Longevity

A Question of Longevity      I have been an avid researcher of food, nutrition, and health for the last several years.  In fact, my wife would say that I was obsessed with finding out the perfect way to live.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to just survive, I want to thrive!  So I decided to look at what the centurions do to live so long.  Interestingly, there are centurions on every continent and in every country.  They do different things, they eat differently, they exercise differently, etc.  The more I looked into it, the more confused I got.  Then one day I was reading a book that is a collection of interviews with centurions from around the world and there was one word that stuck out to me in these stories: SIMPLE.  Yes, these people led simple lives.  They ate simply and not too much, they took time for relaxation often, mostly they let things be okay in their life no matter what the circumstances were... That's where we come in.  Our goal has always been to simplify your life so there is one less thing for you to do.  Most of the centurions I have read about worked more at being than doing.  Allow us to do the doing  so you can get busy being the great Human Being that you are!

Care for the Caring

I had the absolute pleasure of listening to Dr. Michelle Robin ofYour Wellness Connection speak last week at the eWomen Network Wellness workshop.  As a local business owner in the health industry, I'm always looking for ways to improve my business.  Eager to attend and find some ways to help our customers, I came away with the single best tip to help elevate my business, contribute more to my family, and positively impact this great community.  To paraphrase, 'The more well I get, the more well my family gets...the more well my business gets, the more well my community gets...the more well the world gets.  Therefore, not taking care of myself is selfish.' 

 

  

Speaking for myself and the parents I know, we often put ourselves last in attempt to give and be more for our children, spouse, boss, church, friends, neighbors...But what if what she said were true?  If being the best spouse, parent, community member, citizen, and human being meant fulfilling your own   unique needs, desires, and purpose in life, are you doing everything you can to take impeccable care of yourself?  Can you change the world by doing one thing today for yourself?  The answer:  of course.  What is your next action?  

The Perfect Diet

The Perfect Diet

  

People often ask me how I became a "vegan".  My standard response is that I just really started listening body and woke up one day eating mostly plants.  Is this the perfect diet for everyone?  I don't know, but I know it works great for me and I think it would benefit all people to eat mostly plants if nothing else.  That being said, I have conducted a very unofficial, unscientific study into who the healthiest people on earth are/were and what they eat.  What I have found is very interesting and in many cases surprising.

Succotash Dish

 

Many contemporary researchers and scientists today believe that our ancestors who were hunter-gatherers had the healthiest lifestyle.  In a nutshell, hunter-gatherers were nomadic foragers of food, eating wholesome natural food (because that was all that was available).  What has come to light in recent years is the variety of food eaten by hunter-gatherers.  In fact, the diet varied so widely by geography that most researchers cannot answer the question, "What is the perfect diet for human beings to eat to live long, healthy lives?"  The correct answer it seems is that it depends.  When faced with my own health challenges I sought the "correct" answer from books, CDs, seminars, researchers, doctors, etc for years.  In other words, I looked everywhere OUTSIDE myself.  After becoming intensely frustrated following others' advice explicitly to no avail, I finally started listening to my body.  In very short order, I got my answer.  What is your body telling you?

The Best Health Insurance Money Can Buy

Insurance:  a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss.

Risk…uncertainty…loss.  All words that can make us squirm in our seats and lose sleep at night.  What if, when it came to your own personal health, you understood your risks, felt certain about your future, and held no worry about potential loss?  I’m telling you the possibility of this kind of life exists if you believe it does.

“You don’t get what you want, you get what you believe”

-Oprah Winfrey 

The healthiest people in the world create an environment of health.  In studying longevity research, Dan Buettner identified the habits of the world’s healthiest people.  They reached the age of 100 at ten times greater rates than most of the United States, while suffering a mere fraction the rate of heart disease and cancer as the rest of the world.  Read more.  Specifically, the nine lifestyle habits they adopt are:  

 1.  Move naturally.

2.  Know your purpose in life.

3.  Downshift (i.e., slow down).

4.  Eat only until you’re 80% full.

5.  Eat a plant-based diet.

6.  Drink red wine.

7.  Belong to a healthy social network.

8.  Have a belief system.

9.  Put your family first.

Adopt the best and most proven health insurance in the world.  Remove your risk.  Stop worrying.  You have permission to be healthy.

The Healing Power of Ginger

The Healing Power of Ginger 

Boost your immunity naturally with GINGER. Experience the many benefits of this super veg:  cleanses colon, relieves indigestion, kills cold viruses, reduces inflammation, cough, and congestion, lowers cholesterol, and more!  See below for ways to incorporate ginger into your diet.  

On Using Ginger 

Suggested Use:  1/3 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp fresh ginger

  

*Add in juices or smoothies

*Use fresh in Asian stir fry recipes

*Add ground ginger to breads, cookies, and cakes

*Try this Sweet Potato Soup with Ginger from the Gluten Free Goddess

GMO Corn and Soy Products (a pain in the side, liver and kidneys...)

 

Recent studies show that the consumption of genetically modified (GM) corn or soybeans led to organ disruption, particularly liver and kidneys, in mice and rats.  Why is it always the lab animals, you ask?  Biotech companies do not conduct human studies.  Hmmm...These GMO's make up 83% of the commercialized ones that BILLIONS of people eat.  Yikes. And nearly 25% of the population suffers from some sort of stomach disorder, including abdominal pain and indigestion.  

Rest assured, at Conveniently Natural, you are getting at least 80% organic ingredients.  Corn and soy are always 100% organic, non-GMO.

Click to see resources from regarding GMO's and digestive problems.  

Gluten Free Baking (Lessons Learned)

If Going Gluten-Free was an Olympic event, I Was Ready to Take Home the Gold

  

~Brownie massacre from approximately 2 years ago.  

Finding out that Brian could not eat gluten only challenged my inner athlete and sparked a fierce competitiveness to defeat this Goliath (hear Eye of the Tiger playing in the background).  It had been 14 years since I'd competed in any athletic arena, and I'd forgotten how important training and preparation were.  I did the equivalent of walking out onto the basketball court in stilettos and a mini skirt.  I walked into the health food store with nothing but a desire to prove I could make chocolate brownies without using gluten, dairy, or soy (an keep the sugar low).  No list.  No research.  No knowledge of baking (which I would later find out is like chemistry).  Totally unarmed.  As one would expect, I tanked.  I practically got booed out of the kitchen, because chocolate brownies (just like sports) are all about the bottom line.

Lessons Learned:

1. All flours are not made the same.  You cannot simply substitute "all-purpose" flour with spelt flour...or oat flour...or rice flour...Whoever named it "all-purpose" wasn't really thinking.

2. Stevia does not substitute 1 for 1 with sugar.  If a recipe calls for a cup of sugar, you only really need about a teaspoon of Stevia.  That's why they can charge $10 for a box of individually wrapped Stevia packets.  Ripping open each and every packet in the box and dumping into a brownie recipe will be a waste of 10 minutes and you might as well dump a package of Fun Dip into your bowl (including the sugar dipping stick).

3. When no one in your family eats said brownies, don't freeze in Ziplocs thinking they'll taste differently in a few days or weeks when the Stevia mellows out.  And give up the guilt and regret for spending $25 on a batch of brownies.  This can be a cheap lesson about life if you choose to get over financial investments made into failed kitchen experiments.

4. Stop creating a goal to 'defeat,' 'battle,' or 'fight' this beast (ours was named Candida).  Hosting a war between your mind and body is like playing tug of war between your right and left legs.  Lots of pain and scars and it will rarely produce a winner.  I mean, really, who would you want to 'win' anyway?  Either way, you're sacrificing one of your legs.  Let go and start walking instead.

For those of you just starting your journey of going gluten-free ~ whether for yourself,  your spouse, your children, or your parents... we applaud your efforts to make a change.  You never know what that failed batch of brownies may lead to...For us, it has led to this great platform of service called Conveniently Natural.  Who would have guessed after those horrible hockey puck brownies?