Baby Boomer Health: Migraine Headaches – A Case History

“Mary” came to see me to discuss an ongoing health challenge. While discussing this issue, she also complained that she was in the process of getting another migraine headache and added that she would shortly have to take her drugs or she would become severely incapacitated. 

She agreed to try EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) to alleviate her symptoms.  We spent some time tapping on a number of aspects including “this feeling in my head”, “this tightness in my shoulder”, “this coming migraine”, etc. After 10 minutes she no longer had any sense of an oncoming migraine headache.  She took no drugs and had not had a headache some two to three weeks later.

Having worked with thousands of people, Caroline Myss, Ph.D, a medical intuitive, gives an energy analysis of migraine headaches by describing them as developing in response to an attempt to control one’s emotional reactions of anger, frustration, rage or other emotions containing the same type of energy. The control refers to the individual trying to prevent an emotional explosion from occurring externally and so it occurs internally. 

The need to control is the major characteristic of people prone to migraines. Since women are more prone to internalize their reactions, it is not surprising that they are more affected by these headaches.  Additionally, most physicians recognize that migraine sufferers tend to be compulsively neat and tend towards perfectionism. These traits can also lead to other types of headaches.

If you are prone to migraines, ask yourself:

• What am I trying to control?
• What emotion do I want to keep inside?
• What happened that made me think I’m not perfect?
• What am I angry or frustrated at?
• Do I have a pattern of this emotion and/or the migraines/headaches?
• What is making me want to explode?
• What tension am I allowing to building up inside me?

Not only may the answers prove to be insightful as to your “hot buttons”, but you may be able to avert a future migraine episode by using EFT.  If you would like to learn more about EFT, please contact me at evelin@blueprints4change.com

Mud Puddles and Dandelions

See Life Thru the Eyes of a Child

Yesterday my husband and I drove out into the country to meet some friends we hadn’t seen in quite a while. The bright blue sky, the brilliantly-colored flowers on the roadside and the dandelions gently waving in the breeze reminded me of the following piece of writing … 

“When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard.  My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.

When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.  My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.

When I hear music I love, I know I can’t carry a tune and don’t  have much rhythm, so I sit self-consciously and listen.  My kids feel the beat and move to it.  They sing out the words.  If they don’t know them, they make up their own.

When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it.   I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.  My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it until they fall to the ground laughing.

When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this,  give me that.   My kids say, “Hi God!  Thanks for my toys and my friends.  Please keep the bad dreams away tonight.  Sorry, I don’t want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy  and Daddy.”

When I see a mud puddle, I step around it.  I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets.
My kids sit in it.  They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.

I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from?  No wonder God loves the little children!!

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

— Author Unknown

Just a reminder about the important things in life!  With summer just around the corner, we may want to take more time looking at life like a child and enjoying the “Mud Puddles and Dandelions”

Courage and Passion

It takes courage to follow your passions but ultimately it’s YOUR choice!

Cody McCasland is a boy who knows about courage and passion. When I watched the video about his life, I was bowled over. To say he is an inspiration is an understatement. 

He was a premature baby born with a whole host of medical problems and not expected to live.  Against all odds he survived, only to then have both his legs amputated.  Now at age seven, Cody epitomizes courage, spirit, loving fierceness and the passion to help others through similar situations. 

What if you had the courage to follow your passions? To not let fear get in the way? To forge ahead even if you don’t know how it’s going to turn out?  Cody had no idea of what was in store for him but look how his life turned out…       Cody on MSNBC

Obesity and Disease: It’s about the Quality of the Calories, not the Quantity

Yesterday I joined a number of colleagues and other nutritionally-oriented folks for another of our Weston Price Foundation events.  The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded 10 years ago to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price. His research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and animal fats. As a Naturopath and having studied nutrition for many years, I agree wholeheartedly.

The guest speaker for the event was Gary Taubes, an award-winning science writer, whose latest book is entitled Good Calories, Bad Calories. He argues that obesity is caused not by the quantity of calories you eat but by the quality. Carbohydrates, particularly refined ones like white bread and pasta, raise insulin levels, promoting the storage of fat.  Or putting it another way, eating foods high on the glycemic index, which is a way of rating foods according to their ability to increase blood sugar, will make you fat.  The diet of most people in the US consists of far too many of these refined starchy foods.

Why is such a diet detrimental to your health?  Because high glycemic foods:

• Cause a sudden spike in blood sugar.
• Over-stimulate insulin production leading to “insulin resistance” which promotes high blood pressure, clogged arteries, heart attacks and strokes.
• Adversely affect calorie metabolizing.
• Increase the size of fat cells.
• Convert more calories to fat (not lean).
• Stimulate appetite and the storage of fat.
• Damage cells, causing accelerated aging of all tissues and organs
• Double or triple your risk of developing type 2 (adult onset) diabetes, according to Harvard Research.
• Depress good HDL cholesterol. British researchers say that the best dietary way to raise HDLs, they found, was low glycemic index diet.

I have long been a supporter of eating foods low on the glycemic scale and have been doing so myself for many years.  Not that I don’t venture out and eat high glycemic foods on occasion – some of them are so tasty and one has to be a  bit of a devil at times! 

Certain folks are more susceptible to the effects of high glycemic foods than others and will put weight on more quickly.  My husband is one such case.  He is a “meat eater”.  When he eats too many simple carbohydrates (high glycemic), his weight shoots up almost overnight.

I highly recommend the following book if you would like to learn more about the Glycemic Index and if you have a personal experience you would like to share, I invite you to add your thoughts in the comment section below.

Getting Older!

Dear Grandson:

Getting Older!

I have become a little older since I saw you last, and a few changes have come into my life since then. Frankly, I have become a frivolous old gal. I am seeing five gentlemen every day.

As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go to see John. Then Charlie Horse comes along, and when he is here he takes a lot of my time and attention.

When he leaves, Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn’t like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint.

After such a busy day, I’m really tired and glad to go to bed with Ben Gay. What a life. Oh yes, I’m also flirting with Al Zymer.

Love, Grandma

P.S. The preacher came to call the other day. He said at my age I should be thinking of the hereafter. I told him, “Oh I do it all the time. No matter where I am, in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement, I ask myself, “Now, what am I here after?”

Baby Boomer Health: Diet Drinks are NOT Your Friends!

It’s frightening to see so many people drinking diet sodas thinking they are healthier because they don’t contain sugar. Sugar has become the enemy when in fact, sugar substitutes such as NutriSweet are far more detrimental to health.

If a 6th grade student can prove aspartame that is used in Diet drinks is poisonous, then why is the FDA ignoring it?
 
Sixth Grade Student Reveals Diet Coke/NutriSweet as Poison in Science Project

In 1997 Jennifer Cohen, an eleven year-old, sixth-grade student in Oradell, New Jersey, conducted an experiment proving aspartame breaks down into deadly neurotoxins when stored. Her results are not surprising to those who are informed on the true nature of aspartame.

Jennifer purchased a new case of Diet Coke from the supermarket. She stored seven cans in the refrigerator, seven cans at room temperature (69 deg.), and seven cans in an incubator at 104 deg. (the daytime temperature in Phoenix Arizona during the summer) for ten weeks. The remaining three cans were tested at Winston Laboratories in New Jersey for aspartame content.

After ten weeks of storage, the experimental cans were taken to the lab for analysis.  The original level of aspartame in the three cans of Diet Coke tested was .06%. The level of aspartame found in the cans stored in the refrigerator was .058% – the missing aspartame turned into .001% DKP and 53.5 parts per billion of formaldehyde. Aspartame levels of the room temperature soda were .051% with DKP levels of .002% and 231 parts per billion of formaldehyde. The aspartame level in the incubator sodas was tested at .026% with .010 % DKP and 76.2 parts per billion formaldehyde.

All samples revealed a presence of formaldehyde. However, the highest level of formaldehyde occurred in the room temperature can. There was also formaldehyde present in the refrigerated sample.

The ingredients in aspartame are aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol is a chemical that breaks down at high temperatures and turns into formaldehyde and DKP (diketopiperazine), two chemicals known to cause problems in the nervous system. Aspartame’s life is 262 days at 77 degrees Fahrenheit, or 25 degrees Celsius.

The FDA gets more complaints about aspartame than any other food or drink.

The cost of testing for Jennifer’s experiment was $1250, a huge sum for a sixth grade student to spend on a science project. If an eleven-year-old is so easily able to prove the poisonous nature of Diet Coke and aspartame, one must look toward Searle/Monsanto and the FDA for answers as to why this poisonous chemical remains on the market.

Aspartame has accounted for more than 75% of all adverse reactions reported to the FDA. Less than one percent of those who have problems with a product ever report it.

Some reactions reported to the FDA are:
Abdominal Pain, Anxiety Attacks, Arthritis. Asthma, Birth Defects, Brain Cancer, Burning urination, Chest Pain, Coma, Cough, Chronic Fatigue, Confusion, Death, Depression, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Edema, Excessive Thirst/Hunger, Fatigue, Hair Loss, Hearing Loss, Headaches, Hives, Hyperglycemia, Hypertension, Hypoglycemia, Impotency, Insomnia, Irritability, Itching, Joint Pain, Marked Personality Changes, Memory Loss, Menstrual Problems, Migraines, Muscle Spasms, Nausea, Numbness, Rash, Seizures, Tremors, Vision Loss, and Weight Gain.

I personally opt for sugar – organic Rapadura sugar, unbleached, unrefined and still containing the original natural vitamins and minerals. This deliciously pure golden-colored sugar is not separated from the molasses stream during processing unlike refined sugars. Simply substitute 1 cup of Rapadura for 1 cup of white sugar in all of your recipes.

If you would like more information on aspartame toxicity, watch the video “Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World” and listen to interviews with victims, doctors, lawyers and activists. 

 Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

I have shown this eye-opening video during some of my nutrition presentations.  It continues to be a mind-blowing experience for viewers, some of whom never again touch another diet soda.

The Antidote to Exhaustion…

“The antidote to exhaustion may not be rest. It may be wholeheartedness. You are so exhausted because all of the things you are doing are just busyness. There’s a central core of wholeheartedness totally missing from what you’re doing.”
—Brother David Steindl-Rast quoted in I Will Not Die an Unlived Life by Dawna Markova

Another way of expressing “wholeheartedness” is passion.  When you are following your passions, you will have seemingly boundless energy. Time will “disappear”. Rather like “highway hypnosis” when you miss your exit off the highway because you are so deep in thought that you don’t realize how far you have driven.

When you approach your life wholeheartedly/passionately, you experience courage, confidence and optimism rather than anxiety, fear and uncertainty. Joy and fulfillment become a part of daily living and you spend more time in the “Zone.” You don’t have time for exhaustion! 

Never give up.  Never let fear stand between you and your dreams.  Never allow yourself to live a life of mediocrity. Not only does passion bring pleasure to you, it makes others want to be around you for the vicarious pleasure.

It’s Never Too Late …

… to venture outside of your comfort zone, to learn something new, to make a difference in the lives of others.  If you are like many of today’s Baby Boomers, you have probably wondered whether you had the courage to “get out of that warm, comfortable cozy box”, whether you still had enough brain cells to master something you had not done before and whether it was important to contribute to the world at large.  These are issues that come up at midlife when we are driven more by internal motivation than external, when we make a shift from success to significance.

Imagine yourself in this position …

 …at the ripe old age of 82, having been home-schooled in your younger days, you decide to go to college to take classes. Although you have spent your whole life appearing in public and making speeches in front of groups ranging in size from the small to the thousands, you believe that your professional speaking skills are lacking. You have always commanded attention due to your persona but now you want to provide input on a more personal level at community hall meetings.  Believing you don’t have all the necessary skills, you begin attending weekly classes and occasional monthly labs to improve your speaking skills. 

It can take a lot of courage to admit when something isn’t working, and certainly no less so in your senior years. But isn’t it worth it to live a more authentic life; don’t you deserve to take a more active role in living!  So if you think it’s too late, perhaps it’s time to think again and take another look at what is going to fulfill you, make you come alive and live up to your potential.

If you find you need a guide to help you discover your passions, those things that are most important to you, or you need support on the journey of becoming a more “authentic you”, please visit me at http://www.blueprints4change.com or email at evelin(at)blueprints4change.com

PS  In case you are wondering who the 82-year old is … it’s HRH Queen Elizabeth 2 and yes, this is a true story.

Drink to Your Health

Water is the Healthy Beverage

Now that summer is on the way, I’d like to help you start the season off in a healthy way by encouraging you to add an important ingredient to your diet — water.  We need to be drinking enough water all year round but it is even more important in the summer when we lose more water due to heat and perspiration.

Your body weight is made up of 50 – 75% water depending on your size.  Many bodily systems only function at optimum levels when you are well hydrated.  For example, water transports nutrients and oxygen throughout the body keeping your immune system strong.  It prevents illness by carrying toxins out of the body.  And studies have shown that water helps the body to metabolize stored fat.
 
There’s a good chance that your body may be dehydrated if you experience any one or more of the following problems:
 
– dry skin or eyes
– fogginess or fatigue
– constipation
– low mental performance
– dizziness
– low blood pressure
– sore joints
– swollen feet, legs or hands
 
We usually don’t think about drinking water until we feel thirsty.  But by then the body is already dehydrated.  Most of us know that we should drink more water yet we usually forget, so here are some ways you might remind yourself:

1. Purchase a large water bottle and make it a point to finish at least 3 a day.
2. Keep a bottle of water in your car, your office or briefcase. Make sure the bottle is made of a “safe” plastic (to avoid chemicals leaching into the water) or use glass or stainless steel.
3. Drink a large glass of water before every meal.
4. Write the word “water” on a card and place it where you will see it every day.
5. Set an alarm to ring every hour and drink a glass of water when it goes off.
    

Under certain circumstances you will need to drink more than the recommended 8 glasses of water a day.  For example, if you exercise regularly you’ll need to drink more.  And, if you drink alcohol or caffeine, you’ll need an extra glass for every drink you have (both cause dehydration).
 
Stop and check in with your body right now.  Are you thirsty? Does your skin feel dry?  Is your thinking clear or foggy?  Make it your goal to increase your water consumption every day.  You’ll know you’ve created a new healthy habit when you find yourself automatically reaching for more water throughout the day.

Self-Hypnosis to Conquer Fear of Midlife Change

Life is full of changes but as we move into our 40s and 50s, we seem to become even more immersed in change. Our bodies are changing, jobs may change, children move out of the house, spouses leave and even our interests change. Change is frightening and if we let them, our negative thoughts can take over. We can end up being paralyzed by fear.

One way to combat fear is to learn self-hypnosis and install positive suggestions in the subconscious. Much of our self-talk tends to be negative. Thoughts and self suggestions such as the following will ensure that we don’t achieve what we want in life and that the changes we want to make will not happen:

I can’t (the one we use the most)
I’ll never get it right
I’m sure to fail
This will never work
I’m not good enough
I’m not bright enough
I’m too fat [or tall or thin]
I’m an idiot

People who are successful use positive self-hypnosis and suggestions such as:

I can (the most important one of all)
I am good 
I’m skilled
I’m an intelligent person
I deserve the best
I know how to do it
I am achieving my goal

Installing positive self-hypnosis into the subconscious is the key to achieving success. The process is simple …

Find a quiet and comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed for at least 15 minutes. Think about any affirmation (such as a suggestion from the list above) you might want to use. Close your eyes and begin to visualize your whole body relaxing from the top of the head all the way down to the toes. Slow down your breathing. Go through each part of the body giving it a gentle command to “relax” as you continue to breathe slowly.  You might even imagine yourself at your favorite place, somewhere you feel completely at peace, safe and comfortable.  When you feel you have reached a level of relaxation that is appropriate for you, repeat (in your mind) the affirmation you have selected.  Repeat the phrase or word at least 10-20 times, take a few more deep breaths and then gently return to wherever you are. Open your eyes and feel how relaxed you are.

Your imagination is a powerful tool.  Use it to create the life you want and make the changes YOU choose.