Resources
Other Wonderful, Local Practitioners
For Healing Massage in South Jersey
www.bewellmassagetherapy.com/Bewell2009/about.htm
Healthy, Organic Meals Delivered to Your Home or Office
www.thenourishingwell.com
Image Consulting for Real People
www.frenchtouchimage.com
Other Great Websites
National Directory for Yoga Studios
www.yogafinder.com
Guide to Vegetarian Restaurants Around the World
www.vegdining.com
Co-op Directory Service: Find a Natural Food Co-op Near You
www.coopdirectory.org
Online Source for Living Lactose-Free
www.godairyfree.org
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
www.pcrm.org
The Center for Food Safety
www.centerforfoodsafety.org
The Organic Trade Association
www.ota.com
Celebrating "Slow Food"
www.slowfoodusa.org
Articles
Mitch's Health & Wellness Newsletter
"If we are to age gracefully and live as long and as well as we can, we must first look at the process squarely and honestly, and understand it for what it is."
-- Andrew Weil, M.D.
What Determines Your Health?
There essentially are three things that determine how healthy you are: food, lifestyle behaviors, and heredity.
Let's focus on food and lifestyle behaviors -- the two factors that you can control.
Food has a huge impact on your health. From antioxidants to vitamins to minerals and other nutrients and healing agents, food is the platform from which your life and your health are launched. Every time you eat a vegetable, or whole grains, or legumes, for example, you are helping your body find balance and have wellness.
Conversely, every time you eat a greasy cheesesteak, or drink caffeine, or eat processed junk food, you are leading your body out of balance and toward unwellness.
I am not the "food police." I don't say these things to take certain foods away from people. But as I look around, I don't see people casually indulging in high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrient foods. Instead, I see them over-indulging in those disease-inviting edibles.
I have a saying: "It is unreasonable to expect reasonable results from unreasonable behavior."
For example, if a person starts their day with a bagel, a donut and a cup of coffee with caffeine, they have no right to expect not to be on a sugar rollercoaster the rest of the day. In fact, that's to be expected, since the sugar cravings during the day are actually their body's way of finding a solution to the state they put it in with that high-blood-sugar-level breakfast. The sugar cravings are not the problem; the person's behavior with breakfast is the problem. And over time, that behavior can very easily lead to disease, since sugar is one of the most destructive substances to the human body.
Similarly, if a person chooses a life that involves a sedentary, high-stress job, and they do not exercise regularly with their doctor's approval, that lifestyle can very easily lead to disease, since stress is potentially lethal to the human body -- particularly to the heart. Which leads me to another one of my sayings: "From the moment you wake up in the morning, the only thing that truly matters is that you protect the health of your heart and keep it beating."
After all, once your heart stops beating, the game's over, and all the little incidentals in life that we view as so crucial won't be too important at that point.
I encourage you to feel empowered about your health and your potential for longevity. It's never too late to help the body recalibrate itself and find its way back to the balance it seeks 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Yes, you CAN heal your body -- "one vegetable at a time," as I like to say.
I understand that it may not always be easy to make sustainable, health-promoting changes in your foods and lifestyle behaviors. After all, if that was so easy to do, you'd likely have done it already.
But the food and lifestyle choices you make today, and tomorrow, and in all of your tomorrows will largely determine what your health and wellness and happiness look like in the future. Those choices will largely determine how many medications your doctors prescribe for you. Those choices will largely determine whether you live long and well, or whether you just linger with debilitation.
Every day presents a fork in the road that gives you the opportunity to choose health and wellness. And if you make the right choice, the payoff is enormous!
Try This Recipe: Sauteed Greens in Olive Oil
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 8 minutes
Serves: 3 to 4
Ingredients:
1/2 bunch of mustard greens
1/2 bunch of kale
1/2 bunch of dandelion greens
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
lemon juice to taste
Directions:
1. Wash the greens and pat them dry with paper towel.
2. Chop the greens.
3. Slice or chop the garlic.
4. Gently heat the olive oil over low heat.
5. Add the garlic and saute it for about 30 seconds to a minute (do not burn it).
6. Add the greens and stir them until all the leaves are wilted -- about 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.
Note: If you are allergic or sensitive to any of the foods mentioned in this newsletter, then I suggest avoiding those foods.