To Gray Or Not To Gray That Is The Question.

Almost a third of women under 30 are already going gray (some start in their teens). 80 percent of American women color their hair (WTH!). 30% of women notice grays in their 40's.

Grey hair... Dying it.... Bleaching... Hiding it... Society's obsession with youth and looking young...Toxins, brain damage, Alzheimers, severe reactions to hair dye chemicals... Artificial, fake, unnatural... Expensive.

Being brave... Liberating... Authentic... Being real... Healthy... Learning to love your true self... Confidence.

Are you ready to stop poisoning your brain, your body? All of it is bad, "natural" doesn't always mean safe. Read the labels. I will post about henna at the bottom of this post. They are all risky... and years of that? Is it worth it for vanity? I'd rather die getting hit by a bus, than from years of dying my hair every 6 weeks.

Since I have researching about this, I am look at those statistics- almost all the women above age 40 are dying their hair, I can now spot those who dye their hair pretty well now. On many it looks fake, it looks weird. And I also notice those who don't and those who are transitioning to their natural colors. Gosh, they are gorgeous!

25% of the population will react to the chemicals in hair dye, even if they haven't in the past, just one day your body has had enough... and it can kill you (rare that it is). It is extremely toxic. And when you research what it does to your brain, it is not worth looking younger.

The fact is, even if you dye it... you have grey hair, it grows out of you. Poison yourself or embrace grays and let it be weird perhaps and learn to not care what others think. Let it be empowering, liberating, healing.

What are your thoughts? Too scared to let the grays out? Scared you might be mistaken for being your age or a bit older? What are you so scared of? Don't the toxins scare you? Who do you think you are fooling and why do you want to?

I'm asking myself all of these questions and more as I contemplate letting silver hair sprinkle though my dark curls. I found my first grays at age 20. I started hiding them just a few years ago. Every time I dye the roots... I am very unsure about it all. It is the only unhealthy thing I do... and I do not like it it. It isn't me.


Henna: The only truly natural, plant-derived, permanent hair color is henna -- and not even every shade of it. John Masters, of the eponymous salon and beauty brand, says, "The lone shade that's 100 percent natural is that orange-red one, which doesn't suit many people." Henna is also famously unpredictable in its saturation, so it's no surprise that he -- like most professional colorists -- prefers not to use it." ("Henna, itself, DOES NOT come in a range of colors.
The only dye molecule in henna (Lawsonia Inermis) in sufficient quantity to stain hair is Lawsone , which is a red-orange molecule. Any company that claims they create the wide range of henna colors with 100% henna, using roots, bark, or other parts of the henna plant to achieve their colors is …… lying or seriously ignorant. Only henna leaves are useful for dying hair, and other parts of the henna plant do not dye hair other colors. Chemicals, metallic salts or other plants must be added to henna to make any color other than red. These pre-mixed colors are compound hennas. If you buy a box labeled henna that claims to dye hair blonde, brown or black, there is something other than henna in that box.") Plus Henna is permanent, you can't fix it if it comes out bad.

Fresh Produce!!! Sucking at Gardening :P

We tried to garden. We suck at it. We spent a lot of money on organic composted soil (truck loads), wood to build the raised beds, tools, seeds, starter plants, starter peat moss things, irrigation stuff, etc... then there was blood, sweat, tears, and much hope and killed anticipation. We got hit by: mold, insects, crickets, birds, deer, pheasants (yes, a bird, but a cool one, and rather large), and who-knows-what. We rarely got to eat any of our home grown food, and it got more than frustrating, so we quit. No green thumbs here. We did find that rosemary can't be killed, either that or it just loves us. Aloe is pretty awesome as well.

Since we eat non-GMO, organic produce, and want it fresh as can be... what are our other options??? CSA. Community Supported Agriculture. You commit to buying a box of produce every week, the CSA gathers produce from local organic farms and boxes them up and delivers to your house (at least here they do). Awesome! Then there are Farmer's Markets. I have a hard time believing that most of these are organic farms, I find the sellers say whatever you wish to hear to make the sell. Is there anyway we can be more certain? I don't need them to be certified organic, just using organic seeds and organic means, but how do you know for sure? Then there are the small health food stores (NOT Whole Foods), who do deserve to be rewarded with the communities money as people (like us) are thankful that they do exist.

EAT REAL FOOD

I'm going to be blunt... because I get fed up, not many will see this post anyway, and people rationalize way too much for my sanity.

Most people's health and weight issues have everything to do with eating stuff that is NOT EVEN FOOD. They are food-like products. They are fake, they are processed, they are artificial, they are chemicals- poisons- and harmful in every level, they are crap-ola. Research proves they are horrible, toxic, disease-causing, hazardous to human health... But still you eat them! WTH!

Most people, I find, don't even know what REAL FOOD is...??? Seriously! If it comes in a box, in a can, in a package, if it is surrounded in plastic, if it sits on a shelf, if you didn't make it yourself completely, if it it didn't grow on a plant or on a tree or in the ground, it ISN'T FOOD! There are 17 ingredients in McDonalds french fries people! That isn't food!

I really don't give a crap if you wish to kill yourself with your food choices, just stop rationalizing it. Know what you are choosing to eat and what you are choosing to feed your family. Get real. Wake up.

Really, your kids won't eat anything except McNuggets or sugar cereals or pizza pockets.... Whaaa, Whaaa, Whaaa... Stop buying it, stop giving it to them, STOP! And when they get hungry enough they will eat the food you have in your house... the REAL FOOD... and you will be actually nourishing their growing bodies. They will learn to appreciate actual food. But you have to abide by this yourself. No sneaky junk. And guess what? You will feel and look better too! Bonus!

One more time... Real food is: non-GMO ---- vegetables, fruits, raw nuts/seeds, legumes, whole grains, 
... and if you must, but definitely not for me... organic, free-range, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, meats from the butcher and omega-3 eggs from free range chickens near your home. Dairy milk is NOT food (you are NOT a baby cow, and pasteurization is horrible, and milk-products... again, not good.
Don't ask me why, google is your friend.

Holiday Season... Traditions... Food.

Ah... the holiday season. Traditions. Family. It is one of the most stressful times of the year for many people. Juggling family, friends, work, and more. Money issues rear up as we think we have to make the season "the best", make people "happy", not disappoint anyone... We tend to put pressure and stress on ourselves. Doesn't make much sense but that is what happens. People during this time of the year get more depressed, drink more, fall off the wagon, over-eat, and over-spend. It doesn't sound so jolly to me.

Why do it? Why? I don't get it. You make the choices, you live them. The people I know who are happiest during the holidays are the ones who have tossed away all the "shoulds" and do what they want to do. Take out Chinese for Thanksgiving dinner, playing scrabble and hanging out with friends laughing and being goofy. Going on a romantic trip for Christmas. A movie-thon of sequels of some great flick everyone loves. Perhaps a long hike in a beautiful spot and a picnic. Cross country skiing. Monopoly or Risk night.

I gave up all the holiday "shoulds" 9 years ago. My life is much better for it. This year for Thanksgiving, I'm having Thanksgiving breakfast for my three children and husband. I'm thinking fruit crepes to start. Later a big bowl of assorted fruit salad (pears, figs, apples, pomegranate, citrus, banana, something else fun I find). I get a delivery of farm fresh veggies the day before, so I'll make a meal out of that selection. Easy. Healthy. More time to spend and enjoy my family. Later on that day, a romantic walk on the beach with my husband. 

My Christmas is focused on family. No gifts. My children get gifts from me on their birthdays, when I find something that they will absolutely love and when they need something, not because society tells me I "have to" buy them "stuff"- they all ready have enough "stuff". So it is getting together, eating healthy food from the farms. No stress. No pressure. Perhaps another walk on the beach  =)

Food. Food. Traditional food. I was never partial to it. I was called a 'picky eater' my whole childhood. It's funny now, because the foods I would eat are very healthy. But I was teased, I was a problem to feed... which confused me. Raw veggies needed nothing to prepare, a green salad was easy, raw fruit is again easy, rice or a plain baked potato- easy. Family holiday meal times were a trial for me. All that food, and nothing I cared to consume. Nothing even drew me to try it. It wasn't until I was an adult I had my first piece of pie (why cook and sweeten fruit I wondered?), still haven't had a jam or jelly (eww), I tried sweet potato casserole for the first and last time about 6 years ago, and I still can't believe that people eat it as part of their meal and not as a dessert.  I'd rather you bake a sweet potato and eat it plain. I've never had mayo or mustard- it is gross and unnecessary. Creamy salad dressings or Thousand Island... just looked gross to me, couldn't bring myself to try. Meat was disgusting as well. All that chewing- is it gum or food? I couldn't swallow, my throat would close up. I found 101 ways to hide the meat on my plate. I told everyone, "Animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends." The beets in a can-shape? Soggy limp green beans, the weird stuff that they stuffed into a birds cooter? Really?! No, I wasn't drawn. My mouth did not water. I was hungry all day. I preferred simple foods, don't even mash my potatoes and put milk in it- that is just weird... again eww. Is it any wonder I became vegetarian... and then vegan? Healthy, simple, fresh food. This is what my body has told me is right for me from the get-go. 

The point is, you can do anything you want. You don't have to do what everyone else does. Why? Why be like everyone else? Is everyone else happier? Healthier? More relaxed? Make some changes, ease up on the pressure. Make the day have some bits of you sprinkled in... not what some people thought would be nice over 100 years ago.

 

 

Jennifer Michaels is a holistic health coach and the Chief Wellness Hero at Maui Health & Wellness Coaching. She helps her clients take the overwhelm and confusion out of their health journeys.

Surviving the Holidays

I read the following and it resonated within me, plus I love the no BS stand. It is to the point, blunt and true.

"The holiday season can be a joyous time when we celebrate with our family and friends. However, with unhealthy foods everywhere, I take bad nutrition seriously because people die from it. Food addiction is powerful for sure, but think about if that junk food (white flour, white rice and white sugar are dangerous junk) is worth a cancer diagnosis or open heart surgery. When junk food is eaten, including the traditional, disease-promoting foods served at the holidays, you may get momentary pleasure as it passes the lips, but the results continue on to compromise your health now, and many years in the future. For some reason people do not realize that they aren’t granted a new body after they harm the one they have. We pay a price, usually later in life for our dietary indiscretions. As we get older, the more years one remains overweight and the more times you indulge in cancer-causing foods, the more difficult it becomes to assure protection against a tragic life-threatening cancer when you finally do decide to eat healthfully. Now is the time to throw your cigarettes away, not next year. Now is the time to get off your soft drinks and sugar addiction, not after the holidays. 

 Since everyone can use great (healthy) recipes to make delicious desserts and main dishes, I do not see the reason to eat white flour and sugar-filled garbage that creates cancer. Just because the world has gone crazy, and has become addicted to dangerous refined foods and factory farmed junk-food chicken and meats (factory-farmed meats are junk-food too) doesn’t mean you should join the self-destructive insanity.

Remember how eating unhealthful and overeating while celebrating the holidays left you feeling ill and regretful in the past? (And it wasn’t likely that pleasurable either.) I doubt pigging out on junk is that pleasurable compared to cocaine or heroin. Not that I would know that, but I do know that food addiction kills a thousand times more people each year than cocaine addiction. Plus, not having good health magnifies every emotional problem plaguing your life and is a contributory cause of depression. Now is the time to change things. Make the effort, set the example and do not let the holidays derail your commitment. Giving up addictive and harmful habits are tough, but you have to be tough on yourself to succeed. Accept no excuses. It will be well worth it. Do it now. Make the commitment.

Fast forward to next holiday season: you will make the best choices; the ones that will allow you to achieve overall health and quality of life. You'll be celebrating your health instead of simply indulging in the “traditional” destructive foods. As you eat for optimal health and vitality, you’ll be able to more fully enjoy the special times with family and friends. You will flourish and it will be the most enjoyable holiday season you've ever had. There will be no need to “start over” next January 1st. You will already be committed to your health, and feel pleased with yourself for maintaining your healthy habits over the holidays." -Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Growing Babies- Healthy Pregnancy Equals Healthy Baby

One of the most important things we do is bring children into this world. It is huge. It is amazing.

Many do not think about the health of the mother and father BEFORE they conceive. Having a healthy father and a healthy mother is the foundation of growing a healthy baby.

Once you are pregnant, you should be very conscious of growing a healthy baby. This includes the foods you eat, as well as your environment and your thoughts. A healthy pregnancy benefits not only the baby but the mother, to insure a healthy, easy birth without complications.

You are a mother as soon as you are carrying a baby within you, and that baby is depending on you for it's health and well being.

I'm sure you want a healthy happy baby. No parent dreams of having a child with: autism, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, complications, disfigured, premature, etc. These are our fears.

Eating right and living a healthy lifestyle can give your baby the best start he/she can have.

I will guide you to growing a healthy baby. I will support you and ease your fears and concerns. I will give you information on concerns you may have so you can make the right decisions for you and your family.

I was told I couldn't conceive. I changed my diet and added herbs and supplements, and other lifestyle changes... nine months later I was pregnant. I went on to have three healthy beautiful easy pregnancies and now have three amazing children. I was very focused on growing healthy children, before pregnancy, during and after birth in regards to the quality of my breast milk and their lifestyle (lighting, noise, clothing, toys, touch).

Talk with me today about scheduling a FREE consultation and see how my program can support you and your growing family. 808-269-2701. I see people in person on Maui and over the phone all over the world.

How confident will you be when you look and feel the way you’ve always wanted?

Imagine having the tools to reinvigorate your body in a way that transforms…
…the passion you have for life when you wake up
…the energy you have throughout the day, and
…even the way you will look for the next decade.

... Are you one of the 78 million people who’s tired of feeling less vital than you did 10 years ago, who feels burned out and unsatisfied, or is having trouble “figuring out” health challenges?

How many of these symptoms and nagging issues are you ALREADY dealing with?
• Pain • Fatigue • Weight Issues • Depression  • Anxiety • Digestive problems • Sagging skin • Low sex drive • Hormonal imbalances • Brain Fog • Low muscle retention

How confident will you be when you look and feel the way you’ve always wanted?

How satisfying will it feel to be energized and motivated to do the things you always wanted to—the things you never had time to do before – and live a long life that is vibrant and productive no matter the age?

What if I told you I could show you how to take charge of YOUR LIFE now, naturally, without costly procedures, and turn back the clock by at least 10 years? What could you accomplish?

Take control of your life and look forward to, rather than fear, how you’ll feel in another 10 years.

Discover the basic steps you can take to improve your appearance, energy, and moods. Contact me: jennifer@mauihealthcoach.com