Spring’s cold nights and warm days have been naturally pumping the sap up the still dormant maple trees here in Ontario. Some people (including myself and my in-laws last weekend) are busy tapping trees and boiling sap to make delicious, sweet, healthy maple syrup!

It was my first time assisting with this family tradition and I can see why it stuck. It was fun working as a team and being in nature with all the fresh air and the sweet aroma of boiling sap.

I found it incredibly humbling, too. I was awed by the amazing, sweet gift from Nature, human ingenuity for the whole maple syrup making process and, of course, the hard work. Let’s just say I really appreciated the dark amber, grade A, homemade, organic maple syrup on my french toast the next morning!

How to Make (Lynch’s) Maple Syrup

While the trees, process and tools may vary, here’s how we made maple syrup at the Lynch’s:

1. In early March, Dad strung up a series of tubes around trees that ran down hill.
2. We tapped approximately 60 red maple trees by drilling holes on the North East side of each one and fitting the holes with the taps attached to the tubes.
3. Read the rest of this entry

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You’ve heard of couples yoga, but Rebecca and Donovan take it to a whole new level!

These two performers almost made me blush with their sensual dance using yoga postures. Watch their grace, beauty and strength in this 4 minute video:

I wonder if this will inspire my Honey to start yoga?

Do you tend to get in your own way of accomplishing goals and realizing your dreams, like most of us? Are you frustrated because despite all your insight, wisdom and all your hard work to be the best you possible, you keep coming up short?

That’s why I’m absolutely pumped to try this natural, non-invasive, completely holistic and ingenious method of transformation, PSYCH-K®. It’s the missing piece of the entire self-improvement puzzle!

It’s also the second half of the video lecture we shared with you 2 weeks ago in The Science of Change where we learned that beliefs alter our perception, and our perception controls behaviour, turns on genes and can even rewrite genes.

We were left with important questions, though, like how can we identify (let alone change) something as intangible as a belief? Well, believe it or not, this program promises to do just that.

Bottom line: PSYCH-K enables us to reprogram our self-limiting beliefs and upgrade our systems with self-supporting beliefs that will ultimately change our behaviour (and lives).

It’s spring cleaning for your mind!

Bonus Benefits of PSYCH-K™

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Last week, Beachbody announced this year’s “losers” of the Million Dollar Body Game, an online competition that rewards participants for their weight-loss results. Eight very real people won cash totaling $1 Million in prizes (and a brand new bod!) with only dedication, determination and Beachbody fitness DVDs.

Check out the video to learn more about the annual contest and this year’s winners, including their commentary and before/after pics:

The Million Dollar Body Game 2008

Is this enough proof for you, Readers? Would you be more willing to try Tony Horton’s P90X, dancer Shaun T.’s “Tilt, Tuck & Tighten” technique on Hip Hop Abs or the Turbo Jam fitness program?

Will you enter the contest for 2009?

It’s the first day of Spring and smoothie season has officially begun! Let’s celebrate with a delicious new recipe, a tropical treat to nourish your body and tickle your imagination.

Made with fresh pineapple and banana, the two tastes Tango on your tongue. And in preparation for the stress on your body with the changing seasons, this frothy, golden glass of nutrients is loaded with immune-boosting Vitamin C.

Pineapple ‘Naner Smoothie

Makes 1 serving, about 20 oz.

Ingredients

1 cup pineapple, fresh, chopped
1 medium banana, fresh, ripe
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp PC chunky almond spread
1 scoop Ruth’s hemp protein powder with sprouted flax and maca
1 cup rice milk, plain
3 ice cubes

Directions

1. Blend until smooth.
2. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information

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Now that the nicer weather is here, many people will be spring cleaning their bodies and minds with a detox diet or juice fast. If you’ve tried either, you’ll know the importance of nutritional support and liquids.

If you’re new to detoxing, nutritional support is done through diet, supplements and herbs, and is used to stimulate the body to release toxins and heal itself. Liquids provide additional nutrients for nourishment and flush toxins as they are released so they do as little damage as possible on the way out.

This post aims to mash the two together so that you have a list of nutritionally-supportive liquids to choose from on your detox. Besides 8 glasses of plain, filtered water per day, here are some other options to consider:

1. Lemon water (cold or warm). As we found out last week, lemons are a super fruit. Among their many benefits, they cleanse the bloodstream and detoxify and neutralize the system.
2. Master Cleanse Recipe. Warm lemon water with a little cleansing cayenne pepper and sweetened with mineral-rich organic maple syrup. How can you go wrong?
3. Detox tea. Triple Leaf Tea makes their detox tea with over 20 potent Chinese purification herbs, including red clover, burdock and licorice (which all have detoxifying effects and help heal organs).
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There’s only one drawback to homemade cleaners: the time needed to make them. Actually, the alchemist in you might not even mind the 5 minutes it takes to mix an ancient cleaning concoction!

In honour of the first day of Spring this Friday, here are just a few reasons to get rid of your old cleaners (take them to a hazardous household depot near you) and whip up your own:

1. They’re safe enough to eat or drink (almost). Baking soda, vinegar, salt and lemons are just a few natural ingredients found in homemade cleaning recipes. (Check out this post for a list of ingredients & formulas, and this post for some tips on using natural but toxic ingredients for really tough jobs.)
2. It’s an easy way to reduce toxins found in the home. Although you probably wouldn’t ingest any cleaner, the natural ingredients mean they’re chemical free! Chucking old commercial cleaners make kid-safe homes and is a huge part of healthy living. (Here are some disturbing facts about the toxicity of synthetic cleaners.) Read the rest of this entry

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No one knows better than Mother Nature. Her ability to heal and maintain balance is bar none. So it makes perfect sense that holistic nutritionist (and Live Lighter reader), Neda, suggests it’s healthier to listen to our bodies to tell us when we are hungry rather than a clock. (See her comment for some healthy eating tips)

That got me thinking, though, when can’t we trust our bodies? Having been unbalanced for many years, then gradually achieving close to balance, and then slipping into imbalance again 7 months ago, I can say from experience that in an imbalanced state, our connection with Nature becomes fuzzy.

Addictions (to either substances, emotions or behaviour) are a sign of an imbalance. They provide us comfort on an emotional level, even when they become harmful from a logical perspective. They also exasperate the imbalance by further interfering with clear communication between our thinking minds and Nature.

For instance, many turn to food to handle emotional troubles.  Eating becomes a response to stress which can become a habit. At this point, all cravings feel like a general and growing discomfort. Thirst and hunger can be misinterpreted for the craving for our addictions (or emotional fulfillment).

The same goes for many smokers when they stop smoking; they tend to replace food for nicotine because the cravings feel the same and the hand/mouth actions are comforting. Many do not recognize that their actions are a conditioned response to stress. And even when we become aware of this insight, it’s still difficult to stop because of the disconnection with Nature (as we found out at the end of Wednesday’s post, The Science of Change).

So, please share your thoughts and experiences, Readers, when can’t we trust our bodies?

“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.”  Kahlil Gibran

Someone once told me that he believed there were two kinds of people in the world: those who see the world as dangerous and those who see the world as a safe place. And science seems to be backing him up!

In “Biology of Perception,” Dr. Bruce Lipton, a cellular biologist and author of The Biology of Belief, uses hard scientific facts and reasoning to explain his theory on how our own personal perception controls our entire lives. How we see the world affects us on the most basic cellular level, up to its expression in our behaviour, and actually selects which genes to turn on or if it can’t find the right gene to suit the ‘environment’, can even rewrite our genes!

Most importantly, though, Dr. Lipton convincingly argues how we all have the power to alter our perception and therefore our lives. Even though his lecture is packed-full of science, Dr. Lipton is an excellent, highly energetic teacher who simplifies the material. The power gained from the insight and knowledge is well-worth the hour investment.  Here’s the opening clip:

For those who do not have the time, I don’t want you to leave empty-handed! Read the rest of this entry

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In preparing for a Master Cleanse, my Honey voiced his concern about the potential damage the acid would do to my system. A good question, especially considering you can easily use  2 lemons per day for as many as 10 days in the Master Cleanse, I went hunting for an answer.

What I found instead was a surprisingly long list of health benefits. Between it’s high content of Vitamin C (a powerful antioxidant), phytonutrients, bioflavinoids, citric acid levels and alkalizing effect on the body, lemons:

• Reduce blood pressure, strengthen capillaries and relieve palpitations
• Help raise good cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) and prevent bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) from oxidizing
• Prevent plaque formation, which clogs arteries
• Are anti-bacterial and have been proven to destroy bacteria of malaria, cholera, diphtheria, typhoid and other deadly diseases
• Destroy intestinal worms
• Act as an excellent nerve sedative
• Prevent and treat many infections

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