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

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.

I Am My Valentine

Valentine’s Day has come and gone – blissful, painful or ignored, I’ve learnt one key lesson.  No matter who was in my life on February 14th, I always woke up on the morning of the 15th with the one person who needed my love the most – me.

Wisened with age and a few colossal mistakes, I know now it’s the small daily acts of  kindness that create that happy inner me that can look squarely in the mirror and repeat out loud, “ I love myself, I love myself” and not cringe when I say it. That doesn’t come from anyone else.  I also know that I can’t expect anyone else to love me more than I love myself.  Getting SELFish means just that – taking care of the self.

New Year’s Solution #1

Last year, the United States passed a childhood nutrition bill – the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

“With over seventeen million children living in food insecure households and one in every three children in America now considered overweight or obese, schools are often on the front lines of our national challenge to combat childhood obesity……”

There was actually bi-partisan support for this bill which aims to increase access to healthy food for low income kids. It also aims to educate children about making healthy choices that will turn into lifelong healthy eating habits.  The bill even mentions creating local farm to school networks and creating school gardens as well as improving access to fresh water during meal times and improving nutritional standards.  Bravo!  WAKE UP CALL to food manufacturers.