Why do I call this A Healthy Lifestyle Change?? Simply because it's not simply a diet that you hope to go on for a couple months and then magically you're healthy. This is a need for a Lifestyle Change just as it reads...that is, if you truly want to be healthy. I still have so much to learn, and so far to go still. However, these are some things I have learned and have tried to start to incorporate myself. I have seen some real changes already in my health and the way I feel...so has my husband.
for Your Home & Family???
Healthy Living:
For starters let me say, that if you really want to be truly healthy, you need to start to do your own personal research. I'm still learning myself and can only help you so far. I must warn you though, if you decide to do this research, it's going to be a shocking adventure for you...but it's information you really need to hear! Really, it's vital that you educate yourself! It's so tempting to simply push it aside.
Someone once told me this...
"Food is simply like religion to people...it can be a very touchie issue because most people don't want to give any of it up; therefore, they're closed to hearing the truth."
Now ...
"Did you know that North America has the highest health care in the world and consumes the most vitamins than any other countries in the world...but yet it's the sickest by far??"
. . .Makes you wonder why, doesn't it? It's about time we started to find out!!
Now, let me mention that due to the vast amount of information you may encounter in your research, it may become so overwhelming that you may get discouraged for a while. But keep your head up and take one day at a time. If it's easier, start by making little changes here and there and gradually incorporate more. Just start soemwhere! Try not to overwhelm yourself with too much at the start or you may get too discouraged. Take one day at a time. Any and all healthy changes will make a difference in your body's health. See my chart below (bottom) of things I personally recommend to start changing first.
and the inspiration is in the Research!"
IDEAS:
~ Here's some of my ideas to use for salad. ...Spinach instead of lettuce (Spinach tastes very similar, and is packed full of so many more nutrients! However, if you do use lettuce use romaine not iceberg), beet greens (full of nutrients!), turnip greens, broccoli sprouts (1 oz of sprouts = 2 lbs of head broccoli!!), pea sprouts, alphfa sprouts, shredded carrots, diced tomatoes, chopped red / yellow / green peppers, chopped celery, shredded cabbage, diced cucumber, shredded turnip, wheat germ.
~ Another way to get your quick daily greens is by drinking what is called a homemade "Green Drink." [See Recipe: Click Here.] You can play around with this recipe quite a lot.
2. Eat Fresh Fruits Daily (not canned, processed, etc.)
3. Eliminate Refined Sugars...(look out for aspartame, fructose, glucose, saccharin, sucrose, etc, etc, on labels)
Substitutes:
~Stevia, (best for yogurt, tea's, shakes, etc)
~Real Maple Syrup (NOT maple table syrup!),
~Agave Nectar
~Un-pasteurized Honey
~Organic Cane Sugar (similar texture to white refined sugar)--get it @ Bulk Barn, Health Stores, etc.
~Turbino (little pellets)
~Date Sugar
~View More...Sugar Substitutes!...this site will also provide great info on a bunch of healthier sugars!!
4. Eliminate Refined Flours (pastas, pancake mixes, breads, crackers, etc)... Substitutes: (About Whole Wheat Breads?)
~Whole Wheat flour is far better than white, but even healthier ones include:
~Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour
~ Spelt Flour
~Brown Rice Flour
~Stone Ground Whole White flour (not as nutritious, but good for biscuits, no chemicals etc..)
NOTE: You can get healthy crackers (with no salt & no white flour), as well as pancake mixes, etc in the Organic section at the grocery store...or Health Food stores.
~For Healthy Bread...(not found in grocery stores): Go to the German Bakery behind Canadian Tire in Dieppe. It's about $3.99 a loaf. It's made with no sugar, no yeast, etc! Great tasting! They also sell Wheat Free Breads.
German Bakery
603 Acadia Ave.
Ph # (506) 383-6118
5. Eliminate Iodized Table Salt...
Substitutes:
~"Sea Salt" (for seasoning, cooking, etc)
~ "Pure Himalayan Crystal Salt" (This is best, but you can only get it on-line as far as I know...see link just below if interested)
~"Epson Salts" (mixed with bath water is a great detoxifier & great for soaking infections.)
NOTE: Todays's common table salt is basically poison and has nothing in common with natural salt. Your table salt is actually 95.7 % sodium chloride and 2.5 % chemicals such as moisture absorbents and iodine. Dried at over a 1,200 degrees F the excessive heat alters the natural chemical structure of the salt causing the potential for a myriad of health problems in your body. (http://www.mercola.com/forms/salt.htm)
6. Eliminate Dairy as much as possible (if not entirely)...
NOTE: Pasteurizing is the main reason (among others) that dairy isn't healthy. To help you learn more about Pasteurized milk click here. Raw milk is actually really good for you, but unfortunantly it's only legal in certain states...check out this video from Dr Mercola's site about Raw Milk (or view it simply on You Tube where you'll be able to fully view the picture video without signing up to Dr Mercola's site, which I think you should anyway). However, if you look hard enough, you may find a farm that sells shares in a cow(s) where you could then get the raw milk. Of course, how they care for their cows is something you need to look into first.
Substitutes:
~Raw Milk (FAQ's on Raw Milk)
~ Rice Milk (Rice Dream is the healthiest that I'm aware of at the moment.)
~ Plain, unsweetened yogurt that contains the live, active bacterial culture in it...you can get it @ the Farmer's Market in Dieppe. (See pix below.) Unfortunately, it's pasteurized, but it's organic; and the live bacterial culture that's in it is extremly healthy and builds the immune system.(Just mix it with a banana to sweeten and mix in other fruits too for added flavours...a hand blender works great!)
~ Organic cheese (Yup! That's not made from milk.)
NOTE:
~Soy Milk is NOT healthy for you...unless you make it yourself from pure soy beans
7. Eliminate Caffeine...coffee, tea, pop, etc...
~Cafe-Lib is one of the healthier substitutes for coffee.
~Organic Coffee if you insist on having real coffee. (The coffee bean is one of thee most sprayed beans in the world! Therefore, Organic is very important if you plan to continue to drink it.)
~Herbal Teas (make sure Green Tea, etc is without caffeine though).
8. Drink Plenty of Water & Try Juicing!
Substitutes:
~Quality water!! (24 oz/day or as much as you can!)
~Warm Lemon Water (juice a lemon and add it to your water first thing upon waking up. This is excellent for your health!)
~Juicing is the absolute best way to go when it comes to juice; but it needs to be consumed immediately. (It does get expensive though). It has extremly high healing abiliteis when consuming at least a pint a day and with the right combinations it'll treat specific health problems. However, any amount of jucing is highly beneficial to you. It works best on an empty stomach. [We personally juice twice a week, until we grow our garden this year and then we''ll be able to afford regular juicing.] (If you want to buy a juicer, I highly recommend the brand: "The Champion Juicer". You can even make healthy frozen icecream from pure fruits with it! It's amazing! But if you only want a standard juicer without these extra features I recommend the "Breville"...you can get it @ Sears.)
~ Processed Fruit Juices: If you're going to drink these be sure they 100% pure. (Although these are not so nutritious, they are much better than the processed juices that are loaded with sugar, etc.)
9. Avoid Processed & Canned Foods as much as possible
Substitutes:
~Fresh foods (fresh is always best!)
~Frozen Foods
~ In the organic section at Superstore, you can get great tasing jams made with 100% fruit ingredients, sweetened with fruit juices, without preservatives or coloring, etc. It's called: lefruit. The brand name is: NATUR. I just love it!
10. Avoid Store Bought Meats & Over Consumption of Meats
Substitutes:
~Healthy Meat ...right off the farm. I found a farm in Glenvale, NB. with great prices. It's not certified organic, but their animals are not pumped with styroids & hormones, etc. (See info below...)
D & A Meats
313 Baseline, Rd.
Glenvale, NB (approx 3 miles from Pedicodiac, NB)
Ph # (506) 756-3643
Hamburg: $1.80/lb...Roast: $2.25/lb...Steak: $4.00 - $4.50 /lb...
~Organic Meat ...this is the absolute healthiest way to go. It's a lot more expensive, but worth it if you can afford it. I recommend the David Bunnette Family Farm for Organic meat (& eggs):
David Bunnett Family Farm
Havelock, NB ...(they're also located at the Deippe Farmer's Market)
Ph #: (506) 534-2262
www.davidbunnettfamilyfarm.com --(web site)
bunnett@nbnet.nb.ca --(e-mail)
10. Avoid Fried Foods & Fast Food Restaurants!
11. Get Rid of Your Bad Cooking Oils
Substitute:
~ Natural (pure) Olive Oil.
~Sunflower Oil...this tastes awesome on popcorn instead of butter!!
~Safflower Oil
~Grapeseed Oil
~Cocanut Oil
12. Snack on Raw Nuts & Seeds...These are good protein for you!
(Don't get the roasted & salted ones.)
TIPS:
~ Refrigerate Walnuts.
~ Grind Flax & Sesame seeds. Because they are so small they don't get digested and they end up coming out in your stools. Grinding them is easy. You can do this simply with a coffee grinder. (You can buy one as cheap as $10.00 at Superstore.)
Then simply put some on your cereal, in your plain organic yogurt, etc.
~Brazil Nuts are the only nut un-cultivated! Not only that, but just one a day will give you your daily requirement of Selenium...which is generally hard to find in one food alone.
Keep in mind anything "Diet" or "Low Fat" is unhealthier than the regular stuff, as it includes more processing & more chemicals...not to mention aspartame, which is worse than the refined sugar itself.
BELOW ARE TIPS FROM THIS WEB SITE ON SUGAR:
http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/treat/T70929.html
Go easy on or avoid foods that have the words sucrose, glucose, maltose, dextrose, fructose or syrup listed among the first three ingredients on the food label. These foods tend to contain high amounts of sugar.
Remember that refined sugar includes not only "sugar", as listed in ingredient listings, but also the brown sugar that is sold in the baking aisle in the regular grocery store. Other refined sweeteners to avoid are glucose, fructose and dextrose. Hidden sources of white sugar are in mayonnaise, ketchup, salad dressings and other condiments, unless you get them at health food stores. When you have finished the condiments that are in your fridge make a point to replace them with the white-sugar-free versions.
A more obvious source of white sugar is in jams and jellies. There are now many all-fruit varieties sweetened with concentrated grape or apple juice. There are also jams that are sweetened with honey, dehydrated cane juice, or unrefined cane sugar. How do you modify your old recipes to eliminate refined white sugar? Replace the sugar with half the amount of raw sugar (dehydrated cane juice, e.g. Sucanat, or turbinado), or half the amount of honey or maple syrup (but reduce the liquid amount by one quarter cup for every cup of honey or maple syrup used). To sweeten you can also use rice syrup, barley malt, date sugar, dried fruit, fresh fruit, fruit juice, or even rice milk. Using sweeter flours such as oat or teff also lends a natural sweetness to baked goods.
CONDIMENT SUBSTITUTE IDEAS:
1.Mayonaise substitute: Vegenaise (In cooler section of the Organic Section)
2. Jam substitute: Lefruit jams (flavored with 100% real fruit juices...again in the Organic Section)
3. Soya Sauce substitute: Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or) Bragg's Soy Seasoning (tastes just like Soya Sauce...my favorite!
(Farmmer's Market)
Unfortunatly it's pasturized
(Organic Section)
Sweetened only with real fruit juices
(delicious)
(Organic Section)
The "Canola Mayonnaise" tastes just like regular mayo.
The "Vegenaise" (healthiest) has a little different taste, but still tastes fine.
(Organic Section)
(delicious!)
"Liquid Soy Seasoning"
Drs. Rudel & Jeanette Davis--{E-mail}
Check out this site for Free Seminars to attend to help motivate you with great information!
(I went to one in Moncton and that is where it all started for me!)
You can also get Health Consultations & Colon, Liver, etc Cleanses, provided here for good prices at their clininc, located in Miramichi. NB. ...Upon request, they can also provide you with an in-expensive way you can clean your own colon, liver, etc in the privacy of you own home; (simply by following a certain diet, etc for a particular period of time). Just send them an email and they'll guide you from there. (Or simply click on the above link under "Body Cleanses" where I have posted the ones they sent to me.)
They will also help answer concerned questions you may have via email. They're in this to help people, not just for the money! And they prove this by their actions! I rtuly gained a lot of respect for these two people.
EMAIL: RiversideTherapy@nb.aibn.com