Archive for December, 2009

Making Change and Succeeding!

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

For this week’s blog, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite stories. It warms my heart every time I read it.

2-starfish1


The Starfish Story

Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one.”

I love this story because it reminds me that every small act I do can have a profound effect on my life, or someone else’s. We all have the power within ourselves to make a difference and create change. Whether we realize it or not, its the little things that really make all of the difference in the world. It’s the same for nutrition and lifestyle coaching. Healthy eating, getting in shape or  losing weight doesn’t come from a magical pill or the latest fad diet, it’s comes from making small changes, one at a time, while realizing that each little step, like each little starfish going back into the ocean, is making you healthier and healthier and like the boy, celebrating those little victories with a smile as you move along your journey.

If you live in the Los Gatos or San Francisco area and are ready to begin nutrition, lifestyle or corrective exercise coaching, contact us to make an appointment for a complimentary consultation. Remember, we also provide nutrition & lifestyle coaching over the phone to our out of town community.

Season’s Greeting

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

References:

http://www.starrbrite.com/starfish.html

Photo: thank you to

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Excessive hunger could be dehydration

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

office-water-coolerDo you ever notice that even after eating a good sized meal you are still hungry?  Well, believe it or not the hunger that you may be feeling could be a sign of dehydration.  So many people misinterpret dehydration as hunger and it’s an easy mistake to make considering that even though your body is thirsty the signal it gives off is hunger.

If you find yourself hungry shortly after you have just finished eating, a good habit to get into is to check in with yourself and see where you are at with your daily water intake.  Notice I have written water.  Water is the best beverage for managing dehydration.  Beverages such as sodas, ice teas and coffee are dehydrating agents and no, the water that is in ice teas or herbal teas does not count towards your daily intake.  So, how does one know if they have drunk enough water throughout their day?  Well, the general guideline that we use here at Replenishing Soul is…whatever you weigh; take ½ of your weight and that is the number of ounces of water you should be drinking on a daily basis.  Another good  indicator that you are getting enough of water is that your urine should be clear with the exception of first thing in the morning.

Water is an essential agent to your health; it makes up more than two thirds of the weight of the human body.  Water helps your cells function on a daily basis, flushes toxins out of the body, contributes to brain function, makes up the fluid that surrounds your joints and regulates body metabolism just to name a few.  Below you will see other signs of possible dehydration.  If you notice these signs for yourself or some else considering drinking more water and pay attention to the changes that happen within your body.  Also, if you are someone who is struggling to loose weight and can’t because of hunger, I would strongly recommend re-evaluating the status of your daily water intake.  All those feelings of hunger could be signs of dehydration and when you begin to drink more water not only does the hunger go away but you begin to consume less calories.  In addition, typically by the time you feel thirst you are well into the state of dehydration.

Here are some other signs that you may be dehydrated:

  • - Hunger
  • - Pain (achy low back muscles)
  • - Cramps
  • - Feeling dizzy (vertigo)
  • - Tired
  • Headaches

Lori Metroka

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

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Antibiotics in our Food

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

chicken_grazing13Farmers have been using sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics in animals for years. This is done to help the animals gain weight in addition to helping them survive substandard, overcrowded living conditions that make them more susceptible to disease.  Scientists are discovering that this overuse of antibiotics in food is leading to the production of strains of harmful bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, meaning that these strains are surviving and are most likely being consumed by humans.

The World Health Organization is showing concern over these issues and has stated it’s recommendation to “terminate or rapidly phase out antimicrobials for growth promotion if they are used for human treatment.”  However, it appears that the adherance to these recommendations is not uniform.  In the December 3rd issue of Daily Diagnosis, an online health and daily medical news publication for the American Society of Clinical Pathology, reported the following:

  ”The Minneapolis Star Tribune (11/20, Pabst) reported that the Food and Drug Administration “sent stern warning letters to two central Minnesota dairy farms, which were among only 30 farms nationwide reprimanded so far this year for violating the rules governing how animal drugs can be used.” The farms, J&L Dairy and Evergreen Acres Dairy, were each found to have sent a cow to slaughter with “dangerously high levels of antibiotics” in their systems. One of the cows was drugged “with 129 times the amount of penicillin allowed under federal regulations.” Keith Schaefer, the owner of Evergreen Acres Dairy, said he was “shocked” by the findings, and assured that he had “spent several days retraining the four employees who administer drugs.” The AP (11/23) reports Linda Korfe, who owns J&L Dairy, “said any drug misuse would be unintentional because they try to abide by regulations.” “ 

It is clear that as a consumer it’s difficult to know what is in your food, since farmers are not required to report the use of antibiotics on food labels.  When buying meat, it’s always best to buy organic.  Also look for the words “no antibiotics added” on meat or poultry products which indicates that the producer has satisfied the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service that the animals were raised without antibiotics.

To learn more about what you should be avoiding in your diet, sign up for our Wellness 101 workshop, or contact us for a free consultation.

In Good Health,

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

 

 

 

References:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/overview.html

http://www.princeton.edu/~greening/downloads/antibiotic_table_tent1.pdf

Photo: thank you to: localpoultry.com

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Repair, Aging & Degeneration

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

red-blood-cellsDamage to the body is unavoidable.  Damage to your body comes in many forms: biochemical, electromagnetic, pathogenic, physiological, or toxic.  Even though damage to your body is unavoidable there are still ways to slow down the aging and degenerative processes.  Our practice at Replenishing Soul is not about helping people live longer lives, this is something we feel is not in our hands.  However, we are about teaching our clients how they can have a better quality of life.

Your body is working everyday to keep itself in balance.  This process of keeping balance is called homeostasis and is a word that will be used frequently throughout this blog entry.  Once homeostasis in a particular pathway is lost, for whatever reason, compensations in other pathways will occur.  Your body will naturally shift from the weakened pathway to a stronger pathway in order to keep balance and to either minimize or eliminate symptomatology.  When your body switches over to use stronger pathways these changes may go unknown to you, meaning that metabolic changes are taking place within your body that you are unaware of and cannot necessarily feel taking place.

There are five stages to disorder progression.  The first phase of disorder is the deviation from homeostasis.  If the body cannot do so compensation will progress to the second phase of disorder: pathophysiology.  Once in this phase the body will still attempt to return to the previous phase.  Should the pathophysiology continue then the third phase of progress will take place: pathomorphology.  Pathomorphology is where the body’s tissues undergo change.  Again, the body will try to return to the previous state of disorder.  If the progression continues and goes unnoticed the forth stage of progression will happen which is symtomatology. Should symtomatology continue and the body is unable to go back to the previous stage more systems will go into dysfunction.  It is at this point that the fifth and final stage will take place, stage five being death.  At any point along this progression the transition from acute disorder to chronic disorder may take place.  The further one gets within this progression the harder it is to return to the state of homeostasis.  One point I would like to make here is that these five stages can take place over a course of a few hours to years.

Even though the aging and degenerative process are inevitable there are a few items that you can do to slow them down and have a quality of life that is pain free, full of energy, stable mood and ideal weight:

  • 1. Eat balanced meals. Each meal and or snack should contain a protein, fat and carbohydrate.
  • 2. Keep your hormones in balance. Eating balanced meals, removing sugar and caffeine from your diet and getting to bed on time will help to keep your hormones in check. If you suspect a hormonal imbalance you should have your hormones tested. Call Replenishing Soul to order your hormone kits that can be done in the comforts of your own home.
  • 3. Get sleep. Sleep is vital to helping your body repair. If you suffer from sleeping problems either trouble getting asleep or staying asleep call us for a consultation.
  • 4. Get exercise. Be careful with this one. Even though exercise is good for you it can stress out an already stressed out body. If you are unsure of how you should be exercising you can have one of our CHEK practitioners evaluate your routine for you.
  • 5. Keep your digestive system healthy. 80% of your immune system is within your gut. Therefore, having a healthy gut means having a healthy body. If you have questions or concerns about your digestive system call us, you may benefit from gut testing.
  • 6. Don’t ignore the symptoms your body is giving you. If for any reason you don’t feel well then don’t ignore what your body is trying to tell you. Don’t accept someone telling you that “that is part of the aging process” or you’ll just have to learn to live with it”. If any health practitioner tells you this find yourself a new one. It is not normal to not feel well.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us.  We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Lori Metroka

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

 

Resource:  Biohealth Diagnostics:  Adrenal and Metabolic Interpretive Guide

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