Amazing Food = Boundless Energy!

I am normally all over nutrition! My kids call me the "Health Nut Mom" and I love it! Lately, I have let a few things slide and this has affected my energy levels. I have not been as bouncy and when I am, the bounciness does not last nearly as long.

(This is a picture of me being quite "bouncy")

So this morning I grabbed some of my favourite nutrition books and set the intention to consume large quantities of "Superfoods". I was fascinated to see if this would have an immediate affect on my energy levels.

I began the morning with my usual warm water with a whole squeezed lemon. Citrus is a Superfood according to Dr's Richard Beliveau and Denis Gingras, authors of Eating Well, Living Well and Foods that Fight Cancer. I love these books as they are all evidenced based - backed by science!

Then I went on to eat a bowl of strawberries and blueberries - huge anti cancer fighting, anti inflammatory and anti oxidant properties are found in these foods. Onions, tumeric and cayenne were in the fritata I made. Onions are part of the Allium family of foods and have been shown, in studies, to hasten the elimination of carcinogenic toxic substances from our bodies. Turmeric and Cayenne are super spices that have disease fighting properties, I put them in almost everything savoury.

After this I proceeded to drink two cups of green tea and as we speak I have a home made "Iced Green Tea" on the go, topped with Pomegranite juice! Green tea has properties that can prevent the formation of microtumours - which we all develop spontaneously throughout our lives (Beliveau and Gingras, Foods that Fight Cancer). This takes me to 4 superfoods and I have not even hit 10am!!! But hold on there's more...

At 1pm I made myself some steamed broccoli and a lot of it and open up a can of Mackeral - an Omega 3 rich fish. I found it fascinating to remind myself this morning that the modern diet may contain 25 times more Omega 6 acids than Omega 3's making it much more susceptible to imflammatory types of diseases - cancer being one.

As we speak I have eaten 3 tablespoons of freshly ground flax with a bit of vanilla soy milk, a great mid afternoon pick up. Sam, my dog received a few teaspoons as well - dogs need their Omega 3's too! Studies indicate that regular consumption of soy, a food rich in phytoestrogens can reduce the affects of elevated levels of estrogens which can play a key role in activating breast cancer.

Now I do intend to add a glass of Red Wine to the end of my day. Red Wine, contains Resveratrol a molecule that possesses multiple anti oxidant and anti inflammatory properties and therefore helps prevent the development of many chronic diseases...so I will add this one glass to my list of super foods!

I am so incredibly thankful that dark chocolate makes the list of superfoods - it has to be 70% cocoa to be considered. Dark chocolate has anti oxidant properties so I will have some of that later this afternoon.

So what am I up to now? Twelve superfoods and it is only 5:43 on my watch. How am I feeling - amazing!! My energy levels have been quite elevated and consistent through out the day which is what I want. I have taken no real dips in energy and this allows me to play full out, which is a strong intention I have created for my life.

So the day is still young and I plan to get to at least 15 Superfoods by the end of the day, perhaps some Olive oil on my salad and more vegetables from the cruciferous family (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage etc.). There you go it has not been difficult at all! Very little prep was involved, I simply set the intention to consume massive quantities of superfoods, made sure I had them on hand and away I went.

Nutrition is simple, it just requires some intention and attention. See what superfoods you can inject into your day and let me know how it affects your energy level.

Enjoy this incredible day...

The Meaning of Communication

I am studying NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) right now and I love it! I can sink into anything by Anthony Robbins as he is all about NLP. So this morning I read:

"The Meaning of a communication is the response you get"

In other words our communication is only as good as the responses we get - WOW! Powerful stuff! Those words really hit me this morning when I read them after my morning workout, sitting outside my favourite Starbucks.

Have you ever said something to someone that you thought was harmless, yet the response you got was unexpected, surprising and perhaps to you out of proportion? I know I have.

There are two main reasons this occurs:

1) Our communications are channelled through the unique filters others have - which means their "stuff". So if someone is sensitive to people who raise their voices, it will not matter what you say or what your intentions are, if you speak in a loud voice, they will not hear your communication.

"People will not remember what you say so much as how it made them feel" Maya Angelou

2) Your communication may not be as clean as you think - for example if you intend to praise someone and do it in an offhand kind of way they might think you are being false and respond accordingly

So what is the value in knowing this. Well when we do and when we can fully internalize this concept we are obliged to take full responsibility for our communications. This means we can no longer blame others for not listening or responding in the "wrong"way. Essentially there is no "wrong" way, there is simply how others respond.

What is the action we can take? We need to become acutely aware of the response to know if our communication was effective. If the response was not positive - reflect on why not, redo it or reinvent a new approach. Today, pay close attention to how others respond to your communication. The first step to change is awareness!

Enjoy this day...