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Learn to relax and fall asleep fast with this simple technique

We need sleep to survive and to thrive. It is critical to our mental, physical, and emotional well-being. The benefits of good sleep can affect every moment of our day and every part of our life. Achieving good sleep is essential to both our activities and to our health. So whenever we don't get the rest we need, we experience some kind of deficit.

Sleeplessness can be the results of stress, depression, emotional overwhelm, physical trauma (past or present) or any other number of causes. When insomnia strikes, it can be irritating and frustrating. In fact, most people feel like they're wasting time, which only makes the situation worse.

Rather than lie there and fret, I'd like to tell you about a simple technique I learned from a cranial sacral therapist* that I and some of my clients see. It's very easy and effective.

Lie down on your bed or somewhere comfortable where you can stretch out fully.

• Close your eyes and begin breathing deeply and slowly. Let your attention drift to your head.
• Use your inner voice and just say "relax" as you focus on your head and take another slow deep breath.
• Move your attention down to your neck. Again use your inner voice and say "relax" to your neck and throat as you take another slow deep breath.
• Work your way down the body, to the shoulders, the arms, the torso, the hips, legs, ankles and feet. Take one section at a time, until you get to your feet. (That is, if you haven't fallen asleep already.)

If after you go through your whole body this way and it hasn't completely relaxed or dozed off. See if you can find a situation in your life that has been troubling. Focus on that issue while you place both your index fingers on your forehead about halfway between your hairline and eyes at a horizontal level above the middle of your eyebrow. Leave your fingers there as you think about and feel what's currently going on with this trouble spot. After a few minutes, release your index fingers from your forehead.

Now repeat the whole relaxing technique again as instructed above. You should notice that the troublesome situation has diminished and you should also feel a marked improvement in your ability to relax and sleep. Best of all it's natural and it doesn't cost a cent.

*If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I recommend Julia Boudakian (DDS retired), a cranial-sacral & osteopathy therapist with nearly 20 years of experience, in Berkeley. You can call her at 510.525.4422.

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Put these smart snacks on your shopping list

One of the quickest ways to gain weight and throw off the balance of your blood sugar is to let your snacking get out of hand with tasty but empty processed snacks. A better plan would be to eat three healthy meals a day plus two sensible snacks.

It's also a good idea to balance protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats in snacks to maintain steady blood sugar. For example, enjoy a few whole grain crackers or some nonfat yogurt paired with some organic raw vegetables and a small handful of nuts such as walnuts or almonds.

Choose high fiber, whole carbohydrates, such one piece of fresh fruit a day and whole grains whenever possible. Here are some ideas and tips that might help you when you shop.

• Add some heart healthy fat to a snack. Choose some raw fresh nuts, seeds, and avocado. A few olives and one or two tablespoons of natural, non-hydrogenated nut butters are good examples. Or you might even try some organic cheese made with raw milk.
• Choose lean proteins for your snacks including: low fat or nonfat dairy products, sliced lean meat (not the processed kind).
• Space meals and snacks about three hours apart. It is especially important to snack if your meals are spaced more than four or five hours apart, and you struggle with fatigue and blood sugar swings.
• Try to avoid sugary desserts and sweets.

If you must have something sweet, make it as healthy as possible. A good example is some trail mix mix made with non sulfured dried fruit, and raw nuts or non-hydrogenated peanut butter spread on whole grain bread and topped with your favorite jam or preserves, made without sugars.

TRY SOME DELICIOUS, QUICK SNACKS

1. Top whole-wheat crackers with sliced provolone cheese. Add a dollop of Whole Foods Market Handpicked Selections® Adriatic Fig Spread on top of the cheese for a delicious and nutritious snack.

2. Mix equal parts feta and ricotta cheeses. Add some grated parmesan. Spread on whole-grain bread and broil until the cheese is bubbly and hot. Top with sliced roasted red peppers for a quick, exotic snack.

3. Mix a small amount of pesto sauce into prepared hummus and enjoy with cut-up veggies and crostini crackers or pita bread.

4. Mix either salsa or Pico de Gallo with slivers of fresh mozzarella and enjoy with organic white corn chips or rice crackers.

5. Spread toasted smooth almond butter on celery sticks, carrots or crackers.

6. Try some veggie chunks, sliced or whole as a refreshing, tasty picker-upper. Those tasty little orange tomatoes are very good with raw milk cheese, or just eat them alone.

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How to cut your Diabetes risk before it's too late

Because preventing diabetes in its pre-starting phase is so effective, the Department of Health and Human Services recently launched a new campaign to help cut down on the onset of Type II diabetes by simply making a few lifestyle changes.

As you may know, around 17 million Americans have diabetes. That's twice the number that had it more than 10 years ago. An additional 16 million have pre-diabetes, a stage where it's more likely to develop diabetes, unless some preventative steps are taken early.

HEAVY TOLL ON HEALTH AND WORK

People who are not diabetic or at risk for diabetes, miss (on average) about 1.7 days work per year. Compare that to nearly 14 million with diabetes who miss (on average) 8.3 days per year, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. In short, taking time to ensure you are healthy will benefit not only your overall health but your job security as well.

LITTLE MODIFICATIONS PAY OFF IN BETTER HEALTH

Dubbed, "Small Steps, Big Rewards," the campaign encourages those at risk to:

• Do moderate exercise (30 minutes--three to four times a week)
• Develop healthier eating habits
• Focus on losing 5 to 7 percent of their body weight

HOW TO TELL IF YOU'RE AT RISK FOR EARLY DIABETES?

As you regulate your blood glucose and keep your diabetes record, there are two problems that you need to be able to recognize and treat (with your personal physician's or other health care practitioner's advice): hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Here are some quick facts so you can learn about them and compare.

HYPOGLYCEMIA: WHAT CAUSES IT?

Hypoglycemia, or an insulin reaction, can happen if you are taking insulin or oral medications. Hypoglycemia means low blood glucose. This reaction happens when there is not enough (or low) glucose in your blood.

CAUSES AND RISK FACTORS

The most common causes of hypoglycemia are:

1. Too much insulin

2. Too much exercise

3. Not enough food

4. Endocrine, renal or liver disorders

5. Excess production of insulin by the body after eating, stomach surgery, alcohol use and certain medications

SYMPTOMS THAT MAY OCCUR

Symptoms that you may notice with hypoglycemia are:

• sweating
• weakness
• anxiety
• trembling
• fast heartbeat
• inability to think straight
• irritability
• grouchiness
• hunger
• headache
• sleepiness

DIAGNOSIS: GET A DOCTOR'S HELP

Each condition can be diagnosed by measuring the level of blood glucose. This will be different with each individual and should be checked by your physician or hospital laboratory for best results.

HYPOGLYCEMIA REACTION

A hypoglycemic reaction usually comes on very suddenly. It often happens at the time when insulin action is at its peak, during or after strenuous exercise or when a meal is delayed. Most people learn to recognize their own symptoms to an insulin reaction. If you begin feeling any symptoms or think your blood glucose may be too low, the best way to be sure is to check your blood level using a blood glucose test strip. If your blood glucose is less than 70 mg/dl, then you are probably having a hypoglycemic reaction.

After you have an insulin reaction, think about why the reaction happened. Maybe you didn't eat your meal on time or you over exercised or you took your medication at a different time. Following your treatment plan closely is the best way to avoid adverse reactions. Contact your physician or health care practitioner for further advice if you are having insulin reactions more than once a week or if you cannot identify the cause of your insulin reactions.

TREATMENT OPTIONS

If untreated, hypoglycemia can lead to confusion, coma or convulsions. Hypoglycemia often comes within minutes. If you have a hypoglycemic reaction, you should treat it immediately by eating some form of carbohydrate (sugar). Have something like glucose tablets or sugar cubes with you at all times and take at the first sign of a reaction. Your body needs fast-acting sugar at that time.

HYPERGLYCEMIA: WHAT IS IT? WHAT EFFECTS DOES IT HAVE?

Hyperglycemia, or high blood glucose, is the condition found in individuals with diabetes, either insulin-dependent or non-insulin-dependent. Hyperglycemia is defined as too high a blood sugar (glucose) level.

CAUSES AND RISK FACTORS

Hyperglycemia usually occurs slowly, over several hours or days. It may be caused by:

1. Not taking enough insulin

2. Illness (such as a cold or flu)

3. Infection

4. Eating too much

5. Stress

6. Certain medications

SYMPTOMS YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER

Signs and symptoms of hyperglycemia include:

• blood glucose over 240 mg/dl
• more urine output than usual
• increased thirst
• dry skin and mouth
• decreased appetite, nausea, or vomiting
• fatigue, drowsiness, or no energy

DIAGNOSIS TIPS

Each condition can be diagnosed by measuring the individual level of blood glucose. If symptoms of hyperglycemia occur, be sure to:

1. Take your usual insulin dose. DO NOT SKIP IT!

2. Keep eating your meals.

3. Test your blood for glucose and your urine for ketones every two hours.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT EITHER CONDITION

• Are there any tests that I need to have done to diagnose the problem or to find the cause?
• Can you tell me what is causing the symptoms? How serious is the condition?
• What course of action do you recommend?
• How effective is this treatment?
• Should I see a specialist?
• Should my dose of insulin be varied? If so, by how much?
• If I exercise, should I worry about hypoglycemia occurring at night?
• What type of exercise would be good?
• How often or long should I exercise?

Contact your physician or nurse for further advice if you are having insulin reactions more than once a week or if you cannot identify the cause of your insulin reactions.

TIPS FOR BALANCING HYPO- AND HYPERGLYCEMIA

In my experience with Contact Reflex Analysis (one of the four health evaluations I offer), I have found that hypoglycemia is often traced to stress on the adrenals and the liver/gall bladder. We are able to help the body regain balance using the correct nutritional profile and eating program for the individual. Of course, you must exercise and choose your food wisely.

Supplements are very often necessary because when there is an imbalance you must feed the body the 5 to 7 times the normal amount of nutrients so that it can heal itself and thereby regain its optimum health.

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Reduce your risk of heart disease and lower your cholestrol with this pleasant-tasting shake

We've all heard we should each five different fruit and vegetables servings a day. The National Cancer Institute recommends it. Your doctor has probably encouraged you to eat better. You have, no doubt, read about it in magazines and heard about it on health programs...but how do you actually accomplish it?

With so much on our plates, so to speak, every day like work, the family, emotional stress, juggling the balance of relationships, trying to find time for fun and relaxation, it is sometimes hard to find time to do what's best for health. Knowing that, I have been looking for and found a product that can help you do that easily and quickly.

MEET DEEPER GREENS: IT'S ORGANIC, EFFECTIVE & PLEASANT- TASTING

Deeper Greens, which is made by Orthomolecular Products, is a blend of vegetable greens,grasses, fruit juices and berries. It comes in powder form that mixes with water or your favorite beverage to make a shake. That means you don't have to go shopping for lots of food or buy special costly juicers or shudder when you think about taking in that much healthy food required by the body in one day.

Take a look at what Deeper Greens contains. I will divide it into three (the greens, foods and ORAC or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) blends for you to make it easier to see.

Greens Blend contains:

• Alfalfa grass juice powder
• Spirulina
• Barley grass juice powder
• Wheat grass juice powder

Foods Blend contains:

• Apple
• Carrot
• Raspberry
• Spinach
• Strawberry
• Blueberry
• Tomato
• Kale
• Lecithin

The ORAC Blend contains:

• Acacia
• Blueberry Fruit Extract
• Grapeseed Extract
• Cranberry
• Prune
• Raspberry Seed Extract
• Bilberry Fruit Extract

All this is in one product. It is truly a wonderful addition to your daily routine. When you look at the nutrients found in the above list you understand how much more you get when you take Deeper Greens.

What it does help do is:

• reduce the risk of heart disease
• lower blood cholesterol levels
• give you a simple fiber-rich diet without a hassle
• provide you with a good source of vitamins A A (as beta-carotene) and C

HIGH ANTIOXIDANT LEVEL

We all know of or have heard of friends or family members who when they hit their fifties begin to have all kinds of aches and pains and problems they just never had before. Part of this may be due to free radical damage over the years. Even younger people in their 20's these days are complaining.

Deeper Greens has a high ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) value of 3000. This is a unit value assigned by researchers to measure the antioxidant value of a given food. Antioxidants, as you may know, scavenge your body for free radicals, which can speed up the aging and degeneration processes in your body. Any increase in antioxidants in the blood can provide a significant boost to the body and raw fruits and vegetables have proven to be better than supplements with individual anti-oxidant vitamins. Deeper Greens is one of the best products to help you increase your health.

WHY IS ORGANIC BETTER?

Ortho Molecular's Deeper Greens is an "organic" food, using organically grown vegetables and fruits meeting the strict new USDA criteria for organic food claims.

The simple reason organic is better lies in the plant's natural survival instincts in the absence of pesticides and other chemicals used on crops. By relying on its own defenses, organic plants consistently measure dramatically higher in total phenolic compounds, especially when compared with conventionally grown produce.

In other words, if a plant can survive on the natural nutrition of the soil (without relying on pesticides to manipulate its strength), it will be able to give you better nutrition to keep your body healthy.

In a recent study at UC-Davis, researchers found significalntly higher amounts of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids, anthocyanidins, catechins and tannins as well as natural vitamin C in organically grown fruit and produce. The increase in these secondary metabolites, along with reduced levels of toxic residues, is emerging as a leading benefit to consuming organic produce.

HOW DOES DEEPER GREENS FURTHER SUPPORT YOU?

Deeper Greens has been formulated for excellent pH and fiber values as well as antioxidant support. This helps you overcome the lack of the all-important "5-a-day intake of raw fruits and vegetables" recommended by the National Cancer Institute. That helps you:

• have less fatigue and more energy
• increased alkalinity and less acidity inyour digestion
• can easily meet the needed requirements for fruits and vegetables in the Atkins or Zone diet guidelines
• enjoy one of the only pleasant-tasting green products because it's formulated without herbal extracts...so it tastes better and can be used in many different ways
• keep your digestive tract clean due to the high fiber content
• reduce the chance of allergic reaction because it's gluten-free and contains no eggs, dairy, peanuts, yeast or artificial colors or flavors

WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO USE DEEPER GREENS?

Deeper Greens is very easy to use. It comes in container with 443.7 grams (that's 30 servings) of a powdered formula. You just put one scoop to a glass of water, juice or the beverage of your choice, stir well and drink. Have at least one serving per day.

Or, if you like, you can try my recipe for it. You simply add one scoop of deeper greens to the recipe I created for the purification and fat burning program. By the way, my husband and I are doing this purification program right now and I have added this recipe so that you can try it too. It tastes just great!

For variation to this purification program, you may want to try this delicious recipe I came up with for 2 servings:

One scoop of Deeper Greens along with 2 rounded scoops of the SP Complete™

2 cups purified or spring water

½ cup fresh pineapple juice

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or the berries of your choice. Strawberries, banana, etc.Create your own taste sensation.

1-2 tsp. Flaxseed oil

If you're making this for one person, just cut the ingredients in half. Blend all ingredients in a blender. Wait a few minutes and then add additional water and or fruit until you achieve the desired flavor and consistency. Any of your favorite fresh or frozen fruit can be used in place of blueberries. (Example: Peaches, cherries, banana, apples, strawberries, etc.) You may even try the Deeper Greens and the SP Complete™ in your favorite vegetable juice!

ENJOY YOUR NEW YOU!

You can purchase Deeper Greens on our secure online shopping cart.

P.S.: We also give Deeper Greens to our two Standard Poodle puppies mixed in with their raw chicken. They are so very healthy and love the Deeper Greens.

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*To all our customers: Thank you for visiting our web site, www.choosecra.com. We truly appreciate your presence here. You and your health are a vital concern to us. We sincerely hope the information we share and products we sell help you to manifest your dreams as a spiritual being and that it helps contribute to your physical well-being and prosperity. Please be aware none of the these statements have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products and this information are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It is simply the 1st Amendment in action and is presented for information and research purposes only. We are sharing information we believe in and feel it is not commonly found in mainstream media. We'd also like to remind you, if you act on ideas found here, you do so at your own discretion and risk. Self-help requires intelligence, common sense, and the ability to take responsibility for your own actions. By receiving this information, you agree to hold yourself FULLY responsible for your own health and well being. We do not recommend using any ideas found here without first consulting a medical professional or a qualified health care provider with recognized degrees and appropriate licenses. ©Copyright 2000-2008. All rights reserved. Alternative Choices Healing Center (http://www.choosecra.com) and its owner Dr. Xianti Hoo, Ph.D., call TOLL FREE 1-866-942-6848. Web design and writing by Marika Ray. Graphics and some photos are from Corel Draw 8, Corel Corporation, Canada. Phone (613) 728-8200; visit: www.corel.com or from Art Today, visit www.clipart.com.