As a health facilitator of Natural Hygiene, I work with the laws of nature/natural healing to help a person to live a healthy, happy lifestyle. I’m not a physician and that my suggestions should not be used instead of medical treatment but that I help people to learn to take more control over their own lives and their own health. I do not prescribe any medications. I do not diagnose, alleviate, cure any specific diseases. I am here to teach how eating appropriately and living appropriately could help you to have a higher quality of life. I could share examples of how life science has helped me in my life.

I am a cerified Natural Health Consultant and can be hired to consult with you to help you live the most vibrant, energetic life possible.  

I came across a few vegetarian recipes for dogs and since there was some interest in that, I thought I would include them here.

Veggie Recipe for Dogs:

• 1/4 Lb Tofu

• 2 medium eggs

• 2 Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast

• 1/2 tsp oil

• 2 c. cooked brown rice

• 1/2 c. chopped or grated vegetables (carrots and broccoli are great choices)

• 1 tsp crushed egg shells optional: to add calcium because the diet is lacking in calcium

23% fat, 17% protein, 60% carbohydrate

Dog Biscuits

• 41/2 c. whole wheat flour

• 1/2 c. nutritional yeast

• 1/2 Tbsp sale

• 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

Mix dry ingredients. Add about 1 and 1/2 c. water. Knead dough into a big ball. Roll out with a rolling pin on a piece of waxed paper until its a big, flat circle. Cut into shapes with your favorite cookie cutters. Put “dog cookies” on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes with the oven at 350 degrees F. After all the biscuits are baked, leave them in the oven overnight so they get hard and crunchy.

I don’t know where I got these recipes but thought they might help if you want to feed your dogs vegetarian. There is also vegetarian dry dog food out on the market and I can’t remember the brand but it might be Natures Recipe. If you need to know what it is, I could find out for you. 

The weather is ridiculous for December! I’m in Arizona so I don’t expect it to be terribly cold, however, all I can think about is the HOT summer that is just around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, the weather is nice but it sure doesn’t feel like Christmas. Getting into the holiday feel is more difficult in Arizona but with this weather it is nearly impossible. I have maybe only turned the heat on a few times and just for a very short period of time. We just don’t get a break around here!!! I’m thankful to not be freezing to death as they are in some parts of the country but I certainly would like to feel a bit cold and wear a jacket…

Are you getting ready for the holidays? I hope you remember to do some things to take the stress off of yourself for the holidays. Take the time to exercise, relax, spend time with your family. Make sure you continue to eat right and take good care of yourself.

It’s really important that you don’t let yourself go over the holidays and find yourself fatter and more broke than before. Don’t overspend or overeat. You will have a more enjoyable time before, during and after if you don’t get way off track for the month, so with December approaching, be dilligent in staying on a healthy path. You’ll be happier and feel better in the long run.

My son is in a tournament all week-end and it is really great! He’s very talented and it is so fun to watch now that he’s at the age where he can really play! My ex asked me today if I thought the other mothers actually liked taking their kids to all these ball games and I said that I really think they do love it. He said that he felt his mom always thought it was a chore to take him to games and he thinks it’s neat that I as well as the other mothers actually really love it! The parents really devote a lot of time and effort to their kids and the sports and I think it’s great.

One of the moms today came up and told me that it meant a lot to her son because I complimented him. She said that after yesterday’s game, he came up to her all happy and said, “Kyrie’s mom told me I played really well today”. She said that it meant so much to him that I had said that. I thought it was great that it had made such a difference for him.

Enjoy your kids sports and activities. It makes them feel great that you have fun going and cheering them on. Let the other kids on the team know that they did good things as well.

Music, candles, incense and aromatherapy are great mood enhancers and great de-stressors. These are a healthy way to decrease your stress and increase your quality of life. Music is inspiring and uplifting. Listen to music anytime you need a boost. Music increases your hopefulness and creativity. Music makes you feel good. Like exercise, it causes you to release endorphins which are the “feel good” hormone. It helps you forget about your problems at least temporarily.Candles and incense can be used to create a calming mood. You can use candle colors to further facilitate certain moods. Red increases vitality and energy, orange works as an antidepressant to make you feel happy and cheerful, yellow is uplifting, green promotes stability, turquoise eases tension and soothes, blue is for lowering stress and relaxing violet helps with concentration promotes love and self-confidence and magenta raises your self respect and dignity. Magenta is a confidence builder.Essential oils can be used for many things besides just relaxation and stress reduction. Essential oils are a healthy, reasonably priced, simple way to de-stress.  You can use them in a variety of different ways. They can be put into a spray or a diffuser for use in the air and you can also put them onto your body. Most essential oils put on your body need to be mixed in with oil, lotion or water, a few, however, can be used straight out of the bottle on you. The best oils to use for relaxation are:  Nutmeg, Marjoram, Lavender, Sandalwood, Clary-Sage, Geranium, Lemon, Chamomile, Rose and Vetiver.  Since this is just a short quick synopsis to give you some stress reducing ideas, I will deal primarily with Lavender as it is the most important and versatile oils. You can use Lavender oil to make a great room freshener/sanitizer. Take a small spray bottle, put a small amount of rubbing alcohol in the bottom (slightly less than ¼ of the bottle), fill with distilled water leaving just enough room for about 10 drops of Lavender oil, and shake. Use it in the house as an air freshener. There’s no need to buy those unhealthy air sprays at the store ever again!For headaches, you can rub some Lavender oil on straight on your temples and at the base of your skull. If your skin isn’t sensitive you can add a few drops of peppermint oil as well. Peppermint oil is very strong straight on your skin. I use it and I think it’s fine but each person would have to decide for himself if peppermint oil is tolerable.You can put a few drops of Lavender oil on your pillow to help you sleep if you have insomnia. You can also put it in a diffuser in your room to help induce a great night’s sleep. Baths are very relaxing in and of themselves, if you add essential oils ( a great relaxing combo for the bath is:  8 drops of Geranium, 8 drops of Patchouli, 8 drops of Sage and 8 drops of Lavender) and colored candles, you really have a terrific way to lessen the tension of the day.This is only a drop in the bucket. It’s a very slight introduction on the use of essential oils. They are worth exploring much further to enhance many aspects of your life.

My mom is Hungarian. Europeans are very meat oriented. I have adapted several of her meat, fat laden recipes to healthier vegetarian versions. Two really great recipes I adapted were her recipes for “Paprikash Chicken” and “Beef Stroganoff”. 

Paprikash Chicken1 pkg. Morningstar Farms “Chicken”2 packets of vegetarian chicken gravy (Hain is one option)1 can cream of mushroom soupSour cream, 4-8 ozPaprikaOlive oilFresh or canned mushrooms, optional 

Put a very small amount of olive oil in a fry pay and cook the vegetarian chicken until slightly crispy. Blend up the gravy and add to the pan with the chicken. Then add the can of mushroom soup. Stir in some paprika. After it’s all warmed through and through, turn off and add the 4-8 oz of sour cream (I only use about 4 oz. because I think it’s enough). You can cook up some additional mushrooms (I prefer fresh over canned) to add on top before serving if you’d like. 

“Beef Stroganoff”1 onion, yellow, white or redVegetarian ground beef or beef stripsVegetarian “beef” gravy- 2 packets or 1 can vegetable brothMushroom soup, opt8 oz. dry wide egg noodles or any kind of noodleSour creamSpices to taste:  salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika 

Cook the noodles as directed on package. Brown the onions until tender and simmer with the meat. Boca and Morningstar Farms both have a fantastic vegetarian ground beef and Morningstar Farms has wonderful vegetarian beef strips. Both brands can be found in most major grocery store chains. Actually, for variety, you can use vegetarian meatballs as the “meat” in this recipe as well. Add the cooked noodles to the meat and onions. Then add mushroom soup if you want. After it’s all simmered together, add sour cream and spices to taste. You can also cook up some mushrooms to add or serve on top.

The holidays are upon us once again and more than likely we are all going to gain some weight during this time. Why? We mindlessly eat way more than we should over the holidays and pay for it for months, years to come. This holiday season, make a pact, make the effort to not overeat and gain weight. You can partake in some goodies but in very strict moderation. I heard a quote once from Anthony Robbins that has really stuck with me, he said,”Nothing tastes as good as thin feels”. I think of that quote often when I want to overindulge in the wrong foods. Keep that quote in mind this holiday season or perhaps you could even type or write it out and make it visible in places in your house that you will be reminded of it often.

The obesity in America has really gotten out of hand and it is actually at crisis levels. We NEED to take this problem seriously and make some real changes in our lives. Don’t wait until you are diagnosed with cancer to decide to wake up and change some dietary and lifestyle habits.

You can enjoy the holidays without all the weight gain and sluggishness of previous years, put the past behind you and start anew. Don’t wait until the New Year to make some empty resolutions you won’t keep but rather, show some restraint, find some new ways to appreciate and enjoy. Have a happy, healthy, THIN, joyous holiday season and you will have nothing to feel guilty about and resolve to change come January 1st.

How is it that we gorge ourselves on food and call it Thanksgiving? How is that giving thanks? How is that showing gratitude for all of our wonderful blessings? Wouldn’t it be more fitting to fast on Thanksgiving? Fast to show appreciation for all the freedom, food and great choices we have in the United States. Instead, we eat murdered animals, eat piles of all kinds of food until we can’t move and feel ill. Why do people look forward to that? They also do the same thing over and over again year after year. I don’t find that appealing in anyway.

I think it would be so much better to fast or at least eat minimally on Thanksgiving Day. Share the day with friends and family, but not have the fellowship with them be based around food. If you don’t have anyone to spend the day with, maybe you could spend the day meditating, journaling about gratitude, listening to uplifting music and self improvement CD’s. Pamper yourself, spend the day nourishing your body and soul with things other than food. Imagine how wonderful you would feel at the end of the day? Your friends and family will be miserable and you will be well-rested and thoroughly energized! You could also take a walk or hike to feel appreciation for your life and health.

I would encourage people to rethink the way Thanksgiving and Christmas are celebrated completely focused on food. Think about why you do that and if you want to continue to do that year after year. I fail to see why people would look forward to making themselves sick. Does it give you that much satisfaction? How could you spend Thanksgiving to add meaning back into the spirit of what it’s really about? Make new choice, new traditions and feel much better after it’s over. You will feel renewed and energized going back to work and your co-workers will feel like they need some time off in order to recuperate from the holidays.

Wow–Christmas starts way too early these days… I love Christmas music but I think it is a little ridiculous to start playing Christmas music and putting decorations out long before Thanksgiving.. By the time Christmas rolls around, everyone is sick of hearing about it.

 I just don’t understand that …why is it that way? I think for now, we should focus on Thanksgiving and after Thanksgiving, focus on Christmas. The holidays have become way too commercial for me.  I love the spirit of this holiday time but we have really lost the spirit and meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. How can we get back to the real meanings of the holidays?