Life Coaching - Part of the Co-op?!

Many of you know me as a tireless champion of integrative medicine and all things related to "health, nutrition & science." 

What most people don't know is that I am also trained as an Integral Coach, a form of coaching that works to integrate four domains of human life: mind, body, relationships, and physical environment.

As the economy continues to be challenging, it has occurred to me that the things I do for my coaching clients might be of real interest to our members.  And, at the Co-op, we see ourselves as a lot more than a purely product-based business. We're all from service backgrounds and consider it part of our job to take care of our community of members.

So here goes with something novel, a few offers that might help you in this tough economy (or with the stress of the holidays coming up).  

1. Personal Branding: Positioning Your Real Value in Tough Markets -- I have done a number of workshops on this topic in the past few months and participants have consistently rated the workshop as one of the most valuable in helping them refine their personal vision and mission statements as well as packaging what differentiates them (or their products and services). This one is ideal for people in career transition or seeking to build their businesses.
   
2. Difficult Conversations & What We All Want "More Of" -- This workshop is focused on moving from the language of complaints (what we can't stand and don't want) to what we want more of, for ourselves, for the other person, for our relationships, and for the future. This one is ideal for anyone with stressful holiday family gatherings ahead as well as people who just happen to be in business with "difficult people."  
3. Centering as an Antidote to Stress -- This is more of a guided practice of centering oneself when under pressure. Over and over, my clients find that their stress is greatly reduced every time they practice "centering" in their bodies and stop paying so much attention to their worries.
   
4. Mindfulness & Weight Loss -- I wasn't trying to lose weight but when I had to become mindful of everything I ate because of food allergies, I dropped about 15 pounds quite naturally. I attribute the weight loss to the healthier diet, yes, but also to the attention I gave to my emotions and the sensations in my body when (and after) eating different foods. We tried to do something on this topic before and had to cancel for lack of interest. Now that summer has passed and the holidays are coming fast, I thought this topic just might be of more interest right now.

We can support up to 50 people in a webinar (good for the first two topics, which include branding models and exercises to be shared).  Alternatively, I can also support up to 5 people in a very personal videoconference. The subscription for participants is free, as I pay for the ability to have up to 5 guests in my own private videoconferences.

If you are interested in any of these topics, please drop a line to me and let me know more about you and your interests. I can then tailor events of interest accordingly.  I hope to hear from you!

Great Response to Lugol's Iodine Introduction

Wow. We sold out of the trial order of Lugol's Iodine in one day. We'll have more product next week, but the response was dramatic, with lots of folks telling me their stories of using Lugol's (for decades in some cases and for various needs) in private emails.

Here's what our favorite pharmacist had to say in a note to the "kat" that writes our newsletter:


Hi Cindy, Mike Ciell here. Lugol's is a necessary supplement that ALL folks should take (especially women)...too many benefits to explain on my Blackberry...we've used this in our medical practice for over 5 years...clinical results so Impressive..we automatically prescribe it to all patients. Also we use "my formula" which gives about 12.5 mgs of iodine/iodide per 10 drops. Dr. Young (MD) always prescribes 15 mgs/day....if you want I can compound the exact formula for your "cats".  Glad you see the merit in this amazing nutrient!
Always my best,
Mike Ciell, RPh
Chief Science Officer and Vice-President of Clinic Operations
Ideal Protein of America, Inc

Here's  what another original member had to say:

Cindy,I have good news for you, I am a relative of the ones who invented Lugol's.  Dr. Jenner  (my Great Grandfather) & Dr. Lugol) came up with it in a research lab while looking for a better way to clean their peat-re dishes in a search for a cure to several very contagious diseases.  

 

They came up with a mild solution of Iodine and Iodide + distilled water, My Mother gave it to all us siblings every time something was wrong with us from the 1940's on. Her Dad used it on her family all her life as well. My Dad approved too and he was a Vet. Dr.

I love hearing from our members. Keep sharing your stories of using Lugol's.

Meanwhile, for those of you new to iodine supplementation, I strongly recommend working with a knowledgeable health care practitioner as iodine can be toxic when taken in too great of quantities. It's not like water-soluble supplements where you can take two, three, or ten times the amount and allow your body to flush what's not needed.

NAET for Allergy Elimination - Round One

The first step in the NAET allergy elimination process is to test for allergies. The process is quite simple. A Potential allergens (or allergen groups) are suspended in small vials of water. The practitioner hands one set of allergens at a time to the patient, giving the patient no knowledge of what is contained in each vial, and then conducts muscle testing to determine whether a given set of allergens are problematic for the patient.

Dr. Gary Olsen, a chiropractor, had me lay down on my back and extend my left arm and give resistance until he knew my "normal" resistance strength. He then started handing me different vials, with some substances clearly changing my ability to resist his pressure. I've been a bit skeptical of this process in the past but decided to try to participate with an open mind.

Turns out, a number of times when my arm weakened in response to pressure, I was holding a known allergen (eggs, grains, wheat, dairy proteins).  Interestingly, my arm also weakened on the B vitamin complex and a couple of other things that I don't remember.  After running me through the muscle testing, I rolled over on to my stomach and received some kind of vibrating stimulation to my spinal cord and then to various accupuncture points on my back and in my hands, knees, and ankles.  NAET works by stopping accupuncture meridians from having over-reactive responses to "allergic" substances that are normally harmless. 

The first session was all about challenging my body with at least 15 vials with common allergens. The next step  involves me wearing a vial of one of the allergens (or allergen groups) for 25 hours after the meridian treatment (I'm supposed to work on some of the accupuncture points every two hours also, which I'm behind on today). Apparently, 25 hours is how long it takes for the body to cycle new information about an allergen's "energy" and and enable all the organs to recognize former allergens as "safe."

Yes, I have a little vial taped to the inside of my leg, halfway between my knee and ankle. A little strange, yes, but I'm not planning to work out in shorts at my gym tonight, so no worries!

I know that my brother and business partner subscribes to my blog and he is undoubtedly shaking his head, as he has many times before, wondering whether this is just another of my many experiments in alternative and complementary healing.

My brother knows I inherited by far the most sensitive system in our family though, so he keeps a more open mind than he might otherwise. We have often joked that my sensitivities are all due to the fact that our mom was incredibly careful about what she ate and even avoiding smoke (back then, both of our parents were smokers) when she was pregnant with me.

Stay tuned, as I will continue to report my experiences with NAET for allergy elimination (and meanwhile here's a link to a research study on NAET results).  And, drop a line below if you have experience with NAET!

Lugol's Formula on the Way with Your Help!

Lugol's is a form of iodine in a distilled water formula, which our favorite pharmacist, Mike Ciell, recommends to many folks. Upon Mike's recommendation, I started adding two drops of Lugol's iodine a day to my morning shake and my red, irritated "rosacea eyes" disappeared within a week or so.

We're going to get a small order of Lugol's in to test member demand. If you are interested in seeing the Co-op offer Lugol's, then weigh in below.

Maybe Mike and I are anomalies. Maybe not. Let us know with your comments below!

Alcohol Promotes Aggressive Cancer Cells

Alcohol kills brain cells, can cause liver disease, lead to malabsorption of nutrients, and so on.. These are well-known hazards of drinking alcohol.

But did you know that alcohol also promotes aggressiveness in cancer cells (whereby, with alcohol, less dangerous cancer cells morph into deadly metastatic cells, which spread aggressively in the body)?

According to research out of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, alcohol-treated cells not only can go from normal cells to cancer cells, they also lose close connection with their adjacent cells, thus allowing them to migrate to other parts of the body (as in metastasis).

This research correlates to other research that continues to come out about the links between alcohol and cancer. Back in February, the University of Oxford reported in its Million Women study that "Each additional alcoholic drink regularly consumed per day was associated with 11 additional breast cancers per 1000 women up to age 75."  The conclusion was that even moderate social drinking has major impacts on the incidence of cancer.

Regardless of what you do if you are cancer free, if you have any form of cancer, it seems wise to eliminate all forms of alcohol, as cancer cells seem to prefer being "under the influence."  

 

NAET - Treating Allergies in a Novel Way

I was just at Dr. Rodier's Pioneer Integrative Medicine Clinic in Draper, Utah yesterday getting my annual blood draw and a Myers cocktail infusion. I was interested in novel methods for treating allergies and one of the nurses talked about a new technique the chiropractor, Dr. Gary Olsen, had started offering at the clinic.

I ran into Dr. Olsen on my way out and asked him about his work on allergies. He confessed how skeptical he was about the method, which is called NAET (short for Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques).  After experimenting with some tough cases, Dr. Olsen is now quite convinced that NAET works, and he encourages anyone who is interested to read NAET: Say Good-Bye to Your Allergies by Devi S. Nambudripad, an M.D. as well as a D.C. and a Ph.D. (Acu). 

I bought the book (a small pink cover with a clumsy piece of artwork - sigh, not the best marketing for the author, but that's another story). The author struggled with multiple allergies since she was a young child and writes: "There is no known successful method of treatment for food allergies using Western medicine except avoidance, which means deprivation and frustration."  Yes, indeed, deprivation and frustration have been my constant companions over the past year, especially when on travel and eating "out."   

The premise of NAET is that, using special techniques, a practitioner can help you reprogram your brain (central nervous system) to accept formerly allergenic foods that are beneficial and allow the body to react normally to various foods and environmental elements of life, thus reducing stress (deprivation and frustration!). 

I will have my first session tomorrow. The process is expected to take 15 sessions (hey, in a lifetime, that's not a lot of time if the sessions create a permanent relief from annoying and health-sapping food allergies!). 

I will keep you all posted on my progress. My brother is quite skeptical at this point, but I hope to have news that will convince even him (wouldn't that be great?!). 

If you have had an experience with the NAET process, please share your comments below or drop a line to me directly!