24 Jul
My husband Clark is an AWESOME Photographer! We just purchased a professional backdrop to use for Photoshoots and video interviews that – amazingly enough we can fit into our small little apartment here. I was the test subject today, let me know what you think 
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[Click to view larger]
20 Jul
This video and the quotes below I came across today and just had to share. They moved me to a greater degree than anytime I have ever read them before or heard the same message before. Most likely because I feel like an entirely new person these days. Happier, more full of life and just excited about life. I feel like I’m beaming, and I know this is the Spirit. God has healed me and healed my life, and I feel closer to Heaven each day. I LOVE it!
Remember who you are, and where you come from and where you’re going. Remember that God loved you first and you’re His child. That makes you special.
“I come to you tonight with a plea that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life we try to ‘accentuate the positive.’ I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort. Now I am not asking that all criticism be silenced. Growth comes of correction. Strength comes of repentance. Wise is the man or woman who can acknowledge mistakes pointed out by others and change his or her course.”What I am suggesting is that you turn from the negativism that so permeates our modern society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom you associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and was prone to speak critically, my wise father would say: ‘Cynics do not contribute. Skeptics do not create. Doubters do not achieve.’”
["Be Not Afraid, Only Believe," CES Fireside for Young Adults, Sept. 9, 2001]
”I do not believe in any kind of tyranny. I believe in long-suffering, in mercy, in kindness, in gentleness, and in the love and fear of God. I do not believe that the Priesthood was given to man to exercise dominion and authority over the souls of other men. Everything ought to be done with kindness and long-suffering, yet with fidelity to God.” [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor (2001), 136]
“Our motives and thoughts ultimately influence our actions. Jesus repeatedly emphasized the power of good thoughts and proper motives: ‘Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not’ (D&C 6:36). “In Proverbs we read, ‘For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he’ (Proverbs 23:7).”
“Should there be anyone who feels he is too weak to do better because of that greatest of fears, the fear of failure, there is no more comforting assurance to be had than the words of the Lord: ‘My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them’ (Ether 12:27).”
3 Jul
Never thought the day would come where I would wear BRIGHT colors. But with change in personality / outlook on life – comes change in appearance I have found. What do you think of the green?
25 Jun
“Over my thirty years in pediatric practice, I have noticed a striking connection between how children are fed and how healthy they are. Mothers who consistently don’t allow any unhealthy food to pollute the minds and bodies of their children seem to have healthier children. I have noticed that these children are sick less often, and when they do come for periodic checkups they seem more settled and better behaved. These “pure children” seem to get tagged with fewer labels, such as “ADD” or “learning disabilities.” Even when these children do warrant such tags, they seem to cope better with behavioral and learning differences, and they seem less severe. These moms have made a believer out of me. I truly believe that there is a connection between how kids are fed and how they act and learn.” — Dr. Sears
That is my goal. I want to be so well adjusted with food and consistent in balanced nutrition, that my children grow up with a better start than I did to Nutrition. Isn’t that what life is always about? Providing a better future for your children than you had so posterity just gets better and better?
In yesterdays visit with the Chiropractor/Nutritional expert – I learned some more about how to help my Endometriosis. He determined through a few questions he asked me (i.e. Do you crave Chocolate intensely before your period? Are your emotions unstable, etc) that I do indeed have a hormonal imbalance in my body. I told him how being on a Vegetarian diet helped, but didn’t resolve the problem completely. That made sense to him, but he said “Soy won’t help you. In fact it has been found to alter your hormone levels and give a reverse affect.” He went on to say that removing the meats helped, but having the large amounts of soy based products in their place is most likely the reason why I wasn’t seeing a complete recovery of the Endometriosis/Dysmenorrhea symptoms. So I asked him, “Well, then what do I eat?” And he gave me the below list of Brain Foods. He said that increasing the dopamine levels through these foods should help alleviate the cramping and balance out my hormone levels and should see progress in healing myself from Endometriosis/Dysmenorrhea.
He also suggested that I increase the 5HTP and GABA supplements that I have been taking as an Anti-Depressant alternative, right before my period begins. I am actually looking forward to my next period in July to test this out! Hello pain-free FREEDOM! So excited to meet you!!! 
Our Dr. also suggested an all in one solution to getting a balanced amount of Omega’s for the body. I expressed to him my distress over being overwhelmed with always having the right amount of nuts and seeds and fish in the house and being able to afford to keep them all available to eat consistently. He suggested that Clark and I eat Hemp Hearts. They have several of the Omega’s the body needs and should be sufficient and better than nothing when compared to not being able to have the variety in the house. I tried some, they’re good!
* Note, that a proper serving of these Hemp Hearts is 5 TB a day. Caution to not eat a high sugar consumption when eating these as they will cause you to be stuck in the bathroom often throughout the day. Hemp Hearts + large amounts of sugar = ‘gotta go gotta go, gotta GO RIGHT NOW!!!!’ A great motivation (scare) to eating less sugar and more of the good stuff!
You can purchase these Hemp Hearts at Whole Foods or Online [here] for a better deal.
The quote above by Dr. Sears was found as I studied further these Brain Foods. I find the science of how food affects the body to be so delicious to me. This year has been incredible in my discovery of healing myself mentally, physically and spiritually. It has made me the happiest I have ever been in my life and feeling like such a strong woman in complete control of my life. I LOVE it!
What I found on Dr. Sears site was so intriguing (he specializes in child nutrition – which what’s good for a child is good for us, right? ) :
“It’s what you eat not what you say that impresses a child most. By treating yourself to a healthy breakfast, you model to your children that eating a healthy breakfast gives the whole family a smart nutritional start…
10 BALANCED BREAKFASTS
An ideal, nutritious breakfast contains a balance of complex carbohydrates and protein. Think grains, plus dairy, plus fruits. Examples of balanced breakfasts are:
Dr. Sears “School-Ade” for Breakfasts’ on the run:
“…Combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve immediately after blending while the mixture still has a bubbly milkshake-like consistency.
We formulated this recipe based on the principle of “synergy.” The nutrients consumed together enhance each other’s benefits, so the whole nutritional effect is greater than the sum of its parts. I have prescribed this recipe for several hundred school-children and their parents, and we drink it ourselves four to five mornings a week. It’s a powerful performance booster for working parents and school-children….
WHY BREAKFAST IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE BRAIN
“..How you think, act, and learn is affected not only by the types of food you eat, but also by how the food is prepared, how and when you eat it, and what foods you eat together…
The best sugars for the brain are complex carbohydrates, or what grandmother termed “starches”. Starches and fruit sugars (fructose) do not cause the roller-coaster mood swings that the junk sugars do. The molecules in complex carbs are long, so it takes longer for the intestines to break them down into the simple sugars the body can use. Thus, they provide a time-release source of steady energy rather than a sudden surge followed by a sudden drop.
Encourage grazing. We have noticed that children’s behavior often deteriorates in the late morning and late afternoon, or three to four hours after a meal – whether the child has ADHD or not. Children simply run out of fuel. When blood-sugar levels go down, stress hormones kick in to raise it up again, but this can cause behavioral problems and diminished concentration. To smooth out the blood-sugar mood swings, try the fine art of grazing. Let your child nibble, or graze, on nutritious foods throughout the day. Make them easily accessible in a lunch pack at school. (Smart teachers allow even upper-grade children to have a mid-morning snack.) Carry snacks with you when you are away from home. While at home, keep a supply of healthy snacks readily available in the pantry or refrigerator.
Perk up your proteins. Proteins in the diet affect brain performance because they provide the amino acids from which neurotransmitters are made. Think of neurotransmitters as biochemical messengers that carry signals from one brain cell to another. The better you feed these messengers, the more efficiently they deliver the goods. Some neurotransmitters are neuron turn-ons that perk up the brain. Others have a calming or sedative effect.
Two factors influence whether the brain perks up or slows down following a meal: the ratio of protein to carbohydrate, and the ratio of the amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine. High protein, low carbohydrate, high tyrosine foods that are likely to jumpstart the brain are seafood, soy, meat, eggs, and dairy. High carbohydrate, low protein, high tryptophan foods that are likely to relax the brain include: chocolate, pastries and desserts, bean burritos, nuts and seeds (e.g., almonds, filberts, sunflower and sesame seeds), and legumes.
Eating too much at any meal, regardless of the carbohydrate or protein content, seems to diminish mental performance. So, to perk up the brain, eat a meal that is:
To relax, or even sedate the brain, eat a meal that is:
Skip the dessert at lunchtime if you have a lot of work or learning to do in the afternoon. If you want to be alert after the evening meal, save dessert for a before-bedtime snack.
The balance between calories, carbohydrates, and protein in a meal affects different people in different ways. This is not an exact science. You need to figure out what combinations work the best for you, giving you energy and alertness when you need it. Keeping a diary of what you eat and how you feel can help you make corrections. For parents, careful observation of your school-age child is important when you’re trying to figure out what foods enhance behavior and school performance, and which foods make it worse. This is a challenging game, but one that every home nutritionist can play.
Feed your brain the right fats. There are two windows of time in which the brain is especially sensitive to nutrition: the first two years of life for a growing baby and the last couple decades of life for a senior citizen. Both growing and aging brains need nutritious fats.
Smart fats. Besides being found in human milk, DHA appears in high levels in coldwater fish: sardines, salmon, and albacore tuna. Besides fish oils, vegetable oils (primarily flaxseed, soy, and canola) are also rich sources of omega 3 fatty acids, with flaxseed oil being the best. The two F’s, fish and flax, are the top brain-building foods for growing children, and adults.
Dumb fats. Avoid factory fats, which are biochemically-altered fats recognized by the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” in the fine print on the package label. The hydrogenation process produces trans fatty acids which may affect brain function and health in two ways. The trans fats enter the cells of the central nervous system where they may compete with the action of natural fats, so that the nerves in the brain don’t function as well as they were designed to. Also, hydrogenation turns unsaturated fats into saturated fats, in which the fat molecules pack together tightly, like lard. Brain researchers worry that the same type of packing could occur in blood vessels, compromising the blood flow to the brain. Avoiding hydrogenated fats is especially important for the growing brains of children, since children who fill up on these undesirable fats are likely to eat less of the omega-3 fatty acids that are good for the brain.”
– Dr. Sears
[Read his full INCREDIBLE article here]
Quick and Easy Healthy Brain Building Grocery Shopping!
A few useful tips I’ve come to learn when selecting the best products to keep in the house, while also accomodating the already-trained taste palette of the tongue are the following:
If you’re already used to this kind of peanut butter:
which is better than no peanut butter, but chuck-full of Hydrogenated Oils (Bad Brain Builder) so it essentially cancels out the nutritional value of it…
Here is a yummy taste-filled alternative:
It removes the BAD hydrogenated oils while still tasting like the original because it still has the sugar (that is what makes the original taste good).
The BEST choice would be something like this:
It’s making gradual changes like this that makes all the difference to our overall health. Baby steps are better than standing still.
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