SynergyWellnessNW is honored to be a sponsor of Team Jesse, THE RIDE

I am grateful for the opportunity to be a sponsor for Kevin Mincio and his support team on this profound demonstration of loyalty, commitment and heart. How deep would you go to honor your promise? Please look and be inspired….

http://teamjesse.org/

Curry ingredient Turmeric (aka Curcurmin) is an amazing anti-inflammatory

Curcumin

Once again, nature rules.  Whole foods contain unlimited healing qualities.  This article talks about the amazing benefits of using Turmeric as an anit-inflammatory.  It supports not only muscle and joint inflammation but has been researched and shown to be beneficial for helping to prevent neural damage and dementia issues.

I’m in print again! Alaska Airlines Magazine September issue.

The article is “Working With A Wellness Coach” and emphasizes the significant benefits of working with a wellness coach. The editors researched the benefits of working with a personal coach who has skills specific to your vision, dreams and goals for making better lifesyle choices for personal health and wellbeing. Bottom line is that changing lifestyle habits is done more effectively when you have the support and accountability of an ally who believes in you and your success. 

Here is a link to the magazine on-line. Use the drag bar to get to the article on page 131.

http://alaskaairlinesmagazine.com/

Blue Green Smoothies

BLUE-GREEN SMOOTHIE

 Add this to your list of incredibly nourishing smoothies that taste great.  You can put a smoothie in a water bottle and sip it throughout the morning at work to maintain your energy in a low calorie, high nutrient way.

 This recipe delivers 7 grams of protein.  Plus more than 20% of your day’s supply of calcium, magnesium and potassium as well as six B vitamins!  It supplies well over the RDA for vitamin C, K and beta-carotene.

INGREDIENTS

2 – 3 C coarsely chopped kale

1 ¼ C fresh or frozen blueberries

1 large, ripe banana

1 medium orange, peeled and chopped

1 C filtered water

 Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth, using enough water to achieve the desired consistency.

 Thanks to my Raw Food Culinary Arts Instructor Cherie Soria for this recipe.  You can find it in her book Raw Revolution Diet.

Soaking Nuts and Seeds: Healthier Protein with Sprouted Seeds

EAT ● WISE        BE ● WELL 

Soaking Nuts and Seeds: Healthier Protein with Sprouted Seeds

Nuts and seeds are an excellent protein alternative for those who are trying to eat less meat and they are full of nutrients and heart healthy monounsaturated fats our bodies need. One of nature’s power foods, certain varieties of raw nuts are high in vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc, to name just a few. Nuts are also packed with protein and extremely portable.  Did you know that it’s possible to make this natural super food even better?

Sadly most of the “raw” nuts sold in North American stores are far from fresh, and far from raw. By the time they hit the shelves they are no longer alive and no longer raw.  Almonds from California must be heat pasteurized or chemically treated and are still labeled as “raw”.

Truly raw nuts are as much a living food as salad greens or sprouts. Nuts and grains are seeds. The whole food goodness that makes them such a wonderful addition to your diet is because of their properties as viable seed.

Sprouting is a mini miracle when it comes to boosting the health benefits of seeds, nuts and grain. Dormant seeds have enzyme inhibitors, which stop enzyme reactions. This keeps them from sprouting in unfavorable conditions, but it also makes them difficult to digest. Once a seed is sprouted the enzyme inhibitors are gone and the nutrients are readily available.  Sprouted seeds also increase in protein while decreasing in carbohydrates as the seed uses the carbohydrate energy stored inside to grow. Soaking also breaks down the glutens and hard to digest proteins into smaller and easier to digest components. Sprouted nuts become more delicious and good for you than raw nuts.

Equipment.  It’s a good idea to sterilize the jar you will use.  Rinse with boiling water with a bit of food safe hydrogen peroxide, or grape fruit seed extract. 

Rinse and Soak.  Rinse and drain the nuts.  Fill a jar with about 1/3 nuts and 2/3 filtered water. Keep the jar out of direct sunlight and allow the nuts to soak. Most nuts should soak for 4-12 hours before draining.

Drain.  After soaking, drain and rinse the nuts.  Once the nuts have soaked they are beginning to germinate and are free of enzyme inhibitors.  Eat them now or allow them to sprout longer.

Rinse.  Unlike some types of seeds, sprouted nuts will not develop a long shoot. They swell rather than sprout.  Rinse and drain every 8 hours until you are ready to eat them.  Store in the refrigerator.  You can dehydrate nuts at under 115 degrees.

DANGER FOR DOGGIES – MULCH KILLS…

Looks like this could be a real threat to animals….. …….please send on to others who have pets…….

http://www.snopes. com/critters/ crusader/ cocoamulch. asp

KEEP THIS GOING EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE A PET!

Warning for pet owners for Dog and Cat Owners

Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even if you don’t have a pet, please pass this to those who do.
Over the weekend, the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. The dogs loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog (Calypso) decided the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn’t acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk Halfway through the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly.

Al though the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company’s web site,

This product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.

Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey’s, and they claim that “It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won’t eat it.”
*Snopes site gives the following information PLEASE READ IT: http://www.snopes. com/critters/ crusader/ cocoamulch. asp *

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman’s Garden Supply and other garden supply stores contains a lethal ingredient called ‘Theobromine’ . It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks.

Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker’s chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

Report from the Women’s Sports Foundation 2009

I am a member of the American College of Sports Medicine.  They are an organization that is recognized as a resource of sports science research and information.   Women in Sports was a presentation last year at the national conferency by a Northwest researcher and academic icon, Dr. Barbara Drinkwater.  We have come a long way baby!!!!!  This is more information to reinforce your passion for being active.

Excerpts:

• Research affirms, even more definitively than five years ago, that engagement in moderate and consistent levels of physical activity and sport for girls and women is essential to good health and wellbeing.
• Early studies on connections between physical activity and academic achievement show there is a positive relationship between the two in girls and women.

 Read on and carry on…

www.WomensSportsFoundation.org

Should you run barefoot or in high tech shoes???

A while ago I saw some interesting shoes that were shaped like a foot with toes and Vibram soles.  While FiveFingers http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/ look funny, apparently they are a pretty great idea for improving the strength and flexibility of toe, foot, ankle and calf muscles.  An article appeared in Nature and then was expanded on Yahoo!  If you run or workout in these send me your thoughts.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/edsumm/e100128-08.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100127/sc_livescience/runningshoeschangedhowhumansrun

Frankenfoods are coming to an organic farm near you

When it comes to the food I eat I choose organically grown products and only want (read that “TRUST”) plants or animals that are a direct result of natural selection and evolution to go into my cells.  Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) have become a controversial topic, and justly so.  By altering gene codes a company can patent and own the resulting food.  A company called Monsanto is aggressively altering the food chain for economic benefit regardless of what it will do to life on this planet.

Please, please be informed about this and take action before it is too late and you have a tumor or third eye growing from your forehead, or before generations following you suffer strange diseases because the food is unfit for consumption and IT IS TOO LATE TO RESCUE THE CONTAMINATED FOOD CHAIN, FOREVER!!!! 

I know that sounds dramatic but it truly is.  Here, skim through this from The Center for Food Safety.

http://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/CFSGEalfalfatalkingptfinal.pdf

At the Kirsten Wind Tunnel on my bike

At POTENTRx we are developing the most comprehensive bike fit possible.  Using 3D computer evaluation, lasers, video, portable oxygen uptake equipment and the wind tunnel to optimize your body position for minimal wind drag are all part of the options.  This is not a prohibitively costly procedure either, which is amazing in and of itself.  POTENTRx rocks!!