It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the years fly by.

Now that we have all resolved to be healthier, more fit individuals, I would like to share with you one of my favorite ways to eat clean and stay on track:

FARM FRESH TO YOU

I discovered this company last year while trying to get the healthiest, organic food.

Farm Fresth To You is a local company that provides excellent organic food, delivered right to your front door! What I like about it is that it is:

1. Affordable – I get a large box of produce (the size of a file storage box) for just $31.50. (They have smaller boxes too.) The leafy veggies practically stand on their own – crisp and vibrating with energy! In a typical box I will receive: 1 onion, 2-3 bushels of bok choy, 1 bundle of kale or collard greens, I bag of yellow potatoes or 1 butternut or spaghetti squash, 1 head of lettuce, mixed herbs, 1 -2 bushels of broccoli, and a head of cabbage. It’s a lot of veggies! They last me all week long and stay fresher longer because they come directly from the farm!

2. Convenient – Delivered right to your door! If you live in Riverside, the delivery date is Friday. (Check the website: www.farmfreshtoyou.com to see when/if they deliver to your area.) The veggies (they also have fruits, if you like) come to my house super fresh.

3. Variety – I don’t know about you, but I am a creature of habit. I tend to buy the same vegetables every week. With this service, it forces me to eat veggies I normally wouldn’t buy. Remember, variety is the spice of life! Each vegetable has its own unique vitamin, mineral profile – which means that your diet will be more complete by changing up the veggies you eat. The company has a great website that is chock full of recipes to cook these vegetables that you may not be familiar with. (I also use Epicurious, a smart phone app designed to help you cook a gourmet meal with the ingredients you have in your fridge.)

4. Connection – Another added bonus from this company is that you get a newsletter each week from Thaddeus, the farmer who now owns this family run business. Thaddeus is an excellent writer who shares with you the trials and tribulations, the beautiful scenery, and the general going ons that are happening on the farm. It creates a deeper bond to your food – knowing the stories behind where they came from.

5. Integrity – It’s very rare to find a food company that is honest, hard working and dedicated to growing and selling sustainable, healthy and delicious food. Their hard working team are just as passionate as Thaddeus and his brothers are about providing our community with organic agriculture.

6. FUN – The farm allows you to pack a picnic and come out for farm tours and live music festivals! I have yet to do this myself, but it sounds like a good family outing!

NOW, you too, can try out this fabulous service. And, they want you to save a “bunch” off your first order! Just use this promo code: 6164. Just go to www.farmfreshtoyou.com or call 1800-796-6009. Please tell them I sent you (Angie Lustrick)

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the years fly by.

Now that we have all resolved to be healthier, more fit individuals, I would like to share with you one of my favorite ways to eat clean and stay on track:

FARM FRESH TO YOU

I discovered this company last year while trying to get the healthiest, organic food.

Farm Fresth To You is a local company that provides excellent organic food, delivered right to your front door! What I like about it is that it is:

1. Affordable – I get a large box of produce (the size of a file storage box) for just $31.50. (They have smaller boxes too.) The leafy veggies practically stand on their own – crisp and vibrating with energy! In a typical box I will receive: 1 onion, 2-3 bushels of bok choy, 1 bundle of kale or collard greens, I bag of yellow potatoes or 1 butternut or spaghetti squash, 1 head of lettuce, mixed herbs, 1 -2 bushels of broccoli, and a head of cabbage. It’s a lot of veggies! They last me all week long and stay fresher longer because they come directly from the farm!

2. Convenient – Delivered right to your door! If you live in Riverside, the delivery date is Friday. (Check the website: www.farmfreshtoyou.com to see when/if they deliver to your area.) The veggies (they also have fruits, if you like) come to my house super fresh.

3. Variety – I don’t know about you, but I am a creature of habit. I tend to buy the same vegetables every week. With this service, it forces me to eat veggies I normally wouldn’t buy. Remember, variety is the spice of life! Each vegetable has its own unique vitamin, mineral profile – which means that your diet will be more complete by changing up the veggies you eat. The company has a great website that is chock full of recipes to cook these vegetables that you may not be familiar with. (I also use Epicurious, a smart phone app designed to help you cook a gourmet meal with the ingredients you have in your fridge.)

4. Connection – Another added bonus from this company is that you get a newsletter each week from Thaddeus, the farmer who now owns this family run business. Thaddeus is an excellent writer who shares with you the trials and tribulations, the beautiful scenery, and the general going ons that are happening on the farm. It creates a deeper bond to your food – knowing the stories behind where they came from.

5. Integrity – It’s very rare to find a food company that is honest, hard working and dedicated to growing and selling sustainable, healthy and delicious food. Their hard working team are just as passionate as Thaddeus and his brothers are about providing our community with organic agriculture.

6. FUN – The farm allows you to pack a picnic and come out for farm tours and live music festivals! I have yet to do this myself, but it sounds like a good family outing!
NOW, you too, can try out this fabulous service. And, they want you to save a “bunch” off your first order! Just use this promo code: 6164. Just go to www.farmfreshtoyou.com or call 1800-796-6009. Please tell them I sent you (Angie Lustrick)

These three simple suggestions will jump start your progress. If you would like additional tracking, I am available to help you. At Angie’s World, we use a BIA machine to assess your hydration, vitamin, protein, and essential fat needs. It also determines how many calories you are burning and whether or not you are toxic. In addition to the BIA, we have a Biomeridian machine (both machines are non-invasive, no needles!). The Biomeridian determines how your organs and tissues are doing – are you holding stress in your liver? Do you have a stomach parasite? There are many reasons why your body isn’t losing body fat. Allow us to be your detective to help find the root cause of your ailments.
In addition to these two great machines, I also perform structural assessments. I use a plumb line to analyze your posture. I also use inclinometers, which are tools that tell me if your hips and ribs are in their proper positions as well as if your cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine are in their proper curvatures.
Whatever you decide to do, tracking is essential to ensure your body is improving.

How to test if an egg is fresh

First Method:

Fill a deep bowl with water and carefully lower the egg into the water. A very fresh egg will immediately sink to the bottom and lie flat on its side. This is because the air cell within the egg is very small. The egg should also fee quite heavy.

As the egg starts to lose it freshness and more air enters the egg, it will begin to float and stand upright. The smaller end will lie on the bottom of the bowl, while the broader end will point towards the surface. The egg will still be good enough to consume.

However, if the egg fully floats in the water and does not touch the bottom of the bowl at all, it should be discarded, as it will most likely be bad.

Second Method:

Test the eggs freshness by breaking the egg onto a flat plate, not into a bowl. The yolk of a very fresh egg will have a round and compact appearance and it will sit positioned quite high up in the middle of the egg. The white that surrounds it will be thick and stays close to the yolk.

A less fresh egg will contain a flatter yolk, that may bread easily and a thinner white that spreads quite far over the plate.

Unlike normal food allergies, a person can’t eat gluten in moderation. Any bite or sip of a gluten containing product will cause harm to a sensitive person’s body regardless how long they have avoided gluten.  This is very scary considering that wheat is in so many of our foods, cosmetics, lotions and shampoos.  If you are gluten sensitive, I would advise you to google gluten-containing foods because it will freak you out just how many products have gluten in it. For example: soy sauce, ketchup, artificial maple syrup, chips, breaded items, frozen entrees, pasta, and salad dressing may contain gluten.

So how do you know if you have a sensitivity if you don’t have any symptoms?  There are two ways to find out. One is a blood test by your doctor.  The other is by doing a non-invasive (no needles!) sensitivity screening at my office.

I got home today and what was my mailbox FULL of? Fast Food ads! A bucket of “this” and a biscuit stuffed “that” served with a huge side of heart disease and high cholesterol. I came home a bit tired and not wanting to cook so I can understand how hard it can be to resist these easy fast meals but I urge you…NO I beg you not to do it. The sodium, hydrogenated fats and useless “filler” of a food may be cheap today but our body’s will pay dearly in the future. Yes, this economy makes us think that the $2.99 special is the way to keep us going but please, think this through. You will pay for that meal with a slowing digestive tract, a weaker immune system, less nutrition in the body, poorer sleep and eventually a waistline that will bring in chronic disease and dare I say, jeans that will know longer have a home because you will have out grown them. I did not have an exciting dinner. No, I must say it was bland but I didn’t have the creative strength to whip up a Julia Child entree. So what did i eat? I had an easy omelette. 10 minutes from prep to plate…and it only cost me $3.01 (and no sales tax:)!. This was using only the best ingredients, a high Omega egg ($.36) , egg whites from a high quality source (@ $.75), organic steamed broccoli (@ $1.00) and some low fat cottage cheese ($.90). Not the dinner that I had in mind but I have added good nutrition, better sleep, lower blood pressure, a good mood and lots of “positive brain and body food” to my life. I can do this because I shop smartly and keep the best staples in my fridge and pantry, Julia Child may not be impressed but I will guarantee that you will thank yourself for a meal well prepared and a waistline that will fit in to your future the way you have always dreamed it would!

You know the drill. It’s Thanksgiving, then Christmas and then of course a Happy New Year, right? But when we let ourselves have a little too much “celebration” and too little activity we feel a bit sluggish and in some need of a fast fix. My advice to you is RESIST!!! Resist the urge to go the “quick fix” route. The only way you can lose weight quickly is in an unhealthy way…starvation, too little protein, and skipping breakfast. Doing these things leads to unhealthful weight loss and irritability and then our family and friends pay the price of a grumpier “you”! This route will not bring you to a healthy body weight that can be sustained for a long period and then next year you could be right back in the same boat with even more to lose. Let’s get off this roller coaster once and for all. I am going to suggest that THIS year you do it differently, that THIS year you will make the consistent healthy choices that will prolong your life, that THIS year you will give yourself more energy and a stronger body and set yourself up for a happier you all year long. If you just commit to one change per week and stick with it you will impact your life not only physically but you will empower yourself spiritually. This year will be the year that you invest in yourself! Besides, aren’t you worth it?

Do you find yourself with things you just know have to be done but the thought of doing them fills you with a feeling of gloom, boredom or you just can’t be bothered even thogh you know you “should” do them?

When this happens, first ask yourself – why do I need to do this? what positive effect will doing this have for me?

It may be that you are about to peel a host of potatoes and carrots and you just don’t like doing that but the positive outcome is that you are going to have a fantastic meal – thinking of the fantastic meal as you peel the potatoes will make you feel much better and will give the task a postive reason rather than a feeling of boredom as you do it.

You can also turn a monotonous, boring task into fun! – How?

Make a game out of it!

For example, time yourself and keep trying to improve your time.

Let’s say you have to peel 30 potatotes and carrots to peel

See how many potatoes you can peel in 3 minutes. Then try to beat your own record.

Or you can time yourself to see how long it takes you to peel one potatoe. And beat your record again!

The good thing is you will always be a winner.

You can turn any boring task into fun game, there are lots of ways to do it, just use a little imagination!

Making tasks fun and keeping the positive benefits of doing a task in yoru mind as you do it is proven to increase motivation and productivity by more than 125%!

Build fun and see the positive outcomes of everything you do throughtout the day and you’ll notice that you’re getting more work done in a less amount of time.

Have a great day and remember to smile and notice all the wonderful things around you!

Interested in more motivation from Carol?
Go to this link: http://www.choosechanges.com/inspirationaldailylifedesignplanner.html

do you enjoy facing changes that are imposed on you?

How do you deal with change?

Some of us deal with change easily and embrace change, as it gives us variety and excitement, others of us feel wary of change, don’t like to leave our comfort zones and try new things or have new ways put upon us.

The world is though, always changing, nothing stays the same, we are on a continuous circle or wheel throughout our lives, sometimes we are at the top, other times we are at the bottom and the rest of the time we are in-between.

If we wait for change to be imposed on us – this is when it can be really difficult as we have not asked for it, perhaps were not waiting for it, do not want it. evertheless if it is imposed we have to del with it.

So how can we accept changes imposed on us more easily, how can we look forward to change and see it as an opportunity, an exciting journey, something to embrace?

Th first thing you can do is to start making changes for yourself, instead of simply waiting for them to be imposed on you. Try it starting today, think of one small thing that you can change in yoru life that will make your life better, easier, more fun.

It may be something as simple as changing the colour of our lipstick, or your tie. It may be something like changing what you eat for breakfast or trying a new drink.

It doesnt matter what it is as long as it is a change, something that you normally wouldn’t do.

When you make the change, listen to your thoughts, take note of what you feel and how you feel, do you feel confident, scared, apprehensive, excited?

What was the effect of the change on your day?

Practice making one change – whether small or big – everyday and you wll soon notice a difference in your life and will soon look for new things to do, new ways of doing things and will find yourself wanting to make bigger and more dramatic changes for yourself in your life.

As you begin to feel comfortable making your own changes and start to look forward to making changes, when changes are imposed on you they will no longer be the dreaded things in your life but they will become things that excite you and that you know you can deal with easily and effortlessly.

To your every success
Carol

The initial experience of mindfully eating a blueberry, a piece of chocolate, a potato chip, or any other food is often a revelation. Perhaps for the first time, you woke up to the full experience of what is commonly called
“eating.” Just one moment of conscious eating often triggers many insights. “I never realized how satisfying one morsel of food could be.” “I appreciated what I was eating in an entirely new way.” “Slowing down helped me observe all the thoughts, fears and criticisms that were jumping around in my mind.”
Typically, a first experience of mindful eating may also include the wish or the determination to eat mindfully all the time. Then you find yourself in a hurry or with a group of people, and you notice, as you stare down at an empty plate, that you haven’t been conscious of eating at all. That earlier determination to always eat mindfully vanishes in a flash, and you think, why bother?
So how do you overcome the desire to give up or turn away from mindful eating? The answer is simple: Commit to a daily mindful eating practice.
Mindfulness allows you to observe what’s happening moment to moment from a wider perspective. When difficult thoughts arise, you learn to witness rather than obey them. In so doing, you begin to realize that your
thoughts and feelings aren’t really who you are. They come and they go, and if you don’t react, they lose their power. You can learn how to be with your experience, but not be caught by it.
With daily practice, you strengthen the capacity to stop and notice habituated, unskillful patterns with clarity. This awareness helps dissolve autopilot behaviors. You realize that “Oh, this is what feeling out of control is
like,” or “Feeling like a failure feels like this.” If you don’t run away from these feelings but rather recognize and accept them with compassion, you may find that you don’t need to drown out these uncomfortable
feelings with food.
A daily eating meditation practice also helps awaken you to the thought patterns and habits that tend to keep you feeling trapped and demoralized, such as the belief that “I’ll never be able to change,” or the intense feeling
that leads to the thought “I have to have this cookie.” Daily practice helps develop confidence, a feeling that is often absent when in the grips of craving or strong emotions.
Awareness gives you the option of choosing which habits to develop and which to abandon, and this freedom to choose helps develop the confidence that change is possible.
Mindful eating doesn’t always awaken insight and delight. Sometimes the commitment feels meaningless and not worth the effort. Ups and downs are inevitable. But over time, your commitment will bear fruit, no matter how many times you feel like giving up. There’s a Zen saying, “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”
When you wake up to an experience like shoving handfuls of candy into your mouth, don’t make it into a problem. Just stop and notice that you’re doing it, and notice what you’re thinking or feeling. If criticism
and judgments arise, and it’s likely they will, let them be. Hold yourself with kindness and compassion. Eventually, all experiences pass, regardless of whether they are pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. As the poet Rilke observes, “No feeling is final.”
Shifts in eating habits don’t happen through control and willpower. If that were the case, all diets would be wildly successful and there would be no eating challenges. Only by noticing and accepting what’s happening in
each moment is it possible for new habits to emerge.
A regular mindful eating practice has the capacity to usher in a transformation. When you observe swallowing or chewing, in that moment you’ve dissolved the habit of blindly engaging in these processes. Pay attention to
simple actions like opening the refrigerator or slicing a carrot or the impulse to take another bite before you’ve even finished whatever you’re eating. Every moment of mindfulness adds up and inspires more practice.
The ultimate feeling of fullness is connection and intimacy with this moment. So, put down this handout, turn your attention inward and ask, “What’s happening now?” And in this moment, you’ve begun your daily practice.
Awareness is an ongoing source of nourishment … so feast on every moment.
Dr. Kabatznick can be reached at
Rkabatznick@tcme.org.
She is an Assistant Clinical Professor, Department
of Psychiatry Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute
University of CA, San Francisco