Laughter and Healing with Verne Varona

Laughter and Healing with Verne Varona

Verne Varona and Patricia Joy Becker

Verne Varona and Patricia Joy Becker

This week I had pleasure of attending the Monday Night Vegetarian Dinners in Palo Alto, CA with my friend Patricia Joy Becker. The dinner was sponsored by the Peninsula Macrobiotic Community where head chef Gary Alinder has been preparing macrobiotic meals since the group’s inception in 1987.

The Macrobiotic diet is similar to a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet emphasizing locally-grown, non-processed foods: grains, legumes, vegetables, sea-vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts and a variety of fermented foods.

In macrobiotics, any and all foods can be consumed depending on the person’s constitution and condition. A person’s lifestyle, health issues and the climate they are living in also has a strong determining factor as to what foods will provide optimum health.  Macrobiotics offers dietary and lifestyle guidelines based thousands of years of oriental wisdom.

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Vegan versus plant-based, what’s the difference?

Vegan versus plant-based, what’s the difference?

800px-Légumes_01The terms vegan and plant-based have been used interchangeably as a way to describe those that do not eat animal products. However, the two types of diets are very different.

Vegan: A vegan diet focuses on the exclusion of animal products (meat and dairy). Some vegans have strong feelings about animal rights and choose to eliminate all types of animal products from their lives, including clothing (wool, silk, leather) and personal hygiene (soaps, lotions, perfumes). They even avoid foods and other products that come from insects (honey, beeswax).

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How animal products encourage cancer growth

How animal products encourage cancer growth

no cancer signFood choices are very personal, making information that challenges the healthy nature of commonly enjoyed foods very controversial.

With the advancements in technology, new scientific discoveries are forcing us to question our fundamental beliefs about our diet and how it affects our health. If we hope to cure our society’s current health crisis, we need to pay attention to what science is telling us.

Fact: science has discovered a connection between consuming animal products and cancer.

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Laughter and Healing with Verne Varona

How to heal yourself and resolve the health care crisis – Dr. T. Colin Campbell

Dr. T. Colin CampbellIt’s no secret that the United States has a health care crisis. In this TED Talk, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University and co-author of several nutrition books including The China Study and Whole, shares his view on how we can each heal ourselves and tackle the health crisis in our country.

View the video on YouTube.

Here are some key take-aways from his talk:

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Why Juice?

Why Juice?

green-juiceWhile battling cancer, juicing was a vital part of my husband’s nutritional support system and remains an important part of our plant-based diet.

When your body has developed cancer, or any illness, it is telling you something – its needs are not being met. Your body is a compilation of complex systems that all work together in creating your experience of living. Food provides the fuel all of those interrelated systems require in order to function and maintain health. When one or more of those systems are compromised, we get sick. Reevaluating your eating habits is the first step towards providing your body with the tools it needs to fight disease and regain optimal health.

It’s all about eating consciously. Our bodies have an incredible capacity to heal and your diet is the foundational support system in that healing process. Juicing is a great way to provide your body with much needed nutrients that are easy for your system to absorb.

Juicing Facts:

Nutrient rich – When you drink fresh vegetable juice, highly concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes are easily accessible to your body as they rapidly enter the bloodstream. Juice made from fresh produce is high in antioxidants and minerals, wonderful tools in the fight against cancer. Because most of the fiber has been removed, the nutrients can bypass the digestive system and go straight to where you need them most. (more…)

Facing the challenge: breaking old habits towards a healthier lifestyle

Facing the challenge: breaking old habits towards a healthier lifestyle

Last week, I was talking with a friend who desperately wants to change her diet but can’t seem to take that first step. According to her doctor, if she doesn’t start making some changes soon, she will be destined for heart disease, stroke, chronic arthritis and/or diabetes as she moves towards her 60s. Over the last few years, she’s gained a few pounds, begun experiencing chronic joint pain, and is battling fatigue as she tries to maintain the high energy her busy lifestyle demands. She went to the doctor thinking her symptoms were signaling the beginning of menopause that hormone therapy might ease, only to learn that she is in the “high risk” category for the most popular illnesses that lead to death and disability in the United States.

My friend is not obese nor is she a junk food addict. Actually, before this wake up call, she thought she was living a pretty healthy lifestyle; she always eats a salad with meals, orders whole grains and organic meat when dining out, avoids all fast-foods, and always declines the pastries and sweets offered at business meetings and parties. However, the hidden fats, carbs, salt and sugar from the foods she has been eating, combined with her limited amount of exercise was starting to take its toll.

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