10 Natural Ways to Ease PMS

Yesterday I was possessed. Not by some mythical creature, alien life form, or demon from the depths of Hell...well maybe it was a demon. (Men keep reading...this information could save your life too)

I should start by saying I've become a pretty patient person, but please don't ask my husband to confirm that. Actually, for a woman living in a household with 4 boys (yes the hubby is included in this count) I should get Sainthood for all the shenanigans I have to put up with.

I deal with never-ending piles of clothes on the bathroom, bedroom, and family room floors. I barely make a peep about the sticks, balls and Legos that I pick up each day, only to have them "mysteriously" reappear in another room minutes later. I've even gotten used to repeating what I just said 4 times without going to my "Black Momma" voice. ("White Mommas" have this voice too, it just requires a little less neck movement)

N-E-WAYS....the point is, I almost never lose my cool, until about 12 hours before my monthly fertility reminder comes to town, and stirs up a whole bunch of shit.

Last night it was like some ranting and raving lunatic had taken over my body and I could barely keep it together. Little things that I would have shrugged off sent me flying into the stratosphere, crashing back down to crazy Bitchville (which is not nearly as zen as Granolaville).

I could see myself being an utter nutcase, but somehow couldn't stop it. PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who has had these moments? If you haven't experienced the cramps, headaches, bloating, sugary cravings, depression, or high-flying mood swings than consider yourself lucky.

It is estimated that 50% of ALL women experience PMS, or premenstrual syndrome. That's a whole lot of unstable, doughnut eating ladies!

While not everyone shares the same PMS symptoms, it can be difficult for most women to find relief.

NEVER FEAR! I was a Googling freak this morning trying to find easy and natural ways you can deal with this stressful time and hopefully NOT have it end in your kids toys being thrown out, or your husband sleeping on the couch, indefinitely.

10 Secrets to Easing PMS

1.   Steer clear of sugar. Giving in to your sweet tooth could result in hypoglycemia, which is an abnormal drop of sugar in your blood once the tasty treat has left your system, leaving you feeling more irritable and lethargic than before.

2. Avoid alcohol. I know knocking back a glass of wine, or a Baily's Irish Cream with milk (not that I would know) might seem like a good idea to relieve stressful feelings, but since alcohol is a depressant you might end up feeling worse than you did. Also, "it disrupts the liver's ability to metabolize hormones, which can lead to higher-than-normal estrogen levels."

3. Stay away from salt. Eating foods high in sodium can increase water retention, causing bloating and breast tenderness.

4. Move your body. Aerobic exercise causes a release in happy hormones called endorphins that can help elevate your mood.

5. Get some rest. Interrupting your normal sleep pattern can make your fuse shorter than normal. Make sure to get a proper night of rest, some of these tips may help.

6. Calcium. Women with low levels of calcium have been shown to have a decrease in symptoms when taking this supplement.

7. Chaste Tree Berry. This South East Asian herb is very popular in Europe for reducing breast tenderness

8. Magnesium. This mineral naturally occurring in foods like black beans, peanuts, broccoli, and spinach has been shown to improve mood swings.

9. Evening Primrose Oil. This little flower has many uses, including aiding in ripening the cervix to induce labor, but for PMS it seems to only be backed up by anecdotal evidence of its efficacy. Never the less, many women throughout the world swear by its benefits.

10. St. John's Wort. For centuries, the flowering plant St. John's wort was used as a health remedy in Europe. Today, St. John's wort is best-known as a treatment for depression.

Do you have any secret remedies for easing PMS?

Regaining My Sanity in Granolaville, 

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P.P.S. For personalized support throughout your pregnancy check out Soulfueled Mama!

Natural Mom Monday: Holistic Fertility Healing

Conceiving a child is one of the most miraculous and exciting events to occur in many couples' lives. But for  6.1 million women in the US facing infertility issues, the process can be emotionally and physically trying.

In an age where you can determine the gender of your child through sperm manipulation, have a woman be the vessel of your already fertilized egg, and the term "too posh to push" has become a part of the collective zeitgeist, it would not be unfounded to conclude that conceiving a child has become the first stop on a train of unnecessary medical interventions.

Couples are willing to do just about anything to have a "natural" child. However, it becomes painfully ironic when they seek treatments, injections, and hormonal manipulations-- conceiving their child is anything but natural.

IVF, or in-vitro fertilization, has become the immediate answer for those facing difficulty getting pregnant, or maintaining a pregnancy. But with success rates only around 30-35% in women under the age of 35 and a recent study published in the journal Human Reproduction showing that women who received IVF treatment were 2 times more likely to have ovarian cancer, perhaps we need to reevaluate our approach.

Julia Indichova is doing just that.

Nearly 20 years ago, after being diagnosed with an "untreatable" hormonal condition, 42-year-old Julia Indichova was told by doctors that she would never have a child of her own. Refusing to believe that this was the end of her journey she began to look outside the medical community to find a way to have the child she dreamed of. Not only was she able to have a healthy pregnancy and baby, but today she is a sought after author and leads workshops in Woodstock, NY,  helping hundreds of couples achieve their own impossible dream through a Fertile Heart.

 Your first book Inconceivable was based on your own personal experiences?

Yes, in 1992, at the age of forty two, I was diagnosed with an allegedly “untreatable” hormonal problem,  At the time I went to see a number of reproductive endocrinologists and pretty much all of them agreed that my that my last good egg was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it.  I think the most upsetting part was that they said it with such certainty; it paralyzed me for along time. But looking back, in many ways the fact that the medical world pronounced me untreatable, was really my saving grace.

How so?

It was the first time in my life that I dared to have an opinion on a medical condition that was different from that of the authority figures, experts and even more importantly, I followed through on that opinion by acting on it. In some way it feels as though that was the first time I really started to do my own thinking. And soon enough I was immersed in the most exciting research project in which I was the lab and the subject of the experiment, and the head of the project. In Inconceivable I wanted to take the reader through that experience with me--the progression from total despair to a place where I started to trust myself, and how that eventually led to conceiving my daughter without medical intervention.

Could you describe some of the things you did that helped you conceive?

It began with experimenting with food. Pretty much overnight I went from being a sugar and caffeine addict to juicing every morning. I started to become more and more aware of what I was putting in my mouth, and why, whether the food on my plate was going to help my body get stronger, or was it something that will deplete me of energy.  That part was easier than I would’ve thought, mostly because I could see changes almost instantly. 

The emotional and spiritual piece of the work took a lot more courage.  It meant admitting to myself that as much as I longed for another child, I had a lot of “inner orphans” that didn’t think I deserved to have what I longed for, orphans that I later realized have been stopping me from moving forward in my life for as long as I could remember. I did a great deal of soul searching and later developed specific imagery and body work,  that helped me change those self-defeating inner images I’ve lived with for so much of my life. And gradually I changed my views on what was possible.  I realized that I had a lot of power to create changes in my body and in my life.  And amazingly later I found that the same tools helped hundreds of other women to work through their inner obstacles. 

What prompted you to write the Fertile Female?

After Inconceivable was published, women from around the world – Australia, South Africa, Denmark – began to write to me.  Many of them used Inconceivable as a guide and now had miracles of their own and many others were asking for more guidance. The Fertile Female documents the work that emerged in response to those letters. It’s an in depth exploration of the tools I teach in the Fertile Heart ™ Conceptions workshops and weaved into the narrative are the many stories of the women I worked with. The book also has a detailed practice section with recipes, imagery exercises, guidance for dream reading, and movement sequences.

Could you give us an example of working with some of these tools?

Fertile Heart ™ Imagery is a very specific way of working with images, quite different from the popular "visualization" techniques, many of which are focused on relaxation. It is is about using images to identify the inner obstacles that contribute to our difficulties.  It’s an effective way to change our inner reality, to recognize destructive behavior and self-defeating beliefs that so many of us live with without realizing it. For example, there is an exercise I call The Room of Fear, which helps people access hidden fears of pregnancy, or parenting. One of my clients who was adopted at birth, found that she had a lot of unresolved painful feelings about her own birth. As she allowed herself to move through those feelings and started changing her inner reality she conceived naturally after five years of unsuccessful medical treatment.

Body Truth ™ is also about physicalizing inconvenient feelings of anger, frustration, hopelessness, because it takes a great deal of energy to keep such emotions from surfacing.  Sometimes we need to experiment with the movement before we can access the feeling. We’ve been conditioned, many of us, to view anger or rage as an unacceptable feeling. As they get expressed and released, a great deal of energy becomes available to create new life.


The idea of the mind body connection, of staying positive and reducing stress has become more widely accepted. How does the Fertile Heart work incorporate those principles? 

There seems to be a great deal of confusion around the principles of mind body connection, and positive thinking. The term itself is confusing. There really is no mind body connection because there’s never been a mind body separation. So many people I meet say, I know I’m suppose to be positive  but I can’t help feeling this treatment isn’t going to work and  it’s going to be my fault. Real healing happens when we create a safe space to hear whatever truth rises up in us at any moment.  Labeling our feelings as positive and negative means that is some way we are going to stop ourselves; that we will censor what we feel.  

The Fertile Heart work is about allowing ourselves to be as truthful as we can and then choosing to act in our own best interests, to be militantly on our own side no matter what. When we don’t do that, the Truth will find expression through our dreams, or through physical symptom, or through events that will suddenly present themselves.  And the treatment might fail in part because we become so “clenched” and spend so much energy on pretending that we’re “positive” thinkers. It’s true that we have enormous power as co-creators, and it’s important to harness our co-creative ability, but it’s a much deeper and more mysterious process than just “being positive.”

 What are your thoughts on the fertility industry?

Technology is an immensely powerful tool, but like any tool, it depends on how we use it. In what I call the “Infertility Industrial Complex” the line between medicine and business is obscured.  Almost daily there is some new “breakthrough” procedure that lures people into thinking that it will save them. The promise of a ‘quick fix’ from an outside powerful authority figure, and the panic of the racing biological clock drives women toward desperate action. 

They’re reaching for a miracle cure, without truly understanding the myriad of causes that can delay conception. And when the first treatment fails, what they walk away with is “wow, if I couldn’t get pregnant with all this help, there must be something really wrong with me. 

Very often it’s a message that’s reiterated by their physicians, and gradually it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I see women taking hormone stimulants for as many as seven, ten, even twenty treatment cycles. They keep thinking the next one will work. The long term effect of these drugs is still largely unknown.

How do you explain the fact that so many of the women you’ve worked with conceived naturally after years of failed high tech treatment?

A desire for a child is also an immensely powerful motivator. The baby is for many of us that one shiny apple we will do anything to reach.  What I aim to do is encourage people to directly experience and observe how much power they have to create change in their bodies, and how much the hidden images they carry, influence their hormone levels and biology. 

Once they begin to really see it for themselves, they become inspired to do more. And many of them overcome incredible odds, often after years of failed treatment.  But as wonderful as it is for me to see women conceive, the essence of the work is to make sure that this challenge doesn’t leave them feeling victimized, or bitter. 

The central piece of my work is to inspire people to discover that they can turn this difficulty into the absolutely best thing that ever happened to them, regardless of the outcome.

It sounds like the tools you describe can be used to birth not only a child but anything ?

Absolutely, these were the same tools that helped me birth the two books, and the website, and pretty much everything else in my life.  A few years ago, I’ve begun to teach workshops that are about other creative endeavors. We humans are the greatest untapped resource  on earth, and this is the time when we can no longer allow it to remain untapped. 

For more information about Julia Indichova and her Fertile Heart workshops visit her website.

Taste it Tuesday: Ginger, It's Not Just a Stripper Name, It Can Actually Benefit Your Health

Until recently the closest I ever got to ingesting ginger was when I had a hangover or morning sickness....or both. Just kidding. I only had a couple of boxes...I mean glasses of wine my whole pregnancy.

But seriously I had no idea what the real deal smelled like, or even looked like. If you put a chunk of it in front of me I would have wondered why there was tiny tree branch on my plate. Then I attended a Holistic Moms Network meeting where the topic was juicing, and my view of ginger completely changed.

Dr. Josh, a local Chiropractor, holistic dad, and all around cool crunchy dude, went through the basics of juicing. He explained the benefits, showed us how the machine worked, and then it was time for a taste test.

He put in pretty normal stuff: an apple, carrot, some leafy greens, and then the curve ball...a nugget of this golden root looking thing, GINGER.


I was a little like, " Hmm I wonder how THAT'S going to taste." But I rolled with it anyway, figuring if it was awful I could just pass it along to my toddler who drink or eat just about anything.

I took a quick swig. Wouldn't you know that fruity, veggie, ginger juice concoction was damn good! SO good in fact, I haven't juiced since then without throwing in a bit of ginger goodness.

This ancient spice is beneficial for a whole lot more than just kicking your juice up a notch. Not only has it been used for centuries in China and East African countries, but western science is finding proof that it has serious healing abilities.

Here are 9 ways Ginger can benefit your health:

1. When brewed in tea it can stop a cough, open up your stuffy nose, or alleviate a sore throat.
2. A study at the University of Michigan found that when applied to ovarian cancer cells the ginger powder caused the cells to die.
3. Next time you are on a boat or a REALLY long car ride, try drinking ginger powder mixed with a glass of warm water to help with nausea or dizziness.
4. Ginger has powerful anti-inflammatory properties which can help with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
5. Taken as a tea it can relieve heartburn as well as morning sickness
6. A recent study at the University of Minnesota found it slows the growth of colon cancer cells.
7. It can promote intestinal gas, a common relief for gastrointestinal distress.
8. When ingested, the heat from the plant can cause your body to sweat. That sweat contains germ fighting agents secreted through your skin which can offer protection from harmful bacteria.
9. The oil from ginger root can be rubbed into achy muscles, improving circulation and blood flow

Here are some easy ways to incorporate ginger into your meals via World's Healthiest Foods:

• Turn up the heat while cooling off by making ginger lemonade. Simply combine freshly grated ginger, lemon juice, cane juice or honey and water.
• Add extra inspiration to your rice side dishes by sprinkling grated ginger, sesame seeds and nori strips on top.
• Combine ginger, soy sauce, olive oil and garlic to make a wonderful salad dressing.
• Add ginger and orange juice to puréed sweet potatoes.
• Add grated ginger to your favorite stuffing for baked apples.
• Spice up your healthy sautéed vegetables by adding freshly minced ginger. 

Do you use ginger at home? Got any recipes? Share them below!

Spicing Things Up in Granolaville,

 

 

Wellness Wednesday: Taking Charge of Seasonal Allergies With Acupuncture

Seasonal Allergies

Spring is here, and with the warmer weather upon us allergy related symptoms can make it difficult to enjoy. Seasonal allergies, whether in the spring or fall, affect roughly 35 million Americans each year as the pollen from trees, grass, flowers, and plants makes its way into the air.

That's a staggering amount of people who typically get a prescription from their doctor or over-the-counter remedy to ease their pain/annoyance. Conventional medicine's answer to itchy eyes, sneezing, runny noses and respiratory inflammation usually entails an arsenal of antihistamines that can make you drowsy and do very little to combat the allergic reaction, or prevent it.

There is a growing trend to utilize a more holistic approach to treating the symptoms of seasonal allergies. Among those is traditional Chinese acupuncture, which has been shown to not only clear symptoms of allergies, but also help the body come into balance: clearing the underlying condition causing allergies and improving overall health.

The practice of inserting tiny needles into specific points on the body has been used in China for over 2,000 years, but in recent times has grown in popularity here in the U.S. Its purpose is to balance the flow of energy or life force — known as qi or chi (chee) — believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in your body. Western medicine uses the technique a little differently---by stimulating nerves and muscle which can boost blood flow and be used as a natural painkiller.

All allergies, including seasonal manifestations, are a "sign of an imbalance in the immune system. Balancing and strengthening the body can be the best thing to decrease or even rid oneself of seasonal allergies altogether", according to Natural News.

There are two ways of using acupuncture to relieve seasonal allergies: the branch and root treatments. Branch treatment emphasizes on the allergy related symptoms that occur during the height of the season. Needles are placed usually on the head to combat watery eyes, throat, and sinus pressure. By opening the channels in those meridians, acupuncture is able to restore the proper flow of energy that is blocked.

Root treatment focuses on "strengthening the immune system, or the "root," also referred to as "The Righteous Qi."  By taking an in depth history of the patient an acupuncturist can determine the underlying causes of the allergic reaction, bring balance to their total physical health and stimulate the body to naturally heal itself.

A study published in the September 2004 issue of Allergy Magazine, stated the effectiveness of acupuncture was shown to have great promise as a treatment for seasonal allergies and recommended its use with herbal remedies.

As with any health issue, consult your physician and do your own research regarding all your natural options.

I've never tried acupuncture. Have you and did it help?

Praying for no sniffles in Granolaville,