Supernatural Botanicals

Researchers at Tufts University found that even a 1% to 2% dip in hydration, the point at which you feel thirsty, can make you sluggish.  Your cells rely on water to make and use energy.  It is recommended to drink at least half a cup every hour, or 8 cups throughout the day. 

Adults between the ages of nineteen and fifty need 1000 milligrams of calcium per day, which adults aged fifty one and over need to increase their calcium intake to 1200 milligrams per day.

The Top 10 Health Benefits of Kissing…

Have you ever considered the benefits of kissing?  There are many more benefits than you think.  Pucker up and get healthier. 

• Those who kiss their partner goodbye each morning live five years longer than those who don’t.
• Kissing is great for self-esteem. It makes you feel appreciated and helps your state of mind.
• Kissing burns calories, 2-3 calories a minute and can double your metabolic rate. Research claims that three passionate kisses a day (at least lasting 20 seconds each) will cause you to loose an entire extra pound! It’s time to start that kissing diet!
• Kissing is a known stress-reliever. Passionate kissing relieves tension, reduces negative energy and produces a sense of well being, lowering your cortisol ‘stress’ hormone.
• Kissing uses 30 facial muscles and it helps keep the facial muscles tight, preventing baggy cheeks! The tension in the muscles caused by a passionate kiss helps smooth the skin and increases the circulation.
• Kissing is good for the heart, as it creates an adrenaline which causes your heart to pump more blood around your body. Frequent kissing has scientifically been proven to stabilize cardiovascular activity, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol.
• Those who kiss quite frequently are less likely to suffer from stomach, bladder and blood infections.
• During a kiss, natural antibiotics are secreted in the saliva. Also, the saliva contains a type of anesthetic that helps relieve pain.
• Kissing reduces anxiety and stops the ‘noise’ in your mind. It increases the levels of oxytocin, an extremely calming hormone that produces a feeling of peace.
• The endorphins produced by kissing are 200 times more powerful than morphine. [source]

People who get inadequate sleep are more vulnerable to infection than those who are well rested.  In one study, researchers injected healthy volunteers with a cold virus.  Those who slept less than 7 hours a night for the previous week were 3 times more likely to develop symptoms than those who got 8 hours or more.   In another study,  people who got only 4 hours sleep for several nights in a row had a weaker immune response to the flu vaccine than those who slept between 7.5 and 8.5 hours. 

Don’t skimp on your sleep.  It’s only going to de-rail you down the line.   People seem to wear sleeping to little or working too hard as a badge of honor.  It’s not.  It’s a sign of being unbalanced.  In actuality, it’s a sign of not handling your life properly.  So the next time you hear someone bragging about how much they work and how little they sleep, let them know they are setting themselves up for failure.  Buy them a box of tissues, because they’ll be needing it for the cold they are about to get.

Professional yogis don’t use yoga mats just to keep their feet on a soft surface during yoga postures, they use yoga mats because they are incredibly beneficial to help you stretch further.  Yoga mats, sometimes called sticky mats, are thick rubber-like surfaces, about 4 feet wide, designed to be under foot while you are doing yoga or Pilates workouts. 

When you place your hands and feet on a yoga mat, they almost stick (and sink) into the soft mat, keeping your hands and feet securely firm, with no worry of slipping out of your posture.  They are also fabulous for doing stretches, enabling you to stretch deep into your stretches with your feet and/or hands essentially glued to the mat.  It truly makes a difference in your workouts. 

Also great to stimulate the spine.  How to:  Lay on your back, hold your bent legs to your chest, wrapping your arms around your bent legs, and rock in a boat pose from head to feet.  The thickness of the yoga mat keeps it comfortable for your spine.  It will feel like a back massage!

Kiss the carpet goodbye, and try using a yoga mat during your next yoga/Pilates/stretching session.  It increases your flexibility by 25% to even 50%.  (Those aren’t scientific percentages…it’s just what I can feel in my own workouts.) 

Go ahead and prepare yourself to be envious and/or inspired.  Want to see what it takes to have a rockin’ body?  Check out my girl, Zuzana, and her grueling workout.  That’s what it takes.  Arms and abs like Zuzana’s doesn’t come for free.  But, if you look at it in a different perspective, it’s a relatively small price to pay to feel and look so amazing.  I love Zuzana’s workouts!   Check out her site at www.BodyRock.tv

 httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR7h60fW-QA

Working out is one of the most effective stress relievers.  Researchers recently found that after spending 30 minutes on a treadmill, their subjects scored 25 percent lower on tests that measure anxiety and showed favorable changes in brain activity.

If you only have time to do one thing for yourself, make it sticking to your workout routines. If you can’t hit the gym or trails, even a brisk 30-minute walk at lunch or getting up several times a day to stretch and walk around will help relieve stress.

According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, bean eaters weigh less and have slimmer middles. Beans are super fat fighters because they contain the ideal combination of fat-busting nutrients—soluble and insoluble fiber, protein, and a type of fat-burning carb called resistant starch.

Cuban Black Bean Soup

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Ingredients:

• 7 cups cooked black beans (a one pound bag of dried beans prepared according to package directions.)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large sweet onion, finely chopped (reserve some for garnish)
• 1 tsp each ground cumin, coriander, paprika
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• rind of one orange (several large peels)
• juice of the above orange
• 6 cups hot, boiled long-grain rice, white or brown

Drain the beans and reserve the liquid.

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, saute onions, garlic, and spices in oil over medium heat, stirring until onions are translucent. Add carrots and celery, saute for 3-4 minutes more. Add peppers and saute another 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper, parsley, and tomatoes. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Combine the drained black beans with the vegetables. Add in as much bean liquid as you like, more for a thinner soup, less if you like it thicker. Add the orange rind and simmer on low for about 30-45 minutes. Stir often.

Remove orange rind. Stick blend the soup until it’s as thick as you like. (Or remove a cup or two of soup to blender, blend, then add back to soup.) Add fresh orange juice and cook 5-10 minutes more. Taste. Serve on hot rice. Garnish with chopped onions, chiles, and/or lime wedges.

John Masters Salon in New York is the first Clean Air Salon in the United States, and perhaps the world.  John, being truly passionate about the environment, created a Clean Air Salon to be more environmentally friendly.  The salon does not use products with toxic fumes.  They also don’t do nails, hair straightening, permenents, or even use hair spray.  That’s a bold move for any salon owner!  John’s hair colorants are herbal based and pneumonia-free, and are absolutely odor-free.  Amazingly, his salon is powered 100% by wind power.   The concept of running an entire business on wind power alone is phenomenal. 

We need more big-thinkers like John.  Kudos to John Masters for thinking outside the box and being cognizant about the environment and our health! 

Factoid:  If you don’t rest enough between hard cardio or strength workouts, you’ll stop making progress and may even lose some of the fitness you’ve gained. You’re also likely to burn out on exercise.  Additionally, don’t marry your fitness routine.  Nothing will bring your workouts to a screeching halt like a  repetitious workout routine that offers no change up or fun. 

Be sure to alternate shorter, tougher cardio workouts (for instance, 20 minutes) with longer, easier days (40-60 minutes).  Don’t go all-out more than twice a week (how happy does that sentence make you?)  Keep in mind that the more intensely you train, the more time your body needs to recover.  

It’s a good idea to do a couple of tough workouts and take 1 day completely off each week.  On the strength-training front, take at least 1 day off between sessions that work the same muscle group.