Check out the Hottest P90X available today!

Check out my new Team Beachbody website!

Hello All! Well, I'm at it again and I have some exciting news for you. I am always looking for new ways to help my family and friends feel good about themselves and live a healthier fit lifestyle. I know some of my vegetarian and raw food lifestyles are not for everyone, but I try. If that way of life just seems too much for you right now, you can still live healthily and be fit with a better diet and frequent exercise.

I have found something new to me that I feel strongly about and I'd like to share it with you. Most of you know that I am not fond of the typical gym scene and prefer to workout at home. While talking with some friends about pursuing my Personal Fitness Coaching career, they mentioned Team Beachbody. I had never heard of it, so I checked it out. Well, I was immediately impressed with the products featuring workout programs we've all heard of like P90X and Slim in 6 and many more. They also have a membership section that resembles the popular social networking sites where you can meet people who share a passion for fitness. You can plan virtual workout dates with other individuals and groups and then join a chat room afterwards to share your thoughts and progress with others. There is also a section to plan your fitness goals and record your progress.

I just started my membership and immediately became a Team Beachbody Coach over the weekend, so my page is not quite finished yet, but I was so excited to share this with everyone, I just had to blog about it. I hope you have the same reaction I did and you find that you can plan your health and fitness goals a bit easier in the coming new year with these programs. Please contact me either here at my blog or through my new TEAM BEACHBODY website. I am looking forward to coaching you online through Team Beachbody or answering any other health and fitness and nutritional questions you may have .


In great health, Raindrop

What Foods are You Addicted To?

Hello Again and Happy Holidays!

I am Addicted to Sugar!!!! I have been trying to break my sugar addiction for quite some time now. Some weeks I do really well controlling my cravings and not giving in to it. Then there are other times when I have such strong cravings that I give in and then I can't seem to get enough. What is up with that?

Some sugar is actually good for your body and brain function. BUT, there is so much sugar in almost all processed food that we don't need to add any more into our diets. Logically and intellectually, I know this. So how come I can't seem to get enough lately?

Eating a raw food diet and following a juice fast has been awesome and fun. And there is quite a bit of natural sugar in fruits and veggies, so I really shouldn't be craving any additional sugar. Lately, the real problem is that I am craving processed sugar. Sugar in candy like sour patch kids and hot tamales and frosted flakes. These are foods that I haven't eaten in years! Although recently, i went to the movies with the kids, and I had some candy, and now I can't seem to forget about it. Even at the time I consumed these toxic goodies, I was asking myself, "Why are you eating this? You know this is so not good for you." and I remember thinking, 'oh, you have done so well not eating these things in so long that a few won't kill you, so go for it.' Now I am regretting it and feel like I am back to square one. Oh, and I was really sick to my stomach the next day.

Do any of you have a food craving that you cannot control? Have you been wanting to give up a food habit for quite a while and haven't done it yet? Well you are not alone. We all have food addictions to some degree and of some sort. Admitting to it is the first step in solving it. So with that in mind, let's think about what it is that we can comfortably give up this coming holiday and for the new year to keep us healthy, wealthy and wise. I am going to stop beating myself up for "falling off my sugar wagon" and go forward, strong and with a clear path.

This holiday, I vow to do my best in controlling my sugar cravings, being very choosy about what types of sugar I consume and really thinking about how it will affect my body, mind and spirit. What will you do?

With visions of sugar plums, Happy Holidays!
Raindrop

Holiday Green Juice Feast Starts Today!!

Don't miss out on the HOLIDAY GREEN JUICE FEAST which starts today, Dec 1 through Dec 21. Don't worry if you start late, or can't do all three weeks. The fact that you do it at all is progress intelligently started.

My friend Jingee  is starting a Green Juice Feast to cleanse, rejuvenate, and regenerate vibrant health abundantly for the coming year, and she asked me to join her! Now that we are all getting over our Thanksgiving feasts and I am ready to plunge into this green juice feast day after tomorrow, on December 1st, for 21 days, until December 21st, the Winter Solstice. Are you ready? Who's with me?

Please join us in this adventure, for fun and support, log on to the Holiday Green Juice Feast site and join the Green Juice Feasting Community. You can join Jingee's forum, all free, here at  Holiday Green Juice Feast where you can get hints and tips on what to juice, how to juice, when to juice, recipes for juice and smoothies and all the info and health benefits that come with juicing.

One of my favorite Green Smoothie Recipes:
Large bunch of Kale or Parsley
3-4 Stalks Celery
1-2 Large Carrots
Two cups Water
1" Ginger
One lemon - juice and pulp - no skin
1 apple
1 banana
(add some cayenne pepper if you are feeling a cold or flu coming on)
Blend all the ingredients until smooth - Drink and enjoy til gone
Makes about four cups
You can strain the mixture through a nutmilk bag to remove the pulp to get pure juice
Or put it all through a juicer

I like smoothies better than pure juice when I am doing a Juice Feast because I use the smoothies as meal replacements. There are many people who just use pure juice, through a juicer, when on the juice feasts. I still feel hungry with just juice, so I prefer to keep the pulp and do smoothies, so I feel fuller, longer.

And just so you all know, and for those of you who have never Juice Feasted, there are no real rules here. Any pure green food such as Kale, Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Romaine Lettuce, Spinach, Celery, Cucumber, or any green leafy vegetable will work for your main ingredient. All the other ingredients I mentioned above will just add more nutrition and flavor to your smoothie. You just need to know what you like, and then work with your proportions. You need to make this fun and interesting at the same time to help keep you going for the whole 21 day feast. And the more organic or locally grown food you can use, depending on your budget and location of course, the better for your body.

Don't worry if you don't juice all day or skip a day. It has to feel right for you for your time and budget. Just do what you can. Keep in mind that the more you do, the more you will want to do it and the better you will feel. Have the kids join in and see what they like as well. You will be surprised at what you can do!!

Well, I am going to make my smoothie right now. I still have kale and parsley growing in my garden that I am going to go pick - even in New England on December 1st!!! Who'da thought . . . anyway, Good Luck to all of you who try this Juice Feast.

Any help you need staying on track or any questions you have, please send them to me here or at Jingee's Forum Holiday Green Juice Feast. We are here to give you support and make it fun. I am a great motivator and Jingee leads a fabulous raw lifestyle that I aspire to all the time. She has gotten me where I am today!

In Good Health, Have Fun and Enjoy,
Raindrop

What is Your Favorite Thanksgiving Food Memory?

I always remember my father during the Thanksgiving holiday which was his favorite holiday. I think it was because there was football all day, plenty of very good food and lots of relatives coming to visit. During this time, he insisted we always have tangerines and pomegranites and grapes in the house which has been one of my favorite memories of him.

We are Italian, so our Thanksgiving feast literally lasted for hours. I remember my mother getting up so early to start the turkey on Thursday morning. Lots of the other food was prepped the day or night before. But Thanksgiving dinner always started around noon with antipasto salad, then a traditional wedding soup (chicken based with escarole, tiny meatballs, orzo pasta, carrots with a scrambled egg dropped in at the end), lasagna and meatballs and other meats cooked into the sauce so that it melted in your mouth. Mmmm . . . the heavenly smells in our kitchen and the tastes were delightful. I can remember it all . . . We would take a short break and clear away the dirty dishes and set out new plates for what came next: the traditional turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and string beans and carrots and stuffing and of course the infamous turkey. By the end of the meal you were so stuffed you couldn't move, but still wanted to eat more because it tasted sooooo good!! I'm sure everyone has very similar memories no matter what your nationality.

Then came clearing away and cleaning up the dirty dishes only to set out the desserts and a second wave of relatives who had basically the same dinner elsewhere, and were making the rounds for dessert at our house. Everyone always brought something too. There were plenty of jelly donuts and pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin breads and banana breads and cream pies and cannolis and wandas and cornets and chocolate eclairs and of course, my father's favorites fruits. The tangerines, the pomegranites and the grapes. All had with tons of coffee and milk or espresso and annisette (a licorice cordial) and gallons of soda pop. I remember my father having one slice of the pumpkin pie, one slice of apple and then the fruits, which he said you could eat till your heart's content.

Looking back, I am surprised we all lived as long as we have! I don't eat that way anymore and I don't cook that way at all, although I do miss the traditions that I grew up with. My children have grown up with me as a vegetarian and slowly working my way into a raw vegan. I find myself making several different meals every day to satisfy everyone's particular appetite, which might sound like a lot of work, and sometimes it is, but not everyone is a vegetarian or a raw vegan, and you can't force the issue. However, what I can do is make a special dish for each of us for the Thanksgiving dinner that we would thoroughly enjoy, and make it as healthy as possible and then set out our tangerines, pomepgranites and grapes for dessert with a raw pumpkin pie and a raw apple crisp which we can all enjoy to our heart's content! That is one tradition that I am proud to carry on in my father's memory with the hope that my children will look back fondly one day as I have, and carry on that same tradition.

Happy Healthy Thanksgiving to all!!

Swine Flu: Vaccinate or Not?

Hello Again and Happy Day of the Dead. I hope everyone had a nice Halloween and enjoyed the almost full moon and awesome cloud cover we had in New England.

Today's question is:
ARE YOU GOING TO GET VACCINATED AGAINST THE SWINE FLU VIRUS?

As most of you may know by now, the school systems in New England are giving voluntary vaccinations around the first week of November 2009 to all school age children (K-6th grade) They are not at this time giving vaccinations to middle school or high schoolers.

I for one am NOT going to get vaccinated or allow my children the vaccination. I don't vaccinate my children for other diseases, so why start now.

A recent case local to our state: a twelve year old girl died of complications from the Swine Flu last week. She had asthma and allergies which compounds the virus. My daughter's best friend contracted the Swine Flu last week. She also has allergies and asthma, so her Mom brought her to the emergency room for testing and treatment and was confirmed with influenza A. My daughter now has a sore throat, runny nose and body aches as a result of being together at school and after school with her friend last Monday. We are keeping a close eye on her symptoms, but she is a generally healthy child with no allergies, asthma or other high risk factors. So I believe she will be able to combat this naturally and effectively.

Below are some guidelines from the World Health Organization that I looked up for precautionary measures for my daughter. I feel this info should be shared with all our friends, neighbors and co-workers no matter what your beliefs are. There is a lot more technical information at this site, but the felt the information listed here was most pertinent. So you decide if vaccines are the way to go for you, or it you will wait until the virus is contracted and then administer treatment as necessary.

Symptoms of H1N1 Flu:

• The symptoms of H1N1 flu are similar to seasonal flu, but may include additional symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
  
  
• Symptoms of Season and H1N1 Flu:
  
  

  Seasonal Flu	H1N1 Flu
  All types of flu can cause: Fever Coughing and/or sore throat Runny or stuffy nose Headaches and/or body aches Chills Fatigue	Similar to seasonal flu, but symptoms may be more severe. There may be additional symptoms. A significant number of H1N1 flu cases: Vomiting Diarrhea

  
  
• Emergency Warning Signs - If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care.
  
  

  Emergency warning signs in children:	Emergency warning signs in adults:
  Fast breathing or trouble breathing Bluish or gray skin color Not drinking enough fluids Severe or persistent vomiting Not waking up or not interacting Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough	Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen Sudden dizziness Confusion Severe or persistent vomiting Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

PREVENTION INFORMATION:

How is the vaccine given?

Some vaccines contain inactivated (or killed) viruses. These vaccines are given by injection into the upper arm for most people. In infants and younger children the thigh is the preferred site for the vaccine shot.

Another type of vaccine is made with live viruses, and it is administered by nasal spray.

Both are protective against influenza.

Do people need one dose or two doses of the vaccine?

Immunization experts recommend a single dose of vaccine in adults and adolescents from 10 years of age and above, provided this use is consistent with regulatory authorities' indications. More study is advised on effective dosage regimens for immuno-suppressed persons for whom two doses of vaccine may be needed. Where national authorities have made children a priority for early vaccination, experts are advising one dose of vaccine to as many children as possible over the age of 6 months and younger than 10 years of age. Recommendations on numbers of dosages may need to be adapted rapidly as new data emerges.

Is there anyone who should not have the inactivated pandemic vaccine?

Yes. As general rule, inactivated vaccines should not be administered to:

• People with a history of anaphylaxis (or hypersensitive reactions), or other life-threatening allergic reactions to any of the constituents or trace residues of the vaccine;
• People with history of a severe reaction to previous influenza vaccination;
• People who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) within 6 weeks of getting an influenza vaccine;
• Children less than 6 months of age (inactivated influenza vaccine is not approved for this age group);
• People who have a moderate-to-severe illness with a fever (they should wait until they recover to get vaccinated).

Product package inserts provide information on who should not get specific vaccine products.

TREATMENT INFORMATIN:

For the treatment of pandemic (H1N1) 2009, how many antiviral drugs are there?

There are two approved antiviral drugs for influenza that are available for treatment of pandemic influenza. These are the neuraminidase inhibitors oseltamivir and zanamivir, more commonly known by their trade names Tamiflu and Relenza.

Another class of approved antiviral drugs known as M2 inhibitors (amantadine and rimantadine) can be effective for treating seasonal influenza. However, the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus has been shown to be resistant to these particular antiviral drugs.

What is meant by at-risk groups?

Individuals that have been identified as “at-risk” of more complicated or severe illness associated with infection by influenza virus include:

• pregnant women (particularly in the later stages of pregnancy);
• infants and children (<5>
• patients with chronic health conditions, such as cardiovascular, respiratory or liver disease, or diabetes;
• patients with immunosuppression related to treatment for transplant surgery, cancer, or due to other diseases.

The elderly (>65) appear less susceptible to infection by pandemic H1N1 influenza virus, but are assumed to be at higher risk of more severe or complicated illness if infected.

Your comments and any other information or case studies are welcome for further discussion. My wish for all humanity is to deal with health issues and disease as naturally as humanly possible and it not, then let medicine intervene. God bless everyone and stay healthy. Eat right, exercise and get plenty of rest.

Hocus Pocus FOCUS!

Today we ask the question What is truly important to you and how will you focus on accomplishing your goals?

Many of you who know me, know that I have been searching for a way to make a living from home. I know that I am not alone in this endeavor: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison and many other successful people failed multiple times before they finally succeeded. Many of us get up and go to work five or six days a week, some of us have multiple jobs, and we feel like we are spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. Sometimes we are pulled in so many directions, it's hard to focus on one thing or what is important to us. That includes me too. A good example of that is this blog that I started several months ago and have not posted a thing since spring!!

Well, we all know how that goes: you get busy with work and family, errands and sometimes even friends and before you know it, your day off is over and you have to get back to the grindstone. It's a vicious circle that has no end. We compromise our peace of mind and our health and our spirit by continuing on the same fast track every day.

In addition to that, the stress of the holidays are upon us and we are soon to be concerned with shopping and cooking huge dinners and hosting or going to family gatherings. Yes, this is all fun and most of us truly enjoy the holidays. We have our childhood memories of this that we carry into our adult lives and want the same for our own children. But to what cost? What about those of us who are on a strict budget with no money to spare for a large dinner party or even a few presents for our loved ones? What are you going to do this holiday season? Are you going to go out on an already weak limb and add more to your credit card debt by charging things you know you cannot possibly pay for when the bill comes in? Or will you instead give a gift of something you knit or crocheted yourself or give a small item of baked goods or something you painted?

My husband Brian is very focused. He is no couch potato by any means. It is amazing what he gets done in a day. There is plenty of work around the house to be done, the cars need to be winterized, the leaves need to be raked, the bills need to get paid, the dishes need to be washed, then there's the laundry and next thing you know the kids are home from school with homework and activities and friends and the list goes on. So what gives? How does he do it? He makes a list of the things that are important for him to accomplish on a given day and sticks to it. If a project is not finished by day's end, that item goes to the top of the next day's list in order of importance and he starts over. There are plenty of times when he feels like he didn't get enough done, but can also feel satisfied that he has made some headway in one area or another.

I am interested to hear how you FOCUS on What's Important to You. Please share your thoughts and comments, whether you are focused or not, so others can find a way to get by without losing a piece of themselves in this crazy world we all survive in.

Cold or Flu? Try these easy remedies . . .

Have you been sick and taken a sick day from cold, fever or flu symptoms? Can you afford to do that?? Lots of companies are taking sick days away from employees, so not only do we lose a day's work, we now are potentially lose a day's pay as well. In these tough economic times, we cannot afford time out of work for being sick.

When a sore throat, fever and stuffy nose gets you down, don't reach for the OTC medications. These only mask your symptoms and provides alot of sugar, alcohol and other chemicals. Instead, try some homemade teas such as ginger & cayenne tea or apple cider vinegar tea. These teas will clear your sinus passages and cleanse your blood. These remedies target the problem, not cover it over. Here's how:

Ginger & Cayenne
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled & sliced
1/4" slice of fresh lemon or lime - use juice if you don't have fresh
a bit of lemon or lime zest
1 tsp honey or agave nectar
Dash of Cayenne pepper - more if desired

Boil ginger in two cups of water for several minutes. Pour into a large mug. Squeeze the lemon or lime and add to the mug - drop the slice into the cup as well. Add the honey and cayenne pepper to taste. This is a very aromatic tea, which is sweet and spicy. It is very soothing on a sore throat and clears the sinus passages in no time.

Apple Cider Vinegar Tea
Substitute the apple cider vinegar for the ginger. Boil the water only and add it to one ounce of apple cider vinegar in a mug with the remaining ingredients above. Drink, enjoy, feel better!

OR
Drink shots of straight apple cider vinegar every hour chased by a glass of water. This is NOT the most fun way to take the ACV, but it is effective, and it is quick. It is kind of harsh if you have a sore throat, but the initial shock of it is over quickly, and the benefit of getting rid of the sore throat in a matter of hours is huge. I would say enjoy, but I think endure is a better word for it.

Nighttime Trick
Rub wintergreen oil (or similar) on the bottoms of your feet and put your socks on just before bedtime. This clears your sinuses while you sleep. You will have not be losing sleep with a cold or flu using this trick. Sweet dreams!

Gardening - Eat Fresh, Eat Locally, Eat Seasonally!

Hello! What an awesome day it is today! The sun is shining, it is a little breezy and a balmy 28 degrees here in northern Rhode Island. A short, brisk walk is enough to enliven the spirit. Days like today remind you that winter doesn't last forever, and that spring is just around the corner. I love to garden and I can't wait to get my hands in the soil and get my garden going. I love to plant veggies and herbs and mesclun salad greens. There is nothing like a fresh garden salad with tomatoes warm from the sun. My kids eat them like apples right off the vine! Of course, I am an organic gardener, so no pesticides or herbicides or chemical fertilizer here!
Some of the perennial veggies we grow are asparagus, rhubarb, chives, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. I will be putting in a few cranberry bushes this year as well.
We try new things each year to see what works best, so beets and kale are our two new ones this year for the first time. Our usuals are tomatoes (orange pear and and medium size heirloom variety), parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, a sweet and a spicy mesclun mix. I usually do peppers, zuchini, pumpkins and eggplants, but I don't have enough room in the veggie garden for everything. So, we are leaving those along with corn and broccoli to other local farmers this year.
In addition to the fruits and veggies we grow, we also have an abundance of fresh flowers we can cut and bring indoors to enjoy. We usually have fresh flowers in the house until late fall - almost to Thanksgiving! Then we cut a few boughs of holly and evergreens to bring in for the winter. Oh, good times ahead. Never a dull moment around here!
I have been an avid gardener for most of my life. I know alot about composting, vermicomposting and growing so if you have any gardening questions, please feel free to comment on this blog and I will answer the best I can.
I hope today's blog has given you inspiration to start planning your own gardens and think about how buying locally and seasonally can benefit you and your family. Eat fresh!!

Yummy Raw Food

Mmmmm . . . today we made some awesome salsa with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, red onions, fresh lime juice and kosher salt! Very simple and easy to make . . . enjoyed with organic corn chips.

Also made some nut pate for supper: It was made from raw cashews, raw almonds and raw sunflower seeds, red onion, celery, carrots and a bit of kosher salt, piled on top of a bed of fresh organic spinach, topped off with some black olives and sundried tomatoes, and a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yummmeeee!

I have had the flu this last week, so now that my taste buds are working again, the yummy raw food was a nice way to end the day. I haven't exercised this wee, so that gets me down, but I will be visiting my favorite chiropractor tomorrow and all will be right in my world.

That's all for now, enjoy!!

Upcoming Events

Celebrate St Patrick's Day
Sign up for the inaugural St Pat's 5K Walk/Run to benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank.
The 5K will start and finish on Smith Street at the RI Statehouse.

Saturday March 21, 2009 ==== Start 11:30 a.m.

St Pat's 5K is limited to 3000 participants.
Registered participants approaching 1800 as of March 5, 2009!!

St. Patrick's Day Parade follows the race.
For more information: http://www.stpats5k.com/