Dr. Ritamarie’s Appreciations for Today – Day 21

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Today we’re traveling back home after a  three day family visit to Chicago.

The tradition in my husband’s family is to celebrate Hanukkah right after Thanksgiving, since the entire family is gathered together.  Rather than send gifts during Hanukkah,  we prefer to give gifts so we can participate in the joy the children experience when they open their gifts.

It’s was a big gathering, including my mother-in-law, her 5 kids and spouses, 12 grandchildren and 3 spouses and 4 great grand children.

As we’re on our way back home, I reflect upon my gratitudes for today.

Dr. Ritamarie’s Appreciations for Today – Day 21

1. I am thankful for the gift of family, and the love that flows without bound.
2. I am grateful that we have the means to be able travel and spend time with family during the holidays.
3. I am extra appreciative for the gift of health and the knowledge and insights I have that allow me to stay vibrant and full of energy.

If you’re looking to experience more energy, health and joy, join me on this appreciation journey and watch magical things unfold.

Comment below with 3 things you appreciate today.

With Great Love and Appreciation,

Dr. Ritamarie

P.S. In honor of my childhood tradition, I decided to offer a “Gratitude Weekend” sale. No pressure, no competition. Simply honest savings of up to 75% on health enhancing resources to make your life more joyful and comfortable.

Gratitude Weekend is described HERE.

Go ahead, give yourself an energy boost. Comment below about what you appreciate today.

 

Tags: appreciation, Dr. Ritamarie, DrRitamarie, grandchildren, gratitude, holidays, Thanksgiving, time with family
Posted in Appreciation for Health

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The Power of Appreciation to Transform Your Health: Dr. Ritamarie’s Gratitude Journal Day 1

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Consistently evoking positive emotion and carrying an attitude of gratitude is right up there with fresh whole food and exercise in importance when it comes to restoring your energy, focus, and fitness. Yet it’s often set aside as a “nice to do when I have time” activity.

According to researchers at the Institute of Heart Math, published in a paper called “The Appreciative Heart: The Psychophysiology of Positive Emotions and Optimal Functioning” by Rollin McCraty and Doc Childre, “Positive emotions have been demonstrated to improve health and increase longevity, increase cognitive flexibility and creativity, facilitate “broad-minded coping” and innovative problem solving, and promote helpfulness, generosity, and effective cooperation.”

Wow.

In recent years, their research has concentrated on studying the effects appreciation has on your heart rhythms and understanding how heart-brain interactions affect your body, mind, and emotions.

And the message is really clear. Positive emotions, especially appreciation, trigger health enhancing changes in your body involving your hormones, enzymes, digestion, detoxification pathways, immune system and cardiovascular system.

And the good news is that you can invest just a minute a day to your “appreciation practice” and still reap the rewards.

So every day for the next 30, I’ll be publicly posting my appreciations for the day.

Join Me for 30 Days of Gratitude!

Try it!

Simply go down below to the comments box and post your appreciations for the day.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the changes in your “energy, vim, and vigor.”

Evoke appreciation before each meal, and you’ll soon find your digestion is humming and your energy is rising.

Dr. Ritamarie’s Appreciations for Today – Day 1

1. My once rebellious teenage son, Eric, now 17, is a joy to be with and is studying for SAT’s and applying to college.
2. My husband, Scott, who cleans up the messy kitchen after my many food experiments and is following along with my B4 Be Gone Program and dropping some stubborn weight.
3. My new to teenager-hood son, Kevin, who hasn’t hit the rebellious “I don’t want to be around you anymore” state, still asks me to cuddle with him at night before he goes to sleep.

It feels really good to write these things rather than just think them.

I feel like my inner radiance has tripled by writing them rather than just thinking them. The emotional state these thought evoke are powerful and invigorating.

Go ahead, give it a try and discover the magic for yourself.  Write your appreciations below.

 

Tags: appreciation, appreciation journal, doc childre, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, emotional health, gratitude journal, heart math, HeartMath, Vibrant Health
Posted in Appreciation for Health, Health Coach, Vibrant Health

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Adrenal Fatigue: 3 Tips to Make Your Weekend Count

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Adrenal fatigue is estimated to affect 80% of women at some point in their lives.  That’s 4 out of 5 women who’ll experience exhaustion of a key gland pair – the adrenals.

You’re not alone if you feel frazzled and exhausted by the end of the work week.  While our fast paced age of technology has done wonders for keeping us connected like never before, it comes with a price.

Used to be you only got your adrenals fired up when tigers and lions were chasing you.  As soon as the threat was handled, your adrenals would settle down and you’d return to a calmer and more steady pace.

When you’re at work, managing the tigers of deadlines, unhappy customers, unruly students and the abundance of stressors that frequent your day to day life, your nervous system operates from a state called sympathetic dominance. When you meditate, rest, do yoga and take time to “smell the roses”  you operate from parasympathetic dominance.

Who cares?

You need to if you desire to be focused instead of foggy, energetic instead of exhausted and  fit instead of fat.

You see, in sympathetic dominant mode, your digestion slows down, the valves between the various parts of your digestive tract tighten (leading to constipation and abdominal discomfort), and the high level thinking part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, is inhibited, your hippocampus, gate keeper of your short term memory,  gets damaged and DHEA, sometimes called the anti-aging hormone, decreases.  The end result is you feel bloated, foggy headed and worn down.

In parasympethic dominant mode, the opposite happens.  Your digestion becomes more efficient,  your prefrontal cortex is enhanced, your hippocampus repairs and DHEA increases. As a result you feel calm, clear headed and focused and young.

By you may be wondering how to lengthen your stay in parasympathetic dominance.

Start by using my 3 tips to make your weekend count.  They will put you into parasympathetic dominance and enable you to rejuvenate before starting the hectic pace all over again on Monday.

Make the weekend count by using it to regroup and give yourself the gift of self care.

1- Set aside 30 minutes for you! Go ahead and look at your calendar and schedule it in.  And KEEP the appointment with yourself.  Do something you love to do.  Take a bath, lay in the sun, read a book…just do something that’s strictly for you.  You’ll feel rejuvenated as a result.

2- Take time several times a day to express appreciation to someone, to yourself or to the universe for the blessings in your life.  Studies have shown that 30 seconds of appreciation is the most effective means of restoring balance to your system.  The Institute of Heartmath has performed dozens of studies on the benefits of appreciation.

3- Take some extra time to sweat. Yes, sweat.  When researchers analyzed the sweat of participants after exercise,  they found it loaded with toxins.  Exerting to the point of a good sweat has many benefits with regards to cardiovascular health, hormone balance and detoxification.  And surprisingly they found that the sweat after running for 30 minutes was more full of toxins than the sweat produced in a sauna. If you use your weekend to sweat away toxins, you’ll feel more focused and peaceful when you start the week again.

If you find yourself thinking, “I already know that”  in response to the simplicity of these tips, ask yourself this:  “Am I taking action?”

Many of the people I work with in group programs and individually are looking for the more glamorous solutions to their health challenges and fail to handle the underlying sympathetic dominance.

Sympathetic dominance is a real problem. No matter what herbs, supplements and foods you eat to support your tired adrenals, if you just keep forcing them to work hard, you won’t be able to restore them.  And burned out adrenals can lead to thyroid issues, hormone imbalances, insulin resistance –which contributes to excess belly fat— and chronic fatigue.

I urge you to slow down and use the weekend to restore balance.  Once you get that piece wired, we can talk about how to increase your parasympathetic dominance during the week.

To find out the impact of sympathetic dominance on your health, you can answer a set of questions, check physical signs, look at a few markers in routine blood work and even order specialized hormone tests.

In my new course, Assess Your Own Body Chemistry I teach how to evaluate for signs of nutritional deficiency and hormonal imbalance.

Love, Health and Gratitude,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, appreciation, chronic fatigue, detox, detoxification, digestion, digestive tract, Dr. Ritamarie, DrRitamarie, health challenges, heart math, HeartMath, hormonal imbalance, nutrition, self care, supplements, thyroid, tired
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Stress, Detox Program, Exhaustion, Fatigue Treatment

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Happy Mother’s Day: Raw Foods Recipe for Coconut Parfait

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Did you honor your mother today? If you’re a mother, did you honor yourself?

For me, today was a lovely day. I honored myself this mother’s day by giving myself a day off. Yes, it is now 9:30 PM and its the first time I’ve gone to my computer all day! And the only reason I’m here now is to connect with YOU.

Mother’s day is a day that can be celebrated by EVERYONE. I personally don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a mother. Do you? Even if you don’t know your mother, have a less than wonderful relationship with her or, like me, have a mom who is no longer present in the physical realm, Mother’s Day is still a holiday to celebrate. Your mother gave you the gift of life.

I wish my Mom was still here so I could express my appreciation to her for all she gave me. While I can no longer give gifts to my mom to show my appreciation, I can express gratitude nonetheless. And I can give a gift to you instead.

Here’s a delicious new Coconut Pudding Parfait recipe I made for the first time on Friday evening.  My son’s almost 12 year old friend raved about it. He’s never had pudding other than the boxed sugary kind his mom makes him and he was delighted that mine tasted so good and was good for him too.

Coconut Pudding Parfait

by Dr. Ritamarie

Ingredients

• 2 young Thai coconuts
• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder or carob powder or 1/8 cup of each
• 1 teaspoon vanilla, powdered or extract, or 1 vanilla bean
• pinch of whole unrefined sea salt

Directions

1. Open the coconut  (there are lots of you tube videos on how to do this).
2. Reserve the liquid, scoop out the flesh and put the coconut flesh into your blender.
3. Add 3/8 cup dates, 1/2 cup of the reserved coconut water, vanilla and salt.
4. Blend until creamy and smooth.
5. Add extra liquid if needed.
6. Spoon 1/2 of the pudding into a bowl.
7. To the remaining pudding in the blender, add the cacao powder, remaining dates and about 1/4 cup of the coconut water.
8. Blend until smooth and creamy.  If it’s too thick add extra coconut water to desired consistency.
9. Into a glass dessert dish or small wine glass, spoon 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate pudding, then 2 tablespoons vanilla and then another 1-2 tablespoons chocolate.
10. Top with a cherry or berry and serve.

My second Mother’s Day gift for you is a 50% off coupon for any digital product on my website. There are e-books, audio recordings, videos and combination products, all geared towards balancing your body and creating vibrant health.

All the products are listed here:

http://drritamarie.com/EBookOrderForm.htm

the coupon code is MOTHERSDAY

It’s only good for 24 hours…it expires at midnight eastern time on Monday May 10.

I’m still basking in the joy of the day. What a treat to be honored and appreciated.

My family let me sleep late….until 10AM!  My soon to be 12 year old son Kevin climbed into bed with me to cuddle! Wow. I was then showered with flowers, gifts, and beautiful cards. Eric, my 16 year old chose a card that brought tears to my eyes.

After the gift giving, we all sat down to a delicious brunch, including fresh coconut water and a green smoothie!

If you’re a mom of teenagers, you know how special it is to get the whole family together for a meal. We did it twice today…brunch at home and dinner at a favorite Indian restaurant, where I feasted on salad with coconut chutney as dressing.

Well, I’m off to finish my day off with a soak in the hot-tub with my hubby Scott.

Remember to head over my product page for your 50% off coupon.

http://drritamarie.com/EBookOrderForm.htm

the coupon code is MOTHERSDAY

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

P.S. Comment below and let me know how you honored and were honored for Mother’s Day.

Tags: appreciation, mom, Mother's Day, raw cacao, raw coconut pudding, raw foods recipes
Posted in Gluten Free Diet, Raw and Living Foods

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30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: The Importance of Managing Your Stress

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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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, Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, Sleep for Vibrant Health, Vibrant Health

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