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My 2015 Gratitude List (What Are You Thankful For?)

11/22/2015

I've written before about the importance of gratitude for happiness and well-being - and even health. Indeed, many modern thinkers agree that gratitude is the key to abundance. Even Jesus said thanks before receiving!

As we near the end of the year, the Thanksgiving holiday gives us the perfect opportunity to look back over the past year and reflect on the things we are thankful for. This year has had its share of challenges, but I still appreciate all of the wonderful blessings I have received, and in the spirit of the season, here are 4 things I'm grateful for in 2015!

Please feel free to share your own "thanks-giving" below as well - we'd love to hear what you're thankful for this year!

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The Anti-Diet: How Intuitive Eating Can Make You Healthier & Happier

9/20/2015

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As I've mentioned before, one of the most important things you can do for your health is to learn to listen to your body. By doing so, not only will you learn a lot about what your body needs, but you will easily and even automatically begin to make healthier choices in many areas of your life.

One of the main areas that many of us struggle with in modern life as it relates to health is eating. We are constantly surrounded by unhealthy foods, which means that making healthy food choices takes conscious effort - it's not automatic anymore. There is also a lot of conflicting information out there about what "healthy" even means when it comes to eating. Should you avoid red meat? What about fat? Do you have to buy everything organic just to be healthy? Is vegan the way to go? Should you be eating gluten-free?

It's no wonder so many of us give up and spend most of our lives overweight or even obese!

But what if we could find a way to make it easy to choose what to eat, and completely change our love/hate relationship with food? What if we could relax in the knowledge that we actually can automatically choose the foods that our bodies need and want, without any guilt or stress?

If you've read my post mentioned above about listening to your body, you may know where I'm going with this, but even I did not realize there is actually a term for it.

It's called "intuitive eating," and it just may be the end of all diets, and the one way that we can finally turn our destructive relationship with food around once and for all.

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4 Ways to Live a Longer, Healthier Life

9/7/2015

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In addition to building a strong immune system, as we discussed last week, you also need to do what you can to keep your cells young if you want to stay healthy. While your cells die constantly, the new cells your body builds to replace them can either have "young" characteristics, or behave like older ones, which accelerate aging in the body.

If you want to live longer and have more healthy years, you need to take steps to keep all of your cells healthy. After all, no one wants to live more years if those years are to be spent sick and in pain, right? A good, happy life is more about quality than quantity when it comes down to it.

Here are 4 simple things you can do to live a longer, healthier life!

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Health Is Your Natural State

8/23/2015

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Today I wanted to clear up something that has been bugging me for some time. It's perhaps a touchy subject in some ways, so I will do my best to be clear that I'm not pointing fingers at anyone.

Rather, I am attempting to point out a common error in thinking, which is leading our country down a dangerous path when it comes to the topic of health and disease. Luckily, the choice is up to you....

Which path will you choose?

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The Agricultural Con Game

7/13/2015

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Decades ago, when people said "farming", the "organic" part went without saying. But during the second half of the last century, massive food producing conglomerates collectively now known as "agribusiness" have changed the way that we look at, purchase, and consume food.

As if this weren't bad enough, they've somehow managed to convince us that artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified foods are the only way our planet can survive.

The truth, in fact, is just the opposite!

In reality, if we want to survive as a species, it's only a matter of time before we will find these modern methods completely unsustainable. (Hopefully, we'll figure this out before it's too late!)

Here are the 7 things that make our current model of industrial agriculture unsustainable, and what we need to do in order to fix this mess:

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How Healthy Are You - Really?

5/25/2015

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I've noticed something interesting about our weekly email updates that we send out to our subscribers. Whenever we send one that focuses on something like improving relationships, or financial balance, fewer people open the update than when we send one that directly addresses a specific physical health topic like healthy eating, or fighting disease.

From a marketing standpoint, you might say that in that case, it would be better not to focus on those topics. But this defeats the purpose of our main premise of holistic living - that is, that everything is connected!

While most people may think that being healthy simply means eating foods that are good for you, and getting enough exercise, in fact, we feel that True health goes much deeper than that.

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Are You Dying of Lack of Sleep?

4/26/2015

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There is a seriously dangerous health problem in our society that almost no one talks about. It contributes to the development of many modern diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and more. It increases stress, and decreases productivity. It makes you grumpy, short-tempered, and self-destructive, and can harm your relationships with your spouse, friends, kids, and co-workers.

The good news is, there is a cure. And best of all, the cure is totally free!

The bad news is, despite the "cure" being free, readily available, and around since time began, more and more people are affected by this deadly health problem every day. Don't be one of them! Here's how this problem affects you, and how to solve it.

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3 Smart Ways to Use Your Tax Refund to Get Ahead Financially

4/19/2015

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Whew - taxes are done, and now it's time to celebrate with the tax refund that's hopefully on the way, right?

As we have discussed in the past, if you're getting a large tax refund every year, you might want to adjust your withholdings. After all, it's your money - what's the sense in giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan every year? (It always surprises me how many people seem to look at a tax refund as a free gift from the government.... You do realize it was your money that you earned to begin with, right? That's why it's called a "refund.")

That said, many people will receive a tax refund of some kind this year, so if you're one of those people, what should you do with that "extra" money?

Sadly, some of you probably have spent it already before it was even received. But if you would rather not let your refund get gobbled up by bills and shopping, it helps to have a plan in place ahead of time for what you are going to do with that money, and there are several things you can do with it that can actually help improve your overall financial picture in the long term.

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Homesteading Update: April Showers Bring...Spring Fever

4/6/2015

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The current swamp/site of future pond.

As brutal as parts of this winter were, it's hard to believe it's actually April already! Winter shook us like a dog with a rat, then rather suddenly lost interest and went away....

Now the sun is shining, trees are budding, and sap is rising - and I am chomping at the bit to be out in the garden! Only, I can't, because the "garden" is basically a swamp....

Hot with excitement to get out the tiller, build beds in our newly roped-off garden space, and plant asparagus, fruit trees, veggies, and more, our lofty ambitions were dashed last week when we checked the forecast and realized rain was predicted nearly every day for the next 10 days. :-(

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Everything Is Awesome

3/8/2015

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I'm not sure if it's the hint of spring in the air this week, or the fact that we switched to Daylight Savings Time today, but the past few days I keep going to sleep and waking up with that Lego movie song in my mind.... Although the ground is still frozen (and mostly covered with snow), that won't last long, as we are expecting a week near 50 degrees for the first time in... I don't remember how long! While it's still too early to get out and start working on the new garden, at least there is hope in the air. And I have been in a much more positive frame of mind as a result - or perhaps just because lately I've been counting my blessings and realizing just how many there are....

In late winter sometimes it's easy to forget to be grateful, but I am reminded just how important it is to be grateful for all of the wonderful things we are given. I lately ran across an email about this really fun and amazing exercise called "100 Gratitudes," and thought I would share it with you today, as gratitude is one of the most powerful positive forces in the universe, and it's one that can literally change your state of mind for the better in an instant.

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