Summer's bounty.

Health Care - What is it President Obama?

Health reform is here - again. President Obama has declared America's health
care a critical challenge - deserving immediate legislative solutions.

But the very definition of 'Health' is at the heart of this debate is it not?
Are the band aids we've come to call health care (surgery & drugs) what we're
really fighting over? Or want?

This argument is not really about health - it is about the distribution and accumulation of wealth.

A truly healthier America cannot be achieved by looking at it through the narrow lens we're accustomed to or expecting this legislation will necessarily lead to a healthier America. We have become afraid of not having what these industries contribute to our health - or lack of.

Are we simply pawns in an economic power play?

It is an abtruse play between us, the American taxpayers, the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. It's a big fight - it's BIG money and it's our lives. We should make sure it plays out in our best interest - there's too much at stake. And we all deserve the best possible health care - at a price we can all afford.

To start, clarity about what we want and are willing,on a personal level, to
commit to would go a long way in solving our legislator's challenge. Do we
really want health or a simple solution like the ones the drug companies suggest
they've discovered and are perpetually uncovering to resolve yet another newly
defined disease?

Optimal health is more than a doctor writing prescriptions for the latest and
greatest drugs or performing the most extraordinary new surgeries. It is more than the insurance company deciding whether or not the cost will be covered.

Fundamentally, our desire for convenient, simple solutions and, immediate
gratification fuels the need for what we've come to call 'health care'. A pill is
easy. Fast food and convenience foods are easy - and simple in the short term.
Continuing to consider only the short term is not a solution. It is what brought us
to where we are now.

There's no doubt.

Where health is concerned America is in trouble.
Heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and obesity rates have soared - along with the cost of conventional treatment. Our country is much sicker now than ever.

To a large extent the state of our health is a result of the times we live in- and, not insignificantly our approach to health care. The world we live in today is not what it was 50 or 100 years ago. These diseases,this sickness is driving what we believe to be a need for health insurance as we know it. And are convinced we must have. It is as though we expect there is no choice but to become gravely ill. We are petrified to be without the insurance that will assure our care and financial survival.

We have choices.
Prevention is a choice. Wellness is achievable.
Preventing disease means learning and understanding what makes our bodies
work - and what makes them break down. Preventing the break down allows
good health - wellness.

This is health insurance worth fighting for.

We must each take responsibility to change what needs changed. Growing and
eating clean, healthy, nutritional foods. Walking, running, playing. i.e., exercise.
every day. And teaching each other and our children how to protect health
rather than feed ourselves and our children food that makes us unwell and
teaching practices that erode the healthy, vibrant, resiliant system we live in - our bodies.

Legislatively, the money we're arguing is important. It, for now. is a big ticket - it's a big job. But rather than allocating monies for one or another form of traditional insurance funds should be redistributed. Basic and catastrophic coverage for everyone. And an equal level committed to massive public health education initiatives. Educational programs focusing on nutrition and natural healing for health care providers, (M.D.'s included). Concurrent with school funding to teach children basic and ongoing nutritional mastery including the establishment and maintainence public gardens. Mandate and provide healthy, nutritional school lunches.

When we begin to teach each other and future generations how to best protect
their health through nutritition we'll have many fewer arguments about who should have the privilege of getting the latest and greatest heart meds or languish in the hospital or die prematurely from complications of obesity.

The argument we are engaged in now is not really about health -

it is about thedistribution of wealth. A truly healthy America cannot be achieved through legislation alone. We must open our minds about what precisely 'Health Care' means. And take action.

President Obama we elected you to make change. This is the change we need.

Vitamin supplements - what's really in your vitamins?

Health and nutrition experts recommend and sell vitamin supplements. WalMart sells inexpensively. Virtually every drug store, every nutritional company and even grocery store sells vitamin supplements. But where do they come from and who's looking out for the consumer? Can you be sure you're getting what the label says you're getting? Not necessarily.
Independent health product tester ConsumerLab.com is dishing up unsavory news for people who take multivitamins. Of 29 products tested, eight "failed" as mislabeled or contaminated.

• One vitamin water contained 15 times the amount of folic acid claimed on the bottle, while a multivitamin for older people provided less than half the vitamin A claimed on its label. And a men's multivitamin had traces of lead.

• New federal rules "were supposed to ensure the potency and quality of the products" says the Center for Science in the Public Interest Bruce Silverglade. "But apparently the rules are not having their intended effect."

Reported in the AARP Bulletin June 2009

As a distributor of health & wellness products you need to be confident your patients and clients are getting what they need. You need to work with a company who's practices are transparent. You need to know the company, it's manufacturing standards and it's integrity. When you can make assurances and feel confident you're providing access to products that are what's intended you can rest assured you're helping people find wellness. You can make all the difference in customer retention and satisfaction.

kreAit: Summertime Treasure - healthy food & fun

kreAit: Summertime Treasure - healthy food & fun

Summertime Treasure - healthy food & fun

Farmer's Markets are healthy food, summertime treasures! And we have the best in Ohio within arm's reach. Although we have plenty of land and a great garden I still love to shop the market - there's always good things we're not growing and produce that can't be had from the grocery. Enjoy yours - or visit ours. Sat. AM's on Shaker Blvd. @ Shaker Square. Half the market is edible & floral and the other half artists who create their own hand-crafted art wares. There's some great talent on show - But don't be late - it's all over by noon! Rain or shine. These are some photos of the market earlier this summer - it changes every week but it's always fun!

Personal Wellness - enjoying healthy food

Wellness, and healthy living by any definition requires good nutrition and healthy foods.

This is the season for easy, affordable, healthy living! Great food! Fruits, vegetables and long, sun filled days after the long slow, dormant season is past.

We're rewarded with the farmland's harvest of amazing fruits and vegetables - and Farmer's Markets for local, mostly organic wares. Our own garden has begun to be our sole source of so many varieties of extraordinary lettuce, tomatoes and just today, sugar snap peas. Oh, and then the green beans are amazing - what to do with so many is the only challenge.

Our own strawberries are finished for the season but I found a great recipe for a desert we all loved the first time I made it. Ours was a Birthday/family reunion/independence day celebration. Instead of the ice cream cake we used to indulge in we substituted this and were very happy. It's an ice cream cake for health minded people with a sweet tooth. For the rest of the season we'll just have to get our strawberries from the market. It's too good to miss! The recipe was originally published in Natural Health Magazine in the June '09 issue.

No-Bake Peach Berry & Yogurt Pie

I hope you & yours enjoy it too! ;-)!!

It only takes about 15 min. to put together and over night to freeze (or 4 hrs minimum)

It's easy: Because it's basic assembly - pre-made ingredients: low-fat yogurt, light whipped cream, and a graham cracker crust, plus irresistible peaches, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries.

It's good for you: Dark berries contain some of the highest antioxident content around, and light whipped cream and low-fat yogurt keep the fat and sugar down. Best to be careful to choose organic fruits - especially peaches and strawberries since conventionally grown have been found to have high pesticide loads. (Check EWG.org for a more complete list)

Recipe:
8 ozs. low-fat blueberry yogurt
8 ozs. low-fat srawberry yogurt
8 ozs. light whipped cream
2 cups mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, sliced strawberries in whatever combination you like)
1 9 inch graham cracker crust
4 ripe peaches, thinly sliced

1. In a large bowl, combine both yogurts and whipped cream. Add 1 cup of the mixed berries and fold in gently with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2. Spoon the yogurt-berry mixture into the crust and put in the freezer for at least 4 hours (freezing over night is ideal).

3. At least 15 minutes before serving, transfer the pie from the freezer to the refrigerator and let stand until soft enough to be sliced without effort. Top with remaining mixed berries and sliced peaches and serve (you can arrange the peach slices in a "fan" and place berries on top , if you like).

Per serving: 273 calories, 12.5 g fat (5g saturated), 37 g carbohydrates. 5 g protein. 3 g fiber. 10 mg sodium (7% daily value).

Wellness as Change

Wellness as change?
Losing a lot of weight, starting your own home based business, going to work for someone else; all can be a part of how to create the life you want, the life you love. Creating wellness - sometimes change is involuntary but always, the chance to begin anew. But success means accepting and embracing the unfamiliar, the unknown. Making changes. Being patient and taking action.

Looking up from the bottom of a deep ravine the climb can seem overwhelming . Although the journey might be difficult so too is continuing on a path that leads nowhere. A path that leads to illness, unhappiness or destruction of any other sort does not support wellness. It may however be the very path that leads to the acceptance of and even seeking change. However, without a substantial and intentional shift it does not guarantee success. Wellness will be elusive.

These well worn steps leading out of wooded valley seem a perfect metaphor for someone looking into the unknown - unable to see clearly what lies ahead. Or, imagine how exactly how to get to the intended destination. Just beyond these steps, out from under the wooded veil and unseen from below, lies a beautiful, lush green meadow where on this mid-summer afternoon we met a clear blue sky with gentle wisps of snow white clouds.

Corny. Kind of. Cliche' perhaps - but true.

That beautiful blue sky was what we met when stepping off the rise.
A perfect metaphor for the work and reward of resetting - in whatever way for whatever reason.

When intentional action is met with persistance and persaverance reward is certain.

It is the process that holds the greatest reward. Becoming stronger, more certain, wiser, focused, purposeful. Often overwhelm is the signal you're at the cusp of discovering something really worth your struggle.

Thoughts from some wise people:

"In times of change, learners inherit the
earth,while the learned find themselves
beautifully equipped to deal with a world that
no longer exists."
Eric Hoffer

"I have not failed.
I have successfully discovered
1,200 ideas that don't work."
Thomas Edison

"Success is the ability to go from failure
to failure without losing your enthusiasm."
Winston Churchill

Is there a moral to my ramblings? It is simple but not always easy.
Consistency and commitment bring the greatest rewards. Reward that may well exceed your expectations.

Hang on, keep going and keep growing. Keep looking - what you're looking for is waiting for you.

Leadership, training, belief and attitude are imperative.

Check out Ann Seig and Mike Klingler's contribution here @ Renegade University. It's full of incredible lessons for growing into today's world.