Nurture Your Own

Finally I took the plunge.. YiPpIe! So far I have been enjoying fresh raw sprouts mostly with other cooked dishes like brown-rice & mashed potatoes (in order to beef up my calories). All the while I was eerily aware of the enzyme-less-ness of the cooked carbos. Now, sprouts are the richest sources of all nutrients EXCEPT carbohydrates.

This may be the manna from heaven for weight-loss enthusiasts but for weight-gain wanna-bes like me - I must confess, I felt a bit stuck with cooked foods STILL un-avoidable in my plate. This was largely because I had no time to learn about how to methodically transition to a complete raw living foods diet. But then destiny intervened & recently I happened to come across this bare comment by a newbie raw-foodist (in some forum) expressing surprise that he never thought potatoes can be eaten RAW!

And that ‘revelation’ kept ringing in the back of my head on & off for a few days untill I gathered enough courage to give it a shot myself. What motivated me further was the fact that I felt so sleepy after almost every lunch; & caffeine is more of a problem than a solution we all know. So one fateful afternoon, too lazy to cook or to go out for eating, & too wary of falling asleep again after a cooked meal, I finally cajoled myself to make the move. After more than an hour of dilly-dallying I finally brought myself before the kitchen counter all set to “bite the bullet”… errr… a mere potato in this case… But yeah, Virgin RAW. (more…)

Lately heard from a friend about her mom being observed for sleep patterns which are necessary for the doctors to determine how her sleep pattern affects her recovery process after an operation. The Idaho Neurological Centre did a survey on Sleep Disorder and Stroke Risk discovered the following :-

Out of 15 stroke survivors observed, all show some form of sleep disorder.

Obstructive sleep apnea, which causes a person to stop breathing temporarily and happen repeatedly was more common among stroke survivors than others.

Stroke survivors has stage one sleep (lightest sleep) and snored more loudly than others.

Between 31% to 70% occurs during sleep.

However after saying all these, (more…)

Janet R Simpson offered 10 reasons why you should include sprouts in your Treatment of Eczema. As an eczema sufferer, I have tried many alternative treatments to lessen the flaring frequency as well as to curb the excruciating itch. The good news is sprouts do help. And it’s very interesting to read that a health reporter also concurred this method. You might want to try out this natural “cure”.

Here’s what Ms Simpson got to share:

Treatment of Eczema reason #1
Each sprouting seed is full with the nutritional and microbiological energy and life force strong enough to create a full grown healthy plant. These seeds contain a higher concentration of proteins, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, bio-flavinoids, etc. than at any other stage of the seed’s life. These nutrients are paramount for the good health of eczema skin. They will fuel, nourish, cleans, detoxify and replenish every cell in your body. Sprouts and any living foods increases vitality, strengthens the immune system and slows down the aging process. Sprouts have the capability to clear eczema, and other ailments such as warts, blemishes and facial spots. (more…)

Going by Earl Cassel’s words of wisdom, who are you in your journey of stop smoking?

I Won’t is a tramp,
I Can’t is a quitter,
I Don’t Know is lazy,
I Wish I Could is a wisher,
I Might is waking up,
I Will Try is on his feet,
I Can is on his way.
I Will is at work,
I Did is now the boss.

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As high as 40% of stroke survivors have serious falls attributed to Balance Problems. Rock fell from the stairs twice and thank God she did not incurred serious injuries except for some vicious looking bruises and having aches and pain for a week.

People with balance problems often benefit from physical therapy. Your first step is to get a therapy prescription from your physician. According to physical therapist Sapan Palkhiwala your body uses a combination of three systems to stay balanced.

1. Vision:
This is self explanatory.

2. Vestibular:
The vestibular system helps by monitoring changes in your head movements with respect to the pull of gravity. It includes two parts: the central system (housed in your brain) and the peripheral system (in your inner ear). These systems are connected by the vestibular nerve. Strokes are more likely to affect the central system. If the vestibular system is injured by stroke, you may experience dizziness and imbalance

3. Somatosensory:
With the somatosensory system, your body uses information it receives from the pressure of your feet on the floor, and your ankle positioning, to help balance your body.

Sapan says a majority of stroke survivors have balance problems because one side is stronger than the other. He encourages survivors to build up their affected side by using it in daily activities, such as reaching for a glass of water.

Caregiver can bring a chair into a corner of a room. While the survivor stands in the corner, he or she can hold on to the back of the chair and practice moving shoulders and hips together from side to side and then forward to backward. This exercise also forces the survivor to use and strengthen his affected side.

If a stroke affects your vision, you can learn to compensate. If you have a visual field cut so that you cannot see anything out of the left side of both eyes, you can practice scanning the room with the right side of your eye while turning your head.

With the help of a therapist, survivors can also practice balancing on shifting surfaces like foam, grass, sand or seat cushions. Since your feet are not on a flat surface, you can’t use your feet to reference yourself. You are forced to use vision to balance yourself, thus strengthening this system.

Some Recommended Steps For Preventing Falls : (more…)

Many people believe in finding solutions to their own problems. And when we speak about getting a healthy lifestyle going over here at NurtureYourOwn.com, we strongly encourage you to take action and share with you how easy it is to start.

But sometimes, we also need to know when not to go it alone. Sometimes, we are presented with problems and issues that we will find it very difficult to face alone. One really good example is when this word is mentioned: viagra.

While there are many herbal remedies and natural cures, you need to know when to seek professional help. This site at (more…)

I found this video posted at QuitSmokingPainlesslyNow. It was an attempt by Disney in 1951 to ridicule smoking and show how desperate a man who is dependent on nicotine can be. What I found really weird is Disney had Goofy asking for weeds. Weeds cannot be better than smoking. What’s wrong with Disney?

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Hello everyone and a Happy New Year to you!

I received an SMS from Vivienne this morning reminding me that today is a good day to start posting my article which I wrote for this website a couple of months ago. She had been on my case to start posting but I had been putting it off with a whole bunch of excuses. So here I am on the first day of 2008 having told her that I would. I consider this a success as I am as computer un-savvy as one can get!

Anyway, I started to do it but instead, I would like to do something else. As I am new to this community, it would be more appropriate for me to introduce myself and perhaps share how and why I made a conscious decision to be well and healthy.

You see, I got into the health industry rather accidentally having been retrenched from my job in 2001. Back then, I did not give two hoots about health and I looked and felt it. I was fat, unfit and unhealthy. I could not even run across the road if a bus was coming at me to save my life. But, of course, I did not do anything about it. Instead, I got depressed and ate some more. Things got a bit serious when I started having pains in my knees and needed help climbing the stairs. At 42, I was behaving like an old lady. The doctors could not help me (more…)

Breaking News :
“Health, fitness, weight-loss constitute the biggest chunk of all new year resolutions.”
And what’s the story of the weight-loss scene? :-
“… Amongst the ‘busy’ over-worked masses ‘fad diets’ continue to rule the roost.”

It’s possible these fancy diets may have something useful in them “backed by scientific evidence & latest research” and promoted by professionally qualified authors. But based on what I see around, many are akin to the get-rich-quick scams : long on dreams, short on results. What do you want?

Why is it so difficult to believe that - best things in life are indeed free.

I suppose… (more…)

A Blessed New Year to all of you! Yes this is my first post in 2008 and my good friend Vivienne has done a very thought provoking post today to help kick-off the New Year with helpful, thought provoking self-questioning. I have to say it is a good way to start afresh in 2008. It is indeed appropriate to address the issue of “awareness".

Stroke survivors, are not aware of their affected side after a stroke and I am sure many of you have noticed that how they bumped into door jams, turning forgetting to take the affected hand along…….. Every caregiver and family members and yes including visiting relatives and friends can help the survivor be more aware of their affected side. Here are three helpful suggestions to improve awareness in stroke survivors: (more…)

Today’s is 1st January 2008 and I’m calling all smokers to make it your new year resolution to stop smoking forever!

No? Is it because you thought the journey is going to be too tough? You had done it too many times but each time you went back and smoke even more? You don’t have confidence that you could make it this time? Whatever is stopping you is FEAR. Another meaning to FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. Just look at the cartoon below and take some time to muse and ponder over it.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Additional Wisdom on Stop Smoking
What’s harmful inside a Cigarette?
Benefits of Stop Smoking
FAQ on Stop Smoking
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Technorati Tags: stop smoking

Happy New Year to all our visitors and readers!

Eat healthily, Live healthily and be blissfully happy in 2008.

From all of us at NurtureYourOwn