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ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Power Up Your Smoothie!

There’s a lot to love when it comes to delicious, healthy, healing and filling smoothies, especially when you are trying to lose weight. Smoothies can be used as a fabulous start to the day or a healthy snack or meal during the day. They’re fun to make and a tasty way to get more protein, fruits, and vegetables into your diet.

I have specific recipes for my clients depending on what they’re wellness goals are. I would love to share with you some tips for making smoothies that I share with them when it comes to making smoothies. Smoothies can be made with juice, water, yogurt, almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk or any of the other milk alternatives, they can contain veggies, fruit, supplements, herbs and spices. I suggest combining 1 cup of fruit or vegetables with 1 cup of liquid and two to three ice cubes. Adding a teaspoon of a spice like cinnamon or ground ginger can add an exotic taste plus a boost of phytochemicals.

Any fruit or vegetable can be mixed together, some are better than others when it comes to taste and nutrition. Here are some of the suggestions that I have.

Avocados add creaminess and thickness to smoothies. High in potassium and Vitamins A, C and E, avocados are also rich in essential fatty acids.
Bananas add a thick and creamy texture to smoothies. They offer a high level of potassium and help boost the immune system.
Dates add thickness and sweetness along with vitamins A, B1, B2, C and D.
Spinach contains fiber that can help clean the digestive tract of free radicals.
Strawberries provide vitamin c and cleansing actions for the liver. They also have antiviral and antioxidant properties.

To add a boost to your smoothie try adding one or more of the following to your smoothie for extra benefits including enhanced energy, joint repair, and toxin removal.

Cacao is a mineral- rich super food that offers energizing and anti-aging properties. It makes a smoothie taste like dessert!
Chia seeds have been consumed for energy for centuries. They make an excellent thickener for a smoothie when it’s left to chill for about half an hour after being blended.
Flaxseeds and flaxseed oil contain omega 3s that help the joints avoid the absorption of toxins.
Hemp seeds provide a nutty flavor, omega 3s and omega 6s, fatty acids, and protein.
Wheatgrass offers antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.

Once you start making smoothies you will love them because the process of making them puts you in charge of what you get to take into your body and that my friends it powerful within itself.

Wishing you peace, wellness & tranquility!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of Blissful Living Show

ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Master Your Cravings

Cravings are a huge problem for many of us. I have even had to rebalance myself to master my cravings this year, which is a first for me. So when I was going through the struggle of getting my cravings in check, I realized for the first time that this is what many of those that I work with struggle with on a daily basis and it can be extremely tough to refrain from your cravings if you don’t know what to do.

So I decided to share some wisdom on how you can successfully master your cravings. Check this out, whether it’s your sweet tooth, which was my problem, or your woe-is-me-mood nudging you toward the goodies, there are some things that you can to get the urge in check, without depriving yourself. If you’ve ever been called to the cabinet by a bag of chocolate chip cookies or better yet enticed by a bag of Oreo cookies and if you are hormonal, it could be a bag of Lay’s potato chips, just know that you are a normal human being. Even the most disciplined people can’t help surrendering to food cravings. To simply put it, a craving is just a habit that you have scored into your brain pathway. For instance, if you tend to eat when you’re anxious or at a certain time of night, the behavior just continues on as part of your lifestyle. What’s worse is a lot of people turn to mindless super snacking when they’re really looking to comfort themselves or just find a distraction.

So here’s the deal, don’t beat yourself up because of your succumbed to your cravings, just follow the suggestions below to get yourself back on track.

Salty Cravings ~ This can be a sign of dehydration or a mineral or electrolyte imbalance.

To curb this craving reach for the spice rack Adding spices like turmeric, rosemary, basil, cayenne smoked paprika will help curtail this craving.

To rewire and kill the cravings keep yourself hydrated divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of water per day. Fill your diet with foods that are rich in potassium, like avocado and sweet potato. Potassium will bring water to your cells to hydrate you.

Sweet Cravings ~ Sugar is physically addictive, the more you eat of it, the more you want it.

To curb this craving grab a piece of fruit. Fruit contains natural sugar and carbs that are balanced out by fiber and other nutrients causing less dramatic blood sugar spikes.

Sweet Cravings ~ To rewire and kill this craving try going cold turkey on traditional sweets, for two weeks. Then over the next two weeks eat less of the not so obvious “sugar monsters,” like high sugar yogurt. By the end of the two-week cycle your sweet urges will be greatly diminished and by the fourth week your cravings will be dramatically reduced or none at all.

Here’s some more scoop for you, most cravings pass after about fifteen to thirty minutes so you also have the option of just waiting for them to pass. A great way to distract your brain from the craving is to go for a walk, turn on some music and sing at the top of your lungs or dance around like there’s no tomorrow.

Wishing you peace, wellness & tranquility!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of Blissful Living Show

ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Healthy Ways to Stop Headache Pain

Did you know that almost a fifth of the people presenting to the emergency department go there for headache pain and for women between the ages of 18 to 44, I jumps to a third of the visits. Wow when I read this it was mind boggling to me. You see severe headaches and migraines can leave you in agony, but even mild headaches can be painful enough to negatively affect your life. And stress, hormones and life can play a major part in bringing a headache on.

Instead of focusing on the headache pain and causes, I am going to focus on natural treatments for your headache pain.

The first remedy that I would like to talk about is the Boswellia tree. This ancient tree contains a resin that has potent anti-inflammatory properties. This tree resin has been included in studies treating people with cluster headaches, which occurred over the course of weeks, month, or even years. Cluster headaches are so intense that they have often been called the “suicide headaches.” The wonderful thing is that the Boswellia tree resin has been shown to provide long –lasting pain relief and has also been shown to decrease the intensity and frequency of these headaches.

Next there’s Butterbur. This is a perennial shrub and has been used to treat pain relief and headache prevention. This beauty has been shown to prevent migraine headaches, in clinical research studies. Butterbur taken twice per day has been shown to decrease the frequency of migraine headaches. Please note that some Butterbur contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which may cause liver damage, so be careful when selecting your supplement to ensure you get a supplement that’s free of these harmful compounds.

Lastly, I want to share this goody for decreasing headache pain and you are going to flip when you find out. Ready? Well it is the good old vitamin B complex. B vitamins have become a popular treatment for the reduction or the severity of migraines and headaches. B vitamins contain riboflavin that has been deemed effective for the prevention of migraines. In addition vitamin B-6 has been shown to decrease headaches associates with the menstrual cycle. Vitamin B-6 may even help decrease headaches associated with oral contraceptives.

All of these are available as supplements at your natural health stores. It is always suggested that you check with your healthcare provider for the correct dosage to take for you.

Wishing you peace, wellness and tranquility!

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of Blissful Living Show