How to Benefit from The Mind-Body ConnectionWritten by David Snape
Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of "Love, Medicine and Miracles" was once a distraught surgeon who fretted over his inability to effectively serve his cancer patients. Dr. Siegel's recognition and growing understanding of mind-body connection eventually allowed him to serve his patients and himself in a greater capacity. Bernie writes in his book, "When a doctor reports amazing improvements in a patient's condition, he or she almost never mentions that person's beliefs and lifestyle, but when I inquire, I find patient always has made some drastic change toward a more loving and accepting outlook. The patient seldom tells an unreceptive doctor about this, however." When person's mind changed, state of their health changed. Hence, importance of mind- body connection. However, just covering up surface with positive thinking isn't necessarily going to help. It's like cleaning out a house. The dirt and filth has to be removed and stale air replaced with fresh air. There has to be a fundamental change for real healing to take place. Surface level, 'positive thinking' isn't going to effect this kind of change, just like lightly dusting our homes won't get real dirt out. So what are dirty and stale things in our minds? Well, they could be things like grudges, prejudices, anger, resentment and hate. One spiritual principle from religion talks about "loving your enemy". That can't be done without giving up hate. By giving up something bad, we can make room for something good to come in and may, as a result, see a corresponding change in our bodies. The problem here is that many of these bad things are buried and hidden and we won't necessarily see them or recognize them in ourselves. We can be certain that they are there though, it is a virtually inevitable consequence of living in a world that is so focused on selfishness and less concerned with "loving" others.
| | Are all Carbs Equal?Written by Chrissie Mayes
ARE ALL CARBS EQUAL?We are getting low carbs trust down our throats right now – literally. Everywhere we look these fads are being thrown at us. Then there will be a major health scare and everyone will back off for a bit, only for someone else to pick up gauntlet. So let’s put record straight. You can not cut out a major food group to such ridiculous amounts! There should be no such thing as a no/low carb diet. In principle, theory works. You lose weight (whether you do it healthily and keep it off is not for me to say). Eating good quality proteins definitely keeps hunger at bay. However, if you are a normal individual cravings will start to kick in for those forbidden carbs and whole thing goes down pan. So why don’t we change concept slightly? Instead of concentrating on low carbs why don’t we start thinking about GOOD carbs? Because of course all fruit and veg are carbohydrates and everyone knows you have to eat plenty of this group for vitamins and minerals, right? So consider changing tact. Miss off all heavy, sugar laden carbohydrates like bread, pasta, potatoes etc and pile on veg! Don’t stint, don’t worry about carbs – they are good for you! Have a salad on side tossed in a light dressing and three to four portions of non starchy veg with your chicken or fish. Have an apple to satisfy your sweet tooth. Fruit contain fructose, which has a different make up to other sugars and glucoses. When glucose hits your body levels in your blood rise rapidly. The body has to deal with this surge by releasing insulin to clear blood and direct this energy source to right place – that not required for muscle energy is shoved along to liver to be stored for future use and remainder gets stored in your fat cells. (ie, you get fat!) You are left with insulin in your blood which causes a huge drop in blood sugar. So how does body react? It wants more sugar to counterbalance! Fructose is metabolised direct in blood stream, does not cause a surge of insulin and hence blood sugar remains stable. In other words, you won’t get an addictive craving for more, like you do with that pack of biccies! It is difficult to overeat on apples, isn’t it? You don’t often fancy eating whole bag, do you?
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