Let the Sun Shine In!

Exercise: 2.2 mile morning run with ecstatic sunshine
Breakfast:
1/2 cantelope chunked with unsweetened shredded coconut sprinkled on it
Lunch:
Manna Fruit and Nut Bread sliced with raw almond butter "schmeared."
32 ounces of water
Do you want to know one secret to staying warmer in the wintertime? Go running outside!
This might sounds completely implausable, but is sort of similar to the homeopathic concept: Give your body an essence of the thing it typically responds to with aversion and it will thrive.
The last couple of years, having gone back to running outside all winter long, my body heat has really stepped up to warming and protecting me from the elements.
Dressed in light layers topped with fleece, I run every day, usually in the early morning. Lately, I've done some 5:30 AM runs under the stars, which is an extraordinary experience. I get to view the constellations pre-dawn as they light up the night sky with twinkles and streaks. Today my run was at the civilized hour of 9:00 AM; yesterday at noon. It all depends on my schedule, but I do what I need to in order to run, because my entire day shifts mentally and physically from this ritual.
I am always filled with energy and vibrance after my run and throughout the day. I can feel the cells in my body waking up, stretching and shining. My mood lifts upward, and most importantly, I am not cold later in the day, even if the temperature drops.
I've built a "relationship" with the cold air; I honor it by breathing it in and it honors my body by becoming my friend.
You don't have to be fast (I'm not) and you don't have to be an expert. You only need to have a desire to be happier in winter and a willingness to try a new approach. If you've ever listened to runners talk about running and wondered what it would be like to try, I say, it's your time to run! If you are just starting out, run slowly (sometimes called jogging!) for 15 minutes with intermittent walking. Increase your time or distance by ten percent each week. Eventually, you will build up to 45 minutes outside.
The vitamin D we get from those 45 minutes outside (and even the 15 minutes) is enough to feed your body and soul with sunshine. The reason we need to take so many vitamin D supplements is because we've developed a fearful relationship with the sun. It's ok to have protection in the strong sun of Summer, but start to build up your body's natural immune system by integrating sunshine. The winter sun is a great place to begin, as the sun's relation to the earth has shifted, and it's perfect for letting the sun caress your face without sunscreen. When I run and it's dark out, I still believe that I get "starshine" on my face. I'm illuminating my body with the sky's healing powers.
In the cold, I have a face mask, which covers my whole head and neck, leaving an opening for my face. In very cold days, I can pull the mask up over my nose and face; in warmer weather, I expose my whole face while keeping the extremities warm. When we cover our hands, head and feet well, we insulate our bodies from the cold.
Some other wonderful outdoor exercise for winter is snow shoeing. You step your hiking boots right into your snow shoes, which have "crampon spikes" on the bottom, and you can walk into feet of snow and ice. It is quite beautiful, as you become part of the winter wonderland; a truly magical world.
Even if you think this sounds really impossible, try it for one week; just one week. I used to be cold from the end of August until April, never getting my body to be able to quite warm up. Compounded with underactive thyroid, I was freezing! Not only that, I was a candidate for SAD (Seasonal Affect Disorder) spectrum lighting, because my whole mood would lower during the winter. Now I no longer have hypothyroidism because of the food and lifestyle changes I made throughout the years. I consider winter an extraordinary time of contemplation, hibernation and introspection. At the end of last year's snowy winter, when I heard people saying, "No, not one more snowstorm," I found myself thinking, "this isn't so bad. I could go for another month of Winter!"
Write in and let me know how this experiment goes...I welcome your comments and personal stories.
Warmly :)
Hope and The Holistic Empire

Letting go of Sugar Addiction

My Food:
Breakfast:
1 banana mushed with 2 tablespoons raw crunchy almond butter, shredded coconut and cinnamon; so nurturing!

20 ounces Nettle herb infusion in water; adaptogen herb to fortify and nourish the body

Lunch:
salad with romaine, cabbage, carrot, daikon, cuke and dulse with nutritional yeast, olive oil and Herbamare

Snack:
3 dates rolled in coconut

Snack:
2 bricks of Two Moms in the raw goji berry granola

Dinner:
1 banana

20 ounces Oatstraw herb infusion in water; nourishing herb for the body

For many years in my early years of practice as a Health Counselor, I gave talks that incorporated the addictive nature of sugar, and how it imbalances the blood sugar like a pinball machine, spiking our energy up and then radically lowering it; even when we may not feel it. My focus was really on processed sugars; you know, the stuff that starts out as a whole food (beet plant and sugar cane) and then goes through ten or twelve steps of refining and processing to become the white powdered substance in our sugar bowls. All the sugars with "natural" names; Florida Crystals, Sugar in the Raw, brown sugar, turbinado sugar; Splenda, maltose, dextrose, glucose, sucrose; I spoke about all of them. And then I would speak about whole food sugars; maple syrup, honey, brown rice syrup, agave and black strap molasses; the sugars that did not deplete our bodies by creating an acid environment and leaching calcium from our bones.
That being said, sugar is sugar in that it still taps into the cellular memory stored in our bodies that has kept us craving sugar for years.
The source may be healthier for our system than processed sugar, but sugar is still addictive in our body's memory. Sugar is also inflammatory and can trigger Candida (yeast). By the way, both women and men can get Candida. Often when you feel bloated and gass-ey alot, this is what is happening in your body; look to your sugar intake, your dairy intake and to how much water you are drinking each day (remember, do not consume your water with your meal, as it impedes digestion; have a nice big Mason jar in the early morning to really hydrate, and bewteen meals).
Paul Nison just interviewed a 108 year old man on his show, "The Raw Life Health Show," and when asked what the key to health and longevity has been, one of his responses was that he does not eat sugar and stays away from it.
So, you all know I've stopped my nighttime eating, right? And you know that eating involved my raw desserts, right? Well, here's what I noticed tonight: I felt like a Heroin addict without her drugs! I had to "white knuckle" the feeling of craving and hunger. This tells me that the sugar was splaying far too an important role in my body, and especially at night when it wasn't having a chance to properly assimilate. This, of course, has me know that it is definitely time to let go of that nighttime eating. Thankfully, my body always tells me.
Please write in and tell me what you notice in your relationship with sugar...