10 Healthy Living Facts to Help you Improve your Life.

During my training as an energy healer, we covered nutrition and how processed food affects your health and energy levels. This post will cover a little about nutrition, straightforward ways to move more during the lockdown, and help your physical body. We will also cover ways to help your mind and spirit.

To work with me as a therapist or join our fortnightly online meditation group email Rosemary

Healthy Eating,

Most of us know sugary and processed foods are not the best choices for a healthy diet. Processed foods are any that have added ingredients. Try to eat at least 80% of fresh food.

  1. Vegetables are packed with the nutrients our body needs; they should be a major part of your healthy diet. Try experimenting with different recipes, finding ones you like, and use them in your lunches and dinners.
  2. Eating proper meals and healthy snacks. Snacking all day makes us think we are not eating much, but we miss out on essential nutrients and eat wasted calories. Eating healthy fats and proteins in complete meals helps to fill us up. If you need a snack, the following are more nutritional and keep you fuller longer, hardboiled egg, a portion of cheese, avocado, apple or other fruit, nuts, and red pepper with guacamole, cucumber slices with hummus, dried unsweetened coconut, and olives.
  3. What we drink, there is no nutritional benefit to alcohol, fizzy drinks, or fruit squashes. The caffeine acts as a diuretic, we, therefore, need to drink more fluids to replace those lost through drinking drinks high in caffeine.  Opting for green tea, herbal tea, or black coffee (keeping our coffee intake to no more than two cups a day, preferably cutting it out altogether).  The best fluid to drink is pure plain water, there are no calories or additives to worry about.  Drinking a glass of water before every meal will make you feel less hungry, and you will be drinking three glasses a day.

Exercise

We all know exercise is good for our bodies, however, it is so easy to sit and watch telly with a snack instead.

1.Walk More

Regular movement is key to so many health benefits. Aim for at least 10,000steps a day. Start easy, with these smallways to walk more and be healthier!

  • Decide to only take the stairs if you are walking less than six floors.
  • Park further away from supermarket entrance when you go shopping.
  • Walk during your work breaks.
  • Plan a walking meeting, or take your phone call while you walk.
  • Get up ten minutes earlier in the morning and take a short brisk walk before the chaos of the day.
  • Walk your kids to or from school, walk to work if it is close.
  • Take a family walk with the kids after dinner.
  • Schedule a once a week walk with a friend.
2. Short Workouts  

Long workouts are not necessary to be healthy.  For most of us, trying to fit in more than 20 minutes is a challenge.  We can try running on the spot or doing some squats while waiting for the kettle to boil or any other time we have a spare five minutes. We can do several basic exercises at home, squats, lunges, push-ups, tricep dips, plank, wall sits, burpees, and mountain climbers, these all get our muscles working again. There is lots of information on how to do these on the internet if you have never done them. You may want to get a professional to show you, though.  Build on this slowly over time, if we have been sedentary for a while, it will take several weeks to get our bodies moving again.

Healthy Mind

This is a balanced mental and emotional state. Where you are productive, feel confident, face your fears, and learn from your mistakes. To keep our minds healthy, we need to exercise and eat healthy as I have already discussed above and get enough sleep and stay mentally active. Your brain is similar to a muscle and needs to be used like any other muscle in your body.

  1. Sleep, getting seven to eight hours of sound sleep, should be our aim. Tracking your sleep with a Fitbit or similar helps you see how well you are sleeping. In a deep sleep is where tissue growth and repair take place. If we are not getting enough deep sleep, we will not feel as refreshed in the morning. Download my tips for a Good Nights Sleep.
  2. Mental Activity. Things to keep your brain healthy include mental activity, crossword puzzles, sudoku, reading, playing cards, and doing jigsaw puzzles. These all help train your brain. There are electronic games for brain training available too. Watching television does nothing to stimulate the brain as it is a passive activity.
  3. Stress has a significant impact on our minds and can contribute to memory loss. Therefore it is important to try to reduce your stress levels. Exercise, relaxation, good sleep, many of the things already mentioned will help reduce stress. Social interaction also helps our stress levels look for ways to connect with loved ones, friends, and others, especially if you live alone. Brain atrophy has been linked to solitary confinement, making the recent periods of lockdown hard for many. Therefore, it is important to stay socially active via the many online means during this time until we can meet face to face again.

Healthy Spirit

The spiritual part of our wellness is the most personal and overlooked piece of living a healthy life. We all would like to live with meaning and purpose, when this is met, we have harmony in our life. Here are some tips for spiritual wellness.

  1. Your spiritual core. By working with a group or therapist exploring your spiritual centre, you will ask yourself deep questions about who you are and your meaning. You may meditate on Who am I? What is my purpose? What do I value most?. Doing this will help you think deeply about yourself and help you achieve fulfilment in your life, possibly clearing energy blocks that are holding you back.
  2. Meditation this is a healthy spiritual practise, where you connect to yourself. Meditation has many benefits for your health. Start slowly, if you are not used to the practice start with clearing your mind of thoughts and focusing on your breath for 3 to 5 minutes each morning before you get up and evening before you go to sleep. Once you have mastered 5 minutes increase to 10, gradually increase by 5 minutes until you can do 20 minutes.

Benefits:-   (for more information on these benefits read my post “About Meditation and the Benefits)

  • Improved health
  • Lower blood pressure
  • Reduced anxiety
  • Decreased stress
  • Deep rest
  • Reversal of the ageing process
  • Increased perception and memory

To work with me as a therapist or join our fortnightly online meditation group email Rosemary

Toxicity and its Symptoms

Symptoms of disease are often reactions to a build up of toxins in the body. They are a warning that a deeper process needs to be checked. We repress these symptoms, when we take painkillers for arthritis, cortisone cream for eczema etc. The toxins are then sent back into the body.
A toxin is a substance, which when we breathe it, drink it, eat it, inject it or absorb it through our skin, or when it is generated within our body, may disturb physiology or damage structures within the body.
Symptoms of Toxicity
Depending on the level of toxicity, symptoms may be superficial or deep, and show the body’s attempts to eliminate toxins. These can include headaches, joint pain, fatigue, irritability, depression, mental confusion, digestive disturbances, cardiovascular irregularities, flu like symptoms, or allergic reactions such as hives, runny nose, sneezing and coughing. Long standing toxicity leads to more serious illnesses such as autoimmune diseases, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease and cancer. Toxins may create free radicals in our bodies, causing cellular damage and inflammation. These then combine and destroy enzymes, stagnate in tissues and interfere with circulation, possibly causing high blood pressure, thickening the blood resulting in decreased oxygenation and distribution of nutrients. Toxins can also block the transformation of nerve impulses, causing psychological disturbances and can interact with hormones to create glandular imbalances.

Phases of Toxicity

Excretion Phase

This is the superficial phase; signs may include skin rashes or blemishes, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, fever, perspiration, pus formation, increased urination, diarrhoea and vomiting. The body is using the best route to eliminate the toxins to the outside. To avoid the build up of toxins in our bodies, we should aim to have three bowel movements daily, drink enough fresh water so we can excrete through our kidneys, if possible let a fever run its course, practice deep breathing, exercise and sweat daily, avoid suppressing menstruation, also colds help us to eliminate respiratory toxins.

Reaction Phase

When the bodies attempts to excrete toxins are suppressed (as in lowering a fever and halting perspiration) or incomplete, inflammation maybe created to try and remove residual toxins. Symptoms include eczema, shingles, abscesses, ear infections, arthritis, colitis, IBS, appendicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease and cystitis.

Deposition Phase

If the toxins continue to increase, they will possibly be deposited in the interstitial fluid. In this phase there maybe the formation of warts, polyps, neuromas, gallstones and kidney stones, cellulite, varicose veins, swollen glands, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, breast cysts, edema, atherosclerosis and weight gain. These are efforts of the body to isolate and contain the toxins so they don’t penetrate to the inside of the cell. High cholesterol and hypertension may result. Constipation, overeating, lack of exercise, inefficient perspiration, poor lymphatic circulation and insufficient water will allow toxins to be deposited into the interstitial fluid.

Impregnation Phase

If toxins are not removed from the interstitial fluid, they will penetrate to the inside of the cells, possibly causing free radical damage, the blocking of enzymes and a change in the function of the cell, which my progress to chronic disease. Once this stage is reached and the cellular regulation is affected, the following illnesses may appear, diabetes, asthma, hepatitis, angina, thyroid dysregulation, hormonal imbalances, cervical dysplasia, and other precancerous conditions.

Degeneration Phase

In this phase the cells are increasingly and sometimes irreversibly damaged, with the changes in cell structure. Diseases include liver cirrhosis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diease, lupus, MS, tuberculosis, hyperthyroidism, scleroderma, heart attack, arthritis, nephritis of the kidney, infertility and dementia.

Cancer Phase

In this phase the toxins have affected the DNA causing genetic damage and the formation of malignant cells. All cancers fall under this phase.

For information on a 10 day detox diet
If you would like more information about releasing emotional toxins with energy healing please contact me.

Short Cleansing Diet

istock_000003263969xsmallYour body benefits from a detox once or twice a year, should you want give it a try, here is a quick and easy diet. The aims of a detox are to reduce the workload of the digestive system, allowing it to perform more efficiently, and to stimulate the parts of the body responsible for cleansing and elimination. 

To gain the real benefit from this cleansing diet it must be adhered to for at least 10-14 days.
We recommend you plan ahead before starting to be able to do the appropriate shopping.
It is also of benefit to work up a mild sweat each day by exercising or sauna.
On the fourth or fifth day (or sooner) some people experience ‘hangover’ type symptoms; this is a normal part of the detoxifying process and will pass in a day or two. If this happens then drink extra water.

FOODS THAT CAN BE INCLUDED
50% raw food.
All fruit
All vegetables – lots of greens. Potatoes can be included.
Sprouted pulses and seeds
Millet, Quinoa (the only alkaline grains)
Lots of fun and rest
Herbs, esp. Parsley
Herb teas, barley cup, caro etc.
Fresh fruit and vegetable juice (without sugar)
Superfoods and natural supplements (not synthetic)
Minimum of 4 pints water daily, (preferably filtered or bottled)
All food should be fresh and preferably organic.

FOODS NOT TO BE INCLUDED
All meat and poultry
All dairy produce, including eggs. Soya or rice milk can be substituted
Oils and fats (including margarine) and all food cooked in them.
Nuts and Seeds
Grains including rice, oats and rye.
Wheat in all forms including bread, cake pasta, noodles, cous cous etc.
(check labels on foods as wheat is often added as a thickener)
Sugar, artificial sweeteners (again check labels) RAW honey or molasses can be substituted.
Chocolate. (Fresh or dried fruit makes a satisfying snack)
Worry and Stress
Spices, pepper and vinegar
Salt keep checking those labels.
Coffee, tea and soft drinks.
Alcohol and cigarettes
Food additives like flavouring, colouring and preservatives
Avoid tins, packets, frozen and pre-prepared.
Avoid frying, boiling and microwaves. Steaming, grilling and baking are best.
To get the most out of detoxing you need to look after your mind as well as your body. Well-being depends on maintaining a balance between your emotional, mental, spiritual and physical health, if this balance is upset it disrupts your body’s harmony and leads to ill health.
Meditation, massage and relaxing therapies which help remove toxins all help with a detox programme. Soul Essence offers several therapies to help you relax, de-stress and remove toxins from your body.