Honey and Cinnamon

Today’s spring cleaning tip is honey and cinnamon.  A revitalizer for everything from clogged arteries to bladder infections, honey and cinnamon is a natural way to offer your body a small dose of rejuvenation every day.  Taken at breakfast, a paste of  ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and one tablespoon of honey works wonders all day long.

Make sure to use only raw, unpasteurized honey.   When choosing my honey, I choose  Wedderspoon’s Certified Organic Active +16 honey. This honey comes from the flowers of the manuka bush, a medicinal shrub found only in New Zealand.  Renowned for its antiseptic and antibacterial properties, this raw food contains enzymes which aid the body both inside and out.

When my friend Paul described his daughter’s mysterious open wound on her leg, I knew manuka honey could help.  When my partner had burning sensations after eating, I knew manuka honey could help.  When a strange rash appeared on my cheek…you guessed it, I knew where to turn.

From infections to stomach ulcers, a spoonful of manuka honey a day works its healing with no negative side effects.  Check out www.wedderspoon.ca.  For $30, you receive 500g of liquid gold.  A true treasure.

Cinnamon is a natural anti-inflammatory. It has long been used for its weight loss properties, as a remedy for heartburn, colds and as a regulator of blood sugar.  Teamed up together, honey and cinnamon is a spring cleaning tip I practice all year long.  Hair thickens and takes on a lustrous shine.  Arthritis improves.  Psoriasis clears up.  Sounds amazing and it is.   It even helps for weight loss.

For your health and wellbeing – Best, Andrea

if it’s april, it’s spring cleaning time

Spring cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning after a wise friend counseled me that there was no better time than now to clean out the corners – of my intestines as well as my closets.  Of all the products in my detox toolbox, chia seeds are perhaps the most effective.

Native to Mexico and the southwest, chia use has been recorded back to ancient Aztec culture.  Appreciated for its qualities that promote high energy, it was eaten both as a dry and a wet snack.

Not only is the tiny grey seed charged with Omega-3, antioxidants, protein and calcium, it is a rich source of fibre that acts as an intestinal cleaner. When soaked in water, chia can absorb an impressive twelve times its weight in water. This hydrophilic property offers the benefit of prolonging hydration.  If you lose liquid from sweating and exercise, chia helps retain moisture and  helps regulate more efficiently the body’s absorption of nutrients and body fluids. Because there is a greater efficiency in the utilization of body fluids, the electrolyte balance is maintained.

Chia acts a a toxin cleanser as it makes it s way through the intestinal tract.
Soak a tablespoon of chia seeds in a bowl of water.  Stir occasionally and drink when the seeds turn soft. It takes about twenty minutes.  Neutral in taste, the jelly like liquid is actually quite pleasant.  Because it is so taste neutral, chia seeds can be added to soups, salads and your morning granola.   See chia seed recipes for more.

Sometimes I take chia before sleeping – so that it acts as an intestinal cleanser during the night.  Sometimes I take it before a meal, when I appreciate it’s ability to suppress the appetite.  Sometimes I take it first thing in the morning, when it will be more of a body nourisher.  Whatever your need, remember this little grey seed.

Angle of Lean

With 360 degrees to choose from, we all have differing angles of lean on everything from child rearing, to acceptable investment risk. Does red work with pink? Is peanut butter and jam the most complete food ever made?

Since learning that the brain, only 2% of the body mass, uses 20% of the blood flow, I’ve stopped trying to control all these thoughts running madly through my life. The silent judgements of myself and others, the shoulds and musts and wants. I’ve just tossed it all up and said, “I surrender”.

In the Driver’s Seat

In his book, The Power of Story, Jim Loehr writes, “you are the principal architect of your story.  If you have any hope of living out your best story, you need to have a maximum amount of high-quality energy.”

Nothing is more important for that high quality energy to flow than a healthy, vibrant body.  It is the car we climb into every morning when we awake that loyally carries us through our day.  It needs tune ups, oil changes, regular maintenance and, of course, the occasional lube job.  All kidding aside, it is our vehicle of choice for this lifetime and it deserves our care and respect.