Magnesium-the unloved mineral

Do you remember watching Wild Kingdom as a kid? Did you happen to notice that the animals attacking their prey would immediately eat the organ meats. I never really thought about why until I listened to Morley Robbins explain the importance of magnesium. Magnesium is the Rodney Dangerfield of the mineral world. It gets “No Respect” I have been so remiss in not learning the importance of this underutilized mineral. Magnesium is a mineral found in oysters, must, seeds, almonds, cashews, pumpkin, pistachios, kelp and organ meats. You can also get it from wheat grass. The strange thing about magnesium is that nobody really talks about its importance. We speak ad nauseam about calcium and vitamin D–but magnesium is the missing component in this triad. It turns out that we may be enduring an epidemic of magnesium deficiency.

First a little history, our ancestors lived in a very magnesium rich environment. It was in the water, food, root vegetables and organ meats that we consumed. Around 100 years ago, the environment flipped. It became a calcium rich, magnesium poor environment. It became much more acidic with toxins. We started refining salt from its natural form (sea salt) which contained a natural balance of magnesium and sodium. Sugar cane started being refined which removes all the magnesium. So now, living in a calcium rich environment we have developed problems lack of the stabilizing magnesium particle. Calcium that isn’t regulated by magnesium causes massive inflammation. Hence (spoiler alert) the inflammation forms free radicals and oxidative stress which progresses to chronic disease states –with heart disease being very significant due to calcium deposits on the arteries.

Uses of magnesium:

Stabilization of bones–magnesium gives bones resilience

Regulates calcium in the body

Vital for support for muscles in body (remember the heart is a muscle)

Here is a link to a great tutorial on how to make magnesium lotion—check it out!

http://creativechristianmama.com/how-to-make-magnesium-oil-lotion/

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Angela in disease, Mind, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Depression Sessions

Did you know that birth control pills will deplete your stores of zinc, magnesium, and B vitamins which could lead to hypothyroidism or depression?

Did you know that statin drugs deplete your coenzyme Q10, selenium and vitamin D and Bam you have migraine and leg cramps.

Even coffee is a mugger of magnesium. Alcohol depletes thiamin (B1).

Basically, a lot of the foods and medicines (even over the counter) are robbing our bodies of essential nutrients needed to make important neurotransmitters (feel good chemicals) in our bodies. It’s no wonder that 7% of the population is on anti-depressant meds and that prescriptions written for these meds have skyrocketed since 1998.

These are just a few of the things you will learn if you sign up for the Free –“Depression Session” put together by underground wellness.com.

There are 22 medical doctors, naturopaths, nutritionists and bestselling authors that reveal the root causes of depression and what to do about it. They start Sunday morning and are absolutely free to sign up for.

I’ve listened to them all and there is some amazing information in here! I’ll be posting more now that the chaos of the last few weeks of school is over and try to highlight some of the big points for you.

Go to http://www.thedepressionsessions.com

For more info —go to the previous Thyroid Sessions post as well

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Angela in Diet, Mind, Spirit Leave a comment

Lessons from the Mental Hospital

All I can say is that I absolutely love this—it’s worth taking 17 minutes to watch. It seems to reiterate that all I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten! Nothing beats transparency and honesty.

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Angela in Body, Mind, Spirit 1 Comment

Warming Foods For Winter

So I listened to a great old podcast of Alexandra Jamieson’s about winter foods. I am reading her new book ” Women, Food, and Desire” right now and wanted to hear a little more of her work. You may remember her from the award-winning documentary “Super Size Me” in which she was the co-star with her ex-husband. Since then she has an amazing transformation story and outlines a lot of that in her new book and on the pod cast she does with Sean Croxton from Undergroundwellness.com.

Anyhow, I really love some of the points that she makes about our food choices in the winter and our New Years weight loss goals. She suggests that we actually sabotage our weight loss efforts in these New Year resolutions by trying to diet with foods that aren’t in season and are to cooling to the body.

For instance —we often reach for a smoothie in the am with lots of frozen fruits and then do salads for lunch. Our bodies in the winter are in hibernation mode –they don’t want those cooling foods like bananas, grapefruit, and cold salads. Our body wants to metabolize warming foods. It is more natural for the body’s internal environment. Here is a short list of Warming Foods—

Anise

Basil

Carob

Cumin

Chives

Cinnamon

Cloves

Coriander

Dates (and most dried fruit)

Dill

Fennel

Garlic

Ginger

Ginseng

Honey

Kumquat

Leeks

Mustard greens

Nuts

Oats

Onion

Papaya

Parsley

Parsnips

Pepper (black, Chile, red bell, green bell)

Quinoa

Rosemary

Rutabaga

Scallions

Seeds

Tea

Vinegar

Wasabi

Watercress

Wild rice

Here is a copy of the book–I’m about 1/2 way through and I really like it. It really puts emotions, cravings and eating into a different perspective

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Posted on February 8, 2015 by Angela in Body, Diet, Mind, Whole Food 2 Comments

Victims of Distraction

So recently I have been feeling overwhelmed. With the kid’s school activities, a full-time job, and simply keeping up with laundry and housework; I have found myself screensucking! This video posted by one of my favorite people, Marie Forleo, gives some helpful hints to how to refocus and get out of the ADD mode and actually accomplish something. We are all victims of this technology run world. Marie quotes the amazing amount of time in each hour that we deal with distractions. I particularly like the idea of setting 3 goals for each day, week, month, and year. Hopefully, you will find these strategies helpful as well.

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Angela in Mind Leave a comment

Take these broken wings—

For all of you who enjoyed the previous post about suicide prevention –see the post HERE. Here is a quick update on Lucy and Maggie’s story: Lucy (Maggie’s childhood friend) and my dear friend got her 1st tattoo this weekend. Her parents weren’t keen on the idea but told her that she could get one when she turned 18. Lucy (now 18) got her first tattoo in honor of Maggie’s favorite Shakespeare quote!

“The course of true love never did run smooth”

Maggie’s spirit continues to live on in so many of us that hardly even knew her. Some spirits just leave their mark in this way.

Wayne Dyer says that we are spiritual souls inhabiting a human existence and I can’t help to believe that when I experience such profound emotion over a child I barely knew. We were obviously soulful connections.

It’s strange but this last week has been filled with interesting circumstances and spirit filled interactions that I am compelled to share. Some of these were some pretty incredible near death experience stories.

NDE”S

One of my favorites is the minister that had a fatal car accident. His car was a literal accordion and he was pronounced dead on the scene after being hit by a semi. The paramedic’s tried to get him out of the car for approximately 2 hours.

A man (also a minister) pulled up to the scene and asked the medics if he could climb in the car and pray for the man. He had driven by and felt a sudden inclination to pray for the accident victim.

Annoyed, the medics told him that the victim had been dead for over 2 hours but they eventually allowed him to enter the scene. The minister climbed in while the medic continued to work at getting the dead man out. The minister prayed over the shoulder of the man he could not see for about 10 minutes. After around 10 minutes, the man began to sing “What a friend we have in Jesus”. He had no idea why, but he felt compelled to sing. Then —– he heard another voice chime in and thought how wonderful it was that a medic was singing with him. He stopped and the voice continued. Suddenly, the shoulder he was holding began to move.—

Yes- the victim was singing! The medics continued to work feverishly at this point and as they pulled the victim out of the car, the minister realized that it was his best friend.

I have a patient in the last 12 years whose spirit honestly connected with mine. We were kindred spirits right at the beginning of our journey together. The story about Ric is so amazing that I struggle to put words to its content. Ric was diagnosed with cancer just about a year after my conscience decision to transform my practice into a nutritional/functional health approach. He was 100% on board to heal himself of his disease and was confident and supportive of the unconventional decision that I had made. There was no judgement-he supported me unconditionally. He lost weight, ate right, and Damn-he even watched the CRAZY SEXY CANCER video in the office with me! I was thrilled to have a patient listen and I was sure he was cured after his chemo and radiation. He claimed that the Cancer would never win the War.

Unfortunately, Ric died this last year. I had the opportunity of seeing his brother whom was his caregiver throughout his final days. On Friday, we spoke of a dream that his kindred spirited brother had before his final days. The dream was as follows and is paraphrased of course. He saw his brother in his most healthy, strong, and happy states the first two nights. He was mid 20’s, smiling, robust, and full of energy and vitality. On the third night, his brother looking wonderful, sat with friends and family and announced that cancer won the battle but he won the war.

His brother was confused by this notion, however, the day after Ric’s life here had ceased—-His brother looked back on the tired, cancer ridden body lying in a hospital bed spiritless and realize that it was all true. Cancer did win the battle –but the spirit of Ric had certainly won the war and left some pitiful remains—–

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Angela in cancer, disease, Mind, Spirit, Suicide, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Chasing the Moon

Around 5am September 1st, 2013–the Aurigids will be entering the meteor stream in the last hour before dawn. So it’s a perfect way to start Sunday by checking out the shower around 5am. It is extra special because the Moon enters a new phase on September 5th and will be located near the Sun. You will be able to find a crescent moon in the early morning and approximately 14-20 meteor showers before dawn. With a bonus attraction, the Moon passed Jupiter today the 31st and will still be visible in the am along with Mars.

I’m not usually an astrology freak, but researching the correlation of the mind, body, and spirit has helped me be grateful for all the intricate connections between the Earth and how our bodies function. It really does make me feel more complete when I pay attention to how I blend with the Universe. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday weekend!!! Enjoy!

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Angela in Mind, Spirit 2 Comments

“One bead at a time”

I frequently ponder inequality in the world. It bothers me that I’m not working harder to change it. Somebody’s baby’s going hungry while we are still eating out. I understand consequence for negative choices but I can’t rationalize being born into despair. Recently, a patient of mine traveled to Haiti on a mission trip. She shared some interesting stories…

“The Haitian village that we worked in was a very close-knit community. Women are the primary caretakers of the children and most of what they know is passed down from the older women of the village. Unfortunately, this includes a ton of what we would call “old wives’ tales”. Because of the lack of financial resources, women must breastfeed. They simply cannot afford to buy formula. However, young mothers will often be influenced by older women that their milk is “bad”. They believe if a mother cries a lot (due to postpartum depression) while she is nursing her baby, that the tears will create a vacuum that literally sucks her milk up into her head where her brain will then poison the milk when it travels back to her breasts. Young mothers, not wanting to poison their babies with breast milk, will sometimes feed them a watered-down inadequate supply of formula leading to malnutrition. Or they will try to feed them baby food instead of milk when they are much too young to digest it well which leads to diarrhea

The Haitians are in dire need of basic nutrition and health classes. But I think it will take patience and consistent teaching over years — maybe decades — before it overcomes the old wives’ tales and superstitions they have been taught.”—–Denise

This year at Christmas, our office decided to forgo the annual secret Santa gift exchange and donate to Gleaner’s Food bank. I was then stricken with the decision of what to give the office staff that would follow this “give back” theme. I found a great local chapter of Amani Organization that solved my dilemma.

The Amani Children’s Foundation partners with New Life Home Trust to care for abandoned and HIV+ infants and nurses them back to health. Since 1993, New Life Homes has rescued over 1200 infants. OurIndianapolischapter sells beads and Kenyan market items to raise money to support these foundations. The beads are made by Kenyan women at the Kazuri Bead Factory. These beads are then brought to theUSand crafted into jewelry, key chains and novelty items. 100% of the proceeds go back to these hard-working Kenyan women to nourish and clothe their families. Thanks Indy Amani for opening the local chapter in 2009. More importantly, thank you for easing my mind when buying a gift for someone that isn’t starving. At least it gives me a morsel of integrity. This is my baby step to alter inequality, contributing to help feed infants hatched into desperation.

What a difference it makes!

Visit Amani’s site today and online ordering is now available!

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Angela in Benevolence, Call to action, Charity, Crafts, disease, Family, Mind, Spirit 1 Comment

The Addiction Cycle

A few posts ago-we shared Jim Ryser’s success story of overcoming addiction and empowering himself to teach and counsel others. If you missed that post you can see it HERE. The cycle is so true. I don’t think I can honestly think of anyone that doesn’t have addiction to overcome. Negative thinking, food, chemicals, exercise, self-abuse are only a few that we encounter daily. Dee has been struggling with her issues with sugar and she writes—

Dee writes:

I’ve been contemplating addiction the past few days, considering the cycle of the way that people deal with emotional discomfort by masking pain through the consumption of _________ (fill in the blank). I have filled my blank in with food. Last night I became so angry at a situation in my home that it took everything in me to not eat or drink. Food (and chemicals) distract us. Even if these crutches of ours are not mind altering, they are always mood altering.

It is easy for me to look at that circle of addiction with alcohol or drugs because I am thankfully not addicted to those things. I see that people feel pain, use things to not feel pain temporarily, physical effects wear off, pain comes back, need for another drink/dose. The routine never stops until the issue is worked through and dealt with in a more healthy and productive manner.

But then I look at my addiction, which is food, and because this is closer to home, it’s hard to see as clearly how to break the chain. One technique that I think works for many people is to write down their emotions and food-related impulses. This one for me last night was clear as could be. I was about to go to sleep and didn’t feel the least bit hungry. After the chaos subsided a bit, I walked into the kitchen for the sole purpose of finding the worst possible food choice on hand to consume quickly and mindlessly. Thankfully, I realized the irrelevance of how eating would make me happy and I turned myself around. What did make me happy, this morning, was seeing an overall seven pound weight loss on the scale for the month of August.

This long-term reward will ultimately be more gratifying that a bag of Doritos would have been last night.

For more pearls from Dee visit her site HERE

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Angela in Guest Blog, Mind, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Retrain Your Brain

Thanks Dee!!!

Retrain Your Brain

When I chose the title for my first blog, “Getting the Best of Food”, I envisioned a mental warfare. In a struggle, the person who overcomes their enemy is said to have “gotten the best of them.” Of course the double meaning is also to get the best qualities food has to offer.

Back to warfare. I work five days a week from morning until 5:00 pm. My breakfast, lunch and daytime snacks are perfectly healthy and I stick to the plan but dinner and post-dinner decisions often take a turn for the worse and I think I know why.

At the end of the workday, we’re run down, worn out and hungry. One of my strategies is always to have healthy food on hand and to eat something before you are famished. But there is also a little bit of brainwashing necessary to keep yourself from caving into cravings for junk food and comfort classics.

Here’s a normal weeknight example (after I’ve eaten fruits and veggies all day): 5:05 pm driving home, thinking about dinner options and my brain starts to recite all of the foods that make me joyful – chicken wings, pizza, potato skins, tacos… As I continue to drive home, the list is on a mental merry-go-round and it just keeps repeating incessantly in my head.

So what happens when you tell your brain “I can’t have that brownie, I can’t have that brownie, I can’t have that brownie?” There is only one thing on your mind for food and guess what it is – the brownie!

In the same way that you set up a plan to have easily accessible healthy food around, we all need to also retrain our brains to consider better choices before the disaster hits. Before the drive home and before hunger pains set in, start to recall how amazing fresh strawberries taste, or how flavorful grilled asparagus is with a touch of Parmesan cheese. Whenever possible, have your dinner prepared or at least planned the night before. One trick I have learned is start dinner for the next night as I’m clearing the table and washing dishes. This way I come home and finish cooking dinner that was started the previous night, eat and then start the first half of tomorrow’s dinner. It works really well.

To keep things simple, you can also come up with a short list of standard dinners that you know how to make simply, that fit your daily caloric goals. For me, this is usually fish every other night, alternated with chicken. One night is vegetarian and one night is lean beef or pork. Skip the starches unless it’s whole grain and double up on the vegetables. Salads compliment dinner very well too. Save calories with homemade dressing from blended berries, pears or apples, vinegar, mustard and a small bit of olive oil. Shake it with your lettuce so that a little goes a long way.

Don’t forget that this is a battle, truly. And that you can and will win it, and you’ll feel amazing for overcoming the challenge.