If you suffer from gluten intolerance, your digestive system suffers and you feel tired. You know you have to give up a lot of foods you enjoy. So what can you do? Let me share with you an outline of the system I use with clients to help them deal with gluten intolerance and have more energy.
1. Improve Elimination –
* through your breathing channels because the quality of your breath affects your energy levels and immune system. Practising the neti technique, a very effective yogic technique, is a great way to improve the quality of our breathing
* through your cells. To move toxins out of your cells it's important to dring sufficient water (between 1 to 2 litres daily at least). Are you drinking enough water? Do this quick test for a better idea
2. Eat a variety of foods - even if you have to give up certain foods, make the most of the chance to try new gluten-free options. Take your pick from cereals like rice, millet, corn, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth. Rice and millet are particularly good because they have a cleansing effect on the body.
3. Enjoy and accept the change - your body is always telling you what it needs to feel goo. You just have to listen to make the whole digestive experience more pleasant. Being at peace with the situation helps.
4. Prepare your own meals as much as possible to be in control of what you're eating. To get you started here's one of my favourite recipes from my book "Plans for Dinner". I've adapted this gluten-free recipe to the season for you. Send me a message to receive it.
I encourage you to follow this system even if you don't suffer gluten intolerance since I'm sure you and your family will see an increase in energy. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
(c) 2008 Janet Gomez
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About the author: Janet Gomez, nutritional consultant, produces the "Nutri-Jyoti News", a free bi-monthly e-newsletter for busy professionals. Feel ready to learn how to use nutritional strategies to manage your energy levels? Then sign up for her FREE e-course "5 Nutritional Keys to Vitality in your Life" at http://www.nutrijyoti.com
With the holiday season coming up many of us are planning to go and visit family and friends. Often our travel plans involve flying, which can be tiring at the best of times. Whenever I fly I order a vegetarian option for the meal since I'm vegetarian. However, I'm going to share with you three good reasons to "go veggie" when you're travelling by plane even if you're not normally vegetarian!
1. We are served first (or before our fellow passengers). In any case this is my experience. It's the same principle of service that you have in a restaurant. It's rare that a large party of people is served before a table of two or three. The same logic seems to work when you're on a plane. You also have more time to enjoy your meals before the plates are cleared away. This means you can take time to chew and savour what you receive. This can be a great bonus if you're travelling with children. The only downside is that it's a bit unfortunate for your fellow meat-eating travellers who have to wait for their row to be served, while you're tucking in.
2. We get the lighter option - meaning that it's lighter on our digestive system. This is definitely the main reason to "go veggie" when flying.
Flying is dehydrating to the whole body. When the body is dehydrated you feel tired and your concentration decreases. Various functions, especially the digestive one, don't work as well as they could. Anything you can do to ease the work your digestive system needs to do when travelling will benefit you tremendously when you arrive at your destination. Other tips to improve digestion while flying include drinking plenty of water before, during and after the flight (warm water is best), and avoiding tea, coffee and alcohol while flying. With improved hydration and the lighter option of the vegetarian meal, you and your family will have much less jet lag when you arrive at your destination and will be able to start enjoying your holiday much more quickly.
3. We have "healthier" options - I always get some sort of salad and fruit when I fly. For some reason, airlines presume that if you "go veggie" you want the healthy option. I rarely am served cake when I take the vegetarian option. By taking in less refined food than the average traveller, our digestive system also functions better - another bonus :) A word of warning for good digestion when flying - keep the fruit to eat a couple of hours after you've had your meal. Fruit digests more quickly than other foods and so should be eaten separately.
Final point - you may find that some airlines seem to be unaware that there are different categories of vegetarians, and that some of us do eat dairy products. Sometimes you may receive margarine to put on your bread roll or crackers, which is a shame after the rest of the meal was so healthy! My opinion is that margarine is not a natural product and does not break down in the body so I just ask for butter, and if they have it, the airline gives it to me. And if not, I am fine about going without. It's a small price to pay for all the other perks of "going veggie" when flying!
Most of us have heard that it's important to chew your food properly but are you aware why? Here are three good reasons to chew:
1. to enhance absorption. I remember learning at school that the first stage of digestion starts in the mouth. It's important to chew your food thoroughly to start the digestive process so that you'll absorb more nutrients from it.
2. to improve digestion by not overeating - when you chew your food well, your stomach has time to produce the hormones to let the brain know that you have had enough. In Ayurvedic Nutrition it is recommended that at least 25% of the stomach should still be empty after a meal to make sure it is properly digested.
3. to avoid gaining weight - There have been a number of studies about this last point. The most recent research carried out at Osaka University, Japan, and published in the British Medical Journal in October, indicates that men who eat quickly are 84% more likely to be overweight, and women were just over twice as likely.
Interested in more information about how to improve digestion and have more energy through good nutrition?
Get my "5 Nutritional Keys to Vitality in Your Life" here now for free!
First of all, you may be wondering what exactly is "neti". In a sentence "neti" is a technique for cleansing the nasal passages. There's more info on this page if you'd like fdetails.
There are various types but my favourite one is the "jala neti" where you use slightly salted warm water to clear your nostrils with a tool known as a "neti pot" or "lota".
I remember when I first tried it I wasn't convinced and felt the water wouldn't come out or I wouldn't be able to breath. However, something made me persist and the water did come out and I could breath and now even speak ( not advised for a beginner) while doing it!
Even though I don't have sinus or allergy problems, I've seen the benefits especially when I have colds - they get flushed out - literally. Other benefits I've experienced have been when having to stay up very late to finish work. While my colleagues had coffee I did a neti around 11pm and was wide-awake and alert to work until we finished around 3am. My regular neti practice also helped me when I took an early morning flight. I did my neti practice as usual in the morning and noticed that my ears did not pop during take-off and landing.
Do you have any neti experiences to share? Good (or bad - I may be able to help you make them better), feel free to share .
As we approach the party season (it starts earlier each year), we all start thinking about spending for food, presents, decorations. As busy professionals, we rush around to parties or have a lot to organise to make sure our loved ones have a good time. This activity also has a cost (and not just a financial one!).
We know that no matter how much money we may or may not have, we can't buy good health. We can pay for all kinds of treatments that will make us feel good for a short while but what if we don't want to or don't feel we can pay? How can we ensure we have Health Wealth anyway?
The director of my nutrition course used to compare the state of your well-being to the state of your bank account. If your well-being account is in credit you're in good health. How quickly your "credit" is used up depends on factors such as your environment, lifestyle and your diet.
Your environment covers everything around out but also everything you are involved in personally and professionally. Your interaction with your environment is important to determine your level of "health wealth". For example, if you eat the right type of food for you but are feeling angry or tense or you eat too much, this would be an interaction that causes you to use some of your health wealth. Do this on a regular basis and you'll feel yourself moving into the debit zone.
With my clients I witness evidence of "health debit" as they draw on their "well-being" bank account but don't replace what they withdraw. So I'm going to share 10 no/low-cost nutritional and well-being strategies to help you stock up on your health wealth for the coming months.
1. Cut back on how much refined sugar you and your family eat. For example, decide to make your own sweets during the party season. You'll save money and feed your well-being account. (sweet 4 wk report?)
2. Buy more organic local fruits and vegetables for you and your family so that you increase your intake to 7 servings daily.
3. Limit your alcohol intake (more thoughts in this recent blog post)
4. Look after the health of your digestive tract by giving it a regular rest.
5. Drink plenty of water, filtered if possible (do my test and get your family and friends to do it to have a clearer idea what you need)
6. Add essential omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids to your meals every day and to party dishes. Get them from organic nuts and seeds or oily fish (if you're not vegetarian!) to help you and those around you build strong immunity against illnesses and disease.
7. Resolve personal issues as they arise within yourself and with those close to you and release your stress on a daily basis. Just a few minutes can make all the difference
8. Have a positive outlook and practical approach. Remember that it's your choice how long you decide to stay feeling as you do. If you're not feeling great, acknowledge the feeling and do something to change it - to stop using up more health credit. Your health wealth starts with your attitude to life
9. Strive to attain peace within by stilling your mind. Breathing exercises and meditation can help. Even as a busy professional you can find a few minutes a day for yourself. (If not you need the no-cost resource below!) This peace is a source of happiness that will always be yours.
10. Get a good night's rest, ideally by 11pm so the body can have time to rest and recuperate.
Pick at least 5 of these strategies to start feeding your well-being account today!
(c) 2008 Janet Gomez
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About the author: Janet Gomez, nutritional consultant, produces the "Nutri-Jyoti News", a free bi-monthly e-newsletter for busy professionals. Feel ready to learn how to use nutritional strategies to manage your energy levels? Then sign up for her FREE e-course "5 Nutritional Keys to Vitality in your Life" at http://www.nutrijyoti.com
A friend of mine recently sent me this story about how your attitude can make a difference. Read on and enjoy!
John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'He was a natural motivator.If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?' He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood . I choose to be in a good mood.' Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. 'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested. 'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.' I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?' I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. 'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.'
'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked He continued, '..the paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.'
'What did you do?' I asked.
'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'.' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.' He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully...
Attitude, after all, is everything. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
I was reading the French consumer magazine "Bon à Savoir" (Good [things] to know) the other day which I receive regularly. It had an article about various ideas about drinking alcohol when eating.
For example, did you know that if you have an alcoholic drink while eating, the alcohol is burned off first, meaning that any fats consumed take longer to digest - several hours more in fact?
Also there's the fact that an alcoholic drink does not hydrate the body. In fact it increases the chances of dehydration since less of a hormone which concentrates the urine is produced and the body eliminates more water.
The good news is that a little alcohol seems to be ok but not necessarily for children, because of their lower body weight and the fact their liver has fewer enzymes to elimate it. The amount of red winesuggested is 2dl for a man and 1dl for a woman per day. It increases the level of good cholesterol in the blood and the antioxidants it contains may help prevent hardening of the arteries. However, a balanced diet, regular exercise and being a non-smoker also keep your heart in good shape.
My conclusion from the article was that a little red wine occasionally is fine as long as you have it with your main meal at lunchtime. Having a couple of glasses of wine, beer, or a strong digestive alcohol with your evening meal will help you store a nice layer of fat in the hip and stomach area. Maybe an increased intake of good oils would be a better idea for weight gain - but's that another post :)
Do you like a drink while eating? Share your thoughts and experiences below.
Recently I interviewed Frank Jensen, a Physiospect practitioner living in Portugal who runs a fasting retreat centre. Listen in to our discussion to help you learn more about this cutting edge technology and how computers can be beneficial for our health!
To listen to the interview go to this page
I'm having a busy month and it seems that practically everyone around me is feeling the same. One subcriber I was in contact with had a "crazy week" last week and worked until 2am one morning. Another is so busy with the "back to school " period and family stuff that she won't have time to attend my seasonal workshop, and another is so busy that she "cannot take the time to look after [her] own health at present".
What's happening? Is it just that this time of the year is one when there's a lot to do?
According to Ayurveda, this period we are moving into - Autumn - is associated with the Vata force - which governs the principle of movement and has cold, dry and light qualities. Our modern life with its general lack of rhythm, our fast pace of life, the number of people around us all having similar experiences, feeling anxious, fearful, all of this increases this force. Do you have lots of ideas, are you in a hurry to start or finish things, are you feeling anxious about all you have to do?
I know where you're coming from because I'm there too. But it's really important to pace ourselves. This will make sure we start autumn with enough energy to get through the winter, when everything slows down. During the transition period between each season it's also important to be careful about what we eat and drink and how we treat our bodies. Our general energy may be affected and that's why a lot of people may have colds or feel more tired at this time. So, as we experience this move from late summer to autumn, it's not necessarily the best time to take on more activities. It's a better time to be letting go, to take it easy and eat supporting foods.
Let me share 5 of my favourite tips with you to help you to handle the cold and dryness that dominate during this season and to make the transition a more gentle experience.
1. Include heating spices in your diet e.g. cardamom, cinnamon and ginger.
2. Eat warm, soupy, oily, sweet, sour and salty foods.
3. Consume less raw food, if any at all.
4. Establish a routine of waking up and going to bed early to ground and centre yourself.
5. Take more exercise e.g. go for a walk to raise energy levels, do yoga regularly.
Bonus tip and my favourite!
Do or have oil massage, sesame oil is best. You can do this yourself or go to a local Ayurvedic massage practitioner.
(c) 2008 Janet Gomez
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About the author: Janet Gomez, nutritional consultant, produces the "Nutri-Jyoti News", a free bi-monthly e-newsletter for busy professionals. Feel ready to learn how to use nutritional strategies to manage your energy levels? Then sign up for her FREE e-course "5 Nutritional Keys to Vitality in your Life" at http://www.nutrijyoti.com
These are the words I'm hearing from practically everyone I speak to or am in contact with at the moment . One person has had a "crazy week" and worked until 2am one morning. Another person is so busy with the "back to school " period and family stuff that she won't have time to attend my upcoming seasonal workshop. One of my subscribers told me that she moved recently and is very busy with all of that, and another is so busy that she "cannot take the time to look after [her] own health at present".
What's happening? Is it just that this time of the year is one when there's just a lot to do?
According to Ayurveda, this period we are moving into - Autumn - is associated with the Vata force - which governs the principle of movement. It's the force which directs nerve impulses among other things. Do you have lots of ideas, are you in a hurry to start or finish things, are you feeling anxious about all you have to do?
I know where you're coming from because I'm there too. But I know it's really important to pace myself to make sure I start autumn with the energy to get through the winter, when everything slows down. Around this time I'm even more careful about what I eat and drink and how I treat my body.
What are you doing to get through this "crazy" period?
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