When to Buy Organic

In a perfect world we would only buy organic everything, but let"s face it, our trips to the grocery store just keep getting more and more expensive every year. Within the past 10 months I committed myself to changing my diet for the better. It"s not like I went from eating Ring Dings to Swordfish steaks, but I made the move away from processed foods and greatly increased my consumption of natural foods. I have yet to move to all organic and still my grocery bills seem like the doubled.

I found this very helpful list of which foods that are the most important to buy organic as opposed to other fruits and veggies that are "cleaner" and may not be as important to buy organic.
This" Dirty Dozen" list are the fruits and veggies that can contain the highest amount of pesticides and toxins.

The Dirty Dozen:

• Apples


• Celery


• Sweet Bell Peppers


• Peaches


• Strawberries


• Nectarines (imported)


• Grape


• Spinach


• Lettuce


• Cucumbers


• Blueberries (domestic)


• Potatoes

This "Clean 15" List aren’t as heavily sprayed and therefore, don’t have to always be organic.

Clean 15

• Onions


• Corn


• Avocado


• Pineapple


• Cabbage


• Sweet Peas


• Asparagus


• Mango


• Eggplant


• Kiwi


• Cantaloupe (domestic)


• Sweet Potatoes


• Grapefruit


• Watermelon


• Mushrooms

So what do you do if you read that Dirty List and are freaking out because you simply can not afford to buy the organic options for all those items? You may be thinking, "Maybe I should stop eating those things all together." Wrong answer! There is a better option. If you do your due diligence and wash the items properly you should be OK. Here"s the best trick I've found for removing the pesticides.

Washing Fruit and Vegetables with Vinegar
Fill your sink with a solution that is one part vinegar to three parts water and soak all of your fruits in this solution for a minimum of 10 minutes and then rinse. This is great for removing bacteria, and may help break down wax, too. The editors of Cooks Illustrated magazine tested this theory by using four different methods to clean pears and apples: a vinegar and water solution (3:1, water:vinegar), antibacterial liquid soap, scrubbing with a stiff brush, and just using plain water. Not only did the vinegar mixture work the best, it was far, far better when measured for bacteria -- it removed 98% of bacteria, compared to just under 85% for scrubbing. If you don"t have 10 minutes to do this, or perhaps you just have a couple of pieces of fruit, a good alternative is to keep a bottle of vinegar with a spray top. Just spray the fruit or vegetables with the vinegar, then rinse under a tap.

See more about washing your fruits and veggies here.

Lifetime Wellness Course Completed

I am very happy to report that I completed my "Lifetime Wellness 101" course with flying colors. OK, I did get two little quiz questions wrong throughout the entire 12 week course and only finished with a 98% rather than 100%, but that just shows that there is always room for improvement–in everything we do. I did learn a lot and more importantly I feel more confident now than ever in my knowledge on this subject. I found the course very easy to get through and most of it seems to come second nature to me. I would recommend it to anyone, not only looking to learn information to teach and/or share with others, but also for your own general knowledge. If you are interested in trying to achieve a more healthy lifestyle (and I would imagine you are if you found your way to my blog), this course teaches you and encourages you to live the most optimally healthy life you can.

One of the most important things you can do to keep your brain healthy is to constantly challenge it by learning new things. Why not consider taking an online class yourself? You can check out this course and many many other online classes here at Universal Class.

Easy Ways to Help Simplify Your Life

I’m still working on finding ways to simplify my life. That original list of 72 things that I posted a couple of weeks ago can seem so daunting. I started off by picking the 5 things that I would focus on in the short-term. Now I decided to make a short list of the things that I’m already doing. It made me feel good to be able to check some things off the list as “accomplished.”

Establish routines. I am a creature of habit. That is for sure. And I guess it is easier to have established patterns because there is no guessing, or wasting time, deciding what you should be doing when.

Consider a smaller home. I am in the process of doing more than considering a smaller home. I’m actually designing one. Although this consideration process has not helped to simplify my life in the here and now (in fact, it’s creating more work), but I can see how a smaller house would greatly simply several aspects of my life.  I’m ready to get there.

Consider a smaller car. This has been accomplished in a big way. I just traded my MINI Cooper 4-seater for a MINI Cooper 2-seater! A simpler life because of it? Probably not, but it sure is a fun car, bringing me much joy.

Eat healthy. I have to say, after changing my diet recently my trips to the grocery store have been much quicker and easier. I only shop the perimeter of the store (fruits/veggies, meats, and dairy) and I always buy the exact same thing. No more lists, no more aimlessly wondering the isles. Fast and easy.

Create a simple dinner menu.  This picks up where the above item leaves off. Having low carb dinners has greatly reduced the variety of meals we have, which has made dinner prep that much easier.

Exercise. This has been a constant my whole life. Not sure how it’s simplifying my life, but I’m definitely doing it.

Find a creative outlet for self-expression. I’ve always excelled at this one. As a photographer, graphic designer and jewelry maker, I’m constantly using my creative outlets.

Create a morning writing ritual. I just started an evening writing ritual where I spend 5 minutes a day reflecting back on the days events and making a simple list of 5 things that I did. The best 5 minutes of the day!

Carry less stuff. My chronic neck and shoulder problems have forced me to trade in my big purse for a wristlet. Now that my neck problems are fixed, I’m hooked on carrying a tiny purse. Will never go back.

Creating a Lifetime of Wellness

I recently signed up for unlimited online classes at a web site called Universal Class. I was about to purchase one class through a local university when I stumbled upon a great Groupon offering one year of unlimited classes for just about the same price as my one class. The offer was too good to pass up. This place offers a ton of classes and it was hard to decide what class to take first. After much deliberation I finally settled on a "Lifetime Wellness" course. There seems to be no end to my desire to learn as much about wellness as possible.

The course description intrigued me and so far I like it a lot. The first lesson was to point out the importance of trying to simplify our lives. That is something that I've been struggling with forever. I just loved one of the reference links in the course materials: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life.

I was very proud of the fact that I'm already doing many of those things. In fact, I need to make note of all the ones that I am already in the process of doing, but part of our assignment was to pick the 5 goals that we want to focus on. I thought it would be good for me to document what I picked here on my blog so I can hold myself accountable later.

My top 5 goals for simplifying my life:

• Simplifying my online life. Between my personal social sites, and those same social sites managed for my business, it gets out of control. There seems to be no end to the amount of things you "can" and "should" be doing in social media for business and I have to learn where the limits are and figure out a way to streamline and automate some of this.


• Clearing my desk.  Both of them home and work. There is no doubt that working in a messy cluttered environment is stressful. I know this, but yet I never seem to make the time to clear my work areas. By the time this class is done, my desks will be cleared!


• Purging my stuff. I go through my closets twice a year, collecting things to donate to Goodwill, but I need to extend this to the rest of my house, starting with my office and my bookshelves. Having excess stuff helps nobody.


• Simplify my goals. I always take on too much. Always. I need to be more reasonable with my time and really determine the best ways to spend it. Part of this goal includes learning to say "no" once in a while. That has historically been a problem for me.


• Live life more deliberately. I rush through just about everything I do without really enjoying it. I exercise like a nut, but rarely enjoy my runs, hikes, or bike rides because I'm trying to go as fast as I can . . . so I can get back home and start the next one. I even approach my yoga practice like a task on my To Do list. Throughout the practice my mind is already on my next task and my eye is on the clock wishing time went faster. That has GOT to stop. I need to work, eat, exercise, drive . . . do everything more slowly.

Five Steps to Quieting the Mind with Sound

 The following article was borrowed (with permission of course) from Conni Kunzler of notesfromayogapractice.blogspot.com. I found it interesting and wanted to share. Thanks Conni.

In Ayurveda, simple daily practices, called dinacharya, attend to the five sense organs—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin—the way we take in the world. Just as the foods we eat, the air we breathe, and our visual stimuli impact our mental and physical health, so do the sounds we hear—in our environment as well as the chatter inside our heads.

Sounds We Take In Matter

Sound has the power to change our mood, create or relieve stress, affect our blood pressure, produce endorphins, and build proteins in the body that nourish the immune system. There is a decided physical and emotional response to sound. Think of the unrelenting noise of a jackhammer—or one too many ads on television. On the other end of the spectrum, there is the gentle pulse of ocean waves or the coo of your child.

All things have their own vibrating energy, from trees to stars, and of course our own bodies. And all vibrations have a sound, although some not as audible as others. Within our body, each component, such as the liver or heart, emits a sound creating a small symphony that is you.

Long-term exposure to any particular internal or external vibratory patterns—positive or negative—can alter our own vibrations to the new pattern (called “entrainment”). This is why it’s best to be intentional about the sounds we take in or feed ourselves with our thinking.

The Right Sounds Can Heal

Part of attending to the body’s delicate sound system (ears) in yoga and Ayurveda includes the practice of chanting. The accumulated knowledge of the sciences of yoga and Ayurveda are recorded in Sanskrit and for hundreds of years chanting or vocalizing Sanskrit words or mantras has been part of these healing and spiritual practices.

According to Sanskrit teacher Nicolai Bachman, “For millennia the profound teachings of India have been chanted over and over, preserving the essence of their meaning…. [and] forms a direct link to the vibrations of ancient India through sound.”

The human ear and the palate within the mouth hold connections to the body’s nervous system. This includes 82 reflex points located on the hard and soft palates which are awakened by speech and vocalizations. Vocal sound production is also known to affect the vagus nerve, which is key to switching on the parasympathetic (or rest and digest) systems in the body.

The Sanskrit alphabet happens to be perfectly designed for the human vocal apparatus and employs all five mouth positions, activating the nervous system of the body. So chanting a Sanskrit mantra of any length can be especially healing, opening the mind to new energy and grace as well as creating a sense of calm.

A Simple Five-Step Chanting Practice

Recently I’ve attended a yoga class where the teacher incorporates simple one-syllable chanting. Hearing the vibration of several voices repeating the same sound, and my own voice resonating in my body is surprisingly comforting and stabilizing. As a result, I’ve slowly added simple chanting to my personal practice.

According to Ayurvedic doctor David Frawley, much like a yoga posture (asana) brings a certain kind of energy to the body, so do certain Sanskrit sounds or mantras. Mantras are like a pose for the mind.

Here's a simple chant if you want to give it a try:

1. Find a comfortable seated position, such as sukasana (easy cross legged position), or another position that is comfortable either on your yoga mat or a chair. Consider finding a spot outdoors to mingle with the sounds of nature.

2. Start with the Sanskrit long vowel “ā” आ (pronounced ah as in “father”). Basically all you need to do is open your mouth and make a sound. It stimulates the first position in the mouth which is toward the back of the throat.

3. Place your hands over your heart if you’d like to remind yourself to keep an open heart and better feel the vibration of the sound in your body. Or, on the inhale reach your arms up toward the sky and on the exhale bring them to your heart.

4. Begin to repeat “ā” with your breath in whatever pitch or volume you choose (or happens). Complete as few or as many rounds as you want. This practice encourages lengthening the exhale, so it should feel calming and quiet the mind.

5. Follow this with a long bout of silence. That is golden.