Keeping the Body's "Toolbox" Full

By Aja Uranga-Foster, Certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach


Does your body have a complete "tool box" to repair wear-and-tear and fix urgent problems? Micro-nutrients are the "tools" in your body's "toolbox" for repairing damage and wear-and-tear. 

Think of your body as a house, and the micro-nutrients are the essential tools to fix things. If there is a leaky pipe in your "house," you run to the garage to get a wrench out of the tool box. If the wrench isn't there, then the floor may get soaked and damaged! Mold, replacement floor boards, and other problems can happen because of the un-repaired leak. So it goes without saying that having a complete set of "tools" in your "toolbox" is essential! 

Natural foods packed with micro-nutrients are one way the body fills its "tool box." Micro-nutrients include vitamins, amino acids, antioxidants, and enzymes. While proteins such as meat and dairy are important for many healthy body types, the main food source for micro-nutrients are plants such as fruits, vegetables, and legumes (beans). 

But in today's busy lifestyle, it is often difficult to get the best fresh natural foods for your body at every meal. This is why having a complete micro-nutrient supplement is important to help you maintain your long-term wellness goals. 

After a long search for a great supplement, Mighty Mind & Body has teamed up with Thrive: Educate Train & Inspire. Thrive created a convenient and delicious supplement, Thrive Complete, to help you reach your wellness goals and keep your "toolbox" full. It is packed with the goodness of natural greens complex, vital amino acids, vitamins, and minerals essential for optimum mind and body performance.
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As part of a healthy diet, the Thrive Complete supplement is a great way to ensure you meet your daily needs for micro nutrients, which are essential for maintaining a balanced mind and body.  How do micro nutrients help the mind too? Your mind is part of your body, and your mood and thoughts are affected by what "tools" are available in your "toolbox," too!

For more information and to purchase the Thrive Complete supplement, please click here.

Purpose-Made Creatures

By Aja Uranga-Foster, Certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach

As friends of mine know, my fiance and I are "parents" to a chameleon named Mingus Panqueques, a.k.a. "Mingi". A chameleon is not to be confused with an iguana, which many who meet him often do. Mingi is a veiled chameleon, bred and born in a sanctuary in Los Angeles. His species is from the middle east region of the world, and he is naturally suited to warm, humid weather. As chameleons are known for, his body color and shape changes with his mood-- he is literally like a living, shape-shifting mood ring. He is a reptile, sheds his skin, and eats various bugs and the occasional plant. He is smart, responsive, and adaptable. And he is adorable in his own little reptilian way.

While I do love to brag about my "baby," that is not why I am writing this blog post. I am writing it to introduce you to him so that he can be a vehicle for learning. Just from hanging around Mingus for a few minutes, everyone who meets him says the same things: "He is so cool!"  "Look at how he climbs...how his eyes move around... how he shoots his tongue out to eat!" 

To me, all these comments point to how amazingly adapted he is to his purpose. His purpose of climbing in trees, of looking all around for bugs to eat (and look out for predators), and of grabbing these bugs quickly from far away. He is a marvel of specialization with his fused toes, his sling-shot tongue, and his bubble-eyes that swivel independently. Even his brain is specially adapted to have two independent parts, one part can sleep while the other processes information and looks out for predators. Amazing!

Check out these photos of him, and then please view more of the article below.

 Mingus on the windowsill. He expands his body into 
a pancake shape to absorb the sun's rays.

Mingus at my desk

Mingus in his "playtime" tree

Mingus (and all chameleons) looks and acts so differently than us humans, and even differently from other animals many people ever encounter. 

Another thing people always say about him is, "He looks like a little alien!" This alien nature is a gift because it makes us stop for a moment, stare at him, and realize how special and amazing living beings are. 

Every one of us are specialized and made for a specific purpose. His is climbing trees and eating quick-moving bugs. 

Question: What is your specialized purpose?

Mingus can't talk-- he has no voicebox. He occasionally makes small hissing sounds to get our attention or express his distaste about having to go back in his terrarium after playtime. But other than his small and occasional hisses, all we can do is watch how he communicates through movements. Watching how purposefully he climbs his branches, how perfectly he aims and fires his elastic tongue at bugs, how he looks at us with his swivel eyes. The gift he gives us is a visual representation of his purpose.

Us humans do not always seem to be as purpose-made as Mingus is. Yes, we do see athletes who are clearly born with natural physical and mental traits that drive them to excel in the purpose of their sport. 

And there are people with certain other obvious skills equipping them for their purpose. Some examples are people with wonderful social skills (such as public relations managers, special event managers), imitation skills (such as comedians, actors), coordination and decisiveness (such as surgeons, construction workers), or compassion and multi-tasking (parents, crisis outreach workers). 

Question: What are your specialized skills?

Ponder these two questions above for yourself: 1) What is your specialized purpose, 2) What are your specialized skills? 

Do the answers come easily? For many people, no. Many people have multiple purposes throughout their life, which can sometimes make things even more confusing. 

But guess what-- just because a person may not be as obviously purpose-made as a creature like Mingus, doesn't mean they are purpose-less. We are all here to fulfill a specific niche. The bug-eating tree-climbing reptile niche is occupied by our friend pictured above. But there are a LOT of other niches looking for the special creatures to fill them. 

Start finding your niche. Try this exercise:

1) List 12 things you have special knowledge and/or training about.

2) Talk to trusted friends, co-workers, or your lifestyle coach about things you are good at. Let them list 12 things, then compare together with your list. Look for overlaps.

3) Research opportunities, network with people you know in your newly-identified niche, practice visualization techniques, and focus on affirmation exercises.

4) If you need help, contact Mighty for a free consultation! (916) 800-3866, info@MightyMindBody.com

Healing Properties in Tea

By Aja Uranga-Foster, Certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach

*This article is for reference purposes only, and is not intended to provide medical advice. Talk to your doctor or holistic healthcare practitioner about what is best for your healthcare and wellness plan.

More and more people are waking up to the fact that while modern medicine is a wonderful invention for many health needs, it is not the answer for every kind of healing. Today I would like to get you thinking about healing properties found in teas. Teas are one of many healing tools available to you.

There are many healing properties and illness-preventative properties that have been found in teas of all kinds. For example, below is an interesting article about healing properties found in caffeine-free dandelion tea (easily found by searching on your web browser) during a study on its effects on cancer cells. 

Treating illness can be very complex. So why not explore healing options now for your own personal wellness "tool kit"? Many people from cultures around the world can share information with you about illness-preventative and healing properties from teas that they have experienced in their own lives. 

Here is the article about dandelion tea:

( Re-post from http://rawforbeauty.com/blog/ )

Researchers in Windsor, Ont., have received an additional $157,000 grant for a total of $217,000 to study how effective dandelion root extract is in fighting cancer.

Siyaram Pandey, a biochemist at the University of Windsor, has been studying the anti-cancer potential of dandelion root extract for almost two years.

His team’s first phase of research showed that dandelion root extract forced a very aggressive and drug-resistant type of blood cancer cell, known as chronic monocytic myeloid leukemia, to essentially commit suicide.

Researchers then discovered that repeated treatment with low dose dandelion root extract was effective in killing most of the cancerous cells.

Those initial findings landed the research team a $60,000 grant from Seeds4Hope, which provides money for local cancer research.

Pandey then applied for continued funding from the Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation. That $157,000 came through earlier this week bringing the total to $217,000.
Pandey admits he was skeptical when he was first approached by local oncologist, Dr. Caroline Hamm, who was curious about cancer patients who had been drinking dandelion tea and seemed to be getting better.

“To be honest I was very pessimistic,” Pandey said in a statement. “She said it could be coincidental but it couldn’t hurt to see if there is anything.”

Hamm was convinced that the weed contains an active ingredient, but warned earlier this year that "it can harm as well as benefit."

She told CBC News in February that taking dandelion extract tea could interfere with regular chemotherapy, and she urged patients not to mix the natural remedy with other cancer drugs without speaking to a doctor first.

Pandey conducted a literature review and could only find one journal article suggesting dandelions may have cancer-killing properties. But he and his team of graduate students collected a bunch of the weeds anyway, ground them up with a mixture of water in a food processor and developed a simple formula they could experiment with.

They tested the formula on several lines of commercially available leukemia cells and much to their surprise, found that the formula caused those cells to kill themselves, a process called apoptosis.

“It was startling, but it was not that startling until we saw that it was non-toxic to the normal cells,” he said.

John DiCarlo, 72, says dandelion tea saved his life, after other medical treatments for his leukemia failed. (CBC News)
John DiCarlo, 72, was admitted to hospital three years ago with leukemia. Even after aggressive treatment, he was sent home to put his affairs in order with his wife and four children.

The cancer clinic suggested he try the tea. Four months later, he returned to the clinic in remission. He has been cancer free for three years.

He said his doctor credits the dandelions.

"He said, 'You are doing pretty good, you aren't a sick man anymore'," DiCarlo told CBC News in February. 

Original news story credit: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/04/20/wdr-dandelion-tea-research-grant.html