​I had to explain the other day to someone why the term ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ was offense.
Now bear with me, this is not that kind of post. Rather this is to illustrate the harmful impact global, broad spectrum labels can have.
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What seems like such a small thing can have a huge impact spiritually, energetically, and physically!
​Through a powerfully simple, 2-step practice, we can help to re-establish that connection and awareness between ourselves, our food, each other, and the divine.

We live in a fast paced, disconnected culture. Many of us have lost connection with our food, where it is sourced, how it is grown, and how it is processed. We have also lost the interconnection between each other and the divine.

​​Here’s how it works.

Step 1: 2 Deep Breaths.
When we sit down to a meal, our bodies tend to be in a ‘fight or flight’ (sympathetic) state. This is not optimal for digestion. We need to be in a ‘rest and digest’ (parasympathetic) state. Taking two deep breaths prior to eating helps to bring us into the moment. It helps to switch us out of our ‘fight or flight’ into ‘rest and digest’. In this state, our body prepares to receive food. Remaining in this state helps to ensure that our body is able to effectively and efficiently process our food. Extracting and assimilating the nutrients into our body.

Two deep breaths also creates expansiveness and helps us tap into our Heart space. It brings life giving oxygen into our body which is also a necessary component for metabolism. Use all 5 senses as you are drawing those 2 deep breaths! Pull in the smell of the food you are about to eat. Visually explore the food on the plate and all its colorful beauty. Anticipate the sounds that the food will make as you are eating it like the crunch of a crisp vegetable or the sounds of the silverware on the plate. Imagine the textures of the food in your mouth and the different variety of taste each food will deliver to your palate.

Is your mouth watering? Good! That’s your body preparing to receive!

Step 2: The Gratitude Prayer.
I believe Dr. Deanna Minich said it best in her Nourish Your Whole Self program, “We would nourish not only our bodies but also our souls if we were able to see the cosmos in our plate – an energetic lineage –spanning from the seed, which was planted in a field and tended to by a caring farmer and workers, bathed in sunlight and moonlight, visited by a multitude of insects, to when, eventually, the seed transformed into a vegetable picked by someone’s loving hand. The vegetable made a hearty journey to ultimately make it to the store or farmer’s market. It connected with someone enough for it to be selected and bought. A chef or cook took great skill in preparing it into a dish, and days later, it has found its way to your plate. So when we are eating, we are not just eating a blip in time, savoring a present moment of goodness, but a whole past history of connection. By doing so, you acknowledge the interconnection of all the pieces that are involved in the lineage of that food.”

By creating a gratitude prayer for your meal, you are honoring the food that is in front of you, the journey that it has traveled, creating connection between yourself, the food, and all those that took part in helping it arrive to your plate and to your body.

This is a great exercise to do as a family! Have each member contribute a component of the Gratitude Prayer and enjoy the creativity and uniqueness that you will now share every day!
 
So remember, two deep breaths utilizing your 5 senses of smell, sight, sound, texture, and taste. Then, your own unique Gratitude Prayer honoring the complex, beautiful lineage of the food and the miraculous transformation that is about to happen to contribute to your health mind, body, and soul.
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In this practice, we are creating expansiveness, Love, connection, and nourishment. 

We want to be sure that toxic waste can efficiently be removed, which is one of the reasons for making sure we are drinking enough water.
Dry brushing can help to open up the pores on the skin which will help facilitate the absorption of nutrients and the excretion of waste (think sweating).
Another way your body eliminates toxins from the body is through the lymph. The lymph system does not have a pump like the circulatory system does, the heart. The lymph system relies on the lymph vessels, body movement and the squishing of the organs to move the lymph and toxins. It can also be stimulated through dry brushing! Certainly dry brushing will not have the same effectiveness as moving your body, but every little bit helps, and it has even more benefits! 
Exfoliation! This is something that you will notice in a relatively short amount of time. The bristles will help to exfoliate dead, dry skin leaving silky-smooth skin all year round!
Some people have also reported a reduction in cellulite! Cellulite is trapped toxic material in fat cells. While there are no scientific studies that prove dry brushing will release these toxins for your body to eliminate naturally, if there is a chance, I’ll try it!
I have personally been dry brushing for a year now and I definitely notice a difference in the softness of my skin. I do this as part of my morning routine and I love feeling my skin wake-up!  
Choose a brush with natural bristles. I recommend this brush because it is inexpensive and has a removable handle.
Start at your extremities, using long strokes, brush towards your heart. So fingertips to elbows, elbows to armpits, armpits and shoulders over the chest towards the heart. Toes to knees, knees to groin and buttocks, groin over the stomach and under the chest towards the heart. When you are brushing the stomach area, brush in a circular clockwise motion. This follows the flow of the digestive track and can help support digestion. Here is a video that demonstrates this method as well as a more intensive method that follows the lymph vessels.

Let's take diet for instance. Eat this, don't eat that, fad diets, and restrictions. It can be overwhelming! I, myself, have been guilty of standing in the store struggling with labels, a wave of anxiety because the ingredients are "toxic". But which is more detrimental to my health? The "toxic" chemicals or the paralyzing anxiety and frustration? Throw in being a caregiver to my family, and the anxiety increases ten fold!
I decided to have an honest conversation with myself, one I would have with a client, and that I have had with clients in the past. You have choices, and you need to allow yourself to make those choices with grace and love. Yes, you may be following a particular diet, with specific guidelines, but to go outside of those guidelines does not make you a failure. For many, their are remarkable consequences to their choices, including pain or digestive distress.  
But are you one of those people? Are you sure that the restrictions of that diet necessarily apply to you? Do you know what the consequences of your choice will be?
A healthy body can recover and deal with toxins quickly and effectively if it is not already overburdened. Stress and anxiety are elements that contribute to an overburdened body.
My point is not to convey that diet is trivial. The food we eat is extremely important in how we function, heal, perceive the world around us, and how we feed our soul. My point is to recognize and embrace balance. Strive to be "better", but not consumed with "best" to the point that you are distracted and unbalanced.
Divorce perfection, hook yourself up with love and grace.

Most times, people don’t think about the lid. But consider this, the hot beverage is steaming inside the cup, heating up the lid. The steam then condenses on the underside of the lid and drips back into your beverage. Additionally, you are drinking through the hole in the lid. The hot beverage contacts the underside of the lid and allows leaching of the toxic chemicals back into your beverage.
What can you do?
​ Two things:

1. ​Check the plastic number on the lid, the number with the triangle made of arrows around it. If it is a 5, you are good to go. This is a plastic made of Polypropylene and is the safest option of the to-go lids. If it is a 6, run for the hills. This type of plastic is Polystyrene. According to the Foundation for Achievements in Science and Education fact sheet, long term exposure to small quantities of styrene can cause neurotoxic (fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping), hematological (low platelet and hemoglobin values), cytogenetic (chromosomal and lymphatic abnormalities), and carcinogenic effects. Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
2. Purchase your own reusable mug! This gives you control over what your body is exposed to and is better for the environment!

Of course, your best option is to choose glass for your hot food and beverages. But in a fast paced world, if you are going to go, to-go, the better bet is Plastic 5.