Eating for Hormone Health: New Hope for Hormone Imbalance
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on August 3, 2010 – -I’m excited to be doing a talk in New Jersey this week on Eating for Hormone Health.
Karen Ranzi, author of “Creating Healthy Children” is hosting me.
Here are the details.
If you live in the area, come on by.
Eating for Hormone Balance
The Secrets to Staying Young and Vibrant At Any Age
With Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, MS, DC, CCN, DACBN
How to Nourish Your Hormones and Keep Yourself Strong, Safe and Healthy Your Whole Life Through.
In this Inspirational talk, You’ll learn:
- Who all the members of your hormone family are and how you can keep them balanced and humming
- The role of your digestion,emotions and your environment in keeping your hormones balanced and safe.
- How balancing your hormone starting as early as in your 20’s leads to improved vitality and strength in your later decades — the untold secret to seeing more life ahead of you than behind you.
- The 5 foods you MUST eat and the 5 foods You MUST avoid for hormone health
- How stress effects your hormones —and techniques for protecting yourself from the dangers of being in fight-flight mode daily
- How nutrients effect hormone balance, and why synthetic nutrients can be dangerous
- The importance of sleep in protecting you from hormone-related cancers.
- How hormones are disrupted by the environment and essential secrets in protecting yourself.
In her fun and exuberant style, Dr. Ritamarie shares her passion for vibrant health and her secrets for creating for herself more strength and stamina in her 50’s than she experienced in her 20’s. There’ll be ample time for questions and answers.
For over 2 decades, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo has been a student and practitioner of natural health and whole fresh food diets as a path to wellness. Her success in recovering from chronic fatigue and lifestyle induced health challenges prompted
As a doctor of chiropractic certified in acupuncture, clinical nutrition and herbal medicine, Dr. Ritamarie empowers powerful transformation and vibrant health in busy people worldwide. Through her coaching programs, nutrition consultations and books, Dr. Ritamarie touches countless lives with her message of self-healing. Visit her website www.FreshnFunLiving.com for lots of resources, recipes and valuable information.
Thursday August 5, 2010 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Ramsey, New Jersey (201) 934-6778
Investment in your health: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
To register contact Karen at karen@superhealthychildren.com
Tags: biology, cell signaling, Dr. Ritamarie, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, eat, eating, endocrinology, exuberant, Gluten Free Diet, health, hormone, hormone balance, Hormone Imbalance, hormones, karen ranzi, Living Foods, medicine, nature, new hope, nutrition, physiology, ritamarie loscalzo, secret, self care, signal transduction, vegan foods, vibrant, Vibrant Health, whole foods
Posted in Articles, Hormone Imbalance | No Comments »
Green Smoothie Cleanse Recipes – Low Glycemic
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on July 27, 2010 – -Our Summer 2010 Green Smoothie Cleanse is officially over, and we’re transitioning into the Post Cleanse Week. Chronic fatigue symptoms are abating, allergies are improving and the consensus is there is an overall increased sense of well-being the cleanse promotes. This week is as important as the cleanse week itself. This is wher new habits are formed and the imporvemetns made dueing the cleanse are either re-inforced or left behind. Continuing on a high raw food diet plan helps people sustain the benefits long term.
Here are a couple of delicious recipes shared by one of our Green Smoothie Cleanse Participants. They use in-season, fresh, raw and ripe produce and just the right amount of seasonings.
“Spring Garden Soup”
4 tomatoes
4 celery stalks
2 cups spring mix
2 cups romaine heart
2 limes juiced
1 garlic clove
“Spicy Garden Soup”
1 Tomato
1 English Cucumber
1/2 Zucchini
2 handfuls string beans
8 cups Spring Mix
1 garlic clove
1 ginger nub
1/4 cup lime juice
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups water
Blend and enjoy!
Love, Health and Joy to You,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, Cleansing Programs, detoxification programs, Dr. Ritamarie, DrRitamarie, Gluten Free Diet, green smoothie, green smoothie. detoxification programs, Living Foods, raw and living foods holiday recipes, Raw Foods classes, vegan foods, whole foods
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles, Cleansing Programs, Detox Program, Fatigue Treatment, Gluten Free recipes, Raw and Living Foods | No Comments »
Omega 3 Fats – Support for Your Immune System, Adrenals and Fatigue
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 23, 2010 – -I love coming up with new recipes that offer delicious ways to meed your needs for basic nutrients that support your in overcoming chronic fatigue, autoimmune conditions and hormone imbalances. Omega 3 fats are commonly deficient in today’s world, and imbalances here are a major contributing factor in most chronic and degenerative disease. The proper balance of Omega fats can protect you from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, thyroid issues, hormone imbalances, and any chronic inflammatory condition you can think of.
Getting enough omega 3 fats is a problem. Most Americans eat a ratio of 25:1 or higher of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats. Omega 3 fats are found in meat, dairy, eggs, peanuts and most vegetable oils, like soybean, canola, safflower, corn and sunflower. All processed foods contain an imbalance of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats.
Researchers estimate that a healthier ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 intake is between 1:1 and 3:1. Is this possible to achieve? Yes! In eastern countries, like Japan, people eating a more traditional diet have ratios of 1.5:1, while those eating a more western diet have ratios more similar to Americans.
There are lots of strategies I teach my private coaching clients and those in my programs, like Balance My Body. In fact we have several hours of recorded classes on this topic from last week alone and I’ve created charts and spreadsheets to assist people in measuring their omega fats and bringing them into balance.
I’ve been playing and came up with a super delicious high omega 3 chia pudding:
Dr. Ritamarie’s Omega 3 Rich Chia Pudding
Ingredients
- 3 T chia seed
- 1 T flax seed, ground after measuring
- 1 T hemp seeds
- 3T finely ground dried coconut (I like Ultimate Superfoods brand)
- 1 T cinnamon
- 1 t vanilla powder of extract or ground bean
- 2 apples, finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons pomegranate powder (optional )
Directions
- Soak the first 4 ingredients in 2 cups of water.
- Once it’s thick, stir in the alst 3 ingredients.
- If desired top with nut milk and any other condiments you desire, like raisins, goji berries or raw cacao nibs.
For more pudding and other hearty powerful breakfast ideas, go to:
http://powerbreakfastideas.com/
Check out the video to see me making chia pudding.
Please ost your commitments for the day.
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, Autoimmune, chia seeds, chronic fatigue, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, fatigue, livingfoods, Omega 3 Fats, pomegranate, Raw Foods
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles, Autoimmune, Raw and Living Foods | 2 Comments »
Healing Adrenal Fatigue, Making Healthy Choices and Keeping Commitments
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 19, 2010 – -I used to be limited in my activities by adrenal fatigue, allergies and digestive discomfort. My time was not my own. I learned how to overcome that, and now I love how I feel.
My goals in life are to be as healthy and vibrant as I can be so that I may experience the freedom to choose what I do and when I do it without limitations imposed by my body. Having the strength and stamina I do allows me to be of service to so many people, and that brings me great joy and satisfaction.
What do you do when you have made 2 commitments and when push comes to shove, you have to make a choice because you can’t do both? Wednesday I committed to bedtime at midnight. I also committed to write a chapter of my book to discuss at a meeting Thursday morning at 9AM.
My day was fraught with delays, the unfulfilled commitments of others that created extra work for me, and the needs of my family. By the time I could sit down to write my chapter, it was already midnight. I had to choose between 2 commitments. One commitment was to myself and this community; the other to my “Book Doula”, Liz. I chose to write the chapter. After all, she was expecting to review it and help me with moving the book forward. I paid her to keep me on track. So I stayed up late and wrote the chapter.
You’ll find yourself in these situations. Of course if you set it up right, you may be able to avoid it. Had I written a half hour every day rather than waited until the last minute, perhaps I would not have been in that situation.
Your life is governed by choices. In each moment, if you choose based on what is in your highest and best good, you will move forward. Notice I didn’t choose between bed and staying up to watch a movie. That would have been an easy choice. Bed moves me closer to my ultimate goal of being the healthiest and most vibrant I can, the movie does not. In this decision making process, both had the potential of moving me towards an important goal. Such is life. I made my choice and I am happy that I did. Had I been ill, or very tired, I may have chose differently.
In my course Creating the Vibrant Health Mindset, there are several exercises and activities that help in this decision making process.
So for my report card for Wednesday:
1- Bed – you already know that
2- Exercise: I only did it for 5 minutes due to the aforementioned backlog
3- time with family: short and sweet
4- Green smoothies : a winner
And for Thursday:
1- Fun: spent a lovely hour and a half with my wonderful son Kevin. Playing cards. I need to finish this post and go cuddle with him. That’s the joy of my day.
2- Exercise: A lovely run in the sun: 4.5 miles!
3- Smoothies: 1 quart of dark green smoothie
4- Bed: a little late,12:30 - off to lay down with my kiddo right after writing this.
Have a wonderful day.
Keep up the 3 day mini green cleanse. If you haven’t started, check out my post on March 16 for details, download yourcopy of “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity” and, if you’re new to green smoothies, join in on the FREE Raw Divas 3 day green smoothie mini course for 3 days of lessons.
The essence of the program is to do the following for 3 days
- Drink Green smoothies and green soup throughout the day, as much as you’d like and as much as you need to keep you satisfied.
- In addition to the green smoothies, eat one or two large salads, loaded with greens and rainbow vegetables and fresh whole fruit.
- For Dressing, you can keep it simple by blending cucumber, apple and fresh herbs, or blend tomato,celery and lemon juice, or tomato, mango and lime juice, or red bell pepper, tomato, lemon or lime and herbs. Or, make up your own simple blend – it’s easy. You can also get the e-book 70 Healthy Salad Dressings Recipe Book, a collection of easy, low fat and tasty salad dressings you can make in less than 2 minutes. For the 3 day cleanse, choose dressings that contain little or no added fat to give your liver a well earned rest.
I’ll check in with you later.
(and announce the winner of the contest. You’ve been writing almost daily…you know who you are! Congratulations – I will be in touch personally later, so be sure your email address is in your comment)
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
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Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, chronic fatigue, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, fatigue, fatigue symptoms, Vibrant Health
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles | 1 Comment »
WISH: Detoxification to Support Adrenal Exhaustion, Low Sex Drive and Digestive Issues: Sleep and Fun are Important Components
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 18, 2010 – -
Detoxification and cleansing programs are in the news, on the health food store shelves and talked about now in casual conversation. They are said to cure everything — adrenal exhaustion and chronic fatigue, sluggish thyroid, depression, decreased sex drive and even cancer. Seriously, you’ve probably heard about detoxification over and over…yet do you have a clear understanding of what the process is all about? There are powders and potions, and olive oil liver flushes and lemonade diets that have become popular, yet what really is detox and why is it important?
On my interview for the Women’s International Summit for Health (W.I.S.H.) I discuss the process of detoxification, it’s importance in hormone balance, digestive health, energy, sex drive and every other function your body does for you. Learn how to support your body’s natural detoxification mechanisms daily and when to engage in a special program. If you haven’t already listened in, you can sign up at Women’s International Summit for Health (W.I.S.H.).
If you’ve already listened to the call, you know that we decided to do a Women’s 3 day mini green detox program. It’s short, easy and
powerful. And you don’t need any special equipment or potions to make it happen. All you need is a blender, some fresh, raw leafy greens and some fresh or frozen fruit. Are you ready to begin?
To start, download my FREE e-book “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity”. If you’ve already participated in my powerful 7 day Green Smoothie Cleanse, you can use your Green Cleanse Recipe Guide, with over 50 delicious smoothie and soup recipes.
Here’s what to do:
Preparation for 3 Day Green Cleanse and Detoxification Program
Download “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity” or search the web for green smoothie recipes.
Join in on the Raw Divas 3 day green smoothie mini course for day to day email support.
The essence of the program is to do the following for 3 days
- Drink Green smoothies and green soup all day long, as much as you’d like and as much as you need to keep you satisfied.
- In addition to the green smoothies, you may eat one or two large salads, loaded with greens and rainbow vegetables and fresh whole fruit.
- For Dressing, you can keep it simple by blending cucumber, apple and fresh herbs, or blend tomato,celery and lemon juice, or tomato, mango and lime juice, or red bell pepper, tomato, lemon or lime and herbs. Or, make up your own simple blend – it’s easy. You can also get the e-book 70 Healthy Salad Dressings Recipe Book, a collection of easy, low fat and tasty salad dressings you can make in less than 2 minutes. For the 3 day cleanse, choose dressings that contain little or no added fat for best results.
You’ll soon be feeling lighter, cleaner and clear-headed.
If you like how you feel, who knows, you may decide to keep it going a little longer, or may even decide to join on my next green cleanse.
Comment below if you’re joining in. Make a commitment to yourself and to thousands of women across the globe.
And also join in the ongoing 30 Day Sleep and Fun Challenge. Every day, we’re posting our commitments to health supporting activities that we’ll do that day. It helps keep you on track. Take a look through previous days posts to see the kinds of things people are accomplishing.
So what do fun and sleep have to do with detoxification? Lots! Fun changes your chemistry, decreases internally produced stress toxins and frees your liver to more effectively detox. The WISH call talks more about this. And sleep is master at helping you to cleanse. While you sleep, your detox mechanisms are going full steam ahead and cleaning you up from the days debris. Between the hours of 11 and 1, your liver is especially active at detox, unless you’re still awake. Then you get hungry because of the increased metabolic fire that’s intended for detox. So sleep, especially before midnight is very important for cleansing
My challenges lately have been not taking enough time for fun and sleep. That’s why I started this challenge. I’m making progress, but as you’ll see below. I’m not perfect yet.
My report card from yesterday:
1- bed by midnight - I had so much to do with the WISH summit, Balance My Body Program and private client follow-up that I missed my deadline and made it to bed by 1:30am. Still, a lot earlier that I’d been doing before this challenge started. Progress, not perfection is my motto. The important thing is my awareness is there and I am not unconsciously staying up too late. Plus I feel so energetic at midnight.
2- running in the sun - it rained here so running up and down stairs was the best I could do
3- 15 minute fun break - my fun was creating a kelp noodle lunch!
4- 2 quarts green smoothie - this is easy for me by now. I love my green smoothies
My commitments for today
1- get out for a run in the sun (its sunny again)
2- finish writing a chapter in my new book
3- bed by 12:30 – I am being realistic here…knowing what needs to be completed
4- Green smoothies only ’til dinner
Are you joining the 3 day green detox challenge? What are your goals? What are you committed to today? Comment below and be sure to sign up here to be notified whenever I post a new article here so you don’t miss anything.
Subscribe to Dr. Ritamarie’s Creating Vibrant Health Blog
Love, health, joy and happy green detox to you.
(how appropriate that we begin on Saint Patrick’s Day, the day of the green.)
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, chronic fatigue, Cleansing Programs, detoxification programs, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exhaustion, fatigue, fatigue symptoms, fun, green smoothie, Raw Foods, sleep
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30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: The Importance of Managing Your Stress
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 16, 2010 – -Sleep is important. Fun is important. Diet is important. What’s as or more important than all of these in creating vibrant health? Giving your adrenals a rest!
Adrenal exhaustion has become an epidemic and it contributes to so many chronic health challenges.
There are lots of techniques for 
transforming stress and rebuilding your adrenals. Nothing is as profound as the power of appreciation. One of my favorites is to start and end each day by thinking about 3 things that I appreciate. Try it. Another favorite is to take a few deep breaths before each meal and tune into what I appreciate about the food I am about to consume.
My friend and Book Doula, Dr. Liz Alexander, wrote a fascinating article about walking meditation using labyrinths as a method of transforming stress and supporting your adrenals.
Tune into where you feel stress in your body, and learn to notice early warning signs. Support yourself, nurture yourself, have fun and eat green. You’ll soon find yourself with more energy than you know what to do with.
My report card for Monday:
1- bed by midnight. Yikes – I really Blew it Sunday night…better Monday. I had a lot of catch up to do and I took time for fun and exercise, so I made the choice to stay up later than I should have ( 3AM /12:30 AM ) . I could feel the difference Monday morning, although my energy came back pretty quickly
2- finish writing a few projects that are close to completion – Success here!
3- fun time with kids, who are off school for spring break – Spend some time with my 11 year old
4- running in the sun – yeah. It was warm again today! I love running when it’s warm.
My commitments for Tuesday:
1- bed by midnight.
2- running in the sun
3- 15 minute fun break
4- 2 quarts green smoothie
Commitment for at least one day this week: Get to bed by 10 PM and see if it is really as good as it’s cracked up to be!
What about you? What are you committed to?
Post below in the comments section.
This week we’re having a contest. I’m offering a prize to whoever posts the most this week…genuine commitments and report cards. The prize for the winner is an e-book and audio recording.
Wishing you lots of Love, Health and Joy (and sleep, too)
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, appreciation, Book Doula, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, Exhaustion, fatigue symptoms, livingfoods, Liz alexander, Raw Foods, stress
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles, Chronic Stress, Exercise | 2 Comments »
Day 14 of the 30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: Exercise, Vitamin D and Antidotes for Chronic Fatigue
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 15, 2010 – -What do chronic fatigue, belly fat, depression and hormone imbalance have in common?
Exercise, sleep, fresh air, sunshine (vitamin D) and fresh foods. A deficiency of any or all of these can create imbalances in hormones and blood sugar irregularities that lead to persistent belly fat, fatigue and depression. So what do these have to do with the 30 day fun and sleep challenges? Plenty! Most people I talk with feel fatigued much of the time and would like more energy.
Lack of sleep is only part of the equation, but it can make you fat. Researchers have found that lack of sleep can cause decreased leptin levels. Leptin is a hormone that regulates your appetite. As a result of not getting enough sleep, you’ll find yourself more hungry and you’ll find it challenging to control the amount you eat. This leads to blood sugar imbalances, insulin resistance and increased belly fat. Insulin resistance results in fatigue after eating, rather than increased energy, which means you’re less likely to exercise. It’s quite the vicious circle.
While I have not been as good as I had planned at writing these blog posts daily, I am pleased to admit that the reason why I haven’t had the time to write the blog posts daily is that I have been fulfilling my commitment to get to bed as close to midnight as possible. Thus, I am sleeping more. As a result of sleeping more, I’ve also been exercising more. A double win! There have only been a couple of later than midnight bedtimes, and that was because I chose to sit in the sauna before bed.
If my lack of posting has in any way effected your commitment to the 30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge, my apologies. I am committed to resuming writing daily, and have it scheduled in my calendar.
Our weather in Austin has finally become warm and sunny! I’m very happy about that. The mornings have still been cool…40′s, but the afternoons are in the 70′s and 80′s. So I have been out for a run in the sun most days this week. It feels great.
I am usually very consistent with exercise…as consistent as I am with food. When the weather got so cold and cloudy for so long, I got out of the habit of running first thing in the morning, and some days, time and obligations got away from me and I found my exercise dwindling.
In addition to getting your daily dose of vitamin D on sunny days, exercising in the fresh air offers so many benefits. Exercise is super important for hormone balance, weight management, increasing your energy and overcoming fatigue. It’s also good for your heart, your mood and your immune system. Fresh air and exercise are a dynamic duo, so get outside and move as much as you can.
My blog post back in the fall about exercise and burst training is a good one to review for some tips.
My report card for the last few days:
1- getting to sleep at or around midnight: Excellent
2- exercise: excellent
3- writing my blog posts: fair
4- Having fun – good. I’ve spent a lot of time with family and have had some friend fun too.
My commitments for Monday:
1- bed by midnight.
2- finish writing a few projects that are close to completion
3- fun time with kids, who are off school for spring break
4- running in the sun
Commitment for at least one day this week: Get to bed by 10 PM and see if it is really as good as it’s cracked up to be!
What about you? What are you committed to?
Post below in the comments section.
This week we’re having a contest. I’m offering a prize to whoever posts the most this week…genuine commitments and report cards. I’ll post the prize on Tuesday.
Wishing you lots of Love, Health and Joy (and sleep, too)
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, chronic fatigue, depression, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, Exhaustion, fatigue, fatigue symptoms, Living Foods, livingfoods, Raw Foods, raw foods diet, raw foods recipes, sunshine, Vitamin D
Posted in Articles, Fatigue Treatment, Fitness, Vitamin D | 2 Comments »
Adrenal Fatigue, Depression and Illness: The Sleep and Fun Connection (Day 9)
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 9, 2010 – -I work with a lot of people who are struggling with adrenal fatigue and depression. It’s almost an epidemic in our world today, and if you stay up with current events, watch the news and read the newspapers, there’s a good chance that you’re experiencing some adrenal fatigue symptoms and heavy mode as well. The media thrives on shifting people into fear mode. Fear sells. When you are fearful, the part of your nervous system called the sympathetic nervous system takes control, getting you ready for fight or flight. In this mode, your heart rate increases, your blood pressure increases and your digestion shuts down. The aftermath is fatigue, nutritional deficiencies and depression.
I just wrote a very detailed article for Purely Delicious magazine about stress, fatigue and burnout. It will be published soon.
When you’re burning the candle at both ends, you are much less able to deal with stress. To compound the problem, when stress levels are high, you have a tendency to sleep less, because stress can cause insomnia or frequent night time awakenings.
And of course, taking time for fun goes out the window in times of stress because of the perception that there just isn’t “enough time”.
My commitment for this month is to incorporate more fun and sleep into my life. Yours may also include eating balanced meals, eating more slowly, becoming more conscious when eating. These are all VERY important and I support you in your commitment.
So try this. Before you begin to put food into your mouth, stop. Take a nice deep breath. This alone is enough to shift you out of your sympathetic nervous system – remember–the system that causes your digestion to slow way down. Then take a few seconds to appreciate the food you are about to consume. Think about where it came from, how it was prepared, how it will nourish every cell. Only then, begin to eat, staying conscious of each forkful.
No kidding, it will take some focused effort to do this! Yet the time and attention to conscious eating, appreciative eating, is well worth it!
Go ahead and give it a try, and post a comment about how it went for you.
Join me on Wednesday March 10 at 12:30pm CST for my Blog talk Radio Show: Creating a Vibrant Life, during which I’ll reveal 5 strategies for balancing your mood through food. www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-ritamarie
My Report Card for Monday:
1- Green Smoothie – 2 quarts Done
2- weight training exercise Done
3- bed by 11:30 (how daring of me!) maybe even earlier a little later – 12:20
4- write a chapter in my new book did the research but didn’t complete the chapter
5- quality time with the kids – family conflict rather than quality time…
Commitments for Tuesday:
1- run 3 miles
2- bed by midnight
3- Drink 1 quart of green smoothie
4- drink 1 cup veggie juice
How about you? What are you committed to today?
Let us know. Post your comments below.
Love, Health and Joy to you,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, Cleansing Programs, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, fatigue symptoms, Living Foods, livingfoods, Raw Foods
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles | 1 Comment »
Committing to Your Health: Day 8 of the 30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 9, 2010 – -Wow. This commitment thing is really working for me. Even though I haven’t been 100%, I’ve been close and making commitments keeps the sleep issue in my awareness. I made a conscious decision to stay up late to finish my work for a call on Saturday. I could have chosen to go to bed at midnight and gotten up early in the AM to finish, but I know myself too well to even begin to think I’d be ready for that. I think better late at night than early in the AM. Maybe next month I’ll be ready to sleep from 10 til 4, but not yet.
One of my readers, Joz, sent me this very interesting article on sleep, that I thought I’d share.
TWO HOURS OF GOOD SLEEP BEFORE TWELVE O’CLOCK IS WORTH MORE THAN FOUR HOURS AFTER TWELVE O’CLOCK. E.G. White 7 Manuscript Release p 224
10 PM to 2 AM . This is a crucial period of time during which most of the body’s energy is used for CLEANSING, REBUILDING AND REJUVENATING the body. The liver receives most of the energy and conducts an astonishing range of activities. These include the supply of vital nutrients to all parts of the body, breaking down of noxious substances and keeping the blood clean. In addition, the liver cells produce bile at this time, which is needed to digest food, particularly fats, during the following day. Another important function of the liver during this time is to synthesize proteins, which serve as the main building blocks of cells, hormones and blood constituents.
The liver requires all the energy it can get to fulfill these and many other responsibilities. This can only happen sufficiently if you SLEEP between the hours of 10 and 2. If you use up the nighttime energy for eating or for mental and physical activities, the liver is left with too little energy to do its extremely vital work. The kidneys also need energy during this time period to filter the blood plasma, and keep the body fluids balanced and blood pressure normal.
Although the brain makes up merely 2 % of our body mass, it normally contains more than 25 % of the body’s entire BLOOD SUPPLY.
However, during this phase, 10PM to 2AM, much of the blood moves from the back of the brain to the liver, to give it what it needs for purification tasks. If you are mentally or physically active at this time, the liver doesn’t receive enough blood to work with, so it can’t cleanse the blood sufficiently.
This results in the accumulation of toxic material in the blood stream. If toxins keep circulating in the blood, they will settle in the interstitial fuild (connective tissues) of organs and systems, thereby rasising acidity and damaging them, including the liver itself. High blood toxicity can and does lead to secretions of stress hormones, brain fog, and injured capillaries, arteries and heart muscles. Most heart disease is the result of a poorly performing liver that is unable to remove all toxic, noxious substances from the blood on a daily basis. If we do not give the liver the energy it needs to conduct the most basic physiological activities, we sow the seeds of illness throught the body.
For adults, the most important process of cleansing and renewal occur during the 2 hours of sleep before midnight. During this period, you enter a dreamless state of sleep where oxygen consumption decreases considerably, which results in profound rest and relaxation. The benefit to your body of this single hour of deep sleep is approximately equivalent to that derived during the three or four hours after midnight, when the oxygen consumption rises again.
Doctors at the University of California at San Diego have found that losing a few hours of sleep not only makes you feel tired, but also can affect the immune system, possibly impairing the body’s ability to fight infections.
Thanks Joz!
SO My report card for the weekend:
Saturday and Sunday fulfilled my FUN quota. I ran around the lake, visited for hours with a friend, played games with my 11 year old, had a date with my husband, spent time in the hot-tub with my husband, watched my teenage son’s learn hockey skate lesson and ate delicious raw food.
As for sleep,I made it really close to midnight on Saturday and Sunday. I was a little late Sunday because I felt driven to lie in the far infra red sauna for a half hour.
My commitments for today:
1- Green Smoothie – 2 quarts
2- weight training exercise
3- bed by 11:30 (how daring of me!) maybe even earlier
4- write a chapter in my new book
5- quality time with the kids
How about you? How was your weekend? What are you committed to today?
Let us know. Post your comments below.
Love, Health and Joy to you,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: digestion, fatigue, fun, liver detoxification, raw fods, sleep, sun
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles | 2 Comments »
30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: A Big Day of Fun Goes a Long Way Towards Happy Adrenals.
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on March 7, 2010 – -What a day! I had intended to get this posted this morning, but time escaped me. Between making breakfast for the kids and preparing for my Balance My Body webinar, I ran out of cycles.
After messing up on several of my comittments yesterday, I made up for it today! Seems FUN was taking the brunt of my unfulfilled commitments all week, but last night and today really made up for it.
After the Balance My Body webinar, I drove my son (or rather he drove me!!! He has his learner’s permit) to a friend’s house then went downtown to our beautiful hike and bike trail and did a 4 mile run around the lake.
Afterwards, I went to whole foods and bought some lovely vegetables. I was on my way to pick up my son and his friend frm the movies, when my husband called and let me knw that he could do it. So I stopped by Borboletta’s, one of Austin’s raw foods cafes, which recently changed management, to check out the changes. Low and behold, I ran into one of my students who’s become a dear friend. We sat and chatted, while eating drinking green smoothies and eating delicious raw and living foods, like kale salad, for hours.
I put in a couple of hours of work and now I’m off to hottub with the family and then go to bed.
A successful self care day on all fronts!
Here’s my report card for Friday:
- Exercise 30 minutes - FLOP – all I did was a few minutes of weights
- Fun: Quality time with my husband – a date for dinner at Beets Cafe! Yipee. It was great. We had a lovely dinner and good conversation.
- Water – 8 cups Success
- Get myself signed up to take the Vibrant Health Mindset Course and recommit to my own goals. Didn’t quite makt it and will move this to tomorrow.
- Bed by midnight – Superflop. The evening out and a 2 hour excursion with my almost 16 year old son took time from a commitment I had to make. I taught a webinar class thsi morning for my Balance My Body group, and needed to prepare the case studies, and get everything set up, plus I needed to finish the maintenence Plan for the 6 week detox, as promised. Thus I got to bed at 2. I did sleep until 8 so this is still a better night’s sleep than I was getting last week. Progress not perfection.
Saturday’s Commitments…made this morning but posted in the evening:
- Fun – 30 minutes
- Exercise – longer run – 4 miles
- bed by midnight
- Hot-tub or Sauna before bed
How did you do yesterday? What are your commitments for today? Comment below.
Enjoy!
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, green smoothie, livingfoods, Raw Foods
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