Red Sand Beach in Hana, Maui Hawaii
I can highly recommend a 4-week holiday to Maui, Hawaii as a great way to de-stress, relax, recharge and have fun! I had a great time first in Lahaina with the family, catching up and spending days by the pool…yes some people may say that Lahaina is too touristy and that’s true, but it’s still beautiful, you can’t argue that!
From Lahaina I went over to Hana and spent a week with my friends who have an organic farm there. It was a nice break from the fast-paced world. After Hana I ventured over to Wailea where I worked at the Four Seasons Maui for a week. That was amazing! Met some great people, was surrounded by encouragement and support and thoroughly enjoyed livin’ it up for a bit!
Tasting the local healthy foods in Hawaii
For more photos of Hawaii, please go to my new website healthybliss.net where you can see a full gallery of shots.
To see some youtube clips of me in Hawaii, go to my channel at findyourhealthybliss.
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Wow, awesome ocean water in Maui, Hawaii!
September 24th, 2009
Health is Wealth
It’s a very fine balance trying to succeed in today’s busy, crazy world while also making time for good food, nutrition, exercise and fun. It’s all about the balance, right? But how do you draw the line? Where do you make the time?
I myself even struggle with this issue. I get so busy with clients and writing and everything else that I can go for ten hours without a break. I can be busier with my work now than I was even in Corporate America. Everyone feels the pressure today. So what do we do?
Here are some things that work for me:
1. Take forced breaks. Every time I get up for the toilet, I force myself to do one other task while I’m up. It might be making my salad for lunch so that when lunchtime comes I have it already prepared, or it could be using a dry skin brush for a few minutes to get my circulation going. I might do some stretching, anything so that I have gotten something out of the break besides a toilet run.
2. Plan ahead. I give myself mini-goals throughout the day so I now where I should be with my schedule. I plan my day to include a walk or a massage or something that is just for me, so I know when that time comes I will stop, no matter how intent I am on my work.
3. Seek out help. If I feel too overwhelmed, I look for help and try to delegate as much as possible. At first this seems like it will take even longer because of the time to explain, but in the long run it will save a lot of time.
4. Meditation break. Even for 5 minutes every day I stop, reflect and give myself a few minutes of just being, breathing and focusing on the now.
5. Look for healthy take-away. Let’s be real – you might not have the time to make lunch or dinner even. But you can find healthy options for delivery. Don’t worry about the cost – if the $10 salad will stop you from eating the $5 hamburger it is well worth the added cost,. The healthier you are, the more productive you will be.
6. Always have healthy snacks on hand. There are times where you might have to work a 14-hour day and those are the days where we don’t want you to lose your health in the process. Keep dried fruit, raw nuts, or fresh fruit around so when you start to get the shakes you can grab a healthy bite and keep going.
7. Try not to eat late at night. Late night eating is the danger zone for most people. That is when emotional eating occurs and even more so when you are under stress. Be aware of that time for yourself; make a cup pf fresh ginger tea instead.
8. Don’t eat to please others. Often we get caught into family and friends telling us what to eat. Listen to your body; eat what you want when you want. They will get used to it. You will feel better.
9. Plan a holiday. It’s important to give your body time to recharge, rest, relax and rebuild. Be sure to make that time for yourself and eat healthy foods during your break so you return to work feeling restored and ready for the next onslaught.
10. Have fun! Go out with friends, watch a funny movie, have a laugh – it’s the best stress-reducer there is!
Keep in mind that your are creating the health of your future with everything you do today. So make the time, even one thing every day, to invest in yourself. Realize that health is the biggest wealth there is…as long as you do a little bit every day you can stay on the preventative side and still have balance in your world!
August 1st, 2009
Well, it’s all over now, but it was a great 3 days last weekend in the magical red rock of Sedona, Arizona. The 3rd Annual Raw Food Festival was in full-force, and even though the turn-out was less than expected…there were perhaps 1,000 people instead of the predicted 5,000….it was still a great time had by all.
Perhaps the hardest thing to deal with all weekend was that there were too many things all happening at once - with 3 talks going at any time plus raw food cooking demos plus meditations every hour and exercise workshops in addition to live music and all the vendor booths, it was just impossible to see and do everything!
I met some amazing people, from the speakers to just other participants like me, and if only I had more time, I would have met more of them! I guess there is always next year….
Minh, me and JiYoung
Anyway, the speakers….so many good ones. Everyone had something unique to add and something good to say - this was the beauty that I saw even within the diversity of the speakers.
David Wolfe was someone who I was really excited to see…especially because his book ‘The Sunfood Diet Success System’ was the main book that I used in my raw food transformation. I must admit that since then he has gone a lot more commercial, and many would say that he is a supplement pusher more than anything else these days, but I did enjoy his talks and his enthusiasm. You can’t deny that this guy is into raw foods, that’s for sure. He had some great points. I liked when he said, ‘We are coming out of a nutritional holocaust.’ He noted that, ‘Everything we eat is affecting our state of consciousness.’ Now we all know that, but think about it really. I mean REALLY. Include in there the coffee and cakes and chocolates and all the little things which really do add up in a big way.
I had the great pleasure of seeing Dr. Flora VanOrden speak, she has been a raw foodist for over 40 years and worked with Ann Wigmore for over 25 years. This was her first public appearance in over 10 years, and we were all blessed to hear her words of wisdom. She has done some amazing work over the years doing outreach education. She outlined her secret recipe for a longevity smoothie, and hey, it looks like it’s working for her!
One of the most motivating speakers I saw was Kris Carr author of Crazy, Sexy Cancer. This woman is so incredibly positive and uplifting, and to hear her come from a place of real healing and still remain so full of love and gratitude, well it was completely inspiring. She definitely advocates changing to a healthy diet but also doesn’t over-define the diet she is on and allows room to accept herself with the cancer, instead of feeling that life would only be good or whole if the cancer were gone. I hope to see more of her outside of hospitals and more speaking to general audiences because we need to get this message to people BEFORE they get sick. Prevention, yeah. She also talked about affirmations and saying every day, ‘Thank you for my prefect health, my spiritual wealth and my happiness.’ Something we can all do, wherever we are!
Other great quotes to remember…’Vote with your Fork!’ and ‘Make Juice, not War!’
I also saw Dr. Yashpal Jayne who spoke about Ayurvedic principles, Dr. Jameth Sheridan, Dr. Ritamarie Loscaizo talking about thyroid dysfunction, Brigitte Mars explaining color therapy, Philip McCluskey who has had an amzing transformation and has lost over 200 pounds on his raw food journey, and Ronnie and Minh talking about sprouting sunflower seeds at home (they are so cool by the way).
Are you overwhelmed yet??? I was!!
I was very inspired by seeing Matthew and Terces Engleheart, owners of Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco talk about their concept of ‘Sacred Commerce.’ They are the most genuine, kind-hearted people and I am sure that every staff member they have feels lucky to work for them. They talked about ‘clearing energies’ with each staff member before each shift as a way to make each and every person feel loved and appreciated, and from there as they start their work for the day, they are only spreading more of the same love and, well, gratitude. We practiced the exercise on each other…and it really works!! I so hope to meet them again!
And, just so you know….we are only half-way through the festival at this stage!!! So you can imagine how many great speakers there were…quite a few that I was sorry to have missed 
I was very happy to see Karen Knowler from the U.K. and I was impressed how authentic and down-to-earth her message was….I really wasn’t sure what to expect after seeing her website which seemed very commercialized, but I’ve gotta say that girl is speaking her truth, and living it too. She’s a great public speaker and had me feeling inspired by the end. As she said, you’ve gotta ‘find a way that works for you.’ She points out that when you eat something, ‘ask yourself, what am I trying to get from this food and why?’. She also stresses visualization and emphasizes that you need to have a bigger version of yourself to step into on your journey. So….who do you want to be???
Sunday morning was my day of enlightenment during the festival. I had a silent prayer very early Sunday morning where I asked to meet someone who really motivated and uplifted me, and on the very first talk I went to at 8:00am Sunday morning, I knew I was receiving what I had asked for! Dr. Medicine Wolf was, by far, the highlight if my weekend. One of the first things he said was that he has dedicated his life ‘to the healing of Mother Earth and all Life.’ And he was genuine, wow this guy moved every single person in that room. The most impressive thing about him is that he has no ego whatsoever. Just a man full of love dedicated to helping everyone. As he said, ‘I don’t care if you are a butterfly, an elephant, a dog or a cat or a human being, I want to help you all just the same.’ He made it very clear that ‘we lose a species to extinction every 10 minutes, and WE are on that list!!’. He talked a lot about the chemicalization and radiation that is affecting the planet and all life today. His words were ‘we have to move from a numb and dumb situation; we need to advance our brain and we will discover that we have the intelligence to live in a disease-free state and every thing we need to do this is in Mother Earth.’ He also explained the importance of frequency 528, the exact scientific frequency of divine unconditional love. If you make one goal from reading this entry, it should be to try and meet Medicine Wolf just once in your lifetime.
Medicine Wolf Rocks!
Before I forget, I must mention Shantree and Lorenna, such a beautiful couple living their message and sharing so much wisdom and knowledge with others. I really felt a connection to them and would highly recommend anyone visiting their centre and working with them in the future. I love Shantree’s concept of ’spending 20 minutes every day with a tree’ as a way to actively meditate and re-connect with nature. You guys rock!!
I was so busy moving from talk to talk that I missed Victoria Boutenko’s talk, but luckily I was able to meet her in person and have a chat about Green Smoothies, because I tell you, her book ‘Green for Life’ is incredible, and it really helped so many raw foodists I know add an extra value-packed meal to their diet each day. That woman is so gentle and kind and really genuine…I so hope she comes to Thailand soon
Now…we are finally getting to the ‘headliners.’ Sunday was a day FULL of amazing speakers. I finally got to see Victoras Kulvinskas speak, and I can honestly tell you that this guy is so HIGHLY evolved and so incredibly intelligent that he has to struggle to come back to earth and find a way to communicate to us mere humans. It’s so unbelievable and if you weren’t energetically tuned-in, you might say that he has dementia or that he is ‘out-there,’ and guess what, in a way you would be right! This guy is super-knowledgeable and I find it such a shame that in the recently aired television show 20/20 on USA tv network ‘abc,’ that Victoras was edited to look like a complete fool when asked about this so-called new health threat called ‘orthorexia.’ If you had a chance to meet Victoras in person and if you had any ounce of conscious to your spiritual body, you would know instantly that this guy is tapped into something much bigger than what we know on earth to date. Enough said. I love him! His talk was uplifting, full of useful knowledge and very funny as well! Victor man, keep being you!!
So many people to mention, but gotta wrap this up so I’m going to end with mentioning 2 very impressionable speakers for me this year…one is Gabriel Cousins who has been a spiritual and health teacher to so many and is so powerful in his energy and his presence. His talks centered mainly on the success he has has in reversing diabetes just through diet. Check out his new DVD on the subject. This guy is an MD from Columbia Medical School by the way, and he has embraced the raw food diet for over 30 years!! So enough with calling us ‘airy-fairies’ - ha!
And finally I must mention Doug Graham who was one of the last speakers of the festival but had one of the most powerful messages and that was ‘I though this was a raw food festival…so where is the FOOD?’ Hahaha…you knid-of had to be here to get the jike, but the festival was over-run with vendors selling supplements and ’super’ foods and everyone agreed there was a definite lack of ‘real’ food. Gotta give it to Doug who is true to his message which is EAT WHOLE FOODS! In that case there is no need for supplements or processed and refined superfoods. I liked his simplicity - it goes a long way. All the Doug crew are invited to Koh Samui anytime for some yummy Durian indulging. Earn your food - yeah!
What can I say to close except I am fully inspired to be a speaker at the festival next year! We need more girl power representing and also we need someone like me to tell my story, which is totally different to everyone’s story I heard, and to speak to the newbies in the raw food world because we have to find a way to make this lifestyle work for everyone, no matter where they are on their journey!
With that I say HAPPY EATING and MANY BLESSINGS!!!
Raw Spirit Sedona 2008
September 18th, 2008
