Thinking Outside "The Box"

I have issues with boxed food. We all should. Next time you eat a meal ask yourself if you know where it came from? 

I've gotten two leads (haha I'm such a journalist) from my sister-in-law today that have been great! She is reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History Of Four Meals", by Michael Pollan. I haven't read this book yet so I'm not endorsing it one way or the other but she read me an excerpt from it regarding McDonalds and their chicken mcnuggets. Just so y'all know, McDonalds chicken mcnuggets have 38 ingredients in them. 38! That blows my mind. That's not even including the fact that the actual chicken itself (if there is any in there) has most likely been stripped of any nutritional value and pumped full of hormones and steroids and who knows what else?!  I will get the actual quote from the book later because he goes into detail about some of the 38 ingredients at least 1 of which is a known carcinogen. I'M LOVIN' IT! 

The other tidbit I received from sister-in-law was this link which has more information on the hot dog issue. www.preventcancer.com/consumers/food/hotdogs.htm

Super Food/Drink Of The Day: Green Tea!

Green Tea.

This amazing liquid medicine is readily available, very affordable and certainly worth incorporating into your daily routine. 

Here are just a few of the small miracles this drink performs:

• Boosts your immune system
  

• Prevents some cancers and heart disease

• Reduces Body Fat 

• Slows the aging process

• Lowers blood pressure

• Fights harmful bacteria and viruses

• Helps the body regulate cholesterol levels
  

How does it do all this? I'll try and give you the short answer. Here's a  little tea 101 from "Green Tea The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life" Nadine Taylor M.S. , R.D. 

Tea comes from the Camellia Sinensis plant.

"Tea is an evergreen shrub that, when allowed to grow wild, produces fragrant white blossoms in the spring. These blossoms eventually form a fruit containing one to three small seeds. In order to reproduce, the tea plant must be cross-pollinated with another tea plant, and during this process genes and chromosomes are exchanged. Just as in animals, the baby tea plant winds up with some of the characteristics of one parent, and some of the other, as well as some from the earlier ancestors that may have been dormant. Thus every tea plant is completely unique."

"Green, Black, or in Between?

There are three major kinds of tea-green, black and "other" such as oolong- each processed quite differently. To make black tea, the fresh tea leaf is withered by exposure to the air, and is broken and left to ferment after picking. Oolong tea is treated similarly, but the withering process is much shorter, resulting in a partially fermented leaf. For green tea, the leaf is not fermented at all. Instead, it is steamed immediately after harvesting to stop the fermentation process, then rolled and dried."

The reason green tea is such a great cancer fighter is because of naturally occurring chemical compounds called Polyphenols which have a powerful antioxidant subgroup called catechins. 

"The forms of cancer that appear to be best prevented by green tea are cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, including cancers of the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, and colon; lung cancer; estrogen-related cancers, including most breast cancers; and prostate cancer. Although important in fighting all of these cancers, green tea is especially important in preventing breast and prostate cancer."  (The Encyclopedia Of Healing Foods, Michael Murray N.D.)

Okay I'm back. I just had to go put the kettle on... how can you not after reading that?! 

Too hot for tea? My boyfriend and I have been making fresh iced tea daily and it's the perfect summer cool-down drink.

Fill a 1 or 2 litre glass jar with filtered water

Drop in 1-4 tea bags depending on personal taste. We are loving Green Tea with Acai and Pomegranate for extra antioxidants. 

Add 1/2 - 1  lemon sliced into thin rounds. Mix gently, cool and enjoy

You can also add all kinds of fresh fruits, herbs and flowers (edible ones) to enhance the flavor, aroma and presentation.

To sweeten add 1-3 tsp. of honey, maple syrup or agave nectar. Delicious. 

Now hurry up and get your sip on!

Stop The Cause

The war on cancer has recently become a reality in my life as two people in my immediate family have been diagnosed with stage 4 Lung and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. A few months ago I didn't even know what stage 4 was and now I'm reading and researching the disease daily to get a better understanding. One of the things that really angers and confuses me is that all this time and money is (supposedly) being spent on research for the cure and it seems that everyone is ignoring the cause. Of course a cure would be great but maybe in the meantime we should start eliminating the thousands of  toxins, chemicals and carcinogens (cancer causing compounds) in our air, food, water, cosmetics, paint, cleaning supplies etc. 

In the book "How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine" Dr. Michael Murray says, 

"Cancer risk factors fall into two main categories: inherited and environmental. There's not a lot we can do to eliminate genetic risk factors, because they're passed on from generation to generation and are present at birth. But inherited genetic defects are responsible for only about 15 percent of all cancers. This statistic means that approximately 85 percent of all cancers result from environmental risk factors, such as diet, lifestyle, and exposure to harmful substances. "

"Foods To Avoid Entirely

• Smoked or cured meats: bacon, hot dogs, smoked luncheon meats, sausages, ham, spam and son on

• Meats cooked at extremely high temperatures or cooked to well-done

• Heavily sweetened or artificially sweetened soft drinks, sweet powdered drink mixes, juice-flavored drinks and so on

• Fried foods, including french fries, potato chips, corn chips, and doughnuts

• Processed foods packed full of empty calories (sugar and fat) or salt (e.g., canned soups, theatre-style popcorn, chips)

• Refined-white-flour products: pastas, cakes, muffins, pretzels

• Refined sugar-loaded cereals, candies and baked goods

• Margarine, butter and vegetable shortening

If we look to other cultures where their rates of cancer are much lower there's one main difference.  Diet.  The majority of what we eat today is not food it is over-processed, synthetic, chemically treated stuff that at one time may have contained some form of a naturally occurring nutrient rich food.

Cancer, disease prevention and nutrition are going to be an on-going theme here on my blog. I have so much to say about it and everyday I learn something new. Hopefully you will learn something new too. 

Clear Your Clutter Clear Your Mind

I've always kind of enjoyed cleaning and organizing. I'm not obsessive compulsive about it but I'm very affected by my surroundings and I like them to be a reflection of who I am. There are extremes on both sides, people who are neat freaks and people who are hoarders. Hoarding has become a huge issue for many people in North America and it can affect everything from relationships to your health.  

If you are lost in a sea of junk and don't know where to begin, or even if you just want to downsize a little I suggest reading "Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui" by Karen Kingston. It's a short book and a very easy read. Here's a little taste.

"In my definition there are four categories of clutter:

* Things you do not use or love

* Things that are untidy or disorganized

* Too many things in too small a place

*Anything unfinished"

Karen says that, "your home is an outward representation of what is going on inside you, so if you are messy on the outside there is a corresponding mess of some kind on the inside too."

"Clearing your clutter allows you to begin to deal with your problems and move forward. You have to release the past to create a better tomorrow."

"Do you own your stuff or does it own you?"

"Keeping things "just in case" indicates a lack of trust in the future."

STATUS

"This is otherwise known as "keeping up with the Joneses" and serves the function of bolstering low self-esteem. Now I am not saying that everyone who lives in a grand mansion has low self-esteem. Far from it. But some people do create the trappings of  prosperity around them simply to "keep up appearances" and no amount of "stuff" will ever be enough until they tackle the deeper issues of self-worth. 

 It is so easy in the possession-orientated Western culture to lose track of who you are and why you are here. Nowhere is this more evident than in the United States, where personal status is so often defined not by who you are but by what you are worth. However, if you own things for this reason, you are buying into an illusion, for you cannot take any of it with you when you go. Your status as an eternal spirit is defined by an entirely different set of principles than those set by our transient materialistic world."

I love that quote so much! But does that mean that I have to get rid of my lip gloss collection? Just kidding... sort of.

Keep in mind there are many different kinds of clutter: physical clutter,  electronic clutter, mental clutter, emotional clutter, spiritual clutter and more. So what are you waiting for? It's time to let it all go.

Helpful Links:

Karen's website: www. spaceclearing.com

AMVETS: 1-800-795-8387 (They will come to your house, pick up your discarded stuff and make it available to people who need it."

Yoga & meditation for clearing mental clutter.

The Hot Dog. Not So "Hot" After All

I came across these statistics regarding hot dogs and cured or smoked meats in "The Encyclopedia Of Healing Foods"  (Michael Murray N.D.). Scary.

• " Children who eat twelve hot dogs per month have nearly ten times the risk of developing leukemia as children who do not eat hot dogs.

• Children who eat hot dogs once a week double their chances of developing brain tumors; eating them twice a week triples the risk.

• Pregnant women who eat two servings per day of any cured meat have more than double the risk of bearing children who have brain cancer.

• Children who eat the most ham, bacon and sausage have three times the risk of developing lymphoma. 

• Children who eat ground meat once a week have twice the risk of acute lymphocytic leukemia as those who eat none; eating two or more hamburgers weekly triples the risk. "
  

Do You Know Who You Are?

I came across this quote in Johnny Bowden's book "The 150 Healthiest Foods On Earth".  

"If you are what you eat 

and you don't know 

what you're eating,

do you know who you are?"

                          

                                     - Claude Fischler

I absolutely LOVE this quote because it's so true. We have become so detached from our food source and most of the time we really don't know what we're eating or where it came from. The worst part is most people don't even care.  They eat they're processed, boxed "food" or worse fast food and then wonder why they're tired, anxious, moody, depressed, overweight, bloated or worse, suffering from a serious disease.  It's not rocket science. We know a lot about how the body works and which nutrients it needs to run at an optimal level...unfortunately this does not include Potato Chips and Soda. Sorry Folks. 

I have a sweet tooth and it's a constant battle. Take a look around at your "food" options next time you go to buy gas. It's pretty scary. You have to wonder why you'd want to buy food where you buy your gasoline anyways. Well soon we won't be able to afford to buy gas so that should solve that one.

My First Blog!

Welcome to my blog. 

I decided on the name Beauty and Balance because those are two large components of my life.

Beauty: I am a professional makeup artist who's been working in the world of beauty for about 6 years now. I am currently residing in Orange County California where for some, the obsession with youth and beauty has gone too far. I think it's important to take pride in your personal appearance but where do we draw the line? 

Balance: I also have a love affair with yoga as well as the art of Feng Shui and clutter clearing. I think the majority of people in the world today (especially here in North America) are performing a juggling act trying to find their balance in this quickly changing world. 

I really feel like we all need to slow down and spend some time getting to know ourselves better. In America we have put such an unbelievable amount of importance on the things we choose to surround ourselves with rather than the people and experiences. We are constantly distracted and too busy to pay attention to what we are eating and feeding our kids. Simply put, we have lost our balance.