May 31, 2013

Natural Headache Remedies

Whether you get a headache once a year, once a week or daily, they are no fun. Some headaches can really wipe you out and the usual remedy is to take some type of over the counter medication to relieve the pain. For some people their headaches are so bad that over the counter remedies don’t work and they need to spend additional money on prescriptions to get rid of the pain.

What if I told you, that there are natural way to get rid of a headache. Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D, shared in one of my courses that headaches are a way that our body is telling us that we are off-balance. She explained that headaches are really about an energy imbalance. All foods have energy, but if we have too much of one thing or another, we create an energy imbalance. The way our body tells us our energy is out of balance is by getting a headache. Listed below are the 5 basic different types of headaches and the natural remedies for them.

1) Expansive – This type of headache usually occurs from too much fruit, ice cream, sugar, dessert, alcohol. The Remedy is to eat salty food like olives, umeboshi plums, anchovies – even salty potato chips.

2) Contractive – This type of headache (sometimes referred to as a tension headache) usually occur from too much protein, salt, not enough food, not enough water, too much heat, too much stress, work, tension. The Remedy is two glasses of juice, (any kind, apple juice works well), apple sauce, italian lemon ice, seltzer with lemon.

3) Liver – This migrany headache comes from eating too much fatty or oily food on an empty stomach. (i.e. fast food, a whole bag of chips (which can be 70% oil), or other oily food.) If the food drops into the empty stomach and does not get diluted, when it hits the gallbladder 3-4 hours later the headache begins. The Remedy is lots of lemon. See the Lemon tea recipe below.

4) Caffeine – This is the headache you get when you stop drinking caffeine. If your body is used to getting this drug on a regular basis and you were so busy you didn’t get a chance to have your coffee or soda, oh boy, you get a headache and go into withdrawl. Caffeine is so addictive and the quickest way to get rid of a caffeine headache is to have some amount of caffeine. This is the reason it is hard for so many people to give up soda or coffee. As a reminder, there is caffeine in tea, black tea, green tea, decaf tea or coffee, chocolate, and so on. Lots of over-the-counter drugs used as headache remedies also have caffeine in them as well. It is the most popular drug in the US and many people are addicted to it.

If you have a caffeine withdrawal headache, drink lots of water, and wait till it goes away. If you clear the caffeine from your system – which could take 2,3 weeks – you will feel calmer and steadier. Depending on how much caffeine you drink per day, don’t go cold turkey, it could be very painful. Go really slow.

5) Structural – If you have tried all of the above and none apply, you may have had some type of head trauma. In this case, it is beneficial to see a chiropractor, massage or cranial therapy.

So this blog was timely for me, as I usually don’t get headaches, but yesterday I had a headache start in the afternoon and just couldn’t get rid of it. I remembered this lesson from my classwork and decided to try one of the natural remedies. When I looked at the descriptions, I realized that it could have been a combination of too much heat and not enough food (a contractive headache, so I needed to eat something sweet) So I went into my freezer and found some italian ice. No kidding, I had a bowl and my headache was gone in minutes.

So the next time you get a headache, before you go to grab any kind of pill, see if one of these simple remedies might work for you. If you understand the model, you should be able to heal any headache you get within minutes.

Lemon Tea recipe. It is based on an Argentine folk recipe called “el te de la Madre Celestina.” Enjoy!

LEMON TEA
½ organic lemon
1 cup water

1. Juice the ½ lemon and pour juice into a cup. Take the juiced-out peel, cut into several pieces, and place in a pot with the cup of water.
2. Simmer the lemon peel in the water for 10 minutes. Strain water into the cup with the juice. Discard the peel. Drink hot. Makes 1 serving. Enjoy!

May 24, 2013

The Double Header

So what’s a family to do in making good food choices for our kids when we are running from game to game? For those of you with kids in sports, you know what I mean. You have the best plans and then you end up with a double header which leaves little to no time at all to eat let alone get some good nourishment in your kids. Many times parents find themselves driving to the closest fast food restaurant to get their kids something to eat or drink.

My boys all play baseball and this weekend is a marathon of games. Earlier this week, I hadn’t yet started planning ahead, but the coach’s wife of my son Danny’s baseball team noticed the boys were scheduled to play back to back games on Saturday. She sent a note out to all of the parents earlier this week encouraging us to bring healthy options for the boys to share instead of bringing the “usual junky snack”. I was so excited to get this email. As a mom, it makes life easier to follow through on our goals of making healthy choices for our kids when we have a support system.

What a great way to ensure the kids not only get a good meal, but everyone from the team is now engaged. Some parents have said in the past, I don’t want to be that one mom who the kids make fun of because of bringing healthy snacks like fruit and water. There wasn’t one parents that said, oh, I really want to bring Doritos and Fruit Snacks. Everyone willingly pitched in and agreed to bring a suggested item off the list or proposed a different healthier option.

Here are some of the the items off the recommended list:

Water
Grapes
Watermelon
Granola bars
Chunks of cheese
Cantelope
Strawberries
Cuties(Baby oranges)
Peanut butter & Jelly Sandwiches
Frozen Yogurt popsicles
Pretzels
Nuts/ Sunflower Seeds
Protein Balls (Check out this recipe. They are quick and easy to make and a great protein filled snack between games).

What a great way to ensure that the kids are eating healthy. This is what I call Team Spirit. Team sports are not just a place for kids to learn about the game, but to also build good morals and character. And this week, they get the added bonus of learning that healthy options can be a great snack choice and that all parents are totally supportive. Its not just their parent that encourages them to eat their fruits and veggies.

They say it takes a village to raise a family and this is one time where I believe coming together like this will make a big difference.

May 17, 2013

The Power of Discipline

Why are some people more successful than others? Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. We all know this, but why don’t we live by it?

I was reading a book this weekend ” The Power of Discipline”. Statistics have shown that only 3% of adults have written goals and plans. But what struck me most was the tragedy that many people think they already have goals, but what they really have are hopes and wishes.

Wow. This one really made me think. How many of you just stopped in your tracks as well? Let’s face it, many Accenture People are type A over achievers, but how many of us really have hopes and dreams instead of goals?

Matthew Kelly a catholic motivational speaker talks about how God wants us to become the best version of ourselves, but so many of us, live in fear and don’t follow through on what God wants for us.

When it comes to your health, how many of you have said the following:
I want to lose weight
I want to drink more water
I want to reduce my sugar intake
I want to make my own smoothies
I want to eat more greens
I want to cut down on eating processed foods ……

Or when it comes to relationships:
I want a more fulfilling relationship w my spouse
I want a better relationship w my kids
I want to be a better friend
I want to have a more spiritual filled life
I want to take time for me
I want to take time to meditate and relax

How many of you wish for these or other things, but wonder why nothing seems to happen in these areas? Could it be because while we want it, that it is still only a wish or a dream, rather than a goal? Some of us make up excuses of why we are too busy and don’t have the time to focus on the goal. But in reality, maybe there is some secret fear that is holding us back from pushing forward and accomplishing that dream. We can all achieve anything we put our minds to, so why is it that there are some things that we say we want, but yet we don’t do.

Goals first start off as intentions before they can be realized, but a key to making that transformational step is writing it down and following through.

I challenge you to think about a hope or dream you have in regards to your health or relationships and write it down. Better yet, email it to a friend who can help you stay accountable in achieve that goal.

 

May 10, 2013

The Results are in

So how many of you think you have the right answer to our Sugar Quiz from last week?

1) Simple Lemonade(13.5 ounces) or Pepsi (12 ounce can) – The answer is: Lemonade has 47 grams and Pepsi has 41grams of sugar. I am not advocating that Pepsi is a good choice, but rather illustrating that Lemonade might not be as good of a choice as people might have thought. My son one day came home from the convenient store and was so proud of himself. He said mom, I didn’t get a soda, I got a lemonade. I told him I was proud of him for putting for the effort to make a better choice, but then also explained that while is didn’t have caffeine and other stuff in it that soda has, that it is still has a lot of sugar in it.

2) Snapple Kiwi Strawberry(16 ounce glass) or Lipton Iced Tea (20 ounce bottle) The answer is: Snapple has 45 grams and Lipton is 32.5.

3) Dr. Pepper (20 ounce bottle) or Orange Crush (20 ounce bottle): The answer is: Orange Crush has 71 grams and Dr. pepper has 64 grams. Sometimes kids think that because a drink in not a “cola” product that if its clear or orange that it might be better for them. That is not always the case.

4) Arnold Palmer Tea (24 ounce can) or Simply Apple Juice (13.5 ounce bottle) The Answer is: Apple Juice, 45 grams of sugar compared to 39 grams. The interesting thing about this comparison is that the Tea is almost twice the size as the apple juice, and the juice is still higher in sugar.

5) Gatorade (20 ounce bottle) or Orange Juice? (12 ounce bottle) – The answer is: This is a trick question. They both have 34 grams of sugar. Gatorade also has HFCS and Food coloring added to them as well. But also notice the difference in the size of the bottles, if they were the same ounces, the OJ would end up having more sugar.

The lesson to learn in this exercise, is that it is importatnt to read labels and become more aware of just how much sugar are in the liquids we are drinking and giving to our kids. A child can sometimes have a days worth of calories on drinks alone for the day, but not get the nutrition they need. Many parents give their kids juice because it is like having a serving of fruit for the day. While juice does have some nutrients, it is not the same as eating the fruit itself. Many times nurtrients are stripped out during the processing of making the juice, that you don’t end up acheivin the full benefit.

The next time you find yourself wanting to grab something to drink, pour yourself a glass of water. It truly is the best drink for your body.

May 3, 2013

Which has more Sugar?

Last weekend I participated in a Healthy Kids Day event at our local YMCA. It was a great opportunity to join with other vendors and businesses in helping teach our kids and parents how to live healthier lives. I was able to have a booth to promote my new health coaching business www.onepowerfulstep.com as well as promote future seminars on kids and family health.

My passion is educating parents on how to transform the health of their family, one simple step at a time. I know it can be overwhelming to figure out where to begin. So to make things more fun I had a game for kids and parents to play. What product has more sugar? I thought you might want to play too.

I initially asked each participant what their favorite drink was, and then started out with a product that was similar to their answer.

 

1) Simply Lemonade(13.5 ounces) or Pepsi (12 ounce can)
2) Gatorade (20 ounce bottle) or Orange Juice? (12 ounce bottle)
3) Snapple Kiwi Strawberry(16 ounce glass) or Lipton Iced Tea (20 ounce bottle)
4) Dr. Pepper (20 ounce bottle) or Orange Crush (20 ounce bottle)
5) Arnold Palmer Tea (24 ounce can) or Simply Apple Juice (13.5 ounce bottle)

 

I was surprised and not so surprised by their answers. There were some families where the children said all they drink is water. They are not allowed to have any kind of sugary drinks in the house. (And they didn’t seem to mind). I would give each kid a high-five and tell them how lucky they were to have a mom that was teaching them good healthy habits. I would also congratulate the mom as well for being a good example and teaching her kids the importance of water and making healthier choices.

Let’s face it, being a mom is sometimes a thankless job, especially when we discipline our kids, have standards and rules in our households and try to instill good moral values and habits in our children. Some mom’s really appreciated the compliment.

I encourage you to play along too. Use this as a fun activity you can do with your kids one night this week. I’d love to hear the experience you had with your kids and what their answers were.

Stay Tuned for next week, when I will share the answers…