I believe that getting more out of life shouldn't be a difficult task. The intention of my work is to empower others, using simple, holistic & natural wellness methods, to find Inner Peace. Why? Due to the ripple effect, together we can change the world - Inner Peace is World Peace.
ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2012) — Can organic agriculture feed the world? Although organic techniques may not be able to do the job alone, they do have an important role to play in feeding a growing global population while minimizing environmental damage, according to researchers at McGill University and the University of Minnesota.
A new study published in Nature concludes that crop yields from organic farming are generally lower than from conventional agriculture. That is particularly true for cereals, which are staples of the human diet — yet the yield gap is much less significant for certain crops, and under certain growing conditions, according to the researchers.
The study, which represents a comprehensive analysis of the current scientific literature on organic-to-conventional yield comparisons, aims to shed light on the often heated debate over organic versus conventional farming. Some people point to conventional agriculture as a big environmental threat that undercuts biodiversity and water resources, while releasing greenhouse gases. Others argue that large-scale organic farming would take up more land and make food unaffordable for most of the world’s poor and hungry. Read More
Dr. Jay’s Note: Man vs. Nature - Who’s going to win?
You’re proud of your lawn. You water it, feed it on schedule and try to keep the neighborhood kids off of it. But you missed a few spots with the fertilizer spreader and now dull, brown patches where the grass was STARVED of potential growth energy begin to show. A similar situation can happen inside you.
All the cells, organs and tissues that make up your body need an even distribution of neurotrophic (Life sustaining) energy from your Nerve System in order to flourish and grow. If parts of your body are deprived of this energy, likewise you’ll develop dull brown patches (dis-ease) on your internal lawn. Chiropractors refer to it as being ‘Subluxated.’
The goal of Holistic Chiropractic care is 100% coverage of neurotrophic Life energy in your body – and that’s achieved by keeping your Nerve System clear of stress-induced blockages in the spinal cord. If you don’t want to see ugly, brown, weak patches in your health, stay EVEN and consistent with your Holistic Chiropractic care. (via theweeklysticky.com)
The Weber family is heading to see Chimpanzee today to celebrate the 42nd annual Earth Day. Love the Disney Nature films & looking forward to this year’s newest addition to their collection.
“Americans now walk the least of any industrialized nation in the world,” says writer Tom Vanderbilt. To find out why that is, Vanderbilt has been exploring how towns are built, how Americans view walking — and what might be done to get them moving around on their own two feet.
Talking with Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep about what is wrong with Americans’ relationship with walking, Vanderbilt says, “The main thing is, we’re just not doing enough of it.”
“We’ve engineered walking out of our existence and everyday life,” Vanderbilt says. “I even tried to examine the word ‘pedestrian,’ and it’s always had sort of this negative connotation — that it was always better to be on a horse or something, if you could manage it.”
In a series of stories for Slate about “The Crisis in American Walking,” Vanderbilt writes about pedestrian life in America, from “sidewalk science” to possible ways to make the U.S. less car-centric. And he finds that what started as a push for convenience has become a difficult problem, as many parts of the country are now designed specifically for cars, not pedestrians. Read More
Dr. Jay’s Note: Going for a walk in nature is one of the quickest & easiest ways to strengthen the connection between your body, mind & higher self. Find a nearby park, trail or beach & watch your life improve in a matter of minutes as you walk.
For many people, a hike through the woods is a great refresher from a long workweek, a trip to a park is a great escape from the stresses of daily life, or a nature wallpaper is a great mid-day inspiration to push through the post-lunch slump. Recent studies show that spending time in nature or even looking at photos of natural scenes can actually improve cognitive function, making spending a little time in the great outdoors even more important than you may think.
A 2008 study published in the journal Psychological Science (PDF) asserted that there may be serious cognitive benefits to spending some time interacting with nature. University of Michigan psychologist Mac Berman took a sample group of 36 people, broke them into two groups, and put them both through a series of rigorous cognitive tests. He then let each group take breaks, one group walking around a city street, and the other through a secluded wooded park. No surprise, the group that took their break in the woods did much better on the second round of tests.
It’s not the first study to uncover this, Read More
Dr. Jay’s Note: If it is not possible to get outside during your breaks, use your imagination & visualize your favorite nature scenes - The benefits will be the same!
Based on Michael Pollan’s talk “Food Rules” given at the RSA, this animation was created in the context of the RSA/Nominet Trust film competition. Using a mixture of stop-motion and compositing, our aim and challenge was to convey the topic in a visually interesting way using a variety of different food products. We made a little table top set up at home and worked on this a little over three weeks.
Dr. Jay’s Note: Michael Pollan has remained one of my favorite authors for a few years now. I highly recommend his work.
Is Your Glass Half Empty? Mild Dehydration Causes Pessimism
According to a new study on dehydration and mood, the optimist may view her glass as half full because she drank that water already. While mild dehydration didn’t appear to affect cognitive function in the young women who participated in the study, it did dampen their moods and caused them to perceive tasks as much harder than when well-hydrated.
For the study, which appears in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, researchers induced mild dehydration among 25 subjects and measured their performance on tests of memory, concentration, and mood. When dehydrated, the women were more negative, had trouble concentrating and were “more fatigued, and this was true during mild exercise and when sitting at a computer,” explained University of Connecticut professor and lead researcher Lawrence E. Armstrong, PhD in a WebMD story.
Dr. Robert Glatter of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City told WebMD that the study should serve as a reminder to stay hydrated. “Just a small change in state of hydration was enough to affect mood, ability to concentrate, and lead to development of headaches,” he said. Dr. Glatter recommends consuming moderate quantities of water, both during and after exercise.
Dr. Jay’s Note: We should never underestimate the link between the mind & body. Be holistically good to yourself throughout the day & make sure that you drink plenty of purified water.
ScienceDaily (Feb. 8, 2012) — People who are more physically active report greater levels of excitement and enthusiasm than people who are less physically active, according to Penn State researchers. People also are more likely to report feelings of excitement and enthusiasm on days when they are more physically active than usual.
“You don’t have to be the fittest person who is exercising every day to receive the feel-good benefits of exercise,” said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. “It’s a matter of taking it one day at a time, of trying to get your activity in, and then there’s this feel-good reward afterwards.”
Conroy added that it often is hard for people to commit to an exercise program because they tend to set longterm rather than short-term goals.
“When people set New Year’s resolutions, they set them up to include the entire upcoming year, but that can be really overwhelming,” he said. “Taking it one day at a time and savoring that feel-good effect at the end of the day might be one step to break it down and get those daily rewards for activity. Doing this could help people be a little more encouraged to stay active and keep up the program they started.” Read More
Dr. Jay’s Note: Pick a physical activity that you enjoy doing & look for opportunities to do it often. You can dance, garden, hike, swim, play a sport, etc.
My favorite forms of ‘exercise’ are surfing & trail running. Even though I’m usually pretty tired after a session in the water, surfing feels like play & yet it’s a great workout. Running on trails becomes a meditation in & with nature, the physical workout is just a tremendous bonus.
Be more playful in your exercise this month & soon your habits will improve for the long term.
Remember the lead character in Goldilocks and the Three Bears? She didn’t settle for too hot, or too cold – too hard, or too soft. She kept trying until she found what was JUST RIGHT. When it comes to fighting disease, your body innately strives for the same thing.
Disease is nothing more than your body performing too much or too little of something. If your thyroid is UNDER active, you have hypothyroidism. If your lungs OVER react to dust in the air, you experience asthma. If your heart pumps too HARD, you have high blood pressure. Health on the other hand is when your body is clearly directed by its inner wisdom to produce, adapt, regenerate, secrete, eliminate, filter and metabolize to a degree that’s JUST RIGHT.
Chiropractors recognize that no doctor, pharmacy or research lab on the planet can live up to the awesome task of keeping EVERYTHING in your body working JUST RIGHT. Only innate intelligence, the immeasurable genius within you, is capable of handling that job. The best we can do as Chiropractors is to remove the stress that gets in its way. When we do, we know innate will only settle for what’s JUST RIGHT inside you.
