Omega 3 Fats – Support for Your Immune System, Adrenals and Fatigue

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

1. Soak the first 4  ingredients in 2 cups of water.
2. Once it’s thick, stir in the alst 3 ingredients.
3. 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.

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

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

Day 14 of the 30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: Exercise, Vitamin D and Antidotes for Chronic Fatigue

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

Adrenal Fatigue, Depression and Illness: The Sleep and Fun Connection (Day 9)

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

30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: A Big Day of Fun Goes a Long Way Towards Happy Adrenals.

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:

1. Exercise 30 minutes - FLOP – all I did was a few minutes of weights
2. 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.
3. Water – 8 cups Success
4. 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.
5. 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:

1. Fun – 30 minutes
2. Exercise – longer run – 4 miles
3. bed by midnight
4. 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