes a habit and it’s how you live on a day to day basis. 

- Food is medicine.  We should realize that everything we put in and on our bodies WILL have a consequence in our health.

- Water. Water. Water.  Every BODY needs water.

- Hormones play a HUGE part in the proper functioning of our body.  If your hormones are unbalanced, there will be evidence in our bodies.

- Begin to look at foods as live and dead.  I know that sounds weird, but it will help you.  Our bodies CANNOT survive off of dead foods – and I’m not talking animals.  Dead foods are man made, processed foods.  Fake foods.  The ingredients in these foods are foreign to your body and your body will not know how to metabolize them and they wreak havoc on your system.

I know this may step on some toes, but I’m not trying to purposely offend anyone….Diets like Weight Watchers, Atkin’s Diet, The South  beach Diet, The Flat Belly Diet, etc. – I am not a fan of these at all.  In fact I think they are doing more harm, internally, than good.  You may see numbers drop on the scale, but these diets consist of processed foods.  There is nothing healthy about that.  And when you get off ‘their’ specialty food – your results will be undone.  I would stay away from weight loss diets like these because you are not putting live foods in your body that help your body function and grow.  In fact, the processed foods packed with sodium are wearing your body down.

- We have to realize that our bodies consist of over 100 hormones that cause our body, organs and cells to function properly.  If we are not eating foods that work synergetically with our hormones – our body will begin to deteriorate.  Your hormones will become unbalanced, your cells won’t function properly and your organs will become victim to all of this.  Much more on this subject later!

- Steer clear of low-fat, low-carb, low-fat/high-carb, sugar free and fat free processed foods.  Seriously – this alone could make a huge difference in your health.  I have never jumped on the bandwagon of these types of claims – that the above mentioned are healthier for you.  This is a long, drawn out topic that I won’t go into much detail today – but these alternatives are not healthy.  Most of these foods are filled with extra synthetic ingredients to make them taste better.  These types of fad diets also wreak havoc on your hormones and you become very imbalanced. 

- Our eating needs to be balanced on all levels and in reality – it’s not hard.  It just takes a little practice and drive.  Once you see results, it’s easy to keep going.

Well, that’s enough for today.  I can see some of you nodding off  :o)  More on all of this later!

(taken the weekend of my 10 year reunion in 2003.  This was 3 months before I cut my hair off into a pixie do!)

Have a great Tuesday!

remember to:
live.laugh.love.and.celebrate.life.

“If you're bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you don't have enough goals.”

Lou Holtz