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According to the timeless beauty Audrey Hepburn, “Happy girls are the prettiest girls.” But what constitutes a happy girl? It turns out making smart lifestyle choices will help you look and feel younger. It’s easy to believe that it doesn’t matter how we treat our skin, that a quick trip to the dermatologist’s office can fix all of our sins. But beware: 21st century living is taking its toll, and you can’t Botox away a lifetime of abuse.

Here are some modern bad habits that are making you look old before your time.

Netflix and Chill
Too much TV and lying around can have an adverse effect on your health as well as your skin. The most recent research shows that the optimal amount of exercise for increased longevity is 150 minutes a week, with 20 to 30 of those minutes being vigorous workouts. Exercise leads to higher bone density, as well as staving off diabetes and heart disease. And that means a healthy, youthful glow for a long, long time.

Your Daily Latte
Caffeine is a diuretic, and it dries out the skin, making you look more like a prune than a young nymph. The general water guideline for adults is six to eight glasses a day. But if you’re drinking a lot of coffee, you’ll need more. Try an extra cup of water and a serving of fruit for each mug of joe.

Facebook
According to the latest research, it’s not the use of social media that causes stress, but the general awareness of the problems in other peoples’ lives that makes our frown lines grow. In other words, we are sympathetic to the pain that other people are facing, and that in turn stresses us out. And the first place stress shows up is all over our face. Be sure to take care of yourself before helping others: It’s time to close the laptop.

Donuts
If you want your skin to be smooth and bright, a lifetime of overeating sugar is one of the worst things you can do for it. Sweets can damage the collagen and elastin fibers in your skin, making it appear older than its actual age. You’ll see the effects start at age 35, and get worse over time. The good news is, it’s all reversible; use skincare products with retinol to rebuild collagen.

All-nighters
Sleep is crucial to keeping your skin looking young and radiant. Not only does a lack of shuteye induce signs of premature aging, but it also makes skin less resilient to environmental damage from UV radiation. Another side effect: poor sleepers are more likely to be obese. While good sleep can elude us in our modern world, you have to make it a priority. It’s crucial to looking and feeling good.

The post How to Break the Bad Habits That Age You Most appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

For new mothers, finding community is crucial. As beautiful and delicious as new babies may be, many women feel alienated in those early days (weeks, months) of parenthood. Longstanding ties to professional identities and friendships with non-parents are put “on hold,” and navigating the world with a little bundle of baby always in tow can be confusing.

Traditionally, women had the built-in support network of mothers, sisters, or lifelong friends who lived nearby. As more women choose to delay motherhood until later in their lives and careers, or live away from their families and hometowns, that traditional support has become less common. This is why finding, creating, or joining a mommy group is crucial.

A good mommy group will help you figure out if your baby is colicky (or just messing with you) and what that weird stain on your leggings might be. They’ll also recommend the lightest breast pump for commuting, and which stroller is best for icy sidewalks versus throwing in the back of the car. Most of all, though, a great mommy group will offer support, friendship, a cold glass of white wine at 2pm, and a comforting text back at 2am.

I found my mommy group by answering a posting on my local parenting listserv. The seven women saved me. Actually, that’s not true: We saved each other, laughing and crying all the way home.

Here is a beginner’s–even a shy beginner’s–guide to starting a group of like-minded mamas.

Start when you’re pregnant, if possible. When my group and I met for the first time, I was 20 weeks pregnant. The other women were a little further along (my daughter Clara is the youngest of the group’s babies). Getting to know each other before our lives turned upside down meant that we met as people first, before we were Official Mothers. This was especially important when we were at our most sleep-deprived and unreliable in that “fourth trimester” of our babies’ first three months. We might plan a coffee shop rendezvous for noon, but then would straggle in an hour late, stressed out. If we hadn’t already known that we were all otherwise competent, considerate, compassionate women, we might not have trusted that the group was working.

Another reason to start building community pre-Bébé: the last few months of pregnancy are not… delightful. There are all sort of weird aches and pains, fears, and anxieties. The mommies in my group were pregnant through the hottest summer on record in New York. Knowing we were not the only rashy and dehydrated pregnant ladies in the world was enormously comforting (and at that point, we were enormous). Plus nothing tastes better than an iced latte when its 96 degrees and you’re drinking with a friend who also feels like a manatee.

Don’t worry about what you may have in common other than the babies. Unless you want to.

Seriously, you don’t need to have the same professions, politics, socio-economic or marital statuses, race, or sexuality to befriend other mamas. My group started with the commonalities of babies in our bellies and about a mile radius between our apartments. My husband compared it to freshman year, when you might meet your best friend that first weekend of orientation, and still be roomies in your twenties. We were all starting new together; our lack of previous attachment to each other was freeing.

However, if the group you want to start is based on a professional, spiritual, or cultural commonality, go for it! Social media—whether Facebook, meetup.com, or a local parenting listserv—is also a great way to find or start a group. One of the strongest groups I visited in the course of writing my book was a Bodyback workout class in Northern California—all they had in common was the desire for rock-hard abs. Also remember: No matter how often you mean to meet, you are more likely to communicate via email, text, or social media. And there is truly nothing like having five people to write to at 3am when your baby just. Won’t. Go. Back. To. Sleep.

Be honest if you want the group to last. For new mothers, there is no such thing as TMI.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from women who have been unsuccessful in finding a mommy group that feels like a fit is, “People weren’t real. I felt like the only one in the room who was having a hard time.”

If you feel as if the women you’ve just met aren’t breaking the ice, do it yourself. Ask hard questions, or just tell them how you’re feeling. Worst-case scenario, you never see these women again, so no big deal. Within my group, enough of us had enough problems—postpartum anxiety or depression, financial worries, developmental delays, even divorce—that none of us felt self-conscious sharing true confessions.

But really, the day-to-day details bonded us before the big stuff even came up. And with a new baby, day-to-day is often… gross. Your engorged breasts will feel like rocks when your milk comes in, and then will squirt like geysers across the room. You’ll want to share the fascinating rainbow-colored contents of your infant’s diapers with all of your friends. And speaking of poop, how about that your own first post-birth effort might rival labor on the pain scale? Let’s not even get started on when you finally try to have sex again (two words: patience and lube). Everyone is thinking the same thing anyway.

What happens in Mommy Group stays in Mommy Group. Ugh, I guess I’m guilty of breaking this last rule, big time, because I wrote a book about my group! But: I did it with their permission, encouragement, and (most important) support. By the time I began to write our story, we were no longer in the throes of early parenthood (the babies in the book are all “big” kindergarteners now). Still, in those early days, feeling as if these were women I could trust with my fears and secrets (why does my C-section scar still hurt? Sometimes my baby looks more like my mother-in-law than I imagined possible. Am I a good mother?) was crucial.

Ultimately, any group is only as strong as its participants. Reach out, support each other, and find the love. You’ll be a better mother for it—and a better version of your post-baby self.

The post 4 Tips for Starting and Joining a Mommy Group appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

This healthy make-ahead recipe will give you a great head start on your daily meals. From The Stash Plan.

1 cup short-grain brown rice
1/4 cup wild rice
3 tablespoons plain Greek organic yogurt
3 cups water
1/2 cup broth (chicken or beef)
1 teaspoon salt
4 different-colored bell peppers
1 carrot
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. The night before, place rice in a glass bowl. Add yogurt and 1½ cups of water. Mix and leave on the counter overnight. (This ferments the rice so it’s easier to digest.)

2. The next day, rinse the rice in a strainer until the water runs clear. Place the rice in a 4-quart saucepan. Add broth, 2 cups water, and salt. Cook on high until the rice begins to boil, then reduce flame to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir, then allow to cool.

3. Preheat over to 350°F. Cut off tops of peppers and core them. Wash out seeds. Mince carrot, onion, and garlic.

4. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan, then add carrot, onion, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add brown rice, then cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

5. Stuff rice mixture evenly into peppers. Place peppers on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes.

6. Allow to cool, then transfer to a glass container.

The post The Stash Plan Recipe: Stuffed Peppers appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

Retirement means more free time to do the things you always wanted: pick up a new hobby, spend more time with the grandkids, golf to your heart’s content. But how do you need to adjust your spending habits to make those dreams happen? It turns out there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone. Learn how to rightsize your budget to fit your needs in How to Make Your Money Last.

I wish there were some quick rules of thumb for making retirement money decisions. Good rules exist for the young and middle-aged: live on less than you earn, increase the amount of money you save every year, stay out of debt, use tax-favored retirement accounts, and invest for the long term. All the rest is ruffles.

When you leave the workforce, however, universal maxims go out the door. Every person and couple is unique. Your financial choices depend on such things as your health, your age when you left work, whether you’re married or single, your spouse’s or partner’s age and health, whether you have a pension, how good your health insurance is, how much (or little) you’ve saved, how much planning you’ve done, whether your retirement was voluntary or forced, whether one of your kids (or a parent) needs financial help, how much debt you’re carrying, how you feel about investment risk, whether you can (or want to) work part-time, and how easy (or hard) it is to match your spending to your means.

Managing your spending is key. Nothing matters more to the financial success of your retirement. The stock market isn’t going to save you if you’re burning through money. You can search for better investments later if you want. But first, pay attention to rightsizing your life.

Rightsizing means finding that happy place where the annual income you expect for the rest of your life matches (or exceeds) your annual cost of living. That’s not always easy to do or, if you’re a big spender, to accept. But once you’ve achieved that balance—emotionally as well as materially—you will find yourself at peace. You’ll know that you can afford your life.

The post How to Rightsize Your Retirement Budget appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

FitBit’s bad year just got a whole lot worse. Amid lawsuits that the heart rate monitor mechanism on the FitBit was giving inaccurate readings, which then threw off other statistics like daily calorie burn, Fitbit‘s stock plunged almost 20% Tuesday February 23, 2016 after the company announced late Monday that sales and earnings for the […]

Do you start the day in a good mood, only to have it slink into darkness by 11 a.m.? You may have “energy traps,” patterns you’ve developed that increase the amount of stress and negativity in your life. Learn how to identify and eliminate them from your life in Body Intelligence: Harness Your Body’s Energies for Your Best Life.

An energy drain is anything that depletes your energy. For example, you might find that speaking with a specific person or taking a certain medicine on a particular day drains you of the energy you need for that day. An energy drain may be a one-time thing or it may evolve into an energy trap. Energy traps are patterns you have developed (or are developing) that take away your positive energy and mess up your daily activities.

An energy trap can also be a situationally specific pattern—for instance, maybe you take a drink of alcohol (or an energy drink) every time you have an issue that requires careful consideration. But the negative effects of these drinks are numerous and include fatigue, lack of creativity, and serious health conditions. Make yourself aware of your energy traps so you can plug these drains and keep good energy flowing.

To illustrate this, let’s look at Audrey’s energy traps. Like most of us, she has several. Hers are:

• Anger—she experiences toward her partner
• The radio
• Coffee (more than just one morning coffee, as well as an afternoon coffee break)
• The internet (checking Twitter and the Dow)
• Negative thoughts (related to timeliness)

Notice her energy use throughout the day is almost entirely what we refer to as a type A personality or left-brain stuff. This is a high-stress, draining way to go. And it can become a dangerous trap because it is energy consuming and shuts off your energy pipelines of higher mind and spirit. Notice, too, that Audrey does very little to rebuild her energy reserves. This all contributes to her fatigue and irritability and traps her there without relief. When this type of pattern snowballs, it is detrimental to your overall physical and mental health, as well as your feelings of flow and purpose.

The post Stop The Energy Drain: Find Your Traps and Banish Them appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

What makes my ribollita a bit different from the rest is that I always toast my torn, stale bread until it is deep golden brown, very nutty, and fragrant. From Everyone is Italian on Sunday.

SERVES 8 TO 10

Also, I add a rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to the stock or the soup itself, and (as I do with minestra and minestrone) I puree half the beans to give the broth some weight. The total weight of the dried beans for this soup should be ¾ pound.

1/2 cup dried borlotti beans
1/2 cup dried cannellini beans
1/2 cup dried chickpeas
2 onions: 1 halved, 1 quartered and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic: 1 smashed, 3 chopped
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bulb fennel, trimmed, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced
1 leek (white and light green parts only), halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into half-moons
2 carrots, chopped
2 medium or 3 small ribs celery with leafy tops, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh
thyme leaves
Pepper
3 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 small head green or savoy cabbage, chopped (2 to 3 cups)
1 bunch lacinato kale (also called black, Tuscan, or dinosaur kale) or Swiss chard, stemmed
and chopped
2 cups passata or tomato puree (see tip)
Rind from a small wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly grated nutmeg
6 slices (1 inch thick) peasant-style white bread, cut into coarse cubes or torn
Thinly sliced yellow or white onion, for serving
EVOO, for serving
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving

Soak all the beans overnight in a large bowl with enough water to cover. (Or, quick-soak the beans: Place them in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water by 3 inches. Let stand for 1 hour.) Rinse the beans and transfer them to a pot. Add fresh water to cover the beans by 3 to 4 inches. Add the halved onion, smashed garlic, bay leaves, and rosemary and bring to a boil. Salt the water, reduce the heat to a low boil, and cook until tender, 35 to 45 minutes.

Discard the rosemary and bay leaves. Measure out and set aside half the beans. With an immersion blender, puree the remaining beans and cooking liquid in the pot (or transfer the beans to a blender and puree in batches).

Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, heat the oil (4 turns of the pan) over medium to medium-high heat. Add the fennel, leek, carrots, celery, sliced onion, chopped garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the stock, cabbage, kale, passata, reserved beans, bean puree, Parm rind, and some nutmeg. Adjust the seasonings. Bring to a bubble, then reduce to a simmer.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the bread on a baking sheet and toast until deep golden. Add the bread to the soup.

Serve in warmed shallow bowls topped with sliced onion, a generous drizzle of EVOO, and grated Parm.

TIP
Instead of store-bought passata or tomato puree, you could make this with 2 pounds of tomatoes, peeled and diced.

TUSCAN RIBOLLITA
This vegetable and stale bread soup is a Tuscan staple. Ribollita is said to be “done” when a soup spoon can stand straight up in the soup—which can happen because the bread swells in the rich broth, making
the soup (already thick with stewed vegetables) support the spoon. My favorite ribollita, other than the soup I prepare with the bounty of our garden, is the ribollita at Taverna del Grappolo Blu, a small
restaurant in Montalcino, Italy.

When you prepare ribollita, you must serve it according to tradition. The soup is always garnished with shaved or thinly sliced onion and dressed with a drizzle of good-quality EVOO. The next day, this soup can be so thick that you can fry patties of it like mounds of hash browns. John likes his topped with basted or over-easy eggs.

Photo by Frances Janisch

The post Everyone Is Italian on Sunday Recipe: Ribollita appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

Between the upcoming election, crazy weather, and raging flu season, you may be feeling like your whole life is out of balance. Have you considered alternative medicine as a means to center your life? Perhaps the words Reiki, chakra, and tincture excite you, even though you’re not sure exactly what they mean.

These books will guide you on potential new paths of healing. Learn the methods that different groups and cultures have used for centuries to ease pain and suffering. Go all-in or take it with a grain of salt—the choice is yours.

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How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can: A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body, and Spirit

by Amy B. Scher

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Using energy therapy and emotional healing techniques, How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can shows you how to achieve complete and permanent healing by loving, accepting, and being yourself no matter what. Energy therapist Amy Scher presents an easy-to-understand, three-part approach to removing blockages, changing your relationship with stress, and coming into alignment with who you truly are.

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Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal

by Anthony William

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Anthony William, the one and only Medical Medium, has helped tens of thousands of people heal from ailments that have been misdiagnosed or ineffectively treated or that doctors can’t resolve. He’s done this by listening to a divine voice that literally speaks into his ear, telling him what lies at the root of people’s pain or illness and what they need to do to restore their health. His methods achieve spectacular results, even for those who have spent years and many thousands of dollars on all forms of medicine before turning to him. Now, in this revolutionary book, he opens the door to all he has learned in over 25 years of bringing people’s lives back: a massive amount of healing information, much of which science won’t discover for decades, and most of which has never appeared anywhere before.

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Ayurveda: Asian Secrets of Wellness, Beauty and Balance

by Kim Inglis

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Discover India’s age-old beauty secrets through the ancient wellness regimen known as Ayurveda.Healing therapies are clearly explained and illustrated with lovely photographs that bring to life the benefits of this 5,000-year-old Asian medical tradition. Treatments and practices from India’s other healing systems—Unani, Siddha and Tibetan traditional medicine—are also included in the book. With sections devoted to various meditation and yoga practices as well as natural beauty treatments for hair, face and body, Ayurveda: Asian Secrets of Wellness, Beauty and Balance is an enlightening introduction to holistic health systems with ultimate spiritual goals. Discover Indian beauty secrets and information on healing with metals, minerals, crystals and gemstones as well as mendhi (henna) and chakra alignment. Includes a helpful listing of ayurvedic hospitals, homestays and treatment centers.

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Complete Book of Traditional Reiki: Practical Methods for Personal and Planetary Healing

by Amy Z. Rowland

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A comprehensive guide to the hands-on healing techniques taught to practitioners in a traditional Reiki I class • Discusses Reiki’s origin and purpose, the attunement process, and the many physical and emotional states for which Reiki can provide healing support • Includes step-by-step photographs of the basic hand positions Reiki practitioners direct universal energy into the physical body through hands-on and energy-field healing to support the client in recovering health and reclaiming well-being. An easy-to-learn form of energy medicine, Reiki is becoming commonplace in such conventional settings as hospitals, hospices, and psychotherapy practices because it relaxes, relieves stress, reduces and eliminates pain, accelerates healing, and helps support the gentle restoration of the body’s natural balance. It is a unique healing art in that it can be learned by anyone, with no special knowledge of anatomy needed. The Complete Book of Traditional Reiki takes the reader step by step through a traditional Reiki level I class. It discusses Reiki’s origins and purpose, describes the attunement process by which a student is imbued with the power to channel life-force energy, and gives complete instructions for the basic and advanced healing hand positions. The first book to serve as a teaching manual, an extensive reference work for students, and compelling reading for those considering taking a Reiki class, this updated edition includes new information on the history of Reiki and the Reiki principles and features never-before-published photographs and a translation of the Usi Memorial in Japan, a tribute to the founder of Usui Reiki.

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Stone Medicine: A Chinese Medical Guide to Healing with Gems and Minerals

by Leslie J. Franks

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A comprehensive manual for using crystals, gems, and stones to address physical, emotional, and spiritual health conditions• Includes an extensive Materia Medica detailing the healing and spiritual properties of 200 crystals and stones based on Classical Chinese Medicine• Explores the role played by the color of each stone, its Yin and Yang qualities, crystalline structure, chemical composition, and topical and internal applications• Explains how to make stone and crystal elixirs, wear stones as healing jewelry, use them in massage and energy work, and cleanse and recharge them• Based on the oral teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, a Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School (88th generation) mastersIn addition to herbalism and acupuncture, Chinese Medicine has a rich tradition of using stones as medicine, passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. In this comprehensive guide and extensive Materia Medica, Leslie J. Franks presents the Stone Medicine teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, an 88th generation Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School, which dates to the Han dynasty, 206 BCE.Detailing the therapeutic properties of 200 gems, stones, minerals, and crystals, Franks begins with an extensive look at 15 different forms of quartz, followed by chapters on transformative stones, protective stones, nourishing stones, source energy stones, and alchemical stones. She explains the physical, emotional, and spiritual conditions each stone can treat and how their color, form, hardness, and energetic qualities affect us according to Chinese Medicine. She discusses how to make stone and crystal elixirs for internal and topical use, how to charge quartz with the healing properties of other stones, how to cleanse and recharge a stone after use, and how to combine stones to create healing formulas for individual conditions. She explains different techniques of wearing stones as healing jewelry and how to use them in massage and energy work. She examines the chemistry and sacred geometry of crystal structure, revealing how the minerals contained in the stones affect our physiology by supporting our Jing (Essence); by nourishing Qi (energy), blood, and fluids; and by clearing Wind, Cold, Damp, and Heat conditions that can lead to disease. Including a thorough primer on Traditional Chinese Medicine and backed by modern scientific research, this book explains how stones access our deepest layers, vibrating ever so slowly, to initiate deep lasting change.

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Craniosacral Chi Kung

by Mantak Chia and Joyce Thom

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Craniosacral therapy and Chi Kung practices to harmonize emotions, release chronic tensions, and optimize the flow of energy • Provides illustrated instructions for movement exercises, breathwork, self-massage, and emotional intelligence meditations to free the flow of energy in the body • Reveals clear parallels between the craniosacral rhythm and the flow of chi • Explains how to release energetic blockages and emotional and physiological knots, activate the energetic pumps of the 3 tan tiens, and tap in to the Cosmic Flow Exploring the connections between Western craniosacral therapy and Chi Kung, Taoist master Mantak Chia and craniosacral instructor Joyce Thom detail movement exercises, breathwork practices, self-massage techniques, and focused meditations from Taoist and other wisdom traditions to release and harmonize the flow of energy in the body and optimize our potential for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The authors link the craniosacral rhythm–the gentle flow of cerebrospinal fluid from the head (cranium) to the tailbone (sacrum)–and the flow of chi throughout the body, circulated by the pumps of the three tan tiens. They explain how these subtle energetic flows indicate the harmony or disharmony of the whole person and are greatly affected by physical traumas, chronic tensions, and unresolved emotions. For example, the psoas muscle, known in Taoism as the muscle of the Soul, connects the spine to the legs and is the first muscle to contract when anger or fear triggers our fight-or-flight response. Often a storehouse of subconscious stressors, this muscle’s sensitivity is connected to many common ailments like back pain. Providing step-by-step illustrated exercise instructions, the authors explain how to identify and unwind energetic blockages and emotional and physiological knots. They explore emotional intelligence exercises for tuning in to our hearts so we can listen to our bodies’ messages and learn to relieve related emotional burdens. They also reveal how to activate the cranial, respiratory/cardiac, and sacral pumps of the three tan tiens to optimize the body’s energetic flow and explain how, when our energy is flowing freely, we can enter the Cosmic Flow–a state of calm well-being and extraordinary creativity where we find ourselves truly at one with the universe.

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Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use

by Rosemary Gladstar

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Anyone can make their own herbal remedies for common ailments, such as aloe lotion for poison ivy, dandelion-burdock tincture for sluggish digestion, and lavender-lemon balm tea for stress relief. Gladstar profiles 33 of the most common and versatile healing plants and then shows you exactly how to grow, harvest, prepare, and use them. Stock your home medicine chest with safe, all-natural, low-cost herbal preparations, and enjoy better health!

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Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

by John E. Sarno

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Dr. John E. Sarno is a medical pioneer whose program has helped thousands of thousands of people overcome their back conditions–without or drugs or dangerous surgery. Now, using his grounbreaking research into TMS (Tension Mytostis Syndrome), Dr. Sarno goes one step further: after identifyig stress and other psychological factors in back pain, he demonstrates how many of his patiens have gone on to heal themselves without exercise or other physical therapy.

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Essential Oils for Beginners: The Guide to Get Started with Essential Oils and Aromatherapy

by Althea Press

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Essential oils are a natural and safe way to improve your health, cure ailments, and soothe your body and mind. These versatile oils come from natural sources, and have been used for centuries for medicinal and cosmetic purposes.

Essential Oils for Beginners is the comprehensive guide to harnessing the power of these ancient remedies. Recent scientific research has proven that essential oils can truly prevent and heal disease, and they are far more affordable and safer than modern medical treatments.

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Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

by Caroline Myss

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Anatomy of the Spirit is the boldest presentation to date of energy medicine by one of its premier practitioners, internationally acclaimed medical intuitive Caroline Myss, one of the “hottest new voices in the alternative health/spirituality scene” (Publishers Weekly). Based on fifteen years of research into energy medicine, Dr. Myss’s work shows how every illness corresponds to a pattern of emotional and psychological stresses, beliefs, and attitudes that have influenced corresponding areas of the human body.

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Wheels of Life: A User’s Guide to the Chakra System (Llewellyn’s New Age Series)

by Anodea Judith

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As portals between the physical and spiritual planes, the chakras offer unparalleled opportunities for growth, healing, and transformation. Anodea Judith’s classic introduction to the chakra system, which has sold over 200,000 copies, has been completely updated and expanded. It includes revised chapters on relationships, evolution, and healing, and a new section on raising children with healthy chakras.

The post 11 Great Guides to Alternative Healing appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

This quick, healthy fish recipe has an added bonus: No cleanup. From SPIRALIZE Now!

Serves 2
Prepare in 10 minutes
Cook in 12–15 minutes

1 inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 carrot, peeled, ends trimmed and halved crosswise
1 zucchini, ends trimmed and halved crosswise
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 skinless salmon fillets, about 7 oz. each
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted steamed rice, to serve

In a small bowl, mix together the ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to make a sauce.

Using a spiralizer fitted with a 1/8 inch spaghetti blade, spiralize the carrot and zucchini.

Place 9 inch squares of baking paper on a large baking sheet. Divide the spiralized vegetables and the spring onions between the 2 sheets of baking paper and then place a salmon fillet on top of each pile of vegetables. Spoon over the sauce and then sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Fold over the paper to seal the parcel.

Place the parcels on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven, 400°F, Gas Mark 6, for 12–15 minutes, until the salmon is opaque and the fish flakes easily. Transfer the parcels to plates, carefully open up the parcels and serve with steamed rice.

The post Spiralize Now Recipe: Sesame and Ginger Salmon en Papilotte appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

Are elements in your home and everyday life making you sick? Eliminate them with these simple solutions. From No Grain, No Pain: A 30-Day Diet for Eliminating the Root Cause of Chronic Pain.

How To Minimize Toxic Exposure
It’s scary stuff, especially since with the exception of mold, you can’t see most of these attackers coming. In addition to eliminating plastics from your kitchen and as many other toxic products as you can and minimizing your intake of drugs, what can you do to protect yourself and your family from toxic exposure?

Step 1: Filter Your Water
Most major cities have serious contamination of their drinking water from unmetabolized drug residue excreted in urine or unused drugs flushed down the toilet. There is no perfect way to filter your water. Nor has there been research on how to remove specific contaminants. What we do know is that a granular activated carbon filter works well at removing chlorines, bromines, and certain other compounds, and can remove some toxins. For removing metals and other chemical compounds, KDF (kinetic degradation fluxion), a copper-zinc alloy, is the most effective. A whole-house water filter typically uses a salt to soften water, but a combination granular activated carbon and KDF purification medium improves its quality. The KDF will remove chemical compounds from the water along with fungi, bacteria, chlorine, certain pesticides, and some heavy metals.

I recommend that you filter all the water in your home at the point of entry, rather than simply at your kitchen faucet. When you take a shower, you breathe in roughly a quarter of a gallon of steam, not including the toxins you may absorb through your skin. Nor do you want to wash your clothes in chemical-laden water. That said, a carbon/ KDF filter is not going to remove fluoride. If your water is fluoridated, you’ll also need to use a reverse osmosis (RO) filter to get rid of it, typically in the form of a five-gallon RO tank under the kitchen sink. The RO system usually has a carbon and KDF prefilter on it. Otherwise, the chlorine in the water would destroy the RO filter. On the other hand, if you have your own well, you might have hundreds of feet of earth filtering your water, and may not need certain filters. Nonetheless, your well could be contaminated, especially with slant drilling, aka fracking, by the petroleum industry, so I would still recommend filtering well water with a KDF/carbon filter. It’s also a good idea to have your water tested by an independent company.

Step 2: Filter Your Air
Better-insulated homes have reduced our energy consumption, which is a good thing, but when a building doesn’t “breathe” and windows remain shut, toxins are trapped inside. If your air conditioner uses recycled air, you’re just recirculating those toxins. The result is massive exposure to chemicals leached from your furniture, wall-to-wall carpeting, polyurethane-finished flooring, fabrics impregnated with flame-retardant chemicals, and other volatile organic compounds. Emissions from gas cooktops, heaters, furnaces, and other devices add to the toxic stew. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, off-gassing of numerous products has made the air inside our homes two to five times more toxic than our outdoor environment. In some cases, indoor air is a hundred times more polluted than outdoor air!

Obviously, you aren’t going to do away with your furniture and accessories. So what can you do?

If you can afford furniture made with all-natural organic components, go for it, but it’s extremely expensive and, frankly, may not hold up as well or be as comfortable. Instead, filter your interior air and regularly open the windows to air out the house. An AC system that pulls from the outdoors is a healthier alternative than a recirculating one. Your objective is to filter both the air coming into the home from outside and the air within.

And get yourself a good vacuum cleaner. Again, control what you can and pray about the rest.

Air conditioning creates condensation, which can lead to humidity formation. An air conditioner also acts as a dehumidifier. Try to keep the relative humidity under 55 percent to avoid mold growth. A digital reader available at any hardware store lets you keep it in check. Even in a dry climate, I would advise using a humidifier only if you experience severe dry skin and persistent rashes. (Certain types of mold grow in dry climates.) Any air filtration system should be HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) based, meaning the screen is small enough to capture mold spores. If you then subject them to UV light, you kill a lot of those that create problems for humans. An electrician can install a UV light to reduce the likelihood of mold circulating in the vents. (It’s also a good idea to have a HEPA filter on your vacuum cleaner.) The Swiss-based company IQAir (iqair.com) makes a good whole-house air purification system, which is worth considering if you are building a new house.

Step 3: Clean Up Your Act
Most household and personal cleaning products contain petrochemicals, which again have estrogen-mimicking effects, as do the dyes and artificial scents used to make them more appealing. My patients are more apt to have migraine headaches and other problems triggered by inhaling the chemical perfumes than by the cleaning agents themselves. My suggestions for natural alternatives:

• Instead of ammonia-based window cleaning products, use vinegar and water.
• Instead of hand or facial soaps loaded with chemicals, use a coconut-derived agent or glycerin or castile soap.
• Instead of shampoos made with sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a sudsing agent, look for organic products and natural ingredients.
• Instead of antibacterial wipes full of triclosan, which plays havoc with our hormones and creates free radicals, which have an oxidizing effect in the body, opt for unscented products without this toxin.
• Avoid household cleaners with chlorine, artificial scents, and any unpronounceable chemicals.
• Seek out brands of toothpaste that are free of SLS, the antibacterial triclosan, and fluoride; or use baking soda.

Rather than provide a list of the chemicals and products currently in your medicine cabinets and under your sink to avoid (new entries are regularly being added), I recommend you use the resources provided by the Environmental Working Group. You’ll want to also minimize exposure to most fertilizers, as well as herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals in your garage or garden shed. To find more natural alternatives, visit transition-to-organics.org/safe-alternatives.

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